Summary

  • The Conservatives say their manifesto will have a commitment to build four new nuclear missile-armed submarines

  • Defence Secretary Michael Fallon accuses Labour of using the Trident replacement as a "bargaining chip" with the SNP

  • Ed Miliband says Mr Fallon had "demeaned himself and his office" after being described as a backstabber by Mr Fallon

  • Nicola Sturgeon says the SNP will not agree any formal power-sharing deal with Labour unless it drops plans to renew Trident

  • Labour proposes a new fund to provide one-to-one careers advice for school pupils in England

  • There are 28 days until the general election

  1. 'Tell no one'published at 19:59

    Freelance journalist Susie Boniface - aka Fleet Street Fox - offers the BBC News Channel's Election Tonight programme an unusual option in terms of nuclear armaments.

    She says the UK's four nuclear submarines each carry 16 Trident missiles, each with eight warheads. "We are armed to the teeth as far as nuclear weapons are concerned," she says.

    Kiran Stacey and Susie Boniface on the BBC News Channel
    Quote Message

    Frankly, they could decommission them all tomorrow and just not tell us and none of us would know - the terrorists wouldn't know."

  2. Michael Bloomberg, former New York Mayorpublished at 19:57 British Summer Time 9 April 2015

    @MikeBloomberg

    tweets, external:

    Quote Message

    Rumor is PM @David_Cameron is too posh for hot dogs - this #TBT [throwback Thursday] should set the record straight

    David Cameron (left) with Michael Bloomberg in New YorkImage source, Twitter
  3. SNP 'has no power'published at 19:51

    Financial Times political correspondent Kiran Stacey reckons an SNP-backed Labour government wouldn't have to give in to demands to scrap Trident. "The SNP doesn't have the power that Michael Fallon and the Tories are claiming," he tells the BBC News Channel's Election Tonight.

    Quote Message

    Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond have both said 'we will prop up a Labour government. We will not do anything to let the Tories into power'. Given that, they have given away their one trump negotiating card."

  4. 'Shocking' comments on HIV migrantspublished at 19:50

    LBC

    UKIP's Diane James says she stands by Nigel Farage's recent controversial suggestions that migrants should be stopped from using the NHS for HIV treatment costing £25,000 per year. "Difficult and shocking" is how Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone described her views.

  5. What to do with the NHS?published at 19:45

    LBC

    Labour's Harriet Harman says the NHS needs an "injection of cash" and "more working together with social care so that elderly people don't end up in hospital" because they have nowhere else to go. But Conservative Nicky Morgan says that - under the coalition government - £12bn has been pumped into the NHS, which has resulted in more doctors and 6,900 more nurses.

  6. Women in politicspublished at 19:38

    "It's a very women-friendly party," says Lynne Featherstone about the Lib Dems, despite only seven of its 57 MPs being women. She says about 50% of the party's members are women. "It is my dearest wish to see more women in parliament," she added. Meanwhile, Labour's Harriet Harman says all-woman shortlists are important to prevent politics becoming a "men-only business".

  7. Thirsty workpublished at 19:37

    Leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg and party candidate for Eastleigh Mike Thornton each drink a Banana Wharf Liberal Cocktail at Banana Wharf, Port Hamble Marina, SouthamptonImage source, PA

    The day's campaigning almost over, Nick Clegg has been winding down with a Lib Dem-themed cocktail in what's left of Southampton's evening sun. No alcohol, mind you - this mango, pineapple and bitter lemon concoction was mixed by Port Hamble Marina's Banana Wharf Bar.

  8. 'Babes in the wood'published at 19:35

    Lynne FeatherstoneImage source, LBC

    "We were babes in the wood," says Lynne Featherstone in answering a question on the Lib Dems notorious broken promise to scrap tuition fees. "We felt terrible, we felt awful about it," she adds. "We fought to make it the best policy that we could... we turned it effectively into a graduate tax."

  9. The human face of immigrationpublished at 19:27

    On the subject of immigration, BBC News met four immigrants who are part of a new campaign to try to "humanise the rhetoric" politicians use when debating immigrants.

    From left to right: Mary Sithole, S Chelvan, Lois Lau and Nicolette Moonen with "I am an immigrant" posters
  10. UKIP on Tridentpublished at 19:25

    UKIP MEP Mike Hookem, who's the party's defence spokesman, tells the BBC News Channel he believes Ed Miliband would bow to SNP demands over Trident to stay in power.

    "If he wants to be prime minister of the country and he needs the SNP as a dealbreaker, that would be part of the deal - that they would get rid of Trident," he says.

    Mike Hookem
    Quote Message

    Using the same words Michael Fallon used? This is politics, I don't believe we need to go into personal attacks."

  11. UKIP's James pressed on Immigrationpublished at 19:24

    "We want people here that will contribute," says Diane James of UKIP in answer to a question on immigration. she says UKIP would reduce "the scale of unskilled immigration in this country". Tory Nicky Morgan says the country needs people to come here to contribute and pay taxes. She adds: "UKIP are all over the place in immigration policy. Diane sits here tonight and sounds incredibly reasonable, but I don't think she speaks for the rest of her party."

  12. Iraq war ripostepublished at 19:21

    LBC

    "You are talking out the back of your head," exclaims Harriet Harman in response to an accusation from UKIP's Diane James that Tony Blair is trying to repress the publication of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. "Let's try and keep our politics sane," Ms Harman adds.

  13. The Islamic State questionpublished at 19:08

    LBC

    Labour's Harriet Harman says "parents and teachers are in the frontline" when it comes to protecting children from the "grooming" of the Islamic State. However, UKIP's Diane James says the issue for her emanates from a "mulitcultural agenda". She says that communities from abroad have settled in the UK but remained "insular" she says the that successive governments have "not taken the steps to fully integrate them".

  14. Top female politicians to debate tonightpublished at 18:58

    LBC

    Four of the most senior female politicians in the country will do battle in a 90-minute debate on LBC Radio, external tonight from 19:00 BST.

  15. Radicalisation threatpublished at 18:47

    The PM is asked about the case of two Dewsbury teenagers who are feared to have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State, and how his party intends to tackle the problem of youngsters becoming radicalised.

    "Previous governments have tried to separate violence on one hand and poisonous extremism on the other," says Mr Cameron, arguing that they are both part of the same problem.

  16. 'Proper' jobs?published at 18:44

    Mr Cameron is pressed about whether apprenticeships are "proper jobs", and offered the example of current employees at Morrison's supermarket being placed on an in-work scheme. He replies: "[They] are increasing your capacity to earn more money and have a better life."

    He adds: "Don't undersell apprenticeships," before repeating the Conservatives' pledge of creating three million new placements.

  17. A day as a carer?published at 18:38

    Host Harry Gration invites Mr Cameron to spend a day working with a Yorkshire carer. Mr Cameron says if he can find the time, he will.

  18. PM on 'living wage'published at 18:37

    David Cameron is speaking on the BBC's regional news programme in Yorkshire, Look North. Asked about providing the "living wage" for health care workers, the PM says: "Where [employers] can pay the living wage, they should."

  19. The Treasury and pizzapublished at 18:32

    Struggling to get your head around public spending cuts that might be implemented after the election?

    It's simple - just think about pizza.

    Composite image showing a More or Less quote, alongside Chancellor George Osborne holding a pizza

    Tim Harford, from the BBC's More or Less team explains the spending dilemmas facing the next government to BBC Radio 4's PM programme in terms of a quattro stagioni.

    "The NHS is the mushrooms, the defence budget the ham..."