The hard-right Reform UK party unveiled plans on Monday for, if it wins power, “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats.
The proposal – which experts and other political parties promptly rubbished – comes days after tens of thousands of migrants entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco, reigniting Europe’s debate over irregular migration.
“What happened in Ceuta over the weekend shows you just how serious this situation is,” Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, who leads the anti-immigration Reform, told a press conference unveiling the new policy in a 28-page document.
It details plans to deploy Britain’s Royal Navy to return small boats to France, something proposed and swiftly abandoned by the Conservative government in 2020. Reform would need to win the next general election – not expected until 2029 – to implement the proposals.
They come as Farage and Reform – which led national polls for around 18 months but have seen that lead disappear in recent weeks – are embroiled in a series of scandals and official investigations into their finances.
In the latest, parliament’s standards commissioner said on Monday he had last week opened an investigation into an alleged “failure to declare” a financial interest by the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice.
