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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow, Nadia Khomami and Esther Addley

Election 2015 live: women leaders go head to head in radio debate

Senior MP’s on the LBC Radio debate L-R - Lib Dem Lynne Featherstone, Labour Party Harriet Harman, Ukip Diane James and Conservative Nicky Morgan
Senior MP’s on the LBC Radio debate L-R - Lib Dem Lynne Featherstone, Labour Party Harriet Harman, Ukip Diane James and Conservative Nicky Morgan

Evening summary

Today was another jam-packed day of political argument, but I don’t think anyone was expecting it to turn out the way it did. After Labour’s announcement yesterday that it plans to abolish the non-dom tax loophole, a policy that was received favourably by the majority of the public, the Conservatives were no doubt hoping for some news that would change the conversation. And they got that.

The big picture

Leading in the polls: Ed Miliband leaves after a campaign event in central London.
Leading in the polls: Ed Miliband leaves after a campaign event in central London. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/REUTERS

It was a good day for Ed Miliband. Two polls released within five minutes of each other this evening showed Labour taking a lead over the Conservatives. A Survation poll for the Mirror put Labour four points ahead, and a Panelbase poll put Labour six points ahead. Earlier today a TNS poll put Labour four points ahead of the Tories.

Most crucially, the Survation poll showed that Miliband’s personal ratings are above David Cameron’s for the first time ever. The poll also revealed that 59% of the public back Labour’s policy to abolish non-dom status, and only 16% are against. A poll by YouGov, which framed the question slightly differently, has support for the policy at 77%.

Another poll, released today by YouGov and the Times, found that 64% of the British public think Ed Miliband was right to take on his brother David. So, as it stands, the Conservatives are on the wrong side of public opinion.

What happened today

This is an issue of trust, and an issue of leadership ... We saw in that leadership election just what he would do to get into power. With Ed Miliband, you cannot be sure what kind of backstairs deal he is likely to do with the SNP if he’s got any prospect of getting into Number 10 Downing Street. And that is the uncertainty.

Douglas Alexander.
  • Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said Fallon was talking “rubbish” and that Labour would not compromise on its support for Trident. Ed Miliband also responded that Fallon had “demeaned himself” and that David Cameron should be “ashamed” of his party, which were running a campaign based on “deceit and lies”.
  • Miliband also made it clear that although Labour was currently committed to renewing Trident with four new submarines, it would review whether continuous at-sea deterrence could be provided with three boats - an idea the Lib Dems have also been pushing, but that the Tories have called a non-starter (see 10:31).
  • Former defence chiefs Lord West and Lord Richards said Trident is so important that it should not be allowed to become a political football.
Nicola Sturgeon.
  • Nicola Sturgeon said that though the SNP have made it clear that they will not vote for the renewal of Trident, they would not commit to voting against a Queen’s Speech containing Trident because they did not want to “get ahead of the election process”.
  • Labour said it would give all teenagers one-to-one careers advice during the launch of its education manifesto (see 3:20pm).
  • The Conservatives confirmed that they are publishing their manifesto on Tuesday next week, so that it does not clash with Labour’s launch on Monday (3:10pm).
  • Ukip said it would get rid of the 5% VAT on tampons and other sanitary products. And in a women’s leaders debate on LBC, Ukip’s Diane James said she admired Vladimir Putin’s “nationalism” (see 2:57pm).

Quote of the day

“The Tories are like a wounded, cornered animal at the moment” - Douglas Alexander, in response to Michael Fallon’s attacks on Miliband.

Hero of the day

CND’s general secretary Kate Hudson, who criticised the Conservatives for avoiding a serious debate about the future of Trident. The main issue, she pointed out, is that

Senior military figures warn that the £100bn white elephant of Trident replacement does nothing to keep us safe - and is resulting in thousands of jobs in the armed forces being slashed.

Villain of the day

The Lib Dem battle bus, if objects can be villains, for running over an unsuspecting pigeon while on the road. Guido Fawkes mocked up this fitting picture.

That’s all from me today. Join us again tomorrow, as we keep you up to date with all the various speeches, speculation and fall-outs from the general election campaign. Don’t worry, we’ll be doing this every day until 7 May - and possibly later.

Updated

A new ComRes/Mail phone poll is giving the Conservatives a 1% lead over Labour.

Updated

A leaked email has revealed the Conservatives were attempting to organise their own letter from doctors about the NHS. The email was published on Twitter by health writer Roy Lilley.

A Labour source told the Mirror:

This is desperate stuff from a Tory election campaign that is stuck in the gutter.

David Cameron has nothing to offer patients and can’t escape his dismal track record on the NHS. It won’t escape people’s notice that it comes on the same day waiting lists hit a new high.

In a letter to the Guardian on Tuesday, more than 140 senior doctors passed a damning judgment on the government’s stewardship of the NHS, which they said is under pressure because of unnecessary market-oriented changes.

Here’s tomorrow’s Guardian front page.

Just in:

At the beginning of this week it is highly unlikely that Lynton Crosby’s media grid will have read: Cameron family photoshoot, debate non-doms, get Michael Fallon to say Miliband had stabbed his brother in the back and now threatens to do the same to Britain.

For the first time in this campaign, the Conservatives have not been able to respond to a question with their preferred answer: “long term economic plan” - instead they have been forced to make it personal.

As polls show, on every topic debated this week, the Tories were on the wrong side of public opinion. But the election remains close. Polls in the run up to the election will give varying leads to both main parties - and in the all crucial seat calculator, Labour and the Conservatives are still virtually tied when it comes to the race for largest party.

Poll projection

However, there are three important factors here:

Ed Miliband

First, earlier trends showing that Miliband had closed the ratings gap with Cameron following the leaders’ interviews and debates have consolidated and been confirmed by all polling evidence since.

To date, the Tories have relied on the belief that Miliband’s unpopularity and doubts over his prime ministerial suitability in the eyes of the public would have ultimately proved decisive. This appears to be no longer true - and the continued attacks aren’t putting a dent in the polling deadlock.

Second, the Conservatives are now treading a perilous line. The Tories remain far more disliked than Labour, and the prime minister has consistently outpolled his party - this is why his personal lead over Miliband was so important, as on the other hand, Miliband under-performs compared to his party.

David Cameron

In most polls Cameron still enjoys a lead over the Labour leader on questions over competency and preferred PM, however the fact that the gap is no longer in the 20-point range but - at best - half that is now mooted by the fact Labour is more liked.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage calling the Conservatives nasty is not where the party wants to be four weeks to election day.

Tory HQ needs to find a plan B. In the words of a former Tory PM: “if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument”.

Third, the current arithmetic is against the Conservatives and instead favours Labour and the SNP. With both parties projected to win about 270-275 seats, the SNP’s 40-50 MPs will be crucial to forming a government - and Nicola Sturgeon has made clear she would back Miliband and vote down a Cameron government.

The fact of the matter is that Cameron needs the polls to change a lot more between now and election day than Miliband does.

There is still a month to election day and a lot can still happen - for starters, next week the party’s present their manifestos, and there are two televised events to go - but public opinion moves slowly and Cameron’s time is running out - and the last thing he needed was for his campaign to go off piste for a week.

Updated

The candidates were asked why a young person should vote for them. Featherstone said the Lib Dems would fight for civil liberties and freedom, for fairness and the NHS. She said the Lib Dems have taken the lowest paid out of tax. “I’m the originator and architect for same sex marriage, against female genital mutilation,” she said.

Morgan said the Conservatives want a country living within its means, has full employment, rewards work, and offers everyone security in retirement. “We’ve got more women in work, more women paying less tax, funding for domestic abuse services...” She said there’s only two people who can be prime minister and David Cameron has shown leadership over the last five years.

Harman said Labour think there should be every opportunity for women, that young women need a party that will tear down barriers. Labour believe in a fairer and more just society, for good public services as well as a strong economy, she said. “But I agree with Nicky, please vote, the suffragettes fought for your right to vote.”

James said Ukip want to see control returned to the UK and don’t want our future to be shackled to the EU.

That’s it from the women’s leaders debate.

LBC studio.
LBC studio Photograph: LBC

Updated

A lot of people outraged or surprised by James’ comments about Putin.

Updated

Here’s the exact interaction between Nicky Morgan and Harriet Harman about Michael Fallon’s personal attacks on Ed Miliband.

Morgan:

I’m afraid to say that when you ask people about Ed Miliband, the thing that most people know about him is the way that he did stab his brother in the back.

That goes to the judgment people make about him letting the country down.

We can have a debate about exactly where the knife entered.

Harman:

The concerted, malicious [tactic] really brings our politics down. It’s the same with the Daily Mail attacking Ed Miliband’s father.

At least Cameron sounded a bit shame-faced about it today.

Morgan:

I can tell you that people on the streets of where I am campaigning are saying a lot worse things about your leader, Harriet, and the kind of leader he would be. It is absolutely right to point it out.

Diane James just said she admires Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, because he is a nationalist. “I do admire him. He is a very strong leader. He is putting Russia first and he has issues with the EU.”

Updated

Morgan has asked Harman if a future labour government would raise fuel duty? She said they would not put up VAT or national insurance rates.

Harman

James asked if Labour would save the NHS. Harman said before 1997 the NHS was in a very difficult situation and Labour rescued it. “We don’t believe people should have to go private.” She said if you’ve got a commitment to cutting waiting lists, paying the private sector to treat NHS patients for free is “absolutely a good thing to do”, but it’s another thing to fragment and privatise the NHS.

