Yahoo News Ukip attempts to steal march on rivals by restarting election campaign on Thursday
The UK Independence Party will attempt to steal a march on their rivals by unveiling the party’s manifesto in central London on Thursday morning.
Paul Nuttall, the party’s leader, said he wanted to publish his policies for government today to return to normality and ensure the terrorists do not win.
The decision is likely to prove controversial because the press conference is scheduled to start half an hour before a one minute's silence to remember the victims.
The general election is expected to restart in earnest on Friday when both the Tories and Labour relaunch their national campaigns.
All political parties suspended national campaigning following the terrorist attack in Manchester on Monday night, which left 22 dead and dozens injured.
The timing of the earlier restart could suit Ukip if quarterly migration statistics from the Office for National Statistics show an uptick in migrants coming to settle in the UK on Thursday morning.
Mr Nuttall, who had already delayed the manifesto’s publication by 24 hours after the bombing, said Britain should not be “cowed” by those who wish to “do us harm".
The party leader said: “Following those events it is right and proper that political parties suspended their campaigns for a short period as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives or suffered appalling injuries.
“But we cannot be cowed or allow our way of life to be undermined by those who wish to do us harm. These people hate the way we live, hate our freedom and hate our democracy.
“The best response we can make is to ensure that the democratic process continues and therefore I have decided that we must to go ahead with the launch of the Ukip general election manifesto.
"For those who say that nothing must change, but then complain, it is by prolonging the disruption to normality that we allow the terrorists to win. Politics has never been more important, politicians must deal with these issues."
Hours after Mr Nuttall’s statement both the Conservative and Labour parties said national campaigning would resume on Friday.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's leader, said: “The British people are united in their resolve that terror will not prevail. It will not prevent us going about our daily lives or derail our democratic process.
“Resuming democratic debate and campaigning is an essential mark of the country’s determination to defend our democracy and the unity that the terrorists have sought to attack.”
Theresa May, the Prime Minister and Tory leader, has cut short her visit by 24 hours to the G7 conference in Italy to return to the UK.
A Conservative spokesman said local campaigning would begin on at noon today [thurs], with national campaigning resuming tomorrow [Friday[.
He said: “The Conservative Party will resume local campaigning for the General Election at noon tomorrow, after the minute’s silence to remember all those who lost their lives and others who were affected by the callous attack on innocent life in Manchester. National campaigning will resume on Friday.”
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson had earlier told his local newspaper that he was suspending his personal national campaign for the rest of the week.
He said: "There's a balance to strike between honouring the victims of this terrible attack and continuing with our daily lives.
"But we can't allow these terrorists to disrupt our democracy and for that reason I hope that national campaigning can begin again shortly and we just continue with local activity until then.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: “In line with Labour and the Conservatives, we intend to resume national campaigning on Friday with local campaigning resuming tomorrow.”
The suicide bombing and the decision to increase the terror threat level from severe to critical raised questions about whether polling day could be moved from June 8.
Bhai Narinderjit Singh, the General Secretary of the Sikh Federation (UK) who made the proposal, said: “Although it is not straightforward party leaders should come together, suspend campaigning for a week and agree to postpone the General Election by two weeks.”
The last time the General Election was moved was in 2001 when Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair postponed polling day by an entire month because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease which resulted in restrictions on movement in rural areas.
However Mr Blair acted to delay the election when Parliament was still sitting. It is not thought possible to put back polling day once Parliament is dissolved.
A Conservative source said any delay to the date of the election "is not happening".
