A man has paid for a full-page advert in a major newspaper to call out immigration 'lies'

Nigel Farage

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A man called Laurence Taylor has paid with his own money to take out a full-page advert in this morning's Metro newspaper because he was "fed up with the rubbish being talked about immigration."

The advert shows a pi-chart chart depicting the UK population — 64.6 million — with a 0.5% slither representing "migrants/year," at 330,000.

Underneath the chart, the text reads: "Why can't we cope with a 0.5%/yr rise in population? Too many immigrants or failure of government?"

Further down the page, the author reveals that he — rather than Remain campaigners — paid for the advert:

"Paid for out of my own pocket because I am fed up with the rubbish being talked about immigration. Vote Remain or Leave, up to you, but do it based on facts, not fear. Happy voting, Laurence Taylor."

Here is the advert:

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/745550498661466112
British man "fed up" with “rubbish” being talked about #immigration takes out full-page advert in @MetroUK. #EUref pic.twitter.com/7VkN4yWnfV

The text continues on the bottom right:

... oh by the way if we leave and want access to the single market (40% of our exports I think), then we have to accept the free movement of people... We could always try and negotiate something different but how successful do you think that would be given that everyone else including Norway has to? OK, I'll stop there, just getting my money's worth :-)

Speaking to Metro today, Taylor said he was "fed up with the lot of them — Cameron, Farage and comedy Boris. Fed up with the lies and the scare stories."

"It’s up to us voters to go and get the facts and work it out for ourselves," he added. "Simple bit of division: 330k migrants = 0.5% of population. Money we send to the EU = 1% of our national budget. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so much of an issue. So why all the panic?"

But he confirmed that he did not want to be identified, saying "I’d be pretty nervous about going any more public than I already have. I’ve spent my life NOT wanting to be famous! Only put my name on that ad because I had to."

Immigration has been a major part of the Vote Leave's campaign — but UKIP leader Nigel Farage recently came under heavy criticism for a recent poster depicting a line of refugees with the text "Breaking Point." He later said he apologised for the timing — it came on the same day as pro-Remain MP Jo Cox was murdered — but not for the poster itself. 

The June 23 EU referendum is still close to call, but a SurveyMonkey poll released this morning suggests Remain has the edge with a three-point lead. 

BI brexit referendum graphic

Dan Kitwood / Getty

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