Featherstone asked if Labour plans to remove housing benefits for under-25s. Harman said Labour want to make sure under-25s get jobs, and the situation with the deficit means they have to make difficult decisions. She insisted Labour would remain fair by doing things like abolish the bedroom tax.

Updated

I missed this about the NHS:

On a Westminster paedophile ring, Featherstone said we need to uncover the truth. “This is like a cancer right at the heart and soul of our government.” She said she hadn’t heard anything about the allegations against Cyril Smith until recently.

Harman said it’s easy for people in positions of power to get away with abuse. Jimmy Saville was untouchable, he was above the law, and young people felt noone would believe them, she said. “It was the same with the Catholic church. We mustn’t allow abuse of power.”

Updated

On all-women shortlists, Featherstone said she’s been trying to persuade her party to adopt them. Harriet Harman said all-women shortlists are important because politics has been a men-only business for too long. Morgan said the shortlists don’t change the reasons why people choose certain types of candidates, but the number of MPs in her party has tripled under David Cameron, due to mentoring programmes and education. James said politics can be a turn off to women coming into politics, she cited the example of PMQs. She added that Ukip is not in favour of all-women shortlists because they don’t need quotas.

Featherstone has asked Morgan about tax cuts. Morgan said lifting people out of paying income tax is the right thing to do. She said she stands by the coalition’s record, unlike the Lib Dems.

Harman then asked about Michael Fallon’s comments about Ed Miliband and whether Morgan disassociated herself from it. Morgan said the electorate realise there are only two people who can be prime minister after May 7, and Ed Miliband’s character is important, he did stab his brother in the back. Harman said it’s the same as when the Daily Mail said Miliband’s father hated Britain. “This is concerted and malicious. It brings our politics down. At least Cameron sounded a bit embarrassed, Nicky doesn’t. That’s not how we win elections in this country,” she said.

Morgan responded: “People on the streets say a lot worse things about your leader, Harriet.”

James

James asked Morgan why she’s determined to stop young people attending grammar school. Morgan said that her plan is to make sure excellence is available for everyone. “We don’t have a problem with grammar schools, I just want all children to go to excellent schools.”

Updated

The women leaders are asking each other questions. Harman has asked Featherstone which of Labour’s policies she most admires? Featherstone responded: “The equality Act was great work. It was a huge step forward”.

Featherstone

Harman also asked which of the things Featherstone voted for while in coalition but disliked? She said the bedroom tax.

James asked Featherstone why voters should believe a single thing Lib Dems have said, especially after breaking the tuition fee pledge? “We have beaten our chests” and apologised for the tuition tax, Featherstone said, adding: “We were babes in the wood”. She said the Lib Dems fought to make it the best policy they could, and that the real issue was whether it put the poorest children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds off. Figures showed numbers going to university were up, she said.

Nicky Morgan asked Featherstone why her party wasn’t proud of what they had achieved in government. She replied that her party are proud but that it’s not wrong for people to know the provenance of each idea.

Updated

Back to LBC: James says Ukip is supportive of immigration, and that it’s all about getting the numbers right and meeting the demands our industry and infrastructure needs.

Featherstone says all immigration is beneficial to the country.

Harman says she fears what would happen to our economy and standard of living if we cut immigration, but there are things that need to change.

Morgan says we need people to come in and contribute and pay their taxes but we need to crack down on abuses. She says Ukip are all over the place on this issue.

Ukip’s candidate in Eastleigh has just had to issue an apology for complaining about the cost of treating an HIV-positive Lib Dem candidate, saying he was the second one who had deliberately contracted the virus. In fact, Paul Childs was diagnosed with HIV in
2011 following a routine test after starting a new relationship with a man. He revealed he had HIV because he was infuriated by Nigel Farage’s “scaremongering” about foreigners with HIV. It was Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, another Lib Dem candidate, who had said he contracted it deliberately after suffering years of homophobic bullying and seeking annihilation.

On LBC, the leaders are being asked what practical measures they would take to stop young people being recruited by Islamic State.

Nicky Morgan

Nicky Morgan said all young people need to be educated about british values: democracy, rule of law, tolerance and respect.

Harriet Harman agreed, adding that you could give more advice to parents and schools about what to do.

Lynne Featherstone said that what was awful about the girls who went to Syria was an us and them mentality. The most important thing is to reach out in our own communities, she said.

Diane James said the multicultural agenda means different communities stay insular and we need a certain amount of “carrot and stick”. There needs to be a deterrent approach, such as revoking passports, she said. Harman called this nonsense - “we can’t just dump them somewhere else. It’s all our problem.”

Updated

The Sun are really getting involved in the campaign.

A Whitehall leak inquiry into a controversial memo which claimed that Nicola Sturgeon would prefer the Conservatives to form the next government could conclude before the general election, according to Britain’s most senior civil servant.

My colleague Rajeev Syal reports:

Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary, who is conducting the inquiry, has written that he is treating it as “a matter of the highest priority” and with “appropriate urgency” after being urged by a senior parliamentarian to resolve the matter before 7 May.

Sir Jeremy Heywood

He adds:

His comments, made in an email seen by the Guardian, are at odds with the views of the secretary of state for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael, who said that “these things happen” when it emerged that the document had come from his department.

Updated

Women leaders' debate on LBC

There’s going to be an all-female leaders debate on LBC now, which will be streamed live on the LBC website. It will involve Nicky Morgan for the Conservatives, Harriet Harman for Labour, Lynne Featherstone for the Lib Dems and Diane James for Ukip. It’s 90 minutes long so I won’t be posting everything that happens, but I’ll try and post some key points throughout the evening.

The four-way debate at the LBC studios.
The four-way debate at the LBC studios. Photograph: LBC

Updated

The Guardian is working with the pollsters BritainThinks to conduct focus groups throughout the election with 60 voters in five key marginals. Each has an app to feedback what they are noticing in the campaign in real time. This is what they are saying about Michael Fallon’s “stab the United Kingdom in the back” attack of the Labour leader:

More from polling analyst Mike Smithson:

But is John Curtice, a professor of politics at Strathclyde University and a research consultant for ScotCen Social Research, being too optimistic? Some people have cited 1992 as an example of election results contravening predictions (in that year Labour’s Neil Kinnock was ahead in polls leading up to the elections but lost out to John Major in the end). A Guardian reader also reflects on another incident:

User avatar for PJAGough

One swallow doesn't make a summer even though the polls are encouraging some of us are old enough to not only remember 1992 but also the farce of David Steele at his party conference when he told the assembled delegates "Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government". Still makes me laugh 34 years later.

It was before my time, but I believe what PJAGough is referring to is the SDP-Liberal Alliance’s spike in popularity in 1981. Public support for the Alliance was so positive (as high as 50% by late 1981) that it looked like the Liberals would be part of a government for the first time in over half a century. A over-confident David Steel told delegates at the Liberal Assembly that year: “Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government!” But after the Falklands the Conservatives regained the lead in polls by a wide margin and the Alliance ultimately lost. No grand gestures yet then, Ed.

My colleague Marina Hyde has written about David Cameron’s visit to Nottingham, where, she says, he patronised some National Grid apprentices by explaining the minimum wage and making football jokes:

These were working folk, so he began with a joke that combined football with something else they would understand: power surges. “I’m hoping for the big moment when Villa win the FA Cup and we can all have a cup of tea after the game and cause a huge power surge. Well, I can dream, can’t I?” Silence. Oof. Whichever speechwriter came up with that one is definitely on traffic duty for the rest of the week.

David Cameron thought he had cracked a joke but it failed to spark, writes Marina Hyde.
David Cameron thought he had cracked a joke but it failed to spark, writes Marina Hyde. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Analysis from the Press Association shows that David Cameron has visited the most seats during the election campaign so far. The prime minister has been to 18 constituencies, two more than Nick Clegg’s 16. Ed Miliband is next on 10 visits, and Nigel Farage is on six.

Cameron is also the only leader to have been to all four UK nations. The Conservatives are clocking up those air miles in an effort to reach more voters.

Nigel Farage and Natalie Bennett have condemned the personal attack on Ed Miliband by the Conservatives. Speaking in Kent, Farage said Michael Fallon’s comments were “very, very personal”. He added:

Nigel Farage

I just fear that we have an election campaign that is turning into an American, negative, shouting match between two parties, and I don’t think the public like it. I certainly don’t.

During a visit to Norwich, Bennett said the Trident debate had raised a very important issue, but that the way in which it was raised was deeply damaging:

Natalie Bennett

This kind of personalised attack is the kind of Punch and Judy politics that is really damaging our political fabric.

I don’t think Cameron will enjoy being effectively referred to as nasty by the person many deem to be the poster-man of nasty politics four weeks before a general election.

Updated

There’s talk among Westminster circles that Tony Blair gave a speech at Labour HQ earlier today. As the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman writes, “it was a very upbeat address, in which Blair told Labourites he was optimistic about the party’s chances in this election.”

Former Prime Minister and MP for Sedgefield Tony Blair gives a speech to waiting party members ahead of a visit to the construction site for the new Hitachi Trains Europe factory on April 7, 2015 in Sedgefield, England. The visit came as part of Labour's campaign build up ahead of the General Election on May 7 which is predicted to be Britain's closest national election.

