Farage claims controversial anti-migrant poster ‘won the referendum’

NIGEL FARAGE has said a highly controversial anti-migrant poster he unveiled during the EU referendum won the campaign for Brexit, sparking a backlash from a fellow Leave campaigner.

The poster, which depicted ethnic minority migrants crossing the Croatia-Slovenia border in 2015 under the headline “Breaking Point”, sparked race hate complaints to the police and was disowned by senior Leave campaign leaders such as Michael Gove, who said it made him “shudder”. But in an interview with

Mr Farage, who will address a ‘Save Brexit’ rally in Harrogate today, said: “In some ways it won us the referendum because it kept us focused on the danger of open borders.”

Tory Brexiteer Nigel Adams said his claims about the “unpleasant” poster were “ludicrous”.

The Minister added: “The voters had far more intelligence than Mr Farage gives them credit for.”

The former Ukip leader made his comments as figures this week showed a 17 per cent rise in recorded hate crime between from April 2017 to March 2018, with three quarters of the offences (71,251) classed as “race hate”.

Commons Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper, a West Yorkshire MP, said: “That poster was completely dishonest and was just a deliberate attempt by Nigel Farage to whip up tensions and anxieties in advance of the referendum. It should be possible to have a sensible, honest debate about Europe or immigration without resorting to dishonesty and division”.

Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel said Yorkshire people are open and “will not stand for racist vitriol”, while Hope Not Hate said the poster was a “vile lie”.