tweets, external: Scottish Govt announce halt to fracking in Scotland pending consultation and public health assessment

Image source, European Photopress Agency

Carl Packman at the blog Left Foot Forward, external is the latest commentator to discuss "what the British left can learn from Greece", after the election victory of Syriza this week.

Ben Wright
Political correspondent, BBC News

The Prime Minister's spokesman updated journalists in parliament earlier this afternoon:

• He made clear that, to the best of his knowledge, no minister is looking at plans to move Trident from Scotland to Wales, as had been reported earlier

• He said Britain would not be changing its position on negotiating with terrorists, after Jordan suggested it would be prepared to consider swapping an Islamic State-held hostage with a terrorist

• And on Sinn Fein, which is reportedly being courted by Labour to help prop up a potential Ed Miliband government, he said David Cameron had not changed his view on whether Sinn Fein should take its Commons seats.

tweets, external: There is no credible rationale for including Plaid Cymru in TV debates and not DUP: 3 MPs vs 8 MPs & 168,216 votes in 2010 vs. 165,394 votes

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Yesterday England cricketer Stuart Broad faced criticism for an allegedly offensive tweet he posted about the minimum wage. The sportsman's tweet read: "I've heard if you earn minimum wage in England you're in the top 10% earners in the World. #stay #humble".

Today, Ryan Bourne from free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs argues, external "that the reason why so many people are so annoyed is that this factual claim simply undermines the egalitarian arguments that the rich are the cause of our woes".

But Zoe Williams, writing in The Guardian, external, says it shows "Broad has just swallowed the vindictive rhetoric on the feckless poor."

The Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank has delivered its verdict , externalon the coalition's welfare reforms. Despite all the fuss over universal credit, Andrew Hood and David Phillips argue, delayed implementation means the changes have been "an evolution of the system rather than a revolution". Real terms benefit spending in 2015 is exactly the same as in 2010, at £220 billion, and is only seven per cent lower than it otherwise would have been. What's to blame for this? "An ageing population, but also weak wage growth and rising private rents," they say.

BBC News Channel

An update from Norman Smith on the TV debates saga - BBC director general Lord Hall has written to the Democratic Unionist Party rejecting their request to be included. DUP sources have reacted with anger to the decision. They say they believe it is "very difficult to justify" the BBC's decision and are considering taking legal action over the debates. A judicial review could snarl up any deal being reached, Norman Smith warns.

Image source, Getty Images

May2015.com has a guide to betting on the general election, external, with some advice, cautionary tales, and a few striking statistics: "The two biggest bookmakers, William Hill and Ladbrokes, both had a turnover of more than £3m in the Scottish referendum."

Guido Fawkes

Simon Carr at the Guido Fawkes blog gives his verdict, external on today's Prime Minister's Questions - with harsh words for David Cameron, but harsher ones for Ed Miliband.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted against Labour's opposition amendment criticising the government's funding of the NHS. The government wins with 298 votes - a majority of 70 over the opposition's 228 MPs. The Commons swiftly moves on to its next debate - on sustainable development goals.

Ed Miliband's attempt to "weaponise" the NHS, as David Cameron puts it, prompts a tongue-in-cheek analysis, external from Politics.co.uk's Adam Bienkov of the Labour leader's performance in wielding the weapon. "Miliband was visibly angry, aggressive and yet somehow totally unintimidating as he waved his new-found weapon around," he writes. "Perhaps he'd left the safety on, perhaps it was just a replica, but either way Cameron never seemed in the slightest danger of actually being hit."

tweets, external: Bus workers in London are to stage three fresh 24-hour strikes next month in a dispute over pay, said the Unite union.

House of Commons
Parliament

The debate over the NHS didn't finish when Ed Miliband sat down in PMQs - in fact in the Commons it was only just starting, as MPs have spent the afternoon debating the government's health spending. Shadow minister Liz Kendall, summing up, says the coalition has been busy "wasting three years and £3bn of taxpayers' money". Jane Ellison, the Conservative health minister, says NHS funding has risen every year since 2010. She tells the Commons: "Tough decisions were taken at the beginning of this parliament to protect the NHS budget, against the advice of the Labour Party."

LBC

Conservative chairman Grant Shapps was also criticised by a caller, the chairman of a homeless charity, over plans to remove jobseeker's allowance from 18 to 21-year-olds. Mr Shapps, a former housing minister, says the reason people end up on the streets is "never as black and white" as people assume. He also says he would not give cash to a homeless person because he would not know how it would be spent, saying it is better to "bring them help".

ITN

ITV political editor Tom Bradby tweets, external, alongside a video of Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham on BBC Newsnight, external last night: "I usually think of Andy Burnham as a smart guy, but after listening to this I have no idea what Labour policy is."

Image source, Conservative party

The Conservatives have released their latest campaign poster, which will be appearing on billboards shortly. It's a variation on a theme: having warned of the possibility of a Labour-SNP coalition, the Tories have now picked up on a Sinn Fein MP's claim that his party is being pursued by Labour. The Conservative poster adds Gerry Adams' face and the Sun's headline - but Labour insists their story is untrue. "We are working towards a Labour majority government and only towards a Labour majority government," a spokesman said.

BBC News
UK

The BBC has learned that police in Northern Ireland are investigating reports that a bomb has been left at the home of Sinn Féin's North Antrim MLA Daithí McKay.

An anonymous caller contacted the MLA's Dunloy office claiming a device had been left at the family home.

LBC

Image source, LBC

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has been defending Prime Minister's Questions during a phone-in on LBC radio. Host Shelagh Fogarty said the exchanges on the NHS were the worst she could remember. "I'm not going to pretend it's the pinnacle of political debate," Mr Shapps replied. But he pointed to the viewing figures it attracts and added that he had a five-year waiting list of constituents wanting to come and watch. "It keeps the prime minister on his or her toes," he added.

Image source, PA

David Cameron and Ed Miliband have clashed in the Commons over the NHS, amid a row about guidance to hospitals over when they can call a "major incident". So what exactly is a major incident?

• An internal major incident is activated when a trust is under significant pressure that is internal to the organisation - and is not the result of an external event.

• It is a business continuity arrangement, where a decision is taken to reduce some services to support higher priority ones.

• A major incident is a significant incident or emergency that cannot be managed within routine service arrangements.

• It requires the implementation of special procedures and involves one or more of the emergency services, the NHS or a local authority.

Source: NHS England - London region

Image source, Press Association

Amid continuing Conservative criticism of Ed Miliband for his suggestion he would "weaponise" the NHS, Paul Waugh at PoliticsHome reports, external that Chancellor George Osborne apparently previously used the word "weaponise" in a political context.