Britain’s primary opposition party announced Sunday that if they regain power, they intend to deport 150,000 undocumented immigrants annually. This ambitious goal would be achieved by establishing a powerful new removals force, directly inspired by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Unveiling these plans, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch detailed several key measures: deploying facial recognition technology to identify undocumented individuals, completely reforming the asylum system, and withdrawing Britain from a crucial international human rights treaty.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms. Badenoch stated, “The reality is, far too many individuals in our nation shouldn’t be here. They don’t belong, they’re involved in criminal activities, and they’re causing harm.”
This significant pledge was made at the start of a crucial annual conference, a moment widely seen as vital for Ms. Badenoch’s leadership, especially as her party’s standing in opinion polls has plummeted since she assumed control last November. Even if she manages to stabilize her leadership, a general election isn’t expected until 2029, suggesting her path to Downing Street remains a distant prospect.
This announcement underscores a toughening stance on migration and related issues across Britain. The political discourse has been significantly shaped by both Nigel Farage, leader of the populist anti-immigration party Reform U.K., and the controversial policies of former President Trump.
In response to this evolving political climate, the center-left Labour government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has also adopted a firmer stance on immigration and has taken a strict position on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Adding to the tightened security, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood pledged on Sunday to grant police increased authority to manage such protests, following a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue last week that claimed three lives.
Immigration has become a dominant political issue. During his recent visit to Britain, former President Trump garnered attention by proposing that the Labour government deploy its military to halt undocumented migration. Ms. Badenoch, who met Trump, subsequently commended him on social media for a speech she felt ‘reminded people about all the things that put the ‘Great’ in Great Britain!’
Further aligning with Trump’s policy approach, Ms. Badenoch has also suggested scaling back Britain’s efforts to address climate change.
The U.S. administration reports having conducted 400,000 deportations since January. However, ICE’s robust enforcement methods have faced broad condemnation, particularly as some American citizens have been mistakenly apprehended.
Ms. Badenoch’s commitment to mirroring American policies highlights the immense pressure she is under and her struggle to maintain relevance. The Conservative Party is fighting for its very existence as Reform U.K. increasingly captures the political spotlight.
Reform U.K. currently leads in opinion polls, driven by Mr. Farage’s strong campaign against the influx of migrants, particularly those crossing the English Channel in small boats. He has vowed to remove as many as 600,000 undocumented immigrants.
Prime Minister Starmer has secured an agreement with the French government to facilitate the return of some arrivals to Britain; however, only a small number have been repatriated to France to date.
While Mr. Farage’s growing popularity alarms the government, his rise poses a more direct and urgent threat to the Conservative Party, whose approval ratings hover around a dismal 16 percent in recent polls.
Political analysts widely anticipate that Ms. Badenoch may face a leadership challenge by next summer if she cannot significantly improve her party’s poor standing in the polls.
The Conservative Party finds itself in a precarious position, largely due to a significant surge in legal immigration to Britain under the previous government, which included Ms. Badenoch, before their electoral defeat in 2024.
During her Sunday address, Ms. Badenoch detailed that her proposed removals force would operate with a budget of 1.6 billion British pounds (approximately $2.15 billion), financed by reducing expenses associated with housing asylum seekers. She also committed to tightening asylum claim criteria and eliminating immigration tribunals that currently review rejected asylum applications.
Furthermore, Ms. Badenoch pledged that a Conservative government would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, a decades-old treaty designed to protect individuals, including refugees. This represents a major policy reversal that has historically caused deep divisions within the Conservative Party. She added that any candidate opposing this withdrawal would be barred from running for the Conservatives.
However, when pressed during her BBC interview for specifics on how and where 150,000 people would be deported annually, Ms. Badenoch’s responses were notably vague.
She expressed frustration, stating, ‘I’m tired of these irrelevant questions about their destination. They will return to their rightful place or another country; they simply shouldn’t be here.’
She emphasized, ‘We cannot tolerate a situation where we’re unable to deport individuals and then claim, ‘Well, we don’t know where they’ll go, so they must remain here.'”
In a critical response, the Labour Party asserted that Ms. Badenoch failed to ‘answer the most basic questions about the policies she’s supposedly spent months thinking about,’ concluding that ‘It’s the same old Tory Party making the same old mistakes — and the public shouldn’t and won’t forgive them.’