Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

Theresa May has said she'll be living up to her reputation - thanks to Ken Clarke anyway - as a "bloody difficult woman" while negotiating Britain's exit from the EU. 

A story in the Times suggests however that Mrs May may not be part of those negotiations.

David Davis, Brexit Secretary, disagrees. "We're going in - not as a supplicant - as a negotiatior. 

"She will be leading our negotiations. I will be supporting her."

There are two sides to the negotiations and there are rules - we are full members of the EU until the day we leave, he stresses.

Of all the conflicting reports, Mr Davis says he's said "about a dozen times", we've "got to hold our nerve" and the "British public should look at everything with a pinch of salt".  

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

On the last day of campaigning before the local elections, the issue of social care is likely to be in the minds of many voters as they enter the polling booths. 

Sir Andrew Dilnot chaired the government’s Commission on Funding of Care and Support in 2010.

It suggested a kind of "social insurance for everyone", meaning an individual would have to pay the first £70,000 of care, after which the state would step in.

It was costed at £2bn a year - but did not outline where that funding would come from, he says.  

"It's not - in the overall scheme of things - a large amount of money," he said, pointing to the winter fuel allowance which costs £2.1bn a year. 

Seven years on, he says: "This is urgent. I do think it's time to stop talking and start acting."

He says it's been a "terrible failure" of politicians not to have delivered on this yet.

On Tuesday, former Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk - who was previously suspended by Labour for allegedly sending explicit texts - learned he would not be endorsed to stand as a party's candidate in the general election. He's been speaking to LBC this morning and as the station's political editor tells us, Mr Danczuk says he's considering running anyway...

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

On the matter of funding pledges, shadow chancellor John McDonnell say he has "a reputation for being a hard-nosed bureaucrat".

He says it will be him who will determine how much is committed to each item, and he'll be drawing on figures from the Treasury, independent Office for Budgetary Responsibility and Institute for Fiscal Studies figures to do so.

On tax, he says there will be a "fair system" which will tackle tax evasion and avoidance, and end "tax giveaways".

He was also pressed on reports last month of suggestions that under Labour, people earning above £70,000 a year could be asked to pay more tax.

He tells listeners that "middle and low earners will be protected", and calls presenter Justin Webb "a scallywag" for bringing up the reports.

He says he's not saying that people earning more than £70,000 will be taxed more, but he will be asking "high percentage earners to bear a bit more of the burden". 

Image source, Reuters

"In common parlance, people would call these lies," say shadow chancellor John McDonnell of the figures circulated in a Tory party press release. It claims Labour's spending plans to date amount to a £45bn "bombshell".

"I'm shocked the BBC has repeated them - there has to be some form of analysis," he insists.

"It's shoddy that the Tories have produced it. The BBC shoud have been critical before they run with headlines," he adds.

Today presenter Justin Webb suggests it might be more damaging that Diane Abbott - shadow home secretary - did not know her figures yesterday.

He's coming up on Today shortly, but Brexit Secretary David Davis has just been on ITV's Good Morning Britain. It seems he's not impressed with suggestions the UK could be hit with a huge bill for leaving the EU.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

On the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, shadow chancellor John McDonnell does a bit of tidying up after Diane Abbott "misspoke" when she got confused over the cost of Labour's pledge for 10,000 extra police officers for England and Wales. 

He confirms there will be £300m for 10,000 extra officers paid for by reversing the cut to Capital Gains Tax.

That move, he says will raise - £670m, which is "double the amount of money we need".

There is "still plenty of leeway" for some of the rest to go to the arts and schools. Welfare though, would not come out it it, he stresses.

In the manifesto - due out on 15 May - every item will be "fully costed" and the source of the money will be identified, Mr McDonnell adds.

Rumours and speculation on the cost of Brexit abound. 

Now, a story in today's FT is saying that Brussels plans to "hoist gross Brexit ‘bill’ to €100bn", external.

Our BBC colleagues in Brussels have been checking it out and an EU source has told us that officials there will not enter into a discussion about potential figures for a final bill.

The source says that the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, will present draft negotiating directives today, but not a figure for the financial settlement.

The plans are being financially driven, warns the party in its latest NHS election promise.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Like boxers at a weigh-in there’s lots of muscle flexing and posturing going on right now over Brexit. 

On the one hand, reports from Brussels that the EU is threatening to increase the UK’s “divorce” bill, and on the other, Theresa May threatening to be “a bloody difficult woman”. 

That threat from the PM plays well with her election narrative, that she’s a strong leader standing up for Britain, and it will please her party too. 

But there is a risk that by taking such a publicly tough stance it limits her room to negotiate. And when the hour for compromise comes, if she can’t demonstrate that she has, in fact, been bloody difficult, she leaves herself open to the charge of betrayal – and of failing to live up to the mantle of Mrs Thatcher she has imposed on herself.

BBC Breakfast

After a fortnight of skirmishes, the two main parties are focusing on their strongest territory as campaigning begins in earnest, says BBC political correspondent Ben Wright.

Labour say they will pause the restructuring under way in the NHS in England, he says.

In a pre-recorded interview, shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth says hospitals and A&Es are being closed or downgraded and many of these decisions have been made "behind closed doors".

He is calling for a moratorium on them. "Let's let the public decide what's best for their area," he says.

Meanwhile, the Tories are claiming that if Labour were to win the election, there would be a £45bn black hole in spending plans, with billions of pounds unaccounted for that somehow Labour would have to find, say Ben Wright.

Image source, PA

The shortest Parliament since 1974 has been officially dissolved, in preparation for the general election. 

As of midnight, all MPs are now candidates, meaning every seat in the House of Commons has become vacant. As such, MPs revert to being members of the public. 

Ministers, however, remain in their roles until a new government is formed. 

Writs are issued for elections to the UK's 650 Parliamentary constituencies.