Nigel Farage Threat to deport 10,000 criminals in £17bn plan to halve crime

Nigel Farage has committed to spending more than £17bn on policies to halve crime in the UK if he becomes prime minister at the next election.

- Eleni Courea

The Reform UK leader said his proposals, which include constructing five ad hoc "Nightingale" prisons and deporting more than 10,000 foreign criminals, would be paid for by scrapping HS2 and net zero commitments.

Speaking in London, Farage pledged to force councils run by Reform to host new prisons "if they are the right locations" and to recruit a "higher and physically tougher" standard of police officers.

A three-page document published by the party put the total estimated cost of its crime and justice policies at £3.48bn a year, with £2.1bn spent recruiting 30,000 more officers and £1bn on creating 12,400 prison places.

Other pledges include £250m a year on renting prison places abroad in countries such as El Salvador and Estonia, and £80m a year on creating 100 pop-up custody centres in crime hotspots to speed up arrests.