A UKIP politician was pelted with wet toilet paper during a hustings debate at a university.

Nigel Carter, the party’s parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, was hit on the chin by the soggy piece of toilet paper before the offender was thrown out of the University of Sussex event.

Speaking after the debate, he said the incident would “damage democracy”.

He said: “It might have been fun in the old days but with ISIS about and George Galloway being beaten up it’s no good doing things like that.”

The candidate had been speaking while sitting next to Brighton Pavilion MP, Caroline Lucas, when the stray piece of tissue was launched across the auditorium.

He said: “A young lady in the front, who had been sitting alone and quiet for a while, suddenly threw an object which hit me on the chin. I didn’t see it coming. It was wet toilet tissue.

“I was so engrossed explaining my point that I carried on talking, which people thought was rather brave of me.

“I thought to myself ‘I hope it is water. It didn’t look yellow at least’.

“I was a bit disgusted because I was defenceless standing in front of everybody and couldn’t do anything.

“I was quite impressed by the courage she showed and her aim was perfect.”

After finishing his piece, the chairman of the event asked the woman to leave.

Mr Carter added: “She nodded and walked away and waved to her friend. She seemed like a mild mannered person, with her legs together and a bag on her lap.

“I’d say to her ‘why didn’t you ask a question like everyone else?’ She wasn’t being excluded from the debate. I’m not sure what the toilet roll means to be honest.”

Asked if he would like to throw wet toilet roll back, Mr Carter said: “No. I have the nickname of Nice Nigel. I’m not like that.”

The incident came in the middle of a fiery debate involving all five candidates for Brighton Pavilion: Caroline Lucas, Green, Purna Sen, Labour, Clarence Mitchell, Conservative, Chris Bowers, Liberal Democrat and Nigel Carter, UKIP. Among the topics covered included housing, education and inequality.

The university’s Student’s Union is running a voter registration campaign to ensure as many students as possible sign up to vote before May 7.