BOLTON’S UKIP leader has urged Nigel Farage to “come back for the sake of our party and our country”.

Cllr Sean Hornby has written to Mr Farage, calling on him to throw his hat into the ring for another stint as party leader following Paul Nuttall’s resignation.

Mr Nuttall stepped down after the party endured a disastrous General Election, its share of the vote dropping to less than two per cent.

Now Cllr Hornby says UKIP needs to rebuild its foundations if it is to continue to succeed in towns like Bolton, seen as the party’s strongest area of support in the North West.

He said: “The general impression from the public has been that UKIP is a one issue party — something which has been strongly challenged by us all.

“However, we need to get the policies and politics across which the public can and will engage with.

“We need to examine how Labour did so well, especially the young vote and ensure that we create policies which are acceptable to them whilst at the same time are within the values of UKIP. “

UKIP currently has four seats on Bolton Council and the party chose the Macron Stadium for its spring conference earlier this year.

Mr Farage previously served as UKIP’s leader from 2006 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2016, before resigning after last year’s Brexit vote.

In his letter to Mr Farage, Cllr Hornby added: “We need to recognise the talents of the foot soldiers. Some members feel they are treated like dirt and taken for granted.

“I was sorry to see Paul step down as leader, I have a lot of respect for him, he launched his leadership bid from Bolton and I had the honour of chairing a recent questions and answers session in Bolton for him.

“I believe though the best man for the job without question is yourself Nigel, the public have a lot of respect for you, they trust you and they believe in you. I believe you can heal our party you can rebuild UKIP and you can make our party great again.”