Image source, Pacemaker

Launching the UUP manifesto, Steve Aiken said earlier that he hoped the party MPs would stop the current Brexit deal.

Read the full story here.

The party's programme includes a wide range of pledges including:

• Introduction of direct rule if there is no deal for a return of power-sharing at Stormont by mid-January
• Lowering of the voting age to 16
• Declaration of a healthcare emergency in Northern Ireland

• Support for free TV licences for over 75s

The unionist party is standing in 17 seats across Northern Ireland, but is not running in North Belfast, where the party has stepped aside to support the DUP's Nigel Dodds.

Boris Johnson is giving a press conference now from the Nato leaders' meeting in Hertfordshire.

He's talking about the UK's commitment, monetarily and politically, to the military alliance, which is the world's largest.

He sums up the talks that have gone on so far - with parties talking about Russia, the challenges of cyber crime, and their long-standing commitments to the continuation of the alliance.

He'll now take some questions...

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour's figures for boosting household income may not stand up to close scrutiny - mixing immediate benefits with less certain promises of lower utility bills in future.

But the political message that "you will be better off with Labour" is seen by some party insiders not only as essential, but overdue.

John McDonnell's speech was in the West Midlands - part of the country where traditional Labour voters who backed Brexit are showing more willingness to support the Conservatives this time.

And they need good reasons to. In union leader Len McCluskey's words: "Come home to Labour."

It was felt that Labour's myriad "retail offers" - from free broadband to reducing rail fares and offering free prescriptions and dental checks - hadn't been quite as popular as anticipated.

So the announcements are being repackaged, to get across the message that the party will put money in your pockets, unless you are already well-off.

This in part was due to Labour being put on the back foot on its tax plans, getting bogged down in arguing over whether anyone outside the top 5% would be worse off.

Now the party wants to go on the front foot and stress that the message isn't so much "you won't pay any more", it is: "overall, you will benefit."

Another problem is that voters are sceptical that Labour can deliver.

So over the next week, expect to see more details on how Labour will prioritise its programme.

Image source, UK POOL

Jeremy Corbyn has said he didn't have the "opportunity" to speak with Donald Trump during a reception at Buckingham Palace last tonight ahead of today's Nato meeting.

Speaking to reporters in Nottingham, the Labour leader said: "he wasn't at the part of the reception I was at".

“I wanted to speak to him, but it wasn’t possible," he added.

Mr Corbyn said despite not meeting the US president, he has been "absolutely clear" that the NHS should not be included in any post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

That's what he'd hoped to tell the president to his face.

Left-leaning magazine the New Statesman has said it will not endorse Labour at the general election.

The publication has endorsed Labour, external - or urged its readers to back local Labour candidates, external - at the past two elections.

It wrote in a leader article on Wednesday, external: "As a publication that is beholden to no party or faction, that defends the intellectual traditions of scepticism, independence of thought, the spirit of criticism and a willingness to debate, we believe that voters deserve better."

The New Statesman said voters are despairing at the choice offered by the two main parties and Jeremy Corbyn's "reluctance to apologise for the anti-Semitism in Labour and to take a stance on Brexit, the biggest issue facing the country, make him unfit to be prime minister".

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

A few hundred Labour supporters gathered near Nottingham Castle in the winter sunshine to welcome Jeremy Corbyn this morning.

They enjoyed a few chants... "oooh, Jeremy Corbyn", "Jez we can!" and "social justice!" all featured.

Activists contrasted Mr Corbyn’s willingness to mingle with crowds out and about with Boris Johnson’s more stage-managed events.

But privately some acknowledged what they saw as the likelihood of defeat for the party next week.

Image source, PA Media

Nigel Farage has held a rally this morning in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, in Nottinghamshire - it was most recently held by Labour's Gloria de Piero who is leaving politics at this election, but nearly 70% backed Leave in the EU referendum.

Mr Farage said the Brexit Party was "doing very well" in attracting votes from Labour leavers.

"I am more optimistic about Brexit and what it means and leaving this ghastly club based in Brussels run by these bureaucrats," he said. "I am more bullish and optimistic about it than I have ever been at any point in my life.

