Farage, who heads Reform UK, has put forward a proposal that would place the country's asylum process on hold for as long as five years, contingent on his party winning the next general election. At a Kent campaign event on Monday, the politician set out a plan to halt all incoming asylum applications and cancel tens of thousands of pending claims that are currently working through the UK's tribunal system.
Under that policy framework, a Reform UK government would dismantle the existing appeals tribunal for asylum cases, close down all formally recognised routes through which refugees can be resettled, and strip the approximately 90,000 applications still pending a determination of any recognised legal basis. Those with pending asylum decisions, along with anyone who applies going forward, would be returned promptly to their country of origin or to a designated third country deemed safe, Farage announced. Under the measure, an exemption exists specifically for citizens of Ukraine who left their country after Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
Among the measures put forward in the party's platform, three treaty and legislative commitments stand out: withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights, scrapping the Human Rights Act 1998, and setting aside the obligations imposed by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention — steps presented as necessary to ensure that deportation orders face no obstruction through domestic courts.
Speaking at the Monday event, Farage characterised the asylum system as both a threat to national security and, in his own words, a "scam," and put forward a call for its complete suspension — a stance Reform UK has advanced alongside its wider platform on border management, local public services, and tax policy. The party has also put forward a plan pairing trade tariffs with visa restrictions as tools to pressure foreign governments that resist taking back deported nationals.
Some observers in the field of political analysis have described the position as an attempt by Reform UK to draw a clearer line between itself and both the Conservative and Labour parties on immigration, while also shoring up support among voters on the party's right flank.
Opposition to the measures surfaced swiftly from groups spanning the breadth of the political landscape as well as from international humanitarian bodies. Party officials from the governing Labour side rejected the announcement, characterising the pledge in internal communications as a manoeuvre aimed at drawing public attention away from ongoing questions about campaign donations. Several organisations working with refugee populations put out formal statements addressing both the humanitarian considerations and legal questions raised by the policy.
Civil liberties organisations contend that stripping away protections under international law and carrying out large-scale removals of people seeking asylum could place those individuals at renewed risk of harm in countries such as Iran and Afghanistan, where state-sanctioned mistreatment remains a documented concern.
