Nigel Farage urged to apologise for migrant sex attack remarks

Calls have been made for Nigel Farage to apologise for his sex attack comments, after he suggested women could be at risk from migrants if Britain stays in the EU.

Peers Sayeeda Warsi and Doreen Lawrence and Shami Chakrabarti, who chairs Labour's anti semitism inquiry, have written a letter to the Guardian attacking the Ukip leader.

Condemning his comments, the letter reads: "Spreading fear in this way is an age-old racist tool designed to stoke division about the latest group of immigrants arriving in Britain."

Referencing allegations that hundreds of women were groped and intimidated at Cologne central station on New Year's Eve, over the weekend Mr Farage claimed there were some "very big cultural issues".

Asked by the Sunday Telegraph if mass sex attacks like those in Cologne could occur in the UK, he said: "It depends if they get EU passports. It depends if we vote Brexit or not. It is an issue."

The trio say in the letter that his warning of "mass sex attacks" on the country's streets took Mr Farage's leave the EU campaign to a "new low" - and that his use of the term "nuclear bomb" was "deeply disturbing".

"We are on both sides of the referendum debate and come together because at the weekend, Mr Farage went too far," the letter adds.

"Veiled threats of sexual assault by a new immigrant community stray too close for comfort to the race hate laws, and certainly cross the line of civilised discourse and rational debate.

"This makes even some pro-Brexit advocates feel profoundly uncomfortable."

Anti-racism campaigner Baroness Lawrence, former Tory foreign office minister Baroness Warsi and human rights advocate Ms Chakrabarti have demanded an apology, and called on Mr Farage to retract his comments when he appears on ITV's live EU referendum debate on Tuesday.