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. Dan Hodges, commentator for the Telegraph and Total Politicspublished at 13:47 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    @DPJHodges

    tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    Ed Miliband looked like he could become Prime Minister today. Entire election now hangs on how the country reacts to that."

  2. Janet King, Bromsgrove Liberal Democratspublished at 13:45

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Janet King emails:

    As a dedicated Liberal Democrat I just want to point out that the commitment to an extra £8bn pa by 2020 is a Liberal Democrat policy and George and Theresa may want to talk to Danny and Nick about our costing. Labour’s belated pledge to end the unjust indefinite detention of asylum seekers/migrants is also a Lib Dem commitment. These are not the only policies, which the red/blue teams have taken from Lib Dems and it is good that they will become policy in the next Parliament (if honoured) but we should like a bit of acknowledgement, please, both from parties, the media and voters.

  3. 'No commitments'published at 13:43

    BBC Radio 4

    Chuka UmunnaImage source, PA

    Labour's shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, tells The World at One "there are no commitments, capital or otherwise, that require further borrowing".

    He repeats the Labour attack on the Conservatives' "£20 billion of unfunded commitments", saying Chancellor George Osborne has failed to say how they would be paid for.

    Mr Umunna claims that Labour has set out more information on its economic policy in its manifesto than any party "for a generation".

  4. Ready Ed?published at 13:41

    "Address the nation's doubts. Confront your weaknesses. Tackle them head on. That seems to have been Ed Miliband's plan today," according to BBC political editor Nick Robinson, in his latest blog.

  5. Get involvedpublished at 13:39

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Victoria Derbyshire

    Phil Brown:

    Having watched the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC2 I find myself totally disillusioned with politicians. Despite being given many opportunities to do so, none of the politicians were prepared to give answers to simple questions from the audience, or the presenter. As one contributor put it, how can I vote for any party if they wont tell me precisely what their intentions are.

  6. What would Labour cut?published at 13:38

    BBC Radio 4

    Labour shadow cabinetImage source, Getty

    Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, tells BBC Radio 4's the World at One: "It's reasonable to expect the government to spend about £20bn a year on investment and we don't know whether Labour wants to borrow all of that."

    If Labour does not intend to borrow, "some fiscal tightening will be needed" but with borrowing it could deliver cuts already agreed and not do more, he says.

    However, he says Labour have not been clear about "what they would cut".

    He also thinks it would be "pretty difficult for Scotland to avoid cuts" if there were spending cuts across the UK as a whole.

  7. Manifesto in a nutshellpublished at 13:34

    If you're just trying to catch up over your lunch with this morning's developments, here are the key policy pledges from Labour's manifesto:

    • A £2.5bn fund for the NHS paid for largely by a mansion tax on properties valued at over £2m
    • Twenty-five hours of childcare for working parents of three and four-year olds and a new right to before and after-school help, paid for by rise in bank levy
    • Freezing gas and electricity bills until 2017, so they can only fall not rise
    • Banning some zero-hour contracts and raising the minimum wage to £8
    • Scrapping winter fuel payments for the richest pensioners, capping child benefit rises and cutting ministers' pay by 5%
    • A 50p tax rate on incomes over £150,000 a year and abolishing non-dom status. Rises in VAT and national insurance ruled out
    • A cut in tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000
    • A one-year freeze in rail fares, paid for by delays in upgrades to A27 and A358 roads

  8. Lib Dems' 'first out the blocks'published at 13:31

    Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie says his party was "first out the blocks in setting out how we would deal with the deficit" and said the SNP, Labour and the Conservatives need to be "open with people" about what they would do.

    Campaigning in Kirkintilloch, Mr Rennie said:

    Quote Message

    The Conservatives want to cut too much, taking us back to 1960s levels of public spending. The SNP want to borrow even more than Labour, recklessly putting at risk the decent funding of public services. Our plan to cut less than the Conservatives and borrow less than the SNP and Labour enables us to commit to building a stronger economy and a fairer society."

    Willie RennieImage source, PA
  9. 'Be a good boy'published at 13:27

    Carole Walker
    Conservative campaign correspondent

    David Cameron meeting voters in Alnwick

    David Cameron has been meeting voters on a walkabout in Alnwick. He was asked about benefits, business rates, planning rules and mental health. One woman told him to stop the name calling in politics - "Be a good boy," she said. Mr Cameron did not respond to a question about Ed Miliband's claim that he's making unfunded promises

  10. Get involvedpublished at 13:25

    Text: 61124

    Election live reader:

    I believe that voters need to give the Conservative Party a full term in office to sort out the mess that Labour has left behind. I am not saying they are perfect and mistakes have not been made but they are fixing the economy. It takes time and people need to realise that.

