An update on where we are so far this morning:

• The Tories attempt to park their tanks on Labour’s lawn with promises of big changes to workers’ rights - up to a year of unpaid leave for carers, employee “voices” on boards and protections for those in the gig economy 
• Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green thinks firms will cope - although the Federation of Small Businesses says “diktats from the centre” like this add to the “morass” of regulations
• Labour is promising £37bn more for the NHS over five years, much of it coming from higher taxes on those earning more than £80,000
• It would also introduce tougher waiting time targets for A&E and cancer treatment
• But the Tories say Labour's "nonsensical" economic policies would actually starve the NHS of money
• The Lib Dems say they'd end the public sector pay freeze and increase wages in line with inflation
• Business spokesman Sir Vince Cable says the move is vital to tackle serious problems with recruitment 

Kamal Ahmed
Economics editor

It is the big unspoken issue of the election. Voters who, despite being in work, are not feeling any better off, says BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed.

It is also the major economic trend in Britain - the "living standards squeeze".

And the most recent data suggests that it is about to tighten.

Read Kamal's blog here.

Image source, Getty Images

The Green Party wants to bring "enjoyment, creativity and inspiration" back into schools by scrapping Sats tests.

It will today announce plans to abolish "pointless, pressured" national tests as well as proposals to get rid of academies. 

Education spokeswoman Vix Lowthion, who is a secondary school teacher, is also expected to promise a £7bn cash boost for education to fill a "funding gap".

She will say: "How are schools meant to prepare children for life when 99% will suffer from funding cuts and children and teachers are subjected to pointless, pressurised testing?"

Kamal Ahmed
Economics editor

These debates about workers' rights are important because of controversy over things like zero hours contracts. But the key point for the majority of workers is 'Does my work pay?'

Until now there have only been two elections since the Second World War when voters went to the polls whilst incomes were being squeezed. Those were in 1945 and 2010 - the latter, of course, after the financial crisis.

We're now about to have the third.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Damian Green says the government has created two million apprenticeships since 2010 and will create a further three million by 2020.

"We have completely revived the idea of apprenticeships. They had been drifting away for decades," he argues.

Mr Green adds that the party wants apprenticeships to not only appeal to people in their teens and early 20s but also to people in the middle of their career to "provide the right workforce for the modern economy".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

A bit more from Damian Green. Does the Tories' workers' plan add to the red tape that businesses are already coping with? 

The work and pensions secretary says: "I think in practical terms, I think that companies are used to coping, maybe, with short-term sickness.

"I think the underlying point that all the evidence shows that if people feel happy at work, if they don't feel there are external pressures that are worrying them then they are more productive which is better for the company which in turn is better for the individual."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Damian Green says the Conservatives have not watered down a promise to have workers on company boards.

He says companies can have either a designated person on the board, a non-executive director s the employee representative, or set up a workers advisory committee. 

Isn't it likely that businesses would inevitably choose the workers advisory committee route which goes against Theresa May's earlier pledge to actually have a worker on the board?  

Mr Green denies this.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Commenting on the impact on businesses, Damian Green says they will not be paying the employees who have chosen to take leave - it will be unpaid -  and adds: "The overall point is that companies work best when they have happy and contented workforces."

He says companies will employ someone else or redeploy an existing worker to fill the gap - and this is something firms are used to doing already. 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

On Theresa May's promise to expand workers' rights, Damian Green, the work and pensions secretary, tells the BBC's Today programme that the Tories want to adopt a system that is used successfully in places like Ireland already, where people have 13 to 52 weeks of unpaid leave.

He says how it is implemented depends on the family and their individual needs.

There is a surge in the numbers of people allowing others to vote on their behalf.

If you're one of those in Wales or anywhere else who hasn't registered to vote, what do you need to do to change that?

Well, people in England, Wales and Scotland can register to vote online, or download the forms to register by post,, external from the government's website. Voters in Northern Ireland use a different form that is returned to their local Area Electoral Office.

Assuming you are eligible, you must register, external by 22 May 2017. Anyone who misses the deadline won't be able to vote. You can even get yourself on the register if you are 16 or 17 - but you will have to have turned 18 before 8 June to actually be eligible to vote.

If you registered for the EU Referendum, Northern Ireland Assembly elections in March 2017 or the local elections in May, and your details have not changed, you won't need to register again.

Image source, AFP

Hundreds of thousands of eligible voters in Wales could go without a say at the general election, campaigners are warning.

The Electoral Reform Society has estimated about 350,000 potential voters are not on the electoral roll.

ERS Cymru director Jessica Blair said a boost in registration and turnout "could make a significant difference" in June.

Voters must be signed up by 22 May to take part in the election.  

Read more.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Security minister Ben Wallace says he doesn't agree with suggestions that government spending decisions have left the NHS open to cyber attack.

Labour says taking money from the capital budget and pumping into the day-to-day running of the health service has left it struggling with old IT systems.

Mr Wallace adds:

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Will increasing taxes for those earning more than £80,000 raise the £37bn Labour is promising to pump into the NHS, Mr Ashworth is asked.

Well, he replies, raising taxes on the top 5% of earners will generate a "substantial" part of that total, up to £4.5bn a year.

Other taxation changes too will contribute though, he says, including reversing cuts to corporation tax. 

Mr Ashworth says people "will be reassured when they see John McDonnell's sums"  on Tuesday when Labour's manifesto is launched.