Could Reform Use The Navy To Stop Small Boats?

Reform has announced that, if elected, it would deploy the Royal Navy to intercept and return small boats carrying migrants across the English Channel, even if that means overriding French objections. Opponents argue the proposal is unworkable and comes at a time when the party is under pressure. Nigel Farage faces scrutiny over his handling of donations and the party’s finances. James Cook and co‑host Henry examine the debate and explain why Reform has endured a difficult summer. The episode also looks at an incident in which roughly 60,000 migrants attempted to cross into Spanish territory from Morocco in a single attempt. James is joined by Aitor Hernández‑Morales, senior correspondent at Politico, and Greg Holyoke, BBC Monitoring’s Middle East and North Africa specialist, to discuss Thursday’s migration situation in Ceuta. Listeners can access the Newscast podcast by asking their smart speaker to "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast". The programme is presented by James Cook, produced by Jack Maclaren with Shiler Mahmoudi and Anna Harris. Gabriel Purcell‑Davis serves as social editor, Jonathan Greer as technical editor, Chris Gray as assistant producer, and Sam Bonham as senior producer.