Deadly militant attacks in Paris and a string of New Year’s Eve sex assaults in Cologne have increased the need for Britain to leave the European Union, one of the leading ‘Out’ campaigners said yesterday, citing the need to control national borders.
To loud applause, Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, told a Grassroots Out campaign event that Europe’s policy of taking in migrants with few checks had endangered the lives of those living in the 28-member bloc.
British prime minister David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on Britain’s EU membership, with a vote expected to take place later this year and polls showing the outcome is likely to be close.
“I’m a great believer of helping those around the world in need but it’s time to put the interests of men and women and our communities first and we only do that by taking back control,” Farage said.
For years the face of Euroscepticism in Britain, Farage failed to win a national parliamentary seat in the 2015 election but is expected to take a leading role in the campaign for a Brexit, or British exit from the EU.
Yesterday he noted that two of the men who killed 130 people in Paris in November had posed as migrants to enter the EU. Those men accused of groping and assaulting women on New Year’s Eve in Cologne would, he said, have European passports in a few years and be able to enter Britain.
Police have blamed the assaults on migrants, mainly from North Africa.
“It’s now even more serious,” he told the audience of 2,000 people at the cross-party event in Kettering, central England. “The best way to insure ourselves against future terrorism is to take back control of our borders.
“The European Union has made a massive, massive error with its open door policy to anyone that wants to come. To see what was happening with 1,000 young men in public sexually molesting women in the street was a very great shock.”
Farage was joined on the stage by Britain’s former defence secretary Liam Fox from Cameron’s ruling Conservative party who is also campaigning for an exit.
Senior Labour figures have warned Jeremy Corbyn of a potential “haemorrhage of voters” to Ukip this summer if the party’s leader fails to address the concerns of traditional supporters.
Former ministers said if Labour does not correctly pitch its EU referendum campaign, voters in its heartlands who want to leave Europe may desert Corbyn.
It comes amid concern that Labour could lose up to 200 council seats in May’s local elections, with the London mayoralty and power in devolved assemblies also at risk. Labour’s leadership team is already reeling from infighting that saw one of Mr Corbyn’s top aides quit this week.  
Warnings over the referendum’s aftermath came today from Labour figures on both sides of the In or Out  EU divide. Ex-Home Office minister David Hanson wants Labour to campaign to remain in, but said: “It’s also important we recognise Labour voters will potentially wish to vote to leave.
“It’s conceivable that post-referendum all the main parties could have a substantial part of their core vote disappointed with the outcome… we need to ensure Labour voters remain Labour voters.” Labour is haunted by the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum when many supporters switched to the SNP, angry that Labour campaigned with the Tories to maintain the Union.
Concerns something similar may occur in England after the EU referendum were stoked by a party report this week highlighting how Ukip has established a “strong position” in traditional Labour areas. MP Graham Stringer said it was essential Labour did not go into the referendum campaigning to stay in Europe no matter what.
The former cabinet office minister, part of the Labour Leave campaign, said: “Nearly half of Labour voters want out, so there is a huge danger. If a political party does not represent large numbers of its supporters, those supporters make a judgement that the party isn’t what they thought it was and they may shift.” He urged Corbyn to make Labour’s EU support conditional on a better deal, to make “a haemorrhage of voters” less likely.
Corbyn’s head of policy, Neale Coleman, has quit after apparently clashing with press chief Seumas Milne.Party insiders claim a pro-Ken  Livingstone group is battling for power with a camp led by shadow chancellor John McDonnell.