Sunak says the world is more dangerous than it has been in decades and says the Conservatives can be trusted on security.

The prime minister makes the claim that Labour would "release" detained asylum seekers and make the UK a "soft touch" on illegal migration.

Sunak repeats his election line that Labour are treating the election result as a foregone conclusion and the "British public don't like being taken for granted".

Image source, PA Media

We go to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak now, who is speaking about how the Conservative Party has steered people through a "tough few years".

He refers to how the furlough scheme supported jobs during the pandemic, as well as the energy bills help that was offered as prices spiked in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sunak puts the Tories forward as the party of stability and security, with the promise of a "secure future" emblazoned on the campaign bus behind him.

The former chancellor points towards slowing inflation as one sign the economy is turning a corner.

"It’s only the Conservatives that deliver that economic stability for our country," he says.

Image source, PA Media

We're just about to hear from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is in north-east England today talking about the £600m election pledge to invest in 30 towns around the country as part of an existing levelling up programme.

The party says the money - which will be raised from tighter tax avoidance and evasion measures - would take the number of towns which have received funding designed to boost high streets and growth to over 100 since 2019.

The prime minister is making levelling up the focus of his campaign activities today, taking a leaf out of the playbook Boris Johnson used when he won a large majority in 2019.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner called it an "unfunded spending commitment, sure to be broken as quickly as it was made".

The levelling up announcement comes days after the Tories confirmed they would end the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

That pot of money had been used as part of the levelling up agenda and to fund community projects, but £1.5bn would be diverted to pay for the national service policy if the party wins the election.

Ben Philip
Reporting from Aberdeen

Moving over to the campaign trail in Scotland, it’s destination Aberdeen for SNP leader John Swinney as the second weekend of election canvassing gets under way.

The north-east of Scotland is a key battleground with a divided political make-up between the SNP and Conservatives.

The SNP see themselves as the main challengers in Scotland’s six conservative seats, half of which are in this region.

Swinney is expected to campaign with the party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.

One of the big talking points here is the future of oil and gas.

Thousands of jobs rely on the industry and many people want to know what the direction of travel will be after the election.

Local business groups are warning the wrong direction could risk jobs, investment and growth.

As the battle bus pulls out, let's take you over to a separate Labour thread that's been developing over the day.

Earlier this morning, the band that sings Things Can Only Get Better said it would deny any request from Sir Keir Starmer to use the track during the general election campaign.

You might recall how D:Ream's song was blasted from just outside the Downing Street gates as the rain poured down on Rishi Sunak when he announced the 4 July general election date. It prompted a series of headlines poking fun at the circumstances, such as "Things Can Only Get Wetter".

The hit from the 1990s became a Labour "anthem" during Sir Tony Blair's era.

But D:Ream's founding members told radio station LBC that they became disillusioned with politics in the wake of the Iraq war.

When asked if they would allow Starmer to use one of their songs today, Alan Mackenzie says: "There's no way - our songs and politics, never again."

Following this morning's campaign stop, the Labour leader provided a brief response to the band's remarks: "We're not in 1997".

He adds that the party will find another song to celebrate the moment if it is elected.

Image source, PA Media

Let's take you back to London for a moment, where we've just seen the Labour party's campaign bus depart with deputy leader Angela Rayner aboard.

It will make its first stops in the east of England later on Saturday - the first visits during a tour which will total about 5,000 miles (8,000km).

If you thought this would be the last photo op of a bus you'll get today, you'd be sadly mistaken.

Very soon we're going to be hearing from Rishi Sunak in the north-east of England where his party plans to unveil the Conservative campaign bus. Stay with us for that shortly.

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

While the Lib Dem leader may not be on the campaign trail today, we've been hearing all about the party's promise to make sure that 10 Premier League games per season are available on free-to-air television.

It says it's a response to soaring ticket costs and streaming platforms raising their prices.

It also highlighted that fans who want to watch games on television may have to pay hundreds of pounds a year given games are split across different subscription streaming platforms like Sky Sports, TNT Sports and Amazon Prime Video.

The party has told me that they would do this by amending the Broadcasting Act 1996 which gives the Culture Secretary the power to draw up a list of sporting events which are in the "national interest".

Politically, this would require a majority of MPs backing a plan to amend this law.

