Is Farage's small boats claim accurate?published at 20:17 British Summer Time 3 June

20:17 BST 3 June

In his speech earlier, Nigel Farage referred to a social media post by the Conservatives claiming the government had reduced Channel crossings by 36%.

He accused the Conservatives of lying “because it’s up by nearly 30% this year”.

We found the claim in a post on a Conservative Facebook account, external - from 25 May - which said “small boats down 36%” but did not give a timeframe for this.

That 36% drop is only correct when comparing 2023 crossings with the year before.

Farage is correct to say crossings are up by 30% this year.

Between 1 January and 3 June 2024, 10,448 people crossed the Channel in small boats, external. This is a 37% increase on the same period last year.

Farage back where he loves to be: centre stagepublished at 19:53 British Summer Time 3 June

19:53 BST 3 June

Chris Mason
Political editor

Nigel Farage is a master of political theatre.

A week ago he told me he wouldn’t stand for parliament this time – his gaze already apparently wandering over the Atlantic towards the presidential election this autumn.

Now, hey presto, he will stand – and, there was more.

Taking over the leadership of Reform UK not only illustrates again Farage’s knack for generating news – but will offer him a platform and profile in the coming weeks his honorific presidency of the party would not have afforded.

In other words, he’s managed, yet again to be just where he loves to be: centre stage.

It’s the of kind of news nightmares are made of for the Conservatives; this tormentor of the Tories – once one himself – relaxed, jocular and devilish as he makes them squirm.

Conservatives fear many of their recent voters are being lured by Reform; Rishi Sunak will fear Farage will enhance its magnetism.

As if the prime minister didn’t have enough to worry about already.

Fact-checking Farage's claim about the economypublished at 19:25 British Summer Time 3 June

19:25 BST 3 June

The Conservatives have been drawing attention to the fact that UK GDP grew by 0.6% in the first quarter of 2024, the fastest rate of any G7 country.

But Reform leader Nigel Farage said in his press conference that UK GDP per head – which factors in immigration and population growth – actually fell 0.7 “over the last year”.

This is correct. The latest data, external from the Office for National Statistics shows that GDP per head in the first quarter of 2024 was 0.7 per cent lower than in the same period in 2023.

However, it’s important to stress that Farage’s figures refer to change over a different time period than the GDP figures cited by the Conservatives.

The Conservatives’ figures refer to the change in GDP between the final quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 (a quarter-on-quarter change).

His figures refer to the change between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 (a year-on-year change).

On a comparable quarter-on-quarter basis, UK GDP was up 0.6% and GDP per capita was up 0.4% in the latest figures, according to the ONS.

BBC reporter Laura Foster has been speaking to people in Clacton about Nigel Farage's decision to stand in the constituency.

Trevor Ward, who is retired, says the move is "interesting" and that he didn't think Farage would run at all as he had said he was concentrating on the US.

He adds Clacton is a good place to stand as UKIP previously did very well there. As BBC Political Correspondent Ione Wells earlier pointed out, in 2015, 22 UKIP councillors were elected to the district council.

"There must be a good population of people here that would probably be interested in voting for Reform," he says.

Allen Forecast says that he thinks Farage is "funny" but that he wouldn't want him running the country.

Asked whether he would want Farage as MP in Clacton, Forecast adds that he thinks he'll be alright in a small constituency. He says he doesn't bother voting as he feels it's irrelevant who gets in.

A full list of candidates for all constituencies will be available on the BBC News website when nominations have closed on Friday.

How many times has Nigel Farage stood for Parliament?published at 18:45 British Summer Time 3 June

18:45 BST 3 June

In an interview with the BBC following his decision to stand in Clacton, Nigel Farage claimed he had only “tried once” to become an MP.

In total Farage has stood for Parliament seven times. All attempts were as a candidate for his former party, the UK Independence Party (UKIP):

He says his previous times were with “a fringe party, a campaign group, using elections to push their message where even saving deposits was a miracle”.

Parliamentary candidates must pay a deposit (currently £500) in order to stand. This is returned if the candidate receives at least 5% of the vote, external.

According to his electoral history, Farage has only lost his deposit once - when he first stood for Parliament at the 1994 Eastleigh by-election, external.

His best performance came at the 2015 election, where Farage secured 32.4% of the vote in South Thanet, external, finishing second to the Conservative Party.

Farage did not stand at the last election in 2019.

Peter Barnes
BBC political analyst

Two so-called MRP polls have been published this afternoon – the first of the election campaign. MRP stands for Multilevel Regression and Poststratification and, like their name, they are fairly complicated.

Unlike normal vote intention polls, which aim to estimate the national level of support for each of the parties, MRP polls seek to model the support for each party in every individual constituency – at least the ones in England, Scotland and Wales.

To do this, the pollsters usually run a poll with a very large sample size. But, more importantly, they look at how different demographic characteristics are likely to affect how people will vote – for example, age, sex, education, etc. – as well as where they live. This is the "multilevel regression" bit.

