Nigel Farage claimed there is a "genuine threat to public order" without action to tackle illegal migration as he laid out Reform UK's plans to crack down on small boats crossing the English Channel.
The Reform UK leader has promised “mass deportations” of people in Britain illegally if his party is elected at the next general election.
Launching the so-called "Operation Restoring Justice" programme at London Oxford Airport on Tuesday, Mr Farage said: "The mood in the country around this issue is a mix between total despair and rising anger.
"And I would say this, that without action, without somehow the contract between the Government and the people being renewed, without some trust coming back, then I fear deeply that that anger will grow.
"In fact, I think there is now, as a result of this, a genuine threat to public order."
Reform’s Zia Yusuf said the party would introduce a “five-year emergency program to track down, detain and deport all illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom” that would see some 600,000 people removed from the country over the course of a parliament.
The plan would include:
- Britain leaving treaties that have been used by some asylum seekers to appeal deportation, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The UN Convention Against Torture the Council of Europe Anti-trafficking Convention would also be “disapplied”, the party said
- Migrants given the option to return to their country voluntarily and offered £2,500 on top of the cost of their flight
- Detention camps for people who enter the country illegally
- Up to five flights a day to deport failed asylum seekers
Mr Yusuf added that Reform UK would create a "data fusion centre" which would draw together data from police forces, the Home Office, NHS, DVLA, HMRC and banks.
"This will allow deportation command to relentlessly track down and detain all those who entered our country illegally," the head of Reform’s Department of Government Efficiency said.
A Reform government would prioritise securing return agreements, with aid and visas stopped from being issued to countries if they refuse to take part in a returns scheme for illegal migrants, Mr Yusuf added.
Mr Farage claimed Reform UK's plans to deport asylum seekers en masse would save "tens and possibly even hundreds of billions of pounds" in the decades ahead and will stop small boats coming "within days".
"Our proposals will save over the course of the next decades tens and possibly even hundreds of billions of pounds,” he said.
"By the end of a first parliament, we will have saved a huge amount of money."
Downing Street on Tuesday rejected Mr Farage’s claims that Britain is on the precipice of civil disorder over unhappiness about small boat migrants.
Number 10 said the Government was setting out "serious" solutions to the issue, not gimmicks.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "It makes him angry frankly, because it's unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price from the cost of hotels to our public services struggling under the strain.
"That's why we're taking the action we are, to recognise the strength of feeling about this. The pressure that it puts on public services and that's why we're taking serious practical action to address this issue, not just returning back to the old gimmicks, the old solutions that failed to deal with this."
Asked whether he agreed with Reform UK's leader, Sir Keir’s spokesman added: "No, and I think what the Prime Minister is focused on is dealing with the concerns that people have.
“People have understandably have felt like their living standards have stagnated over the last 15 years, and that's why growing the economy and raising living standards is the Government's number one priority.”
