In a heated debate, Farage was repeatedly slammed for his comments on immigration and diversity
In today’s Mirror debate on EU membership, Nigel Farage responded to a question on immigration and security by quoting the head of Europol as saying that 3,000-5,000 jihadists have entered the Schengen zone in the last 15 months.
Unfortunately, the UKIP leader’s claim was swiftly rejected by the head of Europol himself, who says the figure is in fact much lower.
That’s me he’s quoting then! And I never said that. Figure likely to be much less. @StrongerIn@UKIPhttps://t.co/edguLjP8RH
— Rob Wainwright (@rwainwright67) May 17, 2016
What Wainwright has said is that at least 2,500 people, and possibly up to 5,000, have travelled from Europe to Syria and Iraq, and a proportion of those have been radicalised.
Wainwright, a British citizen, has previously stated that withdrawing from the EU would be ‘a serious miscalculation’ from a security perspective, arguing that cooperation between European police forces and intelligence agencies strengthens Britain’s capacity to fight terrorism.
Farage was also hotly criticised by Peter Mandelson, and by a fellow Leave supporter Dreda Say Mitchell, for accusing Labour of ‘rubbing our noses in diversity’.
‘How can you say that while you’re sitting next to me?’ Say-Mitchell asked.
Following the debate, Mandelson described Farage as ‘a nationalist who hates other people’s countries and hates foreigners’.
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18 Responses to “Nigel Farage quotes head of Europol, gets contradicted by head of Europol”
Sally
Andrew Neather is reported to have said Labours policy was designed to ‘rub the Right’s nose in diversity’ He was an advisor to the likes of Tony Blair, Jack Straw. So Farage knew someone associated with Labour had said it but Mandelson jumped on it and shouted him down to create a smoke screen.
Paul Tulk
As ever Nigel Farage will sink to any depths to get his xenophobic views heard.
tbsbet
Farage was also hotly criticised by Peter Mandelson, and by a fellow Leave supporter Dreda Say Mitchell, for accusing Labour of ‘rubbing our noses in diversity’.
David Wilson
If up to 5000 have traveled from Europe back to Syria and Iraq, I would say it’s safe to assume that its for nefarious reason, and not to check if they have put the cat out and turned off the gas, before they came to Europe for a benefits holiday. And who I wonder paid their travel expenses?
Henry Page (@henrypage)
@David Wilson: It is unsafe to assume that the returnees must have done so for nefarious reasons. Contrary to popular myth, many Syrians do want to go home. Some have returned simply because they have not liked what they found here (try and imagine you are the subject and you have just fled to an Arabic country) and some have even returned to the camps in Turkey. Others may well have found work in other Arabic countries whilst being here in the UK. I am sure that your poisonous construct is far less than reality, and your comment about benefits is degrading and disgusting.