Nigel Farage speech today: Reform UK leader pledges to abolish indefinite leave to remain, what does it mean - key points he made in announcement
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has vowed to scrap indefinite leave to remain for migrants.
Migrants can currently apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years of living in the UK, a status that gives them the right to live and work in Britain permanently. Farage said Reform would scrap the entitlement, replacing it with a five-year renewable visa.
People who have already obtained settled status would lose it and be forced to reapply for a new visa, he said. Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has already said that it will increase from five to 10 years the length of time people have to be in the UK before being able to apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Under Reform’s proposals, people could apply for citizenship after seven years, but applicants would have to meet tough English language tests and renounce other citizenships. Under the current system, people can seek citizenship if they have been in the UK for five years and have held indefinite leave to remain for 12 months.
Reform also said it would increase the salary thresholds for people to obtain visas in the UK, from the current £41,700 to about £60,000. Visa holders would be banned from receiving any benefits.
Farage said 800,000 people are in line for indefinite leave to remain in the UK. He said: "This is not what Brexit voters wanted, and it's certainly not what any Conservative voter wanted from 2010 onwards. We are not the world's food bank - it is not for us to provide for people coming in from all over the world”.
Farage was asked if would reverse the recognition of Palestine if he becomes prime minister. He said that the recognition of Palestine is 'completely wrong'.
He said: “I think Starmer was completely wrong to do that. You can't reward terrorists like Hamas. And even though he tried to caveat what he said, the fact is that at the moment, Hamas and the Palestinian cause are inseparable one from the other.
"How can you recognise a state if you don't even know what the geographical boundaries of it would be, let alone to recognise a state when the people who are running it are intent on wiping out the state of Israel." However he did not say if he would reverse the move, should he become prime minister.