The BBC's Your Questions Answered has been looking today at queries about education, like this from Ambrose Mui in Radstock:

A - At Labour's annual conference there were commitments to bring private schools into the state sector.

This included calls for their assets to be "redistributed" and the introduction of limits on university places for privately-educated students.

But the only clear signal on what might make it into Labour's manifesto has been the plan to add VAT to private school fees, which are currently VAT-exempt. Leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that would pay for free school meals for primary school children.

So far, without manifestos published, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have still to outline their intentions for private schools.

You can read more questions on education here.

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

We're building up here to the first live TV debate of the election campaign - on ITV at 8pm. But before that, here's your afternoon round-up:

• Boris Johnson has been warming up at a boxing gym and outlining plans for more powers to stop and search people to prevent knife crime
• Meanwhile, Labour says it will cap "excessive" salaries for bosses and give workers more say in the running of companies
• Smaller parties lost a legal challenge to be included in tonight's debate, but ITV has said their party leaders will be interviewed live in a programme straight afterwards
• Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson visited a hospital in Southampton as she promised a 1% rise in income tax to match Labour's spending plans for the NHS
• And the Green Party has unveiled its manifesto, with a £100bn a year spending pledge to tackle climate change and reach the net zero emissions target 20 years earlier than current plans

Here are a few images and moments from the day so far...

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Away from the election campaign, the Twitter account of Arron Banks, the founder of the pro-Brexit campaign Leave.EU, has been suspended after being hacked.

In a statement posted by the campaign's official account, external, Mr Banks said "personal data" had since been shared via Twitter, and accused the social media network of failing to tackle the issue.

He said Twitter had "deliberately chosen" to leave his personal information online.

The organisation has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

BBC World Service

On the day of the manifesto launch, the Green Party’s Brexit and finance spokesperson Molly Scott Cato - also an MEP - has been discussing the party’s plans for a Green New Deal as well as their proposals on Europe, trade and the workplace with the BBC's Rob Young.

You can listen here to the interview.

Image source, EPA

Turning to the SNP, its leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been out on the campaign trail in Stirling this afternoon.

The SNP will not be appearing in this evening's debate after the party and the Lib Dems lost a legal challenge to be included.

Speaking with Heart Scotland, external, Ms Sturgeon said: "(Boris Johnson) seems to be a big scaredy-cat that he's decided he doesn't want to debate me. You'd have to ask him why that's the case.

"If you want to be in the running for prime minister, you shouldn't be running scared of debate and I think it speaks volumes that he is so frightened of debating anyone except Jeremy Corbyn.

"I'll debate him any time, any place, so come on Boris stop being so scared."

The BBC's team in Southampton - a key electoral battleground - has been taking questions from voters. One that keeps coming up is, why can't we make election manifestos legally binding?

Lawyer Dr Anna Bradshaw said it would be hard and would also be just a bad idea.

"If the election manifesto becomes legally binding then firstly you have the risk it will tie the hands of Parliament?" she says.

"Secondly, when it comes to enforcement, against whom would you enforce it? Would it be against the prime minister? Would it be against the entire government?

"Who enforces it? Is it a public enforcement action only Or can you bring a private prosecution?"

Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst

The Green Party have promised a war on plastic.

There's been huge public concern about plastics in seas and rivers, following David Attenborough's distressing TV images of suffering wildlife suffering as a result.

All major parties now have plans to curb plastic waste.

The Conservative government proposed to ban single-use plastic stirrers, straws and cotton buds - all small items that easily find their way into waterways.

But the Greens have gone further. They want to extend the plastic bag tax to plastic bottles, single-use plastics and microplastics - and to expand plastic bottle deposit schemes.

They would also ban the production of single-use plastics for use in packaging.

However, some experts fear apparently straightforward policies developed at a time of political stress can lead to the use of other materials which might harm the planet in different ways.

Glass bottles, for instance, don't typically harm wildlife, but are much heavier than plastic, so create higher carbon emissions when they are transported.

Image source, Getty Images

Tom Symonds
Home Affairs Correspondent

Image source, AFP

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson’s tells the BBC viewers watching tonight’s ITV debate will feel "depressed" at the choice they face between the two big parties.

Visiting staff and patients at University Hospital Southampton, she said the two other party leaders were "‘scared that if people see that there's the genuine alternative, that they will turn around and they will look at Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn and they will say ‘this is not good enough.’”

She says: “There's going to be a lot of people watching tonight, who see that debate and feel depressed. And I'm saying look, you have a choice. There is an alternative, it does not need to be that depressing choice.”

