UKIP supporters censored by "unjustified" racism accusations

Nigel Farage has lashed out at the media for attempting to depict UKIP as a racist party.

Speaking in Hartlepool, the party leader claimed that a preoccupation with racist intentions was effectively censoring voters from expressing their support for the party.

"This constant attempt... to try to paint UKIP out to be a racist party is wholly unjustified, grossly unfair and is leading people out there who agree with UKIP to almost feel shy about talking about it," he said.

One of the comments sparking Farage's reaction came from shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, who told the Independent on Sunday that UKIP was plagued with a "virus of racism".

Farage went on to argue that abuse of a national or racial nature was experienced by everyone at some point or another, citing an example of himself being "surrounded by a group of street thugs in Edinburgh."

He also claimed that UKIP was underestimated and that polls were not conveying the party's potential momentum in the north of England, bolstered primarily by disengaged non-voters and converts from Labour.

When asked if he was in denial about racism in the party, he replied: "Your media obsession with attempting to paint UKIP out to be a racist party is something I'm getting really rather bored of."