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A Welsh Assembly Member has quit Ukip and launched a passionate attack on the party's association with right-wing nationalist and Islam critic Tommy Robinson.

Michelle Brown, a regional AM for north Wales, lambasted her party for "handing UKIP’s megaphone to the likes of Tommy Robinson".

She said that instead of fighting for Brexit, the party was "discussing individual politicians’ pet projects such as attacking Islam and abolishing the Welsh Assembly".

She accused the UKIP leadership of trying to "incubate and cultivate a rival fundamentalism".

"I still believe in the UKIP that I joined, that spoke for people whose pay was being held down by uncontrolled immigration and whose bills were being sent through the roof because of government and EU policy," she said.

"UKIP won the people of Britain the right to choose whether their destiny lay with the EU or as a self-governing nation. But that isn’t the party I see around me anymore."

As well as attacking Ukip's leader Gerard Batten, she criticised the party's Welsh leader Gareth Bennett AM.

She said: "The group does not function as a group but as a boys’ club – it is not by chance that the group no longer has any female members.

"It does nothing that is in the wider interest of party members or Welsh residents and seems to serve only to further the interests of certain group members."

Only three of the seven Ukip AMs elected in 2016 remain members of the party group at the National Assembly after the resignation of Michelle Brown.

Ms Brown, a regional AM for north Wales, follows Nathan Gill, Mark Reckless and Caroline Jones in quitting the group.

Mandy Jones was not admitted to the Ukip group when she replaced Mr Gill, who resigned from the Assembly in 2017.

Neil Hamilton said: “It seems she has jumped ship to avoid facing censure from the group for her clear lack of commitment to her party and her constituents.”

Mr Bennett said: “This comes as no surprise as Michelle has been on the periphery of the Ukip group for some time, and has largely excluded herself from the group’s business.”

In 2016 the Futures Inn in Cardiff Bay issued a £250 surcharge against Ms Brown, accusing her of recreational drug use in the room where she was staying and stating that the smell meant the room could not be used for 24 hours.

Ms Brown denied smoking a recreational drug, stating she had in fact smoked a strong tobacco product in her non-smoking room. She apologised for the “oversight” and paid the surcharge.

In May 2018, Ms Brown was suspended from the Assembly for a week without pay after a complaint against her of making a racial slur against MP Chuka Umunna during a private phone call was upheld.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds said: “The latest resignation from Ukip’s Assembly group shows clearly how shambolic the party has become.

“In fewer than three years Ukip Wales has managed to lose over half its Assembly Group. Losing one AM is unfortunate, losing four begins to look careless.

“Ukip have always been an extreme party, But in recent months Ukip have become even more extreme, defining themselves by naked Islamophobia while embracing fascist thugs like Tommy Robinson.”