UK

Nigel Farage has rowed back on plans to deport children as part of Reform UK’s strategy to tackle illegal migration. The Reform leader unveiled plans on Tuesday to detain and deport up to 600,000 people with no right to be in the UK, including anyone who arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel in a small boat.Asked whether this would include women and children, Mr Farage said: “Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival, will be detained.”Mr Farage was questioned during a press conference in Scotland (Andrew Milligan/PA)While Mr Farage said he accepted that “how we deal with children is a much more complicated and difficult issue” – and acknowledged that those protesting across the UK were not doing so “because of the few children coming” – the Reform leader said the “only way we will stop the boats is by detaining and deporting absolutely anyone” who crosses the Channel. “If you come to the UK illegally, you will be detained and deported and never, ever allowed to stay, period. That is our big message from today”, he added. Meanwhile, senior Reform figure Zia Yusuf said “phase one” would focus on adults and unaccompanied children would be sent back “towards the latter half of that five years”.But on Wednesday, Mr Farage insisted at a press conference in Broxburn, West Lothian that he had been “very, very clear” that the party was focused on “illegal males” and “not even discussing women and children at this stage”.He added: “The news reports that said that after my conference yesterday were wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”Asked whether this meant women and children would be “exempt”, he said: “I didn’t say exempt forever, but at this stage it’s not part of our plan for the next five years.”Mr Farage later sought to clarify his comments, saying there had been a “slight confusion” and he had not understood the “context” of the question.He told broadcasters: “Deporting children is a very difficult thing to do. Who do they go to, what are the wards of care? Women and children, intimating families that have been here illegally for some years, are they top of our list? No.”Asked if women and children would be deported, he said: “If a single woman etc comes to Britain, they will be detained and deported.“If a woman comes with children, we will work out the best thing to do.”The Liberal Democrats said the U-turn shows he has “taken as much time reading his own plan as he does his constituents’ emails”. A spokesperson for the party added: “Reform’s plans do not even stand up to the scrutiny of their own leader. His band of plastic patriots are taking the country for fools.” His earlier comments were met with condemnation from charities who accused Mr Farage of “dehumanising people who have fled war and persecution”. Care4Calais’s chief executive Steve Smith said the majority of people “don’t want to see women and children placed in detention centres, denied their rights to safety”. Meanwhile, a Labour minister described the plans as “unworkable gimmicks”.Reform UK has pledged to scale up detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and bring forward legislation to make everyone who arrives illegally ineligible for asylum.The party claims their plans – which would require the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights – will cost £10bn to implement but save £7bn currently spent on illegal migration during the first five years.But an analysis by The Independent, based on the latest cost estimates, found that it could mean spending £6.3bn each year on deportation flights alone and £3.6bn a year on converting detention facilities, as well as the unknown costs of a deal with third-party countries that agree to take in migrants deported from the UK.Reform’s plans would also see Mr Farage attempt to strike returns deals with Iran and Taliban-governed Afghanistan. Labour has so far focused its criticism on the practicality of the proposals, with Downing Street refusing to rule out seeking return agreements with autocratic regimes.On Wednesday, Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds declined to criticise Mr Farage for describing small boat crossings as an “invasion”.He told an event in Westminster hosted by The Spectator magazine: “We can all talk about language, but I don’t think it is about particular words we want to use, or particular slogans we want to use, or indeed about offering empty solutions, which is what Nigel Farage was doing yesterday, that’s going to solve this.”In his own press conference, Mr Farage said it was “really interesting” that “people aren’t questioning the need for something radical to be done”, pointing out that Sir Keir Starmer “hasn’t attacked me on the idea that we should be deporting people that come illegally”.The government’s reluctance to question Mr Farage’s language around the issue has brought criticism from some figures on the left, including Independent MP Diane Abbott.Ms Abbott, who lost the Labour whip for the second time in July, said it was “unsurprising” and accused the prime minister of “trying to copy Farage all summer”. 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Brexit was never debated properly, the minister for Europe has said, arguing that the previous Conservative government left Britain with the first ever free trade agreement that made it harder to trade. Unveiling plans for a new permanent deal with the European Union, Nick Thomas-Symonds said Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives are offering only “easy answers and snake oil” when it comes to the UK-EU relationship as he rejected claims that the government is surrendering sovereignty or freedoms.He promised to take a pragmatic approach that would “rebuild Britain, protect our borders, bring down bills in every part of the country and secure good jobs”, adding that the new relationship would “bring freedom back to our businesses and exercises our sovereignty.” Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds delivers a speech on the future of the UK-EU relationship (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Artisan cheese, olives and sausages could become cheaper for Britons to buy if the government is successful in its bid to strike a permanent food and drink deal with the European Union.The government is attempting to get a permanent deal with the EU on food and drink agreed in the next 18 months, as it sets out its stall ahead of talks later this year.The current temporary agreement, which was put in place in June, stopped checks on some fruit and vegetables imported from the EU which meant no border checks or fees would be paid. It will expire in January 2027.While there are some concerns dynamic alignment with the EU could mean British business are hampered by European Union rules and regulations, EU minister Nick Thomas-Symonds on Wednesday will argue that it is a “necessary step” to boost growth and lower food prices – something he dubbed “sovereignty, exercised in the national interest”.It is understood that a permanent deal with the bloc is expected to lower supermarket prices on products such as sausages and burgers for British shoppers. There are also hopes within government that it would make it easier for retailers to import items such as artisan cheeses and olives, as well as giving access to better varieties of fruit.Items such as Scottish salmon could also be more easily exported to the EU, sources told The Times. It came after shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel accused the prime minister of “dragging us back into Brussels’ arms”, claiming he is “looking to once again make this country a rule taker rather than a rule maker.”Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds will give a speech in Westminster on Wednesday More

