Farage builds on immigration fears in Brexit battle

With the theme tune to World War II classic "The Great Escape" blaring from his open-top bus, UKIP leader Nigel Farage rode into multi-ethnic Birmingham today promising to deliver freedom from the EU.
"Vote Brexit, vote to get our country back!" declared the head of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), standing on the top deck of the purple bus, to a crowd of placard-waving supporters and bemused shoppers in Britain's second largest city.
Farage has been relentlessly touring the country on his "battle bus" ahead of Britain's referendum on European Union membership on June 23, urging a "Leave" vote to end uncontrolled migration from other parts of the 28-nation bloc.

In Birmingham, one of Britain's most ethnically diverse cities, he received a warm welcome as he toured the market in the city centre.
"The whole face of Birmingham has changed in the last five years. We have trouble serving people because nobody speaks English," said Lynn Everett, 62, who runs a stall selling football memorabilia.
She voted for Britain to enter the European Economic Community in the 1975 referendum, but told AFP: "This isn't what we voted for."

Farage, wearing a tweed suit, was mobbed by supporters shaking his hand and asking for autographs as he pressed his way through stalls selling fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and clothes.

Butcher Ryan Tuckey, 26, started chanting his support as the UKIP leader approached.
"Here he is, lads! Come on, Nigel!" he roared, dodging animal carcasses hanging from the ceiling.
"He's a fantastic bloke," he said, wiping his hands on his blood-stained white jacket, after having a picture taken with Farage.
Tuckey, too, cited immigration as his biggest concern.
"In the last ten, 12 years, you see the difference in the public. A lot of English people are scared to come out to Birmingham," he said.
Nurul Sarder, 43, a Bangladeshi restaurant manager out shopping, said he also backed a Brexit.

"It is the last time to control immigration in this country, otherwise this country will lose everything," he said.