Under the revised schedule, Labour MP Peter Hain will first ask a Home Office minister about the public inquiry into undercover policing and whether it will examine files held between 1990 and 2001. After this, Labour's Diana Johnson will ask a Department of Health minister about the Penrose Inquiry. Finally, Sir Gerald Kaufman has been given permission to ask William Hague, the Commons Leader, about the change to today's business announced yesterday evening.
Wednesday recap
David Cameron made a surprise pledge not to raise VAT in the final PMQs of this Parliament. Ed Miliband said no one would believe the prime minister's promise. Labour later pledged not to raise National Insurance
MPs debated the bill which implements the changes announced in the Budget. The bill was backed by a majority of 81 and goes forward to become law
Plans to change the way MPs vote for a Speaker were announced. The government wants to make secret any vote to challenge an incumbent Speaker. Some see the move as an attempt to oust or, at least, weaken John Bercow. MPs will debate the proposal tomorrow
A former undercover police officer told BBC News that Scotland Yard kept intelligence files on MPs during the 1990s. Labour's Peter Hain, one of the MPs concerned, said it raised fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty
That's it from Politics Live for tonight. We'll be back at 06:00 GMT tomorrow.
VAT pledge
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
BBCCopyright: BBC
Here's a bit more from that exchange between business minister Matthew Hancock and Newsnight's Emily Maitlis about when the former found out his party was going to rule out a VAT rise.
Emily Maitlis: When did you first hear about the VAT decision?
Matthew Hancock: I heard about it earlier this week and there was a decision that we were going to rule it out.
Emily Maitlis: On Monday or Tuesday?
Matthew Hancock: One or the other, it all blends into one sometimes.
Emily Maitlis: So you knew before the chancellor because he was asked it five times yesterday and didn't have a straight answer to it?
Matthew Hancock: Well the chancellor was in front of the treasury select committee, it was obviously a decision not to announce a new policy in that forum but instead to announce it at PMQs.
'Shabby move'
William Hague has been accused of a "shabby" move to make it easier for Tory MPs to oust John Bercow as the Commons Speaker after the election. Tory MP Julian Lewis, one of Mr Bercow's closest allies, accused Commons Leader Mr Hague of carrying out a "squalid manoeuvre".
The Commons Leader, who is standing down at the general election, was behaving in an "underhand and shabby way", the New Forest East MP said. Mr Lewis added: "I'm actually very sad about it because I would never have thought that somebody of the stature of William Hague - a former party leader, now Leader of the House of Commons - would make his last political act in the House of Commons to be the petty, partisan wielding of a knife aimed between the shoulder blades of the Speaker of the House of Commons. It is desperately sad and unworthy, whatever anybody thinks about the nature of the present incumbent of the chair."
Sun Politics
@SunPolitics
tweets: YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead by one: CON 34%, LAB 35%, LD 8%, UKIP 12%, GRN 6%
Current Speaker John Bercow is - technically - one of them, but many Tory MPs have never liked him.
They resent his personal style and some believe he is far from impartial in the way he conducts business in the Commons.
Attempts by some to force a vote on his resumption as Speaker in 2010 came to nothing. There have been the occasional measured jibes at him from the prime minister.
Other Tories reportedly went much further and formed a group whose members had all been reprimanded by him. But the Speaker is a reformer who believes passionately that the people who elect the members, and pay the bills, should come first.
The last act of the coalition looks like being an attempt to unseat him. And they are very serious about it.
One Tory MP fighting an important marginal seat had been cleared by his party to be away from Parliament but he is now staying for the vote, such is the importance of it.
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: All in all today's events suggest that neither of main parties are going to enjoy talking about their plans for tax and spend in next 6 wks
AND
tweets: They'll tell us again and again how seriously they take economy, We will do our best to get answers, apols in advance if they don't have 'em
Pledges safe?
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Are today's pledges safe from coalition negotiations? Chris Leslie says yes - he doesn't want to be in a coalition that will raise VAT.
National Insurance pledge
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
BBCCopyright: BBC
Chris Leslie, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, suggests on Newsnight that Labour decided a year ago it wasn't going to raise national insurance. But Newsnight host Emily Maitlis says Ed Miliband didn't seem to know during PMQs earlier today.
When did Tories decide on VAT?
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
BBCCopyright: BBC
Matthew Hancock, the Tory business minister, says he knew the party was going to rule out a rise in VAT "earlier in the week". He tells Newsnight he knew the prime minister was going to make the announcement at PMQs today, too. He says the exchange today was PMQs "at its best".
PMQs analysis
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Newsnight is looking at the impact of today's PMQs - and the policy that came from the exchanges, with the Tories ruling out a VAT rise and Labour later ruling out a rise in National Insurance if elected. You can watch the package on the live coverage tab above.
Tory candidate chosen
Welsh Assembly Member Antoinette Sandbach has been selected to be the Conservative candidate for Eddisbury in Cheshire. The vacancy arose after current MP Stephen O'Brien took a senior role at the UN. Eddisbury is considered a safe Tory seat.
Mark D'Arcy, BBC political correspondent
@DArcyTiP
tweets: Lab saying won't have troops to block Spkr election rule change, but won't recognise change achieved by trickery. Phew!
Post update
@WikiGuido
tweets: Vote made possible after LibDem dep leader of house Tom Brake turned on Bercow when he slapped down Danny Alexander yellow budget last week
Tomorrow's Telegraph front page
TelegraphCopyright: Telegraph
Foreign Office
@foreignoffice
tweets: .@PHammondMP is speaking at @CityofLondon #Easterbanquet on foreign policy achievements over the past 5 years
AND
tweets: .@PHammondMP: we have restored, reenergised & reinvigorated our diplomacy & have promoted many advantages of doing business with the #UK
Tomorrow's Guardian front page
GuardianCopyright: Guardian
Tax consequences
The Guardian
The Guardian has been taking a look at the promises made by the Conservatives (not to raise VAT) and Labour (not to raise National Insurance) today. The newspaper, in an editorial piece, writes that the consequences could be "enduring and pernicious". The paper adds: "With spines this feeble, the obvious danger is that the next chancellor could be all out of taxing options by polling day". More here.
Why was Cameron heckled by pensioners?
The Daily Telegraph
PACopyright: PA
As we wrote yesterday, David Cameron had an awkward time at an Age UK event yesterday after he was heckled by some of the attendees. The organisation's director has suggested some of the reasons why on the Telegraph website today. Caroline Abrahams writes: "Despite recent advances, 1.6 million older people are still living in poverty. There is also considerable regret that today's pensioners will not benefit from the new state pension, because only people who reach their state pension age from 2016 on will be eligible. There is a lot of discussion among older people about the new flexibilities for them to use their (private) pension savings. " You can read her full piece here.
Sajid Javid, culture secretary
@sajidjavid
tweets: Got home & daughters distraught @zaynmalik left 1D. I'm an admirer too. Would have been a difficult decision. Wish him & 1D all the best
Who is the bigger toff?
The Spectator
On the Spectator site, Ross Clark has been writing about a poll which suggests the British public consider Ed Miliband more a toff than Prime Minister David Cameron. He argues that this maybe isn't so surprising, saying Mr Miliband has " just shown himself to be the friend of wealthy idlers, by hinting that the brunt of tax rises in a Labour government would fall instead on those who work for a living." More here.
Speaker story
APCopyright: AP
Here's our story about a bid to change the Speaker election rules. The proposals could mean a secret ballot will decide whether there should be a contested election for the post.
Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP MEP
@oflynnmep
tweets: John Bercow has got some things right and some wrong but IMO he's been a good and able Speaker. Very petty of Cam to try and force him out.
Mark D'Arcy, BBC parliamentary correspondent
@DArcyTiP
tweets: Speaker election rule change done under resolution giving Govt total control of Commons agenda for final days of Parlm't - well planned coup
Mark D'Arcy, BBC parliamentary correspondent
@DArcyTiP
tweets: I wonder if Chair of Cmns Procedure Ctee (& big #Bercow supporter) Charles Walker was consulted about rule change re Speaker elections?
Five years ago...
Today was David Cameron's last PMQs of his first term as prime minister. It remains to be seen if he is back in the position again after the election.
We've been having a look through the BBC archives and have found our analysis of Mr Cameron's first PMQs after he became prime minister.
Mike Sergeant, our political correspondent, wrote: "David Cameron seemed to want to present himself as a less overtly political prime minister than Gordon Brown.
"When he first become opposition leader, he said he would end 'Punch and Judy' politics in the Commons. That didn't last. But, Mr Cameron still likes to present himself as the serious, grown-up leader acting in the 'national interest' at all times."
And an interesting piece of trivia. The first question that day was asked by Douglas Carswell - who later became the first Tory MP to defect to UKIP. He wrote on Twitter tonight that he is still waiting for answer.
tweets: Lib Dems confirm they have a free vote tmrw on Bercow secret ballot motion. Clegg will be in constituency. Maybe nos cd be tight
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour MP
@jreynoldsMP
tweets: I will be returning to Westminster tomorrow to vote against this shameful, grubby behaviour by the Conservative Party #Bercow
Speaker motion
House of Commons
Parliament
Here's the Commons motion on challenges to a Speaker which MPs will debate tomorrow morning:
That this House notes the recommendation of the Procedure Committee in its Fifth Report of Session 2010-12, 2010 Elections for positions in the House, that the House should be invited to decide between a secret ballot or open division where the question at the start of a new Parliament that a former Speaker take the Chair is challenged, and accordingly makes the following change to Standing Orders, with effect from the beginning of the new Parliament:
Standing Order 1A (Re-election of former Speaker)
Line 11, at end insert -
"(1A) If that question is contested, it shall be determined by secret ballot, to take place on the same day under arrangements made by the Member presiding, who shall announce the result of the ballot to the House as soon as is practicable."
James Chapman, Daily Mail
@jameschappers
tweets: Tories and Libs agree 'Dump Bercow' plot: MPs will vote tomorrow on changing rules to allow secret ballot to eject Speaker #dumpbercow
Speaker row
House of Commons
Parliament
PACopyright: PA
Here's what Labour's Angela Eagle has to say on the Speaker election proposals: "This is a grubby, last-minute plot in the dying hours of the Parliament to try and changes the procedures of the House.
"The Tories are trying to play politics with the speakership because they know they will not win a majority at the next election."
The current Commons Speaker John Bercow has proved a divisive figure among MPs.
Steve Richards, Independent
@steverichards14
tweets: John Bercow only told at 5.30 of a vote tomorrow on a secret ballot to elect post election Speaker. Underhand but Bercow will be re-elected.
Kevin Maguire, Daily Mirror
@Kevin_Maguire
tweets: Labour MPs tonight put on 3-line whip tomorrow to fight Dump Bercow plot by Cons via secret Speaker election in May instead of open as now
Speaker's election
House of Commons
Parliament
More from the Commons on the way the speaker is elected. Tomorrow morning, MPs will debate a last minute proposal to change the rules. At present, a challenge to a sitting Speaker requires MPs to vote by passing through the lobbies, making it clear who does or does not back the incumbent. Under this proposal, a secret ballot would be held to decide whether or not there should be a contested election for Speaker. Labour have complained that there has been no consultation on the change, and that they were informed about it only late this evening.
Day one of the lobbying register
One of the coalition's first pledges, the long-awaited register of lobbyists, launched earlier today. It will require some lobbyists to register meetings with ministers and senior civil servants. Critics say it'll exclude many of those already working as lobbyists. It looks like 11 companies have signed up on the first day.
VAT rise ruled out
House of Commons
Parliament
Perhaps the most interesting moment from today's PMQs was when David Cameron ruled out the Tories raising VAT after the election. It came after George Osborne had declined to do so the day before. You can watch the exchange here.
Alex Massie, political commentator
@alexmassie
tweets: So: if Tories offer the SNP what they say they want the Nats will say No. And if Labour offer them nothing they will say OK. Interesting.
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: Interesting last minute parly shenanigans tonight in attempt to stitch up John Bercow as 2010-15 session comes to an end
AND
tweets: Debate tmrw morning to change rules for speaker election to a secret ballot if Bercow is challenged for the job in the new Parliament
Iain Martin, political journalist
@iainmartin1
tweets: Wondering if the Tory attempt to do in Speaker Bercow tomorrow might go wrong. Are they sure they have the numbers? Like the Syria vote...
Point of order
House of Commons
Parliament
BBCCopyright: BBC
In the Commons, shadow leader of the house Angela Eagle has just raised what could be an interesting point of order.
Visibly angry, she told MPs that a debate has been tabled tomorrow on proposed changes "to the way the speaker of the house is elected and procedural changes" without "consultation with the opposition, and no consultation with the chair of the [administration] committee."
Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who's in the chair, replied that it is for the government, "rightly or wrongly", to decide the business of the house.
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: Also on #newsnight - the most expensive PMQs ever? Both parties rule out billions of potential revenue raisers...
Finance Bill: Commons stages completed
House of Commons
Parliament
MPs rejected Labour's amendment on Corporation tax by a majority of 77. The bill passed its committee stage on an oral vote. MPs divided on the third reading of the bill, its final stage in the Commons. The bill - to enact the tax and duty changes announced in last week's budget - was passed by 307 votes to 226, a government majority of 81. It will now pass through the House of Lords - a formality given peers cannot amend money bills - and then be sent for Royal Assent to become law.
MP breaks silence on 'sexting'
Channel 4
GettyCopyright: Getty
Conservative MP Brooks Newmark has spoken publicly for the first time about the 'sexting' scandal that ended his career. Mr Newmark resigned as minister for civil society and announced that he would not be standing again as an MP last year after the Sunday Mirror alleged he shared sexually explicit images of himself with an undercover reporter via social media.
Mr Newmark told Channel 4 News: "I accept full responsibility for what I did, particularly the hurt I caused my wife and kids, there is no excuse at all and I think that one of the reasons I'm stepping down is for that reason."
Newmark also spoke about his battle with depression, which he says he has suffered from since he was six, after the death of his father: "Over time you just learn to mask it."
The MP appealed for more sympathy for politicians: "Maybe there are other politicians who are perfect out there, but some of us are flawed."
PMQs 'best bits'
New Statesman
"Muttering idiot", "Calm down dear" and TV debates. The New Statesman has been taking a look back at its favourite clips of David Cameron answering questions at PMQs. You can watch it here.
1922 committee
The Spectator
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
The Spectator has a report up on its website about David Cameron's address to the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs tonight. The magazine says the prime minister talked about health and how people in the country wanted security - something the Conservatives could offer them. The report says: "He concluded by reiterating his line about this election being a choice between competence and chaos." More here.
PMQs
The Daily Telegraph
Michael Deacon, on the Telegraph website, has also been taking a look back at PMQs - particularly David Cameron's decision to offer a very direct answer to Ed Miliband's question on VAT. You can read his take here.
Finance Bill: Corporation tax
House of Commons
Parliament
MPs reject the proposed Labour amendment on income tax by 79. Labour go on to move a third amendment - this one requiring the Chancellor to undertake an impact review on a cut of 1% to the main rate of Corporation tax for the financial year 2016.
Clegg: 'Brutal arithmetic'
MumsnetCopyright: Mumsnet
Nick Clegg answered questions from an audience at Mumsnet this afternoon. On whether he'd work with Labour or the Conservatives in a future coalition, he recalled the negotiations in 2010:
"It was brutal arithmetic. The only way that a government could be formed to take decisions to govern the country for five years was a combination of Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. I sat with Gordon Brown, I kept trying to explain to him - he's a highly intelligent man, I said the sums don't add up. There was no alternative and so we did in a sense what was in line with the instructions that you the voters gave us".
Final PMQs
The Daily Telegraph
Today, as we've mentioned, was the last Prime Minister's Questions before Parliament is dissolved. Over on the Telegraph site, Dan Hodges thinks we should go a step further - and make it the last ever exchange. He writes that most people take nothing from the weekly exchange: "It's such a staggeringly meaningless and inconsequential part of the world in which they live that they cannot possibly even subliminally register its existence."
Paterson: UK must quit EU
BBCCopyright: BBC
Former Tory minister Owen Paterson has renewed his call for Britain to leave the European Union, saying continued membership was undermining the UK's commitment to strong defence. His comments could be seen as an attempt to stake out a possible claim to the Tory succession. According to advance extracts of his address to the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom in Washington, he will attack calls by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for the creation of a European army, claiming it would undermine Western security.
"If this ambition was ever realised, it would cut across the close relationship between the UK and the US, and its 'special relationship'," he will say.
