Summary

  • Labour launches its manifesto, vowing to be the party of economic responsibility

  • Ed Miliband promises every policy will be fully funded and require no "additional borrowing"

  • The Conservatives are to announce that they would extend the 'Right-to-buy' to 1.3 million housing association tenants

  • Nick Clegg says the Lib Dems will not have another coalition with the Tories if they insist on £12bn welfare cuts

  • The Lib Dems launch a "five point plan" aimed at consumers and commuters

  • There are 24 days left until the general election

  1. Grazia magazine debates the electionpublished at 20.44

    The weekly women's magazine, Grazia, is holding a general election debate this evening. One of the panel members is Labour candidate Stella Creasy who declares: "Child care isn't a women's issue, it's a parents' issue". And she wonders why men aren't speaking up on these things.

  2. Ross Hawkins, BBC Political Correspondentpublished at 20:37 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    @rosschawkins

    tweets: Having insisted Libs won't be obliterated at the election Clegg insists he has no crystal ball and can't make predictions

  3. Clegg: Doing the right thingpublished at 20:08

    Asked whether the decision to go into coalition with Tories in 2010 had proved to be worth the slump in Lib Dem popularity which followed, Mr Clegg said: "Yes, of course it has and any Liberal Democrat will tell you that.

    "We took the decision as a democratic party. And we decided that notwithstanding the impact on our short-term political popularity it was the right thing for the country... I have an old-fashioned belief that if you do the right thing, that there are plenty of fair-minded folk out there who will recognise that. Was every decision a decision I would relish? Of course not. But is the country better now than it was when we found it on an economic precipice in 2010? You bet."

    The leader
  4. Coalition red linespublished at 20:02

    Nick Clegg made clear that his party would only agree to form part of a coalition administration if it was "consistent with our values and our policies".

    Asked about "red lines" by Evan Davis on the BBC in the first of The Leader interviews, the Lib Dem leader said:

    Quote Message

    In exactly the same way that I could never countenance recommending to the Liberal Democrats that we enter into coalition with a Labour Party that isn't serious about balancing the books ... equally I would not recommend to the Lib Dems that we go into coalition with the Conservatives if they insist on a plan which is a marked departure from what we've done in this coalition."

  5. Same sexpublished at 19:37

    A UKIP general election candidate has been asked not to speak at a conference billed as "exploring unwanted same-sex attractions".

    Alan Craig, candidate for Brent North, was due to speak at the event in London on Tuesday but the organisers - Core Issues Trust - say they have asked him to stand aside because they "don't want the issues at the conference to be associated with any one political party".

    A full list of all those standing for Brent North can be found here .

  6. Latest predictionpublished at 19:34

    Newsnight

    For the course of the general election campaign, Newsnight each evening will be publishing an exclusive Newsnight Index on the likely outcome, based on a sophisticated forecast model. It is produced by Professor Chris Hanretty from the University of East Anglia and his colleagues at electionforecast.co.uk. For more information on how the Index is produced here, external.

    Newsnight graphic
  7. Alleged assaultpublished at 19:17

    The police are looking in to an alleged assault following a hustings event for candidates in the Bradford West constituency.

    The seat was won in a by-election three years ago by Respect's George Galloway. UKIP claim their candidate for the neighbouring Bradford East consistency, Owais Rajput, was pushed and shoved at the event at Bradford Cathedral on Sunday night, and have reported it to West Yorkshire Police. The party said Mr Rajput, who is registered disabled and defected to UKIP from Labour, was at the meeting to support UKIP's Bradford West candidate, Harry Boota.

    You can find full lists of candidates for Bradford West here and Bradford East here.

  8. Get involvedpublished at 19:02 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    From Guy D-J:

    Miliband seems to be living in a dreamland with his manifesto. The House of Lords is one of the most crucial parts of our democracy and removing it after more than five hundred years is preposterous, and would grant too much power to the Commons. Despite being under 16 myself, I also feel that lowering the voting age would grant responsibility to people who simply are not mature enough, allowing unreasoned and silly decisions in referenda.

  9. Get involvedpublished at 19:01 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    Tweet: @bbcpolitics

    @SgGuilfoyle tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    #LabourManifesto Not enough bonkers pledges this election. Would give anything for UKIP's 2010 "Make the circle line a circle again" promise

  10. Get involvedpublished at 19:01 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Inaya Shoneyin:

    How much money do Labour expect to raise from the Mansion Tax and raising the top rate of tax to 50p? Half their manifesto pledges are funded by those two policies.

