Afternoon summary
- Nick Clegg has accused the Tories of acting in a “deceitful” way over their plans for £12bn in welfare cuts, as he defended the decision of his ally Danny Alexander to expose previous Conservative proposals to impose cuts to child benefit. As the Guardian reports, the deputy prime minister spoke of his anger and frustration at the Tory tactics as he confirmed that the Lib Dems would “tread warily” if they formed another coalition with the Conservatives. Clegg criticised the Tories on his weekly LBC radio phone-in after Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, took the extraordinary step of lifting the lid on Tory plans for £8bn welfare reductions, including slashing child benefit and child tax credits. George Osborne, the Conservative chancellor, insisted that the proposals were not supported by this party.
This is a three-year-old document of policy options that was commissioned by the Chief Secretary himself. We haven’t put into practice any of these options, we don’t support them. We didn’t support them then and we don’t support them in the future.
But Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said the Tories should come “come clean” about their plans to cut welfare.
Come clean about your plans. Tell Britain’s working families that if they vote Conservative on May 7, then the devastation to family finances begins on May 8.
- Ed Miliband will be forced to reach across the political divide as prime minister in the event of an Scottish National party landslide depriving the Labour party of an overall parliamentary majority, the former home secretary David Blunkett has said. As Nicholas Watt reports, in a frank interview with the BBC, which highlights deep misgivings within the Labour party about its prospects north of the border, Blunkett warned of a “dangerous” situation as Scottish voters close their ears to rational arguments.
That is all from this blog.
Nigel Farage has pulled out of an appearance on Radio 1’s Newbeat tomorrow.
Nigel Farage has cancelled his appearance in the Live Lounge for #Newsbeat tomorrow. We expect to hear from a UKIP representative next week.
— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) April 30, 2015
I suppose it’s not exactly a core Ukip demographic.
Three quarters of voters want electoral system to be more proportionate, poll shows
The Electoral Reform Society has put out the results of a poll purportedly showing that three quarters of voters want the electoral system to be more proportionate.
Asked if they agreed that “the number of seats a party gets should broadly reflect its proportion of the total votes cast”, 74% agreed, and just 6% disagreed.
Admittedly, that’s a fairly loaded question. But, as the ERS points out, the election result may well put this issue back on the agenda.
This is from the ERS’s news release.
[The election] could see Labour and the Conservatives win two-thirds of votes but over 80% of the seats in Parliament, while the Greens and Ukip could get a fifth of the vote and less than 1% of seats. In Scotland, recent polling suggests the SNP – who support a fairer voting system - could win up to 100% of the seats on just over 50% of the vote.
Katie Ghose, the ERS chief executive, said she would like to see politicians respond after the election.
Politics has fundamentally changed over the past few years. We are now a truly multi-party country, as the leaders’ debates have shown. But how we vote hasn’t caught up. We’re trying to squeeze seven or more parties into an old-fashioned two-party system, and unsurprisingly, it’s not working. Under a proportional voting system, the public could support a range of parties and vote for who they believe in, knowing their vote would genuinely count.
With 74% of the public backing proportional elections, it’s time for politicians to put real reform back on the agenda after May 7.
The irony, though, is that even though polling suggests the case for electoral reform should be stronger than ever, the main parties show less enthusiasm for this than they have for years. That is mainly because the disastrous alternative vote referendum (disastrous for those in favour) turned electoral reform into a political no-go area. Although still committed to proportional representation, the Lib Dems have said next to nothing about it, and Labour is not interested either. Earlier this week Ed Miliband said he was not in favour of PR for the Commons.
Nicola Sturgeon has lifted one of Alex Salmond’s showiest campaigning tools, using a helicopter to take her “to the four corners of Scotland” in an effort to cement the Scottish National party’s remarkable polling lead.
Sturgeon jumped onto the aircraft - bearing her own photograph and SNP livery - after first minister’s questions at Holyrood on Thursday, taking off for the Borders towns of Moffat and Galashiels from the extensive gardens of one of Edinburgh’s most prestigious five-star hotels, Prestonfield House.
Salmond flew into Prestonfield House after past election victories, using its spacious tree-lined grounds to deliver his victory speech after his 2011 landslide victory to declare “although the SNP has a majority of the seats, we don’t have a monopoly of wisdom.”
With no hint of irony, Sturgeon said: “There’s now only one week to go until the election and the extent of the opportunity in Scotland’s grasp is becoming clearer by the day – and I’m looking forward to taking the SNP’s positive, anti-austerity message to communities in every corner of Scotland.”
Updated
Russell Brand backs Greens as 'sensible people with sensible policies'
If Ed Miliband’s unspoken but apparent part-motive on agreeing to be interviewed by Russell Brand was to gain a political endorsement he may be in for a disappointment after the comedian all-but backed the Greens in a chat with the party’s two leading figures.
Brand was explicit in his support for Caroline Lucas, the party’s first MP, who is seeking re-election in the Brighton Pavilion constituency. Squashed next to Lucas in the corner of a London coffee shop for a film on his popular The Trews YouTube channel, Brand told her: “People who live in Brighton Pavilion should definitely vote for you.”
Turning to face the camera, he added: “Are you a person that lives in Brighton Pavilion? If you are, you should definitely vote for this person, Caroline Lucas.”
A day after posting his chat with Miliband, a video which has already had 625,000 views, the comedian and activist chatted to Lucas and the Greens’ leader, Natalie Bennett.
While remaining sceptical about their ability to exert much influence Brand gave the party something of a general, if idiosyncratic endorsement. “After the revolution the Greens are the very kind of people you’d want in charge of running things, not a narcissistic lunatic like myself,” he said to Lucas. “You’d have sensible people with sensible policies.”
Brand has repeatedly spoken of the fact he does not vote as he believes the influence of unelected corporate interests renders such an action pointless, something Miliband strongly challenged him on.
Lucas also disagreed with what Brand termed “reflexible impotence” rather than apathy. “Lots of the reasons that the bankers have power, and the unelected people have power, is because politicians have given that power away,” she said. “It’s not like some divine right that these other people have power. Politicians have chosen to give that power away.”
Poll suggests importance of NHS as election issue has increased over last month
The NHS is now clearly the most important issue affecting voters, according to Ipsos Mori’s April political monitor. In March the NHS had a seven-point lead over the economy as the key election issue, but that has now gone up to a 12-point lead.
As Ipsos MORI point out, Labour lead the Tories on two of the three most important issues affecting voters.
Labour is rated as the party with the best policies for two of the top three voting issues. Labour is mentioned by 36% of the public to best manage the NHS compared to 23% saying the Conservatives. When it comes to education three in 10 (31%) say Labour is the party with the best policies (compared to 23% saying Conservatives). Labour also lead the Conservatives on benefits by 3 points (30% vs. 27%) and housing by 11 points (31% vs. 20%).
