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SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says the general election is a chance to escape from Brexit and let Scotland decide its own future.

Speaking on the campaign trail in Stirling, the first minister said an SNP victory would be an unequivocal and irresistible demand for another independence referendum.

She said Scotland had been treated with contempt by Westminster and the election was an opportunity to bring that to an end.

BBC News Channel

Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna tells the BBC his party has a "very rich policy agenda" going into the election.

He says Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson "will be able to deliver".

The former Labour MP says the Lib Dems want to stop Brexit so they can concentrate on other issues, such as the NHS.

"Other parties will have to deal with more years of negotiation and Brexit chaos," he says.

Mr Umunna adds: "Two party politics - it’s done, we need something different."

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are starting their day in the Commons with questions on Northern Ireland.

But at 12:00 GMT, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will go head-to-head for Prime Minister's Questions.

The PM will then open a general debate on the findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, before the House moves on to the Northern Ireland Budget bill.

BBC News Channel

Labour MP Clive Lewis tells the BBC that Labour's "overarching theme" for the election is: "Let's get Brexit sorted and give the final say to people."

But, he says, the election is not just about Brexit and the party wants to "rebuild" the NHS and tackle the climate crisis.

"We are clear on this let’s get Brexit sorted," he says. "But we also want to talk about our manifesto."

He believes it will be an "uphill struggle" for the Conservative Party to get a majority.

"If he can’t get a majority, there aren’t many friends here in Parliament for them to do a deal with," Mr Lewis says.

"All I do know though is we are not aiming for a hung Parliament in Labour, we’re aiming to win."

Will the SNP be focusing on a new independence referendum at the upcoming election?

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett asks three guests on her show to sum up the general election pitch of their respective parties when it comes to Brexit.

Conservative MP Paul Scully says: "We've got to have a Parliament that better represents the people, we need to get Brexit done, and Boris Johnson and the Conservatives are the only ones offering a solution to get a deal, which we already have on the table, and getting it passed through Parliament."

Labour MP Barry Gardiner says: "We're the only party that is being democratic and giving you the final decision [via a confirmatory referendum]. The Tories are all for a deregulatory, no-deal Leave, and the Liberal Democrats have said that even if we had a second referendum and it voted to leave, they would ignore it and revoke Article 50."

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran says: "If you are sick of Brexit, there is only one way to actually make it stop - and that is to vote Liberal Democrat to stop Brexit, revoke Article 50. That would then give us a boom in our economy that we could use to spend on the public services we all love - the NHS, on schools."

The last few weeks have seen a gradual, further strengthening of the Conservatives' position in the polls.

In the latest poll by Opinium they hit 40% - the highest figure in a single poll since the middle of August. They've also moved up to an average of 36% in the BBC poll tracker.

In the meantime, the Liberal Democrats have fallen away a little from their party conference highpoint to settle at that 18%-ish level they've occupied for much of the autumn while the Brexit Party continue to drift downwards.

Labour's average rating has essentially stayed flat.

Read more here.

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The election has not even passed the Lords but already the campaign rhetoric has begun.

Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell says the election won't just be about Brexit - telling BBC Breakfast: "It will be about what has happened over the last nine years of austerity and our public services.

"We want to give people hope again about the future."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he was "certainly not yearning for a general election", but he believes it is "the only way to move the country forward".

He says the Conservatives are offering a "centrist agenda" to voters.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson says the poll is "our best chance to elect a government to stop Brexit".

For the SNP, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says an election is an opportunity for the country to hold another independence referendum.

"A win for the SNP will be an unequivocal and irresistible demand for Scotland's right to choose our own future," she says.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been omnipresent this morning as he appears across the media to talk about the general election.

Despite conceding that he personally did not want an early poll, Mr Hancock has repeatedly said an election was the only way to "get Brexit done" and for the government to move on to domestic issues.

He is championing Tory policies on social media, including a National Living Wage.

The Suffolk West MP was returned to Parliament in 2017 with a 17,063 majority.

As Derbyshire Dales MP and former Conservative Party chairman Patrick McLoughlin announces he will stand down, the BBC's James Landale asks if the Tories will see his like again around the cabinet table.

Mims Davies - the Conservative MP for Eastleigh - is stepping down at the upcoming election.

Ms Davies, who has held her seat since 2015, said she had hoped to serve a full term but was now looking "to a new future".

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has responded to Matt Hancock's claims that the NHS "is not for sale".

The health secretary made the statement after reports that US pharmaceutical giants had met with health department civil servants.

Giving a potential insight into the SNP's election campaign, Ms Sturgeon writes in a tweet: "We. Do. Not. Believe. You."

Labour's John McDonnell says voters have much bigger concerns than Brexit.

The shadow chancellor told the BBC that in the community meetings he goes to, Brexit "isn't the big issue", and there are other worries, such as knife crime and funding the NHS.

Despite considerable Conservative confidence heading into the 2017 general election, the Tories finished the year without a majority.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock believes the party's negativity was the problem.

"In 2017 we didn't have that optimistic positive agenda," he told the BBC this morning. "This time we’ve got it in spades."

So what is his positive message for voters this time?

“A vote for any other party is a vote to put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.”

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Amber Rudd's decision to step down comes less than two months after she resigned from Boris Johnson's cabinet, with an outspoken attack on the government's approach to Brexit.

The former home secretary told the Evening Standard: "I'm not finished with politics, I'm just not standing at this election."

"I will be leaving the House of Commons on perfectly good terms with the prime minister and I want him to succeed," she added.

Ms Rudd, the MP for Hastings and Rye, who supported Remain in the 2016 referendum, resigned the Tory whip - meaning she remained an MP but no longer sat as part of the Conservative party in Parliament.

Her decision not to stand will not come as a surprise to all, with her position looking precarious - she had a majority of just 346 in her constituency after the 2017 election.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Craig Beaumont, external affairs director at the lobby group Federation of Small Businesses, told Radio 4's Today Programme earlier this morning that it was important to talk about things beyond Brexit.

"Small business owners are doing a great job in very uncertain circumstances. This is the start for every party and every candidate to start thinking about the small businesses in their community."

Small business owners, he said, were "highly motivated voters" and said members would make their own political choices. What they want to know, though, is how polices are going to be paid for.

As there is not going to be a budget, businesses will still want answers on tax, employment costs and self employment issues, he said.