Nigel Farage today repeated his claim that a Reform UK government would stop small boats crossing the Channel within a fortnight.

The Reform leader used a press conference in Westminster to unveil his party’s ‘Operation Fortress’ plan to deploy the Royal Navy to return Channel migrants.

He defended the proposal amid questions about its legality, the likely cost to taxpayers, and what would happen in the event France refuses to consent.

Mr Farage said: ‘Operation Fortress will be a combined military operation.

‘It will save lives, it will help the French in fulfilling their job of stopping the boats and it will save a huge amount of money.

‘We are very confident that our policy of securely picking people up and safely taking them back to France – we are entirely confident that that falls within other conventions of international law.’

Mr Farage added: ‘When you think about it, what is the Royal Navy for?

‘If the Royal Navy is not there to protect this country from invasion, then, frankly, I can’t see what its purpose is.’

Nigel Farage today insisted Reform UK’s ‘Operation Fortress’ plan to deploy the Royal Navy to return Channel migrants is ‘entirely in keeping with international law’

A group of migrants board a small boat off the coast of Equihen-Plage in France during an attempt to cross the Channel

Mr Farage and Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, defended the proposal amid questions about its legality and likely cost to taxpayers

Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, had earlier defended the proposals against claims the Royal Navy currently doesn’t have enough ships to return migrants back across the Channel, or that France would simply refuse to accept them.

Tom Sharpe, a former Royal Navy commander, said Reform’s policy ‘starts to unravel quite quickly’.

‘There’s a notion that the Royal Navy could steam in over the horizon and fix this problem, which is declining slightly anyway,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘The reality, when you start looking at what ships we have, which is basically none.

‘He’s talking about the largest maritime operation in the Channel since World War Two – a very evocative image, but that’s not the reality. We don’t have the ships.

‘And if you do bring your ships to bear, and you start investigating what exactly you’re going to do with them and where, it starts to unravel quite quickly.’

He added: ‘A billion pound warship that’s configured for anti-air warfare or anti-submarine warfare, which are both threats to the UK, is not best used ferrying people around. You’re better off using an actual ferry.’

But responding to those criticisms, Mr Yusuf told the same programme: ‘The vessels we are talking about using are first of all the Bay Class ships, the second one would be offshore river patrol vessels, and on those vessels you have things called RHIBs; rigid hulled inflatable boats.

‘These are very small, highly manoeuvrable Navy vessels which will have Royal Marines on board that will be used to go right up alongside these illegal migrant dinghies, take them on board and escort them back to France.’

Asked what would happen if France refused to accept migrants that had been returned by Britain’s military, Mr Yusuf said: ‘In the event they do not consent the marines will nevertheless… escort the migrants onto the beaches of France and if the French disagree what will end up happening is we will end up having something of an argument with the French.’

He questioned why UK politicians would be ‘unwilling to have an argument with the French and the Elysee Palace over the invasion of Britain’.

Pressed further on what would happen if France did not let the migrants disembark on its beaches, Mr Yusuf added: ‘That would mean the French committing a crime against humanity, that is what would be happening.

‘This is a boat full of innocent civilians who are being rescued as part of a humanitarian mission.

‘If the French chose to do as you’re suggesting… the idea that President [Emmanuel] Macron would order the gendarmerie, the coastguard or anybody else under his control to commit a crime against humanity… I do not think that is a serious hypothetical.’

He went on: ‘We’ve got extensive legal opinion on this, it is legal.’

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Reform of putting forward ‘slogans and policies written on the back of a fag packet but no credibility behind it – they can’t answer basic questions like how they would properly fund the military’.

He added: ‘They haven’t even got a defence spokesman and they can’t answer basic questions like what they would do if the French refuse to allow the illegal immigrants to be disembarked back in France.’

Mr Philp said the Conservatives ‘would deport these illegal immigrants back to their country of origin, and if that’s not possible, a safe third country like Rwanda’.

Labour’s Miatta Fahnbulleh defended the Government’s drive to cut the number of migrants entering the UK.

The Energy Secretary signalled ministers would stick with their current plan to reduce the number of small boat crossings ‘because it is working – 50 per cent down on last year’. 

The Cabinet minister told Sky News: ‘I think the crossings this July were the lowest we’ve had for six years and we need to continue that.

‘And the approach that we are taking is threefold. It’s partly about enforcement, so we’ve seen a doubling of enforcement officers to make sure that people aren’t getting on those boats to begin with, and if they are and they need to be returned, they’re returned.

‘But secondly, it is about making sure that we are getting to grips with the criminal gangs that are at the heart of this – we’ve seen an increase in arrests of about 74 per cent.

‘And then the third plank is making sure that there are safe and legal routes. We think that approach is working – 50 per cent down. Everyone wants to see an end to small boats crossing.

‘It is a nightmare for the people who are on those boats, putting their lives at risk. It is a nightmare for us trying to control our borders.’

A Labour spokesman accused Reform of ‘reheating an old announcement in their desperate bid to distract from sleaze scandals.

‘The actions we’ve taken have started to have a real impact and led to 46,000 attempted crossings stopped, and 70,000 people with no right to be here removed,’ they said.