They may have been able to avoid bankruptcy, but Ukip is still suffering a funding crisis just weeks before the UK goes to the polls.

Income dropped from a peak of nearly £7million in 2014 to less than £2million in recent years.

The party claims to have recently raised £500,000 but with former leader Nigel Farage launching the Brexit Party – which has already raised £750,000 – donors may be more difficult to come by.

Gerard Batten has come under fire for the party’s lurch to the left (Picture: Rex)

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Ukip’s fundraising campaign accuses Theresa May of treason and betraying Brexit in spite of a warning by a police chief against using inflammatory language.


Leader Gerard Batten said: ‘Brexit has been betrayed. The 17.4 million leave voters have been betrayed and if you were one of those voters, you have been betrayed.



‘Ukip will take part in these European elections on a platform of unilateral, unconditional withdrawal.

‘No compromise. No surrender.’

He adds: ‘We have got our 73 candidates in place but we still need money to help them fight the best fight they possibly can.

‘We don’t rely on big business or the trade unions. We don’t have vested-interest donors.

‘We only have ordinary members and donors who donate to us on an individual basis.’

Their online campaign was launched on April 7 but so far has reached just seven per cent of the £250,000 target.

Major political donations to Ukip 2014: 242 donations worth £3,851,454 2015: 209 donations worth £3,547,744 2016: 98 donations worth £1,577,488 2017: 85 donations worth £693,395 2018: 16 donations worth £184,044 Source: Electoral Commission

Ukip stormed to victory in European elections five years ago sending 24 MEPs to Brussels.

However, 17 of them have quit the group because of in-fighting and the party’s lurch further to the right.

In 2014 the party’s total income – from donations and membership fees – was £6,674,848, according to the Electoral Commission.

But then donors like Arron Banks, Highstone Group and Stuart Wheeler turned off the money tap.

In 2017, their total income was £1,738,916.

On Friday, Farage launched his Brexit Party and boasted of his windfall, saying the amount of funding received was ‘something he had never seen in his 25 years of campaigning’.

Nigel Farage launched his Brexit Party on Friday and boasted about donations (Picture: AP)

University of Kent politics professor Matt Goodwin said: ‘So far, the two parties are relatively even in the polls.

‘I would expect the Brexit Party to gradually pull away from Ukip not least due to the personal charisma of Farage and his sizeable following on social media.’

Ukip denied any financial problems saying membership was 28,000 strong, but did accept that Farage’s Brexit party could split the vote.

They added: ‘Ukip is the party that fought to achieve the referendum and the brand that means Brexit to the British people.’

Ukip will announce its candidate list today.

Among those rumoured to be standing for the party is Mark Meechan, who was fined £800 after filming a pet dog giving Nazi salutes.

Meechan, 31, was found guilty of breaching the Communications Act by posting material that was ‘grossly offensive’ and ‘anti-Semitic and racist in nature.’

Batten has come under fire for his courtship of Tommy Robinson, who he appointed as adviser on rape gangs and prison reform.



As the founder of the English Defence League, Robinson is banned from becoming a member of Ukip and therefore cannot run as an MEP candidate.

In 2018, Ukip managed to avert bankruptcy after raising enough money to pay £175,000 in compensation following libellous comments made by a Ukip MEP about three Labour MPs.