Up to 6,000 illegal migrants will be deported every week under a Reform UK government, Zia Yusuf will claim on Monday. Nigel Farage’s home affairs chief says 600,000 people will be removed over five years, a move he insists will end the small boats “invasion”.
Mr Yusuf will set out his radical masterplan – Operation Restoring Justice – in a major speech in Dover. His Trump-style proposals include sweeping legislative changes, including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), mass deportations, and a zero-tolerance approach to knife crime and Islamist extremism.
Thousands of migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel (Image: Getty)
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Small boat crossings have surged (Image: Migration Watch)
The plans could dramatically increase the number of people being removed from the UK. Some 58,500 illegal migrants and foreign criminals have left since Labour won the 2024 election, most of them voluntarily.
Mr Yusuf is expected to say: “For decades, the Tories and Labour have turned the other way while the very fabric of our society has been under assault.
“The social contract has not merely been broken, it’s been shattered.
“My message to the British people is simple – I will secure our borders and make you feel safe.”
If it wins the next general election, expected in 2029, a Reform government would rapidly build detention capacity for 24,000 illegal migrants and ramp deportation flights to five per day.
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Mr Yusuf’s speech is expected to include new policies on what Reform describes as “protecting British culture” and a “zero-tolerance” approach to Islamist extremism, building on its recent announcement that it would proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood.
In November, as part of Labour’s crackdown on illegal migration, Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, warned Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo that the UK would deny their people entry unless they rapidly improved co-operation on taking back deportees.
Those countries have since agreed to co-operate.
But Mr Yusuf will accuse Labour of threatening visa bans on only a “handful of African countries responsible for only a minuscule proportion of illegal migrants”.
He will say that Reform would go further and target countries with larger illegal migrant populations, citing Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan.
The number of asylum claims has also risen sharply (Image: Migration Watch)
In an attack on Labour and the Conservatives, he will argue in his speech against the “cosy consensus” that Britain needs immigration to maintain economic growth.
He will say that improving productivity, rather than using cheap unskilled labour, is fundamental to increasing GDP.
He will also take aim at former prime minister Boris Johnson.
“Boris threw open our borders and imported a staggering 3.4million migrants in three years, the vast majority came on non-work visas,” he will add.
“They will shortly be granted ILR [indefinite leave to remain], which means they gain lifetime access to our welfare state. A lifetime of living off the British taxpayer. This will cost hundreds of billions of pounds.
“That’s why the Boriswave must be averted. A Reform government will terminate all welfare payments to foreign nationals.”
Anna Turley, chairwoman of the Labour Party, said: “Reform wants to divide our country, not deliver for the British people.
“Their plan to deport people who have followed the rules, worked hard and built their lives here – our friends, neighbours and colleagues – is a direct attack on settled families and fundamentally un-British.”
Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “It is clear Reform don’t have a problem with Conservative plans as they’ve simply copied and pasted them. Instead of coming up with their own solutions, they’re showing they are incapable of taking real action to secure our borders.
“The Conservatives’ BORDERS Plan is clear. We will leave the ECHR and ECAT, ban asylum and other protection claims from illegal entrants, establish a new dedicated Removals Force, introduce a binding annual cap on legal migration to dramatically reduce numbers, increase deportations to 150,000 a year, and finally end the endless cycle of appeals that has kept Britain’s borders under strain. This is the scale of action Britain needs to take back control.
“Only the Conservatives are doing the hard work to restore order, secure our borders and protect our country.”
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Vows to Deport 6,000 Illegal Migrants Every Week
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has placed mass deportation at the centre of its immigration strategy, promising to remove thousands of people from Britain every week if the party enters government.
The proposal represents one of the most extensive immigration enforcement programmes put forward by a major British political party. Reform says it would establish a dedicated deportation command, expand detention capacity and charter multiple flights each day as part of a five-year programme to identify, detain and remove people it considers to be living in the UK illegally.
The figure of 6,000 removals a week has attracted particular attention because it translates into approximately 312,000 removals a year if maintained continuously. Reform’s plans have also referred to up to five deportation flights a day, with the party arguing that a much larger removal operation is necessary to deal with the scale of illegal migration.
