Farage unveils ‘Vote Green, get illegals’ policy in racist election gambit

Nigel Farage unveiled a new low (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Reform UK has unveiled a plan to lock  up tens of thousands of migrants in detention centres—in areas the Green Party wins.  

The “Vote Green, Get Illegals” campaign, launched on Monday, is a piece of political theatre to appeal to right wing and racist voters.

Nigel Farage said, “In order to deport all illegal migrants in Britain, a Reform government will build detention capacity for at least 24,000 illegal migrants at a time.

“They will not be able to leave the detention centres, and be held for a short period while they await deportation.”

This doubles down on Reform UK’s threat to bring Ice terror to Britain, with plans for a “UK Deportation Command” and “rapidly building detention capacity”.

But there was an added twist in the announcement on Monday. Farage said, “We understand people feel strongly about living near detention sites.

“So we make this guarantee. Based on results from local elections and the next general election, no detention centre will be placed in any constituency with a Reform MP, or in any council area controlled by Reform.

“Of the remaining areas, given the Green Party advocate for open borders, we will prioritise Green-held constituencies and Green-run councils to put these sites.”

The party’s website features a form where you can fill in your postcode to see if Reform UK or the Greens are likely to win.

The new policy comes days ahead of the local council elections in England and the Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections.

Reform UK is projected to take at least 1,000 of the 5,000 or so council seats up for grabs on Thursday.

Polls suggest it will be the second biggest party in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments—tailing the nationalist parties but ahead of Labour and the Greens.

Lewis Nielsen from Stand Up To Racism—which is leading a Stop Reform campaign across Britain—spoke to Socialist Worker. “Reform’s announcement makes clear they want to bring Donald Trump’s Ice to Britain,” he said.

“They are promising the most brutal racist measures to detain and deport thousands of people.

“The fact they are top of the polls and set to win big on Thursday is more than a warning. We need an urgent campaign across the country to take on their racism.”

The “Vote Green, Get Illegals” campaign highlights three things. First, Reform UK is radicalising rightwards to solidify its position as the main force on the right of British politics.

It leads national polls on 26 percent while the once dominant Tory party languishes on 19 percent.

But it faces potential challenges on the right from Rupert Lowe—the former Reform UK MP who now leads Restore Britain. He wanted to embrace Nazi Tommy Robinson’s fascist street movements much more openly than Farage and Co.

Second, anti-migrant racism is the glue that binds Reform UK’s base together—and Farage is leaning into it.

Farage latches onto people’s anger at years of neoliberalism and austerity hammering people. But opposition to “mass” and “illegal” immigration binds together Reform UK’s story of Britain’s “national decline”.

Anti-racists are right to not only call out Reform UK as a racist party, but focus on taking on the myths of immigration.

Those in the labour movement who downplay the centrality of anti-migrant racism to Reform’s support are wrong.

Third, there are limits to its strategy of going further rightwards. Reform UK is topping the polls and will do well in the forthcoming elections this week, but it isn’t surging ahead past 30 percent.

There is an anti-racist majority and Farage’s close links to Trump aren’t popular in Britain—for instance, he was forced to backtrack over cheer leading the war on Iran.

If a Reform UK government tried to implement its dystopian plan, it could backfire.

A map on the party’s website highlights areas the Greens are projected to win. They are largely constituencies in multiracial working class cities, including London, Bristol, Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Oxford and Cambridge.

If Farage wants to bring Ice to Britain’s streets, we’ll bring him Minneapolis in response.