LONDON: France on Monday condemned a proposal by hard-right Reform UK party to launch, if it wins power, “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats. The party’s leader, Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, at a press conference unveiled a policy to deploy Britain’s Royal Navy to return small boats to France.

Reform UK’s spokesman claimed the move would render the border ‘impenetrable’, ensuring ‘nobody’ could reach UK shores via small boat

Operation Fortress, would see the Royal Navy put to work protecting Britain's borders and towing any small boats back to France.