The Spectator

There's just four days to go until the election, and the polls remain deadlocked. Will there be a late surge to the Conservatives? That's the question being asked by James Forsyth over at The Spectator., external

He says David Cameron has "hit his stride" and the Tories' warnings about the SNP appear to be "cutting through". Add to that the "incumbency effect" and the Conservatives think they'll get more than 290 seats, he says. But it's not yet known if a late shift to the party will materialise.

"On Friday, we’ll know what has happened in terms of seats. But I would be very surprised if a new government is even close to being formed by this time next week."

Our Twitter round-up of the story of the day, #EdStone, surveys some of the comparisons with Moses and The Thick of It - and a touch of Photoshop wizardry inspired by the Labour leader's latest campaign stunt.

Well, that's it from Victoria King and Tom Espiner for today - we're handing over the live page reins to the evening team.

This morning we've had more red lines from the Lib Dems , with party leader Nick Clegg saying that his priorities - including raising public sector pay - would come ahead of the question of an EU referendum in any coalition talks.

David Cameron said he would not be prime minister of a government that failed to deliver an in/out referendum on EU membership.

And Ed Miliband said he would not seek re-election if Labour failed to cut tuition fees in England from £9,000 to £6,000 by 2020, if he wins power.

Mr Miliband also unveiled an 8ft high limestone tablet inscribed with election promises, which he wants to put in the back garden of 10 Downing Street if he wins power. The tablet caused quite a lot of comment from rival politicians and on social media . For example, Boris Johnson said it was "absolutely crazy" that Labour had commissioned the tablet "to be engraved like the commandments of Moses or Hammurabi".

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Image source, PA

So Ed Miliband won't stand again for election if he fails to cut tuition fees in England. That was his promise today in Worcester.

But is it any more than a stunt aimed at embarrassing Nick Clegg? Although that alone might help win back seats with high student numbers.

Well, he has etched all six of his election pledges on to a tablet of stone to be erected in the Downing Street garden if he becomes prime minister.

Very few of his staff would own up to having anything to do with it - but it is being dubbed not the "Ed stone" internally but the "torstone" in honour of his policy adviser, Torsten Bell.

But Labour says the serious point is that a symbol such as the stone is necessary to restore faith and trust in politics - to emphasise he really would deliver on promises.

The slight snag in the argument is that some pledges are more equal than others.

Ed Miliband wants to be held to account - but his offer to stand down is specific to tuition fees.

If Labour does fail on its other pledges - for example, on eliminating the current deficit - he would still stand again on his record, not stand aside.

Nick Robinson
Political editor

Instability, uncertainty, chaos. Could those words - used again and again by David Cameron to describe the prospect of a minority Labour government propped up by the SNP - apply to a minority Tory government riven by divisions about Europe?

That's a question I put to the prime minister.

Read Nick's full article.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage told Andrew Marr this morning that the BBC "didn't need to do entertainment". The remark sparked suggestions that he'd abolish shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who - even Nick Clegg expressed horror on the Marr sofa at any possible threat to the former.

Well, according to the Daily Mail, , externalUKIP has released a statement rowing back somewhat.The paper quotes a party spokesman as saying: 'Some people have wilfully misinterpreted Nigel's comments on Andrew Marr this morning.

'Shows like Strictly and Dr Who are the crown jewels of the BBC, but we do not feel that it needs to spend licence-fee payers' money on hundreds of poor to average entertainment shows, as well as left-liberal, London-centric 'comedy'.'

Image source, Getty

The former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer Ken Clarke has given his thoughts on the mood in the country to the Sunday Politics in the East Midlands.

Image source, Getty

It was put to David Cameron in the Q&A after his speech earlier that he hadn't met enough ordinary voters. He disagreed: "I think we have taken our message to the country in all sorts of different ways. In Wetherby last week I did a sort of open air speech to members of the public as well as supporters. My opponent has not done that.

"I have done walkabouts, in places like Alnwick, met people randomly in the streets - my opponent has not done that." It was while in Alnwick, you might remember, that Mr Cameron was serenaded by an expletive-laden ukulele performer.

He continued: "I have been in factories with audiences, sometimes Conservative voters, sometimes undecided voters, sometimes people who would not dream of voting Conservative. I have done it rolled up shirt sleeves, out there in front of people. I have done it sometimes with a lectern in front of me. My opponent seems to have a lectern wherever he goes."

Before the 2010 election both Gordon Brown and David Cameron addressed grassroots political campaign group Citizens UK in the final week before polling day. This time though, the BBC's political correspondent Ross Hawkins confirms that David Cameron wont be there - the Conservatives will be represented by Culture Secretary Sajid Javid. Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will both speak tomorrow.

The spot in Rhyl where former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott punched a man who threw an egg at him has been marked with a plaque.

Mr Prescott had been on the campaign trail in Denbighshire before the 2001 general election when the incident with a demonstrator occurred.

Read the full BBC article.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Boris Johnson has lengthened his lead in a poll of grassroots Conservatvive members on who should be the next party leader., external

The London mayor and parliamentary hopeful scored 27% (up one point) in Conservativehome's poll, with Home Secretary Theresa May coming in second at 17% (down three points).

David Cameron has said he won't serve a third term if he remains in power after the election, and he's named Mr Johnson, Mrs May - and his chancellor, George Osborne - as his potential successors. Although Mr Osborne came in fourth of the poll of party members, with 8.3%, behind Sajid Javid on 10%.

Image source, AFP

Another scathing Conservative voice reacts to the tablet of stone.

Chief whip Michael Gove says: "Ed Miliband is taking voters completely for granted with this bizarre vanity project. He isn’t just measuring the curtains for No 10 Downing Street, he is commissioning 8ft 6" stone slabs."

Straining the metaphor somewhat, Mr Gove continues: ‘The truth is that no slab - however big - will paper over the cracks in his leadership. And if he gets into Downing Street, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP will scrawl their demands all over it."

Image source, AFP

We've spent all morning talking red lines, but not mentioned the Lib Dem "green line" yet. Nick Clegg revealed it today and it would require the UK government to play a lead role in the Paris climate change talks later this year and to pass a "Nature Act" to improve biodiversity and access to green space.

The green red line only covers one of the Lib Dems' five proposed environmental laws. Among those not covered are a target to decarbonise the power sector by 2030 and a legally binding target for a "zero-carbon Britain" by 2050.

Image source, PA

This looks risky to us. Eating in general is fraught with dangers for the politician, but eating candy floss? Nicola Sturgeon is a brave woman.

Image source, Sky pool

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has chipped in - sorry - on Labour's decision to carve its commitments in stone. He told activists in Bermondsey, south London, there was nothing "attractive about the instability of a hapless minority Labour administration, regardless of these new great gravestones they are apparently going to erect".

BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

UKIP's Mark Reckless, of course formerly of the Conservative Party, is asked whether his new party's campaign "peaked too early". On the contrary, he says,"rather than being squeezed into single figures as people suggested" UKIP is now firmly in the mid-teens in terms of percentage points. On Nigel Farage, Mr Reckless says "his energy is absolutely phenomenal".