Farage accepts Northern Ireland wouldn't leave ECHR with rest of UK - as he proposes 'renegotiating' Belfast Agreement
Nigel Farage says that removing Northern Ireland from the European human rights framework would take “a little bit longer” than the rest of the UK, as he outlined his party’s plans to tackle the UK’s illegal migration crisis.
The Reform UK leader says negotiations could take place to “renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement” to remove the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
Mr Farage was detailing his party’s policy to deal with people entering the UK illegally and claiming asylum – with ECHR withdrawal a key part of his proposals to tighten immigration rules.
ECHR rulings mean it has been harder for the UK government to deport those entering the UK on small boats, and there have been growing calls on the right of British politics for withdrawal from the convention.
Responding to questions from journalists, the Clacton MP made clear that Northern Ireland would be treated differently from the rest of the UK under his plans. He said the former Prime Minister Tony Blair “wrote the ECHR into everything”.
“He wrote it into everything to try and embed it deeply in British law. Can we renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement to get the ECHR out of it? Yes.
“Is that something that can happen very, very quickly? No, it will take longer. It will take longer.
“So unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, previous governments have placed Northern Ireland, I am afraid, in a different position to the rest of the United Kingdom – something that we vigorously opposed. It will take a little bit longer with Northern Ireland”.
In the 1998 Belfast Agreement the UK government committed to incorporate the ECHR into Northern Ireland law – and provide “direct access” to its courts. The ECHR is also embedded in Northern Ireland law under the Windsor Framework.
Nationalists and Alliance have argued that UK withdrawal from the convention would breach the 1998 deal.
Reform UK says it would seek to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers in its first parliament if elected to government.
During its immigration policy launch on Tuesday, Mr Farage warned of a “genuine threat to public order” without action to tackle illegal migration.
Reform UK describes its “operation restoring justice” as a five-year emergency programme to detain and deport illegal migrants and deter future arrivals that they would enact if elected to government.
The party said it would increase detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and secure deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran to return migrants to their countries.
However, Mr Farage failed to answer when asked how much he would be prepared to pay to Iran and the Taliban to take deportees back.
He said everyone who arrives on a small boat will be detained, including women and unaccompanied children.
“Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival will be detained. And I’ve accepted already that how we deal with children is a much more complicated and difficult issue”, he said.
Reform UK claims the plan will cost £10 billion to implement but save £7 billion currently spent on illegal migration during the first five years.
The party would leave the European Convention on Human Rights and replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, which would apply only to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK.