The thought struck me yesterday that as Cardiff University is systematically monitoring the BBC for bias over this election period, we here at Is the BBC biased? probably ought to try something along the same lines as well...
...but, unlike, the good folk at Cardiff, we'll actually publish all our raw data and show our workings too.
Choosing something easy to transcribe, I went for every 7.30am news summary featured on Radio 4's Today for the past month - from 7th April-6th May.
(I'd have done from the very start of the election on 30th April if the earliest episodes hadn't already vanished from the i-Player.)
(I'd have done from the very start of the election on 30th April if the earliest episodes hadn't already vanished from the i-Player.)
Prepare for a long post, but you really ought to skip section I (the raw data) and go straight to Section II where the excitement begins!
So scroll, scroll, scroll away....
I
The raw data
7/4/2015
Tony Blair will enter the election campaign today warning that a second term for David Cameron could push the country towards an EU exit and bring economic chaos. The former prime minister will use a speech in Sedgefield, County Durham, to praise Ed Miliband's leadership just months after suggesting that he'd veered too far to the left. Labour and the Conservatives have clashed over out of hours GP. Labour says the coalition has made in harder to get an appointment outside normal business hours but the Tories say Labour's figures refer to the period before the government introduced a new fund last year designed to improve access. David Cameron will say there's one month to save the economy during a tour of all the four nations of the UK today. He will warn against what he's called "the disaster of an Ed Miliband government" and urge UKIP voters to, in his words, "come home" to the Tory Party.
8/4/2015
Ed Miliband will today promise to scrap the non-domicile rule which allows some individuals to avoid paying tax on their overseas earnings. People qualify as non-doms if they're born overseas or have a parent who was born abroad. Mr Miliband will say the 200-year-old rule is archaic and easy pickings for exploitation. The Conservatives say the Labour leader did nothing to crack down on tax avoidance during his time in government. Pupils who perform poorly in Maths and English tests and the end of primary school will be able to resit their exams under a pledge from the Conservatives. David Cameron said the rules would improve the rigour of the school system. Labour said improving teaching was the best way to raise standards.
9/4/2015
The Conservatives are claiming that Labour would compromise on Britain's nuclear deterrent to win the SNP's backing to secure power. The Defence Sectretary, Michael Fallon, says Ed Miliband would be willing to "stab the United Kingdom in the back" to become prime minister. Labour says it's "a Tory smear".
10/4/2015
The Conservatives say they'll give 15 million people three days' paid leave for volunteering if they're elected in May. The cost of the plan, which would cover those working for large firms and in the public sector would be met by employers. Ed Miliband will attack the SNP in a speech in Edinburgh this morning. The Labour leader and his Scottish counterpart Jim Murphy will say that the nationalists' plans for full fiscal autonomy from Westminster would leave a black hole of nearly £8 billion in Scotland's finances. The SNP has accused Labour of scaremongering. The Liberal Democrats are promising to help young people living with their parents move into a home. Under the party's proposals the government would contribute up to £2,000 towards a tenancy deposit.
11/04/2015
The future of the National Health Service is at the centre of the Conservative and Labour election campaigns today. The Tories have confirmed that their manifesto will contain a pledge to spend an additional £8 billion a year on the NHS by 2020. The party has not specified how the extra funding will be paid for. The Labour Party says if it wins next month's election it will guarantee every woman giving birth in England one-to-one care from a midwife. It's also reiterated a promise to provide 3,000 extra midwives. The Liberal Democrats say a priority for them in any new coalition will be to introduce stronger legal protections for people using the internet. The Lib Dems say they would also preserve freedom of speech for the media and for citizens.
13/04/2015
Labour will launch its election manifesto this morning with a promise to be responsible with the country's finances. There are pledges to reduce the deficit and to bring down debt as a proportion of national income. In a speech in Manchester the party leader Ed Miliband will say that every policy is costed and won't require extra borrowing.
14/04/2015
David Cameron is to unveil the Conservatives' election manifesto with a promise to allow more than a million tenants to buy their housing association homes at a substantial discount. The Prime Minister says this will be funded by councils selling their most expensive properties when they become vacant. Mr Cameron is promising that every home purchased will be replaced by another new affordable home. He's also pledging the funding to help build 400,000 new homes on brown-field sites over a five-year period. The Green Party is also launching its election manifesto, promising to take back the NHS from the private sector. The party's leader Natalie Bennett and its only MP Caroline Lucas will highlight a new 60% rate of income tax and a 10% cut in public transport fares. Ms Lucas told this programme that her party would also trying to solve what she called the "cold home crisis" by launching a home insulation programme in areas where fuel poverty is most serious.