The former PM is reported to have also reflected on his speech on Tuesday warning of the dangers of an EU referendum. It’s interesting because it puts an end to accusations that a) Blair is reluctant to endorse Miliband and b) pessimistic about his party’s future. No doubt he’ll be pleased about the result of this evening’s polls.

Updated

The reaction to tonight’s polls by the Twitter commentariat has been hesitant - after all, it is only three polls. But the fact that Miliband’s approval ratings are above those of Cameron’s for the first time is momentous, and a sign, perhaps, the the Tories’ negative campaigning is backfiring.

EMBARGOED TO 2100 WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon on stage for a BBC Scotland Election TV Debate at the Elphinstone Hall at KingÕs College in Aberdeen. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday April 8, 2015. See PA story ELECTION Scotland. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Another thing to note from the Survation poll is that Nicola Sturgeon has the highest approval ratings of any political leader in the UK.

Updated

This latest flurry of polls is good for Labour. As well as the topline figures mentioned in the previous post, crucially, Ed Miliband’s personal ratings are above Cameron’s for the first time ever:

In the Survation poll for the Mirror, 59% of the public back Labour’s policy to abolish non-dom status, and only 16% are against. (YouGov, which framed the question slightly differently, had support for the policy at 77%.)

Another poll, released today by YouGov and the Times, finds a majority of the British public think Ed Miliband was right to take on his brother David:

In short: Ed Miliband is having a good week in the office, and critically on all this week’s issues and discussion, the Tories appear to be on the wrong side of public opinion.

The Guardian’s latest projection has Labour as the largest party.

poll projection

Three polls put Labour ahead of Tories

Two polls released within five minutes of each other this evening show Labour taking a lead over the Conservatives. A Survation poll for the Mirror puts Labour four points ahead, and a Panelbase poll puts Labour six points ahead. Earlier today a TNS poll put Labour four points ahead of the Tories.

A YouGov poll for the Times also revealed today that 77% of people support Labour’s plan to end non-doms, with 20% opposing.

Hi all, I’m taking over from Andrew for the rest of the day. I’m on Twitter @nadiakhomami and I’ll be reading your comments below the line as well, so you can get in touch if you think there’s anything I should be covering but haven’t.

My colleague Severin Carrell has just drawn my attention to the fact that defending SNP MP Angus McNeil and MSP Christina McKelvie have deleted tweets monstering a woman who expressed support for Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy in Tuesday’s STV debate. The online attacks led to Nicola Sturgeon herself having to defend the woman on Twitter.

In response, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Kezia Dugdale MSP has released this statement:

For the second time in a week Nicola Sturgeon has had to take to Twitter to protect people being subject to the most vile abuse from cybernats and the dregs of the internet.

This must stop now. Nicola Sturgeon must put an end to this farce, and demand a public apology from Christina McKelvie and Angus MacNeil who encouraged this frightening smear campaign.

Social media a wonderful thing for our democracy, encouraging debate and supporting people to engage with politics on their own terms.

But when a mob uses these tools to try and silence a young women from expressing her views we need to ask serious questions about the state of Scotland’s political culture.

A young woman has been targeted for expressing a political preference. Senior SNP politicians aided and abetted that mob in their work, retweeting attacks on a young women simply because she disagreed with them.

The debacle follows on from our story on Monday revealing that Labour’s election strategy chief Douglas Alexander had deleted tweets claiming Sturgeon backs the Tories. Asked by the Guardian why he deleted the tweets, Alexander declined to comment, but admitted: “No one will ever know for certain what went on between Nicola Sturgeon and the French ambassador. But what we do know is that the Tories are desperate for the SNP to do well, and the SNP are telling voters across Britain to vote for anyone but Labour.”

Updated

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, claims support for Ukip is rising. This is what he said on a visit to Broadstairs in Kent.

Support this week for Ukip has rallied. Since the debates last week there is a very clear firming of the polls on Ukip and I think the longer the argument goes on about who is the NHS for - is it for British people or the whole world? - all the while that argument continues, Ukip will be firm in the polls.

Can we keep going for 28 days? I believe so strongly in what we are doing, I don’t doubt that I can run to the line.

That’s all from me, Andrew Sparrow, today. My colleague Nadia Khomami is now taking over for the rest of the day.

Lord West
Lord West Photograph: Sky News

Lord West, the former head of the navy and a security minister in the last Labour government, told Sky News earlier this afternoon that Michael Fallon’s comment about Ed Miliband being capable of “stabbing the UK in the back” over Trident renewal was an “outrageous thing to say”. He said he was confident that Labour would go ahead with Trident renewal.

He also claimed that the Tory charge that Labour would do a compromise deal with SNP over Trident was hypocritical in the light of David Cameron’s willingness to delay the Trident “maingate” decision to appease the Lib Dems.

If you look back to 2010, when the Conservatives came into power as part of the coalition, David Cameron could very easily have brought forward the “maingate” and made the decision for the replacing of these submarines, which are getting very old, and he could have done it in the last parliament and it would not have been a political football. But it was made a political football because there was, in Fallon’s terms, “a dirty agreement” with the Lib Dems about it [to delay the decision until after the election]. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

I’ve have a request for more on Labour’s education manifesto. The headline announcement was the one about one-to-one careers advice (see 10.13am.) Otherwise, there does not seem to be much new in the document, but here are the key points anyway.

The NUT has said there are “some positive elements” in the manifesto, but it wants an overhaul of Ofsted, which Labour is not proposing.

And the NASUWT union has issued a rather more positive statement on the manifesto, saying “the emphasis on ensuring that there is high-quality vocational provision would mark an end to the restrictions of the coalition’s narrow, elitist, academically focused curriculum that is stifling the talents and skills of so many of our young people.”

At his Q&A earlier David Cameron said that he wanted a majority because single-party government would be more “decisive” and “accountable” than coalition.

I think I have demonstrated I can work with other parties and show them the respect and work in partnership, and actually get quite a lot of things done. But I think it is time for a single party government. I think it is more accountable, and I will tell you why.

When you have a coalition you inevitably have to take your manifesto and someone else’s manifesto and you go into a dark room and you have to make exchanges and deals. People don’t actually get what they vote for.

I think we are ready as a country to have a single party government, a more decisive, more accountable government. That is what I hope to deliver in the next parliament.

David Cameron holding a Q&A at the National Grid Training Centre in Newark-on-Trent
David Cameron holding a Q&A at the National Grid Training Centre in Newark-on-Trent Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

Nick Clegg was in sunny North Cornwall this morning, paying a visit to the Lib Dem candidate and minister in the department for energy, food and rural affairs, Dan Rogerson. Truro-born Rogerson has a slim majority of 6.4%, is a champion of the Cornish language and has been chair of the all-party parliamentary group on cheese.

Clegg was asked how he felt the campaign was going. “I think it’s going methodically,” he replied.

“It’s not going to be a starburst campaign where there’s a Damascene conversion where everyone says ‘hallelujah, the Liberal Democrats are right’. It’s not going to be like that. It’s a much more incremental campaign where we are trying to build up the case and, so far at least, our opponents just as much as ourselves are helping to make our case for us.”

Clegg said that it was becoming apparent to the electorate that the important question was “who is going to accompany Ed Miliband or David Cameron into Downing Street?”

The Lib Dem leader said that he was sorry there weren’t going to be more TV debates that he could take part in, as it was a great opportunity to get the Lib Dem message across. “There’s no great vested interest in the British press that is gagging to tell the Liberal Democrat story for us, never has been and no doubt never will be.”

“So any opportunity I have to talk to people directly in their living rooms in very significant numbers is something I would relish.”

He added that he’d love to take part in the challengers’ debate next Thursday, but that the broadcasters had been very clear that he wasn’t invited.

Nick Clegg with Lib Dem candidate Dan Rogerson in Bodmin, Cornwall
Nick Clegg with Lib Dem candidate Dan Rogerson in Bodmin, Cornwall Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Here’s a Guardian video of Michael Fallon criticising Ed Miliband.

And here is Miliband responding.

Updated

And, while we’re on the subject of Boris Johnson, he is not going to be replaced by the former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, despite what the Sunday Times said recently. According to the New York Times, when asked about the prospect of running London, he replied: “Zero chance, zero interest.”

For anyone still wondering what the Tories are up to today, Isabel Hardman, in a great blog for Coffee House, has reminded us what Boris Johnson once wrote about advice he received from an “Australian friend”. Johnson wrote:

Let us suppose you are losing an argument. The facts are overwhelmingly against you, and the more people focus on the reality the worse it is for you and your case. Your best bet in these circumstances is to perform a manoeuvre that a great campaigner describes as “throwing a dead cat on the table, mate”.

‘That is because there is one thing that is absolutely certain about throwing a dead cat on the dining room table – and I don’t mean that people will be outraged, alarmed, disgusted. That is true, but irrelevant. The key point, says my Australian friend, is that everyone will shout “Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!”; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief.’

Lynton Crosby, the Conservatives’ election chief. He’s from Australia
Lynton Crosby, the Conservatives’ election chief. He’s from Australia Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Labour has agreed its manifesto, according to Paul Richards.

Under Clause V of the party’s constitution, the manifesto has to be agreed at a special joint meeting involving the shadow cabinet and the national executive committee.

Nick Clegg is campaigning in Poole, where apparently the Lib Dems are so popular that they produce Nick Clegg cupcakes.

To his credit, Clegg is not making any grand claims about his campaign.

The Conservatives have confirmed that they are publishing their manifesto on Tuesday next week, so that it does not clash with Labour’s launch on Monday. A Tory source told the Press Association.

