Summary

  • Ed Miliband has criticised David Cameron's foreign policy, including failures in post-conflict planning in Libya

  • A row has blown up over the Labour leader's words, with the Conservatives reacting angrily to Mr Miliband's accusations

  • David Cameron has outlined proposals for "English votes for English laws"

  • Lib Dem Treasury minister Danny Alexander has said there are concerns in the financial markets over a minority government

  • There are 13 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Angela Harrison, Bernadette McCague and Andrew McFarlane

  1. Friday recap

    The Politics Live page is closing for the evening, but before we go, here's a brief look-back at the day's main election news.

    • David Cameron has criticised as "ill-judged", the suggestion by Ed Miliband that the government's approach to the Libya conflict led in part to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean
    • In a speech on foreign policy, the Labour leader said there'd been a "failure in post-conflict planning" and that the current refugee crisis should have been anticipated
    • The Conservatives say that if they win the election, they'll deliver proposals for " English votes for English laws " before their first Budget
    • The Scottish National Party says the plans breach an agreement on devolution
    • The Lib Dems say there is "a lot of concern" in the financial markets about a minority government

    Good night. Join us tomorrow for more Politics Live.

  2. Conservatives on SNP

    Responding to Nicola Sturgeon’s interview with The Times , a Conservative spokesman said:

    By 'enormous influence', Nicola Sturgeon means higher taxes, higher spending, higher welfare bills and weaker defences."

  3. English votes

    Chris Ship, ITV News deputy political editor

  4. More from Farage

    UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been speaking to the BBC about how he was "in a great deal of pain" at the start of the election campaign. He said he was receiving private treatment because campaigning left him no time to manage NHS appointments.

    The UKIP leader - who addressed rumours about his health in an interview with the Telegraph - said people had noticed a difference in his demeanour, and that the speculation about his health was "his fault".

    "I've not been doing physio. I've not been doing my exercises," he said.

    I've been so obsessed with the UKIP campaign that I put myself into a position where I wasn't really firing on all cylinders."

  5. Tomorrow's i

    ii

  6. Newsnight Index

    BBC Newsnight Index

    Newsnight forecastNewsnight

    Tonight's Newsnight Index shows a three-seat gain for the Conservatives at the expense of Labour. The other parties are unchanged.

    Throughout the general election campaign, Newsnight is publishing a picture of the likely election outcome each evening, based on a sophisticated forecast model. It is produced by Professor Chris Hanretty from the University of East Anglia and his colleagues at electionforecast.co.uk.

    For more information on how the Index is produced, see the video on the BBC's YouTube page.

  7. Farage's health

    UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been speaking to the Telegraph about a problem with his back, for which he's having treatment twice a week at a private London hospital.

    Mr Farage says he's had chronic back and muscle pain since a plane crash in 2010 and is taking medication and having physiotherapy for it.

    He says he was forced to speak out after rumours about his health.

  8. 'Thank you David'

    Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has thanked David Cameron's party for helping to raise the profile of the SNP. She said the Conservatives' focus on the potential influence the SNP might have at Westminster was "not unhelpful".

    Ms Sturgeon has said the SNP could prop up a minority Labour administration even if Labour get up to 40 fewer MPs than the Conservatives after the general election. In an interview withThe Times, she said her party expected to wield "enormous influence" over Labour if the party formed a minority government.

    Nicola Sturgeon

    At every Westminster election I've fought until this one, the biggest challenge that we've had to overcome is being heard and being relevant. We don't have this problem this time."

  9. Is Clegg closer to the Conservatives?

    According to Saturday's FT , Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is dismissing support for any deal with Labour involving SNP. The paper adds: "In the clearest sign yet that he is contemplating a renewal of his 2010 coalition with the Conservatives, Mr Clegg told the Financial Times that Labour had been consumed by 'frothing bile' towards his party."

  10. Lord Ashcroft

    Writing in the Independent , the Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft says:

    Some voters who prefer Cameron to Miliband but Labour to the Tories are starting to make their minds up – in favour of Labour."

  11. Saturday's Telegraph

    TelegraphTelegraph

  12. Saturday's Guardian

    GuardianGuardian

  13. Tomorrow's Independent

    IndependentIndependent

  14. Saturday's Times

    The TimesThe Times

  15. Smacking

    Labour leader Ed Miliband has revealed that he has never smacked his children. He told the PoliticsHomewebsite :

    "Your children can be very naughty and it's particularly when they are doing dangerous things. It's tough when they are much younger, but I think basically you should try not to do that."

  16. 'They want the country to fail'

    A bit more from David Cameron's interview with Channel 4 News earlier. The PM said a Labour/SNP deal would be "intolerable" because the Scottish nationalists "want the country to fail".

    At the end of a five-year Parliament propping up Ed Miliband, does Nicola Sturgeon want to look back and say 'That was a great Parliament, that was very successful at Westminster. My, how well this government is working?' Of course not, her or Alex Salmond or any of them. They want Westminster to grind to a halt. They want the government, the country, to fail, because they want to leave it."

  17. Saturday's Daily Mail

    Daily MailDaily Mail

  18. Death threat

    Labour candidate Anas Sarwar has received a death threat on his answering machine. The caller threatened to shoot the former Scottish Labour deputy leader in a message left on the machine of his Glasgow office earlier this month.

    Scottish Labour says the matter has been reported to police. Mr Sarwar is standing to hold his seat for Glasgow Central. Other candidates for the seat can be found here .

  19. Lord Janner case

    There was unanimous agreement from the cross-party Any Questions panel that it was wrong that the allegations of child sex abuse against Lord Janner did not go to court. Earlier this week, Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said because of the Labour peer's dementia, it would not be in the public interest for him to face trial. He had denied the allegations.

    The former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said:

    Lord JannerPA

    She was wrong. There should have been an open hearing. A decision should not have been made behind closed doors, but by a jury. I can think of nothing more awful if I was a victim than if I was not given an opportunity for my case to be heard."

  20. More from Any Questions

    Stewart Hosie, of the SNP, says there is always an argument to say you "should have a plan to win the peace as well as to win the war" and that too many times we have seen "mayhem", when there has been no post-conflict plan.

    Former Lord Chancellor, Labour's Lord Falconer, said it had not been an inappropriate comment from Mr Miliband. "It was absolutely right for him to raise the issue," he said.

    "The point he was making was that the international community should have done everything in its power to deal with the anarchy that took place in Libya."