After the hung parliament of 2010 some voters could be forgiven for thinking a full-on coalition like the Conservative-Lib Dem alliance of the last five years is the only option if we end up with no clear winner in 2015. There are alternatives, though – and one of them is confidence and supply. This is when a deal is done between a party that doesn’t have an overall majority but wants to govern and other parties which, while not part of the government, are prepared to support it when it comes to Budget and "no confidence" votes. Prospect magazine’s Roxana Legezynska has summed up what this “goldilocks solution” actually means, external.

In case you've forgotten, 7 May isn’t just about electing MPs. There are six areas holding direct elections for mayors this year:

• Copeland, in Cumbria, is holding a mayoral election for the first time
• On Teesside, Middlesbrough’s Ray ‘Robocop’ Mallon (pictured above) is standing down after 13 years, while Mansfield’s Tony Eggington is also retiring
• Incumbents are seeking re-election in the three remaining races: Lib Dem Dave Hodgson in Bedford, Tory Gordon Oliver in Torbay and Labour’s Sir Peter Soulsby - a former MP - in Leicester

Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics

The Liberal Democrats concentrated on education, while a UKIP figure suggested himself as a future leader, as the two parties launched their election manifestos on Wednesday. Andrew Neil looked at two leaders' wives stepping into the election campaign, while Labour leader Ed Miliband launched his party's women's manifesto and one candidate appeared to forget what was in hers. Watch Andrew Neil's film

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Harriet Harman has spent the last five years criticising Nick Clegg as the deputy prime minister’s shadow. "People know that the Lib Dems are every bit as much to blame as the Tories,” she says. “They have backed the Tories every step of the way while people's living standards have fallen and the NHS has been going backwards.” Ms Harman says their 2015 manifesto can’t be trusted because they broke their “key promises” in 2010 - pointing out their "wasted" £3bn on the NHS reorganisation, trebling of tuition fees and increased VAT.

She adds: "This country needs change - not the same Lib Dem broken promises."

Image source, PA

Is foreign policy getting a big enough showing in this election campaign? UKIP’s focus on defence in its manifesto - with a very specific emphasis on the armed forces - gets a lukewarm reception from Dr Liam McCarthy, a lecturer in international relations at Nottingham Trent University.

“By seeing UK defence as being merely a military problem (with solely military solutions) one misses the multitude of issues that a modern nation state must address and navigate in order to be truly secure,” he says. Waging war, after all, is diplomacy by other means.

“As the British electorate prepares to select its next government, it is more important than ever that worst case thinking and scaremongering do not exaggerate the strategic situation, offering solutions that will not secure the UK’s position in the world, and create threats where there were none. It is concerning that all too often discussion on defence is uncritical and the opinions expressed are not debated with the same level of scrutiny as other issues."

Nigel Farage himself complained earlier that foreign policy is being neglected in the campaign debate.

Click here to read a selection of your poems:

Steve, Politics Live viewer:

The Tories promise English votes for English laws.

In defiance of reason Labour against these loudly roars.

On questions of logic it is easy to meander

But what is sauce for the Scottish goose

Must be sauce for the English gander.

Some more from James Landale’s interview with Nigel Farage, who has been sizing up his longevity as leader after previously saying he'd resign if he doesn’t get elected in Thanet South. The UKIP leader claimed he wasn't nervous about his prospects in Thanet. "There are more important things in life to be worried about than fighting in elections… I'm confident,” he said. But could UKIP survive without him? "I will not contemplate failure", he said, before conceding there are many other capable people in the party. One of them is Steven Woolfe, the party’s migration spokesman who earlier said he would be happy to succeed Mr Farage as leader. He might be waiting a while - Mr Farage said he had a feeling "I could be around for quite a long time".

Mr Farage said he believed UKIP was offering the British public the first real change in British politics for nearly 100 years "The Labour Party came along and radically changed British politics,” he said. “I believe UKIP has the potential to do that.”

MX comments on this story: Sounds lovely in principle. But all the talented people work already for private/public companies now. NI relies too much on civil service jobs. There would be uproar the 1st meantion of public jobs being reduced. So if we rule out all the people working already. Who is left? Who would fill these new private roles? Talented foreigners or untalented unemployed?

