Afternoon summary
Britain’s party leaders and parliamentary candidates left their overcoats on their hooks, donned their sunglasses - and in the prime minister’s case a turban - as clear blue skies and warm sunshine provided the perfect backdrop for a hectic day of weekend campaigning.
The big picture
Labour leader Ed Miliband unveiled a strikingly hard stance on immigration in a key speech to supporters in Heswall, Merseyside. As part of a five-point plan, he said it was paramount that migrants arriving in Britain should speak English. The Labour leader went further and said his party, if brought to power, would legislate to give NHS regulators the power to ensure medical staff English. Miliband also unveiled a crackdown on exploitation of migrant workers - not entirely born out of empathy for the plight of migrants but also to protect the negative impact such abuse has on pushing down British workers wages.
What happened today
-
All new immigrants to Britain should be able to speak English, Ed Miliband said in an apparent attempt to harden Labour’s line on immigration before the general election. The Labour leader said it was particularly important that doctors, nurses and paramedics working in the NHS were able to communicate properly with patients.
- David Cameron and wife Samantha made a colourful visit to a Sikh temple to mark the Vaisakhi festival (see 15.35). The Prime Minister, wearing a traditional orange patka, and Mrs Cameron, in a blue headscarf, chatted with the faithful and posed for selfies at the Gravesend Gurdwara in Kent.
- The former SNP leader, Alex Salmond, has warned Ed Miliband he will find it difficult to avoid doing a deal with the Scottish nationalists in the event of a hung parliament following the general election. Salmond, who is standing for election in Gordon in Aberdeenshire, said all parties would have to react to the “electorate’s judgment” after polling day.
- Nigel Farage was campaigning in his target constituency of South Thanet and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon sat down to tea with her predecessor and parliamentary candidate Alex Salmond (see 14.32).
The Conservatives taunted the Labour party in their latest billboard campaign, which depicts SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon as a puppeteer and Miliband as her dummy (see 16.25).
-
A campaign poster from the Cambridge Universities Labour Club that plays on controversial comments made by columnist Katie Hopkins went viral (see 11.55). Hopkins said that she will leave the country if Ed Miliband becomes prime minister - so CULC hope this will encourage people to vote Labour.
Quote of the day
“There is no disrespect or disgrace in any politician coming to terms with the democratically expressed position of the electorate.” - former SNP leader Alex Salmond continues to twist Miliband’s arm
Laugh of the day
Images of this poster from Cambridge Universities Labour Club went viral. Unsurprisingly, there appears to be great sympathy with their argument.
Posters by @CULC up around Cambridge this morning. Only Labour can take action on blight that is Katie Hopkins. pic.twitter.com/ExJIHwrg5E
— Cambridge Uni Labour (@CULC) April 18, 2015
Tomorrow’s agenda
Look out for David Cameron, the prime minister, on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One tomorrow at 9am.
That’s it from me for today. It has been a pleasure. Join the Guardian’s election team tomorrow morning, as we bring you the latest news, reaction, analysis, pictures, video, and jokes from the campaign trail. Now where’s that Calvin Harris song when I need it...
Tories attack Sturgeon and Miliband in new billboard
The Conservatives have taunted the Labour party in their latest billboard campaign, which depicts SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon as a puppeteer and Miliband as her dummy.
Tory chairman Grant Shapps unveiled the new rather creepy poster as Sturgeon and Miliband continued to step up pressure on Miliband to admit that a deal with the SNP was needed to keep David Cameron out of Government.
Tim Montgomerie, political commentator, says Tory HQ regards this line of attack as their best card.
Another anti-SNP poster from the Tories (more than economy or Ed Miliband, Tory HQ regards this as their best card) pic.twitter.com/yvBBQoCZLM
— Tim Montgomerie ن (@montie) April 18, 2015
So we have David Cameron courting ethnic-minority voters at a Sikh gathering in Kent, while Ed Miliband comes down hard on immigration and non-English speakers in north-west England. Yes, you’ve read that correctly.
My colleague Damien Gayle has written up the Labour leader’s speech. He reports:
All new immigrants to Britain should be able to speak English, Ed Miliband has said in an apparent attempt to harden Labour’s line on immigration before the general election.
The Labour leader said it was particularly important that doctors, nurses and paramedics working in the NHS were able to communicate properly with patients.
A future Labour government would pass laws to ensure all health workers spoke English well enough to care for patients before they could start work, he said, and regulators would be given powers to enforce the rules.
