Britain is ‘food bank of the world!’ Zia Yusuf fumes at migrant benefits | Politics | News

Nigel Farage could use trade as a “leverage” to end “crazy” aid payments to European citizens, Zia Yusuf has revealed. Reform’s pick for Home Secretary said leaders on the continent were “laughing at us” and then warned: “They won’t be laughing when Nigel becomes prime minister.” And in a bold statement, he declared: “It is crazy and unacceptable that Britain should be a food bank for the world.” Mr Farage and Mr Youssef have vowed to tear up the Withdrawal Agreement with European leaders to prevent the welfare bill for foreign citizens from rising above £20bn.

The businessman-turned-politician claimed aid had increased “sevenfold”, putting intense pressure on government finances. Mr Yusuf told the Daily Express: “This was already an unfair deal and now the facts on the ground have changed completely. If you don’t renegotiate this, I repeat, it will be north of £20bn.”

“I know these numbers sound abstract. And I know they can be hard for people to process because they’re so big. But by 2030, this will be more than the country spends on policing.”

“So we have to go and have this conversation. This is absolutely unfair. We will stop these payments and negotiate. This is ridiculous, this is madness. European leaders are laughing at us. They won’t be laughing at us when Nigel becomes prime minister.”

The reform promises to scrap indefinite leave to stay and replace it with a five-year visa. Those who have already been granted settlement rights will also need to re-apply. As reported in the Daily Express, Nigel Farage will ban all foreign nationals from claiming any benefits.

Only UK citizens will be able to benefit from benefits under the reform government. This means Nigel Farage will withdraw Boris Johnson’s deal with Brussels that guarantees EU citizens the right to benefit from benefits in the UK.

Mr Yusuf told the Daily Express: “If you have EU Settled Status in this country, you will continue to have Settled Status in this country.

“Here’s what we’ve changed – your right to welfare in this country. £15bn of taxpayers’ money has been spent on universal credit payments alone, that’s before any other form of welfare. That’s already a crazy figure. If you extrapolate that to 2029, that’s well north of £20bn. So my question is: how big does that number need to be?”

“By the way, the vast majority of them are EU citizens. So, does it need to be £25 billion, £50 billion, £100 billion?”

“Look in terms of our leverage, we are a really important trading partner for France, for Germany, for many countries in the EU.

“When the Withdrawal Agreement was negotiated, there were four times as many people claiming benefits in the UK than vice versa. So that was ridiculous anyway. That’s what the Conservative Party did, they completely betrayed everyone.”

“Since then, the number of EU citizens claiming benefits in the UK has increased sevenfold. So we must adapt, we must defend the interests of the British people. Nigel will do that for us as prime minister.”

Mr Yusuf said the UK was being “invaded” by immigrants as he touted Reform’s mass deportation program as the largest deportation program in UK history.

And he declared that foreign citizens should “more than pay” their way. Reform’s home affairs spokesman told immigrants: “Here’s what we want and need: Economically, you pay more than you can afford, you speak English and you don’t commit crimes.”

“Every serious country would say that makes sense. Every reasonable person would say that makes sense.

“This is completely insane and unfair as people in this country are crushed under the tax burden and cost of living crisis, while our military is being gutted, our retirees are being betrayed, and farmers are in some cases committing suicide because of tax rates.

“It’s crazy and unacceptable that the UK is a food bank for the world. So we need to renegotiate that.”

Mr Yusuf warned in an exclusive interview that Channel migrants would succeed in carrying out a terrorist attack.

“This seems like a tragically and devastatingly likely prospect. Our security services are doing an incredible job in extremely difficult circumstances. I believe they are vastly under-resourced. I don’t think it will help them at all if we have poor cowardly political leaders who allow people, as I said, to come to our beaches.”

If Reform wins the next election, a new ‘UK Deportation Command’ will use data from banks, Home Office, HMRC, police, DVLA and NHS to identify every illegal immigrant.

They will then be offered £2,500 each to leave the UK during a six-month grace period.

Once the voluntary repatriation program ends, immigration enforcement teams will be ordered to conduct raids and detain them.

The new laws, included in the planned Illegal Immigration (Mass Deportation) Bill, will ban illegal immigrants from seeking asylum and the home secretary will have a legal duty to remove them.

The reform would also abandon the European Convention on Human Rights and scrap other human rights laws such as the Refugee Convention, allowing up to five deportation flights every day.