Party leaders' General Election campaigns remain suspended after Manchester Arena terror attack

The party leaders' General Election campaigns will remain suspended on Wednesday following the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who visited Manchester and chaired two meetings of the emergency Cobra committee on Tuesday, will continue handling the response to suicide bombing that claimed 22 lives.

The campaigns of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat counterpart Tim Farron, who both attended a vigil in Manchester for victims of Monday night's atrocity, will also remain paused.

But in individual seats, candidates may resume their local campaigns for the June 8 vote, with some would-be MPs anxious to avoid giving the impression that terrorism is triumphing over democracy.

Mrs May spoke to Mr Corbyn in the hours after the bomb attack, in which multiple children were casualties, and agreed to put the contest on hold until further notice.

The two leaders are understood to have remained in regular contact about the situation following the worst terrorist incident ever during a General Election period.

Mrs May cancelled a planned visit to the south west so she could chair Cobra before travelling to Manchester, while Mr Farron called off a campaigning trip to Gibraltar.

The Scottish National Party postponed the planned launch of its manifesto.

Labour confirmed its events planned for Wednesday had been cancelled.

"The Labour Party's General Election campaign remains suspended until further notice," a party spokesman said.

While the ceasefire in the national battle remains in place, low-key campaigning is set to resume at a local level with both Labour and the Lib Dems understood to have allowed candidates to decide on their positions.

Labour's Mike Gapes, who hopes to return to Parliament in the Ilford South seat, said: "We must not allow murderous terrorists to undermine our democratic society. I will be resuming political campaigning tomorrow morning."

The Conservatives said they would not be campaigning at local or national level on Wednesday.