Farage and Bardella pledge to stop Channel migrant boats

Right-wing populist leaders Nigel Farage of Reform UK and Jordan Bardella of France's National Rally signed a declaration of intent in Birmingham on Friday to jointly stop migrant boat crossings across the English Channel if their parties gain power. Farage called the pact a "new Entente Cordiale" between the two countries, while Bardella criticized President Emmanuel Macron's failure to protect France and pledged to prevent it from serving as a launchpad for illegal migration to the UK. Reform UK has recently lost poll support amid funding scandals. Bardella hopes to become French prime minister next year, while the next UK election is in 2029. Channel crossings have declined, with 14,200 arrivals in the first seven months of 2025 versus 25,436 the previous year, though over 200,000 migrants have arrived since 2018.