IN 2014, UKIP fielded its first candidates in a Bolton borough election having only previously contested Horwich by-elections and general elections.

That year, Diane Parkinson unseated senior Conservative Andy Morgan in Hulton while Paul Richardson gained another seat for UKIP in Little Lever and Darcy Lever ward previously held by veteran Labour councillor Maureen Connell.

With 25.3 per cent of voters choosing UKIP, the newcomers leapfrogged the Conservatives to become the second largest party in Bolton in terms of vote share, but still only had two councillors.

Following the result, former Bolton Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said that UKIP’s “bubble will burst” and Cllr Linda Thomas, deputy council leader at the time, called it a “phenomenon”.

Speaking to The Bolton News about his party’s first seats in Greater Manchester, Nigel Farage said that it would be the first of many.

Mr Farage was right, as Cllr Sean Hornby, now UKIP leader in Bolton, gained the party’s second seat in Little Lever and Darcy Lever.

A month before the EU referendum, the party fielded candidates in all 20 wards once again and won another two seats making it three out of three in Little Lever and Darcy Lever and their first in Kearsley.

Earlier this year, UKIP only fielded seven candidates resulting in a 16.4% fall in their vote share and leaving them with only three councillors.

Three councillors still represent UKIP in Bolton: Mark Cunningham in Kearsley and Rees Gibbon and Sean Hornby in Little Lever and Darcy Lever.

UKIP has fielded candidates for parliament in all three Bolton constituencies since 2005, but never really posed a challenge to Labour and the Conservatives.

The party’s best result in a general election came in 2015 when candidate Jeff Armstrong finished second in Bolton South East, one of the safest Labour seats in the country.