The Lib Dems have set out plans for £35bn of spending on the NHS, around a third of which will be on mental health services.

Ms Swinson says they would also prioritise recruitment of foreign staff for the NHS to end a staffing crisis.

That crisis was caused by the Conservatives scrapping bursaries for training nurses, she says, while leaving the EU will also have a "real impact".

The party publishes its manifesto tomorrow which she says will include "radical improvements for people's lives".

Image source, EPA

While the line-up for tonight's ITV debate is crystal clear, the cast list for the BBC's seven-way podium debate on 29 November is still in a state of flux.

The event was always going to be leaders or "leading party figures" so Boris Johnson could attend himself or choose someone else instead.

According to the FT, external, the Conservative Party may field Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, as their representative.

The newspaper says Tory officials believe him to be a “very ample TV performer” who is “intellectually dexterous”.

Find out more about the seven-party extravaganza, and other election programmes, here.

Well, no. But that doesn't mean you won't be hearing from them.

Jo Swinson of the Liberal Democrats, Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party and Sian Berry, co-leader of the Green Party, will all be interviewed individually in consecutive face-to-face interviews with Nina Hossain, from a studio in east London.

They'll have the chance to set out their own offer to the electorate and comment on what was discussed in the debate.

The debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will start at 20:00 GMT and last an hour, before politics takes a break for I’m A Celebrity, and then returns at 22:00 for the interviews.

The SNP and Lib Dems lost a legal challenge to be included in the main debate, in a ruling from the High Court in London last night.

Reality Check

The Greens are pledging a Universal Basic Income for everyone - regardless of their income.

There would be extra for families with children and pensioners would get £178 - nearly £10 more than the current state pension.

The party says the policy would simplify the current system, replacing most existing benefits except for housing benefit. They suggest it will free people from job insecurity and help those in need who are not being reached.

The Greens have promised that no-one currently on benefits would be worse off under this UBI system, which would be rolled-out completely by 2025.

The policy is expensive - the party has costed it at £86bn on top of current pension and benefit spending of £256bn. It would be paid for by a tax on carbon emissions and other tax changes, such as removing the income tax personal allowance.

Opponents say other welfare arrangements would more efficiently help those who need it most.

Last year, Finland ran a trial of a UBI system, which left unemployed people happier but no more likely to find work.

And back to the Tories on law and order, Boris Johnson himself has been talking about it. He's pledging "tough policing" to tackle knife crime, including giving officers the power to immediately arrest and promptly charge anyone caught unlawfully with a blade.

Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuennsberg, he said: "The idea is to deter kids from getting back into the life of crime and company of gangs."

Ahead of his first televised debate of the general election campaign with Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Johnson said: "We're putting in a serious crime reduction order, which means that kids who have been previously convicted of carrying a bladed weapon will have a section 60 order over their heads that means the police can stop and search them without suspicion."

He added: "Yes, it's about tough policing but it's also about making sure that you look after the kids and you give them alternatives."

The PM said the order will apply to "anyone who has been convicted in a magistrate's or crown court."

The Conservatives aren't the only ones talking about law and order on Tuesday. Plaid Cymru is pledging to put an extra 1,600 police officers on the streets, saying the plan could be delivered by handing criminal justice powers to politicians in Wales.

Party leader Liz Saville Roberts said it would spend an extra £50m to provide an extra two officers for each community.

Policing is overseen by the UK government, with Wales and England part of the same criminal justice system.

Plaid Cymru would need to secure the devolution of policing and criminal justice to Wales and join or form a government in Cardiff Bay to implement this plan.

Calls for the devolution of justice have also been made by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

Read more.

Dan Kerins
Digital Editor, BBC South

The BBC is broadcasting from Southampton all day and looking at the issues that matter to voters there. For those of you who don't know it, let us tell you a bit about the place.

Like many cities in the country, Southampton has had to come to terms with a very different economy over the last few decades.

As major industrial employers such as Ford, Pirelli and Vosper Thornycroft have left the city, Southampton has attempted to pivot.

The WestQuay shopping centre opened in 2000 on reclaimed land where the Pirelli factory previously stood and in 2016 an mammoth extension opened opposite part of the medieval walls.

The old Vospers' site is currently having flats built on it, overlooking Southampton Water and the River Itchen.

Image source, Stuart Martin/BBC

In an attempt to attract more jobs which aren't in the service and retail industry (or just allow developers to build more flats), the city council made moves to attract new industry to the site of the old Ford Transit factory in Swaythling, on the northern edge of the city.

Now new offices are being built in the hope of bringing start-ups and companies looking to relocate away from London.

