BBC debate setpublished at 09:09 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
Here's a picture of the set of tonight's BBC debate, which comes from Westminster Central Hall.
Summary
Five Westminster opposition party leaders took part in a debate, with Labour's Ed Miliband and the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon in heated exchanges
UKIP's Nigel Farage accused the audience - which was independently selected and broadly representative - of being "left-wing"
Leanne Wood, of Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party's Natalie Bennett took on Mr Farage over his attitude to migrants
In other news - Richard Desmond, whose publishing company owns the Daily and Sunday Express, gave £1m to UKIP
Nick Clegg said a vote for the Lib Dems could prevent a right-wing coalition of the Conservatives, UKIP and the DUP - or "Blukip"
There are 21 days left until polling day
BBC debate setpublished at 09:09 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
BBC statement on debatepublished at 09:05
In a statement on tonight's debate, a BBC spokesperson said:
Quote MessageAs part of a package that the broadcasters and political parties agreed on, tonight's debate is for opposition leaders, and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are not included."
'Massive impact' of social care cutspublished at 08:56
BBC Radio 4 TodaySir David Nichols tells Today that while spending on the NHS has been protected, spending on social care has been slashed. Reductions in social care services "have had a massive impact on the NHS", with people in hospital who don’t need to be.
He says it's not yet clear how much financial difficulty hospitals across the NHS are in as a whole, but he is sure they will be in even more financial difficulty next year. That won't become clear to the electorate until this autumn, he adds.
If you say that there is a big financial hole in the NHS next year then you have to do something about it, Sir David says.
Politicians will talk about all the great things they want to do with the NHS and the extra spending they are committing to but actually there is a serious short term financial problem to solve, he argues.
Postpublished at 08:53 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
Victoria DerbyshireQuote MessageWhat happens if we get a hung parliament? #GE2015 Put your questions to our Political Guru @BBCNormanS on #VictoriaLIVE from 09:15
NHS 'needs proper financial discipline'published at 08:51
BBC Radio 4 Today“We need to institute proper financial discipline in the system... to enable us to be in a position where literally we are not building on sand - that actually there is a stable financial base on which you can take forward the changes which are needed,” Sir David Nicholson says.
The NHS has never delivered the scale of savings - £22bn - that it is being asked to deliver over the next five years, he points out.
He argues that there is no healthcare system in the world that has delivered such savings. It is possible, but it requires a proper discussion at national level, he adds.
'At least' £8bn needed for NHSpublished at 08:42
BBC Radio 4 TodaySir David Nicholson, former chief executive of NHS England, tells the Today programme that change within the NHS can only be achieved with political consensus.
He says current NHS England chief executive Simon Stephens' recommendations are that the health service needs an additional £8bn upfront in order to achieve the efficiency savings the political parties want.
The precondition of achieving that efficiency gain] is that “at least” £8bn needs to be front loaded into this financial year and the next two after, Sir David says.
Clegg: Lib Dems stopped 'loopy' Toriespublished at 08:37
BBC BreakfastMr Clegg defends his record in government, telling BBC Breakfast that a great many Lib Dem policies have been achieved. He points to the raising of the income tax threshold as one particular example.
He concedes the Lib Dems failed ”infamously” over tuition fees but blames Labour saying it was the party that first introduced them and that when the Lib Dems came to power with the Tories there was no money left.
Quote MessageThankfully the Conservatives couldn’t put into practice a lot of their policies. I’ve spent much of the last five years stopping the Conservatives putting into practice some pretty loopy and unfair ideas."
Extremely serious crimespublished at 08:31
BBC Radio 4 TodayOn the subject of Lord Janner's health, Peter Saunders of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood adds:
Quote MessageWe still bring war criminals to justice… even when they have dementia and I believe Lord Janner only developed the dementia relatively recently. He hasn’t lost all his faculties as far as I’m aware and we’re talking about very serious crimes we’re not talking about minor misdemeanours, we’re not talking about a bit of fraud. We’re talking about extremely serious allegations of assaults, of torture, of brutality on children and if there is strong evidence that those crimes occurred then it should come to court."
CPS 'about to make wrong decision'published at 08:22
BBC Radio 4 TodayPeter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, tells the Today programme he believes the CPS is about to make the “wrong decision” in not prosecuting Lord Janner.
The Times, external is reporting the prosecution will not go ahead because the CPS has decided it would not be in the public interest, but the CPS has refused to confirm the report.
Mr Saunders says he understands “there is massive, massive evidence and many victims that deserve a hearing here and they are not going to get that opportunity and I think it’s outrageous and I think the excuse or the reason will not be in the public interest”.
Quote Message“There is overwhelming evidence that this should go to court. But I believe the CPS, for reasons that are beyond me other than the fact we are talking about a person who is part of the establishment, a former MP and member of the House of Lords, are not going to bring this case to court.”
Health and social care 'divisions'published at 08:08
BBC Radio 5 LiveThe Conservative former Health Secretary, Stephen Dorrell, who chaired the Commons Health Select Committee in the last Parliament, speaks to 5 Live about the comments from Sir David Nicholson:
Quote MessageWhat politicians also need to talk about, I think, and health commentators, is that it isn't just about extra money. It's also about recognising that demands on the health service are changing. What we need to be doing is breaking down the divisions between health and social care in order to ensure that we've got a service that is better designed to deliver the service that today's patients actually want [and] need.
