Nigel Farage’s economic spokesman, Robert Jenrick, said migrants would not be automatically removed from the UK if they lived in social housing.
Zia Yusuf has confirmed migrants in social housing will be deported (Image: Getty)
Zia Yusuf has publicly slapped down Robert Jenrick in a row over Reform’s mass deportation plans. Nigel Farage’s economic spokesman, Mr Jenrick, said migrants would not be automatically removed from the UK if they lived in social housing. But Mr Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, hit back on Tuesday morning, declaring: “Robert’s answer is not Reform policy. As the person responsible for our deportation plan, I want to ensure people know where we stand.”
Mr Yusuf said: “If a foreign national lives in social housing at taxpayer expense, they automatically fail our economic test and will be deported.” Mr Yusuf has previously told the Daily Express that foreign nationals must “more than pay” their way. Reform has vowed to terminate all welfare payments to foreign nationals.
Mr Yusuf has confirmed Reform UK will scrap indefinite leave to remain and replace it with a five-year visa.
This will be accompanied by higher salary thresholds, “mandatory fluency” in English, and “stricter good character requirements”.
Party documents add: “There will be no recourse to benefits for foreign nationals”.
Asked if a migrant living in social housing would be automatically deported, Mr Jenrick said: “Not exclusively because of that, but if they fail to meet our criteria, because they are not working as many hours, not earning enough money, then they won’t be able to renew their work visa because ILR won’t exist and they’ll be asked to leave.”
And if Reform wins the next election, a new ‘UK Deportation Command’ will use data from banks, the Home Office, HMRC, police, DVLA and NHS to identify every illegal migrant.
They will then be offered £2,500 each to leave the UK during a six-month grace period.
Once the voluntary returns programme comes to an end, immigration enforcement teams will be ordered to carry out raids and detain them.
New laws introduced in a planned Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill will bar illegal migrants from claiming asylum, and the Home Secretary will have a legal duty to remove them.
Reform will also leave the European Convention on Human Rights, and disapply other pieces of human rights laws, such as the Refugee Convention, to allow five deportation flights every day.
Mr Jenrick and Mr Yusuf have fallen out publicly before.
Former top Tory Mr Jenrick allegedly attempted to obtain confidential candidate application information belonging to Mr Yusuf six months before defecting to Reform UK.
Mr Jenrick joined Nigel Farage’s party in January, leaving his former post as Shadow Justice Secretary.
Leaked messages revealed he asked: “Hi. Do we have any information on Zia? Did he apply to be a candidate? Do we have his candidate application form? We should destroy him. Rob.”
The move came amid a row after Mr Yusuf’s social media account liked an antisemitic tweet.
Mr Yusuf, a multimillionaire businessman, said one of his team “accidentally pressed like on an awful antisemitic tweet” about Mr Jenrick and his wife and said: “I apologise for this.”