Mr Paterson was sacked by David Cameron in last year's reshuffle.
'MPs monitored'
The Guardian
Following claims MPs were monitored by officers from Scotland Yard, one of the politicians involved, Labour's Peter Hain, has written for the Guardian about the issue. He writes: "That special branch had a file on me dating back 40 years to Anti-Apartheid Movement and Anti-Nazi League activist days is hardly revelatory. That these files were still active for at least 10 years while I was an MP certainly is and raises fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty." You can read his piece here.
Sajid Javid on Clarkson
APCopyright: AP
Culture Secratary, Sajid Javid, has spoken about the BBC's decision not to renew Jeremy Clarkson's contract after a "fracas" with a Top Gear producer. He was asked if Prime Minister David Cameron was wrong to back Mr Clarkson. Mr Javid said: "I think this is a decision for the BBC. The prime minister has said before that Jeremy is his friend. Just because someone's a friend doesn't mean to say you drop them if they've done something wrong. But I think the prime minister has also made clear today that when anyone takes any kind of aggressive action in the workplace or anywhere else for that matter it is right that they suffer the consequences."
Finance Bill: Income tax
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's VAT amendment went to a vote and was rejected by 305 to 231, a government majority of 74. MPs moved on to another Labour amendment requiring the Chancellor to produce a report on the impact of setting the top rate of income tax at 50%, as the opposition propose. The government cut the rate for taxable income over £150,000 per year from 50% to 45% in 2012.
Rob Broomby, British Affairs correspondent, BBC World Service
@Broomby
BBCCopyright: BBC
Few towns have come to symbolise mass immigration from eastern European countries more than Boston in Lincolnshire. Over the last decade, large numbers of migrants have arrived to work on the land and in low-skilled factory jobs. The shifting demographic has brought tensions - some of the people I've spoken to here say it's put pressure on resources like schools and the NHS, others said land work had dried up as eastern European gangs are willing to work for longer hours and less pay than their British contemporaries. However, there were also many positive comments - the influx of migrants has brought a new dynamism to the local economy. One market trader said 65% of his business comes from EU migrants. Others said the new arrivals had brought diversity to the community.
I have also spoken to some of those who have come from the EU to make their home here. Jurgita moved to Boston from Lithuania. This is what she told me of her hopes for the future and that of her young daughter.
Bleedin' obvious?
The Guardian
"Future historians will know this week of the election campaign as the week of the statements of the bleedin' obvious," writes Anne Perkins over on the Guardian website. David Cameron's announcement he wouldn't seek a third term and Alex Salmond's that he wouldn't back a minority Tory government attract her attention. She says of Mr Salmond's comments: "As statements of the obvious go, this goes right to the top of the league of remarks that smack one between the eyes." More here.
Matthew Hancock
BBC News Channel
BBCCopyright: BBC
Matthew Hancock, the Conservative business minister, has been speaking about today's tax announcements from both his party and Labour. He questions why Ed Miliband refused to rule out a National Insurance rise at PMQs and why Ed Balls did slightly later. According to the Hancock, it "demonstrates the chaos of the Labour proposition".
Pushed on whether the Conservatives will explicitly rule out a rise in National Insurance contributions, he said: "We've been cutting National Insurance. We're very clear, we've been cutting it... the direction from us is clear." He says you don't cut it in one parliament and raise it in the next.
Mr Hancock also says his party knows where it is going to make the savings it needs to make - £12bn from welfare, £5bn from tackling tax avoidance and the rest in savings from government departments.
Sajid Javid on taxes
PACopyright: PA
Conservative Culture Secretary Sajid Javid has said the Conservatives have uncovered Labour's "secret plan to raise taxes" and that the public deserve to know which ones.
He said: "Labour are in chaos. Ed Miliband was given the chance to rule out an increase in the jobs tax time and time again, to put it on the record. He refused. Moments later the other Ed [Balls] says they are now ruling it out. They had the chance to do this time and time again and why should anyone believe them now. The fact is Labour are committed to increasing taxes by £15bn - that's what they've said they're going to do over the next parliament. What the public want to know is what taxes are they going to increase. The public deserve to know that. I think what we've learnt today is we really have uncovered Labour's secret plan to raise taxes."
A former undercover police officer has told BBC News that Scotland Yard kept intelligence files on MPs during the 1990s.
The former Special Branch officer, Peter Francis, says he saw 10 files which he and others regularly updated.
He says he personally gathered information on three MPs as part of his work infiltrating left-wing groups.
MPs named by Mr Francis have called for a forthcoming public inquiry into undercover policing to be widened.
Mr Francis operated undercover between 1993 and 1997 in the Met's now disbanded Special Demonstration Squad. He was told to embed himself in left-wing groups or causes that were deemed to pose a potential threat to security.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke defends the Government's record on tax. He says there is a "black hole" in Labour's budget plans. Labour will need to raise tax and their tax of choice, according to Mr Gauke, is employers' national insurance contributions. "That is the one the British public should be frightened of", he says.
Clegg: There are other taxes we can increase
Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg enters today's tax row.
He says: "We don't need to raise VAT and actually, with the plans that my party set out, we don't need to raise VAT, national insurance or headline rates of income tax or corporation tax either. There are other taxes and other tax loopholes that we can increase or close in order to balance the books.
"But at the end of the day, we saw at prime minister's questions, we've got a Labour Party that wants to borrow too much money and a Conservative Party that wants to cut too much. You've only got one party - the Liberal Democrats - that will cut less than the Conservatives and borrow less than Labour, which I think is the balanced approach this country needs."
Finance Bill: Labour challenge on VAT
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour has tabled an amendment to require the chancellor to publish a report on the impact of the increase in the standard rate of VAT to 20% - which took effect from 4 January 2011 - specifically on its impact on living standards, small businesses, the fairness of the taxation system, and economic growth. The Labour MP Andrew Gwynne pointed out that while the Conservatives have now ruled out a VAT rise, "they have not ruled out extending the scope of VAT to previously exempt items".
Funky Lib Dems?
The Lib Dems haven't been doing too well in the polls recently. It's a stark contrast with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, whose feel-good hit Uptown Funk has sold more than one million copies. Is there any way the former could attract some of the popular appeal of the latter? Amazingly, someone appears to have tried. This mash-up posted on the Lib Dem youtube account combines the hit song with Nick Clegg speeches.
Spectator Life front page
SpectatorCopyright: Spectator
Ross Hawkins, BBC political correspondent
@rosschawkins
tweets: Taxes Balls won't be able to put up and how much extra money he won't be able to raise (from pre budget IFS doc)
Ross Hawkins on TwitterCopyright: Ross Hawkins on Twitter
Harriet Harman, deputy Labour leader
@HarrietHarman
tweets: Watch out Hadrian! - the #pinkbus is on your wall! @UKLabour
TwitterCopyright: Twitter
Finance Bill: VAT
House of Commons
Parliament
BBCCopyright: BBC
Shadow Treasury minister Shabana Mahmood opens the debate for Labour, predicting the Conservatives will raise VAT in the next parliament, despite the prime minster's earlier pledge. The government's decision to raise the standard rate of VAT to 20% in January 2011 has cost the average family £1,800 over the last four years and "has without doubt hit the living standards of millions of people" she tells MPs. "We know it's going to go up again [if the Conservatives win] the next election...we know because of the party's record," she says. "There's no two ways about it and it doesn't matter what the prime minister says."
PM on Jeremy Clarkson
PACopyright: PA
Downing Street has said Prime Minister David Cameron, a personal friend of Jeremy Clarkson, believes that "if you do something wrong at work there can be consequences" and that "aggressive and abusive behaviour is not acceptable in the workplace".
The comments come after the BBC announced Mr Clarkson's contract will not be renewed after an "unprovoked physical attack" on a Top Gear producer.
Signing off
What a stimulating ten hours this has been, full of drama both during and after the final PMQs of this Parliament. As well as the big story about the Tories ruling out a VAT rise and Labour doing the same over national insurance contributions, here's some of the other important things we've learned:
David Cameron can relate to Thomas the Tank Engine (7.12)
England fans are a little bit sensitive about Nick Clegg wearing the English cricket team's kit (8.36)
Conservative MPs are not afraid of shouting "woof woof" at Ed Miliband - after the PM called the Labour leader Alex Salmond's "poodle" (12.37)
Politicians have found the phrase 'on the hoof' irresistible when describing today's tax announcements (13.01, 15.02)
Nicola Sturgeon is definitely the leader of the SNP (15.59)
It's time for your early team of Alex Stevenson and Pippa Simm to head off - leaving you in the capable hands of Tim Fenton and Nick Eardley to see you through until midnight.
'I'm the leader'
BBCCopyright: BBC
Alex Salmond's comments about the SNP blocking a potential minority Conservative government have been big news in the last 24 hours, but party leader Nicola Sturgeon says she is relaxed about her predecessor dominating the news. "The SNP is a team," she's said. "I'm the leader of the SNP, I'm leading the SNP campaign but perhaps what scares the life out of the Westminster establishment parties is that the SNP is a team of people committed to representing Scotland's interests and that's how we will continue to campaign in the weeks ahead." Senior Tories have complained that the SNP's plans would undermine democracy. "It's only a few months ago since Tory politicians were telling Scotland we were a valued part of the UK where our voice mattered," Ms Sturgeon adds. "Scotland is a part of the UK… we're part of the Westminster system and therefore it's really important that we make our voice heard in that system."
Finance Bill: Committee stage
House of Commons
Parliament
The Finance Bill passed its second reading without a vote and MPs have now moved on to more detailed scrutiny of the clauses of the bill in committee stage as a committee of the whole House. First up for debate are the clauses relating to VAT changes.
Robin Brant, BBC Political Correspondent
@robindbrant
tweets: seven officials from @Number10gov have turned up for this afternoon's lobby briefing, and that's not incl. PMOS, who has to be here
Reality Check
Rochdale asylum-seekers
BBCCopyright: BBC
At prime minister's questions, Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, said that there are more people seeking asylum in Rochdale than the whole of the south east. Is this correct?
The latest official figures from the Home Office show there are 880 people in Rochdale waiting for their asylum claim to be decided. This is indeed more than whole of the south east, which supported 446 asylum seekers across 67 local authorities. Rochdale local authority has the sixth highest number of asylum seekers in the UK, with the highest being in Glasgow which took in 2,792 people.
In his response to Simon Danczuk, David Cameron said the number of asylum seekers had dropped by a third since the peak under the Labour government. The peak in asylum applications was in 2002 when the figure stood at 84,132. In 2014, it dropped to 24,914 - a decrease of 70%.
'I only have one kitchen'
LBCCopyright: LBC
Miriam González Durántez, Nick Clegg's wife, has been interviewed by LBC's Shelagh Fogarty. Much of the interview was spent talking about her work trying to inspire women and tackle the lack of women in boardrooms. But there were inevitably some questions about her famous husband. Here are a few highlights:
Asked about her husband's enthusiasm for her croquetas, she said: "I feel at a disadvantage talking about the kitchens because I only have one kitchen. But when it comes to cooking there is no contest."
Her children's names - Antonio, Miguel and Alberto - were deliberately an attempt to make them feel Spanish: "They have Clegg afterwards, so that is to compensate!"
The Liberal Democrat leader is agnostic, but his children are being raised as Catholics. "I have faith and I have always thought that faith is a gift," Ms González Durantez says. "It has helped me in my own life to cope with some of the difficulties. When I lost my father it is what carried me through. I hope I can pass it on to my children, or at least I will try to… we are very tolerant generally of all faiths."
Meet the election's official artist
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBCCopyright: BBC
The general election campaign is to be officially chronicled by a modern-day William Hogarth, with the job going to artist Adam Dant. The fourth artist to be commissioned in this role by Parliament since 2001 will travel across Britain, sketching ordinary voters and electioneering politicians, and his work will join the Parliamentary Art Collection. He spoke to Jo Coburn on the Daily Politics about how he prepared for the role of election artist by drawing campaigners and voters in the days before the Scottish Referendum. Mr Dant said of the role: "It's a different way of recording an event than with an iPhone or a selfie stick." Watch their interview
Finance Bill: Debate underway
House of Commons
Parliament
In the Commons, MPs have moved on to the Finance Bill, which implements the changes announced by the Chancellor in last week's Budget. Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke set out the government's position, once again highlighting the key changes to taxes and duties announced last week.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie criticises the lack of a committee stage for this year's Finance Bill, leaving MPs only six hours to debate "131 complex clauses". This bill will no longer get the scrutiny it needs, he argues, while "many of these provisions could have been discussed, published and thought through at a more civilised pace."
Mr Gauke intervenes and points out that "it is necessary to pass a tax Finance Bill" after the Budget resolutions, which were passed yesterday. While he "shares the sense of loss" over the committee stage there was no time left in this Parliament, he says.
'Labour MPs won't tolerate concessions'
Labour MP Tom Harris has said on Twitter that the Parliamentary Labour Party "wouldn't tolerate giving them [The SNP] any concessions" if there is a hung Parliament after the election.
Labour has described Grant Shapps' appearance on the World at One earlier as a "car-crash". Mr Shapps, the Tory chairman, was put under pressure over his "over-firm" denial that he had a second job at the start of his parliamentary career (see 13:42 entry).
Here's what Jon Ashworth MP, Labour's shadow cabinet office minister, says: "After his car-crash interview, the unanswered questions for Grant Shapps are growing. Mr Shapps's constituent has now initiated legal action against the Tory Party Chairman. New revelations seem to emerge every day and these are allegations Grant Shapps cannot escape.
"If he is to stay in post, Grant Shapps must now tell us why he threatened a constituent with legal action based on a falsehood, why he covered up his second job for so long and whether he or the Conservative Party paid for his constituent to be bullied.
"David Cameron has so far looked the other way at serious allegations against Grant Shapps, but this taints the whole Tory Party, who always stand up for the wrong people."
'On the hoof'
The Lib Dems have put out a line echoing the language used by Labour MP John Mann - who was talking exclusively about David Cameron earlier - in response to Ed Balls' confirmation that Labour won't increase National Insurance Contributions. "Labour's economic credibility, if they had any left, is well and truly shot," a spokesperson said. "The two Eds want to run the country but they are clearly making up policy on the hoof."
Clegg backs all-women shortlists
Nick Clegg appears to have shifted his position on improving the diversity of his party's parliamentarians.
Back in November he told BBC3: "I've come to the view that if we don't make real progress in having more women elected as Liberal Democrat MPs at the next election, we might have to have think of a one-off way of cracking this problem and reserving some places for women in future."
Now that 'might' has turned into a 'should' - although he makes clear it's still his personal view, this looks like a distinctive move towards Lib Dem shortlists.
He said today in the Mumsnet webchat: "If that doesn't work and it continues to be this unrepresentative after the election, I personally think we should introduce quotas. That's my personal view - it may feel uncomfortable for some people in our party."
Too much Alex Salmond?
The Daily Telegraph
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
We've heard a lot from Alex Salmond over the last few days - he's said the SNP will try to topple a minority Conservative government and claimed he would help Ed Balls write his first Labour Budget. Over on the Telegraph, Iain Martin isn't impressed. The journalist writes it's impossible to avoid the former Scottish first minister at the moment and adds - "I cannot account for whatever is going on inside that great big head of a gifted man who used to have a greater grasp of reality." You can read his take here.
Balls on tax
BBC News Channel
Here's a bit more from our interview with Ed Balls in Parliament. "Out of the blue, in a panicky way, contradicting George Osborne yesterday, he [David Cameron] tried to make a promise on VAT," the shadow chancellor says. "It's a promise no-one in Britain will believe. The Tories raised VAT after the election time and time again, they'll do the same."
Mr Balls used the interview to say Labour would not raise national insurance contributions, after David Cameron repeatedly pressed Ed Miliband to rule out a Labour hike in the rate during PMQs. The shadow chancellor says he made that commitment clear in the Q&A after his speech yesterday. So why didn't Mr Miliband make that commitment in prime minister's questions? "It was for David Cameron to answer the questions," Mr Balls replies.
'A wall of noise'
The Independent
There's no doubt in John Rentoul's mind who won the final PMQs of the parliament. "As theatrical sucker punches go," he writes for the Independent, "it was one of the most successful I have seen in the House of Commons. Miliband, who has no lightness of touch, was simply unable to respond." The Labour leader's claim that no-one would believe David Cameron was said "underneath a wall of noise that had toppled on him". The prime minister, by contrast, was "floating on confidence". A fairly clear verdict, then.
