Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team The Tories offered Nigel Farage an eleventh-hour ‘deal’ on candidates… The Conservatives have offered an electoral pact to Nigel Farage that would mean the Brexit Party targeting just 40 key seats, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Boris Johnson was prepared to put up “paper candidates” in the Labour-held constituencies, meaning the Tories would carry out only minimal campaigning in order to give an advantage to Brexit Party rivals. However, the deal was turned down by Mr Farage, who had insisted on the Tories withdrawing their candidates altogether from the seats, because he was worried that the Conservative candidates would still attract votes. Talks finally broke down late on Tuesday but as the deadline for nominations approaches at 4pm on Thursday, Mr Farage remains under intense pressure to make further concessions beyond the 317 candidates he has already stood down from running in seats won by the Tories in 2017. – Telegraph (£) Conservatives ‘offer electoral pact with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party’ – ITV News …but the Brexit Party leader refuses to stand down candidates in any more seats after Boris Johnson gave him ‘nothing’… Nigel Farage has snubbed Tory offers to save Brexit by refusing to stand down candidates in the Labour marginal seats. With 24 hours to go before nominations close, the Brexit Party boss insisted he wasn’t caving to demands to deliver Boris Johnson the election. Mr Farage’s battle-cry came after he vowed to stand down in 317 seats the Tories won last time. The Brexiteer has since been under pressure from Conservative Euro-sceptics to stand aside in hundreds of Labour seats. But Mr Farage has refused to do so after the PM gave him “nothing” for helping out the first time around. “I made a massive concession, they gave me nothing in return,” he said. “I’ve done everything I can do.” – The Sun …and sends mixed messages over whether he personally will vote Conservative Nigel Farage has ruled out personally voting for the Conservatives at the general election after he suggested in an interview that he would consider doing so depending on their manifesto. Asked on Wednesday whether he could vote for the Tories in his own constituency on 12 December, the Brexit party leader told the Press Association: “I want to see the manifesto. Let me see what is in the manifesto. I’m hoping and believing that what Boris said last Sunday is going to be in the manifesto. If that is in the manifesto, then the deal as was is about to be changed in quite a big way.” But shortly afterwards, Farage tweeted that he could not vote for the party “given the way [they] have behaved this week”. – Guardian I won’t vote for the Tories, says Farage as hope of a pact fades – The Times (£) Donald Tusk tells UK voters not to give up on stopping Brexit Donald Tusk has given his implicit backing to Boris Johnson’s opponents in the general election with a call for anti-Brexit campaigners to keep fighting in the month before Britain goes to the polls. In what he openly conceded was an unconventional move, the outgoing president of the European council made a pointed intervention in the UK’s general election debate with a thinly veiled message of solidarity for those seeking to unseat Johnson’s Conservatives. Reflecting on his five years in his role as a top EU official as it comes to an end this month, and following a speech on the life of the journalist and philosopher Hannah Arendt, Tusk said he felt empowered to be honest about his feelings. – Guardian EU chief Donald Tusk urges Remainers ‘Don’t give up’ – The Sun Andrea Leadsom says we won’t know if an EU free trade deal is possible until the end of 2020… The United Kingdom “won’t know for sure” if a free trade deal with Brussels is possible until the end of 2020, the business minister has said. Andrea Leadsom told ITV’s Peston programme: “We have to leave the European Union. We have to deliver on it. The fact is we are determined. I’m absolutely confident we will get that free trade deal done by the end of 2020. Until we reach the end of 2020 we won’t know for sure.” Mrs Leadsom went on to elaborate on the “30 plus page political declaration that sets out that template for that deal,” which she says ensures the UK has “a firm commitment from the European Union to signing a deal by the end of 2020.” – ITV News …as the EU’s next Trade Commissioner says UK consumers will expect EU standards to be maintained in a trade deal Ireland’s EU commissioner Phil Hogan has said British consumers will expect the UK to sign up to the EU’s labour, environmental and food standards as part of a free trade agreement for which he will be chief negotiator next year. Giving an upbeat prediction of how quickly the trade negotiations could be concluded, Mr Hogan, the EU Trade Commmissioner-designate, said the EU would be ready to go “before St Patrick’s Day” next year,. However he said the UK would have to decide early on in the negotiations which EU rules they were prepared to sign up to. Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Hogan said: “The British public will demand and expect that their government will sign on to EU standards because we have the highest standards in the world.” – RTE …while the UK’s man in Brussels insists the we won’t nominate a new EU Commissioner before the election The UK will not nominate an EU commissioner until after its December 12 national election, Britain’s Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow wrote in a letter to the European Commission on Wednesday night, according to officials in Brussels and London. EU leaders have repeatedly asked the UK to pick a candidate and made this a condition of granting a Brexit extension until January 31, 2020 when they met last month — before MPs in the UK parliament voted in favor of the December ballot. But official general election guidance from the UK’s Cabinet Office says the government should not put forward candidates for senior international appointments, including to European institutions, during an election period. Britain’s decision not to put forward a candidate, despite repeated requests from Brussels, until after the vote leaves Brussels wrestling with a thorny legal problem and raises the possibility of a further delay in the new European Commission taking office… The UK’s refusal to name a commissioner means the EU may need to delay the new Commission further, or take steps to prevent legal challenges to its legitimacy. – Politico Jo Swinson denies losing control of Lib Dem candidates in revolt over local pacts with Labour Jo Swinson has denied that she is losing control of her candidates despite a growing revolt among those who want the party to stand aside in favour of Labour Remainers. The LibDem leader declared that she would stand candidates in both Canterbury, where the LibDems stood down to avoid splitting the Remainer vote with Labour – and in Remainer David Gauke’s south west Hertfordshire constituency where the former Justice Secretary is standing as an independent. Tim Walker, a former journalist, announced on Tuesday that he would not stand in the Canterbury seat in order to avoid the “nightmare” of handing the constituency back to the Conservatives. – Telegraph (£) Emily Thornberry ‘at risk’ of losing her seat to the Lib Dems as Labour fears another ‘Ed Balls moment’ Emily Thornberry is at risk of losing her seat to the Liberal Democrats due to Labour’s ambiguity over Brexit, it was claimed on Tuesday, as Jeremy Corbyn faces his own “Ed Balls” moment. The shadow foreign secretary, who is seen as a potential successor to Mr Corbyn by party moderates, is said to be one of several candidates deemed “at risk” in London. Ms Thornberry’s Islington South and Finsbury constituency, which neighbours Mr Corbyn’s seat, is one of the most pro-Remain constituencies in the country and would be considered a major scalp for the Lib Dems. A senior Lib Dem source told The Telegraph they had seen a significant swing away from Labour in recent months due to concerns among Remain voters over Mr Corbyn’s approach to Brexit. – Telegraph (£) Outgoing Leave-backing Labour MP Kate Hoey snubs her party to back the DUP as she advises voting tactically for Tories or the Brexit Party Veteran Labour MP Kate Hoey has announced she will not be voting for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party at the general election on December 12. Ms Hoey, 73, who will not be standing in the upcoming election, has said she will not be voting for Labour in London as it will be a “wasted vote” and instead will be casting her ballot paper in Northern Ireland for the DUP. Ms Hoey, who served as the Labour MP for Vauxhall for 30 years, has condemned the Labour Party’s Brexit stance and branded its neutral position “so confusing” and “so wrong”. The Brexiteer added the opposition party has “reneged on everything they promised at the last election”… Asked if she would have voted for the Brexit Party or Conservative Party if she was voting in London, she said “Yes I would”, adding that “the country comes before party politics in this election”. – Express Priti Patel claims Labour plans to extend freedom of movement could treble net migration to 840,000 a year… Priti Patel moved to put immigration centre stage in the election by claiming Labour’s plan to extend freedom of movement could treble net migration to 840,000 a year. The Home Secretary claimed Labour’s conference policy pledge to “maintain and extend freedom of movement rights” could almost double the current 9.3 million foreign-born migrants living in the UK within a decade. She used official modelling to claim there would be a nine-fold increase in net migration from countries within a “short-haul” flight in Europe and Africa and an 80 per cent rise from “long haul” destinations. – Telegraph (£) …as Len McCluskey sparks a Labour backlash over tough line on free movement Jeremy Corbyn’s key union supporter, Unite’s Len McCluskey, sparked a backlash on Tuesday as he told the Labour leader that victory in the general election means taking a tough line on free movement of workers. In a Guardian interview, the Unite general secretary said shadow cabinet members should not upset Labour’s carefully crafted Brexit position during the election and that he would oppose any attempts to extend free movement as voted for at the party’s annual conference in Brighton. “We will have to see what’s in the manifesto, but I don’t think [what conference voted for] is a sensible approach and I will be expressing that view,” McCluskey said, adding that he was keen to shore up the party’s support in marginal seats in the Midlands and north of England being targeted by Boris Johnson. – Guardian Wizz Air is planning to expand in London ‘no matter what happens to Brexit’ Low cost flyer Wizz Air is planning to spread its wings in its key London market, “no matter what happens … to Brexit,” its chief executive said today. Jozsef Varadi, who co-founded the Hungarian carrier, said this