Go Skippy founder Arron Banks to stand as Ukip MP

Go Skippy founder Arron Banks plans to stand as a Ukip MP in his home constituency of Thornbury and Yate.

Banks – a long term Conservative Party supporter – today switched his allegiance to Ukip and will publicly present leader Nigel Farage with a £100,000 cheque at 5pm today.

Farage said: “I am delighted to welcome Arron’s support to UKIP. His generosity will go a long way in our campaign. It shows a real development of UKIP that we are now attracting serious financial backers that will help secure our place in the political landscape. Arron recognises that it is the European Union that is holding Britain and her businesses back.”

Banks told Insurance Times that Solvency II was a “good example of something no one really wants” that has been imposed by the European Union.

He will stand as an MP at the general election on 7 May. The Thornbury and Yate seat is held by Liberal Democrate Steve Webb, who won a 7,116 majority in the 2010 elections and has held the seat since 1997.