Mr Neil challenges her that if she wants to stop Brexit, she is likely to have no choice but to support Labour, which is offering a referendum on the Brexit agreement.

She says it “stands to reason” that a party wanting the SNP’s support would have to prioritise its key issues – which she says also include ending austerity, stopping the “misery” of Universal Credit, and offering more powers to the Scottish parliament, even before independence.

Ms Sturgeon reverses the question, and asks if Jeremy Corbyn would realistically walk away from the chance to implement Labour’s programme for the sake of blocking a referendum on Scottish independence.

When Mr Neil mentions the possibility of Labour requiring the SNP to win a new majority in the Holyrood elections in 2021, she says: “It doesn’t appear to be the principle of a second independence referendum that he’s quibbling about, it’s the timing.

“For the sake of a year, he’s going to turn his back on the chance to govern with a Labour government and do all these things he wants to do? I don’t find that credible.”

Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP could end up holding the balance of power after 12 December's general election, if the result is another Parliament where no party has a clear majority.

So Andrew Neil begins his questioning by suggesting Ms Sturgeon needs a Corbyn government to stop Brexit.

“I don’t want a Boris Johnson government. A Jeremy Corbyn led-government wouldn’t be my first preference,” she says.

“I would rather Scotland didn’t have to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

She says she wants to stop Brexit but says that any party which wants SNP support has to ensure that Scotland can choose its own future – with another independence referendum.

Image source, Getty Images

Need a quick briefing of all things SNP before you watch Andrew Neil's grilling of Nicola Sturgeon?

Under Ms Sturgeon's leadership, the SNP had 35 MPs in Westminster when Parliament was dissolved.

Of those, 23 were men and 12 were women.

How is the party doing in the polls?

Our national election poll tracker has the party at 4% of the vote currently. You can follow the parties progress in the polls on our tracker here.

But the UK-wide polls don't reveal too much about how a party only standing in Scotland will fare. The first Scotland-only poll of this election by Panelbase was published yesterday and shows the SNP as the largest party on 40%.

Elections expert Sir John Curtice said that, if the gains in support are consistent across Scotland, the SNP would win six more seats.

How did it perform in the last election?

In 2017, the party saw its share of the vote drop by 13% and lost 21 seats. It had won all but three of Scotland's Westminster seats two years earlier.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is the first to face Andrew Neil's questions this week, but other party leaders have also been invited.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn will appear on the show at 7pm tomorrow and there will be more to come over the next two weeks.

Early life

Born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, in 1970, Nicola Sturgeon began campaigning for the Scottish National Party at 16.

She said she was inspired to take action by Scotland's struggles under Margaret Thatcher's governments.

Ms Sturgeon studied law at Glasgow University and worked as a solicitor before entering politics.

Political career

At the age of 29, Ms Sturgeon became a full-time politician when she was elected to the new Holyrood Parliament in 1999 as a Glasgow regional MSP.

In 2004, she became deputy leader of the party after being persuaded to withdraw her own leadership bid.

She helped the SNP win a majority in the 2011 and then led the referendum campaign for Yes to Scottish independence in 2014, losing by 55% to 45%.

Image source, PA Media

As SNP leader

With Alex Salmond resigning after the referendum, Nicola Sturgeon was elected SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland.

After a TV debate in the 2015 general election, she was named the "most dangerous woman in Britain" by the Daily Mail. The SNP went on to win 56 of 59 seats in Scotland.

When the UK voted to leave the EU, she fired off a formal request for another Scottish independence referendum, but was rebuffed. And in 2017, the SNP lost a third of its seats as the Tories bounced back.

Read more here

Image source, PA Media

For viewers in Wales, there's something a little different.

Instead of seeing Neil v Sturgeon at 7:30pm, there will be a half-hour interview of Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price by the BBC's Jo Coburn.

In 45 minutes, we'll be bringing you live coverage of the first of The Andew Neil Interviews, where the BBC presenter goes head-to-head with party leaders in prime time.

The SNP's Nicola Sturgeon is the first to face the questions at 7:30pm on BBC One.

Between now and then, we'll build up to the first of this week's big TV political dates.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Now we are pretty much at the halfway mark with three weeks or so to go to polling day.

Important to say though the SNP is yet to publish its manifesto, which of course will be looked at with great interest, not just in Scotland because there is the possibility they could end up working with one of the political parties depending on the result.

