Farage: SNP are openly racist and anti-English

NIGEL Farage has been accused of peddling the politics of fear and intolerance after he branded the SNP “openly racist” and accused ex-party leader Alex Salmond of fuelling anti-English resentment in Scotland.

The Ukip leader, on the campaign trail in Hartlepool, said: “The biggest racism I have seen in British politics is happening north of the Border where some of the anti-English hatred is reaching a truly astonishing level.”

He went on: “The SNP are openly racist. The anti-English hostility and the kind of language that is used about and towards E ng l i s h people is t ot a l l y extraordinary.

“If my supporters behaved in the way that some of those pro-independence supporters behaved in the referendum I’d have been painted out to be the worst person that had been seen for 70 years in British politics.”

Asked if being anti-English was the same as being racist, Mr Farage said: “When I say that I don’t think we should have an open door to Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, I’m accused of being racist and yet when it’s the Scots being rude about the English, you don’t think it is.

“The fact is Ukip is a non-racist, non-sectarian political party and we’ve got more members of black and ethnic minority standing for us than the Green Party or the Liberal Democrats. We’re an all-embracing party,” he declared.

The Ukip leader, who, according to senior party sources, will not be visiting Scotland during the entire election campaign, accused Mr Salmond of not doing enough to counter the alleged anti-English problem north of the border following the notorious incident in Edinburgh in May 2013 when Mr Farage suffered abuse in the street and had to be protected by police after seeking refuge in a local pub.

“The one I blame,” he stressed, “is Alex Salmond. When I was attacked by a group of thugs in the street in Edinburgh with the most extraordinary anti-English senti- ments being shouted, when Salmond was asked whether he condemned that behaviour, he didn’t.” Responding angrily to a suggestion from Labour’s Chuka Ummuna that Ukip was infected with a “virus of racism”, Mr Farage told ITV News: “It is ironic that all the talk about extremism within British politics is pointed towards Ukip when there are others who are far more guilty.”

But the SNP’s Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Government’s Minister for External Affairs and International Development, hit back, branding the Ukip leader’s comments “disgraceful” and “offensive”.

The Glasgow MSP accused Mr Farage of peddling the “politics of fear and intolerance” and noted how he had still not apologised for the outspoken remarks by Ukip MEP David Coburn, who sparked a row after comparing the Nationalist politician to convicted terrorist Abu Hamza.

“The SNP have been clear that we will be a positive voice for people across the UK and with progressive policies such as ending austerity to invest in public services and our NHS, we can bring real change north and south of the border. All Ukip have to offer is nasty rhetoric,” added Mr Yousaf.

‘‘ The anti-English hostility and the kind of language used towards English people is extraordinary