Nigel Farage’s proposals to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers, including women and children, and withdraw the UK from key human rights protections have triggered fierce backlash from legal experts, campaigners, and political opponents. Critics say the plans would dismantle Britain’s postwar commitments and shred fundamental rights.
Unveiling Reform UK’s “Operation Restoring Justice” in Oxford, Farage vowed to detain and deport “absolutely anyone” arriving by small boat, insisting this would stop crossings “within days” and save “hundreds of billions of pounds.” He confirmed that women and children would also be detained, despite admitting that handling children is “more complicated and difficult.”
Lack of Practical Detail
Farage was unable to provide details on which RAF bases would be converted into detention centers or how Reform UK would secure deportation deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, or Iran, where British courts deem returns unsafe. He also failed to outline how the plan—costed by experts at £47.5bn—could be delivered for the £10bn he claimed.
The Reform UK leadership further pledged to repeal the Human Rights Act, leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, effectively removing judicial oversight of deportation flights.
Legal and Human Rights Criticism
Legal experts described the plan as “unworkable and unlawful.” George Peretz KC of the Society of Labour Lawyers said the policy lacked credibility, as it would require deals with repressive regimes. Freedom from Torture’s Kolbassia Haoussou condemned the proposals as “a gift to dictators,” warning that Britain would be abandoning its post-World War II moral legacy.
Human rights lawyer Adam Wagner KC said Farage’s proposals were “legally extreme and misleading,” stressing that many rights in the ECHR are rooted in centuries of British legal tradition.
Political Reactions and Warnings
Downing Street dismissed the plans as unrealistic, stressing that leaving the ECHR would undermine peace in Northern Ireland and key international agreements, including the Good Friday Agreement. A government spokesperson accused Farage of relying on “old slogans that failed” while ministers pursue “serious, practical action.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Farage was “taking the public for fools” by proposing mass deportations without agreements from receiving countries. She added that Winston Churchill, who helped establish the ECHR, “would be turning in his grave.”
Rising Concerns Over Rhetoric
Farage also claimed that “three-quarters” of small-boat arrivals were “young undocumented males” from “entirely different cultures” who “pose a risk to women and girls,” language critics said risked inflaming tensions. He warned of “civil disorder” if his proposals were not implemented, framing Reform UK’s plan as the only solution to Britain’s asylum crisis.
