“I get this in the street from people, people point at me and say, ‘You are the last chance we’ve got to get this country back on track’. We are the last chance the country has got to get this country back on track.”

Mr Farage said he was going to have lunch with the Albanian premier to talk about deporting foreign criminals after announcing a Reform UK government would stop the boats within two weeks. He added “We will deport foreign criminals.

“We will stop the boats and we will detain and deport those who illegally break into our country, doing what nearly every normal country around the rest of the world does.

Zia Yusuf will be Reform UK’s new head of policy and the party will set up a department for preparing for government, Mr Farage has announced.

He said: “In order to get all these policies brought together under one roof – and it’s a massive workload – I’m going to ask Zia Yusuf, from this day, to be our head of policy to bring all of this together.

“I will, in the next few weeks, open up a new department within the party, leaning on the experience that Nadine (Dorries) and others have – and others will come.

“Others with experience will come. Don’t worry about that, and we will open a department for preparing for government so that when we win, we can hit the ground running.”

Mr Farage warned of a “big rift” in Labour and told Reform UK’s national party conference that he thinks a general election could take place in 2027.

His comments followed Angela Rayner’s resignation from government over failing to pay £40,000 in tax on her second home in Hove.

The scandal over the former housing secretary underpaying £40,000 of stamp duty “screams to entitlement”, Mr Farage said.

Brexit’s architect declared that the Government was “deep in crisis” as Sir Keir scrambled to reshuffle his top team.

The Reform UK leader also laid into the “cabinet of people wholly unqualified to run our country”.

Meanwhile Reform UK may need to rethink its pledge to deliver £90bn of tax cuts, the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice suggested.

The Reform UK manifesto published ahead of last year’s general election made commitments to slash income tax in particular, as well as large spending pledges on defence.

But Mr Tice told the BBC: “A manifesto in July 2024 is not appropriate for a manifesto or contract whenever the next general election is.”

Nigel Farage makes bombshell pledge to stop small boats in 2 weeks if he becomes PM

Nigel Farage has made a dramatic pledge to stop small-boat crossings in the English Channel within two weeks under a Reform UK government, putting immigration and border control at the centre of his plans for office.

The Reform UK leader made the commitment as he presented his party as a government-in-waiting, arguing that the small-boats crisis requires a fundamentally different approach from successive Conservative and Labour governments.

Farage’s original statement was particularly striking. Speaking at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham in September 2025, he told supporters that if Reform won an election, “we will stop the boats within two weeks of winning government”.

The claim immediately generated questions about how such a target could be achieved.

The following day, Farage clarified his position. He said the two-week period would begin once Reform had the legislation and legal powers it believed were necessary to detain and deport people arriving irregularly.

That distinction became an important part of the debate surrounding his pledge.

The original two-week promise

Farage’s promise was made against the backdrop of continued concern about small-boat crossings.

Reform has made immigration one of the party’s defining political issues, arguing that successive governments have failed to prevent people from crossing the Channel in small boats.

The party’s argument is that deterrence has been undermined because people arriving irregularly can enter the asylum system and remain in Britain while their claims are processed.

Farage has proposed a substantially tougher system involving detention, deportation and withdrawal from existing legal arrangements that Reform argues prevent effective removals.

At the 2025 conference, he presented the two-week target as evidence that Reform would take immediate action rather than spending years discussing the problem.

But within a day, the wording became more complicated.

Asked about his statement, Farage said he had not meant that the boats would necessarily stop within two weeks of walking into Downing Street. Instead, he said the crossings would stop within two weeks once the necessary law was in place and Reform had the power to detain and deport people.

That clarification is crucial when assessing the pledge.

Why the legal timetable matters

Passing legislation can take considerably longer than two weeks.

A government cannot simply create new detention and deportation powers without considering existing domestic legislation, international obligations and parliamentary procedures.

Reform has proposed leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.

Those proposals would themselves involve significant political and legal changes.

The Independent reported that Reform’s proposed ECHR withdrawal and replacement of the Human Rights Act would likely take considerably longer than a fortnight.

This means Farage’s two-week pledge contains two separate stages.

The first is creating the legal framework that Reform believes is necessary.

The second is using those powers to prevent small boats from successfully bringing people to Britain.

The party argues that once the second stage begins, the deterrent effect would be rapid.

Critics have questioned whether the operational and diplomatic obstacles could be overcome so quickly.

Operation Fortress

By 2026, Reform had developed the proposal further under the name “Operation Fortress”.

The party said it would use the Royal Navy to intercept small boats crossing the Channel and return people to France or Belgium.

Reform described the proposal as the largest military operation in the Channel since the Second World War.

The policy represents a more detailed version of the basic idea behind Farage’s earlier promise.

Rather than relying primarily on asylum processing after people arrive in Britain, Reform wants to prevent boats from completing their journeys.

The party argues that this would change the incentives facing people considering the crossing.

If migrants knew they would not be allowed to reach British territory, Reform argues, the business model used by people smugglers would become far less attractive.

The government’s response and the views of legal experts differ from that interpretation.

The question of France

One of the biggest practical problems concerns where intercepted passengers could be taken.

The majority of small boats crossing the Channel start from the French coast.

Reform has proposed returning people to France or Belgium.

However, British forces cannot simply operate in another country’s territorial waters without permission.

Reuters reported that military experts had questioned the practicality of the proposal, pointing to legal and diplomatic obstacles surrounding operations in French waters and the disembarkation of passengers in France.

