Robin Brant, BBC political correspondentpublished at 11:22 British Summer Time 19 April 2015
@robindbrant
Quote MessageThis is @Nigel_Farage's northern push, as he appeals to 'old labour' to vote @UKIP in #ge2015 to prevent SNP/Lab govt
David Cameron outlined Lloyds share sale plan and warned against SNP influence in UK government
Nicola Sturgeon ruled out any deal with the Conservatives during her Andrew Marr Show appearance
Lib Dem Vince Cable said it would be difficult to work with either Labour or the Conservatives, but they would
Labour focused on the NHS, saying the Conservatives would cut the number of nurses in England
There are 18 days left until the general election
Marie Jackson and Aiden James
@robindbrant
Quote MessageThis is @Nigel_Farage's northern push, as he appeals to 'old labour' to vote @UKIP in #ge2015 to prevent SNP/Lab govt
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
"I'm saying to old Labour if you're patriotic, if you think immigration needs to be controlled, vote for UKIP," Nigel Farage tells Andrew Neil. The UKIP leader says he believes there'll be "a complete stitch-up" if David Cameron wins a majority and voters may not get the referendum they've been promised. He says UKIP MPs are needed to hold Mr Cameron's feet to the fire.
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
Nigel Farage in on the Sunday Politics now. He opens by saying: "The polls are missing the fact that a large lump of the UKIP vote are people who didn't vote for anybody at the last general election."
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
The Conservatives have hammered home two crucial messages over the last five years - economic credibility and the strength of David Cameron's leadership, the FT's Janan Ganesh thinks. But suddenly they've abandoned that and starting making big generous promises and that may scare more people than it wins over, he thinks. Nick Watt agrees it's "dangerous territory" to throw some giveaways in so late, because as Tory strategist Lynton Crosby is meant to be keen on saying, "you can't fatten a pig on market day."
Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics
Nick Watt, from the Guardian (pictured left), says manifesto ideas have to pass the credibility test and polls suggest some of the Tories' big ones - right-to-buy and extending childcare - might not be cutting through because people don't really believe they can be paid for.
Helen Lewis, from the New Statesman, thinks Labour are "decidedly more chipper this weekend". The Tory campaign "was meant to rely on Ed Miliband falling over his own shoe laces" and her hasn't done that.
Janan Ganesh, from the Financial Times, says he doesn't think manifestos ever have an impact, but these ones are still revealing - not because of what they say to the public but because of what they say to the other parties in terms of coalition negotiations. He says there was nothing in the Lib Dems' that would block a deal with either Labour or the Tories.
Quote MessageWe've seen this morning a desperate prime minister with a faltering campaign. He had no answer on NHS funding, refused to rule out a coalition with UKIP and said food bank use was soaring because of better advertising. He has nothing to say about a better Britain for working families so he's talking up the SNP as his last best hope of clinging to power."
Ed Balls, Shadow chancellor
Sky News
UKIP's home affairs spokeswoman Diane James - pictured right in the photo above - insists the polls are moving in the right direction for her party. Of the Conservatives, she adds: "I think they must be very worried about the strength of the UKIP vote and how it's holding up."
Sky News
UKIP MEP Diane James says UKIP would support the Conservatives on a confidence and supply basis (that is, they would back them on important votes). It couldn't back Labour because an in-out referendum on the EU is a red line that Nigel Farage has set down, she adds.
BBC Radio 5 Live
When challenged over Conservative assertions to be the "party of the working people" and yet promising £12bn of welfare cuts, including cuts to in-work tax credits, Culture Secretary Sajid David says: "One of the best ways to help people find work is to make sure we've got a strong economy, we're not going to get a strong economy unless we deal with the deficit, and you can't deal with the deficit unless you tackle the welfare budget."
@_katedevlin
Quote MessageLabour sources accuse Cameron of "desperate nonsense" after Tory leader wrongly states Miliband has said he can only win w SNP help"
BBC Radio 5 Live
When challenged that the Conservatives are perceived as the party of privilege, and of the well-heeled, Culture Secretary Sajid David says he became a Conservative because "it is the party of working people". "I don't deny there are clearly more people to convince about what the Conservatives have done," he adds though.
BBC Radio 5 Live
Culture Secretary Sajid Javid tells Pienaar's Politics Lloyds is "a symbol of the crisis that engulfed the country under Labour", and that the Conservatives are "repairing that damage." He adds: "Everyone will agree that they want to see the government unload these shares now the economy is stronger, the share price is higher than what the government paid, and there's two ways to do that: you can either keep selling them to the big institutions, the big pension funds, banks themselves, and others, or wealthier people - or you can give an opportunity to ordinary people."
@alstewitn
Quote MessageWhen @Conservatives supporters say 'We just need 23 seats to win' they should add the key word "net"."
Sky News
Have Labour got the tone right in terms of business? Labour peer Lord Levy says: "The tone, I think perhaps, has been somewhat exaggerated, but they stand for wealth creation and a fair society. And I think that's right." On the mansion tax - which I think we can be pretty sure Lord Levy would face - he replies: "I hate the name but the tax is a fair tax."
Sky News
Conservative peer Lord Rose says Ed Balls didn't give a clear answer or corporation tax or VAT and "what businesses hate is uncertainty". Lord Levy, Labour peer,disagrees. "There's never been such uncertainty if the Tories get back into power. An EU referendum... this is literally sucking up to UKIP... This is the biggest danger that we have facing business, facing our country." In reply, Lord Rose says the idea of businesses quitting Britain if we leave the EU is "a red herring".
@PickardJE
Quote MessageEd Balls on SNP: "We're not going to start getting involved in coalitions OR DEALS with a party that wants to break up the United Kingdom."
Sky News
Will the SNP help to write a Labour Budget or will there be a firewall around it?
Quote Message"Absolute 100% total firewall."
Ed Balls, Shadow chancellor
@paulwaugh
Quote MessageAsked if he’d put up corporation tax, @edballsmp refuses to say other than ‘we will keep our rates low'. Lowest in G7 still allows a hike."
Sky News
Are you proud of every penny you spent in government? "Of course not," says Ed Balls. "Of course there was some spending we didn't get right." But Mr Balls insists it's a lie to say Labour caused the financial crisis.
BBC Radio 5 Live
The Conservative pledge of the discount to the public if they buy shares in Lloyds is a "revival of the old Margaret Thatcher 'tell Sid' campaign" - a reference to when British Gas was privatised - George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times, tells Pienaar's Politics. "Basically what we're seeing is the Conservative Party desperately trying to find a way of connecting the economic recovery with the lives of ordinary people," he says.