BBC Radio 4 Today

Earlier this week, Mr Farage said he wanted immigration to return to "normal" levels. So what are the numbers, he is asked.

You can't have a cap for net migration because you cannot stop people leaving the country which is why figures are "impossible", the UKIP leader responds. He adds that the UK doesn't need any more unskilled migrant labour as "there's enough already" and it has driven down wages for Britons - before advocating an Australian-style points-based system.

BBC Radio 4 Today

UKIP leader Nigel Farage is on the Today programme, and he's asked about comments that children cannot play in the streets, because society isn't at ease with itself because of immigration.

Mr Farage says he said nothing of the kind. "I want us to live in a society that is integrated," he tells Today. He says there are segregated communities today because of uncontrolled immigration. Asked where exactly, he says, "travel up the eastern spine of England, go to Peterborough". He says he's arguing for a responsible immigration policy that allows communities to integrate.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Tonight's debate is significant because it is the only time in this campaign the party leaders will go head to head. And while part of this evening's debate is tightly structured - part has what all politicians dread - the unknown and entirely unpredictable.

Nigel Farage has already said he wants to challenge David Cameron over immigration. Nicola Sturgeon to tackle Ed Miliband over austerity. Here lies the potential for an unexpected election moment. Could that change this campaign? Perhaps - but Nick Clegg enjoyed a significant boost after his performances during the last election debates - the impact, though, faded and did not fundamentally change the course of the election.

BBC Breakfast

The BBC's Ross Hawkins has a sneak preview inside the ITV studios where tonight's debates are being held.

The podiums are set close together, he points out, but the prime minister and Ed Miliband are some distance apart. "I'm told there's nothing in the election rules that have been drawn up for these debates that are going to stop those two having an argument," he explains.

And he says the studio, which isn't that big, will feel intimate. The final word will fall to David Cameron - that's a pretty big advantage to have, Ross says.

Each politician will be allowed to give an uninterrupted one minute answer to a series of four questions posed by members of the studio audience, before the debate is opened up.

There will then be up to 18 minutes of debate on each question; in all four "substantial election questions" will be addressed.

Leaders will not have advance sight of the questions and an "experienced editorial panel" will select them.

After a draw for places on the podium, the Green Party's Natalie Bennett will take the left-hand position followed, from left to right, by Nick Clegg for the Liberal Democrats, UKIP's Nigel Farage, Labour leader Ed Miliband, Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and Conservative leader David Cameron.

Ms Bennett will speak first in the opening statements of the debate and Mr Cameron will speak last.

Nick Robinson
Political editor

Who won? That is the question everyone will ask at 10pm tonight, so before anyone answers perhaps we should pause and ask something else: what on earth does winning a TV debate really mean? And how will we know? My look-ahead to tonight's debate.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Election forecasters are predicting UKIP will win between 10% and 13% of the national vote at the election, and take anywhere between one and five seats, Matthew Goodwin tells the Today programme. But he says UKIP is likely to have an indirect impact on the election result as well, by affecting the outcome in seats even if it is not actually winning them.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Matthew Goodwin, Associate Professor of Politics at Nottingham University and co-author of Revolt on the Right - about the rise of UKIP as a political force - is on the Today programme, talking about UKIP's poll ratings. He says the party's core base is holding "quite steady", and is more resilient than thought last year.

Between 13% and 15% of the electorate feel "very positive" towards UKIP, he says, but he notes that its appeal has dwindled from about 18%-19% since last autumn's by-elections. However, he thinks Nigel Farage is "probably feeling reasonably confident" going into the election campaign, as his party only needs to poll about 9% of the national vote to have "a tangible impact" on the outcome of the election.

BBC Breakfast

BBC Breakfast is reporting from Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk this morning. The topic under discussion: immigration. Residents of the traditional seaside town tell the BBC about the big changes in the town, largely from the influx of EU migrants who have come to the town to work in food processing and on local farms.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Coming up at 8.10am, UKIP leader Nigel Farage speaks to the Today programme ahead of his appearance in the leaders debate tonight.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Pretty slim pickings: YouGov delivered a one point Labour lead - 36% compared with 35% for the Conservatives, with the Lib Dems on 7%, UKIP on 12% and the Greens on 5%.

But maybe time to remind ourselves that the crucial bit we often miss is that the real significance of these polls is not where they are now but what is the difference between now and the 2010 general election.

YouGov suggests neck and neck at present; but 36% for Labour is up 6% on 2010: 35% for the Conservatives now is down 2% on 2010. So, what appears neck and neck is, in reality, a 4% swing from Conservative to Labour since the last election: a swing that would take Labour into largest single party territory and well on its way towards a majority of its own (Scotland permitting).

As we navigate our way through all those polls to come, remember to measure every one of them against the crucial 2010 figures: Conservative 37%, Labour 30%, Lib Dem 24%, UKIP 3% and Green 1%.

tweets, external:Red sky in the morning, politicians' warning, welcome to Manchester #bbcbreakfast, external

Image source, @rosschawkins

Ahead of the leaders' debate, Welsh political parties have been arguing over who best represents Wales' interests. Plaid Cymru said its leader, Leanne Wood, who will be taking part in the event, would give Wales a "real voice" in the discussion, but the Welsh Conservatives accused Plaid of being "out of touch". Read our story here.

The Times leads, external on jitters hitting the markets yesterday, as analysts warned investors that Britain faces the prospect of a weak and ineffective government after a dead heat election.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Tonight's debate is a visible, symbolic demonstration of the death of two-party politics, Norman Smith tells the Today programme. "It's the visual evidence of a multi-party era," he adds.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Our assistant political editor, Norman Smith, says there is the potential for "complete and utter pandemonium" in tonight's debate, because there will be up to 18 minutes of "free-flowing debate" which has the potential for a bun fight between the leaders. "That really may be the moment of this debate," he tells the Today programme, because the key ingredient is "the unguided missile moment".

"It has what all political leaders and their aides dread and seek to avoid, namely the unpredictable, the uncertain and the unknown. And in that seven-way free-for-all no-one knows what on earth is going to happen."

The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail leads, external on what it calls "Red Ed's zero hours hypocrisy". He promised on Wednesday to end casual employment contracts; but the Mail says that Labour councils and MPs hire many workers on zero-hours contracts.

The Daily Telegraph

The Telegraph takes a different view, claiming there is a deepening rift between the Labour leader and business, external after more major figures signed a letter endorsing the Conservatives.