Farage says only one way to stop small boats coming to the UK
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has dismissed the government’s plans to invest £100 million in border security, noting that it will fail to stop the influx of illegal migrants crossing into the country.
Speaking at a news conference on Monday (4 August), Farage said the UK had already given £800 million to France to address the problem, but the boats were still coming. He added that this is because those arriving by small boats know that they have a ‘99% chance of staying’.
Farage said the only effective solution would be to turn people away as and when they arrived – similar to the system introduced in Australia.
“If you enter a country illegally, you will be detained and deported. This is what normal countries do all over the world. We’ve surrendered normality to this new human rights regime,” he said.
Farage’s comments come after the Home Office announced that dangerous criminal gangs profiting from deadly small boat crossings will face a major new crackdown following a £100 million investment in border security.
The funding will pay for up to 300 extra National Crime Agency officers (NCA), state-of-the-art detection technology and new equipment to smash the networks putting lives at risk in the Channel, it said.
The comprehensive funding package will include:
- Funding to support the new pilot of the ‘one-in, one-out’ returns agreement between the UK and France, which, for the first tim,e will see migrants who arrive illegally on small boats returned to France.
- An uplift in NCA staff of up to 300 personnel focused on intelligence targeting crime gang members.
- New state-of-the-art technology and equipment for the detection and disruption of organised immigration crime, including hi-tech surveillance capabilities, and AI-assisted intelligence and data analysis tools.
- Funding to support the implementation of extended police powers to seize and download digital devices to gather evidence and intelligence was announced under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
- Funding for the recently established Organised Immigration Crime Domestic Taskforce, which is driving law enforcement operations targeting the elements of organised immigration crime activity operating out of the UK, from the facilitation of boat crossings to the running of modern slavery networks.
- Funding to intensify illegal working enforcement by increasing overtime for ICE teams, enabling more premium-time deployments, funding redeployment of officers to high-risk regions, boosting intelligence generation, and supporting sanctions teams to target non-compliant employers—delivering rapid operational uplift without requiring new permanent staff.
- And funding to support a series of interventions upstream as well as intensified efforts in transit countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia to target organised immigration crime, disrupt human trafficking and the supply of dangerous small boat equipment, while also continuing to correct the lies peddled by criminal gangs to would-be migrants.
The investment will also support the new powers that will be introduced when the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill becomes law, which will include the introduction of a UK-wide offence to criminalise the creation and publication of online material that promotes a breach of immigration law, such as the advertisement of small boat crossings on social media.
