Nigel Farage caused controversy at the televised leaders ’ debate by attacking the high cost of giving anti-retroviral drugs to sufferers not born in Britain . Half of voters agree with Ukip that immigrants should not immediately receive free HIV treatment , a poll suggests . Nigel Farage caused controversy at the televised leaders ’ debate last week by attacking the high cost of giving anti-retroviral drugs to sufferers not born in Britain . Ed Miliband said his comments were ‘ disgusting ’ , Nick Clegg said they were ‘ politics of the lowest form ’ and chancellor George Osborne , when asked , said he was ‘ not going to dignify that with a response. ’ The Ukip leader insisted afterwards that he had the ‘ overwhelming support ’ of the British public for saying that foreign nationals with HIV – whom he said accounted for 60 per cent of the 7,000 cases a year – ‘ can come into Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get the retroviral drugs that cost up to £25,000 per patient ’ . He added : ‘ I know there are some horrible things happening in many parts of the world , but what we need to do is put the National Health Service there for British people and families who in many cases have paid into the system for decades. ’ A YouGov poll of 1,906 adults found that 50 per cent would support ‘ people coming to live in the UK being banned from receiving treatment on the NHS for a period of five years ’ . Another 34 per cent opposed such a ban . A second question saw voters asked which statement best reflected their view . In this , 52 per cent thought Mr Farage was ‘ right to raise this issue - immigrants with serious conditions like HIV are costing the health service a large amount of money ’ . This compared with 37 per cent who picked : ‘ Nigel Farage was just scaremongering - compared to the total cost of the NHS this is a drop in the ocean ’ , and 11 per cent did not know . Interestingly , the respondents did not appear to particularly favour Ukip , saying on average that Mr Farage was only the fourth best-performing leader last Thursday , with Nicola Sturgeon in the lead , followed by David Cameron and Ed Miliband . It later emerged that Mr Farage ’ s figures were a bit out – there are 6,000 diagnoses of HIV every year according to Public Health England . Diane James , an MEP and the party ’ s justice and home affairs spokesman , insisted yesterday that Ukip would go on if Farage lost . Just over half ( 54 per cent ) are foreign born , but most of them are thought to have been infected whilst living in the UK . The cost of anti-retroviral drugs per year gas been put at up to £16,000 depending on the stage of infection . The Ukip leader , speaking on the campaign trail yesterday defended his remarks saying he wanted people to ‘ think and understand why their grandmother who is 85 finds it very difficult to get drugs for breast cancer but anybody can get on a plane from anywhere in the world , be HIV tested in London and receive antiretroviral drugs . Something , it seems to me , isn ’ t right here. ’ Any foreign national - even a failed asylum seeker – who is diagnosed , has been entitled to free treatment since 2012 due to what experts say are the risks of allowing the virus to spread . A Ukip spokesman said : ‘ This poll finding shows yet again the disconnect that exists between the Westminster bubble and much of the population . 'Nigel Farage is the one leader who has the political courage to raise difficult issues and clearly millions of voters agree with that stance. ’ It later emerged that Mr Farage ’ s figures were a bit out – there are 6,000 diagnoses of HIV every year according to Public Health England . Mr Farage took a blow yesterday as another poll showed he would fail to secure a Parliamentary seat . He has vowed to stand down as leader if he fails to become the MP for Thanet South , which he is fighting hard to win at the General Election . A private ComRes poll paid for by a Ukip donor put the Conservatives on course to retain the seat by a small margin . But Diane James , an MEP and the party ’ s justice and home affairs spokesman , insisted yesterday that Ukip would go on if he lost , and that future leaders of the Eurosceptic party were waiting to ‘ put their hats in the ring ’ . Patrick O ’ Flynn , Ukip ’ s economics spokesman , said in an interview on Sky News yesterday that Ukip were not seeking to withdraw treatment from HIV positive foreign nationals already receiving drugs from the NHS .
Nigel Farage caused controversy at the televised leaders ' debate last week . He attacked high cost of giving anti-retroviral drugs to non-British sufferers . Ukip leader insisted he had 'overwhelming support ' of public for comment . Claimed 60 % of 7,000 cases a year 'come into UK from anywhere in world '