Nigel Farage has rowed back on plans to deport hundreds of thousands of people in the first five years of a Reform UK government, saying this would now not include women and children.
The Reform leader unveiled plans on Tuesday to detain and deport up to 600,000 people with no right to be in the UK, including anyone who arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel in a small boat.
Asked whether this would include women and children, Mr Farage said: âYes, women and children, everybody on arrival, will be detained.â
He added that he accepted that âhow we deal with children is a much more complicated and difficult issueâ, while senior Reform figure Zia Yusuf said âphase oneâ would focus on adults and unaccompanied children would be sent back âtowards the latter half of that five yearsâ.
But on Wednesday, Mr Farage insisted to a press conference in Broxburn, West Lothian that he had been âvery, very clearâ that the party was focused on âillegal malesâ and ânot even discussing women and children at this stageâ.
He added: âThe news reports that said that after my conference yesterday were wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.â
Asked whether this meant women and children would be âexemptâ, he said: âI didnât say exempt forever, but at this stage itâs not part of our plan for the next five years.â
