UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage claimed young people are being wrongly “written off as lazy and useless” during a passionate speech in Worcester tonight.

In a packed standing-room only Q&A at the Guildhall, he also appealed for voters to “send a message” to Worcestershire County Council in next month’s local elections.

In front of a largely supportive audience, he insisted the party “is not racist” and insisted the “European project has failed”.

He also revealed UKIP is fielding 50 candidates in the upcoming County Hall count, 10 more than it originally confirmed had signed up in March.

“Nearly every voter in Worcestershire who wants to vote UKIP will have the chance to do so, I am pleased to say,” he said.

“We have council candidates prepared to ask questions.

"I want to know how many climate change officers they employ, how much they are spending on overseas interpretation, and how much fat can be cut at County Hall without affecting the front line.”

During a ranty, joke-filled speech he also mentioned former West Midlands MP Enoch Powell as part of the reason why the immigration debate has been diluted.

Mr Powell used an infamous speech back in 1968 to warn of the dangers of immigration, which was later labelled racist by critics.

“The language he used was a huge mistake, it killed off any sensible debate on immigration,” he said.

“Anyone who dares mention it is branded a racist, but we are not a racist party.”

On the subject of young people, he said the country was facing a “lost generation” of unemployment and blamed both the Government and EU for allowing immigrants to take jobs they could have had instead.

“Young people are being written off as lazy and useless, it’s got to stop,” he said.

He added: "We have got one million young people unemployed in this country, yet we've allowed people to come in from other countries to compete for jobs.

"There ARE young people who are lazy and useless in this country, just like there is in every other country too, but the majority want to get on in life and want to get a job, we should not be making it harder for them."

He also leapt on national media reports that a vote for UKIP would help Labour in future elections, calling it “rubbish”.

“Something is happening in British politics, because people can now see UKIP was right from the start, we should never have entered this European project,” he said.

Around 200 people packed the first floor of the Guildhall, and with more pouring in before the 7pm start it meant a smaller group had to be accommodated downstairs.

It led to Mr Farage addressing both floors in separate sessions.

During the Q&A he tackled  English devolution, Cyprus, incineration and wind turbine questions from the audience.

During one joke he advised people to not take any money with them if travelling to Cyprus, adding "you never know, they might take it off you".

He also said he favoured "our MPs voting on English issues in parliament without interference", and said he was against wind turbines.