Image source, Reuters

Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves promised there would be "no additional tax rises needed" beyond those she has set out if Labour won the election.

Reeves said the Labour Party was "being recognised as the natural partner of business".

The shadow chancellor recalled her childhood and seeing how her mum sat at their kitchen table carefully reading bank statements "line by line". Reeves pledged she would bring that attitude to managing public finances. Read more here.

Conservative leader Rishi Sunak was speaking at a pottery business in Staffordshire, where he claimed Labour's plans will cost every working family "£2,000 each", citing Treasury officials. We've looked into that in the previous post.

Elsewhere, he said his government had led the country through tough times and that he stabilised the economy and Labour would jeopardise that.

Image source, EPA

Liberal Democrat party leader Ed Davey has been on - and even in - the water, with a paddle-boarding session on Windermere. Davey said he had a serious message to bring about water quality, pledging to scrap the current regulator Ofwat and hold water companies to account for dumping sewage.

He may not be running in the election, but Nigel Farage still continues to generate headlines. Now the honorary president of the Reform UK party, he helped launch the party's campaign at a yacht club in Kent. He said his party was on a six-year plan to be "the voice of opposition" to an inevitable Labour government - and in a BBC interview said the Conservatives had "destroyed themselves".

Green co-leader Carla Denyer will be out knocking on doors later this afternoon in the new constituency of Bristol Central - where she is one of the candidates vying to be the next MP.

Is Sunak right to say Labour's plans will cost everyone £2,000?published at 13:47 British Summer Time 28 May

13:47 BST 28 May

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been talking about how much Labour would have to raise taxes to pay for the things the party's MPs and officials have said they want to spend money on.

The Conservatives have done this before at elections – they come up with a list of things that Labour have said they would like to do and get civil servants to work out how much they would cost.

“I can tell you it’s going to cost you £2,000 each - £2,000 for every working family in our country in higher taxes to pay for their long list of things,” the prime minister told pottery workers in Stoke-on-Trent earlier.

There are considerable problems with this figure, not least that Labour disputes that some of the things on the list are their policies. For example, a costing is given for setting up 42 new hubs as neighbourhood health centres. But Labour says that isn't the plan.

Also, there are warnings in the dossier from the civil servants doing the calculations about some of the assumptions they have been told to make. For example, they were told to assume that having services provided by private companies was 7.5% more efficient than doing them in-house, but they warned that that depended very much on the circumstances.

We’ve looked at some of the biggest items in the dossier here.

Remember that we’re only a few weeks away from getting the Labour manifesto, which will feature the party's actual policies together with how they plan to pay for them.

No doubt you'll have ringed 4 July in your diaries by this point - and now we can reveal who will be accompanying those of you staying awake with your popcorn.

Our all-night special coverage on BBC One will be anchored by Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie, along with political editor Chris Mason.

On the radio, presenters Nick Robinson and Rachel Burden are hosting the election special on Radio 4 and 5 Live through the night, and they'll be joined by chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman.

There'll also be dedicated results programmes on TV in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.

And of course, we'll be following every twist and turn on the live page, and across the website.

What about TV debates? The BBC has invited the leaders of the seven biggest political parties to participate - we'll bring you more on that as soon as we get it.

Image source, PA Media

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey spoke a little while ago about his paddle boarding incident in Lake Windermere, telling the BBC there was a serious message behind his unfortunate tumble into the chilly water.

He said lakes like Windemere are "so precious", arguing that the UK's environment is so critical for public health and for the tourist economy.

Speaking about recent reports of water companies dumping sewage into lakes, rivers and the sea around the country, he added the firms who dump untreated wastewater must be "properly held to account".

"Its important that environmental experts from local communities are on the boards of water companies so they can't away with what they've been getting away with."

Earlier we brought you the photos of Ed Davey's tumble into Lake Windermere - if you press play below, you can watch the video as well.

It's worth mentioning this isn't the first time he's slipped into the water in front of the cameras - he also fell into the sea near Bournemouth while kayaking last year.

Does the Tories' new plan for pensioners amount to a tax cut?published at 13:04 British Summer Time 28 May

13:04 BST 28 May

The Conservatives have proposed to raise the personal allowance for pensioners to prevent this group paying income tax, which they say would save some pensioners around £300 a year by 2029.

So what are the calculations?

Currently, there’s a freeze until 2027-2028 in the personal tax allowance at £12,570 a year – the amount you can earn before you must pay income tax.

