Zia Yusuf - Home Affairs Spokesperson | Reform Watch
Profile and accountability tracker for Zia Yusuf, Home Affairs Spokesperson. null.
Role: Home Affairs Spokesperson
Recorded incidents (showing 11-15 of 15)
Zia Yusuf proposes paid tip line for illegal working, using phrase Turkish barbers tip line
Category: xenophobia
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, unveiled a policy proposal to pay members of the public financial rewards for tip-offs that lead to successful prosecutions of High Street shops employing illegal workers, using the phrase Turkish barbers tip line to describe the scheme. He said rewards would be paid from larger fines imposed on firms and that the party would fine large firms up to 10% of their global revenues and make chief executives and directors personally and criminally liable. The Home Office said it was already increasing penalties for companies hiring illegal workers and a departmental source called some of Reform's proposals empty posturing. Deliveroo said illegal working should be addressed and outlined measures it already takes; Reform presented the measures as pledges it would introduce if it entered government and Yusuf remains the party's home affairs spokesman.
Zia Yusuf links illegal working to harm to 'British youngsters' and vows jail terms
Category: xenophobia
On 6 August 2026 in London, Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s spokesman for home affairs, held a press conference and said corporate CEOs had been "making a fortune by hiring illegal workers" and were "undermining British youngsters". He described young people as the "biggest victims" of illegal working and said Reform UK would jail company directors and impose heavy financial penalties on firms employing illegal workers. The remarks formed part of a wider Reform UK policy announcement that proposed prison sentences of up to five years for company directors and fines equivalent to 10% of global turnover, alongside a central prosecution fund for local authorities. Yusuf framed the measures as intended to "stand up for British workers" and presented them as the party’s policy position on illegal working.
Zia Yusuf vows 'harshest penalties' for employers of illegal migrants
Category: inflammatory language
On 5 August 2026 Zia Yusuf made a public statement in which he attacked employers of illegal workers, saying that under Reform "Britain will have the harshest penalties in the world" for those employing illegal migrants. He presented the measure as a response to what he described as the undercutting of British workers. He accused Labour and the Conservatives of having "made Britain the softest-touch country in the world for illegal migrants to undercut British workers". No immediate response from Reform UK or other parties was announced and no disciplinary action has been reported.
Zia Yusuf proposes navy to force small boats back to France
Category: xenophobia
On 3 August 2026 Zia Yusuf, Reform UK home affairs spokesman, said on the Today programme that his party would order the Royal Navy to force small boats carrying migrants back to France. He described the plan as "the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two". Yusuf said the plan would be published in full at a party conference and that it had been endorsed by former senior members of the armed forces. He accepted it could provoke a diplomatic dispute with France; international conventions on the sea allow states to rescue people in danger but do not permit taking people to another country without that country's consent, a legal issue the proposal would have to address.
Zia Yusuf vows review and deportation of 'hundreds of thousands' of asylum claimants
Category: inflammatory language
On 20 April 2026 Reform UK home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said on X that the party would review all successful asylum claims from the past five years and revoke the status of anyone found to have entered illegally or overstayed a visa, with those people to be deported if Reform wins the next general election. The party estimated about 400,000 people would be "in scope" of the review and said it would aim to deport large numbers each year, including a pledge to operate multiple removal flights daily. The announcement formed part of a broader Reform policy package that includes leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and a target figure of deporting 188,000 illegal migrants a year. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and Liberal Democrat immigration spokesman Will Forster criticised the plan as impractical; the measures are a party pledge and would require implementation if elected, with operational detail not specified by Yusuf.