15/4/2015
The Liberal Democrats have said they will spend more on education than the other major parties in they win the general election. Their manifesto will be published this morning with Nick Clegg saying that protecting spending for all pupils from cradle to college will help spread opportunity. UKIP are also publishing their manifesto today. The party's leader Nigel Farage says it will offer serious and fully-costed policies for people who believe in Britain. The document will set out measures on Europe, defence, the NHS and on business.
16/4/2015
Sir David Nicholson, the former head of NHS England, has said in an interview with this programme that politicians aren't addressing what he calls "a substantial financial hole in the health service". Sir David believes there are serious doubts that efficiency savings which are planned for the next five years can be delivered and he says the issue isn't being properly discussed during the election. There's a warning from the International Monetary Fund that the next government won't be able to eliminate the deficit by 2020. The IMF is estimating that the UK will be in the red to the tune of £7 billion by the end of the decade. The Conservatives maintain they can return the public finances to a surplus of £7 billion in the next five years. Labour insists it can balance the books. Labour, UKIP, the Scottish and Welsh nationalists and the Greens will take part in an opposition leaders' debate which will be broadcast tonight. It's the second and final head-to-head election debate. Labour will accuse David Cameron of ducking questions on how the Conservatives will pay for their spending commitments by not taking part.
17/4/2015
The Labour leader Ed Miliband has rejected an offer by the SNP's leader Nicola Sturgeon to work together to remove David Cameron from Downing Street. Speaking on last night's televised debate Mr Miliband said he intended to form a Labour majority not a coalition with the SNP. Both the Greens and Plaid Cymru said Labour wouldn't do enough to end austerity. Nigel Farage insisted UKIP was the only party saying what people were thinking and he was booed when he accused the audience of being left-wing. David Cameron and Nick Clegg did not take part. In a snap poll carried out straight after the debate for the Mirror newspaper Ed Miliband was judged to be the best performer, with Nicola Sturgeon behind him and Nigel Farage third. The head of the International Monetary Fund has praised the coalition government for its management of the economy compared with the other European countries. Christine Lagarde said what the British government had done was working and is providing the right balance of spending cuts and revenue raising. She said an IMF report about the speed the deficit would be cut had been misinterpreted.
18/4/2015
The Labour leader Ed Miliband will set out plans today to clamp down on employers who exploit migrant workers. He'll announce that a Labour government would create a Home Office task force of more than 100 staff. It would have the power to enter work places and inspect company accounts. The coalition says it's already increased penalties for employers who pay less than the minimum wage. The Conservatives have announced plans to appoint the pensions campaigner Ros Altmann as a minister for consumer protection if they are re-elected. David Cameron said Miss Altmann, who's to be nominated as a Conservative peer, would be placed at the heart of government by leading a review of financial fairness for consumers. The BBC has announced that the leaders of UKIP, the SNP and Plaid Cymru will face voters' questions in three separate programmes a week before the election. Earlier on the same evening David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will take part in a special edition of 'Question Time'.
20/4/2015
The Scottish National Party will launch its manifesto later, promising to use its influence at Westminster to reverse spending cuts, including pledges to end austerity, to put an extra £9.5 billion into the NHS by 2020, to cut tuition fees, to scrap Trident and to give 30 hours free childcare to all parents, regardless of whether they are work or not. People who haven't yet registered to vote in the general election must do so by midnight tonight if they want to take part. Until recently one member of a household could sign up everyone else living in the property. Critics blame the change in that rule for hundreds of thousands of people falling off the register.
21/4/2015
Sir John Major will use his first significant intervention in the election campaign to warn of the dangers of a minority Labour government supported by the SNP. In a speech this morning he'll say that under such an administration the rest of the UK would pay the price for policies favouring Scotland. Ed Miliband is to promise that a Labour government would take action to "save the NHS" from its first day in office, including tackling what he describes as "a staffing crisis". Addressing student nurses in the West Midlands he'll say his party would provide a thousand more training places in its first year funded from a levy on tobacco companies and a tax on high value properties.
