BBC Radio 5 Live

Nicola Sturgeon is working her way through a range of topics. On the post-election landscape, she says: "I was a member of a minority government and I think we proved that minority government can be sustainable, successful and effective. You try to build alliances on an issue by issue basis and build support for the things you think matters."

On the subject of potential job losses in the event the Trident weapons system was abandoned, she replies: "Our proposal to scrap Trident is not a proposal to close Faslane." She says it should remain a key naval base and major source of employment.

Gary Moss, Stourbridge:

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SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is taking listener calls on 5 Live. Asked whether in the event of the full fiscal autonomy she wants to achieve for Scotland, SNP MPs would still vote at Westminster, she replies in the affirmative. "Full fiscal autonomy is not independence... as long as Scotland remains part of the Westminster system I want SNP MPs to be playing a constructive role in that system."

Asked about worries that fiscal autonomy would leave Scotland worse off and without a welfare safety net, Ms Sturgeon says the policy "would be implemented over a period of years". During "that phased implementation" MSPs would take control of business rates, income tax and other matters so Scotland could "start growing" - meaning, we assume, that any gap in funding would be made up.

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So what's the best way to protect the countryside? Curbing immigration, of course. UKIP's Suzanne Evans says the seven million new arrivals under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and the two million more who showed up under David Cameron now threaten rural areas. If action isn't taken, she suggests, Britain will become one vast conurbation with no green space left at all.

M James, Kent:

John, Staffs:

UKIP’s policy focus today is on the countryside, which Suzanne Evans tells the party's morning press conference is more important to the British people than the Queen and fish and chips. She says Labour is an urban-focusing party and the Conservatives “hate” the countryside so much they’ve been “even worse than Labour”. The reality of the coalition's localism agenda is effectively a “developers’ charter”, Ms Evans says. This has resulted in a “to hell with what the locals think” attitude. “Voters need to consider this very carefully, particularly if they live in rural areas," she says.

Scott, London:

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They may have spent the last five years in government working together, but the Liberal Democrats are now very much in attack mode against the Conservatives. Their manifesto, election spokesman Brian Paddick says, is a “smokescreen” for "£12bn of savage and ideological welfare cuts”. He adds:

Robert Peston
Business editor

The Tories admit that they can't force the housing associations - who hate being forced to sell their properties - to replace the sold homes. But they insist that if the associations chose to shrink and shrivel, the funds will be directed to the construction of starter homes in other ways. In other words there is a risk that - for a few years at least - the policy would lead to a contraction in the supply of affordable rented housing. Read more.

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BBC Radio 4 Today

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As the Today programme wraps up, Philip Blond, director of the think tank Respublica, and Beth Rigby, deputy political editor at the Financial Times, size up the political situation. Both parties, she says, are trying to “appeal to a wider group of voters” beyond their core vote. “But you can’t fatten the pig on the way to the market,” she adds. Mr Blond agrees with that. “What we’ve seen is inexplicable - a strategic failure by both parties,” he says. The Tories have an excuse because of the UKIP threat - but Labour’s abandonment of the centre ground has left Mr Blond baffled.

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There are set to be two big policy announcements this morning at the Conservative manifesto launch, according to Tory sources via the Press Association. It takes place at 11.00 in Wiltshire. Income tax and the minimum wage is presumably one of them; what might be the other? Meanwhile, we have some more detail about the format of the event. Nicky Morgan and George Osborne will both be making speeches before Theresa May introduces David Cameron. And the manifesto launch is also set to feature a video entitled The Note - mocking ex-Treasury Minister Liam Byrne for leaving the incoming government the now-infamous missive in which he said there was no money left.

Phil, Camberwell:

BBC News Channel

Isabel Hardman, of the Spectator, doubts whether the right-to-buy policy will win the election for the Conservatives on Election Today this morning. “I’m not sure it’s going to have the big game-changing impact right-to-buy did when it was originally announced, but it’s a good positive retail policy,” she says. Owen Jones, of the Guardian, agrees. “What they’re trying to do is have a dividing line where Labour are seen as anti-aspiration,” he suggests. But it won’t work because “it’s very divisive in a way it wasn’t to begin with”.

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