Reform UK plans to deport 600,000 migrants if elected

A far-right political party hoping to win the United Kingdom's next general election is planning to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants in an attempt to stop people arriving in the country and claiming asylum.

Reform UK, which opinion polls say has strong support among voters, said it will deport 600,000 migrants during its five-year term, if it is elected in the 2029 general election.

"If we do that, the boats will stop coming in days because there will be no incentive," party leader Nigel Farage said as he unveiled the policy. He said the UK would also leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits such deportations.

His party has ridden a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that has swept Europe in recent years in the wake of huge influxes of people claiming asylum, which is usually granted to those fleeing persecution because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group, and those fleeing war and famine.

But with the UK struggling to cope with the number of arrivals, and with many turning out to be economic migrants trying to exploit the asylum system, Farage said Reform UK will make it illegal for anyone arriving illegally to claim asylum, which is something 111,000 people did in the year ending June 2025.

He said his party will, if elected, spend 2 billion pounds ($2.69 billion) on cash payments for migrants returning to their homelands willingly, and on aid for countries cooperating with the repatriations. He said countries that refuse to accept returnees could also be hit with economic sanctions.

Farage said the plan, which his party is calling Operation Restoring Justice, is the "only way" the UK will be able to stop migrants arriving on small boats that cross the English Channel from France.

He said the plan calls for "detaining and deporting absolutely anyone who comes via that route", and those people also being banned from claiming asylum in the UK in the future.

He said people arriving on small boats would be arrested immediately and housed in disused military camps before being deported to their home countries, or to third-countries, including, potentially, Rwanda and Albania, which would be paid for their services. Farage said the UK could also use remote overseas territories it controls in an emergency, to house people while they are processed.

The party expects to spend around 10 billion pounds on the initiative over five years, which it says would be less than the UK currently spends on housing asylum seekers in hotels.