Ukip is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy after it was presented with a legal bill of £175,000 for its part in a libel action involving three Labour MPs in the run up to the 2015 election.

If the party does not appeal, it must find the cash in the next fortnight, which may leave it unable to field candidates in the local elections in May.
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Last year, a long-running action was finally settled against the Ukip MEP Jane Collins and in favour of Sarah Champion, Sir Kevin Barron and John Healey, whom Collins had accused in 2014 of ignoring child sexual abuse in Rotherham. Ukip became involved, initially paying Collins’ costs.

But at the hearing in February, the judge, Mr Justice Warby, concluded that the party’s role then changed. He said in his ruling that it then took a “deliberate, informed and calculated decision, for reasons of party political advantage, to ensure that the case was not settled before the general election”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/19/ukip-on-brink-of-bankruptcy-after-175000-legal-bill