Nigel Farage will today challenge Keir Starmer to ditch his support for foreign courts as he sets out plans for the mass deportation of illegal migrants.
In a major speech, the Reform UK leader will ask the Prime Minister if he wants to protect Britain’s borders and citizens or remain wedded to ‘outdated’ international treaties and judges’ rulings.
Adding to the pressure on the Government to do more to tackle the crisis, amid record Channel crossings and public fury over migrants being housed in luxury hotels, Mr Farage will vow that if he becomes PM, he will ensure that all those arriving in dinghies are arrested, detained then deported.
He will promise to sign returns deals with countries including Afghanistan and Eritrea but also house migrants in ‘third countries’ such as Rwanda and Albania, and use British overseas territories including Ascension Island as a last resort.
Amid Tory claims that his policies echo their own proposals, Mr Farage will pledge that hundreds of thousands of people will be deported by a Reform government, with five charter flights taking off every day.
There will also be a ‘deportation app’ for migrants who wish to leave voluntarily, and they will be given £2,500 and a free flight home.
He will set out details of the costs today, amid reports that the party believes it will cost as little as £10 billion to implement and will in the long run save public money.
His government would introduce emergency legislation known as the Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill to bar those arriving by small boat from claiming asylum.
Nigel Farage (pictured) will challenge Keir Starmer to ditch his support for foreign courts as he sets out plans for the mass deportation of illegal migrants
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel (pictured)
And he would take Britain out of international agreements including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – a demand now even being made by Labour MPs and grandees as they increasingly fear Sir Keir’s failure to implement radical action will lose him the next election.
A new British Bill of Rights, which would apply only to British citizens and those with a legal right to live here, would replace the Human Rights Act – and refer to the protection of free speech and liberty rather than human rights.
Last night Mr Farage, who will make his keynote speech in Oxfordshire this morning, told the Daily Mail: ‘The dividing line on this issue is simple. Does the PM stand with the British people, defending our national security and the safety of women and girls or does he stand with outdated international treaties and courts? Reform UK will leave the ECHR and finally stop the scourge of illegal migration.’
Mr Farage added that if Reform came into power, it would aim to build migrant detention centres on military sites within 18 months. They would house 24,000 people and detainees would not be allowed to leave or claim bail, he added. Sir Keir has previously vowed that his Government will ‘never’ leave the ECHR.
Farage accused Starmer of siding with international courts in an opinion piece published in the Telegraph, writing: ‘The time has come to put this country first. This is all a question of priorities.
‘Is Keir Starmer on the side of the British people, national security and protecting women and girls – or is he on the side of outdated international treaties and human rights lawyers?’.
Earlier this year Starmer took the unprecedented step of declaring in the Commons that an immigration judge made the ‘wrong decision’ by granting a Palestinian family the right to live in the UK.
An aerial photograph shows inflatable dinghies and outboard engines believed to have been used by migrants to cross the channel and stored in a Port Authority yard in Dover, south-east England, on August 17, 2025
It comes as more than 100 migrants have been detained ahead of deportation to France, according to The Times (File image of migrants arriving in Dover)
In the wake of the row, his Government pledged to restrict the ability of illegal immigrants and foreign criminals to avoid deportation by claiming the Article 8 right to a family life.
And at the weekend the Home Office said it would speed up asylum appeals by getting rid of some judge-led tribunals.
It comes as more than 100 migrants have been detained ahead of deportation to France, according to The Times. The move is part of Sir Keir’s ‘one in, one out’ deal which is set to be implemented within weeks.
Mr Farage’s vow today comes despite him saying last September that it was not his ambition to deport large numbers of illegal immigrants. He said: ‘It’s pointless even going there. It’s a political impossibility.’
The Tories also claimed that Reform’s flagship policy is based on many of their own proposals. When they were in power, the Conservatives passed a law banning small-boat migrants from claiming asylum and signed a deal to deport some to Rwanda, although no flights ever took off. The Tory government was also the first to consider sending new arrivals to Ascension Island, a remote territory in the South Atlantic.
And in May, having lost the election, the party published a Deportation Bill that would mean ‘automatic deportation for anyone to arrives in the country illegally’ as well as disapplying the Human Rights Act from immigration cases.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has also launched a review which is expected to conclude that Britain should withdraw from the ECHR.
And as far back as 2006 under David Cameron, the Tories had been proposing to replace Labour’s Humans Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, an idea also now being proposed by Reform. A similar Bill to repeal the Human Rights Act was put forward by then-justice secretary Dominic Raab in 2022, before being scrapped by Liz Truss during her short tenure as prime minister.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Nigel Farage promised a full deportation plan, and then after months of silence has presented nothing more than a copy-and-paste of Conservative policies.
‘Reform UK has clearly not done the serious thinking about securing our borders – instead borrowing plans set out months ago by Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives, in some desperate attempt to chase headlines.
‘But government is about more than just press releases and headlines.’
Reform UK said: ‘The Conservatives had 14 years in government. Under their watch, illegal migration surged to unprecedented levels, and the small-boats crisis in the Channel spiralled out of control. They did nothing to stop it.’
Last night a Labour source said: ‘This is a tired rehash of the Tories’ approach which left us with record high asylum costs and declining removals. As ever, Farage is offering empty soundbites without the plans to back it up.’
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