UKIP candidate who branded European integration 'genocide' dropped by employer

Steve Latham, who formerly drove coaches for National Express and is also standing in a Sandwell Council by-election, posted a message on Facebook which is an edited version of a piece written by someone else that has appeared on the blog of far right group Golden Dawn.

However, Mr Latham, standing in the Newton ward, said he did not remember where he had originally got it from.

The piece on Facebook said: "We face Europe's fusion with the Third World. The interracial marriage produces each year thousands of young people of mixed race."

"The servants of globalization (sic) are trying to convince us that to deny our identity, is a progressive and humanitarian act, because they want us all to be blind consumers.

"It is necessary, now more than ever, to counter the lies of the System, to awaken the revolutionary spirit of the Europeans. Everyone must see this truth, that European Integration amounts to genocide. We have no other option, the alternative is national suicide."

Former pub landlord Mr Latham, said he was referring to the 'erosion of ourselves, we are losing our national identity'.

He explained: "I'm not saying I'm against interracial marriage but the truth about the European Union is washed over. It is attempting to create another society. We've lost our identity."

Asked how he could compare European integration to 'genocide' – defined as the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group – he said: "The English person will eventually be mixed race."

Following the publication of the message on his Facebook page National Express who was contracted by National Express through a third party said: "High professional standards are expected of all our drivers and we can confirm Mr Latham has been removed from the National Express network with immediate effect."

Mr Latham who used to run The Joker and Scott Arms pubs in Great Barr, came in for criticism earlier in the year for a Facebook post which said there was an 'evil cult of Islam' infiltrating the Labour party.

That was revealed when he was standing for Parliament in West Bromwich East.

Labour leader Councillor Darren Cooper said: "Steve Latham wants to represent people but has shown real ignorance by posting this.

"This is the same person who stood for Parliament having called Islam an evil cult."

During the General Election UKIP decided not to take action against Mr Latham. Party leader Nigel Farage claimed to have 'never heard of him'.

However, a photograph was posted on Mr Latham's Facebook page of the two together at a party event.

The Facebook posting is a shorter version of a piece that had appeared in January 2013 on the website of Golden Dawn which describes itself as 'men and women in the black shirts'.

In 2014, Mr Latham put on Facebook a link to an old news story from 2010 about a then-Labour minister claiming the party had been infiltrated by a fundamentalist Muslim group that wanted to create an 'Islamic social and political order' in Britain.

Mr Latham posted remarks, saying: "So the Muslims have infiltrated the Labour party. What a surprise. Who would have guessed such a thing was possible? The Labour Party of Diane Abbott and Harriet Harman infiltrated by the evil cult of Islam. Wow."

When the comments came to light during the General Election campaign he explained he was intending to criticise extremists and not all Muslims.

The Newton ward by-election takes place on July 9 following the retirement on health grounds of Labour's Councillor Tony Underhill. Sandwell Council has 72 seats and all but one are held by Labour, the other is UKIP.