Nigel Farage today said female asylum seekers from Afghanistan would be deported back to the Taliban-ruled country if they arrive in Britain on small boats.
The Reform UK leader has promised to deport 600,000 migrants over five years if his party wins power at the next general election.
But it has been unclear whether that number would also include women and children who make perilous Channel crossings.
Mr Farage attempted to clarify his party’s stance in a round of TV interviews at Reform’s conference in Birmingham on Saturday.
He confirmed he would seek to deport Afghan women if he becomes prime minister, despite the oppression they face under the Taliban.
‘For clarity, those that cross the English Channel will be detained and deported, men and women,’ he told Sky News.
In his keynote speech to Reform’s conference on Friday, Mr Farage vowed his party would ‘stop the boats within two weeks’ of winning power.
But, as he spoke to broadcasters on Saturday, he rolled back that promise to ending the Channel migrant crisis within a fortnight of passing new legislation.
Nigel Farage said female asylum seekers from Afghanistan would be deported back to the Taliban-ruled country if they arrive in Britain on small boats
The Reform UK leader has promised to deport 600,000 migrants over five years if his party wins power at the next general election
Mr Farage told Sky News: ‘This has to happen quickly. We have to get the legislation through as quickly as is humanly possible.
‘And once we have the powers we need, within two weeks, it’ll stop.’
When he first announced his deportation plans last month, Mr Farage said a Reform government would be ‘detaining and deporting absolutely anyone’ who arrives via small boats.
But, a day later, he said Reform was ‘not even discussing women and children at this stage’ as part of the deportation plan.
Quizzed about his party’s policy at Reform’s conference this weekend, Mr Farage said: ‘I’ve made it very, very clear that our first priority, our first priority with those living in Britain illegally is to deport men.
‘It is men that are clearly the more perceived danger.’
He added: ‘Those that arrive by boat we’ll be detained. Men and women will be detained and deported.’
Mr Farage admitted that his party would have to ‘think about’ deporting children as there would be ‘a duty of care’ to youngsters who cross the Channel.
But he added ‘the numbers here are so tiny, it’s almost irrelevant’.
Reform has said, if they form the next government, they would be prepared to pay the Taliban to take back migrants to Afghanistan.
The party wants to sign new returns deals with countries around the world if it wins the next general election – regardless of their human rights records – and will promise them more aid money if they agree.
Up to £2billion of the total £10billion cost of Reform’s plans to tackle the small boats crisis would be offered to other countries in exchange for migrant return deals.
Mr Farage on Saturday confirmed that women would be deported to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan ‘if necessary’.
He dismissed possible human rights concerns, saying: ‘I am more concerned about the rights of British people than I am about those who come here illegally.’
Figures from the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory show that Afghan nationals made up 15 per cent of all small boat arrivals between 2018 to 2024.
However, the majority of all those arriving in small boats are men over the age of 18 – around 76 per cent of 2024 arrivals for who this information was recorded.
Another 14 per cent of arrivals last year were children under 18.
Elsewhere in his Sky News interview, Mr Farage said he mis-spoke when he claimed to have bought a house in his Clacton constituency before last general election.
It follows the revelation that the Essex property was in fact bought by his partner Laure Ferrari.
Mr Farage said: ‘I should have said ‘we’. All right? My partner bought it, so what?’
The Reform leader said it was ‘her money’ and ‘her asset’.
‘I own none of it. But I just happen to spend some time there,’ he added. ‘I should have rephrased it. I didn’t want… to put her in the public domain.’
