Express & Star

Tom Watson announces his election campaign is on hold after Manchester terror attacks

Tom Watson has announced he has suspended his national election campaign for the rest of the week as the country comes to terms with the Manchester terror attack.

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Tom Watson

Labour's deputy leader has visited more than 40 constituencies in the campaign so far. He says he hopes that national campaigning can resume shortly to show that terrorists cannot disrupt Britain's democracy.

It came as the country's major political parties suspended campaigning for a second day following Monday night's atrocity, which killed 22 people and left dozens more injured.

Mr Watson, who is Labour's candidate for West Bromwich East, said: "I've taken a personal decision to suspend my national campaign activity for the rest of the week.

"I think we need time to come to terms with the attack on the children and families in Manchester and to understand how it happened.

"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."