Key facts
- Robert Jenrick said Reform UK would deploy Royal Marines to take migrant boats back to France.
- Jenrick stated the Royal Marines should be permitted to use lethal force if necessary.
- Nigel Farage denied routine use of lethal force, saying it would only be used if soldiers were fired at.
- Farage claimed Jenrick's comments were "utterly misconstrued."
- Defence minister Luke Pollard called the comments "disgusting and illegal."
- Pollard stated the armed forces do not shoot unarmed civilians.
Nigel Farage has denied that Reform UK would authorize routine lethal force against migrant crossings in the Channel, hours after one of his MPs suggested the Royal Marines should be permitted to fire on the boats.
Robert Jenrick, a Reform UK MP, had told TalkTV that the party would deploy the Royal Marines to take boats back to France. "What we are going to do, and we’re the only political party that has the courage to say this, is deploy the Royal Marines into the Channel. If they need to use lethal force, then they’ll be able to do so," he said.
However, speaking on LBC, Farage said he would not authorize routine use of force, stating it would only be used if soldiers were fired at and that Jenrick was being "utterly misconstrued."
"Anybody wearing British military uniform who gets fired at has the right to respond. That’s what he was saying," Farage said. "Remember, in these camps, every week there are shootings, there are stabbings. We are dealing here with very, very serious international criminal organisations, and what we’re saying is, we will, if we win the next election, pick these people up and take them back to France. There is a possibility that initially that might be met with some force. If it is, force will be met with force. But I tell you something: within two weeks of boats being taken back to France, the boats will stop coming."