OPINION – JONATHAN SAXTY: Why is this even controversial?
OPINION
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has caught ‘uniparty’ on the hop, writes Jonathan Saxty (Image: Getty)
Reform has caught uniparty allies – Labour and the Tories – on the hop by promising the swiftest illegal immigrant crackdowns to date and reintroducing sanity back into Britain. Taking an axe to the whole asylum “scam”, Reform leader Nigel Farage and shadow home secretary Zia Yusuf said a Reform government would abolish our broken asylum system, void all current and new applications, while making applicants immediately liable for deportation.
Reform will also mandate the immediate deportation of all foreign offenders regardless of prison sentence length and undertake a full population audit to identify those residing in the UK illegally. Farage said a Reform government would apply maximum pressure to other countries to force them to accept the return of illegal immigrants, including with visa bans and tariffs on countries which refuse to comply.
Yusuf pledged to close all UK resettlement schemes, including the UK Resettlement Scheme which home secretary Shabana Mahmood reopened. Anyone who has arrived in the UK through these routes will have their right to remain revoked and be deported. This comes as figures show that under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the average daily arrival rate for illegal immigrants has surged by 70%. During Sir Keir Starmer’s 200 days in office of 2026, just over 60 illegals arrived on average per day into the UK.
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Yet in Burnham’s first 80 days as PM, an average of roughly 105 is arriving every 24 hours. Put another way, Burnham has overseen illegal immigrant arrivals equivalent to over two-thirds of Starmer’s total, despite having served for less than half as long.
Nigel Farage is now demanding a massive change. Under Reform’s Operation Fortress, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines would also intercept small boats and return them to safe country France. The policy would see asylum hotels closed and Britain leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to remove all barriers to deportation.
How is this even controversial? Australia stopped its small boat crisis years ago and no government ever restarted the madness. Across Asia, island states like Japan, Singapore and Taiwan have no illegal immigrant crisis since their governments protect their borders and people.
Reform’s pledge also goes way beyond Tory plans. While the Conservatives say they will leave the ECHR and stop the boats, Kemi Badenoch and the vast majority of her team served in the very Conservative government which oversaw the immigration explosion and had 14 years to leave the ECHR yet never did.
As for Labour, let’s not go there. Illegal immigration continues apace, with ‘Open Borders’ Andy Burnham egging on an invasion of fighting aged men and housing them at taxpayers’ expense. It seems only Reform has a plan fit for the scale of the crisis we face.
Open door immigration under both the Conservatives and Labour is making Britain – like the rest of the Western world – both more dangerous and poorer. This is surely no time for half measures. Britain needs a correction.
Horror at UK train station as masked youths ‘wield machetes’ on busy platform
Footage filmed from a train appears to show an incident involving three men on a platform at Worthing Station in West Sussex, with one brandishing a machete-style knife.
KNIFE FIGHT Terrifying moment machete-wielding youths brawl & swing blades at each other on UK train station platformTHIS is the terrifying moment machete-wielding youths brawl and swing blades at each other on a UK train station platform.The horror unfolded in front of passengers at Worthing Station, West Sussex, in scenes of chaos on Sunday evening.https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40661380/machete-youths-brawl-swing-blades-uk-train-station/ (Image: Facebook)
Disturbing footage has emerged apparently capturing the moment knife-wielding youths launched an attack at a packed UK railway station. The violent confrontation unfolded at Worthing Station, West Sussex, on Sunday evening, October 11.
The video, recorded from inside a train carriage, shows the instant two men appeared to target a third individual.
This happened as one of the attackers wielded a machete-style blade. The men can be observed lunging and slashing at each other on the platform while passengers looked on from inside the carriage.
The clip shows one man fleeing from the other two as the train starts to depart. The full circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear and it is not known whether any of the men sustained injuries.
KNIFE FIGHT Terrifying moment machete-wielding youths brawl & swing blades at each other on UK train station platformTHIS is the terrifying moment machete-wielding youths brawl and swing blades at each other on a UK train station platform.The horror unfolded in front of passengers at Worthing Station, West Sussex, in scenes of chaos on Sunday evening.https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40661380/machete-youths-brawl-swing-blades-uk-train-station/ (Image: Facebook)
Officers raced to the location at approximately 6.30pm, but the men had escaped before police arrived. The vicinity was searched and sealed off.
An investigation was launched. British Transport Police have appealed for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.
“British Transport Police (BTP) were called to Worthing Station at around 6:30 pm yesterday evening (October 11) following reports of three males being involved in an altercation on a platform,” a spokesperson said.
Worthing Railway Station (Image: Google)
“They were all reported to be in possession of knives and had fled the station prior to police arrival.
“Officers conducted a thorough search of the area with Sussex Police colleagues, however no one was found.
“Enquiries are ongoing. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that could help officers and has yet to speak to police should text BTP on 61016, or call 0800 40 50 40, using the reference 543 of 11 October.
“Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