There’s a colourful and insightful interview with employment minister Esther McVey by Emily Ashton on Buzzfeed. Ashton looks at how climbing the ladder in Whitehall could spell the end for McVey’s political career as bookies suggest the Tory could be about to lose her Wirral West seat.
McVey talks about the abusive graffiti and chants she is facing in her target constituency and the sexism she has received at the hands of fellow politicians - including John Prescott.
Ashton writes:
McVey tells BuzzFeed News she is being singled out because “I’m the only Tory on Merseyside”. She says: “I think there was a joke – Ed Miliband is throwing both of his kitchen sinks at me. And they have – it’s been the trade union, sort of socialist movement. I don’t believe it works.”
After delivering his key immigration speech in the Wirral, Merseyside, Miliband has travelled to Chester racecourse to meet activists. I hear he has a particular interest in neck-and-neck finishes...
Miliband is meeting activists at Chester racecourse pic.twitter.com/7sds5d5k7h
— Sam Lister (@sam_lister_) April 18, 2015
David Cameron addresses Sikh celebrations
The prime minister has made a short speech to Sikhs in Gravesend, Kent, thanking the national community for its contributions to British society. Sporting a bright orange turban, and accompanied by his wife Samantha, Cameron praised Sikhs’ devotion to God, community spirit and hard-working values.
The substance of the speech was fairly routine with no major announcements, nor did it address any of the more pressing issues of the day - such as the rising popularity of the SNP or Ed Miliband’s immigration speech.
But fortunately, where the speech lacked colour, the pictures of the event did not. Here’s a couple coming in to the Guardian picture desk.
Here’s more reaction from Twitter to Miliband’s speech (see 13.51).
Little/no evidence for @Ed_Miliband's claim: "an epidemic of exploitation is driving up the number of low-skill workers who come here."
— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) April 18, 2015
Ed Miliband's shocking plan to re-educate 0.26% of the population... https://t.co/d1bjsAQ2ZM
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) April 18, 2015
I ask Ed Miliband what he thinks Labour got wrong on immigration, was it numbers? He talked about transitional controls & working conditions
— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) April 18, 2015
Sturgeon and Salmond maintain pressure on Labour
Before we listen in to Cameron’s speech in Gravesend, I just want to draw attention to some comments made by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon in Inverurie, in the Gordon constituency, where her former boss Alex Salmond is standing for a return to Westminster.
It’s clear Sturgeon and Salmond are not going to let Ed Miliband and his party shake off questions about a potential Labour-SNP deal. They have seized every opportunity they can, certainly this week, to remind Miliband and the electorate that they are willing to work with Labour to lock the Tories out of Downing Street.
Sturgeon is quoted on the Press Association as saying:
Polling shows that the SNP has become the national party of Scotland in all senses - leading in the polls across all areas and demographics of Scottish society.
Above all they are putting their trust in us to lock the Tories out of Downing Street.
The real question for Ed Miliband and Jim Murphy is whether they would rather see David Cameron back in Downing Street than work with the SNP to lock the Tories out of government. That remains the big question hanging over the Labour campaign in Scotland.
It appears David Cameron’s speech at Sikh celebrations in Gravesend has been delayed due to a scuffle.
PA’s James Tapsfield caught the fracas on video and posted it to Vine.
Proceedings delayed somewhat on Cameron visit to Gurdwara due to scuffle pic.twitter.com/ccNY84EkEB
— James Tapsfield (@JamesTapsfield) April 18, 2015
I asked for best captions for a wonderful picture of David Cameron and two nurses (see 14.12). There have been some hilarious responses. Here’s a few of my favourties from commentators and Twitterati.
RogerOThornhill - Have I come a long way to see you? Yes, this far...that’s how much I care”
fripouille - Ten. We’ll give the NHS ten billion. Promise *cough*
@JamieGrierson DC:'and sometimes my sense of entitlement shrinks to about this big' Nurse:'that must be dreadful for you, let's take a look'
— Martin McDonald (@marty_mcd) April 18, 2015
Lunchtime summary
- Ed Miliband unveiled plans to give NHS regulators powers to ensure all medical staff speak English (see 13.51). Miliband said all people in Britain should know how to speak English but this was particularly important for NHS staff. The requirement forms part of Labour’s five-point plan for dealing with immigration, including a crackdown on the exploitation of migrant workers, which Miliband says is driving down wages for British workers.
