Summary

  • At Labour's campaign launch, Ed Miliband announced he would cap the amount of profit private firms could make from the NHS in England

  • BBC News has seen leaked documents which suggest the Conservatives are considering cutting some welfare benefits

  • Debate and analysis continued after last night's television performances from David Cameron and Ed Miliband

  • Mr Cameron said he had "turned the economy around" while Mr Miliband said he was "tough enough" to be PM

  • Plaid Cymru launched their election campaign, saying Wales' future was in their party's hands

  • There are 41 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Angela Harrison and Sarah Weaver

  1. Who won leaders' interviews?

    Poll Graphic

    The first big set piece of the general election campaign generated tens of thousands of tweets under just one hashtag.

    #BattleForNumber10 shot to the top of Twitter's list of UK and worldwide trends just as Thursday's duelling interview session began, and by the time the broadcast ended more than 260,000 points, hastily photoshopped memes and wry observations had been posted - with similarly big numbers under related hashtags.

    The Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at think tank Demos, Ipsos Mori and the University of Sussex ran an online tracker during the debate which you can find here.

  2. Miliband played clever trick

    Ed played it clever by taking questions from the audience first: Gave them a chance to warm to him through soft questions and not much follow up. Dave floundered with Paxo and Ed got a lift by snapping back at him to the delight of the audience. To those that do not follow politics closely, Ed will have come across better. Unfortunately.

    Brian Shank, Politics live reader

  3. James Landale, BBC deputy political editor

    @BBCJLandale

    Tweets : Is "Hell yes, I'm tough" an Americanism? An echo of Ed Miliband's time in the US? Such as John Wayne's joke: "Hell yes, I'm a liberal."

  4. Fundamental choice

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Mr Miliband set out the "fundamental choice" at the general election, Douglas Alexander says. "I think it will have begun a process of reappraisal," he adds. "I think we should recognise the value of these discussions." He said after last night it’s frankly obvious why the prime minister didn't want to have head-to-head debates with the Labour leader and renews the challenge to Mr Cameron to have one with Ed Miliband. “If Mr Cameron was half as sure of himself, about leadership, about his record in government, he would be willing to go head to head and the truth is he’s run a mile from it,” he adds.

  6. Milband confounded expectations

    Douglas Alexander

    Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said Ed Miliband would have surprised a lot of people last night who would have been expecting a caricature that “they would have read about in the newspapers”. Instead they saw someone who was warm, honest and open, but who also communicated that passion, exactly that sense of toughness and steeliness to do the job, he says.

  7. Labour will raise taxes

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Mr Shapps adds Labour’s Ed Miliband came up with “almost nothing in terms of money” and where he would save it from. The simple conclusion is, that if Labour are elected, if Ed Miliband is prime minister I think it will be pretty chaotic,” he says. ”But the fact of the matter is there will be tax rises on your home, on your pension and on jobs and on business in the country to pay for the missing gap.”

  8. Cameron man with a plan

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Grant ShappsPA

    Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps tells the Today programme that David Cameron came across “as the man with the plan”. He says the prime minister handled a lot of hostile questions very well, and that the two opinion polls released today show that.

  9. Voter reaction to leader's debates

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    What did TV viewers make of last night's leaders' questions? The BBC's Matthew Price asked voters in the marginal seat of Lincoln - Toddlebox! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32082788

  10. Ed Miliband confronted

    The Mirror

    Protesters punched and "ambushed" the Labour leader Ed Miliband yesterday, the Daily Mirror is reporting. The incident is believed to have taken place in south-east London at around noon, ahead of the leaders' TV grilling later that day.

  11. Combative Ed

    Ed was rather combative with the audience, and still seems unwilling to apologise for the last government's prolific spending.

    John Baker Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire

  12. PM a 'victim'

    Kevin Maguire, associate editor at The Daily Mirror

    Actually he [Ed Miliband] was very passionate and he attacked back at Jeremy Paxman while David Cameron looked like a victim

  13. Milband only just held his own

    Ed Miliband was dealt all the good cards but only just held his own. He had no record to defend, had the benefit of going second and he was able to listen to Paxman versus Cameron, which shouldn't have been allowed.

    Graeme Lowe, Politics live reader

  14. SNP role in Westminster

    Scottish National Party (SNP) leader and Scottish first minster Nicola Sturgeon is on the Today programme. Asked what she would do if she’d faced Jeremy Paxman on last night’s TV debates, and in particular any potential deal with Labour, she said if people vote for the her party then what they will ensure is that Scotland’s voice is heard in Westminster.

    Nicola SturgeonPA

  15. Scottish influence

    Nicola Sturgeon

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Nicola SturgeonPA

    Scotland’s experience of Westminster politics, up until, now is either we have to put up with Tory governments that we don’t vote for or we get Labour governments that just end up implementing Tory policies. If there’s real SNP strength in the House of Commons then we can force progressive change and I think that’s something that will be hugely popular in Scotland but I suspect it will also win a lot of support elsewhere in the UK as well.

  16. 'No obvious continuity'

    Grant Shapps

    Grant Shapps

    The people that should make the judgement are the public and there are two polls out this morning which show that Cameron was the winner as far as the public are concerned. But look I think that if you've been prime minister you clearly have a record to defend and the opportunity to talk about your plan for the future, if you're the leader of the opposition of course you just stand on the side lines you throw in a few accusations it doesn't have to add up to anything very much, and I though that was very much the way Ed Miliband played it...there was no plan there was no obvious continuity.

  17. Paxo not match fit

    Paxo started well with both but faded fast. Didn't pick up Cameron on defence or housing, two high profile problems for the Tories.

    Had Miliband on the ropes by asking good questions on energy policies that he implemented in last Labour government and then lost his way by focusing on image and allowing Milliband to play to the audience. Paxo not match fit.

    David Taylor, Politics live reader

  19. Anti-Ed questions

    As an undecided voter, I'm shocked such a superficial, personal and clearly predetermined anti-Ed line of questioning has been perpetuated by both presenters. If it wasn't so clearly transparent, Cameron would be happy

    Jamie Neale. Politics live reader

  20. Soft interview

    These debates are boring and soft. Give us some gritty debate, discussion and challenge. Truly shocking. We are not interested in Ed Millibands relationship with his brother - old news! Get a grip!

    Julia Arthur, Politics live reader