  11. Analysis: Labour manifestopublished at 13:22

    Robert Peston
    Business editor

    Labour are hoping this manifesto will help them regain economic credibility but I fear it wont because of their refusal to set a precise date for when they'll balance the current budget. The well-respected IFS says that date makes all the difference to how much they'll need to cut. If they want to balance the books by 2017-18, they'll need £18bn of cuts. If it's 2018-19, they'll need £6bn and if it's 2019-20, they wont need any at all. In other words, their policy as they've set it out now could mean they don't need to make any cuts at all and I think people will therefore question how serious they really are about trying to tighten the belt of the public sector.

  12. Rob Ford, author of Revolt on the Rightpublished at 13:17 British Summer Time 13 April 2015

    @robfordmancs

    tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    Clacton is UKIP's only (probably) safe seat. Seems a bit of a waste of a vital campaign day for Farage to hang around there."

  13. Get involved - join the debatepublished at 13:13

    BBC story: Miliband says he is 'ready' to lead country

    You comment on the BBC story . Griff-rhys says:

    Why anyone would trust Labour with the economy again is absolutely beyond me!

    Maximillian writes:

    I think many people have forgotten many of the positives the labour government did last time such as the minimum wage and the human rights act, yes the economy was damaged but that was largely due to international factors beyond our control..vote labour for a fairer and balanced society, with opportunity for all at the centre of our values

  14. Javid: Labour 'chaos'published at 13:11

    Daily Politics
    Live on BBC Two

    Culture Secretary Sajid Javid has cast doubt on Ed Miliband's manifesto claims. "Every single Labour government in history has resulted in economic chaos," he told BBC2's Daily Politics. "The question is: 'Why would Ed Miliband be any different?'"

    Sajid Javid
  15. Pic: Cameron's selfie in Alnwickpublished at 13:09

    David Cameron taking a selfie with a voterImage source, Getty
  16. Tactical votingpublished at 13:06

    Nigel FarageImage source, Reuters

    Nigel Farage says he hopes for some tactical voting at the general election. The UKIP leader said supporting a party purely with the aim of defeating one they don't like is the "best way for parties like UKIP to get more people elected". Visiting a hinge factory in Clacton, he denied that he had told a newspaper at the weekend that UKIP voters should vote Conservative in certain areas. Instead, he told journalists: "I said people will vote tactically in this election and actually I hope they do vote tactically."

  17. 'Fiscally credible?'published at 12:55

    In a question and answer session after his manifesto speech, Mr Miliband said of Labour's fiscal credibility: "Absolutely there's a challenge for us to show we're going to be fiscally credible and get the deficit down. I've been quite open about that and I'll tell you why - because I think there are a lot of people at home who are thinking to themselves 'I like Labour values, I like what Labour is putting forward in this election, I want to know it adds up'.

    Ed MilibandImage source, EPA
    Quote Message

    "And today the manifesto is proof of that. It's proof it does add up - that every penny, all the commitments we make, are paid for and costed."

  18. Get involvedpublished at 12:51

    text: 61124

    Election live reader:

    How can anyone trust Labour, when they borrowed more and taxed more and ruined the state of the UK's economy. The country is in a mess because of Labour. People need wake to that. My vote is for Conservative. P.s I am not rich but I can see who is doing a better job of trying to fix our economy.

  19. Murphy: 'Labour clear on savings'published at 12:50

    Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy says he and Labour's treasury spokesman, Ed Balls, have been clear that a Labour government would "have to make savings" north and south of the border. Mr Murphy spoke out after SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon claimed the two senior Labour politicians had contradicted each other over potential cuts in Scotland. Mr Murphy suggested these need not continue beyond 2015/16. On a visit to a factory in Glenrothes, he stressed that Labour's proposed UK-wide tax changes would deliver extra resources to the Scottish government worth £800 million. He did not say whether or not this cash could be dwarfed by further unplanned spending cuts. The Scottish Labour leader said the extra cash Labour's promising would be lost to Scotland under the SNP's proposals for full fiscal autonomy, which he said was a "crazy idea".

    Scotland's Labour leader Jim MurphyImage source, PA
  20. Albert Owen, Labour candidatepublished at 12:46

    @AlbertOwenMP

    tweets:, external

    Quote Message

    Tories on the defensive over the deficit. Remember they made a cast iron guarantee to eliminate it in the last Parliament. #brokenpromises