Side-by-side comparison between the poster and Nazi propaganda from the 1930s have been widespread on social media since its launch by the Ukip leader on Thursday in central London.
Advertisement
Pro-Brexit Justice Secretary Michael Gove told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show that he “shuddered” when he saw the poster.
In an article for the Daily Express that coincided with the poster’s launch, UKIP leader Nigel Farage wrote of “the realities that the irresponsible free movement policies within the European Union have had on people’s quality of life”.
He denounced Mr Farage’s poster – released just hours before the attack on Mrs Cox, and already the subject of complaints to the police over alleged racism – as “disgusting and vile”.
The Ukip leader unveiled a picture of refugees fleeing the war in Syria alongside the slogan “Breaking Point – The EU has failed us all”.
Before Cox was killed in her West Yorkshire constituency this week the Brexit campaign had “momentum”, Farage said.
Mr Farage faced nearly immediate criticism after revealing the poster in central London, with politicians from across the spectrum condemning the image.
“There are perfectly legitimate concerns about migration, concerns that are felt in every Western democracy in the world”, he told ITV’s Peston On Sunday programme.
Asked whether he was uncomfortable with Mr Farage’s poster, Leave campaigner Steve Hilton told Peston on Sunday: “I don’t think it’s about that”.
But Mr Farage defended his poster on the show, saying he believed he had been a “victim of hatred” during the campaign.
“This is a photograph – an accurate, undoctored photograph – taken on 15 October a year ago following Angela Merkel’s call in the summer and, frankly, if you believe, as I have always believed, that we should open our hearts to genuine refugees, that’s one thing”, he told reporters.
“But, frankly, as you can see from this picture, most of the people coming are young males and, yes, they may be coming from countries that are not in a very happy state, they may be coming from places that are poorer than us, but the European Union has made a fundamental error that risks the security of everybody”. “We did have momentum until this bad tragedy”.
Today Chancellor George Osborne said the “disgusting and vile poster had echoes of literature used in the 1930s”.
“My argument is let’s deal with the impact, let’s invest in housing and public services rather than blame immigrants or take a view that we should somehow close our borders”, she said.
MPs on both the Remain and Leave sides have lambasted the poster.
He said: ‘I don’t think you can have one while you have the free movement of labour, and the free movement of labour means that you have to balance the economy.
He added: “The truth is that everyone, all the politicians in this campaign, need to be really careful about what they say”.
“That is what we should say no to and this referendum vote is a vote on the kind of Britain we want”.
Advertisement
Labour former Cabinet minister Yvette Cooper said the debate over the poster was “incredibly depressing”. “Whether we look at the way they’ve handled this crisis, whether we look at the eurozone, the point of that poster was to say that Europe isn’t working”.