But the Tories and the Labour Party have put forward their big offers in their manifesto.

In terms of what happens next - events, events, events. That's why this election is so unpredictable because no-one can really know what the next three weeks can bring.

The polls seems to suggest the Tories have a consistent lead. One cabinet minister said to me they are all living in fear of what happened last time when that poll lead was thrown away.

And on the Labour side they are not quite sure what numbers they can really believe.

Image source, PA Media

Nearly three million people have applied to register to vote in the past month, according to Government figures.

Of the 2.98 million applications submitted between 24 October and 24 November, the biggest spike was on Friday, when nearly 308,000 registrations were recorded - the same day as BBC One's Question Time featured Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson and Nicola Sturgeon in a two-hour special.

There is now less than 30 hours to register to vote and a last-minute surge in people is expected ahead of the deadline at 23:59 GMT tomorrow.

The government registration figures also showed:

• More than a third of applications (35%) in the last month came from people under the age of 25
• A further 30% came from people aged 25 to 34
• Just 4% have been submitted by people aged 65 and over

An increase in applications is not firm evidence of an increase in the number of people able to vote - previous elections have seen voter registration applications from people who are already registered or who are below the voting age.

You can register to vote online at gov.uk/register-to-vote, external. Or read more about how to register.

Channel 4 News is going to devote its leaders' debate on Thursday to climate change.

The editor, Ben de Pear, says four party leaders have signed up so far: Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon, Lib Dem Jo Swinson and Sian Berry for the Greens.

And even if Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage turn the invitation down, the show will go on...

The letter from Stormzy and others to the Guardian comes just a couple of weeks after BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat's Kameron Virk examined whether the grime music community could still be relied on to provide the support it gave Jeremy Corbyn in 2017.

He pointed out that there was no longer a website under the name "Grime4Corbyn.com".

But two weeks is a long time in politics and if you head to www.grime4corbyn.com now, you will find a site labelled "#Grime4Corbyn 2.0" with the message "Still grime, still Corbyn".

Image source, PA Media

Stormzy has thrown his support behind Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party ahead of the general election.

The award-winning grime MC is one of 39 artists who have written a letter in the Guardian, external saying they will vote Labour to "end austerity, rebuild our communities and take back the means to change our lives for the better".

Rappers Akala, Kano and Professor Green and singer Katy B are also among the signatories of the letter.

"We're not voting Labour in the naive hope that they will solve all the problems our communities face," they write.

"We vote because they offer an urgent alternative to the destructive policies of the Conservatives."

The letter continues: "To deny from our own, now quite comfortable places, that a Labour government would improve the lives of millions would betray the communities we come from.

"The opportunity for people-led change can be made possible under a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government.

It adds: "Surely, in an election that could transform the livelihoods of many, and be the difference between life or death for many more, life is something worth voting for."

Stormzy previously supported Mr Corbyn at the last election, when a Grime4Corbyn campaign was credited with helping Labour rally some of their youngest voters.

Image source, Getty Images

A "misreading" of the Tory manifesto may have resulted in people thinking they are pledging 50,000 "new" nurses by 2024-5 if they win the general election, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan says.

The Conservative Party pledged to increase the number of nurses by 50,000, but Labour accused it of being disingenuous after it emerged 18,500 of the posts would be filled by encouraging qualified nurses to stay in the profession, or return to work

Only around 19,000 of the posts would be filled by new nurse trainees.

Ms Morgan says: "I think there's been a confusion, people reading that as 50,000 new nurses.

"I think sometimes that's a deliberate confusion and sometimes that's just a genuine misreading of the manifesto."

Asked if she agreed her party's wording had created confusion, Ms Morgan said: "No. Because I think 50,000 more couldn't be clearer, but actually I think an awful lot of people have decided to say that there is a confusion.

"It's not. 50,000 more means 50,000 more nurses by 2025."

Ms Morgan said the Tory party could take a "variety of different routes" to meet the 50,000 figure, adding she did not think her party's pledge was misleading.

Read more about how realistic the manifesto pledge is.

Reality Check

Image source, Getty Images

Here is some more detail on what exactly Labour is offering the Waspi women - those who lost out as a result of changes to the pension age.

A Labour government would offer different amounts of compensation depending on when they were born.

