Summary

  • CPS: No charges over 2015 battle bus

  • One file, for Kent, still being considered

  • Tories: 'Politically motivated complaints'

  • Labour and Lib Dem education pledges

  • The election is on 8 June

Live Reporting

Martha Buckley and Jackie Storer

  1. Labour attacks UKIP over 'back room deals'

    Hannah Bewley
    Hampshire and Isle of Wight political reporter

    Following news that UKIP plans to stand aside in two seats in the New Forest, Labour hit out at "back room deals".

    The party came third in both seats in 2015 behind the Conservatives and UKIP. It said:

    The only way to get the change we need, to build a fair economy and strong public services, is to vote Labour. People don’t want back room deals. They want to vote for a party they’ve got confidence in."

  2. UKIP to stand aside in New Forest seats

    Hannah Bewley
    Hampshire and Isle of Wight political reporter

    UKIP is not fielding candidates in the general election in both seats in the New Forest - and the party is asking members to vote for Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs there.

    A statement on their Facebook page said: "I now have to ask you to do something I would never have thought possible, to vote for the Conservative candidate Julian Lewis."

    Paul Bailey, who stood for New Forest West in 2015 against the Conservatives, said he wasn’t standing this time to try to get "some elite guardians of the Brexit result into the Houses of Parliament".

    We are taking our decisions based on limited resource and funds and the money and time, blood, sweat and tears of a combative election campaign where that is best spent.”

  3. Rayner: Education policy will 'help businesses'

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    The Labour Party is making a multi-billion pound funding pledge to tackle school cash shortages in England.

    Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said Labour wants to reassure parents that funding in schools will be there to make sure teachers aren't being made redundant.

  4. Lib Dems pledge £100bn EU saving

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Tim Farron also said the Lib Dems would save £100bn by working to keep the UK in the single market, despite the referendum vote for Brexit.

    Labour and the Conservatives are planning to take Britain out of the single market. That's costing the taxpayer £100bn - that's the government's own figures.

    The Liberal Democrats are in a position - because we make the choice to fight for Britain's place in the single market - where that wise choice for the good of our country means that we will have the money we need to spend on our schools and our hospitals.

    He added that the Lib Dems would also scrap the married couples' tax allowance.

  5. Where will the Lib Dems find money for schools?

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Tim FarronGetty Images

    Tim Farron has been fleshing out how the Liberal Democrats intend to pay for £7bn of investment in schools in England.

    Like Labour, their plan is funded by reversing Conservative government cuts in corporation taxes - this time to 20%.

    But, Mr Farron said, it's "the first and only time we're spending it" - referring to criticism levelled at Labour that it plans to fund several policies from the same pot.

  6. Ruth Davidson: Scotland needs to attract more migrants

    BBC Radio 5 live

    In an interview with Emma Barnett for BBC Radio 5 live, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives said that she wants Scotland to receive a greater proportion of the immigrants who come to the UK.

    Ruth Davidson said:

    I think the big question in Scotland is why, when we have got a third of the land mass of the UK, we’ve got 8.4% of the population of the UK, why we only attract 4% of migrants to the UK to come and live and work in Scotland? In terms of the proportion, I think that we should absolutely be attracting more than 4% of the people who come to the UK. We should be attracting more of them to Scotland.

    Pressed on the what the right level of immigration would be, Ms Davidson defended Theresa May’s desire to cut immigration to the tens of thousands.

    What I'm saying is, we need a bigger slice of the pie. You are talking about the size of the pie itself.

  7. Scottish Conservative leader 'open' to reviewing so-called 'rape clause'

    BBC Radio 5 live

    Ruth DavidsonPA

    The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, has told BBC Radio 5 live that she is open to reviewing how the controversial so-called "rape clause" works.

    Welfare changes, which came in across the UK on 6 April, limit tax credits to the first two children in a family. But an additional clause means mothers who have a third child as a result of rape can be exempted, as long as evidence is provided to prove they have been raped.

    Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called the clause an "abomination" and Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has said that Ruth Davidson would have to "defend the rape clause every single day of the general election campaign".

    Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live’s Emma Barnett, Ms Davidson said:

    I think that it's right that child tax credits are limited to the first two children. I also think that it's right that if you are going to have that limit, that you have exceptions in exceptional cases, including the very worst cases like the one that you are referring to.

    She reiterated that the verification system is one that “already works elsewhere and had broad support elsewhere”, but confirmed she’s willing to look at how it works:

    If there is an issue – and we don’t know yet, because it’s only just coming in – if there’s an issue with how that’s done, then let’s review that."

  8. Peter Lilley: 'Only priority is bringing in cheap labour from abroad'

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Conservative MP Peter Lilley says we need to move away from the "metropolitan elite who think any restrictions on immigration are racist and xenophobic".

    He argues the UK should train people to meet demand and not be working with businesses who are only interested in importing cheap labour from abroad.  

  9. Verdict on the Mays' One Show interview

    BBC Breakfast

    Professor of political history Steven Fielding and freelance political journalist Martha Gill give their verdict on the Mays' One Show interview.

    Prof Fielding tells BBC Breakfast that such appearances are "a good way for politicians to communicate with the electorate" - though Ms Gill thinks the PM was "slightly uneasy".  

    Verdict on the Mays' One Show interview

    An academic and a journalist on whether an appearance on the One Show worked for Theresa May.

    Read More

  10. Mays' sofa appearance an 'eyebrow-raiser'

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    The Mays' One Show interview is up for dissection by Rosa Prince, author of a biography on the PM and Camilla Cavendish, who worked for David Cameron.

    Ms Prince says their sofa appearance was intended to be "light-hearted and harmless" but says it was an "eyebrow-raiser" that Britain's second female prime minister defined taking the bins out in terms of "girls' and boys' jobs".

