General Election 2015: Nigel Farage wants to prioritise English-speaking immigrants and admits using negative tone 'to wake people up'

English speaking immigrants from countries such as Australia and India should be given priority over Eastern European migrants who “haven’t fully recovered from being behind the Iron curtain,” Nigel Farage has said.

The Ukip leader also admitted using negative rhetoric on immigration in the past but said it had been necessary to “wake people up” to the issue.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Mr Farage was asked if he favoured some immigrants over others.

"I have to confess I do have a slight preference,” he said. "I do think, naturally that people from India and Australia are in some ways more likely to speak English, understand common law and have a connection with this country than some people that come perhaps from countries that haven't fully recovered from being behind the Iron Curtain."

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He insisted it was necessary to “sometimes say things to get noticed” on immigration in the past, such ramping up the rhetoric on foreign criminals, for example, but insisted Ukip had now changed its rhetoric.

“Political parties evolve and change,” he said. “And if you look at the way Ukip is fighting this general election, everything through our manifesto to all the speeches I’ve given all over the country, what I’m saying is this: we no longer need to make the negative arguments about the effect that immigration has had on primary school places, on healthcare provision, on wage compression.

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