Summary

  • The Institute for Fiscal Studies says four of the major parties have not provided "anything like full details" on plans to cut the deficit

  • Labour and the Conservatives attacked on each other's economic plans ahead of the IFS report

  • Mr Cameron has described the prospect of a Labour government propped up by the SNP as a "toxic tie-up"

  • The Liberal Democrats launched a disability manifesto pledging a £150m support package for carers

  • There are 14 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Kristiina Cooper, Andy McFarlane and Bernadette McCague

  1. Tough, wiser, smarter

    Not the name of a self-help book but Nick Clegg's view on how he has changed since entering government in 2010. Speaking to Channel 5 News, the Lib Dem leader revealed he was "tough, wiser, smarter" but also humble enough to learn from the mistakes he'd made. And he still had bags of energy", he said, to carry on.

    Mr Clegg was also asked why we never see his children. He said he'd "love to show them off", as he was proud of them, but he wanted them to have the innocence of other children and not be made to feel any different.

  2. Doing the Labour-SNP maths

    BBC Radio 4

    A Miliband-SNP pact would cost families £350 each...that was a report on the front page of today's Telegraph, based on an interview with the Chancellor George Osborne. Ruth Alexander, from More or Less, has been examining the maths behind the story for Radio 4's PM.

    The chancellor has added up the Treasury costings of extra borrowing - pledged by the SNP - over four years and come up with £148bn. Extra borrowing means higher debt interest payments. Ruth says the chancellor has added up those extra payments the Treasury says the SNP plans might generate and got "a nice big number" of about £6bn over four years. Next, he divided that not by the number of people in the UK but by a much smaller number - the number of working households "to get himself a nice big final number - £350 for every working household".

    Ruth took the chancellor's own numbers to tell a different story. She took the estimated £148bn of extra borrowing and divided it by the number of working households. That means £8,500 more per household on public spending.

  3. Get involved

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Richard Tunnicliffe:

    To Kathryn Luck at 12.33.

    For all our votes to be “as equal in value as possible”, that requires some form of proportional representation. Is the Conservative party signing up to that now?

    Given the SNP could end up with around 90% of the seats in Scotland on 50% of the vote, is Labour going to be a convert as well?

    First past the post is only defensible if it gives a stable government and is reasonably fair. If there’s huge difference between votes cast and MPs elected in this election (UKIP and Greens especially appear to be suffering) – and we don’t have a majority government for the second time in a row – is anyone really going to defend the current system?

    Perhaps the biggest obstacle is that politicians will have to learn to compromise and work together rather than just throwing insults at each other. That would make a nice change.

  4. Have your say

    Email: politics@bbc.co.uk

    Helen Hughes, mother of two ex-students:

    To Andrew Neill:

    All parties and you always say that less well off graduates who do not earn enough, do not start to pay off their loans, but they have compound interest added each year. So less well off graduates actually end up paying more!

    I have never seen anyone challenge them on this.

  5. Cameron campaign: behind the scenes

    Campaigner

    The BBC's Carole Walker has been following David Cameron's election campaign around the country. Today, she takes us behind the scenes at one of the prime minister's stop-offs in Penzanze, Cornwall.

  6. Get involved

    Text: 61124

    Politics Live viewer:

    Too many young people are being encouraged to go to university. Apprenticeships in skills are more appropriate for the middle and lower percentiles of intelligence otherwise the degree obtained is of doubtful value to both recipient and society as a whole.

  7. Building bridges with business?

    Jim Pickard, Chief Political Correspondent for the Financial Times tweets

  8. Does England need its own Parliament?

    Andrew Neil
    Daily and Sunday Politics

    The chairman of the English Democrats says UKIP's manifesto has "no mention of England or English in it" as he pushes his party's manifesto on St George's Day. Robin Tilbrook told the BBC's Daily Politics the fundamental issue for his party was "what happens to the English nation", which UKIP does not cover. The English Democrats are campaigning for an English Parliament and, ultimately, for an independent England. Watch the interview

    Chairman of the English Democrats Robin Tilbrook

  9. Turning election leaflets into history...

    Wondering what to do with all those election leaflets that keep popping through the letterbox After you've read them of course. Well, before they go in the bin or recycling box, take a photo. And send them to an organisation called electionleaflets.org . They're keen to analyse them and keep them for posterity. At the moment, they've got 2,000 in the archive but they've got a target of 10,000.