That freeze, put in place by Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, is effectively a tax rise because as people’s incomes grow with inflation - because their wages go up - more of what they earn exceeds the personal allowance and can be taxed.

And this was set to include some people receiving the new state pension. It’s currently around £11,500 a year, but in 2028 is expected to rise to £12,578, slightly above the level of the personal allowance of £12,570.

It will continue rising above the minimum tax threshold from then on.

So the Tories are proposing that the personal allowance rises to around £13,000 for pensioners from 2025 and keeps going up.

The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank has pointed out that this is not so much a tax cut as a means to prevent pensioners from being hit by a tax rise that is already happening.

The Conservatives have responded to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves' speech earlier today.

Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride says Labour will not match the Tories' commitment to increase personal tax thresholds for pensioners, and will instead "raise taxes by £2,094 on hardworking families".

"They do not have the courage or conviction to name a single tax they would cut," Stride says.

He adds that it's only the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak with a plan to "ensure pensioners who have worked hard their entire lives will have a new tax-free threshold to protect them".

Earlier this morning we heard from shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, who set out Labour's stall on economic policy at this election.

Here's a look back at some of her key points:

• Attacking the Conservatives' record in government, she said taxpayers are being asked to "pay more and more, and getting less and less" in return
• Reeves repeated Labour's criticism of the Tories' newly-announced pension tax pledge, calling it a "desperate gimmick", but when asked said her party would also commit to the triple lock
• She described Labour as the "natural party of business" and said she wants to lead the "most pro-growth, pro-business" Treasury the UK has ever seen
• Reeves said she in favour of lower taxes but refused to commit to cuts until she knew it was feasible - she also said she would only deliver a "fiscal event" (such as an emergency Budget) after giving the OBR time to draw up its forecast
• Labour's prepared to work with the private sector to "create the jobs of the future, drive down bills and create energy independence of Britain," she said, accusing the Tories of failing in such areas
• And when asked if she was a socialist - after Keir Starmer describes himself as one yesterday, in an interview with the BBC - she said she was a "social democrat"

For anyone who'd like to read more about Reeves (including her love of listening to Beyonce while jogging), read Laura Kuenssberg's profile of Labour's aspiring chancellor here.

Our colleagues at Radio 4 have also taken a look at her background and politics here. Whether you listen while exercising is entirely up to you, we won't judge.

Andrew Kerr
Scottish political correspondent

Sticking in Scotland, Labour leader Anas Sarwar has been promoting Scottish produce as part of a plan to boost exports.

He says he wants to sell "phenomenal brands" abroad using a Scotland Office, under the control of shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray.

"It's no coincidence that the UK's biggest food and drink exports both come from Scotland," he said earlier. "Brand Scotland - our amazing food and drink, creative industries, and tourism and hospitality - has an immense soft power abroad, while creating jobs at home.

"But the chaotic Tory government currently squatting in Westminster has failed to capitalise on our homegrown success."

David Wallace Lockhart
Political correspondent, in Perth

We've just finished hearing from Rishi Sunak, but the Scottish Conservative campaign launch is a useful reminder that there’s often a different narrative in this election in Scotland.

The party’s Scottish leader, Douglas Ross, made no mention of Labour in his speech - it was all about the SNP.

He’s urging voters in “key seats” (note, he didn’t say “all seats”) to back his party to beat the SNP.

And that’s because there’s realistically a limited number of seats the Scottish Conservatives can win at this election. And in all of these constituencies it’s the SNP who are their main rivals.

Image source, PA Media

Despite health, education, and transport being issues devolved to the Scottish Parliament rather than Westminster, Douglas Ross wants to hammer the SNP record in these areas.

John Swinney, the SNP leader, would point the finger of blame to the UK government not giving enough funding.

Expect this to be the key fight in a number of Scottish seats. And expect the Scottish Tories to be a bit less concerned with Labour than their colleagues elsewhere in the UK.

Image source, Pool

The prime minister takes another question from Keith, self-declared "number one forklift driver" at the pottery factory in Stoke-on-Trent where Sunak is speaking.

Appropriately dressed in an England football shirt, he asks the prime minister why there is not a bank holiday to celebrate St George's Day.

Sunak sidesteps the question, joking that "we all love to have days off, let's be honest I'd love to have a day off now and then".

He says there are "lots of other things that come along with bank holidays and the impact they have, which we need to take into account".

