Labour ready to ‘stab UK in the back’ on Trident, say Tories

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said the Labour party would trade away Britain’s nuclear deterrent come a hung parliament by clubbing up with the Scottish National Party, which is strongly against renewing the Trident system.

Mr Fallon wrote in the The Times that Ed Miliband was “willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister” in an SNP deal, even though Labour has ruled out a formal coalition with the party.

Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said the Tories were “resorting to the language of smear” and said the Labour leader had made “crystal clear” that Britain’s national security was not a matter for negotiation.

The Tories have committed to renewing the Trident-carrying Vanguard fleet of submarines with four new boats. Labour has previously floated the prospect of a cheaper renewal with three submarines, a policy adopted by the Liberal Democrats.

The SNP opposes any renewal of the Trident deterrent – their leader Nicola Sturgeon has called the issue a “red line”.

Tories get personal, accusing Ed Miliband of ‘back-stabbing’ his brother

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has attacked Ed Miliband’s integrity under the cover of the Trident renewal debate, saying he “stabbed his own brother in the back” to become leader of the Labour party.

Mr Fallon has said the Tories will commit in their manifesto to renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent with four submarines.

But he used some stark language to question Labour’s commitment to the weapon system and the substance of a possible alliance between the party and the SNP, which is against renewal.

“Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader,” he told The Times. “Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister.”

Labour pledge career guidance to ‘encourage girls to go into science’

Every secondary school and college student would be given face-to-face careers guidance by a trained adviser under a Labour government.

Tristram Hunt was on Radio 4 this morning explaining Labour’s pledge which he said will mean that careers advice will no longer be the responsibility of whichever teacher is handed it that year.

Mr Miliband has said the new scheme, which will cost £50m, will provide young people with knowledge needed to succeed in the wider world.

However this is not new money – it will be taken from university budgets which are currently specifically allocated to widening participation and outreach to sixth-formers who may not consider a university education.

Mr Hunt, denied that this was “robbing Peter to pay Paul” and said that the new system would mean schools could be better held to account on the quality of the careers advice and programmes they offer.

Nick Clegg: I’m not a Chihuahua in a handbag

Nick Clegg has defended the Liberal Democrats achievements while in government and said he “rarely” thinks of himself as a “Chihuahua in a handbag”.

Speaking in a joint interview with his wife Miriam on ITV’s Tonight programme, to be aired this evening, Mr Clegg said voters had to decide whether they could not forgive him for the “one thing he couldn’t deliver” – a reference to tuition fees – or acknowledge the “hundreds of things” the Lib Dems achieved in government.

The interviewer also put to Mr Clegg comments from floating voters in a Lord Ashcroft focus group which had described the deputy prime minister as a “Chihuahua in a handbag”. He said he “rarely” thinks of himself in such terms.

@laurabrander @Andrew_ComRes @tombradby @ITVTonight are you sure Miriam isn’t thinking, ‘which one’s Nick?’

— Westminster Unionist (@WestminsterDUP) April 9, 2015

Ukip are holding a ‘press conference for women’

The event, designed to present Ukip as a party that is friendly to women. It has so far got off to a less than auspicious start as the backdrop collapsed.

Patrick O’Flynn, Ukip’s economic spokesman, has admitted that some of the party’s male members are still “boorish” and “chauvinistic”. He told gathered journalists: “I think Nigel himself has said that sometimes UKIP has resembled a rugby club on your. I think that’s become less and less true.. but we need to work harder, and there still are occasions when men in the party who should know better have occasionally resorted to boorishness or chauvinism. And when that happens I make sure I express my own displeasure.

However the Ukip policy chief Suzanne Evans said that the perception that the party could be anti-women is down to problem down to “lies other parties put out against us… We don’t hate women”. Ms Evans also defended Nigel Farage against criticism he faced last year over comments he made about women and breast feeding. She said: “It was actually the presenter of the programme who said women should sit in a corner. Nigel never said any such thing. I don’t have a problem with it at all. It’s a natural thing. “Frankly I think anyone who gets upset about breastfeeding in public and then buys The Sun is a hypocrite. Nigel never said it.”

Ms Evans said she has to “struggle through” the conference as she began to lose her voice.

David Cameron is told Big Ben is cracked

The Prime Minister is visiting a bell foundry this morning and has just been told that Big Ben’s bell is cracked.

Cameron told parliament's Big Ben bell is cracked pic.twitter.com/mdHvT88HDj

— James Tapsfield (@JamesTapsfield) April 9, 2015

Ed Miliband launches Labour’s education manifesto

Ed Miliband is in launching Labour’s education manifesto in London this morning. He is taking part in a Q&A and may address Michael Fallon’s highly personal attack this morning over Trident.

“The biggest challenge Britain faces is preparing our young people today for the economy of tomorrow.

“Labour believes a world-class education is not a luxury, but a necessity.

“Young people must be equipped with the right skills, the right knowledge and the right advice they need to succeed.

“Failure to do this will not only cheat our young people of a decent future, it will cheat our country too.

“But that is what the Tories offer; a recipe for national decline. A backward-looking, narrow and centralising plan obsessed with structures.

“Labour has a better plan; equipping all our children with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed with excellence from the first steps a child takes to the day they prepare to stride into the adult world; a broad curriculum offering the best in both vocational and academic skills; a focus on the highest standards in every classroom; a pathway into work.”

Michael Fallon is speaking in London

Following his personal attack on Ed Miliband in today’s Times the defence secretary is speaking in central London about the Conservative pledges for the future of the nuclear deterrent.

He has just been asked whether the Conservtives will commit to defence spending of 2% of GDP. He dodges it slightly – this is a big issue for backbench Conservatives who want this promise, and expect a pledge in next week’s manifesto. It may be that Michael Fallon is not allowed to steal David Cameron’s thunder on the issue.

Ed Miliband: Michael Fallon has demeaned himself

The Labour leader has responded to Michael Fallon’s comments.

He told an audience in London: “Michael Fallon is decent man but today I think he has demeaned himself and he has demeaned his office.

“National security is too important to play politics with – I will never compromise our national security, I will never negotiate away our national security, and you know what? The Conservative party can throw what they like at me but I am going to carry on concentrating on the issues that matter to the British people.

He added: “We are committed to an independent nuclear deterrent, we are committed to renewing trident,w e are committed to continuous at sea deterrent.

“On the question of four boats or three boats, what we have said is we will be guided by the experts, what the experts have said is four boats.

“It is right to have a review because if technology changes you can look at it, but our clear position is basically four boats because that’s what the experts say. and that is why it is such nonsense because the Conservative party is trying to create division with us when there isn’t division.”

He added that this was a “ridiculous and pathetic way to run a campaign”.

Michael Fallon said this morning that he stabbed his brother in the back, and would stab Britain in the back. Mr Miliband said he has go to used to such personal attacks and that “desperate smears” do not bother him.

Ed Miliband has said it is ‘gutter politics’ to suggest Vladimir Putin would like him to run Britain

Ed Miliband has attacked Nick Boles, a Conservative education minister, for gutter politics after he tweeted that Valdimir Putin would like the Labour leader to run the country.

The Labour leader is trying to positioning himself as “mature” and “statesmanlike” above such tactics and has called on David Cameron to reign in his “minions”.

David Cameron: ‘Of course’ I back Michael Fallon’s attack on Ed Miliband

The Prime Minister is in Loughborough where he has confirmed that he stands by his defence secretary’s attack on the Labour leader.

He says he backs Mr Fallon’s comments about Mr Miliband and that the defence secretary is making an “important point” on Trident.

He said: “Only the Conservatives are absolutely guaranteeing a full replacement for Trident. Labour are in confusion about what they would do with their deterrent.”

“Ed Miliband can only get to Downing Street on the back of Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP are saying not replacing Trident is a red line for them.”

