Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Slash knife crime in London by giving Met Police… – Legal Perspective
Scotland Yard should be given “vasty expanded” stop and search powers to tackle knife crime in London, says Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf.
He also called for areas in the capital suffering from high knife crime to be flooded with Met Police officers under “saturation policing” in “zero tolerance” crackdowns.
In his first major speech since being appointed home affairs spokesman by Nigel Farage, Mr Yusuf also demanded “visa freezes” on Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria if the countries refuse to take back migrants with no legal right to stay in Britain.
Just days before the Gorton and Denton by-election, he also proposed immediate listed status for all churches to “legally prevent their conversion into mosques or other places of worship” as part of “protecting Britain’s Christian heritage”.
Labour swiftly accused Mr Yusuf’s party of seeking to “divide” Britain.
Giving the Met Police far greater stop and search powers would almost certainly be divisive in some communities in London.
As Home Secretary in 2014, Theresa May scaled back the use of stop and search powers, warning that their overuse, including against innocent people, “was hugely damaging to the relationship between the police and the public”.
But Mr Farage’s party is now proposing a dramatic scaling up of stop and search as Reform seeks to make law and order a key part of its campaign for the May local elections, including in London where it is trying to win control of several councils.
In his speech in Dover, Mr Yusuf was expected to say: “We will get the knives off our streets by giving the police vastly expanded powers of stop and search.”
Other Reform policies he was due to highlight include:
* A new UK Deportation Command agency to identify, detain and deport illegal migrants. The plan has echoes of Donald Trump’s controversial ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) teams.
* Rapidly building detention capacity for 24,000 illegal migrants, with five deportation flights a day.
* Replacing Indefinite Leave to Remain with a renewable five-year work visa and dedicated spouse visa with higher salary thresholds and strict English tests. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has already announced major reforms in this area which could see migrants in the UK legally having to wait up to 20 years before they can settle permanently.
* Immediate termination of Universal Credit welfare payments to foreign nationals, even if they have been living here legally for years.
* A huge expansion of prison capacity so more people can be jailed.
* Automatic home searches for anyone referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by three “separate, corroborating authorities”.
Mr Yusuf was due to add: “We will secure our borders, leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and deport those here illegally.”
But Labour said Britain was a “proud, tolerant and diverse nation”, which stands in opposition to the “divisive politics stoked by Reform”.
Party chairwoman Anna Turley added: “Reform wants to divide our country, not deliver for the British people.
“Their plan to deport people who have followed the rules, worked hard and built their lives here, our friends, neighbours and colleagues, is a direct attack on settled families and fundamentally un-British.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp, MP for Croydon South, accused Reform of “copying and pasting” Tory immigration plans.