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.
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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.
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 deportations at the centre of its immigration programme, setting out an ambition to remove thousands of people from Britain every week if the party enters government.
The proposed figure is striking: Reform has previously described a system capable of removing around 6,000 people every week, equivalent to roughly 288,000 removals a year. The party says this would form part of a wider five-year emergency programme to identify, detain and deport people it classifies as being in the UK illegally.
The proposal represents one of the most substantial changes to Britain’s immigration system proposed by a major political party in recent years.
But the headline figure also raises practical questions about detention capacity, flights, legal challenges, international agreements and the sheer scale of the administrative operation required.
Reform’s Operation Restoring Justice
The centrepiece of the proposal is called Operation Restoring Justice.
According to Reform UK’s current policy platform, a government led by Farage would introduce a five-year emergency programme designed to identify, detain and deport all illegal migrants currently in the UK.
The party proposes creating a new UK Deportation Command, expanding detention facilities and arranging as many as five deportation flights every day.
Reform says countries that refuse to accept their nationals could face visa sanctions, while employers who knowingly employ illegal migrants could face tougher penalties under a proposed “Deliveroo Law”.
The party also proposes leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and repealing the Human Rights Act as part of its wider immigration strategy.
These proposals would represent significant changes to the current legal framework and would require parliamentary legislation as well as changes to Britain’s relationship with international legal institutions.
Where does the 6,000-a-week figure come from?
The 6,000-per-week figure has attracted particular attention because of the scale involved.
Six thousand removals every seven days would amount to approximately 312,000 removals in a full 52-week period. Reform’s more detailed planning has also referred to a capacity of up to 288,000 removals annually, based on five flights a day.
BBC Home and Legal Correspondent Dominic Casciani examined the logistics behind the proposal and reported that removing 6,000 people per week would require a substantial expansion of detention and escort capacity.
He noted that Reform’s calculations envisage facilities capable of holding 24,000 people at a time and a large increase in the number of removal flights. The BBC also pointed out that such a target would be far beyond the scale achieved by previous governments.
That distinction is important.
The 6,000 figure is a political target or projected capacity, not evidence that Reform has already demonstrated it can deport 6,000 people every week.
Whether such a system could operate at that level would depend on a range of factors outside the government’s direct control.
Farage’s wider immigration strategy
The deportation proposal is only one part of Reform’s broader approach to immigration.
The party also wants to prevent new illegal Channel crossings.
Under its proposed Operation Fortress, Reform says a future government would deploy the Royal Navy and other relevant authorities in the English Channel.
The party’s stated objective is to intercept migrant boats and return those on board to France or Belgium under escort. Reform says that, under a Farage government, people crossing the Channel illegally would not be allowed to reach British shores.
Farage has repeatedly argued that Britain’s existing approach has failed to prevent dangerous Channel journeys.
Reform’s strategy therefore combines prevention at the border with a large-scale programme of removals for people already in the country.
The asylum system would also change
Reform has proposed changing the rules surrounding asylum claims.
The party says anyone entering Britain illegally would become ineligible to claim asylum under its proposed legislation.
It also intends to review existing asylum grants.
In April 2026, Farage announced that Reform would review successful asylum claims made during the previous five years if the party won power. The party said that people who had entered illegally or overstayed a visa before subsequently obtaining asylum could have their status revoked and be deported.
Reports at the time said the review could potentially involve around 400,000 people, with Reform arguing that a majority could ultimately be removed.
That proposal is separate from the party’s plan to deport people currently living in Britain without lawful status.
Together, the policies would create a much larger potential pool of people subject to immigration review.
A new deportation agency
Reform has also proposed creating an organisation modelled in part on the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
In February 2026, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf announced plans for a new UK Deportation Command.
The proposed agency would have the capacity to detain up to 24,000 migrants at a time and deport up to 288,000 people annually, according to the party’s plans reported at the time.
The scale would require a major expansion of Britain’s detention estate.
For comparison, BBC analysis noted that there were only around 2,500 detention spaces as of April 2024.
That does not mean the Reform proposal could not be expanded. It means that a government attempting to implement it would need to build or acquire a substantially larger detention system.
That process would take money, staff, buildings and time.
The question of international cooperation
Deportation is not simply a domestic administrative decision.
