Farage’s plan to scrap indefinite leave to remain would ‘trash UK’s reputation’ and be blocked in court, lawyers say

Nigel Farage was warned about his plan retroactively revoke thousands of people’s indefinite leave to stay While lawyers said that this policy would be blocked by the courts, they said that this situation would “damage England’s reputation for justice.”

Immigration lawyers told Independent that the retroactive element of the policy is likely to be successfully challenged in the courts. Whether Britain left or not European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because the expectation that laws cannot be changed later is “the cornerstone of administrative law regarding fairness”.

Mr Farage’s party He promised to abolish the settled status of all non-EU immigrants, Requiring those granted indefinite leave to remain to re-apply under much stricter rules, i.e. Tens of thousands of people legally settled in the UK could face deportation.

Indefinite leave to remain is a status that allows legal immigrants to settle in the UK without having to renew a visa every few years.

reform leader He said the current option of ILR, which has been available to those living and working in Britain for five years, “betrays democracy” and vowed to abolish it.

But lawyers have cast doubt on whether the plan will be feasible in practice, warning that the plans could be successfully challenged in the courts on the basis of “legitimate expectation”.

“People have the right to comply with the law and not have it drastically changed retroactively,” said Bethan Lant, a lawyer from immigration charity Praxis.

“If you can change the law at will and apply it retroactively, that undermines the fundamental rule of law.”

He continued: “In 2008 the government changed some of the residential tracts around highly skilled workers and said this would affect people who were already here. This was successfully challenged in the courts because when these people arrived they had a legitimate expectation that they would be able to stay.”

“[With Farage’s plan]You’re going to have arguments around the legitimate expectation that you can’t retroactively change the rules for a whole class of people who are already here and are already on their way to staying here.

Miss Lant said Independent This aspect of the policy will be questioned regardless of whether the UK leaves the ECHR because the legitimate expectation is “the cornerstone of administrative law on fairness”.

Meanwhile, specialist immigration lawyer Helena Sheizon at Kadmos Consultants warned that both canceling ILR from people who already have ILR and removing the option to apply for ILR from people who are on the migration route in the UK with a legitimate expectation of receiving ILR at the end of the entitlement period would undermine the rule of law.

“The first scenario is much more extreme and would be comparable to stripping citizenship of people born abroad or whose parents were born abroad,” he said.

“Of course the rule of law is part of the UK constitution and it is part of that principle that laws are not retroactive.

“But both ‘constitution’ and ‘rule of law’ are legal and philosophical concepts, and if you have a populist government that thinks restoring Anglo-Saxon purity is a political agenda, the constitution is unlikely to be a great deterrent; you can always amend the Constitution if necessary, but chances are no one will even bother.”

Former Conservative Party barrister and justice minister Robert Buckland KC warned Mr Farage’s plan was “counter to our British values”.

He said: “With only a few carefully guarded exceptions, when we make our laws we do not apply them to past conditions because this would create manifest injustice to innocent people.

“This principle is deeply embedded in our common law, and rightly so. Once again, we can see that Farage’s approach is contrary to our British values.”

Meanwhile, Labor leader and Redcar MP Anna Turley described the plan as “extreme and divisive” and said it would “tear apart communities” and “separate foreign-born parents who are legally here from their children who were born here and are British citizens”.

“It would also undermine Britain’s reputation for justice and undermine the rule of law that has held this country together for generations,” he said. Independent.

When the reform leader first announced the plans, he was described as “racist” by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer; but Labor has also announced its own plans to tighten the rules around requesting indefinite leave to remain.

Speaking to the BBC with Laura Kuenssberg in September, Sir Keir said: “It’s one thing to say we’re going to get rid of illegal immigrants, people who have no right to be here. I’m ready for that.”

“It’s a whole other thing to reach out to people who are here legally and say we’re going to start removing them. They’re our neighbors.”

When asked about Direct Reform UK’s policy, he said: “I think it’s a racist policy. I think it’s immoral. It needs to be called out for what it is.”

But Reform UK’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, said: “Labour’s message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions of dollars for foreign nationals to live off the state indefinitely, or Labor will call you a racist.

“The reform plan will only ensure that British people can prosper and immigrants can contribute to society.”

A spokesperson for Reform UK said: “Only Reform UK will prioritize British nationals, block the ‘Boris wave’ and end immigrant benefits.

“The British people will no longer allow left-wing lawyers to thwart their will.”