Farage takes on the Boriswave

 

Farage takes on the Boriswave

By Andrew McDonald

23 mins read

September 22, 2025 8:00 am CET

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/farage-takes-on-the-boriswave/

London Playbook

By ANDREW MCDONALD

with NOAH KEATE

 

Good Monday morning. This is Andrew McDonald.

 

DRIVING THE DAY

SPLIT SCREEN MOMENT: The government wants today to be about foreign affairs, with ministers (sans Keir Starmer) touching down in New York to formally recognize Palestine at the U.N. Failing that it could chat about Gatwick’s new runway, approved last night and which officials claim is only a few years away. But Nigel Farage is playing the role of Labour Party-pooper as usual, with an eye-catching policy — which is hard to implement and deeply controversial, obvs — that is set to hog a fair load of today’s political oxygen.

 

Bashing Boris: At a Westminster press conference from 11 a.m., Farage will promise to scrap indefinite leave to remain for migrants if — as the polls and bookies suggest — he forms the next government. This, as he says in an op-ed for Boris Johnson’s current employer, the Daily Mail, would reverse the “Boriswave” … the very online term used to describe the millions of migrants who arrived after post-Brexit visa rules implemented under Johnson came into force.

 

Operation Sink Big Dog: It also marks the first time Farage has really gone for the jugular against the former PM, whose allies have recently been ditching the Tories for Farageism. Will we get to hear Nadine Dorries’ view on the failings of her old pal’s Boriswave anytime soon?

 

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Turn over to GB News: Playbook was also hearing all the usual rumors last night that a Reform press conference would also include another defection, which Reform officials weren’t bothering to hose down. One name in the rumor mill included a female former Cabinet minister who Tories reckon is on defection watch.

 

Policy, in practice: According to trails briefed to the Express, Times, Sun, Mail and Telegraph — spot a theme? — and confirmed to Playbook, Farage will pledge to abolish indefinite leave to remain entirely within 100 days of a Reform government, forcing all migrants with that settled status to reapply for new visas with stricter conditions. Foreign nationals can currently apply for ILR after five years here, which grants you no time limit on staying … but under Reform’s plans, they’ll be forced to reapply for visas every five years, meet a higher salary threshold than the current level, and then wait seven years before applying for a passport.

 

Plus: The new visa would give settled migrants no access to the welfare state or free services from the NHS.

 

Zia’s deportation squads: This means hundreds of thousands, at least, who are currently here legally would fail to meet the new visa requirements … and Farage’s policy chief Zia Yusuf has some detail in Telegraph and Express op-eds about how his party will deal with that. “Many of those who will lose their leave to remain are entirely dependent on the welfare state and will leave voluntarily upon losing access to benefits,” he writes somewhat optimistically in the Telegraph. “Those that don’t will be subject to immigration enforcement as part of our mass deportation program.”

 

Obviously: As with all Reform policy proposals there are loads of unanswered questions to pepper Farage and Yusuf with this morning — hardly surprising considering, as your Playbook author reported earlier this month, the Reform policy team consists of three fully paid officials plus the MPs and Yusuf. And that’s even beyond the inherent controversy involved in the proposal, bound to be criticized robustly by anyone comfortably to the left of Reform. This is essentially rounding up for deportation people who were granted settled status to remain — because they don’t earn what Reform considers to be a high enough wage.

 

Other questions include … the legality of retrospectively removing ILR … whether Reform’s plan would survive the inevitable court challenges … what this means for the EU settlement scheme … whether Reform has done the sums on just how many people would have to leave/be removed … how a Reform government would prop up sectors like social care and hospitality, which largely rely on migrants unlikely to be earning above a higher salary threshold … whether it cares about pissing off business groups which already reacted angrily to Labour’s migration announcements in May … and what Reform would do with those that have ILR and are applying for citizenship.

 

But but but: Reform forming a government is obviously a long way off, despite the polls, meaning today’s announcement functions as a way to pile pressure on Labour and signal clearly to the public that Reform would “go further.” And all in the week before Labour conference, too. Judging by the non-appearance of the usual Labour attack line in Playbook’s inbox last night, spinners were still working out what to say.

 

However: Starmer — like Ed Davey (we will get to Lib Dem conference in a minute, promise) — has been spending the weekend trying to reclaim the mantle of patriotism from Farage. Now Playbook hears that Starmer is planning a pre-party conference speech this Friday on just that topic, after the Sun’s Kate Ferguson heard whispers of something coming this week. It also just so happens that a big “Global Progress Action” summit is taking place on the same day in London.

 

Pointing the other way on migration: On migration policy, meanwhile, this FT story from George Parker reports that the PM is exploring proposals to abolish some visa fees for “top global talent.” However, he hears the reforms were being discussed in No. 10 and No. 11 Downing Street before the Trump administration announced last week it would increase the application fee for a visa relied on by U.S. tech groups.

 

You don’t have long to wait to hear the line … since Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer is on the morning broadcast round, starting at 7.15 a.m. on Sky News.

 

WHAT FALCONER WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Starmer’s decision to recognize Palestine. The minister will be armed with lines to push back on the criticism from Israel, Donald Trump and the Tories claiming last night that the move rewards Hamas.

 

Longest look of recognition ever: Thanks to the long lead-up, we’ve heard all of the criticisms of recognizing Palestine before — including on why the move placed emphasis on conditions for Israel, if this will make a material difference to the plight of Palestinians, and whether this is all about internal Labour Party management despite the move bringing Britain in line with most of the world (and Canada and Australia, which did so at the same time).

 

But in good news for fans of fresh questions … there are a few new ones to pose, such as when and in what form we’ll get new sanctions on Hamas, which were briefed out on Saturday night. It also isn’t clear if, or when, the Palestinian mission in London will be upgraded to a full embassy. Hacks will get a chance to grill the PM’s spokesperson on all this in the only Lobby briefing of the week at 11.30 a.m. — when he’s not having to defend the PM’s chief aide Morgan McSweeney from the revival of his Labour Together donations scandal over the weekend, of course.

 

Interestingly: The i’s Jane Merrick, writing in a great long-read about the background to how Britain ended up recognizing Palestine now, hears that the families of British hostages called for such a sanctions package against Hamas in talks with the PM and ministers, which were held repeatedly since Starmer’s initial announcement in the summer.

 

UNGA rumba: The U.K.’s delegation at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, led by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Deputy PM David Lammy, will also be talking up Britain’s recognition move. Cooper was interviewed by the BBC and Good Morning Britain last night, in interviews which were set to air shortly before this email hit your inbox. Cooper will also address the UNGA plenary session, though she’s 27th on the speaker list — so expect her to pop up around 10 p.m. U.K. time.

 

Also coming in hot from New York: Development Minister Jenny Chapman, who is in the entourage at UNGA, has written for the Telegraph about how FCDO plans to replace cash grants for poor foreign countries with tips on tax collection and boosting economic growth (thanks to planned cuts to the aid budget). Where the U.K. does spend money, the aid will be used to encourage private sector investment rather than welfare spending. How’s that one gonna go down when Chapman meets ministers from those very countries in New York today?