Campaign kick-off: 24 days to go

The third week of the campaign is going to be all about manifestos. Today, it’s Labour’s turn to launch its plan — while the Tories, Liberal Democrats, Ukip and Greens will take their turns in the coming days. But instead of the traditional strategy for government, folks in Westminster are describing the documents as ‘the opening salvo for coalition negotiations’. To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here is a summary of today’s main election stories.

1. The party of fiscal responsibility?

There’s one big story to watch today: Labour’s manifesto. Many inhabitants of the Westminster bubble are currently en route to Manchester for the launch this morning. The central theme is fiscal responsibility, with Ed Miliband asking sceptical voters to ‘trust me on the economy’, with the centre piece promise being a ‘budget responsibility lock’ to ensure the deficit is cut every year. The Guardian describes it as ‘one of the boldest moves by a Labour leader since Tony Blair amended clause IV in 1994’.