Nigel Farage's barmy Army plan for portakabin prisons 'would risk national security'
NIGEL Farage's plan to draft in the army to build portakabin prisons would put national security at risk, defence sources have suggested.
The Reform UK leader claimed his party would build 12,000 'Nightingale' Prisons on disused MoD land with help from the British Army.
Launching the policy in London this week, Farage said: 'We'll work with private contractors, but we'll want to use the logistical skills that exist in the army and our armed forces to make this happen.'
But defence sources warned forcing the Army to build prisons would damage readiness for urgent deployment if needed.
' Nigel Farage 's half-baked plan to draft the Army in to build prisons risks national security,' a defence source said.
'If Farage really wants to move brave soldiers away from the NATO frontline to build portacabin prisons, he should come clean about it. Putin would certainly be delighted.'
The Army currently operates a 'forward land force' deployment in Estonia to deter Russian aggression on NATO's Eastern Flank.
Military Aid to the Civilian Authorities – or MACA – are usually called upon to provide capabilities which relevant civil authorities do not have, or cannot generate in sufficient quantity in response to an emergency.
The bar for requesting military aid is high, and must normally be approved by the Ministry of Defence.
MACA requests have to prove that commercial, voluntary sector, and mutual aid alternatives have been discounted, that the civil authority lacks the necessary capability to fulfil the task, and that a definite need to act has been proved.
It is unclear how this will work with current MACA rules, given Reform plan to use both commercial and public sector defence workers.
A Labour source added: 'Farage's Nightingale Prison plans are a total nightmare. Imagine hardened criminals running around a prefab site put together in just 72 hours.
'These are botch-job plans from a Party desperate to look tough on crime.'
In 2022/23 the charge rate for each soldier deployed was £4,000 per week: Reform have not made it clear how they would fund the Nightingale Prisons on MoD land.
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