After abandoning his plan to contest hundreds of seats across the UK, Nigel Farage is under pressure to withdraw even more to avoid causing a hung parliament.

The Brexit Party leader is now facing calls not to field Brexit Party candidates in Labour marginals amid fears it could cost Boris Johnson a Conservative majority government at the election.

He has so far refused to give up any more seats, vowing in a column for the Daily Telegraph today to fight every Labour-held seat in the country.

But critics say that if he really wanted to avoid a hung parliament and the risk of a second referendum he should give up in swing seats too so that Tory candidates have the best chance of winning.

Asked if he might ‘back-pedal’ any further, Mr Farage said: ‘I have just taken 48 hours to make this decision – allow this one to settle first.’

Opposition parties said the move to back out of Tory safe seats showed that both Leave parties were now ‘one and the same’.

The hashtag #VoteJohnsonGetFarage began trending with Labour accusing the Tories of being in a pact with the Brexit Party.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the move was heavily influenced by President Donald Trump, claiming it was a move closer to giving American pharmaceutical companies access to the NHS.

He said: ‘One week ago Donald Trump told Nigel Farage to make a pact with Boris Johnson. Today, Trump got his wish.

‘This Trump alliance is Thatcherism on steroids.’

And Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake – responding to reports that pro-Brexit European Research Group held talks with the Brexit Party over the decision to withdraw – said: ‘These talks show that Nigel Farage is pulling the strings behind the scenes.

‘He is the puppet master in Boris Johnson’s Brexit horror show.

‘Every vote for the Conservatives is a vote for an extreme Brexit agenda backed by Nigel Farage.’

Mr Farage told Good Morning Britain today that he made the decision not to contest seats in the south and south west of the country where he believed running might hand victory to the Liberal Democrats.

He said: ‘I made a big generous offer to the Conservative party and gave them seats that would have gone to the Liberal Democrats.

‘They are under huge pressure from the Liberal Democrats in the south and south-west, and I did not want to risk a second referendum.

‘I did it because I want Brexit to happen. If they want Brexit to happen, they will reciprocate.’

According to the Financial Times, Mr Farage said he had not yet ‘considered’ abandoning any more seats but added ‘there isn’t much time’.

But The Sun quoted senior Tories, including Iain Duncan Smith, as urging the former Ukip leader to back off.

The ex-Conservative leader told the paper: ‘It’s a good start but if they want to deliver Brexit they’ve still got to focus on the fact that if they divide the vote they’ll let Labour in.

‘He’s going to have to go further. This is a game of two halves – we’ve had the first half and now we’re going to have the second half.

‘The second half is where he gets to decide which seats he stands down from, and he’s going to have to stand down from some of them.’

Mr Farage’s announcement was welcomed by the Prime Minister, who claimed it was recognition that only the Conservatives could ‘get Brexit done’.

The Brexit Party leader – who decided not to stand as an MP after seven previous attempts to win a seat were unsuccessful – said his decision to back off came after the PM made a video pledge on Twitter vowing not to extend the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Farage said he saw ‘a chink of light’ in the video and would now focus ‘on fighting every seat held by Labour, which has betrayed more than five million of its voters, and all the Remainer parties’.

He added: ‘I have no great love for the Tories, but I can see that by giving Johnson half a chance we will prevent a second referendum.

‘To me, that is the single most important thing for Britain. No matter how it is achieved.’

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