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Nigel Farage defends Ukip's election campaign after critics call ads racist Nigel Farage defends Ukip's election campaign after critics call ads racist
(about 11 hours later)
Nigel Farage has defended a new immigration-centred Ukip poster campaign as "a hard-hitting reflection of reality" after it was attacked as racist by political opponents.Nigel Farage has defended a new immigration-centred Ukip poster campaign as "a hard-hitting reflection of reality" after it was attacked as racist by political opponents.
The anti-EU party is using £1.5m of funding from Paul Sykes, a multimillionaire ex-Tory donor, to launch its biggest ever publicity drive before European parliamentary elections on 22 May. Farage's anti-EU party is using £1.5m of funding from Paul Sykes, a multi-millionaire former Conservative donor, to launch its biggest ever publicity drive before the 22 May European parliamentary elections.
The ads, to be displayed at hundreds of billboard sites across the country, carry stark warnings that "British workers are hit hard by unlimited foreign labour" and that 26 million unemployed people across Europe are "after" UK jobs. The ads, to be launched by Farage today and displayed at hundreds of sites across the country, will claim that "British workers are hit hard by unlimited foreign labour" and that 26 million unemployed people across Europe are "after" UK jobs.
Under the slogan "take back control of our country", other posters complain that 75% of British laws are made in Brussels and that UK taxpayers fund the "celebrity lifestyle" of EU bureaucrats. They were revealed as Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called on pro-Europeans to unite against the "anti-Europe establishment" led by Farage.
Critics compared the immigration posters to those used in the past by the far-right British National party. Labour MP Mike Gapes called the posters racist. He appealed to "all decent British, Commonwealth and EU citizens" to register to vote in May's polls.
The Labour MP Mike Gapes said the posters were racist. He appealed to "all decent British Commonwealth and EU citizens" to register to vote in May's polls. But Farage, whose party is tipped to push the Tories into third place and perhaps win the election, dismissed the concerns of the "chattering classes". He said: "These posters are a hard-hitting reflection of reality as it is experienced by millions of British people struggling to earn a living outside the Westminster bubble.
But Farage, whose party is tipped to push the Conservatives into third place and perhaps win the election outright, dismissed the concerns of the "chattering classes". "Are we going to ruffle a few feathers among the chattering classes? Yes. Are we bothered about that? Not in the slightest."
He said: "These posters are a hard-hitting reflection of reality as it is experienced by millions of British people struggling to earn a living outside the Westminster bubble.
"Are we going to ruffle a few feathers among the chattering classes? Yes. Are we bothered about that? Not in the slightest.
"Ukip is hugely grateful to Paul Sykes for his magnificent contribution to the great cause of restoring Britain's ability to be a self-governing nation. The political earthquake I have spoken of is on its way."
Sykes said he believed next month's European elections were the most important for many years.
"The other parties, whatever their merits, are content to work within the existing Brussels straitjacket.
"They cannot do anything about immigration or British workers being undercut by cheap foreign labour and they are prisoners of the European court of justice and the closely related European court of human rights, which stops us deporting foreign criminals and terrorists."
The posters will be displayed in two waves over the next four weeks and be accompanied by ads in digital media.The posters will be displayed in two waves over the next four weeks and be accompanied by ads in digital media.
Writing in the Guardian today, Clegg dismissed Ukip's claim to be a party of political outsiders and described it as an arm of the "longstanding Eurosceptic establishment".
The deputy prime minister issued a rallying call to pro-Europeans and said Farage's assertion that he was leading an army of "insurgents" was implausible in view of the strong current of Euroscepticism in the Tory party and in the media.
Instead, Clegg implied that it was the Lib Dems who were the insurgent underdogs, because they were confronting the "Eurosceptic establishment" directly by fighting on an unashamedly pro-European platform.
He also insisted he had no regrets about his decision to hold two debates with the Ukip leader, despite polls showing that Farage was judged by viewers to have been the clear winner of both.
Clegg said he would be happy to have further debates before polling day.
An ICM poll on Sunday suggested the Lib Dems were on course to achieve just 8% of the vote in the European elections, with the Tories on 22%, Ukip on 27% and Labour on 30%.
Many commentators expect Ukip to overtake Labour by 22 May, with Farage's ability to portray the party as an insurgent movement that is taking on the three main parties a key factor in his success.
In his article, Clegg said this was untrue. "Of all Nigel Farage's far-fetched claims – and there are many – the most outlandish is the idea that Ukip's call for EU exit is the insurgents' battle cry. European withdrawal is presented as a great revolutionary promise, held in stark contrast with the status quo offered by a homogenous political elite. What poppycock."
Farage will launch his European election campaign at a rally in Sheffield today. Clegg will launch the Lib Dem campaign on Thursday in Colchester.