Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Mr McDonnell denies Len McCluskey has come under pressure to change his mind about Labour's prospects at the general election, but had simply woken up in a more optimistic mood.

Mr McCluskey, general secretary of Labour's biggest financial backer, Unite, had said he believed a Labour win would be "extraordinary" and suggested winning just 200 seats would be a "successful" result.

He later distanced himself from the comments, saying he was now "full of optimism" about a Labour win.

Shadow Chancellor Mr McDonnell tells the BBC: "I think we are going to win and we are going to win it on the basis of the positive hope we are giving people,"

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Onto Conservative policy on care costs now and Labour's John McDonnell says the party should have looked at the Dilnot proposals to "pool the risk" of high care costs by introducing a cap on the amount people have to pay if they get a serious condition like dementia.

He also says the Tory aim to reduce net migration to the "tens of thousands" is "a joke". "They've said it three times now," he says.

The pledge, which was also in the 2010 and 2015 manifestos, has never been met since it was made.

The shadow chancellor tells the BBC 10m pensioners are waking up to the fact they are at risk of losing their winter fuel allowance this morning.

He says a lot of pensioners "are having a hard time" and says the policy to reduce the numbers of pensioners who receive the benefit is "sick and sneaky". John McDonnell says he is "angry" about this policy in the Conservative manifesto.

He said the Conservatives had not spelled out where the "means test would lie" so we do not yet know who would be affected and he argues as soon as you start means testing benefits many people do not claim because it is so complicated.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

There are nearly 100,000 foreign students from the EU alone in the UK and the Conservatives are saying they should be counted as part of the immigration target.

At the moment students can come and go freely under EU law - but what will happen to them when we leave the EU?

David Greenaway is vice chancellor of Nottingham University. He says international students and staff are vital to universities and the wider economy.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

John McDonnell rejects claims that Theresa May is being honest about the state of the economy and the country.

Instead, he says Labour is the one that has laid out a detailed list of costed policies which enables "us to be honest with the public". The Tories, he says, have made 60 "uncosted" commitments.

BBC Radio 4

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell is about to be interviewed on the Today programme by John Humphrys.

The defence minister was on Newsnight last night and was asked if the Conservative's immigration pledge - to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands - had been costed.

It wasn't he said, while the policy itself was an "aim".

Read the full story here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

UKIP immigration spokesman John Bickley has said the party is "not against immigration" but would aim for an "average net zero" target over five years.

"We would want to attract the brightest and the best from all over the world, we want to have a moratorium on unskilled immigration," he told the Today programme.

BBC Breakfast

The Lib Dem leader has called the Conservative Party's plans for changes to social care "utterly heartless" and were the "actions of a party that thinks it has already won the election."

Calling the manifesto plans a "dementia tax", Mr Farron said: "If you get dementia you will lose your house, you'll have nothing to pass on and that seems to me... utterly and completely unfair."

He added: "It sounds a bit grim this; if you die of a heart attack then you'll have nothing to pay but if you spend five, 10 years or more living with dementia needing care at home you'll be clobbered by the Conservatives.

"It is utterly heartless and it's the actions of a party that thinks it has already won the election and doesn't need to do anything to listen to you."

BBC Breakfast

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron is up and bright-eyed after last night's leader debate and appearing on BBC Breakfast.

"It was good fun," he said, before adding campaigning was not a time for much sleep - but there would be plenty of time for that afterwards.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn's decision not to appear at the debate was an "insult to everybody who's going to cast a vote," he said.

And it's also a reminder that Theresa May's approach to the election is "that she's already won it" and is "taking everybody for granted".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Yesterday Theresa May launched her Conservative manifesto, which included plans to means-test winter fuel payments as well as ending the pensions triple lock and making changes to social care.

Labour says its the return of the "nasty party" (that famous phrase coined by Mrs May herself) and today will be focusing their efforts on how pensioners will be affected by the Conservative pledges.

"This is the risky bit for Theresa May, pulling back the benefits of some older voters," says BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier

"Theresa May, and her team, are certainly aware of the dangers of alienating traditional Tory voters.

"It's a calculated risk," she says, before adding that the "pretty distinctive agenda" aimed at lower income families was a clear move away from the era of David Cameron and George Osborne.

Image source, AFP

UKIP's immigration spokesman John Bickley has criticised the Conservative's record on immigration.

He told the BBC's Today programme he had found it hard to find the section on immigration in the Tory manifesto - it was at the back and contained no deadline for delivery, no detail.

With net immigration at 1.8 million, he said: "The Conservatives are taking the British people for mugs."

He warned of an increased population of "three cities the size of Birmingham" by the time the UK leaves the EU.

UKIP would be setting out the details of its policy on immigration at its manifesto launch next week where they'll be "setting out how we want to see a period of calm" after 20 years of "high" immigration.

They wanted to have a zero net target over five years and a moratorium on unskilled migration, he said.

"We need to pause for breath" and encourage British companies to "invest" in the population, he said.

Image source, Getty Images

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is to make a direct pitch to Labour voters while launching her party's manifesto for June's election.

The party is to set out its platform for the general election at an event in Edinburgh.

Ms Davidson will use her speech to accuse Labour of being in "a state of civil war" over council coalitions.

The Scottish party leader will set out her proposals 24 hours after Mrs May launched the UK Conservative manifesto.

She will claim that "only the Scottish Conservatives are strong enough to take on the SNP" at the ballot box.

Prime Minister Theresa May is also expected to join Conservatives on the campaign trail in Scotland.

Read the full story here.

Economic hopes and fears in Aberdeen North.

Theresa May is in Edinburgh at the Scottish Conservatives' manifesto launch.

Jeremy Corbyn is meeting pensioners in Bedfordshire, as Labour attack the Tories' "threats to living standards which would hit pensioners and working people".

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron is campaigning in Manchester and the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon is campaigning in the south of Scotland.

Are you flagging after a manifesto-packed week? Or are you still picking through the policies?

Stick with us as we bring you all the news from the campaign trail.