A word of caution from Anthony Wells at the UK Polling Report, external blog. He's wary about the Lib Dem polling, external the party has been briefing about which we mentioned earlier (see 10:00 entry below). Mr Wells suggests there's a strong "publication bias" which might make Nick Clegg's party look better than it is. "The articles claim that the Lib Dems have done about 100 constituency polls, while it seems journalists were shown results from about a dozen or so, so it is impossible to know how representative this group were, or whether they were cherry-picked to create a good impression of the Lib Dem performance," he says. Reports on the polling have suggested the party is performing especially strongly among women and young voters.

Image source, Thinkstock

The Department for Transport says it's up to the courts to decide whether the RAC Foundation's claims about private parking penalties are correct. The charity has suggested millions of pounds of penalties for car parks on private land could have been charged illegally. A DfT spokesperson said: "Parking in private car parks means that motorists enter a contract with the landowner and the courts must decide if the level of a parking fine is justified should there be a dispute." But parking campaigner Michael Green fears nothing will change if legislation isn't amended. "Plenty of judges have already said that these charges are not enforceable," he said. "The problem is they don't have the power to set binding law. So whenever the parking companies lose in court, they just ignore it."

BBC Monitoring

Text of report in English by Swedish English-language news website The Local on 19 February: A new law to allow Swedish authorities to confiscate the passports of Swedes who are known to have fought alongside extremists in Syria or Iraq is being drafted by the government. Sweden's Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman hopes the legislation will be passed by parliament and put in place by 2016... the move to confiscate passports from known Swedish extremists follows similar strategies in the UK, France and Germany.

Here's a recap of Friday's main developments:

• Public borrowing figures out today have been greeted as "good news" by George Osborne, but evidence of a "failed" policy by Labour and trade unions

• The chancellor joined London Mayor Boris Johnson on the London Underground (very) early this morning before launching the Conservatives 'long-term economic plan for London' at Tate Modern

• A Lords report has criticised the Foreign Office's "catastrophic misreading of the mood" ahead of Russia's aggression against Ukraine

• Peter Mandelson has been urging Ed Miliband to "leave the door ajar" over tuition fees

• Populus' latest poll suggests UKIP is up two points to 17%

Iain Watson
Political correspondent, BBC News

How Ed Miliband pays for his policy of cutting the tuition fees cap from £9,000 to £6,000 a year has proved very controversial at senior levels of the Labour Party, Iain Watson reports on the World At One. Lord Mandelson spoke at Universities UK earlier but insists his speech isn't an intervention aimed at changing Labour's approach. He had this to say: "This is exactly the sort of thing that any party will want to look into in greater depth, and the best place to do that is in government. So whatever the direction of travel, I would say leave the door slightly ajar."

BBC Radio 4

Britain should offer to take 5,000 Syrian refugees, MP Mark Pritchard has told BBC Radio 4's World At One. That's a view he accepts may clash with some of his Conservative Party colleagues, but the Wrekin MP insists it is "the right thing to do". He says Britain should be able to distinguish between refugees and economic migrants. "I think we have a proud tradition of taking genuine refugees. We have taken some, I think we should take more," he says. "There are security implications around that, but I think certainly we should be taking more widows, orphans and severely wounded children."

tweets, external: A happy 64th birthday to Gordon Brown, Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister 2007-10

Populus has released its latest poll, external:

• Labour 32 (-1)

• Conservative 31 (-)

• UKIP 17 (+2)

• Liberal Democrats 9 (-1)

• Others 12 (+1)

The fieldwork saw 2,011 people questioned on Wednesday and Thursday this week, Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP MEP and the party's candidate in Cambridge, points out this is UKIP's best performance in a Populus poll. It does nudge Nigel Farage's party into the high teens, rather than the mid-teens. Our poll tracker is keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

BBC Radio 4

Lord Tugendhat, chair of the Lords' EU committee which has criticised Europe and the Foreign Office for "sleepwalking" in its response to Russia's advance into Ukraine, is elaborating his views on BBC Radio 4's The World At One. "In the past, during the Cold War, the Foreign Office here and in Paris and everywhere else was very focused on the Soviet Union," he says. "There was a highly developed analytical capacity. And then when Russia rather dropped off the radar screen and it was forgotten... that is something which ought to worry us."

