The UK Independence Party's only MP, Douglas Carwell, is quitting the party and will sit as an independent MP for his constituency of Clacton.

He said in a statement: 'Like many of you, I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP.'

The long-time Eurosceptic said leaving the EU was an 'extraordinary achievement': 'By April 2019, Britain will no longer be a member of the EU. After 24 years, we have done it. Brexit is in good hands.'

He added: 'I will not be switching parties, nor crossing the floor to the Conservatives, so do not need to call a by election, as I did when switching from the Conservatives to UKIP. I will simply be the Member of Parliament for Clacton, sitting as an independent.

'I will leave UKIP amicably, cheerfully and in the knowledge that we won.'

He concluded: ' Cheer up! The days when small elites can try to arrange human social and economic affairs by grand design are coming to an end. Change is coming - Brexit is just the beginning.'

Though he was UKIP's only representative in Parliament, Carswell had been at odds with its former leader and most high-profile figure Nigel Farage, with reports that Carswell had helped frustrate Farage's chances of a knighthood. Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph last month that Carswell was actively campaigning against UKIP and 'had to go'.