UK: Farage presents plan for mass deportations
UK right-wing populist Nigel Farage has said that if he becomes prime minister he would introduce radical measures against illegal immigration, including mass deportations to countries like Iran, Eritrea and Afghanistan and sending asylum seekers to isolated British overseas territories. Farage's Reform UK party is currently leading the polls, which is upping the pressure on Keir Starmer's Labour government.
Sore point for a floundering government
Farage is voicing the concerns of a broad section of British society, writes The Times:
“Mr Farage did not spare the bellicosity, warning the UK is 'not very far away from major civil disorder' due to growing public frustration with unchecked illegal migration. While this approach will be routinely condemned by the established parties it will undoubtedly find favour among that section of society that believes government has failed lamentably to perform its first duty: the protection of the national territory. As recent polling for this newspaper has shown, immigration is the cut-through issue, beating the economy and the NHS. Politically it is a mother lode, promising an endless flow of attack opportunities against a floundering government.”
Emphasise what is already being done
The British government needs to convey more clearly what it is already doing in order to fend off Farage's attacks, says The Independent:
“What Mr Farage is proposing would have little to no effect on the backlog of asylum applications. How many would share Mr Farage's view that illegal arrivals should be returned even to countries where they could face torture? ... Above all, though, the government needs to make far greater efforts to present the work that it has done - in negotiating returns agreements, for instance, and clamping down on illegal working in the UK, making sure that these measures are maintained.”