22/4/2015
The Liberal Democrats say they will protect public sector pay if they're still in government after the general election. They're promising pay rises in line with inflation for the next two years and above inflation when the deficit is cleared. The Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has dismissed as "a smear" claims he secretly edited information about himself and his party colleagues on the Wikipedia website. He said he would write to the site's owners to address the allegations.
23/4/2015
In election campaigning the focus will be on the economy. Labour will accuse the Conservatives of planning spending cuts bigger than in any other advanced economy. The Conservatives are expected to warn that Britain's debt interest payments would go up under a minority Labour government propped up by the Scottish National Party.
24/4/2015
The Labour leader Ed Miliband will suggest today that the Prime Minister is in part to blame for the deaths of migrants whose ships have foundered whilst trying to cross the Mediterranean. In a speech attacking the Conservatives' foreign policy Mr Miliband will claim David Cameron didn't go enough to help rebuild Libya after Western forces had helped to depose Colonel Gaddafi. The Environment Secretary Liz Truss told us Mr Miliband's claims were "absolutely offensive". David Cameron is to promise that England will have its own income tax rate. He'll also pledge that with a hundred days of being elected a Conservative government would ensure that English MPs have a veto over any laws that apply only in England.
25/4/2015
Nick Clegg says he will not enter into a coalition with Labour if the government need the support of the SNP. In an interview with the Financial Times he also said a coalition with the party that came second in terms of votes and seats would lack legitimacy. Labour says that NHS hospitals in England have significantly increased the revenue from private patients they're treating while some services for NHS patients have deteriorated. It said it would dramatically reduce the amount that NHS hospitals can earn for such work. The Conservatives said private work remained a tiny proportion of hospitals' overall activity. The UKIP leader Nigel Farage has responded to speculation about his health by confirming that he's been having treatment for back pain. He says the condition is related to a light aircraft crash he was involved in five years ago.
27/4/2015
With ten days to go until the general election, Labour will pledge more support for first-time buyers by suspending stamp duty for them on house purchases up to £300,000. They say the policy would cost £225 million a year, which could be funded by cracking down on property tax avoidance. The Conservatives have described the pledge as "panicky and unfunded". The bosses of 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses have signed a letter supporting the way the Conservative-led government has handled the economy. The letter, published in this morning's Daily Telegraph, says a change in government would be far too risky and it calls for David Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne, to be given the chance to finish the job.
28/4/2015
Labour will make ten pledges on immigration today, including increasing the number of border staff and ending the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. Ed Miliband will challenge the Conservatives to match his commitments. David Cameron is to promise an extra 50,000 apprenticeships, to be funded by fines to be imposed on Deutsche Bank for manipulating lending rates. The Conservatives have already said they'll create 3 million apprenticeships during the next parliament.
29/4/2015
David Cameron will make a speech this morning setting out plans for a future Conservative government to bring in legislation banning any increases in three key taxes for the lifetime of the next parliament. The 'tax lock' would apply to income tax, VAT and national insurance. The Labour Party is campaigning on benefits, promising that it would ensure that tax credits would rise, at least in line with inflation. The Liberal Democrats will focus on their plans to provide free school meals for all primary school children in England. They claim the measure will save parents £400 for each child.
30/4/2015
The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of planning big cuts in child benefit and child tax credit. They say they've vetoed proposals put to senior coalition ministers in 2012. The Conservatives insist neither the Prime Minister nor the Chancellor supported the measures and that they're not party policy.
1/5/2015
The leaders of the three biggest parties at Westminster have given the clearest indications yet of their positions in any discussions to form a coalition in the event of a hung parliament. Speaking at a special edition of the BBC's Question Time, Ed Miliband said he would not do any deal with the SNP, even if that decision kept Labour out of office. David Cameron said any coalition including the Conservatives would have to commit itself to a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, while Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats would insist on a coalition sticking to his party's proposals for increased education spending.
