Afternoon summary
- The Conservatives have pledged that they would raise the income tax threshold to £12,500 in the first budget of the next parliament, lifting minimum wage earners out of income tax entirely. At a two-handed speech in Bristol, David Cameron and George Osborne also said they would abolish employers’ income tax contributions for staff under the age of 21 – what the chancellor called a “jobs tax” on young people. (see 5.13pm)
- Labour attacked the Conservatives’ tax plans, saying George Osborne’s numbers did not add up and that the chancellor and David Cameron have a “secret plan” to raise VAT and cut the top rate of income tax. Ed Balls told an audience in Leeds that the Tories were “the party of VAT rises”, having broken promises made before the last election. (see 10.52)
- Labour’s election strategy chief, Douglas Alexander, has backtracked over his party’s heavy promotion of claims the Scottish Nationalists secretly want David Cameron as prime minister. Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, last night deleted tweets which highlighted a widely contested report that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon had told the French ambassador she would prefer a Conservative government. He declined to explain why the tweets were deleted. (see 1.37pm)
- Ukip’s claims that a Tory parliamentary candidate in Alan Johnson’s Hull seat had defected were doused somewhat when it emerged that the candidate had actually been sacked by the Tories last week. Mike Whitehead admitted to the BBC that he had been deselected as the Conservative candidate for Hull West and Hessle in an email last week, but said it was a “pre-emptive strike”. (see 11.57am)
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The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has been heckled over his tutition fees U-turn while on the campaign trail in Surbiton, south-west London. Clegg was there to bolster the campaign of energy secretary Ed Davey, who faces a close fight with the Tory candidate. (see 11.31am)
- Nicola Sturgeon has launched the SNP’s flagship package of policies for pensioners, which include a pledge to retain the state pension “triple-lock”, a guarantee there will be no rises to the state pension age in Scotland while life expectancy lags behind the rest of the UK, and a commitment to retain the winter fuel allowance. (see 10.13am)
Meanwhile, the Guardian’s latest poll projections show Labour and the Tories virtually tied in the race for largest party: the Tories are on 273 seats, Labour on 272.
And that’s all from me today. Thanks for all your comments and your tweet(s). Andrew will be back with our special extended liveblog tomorrow.
Updated
The Guardian’s Nicholas Watt asks about the fact that the much-trumpeted rise in the income tax threshold was a Lib Dem policy that was not initially received well by the Tory half of the coalition.
Cameron ducks the question somewhat, saying that the ability to lower the threshold was only possible because of Tory-led decisions to cut spending.
The Q&A is now over.
Updated
A Daily Mail reporter asks Cameron what his message would be to former Tory supporters planning to vote Ukip in May.
We will do more on immigration he says – as well as a referendum on the EU. But this is not the moment to risk letting Ed Miliband – “propped up by Nicola Sturgeon” – into Downing Street by making a protest vote.
Updated
Cameron is now taking questions from the fourth estate.
Sky’s Anushka Asthana asks how he would describe Nick Clegg in three words, after the Lib Dem leader called George Osborne “a very dangerous man”. He ducks the chance for a three-word soundbite.
Updated
Osborne refers to the new freedoms pensioners have over their pension pots, introduced today. He says: “Conservatives believe if you’ve earned your money, you’ve saved your money, you should be trusted with your money – and from today you are.”
He says the 55% tax rate on withdrawing your pension savings has been abolished – a cut from 55% to 20% for most pensioners.
And we also believe you should be able to pass on your pension to your loved ones tax free, he says.
Updated
The chancellor refers back to the letter signed by business leaders last week, warning that Labour’s tax plans will be bad for growth.
Osborne says the Conservatives will abolish all national insurance contributions for employers of people under-21s – what Osborne calls the “jobs tax”.
Osborne says the Tories’ main priority is to make work pay. He says they have taken 4m people out of tax.
He says the higher rate threshold are a stark contrast with the tax rises that Ed Balls would introduce in April next year.
Cameron says the Conservatives would raise the threshold at which people pay the top rate of tax (the 40p rate) to £50,000.
People earning the minimum wage would be taken out of tax altogether, he says.
Cameron introduces George Osborne, the “chancellor who has seen Britain through the storm”.
Over the last five years he says the coalition has raised the tax threshold to £10,600 (that noise you can hear is a sharp intake of breath from Nick Clegg), resulting in lower tax bills for 26m people.
He pledges there will be no income tax rise, no VAT rise, no national insurance rise under a Tory government.
Cameron pledges to raise the tax-free allowance threshold to £12,500.
Cameron is speaking …
He begins by trumpeting what he calls “Moneyback Monday”, which he says will be explained by George Osborne later in the speech.
I’m reliably informed that Cameron has arrived at the venue and will begin speaking shortly.
Updated
While we’re waiting for Cameron, why not browse the election merchandise that’s on offer across the political spectrum – from mugs to hoodies. A Green party mug for your green tea?
Updated
David Cameron makes speech on economy in Bristol
The prime minister is about to take the podium in Bristol, where he is expected to respond to Ed Balls’ earlier warning that he and George Osborne have a “secret plan” to raise VAT and cut income tax for the UK’s highest earners.
It will be interesting to see if he can categorically rule out these in the next parliament, as Labour has done.
Earlier today Cameron went to a barbecue with Conservative supporters in Poole, Dorset, where he managed to eat food without causing a national media frenzy.
Updated
Eddie Izzard campaigns for Labour in Swindon
The comedian is backing the Labour candidate for South Swindon, Anne Snelgrove, who is battling to overhaul a Tory majority of just over 3,000.
