Hat tip Inside the Campaign

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Last week, 2,500 people joined us on LabourList for our Live Blog of the second leaders' debate, and another 500 joined in our joint LiveChat with the New Statesman, Liberal Conspiracy and Left Foot Forward.

This week, for the final debate on the economy, we'll be repeating and expanding our online and offline events -- with a live stream of the debate itself and instant photos and news from our joint debate watch and campaigning events in London and Manchester. 

Join us from 7:30pm tonight as we collect comment, video clips and instant grassroots reaction to the final TV debate. We'll be a one-stop shop. The debate itself begins at 8:30pm. 

To mark the event, the Labour Party has just released this poster:

Join us at 8:30 for our joint LiveChat with Left Foot Forward, the New Statesman and Liberal Conspiracy.

By Stephen Newton

Earlier this week the Daily Mail intervened in the hard fought Lib Dem/Labour marginals of Manchester Withington and Rochdale, exposing tricks the Lib Dems have pulled to divert taxpayers money to party funds.

To local bloggers this was old news – Chris Paul's Labour of Love first exposed the Lib Dems months ago – but this didn't matter to the Daily Mail: Nick Clegg's performance in the Leaders' Debates had left them suddenly hungry for Lib Dem sleaze and they didn't care how old the news was or even if it helped Labour on the ground.

The Paul Richards column

Yesterday afternoon I bumped into the excellent John Healey, Labour’s candidate for Wentworth and housing minister, at Manchester Piccadilly station. He told me about the seats he’d been campaigning in, the issues coming up on the doorsteps, and the Labour candidates he’d been supporting. A few minutes later, when both of us were on our separate trains, Gordon Brown arrived at the centre of a media circus, fresh from his penitent visit to Mrs Duffy’s house in Rochdale. In the space of a few minutes, both Labour campaigns were on display.

By Len Duvall AM

This week marks the second anniversary of Boris Johnson’s election as Mayor of London. With just days to go until the country goes to the polls, what does the administration of Cameron’s Bullingdon Club colleague tell us about how a Tory government might look? If they really are the party of change, what kind of change can we expect?

On all the big issues facing London – housing, public services, transport, crime, safety and the environment – the Tories’ record in power is not a good one.

By Sarah Milne / @Sarah_E_Milne

A film made by the campaign group Don’t Judge My Family was released yesterday to highlight the potential consequences for widows and single parents of the Conservatives' proposed marriage tax break. The campaign was supported a in a letter to the Telegraph from 70 widows claiming the policy to be “morally unjustifiable” and recommending that money be channeled to families who need it the most. The financial incentive is unfair but what concerns me more is David Cameron’s insistence that his main aim is to send out a message that marriage is central to a society promoting stable families and social responsibility.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

* John Harris writes that yesterday was an example of the disconnect between the millions of "unsettled and often ragingly angry" people and the political class.

* Gillian Duffy is "not a bigot, and Gordon knew that...I have never seen him so angry with himself", writes Alastair Campbgell.

* "The real danger for Labour is not what Gordon Brown said to Gillian Duffy, but what she said to him", writes Steve Richards.

* Looking ahead to the final debate, on the economy, Gordon Brown will say he may not win a personality contest but that he has got the most important judgements right.

* Jobs, jobs, jobs: 54% of young people say their experience of unemployment will influence the way they vote, as 2,000 charities raise the issues of whether the Tories would cut the Future Jobs Fund.

* What are the big issues and challenges for each of the leaders in tonight's debate?

* John Prescott hits the campaign trail in Birmingham, host to tonight's debate.

* Fear of "contagion" is spreading over the Greek debt crisis.

By Theo Grzegorczyk

With the inclusion of polls from YouGov, Harris and ComRes, there is no change in the trend forecast tonight.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE: The new ComRes poll for ITV News/The Independent tonight shows the Conservatives up three points on 36%, Labour unchanged on 29% and the Lib Dems down three points on 26%. Translated to a general election on a uniform swing, those numbers would deliver a hung parliament, with the Tories the largest party 51 seats short of a working majority on 275 seats, Labour ten behind on 265 and the Lib Dems on 79 seats. 

On the eve of the economy debate, the question was also asked by ComRes: putting your party allegiance aside, who do you trust most to steer Britain's economy through the current downturn? Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were preferred, trusted by 31% of respondents; David Cameron and George Osborne were on 28%; Nick Clegg and Vince Cable on 20%.

A new ICM poll will concern Labour activists in marginal seats tonight. The Guardian reports:

"The Liberal Democrats are on course to sharply increase their number of MPs, largely at Labour's expense, a Guardian/ICM poll suggests today. The unique ICM poll of voters in seats within the Lib Dems' grasp suggests the party's vote is climbing more strongly in Labour-held marginal seats than in Conservative ones...In the 42 seats in which the party came second in 2005 and which it could take on a swing of 6% or less, Lib Dem support is now 39%. That is four points ahead of the Conservatives on 35% and 21 points ahead of Labour, on 18%."

The YouGov daily tracker tonight shows the Tories up three points to 36%, the Lib Dems up three points to 31% and Labour down two points to 27%. YouGov reports that most of its work was done after 11.30am this morning, when Gordon Brown made his "bigoted woman" comment, with sentiment for Brown slipping on the YouGov leaderboard.

