Zia Yusuf has announced plans to crack down on illegal migrants working in Britain if Reform UK wins the next General Election. Under the proposals, companies will be fined 10% of their global revenues if they hire illegal migrants.
Reform’s home affairs spokesman set out the plans at a press conference at 11am. It comes after Nigel Farage pledged a Channel military operation to tackle the small boats crisis at a separate press conference earlier this week.
Earlier this year the Home Office announced what it called “a new nationwide crackdown on dodgy shops”. The Governmenbt said rogue barber shops, vape stores, mini-marts and sweet shops linked to organised crime will face raids, closures and cash seizures under a new £30 million crackdown targeting money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal working.
But while the Government admits the problems exist, Reform says it does not have a real plan to deal with them.
Labour Chair Bridget Phillipson accused Reform UK of a “desperate attempt to deflect attention from the ever-growing catalogue of scandals engulfing Nigel Farage and his party”.
She added: “This Labour government is already cracking down on illegal working. Since July 2024, illegal working enforcement activity has reached record levels, with arrests up 83% and raids up 77%.
“Rather than trying to distract the public, Farage needs to come clean and explain why he did not declare his secret £5million ‘gift’ from a crypto billionaire. The public deserve better than a party who clearly think the rules don’t apply to them.”
Mr Yusuf blames red tape and taxation for the closure of what he calls “legitimate” businesses. He claims that vape shops, nail salons and barber shops have opened instead.
“Nobody genuinely believes all these operations survive on legitimate commercial demand,” he adds, saying that the National Crime Agency (NCA) believes up to £1billion is laundered through them a year.
The Reform UK politician has also announced a hard-cap on licenses for vape ships at 1,000 across the country.
“Illegal working is embedded in the business models of multibillion pound, multinational corporations operating in Britain,” he adds.
Mr Yusuf claims that many illegal immigrants work in the gig economy. He references a number of police operations which suggest that illegal immigrants have worked in the gig economy.
The Reform member is announcing a new policy, which he brands the “Deliveroo Law” which would jail company executives if they are found to repeatedly hire illegal immigrants knowingly.
“Reform UK would also impose crippling financial sanctions,” he adds, on the companies itself – and on those who rent out their accounts on gig economy applications to illegal migrants.
“For decades the political establishment in Westminster has betrayed British workers,” Zia Yusuf says as he begins his press conference.
He accused Labour and the Conservatives of creating a system which has “effectively decriminalised” illegal working in the UK.
Mr Yusuf, the party’s Home Affairs spokesman, claims this is one of the “key reasons” that wages have not grown.
Nearly 10,000 people were reported to the Government’s anti-terror programme as referrals topped a 10-year high.
A record 10,293 referrals were made to Prevent for 9,957 people in the year to September, figures show.
The scheme which aims to stop people turning to terrorism saw referrals rise 39% from 7,408 in the previous 12 months.
This is the highest number of referrals in a single year since records began in 2015, according to Home Office data.
The spike comes after officials noted a sustained significant increase in referrals in the wake of the Southport attack in July 2024.
Axel Rudakubana, who killed three girls at a dance class and tried to murder eight others as well as two adults, was referred to Prevent three times but his case was closed over a lack of clear ideology.
Zia Yusuf has challenged Shabana Mahmood to bet on Labour’s illegal working plan.
He said: “So Shabana Mahmood’s advisors have weighed in on my announcement today:
‘The Government is already doing much of this.’
“Really? I will give £1,000 to a charity of her choice if Labour jails a single multinational executive for using illegal migrant labour. Further, Shabana Mahmood, why don’t you strike the 1,900 mini-marts, car washes, and vape shops on the ‘Skilled Worker’ sponsorship list off it TODAY?
“It’s because the Labour Party wants the industrial scale scam on the British people to continue. Reform will stop it.
Companies will be fined 10% of their global revenues if they hire illegal migrants, under new Reform plans.
Bosses will be thrown in jail, under a new “Deliveroo Law”, amid growing concern over Channel migrants working in Britain’s booming black economy.
They will be held “criminally liable” even if they did not know their employees did not have the right to work in the UK.
Fines of 10% would soar into the millions for some of the biggest food delivery firms. For example, JustEat’s global revenue for the first half of 2025 was £1.51bn.
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has urged the Conservatives to “think again” after Kemi Badenoch appointed a former antisemite as a party adviser.
It came after Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who had been selected by the Tories to contest a council election next year, withdrew his candidacy.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, Ms Cooper said: “I have to say I’m a bit shocked by this decision. I don’t understand it at all.
“And I’ve listened to Luciana Berger talk about the way she had felt with this man who was targeting her, even talking about giving Nazi salutes. I mean, just really disturbing.
“This is obviously somebody who should not be in in public life. I think that every party has to take this very seriously.
“We’ve seen antisemitism on the rise in our country, and we have to have zero tolerance for any kind of antisemitism, and also just demonstrate that zero tolerance across the country as well. I really hope the Conservatives think again on this.”
More than 1,900 small high street businesses including mini-marts, vape shops and car washes are licensed to sponsor foreign workers under a specialist scheme intended for high-earning individuals despite visa rules being tightened, a BBC investigation has revealed.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Illegal working undermines honest business, exploits vulnerable individuals and fuels organised immigration crime.
“We are already closing the loopholes that allow illegal migrants to work in the UK by extending right to work checks to the gig economy and delivery sector.
“Employers who break the law face severe consequences, including fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, business closures, licence revocations and prison sentences of up to five years.”
The Home Office announced in July it had arrested 10 Evri workers who were on immigration bail, subject to strict conditions, while further inquiries took place.
Figures published in January showed visits and arrests linked to illegal working had reached their highest levels since current records began in 2019.
Some 12,791 visits took place in 2025, up 57% from 8,122 in the previous year, to businesses including nail bars, car washes, barbers and takeaway shops.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: “The Tories and Labour have made Britain the softest-touch country in the world for illegal migrants to undercut British workers.
“Under a Reform Government, Britain will have the harshest penalties in the world for those employing illegal migrants.
“Bosses of companies employing illegal migrants will be sent to prison, and their companies fined 10% of their global revenues.
“There are companies whose entire business model is based on profiting from illegal working.
“It is a slap in the face to the public. It makes a mockery of our immigration laws, takes jobs from British workers and is funding the people smugglers in the Channel.
“Young British people are being shut out of entry level jobs and our whole economy is being undermined.
“We will introduce the toughest penalties anywhere in the world for illegal working.”
Bosses will be thrown in jail, under a new “Deliveroo Law”, amid growing concern over Channel migrants working in Britain’s booming black economy.
They will be held “criminally liable” even if they did not know their employees did not have the right to work in the UK.
Fines of 10% would soar into the millions for some of the biggest food delivery firms. For example, JustEat’s global revenue for the first half of 2025 was £1.51bn.
This means they would be fined £150m, under Zia Yusuf’s plans.