THOMAS Ryder ask us in his letter “Bad Apples thrown out” (May 1) to stop describing UKIP as a racist party, but there is a reason why people refer to this party as racist.

Only last week, William Henwood of UKIP called on Lenny Henry to move out of the UK and live in a black country. This is despite the fact that Henry was born here and Henwood was not.

Then there is the more recent case of Anna-Marie Crampton, a UKIP candidate for East Sussex who was suspended by the party for posting extreme views on a white supremacist conspiracy website.

There is also the fact that former National Front activist Robert Ray is now a UKIP activist, and there are also a number of former BNP people in the party.

Thomas Ryder talks about the New Labour Conservatives who have betrayed working-class people.

On this he is right — the New Labour project is all about supporting big business and the banking sector, but this does not mean that UKIP is offering any better alternatives for working people, because their policies are more right wing and more extreme than those of the Conservative Party.

The only reason why working class people are voting for UKIP is the promise to end immigration, every other UKIP policy is anti-working class to the point where it makes David Cameron look like a wet Liberal.

Steve Jones Morris Green