Summary

  • Job figures show that UK unemployment has fallen to its lowest rate since July 2008

  • Labour unveils its Scottish manifesto in Glasgow

  • Conservative leader David Cameron is campaigning in the Midlands and in Wales, with a speech on jobs

  • Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is in Scotland, where he will be urging Conservative and Labour voters to vote Lib Dem to defeat the SNP

  • There are 20 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Tim Fenton and Andy McFarlane

  1. Minor party arrogance

    The banner at the top of this page sums up SNP, PC and Greens. Whether you agree with Farage or not, his party will receive more votes across the UK than the other 3 combined.

    Yet they behave with nothing but contempt and hatred for anyone that doesn't agree with them. Their arrogance for what are and will remain minor parties is breathtaking. Do they not realise they are insulting around 15% of the UK population and showing themselves to be the complete opposite of the " represents of the hard working" they claim to be?

    Seems that if you don't agree with them you are to be sneered at.

    Peter Mason, Politics live reader

  2. Zero hours contract 'badly named'

    Labour have been quick to pounce on Iain Duncan Smith's interview this morning.

    They've created a Vine of his comments on zero hours contracts in which he says they are "badly named".

    "I don't know who came up with that idea. It should be named the flexible hours contract," he adds.

    You can watch the clip here .

  3. Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor

    @BBCNormanS

    tweets :

    Zero hours contracts are "wrongly named" and shd be called "flexible hours contracts - Iain Duncan Smith

  4. Postal vote deadline

    In 2010 one fifth of all votes cast were postal. We get our postal voting ballot slips next week and many of us will vote and return them straight away. Whatever politicians say after that will not touch us. This weekend could be critical for persuading us.

    Jeffrey Butcher, Politics live reader

  5. Harry Cole, contributing editor for @spectator

    @MrHarryCole

    tweets:

    Reeves makes it sound like she would rather those not being paid a living wage were out of work.

  6. Emily Ashton, Political Correspondent @BuzzFeedUK

    @BuzzFeedUK

    tweets:

    Looks like Cameron is ducking Miliband's "Debate me!" offer - says he's had 146 debates with him already at PMQs (via @MichaelPDeacon )

  7. Debates gave 'clear view'

    Iain Duncan Smith added:

    Last night's debate was a good debate - not having David Cameron there allowed us to focus almost exclusively on what the alternative was. The alternative was very clear - it is a grouping of parties, including the Labour party, who have a very simple plan...they all want to tax you more, they want to borrow more, and they want to spend more. And the losers will be the British because the economy, that Christine Lagarde of the IMF said today was one of the best run, would actually descend into chaos under them."

  8. Duncan Smith: Labour-SNP a 'ragbag of chaos'

    Iain Duncan Smith

    Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has warned against a Labour/SNP "ragbag of chaos".

    He told the BBC's Georgie Russell earlier: "If you want the jobs miracle to continue, if you want stability and growth, you have to get the Conservative party - my party - in government, otherwise we will risk it with a ragbag of chaos that will centre around the Labour party, and what I think will be a weak leader being hauled all over the place by the Scottish nationalists, who ultimately want to break up the United Kingdom."

  9. Lib Dem perspective

    Business Secretary Vince Cable says that the job figures out today are "spectacularly good".

    "What's beginning to emerge is labour shortages in key areas and for the next government that's going to be the key task.

    "Skill shortages, investing in apprenticeships, investing in science and innovation, that's the new agenda that we have to have," he tells the BBC's Norman Smith.

    He says the construction industry for house building, IT, creative industries and engineering are finding skills shortages.

    Vince Cable

  10. Not this again...

    A dress that caused much debate in February (left) and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon - 16 April 2015Getty Images

    Remember those confusing few days at the end of February when it felt like the entire planet was engrossed by a debate over the colour of a dress?

    Well, our friends at Buzzfeed are looking to spark a similar debate over the shade of Nicola Sturgeon's outfit in last night's #BBCdebate.

    Green? Blue? Grey? You decide. Or don't. We're not bothered either way, to be honest.

  11. Cameron: We've had 146 debates

    David Cameron

    Mr Cameron is asked about why he didn't take part in last night's debate by James Mates of ITN.

    He claims neither he or Nick Clegg were invited to those debates.

    Asked if he would accept Labour leader Ed Miliband's invitation for a head-to-head debate Mr Cameron says the two men have had "146 debates" at prime minister's questions...

