The Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has stood down with immediate effect.
The party had a poor result in yesterday’s election, failing to win any seats and with a vote share that collapsed from 12.6 per cent in 2015 to just 2 per cent in 2017.
However, Nuttall said he was confident that a renewed party under a different leader could do better.
“I’ve said throughout this election that sometimes the tide comes in, sometimes the tide goes out, but for us although the tide might be out at the moment, I am convinced it will return.”
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He said that Ukip was “the country’s insurance policy on Brexit” and if a new Tory prime minister tried to water down the negotiation proposals, his party would hold them to account.
Nuttall himself stood as a candidate in the strongly pro-Leave constituency of Boston and Skegness, where he received only 3,308 votes. The party has racked up tens of thousands of pounds in lost deposits across the country.
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Nuttall said a new Ukip leader will be selected in time for the party’s conference in the autumn.