Translated to the election, those YouGov numbers would deliver a hung parliament, with Labour as the biggest party and 44 seats short of a working majority on 282 seats, the Tories on 259 seats and the Lib Dems on 78 seats. 

A ComRes poll is due at 10pm tonight.

Hat tip Unions Together

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE: Gordon Brown has sent the following email to Labour supporters:

As you may know, I have apologised to Mrs Duffy for remarks I made in the back of the car after meeting her on the campaign trail in Rochdale today. I would also like to apologise to you.

I know how hard you all work to fight for me and the Labour Party, and to ensure we get our case over to the public. So when the mistake I made today has so dominated the news, doubtless with some impact on your own campaigning activities, I want you to know I doubly appreciate the efforts you make.

Many of you know me personally. You know I have strengths as well as weaknesses. We all do. You also know that sometimes we say and do things we regret. I profoundly regret what I said this morning.

I am under no illusions as to how much scorn some in the media will want to heap upon me in the days ahead.

But you, like I, know what is at stake in the days ahead and so we must redouble our campaigning efforts to stop Britain returning to a Tory Party that would do so much damage to our economy, our society and our schools and NHS, not least in places like Rochdale.

The worst thing about today is the hurt I caused to Mrs Duffy, the kind of person I came into politics to serve. It is those people I will have in my mind as I look ahead to the rest of the campaign.

You will have seen me in one context on the TV today. I hope tomorrow you see once more someone not just proud to be your leader, but also someone who understands the economic challenges we face, how to meet them, and how that improves the lives of ordinary families all around Britain.

Regards,

Gordon

UPDATE: Brown's comment is reportedly a reaction to Mrs Duffy's remarks about immigration. That's particularly upsetting, since LabourList has been trying to stress the importance of having an honest conversation with voters about immigration for months, for example here and here.

Yesterday, I wrote that I'd like to see Gordon Brown get "dirtier" with the public and open a street dialogue with the voting public on the campaign trail. Today, in Rochdale, Brown was apparently dealing with one such situation adriotly, responding to Gillian Duffy's concerns about pensions and the national debt.

Unfortunately, the story will now be about what Brown said in his car afterwards, about Mrs Duffy being a "bigoted woman."

These comments were obviously rude and unfair. They will have offended Mrs Duffy and many others like her.

Brown has already apologised to Mrs Duffy. "I hope she accepts that apology", he added.

For activists who are fighting hard in this campaign, we cannot allow this to demotivate us: in a Channel 4 poll just taken, 70% of respondents said such a comment will not make them less likely to vote Labour.

And where I'm fighting, in Islington, and all around the country, there are bigger things at stake than worrying too much about one personality or a comment Brown should never have made. Those are the issues - housing, the economy, jobs - that this election was always going to be about.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Speaking in Edinburgh this morning, Alistair Darling has given a strong speech, highlighting the danger posed by the Tories' lack of judgement on economic policy.

Darling said:

"The record shows that I was right about the severity of the problems the global recovery was facing. But right as well, that if we made the correct judgements, our economy would start growing again at the end of last year. As the latest growth figures show, we are continuing to pull out of recession. The latest unemployment figures, while still rising as expected, are half a million below what was forecast. Repossessions almost half the level they were in the recession of the early nineties. Business failures running at a third. None of this happened by accident. It was because of deliberate choices made by this Labour Government."

Throughout the speech, Darling details how, "on measure after measure", Labour "called it right", while the Tories "called it wrong".

The full speech can be read below:

By Ed Jacobs

For some, Britain is a society broken, torn apart by crime, poor health and community lacking cohesion.

Is our society perfect? No. Are there things that we have got wrong since 1997? Almost certainly. Are there things we still need to work on? Yes. But to talk of a country broken apart is to undermine all that is good in our society, all that is working. And we need look no further than those who day in and day out provide extraordinary care in the NHS.

When Gordon Brown addressed the Royal College of Nursing’s annual conference earlier this week he spoke of the extraordinary nursing staff of the NHS as being “angels dressed in nurses’ uniforms performing the most amazing works of mercy and care.” And he was right.

By Mary Thorogood

After gaining 317 councillors and 11 councils in 2006, including Hammersmith and Fulham, Bexley and Croydon, David Cameron has been keen to use ‘Cameron’s Councils’ to “demonstrate Conservative government” and Eric Pickles says that “our Conservative councils will demonstrate how we will run the country.”

Sign up to the campaign against David Cameron's marriage tax allowance at Don't Judge My Family

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

This sort of exchange used to be the norm in election campaigns: politicians challenged by the public on the street over policy proposals.

David Cameron handled the situation quite well, and as Joey Jones follows up in the report the actual policy seems to be a bit of a grey area.

But I'd like to see Gordon get a bit dirtier in this campaign, and have some more conversations like this. So far in the campaign, too many of our big hitters have not been visible enough, or have been giving big set piece speeches to the party faithful or press conferences. And if this is the week the campaign is supposed to be focusing on the economy, where is Alistair Darling, one of Labour's best electoral assets?

Surely it would be better to have a real dialogue with the voting public: not staged, not flash, just proper policy conversations with ordinary voters on the issues at stake.

By Fiona Millar

Where are the women in this election, or the debates about children, families, work life balance? The media fascination with 'free schools', and the focus on individual parents who want to start them, has crowded out too many other important issues that matter to all parents.