Friday's papers

The national insurance row continues to dominate the election campaign.

The Times reports that Gordon Brown pushed through next year’s planned rise in national insurance against the advice of senior Treasury officials who argued instead for an increase in VAT

Whilst the Telegraph reports that

The Conservatives would cut up to £2 billion from the public sector payroll, according to their key efficiency adviser, in a move which could lead to the loss of 40,000 jobs.

Whilst the Guardian says that the Tory leader will announce today that public sector chiefs earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a year would have their salaries cut back by a Conservative government under a scheme to link their earnings to the lowest-paid workers in their organisation,

Labour begs for Lib Dem votes says the front of the Independent

In a controversial intervention Lord Adonis raises the sensitive issue of tactical voting amid growing signs that Labour strategists regard a hung parliament as their only realistic hope of clinging to power after the general election.

For the Express it's the news that petrol is now costing £6 a gallon and that motorists ­continue to be hammered by Labour.

Whilst Labour also gets a hammering in the Mail

A dying mother last night became the human face of an election battle over the NHS.
Nikki Phelps, 37, who has a rare glandular cancer, has been refused the only drug that could prolong her life.

Elsewhere in a letter to The Independent,Some of Britain's top scientists have accused the Conservative Party of a "lack of vision" that risks undermining the country's ability to generate economic growth through innovation.

The Telegraph reports the comments of Deutsche Bank which said last night that a Conservative election victory would boost the British stock market, increase the value of the pound and help keep interest rates low,

However the Guardian says that economists who supported Tories' tough line on reducing deficit voice unease over lack of detail in party's plans to fund partial reversal of planned national insurance rise.

Finally the Sun reports that Sir Michael Caine vowed yesterday to vote Tory in the General Election.

The star of movies like Get Carter and Harry Brown praised David Cameron's plan to help youngsters with a new form of National Service.