While Labour holds a slight lead over the Conservatives on asylum and immigration (21% compared to 17%) UKIP only trail by one point where one in five Britons (20%) say they have the best policies on the issue.
David Cameron’s Conservatives however maintain a commanding lead over the economy. Four in 10 (41%) Britons say the Conservatives are best able to manage the economy (compared to 23% saying Labour). They also hold a small two point lead on unemployment (32% vs. 30%) but are neck and neck with Labour when it comes to taxation (30% vs. 29%). The Conservatives also lead Labour when it comes to crime (28% vs. 21%), defence (28% vs. 17%) and pensions (28% vs. 23%).
Market stalls, a trampoline and a Game of Thrones moment: here are our picture desk’s election photo highlights of the day.
Nicola Sturgeon has berated Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Kezia Dugdale over Labour’s heavy focus on the SNP’s future plans for a second independence referendum, accusing Dugdale of “totally and utterly farcical” behaviour at first minister’s questions.
During angry exchanges at Holyrood, the pair fought over whether the SNP was privately expecting to stage a second referendum on the back of the SNP’s expected landslide victory on 7 May – as many of its candidates appear to believe.
That speculation was heightened after former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars, who takes a fundamentalist stance on independence but has little influence over the current party leadership, told the Telegraph a referendum would be on “line one” of next year’s SNP manifesto for the 2016 Holyrood elections.
Facing heavy and wounding losses to the SNP in the election, and watching the SNP adopt many of its key pledges, Scottish Labour has gone deliberately negative in the final week of the campaign by playing up fears of another referendum in its final campaign poster, unveiled in Glasgow on Thursday morning by leader Jim Murphy.
Dugdale urged Sturgeon to repeat her pledge on 25 August last year that a referendum was “a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The first minister insisted the SNP was not seeking any mandate for another referendum on 7 May, and only sought to press for progressive policies at UK level. She dismissed Sillars’ claims, stating she was party leader and in charge of all future manifestos.
This is desperate last throw of the dice stuff from Scottish Labour. Talk about a party in its death throes. This is totally and utterly farcical from Scottish Labour. The only people in Scotland right now talking about a second referendum are Scottish Labour.
Despite her denials, Sturgeon is keeping her options for the 2016 Holyrood manifesto open, as she has repeatedly hinted.
A decision by the SNP to put forward another referendum will depend; on which party wins the election – a Tory victory could make the pro-referendum case easier; the prospects for an EU membership referendum; whether the SNP extracts concessions from a minority Labour government; and the health of the Scottish economy.
FT says it wants another Tory/Lib Dem coalition
Hi. I’m Andrew Sparrow taking over from Jamie. I will be keeping this blog going until about 6pm, and then we will launch a new blog to cover the Question Time event with David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg tonight.
It must be endorsement day today. We’ve had the Sun (both of them), and the Economist (see 1.58pm), and now the Financial Times has come out with its recommendation. It wants David Cameron as prime minister, and ideally it would like another Conservative/Lib Dem coalition.
Here’s an extract from its editorial (subscription).
At this delicate moment, the best outcome would be a continuation of the 2010 coalition between the Conservatives and Lib Dems. Mr Clegg’s party has proved a responsible partner in government. Tough decisions, such as the reversal of his party’s stance on university tuition fees, will hurt the party. The Lib Dems would be more awkward in a second term coalition. It is also far from clear whether they will have enough seats to be kingmakers with either the Tories or Labour.
Voters must decide not just on the party but also on the combination which would have the best chance of forming a stable, reform-minded government. The country would benefit from the countervailing force of Lib Dem moderation at Westminster. In seats where the Lib Dems are the incumbent or the main challenger, we would vote tactically for them.
Ultimately, however, there is only one leader and one party that can head the government. There are risks in re-electing Mr Cameron’s party, especially on Europe. But there are greater risks in not doing so. Its instincts on the economy, business and reform of public services are broadly right. Mr Miliband has not offered a credible economic prospectus and would apply a brake on enterprise. In the circumstances, the FT would like to see a Conservative-led administration.
Updated
That’s it from me for the day. It’s been a pleasure. I’ll be handing over to my esteemed colleague Andrew Sparrow, whose steady hand will be taking you through the rest of the afternoon and this evening’s special edition of Question Time. Enjoy.
Guardian writer Tom Clark presents this podcast on Stevenage, which since being formed as a parliamentary constituency in 1983 has always returned an MP of the party in power.
Natalie Bennett says her voice was “comically squeaky” during her appearance in Russell Brand’s latest episode of The Trews. And she’s right.
Thanks to @rustyrockets for the chat. And thanks for putting up with my rather comically squeaky voice that day! http://t.co/JCOiVp7TcQ
— Natalie Bennett (@natalieben) April 30, 2015
Vote for Green's Caroline Lucas in Brighton - Russell Brand
Huge attention was paid to Ed Miliband’s appearance yesterday on comedian Russell Brand’s online series Trews, today Green Party leader Natalie Bennett - with a rather croaky voice - and Brighton candidate Caroline Lucas feature.
Despite his decision not to vote himself, Brand urges the electorate in Brighton to back Lucas on 7 May
Labour received more than £1.5 million in donations in the third week of the election campaign, once again more than the Conservative Party, the Press Association reports.
Labour took in the highest number of donations - £1,530,000, compared to £1,109,946 last week - and were closely followed by Ukip on £1,500,000.
The Tories received £1,083,479 between April 13 and 19 - more than twice as much as the £492,512 donated last week, according to figures from the Electoral Commission.
PA reports
By law, political parties must submit weekly donation and loan reports to the commission if they are standing candidates in the UK parliamentary election and they have received any donations or loans over £7,500.
Parties must notify the commission if they are not standing candidates in order to be exempt from weekly reporting.
The four political parties that have reported receiving donations over £7,500 are the Conservatives (£1,083,479), Labour (£1,530,000), the Liberal Democrats (£75,000) and Ukip (£1,500,000).
Here’s a selection of pictures coming in to the Guardian picture desk from across the length and breadth of the campaign trail.
Danny Alexander: Tories must come clean over welfare cuts – video
Our video team have posted this film with Danny Alexander. The chief secretary to the Treasury says the Conservative party must tell the public the details of its planned welfare cuts.
Ed Miliband has labelled the Sun’s endorsement of the Tories and the SNP as an “unholy alliance”.
The tabloid raised eyebrows as it formally backed Tories in its national edition but threw its support behind Nicola Sturgeon’s party north of the border.
Speaking at a question and answer session in Yorkshire earlier, the Labour leader joked he had “worked really hard over the last four and a half years to get Rupert Murdoch’s endorsement”.
Clearly, it is a deep disappointment that The Sun has endorsed the Conservative party.
Although, I might add, I think it says a lot about the state of British politics that you have got the primary Tory supporting newspaper that is supporting the Conservative Party in England and supporting the SNP in Scotland.
