Robin Brant
Political Correspondent

David Cameron’s language is very personal. What started with a softer message to "come back" to the Tories has now been combined with a much more overt appeal. The Conservative leader wants UKIP supporters to vote tactically - not because they like him or his party, but to stop Labour and what he's repeatedly called the “catastrophe” of the SNP influencing the next UK government. Boris Johnson is doing it too, reaching out to Farage fans who he says are in “increasing psychological conflict” over their vote. They are trying to get under their skin. A senior UKIP figure dismissed it as “desperate” and the opinion polls are on their side - they suggest the last week has been a good one for Nigel Farage, whose numbers are ticking up.

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

After previously appealing to UKIP voters to “come home” to the Conservatives, today David Cameron has another bash at focusing the right-wing vote on his party.

“You have the power to stop this toxic tie-up between Ed Miliband, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP by electing a Conservative government,” he tells Telegraph readers, external. “There are people who voted for different parties in the past. Now is the time to put this aside.”

Nigel Farage has been on BBC Breakfast insisting the UKIP vote is firming up again after a setback at the start of this campaign, but Conservative strategists are now indicating they are making headway. Mr Cameron thinks more needs to be done to win back disaffected voters, though.

Joe Field, Weston-super-Mare:

Image source, PA

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has some striking conclusions about the potential impact of the SNP’s spending plans which, it claims, would lead to a £9.7bn “fiscal gap” by 2020.

Labour has seized on the analysis, saying it shows “massive spending cuts” would be needed if the SNP got their way. But Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed the figures as “academic projections for a status quo situation”.More here.

Nick Clegg says pay settlements for public sector workers "should at least keep pace with prices" in 2016-17 and 2017-18 - "until the deficit is dealt with".

After that, guidance to pay review bodies would say that "pay settlements have to be more generous than the increase in prices, so they will be real-terms increases in each year after the books have been balanced".

On the affordability of the Lib Dems' promises, he says the party is "simply ruling out that pay will feature" in any savings needed to balance the books.

Inflation is predicted to stay low, he argues, which will help to make "the whole system more sustainable, affordable and deliverable".

The Daily Mail

Image source, Reuters

Today's Daily Mail splashes on its investigation, external into the influence which the Unite union has over Labour candidates. It says that over half of Labour candidates in what it says are "winnable seats" are either members of the "hard-left" Unite union, or are endorsed or partially "bankrolled" by it.

“Labour is nothing more than the political wing of the trade unions, with Ed Miliband an appointed puppet who squeaks whatever Red Len tells him to,” the Conservative candidate for Crawley, Henry Smith, tells the paper.

He’s talking there about Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, pictured above, who - many Conservatives believe - has significant influence over the Labour Party’s policies.

Nick Clegg continues his warnings against Labour or the Conservatives doing a deal with parties other than his.

BBC Radio 4 Today

BBC Radio 4's Today is visiting 100 seats in 100 days ahead of the general election. John Humphrys looks at the effects of growth on Birmingham city centre.

Engineer Michael Salter feels the redevelopment has destroyed the town's history. "There was a time in the 60s when Birmingham was rebuilt and it was fantastic... you go to other cities and you see the heritage of the buildings and everything, they've left next to nothing here," he said.

Gavin Wade runs a local gallery, East Side projects, and thinks projects like his are what run down areas need. "The first volunteers from here are now functioning as designers serving organisations in Europe, in London, all around the country, they're making interesting things, they're known, that brings attention to Birmingham, that benefits the city," he said.

"Further savings from Whitehall will not have to involve pay," Nick Clegg insists.

He adds: "I fear Britain may be sleepwalking into a dangerous future" with governments who may "lurch" left or right.

This could happen because "Ed Miliband is held hostage by a small band of left-wing separatists on the one hand, or because David Cameron is held ransom by hard-right ideologues who will threaten our public services and our shared values".

Nick Clegg is on stage speaking about the Lib Dems' plans for public sector workers. He begins by thanking them.

"Workers in the public sector have maintained the highest standards and shown great professionalism" he says, adding that they "have made enough sacrifices".

The Lib Dems "believe it is time to end the era of pay restraint" with pay rises keeping pace with the cost of living. "No more pay cuts for public sector workers," he says. "No more pay freezes or below inflation pay rises."

Mr Clegg says a nurse on £25,000 will get a minimum of £350 under the Lib Dems' plans. A police officer on £30,000 would get £420, while a teacher on £35,000 will get nearly £500.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, PA

Tony Travers of the London School of Economics has been giving his take on the Lib Dems’ public sector pay rise pledge. He tells BBC Radio 5 Live that if the private sector grows quite quickly in coming years, pay hikes will to some extent be inevitable in the public sector too.

What really matters, Prof Travers suggests, is the political message behind the policy. “What the Lib Dems are doing here is sending signals to the nearly 20% of employees who are in the public sector,” he says. “This is making sure those people hear that the Liberal Democrats are on their side. It’s a signal sent out to those people.”

Labour’s links to the trade unions have always helped it win the votes of public sector workers, he says, but the Lib Dems are now contesting that territory. Prof Travers adds: “This is part of a wider debate about economic competence and the general tone of any future government.”

Public sector pay restraint has proved a controversial issue over the last five years, prompting numerous protests.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Leading environmentalist James Lovelock isn’t happy that the election campaign doesn’t have much to do with climate change.

“I’m shocked, because it is a key thing that they should be talking about. In a way we are fiddling while Rome burns,” he tells Today.

Mr Lovelock says it was Margaret Thatcher who really first grasped the significance of the environment “but there’s been no politician since who’s really been able to do that”. With less than a year to go before world leaders meet in Paris to try and hammer out a binding deal to halt global warming, the creator of theGaia theory, externaldoesn’t think the answer lies in solar or wind or tidal power.

BBC Breakfast

On the NHS, Nigel Farage says UKIP is offering £3bn of funding - whereas "the other parties are spraying money around like confetti". He thinks at least £1bn  can be saved by tackling "health tourism". Mr Farage says people are being allowed to come in from around the world to receive "expensive medication". He adds: "This is about priorities".

BBC Breakfast

Nigel Farage tells BBC Breakfast that the UK “destabilised” Libya and bears a “very heavy responsibility” for the current situation in the Mediterranean. He says he’d be happy to send “what’s left of the Royal Navy” to help but says the “big message has to come from Italy, from Greece”. He makes clear that he thinks that message should be that Europe is not willing to take large numbers of migrants.

What is not quite so clear is whether Mr Farage thinks boats full of migrants should be turned back, though. He says he's willing to give "Christians" refugee status in Britain. Does that mean refugees of other countries would be excluded? "We can make a gesture and give refugee status to a few people - and I'm highlighting the plight of the Christians." How many? "I would suggest a few thousand, because frankly again, we as a country can't take unlimited numbers of people."

As the debate over the SNP's potential role in a hung Parliament continues, today's campaigning in Scotland is set to focus on women and the NHS.

Scottish Labour will target the female vote as it launches its manifesto for women in Glasgow.

In Edinburgh, the SNP will challenge Labour to match their NHS spending plans,

The Scottish Conservatives will also highlight their plans to boost NHS spending.

In Aberdeenshire, the Scottish Liberal Democrats will promise to cut taxes for low and middle earners.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, PA

Ken Capstick of the Socialist Labour Party is on the Today programme, after his party launched its manifesto in Port Talbot last night. It contains plans to nationalise all pension funds and transport systems, introduce a 90% top rate of tax and leave the EU.

Mr Capstick says:

Image source, Getty Images

Labour is continuing its big NHS week by focusing on plans to improve cancer treatment. Ed Miliband wants to deliver a "one-week cancer test guarantee" within the first year of the next Parliament and will highlight Labour’s planned investment of £150m a year from 2016-17 in new diagnostic infrastructure to deliver it. That will be contrasted with the government’s record, which Labour says is summed up by the fact that there will be another 23,000 cancer patients left waiting two months or more to start their treatment over the next year.

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent

We’ve had days of talk about the SNP, lots of talk of maths and coalitions and high politics and very clever people theorising. All three parties this morning are saying: forget about politics just for a moment – and have a look at what we’re offering, at things people can actually use.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Today’s big focus from the Conservatives is on their childcare policy – one of the big reveals of last week’s manifesto launch. The party’s proposal - to double the amount of childcare working parents of three and four-year-olds can take advantage of to 30 hours a week - will create an additional 600,000 free places, David Cameron will say later. The Conservatives claim the proposal will be funded by reducing tax relief on pension contributions.

The Shapps story is not the only big political story appearing on the front pages today. David Cameron’s warnings about the ‘toxic’ SNP, the Home Office’s immigrant crackdown and the unions’ influence over the Labour Party all feature. Run your eye over them here.