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Farage Warns EU Policy Will Allow IS Flood

Nigel Farage has been accused of being "populist and despicable" after claiming "half a million Islamic extremists" could head to Britain if the EU adopts a common migration policy.

The UKIP leader, who has been an MEP since 1999, was speaking at a European Parliament debate in Strasbourg following the drowning deaths of hundreds of people in the Mediterranean.

He argued that EU leaders are trying to implement co-ordinated asylum and migration policies which wouldn't discriminate between people in desperate need and those trying to enter Europe illegally.

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Mr Farage warned: "When ISIS say they want to flood our continent with half a million extremists they mean it."

To catcalls from the chamber he added: "If the message is that anybody that comes will be accepted, we are headed for disaster."

He faced a furious intervention from Sophie in 't Veld, the leader of the ALDE Liberal group, who accused Mr Farage of "inventing scare stories".

She said: "Mr Farage knows full well that this is complete and utter nonsense and that it is about as likely as thousands of Martians coming to Europe. But Mr Farage isn't interested in the truth; he is only interested in getting elected."

The Earl of Dartmouth, a UKIP MEP demanded she withdraw an accusation that Mr Farage was being "despicable".

There is a political dimension to Mr Farage's comments, in that it allows him to focus the General Election campaign on arguably his most successful rallying cry: immigration.

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UKIP's support in opinion polls has remained fairly constant, despite attempts by the leadership to broaden the perception of them beyond that of a single-issue party.

He says today's non-binding resolution could force the Italian Prime Minister to issue passports to millions of people seeking to escape countries such as Syria and Niger.

Then, he argues, the UK would be forced to accept them as EU citizens.