BNP publish plans for penal colony in the Falkland Islands

The right-wing party, which is putting up candidates in a string of Yorkshire seats, chose to launch the document in Stoke-on-Trent where it is threatening a Labour candidate beset by party wrangling.

BNP leader Nick Griffin insisted the manifesto contained nothing new on immigration with a central policy of "shutting the doors" because "Britain is full", but the document contained other bizarre proposals such as setting up a "penal station" in the Falklands where dangerous and violent repeat offenders would be sent to carry out labouring work.

Mr Griffin said the central pledge was to pull UK troops out of Afghanistan immediately, alongside a commitment to rebuilding UK manufacturing.

Among the more extreme proposals were the death penalty for drug dealers, serial killers, child murderers and terrorists as he said

criminals "basically are scum"

and adding that less serious offenders should be put into work teams.

Asked about the proposal for a "penal station" in South Georgia, he said: "There's a certain element within the criminal population – the hard core, the murders or the rapists and so on – who simply could not be let loose even on the hills of Wales or whatever, digging trenches to put internet cables in. What are we going to do with them?

"Well, the Falklands is surrounded not only by fish but also oil and it's Britain's, and we need to develop it and we need to develop it fast. There is plenty of work to be done out there establishing a groundwork for that, which is pure labouring work.

"We don't see why criminals who commit the most appalling crimes should be able to be locked away in relative luxury in British prisons, enjoying a better standard of living than pensioners, when they could be somewhere out there working.

"South Georgia is a long way away, they can't escape, but they can do something useful for Britain and the British economy."

Mr Griffin, who was elected as an MEP for the north west last June, is standing for election in Barking. Andrew Brons, MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, is standing for the party in Keighley, a Labour seat that the Tories are also targeting.