Spain has banned the far-right Vox party from a TV debate. Why don't we do the same to Ukip and Nigel Farage?

Like a bad dream, Spain is waking up to a resurgent far right. A new anti-immigration party, Vox, is breaking through as the country approaches a general election on 28 April. Polling currently puts Vox at 10 per cent as the Conservative rights fragments.

Given Spain’s economic situation with high unemployment and a stagnant economy it is perhaps surprising that Vox is only now reaping the electoral rewards. Last December it won 12 seats in regional elections in the province of Andalusia, previously a safe stronghold for the socialist PSOE. If projections prove to be right, Vox would be the first party of the far right to win more than a single seat in Spain’s parliament since General Franco died in 1975 and the country returned to democracy.

There are many parallels between Vox and Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party and Ukip under Gerard Batten. It’s support is most pronounced in poorer areas where immigration has been high.

As well as the usual anti Islam warnings and rallying cries against immigration, Vox’s leader has spoken of an “ideological battle against the progressives”. It also opposes gender violence laws.

Spain’s electoral board has banned the party from participating in the only TV debate scheduled for the forthcoming election. We can learn from this in the UK. The usual response of the far right to criticism of their actions or policies is that to deny them a platform is to deny them free speech.

However, with free speech comes responsibility – responsibility that Ukip and the Brexit Party willfully ignore with what they say and who they surround themselves with.

Gerard Batten has appointed Tommy Robinson as an advisor on rape gangs and prison reform. Robinson is facing contempt of court proceedings and has been videoed describing himself as “king of the whole Islam race”. Lord Pearson, a Ukip peer has invited Tommy Robinson to the House of Lords for lunch and gone on LBC radio to describe Islamophobia as “a stupid word”.

Last weekend, Batten defended a Ukip European Parliament candidate, who in 2016 tweeted that “I wouldn’t even rape you” about Labour MP Jess Phillips. Batten said to Andrew Marr that the tweet was “satire”.

As he launched the Brexit party last week, Farage spoke labout “putting the fear of God” into MPs because of the way they have handled Brexit. After the referendum he threatened to “pick up a rifle” if Brexit wasn’t delivered. It’s almost as if he’s forgotten what happened to Jo Cox.

Ukip and the Brexit party are registered political parties. Nigel Farage has his own show on LBC and writes for the Daily Telegraph. Gerard Batten is interviewed regularly on prime time political shows. Those media establishments who pay them are doing so, knowing full well that they are giving a platform to people who have between them incited violence against MPs, made light of comments about rape towards female MPs and whipped up hate against the Islamic community.

Spain knows full well the horrific consequences of facism under Franco. They have done the right thing by preventing a dangerous far right party from getting a seat at election debates. It’s time we followed their lead.