Reform UK would launch a military operation in the English Channel to stop small boats if it were in power, the party has said. Zia Yusuf, the party's home affairs spokesman, said that Reform UK wants to launch "the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two" to stop small boat arrivals from France.
A Government led by Nigel Farage would send the Royal Navy into the channel to intercept all migrant boats there and return them to France or Belgium under a plan called "operation fortress". The party says the plan is in line with international law and that it will both halt small boat arrivals and act as a humanitarian response. Labour criticised the "reheated" announcement and said "anger and easy answers won't bring crossings down".
Zia Yusuf 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."
He said the move would make the border "impenetrable" and that "nobody" will be able to make it to UK shores via small boat.
Ceuta crossing cited as urgency
The party 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.
Reform UK described the fundamental objective of its plan as humanitarian and claimed it would save lives in the Channel. A total of 162 people died in the English Channel between 2018 and 2025, according to the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory.
Joint military command proposed
The party proposes to set up a joint military command with units from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, RAF and British Army as well as a surveillance command to track incoming boats.
The armed forces would intercept any unauthorised boats and detain their occupants, giving them water and food and a medical assessment before returning them under escort on navy vessels. They would pass emergency legislation "as necessary" to give the joint command any further required powers.
Crossing numbers and Labour response
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).
A Labour Party spokesperson said: "Reform have reheated an old announcement in their latest desperate bid to distract from their growing sleaze scandals. Anger and easy answers won't bring crossings down. The serious action we've taken has started to have a real impact and has led to 46,000 attempted crossings stopped, and 70,000 people with no right to be here removed. We know there's more to do on this complex issue."
Rupert Lowe extends overture to Farage
Meanwhile, former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, who has since started his own Restore party, made an overture to Mr Farage. He said in a video posted to Twitter that he was willing to put his differences with Mr Farage aside and have their parties work together if Reform UK took on some of Restore's policies, such as a ban on the burqa and Halal meat and a referendum on the death penalty. He also said Mr Farage would have to commit to not having any former Conservative ministers, such as Tory defectors Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, in any future Cabinet.
"I truly believe there could be sufficient common ground for our two movements to co-operate collectively (to) destroy the looming left-wing alliance that will finish off what hope remains for this country. We have recently shown how effectively co-operation can work locally on the Norfolk County Council, so why not at national level?" Mr Lowe said in a video posted on X.
The Reform UK leader appeared to give a lukewarm response in his own social media post, saying there will "always be a home in Reform UK" for those who reject the two main parties and think the country needs a "fundamentally different direction". He said he was building a "broad coalition" but that "only one party truly has the possibility of delivering change".
