Our correspondent is with the Lib Dems this morning out on the campaign trail and it appears things have taken a slightly surprising turn.

Worth remembering that the Lib Dem battle bus is an electric vehicle...

Political correspondent Andrew Sinclair has the answers to some of your big election questions. Watch above or here.

One of election night's moments of high drama is the announcement of the exit poll results. Commissioned by the major broadcasters, it asks a sample of people how they actually voted on the day, to give an early indication of what the final result might look like.

In 2017, it correctly predicted that Theresa May had lost her slim majority.

Ben Page, CEO of the Ipsos MORI polling company, posted an image of some of the preparations for the poll, with hundreds of ballot boxes and "natty" hi-vis jackets.

Image source, EPA

For people who can't go to the polling station on 12 December, the bad news is you've missed the deadline to apply for a postal vote. But the good news is you can still register for a proxy vote - where someone attends a polling station to cast a vote on your behalf - until 5pm today.

You can only apply under certain circumstances, such as being away on polling day, having a medical issue or disability, or being prevented from voting in person because of work.

You pick the person to act as your proxy: they need to be registered and eligible to vote in the election and able to reach the polling station named on your polling card.

Find out more here., external

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will be interviewed by the BBC's Andrew Neil tonight - eight days before voters head to the polls.

The 30-minute interview will air at 19:30 GMT on BBC One.

Ms Swinson is the third party leader to face Neil, after Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn.

The BBC is still yet to confirm a date for Boris Johnson to face the same grilling.

As he arrived earlier for the Nato gathering, Boris Johnson said he had a "very good meeting" with President Trump yesterday.

They discussed "the future of the Nato alliance, what's going on in Syria and various other security matters", he said.

The prime minister was asked why he'd been avoiding being pictured with Mr Trump, but didn't take the bait.

"I'm going to be photographed with every possible leader of Nato and we're having a very successful meeting."

Yesterday, the US president said he was going to keep out of the UK election, before noting that Mr Johnson was a "very capable guy" and would "do a great job" if he wins.

Mr Trump has tweeted in the last few minutes himself...

While the UK plays host to Nato leaders today, the election campaign continues. Here's a summary of the developments so far this morning:

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has arrived at the Nato meeting, warning that the allies "cannot be complacent". He'll be back on the election campaign trail later today.
• Mr Johnson wouldn't engage with the suggestion he's avoiding being photographed with President Trump - more on that shortly
• Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt says the "biggest source of tension" within Nato is the level of spending on defence and accuses Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of wanting to "dismantle" the alliance
• Labour's Barry Gardiner rejects those claims, saying the party is committed to Nato. He casts doubt on Donald Trump's denials about the NHS being included in trade talks and questions why UK officials did not rule it out in discussions
• Later this morning, Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell is due to make a speech accusing the Conservatives of creating a "cost-of-living crisis"
• Lib Dem Chuka Umunna says the party will create a legal obligation for universities to support students' mental health. He admits the party is being "squeezed" but says it is still in a position to take seats off the Tories
• And the Conservatives have announced a £4.2bn pledge for public transport outside London

Branwen Jeffreys
Education Editor

The mental health of students has become a high profile concern, not least following a number of suicides.

This isn’t the first time a charter has been proposed - in his previous role as Universities Minister in the Conservative Government, the now Lib Dem Sam Gyimah made the same suggestion.

At the moment there is a data vacuum - as the Lib Dems suggest - with waiting times for university counselling services not consistently recorded, or at some universities not gathered at all.

But there are two big barriers to what’s suggested. The first is universities are independent organisations who decide their own priorities and that is entirely voluntary. Some have increased support for students only after tragedies.

The second is that most mental health provision is in the NHS. Students register either at their parents’ home address with a GP, or at university. Information sharing between universities and the NHS has been highlighted as a problem in a recent inquest into a student suicide.

Students are at an age when some more serious mental illnesses are diagnosed. They are also a group where the potential suicide danger may be harder to detect because they have already achieved a lot.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Back onto election matters now and Chuka Umunna acknowledges that the Lib Dems are under pressure in the opinion polls, but defends the party's campaign.

"The third party always gets squeezed in general elections," he says.

He says the Brexit Party's pact with the Tories was "done in part to thwart the Lib Dems", proving they are an electoral threat.

But Mr Umunna says the party is "polling double" what it did at the same point in the last election and is "second or winning" in 134 seats.

He declines to comment on the suspension of a party worker for allegedly faking an email in a legal dispute with a news website, but says that all political parties are accused of dirty tricks by their opponents.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Chuka Umunna tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme the "vital" Nato alliance faces serious risks under both Labour or the Conservatives.

He says Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a "long time advocate of disbanding Nato", despite Barry Gardiner earlier insisting that party policy was to maintain it.

