Ukip leader Paul Nuttall is confident Stoke by-election will be 'very close'

Ukip Leader Paul Nuttall has said the by-election in Stoke-on-Trent will be "very close" and is going to be the "biggest, most professional campaign Ukip has ever run".

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has blasted the Ukip leader saying he is "taking Stoke for granted" by "saying he's going to win it".

Mr Nuttall was confirmed yesterday as the party's candidate to fight the by-election next month.

He has previously described the area as "the capital of Brexit" and has said he wants Ukip to replace Labour as the party of the working class in the midlands and north of England.

He told ITV's Peston on Sunday Labour policies gave him advantages in life but the party is no longer interested in issues that matter to working class people.

He said: "We now have a Labour party that I feel, and many working class people feel, has stopped representing not only their grassroot members, but also their voters.

"You have a Labour party which is more at home talking about the issues that swirl around the Islington dinner party, such as Palestine, climate change and fair trade, and not really focusing on the issues that matter to working class people."

Defeats for Labour in Stoke-on-Trent Central and Copeland on February 23 would be unprecedented in the history of by-elections, which almost never see Opposition parties lose seats during a Government's term in office.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has denied Labour is preparing to lose the by-election, saying Mr Nuttall's statements make him "angry".

Mr McDonnell told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "Since Brexit you can't calculate by-election results on what's gone on in the past so what we're going to do is fight for every vote, and that's what we're going to do.

"I'm angry by the statements by Mr Nuttall today, that's taking Stoke for granted - he's basically saying he's going to win it.

"You don't take the election for granted."

Mr Nuttall said he is from Bootle in Merseyside, an area "not too dissimilar from Stoke".

He said Ukip will be talking to people about "the issues that matter".

Mr Nuttall outlined Ukip's plans to take money from the foreign aid budget and put it into the NHS.

He said: "It is an absolute outrage. I want to see British taxpayers' money spent here in our country."

Mr Nuttall added Ukip would never run on a platform of privatising the NHS.