Summary

  • Ed Miliband said a Labour government would press ahead with its planned energy price freeze with new legislation within months of taking office

  • Politicians attended service to mark the end of British involvement in the war in Afghanistan

  • The Lib Dems unveiled a new "rent-to-own" housing plan as their spring conference gets under way in Liverpool

  • Justice Secretary Chris Grayling ordered the purchase of a new generation of drugs scanners for prisons in England and Wales

  • Rolling political coverage, from Breakfast news and Today through to Newsnight

  • There are 55 days until the general election

  1. Race discrimination rowpublished at 10:10 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    The Guardian

    Nigel FarageImage source, Reuters

    Over on the Guardian, Gaby Hinsliff takes a look at Nigel Farage's comments on race discrimination, which emerged yesterday. She reckons the comments are unlikely to hurt UKIP at the polls in its target seats. And she adds: "Were employers given a legal right to discriminate freely on grounds of nationality, the awkward thing is that we might discover some are already doing so; it's just that the nationality they want to favour isn't British." More here, external.

  2. Young adult voter registrationpublished at 09:59 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    Newsbeat

    Name's not down image

    Half of young adults have not yet registered to vote in this year's general election, despite the looming 20 April registration deadline, a survey for Newsbeat has suggested. The electoral reform society suggests 800,000 people aged 18-21 will not be able to vote because they're not on the electoral roll.

  3. Osborne India minister meetingpublished at 09:51 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveils his budget, Delhi (10 July)Image source, EPA

    George Osborne is meeting with India's finance minister Arun Jaitley (centre) this morning. He's been speaking about Mr Jaitley's visit, saying he wants to strengthen economic ties between the UK and India.

    The chancellor says: "It's great to have the Indian finance minister here. He's part of Prime Minister Modi's government which is making huge changes in India and is incredibly exciting. It's of course a sign also of the strength of the British-India relationship, the cultural ties, the huge contribution that British Indians make to our culture and our economy here.

    "It's also a sign that we want to strengthen the economic relationship between our two countries. We want Indian companies creating jobs in Britain and British companies creating jobs in India."

  4. Jim Pickard, Financial Times chief political correspondentpublished at 09:51 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    tweets, external: It seems that Labour will rule out a "coalition" with SNP - but not rule out a looser arrangement eg confidence and supply.

  5. Osborne on Labour's energy announcementpublished at 09:39 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    George OsborneImage source, PA

    George Osborne has responded to Labour's announcement it will press ahead with its planned energy price freeze with new legislation within months if elected in May. The chancellor says: "Labour's policy doesn't add up. The truth is that under this government energy bills have been falling. But if we'd adopted Ed Miliband's plan, energy bills would be higher for families and families would be worse off."

  6. George Osborne, chancellorpublished at 09:38 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    tweets, external: Indian finance minister here to unveil historic Gandhi statue in parliament sq which William Hague and I announced in Delhi last summer

  7. Samantha Cameron interviewpublished at 09:32 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    The Sun

    Samantha and David CameronImage source, PA

    Samantha Cameron has given an interview to The Sun this morning for Comic Relief. In it, the prime minister's wife says she wants her husband to serve another full term at 10 Downing Street. She tells the paper David Cameron deals with the stress of his job "really well". And she adds: "He has an amazing ability to keep calm, he's very level-headed. He tends to operate quite well under pressure." More here, external.

  8. Labour energy policypublished at 09:22 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    BBC News Channel

    Caroline Flint

    Labour's shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint doesn't accept her party's policy announcements may have been keeping consumer energy prices up. And points to two Ofgem reports which suggested consumer bills rise in line with wholesale costs, but don't fall to the same extent when wholesale prices go down. "The recent drops in wholesale costs, by on average 20%, has only resulted in the energy companies reducing their bills by between 1% to 5%, for gas only, and not electricity". She earlier said that wholesale costs make up around half of a consumer energy bill.

  9. Lost voters?published at 09:18 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    Bus

    Who are the UK's unregistered voters? Concerns have been raised that a change in the voter registration system could leave millions unable to take part in May's general election. Brian Wheeler has been out to meet those trying to make sure as many people as possible are registered to vote. You can read how we got on here.

