Many of the BBC's programmes are broadcasting from Bishop Auckland today as we focus on voters in the County Durham constituency with a month to go until the general election.

BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin and Carol Kirkwood were wrapped up for a chilly morning earlier and BBC 5 Live's breakfast show presenter Nicky Campbell has been enjoying the Auckland Castle library.

BBC Breakfast

A bit more from Nigel Farage, who denies his decision-making has been influenced by the US President.

The Brexit Party leader says his reaction to the claim that Donald Trump is "pulling the strings" - a favourite attack line from Labour, the SNP and others - is to "laugh".

It's a "wild conspiracy theory", he adds.

But he says he has been offered a peerage or a safe Conservative seat by "someone close to Downing Street" several times since 2005. The Conservatives have denied this claim.

He says he is not in politics for "rank, title or position", but the Conservative refusal to support the Brexit Party in Labour areas shows they "care more about themselves that they do about Brexit or the country".

Image source, Getty Images

There's a lot of talk about political pacts, tactical voting and other strategies at this election, but what is tactical voting? Is it allowed, how does it work and will it make any difference?

We answer all those questions and more here.

Image source, Reuters

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Thurrock in Essex has stood down after being accused of posting racist and homophobic tweets 10 years ago.

Screenshots purporting to show Kevin McNamara social media comments have been circulating, prompting his resignation.

The tweets are said to have been posted in 2009 and 2010 and allegedly include racist and homophobic language.

Mr McNamara said: "These words are deeply offensive and I apologise profusely to everybody that I have offended with these tweets.

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "A disciplinary process has been instigated."

The case in the latest in a series involving candidates from different parties who've come under scrutiny for their social media history.

Image source, Getty Images

Back for a moment to the latest policy announcements. We don't have manifestos from the parties yet, but they're still dripping out some of their ideas.

The focus for Labour's campaign today is adult education. They are promising adults in England free access to retraining to help their job chances and to tackle skills shortage as part of a £3bn plan.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner wants to "throw open the door" to adults wanting to learn new skills.

It comes a day after the Lib Dems promised a £10,000 training grant for each adult, which it calls a "skills wallet".

With concerns about automation threatening jobs and warnings from employers about a lack of skilled staff, the political parties are setting out their stall for adult education and retraining. Read the full story here

BBC Breakfast

The Brexit Party leader says his decision was in part motivated by the realisation that in parts of the country his candidates would take votes away from Conservatives and let Liberal Democrats into office instead.

That would lead to another referendum which would be "a disaster for our country".

"I put country before party to stop second referendum," he says.

This act of electoral generosity should be rewarded, he insists.

Mr Farage says he is "disappointed but not surprised" by complaints that standing against the Conservatives in Labour-held marginal seats could prevent the Tories from making gains.

"I’ve just gifted the Conservative Party nearly two dozen seats," he says. Instead, the Tories should stand down in Labour-held constituencies, he says.

"If they believe in Leave they would stand aside in Labour areas where the Conservatives have not won in 100 years."

BBC Breakfast

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage says the "significant progress" in shifting Boris Johnson's Brexit position encouraged him to stand down in Conservative-held seats.

Challenged that he had previously said the prime minister's deal was "not Brexit" he tells BBC Breakfast that Mr Johnson acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that he will not extend the transition period beyond next year and the UK will negotiate a "Canada-plus" free trade deal.

"We are going for trade, not to be part of any of the politicial institutions," he says.

But it's about more than that, he continues...

Image source, PA Media

The Conservatives have launched a fresh attack on what they say are Labour's "reckless" spending plans by trying to calculate the additional taxes they believe a Corbyn government would have to introduce if they win power.

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

Labour has dismissed the figures as "more fake news" from Tory HQ.

The reason they say more is that the Conservatives claimed over the weekend that a Labour government would increase public spending by more than £1.2tn - but there were some holes in those numbers too.

As our story explains, the Tory figures are problematic because they make assumptions about what Labour intends to spend before it has published a manifesto. They also make assumptions about how much revenue the party intends to raise.

And until the manifestos are published, it's impossible to accurately identify any spending gaps.

BBC Breakfast

Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner tells BBC Breakfast that Nigel Farage's decision to stand down Brexit Party candidates in Conservative-held seats makes the choice clearer for working class voters.

She says that the "hint of a knighthood" encouraged the Brexit Party leader to form a "hard-right coalition" with the Conservatives, with "Donald Trump pulling the strings".

Meanwhile Labour's plan to offer free retraining to help adults switch careers shows the party plans to invest in the UK's communities, she says.

The Conservatives "take skilled workers off the shelf in other countries and bring them here" whereas Labour will invest in UK workers, she says.

Asked about Conservative claims that Labour's election promises will cost £1.2tn, she promises the party will fully cost its manifesto when it launches.

"I ask all other parties to do the same," she says.

Image source, Tom Banks

The BBC is holding a series of outside broadcasts during the election capaign - the latest comes today from Bishop Auckland in County Durham. We'll be bringing you news and analysis and hopefully some real people - not politicians! - from there as the day goes on.

In the meantime, why not find out a bit more about the constituency - and why we've chosen to look closely at the political landscape there and why it could be important.

In a nutshell, the town voted decisively for Brexit in 2016 and has historically been a Labour stronghold, but the incumbent MP, Helen Goodman, holds a majority of just 502 votes.

Our colleague Duncan Leatherdale has been speaking to the people of Bishop Auckland - and why they won't let their mining town collapse.

Here’s a run-down of the main headlines as you’re waking up - we’ll break them down in more detail shortly:

• Campaigning takes place as flooding continues to cause big problems in parts of the Midlands and northern England. The PM is holding a meeting of the government’s Cobra committee today, but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticised his handling of the situation
• On more traditional election ground, Labour is promising a big investment in adult retraining in England
• The Tories are launching another attack on Labour’s spending plans
• And another candidate, a Lib Dem this time, has been forced to stand down over their social media posts.

We'll also be hearing from the aforementioned Nigel Farage shortly who'll be appearing on BBC Breakfast - so we'll keep an ear on that for you.

Before we move on to today, here are our top recommendations for a quick recap on the events of Monday.

You can watch our video which picks out all the best bits...

Or you can listen to the latest episode of Electioncast, which features a trip to the pub and lots of serious political discussion too.

Morning and welcome to our coverage of all things general election. We’ll be watching all the main events of the day and attempting to make sense of them for you.

Monday’s big news was the decision by Nigel Farage to scale back - or target, depending on your interpretation - his electoral ambitions for the Brexit Party.

What’ll be making the headlines today? Stick with us and we’ll fill you in.