General Election 2015: The week it all got dirty

Like a playground tiff that tumbles across a red line into a full grappling match on the football fields, all talk of policy was superseded on Thursday as the race towards Number 10 became a battle of bruising words and hurt feelings.

The grassy-kneed schoolboy looking sheepish outside the headmaster's office was Defence Minister Michael Fallon, who used a piece in the Times to draw Ed Miliband into an unseemly slanging match.

"Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader," said Fallon, in a piece about how Labour's plans to renew the Trident nuclear missile programme would be affected by a deal with the SNP. "Now he is willing to stab the United Kingdom in the back to become prime minister."

As any schoolboy knows, a dig at your older brother is all it takes to transform a tetchy row into a full rumble, with cross-party MPs surrounding the action and chanting "fight". According to the laws of the playground, Miliband was fully entitled to seize his opponent in an undignified headlock at that point.

Instead, the Labour leader opted to declare that Fallon was "a decent person but he had demeaned himself and demeaned his office". Miliband's campaign manager, Douglas Alexander, said the Tories were in the political gutter.

Miliband is fully used to finding himself on the receiving end of negative press. But he sounded rather tetchy as he added: "The Conservative Party are trying to create division with us where there isn't division with us. Making up differences when differences don't exist on issues of national security is frankly a ridiculous and pathetic way to conduct a campaign."

Ridiculous? Pathetic? In the gutter? Them's fighting words.

David Cameron was in no mood for backing down, and when pressed he defended Fallon's choice of language, saying he was right to attack Labour over Trident in a "pretty frank way".

So it appears the campaign has now crossed that red line, and been transformed into a matter of sheer animosity.

It was a fitting moment, in a way, given that the issue that prompted the decency meltdown was SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon declaring that Trident was a "red-line issue" in any potential partnership with Labour.

As Miliband ventured north of the border for the first time in this campaign yesterday, he declared that the Conservative General Election campaign is descending into "desperation and panic", after David Cameron unveiled plans to freeze commuter rail fares in real terms and offer workers three paid days off for volunteering.

The latest trading saw Labour increase its lead over its rivals in the Press Association's poll of polls.

With 28 days to go until the general election, Labour is on 33.6 per cent, 0.9 points ahead of the Tories on 32.7 per cent.

It is the largest lead Labour has had in the poll of polls for three weeks.

Ukip are in third place on 14.9 per cent, the Liberal Democrats are fourth on 8.4 per cent and the Greens are fifth on 4.7 per cent.

But the bout of squabbling overshadowed the latest announcements on each party's policies.

Labour and the Conservatives will finally unveil their plans in full next week, with Labour publishing its manifesto on Monday, and the Conservatives on Tuesday.

The party in blue had originally planned to take the wraps off its book of election promises at the beginning of the week, but shifted the date when it emerged the two parties would then be making their announcements simultaneously.

Party sources accused Ed Miliband of trying to "avoid scrutiny" by unveiling his policy platform simultaneously on Monday.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg announced another of the party's plans committing to using £250 million from the sale of NHS assets deemed to be redundant to fund the use of technology in a drive to create a paperless health service in England.

The move is in line with the recommendations made by NHS England head Simon Stevens, the Lib Dems said.

Mr Clegg has insisted his party will "confound the critics" on May 7 as he stepped up his attack on his coalition colleagues, warning that David Cameron would be in the pocket of Ukip if he attempted to govern alone after polling day.

That came on the same day as he said grown-up children stuck living with their parents would be able to claim a Government loan of up to £2,000 under the so-called Right to Rent scheme.

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Ahead of its manifesto launch, Labour has already opened the book on its plans for the education sector.

The party pledged to give all teenagers face-to-face career advice to stop doors being "closed off" to them as they prepare for work.

The manifesto will also set out the party's plans to boost Sure Start children's centres, which it claims have been squeezed as a result of coalition cuts, as well as a reduction in class sizes for five, six and seven-year-olds – a move the party says would be funded by ending the free schools programme.

That came after the party also unveiled plans to end the controversial non-dom status which allows some of the country's wealthiest individuals to avoid paying UK taxes on their worldwide incomes.

