Labour to create a new task force to crack down on illegal immigration
UKIP's Nigel Farage to face BBC audience questions on 30 April
David Cameron visited Gravesend in Kent and took part in a Sikh parade celebrating the festival of Vaisakhi
There are 19 days left until the general election
The Labour Party has slipped behind the Conservatives, according to an opinion poll to be published in Sunday's Observer newspaper.
The poll suggests support for the Conservatives is being maintained at a steady 36%, while support for Labour dropped two points to 32%, pollsters Opinium said on Saturday.
Opinium said it surveyed 1,995 adults between 16-17 April, a period which included the televised BBC opposition debates.
Peter Hunt
Travelling with Labour leader Ed Miliband
Quote MessageIn a North Wales supermarket I was asked by 1 shopper if I was his bodyguard;and by another if I was the shop manager"
By BBC political correspondent Alex Forsyth, with the UKIP campaign
Image source, PANigel Farage has said the EU and Nato need to "rethink what they're about" and "stop going for territorial expansion". The UKIP leader said at a public meeting that he believes there should be a great deal of "guilt" over the situation in Ukraine. Mr Farage accused Prime Minister David Cameron of suggesting Ukraine should be part of the EU and Nato as far back as 2005, saying it was "lunacy" He said:
Quote MessageRussia has always been paranoid about encroachments coming from the west. I could not believe it. We finished in a situation where the democratically elected leader of Ukraine was brought down in a coup by people waving European Union flags."
Mr Farage was responding to a question on his views on Russia and Ukraine at a public meeting in Ramsgate, Kent. He said:
Quote MessageI believe we hold a large degree of guilt over what has started to go wrong in Ukraine. I said at the time if you poke the Russian bear with a stick do not be surprised when it reacts."
Mr Farage said he did not condone any of President Putin's actions, before saying: "I do think the EU and Nato need to rethink what they're all about and stop going for territorial expansion." He said history showed territorial expansion caused more wars than anything else.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has been in north Wales today, where he told the BBC he wouldn't be asking the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru to join a coalition government led by him if he becomes prime minister.
Mr Miliband said Labour having a majority government would be in the "best interest for Wales and the best interest of the UK".
You can read more about the Labour leader's Welsh campaigning here.
At the risk of sounding like your mum, have you washed behind your ears... and registered to vote?
The deadline for getting on the electoral roll in time for the 7 May general election is this Monday, 20 April.
How do you register to vote? Click here and we'll tell you.
There is no deadline for having clean ears.
The Sunday Times has published its first-ever "political rich list" which reveals the individuals who have given the most money to political parties.
Image source, PALottery winners Colin and Chris Weir top the list, with the Sunday Times saying they have donated more than £6.5m to the Scottish National Party and the Yes campaign in last year's independence referendum.
Six out of the top 10 donors on the Sunday Times Political Rich List gave money to the Conservative Party, one to Labour and one to the Liberal Democrats. The figures are for the period from 2010 to 2014.
The SNP also benefited from the largess of Stagecoach buses boss Brian Souter, who gave the party and the Yes campaign £2.1m.
Daily Politics
Can social media "buzz" really tell you who is winning the election?
That's the question Daily Politics reporter Adam Fleming has been delving into, and it's all about "sentiment analysis", he writes.
You can read all about Adam's investigation into how social networks are being trawled for people's opinions by clicking here.
We have a winner for photograph of the day from Andrew Milligan at the Press Association, who caught this marvellous moment while out on the road in Scotland with Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond. But what's going on?
Image source, PA
Conservative immigration minister James Brokenshire has said that Labour's proposals to crack down on worker exploitation would not control immigration.
Quote MessageLabour's announcements today do nothing to control immigration, and indeed their sums simply don't add up. The reality is that Labour in government let things get out of control, and they would do the same if they were re-elected again."
Scottish Daily Mail columnist Chris Deerin interviews David Cameron, external, and asks him what he made of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond's claim that the prime minister is "a silly, arrogant man".
