Britain's conservative Reform UK party said on Monday that if elected, it would stop so-called asylum seekers with what it called the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two.
Pointing to a migration crisis in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, Reform leader Nigel Farage announced a tougher immigration policy that he said would see "asylum seekers" who arrive in small boats intercepted and returned to France.
Reform said the policy, dubbed "Operation Fortress", would make Britain's border impenetrable.
"Under a Reform government, within a fortnight, there would be no more boats," Farage told reporters at a press conference.
The deeply unpopular Labour party accused Reform of repackaging old policies on immigration to deflect attention from questions about its finances.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Sunday promised "relentless" action on stopping "asylum seekers" after new figures showed that more than 2,000 people had arrived in Britain since he became leader two weeks ago.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, editing by Andrei Khalip and Baird Maritime)
