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Nigel Farage has said Reform UK would end the right of migrants to apply for permanent residency in the UK after five years, and force those who already have settled status to reapply for a new stricter visa.
The Reform UK leader wants to abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR), for which migrants can currently apply after five years, and force them to renew their visa every five years.
Applicants would have to meet certain criteria, including a higher salary threshold and better standard of English.
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Nigel Farage said the plans will save £234bn (PA)
They would have to have lived in the UK for seven years, up from five, and there would be tighter restrictions on bringing spouses and children to the UK.
The new visa would also prevent any access to benefits under the plans set out by Zia Yusuf.
In an extraordinary claim, Reform said the changes would save £234bn, more than the entire NHS budget and five times what the UK currently spends on defence.
But a Labour source said the figure was based on an estimate which has since been disowned by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank. A note on the think tank’s website says the figures are the subject of a dispute and “the overall cost estimates should no longer be used”.
The source said: “Farage’s not even half-baked announcement has already fallen apart. Yet again, Reform have no credible plan and their only answer is ‘don’t know’.”
Mr Yusuf, Reform UK’s policy chief, wrote in The Telegraph: “We will abolish ILR altogether, including rescinding it retrospectively, and close all loopholes to ensure only UK citizens receive welfare or social housing.”
He said that hundreds of thousands of migrants who came to the UK under more relaxed post-Brexit rules introduced by Boris Johnson’s Tory government, as part of what Reform is branding the “Boriswave”, will in January begin to qualify for permanent residence.
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Reform has attacked Boris Johnson’s record on migration
Mr Yusuf said Reform’s proposals would “lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status in the UK, which will be done on a staggered and orderly basis to allow businesses to train British workers to replace them”.
The savings to the taxpayer would exceed £230 billion, Mr Yusuf claimed.
Mr Farage will reportedly tell a Monday press conference: “Welfare will end for everyone that is not a UK citizen, we will close the loopholes. Reform will ensure that welfare is for UK citizens only.
“We are cleaning up the mess of Boris Johnson. The Boriswave will bankrupt us.
“Reform will deal with Boriswave, the biggest betrayal of voters’ trust in modern times.”
A Government spokesperson said: “People here illegally rightly do not get anything from our benefits system.
“Foreign nationals usually have to wait five years to claim universal credit and we’re looking at increasing this to 10 years.
“We inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling benefits bill. That’s why we’re taking action and reforming the system and have seen the proportion of universal credit payments to foreign nationals fall since last July.”