Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden questioned whether Nigel Farage can be trusted on national security after the Reform leader said he would vote against boots on the ground in Ukraine
08:42, 08 Jan 2026Updated 13:34, 08 Jan 2026
Nigel Farage has been accused of "parroting Kremlin lines" by saying he would vote against boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Labour cabinet member Pat McFadden tore into the Reform leader - questioning whether he can be trusted on national security. Mr McFadden, a key ally of Keir Starmer, said Mr Farage's statement should give voters "pause for thought".
On Tuesday the PM and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a statement of intent to send troops into Ukraine if a peace deal is reached. This would see a "multinational force for Ukraine" deployed to prevent future attacks from Russia.
Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said the declaration had "changed the game" and left Putin unsure what he will do next. Mr McFadden told LBC Radio: "This is a really important statement of intent. And the thing to understand about it is that this guarantee is not just for Ukraine, it's for the whole of Europe. It's in the British national interest that we do that.
"And that's why it's so concerning to me to see some politicians like Mr Farage, for example, immediately come out parroting the Kremlin line and say that he wouldn't support this. Perhaps it's no surprise that he parrots the Kremlin line because he does it quite a lot.
"But this is someone who aspires to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and that should give all your listeners pause for thought. Can we trust someone who is so keen to part the Kremlin line with the future security of the United Kingdom? I certainly don't think so and I think his statement yesterday will make a lot of other people reach the same conclusion."
He went on to tell BBC Radio 4's Today programme the agreement would guarantee the peace alongside the US and other countries. Mr McFadden said: "This is the changed world that we're now living in."
The Government has pledged to allow MPs to vote on sending in troops if a peace deal is reached. Speaking on Times Radio on Wednesday, Mr Farage said: "It would be a very interesting vote. I would vote against.
"We neither have the manpower nor the equipment to go into an operation that clearly has no ending timeline. If it was a sort of Korean-style UN where lots of countries were involved and we could rotate in and out, I might consider it then.
"But frankly, what you saw yesterday was Macron standing there with the British prime minister."
Mr Starmer told the Commons that world leaders had made “real progress on security guarantees, which are vital for securing a just and lasting peace” at a meeting in Paris. The Government has declined to say how many troops it would be prepared to commit.
Tory chief Kemi Badenoch asked Mr Starmer if he would say how many troops would be committed to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. She said: "Yesterday he announced that Britain and France had signed a political agreement to put troops on the ground in the event of a peace deal in Ukraine.
"So given the Prime Minister is not making a statement about that deployment of British troops abroad, one of the most serious decisions a Government and a Parliament can take, irrespective of what he says, can he at least confirm how many troops would be sent to Ukraine and whether they would be in a combat role?"
Mr Starmer replied: "I will be clear with the House that there would only be deployment after a ceasefire, it would be to support Ukraine's capabilities, it would be to conduct a deterrence operations and to construct and protect military hubs. The number will be determined in accordance with our military plans, which we are drawing up and looking to other members to support. So the number I will put before the House before we were to deploy."