The Greens are promising to end the 'travesty' of loneliness and isolation among older people. Their plans involve improving access to public transport, stopping the closure of local facilities and improving the pay of carers.

Today's launch was led by former party leader, Natalie Bennett and 85-year-old party member Anne Power.

Image source, PA

Scottish politicians are out meeting voters this weekend with just five days to go until the general election.

Nicola Sturgeon is flying by helicopter in a bid to visit half of Scotland's constituencies before polling day.

Former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling has been campaigning in East Renfrewshire.

Ruth Davidson has been reaffirming her opposition to a second referendum and Willie Rennie said it was a straight race between the Lib Dems and the SNP.

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Jeremy Corbyn has promised to protect Britain from global threats after facing criticism for refusing to say whether he would launch a retaliatory nuclear strike.

The Labour leader suggested he would sign off on more ships for the Navy and extra surveillance aircraft for the RAF alongside pledges to boost funding and numbers in the police and armed services.

It comes after Mr Corbyn came under tough interrogation over his attitude to nuclear weapons during Friday's BBC Question Time leaders special.

He has faced repeated questions over his commitment to renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent, which Labour backs after Mr Corbyn lost an internal party debate on the issue.

After hosting a roundtable with pensioners in Lincoln, Mr Corbyn was asked if he would keep the British people safe as prime minister.

The Labour leader replied:

Here's Jeremy Corbyn on the latest leg of his tour - in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

"It seems there's some problems in the Conservative Party at the moment," he tells supporters, referencing today's story about the Tories' plans for income tax.

"We shouldn't make hay from other people's troubles, it's just that they seem to be having problems about tax."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has admitted speaking to Diane Abbott ahead of a TV interview in which she compared her past views on the IRA to an old haircut.

Newspaper reports have suggested Mr Corbyn and other senior Labour figures tried to stop Ms Abbott appearing on BBC One's Andrew Marr show last Sunday, but she insisted on taking up her invitation.

Asked onscreen if she had supported the IRA in the 1980s, Ms Abbott said: "It was 34 years ago, I had a rather splendid afro at the time. I don't have the same hairstyle. I don't have the same views."

Today, Mr Corbyn was asked about the incident while campaigning in Lincoln. He said: "I had a chat with Diane about what she might say on the Marr show, yes". Pressed more specifically as to whether he had asked her not to appear, Mr Corbyn said: "Diane went on the show and she spoke up for our party."

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Theresa May will give MPs a free vote on repealing the ban on fox hunting if her party wins the general election. The policy appears to have come as a surprise to many, despite the fact that it was in the last two Conservative manifestos. Will it affect the way people vote?

Read more here

People in West Yorkshire have been telling reporters what they think of Tory tax plans - after a difference of opinion appeared to emerge between Theresa May and Sir Michael Fallon.

"Whatever policies they have, if she gets in she'll change them within a month," says one man.

"She's already gone back on the thing about wanting to take £100,000 off an old person like me, for instance, if I had to go into a home. We need to look after us own, and that's what I want to see."

One woman says: "There's a lot more involved in my vote than just taxes."

Image source, Reuters

Thousands of people have been marching through Glasgow in support of Scottish independence.

The event organisers, All Under One Banner, hailed it as the biggest march of its kind and said about 17,000 people had taken part.

It began at Kelvingrove Park in the west end of the city at 11:00 and snaked through the city centre ending up at Glasgow Green.

Marchers waved banners and saltires and heard pro-independence speeches.

All Under One Banner, an alliance of various independence-supporting organisations, said the event aimed to show Theresa May that "Scotland has spoken".

Police Scotland estimated that about 15,000 people took part in the march.

Full story here

Image source, Getty Images

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives is urging voters to back her party in order to stop the SNP.

Ruth Davidson says she isn't asking for people to agree with everything she says, but wants them to come together for one issue alone - "to stop the SNP in their tracks".

She says: "This election isn't about deciding whether you're Tory, or Labour, or Lib Dem. It's about sending Nicola Sturgeon a message. By voting for me and my team, we can do just that.

"So, Thursday is the last chance we'll have to shout out loud and clear what we think of Nicola Sturgeon's plans. Only a vote for the Scottish Conservatives will make her listen."

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Nicola Sturgeon says this week's vote is a "golden opportunity" to end austerity.

Scotland's first minister and leader of the SNP says voting for her party on 8 June will give people the chance to say "enough is enough", and give a voice to Scotland.

She says: "The Tories' austerity agenda has failed on every count - not only has it choked off the economic recovery but the years of under-investment have put huge pressure on public services across the UK.

"We simply can't go on with more of the same but that is exactly what the Tories are planning to do - and this snap election has presented a golden opportunity for voters across Scotland to say enough is enough."

But the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie, is urging voters to back his party at the ballot box as a way of stopping a second independence referendum.

He says: "The SNP will use any victories to advance their campaign for independence with a referendum within months.

"But voting Liberal Democrat in these key Liberal Democrat-SNP marginals could cancel that referendum.

"Liberal Democrats are sprinting to the finish line. A handful of votes could be the difference between winning and losing."

Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Tories of being in "chaos" over their tax plans.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon told the Daily Telegraph that taxes would not rise under a Tory government.

However, when questioned later in the day, Theresa May would not rule out any rises and insisted the party's tax policy had not changed.

Speaking on the campaign trail in Lincolnshire, Mr Corbyn said: "I think there's complete chaos going on at the top of the government.

"One minister says they're going to give no more tax rises, indeed possibly tax reductions for the very wealthiest, then they can't answer the question about tax rises for the rest of the population, then they can't answer the questions about funding social care.

"Let's be clear - what Labour are offering is no tax rises or national insurance rises or VAT rises for 95% of the population."

A senior cabinet minister earlier signalled there would be no income tax increase for higher earners.

A third of the donations to the Conservative party over the past year have come from a small group of donors, according to Politics Home., external

The news website says that 49 people have donated at least £5.5m and are all members of the elite "leader’s group" - meaning they have access to senior Conservatives at campaign events and lunches after prime ministers questions.

Among them is the chairman of JCB, Lord Bamford, the founder of Crest Nicholson, Sir Peter Harrison, and the wife of the former Russian deputy finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin.

Their donations were more than double those of the Labour party in the first quarter of the year.

Political parties cannot accept donations from anyone who is not on the UK electoral register or from businesses not registered with Companies House.

A Conservative spokesman said all donations are "properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law”.

At the last general election Theresa May took the Maidenhead seat for the Conservatives with 65% of the vote.

No amount of tactical voting would have changed the result, and no other party has ever won there.

Does its voters still feel they have a say?

Read their view from what might be the UK's safest seat here.

Twenty years ago, amid a Labour landslide across the UK, the Conservatives were annihilated in Scotland.

But are they about to make a comeback north of the border?

The BBC's Scotland editor Sarah Smith looks at their chances.

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With Labour polling better than in the rest of the campaign - see him on the front of NME and Kerrang this week - there is excitement in the party.

So, is there something going on beneath the political radar?

The BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson delves a bit deeper.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images