Ukip ordered to pay £175,000 legal costs linked to defamation case

Ukip has been ordered to pay £175,000 in legal costs over a defamation case brought by three Labour MPs.

The party has been told to pay the money towards the costs incurred by Sir Keven Barron, John Healey and Sarah Champion.

The interim payment order by Justice Warby comes just days after Ukip's leader Gerard Batten issued a plea for cash for the party.

At an earlier High Court hearing it was ruled that the party took a "deliberate, informed and calculated" decision to ensure that the defamation action brought by Rotherham's three Labour MPs against a Ukip MEP should not be settled before the 2015 General Election.

In February 2017 Jane Collins, MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, was...