"I know this is the right thing to do and I ask you to give us your support over the next eight days."

The BBC's Dan Johnson was watching...

Image source, Getty Images

Blustery showers, buffeting winds, snow and freezing fog. That's the potential weather outlook for the run-up to polling day on 12 December, according to the Met Office.

This year's election is the first December poll since 1923 - and some might argue icy temperatures are a good reason why.

Meteorologists predict a wintry spell will arrive for election week, covering the UK in frost and seeing temperatures plunge to sub-zero in some areas.

The long-term forecast suggests snowfall in Scotland and the Pennines, with the rest of the UK hit by blustery winds and freezing fog.

Looking ahead to mid-December, the Met Office predicts "rain and transient mountain snow" will cross the UK at the beginning of the week, followed by "blustery showers" which will be heaviest in the west. Election week itself will bring "unsettled" conditions.

Precise forecasts for election day will come later this week. Either way, campaigners and voters are advised to wrap up warm.

Two Conservative election adverts have been banned from YouTube, after copyright complaints from the BBC. They contained the same video that was taken down by Facebook on Sunday, featuring a montage of clips from BBC reporters.

The BBC believes the ads misled viewers into thinking its news reporters were supporting the Conservatives. Here's the original story.

The Conservatives have not backed down from their view there is nothing wrong with the video, and had continued to pay to promote it on YouTube until now - where it racked up one million impressions.

The BBC's digital election reporter has the story...

If you're just tuning into our live coverage now - or just want a recap - here are today's main political developments:

• Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell gave a speech in Birmingham on the cost of living and his party's manifesto plans to, as he put it, "abolish poverty once and for all", among them scrapping universal credit and raising the living wage to £10 an hour.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson was finally captured on camera with US President Donald Trump at the Nato leaders' meeting in Watford hours after a off-camera private meeting at No 10.
• Mr Johnson stressed the UK's "rock solid" commitment to Nato
• Expect him to face more questions about the NHS and Donald Trump - Labour is stressing today that is is not reassured by the president's insistence he has no interest in bringing the NHS into any US-UK trade deal after Brexit
• Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson was targeted by Extinction Rebellion protesters wearing bee costumes, who glued themselves to her electric campaign bus as she visited a youth centre in south London.

• Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) launched their manifesto this morning - it's called "Stop Boris - Stop Brexit".
• Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party has also launched its manifesto today - arguing that remaining in the EU would be better than leaving under the current Brexit deal.

Image source, PA Media

The Brexit Party has removed the whip from one of its MEPs, John Longworth, for "repeatedly undermining" its election strategy.

A high-profile Brexiteer, Mr Longworth is a former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, and chairman of the 'Leave Means Leave' pressure group.

He's called on Nigel Farage to stand just 20 to 30 candidates in the general election, telling The Times last month, external: "In order to box clever for Brexit, my personal view is that the Brexit Party should focus its efforts on a limited number of constituencies which it thinks it can win and on constituencies where it can split the Labour vote."

The Brexit party is contesting all those constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales, that are not already held by the Conservatives.

Announcing the decision, the party's chief whip, Brian Monteith MEP, said: "We regret having to remove the whip, but we have been left with no alternative". He added: “The Brexit Party shall not be deflected from, or undermined in, its campaign to win Labour seats. We are receiving a great reception from disenchanted Labour voters and believe we have a good chance of winning in many seats."

Chris Page
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

As well as the SDLP, the Ulster Unionist Party has also launched its manifesto today - arguing that remaining in the EU would be better than leaving under the current Brexit deal.

The party leader Steve Aiken said: "We entered into the European Union as one nation, we either leave as one nation or we remain as one nation."

It is unhappy at the different treatment for Northern Ireland under Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

The party was in favour of staying in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign, but then said the result had to be honoured.

Under Mr Aiken, who took over as leader several weeks ago, the party has moved towards a more pro-Remain position.

Both the UUP and the SDLP lost all their seats in the 2017 general election.

