BBC Radio 5 Live

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It's not certain that a Conservative plan to sell off Lloyds shares to the public can be followed through, Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander tells Radio 5 live. He says the Liberal Democrats have "long favoured the idea" of government-held Lloyds shares being sold.

But he goes on: "This idea is one that we have looked at several times in government... and decided against, because it's not been clear that we'd be able, through this method, to get the money back for the taxpayer."

He added that several tranches of Lloyds shares have already been sold, but at a time when the government could make back at least what it had put in.

The government has committed to the Office of Budget Responsibility to selling at least £9bn of shares at above the price suggested by David Cameron, so Mr Alexander "is not certain that this Conservative commitment is one that can be followed through."

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In his big interview with the Sunday Times, David Cameron turned his fire on Nicola Sturgeon, describing her as a "hostage-taker" who would insist on "more borrowing, more taxes and more welfare" if she was involved in a Westminster government. He urged Lib Dem and UKIP supporters not to "waste" their votes and instead back the Conservatives as the surest way of stopping a Labour-SNP tie-up of any kind.

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The two men who would be king - or prime minister anyway - have given interviews this morning to two of the broadsheets. Speaking to the Observer,, external Ed Miliband said he wanted to reach out to undecided or disaffected voters of all inclinations. "I am a politician of the left, but I am positioned where the mainstream of politics is positioned," he said. "I am on the centre ground of politics. I want to reach out to Tory voters, to Liberal Democrat voters, to UKIP voters, to non-voters... to people who feel that David Cameron can't answer the challenge of our time, who worry about our place in the European Union, who really think to themselves, 'We can do a lot better as a country.'"

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Today begins a week of focus on the NHS for Labour - a topic on which they believe they have the upper hand. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham says the NHS cannot take five more years of the Conservatives and claims another David Cameron government would cut almost 2,000 nursing posts in England. Labour will promise that if elected it will guarantee what it calls "emergency funding" for the NHS in the first few months after the election. For their part, the Tories say Labour's claim on nurses is based on out-of-date assumptions made before they committed to spending an additional £8bn a year on the NHS. That, of course, is controversial in itself because the Conservatives have not fully explained where that money will come from.

David Cameron will say later on that the Lloyds move marks another step in the journey "we have been making in repairing our banks". As you'd expect though, coming as it does in the middle of an election campaign, Labour haven't missed the opportunity for a bit of a dig - even if they do support the principle of getting Lloyds off the government's books. They say it's at least the seventh time the Conservatives have said they will sell Lloyds shares.

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Top of the agenda this morning is a promise from David Cameron that up to £4bn worth of Lloyds bank shares will be offered to small investors at below-market prices if the Conservatives win the election. You'll remember that Lloyds was bailed out by the taxpayer in 2008 and the government - any government - is very eager to recoup some money and return it to private hands. Until now, Lloyds shares have only been open to institutional investors such as pension funds, but, Mr Cameron says, he'd make them available to the public at a 5% discount for a minimum investment of £250.