  10. Was St George a skilled migrant?

    Michael Deacon, Political sketch writer, Telegraph tweets

  11. Much tweet-twoo about nothing?

    UKIP candidate Mark Reckless (left) and Labour candidate Stella CreasyGetty/Reuters

    Another day, another political spat on Twitter. Today's row between UKIP's Mark Reckless and Stella Creasy was over an image retweeted by the Labour candidate that showed an X next to her name on a constituent's postal ballot.

    You've broken the law, declared Mr Reckless. Er, no, responded Ms Creasy.

    Who was right? Well the Electoral Commission told reporters that photos of postal ballots are treated differently to images taken inside polling booths, adding: "A postal voter may take a picture of their own postal ballot paper and publicise it."

    Despite this, the police apparently told Mr Reckless that "an offence may have been committed" but no action would be taken as the Twitter user had now set his account to private. Time to clarify the law?

  12. Cutting the UK deficit

    John Rentoul, Columnist, Independent on Sunday tweets

  13. The only poll that matters?

    Jane Merrick, Political Editor of @indyonsunday tweets

  14. What is the Institute for Fiscal Studies?

    As the IFS delivers another withering verdict on the main parties' deficit reduction plans - that they leave voters "in the dark" - Nick Higham (for the BBC's Reality Check) has been looking at the organisation that crunches the numbers.

    Nick HIgham

    The IFS was founded in 1969 with the aim of informing public debate about economics and has a team of around 40 full-time research economists. It's funded mainly through academic grants but also gets money from the EU, charities and government departments.

    However, Higham points out: "Its own finances are actually rather precarious."

    One measure of how trusted it is could be the rarity with which it's attacked."

  15. Attacking the messenger?

    Lord Ashcroft, former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party tweets

  16. Your questions for Leanne Wood

    BBC News Channel

    Leanne WoodReuters

    Coming up at 17:30 BST on the BBC News Channel, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood will be taking viewers' questions on the party's policies.

    You can tweet questions to at #BBCAskThis -- or you can email video questions to YourPics@bbc.co.uk.

  17. No time to pray?

    Ben Riley-Smith, Political Correspondent, Daily Telegraph tweets

  18. Labour 'inadequate' on immigration

    While Ed Miliband plans a 100-strong taskforce to combat gangmasters who exploit migrant workers, senior Labour MP Frank Field reckons the pledge doesn't go far enough.

    He tells Buzzfeed: "I thought it was inadequate what he said - setting up 100 people to deal with some of the abuses in immigration when we shouldn't actually have unrestricted immigration in the first place."

    Frank FieldPA

    Mr Field criticises all parties for a lack of honesty about NHS costs and wonders "what are we so frightened of?"

    However, he praises Mr Miliband's overall performance.

    He's improved morale of those who are trying to deliver leaflets and knock on doors but also I think of Labour voters."

  19. DJ Mike Reid is UKIP quizmaster

    John Stevens, Daily Mail political reporter tweets

  20. Recap

    A quick recap of the day's major stories, as your early team of Aiden James and Matthew West prepare to hand over to the late team.

    • Four of the major parties have not provided "anything like full details" on plans to cut the deficit, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said
    • The IFS examined proposals from the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and the SNP
    • The government received a pre-election boost with official figures showing it beat its target for reducing annual public sector borrowing for the latest financial year
    • But Labour accused the Tories of planning "ideological" cuts in the next Parliament
    • The SNP conceded its plan to cut the deficit "would take longer to achieve" - because it would invest in the economy.
    • David Cameron described the prospect of a Labour government propped up by the SNP as a "toxic tie-up" - a day after his Labour predecessor Gordon Brown accused the current PM of stoking English nationalism
    • The Liberal Democrats pledged a £150m support package for carers
    • And, on St George's Day, UKIP's Patrick O'Flynn joked that the party would have welcomed England's patron saint into the country because of his dragon-slaying skills