Carnival Cruises have their UK headquarters adjacent to the port, challenger bank Starling has set up offices in the city and a new office development planned for the Toys R' Us site is pitched as trying to encourage graduates to stay in the city and create start-up businesses - instead of building another massive shop.

With industry no longer what it was and retail beginning to struggle, perhaps we are seeing the start of the next stage in Southampton's evolution.

Image source, Getty Images

We mentioned earlier some announcements on new anti-knife crime measures from the Conservatives, including greater use of stop and search. Boris Johnson also announced plans to speed up the charging and prosecution of knife offenders.

Read more in our full story.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, says knife crime remains at historically high levels across England and Wales and crime, more broadly, is a key concern among voters so the Conservatives' plans come as little surprise.

Speeding up court proceedings in knife possession cases is a largely uncontroversial idea but will take a huge effort across all parts of the criminal justice system to make it happen.

More contentious is the proposal to further increase stop and search powers at a time when police stops are on the rise after years of decline.

Although police chiefs are convinced stop and search is effective, the research is inconclusive and the disproportionate use of the tactic against young black men has been blamed for fuelling tensions.

The Tories' proposal to allow officers to search anyone previously cautioned or convicted for carrying a knife, without the need to have grounds to do so, is likely to be hotly contested.

Do you know your "marginal" from your "target"? Your "opinion poll" from your "exit poll"?

We're here to help. Use our translator tool to check the meaning of some of the words used around election time.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

We really need tonight's debate because so far the election has been a little bit humdrum, shall we say. No-one has landed a killer blow yet.

The campaign's gone down fairly familiar tramlines: Boris Johnson just wanting to talk about getting Brexit done; Jeremy Corbyn wanting to talk about the NHS, stopping a Trump trade deal and austerity.

Perhaps tonight will be the moment when we get something which changes the dynamic of this general election.

Jeremy Corbyn needs this because if you look at the polls, there's quite a large gap still between him and Boris Johnson.

Despite the fact Team Corbyn have had an OK election so far - they've landed some blows on the NHS, they've enjoyed Tory gaffes and resignations - it hasn't narrowed the gap. He needs to gain a bit of momentum.

There's slightly less pressure on Boris Johnson, but I suppose the challenge for him is that he could throw away his commanding lead in the opinion polls if he makes a gaffe.

Both men are going to be feeling the heat, and in that environment people make mistakes.

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 education, like this one from Ken Spencer in London:

A - Per-pupil school funding in England fell by 8% in real terms between 2009-10 and 2018-19. This is according to a study by the independent analysts, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

This decrease in school budgets is a calculation that takes into account rising costs and inflation - and also an increase in the number of pupils.

So the headline amount of money might have increased in cash terms, but it had to stretch much further. So for schools it meant they had less to spend on each pupil.

In England, school spending per pupil has fallen from £6,537 in 2009 to £5,994 in the 2018 financial year. At the same time, the IFS says, external, pupil numbers in English primary schools have increased by 17%. Average class sizes in secondary schools have risen from 20 to 22 pupils.

But before the general election was called, the Conservative government promised to reverse the cuts and increase school funding by £7.1bn after three years. In real terms, the IFS says this will be worth £4.3bn, which is enough to return funding to 2010 levels.

You can read more questions on education here.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Putting squirrels to one side - see our post at 1.31pm if that makes no sense - Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has been visiting an A&E department to highlight her party's plans for the health service.

She wants to add a penny to the basic rate of income tax in order to spend more on the NHS. You can read about the plan in more detail here.

She spoke to staff at University Hospital Southampton before going on to talk to parents and patients in the children's department.

If you want to delve deeper into why the NHS is such a key battleground in this election, have a look at this piece - 11 charts on why the NHS matters.

If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of developments so far today in the election campaign:

• The Green Party of England and Wales has launched its manifesto with a pledge to spend £100bn a year to fight climate change, cutting carbon emissions to net zero 20 years earlier than currently planned
• Labour's John McDonnell has outlined plans to allow workers and consumers to "take back control", giving employees a place on company boards and capping the pay of executives
• Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has visited University Hospital Southampton after unveiling plans to raise income tax by 1% to match Labour's NHS spending plans
• Boris Johnson has been practising boxing moves and Jeremy Corbyn has been getting a beard trim and the party leaders prepare for a head-to-head debate on ITV tonight
• Mr Johnson has also promised new measures on knife crime, allowing police to search "habitual knife carriers" without suspicion and speeding up prosecutions
• And Nigel Farage has called for major reforms to the political system, from changing the voting system to scrapping the House of Lords, as he criticises the UK's "rotten way of doing things"