Nigel Farage's calls to axe equality laws branded 'absurd'

Nigel Farage has been accused of "breathtaking ignorance" after suggesting that anti-discrimination legislation was no longer needed in the workplace.

The Ukip leader said there were too many race discrimination laws and that employers should be allowed to discriminate on the basis of nationality, hiring Britons over foreigners if they so choose.

Asked what discrimination legislation he would abolish, he said: "Much of it. I think the employer should be much freer to make decisions on who he or she employs."

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Farage was speaking to Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, for a Channel 4 documentary called Things We Won't Say About Race That Are True.

He added that a Ukip government would not retain laws against discrimination on the grounds of race or colour because the party is "colour-blind", and suggested that such laws are no longer needed.

"I don't think, if I talked to my children... about the question of race, they wouldn't know what I was talking about," he said.

A spokesman for No 10 Downing Street told The Guardian Farage was "wrong and desperate for attention". He added: "The laws are there to protect people from racial discrimination. It's deeply concerning he doesn't understand that."

Labour's shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: "This is one of the most shocking things I have ever heard from a mainstream politician and demonstrates breathtaking ignorance."

Khan said there had been "huge progress" on tackling racial inequality in the UK, but that "things are still far from perfect".

Labour MP Tessa Jowell branded Farage's comments "absurd" and warned that the country "must never go backwards on equality".

The Independent cites employment market data showing that the proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds who have been jobless for more than a year has risen by 49 per cent since the 2010 election.

Farage has since said his comments have been "wilfully misinterpreted", insisting he was talking about nationality not race.

But Channel 4's programme makers deny his views were misrepresented. "He was asked a direct question on whether there would be a law against discrimination on the grounds of race or colour and he replied 'no'," they said.

During the same interview, while talking about immigration, Farage said there was an "especial problem with some of the people who've come here and who are of the Muslim religion who don't want to become part of our culture".

He suggested there was rising public concern about immigration because people "see a fifth column living within our country, who hate us and want to kill us".