Farage on immigration: We want to get back to normality

Ukip leader Nigel Farage says he wants to return to the levels of immigration that Britain experienced in the 1990s.

“That was normality,” he told BBC Radio 4. “That is where we want to get back to,” he said, citing a figure of between 30,000 and 50,000 from 1990-97.

He reiterated his desire for an “Australian-based” points system for migration, adding: “What we currently have is a flood of migrants coming into Britain, taking minimum wage jobs.

“The big corporates want the EU’s open market because it gives them cheap labour.

“It’s driven down the wages and it’s damaged the lifestyles of millions of British families.”

Mr Farage rejected the notion of a cap on net migration, instead saying he wanted fewer than 50,000 migrants entering Britain each year.