- The former SNP leader, Alex Salmond, has warned Ed Miliband he will find it difficult to avoid doing a deal with the Scottish nationalists in the event of a hung parliament following the general election. Salmond, who is standing for election in Gordon in Aberdeenshire, said all parties would have to react to the “electorate’s judgment” after polling day.
- Ros Altmann, the pensions expert and former adviser to Tony Blair, is to become a Conservative peer with a view to getting the job of minister for consumer protection if David Cameron wins the election. The campaigner, who has been a director of Saga and the coalition’s business champion for older workers, will be nominated by Cameron to be made a baroness. Part of her new role for the Conservatives would be carrying out a review of financial fairness for consumers.
- Party leaders and senior politicians are out in force as weekend campaigning gets underway. Cameron was in Chipping Norton and later Gravesend Kent. Miliband was in the Wirral, Merseyside, Nigel Farage is campaigning in his target constituency of South Thanet and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon sat down to tea with her predecessor and parliamentary candidate Alex Salmond.
The sun is out over most of the country and the weekend campaigning is starting to heat up as party leaders and senior politicians trample the trail in a bid to win over the electorate.
Here’s a selection of the pictures coming in from across the country.
As Miliband outlines his immigration policy, the prime minister is expected to address Sikh celebrations in Gravesend, Kent. I’ll keep an ear on his speech and post anything of note as it unfolds.
Earlier, Cameron announced that Ros Altmann, the pensions expert and former adviser to Tony Blair, is to become a Conservative peer with a view to getting the job of minister for consumer protection if the prime minister returns to No 10.
Updated
The Press Association has filed plenty of reaction to Miliband’s immigration proposals. Here’s a summary of some of the key comments.
Conservative immigration minister James Brokenshire:
Nothing Ed Miliband is proposing today would help control immigration. Labour sent out ‘search parties for people’ and under them net migration increased more than five-fold ... A vote for Ed Miliband would risk all of that with a Labour-SNP stitch up.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage:
Is he right that some people who come here are exploited and abused? Yes of course he’s right, there’s no doubt there are problems out there. But it is not the main issue. The main issue is we have too many people allowed to come here which is pushing down people’s wages.”
Katja Hall, CBI deputy director general:
Businesses want to see the law enforced properly, and any changes should target criminals rather than burdening compliant firms with detailed inspections, hampering their efforts to support growth and jobs.
Liberal Democrat campaign spokesman Lord Paddick:
Liberal Democrats in government have quadrupled fines for those failing to pay workers the national minimum wage and are pushing to restore proper border controls so we know who is entering and leaving the country.
Updated
Just leaving the Wirral for a moment to catch up with the prime minister. Earlier, he was in Chipping Norton, visiting a health centre. I can’t resist asking for your best caption suggestions for this gem filed by David Hartley at Rex Features.
Cameron is next heading to Sikh celebrations in Gravesend, Kent.
Updated
There’s plenty of reaction from the commentariat on Twitter to the strikingly hard stance on immigration unveiled by Ed Miliband.
Miliband: 'Everyone in Britain should know how to speak English.' I have good news: 99.74% of population do. (Census 2011, England & Wales)
— Declan Gaffney (@djmgaffneyw4) April 18, 2015
Well I'll be jiggered, Miliband scared of @UKIP much? sadly, without leaving teh EU so much hot air https://t.co/3aktKbOzpI
— Gawain Towler (@GawainTowler) April 18, 2015
Miliband speaking about immigration, but under Labour 2.5 million more people came in than went out - double the population of Birmingham.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) April 18, 2015
All NHS staff will be required to speak English, Miliband says
The Labour leader has unveiled plans to give NHS regulators powers to ensure all medical staff speak English.
Miliband said all people in Britain should know how to speak English but this was particularly important for NHS staff.
The requirement forms part of Labour’s five-point plan for dealing with immigration, including a crackdown on the exploitation of migrant workers, which Miliband says is driving down wages for British workers.
Miliband said that in order to improve community integration, “everyone in Britain should know how to speak English”.
It is especially important that people who work in public services in public-facing roles should be required to speak English.
The Labour leader said this particularly applied to doctors, paramedics, social workers and nurses and said his party would legislate to give all healthcare regulators the power to ensure all medical staff speak English.
I will never demean or devalue their contribution to our country but it is vital that people who come to fulfil these roles don’t just have the right medical skills but can communicate with those for whom they care.
