Nigel Farage today came under fire after unveiling a Ukip manifesto that included only one black person — on a page on slashing foreign aid.
A journalist who raised the issue after Mr Farage unveiled his party’s anti-austerity blueprint — at an Essex hotel that hosts Fawlty Towers dinners — was heckled by Ukip supporters.
But Labour’s David Lammy, standing for re-election in Tottenham, described the document as “out of the 1950s”.
He added: “It’s deeply disturbing that they so don’t want to recognise the contribution of so many people from different backgrounds and that they have airbrushed them from reality.”
Mr Farage failed to answer the question from a Telegraph journalist.
Ukip supporters from black and ethnic minority backgrounds at the event stood up to cheers.
A party spokesman later dismissed the row, saying: “It’s quite the most trite aspect of a very impressive campaign launch.”
Mr Farage was also put on the back foot after insisting he had not put out “feelers” to other politicians about a possible deal to support a Tory government in a hung Parliament, stressing there had been no “formal” contact.
Under the slogan “we’re the party with the money”, Ukip proposed a string of multi-billion pound spending commitments and tax cuts.
Party chiefs claimed the expenditure could be funded by £32 billion of savings from pulling out of the EU, taking the axe to the overseas aid budget, scrapping the HS2 high-speed rail line and cutting funding for Scotland.
But Labour’s Steve Pound, standing for re-election in Ealing North, said: “This manifesto is so faulty even Manuel would be embarrassed serving it up.”
The manifesto includes:
Raising the 40p income tax threshold to £55,000, with a new 30 per cent intermediate rate on earnings between £45,300 and £55,000.
Increasing the personal income tax allowance to at least £13,000.
An Australian-style points system to tighten Britain’s borders.
Meeting the two per cent of GDP Nato target for defence spending.
Removing stamp duty on the first £250,000 for new homes on brownfield sites.
An extra £12 billion for the NHS.
Mr Farage said: “In our manifesto, you will find serious, fully costed policies that reflect what Ukip is all about: believing in our country.”
He launched the manifesto at the Thurrock Hotel in Essex, which hosts Fawlty Tower dinners, at £37 a head, promising “manic mayhem and major mischief”.
Ukip’s candidate in the Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency is Andrew Beadle, not Rosamund Beattie, as we said in an item last Thursday. Ms Beattie is Ukip’s candidate for Leyton and Wanstead.
