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Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are facing questions over holes in their tax and spending plans after the last live TV debate.Snap polls suggested viewers felt the Tory leader was the winner - as a new report warns taxes will have to rise sharply to cut the deficit.
The parties have all spelt out savings which are smaller than the UK deficit.
Campaigning continues, with Tony Blair out for Labour later, Mr Cameron visiting schools and Mr Clegg in Derby.
The questions on the economy come as think tank the National Institute of Economic and Social Research warns taxes will have to rise by the equivalent of 6p in the pound on the basic rate of income tax over the next decade.
Tax rises
The three biggest parties have been accused of not spelling out the scale of cuts or tax rises needed to meet their commitments on reducing the deficit.
Asked if there was a hole in the election debate on the issue Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I refute that."
He said Labour had spelt out its deficit reduction plan, including making "significant reductions in due course on public spending" and he said the chancellor believed Labour would "not have to go beyond" the tax rises already outlined.
He said they had made it "absolutely clear" there would be "tough choices" - and they would have to find £38bn of spending reductions.
"I don't think it's fair to say we have left the public in any doubt about the size and scale of the turnaround and what's involved."
Pressed on how he could make £38bn cuts - without affecting frontline services - he said it was Labour's "determination to do so" and criticised the Conservatives for promising "irresponsible" tax breaks.
Meanwhile shadow foreign secretary William Hague repeated the Conservative argument that they have "no plans" to raise VAT and said the party's economic plans were more detailed than any opposition party's had been in any previous election.
'Foolish'
Asked if he thought the Conservatives would have a mandate to raise VAT if it found it needed to once in office, Mr Hague said: "We are not asking to raise VAT. We have set out our plans and they don't involve raising VAT.
"We have said we have to get the debt and the deficit under control and we will have to do what's necessary to do that, but none of our plans involve raising VAT."
For the Lib Dems, Vince Cable said Mr Cameron had been "foolish" to rule out joining the Euro forever but said the Lib Dems were not proposing to do so in the next Parliament.
"We said circumstances might arise when this is in the British national interest and it will then be decided on the necessary referendum and whether the economic conditions are right, which effectively means a competitive exchange rate, and we're nowhere near that position, we're not pursuing this issue."
And he defended his party leader's claim during the TV debate that 80% of immigration into Britain was from the EU, something Mr Clegg said showed a Tory policy to cap non-EU immigration was "complete nonsense".
Senior Conservative Michael Gove accused Mr Clegg of using "bogus statistics" - he said a third of immigrants came from the EU. But Mr Cable told the BBC the 80% figure - taken from an election briefing in The Economist - was referring to workers, not overall immigration. He said Mr Cameron's own policy was referring to workers.
Party leaders discussed subjects including economic policy, immigration, housing, political reform, education, tax, banking reform and spending cuts during the 90-minute debate hosted by the BBC's David Dimbleby in Birmingham.
Mr Brown made a plea to voters not to risk change as he sought to salvage Labour's election campaign in the final TV debate before polling day.
He was under pressure to get Labour's campaign back on track after he had to apologise on Wednesday to a pensioner he was unwittingly recorded calling "bigoted" after she raised concerns over immigration with him.
Full transcript (pdf)Speaking to the BBC's Radio WM in Birmingham on Friday, Mr Cameron said he was "very focused" on the next week and the Tories had to fight for every vote and persuade people he offered "real change". But he said the election was "still far from won".
Mr Brown told supporters after the debate: "From now until next Thursday we have got to campaign like we have never campaigned before." He will campaign in the West Midlands on Friday - as his predecessor, Mr Blair, joins the Labour campaign trail.
BBC polling expert David Cowling said two instant reaction polls, for ComRes and YouGov, showed exactly the same movement - no change for Mr Clegg over the second debate, an increase of 5% for Mr Cameron and a drop of 4% for Mr Brown.
Giving his reaction to the encounter, Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said: "I don't think there was any clear winner. Gordon Brown was certainly the loser - just in terms of his demeanour through the debate." The SNP failed in its legal action to try to block the broadcast in Scotland unless it featured Mr Salmond.
Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said: "What I didn't hear tonight was any of them recognising the special problems that we have particularly here in Wales."This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.