NORTH-WEST Euro-MP Paul Nuttall has stepped up UKIP’s demand for new peers in the House of Lords.

The party’s deputy leader said: “It is only right that we should have a fair quota following our outstanding performance in the recent European elections.”

The party has three representatives in Westminster’s Upper House all defectors from the Conservatives.

It has previously asked Prime Minister David Cameron for greater numbers.

Mr Nuttall said: “The coalition government was committed to giving UKIP a bigger presence in the Lords but ministers have made clear they had no intention of doing so. That is clearly wrong and unfair, “We topped the polls in the European elections with 27.5 per cent of the vote, which makes our case even stronger.

“There have been 160 peers created since May 2010 and the Green Party was granted a seat in the Lords last year. Despite it being government policy we should have more seats, they have not delivered that commitment.”