Brilliant that the wonderful @eddieizzard is here for our launch! #ge2015 #swindon pic.twitter.com/WFa0cuAV7T
— Anne Snelgrove (@annesnelgrove) April 6, 2015
Study-to-be-taken-with-a-pinch-of-salt of the day
Boris Johnson may have his sights on the UK’s top job, but according to a new study he needs to leapfrog not only the prime minister but also Russell Brand – the comedian, broadcaster and self-described revolutionary – to become the most-influential political figure in the UK.
The ranking – by advertisers Telegraph Hill – is based on their number of Twitter and Facebook followers; how often they post to social media and mentions in other people’s posts; number of Google results; their political office (if any); their ‘personal brand’; and influence with the media.
Ed Miliband is fourth on the list, while Guardian commentator Owen Jones (eighth) is one place above Nigel Farage.
Chris Moon, head of insights and analytics at Telegraph Hill, said: “Russell Brand might not have been many people’s obvious choice for the second most influential figure in UK politics, but his media and online presence cannot be ignored. The growth of UKIP’s influence is also highlighted by the fact Nigel Farage is in the top ten.
“This analysis doesn’t just show the people with the most Twitter followers: it looks at who’s talking about political issues and has the platforms to make themselves heard. Politicians themselves often aren’t as influential as the celebrities and journalists who talk about them and whose views are being shared.”
The top 10 in full
1. David Cameron, MP
2. Russell Brand, broadcaster
3. Boris Johnson, mayor of London
4. Ed Miliband, MP
5. Nicola Sturgeon, MP
6. Nick Clegg, MP
7. Jon Snow, journalist
8. Owen Jones, journalist
9. Nigel Farage, leader of Ukip
10. David Miliband, former MP
There’s no end to the Easter lamb …
OFFICIAL: lamb photo ops are now the new relaxing-in-your-kitchen photo op #election2015 pic.twitter.com/rjRXimDGP9
— Gaby Hinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) April 6, 2015
Farage wants Ukippers to help canvas in Thanet South
Nigel Farage has made a personal appeal to Ukip supporters for help with canvassing potential voters in the constituency where he is standing, after a poll suggested he would not win it and be forced to stand down as party leader, writes Rajeev Syal.
A Facebook message sent by Farage to all his followers, on Monday, calls for an “action day” on Saturday across Thanet South – and asks party members to sacrifice time from their own local campaigns to help.
A leaked ComRes poll of the Kent constituency, commissioned last month by Ukip’s most generous donor, showed Farage behind the Tory candidate and only one point ahead of Labour’s.
A month earlier, he was expected to win the seat comfortably. But the polls have been turned around by his opponents, who are harnessing a significant anti-Ukip vote.
In his message, Farage wrote: “I know a lot of you are fighting your own campaigns locally, but if you could spare just one or two days, I’d really appreciate the support.
“More than 500 of you came and helped on my first action day and it was a tremendous success. We’re going to be delivering postal voter leaflets, adverts for our public meetings, and doing some canvassing too!
“So please do me a personal favour, and come along on the 11th.”
The letter asks supporters to confirm their attendance by contacting Martyn Heale, Ukip’s Thanet South chairman. He has previously attracted controversy because he was a member of the National Front, the far-right group which believed in forced repatriation.
Opponents of Farage are already making plans to launch a campaign on Saturday to counter an influx of Ukip activists.
Bunny La Roche, an organiser of Thanet Stand Up to Ukip, said: “This invite shows that the “people’s army” is actually a bunch of outsiders. We are the real people of South Thanet, and we will be demonstrating and leafleting to tell them that we don’t want Farage or their anti-immigrant politics.”
The poll, which was commissioned by a Ukip donor, the businessman Arron Banks, showed the party on 29 points, one point behind the Conservatives, with Labour on 28.
The findings are a significant concern for Ukip, given that a Survation poll in February showed the party 10 points ahead, a result that was taken as an endorsement of the hard work Farage had done in the seat.
Ukip dismissed the latest poll as an anomaly and based on weak methodology, but on Sunday ComRes published its workings and won support form other pollsters such as YouGov.
Party activists now acknowledge that the fight to win the Kent seat is much closer and more volatile than previously thought. Farage told the BBC three weeks ago that he would “probably win” the seat, and has said he will quit as Ukip leader if he does not.
He has repeatedly pledged to stand down as party leader if he does not win on 7 May.
In an appearance on Radio 5 Live, the Ukip campaigner Diane James, an MEP, said she would not be worried at all if Farage stood down because there are others who could take his place.
Our BritainThinks panel’s reaction to the Sturgeon row
The leaked memo of what Nicola Sturgeon allegedly told the French ambassador has been all over the news this weekend. But 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.
Raphael Malek from BritainThinks said none of the focus group members he had spoken to believed the Sturgeon leak story; they all thought it was the “British” media making the stories up. One said that the SNP would never go into coalition with the Tories, while a couple of others were proud of the way Sturgeon stood up for herself in the aftermath.
However, the story has definitely cut through – one said they would have to have been a zombie not to have noticed it. These initial findings fit in with the themes identified in first focus group in Glasgow:
- Strong perception (and loathing) of ‘media bias’
- Halo effect for SNP and leadership in particular
- Strong political/current affairs engagement and awareness among constituents
Some specific comments from the focus group members, with their resident constituency labelled, are below.
Douglas Alexander deletes Sturgeon tweets
Labour’s election strategy chief, Douglas Alexander, has backtracked over his party’s heavy promotion of claims the Scottish Nationalists secretly want David Cameron as prime minister, write Severin Carrell and Rob Booth.
Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, last night deleted tweets which highlighted a widely contested report that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon had told the French ambassador she would prefer a Conservative government. The allegations, apparently contained in a leaked Scottish Office memo reported in the Daily Telegraph, had been denied by both Sturgeon and a spokesman for the French ambassador. Some Labour activists had also balked at their leadership jumping on the story.
Alexander is one of Labour’s biggest hitters in the fight to avoid a heavy election defeat north of the border by the SNP. He had enthusiastically promoted the story after Labour leader, Ed Miliband, described the “damning revelations” as evidence of SNP duplicity. Sturgeon said the story was “100%, untrue”, but Labour’s campaign chief used his Twitter moniker, @Douglas4Paisley, to link to the story and report to his more than 39,000 followers: “Nicola Sturgeon secretly backs David Cameron”.
Another tweet read: “It turns out that @NicolaSturgeon told French Ambassador she’d prefer Tories...” and another read: “Reported tonight that @NicolaSturgeontold French Ambassador she’d prefer Tories remain in Government”. All three were deleted without explanation late on Sunday evening according to the Tweets MPs Delete Twitter account.
DT @Douglas4Paisley: It turns out that @NicolaSturgeon told French Ambassador she'd prefer Tories... http://t.co/nIWEvd2cDY
— Tweets MPs Delete (@deletedbyMPs) April 5, 2015
Asked on Monday by the Guardian why he deleted the tweets, Alexander declined to comment, but admitted: “No one will ever know for certain what went on between Nicola Sturgeon and the French ambassador. But what we do know is that the Tories are desperate for the SNP to do well, and the SNP are telling voters across Britain to vote for anyone but Labour.”
You can read the full story here.
Teachers back ballot on strike tied to schools funding
The National Union of Teachers has backed a ballot on industrial action should the next government fail to increase funding for schools in England and Wales, the Guardian’s education editor Richard Adams reports.
NUT delegates at the union’s annual conference in Harrogate overwhelmingly supported a motion for a ballot on potential strike action. They also came out in favour of holding discussions with other teaching unions about joint action over the looming budget squeeze based on funding plans advanced by Labour and the Conservatives.
Speakers argued that analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed school funding would be cut by up to 12% in real terms under the plans of both major parties, and would inevitably lead to job losses and increased workload, as well as lower pay and pension contributions for school staff.
The motion gives the NUT executive leeway over the timing of a strike ballot, with the leadership saying they would wait to see if the autumn statement saw funding improve under the incoming government.
An amendment calling for more aggressive demands, including a £2,000 pay rise and a “calendar of escalating national strike action”, was narrowly defeated after a card vote.
Ian Murch, from the NUT executive, told delegates during debate on the motion: “If we want our children’s education to be safe after the election, we have a real fight on our hands.
“Early next year across England and Wales – as employers face up to these financial realities – there will be a night of the long knives in every school and college as teaching staff are cut, as support staff are cut and as programmes and courses are cut.”
Murch attacked Labour’s proposals – which would increase funding by the rate of inflation but would not take into account a forecast increase in pupil numbers – and said of Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary: “We always knew there was a touch of the Hogwarts about you.”
You can read Richard’s full story here.
Easter Monday's electioneering – in quotes
The Press Association has compiled this list of the best political quotes from up and down the country on Monday.
“Economically illiterate” - Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s description of Labour’s tax plan
“It’s the Tory way: millions pay more, millionaires pay less” - Ed Balls, shadow chancellor, on the Conservatives’ tax “promises”
“Ed Balls and Ed Miliband must set out the details of their secret plan for £3,028 of tax rises on every working family - the British people have a right to know what these tax hikes are” - Treasury minister David Gauke
“I think Alistair Carmichael really needs to question his whole approach to politics if he thinks dirty tricks and smear campaigns are just how things are done in elections” - Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, attacks the Scottish secretary over the leaking of a Scotland Office memo alleging that she would prefer David Cameron as prime minister - an allegation she has denied
“It is another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England” - Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, on the news that Mike Whitehead, Tory candidate for Hull West, has defected to Ukip
“The Tories would have to go effectively straight for a vote of confidence, usually the Queen’s Speech ... and we’d be voting against. So, if Labour joins us in that pledge, then that’s Cameron locked out” - Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader, who is expected to return to Westminster, considers the prospect of a Tory government
“This is a deeply sinister threat from Alex Salmond, who would do whatever it took to put Ed Miliband in Downing Street and under his command” - Bob Neill, Tory deputy chairman
“The Tories are now trying - in a way which is breathtakingly hypocritical - to take the credit for raising the tax-free allowance, something that actually only happened because the Liberal Democrats put it on the political agenda” - Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury
“If Ukip implodes under the weight of its scandals, there may be nobody left to ensure a robust campaign for British exit from the European Union” - Tory peer Lord Tebbit
“Is there any truth in the rumour that Ed Miliband has ordered a kilt?” - Peter Maller, of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, in a letter to the Daily Mail
Updated
The Lib Dems look to be going to eggstraordinary lengths to sweeten up the press pack.
[Sorry …]
Updated
David Davis wades into Whitehead defection row
The former Tory leadership contender David Davis has issued a statement in response to Nigel Farage’s tweets about Mike Whitehead’s move to Ukip. He calls the Ukip leader “at best disingenuous”, and says Whitehead was in clear breach of Conservative party rules.
“Given that Nigel Farage claims to be more straightforward than most conventional politicians, his tweet that he had ‘Just spoken to Tory Parliamentary candidate for Hull West and Hessle who has now left the Conservatives and joined Ukip’ is at best disingenuous, and at worst the sort of misleading statement that he is always accusing others of making.
“The plain facts are that Mr Whitehead was dismissed as the Conservative candidate for Hull West and Hessle when he stated that he intended to run against Conservative candidates as an independent candidate in the local elections at the same time as he was presenting himself as a Conservative parliamentary candidate elsewhere.
“This is in clear breach of Conservative Party rules, and so Conservative headquarters had no option but to remove him as a parliamentary candidate, which they did last Wednesday. It is only since then that he has spoken of joining Ukip.
“So, far from a considered decision to join Ukip because he thought they were a better party, Mr Whitehead went to them only after the Conservative Party had sacked him. It is hard to see how Mr Farage can represent this as a principled decision.”
Updated
The Press Association’s James Tapsfield has filmed some video of a barbecue in Dorset attended by David Cameron. The film shows Cameron sat next to a woman with a baby on her knee and with a bountiful spread of food on the table in front of him. Apparently the PM did eat some of it, but not on camera - which was perhaps wise.
Cam has a go at eating on camera - brave pic.twitter.com/yG9pi0TFpM
— James Tapsfield (@JamesTapsfield) April 6, 2015
And apparently the PM is a no-onions kind of guy. Is that a snub to the working classes?
David Cameron at family BBQ in Dorset. Breaking news... He had a hot dog without onions... #GE2015
— Imelda Flattery (@Imeldaflattery) April 6, 2015
Updated
Our political editor Patrick Wintour’s story on Ed Balls’s tax attack on the Tories is now live. “Tory governments always raise VAT and, given another chance, they will do so again,” Balls told the audience in Leeds. Here’s the top of it:
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has repeated his claim that the Tories have secret plans to raise VAT by 2p, saying it was the only way the Conservatives can fund their plan to carry on cutting taxes, including for millionaires after the election.
He also accused the Tories of planning deeper spending cuts in the next three years than those implemented in the past five years, adding he would end Tory use of job centres as a way to penalise and fine the unemployed, by making them a place where people could find jobs.
Balls said: “David Cameron and George Osborne are today telling people they’ve raised the personal tax allowance, but they won’t admit that for millions of people this has been more than wiped out by their VAT rise and tax credit cuts.
“It’s the same old story with the Tories – give with one hand, and take much more away with the other hand. Tory governments always raise VAT and, given another chance, they will do so again.”
Balls, speaking at a campaign event in Leeds, also accused Cameron of planning to cut the top rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000. He said: “Only yesterday, George Osborne repeatedly refused to rule out cutting the top rate of tax again for the very richest. David Cameron refused to rule it out as well.
“We now know this is their secret plan – another big tax cut for millionaires.”
He said in the past two years, the cut from 50p to 45p meant an £80,000 giveaway for the very richest in society.
Updated
Alexander won't name Tory who said 'We'll look after the bosses'
A row has blown up over Danny Alexander’s claim yesterday that a Lib Dem colleague was told by a senior Conservative: “You [the Lib Dems] look after the workers and we’ll look after the bosses”. The former chief secretary to the Treasury told the Independent on Sunday that exchange occurred during negotiations on the controversial 2012 budget.
The former Tory culture minister Sajid Javid told Radio 4’s World at One: “If they think someone said it... they should come clean and say who said it. The reality is no-one said it so the only conclusion is that they must be making this up.”
Challenged to reveal the name of the Tory who said the potentially explosive remark (just think Plebgate all over again), Alexander said he would not play the game of “who said what”.
Responding on the same programme, Alexander said: “I’ve said what I’ve said. It is an accurate reflection of a comment that was made.”
.@sajidjavid on 'bosses' comment: "Complete rubbish and (@dannyalexander) knows it ... no one said it" #wato
— The World at One (@BBCWorldatOne) April 6, 2015
.@dannyalexander on 'take care of bosses' comment: "I'm not going to go into who said what" #wato pic.twitter.com/bNitUVtzSk
— The World at One (@BBCWorldatOne) April 6, 2015
Updated
Lunchtime summary
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Ed Balls has attacked the Conservatives’ tax plans, saying George Osborne’s numbers did not add up and that the chancellor and David Cameron have a “secret plan” to raise VAT and cut the top rate of income tax. Balls told an audience in Leeds that the Tories were “the party of VAT rises”, having broken promises made before the last election. (see 10.52)
The shadow chancellor reiterated Labour’s pledges on taxation: “No rise in VAT, no rise in national insurance, no rise in the basic and higher rates of income tax, but we will have a lower starting rate of income tax at 10p and we’ll put the top rate up to 50% for people earning £150,000.”
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Ukip’s claims that a Tory parliamentary candidate in Alan Johnson’s Hull seat had defected were doused somewhat when it emerged that the candidate had actually been sacked by the Tories last week. Mike Whitehead admitted to the BBC that he had been deselected as the Conservative candidate for Hull West and Hessle in an email last week, but said it was a “pre-emptive strike”. (see 11.57am)
The Ukip leader Nigel Farage still used Whitehead’s embracing of his party “a hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England”. Whitehead, who said he was “disgusted” with the behaviour of the ruling Tory group in East Yorkshire, will not stand for Ukip in the general election, but instead seek to represent the party as a local councillor.
- The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has been heckled over his tutition fees U-turn while on the campaign trail in Surbiton, south-west London. Clegg was there to bolster the campaign of energy secretary Ed Davey, who faces a close fight with the Tory candidate. (see 11.31am)
- Nicola Sturgeon has launched the SNP’s flagship package of policies for pensioners, which include a pledge to retain the state pension “triple-lock”, a guarantee there will be no rises to the state pension age in Scotland while life expectancy lags behind the rest of the UK, and a commitment to retain the winter fuel allowance. (see 10.13am)
Meanwhile, the Guardian’s latest poll projections show Labour and the Tories virtually tied in the race for largest party: the Tories are on 273 seats, Labour on 272
Updated
Could this coalition of buses be some kind of sign? Obviously not …
Old habits die hard: Tory and LibDem battle buses in harness this morning. Predict imminent parting of ways #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/eI7wiCJQYz
— James Mates (@jamesmatesitv) April 6, 2015
Buzzfeed’s Emily Ashton has tweeted some pictures of Nick Clegg’s heckling in Surbiton, where he was campaigning for energy secretary Ed Davey.
It is actually kicking off in Surbiton. The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition out in force. pic.twitter.com/z8K9pkZ8F2
— Emily Ashton (@elashton) April 6, 2015
Nick Clegg back on bus now. Campaigners drown out protesters who are now flanked by police. pic.twitter.com/dfTlWi3nKr
— Emily Ashton (@elashton) April 6, 2015
Returning for a moment to the row over Mike Whitehead’s ‘defection’ from the Tories to Ukip in Hull, it seems no side is exactly covered in glory here. Whitehead admitted on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning that he was sacked by the Tories (via email) last week – something that Ukip and Farage must’ve been aware of when they trumpeted his ‘defection’ this morning.
But the Tories obviously could do with some Easter weekend web editors. As recently as last night their website was still showing Whitehead as their candidate for Hull West and Hessle. But a Carswell or Reckless-scale defection this ain’t.
If as the Tories are saying, Mike Whitehead was sacked last week, how come I saw this on their website last night? pic.twitter.com/C8MSdnYDeg
— Gawain Towler (@GawainTowler) April 6, 2015
Whitehead however, called his sacking a “pre-emptive strike” by the Tories. This from the Press Association’s report of his interview in BBC Radio 5 Live:
“The Conservative Party took a pre-emptive strike because they knew it was coming.
“I got an email on Wednesday evening to say that if I did not stand aside from my intentions to stand in the local elections, they would remove my candidacy in West Hull and Hessle.”
Whitehead also told the broadcaster the Tory party knew he was outside the Conservative group on the local council when he was selected as the parliamentary candidate in August of last year.
He said: “It’s a bit odd, but I believe the reason they did that is because they knew I was standing up against the Tory group that was off side with the Conservative Party itself.”
On why he had decided to join Ukip, he added: “Ukip are the party that stand up for local issues and allow people to stand up for their beliefs and principles ... it wasn’t a major change for me to go.
“It has been a major shock they (the party) have decided to allow the group to continue in the way they have been doing.”
Updated
Nick Clegg heckled in south-west London
The Lib Dem leader was met by protesters as he arrived to campaign in Surbiton, Cabinet minister Ed Davey’s constituency.
According to the Press Association, a small group from the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition chanted “Nick Clegg lied to me, he said uni would be free” in protest at the Lib Dem U-turn over tuition fees.
Clegg ignored the protesters as he hammered in a placard in support of energy secretary Davey, who is defending a majority of 7,560 but faces a determined Tory challenge.
Updated
Guardian poll projection shows Labour and Tories still neck and neck
With just over a month to the election, the Guardian’s latest projection has the Conservatives and Labour virtually tied in the race for largest party: the Tories are on 273 seats, Labour on 272.
If you think of these numbers within the context of a confidence interval and of extremely close constituency races, the range for both parties implies that based on these figures, either could be the largest party by a handful of seats.
However, what is clear is that both parties are far short of a majority. This is why it’s important to look at the other parties: the SNP are still projected to win around 50 seats (currently on 51), the Lib Dems 28, the DUP 8-9, Ukip four, Plaid Cymru three and the Greens one.
Adding up the “anti-Tory bloc” - those parties likely to vote down a Cameron government - takes their count to 327 seats: a majority. This is the deficit that Cameron needs to overturn in the next 30 days, being the largest party may not be enough to to win a confidence vote in the House of Commons.
Updated
We have some more from Libby Brooks, who’s with Nicola Sturgeon in East Dunbartonshire at the launch of the SNP’s package of policies for pensioners. These include:
- retention of state pension “triple lock”
- pledge to fight to retain the winter fuel allowance
- single-tier pension rate of at least £160
She also responded to the latest twists in “Frenchgate” – specifically the Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael remarks that “these things happen” during an election campaign.
If Alistair Carmichael says that dirty tricks are just one of those things then it’s another illustration of why the Liberal Democrats are in such a perilous poll position. We should never accept that dirty tricks are just a part of campaigning.
Here’s Libby’s full report:
This morning SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was back to business as usual after an unexpectedly fraught weekend, launching her party’s Pensioner Plan at an East Dunbartonshire care home.
Sturgeon announced a range of policies which the SNP will push for in Westminster to deliver a better deal for older people, including the retention of the Triple Lock to ensure that the state pension increases every year either by inflation, in line with wages or by 2.5 per cent – whichever is higher; a Single Tier Pension rate of at least £160 to lift pensioners out of means tested benefits; a guarantee that there should be no further increase in the state pension age in Scotland while life expectancy still lags behind the rest of the UK, and a pledge that the SNP will oppose any attempts to end the Winter Fuel Allowance which so many pensioners rely on.
Looking relaxed and laughing with residents, Sturgeon responded to the latest twists in “Frenchgate”, specifically the Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael remarks that “these things happen” during an election campaign.
“If Alistair Carmichael says that dirty tricks are just one of those things then it’s another illustration of why the Liberal Democrats are in such a perilous poll position. We should never accept that dirty tricks are just a part of campaigning.”
