Nigel Farage labels plain cigarette packaging 'utterly, bloody barmy'

Leader of Ukip also called the plan, approved by health experts, 'just nuts, it's bonkers'

Nigel Farage photographed smoking earlier this year (Getty)

Nigel Farage has claimed plain cigarette packaging is “utterly bloody barmy” and a “counterfeiter’s dream”.

The leader of Ukip rounded on the political “wet middle class” claiming they will also pursue measures against alcohol and sugar and adding: "There is no end to this, absolutely no end to this."

Railing against government measures to introduce standardised packaging for cigarettes and other tobacco products, which health experts believe may help cut down the number of people smoking, Mr Farage said: "It is just nuts, it's bonkers."

"Let's be clear I am totally opposed to tobacco plain packaging with no compromise of any kind at all,” he said in an interview with Asian Trader Magazine.

Mr Farage also said: "It is absolutely a counterfeiter's dream.” He believes the amount of lost duty and tax on smuggled and illicit tobacco products is nearer to £4 billion.

The Ukip leader said: "I think it is all utterly bloody barmy and I am watching with blank comprehension about what we are doing on e-cigarettes - these are a huge success with a big marketing potential for small shops and yet we are doing or best to ban them everywhere."

Speaking about the European elections, the Mr Farage also claimed he had been “treated like a Serbian war criminal” by a BBC journalist Nick Robinson during the launch of his party’s campaign.

He shrugged off suggestions he was a racist, adding: “It only convinces those who don’t like us anyway and gives them more of a reason not to like us.”