The worst foreign criminals must still serve jail time
JOE GIDDENS/PA
I t is Nigel Farage's world and Westminster is just living in it. As the summer parliamentary recess wears on, it is increasingly apparent that there is only one party setting the agenda. The Reform UK leader's weekly press conferences on crime may be lacking when it comes to policy substance, but they have captured the attention of all of his rivals. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, the two most prominent Conservative spokespeople, have followed in Mr Farage's wake by adopting similarly tough rhetoric on the dangers that some asylum seekers are posing to societal cohesion.
Yet it is the Starmer government that appears most enraptured by Mr Farage and his grip on the electorate. In its latest effort to thwart the rise of Reform, ministers have set out plans to ensure foreign criminals cannot delay deportation by appeal. Under the new initiative, which has been termed 'deport now, appeal later', convicted criminals from 23 countries will be instantly deported.
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