UKIP accused of inciting racial hatred with immigration poster

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has been heavily criticised for attempting to incite racial hatred with a new poster which depicts a group of immigrants border-crossing during the recent refugee crisis.

The poster, which shows a group of mostly non-white migrants and refugees with the slogan "Breaking Point: The EU has failed us all", has been reported to police by Unison's Dave Prentis. Prentis described the poster as "a blatant attempt to incite racial hatred”.

Various Twitter commentators have compared the poster to Nazi Germany propaganda

“This is scaremongering in its most extreme and vile form," he continued. "Leave campaigners have descended into the gutter with their latest attempt to frighten working people into voting to leave the EU."

Various Twitter commentators have compared the poster to Nazi Germany propaganda on immigration, with the images used in both images vastly similar in layout:

Controversy over UKIP's poster has led prominent Brexit Leave campaigner and ex-London mayor Boris Johnson to distance the campaign from the party. Various other politicians have spoke out against the poster's significance.

Johnson, who leads the official Vote Leave campaign, said the poster was “not our campaign” and “not my politics”. Drawing a distinction between his own view and those of Farage, he suggested that leaving the EU would be a way of “spiking the guns” of anti-immigrant feeling. “If you take back control, you do a great deal to neutralise anti-immigrant feeling generally,” he said, after reporters showed him a picture of the poster. “I am passionately pro-immigration and pro-immigrants.”

Johnson and other campaigners have repeatedly rejected connections with Farage's party, despite the leader's recent praise of the former London mayor. They are running separate campaigns and that is how it is going to stay, as campaigners are wary of UKIP's anti-immigrant and even racist stance.

Johnson and other campaigners have repeatedly rejected connections with Farage's party

The photograph used was of migrants crossing the Croatia-Slovenia border in 2015, with the only prominent white person in the photograph obscured by a box of text. However, Farage has denied claims of racism when challenged on the poster's message.

“This is a photograph – an accurate, undoctored photograph – taken on 15 October last year following Angela Merkel’s call in the summer and, frankly, if you believe, as I have always believed, that we should open our hearts to genuine refugees, that’s one thing," said Farage.

“But, frankly, as you can see from this picture, most of the people coming are young males and, yes, they may be coming from countries that are not in a very happy state, they may be coming from places that are poorer than us, but the EU has made a fundamental error that risks the security of everybody.”

Britons go to the polls next Thursday in order to decide whether to stay in the European Union or leave the bloc. You can follow the latest Brexit news here.