Reform UK pledges to suspend asylum system for up to five years

Reform UK has pledged to suspend the UK’s asylum system for a full parliamentary term if it wins power, according to the BBC. Reform UK says it would reject new applications, void existing ones and mark claimants for deportation. The BBC says a parliamentary term usually lasts five years unless an early election is called. [1]

Reform UK also says it would stop granting refugee status or humanitarian protection, end legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes, and abolish the asylum tribunal. Reform UK proposes deporting 90,000 people whom it says currently have appeal cases. [1]

Reform UK says it would leave the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, with the aim of preventing legal challenges to its plans. Whether those changes could be implemented or achieve that aim remains unresolved. [1]

According to the BBC, Reform UK says its proposed detention and deportation agency would need 24,000 to 28,000 detention spaces. The BBC questions whether that capacity would suffice. Reform UK says it would retain a temporary settlement scheme for Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war and EU settled status, though it proposes cuts to benefits for the latter group. [1]

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, said he would undertake a mass deportation programme if appointed home secretary, but also said people would not be returned to harm. The BBC reports that Jon Featonby, the Refugee Council’s chief policy analyst, warned that closing the asylum system would leave people who still arrived vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. [1]