We're getting the first glimpse of some of the manifesto pledges.

One which had not been announced earlier, is Labour's pledge that it will support the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Mr Corbyn is a longstanding critic of nuclear weapons.

But the manifesto adds: "Labour will also actively lead multilateral efforts under our obligations to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to create a nuclear-free world."

Mr Corbyn begins his speech by saying: "The most powerful people in Britain and their supporters are going to tell you that everything in this manifesto is impossible."

He says that's because "they don't want real change".

"Why would they? The system is working just fine for them. It’s rigged in their favour."

"But it's not working for you," he adds.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Labour has just put its general election manifesto online., external

Jeremy Corbyn is now beginning his speech launching Labour's manifesto.

He describes it as a "manifesto of hope" that "will bring real change".

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

...be Labour's next leader? Plenty think Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, could be a candidate broadly in the Corbyn mould, whenever the man himself decides to spend more time on his allotment. Today it's her job to introduce Jeremy Corbyn.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Before Jeremy Corbyn even starts talking, a Plaid Cymru source texts me with a pop at Labour's housing plans: "In the only place Labour are in power, they built 57 council houses in Wales in the 2018-19 financial year," my snout points out, referring to these statistics., external

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey is now speaking at Labour's manifesto launch in Birmingham, a city she describes as the "engine room of Britain's first industrial revolution".

She says Labour will be setting out a vision for its own "green industrial revolution".

She then introduces Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as "our next prime minister".

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

As we await Labour's big reveal in Birmingham, my mind flashes back to a late shift I'll never forget in 2017. It was about nine o'clock at night, when we got wind Labour's manifesto had LEAKED. Oh, it'll only be a smidgen of it, I assumed.

Oh no, Kate McCann at the Daily Telegraph and Jack Blanchard at the Daily Mirror had got hold of the whole thing.

So began a mad hour of phone calls until we got hold of it ourselves.

It appeared in my inbox as I was stood in the dark in front of a camera and a bright light, waiting to go on the Ten O'Clock News.

I then had chance to print it out and wave it around on the BBC News Channel.

We're just moments away from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's speech announcing the party's manifesto. Here he is posing with the document earlier:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

The room is filling up ahead of Jeremy Corbyn's speech at the Labour manifesto launch, which we're expecting to start just after 11am.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

...here's what I got up to yesterday, taking a peek at the Liberal Democrat manifesto. I've never been to such a trendy place in all my life.

Earlier we gave you a quiz question - who were the Labour leaders who have won a general election since World War Two?

There are three in total - Tony Blair, Harold Wilson and Clement Attlee.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

For those of you who included Gordon Brown or James Callaghan, they never won an election but became prime minister after succeeding Tony Blair and Harold Wilson respectively midway through their terms.

Image source, EPA

Early life

Jeremy Bernard Corbyn, 70, had a middle-class upbringing, spending his early years in the picturesque Wiltshire village of Kington St Michael.

When he was seven, the family moved to a seven-bedroom manor house in the hamlet of Pave Lane, in Shropshire.

The youngest of four boys, he enjoyed an idyllic childhood in what he himself has called a rural "Tory shire".

He briefly went to a fee-paying preparatory school before a state primary and then, after passing 11-plus, a grammar school, in Newport, Shropshire.

Mr Corbyn left his secondary school with two A-levels, both at grade E, and an enduring hatred of selective education.

Into the political arena

Mr Corbyn joined the local Wrekin Labour Party and the Young Socialists while still at school.

After leaving school, Mr Corbyn spent two years in Jamaica, with Voluntary Service Overseas, something he has described as an "amazing" experience.

Back in the UK, he threw himself into trade union activism, initially with now long defunct National Union of Tailors and Garment Makers.

Image source, PA Media

He started a course in Trade Union Studies at a polytechnic college but left after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum.

He then had a successful career as a trade union organiser, with the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) and then the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE).

But his real passion was for Labour Party politics - and in 1974 he was elected to Haringey District Council, in north London.

"Politics became our life," said his first wife, Jane Chapman, who was a fellow Labour councillor.

In Parliament

Mr Corbyn was elected to Parliament in 1983, to represent his home patch of Islington North, a seat he has held ever since and where he has increased his majority from 5,600 to 21,000.

