The Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, has revealed he is to stand in the parliamentary seat of Boston and Skegness, home to the town with the highest Brexit vote in Britain.
Nuttall put an end to speculation over which constituency he will contest in the general election on 8 June, opting for the Lincolnshire seat over other mooted alternatives such as Heywood and Middleton or Hartlepool.
The Ukip leader will stand against the incumbent Tory MP, Matt Warman, who campaigned in favour of remaining in the European Union before last year’s referendum.
The town of Boston returned the highest vote in support of leaving the EU, at 75.6%.
Nuttall made the announcement not in Boston and Skegness but in Hartlepool, leaving some confused as to why he had travelled to a town some 160 miles away from his target seat for the big reveal.
In a statement announcing his decision, Nuttall referenced the fishing industry, which featured in debates in the run-up to last year’s referendum.
“It is a great honour and a privilege to stand for Ukip in Boston and Skegness,” he said. “The constituency voted overwhelmingly for leave, inspired in part by the massive betrayal of our fishing industry by successive governments, something that today’s Conservative party led by Theresa May looks set to repeat. I will make it my mission to stand up for the people of Boston and Skegness and ensure there is no backsliding on Brexit.”
Nuttall has failed to enter parliament on at least four previous occasions, most recently losing the Stoke-on-Trent Central byelection in February.
During a bruising campaign, parts of his CV were questioned and he admitted that a claim on his website to have lost close friends in the Hillsborough tragedy had been false.
Nuttall’s decision to stand saves the party from having barely any senior figures contesting the general election. Nigel Farage has already bowed out, saying he has more impact as an MEP in Brussels, and Suzanne Evans, the deputy chair, said she was writing the manifesto.
Arron Banks, the Ukip donor who keeps threatening to withhold his support and start a new movement, nearly stood in Clacton but decided not to get in the way of a local candidate.
Douglas Carswell, who was Ukip’s only MP, resigned from the party and decided not to stand as an independent, saying his job was done now the Conservatives were taking the UK out of the EU.
The party has been haemorrhaging support to the Conservatives since the EU referendum and it is only likely to stand candidates in about 100 seats.
In a further blow to Nuttall’s leadership, Ukip’s north-east regional chairman, Steve Turner, defected to the Conservative party after conceding that the anti-EU party was riddled with “infighting and poor organisation”.
Turner, who was regional director of Vote Leave ahead of the EU referendum last June, said Ukip was no longer the better option for pro-Brexit voters and the party would struggle in the general election.
