REFORM UK leader Nigel Farage has slammed Labour’s plans to revise the asylum system and said he does not think they will work.
In an interview with GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, he was asked if he thought the Home Secretary was “eating his lunch” – Farage said: “I’ve heard that phrase before. Do you remember when David Cameron promised a referendum? That’s it, it’s all over for UKIP. But we won the European elections the year afterward.
“No, all she does is validate our position, particularly with the rhetoric that she was using. Look, I wish her well, but I just don’t see…I’ll vote for measures if I think they’re actually going to work.
“I’ll vote for them if I think they’re going to work. Let’s see how it all gets amended. And let’s bear in mind that all the while we have the Human Rights Act, all the while we’re signed up to the ECHR, all the while we have the judges and judiciary in our post-Blair world that we’ve got, would I vote for something that I don’t think can work? Unlikely.”
Asked if he wanted Shabana Mahmood to succeed in dealing with the small boats crisis, he said: “I’d love a British government to control our borders, make us wealthy. You know, I wouldn’t need to bother them, would I?”
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He added: “You’re dealing with Oxbridge careerists. I’m not. I don’t need this job. I’m doing this because I believe I can make a difference.”
On whether he wanted the Home Secretary to fail, he said: “That’s your mindset. That’s how you all think, I’m not like that…they’re all from the same circle of people. If they do all of it in the next few years, I won’t personally be needed. It’s not going to happen.”
Asked about Reform UK’s budget plans, Farage said: “Sixteen months ago, you didn’t give the party a cat’s chance in hell of winning a single seat. We won five MPs and just look what we managed to do in the last 16 months. It is a work in progress. We made – let me tell you what. Just look how we broadened the team out even over the course of this summer.”
On if he will name a shadow cabinet, he said: “ Yes. Not today. The Labour Party had about 130 years. The Tories are 200 years. I’ve been back in this for 16 months. Give me a little bit more time.”
Asked about the reduction in migration last year, he said: “Well, Boris, isn’t there. You could argue that. Look, if you actually look historically at net migration into Britain from the late 1940s right up until the end of the 1990s, you’re averaging net migration of about 30,000 a year, some years, of course, even lower than that.
“So even if the 345,000 figure is true, it is still 10 times historically what we were able to absorb for decade after decade. It’s still a massive number.”
He said he would stop the small boats if he became PM: “Oh yes, just like Tony Abbott did. Tony Abbott was elected in Australia. He said, vote for me. I will stop the boats. And guess what he did.
“There’s a couple very, very basic things you have to do. Number one, you pass a law that nobody that comes via this route will ever be given refugee status. Number two, you are not free to walk the streets. You will be detained, as simple as that. And number three, you will be deported.
“And you know, it’s a really funny thing, I’m told ‘well, of course, we can’t send people back to Afghanistan.’ Well, you know what? The Germans are sending planes to Afghanistan every single week. So all of this is about political will. All of this is not being afraid in the short term of being condemned by some international courts and communities.”
On Reform in local government, he said: “Well, two points to make. Firstly, you know, we’ve only been there for a very short period of time. Secondly, you’re placing a level of scrutiny on us that you never bothered to do with the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives.
“Oh, they’ve been tested, all right, don’t worry about that. And they’ve both failed completely. And that’s why people want something fresh. They want something that is new, and they want something that’s actually got a coherent vision of where it wants to get to.
“Will we be perfect? Of course, we won’t. Are we heading in the right direction? You betcha.”
