Reform leader Nigel Farage set out plans for mass deportations of asylum seekers – but despite the hardline rhetoric, the announcement left more questions than answers
Wherever Labour has a bruise, Nigel Farage is on hand to punch it.
Keir Starmer has been having a hard time of it recently on asylum, so naturally the Reform leader wants to make hay while the sun shines. He’s spent the summer trying to convince everyone that Britain is “lawless”, and linking it to immigration and asylum. He’s right that the current system isn’t working – even the human rights groups that he loathes will agree with that.
So a week before Parliament returns, he was keen to be on the front foot. His end of summer party – to which the party faithful and a selection of journalists were invited – was held in a big hangar at Oxford Airport.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage’s ‘dangerous’ mass deportation plan torn to shreds – why it won’t work
Ever the showman, he cheerfully bounded onstage – backed by a huge Union Jack and flanked by two large ‘departure’ boards showing destinations including Afghanistan, Sudan and Iran. To the horror of many, he said he was prepared to strike returns deals with all these nations.
Moments in, the man who last weekend called for protests outside asylum hotels across Britain, declared that there’s a “genuine threat to public order” due to growing anger.
But he’s not a details man – he had no answers when asked what would happen if countries refuse to sign return agreements. Nor would he say what he’s prepared to offer the Taliban, or where asylum seekers will be sent when they are detained.
A reporter from the Oxford Mail tried to find out if a local site would be used, but to no avail. And as for the costings, he quipped that sidekick Zia Yusuf is “really good at maths” when asked how he can deliver a scheme at a fifth of the cost of arch-rival Rupert Lowe.
To his credit, he gave The Mirror a question – other parties take note. I asked if he was worried that having said Judeo-Christian values are at the heart of everything in this country, whether it would be hypocritical to ignore opposition from senior bishops.
Under the Tories, clergy in the House of Lords lined up to criticise the Rwanda plan, and it’s hard to imagine them enthusiastically backing sending people back to war zones.
For a moment he looked unsure – after all, as a man pulling the patriotic strings, a row with the top Christian leaders in the country isn’t a great look.
Some don’t properly reflect their flock, he said, but he knows there will be plenty of objections on moral grounds.
It was a flat end to a showy event that left more questions than answers. Until Reform dig into the detail, these are just big promises that will face huge challenges when they come into contact with reality.
But we know that, Mr Farage knows that, and at this point no one seems to care. But that needs to change, and fast.
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