Beth Rigby, FT's deputy political editorpublished at 12:03 BST 14 April 2015
@BethRigby
Quote MessageGreat question from @BBCAllegra £12bn of welfare cuts? How can you be so open about the nice stuff and not about the nasty stuff? #GE2015
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 MessageGreat question from @BBCAllegra £12bn of welfare cuts? How can you be so open about the nice stuff and not about the nasty stuff? #GE2015
@DavidPBMaddox
Quote MessageTories to legislate that nobody on minimum wage pays income tax. Big rabbit to pull out of hat outflanks Labour and Lib Dems #GE2015
How about UKIP? This election, David Cameron says, is a “choice” between a Conservative government and the “old Labour ways”. He concedes that there might be “things that have bothered you over the last five years” but Britain is “heading in the right direction” and that the “good life” - that phrase again - is within reach. Echoing his earlier appeal to UKIP voters to “come home” to the Tories, Mr Cameron adds:
Quote Message“We’ve listened and we’re taking action to control immigration. We’re going to have that in-out referendum because it’s time the British people had their choice… but what we’re now saying is who do you trust to run the economy? I’m saying stick with the team that’s delivering for Britain.”
David Cameron
Laura Kuenssberg
Newsnight Chief Correspondent
As if the parties didn't already suffer from assumptions about who they represent, the Greens held their manifesto launch in a hip East London theatre this morning - all bare wooden boards, charming staff and flat whites, local brewed beer and bio dynamic wine in the cafe. What they do not suffer from is boldness. Their manifesto is full of big promises - a pension of more than three hundred pounds a week for a couple; renewable energy taking over from fossil fuels; a million new public sector jobs. What they do suffer from is a difficulty to defend their numbers robustly. They claim they'll raise a massive £30 billion extra from clampdowns on tax avoidance for example - very very optimistic. And the man who wrote the manifesto numbers, Brian Heatley, has told me they can't really be sure how much their new wealth tax would work because it hasn't been tried before. In a sense, refreshingly candid. In another way, extremely problematic for a party that wants to be taken seriously on a tax that they need to raise £20 billion. The Greens also say in their manifesto they would carry on spending more each year than the government gets from revenue. Does that mean deficits for ever? The Greens won't say. In other news, Natalie Bennett has also told Newsnight they don't want to ban the Grand National after all. More straightforward to decide that than work out government spending.
In addition to the ideas the Greens talked about on their wealth tax, they say they would adjust their planned-for cuts to employers’ national insurance contributions if they didn't raise as much from the Wealth Tax as they hoped.
@A_Osborn
Quote MessageUK's Cameron changes campaign gear at manifesto launch, emphasises the positive, tries to sell hope instead of past doom-mongering #GE2015
@Gary_Bainbridge
Quote MessageFor younger viewers, The Good Life was a show where a rich couple lived next door to a couple who didn't have any money.
Is Ed Miliband going to be a threat to national security? David Cameron doesn’t shy away from the invitation to attack Labour on the nuclear deterrent. “You cannot take risks with this,” he says. You need four nuclear submarines for a credible deterrent, not three, and he claims Labour haven't committed to that. What do you do when one of them needs servicing - “buy one on eBay?” He says Labour doesn’t always do what’s needed to help the security services keep Britain safe.
@Steve Richards
Quote MessageWhat to believe- The spending plans outlined in Autumn Statement /Budget or those pledged generously in Conservatives' election campaign?
What about that £8bn funding gap? David Cameron insists the “fiscal plan” covers everything that’s in the manifesto. “We’re saying that balanced plan continues in the next parliament,” he says. There’ll be an extra £8bn spent on the NHS by 2020, he says. But that might be misinterpreting the question, which sounded to us like it was about the £8bn of unspecified spending on welfare cuts that Theresa May avoided talking about earlier today.
David Cameron offers his take on the big political narrative of this election. He says Labour has produced a “thin manifesto”- and he predicts the SNP will “produce a more detailed list which they will try and force on a Labour government”. Stopping the “horror” of this requires a Conservative vote, he says.
@PaulBrandITV
Quote MessageTories already pinging out press releases about that surprise announcement on 30 hours of free child care. #ConservativeManifesto
Quote MessageToday they are trying to claim that they can fund right-to-buy with a bounced cheque. The reality about the Conservatives is that they are the party not of working people, from first to last and always, they are the party of the richest in our society and that is absolutely the case with what they are saying today. We support people’s right to buy their own homes, but their offer on right-to-buy won’t work because they haven’t found the money to fund it or build homes... just like with health, just like with the tax cuts they are promising, so on the right to buy, they have absolutely no idea how where a penny of this money is coming from."
Ed Miliband, Labour leader
David Cameron gets a round of applause as he points out the Labour Party, which is trumpeting itself as the party of financial responsibility, has spent the last five years attacking the Conservatives' tough decisions. "That's why the deathbed conversion is so unconvincing in every single way," Mr Cameron says.
@jgginlondon
Quote MessageBritish PM David Cameron, at manifesto launch, seems to tell voters: you've suffered through budget cuts, but now you'll get the benefits
Time for questions, now. Is the "Good life" a return to the "Sunny Dave" of his early years? He dodges an invitation to clarify whether he's the Tom and Barbara of British politics, or the Margot and Jerry? Samantha Cameron will have to tell him later, he says.
And now David Cameron wraps up his speech, arms outstretched as he declares: "Let us not go back to square one. Let us finish what we've begun."
@GuidoFawkes
Quote Message"the party of no income tax"... hmmm
David Cameron says: "It means we can proudly say this is the party of working people. Not just the party of low income tax, but us, the party of no income tax!" It's an offer of "strong leadership", an economic plan and "a brighter, more secure future". The phrase 'long-term economic plan' isn't front and centre, is it?
And now here comes another quiet moment towards the end of his speech. He says he's standing on the stage asking for five more years to "finish the job". Five more years, he says, will lead to "security at every stage of your life".
@IanDunt
Quote MessageDespite all the flaws this really is much better from the Tories: It's positive, at the very least. Childcare promise v.good.