"My intention is to see out my time in Brussels, doing what I've been doing for many, many years," says Nigel Farage | Jack Taylor/Getty Images UKIP surviving thanks to Brussels gravy train Euroskeptic party could lose main donor, but Nigel Farage says they’ll carry on in Brussels regardless.

The United Kingdom Independence Party may be on the verge of losing its main financial backer, but it will continue to be a thorn in Brussels' side — thanks to Brussels.

Nigel Farage brushed off dire warnings from UKIP's top donor Arron Banks on Wednesday that the party will "die or fade into the background" as it struggles to unite in the wake of the Brexit vote and Farage's resignation as party leader.

Banks threatened to pull UKIP's funding, telling the BBC that he didn't fully support any of the four contenders to fill Farage's shoes as party leader.

But Farage was certain that UKIP's days were far from numbered, telling POLITICO that Banks' comments were "irrelevant" to the survival of the party in Brussels — at least until the U.K. leaves the EU.

He said the party's 21 MEPs will stay on until Brexit negotiations are concluded. "We have a different structure in Brussels. It's not comparable. You're dealing with voluntary people in the U.K. This is a parliamentary group from a political party," Farage said.

"My intention is to see out my time in Brussels, doing what I've been doing for many, many years" — Nigel Farage

"My intention is to see out my time in Brussels, doing what I've been doing for many, many years."

Banks said Wednesday that UKIP would struggle without Farage at the helm. "I think Nigel was probably a dominant politician of the last 20 or 30 years, and losing him has caused the pressure cooker to explode."

Asked if UKIP was finished, Banks told the BBC "it could be. The party is at a crossroads."

Although Farage quit as party leader after the June 23 vote to leave the EU, he is back in the role on an interim basis after a troubled few weeks for the Euroskeptics. His successor, Diane James, quit after 18 days in charge and the likely replacement, Stephen Woolfe, ended up in hospital after an altercation with fellow MEP Mike Hooken in the Parliament in Strasbourg. Woolfe has since left UKIP, calling it "ungovernable."

Asked about the state of the party, Farage said: "It is what it is."

Farage is still co-leader, with David Borrelli of Italy's 5Stars, of the European Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the Parliament.

According to an internal audit published on the European Parliament's website, the EFDD received €3.8 million in "EP allocation" in 2015, and there was €1.6 million carried over from 2014. That money can be used by the entire group — not just UKIP — to pay staff, buy equipment, cover legal costs, pay for meetings, go on fact-finding missions, visit institutions, advertise and put out publications and publicity.

Money from the Parliament cannot be channeled back to a member country, however, as France's National Front discovered to its cost. Parliament bosses want Marine Le Pen to pay back €339,000 that they claim was used for non-parliamentary work.

Her lawyer said the move was the “persecution” of a major Euroskeptic figure.

Farage is happy to stay in his EFDD role, even after he is replaced as national UKIP party leader, and is adamant that he's not staying on as the leader of the party in the U.K. on a permanent basis.

"I think the party needs reforms, but I'm finished," Farage said. "As national leader of the party, I'm done."

Banks disagrees.

"I think at the moment we have to wait and see if it stabilizes itself and elects a credible leader," Banks told the BBC. "I think it's whether Nigel stays engaged with it or not."

Hermann Kelly, a spokesman for UKIP in Brussels said the group was “doing OK,” and that the recent crisis within the party in the U.K. was having no effect on the group in Brussels.