Labour tried to avoid scrutiny of their manifesto by doing it on the same day as ours. So we are moving ours. We want them to have a full day of scrutiny and we have a full day to tell people about our plans for a better future.

Scottish Labour has attacked the SNP on the grounds that its plans for full fiscal autonomy would leave an £8bn black hole in the Scottish budget. (See 12.17pm.) The Lib Dems have gone one further, and knocked the figure up to £40bn (presumably multiplying it by five, to cover the term of a Westminster parliament). This is from Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem business minister and East Dunbartonshire candidate.

Yesterday we heard Nicola Sturgeon pledge that SNP MPs would vote for full fiscal autonomy in the first year of a new parliament. She needs to explain why she backs a plan that would leave a £40bn black hole in Scottish finances. How on earth would that help us fund our NHS properly?

If neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband wins a majority, one of them will have to assemble a working majority block by block. That has inspired those folks at Bloomberg to explain it all with a Lego video.

Ukip says it would scrap VAT on tampons

Ukip has said it would get rid of the 5% VAT on tampons and other sanitary products. This is from Suzanne Evans, Ukip’s head of policy.

No other party can pledge to take this simple step as under EU rules no item that has ever had VAT charged on it can have VAT removed completely. This shows not only how ridiculous EU legislation is, but how very wrong it is that we’ve given our tax sovereignty over to a bunch of faceless - and mostly male - EU Commissioners who simply don’t understand real life, let alone real life for women.

The rules are so daft, that you can go for a swim without paying any VAT, but you’ll be charged for it on the tampon you need to wear in order to go for a swim. It’s plain stupid.

Suzanne Evans at a press conference this morning
Suzanne Evans at a press conference this morning Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Nigel Farage has got a record coming out, or not, the Press Association reports.

A record label is releasing a completely silent track called The Wit And Wisdom Of Nigel Farage.

Alcopop! Records will release the blank 7” vinyl on May 4, the week of the General Election.

It will be housed in a sleeve with a pop art style cartoon of the Ukip leader drinking a pint and giving the thumbs up.

A remix of the track by experimental metal band Enter Shikari will feature on the B side and include dripping taps, ambient noise and seagulls.

A proportion of the profits will be donated to the Migrants Rights Network, an NGO which campaigns in support of immigrants in Britain.

The idea is based on Stiff Records’s 1980 record The Wit And Wisdom Of Ronald Reagan. The completely silent LP sold 30,000 copies.

The Wit and Wisdom of Nigel Farage - cover
The Wit and Wisdom of Nigel Farage - cover Photograph: Alcopop!

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson with Rio the Border Collie on a Quad Bike at Clochnahill Farm, Stonehaven while campaigning.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson with Rio the Border Collie on a Quad Bike at Clochnahill Farm, Stonehaven while campaigning. Photograph: Scottish Conservative/PA

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, has been campaigning in Aberdeenshire. She accused the SNP of being “all over the place” on whether to have a second independence referendum.

The SNP seem to by trying to ride two horses, saying to people, ‘It’s okay, we’re a safe vote, we’re not going to push for another referendum’, and then saying to their tens of thousands of new members ‘don’t worry another referendum is just around the corner and we can push for it in one more heave’.

Nicola Sturgeon is all over the place on whether there is going to be a second referendum.

Davidson also rejected claims that there was a split between her and David Cameron over a second referendum, even though Cameron said yesterday he did not want another for a generation, while she said Westminster would not block one. Today she said: “I don’t think that there is anything between us.”

Updated

While his Tory colleagues have been on the attack over Trident, George Osborne has been polishing his “one of the guys” credentials with a photo-op at a garage in St Austell, Cornwall.

The chancellor posed for photographs with apprentices at Hawkins garage, where he was seen tinkering under a bonnet and drinking tea with the lads.

George Osborne works under a car being serviced at Hawkins garage, St Austell
George Osborne works under a car being serviced at Hawkins garage, St Austell …
… and sinks a cuppa with apprentice mechanics while wearing a working man’s jumper.
… and sinks a cuppa with apprentice mechanics while wearing a working man’s jumper. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Updated

The SDLP won’t vote for Trident renewal, Henry McDonald reports.

If the nationalist SDLP return all three of their seats to Westminster they will support fellow nationalists’ demands in the Commons for Trident to be abolished.

Party leader and South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell entered the Trident nuclear deterrent debate today by describing the defence strategy as “embarrassingly out-dated.”

McDonnell said: “The Tories seek to sink billions into this white elephant and in the same breath they claim that the most brutal cuts seen in decades are a necessity. This is an insult to the millions living under their austerity agenda and we along with the SNP and Plaid Cymru, would aim to ensure that this is not one continued by a Labour government.”

Ed Miliband should be guaranteed the support of the SDLP MPs - McDonnell, Margaret Ritchie in South Down and Mark Durkan in Foyle - but this new condition regarding Trident’s abolition could cause the Labour leadership some headaches in the post 7 May shakedown.

Michael Fallon v Ed Miliband over Trident - who's winning?

Michael Fallon.
Michael Fallon.

In one of his previous jobs, Michael Fallon was deputy chairman of the Conservative party. It was his job to tour the broadcasting studios and deliver the party’s message. This morning he also looked like someone sent out to sell a dubious line on behalf of his superiors. Ed Miliband was certainly suggesting that in his Q&A, when he implied that David Cameron was ultimately to blame for the Fallon attack strategy. (See 10.43am.)

Fallon summarised the case against Miliband in his speech this morning. Here is the key extract.

Every day it becomes clearer that Ed Miliband will do anything to get into Downing Street. Day after day he refuses to rule out categorically doing any deal with the SNP. This silence speaks volumes about the man. His weakness. His refusal to be straight with the British public. And above all, his willingness to play fast and loose with one of the most precious things that any prime minister of the United Kingdom is entrusted to protect: the security of our country ...

Last night, [Nicola Sturgon, the SNP leader] said “you’d better believe Trident is a red line.” So if Ed Miliband wants the keys to Number 10, he must abandon any plans to renew our Vanguard ballistic missile submarines.

The SNP’s naïve world view would sacrifice the long-term security of the UK and play into the hands of our enemies. Their policy is a threat to us all – the people of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. When Britain could face nuclear blackmail by rogue states, this self-indulgent approach is more suited to a student protest group than a party of government.

It is a sign of Ed Miliband’s weakness that he has failed to rule out a deal.

Earlier, in an article in the Times, Fallon argued that Miliband’s past showed that he was exactly the sort of treacherous fellow who would “stab the UK in the back”. Fallon wrote:

Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader. Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister.

HMS Vengeance departs for Devonport prior to a refit in February 2012 off the coast of Largs, Scotland.
HMS Vengeance departs for Devonport prior to a refit in February 2012 off the coast of Largs, Scotland. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Now, during an election campaign, politicians routinely lose their dishonesty inhibitions and start engaging in fanciful speculation. (I was thinking at one point of compiling a list, but realised it would take too long.) But, even by the standards of this election, this argument from Fallon is weapon-grade nonsense. Here are five reasons why.

1 - Miliband has explicitly said that he would not compromise over Trident in return for SNP support. Jeremy Paxman asked him directly about this two weeks ago.

Paxman: What about Alex Salmond’s other types of blood money that he would like to exempt or exert from England? What about for example a promise not to recommission Trident, perhaps move it out of Scotland, would you go along with that?

Miliband: No.

Some scepticism about politicians’ promises is understandable, but Labour has been about as explicit as it could be on this.

2 - A Labour/SNP pact of the kind Fallon suggests is not on the cards anyway. Miliband has ruled out a coalition with the SNP. The SNP has said it would refuse a coalition with Labour, or a confidence and supply agreement, that included an agreement on Trident renewal. That leaves only one final way in which the SNP could support Labour, on a vote by vote basis. This morning Derek Mackay, the SNP chair, explicitly said the SNP could vote with Labour on some issues while refusing to back them on Trident. (See 7.29am.) Mackay’s comments, and Nicola Sturgeon’s own comments on this (see 1.10pm), also suggest that the SNP could back Labour on the Queen’s Speech, or on a confidence motion, despite their disagreement on Trident. Sturgeon said the SNP would not vote for Trident, but it would be easy to leave Trident out of the Queen’s Speech; plenty of issues are never included in it.

3 - Labour would not need SNP votes to renew Trident anyway. With the Tories in favour, there will almost certainly be a majority for Trident renewal in the next parliament.

4 - The argument about Miliband’s brother is specious, as well as in questionable taste. There is no logical reason why Miliband’s decision to stand in a leadership election against his brother would make him any more or less likely to compromise on Trident.

5 - It is also hypocritical, because the Conseratives compromised on Trident in the interests of forming a coalition. They delayed the “maingate” decision on Trident replacement.

All this explains why commentators, from the right as well as the left, have been so dismissive of Fallon’s comments today. See 9.14am.

That said, the fact that Fallon has lost the argument decisively in the Westminster village does not necessarily mean this will do the Tories any harm in the country at large. Here are four reasons why the Conservatives could benefit.

1 - Some people are daft enough to believe what Fallon is saying. We’ll see how this get covered in the press tomorrow, but many papers aren’t exactly straining hard to be fair to the Labour party at the moment.

2 - The row has knocked Labour’s non-dom plans off the agenda. That suits Tory strategists for obvious reasons.

