The Conservative candidate for Wakefield once said Brexit was “built on lies” and that he “regretted voting for it” in a candid interview shortly after the referendum.
Nadeem Ahmed will defend a narrow Tory majority in the Red Wall seat next week after Imran Ahmad Khan resigned following a criminal conviction for sexual assault.
He made the headlines this week after arguing that we can still trust MPs by using a bizarre Harold Shipman analogy.
But it was comments made in 2016 that could really come back and haunt him.
Speaking to a local newspaper, Ahmed said: “I voted to leave and I regret the decision.
“All my friends who voted similarly are the same.
“The immigration issue has been overplayed and the most identifiable group are being targeted because we have darker skin colour.
“What is especially worth noting is that the majority of people being targeted, like me, were actually born in Britain. We were raised here and know no other life.”
He went on to tell the Asian Express that leaving the EU had triggered an increase in racist attacks, backing a second referendum at the same time.
Reflecting on a recent attack in which he was the victim he said: “The immigration issue was overplayed in Brexit and now people are being targeted.
“The term immigrant is even something that needs addressing. There are around a million Brits living in Spain, we call them expats. There is a negative connotation to the word immigrant now.”
Here are the candidates contesting Wakefield (listed alphabetically by surname):
• Nadeem Ahmed, Conservative Party
• Akef Akbar, Independent
• Paul Bickerdike, Christian Peoples Alliance
• Mick Dodgson, Freedom Alliance. Real People. Real Alternative
• Sir Archibald Stanton Earl ‘Eaton, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
• Jayda Fransen, Independent
• Jordan James Gaskell, UK Independence Party
• David John Rowntree Herdson, Yorkshire Party
• Therese Hirst, English Democrats
• Christopher Richard Jones, Northern Independence Party
• Simon Robert Lightwood, Labour Party
• Jamie Luke Needle, Liberal Democrats
• Ashley Theo Blue Routh, Green Party
• Ashlea Simon, Britain First
• Chris Walsh, Reform UK
Related: Reaction as Boris pulls out of Wakefield visit to travel to Ukraine