Farage: Migrant Crisis a ‘National Emergency’ Putting Britain at Risk of Further Terrorism

Brexit boss Nigel Farage blasted both the Conservative and Labour parties for failing to put forward meaningful plans to stop the illegal migrant crisis in the English Channel, which he warned represents a “national emergency” putting Britain at risk of further terror attacks.

The failure of the poorly-named Conservative government to end the illegal boat migrant crisis in the Channel is not only a betrayal of the UK public’s desire to “take back control” of their country’s borders but also represents a major national security issue given the large proportion of unidentifiable young military-age males landing on British beaches every month, Mr Farage argued.

Speaking with the Express newspaper, the honorary Reform UK party president said: “There is a growing list of people who have come into Britain illegally [and] committed serious crimes in our country. What we cannot know is how many of these could be part of a future terrorist attack. The Channel crisis is an issue of national security that is of the utmost importance.

“The large numbers of undocumented young males that are coming into our country are seen as a problem, given the daily bill for hotels is over £7 million. Actually, it is far more serious than that.

“Many of these young men, who throw their smartphones and passports into the English Channel once they reach 12 miles from British shores, come from countries that are still fighting wars. Over 90 per cent are men and we have little or no idea of whether some of these men indeed fought ISIS in Syria.”

So far this year, over 10,000 illegals have crossed the English Channel from the shores of France in small boats operated by people-smuggling networks on both sides of the waterway, the highest number seen since records began in 2018 and taking the total since then to around 120,000.

With the government having allowed illegals to stay in the UK while their asylum claims are processed — being put up in hotels at taxpayer expense — there have long been warnings that terrorists may use the open-door policy to sneak into the UK.

Indeed, last year, reports claimed that migrants with suspected ties to the so-called Islamic State terrorist network had entered the country via the Channel route and were being surveilled by British security services.

UK intelligence agencies were also reportedly forced to carry out a manhunt last year for six boat migrants suspected of being tied to Islamist Iranian terror networks after they disappeared into the country, evading surveillance by using fake IDs.

Despite the clear terror threat of allowing in many cases unidentifiable young males from war-torn regions, the Tory-led government has not only refused to embark upon a ‘turn back the boats’ approach to directly return illegals to France — a safe and prosperous EU nation where by rights migrants should apply for asylum first — but has also seen fit to provide Paris with hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to supposedly step up enforcement against human trafficking gangs operating within France.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has also refused to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its associated Strasbourg-based court which controversially intervened to block a migrant removal flight to Rwanda, throwing the government’s main deterrence scheme of sending migrants to the East African nation to have their asylum claims processed offshore into legal limbo.

The ECHR, which the UK is still bound by as it is technically a separate institution from the EU and therefore Britain’s membership was unaffected by Brexit, has also reportedly blocked the UK from deporting at least 53 foreign convicted terrorists, including would-be suicide bombers and ISIS members.

On Tuesday, Mr Farage, alongside Reform UK leader Richard Tice, will reportedly call for Britain to immediately leave the ECHR, arguing that a foreign court should have no say over the immigration policies of the UK.

In the campaign launch for the populist right-wing party ahead of the July 4th general election, Mr Farage will also likely criticise the Tories for failing to deliver on their promises to “stop the boats” as well as its dismal record on legal immigration, which has seen record waves of foreigners descend onto the country despite the party promising to reduce migration following Brexit.

The Brexit leader is also critical of the left-wing opposition Labour Party of Sir Keir Starmer, who has vowed to scrap the Rwanda scheme in favour of an ambiguous plan to increase policing against people smuggling gangs.

“As for Labour’s plan to stop the boats, going after the criminal gangs is something we’ve been doing towards the drugs trade for decades, yet it makes no difference. Starmer has no credibility in dealing with this issue,” Farage said.

“Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour is very vulnerable on both legal and illegal immigration. Ukip took huge numbers of votes from Labour in the past, and Reform can do the same in the Red Wall — which the Conservatives lost a long time ago.”

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