Nigel Farage slapped down after he suggests eastern Europeans are eating swans in parks

In a radio interview, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage suggested that eastern European migrants are taking and killing swans from Royal Parks and carp from ponds across the UK to eat

Nigel Farage has been slapped down after making an unfounded claim that migrants are killing and eating swans from parks.

The Reform UK leader suggested that eastern European migrants are taking swans from Royal Parks and carp from ponds across the UK to eat. But the claim was swiftly rejected by the Royal Parks.

A Royal Parks spokesman said: "We've not had any incidents reported to us of people killing or eating swans in London's eight Royal Parks.

"Our wildlife officers work closely with the Swan Sanctuary to ensure the welfare of the swans across the parks." Hyde Park, Greenwich Park and Richmond Park are among those the Royal Parks charity manages.

The Reform UK leader was asked during an LBC phone-in on Wednesday about US President Donald Trump's baseless claim last year that Haitian immigrants in the US were eating cats and dogs, which he did not accept was unproven.

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LBC host Nick Ferrari replayed an interview from last year in which Mr Farage made a £10 bet that evidence would come out to back up Mr Trump's unfounded claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets.

Asked if a year later he'd admit that the US President's claim was "utterly nonsensical", Mr Farage instead ranted about the possibility of swans being eaten in Britain. He said it was a "similar story" to Mr Trump's pet-eating claim that was similarly hard to prove or disprove.

Mr Farage said: "If I said to you that swans were being eaten in Royal Parks in this country, that carp were being taken out of ponds and eaten in this country by people who come from cultures that have a different... would you agree it happened, is happening here?"

He said it was "people who come from countries where it's quite acceptable to do so" who are taking the carp and swans. Asked if it was eastern Europeans, he said: "So I believe."

Elsewhere in his LBC interview, Mr Farage refused to say whether Donald Trump was irresponsible to link paracetamol to autism. The Reform UK leader claimed that "science is never settled" as he declined to side with medical experts who warned it was dangerous to make the link.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting hit out at Mr Farage, saying: "No idea and no backbone. This is a man whose health adviser claimed at Reform’s Conference that the Covid vaccine gave the Royal Family cancer. Anti-science, anti-reason, anti-NHS. Farage is the snake oil salesman of British politics and it’s time to stop buying his rubbish."

It came after The US President had said there had been a "meteoric rise" in cases of autism and suggested that Tylenol - which is called paracetamol in the UK - is a potential cause. The unproven claim in the Oval Office sparked an immediate backlash from experts and medical regulators.