Newcastle council leader slams Reform UK's asylum plan

Nigel Farage has announced his party’s intention to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers in a single parliament if it was in power, pledging to scale up detention centres and seek deals with countries like Iran and Afghanistan to send back migrants.

The unveiling of “Operation Restoring Justice” on Tuesday came after weeks of mounting pressure on Labour over small boat crossings and the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

Last Saturday brought another protest in Newcastle city centre against a migrant hotel, which was again met by a counter-demo led by the Newcastle Unites group and Stand Up To Racism.

Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour has called for an end to the use of hotels as asylum accommodation, with most recent figures confirming that there were 291 people living in such hotels in Newcastle as of June 30. 

However, she has said the authority will not seek the same kind of High Court injunction granted to Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council requiring that asylum seekers are no longer accommodated at a hotel in Essex from September 12.

On Tuesday, Coun Kilgour said that “active” talks with the Home Office are still ongoing about closing the city centre hotel via other means and pursuing a new system that could lead to more “cohesive communities”. 

Speaking after Mr Farage’s announcement in Oxfordshire, she said: “Nigel Farage continues to do what he does best, pluck numbers from thin air and peddle it as Reform policy. The Government made a manifesto commitment to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers. Their use does not lead to cohesive communities and the buildings can become a magnet for disorder and anti-social behaviour. 

“The only ones benefiting are people-smuggling gangs. That means ensuring genuine refugees can work and contribute to the country, whilst those with no right to stay have appeals heard swiftly and are quickly returned. The council remain in active discussion with the Home Office to this end.”

Mr Farage said on Tuesday that Reform’s plans would see everyone arriving in the UK on a small boat detained, including women and children.

His plans would see the UK repeal the Human Rights Act, leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR), and disapply the 1951 refugee convention and UN convention against torture.

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.”