There can be no greater illustration of the unholy alliance of the Conservative and the SNP. And the Sun newspaper has revealed that is because what they are showing is that David Cameron’s last best hope is to puff and promote the SNP in Scotland.
Politicians appearing on news bulletins are shown attacking their opponents more often than talking about their own party’s policies, according to Cardiff University’s ongoing study of TV news coverage of the election.
Between 30 March and 24 April, 43.4% of election news items on the major evening bulletins that gave airtime to a party source saw them attacking a rival’s policy or personal character. In contrast, 38.2% of soundbites were about politicians’ own policy agendas.
The remaining 18.4% of sources were largely free of policy and did not involve attacking opponents, such as reacting to the TV debates or commenting upon possible coalition deals.
The BBC’s use of political soundbites was the most attack-driven, reflecting about half of all its sources, slightly more than ITV’s 49%, Sky’s 44.9% and Channel 5’s 41.9%.
However, on Channel 4 only a third of political soundbites – 36.4% – involved attacking an opponent, with a greater proportion – 43.8% – used to convey their own party’s policy.
David Blunkett concedes Miliband can't win a majority
Former Labour home secretary David Blunkett has said Ed Miliband will not be able to form a majority government as a result of the collapse in support for his party in Scotland.
In an interview on the World at One on Radio 4, Blunkett said the Labour leader is “unable to offer a majority Labour government because of what’s happened in just one part of the UK”.
Asked if Labour needed to cooperate with a party like the SNP, Blunkett, who retired as an MP at the end of the parliamentary term, said:
It’s possible that we could put a minority government in place which did not have a formal agreement, was in not in hock to and did not find itself run by a minority nationalist party but could expect them to actually vote on things they themselves have committed to. I think that’s a possible scenario.
He added:
It’s going to have to be as more than grown up politics. It’s going to have to be about reshaping the way in which Westminster operates. An incoming Labour government led by Ed Miliband will have to reach out across political divides to people who have voted Conservative and Lib Dem as well as those who have voted SNP to say we have to do what’s right for the nation.
Video: John Harris on the strange death of Labour in Scotland
Our video team have posted the latest in John Harris’s election road trip series.
Harris visits Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, once the safest seat in Britain, but which is now within the SNP’s sights. The veteran Labour MP Tom Clarke says he’s confident he can hold on. But his SNP challenger Phil Boswell says Labour has stopped representing the workers, and fancies his chances. It’s tense, and messy. And when we ask too many questions, anger erupts.
NB: We’re having some technical problems with embedded videos in the blog, so if the below video doesn’t play for you, please click this link and we promise it will work on the standalone video page
Updated
Hi, Jamie Grierson back from lunch here. I had a fish sandwich, if you’re interested.
I return with this update - weekly news mag The Economist has endorsed David Cameron as it calls on voters to give a Tory-led coalition a second term. It writes:
On May 7th voters must weigh the certainty of economic damage under Labour against the possibility of a costly EU exit under the Tories. With Labour, the likely partnership with the SNP increases the risk. For the Tories, a coalition with the Lib Dems would reduce it. On that calculus, the best hope for Britain is with a continuation of a Conservative-led coalition. That’s why our vote is for Mr Cameron.
Our endorsement: Britons should give the Conservative-led coalition another term in office http://t.co/OO1PMMRsWg pic.twitter.com/L2uwQrkwI8
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) April 30, 2015
My colleague Ben Quinn says just 20 supporters turned up for the launch of Ukip’s culture policy launch in Boston, Lincolnshire. He’s filed this fuller report:
Uncontrolled immigration has played a role in the “fading” of British culture, Ukip’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall has said at the launch of the party’s culture policy in Boston.
While the Lincolnshire constituency of Boston and Skegness is one of the party’s top target seats, the turnout of just around 20 supporters and five journalists for the launch in a local theatre might suggest that the party isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders. Ukip insists the event was mainly for the press.
Peter Whittle, Ukip’s culture spokesman, listed freedom of speech as a key British value, and criticised a comment by Ed Miliband last week that he would “root out Islamophobia as a hate crime.”
Whittle said that criminalising Islamophobia was “potentially a dangerous infringement of the basic right to free speech. We cannot expect to have a united cohesive society if special rules are seen to apply to one group over another”.
Farage renews attack on BBC's 'anti-Ukip bias'
Nigel Farage has accused the BBC of “outrageous” bias over a Wednesday night News at Ten report about the constituency of South Thanet, where he is hoping to be elected to parliament next week.
As the Ukip leader was mobbed by journalists and supporters in Aylesbury, he said: “We have this bizarre state of affairs where we have BBC, an organisation which we are all charged £145 a year to have the benefit of seeing, aren’t regulated by Ofcom and made their own minds up and frankly produce the News at Ten every night as if there are just two choices in England.
“I think they have been biased and last night’s report about South Thanet frankly was outrageous.”
Farage also hit out at the make-up of the audience for tonight’s Question Time debate, and suggested that members had to be members of the Socialist Workers’ party to get in. (For the actual political make-up of the audience, please see 12.12pm’s post)
Ukip has already reported the BBC to the police over a joke made on Have I Got News For You by the journalist Camilla Long, who said she had been to South Thanet more than Farage had.
The Ukip leader was visiting Aylesbury, considered a safe Conservative seat, because he believes his party has a chance of delivering a “very big shock” to the incumbent Tory MP David Lidington. The big local issue is HS2, which Ukip is firmly opposed to as a “gigantic white elephant”.
SNP could introduce tighter rules for loyalty of its Westminster MPs
According to BuzzFeed, the SNP is preparing for a potential role in a post-election coalition by proposing tough new rules requiring rigid loyalty to the party line from its Westminster MPs.
The news site has been leaked a draft list of motions (the final week must leak week in the parties’ campaign strategy) for the party’s spring conference next month. One of these would require MPs to sign up to a code of conduct pledging they would not “publicly criticise a decision, policy or another member” of the SNP’s Westminster group, either in parliament or in other venues such as the media.
A further motion could see the introduction of unprecedented (for the SNP) all-women shortlists for prospective parliamentary candidates.
The story goes on to say:
One section of the proposed rules would hand a range of new powers to the SNP’s Westminster whipping operation. The chief whip would be able to discipline SNP MPs who stray from the party line in a number of ways, including expulsion. The existing rules for the SNP’s Westminster group make no mention of formal whipping arrangements for MPs.
There is no guarantee that the rule changes will be passed by ordinary members. And it seems from the wording of the draft motion that the obedience rule will only apply to Westminster MPs, not its MSPs at Holyrood. This is quite interesting, if there are different codes of conduct for the different parliaments.
Updated
Good afternoon, I’m taking over from Jamie while he has a well-earned break. So, is anyone not stuck at Clapham Junction?
