Nigel Farage rages over Labour's 'joke' plan to end migrant crisis
Nigel Farage suggests the Royal Marines may have to take migrants back to France and accuses the French Navy of aiding and abetting people smugglers
Nigel Farage has claimed Rishi Sunak's plan to stop the boats is better than Sir Keir Starmer's.
The Reform UK Honorary President declared Labour's proposal - to intensify efforts to hunt organised crime groups through the creation of a new Border Security Command - is "far worse" than Mr Sunak's bid to end the Channel migrant crisis.
And Mr Farage said attempting to "cut off the head" of the smuggling gangs will fail.
He told the Daily Express: "Starmer’s plan is far worse than Rishi’s plan. Rishi’s plan might be okay if it wasn’t for that court [the European Court of Human Rights], so it isn’t going to work."
The Tories are warning voters that backing Reform UK will lead to Sir Keir Starmer becoming Prime Minister.
And despite branding Labour's plan to stop the boats as a "joke", Mr Farage brushed aside suggestions voting for Reform could lead to Britain taking in more migrants.
He told the Daily Express: “How could it get worse?
“There are only a certain number of dinghies the traffickers can get their hands on. This argument the Tories are portraying to you - that the other lot is worse - they are going to lose anyway. I think the public are realising it.
“They are going to lose. Quite honestly, whether it is the Channel or legal migration, I don’t think there is any difference between Labour and the Conservatives. It was Labour that opened the door in an irresponsible way that has led to these areas that we see.
“All the Conservatives have done is accelerate the process. Just look at the numbers. So, no, I don’t buy that argument in any way at all.”
Sir Keir has vowed to scrap the Rwanda scheme – even if it is deterring migrants from crossing the Channel – and to focus solely on hunting the smuggling gangs.
He wants to create a new Border Security Command, which will bring together the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and MI5 to smash the organised crime networks operating throughout Europe.
Mr Farage branded Labour's plan to stop the boats as “a joke”.
He said: “There’s no way just going for the gangs is going to make a difference. He’s even talking about joining up with an EU scheme that might finish up with us taking more people than we are at this moment in time. Neither side has any credible policy at all.”
He added: “To Brexit voters, what happened in the English Channel is a serious affront and they see frankly us allowing it to continue as being a betrayal of what they voted for in the referendum and what they trusted the Conservatives with in the general election and that massive 80-seat majority in 2019.
“And I have to say I feel that too... We stood aside in 319 seats to give the Conservatives a clear run. We didn’t want a Corbyn-Lib Dem-SNP coalition. We must leave the ECHR if we want to have sovereignty over our borders. It’s just as simple as that.”
Mr Farage, in his first speech during the general election campaign, described the Channel migrant crisis as a “slow motion D-Day in reverse” and a “national security” issue.
And the Brexit architect called for urgent talks with French President Emmanuel Macron over the French Navy and their “escorting” of migrant boats across the Channel.
He said: “I think the one thing the French will respect is firmness. The escorting by the French navy is aiding and abetting the people trafficking.
“If the French Navy won’t cooperate, we may have to use the Royal Marines to send people back to the beaches of France. I hope it never gets to that.
“They need to know we are serious. We have given them a vast sum of money. It’s not working. The French Navy should not be doing what they are doing.
“Someone needs to make that clear, and thus far, nobody has. It is not a declaration of war. We have to persuade the French what their navy is doing is just plain wrong at every level.”
More than 10,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, around 40 per cent higher than at the same point in 2023.
Some 29,437 crossed last year, down from 45,755 in 2022.
But Mr Farage told a press conference in Dover: “If 3,800 boats and 125,000 boats isn’t a sort of slow motion D-Day in reverse, I don’t know what is.
“But if you don’t like the term, fine, but I predicted an invasion and I think we’ve seen one.
“Sometimes in politics and national debate you’ve got to use words that make people stop and think. All that I’ve ever tried to do is on Europe or this subject or de-banking or whatever it is, the thing I’ve been good at is to get people to debate things and to make their own minds up.”
Mr Farage, who confirmed he would not be standing in the upcoming general election, insisted growing support for Reform could lead to more voters abandoning Labour.
But he predicted Reform could replace the Conservative Party as the main opposition party.
He said: “As for joining the Conservatives, I think it is more likely that you end up with a Canada-type situation of 30 years ago, where a party coincidentally called Reform became the new party of the centre right, in Canadian politics.
“There was this idea in 2015 that if you vote for UKIP, Labour will win. Well, actually, what the UKIP vote in 2015 did was give David Cameron a majority. We hurt the Labour Party far more in the Midlands and the North than anybody thought.
“In fact, some of the polling we have got, even if we packed up tomorrow, they wouldn’t go back to the Conservatives. They have wrecked it for themselves.
“They will say a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour. But when the public realise, this election is a forgone conclusion. Labour are going to win. They are going to win quite big.”
Mr Farage also warned record levels of migration could lead to an increase in “sectarianism”.
Asked what he meant by British values, Mr Farage replied: “If you see the victory celebrations for the local councillors from Burnley to Bradford to elsewhere, no women. This is a new form... The idea that I’m saying this is all British Muslims is absolute nonsense.
“I think the most concerned group, the most worried group, about what’s going on with this new form of sectarianism is British Muslims who are working, paying their taxes, wanting their kids to do well. It’s them that are perhaps going to be the worst affected by this if this current unpleasant trend continues.
“Of course there are social conservatives, but perhaps not quite to the same degree... When 23 per cent of 18-to-24-year-olds say they support the concept of jihad, I put it to you that that’s not exactly a British value. It’s obvious to everyone that since Oct 7 there has been increased radicalisation in this country. I never thought I’d speak to some friends who’ve got a Jewish girl at a British university...
“She’s getting real abuse to the point of ‘do I really want to be part of this?’ So I think there are some pretty disturbing trends. I’m very concerned about sectarian politics. We saw it in Northern Ireland, we’re starting to see it here.”
