Nigel Farage vows Channel small boat crossings must stop in 'first few months' if he becomes Prime Minister

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 13:39, 29 April 2026 | Updated: 13:55, 29 April 2026 Small boat crossings must be stopped ‘within the first few months’ of a Reform government ‘otherwise the public will lose all trust in us’, Nigel Farage has vowed. The Reform UK leader said taking Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would draw a halt to the Channel crisis ‘very quickly’. He indicated that leaving the human rights treaty would take place much more rapidly than previously thought. ‘There are billions of pounds being spent every year on housing young men that come across the English Channel, and that, of course, would come to a stop very quickly by leaving the ECHR,’ Mr Farage told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Asked if it would take several years to achieve, he replied: ‘We have we have to do it more quickly. ‘We would have to do it much, much more quickly. ‘It will have to be done within the first few months, otherwise the public will lose all trust in us as they've lost trust in everybody else.’ A few weeks before the last general election Mr Farage promised that he would begin moves to 'stop the boats' within 100 days of taking power.  Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said small boat crossing must be stopped within months if his party were to win power, in order to retain voters' trust Asked if he would emulate US President Donald Trump’s deportation policies – which have drawn criticism over the actions of the Federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency – Mr Farage said: ‘When it comes to deportations of those in the country illegally, there is an American president that we're going to follow, you're absolutely right. Migrants board a smugglers' dinghy off Gravelines beach, northern France, last month ‘But it's not Donald Trump. It's Obama. ‘Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Donald Trump so far has managed to do … without screaming and shouting.’ Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Mr Farage said he would offer people living in the UK illegally a chance to leave ‘the nice way’. ‘You say, look, you're here illegally, we can do this the nice way, or the less nice way,’ he said. ‘The nice way is that you leave, you're given a plane ticket, you're given a little bit of cash to resettle somewhere else, and the vast majority of people say, hands up, that's what we’ll do.’ Asked about the cost of implementing such Reform’s pledges to deport more than a million people from the UK, he said: ‘If there's a short-term cost to that, there's a short-term cost to that - but it has to be done. ‘The public the public demand it. They've been let down on this, in election promise after election promise.’ The Conservatives have also pledged to take Britain out of the ECHR if they win the next election. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights barrister, and his Attorney General Lord Hermer are staunch defenders of the treaty, however.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.