A newly-elected Ukip MEP has admitted his businesses employed “dozens” of workers from eastern Europe and the Philippines who were kept in “bunkhouses” – but insists this is not inconsistent with his party’s anti-immigration policies.

Nathan Gill, elected to represent Wales in the European elections last month, ran a number of care homes and other family businesses providing services for Hull City Council and brought employees in from overseas.

He conceded “this could look bad” for a politician who campaigned on Ukip’s anti-immigration message, but insisted that the family firm had been unable to “find local workers to do the jobs”.

Download the new Independent Premium app Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

And he said that the party had “never said it wants to stop all immigration – it wants to limit the numbers”.

As director of the various businesses, Mr Gill oversaw the employment of dozens of people from Poland and other new EU countries and others from the Philippines.

He said that they were kept in bunkhouses as “temporary accommodation… until they could get something more permanent”.

Shape Created with Sketch. Ukip gaffes and controversies Show all 18 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Ukip gaffes and controversies 1/18 European elections poster Party's latest EU election posters branded 'racist' and compared to BNP campaigns Rex 2/18 Farage 'car-crash' interview Ukip spin doctor forced to intervene as Farage falters in disastrous radio interview 3/18 Neil Hamilton Picture Exclusive: The year is 1998. The venue is a Springbok Club meeting. The flag is a symbol for white supremacists in South Africa. And the speaker is Ukip’s deputy chairman, Neil Hamilton 4/18 Kerry Smith Kerry Smith resigned as would-be MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock after it emerged he had mocked gay party members as “disgusting poofters”, joked about shooting people from Chigwell in a “peasant hunt” and referred to someone with a Chinese name as a “Chinky bird” PA 5/18 Natasha Bolter Former Ukip member Natasha Bolter was suspected of not having the teaching qualifications she professed to, only days after it was revealed that claims of her having attended Oxford University were also false PA 6/18 Ukip Calypso song Mike Reid released a single in praise of UKIP trying to control the UK's borders, only to withdraw the single after being accused of racism for singing in a Jamaican accent 7/18 Janice Atkinson Janice Atkinson, Ukip's South East chair, pictured by protesters while campaigning in Ashford, Kent with local party chair Norman Taylor Facebook/Maria Pizzey 8/18 Ukip cancels Freephone Ukip cancels Freephone number after protesters repeatedly called to push up costs Getty Images 9/18 Farage 'car-crash' interview Mr Farage appeared to be caught out on a number of issues, from Romanian neighbours to people speaking foreign languages on the train 10/18 Ukip employs illegal immigrants Ukip criticised after European election candidate found employing illegal immigrants AP 11/18 Magnus Nielsen Ukip candidate: 'Take away the right to vote to improve election turnout' Getty Images 12/18 Poster model A “British builder” portrayed in a Ukip poster accusing EU workers of taking UK jobs turns out to be an Irish actor - aka a migrant worker 13/18 'Arrest protesters' Ukip called for police to arrest protesters ‘who call us fascists’ ahead of showdown with anti-fascist groups in Brighton 14/18 London Live make-up Ukip's Nigel Farage reportedly refused to go on London Live 'without professional make up-artist' Reuters 15/18 Andre Lampitt Ukip forced to suspend the "poster boy" of its European election broadcast, after it was revealed he had posted a series of vile racist comments on Twitter 16/18 Expenses Nigel Farage says he is taking taking legal advice over “outrageous” allegations that he is responsible for more than £50,000 of “missing” EU funding that was paid directly into his personal bank account 17/18 Have I Got News For You Nigel Farage appears in Have I Got News For You, spends the entire episode being ridiculed over expenses and party 'fruitcakes' BBC 18/18 Anti-gay comments Local branch chairman for Ukip defends a party's councillor candidate Douglas Denny who called gay people “abnormal” and said he wished “they stop trying to ram it down my throat”, all while discussing whether the word “sodomite” should be used 1/18 European elections poster Party's latest EU election posters branded 'racist' and compared to BNP campaigns Rex 2/18 Farage 'car-crash' interview Ukip spin doctor forced to intervene as Farage falters in disastrous radio interview 3/18 Neil Hamilton Picture Exclusive: The year is 1998. The venue is a Springbok Club meeting. The flag is a symbol for white supremacists in South Africa. And the speaker is Ukip’s deputy chairman, Neil Hamilton 4/18 Kerry Smith Kerry Smith resigned as would-be MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock after it emerged he had mocked gay party members as “disgusting poofters”, joked about shooting people from Chigwell in a “peasant hunt” and referred to someone with a Chinese name as a “Chinky bird” PA 5/18 Natasha Bolter Former Ukip member Natasha Bolter was suspected of not having the teaching qualifications she professed to, only days after it was revealed that claims of her having attended Oxford University were also false PA 6/18 Ukip Calypso song Mike Reid released a single in praise of UKIP trying to control the UK's borders, only to withdraw the single after being accused of racism for singing in a Jamaican accent 7/18 Janice Atkinson Janice Atkinson, Ukip's South East chair, pictured by protesters while campaigning in Ashford, Kent with local party chair Norman Taylor Facebook/Maria Pizzey 8/18 Ukip cancels Freephone Ukip cancels Freephone number after protesters repeatedly called to push up costs Getty Images 9/18 Farage 'car-crash' interview Mr Farage appeared to be caught out on a number of issues, from Romanian neighbours to people speaking foreign languages on the train 10/18 Ukip employs illegal immigrants Ukip criticised after European election candidate found employing illegal immigrants AP 11/18 Magnus Nielsen Ukip candidate: 'Take away the right to vote to improve election turnout' Getty Images 12/18 Poster model A “British builder” portrayed in a Ukip poster accusing EU workers of taking UK jobs turns out to be an Irish actor - aka a migrant worker 13/18 'Arrest protesters' Ukip called for police to arrest protesters ‘who call us fascists’ ahead of showdown with anti-fascist groups in Brighton 14/18 London Live make-up Ukip's Nigel Farage reportedly refused to go on London Live 'without professional make up-artist' Reuters 15/18 Andre Lampitt Ukip forced to suspend the "poster boy" of its European election broadcast, after it was revealed he had posted a series of vile racist comments on Twitter 16/18 Expenses Nigel Farage says he is taking taking legal advice over “outrageous” allegations that he is responsible for more than £50,000 of “missing” EU funding that was paid directly into his personal bank account 17/18 Have I Got News For You Nigel Farage appears in Have I Got News For You, spends the entire episode being ridiculed over expenses and party 'fruitcakes' BBC 18/18 Anti-gay comments Local branch chairman for Ukip defends a party's councillor candidate Douglas Denny who called gay people “abnormal” and said he wished “they stop trying to ram it down my throat”, all while discussing whether the word “sodomite” should be used

