Speaking before Theresa May's statement, Dominic Raab, a former government minister under David Cameron, said that some of the comments being attributed to those close to the negotiations felt like a "rather crude attempt" to put pressure on the UK at the start of the process and during the general election.

"This is really a bit of Brussels gossip and posturing and actually if you look at the UK plans and you compare them with the EU guidelines that have actually been published and agreed by the 27 [remaining EU members] there's large scope of overlap and, yes some issues still to be bridged and to be addressed". But, he felt there was "largely quite a lot of scope for a good deal". 

Ireland will be central to the first phase of talks, says the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.

The UK Independence Party's Euro MP Patrick O'Flynn says Theresa May's supposedly firm position on the forthcoming talks over Brexit has not been "heard" in Brussels, otherwise negotiators there would not be talking of "enormous divorce bills".

Mr O'Flynn, UKIP's former Economics spokesman, said he thought no one in Brussels really believed Mrs May was "prepared to walk away without signing a comprehensive deal". 

As a result, he said, "millions of UKIP voters" would be worried the UK would be leaving the EU "with the worst possible terms".

Plaid Cwmru's Hywel Williams MP says it "doesn't say much" for Theresa May's campaign if she's having to "point to foreign devils" so early on in it. 

He tells the BBC: "She might as well say there's a lion loose in Parliament Square" for all the impact it will have, saying people tend to who to vote for based on more bread-and-butter issues."

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Responding to the prime minister's statement, UKIP's Patrick O'Flynn said Theresa May had failed to get her message across to Brussels otherwise there would not be talk of a "massive divorce bill".

Mr Flynn said European politicians did not believe Mrs May was willing to walk away from the Brexit negotiations without agreeing a deal.

Until she managed to get that message across, said Mr Flynn, millions of UKIP voters would be worried that the UK would leave the EU "with the worst possible terms".  

Image source, Reuters

One visitor to Buckingham Palace who was not afforded a personal audience with Her Majesty this afternoon was a chicken. Or at least a man dressed as a chicken.

Police confronted the human fowl, holding a Daily Mirror placard, just before Theresa May's car arrived ahead of her meeting with the Queen. 

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The UK does "not seek to wriggle out of the things we have committed to," Shadow Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner has said. 

Mr Gardiner was speaking in regard to the reported 100bn-euro (£84bn) "divorce bill". 

"There are different elements that comprise this figure... some of those are contingent liabilities," Mr Gardiner said, which he added, the EU might want to be paid upfront.  

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BBC Radio 4

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The EU is "scared" about a "huge hole" in their budget after Brexit, former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson has said. 

Mr Lawson's comments came in response to a question regarding pressure from the EU over the sequence of Brexit talks.   

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Joe Twyman, from pollsters YouGov, says everything in this election comes back to Brexit and that puts the Conservatives in a good position because on that they're ahead.

"It's more to do with how people feel about the issue and who's best placed to handle it," and they say Theresa May, he tells the BBC.

But can pollsters like Joe be trusted? We all remember 2015... 

Well, he says you can trust them as long as you remember a) a poll is only ever a snapshot, and b) there's always a margin of error

He says hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent by pollsters to make sure they hear more from the sort of people who were underrepresented in the polls in 2015.

Mrs May says the victor of the 8 June election will face "one overriding task", getting the "best possible deal" for the UK. 

Here are fuller quotes from the PM who used a Downing Street statement to claim that the UK's position had been "misrepresented" and the European Commission's position had "hardened". 

We have been misrepresented in the European press, Mrs May says, and what's happened in the last few days was timed to influence the UK election.

This is a reference to reports in a German paper of a Downing Street dinner with EC President Jean-Claude Juncker - according to those reports, he said she was "delusional" about Brexit.