It is likely any change to existing arrangements would be subject to intense opposition from the Premier League and also from paid-for streaming platforms. So in practice, lobbying from such companies would be likely to sway any political debate on the issue.

Starmer is now taking questions from the media and refuses to be drawn into talking about the Diane Abbott row.

He tells reporters: "I dealt with that issue yesterday. Today is about taking our argument to the country."

Pressed again, he says his job is to go around the country talking to people about things like cost of living and again declines to comment further on the Abbott situation.

Starmer is asked about his message for black voters after criticism of the way he handled the Abbott row.

He gives a general answer about voters wanting to see change in the country and says they will need to back Labour in order to get that.

The Labour leader then closes his speech by reiterating his party's policy on border security - which is to create a new border command with specialist investigators.

He accuses the Conservatives of having "lost control of the borders", citing Labour figures that suggest that the number of people that have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats has risen.

"Nobody but nobody should be making that journey," Starmer said.

He suggested Labour would not "waste money" on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda under the existing government's deportation scheme.

The scheme, which is a key priority of Sunak's premiership, will prove a dividing line between the two main parties over the next few weeks.

"We need a border command that will smash the gangs that are running this vile trade," Starmer adds when describing Labour's alternative.

Starmer then tells the audience people have a choice between "powering up and rebuilding" with Labour or the Tories failure on levelling up.

He says the Tories are "shredding their economic credibility, they cannot be trusted with the finances of the economy".

Starmer is going over the party's six "first steps" now, which we've heard about a lot during the opening days of this campaign (you can read more about those here).

Image source, PA Media

Sir Keir Starmer jokingly says that Angela Rayner has proudly been showing him pictures of Labour's battle bus all week and that he's excited to finally see it.

The Labour leader quips that waiting for a bus is rather like waiting for Conservative candidates to defect to Labour - you wait for one "and three come at once".

Describing some of the bus's amenities, he points out there is a fridge in the back.

He says that those aboard should keep an eye out for Boris Johnson, referring to an incident when the former prime minister seemingly hid in a fridge in a bid to avoid a media interview in late 2019, although aides said at the time he was simply preparing for another appearance.

Image source, UK POOL

We're now live in London, where we're hearing from Labour's Keir Starmer, deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.

We first hear from the deputy leader, as its her battle bus that's being unveiled, she says to applause.

She is promoting the party's own "power-up" agenda with a 5,000-mile tour she'll be taking on the battle bus and describes how excited she is to get started on campaigning up and down the country.

"This is what the general election is about... It's about putting the country first - giving people that hope and opportunity."

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves then follows up by telling the audience that living standards have fallen under the Tories and she intends to turn that around.

"I will never play fast and loose with the public finances", she says, repeating her campaign mantra that "stability is change".

She ends by saying: "Labour is ready - ready to serve, ready to lead".

Image source, PA Media

We're soon to hear from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who will be announcing his party's plans to prioritise wealth creation - as he told the Times newspaper, external yesterday, it will be Labour's "number one mission" in government.

In a wide-ranging interview, he says Labour would keep the existing freeze on income tax thresholds because "we cannot afford to do otherwise".

The freeze was put in place until 2028 by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the Conservatives have also confirmed they will retain it beyond the election. It will mean millions pay more tax.

Starmer tells the paper a Labour government would not pursue "austerity" but says there would be "tough decisions" because of tight public finances, adding: "I’ve repeatedly said to my own troops that there are good Labour things that we won’t be able to do as quickly as we would like.”

We're sure to learn more about this plan shortly when we hear from the Labour leader and his shadow chancellor, who will be out campaigning in London later today.

Outside of internal party disagreements, Liz Kendall was also asked about Labour's welfare and training reforms during her Radio 4 interview this morning.

The party has announced plans it says will help reach its target to get the employment rate up from 75% to 80% and cut the benefits bill. It includes:

• Combining job centres with careers services to help people find "better opportunities"
• Enhanced support for people with health conditions and disabilities to boost their employment hopes
• A "guarantee" on getting people aged between 18-21 into work or training.

Kendall also says the reforms would boost employment, adding that overhauling the economy "can't be done overnight but we intend to start and transform this country for the better".

She says Labour is "ambitious for working people" and believes the public want economic stability.

Back to our morning guest line-up, where we've just heard from Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary.