Those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1955 would be paid £100 for each week of entitlement lost, while those born between 6 April 1955 and 6 April 1960 would receive smaller amounts.

There are two parts of the proposed compensation: one for the changes made in 1995, when it was decided that the state pension age for women should increase from 60 to 65, and one for the changes in 2011 when the increase to 65 was accelerated and an increase to 66 was scheduled.

Consider, for example:

• A woman born in February 1955 who would have been expecting to retire aged 60 in 2015. But in 1995 when she would have been 40, this was changed to 65 - so she would be retiring in 2020. Labour is proposing to give her about £25,000 for this change. In 2011, the ground shifted further for her when the government said she wouldn't be able to get the state pension until the age of 66 in 2021. For this, Labour is promising her about £6,000.
• On the other hand, a woman born in May 1960 would have expected to retire in 2020. In 1995 this was postponed to 2025. The act in 2011 meant she wouldn't be able to get the state pension until the age of 66 in 2026. Labour says she had long enough to prepare for each of these changes and will get nothing.

Labour has produced a calculator, external for people to check how much compensation they could receive.

Conservative minister Nicky Morgan told the BBC "there isn't the money available" to compensate the Waspi women.

Read more about what exactly Labour is offering women affected by pension age changes.

Image source, UK Parliament’

Labour's proposals to give more rights to people who privately rent their home "could well put landlords off" and lead to them "selling premises rather than having them available to rent", Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan told the BBC earlier today.

Labour has pledged to introduce rent controls and require landlords to carry out an annual property check.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said "good" landlords have "nothing to fear".

Speaking at the launch of a Conservative election poster, Ms Morgan told the BBC: "The Conservatives have already taken action on rogue landlords, on making sure that people can't be thrown out of rented premises, making sure that they can get back deposits, not paying unnecessary fees - things like that that make renting more difficult.

"I think with the Labour policy, though, there is a balance. We want landlords to be making rooms and homes available to rent, it's a very important part of the housing market."

She continued: "Actually some of the actions the Labour Party is proposing today could well put landlords off, they might end up selling premises rather than having them available to rent."

Historic Royal Palaces, the charity which maintains a number of royal palaces including Kensington Palace and Hampton Court, has apologised after its Twitter account sent out a message in support of the Conservative manifesto.

The tweet, which appeared briefly this morning before being deleted, read:"This #ConservativeManifesto focuses on the people's priorities. #VoteConservative to get Brexit done, invest in our NHS, put more police on our streets, and properly fund schools."

The charity says the tweet was posted accidentally.

An offer of free fish and chips if the Brexit Party makes gains in two South Yorkshire seats has prompted complaints to the police.

Penistone town councillor David Wood posted the offer on the Facebook page for his takeaway in Barnsley.

Offering material incentives to vote in a particular way - known as "treating" - is banned under electoral law.

Mr Wood has since removed the post, but said the offer still stood.

Read the full story

Election posters have provoked all sorts of controversy this election, whether they are being stolen from people's gardens or blamed for ruining the Christmas lights display.

But one Conservative candidate has faced a novel objection after one of his posters in Cumbria was accused of frightening horses (or more specifically its location prompted that complaint).

James Airey is taking the criticism in good spirit. "I'm sorry that my face scares not only children but animals now as well," he says.

Read the full story

Image source, PA Media

The Scottish Greens say it would be a "mistake" for a Scottish independence referendum to be delayed until after a Brexit transition period.

The UK is currently due to leave the EU on 31 January 2020.

A transition period - when the UK will continue to follow EU rules while the two sides try to work out a permanent trade deal - is then set to last until 31 December 2020.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said it would be "perfectly reasonable" to offer a Scottish voters a choice on whether to become independent during this period.

Launching the party's manifesto in Glasgow, Mr Harvie said: "If Scotland was to vote for independence within that timescale, then you have the option of ensuring that our transition to EU membership as an independent country can be smoothed."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has also said she wants to hold another vote on Scottish independence in the latter part of 2020, but Mr Harvie said the Green timescale was not agreed in co-ordination with the SNP.

Earlier today, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said his party would not block indyref2 if pro-independence parties win a majority at the next Holyrood election.

However, he also said he still opposed breaking up the UK.

Boris Johnson has ruled out giving permission for another vote while he is prime minister.