Harriett Baldwin, Conservative candidatepublished at 10:23 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
@HarriettBaldwin
Quote MessageNumber of children in workless households at record low. More help with childcare will help lower it even more
Summary
Deputy PM Nick Clegg said millions of public sector workers would be spared pay cuts under Liberal Democrat plans
David Cameron said a Conservative government would create an extra 600,000 free childcare places
Former SNP candidate Alex Salmond said his suggestion he would be writing Labour's Budget in May was a joke
UKIP's Nigel Farage admitted the tone he has used on issues such as immigration and HIV was aimed to "get noticed"
There are 15 days until the general election
Harriett Baldwin, Conservative candidatepublished at 10:23 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
Boris 'on all fours'published at 10:15
LBCBoris Johnson sums up his approach to immigration thus: "Don't tell all foreigners to bog off but don’t take in people who want to scrounge."
Asked if that means he differs from government policy, the London mayor insists somewhat cryptically that he is "on all fours with the government".
He clarifies that this means being "at one with David Cameron and the government about what they're saying now about welfare".
Ensuring that immigrants "can't claim benefits for several years" is fair and reasonable, he argues.
Gareth Siddorn, Labour Councillor for Blackheathpublished at 10:15 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
@GarethSiddorn
Quote MessageNew Tory "in touch" leaflet has their candidate posing outside Lewisham A&E. Presumably protesting against his party's attempts to close it?
'Milimania'published at 10:09
Norman Smith
Assistant political editor
Image source, ScreengrabEd Miliband has had his face imposed on pictures of Hollywood hunks, Norman Smith tells Victoria Derbyshire. All this follows on from him being surrounded by that hen party - ever since then there’s been an upsurge in Milimania. Apparently young girls up and down the country are going crazy - one of them has started a Twitter handle called #milifandom, external – and loads of young girls have been listing how they admire Ed Miliband. Obviously they haven’t got enough to do these days!
Not just 'lines on the graph'published at 10:05
Quote MessageI’ve said it before: I’m not in this job to be some high powered accountant. I don’t just want the lines on the graph to go in the right direction, I want lives to go in the right direction. I believe passionately in reducing poverty. And the best route out of poverty is this: work. We’ve proved that. Since we came to power we’ve got more people working than in our history. The figures speak for themselves."
David Cameron
Charlie Brooker, satirist and broadcasterpublished at 10:04 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
@charltonbrooker
Quote MessageSo is Grant Shapps essentially an episode of Catfish?
Soapbox politicspublished at 10:00
BBC Radio 4 Today
Image source, PAEd Miliband was mobbed by a hen party on Saturday – a rare moment of unplanned interaction in a tightly controlled election battle. What a contrast with 1992, when John Major got on his soapbox and found that meeting the public can be a vote-winner.
“The most striking thing about it was it was unplanned,” Tim Collins, who was Sir John’s press secretary during that campaign, tells Today. “People thought ‘here’s a guy who’s actually prepared to fight for my vote’, and I think that’s what’s lacking now.”
He suggests that politicians nowadays are fearful of going out and engaging with the public – perhaps mindful of the risks involved in terms of being heckled or making a slip-up like Gordon Brown’s Gillian Duffy moment in 2010. Mr Collins thinks playing safe won’t break the deadlock of this election, though.
Quote MessageThey should be a little bit less controlled, a little bit more passionate, and they might actually get the breakthrough they’re so desperate for."
Johnson on Jannerpublished at 09:57
LBCBoris Johnson comments on LBC about the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that Labour peer Lord Janner will not face child sex abuse charges because the severity of his dementia makes him unfit to stand trial.
"Nobody should be under any impression that Greville Janner has had an easy ride from the CPS or has been in some way allowed to escape justice," Mr Johnson argues. He says he has "some sympathy" with the director of public prosecutions who had to "cope with the fact that Lord Janner has dementia".
LBC presenter Nick Ferrari says Lord Janner - who has always denied any wrongdoing - "escaped prosecution three times" before the current decision that he was not fit to stand trial.
The London mayor says that is "very very disgraceful, it's regrettable" and "questions need to be asked".
Cameron on his feetpublished at 09:50
David Cameron is in Bedford, where he’s trying to persuade voters to return Tory incumbent Richard Fuller to Parliament.
Today he wants to talk about “the economy as people’s lives” – as opposed to “the economy as statistics”.
A full list of election candidates in Bedford is available here.
Get involvedpublished at 09:39 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
Email: politics@bbc.co.uk
John Daly:
So, the Tories drag out John Major to repeat their dirge about possible election results and consequences. As if we don't remember the mayhem he inflicted on the nation with the ERM entry/exit, crippling interest rates, or the queue of ministers hounded from office owing to his ineffective and weak leadership. Does Cameron really think his Tory predecessor is a worthy role model?
Face-to-facepublished at 09:35
BBC News Channel
How much are the personalities in this campaign shaped by the media? On the BBC News Channel’s Election Today programme, journalists Helen Lewis of the New Statesman and David Wooding of the Sun on Sunday are sizing up just how much perceptions can change things. The acid test comes when voters meet someone like Ed Miliband in person.
“When you see him face to face he is quite normal – it’s just the persona is put through the pages of newspapers and the screens of televisions,” Mr Wooding says.
Ms Lewis cites Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, who campaigned against Scottish independence last year by touring around Scotland.
