UKIP's unemployed Brit … is an Irish actor from Dublin

British political party UKIP's latest Eurosceptic ad campaign hit a speed bump today, as it turned out their unemployed, undercut British worker was an Irishman from Dublin.

The poster, part of a massive advertising campaign against EU migration practice, feature a man clad in hard hat and construction site safety vest, with the text "EU policy at work. British workers are hit hard by unlimited cheap labour."

The British worker being hit hard, however, is Dubliner Dave O'Rourke.

"Take back control of our country" reads the call-to-action. The fact that the man is an actor, and not of the expected nationality, led other British politicians to criticise them.

He said: “I think it is pretty hypocritical," said Conservative MP Bob Neil. “They are using a trick [hiring actors] most other parties stopped using long ago, because they get found out doing it.

O'Rourke, originally from Dublin, claims in an online actor's profile that he is a long-term migrant to the UK, having lived there for ten years.

"I'm currently acting full time and looking to build my portfolio. I'm hard working and fully committed to a role and my character to give the best performance I can deliver."

A spokesperson for UKIP said the use of actors in political advertising was "totally standard practice" and the objections were "nonsense".

The latest story follows suspension of a broadcast ad campaign when Andre Lampitt, who featured in the video, was found to have tweeted messages of an anti-Islamic nature and saying Ed Miliband was “not a real Brit... He was only born here”.

He also tweeted that "most Nigerians are generally bad people."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage admitted some of the comments were "probably" racist.

“We haven’t got a monopoly on stupidity or on people saying repellent things, but obviously, given the criticism we faced last year, we have put measures in place and a mistake’s happened, and I’m sorry about it,” he said.