The Labour leader said the 200-year-old rule, which applies to around 116,000 people, makes Britain an "offshore tax haven for a few" and can "no longer be justified".

But the Conservatives said the policy had already caused divisions within the party in red, after Ed Balls was quoted in January saying such a move would cost the treasury money.

The clock is ticking on this campaign, with wafer-thin margins in place across the country suggesting that we are heading for deadlock come May 8.

On Thursday, it was four weeks to go until the vote, and also the deadline for nominating candidates in each seat.

All five major parties declared candidates in the five Shropshire seats as the deadline whizzed past, with Plaid Cymru added to the list in Montgomeryshire. Shrewsbury and Atcham voters also saw the addition of the unknown Children of the Atom Party to their ballot papers.

One of the most novel ways of entering the race came from comedian Al Murray, who arrived to deliver the papers confirming his opposition to Nigel Farage in South Thanet in a fire engine which had been converted into a pub.

Ukip, meanwhile, was forced to defend itself from claims that it was "hostile" to women, attacking repeated references to the sacked Godfrey Bloom and "propaganda" from other parties.

MEP Diane James and Shrewsbury candidate and party chairman Suzanne Evans hit out at a press conference called to promote Ukip's policies on women, which included "full unconditional support" on current maternity, paternity and adoption leave and commitments on childcare costs and removing VAT from sanitary products.

Economics spokesman Patrick O'Flynn admitted the party needed to "work harder" to close the gender gap in its support, but pointing to the two women alongside him who hold leadership positions in the party said things had improved.

Farage had earlier in the week challenged Tony Blair to a one-on-one debate on membership of the European Union after the former Prime Minister delivered a speech on Tuesday backing Miliband's view on Britain's ongoing membership, warning that a referendum on withdrawal would have a destabilising effect on businesses.

First time voter is undecided:

First time voter Rebecca Saddington is still undecided as to who she is going be voting for on May 7.

The Adams Grammar student, who lives in Muxton, Telford, feels that young people need to register to vote and is excited to see her generation engaging with the countries politics, which she has seen an increase of on social media.

"The Electoral Commission has said this week that more than one million people have gone online to register to vote in the space of just over three weeks.

"In addition to this, I have seen an increase in political discussions by young people on social media, which is great as it makes people think about their opinions and what matter to them," she said.

The 18-year-old listened to a debate held by BBC Newsbeat this week, where 100 young voters put their questions to five politicians.

"A main issue they were discussing was the issue of the amount of distrust felt by voters," she said.

"I believe this feeling of distrust has been magnified by the outcomes from the coalition, especially from the Liberal Democrats on issues such as tuition fees."

She also said it has been great to see females at the forefront of politics during this election campaign.

"I believe that politics has been a male, middle class dominated system for too long," she said.

Campaign has gone ‘a bit flat’:

Pensioners Bob and Christine Groom, from Trench, Telford, both think the campaign has gone a little flat over the past week, with few interesting ideas emerging.

"I think it's a bit frustrating at the moment," said Bob.

"I don't think it's really come alive yet. Talking to other people, the response seems to be largely one of boredom at the moment, they're just scoring points off one another.

Bob, who is 73, believes that the parties are speaking more towards their natural supporters than those who are undecided.

"The one thing that has crystallised for me so far is that if I were from a low-income background or dependent on benefits, which fortunately I am not, I would be very worried about another five years of the Conservatives."

He said Ukip leader Nigel Farage's policies on immigration would be popular with many, but said he was still perceived as a bit of a "loose cannon".

"It's not about race, it's about numbers, we can't build a town the size of Derby every year," said the retired council manager.

Christine, a 68-year-old retired secretary, also feels that the campaign has been a bit dull over the past few days.

"I think they started off on a high, but they are now holding things back until closer to the election."

Christine said she was still undecided.

Anger over re-testing policy:

While most of the parties are looking for policies to win votes it seems they can also come up with ones which lose votes.