Updated
Newsnight ask a question about the pace of the campaign.
Q: You’ve had four million conversations. Why would it be then there are people outside this hall saying it’s a boring campaign?
I’ve tried to engage directly with people on the issues that matter to them, Miliband says. Given my discussion with Russell Brand, I don’t think anyone can accuse us of playing it safe. We’re determined to reach out to the many people who are not listening and not following this election.
That’s it from Ed Miliband in Dewsbury.
Carl Dinnen at ITV News asks:
Q: Is it right for cabinet ministers to publicly release confidential papers?
A week before election he’s decided the Tories are bad guys, Miliband says. David Cameron has to come clean with the British people. He hasn’t ruled out those cuts. He has to say which cuts he’s going to make in tax credits.
Updated
Miliband is now taking questions from journalists in the audience.
First up is Sophy Ridge from Sky News
Q: How disappointed are you it’s not going to be head to head debate with David Cameron tonight?
I’m sorry David Cameron is refusing to debate me head to head, Miliband says. The offer remains on the table.
Q: You want the Tories to come clean about their cuts. Will you please come clean about the possibility of a Labour-SNP coalition?
There’s not going to be a Labour-SNP coalition. You can hold me to the promise.
Q: Apprenticeships being used as a way to avoid minimum wage. What will Labour do about that?
It has to be high quality apprenticeships. They’re playing the numbers game on apprenticeships and not focusing on quality.
Back to Miliband in Dewsbury. He’s still taking questions from the audience.
Q: There are too many Muslims dying across the world. When will we realise we are creating more terrorists than we are getting rid of?
There’s three separate issues, Miliband says. First is Islamophobia and just like anti-semitism and other forms of prejudice we should be strong against Islamophobia.
Secondly, we must learn the lessons of the past, such as the Iraq war.
Thirdly, this concerns Isil. Isil is an evil organisation terrorising Muslims, Christians, Yadzidis, non-Muslims. We must approach this in a different way that we did in the past. We must work with regional partners, not thinking it can be Britain and American alone.
Three-minute election video: Can the Lib Dems avoid humiliation?
Columnists Hugh Muir and Rafael Behr discuss whether Danny Alexander’s exposure of planned Tory welfare cuts will help or hinder the Lib Dems. Was the leak by Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury motivated by his fear of losing his own seat? Can his party maintain its claim to be the conscience of the coalition with the heartless Tories? And can Nick Clegg survive?
Cameron commissioned cuts report - Liberal Democrats
I’m just going to come away from Miliband’s Q&A to bring you this update on the row over claims made by Lib Dem Treasury secretary Danny Alexander about Tory plans to cut welfare.
Alexander reveals in Guardian that in June 2012, members of the Quad – the inner group of the four most senior cabinet members – were sent a paper setting out plans for £8bn of welfare reforms including cuts to child benefits.
The Tories fought back with George Osborne claiming Alexander commissioned the report. This was flatly denied by the Liberal Democrats.
Now, Alexander’s party have claimed the prime minister himself commissioned the report. It’s really kicking off.
BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg...
Child benefit row getting even more personal - lib dem source says child benefit proposals paper commissioned directly by the PM
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) April 30, 2015
Telegraph’s political editor Peter Dominiczak
Lib Dems hit back over "secret letter" row. Sources now say the welfare cuts document was commissioned by David Cameron himself. It's war.
— Peter Dominiczak (@peterdominiczak) April 30, 2015
And our political editor Patrick Wintour says the paper clearly says it comes after a “request from the prime minister”
The June welfare "summer reading paper" from Iain Duncan Smith to the Quad clearly says it comes after a request from the Prime Minister.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) April 30, 2015
Q: What can I say to my Green-voting friends on Labour’s environmental policies?
You can have a prime minister who put a wind turbine on his roof and then said he wanted to ban wind turbines, or you can have a prime minister who was climate change secretary, is absolutely committed on these issues and will lead from the front on these issues.
Q: Will you be committed to reducing bureaucracy in education and NHS to enable highly skilled professionals to use their expertise and experience to deliver better quality for the future?
Michael Gove thought the way to change education was to start a war with teachers, Miliband says. I think he’s wrong.
Q: I’m a first time voter. I commend you on pledge to cut tuition fees. What can you do for those of us still paying £9,000?
The reality is we want to get in as soon as possible and make the change as soon as possible. We’re going to make the change in autumn 2016, we can’t do it earlier than that for a host of reasons. I’m sorry we can’t make a difference to you but what we are going to do is create a decent jobs market so there are good jobs for you.
Q: I’ve been on benefit through ill health since 2005 after a serious car accident. What’s Labour going to do about people like me on small benefits?
The rhetoric of this government stigmatises people on benefits, Miliband says. I can’t promise you an increase in benefits but we will try and deal with costs you’re facing, like energy costs.
Q: How responsive are you to mental health needs?
We are responsive. Mental health is one of the most unseen and unaddressed challenges of our time. I want to make it more of a priority in the NHS. People should work if they can but not be forced to if they can’t.
Miliband’s question and answer session gets off to a simple start.
Q: What will you do about bedroom tax?
We’ll abolish it, Miliband says.
Q: What about the health and social care act?
We’re going to repeal health and social care act, the Labour leader says. We want to deal with privatisation agenda.
Miliband calls on Cameron to 'come clean' about plans for welfare cuts
Ed Miliband has called on David Cameron to “come clean” about plans for welfare cuts.
Addressing a gathering of supporters and journalists in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, he said documents leaked to the Guardian by Danny Alexander had revealed a “secret plan” for slashing child benefits.
Documents released today show the Conservatives have indeed been planning big cuts to child benefits. We’ve learnt that child benefit and tax credits are on the ballot paper next week. Their secret plan has been revealed. They will unleash these devastating plans in just seven days’ time if they get the chance.
Addressing the prime minister directly, he said: “Stop trying to deceive the public. Come clean about your plans.”
Miliband also claimed his party his hit its “four million conversations” target out on the campaign trail and pledged to engage in a further one million doorstep conversations in the next week.
Miliband is now taking questions from the audience and journalists.
Updated
BBC defends Question Time over claims of audience 'bias'
Mark Sweney on the Guardian’s media desk has more on the audience for tonight’s Question Time leaders’ special, following reports that some parties had complained to the BBC.
The corporation says the audience will be made up of 25% of those who say they will vote Tory, 25% Labour supporters, 25% Liberal Democrat supporters, 15% who favour “other parties” and 10% who say they are undecided.
The BBC said the selection process meant that “each party leader faces the same prospect – an audience where one in four supports him, but where the majority does not”.
“The thinking behind this is that it will ensure that there’s a level playing field,”Ric Bailey, the BBC’s chief political adviser, said in a blog.
