Voting for Nigel Farage's Reform UK will push Britain towards Labour's “illegal immigration amnesty”, a home secretary has warned.
The Honorary President of Reform UK stated Sir Keir Starmer's little boats plan a 'joke' and say it's 'much worse' than Rishi Sunak's attempt to end the Channel Crisis.
But he vowed to continue trying to win as many Conservative votes as possible – despite fears Britain will be 'less safe' under a Labor government.
Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson told the Daily Express: “A vote for reform is a vote for Labour's amnesty for illegal immigration.
“Labour has confirmed that those who enter Britain illegally have the right to claim asylum.
“Not only would they scrap our Rwanda plan, they would also grant amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants who have no right to be here, making Britain a magnet for every illegal migrant in Europe.
“In every respect, Labor would make our country less safe.
“The choice in the elections is clear: stick to the plan Rishi Sunak and the Conservativesresulting in a 36 percent reduction in the number of small boat crossings last year, or back to square one Keir Starmer and the same old Labor who will grant amnesty to people who have no right to be here and stop the flights, not the boats.
Sir Keir has pledged to scrap the Rwanda plan – even if it stops migrants crossing the Channel – and focus solely on hunting down smuggling gangs.
He wants to create a new Border Security Command, which will bring together the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and MI5 to destroy the organized crime networks operating across Europe.
But Farage said attempts to “cut off the heads” of the smuggling gangs will fail.
He told the Daily Express: “Starmer's plan is much worse than Rishi's plan. Rishi's plan might have been fine if it weren't for that court. [the European Court of Human Rights]so that's not going to work.”
Mr Farage brushed aside suggestions that voting for reforms could lead to taking in more migrants.
He told the Daily Express: “How can it get worse?
“There are only a limited number of rubber boats that traders can get their hands on. This argument the Tories pretending to you – that the other fate is even worse – that they are going to lose anyway. I think the audience realizes it.
“So no, I don't believe that argument in any way.”
Farage branded Labour's plan to stop the boats as “a joke”.
He said: “It is impossible to just go because the gangs will make a difference. He even talks about joining an EU plan that could lead to us taking more people with us than we currently do. Neither party has any credible policies.”
He added: “On Brexit voters, what happened in the English Channel is a grave insult and they quite frankly see us allowing it to pass as a betrayal of what they voted for in the referendum and what they trusted in the Conservatives at the general election and that huge 80-seat majority in 2019.
“And I have to say that I feel that too… We were on the sidelines with 319 seats to… Conservatives a clear run. We didn't want a Corbyn-Lib Democrat.SNP coalition. If we want sovereignty over our borders, we must leave the ECHR. It's that simple.”
Mr Farage, in his first speech of the general election campaign, described the Channel migrant crisis as a “slow motion D-Day in reverse” and a matter of “national security”.
And the Brexit architect called for urgent talks with French President Emmanuel Macron over the French Navy and their 'escort' of migrant boats across the Channel.
He said: 'I think the only thing the French will respect is steadfastness. The guidance provided by the French Navy supports human trafficking.
“If the French Navy doesn't cooperate, we may have to use the Royal Marines to send people back to the beaches of France. I hope it never comes to that.
'They need to know that we are serious. We gave them a large sum of money. It does not work. The French Navy should not be doing what they are doing.
“It is not a declaration of war.”
More than 10,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, around 40 percent more than at the same point in 2023.
About 29,437 crossed last year, compared to 45,755 in 2022.
But Mr Farage told a press conference in Dover: “If 3,800 boats and 125,000 boats isn't some kind of slow motion D-Day in reverse, I don't know what is.
“But if you don't like the term, that's fine, but I predicted an invasion and I think we saw one.”
Farage, who confirmed he would not stand as a candidate in the upcoming general election, stressed that growing support for the reforms could see more voters leave Labour.
But he predicted the reforms could replace the Conservative Party as the main opposition party.
He said: “In terms of participating in the ConservativesI think it's more likely that you'll end up in a Canada-like situation from thirty years ago, where a party that happened to be called Reform became the new party of the centre-right in Canadian politics.
“In 2015 there was the idea that if you voted for UKIP, Labor would win. What the UKIP vote in 2015 actually did was give David Cameron a majority.
'We have hurt the Labor Party in the Midlands and the North far more than anyone thought.
“They will say a vote for reform is a vote for Labour. But when the public realizes, this election is a foregone conclusion. Labor will win. They're going to win big.”
Farage also warned that record levels of migration could lead to a rise in “sectarianism”.