Until now the cost of the prime minister's hospitality at Chequers had been kept private - but the Cabinet Office has now released a list of David Cameron's guests - with associated costs - for the first three months of 2014. Dinners with 29 guests including the Queen, Claudia Schiffer, Conservative ally Lord Feldman and Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland cost the taxpayer a total of £1,863, a freedom of information request by the Press Association, external has revealed.

The Times

The Church of England's involvement in politics continues to be a debating point in the Times, after its bishops united earlier this week to write a letter about the contribution the Church can make in what it called Britain's "almost moribund political culture". The exchange goes something like this:

• On Tuesday the Times leader, external said the intervention was "unsolicited, disingenuous and in at least half a dozen respects nakedly partisan".

• Yesterday the Bishops of Norwich and Leicester responded, external with a letter defending the Church for engaging in politics. "Your leader suggests we were wrong to do so," it concludes. "We suspect it would have offered the same analysis of the Sermon on the Mount."

• Today's Times carries a further letter, external from the Rev Canon Dr Gavin Ashenden, chaplain to the Queen in Jersey. "It is always tempting to harness the authority of Christ for a preferred political programme, as the bishops have done," he writes. "But there is a rule of thumb in the long history of the Church which suggests that the level of political commitment the clergy shows is inversely proportional to their spiritual potency and competence."

tweets, external: HMRC say from today married couples and civil partners can apply for an annual tax reduction of up to £212. Is that called 'tax avoidance'?

The TUC blames "the poor performance of wages and job quality" for the government's "failed" deficit reduction plans. This morning's public borrowing figures were welcomed as "good news" by the chancellor, but general secretary Frances O'Grady disagrees. "Today's statistics suggest that even their most recent forecast may be missed, with self-assessment tax receipts still down on expectations," she said. Earlier this week the TUC published research, external suggesting lower earnings growth means the government is collecting £33.4bn less in income tax and national insurance.

Image source, Getty Images

On his travels today, David Cameron has been talking up the new marriage tax allowance, which will benefit some couples from April depending on how much they earn. The scheme opens for applications today. The BBC story explaining how it will work is here.

Image source, Reuters

A Canadian MP offered one of the most original excuses ever heard for leaving parliament in a hurry - tight underpants. His cut-price and, as it turned out, overly tight underpants made it difficult for him to sit through a one-by-one vote, opposition MP Pat Martin told the bewildered Speaker. But he did made it back in time to cast his ballot. Mr Martin drew applause and laughter from the chamber when he explained his temporary absence. "They had men's underwear on for half price and I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me. I find it difficult to sit for any length of time." The full BBC story is here.

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy is meeting football clubs and supporters' groups to discuss lifting the ban on alcohol at grounds. The summit, which takes place at Hampden Park, will also hear from the Scottish Football Association.

Image source, PA

Mr Murphy, who is teetotal, argues football supporters should not be treated differently from those who enjoy corporate hospitality or rugby fans at Murrayfield, where drinking is permitted.However, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she is "far from convinced" about lifting the ban, warning against "taking a step backwards".

Brian Taylor
Political editor, Scotland

Coalition was much on the mind of David Mundell as he opened the Scottish Conservative conference in Edinburgh today. Read my full take on his speech here.

BBC News Channel

Labour's shadow chief secretary Chris Leslie was asked by Ross Hawkins on the BBC News Channel whether it was true that his party had yet to decide how to fund a cut in tuition fees to £6,000. He didn't disagree, adding: "We are being careful about this. We are not doing a Nick Clegg. We are going to make sure we can actually fund promises we make. We are working through the detail and we will announce our solution on tuition fees very shortly."

BBC News Channel

Labour's Chris Leslie has told the BBC News Channel that the health of ordinary people's finances are key to the economic recovery and he does not share George Osborne's enthusiastic welcoming of the figures revealing a better-than-expected surplus of £8.8bn in January. You can read more on the ONS economy stats here.

Mr Osborne said prosecutions by HMRC were up "five-fold" after he indicated when he took office that he wanted to see more cases taken to court. He said he had "resourced HRMC accordingly". Mr Osborne also said the government had secured agreement at the G8 for a "fundamental change", which will allow the automatic exchange of information on offshore bank accounts.