Summary

  • The Conservatives launch their manifesto, with David Cameron declaring “we are the party of working people”

  • They promise an extension of the right-to-buy scheme and 30 hours free childcare a week

  • The Green Party’s manifesto launch calls for action against climate change

  • It also promises steps to “restore and extend our public services”

  • There are 23 days left until polling day

Live Reporting

Victoria King, Alex Stevenson and Bernadette McCague

  1. Recap of the day....

    The day has been dominated by manifesto launches, with David Cameron offering to help voters secure a 'good life'. We're signing off for the day but we’ll be back with more manifestos - the Liberal Democrats and UKIP - from 6am tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a recap of the day:

    • Launching the Conservative Party manifesto , David Cameron said the Conservatives were the party of "working people"
    • Mr Cameron unveiled new policies on childcare, the right-to-buy and income tax
    • The other parties spent the day attacking the Tories’ pitch to voters. Nigel Farage said the Conservatives were “aping UKIP”; the Lib Dems said the Tories’ lack of detailed plans for cuts was “extraordinary”; and Labour insisted Mr Cameron's party wouldn’t stand up for working people
    • The Green Party launched its manifesto with party leader Natalie Bennett calling on voters to join a “peaceful revolution” as she laid out plans to end austerity politics
    • The Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy clashed with the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon on austerity politics – and faced veiled criticism from his colleagues in London too.

  2. A place to call your own

    We finish where we started... with the Conservatives' big manifesto announcement on extending the right-to-buy to housing association tenants. In an interview with BBC2's Newsnight, the Conservative chief whip Michael Gove said it would help "tens of thousands of people to have a place they can call their own". As for the Tories' wider plans, he denied that people with disabilities would lose under proposals to cut welfare spending by £12bn. Mr Gove said:

    The idea that any government led by David Cameron would actually make the lives of disabled children, or families with disabled members, more difficult simply doesn't make sense."

  3. Wednesday's i

    i front pageIndependent

  4. Wednesday's Independent

    Independent front pageIndependent

  5. Wednesday's Sun

    Sun front pageThe Sun

  6. Wednesday's Daily Mail

    Daily Mail front pageDaily Mail

  7. The latest on the polls....

    David Cowling, Editor, BBC Political Research says:

    TNS gave the Conservatives a two-point lead over Labour (34% versus 32%) and YouGov gave Labour a one-point lead over the Conservatives (34% versus 33%), with the Lib Dems around 9%, UKIP 14% and the Greens around 6%. Too early to tell if manifestos have any impact on public opinion. But the really interesting development was the publication of the latest batch of Ashcroft constituency polls. These comprised ten Conservative seats with challenging majorities for Labour to overturn. He found a mixed bag of results, varying from a 0.5% swing from Conservative to Labour in Harlow and a swing of one point in Dover, through to a 7.5% swing in Crewe & Nantwich, 7% in Finchley & Golders Green and 6% in Milton Keynes South. He also found that Labour were generally outgunning the Conservatives in terms of making contact with electors."

  8. Clegg: 'We will not sell out'

    The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg tells the Guardian that the country faces a stark choice between "a coalition of grievance" that involves the Scottish Nationalists or UKIP, or the politics of conscience and stability with the Liberal Democrats. He was speaking ahead of the Lib Dem manifesto launch on Wednesday. He also tells the Guardian that the party will stick to its manifesto promises.

  9. Wednesday's Guardian

    Guardian front pageGuardian

  10. Wednesday's Telegraph

    Telegraph front pageTelegraph

  11. Wednesday's Mirror

    Mirror front pageMirror

  12. John Prescott hits the campaign trail...

    John - now Lord - Prescott, (and former Labour deputy prime minister) has been campaigning in Merseyside today. He still knows how to pack a punch - verbally, of course. He compared Esther McVey - a Conservative Minister defending Wirral West - to Margaret Thatcher. The Liverpool Echo reports that he called her heartless.

    Here's a full list of candidates standing in Wirral West.

  13. Wednesday's Financial Times

    Financial TimesFinancial Times

  14. A 'good life' for marine life?

    Here's a bit of the Conservative manifesto that may have passed you by. The Conservative Zac Goldsmith tweets:

    Fantastic that Conservative Manifesto includes biggest & boldest marine conservation measures of any Government ever."

  15. George Eaton, New Statesman's political editor

    @georgeeaton

    tweets:

    Labour and Tories have looked like students desperately cramming to ensure they secure a pass in their weakest subjects (economy/society).

  17. Help at hand for undecided voters

    Need some guidance on which party to vote for? Democratic Audit UK - a research unit at the London School of Economics - has been reviewing Voter Advice Applications, which try to match voters' views to party policies

  18. Manifesto week

    Conservative manifesto launchPA

    Today it was the turn of the Conservatives and Green Party, yesterday Labour. Tomorrow brings us the Lib Dem and UKIP manifesto launches. How will those two parties try to tempt voters their way?

  19. 'Political cross-dressing'

    The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, examines the language of the party leaders during this manifesto week.

  20. Immigration warning

    The Huffington Post

    Britain would "fall apart" without immigration, a former senior Conservative minister has argued.

    Alistair Burt, who served as a Foreign Office minister from 2010 to 2013, said on Monday evening that politicians had to make sure to counter the "negative" view of migration.