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PM Heads To Palace As Election Battle Begins

PM Heads To Palace As Election Battle Begins

David Cameron will make a short trip from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace today to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament.

The final act of pomp and ceremony of his coalition government will be followed by a statement from the Prime Minister on the steps of Number 10 in which he will say the country faces "a stark choice" between the Conservatives and Labour.

Mr Cameron will say: "You can choose an economy that grows, that creates jobs, that generates the money to ensure a properly funded and improving NHS ... and a Government that will cut taxes for 30 million hardworking people …

"Or you can choose the economic chaos of Ed Miliband's Britain - over £3,000 in higher taxes for every working family to pay for more welfare and out-of-control spending. Debt will rise and jobs will be lost as a result."

Labour leader Mr Miliband joined shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna and shadow chancellor Ed Balls for the launch of Labour's business manifesto at Bloomberg.

The Labour Party set out a 22-page "mini manifesto" which set out how Mr Cameron has, in their view, caved in to the eurosceptics within his party.

Labour has also taken out an advert in the Financial Times focusing on their campaign to stay in Europe.

Mr Miliband said: "There could be nothing worse for our country or for our great exporting businesses than playing political games with our membership in Europe."

Speaking on Monday morning Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats would never "play footsie" with the possibility of quitting the European Union.

The Lib Dem leader told the Radio 4 Today programme: "What we will never ever do is play footsie with the prospect of actually leaving the EU.

"Which is where large parts of the Conservative Party are and, of course, they are doing so as they are desperately chasing UKIP to the right."

UKIP will announce its key policies today, speaking on Good Morning Britain, Mr Farage said UKIP would not win the election but could be key in helping shape a future Government.

He said Mr Cameron had been "forced into" promising a 2017 referendum on Britain's membership of the UK and that his party's job was to "hold his feet to the fire to make sure that the referendum is not a stitch-up".

He added: "I don't want this to be kicked into the long grass until the end of 2017. I think it should be before the end of this year."

The polls are fluctuating. A Sunday Times Poll put Labour ahead by three points, but a ComRes Poll for ITV News and the Daily Mail shows the Conservatives four points in the lead at 36% to Labour’s 32%.

Sky News' projection of what Parliament would look like based on the latest polling figures gives Labour 279 seats, with the Tories just one behind on 278. The SNP would win 52, the Lib Dems 16, UKIP two and others 23.

With Parliament dissolved, MPs immediately lose their title and are asked to remove references to it, or place disclaimers on any email or social media account which names them as an MP.

It has already prompted a Twitter squabble with the Conservative parliamentary candidate fro Worsley and Eccles South posting: "I'm sure it's an oversight that my Labour opponent's Twitter name now breaches Parliamentary rules after dissolution."

Some, including Conservative MP Maria Miller, were refusing to remove the MP on their accounts. Ms Miller argued the Twitter account was set up before dissolution.

MPs elected in 2010 will also find their parliamentary pass for Westminster Palace ceases to work.