Conservatives welcome a letter from over 100 company bosses backing a “Conservative-led government”
Labour publishes its own letter signed by “people from all walks of life” as it pledges a crackdown on zero hours contracts
Lib Dems discuss plans to triple paternity leave to six weeks
Ed Balls and Nick Clegg take their campaigns to Scotland
There are 36 days until the general election
@jameschappers
Quote MessageSamantha Cameron, on 'stop Ukip' visit to Rochester, says PM 'doesn't seem nervous' about TV debate but she's glad he's doing it not her"
@_davidrhodes
Quote MessageGreen Party staging an event outside #Newcastle Central Station calling for renationalisation of the railways #GE2015"
@NickBolesMP
Quote MessageStriking that Charles Dunstone, Duncan Bannatyne & Cameron Mackintosh signed letter supporting Conservatives - all backed Labour under Blair
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BBC News website reader:
My son erects marquees & employs up to 10 men on a contract to contract basis. He employs his men on zero hr contracts. If he doesn't get a contract to erect a marquee, how can he pay 10 men at £650/wk if he isn't working + between nov & April there is no work. Under Labour he would have to pay them £650/wk for not working.
Reality Check
Image source, PABetween October and December 2014, around 697,000 people said they were employed on a zero-hours contract in their main job, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics, external. A year earlier, the number was estimated to be 586,000.
Although this appears to be an 18.9% increase, we can’t say that this is a result of more people starting work on zero-hours contracts. ONS warns that some of this increase could be due to greater awareness of the types of contracts that people are on, especially given recent media coverage of this topic. This is likely to be true because almost half of the increase was from people who said they had been on a zero-hours contract for more than a year.
On average, someone on a zero-hours contract works 25 hours a week. People on zero-hours contracts are more likely to want to work more hours - 34% said this, compared with 13% of people not on a zero-hours contract.
A separate ONS survey of businesses found there were 1.8 million contracts that “do not guarantee a minimum number of hours”. This is not the same as the number of people on zero-hours contracts as a person can have more than one contract.
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Pat, Stoke on Trent:
I would like to see the pensionable age brought down if only by a couple of years especially for those of us that do more manual work.
@jamesmatesitv
Quote MessageTories handing out 'spoof' Labour mugs to the travelling press. And the tone of the campaign hits a new high #GE2015
@patrickwintour
Quote MessageONS productivity figures today. "The absence of productivity growth in the seven years since 2007 is unprecedented in the post-war period".
Voters in Paisley and Renfrewshire - which Labour is defending with majorities of 15,000 and 16,000 respectively - have been scratching their heads over what to make of the conflicting messages they’re hearing in this campaign. The Labour message has been "if you don't want a Conservative government you've got to vote Labour", whereas the SNP’s message is "the more nationalists there are at Westminster, the more they'll take you seriously". What does that mean for the electorate? “After the referendum, I had something of an identity crisis,” one student voter told James Naughtie. His report went out on the Today programme earlier, but you can listen to it again here.
@frankieboyle
Quote MessageI'd like to see the Tories try to get 100 nurses to sign a letter
Quote MessageWe've got almost five million businesses in our country. At best you could say the people who signed this represent 0.002% of them."
Chuka Umunna, Shadow business secretary
Email: politics@bbc.co.uk
Dave, North Devon:
Well said Phil Brown of Lowestoft. Is it no wonder that people are becoming disinterested, especially the younger voters.
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Julie Brennan, North Lanarkshire:
I agree with woman on this morning. Not enough help for carers. I ended up having a breakdown through caring for my mother. I told health care doctors and social services she needed to go into full time care but was told "she's not bad enough yet!" I eventually video taped my mother in order for them to see what she was like at home with me and took it to doctors, telling them I was going to run away if they didn't do something! Then they agreed and she was taken into care... that day!
Email: politics@bbc.co.uk
Matt, Manchester:
Having grown up in a Tory family, been to a Labour Uni and moved around a lot in my teaching career, I have to agree with James from London. Not one party has actually said anything useful, simply how what their opponents are doing is just not right for 'Great' Britain.
Image source, SPLRunning for public office is rather bad for you, the Nuffield Health think tank is claiming today. And not just because of the junk food consumed during all-nighters in the office. Its research finds that two-thirds of MPs have said they’re so stressed out by the high stakes of the election campaign that it negatively affects their health. "The election bubble that our MPs and prospective candidates will be living within over the coming weeks is a harmful mix of high stress levels, poor nutrition and sleep deprivation,” medical director Dr Davina Deniszczyc says. “Although candidates are likely to be doing a lot more exercise, they must supplement this with a good diet and try and get a decent night’s sleep as often as possible." The research also found that nearly nine in 10 don’t have time for a sit-down meal, and one in four have been either bitten or chased by a dog while campaigning. Ouch!
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Dan, Peterborough:
Saying workers get a contract after 12 weeks on zero hours doesn't work. I've worked through agencies and employers have similar rules whether it be 6 months or 12 months continuous employment before a contract. Without fail, a week before that date, you'll be released. Usually rehired a couple of weeks later and the stop clock starts again.
Image source, PAIt seems the Conservatives are wielding a new weapon in their battle with UKIP - the prime minister's wife. Samantha Cameron has been making her first solo appearance on the campaign trail in Rochester and Strood. It's certainly a statement of intent because that's the constituency held by Mark Reckless in last year's by-election, triggered after he defected to UKIP from the Tories. Mrs Cameron greeted Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst, who finished 2,920 behind Mr Reckless in November, during a visit to Abbey Court School in Rainham, Kent.
@BritishGQ
Quote Message@Nigel_Farage interviewed by @dmiliband for GQ's May issue
Image source, GQEmail: politics@bbc.co.uk
Ally, Edinburgh:
I understand how zero hour contracts are unfair to those looking for a steady income but I really think they work for students and if labour win at the very least make an exception that if you are in full time education you can work zero hour contracts. I say this because towards the end of my third year of Uni I worked at a nightclub and I asked my boss for a month off to finish all my course work and he said "yes of course see you next month" had I been contracted to 15-20 hours a week I would not have been able to do so. I ended up leaving that job because I gained full time employment, however from time to time if I'm not too busy and they happen to be short of staff I help out at my old bar because I like the bar.
@Gilesyb
Quote Message20p Corporation tax = "Britain open for business". 21p Corporation tax = "AAARRGH! FIDEL CASTRO IN THE TREASURY!" 30p in the 1990s...?