Nigel Farage will decide within the next seven days whether he is going to stand for the fourth time to be leader of the UK Independence Party following a collapse in his party's support at the polls.

Mr Farage said he was going “to have a think about it” after his successor Paul Nuttall resigned as Ukip leader after his party's woeful showing at the General Election.

The Eurosceptic party’s future was left in doubt after Ukip failed to gain a single seat and the party’s vote share collapsed to less than two per cent from 12.6 per cent in 2015.

The party racked up tens of thousands of pounds in lost deposits as its MPs failed to win enough votes in each seat.

Mr Farage said he had a “busy media weekend” planned but added there was “no great rush” and he would “think about it over the weekend”.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “There is a possibility of a huge flank being reopened in British politics.”