Nigel Farage blames immigration after missing Ukip reception

Photo of Nigel Farage talking to a voter in a car: Getty Images

Ukip leader, Nigel Farage has blamed high levels of immigration for missing a meeting with Ukip supporters.

Mr Farage said he was detained in a traffic jam on the M4 which meant he was unable to attend a £25-a-head reception for 100 party supporters to meet the leader at Ukip’s first conference in Wales. Continue...

The drinks reception was held the night before the party’s main conference in Port Talbot on Saturday.

Speaking to the BBC's Sunday Politics Wales, Mr Farage said: "It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four.

"That is nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a population that is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be."

Owen Smith, the Labour shadow Welsh secretary said: "Remarks like these are what makes Farage so dangerous.

"It is clearly absurd to suggest heavy traffic on the M4 is caused by immigration, but through the laughter at his silly comments you can hear UKIP's dog-whistle politics of division."

However, James Brokenshire, the immigration minister, last month said immigration is putting pressure on Britain’s road network.

He dismissed a report that concluded that European migrants make a net economic gain to Britain by saying its “narrow focus” had failed to take into account pressure on infrastructure.

“It’s not properly addressed the issue of the pressures on public services. Those things that I think very rightly concern the public on access to schools, hospitals, roads, housing, [show] why we do need a sustainable immigration system, bringing it down from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands,” Mr Brokenshire said.

Source: Monday Metro & The Telegraph.