Nigel Farage’s Reform UK have released a proposed law (PDF) that they are calling the Mass Deportation (Detention) Bill.
Somewhat surprisingly, given the name, the bill does not detail plans for mass deportations. Instead it creates more “detention centres”. These are not a new thing in the UK and are used to hold asylum seekers and immigrants in prison-like conditions until they are deported or allowed to remain here. The mass deportations bill is, in fact, a mass incarceration bill.
Reform have promised that areas that vote for them won’t have detention centres and that Green areas will be “prioritised”, directly undermining the democratic system by threatening retaliation for not voting for them.
However, this isn’t what made me angry - and scared - enough to write this. That would be section 3 - “Disapplication of applicable law”. The proposed legislation would exempt these detention centres from these laws:
- section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, which protects the welfare of children in the UK.
- the Detention Centre Rules 2001 which covers a range of topics from ensuring that detainees are given nutritious food and an hour outside per day to a reporting duty for suspected torture.
- schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016 which allows granting bail to detained people.
- part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 which allows the government to provide support such as housing for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
- the Modern Slavery Act 2015 which creates offences for human trafficking and slavery.
- the Procurement Act 2023 which tries to prevent cronyism and corruption in awarding government contracts.
- the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which could allow local councils to block detention centres by rejecting planning applications.
- all laws that the Secretary of State “considers are necessary or expedient” to ignore, which could be basically anything.
This proposed bill paints a picture of a corrupt, cruel government that doesn’t care if children are tortured or starved while Farage hands big public contracts for detention centre construction to his donors and mates.
It feels right to end this with a call to action, but I don’t feel qualified to tell anyone what we should do. Personally, I joined the Green Party a while ago and have campaigned for them a few times here in Cardiff. Everyone who can should vote on Thursday, obviously.