Westminster as it happened: Ukip's Henry Bolton refuses to resign despite mass resignations

Here is Henry Bolton's non-resignation statement in full:

Yesterday the UKIP National Executive Committee decided to initiate and embark upon a constitutional course to remove me as leader of the Party.

I advised the NEC during our meeting not to expose the Party to the financial and political cost of pursuing that course of action, including the political cost of possibly yet another leadership contest.

I urged the NEC instead to focus on the unity and cohesion of the Party and on the need to concentrate on such matters as the local government election campaign and the necessity of mobilising our efforts to ensure the government delivers true independence in all areas of government and administration when we leave the European Union.

I respect the next steps in the constitutional process and will therefore not be resigning as Party leader. I repeat I shall not be resigning as Party leader.

Instead, during the next four weeks I shall be calling for the coordination and mobilisation of all Leave campaigns, to ensure that the government delivers full independence from the European Union in all areas of government and administration and I shall be calling for the Party itself to mobilise to support this agenda.

This is the most pressing matter facing our country and I am determined not to allow the NEC to distract the Party away from participating forcefully in the Independence debate.

Without reflecting at all on its individual members, the NEC, as presently constituted, is unfit for purpose and has severely handicapped the Party's progress and political delivery for some years, as all recent UKIP leaders will attest. It has not only lost the confidence of me as the Party leader in its ability to act objectively as the Party's governing body, it has also lost the confidence of a large proportion of the membership.

The NEC requires significant and urgent reform. To that end, again during the coming weeks, I shall be proposing a new Party constitution, with a newly constituted and reformed NEC. Likewise, it is now time to put an end to the factional in-fighting within the Party and to remove those who have been a part of that.

In a single Phrase, it is time to 'Drain the Swamp'.

Let me re-iterate, the most pressing issue facing our country is to ensure that we gain full independence from the European Union; that we do not allow the government to betray the country by compromising that goal. That is the object to which I shall be directing all of my energies in the coming weeks.

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage will interview Henry Bolton later today, in what promises to be an interesting exchange.

Meanwhile, MPs have started debating an e-petition calling for the Government to walk away from the Brexit negotiations without a deal.

More than 130,000 people have signed the petition urging ministers to walk away from talks with Brussels and "fully take back control of our country, lawmaking powers and borders".

Tory MP Paul Scully leads the debate, as he sits on the Commons petitions committee. He says he "understands" why people want to leave without a deal but "does not agree". 

Some people around the country would "be happy to let themselves get a little poorer" because they feel "so passionately" about leaving the EU, he said.

Mr Scully, who is the son of an immigrant, says some people feel ignored by the Government but ministers must use "every second of the two years" to make sure the best deal is reached.

Paul Scully tells MPs in Westminster Hall that there may be "a deal on the courtroom steps" so efforts must be made right up to the deadline.

However he insists that the Government "must be prepared to walk away" as it "may not be in our gift to do a deal".

Veteran Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames has condemned the Government for "dull, dull, dull" policies. 

Sir Nicholas, the grandson of Winston Churchill, is the latest Tory backbencher to voice unease about the style of Theresa May's administration, after former minister Nick Boles warned of "timidity and lack of ambition".

The German government has warned Britain that there are still “leftovers” from the previous phase of the Brexit negotiations that must be dealt with if Theresa May wants a final deal.

Europe correspondent Jon Stone has more here:

Back in Westminster Hall, Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach says the petition would have "devastating consequences" for her constituents and could be a "road to ruin".

She advocates EFTA as a plan B - like Norway or Iceland - instead of WTO rules, which could still honour the result of the referendum.

Labour's Rupa Huq says if you jump out of a plane then "you need a parachute" but she recognises the "discontent" that has pushed people to favour leaving without a deal.

Arron Banks, the founder of the Leave.eu campaign for Brexit, says that he is still considering plans for a new movement to "put pressure on the political parties" in "a break from traditional politics".

"We've been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how Ukip would resolve itself really, and it doesn't seem to be resolving itself very well," he told BBC Radio 4's PM.

"But make no mistake, the Conservative Party is in a very bad place, so is the Labour Party, and I think the only thing the Conservative Party reacts to is electoral pressure at the end of the day."

Confirming that he has discussed with Nigel Farage the possibility of the former Ukip leader becoming president of the new movement, Mr Banks said: "It's with him at the moment.

"But if traditional parties do not deliver the Brexit people expected, it could in due course morph into something that creates electoral pressure."

Labour has unveiled tougher rules to strip outsourced contracts from “rogue suppliers” following the Carillion scandal, if Jeremy Corbyn wins power.

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