Throughout the election campaign, we are busily endeavouring to find answers to any political questions that our readers are posing.

Another instalment of Your Questions Answered "dropped" on Tuesday - to use the popular parlance favoured by the likes of Beyonce, Kanye and Taylor Swift.

Among the five questions this time was this one from Janet Lawrence in Newport Pagnell: "How much money has been spent on Brexit?"

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Earlier Jo Swinson planted a seed in our minds about the environment - by planting a tree while unveiling her party's plans to plant more trees.

This afternoon the Liberal Democrat leader switched plants for pizzas as she headed to Bermondsey, south-east London, for another photo opportunity.

Ms Swinson learned how to make a cheese and tomato pizza at Cafe Amisha. At the restaurant she's meeting EU citizens living in the UK to promote her party's campaign to stop Brexit.

Image source, EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

BBC News Channel

Our correspondent Dan Johnson spent the morning on the campaign trail with the prime minister in Mansfield.

"Perhaps not the place you'd expect to see a Conservative prime minister," Dan muses from the Tory Party bus.

"Mansfield, a former mining town, a very industrial area."

But our correspondent points out that, since Labour lost its Mansfield seat to the Tories in 2017, Mansfield could prove a gory battleground on 12 December.

"Now that the Brexit Party has stood aside in seats like this, it's up to Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party to really campaign hard here to stop those seats from switching back to Labour or indeed moving in any other direction."

Image source, Getty Images

A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Brexit Party has conceded that his party might have made a mistake when it decided not to contest 317 Conservative Party seats.

Nigel Farage ditched plans to take on the Tories in every seat the Conservatives won in 2017, after what he said was Boris Johnson's "shift of position" on Brexit.

But MEP Ben Habib said earlier this morning: "Maybe we shouldn't have stood 317 candidates down, with the benefit of hindsight, because the Tories haven't responded positively to it."

"They haven't stood down and assured a proper Leave mandate in Parliament," he told Sky News.

There are 275 Brexit Party candidates running, after Mr Farage initially suggested he would field candidates for every seat in Britain.

Arguably the most impactful news story of the political week was Nigel Farage's announcement on Monday that the Brexit Party would not field candidates in seats won by the Tories at the last election.

The following day, the BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg told the story behind that decision and offered her own analysis on what that would mean for the Conservatives.

Remember that you can find all of Laura's written work on her correspondent page here.

Image source, PA MEDIA

Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have tweeted about the huge fire at a block of student flats in Bolton that broke out last night.

The PM said he was doing "everything" to make sure the fire service had all the support it needed, while the Labour leader said the blaze highlighted the government's "shameful inaction" in improving fire safety since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

Image source, Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

While campaigning in Arbroath, Angus, Nicola Sturgeon was asked for her response to the tree-planting pledges offered by the Lib Dems and the Conservatives.

She says it's a perfect example of the way the Scottish government, under the SNP, is getting on with the job.

She points out that last year, most trees planted in UK were in Scotland.

Almost 13,400 hectares (51.7 sq miles) were planted in the UK between April 2018 and March 2019, including 11,210 hectares in Scotland.

“The other parties are talking about tree planting. The SNP is actually doing it," Ms Sturgeon says.

Either Jeremy Corbyn isn't concentrating at Labour's manifesto meeting happening now, or - more likely - he's got a team of social media elves looking after his Twitter page.

He (or an elf) has posted this video, following on from Labour's election pledge to give every home and business in the UK free full-fibre broadband by 2030.

On Monday, we gave the floor to Laura Gardiner from the Resolution Foundation think tank - who wanted to scrutinise that much-trumpeted claim from politicians that they are fighting for the votes of "ordinary" or "hard-working" people.

(It would be a very different campaign if someone said they were seeking to engage with extraordinarily workshy people!)

Laura's feature examined what the British workforce actually looks like in 2019 - and this is the graph that provoked most comment and debate:

Image source, Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS

We've just had a look at local coverage of the PM's visit to Mansfield and spotted something interesting.

Local paper the Chad had slated Mr Johnson for his approach to a visit he made to Mansfield and Ashfield just eight days ago.

The paper accused the PM of separating local media from national journalists and giving them less time to ask questions during his appearance at Sutton's King's Hospital.

The Chad implored Mr Johnson to return to the town, external so that it could have a second chance to quiz him.

The PM agreed to return today - adding the paper was "incredibly valued locally".

He then added: "I can’t wait to get back up to Derbyshire" - which was perhaps to the paper's dismay, as Mansfield is actually in Nottinghamshire.

David Shukman
Science editor, BBC News

Experts in forestry say a huge programme of tree planting is needed if the UK is to have any chance of reducing its carbon emissions to effectively zero. They also say the aim, though difficult, is feasible but will depend on careful planning – “to get the right trees in the right places”, as one specialist put it to me.

Finding enough land may be one of the toughest challenges. Farmers will want incentives to convert their fields to forests, not just to help with the cost of planting trees but also to compensate them for the long decades before they can earn an income from them.

Prime arable fields are unlikely to be selected for this role but areas currently used for livestock may be in line, and that might force the country to make some highly sensitive choices between producing meat and growing forests.

It could also mean a profound change to the look of much of the countryside, with the familiar sights of grazing cattle and sheep replaced by woodland.

Image source, GETTY IMAGES

Officials in Defra are currently working on a new post-Brexit system of subsidies for farmers, and the exact details of the payments and their aim may well determine whether these vast tree schemes succeed.

Urban areas may offer scope for planting but these will be relatively small and possibly more expensive.

Another concern is tree disease. The UK could theoretically grow enough saplings for the new forests but a crash programme of planting would probably mean buying from abroad, just at a time when many species are already suffering from pests that have arrived from other countries.

The specialist also said the effort had to be properly funded and “joined-up”, by which he means co-ordinating many different government agencies, forestry organisations and farmers – no easy task.

The Lib Dem leader also weighs in on Labour's last-minute talks about elements of its manifesto - including what its immigration policy will be.

Senior members of the Labour Party are debating whether to include a commitment to "maintain and extend" free movement rights for migrants, as demanded by delegates at the party conference in September.

"The Labour Party is generally divided. We can see that," Ms Swinson says.

"It shouldn't be difficult to just say that immigration is a good thing. It's positive for our country, it helps our public services, and it helps our economy generally."

"Liberal Democrats are very clear about that," she adds.

Image source, Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Jo Swinson plants a tree in Hampstead, north London, to mark her party's pledge to plant 60 million trees a year if it wins the election.

Asked if the plan - which is twice as ambitious as the target set by the Conservatives - was too ambitious, the leader of the Lib Dems says: "We need to be ambitious. We are facing a climate emergency."

Referencing the children she met while planting the tree, she adds that the UK must do "everything we can... for their future".

"Planting trees is one of the best things we can do," she adds. "It's good for air quality, it's good for mental health... and trees absorb carbon dioxide."

Speaking on Arbroath Harbour, the SNP leader says her party is the only major challenger to the Conservative Party in every single Tory-held seat in Scotland.

"If we want to send Boris Johnson packing... then the way to do that in this election is to vote for the SNP," she adds.

Ms Sturgeon also talks about wanting to build a Scotland of "hope and optimism".

Nicola Sturgeon is speaking to voters and activisits in Arbroath, on the North Sea coast of Scotland.

"A vote for the Conservatives is a vote for Nigel Farage’s policies and his view of the world," she says.

"We don't have to accept that future for Scotland."

The deadline for registering to vote in the election on 12 December is 23:59 GMT on 26 November.

Here's our story on how to register, what to do if you're moving house, and other questions.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth spoke briefly about Labour's immigration policy as he arrived at the party's meeting in London.

Party figures are debating whether to include a commitment to "maintain and extend" free movement rights for migrants, as demanded by delegates at September's party conference.

The party's 2017 manifesto said free movement - giving EU citizens the right to work and seek employment in the UK and UK citizens the same right in other EU countries - would end with Brexit.

On his way into the meeting, Mr Ashworth said: "We need to make sure we've got international staff - nurses and doctors who continue to work for the NHS."

Again from last Sunday, we explained how political parties choose their candidates, which is rather timely now that all the names have officially been confirmed.

Step this way if you've always wanted to know the answers to these questions:

• What is a parliamentary candidate?
• Can anyone become an MP?
• What happens after the deadline for nominations?
• How do parties select their candidates?
• What is emergency selection?
• Are UK parliamentary candidates representative of the UK population?

Image source, Dominc Lipinski/PA Wire

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott was quick and to the point as she walked past those protesters outside the Labour meeting who are chanting their support for continued free movement across the EU.

"End racism," was her two-word message.

Image source, Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Boris Johnson has been door-knocking in Mansfield to start his Saturday - and reporters from the PA news agency were there with him.

The PM was welcomed by Lucy Camm who said: "You have definitely got our vote."

But Susan Kitchen, 71, quizzed the PM on Brexit.

She told PA: "I told him I was worried about the deal he was making and asked him specifically if their laws could overrule our laws because that's what I've heard.

"He said no, absolutely not, so I says to him if you're wrong I'm going to write you a letter - and it won't be pleasant."