Nigel Farage has said he would remove migrants’ indefinite leave to remain rights, which allow people to gain settled status in the UK, as he set out a hardline approach to immigration in the same week President Trump added a fee to a key US worker visa.
The Reform UK leader said he would force migrants to re-apply for visas after their first five years in the country while people who have already gained settled status would lose their rights.
During a press conference on Monday, Farage hit out at the “Boriswave” – high immigration in the years after the pandemic after Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit reforms to the system – as the “greatest betrayal of democratic wishes in anyone’s living memory”.
Farage said he wanted to “wake everybody up” to the costs of the high number of migrants who could claim ILR in the next few years and the “sheer irresponsibility” of Boris Johnson’s government.
Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, said companies had hired labour on “dirt cheap” wages at the cost of British taxpayers and workers, and proposed a limited “acute skills shortage visa” created to hire foreign workers for specific sectors for “national critical functions” while British workers are trained.
Reform’s policy takes a much tougher line than the Labour government, which is set to double the time period after which migrants can apply for indefinite leave to remain from five to ten years.
Reform also said it would increase the salary thresholds for people to obtain visas in the UK from £41,700 today to a “considerably higher” level, while migrants would have to meet higher English-speaking standards.
Foreign nationals would not be able to claim benefits in measures set out under a paper called “prioritising British citizens”.
Reform UK, which consistently leads in the polls, has taken a harder line than other parties on immigration, with its latest policy announcement among its most radical proposals for government.
Farage takes on Labour – and Boris Johnson
Writing for the Daily Mail, Farage said the changes would save £234bn of taxpayer cash over the course of the lifetime of migrants.
The figure was taken from a Centre for Policy Studies report on the costs of low-wage migration in the UK, with Farage claiming the “era of cheap foreign labour is over”.
In a statement after Reform made its announcement, the CPS clarified that its estimate was a “ballpark figure for the financial cost of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who will soon be eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)”.
“After the CPS’ report was published, the Office for Budget Responsibility revised their definitions of some of the fiscal data contained within our report, meaning that the overall cost estimates should no longer be used,” a statement said.
“The CPS has been in communication with the OBR and other experts for clarity and will be publishing an updated estimate in due course.”
Reform’s Yusuf accused the government of “hiding data” around the costs of immigration.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “unacceptable” to threaten working people in the capital city with deportation.
His stance mirrors that of President Donald Trump, who added a $100,000 fee on the H-1B visa used by businesses to move foreign nationals to the US on a temporary basis.
The US president’s declaration has triggered a frenzy among large businesses, with the likes of Microsoft and JP Morgan sending emergency notices to staff to remain in the US.