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Reform UK has fanfared a plan to scrap Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK for migrants – and bar non-British citizens from accessing welfare.

If you think that seems like a good idea… think again. It’s a silly idea, from a silly group of extremists.

Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf claimed these measures would save £234 billion – they won’t.

On the other hand, they will create huge economic and social disruption.

What they announced:

Farage and Yusuf outlined their proposals at a press conference today (September 22) – presenting them as a bold plan to deal with what they call the “Boris wave” of post-Brexit migration.

Under the current system, migrants can apply for ILR after five years in the UK, giving them the right to live, work, study, and access benefits permanently, and providing the main route to British citizenship.

Farage and Yusuf said Reform UK would abolish ILR entirely. Instead, migrants would have to reapply for new visas every five years under stricter conditions, including higher salary thresholds, English language requirements, and other criteria.

The party also wants to limit access to benefits exclusively to British citizens.

Reform UK claims that hundreds of thousands of migrants who currently rely on benefits would either leave voluntarily or face deportation.

In addition, it proposes new visa schemes, including entrepreneur and investor routes for those willing to invest or start businesses, and “Acute Skills Shortage Visas”, under which employers could hire one worker from abroad only if they trained someone domestically.

The party also wants to increase the average waiting period for British citizenship from six years to seven.

Farage framed these proposals as a response to the 3.8 million people who arrived in the UK under looser post-Brexit rules, claiming that many of these migrants will soon qualify for permanent residence under ILR.

Policy chief Yusuf warned businesses that “the era of cheap foreign labour is over,” and the party claimed the changes could save the UK £234 billion over the “lifetime of the average migrant.”

Critics immediately questioned these figures.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have described the proposals as impractical and potentially damaging to the economy.

Analysts noted that migrants contribute significantly to taxes, consumer spending, and the workforce, and that removing ILR or restricting benefit access could actually cut tax revenues and disrupt essential industries.

Why the plans don’t add up

Reform UK’s press conference was all about presenting tough talk as common sense.

But the proposals collapse the moment you look at the economics.

First, the idea that scrapping ILR and denying benefits to migrants will save the UK hundreds of billions of pounds is fantasy.

The £234 billion figure the party keeps quoting was lifted from a Centre for Policy Studies report that has since been disowned by the think tank itself, saying its estimates should “no longer be used” after being challenged by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

In other words, the numbers are not credible. Even Farage admitted today that “the exact figure” isn’t known.

Second, the suggestion by Zia Yusuf that maintaining current levels of welfare spending could “bankrupt” the UK is economically illiterate. The UK issues its own currency, meaning it cannot run out of money in the way a household can.

Welfare is a recurring budget line, not a debt that grows uncontrollably, and much of it is recycled back into the economy through spending and taxation.

Cutting migrants out of welfare doesn’t fix the public finances; it simply deprives people who live and work here of a safety net.

Third, the policies would harm the UK economy rather than protect it.

Migrants are not just costs — they are workers, taxpayers, and consumers. They staff the NHS and care homes, pick fruit and vegetables, and contribute to innovation in tech and science.

If people are forced to leave because they no longer have security or access to basic services, the result will be labour shortages, lost tax revenue, and declining economic growth.

Reform UK says it has an answer to this: force businesses to train up British workers to replace migrants. The party’s “Acute Skills Shortage Visa” scheme would allow employers to hire from abroad only if they also trained a local worker for the same role.

It sounds neat on paper — but it ignores how labour markets actually work.

The jobs migrants do are often those that British workers can’t or won’t take under current pay and conditions.

Care work, seasonal farm labour, and much of the NHS are examples: low-paid, physically demanding, and chronically understaffed.

Employers turn to migrants because otherwise the roles go unfilled.

Training locals won’t change that unless wages, conditions, and career prospects are improved — and Reform’s plans say nothing about this.

Even if training were enough, it takes time.

A care home in crisis cannot wait years for trainees to qualify, and a farm cannot leave crops in the field while it waits for local workers to be recruited.

Without migrants filling these gaps now, vital services and industries would collapse.

And there’s another human cost:

Abolishing ILR would destabilise the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who have built families, careers, and communities in the UK.

The threat of mass deportation is not just impractical — it is cruel, expensive, and socially corrosive.

What Should Be Done Instead

If the real concern is to make the benefit system fair and sustainable, the answer is not to exclude migrants wholesale.

The government could tighten rules on access where necessary, but this should be evidence-based and proportionate.

Existing checks — like residency requirements, English language tests, and the “no recourse to public funds” conditions already applied to many visas — are already designed to limit costs.

Instead of de-stabilising lives, policy should focus on supporting integration.

Investing in skills training, language support, and fair employment rights helps migrants contribute more fully and reduces long-term reliance on welfare.

Encouraging stable settlement through ILR and eventual citizenship also fosters loyalty, tax contributions, and stronger communities.

And the bigger picture? The UK’s economic challenges are not caused by migrants but by stagnant productivity, underinvestment in infrastructure, and poor policy choices over decades.

If politicians want to strengthen the economy and protect public services, they should start there — not by scapegoating migrants for problems they didn’t cause.

Reform UK wants to present itself as the party with the tough answers on migration and welfare.

But today’s press conference showed just how shallow its position is.

The numbers don’t add up; the economics doesn’t hold water; and the human consequences would be devastating.

What the UK needs is a serious conversation about investment, productivity, and fairness — not another round of empty promises to punish the very people who help keep the country running.

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