2/5/2015
Ed Miliband will criticise the Conservatives today for focusing on the likely nature of any relationship between Labour and the Scottish National Party in the event of a hung parliament. Mr Miliband, who's ruled out any deal with the SNP after the election, will say David Cameron has been seeking to distract voters' attention from the Tories' record in office. Mr Cameron is promising a better deal for pensioners if the Conservatives remain in power after the election. He'll say the basic state pension will rise to £7,000 a year by the end of the next parliament because of guarantees introduced by the coalition. The Liberal Democrats will campaign today on cutting youth unemployment.
4/5/2015
With less than 72 hours to go until polling day the three main parties in Westminster are returning to their key election pledges to try to win round undecided voters. The Conservatives are campaigning on their promise to raise tax thresholds, which they say will benefit 30 million people. Labour will claim the Conservatives want more privatisation of the NHS in England, while the Liberal Democrats want to use bank fines to pay for MRI scanners. The SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has said that if Labour forms a minority government after the election MPs from her party would vote against a budget that included big spending cuts. Speaking during a televised leaders' debate Ms Sturgeon also said the SNP would use its clout in the House of Commons to get a fairer deal.
5/5/2015
The party leaders are throwing themselves into a last round of campaigning to win over undecided voters before the general election on Thursday. Labour will warn that health trusts in England will have to cut staff or beds to deal with funding deficits. The Conservatives say a strong NHS needs a strong economy and this would be put at risk if Labour was propped up by the Scottish National Party. The Liberal Democrats will repeat that their party would stop the Tories lurching to the right and Labour to the left. The leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, has warned that the new government would lack legitimacy if it ignored Scottish voices. Yesterday it emerged that senior Labour figures were considering the option of forming a minority coalition with the Liberal Democrats if the election produces no outright winner.
6/5/2015
The party leaders are making their final arguments on the last day of campaigning in one of the tightest and most unpredictable elections of recent times. Will polls suggesting the Conservatives and Labour are neck and neck, there are signs the parties are considering their options if there's a hung parliament. UKIP has suspended a parliamentary candidate for saying that if his Conservative opponent ever became prime minister he would shoot him between the eyes. Robert Blay, who was standing in the constituency of North East Hampshire, made the comments about Ranil Jayawardena to an undercover reporter from the Daily Mirror.
II
A colour-coded version of the same (showing my workings)
Well, the choices of colours for particular political parties should speak for themselves.
They show the passages where Today reported the election messages from each party - their pledges, their attacks on their opponents, those opponents' defences, their manifesto launches, etc ---- i.e. all helpful from that suitably-coloured party's perspective.
Some coloured sections, however, are in italics (and enclosed in brackets). These seem to me to be something different - either unhelpful or personal.
Also you'll notice a few passages where the appropriate colours become background colours. These highlight passages where the BBC is passing on something helpful to the party in question.
The beauty of this is that it shows at a (long) glance (a) how much coverage each party has received in comparison to the rest, (b) whose angle came first in each bulletin, and (c) if any of these patterns changed over time.
It will also allow you to easily locate and check out each party's individual coverage and see what sort of deal they got from Today.
(P.S. Yes, I know. The SNP's 'yellow' does make their bits hard to read!)
7/4/2015
Tony Blair will enter the election campaign today warning that a second term for David Cameron could push the country towards an EU exit and bring economic chaos. The former prime minister will use a speech in Sedgefield, County Durham, to praise Ed Miliband's leadership (just months after suggesting that he'd veered too far to the left.) Labour and the Conservatives have clashed over out of hours GP. Labour says the coalition has made in harder to get an appointment outside normal business hours but the Tories say Labour's figures refer to the period before the government introduced a new fund last year designed to improve access. David Cameron will say there's one month to save the economy during a tour of all the four nations of the UK today. He will warn against what he's called "the disaster of an Ed Miliband government" and urge UKIP voters to, in his words, "come home" to the Tory Party.
8/4/2015
Ed Miliband will today promise to scrap the non-domicile rule which allows some individuals to avoid paying tax on their overseas earnings. People qualify as non-doms if they're born overseas or have a parent who was born abroad. Mr Miliband will say the 200-year-old rule is archaic and easy pickings for exploitation. The Conservatives say the Labour leader did nothing to crack down on tax avoidance during his time in government. Pupils who perform poorly in Maths and English tests and the end of primary school will be able to resit their exams under a pledge from the Conservatives. David Cameron said the rules would improve the rigour of the school system. Labour said improving teaching was the best way to raise standards.
