Farage calls for proof convicted terrorists don’t have ‘jihadi virus’

Convicted terrorists should not be released from jail unless it is proved they “do not have the jihadi virus”, Nigel Farage said last night.

The Brexit Party leader claimed “political correctness” for the release of Usman Khan, who killed two people in the London Bridge attack on Friday.

Mr Farage made the comments during the latest election TV debate featuring seven leaders or senior members of the main political parties.

His comments during the ITV debate appeared to be an echo of his tactics, dubbed “shock and awful”, during the 2015 election campaign when he made inflammatory comments on migrants using the NHS.

Referring to Friday’s attack and the fact that Khan had been released halfway through his 16-year sentence, the Brexit Party leader said: “Nobody apologises for the fact that the liberal elite have given us a ridiculous sentencing system.

“I don’t care if you were in prison for six years or 12 years. If you have committed mass murder or planned to commit mass murder, you are not just an ordinary criminal you have got the virus of jihadism.

“I think these people should never ever be let out prison unless we are absolutely convinced they do not have the jihadi virus. But political correctness stops us from doing that.”

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said the country “can do better than Johnson/ Farage/trump”.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak, representing the Conservatives, said: “[Khan] was released due to a law passed in 2008 under the last Labour government where people were released automatically halfway through their sentence. We changed that law in 2012 and if he had been sentenced under out rules he would still be in jail.”

But shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, for Labour, said this was not true, adding: “People don’t want history lessons after this terrorist atrocity. What people want is to put victims first and put keeping communities safe first.”

The politicians also clashed over Brexit, with Ms Swinson, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Plaid Cymru chief Adam Price and Sian Berry for the Greens all rounding on Mr Burgon over Labour’s Brexit policy. Ms Swinson said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was a “bystander, not a leader”.

Mr Farage said the “biggest lie of this election campaign is that Trump wants to buy the NHS”.