A quick look back at the main stories of the day:

• Two MPs who are both former foreign secretaries have been suspended from their parliamentary parties in what's been dubbed a "cash for access" scandal.

• Labour's Jack Straw and the Conservative, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, were secretly filmed discussing possibly working with a fictitious Chinese company. Both deny breaking any rules and have referred themselves to parliament's standards watchdog.

• Labour leader Ed Miliband says he would ban MPs from taking paid directorships or consultancies

• In other news, David Cameron says the Conservatives would keep universal benefits for pensioners if they were re-elected

• Broadcasters have set out the order of the proposed leaders' TV election debates. They would finish with a Cameron v Miliband head-to-head the Thursday before the country goes to the polls on 7 May

• UKIP leader Nigel Farage says his party would find an extra £3bn for the NHS, funded by reducing payments to the European Union

• In the Commons this afternoon, the Chancellor George Osborne and shadow chancellor Ed Balls traded accusations that both of their parties failed to act on information about tax avoidance and evasion relating to HSBC

That's all from the Politics Live team for tonight. We'll be back at 06:00 tomorrow to bring you the latest political news.

Newsnight

More reaction to the allegations about the two MPs and former foreign ministers, Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who both deny any wrong-doing. There have been some calls for Sir Malcolm to stand down as chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, after the two men were secretly filmed separately discussing possibly working for a fictitious Chinese company.

The former chairman of the same committee, Labour's Kim Howells, told Newsnight the committee's reputation cannot be "dragged down, it is too important".

"Its reputation isn't being improved when it looks as if the chair of the committee is the victim of a sting operation," he said, adding that any decision on whether Sir Malcolm should leave that post had to be made by the committee.

Newsnight

Conservative MP Adam Afriyie tells Newsnight that "It's very important that every MP has outside interests and sometimes outside earnings". But Green MP Caroline Lucas said being an MP was "about public service" and a "full-time job".

The Daily Mail

More on that new ComRes poll for the Daily Mail, which puts the Conservatives two points ahead of Labour. It suggests UKIP has slipped four points to 13% and that the Greens are on 8% - level with the Lib Dems.

Con 34% (+3)

Lab 32% (+2)

LD 8% (NC)

UKIP 13% (-4)

Green 8% (+1)

Others 6% (-1)

ComRes interviewed 1,004 GB adults by telephone between 20th and 23rd February 2015. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults.

tweets:, external First @DailyMailUK/@ComResPolls poll: Tories up since Jan, Ukip on slide: CON 34 (+3) LAB 32 (+2) UKIP 13 (-4) LIB 8 (-) GRN 8 (+1)

tweets:, external Tuesday's Telegraph front page: Straw to take job with firm he lobbied for in Commons #tomorrowspaperstoday

Image source, Telegraph

An issue abroad which will interest UK politicians: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has said he thinks war with Ukraine is an "apocalyptic scenario" which is very unlikely. He told Russian television the peace deal agreed in Minsk was the best way to normalise the situation and denied that Russian troops had been helping rebels in eastern Ukraine.

House of Commons
Parliament

In the Commons, MPs have rejected an amendment aimed at clarifying the law and explicitly banning abortion on the grounds of gender alone - voting 292 to 201.

Conservative Fiona Bruce had pressed for the change, with the backing of more than 100 MPs drawn from both sides of the Commons. But after a brief debate, MPs rejected the proposal - which would not have changed the law but sought to update 1967 legislation drafted before it was possible to identify the sex of a foetus.

Twitter hashtag #, externalPoliticiansforHire is drawing together comments on the Dispatches/ Telegraph investigation.

Words such as "sleaze" and "greed" appear, alongside phrases such as "media stirring", "minimum wage" or in praise of investigative journalism.

Journalist @jennykleeman tweets, external: Wincing as well as cringeing #PoliticiansforHire

Tom Latchem (@theboylatch) tweets: , external "Whatever the rules, our footage raises questions.." (ie. We don't have proof of rule-breaking so we'll run it anyway.) #PoliticiansforHire

There's not much sympathy for the MPs, with anger being directed at the fees they can command on top of their salaries.

However, a few speak up for politicians, including @JamesMills1984 of Labour who tweets:, external I hate lobbying scandals as the majority of politicians I've met regardless of party aren't driven by self-enrichment.. #PoliticiansForHire

Iain Watson
Political correspondent, BBC News

This is more about tone than a question of breaking any rules. Sir Malcolm and Jack Straw are saying they stayed within the spirit and letter of the rules, but the impression being given is that they are looking around for other work when they should be concentrating on their day job.

House of Commons
Parliament

Over at the Houses of Parliament, MPs are continuing their scrutiny of the government's Serious Crime Bill, which is going through its remaining stages in the Commons. The House of Lords is also busy, debating athe Modern Slavery Bill. Our colleagues at Democracy Live bring you all the latest.

Channel 4

Image source, Channel 4

In secret filming, Jack Straw says he "turns down quite a lot" [of offers of work]. "I have to be able to justify myself afterwards and to my constituents," he is heard to say.

In a statement later to the progamme, he says he had made it clear that any work undertaken would be after he had stood down as an MP. All his outside work had been fully and properly declared, he said.

#, externalpoliticiansforhire hashtag is trending on Twitter.

Channel 4

Dispatches says reporters approached 12 MPs asking if they would be interested in joining the advisory board of a Chinese company. Half of the MPs did not respond, while one said they were not interested, the programme says.

Channel 4

On Dispatches, external, reporter Anthony Barnett reminds viewers that the programme did the same kind of 'sting' five years ago and that this led to an inquiry and "a couple of changes" to the rules.

"Our ruse worked so well last time, we thought we would give it another go," he said.

The programme and a joint investigation by the Telegraph , externalled to ex-foreign secretaries Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw being suspended from their respective party groups in parliament. They were secretly filmed apparently offering services to a private company for cash. Both deny doing anything wrong.

tweets:, external Rachel Reeves goes on to brand Andrew Rosindell a 'misogynistic dinosaur' for questioning her competence during/after her pregnancy.