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4 September 2015

Nigel Farage: welcoming refugees will lead to “migrant tide” of jihadists

Ukip's leader Nigel Farage claims that housing refugees will allow Isis to smuggle in "jihadists".

By Stephen Bush

Nigel Farage has warned that granting sanctuary to refugees could result in Britain being influenced by Isis. 

In remarks that were immediately condemned online, the Ukip leader said “When ISIS say they will flood the migrant tide with 500,000 of their own jihadists, we’d better listen”, before saying that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, had done something “very dangerous” in attempting to host refugees, saying that she was “compounding the pull factors” that lead migrants to attempt the treacherous Mediterranean crossing.

Farage, who has four children, said that as a father, he was “horrified” by the photographs of small children drowned on a European beach, but said housing more refugees would simply make the problem worse. 

The Ukip leader, who failed for the fifth successive occassion to be elected as an MP in May, said he welcomed the prospect of a Jeremy Corbyn victory, describing it as a “good result”. Corbyn is more sceptical about the European Union than his rivals for the Labour leadership, which Farage believes will provide the nascent Out campaign with a boost. 

 

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