“The SNP are presenting a challenge to the old boys’ network and the cosy Westminster consensus around austerity and clearly there are those within the establishment who are panicking at that message.”
She said that the original question of whether she said the words reporting the the memo - that she would prefer another Tory administration and thought that Ed Miliband was not prime minister material - had been comprehensively proved to be untrue, and that now the questions regarded how the memo came to be written and how it “conveniently” fell into the hands of the Daily Telegraph.
Referring to Jeremy Heywood’s very prompt announcement of an inquiry into the leak she said: “I want answers and I want them as quickly as possible.”
Insisting that she would continue to campaign positively and that “election campaigns should be a battle of positive ideas”, she dismissed the suggstion that another Tory government would boost the cause of independence and thus be preferable to the SNP: “Cynical politicians shouldn’t judge everyone by their own standards. I don’t want to see another Tory government. I’ve spent my entire career campaigning against a Tory government.”
Re-issuing the challange she set out to Ed Miliband in an article in yesterday’s Observer she added: “I’m waiting to hear from Ed Miliband whether he is willing to accept the SNP’s help to lock the Tories out of Downing Street.” She said that she hoped Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy could provide hr with an answer when they meet for the first time in a televised debate tomorrow night on STV.
She said that she relished further scrutiny in a debate that will doubtless be more challenging for her as she defends her government’s record: “[My message is that] a vote for the SNP is a vote for Scotland’s voice to be heard but also a vote for progressive policies. I want to make progressive alliances across the UK.”
East Dunbartonshire is currently held by Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, but was pegged as a key Labour target seat until recently. Revelations in the Sunday Herald suggested that local Labour organisers were concentrating their efforts on the next door seat of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East. The SNP candidate John Nicholson, a former BBC journalist and first time candidate, said that the reception on the doorstep for his party was “great”.
Updated
Balls is taking questions from reporters now, and the cameras have cut away, so I will post a summary of Balls’ speech shortly. But my first reaction is that he went in the hardest yet on what he called the Tories’ “secret plans” to cut the top rate of income tax and raise VAT. And he was keen to juxtapose as much as possible the “millions” [of hard-working families] and the “millionaires”.
Balls pledges that Labour would not raise VAT, national insurance, or the basic rate of income tax.
He says Labour will scrap the “perverse and unfair” marriage tax allowance, which does not help five in six families with children. Instead Labour would use the money to introduce a 10p starting rate of tax and raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2020.
The shadow chancellor resurrects Cameron’s pre-election statement in 2010 on having “no plans” to raise VAT – a decision that was taken just a few months into the coalition government.
Balls says the only way the Tories can get their sums to add up will be to raise VAT again. “Tory governments always raise VAT. It’s the Tory way,” Balls says.
Balls challenges Cameron to give a firm answer on whether he would go into coalition with Ukip – yes or no.
He says the Tories’ spending plans mean cuts will have to twice as deep as those in the last parliament, IFS figures show.
Balls says the Tories have engineered a £3bn a year giveaway for the richest people in the UK, equating to a tax cut of £485,000 for people earning £5m over the last two years.
He calls Osborne and Cameron’s refusal yesterday to rule out a cut to the top rate of income tax as their “secret plan” for the next parliament. This would be a tax cut of £340,000 over the next parliament for people earning £1m.
Cameron and Osborne won’t admit that their rise in VAT more than wipes out increase in personal allowance, Balls says.
Families are £1,127 a year worse off on average, IFS figures show, taking into account all the changes of this government since 2010.
Low-income households with children have lost the most, Balls says.
Balls has started speaking in Leeds. He says he will set out the true impact of this government’s tax changes.
Labour has a better and fairer plan that will put workers first.
Cameron and Osborne are telling people we’ve never had it so good, but working people are seeing their bills going up faster than wages.
Looks like the weather is staying nice for the party footsoldiers today – and for those of you not at work.
This is not something you usually see in the UK… pic.twitter.com/63ar78yisv
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) April 6, 2015
Ed Balls makes economic speech in Leeds
With the shadow chancellor’s address and Q&A in Leeds imminent, we might find some of the themes and lines of attack he will draw on from a piece he wrote for the Sunday Mirror. The summary: even though millions are worse off, the Tories are plotting to cut taxes for millionaires.
David Cameron and George Osborne have given the very highest earners a huge tax cut. The Tories ditched the idea that we are ‘all in this together’ and looked after their friends first.
And if the Tories win the election, they’re set to give the top one per cent of earners another big tax cut – cutting the top rate of tax again from 45p to 40p.
How can this be fair when working people are struggling, our NHS is in crisis and when we still need to get the deficit down?
David Cameron and George Osborne must come clean this weekend. If they carry on refusing to rule out another tax cut for millionaires people will conclude that’s exactly what they’re planning.
The Press Association says it has seen an email sent on Friday by Conservative HQ to Ukip ‘defector’ Mike Whitehead telling him he was no longer the party’s nominee to stand for the Hull West and Hessle seat.
The Conservative Party has forwarded the Press Association a copy of an email it says was sent to defecting candidate Mike Whitehead on Friday.
It is from Conservative nominating officer Alan Mabbutt and bears Friday’s date.
He begins by repeating a response to a previous email from Mr Whitehead in which he confirmed his intention to stand for the party in Hull West and Hessle.
It reads: “As you have stated that you intend to stand in the local election, despite not having been selected for the party, and despite Mrs Clarke asking you to agree to support whoever is properly selected by the association to fight the Willerby and Kirkella ward, I am forced to act to protect the party by refusing to agree to you being nominated to represent the Conservative party at the 2015 general election as candidate for Hull West and Hessle.”