Updated
Ed Milband takes part in people's question time in Yorkshire
Labour leader Ed Miliband is about to take part in a ‘people’s question time’ in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. I’ll be listening in and reporting back on the most interesting moments.
You can watch a live stream of the speech below:
Updated
Ukip says uncontrolled immigration has 'played part in fading of British culture'
My colleague Ben Quinn is at the launch of Ukip’s “culture policy” in Boston, one of the party’s target seats, which also happens to be the location of the highest proportion of eastern Europeans in England and Wales. Ben has filed this:
Ukip’s parliamentary candidate here is 22-year-old Robin Hunter-Clarke, while polling by the Conservative Peer, Lord Ashcroft, suggested in February that Ukip are within striking distance of taking the seat, at just three percentage points behind the Tories.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been criticised for claiming in the past that the town is segregated and that children from different communities do not play together.
At the launch of UKIP's "culture policy": "Uncontrolled immigration has played a part in fading of British culture" pic.twitter.com/Zox9YKUqWh
— Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) April 30, 2015
"Freedom of speech includes out right to criticise, to satirise.." says a Ukip culture spokesman 1/2....
— Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) April 30, 2015
...after the party asked police to investigate comments made about Nigel Farage on 'Have I Got News for You'? http://t.co/YdhyGjj0h1
— Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) April 30, 2015
Updated
It is a sign of Northern Ireland’s potential importance in this general election that 380,000 viewers across the UK watched Tuesday night’s debate between the five main Northern Irish parties.
In terms of Northern Ireland viewers only, UTV reports that up to 110,000 (18%) watched Ulster’s bigger parties – the Democratic Unionists, Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and Alliance – debate issues including the potential to hold the balance of power at Westminster after 7 May.
With the DUP in position to potentially act as kingmakers alongside other parties, more attention is paid than ever before by the UK national media and voters to the election outcomes over in the region.
Meanwhile the main casualty of the electoral battles in the province, the recently resigned Northern Ireland health minister Jim Wells, has said his career was “destroyed in just 30 seconds”.
The Democratic Unionist candidate for South Down has spoken for the first time since he stood down from his post after making claims that children were more likely to be abused in families with same sex parents. Wells told his local paper the Down Recorder today that “in 30 seconds, my political career has been destroyed by others.”
My colleague Alexandra Topping has spent a day on Labour’s pink bus, which has visited 75 target seats – 10 of them twice – with the aim of reaching some of the 9 million women who did not vote in the 2010 election. It has also taken its fair share of criticism.
Here’s Harriet Harman explaining the point of it:
“I find it quite disheartening when, usually, to get to the end of the campaign and you have members saying ‘where were the women?’ Well, that is not happening this time,” she said, on a train whizzing to meet the bus in Leamington Spa. So why hasn’t it happened before? “I think Ed is much more open-minded and also prepared to recognise that I’m his deputy and if I think it’s a good idea to do something, then it might be a good idea,” she said coolly.
Updated
The Liberal Democrats have immediately denied George Osborne’s claim that Danny Alexander commissioned the report outlining Tory plans to cut child benefits as part of a wider welfare savings drive (see 11.07)
I asked them what they made of Osborne’s take on the report. They replied:
@JamieGrierson It's simply not true.
— Lib Dem Press Office (@LibDemPress) April 30, 2015
My colleague Patrick Wintour had the same response.
Osborne " a three-year-old document of policy options commissioned by the Chief Secretary Danny Alexander himself". Not true say LDs.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) April 30, 2015
There’s been a great deal of reaction to Danny Alexander’s claim in the Guardian that the Tories plan to slash child benefits as part of a wider welfare savings drive.
Here’s a round up of remarks from the commentariat on Twitter.
From BBC’s Emily Maitlis
This move by @dannyalexander just fascinating. Can't decide if more Butch Cassidy finale or more Vicky Pryce . https://t.co/B6JVDktJYv
— emily m (@maitlis) April 30, 2015
Telegraph’s Scottish editor Alan Cochrane
If Danny Alexander wants Tories to save his bacon by tactical voting in Inverness he won't do it by leaking their plans for welfare cuts.
— Alan Cochrane (@Alan_Cochrane) April 30, 2015
Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman
The great unsaid of this Danny Alexander welfare leak is that Lib Dems expect Tories to ditch a large chunk of the £12bn cuts to do a deal
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) April 30, 2015
New Statesman’s Stephen Bush
Labour quick out the blocks to piggyback on Danny Alexander's loose lips. pic.twitter.com/BCwmSeSerf
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) April 30, 2015
The FT’s Giles Wilkes
Cameron "fury" at welfare cuts leak http://t.co/vq8dKH6wlq Don't get this fury. It is Tory policy. Danny Alexander just trying to be helpful
— Giles Wilkes (@Gilesyb) April 30, 2015
And he’s won the backing of actor Hugh Grant
Dear People of Inverness (incl my friends and relations), I know Danny Alexander and think you're very lucky to have him. Just an opinion. X
— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) April 30, 2015
Danny Alexander commissioned £8bn welfare cuts report, says George Osborne
George Osborne, the chancellor, has said the 2012 document leaked to the Guardian by Danny Alexander that reveals the Tories were planning to limit child benefit as part of £8bn of cuts to the welfare budget was actually part of a report commissioned by the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury.
Speaking on BBC London 94 at an event in Croydon, Osborne said:
This is a three-year-old document of policy options that was commissioned by the Chief Secretary himself. We haven’t put into practice any of these options, we don’t support them. We didn’t support them then and we don’t support them in the future.
Updated
Our focus group’s verdict on MiliBrand and more
What do the real voters think? We have 60 in five key seats giving their view throughout the campaign as part of our polling project with BritainThinks. They each have an app and are telling us what they think of stories as they crop up.
Here are some of the responses we’ve received about the furore over Ed Miliband’s interview with Russell Brand, and yesterday’s poll that predicted an SNP earthquake in Scotland.
Nick Clegg interviewed on Absolute Radio
Nick Clegg was interviewed by Pete Donaldson on Absolute Radio. Although it was last night, there’s some moments worth highlighting as it may have slipped under the radar.
- The Lib Dem leader discussed his relationship with David Cameron as being “not that complicated”.
We know we don’t agree because we start from different vantage points, but you try and do, you try and agree on stuff for the country as a whole. I think where the differences have just become a lot sharper to be honest is when talking about the future, and that’s where obviously the Conservatives in my view have taken a very hard line approach to ideological cuts to public services, which I disagree with.
- The deputy prime minister was asked if he misses “Cleggmania” and if he was bothered by the rise of so-called “Milifandom”.
You shouldn’t go into politics, and you certainly shouldn’t go into government, at a time when there’s no money and all the rest of it… if all you want to do is win a sort of, you know, popularity or beauty contest.
- Clegg says he paved the way for other politicians to start engaging with the public through the media when he agreed to take part in a weekly call-in on LBC.
