EU referendum: Nigel Farage accuses David Cameron of exploiting Jo Cox death for Remain
'What we are seeing here is the Prime Minister and the Remain campaign trying to conflate the actions of one crazed individual with the motives of half of Britain,' says Ukip leader
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Nigel Farage has accused David Cameron of a "despicable" attempt to create a link between the EU referendum and the death of MP Jo Cox to improve his chances of winning Thursday’s poll.
Mr Cameron tweeted a link on Sunday to an article written by Ms Cox shortly before she was murdered.
“Jo Cox's strong voice in the campaign to remain in the EU will be badly missed,” he wrote.
But appearing on LBC radio station, the Ukip leader claimed the Remain camp were "scared witless" about the prospect of defeat on 23 June and were trying to "conflate" the motivations of the Labour MP’s alleged killer with those of the millions of voters who want to leave the European Union.
"What we are seeing here is the Prime Minister and the Remain campaign trying to conflate the actions of one crazed individual with the motives of half of Britain who think we should get back control of our borders and do it sensibly.
"We have a Prime Minister and a Chancellor and other big political leaders in Britain who are scared witless. They thought they would win this referendum by a country mile. They know it’s neck and neck, they know it’s down to who turns out on the day to vote, and there is no level of denigration or false association that they will not stoop to, but I think people are intelligent enough to see through this sort of thing."
He added: “I think there are Remain camp supporters out there who are using this to try to give the impression that this isolated horrific incident is somehow linked to arguments that have been made by myself or Michael Gove or anybody else in this campaign, and frankly that is wrong," he said.
Mr Farage also defended the controversial poster released hours before Ms Cox's death, which showed a column of migrants walking through the European countryside under the slogan "Breaking Point".
Challenged over the poster, Mr Farage said: "If the timing of her murder and me putting out that poster has upset people, I’m sorry. That certainly wasn't the intention. The intention was to use that poster for a day to point out that the EU is a failed project in every sense."
Mr Farage also launched into the former Tory chairman Lady Warsi – who announced she was transferring her support to the Remain Campaign.
He described her defection as a "Number 10 put-up job".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments