Michael Crick: Ukip will stand in every seat in England and Wales

Michael Crick is with Nigel Farage in Dudley. He reports:

Ukip’s head of candidates David Soutter tells me that when nominations close on Thursday, the party expects to have somewhere between 630 and 650 candidates.

They’ll be fighting every seat in England and Wales, but not quite all of Scotland.  And the party has also  been quite selective about what seats it’s fighting in Northern Ireland.

Ukip knows contesting almost every seat isn’t just important to bolster its claims to be a UK-wide party, but will also help boost its overall nationwide  vote. That could be an important point when the results come in, especially if, as looks increasingly likely, Ukip wins only a handful of seats.