The Labour leader set out the party’s five principles in its approach to immigration - securing borders, “contributing before you claim”, achieving integration, ending the undercutting of wages and rebuilding trust.
He said Labour would set up a Home Office investigative unit to tackle exploitation of migrant workers.
Exploitation of the worst kind isn’t just bad for those people directly affected, it drives down standards for everybody else.
Miliband promised to increase the fines for firms who don’t pay the minimum wage and who undercut wages, to stop the practice of using agency workers to undercut permanent employees, to ban recruitment agencies from only hiring workers from overseas and to make it a criminal offence to undercut pay or conditions of local workers.
Finally, he attacked Cameron’s record on immigration, once again raising the thorny issue of the net migration target and reminding his audience of the prime minister’s invitation to “kick him out of office” if he failed to deliver.
Updated
Conservative record on immigration erodes faith in politicians, Miliband says
The Labour leader receives a round of applause when he attacks David Cameron over the failure to meet his promise to bring net migration down to the tens of thousands.
He told us he would get net migration down to the tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands. This was part of his contract with the country. He even invited us to kick him out of office in five years if he didn’t deliver.
Miliband then takes the chance to have a crack at Nigel Farage, setting his sights on the Ukip leader’s belief that Britain should stop foreigners with HIV being treated on the NHS.
Nigel Farage wants us to leave the European Union. I say it would be a disaster for jobs, families and businesses.
And I will never seek to exploit people’s legitimate concerns. I don’t want HIV sufferers attacked on national television.
I don’t want to pretend that we should get rid of our racial equality laws.
He calls Ukip the “party of fear” and the Tories the “party of failure”.
I’ll write up a summary of Miliband’s speech and seek out some reaction from commentators, experts and politicians.
Updated
Migrant exploitation undercuts wages of local workers - Miliband
The Labour leader turns to his plans to crackdown on exploitation of migrant workers, which has been widely previewed in today’s press.
In an appeal to workers, he says: “Exploitation of the worst kind isn’t just bad for those people directly affected, it drives down standards for everybody else”.
He announces a series of measures that a Labour government will introduce to tackle exploitation.
We’ll increase the fines for firms who don’t pay the minimum wage and [who] undercut wages. We’ll stop the unscrupulous practice of using agency workers to undercut permanent employees. We’ll ban recruitment agencies from only hiring workers from overseas. And we’ll make it a criminal offence to undercut pay or conditions of local workers by exploiting migrant workers.
Updated
Everyone in Britain should speak English - Miliband
The Labour leader sets out five principles of the party’s approach to immigration: securing borders, “contributing before you claim”, achieving integration, ending the undercutting of wages, and rebuilding trust.
To achieve integration, Miliband argues, everyone in Britain should know how to speak English.
Everyone in Britain should know how to speak English. Sometimes, we’ve been too timid about this, but it is something we should expect from everyone who comes here.
The Labour leader says speaking English is “especially important” in public-facing roles in public services.
And nowhere is that more true than in our NHS. We all know the crucial contribution that people from overseas play in our NHS.
Updated
Miliband sets out Labour's immigration vision
Miliband says he knows “immigration can benefit our country” as he sets out his plans to tackle the politically sensitive issue.
Appearing at Pensby high school in Heswall, he repeats his admission that Labour “got this wrong in the past”.
Labour’s vision is a future that works for working people, with a recovery that reaches every part of our country … but as we seek to build that future I want to talk today about one issue that working people need the next government to deal with: immigration. I want to talk about Labour’s approach and where we stand.
Labour got this wrong in the past. We have listened, we have learned and we have changed.
The Labour leader recounts his migrant heritage, adding that his parents, who fled the Nazis, “found a country that welcomed them”.
I know immigration can benefit our country. For that to happen, for people to have confidence, we have to have proper controls in place.
Updated
Ed Miliband has arrived in Heswall, in Merseyside, where he will give a speech on immigration and announce a crackdown on exploitation of migrant workers. Here are some pictures coming in from the Wirral to the Guardian picture desk.
Updated
At around 12.45pm Ed Miliband is expected to give a speech on cracking down on exploitation of migrant workers in north-west England. The announcement is the next step in Labour’s plan to show it can control immigration. One of its most important weapons, party officials say, will be to stamp out exploitative practices that drive down wages.
