The leader of Britain's anti-immigration party Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has announced a plan to repeal human rights laws to allow mass deportations of migrants and reverse what he called an "invasion" that threatens national security, Reuters quoted him as saying.
Farage said his party, which is leading in national opinion polls, would withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act and scrap other international treaties used to block the forced deportation of asylum seekers.
"The mood in the country around this issue is a mixture of utter despair and growing anger," Farage told the press conference. "This is an invasion because these young men are illegally invading our country."
The announcement comes amid ongoing, small-scale protests in recent weeks outside hotels hosting migrants over public safety concerns after some were accused of sexual assault.
Polls show that immigration has overtaken the economy as the top concern for British voters. Reform UK - which has just four members of parliament but is leading in every opinion poll - is putting increasing pressure on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer to tackle the problem.
Britain took in a record 108,100 asylum seekers in 2024, up almost 20% on the year before. People from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Bangladesh made up the largest number of asylum seekers last year.
Much of the focus has been on those arriving in small boats across the English Channel, with record numbers this year.
Starmer's government and his predecessors have struggled for years to deal with illegal migrants entering the country.
Reform's plans are the most radical yet and would include signing agreements with Afghanistan, Eritrea and other countries to repatriate their nationals who have arrived in Britain illegally.
If no action is taken, Farage said that "the anger will grow, in fact I think there is now a real threat to public order as a result, and that is the last thing we want".
Starmer's government has a plan to "break" gangs who smuggle people into the UK by reforming the asylum appeals process and hiring more enforcement officers.
The previous Conservative government planned to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the policy was declared unlawful by the UK Supreme Court.