London, United Kingdom. Reform UK said it would launch what it described as the largest military operation in the Channel since World War Two to stop asylum seekers arriving in small boats if elected.
Operation Fortress
Reform leader Nigel Farage announced the tougher immigration policy while referring to a migration crisis in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta.
The party said its “Operation Fortress” policy would intercept asylum seekers arriving by small boat and return them to France, making Britain’s border “impenetrable”.
“Under a Reform government, within a fortnight, there would be no more boats,” Farage told reporters at a press conference.
Funding questions and criticism
Farage has faced a difficult few months after Reform lost its lead in national opinion polls for the first time in more than a year, following revelations about gifts and donations to senior party figures.
Labour said Reform was repackaging old immigration policies to divert attention from questions about its finances.
Andrew Fox, a former paratrooper and senior associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society think-tank, questioned whether the proposals were workable.
“The plan sounds magnificent, provided you know nothing about ships, sailors, France or the law,” Fox said.
He said Britain could not move warships into French territorial waters, seize boats or disembark passengers in Calais without French permission.
“This is the gap at the centre of the policy,” he said.
Government response
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Sunday that he would take “relentless” action to stop asylum seekers, after figures showed that more than 2,000 people had arrived in Britain since he became leader two weeks earlier.