But the proposal raises practical, legal and diplomatic questions. Previous analysis by the BBC noted that achieving 6,000 removals every week would be far beyond anything a UK government has previously managed on a sustained basis.
Reform’s “Operation Restoring Justice”
The deportation programme forms part of Reform UK’s wider policy known as “Operation Restoring Justice”.
According to the party’s current policy platform, a Reform government would introduce a five-year emergency programme to identify, detain and deport all illegal migrants in the UK. It proposes creating a UK Deportation Command, rapidly increasing detention capacity and using up to five deportation flights each day.
The party also says it would seek new return agreements with foreign governments and impose visa sanctions on countries that refused to accept their nationals.
Reform’s plan is closely connected to its wider proposal to change Britain’s approach to asylum and human-rights law. The party says it would leave the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act and legislate so that people entering the country illegally would be ineligible for asylum.
These are major constitutional and legal proposals, meaning that the deportation target cannot be considered separately from the party’s plans to change the legal framework surrounding immigration.
How the 6,000-a-week figure was calculated
The 6,000 figure is not simply a slogan. Reform has attempted to connect it to the logistical capacity of its proposed deportation system.
In analysis published by the BBC, the party’s plans were examined against the number of people who would need to be removed, the number of escorting officers required and the number of flights that would have to operate.
The BBC calculated that removing 6,000 people a week would require an average of around 1.7 escorting officers for every person removed, using contemporary operations as a guide. The figure would be compatible mathematically with five deportation flights a day, but each flight would need to carry considerably more people than current removal flights typically do.
The BBC also reported that Reform’s proposal would require the equivalent of five jumbo jets to operate throughout the year, carrying an average of about 158 people per flight.
That does not necessarily make the target mathematically impossible. But it illustrates the scale of the infrastructure required.
The question is therefore less about whether 6,000 can be divided by seven and more about whether the necessary people, aircraft, detention places, legal processes and international agreements could all operate simultaneously.
A target far beyond previous removals
The biggest challenge is the comparison with Britain’s existing removal system.
The BBC reported that the proposed target would be substantially higher than any sustained level of removals previously achieved by a British government. Reform has nevertheless argued that an emergency programme, supported by new infrastructure and a dedicated command, could dramatically increase the pace.
The party’s policy document proposes rapidly building detention centres to accommodate people awaiting removal. It also proposes using diplomatic pressure to secure agreements with countries that are currently reluctant to accept deportees.
This is important because a deportation decision does not automatically result in an immediate departure.
Authorities need to establish identity and nationality, complete relevant legal procedures, obtain travel documentation where necessary and secure acceptance by the destination country.
Some cases can also involve legal challenges.
As a result, the number of people whom a government wants to remove and the number it can physically remove during a particular week are not necessarily the same.
Reform’s wider immigration strategy
The 6,000-a-week proposal is only one part of Reform’s immigration policy.
The party also wants to stop small boats crossing the English Channel. Its “Operation Fortress” plan proposes deploying the Royal Navy, supported by civilian authorities, to intercept migrant boats and return those on board to France or Belgium under escort.
At its September 2026 conference, Reform home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said that under a Reform government, people attempting to cross the Channel illegally would be detained and returned.
He also said the party would launch what he described as the largest mass deportation operation in modern British history.
This would represent a significant change from the existing approach to Channel crossings.
The party argues that stronger enforcement would deter people from making the journey and reduce pressure on Britain’s asylum system.
Critics, however, have questioned whether proposed policies would be legally and operationally deliverable, particularly where European countries or countries of origin refuse to cooperate.
The issue of people already granted asylum
Reform’s plans have also expanded beyond people currently classified as illegal migrants.
Earlier in 2026, the party said it would review successful asylum claims made during the previous five years. According to reporting by The Independent, Reform estimated that around 400,000 people could fall within the scope of this review, with the party saying that the majority could ultimately be deported if they were found to have entered illegally or overstayed a visa before claiming asylum.
This is an important distinction.
A person who has already been granted asylum is not simply in the same legal position as someone who has no permission to remain. A government seeking to remove such people would therefore have to address the legal status that had previously been granted.
