1. David Cameron: Nigel Farage's call to scrap race laws is 'deeply concerning'

David Cameron believes Nigel Farage’s call to scrap race discrimination laws is “deeply concerning” and shows the Ukip leader is “wrong and desperate for attention”, Downing Street has said.

This morning Mr Farage came out fighting in defence of comments he made in a Channel 4 documentary saying legislation preventing racial discrimination in the workplace should be scrapped because it is out of date. In it he said it was “ludicrous" that employers are banned from discriminating between Britons and foreign-born workers.

Labour joined Downing Street in condemning his remarks, accusing the Ukip leader of “breathtaking ignorance”. Sadiq Khan the shadow justice secretary and second generation immigrant Sadiq Khan, described the comments as “one of the most shocking things I have ever heard”.

Mr Farage hit back on Twitter, claiming he was the “only party leader standing up for British workers, whatever their colour”. He added: “And I would suggest the REAL racists in our society are the ones who hear me say "British" and think "white". Deeply concerning.” He also questioned Mr Khan’s links to Cage, the charity that defended the Isis murderer Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John.

“I hear Labour's Sadiq Khan is upset too. Well I'm pretty concerned that he spoke at a CAGE event. Will he answer to that?”

Speaking to LBC this morning, Mr Farage stood by his call for race laws to be scrapped, insisting it was “not a white v black thing” and added it was "wholly uncontroversial" to claim that some Muslims want to change British culture and bring in Sharia law.”

A Downing Street spokesman said: "Nigel Farage is wrong and desperate for attention. The laws are there to protect people from racial discrimination. It's deeply concerning he doesn't understand that."

Mr Farage made the comments in an interview with ex-equalities watchdog chief Trevor Phllips for a Channel 4 documentary, Things We Won't Say About Race That Are True, due to be shown next Thursday. Asked specifically if Ukip would retain laws against discrimination on the grounds of race or colour, he replied: “No, because … we as a party are colour-blind.”

In a strongly-worded attack, Mr Khan said: "This is one of the most shocking things I have ever heard from a mainstream politician and demonstrates breath-taking ignorance.

"When my parents moved to London they frequently saw signs saying 'no blacks, no dogs, no Irish'; what Ukip is suggesting would take us back to those days."