Ukip leadership candidate says he would reduce 'unnecessary population' by paying British Indians to leave UK
2 min read
A Ukip leadership candidate has said he would reduce “unnecessary population” in the UK by paying British Indians to leave the country.
John Rees-Evans said he would divert billions from the aid budget to remove one million people every year from Britain – a move he claimed would “create jobs in this country” and “reduce the strain on infrastructure”.
The former soldier is fourth favourite out of 11 candidates to succeed Paul Nuttall as leader, with London assembly member Peter Whittle the current frontrunner.
Mr Rees-Evans, who once claimed a gay donkey tried to rape his horse, made the extraordinary suggestion at a Ukip meeting in Greater Manchester, the Daily Mirror reports.
“We’ve got a lot of talented people, originally from Commonwealth countries, in our country who know how to run businesses who’d be perfectly capable of establishing trading relationships in their country of origin,” he said.
“We would reduce the cost of living in this country and we’d incentivise people who are not doing particularly well in this country to leave and return to their country where they can create a thriving business and improve our lives here in Britain.”
But he sought to reassure party members by insisting: “It's not going to be fascist. I'm not interested in using eugenics or any evil things like that.”
Fellow leadership candidate Jane Collins said Mr Rees-Evans’ latest proposal was similar to one advocated by the BNP in their 2010 manifesto.
It is just the latest in a series of bizarre pronouncements from Mr Rees-Evans.
In 2015 he told Vice News about his “very old-fashioned” views on gender roles.
“It says in one of the [Bible] verses that the man is the head of the woman, and that doesn't mean that he's any cleverer as far as we believe.
“It just means that he has responsibility to protect her and make decisions on her behalf.”
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