9/4/2015
The Conservatives are claiming that Labour would compromise on Britain's nuclear deterrent to win the SNP's backing to secure power. The Defence Sectretary, Michael Fallon, says Ed Miliband would be willing to "stab the United Kingdom in the back" to become prime minister. Labour says it's "a Tory smear".
10/4/2015
The Conservatives say they'll give 15 million people three days' paid leave for volunteering if they're elected in May. The cost of the plan, which would cover those working for large firms and in the public sector would be met by employers. Ed Miliband will attack the SNP in a speech in Edinburgh this morning. The Labour leader and his Scottish counterpart Jim Murphy will say that the nationalists' plans for full fiscal autonomy from Westminster would leave a black hole of nearly £8 billion in Scotland's finances. The SNP has accused Labour of scaremongering. The Liberal Democrats are promising to help young people living with their parents move into a home. Under the party's proposals the government would contribute up to £2,000 towards a tenancy deposit.
11/04/2015
The future of the National Health Service is at the centre of the Conservative and Labour election campaigns today. The Tories have confirmed that their manifesto will contain a pledge to spend an additional £8 billion a year on the NHS by 2020. (The party has not specified how the extra funding will be paid for.) The Labour Party says if it wins next month's election it will guarantee every woman giving birth in England one-to-one care from a midwife. It's also reiterated a promise to provide 3,000 extra midwives. The Liberal Democrats say a priority for them in any new coalition will be to introduce stronger legal protections for people using the internet. The Lib Dems say they would also preserve freedom of speech for the media and for citizens.
13/04/2015
Labour will launch its election manifesto this morning with a promise to be responsible with the country's finances. There are pledges to reduce the deficit and to bring down debt as a proportion of national income. In a speech in Manchester the party leader Ed Miliband will say that every policy is costed and won't require extra borrowing.
14/04/2015
David Cameron is to unveil the Conservatives' election manifesto with a promise to allow more than a million tenants to buy their housing association homes at a substantial discount. The Prime Minister says this will be funded by councils selling their most expensive properties when they become vacant. Mr Cameron is promising that every home purchased will be replaced by another new affordable home. He's also pledging the funding to help build 400,000 new homes on brown-field sites over a five-year period. The Green Party is also launching its election manifesto, promising to take back the NHS from the private sector. The party's leader Natalie Bennett and its only MP Caroline Lucas will highlight a new 60% rate of income tax and a 10% cut in public transport fares. Ms Lucas told this programme that her party would also trying to solve what she called the "cold home crisis" by launching a home insulation programme in areas where fuel poverty is most serious.
15/4/2015
The Liberal Democrats have said they will spend more on education than the other major parties in they win the general election. Their manifesto will be published this morning with Nick Clegg saying that protecting spending for all pupils from cradle to college will help spread opportunity. UKIP are also publishing their manifesto today. The party's leader Nigel Farage says it will offer serious and fully-costed policies for people who believe in Britain. The document will set out measures on Europe, defence, the NHS and on business.
16/4/2015
Sir David Nicholson, the former head of NHS England, has said in an interview with this programme that politicians aren't addressing what he calls "a substantial financial hole in the health service". Sir David believes there are serious doubts that efficiency savings which are planned for the next five years can be delivered and he says the issue isn't being properly discussed during the election. There's a warning from the International Monetary Fund that the next government won't be able to eliminate the deficit by 2020. The IMF is estimating that the UK will be in the red to the tune of £7 billion by the end of the decade. The Conservatives maintain they can return the public finances to a surplus of £7 billion in the next five years. Labour insists it can balance the books. Labour, UKIP, the Scottish and Welsh nationalists and the Greens will take part in an opposition leaders' debate which will be broadcast tonight. It's the second and final head-to-head election debate. Labour will accuse David Cameron of ducking questions on how the Conservatives will pay for their spending commitments by not taking part.
