Police, Crime & Border Security Update

Britain’s illegal immigration crisis confirms that there has never been a more pressing need for an opposition movement with new solutions.

In previous emails, I’ve written to outline our plans for developing policy in advance of the next General Election. A key part of that process will be our policy working groups, some of which are already underway and meeting.

These groups are comprised of ordinary members, who replied to previous emails to let us know that they had the relevant experience or qualifications to be a part of our policy team.

Today, I’m delighted to introduce you to the Chair of such a group, Neil McCabe. Neil spent 30 years in policing and three years with the Border Force before retiring in 2020. These days Neil is using his experience to lead Reform UK’s Police, Crime, Prisons and Immigration policy working group. Neil has been working with other informed members to develop some exciting policy proposals that I’d like to share with you.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is under fierce criticism from the usual suspects for her plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda in East Africa. Civil servants have even threatened to mutiny and refuse to carry out government policy.

The Rwanda scheme at least shows that Patel and the Tories are trying to do something to deter the criminal people-smuggling gangs.

But her plan won’t work.

It is not slowing the armada of people-smuggling boats invading our coast. Last Sunday alone, the Border Force intercepted 254 people; an estimated 7000+ have made the crossing so far this year. That’s probably an underestimate; Home Office figures show 28,526 crossed the Channel last year.

To get a true picture of who these thousands of supposed refugees are – overwhelmingly young men of working and fighting age – watch the eye-opening eye-witness reports by our Honorary President, Nigel Farage.

Even if Patel’s plan could work, it would be defeated in the UK courts by a left-liberal coalition of human rights lawyers and judges.

We need some bold new ideas about how to break the cycle of illegal immigration. Here’s an outline of Reform UK’s plan of action:

  • It's time to withdraw from United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention, which gives asylum-seekers the right to travel through other safe countries to reach the UK. The UN 51 Convention was right for the post-Second World War era. But the world has changed.

    We don’t need it to take in genuine refugees or legal immigrants. For instance, India and Pakistan are not signatories to the 51 Convention, yet immigrants from those countries have built big, successful communities in Britain.
  • We need to take back control of immigration by withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights, and reforming the UK Human Rights Act 1998 that is based on the ECHR.

    These legal instruments empower an unaccountable and increasingly woke elite of judges and human rights lawyers to overrule the elected government on big issues, from free speech to immigration. To take back control of our borders, we need to take democratic control of our laws.
  • We need to break the bureaucratic inertia and political opposition within the civil service that renders border control so hopeless. Let’s merge the existing Border Force and Immigration Enforcement departments into a single dedicated force, to be called Her Majesty’s Border Force (HMBF).

  • For the new HMBF to work, we need to remove it from the control of the politicised civil service. The threatened rebellion by civil servants opposed to government immigration policy is an outrageous sign that these bureaucrats believe they are our masters, not public servants.

    The HMBF should be established as an entirely separate entity, attached to the Home Office and accountable to our elected leaders.
  • Finally, we need the Royal Navy to assume full responsibility for policing the UK’s maritime borders. Let’s mobilise Britain’s senior service to put defending the interests of our nation and citizens first.

The British people’s generous response to the genuine refugee crisis in Ukraine shows again that we are among the world’s most tolerant, welcoming nations. But we will not be taken for fools.

We voted for Brexit to take back control of our borders, alongside our laws and money. Now it’s time for Britain to put its money where its mouth is and take control of the illegal immigration crisis.