Nigel Farage has slammed Sir Keir Starmer for blaming small boat crossings on France – and insisted the UK must take responsibilty for its own failure to deal with cross-Channel arrivals. The Prime Minister this week called on the French to do more to stop migrants attempting to cross the Channel on dangerous boats such as inflatable dinghies and revealed he would hold talks with France’s President Macron.
Sir Keir said: “One of the things we’ve worked hard at is improving the relations with the French in relation to the work we both need to do to stop these boat crossings, which I’m determined we will absolutely bear down on.”
But calling on France to do more, he said: “I want to see more co-operation in northern France, and it’s an issue that I have raised and will raise again with President Macron.”
However Mr Farage warned that the Prime Minister must stop making excuses as he told Talk TV: “We will never stop the boats from leaving France. They’d need 10,000 soldiers on the beaches to stop every boat from going.
“The reason they’re coming isn’t the French’s fault, the reason they’re coming – it’s our fault. It’s about time we faced up to that.”
And in a savage attack on Sir Keir, the Reform leader said: “His biggest mistake was going into politics. Why do I say that? Because actually if you go into politics, you do it because you believe in something.
“You think there’s a course of action that needs to be taken that you think will make the country better. This bloke doesn’t believe in a single thing other than the ‘niceness’ of human rights law, international law and the north London set.”
Reform has said it will ensure people who come to the UK unlawfully are deported – and has also spoken about using the Royal Navy to stop small boats arriving.
Some 16,545 people have crossed in small boats so far in 2025 according to Home Office figures, a 45% increase on the same period in 2024 and higher than at the same point in 2022, the overall record year for crossings.
On Tuesday morning, hundreds of would-be migrants were seen gathering on the dunes before making dashes towards the English Channel at Gravelines beach near Calais, all intent on boarding a single dinghy.
The French authorities stood by and watched as those not deterred by tear gas waded into the water to risk the Channel crossing.
The scenes at Gravelines unfolded just hours after a meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron at the G7 in Canada to address a situation No 10 acknowledged was “deteriorating”.
Officers were trudging the sands at Gravelines before the sun had risen, armed with riot shields and batons.
A thick blanket of tear gas fired by the French Police Nationale was not enough to deter all the migrants gathered at the beach.
Those who made it to the water bunched into three groups and waited for the dinghy to collect them, watched by the French police from the shoreline.