Brexit Party MEP Michael Heaver pays tribute to his party colleagues who have pulled out of the election race, after Nigel Farage's plan not to field candidates in Tory-held seats.

Candidates who are standing down have been breaking the news to their followers, including Matt Slocombe who said he was stepping down in his Conservative-held seat because "country before party".

Image source, Reuters

"The fact that the Brexit Party are standing aside in Conservative-held seat doesn't really help Boris Johnson to win a majority," says Peter Barnes, from the BBC's analysis and research department.

He tells the BBC's Electioncast: "On average, you'd expect it to mean that the Conservarives will win a small number of seats that they would otherwise have lost.

"It's difficult to say which those seats would be, or how many. But it shouldn't be lots unless the Conservatives do much worse than the current polls suggest.

"The main point though is that the Tories need gains for a majority, not just the seats they already have, and most of those will come from Labour-held seats.

"So if there are still Brexit Party candidates standing in those places, it probably matters more.

"One other small point: it's obviously natural to want to focus on strongly pro-Brexit areas. But the truth is it could also affect Remain areas. For example, the Conservatives' top Labour-held target is Kensington.

"It's a very strong Remain area but will still be harder for the Conservatives to take if a few hundred people there vote for the Brexit Party."

BBC News Channel

While many Conservatives may tonight be saying, thank you very much Nigel Farage for withdrawing candidates from Tory-held seats, they may also say he hasn't gone far enough, says BBC News reporter Tom Barton.

Many will be saying that the Brexit Party can't stand in those Conservative/Labour marginals either if they want to avoid a hung Parliament.

"He [Nigel Farage] has made this decision no doubt after coming under a lot of pressure, pressure both from the Conservative Party but also from inside the Brexit Party," says our correspondent.

"Brexit Party candidates speaking to him last week, we understand, said he needs to reconsider his position and be careful not to split the vote and let Remainer parties in through, as they see it, the back door."

Read our full story on ex-Tory MP Nick Boles' comments here., external

Continuing his campaign speech, Mr Farage says: "They say it's the Brexit election but until today nobody was even talking about Brexit. All they're talking about is how much money they can produce.

"I have to say, when I listen to the general debate going on, a week into the election, I have a feeling that huge numbers of people are simply going to switch off."

"Already have," one person in the audience quips.

"Well you turned up tonight so thank you," Mr Farage replies.

Turning to the issue of flooding, a government spokesperson has said Boris Johnson will chair a Cobra meeting tomorrow to discuss the response to the recent flooding.

About 400 homes have been flooded in the North of England, and 1,200 properties have been evacuated.

Nigel Farage is now speaking, and opens with: "Great to be in the heart of Tony Blair's former constituency.

"And now of course represented by his successor, another Remainer. And isn't that the story across so much of the north east of England."

Mr Farage said he had been concerned about Boris Johnson's Brexit deal - but "he did make some concessions last night".

"He did say we would be leaving at the end of December," says Mr Farage.

He says we have to be "careful" over Mr Johnson's promises, but "he did also promise that we'd pursue a free trade deal along the lines of Canada that would not give us political alignment".

"If that's what we do, then we will have Brexit."

He adds: "If it wasn't for us, and the threat of us, I don't think Boris would have said those things last night."

A a Brexit Party spokesperson has confirmed that the European Research Group - made up of Conservative Brexiteers - have been in talks with their party over recent days, according to BBC Newsnight.

On Sunday, Boris Johnson published a video on his Twitter feed, praising his Brexit deal and promising that he could secure a free trade agreement with the EU by the end of 2020.

Jake Pugh, the Brexit Party MEP, is speaking now at the party's rally in a large marquee in Sedgefield.

Mr Pugh says for 40 years many parts of the North "have been abandoned by those on the left and the right".

Leader Nigel Farage is due to speak later, after his big announcement earlier that his party will not contest any seats won by the Tories in 2017.

Throughout the election campaign, BBC News will be looking closely at the places where the final result could be won and lost - and asking people in those places about the issues there.

Tomorrow, we'll be reporting from Bishop Auckland in County Durham all day - on TV, radio and online.

The constituency voted to leave the EU but is a traditional Labour seat. The Labour candidate, Helen Goodman, supported the Remain campaign.

It's the type of seat that the Conservative Party would hope to win over in the next general election.

BBC Breakfast is set to broadcast live from Auckland Castle tomorrow morning.

Nigel Farage told LBC (see 18:45 post) that the "vast majority" of Brexit Party candidates supported his decision not to contest the 317 seats won by the Conservatives in 2017.

However, one of those candidates has expressed some anger. Neil Greaves - who had been due to stand for the party in the Harlow constituency - says Mr Farage has "let Brexiteers down".

Speaking to the Evening Express,, external he said "I don't regard Boris Johnson's deal as Brexit... it's not even close."

