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Everything Ukip's Nigel Farage Just Said About Race Discrimination Is Wrong

Why Everything Nigel Farage Just Said Is Wrong
Jessica Elgot
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Racism has gone from this country, says Ukip's leader Nigel Farage. And that is why we should abolish laws against race discrimination.

It's a position of "breathtaking ignorance", according to Labour's Sadiq Khan. The eurosceptic leader later clarified his remarks to Channel 4, and his equally troubling follow-up on LBC, in a statement, saying his call to abolish laws against employers discriminating on the basis of race or nationality was "lauding the progress of race relations and equality in this country".

Nigel Farage - Who Is White - Wants To Scrap Race Laws That Prevent Discrimination In The Workplace

But there are a few of his remarks he hasn't quite cleared up...

Why everything Nigel Farage said is wrong
Preventing discrimination in employment "would probably have been valid" 40 years ago(01 of05)
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And it is just as important today. Racism in the workplace has actually worsened in the last ten years, according to the Runnymede Trust's 2014 research.

In more than a third of districts in England and Wales there were increases in ethnic inequalities in employment over the past decade.

The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights found last year that just 0.8% of staff in Scotland's local authorities are from minority backgrounds - despite being 4% of the population. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
"I would argue that the law does need changing, and that if an employer wishes to choose, or you can use the word 'discriminate' if you want to, but wishes to choose to employ a British-born person, they should be allowed to do so"(02 of05)
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This is, sadly for Farage, not the only thing abolishing the law would allow. If Britain allowed discrimination on grounds of nationality, it would be perfectly legitimate for a Polish, American or Bangladeshi business owner in London to refuse to employ British staff. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
"We've never before had a migrant group come to Britain who have tried to change our culture, and unfortunately there are a small number in the Muslim community who genuinely want to bring Sharia law to Britain"(03 of05)
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British culture has been changed irreversibly throughout the centuries by migrant populations, from the Vikings to the Romans and the Normandy invasion, to the influence on food, tolerance, learning and culture brought by Jewish, Irish, African, Caribbean and European immigrants, from chicken tikka masala, the Mini to Marks & Spencer. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
"I'll give a personal example of a taxi driver... [who] told me, 'your society in Britain is rotten and it needs chaning, we are going to take over and introduce Sharia law'"(04 of05)
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Hardly compelling research. But a BBC survey last month found 95% of Muslims said they feel loyal to Britain. In a comparable survey of British social attitudes, Politics.co.uk points out, only 80% of the general public were at least "somewhat proud" to be British. 93% of British Muslims believe that Muslims in Britain should always obey British laws. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
I've made no comments on race. I am the only party leader standing up for British workers, whatever their colour(05 of05)
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Interesting that. Because the reports of the Channel 4 interview say that when Farage was asked if he would retain a ban on discrimination on the grounds of race or colour, he said: "No... because we take the view, we are colour-blind. We as a party are colour-blind." Seems like a comment on race to us. (credit:Carl Court via Getty Images)
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