UKIP AMs asked to help party with cash crisis

UKIP's future "is in question" if it cannot raise funds quickly, according to its interim leader.

UKIP AMs have been asked to help their party with its finances, according to South Wales East AM David Rowlands.

Interim leader Gerard Batten has warned UKIP is facing a financial shortfall that is threatening its future.

He has said that £100,000 is needed in the next few weeks to put UKIP, which has had three leadership contests in two years, on a "surer foundation".

Mr Rowlands said he believed AMs would donate but wanted to clear up what the money would be used for.

The UKIP AM confirmed the party's representatives in the assembly had been asked to help out "on a voluntary basis", together with other members.

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Asked if he would assist, Mr Rowlands said: "I probably will. There are some matters we want to clear up about what the money is going to be used for.

"Providing it falls to what we feel is very reasonable, I think we will donate."

David Rowlands said Ukip was looking for funds to "make it secure"

"The truth of the matter is that we have lost members but they are coming back to us but a little slower than we would have anticipated," he said, adding membership in Wales is "keeping up".

"The party is looking for funds to make it secure. It's not a crisis to get us over the line at this moment in time, its about funding the party for sometime in the future."

However, one party source suggested some AMs may be reluctant to help out pending a review into assembly election campaigning spending that the source said had not been completed.

Historically UKIP MEPs have been asked to sign a commitment to donate a portion of their salaries to the party.

An email from Mr Batten to UKIP branch officials said a fundraising campaign has been agreed with the NEC to raise in excess of £100,000 within the next three weeks.

"When this sum is raised (purely for operational needs) the party will be on a much surer foundation going forward," he said.

"If we cannot raise it then the future of the party itself is in question."

"Many branches have funds in their accounts and we are asking help at this critical time," he added.

Mr Batten became interim leader after the party ejected Henry Bolton at an extraordinary general meeting in February.