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A UKIP leadership candidate has been slammed for announcing he would cut "unnecessary population" by PAYING British Indians to leave the UK.

John Rees-Evans would divert £12bn from the vital foreign aid budget in a shocking bid to remove a million people from Britain every year.

His "fast-track scheme" would give any dual nationals £9,000 plus health cover to "return to their country of origin", where they would then be granted tariff-free exports to Britain.

Using the examples of India and Tanzania, the ex-soldier claimed it would "create jobs in this country, reduce unnecessary population and reduce the strain on infrastructure in Britain.”

"Local corner shops are going out of business," he told members in Leigh, Greater Manchester.

"We’ve got a lot of talented people, originally from Commonwealth countries, in our country who know how to run businesses who’d be perfectly capable of establishing trading relationships in their country of origin."

(Image: YouTube)

Mr Rees-Evans suggested the voluntary scheme to help deliver his eye-popping target of reducing net migration to minus 1 million per year.

He added: "We would reduce the cost of living in this country and we’d incentivise people who are not doing particularly well in this country to leave and return to their country where they can create a thriving business and improve our lives here in Britain."

Mr Rees-Evans is the bookies' fourth-favourite of 11 candidates to lead UKIP despite famously saying a gay donkey tried to rape his horse.

Labour MP Rupa Huq, whose parents moved to Britain from Bangladesh in the 1960s, said: "This is not even dog whistle politics - it’s as subtle as a crowbar.

"Luckily this ridiculous idea from the fourth placed favourite candidate of a party clearly on the skids which smacks of attention-grabbing desperation is going nowhere."

UKIP leadership rival and home affairs spokeswoman Jane Collins condemned the policy saying it had "very worrying undertones."

She added: "There was a similar policy in the BNP's 2010 manifesto.

"I want British residents who run businesses to stay here and run a business here and employ people. For millions of people this is their home."

Despite the condemnation Mr Rees-Evans told supporters: "It's not going to be draconian, it's not going to be fascist. I'm not interested in using eugenics or any evil things like that."

During the same event Mr Rees-Evans revealed he refused to give 210 staff members a pay rise in Tanzania even though their work meant he was "able to retire at the age of 36".

The right-winger, who was enlisted in the Army for less than two years, said he brought 83 Masai warriors to live in his back garden to show his staff they could be replaced.

Speaking of the warriors, he said: "These people don’t mess about. They carry swords and clubs and sticks, they’ve got multiple wives, they’ve got a really outrageous lifestyle, they drink blood."

Mr Rees-Evans said once he began to train the warriors, "who arrived all smelling of meat and blood", in his mountain expedition business the 210 staff agreed to come back for no extra pay.

"The moment people can see you’re willing to back down they will take advantage of you," he said. "It’s like negotiating with terrorists."

Meanwhile it also emerged Mr Rees-Evans had admitted to having a “very old fashioned” view on gender - suggesting men should make decisions for their wives.

He told Vice Magazine in 2015: ”It says in one of the [Bible] verses that the man is the head of the woman, and that doesn't mean that he's any cleverer as far as we believe. It just means that he has responsibility to protect her and make decisions on her behalf."

Mr Rees-Evans tonight insisted the repatriation policy “in no way touched on the subject of race, and is open to qualifying applicants of any race, religion, gender, etc."

He said: "When our political opponents have difficulty arguing with the logic of the eminently sensible positions UKIP generally advances, they invariably use the term 'dog whistle politics'.

"I'm confident the British public are easily smart enough to see that these people are going for the man because they can't get the ball."

“As far as family matters are concerned,” he added, “I’m an old fashioned Anglican. However, I’m also a democrat who has no interest in imposing my own views or values on anyone else.”