Nigel Farage attacked the high cost of health service treatment for foreigners with HIV in Thursday's General Election debate. The latest official figures show that more than half of those newly diagnosed with HIV in Britain – where their country of origin is known – were born overseas . When Nigel Farage attacked the high cost of health service treatment for foreigners with HIV it was guaranteed to provoke controversy. Instantly the Ukip leader was accused of ‘dangerous scaremongering’. But, while some of his claims were overstated, the latest official figures show that more than half of those newly diagnosed with HIV in Britain – where their country of origin is known – were born overseas. Mr Farage said on Thursday night’s televised debate: ‘Here’s a fact and I’m sure that other people will be mortified that I dare to talk about it. ‘There are 7,000 diagnoses in this country every year for people who are HIV positive. It’s not a good place for any of them to be, I know, but 60 per cent of them are not British nationals. ‘You can come into Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get the retroviral drugs that cost up to £25,000 a year per patient. ‘I know there are some horrible things happening in many parts of the world, but what we need to do is put the National Health Service there for British people and families who in many cases have paid into the system for decades.’ Labour leader Ed Miliband branded the comments ‘disgusting’ and former England captain Gary Lineker wrote on Twitter: ‘Always reluctant to offer a political view, but Farage is a d***!’ Yesterday Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg also took to Twitter to condemn the remarks, saying: ‘Farage’s comments about foreign people with HIV were simply vile and desperate. Politics of the lowest form.’ Mr Miliband also tweeted: ‘He should be ashamed. The fact he isn’t says so much.’ Labour leader Ed Miliband (left) branded the comments ‘disgusting’ and former England captain Gary Lineker (right) wrote on Twitter: ‘Always reluctant to offer a political view, but Farage is a d***!’ But last night Mr Farage stood by his claims, telling ITV news they were ‘cold, hard facts’. The figures on HIV and foreigners are notoriously hard to calculate because they could include British nationals who were born abroad. According to Public Health England, there were 6,000 diagnoses of HIV in the UK in 2013. Where the country of origin is known, 54 per cent of new diagnoses were foreign-born patients. However, the same body estimated that 76 per cent of all newly diagnosed HIV infections among gay or bisexual men and 57 per cent among heterosexual men and women in 2013 probably happened in the UK. The cost of antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients per year has been put between £10,000 and £16,000 by the National Aids Trust. Aids charity Avert has estimated that the cost of treating someone with HIV in the UK is around £18,000 per year, although this varies depending on the type and number of drugs taken and the stage of HIV infection. Each HIV patient from overseas – even if here illegally, a failed asylum seeker or a student on a temporary visa – is entitled to free treatment on the health service. This ‘free to all’ policy was introduced in 2012 to try to stop the spread of the virus in the UK. Officials raised concerns about the risk of health tourism by HIV patients in a Department of Health report on their treatment, which was published in 2012 to explain the change in policy. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg also took to Twitter to condemn the remarks, saying: ‘Farage’s comments about foreign people with HIV were simply vile and desperate. Politics of the lowest form’ It said: ‘Given the high cost of ARVs [antiretroviral drugs], for all overseas visitors we recommend that advance prescribing of ARVs is for a maximum of one month in the first instance. ‘Whilst it is unlikely that people with HIV, or at risk of HIV, will visit the UK solely for the purpose of receiving free HIV treatment, this guidance … makes clear the arrangements that will enable monitoring to ensure this is not the case.’ Mr Farage’s comments on HIV treatment were believed to be aimed at reviving Ukip’s core vote, as part of a strategy nicknamed ‘shock and awful’. He had originally intended to warn about the relatively high proportion of migrants with tuberculosis before realising that HIV drugs are more expensive, sources alleged. During the party leaders’ debate, Leanne Wood, leader of Welsh Nationalists Plaid Cymru, won the first significant applause of the night when she attacked Mr Farage’s comments on HIV treatment. The Conservatives would not go into coalition with Ukip after the election, Michael Gove said yesterday. A day after George Osborne refused to rule out a deal with Nigel Farage, the Tory chief whip told the BBC: ‘A coalition with Ukip? Nein, danke! Nein, danke is German for No, thank you.’ But Labour said the answer was still not definite enough for them. Andy Burnham has written to David Cameron asking for a cast-iron guarantee there would be no Tory-Ukip coalition. Mr Farage has said he is not interested in a formal coalition. But last night he described the Prime Minister as ‘somebody we can sit down and talk to’ in the event of a hung parliament. One Ukip condition would be an in/out EU referendum by the end of 2015. She said: ‘This kind of scaremongering is dangerous, it divides communities and it creates stigma to people who are ill, and I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself.’ George Osborne, the Chancellor, asked about it afterwards, said that he would ‘not dignify that with an answer’ and Mr Miliband tweeted yesterday that the comment was ‘disgusting’. It comes after Ukip’s share of the vote in recent polls has eroded significantly from highs of 19 per cent late last year, to just 10 per cent in several polls over the past month. Mr Farage has claimed he would stand down if he does not win the seat he is contesting in Thanet South. Ukip’s first MP, Douglas Carswell, refused to specifically endorse Mr Farage’s remarks yesterday. The former Conservative, standing in Clacton, Essex, added: ‘It is sensible and reasonable to say we want a national health service, not an international health service, and that’s all I’m going to say.’ He insisted the party was not split and added: ‘I thought Nigel was superb in the debates. His answers were credible.’ A half-time poll from ComRes/ITV News showed 24 per cent of voters giving Mr Farage the lead in the debate, but almost as many (22 per cent) thought he was also the worst of the seven leaders. Mr Carswell’s father, Wilson, was a respected physician and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons who diagnosed the first confirmed cases of HIV in Uganda in the 1970s. He was the inspiration for the character of Dr Nicholas Garrigan in the Oscar-winning movie The Last King of Scotland. Mr Farage appeared to embarrass Mr Carswell when he won his seat in a by-election in October by calling for a ban on people with HIV entering the UK. Mr Carswell said at the time: ‘No-one is seriously suggesting we should screen people for HIV coming in.’ Dr Rosemary Gillespie, chief executive of HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: ‘It was great to see so many people express outrage after Farage’s comments last night about the numbers of people in the UK with HIV who were not born here. ‘HIV is a public health issue in the UK and globally. If we do not take an inclusive approach and provide treatment for people who need it, we will never prevent onward transmission. ‘HIV doesn’t discriminate and politicians shouldn’t either. Such ill-informed and discriminatory comments generate stigma, and make it harder to encourage people to take a test and stay safe.’ Ed Miliband spoke of himself as a future prime minister ten times during the leaders’ debate on television. In his opening statement, the Labour leader said: ‘If I’m prime minister, I’ll raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour and ban exploitative zero-hours contracts so we’ll reward hard work again. ‘If I’m prime minister, I’ll rescue our NHS, hiring more doctors and nurses. ‘If I’m prime minister, I’ll build a future for all of our young people.’ On migration, he said: ‘If I’m elected as prime minister, we’ll put in place new rules which say that if you come to this country, you won’t get benefits for at least the first two years.’ On the failure of some employers to pay the minimum wage, he said: ‘We’ve got to deal with it, and if I’m prime minister, I will.’ Mr Miliband used the words ‘prime minister’ five more times, including in his summing-up.
More than half of those newly diagnosed are born overseas, figures show.
Farage condemned on Twitter by Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Gary Lineker.