Farage denies Reform would let troops shoot small boats after Jenrick’s ‘lethal force’ claim

Party leader says Jenrick’s comments ‘misconstrued’, after MP said Royal Marines would be allowed to fire at those on boats

Nigel Farage has denied that a Reform UK government would authorise lethal force against migrant crossings in the Channel, hours after one of his MPs said the Royal Marines should be permitted to fire on the boats.

Robert Jenrick, a Reform UK MP who defected from the Conservatives, 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.

But speaking on LBC, Farage said he would not authorise routine use of force, that it would be used only 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,” he 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.”

Jenrick had said that allowing the use of force would mean the problem would end “in just a few days.” He said using force was “obviously not what we want to see happen”, adding: “We want to see these individuals picked up off the boats in a sensible and reasonable way, and taken straight back to France.”

The defence minister Luke Pollard called the comments “disgusting and illegal”, and said that the armed forces were not allowed to accept “an illegal order”.

“We do not shoot unarmed civilians. We do not take military action against civilians,” Pollard told Times Radio. “The idea of this is a soundbite designed by Reform to distract from their sleaze and their scandal … it’s abhorrent to military values, it’s abhorrent to British values.

“I don’t think anyone should give this any truck. We can all see what this is: an attempt to distract from Reform’s internal woes.”