A KEY ally of Brexit architect Nigel Farage has come under fire after hinting that a future Reform UK government would be open to using Gibraltar to process asylum seekers.
Sarah Pochin, the Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby, made the comments during a Westminster Hall debate on Monday afternoon, prompting ridicule on social media and a quick clapback from Gibraltar’s government.
Speaking on the topic of support and accommodation for asylum seekers, Labour MP Luke Charters said any suggestion that British Overseas Territories such as the Rock should be used to house new arrivals was ‘deeply troubling and unrealistic’.
Mr Charters, elected as MP for York Outer in the 2024 general election, then asked Ms Pochin: “Reform UK has mooted the idea of using British overseas territories as part of its asylum processing plans. Would the right honourable lady use this occasion to rule out any asylum processing ever taking place in the Falklands or Gibraltar as part of Reform UK’s policies?”
Ms Pochin, the first ever female MP for the insurgent right-wing poll-toppers, replied: “No, I will not rule out any possible policy.”
In response, the Gibraltar government told the Olive Press: “Gibraltar is a separate legal jurisdiction to the United Kingdom with its own government.
“Immigration policy is the competence of the Government of Gibraltar which has long rejected the idea of processing asylum seekers here as a matter of policy – quite apart from obvious space constraints!”
Gibraltar, located on the tip of Spain’s southern coast, is just 2.6 square miles in area and home to over 39,000 people, making it one of the most densely populated territories on the planet.
That means an activity such as asylum processing would be practically impossible as well as politically challenging.
Nevertheless, the refusal to rule out asylum processing in Gibraltar was latched onto by a host of Labour figures, with MP Jonathan Brash labelling Ms Pochin’s comments as ‘extraordinary’.
Euan Stainbank, a Scottish Labour MP, accused Reform UK of ‘making it up as they go along’.
But Ms Pochin’s comments are not the first time that Reform UK, currently topping the polls with an estimated vote share of over 30%, have mooted the idea of using countries with a constitutional connection to the UK to house migrants.
In June, Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, unveiled a report entitled ‘Operation Restoring Justice’ that aimed to set out a framework to end the small boats crisis in the English Channel.
In the year to September 29, some 33,556 people have arrived in the UK by small boat – 721 more than at the same point in 2022, the highest year on record.
Among the options touted was ‘sending asylum seekers to British Overseas Territories […] as a fallback option’ – although Gibraltar was not explicitly mentioned.
Instead, Mr Farage gave the example of Ascension Island, a small volcanic settlement located in the southern Atlantic Ocean about 960 miles from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles from the coast of South America.
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This is beyond a joke now