Wireless Festival has been cancelled after Kanye West was blocked from travelling to the UK to headline it.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood banned the rapper from entering Britain to perform at the festival in July on the grounds his presence would ‘not be conducive to the public good’.

Sir Keir Starmer insisted he ‘should never have been invited to headline Wireless’ and said he ‘stands firmly with the Jewish community’ against anti-Semitism.

Calls had been growing for West to be removed from the line-up after a string of anti-Semitic outbursts, including releasing a song called Heil Hitler and posing in a swastika T-shirt.

But Nigel Farage today spoke out against calls to bar him from Britain, calling it a ‘slippery slope’.

He said: ‘I know he said some dreadful things. If people thought he was genuinely going to come into Britain and urge attacks on the Jewish community, then there would be full grounds for stopping it. If it’s just saying things we find objectionable that I think bans are a slippery slope.’

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney also backed West to perform, saying ‘we live in a free country’ and we should ‘let people enjoy the music they want to listen to’.

The 48-year-old applied for an Electronic Travel Authorisation yesterday, but he was denied entry to the UK. As a result, organisers have cancelled the entire event, saying refunds would be issued to all ticketholders.

‘As with every Wireless Festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking YE and no concerns were highlighted at the time,’ a spokesman said.

‘Antisemitism in all its forms is abhorrent, and we recognise the real and personal impact these issues have had. As YE said today, he acknowledges that words alone are not enough, and in spite of this still hopes to be given the opportunity to begin a conversation with the Jewish community in the UK.’

West had said he wanted to show ‘change through his actions’ and meet with Jews in London ahead of the performance in Finsbury Park – which would have been his first in the UK in 11 years.

He joins the likes of Eva Vlaardingerbroek – a Dutch anti-immigration influencer who promoted the ‘great replacement’ theory – in being refused permission to travel to the UK.

Pre-sale for Wireless Festival went live at midday today and general sale tickets were due out tomorrow. No other acts had been confirmed.

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Kanye West has been barred from the UK on the grounds his presence is ‘not conducive to the public good’