Schools Cuts, external, which is run by a group of unions and campaigns for better school funding, claims to show what the "manifestos of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats mean for every individual school in England."

The website has been relaunched today and says its interactive map will show the impact of "real-terms cuts to date" as well as how their local schools will be affected by whoever is in government next.

School funding became one of the biggest issues of the 2017 general election, with the BBC's Brian Wheeler exploring whether teachers wiped out Theresa May's Conservative majority.

In a tweet, Paul Waugh, HuffPost UK's executive editor for politics, questions whether the website will have an impact this time.

Our correspondent Chris Mason is out on the trail with Labour this morning. He watched John McDonnell a little earlier and now Jeremy Corbyn is unveiling a party poster.

He follows a similar message to Mr McDonnell talking about "nine years of austerity" meaning "the gap between the richest and poorest has got bigger, bigger and bigger".

Mr Corbyn says his policy programme would get public services ‘to where they are in France and Germany - and promises a Labour government wouldn’t include "any of our public services" in a US-UK trade deal.

The Labour leader also gives a nod to Robin Hood...

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

What are the different parties offering when it comes to housing?

In BBC Radio 5 Live's Election Clinic, we've been putting questions from listeners to a panel of experts. Renting, buying and building is always a hot topic, but what's the truth behind the politics?

Kattrina lives near Norwich. She's mum to a two-year-old and wants to know what help there is to get on the property ladder.

Becky, in Exmouth, was evicted from a rental property after complaining about damp, and wants to know what the parties are saying about protecting tenants.

And Ritu, in Kent, has a question about cladding on tower blocks, and who should pay for it to be replaced.

Click here to listen on BBC Sounds.

A bit more from the SDLP manifesto. Key pledges include:

• Vote to revoke Article 50 and support a People's Vote second referendum;
• Make radical proposals for the reform and restoration of an executive at Stormont;
• Bring forward emergency legislation incentivising a carbon-neutral economy by 2030;
• Fight the removal of free TV licences from over-75s;
• Extend welfare mitigations for another four years.

Read our simple guide to the election in Northern Ireland and see the full list of candidates here.

We have to confess that earlier in week we may have said we'd had the last of the manifesto launches. It turns out we were wrong.

Northern Ireland's SDLP has launched theirs this morning - it's called "Stop Boris - Stop Brexit".

Leader Colum Eastwood said the general election would be "potentially decisive" on Brexit.

And he made a strong attack on MPs who refuse to take their seats, saying "decisions are made by those who show up".

That's a reference to Sinn Fein who follow a policy of abstentionism when it comes to Westminster.

Mr Eastwood is trying to win back Foyle from Sinn Féin, which won the seat for the first time in 2017 by 169 votes.

Read the whole story here.

Speaking of the Greens, co-leader Jonathan Bartley has been answering your questions on the BBC News Channel. Our BBC Politics Twitter feed has some clips, external - including this one.

You'll also be able to listen back to the whole session on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Much of the questioning of politicians this morning has focused on Nato - the 29-member military alliance which is currently meeting in the UK.

A former leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett, says she doesn't "want to see Nato continuing" in the long term.

She tells The Emma Barnett Show the Greens would "ensure that we move to a world where we don't have Nato". She wants "a very different, much more equal world, where we see power shared".

Ms Barnett says the Greens would focus instead on working through the United Nations on its sustainable development goals, human rights and democracy.

Nato leaders are meeting in Hertfordshire to mark its 70th anniversary, with Boris Johnson saying his commitment to the alliance is "absolutely rock solid".

Nato is not mentioned in the Green party's election manifesto - here's what is.

Image source, PA Media

John McDonnell has wrapped up now but he told questioners after his speech that over the next few days he would be putting together an outline of what the "first 100 days of a Labour government would look like".

It'll also reveal more about how a lot of big promises will be paid for.

He says: "You will see what we intend in terms of our first Queen's Speech, and you'll see the details of some of our first Budget."

He reveals the Labour Party is meeting with civil servants to "prepare the ground for when we go into government on 13 December".

"We want to hit the ground running", he adds.

"We can't wait for the implementation of those policies because they are so desperately needed."