tweets, external: Deutsche Bank on General Election - "A Labour-SNP coalition [is] the most likely outcome. But 3 months is a long time in politics."

Vicki Young
Political correspondent, BBC News

BBC political correspondent Vicki Young says the schools settlement is "relatively generous" compared with other departments and raises questions over what will happen to other "un-protected departments". The Prime Minister has acknowledged head teachers will face difficult decisions despite the pledge to protect spending per pupil in "cash" terms.

tweets, external: What are Labour's options on student finance? Ed Miliband has said 'watch this space' - we try to fill in some of the blanks #r4 at 6

Is your Twitter looking a bit empty as the election campaign hots up? The magazine GQ has compiled a list of the most-connected men on Twitter, external, with politicians and political commentators strongly represented in the top 20. Paul Waugh of PoliticsHome.com tops the list - ahead of the main party leaders.

tweets, external: UKIP-ocrites! Anti-immigration party mocked for sending out propaganda leaflets delivered by a BULGARIAN http://dailym.ai/1BPouM1, external

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, spending on schools in England increased from £39.7bn in 2010-11 to £41.6bn in 2014-15 - a real-terms increase of 4.7% or just over 1% per year on average. But because the number of pupils in state schools increased by 3.9% over the same period, the IFS calculated that spending per pupil had risen by only around 1% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

tweets:, external Religion is an important predictor of party choice in UK general elections http://buff.ly/16bxIdA

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, Associated Press

Ed Miliband has been the butt of some jokes today after claiming that his work experience outside politics was working as an economic adviser in the Treasury and as a teacher of government and economics at Harvard. At the Telegraph, James Kirkup looks, external at the numbers behind the rise of the "professional politician", and asks a question: "The Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems are all currently led by men whose careers have been spent in and around politics. Could the next leadership contests they see a backlash against the career politicos?"

Over at the New Statesman's May2015.com, Chris Hanretty of Election Forecast explains , externalthat as the general election gets closer, polls become increasingly accurate at predicting the result. The sharpest increase in accuracy comes 50 days before the polls open - so take polls until 18 March with more than a pinch of salt...

Lib Dem education minister David Laws attacks the Conservative announcements on schools spending, saying schools are going to get "a rough ride" if the Tories retain power. The Conservatives say they will protect schools spending - per pupil - in cash terms and spend £7bn on places for rising numbers of pupils. But Mr Laws says that means spending on education for "early years" and 16- to 19-year-olds will face "massive cuts".

Conservative Home

At ConservativeHome, Henry Hill says, external "today's editions of the five traditionally Conservative-inclined national papers" all have significant attacks on Labour, whether on the front page or inside. Describing it as "a very satisfying morning's reading in Tory HQ", Mr Hill says: "The advent of fixed-term Parliaments has seen the dramatic extension of the long campaign for the 2015 general election. If the Tory press maintain this level of aggression Labour is in for a punishing few months."

Image source, Press Association

At the blog Left Foot Forward, Ruby Stockham outlines , externalfive areas of education policy she claims the Conservatives have made worse.

tweets, external: .@LordAshcroft latest: Con 31%, Lab 31%, Lib Dem 8%, UKIP 15%, Green 9% #GE2015

The number of recorded complaints against the police in England and Wales rose by 15 per cent last year. The Police Complaints Commission said almost 35,000 complaints were made in the year 2013 to 2014. A third were recorded by people accusing officers of neglect or a failure of duty.

Michael Sani, of the Bite the Ballot group, is in Radio 1's Live Lounge, saying political education in schools should be improved to help engage more young people in politics. In 2010, only 44% of those aged 18 to 24 who were registered to vote in the general election voted, while among the over 65s, the proportion was 79%.

tweets, external: Nigel Farage not on Sky #AskTheLeaders because he's in Strasbourg, says @faisalislam

The Independent

In the run-up to the general election, The Independent has been inviting one contributor daily to describe what they would do if they were prime minister. Today it's the turn of Jonathan Isaby, external, the chief executive of the TaxPayer's Alliance.

Over in the House of Lords, peers are embarking on the first of two days' report-stage scrutiny of the government's Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which will give new powers to UK security services. A cross-party group of peers is set to re-launch a bid to revive the "snoopers' charter" in the legislation. The debate is expected a little later this afternoon.

David Cameron is taken to task by the young audience at the #AsktheLeaders event over Prime Minister's Questions. One person tells him it is "horrible and petty", with MPs shouting at one another. The Prime Minister talks about the intense noise in the Commons and says at times, MPs have to shout to make themselves heard.

Prime Minister David Cameron tells the #AskTheLeaders, external event that the government's policy on badger culling was "probably the most unpopular for which I'm responsible", but sometimes in politics, you had to do things you knew were unpopular. The cull was needed, he said, to prevent TB spreading among cattle.