I’m not going to teach grandmothers to suck eggs. But actually the interesting thing is when I first sort of said I was going to do that, the whole Westminster Village, the whole kind of media establishment, “It was a disaster, it was terrible,” and all the rest of it and now a whole bunch of other politicians are doing it.
- The Lib Dem leader reveals he has stopped “vaping” - using vaporisers or electronic cigarettes - and found it to be a “useful stepping stone to get off the proper fags” and has not smoked for around two months.
Updated
Miliband says Lib Dem leak is 'proof' UK cannot afford five more years under Tories
Ed Miliband has reacted to claims made by Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, that the Tories are considering slashing child benefits and child tax credits.
Speaking ahead of an event in Yorkshire, the Labour leader said:
Today we’ve learnt that child benefit and tax credits are on the ballot paper next week. The Tories have drawn up plans to take thousands of pounds away from millions of families. The Tories’ secret plan has been revealed. And they will put it into practice in just seven days’ time if they get the chance. It’s the final proof that working families can’t afford five years of the Tories.
Updated
My colleague Severin Carrell has been in Danny Alexander’s Highland constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, where things may not be quite as bad for one of the architects of the coalition as a February Ashcroft poll suggested.
Alexander is facing the Highland council leader Drew Hendry, who is standing for the SNP and was mooted to have a 50%-21% lead. But a combination of name recognition, voter apathy and a local political scene in which even ardent SNP supporters rarely have a bad word to say about him could see Alexander over the line.
“It’s probably quite a divided electorate,” Alexander concedes. He believes his local reputation will help him defy the UK-wide collapse in Lib Dem support (he claims to have carried out 22,000 pieces of constituency casework since 2005) and policy victories on issues such as a new 5p cut in fuel costs for remote areas, a mooted Inverness city deal and UK spending on rural broadband.
Nick Clegg finished what could be his last call-in show on LBC listening to a highlight reel of his time on the show.
The station’s political editor Theo Usherwood claims the Lib Dem leader came over all “misty eyed”
A misty eyed Nick Clegg listens to the best bits from the last two and a bit years. pic.twitter.com/ErhvPnRshC
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) April 30, 2015
That’s it from Nick Clegg on LBC - possibly his last appearance.
Looking ahead to 7 May, Clegg was asked how talks would commence. Phone? Email? Pigeon? As my colleague Frances Perraudin picked up on, he was cautious on giving too much detail.
Clegg says that this time leaders will take a "little bit of time to absorb" the election results before starting coalition negotiations.
— Frances Perraudin (@fperraudin) April 30, 2015
LBC presenter Nick Ferrari has challenged Nick Clegg over his colleague Danny Alexander’s decision to “lift the lid” on Tory plans for an £8bn plan to cut welfare in the Guardian. Clegg said he stood by Alexander’s decision.
I share Danny’s intense frustration, verging on anger, that the Conservatives think it’s okay a week before the election to say they’re going to take the equivalent of £1,500 off eight million of the most vulnerable families... and they can’t even be bothered to spell out exactly what their plans involve.
Ferrari then asked the Lib Dem leader about the front page article on today’s Times newspaper (here - paywall) that claims senior figures within his party are planning to revolt over a second coalition deal.
Any decision to by the Liberal Democrats to form another coalition will be done collectively.... Of course, we would tread carefully.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has put a question to Nick Clegg on his weekly call-in show. Unsurprisingly, it was about immigration.
Farage tells Clegg there is nothing the Lib Dem leader or his party can do to prevent immigrants from North Africa arriving in Europe, getting an EU passport and moving to Britain and he should come clean.
I don’t think he is coming clear to the British people about the “disastrous” consequences of his plans to leave the EU, Clegg says.
There are just as many people from Britain leaving and moving elsewhere in the EU as coming here. Where Nigal Farage and I disagree is I don’t think the remedy is to make our country poorer, throw people out of work, drain investment from the UK by leaving the EU.
Updated
The latest Ipsos Mori poll has the Conservatives ahead by five points, on 35%. Labour are on 30%, Ukip on 10%, the Lib Dems are 8% and the Greens on 8%.
Latest @IpsosMORI #GE2015 poll: CON 35% LAB 30% UKIP 10% LDEM 8% GRN 8%
— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) April 30, 2015
Previously, Mori had Labour ahead by two points – the only phone poll to show a Labour lead.
It is important to look at the vote share of the two main parties, and not at the lead. However, the trend is clear: the Tories have edged ahead in the polls and are more likely than not to be the largest party come 7 May. The Guardian’s latest average has the Conservatives on 34.1% and Labour on 32.7%
However, the contest for largest party is one thing. The race for No 10 – who actually has the numbers to govern – is a different matter.
Once you add up all the parties likely to vote a Conservative queen’s speech down, and consider the different paths David Cameron has to N10, the arithmetic still favours Ed Miliband.
There is finally one great unknown: the Ukip vote and how it will breakdown in key marginals – and if support for Farage’s party does drop, how its voters will split between Labour and the Conservatives.
Nick Clegg takes calls from LBC radio listeners
A caller has asked Nick Clegg if he could live on the minimum wage.
Since I’ve never experienced it I can’t put it to the test. I think it would be really tough.
The deputy prime minister was asked by another caller if he believes he should be on tonight’s Question Time over Nigel Farage or Ukip. He said he agrees with the principle of the question and wanted to take part in a debate with David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage.
These are the four parties that have been identified by the broadcast regulator, these are the major parties. I’ve been saying this to the broadcasters for months - now lets get the four together.
Updated
Sturgeon welcomes support of the Scottish Sun
Nicola Sturgeon, in Edinburgh to launch the SNP’s final election poster - Stronger For Scotland, welcomed the Scottish Sun’s endorsement for the SNP and brushed off the clash between it urging an SNP vote in Scotland but a contradictory Tory vote in England and Wales.
David Marr, a colleague from Guardian Australia reporting on the general election, was at the poster launch. He said Sturgeon told reporters: “The Sun is a paper which a different editorial policy in Scotland. I welcome their support; I welcome support from wherever it comes, but the support which really matters is the support of voters across the country.”
Sturgeon laughed off the Scottish edition’s portrayal of her as Princes Leia from Star Wars, joking she had reservations about the hairdo.
With a week to go before polling, the SNP is building on its huge popularity and the sense it has become a political movement in Scotland by urging its supporters to make this “#SNPbecause” day on Twitter, by posting photographs with signs saying so.
Ipsos Mori poll has Conservatives five points ahead
The Guardian’s data editor Alberto Nardelli has tweeted the headline figures from the latest Ipsos Mori poll for the Evening Standard, which gives the Tories a five-point lead over Labour with one week to go until polling day.