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon launches SNP's Pensioner Plan
The Guardian’s Scotland reporter Libby Brooks is in East Dunbartonshire with the SNP leader, and is rapid-fire tweeting from the event. You can follow her @libby_brooks:
.@NicolaSturgeon launches @theSNP Pensioner Plan in East Dumbartonshire with local candidate John Nicholson pic.twitter.com/2GuZD8ainY
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) April 6, 2015
"We should never accept that dirty tricks is 'just part of' election campaigning" says @NicolaSturgeon campaigning in East Dunbartonshire
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) April 6, 2015
.@NicolaSturgeon says she is waiting to hear whether Miliband will accept SNP's help to lock the Tories out of Downing St
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) April 6, 2015
.@NicolaSturgeon campaigning in E Dunbarton: I'll continue to campaign positively. Election campaigns should be a battle of positive ideas
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) April 6, 2015
The Guardian’s data editor, Alberto Nardelli, says Labour’s election chief, Douglas Alexander, deleted his tweets about the Telegraph’s Sturgeon memo story. We’re working on a story about this, which we’ll bring you as soon as we can.
Labour #GE2015 chair Douglas Alexander has deleted his tweets re Telegraph Sturgeon memo story. In Twitter elections, retractions are silent
— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) April 6, 2015
Conservative HQ is saying that Whitehead was in fact sacked by the local party last week. CCHQ is calling Nigel Farage’s claim of a defection as “cynical, misleading and utterly calculating to try and score political points”.
New low from @Nigel_Farage trying to claim a "defection" by taking on a candidate we sacked last week! Desperate! pic.twitter.com/RB4rlw0hT1
— Carrie Symonds (@carrieapples) April 6, 2015
It is of course worth bearing in mind that the Tories came a distant third in Hull West and Hessle in 2010, getting only 20.2% of the vote. The seat is a banker for Labour’s Alan Johnson, who managed to garner 42.5% last time around and barring a huge unforeseen event will be returned again next month.
Man standing as candidate for party with no hope of winning seat defects to another party with even less chance of winning seat. More soon.
— David MacLean (@GeordieStory) April 6, 2015
Labour says Whitehead’s defection shows even David Cameron’s candidates know the Tories can’t win a majority.
Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister said: “This is another huge blow for David Cameron’s authority. Even his candidates know he cannot win a majority.
“Ukip and the Tories increasingly share the same people as well as the same policies. Both stand for increased health service privatisation, extreme spending plans which threaten the NHS and further tax breaks for those at the top.
“David Cameron will not rule out working with UKIP, but this is clearly what his party wants. David Cameron must now come clean and tell us what his plans are to do a deal with Nigel Farage and UKIP.”
Updated
Our news story on Whitehead’s defection has launched now, and you can read it here. In it, Whitehead explains his reason to quit the Conservative party:
Whitehead said he had been increasingly worried about the behaviour of the controlling group of Tories since 2011, when seven Conservative councillors from Haltemprice and Howden resigned, citing bullying and intimidation.
He added: “In my opinion, the behaviour of the ruling group has only gotten worse since then.
“Now, that same group have managed to gain control of the local party structures by ensuring they are responsible for the organisation of the local election campaign.
“However, the Conservative Party at national level has declined to get involved in what it sees as a remote internal squabble out in the shires. The total power of single party control without effective opposition is never a good situation as we have seen from recent events elsewhere in Yorkshire.
“I could not in good conscience continue supporting the local Conservative party when they are obsessed with going down the same road.”
As a member of Ukip he would be better able to speak up for residents and represent their views on the council, he added.
He went on: “I also hope that with the election of other Ukip councillors, I can help open this secretive council up and make it more transparent and work better for the residents rather than to the benefit of the few.”
He said he wanted to ensure the local authority works more closely with other agencies including Hull City Council and Humberside Police.
“It is important that we remove petty fiefdoms and ensure this region is not left behind when greater resources are devolved by the next Government,” he added.
Ukip Yorkshire and Humber MEP Mike Hookem said: “Mike has shown himself to be a man of principle in standing up for what he believes in and I am looking forward to working with him in the near future.”
Fellow Ukip MEP Jane Collins said: “Both Mike and his colleague Mick Burchill, who defected earlier this week will be standing for Ukip in the local elections. I think they will both be a great addition to the Ukip team in this area and I am also looking forward to working with them closely.”
Just spoken to Tory parliamentary candidate for Hull West and Hessle, Mike Whitehead, who has now left the Conservatives and joined UKIP!
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 6, 2015
Tory candidate 'defects' to Ukip
So this is what the big announcement was. A Tory parliamentary candidate in Hull has defected to Ukip, the party has claimed. Mike Whitehead, who is standing in the Hull West and Hessle constituency in Yorkshire, is a councillor on East Riding council. He seems to have had a row with the Tory group on the local council, and said his decision to defect was due to the “wilful refusal” of the Conservative party to intervene at a national level.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage called Whitehead’s defection “another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England”.
Here’s the Press Association’s report:
A Conservative parliamentary candidate has defected to Ukip, the party announced today.
Nigel Farage called it “another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England”.
Mike Whitehead, who is standing in the Hull West and Hessle constituency in Yorkshire, is a councillor on East Riding Council.
He said he was “disgusted” with the behaviour of the ruling Tory group in East Yorkshire and the “wilful refusal” of the Conservative party to intervene at a national level.
He insisted the “secretive” council needed to be “opened up” and be made more transparent.
Responding to the news, Mr Farage said: “I am delighted to be welcoming Mike to the party at this exciting time.
