From a start close to home, the day's political horizons gradually broadened to finish with international security and defence:

• The Tories pledged to double the number of new starter homes to 200,000 by 2020 - at a discounted rate for first time buyers. Labour want to see 200,000 new homes built a year by 2020. The Lib Dems want to see 300,000 new homes built annually by 2020, including 10 new garden cities

• Home Secretary Theresa May was challenged in the Commons on anti-terror measures. She denied changes in the law made it easier for a network of suspected terrorists to operate in West London - among them, the Islamic State killer Mohammed Emwazi

• Labour proposed a system of 'yellow-card' temporary suspensions for rowdy behaviour in the Commons. The Speaker said the suggestion had 'merit'

• Mr Bercow also warned the Palace of Westminster might have to abandoned if repair and modernisation work was not prioritised

• Pets killed on roads will have to be collected, identified and their owners notified. The move follows a campaign by a woman who wasn't told her dog had died until four months after it had been found

• MPs went on to debate defence. The chairman of the defence select committee, Rory Stewart, said that if Russia invaded Estonia, NATO would not know how to respond. A succession of MPs argued for defence spending to be at least maintained at the present 2% of GDP.

• That's all from the Live Page team for tonight. We'll be back from 06:00 to keep you up-to-date on the latest political news and comment.

BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30

Newsnight's chief correspondent Laura Kuenssberg says tomorrow David Cameron is holding a child protection summit in Downing Street where he will talk about making it a criminal offence for professionals not to report child abuse.

Tomorrow also sees the publication of the Serious Case Review, or investigation, in to child sexual exploitation in Oxfordshire.

Image source, MP's

MPs should be summoned to Westminster to meet for the first time on the Saturday after the general election to prevent a coalition deal being agreed in private between party leaders, a senior politician has said.

Labour MP Graham Allen called for Parliament to meet on May 9 to consider the make-up of the next government. "If the result of the May 7 general election is not clear-cut, the days immediately after it should not be characterised by a private fix by the party leaders, where newly elected Members of Parliament and their parties are bypassed," he said.

BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30

Evan Davis asks the housing minister Brandon Lewis if he thinks house prices are "too high". He says it's different in different parts of the country, but agrees "In London, prices are too high...we need more homes to be built to deal with that".

Mr Lewis says the Conservative's Starter Homes policy will help more young people to own a home of their own. The Conservatives and Labour have been setting out their policies on house building today.

House of Commons
Parliament

Defence Minister Mark Francois, closing the defence debate for the government says: "The world simply does not stand still and events will not give us rest." He says the government inherited "chaos" from Labour in 2010 and "the budget is now back in balance".

Shadow defence minister Kevan Jones says a future Labour government would meet current defence spending commitments in 2015-16. He says Labour would hold "a proper defence review" examining "our role in the world".

Susan Hulme
BBC parliamentary correspondent

The Defence Minister, Mark Francois, has said that recent events in Ukraine have been a "wake-up call". Speaking at the end of a Commons debate on the UK's defence, he said that the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the National Security Strategy needed to be updated in the light of that.

The comments come after the head of the US Army said that he was "very concerned" about the impact of spending cuts on the UK's armed forces.

Chris Leslie MP, Labour's Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on the new Tory election poster said: "The recovery has failed to reach kitchen tables across Britain. While a few at the top have been given a huge tax cut, working people are £1,600 a year worse off under the Tories. Labour's better plan will boost living standards, save our NHS, back the next generation and balance the books fairly. The Tories have an extreme plan to cut spending back to 1930s levels, before there was an NHS, which would put our public services and our economy at risk. Working people can't afford five more years of the Tories."

Tomorrow's Daily Express front page headline is "Paracetamol in new health alert". The paper says a daily dose of paracetamol could "put you at risk of heart disease and kidney failure, a study suggests".

Image source, FT

tweets:, external Tuesday's FT front page: Regions cut pay gap with London as capital's workers feel squeeze

#tomorrowspaperstoday

Commons Speaker John Bercow has given a cautious welcome to the suggestion MPs face a rugby-style "yellow-card" temporary ban for bad behaviour in the Chamber. Answering questions at a Hansard Society event at Westminster, Mr Bercow said: "I think there is merit in it, it's not for me to decide, it's for the House to decide."

Earlier, the Shadow Leader of the Commons, Angela Eagle, had suggested a system of temporary one-hour suspensions as part of a package of reforms to be brought in by a Labour government. "Sometimes," she said, "MPs take it too far and it turns the public off. A Labour government will consult on new powers for the Speaker to curb the worst forms of repeated barracking."

tweets:, external Bercow says Parly might have to be abandoned in 20 yrs! our film on state of disrepair, alongisde some lovely pix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i9xGG0RUoA …

The SNP has hit back at comments made by the former prime minister Gordon Brown in which he accused the party of focusing on political wrangling rather than what it could do for Scotland.

The party's deputy leader, Stewart Hosie, said: "Given their toxic alliance with the Tories for the last two and a half years, people in Scotland would be forgiven for thinking that Labour's focus is not what they can do for Scotland - but what they can do for their Tory allies.

"And despite this transparent attempt to cover for the failures of Jim Murphy's leadership, Gordon Brown has the substance all wrong....The general election is Scotland's opportunity to hold real power at Westminster and to deliver on the priorities of the people who live here - ending austerity, protecting our public services and investing in jobs."

Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been challenged on his role in introducing university tuition fees in England by a school student. Mr Brown was making a speech in Glasgow in which he called for a united effort to fight for social justice. During questions afterwards, he was asked: "You were the chancellor of the exchequer that introduced tuition fees, so how can you speak of empowering future generations when you introduced legislation which has encumbered future generations?".

Mr Brown responded: "When we introduced tuition fees, and I had my own views on this which I won't go into this evening, they were at £3000. In 2007 we also added protection for poorer students around the maintenance costs....What I can't agree with is that you introduce free tuition, which is what has happened in Scotland, and then you cut the grants for poorer students."

The Speaker John Bercow says the cost of repairs to the Houses of Parliament could be more than £3bn. In a lecture in Westminster, he also said while he did not want MPs to have to move elsewhere while the work was carried out, they might have to. He was "very uneasy about the idea of decanting" from the Palace of Westminster, he said, because "once you are out it can be very difficult to get back", but if MPs had to move out, they should consider "all options including, almost certainly, a regional option".

Basic services in the building, like electricity, water and sanitation, are being kept functioning "with increasing difficulty and growing risks", according to a report from 2012. There are many leaks from the roof too, as seen in the BBC documentary Inside the Commons.