Farage defends 'racist' Ukip immigration posters

The President of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron MP, has strongly criticised Ukip's current advertising campaign, calling it factually and morally wrong and "fundamentally, very un-British." But, Mr Farron said of the adverts, "they are at least clear."

Asked if the poster campaign was racist, Mr Farron didn't answer directly, but said it was at least "straightforward and direct". He was also asked if the party was scaremongering. He replied that they had tried to "appeal to the basest of instincts, of fear."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has shrugged off questions over whether a woman featured in the party's campaign literature should have been identified as one of his aides.

Pictures of Lizzy Vaid appear in several promotional documents portraying her as a grass-roots supporter.

She is captioned as "Lizzy Vaid, Devon". She works as an events manager for the party and assistant to the leader.

She is quoted as saying: "I'll be voting Ukip because they are the only party listening to what people want."

Asked about the labelling during a television interview, Mr Farage said he "did not see the need" to state that she was an employee.

Ukip's current advertising campaign has spawned a slew of imitations, one uses the Tories' 2005 campaign slogan "Are you thinking what we're thinking?" and even the departure of David Moyes gets a mention.Here are some of the imitations the ads have inspired.

Ukip has denied that the adverts are racist and said the criticism was designed to shut down the debate. Leader Nigel Farage said: "This, emphatically, is not a racist party."

Read: Farage challenged over employing his German wife

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been forced to defend employing his wife, an immigrant from Germany, who is paid by the British taxpayer. Mr Farage was put on the spot about employing his wife as a secretary by political journalist Nick Robinson.

Asked if she was taking someone else's job, he said: "No, I don't think so, because I don't think anybody else would want to be in my house at midnight, going through e-mails, getting me briefed for the next day. If you look at Westminster, one in four MPs employs a close family relative."

Mr Farage also said his wife had some times worked for him without being paid and he didn't know anyone else who would take a job that involved being available at 1am and 2am.

The ex-Tory party donor who is funding Ukip's controversial advertising campaign has said it is "worth every penny."

Paul Sykes said he had "no idea" how much he had spent on the campaign but added: "I haven't stopped spending yet. It'll be worth every penny."

He said: "What do you think the freedom of this nation is worth? What do you think self-government of this nation's worth? I'm going to spend whatever it takes to make the British people aware that we're no longer governed from this great nation of ours."

Asked for a specific figure he gave estimates of £1.2m and £1.4m. Writing in The Telegraph he put the figure at £1.5m. Mr Sykes said "many other people" had contributed to the campaign and he was not the sole donor.

Read: Opinion divided on Ukip's new poster campaign

An "open door" immigration policy towards EU citizens has seriously damaged British people's life chances and depressed wages, Nigel Farage has told ITV News.

At the same time, the Ukip leader was forced to admit an inaccuracy in a poster claiming 26 million unemployed Europeans are "after" British jobs.

He acknowledged that that figure included 2 million British people, but said the most important fact was that migration from struggling southern European economies to the UK was on the rise.

ITV Deputy Political Editor Chris Ship is in Sheffield, where the British National Party are trying to upstage the launch of Ukip's new billboard campaign.

Read: Farage defends 'racist' Ukip immigration posters

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said that reports in a newspaper of the misuse of taxpayers money are completely mistaken, stating he wants to "abolish the system" that provides a lump sum of money to the party from Europe.

Farage again stated he wants the EU expenses system abolished and for him to be "singled out among the 73 MEPs and accused of wrongdoing, is frankly ridiculous."

Read more: Farage defends 'racist' Ukip immigration posters