Louise Mensch, former Tory MP
@LouiseMensch
tweets: Isn't there a marginal seat where J. Clarkson could make the difference? Cough Dudley North cough
Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor
@BBCNormanS
tweets: Labour say Ed Miliband did not rule out Nics rise cos PMQs "not right time" to make announcement
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: So do Tories and Labour BOTH have to junk elex posters now? Lucky they are mainly electronic these days not real and expensive
Balls deliver National Insurance pledge
BBCCopyright: BBC
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls says the Labour manifesto will make clear they would not increase National Insurance. There will "be a clear commitment from us on VAT, on the basic and higher rates of income tax and on National Insurance", he says.
Tory argument 'constitutionally-illiterate'
PACopyright: PA
Over on the Spectator, Alex Massie has been looking at the Conservative response to Alex Salmond saying the SNP would vote against a minority Conservative government. He takes Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, to task over his claims Mr Salmond "is threatening to undermine a government chosen by the British people". Mr Massie describes the argument as "constitutionally-illiterate" and says his approach "feeds the SNP beast". More here.
Balls' National Insurance pledge
Ed Balls has made clear he won't be increasing National Insurance Contributions in the next parliament. He made the pledge to the BBC after a PMQs in which David Cameron heaped pressure on Ed Miliband to explicitly reject increasing the rate. "We will make it clear in our manifesto that Labour will not in the next parliament be raising National Insurance," the shadow chancellor told the BBC's Norman Smith.
BreakingBreaking News
Ed Balls has ruled out Labour increasing National Insurance after the general election.
Clegg on Mumsnet
Shea Wong / TwitterCopyright: Shea Wong / Twitter
Nick Clegg is on Mumsnet answering questions. Here are some of the highlights so far:
Asked about hung parliaments, he says: "The era of single party government is probably over, long term. Coalition government is becoming more likely - so all parties need to decide which policies they will dig their heels in on."
On tuition fees, he is fatalistic: "If there's one policy you don't implement that's what people will remember. There's no point me whinging about that."
On benefit sanctions, he says he's "uncomfortable", adding: "I think they're a bit too trigger-happy; the guillotine comes down too quickly."
And how about his approach to coalition talks? "It's not a matter of personal whim; we did what we did because it was the only way the numbers would add up to a government. It will be the same this time around; perhaps only one combination of parties will give a stable government - that will be the starting point for it all."
BBC Reality Check
@bbcrealitycheck
tweets: ONS confirms @David_Cameron figures at #PMQs that employment in Scotland has risen by 174,000 since 2010.
Lib Dems on PMQs
The Liberal Democrats' Lord Scriven has commented on today's PMQs. Here's his verdict: "Under our plan to finish the job of balancing the books there is no need to increase Income Tax, VAT, National Insurance or Corporation Tax. Ed Miliband had one final chance today to prove his economic credentials and he fluffed it. He can't rule out a rise in National Insurance because Labour's only financial strategy is to pile yet more money onto the nation's credit card."
'I was foolish'
The Huffington Post
BBCCopyright: BBC
Afzal Amin, who until the start of this week was the Conservative candidate in Dudley North, has blogged for the Huffington Post after his resignation. Mr Amin was accused of attempting to form a plot with the EDL in which they would announce a march in the Dudley North constituency and he would take credit when it was scrapped. "Having to accept that I was the victim of a year-long sting operation by men with pernicious desires to twist the words I've spoken into traps for others is not easy," he writes.
Grant Shapps is under pressure on the World at One over his "over-firm" denial that he had a second job at the start of his parliamentary career. "I got the date wrong, and because I did I fully said I got the date wrong," he says. "I've been totally clear about it, I misremembered the date." He accuses Labour of "stirring it up" and points out his additional work was registered publicly at the time.
Andrew Lansley, the former Cabinet minister, tells the World at One he thinks anyone standing for parliament needs to think twice about it because of their relatively low pay. "Frankly if you didn't want to be an MP you're best off not doing it because it's not the best thing to do in terms of your health or wealth," Mr Lansley said. "Overwhelmingly MPs that I know would be earning more if they were not MPs."
David Cameron's VAT announcement is forcing the other parties to clarify their own tax plans. Here's the positions of some of the other MPs appearing on The World at One:
Liberal Democrat Justice Minister Simon Hughes says the Liberal Democrats have "no plans" to raise VAT.
Mary Creagh, the shadow international development secretary, says Labour has "no plans" to raise national insurance contributions
The SNP's Angus Robertson makes clear the SNP "voted against austerity". He prefers to save money by cancelling Trident rather than raising taxes.
MPs are debating PMQs - and in particular the VAT announcement from David Cameron. "We don't need to raise taxes with our plans," Conservative chairman Grant Shapps tells the World at One. "We've explained what we want to do going forward to finish off paying down the deficit. The truth is that there it was - VAT will not be raised. Now we want to hear whether Labour can rule out their jobs tax."
This was absolutely not the final PMQs of this parliament that Ed Miliband would have wanted. He was frankly badly wrong-footed. You could see the Tory benches erupt and the Labour benches deflate with this surprise bolt from the blue announcement. Yesterday the Chancellor George Osborne, when he appeared before the Treasury Select Committee, repeatedly refused to promise not to raise VAT. Senior Tories are now saying that was all a bit of bait to lure Mr Miliband into asking the VAT question at PMQs. And when he did the trap closed very painfully on Mr Miliband's ankle.
Ed Miliband, Labour leader
@Ed_Miliband
tweets: No one will believe the PM on VAT after he said they weren't going to raise it in 2010, and then put it up a few weeks later. #PMQs
David Cameron, Prime Minister
@David_Cameron
tweets: I've ruled out raising VAT. Why won't Ed Miliband rule out raising National Insurance contributions? Labour always puts up the Jobs Tax.
and: A hike in National Insurance - the Jobs Tax - would cost jobs and hit hardworking families. But Ed Miliband will not rule it out. #PMQs
Have Your Say
Following a dramatic final PMQs of the parliament, here's some of your comments on how it went:
Has anyone considered the possibility that the reason George Osborne didn't give an answer about VAT yesterday was he didn't want to minimise the impact of David Cameron's announcement today? Am sure he wouldn't make an announcement like that without the Chancellor knowing about it.
Carol, Peterborough
Very confused, PMQs I thought the prime minister answered questions not asked them, opposition asks questions, prime minister answers them.
Dave Newman
So good to see that the Tories are gaining in confidence, the VAT trap was executed in true style. Cheer up Ed maybe Alex Salmond can take Labour into the next election.
Darren Brown
I thought governing this country was a serious matter, David Cameron makes a mockery of this system by refusing to answer any questions put to him and Ed Milliband is not a lot better,
John Archibald
Send your comments over to politics@bbc.co.uk and we'll put some more up later this afternoon.
Marathon MPs
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBCCopyright: BBC
It's the London Marathon on 26 April - horribly close to election day, but that isn't stopping four Conservative and one Labour MPs from taking part to raise money for charity. Richard Drax, Edward Timpson, Alun Cairns, Graham Evans and Dan Jarvis have been interviewed - in their jogging gear - on the Daily Politics.
Cameron mix up on 'MP standing down'
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBCCopyright: BBC
Here's the moment where the prime minister appeared to mistime his tribute to Labour MP Michael Connarty who asked him a question at PMQs about timeshares. He asked to "re-phrase" that, and told MPs it was his 146th PMQs session, and his team "normally get these things right". The prime minister then wished the Linlithgow MP well for the campaign, and pledged to "write to him either his capacity as an MP, or whatever it is after the election". Watch the clip from PMQs
'Not on the hoof'
BBC News Channel
Labour MP John Mann thinks he knows who's behind the PM's VAT pledge from this lunchtime's PMQs. "I suspect that Mr Lynton Crosby, the spin doctor, has been at work overnight," he tells the BBC News Channel. Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi disagrees. "The prime minister doesn't make these pledges on the hoof," he says. He says there's "no way" David Cameron would make such a pledge without first consulting George Osborne.
VAT move 'extraordinary'
BBC News Channel
BBCCopyright: BBC
"Talk about policymaking on the hoof," says Labour's John Mann on the BBC News Channel. He had pressed George Osborne five times about the issue at the Treasury Select Committee meeting yesterday. The Chancellor repeatedly refused to rule it out, but in PMQs today that's all changed. "It is extraordinary that the man who's just done the Budget, who's added up the figures for the government and for the Conservative Party, isn't prepared to rule out a VAT increase, and then overnight the prime minister who doesn't do those figures is announcing it. Where's the gap in funding?"
Happy Cameron?
Daily and Sunday Politics
James Landale thinks David Cameron will be "very happy" with that PMQs. He says the PM had a tough start to the week but he used a policy announcement to turn the pressure back on Labour. And the Conservative backbenchers seemed to have "a slightly bigger spring in their step" than Labour MPs, he notes.
VAT surprise
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBCCopyright: BBC
Conservative Treasury minister Priti Patel is asked if she knew David Cameron was going to rule out a VAT rise today. "No, that was the first I heard of it today," she says. "But I'm pleased," she adds, noting that only earlier in the programme she had said the party had no plans to raise VAT. And the prime minister's confirmed that, she adds.
Louise Davies Jones
@WeezyDJ2
tweets: If Members are going to play #PMQs bingo, could we all have a sheet and join in too? After all, we've paid for the game.
National Insurance
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBCCopyright: BBC
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna is under pressure on the Daily Politics to categorically rule out raising national insurance contributions. "It is not our policy to increase national insurance… we haven't gone into politics to tax people. What we want to do is reduce people's taxes," he replies - without categorically ruling it out.
Alberto Nardelli, Guardian Data Editor
@AlbertoNardelli
tweets: Big winner of final #PMQs of this parliament: @AlexSalmond
PMQs analysis
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBC deputy political editor James Landale says the Conservatives seemingly set the trap for Labour to go on VAT at Prime Minister's Questions, and will hope it has been sprung. While they couldn't rely on Labour running with the question, they had the bullet to fire.
Pic: Michael Connarty
BBCCopyright: BBC
Labour's Michael Connarty sees the funny side after the PM pays tribute to him as a retiring MP. He's not standing down, he points out to laugher across the Commons.Image caption: Labour's Michael Connarty sees the funny side after the PM pays tribute to him as a retiring MP. He's not standing down, he points out to laugher across the Commons.
Pic: Charlotte Leslie asking about NHS report
BBCCopyright: BBC
The final question
House of Commons
Parliament
The last question of the last PMQs of the 2010-15 parliament falls to Tory MP and historian Chris Skidmore, who asks about... the possibility of an M4 link. David Cameron diverts his answer to focus on Mr Skidmore's historical background and notes the Richard III burial taking place this week. He says this was the last time one of our leaders "did in his relatives" and "left the country in chaos" - a not-very-veiled reference to Ed Miliband's leadership triumph over his brother David. The government benches love it, yelling "more!" But the Speaker calls 'order' and it's all over.
Who's the lame duck?
House of Commons
Parliament
Is the prime minister a lame duck? asks Labour's Stephen Pound. Mr Cameron says he'll tell him what a lame duck is - trying to get into Downing Street on the back of Alex Salmond's coattails (which he claims Labour is trying to do). "Never mind the talk of ducks, I'm looking at Alex Salmond's poodle," he says of Ed Miliband. Cue "woof woofs" being shouted from Conservative MPs. His party liked that one.
Pic: The Government benches
BBCCopyright: BBC
VAT v tax bombshell
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's York Central MP Sir Hugh Bayley asks the prime minister why anyone should believe his promise not to raise VAT after the election. David Cameron says he has "given the straightest possible answer". He claims Labour is planning a "tax bombshell" if it wins power, with increases in national insurance.
'Quieten down'
House of Commons
Parliament
Nigel Mills, the Tory MP for Amber Valley, continues the unexpected transport theme by worrying about noise reduction measures from a local road. Even more unusually, David Cameron takes the opportunity to appeal for a bit more calm in the Commons chamber too. "Today is a good day to discuss noise pollution," he says. "I think it's very appropriate that we quieten down and think about the issue for a minute."
Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor
@bbcnickrobinson
tweets: Well well well. PM ruling out VAT rise is a big story but one for others to tell you about...back to R & R for me #PMQs
Pic: A packed Commons
BBCCopyright: BBC
Missing the nationalists
House of Commons
Parliament
Plaid MP Elfyn Llwyd gets a few 'ahs' from MPs as he tells them this is his last PMQs. He raises the possibility of Alex Salmond taking his place, though. Which one will David Cameron miss more? "I was quite looking forward to missing you both," Mr Cameron replies.
NHS report 'held back'
House of Commons
Parliament
There's certainly a jovial mood in the House of Commons today, particularly on the Conservative benches. Charlotte Leslie MP stands to noises of encouragement from her fellow Tory MPs. She uses her question to accuse Labour of undermining the scrutiny role of select committees by "refusing" to discuss a draft committee report on health reforms. David Cameron says the report has been held back because Labour MPs don't want to tell the truth about the NHS, they only want to "weaponise it". It's "disgraceful," he adds.
Liam Kirkaldy, Holyrood journalist
@HolyroodLiam
tweets: From now on I plan to respond to any question from a colleague with, "First of all, let me pay tribute to the work you do" #pmqs
A misplaced tribute
House of Commons
Parliament
"SNP gain!" an MP yells out as Michael Connarty, the Labour MP for Linlithgow, stands up. That gets a rebuke from the Speaker. Mr Connarty's question is about a constituency's property headache. Mr Cameron pays tribute to Mr Connarty for standing down at the next election. But he isn't. Awkward! There's a lot of laughter in the Commons at that. The PM finishes his answer by saying: "I'll write to him in my capacity as an MP, or whatever it is after the election!"
Tim Montgomerie, The Times
@montie
tweets: A question from @SimonDanczuk was a gift but Cameron really on top form #PMQs
John Rentoul, Independent on Sunday
@JohnRentoul
tweets: EdM did have a plan for Cam's surprise: "no one believes him". Trouble is it was rubbish. @benrathe @chrisdeerin #PMQs
Green sun
House of Commons
Parliament
Green MP Caroline Lucas says she agrees with the PM that the "sun shines bright green" on Brighton - presumably she doesn't mean that literally. She's also raising a commuter railway issue - is this PMQs going off the rails? David Cameron points out that the local Green council is "incapable of emptying people's dustbins".
Claimant count
House of Commons
Parliament
Huge cheers for Simon Kirby from his Conservative colleagues as he rises to speak. He managed to get the Tories favourite phrase "long-term economic plan" into his question early on. He cites positive economic figures in his Brighton constituency, and asks the PM if he thinks the sun will continue to shine on the seaside town. Mr Cameron pays tribute to the MP, and notes the claimant count in Brighton has dropped 52% since the last election.
London Bridge station
House of Commons
Parliament
Jim Dowd, the Labour MP for Lewisham West, is fed up with the "abysmal service" at London Bridge station. It's a "debacle", he says - and goes so far as to call for a compensation scheme. "The pressures are immense," David Cameron replies. "You cannot criticise this government for failing to invest in London's transport infrastructure," he adds. No word on compensation for commuters, though.
Labour 'taken hostage'
House of Commons
Parliament
In response to a question from Conservative backbencher Pauline Latham about Alex Salmond, David Cameron says the former Scottish first minister has taken the entire Labour party "hostage". The "ransom note" calls for higher borrowing unfettered welfare and weaker defence, among other things, he adds.
On the right track?
House of Commons
Parliament
Richard Drax, the South Dorset Tory, wants more than the £50m rail infrastructure improvement scheme for South West trains. "I believe this government has done right by the South West," the PM replies.
James Kirkup, Daily Telegraph
@jameskirkup
tweets: #pmqs is a perfect illustration of sentiment in big parties: Tories confident, Labour gloomy. Arguably both irrational, given the polls.
PMQs bingo
House of Commons
Parliament
Heather Wheeler, the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, triggers some Tory cheers as she cites a fall in unemployment in her constituency. For anyone playing PMQs bingo, she also gets in the phrase "long-term economic plan". Cue more vocal Conservative approval.
Sam Macrory, BBC News
@sammacrory
tweets: Cameron beaming. Cameron family beaming. #pmqs looked like it cheered Nancy up after her Clarkson-gate inspired hunger strike.
