A major critic of the European Union, he campaigned for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
After Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron taunted him in the House of Commons by telling him several times to retire, he became determined to run for re-election and was returned as MP for Bolsover in 2015 at the age of 83.
He was falsely reported to have died in September 2020.
He was too ill to campaign in the December 2019 General Election where he lost his safe Labour seat to the Conservatives. Skinner had contracted a severe infection after undergoing hip surgery.
Treated for advanced bladder cancer, and had heart bypass surgery in 2003.