17/4/2015
The Labour leader Ed Miliband has rejected an offer by the SNP's leader Nicola Sturgeon to work together to remove David Cameron from Downing Street. Speaking on last night's televised debate Mr Miliband said he intended to form a Labour majority not a coalition with the SNP. Both the Greens and Plaid Cymru said Labour wouldn't do enough to end austerity. Nigel Farage insisted UKIP was the only party saying what people were thinking (and he was booed when he accused the audience of being left-wing). David Cameron and Nick Clegg did not take part. In a snap poll carried out straight after the debate for the Mirror newspaper Ed Miliband was judged to be the best performer, with Nicola Sturgeon behind him and Nigel Farage third. The head of the International Monetary Fund has praised the coalition government for its management of the economy compared with the other European countries. Christine Lagarde said what the British government had done was working and is providing the right balance of spending cuts and revenue raising. She said an IMF report about the speed the deficit would be cut had been misinterpreted.
18/4/2015
The Labour leader Ed Miliband will set out plans today to clamp down on employers who exploit migrant workers. He'll announce that a Labour government would create a Home Office task force of more than 100 staff. It would have the power to enter work places and inspect company accounts. The coalition says it's already increased penalties for employers who pay less than the minimum wage. The Conservatives have announced plans to appoint the pensions campaigner Ros Altmann as a minister for consumer protection if they are re-elected. David Cameron said Miss Altmann, who's to be nominated as a Conservative peer, would be placed at the heart of government by leading a review of financial fairness for consumers. The BBC has announced that the leaders of UKIP, the SNP and Plaid Cymru will face voters' questions in three separate programmes a week before the election. Earlier on the same evening David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will take part in a special edition of 'Question Time'.
20/4/2015
The Scottish National Party will launch its manifesto later, promising to use its influence at Westminster to reverse spending cuts, including pledges to end austerity, to put an extra £9.5 billion into the NHS by 2020, to cut tuition fees, to scrap Trident and to give 30 hours free childcare to all parents, regardless of whether they are work or not. People who haven't yet registered to vote in the general election must do so by midnight tonight if they want to take part. Until recently one member of a household could sign up everyone else living in the property. Critics blame the change in that rule for hundreds of thousands of people falling off the register.
21/4/2015
Sir John Major will use his first significant intervention in the election campaign to warn of the dangers of a minority Labour government supported by the SNP. In a speech this morning he'll say that under such an administration the rest of the UK would pay the price for policies favouring Scotland. Ed Miliband is to promise that a Labour government would take action to "save the NHS" from its first day in office, including tackling what he describes as "a staffing crisis". Addressing student nurses in the West Midlands he'll say his party would provide a thousand more training places in its first year funded from a levy on tobacco companies and a tax on high value properties.
22/4/2015
The Liberal Democrats say they will protect public sector pay if they're still in government after the general election. They're promising pay rises in line with inflation for the next two years and above inflation when the deficit is cleared. (The Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has dismissed as "a smear" claims he secretly edited information about himself and his party colleagues on the Wikipedia website. He said he would write to the site's owners to address the allegations).
23/4/2015
In election campaigning the focus will be on the economy. Labour will accuse the Conservatives of planning spending cuts bigger than in any other advanced economy. The Conservatives are expected to warn that Britain's debt interest payments would go up under a minority Labour government propped up by the Scottish National Party.
24/4/2015
The Labour leader Ed Miliband will suggest today that the Prime Minister is in part to blame for the deaths of migrants whose ships have foundered whilst trying to cross the Mediterranean. In a speech attacking the Conservatives' foreign policy Mr Miliband will claim David Cameron didn't go enough to help rebuild Libya after Western forces had helped to depose Colonel Gaddafi. The Environment Secretary Liz Truss told us Mr Miliband's claims were "absolutely offensive". David Cameron is to promise that England will have its own income tax rate. He'll also pledge that with a hundred days of being elected a Conservative government would ensure that English MPs have a veto over any laws that apply only in England.
25/4/2015
Nick Clegg says he will not enter into a coalition with Labour if the government need the support of the SNP. In an interview with the Financial Times he also said a coalition with the party that came second in terms of votes and seats would lack legitimacy. Labour says that NHS hospitals in England have significantly increased the revenue from private patients they're treating while some services for NHS patients have deteriorated. It said it would dramatically reduce the amount that NHS hospitals can earn for such work. The Conservatives said private work remained a tiny proportion of hospitals' overall activity. (The UKIP leader Nigel Farage has responded to speculation about his health by confirming that he's been having treatment for back pain. He says the condition is related to a light aircraft crash he was involved in five years ago.)