David Wooding, The Sun
@DavidWooding
tweets: Bad move by Miliband challenging Cameron on VAT. The PM gives a straight "no" and is haranguing Ed in Nat Ins but he won't answer. #pmqs
Mark Ferguson, Labour List
@Markfergusonuk
tweets: Well that wasn't Ed's best #PMQs. Cameron answered the first question and Miliband never really got back on the front foot
Defibrillators
House of Commons
Parliament
Simon Wright is the Lib Dem MP who immediately follows Ed Miliband. The volume in the chamber suddenly falls as he raises the case of a mother who lost her three-month-old baby because of a rare heart condition. "There's nothing more heartbreaking than losing a child," David Cameron replies. He says the Budget featured more money for defibrillators.
Pic: Ed Miliband
BBCCopyright: BBC
The last exchanges
House of Commons
Parliament
David Cameron says his party has made his promises on not raising taxes and says the choice for voters is between competence under the Conservatives and chaos under Labour. Mr Miliband says the government has been "of the few for the few" and it's time for a better plan with a Labour government.
Cameron hits back
Mr Cameron responds with a defence of his government's record on the NHS. He says Mr Miliband has had five years to come up with an economic plan and demonstrate some leadership, but he says he has failed on every count.
Miliband on the attack
House of Commons
Parliament
Mr Miliband accuses the prime minister of wanting to cut the health service and says no-one will believe what Mr Cameron promises on VAT or the NHS because he has broken all his previous pledges. He asks the PM to rule out any further cuts in the top rate of income tax.
Labour National Insurance rise?
House of Commons
Parliament
Mr Miliband quotes statistics which he says show Conservative spending cuts after the election would be greater than anything seen in the last five years. Mr Cameron says he is wrong - and repeats his questions to the Labour leader about national insurance rises, claiming it is Labour's "job's tax".
Jane Merrick, The Independent
@janemerrick23
tweets: I wonder whether David Cameron is regretting boycotting a 2-way debate with Ed Miliband because he's winning this one #pmqs
James Chapman, Daily Mail
@jameschappers
tweets: Cameron pulls the rug from under Miliband by categorically ruling out VAT rise #pmqs
Cameron's VAT pledge
House of Commons
Parliament
Yesterday shadow chancellor Ed Balls travelled to Birmingham to pledge that Labour wouldn't increase VAT in the next parliament. The move was intended as a dividing line against the Tories, who Labour suggested would have to either raise taxes elsewhere as a result. By making clear that David Cameron has ruled out a VAT hike too, the PM has delighted Conservative MPs.
Mark Wallace, Conservative Home
@wallaceme
tweets: AMBUSH. Cameron rules out VAT rise. Osborne didn't yesterday. They tempted Miliband into the trap and he fell right in. #PMQs
Tax and spending plans
House of Commons
Parliament
Mr Miliband responds by saying that no-one will believe Mr Cameron and goes on to press him over the Conservatives' spending cut plans. But David Cameron has a question of his own - will Ed Miliband rule out rises in national insurance contributions? Mr Miliband says Mr Cameron will have plenty of time to ask questions "after May 7" - implying he will be in opposition by then.
VAT rise ruled out
House of Commons
Parliament
Turning to his questioning of the prime minister, Mr Miliband references the PM's announcement on his "retirement plans" in 2020. He quotes the PM as saying he believed in giving straight answers to straight questions. Mr Miliband jokes that after five years of PMQs "that was music to my ears". He then asks the PM to rule out a rise in VAT. In answer to the question, Mr Cameron says: "Yes." There are huge cheers from the Tory benches.
Vicki Young, BBC News
@VickiYoung01
tweets: Murmurs of yes from our 1st time voters as Lab MP says dark future for young people #PMQs
Miliband tribute
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour leader Ed Miliband is on his feet, and begins by endorsing the prime minister's comments on victims on contaminated blood. He also echoes the prime minister's earlier tributes to those who died in the Alps plane crash.
Pic: David Cameron in action
BBCCopyright: BBC
Jane Merrick, The Independent
@janemerrick23
Nancy Cameron is cheering her Dad along with Tory MPs. Future leader of the Conservative Party? #pmqs
Contaminated blood: PM apologises
House of Commons
Parliament
Rory Stewart raises the contaminated blood story. David Cameron says MPs on all sides of the Commons have raised the issue. He says the next government will have to deal with the issue - but says it's right "we use this moment" to take stock. And he apologises on behalf of the government.
Youthful prospects
House of Commons
Parliament
Ann McKechin suggests to the PM, in the session's opening question, that prospects for the young are looking rather dark. David Cameron responds by saying things are working out in Scotland, pointing to improved unemployment stats in her constituency.
Alps air crash
David Cameron begins by speaking of the Germanwings air crash. He says he's spoken to Germany's Angela Merkel and Spain's Mariana Rajoy. He tells MPs he "made clear the UK is ready to offer any assistance we can".
Julian Huppert, Lib Dem MP
@julianhuppert
tweets: In the Chamber for #PMQs ... Still looking for some good ideas for a question! #fb
... And we're off
House of Commons
Parliament
Big Ben has bonged 12 in Westminster - and the final PMQs of the parliament gets under way with raucous cheers from MPs.
Landale's punt
BBC Deputy Political Editor James Landale was "taking a punt" when he asked David Cameron if he would serve a third term, he tells the Daily Politics. He thinks Ed Miliband might go on Mr Cameron's future plans at Prime Minister's Questions.
'Real Conservative government'
House of Commons
Parliament
Senior Conservative MP and member of the awkward squad Christopher Chope asks what more Francis Maude could have achieved if he'd been part of a "real conservative government" and not part of a coalition. Francis Maude replies that the Cabinet Office have actually achieved a "huge amount" in coalition and pays tribute to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander.
On the PMQs list
Today's Commons business papers provide a handy list of who's going to be asking questions: among those on the list are Defence Committee Chair Rory Stewart, the Greens' Caroline Lucas and Labour's Simon Danczuk - who's been rather outspoken in his views on Ed Miliband this week.
Tony McNulty, ex Labour MP
@Tony_McNulty
tweets: Might it be the Speaker's last #PMQs as well? Just asking....
Praise for Francis Maude
House of Commons
Parliament
Several Conservative MPs are turning Francis Maude's last questions session before retiring as an MP into a victory lap and using their question to thank him for his five year term as minister for the Cabinet Office. Conservative chair of the Public Administration Committee Bernard Jenkin says Sir Francis will "have truly left its mark not just on the civil service but in this house" and says his "tenacity commitment and sincerity are of great credit to him".
Adel Darwish, political commentator
@AdelDarwish
tweets: any bets on how many "kitchen", " Lame Duck" & "2nd term" puns will be in the last #PMQs in this parliament?
Charlotte Leslie, Tory MP
@CLeslieMP
tweets: Asking one of the last #PMQs of the Parliamentary Term....
Carolyn Quinn, Radio 4 presenter
@carolynquinncq
tweets: Samantha Cameron & 2 younger children are in the gallery to watch last PMQs before general election
Tony Grew, Commons journalist
@ayestotheright
tweets: Bit of frontbench musical chairs going on before #PMQs making sure some women cabinet ministers visible
Umunna slams Salmond
Daily and Sunday Politics
On the Daily Politics, Chuka Umunna says it is "distasteful and hubristic" of Alex Salmond to try and dictate the terms of the general election, saying it should be up to voters. Mr Salmond says he would work with Labour to scupper a Tory minority government.
'No question of injustice'
House of Commons
Parliament
BBCCopyright: BBC
Policy Minister Oliver Letwin replies that Mr Anderson is "unaware of the actual situation". Any papers "kept back on security grounds" have already been handed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission who are conducting their own investigation, he tells MPs, so there is "no question of any injustice of the kind he suggests taking place". Mr Letwin adds that if he is still on his role after the general election he will seek to "expedite the review".
Tory wobble?
Are the wheels coming off the Conservative election campaign, asks Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics. Conservative MP Priti Patel defends the PM and says her party is going all out to win the election.
'Shrewsbury 24' papers
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's David Anderson is on his feet urging the government to release papers on a 1972 strike which led to six pickets being jailed, among them actor Ricky Tomlinson. On 23 January 2014 MPs voted by 120 to three to call on the government to release the papers, but Mr Anderson accuses the government of "blocking" their release "to protect Tory ministers from 40 years ago" and "sending innocent men to their graves as convicted criminals". Campaigners want to quash convictions against 24 men - the "Shrewsbury 24" - who were accused of violent picketing and intimidating workers in Shropshire, in 1972.
VAT?
Daily and Sunday Politics
"We don't need to increase VAT, that is not in the plan," Conservative MP Priti Patel tells the BBC's Daily Politics. Labour's claims to the contrary are "a complete distortion". She declines to give a "cast iron guarantee". This is seized on by Labour's Chuka Umunna, but he uses a similar form of words when asked to rule out a rise in National Insurance. Labour has no plans to do that, he says.
Cabinet Office questions
House of Commons
Parliament
Proceedings in the House of Commons have just got under way with questions to Minster for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude and his ministerial team. Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland has the first question, asking about what steps are being taken to support small businesses through public procurement. He argues there needs to be a "culture change" in the civil service to open up the system.
Vicki Young, chief political correspondent
@vickiYoung01
tweets: We've left Westminster to watch last #PMQs with 1st time voters in Birmingham part of BBC's #generation2015
BBCCopyright: BBC
'Unwanted child'
UKIP is the "unplanned, unwanted child" of the Conservative/Lib Dem marriage, according to the co-author of a new book on five years of coalition government. "UKIP is the real coalition effect; an anti-politics party which has seized on the resentment of a disaffected public in the post-expenses era. It is the coalition's tearaway child," writes Mike Finn. The Coalition Effect 2010-2015, by Mr Finn and Anthony Seldon is published on Thursday.
Final PMQs - the stats
The clock is ticking down to the final Prime Minister's Questions before the general election. For the stattos amongst us, this will be the 162nd session since the coalition government came to power in 2010. David Cameron has been present on 151 occasions during the past five years, with other ministers deputising 11 times. Mr Cameron is not quite the most scrupulous of PMs when it comes to the weekly session. Tony Blair has the best attendance record since 1979, making it to 95% of sessions between 1997 and 2007.
Best of PMQs from last five years?
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBCCopyright: BBC
As MPs get ready for the final PMQs of the current Parliament, BBC archives recall some of the highlights of the last five years. David Cameron and Ed Miliband have dominated the proceedings but other MPs have also popped up with a few sound bites, planted questions, funny and serious lines of their own. And the Speaker has been there to try and keep them in order, and urge them to keep it quiet. Watch some of those highlights here
Grill Hague
William Hague will be answering your questions on the BBC News Channel shortly. You can still get a query in to the former Conservative leader, who is standing down as an MP at the general election, by using the hashtag #BBCAskThis on Twitter.
Jobs pledge
Jim Murphy is pledging to invest £1bn in a jobs guarantee for 5,000 Scots aged 18-24, in a speech in the City of London. The package would be funded by UK Labour's plans to reintroduce a tax on bankers' bonuses and cut pension tax relief for those on high incomes. The SNP is calling it an "empty promise". Read more here.
Murphy hits out
Labour's leader in Scotland, Jim Murphy, wades into the row over Alex Salmond's pledge to bring down a Tory minority government if he could. Mr Murphy accuses the SNP of being David Cameron's little helpers. He insists the only party that can get rid of the Conservatives is Labour - and the more SNP MPs that are elected, the better Mr Cameron's chances of hanging on to power. This is starting to get complicated...
Social media election?
BBCCopyright: BBC
YouGov polling guru Stephan Shakespeare pours cold water on the idea that this will be a "social media election", saying the parties are not sophisticated enough in their use of Twitter and Facebook and are effectively using them to "deliver leaflets". He also points to research suggesting Jim Davidson (pictured above) is the favourite comedian of UKIP supporters in a speech to an advertising industry conference.
Have Your Say
Here's some of the comments that have landed in our inbox this morning:
I hope they allow Sir Peter Tapsell a question at his last PMQs. A last chance for a sensible question. Perhaps he might actually get an answer.
Graham Brown
If, as is often said, '24 hours is a long time in politics', then 5 years is a lifetime! Much media ado about nothing!
Graeme Lowe
What we can expect to see here is Alex Salmond block the Conservatives and then use this as a lever to get a large amount of concessions out of Labour by threatening to do the same thing to them. It is a tactic driven by self interest with no regard to the damage it will do both North and South of the border.
Terra Tkai
Click on the 'get involved' tab above to find out how you can contact us and we'll put up a few more of your thoughts later.
Hague on Salmond
William Hague, the outgoing leader of the House, isn't impressed by Alex Salmond's pledge to deny the Conservatives the ability to govern as a minority in the event of a hung parliament. He tells Norman Smith: "What is clear from this now is you know what you get if you vote Labour: you get a weak Labour government, even if the Labour party had fewer seats than the Conservatives, propped up by Alex Salmond and at the mercy every day of Alex Salmond, who would be demanding higher immigration, higher welfare spending, higher taxes, weaker defences." There'll be more of Mr Hague at 11.30 when he'll be answering readers' questions from the #BBCAskThis hashtag.
Tony Grew, Commons journalist
@ayestotheright
tweets: Last #PMQs of this session! Exciting. Of course pretty much everything is 'last' at this stage in the parliament
Mary Macleod, Conservative MP
@MaryMacleodMP
tweets: Can hardly believe 5 years have gone by so quickly! Last #PMQs of this #Parliament today. Will be sitting in usual place, 2 rows behind PM
#BBCAskThis
BBCCopyright: BBC
Norman Smith will be interviewing William Hague, the former Conservative leader who's standing down from parliament, at 11.30. Tweet your questions to #BBCAskThis - and we'll keep you posted on what the leader of the House has to say ahead of his final PMQs as an MP.
Safety concerns
Asked if he is concerned about the safety of the Airbus A320, a commonly-used aircraft, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says: "It has a very good safety record and the normal aviation safety authorities will be looking at the fact of this case. They and the Department for Transport will take any action necessary."
Alps air crash
BBCCopyright: BBC
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has given a brief statement on the Alps jet crash, confirming at least three British people have lost their lives. He said: "The Germanwings accident is a terrible tragedy and I want to offer my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all those involved in the accident. We currently believe that three British people have been killed in this tragedy, but we can't rule out the possibility that further British people have been involved - the level of information on the flight manifest doesn't allow us to rule out that possibility until we've completed some further checks. We are in contact with the families known to have been killed." Here's our story.
Approval ratings
PACopyright: PA
The SNP is very happy to draw attention to today's YouGov/Sun polling showing that Nicola Sturgeon's net approval rating across the UK is +7, a long way ahead of her rival party leaders. "These figures underline that the SNP providing a strong voice for Scotland and helping deliver progressive policies across the whole UK is a winning formula among people in England as well as Scotland," deputy SNP leader Stewart Hosie says. Ms Sturgeon's numbers certainly compare well to the Westminster trio: David Cameron's net rating is -5, Ed Miliband's net rating is -39 and Nick Clegg's net rating is -47.
Leaving No 10
Retirement planning from within Downing Street never quite works out according to plan, Matthew Engel notes in his Financial Times sketch today. He points out that just one postwar prime minister has left No 10 voluntarily - Harold Wilson in 1976, whose decision appeared to be based on the fact his mind was going. "He was still thinking more clearly than the others," Mr Engel says. He believes the current man in Downing Street should have learned more from history and kept "schtum": "If David Cameron had thought at all, he has not thought sensibly."
CityHallLabour
@CityHallLabour
tweets: Not only the last pre-election #PMQs today but also last Mayor's Question Time. Boris to be grilled on Garden Bridge, crime rises and more.
The election according to Geordie Shore
MTV UKCopyright: MTV UK
Following Russell Brand's 2013 call on the electorate not to vote, another important figure from the celebrity commentariat has spoken out. Geordie Shore's Gaz Beadle gently suggests to the Sun Nation website that there needs to be greater attention paid to the political process in the nation's schools. "Even at year 11, even at year 10, just do a class a week on the Labour party and the Conservatives - do, like, mock elections in school," he says. "Then we'd understand it and when you actually leave school you'd know what you're doing and you'd know how to vote." Beadle's comments are not the first time he has spoken out about education. He has previously said on Geordie Shore: "I should have a degree in pulling women." Note for older readers: Geordie Shore is an MTV reality show about the exploits of young North Easterners.
Food banks
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Over the last five years Labour backbenchers have repeatedly returned to the same issue - food banks - in PMQs. Labour has pointed to figures from the Trussell Trust charity showing the number of people using food banks has increased from 41,000 in 2009-10 to 913,000 in 2013-14. Today Ed Miliband's party is unveiling its pledges to reduce the need for food banks through a range of measures, including coordinating the government's approach to food policy, tackling low pay and abolishing the "bedroom tax". "We want to make sure that nobody has to rely on food banks to put food on the table," shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves will say.
