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Ukip conference: Nigel Farage claims Rotherham child abuse scandal was ‘direct result’ of Labour policies

Ukip leader said party is not about left and right but about ‘right and wrong’

Heather Saul
Friday 26 September 2014 16:13 BST
Ukip leader Nigel Farage delivers his key note speech during the Ukip annual conference at Doncaster racecourse in South Yorkshire
Ukip leader Nigel Farage delivers his key note speech during the Ukip annual conference at Doncaster racecourse in South Yorkshire

Nigel Farage has claimed the Rotherham child abuse scandal was a direct result of Labour policies as he gave his keynote speech during the Ukip party’s annual conference.

The Ukip leader found himself accused of politicising the plight of the 1,400 children who were sexually abused over a 16-year-period in order to gain votes from disillusioned Labour voters in the North.

Addressing an exuberant crowd of supporters at the party's conference in Doncaster - the town that Ed Miliband represents - Mr Farage made clear he is going after the "blue collar" vote and claimed the party is now a serious threat to Labour.

Earlier, Ukip accused Labour of "sacrificing the innocence of children" to the "altar of multiculturalism".

Ukip's Yorkshire MEP Jane Collins claimed political correctness had allowed young white girls to be "gang-raped, beaten and threatened at gunpoint" by Muslim men in the town.

Ms Collins, who will contest Rotherham at the general election, said Labour politicians who had run the town for years "were morally corrupt and discredited" and dubbed them "liberal lefties to afraid to act through their own political selfishness".

She warned Labour leader Ed Miliband to “take heed” of her speech, saying: Together the Labour Party betrayed the children of Rotherham.

“Ukip and everybody in this room will stop Labour ever, ever getting the chance of doing that again."

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