Election 2015: Day at-a-glance (9 April)
A daily guide to the key stories, newspaper headlines and quotes from the campaign for the 7 May general election.
Day in a nutshell
- Conservatives promise their manifesto will have commitment to build four new nuclear missile-armed submarines
- Labour leader Ed Miliband defends himself against a personal attack from Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, accusing Tories of "desperate smears"
- Labour proposes new fund to provide one-to-one careers advice for school pupils in England
- UKIP sets out policies on maternity leave and child care
- A UKIP candidate apologises after appearing to question the cost to the NHS of treating British people who are HIV positive
Follow all the reaction, key points and analysis of the debate on our rolling live coverage.
Thursday's newspaper headlines
- The Times has an article by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who claims Labour would abandon the Trident nuclear missile system in return for post-election support from the SNP
- Trident also leads the Guardian, which uses the headline: "Tories play the Trident card"
- The Daily Telegraph's lead follows up Labour's pledge to end non-domicile tax status, quoting a lawyer who claims it could lead to an exodus of 30,000 "foreign investors"
Today UKIP pledged to reduce the costs of childcare, affirmed its commitment to current maternity entitlements and promised to fund 3,000 more midwives.
MEP Patrick O'Flynn accepted the party needed to do more to improve its image with women.
He said: "Nigel [Farage] himself has said sometimes UKIP has resembled a rugby club on tour. We need to work harder and there still are occasions when men in the party who should know better have resorted to boorishness or chauvinism."
Unfortunately, earlier on, some of the set at a UKIP press conference had disintegrated.
George Osborne is "a very dangerous man with a very dangerous plan and I will do everything in my power to stop it", the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg tells "arch interrogator" Alastair Campbell in an interview for men's magazine GQ .
Mr Clegg also tells the magazine that David Cameron is "very much a Tory, and in that tradition he is not too much about grand vision".
And he says: "Cameron would tell you himself, he is a classic traditional shire Tory, and I can live with that."
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon: "Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader. Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister."
Labour leader Ed Miliband: "Michael Fallon is a 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."
Natalie Bennett, leader of the Greens: "We're opposed to the renewal of Trident, we want to get rid of Britain's nuclear weapons, that of course is the long-term Green Party position."
Justine Miliband, wife of the Labour leader: "Canvassing in the rain always reminds me of falling in love with Ed in 2005. I had never been out leafleting before and didn't realise you had to keep your eye out for dogs on the other side of the letterbox."
Guardian journalist Frances Perraudin on Twitter: "The Lib Dem battle bus just killed a pigeon. We are observing a minute silence."
What's the plan?
Labour's shadow cabinet and NEC has signed off on its manifesto after a meeting today.
Meanwhile, the Tories have delayed their manifesto launch by a day to avoid a clash with Labour's event on Monday. The Lib Dem manifesto will also be launched next week.
Here's David Cameron keeping a safe distance from the molten metal at a bell foundry. Check out our pictures from the campaign trail gallery for more, including George Osborne getting his hands dirty at a garage.
Tweet of the day
Catch up with Wednesday's day at-a-glance.
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