Image source, PA Media

We can now bring you our first media round of the morning, with the Green Party's Sian Berry starting off the day in the hot seat.

She insists that the Greens' wealth tax policy will help plug the gap in NHS funding.

But in a heated interview with presenter Nick Robinson on Radio 4's Today programme, Berry was challenged multiple times about how realistic those plans are.

As a reminder, the Greens are proposing a new wealth tax of 1% a year on assets of over £10m, rising to 2% on assets worth more than £1bn (read up more on those pledges here).

It was put to her that there are no comparable successful wealth tax systems anywhere in the world and it could force the richest people in the UK to leave the country.

Berry refutes that, saying the taxes would be fair and only fall on the "broadest shoulders".

She adds that the £15bn revenue would be used, in part, to implement a program to prevent the transmission of HIV by 2030.

While the Tories and Labour will be focusing their attention today on the property ladder, the Liberal Democrats have unveiled a £300m pledge to carry out up to 1.2 million pothole repairs a year.

The party has said it would make more of the existing road budget available to local authorities so it could be spent on fixing potholes.

Overnight, the party's leader Sir Ed Davey said the Conservatives "have driven us down a motorway of decay".

We're expecting to see Davey out and about on the campaign trail later on.

Image source, PA Media

As just mentioned in our last post, we're soon going to be turning our attention to the morning media rounds, where candidates will be battling it out (once again) on the radio and TV.

First up, we'll be hearing from Green Party candidate Sian Berry - her party is promising a major injection of money into the NHS.

Next up is Housing Secretary Michael Gove, who will be on Radio 4's Today programme facing scrutiny over the Conservatives' track record on housebuilding and how they propose to make it easier to get people on the property ladder. Labour's shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook will also be on the show, facing scrutiny about their party's respective plans.

Rounding out the morning will be deputy first minister of Scotland, Kate Forbes who will be on BBC Breakfast to talk more about the SNP's manifesto which was unveiled yesterday.

Stay with us as we bring you live lines and analysis before we return to the campaign trail.

Image source, PA Media

Before we turn our attention to the morning media rounds, let's take a look at one of the key issues for this election that both Labour and the Conservatives will be campaigning on today: housing.

Later this morning, communities secretary Michael Gove is set to lead the attack on Labour's approach to the issue.

The Tories claim that Labour not matching their commitments - including a pledge to make permanent the stamp duty threshold of £425,000 in England and Northern Ireland for first-time buyers - will amount to a "first-time buyer tax" for those trying to get on the property ladder.

Labour counter by saying: "This reeks of desperation from the Tories."

The party adds that it intends to "get Britain building" and help working families onto the housing ladder, as the party has promised to build 1.5m new homes in England during the next five years.

• Read more about the housing policies of the Conservatives and Labour

Ali Abbas Ahmadi
Live reporter

Warnings that the Conservatives could suffer a heavy defeat in the election are all over the papers this morning.

The Telegraph reports on a "Tory wipeout", citing its own exclusive opinion poll. The paper reports Rishi Sunak "is predicted to become the first sitting prime minister ever to lose their seat at a general election". An analysis piece says "Kemi [Badenoch] is the future of the party - but no one else survives this catastrophe".

The Times cites a YouGov election survey and says the Tories are "set to suffer worst poll defeat for 100 years", while the i, reporting on the same study, leads with "Tories despair as poll signals worst defeat in 200 years".

Several papers also criticise on the Just Stop Oil climate activists spraying orange powder at the Stonehenge. "Is nothing sacred to the eco clowns?" the Daily Mail's top story asks, while the Daily Express urges "Just lock them up!"

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves "pledges to close gender pay gap 'once and for all' if Labour wins", the Guardian's top story reads.

• Read what the papers are saying here.

Chris Mason and Sam Francis

Image source, Reuters

A second Conservative candidate is being looked into by the Gambling Commission over a bet relating to the timing of the general election, the BBC can reveal.

Laura Saunders is the party’s candidate in Bristol North West and has worked for the party since 2015.

It is understood she worked most recently in the party’s International Division – a department of Conservative Campaign Headquarters which liaises with other centre-right parties around the world.

It is not known when the bet was placed or for how much money.

A Conservative Party spokesman told the BBC: “We have been contacted by the Gambling Commission about a small number of individuals. As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded.”

Saunders has been approached for comment and has not offered a response.

• Read the full story here.

Just two weeks from now the UK will be electing a new parliament and you can expect another round of hard campaigning today, from the doorstep to the TV studio floor.

One story making headlines this morning is news that a second Conservative candidate is being looked into by the Gambling Commission in connection with a bet relating to the timing of the election. It is not known when any bet was placed or for how much money. The candidate, Laura Saunders, has been approached for comment.

Last week Craig Williams, a parliamentary aide to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, apologised and said he had made a huge error of judgement over betting on the date of the election.

Labour and the Conservatives are to focus their campaigning today on housing, while the Liberal Democrats are promising to invest £300m in the next parliament to fill 1.2m pot holes a year.

At noon the Bank of England is expected to announce it is holding interest rates at 5.25% for the seventh time - expect swift reaction from the parties in a race dominated by the economy.

Come this evening the leaders of the UK's four main parties will take part in our much-awaited Question Time election special. Presented in York by Fiona Bruce, the programme will be broadcast from 20:00-22:00 BST on BBC One, radio and online as well as on BBC iPlayer.

Stay with us through the day as our reporters and editors bring you the key moments and weigh up the latest campaign promises and claims.