Image source, Getty Images

The SNP has said it would introduce a law blocking the UK government from using the NHS as a "bargaining chip" in trade talks.

Asked if he would bring forward such legislation, the PM said: "We can do free trade deals with countries around the world but under us the NHS is not for sale.

"It's not going to be on any kind of international trade negotiation.

"This is pure Loch Ness Monster, Bermuda Triangle stuff."

BBC health editor Hugh Pym explores claims the NHS could be "up for sale" here.

Nigel Farage is out campaigning in south Wales today.

The Brexit Party leader is predicting his party will do "very well" in Welsh Labour heartland seats in this election.

He says the party will fight all 40 seats in Wales, focusing particularly on areas which voted Leave.

Launched just seven months ago, the Brexit Party has four Welsh Assembly members, who were previously members of UKIP - the party Mr Farage used to lead.

There are also two Welsh Brexit Party MEPs.

Read more on this story here.

Image source, Getty Images

The prime minister says his Brexit withdrawal agreement is "a great deal" for Northern Ireland because it keeps "access to the single market".

Boris Johnson's Brexit deal with the EU will see Britain leave the single market and customs union but with Northern Ireland following different rules to prevent a hard border.

The prime minister made the comments to Conservatives during a visit to Northern Ireland.

In a video posted on Twitter by Manufacturing NI, external, he says: "Northern Ireland has got a great deal. You keep free movement, you keep access to the single market but you also have, as it says in the deal, unfettered access to GB."

The Lib Dems have criticised the PM following his comments, with the party's Brexit spokesman Tom Brake saying: "The single market and freedom of movement are a great deal - even Boris Johnson recognises this.

"So why isn't he keeping them for the whole of the UK as part of the many benefits of EU membership?"

If you need a recap on what's in Mr Johnson's Brexit deal you can read our explainer here.

As we reported earlier Labour is promising a number of changes for women in the workplace today.

One of the policies the party proposes is creating a body with powers to fine businesses that fail to report their gender pay gap.

Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti says at the moment it is left to individual women to raise pay discrepancies.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The world doesn't stop just because an election is on - there could be an international crisis, a run on a bank, flooding, or an outbreak of disease.

So who's in charge while politicians hit the campaign trail?

Our parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy explains here.

The Tories have been setting out some of their plans for immigration this morning.

Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Today Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins was asked whether her party wants to see immigration at higher or lower levels than it is now.

BBC Essex

A Labour parliamentary candidate has quit as the party's candidate in Clacton over an accusation that he made an anti-Semitic remark.

Gideon Bull denies he called a Jewish Labour councillor - Zena Brabazon - Shylock but admits he used the term.

The comment was allegedly made during a private meeting this summer at Haringey Council.

"The allegation that I called a Jewish Cabinet member Shylock is entirely false," Mr Bull says in a statement to BBC Essex.

"I used an analogy when referring to a housing decision being called in by backbenchers. I was not referring to the councillor, who was not part of the call in.

"When she politely informed me that this saying was offensive, I immediately apologised and explained that I did not know that Shylock was Jewish," adding that he would never have mentioned it if he did and did not know the term was offensive.

Councillor Brabazon declined to comment.

A complaint about Mr Bull's use of the word was made to the National Labour Party in July but the party has not yet responded to a request about the status of this complaint.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Image source, AFP

A lot of what we will hear at the SNP's campaign launch this morning will be familiar – the party's opposition to Brexit and its demands for independence.

What a lot of people will be listening for is any clues about the sort of conditions the SNP might set before they are prepared to back, say, Jeremy Corbyn if he were in a position to form a minority government.

On this the SNP appear to be raising the bar.

They’ve already said they would demand another referendum next year.

But Labour have signaled they are not in favour of another referendum and they wouldn’t consider one in the formative years of a Labour government.

On top of that, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is expected to put down a few other demands – notably that she would want the Scottish government to have control of its own immigration policy.

Read more about the SNP's other proposals here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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The SNP are launching their election campaign today, with a promise to bring forward legislation to protect the NHS from privatisation and future trade deals.

The NHS Protection Bill would block any UK government from using the NHS as a "bargaining chip" in trade talk, it says.

If passed it would also give devolved parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland a veto on these deals.

The UK government has insisted the NHS is "not on the table" for trade talks and is not in any way "up for sale".

But SNP candidate Ian Blackford says the NHS is under threat "because Boris Johnson and the Conservatives want to do a trade deal with the US".

Mr Blackford tells the Today programme: "I think if Boris Johnson goes into talks with the Americans, the Americans have made it clear that it is always America first, so one would question what kind of cards that Boris Johnson would be holding."

Read more about the SNP's proposals here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, PA Media

Veteran Labour candidate Dame Margaret Hodge has declined to say whether she would prefer Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson as prime minister.

Dame Margaret - an outspoken critic of how Mr Corbyn has dealt with anti-Semitism - tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she wants a Labour government, adding that a government is "more than any individual".

