A look back at Tuesday's main stories:

• David Cameron set out proposals to tackle child sexual exploitation, saying he wanted to end a culture which allowed police and social services to "walk on by"

• It followed revelations that as many as 370 children and teenagers might have been abused in Oxfordshire by men of mainly Pakistani origin

• An independent investigation into care at Furness General Hospital in Cumbria found failures at almost every level at the maternity unit where eleven babies and a mother died

• Turing's Law - Ed Miliband said there would be pardons for gay men with convictions for homosexual activity under historical indecency laws

• That's all from the Politics Live Page for tonight. Join us tomorrow for the latest political news and comment - Goodnight.

Phone hacking was 'rife' at Mirror papers, a court has heard. At the High Court, Counsel David Sherborne said the hacking was on an industrial scale and far larger than that which took place at the News of the World. He said journalists at the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People hacked phones on a daily basis between 1999 and 2006. The hearing is for cases brought by eight high-profile figures.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) will not set an "arbitrary immigration target" if it helps form the next government, Nigel Farage has said in an article for The Telegraph.

The UKIP leader also committed the party to setting up a new quango called the Migration Control Commission, tasked with bringing down net migration, if it holds the balance of power after May's general election.

Mr Farage is making a major speech on immigration policy tomorrow. He will say UKIP will seek to close the "open" border with Europe and try to attract doctors and skilled workers from Commonwealth countries.

BBC Newsnight

London Labour MP David Lammy has been saying a bit more about his views on sentences given to thieves. He said it was not right that "impact" was not considered for what are seen as low-level crimes, such as thefts from small shops.

He explained: "Shop keepers were saying to me, 'If I am robbed day after day, it really harms me'".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

The director of public prosecutions has denied conducting a "witch-hunt" against celebrities after broadcaster Paul Gambaccini claimed he and other showbiz figures were used as human "fly paper", to try to get more alleged victims of sex abuse to come forward.

Mr Gambaccini told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee people were being "left out to dry" and that police and prosecutors "sat on" his case for 12 months before telling him he would not be charged over an allegation of historic sex abuse.

The DPP Alison Saunders told the committee: "We are not conducting a witch-hunt against anyone, be it journalists or celebrities. We do not make any distinction when we look at cases as to who it is we are looking at. What we look at is the evidence."

tweets:, external EXCL: YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Tories maintain clear lead for 2nd day, 2% ahead. CON 36%, LAB 34%. Suggests movement Libs drop to 5%, a 25 year polling low.

Sir Richard Branson and Nick Clegg have said the UK should begin decriminalising the use and possession of almost all drugs, following the example of Portugal.

The Virgin founder and deputy prime minister will address a conference on fighting drug addiction on Wednesday, and in a Guardian article, external they argue that the "war on drugs" has failed.

"As an investment, the war on drugs has failed to deliver any returns," they write. "If it were a business, it would have been shut down a long time ago. This is not what success looks like."

Image source, Getty Images

Later tonight Channel 4 road tests one particular strain of cannabis to see how strong it really is - and in so doing tests the case for legalising the drug or not. How? Well, it decided it would get its very own news anchor Jon Snow to take super-strength skunk along with The Times' Matthew Paris among others. One suspects Hadley Freedman in the Guardian sums up the views of many a parent: Matthew Parris and Jon Snow on skunk? That'll put kids off drugs, external.

Although in case that were too subtle for you she continues: "Another drugs TV show is happening, people. Channel 4, obviously. And we all know what that means, don't we? That's right: we get to watch some celebrities get off their nut on TV in the name of showing what drugs do to all of our brains - or, at least what they do to celebrities' brains."

The Republic of Ireland has become the first country in Europe to pass legislation requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packets. Tobacco products will be in a standard dark wrapper with large health warnings and images of disease. Ireland is the second country in the world after Australia to pass plain packaging laws.

Image source, Getty Images

Save the Children has apologised to those who were upset by its decision to give Tony Blair a "global legacy award" last year. The Charity says the prize was bestowed solely for the former British prime minister's work in Africa and was not intended as a celebration of his "wider legacy". The Guardian says, external Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children UK and a former aide to Blair, admitted the move had damaged the international charity.

Gillian Schonrock, Poole writes: "If teachers and social workers have the threat of criminal proceedings hanging over them, they will behave differently. While that may have the effect of preventing the Rochdale situation from happening again, it will also cause a lot of unnecessary referrals to social services, and investigations."

Emma, County Durham comments: "This isn't anything new. Any person in care could tell you that. I left care in 1993. It was prevalent then, social workers weren't interested nor were the police - after all, you were in care."

Gareth Hillary, Stockport says: "As someone who works in the social sector, I read plenty of abuse cases and Serious Case Reviews. These proposals are terrible. Social workers have enough on their plates as it is with case loads of up to 50 children, depending on the local authority. .. There is no culture of denial, there is a culture of blame."

John, Bootle comments: "Am I completely out of touch here? Where is the role of parents in all this? We are talking about children. If they are being led astray under the noses of their own parents or guardians, why are these carers not castigated and punished with up to five years in prison?"

Rob Miles, Poole says: "Every year, at least 200 children vanish from school registers without trace. For centuries, child abuse was ignored by the law, so we have no systematic approach to keeping records of where children are meant to be and who is meant to be looking after them."

tweets:, external So it was meme of the day, but #WeaselPecker Newsnight playout will never get broadcast. One for the net. Good call?, external

LBC

On LBC Radio Mr Gove said he disagreed with Mr Boles' reported criticism of the benefit sanctions regime but suggested his colleague had made a "verbal slip". He acknowledged that the use of the term "inhuman" was "provocative" but told LBC "I don't think Nick's intention was to provoke and I think all of us can, from time to time, occasionally as we reach for the right word in order to show that we don't necessarily approve or support every aspect of a particular policy, we can sometimes make a verbal slip."

LBC

Image source, European Photopress Agency

Tory Chief Whip Michael Gove has said he would welcome a bid from ex-England footballer Sol Campbell to become the mayor of London. "I wouldn't mind if he threw his hat in the ring," Mr Gove told LBC Radio. "I don't know him though. My son, I think, would probably prefer if Frank Lampard threw his hat in the ring - my son, I'm afraid, is a Chelsea fan." West London v North London anyone? How about Regent's Park as a venue, it's almost half way between the two? We'll bring the jumpers for goalposts.

This election is likely to see the political parties making more - and more sophisticated - use of social media. A quick sample of what is on Twitter at the moment:

The Labour party (@UKLabour) tweets:, external RETWEET: They call it the politics of envy. We call it standing up for working people

Image source, Twitter

While, for the Conservatives, housing minister Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) tweets:, external Building a Britain where everyone who works hard can have a home of their own

Image source, Twitter

Over at the Liberal Democrats (@LibDems), this was a recent tweet:, external Our @LibDemsTeam2015 volunteers are back at HQ. Find out more & how to join here http://buff.ly/1EdoPOM

Image source, Twitter