Reform UK plan to return asylum seekers using navy ‘dangerous in practice’

Reform UK, a right-wing British political party led by Nigel Farage, has unveiled a controversial proposal to use naval forces to intercept and return asylum seekers arriving by boat across the English Channel. The party characterizes the initiative, termed 'Operation Fortress,' as a humanitarian rescue and return operation rather than a forced pushback, arguing it would comply with international law. Farage, facing domestic political pressure and an upcoming by-election, pledged that if elected, the party would launch what he described as the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War II to prevent what he termed an 'invasion' of migrants. Reform UK's home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, claimed France had sent 200,000 undocumented migrants to Britain and asserted that marines would return them regardless of French objections. However, legal experts and research institutions have raised substantial concerns about the plan's feasibility and legality. The Centre for Military Justice stated that international maritime law prohibits armed forces from entering another nation's territorial waters to seize and return people, potentially constituting a breach of international conventions. Mihnea Cuibus, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory, warned that unilateral British action would likely prompt France to suspend cooperation on intelligence sharing and beach patrols, and France might attempt to repel British vessels in the Channel. Sarah Singer, a professor of refugee law at the University of London, characterized the plan as a wasteful use of military resources that would violate international law and create significant diplomatic friction between the UK and France, with potential consequences for trade and intelligence sharing.