Nigel Farage has pledged to invest over £17 billion in a sweeping set of policies aimed at halving crime in the UK, should he become prime minister after the next general election.
Speaking at a press conference in London, the Reform UK leader unveiled an ambitious strategy that includes the creation of five emergency “Nightingale” prisons, the deportation of more than 10,000 foreign criminals, and the recruitment of a tougher, larger police force.
According to a three-page policy document released by Reform UK, the crime and justice proposals would cost an estimated £3.48 billion per year. This includes £2.1 billion annually to hire 30,000 new officers, and £1 billion to create 12,400 additional prison places.
The plan would also allocate £250 million yearly to rent prison space abroad, in countries such as El Salvador and Estonia, and £80 million a year to set up 100 pop-up custody centres in areas deemed crime hotspots.
Plan Includes Foreign Prisons, Police Reform
To fund these initiatives, Farage said his government would eliminate major public expenditures, starting with HS2 and the UK’s net zero commitments. “We are advocating cutting huge amounts of public spending, starting with the utterly failed, abysmal HS2 project,” he said. “And we’ve been talking about the cost of net zero.”
Farage criticized recent home secretaries for what he described as a collapse in public trust around crime and justice.
“People are scared of going to the shops. Scared to let their kids out. That is a society that is degraded. And it’s happening very, very rapidly.”
Nigel Farage
He also expressed sympathy with those who participated in violent protests outside an asylum hotel in Essex, arguing that civil unrest was near. “I don’t think anybody in London even understands just how close we are to civil disobedience,” he said.
Positioning Reform UK as the most hardline party on public safety, Farage declared: “We will aim to cut crime by half in the first five years of Reform government. We will take back control of our streets. We will take back control of our courts, of our prisons.”
He then issued a direct warning to potential offenders: “If you’re a criminal, I am putting you on notice today that from 2029 or whenever that may be, either you obey the law or you will face very serious justice.”
Farage revealed that he is “in conversation with Edi Rama”, the Prime Minister of Albania, to explore the possibility of housing UK prisoners there. While he has not yet spoken with officials in El Salvador, he said the idea of sending inmates to countries like Kosovo and Estonia remains “a very, very serious proposal.”
However, when questioned about human rights concerns and overcrowding in El Salvador’s prisons, he appeared to soften his position slightly, admitting that “El Salvador may be quite an extreme example.”
During the event, Farage also addressed the controversy surrounding James McMurdock, a Reform MP who previously faced assault charges for attacking a girlfriend. McMurdock, who gave up the party whip earlier this month amid concerns over pandemic-era bounce-back loans, had been defended by Farage in the past.
“The reason that I did defend then as strongly as I did, he was a very good case for somebody who had rehabilitated, who had gone on to live a constructive life, when so many young lads from his part of the world, after their first brush with the law, go on to spend the next 40 years in prison. Do we believe there should be rehabilitation? Absolutely we do.”
Nigel Farage
Farage also vowed that councils led by Reform would be required to host new prisons “if they’re the right locations,” and insisted the police force under his leadership would be held to “a higher and physically tougher” standard.
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