Reform’s “British ICE” — Why it would never work

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week Zia Yusuf, floated a headline-grabbing idea: a British version of America’s deeply unpopular ICE. Today on The Bunker, Zoë Grünewald speaks to Sunder Katwala, director of British Future and author of How to be a Patriot, to unpack what a “British ICE” would actually mean in practice and how the politics of deportation are fast becoming a race to the bottom. • Buy Sunder’s book How to Be a Patriot: Why Love of Country Can End Our Very British Culture War through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait and Sophie Clark. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:51.4	Welcome to the bunker, News Without the Nonsense. I'm Zoe Grunewold.
0:56.1	Last Monday, Zia Yusuf was introduced as the Shadow Home Secretary at a Reform press conference in Dover
1:02.7	before launching into a speech about Reform's plans for a UK deportation command.
1:09.3	Yusuf told the audience that reform wants to deport up to 288,000 people
1:14.6	annually, operating five flights a day, something that experts have said would be enormously costly.
1:21.5	This number of deportations would also involve freezing or revoking legitimate visas,
1:26.4	including from countries such as Afghanistan.
1:29.4	Human rights campaigners have called reforms policies sadistic. We know that calling Yusuf,
1:34.3	the shadow home secretary, is a blatant fabrication, but is there any substance to his plans
1:39.8	for what would essentially be a British ice? Joining us again on the bunker to discuss why reform
	...

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