Mr Greaves said he will still stand in the Essex constituency - but as an independent candidate.

The seat is currently held by Robert Halfon, with a majority of 7,031 over Labour. UKIP came third in the 2017 election

Boris Johnson has been pulling pints in Wolverhampton, while Nigel Farage has been pulling his candidates out of the election race.

The Electioncast team are here to make sense of it all with a guide to some election slang, and a look at the parties' spending claims.

Click here to listen to the latest Electioncast episode.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the effects of Nigel Farage's announcement that the Brexit Party will not be contesting 317 seats currently held by the Conservatives is that many of his candidates are being stood down.

That has brought an angry reaction from some who have already spent a fair bit of time and money on their local campaign.

Speaking to LBC's Eddie Mair, Mr Farage says he has no plans to compensate those candidates.

"I'm sorry for people who have put their time and money on the line," he says, but adds that he "warned them all face-to-face that if circumstances changed" then the situation would be different.

"I'm not going to refund their money. They put their faith in me to do the right thing and the vast majority of them, this afternoon, agree with what I've done."

In the interview, Mr Farage also reveals that 3,000 people applied to be Brexit Party candidates at the election.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

It is obviously helpful to the Conservatives if the Brexit Party is not running candidates in the seats that they won last time round, popping up every day to say Boris Johnson hasn’t negotiated a proper Brexit.

But the Conservatives won’t win if all they do is hold on to the seats they got the last time

If the Brexit Party is running in Labour seats, that could make life very difficult for the Conservatives indeed.

If some of the natural Tory voters head off to the Brexit Party, then the Labour Party keeps that seat and stops the Tories’ chances.

At a top level, in a superficial way, this is something that makes life a bit easier for Boris Johnson.

But Nigel Farage is still there as a thorn in the Conservatives' side.

And I still think we’ll hear - every day in this campaign - accusations from the Conservatives' rivals of this being a cosy deal whereby "If you vote Johnson, you get Farage".

In an interview with the BBC's economics editor Faisal Islam, Chancellor Sajid Javid has said that the Brexit deal the Conservatives intend to enact will mean changes - but also "opportunities" - for British traders.

He said: "We will be able to strike our own free trade agreements around the world where we will have investments in free ports [a special kind of port where normal tax and customs rules do not apply] so there's a lot to look forward to."

Read more here

Alex Forsyth
Political correspondent

Nigel Farage’s decision may at first glance seem seem like a gift to the Conservatives.

Boris Johnson won’t have to out-Brexit the Brexit Party in more than 300 seats.

But in terms of the outcome of this election, it might only have a limited effect.

It could help the Tories hold on to marginal seats they already have - notably where they’re fighting the Lib Dems in parts of the South West.

But to get a majority they need to win MORE seats - and many of Boris Johnson’s top targets are Labour-held areas in the Midlands and the North of England where most people voted to leave the EU.

In these crucial seats - where the difference between victory and defeat might be as little as a few hundred votes - the Conservatives will still be up against the Brexit Party.

While Nigel Farage is adamant he’ll take more votes from Labour than the Tories, plenty question whether that will be the case.

In lending the Conservative Party his support, Mr Farage may well alienate Brexit-supporting traditional Labour voters who might otherwise have been inclined to back him.

But this more than most is an unpredictable election, and the full consequences of what seems to be a present from Mr Farage to the Tories won’t be known until two weeks before Christmas.

Image source, Getty Images

As well as the tweet (see 1749 entry), it has been revealed that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also wrote an old-fashioned letter to Boris Johnson demanding that he hold a Cobra meeting and "take personal charge of the government’s response to the devastating flooding we have seen over the past few days”.

“If this had happened in Surrey, not Yorkshire or the East Midlands, it seems far more likely that a national emergency would have been declared," he writes.

Mr Corbyn calls on the government to "ensure that the industry fulfills its responsibilities".

Towns and cities across Yorkshire and the Midlands have faced disruption and in some cases emergency evacuations after heavy flooding.

The BBC's North East and Cumbria political editor, Richard Moss makes the point that, despite today's announcement, the Brexit Party could still be a threat to the Conservatives' hopes of winning Labour-held seats that voted for Brexit, such as Bishop Auckland:

Image source, Getty Images

The Green Party has decided not to field a candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green, as part of a bid to oust incumbent Iain Duncan Smith.

Former Conservative leader Mr Duncan Smith has been MP for the area for 22 years, and has a majority of 2,348. Labour came second at the last election.

The Greens say they won't contest their election there with the "ultimate hope of favouring the campaign of the Labour candidate".

Mr Duncan Smith is one of the leading Brexiteers. The Greens campaigned to Remain in the EU referendum and have also, separately, agreed a Remain alliance pact with the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru.

Read more here.