Leader of anti-EU Ukip Party quits after election failure

Paul Nuttal, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party reacts after failing to win the seat of Boston and Skegness at the counting centre for Britain’s general election in Boston

The leader of the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) Paul Nuttall said on Friday he would resign after the party failed to win any lawmakers in the British parliament and saw its vote share fall dramatically.

Ukip, which under its most prominent former leader Nigel Farage helped secure Britain’s exit from the European Union, was seen as increasingly irrelevant during the campaign, with many of its voters deserting the party.

“I am standing down today as the leader of Ukip with immediate effect. This will allow the party to have a new leader in place by the conference in September,” Nuttall said.

Farage earlier hinted he might return to front-line politics.