UKIP leader Paul Nuttall says Bolton will be vital to the future of his party.

On a visit to Little Lever today, Mr Nuttall admitted that UKIP will struggle to match the number of votes they won two years ago but he remains optimistic that the party can remain relevant post-Brexit.

After stopping at the Queens pub, run by Bolton UKIP leader Cllr Sean Hornby, the Boston and Skegness candidate met voters in the village centre.

Mr Nuttall said: “The reality is that our vote is not going to be as high as it was last time around. We won’t be fielding as many candidates because a number of our branches have said that they don’t want to field candidates against Brexiteer candidates.

“The thing we learned from 2015, though, is that vote share is not everything. We got four million votes in one seat, but there is no prize for second place.

“Bolton South East is interesting. We have a number of councillors here and a good active branch. They have been brave enough to put their heads above the parapet.

“I have probably been to Bolton more than any other place.

“It is an area of great interest for us, not just at this election but also in the future.”

Despite poor results in local elections last week — including a sixth-placed finish in the Greater Manchester mayoral election — Mr Nuttall predicts UKIP will be bigger than ever before in 18 months’ time.

He added: “Electing a mayor and electing someone you want to send to Parliament is like comparing chalk and cheese.

“These elections were always going to be difficult because of the cycle we are in. The Prime Minister has invoked Article 50 and is able to talk the talk without walking the walk because negotiations don’t start until September. That is when we think she will backslide and politics will come back onto UKIP’s turf in a big way.”

UKIP’s Bolton South East candidate Jeff Armstrong, who polled almost 10,000 votes in the constituency in 2015, missed Mr Nuttall’s visit due to a dental appointment.

Cllr Hornby said: “I am hoping that we can retain the vote we had last time, but the problem we face is getting the message across that our job is not done. We have voted for Brexit but it is not done.

“If Theresa May gets her mandate then she could water Brexit down and give in to the EU’s demands.”

He added that UKIP’s Bolton and Bury branches are considering a merger, as future boundary change proposals could mean Radcliffe and Whitefield being brought into a new Farnworth constituency.