Outcry after Nigel Farage calls for migrants with HIV to be banned from the UK
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been accused of “wilful ignorance”, after he called for a blanket ban on peopleĀ with HIV entering the UK.
The politician has been condemned by several figures,Ā afterĀ he said he would limit entry to the UK to: “People who do not have HIV, to be frank. Thatās a good start. And people with a skill.”
The comments came on the same day as by-elections in Clacton – where Douglas Carswell became UKIP’s first elected MP – and in Heywood and Middleton, where UKIP came within 600 votes of ousting Labour.
He was condemned by Labour’s Chris Bryant, who labelled the comment “nasty”, and MP David Lammy, who accused him of “trying to revive the very worst bigotry of the 80s”.
The nastiest element of Farage comment on HIV+ is questioning people’s “quality”
ā Chris Bryant (@ChrisBryantMP) October 10, 2014
Hard to know where to start with this. Farage trying to revive the very worst bigotry of the 80s. Shameful. pic.twitter.com/qyWzdcPg26
ā David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 9, 2014
Yusef AzadĀ of theĀ National AIDS Trust said: “Nigel Farage’sĀ commentsĀ on banning people with HIV from migrating to the UK are both ignorant and discriminatory.
“If Mr Farage believes a migrant with HIV cannotĀ makeĀ a net contribution to our society, heĀ believes theĀ same about UK-born citizens with HIV.
“That is factually incorrect and deeply stigmatising. To call for entry bans, to lump people with HIV in with criminals, to describe HIV as simply as a ‘life-threatening disease’ are relics from the bad-old days of AIDS panic.
“They don’t contain the spread of HIV, they drive the spread of HIV.”
He was also condemned across social media for the comments, with figures including journalist Owen Jones and Eggheads star CJ de Mooi.
Hardly breaking news but Nigel Farage is a disgusting creep https://t.co/Fj9yQlB93y
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) October 10, 2014
Nigel Farage, casually stigmatising people with HIV. But he's got a pint of ale in his hand! He appears in Paddy Power adverts! What a lad!— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) October 9, 2014
Nigel Farage wants to keep people with HIV out of Britain. I want to keep ignorance and fear out of Britain.— Patrick Strudwick (@PatrickStrud) October 9, 2014
Message to anyone who fears people with HIV: when treated successfully with antiretrovirals positive people become uninfectious.— Patrick Strudwick (@PatrickStrud) October 9, 2014
Challenge to Nigel Farage: come to an #HIV clinic, meet patients, learn about treatments, don't promote wilful ignorance.
— Dr Stuart Flanagan (@Dr_Stuart) October 10, 2014
Nigel Farage wants to ban HIV+ immigrants from the UK.
I've worked in the HIV sector for 25 years and such reactions lack basic humanity.— CJ de Mooi (@cjdemooi) October 9, 2014
