At the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this weekend, party leader Kemi Badenoch unveiled a sweeping new immigration strategy that would see the United Kingdom withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and deport an estimated 750,000 illegal migrants within five years. The plan, which also bans anyone entering the country without permission from ever applying for asylum, represents the most hardline immigration policy the party has ever proposed—and one that has drawn sharp criticism and deep concern across the political spectrum.
The centrepiece of Badenoch’s proposal is the creation of a US-style “Removals Force,” modeled directly on America’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. According to reporting by the Daily Mail, this new unit would receive over £1 billion in funding, with the explicit goal of detaining and deporting around 150,000 illegal immigrants every year. The plan is ambitious: it aims to boost removals from the current 34,000 annually to 150,000, ultimately reaching the 750,000 mark over the course of a parliamentary term. Funding for the force would come from closing asylum hotels and slashing the £4.76 billion annual cost of the asylum system.
“We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration into Britain and secure our borders,” Badenoch declared at the conference, as quoted by the Daily Mail. “That is why the Conservatives are setting out a serious and comprehensive new plan to end this crisis. The next Conservative Government will withdraw from the ECHR and ECAT, create a new Removals Force to deport all illegal arrivals and end the legal merry-go-round of tribunals and appeals.” She emphasized that the plan was both “serious and credible and backed by comprehensive legal analysis.”
The policy package doesn’t stop with the Removals Force. The Conservatives also propose ending legal aid and judicial review for immigration cases, repealing the Human Rights Act, and pledging to deport all illegal arrivals and foreign criminals within a week. The party also wants to quit the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT), a move likely to anger some moderates, including former prime minister Theresa May, who has argued that the convention is essential to combat trafficking.
Party strategists, according to the Daily Mail, believe that banning asylum and other protection claims for illegal entrants will send “a clear signal” that no one entering illegally will ever obtain asylum—a deterrent effect they claim mirrors what was achieved under President Trump in the US. The Removals Force, they say, would replace existing immigration enforcement teams and double current funding levels to £1.6 billion annually.
Badenoch’s announcement comes as her party faces a steep decline in the polls, lagging far behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which has made similar pledges to deport 600,000 migrants in five years and withdraw from the ECHR. The parallels between the two parties’ platforms have not gone unnoticed. In fact, former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve issued a stark warning this week, telling The Independent that Badenoch’s hard-right policies risk making the Conservatives “indistinguishable” from Reform UK. “I think it is a death wish for the Conservatives to essentially make them the same as Reform and making them indistinguishable,” Grieve said, adding that the notion of leaving the ECHR as a solution to the migration crisis is “complete fantasy.”
Badenoch, for her part, has rejected the idea that her party is simply copying Reform UK. In her speech, she argued, “Labour offer failed gimmicks like ‘one thousand in, one out’ with France. Reform have nothing but announcements that fall apart on arrival. Our stronger borders plan is serious and credible and backed by comprehensive legal analysis. That’s the difference the next Conservative Government will deliver.”
However, the details of the deportation plan remain murky. During a BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch was pressed repeatedly about where those deported would actually be sent, especially those from countries like Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan. She dismissed the question as “a self-defeating argument,” insisting, “it doesn’t matter, all that matters is they should not be here.”
The new policy also intersects with growing concerns about public safety and community relations, particularly in the wake of a synagogue attack in Manchester on October 2, 2025, which left two Jewish men dead and three others seriously injured. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told BBC that the government would expand police powers to restrict repeat protests, though she acknowledged the balance “hasn’t got the balance right yet.” Badenoch, meanwhile, used the occasion to stress the party’s solidarity with the Jewish community, declaring, “To our Jewish friends, we stand with you shoulder to shoulder. You are part of the fabric of Britain and you always will be.”
But the conference atmosphere was noticeably subdued, with many corporate sponsors staying away and attendance reportedly sparse. The only packed-out meetings were fringe events for Sir James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick, both seen as potential successors to Badenoch. The party’s main exhibition space featured a museum display honoring Margaret Thatcher, perhaps a nod to a more unified and successful Conservative past.
Critics from across the political spectrum have voiced concerns about the legal and humanitarian implications of the Conservatives’ new approach. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Paymaster General and Minister for EU Relations, lambasted both the Tories and Reform UK for offering “the same isolationist fantasy: withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and pretend the problem goes away. It’s the fake fix of mediocre politicians – waving wild decisions as genius because they’ve run out of ideas, are out of options and out of their depth.”
Badenoch, however, remains defiant. She insists that only the Conservatives can “bring this country back together” by “combining secure borders with a shared culture, strong values and the confidence of a great nation.” As she told the conference, “We can win the debate and the next election ... we have a mountain to climb but we have a song in our heart and we are up for the fight.”
The coming months will test whether this bold new direction can revive Conservative fortunes—or whether, as some warn, it will further alienate moderate voters and deepen divisions within both the party and the country.
