In the question and answer session with journalists, Mrs May pointedly refused to say that the Conservatives would maintain what is known as the "triple lock" on the state pension.

The triple-lock guarantees pensions rise by the same as average earnings, the consumer price index, or 2.5%, whichever is the highest.  

Meanwhile, in Washington the Chancellor Philip Hammond also declined to give a commitment to the rises.

"Pensioners are now less likely than the population in general to be in poverty. As to what we will put in our manifesto, that is just something you will have to wait and see," he said.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

The prime minister has committed to maintaining the UK's promise to spend 0.7% of national income on foreign aid - but said the government needed to "make sure that we are able to spend that money in the most effective way". 

A senior Conservative source, familiar with the aid budget, refused to be drawn as to whether this amounted to an acceptance of how aid spending is currently defined, or could potentially include a broadening of what would count as aid spending in the future. 

The source said we should wait for the Conservative manifesto.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has portrayed both the local and general elections as a battle between her party and the Tories in Scotland. 

Launching the party's council manifesto in Edinburgh, the first minister said Labour and the Lib Dems would "sell out for even the slightest suggestion of power", saying voting for them "risks seeing the Tories take over our town halls". 

Read more: Sturgeon launches SNP council election manifesto

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Steve Parsons/PA

Jeremy Corbyn's been spotted on the campaign trail reading to children in Bristol.

"It's a bear!", the book exclaims, complete with a suitably shocked expression from the Labour leader.

Caption competition anyone?

Image source, Getty Images

Theresa May ends speculation that she wants to reduce the amount the UK spends on foreign aid.

Asked by the BBC's John Pienaar if pensioners could trust her to carry on raising their state pensions year by year, Mrs May said: "What I would say to pensioners, is just look what the Conservatives in government have done.

"Pensioners today, [are] £1,250 a year better off as a result of action that has been taken.

"We were very clear about the need to support people in their old age and that's exactly what we've done."

More than £12bn was spent in aid in 2015.

Some newspapers and Conservative MPs have argued the figure is too large and wasteful, and some of it would be better spent on schools and hospitals in the UK.

But American billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said yesterday the commitment was proof of its goodwill and humanity.

Mrs May has retained the commitment on spending.

Read more on aid: UK aid money: Generosity or wasted spending?

Asked if she was "chickening out" of TV debates, Mrs May reiterated her point that she had been debating weekly in the Commons with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

She said: "I'm out there taking my message to people up and down this country."

Commitment to spending 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid will remain, Mrs May said.

Theresa May said she was only prime minister because of the voting public.

"I’m going to be out and about campaigning across the whole of the UK," she said.

She said she wants to help ordinary working families and the choice was between a strong and stable leadership or a "coalition in chaos".

Speaking to workers at a factory, the prime minister said the general election was about leadership and stability.  

The election has led the government to extend the deadline to review 21st Century Fox's £11.7bn takeover bid for Sky by more than a month.

The deal has already been given the green light by EU regulators but the UK's Competition and Markets Authority and communication watchdog Ofcom have yet to complete their own investigations.

Read more: Government extends Sky takeover inquiry

The resignation of Theresa May's press secretary sparked much reaction on Twitter about the key figures in the prime minister's "inner circle". 

Lizzie Loudon's decision to leave her role after nine months comes after Katie Perrior left the post of No 10 director of communications when the snap general election was anounced.

Many of you have been in touch with questions about the upcoming general election. Andy Booker was one of several to ask when the parties' manifestos will be published.

None of the major UK political parties contacted by the BBC were able to provide a firm date for the publication of their manifestos at this stage. 

The Liberal Democrats expect to be able to set a date within the next couple of weeks, while the BBC understands that the Labour manifesto will be finalised in the second week of May.

Before the last general election, in 2015, the major parties launched their manifestos within days of each other in mid-April, about three weeks before the country went to the polls on 7 May. 

If a similar timetable were to be adopted this year, manifestos could be expected in mid-May ahead of the election on 8 June.

If you have a question you would like us to answer, get in touch here.

Tim Farron says donors have been "flocking" to the party since the snap election was called.