“His move to Ukip just underlines that today the real party of opposition to Labour in the north is Ukip.
“It is another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England”.
Updated
One person who won’t be campaigning in Scotland today is Charles Kennedy. The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP – and former Lib Dem leader – is taking a few days off following the death of his father, he tweeted this morning.
Due to the death of Charles' father, Ian Kennedy, Charles will be taking a few days off from campaigning. Thank you for your understanding.
— Charles Kennedy (@charles_kennedy) April 6, 2015
The Guardian’s Scotland correspondent, Severin Carrell, has sent this curtain-raiser on what the debate is likely to focus on in Scotland today:
Jim Murphy is to urge Scottish voters not to abandon Labour out of “anger and protest” at the general election but imagine the positive change a Labour government could bring.
The beleaguered Scottish Labour leader is expected to imply that disaffected former supporters are being lured into supporting the Scottish National party on “a wave of anti-political feeling” and a rise in cynicism.
Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish National party leader, will hope to build on her acclaimed performance in last week’s UK leaders debate by launching a new “pensioners plan” which SNP MPs would press for at Westminster.
With the polls suggesting the SNP could win more than 40 of Scotland’s 59 seats – potentially leaving the SNP as the third largest group at Westminster – Sturgeon will campaign in the Lib Dem target seat of East Dunbartonshire outside Glasgow, currently held by junior employment minister Jo Swinson.
Sturgeon is due to say: “Our pensioners have contributed hugely to society, and are entitled to get a fair deal in their retirement in return.
“A strong team of SNP MPs holding the balance of power will ensure that the contribution older people have made throughout their lives is recognised – and will deliver a new and better deal for pensioners in Scotland.”
Faced by a continuing surge in SNP support leaving Labour trailing heavily in the polls Murphy is to launch a new pledge card promising a Labour government will produce substantive change, at an event in his East Renfrewshire constituency.
“We can vote out of anger, as a protest, r we can vote with hope, for change,” Murphy is expected to say. “It is easy to ride a wave of anti-political feeling, to tell scunnered voters that they are all the same.”
Updated
Morning briefing
Good morning and welcome to this Easter Monday edition of the Guardian’s election live blog. It may be a day off for most of the country, but there are no trips to the garden centre or slow-roasted lamb joints for the party leaders today. There’s a jam-packed political schedule, which you can monitor in the diary section below (if you’re not already busy planning how to spend your pension windfall).
I’m Mark Smith, one of the Guardian’s news editors, and I’m giving Andrew Sparrow a well-deserved Easter break from liveblogging duties. Email me at mark.smith@theguardian.com, tweet @marksmith174, or please leave your comments below the line.
The big picture
With little more than a month to go until election day, neither the Tories or Labour seem able to pull away, with polls showing near deadlock and Ukip and the SNP taking chunks out of the traditional vote for the two main parties in their heartlands.
The government’s pensions minister, Steve Webb, has warned against rushing into a savings-fuelled spending spree as the biggest revolution to hit British personal finances in decades gets under way this morning. Anyone aged 55 or over is now able to cash in their pension and spend it on a sports car, invest in buy-to-let property, or put the money in the bank.
Nick Clegg has called George Osborne a “very dangerous man” whose plan for the public finances would result in economic “disaster”, in one of the Lib Dem leader’s strongest attacks yet on the chancellor’s plans.
David Cameron and George Osborne both refused to rule out a cut in the top rate of income tax from 45p to 40p under a new Conservative government after the general election. The PM and chancellor made separate appearances on Sky News yesterday, when they said cutting the rate was ‘not in our plan’, though they did not categorically rule it out.
Diary
- The prime minister and chancellor are due to make a big speech on the economy this afternoon, with the exact time and location as yet unannounced. Osborne will claim that 14m working households are £17 a month better off as a result of tax and benefit changes today.
- For Labour, Ed Balls is doing a speech and Q&A in Leeds at 10.30am.
- Ukip are holding a press conference in Beverley, East Yorkshire, at 9.30am where they are expecting to make a big announcement.
- For the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon is launching the party’s alternative package for pensioners in East Dunbartonshire.
- Also in Scotland, Jim Murphy is announcing some of Labour’s election pledges to Scottish voters.
Must reads
The row over what a French diplomat heard is a smokescreen. Nationalists want a Tory toff in London to blame for all of Scotland’s woes. Cameron’s enemy is his friend when Sturgeon’s undermining Labour.
The Guardian’s Zoe Williams on how ‘Sturgeon memo’ reveals Westminster’s nasty machinations.
To enter a pact with Sturgeon, Miliband would have to accept Scotland as, if not an equal partner, then at least punching above its weight. He would have to let go of old hierarchies in favour of a new politics in which he might no longer look like a leader. He never has, of course, but that’s another one of those things he’s not allowed to admit.
The cost of all this would be enormous, and for what? The end of austerity. An end to the redistribution of money from the bottom and the middle to the top. The pursuit of a new kind of social democracy. Who even knows whether that’s what Labour want? It’s not on any of their mugs.
The day in a tweet
I had a dream last night that David Cameron died and Nick Clegg became Prime Minister for the remainder of the campaign.
— Mark Thompson (@MarkReckons) April 6, 2015
If today were a novel it would be …
Capitalism, by John Lanchester.
“Don’t trust your juniors, don’t seek physical intimacy outside your own broad ethnic and socio-economic group, don’t invest too much, materially or emotionally, in your house,” says the Telegraph.
The key story you’re missing when you’re election-obsessed
Twin piques: David Lynch will not direct Twin Peaks sequel due to row over money
Updated