Then they use data about the demographic make-up of each constituency to estimate likely levels of support at a local level. That’s the "poststratification" part. They build up estimates for each constituency by looking at the characteristics of the voters who live there.

Both of today’s MRPs suggest that Labour are on course for a very large majority. More in Common put Labour on 382 seats, the Conservatives on 180, SNP on 35, Lib Dems on 30, Plaid Cymru on three, Greens on one and Others on 19, including the 18 seats in Northern Ireland. That would mean an overall Labour majority of 114.

YouGov paint an even starker picture, with Labour on 422 seats, the Conservatives on 140, Lib Dems on 48, SNP 17, Green two and Plaid two. That equates to a Labour majority of 194.

Neither suggests Reform UK will win any seats.

As with all polls, these figures should be treated with a good degree of caution. MRP polls have been successful at some previous elections but some polling experts think they might exaggerate the likely extent of Conservative losses.

Labour is on course for the party’s biggest election victory in history, beating Tony Blair's 1997 landslide, a YouGov poll suggests.

The poll, which uses the multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) technique, indicates Labour could win 422 seats, while the Conservatives are projected to win 140 seats.

YouGov’s polling projection is based on interviews it carried out with 53,334 people in England and Wales and 5,541 in Scotland. The data was collected between 24 May and 1 June.

The BBC’s estimate of a party's support is a rolling average of polls. You can use our interactive poll tracker to check the latest trends measuring how people say they intend to vote here.

With 31 days left until the general election, it's been another packed day on the campaign trail. Here's a recap of the key developments so far:

• Labour focused on national security today, with leader Sir Keir Starmer reaffirming his commitment to a "nuclear deterrent triple lock", which would include building four new nuclear submarines
• The Conservatives pledged to tackle the "confusion" over the legal definition of sex by proposing amending the Equality Act
• PM Rishi Sunak denied that the proposal was about stoking culture wars, after the Lib Dems called the plan a "cynical distraction"
• SNP leader John Swinney said the Tories' plans were "an explicit, outright threat" to devolution
• Later, in a major U-turn, Nigel Farage announced he would now stand to be an MP for Reform UK in Clacton days after ruling himself out
• Farage also confirmed he would become leader of Reform UK
• Elsewhere, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner denied that her earlier comments about Diane Abbott forced Starmer to decide whether she could stand as a Labour candidate in the election

Will it be eighth time lucky for Nigel Farage in Clacton?published at 17:41 British Summer Time 3 June

17:41 BST 3 June

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from Westminster

Nigel Farage is one of the biggest names in British politics, despite never being an MP. Famously, he has failed seven times to get elected to a Westminster seat.

He now claims his first six attempts were not serious, just efforts to gain publicity for his then-party, UKIP. He blames his defeat in the 2015 general election in South Thanet, when he did mount a serious campaign, on Conservative foul play.

In 2019 a Tory Party employee was found guilty of falsifying election expenses, although the area’s Tory MP Craig Mackinlay was cleared.

After that, Farage swore never to stand again in a first-past-the-post election, which are harsh on small, insurgent parties.

UKIP owed much of its success to the European Parliament, which uses a form of proportional representation. But Farage is a serial retirer.

He has quit frontline politics several times during his long career with UKIP, the Brexit Party and Reform UK. He often seems to enjoy being on TV more than the grind of party politics, but something keeps pulling him back to the ballot box.

Maybe it will be eighth time lucky for him in Clacton.

An earlier version of this post said police found no evidence of fraud in the 2015 general election campaign in South Thanet. This was inaccurate, and has been corrected.

We're now getting some reaction from the Conservatives on the news that Nigel Farage will stand in the general election with a party spokesman saying that Farage is "doing exactly what Keir Starmer wants him to do".

"Nigel Farage risks handing Keir Starmer a blank cheque to re-join the EU, impose the retirement tax on pensioners and hike taxes on hardworking Brits up and down the UK," a Tory party spokesman says.

"Farage knows that Reform won't win any seats, but he doesn't seem to care that a vote for Reform only helps Labour."

The spokesman adds that: "Just yesterday, EU insiders openly voiced their expectation that Starmer would seek a softer Brexit deal, opening the door to re-joining the EU all together. That would mean uncontrolled immigration and betraying the will of the British people."

"Is Farage really willing to risk undoing his life's work by handing Starmer a blank cheque to re-join the EU?," the spokesman continues.

"Only a vote for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives can deliver a clear plan, bold action and a secure future for our country."

Image source, PA Media

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has also said that the Conservatives' pledge to reform the Equality Act if they win the upcoming general election is "nonsense".

She says Labour introduced the Equality Act, and it has "stood test of time" with exemptions and safeguards for women-only spaces.

Rayner says the Conservative party's policies are "unravelling" and "they could've introduced guidance".