Sunak says the important point Keith makes is "taking a moment to celebrate and be proud of who we are as a country", adding that "whether we need a bank holiday to do that is a separate thing".

Image source, PA Media

A business owner asks Rishi Sunak what the Tories would do to address the engineering and material sciences skills gap.

"I think education is the most powerful way that we have to transform people's lives," Sunak replies.

He says he's been "going on for a while now" about the need to prioritise maths, as the UK is not going to be able to train people in subjects like material sciences and engineering without maths.

He adds that he has created new bursaries for teachers teaching STEM (science, technology engineering, and mathematics) subjects who will be able to earn an extra £30,000 for the first few years in their careers.

For context: Last year, Sunak announced plans for all school pupils in England to study maths in some form until the age of 18.

Addressing a crowd in Staffordshire, Rishi Sunak claims that Labour's plans will cost "every working family" £2,000 each.

The prime minister says this analysis has come from Treasury officials "crunching the numbers".

And he says Labour's plans will not bring financial security to people.

It's worth saying we haven't seen this £2,000 figure from the Treasury ourselves yet - we're chasing it now.

Ione Wells
Political correspondent, reporting from Staffordshire

We’re on the campaign trail with the prime minister today in Staffordshire - he's just started speaking (we'll bring you updates here shortly).

After some criticism of previous photo ops so far - including visiting the Titanic quarter in Belfast and being photographed next to an “exit” sign on a plane - his team are clearly keen to avoid any further awkward photographs.

One worker the prime minister was about to come and greet here had a Monster energy drink next to him.

Or did, until a beady-eyed campaign staff member removed it from shot...

A final question to bring you as Labour's shadow chancellor wraps up her Q&A in Derby.

A reporter from the Guardian presses Reeves on whether she would hold an emergency Budget before summer.

If Labour get elected, Reeves says she would never deliver a "fiscal event" without a forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which takes 10 weeks.

The OBR gives independent assessments on the health of the UK's economy, and you may remember that Liz Truss's unveiled her mini-budget without consulting them first. Many said the decision not to consult them was a key reason for the lack of investor confidence.

Meanwhile in north-west England, the Liberal Democrats have taken this morning's campaigning to Windermere in the Lake District.

Sir Ed Davey has been paddle boarding with local candidate Tim Farron.

And we've got some breaking news to bring you in the form of the following three images of Davey (we'll bring you key lines on what the Lib Dems have to say about both policy and paddle boarding shortly).

Image source, Pool

Image source, Pool

Image source, Pool

Back in Dover, Nigel Farage has been speaking to reporters.

The BBC's political editor Chris Mason asks: "Are you seeking to destroy the Conservatives, or join them?"

"They've destroyed themselves, they don't need my help," Farage responds.

He says there has never been such a lack of choice as there is between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. Farage also pushes back against the Conservative argument that a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour.

"This election is a foregone conclusion. Labour are going to win and they're going to win quite big," Farage claims.

"And therefore, you could argue actually, that a vote for the Conservative Party is a wasted vote."

He says he changed the party's name from Brexit to Reform because the party is not after a "quick hit" but rather is seeking to "build a base" and "launch a serious assault" in the next election of 2028 or 2029.

"I hope and believe we can get a cohort of MPs in Westminster so that we can be the voice of opposition," he adds.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Are you a socialist? It was a question Keir Starmer answered yesterday, when asked by my colleague Chris Mason.

It’s a difficult one for Labour politicians.

Say yes, and some think it could spook the soft Conservative voters Labour want to win over.

Say no, and it will anger many in the Labour Party who consider it a firmly socialist party.

Starmer may have said yes yesterday, but you can see the conundrum in the answers we’ve had from other Labour frontbenchers this morning.

Rachel Reeves just had the chance to say she too was a socialist and she didn’t. Instead she described herself as a social democrat.

And we had another ideological self-assessment from the shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds earlier today - he sees himself as a Christian Socialist.

A journalist from Channel 4 says trade unions want to know who will be the party for workers.

Labour are both a pro-worker and pro-business party, Reeves replies, saying "you can't be one without being the other".

Businesses create prosperity for working people, while being pro-business means "skilling up" people, she adds.

That's it in Derbyshire - Rachel Reeves has finished taking questions and left the stage.

We'll continue to bring you some of the key issues raised by journalists, and her responses to them. Stay with us.