Nigel Farage said on Tuesday that a suggestion by Reform UK's Treasury spokesperson that Royal Marines could use "lethal force" against migrants crossing the Channel had been "utterly misconstrued", after ministers condemned the remarks as illegal.
Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK MP who left the Conservatives for the party, told TalkTV on Monday that a Reform government would send the Royal Marines into the Channel, according to The Guardian. "If they need to use lethal force, then they'll be able to do so," he said. He added that this was "obviously not what we want to see happen", and that migrants should be picked up off the boats and taken back to France.
In an LBC interview, Farage ruled out routine use of force, saying it would come only if soldiers were shot at. "Anybody wearing British military uniform who gets fired at has the right to respond. That's what he was saying," the Reform leader said, according to The Independent. He added that force would be met with force if boats were resisted, and that crossings would stop within two weeks of boats being returned to France.
Defence minister Luke Pollard told Times Radio the proposal was "disgusting and illegal". "We do not shoot unarmed civilians. We do not take military action against civilians," he said. Members of the armed forces are not permitted to accept an illegal order, he added, calling the idea "abhorrent to British military values".
The prime minister told the House of Commons that small boat crossings were falling under his government. Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson said in a statement that Reform was "dragging their own reputations and credibility into the gutter" by suggesting armed forces would open fire on unarmed civilians.
Politico Europe reported that Reform's blueprint for stopping small boats, Operation Fortress, published in August, allows for lethal force only where it is lawful and needed to defend against an imminent threat to life.
Recorded Channel crossings stand at 20,935 so far this year, the lowest since 2021. That is down 42 per cent on the 36,244 recorded at the same point last year, and 19 per cent below the 25,931 at this stage in 2023, when Jenrick was immigration minister.