Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK and a figure never far from the headlines, has ignited a fierce national debate with his latest pledge: mass deportations of asylum seekers arriving in the UK by small boats. In interviews published on August 23, 2025, Farage laid out a sweeping plan that would radically overhaul Britain’s approach to migration, border security, and international human rights obligations. The proposals come at a time when immigration has overtaken the economy as the British public’s top concern, according to multiple polls, and as the country grapples with record numbers of asylum applications and rising tensions in communities hosting migrants.
Farage’s plan, as reported by The Times and Eastern Eye, centers on withdrawing Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other international refugee treaties. By doing so, he argues, the UK could end the right to claim asylum or challenge deportation for those arriving via the English Channel in small boats. “The aim of this legislation is mass deportations,” Farage told The Times. “We have a massive crisis in Britain. It is not only posing a national security threat but it's leading to public anger that frankly is not very far away from disorder. There is only one way to stop people coming into Britain and that is to detain them and deport them.”
Farage’s proposals would see new arrivals detained on disused RAF bases, with the possibility of repatriating them to countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea if bilateral agreements can be reached. The plan includes holding up to 24,000 migrants in such facilities at a cost of £2.5 billion and running five deportation flights daily, aiming for deportations in the hundreds of thousands. If these measures fail to deter arrivals, Farage has suggested relocating asylum seekers to Ascension Island, a remote British territory in the South Atlantic, as a symbolic gesture of the UK’s resolve.
When questioned about the risks asylum seekers might face upon return to countries with poor human rights records, Farage was blunt. “I can't be responsible for despotic regimes all over the world. But I can be responsible for the safety of women and girls on our streets,” he told The Times. He cited public safety concerns, referencing recent protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers and incidents where some migrants have been charged with sexual assault.
The numbers underpinning Farage’s sense of urgency are stark. The UK received 111,084 asylum applications in the year to June 2025, the highest figure on record. According to the Home Office, small boat arrivals increased 38% over the previous year, with more than half of those coming from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. In 2024, around 37,000 people made the perilous journey across the Channel from France, a 25% jump from 2023 and accounting for 9% of net migration. Yet, analysis by the University of Oxford shows that about two-thirds of those who arrive by small boats and apply for asylum are ultimately granted it, while only 3% have been deported.
Meanwhile, the financial burden of the asylum system remains immense, though it has recently eased. Official figures show that spending on asylum fell by 12% to £4.76 billion in the year ending March 2025, down from £5.38 billion the previous year. Still, as of the end of March, 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels—a practice the government has pledged to end by the close of the current parliament.
The politics of the crisis are as heated as the facts. Labour’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has described the situation as a “broken immigration and asylum system that the previous government left in chaos.” She insists that the new government has “strengthened immigration controls and sharply increased enforcement and returns.” Labour’s border security minister, Angela Eagle, dismissed Farage’s proposals as “pie in the sky,” saying, “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.”
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have accused Reform UK of recycling their ideas. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp stated, “This big reveal is just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced. Nigel Farage previously claimed mass deportations were impossible, and now he says it's his policy. Who knows what he'll say next.”
Public reaction to the ongoing use of hotels for asylum seekers has grown increasingly volatile. Protests—sometimes violent—have erupted outside hotels across England, including after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex. The government recently lost a court battle to continue housing migrants in the Bell Hotel in Epping, prompting security minister Dan Jarvis to promise an appeal. “We've made a commitment that we will close all of the asylum hotels by the end of this parliament, but we need to do that in a managed and ordered way. And that's why we'll appeal this decision,” Jarvis said.
Local councils controlled by Labour, the Conservatives, and Reform UK have all considered legal challenges to block the use of hotels in their areas. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to end the costly practice of housing asylum seekers in hotels by 2029, but insists the transition must be gradual and orderly. According to The Guardian, numbers in hotels have risen 8% during Labour’s first year in office, though they remain below the 2023 peak under the Conservatives.
The public’s anxiety is palpable. Immigration and asylum have edged out the economy as the country’s most pressing concern, according to at least two regular trackers of voter sentiment. Research cited by The Guardian found that half of NGOs supporting refugees have faced threats and safety concerns since the 2024 riots, forcing some to relocate or close offices. Anti-migrant protests and counter-protests organized by Stand Up to Racism are scheduled in cities including Bournemouth, Cardiff, and Leeds.
Despite the heated rhetoric, some facts remain stubbornly persistent. Most small boat arrivals are eventually granted asylum, and the majority of the public’s concerns center on safety, integration, and the visible strain on local resources. The government claims progress, noting that the asylum backlog has been reduced, system costs cut, and returns of failed applicants increased. Yet, the debate over how to balance compassion, security, and sovereignty continues to rage.
Farage’s proposal is, by his own admission, radical. Whether it will ever be implemented—or even survive legal scrutiny—is far from certain. But as the UK wrestles with unprecedented migration pressures and a public mood demanding action, it’s clear that the politics of asylum are set to remain front and center in British life for the foreseeable future.
