The Daily Telegraph

Over at the Telegraph, Dan Hodges argues, external that the complaints from some Conservatives - specifically Tim Montgomerie in today's Times, external (£) - about the tactics and manner of election strategist Lynton Crosby miss the point.

Hodges writes, external: "Until today I thought this 'we must be careful not to win the wrong way' nonsense was the preserve of the Labour party."

And he scoffs at what he sees as a developing "new narrative" that "Cameron's timidity risks leading his party to an impure victory," before warning Tories who want more than this "impure victory" to "be careful what you wish for".

tweets, external: Big political call for Labour: how much do they emphasise the huge extra spending room they have under their plans, external?

UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson has been suspended and had the whip removed, "following allegations of a serious financial nature".

A spokesman for UKIP said: "The party is incredibly disappointed with Ms. Atkinson, who appears to have exercised extremely poor judgement in acting in a way that the party has never, and would never condone. The party has acted swiftly and immediately, and just as we showed when we suspended another MEP for financial irregularities, we always maintain a zero tolerance attitude towards acts of this nature."

We'll have more on the story shortly.

Andrew Neil will review the political week with Diane Abbott, Miranda Green and Michael Portillo on This Week live from 23:45 GMT. BBC Asian Network presenter Nihal Arthanayake talks race, Anne McElvoy rounds up the week with help from Caroline Aherne in a film, and the panel will be will talking about lying with comedian Katherine Ryan.

tweets, external: IFS tells Osborne to come clean on £12bn welfare cuts. The risk for the Tories in those future cuts, external

At a Labour people's question time event in Cardiff earlier, Ed Miliband continued his attack on David Cameron over the TV debates.

"I think David Cameron's current position is he's willing to go to the same TV studio as me, appear on the same programme as me, with the same audience as me - just not at the same time as me," he said.

According to the Labour leader, this means the PM is "willing to debate me back-to-back just not-face-to-face".

Here is your six-o-clock (sort of) roundup. The fallout from the Budget has dominated the political agenda. The IFS has said the Conservatives should explain more about their planned welfare cuts and Chancellor George Osborne has denied that his planned cuts after the general election will be tougher than the austerity of the past few years. The Lib Dems have unveiled their own alternative Budget, complete with a yellow briefcase which did not go unnoticed by Twitter, external. There's plenty more to come, with Question Time from Croydon and This Week, both of which can be viewed on the Live Coverage tab above.

BBC News School Report

As thousands of schools around the country take part in BBC News School Report, MPs in the House of Commons have been talking about News Day.

Karen Buck asked William Hague about School Report - and Speaker John Bercow talked about the school that he is due to visit as part of News Day on Thursday afternoon.

BBC Radio 4

Personal finance expert Paul Lewis says he has worked out that the Budget is a bigger giveaway to higher rate taxpayers.

The Moneybox presenter told Radio 4's PM he'd totted up all the changes - and checked his sums thoroughly - and his conclusion was: "If you're a basic rate tax payer you will save £200 from all the changes, if you're a higher rate tax payer you will save £487 off your tax."

When he projected the Budget measures forward to include the chancellor's aspiration of a bigger personal allowance "that difference is even starker - five times more for the higher tax payer."

He concluded: "This is a policy to start giving back more to higher rate tax payers who, to be fair have had their tax relief squeezed over the past few years."

BBC News Channel

A lively debate between two former prime ministerial advisers about the TV debates just now. Matthew Doyle, who advised Tony Blair, says David Cameron wants an election campaign that is "six weeks of photocalls". But ex-Cameron adviser Sean Worth, says the PM has little to gain, even if he "wipes the floor" with the Labour leader.

BBC News Channel

Joe Twyman, of YouGov, says most people aren't concerned about the "minutiae" of economic policy. Instead, he says, "each of the parties will be campaigning hard to get their broad stories across". On the state of the polls, he says the "really interesting question" is whether the incumbent party, in this case the Conservatives, will get a boost as polling day approaches, as has happened in previous elections.

BBC News Channel

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith says the fallout from the Budget underlines the "uncoupling" of the two coalition parties and the "ferocity" of the economic argument. But he says the paradox of all this is that while yesterday the Conservative proposals for smaller spending cuts actually brought them closer to Labour, the "rhetoric has gone through the roof". This makes it very hard for voters to decide, he adds.

BBC Radio 4

BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins has presented his round-up of the day on Radio 4's PM programme. Debate on the morning broadcasts was dominated by the OBR's "rollercoaster" characterisation of public spending, rather than on the Budget itself. "Already, it was an unusual day after", says the BBC's political correspondent.

Debate has centred on the question of cuts, he says, and cuts will be "central to the campaign, not fully explained and will play in voters' minds".

"Today the debate was a bit dry, it will evolve into something more visceral and interesting," he concludes.

Newsbeat

Image source, Comres/BBC Newsbeat

For first-time buyers scratching their heads over the nitty gritty of the new Help To Buy ISA, BBC's Newsbeat have put together a guide to how it works.

A recent ComRes/Newsbeat survey found more than twice as many 18 to 24-year-olds (23%) thought affordable housing should be among the government's top three policy priorities, compared to the wider population (11%).

BBC News Channel

IFS Director Paul Johnson says the Budget decision to increase public spending in line with growth after 2019/20 represents a change in the Chancellor's political philosophy.

Mr Johnson told the BBC: "What he [George Osborne] was saying was, even once we get the deficit under control, we're going to go further. If we get growth we're not going to use that growth to increase public spending. Yesterday he was saying well, once we get the deficit under control we will use that additional tax revenue to increase spending."

He went on: "The political philosophy underlying it really does seem to have changed."

Phil Davies, Politics live reader

writes: What planet is Ed Balls on? Aren't the government cuts entirely down to him and the previous Labour government for their gross overspending?

Which politician is most often on BBC Question Time? The Guardian has done an analysis of appearances, external since the last general election in 2010. Its conclusion: Labour's Caroline Flint tops the table with 13 appearances, two ahead of UKIP's Nigel Farage and Conservative chairman Grant Shapps. Speaking of that show, you can watch this week's episode - which does not feature Ms Flint - on the Live Coverage tab above from 22:45 GMT.

tweets:, external Danny Alexander unleashes the yellow box

Image source, Twitter

House of Commons
Parliament

The future of local and regional newspapers is being debated by MPs in Westminster Hall. Plaid MP Jonathan Edwards says the titles are "often the link between what we do here in Westminster with our constituents, and the forum by which our constituents hold us to account".

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, PA

More fun is had at Danny Alexander's expense over at the Telegraph. Sketchwriter Michael Deacon is amused by the chief secretary to the Treasury's travails presenting the Lib Dem's own Budget - sorry, "alternative fiscal scenario" - amid "unceasing apoplectic din from Labour" in the Commons today.

Mr Deacon writes, external: "Danny Alexander enjoyed writing the Budget so much... that today he's written another one."

He goes on: "His [Danny Alexander's] 'better plan' was not a separate Budget. It was merely 'an alternative fiscal scenario'. For some reason, Labour MPs did not seem mollified. Nor did Adam Afriyie, a lone Tory who'd come along solely to denounce the whole business as 'everything that's wrong with politics today'."