CONSERVATIVE candidates in Essex have been handed an early election boost... thanks to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

Mr Farage announced to supporters in Hartlepool yesterday his party would not be fielding candidates at next month’s General Election in seats with incumbent Tory MPs.

The move is a significant boost for Will Quince in Colchester, Giles Watling in Clacton and James Cleverly in Braintree - the three seats in north Essex where Mr Farage’s party had already announced its intention to stand.

It comes just 60 days after Mr Farage appeared at a rally in Colchester to declare: “I am ready”.

Jon Woods, who was set to be the party’s candidate in Colchester, welcomed the news by saying it was “putting the country before the party”.

Halstead Gazette: Jon WoodsJon Woods

The Felixstowe resident said: “This shows we are doing everything to make sure we do not get a hung Parliament.

“By splitting the vote we run the risk of letting Labour or the Lib Dems win so it is perfectly reasonable and I am happy to step aside. I can go back to getting on with my day to day life and it will end the abuse being flung in my direction by internet trolls.

“If by getting this far I have helped in any way to make Brexit happen then I am delighted.”

In Colchester, the Lib Dems and Labour would have expected the Brexit Party standing to pull votes away from Will Quince and leave the constituency there for the taking.

But Mr Farage said the Brexit Party would now focus its efforts on taking on the Labour Party in Brexit voting seats, mostly in the north of England.

Mr Quince welcomed the Brexit Party’s decision.

Halstead Gazette: Will QuinceWill Quince

He said: “I have been fighting my campaign on my record and actions but I think it is good news because if people want to get Brexit done the

way to do that is with the deal the Prime Minister has secured.

“If people want to get Brexit done and move on to other priorities like school and college funding, the NHS and securing 20,000 more police officers then they should vote for me.”

Martin Goss, Lib Dem candidate for Colchester, said he was focused on his own “positive” campaign.

Halstead Gazette: Martin GossMartin Goss

He said: “As well as Brexit, we need to be dealing with climate change, NHS funding, the acute underfunding of mental health, the rise in crime and knife crime in Colchester - 105 per cent since 2015. We need solutions to these issues.

“I’m the truly local candidate having lived here 41 years of my life. I haven’t been dropped into Colchester - I’ve grown up here, been educated here, married here, worked here. I have my family here.

“I’ve served the town for 11 years and I plan to do whatever I can to make Colchester a better place for all if I am elected as the next MP.”

Tina McKay, Labour candidate for Colchester, was upbeat about the Brexit Party move.

Halstead Gazette: Tina McKayTina McKay

She said: “This is great news for those of us who want to heal the Brexit divide in the country, and find a pragmatic solution which protects our public services and jobs.

“Labour’s message is about so much more than Brexit, it’s about bringing together everyone under the cause of equality; for fair wages, to end the housing crisis, to protect our NHS, to improve public transport.”

“These are working class issues and affect those on both sides of the Brexit divide, only a Labour government has the solutions to these issues.”

Mark Goacher, Green Party councillor, said: "This shows how far to the right that the Conservatives have moved.

"It shows that they are now a hard Brexit Party that will surely alienate some traditional moderate Conservatives of the Ken Clarke way of seeing things.

"By becoming a party that Mr Farage will not stand against, they risk alienating moderate voters and becoming a narrow and exclusive club."

Matthew Patten was set to be the Brexit Party’s candidate in former Ukip heartland Clacton, where it was suggested the party would have had an impact.

Halstead Gazette: Matthew PattenMatthew Patten

Mr Patten said: “This is about securing Brexit, not personal ambition.

"For the Brexit Party, country comes before party.

"Boris has pledged no extension beyond 2020 and no regulatory alignment - we will hold his feet to the fire.”