27/4/2015
With ten days to go until the general election, Labour will pledge more support for first-time buyers by suspending stamp duty for them on house purchases up to £300,000. They say the policy would cost £225 million a year, which could be funded by cracking down on property tax avoidance. The Conservatives have described the pledge as "panicky and unfunded". The bosses of 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses have signed a letter supporting the way the Conservative-led government has handled the economy. The letter, published in this morning's Daily Telegraph, says a change in government would be far too risky and it calls for David Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne, to be given the chance to finish the job.
28/4/2015
Labour will make ten pledges on immigration today, including increasing the number of border staff and ending the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. Ed Miliband will challenge the Conservatives to match his commitments. David Cameron is to promise an extra 50,000 apprenticeships, to be funded by fines to be imposed on Deutsche Bank for manipulating lending rates. The Conservatives have already said they'll create 3 million apprenticeships during the next parliament.
29/4/2015
David Cameron will make a speech this morning setting out plans for a future Conservative government to bring in legislation banning any increases in three key taxes for the lifetime of the next parliament. The 'tax lock' would apply to income tax, VAT and national insurance. The Labour Party is campaigning on benefits, promising that it would ensure that tax credits would rise, at least in line with inflation. The Liberal Democrats will focus on their plans to provide free school meals for all primary school children in England. They claim the measure will save parents £400 for each child.
30/4/2015
The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of planning big cuts in child benefit and child tax credit. They say they've vetoed proposals put to senior coalition ministers in 2012. The Conservatives insist neither the Prime Minister nor the Chancellor supported the measures and that they're not party policy.
1/5/2015
The leaders of the three biggest parties at Westminster have given the clearest indications yet of their positions in any discussions to form a coalition in the event of a hung parliament. Speaking at a special edition of the BBC's Question Time, Ed Miliband said he would not do any deal with the SNP, even if that decision kept Labour out of office. David Cameron said any coalition including the Conservatives would have to commit itself to a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, while Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats would insist on a coalition sticking to his party's proposals for increased education spending.
2/5/2015
Ed Miliband will criticise the Conservatives today for focusing on the likely nature of any relationship between Labour and the Scottish National Party in the event of a hung parliament. Mr Miliband, who's ruled out any deal with the SNP after the election, will say David Cameron has been seeking to distract voters' attention from the Tories' record in office. Mr Cameron is promising a better deal for pensioners if the Conservatives remain in power after the election. He'll say the basic state pension will rise to £7,000 a year by the end of the next parliament because of guarantees introduced by the coalition. The Liberal Democrats will campaign today on cutting youth unemployment.
4/5/2015
With less than 72 hours to go until polling day the three main parties in Westminster are returning to their key election pledges to try to win round undecided voters. The Conservatives are campaigning on their promise to raise tax thresholds, which they say will benefit 30 million people. Labour will claim the Conservatives want more privatisation of the NHS in England, while the Liberal Democrats want to use bank fines to pay for MRI scanners. The SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has said that if Labour forms a minority government after the election MPs from her party would vote against a budget that included big spending cuts. Speaking during a televised leaders' debate Ms Sturgeon also said the SNP would use its clout in the House of Commons to get a fairer deal.
5/5/2015
The party leaders are throwing themselves into a last round of campaigning to win over undecided voters before the general election on Thursday. Labour will warn that health trusts in England will have to cut staff or beds to deal with funding deficits. The Conservatives say a strong NHS needs a strong economy and this would be put at risk if Labour was propped up by the Scottish National Party. The Liberal Democrats will repeat that their party would stop the Tories lurching to the right and Labour to the left. The leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, has warned that the new government would lack legitimacy if it ignored Scottish voices. (Yesterday it emerged that senior Labour figures were considering the option of forming a minority coalition with the Liberal Democrats if the election produces no outright winner.)
6/5/2015
The party leaders are making their final arguments on the last day of campaigning in one of the tightest and most unpredictable elections of recent times. Will polls suggesting the Conservatives and Labour are neck and neck, there are signs the parties are considering their options if there's a hung parliament. (UKIP has suspended a parliamentary candidate for saying that if his Conservative opponent ever became prime minister he would shoot him between the eyes. Robert Blay, who was standing in the constituency of North East Hampshire, made the comments about Ranil Jayawardena to an undercover reporter from the Daily Mirror.)
