National Rally president Jordan Bardella signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigel Farage on stage at Reform Conference stipulating that if RN and Reform get into power then France will take back migrants who attempt to cross the Channel. The two key points:
Sunak tried similar with Macron – no dice. Read Bardella’s full speech below:
“My dear friends,
It is an honour and a great pleasure to be here with you today, in Birmingham at the invitation of Britain’s leading political party and of your future Prime Minister: Nigel Farage!
Before starting, and on the behalf of my party the Rassemblement National, I would like to associate myself to the tribute paid to Ann Widdecombe. I had the occasion to meet her in the European Parliament in 2019 when we both got elected: she represented so well British style and freedom of spirit.
I know that I am not simply standing before a political party which, election after election, keeps defying every prediction… I know that I am standing before the beating heart of the British people!
A people of patriots. A people who love freedom. A people proud of their history. And a people who have decided to take their destiny back into their own hands!
For decades, Nigel has fought for the independence of his country and for its identity… He has faced attacks, mockery and caricatures. A hundred times, they told him he was wrong. And a hundred times, events proved him right!
Because for us, French, Nigel has a quality that has become far too rare in politics. He has brought two words back to the heart of British politics, two words your leaders had almost forgotten: Common sense!
And when common sense comes back into politics, the establishment usually starts to tremble…
Dear Nigel, of course I want to congratulate you on your brilliant victory in Clacton. And what a victory it was! The establishment had more or less lined up behind a candidate with a “bin on his head”. But when you want to clean up decades of abuse and excess, you have to roll up your sleeves… And when you are faced with a bin, Nigel, you did what had to be done: you took out the rubbish!
But beyond your victory, dear Nigel, I want to salute something even more important. You went back to the voters. You accepted their judgement.
Because in a democracy, for us patriots, there is only one supreme judge: the people! No media court, however loud it may be, will ever stand above the verdict of the ballot box.
Our opponents sometimes dream of a democracy without the people. A democracy where the people are told to remain silent when they vote the wrong way, to apologise when they think the wrong way, and to vote again until they finally give the right answer.
That is not our idea of democracy! For us, the people are not a problem to get around. The people are sovereign!
The role of political leaders is not to govern against them. It is to listen to them. To respect their choices. To respond to their hopes and their concerns. That is our idea of democracy.
And if there is one country in Europe that can remind the world what it means to be a free people, it is the United Kingdom!
My dear friends,
France and the United Kingdom share a history that has been… a little turbulent. For centuries, our two Nations, rivals in greatness, fought one another. We fought over the seas, over land, over the destiny of Europe. Neither of our Nations was willing to yield to the other.
But behind this centuries-old rivalry lies something deeper: a mutual fascination and, at the decisive moments of history, a true friendship between our peoples.
Even Napoleon, after fighting England for so many years, eventually recognised something unique about the British people. Defeated, he chose to place himself in the hands of England. In his famous letter to the Prince Regent, he wrote:
“I come, like Themistocles, to sit at the hearth of the British people. I place myself under the protection of their laws.”
Even England’s greatest enemy understood one thing: Here, there was a Nation. Here, there was a free people.
And a century later, in the darkest hour of our history, France would once again turn to England. In 1940, when General de Gaulle needed a helping hand, he found it here. When France fell, London welcomed her. When much of Europe chose to capitulate, Winston Churchill allowed others to choose Resistance.
And when the voice of Free France could no longer be heard in Paris, London gave it a microphone from witch speak to the world. It was from your capital that de Gaulle called on the French people to resist and to unite against occupation, defeat and submission to Nazi barbarism.
France had lost a battle. Thanks to the United Kingdom, she could continue the war. That, too, is what binds our two Nations together.
In the twenty-first century, I deeply believe that the United Kingdom and France will shape the future of our continent together.
The British people made the sovereign choice to leave the European Union. We respect that choice because we respect democracy. But leaving the European Union does not mean leaving European civilisation!
For us patriots, Europe is not simply the bureaucracy of Brussels and Ursula von der Leyen. Europe is first and foremost a history, a culture and a civilisation. And we share that civilisation.
