LONDON, January 8. . Right-wing populist party Reform UK will vote against the deployment of British troops in Ukraine. Party leader Nigel Farage announced this in an interview with a radio station. Modern radio.
“This will be a very interesting vote. I will vote against it. We have neither the manpower nor the equipment to engage in an operation without a clear time frame,” Farage said. He noted that he could change his stance if other countries join Britain and France's intention to station troops in Ukraine.
“If it was a Korean-style United Nations mission with many countries and (troop) rotation, I might consider it,” the politician said. He added that the “coalition of the willing” includes “only two countries” – Britain and France. Farage emphasized that Italy and Germany refused to send troops to Ukraine.
“If the coalition is willing to include eight, ten, dozen countries and we can rotate the battalions, then I can say: “Yes, let's do it.” As it stands, we and the French will be in a completely defenseless situation for an unlimited period of time,” he said.
Another member of the House of Lords (lower house) of the British Parliament from Reform UK, Lee Anderson, also spoke out against sending troops to Ukraine, expressing hope that the vote in parliament would take place without regard to parties. “As long as France and England enter Ukraine, I will vote against it,” he emphasized in an interview with GB News channel.
“There is no coalition of the willing. It's a coalition of the unwilling. These are two out-of-touch leaders – (French President Emmanuel) Macron and (British Prime Minister Keir) Starmer – who puff their cheeks and say they will defend Ukraine's borders. They can't even defend their country's borders,” Anderson said. He emphasized that all five of the UK's Reform MPs would vote against sending troops to Ukraine. A total of 650 MPs sit in the House of Commons.
Vote in parliament
Starmer, speaking in the House of Commons on January 7, announced that the British government would put the issue of sending troops to Ukraine after the ceasefire to a vote in parliament. He noted that British troops, if deployed, would participate in containment operations and build military centers. At the same time, The Independent reported that Starmer's office did not clarify whether the results of the parliamentary vote were legally binding on the British government.
On January 6, Starmer, Macron and Vladimir Zelensky, after a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” in Paris, signed a declaration on the intention of Britain and France to station troops in Ukraine after the ceasefire. At the press conference at the end of the summit, the British Prime Minister said that Britain and France want to establish military centers throughout Ukraine and build warehouses of weapons and military equipment on Ukrainian territory. He also said London would join a US-led mission to monitor a ceasefire in Ukraine after the conflict ends.
