The first official day of campaigning has brought tears, posters and roses - and it's not even lunchtime yet.

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More from chief EU negotiator Mr Barnier. 

He says he believes the European Commission's calculation of Britain's liabilities should be "incontestable". The figure will include not only UK commitments to fund the EU's 2014-20 budget, but also EU programmes of support for countries like Turkey and the Ukraine. 

Mr Barnier said the agreement with the UK will have to have effective implementation and dispute settlement mechanisms, and, wherever European Union law is involved, it will depend on the rulings of the European Court of Justice. 

The ECJ would "quite clearly" have the competence to adjudicate on the rights of EU citizens "well after the date of the withdrawal of the UK", he added.

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On a lighter note, among all this serious talk, Michel Barnier says he and Theresa May have at least one thing in common - they both love hill walking.

The EU's chief negotiator has set out the European Commission's detailed guidelines.

While Theresa May is busy driving home the message that a vote for her will ensure she has a stronger negotiating hand, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator has other ideas: 

The former Labour leader ended up mowing a voter's lawn as he hit the campaign trail.

Setting out the European Commission's guidelines for the talks - agreed last week by the 27 heads of state - Mr Barnier said that some had created the "illusion" that Brexit would have "no material impact" and that the negotiations could be concluded "quickly and painlessly". 

That, he said, "was not the case".

Mr Barnier said: "We need solid solutions and legal precision and it will take time."

He repeated that there would be no "Brexit bill", it was "only about settling the accords".

Mr Barnier urged everyone involved in negotiations to "remain cool headed and solution orientated".

The EU's Brexit guidelines, external for you to peruse in full at your leisure.

Michel Barnier, the chief EU Brexit negotiator, tells a conference there has been 10 months of uncertainty since the UK voted in the referendum.

"It is high time we started negotiating. We shall start negotiating as soon as UK is ready to come to the table. The clock is ticking."

He says there is not an "exit bill" - "it's not a punishment" - despite rumours of a €100bn demand that could be made of the UK.

A commitment has been made, and that has to be honoured," he adds.

"I want to reach an agreement. We are not trying to create problems - we wish to resolve them."

Michel Barnier, the EU's top negotiator, is setting out his Brexit guidelines. 

Back to that Tory presser and the Q&A from reporters focuses on Brexit rather than the attacks on Labour.

Asked why EC President Jean-Claude Juncker left a Downing Street dinner thinking Theresa May was "delusional", Brexit Secretary David Davis, who was at the dinner, said there would be "differences of opinion".

And Chancellor Philip Hammond said the cost of the Brexit "divorce" quoted in the Financial Times as €100bn was not a number he "recognised".

It is just a negotiating position, he said, and it's not surprising that people are manoeuvring.

At the Conservatives' press conference, the focus is all on Labour.

Chancellor Philip Hammond says his party, if returned to power, will continue - as we have done - to reduce the deficit so that "we live within our means".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said we should not be afraid of debt or borrowing - but that's the attitude that got Britain into extreme difficulty, he goes on, and that's why the economic credibility of parties should be put to the test.

He goes on to say the document published by the Tories today shows Labour economic policies are a "recipe for chaos and uncertainty".

Just when we need strong leadership, Mr Corbyn offers "a chaotic and high risk gamble" that would lead to high taxes and more debt, he says.

Jeremy Corbyn, mid-walkabout in Bedford, is asked about that potential €100bn Brexit bill.

"Look, this is probably an opening gambit in the negotiations," he says. "We should approach this in a much more sensible and serious way."

The Labour leader says Theresa May and David Davis are appearing to open "with megaphone diplomacy", he continues, with threats of becoming "a tax haven on the shores of Europe". That's one of Mr Corbyn's favourite phrases.

Pressed again on the €100bn number, he replies: "I've no idea where this figure comes from. I suspect they haven't got an idea either... but obviously, commitments that have been made must be honoured."

European Parliament
Brussels

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Responding to the list of MEPs' questions, Guy Verhofstadt says that that the uncertainty surrounding the future citizens needs to be settled as early as possible, as it is "destroying lives". 

However he says the final agreement on citizens' rights will only be "formalised" when agreement on the whole deal is reached. 

He adds that the two sides should aim to agree on "sound accounting principles" for agreeing a final financial settlement. 

He tells MEPs that the demand for a final payment is "nothing to do with punishment or revenge". 

European Parliament
Brussels

Responding to a question from Swedish MEP Max Andersson, the European Parliament's Brexit spokesman Guy Verhofstadt says he also worries about what he called a "car-crash Brexit", with the two sides failing to reach an agreement. 

Not reaching a deal, he adds, would be "bad for everybody" but a "hard hit" for the UK. 

He adds that at the moment, it is "difficult to assess" proposals from the British government. 

Speaking to members of the public in Bedfordshire - and the requisite swarm of reporters and camera crews - Jeremy Corbyn says there are casualty departments and hospitals under threat. 

"The sense of stress of people not knowing if the maternity unit is going to be there - or move some long distance away - is setting up unfortunate competition between towns - does it go to Milton Keynes? does it go to Bedford?" he tells them. 

"The Labour approach is very different - we want good quality healthcare for everybody, everywhere. 

"We don't want excessively long journeys to get to A&E. We want the ambulance service to be able to cope."

He was talking ahead of a Labour press conference due to start shortly.