Reform UK has backtracked on suggestions that unaccompanied migrant children could be deported under its proposed mass removal scheme, following backlash and accusations of a policy U-turn.
On Tuesday, Zia Yusuf, a senior figure in the party and architect of the migration plan, hinted that unaccompanied minors could be included in the “latter half” of the five-year deportation programme. But leader Nigel Farage has since insisted this is not part of Reform’s current plans for its first term in office.
The party says its deportation scheme would target around 650,000 adults living illegally in the UK, as well as new asylum seekers arriving across the English Channel in small boats. Reform UK has floated figures of up to 600,000 deportations if it wins the next general election.
At the centre of the proposals is a pledge to “disapply” international agreements such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, allowing the government to return people to countries deemed unsafe under existing laws.
Yusuf had earlier said the plan would begin with single men and adults without children, before expanding to more complex cases. However, at a press conference, Farage admitted that handling children was a “complicated and difficult issue.”
By Wednesday, Farage clarified that the party was “not even discussing women and children at this stage” and that unaccompanied minors would not be part of the first five years of the scheme. He did, however, confirm that women arriving without children would still face deportation.
The clarification drew sharp criticism. The Liberal Democrats accused Farage of a “shambolic U-turn,” while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said it showed Reform UK had “not done the homework,” contrasting it with her more cautious approach to migration policies.
If implemented, the plan would mark a dramatic shift in UK deportation levels. Official Home Office data shows only 10,652 asylum-related returns were made in the year to June. Reform’s proposal includes expanding detention capacity by 24,000 places in just 18 months and building new removal centres in “remote parts of the country.”
The party has pledged £2 billion to secure agreements with countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea to accept deported migrants. It has also floated the idea of using British overseas territories like Ascension Island as a fallback option.
This year, a record 28,288 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats, up 46% compared to the same period in 2024, underscoring the growing political pressure around migration ahead of the next general election.