Nick Servini
Political editor, Wales

Image source, Getty Images

Call it the elephant in the room, or a clear strategy by Welsh Labour, but the name of Jeremy Corbyn was conspicuous by its absence at its campaign launch.

You can see why Welsh Labour is trying to differentiate itself from UK Labour, it is credited with helping the party hold on to a number of councils last week, and helped it fight off the Tories in marginal seats in the assembly campaign last year.

But how do you do it in a general election when it would not be Carwyn Jones walking into Downing Street but Jeremy Corbyn?

And then there is the question of how much responsibility the First Minister takes if there is a poor performance.

Read more here.

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent

Three Labour activists who publicly opposed their own local candidate have been excluded from the party.

The trio - including the local party secretary - appeared on a Today Programme report this morning supporting the idea of a "progressive alliance".

They are to campaign for the National Health Action Party candidate in South West Surrey, Louise Irvine.

They have been sent letters including transcripts of their interviews saying they are ineligible to remain members.

The three believe Irvine has a better chance of beating Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the seat than Labour's candidate.

Party rules make clear supporting a candidate from a rival party is not permitted.

Former Labour MP Simon Danczuk - who has just resigned from the party having been barred from standing as a candidate - is not impressed at the selection news from his old constituency.

Tony Lloyd, who the party has chosen, was a Labour MP until 2012, when he became Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner. But that role no longer exists following last week's election of Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester's mayor.

Peter Saull
BBC Radio Nottingham Political Reporter

The Conservative candidate for Broxtowe, Anna Soubry, has given a lukewarm response to the inclusion of the net migration target in the Tory manifesto.

Speaking to the Sunday Politics East Midlands, she said: “I’m not too into targets... we know that they don’t always work."

She added: “I believe in the positive benefits of immigration. We need immigrants in our country.

And the former minister, who campaigned for a Remain vote in last year's EU referendum, argued: “The market determines the level of immigration.”

Radio 4 PM

Image source, Getty Images

The Conservative Party want to cut net migration. But are they setting themselves up to fail?

Meeting the Conservative immigration target would be "extremely difficult if not impossible", said Stephen Crabb.

And asked whether his party should commit to the pensions triple lock, the former Tory minister told the Westminster Hour's Carolyn Quinn: "I still think we should keep it till 2020 - that was the promise we made.”

Just days after learning he'd lost his seat on Shropshire Council, the Green Party's Duncan Kerr has learned he's been chosen to challenge for the North Shropshire seat in the general election.

He was the party's first councillor on the local authority after taking the Oswestry South ward in a by-election last year.

Image source, Duncan Kerr

Emma Bullard has been chosen to be the party's candidate in the Shrewsbury and Atcham Constituency for a fourth time.

Owen Paterson and Daniel Kawczynski will be contesting the seats in North Shropshire and Shrewsbury respectively for the Conservatives.

Earlier today, we heard the Lib Dems had chosen Tom Thornhill and Hannah Fraser as their candidates in the two seats.

Other candidates have until 11 May to submit their applications. After that date we will feature a full list of prospective MPs on the North Shropshire and Shrewsbury & Atcham constituency pages.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says Theresa May is the "most anti-London Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher".

May is calling on Londoners to support her local candidates in the upcoming General Election

Radio 4 PM

UKIP’s immigration spokesman, John Bickley, says his party would appoint a migration control commission to achieve zero migration over a five-year period.

He says there are a lot of workers in the UK from the EU and from outside the EU, yet there are more than 800,000 16 to 24-year-old British people not in work.

He argues that it's too easy for employers to say they want cheap labour and then import it from eastern Europe.

He wants more British people taking seasonal fruit-picking jobs, adding that if he was at college now, he would see it as a good way of earning money.

"If you stop giving employers easy access to cheap labour from eastern Europe, they will employ more British people... and that's got to be good for Britain," he says.

BBC News Channel

Lord Campbell has given his backing to Tim Farron after he ruled out forming electoral pacts or deals with other parties. 

The former party leader told the BBC: "You don’t join the Liberal Democrats to be like sheep.

"But the leader of the party has said 'no pact, no deal, no coalition' and he has my complete support for that position," he added.

Mr Farron dismissed the idea of a pact after senior Lib Dem Sir Vince Cable was secretly recorded urging supporters to consider backing Labour candidates in certain seats.

Ben Weisz
Political reporter, BBC Sussex

The Labour candidate for Brighton Pavilion has stepped down, BBC Sussex can reveal.

Michelle Thew is the CEO of animal welfare charity Cruelty Free International. I understand it became clear that her commitments there were not compatible with standing as a candidate in the general election.

She is replaced by Solomon Curtis, a 20-year-old student at the University of Sussex. He stood in 2015 in Wealden, losing to Conservative Nus Ghani.

He joins Tory Emma Warnham and independent candidate Nick Yeomans in challenging the incumbent - Caroline Lucas of the Green Party.

Simon Danczuk, who was suspended by Labour for allegedly sending explicit texts, has officially resigned from the party, claiming it has "totally lost touch... with reality in 21st Century Britain".

The former Rochdale MP cites shadow chancellor John McDonnell's "obsessing about Karl Marx, the benefits of communism and celebrating the reign of Joseph Stalin" as examples of what he means.

Mr Danczuk, who tweeted out his resignation letter to Labour general secretary Iain McNicol, signs off by saying he hopes the party will return to a more moderate form of social democracy and includes a photo of his torn-up membership card.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has launched Welsh Labour's general election campaign - making no reference to UK party leader Jeremy Corbyn in a speech to activists in Cardiff.

Mr Jones unveiled the party's five pledges, including promises on the NHS, housing, schools and policing.

The first minister said the general election should not be about Brexit but about "seven years of Tory failure".

He defended his failure to mention Mr Corbyn, saying it was a Welsh launch.

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