Farage Vows to Review and Revoke Citizenships Granted Under Mahmood's New Settlement Rules if Reform UK Wins, Calling Britain 'Uniquely Stupid' on Immigration

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says his party would review every citizenship granted under the British government's new settlement rules and revoke those that do not benefit the country, Breitbart reports.

The rules. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced them Monday. Breitbart says most immigrants will now wait ten years instead of five to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, the permanent residency status that lets a person live, study and work in the U.K. without a time limit, and that citizenship can typically be sought a year later. To qualify, migrants must have a clean criminal record, not be on welfare, not owe tax or healthcare debts and pass an English test. "This is the foundation of settlement. The non-negotiable expectations that I make of anyone who seeks to live here permanently," Mahmood said.

The exceptions. People earning more than 125,141 pounds a year wait three years, Breitbart says, and skilled public-sector workers such as doctors, nurses and teachers wait five. Breitbart says the Migration Advisory Committee found the faster route would cost taxpayers billions in health and welfare spending, and that Mahmood's own ministry estimated 117,000 care workers expected to gain permanent residency from 2026 to 2030 under the old rules would cost 4.2 billion pounds over their lifetimes, or 9.5 billion counting relatives they could bring.

Breitbart's framing. The outlet calls the announcement a "major u-turn" and says Mahmood "capitulated" to pressure from Labour's left-wing backbenchers. It also says the changes would let some people who entered illegally gain citizenship; we could not confirm that detail from the story.

Farage's response. Speaking Monday evening, he said that if elected, "anybody that goes through to ILR and citizenship under this scheme, we will review each and every single one of those citizenships if they are granted." He said Reform would analyse whether each benefits the economy. "Normal countries don't give out work visas, allow you to bring dependents, automatically give you Indefinite Leave to Remain, and then one year later citizenship. We are uniquely stupid in doing this," he said.

Reform's wider plan. Breitbart says Reform would abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain and replace it with an American-style work visa renewed every five years. It cites a Reform estimate that migrants who arrived from 2020 to 2024 will be a net cost to taxpayers of 622.5 billion pounds by 2085, and Reform's promise to bar foreigners in Britain from welfare, which Robert Jenrick estimated would save about 21 billion pounds by 2029.

Another critic. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, called the response "weak and pusillanimous" and said the announcements "could lead to immigration on an even greater scale than the Boriswave."

What we could not check. We have not seen the government's rules or the Migration Advisory Committee report. All cost figures are the ministry's, Reform's or Breitbart's. Breitbart did not report a response from Mahmood or the government to Farage, and whether citizenship could lawfully be revoked in the way he describes was not addressed.