The “vast majority” of people arriving in the EU from crisis-struck countries in the Middle East and North Africa are economic migrants, a Ukip politician has said.
David Coburn, the party’s MEP for Scotland, made the claim during a Holyrood committee debate on the future of Europe in which he also referred to a woman as being a “special sort of a man”.
He said the humanitarian crisis is “appalling” and added: “There are some refugees from Syria I’m sure among them but the vast majority are economic migrants.
“I don’t blame them. If I was living in one of these awful countries I’d be getting my family together and coming over. The problem is it’s just not possible for us to have unlimited numbers of people coming over.”
Mr Coburn also called for migrants to claim asylum in the country in which they first arrived, citing Turkey, which is not in the EU, as a good place to live.
In a bizarre interlude to the debate, he bemoaned the use of “womankind” in place of “mankind”.
Asserting the latter is the generic term, he went on to say a woman is a “special sort of a man”.
Ukip MEP David Coburn claims most migrants arriving in EU are economic
