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Nigel Farage: "I did not mention race at all in that interview"
UKIP would scrap much of the legislation designed to prevent racial discrimination in work, party leader Nigel Farage has said.
He was speaking in a Channel 4 documentary to be shown next week.
Downing Street said his comments were "deeply concerning", while Labour branded them "shocking".
Mr Farage told the BBC his remarks, recorded last autumn, had been "wilfully misinterpreted", saying he was talking about nationality not race.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme he said he was making the point that employers should be able to discriminate in favour of British-born workers.
"I didn't mention race at all. There was no part of that interview which I ever said it at all.
"What I said was that I do believe there should be a presumption for British employers in favour of them employing British people as opposed to somebody from Poland. That is exactly what I said," he added.
The Channel 4 programme makers have said that they have not misrepresented Mr Farage's views.
"He was asked a direct question on whether there would be a law against discrimination on the grounds of race or colour and he replied no," they said.
'Colour-blind'Mr Farage's original comments came during an interview with the former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, for a Channel 4documentary called Things We Won't Say About Race That Are True.
He said that while concern over preventing racial discrimination in employment "would probably have been valid" 40 years ago, it is not today.
"If I talked to my children... about the question of race, they wouldn't know what I was talking about," he was reported to say.
He also said he would get rid of "much of" existing legislation.
And when asked if he would retain a ban on discrimination on the grounds of race or colour, he said: "No... because we take the view, we are colour-blind. We as a party are colour-blind."
Criticising recruitment laws, he said: "I think the employer should be much freer to make decisions on who she or he employs.
"I think the situation that we now have, where an employer is not allowed to choose between a British-born person and somebody from Poland, is a ludicrous state of affairs.
"I would argue that the law does need changing, and that if an employer wishes to choose, or you can use the word 'discriminate' if you want to, but wishes to choose to employ a British-born person, they should be allowed to do so."
'Far from perfect'Asked about his remarks on Today, Mr Farage said: "My comments have been wilfully misinterpreted. I have made no comments about the Race Relations Act at all.
"I have made comments in favour of British people getting jobs over and above those from southern eastern Europe."
The UKIP leader said he was speaking up for Britain's unemployed youth "both black and white", saying the young black community had suffered the biggest rise in unemployment as a result of immigration.
He said Gordon Brown, as Labour prime minister, spoke of British jobs for British workers, adding: "Well I'm saying it and really meaning it."
Downing Street described Nigel Farage's call to scrap equalities legislation as "deeply concerning."
"Nigel Farage is wrong and desperate for attention. The laws are there to protect people from racial discrimination," Number 10 said.
Labour's shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said Mr Farage's comments were one of the most shocking things he had ever heard from a mainstream politician.
Mr Khan said: "We have made huge progress on tackling racial inequality and discrimination in this country, partly because of Labour's strong anti-discrimination laws, but things are still far from perfect.
"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."
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