Overview

• Reform UK proposes abolishing Indefinite Leave to Remain, replacing it with five‑year renewable visas with higher salary and English thresholds, and limiting welfare and social housing to British citizens.
• Nigel Farage told LBC that benefit bans would not apply to Ukrainians and Hong Kongers, marking a partial retreat from earlier pledges to apply the measures universally.
• Reform UK’s projected £234bn saving is contested, with the Centre for Policy Studies saying the estimate it was linked to “should no longer be used,” though Farage continues to cite it.
• Business groups warn the plan could deepen labour shortages, and immigration lawyers predict successful legal challenges, while charities say it would harm long‑term residents and vulnerable people, including torture survivors.
• Official DWP data show 213,666 people with ILR are claiming universal credit, a figure cited in the debate over who would be affected by the proposed restrictions.