Conor Pope, LabourList blogger
@Conorpope
tweets: Nick Clegg is that one guy who didn't realise it's not the last day of parliament and non-uniform day until tomorrow
Beth Heath Netherton
@bethania_ezakia
tweets: Last PMQs today, fingers crossed it's like school Leavers and they all sign each other's shirts #PMQs
Sir James Spicer 1925-2015
The Daily Telegraph
The obituary of former Conservative MP Sir James Spicer, who became the party's vice-chairman in 1968, appears in today's Telegraph. Sir James was a staunch Tory but he is also remembered as the founder of the parliamentary gym. He kept fit throughout his life - and even swam the Thames for charity aged 69, drinking a pint of whisky to kill the germs. He told a health conference in Westminster after a colleague died of a heart attack aged 48: "Basically, MPs drink too much and do too little exercise."
Rarely a day seems to go by now without Alex Salmond riling, provoking, prodding politicians at Westminster - now he is trying to goad both the Conservatives and the Labour Party. His strategy is to say to Labour voters in Scotland "you can switch to the SNP because we can stop David Cameron becoming prime minister". The real fear of many Labour MPs is by doing so he aids and abets David Cameron in his strategy of trying to present Ed Miliband as being in the pocket of Alex Salmond.
Ian Birrell, columnist
@ianbirrell
tweets: Been sent a pic of Penrose Report into contaminated blood scandal. Shouldn't take too long to read - only 1,800 pages
TwitterCopyright: Twitter
Chris Ship, ITV News Deputy Political Editor
@chrisshipitv
tweets: Last #pmqs involving both Cameron and Miliband today. Whatever happens in 6 weeks time, one of them won't be their party leader any more
The curse of Clegg?
Nick Clegg has been attracting some stick this morning for "cursing" the English cricket team by wearing its kit. He was speaking on Sky earlier about mental health issues - but some on Twitter were more bothered by what he was wearing, as the Mirror's Owen Bennett points out. "Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for England cricket," one tweeter moans. Another says Clegg's choice of outfit "seems appropriate somehow, given respective failings". Liberal Democrat supporters will be hoping the England team's habit of collapsing without warning isn't reflected in the party's vote share on 7 May...
A 'tactical concession'
The Guardian
BBCCopyright: BBC
The idea that David Cameron's announcement he wouldn't seek a third term was a "statement of the bleeding obvious", as Michael Gove put it, is met with raised eyebrows by Rafael Behr in the Guardian. "It was obvious to the kind of person who runs war games of party leadership scenarios the way football fans study fixture lists to predict their team's progress," he writes. "That is not most people." Mr Behr's take on the PM's unexpected announcement is that it contains a "whiff of capitulation" to see off potential "regicidal rumblings" after the election. He suspects it was planned, too - because the Shredded Wheat simile "suggests attention to the nuance of how the message should be delivered".
Giles Dilnot, Daily Politics reporter
@reporterboy
tweets: I confess I don't have high hopes for this last PMQs and last two are my basis for that.
We're tremendously excited by today's PMQs, of course, but the pollsters on Today are telling us we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking it will actually influence the electorate. "It's about teeing up your troops at all - it's not about the voters," Deborah Mattinson of Britain Thinks says. Ben Page of Ipsos Mori agrees. "Most people aren't going to be listening to PMQs today," he adds. "The people who are paying attention are going to hear the same message over and over again, but it's wrong to say that the entire country are wracked with election fever."
Will David Cameron's third-term comments make much of a difference? Ben Page of Ipsos Mori doubts it. "It will add to the perception of arrogance but that isn't really moving the dial on the perception of parties," he says - because characteristics like competence and being good in a crisis, where Mr Cameron outperforms Ed Miliband, matter more. Deborah Mattinson of Britain Thinks says a third of her organisation's panel of undecided voters have said they've noticed the story however. "They're saying this does matter, they're feeling unsettled by it. It's playing to a negative view they already have of David Cameron."
So long, farewell
BBCCopyright: BBC
It may be the last Prime Minister's Questions of the parliament, but for many MPs it will be their last ever. More than 80 members are retiring from the House of Commons at the election, including political big hitters such as former Conservative leader William Hague, former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell. The Telegraph's Rosa Prince has been interviewing some of those who are bidding farewell.
'Last laugh'?
The Independent
John Mullin looks at the SNP's strengthening hand in Westminster politics - as he puts it - in an opinion piece for the Independent. He notes the party's four-fold increase in membership and opinion polls which suggest the SNP is on course to take most of Labour's Scottish seats. "Little wonder, then, that the SNP is pressing home its advantage," Mr Mullin writes. He says the party is having the last laugh, and enjoying giving Westminster a taste of its own medicine.
"Middle England might well be furious. But if the SNP can exploit this post-referendum chaos to push forward towards its existential goal, why ever would it not do so?"
'Crass, spin-driven stunts'
The Daily Mail
PACopyright: PA
David Cameron needs to get out of his kitchen and on to his soapbox, Amanda Platell urges in the Mail. She's not impressed by his penchant for PR stunts, from the Arctic huskies trip to last week's walk around Downing Street with a camera attached to his head. "Here's a plea from a loyal Tory before it's too late: stop patronising us, Dave," Ms Platell writes. "Cease these silly PR stunts and get on with the hard work of winning our support." Not that he needs to do much work to win this particular columnist over, mind. She adds: "The alternative - a government run by a callow quasi-Marxist — is unthinkable."
Cricketer Clegg
Sky News
Sky NewsCopyright: Sky News
Nick Clegg is on Sky dressed as a cricketer at The Oval. No, you're not going mad. England doesn't have a new deputy opening batsman. He's launching a mental health initiative and highlighting the fact that the issue has been "brushed under the carpet" in elite sports like cricket as elsewhere. "Sportswomen and men are well attuned to talking about the physical issues which surround their sporting prowess, but there are often very significant mental health issues that aren't talked about openly. The more that is done the more it will serve people well in the future." Cricketers like Jonathan Trott, Marcus Trescothick and Steve Harmison have previously been very open about their "stresses and strains", as the Lib Dem leader puts it.
Future leaders?
The Daily Telegraph
There's a large dose of scepticism from the Telegraph's James Kirkup about the prospects of David Cameron actually making it through to 2020. "Even Mr Cameron's friends expect that his end would come quickly after any EU vote, whatever its outcome," he writes. If it does happen as the PM plans, though, he suggests it would be sensible to look beyond Theresa May, George Osborne and Boris Johnson as potential successors. Mr Kirkup offers a wide range of alternatives: from relatively new Cabinet arrivals Sajid Javid and Nicky Morgan, via junior ministers like Esther McVey and Dan Poulter, to relative unknowns like backbencher Philip Lee and Mr Osborne's chief economic adviser Rupert Harrison. It all feels rather speculative, he notes. "All this, of course, rests on that opening assumption of Tory victory in this year's general election, a victory that is still far from certain."
Paul Waugh, PoliticsHome editor
@paulwaugh
tweets: Grant Shapps tells me: "Alex Salmond is threatening to undermine a Government chosen by the British people..." [1/2]
and: Shapps: "This is a man who lost his battle in Scotland but is now determined to bring chaos and insecurity to the rest of the country" [2/2]
Jim Murphy speech
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy is to make a speech in London a little later, in which he will unveil plans to create 5,000 jobs for young people in Scotland through taxes most raised in the City of London. Mr Murphy will say £1bn worth of taxes raised from bank bonuses will help fund a "Scottish Jobs Guarantee". Read more here.
Poll stalemate
YouGovCopyright: YouGov
Looking back at the last three months it seems nothing much has changed, as this graph of the parties' polling from YouGov/Sun suggests. What was a dead heat in January remains a dead heat today - although Labour and the Conservatives seem to be slowly squeezing UKIP of support. Today Nigel Farage's party is down to 12%, compared to the two main parties' deadlock on 35%.
Third-term views
The Sun
David Cameron was right to speak out about a third term, The Sun newspaper suggests this morning. It's published a poll which finds 55% of voters back the PM, while a fifth of voters now think more of him too. That certainly reflects the majority of comments we received yesterday supporting Mr Cameron's announcement that he wouldn't seek re-election in 2020. Do send in your comments today to politics@bbc.co.uk and we'll publish a selection of them later.
Laura Kuenssberg, BBC Newsnight chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: Morning - last PMQs of the parliament today, end of an era! Possibly the last for one of the leaders..... Maybe more than one
It must be love?
The Guardian
APCopyright: AP
There's a rather striking conclusion to Guardian sketchwriter John Crace's article looking back at five years of the Cameron-Miliband PMQs clashes. He starts by suggesting that things have got a bit stale: "What began with some purpose when they first squared up to each other more than four and half years ago has long since descended into a punch-drunk pantomime stalemate." But what's caused this deadlock? Mr Crace's theory is that "the big untold story of PMQs… is one of love. The reason Dave and Ed just can't land a killer blow on each other is because the bond between them is too strong. They both need the other to look good."
Gill Fyffe, who was infected with Hepatitis C following a blood transfusion after giving birth, tells Today that accountability is important for transfusion victims. "I don't think we can fix what happens for the thousands of people who have been made ill, or suffered or who have died," she says ahead of publication of Lord Penrose's inquiry report into the use of contaminated blood products by the NHS later. "But what we can do is make sure in the future when mistakes are made… it would be great if it were easier for mistakes to be acknowledged immediately. It shows respect to the people who are left to deal with the consequences of the mistakes and it lessens their burden as they don't need to fight for recognition, they don't need to fight for help."
Rupert Myers, British GQ Political Correspondent
@RupertMyers
tweets: The narrative of the Presidential contest slowly winning vs small parties? YouGov/Sun: Con 35%, Lab 35%, Ukip 12%, Lib Dem 8%,%, Green 6%
Obesity approach 'inexplicable'
PACopyright: PA
MPs on the Health Select Committee have criticised the NHS's approach to obesity as "inexplicable". They say the NHS in England spends more on bariatric surgery than well-established measures to prevent obesity - and that health workers should use every opportunity to deal with the problem. Urgent steps are needed to help people understand the wider health benefits of physical activity, the committee's report adds. More here.
Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor
@BBCNormanS
tweets: Interviewing William Hague at 11.30 today as he prepares to step down after 25 years in Parliament. Send any questions to #BBCAskThis
Alison White, registrar of the new Register of Consultant Lobbyists, doesn't give much away about her own views on the effectiveness of the system she's overseeing from today. She acknowledges that "the legislation was quite narrowly drafted to address a particular issue". But it seems being a lobbying registrar doesn't mix well with doing actual lobbying to change the rules about lobbying. "It's not my role to lobby for change to the legislation itself," she says. Instead she'll be focused on spending her days "implementing the legislation that's there" with "extreme verve and vigour".
Double act
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is going to be grilled by Mumsnetters from 12.45pm this afternoon, in a live Q&A. His wife, lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, will also be making a media appearance - on LBC, where she'll be interviewed by Shelagh Fogarty at 2.30pm.
Today sees the statutory register of lobbyists come into force. It's been heavily criticised by some - and Tamasin Cave of Spinwatch has been among its most vocal critics. She tells the Today programme that "the register has loopholes built into it so hardly anybody in the industry is going to be covered". The other problem is it won't show the interactions between lobbyists and government, "and that's what a register is for".
Shredded Wheat politics
The Times
ThinkstockCopyright: Thinkstock
Matthew Parris, never one to let his cereal go soggy, has delved into the PM's thinking behind his Shredded Wheat analogy in his James Landale interview. "Terms are like Shredded Wheat - two are wonderful but three might just be too many," the PM said. Mr Parris is confused but plucky in his efforts to work out what David Cameron meant. "Slim Weetabix" is "naughty but nice", whereas the "massive" Shredded Wheat biscuits are just "gross", he suggests. "Or did he perhaps mean the mini-biscuit version of Shredded Wheat? In that case three would be pathetically few. We are left to guess. How Confucian is modern politics." And how enduring is the marketing power of Shredded Wheat, the BBC's Magazine Monitor points out.
Clive Coleman, BBC legal correspondent
@colemancr
tweets: This is big thinking. Goes to heart of doctrine of the primacy of the jury, but is to address cases where it looks like jury made big error
Today in the Commons
House of Commons
Parliament
So, what's coming up in the House of Commons today? Well, it's a busy day which kicks off at 11.30 GMT with questions to Cabinet Office ministers. That'll take us up to PMQs at noon, after which - provided there are no urgent questions or statements - Labour MP Fiona O'Donnell will propose a bill on tax transparency and international development.
The main business is dedicated to scrutiny of the Budget-enacting Finance Bill, which will go through all its stages this afternoon. MPs will also consider a motion on terrorism and, if necessary, any Lords amendments to government bills. Gordon Marsden, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, closes the day with a short debate on social care and military compensation.
Lord Hollick, chairman of the House of Lords committee which has found there's no "convincing case" for the HS2 rail link, is on the Today programme suggesting there's just not a need for it right now. "The average usage of capacity across the week is 43%, it's between 50% and 60% in peak times," he says. "There is some overcrowding after the peak time ends on Friday and during football matches at the weekend - it's possible this could be addressed by pricing."
Contaminated blood report due
BBCCopyright: BBC
A long-awaited report on a Scottish inquiry into the contamination of blood supplies between 1970 and 1991 is due to be published later today. Thousands of people were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV through NHS blood products, in what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. The inquiry, led by former High Court judge Lord Penrose, has taken six years and cost about £12m. Read more here.
Peep peep!
PACopyright: PA
This may not be the piece of information that finally clinches which way you're going to vote on 7 May, but the parenting website NetMums has at least come up with a question the party leaders haven't been asked before: which children's TV character are you? David Cameron plumps for Thomas the Tank Engine because "he's a British icon, he's blue, he's loyal and reliable and he always saves the day". Ed Miliband opts for a more futuristic option, while Nick Clegg's preferred character is - er - more furry… Here are their choices.
MPs want the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to be a little less timid in referring cases of potential miscarriages of justice to the Court of Appeal. Their report calls on it to "man up", the BBC's legal correspondent Clive Coleman tells the Today programme. But Richard Foster, chair of the CCRC, says MPs concluded his organisation was functioning well. He says there's often "no point" reviewing cases where there isn't a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would quash a conviction - but accepts that a review of the current arrangements would be a good idea.
HS2 case 'not convincing'
PACopyright: PA
The government has no convincing case for spending £50bn building the HS2 rail link between London and the North, according to a committee of peers. The Lords' Economic Affairs Committee has published a report in which it said the government's main arguments in favour of HS2 - increasing railway capacity and rebalancing the economy - were still to be proven. The government maintains that the high-speed rail link will deliver big benefits. More here.
Polls update
It's level-pegging, suggests the first in a new series of polls by ComRes/ITV News. Its phone survey of 1,001 adults interviewed between 20-22 March put both the Conservatives and Labour on 35%. UKIP is down three points to 10% and the Greens slip one point to 7%, suggesting the two main parties are squeezing the support of their challengers. "This is extraordinary," writes blogger Mike Smithson on politicalbetting.com. "In all the time I've been covering polling I cannot recall a sequence like the one we are seeing this week." He's pointing out that the ComRes poll follows three others all giving the Tories and Labour equal vote shares.
Alps plane crash
A search and recovery operation is resuming in the southern French Alps after Tuesday's crash of a Germanwings plane with 150 people on board. Last night, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was "sadly likely" there were some British nationals on board.
The course of Prime Minister Questions in this parliament is almost a metaphor for this election campaign in that neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband have really established a decisive edge over the other. It's reached a deadlock stalemate scenario where increasingly both men retreat back to their comfort zones. Ed Miliband goes on the NHS, David Cameron on the economy, the arguments are very familiar. Even the language has become very core voter-ish. You just sense that as with PMQs, so with this election: neither man is able to deliver a knockout blow and we are basically in a complete deadlock.
Alex Salmond's comments yesterday have provoked howls of anguish from the Conservative Party who say the former first minister of Scotland is trying to sabotage the democratic free will of the British public. But actually they are no such thing - Mr Salmond is entirely free to vote whichever way he wants if he is elected to Westminster. The real howls of anguish are most justified from the Labour Party, as Mr Salmond is seeking to give Labour voters in Scotland encouragement, permission and an incentive, even, to switch to the SNP. Labour MPs fear that not only is that strategy working, but it is aiding and abetting David Cameron's strategy of portraying Ed Miliband as in the pocket of Mr Salmond.
