BBC Radio Scotland

Polling expert Sir John Curtice says he "would be surprised" if the Conservatives do not lose some of their 13 seats in Scotland.

"The SNP look as though they're around 40%, which is about three points up on where they were in 2017, so they're at least holding on, probably going up," the Strathclyde University professor tells BBC Radio Scotland.

"The polls are very clear, unsurprisingly given the state of the Labour Party's poll position in the UK as a whole, that they are well down in Scotland - probably heading for around 20% of the vote and therefore down seven, 8% or 9%."

Meanwhile, he says there is "a slight question mark" over the Conservatives.

"Recent polls still had them down about seven points in Scotland, but given they have been making some ground across the UK as a whole and there's something of a Brexit Party vote to squeeze in Scotland, it would be surprising if the Conservatives were not at risk of losing some of their seats," he adds.

Check in with the BBC's poll tracker for the latest on how the parties are polling.

Confused by the latest election developments? Got a question about polling or policy? Or is there anything else you'd like us to explain?

Send your questions to BBC News via the form on this page and we'll do our best to answer them.

Today we have been answering questions specifically about childcare and family benefits and finances, like this one from Craig Harris in Newry:

Q - What will each party do to help full-time working parents with financially crippling childcare costs?

A - Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have promised extra money to support the parents of young children.

Labour said it would spend £1bn on opening 1,000 new early years Sure Start centres in England. It is part of a £4.5bn package, which also includes 30 hours' free childcare for all two to four-year-olds.

The Liberal Democrats are promising working families free childcare for children from the age of nine months. They said their £14.6bn policy is "an investment in the country's future", and would be funded by tax changes.

Parents of three and four-year-olds in England are currently entitled to 30 hours' free childcare a week. The Conservatives say they have increased the funding and quality of childcare provision while in government

You can read more questions on childcare and family benefits here.

Former Labour MP Michael Dugher, who stood down at the last election, has announced he is backing former Tory minister and now independent candidate David Gauke.

Mr Gauke, who became the MP for South West Hertfordshire in 2005, had the Tory whip removed after he voted against Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

He is now an independent parliamentary candidate for his previous constituency.

Image source, PA Wire

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been doing the rounds on BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live this morning, but what are the other party leaders up to?

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is in the north of England today, is due to give a speech from a university, followed by a Q&A on the party's pledge to provide free broadband for all.

Neither Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson nor SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon are due to be on the campaign trail today. But you can expect to hear a speech about the Lib Dems' environmental policies from the party's deputy leader Ed Davey.

Green Party co-leader Sian Berry appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning to talk about her party's universal basic income policy.

She said the welfare system must be "rethought altogether" and provide a "cushion" for people on average incomes.

Meanwhile Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is in the West Midlands for his campaign election meeting.

Thanks for following along with our coverage of Boris Johnson answering questions from people all over the country.

You can listen to the whole programme by heading to BBC Sounds and you'll be able to catch up with it later on BBC iPlayer too.

It's the first in a series of programmes where the BBC is inviting the leaders of the main political parties to tackle your questions.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked where he was spending Christmas this year, the PM says: "I have alas not had time to plan for Christmas because I am so determined to get Brexit done and unleash the potential of this country.

"I literally haven't had a chance to think about it."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Boris Johnson says the assertion none of his children have been to state school is "wrong".

Asked if he had any children who went to comprehensive school, he responds: "I don't comment about my children."

He is then asked: "Do you have any children currently of school age?"

He says he is not going to comment.

After being told that listeners find it odd that the prime minister is not transparent about the number of children he has, he adds: "Your assertion that none of my children have been to state schools is wrong."

He is also asked whether he could ever see a situation where state schools have the same resources as private schools, to which he replies: "I want all our schools to be superb and I want every kid to have - every young person to have - the same opportunities. I believe absolutely passionately in that.

