The Conservatives promise a law guaranteeing no rise in income tax, national insurance or VAT before 2020
But Labour say Tory plans would mean cuts to tax credits totalling £3.8 billion
The Lib Dems pledge to offer free schools meals to all children in England
There are eight days left until the general election
Image source, ITVEd Miliband is on the This Morning sofa over on ITV. He had a bit of a grilling - well, it wasn't quite Andrew Neil, but still - from Philip and Amanda, during which he insisted there would be "no SNP-Labour government". He's now taking calls from viewers and tells one about his plans to abolish the so-called "bedroom tax" because it's "unfair" and "doesn't work".
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Daily Politics viewers react to today's campaign issues
Your comments:
Brian Gare Norfolk: I do wish Ed Miliband would make his mind up about how worse off families are, or would be each year be under a Conservative government. A few months ago it was £1600, then it was dropped to £1100. Today, he has said it will be £760. To be credible you have to stick to one figure. Not constantly change it, which gives the electorate the distinct impression you don't have a clue and are making it up as you go along.
Chris: The Tories keep scaremongering about higher taxes under Labour, but they fail to understand that there are many compassionate people in this country who are happy to pay fair taxes which improve our public services, particularly the NHS. Good public services benefit everyone, tax cuts tend to benefit those who are already well off.
Howard Wilkinson: It amazes me how economically illiterate our politicians pretend to be. They encourage people to think that removing wealth from the wealth productive side of the economy to distribute it via the wealth destructive side of the economy has no consequences.Taxation slows down the rate of growth we can achieve in the economy and reduces the amount we can afford to spend on public services.
Paul Barrett-Brown, Powys: David Cameron tells us, "I've seen the books" but steadfastly refuses to share this knowledge with the electorate. We must assume that 'the books' reveal an up-coming situation so dire that he dare not make it public. Likewise with the proposed cuts; we would like to know where, when and how much .... and the silence is deafening.
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Ben, London:
Can any UK government - majority or minority - claim to be legitimate if it has no seats at all in Scotland? Surely SNP would have to have some kind of voice in government were they to win every seat north of the border?
From David Cowling, head of BBC Political Research
The MORI poll in Scotland published today gives the SNP 54% and Labour 20%. Those figures represent a swing of 28% from Labour to the SNP since 2010 and, on uniform swing, would likely result in the SNP holding every seat in Scotland.
However, last week TNS published a Scottish poll with SNP 54% and Labour 22% - almost the same figures as this week’s MORI but without the latter’s publicity. The truth is that virtually every Scottish poll in recent months has been in this territory: it has become the new normality and only polling day will either confirm or deny it.
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Sophie Long
Lib Dem campaign correspondent
Nick Clegg is appearing with wife Miriam in Chippenham, Wiltshire, this morning to discuss the Lib Dems' pledge of free school meals for all primary school children. Of course, we found out a week or so ago that the subject of feeding children is close to her heart - she writes a cooking blog with her sons.
It's important to note, the free school meals pledge is not one of Nick Clegg's red lines - this is what the Lib Dems would do when they could afford to once those books have been balanced.
Political editor of the Guardian tweets:
The website Business Insider has pointed out, externalsome quotes from before the 2010 election that George Osborne might like to forget. The then shadow chancellor was pretty scathing about Labour's Fiscal Responsibility Act, which imposed a statutory duty on the Treasury to meet specific targets for the reduction of government borrowing and debt.
Image source, PALabour this morning has contrasted his criticism of that with the Conservatives' new promise to legislate against tax rises.
Mr Osborne said at the time:
Quote MessageOf course we have to debate this vacuous and irrelevant legislation, but why did the chancellor feel the compelling need to introduce it? Why is he the first chancellor in history to feel that he needs an Act of Parliament on top of a Budget statement? There can be only two explanations: either he does not trust himself to secure sound public finances, or he knows that the public do not trust him to secure them. Neither is exactly a ringing endorsement; both are a reflection of the catastrophic, disastrous state to which this government have reduced the finances of this country."
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Norman Smith
Assistant political editor
It would be a political earthquake frankly if this Ipsos Mori poll is correct. The stakes are absolutely colossal. It's almost too big to think it will happen - some of those seats have huge Labour majorities.
But if it did happen it would give Nicola Sturgeon huge power at Westminster and there's no way Ed Miliband could think of forming a government without her.
Most importantly though, it would put the independence question firmly back on the table, no question about it.
Quote MessageIf every single Scottish constituency voted SNP then Ms Sturgeon would be bound to say, 'Look, we've got to talk about independence again.'"
Nigel Farage and Jean-Claude Juncker swap 'banter' in Strasbourg
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HJ:
It is clear that the Labour Party, no matter what the result, are likely to be led by the Prime Minister after May 2015. Be in no doubt that he, his government, his Party and the country, would pay a heavy price for their reliance on SNP support.