She says there are parts of the current Labour project with which she disagrees but she "will not give up fighting for what I believe to be right and moral and important".

It came after ex-Labour MP Ian Austin urged voters to support Mr Johnson over Mr Corbyn in the general election.

Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti tells the programme she was "sorry to hear" Dame Margaret's comments, adding that she has great respect for her and is glad she was endorsed as Labour's candidate in Barking.

Inequality in the housing market, poverty among working people and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are among some of the biggest issues facing the UK economy right now.

Read more about the UK's six main money problems.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Lord Gus O'Donnell, president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, says if the future chancellor does not want to increase taxes then this will constrain their current spending.

He tells the Today programme: "When you look at the big capital spending increases - it's about £50bn for Labour, £20bn for the Conservatives - do we have the capacity?

"The civil servants who are writing their briefing packs for the incoming ministers for various parties will be thinking, 'well what could you spend this on'? 'What's, as it were, shovel ready? Will you get good value for money if you rush at it this quickly?' So I think there'll be lots of bottlenecks."

It comes after the parties set out their plans to borrow to fund more spending, in order to take advantage of historically low interest rates and spend more on transport, hospitals and other infrastructure projects.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Labour has criticised a Tory proposal to introduce an "NHS visa" as "full of holes"

The Conservatives say it will make it easier for doctors and nurses from around the world to work in the UK after Brexit - but Labour point out it does not cover other hospital staff such as cooks, cleaners and porters.

Defending the policy, Home Office minister Victoria Atkins says these staff are "a key part of the NHS" and "absolutely vital".

"We want to obviously encourage people who live in the UK already to apply for those jobs," she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we reported Conservative plans for an "NHS visa" to make it easier for doctors and nurses from around the world to work in the UK after Brexit.

Baroness Finlay, former president of the British Medical Association and an independent cross-bench peer, says the NHS is "very dependent" on workers from abroad.

However, she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Tory proposals are limited because they are only offering five year visas and the government also needs to look at retention of staff.

Additionally, she says the UK "doesn't have enough of its own graduates coming through".

Find out more about the Conservative proposals here.

Image source, PA/Conservative Party

Posting on social media is a great way for a party to get its message to supporters, says the BBC's Paul Sargeant. But how do you reach a new audience beyond those friends and followers?

That's where paid-for advertising comes in. By paying for an advert the parties can put their message in front of a specific audience.

This way they can reach those who are outside the circle of people sharing political memes and news with their friends and followers.

Following controversy about ads it displayed during the 2016 US Presidential election campaign and the UK's EU referendum, Facebook committed to more transparency over political adverts on its platforms.

The result is Facebook's Ad Library, which allows anyone to see the paid-for political content posted on Facebook and Instagram.

So what does the data in the Ad Library tell us about the first week of campaign advertising?

Find out more here

BBC Breakfast

The Conservatives are focusing on the NHS today, saying they will make it easier for doctors and nurses from around the world to work in the UK after Brexit.

If they win the election, the party says they will introduce an "NHS visa" as part of a promised "points-based immigration system".

Home Secretary Priti Patel tells BBC Breakfast the idea of the policy is to "streamline" the process for people coming to work for the NHS from outside the EU and make it "less costly for them to come".

While the Labour party would bring "unlimited and uncontrolled immigration", Ms Patel says the Tories want a system that is "fair" but that "the British government is in control of".

Read more about the Tory plans here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Labour is setting out its policies for women in the workplace today, including a promise to increase the length of statutory maternity pay and to set up a body with powers to fine firms failing to report gender pay gaps.

Shadow attorney general Baroness Shami Chakrabarti says Labour's plans are "perhaps the most radical offer to women in 50 years".

Business lobby group the CBI says it supports the extension of statutory maternity pay to 12 months, but expressed concerns that some of Labour's proposals were "bureaucratic to the point of being ineffective and unaffordable".

Responding, Baroness Chakrabarti tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “There will be time, I believe, to work with businesses and the trade unions going forward to make sure people are comfortable with the detail and we can make these policies work in practice.”

Read more about Labour's proposals here.

Alice Evans
BBC News

Image source, Paul Hazell

While many people will groan at the prospect of another general election, there are others for whom the poll affords another fleeting moment in the spotlight.

So who are the people who stand as candidates again and again, but never get elected?

Read more here.

Many newspapers react to yesterday’s comments from two former Labour MPs who have made outspoken attacks on the Labour leader.

"Corbyn in Crisis" is the headline in the Daily Mail, external after both Ian Austin and John Woodcock said Mr Corbyn was not fit to be prime minister.

The Daily Telegraph describes it, external as "an extraordinary intervention" and pictures the two rebels in front of a billboard that calls Mr Corbyn a "disgrace" to his party and the country.

The election promises to boost the economy by both Labour and the Conservatives also get plenty of coverage.

Read more from the papers here.