The British National Party (BNP) has been removed from the UK's register of political parties, the Electoral Commission there has confirmed.

The commission said the party - which won two seats in the European Parliament in 2009 - had failed to meet the annual requirement to submit its registration details on time.

This is a legal requirement that must be submitted annually.

The last date a notification can be submitted to the commission is six months after the deadline for submission of a party's statement of accounts.

The commission says the BNP's statement of accounts were due on July 7th 2015. Their confirmation of registered details was therefore due on or before January 7th 2016.

The UK Electoral Commission says it did not receive the notification by this date and is required, by law, to remove the BNP from its register of political parties.

"Now that the party has been removed from the register, BNP candidates cannot, at present, use the party's name, descriptions or emblems on the ballot paper at elections", it says.

"The party can, however, submit an application to re-register at any time and their name, descriptions and emblems are protected under PPERA for two years to prevent other parties using them".

But in a tweet, the party says it intends to re-register with the commission now.

Lots of media coverage over a small clerical error from a party that is supposed to be dead in the water. Re-registering now with the EC.

— BritishNationalParty (@bnp) January 8, 2016