Brexit news: Latest updates at 7am from the past 12 hours
HERE is your daily briefing on all the General Election and Brexit news from the past 12 hours.
Nigel Farage yesterday announced his party will not contest hundreds of Conservative seats, the Lib Dems are taking legal action against ITV, and Labour and the Tories have both announced plans to help military families.
Brexit Party pulls candidates
The Brexit Party has announced it will not field candidates in the 317 constituencies won by the Tories Party at the last election.
Opinion within the party has been divided since the election was called on whether it should contest even those seats where there was a risk it would split the Conservative vote and hand victory to a Labour or Lib Dem candidate.
Speaking at an event in Hartlepool, party leader Nigel Farage said his party would now "concentrate our total effort into all of the seats that are held by the Labour Party".
Explaining the decision, he said there had been a "big shift of position" in the prime minister's approach to Brexit.
He cited in particular a pledge not to extend the so-called transition period, which will see Britain continue to follow some of the EU's rules for a time after its departure, beyond the current end in December 2020.
After receiving applause from the audience, he added: "I have to say I'm pleased you like it.
"It's not easy, but how do we hold Boris to his promises.
"That's the key to whether this strategy actually works."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move was "a recognition that there's only one way to get Brexit done, and that's to vote for the Conservatives".
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: "Donald Trump told Nigel Farage to make a pact with Boris Johnson. Today, Trump got his wish.
"This Trump alliance is Thatcherism on steroids and could send £500 million a week from our NHS to big drugs companies."
Speaking last week US president Donald Trump said: "What I’d like to see is for Nigel and Boris to come together."
UK growth remains low
Official figures confirmed that the UK economy grew by the lowest level since the aftermath of the financial crash over the last year.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics said the economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2019, which ran from July to September.
The economy ended the third quarter having grown just 1.0 per cent over the previous year, down from 1.3 per cent in the second quarter.
Taken in isolation, the second quarter of this year saw a contraction 0.2, a figure which sparked fears the UK could be entering a recession.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
“Under the conservatives, we've seen nine consecutive years of growth".
But Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: "The fact that the government will be celebrating 0.1% growth in the last six months is a sign of how low their hopes and expectations for our economy are."
Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, told the BBC: "The GDP figures suggest that the economy failed to regain much momentum after the the second-quarter contraction."
Lib Dems launch ITV legal action
The Liberal Democratcs have confirmed they are taking legal action against ITV over the broadcaster's decision not to include party leader Jo Swinson in an upcoming head-to-head debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
The two are currently scheduled to face one another in a televised debate on November 19.
Speaking outside the High Court after filing for a judicial review, Lib Dem party president Sal Brinton said: "People know more about where they stand on Brexit than for which party they will vote for.
"So it is vital for our democracy to have both sides of the Brexit debate represented at the top table of the leaders' debates."
The Lib Dems are campaigning ahead of the general election in opposition to Brexit.
An ITV spokesperson said: "ITV intends to offer viewers comprehensive and fairly balanced General Election coverage."
The BBC is also planning to stage a two-way head-to-head in addition to one with representatives from all seven of the major parties.
Brinton said it was too early to say whether her party would be taking similar action against the BBC.
Armistice pledges
The Conservative and Labour parties both marked Remembrance Sunday with pledges to help UK service personnel and their families.
Conservatives proposals include expanded childcare for military families to take account of longer working hours and a new railcard for veterans.
They also set out pledges to help veterans find new work, including guaranteed interviews for public sector roles and a year of national insurance exemptions for private business taking veterans on.
The party also said it would stop what it called "vexatious" claims being brought against soldiers accused of misconduct - in some cases criminal - during the Troubles.
In a statement, the prime minister said: “These measures... will mean that we harness the enormous contribution that veterans can make to our businesses and public sector organisations.”
Labour Party commitments included a pledge to increase military pay and improved access to schools for the children of serving personnel, who often have to move home frequently.
The party said that a public sector pay cap introduced by the Conservative-led coalition in 2010 and scrapped last year had meant meant a real-terms fall of 5.8 per cent in the starting salary of an army private.
Other pledges included improved housing for service personnel and their families, with reduced reliance privately-rented accommodation, and a new representative body for personnel modelled on the Police Federation.
Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement: "Real security requires decent pay, decent housing, support for our armed forces and their families, and a way to get their voice heard."
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