Matthew Holehouse, political correspondent, Daily Telegraphpublished at 15:00 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
@mattholehouse
Quote Message"I don't feel relaxed, but I'm doing an impression of it," says Cameron
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
Matthew Holehouse, political correspondent, Daily Telegraphpublished at 15:00 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
Davidson attacks 'soggy centre-left'published at 14:46
Image source, Getty ImagesScottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson indulges in some fighting talk at the party's Scottish manifesto launch.
Quote MessageLet me assure you, this Scottish Conservative Party is serious about Scotland. We decry the soggy centre-left consensus and, yes, we do do things a different way. But we are cowed no more, and we are willing to challenge and to fight for a better deal for working Scotland. And our opponents better be looking over their shoulders, because we are coming for the SNP and we are coming for Labour."
Trident no deterrentpublished at 14:35 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
In response to Sam Marner:
I agree with you, Trident serves no purpose in deterring or retaliating against terrorists; whom in the current political climate are the most likely to detonate nuclear devices on our soil.
However, while in principle I support disarmament in the same way Michael Foot did (Nuclear weapons are abhorrent); disarming on our own would put us in an extremely undesirable situation geopolitically should a nuclear-armed state wish to extract territorial concessions from us.
Liam Gibbons, Politics live reader
Students announce 'payback time'published at 14:28
You may remember earlier this morning, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on the BBC Breakfast sofa calling his failure on tuition fees "infamous". Well, the National Union of Students (NUS) would probably agree.
The NUS has launched a "payback time" campaign against MPs who U-turned over their pledge to oppose fee increases for universities in England, including leading Liberal Democrats.
"We won't let them trade lies for power again," said NUS president Toni Pearce.
Lib Dems MP already proportionalpublished at 14:22 British Summer Time 16 April 2015
I has to read Samuel Marner's e-mail (13:47) twice - I couldn't believe what he was saying.
"For a party that claims to be in favour of proportional democracy they are now entirely sustained by the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system."
Really?
For the 8% he quotes, will they be represented in Parliament by perhaps 20 of the 650 MPs.
In case Mr Marner's maths are a little flaky I'll help him out. 8% of 650 is 52, and that's how many MPs they'd have, more or less, under a proportional system.
How he comes to the conclusion that they're being 'sustained' by first-past-the-post is completely beyond me.
'Not treated quite as unfairly as the have been previously, but still very unfairly indeed' is far more accurate.
Steve Woodhouse, Politics live reader
Take partpublished at 14:17
Email: politics@bbc.co.uk
Brian Gare, Nofolk:
Apart from Nigel Farage`s HIV comments and a heckler, I can`t remember anything else from the last leaders' debate. I do remember saying last time round that we would have seven winners. A prediction which proved to be uncannily accurate.
Undoubtedly the same will be true of tonight`s debate. Five winners and the only memorable thing will be a bit of a faux pas by one or more of the leaders. But nothing will change. The polls will continue to be neck and neck right up until election day.
But at least the politicians' fall back position, (when his or her party is behind in the polls) "It will be the number of votes in the ballot box that determines the outcome of this election." will be the most truthful thing any of them has said to the electorate during the whole of this campaign.
Team effortpublished at 14:10
Image source, PAImage caption, Ms Durantez has been getting stuck in to the campaign
The election is proving to be a busy time for the leaders' wives. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Nick Clegg's other half, is back on the campaign trail again, two days after helping out ranger guides at an election event in Hazel Grove. Today she's campaigning in Cardiff and has been paying a visit to a children's cafe.
Callum May, BBC News producerpublished at 14:03
@callummay
Quote MessageSome #ge2015 tonsorial trivia. Labour have been donated £10k by hairdressers Toni & Guy; the Tories were given £20k by crimper John Frieda
BBC story: NHS finance problem being ignored, says former bosspublished at 13:58
Your comments:
Grounsel comments on this story: UK health services need a complete rethink with agreement on objectives/ strategies and an honest discussion on how best to resource and finance them. Commentators complain that huge organisations in the private sector are slow, inefficient and self-important and should be broken up to become more dynamic. The NHS is the same, a slow brained dinosaur controlled by pretty average politicians.
kencharman comments: We can only save the NHS £25bn a year if we tackle preventable disease - in particular Type 2 Diabetes. The Conservatives should accept the essential need for taxing and regulating the food industry. Labour and Liberals need to accept that treatment "free on demand according to need" facilitates dangerously unhealthy lifestyles. Failure to change behaviour should result in payment for treatment
Alliance manifesto launchpublished at 13:56
Image source, PAThe Alliance Party of Northern Ireland has launched its manifesto, entitled: Step Forward, Not Back. It calls for policies aimed at promoting community relations and reducing division.
The cross-community party, which won one seat in the last general election, seeks to attract support from both Protestants and Catholics. It has been traditionally aligned at Westminster with the Liberal Democrats.
Alliance Party leader David Ford and candidate forEast BelfastNaomi Long launched the manifesto at the Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast.
