BOLTON’S UKIP chief has paid tribute to Nigel Farage after the controversial party leader stepped down.

Mr Farage, 52, took the decision after helping to secure a ‘Brexit’ vote in last month’s referendum — which means the UK will now leave the European Union.

He said that result meant he has now achieved his key political ambition and added that he now wants his life back.

Mr Farage was a regular visitor to Bolton in recent times — including bringing his battle bus onto the town hall square before venturing inside the town hall in May.

UKIP have enjoyed repeated successes in council elections in Bolton in recent years and group leader, Cllr Sean Hornby believes the party leader has had a big part to play in that.

He said: “I think UKIP members and voters in Bolton hold him in the highest regard and he knows we have tapped into something here — hence why he has visited us many times.

“He can be outspoken at times — but no one can doubt his passion and his intelligence.”

Cllr Hornby said he was slightly shocked by the announcement, but understands that Mr Farage needs a rest after campaigning for so long.

He said: “He has been a member of the European Parliament for 17 years and has pretty much worked all of the time for us to leave the EU.

“Now he has achieved that, and this referendum would never have happened without him and UKIP, so he deserves a rest — he must be knackered.”

Cllr Hornby said that while “no one fill Nigel’s shoes”, there are numerous good candidates to take on the leadership — including deputy leader Paul Nuttall and fellow MEP Stephen Woolfe.

This is Mr Farage’s second resignation from the leadership he took on in 2006 — he stepped down after failing to become an MP last year before being persuaded to come back.

But he said he will not be returning, stating: "I came into politics from business because I believed that this nation should be self-governing. I have never been and I have never wanted to be a career politician.

"My aim in being in politics was to get Britain out of the European Union. That is what we voted for in that referendum two weeks ago, and that is why I now feel that I've done my bit, that I couldn't possibly achieve more than we managed to get in that referendum.

"So I feel its right that I should now stand aside as leader of Ukip. I will continue to support the party, I will support the new leader, I will watch the renegotiation process in Brussels like a hawk and perhaps comment in the European Parliament from time to time.”