Image source, PA Media

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Thurrock in Essex, Kevin McNamara, is the latest candidate to stand down following criticism of his social media history, but just how long do parties have left to decide who will appear on the ballot paper?

Well, the clock is ticking with just two days to go before the deadline - which is Thursday at 16:00 GMT.

The names of the nominated candidates will then appear on the ballot paper and they cannot decide to withdraw.

So how do political parties choose election candidates? Here is the answer to that question and others you may have.

Here's a little more from Hillary Clinton's interview with the BBC.

The former US presidential candidate, who is in the UK on a book tour, has urged the UK government to take tougher action in order to protect Members of Parliament from abuse.

She says potential candidates are being put off from running because they're scared of being threatened.

"We cannot permit that," she said. "Your government should not permit that.

"Whoever is in your government should be standing up and saying very clearly, we will protect people who run, we will not allow these anti-democratic forces to threaten people, particularly women, so they don't stand for office."

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Westminster has been digesting that big climb down by Nigel Farage following his announcement that his Brexit Party candidates will not run in seats won by the Tories at the 2017 general election.

Mr Farage was more defiant when he was doing the rounds this morning, compared with the contrite, humbled figure we saw on Monday.

This morning he turned the tables on Boris Johnson by saying it was up to the PM to stand down Tory candidates in Labour-held marginal seats

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Claims and counter-claims about the parties' spending plans have been flying, but they have been based on guesstimates so far, because none of the parties have yet published a detailed manifesto of their plans.

It's slightly fantasyland at this stage - it's not based on anything concrete.

The Labour manifesto may be published next week after a crucial meeting this weekend on policy.

There have been no smoke signals from the Conservatives yet - and there are a lot of rumours that their plans will not be published until quite late in the campaign.

Find out more about manifestos and other bits of election jargon via our translator.

The Brexit Party leader criticises the Conservatives for not standing down candidates.

He says his party wants to win seats in Westminster so they can put pressure on the next prime minister to deliver the kind of Brexit they want to see.

Could any MPs they end up with become part of a coaltion? We take a look at that an other questions here.

Image source, Getty Images

On the campaign trail today, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will be meeting people affected by the severe flooding over the last few days.

The Liberal Democrats are setting out plans for a £5bn fund to improve flood defences across the UK, to be paid for through government borrowing.

The party says it would help build resilience and ensure all communities can get the cash they need in a crisis.

It comes as Yorkshire and the Midlands are continuing to deal with the effects of flooding. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair the government's Cobra committee later to discuss the situation.

Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the PM's handling of the situation.

Back in Bishop Auckland and our special election broadcast, 5 Live's Nicky Campbell is talking to a panel of voters. Gary Ewing, owner of Inspiral Cycles bike company in the town, is one of them.

He tells Nicky Campbell: "I'm wondering whether people just wanted to punch David Cameron in the face, metaphorically speaking, with the Brexit vote - a vote to say they were unhappy with the way things were going.

"The Conservatives are promising to get us out of this mess, but they're the ones who got us into it.

"I don't think there's going to be anything other than a mess for the next decade."

Mark Easton, the BBC's home editor, seconds that message.

"In the North East I think there's a real sense that the world isn't listening to them, that their voice isn't loud enough, they want to be heard more," he says.

"They don't think there's been enough investment and think power is too centralised in London or Brussels."

But he adds that while Brexit is crucial, other issues matter too - remember how important social care became in 2017 for example.

The BBC News live page is the place to be for minute-by-minute election coverage, but for a different perspective, why not sign up to our election newsletter, Outside The Box?We promise it'll be enlightening!

Dan O'Brien
Political reporter, BBC Wiltshire

Salisbury’s election candidate for the Brexit Party has responded to the news he’s being forced to stand aside by comparing the party’s approach to that of the Grand Old Duke of York.

On Monday, the party said it would not contest next month’s general election in areas of the country where the Conservatives won last time around, which includes all of Wiltshire’s constituencies.

But it came as a surprise to many of the local Brexit Party candidates, including Salisbury’s Julian Malins QC who tells the BBC he “thought I had enlisted in Caesar’s army but it turned out to be the Grand Old Duke of York’s”.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Labour have been outlining their plans for adult education this morning.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner says the party wants to change the culture in the UK so people see learning “as part of everyday life, rather than something that’s done to you at a particular point”.

She says Labour wants every adult to have the opportunity of free retraining to help switch careers and it should be “free at the point of use”.

She also reiterated Labour’s plan to abolish university tuition fees for university - saying “no ifs, no buts”.

A bit of useful info on this. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, in the past 15 years, overall spending on classroom-based courses has fallen by two-thirds, as have the number of adult learners.

The adult education budget fell by 32% between 2003-04 and 2009-10 under Labour and by a further 47% from 2009-10 to 2018-19 under the coalition and the Conservatives.

The Women's Equality Party (WEP) says it has decided to step aside in two constituencies after the Liberal Democrats agreed to adopt some of the party's policies.

As part of the same agreement, the WEP is backing the Liberal Democrats in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, and Sheffield Hallam.

The WEP candidates had been standing to highlight the treatment of women, but the Lib Dems have agreed to push for amendments to laws to give the public powers to eject MPs guilty of harassment.

