Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage has blasted the European Union for trying to force the United Kingdom to pay a £53 billion “ransom” before it will agree to trade talks.

“You’ve shown yourselves, with these demands, to be vindictive, to be nasty,” he told the chamber. “All I can say is, thank goodness we’re leaving!

“You’re behaving like the mafia. You think we’re a hostage. We’re not. We’re free to go!”

The EU are behaving like gangsters. They're treating Britain like a hostage when in fact we're now free. pic.twitter.com/K0CRjNbtqj — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 5, 2017

An outraged Antonio Tajani, the President of the European Parliament, turned off the former UKIP leader’s microphone and intervened.

“Sorry, Mr. Farage, listen, I’m trying to give you the chance to speak and say everything you want to say, but if you’re talking about the mafia? You’re saying this parliament is behaving like the mafia? As far as I’m concerned, that’s unacceptable!” he spluttered, to furious applause from MEPs.

“I do understand, sir, Mr. President, I do understand national sensitivities,” responded Farage. “I’ll change it to ‘gangsters’.”

The EU are putting the interests of their failed project above that of their own citizens. pic.twitter.com/orokDL0ylR — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 5, 2017

Douglas Carswell MP appeared to take the side of Tajani, tweeting “I hope Leave and Remain voters can both agree that the sooner we stand down our UK MEPs the better.”

The Clacton MP defected to UKIP from the Tory Party and waged a long campaign against Farage’s leadership. He recently resigned from the party and boasted that he only joined to undermine its leadership of the Brexit campaign, and has refused to rule out a return to the Tory fold.

I hope Leave and Remain voters can both agree that the sooner we stand down our UK MEPs the better. For everyone. UK and EU. — Douglas Carswell (@DouglasCarswell) April 5, 2017

Following the interruption in the chamber, and his clarification, Mr Farage continued: “Eighty-five per cent of the global economy is outside the European Union, and if you wish to have no deal, if you wish to force us to walk away from the table, it is not us that’ll be hurt”.

“We don’t have to buy German motor cars; we don’t have to drink French wine; we don’t have to eat Belgian chocolates – there are a lot of other people that will give that to us.

“A return to tariffs will risk the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people living in the European Union, and yet what you’re saying is, you want to put the interest of the European Union above that of your citizens and your companies.

“If you continue with that route, it won’t just be the United Kingdom that triggers Article 50 – there will be many more to come.”

Nigel Farage gives his first reaction on the EU Parliament session on Brexit in which he labelled the EU the "mafia". pic.twitter.com/S4OQgIXUaO — LBC (@LBC) April 5, 2017

Some senior EU leaders have already recognised the truth of the Brexit campaigner’s words, with Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó warning his European colleagues of the “need to avoid a situation whereby the EU goes to the back of the line for Britain”.

“Losing such a partner and giving it away to others would be a suicidal strategy,” he said, proposing a tariff-free trade deal in order to avoid “a situation where Britain is better off trading with the Americans, Turks, Indians, Australians or Japanese” than with EU member-states.