3 - Forcing Miliband to profess his support for Trident may help the Greens attract support from potential Labour voters who do not support nuclear weapons.

4 - Anything that revives the prospect of Miliband sharing power with the SNP probably helps the Conservatives in England.

So, who’s winning overall? In the court of intelligent opinion (which I would like to think includes all Guardian readers, and plus a large chunk of the rest of the 46m electorate) Fallon has lost this argument badly. But that does not necessarily mean that the controversy will have undermined the Conservatives in the country at large.

Updated

Sturgeon won't commit to voting against a Queen's Speech containing Trident

On the campaign trail today Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, reaffirmed her party’s opposition to Trident.

The SNP has made very clear that Trident is a fundamental issue, so we would never be in any deal with a Labour government who is going to renew Trident and we would never vote for the renewal of Trident or for anything that facilitated that renewal. It is one example of where we want to build progressive alliances in the House of Commons.

But this did not necessarily mean that the SNP would vote against a Queen’s Speech containing Trident, she revealed. When asked if the SNP would vote against a Queen’s Speech including plans for Trident renewal, she said she did not want to “get ahead of the election process”, adding: “I am making it very clear that the SNP will not vote for the renewal of Trident.”

Our picture desk has put together a gallery of the day’s best images from the campaign trail – including this one, which lends itself to a caption competition.

David Cameron visits the John Taylor bell foundry in Loughborough.
David Cameron visits the John Taylor bell foundry in Loughborough. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Updated

Three-minute video: will the Tories’ attack over Trident hurt Labour?

Guardian columnists Jonathan Freedland and Owen Jones discuss defence secretary Michael Fallon’s attack on Labour over the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons. Would Labour need to do a deal with the Scottish Nationalists over Trident? Is it even an issue that resonates with the public? And did Labour’s slight lead in the polls provoke Fallon’s personal attack on Ed Miliband?

Fallon v Miliband - Key quotes

Here are the key quotes in the Michael Fallon v Ed Miliband row

Michael Fallon in the Times overnight

Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader. Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister.

Fallon on the Today programme at 8.10am, defending the comment

This is an issue of trust, and an issue of leadership ... We saw in that leadership election just what he would do to get into power.

With Ed Miliband, you cannot be sure what kind of backstairs deal he is likely to do with the SNP if he’s got any prospect of getting into Number 10 Downing Street.

Nick Boles, the Conservative minister, on Twitter at 8.45am

Ask yourself this. Who does Vladimir Putin want to see running Britain after 7th May?

Answer: the man who abandoned the Syrians to their fate and the woman who wants to scrap our nuclear deterrent.

Ed Miliband at his press conference, at around 10.30am

Michael Fallon is a decent man but today I think he has demeaned himself and demeaned his office. National security is too important to play politics with. I will never compromise our national security, I will never negotiate away our national security ...

I’ve got to say, I think the British people deserve better than what the Conservative party are offering in this campaign, which is a campaign based on deceit and lies.

David Cameron at around 10.30am, defending Fallon

Michael Fallon is making a very important point which is first of all only the Conservatives are absolutely guaranteeing a full replacement of Trident with four submarines and continuous at sea deterrence. It is important that in a dangerous insecure world we have that ultimate insurance policy. That’s guaranteed with the Conservatives.

Philip Hammond declines to back personal aspect of Fallon's attack on Miliband

On the Daily Politics, Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, has also refused to back the personal aspect of Michael Fallon’s attack on Ed Miliband.

Q: Earlier you spoke about respecting people in politics. But your defence spokesman accused Ed Miliband of stabbing his brother in the back. Is that negative campaigning?

Cameron says he does not accept that. In an uncertain world, it is important to replace the nuclear deterrent. But Labour are playing “fast and loose” with the nuclear deterrent.

We need to know whether Labour is really committed to Trident? And will Labour rule out a deal with the SNP? That is a serious issue, and why Michael Fallon was right to raise this in a pretty blunt way.

(Again, though, Cameron refused to endorse the personal aspect of Fallon’s attack on Miliband. See 11.04am.)

At the Q&A Cameron says the minimum wage is too low. The government over-ruled the Low Pay Commission to raise it, he says. He says he wants to see it go up more.

The Scottish Labour party has put out a statement about the Today programme interview with Derek Mackay, the SNP party chair. (See 7.29am.) Mackay told the programme that he did not dispute the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ claim that full fiscal autonomy would lead to a £7-8bn shortfall in Scotland’s budget. Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour deputy leader, said this was “an astonishing admission”. She went on:

[The SNP’s] reckless plans will mean an immediate loss of £7.6bn to Scottish public spending. That is more than half the NHS budget. It is more than is spend on state pensions in Scotland, and it is more than we spend on education in a year.

Nicola Sturgeon must come clean. The SNP manifesto must have full detail on the costs and the impact of full fiscal autonomy.

Q: Personal integrity is important, and politicians should avoid personal attacks on each other. What will you do to stop this?

Cameron says he generally agrees with this point. When politicians have to cooperate on matters of national interest, they put their differences aside. He says he formed a coalition, and showed parties could work together.

CND has criticised the Conservatives for avoiding a serious debate about the future of Trident. This is from CND’s general secretary, Kate Hudson.

With the final vote on Trident replacement due in 2016, at an estimated cost of £100bn, this is the final election before the decision – and it is one which requires a higher level of debate than the Tories’ name-calling. While the Tories are happy to indulge in cheap personal attacks, they’re running scared from a serious debate about defence. Senior military figures warn that the £100bn white elephant of Trident replacement does nothing to keep us safe - and is resulting in thousands of jobs in the armed forces being slashed. How a blind commitment to squandering our overstretched national resources on a Cold War weapon can be touted as being “strong on defence” is beyond me.

In response to a question about engineering, Cameron says maths is now the most popular subject at A level. We are seeing a manufacturing revival, he says.

David Cameron has just started a PM Direct event in the West Midlands - ie, a Q&A with voters. There is a live feed on the BBC website.

These can get a bit dull. I will be monitoring it, and I will report the highlights, but I won’t be aiming for minute-by-minute coverage.

David Cameron at a PM Direct event at the National Grid Training Centre in Eakring.
David Cameron at a PM Direct event at the National Grid Training Centre in Eakring. Photograph: Andrew Parsons / i-Images

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, sits on a sofa with children and plays video games during a visit to Loanhead after-school club and community nursery
Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, sits on a sofa with children and plays video games during a visit to Loanhead after-school club and community nursery. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Updated

Michael Fallon has been trending on Twitter today. According to Tweetdeck, here are the five tweets mentioning Fallon this morning, all from leftwingers, that have received more than 100 retweets.

My colleague Frances Perraudin has filed more detail about what Nick Clegg was saying on LBC (see 9.19am) about Lib Dem plans to reduce the number of Trident submarines.

The Liberal Democrats have said they would only build three replacement Trident submarines and would not have nuclear weapons continuously at sea.

The party said the move would save £4bn out of £100bn over the lifetime of the project. They admitted that their policy was partly symbolic and represented an attempt to “step down the nuclear ladder”.

Speaking on LBC, Nick Clegg said: “I find it quite extraordinary that the Conservatives appeared this morning to have elevated this nuclear weapons system as the most important which they’re in politics for and saying it’s a red line, all this kind of stuff.”

“But I have to say to you I think many people listening think it’s pretty odd that a major party like the Conservative party think that’s more important than delivering jobs or fairer taxes, better pensions or money for our schools and nurseries and hospitals.”

He said the Liberal Democrats were of the view that you could defend the country and maintain the nuclear deterrent without doing it in “the all singing all dancing expensive way that the Conservative and Labour party propose.”

“A lot of the threats we now face are stateless groups and violent extremism,” said Clegg. “Groups like Isil are not a state and don’t have a conventional army. They are driven by these medieval ideologies. This is the kind of fluid world we live in.”

“Having a very expensive nuclear submarine out in the Indian ocean, or wherever it is, 24 hours a day does not do anything to deal with those threats.”

“If you look at the conflicts we’ve been embroiled in over the last few years - Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya - these are not conventional conflicts that can be dealt with with cold war weaponry. Both the Labour and Conservative parties, unsrprisingly because they are the old parties in the political system, are stuck in cold war thinking.”

Updated

Former defence chiefs Lord West and Lord Richards say Trident should not be political football

The Trident nuclear submarine HMS Victorious on patrol off the west coast of Scotland.
The Trident nuclear submarine HMS Victorious on patrol off the west coast of Scotland. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Two former defence chiefs have said Trident is so important that it should not be allowed to become a political football. My colleague Richard Norton-Taylor has been in touch with Lord West, the former head of the navy and former Labour security minister, and Lord Richards (David Richards), the former chief of defence staff, and this is what they have said about today’s controversy.

From Lord West

Labour is very clear. It will maintain CASD ( continuous at-sea deterrence). [The nuclear deterrent] needs to be dragged out of the political arena - it’s too important for the nation.

From Lord Richards

The world is very troubled. Many strategists believe things will get more fragile and dangerous before there is any hope of them getting better. This is not a time for politics to get in the way of facts or what is in our vital national interests. Trident is a key element, that of deterrence, in our overall military strategy. It will only deter potential adversaries if it’s effectiveness is guaranteed. No other system can meet this vital criteria. Until one does, and there is nothing on the horizon that I know of, there is no alternative to a submarine launched system, ie a Trident successor.

