Nigel Farage has launched a blistering attack on Keir Starmer’s newly unveiled migrant returns agreement with Emmanuel Macron, branding it a “humiliation for Brexit Britain” and warning that Channel crossings are spiralling out of control.
Writing in the Daily Mail after witnessing another migrant boat being escorted into British waters, the Reform UK leader declared:
None of the 74 young men I saw in that small boat should be free to roam our streets. They should all be detained, and we should find out who they are and where they come from. Some of them could be very dangerous indeed.
Farage’s intervention follows the prime minister’s agreement in principle with the French president to trial a “one in, one out” scheme—under which migrants who reach Britain illegally will be returned to France, in exchange for the UK accepting asylum seekers with family ties across the Channel.
But Farage dismissed the plan as both ineffective and insulting. “This agreement is a humiliation for Brexit Britain,” he said. “We have acted today as an EU member and bowed down to an arrogant French president.”
The deal, expected to start in late August, will reportedly involve just 50 migrants a week being returned—fewer than one in 17 of the 44,000 who have arrived since Labour took power last July. “In truth, I doubt anybody will actually be deported,” said Farage, “because whatever is agreed… will be undermined by our being a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.”
Farage’s comments echo growing concerns across the political spectrum. Independent modelling suggests up to 70,000 migrants could arrive via small boats this year, and Home Office officials are already preparing for a barrage of legal appeals from those due for return.
During a patrol off the Kent coast this week, Farage claimed to witness the French Navy escorting migrants into British waters, where UK Border Force then took over. “The French gave life jackets to the migrants—and then, astonishingly, took them back, presumably to use later in the day,” he said.
He also questioned the financial burden of the current response.
The large catamaran hired to pick up empty boats costs £6,000 per day and burns thousands of litres of fuel. The real cost of this crisis is far beyond the £4-5 billion figure we’re told.
Farage warned that the current system is a threat to national security.
Just weeks ago, three Iranian terrorists who planned to blow up the Israeli embassy in London were arrested—amid claims they had crossed the Channel illegally.
We must end the system whereby people who come illegally are allowed to stay, work, get free healthcare, and then possibly go on to commit acts against the interests of our nation.