Image source, ReutersMr Cameron says:
Quote MessageWell, I’m a bit more polite than he is. I always find Alex someone who, after you've had the meeting, you've got to check your fingers and thumbs and, you know, whether he hasn't pinched one of your socks. But I always managed to have a working relationship with him when it came to the issues that we needed to resolve."
Image source, @cooledmilibandSome commentators say Ed Miliband has an image problem thanks to his admission of being a political geek, external and the odd unflattering image.
So the only surprise about the new @CoolEdMiliband, external Twitter account is it took so long to appear. Launched today alongside a website, external, it's tag line reads:
Quote MessagePolitics shouldn't be about who's cool and who isn't. But just in case it is for you, here's some pictures of Ed Miliband looking cool.
So Ed Miliband finds voter apathy depressing. Well my decision not to vote isn't born of apathy but rather being turned off by the rhetoric, the personal attacks, the hyperbole and the deceits practiced by our politicians. They behave like children, talk to me as if I'm stupid & then wonder why I don't rally to their cause. Give me a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper and I'll happily exercise my democratic right!
Keith Hough, Election Live reader, via email
Comedian Eddie Izzard joined Labour candidates on the campaign trail in north-west England today.
Jonathan Ashworth, who is standing in Leicester South, tweeted
Tweets, external: Our #LabourExpress arrives in Pendle for @Azhar4Pendle with @eddieizzard & @LucyMPowell #VoteLabour
Image source, @JonAshworth@AlexForsythBBC
Quote MessageThird public meeting of the day for @Nigel_Farage #ge2015 "
BBC Radio 4
Image source, Getty ImagesLabour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has been asked about Ed Miliband's announcement that he would set up a task force to target firms who encourage low skilled migration and undermine the minimum wage.
She told Radio 4's PM:
Quote MessageEnforcement is not working at the moment. I think in the most serious cases there should be prosecutions."
She then said that such crimes amounted to "modern slavery", and that "particularly in the care sector" there were "huge numbers of people who are not being paid the minimum wage".
Here's the new Conservative poster that was mentioned by party chairman Grant Shapps (see 15:56).
Image source, @CCHQPressThe Tories' press office tweets, external:
Quote MessageWith the SNP pulling the strings, Miliband would crash the economy again: jobs, security, livelihoods put at risk."
In his speech to Sikhs in Gravesend, Kent, David Cameron told the audience the Vaisakhi festival was a "big, bold" sign of their devotion.
He said: "I wanted to make sure Downing Street was part of this too, and I'm proud to be the first prime minister to host a Vaisakhi reception at Number 10.
Image source, Getty ImagesQuote Message"And I'll tell you what - if I'm back there as prime minister, I'll keep bringing the community, the colour and the celebrations there, again and again. And I'm sure my children will carry on stealing the jalebi [sweets] too."
David Cameron was due to deliver a speech in the main hall of the Gravesend Gurdwara in Kent but as he was about to arrive a senior priest apparently objected to prayers being interrupted, so the address was moved to a side room after some heated scenes.
Press Association reporter James Tapsfield filmed the incident and tweeted, external :
Quote MessageProceedings delayed somewhat on Cameron visit to gurdwara due to scuffle."
Image source, Getty ImagesUKIP leader Nigel Farage has seemingly been taking inspiration from the great Indian independence campaigner, Mahatma Gandhi.
Mr Farage twice quoted Gandhi in relation to UKIP at a public meeting in Sandwich, Kent, saying; "At first they ignore you, then laugh at you, then fight you, then you win".
You can read more in our story.
A bit of detail on Ed Miliband's immigration speech earlier. The Labour leader said there had been five prosecutions of businesses for failure to pay their employees the minimum wage over the last eight years.
According to a written parliamentary answer last October, there were four prosecutions of employers who failed or refused to pay the national minimum wage between 2006 and 2014.
HMRC, which enforces the minimum wage, said it employed "selective and exemplary criminal investigation" for "deliberate non-compliance or obstructive behavior". Most cases of failure to pay are settled without recourse to the civil or criminal courts.