Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, has insisted that France will be obliged to take in migrants if the Royal Navy picks them up in the English Channel and drops them off on the French coast.
Mr Yusuf described the party's proposal - which it calls "the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two" - as a "humanitarian mission". He said the plan was partly inspired by what he saw in Ceuta, the Spanish territory in North Africa, where around 60,000 migrants breached the border with Morocco last week.
Inspired by Ceuta
Mr Yusuf, who has visited Ceuta, said the military there "were carrying basically weapons of war on them". He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I saw soldiers using pepper spray into interacting directly with migrants that were acting in a disorderly fashion. And in using the military, what I saw was Spain was able to remove, effectively send back, what looked like north of 40,000 illegal migrants in the space of a day."
Doubts over the plan
Former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe cast doubt on whether the proposal, due to be set out in full later on Monday, was workable. Speaking on the Today programme, he said: "When you start looking at what ships we have, which is basically none – I mean, he's talking about the largest maritime operation in the Channel since World War Two, a very evocative image, but that's not the reality. We don't have the ships."
Mr Sharpe said using warships could waste resources better suited to anti-air and anti-submarine operations. He added that the UK already has the Border Force to intercept migrants trying to reach Great Britain, and warned that Paris could refuse to accept migrants ferried to French shores by the Royal Navy. He noted that French authorities already grant asylum to migrants within their borders and that the plan would require their total approval, which he doubted would be given.
Responding, Mr Yusuf said the party had considered what would happen if French authorities refused to consent, saying London and Paris would need to have "something of an argument". He argued that because migrants have died crossing the Channel, the boats would be "full of innocent civilians who are being rescued as part of a humanitarian mission", and that refusing to let them disembark would be a "crime against humanity".
How the operation would work
Mr Yusuf said a Reform UK government would use Bay Class landing ships, typically used to transport troops and vehicles, to carry out the proposal. Smaller offshore River patrol vessels, he said, "will have Royal Marines on board that will be used to go right up alongside these illegal migrant dinghies, take them on board and escort them back to France".
On Sunday, he said: "Britain is being invaded. Tory and Labour governments responded with a free ferry service and free hotels. Reform UK will respond by launching the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two."
Farage and Tice under scrutiny
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is due to outline the proposals at a press conference on Monday, where he is likely to face questions about a £5 million gift he received from crypto-billionaire and party donor Christopher Harborne before becoming an MP. A parliamentary investigation into that gift has been paused since Mr Farage stood down as Clacton MP and triggered a by-election, in which he is standing. It would resume if he is re-elected.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice is also facing an investigation opened by Parliament's standards commissioner last Tuesday over an alleged "failure to declare interest".
Channel crossing figures
Home Office figures show more than 2,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Mr Burnham became Prime Minister last month. A total of 326 migrants arrived on Saturday in four boats, bringing the figure to 2,057 since Sir Keir Starmer left office on July 20.
Government and Conservative response
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the Government's effort to curb migration "is working", pointing to a "doubling of enforcement officers to make sure that people aren't getting on those boats to begin with" and "an increase in arrests of about 74%" in action against criminal gangs.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Mr Burnham did not seem to have the strength to adopt a plan to tackle migration. He told BBC Breakfast: "All that is protecting our country's borders is rough seas in the English Channel and as soon as we get any calm weather we have huge numbers."
Mr Philp later told the Press Association that Reform UK had put forward "slogans and policies written on the back of a fag packet but no credibility behind it – they can't answer basic questions like how they would properly fund the military". He said the party did not even have a defence spokesman and could not answer what it would do if the French refused to allow illegal immigrants to be disembarked in France. The Conservatives, he said, "would deport these illegal immigrants back to their country of origin, and if that's not possible, a safe third country like Rwanda".
