LISTEN: Nigel Farage slammed live on radio by British woman living with HIV
Nigel Farage has been strongly criticised by a British caller on LBC who is HIV positive, after he suggested migrants should not be granted entry into the UK if they test positive.
The UKIP leader has been condemned by several figures, after he said he would limit entry to the UK to: “People who do not have HIV, to be frank. That’s a good start. And people with a skill.”
Charlie from Hampstead, London, called in to the weekly Q&A with Farage on LBC, to accuse him of “playing the race card”, and “ramping up fear” over HIV. She also accused him of likening HIV to other diseases such as Ebola, and said HIV is “not a black disease”.
She said: “I’m a white woman living with HIV, I’ve lived with HIV for more than 20 years. I’m very concerned about what UKIP is saying – this ‘drain’ on the NHS, I don’t believe I am a ‘drain’ on the NHS. I have been treated for HIV. I am extremely non-contagious. I have never taken drugs intravenously – I am not a threat to anyone. My virus is suppressed and I can also have sexual relationships, and there is a minimal chance of passing it on, although I’m very safe.”
Farage responded: “You are a British citizen being treated with drugs for an illness. It’s a good thing that we’ve got the money and the resources to treat you.”
He continued to warn against turning the NHS into a “global health service”, and claimed cancer experts have warned the same.
“We need an immigration policy where we decide the quantity and quality of those people that come to work, settle and live in our country. And just like Australia, America, in fact virtually every other country in the world, we want a good immigration policy that says; we want people with talent, we want people with trades, we want people with skills.
“But we don’t want people who have got criminal records and we can’t afford to take people who have got serious illnesses or life-threatening diseases.
“And that actually is the immigration policy that nearly the whole of the rest world pursues. And I don’t actually see anything controversial in it whatsoever.”
Charlie then again interjected to say: “The cost of people dying over a lengthy period without any treatment far outweighs anyone who gets put on treatment and is stabilised. It actually stems the flow of infection. The fact that you relate Ebola to HIV, which is something which has evolved dramatically over the past 20 years, although I do think the majority of the public are not informed of that, is something I think you’re negligible about.
“How you can equate the two together – you are ramping up the fear. You are playing the race card. If you wanted to look at the way the NHS spends their money, what we should be concentrating on is normalising screening for HIV.”
Her final thought was: “Ramping up the fear makes people hide.”
Farage responded: “I was talking about the National Health Service being for British people and that if we open up the National Health Service to unlimited numbers of people from Europe and the rest of the world, there will be fewer resources to treat people like you [Charlie]”
Farage called Charlie’s points “ridiculous”, after she said HIV is “not a black disease”, and accused him of “playing the race card.”
Listen to the exchange below
