Nigel Farage has agreed a deal with France’s hard-right National Rally (RN) party on returning migrants who attempt to cross the English Channel in small boats.

It comes after Reform UK announced a plan to intercept boats and return migrants to French ports using the Navy, if the party wins power.

The proposed agreement with RN states that France would “ordinarily accept” those on board, and then repatriate them to their home country.

It was signed at Reform’s annual conference in Birmingham by RN President Jordan Bardella, whom party leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wants to make prime minister if she wins office.

In a speech in the main conference hall, ahead of the deal being unveiled, Bardella told delegates that an RN government would “do everything in its power to ensure that France is no longer the gateway for illegal migration into the United Kingdom”.

Hailing Farage as the UK’s next prime minister, Bardella pledged to work with a potential future Reform government to tackle illegal migration.

RN and Le Pen are currently leading in opinion polls ahead of presidential elections in April next year. French parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2029.

The “memorandum of understanding” unveiled at the conference is a political document, but could be developed into a legal agreement between two future governments, if both parties win power.

It states: “The United Kingdom will intercept boats which have launched from French shores and entered British territorial waters and will return the persons on board to France.

“France will ordinarily accept these persons, who will be repatriated to their home country in accordance with the law in force in France concerning expulsion.”

Challenged during a news conference over whether the wording “ordinarily” meant some migrants would not be accepted by France, Farage said it was “legalese”.

He argued the proposals would mean there was “no incentive” to pay a trafficker to cross the Channel, and “in very, very short order the business model is broken”.

Farage said the “historic document” would “stop the boats forever”.

Achieving this goal within the first 100 days of a Reform government is one of the party’s key pledges.

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