Nigel Farage’s party has already pledged to identify and deport all illegal migrants in the UK
Reform UK has pledged to deport “hundreds of thousands” of small boat migrants who have successfully claimed asylum if the party wins the next general election.
The party plans to review all successful asylum claims over the past five years, with Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf stating that anyone found to have entered illegally or overstayed their visa and subsequently claimed asylum would “have their status revoked and be deported”.
The Times reported that Nigel Farage’s party estimated 400,000 people will be “in scope” of the review and “the majority” will be deported.
In a statement on X, Mr Yusuf said: “Reform will reverse the invasion of Britain.
“Anyone who broke into the country illegally, or came in on a visa and overstayed to claim asylum (which is almost all of them) will have their status revoked and be deported.
“This is an addition to all those currently in Britain illegally.”
The announcement comes after 602 people crossed the Channel on small boats on Saturday, making it this year’s second busiest day for crossings and bringing the total number of arrivals in 2026 to more than 6,000.
Reform has already pledged to identify and deport all illegal migrants in the UK, as well as leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which is often used by people to claim asylum.
The party has said it would aim to deport 188,000 illegal migrants a year by operating five removal flights a day.
In response to the announcement, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said a Conservative government would deport illegal migrants “within a week of arrival”.
He said: “The Conservatives have already proposed a detailed borders plan to pull out of the ECHR and completely ban asylum claims by illegal immigrants.
“The Conservatives’ ‘removals force’ will deport 150,000 immigrants each year with no right to be here.
“Reform is slowing catching up with our ideas, but without the detail that will ensure it works in practice.”
Will Forster, the Liberal Democrat immigration and asylum spokesman, accused Reform of “churning out hostile, headline-grabbing” plans that will “do absolutely nothing to tackle our broken asylum system”.
He added: “The backlog of cases is already sky high thanks to the mess the Conservatives left us in. Reviewing five years worth of asylum grants is an impractical farce that will just slow down the process even more.”
The Liberal Democrats had called for the Government to set up Nightingale processing centres, to clear the asylum backlog within six months, he said, so those with a right to stay could “get on with their lives and support themselves, and those without can be swiftly returned”.