"Labour believes that further guidance needs to be given, but I don't think we need to be changing the Equality Act," she adds.

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has insisted she hasn’t changed her mind on the UK’s nuclear deterrent, in comments that strike a different tone to those of party leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Rayner is one of several MPs on the Labour front bench who voted against the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system in 2016, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

More recently in 2020, she apparently reiterated this position in response to Labour Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, reportedly telling them: “I want a world without nuclear weapons and that’s what I want a Labour government to work towards.”

This morning, Starmer insisted that the whole shadow cabinet were behind him, saying his personal commitment to the nuclear deterrent was "absolute".

Rayner says she supports Labour’s current policy on the nuclear deterrent.

Asked why she’d changed her mind on the UK having nuclear weapons, Rayner insisted she hadn’t - and pointed to the long-term aim of multi-lateral disarmament.

"I haven't changed my mind. The vote that we had some years ago mentioned nothing about multi-lateral disarmament and what I feel is really important for the long term is that globally we should be looking at disarmament of nuclear weapons but that has to be done in combination with other countries."

But given that Keir Starmer didn’t mention disarmament once in his speech this morning, the difference in emphasis is striking.

Now that the Reform UK press conference has come to an end, let's turn our attention to Friday.

Former Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt will represent the Conservative Party, facing off against deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner and others in the BBC's election debate on Friday.

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will not take part.

Also taking part are representatives of the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Reform UK and the Scottish National Party.

Many in Labour's camp are secretly delightedpublished at 16:48 British Summer Time 3 June

16:48 BST 3 June

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

This was always a fear among some Tory strategists.

Some Conservatives are already concerned that Reform UK might split the right-wing vote in some seats.

However, this may not change a huge amount in practice.

He was already front and centre of their campaign, so arguably the "Farage-effect" was already a factor in Reform UK’s campaign.

Now he has to campaign in a specific seat too, he may also spend less time on the campaign trail around the rest of the UK.

One thing is for sure from conversations I’ve had today, while they are ideologically opposed, many within the Labour camp are secretly delighted about the prospect of the right-wing vote being splintered.

We've just had some reaction from the Conservative candidate for Clacton - who will be running against Nigel Farage.

Giles Watling tells the BBC: “I will be pleased to show Nigel around Clacton so he can see what it is really like, but I am not prepared to see the constituency of Clacton sacrificed on the altar of his vanity.”

Candidates announced as standing in Clacton are listed here - and the full list will be available on the BBC News website once nominations close.

Former Reform UK leader Richard Tice will now become the party's chairman, Farage says.

Tice has "kept this going at great personal cost", Farage says, adding that he is "pleased" his predecessor will be staying on with the party.

Why Clacton?published at 16:29 British Summer Time 3 June

16:29 BST 3 June

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

Clacton has been touted for a while as somewhere that Reform UK could perform well.

Two years before the Brexit referendum, in 2014, it saw its Conservative MP Douglas Carswell defect to the Brexit-supporting UKIP.

In 2015, 22 UKIP councillors were elected to the district council.

This all happened when Nigel Farage was leader of UKIP.

The area had one of the highest percentage of Leave voters in the country.

That’s one of the reasons why Nigel Farage – one of the most prominent Brexit campaigners – has always been thought of as a potential vote-winner in that area.

The candidates announced as standing so far in Clacton are:

• Matthew Bensilum, Liberal Democrats
• Nigel Farage, Reform UK
• Natasha Osben, Green Party
• Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, Labour Party
• Giles Watling, Conservative Party

Continuing, Nigel Farage says the Conservative government has allowed 2.4m people to come and settle in the UK over the last two years.

He adds that this is a betrayal of the millions of people who voted for Brexit and that the "population explosion" has devalued the lives of Britons.

Image source, Reuters

Farage has confirmed that he's coming back as leader of Reform UK - not just for this election campaign, he says, but for the next five years.

He says the aim is to get many millions of votes - more than UKIP in 2015.

How many seats they win will be another matter, he adds, but they are not just appealing to Tory voters, but Labour voters and to those who intend not to vote because they don't believe there's anyone who stands up for them.

A major U-turn from Faragepublished at 16:21 British Summer Time 3 June

16:21 BST 3 June

Lucy Manning
Correspondent, at Reform UK's event in central London

Nigel Farage has performed a major U-turn, announcing he's now standing to be an MP for Reform UK in Clacton.

When the election was called Farage ruled himself out, saying it didn’t leave him enough time to build a campaign in a constituency and he also wanted to support Donald Trump in the US election.

But 10 days later he has changed his mind.

Farage has tried seven times before to be an MP.

The voters in the seaside town of Clacton were big supporters of Brexit and used to have a UKIP MP.

The Tories will now worry that Farage’s entry into the campaign will boost Reform, taking votes away from them.

But they may hope that Farage’s decision to stand will stop him campaigning nationwide as he had planned.