Reform UK’s shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf has set out the party’s plans for its first year in government, promising rapid action on borders, deportations, prisons and law and order.
Speaking at the spiked summit last weekend, Yusuf said that Reform UK would not enter government unprepared. If Reform UK wins the next general election, he said, it would be “the most prepared incoming government”, with “thousands of pages of primary legislation ready to go in that first year”.
That legislation, Yusuf argued, would be essential to restoring control over Britain’s borders and justice system. He said a Reform UK government would move quickly to “undo, for example, almost the entire Blairite legacy in one fell swoop”, and “sort out all the legislative reasons why we’re unable to actually have a border”.
Yusuf said Reform UK’s first priority would be to secure the border and stop illegal immigration. “If you don’t have borders, you don’t have a country”, he said. “A country that is incapable of removing people should not be in that country is not a country.”
He said Reform UK would “not just secure the border and stop the boats”, but also “deport everybody who is in the country illegally”. To do that, Yusuf has pledged that a Reform government would leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repeal domestic legislation that blocks removals, and create around “24,000 detention spaces very quickly”.
He also confirmed that Reform UK would create a new agency, “Deportation Command”, with “the sole remit, the sole mission, of identifying, detaining and deporting illegal migrants”. He said the party would pursue returns agreements with host countries and “probably some deals with third countries as well”.
On crime, Yusuf said Reform UK would build more prisons and introduce “much tougher sentencing” for offences ranging from rape and murder to knife crime, shoplifting and phone theft. He said Britain had been left with too few prison places, meaning violent criminals were being released too early.
Yusuf admitted that “those things are going to take more than a year to get done”, but insisted voters would see results quickly. “I do think we can get to a meaningful scale of deportations within our first year”, he said, “and I think the boats will be stopped in our first year as well”.
Speaking at the spiked summit last weekend, Yusuf said that Reform UK would not enter government unprepared. If Reform UK wins the next general election, he said, it would be “the most prepared incoming government”, with “thousands of pages of primary legislation ready to go in that first year”.
That legislation, Yusuf argued, would be essential to restoring control over Britain’s borders and justice system. He said a Reform UK government would move quickly to “undo, for example, almost the entire Blairite legacy in one fell swoop”, and “sort out all the legislative reasons why we’re unable to actually have a border”.
Yusuf said Reform UK’s first priority would be to secure the border and stop illegal immigration. “If you don’t have borders, you don’t have a country”, he said. “A country that is incapable of removing people should not be in that country is not a country.”
He said Reform UK would “not just secure the border and stop the boats”, but also “deport everybody who is in the country illegally”. To do that, Yusuf has pledged that a Reform government would leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repeal domestic legislation that blocks removals, and create around “24,000 detention spaces very quickly”.
He also confirmed that Reform UK would create a new agency, “Deportation Command”, with “the sole remit, the sole mission, of identifying, detaining and deporting illegal migrants”. He said the party would pursue returns agreements with host countries and “probably some deals with third countries as well”.
On crime, Yusuf said Reform UK would build more prisons and introduce “much tougher sentencing” for offences ranging from rape and murder to knife crime, shoplifting and phone theft. He said Britain had been left with too few prison places, meaning violent criminals were being released too early.
Yusuf admitted that “those things are going to take more than a year to get done”, but insisted voters would see results quickly. “I do think we can get to a meaningful scale of deportations within our first year”, he said, “and I think the boats will be stopped in our first year as well”.
Watch the full interview here.