Clegg: 'Tantalisingly close' to clearing deficitpublished at 07:59
BBC BreakfastNick Clegg says the Labour Party hasn’t said when it would eliminate the deficit, “which I don’t think is very fair for our kids and our grandkids because if you don’t wipe the slate clean, they just keep picking up the tab for the mistake of the bankers and you just keep borrowing and borrowing".
He adds that the Tories have said they will get rid of the deficit by 2017-18 but "are only going to ask the working age poor to make additional sacrifices to balance the books".
"Our stance is you have got to do it fairly, which means asking those with the broadest shoulders to make an additional contribution," he says. We are “tantalisingly close” to clearing the deficit, he adds.
'Statisticians' debate'published at 07:53
BBC BreakfastNick Clegg is now asked about the deficit and whether any of the political parties can balance the books by the end of the next parliament.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says none of them can because economic growth is not going to feed through in the way the parties think it will.
Mr Clegg says he doesn’t want to wade into a statisticians' debate between the IMF and Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
He points out that the IMF “got it wrong” when it said growth would not materialise in the UK economy. He says politicians can only be expected to respond to “what the OBR tells us”.
Clegg: NHS does need more moneypublished at 07:44
BBC Breakfast
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg tells BBC Breakfast the NHS “does need more money”. It was Simon Stephens, the current chief executive of NHS England, who specified the need for an additional £8bn a year to fund the NHS by 2020, Mr Clegg says.
He adds that the Liberal Democrats have come up with a plan to raise that extra cash. He says part of that has already come with an additional £1.7bn of funding recently provided.
The Lib Dems will raise an extra £1bn from closing capital gains tax relief, he says. There is also a need for efficiency savings, he argues.
Quote MessageCrucially, once we balance the books, we would link the growth in NHS expenditure to the growth in the economy."
NHS 'on its knees'published at 07:34
BBC Radio 5 LiveDr Zoe Norris, a GP who works in Hull, speaks to 5 Live about Sir David Nicholson's comments on the NHS.
She claims: "The NHS is on its knees and if we don't do something urgently it will fail."
She argues that government's reorganisation on the NHS in England "has thrown everything into chaos" and calls for "political interference" to end, and the health service to be run on a "Bank of England model" with operational independence.
Dr Norris wrote an open letter to all prospective health ministers, external that was published in the Huffington Post, unpicking the different promises they make in their manifestos.
'Unfunded promises'published at 07:24
Image source, Getty ImagesShadow chancellor Ed Balls will claim the Conservative party has made £25bn of unfunded spending promises in its manifesto.
In a speech in Birmingham, he will claim Labour is the party of fiscal responsibility, according to the Guardian,, external publishing an audit of the spending and tax commitments in the Conservatives' manifesto.
The newspaper says Mr Balls will say the Tory attitude to unfunded promises shows the need for an independent body such as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to examine the pledges of the political parties before the general election.
Lord Janner sex abuse charge decision expectedpublished at 07:12
The Crown Prosecution Service will later announce whether it will charge Labour peer Lord Janner with child sexual abuse offences.
The Times, external is reporting the prosecution will not go ahead because the CPS has decided it would not be in the public interest. The CPS refused to confirm the Times' report.
The former Labour MP is 86 and prosecutors have been considering whether his health would allow him to be tried.
Leicestershire Police has been investigating abuse allegations against Lord Janner dating back to the mid-1970s.
Image source, PALabour must tackle SNP tonightpublished at 07:06
BBC Radio 4 TodayWhat will be fascinating will be the dynamic between Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon and Ed Miliband, says Norman Smith. "Let’s be blunt, Labour have a profound problem in Scotland," he says. "They cannot win this election if they head to catastrophe in Scotland."
Labour will have to take on Nicola Sturgeon, and dent the SNP bandwagon, he adds.
What Mr Miliband doesn't want to do is get caught up in the "nitty gritty of Scottish politics" because he will need to present himself as a leader of the whole United Kingdom tonight.
The stakes are pretty nigh for Ms Sturgeon as well, however. She came out the clear winner of the last debate and will need to perform well again tonight, Norman says.
Stakes high for Milibandpublished at 07:02
BBC Radio 4 TodayThe BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith carries on that theme, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Ed Miliband faces the danger that the leaders of the smaller parties will “gang up on him” and that they will try to paint a picture of Mr Miliband as the “representative on earth of austerity” - even though he would dispute this.
Some people within the Labour party are concerned about this debate, Norman says, and are asking what is to be gained from it. “There is not a lot to be gained but an awful lot that could be lost,” he says.
Tonight's line-uppublished at 06:50
BBC BreakfastBBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins illustrates where the opposition leaders will stand in tonight's debate.
From left to right: Ed Miliband, Leanne Wood, Natalie Bennett, Nicola Sturgeon and Nigel Farage.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg are not taking part in the debate.
Ross Hawkins tells BBC Breakfast the debate could see the SNP, Plaid and the Greens putting pressure on the Labour leader and asking Ed Miliband: "Why won't you give up on austerity?"
NHS finance problem 'being ignored'published at 06:39
The former head of NHS England has told the BBC that the health service is facing a "substantial financial problem" which politicians are ignoring in the election campaign.
Sir David Nicholson, who retired last year, said the NHS in England was accruing large deficits which would become "crystal clear" later this year.
But, he said, instead of talking about how to address these, politicians were focusing on expanding services.
He said the situation caused him "very great concern".