Nigel Farage today faced calls from Labour to tackle the 'racists' in the UK Independence Party.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna claimed elements in UKIP were racist and said 'terrible things' about women and some sections of society.

But the remarks risk backfiring coming just as Ed Miliband scrambles to try to win back votes from Nigel Farage's party, which came close to taking a safe seat from Labour last week.

It came as new UKIP MP Douglas Carswell urged his party to show 'humanity' in its approach to immigration and offer a more optimistic vision for Britain.

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Chuka Umunna said UKIP had to address the people in the party with objectionable views, including racists and sexists

Opponents of UKIP have repeatedly highlighted offensive comments made by the party's elected politicians and candidates.

But Mr Farage has vowed to root out anyone whose views might embarrass UKIP in the future.

Labour has been rocked by the rise of UKIP, only narrowly holding its safe seat of Heywood and Middleton by 617 votes last week.

Mr Umunna is seen as a rising star in the Labour party and a frontrunner to replace Mr Miliband after the next election.

Quizzed about the views of some in UKIP, Mr Umunna told Sky News: 'Of course there are racists in UKIP.

'And that is unfortunate and that's something they need to address. They say terrible things about women, they say terrible things about different parts of our society.

The shadow business secretary insisted that Labour was responding to public demand for it to address the issue of immigration

New UKIP MP Douglas Carswell today brushed aside the idea from his leader Nigel Farage of barring migrants from Britain if they have HIV

'MILIBAND NEEDS A BROWN AND A PRESCOTT OR HE WON'T WIN' Ed Miliband has been urged to copy Tony Blair by having people with broader appeal around him, such as Gordon Brown and John Prescott Ed Miliband must get out of his 'north London comfort zone' or he will not win the election, Labour MP John Mann warned today. He urged the Labour leader to appoint a wide slate of MPs to his frontbench, in the way that Tony Blair put up with Gordon Brown and John Prescott because they broadened New Labour's appeal. Mr Mann said Mr Miliband’s article would not persuade a sceptical country he was taking action to deal with immigration. He told MailOnline: 'We need to see demonstrable evidence of a change of attitude. 'He has to move outside his north London comfort zone. Tony Blair had Brown, who he clearly couldn’t stand, and Prescott, who is not a natural dining partner, as his key lieutenants. 'Blair’s wasn’t particularly comfortable with either Brown or Prescott but he understood that represented areas of the electorate that he didn’t feel comfortable with. ‘Miliband isn’t doing it, that’s Miliband’s problem. ‘If he doesn’t succeed in getting outside his comfort zone, he will not be Prime Minister.' Advertisement

'And ultimately, I think what makes Britain strong is when we abide by our British values of tolerance, respect and we actually come together to meet these common challenges that we face.'

Mr Umunna faced a vile online race-hate campaign from UKIP supporters in June, in which he was attacked as a 'spear chucker' and a 'cave man', following his suggestion that many of them lacked basic internet skills

Last month UKIP was forced to apologise after branding Mr Umunna a 'racist' – based on words he never used.

The Labour high flier was shocked after UKIP Euro MP Jane Collins last week went on Twitter to accuse him of racism.

She posted an image of Mr Umunna allegedly saying black people should be preferred to white people for top jobs to 'spice things up a bit', calling it an 'extraordinary racist comment'.

UKIP parliamentary candidate David Sprason also tweeted the picture and accused Mr Umunna of promoting a 'racist agenda'.

But the two politicians were forced to apologise after Mr Umunna insisted the quotation was fiction, made up by a far-Right website.

Mr Umunna insisted Labour was responding to public demand for it to address the issue of immigration, which leader Ed Miliband failed to mention in his party conference speech last month. He added: 'I believe that people want to see a properly controlled system, they don't want to see undercutting.

'They want to see people integrate, learn our language when they come here. But I don't think setting up different communities against each other, saying 'you know those eastern Europeans? All of the country's problems are their fault.'

Mr Farage caused a major row last week when he suggested migrants with HIV should not be allowed to enter Britain.

He said UKIP would control the 'quality and quantity' of other immigrants, including those with HIV.

But Mr Carswell told BBC One's Andrew Marr show: 'I think this row's been slightly confected. No one is seriously suggesting that we should screen people for HIV coming in.

'What I think Nigel rightly said is that we need a system like in Australia, a tough system where we control our borders, but it's got to be humane, and being humane also means discretion and common sense.'

In an apparent swipe at some elements within his new party, Mr Carswell added: 'Anger and pessimism are not nice things, and they can only animate and motivate people for a short time. We need a vision.