He told the Western Mail that he actually envied the quality of life he provided them, saying: “We charged £50 a week inclusive of electricity to people who would be earning between £200 and £300 a week. I wish I had that proportion of spending money left after paying my mortgage.”

Mr Gill said it was “not at all easy to get work permits” for the Filipino employees after demonstrating “the lengths we had gone to in trying to recruit local labour”.

But he also said that he was sure there “would have been no difficulty” getting permits for the EU workers “if that had been necessary” – as it would be under Ukip policy.

He said: “My focus at the time was to employ people who would enable us to fulfil as a business the care contracts we had. I can see how this could look bad, but it’s a case of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’.

Inside Politics newsletter The latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox Enter your email address Continue Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid Email already exists. Log in to update your newsletter preferences Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive updates on politics every morning by email Update newsletter preferences

“If we hadn’t employed people from overseas, we’d have been called racist. The fact that we did employ immigrants is leading to charges of hypocrisy. But Ukip has never said it wants to stop all immigration – it wants to limit the numbers.”

Twitter users did not seem convinced, with one describing it as an example of Ukip “telling us to do one thing then doing another”. Another described it as “unbelievable hypocrisy”.

A spokesperson for Welsh Labour called for Mr Gill to apologise and said: “That Nathan Gill cannot see the hypocrisy of his actions is totally unbelievable. This is hugely embarrassing for him given only two weeks after he was elected on an anti-immigration platform.”

This is not the first time Mr Gill has been accused of apparent hypocrisy. In an ITV debate in the run-up to the European elections he said that the poll was “not necessarily about sending people over to Brussels who are going to have a 100 per cent attendance record”.

His fellow MEP candidates questioned whether the people of Wales would be very happy that Ukip was saying: “Please vote for us – but we aren’t going to represent you.”