NEWPORT East's UKIP candidate Donald Grewar has resigned after he praised a BNP website post which labelled gay people perverts and paedophiles.

Mr Grewar, who had been preparing to stand in May's general election, praised a post about gay marriage which described homosexuality as “this perverted corruption of human nature” and said “our children’s mental and physical health has never been more in danger”

He responded: "Well said... sadly this will all come to fruition in the very near future. We need to resist and stand our ground."

In addition, he commented on a post on the English Defence League website, warning of "no surrender to militant Islam or political correctness”. Grewer wrote: "Thus sais [sic] it all... the mood of the nation... well done EDL".

In a letter to UKIP's party chairman he said: “I recognise fully that those comments, and the implications of those comments puts me in breach of the party rules. I had forgotten that I had posted them, but I had.

“As such I am tendering my resignation as PPC forthwith.

I am truly sorry that my foolishness has caused you, the party and me embarrassment." 

Steve Crowther, UKIP Chairman, replied: “Thank you for your letter. I am sorry to lose you as a candidate, but appreciate that in these unfortunate circumstances you have done the right thing. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to the cause; and I very much hope that this will be rewarded with the change you describe in May.”

A party spokesman said: “Following discussions into allegations raised against him Donald Grewar submitted his resignation to the party which was accepted immediately and unequivocally.

His posts came to light when Mike Chaffin, formerly chairman of the Newport branch, posted a call to “rid this branch of EDL sympathisers” on Facebook. He included links to the posts made by Grewar.

The criticism appeared to follow a split within the branch, when Mr Chaffin was asked to resign as chairman.

Nathan Gill, UKIP's MEP and leader of UKIP in Wales, told ITV’s Sharp End programme on Monday that Mr Grewar had resigned, saying: “We are now in the process of replacing him as a candidate.”

He explained vetting potential candidates can be challenging: “Some of these posts that people do can be five or six years down the line. It’s a lot of effort to go through and find.”