Well, this is a new one for our election cliches collection. Boris Johnson said he was going to give a speech on breaking the "gridlock" around Brexit.

Well, he's taking that promise literally on a campaign event this afternoon, as our political correspondent observes...

Jo Swinson has arrived at a party rally in Bath.

She'll meet Wera Hobhouse - Lib Dem spokesperson for the environment and climate change - who is running to keep her seat in the area.

Within minutes of arriving, Ms Swinson thanks party activists for going out in the bad weather to campaign before turning to the Lib Dems' core message.

"We recognise that this is a fight for the soul of our country. Are we open or closed? Are we generous or selfish? Do we reach out and work with others or do we pull up the drawbridge?

"And whether it is guaranteeing our prosperity or security or tackling the climate emergency, we know that we can do that so much better with our closest neighbours.

"So you know what you get from the Liberal Democrats on Brexit: to remain in the European Union and stand up for liberal values."

She then turns to Boris Johnson, who she accuses of "stoking hostility" and "division and hate".

"We Liberal Democrats reject that," she tells the audience. "We know our United Kingdom is better than that."

She ends her speech by repeating the party's main message: "We can stop Brexit and we can build a brighter future."

The crowd - all holding diamond-shaped Lib Dem placards - begin chanting: "Stop Brexit."

Image source, Josh Collins/Alicia Brostoff/Bilal Malik/Aaminah

Some first-time voters feel they have to choose between religion and policy. Watch what they've had to say to the BBC's Newsbeat.

Sky News

Image source, Metropolitan Police

David Merritt, whose son Jack was killed by Usman Khan in the London Bridge terror attack last month, has been talking to Sky News.

He previously criticised Boris Johnson for his response to the attack, after the PM blamed Khan's release on legislation introduced under "a leftie government", and called for longer sentences and an end to automatic release.

Mr Merritt tells Sky News he believes Mr Johnson "saw an opportunity" to score political points.

"What was required was just a dignified approach whereby the politicians would express their regrets, express their condolences to the people affected, and would then get on with campaigning in the election. It wasn't an election issue.

"Where most of us were watching this and seeing a tragedy unfolding in front of our eyes - instead of seeing a tragedy Boris Johnson saw an opportunity and he went on the offensive.

"He saw an opportunity to score some points in the election - he immediately said 'oh this is Labour's fault, they allowed this to happen, they had this early release policy' and so on. "At that point... well I had to say something."

Mr Johnson previously denied claims he was politicising the attack, saying he had campaigned against early release of prisoners for some time, having previously raised the issue during his 2012 campaign to be mayor of London.

It's been a busy morning on the campaign trail - if you're just catching up here's a quick recap:

• Labour was hoping to focus its campaigning on the NHS today. But instead a leaked secret recording of shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth saying his party's electoral prospects are "dire" has taken the headline.
• Mr Ashworth said the conversation, published by the Guido Fawkes website, was "banter" with a friend, who is a Tory activist. Appearing on BBC Politics Live earlier, he insisted he did support Jeremy Corbyn - despite appearing to criticise the Labour leader in the recording - and apologised to Labour party members, admitting he had made himself look like an "idiot". Read the full story here.
• This morning there was more reaction to a photo of a sick four-year-old boy sleeping on a hospital floor. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland defended Boris Johnson's response to the photo, insisting the prime minister had shown empathy.
• Posts have also circulated on social media claiming the photo was staged - but the editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post, which first reported the story, assured readers the paper went to "great lengths to establish the story was true" and confirmed it with the hospital.
• Mr Johnson will try to keep the focus on Brexit in a speech later, when he will warn of the "danger" of another inconclusive result if voters to not turn out to support the Conservatives.
• Meanwhile, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has urged Labour Leave supporters to "vote tactically" and back his party.
• The Green Party has been highlighting its pledges to students and graduates, with deputy leader Amelia Womack promising to deliver "justice" for them by scrapping tuition fees and writing off existing student debt.
• SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will appear alongside other Scottish leaders in a TV debate on BBC Scotland later. Read our guide to the programme here.
• Leaders of the main parties in Northern Ireland will also take part in a debate on BBC One NI.