Today's papers
Wednesday's newspapers are dominated by Tuesday's plane crash in the Alps. But some political stories do appear too, including David Cameron being heckled, the final coalition cabinet and Alex Salmond's comments. You can cast your eye over them all on one handy page here.
Salmond 'sabotage'
PACopyright: PA
Today's New Statesman carries some striking quotes from Alex Salmond that were big political news yesterday evening. Here's a summary of the story:
The former Scotland first minister said he would vote down a minority Conservative government in the event of a hung parliament
The Tories responded with anger, accusing him of "trying to sabotage the democratic will of the British people"
Mr Salmond's comments follow his earlier claim that a future Labour government Budget would effectively be written by him
James Cook, BBC News' Scotland correspondent, says Mr Salmond's language "causes despair among Tories north of the border who fear that the party in London is waltzing into an SNP trap".
Covering Europe
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
One of the biggest reports out this morning comes from the European Scrutiny Committee, whose members have criticised the "lack of time" given to debating Europe. It's "deplorable" how little MPs have picked over European legislation, they say - and the same goes for the BBC, which their report concludes needs to improve its European coverage "substantially". Committee chairman Sir William Cash, a Conservative MP, said the BBC had "very particular obligations" to be impartial and to "educate and inform". More here.
Last grilling
Today will see the final Prime Minister's Questions of this parliament. Will they all be demob happy we wonder? Will David Cameron be asked about his announcement on Monday that he wouldn't seek a third term as PM if he retains power in May? We'll watch the whole thing on your behalf to find out.
Good morning
Hello and welcome to another day of action with the Politics Live team. It's Alex Stevenson and Pippa Simm here bright and early, ready to take you through all the events, reaction and analysis from Westminster and the election campaign trail. It was a busy day yesterday, here you can read how it all panned out.
Live Reporting
Nick Eardley and Tim Fenton
All times stated are UK
Get involved
- David Cameron made a surprise pledge not to raise VAT in the final PMQs of this Parliament. Ed Miliband said no one would believe the prime minister's promise. Labour later pledged not to raise National Insurance
- MPs debated the bill which implements the changes announced in the Budget. The bill was backed by a majority of 81 and goes forward to become law
- Plans to change the way MPs vote for a Speaker were announced. The government wants to make secret any vote to challenge an incumbent Speaker. Some see the move as an attempt to oust or, at least, weaken John Bercow. MPs will debate the proposal tomorrow
- A former undercover police officer told BBC News that Scotland Yard kept intelligence files on MPs during the 1990s. Labour's Peter Hain, one of the MPs concerned, said it raised fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
TelegraphCopyright: Telegraph 
GuardianCopyright: Guardian 
PACopyright: PA 
APCopyright: AP 
PACopyright: PA 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
GettyCopyright: Getty 
ReutersCopyright: Reuters 
MumsnetCopyright: Mumsnet 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
APCopyright: AP 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
SpectatorCopyright: Spectator 
Ross Hawkins on TwitterCopyright: Ross Hawkins on Twitter 
TwitterCopyright: Twitter 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA - David Cameron can relate to Thomas the Tank Engine (7.12)
- England fans are a little bit sensitive about Nick Clegg wearing the English cricket team's kit (8.36)
- Conservative MPs are not afraid of shouting "woof woof" at Ed Miliband - after the PM called the Labour leader Alex Salmond's "poodle" (12.37)
- Politicians have found the phrase 'on the hoof' irresistible when describing today's tax announcements (13.01, 15.02)
- Nicola Sturgeon is definitely the leader of the SNP (15.59)
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
LBCCopyright: LBC - Asked about her husband's enthusiasm for her croquetas, she said: "I feel at a disadvantage talking about the kitchens because I only have one kitchen. But when it comes to cooking there is no contest."
- Her children's names - Antonio, Miguel and Alberto - were deliberately an attempt to make them feel Spanish: "They have Clegg afterwards, so that is to compensate!"
- The Liberal Democrat leader is agnostic, but his children are being raised as Catholics. "I have faith and I have always thought that faith is a gift," Ms González Durantez says. "It has helped me in my own life to cope with some of the difficulties. When I lost my father it is what carried me through. I hope I can pass it on to my children, or at least I will try to… we are very tolerant generally of all faiths."
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
ReutersCopyright: Reuters 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
Shea Wong / TwitterCopyright: Shea Wong / Twitter - Asked about hung parliaments, he says: "The era of single party government is probably over, long term. Coalition government is becoming more likely - so all parties need to decide which policies they will dig their heels in on."
- On tuition fees, he is fatalistic: "If there's one policy you don't implement that's what people will remember. There's no point me whinging about that."
- On benefit sanctions, he says he's "uncomfortable", adding: "I think they're a bit too trigger-happy; the guillotine comes down too quickly."
- And how about his approach to coalition talks? "It's not a matter of personal whim; we did what we did because it was the only way the numbers would add up to a government. It will be the same this time around; perhaps only one combination of parties will give a stable government - that will be the starting point for it all."
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
- Liberal Democrat Justice Minister Simon Hughes says the Liberal Democrats have "no plans" to raise VAT.
- Mary Creagh, the shadow international development secretary, says Labour has "no plans" to raise national insurance contributions
- The SNP's Angus Robertson makes clear the SNP "voted against austerity". He prefers to save money by cancelling Trident rather than raising taxes.
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC Labour's Michael Connarty sees the funny side after the PM pays tribute to him as a retiring MP. He's not standing down, he points out to laugher across the Commons.Image caption: Labour's Michael Connarty sees the funny side after the PM pays tribute to him as a retiring MP. He's not standing down, he points out to laugher across the Commons. 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
MTV UKCopyright: MTV UK 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images 
TwitterCopyright: Twitter 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
Sky NewsCopyright: Sky News 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images 
YouGovCopyright: YouGov 
APCopyright: AP 
PACopyright: PA 
ReutersCopyright: Reuters 
ThinkstockCopyright: Thinkstock 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
PACopyright: PA 
PACopyright: PA - The former Scotland first minister said he would vote down a minority Conservative government in the event of a hung parliament
- The Tories responded with anger, accusing him of "trying to sabotage the democratic will of the British people"
- Mr Salmond's comments follow his earlier claim that a future Labour government Budget would effectively be written by him
- James Cook, BBC News' Scotland correspondent, says Mr Salmond's language "causes despair among Tories north of the border who fear that the party in London is waltzing into an SNP trap".
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
Latest PostMore on the three urgent questions
House of Commons
Parliament
Under the revised schedule, Labour MP Peter Hain will first ask a Home Office minister about the public inquiry into undercover policing and whether it will examine files held between 1990 and 2001. After this, Labour's Diana Johnson will ask a Department of Health minister about the Penrose Inquiry. Finally, Sir Gerald Kaufman has been given permission to ask William Hague, the Commons Leader, about the change to today's business announced yesterday evening.
Wednesday recap
That's it from Politics Live for tonight. We'll be back at 06:00 GMT tomorrow.
VAT pledge
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Here's a bit more from that exchange between business minister Matthew Hancock and Newsnight's Emily Maitlis about when the former found out his party was going to rule out a VAT rise.
Emily Maitlis: When did you first hear about the VAT decision?
Matthew Hancock: I heard about it earlier this week and there was a decision that we were going to rule it out.
Emily Maitlis: On Monday or Tuesday?
Matthew Hancock: One or the other, it all blends into one sometimes.
Emily Maitlis: So you knew before the chancellor because he was asked it five times yesterday and didn't have a straight answer to it?
Matthew Hancock: Well the chancellor was in front of the treasury select committee, it was obviously a decision not to announce a new policy in that forum but instead to announce it at PMQs.
'Shabby move'
William Hague has been accused of a "shabby" move to make it easier for Tory MPs to oust John Bercow as the Commons Speaker after the election. Tory MP Julian Lewis, one of Mr Bercow's closest allies, accused Commons Leader Mr Hague of carrying out a "squalid manoeuvre".
The Commons Leader, who is standing down at the general election, was behaving in an "underhand and shabby way", the New Forest East MP said. Mr Lewis added: "I'm actually very sad about it because I would never have thought that somebody of the stature of William Hague - a former party leader, now Leader of the House of Commons - would make his last political act in the House of Commons to be the petty, partisan wielding of a knife aimed between the shoulder blades of the Speaker of the House of Commons. It is desperately sad and unworthy, whatever anybody thinks about the nature of the present incumbent of the chair."
Sun Politics
@SunPolitics
tweets: YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead by one: CON 34%, LAB 35%, LD 8%, UKIP 12%, GRN 6%
Speaker row
Robin Brant
Political Correspondent, BBC News
Current Speaker John Bercow is - technically - one of them, but many Tory MPs have never liked him.
They resent his personal style and some believe he is far from impartial in the way he conducts business in the Commons.
Attempts by some to force a vote on his resumption as Speaker in 2010 came to nothing. There have been the occasional measured jibes at him from the prime minister.
Other Tories reportedly went much further and formed a group whose members had all been reprimanded by him. But the Speaker is a reformer who believes passionately that the people who elect the members, and pay the bills, should come first.
The last act of the coalition looks like being an attempt to unseat him. And they are very serious about it.
One Tory MP fighting an important marginal seat had been cleared by his party to be away from Parliament but he is now staying for the vote, such is the importance of it.
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: All in all today's events suggest that neither of main parties are going to enjoy talking about their plans for tax and spend in next 6 wks
AND
tweets: They'll tell us again and again how seriously they take economy, We will do our best to get answers, apols in advance if they don't have 'em
Pledges safe?
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Are today's pledges safe from coalition negotiations? Chris Leslie says yes - he doesn't want to be in a coalition that will raise VAT.
National Insurance pledge
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Chris Leslie, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, suggests on Newsnight that Labour decided a year ago it wasn't going to raise national insurance. But Newsnight host Emily Maitlis says Ed Miliband didn't seem to know during PMQs earlier today.
When did Tories decide on VAT?
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Matthew Hancock, the Tory business minister, says he knew the party was going to rule out a rise in VAT "earlier in the week". He tells Newsnight he knew the prime minister was going to make the announcement at PMQs today, too. He says the exchange today was PMQs "at its best".
PMQs analysis
BBC Newsnight
BBC Two, 22:30
Newsnight is looking at the impact of today's PMQs - and the policy that came from the exchanges, with the Tories ruling out a VAT rise and Labour later ruling out a rise in National Insurance if elected. You can watch the package on the live coverage tab above.
Tory candidate chosen
Welsh Assembly Member Antoinette Sandbach has been selected to be the Conservative candidate for Eddisbury in Cheshire. The vacancy arose after current MP Stephen O'Brien took a senior role at the UN. Eddisbury is considered a safe Tory seat.
Mark D'Arcy, BBC political correspondent
@DArcyTiP
tweets: Lab saying won't have troops to block Spkr election rule change, but won't recognise change achieved by trickery. Phew!
Post update
@WikiGuido
tweets: Vote made possible after LibDem dep leader of house Tom Brake turned on Bercow when he slapped down Danny Alexander yellow budget last week
Tomorrow's Telegraph front page
Foreign Office
@foreignoffice
tweets: .@PHammondMP is speaking at @CityofLondon #Easterbanquet on foreign policy achievements over the past 5 years
AND
tweets: .@PHammondMP: we have restored, reenergised & reinvigorated our diplomacy & have promoted many advantages of doing business with the #UK
Tomorrow's Guardian front page
Tax consequences
The Guardian
The Guardian has been taking a look at the promises made by the Conservatives (not to raise VAT) and Labour (not to raise National Insurance) today. The newspaper, in an editorial piece, writes that the consequences could be "enduring and pernicious". The paper adds: "With spines this feeble, the obvious danger is that the next chancellor could be all out of taxing options by polling day". More here.
Why was Cameron heckled by pensioners?
The Daily Telegraph
As we wrote yesterday, David Cameron had an awkward time at an Age UK event yesterday after he was heckled by some of the attendees. The organisation's director has suggested some of the reasons why on the Telegraph website today. Caroline Abrahams writes: "Despite recent advances, 1.6 million older people are still living in poverty. There is also considerable regret that today's pensioners will not benefit from the new state pension, because only people who reach their state pension age from 2016 on will be eligible. There is a lot of discussion among older people about the new flexibilities for them to use their (private) pension savings. " You can read her full piece here.
Sajid Javid, culture secretary
@sajidjavid
tweets: Got home & daughters distraught @zaynmalik left 1D. I'm an admirer too. Would have been a difficult decision. Wish him & 1D all the best
Who is the bigger toff?
The Spectator
On the Spectator site, Ross Clark has been writing about a poll which suggests the British public consider Ed Miliband more a toff than Prime Minister David Cameron. He argues that this maybe isn't so surprising, saying Mr Miliband has " just shown himself to be the friend of wealthy idlers, by hinting that the brunt of tax rises in a Labour government would fall instead on those who work for a living." More here.
Speaker story
Here's our story about a bid to change the Speaker election rules. The proposals could mean a secret ballot will decide whether there should be a contested election for the post.
Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP MEP
@oflynnmep
tweets: John Bercow has got some things right and some wrong but IMO he's been a good and able Speaker. Very petty of Cam to try and force him out.
Mark D'Arcy, BBC parliamentary correspondent
@DArcyTiP
tweets: Speaker election rule change done under resolution giving Govt total control of Commons agenda for final days of Parlm't - well planned coup
Mark D'Arcy, BBC parliamentary correspondent
@DArcyTiP
tweets: I wonder if Chair of Cmns Procedure Ctee (& big #Bercow supporter) Charles Walker was consulted about rule change re Speaker elections?
Five years ago...
Today was David Cameron's last PMQs of his first term as prime minister. It remains to be seen if he is back in the position again after the election.
We've been having a look through the BBC archives and have found our analysis of Mr Cameron's first PMQs after he became prime minister.
Mike Sergeant, our political correspondent, wrote: "David Cameron seemed to want to present himself as a less overtly political prime minister than Gordon Brown.
"When he first become opposition leader, he said he would end 'Punch and Judy' politics in the Commons. That didn't last. But, Mr Cameron still likes to present himself as the serious, grown-up leader acting in the 'national interest' at all times."
And an interesting piece of trivia. The first question that day was asked by Douglas Carswell - who later became the first Tory MP to defect to UKIP. He wrote on Twitter tonight that he is still waiting for answer.
PM pledge on VAT: analysis
It was the big political surprise of the day. Even Treasury ministers didn't know. What was the thinking behind David Cameron's promise not to raise VAT?
Paul Waugh, PoliticsHome.com editor
@paulwaugh
tweets: Lib Dems confirm they have a free vote tmrw on Bercow secret ballot motion. Clegg will be in constituency. Maybe nos cd be tight
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour MP
@jreynoldsMP
tweets: I will be returning to Westminster tomorrow to vote against this shameful, grubby behaviour by the Conservative Party #Bercow
Speaker motion
House of Commons
Parliament
Here's the Commons motion on challenges to a Speaker which MPs will debate tomorrow morning:
That this House notes the recommendation of the Procedure Committee in its Fifth Report of Session 2010-12, 2010 Elections for positions in the House, that the House should be invited to decide between a secret ballot or open division where the question at the start of a new Parliament that a former Speaker take the Chair is challenged, and accordingly makes the following change to Standing Orders, with effect from the beginning of the new Parliament:
Standing Order 1A (Re-election of former Speaker)
Line 11, at end insert -
"(1A) If that question is contested, it shall be determined by secret ballot, to take place on the same day under arrangements made by the Member presiding, who shall announce the result of the ballot to the House as soon as is practicable."
James Chapman, Daily Mail
@jameschappers
tweets: Tories and Libs agree 'Dump Bercow' plot: MPs will vote tomorrow on changing rules to allow secret ballot to eject Speaker #dumpbercow
Speaker row
House of Commons
Parliament
Here's what Labour's Angela Eagle has to say on the Speaker election proposals: "This is a grubby, last-minute plot in the dying hours of the Parliament to try and changes the procedures of the House.
"The Tories are trying to play politics with the speakership because they know they will not win a majority at the next election."
The current Commons Speaker John Bercow has proved a divisive figure among MPs.
Steve Richards, Independent
@steverichards14
tweets: John Bercow only told at 5.30 of a vote tomorrow on a secret ballot to elect post election Speaker. Underhand but Bercow will be re-elected.