Reform has argued that previous decisions should be reconsidered under its proposed immigration framework.
The proposal has attracted criticism from other political parties, with opponents questioning both its practicality and the legal consequences.
Foreign criminals and prison capacity
Reform has also connected deportation policy with its plans for the prison system.
The party says it would deport foreign offenders and prevent early release for serious criminals. Its current policy platform states that foreign offenders could be sent to their home countries or, where those countries refuse to accept them, to countries such as El Salvador or Kosovo to serve their sentences.
In August, LBC reported that Reform had discussed renting prison capacity in El Salvador and elsewhere as part of its proposals for foreign prisoners.
Again, the practical details are crucial.
Any such policy would require agreements with foreign governments, arrangements for transportation and security, and a legal framework governing prisoners serving sentences outside Britain.
It would also have financial implications.
The diplomatic challenge
One of the biggest obstacles to a large-scale deportation programme is cooperation from other countries.
Britain cannot simply place every person scheduled for deportation on a plane and send them to a destination without the receiving country’s agreement and the necessary documentation.
Reform says it would use diplomatic negotiations and visa sanctions to encourage countries to accept their nationals.
The party’s approach therefore relies partly on Britain’s ability to use diplomatic and economic leverage.
Whether that leverage would produce agreements on the scale required is an open question.
There is also a distinction between deporting someone to their country of nationality and removing someone to a third country. The latter requires additional arrangements and raises further legal and diplomatic considerations.
The legal dimension
Reform’s proposal would also face significant legal questions.
The party has explicitly linked its deportation policy to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and repealing the Human Rights Act.
Supporters of the policy argue that Britain’s existing legal framework creates barriers to removing people who have no right to remain.
Opponents argue that human-rights protections are necessary to prevent unlawful removal and protect people who may face persecution or serious harm if returned.
The debate is therefore not simply about administrative efficiency. It concerns the balance between immigration enforcement, individual legal rights and Britain’s international obligations.
What would 6,000 removals a week mean?
If Reform achieved its stated target continuously, 6,000 removals a week would amount to approximately 312,000 a year.
Over five years, that theoretical pace would exceed 1.5 million removals.
Those numbers demonstrate why the proposal is so significant.
Reform has argued that Britain needs an emergency programme because the existing system has failed to remove people without permission to remain quickly enough.
The party’s opponents have instead questioned whether the infrastructure and international cooperation necessary to achieve such numbers can actually be created.
The BBC’s analysis highlights the scale of the logistical problem: the required number of flights, escorts and detention places would be substantially greater than the capacity historically used for removals.
A major test for Reform
For Farage and Reform UK, immigration is one of the party’s defining political issues.
The proposed deportation programme gives voters a clear indication of what a Reform government would attempt to do: dramatically increase removals, expand detention, create a dedicated deportation command, alter asylum rules and pursue new agreements with foreign governments.
But the distance between a political pledge and implementation would be substantial.
A government would need to recruit thousands of staff, acquire or expand detention facilities, arrange aircraft and security, process cases rapidly, negotiate return agreements and deal with legal challenges.
It would also have to determine how to handle people whose nationality cannot immediately be established or whose removal is temporarily prevented by legal proceedings.
The 6,000-a-week figure therefore represents an ambitious operational target rather than an established capacity.
Reform has made clear that it wants a fundamental change in Britain’s approach to illegal migration. Its current policies promise a five-year programme of detention and deportation and up to five removal flights a day.
Whether those plans could be implemented at the scale proposed would depend on Parliament, the courts, the civil service, foreign governments and the resources available to a future administration.
What is clear is that Reform has placed mass deportation at the heart of its immigration platform.
The 6,000-per-week target gives that policy a concrete numerical dimension. It also makes the practical challenge easier to understand: sustaining that level would require a removal operation on a scale Britain has not previously maintained.
For Reform supporters, the proposal represents a commitment to dramatically increase enforcement. For critics, the same numbers raise questions about cost, legality, logistics and international cooperation.
Those competing arguments will remain central to the debate over Reform UK’s immigration programme and what a Farage-led government would seek to implement if it came to power.