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A massive petition urging the Government to roll out offshore facilities for migrants, from which they would be deported somewhere else, has reached a major milestone. The call from former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has garnered more than 720,000 supporters. According to the UK Parliament's website, the online document has been waiting 205 days for a debate date. Petitions with more than 100,000 signatures are considered for debate in the House of Commons.

Mr Lowe's read: "The Government should seek to establish offshore detention facilities for individuals who enter the UK illegally, to process them and arrange their deportation. The UK is facing unprecedented levels of illegal migration, particularly through small boat crossings. We believe current use of hotels and temporary accommodation is unsustainable, costly and dangerous.

"We believe that establishing offshore detention centres would act as a strong deterrent, prevent absconding, and allow for the swift processing and removal of those who enter illegally.

"We consider the detention and mass deportation of all illegal migrants in the UK is a necessity."

The Home Office issued a reply, with the Government responding to petitions with at least 10,000 signatures.

It said: "This Government is doing whatever it takes to secure our borders; though offshore detention is costly and impractical, the most sweeping asylum reforms in a generation are being introduced.

"We will do whatever it takes to secure our borders. We believe the number of small boat crossings are shameful and the British people deserve better.

"To restore order and control to our borders, on 17 November 2025, the Home Secretary announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, removing incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up and easing the return of those with no right to be here."

Officials promised that their reforms will "end the UK's asylum 'golden ticket' which has drawn migrants from safe countries across Europe"

"We are taking a new approach to refugee protection in the UK, which marks a significant change in direction away from an assumption of offering permanent protection, and towards a more basic, and temporary protection, which we call 'core protection' lasting only until a refugee can safely return home," the Home Office said.

In May, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, revelaed plans to send refused asylum seekers to "return hubs" in third countries.

"What now we want to do and are having discussions of, talks of, is return hubs, which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned and we have to make sure they're returned effectively, and we'll do that, if we can, through return hubs," he said.