Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Rassemblement National President Jordan Bardella signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday, agreeing that if both parties come to power, they would institute a system of immediately returning illegal boat migrants in the English Channel back to the beaches of France.
In a public display of Anglo-Franco solidarity against the globalist-leftist-facilitated migrant crisis in Europe, National Rally rising star and current favourite to become the next prime minister of France, Jordan Bardella, joined Nigel Farage’s Reform UK at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham.
Bardella lamented that under President Emmanuel Macron, France had become a “gateway for illegal immigration into the United Kingdom,” adding that for Macron, “mass migration is not a problem; it is a project!”
The French MEP said that if he and Marine Le Pen are given power at next year’s presidential election, a National Rally government would commit to finally ending the illegal migrant crisis in the English Channel.
To this end, Bardella and Mr Farage signed a memorandum of understanding in which they agreed to “commit 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.”
Perhaps most critically, the MoU stated that 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.”
Despite London having committed to paying Paris over a billion pounds sterling to combat the migrant crisis, Macron has steadfastly refused to allow migrant boat pushbacks, claiming that such operations could endanger the lives of the illegals, many of whom have previously threatened to throw themselves and their children overboard if forced back to France.
Others, such as former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose similar Operation Sovereign Borders all but eliminated illegal boat migration from Indonesia, have argued that the only way to end the crisis is to demonstrate that reaching England is not possible.
Abbott has also argued that this would be beneficial to France as it would reduce the incentive for illegals to travel to France in the first place.
In his address to the Reform conference in Birmingham on Friday, Bardella said that while Britain and France have had a “turbulent” history with a “centuries-old rivalry”, there has developed a “true friendship between our peoples.”
“In the twenty-first century, I deeply believe that the United Kingdom and France will shape the future of our continent together,” he said. “We share the same values, the same concerns, and we face the same challenges!”
“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.”
In addition to announcing the memorandum of understanding with the National Rally, Reform also committed to ending the migrant crisis in the English Channel within its first 100 days in office.
Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf said: “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.
“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.”