Politics Live - 23 March

Summary

David Cameron told the BBC he will not serve a third term as prime minister if the Conservatives remain in power after the general election.
Afzal Amin resigned as Conservative election candidate for Dudley North after being accused of scheming with the English Defence League to win votes
The UK will no longer tolerate Islamist extremists who "reject our values", Home Secretary Theresa May said
George Osborne and Ed Balls appeared on #AskTheChancellor Q and A sessions on Sky News
Ed Miliband accused Alex Salmond of "a combination of bluster and bluff" over his Budget claims
UKIP said it was committed to spending 2% of the UK's GDP on defence
A UKIP MEP and her chief of staff have been expelled from the party over allegations of cheating over expenses
There are 45 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Tim Fenton, Victoria Park and Angela Harrison

May defends record on police numberspublished at 15:39 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
House of Commons
Parliament
Mrs May responds to Yvette Cooper's charge on policing levels: "Funding for counter-terrorism policing has been protected and this government is putting more money into dealing with child sexual exploitation".
Labour predicts policing cutspublished at 15:39 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
House of Commons
Parliament
Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, predicts further cuts of 23% for the Home Office, including the loss of another 20,000 police officers, if Tory budget plans go ahead. This is happening, she says: "When the terror threat is growing, when more child abuse cases are coming forward, when recorded violent crime is up and when chief constables say neighbourhood policing cannot be sustained."
Mansion taxpublished at 15:38 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Sky News
So many homes are owned by people from abroad and they should be paying their fair share of tax, Ed Balls tells a questioner asking about the Mansion Tax and it's likely impact on London.
He says the tax would apply to properties over £2 million and would support the NHS. It's fair that those with the largest properties should pay the tax he adds
HS2published at 15:35 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Sky News
HS2 will go ahead in its second phase, Ed Balls says, "if the sums add up". He's been asked if Labour would go ahead with that while there is not full national coverage for broadband. We can't afford to fall behind on broadband though, he says.
Shadow chancellor in the chairpublished at 15:31 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Sky News
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls is up now for Sky News' #AskTheChancellors session, hosted by Faisal Islam, Sky's political editor.
Change of handspublished at 15:29 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
It's time for the early crew, Victoria and Matt, to hand over the baton. Thanks for sticking with us so far. Tim Fenton and Angela Harrison will take you all the way through to midnight. They'll have Ed Balls on Sky News shortly.
Alan Travis, Guardian home affairs editorpublished at 15:24 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
tweets:, external Theresa May rejects judicial oversight of police bail extensions beyond 28 days saying not enough magistrates courts' capacity
Trident nuclear weaponspublished at 15:20 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Reality Check - from Shelley Phelps
Alex Salmond says he would demand the scrapping of the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system before entering into a "confidence and supply" arrangement with Labour in the event of a hung parliament in May. The SNP is not the only minority party opposed to Trident - Plaid Cymru and the Greens also want Britain's nuclear weapons scrapped. The Lib Dems favour fewer submarines and would only have these on patrol if the UK was under threat from a nuclear-armed country. On the other hand, the Conservatives are committed to a "full" like-for-like replacement, while Labour supports a continuous at-sea deterrent. Both UKIP and the DUP are also in favour of renewing Trident.
Michael Deacon, political sketch writer at the Telegraphpublished at 15:16 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
tweets:, external Lot of pressure on Balls now, because if he doesn't deliver I'll have to fall back on sketching that banana I ate earlier #AskTheChancellors
May: we have moved on with anti-radicalisationpublished at 15:14 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour accuse Home Secretary Teresa May, of going back to five years ago on anti-radicalisation measures. Not so, according to Mrs May. "When we came in to government we found that the last Labour government was funding extremist organisations; members of the Labour Party were standing on platforms embracing extremist hate preachers. We take a very different view on this side of the House."
Labour's turnpublished at 15:11 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Sky News
The shadow chancellor Ed Balls will be in the hot seat answering questions on Sky News at 15:30 GMT.
Krishnan Guru-Murthypublished at 15:08 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
tweets:, external would like an #askthechancellors more like the one in 2010 - proper face to face debate with big audience #c4news up for hosting again
James Chapman, Daily Mail political editorpublished at 15:04 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
tweets:, external That's it for Osborne, interrupted mid-sentence on business rates for an ad break. His chair now empty #AskTheChancellors
Anti-radicalisation proposals welcomedpublished at 15:01 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
House of Commons
Parliament
Chair of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, and Conservative MP, Crispin Blunt, welcomes Theresa May's new proposals on tackling radicalisation and extremism.
He asks her to "continue to proceed calmly and on the basis of the evidence" given that UK has a press "prone to hysterics and the capacity to achieve the objective of the enemies of our society by sowing fear and anxiety where none need exist."
Andrew Woodcock, political editor of the Press Associationpublished at 15:00 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
tweets:, external Osborne taking flak on #AskTheChancellors over jobs - woman says new jobs not providing financial stability for workers because zero-hours
Osborne visitpublished at 15:00 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Image source, PA
Earlier today, George Osborne visited the Science Museum in London before announcing a £12 million donation to the new Dyson School of Design. Here he is testing out a new piece of kit alongside James Dyson himself.
Zero-hours contractspublished at 14:56 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Sky News
A determined questioner is now pushing George Osborne hard on zero-hours contracts. He says creating more full-time jobs is the best answer to that issue. But she isn't happy with that, saying the government is "banging on" about creating more jobs, but they're not full-time, secure jobs. Mr Osborne comes back again with another reply along similar lines to his first - and the moderator steps in before the audience member can have another go.
Jack Blanchard, deputy political editor, Daily Mirrorpublished at 14:53 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
tweets:, external Congrats to Tory spinners who wanted to turn 2010's dramatic election debates into "bore-a-thons". Mission accomplished #AskTheChancellors
May: we have not met migration targetpublished at 14:53 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
House of Commons
Parliament
The Government has not met its net migration target, Home Secretary Teresa May tells the Commons at Home Office Questions. But it was her government that recognised the significance of immigration as an issue, its impact on public services and wages at the lower end of the income scale - and it was her government that was doing something about it, she says.
VAT cut?published at 14:50 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2015
Sky News
A hotelier from south-west England asks whether the chancellor would cut VAT on hotel rooms to boost tourism. George Osborne says he'd rather spend the billions of pounds that change would cost on improving infrastructure - the road and rail networks - for the long term.