Nigel Farage has declared that a Reform government would transform military barracks currently accommodating asylum seekers into detention facilities on its very first day in office.
Speaking to reporters while visiting Crowborough in East Sussex, Mr Farage pointed to the local converted barracks now housing close to 400 asylum seekers.
He said: âA secure army camp down the road wouldnât worry the residents of this little town of Crowborough.
Reform has pledged to introduce laws rendering all asylum applications from illegal arrivals inadmissible, clearing the path for forced removals or voluntary departures.
The partyâs proposals include creating a âUK deportation commandâ, tasked with overseeing the expulsion of up to 600,000 migrants across a five-year period.
To achieve this, the party would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and sidestep the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The plan envisions five chartered deportation flights operating daily to return asylum seekers to their countries of origin.
Additionally, the party has called for a tenfold expansion of immigration removal centre capacity, reaching 24,000 places within 18 months.
Mr Farage acknowledged that exiting the ECHR would trigger âmassive battlesâ with the courts, with Danny Kruger currently working on preparations for how to implement these measures swiftly.
The party leader framed the policy as a response to what he described as both a national security and social crisis.
He characterised the situation as requiring an emergency declaration, citing concerns about terrorism alongside what he called a âpattern of serious sexual offencesâ.
Mr Farage said: âThereâs not a week that goes by now when we donât see horrendous sexual assaults that are carried out.
âIâm sorry, but there are cultural differences between young men that come from certain parts of the world in terms of their attitudes towards whatâs acceptable.â
He argued that declaring an emergency would provide a temporary mechanism to bypass the Human Rights Act, which he said would take longer to address through conventional means.
The Reform leader proposed offering migrants ÂŁ1,000 to return home and rebuild their lives, dismissing the Home Secretaryâs trial scheme providing incentive payments of up to ÂŁ10,000 per person.
âForty grand for a family? Crikey, Iâll make the crossing for that. No, thatâs ludicrous. I think up to ÂŁ1,000, something like that, which back in most of these countries would be enough to start again.â
Currently, migrants without the right to remain can apply for up to ÂŁ3,000 in voluntary departure support under certain circumstances.
Mr Farage pointed to claims from the US administration that most deportees during Donald Trumpâs second term left voluntarily, though researchers have disputed this assertion.
He conceded that some migrants would inevitably vanish into the black economy, acknowledging this was already occurring from existing sites.
âThere are practical difficulties, but we have to show intent. We have to show will. And there are ways of doing this,â Mr Farage stated when pressed on the challenges.
Approximately 170,000 asylum seekers are currently awaiting initial decisions on their claims or appealing rejections, with many remaining in hotels or shared accommodation.
Labour has committed to shutting all asylum hotels and relocating migrants to larger facilities, including barracks and houses of multiple occupation distributed evenly across the country.
A Labour source branded Reformâs deportation proposals as âfantasyâ policy.
They said: âEven the US are paying people thousands of dollars to leave the country. Based on the current mechanism in the UK of up to ÂŁ3,000, the numbers are not there.
âIt will end up costing the taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds to house them.â
