By Sarah Young and Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) -Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party will make it harder for foreign nationals to move to Britain if it wins the next election, tailoring the system to higher earners with strong English to reduce overall numbers.
Under the plans, which Farage revealed in the Daily Mail newspaper on Monday, Reform would replace the current Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) system with a five-year renewable work visa, which would prevent holders from accessing welfare benefits or bringing family dependents with them. It would also rescind ILR for those who already have it.
Farage is due to hold a press conference later on Monday.
Reform UK has just five lawmakers in the 650-strong British parliament but leads the opinion polls, with 28% of people saying they would vote for the party, a lead of eight points over the incumbent Labour party. The next election is expected in 2029.
Immigration has become a major political issue in Britain, eclipsing concerns over a faltering economy, following a jump in arrivals after the COVID pandemic and as the country faces a record number of asylum claims.
Responding to the Reform threat, the government is already trying to make it harder for migrants to stay in the country, and has said it will launch a consultation on making people wait 10 years to apply for ILR, instead of the current five years.
In a separate article in the Telegraph newspaper, Reform’s policy chief, Zia Yusuf, said that the changes would lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status in the UK.
He said this “will be done on a staggered and orderly basis to allow businesses to train British workers to replace them”.
In the year to March 2025, Britain granted settlement, or leave to remain, to 173,000 people, a 33% rise on the previous year.
More than one million people could become eligible for settlement in the coming years, reflecting high levels of immigration after Britain left the European Union in 2020.
Under Reform’s plans, anyone wanting to claim citizenship would also need to live in the country for seven years, rather than the current five.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Kate Holton; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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