The day before the election and another story explodes of UKIP racism. I am not hugely surprised but I am a bit shocked at the failure of other UKIP candidates to speak out against this, or indeed, as I did over Humza Yousaf, to resign. It is not enough to have this man suspended. He contaminates the brand as much as David Coburn did.
UKIP in other words is not just racist, it is aggressively so. Councillor Ranil Jayawardena is a fellow of the RSA and a Freeman of the City of London. He is a natural successor to James Arbuthnot and I imagine he will do well tomorrow.
The issue with UKIP goes deeper than the news we read today. This is a group that is thoroughly infiltrated by BNP thugs, may well retain links with the National Front, became buddies with Lega Nord, and seems to tolerate holocaust deniers. This is a party where the simple fact is misrepresented again and again- EU migrants are not an economic liability. They are NET contributors. We need to wake up to this fact. The absurd idea that underpins UKIP thinking is that the more migrants we get rid of, the more access we will have to public services. But the simple fact remains that many of these migrants contribute significantly to the upkeep of these self-same services and more than that, often staff the services. The NHS for instance would be a pitiful shell of an institution without the migrant labour force of nurses and cleaners and doctors.
At the point of writing, Farage has not spoken out and apologised to Rabil as he did not apologise to Humza. I suppose he regards this as just another joke, which is why UKIP candidates clearly feel there is licence to overstep the mark.
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