Reform UK’s plan to use the Royal Navy to stop small boats crossing the English Channel would include Royal Marines boarding the vessels and arresting people attempting the journey, the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf is expected to say at its annual conference.
The proposal, backed by Reform leader Nigel Farage, would see naval personnel intercept boats travelling from France and return those on board across the Channel. The party has described the policy as “Operation Fortress” and said it would be the largest military operation in the Channel since the Second World War.
Reform says Border Force officers and police would arrest passengers on the boats, while Royal Marines would escort them back to France or Belgium. Smaller River-class patrol vessels would operate alongside larger Bay-class landing ships, which the party says could provide accommodation and detention space.
Mr Yusuf has insisted that France would have to accept migrants taken ashore by the Royal Navy. If French authorities refused permission for them to disembark in port, he said Royal Marines would take them safely back to the French coastline from which they had departed.
Reform’s published policy says the party would prefer to hand people over to French authorities in port, but would proceed with a landing if Paris rejected that approach. Mr Yusuf has argued that preventing such a return would amount to a “crime against humanity”.
The plan has prompted warnings from military and political opponents. Retired Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe said the proposal lacked substance and questioned whether the Navy had suitable vessels available, arguing that warships designed for air defence and anti-submarine operations should not be used as a ferry service.
Mr Sharpe also cautioned that the operation would require French consent, while Reform has said it would continue regardless of whether the French Government agreed. The party maintains that its approach would be lawful because those on board would be treated as people in danger at sea and rescued under international maritime obligations.
Reform says the purpose of the policy is to remove the incentive for migrants to pay people smugglers by ensuring that no unauthorised boat reaches the British coast. The party has pledged that anyone intercepted in the Channel would be returned to France rather than brought to the UK.
