A Reform UK proposal to use the military to stop small boats bringing migrants to the UK from France lacks substance, a former Royal Navy officer has said, suggesting the UK’s warships would be better used countering actual military threats. Sharpe said Reform’s proposal “lacks quite a lot of substance” and that the navy did not have suitable ships to spare, given the military operations it was already carrying out. Labour said Reform had “reheated an old announcement in their latest desperate bid to distract from their growing sleaze scandals”. He claimed that French authorities refusing to allow people to disembark on its shores would be a “crime against humanity”. He did not explain what Reform’s stance would be if France simply said the same to the UK.