Reform UK plan to set up migrant detention centres in Green-voting areas condemned by other parties – as it happened

Reform UK plan to set up migrant detention centres in Green-voting areas condemned by other parties – as it happened

A Reform UK proposal to prioritise places that vote for Green councils or MPs when it sets up detention centres for migrants facing deportation has been denounced as “abhorrent” from opponents across the political spectrum.

Reform says it would deport “all illegal migrants” and, to make this possible, it has announced plans for deportation centres holding up to 24,000 people.

In a post on social media, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, said that these would be located in Green-voting areas. He explained:

double quotation markSo here’s our promise:

A Reform government will not put any migrant detention facilities in any constituency with a Reform MP.

Nor will we put them where Reform controls the council.

And of the remaining areas, we will prioritise Green controlled parliamentary constituencies and Green controlled councils to locate the detention centres.

Put simply, if you vote in a Reform council or Reform MP, we guarantee you won’t have a detention centre near you.

If you vote Green, there’s a good chance you will.

This is an important exercise in democratic consent, not just for our mass deportation policy, but for where the detention centres are placed.

Yusuf also promoted the slogan “Vote Green, Get Illegals” on his post.

In an interview with Sky News, Yusuf said that Reform accepted that deportating migrants on the scale proposed by his party would be unprecedented for the UK, although he said it had been done in other countries. He said this policy was about ensuring there was “democratic consent” for the policy.

Responding to the announcement, Mothin Ali, the Green party’s co-deputy leader, said:

double quotation markReform keep making abhorrent announcements to distract voters from they fact they want to privatise the NHS. Greens are focused on building council housing, fixing our public services and bringing down the cost of living.

Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said:

double quotation markThis grotesque policy reveals Reform’s contempt for all voters – including their own. Threatening to punish places where people don’t vote your way is a betrayal of basic democratic principles. Nigel Farage has sunk to a new low: he is clearly more interested in stoking division and anger than in serving the whole country.

And, on social media, Kemi Badenoch reposted a tweet from Simon Clarke, the Tory former business secretary, saying:

double quotation markWe need to stop illegal immigration, but this is abhorrent from Reform.

Zia is proposing the siting of detention centres expressly as a form of political punishment for people and places that don’t vote Reform – not just Green, but presumably Conservative, Liberal and Labour too. (And what about Reform voters in those constituencies?)

It would almost certainly be deemed an abuse of ministerial power for political purposes, and as such would likely be stuck down in court before ever being implemented, wasting millions for the taxpayer without detaining anyone.

If it were to go ahead, it would still represent an appalling waste of public money as these sites might well not be in any way suitable for the proposed centres, or near the other infrastructure required. What’s worse is that he is doing all this to provoke outrage and draw attention to Reform a few days out from the local elections. Reform know what they are doing. But this goes beyond a pre-election stunt. It’s declared as a major policy commitment, and should be treated as such.

We need a proper plan to leave the ECHR and restore safe border controls, not gimmicks that wouldn’t survive first contact with reality.

A Reform UK proposal to prioritise places that vote for Green councils or MPs when it sets up detention centres for migrants facing deportation has been denounced as “abhorrent” from opponents across the political spectrum. (See 10.48am.)

Keir Starmer has acknowledged that tensions are high between Donald Trump and Europe as he attends a summit of the European Political Community dominated by the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran.

Britain could be beset by levels of economic chaos last seen under Liz Truss if a Reform UK government were to fulfil its promise to strip renewable energy projects of subsidy contracts, according to the industry’s chief lobbyist.

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Keir Starmer has said European countries are giving “a lot of attention” to proposals for a “reassurance presence” that could help to keep the strait of Hormuz open after the conflict between the US and Iran is over.

There have been several high-level meetings, involving mostly European countries, about the proposal, which is being pushed in particular by the UK and France. But little in public has been said about what kind of deployment this might entail.

Starmer said today it would be a “reassurance presence”.

double quotation markThe situation is clearly evolving. It is really important that we get the strait of Hormuz open because that is directly impacting on our economy in the United Kingdom.

That’s why in recent months, we pulled together a group of countries to have a reassurance presence, including a military presence, as soon as it’s safe to get vessels through.

Now we’ve discussed that on a number of occasions with a coalition. We’re discussing that at the European political community summit here this afternoon. A lot of attention on this, because it’s having such an impact back in the United Kingdom.

The Conservatives have published figures which they claim justify their proposal to tighten the way the household benefit cap is applied.

At the weekend Kemi Badenoch announced proposals to restrict the exemptions that apply to the benefit cap, which sets a limit to how much people can receive in benefits, depending on the nature of the household and whether or not people live in Greater London.

The Tories said that, if they were in government, there would be no exemptions if someone in the household capable of working was not working, and benefits which are exempt, like Pip (personal independence payment – a disability payment) would no longer lead to all household benefits being exempt from the cap.

Neil O’Brien, the shadow minister for policy development, has published an analysis of benefit figures to justify this policy. He says the figures show that more than 600,000 households are getting “more in benefits than the average person takes home after tax”.

The Department for Work and Pensions has accused O’Brien of ignoring the fact that these claimants are generally people who severe disabilities who are particularly vulnerable.