Political Times: Miliband's big win, Cameron's job high and the neck-and-neck polls

Ed Miliband secured a crucial pre-election victory last night as he beat Nicola Sturgeon by four points (35% vs 31%) to win the second TV leaders debate.

The so called "challengers" event, hosted by the BBC, saw the leaders of Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens and Ukip battle it out with just weeks to go before polling day.

The other notable take from the night was when Eurosceptic firebrand Nigel Farage clashed with veteran presenter David Dimbleby.

The Ukip leader claimed that the audience was "left-wing", prompting Dimbleby to intervene in the debate.

The BBC host explained that the crowd has been independently selected by a polling organisation. But Farage was having none of it, he went onto to argue that the real audience were at home.

Cameron's job boost

This morning, David Cameron was handed some good economic news. The ONS revealed that the UK's unemployment rate had dropped to 5.6% in the three months to February, down from 5.7%.

The data will be a boost for the Tories ahead of 7 May's vote and will allow them to boast about their job record.

On top of that, the research body also explained that the employment rate had risen to 73.4% - the highest since records began in 1971.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander was quick off the mark to brag about the figures.

The senior Liberal Democrat took to Twitter within minutes of the release to outline that the government had overseen "record jobs, strong growth, rising pay, low inflation, more pensions [and a] income tax cut".

Neck-and-neck

Finally, the opinion polls are back to neck-and-neck between Labour and the Tories. The latest survey from YouGov put both parties on 34% after Miliband's party looked like he was edging ahead.

So it's all still to play for as the election looms. Miliband and Cameron will be looking to secure a killer blow over the next weeks to secure their seat in Number 10.