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Victoria Derbyshire presses Laila Cunningham on Reform's plan for Navy to return migrants to France
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August 4, 2026
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10:18Now PlayingReform UK's Laila Cunningham is interviewed by Victoria Derbyshire about her party's plan to return migrant boats using the Royal Navy.
Nigel Farage's party has announced that if it was in power it would intercept boats crossing the English Channel and return migrants to French ports, even if France disagreed.
Opposition parties have branded the plan unworkable, while a Labour minister said it would lead to "a lot of time arguing with France" instead of "actually getting to grips with the problem".
France has said the proposals would violate its sovereignty and breach international law.
Responding to the French government, a Reform spokesperson said: "We will always stand up for British interests and protect our people, whether Emmanuel Macron likes it or not."
The spokesperson added: "Humanitarian missions do not violate maritime or international law."
Under the plans, which Reform said it would bring in if it entered government after the next election, military-crewed inflatable boats deployed from 10 Navy patrol vessels would be used to "come alongside" migrant boats crossing the English Channel.
Border Force officers and police stationed onboard would be tasked with arresting people in the boats, and they would then be returned to France or Belgium by Navy personnel or Marines.
The party said returns operations would be conducted by military personnel with Border Force officers on hand in case of "non-compliance", with a Bay Class landing ship providing "detention capacity at sea" for up to 700 people.
In a policy document, the party argued the plan would be legal under international law because it would be protecting the lives of migrants in dangerous boats.
It cited the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which talks of a duty on states to "render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost".
Farage said he was confident his party's policy of "securely picking people up and safely taking them back to France" would fall within "other conventions of international law".
#newsnight #ukpolitics #reformuk #nigelfarage #lailacunningham #royalnavy #immigration #bbcnews
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