Liz Bates , Political Correspondent

Labour leaders have been meeting to trade unions and other groups to hammer out the final details of their election manifesto.

The Conservative Party has pledged to reduce immigration if they win the General Election, but declared they won’t set what they call “arbitrary” targets.

So much for a Leave alliance so far. The Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has dismissed Conservative calls for his candidates to stand aside in key Labour marginals as “almost comical”.

The Scottish National Party launched their election campaign today, but Boris Johnson managed to steal the headlines, possibly by accident.

The party’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson resigned last night. And this morning, Ian Austin was one of two former Labour MPs to declare Jeremy Corbyn unfit to lead the country – urging voters to back Boris Johnson instead.

All the parties have been trying to make sure their candidates are suitable for office.

Both were demanding the right to be heard alongside the big beasts of Labour and the Conservatives.

Nigel Farage might be setting his sights on Labour leave voters, but can he win them over?

MPs may not be relishing the prospect of an election, but how do areas which voted heavily for Brexit feel about Mr Johnson’s plan? We have been to Barnsley Central. Its MP Dan Jarvis was one of the few Labour members who voted for Boris Johnson’s deal.

So Boris Johnson has  twice asked for a general election before and twice he hasn’t got one.

Another showdown in the House of Commons now looms as early as tomorrow when the Speaker will decide if Mr Johnson can hold a ‘meaningful vote’ on his Brexit deal.

They’ve arguably been the drivers of much of the Brexit debate. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is holding a rally in central London tonight.

Labour MP Chris Williamson has lost his legal bid to be reinstated in the Labour Party. Liz Bates was in Birmingham for that hearing and to get reaction from Labour supporters to the latest Brexit negotiations.

Just before the government published its 159-page document on how Britain should get prepared for a no-deal Brexit, a gloomy new report by the Institute for Fiscal studies was warning that leaving the EU without a deal would push Britain’s debt to its highest level for half a century.