The Daily Telegraph

Max Hastings sets out his views on the prospect of a Labour-led coalition with the SNP in today's Mail, external.

He doesn't spare the hyperbole: "If this sounds a nightmare scenario for the English people, and indeed for everybody with a head on their shoulders throughout the UK, it is the way events could turn out if the polls are right."

He concludes: "The grim prospect for English taxpayers is that Miliband himself, and many of his supporters, would be more than happy to support the SNP's almost Stalinist agenda for raising borrowing and soaking the rich, purely to sustain their Labour and Scottish client votes."

Image source, Reuters

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is in Warsaw for talks with his Polish counterpart Grzegorz Schetyna

Nigel Farage is having a fun over on LBC, external.

When one caller said she felt Mr Farage had been sent from on high to protect us, presenter Nick Ferrari asked Mr Farage if he had, in fact, been sent by God. The UKIP leader modestly responded: "I am not the Messiah, I'm a very naughty boy" - a reference, of course, to the famous Monty Python sketch,

tweets, external: Ukip immig policy premised on leaving EU - but wd take two years+ of negs after "out" referendum vote. Unclear what wd happen in interim

Image source, AFP

Nigel Farage is voicing strong support for increasing the UK defence budget on his LIBC show.

He says it is "absolutely astonishing" that a Conservative-led government has upped the foreign aid budget but cut the defence budget.

He added: "Internationally we are no longer being referred to as a serious player."

Nigel Farage comes out fighting against Nick Clegg over on LBC.

Responding to the Lib Dem leader saying Mr Farage was "having a nice time of it", the UKIP leader said he didn't want to trade insults, adding: "I'm trying to turn the other cheek."

But he went on: "when it comes to inconsistency on policy the Lib Dems are absolutely at the top of the tree."

Mr Farage said this election campaign was becoming one of the nastiest he had ever seen but he would do his best to rise above it.

Nigel Farage is talking immigration with Nick Ferrari on LBC.

He asks: "I'm reading Tory literature talking about controlling immigration - but how can you control immigration if you have an open door policy?"

The UKIP leader went on to say this is the issue Mr Cameron is afraid to debate.

tweets, external: #PhoneFarage: Mr Cameron doesn't want to face the questions about how he's doubled the national debt in just 5 years

Image source, Twitter

Image source, PA

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has been speaking to BBC Scotland about his party's polling performance, which suggests they could lose almost all of their seats north of the border. He told Good Morning Scotland: "There's still a long way to go. In voting for an SNP MP, people will get a Tory government." More on his interview on our Scotland Live page.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Has the government's Prevent scheme - a key element of its counter-terrorism strategy- failed? Frank Gardner, our security correspondent, says it has worked in some cases, where people have been steered away from extremism at the last minute. But in other cases it has been counter-productive. The scheme has a problem of perception - it is seen by many Muslims as unfairly focussing on their communities, he adds.

Our correspondent spoke to experts about the scheme. We'll post a link later.

BBC Radio 4 Today

José Manuel Barroso says Europe must not accept Russia seeking to redraw the borders of Europe.

He told Today: "Putin is saying he respects the sovereignty of Ukraine. But at the same time we know this is the biggest Russian operation since the Second World War in military terms. It's a kind of undeclared war."

The former President of the European Commission went on to say that he expects the situation to get worse before it gets better.

The Daily Telegraph

Fraser Nelson says the Tories need to be more ambitious if they are to win an overall majority.

Writing in today's Telegraph, external, he says: "On its own, 'long-term economic plan' just won't be enough. It will lead not to victory, but to a parliamentary no-man's land."

The Guardian

Is Trident a red line for the SNP? In another video , externalposted by the Guardian, Nicola Sturgeon suggests her party could still back a Labour government if it backs renewal of the weapons. But the SNP leader rules out her party voting for it.

The Daily Telegraph

The Telegraph, external is reporting Ed Davey's criticism of the faith some Conservatives have in fracking.

The Lib Dem Energy Secretary said parts of the Conservative Party are "crazy" because they want to "frack every bit of croquet lawn" in Britain.

tweets, external: Someone needs to explain to me how telling Scottish voters "vote SNP and we disenfranchise you" helps make the case for the Union.

Image source, PA

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, has been a vocal advocate of women's rights since taking over from Alex Salmond. It might come as a surprise to some, therefore, that she still irons her husband's shirts. She made the revelation in a video interview with the Guardian, external. Her husband is SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.

As part of a series of videos, the SNP leader also said she couldn't rule out another independence referendum, external.

Eleanor Garnier
Political correspondent

Our correspondent says the Green Party has seen a huge surge in membership over the last year and even had to change venue to fit in all the activists it expects to turn up.

But leader Natalie Bennett is under some pressure after a poor interview performance last month and our reporter says Ms Bennett "really does need to bounce back."

There is unprecedented opportunity at this conference, but also unprecedented scrutiny, she concludes.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, PA

UKIP MP Mark Reckless is on Today defending the party's immigration policy. Asked why the party don't have a target for immigration, Mr Reckless said: "What we are going to do is control the quarter of a million people who come from the EU last year."

He went on to set out policies including tighter border controls and a points-based system and said: "What that will do will hugely reduce that number of people coming to this country."

tweets, external: We'll be discussing the UK Govt's controversial 'Prevent' strategy to counter extremism at 0830 on @BBCr4today

The Guardian

Over on the Guardian, Martin Kettle argues the UK needs its own Abraham Lincoln. If Britain proves to be "a house divided against itself" in coming years, especially with the rise of nationalism, "it will also require someone to fill Lincoln-sized shoes if the house is to continue to stand, both within these islands and in the union with Europe", he says. But he's not confident David Cameron or Ed Miliband have shown they can match the former US president's oratory skills. You can read his piece here, external.