Nigel Farage is using parliament’s summer break to garner more headlines and public support for Reform UK’s hardline approach to immigration and asylum. Tomorrow, he will unveil a “detain and deport” strategy to remove all migrants who arrive in Britain illegally. Those crossing the Channel in small boats would be barred from claiming asylum.
The Farage pitch will doubtless appeal to voters who are increasingly anxious about the highly visible problems of the crossings and asylum hotels – both symbols of a government not in control. The irony is that some of the right-wing politicians now exploiting these issues by irresponsibly stirring up community tensions, including Farage, are the same crew who, at the 2016 EU referendum, told us that Brexit would enable the government to “take back control” of immigration.
