“Is it moral?”
Reform UK’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice has confirmed that his party is open to paying the Taliban to secure a migrant deportation deal, despite their appalling human rights record.
Farage set out plans yesterday to deport 600,000 illegal immigrants in five years if it wins the next election. In order to do so, the Reform UK leader said anybody who arrived illegally would be immediately detained, including women and children, and that he would pull Britain out of the Human Rights Act as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. The Reform UK leader also said that his party was open to doing deals with despotic regimes such as Iran and Afghanistan to agree deportation deals, even if it meant people being sent back to be tortured.
Appearing on Sky News following Farage’s speech, Tice was asked: “You said you would do deals with despotic governments in Afghanistan and Sudan and send them straight back. Is that the moral thing to do?”
Tice replied: “Sometimes, you do business with people you may not get on with, who may not be your friends. That’s life. Leadership is tough.”
Sky’s presenter then asked again: “Is it moral?”
Tice replied: “I’ll tell you what is not moral, that is putting the safety of our women and girls, British citizens, at risk. That is completely immoral.”
Pushed once more on whether a Reform UK government would do a deal with the Taliban, he said: “We will do whatever is necessary to protect the safety and security of British citizens.”
But the presenter told him the Taliban “do far worse to women and girls than anything that happens in this country”.
Tice, having a meltdown replied: “Whose side are we on? Are you on the side of international lawyers and the likes?”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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