Reform UK has launched a mobile phone game called Small Boat Scramble, free to play with a £5,000 prize for the highest score. The game was unveiled by Nigel Farage in a surprise move, placing players in command of a Royal Navy vessel tasked with stopping illegal boats reaching Britain's shores.
Gameplay and features
Players face small boats, mega-dinghies and, occasionally, a Boriswave - the term Reform uses for a surge in legal migration following the Covid pandemic. The player with the highest score over the next month will win £5,000.
SmallBoatWatch app launch
At the same time, Reform has launched SmallBoatWatch, a new app designed to show the scale of real illegal Channel crossings. Since 2018, almost 210,000 people have entered Britain illegally on small boats. The app brings the latest figures together in one place, allowing users to see the number of migrants detected arriving each day, track the estimated cost to British taxpayers, compare Channel crossings under each Prime Minister, and share the latest figures on social media.
Reform's statement
Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf said: "For years, British taxpayers have been told that the boats are being stopped. They aren't. Almost 210,000 people have crossed the Channel illegally since 2018, while successive Conservative and Labour governments have failed to secure our borders."
Yusuf added: "SmallBoatWatch puts the facts in the hands of the public. People shouldn't have to rely on politicians' promises to understand the scale of this crisis. Instead they can see it for themselves."
He continued: "And Small Boat Scramble lets people have a bit of fun with a very serious issue. The British public are sick of watching politicians talk while the boats keep coming."
Yusuf concluded: "Labour and the Conservatives will not stop the boats. Reform UK will. We will put the Royal Navy in the Channel and stop the boats in the first 100 days."
