Farage pledges to suspend UK asylum claims for up to five years

The announcement

Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party, announced on Monday, 12 October that he would ban anyone being granted asylum for up to five years if his party wins the next national election, due in 2029. Speaking on the south coast of England, he said the roughly 90,000 pending asylum applications would be declared void and new claims would be automatically rejected. Failed applicants would be returned either to their home countries or to a safe third country. Farage added that he could impose tariffs, visa bans or airspace restrictions on countries that refuse to accept the return of asylum seekers.

What the plan contains

Reform also said it would scrap all legal routes for asylum resettlement, exempting Ukrainians who fled to Britain after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The party's 20-page document also exempts Hong Kong residents with British National (Overseas) passports, who would return only "once safe to do so". Visa bans would apply to countries with a significant legal foreign national presence in Britain, and the document names Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan as countries with large illegal migrant populations in the UK. Tariffs would target countries with fewer such ties, mainly developing countries with significant trade in natural resources and basic goods. If both measures fail, the document says "we will apply further sanctions, including banning a country's airlines from British airspace and their citizens from transit".

Legal and practical questions

It is not clear whether visa bans and tariffs would make countries accept returns. Tariffs could conflict with World Trade Organisation rules requiring every member to be charged the same tariff, a "most-favoured nation" rule that has an exemption for a war or "emergency in international relations". The plan therefore depends on whether trade and visa pressure is enough to secure cooperation from the countries concerned.

Political backdrop

Reform UK led opinion polls until this summer, but a combination of ongoing police and parliamentary investigations into how the party is funded, plus Andy Burnham taking over as Labour prime minister, pushed it into second place. Reform denies breaking electoral law. Immigration remains the top issue for British voters according to polls, driven partly by frustration over successive governments' failure to stop tens of thousands of asylum seekers arriving in boats from mainland Europe. Britain received 85,891 asylum applications in the year ending in June, a 21% decrease on the same period a year earlier. Individuals from Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan made up the largest number of applicants.

Reactions

Refugee charities said Farage's deportation plans would mean sending asylum seekers to countries such as Afghanistan or Iran, where they could face persecution, torture and death. Farage set out the goal in terms of national norms when he spoke on the south coast.

We want to get back to being a normal country, a country that detains and deports people that come illegally, as virtually every other country in the world does.

The proposals remain a pledge for the next national election, due in 2029, and no legislation has been introduced.