Reform UK has announced that, if elected, it would end indefinite leave to remain and freeze visas for countries that have impeded the deportation of criminals and illegal immigrants, including Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan.
Speaking at an event in Dover on Monday 23 February, Reform home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf announced a sweeping set of new policies aimed at tackling illegal migration and Islamic extremism.
As part of this approach, Yusuf said that Reform would apply visa bans on countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants and criminals deported from the UK.
This would apply to several countries, including Afghanistan and Syria, and Yusuf has specifically referred to the Pakistan government’s refusal to accept the deportation of grooming gang members as an example of a case where this policy would be applied.
Reform also said that it would end indefinite leave to remain (ILR) if it achieved power, instead replacing the system with a five-year work visa that includes a salary threshold and must be regularly renewed.
Yusuf also announced Reform’s policy to create the ‘UK Deportation Command’, a border force with the capacity to deport up to 288,000 migrants every year on five flights a day.
He said that Reform’s policy would be to achieve net-negative migration, with more people leaving the country then arriving. Reform has also promised to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to facilitate the removal of immigrants without being impeded by its legal requirements.
“The social contract has not merely been broken; it’s been shattered. Under a Reform government, His Majesty’s parliament will be sovereign once again,” Yusuf said.
“We will secure our borders, leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and deport those here illegally. My message to the British people is simple: I will secure our borders and make you feel safe.”
In his speech, Yusuf also said that a Reform government would formally prioritise the Christian religion: all churches in the country would receive listed status and the conversion of churches into mosques or places of worship for other religions would be forbidden by new statutory rules.
“We will protect British culture, because a nation without a culture is not a nation at all. It is just an economic zone,” Yusuf said.
“We will preserve Britain’s Christian heritage and end the incendiary practice of converting churches into mosques or any other place of worship.”
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