Kevin Maguire, Daily Mirror
@Kevin_Maguire
tweets: Labour MPs tonight put on 3-line whip tomorrow to fight Dump Bercow plot by Cons via secret Speaker election in May instead of open as now
Speaker's election
House of Commons
Parliament
More from the Commons on the way the speaker is elected. Tomorrow morning, MPs will debate a last minute proposal to change the rules. At present, a challenge to a sitting Speaker requires MPs to vote by passing through the lobbies, making it clear who does or does not back the incumbent. Under this proposal, a secret ballot would be held to decide whether or not there should be a contested election for Speaker. Labour have complained that there has been no consultation on the change, and that they were informed about it only late this evening.
Day one of the lobbying register
One of the coalition's first pledges, the long-awaited register of lobbyists, launched earlier today. It will require some lobbyists to register meetings with ministers and senior civil servants. Critics say it'll exclude many of those already working as lobbyists. It looks like 11 companies have signed up on the first day.
VAT rise ruled out
House of Commons
Parliament
Perhaps the most interesting moment from today's PMQs was when David Cameron ruled out the Tories raising VAT after the election. It came after George Osborne had declined to do so the day before. You can watch the exchange here.
Alex Massie, political commentator
@alexmassie
tweets: So: if Tories offer the SNP what they say they want the Nats will say No. And if Labour offer them nothing they will say OK. Interesting.
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: Interesting last minute parly shenanigans tonight in attempt to stitch up John Bercow as 2010-15 session comes to an end
AND
tweets: Debate tmrw morning to change rules for speaker election to a secret ballot if Bercow is challenged for the job in the new Parliament
Iain Martin, political journalist
@iainmartin1
tweets: Wondering if the Tory attempt to do in Speaker Bercow tomorrow might go wrong. Are they sure they have the numbers? Like the Syria vote...
Point of order
House of Commons
Parliament
In the Commons, shadow leader of the house Angela Eagle has just raised what could be an interesting point of order.
Visibly angry, she told MPs that a debate has been tabled tomorrow on proposed changes "to the way the speaker of the house is elected and procedural changes" without "consultation with the opposition, and no consultation with the chair of the [administration] committee."
Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who's in the chair, replied that it is for the government, "rightly or wrongly", to decide the business of the house.
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: Also on #newsnight - the most expensive PMQs ever? Both parties rule out billions of potential revenue raisers...
Finance Bill: Commons stages completed
House of Commons
Parliament
MPs rejected Labour's amendment on Corporation tax by a majority of 77. The bill passed its committee stage on an oral vote. MPs divided on the third reading of the bill, its final stage in the Commons. The bill - to enact the tax and duty changes announced in last week's budget - was passed by 307 votes to 226, a government majority of 81. It will now pass through the House of Lords - a formality given peers cannot amend money bills - and then be sent for Royal Assent to become law.
MP breaks silence on 'sexting'
Channel 4
Conservative MP Brooks Newmark has spoken publicly for the first time about the 'sexting' scandal that ended his career. Mr Newmark resigned as minister for civil society and announced that he would not be standing again as an MP last year after the Sunday Mirror alleged he shared sexually explicit images of himself with an undercover reporter via social media.
Mr Newmark told Channel 4 News: "I accept full responsibility for what I did, particularly the hurt I caused my wife and kids, there is no excuse at all and I think that one of the reasons I'm stepping down is for that reason."
Newmark also spoke about his battle with depression, which he says he has suffered from since he was six, after the death of his father: "Over time you just learn to mask it."
The MP appealed for more sympathy for politicians: "Maybe there are other politicians who are perfect out there, but some of us are flawed."
PMQs 'best bits'
New Statesman
"Muttering idiot", "Calm down dear" and TV debates. The New Statesman has been taking a look back at its favourite clips of David Cameron answering questions at PMQs. You can watch it here.
1922 committee
The Spectator
The Spectator has a report up on its website about David Cameron's address to the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs tonight. The magazine says the prime minister talked about health and how people in the country wanted security - something the Conservatives could offer them. The report says: "He concluded by reiterating his line about this election being a choice between competence and chaos." More here.
PMQs
The Daily Telegraph
Michael Deacon, on the Telegraph website, has also been taking a look back at PMQs - particularly David Cameron's decision to offer a very direct answer to Ed Miliband's question on VAT. You can read his take here.
Finance Bill: Corporation tax
House of Commons
Parliament
MPs reject the proposed Labour amendment on income tax by 79. Labour go on to move a third amendment - this one requiring the Chancellor to undertake an impact review on a cut of 1% to the main rate of Corporation tax for the financial year 2016.
Clegg: 'Brutal arithmetic'
Nick Clegg answered questions from an audience at Mumsnet this afternoon. On whether he'd work with Labour or the Conservatives in a future coalition, he recalled the negotiations in 2010:
"It was brutal arithmetic. The only way that a government could be formed to take decisions to govern the country for five years was a combination of Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. I sat with Gordon Brown, I kept trying to explain to him - he's a highly intelligent man, I said the sums don't add up. There was no alternative and so we did in a sense what was in line with the instructions that you the voters gave us".
Final PMQs
The Daily Telegraph
Today, as we've mentioned, was the last Prime Minister's Questions before Parliament is dissolved. Over on the Telegraph site, Dan Hodges thinks we should go a step further - and make it the last ever exchange. He writes that most people take nothing from the weekly exchange: "It's such a staggeringly meaningless and inconsequential part of the world in which they live that they cannot possibly even subliminally register its existence."
Paterson: UK must quit EU
Former Tory minister Owen Paterson has renewed his call for Britain to leave the European Union, saying continued membership was undermining the UK's commitment to strong defence. His comments could be seen as an attempt to stake out a possible claim to the Tory succession. According to advance extracts of his address to the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom in Washington, he will attack calls by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for the creation of a European army, claiming it would undermine Western security.
"If this ambition was ever realised, it would cut across the close relationship between the UK and the US, and its 'special relationship'," he will say.
Mr Paterson was sacked by David Cameron in last year's reshuffle.
'MPs monitored'
The Guardian
Following claims MPs were monitored by officers from Scotland Yard, one of the politicians involved, Labour's Peter Hain, has written for the Guardian about the issue. He writes: "That special branch had a file on me dating back 40 years to Anti-Apartheid Movement and Anti-Nazi League activist days is hardly revelatory. That these files were still active for at least 10 years while I was an MP certainly is and raises fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty." You can read his piece here.
Sajid Javid on Clarkson
Culture Secratary, Sajid Javid, has spoken about the BBC's decision not to renew Jeremy Clarkson's contract after a "fracas" with a Top Gear producer. He was asked if Prime Minister David Cameron was wrong to back Mr Clarkson. Mr Javid said: "I think this is a decision for the BBC. The prime minister has said before that Jeremy is his friend. Just because someone's a friend doesn't mean to say you drop them if they've done something wrong. But I think the prime minister has also made clear today that when anyone takes any kind of aggressive action in the workplace or anywhere else for that matter it is right that they suffer the consequences."
Finance Bill: Income tax
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's VAT amendment went to a vote and was rejected by 305 to 231, a government majority of 74. MPs moved on to another Labour amendment requiring the Chancellor to produce a report on the impact of setting the top rate of income tax at 50%, as the opposition propose. The government cut the rate for taxable income over £150,000 per year from 50% to 45% in 2012.
Rob Broomby, British Affairs correspondent, BBC World Service
@Broomby
Few towns have come to symbolise mass immigration from eastern European countries more than Boston in Lincolnshire. Over the last decade, large numbers of migrants have arrived to work on the land and in low-skilled factory jobs. The shifting demographic has brought tensions - some of the people I've spoken to here say it's put pressure on resources like schools and the NHS, others said land work had dried up as eastern European gangs are willing to work for longer hours and less pay than their British contemporaries. However, there were also many positive comments - the influx of migrants has brought a new dynamism to the local economy. One market trader said 65% of his business comes from EU migrants. Others said the new arrivals had brought diversity to the community.
I have also spoken to some of those who have come from the EU to make their home here. Jurgita moved to Boston from Lithuania. This is what she told me of her hopes for the future and that of her young daughter.
Bleedin' obvious?
The Guardian
"Future historians will know this week of the election campaign as the week of the statements of the bleedin' obvious," writes Anne Perkins over on the Guardian website. David Cameron's announcement he wouldn't seek a third term and Alex Salmond's that he wouldn't back a minority Tory government attract her attention. She says of Mr Salmond's comments: "As statements of the obvious go, this goes right to the top of the league of remarks that smack one between the eyes." More here.
Matthew Hancock
BBC News Channel
Matthew Hancock, the Conservative business minister, has been speaking about today's tax announcements from both his party and Labour. He questions why Ed Miliband refused to rule out a National Insurance rise at PMQs and why Ed Balls did slightly later. According to the Hancock, it "demonstrates the chaos of the Labour proposition".
Pushed on whether the Conservatives will explicitly rule out a rise in National Insurance contributions, he said: "We've been cutting National Insurance. We're very clear, we've been cutting it... the direction from us is clear." He says you don't cut it in one parliament and raise it in the next.
Mr Hancock also says his party knows where it is going to make the savings it needs to make - £12bn from welfare, £5bn from tackling tax avoidance and the rest in savings from government departments.
Sajid Javid on taxes
Conservative Culture Secretary Sajid Javid has said the Conservatives have uncovered Labour's "secret plan to raise taxes" and that the public deserve to know which ones.
He said: "Labour are in chaos. Ed Miliband was given the chance to rule out an increase in the jobs tax time and time again, to put it on the record. He refused. Moments later the other Ed [Balls] says they are now ruling it out. They had the chance to do this time and time again and why should anyone believe them now. The fact is Labour are committed to increasing taxes by £15bn - that's what they've said they're going to do over the next parliament. What the public want to know is what taxes are they going to increase. The public deserve to know that. I think what we've learnt today is we really have uncovered Labour's secret plan to raise taxes."
MPs 'monitored by Scotland Yard during 1990s'
Dominic Casciani
Home affairs correspondent
A former undercover police officer has told BBC News that Scotland Yard kept intelligence files on MPs during the 1990s.
The former Special Branch officer, Peter Francis, says he saw 10 files which he and others regularly updated.
He says he personally gathered information on three MPs as part of his work infiltrating left-wing groups.
MPs named by Mr Francis have called for a forthcoming public inquiry into undercover policing to be widened.
Mr Francis operated undercover between 1993 and 1997 in the Met's now disbanded Special Demonstration Squad. He was told to embed himself in left-wing groups or causes that were deemed to pose a potential threat to security.
You can read the full story here.
Finance Bill: Government counter charge
House of Commons
Parliament
Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke defends the Government's record on tax. He says there is a "black hole" in Labour's budget plans. Labour will need to raise tax and their tax of choice, according to Mr Gauke, is employers' national insurance contributions. "That is the one the British public should be frightened of", he says.
Clegg: There are other taxes we can increase
Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg enters today's tax row.
He says: "We don't need to raise VAT and actually, with the plans that my party set out, we don't need to raise VAT, national insurance or headline rates of income tax or corporation tax either. There are other taxes and other tax loopholes that we can increase or close in order to balance the books.
"But at the end of the day, we saw at prime minister's questions, we've got a Labour Party that wants to borrow too much money and a Conservative Party that wants to cut too much. You've only got one party - the Liberal Democrats - that will cut less than the Conservatives and borrow less than Labour, which I think is the balanced approach this country needs."
Finance Bill: Labour challenge on VAT
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour has tabled an amendment to require the chancellor to publish a report on the impact of the increase in the standard rate of VAT to 20% - which took effect from 4 January 2011 - specifically on its impact on living standards, small businesses, the fairness of the taxation system, and economic growth. The Labour MP Andrew Gwynne pointed out that while the Conservatives have now ruled out a VAT rise, "they have not ruled out extending the scope of VAT to previously exempt items".
Funky Lib Dems?
The Lib Dems haven't been doing too well in the polls recently. It's a stark contrast with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, whose feel-good hit Uptown Funk has sold more than one million copies. Is there any way the former could attract some of the popular appeal of the latter? Amazingly, someone appears to have tried. This mash-up posted on the Lib Dem youtube account combines the hit song with Nick Clegg speeches.
Spectator Life front page
Ross Hawkins, BBC political correspondent
@rosschawkins
tweets: Taxes Balls won't be able to put up and how much extra money he won't be able to raise (from pre budget IFS doc)
Harriet Harman, deputy Labour leader
@HarrietHarman
tweets: Watch out Hadrian! - the #pinkbus is on your wall! @UKLabour
Finance Bill: VAT
House of Commons
Parliament
Shadow Treasury minister Shabana Mahmood opens the debate for Labour, predicting the Conservatives will raise VAT in the next parliament, despite the prime minster's earlier pledge. The government's decision to raise the standard rate of VAT to 20% in January 2011 has cost the average family £1,800 over the last four years and "has without doubt hit the living standards of millions of people" she tells MPs. "We know it's going to go up again [if the Conservatives win] the next election...we know because of the party's record," she says. "There's no two ways about it and it doesn't matter what the prime minister says."
PM on Jeremy Clarkson
Downing Street has said Prime Minister David Cameron, a personal friend of Jeremy Clarkson, believes that "if you do something wrong at work there can be consequences" and that "aggressive and abusive behaviour is not acceptable in the workplace".
The comments come after the BBC announced Mr Clarkson's contract will not be renewed after an "unprovoked physical attack" on a Top Gear producer.
Signing off
What a stimulating ten hours this has been, full of drama both during and after the final PMQs of this Parliament. As well as the big story about the Tories ruling out a VAT rise and Labour doing the same over national insurance contributions, here's some of the other important things we've learned:
It's time for your early team of Alex Stevenson and Pippa Simm to head off - leaving you in the capable hands of Tim Fenton and Nick Eardley to see you through until midnight.
'I'm the leader'
Alex Salmond's comments about the SNP blocking a potential minority Conservative government have been big news in the last 24 hours, but party leader Nicola Sturgeon says she is relaxed about her predecessor dominating the news. "The SNP is a team," she's said. "I'm the leader of the SNP, I'm leading the SNP campaign but perhaps what scares the life out of the Westminster establishment parties is that the SNP is a team of people committed to representing Scotland's interests and that's how we will continue to campaign in the weeks ahead." Senior Tories have complained that the SNP's plans would undermine democracy. "It's only a few months ago since Tory politicians were telling Scotland we were a valued part of the UK where our voice mattered," Ms Sturgeon adds. "Scotland is a part of the UK… we're part of the Westminster system and therefore it's really important that we make our voice heard in that system."
Finance Bill: Committee stage
House of Commons
Parliament
The Finance Bill passed its second reading without a vote and MPs have now moved on to more detailed scrutiny of the clauses of the bill in committee stage as a committee of the whole House. First up for debate are the clauses relating to VAT changes.
Robin Brant, BBC Political Correspondent
@robindbrant
tweets: seven officials from @Number10gov have turned up for this afternoon's lobby briefing, and that's not incl. PMOS, who has to be here
Reality Check
Rochdale asylum-seekers
At prime minister's questions, Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, said that there are more people seeking asylum in Rochdale than the whole of the south east. Is this correct?
The latest official figures from the Home Office show there are 880 people in Rochdale waiting for their asylum claim to be decided. This is indeed more than whole of the south east, which supported 446 asylum seekers across 67 local authorities. Rochdale local authority has the sixth highest number of asylum seekers in the UK, with the highest being in Glasgow which took in 2,792 people.
In his response to Simon Danczuk, David Cameron said the number of asylum seekers had dropped by a third since the peak under the Labour government. The peak in asylum applications was in 2002 when the figure stood at 84,132. In 2014, it dropped to 24,914 - a decrease of 70%.
'I only have one kitchen'
Miriam González Durántez, Nick Clegg's wife, has been interviewed by LBC's Shelagh Fogarty. Much of the interview was spent talking about her work trying to inspire women and tackle the lack of women in boardrooms. But there were inevitably some questions about her famous husband. Here are a few highlights:
Meet the election's official artist
Daily and Sunday Politics
The general election campaign is to be officially chronicled by a modern-day William Hogarth, with the job going to artist Adam Dant. The fourth artist to be commissioned in this role by Parliament since 2001 will travel across Britain, sketching ordinary voters and electioneering politicians, and his work will join the Parliamentary Art Collection. He spoke to Jo Coburn on the Daily Politics about how he prepared for the role of election artist by drawing campaigners and voters in the days before the Scottish Referendum. Mr Dant said of the role: "It's a different way of recording an event than with an iPhone or a selfie stick." Watch their interview
Finance Bill: Debate underway
House of Commons
Parliament
In the Commons, MPs have moved on to the Finance Bill, which implements the changes announced by the Chancellor in last week's Budget. Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke set out the government's position, once again highlighting the key changes to taxes and duties announced last week.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie criticises the lack of a committee stage for this year's Finance Bill, leaving MPs only six hours to debate "131 complex clauses". This bill will no longer get the scrutiny it needs, he argues, while "many of these provisions could have been discussed, published and thought through at a more civilised pace."
