theguardian.com
Reform branded ‘threat to democracy’ over Farage plan to remove thousands of migrants with leave to be in UK – politics live
Nigel Farage says Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship
Good morning. Last month Reform UK unveiled its “Operation Restoring Justice” plan for the mass deportation of people living in Britain without permission to be here. It was aimed at illegal immigrants, but Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, proposed deportation on an unprecedented scale , without being clear as to quite how many people would be affected. Today he is committing Reform (which is currently well ahead of other parties in national opinion polls) to an even more draconian approach. He says Reform would abolish indefinite leave to remain – the immigration status that allows people to remain in the UK for as long as they want, often the first step towards citizenship.
Crucially, this would not just be for new applicants; it would be retrospective, applying to people who already have indefinite leave to remain. Instead, people would have to apply for a five-year visa, with tougher conditions.
Today, I can announce that Reform will go even further.
We will abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status, which grants migrants the right to live, work and study in the UK permanently with full access to Britain’s health and benefits system.
These changes will lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status in the UK, which will be done on a staggered and orderly basis to allow businesses to train British workers to replace them. Many of those who will lose their leave to remain are entirely dependent on the welfare state and will leave voluntarily upon losing access to benefits. Those that don’t will be subject to immigration enforcement as part of our mass deportation programme – Operation Restoring Justice. Continue reading...