Updated
Jonathan Portes in New Statesman has written a short analysis of the Government’s welfare reforms, explaining how claims made by the prime minister that savings have been made through getting people back to work aren’t quite as clear cut as he would make out.
Portes argues that it is clear the Conservatives’ plans to achieve a budget surplus in the next Parliament are dependent on large cuts to spending on working age social security benefits adding that the Tories were only willing to specify “a small fraction” of which in advance of the election.
We got some hints of what options were being considered from some internal DWP documents leaked to the BBC – these include cuts to Carers’ Allowance, disability benefits, Council Tax benefit and Child Benefit.
He argues that it is likely cuts to housing benefit and to tax credits for low-income working families will be on the agenda - but the Government will not comment further. The prime minister in his interview earlier this week with Evan Davis also cited the reduction in what was called Incapacity Benefit as more people return to work. And while that was the plan, Portes says it hasn’t worked out that way.
After falling fairly steadily from 2004 or so on, with a brief but not huge rise after the financial crisis, the numbers began to rise in mid 2013. There are now more than 2.5 million people on the benefit – fully 400,000 more than DWP expected in 2011.
As a result, Portes argues, the Government has not cut spending by the £3.5 billion promised.
The most charitable explanation is that the Prime Minister was told in 2010 or 2011 about the government’s plans to move large numbers of people off incapacity benefits and hence make large fiscal savings. Since then, apparently, rather like the Emperor Hirohito, nobody has dared to inform him that “the situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage”.
A campaign poster from the Cambridge Universities Labour Club has been attracting a lot of interest on Twitter. The party has seized on controversial comments made by Katie Hopkins - that she will leave the country if Ed Miliband becomes prime minister - to encouraage people to vote Labour.
This is sure to hit the right note in the wake of her hideous comments about using gunships to deal with migrants in the Mediterranean.
Posters by @CULC up around Cambridge this morning. Only Labour can take action on blight that is Katie Hopkins. pic.twitter.com/ExJIHwrg5E
— Cambridge Uni Labour (@CULC) April 18, 2015
Turning point? I think Labour may have found its winning argument with this new poster. Via @patrickwintour pic.twitter.com/75Hh1s4OCL
— paulkirby (@paul1kirby) April 18, 2015
Updated
My colleague Dominic Smith has written up a full report on Alex Salmond’s comments on the Today programme.
He writes:
The former SNP leader, Alex Salmond, has warned Ed Miliband he will find it difficult to avoid doing a deal with the Scottish nationalists in the event of a hung parliament.
Salmond, who is standing for election in Gordon in Aberdeenshire, said all parties would have to react to the “electorate’s judgement” after polling day. The latest Guardian seats projection has Labour and the SNP with a combined tally of 326, enough to form a parliamentary majority, although Miliband has ruled out any formal coalition.
Updated
Ed Miliband’s proposals to target the illegal exploitation of migrant workers have received the backing from the building workers union Ucatt.
Steve Murphy, the general secretary, said:
This commitment demonstrates that Labour is serious about ending the misery caused by the exploitation of migrant workers and rightly targets the employers who profit through the mistreatment of workers.
UCATT welcomes Labour's plans to end exploitation of migrant workers http://t.co/W6LYrvRVfJ
— UCATT (@UCATTunion) April 18, 2015
Updated
Farage rubbishes Labour immigration announcement
Ed Miliband will later this morning announce plans for a Home Office investigative unit which aims to crack down on the illegal exploitation of migrant workers, if Labour wins the election.
Speaking to Sky News while campaigning in his target constituency, the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, said exploitation of workers was not the most pressing issue when dealing with immigration.
It was the Labour government who opened up the door to 10 former communist countries who have unlimited access to this country.
Is he (Miliband) right that people come here and are exploited, yes ... but that’s not the main issue. The main issue is too many people have been allowed to come to Britain.
Asked if the other parties were dealing with immigration, Farage said:
The other parties won’t discuss immigration at all. The problem is, immigration and its impact on public services and people’s lives is the number one issue.
Updated
Pictures from the campaign trail are coming through thick and fast on Twitter. Here’s a selection from Miliband, Sturgeon and Farage.
