The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The first minister of Wales says Labour faces a challenge in the upcoming general election, but one they are ready to take on. 

Carwyn Jones told the World at One there was "a mountain to climb" in the country, but it was one they managed to tackle in last year's elections and he went back into government.

"Mountains are there to be conquered," he said. "It has been more than 40 years since we have seen Labour taking half of all the votes in Wales, it has been comeptitive for some time, so that is why we work hard to get every vote.

"Above all else we need Labour members of parliament that will stand up for Wales, rather than a parliament of sheep and blue rosettes."

The Daily Politics

Vicki Young
Chief Political Correspondent

West Midlands MEP James Carver has resigned as UKIP’s Foreign and Commonwealth affairs spokesman, saying he "strongly disagreed" with the party's policy on full face veils.

He called the pledge to ban full face veils "misguided" and he said it undermined his desire to represent all communities in the West Midlands, including British Muslims.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Roy Hattersley has slammed the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, saying it has created "the prospect of tragedy" for the Labour party.

The former deputy leader of the Labour Party said there was "no paralell in my political lifetime" for when the party was doing so badly, even in the 1980s. 

"In 1983, we thought the election would come along, we would lose badly and start again," said Lord Hattersley. Now there is a prospect of tragedy of the Labour party continuing after the election."

He called on backbenchers to "speak out" for what he called the "real" Labour Party, believing there were around 10 candidates that would make a better leader than Mr Corbyn. 

"The idea that [Corbyn] speaks for the people absolutely nonsense," he said. "The Labour party will continue. Democratic socialism is far too strong an idea to be defeated completely.

"But it will be a long time [out of power] unless we pull our fingers out straight away and some people start talking about the real Labour party and what we stand for." 

Karen Danczuk - who is separated from former Labour MP Simon Danczuk - is hoping to enter Parliament after applying to be a Labour candidate at the general election. 

The ex-councillor waived her right to anonymity to speak out after her brother was jailed for raping her as a child. 

She has since become a patron of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.

Ms Danczuk found fame posting self-portraits on Twitter - though she now believes these were a "cry for help".

Now she hopes to be chosen to stand for Labour in the marginal Bury North constituency.

The 33-year-old said: 

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The Daily Politics

The work and pensions secretary has criticised Labour's approach to Brexit negotiations as "completely incoherent".

Reacting to the speech made by Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, this morning, Damian Green said by not accepting a "no deal" option Labour would be that whatever happens, they will sign the dotted line. 

Theresa May has warned her cabinet team they will need to "campaign hard for every vote" rather than rely on opinion polls. The prime minister met with her ministers for an hour this morning to discuss the days ahead. 

A Conservative Party spokesman said Mrs May "reminded her colleagues that publicly available opinion polling has been proved wrong repeatedly", whether that be the referendum, the US election or even Jeremy Corbyn, who was once 200/1 to be Labour Party leader. 

As a result, she called on her MPs to fight for every vote "in every part of the country" to secure a win on 8 June. 

BBC Wales political editor Nick Servini says Theresa May is urging people in Labour strongholds to give up "tribal politics".

Sir Keir Starmer is continuing his media tour by appearing on the BBC's Daily Politics.

The shadow Brexit secretary said the government had put immigration "at number one", so had taken every other element of negotiation with the EU off the table. 

He said he understands that free movement "has to change" and that it will end under a Labour government.

But he doesn't believe "all movement" should end. 

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the former Chief Inspector of Schools In England and head of Ofsted from 2012 until 2016, says he doesn't believe Theresa May's main motivation for calling the election was to help with Europe.

"She is 24 point ahead in the opinion polls. If I was her, I would probably want a huge majority, particularly in terms of what is going to happen with negotiations in Europe."

And he thinks Mrs May has a very good chance because the Conservatives are...

Leanne Wood says Labour is too "weak and divided" to stand up for Wales in the general election.

BBC Newsnight

Image source, AFP

Government borrowing fell by £20bn to £52bn in the year to the end of March, according to official data.

That was the lowest level since the financial crisis of 2008, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, external.

In Chancellor Philip Hammond's Budget last month, the Office for Budget Responsibility had forecast the deficit would be slightly lower at £51.7bn.

The OBR also predicted that government borrowing would rise again this year as tax receipts fall.

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Image source, Getty Images

Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system means that lots of MPs are elected on fewer than half of the votes cast in their constituencies.

At the last election, 333 out of 650 winning candidates received less than 50% of the vote.

Those MPs could have been defeated if all the people who voted against them had gone for the same alternative candidate.

Clearly, that would never happen everywhere. But parties who agree on some of the main issues potentially have a lot to gain if they can co-ordinate their supporters.

One option is to encourage tactical voting. 

Read more

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

We got some clarity. We got some ambiguity.

We know that Labour wants to be as near as possible to the single market, but we are not really clear what that might entail or how that might be achieved. We didn’t get specifics there.

We know that Sir Keir Starmer wants Brexit to have to get a vote by MPs in Parliament, raising the question that if he is unable to secure that vote does that mean that we then remain in the European Union?

And crucially on the issue of immigration, we got a clear indication from Sir Keir that Labour accepts freedom of movement would have to end.

Now why that is interesting is because at the start of the year Jeremy Corbyn refused to say that.

He said Labour was not wedded to freedom of movement, but he did not rule it out.

Today, however, Keir Starmer was explicit.

The BBC has been out in Wakefield today asking people what they think about the forthcoming General Election: