The Labour party has released a new YouTube video, giving edited highlights of the Tories’ last five years in office.
“No wonder David Cameron is too scared to debate his record,” it says towards the end, before asking viewers to share the clip.
“Imagine what he’d do with five more years.”
After a political fad in March to show leaders in their kitchens, The Sun reports that one of Ed Miliband’s two kitchens is set aside for the family nanny.
“We DO have to kitchens… nanny uses the one downstairs,” reads its front page headline.
The Sun quotes a TV interview in which Mr Miliband “admits his children’s carer cooks in the basement, while he and wife Justine use a kitchen upstairs in their four-storey London home”.
It says the set-up carries “shades of TV’s Downton Abbey”, only days after the Labour leader “intensified his war on the ‘rich and powerful'”.
But Mr Miliband laughed off the kitchen focus last night, telling ITV’s Tonight programme: “It comes with the territory; the kitchen makes me laugh, honestly. Quite a lot of it makes me laugh.
“I care about the argument about what I’m putting forward for the country.”
The Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has removed one of the obstacles to a second coalition with the Tories by refusing to rule out an “in-out” referendum on EU membership, reports the Guardian’s front page, the day after the party launched its election manifesto.
Mr Clegg will instead try to push the Conservatives back on plans to cut welfare by £12bn, the paper says.
The former head of NHS England has said politicians need to be more honest with voters about the huge funding problem facing the health service.
Sir David Nicholson, former chief executive of the NHS in England, said there is a “serious short term problem” facing health service funding, and urged political leaders to spur a “proper debate” with the public on what it means.
“If you say that there is a big financial hole in the NHS next year then you have to do something about it,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
“It will be even greater next year – and that will not become clear to the voters and the electorate until the autumn,” he added.
He also said reductions in social care have “made a massive impact on the NHS”, leading to “people in hospital who don’t need to be in”.
The Policy Exchange think-tank has released a new infographic showing the extent of pledge-sharing among the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties.
The chart shows some overlap between the current coalition partners on adopted policies, including cities for growth, garden villages and future courts.
But Labour only shares policies with the parties in two areas – cities for growth and a welfare manifesto.
Labour will today challenge the Conservative party to explain its “panicky promises”, and where it would find the billions promised by manifesto commitments.
Labour says Tory plans, including raising NHS funding by £8bn, would represent £1,439 for every working household.
“It’s time for the Tories to come clean and explain: Where is the money coming from? How will you pay for your panicky promises? Who will pay the price?” Ed Balls is expected to say.
Using a speech in the West Midlands, Mr Balls will accuse the Tories of “taking the British people for fools” with a string of commitments they could not afford without deeper cuts. .
“The Tories think they can get away with ducking these questions. It’s no wonder David Cameron isn’t turning up to the debate tonight and has done everything he can to avoid a head-to-head debate.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the next British government will be unable to balance the country’s books within its five-year term.
The IMF predicts tax revenues will fall below official forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, meaning the election winner will need to spend more than current plans set out, reports the Financial Times.
The IMF estimate notably casts doubt on Tory pledges to move Britain into surplus by 2018-19, but poses potential problems for whichever administration follows the 7 May poll.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will today stake a further claim to the “kingmaker” role after 7 May by warning against a right-wing “Blukip” alliance of Ukip, the DUP and Tory backbenchers, if the Conservatives attempt to run a minority government.
Mr Clegg will say British values of “decency, tolerance and generosity” would be “cast aside” if a Blukip grouping gained power after 7 May.
He will publish a list of 20 key seats which he thinks will decide whether the Lib Dems or “Blukip” hold sway, if Mr Cameron leads the largest party after the election.
“Imagine what Britain could become if the prime minister had to bargain with Nigel Farage and his friends for votes,” he will say in the north west later.
“Our public services cut to the bone. Our communities divided. Our shared British values of decency, tolerance and generosity cast aside.”
The Conservative leader launches the party’s Scottish manifesto this morning, warning that an alliance between Labour and the SNP after 7 May would pose a “clear threat” to the future of the UK.
Speaking in Glasgow, Mr Cameron will argue that nationalists are on the “same side” as Ed Miliband’s party on spending and taxes, despite the two parties’ animosity.
“We’ve got Labour and the SNP on opposite sides – slugging it out – but if you take a step back they’re really on the same side,” Mr Cameron will say.
“Together, they pose a clear threat to the future of our United Kingdom. A coalition of chaos. The SNP acting as the chain to Labour’s wrecking ball, running right through our economic recovery – and it will be you who pays the price.”
But shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran said the real threat was from the Conservatives: “The biggest risk to Scotland comes from five more years of David Cameron and George Osborne – a Tory decade of austerity for people across the country.”
The Conservative leader has announced new armed forces measures in his Scottish manifesto launch in Glasgow.
The Tories have promised “guaranteed veterans priority access” to the NHS throughout a veteran’s life, including for mental health.
The party also plans to boost Combined Cadet Forces in schools “so more kids get the chance to learn skills like leadership and self-reliance”, and has committed to working with the private sector “to make life easier and cheaper” for armed forces members and their families posted abroad.
…more to follow.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has been out and about in north London this morning, mingling with voters and stopping off for a quick coffee in Hornsey.
A bit of a media scrum formed outside an ice cream and crepe parlour, although it was unclear whether Mr Miliband partook of a cold dessert or pancakes.
I had no success with my questions in Hornsey this morning as Labour officials grabbed me and my cameraman and stopped us getting near Ed Miliband.
He then delivered one of the shortest stump speeches on record. I thought it was about five minutes; colleagues said it was more like three.
What happened here was far from the open campaigning of years gone by, when Harold Wilson or Ted Heath would do genuine walkabouts.
We’re in Finchley this afternoon filming in Margaret Thatcher’s old constituency, writes Channel 4 News producer Tim Bouverie.
It’s only 89th on Labour’s target list, but a poll from tory peer Lord Ashcroft the other day had Labour one point clear of the Conservatives here.
With one of London’s largest Jewish populations, the Jewish vote is all important, and the Conservatives claim that this element remains in their favour not least because of Ed Miliband’s strong support for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
David Cameron has responded angrily to Ed Balls’ claim that government money “hadn’t run out” in 2010.
The shadow Chancellor had said a letter left in the Treasury for the coalition government declaring saying there was “no money” was a “jokey note”.
The prime minister was asked whether people could believe Tory claims they would balance the books in three years, following a warning by the IMF today.
A dog takes a rest on the Labour campaign trail earlier today
Tonight is going to be a difficult night for Ed Miliband. Standing alone without his fellow “Westminster elite” party leaders, Nick Clegg and David Cameron he could be vulnerable.
Faced with three opponents who are vociferously further left than he will want to present himself leaves him at risk of being ganged up on or drowned out by the female leaders. They have made no secret of the fact that many of their policies dove-tail and will be determined to powerfully present their shared anti-austerity agenda.
Nigel Farage meanwhile, should be on comfortable ground, the only right wing voice in the face of parties his core voters are unlikely to vote for. He is likely to make a pitch for any wavering Conservative voters on the right of the party and will be less concerned with attacks from the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru on his more controversial policies.
David Cameron has never been keen on the debates and is believed to have refused point blank to go head to head with Ed Miliband. A long and tumultuous negotiation between the parties followed.
The result: this “challenger debate”, alongside a seven-way party debate broadcast last week, individual leader interviews on Channel 4 News at the end of last month and a series of separate appearances to be broadcast a week before the election.
Commentators have said that as polls show that the public see Mr Cameron as more prime ministerial than Mr Miliband the Conservative leaders sees little to gain from public debates.
8pm tonight, BBC1 and we will have live coverage, clips and analysis throughout the evening here on our live blog. It will be 90 minutes long, ending at 9.30pm.
Ed Miliband, Labour, Nigel Farage, Ukip, Nicola Sturgeon, SNP, Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru and Natalie Bennett, Greens
The veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby will be taking the mantle from Julie Etchingham.
David Cameron refused to take part in the debate and so Nick Clegg was also not invited as he, too, is part of the Government. This is a being billed as a ‘Challengers’ debate between leaders who are outside of power.
David Cameron has said that this debate was part of the deal struck to end the deadlock over the TV debates. Nick Clegg meanwhile has expressed frustration at being excluded.
Miliband will line up on the far left of the podium, with Mr Farage on the far right. The full line up left to right is Miliband, Wood, Bennett, Sturgeon, Farage.
Leaders will make a short opening statement and then answer five questions from the audience. There will be a minute to answer each question individually before 10 minutes of free debate on each question.
At there end there will be a short closing statement from each leader.
It is the last time leaders will go head to head, live on TV but there will also be a special Question Time on BBC One, a week before polling day, with Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg appearing separately
An interesting moment from last night’s Channel 4 News has been causing a stir on the internet.
Michael Crick was out on the campaign trail in a village of Orsett, Essex, speaking to voters when a fellow in a matching shirt arrives along the lane.
What happens next is wonderfully bizarre and has sparked the best slogan on the campaign so far: “My buttocks are smooth, my mind is clear. Vote Ukip.”
Watch the exchange in full here for the first time here:
Margaret Thatcher on the campaign trail in her constituency of Finchley around 1983
Tim Bouverie, political producer, is out in Margaret Thatcher’s old constituency with filming with Michael Crick today. He sends this report:
Finchley is home to a large section of Britain’s Jewish community. And out on the streets today we find them strongly in favour of the Conservative party.
A recent poll by the Jewish Chronicle showed that 69 per cent of Jewish voters will back David Cameron in May.
However an Ashcroft poll the other day placed the Conservatives one point behind Labour in this swing seat.
Finchley was, of course, Margaret Thatcher’s seat but Labour held it between 1997 and 2010.
Foreign policy and Conservative support for Israel – contrasted with Ed Miliband’s critical stance, following last years war in Gaza – is the most important issue according to the Jewish voters we spoke to. This is nothing new.
On their first visit to Washington together, Margaret Thatcher and her then Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, had a blazing row after Carrington had suggested a more even-handed approach towards the PLO.
“Your foreign policy is going to lose me the next election”, said an incandescent, Mrs T. “And, it’s going to lose me Finchley!”
Carrington, normally the model of patrician manners, bit back, apparently saying: “If you think British foreign policy should be decided on whether you lose Finchley, you can find a new Foreign Secretary!” and stormed out of the room.
Later that day, Thatcher sidled up to Carrington: “We didn’t do very well earlier”. This, Carrington reflected, was the closest he ever heard Thatcher get to an apology.
Mr Desmond, who owns the Express, the Sunday Express, the Star and OK! magazine, has given Ukip £1million, on top of a previous £300,000 donation. He said of Nigel Farage’s party: “what they believe in is the best for the British people.”
His donation will massively boost the Ukip coffers, as they are believed to have only raised just over £35,000 between 30 March and 5 April.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Mr Desmond was “a self-made man with the courage of his convictions”.
Mr Desmond said he was making the donation as a “challenging” gesture to shake up a Westminster establishment that has lost the trust of millions of voters.
The donation is the biggest individual cash donation to a British political party by a private individual since 2008.
Partly it is general caution about security. Partly it is specific caution about another Gordon Brown “bigoted woman” moment. But it is all about caution.
Voters need to know that what is daily passed off as an election “campaign” at times feels like nothing more than an antiseptic exercise in keeping our party leaders away from real voters and real situations at all costs.
So I will tell you what these events are really like.
This morning the Prime Minister came to “Scotland” to launch the Scottish Tory manifesto.
Michael Crick will be in the spin room ahead of the debate and Alex Thomson is in Glasgow where David Cameron launched the Conservative Scottish manifesto today.
The Liberal Democrat leader has said: “It’s very odd that the debate tonight doesn’t have anybody from one of the parties that have been trying to govern.”
Ed Miliband has said that David Cameron has “has decided not to attend tonight’s debate. If you’re applying for the job of PM, you should turn up to the job interview.”
The Conservative leader says that organising a challengers debate was part of a deal to “unblock the log-jam” in negotiations over the events.
However the negotiations also resulted in Mr Clegg being left out of the debate to stop the risk of appearing to be “empty chairing” the Prime Minister.
It also enables it to be branded a “challenger debate” of the parties outside Westminster.
Mark Reckless has said he wants to use the £1 million donation to send his supporters copies of the manifesto – which he doesn’t appear in unlike virtually every other high profile Ukip member.
He says he is quoted in it saying “Britain is more than a star on somebody elses flag”. “So I was pleased to have that, but I am not sure if my look quite pass muster”, he adds
Commentators have said that tonight could be tough for Ed Miliband is the three left-wing female leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green party decide to join forces against him on anti-austerity policy.
Mark Reckless is there for Ukip and Jeremy Hunt has been spotted for the Tories, despite David Cameron not taking part in the debate.
Douglas Alexander in the spin room for Labour.
Michael Crick is in the spin room ahead of the leaders debate in Westminster today. He is discussing that big donation from Richard Desmond to Ukip.
Nigel Farage will be happy tonight, he says, but they would no doubt have preferred it a few weeks ago as there is a limit as to what you can spend that money on at this late stage of the campaign. There is also a reputational issue as Mr Desmond made his fortune with selling pornographic magazines and running a pornographic channel.
However he adds that wasn’t a problem for Tony Blair and the Labour party when he was one of their donors. Interestingly he also points out that although Ukip are not currently allowed to nominate peers – but that could change after May and if it does Britain could well have a new “press baron”.
Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative health secretary, has been on the radio to say that these debates are an important part of democracy and will show the country the options if they don’t vote Conservatives.
Labour are furious with this assessment and say that if the Conservatives really think this is a matter of democracy then David Cameron should have turned up for the debate.
Watch the “smooth buttocks, clear mind” Ukip voter video again here:
Leanne WoodPeople are looking for a alternative of the “gray stale” politics of usual, she says and want an end to the policies of austerity. She says she has a vision for a post austerity and her party will work with other parties to work for a new politics. She says “cuts are a choice”.
He says that other parties are trying to buy voters with “borrowed money” with a “confetti of billions”. He says he will deliver his costed manifesto by cutting aid, control immigration, take on corporate giants and leave EU. He says he will “tell it as it” and that he” has a feeling he is the only one here saying what a lot of you at home are really thinking.”
Young people are fearing they will have a worse life than their parents, he says, He hits out at David Cameron for not coming tonight to “defend his record. he says he will pay for his policies with policies such energy freezes and namkers bonuses. His big pitch is for working families – he says he will support polices to help them and oppose those that hurt them.
SNP will always stand up for Scotland’s best interests. She wants progressive change “right across the UK” and has a shared interest for making politics work better “for the many not the few”. She says we will need to “build bridges”between our parties. She will work with like minded parties, she says, and emphasises again that the SNP has a role in progressive politics in Westminster.
She begins with highlighting Carolinie Lucas’ record in parliament, who is the party’s only MP. She says that Lucas shows what Green MPs could do – help to create a human, susatianble Britain. She says this is an alternative to spiteful polices of other parties and that an economy the size of Britain must be able to make sure that we can put food on everyone’s table.
An interesting pitch there. Ed Miliband keeps it professional sticking to his party lines and staring right down the camera to the people at home, giving the audience in Westminster short shrift. It’s the people on the sofa he wants to reach.
Nigel Farage meanwhile looks comfortable in his openings. He looks like he enjoys being the odd one out – as he says he is pitching himself as the man who will say what people are thinking at home but no one is saying on screen.
Nicola Sturgeon unabashedly made her pitch for the SNP as a possible coaliton partnet – something she has been repeating in the debate – she says she wants to build bridges with other parties and crucially, she says that her party has an interest outside of Scotland in bringing fair policies to all people. This is a pitch to all those people on the Labour left who want their party to be more like Ms Sturgeon’s party and all those people who thought she was the clear winner in the last debates.
Leanne Wood makes a similar pitch. The smaller parties are making it clear they will work with Government, but on their terms.
Leanne Wood makes first direct demand of Ed Miliband – will he reverse welfare cuts?
He says “lets not pretend there is no difference between me and David Cameron.”
Nicola Sturgeon says that she doesn’t say there is no difference between EM and DC, but that there is not a “big enough” difference. She was calling “be bolder” as he spoke too.
She says she wants the Conservatives out but that she doesn’t want to replace them with “Tory-lite”.
Ed MIliband does seem to be the main focus of the other criticisms from the other leaders, which was the fear of Labour figures who felt he should never have agreed to these debates.
So far he’s been directly challenged by Wood, Sturgeon and Bennett. However he is holding his own.
The Plaid leader turns to the other two leaders when she says this, she doesn’t seem to be including Nigel Farage in the plea.
Question: As a single parent, I’d like to know about your plans for social housing, and to tackle the housing crisis?
Labour are spinning the assault on Ed Miliband from all the other party leaders as an example of his Prime Ministerial abilities. They say they are asking him because he looks like an alternative PM.
He says that this audience is a really left wing audience even on the based on BBC standards. This doesn’t go down well, he hasn’t been getting good reaction to his points so far, and this doesn’t seem to be helping.
Dimbleby hits backs – this audience was chosen by an independent polling organisation to represent voters, he tells Farage.
Farage says that the real audience is at home, that also doesn’t go well with the audience, but is probably very popular with his core vote at home.
Ed Miliband enjoys it: “It’s never a good idea to attack the audience, in my experience.”
He demands that the leaders accept there is a problem with immigration when it comes to housing. He seems to be so unpopular at this moment in the debate he has led Nicola Sturgeon to (slightly) defend Ed Miliband’s housing policy.
She says Mr Farage is clearly here to “win friends and influence people”.
Natalie Bennett tries to move the debate on from immigration – which will be dealt with in a separate question later – and on to house building.She is relying heavily on her notes, possibly to avoid more “brain fade”.
The format is working better than last time – it is easier for the leaders to speak to each other and get into proper debates and arguments rather than explaining their own rehearsed policies over and over again.
We have already seen a couple of knock down rows on welfare – everyone except Nigel Farage rounding on Ed – and on housing – where Nigel Farage rounded on the audience and everyone rounded on him.
Meanwhile Nick Clegg has been tweeting his annoyance at not being included, although looking at how much of a hard time the Labour leader is getting it would be a tough job being the sole representative of Government. He may also be breathing a sigh of relief.
Nigel Farage kicks it off by asking Ed Miliband if he will sign up to a European army, he says no repeatedly but Nigel Farage plows on. Ed Miliband tries to cut him off again.
Mr Miliband is using a tactic of an exasperated teacher leaning forward, foot up on the base of the podium – but this could go down with Mr Farage’s supporters, it could look like he is being ignored.
Nigel Farage says defence budget is like premium house insurance, you hope that there is no fire but you pay for it in case.
The question: Would you keep Trident, and should defence spending be above 2% of GDP?
The Plaid Cymru leader challenges him on his comments that Isis is a dangerous threat when the conversation was about Trident. She asks him if he would press the button on a nuclear weapon against them if he had an opportunity.
She presses again – do you need nuclear weapons against Isis, would you use them. He says of course not, but that military action is appropriate in Syria.
Question three: Immigration has put public services at great risk, what are your plans to deal with this?
Natalie Bennett pitches herself as an immigrant who came as a visitor and fell in love with the British way of life. She says she doesn’t accept the premise of the question. Migrants in her home in London are nurses and doctors and grandmothers. She points at Nigel Farage and says he wants to demonise them.
Nicola Sturgeon is more willing to accept that there are pressures but she says the debate must not be led by the intolerence of Mr Farage and his colleagues. The Ukip leader could well be happy about being physically pointed out as the only one who agrees with the whole premise of the question.
Ed Miliband says he si going to crack down on rogue landlords and gang masters and well as have tough immigration rules – the idea of cracking down “on exploitation wherever I find it” seems to be the central point. He goes back to protecting the “working people” of Britain.
Nigel Farage says that people are attacking him because they are losing the argument, and that’s what politicians do. He says they must leave the EU to be able to take back control of the borders and highlights Ukips new flagship policy of adopting an Australian style system. This would stop discrimination against people from India in favour of Eastern Europe he says.
Leanne Wood says that Mr Farage “abuses immigrants and those with HIV and then claim you are being abused”. She says the NHS would collapse if immigration was stopped. The way to stop wage depression, she says, is to raise the minimum wage and strengthen the Trade Unions.
We have had four out of the five questions.
Everything has calmed down a bit now. The big question with this debate was whether it was a terrible idea for Ed Miliband to take on the ‘challengers’ alone or was it a mistake from the Prime Minister not to take part in an event it’s ministers are describing as having an important role in democracy.
It could have gone wrong but so far the format, strongly controlled by David Dimbleby, has allowed Ed Miliband to keep calm. Meanwhile Nigel Farage, with politics so diametrically opposed to some of the other leaders, has taken the heat off.
The debate has had a very in depth discussion of housing, defence and now immigration and it seems like David Cameron and Nick Clegg could be regretting not being involved.
Although as I said before, with seven people on the stage it could be a very different debate if they were.
Question five: What deal would you be prepared to make in the case of a hung Parliament?
Ed Miliband is first up to answer – David Dimbleby says he is not to say that he is simply aiming for a majority as that’s not the question. We’ll see if that works…
No, Ed Miliband’s not biting in his introduction. He wants to run this country, he says, to implement his manifesto. He’s “got and old fashioned view” and wants people to decide on May 7.
Mr Farage says that everyone believes, even the nationalists, believe in being in the EU. He says that if Ukip have influence and he would need a referendum. He says it is a mystery to him why Labour aren’t offering one. So that’s the Conservatives then?
Nicola Sturgeon says the most important deal is with the Scottish people… and then she wants to “see the back of the Tories”. She will “never, ever” do a deal with the Conservatives but says “Ed is not strong enough to get rid of them on his own”. She wants to work with Ed, Leanne and Natalie.
Ed Miliband says that he has fundamental differences with the SNP and to publicly rules out a deal.
Leanne Wood says progressives should work together to get better public services but also a “better deal for Wales”. Seh will enver prop up a Tory government but neither will she prop up a Labour government “hell bent on implementing Tory policies”.
Natalie Bennett says her party will do “nothing to prop up a Tory government in anyway at all”. She gets an eye roll from Ed Miliband when she says the party will offer a support on a vote by vote basis.
Nicola Sturgeon: None of us can afford more austerity
Conservatives and Labour’s priorities are wrong and ordinary people will pay the price unless you choose differently. She says Labour will not be bold enough to deliver. A big team of SNP MPs can. She makes a pitch to voters in Scotland to make their voice heard and voters across Britain that she will be a “voice to deliver real change”
Leanne Wood: Change the course of our country
Tonight we can change course of our country. She says that opposition which refuses to challenge the cuts is no opposition at all. She says if people like what she has to say, vote for Plaid Cymru.
Natalie Bennett : We don’t have to take any more of this
Tactical voting, has given Britain the kind of politics it has now, so she urges people just to vote for who they want to. Don’t settle for a pale imitation, she says.
Ed Miliband: “David Cameron, debate me one on one”
He says he offers a different choice and that he will put working families first. He is back in soundbite mode. he says he has a message for David Cameron, he says that if he thinks this election is about leadership then he should debate him one on one. he says he needs to “prove it” if he thinks his ideas are better.
Nigel Farage: “I’m unfraid”
He says he is unafraid to say what he thinks, and even if you don’t agree with him then you should believe he believes what he says. he says he is the one who will fight for the little man, the little woman.
According to analysis from the Demos, Qlik, the University of Sussex, and Ipsos MORI it was Nicola. They measure boos and cheers – positive or negative sentiment on Twitter.
Sturgeon: +68
Miliband: +58
Wood: +42
Bennett: +36
Farage: -12
UPDATE: I have just seen another Twitter analysis which says that Natalie Bennett came out on top, followed by Miliband.
Nick Clegg says he’ll debate Ed Miliband any time, any place, anywhere.
Which begs the obvious question: where would you like to see them debate? On a mountain? On a train? On rival battle buses shouting across the lanes of the M1?
Some in the Labour camp were worried about Ed Miliband sharing the platform with “the challengers” without David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
According to this poll, which should be taken with a pinch of salt, as all snap polls should, he did well.
The three female leaders share a huge after tonight’s debate
Labour have been spinning the idea that Ed Miliband appearing on this platform made him look like the only possible Prime Minister and therefore the only alternative to David Cameron.
However that’s not quite fair – many people didn’t know who Natalie Bennett and Leanne Wood were and are getting used to having Nicola Sturgeon having any bearing on politics outside of Scotland. It would have been terrible news if, in that field, he didn’t come out on top.
In fact it is notable that 25 per cent of people think Sturgeon would make the best Prime Minister of the UK.
The missing 10 per cent “would not vote”
Overall tonight’s debate did what it said on the tin – showed us what a possible challenge to the current coalition could look like.
Granted it misses the obvious alternative options that Labour and the Lib Dems strike a deal, or the Conservatives and Ukip find enough common ground.
But for the first time voters were offered the options of what a wider coaltion could entail and where the red lines would lie with each.
It offered a bit more of a complex, gritty debate than the seven-way one last week, because attacks this time were focused left on Ed Miliband and right on Nigel Farage, not scatter-gun at Nick Clegg and David Cameron too.
Ed Miliband will be happy with the night, and he could have Nigel Farage to thank for that. The female left-leaning leaders were unable to resist the Ukip leader baiting them on immigration, housing (although that was immigration too) and defence which allowed the Labour leader a little breathing room.
It also gave him Mr Miliband the chance to lay down the gauntlet to David Cameron, an offer it is unlikely the Conservative leader will consider even for a moment.
@Channel4News