Ed Miliband and I on campaign pic.twitter.com/NoMku20DdM
— Jon Trickett (@jon_trickett) April 18, 2015
First campaign stop of day with @nataliemcgarry in Glasgow East. Now off to Gordon to meet up with @alexsalmond #GE15 pic.twitter.com/0irYbmeH0Z
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 18, 2015
#UKIP teams are out across #SouthThanet this morning. Just sent this picture from Wingham! pic.twitter.com/fy8ORM7wo2
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 18, 2015
Jim Murphy is remaining chipper despite the latest Lord Ashcroft polls forecasting a humiliating defeat for the Scottish Labour leader.
Really looking forward to campaigning in the Glasgow sunshine this morning & then off to Barrhead.
— Jim Murphy (@JimForScotland) April 18, 2015
Updated
Much focus has been placed on the SNP and Ukip as potential post-election kingmakers, but the Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland may also have a key role to play. One of the DUP’s parliamentary candidates has appeared to back away from reports in the Northern Irish media that one precondition of support for a new prime minister would be fresh legislation ensuring the right to march in the region. This is a key demand of the Orange Order in the face of contentious Ulster loyalist parades in the province.
My colleague Henry McDonald reports:
Sammy Wilson, who is running for the East Antrim seat he has held since 2005, a potential future leader of the party and former economy minister in the Stormont devolved government, said: “This point should be taken in the context of being one of 45 points relating to Westminster and 55 points relating to Stormont. The document should be considered in the whole rather than placing one point above another. Of course we want to see parades dealt with maturely and fairly but there are another 99 points setting out our other priorities too.”
Updated
Farage may have to address calls for tactical voting against Ukip in his target constituency, according to this report from Buzzfeed’s Emily Ashton.
The former Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott has called on all “Liberal Democrat, Green, moderate Conservative, and progressive voters” in South Thanet to unite behind the Labour candidate, Will Scobie.
Voters have three options: a) Nigel Farage’s bitter brew, b) the non-alcoholic Ukip-lite version from the Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay – an ex-leader and deputy leader of Ukip and twice Ukip candidate for Gillingham – or c) progressive, local Will Scobie for Labour.
Ex-Lib Dem Is Calling For Tactical Voting To Keep Out Nigel Farage http://t.co/ShuB92uVKd via @elashton @buzzfeed
— matthew oakeshott (@oakeshottm) April 18, 2015
Updated
Salmond increases pressure on Miliband over SNP deal
Former SNP leader Alex Salmond continues to increase the pressure on Ed Miliband, warning the Labour leader he will have to face up to the “electorate’s judgement” after polling day.
Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Salmond, who is running for a seat in Westminster in the Gordon constituency, in Aberdeenshire, said Miliband had been “foolish” to rule out a coalition with the SNP and suggested that he did so because he was “under pressure from the Conservative press”.
Salmond told the programme:
I think that after the election every Westminster politician will have to come and face the reality of the electorate’s judgement.
There is no disrespect or disgrace in any politician coming to terms with the democratically expressed position of the electorate.
All politicians, those of us who are lucky enough to be elected, chosen by the people, will try to do their best as they see it in the interests of the people who elected them.
Updated
From South Thanet to Lahore, it appears Farage is going to need as much support as possible after the Tory chief whip, Michael Gove, said there would be no Conservative-Ukip deal after the election.
The Press Association reports:
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has suggested in recent days that a deal short of a coalition could be struck if the Tories agree to an immediate referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
But Gove, in a departure from comments by other senior Conservatives, appeared to rule out any kind of Commons alliance in remarks to the Daily Telegraph.
He said: “It’s very nice of [Farage to say he would do a deal]. I don’t want to say anything disobliging about Nigel Farage or about people in Ukip, but I’ve got no appetite, interest or inclination towards doing a deal with anyone.”
Updated
As Farage hits the streets of South Thanet, he and Ukip are receiving support in the most unlikely of places - Pakistan. Barcroft Media has sent these pictures from Lahore of the pastor Francis Bashir, leader of the Royal Disciple Christian church, joined by his congregation in supporting Ukip.
Updated
Beware residents of South Thanet - your Saturday lie-in may be disturbed by a knock at the door.
Up and about early on today. Thanet's going purple! #VoteUKIP pic.twitter.com/gAyQbDJdDb
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 18, 2015
Updated
Morning summary
Good morning and welcome to the Saturday round of the Guardian’s election live blog, which we’re running every day until polling day on 7 May and - if the projections of another hung parliament are correct - for some time after that.
I’m Jamie Grierson and I’ll be keeping you well-informed on today’s campaign events. You can get in touch with me on @jamiegrierson. And of course I’ll be reading below the line too, so please let us know your views on all things political.