That creates a fundamental operational question.

Even if the Royal Navy could intercept a boat safely, Britain would need a lawful and workable mechanism for deciding what happens to everyone aboard.

A military operation therefore cannot be separated from diplomacy.

The UK’s relationship with France would be central to any attempt to implement such a policy.

Reform’s 100-day pledge

There is also an important difference between Farage’s earlier two-week statement and Reform’s current official policy.

Reform’s website now says that a Reform government would deploy the Royal Navy within its first 100 days to stop boats.

Farage reinforced the 100-day pledge in his September 2026 conference speech.

In an extract published by Reform, he said: “Today we make the 100-day pledge” and promised that the boats would be stopped within the first 100 days of government.

This is therefore the party’s current formal timetable.

The two-week claim remains significant because it was one of Farage’s most striking statements on the issue, but the later 100-day framework provides a more useful description of Reform’s current official position.

Why immigration has become central to Reform

For Farage, the small-boats crisis is about more than the Channel.

He sees it as evidence of what he describes as a wider failure of Britain’s immigration and asylum system.

Reform’s immigration programme includes proposals for large-scale detention and deportation of people it considers to have entered the country illegally.

The party has also called for major changes to asylum law and Britain’s relationship with international human-rights frameworks.

The government and other political parties have disputed aspects of Reform’s proposals, particularly where they involve international law and the treatment of asylum seekers.

The distinction between irregular entry and the legal right to claim asylum is also central to the debate.

The humanitarian dimension

Small-boat crossings are not simply a political or administrative problem.

They are also dangerous journeys.

Over recent years, people attempting to cross the Channel have faced the risk of drowning, overcrowded vessels and dangerous weather.

Governments have therefore faced two objectives at the same time: preventing irregular migration while reducing the number of people willing to risk their lives in the Channel.

Reform argues that stronger deterrence is the most effective way to achieve this.

Opponents argue that measures preventing people from reaching Britain must be accompanied by viable alternative routes for people with legitimate protection claims.

The disagreement is ultimately about how deterrence, border enforcement and refugee protection should be balanced.

The Australian comparison

Farage has also referred to Australia’s approach to maritime migration.

He has pointed to policies introduced under former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott as an example of how a government can use legislation, interception and offshore arrangements to discourage boat arrivals.

During the 2025 conference debate, Farage said Reform would introduce laws similar to those used by Australia more than a decade earlier.

The Australian model remains controversial, however, and Britain’s geographical and diplomatic circumstances are different.

The English Channel is a busy international waterway bordered by France, while the UK’s relationship with European countries is governed by a complicated network of agreements.

Consequently, a policy that worked in one jurisdiction cannot necessarily be transferred directly to another.

Political pressure on the government

Farage’s pledge also puts pressure on the government to demonstrate progress.

Small-boat arrivals have become one of the most politically sensitive aspects of Britain’s immigration debate.

Labour governments have introduced measures designed to speed asylum decisions, increase returns and strengthen cooperation with European countries.

The government has also pursued agreements intended to facilitate returns and reduce irregular crossings.

Reform argues that these measures do not go far enough.

The party’s strategy is therefore to offer a much more radical alternative and set a highly visible target against which its opponents can be judged.

Can the boats really be stopped in two weeks?

The answer depends on what exactly is meant by “stop”.

If the phrase means stopping every small boat from entering British territorial waters within fourteen days of a Reform government taking office, that would require immediate operational, legal and diplomatic capabilities.

If it means reducing or preventing successful crossings after new detention, deportation and interception powers have been established, the timetable is different.

Farage himself moved towards the second interpretation when challenged after his 2025 conference speech.

Reform’s current policy uses the broader 100-day framework rather than promising that all crossings will cease within the first fortnight of taking office.

That distinction matters because political pledges need to be assessed against the practical mechanisms required to implement them.

What a Reform government would attempt

If Reform were to enter government, its approach would represent a major change from the policies pursued by recent governments.

The party would seek stronger interception measures, faster detention and deportation procedures, new legislation and a different relationship with existing human-rights arrangements.

It would also seek cooperation with France and other European countries, even while arguing that Britain needs much greater control over its own borders.

The effectiveness of that programme would depend on legislation, court decisions, international negotiations, operational capacity and the response of people-smuggling networks.

A pledge that has evolved

Farage’s two-week pledge remains one of his most memorable statements on immigration.

But the policy has evolved since he first made it.

In 2025, he initially said the boats would stop within two weeks of a Reform election victory before clarifying that the timetable would apply once the necessary legal powers were established.

By 2026, Reform had formalised its approach through Operation Fortress and a 100-day pledge involving the Royal Navy.

That evolution illustrates the difference between a political headline and a governing programme.

The headline is simple: Farage says he can stop the boats.

The practical question is much more complicated: how quickly could a new government pass the necessary laws, secure cooperation from France, deploy the appropriate forces, comply with legal obligations and create a system capable of handling everyone intercepted?

Those questions would determine whether the pledge could be delivered.

For now, Farage has made immigration and the Channel one of the clearest dividing lines between Reform and the established parties.

His promise to stop the boats is therefore not merely a timetable.

It is a statement about the kind of government Reform says it would become: one prepared to use new legislation, military resources and stronger border controls in an attempt to end irregular Channel crossings.

The original two-week pledge created the headline.

The current 100-day plan shows how Reform has subsequently attempted to turn that headline into a more detailed governing proposal.

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