PAUL Nuttall has resigned as leader of Ukip following a disastrous night at the polls which saw the anti-EU party wiped from the electoral map.
The Eurosceptics lost their only seat to the Conservatives in Clacton where they came third behind Labour, collecting just 3357 votes.
The party had hoped to make gains with a promise to “hold the government to account and ensure there is no backsliding” over Brexit.
However, the party saw their votes across the country plummet to just 593,852 from 3,881,099 in 2015.
Clacton was held by Douglas Carswell for the party until April when he left Ukip to sit as an independent MP.
Paul Oakley stood as the party’s candidate for the consistency on Thursday but the seat went to Giles Watling for the Conservatives.
Ukip had also hoped to gain in Lincolnshire due to the constituency’s strong Leave vote in last year’s EU referendum.
Despite coming a distant third in Boston and Skegness and his party’s failure to win a single seat, Nuttall claimed that Ukip were “more relevant than ever” and said his departure was due to the need for a “new era” with a new leader.
This was Nuttall’s sixth bid for a Westminster seat, including a by-election loss to Labour in Stoke-On-Trent Central in February.
When asked about the possibility of another return by Nigel Farage, Nuttall said: “If Nigel Farage wants to come back, I would be more than happy to do a job swap. I’ll take his slot on LBC and he can come back as leader of Ukip.”
Since his resignation, Nuttall has deleted his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Shortly after his leader’s departure, Ukip general secretary and North East MEP Jonathan Arnott also announced his resignation, saying the party had “lost its way in recent times” and attacked its “hardline anti-Islam messages”.
Ukip chairman Steve Crowther has been elected by the national executive committee to lead the party on an interim basis until an election has taken place to find a new leader.
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