Nigel Farage unveiled Reform UK’s five-year plan, named operation restoring justice, aimed at detaining and deporting people who enter the UK illegally and deterring future arrivals. Speaking at London Oxford Airport, he described the mood in the country as a mix of despair and rising anger, and warned that without action there is a risk to public order. He argued that the only effective way to stop small-boat arrivals was to detain and deport anyone arriving via that route, claiming the boats would stop within days if there is no incentive to pay traffickers.

Farage suggested as many as 600,000 asylum seekers could be deported in the first parliament of a Reform UK government. He turned to Reform figure Zia Yusuf and asked whether deporting 5–600,000 people was realistic; Yusuf replied, “Totally”. The plan would expand detention capacity to 24,000 and seek returns deals with Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran. It says the programme would cost £10 billion to implement but would save £7 billion currently spent on illegal migration in the first five years. It would leave the European Convention on Human Rights and replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, applying only to British citizens and those with a legal right to live in the UK. It would also introduce legislation to make everyone who arrives illegally ineligible for asylum and allow asylum seekers to be detained until deportation.

Minister Matthew Pennycook described the proposals as unworkable gimmicks. It comes as the government prepares to send back the first small-boat arrivals to France under the one-in, one-out migrant deal. A record 28,288 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year, with 212 more on Sunday in four boats, taking the total to 46% above the figure for the same date in 2024; further crossings were seen on Monday, though official figures have not yet been published. Labour figures and supporters are under pressure over the government’s handling of the migrant crisis, with a YouGov poll showing 71% of voters think the Prime Minister is handling the asylum hotel issue badly, including 56% of Labour supporters.