"Nigel Farage has rolled back on his pledge to deport absolutely anyone arriving in the UK on small boats just 24 hours after making it at a combative press conference in Oxford that led to accusations of ugly and destructive rhetoric. Farage announced plans to deport hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in the first five years of a Reform government and to pay despotic regimes such as the Taliban to take them back. He also said: Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival, will be detained."
"At an event to introduce the MSP Graham Simpson as the latest defection from the Scottish Conservatives to Reform, Farage said: We're not even discussing women and children at this stage, there are so many illegal males in Britian. Asked if that meant women and children were exempt from the plans, he said: I didn't say exempt forever, but at this stage it is not part of our plan for the next five years."
Nigel Farage initially vowed to detain and deport anyone arriving in the UK on small boats, including women and children, and proposed deporting hundreds of thousands within five years. He suggested paying despotic regimes such as the Taliban to accept returns. Within 24 hours he qualified those plans, saying women and children were not being discussed for deportation in the next five years and that illegal male arrivals were the primary focus, though exemptions might not be permanent. Farage also stepped back from seeking to renegotiate the Good Friday agreement, described Northern Ireland as deeply complex, and highlighted growing female membership and Scottish electoral gains for Reform.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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