“What price would Labour pay to get into office?”

Meanwhile Boris was out and about in hotly contested Hampstead and Kilburn

… where he was ambushed by Labour candidate Tulip Siddiq. As one local blogger points out, the voters on the left seem less than impressed.

Conservatives delay manifesto launch

Labour will launch on Monday, Conservatives on Tuesday and Ukip on Wednesday.

The Liberal Democrats have not officially confirmed the day their manifesto will be published but it is expected early next week.

Ukip candidate defends his other job as a porn star called ‘Johnny Rockard’

It will be hard for a headline to beat this one today.

A Ukip candidate and senior party official has defended his other job as a porn baron named Rockard.

John Langley, 59, is vice chairman for the party in Bristol and is standing proud in next month’s city council elections.

But he is also a veteran adult movie star as well as a talent scout, manager and promoter where he goes by the name of Johnny Rockard.

Ukip bosses have also said they have no problem with his “unusual” line of work which Langley revealed to them when he put himself forward for election. Langley, who has been in the porn business for 30 years, said: “This is no big deal.”

Ukip: We will scrap the tampon tax

UKIP have just announced that they would remove what they call “invidious tax on women’s sanitary products”.

The party says that “currently tampons and sanitary pads are deemed a “non-essential luxury” item by the Treasury and so they are taxed at five percent accordingly. This is an “outdated and outrageous” tax on women”.

However, as they point out, removing VAT completely would actually involve leaving the EU.

All European countries are restricted from exempting any item from tax under EU law and means sanitary products are taxed across Europe – from 5 per cent in the UK, to as much as 27 per cent in Hungary.

Ms Evans continues: ““No other party can pledge to take this simple step,” she said, “as under EU rules no item that has ever had VAT charged on it can have VAT removed completely.

“This shows not only how ridiculous EU legislation is, but how very wrong it is that we’ve given our tax sovereignty over to a bunch of faceless – and mostly male – EU Commissioners who simply don’t understand real life, let alone real life for women.”

Last year a Change.org petition to abolish the tax which has so far it has received 220,000 signatures, and gained nationwide coverage.

Campaigners say that George Osborne and other European Chancellors should lobby the European Parliament to change the rules governing tax on tampons as a matter of gender equality.

Philip Hammond refuses to repeat Fallon’s ‘stab in the back’ comment

.@votejamesberry is setting a cracking pace in New Malden – campaigning for high-speed improvements and Crossrail 2. pic.twitter.com/8YpdzYqxFi

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 9, 2015

Defence chiefs: Don’t turn Trident into a political football

The Guardian has spoken to two former defence chiefs, Lord West, the former head of the navy and former Labour security minister, and Lord Richards (David Richards), the former chief of defence staff who have warned Trident must not be turned into a political football.

Lord West told the paper:

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

Lord Richards said:

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

Michael Crick: Bitter battles in Portsmouth

The shenanigans of Portsmouth politics never cease to delight.  This is a loyalty oath which was proposed by Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the leader of the Lib Dems on Portsmouth Council, to all lib Dem council candidates, making them declare that they’d be backing him for the Westminister election in Portsmouth South.  In reality, it was directed at just one person – Jacqui Hancock, wife of Mike Hancock, the former Liberal Democrat MP, who is standing as an Independent.

It’s getting very bitter.  On a BBC South hustings programme broadcast this morning, Mike Hancock explained he was only standing against Vernon-Jackson because “I hate him”

A real dilemma for Mrs Hancock, who is hoping to get re-elected in the wonderfully named Charles Dickens ward.  No, it seems.  Gerald Vernon-Jackson tells me that Jacqui Hancock has assured him that she’ll be supporting him for the Westminster seat and not her own husband.  “That’s what she told me,” Vernon-Jackson has told me.

Having had that oral assurance from Jacqui Hancock and similar commitments from all the other Lib Dem council candidates, Vernon-Jackson has now withdrawn the loyalty oath.

Update: Mike Hancock has just told me:

“I seen nothing so absurd in all my 40 years in politics.  He must be really rattled.  I’ve not spoken to Gerald for more than a year.  I don’t owe Gerald one iota, and he knows why.  My wife and I had lunch today – as it’s my birthday – and she knows, and I know,  where her loyalties lie.  She gave Gerald a right bollocking.  He’s running scared.  Some members of the (Liberal Democrat) party have even signed my nomination papers.”

Gary Gibbon: Is Labour’s ethnic minority vote holding up?

The focus on ethnic minority voting trends is often on the Tories and their failure to connect with BME voters – we reported on it last year in Wolverhampton. But there are signs that all is not stable in every part of Labour’s ethnic minority vote.

Read more here

Cat fight in Loughborough: no politicians involved

Given that the claws seem to be out between Michael Fallon and Ed Miliband, what could be more appropriate than a cat fight breaking out in front of the press pack waiting for the PM to make a campaign stop?

Tight squeeze on the Nick Clegg battle bus

A bit of a tight fit in the back of the bus but a good chance for journalists to quiz me on the issues of the day pic.twitter.com/dbb5lj6PwS

— Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) April 9, 2015

George Osborne in a ‘one of the lads’ photo op at a garage

The Chancellor is campaigning in the South West.

SamCam is the Tories secret weapon, poll shows

Samantha Cameron holds a baby on the campaign trail

Samantha Cameron is twice as popular as other leaders’ wives, a new poll in the Evening Standard has found. The survey shows that Mrs Cameron is a a bigger election asset than the wives of other leaders – although she has also been in the public eye more frequently in recent weeks.

Justine Miliband, the wife of the Labour leader, is famously publicity shy and prefers to only accompany her husband at key moments, but she gave a highly personal interview to the Mirror.

Miriam Gonzalez, the wife of the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, is seen more frequently on the campaign trail when she is not at work in her high powered job at an international law firm.

Justine Miliband at a campaign rally in Warrington last week

The poll will be encouraging to the Conservatives who have decided to push Mrs Cameron to the front of the party’s general election campaign in recent days, with the Prime Minister’s wife appearing in a series of laid back ‘soft’ interviews.

Miriam Clegg with the Lib Dem leader at the party’s spring conference

It found that 54 per cent of voters said they liked Mrs Cameron, double the proportion who opted for Ms Gonzalez or Mrs Miliband.

It comes as Miriam Clegg is set to appear alongside her husband in an ‘at home’ interview with ITV this evening.

Justine Miliband talks about meeting Ed

Justine Miliband gave an interview to the Daily Mirror in which she talks in detail about meeting Ed Miliband for the first time. She fancied him straight away, she says, but it seems she thought he was originally a bit of a bore.

She told the Mirror:

“I first met Ed when I went to a friend’s house for dinner,” she says.

“I was interested in him, I thought he was good looking and clever and seemed to be unattached. But we just went down a conversational cul-de-sac.

“Apparently we had nothing in common. He wanted to talk about economics – one of my least favourite subjects.

“He didn’t know my friend Adrian. None of our conversations went anywhere.

“Then I found out he was secretly going out with the woman who had invited us for dinner. I was furious.

“I bumped into him a couple of times after that, but we didn’t start seeing each other for at least a year.”

The next time they met, Ed and Justine found they did have shared interests.

Ed was about to be made Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Justine had just written a book on the subject.

They also shared a similar sense of humour.

Journalist John Rentoul has a theory of who may have been hosting said dinner party.

Could the secrecy have been because he was a Treasury special adviser & @MyStephanomics was BBC economics journalist?

— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) April 9, 2015

Dead cats on the table

Isabel Hardman in the spectator has an interesting theory about today’s argument over Michael Fallon’s claim that Ed Miliband is capable of “stabbing the country in the back” and giving up his support for Trident to make a deal with the SNP come May.

She quotes Boris Johnson talking about a theory of his Australian friend that sometimes it is necessary to throw a dead cat on the table to distract from other uncomfortable goings on.

