Politics · United Kingdom · 5 hrs ago
Reform UK proposes deporting 90,000 asylum seekers, including children
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has announced plans to deport 90,000 asylum seekers immediately if his party forms a government.
The proposals would include children and mothers, and new asylum claims would be automatically rejected.
People whose claims had failed would be sent to their home countries or a safe third country.
The party also plans to review asylum permissions granted since 2024 and end legal resettlement routes, except those created for Ukrainians after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Reform says it could use trade measures, visa bans or airspace restrictions against countries that refuse to take people back.
The Refugee Council says the plans would cause chaos and push people underground, while Labour says immigration can be controlled without abandoning the asylum system.
The proposals were announced on Monday, but the sources do not say when or how they would be put into effect.
Reform UK has proposed immediately deporting 90,000 asylum seekers, including children and mothers.
The party also plans to reject new asylum claims automatically and impose a five-year ban on people being granted asylum.
Nigel Farage said failed applicants would be returned to their home countries or a safe third country.
The Refugee Council called the proposals “unworkable” and said they would cause chaos.
Reform also plans to review asylum status granted since 2024 and abolish most legal resettlement routes.
- Who
- Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, announced the proposals.
- What
- The party proposed immediately deporting 90,000 asylum seekers, including children, and imposing a five-year ban on asylum grants.
- When
- Monday; the article was published on 12 October 2026.
- Where
- The proposals were announced at a press conference in Kent.
- Why
- Farage said allowing women and children to come could lead to family reunions and more arrivals; Reform said its plans would control immigration.
Reform UK
Refugee Council
Deportations
Reform UK
Reform proposes immediately deporting 90,000 asylum seekers, including children and mothers.
Refugee Council
The Refugee Council said the proposals were unworkable and would abandon Britain’s tradition of offering safety to people fleeing war.
Asylum system
Reform UK
Reform plans to reject new claims automatically and impose a five-year ban on asylum grants.
Refugee Council
The Refugee Council said closing the asylum system would cause chaos and drive arrivals underground.
Nigel Farage announced Reform UK’s immigration proposals at a press conference in Kent.
The Refugee Council and Labour criticised the proposals after their announcement.
- Proposed immediate deportations
- 90,000 asylum seekers
- Proposed asylum ban
- Five years
- Review of asylum status
- People granted asylum since 2024
- Announcement location
- Kent
- Resettlement exception
- Routes set up for Ukrainians after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022
What people are saying
If you allow Palestinian or Afghan women to come as well as children, that may well sound compassionate given the circumstances in that country. However, as soon as you do that you open the door to family reunions, to husbands coming, to partners coming, before you know it you have plenty of young men coming as well.
These unworkable proposals would see us abandon our proud tradition of offering safety to victims of war, which our ancestors established in response to the horrors of world war two.
control immigration and get numbers down with serious action, not by abandoning the asylum system altogether
not in the business of sending people to be killed or tortured
Sources
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