Latest @IpsosMORI #GE2015 poll: CON 35% LAB 30% UKIP 10% LDEM 8% GRN 8%
— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) April 30, 2015
Mori poll significant because previously it was the only phone poll to put Labour ahead #GE2015
— Stuart Millar (@stuartmillar159) April 30, 2015
Updated
We’re sticking with the Lib Dems - I’m listening to their leader Nick Clegg on his weekly call-in show on LBC. I won’t post a minute by minute account but will flag most interesting moments.
Cameron should come clean on cuts on tonight's Question Time, says Alexander
Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, has thrown the gauntlet down to the prime minister and challenged him to spell out proposed Tory cuts to welfare.
In an interview with John Humphrys on Radio 4’s Today, Alexander stepped back from the specific claims he made in the Guardian about Conservative plans for an £8bn plan to cut welfare, including slashing child benefits and child tax credits.
Instead, the Lib Dem candidate for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey called on the Tories to reveal the detail of their previously announced plan to make £12bn of welfare savings.
It’s not credible for the Conservatives to say they don’t know what they’re going to do. If they are proposing £12bn of welfare savings without knowing what they’re going to do then that’s highly reckless. Equally, if they do know what they want to do, then they’re not telling the British people and that is deceitful.
Alexander said he had seen and heard various plans put forward by the Tories during his five years as chief secretary to the Treasury. He said he could not see how the Tories can make £12bn of welfare savings in a way that is “balanced or fair”.
The easiest way to clear this up would be for David Cameron perhaps tonight when he’s on Question Time to explain in detail what the £12bn savings he has in mind.
Humphrys pressed Alexander on the claims made in the Guardian, arguing that there is no evidence to support them and they were based on a document that is three years old.
But the Lib Dem said this reinforced his own argument that the Tories must “come clean”.
Extraordinarily in an election campaign they’ve said they can find this figure, they’ve said nothing about how they constructed that figure or what basis they think that is acceptable they’ve said nothing about the millions of working families who would be hit hard by big reductions in child benefits, who would be hit very hard indeed if they attacked child tax benefits, they’ve said nothing to the disabled people in this country who would be affected if they were the benefits they choose to try and target.
Humphrys later challenged Alexander on claims in the Times that Nick Clegg will face huge resistance from senior figures within the Liberal Democrats if he tries to push through a second coalition deal with the Conservatives (here - paywall).
I wouldn’t support going into a coalition if it didn’t deliver the key things Liberal Democrats wanted to achieve. I wouldn’t support going into a coalition govt if it didn’t support a balancing the budget and doing so fairly in a timely way... If we could have a Government that kept the country in centre ground that kept our recovery on track that delivered those key Liberal Democrat red lines then most Liberal Democrats would support it.
You can listen to the full interview here:
Updated
The Danny Alexander interview segment is over. I’ll post a summary and roundup of reaction shortly.
Q: But according to the Times article (here - paywall) you face resistance from members of your party to a new coalition …
I wouldn’t enter coalition if it didn’t meet our ‘red line’ needs, Alexander says. We have plans on continuing the economic recovery. Those are the tests we would set. I’m confident if we could have a government that kept our country in the centre ground, we would support it.
Updated
Q: It looks like you’re moving in to a position that you’d be perfectly happy to go in to coalition again. But problem is some of your party don’t want to …
We would be willing to go into coalition with Tories because as a party we want a stable government, Alexander says. Who’s going to hold balance of power - Farage? Or a stable government that delivers steady economy through the Lib Dems.
Updated
Q: The Tories say both the PM or chancellor wouldn’t have accepted this plan …
At the moment they’re trying to put us through a process of elimination, Alexander says, trying to work out what they’re going to cut. As the campaign moves on, our policies are becoming clearer. Liberal Democrats have revealed another red line - we would lift income tax personal allowance for 27 million people.
Updated
Q: The impression you receive when you read the Guardian is that you had some secret document that we didn’t know about. That’s not right is it?
I don’t know precisely for what the Tories have in mind for their £12bn in cuts, Alexander says.
There are ideas put to me over the years in relation to child benefit that I personally don’t think are acceptable.
When you look at parts of the welfare system that remain in scope child benefit, he adds, it’s fair for them to explain to the people what’s going on.
Updated
Q: You’re recyling stuff we already knew about. You don’t actually know this is what is being proposed - and you can’t prove that.
A: The easiest way to clear this up is for David Cameron tonight on Question Time to spell out welfare cuts. You make my point for me, no one knows what the Tories are going to cut because they won’t tell anyone. It is incumbent on the Conservatives to spell out.
Updated
Danny Alexander's Today interview
Danny Alexander is on the Today programme now. You can listen here.
John Humphrys starts by asking about the paper he leaked to the Guardian on benefits
Q: Didn’t we already know about some of this?
A: Yes, Alexander says. We know they want to make welfare savings. But real issue is the Tories want to have massive reforms to child benefits and it is not right for them to say they don’t know what they’re going to cut.
Updated
Hi Jamie Grierson here, I’m taking over the blog from Claire. We have Danny Alexander coming up on the Today programme – hopefully with more on “the extraordinary step” he took in the Guardian by lifting the lid on Tory plans for an £8bn plan to cut welfare. I’ll be listening in.
Updated
Natalie Bennett on the Today programme
Green leader Natalie Bennett has just been interviewed by Sarah Montague on the Today programme.
She said the Greens could support a Labour government:
What we’re fighting to do is to elect a strong group of MPs … They would consider supporting a Lab minority administration on a vote-by-vote basis.
We’d do anything possible to stop a Tory government.
Hasn’t the party missed a trick, given the unprecedented platform they’ve had in this campaign, to promote green and environmental policies, she is asked:
We’re setting out a model of a different kind of society.
Of course we have put the environment and climate change on the agenda … The other leaders couldn’t find two words in 3.5 hours [of the TV debates] to talk about climate change.
But the Greens’16-page mini manifesto doesn’t mention cars once, says Montague. Bennett says the party has focused on improving public transport:
People need an alternative – you can’t say to people ‘get out of your cars’ if you’re not providing them with an alternative.
And finally, quizzed on whether she personally has had a good campaign:
I think I’ve had an excellent campaign. I’ve really enjoyed it.
And once it’s over?
I’d like a long sleep.
Updated
The Conservatives have reiterated their dismissal of claims by Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, that they had proposed swingeing cuts to child benefit.
A spokesman this morning said:
This set of policies was never proposed or supported by the prime minister and chancellor and would never be proposed or supported by the PM and chancellor.
Alexander said the proposals were put forward in 2012 in a paper drawn up by the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
I said below that data editor Alberto Nardelli would have his own fresh observations and here they are.
With one week to go, here’s what he sees as the clear trends emerging from the polls:
- The Conservatives have edged ahead in the polls and are more likely to be the largest party.
- Scotland will produce an SNP landslide.
- The coalition arithmetic still favours Miliband over Cameron.
- The single most uncertain factor is the Ukip vote.