‘To understand what has happened in Europe in the last week, we must borrow from the rich and fruity vocabulary of Australian political analysis. Let us suppose you are losing an argument. The facts are overwhelmingly against you, and the more people focus on the reality the worse it is for you and your case. Your best bet in these circumstances is to perform a manoeuvre that a great campaigner describes as “throwing a dead cat on the table, mate”.

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

According to Hardman Labour sources are now wondering if this Australian friend had something to do with the Conservative election strategy.

… And dead birds on the bus

Nick Clegg’s battle bus has just killed a pigeon on its way into Poole.

Don’t mention the…

Extraordinary intervention from John Cleese here:

If you want to hear more of his thoughts the Lib Dems are auctioning off the chance to have dinner with him and Paddy Ashdown. 

Nigel Farage: Don’t make the election into an American shouting match

Nigel Farage has warned that the election should not become “an American, negative, shouting match”.

Speaking on a visit to Broadstairs in Kent, the Ukip leader said: “The attack on Ed Miliband was very, very personal, calling him a backstabber

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

During a visit to Norwich, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said: “A very important issue has been raised in the debate about Trident today but the way in which it was raised is deeply damaging.

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

Michael Crick: It’s officially too late to stand for Parliament

Ballot papers in the 2010 general election

Michael sends this update from Portsmouth where he is filming for tonight’s show.

If you were hoping to stand in in the 2015 General Election, and haven’t got your nomination papers in yet, then forget it. It’s too late.  Nominations closed at 4pm, and councils are already busy checking all the names of the candidates and the people nominating them, to check they are in order.

It’s expected there will be a record number of candidates in 2015 – more than 4,000.  The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are trying to fight all 632 seats in Britain, while Ukip and the Greens will fight almost every seat.  That will account for more than 3,200 candidates.  The Nationalists in Scotland and Wales, and all the parties in Northern Ireland will be another 200.  Then there are smaller parties such as Respect, the BNP, the English Democrats, National Heath Action and TUSC, plus at least 300 independents.

It’s a far cry from elections in the early 1950s when many seats, perhaps most seats, only had two candidates – Conservative and Labour.

But with so many people running for Parliament, there a greater chance that some constituency elections will have to be re-run.  If any candidate dies between now and 7 May, then the whole contest has to be rerun in that seat, no matter how insignificant the candidate is.  That’s happened twice in recent years, and we may easily get one or two examples in 2015.

What drives the ethnic minority vote?

Ethnic minority voters have traditionally favoured Labour with their support. But in an age of social media, competition for their votes is increasing, we explain here.

Nick Clegg’s startlingly honest assessment of the Lib Dem campaign

The Liberal Democrat leader said that the campaign had so far been “methodical” and he wasn’t expecting “starburst”.

He told journalists on his battle bus: “It’s not going to be a starburst campaign where there’s a Damascene conversion where everyone says ‘hallelujah, the Liberal Democrats are right’.

“It’s not going to be like that, it’s a much more incremental campaign where we are trying to build up the case and, so far at least, our opponents just as much as ourselves are helping to make our case for us.”

Interesting shift in the polls highlighted here

Ed overtakes Dave in Survation approval ratings pic.twitter.com/wdy673n9wP

— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) April 9, 2015

Pro-immigration group launches poster campaign

A campaign group has launched a series of posters featuring immigrants who are contributing in important ways to the UK. They say that they are “gravely concerned” by political rhetoric on immigration.

The Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and UKIP are all proposing tighter border controls, with a recent poll suggesting immigration was the third most important election issue behind only the NHS and the economy.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) – which campaigns against discrimination – has spent £44,000 on the UK-wide poster campaign.

The posters feature barrister, musician, firefighter and customer services advisors, all of whom moved to the UK from other countries.

Justwalked into @No5Chambers colleague informs me saw #IAmAnImmigrant poster on the tube &said tohimself “I know him” pic.twitter.com/RCJrqFzEKJ

— S Chelvan (@S_Chelvan) April 9, 2015

Why not?