The big picture
It might be the weekend but you won’t find Britain’s politicians perched on the sofa in their PJs with a bacon sarnie watching Saturday Kitchen. No, they are out in force on their seemingly relentless campaign to persuade voters to give them a seat in parliament on 7 May.
Ed Miliband will attempt to shift focus from the ongoing “will they, won’t they” debate over a possible Labour-SNP deal as he moves to add address immigration concerns. The Labour leader will claim abusive practices, such as forcing scores of workers to live in cramped houses for illegally low wages, is driving the immigration of unskilled workers. And he will condemn the prime minister for not meeting his promise to cut immigration to the tens of thousands, insisting Labour will not make pledges it cannot meet.
But we’re past the halfway point in the campaign now and Miliband will struggle to avoid questions on what he plans to do to make up the numbers if - or most likely when - he fails to achieve a majority. Here’s data editor Alberto Nardelli’s assessment on Labour-SNP prospects:
One trend that has remained constant is Scotland - and if anything, the SNP lead over Scottish Labour has increased in the past few weeks. Nicola Sturgeon’s party is now averaging 46.5% in the polls, compared with Labour who are on 26.5% in Scotland. If these numbers were to be replicated on election day, the SNP would secure 54 of Scotland’s 59 seats. The magic number to keep in mind here is 326 - the number which gives any government a majority of MPs in parliament. And as things stand, Miliband holds the better cards.
Labour will still be reeling from the devastating Lord Ashcroft constituency polling in Scotland, which projects several losses for Labour - including defeats for the party’s Scottish leader, Jim Murphy, and the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander.
Could tactical Tory votes save Jim Murphy? pic.twitter.com/ZOFtxVrcE7
— Lord Ashcroft (@LordAshcroft) April 17, 2015
David Cameron will move to shore up the pensioner vote by promising to place a leading expert and campaigner in the Lords and make her a minister in his new administration. Ros Altmann, the pensions expert and former adviser to Tony Blair, is to become a Conservative peer with a view to getting the job of minister for consumer protection if Cameron wins the election.
The chancellor, George Osborne, has overseen one of the biggest shakeups of pensions in a generation by allowing older people to access their pension pots more freely and removing the need for them to buy annuities.
Endorsing the reforms, Altmann said they had “proved to me that the Conservatives really do care about all savers, not just the wealthiest”.
They really do seem to want to make long-term savings work for the many, not just the few at the top.
The Lib Dems will focus on apprenticeships, with the business secretary, Vince Cable, promising to double the number of employers offering on-the-job training.
And finally Ukip’s leader, Nigel Farage - who has announced he will appear on another televised Q&A, despite being booed in the last one - is expected to campaign in his target constituency of South Thanet.
Your Saturday reading list
- James Meek has written this brilliant, in-depth article on the changing face of industry and politics in Grimsby.
In Grimsby, the former fishing capital of England, sandpipers scurry across the tarmac of derelict streets. The sandpiper isn’t a creature of asphalt and paving. It’s a small white-breasted bird usually to be found foraging on British foreshores in groups of 20 or so, scuttling up and down sandy beaches as the foaming forward edge of the sea roars in and hisses back. I’d come to Grimsby to see why, after 70 years of voting Labour, the town was flirting with the United Kingdom Independence party. After a while I began wondering what had happened to make Grimsby a wild and lonely enough place for the sandpiper to feel at home. It turns out the reason is the same. Someone, or something, abdicated power in Grimsby, leaving swaths of it to rot. But who, or what? And what will the succession be?
- In a fascinating look ahead to what we might see in the days after 7 May, the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland argues raw politics - not arithmetic - will determine who forms the next government if the two main parties remain deadlocked.
The focus is not on the parties so much as the likely ruling blocs. Looked at like that, Miliband is on course to become prime minister, elevated to that position courtesy of Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats, a grouping that looks set to have more seats in the next House of Commons than the alternative bloc: the Tories, the Lib Dems and, say, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists. There’s been lots of focus on how exactly these arrangements might work, perhaps a formal coalition between Labour and Nick Clegg’s party – especially if Clegg is no longer its leader – and a loose, “confidence and supply” set-up, even an unagreed one, with the Scottish Nationalists.
If today were a song...
... it would be Ready for the Weekend, by Calvin Harris
Let’s get the country’s would-be leaders pumped with this sassy electro-house roof-raiser.
Updated
