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Ukip xenophobic but not racist, says Eric Pickles Ukip's Nigel Farage defends Romanian 'criminals' comment
(about 5 hours later)
Ukip is über-nationalist and xenophobic but not racist, the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, has said. Nigel Farage has attempted to defend his controversial remarks that he would be concerned if a group of Romanians were to move in next door to him.
Pickles accused Nigel Farage's party of preying on fears about immigration in a shameful way and said some of its members had made "racist calculations". But he said he did not believe "in my heart" that Ukip was a racist party. The statement published on the Ukip website comes a day after Farage took part in a heated radio interview in which he was accused of running a divisive and racist organisation.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Pickles said: "Xenophobia is the fear of anything that's different, anything that's unusual, that's slightly foreign." He said: "In a way, they are a sort of über-nationalist party. In the live interview with LBC radio on Friday, the Ukip leader claimed that people know which foreigners make good neighbours as he struggled to square his opposition to European immigration with having a German wife.
Farage said he stood by his claim that Romanians were more likely to be criminals and denied that they were racist. "The unfortunate reality is that we are in political union with a post-communist country that has become highly susceptible to organised crime," he said.
"Where there are differential crime rates between nationalities, it is perfectly legitimate to point this out and to discuss it in the public sphere and I shall continue to do so.
"Police figures are quite clear that there is a high level of criminality within the Romanian community in Britain. This is not to say for a moment that all or even most Romanian people living in the UK are criminals.
"But it is to say that any normal and fair-minded person would have a perfect right to be concerned if a group of Romanian people suddenly moved in next door."
His second attempt to defend his position came after the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, launched a renewed attack on Ukip and the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, suggested the party was uber-nationalist and xenophobic but not racist.
Pickles accused Farage's party of preying on fears about immigration in a shameful way and said some of its members had made "racist calculations". But he said he did not believe "in my heart" that Ukip was a racist party.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Pickles said: "Xenophobia is the fear of anything that's different, anything that's unusual, that's slightly foreign." He said: "In a way, they are a sort of uber-nationalist party.
"The way to defeat Ukip is to show leadership, show a sense of purpose and show a long-term, economic plan.""The way to defeat Ukip is to show leadership, show a sense of purpose and show a long-term, economic plan."
The comments follow claims by Farage that people know which foreigners make good neighbours and that he would be concerned if Romanians moved in next door to him. Meanwhile Miliband said on Saturday that the only alternative Ukip had to offer voters was a combination of even deeper cuts than the coalition and higher unemployment with its demand for withdrawal from the EU.
"I was asked a question: 'If a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned?' If you lived in London I think you would be," he said. "If the question on the ballot paper next Thursday is whether we can turn Britain from a country run for a few at the top to a country run for working people once again, Ukip is not the answer," he said.
The Ukip leader also said he felt slightly awkward when people spoke in foreign languages on the train. When asked how he felt about his wife speaking German when she phoned family in Germany, he replied: "I don't suppose she speaks it on the train, you know. That's the point I'm making." "They claim to offer something new. But what are their answers? 'Keeping the flame of Thatcherism alive.' Bigger cuts than the Tories. Charges to see your GP. Leave Europe with all that means for investment and jobs.
Senior Conservatives have refused to say whether they consider Ukip to be a racist party, but David Cameron described Farage's remarks as unpleasant. He said a vote for Ukip in next week's European elections would send "a terrible message about Britain". "Friends, this agenda will never serve the working people of Britain."
In an interview on LBC radio on Friday, the Ukip leader attempted to explain his claim that Romanians were more likely to be criminals, saying: "We have a problem; unfortunately, those communist countries which I visited and I've seen the real poverty that people live in. We talk about exclusion in society … go and see, since the fall in communism, what has happened to the Roma communities in those countries; they don't get jobs, they've got nowhere to live and they have been forced, in many cases, to a life of crime.
"And what has happened to that open door? It has been an open invitation to the traffickers, and the Metropolitan police have produced their statistics and they're eye-watering and I'm saying let's get a grip on it."
He said he accepted there were "idiots" in his party, but said there was little scrutiny of the main political parties. "Firstly, people saying silly things; yes of course we've had more of it than we'd have liked, but what is going on in the other parties? Nobody ever does ask them? I'm perfectly happy to have a debate about our idiots and people who are offensive."