Nigel Farage has insisted Reform UK’s proposal to intercept and return migrant boats crossing the English Channel would comply with international law. The party’s “Operation Fortress” plan would involve the Royal Navy taking migrants back to France or Belgium, which Reform described as a humanitarian response.
Operation Fortress
Setting out the proposal at a press conference, the Reform UK leader said: “Operation fortress will be a combined military operation. It will save lives, it will help the French in fulfilling their job of stopping the boats and it will save a huge amount of money. We are very confident that our policy of securely picking people up and safely taking them back to France – we are entirely confident that that falls within other conventions of international law.”
Mr Farage added: “When you think about it, what is the Royal Navy for? If the Royal Navy is not there to protect this country from invasion, then, frankly, I can’t see what its purpose is.”
Reform said it would set up a joint military command with units from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, RAF and British Army as well as surveillance. It said the navy’s River-class offshore patrol vessels would be used for interception. The ships’ current responsibilities include monitoring Russian naval activity around British waters.
Reform said the plan would not involve the use of so-called “pushbacks” by towing or barging their dinghies away from British waters. The navy would intercept any unauthorised boats and detain their occupants, giving them water, food and a medical assessment before returning them to France or Belgium under escort on navy vessels, it said.
Government response
Downing Street said when the Royal Navy had primacy for small boat crossings in 2022, there was no reduction during that period. No 10 added that border patrol officers were the “best-suited candidate” to deal with such operations.
Asked about Reform’s proposal, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Royal Navy had primacy for small boat crossings under the previous government in 2022. I’d remind you there was no reduction in small boat crossings in that period. The Royal Navy is already tackling many threats, including monitoring any Russian warships operating near our shores, protecting our waters and our critical national infrastructure. Border patrol officers have significant capabilities and skills that make them the best-suited candidate to lead small boats operations in the Channel. That’s why we’re driving down the number of crossings. It’s why they’re down almost 50% compared to last year and why almost 60% of attempted crossings have been stopped since this Government came to power.”
Channel crossings and Ceuta
Reform said the situation in the north African Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where some 60,000 migrants breached the border to enter Spanish territory earlier this week, shows the “urgency” of Reform’s plan for the UK. Most of the migrants in Ceuta had walked back to neighbouring Morocco by Sunday.
Last Wednesday marked the busiest day for small boat crossings across the English Channel so far this year, with 752 migrants arriving in the UK. But the number of overall arrivals for 2026 so far has dropped since last year. The provisional total for the year so far is 14,526, 43% lower than the number recorded by this time last year (25,436) and down 14% on the same period in 2024 (16,903).
Conservative reaction
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Reform UK have no detailed plan nor funding to back up their latest gimmick. They can’t explain how they will properly fund the military and they can’t explain how they would disembark illegal immigrants in France without French co-operation.”
