Robert Blay, the UKIP candidate for North East Hampshire, has been suspended with immediate effect, the party has confirmed.

It comes after the Daily Mirror published a video of Mr Blay apparently threatening to shoot his Conservative rival for the seat, Ranil Jayawardena.

UKIP said in a statement "the views expressed by Mr Blay are abhorrent".

It said he was suspended "as soon as they were brought to our attention".

In the video, Mr Blay notes his rival has been tipped as Britain's first Asian prime minister.

He then reportedly said: "If he is I will personally put a bullet between his eyes.

"If this lad turns up to be our prime minister I will personally put a bullet in him. That's how strong I feel about it.

"I won't have this f***** as our prime minister. I absolutely loathe him."

Mr Blay also questioned Mr Jayawardena's background, saying: "His family have only been here since the 70s.

"You are not British enough to be in our Parliament."

When asked how he felt at the prospect of Mr Jayawardena getting elected in what is considered a safe Tory seat, Mr Blay said: "It makes me quite sick.

"But I've always said in my constituency you could put a monkey out there with a blue rosette on and it would win."

Mr Blay went on to accuse his opponent's father of having come to Britain from Sri Lanka and "ponced off us ... like all the East Europeans are".

"His name's Jayawardena and I'm told that name is a Tamil name.

"Well the Tamils were Indians which went to Sri Lanka to take it over and they got their asses kicked.

"So he comes here, ponces off us and then his son's in our political system."

UKIP said his views "have absolutely no place in British politics or public life" and apologised to Mr Jayawardena for any distress caused.

The party added in its statement that such views were not confined solely to its ranks: "UKIP acts immediately in circumstances such as these.

"Unfortunately, as every party has found over the past few months, internal vetting systems are not perfect, which is reflected in the fact that since January of this year, 300 Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Conservative Party candidates across the country have found themselves suspended, expelled, or even jailed for foul behaviour of all kinds.

"We are also deeply concerned that Mr Blay had a long career in the Conservative Party, including being his local association chairman - which goes to prove that issues with candidates such as these are not limited to UKIP."