Tom Symonds
Home Affairs Correspondent

Jo Swinson is a bit late, because of a train issue on the journey from London.

Her supporters are all here waiting for her to address this rally before going out in this terrible weather to do some more canvassing.

Aides are saying today we'll hear the core messages again, which for the Lib Dems are all about Brexit.

Stopping Brexit has been the mantra all along, but during the campaign, of course, the polls have been on the slide, it's fair to say.

That's why Jo Swinson's message has changed subtly, starting off talking about her as a potential prime minister candidate and revoking Article 50 should the Lib Dems win power.

She now accepts that's not very likely to happen, so she's now talking about how she will push through voting patterns in the Commons if there's a hung Parliament to make sure Britain has, as quickly as possible, another referendum on Brexit.

Image source, Getty Images

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been chatting with school children during a campaign event at Sandylands Community Primary School in Morecambe.

He was asked by the pupils what his favourite music was, and what art he likes.

His reply? He likes Cubist art and the artist Mondrian, and he's a fan of BBC Radio 6 Music.

Image source, Getty Images

Reality Check

Image source, Getty Images

Waiting times are a key issue when it comes to the NHS and on the Today programme this morning, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the health service in Scotland was seeing more people within its targets than last year.

Is that right? Well, it is true that more people were being seen, but this is because demand was rising. As the Audit Scotland report, external showed (and Today's Martha Kearney pointed out) the proportion of people being seen on time fell in five out of eight categories.

And the overall targets are being missed in six out of eight categories.

This is a claim that Reality Check has looked at before, when Ms Sturgeon made it in another BBC interview.

Image source, Getty Images

As Norman Smith says, the parties have been somewhat knocked off course these last couple of days.

Labour wanted to talk NHS today and Boris Johnson tried to talk about the health service in general when he was pushed to look specifically at the case of one little boy yesterday.

The NHS is always high on the public's agenda during general elections, so let's take a step back and look at what promises the parties are making.

You can also check out 11 charts on why the NHS matters in this election.

Our other issue-by-issue guides include:

• What are the parties going to do about Brexit?

• Where do they stand on climate change?

• And what about social care?

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

I think Jonathan Ashworth knows this story is a problem because he's now apologised to the Labour Party for his remarks.

The reason it matters is because it touches on an issue which many Labour folk privately believe is their Achilles heel in this election, namely Jeremy Corbyn and the question of leadership.

The problem is this, if you have Jon Ashworth, the man who's meant to be at the front end of Labour's campaign on the health service seemingly having so little confidence in Jeremy Corbyn then why should voters have confidence in him?

All this, of course, just 24 hours after we saw Boris Johnson forced onto the backfoot after he failed to respond with sympathy to the plight of that four-year-old seen on a hospital floor.

I think it tells us that despite all the attempts by the parties to have a carefully choreographed campaign, events are coming in, wham, bam, at the last minute to knock them off course.

Catch up on the Jonathan Ashworth story here.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Tony Blair's former communications adviser Alastair Campbell thinks the public will be able to "see through" what's happened with Jon Ashworth, dismissing the website Guido Fawkes - which published the recorded conversation - as "part of Boris Johnson's propaganda machine".

He reckons Guido Fawkes has been "sitting on" the recording for a while "waiting for the right moment" - that moment being all the negative comment aimed at Mr Johnson for his reaction yesterday to the photograph of a young boy lying on a hospital floor.

As for Mr Ashworth's criticisms of Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Campbell says most journalists have spoken to a Labour candidate "who thinks it's pretty tough out there".

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Radio 4's World at One is exploring the fall-out from remarks about Labour's election prospects made by the party's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth.

Mr Ashworth has called his comments "banter" and now feels like "a plonker", but the Conservatives say they are "an honest and truly devastating assessment" of Mr Corbyn's leadership.

But Anneliese Dodds, a shadow Treasury minister, tells the World at One: "I don't think he looks like a plonker."

She describes how Mr Ashworth is "somebody who's very, very funny" who "frequently has people in stitches" and who "does engage in banter".

And she dismisses the leak of the conversation as "slightly desperate tactics from the Tories at this stage".

