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

Key Points:

• Reform UK has proposed shutting down the UK's asylum system for a full parliamentary term, rejecting all new and existing asylum applications and marking all claimants for deportation, while ending legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes.
• The party plans to scrap the asylum tribunal system, deport 90,000 people with pending appeals, and pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention to prevent legal challenges.
• Reform UK intends to ban British visas for countries refusing deportation flights and consider asset freezes or tariffs against non-compliant nations, while creating a specialized agency for detention and deportation with 24,000 to 28,000 detention spaces.
• Critics including Labour and the Refugee Council have condemned the proposals as extreme, unworkable, and likely to drive vulnerable people underground, urging instead for faster asylum decisions and proper enforcement of existing rules.
• Reform UK leader Nigel Farage framed the plans as necessary for national security and cost-saving, while other parties like the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats offered differing approaches focusing on border control and EU cooperation.