Charities have hit out at Nigel Farage for promoting “unevidenced fears” about asylum seekers, following a series of inflammatory comments made during a press conference on Monday.
The Reform UK leader claimed that individuals crossing the Channel in small boats do so “because they know they have an over 99 per cent chance of staying”.
He alleged that migrants come to the UK to be “looked after,” receiving free healthcare and £49 a week in “pocket money,” and suggested they “probably work illegally either in delivery services or drugs or whatever it may be”.
His comments came less than a day after demonstrators were accused of attempting to break into a hotel in Canary Wharf where asylum seekers are being accommodated.
“We have to recognise something, there are some people who come from certain cultures that pose a danger to our society,” he said.
But charities have blasted the remarks.
Care4Calais, a British charity supporting asylum seekers in France, said his “populist politics” were a danger to UK communities.
Chief executive Steve Smith said: “It’s hardly surprising that the politician who inflamed last summer’s race riots would spread unevidenced fear about people seeking sanctuary again.
“His [Farage’s] form of populism doesn’t require facts, it is built on dangerous, unsourced, ill-informed divisive soundbites. It sows division in our communities, and like last summer race riots, it puts the lives of people seeking sanctuary in danger.”
Hope Not Hate, an advocacy group that campaigns against racism, said: “Farage trades on fear because it galvanises his supporter base and keeps the spotlight on the issues he wants to exploit, immigration and ‘law and order’. By talking up crime he positions himself as the lone strong-man solution.
“However, Reform’s approach to law and order is deeply hypocritical. Reform figures have excused rioters at anti-migrant protests, and even praised vandalism of ULEZ cameras. It’s cuffs for opponents and leniency for friends. “