We share the same values, the same concerns, and we face the same challenges! Our two peoples want the same things: Borders that protect us. Work that pays. Energy that we produce ourselves. Freedom that no one can take away from us. And Nations strong enough to decide their own future.
The greatest challenge is one we all know: Taking back control of immigration.
In recent years, Emmanuel Macron has failed to protect our country. For him, mass migration is not a problem. It is a project!
France must now regain the trust of its own people, but also the trust of its neighbours and partners. France must take back control. And France must finally keep its word.
So here, in Birmingham, I make you this promise. If the French people bring us to power in 2027, with the Rassemblement National and Marine Le Pen, our government will do everything in its power to ensure that France is no longer the gateway for illegal immigration into the United Kingdom.
And we say this clearly: The destination of illegal migrants entering France should not be the United Kingdom. They should be returned to their countries of origin.
The English Channel must no longer be a migration route to Dover or Folkestone, where thousands of people risk their lives in the hands of criminal smuggling gangs, with the complicity of the Left.
We must put an end to this deadly route. We must break the smugglers’ business model. And together, we must take back control of our borders.
If we win, our government’s immigration policy will be simple: You do not enter France simply because you have decided to. You enter France because France has allowed you to.
We will restore control and protection at our borders. And we will send foreign criminals back to their countries!
My dear friends, I also want to speak to you seriously: the waves of migration Europe is experiencing today are only the beginning.
In London, in Paris, and in many of our great European cities, too many citizens no longer recognise the country in which they grew up. Sometimes, they feel like strangers in their own country.
They see insecurity rising. They see their identity changing and their way of life being replaced by foreign ways of life that are sometimes incompatible with our values.
I was particularly struck to learn that here, in Birmingham, a left-wing council is seeking through the courts to have your national symbols and the colours of your flag removed.
This may sound like a minor issue…. It is not. Because behind this attack on the flag lies an old obsession of the Left: To look at our history only to condemn it. At our identity only to deconstruct it. And at our Nation only to make it feel guilty!
We know this woke ideology in France. You know it here in the United Kingdom. And we refuse to submit to it.
Because a flag is not just a piece of cloth… In the colours of the Union Jack, the crosses of Saint George, Saint Andrew and Saint Patrick come together. Your flag carries centuries of British history.
Under that flag, sailors crossed every ocean on Earth. Under that flag, soldiers fell on the battlefields of Europe. Under that flag, in 1940, a people refused to surrender to tyranny.
So you are right to be proud of the Union Jack. Fly it. Celebrate it. And never apologise for being a patriot!
Finally, in an dangerous world, our opponents tell us that sovereignty means standing alone. They are wrong.
Being sovereign does not mean rejecting alliances… It means rejecting dependence. France and the United Kingdom are the best proof of that.
We are Europe’s only two nuclear powers. We have two major armed forces; two defence industries; and considerable technological and energy capabilities.
So when our interests are the same, let us work together. On defence. On nuclear energy. On AI. And on the security of our seas.
Contrary to what the technocrats in Brussels believe, we do not need to become less French or less British to join forces. Quite the opposite!
My dear friends, to conclude, I would like to tell you one thing.
What is happening in the United Kingdom today reaches far beyond the borders of your country. For years, you were told that nothing could change. That the same parties would always govern. That the same policies would always continue. And that you simply had to accept it.
You are proving them wrong.
Nigel Farage and Reform have given millions of British people something the establishment had taken away from them: The hope that there is an alternative!
So, dear Nigel, keep going and keep fighting! Keep speaking for those who were no longer being heard. Keep reminding everyone that, in a democracy, no system is stronger than the people.
And to all of you, I want to say this: Never doubt your strength. You have already changed the political debate in Britain. Tomorrow, you will change the United Kingdom.
And when that day comes, you can count on the French patriots to have, on the other side of the Channel, a friend and an ally.
Long live Reform! Long live Nigel! Long live the United Kingdom! Vive la France!”
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”