Updated

Miliband says Conservative campaign is 'hopeless' and 'pathetic'

Ed Miliband smiles after launching Labour’s education manifesto in central London.
Ed Miliband smiles after launching Labour’s education manifesto in central London. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Here are some more quotes from Ed Miliband’s Q&A (see 10.43am) on the Trident issue.

  • Miliband said Tory and Labour policy on Trident was essentially the same.

Our position is continuous at-sea deterrence, like the Conservative party, renewing Trident, like the Conservative party, multi-lateral disarmament, like the Conservative party.

It’s absolutely fine to have differences, but making up differences when differences don’t exist on national security, is frankly a ridiculous and pathetic way to conduct a campaign.

  • He said he was not bothered by the personal attacks on him from the Conservatives. Asked if Michael Fallon’s comment about him stabbing his brother in the back had got to him, he replied:

No, and I’ll tell you why. Because the Conservative Party can throw what they like at me, they can make all the personal attacks on me that they want to, but I’ve got use to it.

And you know what? I’m resilient. And I’m resilient for one reason alone - because I’m fighting for the British people in this campaign. I’m fighting for the kind of country the British people want.

  • He said David Cameron should be ashamed of the Conservative party’s tactics.

I think David Cameron should be ashamed. He’s got nothing positive to say about the future of the country, he’s got no forward vision for the country. And he sends out his minions, like Michael Fallon, to engage in desperate smears.

I think decent Conservatives right across our country, decent Conservative MPs, decent Conservative party members, decent people right across Britain, will say ‘Come on, we’re better than this kind of politics’.

  • He said the Conservative campaign was “hopeless” and “pathetic”. He was also asked to respond to these tweets, from the Conservative minister Nick Boles.

Miliband replied:

Why does a campaign descend into the gutter. Because they’re a campaign that’s failing. That’s why campaigns descend into the gutter - because they are desperate. No doubt this is (Tory campaign strategist) Lynton Crosby pulling the strings, the puppet-master behind the scenes telling them what to do, sending these people out to do these things, but honestly it’s just hopeless and it’s pathetic.

  • He said Cameron should show some leadership.

With four weeks of this campaign to go, I think David Cameron should get a grip. He should get a grip on this campaign. That’s what leadership is about. He is supposed to be running this campaign, he should take some responsibility for the kind of campaign that’s being run.

Updated

John Harris’s election road trip

Guardian columnist John Harris has started an election road trip. You can keep track of his progress with videos launched every Tuesday and Thursday until polling day.

He kicks off the video series with A tale of two Kensingtons, which takes the political temperature in two wildly different parts of Britain.

Kensington, one of the poorest parts of Liverpool, fears three more years of Tory austerity and the closure of its Sure Start centre. Its namesake in London could be hit by Labour’s mansion tax and its abolition of non-dom tax status.

Updated

On Sky News Faisal Islam has just said he’s got a copy of the guidance given by the Conservative party to candidates on what they should say. There are only 10 mentions of David Cameron, he says, but 100 mentions of Ed Miliband. In other words, attacking Miliband is right at the heart of the Conservative party’s election strategy.

The Conservatives are going to delay the publication of their manifesto by a day, according to the FT’s George Parker.

Cameron backs away from personal attack on Miliband over Trident

David Cameron is shown around the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough by Anthony Stone.
David Cameron is shown around the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough by Anthony Stone. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

David Cameron has been commenting on the Trident row. He was asked if he supported Michael Fallon’s personal attack on Ed Miliband and, although he criticised Labour’s stance on Trident, he pointedly refused to endorse Fallon’s argument about Miliband being so treacherous that he would “stab the UK in the back”.

This is what Cameron said:

Michael Fallon is making a very important point which is first of all only the Conservatives are absolutely guaranteeing a full replacement of Trident with four submarines and continuous at sea deterrence. It is important that in a dangerous insecure world we have that ultimate insurance policy. That’s guaranteed with the Conservatives.

The second point is this. Labour are in confusion about what they would do with our deterrent. And we also know this, that Ed Miliband can only get to Downing Street on the back of SNP support and the SNP are saying that no to Trident is a red line for them. So there’s confusion, and there’s concern for people. People want to know what price would Labour pay for getting into office in terms of higher taxes, more borrowing, more spending, more welfare, more debt and weaker defence. And we need answers to these questions.

But the key point is this. It’s only a Conservative majority government that can stop this alliance between Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon taking place.

Updated

Miliband says Conservative campaign is 'based on deceit and lies'

Michael Fallon gives a press conference on Trident on Thursday morning.
Michael Fallon gives a press conference on Trident on Thursday morning. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Ed Miliband also acccused the Conservatives of running a campaign based on “deceit and lies”. Here the quote, from the Press Association.

Michael Fallon is a decent man but today I think he has demeaned himself and demeaned his office. National security is too important to play politics with. I will never compromise our national security, I will never negotiate away our national security.

And you know what, the Conservative party can throw what they like at me, but I’m going to concentrate on the issues that matter to the British people - how we keep our country safe, how we invest in education, how we tackle tax avoidance, how we make this country work for working people.

I’ve got to say, I think the British people deserve better than what the Conservative party are offering in this campaign, which is a campaign based on deceit and lies.

Miliband also made it clear that, although Labour was currently committed to renewing Trident with four new submarines, it would review whether continuous at-sea deterrence could be provided with three boats. He said it was “right to have a review” of the issue of the number of submarines “because if technology changes, you can look at it”.

Updated

Miliband says Cameron should be 'ashamed' of the Tory tactics today

Here are some more lines from the Ed Miliband Q&A.

  • Miliband said David Cameron should be “ashamed” because of the Conservative party’s personal attack on him today.
  • Miliband said Michael Fallon was “a decent man”, but that he had “demeaned” his office.

Describing Fallon as decent may have been an attempt to suggest that Cameron, not Fallon, was to blame for the decision to personalise the attack on Miliband.

  • Miliband said the Tory tactics were a sign their campaign was “failing”.
  • He said he was “resilient” enough to withstand personal attacks.
  • He said Labour was committed to getting four replacement Trident submarines.
  • He said the Tories were trying to create differences between the two main parties that did not exist.

Updated

Back at the Fallon press conference, a reporter says Ed Miliband said at his press event that he thought Fallon was a “decent man”. Would Fallon say the same about Miliband?

Fallon says during an election you can respect and individual, but challenge his views. He has been challenging Miliband’s position.

Fallon’s Q&A has now finished.

Updated

Miliband says Fallon has 'demeaned' himself with his Labour claims

Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband has also been taking questions. He has accused Michael Fallon of “demeaning” his office. Here is the PA snap.

Ed Miliband said defence secretary Michael Fallon has “demeaned himself and demeaned his office” with his comments over Labour’s position on Trident renewal.

Updated

Q: What will you do if you are in coalition with the Lib Dems and they won’t vote for four boats?

Fallon says the Tories are not prepared to compromise with the Lib Dems on this. They have shown this already.

Q: Are you saying Miliband is ruthless? Or are you saying he is incompetent?

Fallon says the issue is whether Miliband would be able to barter away the nuclear deterrent in a deal with the SNP.

Q: Isn’t a personal attack on Miliband just the kind of grubby politics people do not like?

No, says Fallon. People are entitled to know what kind of prime minister Miliband would be.

Q: Isn’t your language on Ed Miliband desperate? And are you attacking him for being too weak, or being too tough?

Fallon says this is a matter of leadership. With David Cameron, you have clarity and competence. You are still not sure what you would get from Labour, because it might do a deal with the SNP.

Miliband clearly wants power. But he could be weak on what he achieves; weak on welfare, and weak on defence.

Q: Are you saying Miliband lacks the moral fibre to be prime minister?

Fallon says this is a matter of leadership.

Michael Fallon.
Michael Fallon.

Q: You can given us a not very revealing glimpse of your manifesto. Will it commit to spending 2% of GDP on defence?

Fallon says the manifesto will be published next week. He will give another speech on defence issues tomorrow. Today he has given a commitment to spend money on nuclear defence.

For the rest of the manifesto, you will have to wait.

Updated

Q: This is nonsense, isn’t it? If Labour are in a minority government, and want to renew Trident, they can rely on Conservative votes.

Fallon says you could not be sure what Labour would do in that situation. The only way you can guarantee a four-boat deterrent is by having a Conservative government.

Michael Fallon's Q&A

Michael Fallon has now finished his speech. He is taking questions.

Q: Are you saying you would not do a deal with the Lib Dems involving downgrading Trident?

Yes, says Fallon. He says David Cameron has already faced the Lib Dems down over this. The Tories are committed to a four-boat deterrent, even thought the Lib Dems do not like this.

Q: If you could reach agreement with the Lib Dems over this, then why could Labour not reach an agreement with the SNP.

Fallon says the two situations are different. The SNP have said opposing Trident is a red line.

Q: But the Lib Dems have said they would not support a four-boat deterrent. So are you ruling out a coalition with the Lib Dems?

Fallon says the Tories are working for a majority. They have already seen off a threat over this from the Lib Dems.

Labour says it would give all teenagers one-to-one careers advice

Ed Miliband speaks during a press conference in London.
Ed Miliband speaks during a press conference in London. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

Ed Miliband is speaking at Labour’s education manifesto launch now.

The party has announced that it would give all teenagers one-to-one careers advice. Here is an extract from the party’s news release.

