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Ukip have moved out of their London headquarters amid claims of major financial difficulties for the party.

Staff are "packing up boxes" at the party's plush Mayfair offices, and have reportedly been working from home while they look for new premises.

A Ukip source claims contractors and staff have gone unpaid, and rows have erupted over how money was spent in the run up to the election.

The source added: "There's going to be a run on Ukip in the next week like it was a Greek bank."

Landline telephone numbers for the party's HQ and press office were dead today, though a spokesperson blamed this on a fault.

Some within the party had expected to be able to pay for the mammoth cost of the party's election campaign with the increased parliamentary funding available to them after the election of Douglas Carswell.

With one MP, the party can claim up to £650,000 a year in so called 'short money' to run a Westminster office.

But Mr Carswell announced after the election that he would not accept the full amount - saying some at Ukip HQ wanted to get their "noses in the trough."

(Image: Getty)

The resulting row climaxed with Nigel Farage declaring he wouldn't accept any of the money at all.

A report in the Independent on Sunday claimed the party was £500,000 in the red, and that the party faced fines under electoral law unless they could find a donor to bail them out, or took out a loan.

The party has until July 6th to pay its election invoices or obtain an extension from the High Court.

The party's offices had been donated to Ukip by millionaire lawyer and close ally of Nigel Farage, Andrew Reid, who has registered £143,000 in free-rent donations to the party since 2011.

A Ukip spokesperson said their departure from Mayfair was a "planned move", and the party were looking to relocate somewhere near Westminster.

And a senior party source said: "The Mayfair office was never intended to be permanent as I understand it."

Ukip moved into the premises, in Brooks Mews, in 2013.