  11. When Nigel met Ivanpublished at 18:48

    The BBC's UKIP campaign correspondent Robin Brant says:

    Ivan meet Nigel. Nigel meet Ivan. Very little was said between the two men after they greeted eachother at a factory on a clacton industrial estate this morning. That wasnt because of any animosity. It was down to a language problem. Ivan is 62 and he's from Hungary. He barely speaks English, which is why I was told he was yet to be regarded as a skilled worker at the factory where he met ukips leader. Ivan is precisely the type of person who would be unlikely to be allowed in to Britain under immigration plans unveiled by UKIP. It wants a moratorium on unskilled workers and a points based system with a cap for the skilled workers. Ivan has been here for five years. Asked if he felt any emotion when he met the Hungarian worker Nigel Farage said no. It would've been interesting to hear what Ivan thought, but he wasn't able to explain.

    Nigel Farage meets Ivan ConcsarevityImage source, PA
  12. Get involvedpublished at 18:33

    Text: 61124

    Election live reader:

    I don't have an allegiance to any particular party either but in my opinion most of Labour's policies for this general election are focussed on winning back disenchanted traditional Labour voters rather than on the benefit of the country as a whole and, as far as I have been able to perceive, aren't practicable or realistic either.

  13. Get involvedpublished at 18:32

    Text: 61124

    Election live reader:

    I am in my mid 50s and my husband and I have always voted Tory as we always thought their values best represented ours. However we have completely changed our minds. We have always worked in local government and are now very frightened about the future under the Tories. Gradually local democracy and the services we've come to take for granted are being destroyed. Please people think twice before voting them back in. Our lovely country will not be the same again. I'd rather have Labour who invest in our services and believe in the common man.

  14. Where's the extra £5.5bn coming from?published at 18:32

    Rachel Reeves

    Labour's Rachel Reeves has been challenged on Radio 4's PM on how her party would fill the £8bn-a-year hole in NHS funding. Ms Reeves said Labour had already shown how they would raise £2.5bn for the NHS. But PM's Eddie Mair repeatedly asked her where the rest of the money would be coming from.

    Ms Reeves replied: "All we have committed to is £2.5bn but we're going to do a spending review in the first year of a Labour government because we are determined to ensure the National Health Service is fully funded."

    She added: "No other party has shown where their money for the health service will come from."

  15. #labourmanifesto trends on Twitterpublished at 18:28

    @MrFrankWeiner tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    Nice to see the #labourmanifesto isn't worth the paper it's written on

    @DrBatmo tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    Really hoped I'd turn my phone on this evening in the field to a progressive #LabourManifesto promise on science. Seems not. #tellthemSiV

    @RegistHERtoVote tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    #LabourManifesto mentioned women 15 times & has entire section on ending violence against women, a lot to live up to for the other parties..

  16. Re-shaping British capitalism?published at 18:27

    Duncan Weldon, BBC Newsnight's economics correspondent has blogged on Labour's manifesto and asks if it is an attempt to re-shape British capitalism.

    Ed MilibandImage source, PA
  17. Clegg: Conservatives' 'remarkable departure'published at 18:01

    The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, says he wouldn't be able to work with the Conservatives again if the Tories insisted on their proposal of £12 bn of welfare cuts.

    He said the plan was a "remarkable departure from what we've done in this coalition where we've actually asked those with the broadest shoulders to pay more through the tax system to balance the books".

    The Lib Dem leader was taking part in the first of The Leader Interviews with Evan Davis which will be shown on BBC One at 7.30pm tonight.

    He has set out plans to cut £3bn from welfare. He said the Tories wanted to ask the poorest to make additional sacrifices at the same time as saying to the richest that they didn't need to pay an extra penny through the tax system to balance the books.

    Quote Message

    That is downright unfair".

  18. Cameron on Labourpublished at 17:57

    Campaigning in the Tory marginal seat of Stockton South, Mr Cameron gave this reaction to Labour's manifesto:

    Quote Message

    What's striking is, Labour are committed to running a budget deficit forever so this is not a conversion to responsibility, it is a con trick and the more borrowing would mean more taxes so frankly, it's the same old Labour and the same old mess that they produced the last time they were in government."

  19. Keith Fraser, UKIP candidatepublished at 17:42 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    @MrKeithFraser

    tweets:, external

    Tweet by Keith Fraser, UKIP candidateImage source, Keith Fraser
  20. Regional benefits cappublished at 17:27

    The Labour manifesto confirms they will consider introducing a regional benefits cap. But it is an idea that some within the party have previously rejected, the BBC's social affairs correspondent Michael Buchanan reports.

    The manifesto says the party will keep the benefits cap, currently set at £26,000 but will "ask the Social Security Advisory Committee to examine if it should be lower in some areas".

    The party's former chief whip, Nick Brown, the current candidate in Newcastle East, told the BBC last year that he and many other back bench MPs opposed the idea.

    The Tories have committed to reducing the level to £23,000 nationally should they win the election and leaked documents seen by the BBC last month indicated they too were considering a regional cap, though the party insist no decisions have been made.

    A list of all the candidates standing in Newcastle East can be found here .