BBC Look East

Image source, ART CONAGHAN

A Conservative MP faces a deselection fight over his involvement in a loan in which millions of pounds of public money appears to have vanished.

Northampton South MP David Mackintosh also faces questions over hidden campaign donations.

Mr Mackintosh was criticised over the loan to Northampton Town Football Club from the borough council - when he was leader - to rebuild Sixfields stadium and develop nearby land.

Some £10.25m of that money is now missing and the loan is subject to a police investigation into "alleged financial irregularities".

The football stand remains half built.

When contacted by the BBC, a majority of his party's local executive council said they would vote to deselect him.

Responding to the BBC, Mr Mackintosh said: "I intend to stand for re-election."

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Who are 'the rich'? These MPs think it's not the right question to ask.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Image source, Reuters/PA

Chalk and cheese. Black and white. Night and day. Yin and yang.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are not, repeat not, cut from the same cloth. Their fundamental beliefs differ enormously. Their solutions for society's problems are poles apart.

Politicians in opposing parties are sometimes friends across the boundaries. But it is hard, extremely hard, to imagine the Labour leader and the Tory leader ever quietly enjoying a pootle round the Berkshire countryside of a weekend, or a cappuccino in Islington in a quiet moment.

Read more from Laura.

Image source, PA

The UK will remain active in the global economy after Brexit, Chancellor Philip Hammond will tell counterparts from around the world later.

At the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund, Mr Hammond will say the UK plans to "lock in" the economic progress it has made.

Mr Hammond tweeted, external: "In Washington DC for #IMFMeetings, external. Will be telling fellow FMs how UK plans to lock in econ progress made - staying active in global economy."

The gathering in Washington follows talks in New York with Wall Street banks which are thought to have covered the economy, Brexit and Theresa May's decision to call a snap election in June.

Image source, EPA

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron will challenge Tory MPs who supported staying in the EU to oppose a so-called hard Brexit later.

He will say: "If these Tory MPs reject these principles and back a hard Brexit manifesto, then people will know that on the biggest issue of the day they went missing in action."

Image source, PA

Controversial plans to raise the legal fees payable after death are to be scrapped ahead of the general election.

Probate fees had been due to rise from £155 or £215 to as much as £20,000 for some estates in England and Wales from May.

The Ministry of Justice said there was now not enough time for the legislation - dubbed a "stealth death tax" by critics - to go through Parliament.

A senior Conservative declined to say whether the scheme would be brought back if the prime minister was re-elected.

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Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Jeremy Corbyn for Labour is heading to the west of England and to South Wales today to talk about class sizes.

He says too many children are crammed into classes like sardines. “Super-size” classes as he describes it.

There isn’t any new policy expected from Labour about what they would do to tackle what they see as a problem.

The Conservatives point to the situation in Wales where Labour is in charge and infant class sizes have climbed.

They do acknowledge there is more to do in England in class sizes. They say they are not complacent.

Image source, PA

Labour says children are being crammed "like sardines" into "super-sized" school classes, as it focuses its general election campaign on education.

Jeremy Corbyn says 40,000 primary age children were taught in classes of 36 or more in England in 2016, blaming "broken promises" by the government.

But the Tories said the Labour leader's comments were "a massive own goal".

They said the Labour-led Welsh government had overseen increases in class sizes in Wales.

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Nicola Sturgeon is to launch the SNP's campaign for the forthcoming council elections, characterising the contest as a "clear choice" between her party and the Tories.

Scotland goes to the polls for local authority elections on 4 May.

Read more

Image source, Reuters

The Daily Telegraph thinks Jeremy Corbyn was "channelling his inner Trump" yesterday with a set-piece speech in which he claimed to be on the side of the people, external.

The Daily Mirror says it was a "defiant" performance, external from the Labour leader as he kicked off his election campaign.  

Meanwhile the Daily Express has welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement that she will retain the target of cutting net migration, external to the tens of thousands.

It calls David Cameron's original use of the number "ridiculous", but says things will be different after Brexit and that the pledge must be in the Conservative general election manifesto.

Read more in our paper review.

Image source, EPA

Britain's political parties are in a race against time to get candidates in place for the snap election. They had been working on the assumption that there would not be an election until May 2020, but now have just three weeks to put names forward.

Any British, Irish or eligible Commonwealth citizen over the age of 18 - who meets the qualification criteria, external - can stand, provided they can scrape together a £500 deposit. The deadline for submitting an application is Wednesday, 11 May.

Read more on how the political parties' efforts are going.

• Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, used his first major speech of the election campaign to pledge to put the "interests of the majority first", saying the British people were being held back by a system "rigged" for the wealth extractors

• Prime Minister Theresa May, on a campaign visit in north London, indicated she will stick with the government's long-running aim of reducing migration to below 100,000

• The Green Party launched its election campaign with a call for a living wage for all, and votes for 16 and 17 year olds. They also raised the prospect of informal pacts with Labour and the Lib Dems to help win marginal seats from the Tories

• Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage announced he will not stand in the general election, saying being an MEP gives him a better chance to influence Brexit

• The independent MP Douglas Carswell, who had become UKIP's first elected MP before leaving the party earlier this year, announced he will not be a candidate in Clacton

• Former shadow cabinet members Michael Dugher and Dave Anderson said they will be standing down at the election

• The BBC confirmed David Dimbleby will host its general election night programme for a 10th time

BBC Newsnight

By James Clayton and Camara Fairweather

The Conservative Party has not chosen any candidates in key national target seats, BBC Newsnight has found.

The programme looked at 36 Labour seats with majorities below 5,000 that also voted by a majority for Brexit. Of the 20 Conservative associations that Newsnight spoke to none had so far chosen a candidate.

Those constituencies include: Halifax, Ilford North, Barrow & Furness, Wrexham, Clwyd South, Birmingham Northfield, Blackpool South, Delyn, Gedling, Darlington, Alyn & Deeside, Ynys Mon, Bishop Aukland, Newport West, Hyndburn, Chorley, Great Grimsby, Workington, Newport East and Bury South.

Several local associations told the programme they were currently working through lists of potential candidates. 

Other constituencies confirmed they had yet to start a selection process. 

A Conservative representative in Halifax told the programme the local association had already received “in excess of 100 candidates”.

The figures spread more light on the preparedness of the Conservatives going into a snap election. It his highly unusual for a governing party to go into an election without fixed prospective parliamentary candidates in target seats.

More on Newsnight at 22:30 BST