NIGEL Farage has unveiled a “mass deportation” plan with five flights out of Britain a day”.
The Reform UK leader revealed his proposed solution for the “massive crisis” facing the UK regarding immigration.
Nigel Farage has announced plans for ‘mass deportation’[/caption]
The Britannia Hotel has been the subject of recent protests[/caption]
Growing unrest is sweeping the country over hotels being used to house asylum seekers[/caption]
Farage told the The Times he would create Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill.
The plan, called Operation Restoring Justice, would see those who arrive on small boats kept in detention centres at RAF bases.
This would require detention centres that could hold 24,000 people within 18 months.
Migrants would also be barred from claiming asylum.
Reform would then strike up deals with countries where asylum seekers travel from, as well as investigate places such as Rwanda and Albania and to take them in.
Ascension Island, a remote British overseas territory in the South Atlantic, would be used if a country was too dangerous to send asylum seekers back to.
However, this would require significant infrastructure funding and an agreement from authorities on Ascension Island to take on the volume of migrants.
There would also be a six-month voluntary returns scheme which would allow migrants the opportunity to leave the UK with £2,500 and paid flights.
He was asked about the potential dangers and risk to life by sending people on small boats back to their home countries.
“I’m really sorry, but we can’t be responsible for everything that happens in the whole of the world. Who is our priority?” He said.
“Is it the safety and security of this country and its people? Or are we worrying about everybody else and foreign courts?
“That’s what it comes down to. Whose side are you on?”
Farage claimed his plans would see five deportation flights going out of the UK every day.
It would also be a criminal offence for those people to try and re-enter the UK.
The locals of Trinity Close protest outside the Stanwell Hotel almost every night[/caption]
A protest outside of the Ibis hotel in Crick, one of three hotels in West Northamptonshire used to house migrants[/caption]
The party leader said these plans would cost around £10billion over five years.
This would be broken down by £2 billion for building detention centres, £2 billion for detention costs, £1.5 billion for staff and £1.5 billion for flights, £2 billion for “diplomatic incentives”.
But Reform argues this would be a lot more efficient than the £7billion a year being forked out per year on asylum hotels and other expenses.
Farage dubbed the current system a “national security threat” and dubbed public backlash “not very far away from disorder”.
His deportation plans would see the European Convention on Human Rights would be replaced by a British Bill of Rights.
Record 111,000 migrants claimed asylum last year
It comes after it was revealed that a record number of people claimed asylum in the UK in the last year – with a massive 32,000 currently living in taxpayer-funded hotels.
Home Office data shows that 111,000 people claimed asylum in the year ending June 2025 up 14 per cent on last year.
It is higher than the previous recorded peak of 103,000 which was set in 2002.
The number of people claiming asylum in this country has almost doubled since 2021.
And just under half of all those applying for protection in the UK are granted it at the initial decision stage – 48 per cent.
It is lower than in 2022 when 77 per cent of those applying were given the green light.
Half of all those came via irregular routes – such as on a small boat or in the back of a lorry – while 37 per cent claimed asylum after previously arriving on a valid visa.
In the year up to March, the UK was the fifth biggest recipient of asylum seekers in the UK after Germany, Spain, Italy and France.
The sky-high figures come as the number of migrants being housed in hotels has INCREASED since Labour came into power.
A total of 32,059 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels at the end of Labour’s first year in Government up 8 per cent on the same point 12 months ago.
It comes after it was revealed that a record number of people claimed asylum in the UK in the last year – with a massive 32,000 currently living in taxpayer-funded hotels.
Home Office data shows that 111,000 people claimed asylum in the year ending June 2025 up 14 per cent on last year.
It is higher than the previous recorded peak of 103,000 which was set in 2002.
The number of people claiming asylum in this country has almost doubled since 2021.
And just under half of all those applying for protection in the UK are granted it at the initial decision stage – 48 per cent.
It is lower than in 2022 when 77 per cent of those applying were given the green light.
Half of all those came via irregular routes – such as on a small boat or in the back of a lorry – while 37 per cent claimed asylum after previously arriving on a valid visa.
In the year up to March, the UK was the fifth biggest recipient of asylum seekers in the UK after Germany, Spain, Italy and France.
The sky-high figures come as the number of migrants being housed in hotels has INCREASED since Labour came into power.
A total of 32,059 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels at the end of Labour’s first year in Government up 8 per cent on the same point 12 months ago.
The party has also compared it to policies in the US regarding illegal immigration.
It comes as tensions continue to mount over hotels housing asylum seekers as those arriving on small boats hit record hights.
A temporary injunction was granted on Tuesday this week to Epping Forest District Council to remove asylum seekers from the Bell Hotel in Epping after continuing protests.
The Home Office said it would appeal against the High Court’s decision.
Somani Hotels, the owner of the Bell Hotel, also plans to appeal against the court order.
But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers are working to close hotels housing asylum seekers “as swiftly as possible”.
South Norfolk Council announced today it had been told the Home Office intends to stop housing asylum seekers at the Park Hotel in the town of Diss after protests unfolded outside the property last month.
Council leader Daniel Elmer said: “The Home Office thought it could just impose this change and that we would accept it.
“But there is a right way of doing things and a wrong way and the decision by the Home Office was just plain wrong.
“The council had to make a stand to support the women and children and our local community and that’s exactly what we did.
“Although I welcome the decision, in reality it does mean that the women and children who we fought so hard to protect will now be moved elsewhere, and that is a shame.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “As part of our ongoing effort to reduce the number of hotels in use and close them all by the end of this parliament, we are not planning to use this site beyond the end of the current contract.”
Nearly 28,000 people have arrived in the UK so far in 2025 after crossing the English Channel.
GROWING UNREST
Protests against the controversial migrant hotels have broken out at 10 locations across the UK, as the Home Office launched a bid to appeal the landmark Epping ruling.
Cities across the country are bracing for chaos over the bank holiday weekend, with police forces being mobilised across Britain.
Demonstrations kicked off in Leicester and Portsmouth, with an estimated 27 protests expected across the UK over the bank holiday weekend.
The mass protests have appeared outside hotels in Leeds, Cardiff, Chichester and Orpington too.
Now, a total of ten asylum hotels across Britain are surrounded by protestors.
Attendees have been spotted waving UK flags and holding placards which call for an end to the controversial hotel policy.
Meanwhile, demonstrators holding signs which read “refugees welcome” have set up counter protests at the hotels.
Both groups are being separated by police at gatherings across the country.
The Metropolitan Police force is preparing for the protests to break out in London, on the same weekend as the iconic Notting Hill Carnival.
Controversy has surrounded the asylum hotel scheme since a migrant housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl – which he denies.
However, the High Court ruled that housing migrants at the site broke planning permission and forced the hotel to remove them.
Also, the Home Office has weighed in on the fractious issue – arguing that the Epping ruling “acting as an impetus for further violent protests”.
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch has now ordered 33 Conservative councils to push for an end to the policy – despite the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels soaring under the Tories.