Quote MessageThere is a huge amount of respect for somebody who will go out there, who will risk having an egg thrown at them. When things feel too stage-managed, it’s one of the things that really puts people off politicians.”
'Taxing the Sassenachs'published at 09:31
LBC
Image source, LBCBoris Johnson claims that a post-election deal between Labour and the SNP would mean "a lot of really crackers policies" - including more borrowing and taxes "on top of what Labour is already proposing".
The London mayor and Conservative election candidate also claims there is a "chop-smacking relish" in the way the SNP - and Scottish Labour - "approach the idea of taxing the Sassenachs".
Quote MessageWe accept in London that we have a duty to the rest of the country. We export huge sums in tax already. London is about 25% of UK GDP. Yes, of course that's fair, that's reasonable. But there comes a point when you're being a bit unfair to people who are living in homes in London that have inflated through no fault of their own and you're asking them to pay an awful lot more out of their income."
Get involvedpublished at 09:31 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
Email: politics@bbc.co.uk
Heidi Ojah:
It’s great to see Sinn Fein’s manifesto aims to tackle austerity, confirming they’ll be aiming to negotiate an extra £1.5bn for Northern Ireland after the elections.
Get involvedpublished at 09:30 British Summer Time 22 April 2015
Email: politics@bbc.co.uk
Ben Walton, Liverpool:
Do the polls take into account who people are able to vote for? I'm particularly interested in the UKIP vote, do UKIP have candidates contesting every seat? If not, when people are polled are they asked to choose who they would vote for based on who they are able to vote for in their constituency? If not, surely the polls are flawed?
What about climate change?published at 09:12
BBC Radio 4 Today
Image source, ThinkstockAfter James Lovelock said he was “shocked” that climate change isn’t higher up the agenda in this election campaign, Sir Brian Hoskins, chair of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, gives his own take on the issue.
“It seems when we get to the discussions it all goes down to the lowest level of what’s going to make someone happy for the next five years, and politicians seem to think that’s going to buy their votes,” he says.
Sir Brian thinks this attitude is a bit like the Titanic – sailing into iceberg-filled waters while the passengers discuss who’s going to buy the drinks in the bar. He can’t see “any big difference” between the parties on their attitude to climate change ahead of the important international conference looming later this year. It’s about the future of the world, Sir Brian says, “but we don’t hear that.”
UKIP threat?published at 09:06
BBC Radio 4 Today
Image source, AFP/Getty ImagesLib Dem minister David Laws is on the Today programme talking about the perils of UKIP having an influence on the next government. It “could happen if we don’t get a significant block of Liberal Democrat MPs in the next Parliament”, he insists.
Today’s announcement on public sector pay is part of the “fair approach that distinguishes the Liberal Democrats from the Conservatives”, he says.
Many voters will want to know whether the Lib Dems would support an in-out referendum on Europe, but Mr Laws isn’t prepared to say which way the party would go on this.
However, he says the Lib Dem manifesto makes clear that “we do not want a referendum on the issue of Europe on an artificial, Conservative-inspired timetable in the next Parliament”.
Lib Dems and the public sectorpublished at 09:00
BBC News ChannelThe BBC's assistant political editor, Norman Smith, tells the BBC News channel that the Lib Dems are the first party to offer above-inflation pay rises to public sector workers.
Other parties have not committed to that during the election campaign, he says.
However, "it's not a massive increase" after five years of pay restraint - and the Lib Dems are still proposing public spending reductions.
Conservatives dismiss Labour cancer policypublished at 08:57
Image source, Getty ImagesPlans to improve cancer services from Labour come under fire from the Conservatives, as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt attacks Ed Miliband for failing to commit to the extra £8bn which the head of NHS England has said the health service needs.
Quote MessageWhen Labour left office, they left us with the lowest cancer survival rates in Western Europe. We're treating 700,000 more people a year in this Parliament than the last, and now survival rates are at record highs. That's only possible because we have built a strong economy that has allowed us to invest an additional £750 million in cancer services. But an Ed Miliband-SNP government would wreck our economy and stop the NHS where you live getting the money it needs.”
Labour dismisses Tory childcare policypublished at 08:51
Image source, AFP/Getty ImagesLabour and the Conservatives are trading blows over their respective announcements this morning. First up is the Tories’ claim that their childcare policy will provide up to 600,000 free places.
"Another day, another unfunded policy that shows the depths of desperation within the Tory campaign,” shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt responds.
“Hard working families will not be fooled by the £600 million gap in funding for this policy, as announced last week. It shows that David Cameron has no credible solutions to the problems facing working families.”
Mr Hunt says Labour’s “better plan” is to guarantee access to childcare between 8am and 6pm for primary age children.
Chasing the grey votepublished at 08:47
Image source, CountryfileEx-Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly has agreed to become an independent commissioner for older people, the Labour Party has announced. The prominent campaigner for older people’s rights has agreed to take up the post if Ed Miliband gets into power. “Our older generation needs to be championed because otherwise we are in danger of missing out on a vast resource of talent, knowledge and experience,” she says.
Labour hopes to win over the grey vote by guaranteeing no further changes to winter fuel payments and retaining free bus passes and TV licences. “Labour has a better plan for older people and pensioners,” shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves insists. Labour's manifesto sets out pledges to improve social care, "save" the NHS and tackle fraud and mis-selling of retirement income products.