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UKIP leader Nigel Farage shamelessly exploited Rotherham’s child rape scandal yesterday to launch an opportunist attack on Labour.
Mr Farage used his party conference speech to claim that Labour’s “political correctness” had caused more than 1,400 children to be abused.
He said MPs and councillors refused to act because they were “scared of causing a division within the very multicultural society that they had created.”
Hitting back, an outraged Labour spokesman said: “It is sickening that Ukip could use such an important issue for party-political point-scoring.”
He pointed out Labour suspended four councillors and set up a child protection committee when the shocking report was revealed last month.
“Those responsible must be held to account,” he added.
Having pre-empted criticism for his cynical conference attack, Mr Farage insisted: “I’m sorry, but if this isn’t political then what is?”
His comments were part of a co-ordinated effort to link the Rotherham child abuse scandal with Labour.
Yorkshire MEP Jane Collins began the sustained assault in conference’s opening speech — billed as about employment.
Ms Collins, who failed in her bid to become Ukip’s first MP in the 2012 Rotherham by-election, told delegates she will stand again in May.
Mr Farage predicted yesterday that victory in next month’s Heywood and Middleton by-election would be out of reach.
But Ukip candidate John Bickley also sought to boost his chances on the back of the scandal.
It was part of Mr Farage’s effort to “park our tanks” on Labour’s lawn with a conference on the border of Ed Miliband’s constituency.
Former Labour member Blair Smillie — great-grandson of Keir Hardie’s comrade Robert Smillie — led a seminar on beating his former party.
He said Labour had abandoned the working class and claimed “this is the type of party that Keir Hardie and Robert Smillie dreamed about.”
Renationalising the railways and restoring Britain’s coal industry were among policies that Mr Smillie said Ukip stands for.
But speaking to the press after his speech Mr Farage — with a glass of red wine in hand — insisted it is not “party policy.”
