Reform pledges to suspend UK's asylum system for up to five years

Reform UK has announced plans to effectively close down the UK's asylum system for a full parliamentary term if elected.

The party said all new asylum applications would be rejected and existing applications voided, with all claimants marked for deportation. It said no grants of humanitarian protection or refugee status would be made, while legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes would end.

Reform said it would also scrap the asylum tribunal system and deport 90,000 people currently with appeal cases, with home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf saying "Britain is full".

Labour called the proposals a "clear sign of desperation and weakness" and the Refugee Council branded them "unworkable".

Reform said its existing plans to make migrants who have entered the UK illegally, overstayed a visa or originated from a safe country ineligible for asylum would effectively prevent any current asylum claimant "from ever having their case heard".

The party said it would therefore "suspend the asylum system entirely for a full parliamentary term".

A parliamentary term usually lasts five years unless an early UK general election is called.

Under further proposals, Reform said it would pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention to prevent legal challenges to its plans.