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Boris Johnson has urged the organisers of a gay pride festival in London to reverse a controversial decision to ban Ukip from the event.

The organisers of Pride in London faced an angry backlash last week when they said they were going to exclude the party's LGBT wing from the June 27 festival apparently on the grounds of safety.

Today the Mayor of London, who helps to fund the annual event, said: “I do not agree at all with this policy.

“I passionately believe in the Pride march and the values of equality it represents and think that all should be allowed to participate.

“I hope this is sorted out as soon as possible.”

The move renews calls for Pride organisers to rethink their decision. On Saturday Conservative MP and former deputy speaker Nigel Evans wrote for PinkNews that he would "proudly" march alongside Ukip members.

On Friday LGBT Ukip deputy chairman Nathan Garbutt, who stood against Yvette Cooper at the last election, said the event was supposed to bring people together regardless of political views, adding: "It's an illiberal decision by an organisation that's supposed to be liberal."

Pride's controversial decision came after a petition was launched calling for Ukip's exclusion because of its alleged discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi and trans) community.

The change.org petition criticised the party's stance on gay marriage, and pointed to negative comments made ahead of the general election by leader Nigel Farage about HIV-positive immigrants.

But festival organisers stressed their decision was non-political.

"We aim to unite our community, not divide it, and our intention is to serve the whole of our community with an inclusive event, so to exclude any group is not a decision we take lightly," said a statement.

“For this year we have reached the decision that Ukip’s application to join the Pride in London Parade will be turned down.

"This decision has been made after careful consultation in order to protect participants and ensure the event passes off safely and in the right spirit - it has not been made on a political basis."