Tony Mackey

We need to stop illegal immigration, but this is abhorrent from Reform. Zia is proposing the siting of detention centres expressly as a form of political punishment for people and places that don’t vote Reform - not just Green, but presumably Conservative, Liberal and Labour too. (And what about Reform voters in those constituencies?) It would almost certainly be deemed an abuse of ministerial power for political purposes, and as such would likely be stuck down in court before ever being implemented, wasting millions for the taxpayer without detaining anyone. If it were to go ahead, it would still represent an appalling waste of public money as these sites might well not be in any way suitable for the proposed centres, or near the other infrastructure required. What’s worse is that he is doing all this to provoke outrage and draw attention to Reform a few days out from the local elections. Reform know what they are doing. But this goes beyond a pre-election stunt. It’s declared as a major policy commitment, and should be treated as such. We need a proper plan to leave the ECHR and restore safe border controls, not gimmicks that wouldn’t survive first contact with reality.