Central to [Labour’s plans is] the reform and revitalisation of careers advice, which is currently said by the Confederation of British Industry to be on ‘life support’ after years of neglect and reductions in support under David Cameron and the Tories.

Four out of five schools are now offering inadequate careers advice, often just pointing pupils towards online information. Labour will replace this with a new system fit for the world of work in 21st century Britain.

Under Labour’s pathway to work plan:

· All secondary school and college pupils will get guaranteed face-to-face advice from trained careers advisers, beginning at the age of 11.

· Integrated advice will ensure teenagers learn about high quality apprenticeships and technical degrees as well as traditional academic routes into universities. Schools will be held to account for the programmes they offer.

· Labour will reverse the Tory-led government’s decision to scrap compulsory work experience for 14 to 16-year-olds.

The new proposals, to cost approximately £50 million and to be funded and supported through a partnership between universities, schools, colleges, and employers, form a key plank of Labour’s education manifesto.

Updated

And here is Michael Fallon. He is delivering his speech now.

There is a live feed on the BBC website.

I will post a summary when I’ve seen the full text.

Michael Fallon reaches for a door after making a speech in London.
Michael Fallon reaches for a door after making a speech in London. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

Tories say Labour could not be trusted to buy fourth Trident submarine

The Conservatives seem to be finessing their attack on Labour over Trident (which is perhaps not surprising, in the light of the reception that Michael Fallon’s argument about Ed Miliband being willing to “stab the UK in the back” has been getting - see 9.14am.) Now they are running the argument that Labour could not be trusted to spend money on a fourth Trident submarine.

The party’s latest Twitter “poster” contrasts what Chris Leslie, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said on the BBC last night when asked if Labour would renew all four Trident submarines, with what Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said last month.

But, in reality, there is not much of a difference. Labour is committed to continuous at-sea deterrence (CASD), accepts that the experts currently say this requires four boats, but wants to review the possibility of doing it with three. (Continuous at-sea deterrence only involves one boat being on patrol at any one time, but currently, for complicated maintenance reasons, this involves having three back-up boats.) Leslie made this clear least night. Asked if Labour was committed to four submarines, he replied:

That is the current view about continuous at-sea deterrent and we don’t divert from that.

The Tories say that Balls’s idea of having a continuous deterrence with a three-boat fleet is a non-starter. They cite this quote from the government review of Trident alternatives published in 2013 (pdf).

For the SSBN [ship, submersible, ballistic, nuclear - ie, a ballistic missile submarine], the four boat fleet represents the number that could sustain a CASD posture, while the three boat option could only sustain a non-continuous posture.

Updated

Natalie Bennett, the Green party leader, says there is a need for more Green MPs in parliament to help persuade Labour to reject Trident. In a statement she said:

This latest round of Tory speculation doesn’t conceal the fact that the Labour party is committed to renewing our multibillion pound nuclear weapons system.

The truth is that the Labour leadership has made it clear that they will prioritise spending £100 billion on a cold war relic - rather than investing in the schools and hospitals that this country so desperately needs.

Only one party is standing up to Trident across the UK. Green MPs will put pressure on the government to ensure that a proper debate is had over Trident.

With 3/4 of Labour candidates opposed to Trident, it’s clear that internal pressure on the leadership isn’t working - we need more Green voices in parliament to give the Labour party a backbone on issues like nuclear weapons.

Nick Clegg on LBC.
Nick Clegg on LBC. Photograph: LBC

On LBC Nick Clegg says the Lib Dems do not think a nuclear deterrent has be to a continuous at-sea to be effective. And he says he finds it odd that the Conservatives are saying this is the single most important issue facing the country.

You can have a deterrent without having go for the “all singing, all dancing”, expensive version the Conservatives propose, he says.

Many of the threats Britain faces come from groups like Islamic States, that are not states. Having nuclear weapons does not help Britain deal with these groups. The Conservatives are stuck in a cold war mentality, he says.

Updated

Michael Fallon - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists are saying about Michael Fallon this morning.

Generally they are fairly damning. Several are from journalists working for leftish news organisations, but by now means all of them are. I haven’t left out any positive comments out of bias; I’ve left them out because I have not seen any. If you’ve seen any tweets from political hacks who were impressed by Fallon, please let me know and I’ll include them.

From the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour

From the Mirror’s Jason Beattie

From the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

From Bloomberg’s Robert Hutton

From Sky’s Faisal Islam

From the Mirror’s Federica Cocco

From the BBC’s Jess Brammar

From the FT’s Kiran Stacey

From the Telegraph’s Mary Riddell

From the Times’ Ann Treneman

From the Observer’s Daniel Boffey

From Mary Ann Sieghart

There’s no escape from Call Clegg on a Thursday morning and here it is. LBC are runnning Election Call programmes, and today it is Clegg’s turn.

I won’t be covering the programme in full, but I will flag up any highlights.

YouGov poll gives Labour 1-pt lead

Here are today’s YouGov polling figures.

YouGov poll
YouGov poll Photograph: YouGov

Michael Fallon and Douglas Alexander's Today interviews - Summary

Here are the key points from those two Today interviews.

This is an issue of trust, and an issue of leadership ... We saw in that leadership election just what he would do to get into power.

With Ed Miliband, you cannot be sure what kind of backstairs deal he is likely to do with the SNP if he’s got any prospect of getting into Number 10 Downing Street. And that is the uncertainty. You’ve seen what he is prepared to do to get into power. And the danger now, the risk we face in four weeks’ time, is that we’ll see the same kind of shabby manoeuvre, perhaps with Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, to get into Downing Street on the back of abandoning our nuclear submarines.

HM Naval Base Clyde, at Faslane on the Gareloch, home to Britain’s Trident submarine fleet.
HM Naval Base Clyde, at Faslane on the Gareloch, home to Britain’s Trident submarine fleet. Photograph: Ken Jack/Demotix/Corbis
  • Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said, Fallon was talking “rubbish” and that his claim was embarrassing. He said Miliband had made it very clear, not least in his recent interview with Jeremy Paxman, that he would not abandon his support for Trident in the interests of doing a deal with the SNP. Alexander said.

The embarrassing interview we’ve all just had to listen to says a lot more about the state of the Tory election campaign than the state of our national security. This is desperate stuff from a rattled campaign and spent yesterday defending tax avoidance and is now descending into the politics of the gutter. It would be bad enough to have this rubbish from the chairman of the Conservative party. But Michael Fallon is supposed to be the defence secretary ...

The Tories are like a wounded, cornered animal at the moment. They are lashing out. It’s nonsense.

  • Alexander said Labour would not compromise on its support for Trident. It supported “renewal of Trident to support our commitment to maintaining a minimal, credible, independent nuclear deterrent, delivered through a continuous at-sea deterrent. This is not up for negotiation with the SNP or with any other party”.
  • He said Labour would review whether there was a need for four submarines as part of the Trident replacement. Labour was committed to a continuous at-sea deterrent, he said. He said the experts said that required four submarines. But Labour also wanted to keep costs down, and it would consider whether three submarines would be enough.
  • Fallon said the Conservatives were opposed to reducing the number of submarines available to carry Trident missiles below four. The Lib Dems have advocated this. But Fallon said it would be “ridiculous” to have a part-time deterrent.

You can’t have a part-time deterrent patrolling during the week and not at weekends that is a ridiculous proposal.

  • Fallon said Trident renewal was essential because of the risks Britain could face over the next 40 years.

The main argument is very simple. Nobody could have predicted four or five years ago what Russia is now doing in eastern Europe, or the rise of ISIL, or whatever. You can’t be clear what the threats are to this country that might emerge in the 2030s, the 2040s and the 2050s, that’s the period we are talking about.

You can’t be sure what threats might emerge then, just as you couldn’t have predicted what Russia and Isil [Islamic State] are doing now. Therefore it would be foolhardy to abandon our nuclear submarines and refuse to renew them.

Updated

Douglas Alexander's Today interview

Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, is being interviewed now.

Douglas Alexander.
Douglas Alexander.

He says Fallon has been talking “rubbish”. It was embarrassing having to listen to this, he says. The Tories are clearly rattled.

He says Labour has been very clear. It will not compromise on national security.

Q: Would you guarantee four submarines?

Alexander says the experts say you would need four submarines for an effective, continuous at-sea deterrent. But Labour would consider if you could do it with three submarines.

He says the Tories are desperate. Ed Miliband made his position clear in his interview with Jeremy Paxman. He said he would not abandon his commitment to Trident.

Q: But many Labour MPs don’t want to spend money on Trident. Would you compromise if you had to?

Alexander says Labour is working for a majority government.

Q: And, if your party was split, and the SNP did not vote for it, you would be happy to renew Trident with the support of the Conservatives?

Alexander says Labour will continue to advocate the need to keep our country strength. Part of that is having a continous at-sea deterrent.

And that’s it.

I will post a summary of both interviews shortly.

Updated

Q: The Lib Dems say you could have a nuclear deterrent without having submarines on continuous patrol.

Fallon says you cannot have a part-time deterrent, patroling during the week but not at weekends. That is ridiculous.

Q: Parts of the air force are part time.

Fallon says you cannot have a part-time nuclear deterrent.

And you cannot predict what threats will emerge in the 2030s, 2040s and 2050s.

There is a danger we could walk into a backstairs, “grubby” coalition deal.

Q: Is any coalition deal grubby? You did one in 2010.

But that did not affect Trident, says Fallon.

David Cameron faced down the Lib Dems over this in 2010. Would Miliband do the same with the SNP.

