BNP's Griffin urges restrictions on Chinese imports

Mr Griffin said jobs would continue to be lost unless action was taken

The British National Party have called for restrictions on imports from China to protect British jobs.

Leader Nick Griffin told BBC Radio 4 British industry faced "disaster" unless something was done to halt the flow of cheap goods into the country.

He denied reciprocal restrictions would hurt the British economy, saying trade with China was a "one-way street".

Mr Griffin also denied claims his party had been damaged by reported internal troubles, saying "we are fine".

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The BNP, which is campaigning on a platform of leaving the EU and restricting immigration to the UK, has yet to publish its manifesto.

Mr Griffin, who is standing in Barking and Dagenham, said action was needed to protect UK manufacturing from unfair foreign competition, particularly in the country's remaining industrial heartlands.

"We don't believe British workers can compete with Chinese workers who are working for a fraction of our wages," he said.

"We have got eight million adults of working age not working in Britain and if we protect certain sections of our industry to create jobs we would get these people off the dole."

Mr Griffin said Japan and other countries in Asia had followed such a course and had created new industries as a result.

He said his party was not "isolationist" but believed the liberal economic policy pursued by successive governments had "utterly bankrupted" the country.

He added: "The alternative is to give up on industry because everything would go China. It would be a disaster."