Staff reporter
London: The Conservative Party has pledged to establish a new Removals Force capable of removing 150,000 illegal immigrants a year if it returns to government, as Kemi Badenoch’s party steps up its campaign for tougher immigration controls.
Under the Conservatives’ proposed BORDERS plan, all new illegal arrivals would face deportation within a week, while foreign criminals would also be removed. The party says the annual target of 150,000 removals would be delivered by a dedicated enforcement force.
The plan goes considerably further than simply increasing deportations. The Conservatives say they would leave the European Convention on Human Rights, withdraw from the European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings, repeal the Human Rights Act and introduce a total ban on asylum claims by people who enter Britain illegally.
The party also proposes ending the Immigration Tribunal and legal aid for immigration cases, while negotiating returns agreements with other countries and using visa sanctions where governments refuse to cooperate.
The Conservatives argue that the measures are necessary to regain control of Britain’s borders and deter people from making illegal journeys to the UK. Their proposals come as immigration remains one of the most politically contested issues in British politics.
The government, meanwhile, has also increased enforcement. The Home Office said in June that nearly 70,000 people with no right to remain had been removed since Labour came to office, including foreign national offenders and failed asylum seekers.
The Conservative target of 150,000 removals a year would therefore represent a substantial expansion of the UK’s current removal operation. Its implementation would also raise legal and diplomatic questions, particularly over the proposed withdrawal from the ECHR and the practical ability to secure return agreements with countries of origin.
The Conservatives say their plan is intended to create a fundamentally different immigration system, with rapid removal replacing prolonged asylum and appeals procedures for illegal entrants. Critics are expected to focus on the legal, administrative and humanitarian implications of such a system.
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