Parties put finishing touches to manifestos

BRITAIN’S main political parties were putting the finishing touches to their general election manifestos last night, as they prepared for the first week of full-scale campaigning for the May 6 poll.

Labour will be first off the blocks with the launch in the West Midlands tomorrow of a manifesto which aides said will be “ambitious but affordable” and will focus on rebuilding the economy, renewing public services and restoring trust in politics. The document’s author Ed Miliband has acknowledged that Labour cannot “promise the earth” in Britain’s straitened circumstances, but said the party would reject a “business-as-usual” approach to the country’s problems.

Meanwhile, David Cameron said the Conservative platform – to be unveiled tomorrow – would be centred on the theme of “we’re all in this together”.