NORTH West Euro MP and Ukip leader Paul Nuttall vowed his party’s “time would come” after being defeated by Labour in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election.

Gareth Snell secured a comfortable win securing a 2,620 majority although Labour's vote share fell by around 2% while Ukip’s went up by the same amount.

Wirral Globe:

Ukip campaigned hard in Stoke in the hope of capitalising on its overwhelming support for Brexit.

Mr Nuttall’s campaign, however, was hit by a series of setbacks including being forced to apologise for a false claim on his website that he lost “close friends” in the Hillsborough disaster.

Mr Snell also faced a rocky campaign after it emerged he had described Jeremy Corbyn as an “IRA-supporting friend of Hamas” and called Brexit a “massive pile of s**t”.

Mr Nuttall indicated he would not resign as leader and insisted the party’s “time would come.”

He said after the result: “There’s a lot more to come from us. We are not going anywhere, I’m not going anywhere.”

Mr Snell said voters had chosen “the politics of hope over the politics of fear”.

He added: “Our city has been the focus of a media which all too often prefers to dwell on our problems instead of highlighting our achievements.

"But over these last few weeks a city lazily dubbed by some as the capital of Brexit has once again proven to the world that we are so much more than that.

“We have said with one voice that hatred and bigotry are not welcome here. This is a proud city and we stand together.”

In the other by-election at Copeland, the Conservatives dealt Jeremy Corbyn a humiliating blow by snatching the Cumbrian seat in an area which has been represented by Labour MPs since 1935.