Reform UK has planned to put migrant detention centres in Green council areas if they win the next election.
It comes as Nigel Farage’s party claims these areas have voted for “open borders”, calling the proposed poilcy as “the fairest approach”.
Zack Polanski is expected to rival Reform as the two largest gainers on Thursday’s council elections, with some polls suggesting both could secure over 1,000 council seats each.
Reform has been leading the UK-wide polls for more than a year, but the Greens have surged in recent weeks and are eyeing up once-thought-safe Labour areas.
The two parties’ stances on immigration are starkly different.
Reform UK has pledged to implement a mass deportation programme titled Operation Restoring Justice, aimed at removing illegal migrants and asylum seekers at an unprecedented scale.
The party estimates that around 600,000 removals would be required at the next election.
While awaiting deportation, the party has said it will build new detention centres to hold up to 24,000, and has disclosed they will be in areas that have voted for the Green Party.
Reform UK has planned to put migrant detention centres in Green council areas if they win the next election
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GETTY
The Green Party has fiercely condemned the idea of mass deportation pledges, describing it as “ill-thought-out,” “cruel,” and “abhorrent”.
Reform UK Home Affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf vowed the party will build no centres in areas that elect Reform councillors or MPs.
He told the Telegraph: “Even though illegal migrants will not be allowed to leave the sites, we are committing to not placing these detention sites in areas with a Reform MP or where Reform controls the council.
“Given the Green Party advocates for open borders and for an infinite number of undocumented men to come here, we will prioritise Green constituencies and Green-controlled councils to locate these detention centres.”
Zack Polanski is expected to rival Reform as the two largest gainers on Thursday’s council elections
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He added: “This is the fairest approach to ensuring democratic consent for all aspects of our mass deportation programme.”
Operation Restoring Justice is Reform UK’s five-year emergency policy programme aimed at identifying, detaining, and deporting all illegal migrants in Britain.
The party also pledges to immediately withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and to repeal the Human Rights Act to prevent legal challenges that could block deportations.
The proposed legislation, to be called the Mass Deportation Detention Act, would list specific council areas and constituencies where detention centres would be built.
Mr Yusuf has confirmed these will be in areas that voted for the Green Party.
Migrant arrivals in the UK after crossing the English Channel
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The Green Party fundamentally opposes mass deportations, advocating instead for a system that treats all migrants as “citizens in waiting”.
Their website also lists one of its policies as “an end to immigration detention for all migrants unless they are a danger to public safety”.
Since the Labour Party was elected in July 2024, over 72,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats.
Total arrivals in 2025 were 13 per cent higher than in 2024.
A Green Party spokesman said: “Reform keep making unserious announcements to try to distract voters from the fact they want to privatise our NHS.”