Cologne-style mass sex attacks could happen in Britain if it stays in the European Union, Nigel Farage has said.

Speaking at a pro-Brexit rally in Newport, South Wales, the Ukip leader said German chancellor Angela Merkel was wrong to lift restrictions on Syrian refugees entering the country last summer.

Hundreds of women were allegedly groped, robbed and intimated at Cologne's central station on New Year's Eve, with the attacks linked to asylum seekers.

Mr Farage said: "What we saw outside that train station in Cologne on New Year's Eve was truly and genuinely shocking.

"I am not saying that we are not immune from such problems in this country.

"But to me, if you allow the unlimited access of huge numbers of young males into the European continent who come from countries where women are at best are second class citizens, don't be surprised if scenes that we saw in Cologne don't happen more often.

"For goodness sake, do we want those young men within five years to have EU passports and to be able to come to our country and to reverse a hundred years of female liberation and to change our entire way of life? Surely the answer must be no."