Before getting into Labour's policies, Liz Kendall first had to bat off accusations that her party's leader showed weakness over the Diane Abbott row.

As a reminder, this week saw an internal party disagreement spill into the open after it emerged Abbott, who has been a Labour MP since 1987, might not be allowed to stand next month despite having had the whip restored following a lengthy suspension for comments she made about racism.

On Friday, however, Starmer confirmed that Abbott is free to stand after public lobbying from some of his own candidates.

When pressed on the handling of this row, the shadow cabinet member credited Starmer with changing the Labour Party "beyond recognition" after a historic defeat in 2019 and resetting the party's positions on things like tax and security.

"He has done that against all the odds, he is a strong leader", she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Kendall says she "completely rejects" the suggestion that Starmer's position on Abbott changed after his deputy Angela Rayner publicly intervened.

Image source, @EdwardJDavey

As we've mentioned, we'll be hearing from many of the major parties today, though you might be confused as to why we won't be seeing Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey out on the campaign trail after a week filled with attention grabbing stunts.

Instead, he says in a post on X, he'll be spending this weekend getting "to do the most joyful and important thing I do: being a Dad".

In the posts, he explains that he and his wife, Emily, care for their "wonderful son John, who has severe physical and learning disabilities".

In place of Davey, voters will instead be hearing from the party's treasury spokesperson, Sarah Olney, who will be campaigning in south-east England.

More now from that Andrew Griffith interview, where he was just been asked by the BBC's Nick Robinson about how effective the wide-ranging "levelling up" policy has been so far.

You might recall, during his first speech as prime minister in 2019, Boris Johnson spoke of a need to boost opportunities in "left-behind towns" and "level up across Britain". The term also featured in the Conservative party's last election manifesto.

But one Conservative MP recently told the Financial Times "there's not an awful lot of evidence" of levelling up he could point voters towards.

When that question was put to Griffith, he had this to say: "Things take time, we've been through a difficult period as well. There's been a very big headwind in terms of what's happened around Covid and other geopolitical things."

He adds that the towns fund, for example, is delivered by local authorities, with some quicker to act than others.

• Curious to learn more about levelling up? Read our explainer here

Image source, PA Media

Before we take you over to the campaign trail, let's listen back to what Tory minister Andrew Griffith had to say on the BBC's Today programme.

The minister for science and research has just been speaking with our colleagues about his party's recommitted pledges around "levelling up".

As a reminder, the party has said it will give 30 towns across the UK £20m each - if it is elected.

This would build on an existing programme, which has already seen funding given to 70 different towns to be spent on regeneration efforts like improving High Streets or security.

Griffith says that voters want "pride in their towns", and went on to praise the move as it was "not a new gimmick", but a tried and tested policy.

Labour, however, has hit out, suggesting that the pledge was "another reckless unfunded spending commitment".

Now that we've got you caught up on what the goings on have been in the last 24 hours, let's get you up to speed on what you can expect for today.

• Rishi Sunak will be in north-east England today talking about Conservative policies to invest in towns around the country
• Sir Keir Starmer is due to launch Labour's nationwide battle bus campaign in west London this morning
• SNP leader John Swinney will be out and about with the party's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn in north-east Scotland
• George Galloway's Workers Party are scheduled to launch their general election campaign this afternoon
• We'll also shortly be hearing from business minister Andrew Griffith and shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall on BBC

A fair warning, it looks set to be another busy day on the trail. But rest assured that we'll have you covered for all the stump speeches and battle buses galore.

Before we get to covering all the political parties who will be driving ahead with their pitches to voters across the weekend, let's give a quick recap of what proved to be another eventful week.

After Parliament was dissolved earlier this week, both the Conservatives and Labour will be travelling the length of the country to get their message out.

So you're up to speed, here's what went on:

• The Conservative party saw another candidate, Aaron Bell, say that he would not stand at the general election
• Labour leader Keir Starmer has said Diane Abbott is "free to go forward as a Labour candidate", after days of speculation about her political future
• Labour also set out green energy pledges, with plans for a publicly-owned company named Great British Energy
• SNP's leader John Swinney has taken issue with those plans, warning GB Energy would be a "bodyblow" to the Scottish economy"
• Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey made pledges on extending free school meals to all primary school aged children
• Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) has announced it will field 13 election candidates in partnership with Reform UK

Stay with us as we keep you updated on the latest today.