"What gets me going, what I want to achieve if I'm lucky enough to be re-elected... is a fantastic programme to unite and level up this country... that will give everybody the chance to express their talents."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Roopam, a nursery owner in Nottingham, says that the government has increased the minimum wage and reformed workplace pensions, but isn't giving her the funding to cover the costs. How will Mr Johnson protect her business which is now "in jeopardy"?

The prime minister says he will make an annoucement in the Tory manifesto "fairly soon" about childcare.

But Roopam wants to know if there will be an increase in funding rates. "Costs have risen," she says, "I have to charge my parents extra and childcare is so expensive. It breaks my heart and makes it so hard for working families."

Thousands of nurseries have closed, Roopam says, and hers is at risk as well.

Mr Johnson thanks her and says "good, affordable childcare is the Holy Grail".

Presenter Rachel Burden asks him if he knows how much the government pays per child. He does not, but the answer is £4.98 an hour.

Ms Burden says 17% of nurseries in deprived areas expect to close in the next year.

Roopam adds it is "a real crisis" and asks if it is overlooked because "women are disproportionately affected".

But Mr Johnson says there are "more women in the workforce than ever before" and the "gender pay gap is closing".

He says the manifesto will say more about his childcare plans.

BBC Radio 5 Live

"We're investing massively in mental health services along with the whole of the NHS. What I want to see is a proper wraparound care for mental health patients," the PM says.

"I think we are not sufficiently joined-up as a government at a local or national level in dealing with mental health, particularly [the] mental health of young people."

BBC Radio 5 Live

The caller says she loved being a headteacher, and still works in challenging schools, but long hours and other issues left her "beaten by the system".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the Tories are "investing massively" in education so that headteachers get the "proper support they need" and aren't "constantly oppressed with form-filling".

In August the PM said schools spending in 2022-23 would be £7.1bn more than at present.

"We have to find ways of making sure that they are able to get on with the things that they love - leading their schools, teaching," he says.

Reality Check

Earlier, Craig in Crewe, who runs a fish and chip shop, raised the question of VAT.

Boris Johnson said that after Brexit: "We'll take back control of our VAT - we'll be able to cut VAT on things that we currently can't under EU rules - sanitary products, you name it."

He was challenged by the presenter that the UK can still cut VAT on most things while still in the EU and he conceded that "we can on a lot of things but there are some things we currently can't".

The situation is that the EU places a minimum of 15% for the standard rate of VAT - the UK's current standard rate is 20%, so the VAT on most things could indeed be cut by five percentage points.

There is another list of products, including sanitary products, for which the minimum rate is 5%, which is the current rate in the UK.

The EU is in the process of changing EU law so that VAT on women's sanitary products can be reduced to zero, but the rules have not yet been adopted.

BBC Radio 5 Live

The PM says he is conscious that the NHS needs more funding and that the Tories will invest £34 billion into it.

"This kind of stuff needs the government really focused on reforming and improving all public services, and we can do that," he says.

"We spend around £250 billion on procurement, and we could spend it better, we could save money. It needs a government that focuses and, if I may say so, that's the choice we face. We have a chance to get Brexit done and move the country forward."

The BBC has done a policy check on the NHS. Here's what to look out for in the party manifestos.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Georgie sends in a question about the report into alleged Russian interference in UK elections, asking why isn't it being published before the election.

Mr Johnson says he sees "no reason" for changing the normal procedure for publishing Intelligence Security Committee reports "just because there is an election".

Challenged that it had been cleared by security services already, he says they are not normally published "at that pace".

The PM is also asked how many Russian oligarchs donate to the Conservatives. He says all donations are properly vetted and published.

"There is no evidence," of Russian interference, Mr Johnson says.

Presenter Rachel Burden says there have been reports that nine Russian oligarchs donate to the Tories. Mr Johnson says if they are not "fit and proper" they are not allowed to donate.

The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera explains the row and the mystery of the Russia report.

Reality Check

Boris Johnson said under a Jeremy Corbyn government there would be a second Scottish referendum "next year".

