Nick Robinson
Political editor

BBC political editor Nick Robinson says Labour's plan to cut tuition fees from £9000 to £6000 is "one of the biggest spending pledges Ed Miliband has made", and adds that it is interesting to note the Labour leader's priorities at a time when government cuts more generally have to be made. With the debate over the policy having barely begun, why has he chosen to spend so much on university students rather than schools, the NHS, or more Sure Start centres?

Pressed as to whether the Labour plans to reduce fees would constitute a "red line" in any potential coalition negotiations between the Lib Dems and Ed Miliband's party, Vince Cable says simply: "It would certainly make it more difficult to work with them." The business secretary says the Lib Dems would insist on fees remaining the same, but says they're not talking about "red lines".

Business Secretary Vince Cable tells BBC Breakfast that the current tuition fee system is "fair, sustainable, been praised by international bodies, and making sure we have a high standard of university education". He says Labour plans to curb pension tax reliefs in order to pay for a cut in fees is a "completely bogus, fictional system of funding". Mr Cable adds that Ed Miliband is making promises for short-term political gain that "they would find it very hard to deliver, and if they did deliver it it would do a lot of harm".

tweets, external: Greg Clark 1st reaction to EdM tuition fees plan: savers + "taxpayers will pay the price for a policy that will cause chaos"

tweets, external: #UKIP getting more media savvy - yesterday this poster at Margate conf venue said 'Circus of Horrors'

The Spectator

Today marks the return of scheming American politico Frank Underwood - played by Kevin Spacey - on the Netflix drama House of Cards. Originally based on a classic British series, the re-make spawned its own British parody organised by The Spectator. See the Machiavellian tendencies of some familiar faces from the green benches on full display here, external (YouTube link).

tweets, external: Many Labour insiders believe helping students with maintenance costs would have been better way to help those from poorer backgrounds.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Questioned about Labour's planned tuition fee cut, shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie declines to elaborate on how it will be paid for, saying Ed Miliband will set out the details later. He tells the BBC the current system is "imploding" and the UK cannot afford the "next generation" to be saddled with ever-increasing debt. He suggests that universities, as well as students, will be "very satisfied" with what his party is proposing.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, PA

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb has been defending the government's devolution plans, saying they will give the Welsh people a "stronger voice in their own affairs". He tells the BBC that it is "not healthy" that the Welsh Government currently raises almost none of the £15bn it spends every year, describing it as "one great big spending department". The devolution package will make the Welsh Assembly more accountable while strengthening Wales' position within the UK, he adds.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, Getty Images

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has told Radio 4 that plans to be set out later by David Cameron and Nick Clegg to transfer more powers to Wales from Westminster don't go far enough. She says Wales needs to have "decades of funding disadvantage rectified", with more tax-raising powers than have been promised so Wales "can stand on our own two feet". Ms Wood adds that there is a "stark contrast" between the cross-party consensus on devolution with regard to Scotland and the situation in Wales, adding that "there is no good reason why Wales should have third-rate devolution".

BBC Radio 4

On Any Questions? with Jonathan Dimbleby tonight: Green leader Natalie Bennett, UKIP's only Scottish MEP David Coburn, the columnist and broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer, and the Energy Secretary Ed Davey.

The perennial accusation that MPs have it easy has flared up in the dog days of this parliament with the recent controversy over second jobs. Most people's idea of Commons debate is the finger-pointing and heckling of PMQs - but here's just some of the topics being discussed, external or legislated upon today in the Commons, in a rather more sedate fashion: tyre safety; funeral services; firearm and shotgun licensing; e-cigarettes; sugar in food and drinks; wild animals in circuses; and investigations into deaths in mental health settings.

Image source, PA

Business Secretary Vince Cable has attacked Labour's plan to cut the highest tuition fees by a third as "financially illiterate". Mr Cable, who helped design the current system of student finance, said existing arrangements were "fair and sustainable" and Labour's plans would "reduce the support for disadvantaged students and benefit only the richest". He added: "It will do great harm to universities and create a costly black hole in the national budget."

tweets, external: Breaking: Lloyds to pay first dividend since 2008, 0.75p per share, valued at £535m

and

tweets, external: Breaking: Lloyds CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio remuneration package will total £11m after shares rise by 193% since 2012

We just heard from Robin Brant that UKIP will announce it supports George Osborne's strategy for eliminating the deficit by 2018. But the Financial Times reports, external that as part of that strategy, Nigel Farage's party would back ending the use of the Barnett formula - which currently dictates how much money for public spending is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by Westminster. UKIP, says the FT, wants "heavy cuts" to that block grant.

tweets, external: Understood Labour tuition fee cut to be paid for by "better off mums and dads"

Image source, PA

David Cameron is also on the campaign trail today, addressing the Welsh Conservatives' annual conference. He is expected to spell out details of fresh powers for the Welsh Assembly, including minimum funding for the Welsh government and allowing Cardiff to raise cash from the money markets for major projects. The prime minister is also likely to talk about the economy and address Labour accusations that his attacks on the performance of the Welsh health service amount to a "war on Wales".

Robin Brant
Political Correspondent, BBC News

Robin Brant says that at today's conference session UKIP's economic spokesman Patrick O'Flynn will tell delegates that his party supports Chancellor George Osborne's strategy to wipe out the deficit by 2018. Aside from that, though, there are likely to be few policy announcements, as the party's manifesto is still being tinkered with.

Labour's Rachel Reeves followed her leader's line on Question Time last night, saying that being an MP was a "full-time job" and that second jobs for MPs were "plain wrong". She said she already earned about three times the salary of some of her constituents in Leeds West. The Lib Dems' Tessa Munt agreed with the general point, saying it was disgraceful that 281 out of 650 MPs currently hold second jobs. But the Conservatives' Grant Shapps echoed David Cameron by arguing that the Commons would be worse off if filled with people who had "only ever worked in politics".

Image source, PA

Nigel Farage will be among friends when he addresses the UKIP party faithful in Margate later. But his trips round the country in recent times haven't been without incident. He was hit by a placard on one campaign visit last year and found himself barricaded in a building in Rotherham last month by a protest outside. The BBC now understands that UKIP has requested bodyguards for Mr Farage as he tours the country ahead of the 7 May election, making an application to the Home Office.