Paul Nuttall to pledge end of VAT on fish and chips in first Ukip conference speech as leader

Promise comes after torrid week for politician, whose Stoke Central by-election campaign was dogged by calls for his resignation over Hillsborough lie

Ukip leader Paul Nuttall with Richard Gibbins, dressed as Sir Winston Churchill, outside his headquarters during his campaign launch for the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election (Joe Giddens/PA)

Paul Nuttall is poised to introduce a pledge to scrap VAT on fish and chips in his first speech to the Ukip party conference as leader.

The promise comes after a torrid week for the Ukip leader, in which it emerged claims he lost “close friends” at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 were false. The fictitious claims appeared on his website – now down for maintenance – and Lynda Roughly, a press officer for the Bootle-born politician, offered her resignation and claimed she was responsible.

In a break from campaigning in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election contest, he will address his party faithful at Ukip's spring conference at the Macron stadium in Bolton on Friday.

Mr Nuttall is expected to lay out his “New Path for Britain” and says Britain should seize the opportunities which lie ahead as the country severs ties with the European Union.

He will set out plans to slash taxes by removing domestic energy bills from VAT, a move Ukip believes will save the average household £65 a year. Mr Nuttall is expected to tell the conference: “People should not have to choose between heating and eating.”

And Ukip will also fight to take fish and chips out of VAT, he will say. Under current rules the traditional British dinner carries a 20% VAT charge.

A trawler strike in Iceland recently threatened to impact the cost of cod and chips (Getty)

Mr Nuttall will also pledge to spend billions of pounds a year more on the NHS and social care and to focus more resources on mental health.

On immigration, he will restate the party's commitment to an Australian style points-based system, but will say entry should be allowed on the twin premise of “aptitude and attitude” - stressing that immigrants should sign up to British values such as gender equality.

The speech, which is billed as directional rather than a detailed policy document, is an attempt by the Ukip leader to park his tanks on the Labour Party's lawn.