A Reform government would aim to build detention centres on military sites to hold 24,000 people (Image: Getty)
Nigel Farage launched a blistering attack on Sir Keir Starmer, accusing him of siding with international courts against the British public as he unveiled his explosive plans for mass deportations of illegal migrants.
Writing for The Telegraph, the Reform UK leader pledged to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repeal the Human Rights Act and disapply three other international treaties that he said acted as "roadblocks" to deporting anyone who entered the UK illegally.
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Mr Farage – who will set out detailed plans in a speech on Tuesday – argued that such a move was "justified" under the Vienna Convention, the cornerstone of international law, because Britain faced "a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order". The news comes as even former Labour Home Secretary Lord Blunkett has weighed into the argument in favour of leaving the ECHR.
In his article, Farage said: "No longer will these malign influences be allowed to frustrate deportations. The planes will take off, and plenty of them at that.
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Hold 24,000 people
"The time has come to put this country first. This is all a question of priorities. Is Keir Starmer on the side of the British people, national security and protecting women and girls – or is he on the side of outdated international treaties and human rights lawyers?"
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A Reform government would aim to build detention centres on military sites to hold 24,000 people within 18 months, with detainees barred from leaving or claiming bail, said Mr Farage.
Labour described the plans as "Farage's fantasy Air Force bases" in reference to his proposed use of Ministry of Defence sites to house detained migrants before deportation. It has drawn up 24 questions challenging the proposals, "one for every 1,000 people the plan is proposing to detain, without telling anyone where".
Sir Keir has pledged that a Labour Government led by him will never withdraw from the ECHR and will treat international law with "profound respect".
However, next month Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is expected to set out new laws curbing asylum seekers' ability to use the ECHR's articles three and eight, on rights to a family life and protections from persecution, to escape deportation.
GB News: Patrick Christys outlines Farage's migrant plans
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Pressure from Labour right
The Prime Minister is coming under public pressure from senior figures on the Labour Right, including Lord Blunkett, the former home secretary, and the veteran MP Graham Stringer, to temporarily suspend the ECHR to enable ministers to clear the backlog of more than 50,000 asylum seekers' appeals against their removal.
Labour sources indicated that there were no plans "at the moment" to suspend the ECHR, although they said all options were being considered "so we can get a system that works".
Jo White, the leader of the Red Wall caucus of Labour MPs, said reform of the asylum system was the "number one priority" for the Government, adding: "If we don't sort it, Labour is under threat at the next election."
Nearly 28,300 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year – up 43 per cent on the same point last year and the highest number to date since the first small boat arrivals in 2018. Last week, Home Office figures showed a record 111,084 asylum applications in the past year, with more than 32,000 migrants still housed in hotels.
Operation Restoring Justice
In his article, Mr Farage said a Reform government would launch Operation Restoring Justice to sweep away the ECHR and other conventions through an Illegal Migration (Mass Deportations) Bill.
"This would create a legal duty for the home secretary to remove illegal migrants. "Failure to do so will mean breaking the law," he added.
"Under these new plans, if you come to the UK illegally you will be ineligible for asylum. No ifs, no buts. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of any jurisdiction to consider claims.
"A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore cannot delay a flight."
Nigel Farage launched a blistering attack on Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
National security emergency
The party leader has said a Reform government would seek to negotiate returns deals with countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea, despite claims of human rights abuses, and look to third countries such as Rwanda and Albania and British overseas territories to house asylum seekers.
He claimed that the number of people with no lawful right to remain in the UK was now "almost certainly" over one million.
"This is undisputedly the single biggest issue in our politics today. The British people have had enough, yet not a single politician has managed to get a grip on this national security emergency," he said.
Labour challenged Mr Farage to answer its questions over his "fantasy" plans, including where new detention facilities would be built, whether the tens of thousands of women and children in the asylum system would be deported, and what he would offer Iran, Afghanistan and Eritrea to accept back asylum seekers.
Tory rehash?
A Government spokesman said: "This is a tired rehash of the Tories' approach, which left us with record high asylum costs and declining removals. As ever, Farage is offering empty soundbites without the plans to back it up.
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"Under the Labour Government, over 35,000 people have been removed in the last year, including a 24 per cent increase in enforced returns and a 14 per cent increase in removals of foreign national offenders.
"People arriving on small boats are being detained to be returned back to France in our landmark UK-France migration partnership. This is not a problem that can be solved with empty rhetoric – it requires hard graft and serious policy answers. That is what the Prime Minister and Home Secretary are delivering."
Mr Stringer, an MP since 1997 and a former Manchester city council leader, said Labour needed to go further, adding: "We either need to withdraw [from the ECHR] completely or for a period of time. Withdrawing from it is not contravening international law. It is saying this is no longer fit for purpose."
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