The WEP had been standing candidates in constituencies where the previous elected male MP has been accused of misconduct.

It will continuing to stand in three other constituencies - Dover, Luton North and Bury South.

A bit more on the mention we brought you earlier of Hillary Clinton, who's has been making headlines after calling on the UK government to publish an intelligence report on alleged Russian interference in British politics before the general election.

The former US presidential candidate told the BBC she is "dumbfounded" that the report on alleged Russian interference in UK democracy has not been released.

The government has denied claims it is suppressing the report until after the election.

Watch what she says here...

As we mentioned earlier, the BBC is travelling around the country to look more closely at some key battleground seats. Today is the turn of Bishop Auckland in County Durham - read more on the place and its political make-up here.

Reporter Jayne McCubbin has been out and about in Bishop Auckland with the BBC's Coffee Cart, speaking to people in the town centre over a cuppa.

Billy thinks Brexit has left people feeling betrayed by all the parties.

"They thought 'give the monkeys a vote, they'll vote to stay in' and that's when the trouble started.

"They don't want to honour what the people said and keep the working classes down."

Brian Palmer, below, chief executive of Cello Electronics which is the last remaining television manufacturer in the UK, warns the loss of mining jobs has had a huge economic impact on County Durham that is still being felt today.

"We can't account for all the lost jobs in mining and mining paid really good wages," he said.

"This is an assembly plant in a very competitive industry and that doesn't allow us to pay maybe what many people have lost.

"The area needs to produce good-paying manufacturing."

Time for a cuppa and quick recap perhaps:

• Nigel Farage calls on the Tories to return the favour and step down to give the Brexit Party a clear run in Labour-held constituencies
• The Conservatives continue their attacks on Labour's spending plans, with chief secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak telling the Today Programme they will cost the taxpayer an extra £2,400 a year. But he refuses to say how much a Boris Johnson government would spend

• Labour's Angela Rayner promises the party's manifesto will be "fully costed" and challenges other parties to do the same. It comes as the party promises £3bn of free training for adults to improve their job chances and tackle skills shortages
• After former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calls the refusal to publish a report on alleged Russian interference in British politics "shameful", Mr Sunak says the required vetting process for the report will take "several weeks"
• And social media leads to another election resignation: the Liberal Democrat candidate for Thurrock stands down after he is accused of posting racist and homophobic messages on Twitter 10 years ago.

Image source, PA Media

After entering No 10, Boris Johnson ordered a review of the HS2 rail project to determine whether it should go ahead in the face of ballooning costs and delays.

The project aso faces opposition over environmental damage and disruption to rural areas.

Well, according to a leaked report published in The Times , externalthis morning, the review will recommend the government commits to building the full high-speed rail line, despite the problems.

According to the Times, the review says cities in the north and midlands will benefit more than London from the 250mph railway, and that there are no other projects which are ready to provide similar extra rail capacity.

Without it, "large ticket price rises" would be needed to discourage peak time travel, the review says.

But it acknowledges that the first phase of procurement has been a failure and that the rise in costs mean the benefit to the taxpayer is substantially reduced.

The government wanted to put off having to say anything definitive about the project this side of the election, so it remains to be seen whether this leak will increase pressure on ministers to make their feelings clearer sooner.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak continues the Conservatives attack on Labour's spending plans, saying the cost of a Jeremy Corbyn government would be “an enormous sum of money” which would leave taxpayers with additional tax bill of £2,400 every year.

Labour has yet to publish its election manifesto but the Tories have claimed there is a "black hole" in its economic policies.

However, Mr Sunak refused to give a total sum for how much a government under Boris Johnson would spend.

He said: "We’ve been very clear about our responsible approach to economic management. We will not borrow for day-to-day spending."

He added that their long term investment would be "controlled and responsible" and would reduce debt, whereas he says under Labour it would "spiral".

Read more on the story - and the caveats you need to be aware of around those figures - here.

A "deepfake" video has been made where the PM and Labour leader appear to endorse one another in the election.

The video, by research organisation Future Advocacy, used Artificial Intelligence and an impressionist to make the candidates' clips appear as real as possible.

It's an attempt to show the potential for online manipulation to undermine democracy.

Image source, BBC

We'd like to hear the questions you have ahead of the election on 12 December.

You can submit them here and also read some of those we've already answered - everything from "how do I know if I'm registered to vote?" to "will voting affect my credit score?"

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak, says the government has not yet published a parliamentary select committee report on alleged Russian meddling in British politics because of following necessary procedures.

The report has formal security clearance, but it will not be released until after the 12 December election - something that has been called "shameful" by the former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

But Mr Sunak said: “The standard process for reports like this is they have to go through an appropriate period of vetting due to the sensitive nature of the information they contain.”

He says he was told by people who carry out the vetting that it can take "several weeks".

Richard Moss
Political Editor, BBC Look North

Labour is ingrained in this area but it is clinging on. The Conservatives have never had an MP here, but the threat is real this time.

Brexit is an issue. People voted for Brexit and they don't, perhaps, think Labour's offer is clear enough.

But equally, people want investment in their schools and there's a big issue with the local hospital and services disappearing.

They also want investment in buses, roads and trains, and there's been a big rise in the number of food banks in the area.

The parties get a sense they will have to offer more than Brexit to attract voters.