Nigel Farage has been called out by a TV presenter for his "offensive" comments after saying a growing number of Muslims do not subscribe to British values.
The Reform UK founder's incendiary rant came as he hit out at Rishi Sunak's "joke" of a policy to introduce national service for 18-year-olds if the Tories win the election.
Appearing on Sky News, he said the commitment was "impractical". "Most interestingly, we have a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, in fact loathe much of what we stand for," he added.
Presenter Sir Trevor Phillips interrupted, asking: “Who are we talking about then?” The former Ukip leader responded: "I think we see them on the streets of London every Saturday." Pressed on whether he was referring to Muslims, he replied: "We are".
Nigel Farage was accused of 'race baiting' by panellist and Labour peer Ayesha HazarikaHe was then challenged by the presenter, who said: "Are you sure you want to make the blanket accusation you've just made that Muslims are somehow less patriotic than other British people". But Mr Farage appeared to stand by his comments and continued his rant.
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Asked later in the interview whether he "imagined how offensive his comments" were to British Muslims, Mr Farage claimed he was not attacking the religion of Islam.
The Labour peer Baroness Ayesha Hazarika - who also appeared on the programme - said Mr Farage was revealing his "true colours as just quite a nasty, race baiting character".
She later added: "Watching Farage spew his lazy, dangerous hatred of Muslims on Sky was so depressing yet predictable. As a British, Scottish, Indian Muslim I was proud to swear my oath in the Lords to my king & country on the Quran. We need some decency back in our politics not this ugly division."
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Zara Mohammed - the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain - said: "So horribly Islamophonic and racist - doing what Farage does best, reinforcing his hate-filled rhetoric of misinformation-even challenged by Trevor to consider what he’s actually saying he continues to show us his role in inciting hatred towards British Muslims".
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