Shrewsbury-based teacher Kieran Joglekar said Conservative Party announcements over education policy amounted to "headline grabbing" and had left him "angry". He said: "I think the main thing I saw this week was the Conservative policy about re-testing children who leave primary school in the first year of senior school if they do not pass their SATs.

"It is just a gimmicky policy to grab the headlines and it is that sort of thing that annoys me."

Focusing on some of the other big issues of the week, Mr Joglekar said he had been impressed by Labour's proposal to scrap the "non-domicile" tax status. He said: "I think that is a good idea."

Another of the week's big issues – renewing Britain's nuclear arsenal through Trident – is not a deal breaker for Mr Joglekar.

Mr Joglekar said that the campaign so far had left him leaning towards the Labour Party. He said: "I think Ed Miliband has been fairly convincing and some of the policies are looking good but I am not across the line yet."

Katie Barrow was also concerned with Conservative announcements over education policy. She said: "What I would like to see is them investing some more money in helping teachers out or investing in supporting pupils."

Young parent's pride in NHS:

Father Dan Edwards said his attention turned to the NHS during this week's build up to the General Election.

Mr Edwards, 27, from Mandir Close, Oswestry, said he is "proud" of the health service in Britain and called on whatever party wins the election to protect it.

He said: "I am proud of the NHS and all of our wonderful doctors, nurses, surgeons and staff.

"They do an incredible job and one they can all be very proud of, but you hear so much about what could be happening in the future that we need to protect it.

"We need to keep it and invest in it further to ensure that we have the best service possible."

But Mr Edwards, who is an electrician who works in Telford, said he is worried the system is abused by some people.

"People do abuse the system and it must stop," he said.

"I do believe that people should have to have lived in the country for a number of years before they have access to our benefits.

"Also sending money home to Poland and the like must be capped."

He added: "I also think that GPs should be open more out of hours to help people who can't always make appointments in a strict time format.

"Prescriptions should also be made free in England. The price has gone up again recently and in Wales and Scotland they pay nothing. It isn't fair."

No solution to the industry's needs:

Businessman Calvin Jones said Labour plans to improve access to careers advice for young people was not providing a full solution to the needs of industry in the UK.

"It's well and good asking kids what they want to do when they finish school," he said. "But are they looking at what skills we need as a country, and saying this is what you should aim for? This is where we have a shortfall.

"That's what I would like to see them do.

"They might well want to do media studies, but sometimes the question is about what we need as a country, as industries like engineering have a real shortfall. How are they going to fill those kind of employment gaps."

Mr Jones added that he had seen businesses experiencing their own skills shortages around Shropshire, and said that while Labour's promise to "fit young people with the right skills, knowledge and advice to succeed" was good, he wanted to ensure that those capabilities were targeted in the right way.

"I have gone into factories in Shropshire, looked at the workforce, and it is ageing," Mr Jones added.

"Nobody wants to be doing those jobs, but that's where there are shortages. David Cameron did talk about apprenticeships and that's where I think we need to go.I would like to see one party come up with a better policy on what they are going to do with apprentices."

Concern over A&E shake-up:

Pub landlord Bob Hedley says the future of the NHS is a major worry in the run up to this year's General Election.

Mr Hedley, who runs the Bradford Arms Hotel in Llanymynech, near Oswestry, said drinkers regularly express their concerns about cross border healthcare.

He said: "Most people coming in are talking about the future of the NHS and I am worried.

"We are literally on the border here and people on the Powys side rely on the services offered at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

"If we need A&E then we have to go to Shrewsbury, so if under the Future Fit shake-up they move it on to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford we will be in a terrible position.

"Health professionals talk about how vital the golden hour is for treatment. By the time and ambulance reaches us here and gets us to Telford that will be long gone.

"Whoever is in government they need to protect the NHS and make sure this kind of thing does not happen."

He added: "If we couldn't cope on the border, people who live in places like Newtown will have no chance."

The father-of-four and Ukip supporter said he is also concerned about so-called health tourism.

He said: "

My customers are appalled that people are coming to Britain to get free treatment on the NHS before going home. It shouldn't be a free for all for anybody who fancies taking advantage of it."

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