BBC Radio 5 Live

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has defended Boris Johnson’s decision not to agree to be interviewed by the BBC's Andrew Neil – like all the other main party leaders.

He says the PM has given more than 100 interviews during the campaign so far and he will be going head-to-head tonight with Jeremy Corbyn.

He says he can’t recall any other PM agreeing to two one-to-one debates with the leader of the opposition during an election, saying “it’s an unprecedented level of scrutiny that the prime minister has allowed to happen”.

Asked again about Mr Johnson avoiding scrutiny by not doing an interview with Mr Neil, Mr Gove insisted that “the arena is there tonight” - and for voters the choice is between Mr Johnson and Mr Corbyn.

Chris Mason, Laura Kuenssberg and the team take a look at what the main parties have been saying about Brexit on the campaign trail. And they invited impressionists Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens from Dead Ringers into the studio. Listen back here.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was the latest party leader to subject himself to a 30-minute grilling from BBC presenter Andrew Neil last night.

During the interview, Mr Farage defended his "difficult" decision not to contest Tory-held seats, insisting he was putting "country before party".

He also claimed that his party had stopped the "Lib Dem surge" and were "tearing chunks out of the Labour vote".

You can watch some of that interview below, or catch up on the full 30-minute programme here.

Still undecided about who to vote for? To help you make your choice, here is our guide on what the main parties are promising.

Compare where the parties stand on key issues - from Brexit and the NHS to education and the environment.

Boris Johnson is - so far - the only main party leader not to submit to an election grilling from Andrew Neil.

The BBC presenter issued a direct challenge to the PM to take part in a sit-down interview with him before next week's general election.

He says he wants to quiz Boris Johnson about whether he can be trusted. You can watch his appeal below.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Image source, Getty Images

In lots of ways this is a complicated election.

Derbyshire is not the same as Dundee, Birmingham is not the same as Bangor.

Westminster sure isn't the same as Widnes - and London, maybe above all else, isn't the same as Linlithgow, Leeds or Ludlow.

There are a multitude of contenders as well - not just the traditional parties, but the SNP and Plaid Cymru, the Brexit Party, what remains of the Independent Group for Change, moveable tribes of party defectors and a clutch of independents as well.

But as we enter the last seven days of this election, in our first-past-the-post system, whether you believe it is the best or the worst of all worlds, the choice irrevocably, and inevitably perhaps, moves towards the two big teams - the reds and the blues, and the two big, flawed, characters of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

At the start of this campaign we talked here about how in a strange way, they are an odd couple who share some traits.

And on the trail that has been shown, again and again, to be the case.

Read more from Laura here.

Several of Friday's papers cover Andrew Neil's appeal to Boris Johnson to agree to an interview with him.

"BBC challenges chicken PM" is the Daily Mirror's take as it accuses the prime minister of "running scared", external.

The Metro deploys a different animal metaphor, nicknaming Mr Neil the "BBC rottweiler", external. It describes his "on-air challenge" to Mr Johnson as "unprecedented."

Read our full paper review.

• Labour’s focus is on business – they are launching their small business manifesto in which they are promising to base a network of small business advisers in Post Office branches. Those advisers would form part of a wider agency to help firms access advice and bid for government contracts. Read our full story
• Boris Johnson has written a letter urging Jeremy Corbyn to reconsider his Brexit policy and what he calls Labour's plans to "fiddle" a second Brexit referendum. He questions Labour’s plan to give two million EU nationals full voting rights, which would make it harder for leave to win
• And of course the day will end with that head-to-head between the prime minister and Mr Corbyn. The hour-long BBC One programme, hosted by Nick Robinson, starts at 20:30 GMT.

Image source, Reuters

Hello from Westminster and welcome to our live coverage of the election campaign, with just six days to go before the big day.

All the talk once again surrounds TV interviews and debates. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will go head-to-head this evening for the second time in a live BBC election debate.

It comes as BBC presenter Andrew Neil last night challenged the prime minister to do a sit-down interview with him - like all the other main party leaders.

That came at the end of his 30-minute grilling of Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.

Also on the TV last night was Mr Corbyn’s face-to-face interview with Julie Etchingham on ITV – he spoke about the anti-Semitism row that has tainted his term as leader.