Lib Dems politics of divisionpublished at 13:47
The Liberal Democrats latest efforts to promote "it's us or them" politics is laughable.
For a party that claims to be in favour of proportional democracy they are now entirely sustained by the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system; they will get roughly as many MPs under FPTP with a measly 8% in 2015 as they got in 1983 with a whopping 25% vote.
Every leaflet is "if you don't vote for us, the reds will get in here" or "support us or the blues will get in here!".
The fact that they would ally with either for another five years of near-total acceptance of the majority coalition partner's policies, totally undermines whatever weak argument this hopes to provide.
Samuel Marner, Politics live reader
Hannah Green, BBC producerpublished at 13:42
@HannahGreenNews
Quote MessageDiscovering helpful notes behind the scenes of tonight's debate with @BBCBenWright
Image source, TwitterTough calls on the NHSpublished at 13:41
"Any institution that costs the country so much, and touches so many people’s lives, cannot avoid being a topic for political debate," writes Professor Robert Dingwall, external of Nottingham Trent University.
"However, this institution is peculiarly ill-suited to the short-term nature of much British politics."
He argues that the NHS "deserves politicians with a more strategic vision, who are ready to make, and defend, hard choices rather than blowing with every sad headline or imposing a new re-disorganization as the fancy takes them".
'Save Ed' campaign already begun?published at 13:32
Independent columnist John Rentoul writes today, external that the campaign to "Save Ed" has already begun. He is, of course, referring to Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Mr Rentoul suggests shadow cabinet allies of Mr Miliband are already preparing to launch a campaign to keep him as leader after the election if Labour doesn't win - or can't form a coalition - in three weeks' time.
The political commentator writes that Mr Miliband "thinks he could be prime minister next month, but if he isn't he intends to try to stay on as Labour leader".
The last Labour leader to keep their job after losing an election was Neil Kinnock.
David Dimbleby on tonight's leaders' debatepublished at 13:22
Daily Politics
BBC Two
David Dimbleby - who's moderating this evening's leaders' debate - has been setting the scene. He says that the venue, the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, was where the United Nations was founded. Andrew Neil of the Daily Politics asks whether the debate will seem like "Hamlet without the prince" - a reference to David Cameron's absence. Mr Dimbleby replies: "It's odd. It's lopsided, it's true," but adds that "these debates took ages to negotiate". He says: "We don't know much about - it's all confidential - what was actually said about how we ended up with the five."
More on party donationspublished at 13:18
Image source, AFP/Getty ImagesSome more on those party donation figures. The vast bulk of money Labour received came from the unions, with Unite donating £1,005,000, Unison £506,240, and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) £51,072.
Most of the Conservative donations came from individuals, although JCB Research gave the party £70,000 and Progress Industries Ltd gave £20,000. An aptly-named Michael Tory gave the party £75,000.
Both parties were recipients of donations from hairdressers, with John Frieda giving the Tories £20,000 and Toni & Guy donating £10,000 to Labour.
Build your own manifestopublished at 13:16
Are you unsure how to vote this time round? Or not impressed with any one party's offerings? BBC News can help...
My Manifesto enables you to browse the pledges of different political parties and pick and choose policies to compile your own manifesto.
'Trident doesn't stop terrorists'published at 13:12
In response to Steve Carpenter, I'd like to know how the Trident system protects us from "insane terrorists" with nuclear weapons?
If an insurgent detonates a dirty bomb in London, do we just nuke their home country's capital in response? Do insane people think about the consequences of what they're doing, are they put off attacking Britain by our possible retaliation against countries and people they've ultimately abandoned by turning to terrorist cells in the first place?
Alternatively, if we're talking about rogue states with nuclear weapons, perhaps you didn't know that Israel has a secret nuclear arsenal, never signed up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and has just elected a coalition of ultranationalists and religious fundamentalists.
Call me naive but I believe that a cross-borders CND effort to remove the world's nuclear arsenal is a safer alternative to encouraging worldwide maintenance of vast nuclear arsenals and the means to build more (making it far more likely these "insane terrorists" will get their hands on them!).
Sam Marner from Sheffield
Loony policies?published at 13:10
Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two
Not as loony as you might think as it happens.
Bit of trivia for you but the Monster Raving Loony Party was the first political party to call for a number of policies that eventually became law: pet passports, all-day pub opening, the legalisation of commercial radio and votes for 18-year-olds.
See it really is a funny old political world.
Loonies leader Howling Lord Hope has previously claimed UKIP is stealing his votes. He tells the Daily Politics UKIP leader Nigel Farage has often joked with him that they should form a coalition.
'No money' note 'a joke'published at 13:03
Daily Politics
Live on BBC TwoInterest in that note left by Labour former Treasury minister Liam Byrne five years ago never wanes. Earlier, Ed Balls called it "a joke" and Labour's Kevin Brennan tells the Daily Politics that there's a tradition that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury should leave a humorous note for his successor. But he added:
Quote MessageI expect it's a tradition that won't be continued in future."
Image source, PA