Over the next three decades, Mr Corbyn was on the back benches fighting against his party's abandonment of its radical policies and values contained in the 1983 manifesto.

He would always vote with his conscience, earning him the accolade of being Labour's most rebellious MP, defying the party managers more than 500 times.

He succeeded Ed Miliband as Labour leader in 2015. But some MPs were unhappy with his leadership and he lost a vote of no confidence by 172 votes to 40.

He later won a second leadership contest against rival Owen Smith.

Read more here: Profile of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

A quick quiz before that manifesto moment. Jeremy Corbyn is aiming to be the fourth Labour politician since World War II to win a general election.

Can you name the previous three?

We'll reveal the answer in 10 minutes.

Image source, Getty Images

Leader Jeremy Corbyn hailed the manifesto as "transformative" after finalising the document in a meeting with senior party figures last week. But what has Labour already promised to do if it gains power?

• The party has pledged to outspend the Tories on the NHS, increasing the health service budget to £155bn by 2023-24. The money will be used to boost mental health services and cut waiting times
• Dental check-ups will become free in England, like in Scotland, while prescription charges would be abolished in England, bringing it into line with the rest of the UK
• On Brexit, Labour would negotiate a new deal with the EU within three months and then put it to a another referendum within six months
• The minimum wage for everyone - including those below the age of 18 - would rise to £10 an hour
• £100bn would be invested in Scotland over a 10-year period, money to "transform our public services"
• A programme of nationalisation has been promised that would bring the Royal Mail, rail-operating companies, energy supply networks and water and sewerage companies into public ownership
• Free broadband for all,by nationalising part of BT and taxing tech giants
• The top 5% of earners will see their personal taxes rise - a policy carried over from its 2017 manifesto - although the details are not yet clear
• A £3bn plan to offer adults in England six years of free study or retraining
• On housing, Labour says it would build 100,000 new council houses a year by 2024
• A 32-hour working week could be brought in within 10 years
• "Radical" environment policies, including billions spent on energy-saving upgrades such as loft insulation, enhanced double glazing and new heating systems, by 2030
• An emphasis on public transport, with axed bus routes restored and entitlement to free travel greatly expanded.

We'll have to wait to see the document to see whether all these announcement have been officially adopted - but assuming they are, we will try to highlight any new pledges.

Image source, Reuters

In 30 minutes, we will be bringing you details and analysis as Labour announce their manifesto for the upcoming election.

Expect to see a lot of Labour-coverage for a wee while, as there was when the Lib Dems launched theirs yesterday. The Conservatives will similarly dominate the agenda when they release theirs, which is currently rumoured for Sunday.

Following the launch, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be hitting the campaign trail in the Midlands.

In the 2017 election, Mr Corbyn credited the manifesto with restoring his fortunes in the polls and he might be hoping for a similar effect this time round, says BBC correspondent Iain Watson.

Between now and 11am, we will build up to the manifesto launch by explaining who Labour are and what their current political standing is.

"They've just repeated the same old nonsense for how many years?'

Young people from black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds don't think their voices are heard by politicians. Check out the video we made on this topic here.

Joe Tidy
Digital elections reporter

I think the reason why it’s significant is that it’s another example of social media companies self-reforming if you like, there aren’t any rules or regulations around political advertising online.

We’ve seen Twitter ban political advertising on the platform, wfich comes into effect tomorrow, we’ve seen Facebook try and be as transparent as they think they can be about the sort of advertising and targeting that’s going on on their platform.

Now we’re seeing Google kind of halfway between the two saying ‘you can still advertise with us, but of course, now we’re taking away some of the parameters with which you can target people’.

BBC News Channel

Labour says some of the policies in its manifesto - launched later this morning - are going to be more radical than in 2017, reports BBC political correspondent Iain Watson.

Among the document's key pledges is an an increasing role for the state - renationalisation of the railways and the water industry, for example - and also a big role for local as well as national government.

Responding to Labour's pledge to build 100,000 new council houses a year by 2024, our correspondent says the last time that happened "back in the era of punk rock" - although stops short of saying it will be anarchy in the UK.

"Only 3,000 or something like that were built actually in the past year," he says. "So to build 100,000 by the end of the next Parliament is a very big ambitious programme.

"Doubts have been raised about whether the building industry will be able to do it," he says - but shadow education secretary Angela Rayner was very confident this morning.