A person can only be removed if another country accepts them or if there is a legal mechanism allowing the UK to transfer them elsewhere.
Reform has therefore proposed negotiating return agreements with countries around the world.
Its policy says the Foreign Office would make return agreements a priority and that countries refusing to accept their nationals could face visa sanctions.
The party has also discussed using countries beyond migrants’ countries of origin for certain returns.
But international agreements cannot necessarily be created overnight.
Governments must negotiate with foreign states, establish documentation procedures and deal with legal and diplomatic considerations.
This is one of the reasons the practical delivery of the 6,000-per-week target would depend on circumstances beyond Reform’s direct control.
The financial cost
A programme of this size would also involve substantial expenditure.
Detention facilities would have to be built or expanded.
Thousands of immigration officers, escorts, administrators and other staff would be required.
Flights would need to be chartered and operated regularly.
Reform argues that removing people without legal status would reduce the long-term cost of accommodating them in Britain.
Critics have questioned whether the initial cost of establishing the deportation infrastructure could be very high.
LBC reported in April that Reform had also proposed giving some migrants £1,000 to leave the UK voluntarily, with the potential cost reaching hundreds of millions of pounds if applied to hundreds of thousands of people.
The financial debate therefore involves both the cost of enforcement and the potential savings Reform says would result from removing people from the asylum and welfare systems.
Opposition from other parties
Reform’s proposals have attracted criticism from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and other political opponents.
When the party announced its plans for a large-scale deportation operation, Labour argued that the proposals could affect people who had established lives in Britain.
Liberal Democrat immigration spokesperson Will Forster described Reform’s review of previous asylum decisions as impractical and argued that it could add further pressure to an already heavily burdened asylum system.
The Conservatives have also proposed a tougher immigration approach, although their plans differ from Reform’s.
Former Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives would seek to deport people without a right to remain much more quickly and proposed a separate removals force targeting around 150,000 people a year.
The competing proposals demonstrate how immigration has become a central area of political competition.
Legal questions could be decisive
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Reform’s programme would not necessarily be the number of planes or detention spaces.
It could be the law.
Reform has made withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights part of its programme and has proposed repealing the Human Rights Act.
The party argues that Britain’s existing legal framework prevents governments from controlling immigration effectively.
Opponents argue that removing these safeguards would weaken protections for individuals and could create new legal and diplomatic problems.
Any government attempting to implement the programme would also have to deal with judicial review, individual appeals, family circumstances and international obligations.
These questions would become especially significant in cases involving people who have children in Britain, victims of trafficking, people with serious medical conditions or individuals whose identity or nationality is disputed.
A five-year emergency programme
Reform’s own policy documents describe Operation Restoring Justice as a five-year emergency programme.
That is significant because it suggests that even the party itself does not envisage removing every illegal migrant immediately.
Instead, the proposed system would be built progressively, with new detention facilities, expanded enforcement powers, additional flights and international return agreements.
The 6,000-per-week figure is therefore best understood as the scale of the proposed removal operation rather than an immediate number that would necessarily be achieved from the first week in office.
BBC analysis concluded that the proposed numbers were technically imaginable within the framework Reform described, but would require a level of capacity well beyond anything previously operated by a UK government.
What a Farage government would attempt
Immigration has become one of the defining issues of Farage’s political programme.
Reform’s current policy platform says that within its first 100 days it would deploy the Royal Navy in the Channel, while its longer-term programme would establish a large deportation system.
The party is therefore proposing two simultaneous changes: stop new illegal arrivals and remove people already living in Britain without legal status.
The scale of the second objective is considerable.
Six thousand removals per week would require an organisation operating continuously across detention centres, airports, government departments and international borders.
Whether that target could be achieved would depend on parliamentary support, legal changes, funding, staff recruitment, detention capacity and cooperation from other countries.
For Farage, however, the political message is clear.
Reform wants voters to see immigration control not as a gradual administrative process but as an urgent national priority requiring a fundamental restructuring of the state.
The party has already moved beyond a general promise to “control the borders” and published a detailed framework involving Operation Fortress, Operation Restoring Justice and the proposed UK Deportation Command.
The 6,000-per-week figure is therefore part of a much larger plan.
It is a target that would require an unprecedented expansion of Britain’s deportation machinery, while simultaneously confronting difficult legal, financial and diplomatic questions.