Immigration & asylum

Who gets to come here, who gets to stay, and what happens to people who arrive without permission. Parties are ordered left to right by our placement on the spectrum, and each line is the position in brief.

1. 

   Green

   Zack Polanski

   10.6%

   Expand safe routes; end hotel accommodation; oppose deterrence

   In full ▾Less ▴

   Opposes deterrence-based policy outright, favouring expanded safe and legal routes and an end to hotel-based asylum accommodation.

   -8

2. 

   Labour

   Andy Burnham

   26.1%

   Continues Mahmood reformsi; cites 43% fall in crossings

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   Burnham voted for and continues to back Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's immigration reforms, which reshape the asylum appeals process and remove barriers to deportation. The government points to the 43% year-on-year fall in Channel crossings as evidence that enforcement co-operation with France is working.

   He has not set out an approach distinct from the one he inherited, and Ipsos finds the public unconvinced the government will deliver on immigration.

   Check itWhat to expect from Andy Burnham, Travers Smith

   -3

3. 

   Lib Dems

   Sir Ed Davey

   10.3%

   Safe and legal routes, and faster decisions

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   Emphasises safe and legal routes and faster decision-making, arguing deterrence-first policy has repeatedly failed to reduce crossings.

   -2

4. 

   Conservative

   Kemi Badenoch

   20.3%

   Ban asylum claims from illegal entrants; remove 150,000 a year

   In full ▾Less ▴

   The Borders Plan would impose a total ban on asylum claims from anyone entering illegally and create a Removals Forcei tasked with removing 150,000 people a year. Indefinite Leave to Remaini would require ten years rather than five, and would be refused to anyone who had claimed benefits, used social housing, or was not a net fiscal contributor.

   Check itOur Borders Plan, Conservatives

   +3

5. 

   Reform

   Nigel Farage

   22.9%

   Freeze non-essential immigration; abolish ILRi; Deportation Commandi

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   An immediate freeze on non-essential immigration and a new Deportation Commandi. Indefinite Leave to Remaini would be abolished and existing grants rescinded, replaced by a five-year renewable visa carrying higher salary thresholds, mandatory English fluency and stricter good-character requirements.

   Rupert Lowe left the party in part over his claim that Reform was "watering down" deportation policy, placing Reform to the left of Restore Britain on its own signature issue.

   Check itPolicies, Reform UK

   +6

6. 

   Restore

   Rupert Lowe

   4.4%

   Abolish asylum; deport everyone here illegally within three years

   In full ▾Less ▴

   The furthest-reaching platform of the six: abolition of the asylum system and what the party calls the largest deportation programme in Britain's history, set out in a 113-page paper, Mass Deportations: Legitimacy, Legality and Logistics, which proposes removing everyone in the UK illegally within three years. The overall target is net-negative immigration.

   Legal scholars and migration researchers question whether removals on this scale are achievable within any Western legal framework, and the paper's own title concedes legitimacy and legality are open questions.

   Check itRestore Britain and its proposed policies, National Media

   +7

6 of 6 parties have a position we could source on this. A blank row may mean the party has said little, or that we have not found what it has said.