Martin, Derry comments: 20,000 Public Sector jobs are already going so MX what are you talking about? Thats nurses, civil service, teachers, council workers etc. and our useless MLA's are not creating the private jobs to fill the gap. Thats also 20,000 less tax and NI insurances payers plus 20,000 more unemployment cheques. Less money all round. There is plenty of talent in those people but no outlet. Bad all round.

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Today’s manifesto sees the Liberal Democrats commit to reviewing the help single homeless people get under the law. That, together with plans to protect housing benefit for young people, has won the praise of homelessness charity Crisis.

“If it goes ahead,” chief executive Jon Sparkes says of the review, “this would be a hugely important step in making sure that every homeless person can get the help they need. In this day and age, no one should be turned away to sleep on the streets. “ He doesn’t exonerate the Lib Dems altogether, however, pointing out that cuts to housing benefit have already left “growing numbers struggling to keep a roof over their heads”.

In an interview with James Landale earlier today, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said that if Britain votes to stay in the EU there's "not going to be as much money for the health service and there won't be as much money for the tax cuts". Mr Farage said his party had already "costed in" an extra £3bn a year for the NHS and insisted that "our sums add up".

The UKIP leader also said money would be saved by the NHS by "making sure people who come to this country have health insurance". He added that the "NHS should stick to its founding principles but we could do it much better".

BBC News Channel

Believe it or not there simply aren’t any big issues at stake in the general election in Northern Ireland, political commentator Alex Kane tells the News Channel. “This is Northern Ireland - it always comes down to unionism or republicanism,” he says. “No matter what people think about the wider policies on health, education and so on - when it comes down to it the vast majority will vote to keep either a unionist in place or a republican in place. In one sense it makes the election boring.” But there are a number of seats in play, including East Belfast where the DUP’s Peter Robinson had held his seat for many years. The demographics are changing, author Fionnuala O’Connor says. This is what adds a bit more “spice” to the contest.

Image source, Reuters

There are some catchy phrases UKIP wants you to remember from the manifesto launch: their campaign slogan 'Believe in Britain'. Their new take on immigration. It's about 'Space not race'. But the big takeaway, as they say in marketing circles, is this: 'fully costed'. The manifesto has been given the once over by the independent Centre for Economics and Business Research and it's all adds up, apparently. UKIP commissioned the CEBR to sign off on the sums because it believes credibility is the final link in the chain. Trying to prove it's serious about cutting and spending is the final answer to years of one-trick pony, one-man band accusations.

It may matter to wavering voters - disillusioned Tories or disconnected Labour supporters - who are seriously thinking about going purple. The irony is it's almost an irrelevance for UKIP devotees. They don't like the party because of it's broad range of 'fully costed' policies. They like it because of the man whose photo features on page three. To them UKIP is Nigel Farage. The first test of this manifesto is whether it does indeed add up. But after that it will be judged on whether it can take the party beyond the devotees who filled the upstairs room in an Essex hotel by the M25 this morning and persuade others to vote UKIP.

Image source, UKIP

There aren’t many policies on page 28 of the UKIP manifesto, but there is something a trifle unfortunate about it: as some people on social media have pointed out, that bookcase behind Paul Nuttall is a little repetitive. Look at the two piles of books to the right of Mr Nuttall’s left shoulder - aren’t they a bit same-y? “UKIP manifesto seems to have books ending mid-spine,” BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson tweets, external. “And lots of copies of ‘CHIPS’.”

Roger Morley:

Image source, Getty Images

Here’s a Welsh nationalist perspective on today’s Liberal Democrat manifesto. The problem, according to economic adviser Eurfyl ap Gwilym, is that while they’re “very strong on saying what they are not going to cut”, the Lib Dems aren’t so clear on the “pretty severe cuts” that must come elsewhere. 

Reality Check

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One thing the UK election campaign hasn't had yet is a really colourful protest - something like events in Frankfurt earlier today, for example. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was holding a press conference when a female protester leapt on to his table, threw papers in the air, liberally dispersed some sort of confetti over the banker and chanted “end the ECB dictatorship!” Mr Draghi, while understandably rather alarmed initially, recovered sufficiently to continue the press conference afterwards.