Ukip proposes creation of Muslim-only prisons in interim manifesto

'This is the first step to Muslim concentration camps,' says anti-extremism campaigner. 'What next, deportation of all Muslims from these ‘Muslim only jails'? '

Ukip has proposed Muslim-only prisons and special security screening for would-be migrants “from Islamic countries” in a new policy document.

Published as the party’s annual conference began in Birmingham, it calls for the creation of jails “exclusively for” Muslims who “promote extremism or try to convert non-Islamic prisoners”.

Other ambitions outlined in the so-called ”Interim Manifesto” include a ban on mosques receiving money from overseas and the abolition of the “hate crime” category.

Party leader Gerard Batten, who has previously described Islam as a “death cult”, said the policies were intended to “make Ukip a populist party in the real meaning of the word”.

The document claimed segregation in prisons was needed because non-Muslim inmates were frequently forced to convert to Islam “for their own protection” from Muslims gangs behind bars.

Maajid Nawaz, chairman of counter-extremism Quilliam Foundation, described the policy as “the first step to Muslim concentration camps”.

“What next, deportation of all Muslims from these ‘Muslim only jails’? The rest of us, civilised human beings, will resist you to the end,” he tweeted.

Hope Not Hate said the policy demonstrated that “Ukip’s march further and further right continues”.

“Their conference features extreme figures, their manifesto proposes racism and Islamophobia as policies, and their leader spouts vile hate about Muslims,” the anti-racism group added.

The Independent has contacted Ukip for comment.

Mr Batten has denied he is taking Ukip to the far right, after the party’s former leader Nigel Farage warned it faces “total and utter marginalisation” if it moves to the extremes of politics.

But the Ukip children’s spokesman received a standing ovation from party members after claiming Muslim sex gangs were responsible for a “holocaust of our children” that authorities had refused to tackle.

During a speech at the party conference, he suggested the practice of preying on “white English girls” could be traced right back “to Mohammed himself” and described the issue as “the biggest social crime and scandal in our country for 200 years”.

Ukip’s manifesto claimed decades of sexual abuse of children had been covered up due to “political correctness and the fear of identifying the vast majority of the perpetrators as Muslims”.

It called for “an independent national enquiry into local authorities and police forces’ historical failure to protect children from rape gangs”.

Mr Batten, who took over the Ukip leadership from Henry Bolton in April, has repeatedly provoked anger with anti-Islam comments and has embraced far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson.

The party is considering offering membership to the English Defence League founder, something Mr Batten said he “would personally approve of”.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Farage said he was “really upset” at the prospect of Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon, being admitted to the party.

He said: “I’m completely opposed to it. I wrote very explicitly into the rules of the party when I first became leader: we did not want anybody in the party that had taints with organisations we deemed to be on the far-right of British politics.”

He warned Ukip was ”in danger now, unless it changes direction very, very quickly, of total and utter marginalisation”.

Mr Batten denied taking his party to the far right, telling Sky News: “For the last 25 years, myself and everyone else in Ukip has worked to restore our country’s former status as an independent democratic nation that is governed by our politicians, elected by us, sackable by us, in accordance with our traditional laws and customs and constitution.

“If that makes you far right, I think whoever thinks that has got a very strange idea about what constitutes far right.”

Mr Batten said he wanted to use the two-day conference to present his Ukip as a populist alternative to the leading parties.

The Ukip manifesto also included proposals for an ”NHS health card” entitling British citizens to free medical treatment. Non-Britons would require private medical insurance unless the UK had done a reciprocal deal with their government.

Other policies include turning the UK Border Force into a “Migration Control Department” with a remit to exclude “extremist” Muslims, and a five-year ban on property purchases by foreign nationals in designated areas.

Mr Batten said the package was “aimed at helping the people who form the backbone of Britain: ordinary workers and taxpayers, the unemployed who would like to work, and small and medium-sized business owners”.

He added: “Its purpose is to make Ukip a populist party in the real meaning of the word – one whose policies are popular with voters.”

Mr Batten addressed party members at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre on Friday.

The conference will also see an address on freedom of speech by Mark Meechan, who makes online videos under the name “Count Dankula” and is best known for being fined £800 for filming his girlfriend’s pet dog giving a Nazi salute.