Downing Street has confirmed that Sir Keir Starmer is on holiday abroad with his family for “few days” this week. No further details were given about the Prime Minister’s whereabouts or when he will be back in the UK because of “security reasons”.

Green Party MP Ellie Chowns said: “More inflammatory rhetoric from Farage at a sensitive time in many communities. This dangerous toxic bluster is clearly aimed at whipping up anger, hatred and even disorder. The way he talks about asylum seekers – our fellow global citizens – is reprehensible.

“The policy proposals themselves are unworkable. They rely on ripping up swathes of international law and would likely face many legal obstacles in the UK courts that could use British common law to block such cruelty.

“Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan and Syria feature in the top ten countries for asylum seekers in the UK – all places where people face oppression, conflict, extreme poverty or famine. Asylum claims from people arriving from these countries have high approval rates – almost 100% in the case of Sudan and Syria.

“Yet former Reform UK Chair Zia Yusuf has suggested that a Reform government would pay brutal regimes like the Taliban to accept the return of migrants – including unaccompanied children. They must know what is likely to happen to these people when they are returned – they will likely be abused, tortured or executed.

“This is not who we are as a nation. The vast majority of the British public are willing to show compassion towards those fleeing the terrible situations they leave behind.”

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:

“Nigel Farage is simply re-heating and recycling plans that the Conservatives have already announced.

“Earlier this year we introduced and tabled votes on our Deportation Bill in Parliament, detailing how we would disapply the Human Rights Act from all immigration matters, and deport every illegal immigrant on arrival.

“Months later, Reform have not done the important work necessary to get a grip on the immigration crisis and instead have produced a copy and paste of our proposals. Only Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives are doing the real work needed to end this scourge – with further, detailed plans to be announced shortly.”

Nigel Farage says the Good Friday Agreement will need to be renegotiated to remove reference to the ECHR, which was embedded by Tony Blair.

However he warns this will take longer than other plans.

Nigel Farage warns that the social contract in this country is at a “very very fragile moment” and says restoring of trust in politics “is absolutely vital”

He says a lot of Reform supporters believe he is “pretty much the last shot” of hope for the country.

“Goodness only knows what this country will look like in ten years’ time. Goodness only knows how many talented people will have left. Not just the ultra rich but the young, ambitious and hard working.

“It’s absolutely vital we do all of this.”

Reform’s deportation centres will take inspiration from the mass-capacity Nightingale hospitals built in record time during the Covid pandemic.

Zia Yusuf says the idea that Britain can’t build anything quickly “is for the birds”, arguing it just takes political willpower.

The Express’s Home Affairs editor Michael Knowles questions Nigel Farage on a key plank of today’s policy announcement.

He asked: “Your operation plan speaks about a six-month voluntary return window. Can you spell out why you’re going to do that and why it preceeds the large-scale raids?”

Mr Farage answered: “Because there’s a nice way of doing this and a very tough way of doing this.

“And if people think ‘crikey, they’re breathing down my neck, they’re actually doing to catch up with me and deport me, I might as well take the offer of £2,500 and a free comfortable flight back to my home country’

“Difficult to assess just how successful that will or will not be, but if you think ‘this time next week they’re going to be knocking on my door’, I suggest quite a few people will take that up.

“It’s part of our carrot and stick approach to individuals illegally in Britain.”

Nigel Farage has raised the prospect that the Labour government won’t hang on until 2029.

Mr Farage suggests Rachel Reeves is out of her depth and that Labour could be toppled by the bond markets.

Zia Yusuf says Reform’s policy, while initially costly, will ultimately save the taxpayer over £40 billion in ten years as the other costs of the illegal migrant crisis dry up rapidly.

“That is money that is returned to hard working families, to our schools, the NHS and to rebuilding Britain’s prosperity.”

The Foreign Office will be handed billions to secure new returns agreements with other countries.

If they refuse, Reform will stop issuing visas to people from that country and if necessary sanction them.

Reform’s new deportation centres will be able to hold up to 24,000 illegal migrants at a time, enabling them to deport up to 288,000 a year.

“Detention will mean deportation. No chance of bail, no chance of absconding.”

Reform will aim to have five deportation flights departing every day, and to guarantee success the Royal Airforce will keep a voyager aircraft on standby as a ‘hot spare’, so even if there are mechanical issues with commercial craft flights will not be stopped.

Reform will create a new deportation command body, given powers to received information automatically from the police, Home Office, NHS, DVLA, HMRC and banks to allow them to relentlessly track down and detain illegals

Illegal migrants who deliberately destroy their identification documents while crossing the Channel in a small boat will become a criminal offence, and given 5 years in prison.

