Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor

It looks like UKIP are going to be completing a policy U-turn on immigration targets today. That's after UKIP's immigration spokesman Steve Woolfe told the BBC last week that the party was committed to a migration target of 50,000 coming to work in the UK, only for his party leader to claim UKIP would not commit to a target in a Daily Telegraph article today.

tweets: , externalNow describing Ukip net immigration target as a "range" of between 20k and 50k

BBC News Channel

"There isn't a U-turn, there's a change in emphasis," says Nigel Farage, when pressed whether his immigration policy has changed.

tweets:, external UKIP heading for 6 seats according to @GoodwinMJ - currently 10/1

Image source, other

Image source, PA

The government's financial management of Kew Gardens is "a recipe for failure", MPs have warned today. The Science and Technology Select Committee says cuts in government funding are placing Kew's world-class science status at risk.

The London-based organisation faces a financial black hole £5.5m a year and has lost 47 core science posts. The report says Kew needs long-term funding in place and more control over its spending.

The Times

Our correspondents are wondering if UKIP might be damaged by what seems to be something of a muddle on immigration policy, but Daniel Finkelstein, writing in the Times (£),, external doesn't think so. "UKIP cannot be outbid on immigration. There is no such thing as a bad bit of politics on immigration for UKIP. While it is being talked about, they are winning."

tweets:, external Last June, @Nigel_Farage was attacking the power of quangos... today he's proposing putting one in charge of our borders.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Mr Osborne says it would not be right for him to get into the tax affairs of individuals and that HMRC operates as an independent body. He says the "information available to me" was that certain individuals had attempted to evade tax in Swiss bank accounts, but the news that HSBC colluded with those individuals only came to light recently. He adds HSBC is a "very important bank to the UK" that employs around 50,000 in the country and it is important the UK "has successful and well run banks".

BBC Radio 4 Today

Asked what he knew before the appointment of Lord Green - the former chairman of HSBC - as a government trade minister in 2010, the chancellor says the only thing he was aware of was what the public was aware of. That was that HMRC had been handed "some information by the French government before we came to office". But this was all handled by HMRC, he says.

Mr Osborne also points out Lord Green was "chair of the business council of the previous government. He was a cross party figure."

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, Reuters

We stand to be corrected but we're quite sure George Osborne didn't mention the Conservatives' favourite phrase of "long-term economic plan", in his interview with the Today Programme just now. There was mention of a plan, of course, but the much-used phrase was distinctly absent. Change of rhetoric perhaps, or a more innocent slip of the mind?

BBC Radio 4 Today

Only one person so far has been prosecuted for tax evasion out of the more than 1,000 people thought to have engaged in it as part of the recent HSBC tax scandal. Mr Osborne says he can't direct HMRC or the director of public prosecutions to prosecute people. "Imagine the kind of country we would live in if I could," he says.

"If there are deficiencies in the law, if it is difficult to bring these prosecutions then, of course, we should change the law," the chancellor adds. He says the government is looking at possible changes to the law, but points out that the National Audit Office, which regularly criticises the government, did look at HMRC and said it was doing a pretty good job of collecting the taxes that are required.

tweets:, external Farage abandoning an immigration target has gifted the down and out Tories a way back into the debate. He may regret it.

tweets:, external The hope that politicians have when they go silent during a scandal is that it'll have gone away when they next emerge. Doesn't always work.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Nigel Farage seems to be making his immigration policy up as he goes along, Mr Osborne says. He comes up with a policy one day then ditches it live on air the next. Asked if Theresa May was right to say the government would continue with its so far unsuccessful efforts to cut net migration to the tens of thousands, the chancellor replies "Yes absolutely."

tweets:, external Osborne was enjoying Today interview, now squirming on whether he discussed HSBC tax affairs with Lord Green

tweets: , externalOsborne says "we're looking at changes in the law" as regards hmrc ability to collect an investigate taxes in wake of #swissfiles

tweets:, external Did Osborne really just say "we've got on top of our debts and deficits"??!

BBC Radio 4 Today

Mr Osborne says the government was a minority shareholder in Eurostar. He adds the government got good value for its shareholding from "a very sensible sale" and that the money raised from selling assets [often to foreign companies or pensions funds] will allow the government to invest in the infrastructure in the future. "If we can get the Chinese to invest in building the nuclear power stations of the future it means the British taxpayer doesn't have to pay for it," he adds.

BBC Radio 4 Today

"We have been dealing with a particularly difficult financial crisis but we have grown faster than many western economies... and there are now more people in work, Mr Osborne says. He adds that incomes should be higher in 2015-16 than they were in 2010-11. "I'm the first to say a lot of damage was done to the economy and there is still a lot of work to be done," he adds.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Mr Osborne says the IFS report confirms the richest have paid the most in taxes and that "inequality has been narrowing". He says the UK economy is growing, the richest have paid the highest share and inequality has fallen. "Britain is in a fundamentally better place than it was five years ago."