    A quick word on the picture for the eagle-eyed amongst you.

    We promise we haven't just recycled the picture from yesterday's Scottish manifesto launch. We can only assume this is part of the "set" the Conservatives are taking with them on the campaign.

  12. Cameron speech in West Midlands

    Prime Minister David Cameron is in the West Midlands - at the Fujitsu plant to be precise, which has just announced 750 new jobs today - on the campaign trail.

    He's just given a speech in which he hailed the progress of the economy and the latest official jobs figures.

    Mr Cameron has said: "We are living through a jobs miracle - brought to you by a Conservative government - that has backed business, reformed welfare and rewarded work...It’s one of the most important things that has happened in the past five years – and it goes to the core of my political beliefs."

  13. A group hug and Nick Clegg's pint

    It was the men who did not participate in the Thursday night BBC election debate (that's Nick Clegg and David Cameron) who dominated the conversation on social media.

    BBC Trending has a complete collection of the best of the internet's funnies from the night.

    Tim Montgomerie's tweet

  14. Owen Jones, Columnist for @guardian

    @OwenJones84

    tweets:

    If a SNP-backed Labour government come to power, what will they do about the Tories’ debt-fuelled “recovery” which is waiting to explode?

  15. Viewing figures

    The Guardian

    The BBC Election Debate 2015 had 4.3 million viewers, a 20.5% share, from 8pm last night, the Guardian reports.

    That was three million viewers down on the 2010 debate, featuring David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown, which had 7.3 million viewers (27.9%) on BBC1, rising to 8.4 million when simulcasts on BBC News and Sky News were taken into account, the paper says.

  16. Out of the mouths of babes...

    Victoria Derbyshire

    Tristram Hunt

    They say never work with children or animals. Here might be one explanation as to why, as shown on today's Victoria Derbyshire show:

    Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt on the campaign trail this week encountered one school pupil. The following exchanged then occurred:

    Mr Hunt: “Do you know who you’d vote for?”

    Schoolboy: “Er… UKIP.”

    Mr Hunt: “You’d vote UKIP, very good, why is that?”

    Schoolboy: “Er…like get all the foreigners out the country.”

    So. That's all good then.

  17. Reviewing 'brawl in the hall' TV debate

    If it all went on too long for you last night, you may have missed This Week reviewing the "brawl in the hall" TV debate with five political leaders.

    The programme heard from a series of political commentators who give their take on the debate. Watch the film here.

    Inside the election debate spin room

  18. Sturgeon vs Milliband

    Others may think differently but Ed is not stupid. Had he agreed to a coalition with the SNP, he would have effectively destroyed the Scottish Labour Party.

    The SNP could have claimed that people don't need to vote Labour as by voting SNP, they serve the objective of getting rid of Big Dave.

    Post election there is then a one party state in Scotland and we go back to the devolution story gain.

    Why has no one attacked Sturgeon for the 'Oil income pays for all' argument that has subsequently crashed and burnt?

    Andy Holmes, Politics Live reader

  19. Reeves: People still worse off than in 2010

    Rachel ReevesAFP/Getty Images

    Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, has also responded to today’s unemployment figures.

    She says:

    Today’s fall in overall unemployment is welcome, but with working people earning on average £1,600 less a year since 2010 and the biggest fall in wages over a parliament since 1874, it’s clear the Tory plan is failing. Labour has a better plan to reward hard work, share prosperity and build a better Britain. A Labour government will raise the minimum wage to more than £8 an hour by October 2019 and give tax rebates to firms who pay a living wage. We will protect the tax credits that millions of families rely on, get at least 200,000 homes a year built by 2020, extend free childcare from 15 to 25 hours for working parents of three and four-year-olds and guarantee apprenticeships for everyone who gets the grades.”

  20. Scottish 'struggling with democracy'

    There seems to be a demographic in Scotland who are seriously struggling with the concept of democracy...

    If you vote SNP instead of Labour, it is clearly NOT "Labour's fault" if the Tories win more votes and stay in power. It takes a unique mindset to come to that freaky-deaky conclusion.

    If you want a Labour government, then vote Labour and not their bitter opponents.

    The SNP *need* Labour to reject them to promote calls for another independence referendum. If/when Labour reject a partnership with the SNP, a referendum will be quickly demanded.

    Steve Hathorn from London