Reform UK announced that if it entered government it would effectively close down the UK’s asylum system for a full parliamentary term: all new asylum applications would be rejected, existing applications voided, and all claimants marked for deportation, the BBC reported. The party would scrap the asylum tribunal system, deport claimants with more than 90,000 outstanding appeals, and make no grants of humanitarian protection or refugee status. To block legal challenges it would pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, while Home Office staff handling asylum claims would be reprioritized to reviewing and overturning previous refugee grants.
Party leader Nigel Farage said the UK is “facing a national security emergency,” arguing the country cannot accept more asylum seekers while the number of people in Britain illegally is unknown; stopping small boat crossings would be a first-100-days pledge. Labour chair Bridget Phillipson called the proposals “a clear sign of desperation and weakness,” while Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said they “largely copy” Tory policies and the Liberal Democrats said the UK should join the EU migration and asylum pact. This builds on an April Reform pledge to review all asylum claims from the last five years, and small boat arrivals in 2026 stood at 20,478 as of October 5.