Nuttall defiant over by-election

PAUL Nuttall has pledged Ukip is a “long-term project” and he will not resign as leader if he fails to win the Stoke Central by-election.

At one point he looked like easily overturning Labour’s 5,000 majority for the seat.

An online poll of 1,000 people by newspaper Stoke Sentinel puts him a mere 0.2 per cent behind Labour with up to 30 per cent undecided.

But privately some in Ukip believe “false” accusations attempting to suggest the Liverpool fan was not at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 have harmed his chances tomorrow.

The Ukip leader has attacked those behind what has been described as “a deliberate smear campaign”.

He has apologised for some inaccuracies on his website over the tragedy but on Monday gave witness evidence to the police inquiry looking into the disaster. Officers on the Operation Resolve inquiry confirmed he “met the criteria” to give evidence.

Asked if he would make a general apology to the people of Liverpool, he said: “I want to put this in perspective, right. I didn’t check something which went up on my website. It’s not as if I’ve taken illegally from the public purse. It’s not as if I’ve said something racist, it’s not as if I have sent people to war.”