morning he “absolutely” plans to expand in the capital, despite missing out on Thomas Cook’s take-off and landing slots at Gatwick in the wake of its collapse. The firm announced profits rose more than a quarter in the first half of its financial year, with more passengers than ever before travelling on its flights. – City A.M. Owen Paterson: The EU is the enemy of science, innovation and technology. Post-Brexit, we can finally lead the world In his speech on the future of Conservative environmental policy today, Boris Johnson will highlight why it is only by leaving the EU that we can fully realise the potential of the UK as an environmental leader by harnessing “the power of science, innovation and technology.” He is right. Brexit undoubtedly represents an enormous opportunity for UK environmentalism, precisely because the EU has stood squarely against “science, innovation and technology” for decades. – Owen Paterson for the Telegraph (£) Asa Bennett: Of course Emmanuel Macron backs Boris – Europe needs him to get Brexit done Boris Johnson’s promise today to use a Conservative majority to end the “groundhoggery of Brexit” will be music to the ears of many people – and not just to Eurosceptic voters across the United Kingdom. European leaders share their reluctance to see Westminster indulge in what the Prime Minister calls yet more “political self-obsession and onanism”, none more so than Emmanuel Macron. The French President has marked himself out among the EU27 by routinely taking the hardest line on the idea of extending Article 50 any further. “I was always pictured as the bad guy in the room,” Mr Macron has acknowledged in welcoming how his new-found reputation: “I endorse such a role because I think it is a big mistake to procrastinate.” – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Alexandra Phillips: A democracy in which Brexit Party voters are not represented is no democracy at all Vote Brexit Party, get Corbyn and his wacky Marxist ideas. Vote Ukip, get the Scottish National Party and the break up the UK. Vote for the Tories or face a coalition of chaos. It’s the same old narrative. Every election. It’s time for the Conservatives to change the record. CCHQ is predictably ramping up the latest episode of Project Fear. Conservative MPs have lined up to flood the airwaves with the dubious and democratically bankrupt argument that a vote for the Brexit Party would “split the Leave vote” and that only they could deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum. Yet in swathes of the nation, voting Conservative splits the leave vote where only we have a chance at a seat. We saw it in Peterborough. Believe me, those Labour heartlands aren’t about to turn blue, only turquoise. – Alexandra Phillips MEP for the Telegraph (£) Rod Liddle: Nigel, please could you extend your generosity to 50 or 60 of the marginal seats held by Labour? Suddenly things are beginning to look a little more rosy for the Government. A new opinion poll has just given them a 14-point lead over Labour. Some more specific polling reckons that almost 40 per cent of people who voted Labour in Yorkshire last time won’t do so this time around. Or ever in the foreseeable future, I expect. I mean, why would you? But things are still terribly tight. There is still the prospect — receding a little, mercifully — that we might wake up on. December 13 to find Magic Grandpa running the country, with help from that Swinson woman and the Scottish Nationalists. That’s always been the problem. Labour might not have to gain any seats at all to become the biggest party. It could even lose seats overall, depending on how the SNP and Lib Dems manage. But that’s less likely now. And that’s because, at last, Nigel Farage has seen the light. – Rod Liddle for The Sun Robert Tombs: This Brexit election will decide if we can call ourselves a true democracy Few general elections can properly be described as historic. Fewer still mark a watershed in the way we are governed – perhaps one a century. In 1831, the victory of the Whigs under Earl Grey ensured that the old constitution would be reformed and a slow movement towards popular government began. The election of 1910, won by the Liberals, marked a victory of “the People” over “the Peers” and heralded full democracy. And now the election of 2019 will decide whether that very democracy, created so slowly and so painfully, can still function in 21st-century Europe. – Robert Tombs for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Former Justice Secretary David Gauke has been driven mad by bitterness and his hatred for Boris It is painful to see former statesmen reduced to bitter has-beens driven by childish petulance. Just weeks ago David Gauke was Justice Secretary voting for Theresa May’s deal. Now, axed by Boris Johnson, he urges voters to back the Lib-Dems and will himself fight the Conservative candidate in his old seat solely to stop Boris getting a majority vital to secure Brexit. Gauke must know the only alternative: A Marxist Government taking a blowtorch to our democracy — kept in power by the Liberals and SNP who, whatever they are telling voters now, will demand a price which Corbyn will willingly pay. Remainer Gauke was driven mad by Boris and Brexit. How did such lightweights ever reach Cabinet level? – The Sun says Brexit in Brief The ultimate aim of this election is to ensure a successful exit from the EU – John Longworth MEP for the Telegraph (£) Ursula von der Leyen demands huge 30 percent rise in foreign policy budget – Express