Summary

  • David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash over their tax and business policies at Prime Minister's Questions

  • Sir John Chilcot hopes will not set date for his report of his inquiry into the Iraq War

  • Control of Rotherham council to be handed over to commissioners after child abuse scandal; New Zealand judge to head historical abuse inquiry

  • Rolling coverage from the BBC's political team - from Today and Breakfast through to Newsnight and Today in Parliament

  1. SNP swing?published at 17:36 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    Can suggestions of a huge swing from Labour to the Scottish nationalists be believed? John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, has been examining the polls of voting intentions for May's general election.

    Ballot boxImage source, PA
  2. Act now to boost electoral register say Labourpublished at 17:35 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Sadiq Khan MP

    Opening the day's second opposition debate, Shadow Justice Secretary, Sadiq Khan said: "It is unacceptable that so many people are unregistered and being deprived of their say in the way the country is run." He was disappointed that the government and the Electoral Commission were being, as he put it, "so complacent" about the state of the Electoral Register. What was needed, he said, was a goal for reducing the number of missing voters."

  3. Labour lead debate on the electoral registerpublished at 17:32 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    MPs have now moved on to the second of today's opposition day debates - on electoral registration. A new system of voter registration was introduced in June 2014 requiring people to register individually. Under the previous system, one member of each household filled in a registration form listing every eligible voter. In October, the Electoral Commission reported that 5.5m people had not transferred onto the new Electoral Register. Labour accuse the Government of an "act of democratic vandalism".

  4. Scottish Government Budgetpublished at 17:05 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    John Swinney speaking in the Scottish ParliamentImage source, PA

    Away from Westminster, John Swinney has been unveiling details of the Scottish Government's Budget in Edinburgh. The SNP finance minister and deputy first minister said spending on frontline NHS services would increase by £383m next year.

  5. Counter-Terrorism and Security Billpublished at 16:50 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Peers are embarking on the second of two report stage days on the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, external. The bill provides for the retention of communications information, exclusion powers and security. It incorporates government plans to stop people travelling overseas to fight for terrorist organisations and seeks to place an obligation on schools and universities to report suspected radicalisation of students.

    Report stage, which follows the detailed scrutiny of committee stage, gives peers another opportunity to try to amend the bill.

  6. Apprenticeships: Motion rejectedpublished at 16:46 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    MPs reject the Labour motion by 294 votes to 218, a government majority of 76. Business, Innovation and Skills Minister Nick Boles earlier told MPs that according to Treasury figures, Labour's plans for apprenticeships would cost £1.38bn in 2015/16.

  7. Labour response on apprenticeshipspublished at 16:43 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Shadow business, innovation and skills minister Liam Byrne is now responding to the debate on apprenticeships behalf of Labour.

    He congratulates the government on "building on the firm foundations" for apprenticeship growth left, he says, by the previous Labour administration. However the government's ambition has fallen short of the "level that is needed to get us out of the whole they put us in", he argues.

  8. 'Skills imbalance'published at 16:41 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Chair of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Labour's Adrian Bailey, says the investment in apprenticeships is not "addressing the skills imbalance" in the UK.

    There has been only a small increase in the number constructions and engineering apprenticeships "which are incredibly important in the development of our economy" he warns.

    Adrian Bailey
  9. Cable on apprenticeshipspublished at 16:39 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Business Secretary Vince Cable calls Labour "brave" for tabling a debate on apprenticeships.

    The number of apprenticeships doubled to two million in this parliament and the proportion of advanced and higher apprenticeships has risen "systematically as a result of the reforms" brought in under this government, he says.

    He tells MPs the only subject this government are more "confident about" is job creation - which is tabled for a backbench business debate next week.

  10. 'Work to do'published at 16:38 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    In an interview with Mandy Rhodes for Holyrood magazine, external, Labour peer Maurice Glasman seeks to downplay the importance of Scotland to Labour's chances of victory at the forthcoming general election. He says a 1% or 2% swing to Labour in England would offset any losses in Scotland. "Labour has got to win the general election in England. If Labour had a very strong offer to England, it could win without Scotland," he adds.

    Pressed on whether he thinks Ed Miliband is up to the job, Lord Glasman says: "He's the leader we've got." There is still a sense that people "don't quite know where we're at", he says, and adds that the party has a "huge amount of work to do to reconnect with people."

  11. Ebola medics medalpublished at 16:30 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    More about the medal for Britons who have travelled to west Africa to help the fight against Ebola. David Cameron told MPs he would recommend the new award to The Queen as a mark of the "immense debt of gratitude" owed to NHS medics, the armed forces, civil servants and aid workers.

  12. Miliband vision 'compelling'published at 16:16 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    And speaking to the BBC, Mr Thomas said, "I absolutely back Labour and I absolutely believe in Ed Miliband.

    "I've spent a significant amount of time with Ed Miliband going through the contents of my report talking through various policy areas and I believe that Ed Miliband has a compelling vision for what kind of country he wants to lead as PM and that kind of country it will look after the weakest people in society as well as the strongest people in society."

  13. Bill Thomaspublished at 16:13 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    Moving briefly back to Bill Thomas, the man who helped draw up Labour's small business policies, and who shadow chancellor Ed Balls failed to name on Newsnight...

    A former executive with Hewlett Packard Europe, Mr Thomas is on the board of the Co-operative Bank, chairman of the advisory board of Cranfield University School of Management and on the management and Board of Leeds University Business School. He is also a non-executive director of tech firms XChanging plc and GFI SA, and of construction giant Balfour Beatty. More on his background can be found in our news story.

    Bill Thomas
  14. SNP ahead in 40 seats, say Ladbrokespublished at 15:52 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    Bookmaker's Ladbrokes, external say the SNP is now favourite in 40 out of 59 Scottish seats at Westminster. Ladbrokes say they are now sitting on "some hefty losses" if the SNP does as well as Lord Ashcroft's latest polling suggests.

  15. BBC Radio 4 PMpublished at 15:51 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    tweets, external: A report on chocolate wars in the US & Forgotten that name? Ed Balls isn't alone.We offer tips for a Labour peer from a memory expert. 5pmr4

  16. 'Downgraded' apprenticeshipspublished at 15:46 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    Back to the House of Commons for a moment, where MPs are currently engaged in a Labour-led debate on apprenticeships. It is being kicked off by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, who says apprenticeships have been "downgraded" under the coalition government. If Labour wins power in May, it would provide more and better quality apprenticeships, he adds.

  17. If I were prime minister...published at 15:32 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    The Independent

    In the run-up to the general election, the Independent is inviting one contributor daily to describe what he or she would do as prime minister. Today's candidate is Andrew Harrop, external, general secretary of the Fabian society. His key aims? Higher living standards, less inequality and action on climate change.

  18. Death of Baroness Plattpublished at 15:27 Greenwich Mean Time 4 February 2015

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    In the House of Lords, Lord Speaker Baroness D'Souza announces the death of Conservative peer Baroness Platt of Writtle. Lady Platt, who entered the House of Lords in 1981, died on 1 February, she informs peers.