The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s blunder comes as Reform UK prepares to announce plans abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) if the right-wing party wins power
Nigel Farage’s new crackdown on the right of migrants to apply for permanent residency has “already fallen apart” amid a blunder over savings.
It comes as the Reform UK leader prepares to announce his desire to abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) if his party wins power. Migrants can currently apply for ILR after five years, but Mr Farage will say Reform UK will force migrants to renew their visas every five years.
Applicants would have to meet certain criteria, including a higher salary threshold and better standard of English. They would have to have lived in the UK for seven years, up from five, and there would be tighter restrictions on bringing spouses and children to the UK. The new visa would also prevent any access to benefits, the party said.
Both Mr Farage and Reform’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, have claimed the savings to the taxpayer would exceed £230billion. Mr Farage boasted in the Mail today: “Our changes will save British taxpayers at least £234billion over the lifetime of these migrants. That is four times our total defence budget, or double what is spent on education.”
But it appears to be based on figures contained in a report published in February by the Centre of Policy Studies, which the think-tank has said should not be used.
The think-tank’s report currently contains the warning: “NOTE: The Office for Budget Responsibility fiscal data contained within this report is the subject of dispute, meaning that the overall cost estimates should no longer be used. We will be publishing an updated estimate in due course. This does not impact on the visa data or projections for the numbers likely to gain ILR on different visa routes.”
A Labour source told The Mirror: “Farage’s not even half-baked announcement has already fallen apart. Yet again, Reform have no credible plan and their only answer is ‘don’t know’.”
Mr Farage will reportedly tell a Monday press conference: “Welfare will end for everyone that is not a UK citizen, we will close the loopholes. Reform will ensure that welfare is for UK citizens only. We are cleaning up the mess of Boris Johnson. The Boriswave will bankrupt us. Reform will deal with Boriswave, the biggest betrayal of voters’ trust in modern times.”
A Government spokesperson added: “People here illegally rightly do not get anything from our benefits system. Foreign nationals usually have to wait five years to claim Universal Credit and we’re looking at increasing this to 10 years.
“We inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling benefits bill. That’s why we’re taking action and reforming the system and have seen the proportion of universal credit payments to foreign nationals fall since last July.”
A Reform UK spokesman claimed: “The OBR have said they will update their lifetime fiscal costs per migrant after coming under political pressure, but our analysis suggests their number and even the CPS’s £234bn number is too low.
“It assumes take-up rate of ILR for recent non-EU cohorts will be in line with those of previous cohorts who were mainly EU. The reality is those coming from Somalia and Pakistan will no doubt take up ILR at much higher rates. They will also likely bring more young dependents. This will make the real number much higher than £234 billion.”
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