    Looking at her policies, Ms Cavendish says it is "too early" to determine whether there is a particular brand of "Mayism" that breaks with Mr Cameron's policies.

    "It may not be something as grand as an 'ism', it may not be a fully-fledged ideology," she says.

    But, she adds, Mrs May is a "red Tory" who believes in levelling the playing field.

  11. Angela Rayner on tuition fees: 'Watch this space'

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Labour's Angela Rayner moves from Breakfast to Today, where she is asked whether a Labour would government abolish tuition fees.

    "Watch this space," the shadow education secretary says, adding that, for now, she is keen to push the party's policy on schools.

  12. I didn't see Corbyn Brexit interview, says Rayner

    BBC Breakfast

    Pressed on Labour's position on Brexit, Angela Rayner said the party was "dead clear" that the UK was coming out of Europe.

    After Jeremy Corbyn did not say whether or not he would take the UK out, Ms Rayner said: "I didn't see that interview with Jeremy.

    "In all my conversations with Jeremy, we are coming out of Europe. It's about what type of deal we get."

  13. What will the Lib Dem manifesto say on tuition fees?

    BBC Breakfast

    The Liberal Democrats' Lord Newby was pressed on the party's plans for university tuition fees during his appearance on BBC Breakfast.

    Ahead of the 2010 election, the Lib Dems pledged to oppose increasing student tuition fees.

    After the election, it formed a coalition government with the Tories and MPs approved plans to allow universities in England to charge annual tuition fees of up to £9,000, nearly three times the previous £3,200 limit.

    Senior party figures later apologised for breaking the election pledge.

    Lord Newby said people would have to wait for the 2017 election manifesto for the details but added: "We're not going to suggest that we scrap them again."

  14. Labour wants 'National Education Service'

    BBC Breakfast

    Angela Rayner

    Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, says her party would fully fund education in England to form a "National Education Service" free at the point of use, for children and for those who want to go back into education. 

    Asked about the range of policies the party wants to fund from corporation tax, she said their pledges were not all coming from corporation tax.

    But, she said, it had been cut under the Conservatives. Labour wanted to make sure business got the skilled people it needed.

    Corporation tax would still be the lowest rate in the G7, Mr Rayner added, but raising it from 19% to 26% would be a "responsible" way of paying for public services.

  15. Lib Dems 'would reverse' Tory corporation tax cut

    BBC Breakfast

    Lord Newby

    Lord Newby, leader of the Liberal Democrat peers, tells BBC Breakfast about the party's education plans. The Lib Dems are promising £7bn to protect per-pupil funding levels in England.

    This can be funded, Lord Newby says, by "reversing a number of Conservative tax cuts" including corporation tax.

    He brands Conservative cuts in the rate "unnecessary" and claims that reversing the "downward path" of corporation tax would raise "a large proportion of the money" for the party's commitment.

  16. IFS sees risk in Labour's education funding plans

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Labour's £4.8bn funding for schools in England would come from raising the 19% level of corporation tax to 26% by 2021.

    That move would raise more money than is needed for the policy, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, says.

    He thinks it would pull in £15-20bn annually once fully implemented and return the main rate of corporation tax to where it was six or seven years ago.

    However, he says that increase may not bring long-term benefits.

    It is people in the end who pay it and it would reduce incentives for companies to invest in the UK.

    The risk is whilst this would raise knocking on for £20bn in the short run, it's probably going to raise rather less than that in the long run as companies invest less and take other opportunities to reduce the amount of tax they pay.

  17. Expenses a 'hand grenade in May's path'

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    The election expenses investigation affects key, marginal seats, says BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith, and this moment is significant.

    Here we have an election camp where Theresa May has remorselessly steamrollered forward in this very tightly-controlled, ruthless, scripted campaign. This would be the first time a sort of hand grenade is chucked in her path from field left, totally catching her by surprise.

    No idea how this is going to play - what are the ramifications? It absolutely plays to Jeremy Corbyn's narrative about the so-called rigged political system with the wealthy and powerful trying to buy influence.

  18. What would you do if you were #PMfortheday?

    Stuart Maisner
    BBC Live reporter

    We gave three teenagers 20 seconds to outline what they'd do if they were in charge of the country.

    #PMfortheday 

  19. Funding probe ahead of candidate deadline

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    If the CPS is to charge any Conservative candidates or officials over election funding breaches, the prime minister will need to move quickly, BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith says.

    The deadline for candidates to contest the general election is tomorrow and it is almost certain anyone charged would be asked to stand down.

    The Electoral Commission has already fined the Conservatives £70,000, criticised the party's resistance to the investigation and said it gained financial advantage in the seats in question.

    What is at issue now is whether there was intent to break the rules on local and national funding.

  20. Telegraph: Labour could face 'historic split'

    The Daily Telegraph

    A look at what the papers are saying this morning.

    The Telegraph reports that 100 moderate Labour MPs could form a breakaway group in Parliament if Labour loses the election and Jeremy Corbyn does not step down.

    The paper claims some Labour candidates are already in talks with donors.

    One potential scenario is for the MPs to resign the Labour whip and become independents grouped together in the Commons under the Progressives banner.

    They could then rejoin the Parliamentary Labour Party once Mr Corbyn had been replaced with a leader they supported.

    And the paper's parliamentary sketchwriter, Michael Deacon, gives his verdict on Theresa and Philip May's appearance on the One Show last night, branding it "sweet, but screamingly dull".

    He writes: "Ken Clarke famously described Theresa May as 'a bloody difficult woman'. Well, she’s certainly a bloody difficult woman to interview."