Reform UK wants to suspend Britain’s asylum system for a full parliamentary term if it takes power. According to the BBC, the plan would involve rejecting all new applications, cancelling existing claims and targeting the applicants for deportation. It is a party proposal, not a change to the law currently in force.
The pledge goes beyond stopping the processing of applications. The party would grant neither refugee status nor humanitarian protection, while Home Office staff currently handling asylum cases would be reassigned to reviewing and revoking previously granted refugee status. The Home Office is the government department responsible for immigration and domestic security.
According to the BBC, Reform UK also proposes abolishing the tribunal system that hears asylum appeals. The party says it would deport people involved in more than 90,000 outstanding appeals. That figure refers to appeal cases, however, and is not a confirmed count of people who would face deportation.
Legal changes and pressure on other countries
To prevent legal challenges to these measures — the party’s stated aim — Reform UK wants Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act 1998, the UK’s human rights legislation, and stop applying the 1951 Refugee Convention. The BBC’s report does not establish whether this package would be legally viable or whether it would actually prevent decisions from being challenged.
A second part of the plan involves putting pressure on countries to accept deportees. Reform UK says it would use visa bans and tariffs on goods and services. The BBC names Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan as countries that could face the proposed visa bans.
The party also envisages further sanctions, including barring a country’s airlines from British airspace and imposing transit bans on its citizens. In cases Reform UK describes as extreme, it would negotiate agreements with third countries where no country agreed to accept a deportee or a return to their country of origin would be inappropriate. The effectiveness of such pressure remains unresolved.
Farage cites security concerns as other parties respond
Nigel Farage justifies the proposals by arguing that Britain faces a national security threat. That is the Reform UK leader’s assessment, presented as an argument for the planned policy.
Labour’s Bridget Phillipson criticised the proposals as a move away from helping people fleeing war and persecution. The Conservatives’ Chris Philp said they largely replicated his own party’s policies. Max Wilkinson of the Liberal Democrats also criticised Reform UK’s plans.
For anyone following British immigration rules, the key distinction is between a political pledge and the rules currently in force. Reform UK makes implementation conditional on taking power; announcing the proposals does not itself suspend asylum procedures or cancel applications. No start or end dates have been specified for the proposed suspension.