The polls will be tough reading for the Conservatives tonight

Although they are still pretty close, and have been jumping around for days.

What will really excite the Labour camp is that for the first time Ed Miliband is personally polling better than the PM – although more voters think Mr Cameron is more Prime Ministerial.

Labour enjoys a four-point lead in the latest opinion poll of the General Election campaign.

Mr Miliband’s party gained two points on last week, while the Conservatives dipped one, to move ahead by 35% to 31% in the Survation research for the Daily Mirror.

The Labour leader – despite still trailing his Tory rival as the best to be prime minister by 37% to 25% – will be delighted at their latest personal approval ratings after lagging consistently behind throughout most of his leadership.

The gap between those saying he was doing a good and bad job was +3.2 points, to Mr Cameron’s +2.3. It also showed overwhleming support  – 59% for to 16% against – for Labour’s proposal to abolish non dom tax status.

Who’s running against the Prime Minister?

David Cameron leaves the polling station in Witney in 2010

Colin Bex (Wessex Regionalists) David Cameron (Conservative) Duncan Enright (Labour) Andy Graham (Liberal Democrat) Nathan Handley (not supplied) Deek Jackson (Land Party) Stuart MacDonald (Green) Clive Peedell (National Health Action) Vivien Saunders (Reduce VAT In Sport) Bobby Smith (Stop Emotional Child Abuse, Vote Elmo) Simon Strutt (Ukip) Chris Tompson (Independent)

h/t to the Oxford Mail

9th April 2015: Pick of the campaign trail

Ed Miliband leaves a speech about education

The Labour leader gives a strong response to attacks from the Conservatives published in The Times this morning

Michael Fallon gives a speech the morning he said the Labour leader would stab Britain in the back over Trident

George Osborne play at being one of the lads at a garage on the campaign trail

Just hanging out after a tough day of fixing up cars

Cameron: Everyone must help to stop the poisoning of young minds who are tempted to go to Syria

Prime Minister has been on BBC Look North and he’s been talking about the Dewsbury teenagers thought to have fled to Syria.

He says “Everyone has a role to stop the poisoning of young minds” and that “police need the powers to stop people travelling”.

LBC Female leaders debate: We cannot dump children who travel to Syria on other countries

There is no luck for the female debate on LBC – Ukip’s Suzanne Evans has had to pull out because of a sore throat and Labour’s Harriet Harman and Nicky Morgan sound like they might soon follow suit.

Although it’s a quiet debate it is an interesting and measured one. They are discussing children who go out to Syria.

Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, is asked whether the British girls who traveled to Syria were victims or criminals. She says that the children that go to Syria are groomed by people who are already out there. I think at the age of 15 i suspect that a lot of these young girls did not know what they were letting themselves in for.

She says that it is the community’s responsibility to ensure they are not tempted by “siren voices from abroad”.

Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem home office minister, said that the ‘us and them’ attitude to the girls who went to Syria was awful. “They’re all our children. We need to support, stand up and reach out to each other.”

Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader, says it is nonsense to take their passports away and “dump” them somewhere, they are our problem she says and we need to take responsiblity for them.

She adds: “If they have committed a criminal offence theyb should be put in prison, if they have not they shouldn’t”

Diane James from Ukip, standing in for Suzanne Evans, says: “For me and for Ukip, it’s about the multicultural agenda. We haven’t done enough to integrate people into British life.

“We need to have a carrot and stick to convince them not to join these sort of groups. Taking away passports, for example, could be a stick.”

Harriet Harman accuses Ukip of insane talk about the Chilcot report

They are discussing the Chilcot report.

Diane James criticises Tony Blair for, she says, holding up the Chilcot report.

Harriet Harman says she is talking out of the “back of her head” and asks her to keep the discussion sane. She adds: “The Chilcot report should have come out sooner so we can all see who knew what and when.”

