Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The prime minister is returning to No 10 from his constituency to receive further updates on the London Bridge incident.

Image source, gett

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has criticised former Labour MP Gisela Stewart, who has encouraged Leave-supporting Labour voters to lend their vote in this election to the Conservatives.

Ms Stewart made the comments at a press conference with the PM and Michael Gove earlier today.

Sir Keir says: "I think she's wrong to do that, not least because Boris Johnson has today confirmed he's continuing with no-deal preparations.

"We have been warning about this for quite some time. He's pretending he can get a trade deal with the EU signed off in the next 12 months - it's not going to happen. He knows it. And that increases the risk of no-deal.

"Nobody, but nobody, should be on a platform with Boris Johnson supporting him to win the election."

On Boris Johnson so far refusing to confirm he will do the Andrew Neil interview he adds: "He's on the run. He's scared of scrutiny...He doesn’t like scrutiny. He melts under scrutiny."

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald says the Conservatives’ offer of a new system for state aid "sticks in his throat".

Boris Johnson has pledged to make it easier to help struggling UK companies after Brexit, if the Tories win the general election. Our story has all the details.

Mr McDonald says the Tories had failed to save a steel works in his Teesside constituency, despite having a number of ways to intervene while Britain remained a member of the EU.

“The Tories sat on their hands and used state aid as an excuse."

He also dismisses suggestions Labour has changed its election tactics to focus on leave voters.

He adds that they are a "distraction technique" and the party was focusing on its core message.

The prime minister thanks the police and emergency services for their swift response to the incident in central London.

Ian Westbrook
BBC News

Image source, EPA

The general election takes place on Thursday 12 December - a chance for the UK's 46 million voters to elect a new government.

But how does the day actually work?

The deadline for registering to vote in this general election was on 26 November.

If you are on the electoral register, you should have received a polling card. This contains your polling number and polling station address.

Polling stations are usually in public buildings like community centres, village halls, churches and schools. However, the timing of this election means some school halls are already booked for nativity plays.

Read on here.

The police will investigate a comment by the Conservative candidate for Ludlow, Philip Dunne, as a possible "hate incident".

Mr Dunne told a Labour candidate he was "talking through his turban" at a debate in Church Stretton this week.

Labour candidate Kuldip Sahota said he was "shocked and deeply hurt" by Mr Dunne's words.

West Mercia Police said it was responding to a complaint made by several people.

Mr Dunne, who has been the MP for the constituency since 2005, has since apologised for the remark.

John McManus, who is at the scene, tells the BBC News channel: "Just a few minutes ago I was walking across London Bridge on the south bank to the north bank of the bridge.

"There appeared to be a fight going on on the other side of the bridge, with several men attacking one man."

To read the latest updates on this developing situation, visit our other live page.

Labour's shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald has been launching Labour's regional manifesto plans in the East Midlands.

He says they will "make sure we deal with the climate crisis", but "harness opportunities at the same time". Watch more from Mr McDonald below.

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

The People's Vote campaign saw hundreds of thousands of people march through London, but many staff have since left.

Politics Live reporter Greg Dawson looks at how the movement was growing in the lead-up to the election and had the support of dozens of MPs. There are now a series of smaller campaign groups calling for a new public Brexit vote.

Away from politics, there's some breaking news coming from central London.

London Bridge has been cordoned off by police, with a BBC journalist reporting hearing gunfire.

BBC reporter John McManus says he saw a group of men involved in a fight on the bridge.

Police then arrived and shots were fired, he adds.

Read the full story here.

Reality Check

During the press conference earlier today, Boris Johnson said that after Brexit: "We will scrap the tampon tax."

EU member states are required to levy a standard VAT rate of at least 15%.

For sanitary products, the minimum is 5% (which is the UK rate).

The EU plans to reduce it to zero but this hasn't been implemented yet.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Miatta Fahnbulleh, the chief executive of the think tank the New Economics Foundation, says if traditional Labour voters in Leave seats turn to the Conservatives in this election, "that will be quite interesting is to see how that plays out".

"When it become clear that Brexit is actually is not solving many of the issues that people care about - the squeeze on living standards, prospects for people's children, the housing crisis, all the underlying issues that sat below Brexit... if it does not begin to tackle those things, the political backlash I think is going to be absolutely immense.

"There might be a realignment potentially in this election, but the longer term gain will depend on whether Brexit offers what it promises," she says.

Image source, PA Media

The Catholic Church is concerned by the chief rabbi's criticism of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, a senior priest has said.

"We would not look at particular party-political comments but we are concerned the Chief Rabbi expressed his concerns that members of his community are frightened in this country," said Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson.

"Of that we are concerned."

The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have met to discuss the general election.

In a statement, the group said that politicians should recognise that telling the truth and not making "vindictive or abusive comments or unattainable promises" is essential.

They said the forthcoming election is "profoundly important" and Catholics must not "watch from the balcony".

"We ask everyone to engage with the election and vote," they said. "Honest political discourse depends upon integrity."

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

The PM wanted to set out not just the timescale for leaving the EU but what he saw as the benefits of Brexit for voters.

While the Conservatives were once the party of free trade, Boris Johnson donned the cloak of protectionism by outlining a new post-Brexit state aid regime.

And he said public bodies would be encouraged to adopt a "Buy British" policy to boost local economies. Critics say these measures would impede attempts to strike a trade deal with the EU.

Mr Johnson also declined to say that no-deal preparations would be stood down but expressed confidence a trade agreement would be struck by the end of next year.

With Gisela Stuart standing next to him, politically Boris Johnson wants to highlight differences with Jeremy Corbyn on Brexit.

The Conservatives' promise to introduce a new state aid regime after Brexit is very interesting, says the BBC's economics editor Faisal Islam.

It is interventionist with possible consequences for UK-EU trade deal, he says.

Our correspondent says the prime minister's new Brexit withdrawal deal and political declaration commits to "uphold common high standards applicable in Union and UK at end of transition period in area of state aid".

And he adds:

Image source, UK Parliament/Getty

Tonight, the leading politicians from seven major political parties will take part in a live TV election debate in Cardiff, chaired by Nick Robinson.

But how are the questions and the audience selected?

Questions will come from members of the audience recruited by the BBC's opinion research partner Savant ComRes, and from members of the public who have submitted questions via the BBC website.

The audience has been selected to reflect the country's demographic distribution and political views.

And, says Jonathan Munro, the BBC's head of newsgathering, it is being weighted to reflect the Brexit vote and will have a slim majority of people who voted Leave over Remain (except for a few young voters who weren't old enough to vote in the referendum).

The editorial team will pick the questions, with the aim of reflecting the issues that matter to the public and feature prominently during the election campaign.

Read more here.

Speaking to 5 Live, co-leader Jonathan Bartley says: "The pressure on us to hold our noses and vote tactically is immense."