Farage: UKIP would abolish discrimination legislation

12 March 2015

Farage indicated that UKIP would scrap much of the legislation designed to prevent racial discrimination at work. He was speaking in a Channel 4 documentary which will air next week.

Farage said: ‘I think the situation that we now have, where an employer is not allowed to choose between a British-born person and somebody from Poland, is a ludicrous state of affairs … I would argue that the law does need changing, and that if an employer wishes to choose – or you can use the word ‘discriminate’ if you want to – but wishes to choose to employ a British-born person, they should be allowed to do so.”

Interviewer Trevor Phillips asked: “In Ukip land there would be no law against discrimination on the grounds of nationality. Would there be a law against discrimination on the grounds of race or colour?”

Farage said: “No. We are colour blind. We as a party are colour blind”. He went on to say that concern about race discrimination is no longer valid.

Commenting on the interview Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, said: “This is one of the most shocking things I have ever heard from a mainstream politician and demonstrates breath-taking ignorance.

“We have made huge progress on tackling racial inequality and discrimination in this country, partly because of Labour’s strong anti-discrimination laws, but things are still far from perfect. When my parents moved to London they frequently saw signs saying ‘no blacks, no dogs, no Irish’. What Ukip is suggesting would take us back to those days.”