UKIP leader Paul Nuttall: I was a victim of a ‘vicious dirty tricks campaign’

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UKIP's Paul Nuttall hit out at trolls who accused him of lying about being a Hillsborough survivor

Mr Nutall who is fighting the Stoke-on-Trent by-election hit out at the trolls he has described as “scumbags” who have accused him of making false claims about being a Hillsborough survivor.

His comments come just days after it was revealed that police are investigating claims by the Labour Party that he rented a house to mislead by-election voters about his address – something the Ukip leader has dismissed as a non-story.

Mr Nuttall said the allegations were part of a dirty tricks campaign by a party that had “run out of ideas.”

However he saved his most harsh criticism for the “sick individuals” who had begun circulating rumours that he had lied about being present during the worst disaster in British sporting history when 96 fans were killed and 766 were injured.

“I was at Hillsborough with my two uncles and my dad and I was in the Leppings Lane end,” he said.

“If I have been accused of lying then they are sick people frankly.

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Mr Nuttall claimed the allegations were part of a dirty tricks campaign by another party

“These are the depths this kind of scum would go to and they are the scum of the earth.”

He added: “It was horrific and it’s something I don’t really talk about but this is the one sure fire thing that is going to make me blow a fuse and if anyone suggests that then they are an absolute scumbag.

“We were in the upper tier at the Leppings Lane end and that is where people were being pulled out.

“So it was all happening below us and we were in the crush outside before and we got through the turnstile.

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Michael Crick published images of Mr Nutall's empty property with no furniture inside

“So it all happened below us and we left pretty quickly.

“There were witnesses there with me. It’s obviously a sick individual who has got too much time on his hands.”

Mr Nuttall has also defended himself against claim an allegation of election fraud relating to his upcoming bid to win the Stoke Central seat.

The controversial politician, who succeeded Nigel Farage as the party's leader, registered his home address on nomination papers as a house in the Staffordshire city.

But in a series of tweets, Channel 4 News political correspondent Michael Crick, published images of the empty property, without any furniture inside.

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Paul also believes some MPs have betrayed the public by voting against the Brexit bill

Legally, an election candidate does not have to live in their prospective constituency, but under the Criminal Administration Act 2006, it is an offence to supply false information to the Electoral Registration Officer.

Defendants can also be fined or jailed for up to 51 weeks for providing false information on a nomination paper, under the Representation of the People Act 1983.

Mr Nuttall said while he had already moved into the property when he put in his nomination papers, he had not yet slept at the property.

It’s not that I hadn’t moved in, I just hadn’t slept in the property,” he said. “With being the leader of a party I am all over the place and had personal commitments.”

Mr Nuttall is the only Brexiteer contesting the by-election, something he claims exposes how out of touch the other parties are with the electorate.

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He said: “Of the four main candidates in this election, I am the only Brexiteer in a constituency where over 65 per cent of people voted to leave the EU. “That’s what happens if you see the world through the eyes of London.”

He added: “Research been done suggesting that people now affiliate to parties based on their support or otherwise for Brexit, and if that’s right then the Labour party is in serious trouble in Stoke.”

Mr Nuttall described Labour’s stance on the EU as a “joke” after Labour’s frontbench rebels, who voted against the Brexit bill last week despite a three-line whip, remain unpunished.

He said: “It’s a party in chaos. We all know those Labour MPs want us to remain and that the majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party wanted Britain to remain and will now do everything they can to prevent it and yet the majority of their voters want out of the EU and they won’t accept it.

“They are completely out of touch with their own voter base.

“Brexit joins a growing number of issues where they are completely out of touch with their voter base.”

He also accused those MPs who voted against the bill of a “massive betrayal of the public”.

“I didn’t think the bill was needed anyway because in the referendum bill Parliament ceded the right to the people to make that decision and the people have made that decision quite clearly to leave the EU,” he said.

“What has become clear is that there are some politicians at Westminster that want to give the public not real Brexit but half Brexit.

“They are claiming that some how the British people didn’t know what they were voting for on June 23.

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Mr Nuttall also believes that any plot to delay the bill could lead to a constitutional crisis

“And we did. The British people aren’t stupid. They knew leaving the EU meant leaving the Single Market and to pretend otherwise now is disingenuous.”

He also said that any plot by the House of Lords to block or delay the bill would spark the “biggest constitutional crisis for 117 years.”

“The last time there was a constitutional crisis, it was the peers verses the people in 1910 and the people won.

“It could delay Brexit it but if they go down this route in the House of Lords but they are in effect signing their own death warrant in the very near future if they do.”

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