The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The World at One has election call this afternoon at 1.30pm with Labour's Yvette Cooper.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Conservative Environment Secretary Liz Truss tells the Daily Politics: “Let’s be clear, the reason the Liberal Democrats are doing this is because they are absolutely desperate. They are doing very badly in the opinion polls, they are not getting any attention in the election campaign, they are dredging something up which was asked for three years ago by the chief secretary to the Treasury.

"I think it’s an absolute cheek that he is leaking his own letters. Let me be absolutely clear. This is not something that the prime minister and the chancellor… do not support this set of proposals, they never supported them, and they are not planning to support them either.” She accuses the Lib Dems of attention seeking.

Ms Truss says the Tories would freeze working age benefits for two years, which would include child benefit and after that they would rise with inflation.

She avoids saying the government will protect child benefit but says the Conservatives have set out their principles.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

"We are within a week of the election and the Tories have not made clear where their £12bn of welfares cuts are going to come from," Lib Dem Simon Hughes tells BBC Two’s Daily Politics. “We know what they have had in mind, we think the public needs to know that to."

"We are not pretending this is new news," Mr Hughes says.

"We are drawing attention that this was put down by the Department for Work and Pensions to the quad and we are wanting to remind people.

He points out Tory chief whip Michael Gove said he could not rule out cuts to child benefit two weeks ago on Newsnight.

Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics

Is David Cameron finished as leader of the Conservative Party if he fails to win the general election? “Oh I think so,” says Trevor Kavanagh. “I think he has more or less admitted that. I think he has almost suggested he will go if they don’t get an outright majority, I don’t think they will get an outright majority and I don’t think he will necessarily go if they fail to do so. But certainly he will go if [Mr] Miliband is the next prime minister.”

He says it is harder to answer whether Mr Miliband will resign as leader of the Labour Party if he doesn't win the election or become prime minister of a minority Labour government. Labour could face an existential crisis after 7 May, he says.

The Sun's Trevor Kavanagh says he believes the latest Ipsos Mori opinion poll which gives the Conservatives a five-point lead over Labour, is probably nearer to the reality in terms of divining the mood of the electorate.

He suggests it “is almost impossible to imagine that after five short years during which people have gone through quite severe austerity, but are seeing the fruits of that coming through with the economic indicators, that they are going to suddenly say - and why would they - that Ed Miliband is the guy we want in place of the Tories or the coalition.

He says if he is right and the Conservatives do much better than the polls are suggesting then the polling companies will have questions to answer after 7 May. ”What is going wrong with the polls if that is the case?” he adds.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Did the Sun ever consider supporting UKIP? Trevor Kavanagh tells the Daily Politics: “No, I don’t think ever seriously - there are lots of overlaps between our views about how polities should be introduced but I don’t think there was ever a point at which we would have thought about supporting UKIP.

Asked whether there was ever a debate about whether the Sun should back the Green Party Mr Kavanagh says “none at all”.

Chris Spicer:

dmglasgow comments on this story: Newspapers do have an influence - even rags like the Sun, so it is refreshing to have some balance and plurality in the mass media. However, the fact that the London and Scottish editions are taking different views gives away the shallowness of these endorsements. This support for the SNP could vanish just as quickly as it has appeared. It is fundamentally a commercial decision.

Beavo comments: There's really no story to this, apart from the fact that it just shows the ridiculous influence that the media have over these elections.Much the same as politicians, the media try to prey on the naivety of people to get them to vote in their interests.

Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics

Andrew Neil will look at the Liberal Democrats' red lines and its allegations that Conservatives proposed cutting child benefit. He'll speak to Lib Dem Simon Hughes and Tory Liz Truss. And he’ll hear more about the Sun supporting the Tories, and the Scottish Sun backing the SNP, with former political editor Trevor Kavanagh.

The guest of the day is Darren Hall from the Green Party who will discuss his party's election prospects.

Also on the programme: Giles Dilnot will be learning about chainsaws in the Scottish Borders as he gets the views of forestry workers, the smaller party interview is with Mike Davies from the Alliance for Green Socialism, and there will also be a blond guinea pig called Boris live on the Daily Politics from 12:00 to 13:00.

Meanwhile over at the New Statesman , external - which itself has been notably critical of Labour leader Ed Miliband - political editor George Eaton says the Labour party is preparing for minority government.

"The recent era of majoritarian rule in the UK is drawing to a definitive close," he writes.

"On 7 May, for the first time since 1910, voters will almost certainly return a second successive hung parliament. In the absence of a 1992-style polling debacle (when the Conservatives finished seven points ahead of Labour on election day, having been tied in the final surveys) or an extremely late swing, both of the main parties will fall far short of the 326 seats required for a majority."

Which newspaper has backed a party in the election campaign?

The Sun - Conservatives

Scottish Sun - SNP

Mirror - Labour

Express - owner Richard Desmond has given £1m to UKIP

Papers who have not declared

Daily Mail - backed the Conservatives in 2010 - as did the Mail on Sunday

Telegraph - both daily and Sunday editions backed the Conservatives in 2010

The Guardian - backed the Liberal Democrats in 2010

Observer - backed the Liberal Democrats in 2010

The Times - backed the Conservatives in 2010

Independent on Sunday - backed the Liberal Democrats in 2010

Financial Times - endorsed the Conservatives in 2010

The Spectator

The Spectator, which has been notably critical of David Cameron in the past, says the Conservatives are now the party of the many and that the poorest will suffer most if Labour win the election, in its latest leader column, external.

It says: "Anyone who already lives in an affluent, safe neighbourhood and has a steady job can afford the luxury of a protest vote: UKIP, perhaps, or the Liberal Democrats. David Cameron has caused many of his former voters to despair, and they may want to punish him.

"Those who would lose out under Labour are those who cannot afford a back-up plan."

The Guardian

Tech executives including Lastminute.com and Ocado co-founders have written to the Guardian newspaper, external, endorsing the Conservative-led government's approach to business.

The 90 signatories say that it would be bad for jobs, growth and innovation to "change course".

The letter is signed by Brent Hoberman, a co-founder of Lastminute.com and Made.com; Andrew Fisher, executive chairman of Shazam; and Tim Steiner, chief executive and co-founder of Ocado.

Conservative leader David Cameron called it an important intervention, telling the Guardian:"A lot of other European countries are extremely jealous that we have managed to capture this industry in the way we have."

The letter says:

Daily Politics viewer:

Chancellor George Osborne has said a bit more today about those allegations that the Conservatives are considering child benefit cuts.

Asked why the Conservatives won't outline where the axe will fall in terms of welfare spending Mr Osborne says: "We've set out the £12bn cuts we need to make.

"We've given examples - for example, freezing working age benefits over the next couple of years - so we have given much more detail about our economic plans than the Labour Party who will put up borrowing and put up taxes.

"It's working people who will suffer and projects like this [the Chancellor was speaking from a housing development in Croydon] that wouldn't go ahead because of the economic instability of their reliance on the Scottish nationalists."

John: