Nigel Farage used Zia Yusuf Reform Uk Immigration to set out Operation Fortress, a plan to put the navy into the English Channel and send asylum seekers back after they are intercepted at sea. He said the policy would be “rescue and return” and that people would be “immediately returned to their point of departure.”
Farage pledged on Monday to launch what he called the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War II. The proposal comes as he faces political pressure at home over a series of financial scandals and a by-election in just more than a week.
Operation Fortress and the navy
Reform UK says the plan would use the navy to stop boats carrying asylum seekers and return them without delay. Zia Yusuf said France had “sent us 200,000 illegal migrants, including murderers and terrorists,” and said marines would return them to the French coast.
The party’s position is that the operation would be a rescue mission followed by immediate removal. That leaves the proposal resting on a bilateral arrangement, because the boats would have to be dealt with across the Channel and not just after they reached Britain.
France and legal limits
The French Ministry of the Interior has already objected, and the stated dispute is over the idea of British forces returning people from the water. Reform UK replied: “We will always stand up for British interests and protect our people, whether [President] Emmanuel Macron likes it or not.”
The Centre for Military Justice said international maritime laws do not permit a state’s armed forces to go into the territorial waters of another state to seize and return people to that state. Mihnea Cuibus said unilateral British action would have a major diplomatic effect and could prompt France to suspend existing cooperation.
Cuibus also said, “It is also possible that France would attempt to repel British ships in the Channel to prevent further returns.” That makes the practical hurdle clear: the plan is not just a question of patrols, but of whether France would allow any return operation at all.
Previous plan under Boris Johnson
Sarah Singer called the proposal a “complete waste of military resources” and said, “Summary expulsions are contrary to UK and European law, which requires those seeking protection to have their cases individually assessed to determine if they can safely be removed.”
She said the same strategy was touted in 2022 under the Conservative government of Boris Johnson and was abandoned. Priti Patel said the earlier Operation Isotrope would make crossing the Channel “unviable,” but the plan was later dropped after military officials raised concerns.
That history leaves Reform UK with the same problem the earlier plan faced: the military can be ordered into the Channel, but returning people across the water depends on law, cooperation and a deal France looks unlikely to give.
