Conservative Home

Boris wont like this... Paul Goodman, writing on Conservative Home,, external thinks the Conservatives should be prepared to negotiate with the SNP, possibly offering true federalism, in return for their limited support for a minority Cameron government.

The Daily Mail

If Labour might be keen on a multi-party deal, Boris Johnson thinks the Conservatives should say "stuff coalition with anyone". The London mayor - and prospective MP - has told the Daily Mail:, external "If we go into this thing issuing faint pheremonal offerings or mating signals to this or that party, it would be absolutely fatal."

The Mirror

Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the Daily Mirror, says Labour believe they "could finish second, external and their man would still be PM". With the Tories the biggest party but without an outright majority, "Miliband's aides are convinced that Cameron would struggle to corral enough support to keep him in No.10", he writes. "If that happened, Miliband would have 14 days to stitch together a deal. I'm told he is optimistic the SNP, Plaid, SDLP, Green, Respect and Lib Dem rump would favour him over another election."

BBC Radio 4 Today

And here's the link to Justin Webb's aforementioned feature from Leicester, as part of our series covering 100 seats in 100 days to the election.

Image source, Reuters

A bit more detail on some of the concrete things we're expecting to hear from Theresa May this morning:

• a future Conservative government would commission an independent review of the operation of Sharia courts in Britain

• there would be "steps to ensure the safeguarding of children in hitherto unregulated places", such as tuition centres

• British values would form "an integral part of applying for a visa"

• the creation of "banning orders" for extremist groups, which would make it a criminal offence to join or raise funds for a group that promotes hatred

tweets, external: Meeting young Leicester voters - friendly to Labour but keen to tell us their votes are not in the bag for any party

Both the UK and Scottish governments have been criticised by MPs on the Commons Public Administration Committee probing whether civil servants were impartial during the referendum campaign. The committee said advice from the most senior UK Treasury civil servant on a currency union should not have been published, and also questioned the use of public money for the Scottish government's independence White Paper. Read more.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent, BBC News

Whatever the truth of the Afzal Amin case, it feeds into a wider problem. One of the reasons the Conservatives have failed to win many inner city seats in recent years is that they haven't won over enough ethnic minority voters. They thought that in Mr Amin, a distinguished former Army captain, they had the perfect candidate to do that.

Image source, Reuters

One more thing on the agenda - Ed Miliband is heading to Clydebank to make a speech alongside Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Labour is under serious pressure in Scotland, with polls suggesting they could lose significant numbers of seats to the SNP. Jim Murphy admitted on Sunday that if the polls were replicated at the ballot box it would be "bloody awful" for his party, but he insisted there was reason for optimism. He also warned that votes for the SNP would make a Conservative government in Westminster more likely.

It's a packed agenda today. We're also expecting:

• a speech from Home Secretary Theresa May on tackling extremism. She's expected to appeal to Muslims to help root it out as she insists Britain must no longer tolerate those who fail to respect its values

• David Cameron will make a statement to the Commons following what might turn out to have been his last European Council summit

• The Public Accounts Committee - led by the formidable Margaret Hodge - resumes its hearings on tax avoidance and evasion at HSBC's private bank in Switzerland

• The Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Office for Budget Responsibility are in front of the Treasury Select Committee for a hearing about the Budget

Image source, Levi Hinds

Nigel Farage also branded anti-UKIP protesters "scum" after they invaded a pub where he was having a family lunch on Sunday. Mr Farage said his children "were so scared by their behaviour that they ran away to hide". His car was surrounded as he tried to drive away.

tweets:, external @UKIP will commit to spending 2% of Britain's GDP on defence if it is in government after the general election

Nigel Farage did the rounds of the political programmes on Sunday and this morning he will be launching his party's economic policy. Both he and UKIP's economic spokesman Paul O'Flynn will appear at an event in Manchester. Yesterday, Mr Farage told the Andrew Marr Show his priority was cutting tax for those worst off. And he said that while he'd ultimately like to reduce it for those at the top as well, that wasn't be a priority.

Image source, Daily Mail

Uncomfortable headlines for political party leaders appear on the front pages, with some papers saying the SNP could "hold Labour to ransom" after the election. Our full review is here.

Elsewhere this morning, influential business lobby the CBI is warning of the dangers of a power vacuum to the UK economy if no-one wins an outright majority at the election. It urged all parties to minimise "post-election uncertainty" and said whoever takes power must quickly agree a spending review and commit to action on EU reform and air capacity. Read more.

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent, BBC News

Afzal Amin's actions have left senior Conservatives incredulous. He will have an opportunity to account for himself at a meeting tomorrow, but there is little doubt about his fate. One senior figure said it was impossible to see how the suspended candidate could say anything that might justify holding talks with the English Defence League. Mr Amin has told the BBC he sought to bring people together, and denied deception, but he is likely to be gone within 48 hours; a replacement could be chosen by the weekend.

Ending his political career may be short work - restoring the standing of the Conservative Party in the crucial marginal of Labour-held Dudley North could take much longer, and a new candidate would have very little time. For Conservatives anxious about their party's standing in ethnic minority communities this has been a difficult and ill-timed story.

The big story of yesterday continues to dominate this morning. It concerns the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Dudley North, Afzal Amin, who is accused of scheming with the English Defence League to win votes. He says the allegations are completely untrue, but he has been suspended from the party and a senior Conservative source has told the BBC he could be removed completely within days. Read more.

Welcome to another day with the Politics Live team. Today is the first day of the last week of this Parliament - business wraps up in the Commons on Thursday. It's Victoria King and Matt Davis here and we'll bring you all the action and reaction to events today and keep you informed with everything that crops up - from the Today programme to Newsnight.