Nigel Farage signs giant pact with his French counterpart vowing to ‘stop small boat crossings’ at Reform conference

NewsPolitics NIGEL Farage has signed a migration pact to “stop the boats forever” with French prime ministerial front-runner Jordan Bardella. Mr Bardella confirmed that he would give the green light to Britain to stop boats sent from French shores and send them back to France. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks during a press conference for his party Credit: EPA President of the French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN), Jordan Bardella ‘signed a migration pact’ with Farage Credit: Reuters Both leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the main stage of the conference centre to put an end to Channel crossings. The National Rally President committed to accepting the return of illegal migrants which make their way to Britain. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! Mr Farage hailed the new deal as a commitment to stopping illegal immigration between the two nations. He said: “We are about to sign a memorandum of understanding between our two parties, and we hope and believe our next two governments, where we reaffirm our commitment to stopping illegal immigration, where France say they’ll do their utmost to stop all departures and maybe this time, with him as prime minister, they will actually mean it.” Both leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to put an end to Channel crossings Credit: AP Photo/Thomas Krych Farage and Bordella spoke during the second day of Reform UK Annual Conference at NEC in Birmingham Credit: EPA Mr Bardella hailed the agreement as the “beginning of the co-operation”. It comes after the conference is at risk of being overshadowed by a foreign donations row engulfing the party. The Reform leader described comments made by two former senior aides as “loose pub talk” and insisted the party had broken no laws. Mr Bardella waded into the row and claimed the investigation looked like a “smokescreen” and was wary of what had been “written in the press”. Most read in The Sun Mr Farage described the timing as “no coincidence” as the documentary dropped on the first day of its party conference. The Reform leader said he was disappointed to lose trusted aide Dan Jukes. He said: “Of course, I don’t like it at all. I’ve worked with Dan [Jukes] closely for many many years. I described it as loose pub talk and that’s what it was because what he said simply wasn’t true. “But he got put in a position… I believe the investigation will find that he should not have said any of those things that he said.” Comment now