Overview

• In a Spectator interview, Robert Jenrick said asylum seekers should be detained in camps with facilities like “rudimentary prisons,” rejecting Reform UK’s proposal for fenced cabin sites.
• He argued legal migration has been more damaging than illegal crossings because of “eye-watering” volumes and branded the post‑Brexit points‑based system the worst policy mistake of his lifetime.
• Jenrick said Britain needs “breathing space” through a sustained period of net emigration that he agreed could last up to a decade while remaining open to high‑skilled workers.
• He welcomed elements of Nigel Farage’s mass‑deportation plan but criticised proposed exemptions for women and children, warning people‑smuggling gangs would exploit such carve‑outs.
• He supports withdrawing from the ECHR, which is not current Conservative policy, as Starmer commits to remaining in the convention and pursues tighter use of Article 8 in immigration cases.