The core assertion — that the UK can choose whether to go to war — is accurate as of December 2011. The UK retained sovereign decision-making over military deployments. EU membership did not remove this discretion; EU military operations required unanimous agreement and voluntary participation. The only caveat is the EU mutual defence clause (Article 42(7) TEU), which creates a binding obligation to aid a member state under armed aggression, but this is a defensive obligation comparable to NATO's Article 5 and does not negate the UK's sovereign choice over offensive military action. Importantly, the UK was also bound by NATO's Article 5 collective defence obligation, so even outside the EU, the UK's discretion over "going to war" was not absolute in defensive scenarios. However, Farage's claim in context refers to choosing whether to go to war (offensively), which is accurate. Sources: - House of Commons Library, "Military action: Parliament's role" — https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10001/ - Institute for Government, "Parliamentary approval for military action" — https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/parliamentary-approval-military-action - EUR-Lex, Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/teu_2016/art_42/oj/eng - EUR-Lex, "Mutual defence clause" — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/mutual-defence-clause.html - UK Government, "Waging War: Parliament's role and responsibility" (CM 6923) — https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a75b99e40f0b67f59fcf201/6923.pdf