UKIP has axed one of it candidates looking to stand for election to the Bromsgrove seat after posting a link to a racist article.

Mark Walker was shortlisted to stand in Bromsgrove in the general election but has been dropped from the selection process after using his UKIP Facebook page to share an article published by far-right group Western Spring.

In the article the author wrote about the “plague of inter-racial marriage”, and said relationships between races "amounts to genocide".

On January 10, Walker published and liked a link to the article on his page. He also wrote: "Please share far and wide".

Mr Walker had only announced on January 3 that he had accepted the invitation as a candidate, saying he planned to contest UKIP's hustings being held tomorrow, (January 30).

After UKIP were made aware of the posts, a spokesman said: "UKIP is a non-racist, non-sectarian party and all candidates and members are expected to uphold these values.

"Mark Walker will not be selected as we believe his comments show he is unsuitable."

Defending himself on the Facebook site, Mark Walker said he was "disgusted" by the press attention the article had received.

"I was sharing the article written nearly 100 years ago to inform others of its existence," he wrote.

"The media is corrupt with papers supporting individual parties.

"I share a lot of news, articles, stories and events from around the globe.

"Today's events clearly show there is no freedom of speech allowed even when linking to something written nearly 100 years ago."