Cable faces probe for Brexit hate crime

POLICE have been asked to investigate claims Sir Vince Cable committed a hate crime after he appeared to accuse Brexit voters of being driven by racism in his speech to the Liberal Democrat spring conference over the weekend.

London Assembly member David Kurten, a leading mixed race Leave campaigner, has complained to the Metropolitan Police after the Lib Dem leader claimed Brexit supporters were older voters who were “driven by nostalgia for a world where passports were blue and faces were white”.

Sir Vince, a leading Remainer pushing for a second EU referendum, yesterday denied he had made racist remarks but Mr Kurten, a contender for the Ukip leadership, said: “It is a terrible slur to suggest that Brexit voters were motivated by some kind of racism. Brexit is about freedom and democracy and there are many like me who support Brexit but do not have white skin.

“In Sir Vince Cable’s statement he appears to demonstrate hostility to Brexit voters who are also white.

“It is possible this is a hate crime as defined by the Crown Prosecution Service guidelines. I’ve reported the incident to the police so they can investigate.”

Other Brexit campaigners joined the condemnation. Tory vice-chairman James Cleverly, a mixed race MP, tweeted: “Not liking brown faces? It certainly wasn’t the reason I voted for Brexit.”

Sir Vince, 71, stood by his comments on Radio 4’s Today show yesterday.

Asked to justify his claims about Brexit voters, he said: “I spent a lot of the referendum campaign going round mostly prosperous country areas, they weren’t deprived areas of the North.

“The overwhelming reason people were giving for voting the way they were, and they were predominantly older groups, was about immigration. And when people thought about immigration they weren’t predominantly thinking about people from Eastern Europe.”