Beth Rigby, FT's deputy political editorpublished at 14:58 British Summer Time 14 April 2015
@BethRigby
Quote MessageFemale Conservative also said to me the campaign messaging wld have been more effective if more women at top table
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
Victoria King, Alex Stevenson and Bernadette McCague
@BethRigby
Quote MessageFemale Conservative also said to me the campaign messaging wld have been more effective if more women at top table
@BBCAllegra
Quote MessageTory aides v kind to me today, loitering nearby with mike to help me ask PM a Q. But next time he should take more than one Q from a woman."
The economic debate is often dominated by confusing numbers, with their pesky decimal places and baffling percentages. Perhaps the alternative measure of wellbeing might reveal more about the state of British politics, former cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell suggests. He's written an article for Prospect magazine, external highlighting the steady improvement in wellbeing seen over the last five years. "Why has wellbeing increased?" he asks. "Causal analysis of the data is still pretty primitive. But the first thing we can say is that it’s probably the economy, stupid." Ah. Maybe those pesky numbers do have something to do with it.
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
Every child should have the opportunity to later stand to be elected head of state, says Leanne Wood. The Plaid Cymru leader told Andrew Neil there was "some way to go" before a Welsh socialist republic, but it it would be "fantastic if we could achieve that". During their Daily Politics interview, she was asked about Plaid's 11% poll result at the last general election, predictions for the next one, and her reaction to being mimicked in Radio 4's Dead Ringers comedy programme. Watch the interview
Second jobs are controversial in politics, but what about additional skills? We're thinking of starting a new series on "Things you have to learn on the campaign trail". We've seen plenty of food-related tasks - pizza, pie and pancake making - as well as car maintenance and animal husbandry.
Now it seems Nicola Sturgeon has been having a go at weaving.
Labour has run into a little difficulty over the consistency of its message on spending cuts. The problem was summed up by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna declaring earlier that "the leader of the Scottish Labour Party will not be in charge of the UK Budget”. His comments followed shadow chancellor Ed Balls saying he couldn’t guarantee Scotland an exemption from cuts. That appeared to clash with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy’s comments during last week’s TV debates. Mr Murphy, out campaigning in Cumbernauld today, insists he’s “singing from the same hymn sheet”. He said:
Quote Message"It isn't all about cuts, it's just a different approach to how we run our economy, which is we want more people out earning decent wages, paying taxes rather than subsidising low pay and that's a much more effective way of having economic growth."
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
The Pirate Party started fighting for internet freedom but now has Britain's "first crowd-sourced manifesto", says its leader. Loz Kaye told the Daily Politics that it stood for "taking democracy back", and getting people involved in politics. And he claimed that internet access for all would help boost the UK economy and deliver growth. Watch the interview
Let's keep it simple for a minute. Here’s a few of the key pledges from the Conservative manifesto:
There’s much more, of course, on the deficit, the "Northern Powerhouse" and the “good life” - check out our at-a-glance summary here.
Reality Check
The Conservatives have said they would extend right-to-buy for “up to 1.3 million tenants of housing associations”. The party’s press release says there are around 800,000 housing association tenants who only have a limited ‘right to acquire’ social housing. The Conservatives also say that around 500,000 housing association tenants currently don’t have the right to buy their home. As the new policy would affect both of those groups, the Conservatives say that 1.3m people could benefit. But is this correct? The first thing to note is that the housing landscape has changed considerably in recent decades. The government’s 2013-14 English Housing Survey (EHS) said there were 3.9m households in the social rented sector in England in 2013-14. At 17%, that was the smallest type of tenure and follows a long downward trend since the 1980s. That suggests that the proportion of potentially beneficiaries from the right-to-buy extension is dwindling.
Of those that might qualify under the Conservatives' plan, not all will be in a position to buy their own home. The EHS said that 8.6% of people in the social rented sector were unemployed. That compares with 3% overall in England or 5.4% among private renters. In terms of economic activity, the survey said that only 23.9% of people in the socially-rented sector were in full-time employment, compared to 62.1% of private renters. The survey also said that just 25.2% of people in the socially rented sector expected to buy a property, compared to 61.1% of private renters.
The Conservatives could argue that this figure might change following today’s announcement. And they might also take some comfort from the EHS survey, which showed that 73.8% of people in the social rented sector have been in the property more than three years and so would meet the eligibility criteria in terms of length of stay in the property. But given the relatively high unemployment rate, and relatively low rate of people in full-time work, it is perhaps less likely that all of the people who are potentially eligible will find themselves in a position to buy their home.
@jonwalker121
Quote MessageIf it's only people working 30 hours a week on the minimum wage who pay no income tax then it's not "a Tax Free Minimum Wage" really is it?"
@_katedevlin
Quote MessageTory manifesto also appears to promise an "English rate of Income Tax..."
The last five years of Conservative policy have “penalised the poorest people in our society”, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says. The Scottish First Minister’s comments, following the launch of the Tory manifesto earlier today, saw her go on the offensive against David Cameron’s party’s austerity politics:
@_katedevlin
Quote MessageTory pledge appears to contradict Smith agreement on extra powers that all MPs "will continue to decide UK's Budget, incl Income Tax"
The Conservative Party's election manifesto is a recipe for higher household energy bills, according to environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
Spokesman Dr Doug Parr said: "Onshore wind is the cheapest form of low-carbon power. Stopping it whilst also committing to cutting carbon emissions only means we'll have to invest in more expensive sources of clean energy, driving up bills."
He accused the Conservatives of "double standards and ideological bias", claiming the party will "champion localism when it comes to wind farms" but "run roughshod over local people's concerns when it's about fracking".
@nickeardley
Quote MessageTory manifesto p 23: "A Conservative Government will give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote"
Quote MessageWe're very much champions of small business in the Green Party and we want to restore strong local economies built around small business and cooperatives. Those small businesses put far more back into the communities than the big businesses do."
Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader
BBC News Channel
Conservative Treasury spokesman Priti Patel - George Osborne's left-hand woman in the above shot - will be live on the BBC News Channel at 16:30 to answer your questions about the Tory manifesto. Tweet questions to #BBCAskThis - and if you send in a video question you may see yourself on TV.
@faisalislam
Quote Messagea cunning meaty think tanky idea this RTB policy, but £18bn of realisable excess expensive housing equity over parliament is a big big claim"
World at One
BBC Radio 4
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett says the party's "big focus" is on increasing spending, creating a million public sector jobs and providing free social care for over 65s. But how will you pay for this? Cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion to raise £30bn a year, as well as a tax on the financial sector are among the party's plan, she explains.
Ms Bennett says the party has "a philosophical commitment" to re-balancing society to help the disadvantaged who have been "hard hit" by austerity. The current system is set up for the big multi-national companies and we'll turn that around, she adds.
Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis notes that with nominations now closed there are just eight BNP candidates at this general election - in 2010, there were 338. Read more on the Newsnight live blog.