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It’s shirtsleeves only for David Cameron, who’s in down-to-business mode as he conducts his latest PM Direct event in Yorkshire. “Because of the damage done in the financial crash, the banks were no longer lending 90, 95% loan-to-value mortgages. Because the banks weren't lending, the buyers wouldn't buy, so the builders wouldn't build, and the market was stuck.” This was “very unfair”, he says. So the government came up with help-to-buy - and the Conservatives are now promising "starter homes".

“We build them at 80% of the normal market value and crucially we say to people they… are reserved for people who are under the age of 40 who want to get on the housing ladder,” he says.

Sir John says he's "not anti-Scottish" or anti the SNP, but he warns that the nationalists are trying to change the policies of a country without offering a single candidate. "That cannot be right."

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Sir John says he is "a fully paid up supporter of David Cameron as prime minister". He says Mr Cameron had to point out "what is economically necessary" for the prosperity of the UK.

Now on to the serious answers as Ed Miliband rattles through questions in Manchester:

• Mental health is the “Cinderella service” of the NHS, Ed Miliband says. There’s a lot of overlap with the Liberal Democrats’ prioritisation of the issue as he talks about how Labour will increase spending.
• On GPs, the Labour leader says it’s essential to ensure there are enough of them. Otherwise pressure just builds up elsewhere in the system. “Extra capacity to me seems to be the best answer.”
• On nurses leaving the profession, Mr Miliband says his sense of the problem is that “it’s a morale issue”. He’s promising 20,000 more nurses. “I don’t say it resolves every pressure but I say it starts to resolve some of the pressure,” he adds.
• On maternity ward issues, Mr Miliband says Labour is promising 3,000 more midwives. “We want every mother to have one-to-one midwife care,” he says.
• On reversing ‘privatisation’ of the NHS, he says his view is that the “NHS is best” - and should be the preferred provider, over private sector care, wherever possible.

Answering questions following his speech, Sir John Major predicts that the SNP could get 40 or more seats on 7 May.

Lord Ashdown says it was "rather foolish" of the Conservatives to put forward Sir John Major to speak up for the party today because his premiership was "weakened by the right-wing".

Election live reader:

Ed Miliband, ever the democrat when it comes to giving all parts of his audience a chance of asking questions, is getting a lot of laughter. He grins as he takes queries from balconies from high above him. And he encourages cheers from this very high-spirited crowd. “Let’s hear it for the speech and language therapists!” Who says politics isn’t all rock and roll?

Former Lib Dem leader Lord Paddy Ashdown tells the BBC the Conservatives have 60 right-wingers in their party - "bastards", he calls them repeatedly - who would do a deal with UKIP and the Ulster Unionists "which would produce chaos and weak government". He says the only way to keep the Tories on course is another coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Onto questions now. Mr Miliband stresses his £2.5bn funding for the NHS in England is a "downpayment", not an IOU, as his opponents are committing themselves to. Asked about childcare provision for student nurse mothers and fathers, he says it will have to be looked into.

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Ending his speech, Sir John said: "Sixteen days from now, this country will decide in whose hands they will intrust their future... However disaffected, disengaged, downright fed up many may be with politics, let me repeat the very simple choice: Do you vote for the party that presided over economic chaos, or the party that has led us out of it?"

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