A Right-wing politician who hopes to be the next prime minister of Italy has pledged to expel half a million migrants if his party wins the coming election.

Matteo Salvini, the head of the Eurosceptic Northern League, said he aimed to repatriate 100,000 migrants in his first year in power, followed by another 400,000 during the rest of his five-year term in office.

“There are half a million irregular migrants in Italy. All of them need to be sent home,” Mr Salvini told La Repubblica newspaper.

The remarks came as the Catholic Church warned that political parties risked fomenting a “climate of fear” by campaigning on immigration issues.

The Northern League has struck up an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and two smaller Right-wing parties.

As campaigning intensifies for the March 4 general election, the bloc is expected to win around 36 per cent of the national vote, putting it well ahead of the centre-Left and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.