Nigel Farage is likely to stand as a candidate in South Thanet at the general election - according to his party's leader Paul Nuttall.

Mr Nuttall last night told Channel 4 News: "I suspect Nigel Farage will stand."

If Mr Farage does choose to contest the seat he lost to Craig Mackinlay in 2015, it would be his 8th attempt to land a seat in Parliament.

The former Ukip leader has indicated that he is in two minds about whether to return to the election fray.

But his presence in the forthcoming campaign would probably prove as divisive as it was in 2015 when he faced a highly organised Conservative effort to defeat him.

Speaking on his LBC radio show, Mr Farage questioned whether he would be more effective in pushing for the right Brexit deal as the leader of the Ukip MEPs group in Brussels.

He said he would decide whether to stand in the polls "over the next couple of days".

The Ukip MEP told his listeners on LBC he would need more time to consider his options, adding: “I haven’t decided yet. I will spend the next couple of days working it out.”

If Mr Farage did stand again, he would do so against a backdrop of split and divisions within Ukip.

The party no longer has any MPs after Douglas Carswell left, saying he would stand as an independent MP.

Meanwhile the former Rochester and Strood MP Mark reckless recently announced he was to sit as an independent member of the Welsh assembly and was aligning with the Conservatives.

There are reports that Mr Farage is scheduled to make a visit to Thanet later this week on a previously arranged trip to help with the county council election campaign.