III
Analysis
The first thing you'll have noticed there is that Today's election reporting focused very heavily on the electioneering of the two biggest parties - the Conservatives and Labour.
Indeed, for Today, the election appears to have been mainly about their to-and-fro. Labour electioneering featured in 20/26 news summaries, and the Conservatives' electioneering featured in 20/26 news summaries - a dead heat.
For those (say at Biased BBC) who kept saying that the BBC tends to make Labour's electioneering their main story more than the Conservatives, well, the evidence here is that there's some truth in that. Labour's electioneering came first in the news summary on 12 occasions, that of the Conservatives on 8 occasions.
However, it is striking that the Liberal Democrats didn't do at all badly too. I counted either 11 or 12/26. They may have got less coverage than Labour and the Conservatives but they could hardly complain (especially given their poor poll ratings) such generous coverage for their electioneering. Their electioneering came first in the news summary on 4 occasions.
The SNP did fourth best (4/26). Their electioneering came first in the news summary on 1 occasion.
UKIP, the Greens and Plaid Cymru never came first in the Today news summary.
Plaid barely got a mention. Their manifesto launch wasn't reported in this sample, but that's doubtless only because they launched it well before anyone else on 31st March!
The Greens haven't received many mentions either; however, their manifesto launch was given extended coverage:
The Green Party is also launching its election manifesto, promising to take back the NHS from the private sector. The party's leader Natalie Bennett and its only MP Caroline Lucas will highlight a new 60% rate of income tax and a 10% cut in public transport fares. Ms Lucas told this programme that her party would also trying to solve what she called the "cold home crisis" by launching a home insulation programme in areas where fuel poverty is most serious.
Compare that to the programme's shorter coverage of UKIP's manifesto launch:
UKIP are also publishing their manifesto today. The party's leader Nigel Farage says it will offer serious and fully-costed policies for people who believe in Britain. The document will set out measures on Europe, defence, the NHS and on business.
Ofcom may have ruled that UKIP was to be treated as one of the four major parties but Today clearly didn't feel agree, giving UKIP far less coverage than the Liberal Democrats and less even than the SNP.
Very little of UKIP's electioneering was covered (just 2/26 news summaries included any mention of that), one of their four appearances in this survey concerned the matter of Nigel Farage's health and 2/4 of the mentions contained unhelpful reporting - namely (1) the booing of Mr Farage and (2) the suspension of a UKIP candidate (the only 'suspended candidate'-type of story in this entire survey).
IV
Conclusions
For those who think the BBC has an establishment bias, these results will probably reinforce that feeling. The established parties - Labour and the Conservatives and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Lib Dems - were placed centre-stage by Today. Their electioneering was made the story.
Labour got more 'leads' than the Conservatives but the balance overall (word-count-wise) looks pretty similar between them, and the Liberal Democrats fared well overall.
The Conservatives, unlike Labour, got a 'scandal' reported (Grant Shapps), but they also got two positive endorsement stories (from the IMF and small businesses).
No-one has much cause for complaint there.
Labour got more 'leads' than the Conservatives but the balance overall (word-count-wise) looks pretty similar between them, and the Liberal Democrats fared well overall.
The Conservatives, unlike Labour, got a 'scandal' reported (Grant Shapps), but they also got two positive endorsement stories (from the IMF and small businesses).
No-one has much cause for complaint there.
Neither really does the SNP, but the Greens, Plaid Cymru and UKIP might have grounds to feel aggrieved here...
...especially UKIP, given that Ofcom declared it one of the four major parties.
Today's 7.30 am news summaries reported UKIP one-fifths as often as Labour or the Conservatives and around three times less than the Lib Dems. Today also under-reported their manifesto, ignored their electioneering, focused on a personal health story, reported booing and ended its election coverage with a negative 'dodgy candidate' story (the only one considered worth reporting by Today).
They may well have good cause to complain here.
...especially UKIP, given that Ofcom declared it one of the four major parties.
Today's 7.30 am news summaries reported UKIP one-fifths as often as Labour or the Conservatives and around three times less than the Lib Dems. Today also under-reported their manifesto, ignored their electioneering, focused on a personal health story, reported booing and ended its election coverage with a negative 'dodgy candidate' story (the only one considered worth reporting by Today).
They may well have good cause to complain here.
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