Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Jordan Bardella, president of France’s Rassemblement National, signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday committing their parties, if elected to power, to return illegal migrants crossing the English Channel by boat back to French beaches.
The agreement was signed at Reform UK’s annual conference in Birmingham, where Bardella appeared alongside Farage in what both men framed as a show of cooperation between Britain and France on immigration policy.
Bardella, seen as a rising figure in French politics and a possible future prime minister, criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s handling of migration, saying France had become a “gateway for illegal immigration into the United Kingdom.” He said that for Macron, “mass migration is not a problem; it is a project!”
Bardella said that if he and Marine Le Pen win power in France’s next presidential election, a National Rally government would work to end the Channel migrant crisis. The memorandum commits both parties to “pursuing a restrictive national immigration policy that puts an end to any incentive for illegal immigration, in particular by implementing unprecedented measures to combat illegal working, prohibiting any legal status for undocumented migrants and restricting access to welfare for illegal migrants.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Britain would be permitted to “intercept boats which have launched from French shores and entered British territorial waters and will return the persons on board to France.”
The United Kingdom has previously paid France more than a billion pounds to help address the migrant crisis, but Macron has resisted allowing boat pushbacks, citing safety concerns after migrants have reportedly threatened to jump overboard with their children if turned back.
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose Operation Sovereign Borders policy sharply reduced illegal boat migration from Indonesia, has argued that ending such crossings requires proving the journey cannot succeed. Abbott has also said such a policy would benefit France by reducing the incentive for migrants to travel there in the first place.
Addressing the Birmingham conference, Bardella described a “turbulent” history between Britain and France marked by a “centuries-old rivalry,” but said a “true friendship between our peoples” has since developed.
“In the twenty-first century, I deeply believe that the United Kingdom and France will shape the future of our continent together,” Bardella said. “We share the same values, the same concerns, and we face the same challenges!”
He added: “Our two peoples want the same things: Borders that protect us. Work that pays. Energy that we produce ourselves. Freedom that no one can take away from us. And Nations strong enough to decide their own future.”
Alongside the memorandum, Reform UK pledged to end the Channel migrant crisis within its first 100 days in government if elected. Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf told the conference: “Once elected, a Reform government will deliver more transformative change in our first 100 days than any administration in British history: We will deploy the Royal Navy to stop the boats and return anyone attempting to cross back to France.”
Yusuf added: “We will go from having open borders, to the most secure borders on earth. We will launch the largest mass deportation operation in modern history, removing every single foreign national who entered this country illegally.”
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