Nigel Farage unveils plans for 'the opposite' of Human Rights Act

NIGEL Farage has unveiled plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a bill that only covers British citizens. 

Reform UK’s proposals would ensure people have the “freedom to do everything, unless there’s a law that says you can’t”, Farage claimed.

The Clacton MP told The Times that his proposals were “the opposite” of the “concept of human rights, which are state given”.

“We have got academics working on it. There is a huge amount to do,” he added.

In practice, the party’s plans would see the UK quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as well as other international agreements in a bid to end asylum claims altogether.

The 1998 Human Rights Act, which enshrines the ECHR in UK law, would be binned and replaced with a “Bill of Rights” that, The Times reported, would not include any mention of human rights.

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s former chair, said of the party’s proposed bill: “It will have nothing in it to help activist judges to stop flights taking off. It will prioritise the rights of British citizens over foreign ones. 

“We are not going to flinch. We’re not going to be intimidated. We are going to deliver for the British people. It’s the only way to restore this country. To stop the invasion from happening.”

Zia Yusuf is one of Nigel Farage's key allies in Reform UKFarage’s plans would see people who come to the UK given no right to claim asylum. Instead, they would be arrested and detained in camps before attempts to deport them, either back to their home country – despite risk of persecution or even death – to remote British Overseas Territories, or to a third country, like Rwanda.

Chris Philp, the Tories’ shadow home secretary, said Reform UK were “just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced”.

He added: “Nigel Farage previously claimed mass deportations were impossible, and now he says it’s his policy. Who knows what he’ll say next.”

The Tory-run UK government attempted to scrap the Human Rights Act with a “Bill of Rights Bill”, but binned their plans in 2023.

Their Rwanda scheme, where asylum seekers would be sent to the central African nation instead of being allowed to claim in the UK, was scrapped by Keir Starmer after Labour won power.

Labour’s asylum minister Angela Eagle said: “Nigel Farage is simply plucking numbers out of the air, another pie in the sky policy from a party that will say anything for a headline.

“We are getting a grip of the broken asylum system. Making sure those with no right to be here are removed or deported.”