  10. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bankpublished at 09:11 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    A bit more on the story about US and UK relations over China. The US has raised questions over the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) bank's commitment to international standards on governance. Britain's effort to become a founding member of the Chinese-backed bank that could rival the likes of the World Bank has also prompted US concerns. The UK is the first big western economy to apply for membership of the AIIB, which will fund Asian energy, transport and infrastructure projects. Here's our story.

  11. Better together?published at 08:54 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    The Scotsman

    David CameronImage source, Reuters

    In The Scotsman, Kenny Farquharson argues both the SNP and Tories appear to have forgotten the independence referendum result from last year. David Cameron, he writes, "clearly believes he can win the general election by caring much more about his party than he does about his country" - a contrast to what he said in the run up to the vote last September. And the nationalists "seem to have forgotten that Scots voted to be British last autumn," he adds. They have also failed to put together a coherent plan for new powers for Scotland, he says. More here, external.

  12. Labour energy policypublished at 08:43 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Montage of big-six energy suppliersImage source, PA
    Image caption,

    The "big six" energy firms account for about 92% of the UK's energy supply market

    Although Labour wants to strengthen the hand of Ofgem by giving it powers to force energy companies to lower consumer bills in line with wholesale cost reductions, the party does not want to see the energy market renationalised, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint has been saying today. "I'm not in the business of going from the big six [energy suppliers] to the big one," she said.

  13. Labour energy policypublished at 08:36 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Labour wants to give Ofgem access to energy companies' books - commercially sensitive data - to allow oversight of consumer bills by the regulator, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said earlier. "The regulator will need to have access on a company-by-company basis on what is going on within those companies," she said.

  14. Will he, won't he?published at 08:33 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    Ed MilibandImage source, Getty Images

    The Labour line over recent weeks has been to say the party does not want and is not preparing for a deal with the SNP. But key party figures have also refused to rule one out. Last night, Ed Miliband was asked about the prospect by young voters. He came closer to ruling it out than he had before. Sort of.

    The Labour leader said at first: "I don't want a political coalition with them, I don't need a coalition with them, I'm not planning for a coalition with them... It's nonsense I promise you."

    When pressed further by an audience member he said: "I absolutely am saying it's nonsense, I'm not gonna, I mean, you know."

    All clear, then.

  15. Afghanistan memorialpublished at 08:28 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    The BBC will be broadcasting the memorial service to commemorate the UK withdrawal from Afghanistan at St Paul's Cathedral from 10.30 on BBC1. The service will begin at 11.00.

  16. Afghanistan servicepublished at 08:21 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Troops leaving HelmandImage source, PA

    Today is discussing the Afghanistan conflict with the parents of two men who lost their lives in the conflict. Sarah Adams' son Private James Prosser was killed in Afghanistan in 2009 and Duane Ashworth's son, also James, was killed in 2012.

    Ms Adams says it gets harder to deal with his loss over time - its easy for the government to say they are commemorating the end, she says, but "it's never the end for us". Her son believed in what he was doing, and she felt she had to support him, Ms Adams says. But the campaign there "doesn't seem to have achieved what they set out to do".

    Mr Ashworth says he believes Afghanistan is in a better place than it was in 2001. It's up to local troops now to make sure the work our troops have done continues, he adds.

  17. Labour and SNPpublished at 08:21 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Union Jack and SaltireImage source, Getty Images

    Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint has reiterated that Labour has no plans to go into coalition with the SNP. She was asked about Alan Johnson's view that a deal should be ruled out and said her party is "not discussing" a possible pact. "We don't need, we don't want, and we're not planning for a coalition with the SNP," she said.

  18. Labour and energy pricespublished at 08:09 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Caroline FlintImage source, Getty Images

    Labour wants to give Ofgem the power to force energy companies to lower prices in line with falls in wholesale energy costs, Labour shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said. Wholesale prices, which make up around half of a consumer bill, have fallen on average 20% over the past fifteen months, but bills have not fallen to the same extent, she said. "It's fair to say that something isn't right here," she added.

  19. Johnson: Rule out SNP dealpublished at 08:01 Greenwich Mean Time 13 March 2015

    Alan JohnsonImage source, PA

    Former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson has said Labour should rule out a post-election deal with the SNP.

    Speaking on This Week last night, Mr Johnson said it was the "right thing to do" because Labour cannot be dependant on the support of a party that wants to unilaterally get rid of the UK's nuclear weapons.