Farage Unveils Plan to Use the Navy Against Small Boats
Nigel Farage set out plans on Monday for a Reform UK government to deploy the Royal Navy and Royal Marines to intercept small boats crossing the Channel and turn migrants back to France. He billed it as the largest Channel military operation since the Second World War and claimed a Reform government could halt the crossings “within a fortnight”. Former naval officers and legal experts questioned whether the plan was lawful or workable.
The announcement, coming a day after Andy Burnham promised a “relentless” crackdown of his own, turned the Channel into the central battleground of British politics. Mr Farage’s pledge plays to the frustration that has powered Reform’s rise, but critics warned that using warships to push back flimsy dinghies could endanger lives and breach international law, which bars returning people to danger. Reform insists the operation would be lawful and a deterrent. The plan piled pressure on the government to show its own approach can work. Watch how ministers respond and whether the legal objections bite.