General election campaign starts today

Parliament has been dissolved, writes Alison Goddard.

David Cameron will have one final meeting with the Queen today after Parliament was dissolved at midnight. No more policy announcements that could possibly be spun to political advantage can now be made by any government agencies. So the diary for the week ahead is relatively empty. For the next five-and-a-half weeks, expect pure politics.

Will affluent graduates pay more or less than their poorer counterparts under various options for the reform of higher education funding in England? The Institute for Fiscal Studies of has analysed the options. We have an article, available only to full subscribers, which examines which proposals would benefit well-heeled graduates and which would favour the down-at-heel.