Yvette Cooper has compared Nigel Farage warning about immigration to Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech.
Speaking on BBC Question Time last night, the former Labour leadership candidate attacked the Ukip leader.
Earlier this week, Farage said if immigration was not cut "violence is the next step".
Cooper said: "In the last few days we've had Nigel Farage talking about how there's somehow going to be violence on the streets, which is not dissimilar to what Enoch Powell said many years ago.
"We've also had Boris Johnson attacking Barack Obama for his half-Kenyan heritage. And we've had Michael Gove say somehow the country is going ti be over-run by Albanian criminals. That is playing on division."
Today a survey found ip to 200,000 students face missing out on a vote in the EU referendum because they do not know it is taking place in the holidays and are registered to vote in the wrong place.
University chiefs issued the findings as they promoted a push to ensure young voters are able to have their say on June 23 by registering at home addresses or requesting postal votes.
The Remain campaign is worried it might miss out on the support of students, who the poll confirmed are strongly in favour of the UK staying in the European Union - with the main party leaders both issuing appeals.
Research commissioned from YouthSight by Universities UK found one in five students were registered to vote solely where they were studying - but only 56% of those actually expected to be there on June 23.
A quarter said they would definitely be elsewhere.
Of just over 2,000 students surveyed, 63% could not name the date of the vote and 54% were not even aware it was being held in June.