Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform party in the UK, unveiled a controversial immigration plan at a press conference on Monday in Kent. The proposal includes rejecting all new and existing asylum applications for five years and voiding legal routes for refugees. Additionally, Farage plans to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention to prevent legal challenges. The strategy also involves visa bans for countries refusing deportation flights and scrapping humanitarian protection schemes. Farage emphasized that these measures aim to address perceived security risks posed by undocumented immigrants in Britain.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, announced plans on Monday to suspend Britain’s asylum system for a full parliamentary term, typically five years. This would involve rejecting all new and ongoing asylum applications, declaring them void, and marking claimants for deportation. Around 90,000 outstanding appeals would not be heard under this plan. Farage cited national security concerns, arguing that the UK must prioritize protecting its citizens due to uncertainties about illegal immigrants’ numbers and potential threats.
The plans also include pulling Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights, repealing the Human Rights Act 1998, and disapplying the 1951 Refugee Convention. Additionally, visa bans would be enforced against countries that do not allow deportation flights to land. Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, recently announced plans to reopen resettlement schemes for refugees from Afghanistan and other areas; Farage’s party intends to close these programs immediately.
Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson criticized Farage's proposal as extreme and accused Reform UK of copying policies from their political rivals.
Written for “Farage Asylum Pledge” on 2026-10-12,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.85, but all 5 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 74045: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-12
The Reform leader said he wanted the UK to get “back to being a normal country” as he announced that all new asylum applications would be rejected and those already filed would be voided if his party won the general election.
asserted
party → say → election
At a press conference in Kent on Monday Mr Farage, alongside Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf, also pledged to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention to prevent legal challenges to its plans.
asserted
Farage → pledge → plans
Visa bans would be enforced for countries that refuse to allow deportation flights to land, under the proposals.
asserted
that → enforce → proposals
It would mean that all new applications for asylum, as well as those already going through the system, would be rejected and voided.
asserted
applications → mean → system
All claimants would be marked for deportation, Mr Farage said.
asserted
Farage → mark → deportation
“We literally have no idea who is here, and we frankly can't afford to take the risk,” Mr Farage said.
“It's not as if we've been ungenerous over the course of the last decade, indeed, since the Brexit vote, half a million people have been given asylum here.
asserted
people → have → asylum
But we have to end this asylum scam, and we have to end this racket.
asserted
we → have → racket
The UK would pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention to prevent legal challenges to Reform’s plans, the party said.
asserted
party → pull → plans
Refugee Schemes Scrapped
asserted
Schemes → scrap → ?
During the shutdown, the UK would not grant humanitarian protection or refugee status to anyone, while legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes would end.
asserted
routes → grant → anyone
However, Mr Farage suggested that Ukrainians in Britain under sponsorship programmes would not be affected.
uncertain
Ukrainians → suggest → programmes
The asylum tribunal system would be scrapped, meaning the roughly 90,000 people currently with appeal cases would be deported.
asserted
people → scrap → cases
Visa Bans
Reform earlier this year said it would ban British visas for countries such as Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan if they refused to allow deportation flights to land.
asserted
they → say → land
Nations without a significant number of legal nationals in Britain could face tariffs on goods and services for non-compliance.
uncertain
Nations → face → compliance
Mr Farage said the country "cannot accept more asylum seekers while we still have no idea how many people are in the country illegally and the threat they pose."
Women and Children
There will be no special treatment for women and children fleeing war-torn nations, Mr Farage confirmed.
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Farage → say → nations
A resettlement scheme that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood recently said would reopen, with around a quarter of those admitted to the UK expected to be Palestinians and women and girls from Afghanistan, would be scrapped.
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quarter → say → Afghanistan
Mr Farage said the programmes “may well sound compassionate” but they “open the door to family reunions, to husbands coming, to partners coming, to elderly parents coming, and before you know it, you've got lots of young men coming as well”.
uncertain
lots → say → men
He added: “And I don't think anybody could be in any doubt that whilst there are people suffering in both countries, and we completely understand the history of the UK, we completely understand whether we're talking about people coming from Uganda or Austria or Germany or even going back a bit further, France, and we completely understand, great contributions that have been made by those communities.
“
uncertain
that → add → communities
But I'm afraid, if we open the door to Palestine and to Afghanistan, we are placing our country under further considerable risk, not just risk to women and girls, not just risk in terms of criminality, but a national security risk.”
asserted
we → open → criminality
Political Response
Labour called Reform’s plans “a clear sign of desperation and weakness”, while shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the proposals “largely copy” Conservative ideas.
asserted
proposals → call → ideas
Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said: “Nigel Farage is casting around for more and more extreme policies as he tries to deal with scandals, police investigations and a growing challenge from Restore — this is a carbon copy of their policy.
asserted
this → say → policy
“Running away from basic decency by entirely abandoning those escaping war and persecution might look to Reform like a way of winning a bidding war with other parties on the right, but the vast majority of British people will reject it as an assault on our common values.”
uncertain
majority → run → values
Mr Philp said: “Banning asylum claims by illegal immigrants, abolishing the immigration tribunal and ending Labour’s resettlement routes are all existing Conservative policy.
uncertain
Banning → say → routes
“Our detailed Borders plan also sees us coming out of the ECHR and ensures all illegal immigrants are removed within a week of arrival – and closes the modern slavery claim and judicial review loopholes, both of which Reform seems to have missed.”
uncertain
Reform → see → which
The Aporia
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