He said that the Scottish National Party would be able to force Mr Corbyn's hand.

On Wednesday Mr Corbyn said he would "not countenance an independence referendum in the early years of a Labour government because our priorities will be elsewhere."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Responding to a question about how to prevent a repeat of this year's flooding, Mr Johnson says the government has already spent £2.6bn on flood defences and has "big plans" to continue investing.

He claims that Labour's spending plans will put in "great jeopardy" the low interest rates that make that investment possible.

But he says the UK also needs more environmentally sensitive solutions, planting more trees and "working with nature" in ways that will improve the landscape and protect against floods.

BBC Radio 5 Live

The PM says he agrees in a large part with what the listener has to say, stressing, for example, that Parliament has been "senselessly blocking Brexit".

"[The EU] is changing, and has changed a lot in the last 10 or 20 years, in a way that the British people did not bargain for," he says, referring to ideas such as the creation of a European army.

"These are very interesting concepts but they are not ones that are necessary attractive to widespread democratic support in this country."

BBC Radio 5 Live

The PM describes Labour's pledge of free broadband for all as "a crackpot scheme" that would cost "many tens of billions of taxpayers' money". He adds the Tories will deliver gigabit broadband for all.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Ivan in Leicester asks in the light of cuts to youth services, how will the government support grassroots efforts to tackle crime?

Mr Johnson says the government is investing in youth centres and education, "giving young people hope", but he also says you have "got to have a proper law and order response".

He says a new county lines unit is cracking down on the exploitation of young people by drug gangs and the government is getting "tougher on people who carry knives" with more use of stop and search.

"It is a kind and loving thing to take a knife away from a young person on the street," he says.

But Ivan says he had not said much about the community aspect of his questions. "Communities are crying out for support," he says.

Mr Johnson mentions mentoring schemes and trying to "take the weight off families who feel powerless when they see what kids are up to".

But presenter Rachel Burden challenges the prime minister on the effectiveness of stop and search, pointing to research which shows it has little effect on crime.

Mr Johnson says he has "direct experience" of the issue as London Mayor, but Ms Burden says that stop and search actually fell during his time running the capital.

The prime minister denies it, saying they took 11,000 knives off the streets and saying the murder rate fell by almost 50%.

BBC Radio 5 Live

"We'll make sure that everybody in every sector of the economy is able to attract workers from around the world... so they can come and work here," the PM says.

"What we will have is a controlled system whereby we remain open to beauticians from France, scientists from India or from America... We will continue to be open to the world but we will do it in a way that is subject to democratic control."

Asked by presenter Rachel Burden whether he knew what proportion of people coming to the UK came from within the EU, he said "from memory" it was about 50/50.

"You are wrong about that," says Burden, citing statistics which show over 200,000 people came from countries outside the EU, and about 59,000 came from within the EU.

But the PM adds: "The arrangements we have with the EU... are actually discriminatory in favour of people from the EU."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Emma from Belfast says that many unionists feel "betrayed" by the prime minister's Brexit deal, which would put a border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

She asks the PM how he will show his commitment to maintaining the union.

Mr Johnson says he is "a million per cent committed" to the union and "there will be no border down the Irish Sea".

He says the withdrawal agreement specifically says that Northern Ireland is part of the UK's customs territory.

"Northern Ireland will be offering free trade deals across the world with the same tariffs as the rest of the UK," he says.

He says the deal has been attacked by Labour but criticises Jeremy Corbyn for what he describes as "decades" of support for the IRA.

Presenter Rachel Burden says that Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay acknowledged there would be exit declaration forms for Northern Irish businesses, however, and customs experts have said checks could be necessary.

Mr Johnson says: "Not only are there no checks, and also there will be no costs - but if for some reason these arrangements aren’t found to be working, their elected representatives in Stormont can vote it out."

But Emma points out that Stormont has not been sitting for 1033 days.