NIGEL Farage has abandoned plans for the Brexit Party to contest more than 600 candidates in the General Election.

Speaking to supporters in Hartlepool he said the party would not stand in the 317 seats won by the Conservatives in the last election in 2017.

This means the party will not stand in Monmouth - which has been held by the Conservatives since 2005 - but could still stand in the six other Gwent seats - Newport East, Newport West, Torfaen, Islwyn, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly - all of which were won by Labour in 2017.

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Mr Farage said he had taken the decision because he feared that, if they had run against the Tories, it would have led to a hung Parliament with significant gains for the Liberal Democrats.

The move is a significant boost for Boris Johnson amid warnings by Conservative ministers that they risked splitting the Brexit vote.

"We've decided ourselves that we absolutely have to put country before party and take the fight to Labour," Mr Farage said.

The Brexit Party leaders had previously warned the Tories that it would stand in 600 constituencies unless Boris Johnson abandoned his Brexit deal with Brussels.

However, his offer of a "Leave alliance" electoral pact with the Conservatives was rejected by the Tories.

Mr Farage said he still believed the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with Brussels would not deliver "the Brexit we voted for" in the 2016 referendum.

However, he said he had been encouraged by statements by Mr Johnson at the weekend saying he would not extend the planned transition period beyond the end of 2020 and that he would seek a 'super Canada plus' style free trade agreement with the EU.

Mr Farage said: "Last night I weighed up Boris' promises, and is he going to stick to them against the threat particularly in the South and the South West that we let in a lot of Remainer Liberal Democrat MPs?

"I think our action, this announcement today, prevents a second referendum from happening.

"And that to me, I think right now, is the single most important thing in our country.

"So in a sense we now have a Leave alliance, it's just that we've done it unilaterally."

The Brexit Party has already announced Richard Taylor as its candidate for Blaenau Gwent, Cllr David Thomas in Torfaen, and James Wells for Islwyn.