Other ways are apparently possible. Less than 24 hours after the British commentariat had a collective meltdown over Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s plan to use the Royal Navy to escort illegal migrants back to France, some 157 migrants were returned to the French coastline after their boat caught fire.
According to the French paper of record Le Figaro, the migrants were rescued by French and British ships after their people smuggler-operated boat erupted in flames while trying to cross the English Channel illegally on Tuesday morning. The report stated that 157 migrants in total were rescued after they abandonded ship and jumped into the water to avoid the fire.
A Pas-de-Calais prefecture spokesman said: “A small boat caught fire on the edge of French and British waters, leading its occupants to throw themselves into the water.”
London’s Daily Telegraph reported that, rather than being assisted to the British shores at Dover — as is often the case — all migrants were sent back to the French coast.
The paper further reported that some of the migrants were brought back to France on British ships from the operation, which included an RNLI lifeboat and two UK Border Security Command boats.
A French maritime official told the broadsheet that the migrants would be brought to Boulogne-sur-Mer to receive medical attention. The rescue was one of the largest of its kind since the migrant crisis began in the Channel in 2018.
Returning illegal migrants to France, a wealthy, first-world, founding European Union member state, has been treated by the British establishment as unthinkable for fear of riling the feathers of Paris.
In recent years, President Emmanuel Macron’s government successfully barred London from doing so, arguing that the French Navy was incapable of turning the boats around without endangering the migrants. This is despite the French Navy frequently escorting people-smuggling boats into British territorial waters.
Instead, the UK has been content to pay France over £1 billion to police its own coastline and stop illegals from setting sail. However, recent footage published by Tory MP Chris Philp appeared to show French police saying that they had been ordered not to interfere with migrant boat launches.
Meanwhile, the so-called “one in, one out” deal has seen only 4 per cent of migrants who arrived in Dover return to France. Since the agreement came into place one year ago, just 1,087 migrants were sent back to France, compared to 27,920 illegals successfully reaching British shores, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
The operation on Tuesday came just hours after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage unveiled plans to deploy the Royal Navy to conduct migrant pushbacks in the English Channel if his party wins power at the next general election.
Vowing one of the largest deployments of British naval might since the Second World War, Mr Farage said on Monday that Operation Fortress “will save lives, it will help the French in fulfilling their job of stopping the boats, and it will save a huge amount of money.”
Many in the legacy media attempted to claim that such a plan would spark a diplomatic row with France. However, it is likely that by the time Mr Farage’s party is prepared to enact the policy, the current government in Paris will be out of power. Indeed, due to French presidential term limits, Emmanuel Macron is barred from running in next year’s election, scheduled for April 2027.
At present, the anti-mass-migration National Rally party is on course for a historic victory. Should this occur, it is expected that party president Jordan Bardella would be tapped to serve as Marine Le Pen’s prime minister. Last year, Mr Bardella said that he would look to forge a partnership with Farage to combat the migrant crisis in the Channel, including allowing Britain to push boats back to France. Were this to be allowed, it would likely decrease the migrant pull factor for both the UK and France.
Commenting on the effective migrant pushback on Tuesday, a Reform spokesman said: “This incident proves that Reform UK’s Operation Fortress plan is workable and that British vessels are able to take Channel migrants back to France without violating maritime or international law as part of a humanitarian mission.
“It also confirms that these crossings on overcrowded, dangerous dinghies are a humanitarian disaster waiting to happen and must be stopped immediately.”