Summary

  • Labour leader Ed Miliband has outlined the first ten bills he would put forward in a Queen's speech

  • Prime Minister David Cameron to launch pensioners' manifesto and pledge to raise the state pension to £7,000 a year

  • Mr Miliband accuses the Tories of using the SNP to distract voters from their record

  • Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg outlines plans to tackle youth unemployment

  • SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says any opportunity to "get the Tories out" should be seized by Labour

  • There are five days left until the general election

Live Reporting

Aiden James and Tom Moseley

  1. Tomorrow's Observer front page

    Observer front pageObserver

  2. Newcastle aiming for speedier count

    For the past five general elections the counting team at Sunderland has been the first to declare, with a result less than an hour after polls close.

    This year its near neighbour,Newcastle, is aiming to come hot on its heels,and also finish its three counts before midnight.

    Previously, its results came in at about 04:00 BST but a Newcastle City Council spokesman said: "We just want to be as effective as a core city should be."

    It is hoped a new, larger venue, and an electronic system will aid the process.

    Ballot boxes are run in during the Sunderland election count in 2010PA

    Ballot boxes are run in during the Sunderland election count in 2010

  3. Survation shows Labour lead

    A Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday gives Labour 34% to the Conservatives' 31%.

    UKIP are on 17%, the Liberal Democrats on 8%, the SNP 5% the Greens 4% and others 1%.The sample size of the UK-wide online poll was 2,128.

  4. Get involved

    'Overspend to save banks'

    Gordon Brown create an overspend to save the banks, economy and jobs, which he succeeded and had started the recovery process only for the coalition to break it for a few years for political reasons, ie take from poor and give to rich, before their so called economic plan.

    John McCloy

  5. Another close poll

    An Opinium poll for The Observer also has the two biggest parties almost neck-and-neck with the Tories on 35% - one point up on last week and a point ahead of Labour, who are on 34% (up one).

    UKIP are unchanged on 13%, the Lib Dems down one on 8% and the Greens down one on 5%.

  6. Have your say

    'Our fault, not theirs!'

    I am really tired of people bemoaning the fact that the political parties won't tell us greater details about their plans. They are simply not going to do it because they know that it would be political suicide. The last time a party revealed their intentions prior to an election their share of the vote fell. It is our fault, not theirs!

    Graeme Lowe

  7. Join the debate

    Gordon Brown's 'short memory'

    “Labour are focused on ending austerity, unemployment and the need for food banks. In the first few days a Labour government can tackle food bank poverty and in the first year it can get young people back into work and end the neglect of the NHS. But only a vote for Labour can secure a Labour government."

    I think you’ll find that your overspend created most of this Gordie.

    Jim from Carnoustie

  8. Poll has parties neck-and-neck

    A ComRes poll for The Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror puts Labour and the Conservatives on 33%, with both parties down two points on a similar poll carried out earlier this week.

    UKIP are up two points on 13%, the Liberal Democrats up one on 8% and the Greens also up one on 7%.

  9. Temple visit

  10. Brown on the SNP

    Gordon Brown is on the campaign trail in Glasgow, at the Braehead Shopping Centre, sounding very on message. Here's what he had to say about the SNP:

    While the SNP get up in the morning thinking of how they can achieve independence, we get up in the morning thinking of how we can achieve social justice. "All the nationalists talk of is deals, pacts and coalitions. Labour are focused on ending austerity, unemployment and the need for food banks. "In the first few days a Labour government can tackle food bank poverty and in the first year it can get young people back into work and end the neglect of the NHS. But only a vote for Labour can secure a Labour government."

    Jim Murphy and Gordon BrownGetty images

  11. Get involved

    O'Grady emigration welcomed

    Paul O'Grady to emigrate if Tories win. Great news... One more reason to vote Conservative!!!

    Jason Temperton

  12. Meet your public

    Here's someone who is blissfully unaware of the election campaign but also facing an encounter with the public - the very first one of her life.

    The new princess appears to be asleep as she is carried out to meet the world by her proud parents.

    Royal baby

  13. Royal baby announcement detail

  14. 'Upstaged by a pair of trousers'

    BBC Radio 4

    Nick Clegg

    Lib Dem campaign correspondent Arif Ansari says Nick Clegg's team "seem terrified he might be criticised or heckled". He adds:

    To be fair, he was upstaged yesterday by a pair of trousers. A young man, in search of a selfie, displayed an unusual, marionette-like co-ordination. As his arm moved up, his trousers fell down. Mr Clegg, who had taken the precaution of wearing a belt, quickly moved on."

  15. 'Pretty rare' public encounters

    BBC Radio 4

    Ed Miliband on Question TimeReuters

    Iain Watson, travelling with Labour, says Ed Miliband's encounter with the public on Thursday's Question Time was "pretty rare".

    The only non-party member he spotted at Ed Miliband's international development speech on Sunday was ex-MP Denis MacShane - kicked out of the party over his expenses - who had not been invited. Iain adds:

    At the launch of Ed Miliband's sixth election pledge in Stockton, the audience was so partisan Ed Miliband had to chide some of them for tutting, jeering or sniggering during reporters' questions."

  16. 'Boring' campaign?

    BBC Radio 4

    BBC Radio 4's PM programme has been asking its correspondents about the distinct lack of meetings between the party leaders and what you might call "ordinary voters" so far during the election campaign.

    Jonny Dymond, travelling with the Conservatives, says David Cameron has a "natural incumbency advantage":

    Because you don't want that narrative broken, and you certainly don't want to squander the advantage, you do everything you can to protect your man - because you don't look prime ministerial arguing with a weeping mother. This is fine and entirely logical. But the product is this shiny, artificial, horribly boring campaign which only comes even vaguely alight when the unruly mob that is the electorate intrudes upon it."

    David CameronAP

    David Cameron meeting people at a cafe in Cheadle

  17. PM's 'career-defining' moment

    On Friday, David Cameron described the election as "career-defining" but quickly corrected that to "country-defining". He said today his comment had been deliberate and aimed at his audience at Asda in Leeds.

    Addressing supporters in central London, Ed Miliband says:

    David Cameron has found something to be passionate about. Something close to his heart. Himself. The phrase Freudian slip was never more appropriate... For him, it is all about him. For me, it's about the working people of this country."

  18. Kennedy: end referendum 'anxiety'

    Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has called on SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to end the "anxiety" which he said exists over a second independence referendum.

    Mr Kennedy, who was campaigning in Inverness, said Ms Sturgeon should "stop ducking and weaving" and rule out another referendum.

    We settled the issue last September and need to move on to the big issues that now face our country. Yet Nicola Sturgeon's refusal to rule it out is causing great anxiety. Divisions in communities, economic consequences and the government taking its eye off the ball are just some of the problems which come with a second referendum. Nicola Sturgeon has the power to put all of this uncertainty to bed."

  19. Mixed metaphors

    Boris on Labour and the SNP

    Ed Miliband would be "peeping out of Alex Salmond's sporran like a baffled baby kangaroo," the Conservative mayor said at a rally in Abingdon.