Nigel Farage has called for a minister for deportations as he said that “somebody somewhere in government” needs to be held accountable for the matter.
The Reform leader also said that his voters would be “in revolt” if the party looked to do a deal with the Conservatives, after Robert Jenrick called for a “coalition” on the right to take on Labour.
It comes as next week’s local elections could test whether Reform’s surging poll numbers are converting into votes.
In a speech from Dover on Thursday, Mr Farage said: “We will appoint – we will demand this Government does the same – that there is a minister for deportations.
“It will be part of the Home Office, but it will be a separate department within it.”
He said that “somebody somewhere in government needs to be held accountable”.
He added: “What I’m calling for isn’t actually anything particularly radical. It’s actually just common sense.
“It’s what most countries in the world do: you want to go and live there, you want to go and settle there? You have to meet a set of criteria, and that country chooses, are you the right person, or are you not?”
Mr Farage also said that people who arrive in the UK “illegally” should “not be able to stay” and there will be “more detailed policy on how we will actually carry out those deportations” in “three to four weeks’ time” after the local elections.
The speech in Dover comes a day after audio was published in which shadow justice secretary and former Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick could be heard saying he wanted the “fight” against Labour to be “united” and vowing to create a “coalition” to achieve that.
Mr Farage said that Reform “would be in revolt” if the party did a deal with the Conservatives.
He claimed that a portion of people who backed his party at the last election could not “put up with the level of betrayal” from the Conservative Party since 2019.
Asked whether there will be attempts to unite the right, Mr Farage said that Reform’s biggest gains in next week’s local elections “are going to be in Labour voting areas” and that a “big percentage” of their backers in last year’s election “loathe” the Tories.
Mr Farage added: “If we were to even contemplate doing a deal, our voters would be revolted by it, our party itself internally would be in revolt.
“If I wanted to do a deal with you of any kind, I would shake your hand, look you in the eye and do that deal because I trusted you.
“I don’t trust the Conservative Party in any way at all and we are going to replace them.”