Image source, PA Media

No doubt all the leaders will be trying to sell their policy offerings during that Scottish leaders debate later.

The SNP has a raft of offers, with a promise to hold another referendum on Scottish independence in 2020 top of the list. The party also believes that Trident, the UK's nuclear deterrent, should be scrapped and the money spent on public services instead.

You can read our full guide to the SNP manifesto here.

Leading politicians from four major political parties in Scotland are preparing to take part in a live TV election debate tonight, hosted by the BBC's Scotland Editor Sarah Smith.

Who'll be taking part? Well...

• SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon - MSP and first minister of Scotland, a post she has held for five years. Her party is the third-largest at Westminster.
• Scottish Conservatives leader Jackson Carlaw - MSP and interim leader since September, having previously served as deputy to Ruth Davidson.
• Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard - MSP and a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn.
• Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie - MSP since 2006

Read more here about where and when to watch the debate.

Image source, PA Media

Beyond stopping Brexit, what else do the Liberal Democrats stand for? Well, check out our guide to the party's key pledges to find out.

In there, you'll find a plan to put a penny on income tax to fund the NHS and social care, and a pledge to support the legalisation of cannabis.

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

The Liberal Democrat deputy leader Sir Ed Davey has said his party would vote against both the Conservatives and Labour in a confidence vote for a potential government.

"We’re not going to vote for Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn. What we are going to do is vote issue by issue," he told Politics Live, referring to any potential support his party would give in the event of a hung Parliament.

When asked if this meant the Lib Dems would accept a government that was unable to do anything except hold another EU referendum, he signalled this was possible.

"Nothing's happened the last three years," he argued.

Earlier in the interview,, Sir Ed also disputed the idea that the Lib Dems had backtracked on their policy of revoking Article 50 if they won a majority. He said this was still their policy and they had advocated another referendum if they didn't win a majority since "day one".

However, Sir Ed did admit that the dynamic of the election had changed since the beginning of the camapign.

He said: "We’ve looked at the polls and particularly after the Brexit Party decided to back the Conservative Party, that changed the nature of this election."

He was referring to the fact that Nigel Farage stood down his candidates in seats the Tories won in 2017.

Image source, PA Media

Speaking of the Green Party, if you want to know more about what they are proposing beyond tuition fees, we have a handy guide.

They want to spend £100bn a year to cut emissions and remove all fossil fuels from the economy. They're also pledging to fund a basic income of £89 a week for everyone.

You can read the full guide here.

Green Party deputy leader Amelia Womack says the party will deliver "justice" to students by scrapping tuition fees and writing off existing student debt.

Speaking in central London, she said the party would write off student debt for those who paid the highest fees.

“If you went to university under the coalition's eye watering amounts of £9,000 fees, the Greens will wipe that debt, no strings attached."

She said it was “a good economic policy”, adding that the amount it would cost for the government to take on the debt was a lot less today than if it was done in five or 10 years’ time “because of the mounting interesting”.

She added: “Part of this policy is to make sure we have tax reform, to make sure we have progressive taxation system that means people pay their fair share.”

It wasn't so long ago that Theresa May was centre stage during a general election campaign...

She may be taking a back seat this time around but she has still been on the trail as the Tory candidate for Maidenhead.

During a debate on BBC Radio Berkshire, the former prime minister denied the Conservatives had moved to the extremes since Boris Johnson took over.

She referenced Mr Johnson’s time as mayor of London as proof he had “centre ground” policies.

She also called for a return to the “politics of compromise”, which could only happen, she argued, once Brexit is delivered.

The former PM was asked whether she felt like “the woman who did all the hard work only for some bloke to come in and take the credit?”

She replied: “This (Brexit) was never going to be easy… What matters is what is right for the country. I did what I believed was right for the country, I believe it is now right for the country for us to deliver on that referendum result, but to do it with a deal. Boris has that deal.“

Image source, smartboy10

Campaigners say fact checks of political ads must become legally required after a "fake news" election.

The Coalition for Reform in Political Advertising says at least 31 campaigns from across the party spectrum have been indecent, dishonest or untruthful.

The BBC's digital election reporter Joe Tidy and Reality Check's Rachel Schraer look at some of the worst examples.

Read the full story.