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'Patriotic' Nigel Farage slams 'irresponsible' immigration policy ahead of European elections 'Patriotic' Nigel Farage slams 'irresponsible' immigration policy ahead of European elections
(about 3 hours later)
Britain has become unrecognisable in recent years and is no longer a community fit for passing to our children and grandchildren, Nigel Farage claimed today in a rallying cry to his party ahead of the European elections. Wide parts of Britain have changed out of recognition because the country has surrendered control of its borders, Nigel Farage claimed as he put immigration at the forefront of the UK Independence Party’s European election campaign.
The Ukip leader said Britain had lost control of its borders in his spring conference speech in Torquay. He said immigration would dominate the polls in May. He predicted the party was on course for the “biggest political shock” for years by beating Labour and the Tories to win the largest number of votes at the contests on May 22.
And Mr Farage told the conference: "80 per cent of us in this country believe open door immigration is irresponsible, against the interests of the people in this country and that it must stop. Mr Farage also told activists at the Ukip spring conference that it was well placed to build a base in local government by picking up hundreds of seats in council elections on the same day.
"We have seen since 2004 a doubling of youth unemployment, we have seen since that time wage compression - people doing jobs now taking home less money than they were 10 years ago. But the conference launch was undermined by the disclosure that its new slogan “Love Britain” had previously been used by the BNP. A spokesman insisted Ukip was “reclaiming” the words from the far-Right party.
"All of this has happened because we now have a totally distorted labour market in Britain, because of the massive oversupply that has come to us from eastern Europe. In his keynote address in Torquay, Mr Farage seized on figures this week showing a surge in net migration – mainly fuelled by the arrival of European Union workers – as evidence that Britain’s frontiers were under unprecedented pressure.
"It's ordinary folk, it's ordinary families that are paying the financial price. But what about the social price of this? In provocative remarks, he argued that communities across the country had irreparably altered as a result of mass immigration and were not fit to pass on to future generations.
"The fact that in scores of our cities and market towns, this country in a short space of time has frankly become unrecognisable. “In scores of our cities and market towns, this country in a short space of time has frankly become unrecognisable.
"Whether it is the impact on local schools and hospitals, whether it is the fact in many parts of England you don't hear English spoken any more. “Whether it is the impact on local schools and hospitals, whether it is the fact in many parts of England you don’t hear English spoken any more.
"This is not the kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren." “This is not the kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.”
The Ukip leader said none of the three traditional parties had any answers for the British people, claiming they "did not lift a finger" to stop freedom of movement restrictions on Romania and Bulgaria ending in January. He argued: “Eighty per cent of us in this country believe open door immigration is irresponsible, against the interests of the people in this country and that it must stop.”
He highlighted yesterday's immigration figures which showed a big increase in net migration, during a keynote address which drew frequent applause and a standing ovation. Mr Farage claimed Britain now had a “totally distorted labour market because of the massive oversupply that has come to us from eastern Europe”. And he added: “It is ordinary folk, it is ordinary families that are paying the financial price.”
Mr Farage said: "It isn't directly Romania and Bulgaria that I'm necessarily concerned about. What I'm really concerned about is the fact in the eurozone, in the Mediterranean there is no sign or prospect of any significant recovery at all. The Ukip leader was speaking after a year in which the party has achieved a series of strong by-election performances, consistently outscored the Liberal Democrats in opinion polls and picked up nearly 150 local council seats.
"In fact, it is most likely the majority of Romanians who come to Britain don't come from Romania - they will come from Italy and Spain where there are already a million Romanian migrant workers. He told the conference that the party represented the biggest threat to the political mainstream for a generation.
"If the eurozone goes as badly over the next few years as I still believe that it will, we face the prospect of the largest migratory wave that has ever come to this country and we have three political parties who are not prepared to do anything about it." He added: “Our ruling classes have lost confidence in this country and that is why they have sold us out and it has cost us money, it has cost us influence and it has cost us self-respect.”
Mr Farage said people who supported open door immigration were welcome to back the Conservatives, Labour or the Liberal Democrats on May 22. Mr Farage insisted it was possible for several Ukip MPs to be elected at next year’s general election, but urged his party to focus first on the European elections.
But he told his delegates: "If you believe we should govern our borders, if you believe we should control immigration, if you believe we should have a sensible immigration policy where we have not just quantity control but we have quality control as well, if you believe we should model our immigration system along the lines of a country like Australia, then vote Ukip on May 22." To laughter from activists, he mocked the idea his party was a “splinter group” of the Conservatives and that the typical supporter was a “retired half-colonel living on the edge of Salisbury Plain”.
He added: "Let's make patriotism a respectable political idea in Britain again." He said: “One fifth of our voters are people who would be described as non-voters, people who haven’t voted for 20 years, in some cases people who have never voted in their lives and they are going out and voting Ukip.
Mr Farage said his party represented the biggest threat to the political mainstream for a generation. "I think we should be very proud of the fact we are re-engaging people back in British democracy, I really do."
He said: "Our ruling classes have lost confidence in this country and that is why they have sold us out and it's cost us money, it's cost us influence and it's cost us self-respect." He also launched a staunch defence of his candidates and joked about the councillor who claimed gay marriage caused the flooding crisis.
PA