And he says Tory leader Boris Johnson "has been open that he very much admires" Donald Trump and has "similar" politics to him.

Mr Umunna says the US president is at most "lukewarm" on Nato and has previously described it as "obsolete".

He says Mr Trump undermined Nato when he unilaterally withdrew US forces from Syria, allowing Turkey to attack Kurdish fighters who had been allies in the battle against the Islamic State group.

Defending Nato is not just a matter of funding defence but also "acting in a co-ordinated fashion", which Mr Trump rejects, says Mr Umunna.

Image source, Getty Images

The prime minister arrived at the Nato leaders meeting in Watford earlier this morning, which marks the 70th anniversary of the alliance.

Speaking on the way in, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Nato continued to provide "peace and prosperity for hundreds of millions of people" because of "a very simple concept of safety in numbers."

"At the heart of it is a pledge that we will come to one another's defence - all for one and one for all."

But Mr Johnson warned Nato "cannot be complacent". He said the UK would continue to invest 2% of its GDP in defence and its commitment to the alliance was "absolutely rock solid".

Race equality campaigners say votes from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority communities shouldn’t be underestimated in the upcoming general election.

BBC community affairs correspondent Adina Campbell talks to a group of ethnic minority voters about the issues that matter to them.

One member, Hadassah Sankoh, questions how ethnic minority voters can "relate" to politicians when "we don't see people like us who are in leadership [roles]".

You can watch the full video above or via the link here.

Image source, Getty Images

We're going to be talking a lot about it today - it's forming the backdrop to campaigning and every political guest this morning has been asked about it. But what is Nato?

Well, it was formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-war communist expansion as the Soviet Union sought to extend its influence in Europe. The acronym stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and it's the world's most powerful regional defence alliance.

Keep reading here.

It's not election-related, but forgive us a moment. This video from CBC at last night's Nato event is getting lots of attention on Twitter - the BBC's Gavin Lee is one of those enjoying the "brilliant footage".

It shows Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's Emmanuel Macron, Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Boris Johnson.

They appear to be discussing Donald Trump, although he's not mentioned by name.

There are approximately 1,130,000 adults with a learning disability in the UK, charity Mencap says.

Cast members of Take A Bow, a drama group for adults with learning disabilities based in Wolverhampton, say politicians need to do more to communicate their policies to those voters.

Greg, who has Down's syndrome and volunteers with the group, says the disabled are being "completely forgotten".

You can watch the full video above or via this link.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Liberal Democrat Chuka Umunna has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, arguing that his party is in a "prime position to be able to take seats off Tories" in the 12 December election.

He says the "problem for Labour, far from taking seats, they are basically trying to defend their seats" in areas in the north of England.

Mr Umunna is also asked about his party's pledge on supporting student mental health.

He says there needs to be better support for young people at university and the Lib Dems will put a "student mental health charter" in place.

This would mean that by law universities would have to provide access to mental health support.

Finally, Mr Umunna is asked whether we will see another 70 years of Nato?

"I hope so, but that is very much in the hands of the 29 member states," he says.

Leaders have gathered in London for formal talks later, marking the military alliance's 70th anniversary.

Image source, Reuters

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will make a speech later this morning vowing to tackle what the party is calling "rip-off Britain".

Labour says that under the Conservatives, households have faced rising bills while wages have stalled.

"As chancellor, I want to ensure government has sound finances, but I want more than that. I want every family, every household in Britain to have sound finances," Mr McDonnell is expected to say.

"That means putting a stop to rip-off Britain and making real change so that people are not powerless in the face of profiteering monopolies, bad bosses at work, and cast aside by a government that just stands by."

He will point to policies his party has put forward which he says would save families money - more free childcare and cheaper rail fares, to name two.

In response, the Conservatives says Labour's claim it will reduce living costs "defies belief", accusing the party of proposing policies which contain tax rises for "ordinary hardworking people" - including the scrapping of the Marriage Allowance, which could cost couples £250 a year.

Want to compare the two parties' key policies yourself? Here are the Conservatives' top 13 dissected - and here are Labour's.

Image source, Getty Images

In 2019, with just over a week to go, could undecided voters make a crucial difference at this late stage? Prof Rosie Campbell, from King's College London, tries to find out the answer.

During his Today interview earlier, shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner made much of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's record of opposing conflicts such as the Iraq War in 2003, saying he was "on the right side of history".

But Huffington Post executive editor for politics Paul Waugh points out that Mr Gardiner and Mr Corbyn were on different sides of that particular argument.

Listen back to Conservative Jeremy Hunt insisting there's no threat to the NHS from post-Brexit trade talks between the UK and US.

Labour produced leaked documents last week which showed details of discussions between officials. Here, our economics editor looks closely at them and sums up what they tell us.