Mitt Romney's last rival's campaign is 'effectively over'

Ron Paul, Mitt Romney's only remaining rival for the Republican nomination in the US presidential race, said last night he would stop spending money on the 11 remaining primary elections, prompting speculation that his campaign is, effectively, over.

The Texas congressman insisted he would continue the fight for delegates, taking the battle to the Republican convention in Tampa. But the favourite of libertarians and Tea Party conservatives said he would not spend "many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have".

Mr Romney is 178 delegates short of the 1,144 needed to capture the nomination, and Mr Paul, 79, faces an all-but-impossible task of catching him. Mr Paul's supporters have been causing trouble at local delegate selections but are unlikely to derail Mr Romney's route.

Mr Paul is not running for another term in Congress.