Updated
Morning briefing
Bring on the balloons and the party poppers: it’s the final week of the election campaign.
One week today the polling stations will open. One day later we probably still won’t know precisely who will make up the next government. Which is why you should stay here, in the friendly arms of the Guardian live blog, which will take you through all the twists and turns from 7am till late every day until … well, who knows.
I’m Claire Phipps, starting the blog today. I’m on Twitter @Claire_Phipps, so please come and share your thoughts there or in the comments below.
The big picture
Well, now we know. The Sun has come out for the Tories to “stop [the] SNP running the country”.
In other news, the (Scottish) Sun has come out for Nicola Sturgeon: “Why it’s time to vote SNP.”
Although Ed Miliband told Russell Brand in his YouTube interview – a contender there for sentences you never thought you’d write – that Rupert Murdoch is “much less powerful than he used to be”, the Sun front pages are consistent with their proprietor’s recent tweets, in which he praised Sturgeon’s “great performance” in the first TV debate and approved of her “clobbering” of Miliband in another.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, David Cameron continues his pumped-up, “bloody lively” language by promising to “let rip” in the final week of the campaign (no sniggering at the back, please):
Look, when you are a prime minister you have to measure your words carefully, you have to measure your speeches carefully.
But sometimes it is the time to throw caution to the winds, let rip and tell people what you really think.
And what does he really think? Read the article for the full details, of course. But here’s the tl;dr version:
- “The world is looking at Britain and saying ‘you have built some great foundations in these last five years’. And the logical thing when you’ve got great foundations is to build the house on top of them.”
- “A good life means that sense at the end of the day, when you get into bed and pull the duvet over you, you think this is working for me.”
- On a boosted SNP at Westminster: “You would have people having a decisive say over the government of the UK who don’t want it to exist.”
- On Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander: “They did the right thing in coming into coalition. We have worked well together … So on that level I do respect and like them.”
Friends and foes are fluid concepts today, though, as another Guardian exclusive has the very same Danny Alexander taking “the extraordinary step of lifting the lid on Tory plans for an £8bn plan to cut welfare, including slashing child benefits and child tax credits”. The full story is here.
Alexander reveals that in 2012 a paper by the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith suggested limiting child benefit and child tax credit to a family’s first two children; removing higher rate child benefit from the oldest child; means-testing child benefit, and removing it altogether for those aged 16-19.
A Tory spokesperson sighed: “This is desperate stuff from Liberal Democrats who are now willing to say anything to try and get attention. We don’t recognise any of these proposals and to be absolutely clear, they are definitely not our policy.”
You should also know:
- Latest polling by Lord Ashcroft suggests Clegg will lose his seat in Sheffield, and Nigel Farage will fail to win in Thanet.
-
A van carrying more than 200,000 ballot papers for the parliamentary and council elections in Hastings and Rye, and Eastbourne has been stolen.
- The Milibrand interview has so far had 517,869 views, at least some of them by people who are not journalists.
For the full rundown on Wednesday’s news, read Nadia Khomami’s summary here.
Now to the polls. With one week to go:
Diary
After the frantic pace of the last few days, today is quieter, as the party leaders swot up for their appearances on Question Time this evening.
- At 8.10am, Danny Alexander is on the Today programme to talk about that Guardian story on child benefit cuts.
- Nick Clegg is hosting his regular Call Clegg gig on LBC at 9am.
- Nigel Farage is out and about in Aylesbury.
- Green leader Natalie Bennett – who isn’t appearing on Question Time – is on the Today programme at 7.50am.
But the main action starts this evening, with the BBC hosting three half-hour interviews with the main party leaders. Each will be interviewed by David Dimbleby and the studio audience:
- 8pm David Cameron
- 8.30pm Ed Miliband
- 9pm Nick Clegg
- 10.30pm three further interviews are broadcast separately: Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, Leanne Wood in Wales and Nigel Farage in England.
The big issue
The Question Time interviews will be the final big set-piece event of the campaign. Will they make a difference? Two previous televised debates – only one of which featured Cameron and Clegg – resulted in snap polls that said … pretty much whatever you wanted them to say. But, overall, surveys of voting intentions did not see a huge shift.
After the seven-way debate at the start of the month, the Guardian’s data editor Alberto Nardelli made four key conclusions. Do they still hold? (The fresh observations are mine; Alberto will no doubt have his own.)
- Miliband is pulling up level with Cameron. The two won’t go head-to-head tonight, but the Labour leader will follow the PM in the Question Time schedule. It mirrors the Channel 4 Paxman interviews, in which Miliband was broadly thought to have performed well but was just bested by Cameron in the snap polls. Miliband has been more buoyant as his profile has risen through the campaign – yes, including the Milibrand moment – but expect Cameron to be pumping it big style, and other excruciating phrases.
- Farage is too polarising to help his party improve in the polls. The Ukip leader gets a platform only in England tonight. That might perk him up a bit, after his complaint in the challengers’ debate that the studio audience was “ridiculously to the left” (well, at least it removes those pesky SNP and Plaid Cymru supporters). And Question Time is very familiar territory for him.
- Clegg is becoming irrelevant. The Lib Dem leader goes third, after Cameron and Miliband. We might have to wait for news of a surge in electricity demand at 9pm to see if viewers take this as an opportunity to put the kettle on.
- Sturgeon has broken through to the rest of the UK. Not tonight she won’t: her interview is being screened only north of the border.
Read these
- In the Australian (prop. R. Murdoch), foreign editor Greg Sheridan goes off-message – or is it on? So confusing – with a warning for British voters:
The SNP is the most loopy far-left party in modern Britain outside the Greens. Yet it has managed to get the idea across that any criticism of the SNP is an English criticism of Scottishness.
- Writing in the National, Lesley Riddoch warns the SNP against complacency:
It’s not very likely, I’ll grant you, but rock-solid leads have been squandered before by smugness and premature celebrations. For 50-somethings like myself, the memory of Neil Kinnock’s o’er early victory party in 1992 is impossible to erase …
And of course, more recently, there’s the memory of that 51% poll a week before the independence vote.
- Melissa Kite, writing in the Spectator, says a Miliband government would be a disaster for rural Britain:
The problem is, the closest this lot have come to the countryside is Hampstead Heath … The left has no clue about the realities of rural existence and persists with useless ideology. They think they can prevent all creatures suffering, and kick the bejesus out of farmers, while still having meat and milk on the shelves of the trendy organic supermarkets they like to frequent.
The day in a tweet
Liberal journalists seem to be getting angry that two different editions of a paper, with different staff, should have different opinions.
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) April 29, 2015
If today were an quote possibly misattributed to Harold Wilson, it would be…
A week is a long time in politics.
The key story you’re missing when you’re election-obsessed
Overnight, protests have swept across the US, following the death in police custody of Freddie Gray.
Updated
