Overview

• Reform UK's Operation Restoring Justice would bar small‑boat arrivals from claiming asylum, expand detention to about 24,000 places and seek to remove up to 600,000 people over five years via treaty withdrawals and new returns deals, including with Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran.
• After saying "women and children... will be detained," Farage told a subsequent press conference the focus was on "illegal males" and that women and children were "not part of our plan for the next five years."
• Reuters and legal experts report the programme would require leaving or disapplying the ECHR, the Refugee Convention and UN anti‑torture and civil rights pacts, creating risks for the Good Friday agreement and potential court challenges under common law.
• Labour’s European affairs minister warned the agenda would cost UK trade about £9bn and increase red tape and food prices, while opponents and analysts labelled the targets logistically implausible and raised humanitarian concerns.
• Current capacity and returns fall far short of Reform’s goals, with about 2,500 detention places and 8,200 forced deportations last year, while independent estimates suggest deportation flights and facilities could cost billions annually beyond Reform’s £10bn five‑year price tag.