Former prime minister Sir John Major has urged Ed Miliband to rule out governing with the SNP in order to protect the United Kingdom.
The ex-Tory leader said the nationalists would enter any deal with the "overriding aim" of "prising apart" the union.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Sir John said he was speaking as "an Englishman with a profound admiration and respect for Scotland".
10 minutes' grace for parking
Drivers are to get 10 minutes' grace after a parking ticket runs out before they can be hit with a fine.
Under a change in the law to take effect within weeks, the leeway will apply to all on-street and off-street council parking spots in England.
The move is designed to bring an end to decades of drivers' complaints about returning to their cars moments after a ticket expires to find they have already been hit with a penalty.
Poorer areas harder hit by cuts
Poorer areas have been hardest hit by cuts to local government spending over the past five years, according to a think-tank.
The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found local authority spend in England went down by an average of 20.4% in real terms between 2009-10 and 2014-15.
The figure per head saw a sharper drop of 23.4% due to population growth.
Reckoning for child killer mother
A mother who abused, tortured and killed her eight-year-old daughter while under the spell of her sadistic lesbian lover faces years behind bars when she is sentenced later.
Polly Chowdhury, 35, and Kiki Muddar, 43, were both convicted the manslaughter of Chowdhury's daughter, Ayesha Ali, who died at their home in Chadwell Heath, east London, in August 2013.
Their Old Bailey trial had heard how Muddar created a fantasy world of alter egos on Facebook and text message through which she seduced Chowdhury and turned her against her daughter because she saw her as a threat.
Becky stepbrother faces crown court
The stepbrother of 16-year-old Becky Watts will appear before a Crown Court judge today.
Nathan Matthews, 28, is due to appear at Bristol Crown Court in front of Judge Neil Ford QC, the Recorder of Bristol, at 10am via video-link.
Matthews first appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court yesterday morning, along with his girlfriend, Shauna Hoare, 21.
Migrant population up by 565,000
The migrant population in England is estimated to have increased by more than half a million in three years, research from the University of Oxford has revealed.
Around two thirds of the 565,000 migrants thought to have come to the country between 2011 and 2014 were born in other EU countries, the study by the university's Migration Observatory said.
Researchers, who stressed that the numbers are estimates, said the projections give a more up-to-date picture of the migrant populations across England than the 2011 census, and ahead of official estimates from the Office for National Statistics expected in June.
PC awaits Gerrard CCTV sentence
A corrupt policewoman will be sentenced today after seizing CCTV footage of a street bust-up to be used as a "tool to blackmail" Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard.
Helen Jones, 33, a former Pc with Merseyside Police, obtained the footage by "flashing her warrant card" to the manageress of a bank.
The incident involved friends of Gerrard, the then-England captain, becoming involved in a row with other men at a bar near his home in Formby, Merseyside, which spilled out on to the street and was caught on the CCTV cameras of a nearby bank.
Wind-up radio inventor to get CBE
Trevor Baylis, who created the wind-up radio, is to receive his CBE today.
The inventor, who will be honoured at Windsor Castle, said when the award was announced in the New Year Honours list that he hoped it would help his fight to make the theft of intellectual property a "white-collar crime".
The 77-year-old, who was previously awarded an OBE for his invention, said in many ways the latest honour for services to intellectual property meant more to him.
Greens seek progressive alliance
The Green Party is aiming to build a "progressive alliance" involving the SNP in parliament, members will be told today.
Natalie Bennett will tell activists gathering in Liverpool for the party's spring conference they will create a political system "that puts the public first".
The party leader will say that a "strong Green group of MPs at Westminster" can offer a "message of hope and real change".
Too much emphasis on A&E target
Too much emphasis has been put on the target of seeing A&E patients within four hours, a report has argued.
The urgent care system is "near breaking point" but the reasons for its problems are complex and not well understood, the report from the Nuffield Trust think tank said.
It suggests that instead, new approaches to performance management should be given equal status to the four-hour target, which has been missed every week in England since July 2013.
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