Yusuf says not a lawyer or court in the country will be able to prevent a deportation flight from leaving, when Nigel Farage is PM and has enacted the sweeping changes outlined below.

Largely because anyone who comes to the UK illegally will be completley ineligable for asylum in the first place, so wouldn’t be able to try and have their case heard to hold up deportation.

Yusuf says the Home Sec will receive “sweeping new detention powers”, without constraints.

Detaining illegal migrants for as long is necessary for them to be deported.

“This is essential, because activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their clients bail, after which the client disappears

“And we’ll pass a law that makes clear if you come to this country illegally you will never be granted asylum. End of story.”

Zia Yusuf says Reform’s policy is a five year campaign to remove everyone in Britain illegally.

He says that as PM, Mr Farage will ensure every level of the state is pulled to ensure that illegal immigrants are detained and deported.

Reform will pass the ‘Illegal immigrant mass deportation act’ to ensure no activist judge can stop deportations.

He says leaving the ECHR is “nowhere near enough” to fix the issue.

Yusuf adds that Reform would also disapply the 1951 refugee convention, the UN convention against torture and the Council of Europe anti-trafficking convention, which he says is a non-exhaustive list.

Zia Yusuf will now explain some operational details from Reform’s deportation policy.

He reiterates that Britain “is being invaded”

Nigel Farage says his plan will restore public trust with politics.

“We genuinely are the only party that can be trusted on this. I am the only party leader that has been clear and consistent on this issue over the course of the last five years.

“I have a feeling that what we’re doing today with Operation Restoring Justice is going to be very popular in the wider country.”

Farage says we must leave the ECHR “No ifs, no buts”, repeal the Human Rights Act brought in by Tony Blair, and for a five year period disaply the 1951 UN convention on refugees, and any legal barriers that are being used by lawyers to prevent deportations.

They will also introduce a legal obligation on the Home Secretary to detain any illegal migrants.

He says: “The only way we will stop the boats is by detaining and deporting absolutely anyone who comes via that route.

“If we do that, the boats will stop coming within days as there’d be no incentive to pay a trafficker to get you into the country.”

Nigel Farage says the official figures don’t account for the cost of operations in the Channel, the cost of court proceedings.

The Home Office says the cost of illegal migrants is £7 billion a year.

Farage says stopping it will save tens if not hundreds of billions.

Farage accuses the UK and French governments of colluding to support criminality.

He cites the trade in life jackets, giving them back to the French so they can be re-used for future crossings into Britain.

Nigel Farage says the small boat crisis is an “invasion”, following his warnings in 2020.

He warned that unless something was done the crisis would get considerably worse.

Accuses the Tories of doing “literally nothing” for years, but says when they eventually acted none of their attempts would work because of their refusal to leave the ECHR.

“Rishi’s ‘stop the boats’ was a total failure. Frankly anything that party has to say must be taken with a very very large pinch of salt.”

Nigel Farage says the public have had enough, and what began as a protest by mothers outside the Bell Hotel in Epping has spread across the country.

He says many men coming across the Channel come from countries that don’t treat women as even second class citizens.

Nigel Farage says the mood in the country on illegal immigration is a mix of total despair and rising anger.

He warns that without radical action, he fears that anger will grow, and believes there is now a “genuine threat to public order” and a threat to national security.

A huge departure board has been erected showing the top nationalities crossing the Channel in small boats.

Across the other side of the venue is an arrivals board, with the same countries and a caption of “gate closed”.

The Tories have accused Nigel Farage of copying and pasting their illegal immigeation policy, announced a few months ago.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Nigel Farage seems to have picked up Rachel Reeve’s penchant for copy and paste

His immigration plan looks very similar to the Conservative’s Deportation Bill which we introduced in Parliament a few weeks ago:

-⁠End the Human Rights Act for immigration matters

-Deport all Illegal Immigrants immediately upon arrival

-No asylum or other claims for those who enter illegally

But we’ve already done the detailed work which is needed – not simply given a press conference.”

Nigel Farage has shared a teaster trailer for his press conference with one hour to go

Ahead of his bombshell press conference this morning, Nigel Farage has written a column accusing Keir Starmer of siding with foreign judges over the interests of British people.

He blasts: “No longer will these malign influences be allowed to frustrate deportations. The planes will take off, and plenty of them at that.

“The time has come to put this country first. This is all a question of priorities. Is Keir Starmer on the side of the British people, national security and protecting women and girls – or is he on the side of outdated international treaties and human rights lawyers?”

Nigel Farage has called on supporters to tune in at 10.30am today, as he takes to the stage to unveil Reform UK’s deportations policy.

He shared a timelapsed video of illegal migrants pouring off a rescue boat yesterday, with 650 more arriving.