Lynne Featherstone is asked whether she would have voted for the Iraq war in 2003. She says: If we were back into 2003 I’d vote no, which is what I voted for at the time. With the vote on the Syria war I said I would resign if we voted to go to war.

Nicky Morgan says: I would have probably voted yes, trusting the prime minister. It’s easy to say otherwise with hindsight, the sad thing is the trust in Tony Blair at the time was misplaced.

How many jobs does the EU create Lynne?

Lynne Featherstone forgets Nick Clegg’s favourite stat – that the EU creates 3 million jobs, one that Nigel Farage often disagrees with.

She recovers by looking at her notes, and says that immigration from the EU, and indeed from outside, brings great benefits to Britain.

Both Harriet Harman and Nicky Morgan say that Britain needs controls, Diane James says that her party is in favour immigration, but controlled issue. It’s about getting the numbers right and meeting the demands of our economy. We need to cut down the scale of unskilled immigration.

Nicky Morgan says that James sounds sensible but she does not represent the views of her party.

Nicky Morgan: I was branded a racist in the marketplace when I talked about immigration

The Education Secretary tells the LBC women’s leaders debate that she was branded a racist when she brought up the issue when she was a candidate in 2005. She says Ofcom means she can’t name it though.

She says that because no one ever talked about it people now have very strong views on it and want to talk about it and discuss it more.

#minorityverdict – follow our ethnic minority election debate live now on Channel 4 and tweet along

Krishnan Guru-Murthy will be coming live from the very grand Birmingham Symphony Hall where one hundred ethnic minority voters are putting questions to representatives from the political parties.

Ethnic minority voters are far less likely to be directly canvassed by candidates – and as Krishnan points out this extends to high profile events too.

Why do they wear turbans and not talk?

Krishnan points out that one of the most high profile ways the party leaders court ethnic minority voters is by wearing a turban, rather than talking to such voters on the door step.

Is Britain racist?

Tariq Mahmood, for Ukip, says that the country has made progress away from racism in Britain.

Krishnan asks the audience if they have experienced a racists incident in the last 5 years and at least 20 per cent of the audience

A man in the crowd responds: “What has happened is that we have taught people the language they should use and how to conduct themselves, what is underneath hasn’t changed a great deal. we have made inroads, I accept that but it is nowhere near gone.

Another man says that although his father is an immigrant who voted Labour for the next, increasingly for the “more educated” next generation they have gone too far left. He says that Ukip is a fruitcake – there are lots of nuts but there are bits of “sweet fruit” such as their policies on immigration that are appealing.

Maajid Nawaz, for the Lib Dems says this is a ongoing struggle and we must remain vigilant. but he admits there is no one policy that can fix this. He bravely adds that Nick Clegg went head to head with Nigel Farage and that the polls say that he lost.

He says that he has been stop and searched before and even had his DNA taken from him and praises Theresa May’s reforms to the stop and search rules.

What makes you different as a politician because you are from an ethnic minority?

Seema Malhotra for Labour says that it allows her to feel a better connection.

Rehman Chishti says there is simply not enough ethnic minority people in parliament, full stop, and more need to stand to properly represent the population.

Lib Dem Maajid Nawaz says that being from an ethnic minority gives him a “lived experience” that white politicians just don’t have. He says that he has been stopped and searched, he has had his DNA taken and even been chased down the street by neo nazis. This experience, he says, means that if he has influence in Government it will be “over his dead body” that archaic, unequal policies are reintroduced.

Tariq Mahmood for Ukip gets a laugh when he says is that Ukip have opened him with open arms, but he says that he has had many posivite, engaging conversations with ethnic minority communities and being from an ethnic minority has enabled him to do this.

And with that the debate comes to an end.

#MinorityVerdict: the full debate

What drives the ethnic minority vote? Do the Conservatives fail to connect with BME voters? Did Labour take them for granted? And what about Ukip and the Lib Dems?

All these questions answered in the Minority Verdict debate which aired on Channel 4 News this evening.

Watch the debate below.

Forgive the break…