![Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said on Sunday ‘as far as we are concerned in this country [UK], yes I would like to see extreme vetting’. Photograph: Getty](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4YYWAO7U5FG27XAOHN4RGG3ZNM.jpg?auth=23dbe1734987982f11383216f341a60e98ad6fb959bd5569143e27069487f583&smart=true&width=1024&height=576)
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has suggested Britain should follow the lead of US president Donald Trump and introduce "extreme vetting" to its borders.
Mr Farage defended Mr Trump's controversial travel ban, saying the US president is entitled to introduce the measures in a bid to stop any would-be terrorists entering the country.
And he blamed the ban - which has been condemned by leaders around the world - on Germany’s open-door policy towards those fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking on BBC1’s Sunday Politics, Mr Farage said: “He was elected to get tough, he was elected to say he will do everything within his power to protect America from infiltration by Isis terrorists.
“Now there are seven countries on that list, he is entitled to do this, he was voted in on this.”
Mr Farage, who has previously called for Syrian refugees to be allowed into Britain, said he now agrees with Mr Trump’s policy.
And he suggested German chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy has left Europe vulnerable to terrorism.
He said: “I mean frankly since I made those comments we had the Merkel madness, and I think Trump’s policy in many ways has been shaped by what Mrs Merkel did.
“He is fully entitled to do this, and as far as we are concerned in this country, yes I would like to see extreme vetting.”
Mr Farage, who is close with Mr Trump and became the first British politician to meet him after his election, said the US president was voted in on the promise he would introduce tougher vetting and he is doing “exactly” what his voters want.
He said: “We have elections so voters can make choices and they voted for Donald Trump to become president, and he said he will put bans in place and then move towards extreme vetting.
"Now, as far as Syria is concerned, he has made that decision. But that is what he was voted in for." The former Ukip leader conceded American citizens radicalised at home are responsible for the recent terror attacks in the US rather than refugees.
He added: “But when you’ve got a problem already, why on earth would you wish to add to it? “I would remind you that of the eight people who committed those atrocities in Paris, five of them had got into Europe posing as refugees. So, there is an issue here.”
PA