UK-France Right Wing Leaders Unite on Migration

British right-wing leader Nigel Farage and French politician Jordan Bardella have agreed to work together to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats if their anti-immigration parties come to power.

The two politicians signed a “memorandum of understanding” on Friday during Reform UK’s annual conference in Birmingham, outlining plans to tackle irregular migration between Britain and France.

Speaking at the conference alongside Bardella, the president of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, Farage said the agreement would mark the beginning of a new relationship between their political parties and the two countries.

“We today are going to begin a genuine new Entente Cordiale between our parties and our countries,” Farage told supporters at the event.

Reform UK had led national opinion polls in Britain for more than a year before its support began falling in July. The party has faced several controversies in recent weeks, including allegations involving irregular political funding.

Meanwhile, Bardella is seeking to become France’s prime minister if the National Rally succeeds in the country’s national elections next year.

The next general election in Britain is not expected to take place until 2029.

Speaking in English at the Birmingham conference, Bardella highlighted the close cultural and historical ties between Britain and France. He also promised that his party would take action to stop irregular migrant crossings through the English Channel.

Bardella criticised French President Emmanuel Macron, saying his government had failed to adequately protect France from the challenges linked to irregular migration.

“In recent years, Emmanuel Macron has failed to protect our country,” Bardella said.

He told the conference that a government led by his party would take measures to prevent France from being used as a route for migrants attempting to reach the United Kingdom.

“Our government will do everything in its power to ensure that France is no longer the getaway for illegal migration into the United Kingdom,” Bardella said, receiving applause from those attending the conference.

Farage and Bardella then formally signed their agreement together on stage in front of the audience.

The announcement comes as Britain’s Labour government said this week that the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers from France to England across the Channel was at its lowest level for a summer since 2019.

The government attributed the decline partly to an enforcement agreement reached with France, which it has promoted as evidence that increased cooperation between the two countries can help reduce small boat crossings.