Michael Fallon's Today interview

James Naughtie is interviewing Michael Fallon, the Conservative defence secretary.

Q: You are accusing Ed Miliband of stabbing his brother in the back. Isn’t that a bit personal?

Yes, says Fallon. But this is a matter of trust.

Q: He just stood for election.

Against his brother, says Fallon.

Q: Tim Montgomerie said last night this attack was “embarrassing”.

Fallon says this is an issue of trust and leadership. With Ed Miliband, you cannot be sure what kind of “backstairs deal” he would do with the SNP to get into power.

You might see him do a “shabby deal” with the SNP.

Q: If Miliband is ruthless, maybe that is what a leader should be. Perhaps he is not the weak figure you portray him as?

Fallon says the issue is whether he would abandon support for Trident. We cannot be sure what Labour would do with the SNP. There is a danger to the UK.

Michael Fallon says Trident is an issue of trust and leadership.
Michael Fallon says Trident is an issue of trust and leadership. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

Updated

Morning. I’m taking over from Esther.

Why Trident’s future hangs in the balance

The Guardian’s defence and intelligence correspondent, Ewen MacAskill, has written this comprehensive Trident guide, explaining why the nuclear deterrent’s future is far from certain despite “red line” pledges to keep it from both men likely to be in No 10 come 8 May. This is for two key reasons:

1. Political reality

Labour, in order to form a minority government, is increasingly likely to find itself negotiating with the Scottish National party or the Greens or Plaid Cymru or a mix of them, all opposed to renewal. The Labour leadership, too, will face a revolt of its own backbenchers, who, surveys suggest, are overwhelmingly opposed to renewal.

2. Spending

Just as problematic for both Labour and the Conservatives is making such an investment at a time when spending faces further squeezes, with the defence budget especially vulnerable.

Earlier, Sir Nick Harvey, Lib Dem defence spokesman, told the programme he was in favour of retaining the Trident capability, but on a reduced scale.

The Conservatives want to commission four new nuclear submarines to retain a full-time presence. “I don’t see the need for us to be patrolling the seas 24/7.”

Having three or even two submarines would save £4-8 billion, he said, but “this wouldn’t be primarily a financially-driven policy.

The question is whether we want to be sailing the high seas waving a weapon of mass destruction at the world when we don’t have a known nuclear adversary...

We should retain the capability, but there is simply no need to be doing it on a continuous basis.

Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon.

The SNP party chair Derek Mackay has been talking to James Naughtie on Today about Nicola Sturgeon’s declaration in the Scottish leaders’ debate that she would push for full fiscal autonomy within a year.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has said that would lead to a shortfall of £7-8 billion in Scotland’s budget. Mackay said he didn’t dispute those figures, but that “the other side of the fiscal autonomy coin is being able to grow our economy and make different choices”.

Rather than being forced to make cuts or raise taxes to meet the shortfall, he said, the party could grow the economy in other ways.

If we had control over defence spending we could make different choices... There are things we could do, invest in childcare and reap the benefits of that in taxes.

He also offered some clarification on precisely what Nicola Sturgeon meant when she said, in Wednesday’s debate, that renewal of Trident was a “red line” for the party (see earlier post).

Renewing the nuclear capability was:

an absolute no-go area for the SNP come what may. There are no circumstances we can see in which we would vote for the renewal or continuation of Trident.

This wouldn’t rule out supporting a Trident-supporting Labour government in other areas, however. The party had said it would not support a Conservative goverment, he said, and neither would it ever support a vote to renew Trident.

Updated

Morning briefing

Good morning, and welcome to the daily live election blog from the Guardian.

There are 28 days to go until Britain goes to the polls, so expect another jam-packed day of political argument, energetic hand-shaking, battlebus logistics and the odd embarrassing photograph.

I’m Esther Addley and I’ll be kicking off proceedings with a look ahead at what the day holds, before my colleague Andrew Sparrow takes over a little later.

As ever, please feel free to contact us on Twitter at @estheraddley and @AndrewSparrow, and we’ll be keeping an eye on your comments below the line throughout the day.

The big picture

Ed Miliband.
Ed Miliband.

Labour is likely to feel it had a pretty good day yesterday, with its announcement that it plans to abolish the non-dom tax loophole. There were a couple of fumbles on the detail, and the Conservatives will continue to question how much money the policy will actually raise – if anything – but Eds Miliband and Balls will feel they successfully boxed the Tories into taking the wrong side of the argument. This from the ITV political editor Tom Bradby last night:

The non-dom principle allows people to come to this country and enjoy all its many advantages over decades, whilst sheltering their true wealth offshore. It then allows them to hand this principle down to their children.

That is the principle the Tories are tonight left defending.

For a party that is doing well in the polls on management of the economy, but not nearly well enough yet on convincing people they really care for the interests of the less well off, this is a strategic decision that I find baffling to the point of being incomprehensible.

It also seems to be popular …

… which is why the Conservatives will be particularly keen to seize back the agenda today on Trident.

Labour is also likely to feel buoyed by a strong showing by its Scottish leader Jim Murphy in the second Scotland leaders’ debate in two days.

Scotland debate
Scotland’s political leaders line up for the second debate to be broadcast in two days. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

During a lively and at times fractious debate, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the party would push for full fiscal autonomy for Scotland within a year – Murphy said this would leave a “black hole” in the nation’s finances.

She also stressed that a vote for the SNP on 7 May was not a vote for another independence referendum, after she suggested in in Tuesday night’s STV debate that her party could hold another referendum if it wins next year’s Holyrood elections.

Opinions will be sharply divided on how each leader performed, but it is clear that Sturgeon has found both Scotland debates more challenging than last week’s leader’s debate, in which she is widely agreed to have shone.

A quick mention of Lord Ashcroft’s latest polling in ten Tory-held marginals where Labour are the main challengers. He detects a move towards the two main parties and away from Ukip. More here.

And here’s our latest projection based on all the current polling:

Poll projection

Diary

  • Derek Mckay, the SNP business convener, is on Today at 7.10am, talking about the party’s position on a potential second independence referendum.
  • At 7.50am, Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, will be on the same programme to talk about the Trident nuclear deterrent.
  • And at 8.20am, Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, will respond on behalf of Labour.
  • Ukip’s deputy chairman Suzanne Evans will be outlining the party’s policies for women at an 8.30am briefing.
  • At 9.30am, Ed Miliband will launch Labour’s education manifesto in London, alongside the party’s education spokesman Tristram Hunt and the shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna.
  • At 10am Fallon makes a speech in which he is expected to challenge Ed Miliband over his commitment to Trident.
  • Nick Clegg will be in north Cornwall this morning, where the Lib Dems’ Dan Rogerson is fighting to hold off a strong Tory challenge, visiting a hospital around 10.20am, before heading to Hampshire later in the day.
  • The Green party leader Natalie Bennett is in the party’s target seat of Norwich South this morning to launch its “Norwich manifesto”.
  • David Cameron is visiting businesses in the east Midlands this morning, and at 12pm will do a public Q&A in Nottinghamshire.
  • At 7pm the radio station LBC will host a debate between the Conservative education secretary Nicky Morgan, Labour’s shadow deputy prime minister Harriet Harman, Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem crime prevention minister and Ukip’s Suzanne Evans.

The big issue

Let’s talk about Trident – at least, that’s what the Conservatives will want us to talk about today. The party sees the question of renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent as a key vulnerability for Labour, and in a pointed and highly personal article in the Times today (paywall), defence secretary Michael Fallon warns that a post-election pact between Labour and the staunchly anti-Trident SNP would “sacrifice the long-term security of the UK and play into the hands of our enemies”.

“Remember,” he writes,

Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader. Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister and put our country’s security at risk.

The issue will be given extra force by Sturgeon’s insistence in last night’s debate that Trident is a “red line” for the party.

Is Trident a red line? Well here’s my answer: you’d better believe Trident is a red line.

In an interview with the Guardian last month, however, Sturgeon indicated that the SNP would not place the scrapping of Trident on the table in any negotiations after the election. The Scottish first minister said the SNP would simply vote against its replacement when the main vote is held in the Commons.

Labour insists Miliband is committed to retaining Trident. Significantly, however, he also faces challenges from his own side, with one recent poll suggesting 3/4 of the party’s MP candidates are opposed to its renewal.

Labour and the Conservatives have already been trading blows about this overnight on social media, so expect a lively day.

Read these

There is a refusal to understand that an organic social movement does not fall apart once it feels its own power. How can the SNP behave as if it won? Perhaps because it is engaging outside the bubble.

Alongside a language of freedom, deregulation and competition, the Conservatives must rediscover concepts of responsibility, conservation, patriotism, family and, especially, ownership.

The Conservative party has built an entire election strategy on the assumption that the British people will answer that question with a resounding no. But Miliband would enter Downing Street with more experience then any newly elected prime minister of the past 35 years.

If today were a film …

We can’t resist The Hunt for Red October, about a claustrophobic battle for power involving control of a nuclear submarine. The Tories would no doubt want to construct an elaborate metaphor about hunting for Red Ed; we’ll simply note that with the involvement of celebrity nationalist Sean Connery, there’s SNP interest too. Something for everyone.

The key story you’re missing while you’re election obsessed

Late on Wednesday a Boston jury convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of 30 counts relating to the 2013 Boston marathon bombing, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. The same jury will now decide whether he should be sentenced to death.

Updated

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