Ed Miliband says that Labour would have a "profit cap on the amount companies can take out of our National Health Service, to make sure always that the money is invested in patients and we put patients before profits." There will be a "strict 2% limit on private patient income... to prevent a two-tier service". Also, in the first 100 days of government Labour would "put before Parliament a bill to repeal the dreadful and disgraceful Health and Social Care Act, which is causing such chaos in our National Health Service" he adds.

Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking in Croydon, adds: "Our mission is to make sure that as our economy recovers, people from every community share in that prosperity, that we spread it far and wide.

"Because after all, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, we all want the same thing, a good job, a great education, the chance to get on, the chance to make it."

He said he wanted to see a 20% increase in number of black and minority ethnic (BME) students going to university, and a 20% increase in the proportion of apprenticeships going to BME apprentices.

He also said that by 2020 he wanted to see 20,000 more people from diverse backgrounds "striking out on their own" and fulfilling their dreams, he said he wanted to harness "the spirit that turns someone from dreamer to inventor".

A second term of the Conservatives in government would see "stealth privatisation" of the NHS, Labour leader Ed Miliband says. "NHS patients pushed to the back of longer and longer queues, operations delayed, and an NHS not there when people need it." He adds that the Conservatives would create a "two-tier NHS where you have to pay to get seen".

David Cameron kicks off his speech in Croydon, south London, by saying that half a million jobs have been created in the capital since 2010. "Why this matters so much? Opportunity," he says.

"I'm not saying that we have solved every problem or tackled every prejudice

He added that he thought the UK was a "shining example of a country where multiple identities work together".

"This isn't just about living together it's about thriving together," he says.

Labour leader Ed Miliband swings into the main thrust of his speech this morning: "Today I want to tell you about a new danger, and that's the threat of Tory privatisation in our National Heath Service," he says. Under the coalition government, 40% of health contracts have gone to private providers, and private patient income is "up 58% since David Cameron came to power". At the same time waiting lists are rising, operations have been cancelled and A&Es are "overflowing", he adds.

Ed Miliband's kicks off with a light-hearted quip at the start of a speech about the NHS in Steveage: "Can I apologise for getting you out of bed quite so early on a Saturday morning?" he says to assembled Labour activists. "I'm sure you're knocking on doors already at this time in the morning," he adds.

Tweets, external: Labour Party activists gather in Stevenage for an Ed Miliband 'campaign stop' #GE2015, external

Image source, @iainjwatson

The Independent

Image source, PA

One story gaining a lot of interest this morning is the Independent's front page about the former Conservative treasurer-turned-pollster Lord Ashcroft who has accused David Cameron of harming the party's hopes of victory in the general election by focusing its campaign on attacking Ed Miliband rather than setting out a positive vision for the future.

Lord Ashcroft wrote in The Independent that wavering voters were switching to Labour after seeing how, rather than crumbling under Tory fire, Mr Miliband was showing "a good deal of resilience in the face of some rather unseemly attacks".

Patrick Harvie, co-convener for the Scottish Greens, says that Italian-run search and rescue operation that was cancelled last year for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean should be restarted. "Thousands of people died making this crossing last year," he says. "People have a right to be able to flee persecution, conflict, and poverty, and we need to ensure they have a safe means of doing so."

Image source, AFP

As well as ruling out any deal with the SNP, the Liberal Democrats are also set to pledge £10m for mental health services for military personnel and veterans.

The party leader Nick Clegg will announce the boost for servicemen and women who are suffering from mental ill health, saying it will help to "serve those who have served".

The deputy prime minister said it would more than double the money currently available to help veterans overcome problems such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Here's a really interesting story from the Daily Telegraph, external . If the Conservatives don't get an outright majority at the election, Boris Johnson is being lined up to swiftly replace David Cameron as the leader of the Conservatives, it says. As things stand according to the Electoral Calculus website, external , no party is headed for an outright majority.

Image source, PA

Labour candidate for Glasgow central Anas Sarwar has received a death threat on his answering machine.

The message threatening to shoot the former Scottish Labour deputy leader was left on the machine of his Glasgow office between 8-10 April.

Scottish Labour said the matter has been reported to police. Scottish Labour deputy leader Kezia Dugdale said: "These types of threats have no place in our society."

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy tweeted: "Nobody should have to put up with vile threats like this. @AnasSarwar won't be deterred."

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, Reuters

Prime minister David Cameron has sent a naval ship to help in the rescue of migrants in the Meditteranean, but Patrick Harvie, co-convener of the Scottish Greens tells the Today programme that the issue "is not a defence matter, and a military response is wrong-headed". "What we have here is human desperation," Mr Harvie says. "We need to deal with the causes and the consequences of that human desperation."

BBC Radio 4 Today

Labour has pledged to drastically reduce the amount of money NHS Foundation Trusts can earn from private healthcare, Health editor Hugh Pym tells the Today programme: "Coalition health reforms in 2013 allowed Foundation Trusts to earn up to 49% of their income from private services... Labour is now proposing a cap of 2% on such work, unless key performance benchmarks are achieved."

BBC Radio 4 Today

Labour says the average private patient income for NHS Foundation Trusts was up 58% from the financial year before the last election to the year to March 2014. Health editor Hugh Pym tells the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "It [Labour] claims leading hospitals have been increasing private work at the same time as some services for NHS patients have got worse, including more cancelled operations and longer waits in A&E."

If you're just waking up, why not take a few minutes to peruse this morning's papers. Click here for all the front pages and a precis of the main stories.

Gordon Brown is warning of the possibility of a second independence referendum reopening "old divisions" if the Tories win a majority and the SNP gains a large number of seats.

The former prime minister, who is not standing for re-election as an MP, also urged "patriotic Scots" to reject fiscal autonomy and the SNP and back Labour's plan for full employment in Scotland.

During a joint event with local Labour candidate and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander at Elderslie Village Hall in Renfrewshire, Mr Brown is expected to say: "I believe that the majority of Scots are like me, both proud patriots and men and women who want real change."

Image source, Getty Images

Labour is wheeling out some of the big guns in Scotland today. Deputy leader Harriet Harman will meet voters in Glasgow with shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran, while former prime minister Gordon Brown will be in neighbouring Elderslie with shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. Ms Harman will launch a consultation on allowing working grandparents to share parents' unpaid parental leave.

Politics correspondent Adam Fleming says UKIP has confirmed that party leader Nigel Farage has been suffering from chronic back pain for the whole of the election campaign - in fact, since he was in a light plane crash on the polling day of the 2010 election. In an interview, Mr Farage says: "At the start of the campaign I was in a great deal of pain. It's my fault, I've be stupid, I've not been doing physio, I've not been doing my exercises. I've been so obsessed with the UKIP campaign that I put myself into a position where for a couple of weeks I wasn't really firing on all cylinders, and I think people noticed it... I'm not unwell at all, but I did have neuralgic pain." Mr Farage is having treatment, and he's gone private, Adam adds.

BBC News Channel

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is seeking to present himself as "the nice guy in the middle" of UK politics by ruling out propping up a government reliant on the SNP, corespondent Adam Fleming tells the BBC News Channel. Mr Clegg has also given similar red lines over a Conservative and UKIP alliance. Polls suggest that neither Labour nor the Conservatives will win enough seats to form a government by themselves.