Reform UK has announced plans to launch what it calls the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two, with the Royal Navy ordered to intercept all migrant boats and return them to France or Belgium.
The proposal, named "Operation Fortress", would be introduced under a government led by Nigel Farage. The party says the plan complies with international law, would stop small boat arrivals and would act as a humanitarian measure to save lives.
'Britain is being invaded'
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, 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."
"Nigel Farage will order his Majesty's Royal Navy to ensure that not a single unauthorised vessel crossing the English Channel makes it to the shores of the United Kingdom."
"Those who attempt it will be intercepted by our Armed Forces and returned to France."
Yusuf said the measure would make the UK border "impenetrable" and that "nobody" would reach the country's shores by small boat.
Ceuta events cited as warning
Reform UK pointed to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa, where about 60,000 migrants crossed the border into Spanish territory earlier this week, as evidence of the "urgency" behind its proposals. Most of those migrants had returned to neighbouring Morocco by Sunday.
The party has described the central aim of its plan as humanitarian, saying it would save lives in the Channel. Records from the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory show 162 people died in the English Channel between 2018 and 2025.
Joint military command and emergency powers
Under the plan, a joint military command would be set up using units from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, RAF and British Army, supported by a surveillance operation to monitor incoming vessels.
Armed forces would stop unauthorised boats, detain those on board, provide water, food and a medical assessment, and return them under naval escort. Emergency legislation would be passed "as necessary" to give the joint command any additional powers required.
Channel crossing figures
Last Wednesday was the busiest day for small boat crossings in the Channel so far this year, when 752 migrants reached the UK. But overall arrivals for 2026 so far are lower than at the same point last year.
The provisional annual total stands at 14,526 - 43% lower than the 25,436 recorded by this time last year and 14% down on the 16,903 seen in the same period of 2024.
