The party leaders must be feeling the glamour of last night's debate has all but vanished as they get back to the campaign trail in typical British bank holiday weather today.

They might have found last night testing but judging by these pictures they will be wishing they were back under the heat of the studio lights.We'll be sure to bring you some more pictures of politicians in the rain as we get them...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty images

After all the debate over... well... the debate we finally have some reaction from one of the participants themselves.

"Oh I enjoyed it," Nick Clegg tells reporters in Hyde, Cheshire.

"It's all a process, isn't it? I hope lots of people who got to see last night will be able to clarify in their own minds the choices.

"I think the choice was pretty stark really - which is on the one hand you've got a Labour party which wants to borrow too much, David Cameron wants to cut far too much, way beyond what's needed... I think we need to have a balanced approach - to balance the books and do it fairly, because that's the only way we're going to wipe the slate clean for future generations and also put money into our public services."

We said we'd bring you updates from this morning's leader movements - so here you go.

Here's Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Chief Secretary of the Treasury Danny Alexander unveiling a giant election poster in Hyde, Cheshire.

Don't say we never give you anything...

Image source, PA

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour strategists are saying they're pleased with Ed Miliband's performance in the context of a seven-party debate - but they're also stressing it was a format decided by the PM and they didn't feel it had been particuarly successful for him, accusing him of having hidden behind some of the smaller parties.

Where Mr Miliband was at his least comfortable was when he was being attacked from the left - Nicola Sturgeon - rather than being attacked by David Cameron from the right.

If you missed last night's debate and want to watch it in full, you can do so on the ITV player, external (requires registration).

Carole Walker
Political correspondent

Overall David Cameron will be hugely relieved to have the debate behind him, to have survived, to have had no big slip-ups or gaffes.

He's back on the campaign trail - we're out and about on a housing estate in Lancashire where he's going to be talking about his party's starter homes policy.

But undoubtedly the chewing over of last night's debate will continue.

Party leaders are returning to the campaign trail this morning.

Nicola Sturgeon will be in Edinburgh where she'll visit a pharmacy in the west of the city, while David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are all campaigning in north-west England.

We'll bring you what they have to say as we get it...

The duel is over between party leaders in the first TV election debate - so what did voters make of it in a battle-ground constituency?

The Today programme's chief correspondent Matthew Price went to Bolton West, the centre of a fierce struggle for power, to find out.

Click here for a 60-second summary.

Image source, PA

Plaid Cymru has said party leader Leanne Wood proved herself to be the "principled" and "authentic voice of Wales" during the two-hour debate.

Read more reaction from Wales here.

Image source, EPA

Never mind the debate over which politician won - some commentators are more preoccupied with how presenter Julie Etchingham did.

Andrew Pettie, of the Daily Telegraph, writes Etchingham was confident, external and had the "prim authority of a primary school teacher - which is more than can be said for the participants".

He also echoed a view - apparently held by many debate watchers on Twitter - that she looked very much like one Anne Robinson, the redoubtable host of the Weakest Link.

You decide...

BBC Radio 4 Today

Tory Chief Whip Michael Gove is doing the rounds and has just popped up on Radio 4. He says Nicola Sturgeon emerged as the "most impressive debutante on the stage" last night.

A YouGov poll handed victory to the SNP leader - but other polls have showed a mixed verdict post-debate.

Image source, Getty Images

Reality TV star Joey Essex was on BBC's This Week last night after his interview with Nick Clegg. He's also set to interview Cameron, Miliband and Farage as part of his new show, Educating Joey Essex.

The Only Way is Essex star said he had always wanted to vote but didn't know who to support, and admits he did not know who the prime minister was three months ago.

He said everyone should vote, and reckoned all parties were “doing good things”, but he could not yet decide who would get his vote.

Watch a clip here.

The Spectator

Spectator editor Fraser Nelson has been blogging about the battle between Cameron and Miliband. His view is that Ed Miliband could have won the election last night - but now it's David Cameron's to lose.

Read the full blog here., external

BBC Radio 5 Live

Labour's Caroline Flint says it is welcome that women were front and centre of last night's TV showdown - but says more importantly it was about who will be the alternative prime minister to Mr Cameron.

And that person is... no prizes for guessing who she says... Ed Miliband.

Mr Miliband clearly won the debate and it was a "really good showing by him", she says.

BBC Radio 5 Live

John Pienaar, 5live's chief political correspondent, is reflecting on how the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon fared last night.

He says the Scottish public have been aware of the SNP's leader for a long time as Alex Salmond's right-hand woman - but many in the rest of the UK will have been seeing her as if for the first time.

"She more than held her own - she was a living symbol that the SNP is part of the UK's political picture."

Carole Walker
Political correspondent

David Cameron may not have won the debate but it is the poll giving him a commanding lead when it comes to who is most capable of leading the country which has buoyed the Tory camp. As Mr Cameron heads back out on the campaign trail today he will undoubtedly be relieved to have the debate behind him.

Chancellor George Osborne, who led a clutch of Cabinet ministers into the spin room last night, said the key moment was when the prime minister accused each of the leaders lined up against him of planning more debt and more taxes.Tory strategists believe Mr Cameron succeeded in sticking to his core argument, that he is the leader with a long term plan turning the economy around.

The big risk was the unpredictability of the event but though Mr Cameron faced some strong attacks from Ed Miliband on the NHS and Nigel Farage on immigration, he held his ground.

Though the polls suggest Nigel Farage performed better on the night, Conservatives dismiss his significance and point to the success of Nicola Sturgeon as a further problem for Ed Miliband.

The polls suggest that it was the leaders of the smaller parties who did best on the night. But Conservatives believe that in the coming weeks voters will focus on who will be their next Prime Minister, so in the coming weeks their attacks will be targeted at their real rival in this campaign - Ed Miliband.

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent

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BBC Radio 5 Live

Conservative Chief Whip Michael Gove says he realises opinion polls should be "taken with a pinch of salt" - but this morning there is a nationwide poll (he doesn't say which one) that shows the Conservatives have more support than they had at the last election.

Mr Gove says the PM last night reinforced the virtues of "strength and clarity and conviction" that people have come to see in him.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown - now the party's election campaign chairman - says Nick Clegg "did flawlessly".

He says the Lib Dem leader put both Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband on the back foot - and was the only one to take on Mr Farage - all of whom, "didn't manage to lay a finger on him".

He says his boss has done two important things while in government - firstly, he's "changed the culture of the country" so it begins to understand coalition politics and secondly, he's "changed the culture of party" so it now knows what it's like to have power and responsibility.