The prime minister has said a Conservative victory in the election will bring 500 more free schools - state-funded but semi-independent schools - in England. BBC education correspondent Sean Coughlan looks at some of the debate around why they have proved controversial.

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has praised the UK's pledge to guarantee to spend 0.7% of income on international development. The House of Lords approved the plan this afternoon; MPs had already done so. In a statement Mr Gates said: "I want to thank the UK for this phenomenal commitment to giving people in poor countries every opportunity to build strong families, communities, and economies. I hope other countries will follow this great act of global leadership."

The Guardian

John Harris in the Guardian, external has written a piece about the Tory attacks on a possible SNP/Labour coalition. "By scaremongering about a possible Labour/SNP government, the Tories have turned from champions of the union to its inadvertent saboteurs," he writes.

Image source, PA

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said Britain would become the North Korea of Europe if it left the European Union. In an article for The Guardian, external, he said such a move would leave the UK "out in the cold with few friends", "no influence" and "even less investment".

tweets:, external Just home from hospital in time to watch the big match. Not sure the next 90 minutes will be the rest the doctors ordered.

tweets:, external Have been in back to back in meetings and just seen that I'm on Buzzfeed. To be clear: Harrow East LP will be accepting the donation from TB

Image source, PA

David Cameron's spokesman has said the prime minister is "very concerned" about the political row in Northern Ireland over welfare reforms. The five main parties reached broad agreement on 23 December on a number of key issues, including welfare. But now Sinn Fein have withdrawn their support for the welfare programme and they and the DUP have accused each other of bad faith. The BBC's Chris Buckler says both sides agree however, "that devolution is once again in jeopardy".

tweets:, external @vincecable says if Davies Commission backs Heathrow expansion "it won't happen" as some Lib Dems and Labour will oppose #LiveWorkLondon

A Conservative MP is standing down from parliament to take over a top job at the United Nations. Former International Development Minister Stephen O'Brien is to become Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. He succeeds the Labour peer Valerie Amos, who has held the post for the last four years. He will stand down at the general election in his constituency of Eddisbury in Cheshire where he had a majority of more than 13,000. There was speculation that the UN job would go to the former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

Two new "legal highs" are identified in Europe every week, figures from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction show. Some 101 new psychoactive substances were detected by authorities across the 28 EU member states, plus Turkey and Norway, last year.

Tweets, external: Very pleased that 0.7% uk aid commitment passes final hurdle to become law following @MichaelMooreBRS and @LibDems campaign #FairerSociety

David Cameron should remain in No 10 until a coalition deal appears to be on the table if there is a hung parliament in May, the cabinet secretary has urged. Ministers who lose their seat at the general election would also be able to remain part of any caretaker government, Sir Jeremy Heywood told MPs. Former prime minister Gordon Brown remained in Downing Street after the election in 2010 while negotiations to form a coalition were carried out but critics accused him of "squatting".

Tweets, external: Since 2010 there are over 1m more children taught in schools rated good or outstanding, like the one I visited today.

Image source, Twitter

Plain cigarette packets should not be introduced as it would take "forever and a day" for people to be served in shops, an MP has said. Tory Philip Davies - the MP for Shipley in west Yorkshire - said that because shop workers sometimes do not know a particular brand of cigarettes a customer ask for, they often have to be pointed out to them. Mr Davies also argued that the government's planned introduction of plain cigarette packs does not make sense when they are already hidden behind shutters at kiosks. He spoke as MPs debated the planned regulations in a committee away from the floor of the Commons. The regulations were agreed by the committee after 90 minutes of debate and will be put to the Commons later this week in a free vote.

A new complaints system for members of the armed forces will improve operational effectiveness, a defence minister has argued today as reforms cleared the Commons. The Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill will now be returned to peers for scrutiny of Commons amendments and is expected to be law before the dissolution of Parliament at the end of this month. The Bill will create a new independent ombudsman to replace the Service Complaints Commissioner with the aim of handling complaints of bullying and harassment in the armed forces more quickly.

More now on the cuts clash. Ed Balls has written to the Chancellor George Osborne, saying: "You now owe the British people some honesty and clarity over your extreme and risky plans. Will you proceed with £70 billion of cuts, which will have an unprecedented and deeply destructive impact on non-protected departments, or do you in fact plan to cut the NHS?" Earlier, the Tories said Labour hadn't "got a clue" - and accused the party of making up numbers "on the back of an envelope".

Tweets, external: Ministers who lose their seats in #GE2015 will continue to serve until Govt disbands, says Jeremy Heywood (thinking about Nick Clegg phaps).

Rona Fairhead defends claims that she should be sacked.

tweets:, external HSBC campaigner Nicolas Wilson has just been ejected by police from the PAC for trying to put a direct question to Stuart Gulliver

Rona Fairhead - who chairs the BBC Trust - has defended her record as a non-executive director on the board of HSBC. She told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee - which is investigating allegations of tax avoidance and tax evasion at the bank - that it was reasonable for a non-executive director to rely on "the policies, the management structures in place and to rely on independent experts" to highlight issues. Rona Fairhead said the audit and risk committees at the bank were "unyielding if we discovered or thought or suspected any wrongdoing of any issues that weren't being addressed". Another member of the committee, Stephen Hammond, a Conservative, said he thought Margaret Hodge's comments to Rona Fairhead were unfair and said non executive directors were expected to act differently from executive directors.