Elon Musk has slammed Nigel Farage as “weak sauce who will do nothing”, reigniting his series of scathing attacks on the Reform UK leader. The billionaire Tesla owner and world’s richest man has said that Mr Farage is not capable of enacting real change in the UK, particularly in relation to immigration.Musk has thrown his support behind figures including Rupert Lowe, an independent MP who used to sit as a Reform representative until he had the party whip suspended due to allegations of bullying and verbal threats towards its chairman Zia Yusuf.Mr Lowe denies the allegations and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said he will not face any charges.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and party treasurer Nick Candy during their meeting with Elon Musk in December (Stuart Mitchell/Reform UK/PA) More

A senior minister is set to accuse Nigel Farage of “wanting Britain to fail” as Labour opens a new Brexit front in trying to take on Reform UK’s surge in the polls.European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds is to give a major speech in London warning that the impact of a Reform UK government would hit UK trade by £9bn.It comes as Labour continues to lag by around 8 points in the polls behind Reform and 24 hours after Mr Farage attempted to seize the political initiative by outlining plans for mass deportations of illegal migrants.The deportation plans have already drawn a warning from ex-Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve that they would mean the end of the post-Brexit deal with the EU bringing an end to free trade, data sharing and security arrangements.Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds (Lucy North/PA) More

As Nigel Farage stood in front of a giant union flag in an aircraft hangar at London Oxford Airport, the Reform UK leader laid out his solution to one of British voters’ biggest concerns – illegal migration and the growing number of asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats.But for those who have been listening to Mr Farage for many years in his now long political career, there was something very familiar about today’s announcement. In fact, it was a well trodden formula for the man who hopes to be Britain’s next prime minister.What Mr Farage offered was in fact a repackaging of what could be termed as the “Brexit formula”. In other words, isolate the UK internationally by withdrawing from foundational global agreements, and then expect the rest of the world to simply do what Britain wants.This sort of solution worked when Lord Palmerston was simply able to send a gunboat to sit outside a foreign port in the 19th century, but is quite a lot more complicated now.Farage laid out his mass deportation plans More

Children would also be subject to Reform UK’s plan for mass deportations from Britain, Nigel Farage has said. It came as the Clacton MP launched the party’s “operation restoring justice”, which Reform is billing as a five-year emergency programme to detain and deport illegal migrants and deter future arrivals that they would enact if elected to government.Some 600,000 asylum seekers could be deported in the first parliament of a Reform UK government, Mr Farage claimed.Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage at the launch of Reform UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers, at London Oxford Airport More

Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s hard-right Reform UK party, said Tuesday that if he wins the next election he will leave the European human rights convention and immediately detain and deport anyone who arrives in the country illegally.Farage laid out his plans to tackle illegal immigration following a significant rise in the number of migrants who arrive by boats across the English Channel, and weeks of protests over the government’s use of hotels to house asylum-seekers. Despite holding just four of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, Farage ‘s party has gained momentum by seizing on public frustration over successive governments’ inability to bring down the number of migrants coming by boat. National polls have suggested that support for Reform equals or surpasses that of the ruling Labour Party and the Conservatives.“If you come to the U.K. illegally, you will be detained and deported and never, ever allowed to stay, period,” Farage told a press conference. “The mood in the country around this issue is a mix between total despair and rising anger,” he said, adding there is now “a genuine threat to public order” if no action is taken.Farage, who has long sought to link problems such as public healthcare and housing to migrant arrivals, reiterated his stance that the U.K. is being “invaded” by migrants. He said that if he comes to power, Reform will leave the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal or “disapply” all other rights treaties to bar all asylum claims and ensure migrants who arrive without authorization are deported.The party pledged to scale up the capacity of detention facilities and secure deals with countries including Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran, to return migrants.Asked repeatedly about the prospect of asylum-seekers being tortured or killed if they were sent back to countries they fled from, Farage said: “The alternative is to do nothing … We cannot be responsible for all the sins that take place around the world.”So far this year, more than 28,000 people have crossed the English Channel to arrive in the U.K. by boat, up about 50% from the same period last year. A much larger number of people — over 111,000 — applied for asylum in the U.K. in the year up to June, official figures show.Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ditched the Conservative administration’s flagship plan to send migrants who arrived by unauthorized means to Rwanda. Instead, he has pinned hopes on a deal agreed with France last month to send some migrants who cross the English Channel on dinghies and inflatable boats back to France.U.K. officials have suggested the “one in, one out” plan is a major breakthrough, despite the initial program involving a limited number of people. The government is also looking to speed up the processing of asylum claims. Officials have housed tens of thousands of migrants awaiting their asylum outcome in hotels at public expense — a controversial policy that has long simmered but tipped into protests in recent weeks after a hotel resident allegedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and was charged with sexual assault. The man has denied the accusation.Anti-migrant demonstrators, as well as counterprotests, have flared after local authorities won a temporary injunction last week to shut down the Bell Hotel in Epping, on the outskirts of London. More