Mr Gauke intervenes and points out that "it is necessary to pass a tax Finance Bill" after the Budget resolutions, which were passed yesterday. While he "shares the sense of loss" over the committee stage there was no time left in this Parliament, he says.
'Labour MPs won't tolerate concessions'
Labour MP Tom Harris has said on Twitter that the Parliamentary Labour Party "wouldn't tolerate giving them [The SNP] any concessions" if there is a hung Parliament after the election.
Grant Shapps interview a 'car-crash'
The World at One BBC Radio 4
Labour has described Grant Shapps' appearance on the World at One earlier as a "car-crash". Mr Shapps, the Tory chairman, was put under pressure over his "over-firm" denial that he had a second job at the start of his parliamentary career (see 13:42 entry).
Here's what Jon Ashworth MP, Labour's shadow cabinet office minister, says: "After his car-crash interview, the unanswered questions for Grant Shapps are growing. Mr Shapps's constituent has now initiated legal action against the Tory Party Chairman. New revelations seem to emerge every day and these are allegations Grant Shapps cannot escape.
"If he is to stay in post, Grant Shapps must now tell us why he threatened a constituent with legal action based on a falsehood, why he covered up his second job for so long and whether he or the Conservative Party paid for his constituent to be bullied.
"David Cameron has so far looked the other way at serious allegations against Grant Shapps, but this taints the whole Tory Party, who always stand up for the wrong people."
'On the hoof'
The Lib Dems have put out a line echoing the language used by Labour MP John Mann - who was talking exclusively about David Cameron earlier - in response to Ed Balls' confirmation that Labour won't increase National Insurance Contributions. "Labour's economic credibility, if they had any left, is well and truly shot," a spokesperson said. "The two Eds want to run the country but they are clearly making up policy on the hoof."
Clegg backs all-women shortlists
Nick Clegg appears to have shifted his position on improving the diversity of his party's parliamentarians.
Back in November he told BBC3: "I've come to the view that if we don't make real progress in having more women elected as Liberal Democrat MPs at the next election, we might have to have think of a one-off way of cracking this problem and reserving some places for women in future."
Now that 'might' has turned into a 'should' - although he makes clear it's still his personal view, this looks like a distinctive move towards Lib Dem shortlists.
He said today in the Mumsnet webchat: "If that doesn't work and it continues to be this unrepresentative after the election, I personally think we should introduce quotas. That's my personal view - it may feel uncomfortable for some people in our party."
Too much Alex Salmond?
The Daily Telegraph
We've heard a lot from Alex Salmond over the last few days - he's said the SNP will try to topple a minority Conservative government and claimed he would help Ed Balls write his first Labour Budget. Over on the Telegraph, Iain Martin isn't impressed. The journalist writes it's impossible to avoid the former Scottish first minister at the moment and adds - "I cannot account for whatever is going on inside that great big head of a gifted man who used to have a greater grasp of reality." You can read his take here.
Balls on tax
BBC News Channel
Here's a bit more from our interview with Ed Balls in Parliament. "Out of the blue, in a panicky way, contradicting George Osborne yesterday, he [David Cameron] tried to make a promise on VAT," the shadow chancellor says. "It's a promise no-one in Britain will believe. The Tories raised VAT after the election time and time again, they'll do the same."
Mr Balls used the interview to say Labour would not raise national insurance contributions, after David Cameron repeatedly pressed Ed Miliband to rule out a Labour hike in the rate during PMQs. The shadow chancellor says he made that commitment clear in the Q&A after his speech yesterday. So why didn't Mr Miliband make that commitment in prime minister's questions? "It was for David Cameron to answer the questions," Mr Balls replies.
'A wall of noise'
The Independent
There's no doubt in John Rentoul's mind who won the final PMQs of the parliament. "As theatrical sucker punches go," he writes for the Independent, "it was one of the most successful I have seen in the House of Commons. Miliband, who has no lightness of touch, was simply unable to respond." The Labour leader's claim that no-one would believe David Cameron was said "underneath a wall of noise that had toppled on him". The prime minister, by contrast, was "floating on confidence". A fairly clear verdict, then.
Louise Mensch, former Tory MP
@LouiseMensch
tweets: Isn't there a marginal seat where J. Clarkson could make the difference? Cough Dudley North cough
Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor
@BBCNormanS
tweets: Labour say Ed Miliband did not rule out Nics rise cos PMQs "not right time" to make announcement
Laura Kuenssberg, Newsnight's chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: So do Tories and Labour BOTH have to junk elex posters now? Lucky they are mainly electronic these days not real and expensive
Balls deliver National Insurance pledge
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls says the Labour manifesto will make clear they would not increase National Insurance. There will "be a clear commitment from us on VAT, on the basic and higher rates of income tax and on National Insurance", he says.
Tory argument 'constitutionally-illiterate'
Over on the Spectator, Alex Massie has been looking at the Conservative response to Alex Salmond saying the SNP would vote against a minority Conservative government. He takes Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, to task over his claims Mr Salmond "is threatening to undermine a government chosen by the British people". Mr Massie describes the argument as "constitutionally-illiterate" and says his approach "feeds the SNP beast". More here.
Balls' National Insurance pledge
Ed Balls has made clear he won't be increasing National Insurance Contributions in the next parliament. He made the pledge to the BBC after a PMQs in which David Cameron heaped pressure on Ed Miliband to explicitly reject increasing the rate. "We will make it clear in our manifesto that Labour will not in the next parliament be raising National Insurance," the shadow chancellor told the BBC's Norman Smith.
BreakingBreaking News
Ed Balls has ruled out Labour increasing National Insurance after the general election.
Clegg on Mumsnet
Nick Clegg is on Mumsnet answering questions. Here are some of the highlights so far:
BBC Reality Check
@bbcrealitycheck
tweets: ONS confirms @David_Cameron figures at #PMQs that employment in Scotland has risen by 174,000 since 2010.
Lib Dems on PMQs
The Liberal Democrats' Lord Scriven has commented on today's PMQs. Here's his verdict: "Under our plan to finish the job of balancing the books there is no need to increase Income Tax, VAT, National Insurance or Corporation Tax. Ed Miliband had one final chance today to prove his economic credentials and he fluffed it. He can't rule out a rise in National Insurance because Labour's only financial strategy is to pile yet more money onto the nation's credit card."
'I was foolish'
The Huffington Post
Afzal Amin, who until the start of this week was the Conservative candidate in Dudley North, has blogged for the Huffington Post after his resignation. Mr Amin was accused of attempting to form a plot with the EDL in which they would announce a march in the Dudley North constituency and he would take credit when it was scrapped. "Having to accept that I was the victim of a year-long sting operation by men with pernicious desires to twist the words I've spoken into traps for others is not easy," he writes.
Shapps' memory
The World at One BBC Radio 4
Grant Shapps is under pressure on the World at One over his "over-firm" denial that he had a second job at the start of his parliamentary career. "I got the date wrong, and because I did I fully said I got the date wrong," he says. "I've been totally clear about it, I misremembered the date." He accuses Labour of "stirring it up" and points out his additional work was registered publicly at the time.
MPs' pay
The World at One BBC Radio 4
Andrew Lansley, the former Cabinet minister, tells the World at One he thinks anyone standing for parliament needs to think twice about it because of their relatively low pay. "Frankly if you didn't want to be an MP you're best off not doing it because it's not the best thing to do in terms of your health or wealth," Mr Lansley said. "Overwhelmingly MPs that I know would be earning more if they were not MPs."
A taxing lunchtime
The World at One BBC Radio 4
David Cameron's VAT announcement is forcing the other parties to clarify their own tax plans. Here's the positions of some of the other MPs appearing on The World at One:
Shapps on VAT
The World at One BBC Radio 4
MPs are debating PMQs - and in particular the VAT announcement from David Cameron. "We don't need to raise taxes with our plans," Conservative chairman Grant Shapps tells the World at One. "We've explained what we want to do going forward to finish off paying down the deficit. The truth is that there it was - VAT will not be raised. Now we want to hear whether Labour can rule out their jobs tax."
'Wrong-footed'
Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor
This was absolutely not the final PMQs of this parliament that Ed Miliband would have wanted. He was frankly badly wrong-footed. You could see the Tory benches erupt and the Labour benches deflate with this surprise bolt from the blue announcement. Yesterday the Chancellor George Osborne, when he appeared before the Treasury Select Committee, repeatedly refused to promise not to raise VAT. Senior Tories are now saying that was all a bit of bait to lure Mr Miliband into asking the VAT question at PMQs. And when he did the trap closed very painfully on Mr Miliband's ankle.
Ed Miliband, Labour leader
@Ed_Miliband
tweets: No one will believe the PM on VAT after he said they weren't going to raise it in 2010, and then put it up a few weeks later. #PMQs
David Cameron, Prime Minister
@David_Cameron
tweets: I've ruled out raising VAT. Why won't Ed Miliband rule out raising National Insurance contributions? Labour always puts up the Jobs Tax.
and: A hike in National Insurance - the Jobs Tax - would cost jobs and hit hardworking families. But Ed Miliband will not rule it out. #PMQs
Have Your Say
Following a dramatic final PMQs of the parliament, here's some of your comments on how it went:
Has anyone considered the possibility that the reason George Osborne didn't give an answer about VAT yesterday was he didn't want to minimise the impact of David Cameron's announcement today? Am sure he wouldn't make an announcement like that without the Chancellor knowing about it.
Carol, Peterborough
Very confused, PMQs I thought the prime minister answered questions not asked them, opposition asks questions, prime minister answers them.
Dave Newman
So good to see that the Tories are gaining in confidence, the VAT trap was executed in true style. Cheer up Ed maybe Alex Salmond can take Labour into the next election.
Darren Brown
I thought governing this country was a serious matter, David Cameron makes a mockery of this system by refusing to answer any questions put to him and Ed Milliband is not a lot better,
John Archibald
Send your comments over to politics@bbc.co.uk and we'll put some more up later this afternoon.
Marathon MPs
Daily and Sunday Politics
It's the London Marathon on 26 April - horribly close to election day, but that isn't stopping four Conservative and one Labour MPs from taking part to raise money for charity. Richard Drax, Edward Timpson, Alun Cairns, Graham Evans and Dan Jarvis have been interviewed - in their jogging gear - on the Daily Politics.
Cameron mix up on 'MP standing down'
Daily and Sunday Politics
Here's the moment where the prime minister appeared to mistime his tribute to Labour MP Michael Connarty who asked him a question at PMQs about timeshares. He asked to "re-phrase" that, and told MPs it was his 146th PMQs session, and his team "normally get these things right". The prime minister then wished the Linlithgow MP well for the campaign, and pledged to "write to him either his capacity as an MP, or whatever it is after the election". Watch the clip from PMQs
'Not on the hoof'
BBC News Channel
Labour MP John Mann thinks he knows who's behind the PM's VAT pledge from this lunchtime's PMQs. "I suspect that Mr Lynton Crosby, the spin doctor, has been at work overnight," he tells the BBC News Channel. Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi disagrees. "The prime minister doesn't make these pledges on the hoof," he says. He says there's "no way" David Cameron would make such a pledge without first consulting George Osborne.
VAT move 'extraordinary'
BBC News Channel
"Talk about policymaking on the hoof," says Labour's John Mann on the BBC News Channel. He had pressed George Osborne five times about the issue at the Treasury Select Committee meeting yesterday. The Chancellor repeatedly refused to rule it out, but in PMQs today that's all changed. "It is extraordinary that the man who's just done the Budget, who's added up the figures for the government and for the Conservative Party, isn't prepared to rule out a VAT increase, and then overnight the prime minister who doesn't do those figures is announcing it. Where's the gap in funding?"
Happy Cameron?
Daily and Sunday Politics
James Landale thinks David Cameron will be "very happy" with that PMQs. He says the PM had a tough start to the week but he used a policy announcement to turn the pressure back on Labour. And the Conservative backbenchers seemed to have "a slightly bigger spring in their step" than Labour MPs, he notes.
VAT surprise
Daily and Sunday Politics
Conservative Treasury minister Priti Patel is asked if she knew David Cameron was going to rule out a VAT rise today. "No, that was the first I heard of it today," she says. "But I'm pleased," she adds, noting that only earlier in the programme she had said the party had no plans to raise VAT. And the prime minister's confirmed that, she adds.
Louise Davies Jones
@WeezyDJ2
tweets: If Members are going to play #PMQs bingo, could we all have a sheet and join in too? After all, we've paid for the game.
National Insurance
Daily and Sunday Politics
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna is under pressure on the Daily Politics to categorically rule out raising national insurance contributions. "It is not our policy to increase national insurance… we haven't gone into politics to tax people. What we want to do is reduce people's taxes," he replies - without categorically ruling it out.
Alberto Nardelli, Guardian Data Editor
@AlbertoNardelli
tweets: Big winner of final #PMQs of this parliament: @AlexSalmond
PMQs analysis
Daily and Sunday Politics
BBC deputy political editor James Landale says the Conservatives seemingly set the trap for Labour to go on VAT at Prime Minister's Questions, and will hope it has been sprung. While they couldn't rely on Labour running with the question, they had the bullet to fire.
Pic: Michael Connarty
Pic: Charlotte Leslie asking about NHS report
The final question
House of Commons
Parliament
The last question of the last PMQs of the 2010-15 parliament falls to Tory MP and historian Chris Skidmore, who asks about... the possibility of an M4 link. David Cameron diverts his answer to focus on Mr Skidmore's historical background and notes the Richard III burial taking place this week. He says this was the last time one of our leaders "did in his relatives" and "left the country in chaos" - a not-very-veiled reference to Ed Miliband's leadership triumph over his brother David. The government benches love it, yelling "more!" But the Speaker calls 'order' and it's all over.
Who's the lame duck?
House of Commons
Parliament
Is the prime minister a lame duck? asks Labour's Stephen Pound. Mr Cameron says he'll tell him what a lame duck is - trying to get into Downing Street on the back of Alex Salmond's coattails (which he claims Labour is trying to do). "Never mind the talk of ducks, I'm looking at Alex Salmond's poodle," he says of Ed Miliband. Cue "woof woofs" being shouted from Conservative MPs. His party liked that one.
Pic: The Government benches
VAT v tax bombshell
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's York Central MP Sir Hugh Bayley asks the prime minister why anyone should believe his promise not to raise VAT after the election. David Cameron says he has "given the straightest possible answer". He claims Labour is planning a "tax bombshell" if it wins power, with increases in national insurance.
'Quieten down'
House of Commons
Parliament
Nigel Mills, the Tory MP for Amber Valley, continues the unexpected transport theme by worrying about noise reduction measures from a local road. Even more unusually, David Cameron takes the opportunity to appeal for a bit more calm in the Commons chamber too. "Today is a good day to discuss noise pollution," he says. "I think it's very appropriate that we quieten down and think about the issue for a minute."
Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor
@bbcnickrobinson
tweets: Well well well. PM ruling out VAT rise is a big story but one for others to tell you about...back to R & R for me #PMQs
Pic: A packed Commons
Missing the nationalists
House of Commons
Parliament
Plaid MP Elfyn Llwyd gets a few 'ahs' from MPs as he tells them this is his last PMQs. He raises the possibility of Alex Salmond taking his place, though. Which one will David Cameron miss more? "I was quite looking forward to missing you both," Mr Cameron replies.
NHS report 'held back'
House of Commons
Parliament
There's certainly a jovial mood in the House of Commons today, particularly on the Conservative benches. Charlotte Leslie MP stands to noises of encouragement from her fellow Tory MPs. She uses her question to accuse Labour of undermining the scrutiny role of select committees by "refusing" to discuss a draft committee report on health reforms. David Cameron says the report has been held back because Labour MPs don't want to tell the truth about the NHS, they only want to "weaponise it". It's "disgraceful," he adds.
Liam Kirkaldy, Holyrood journalist
@HolyroodLiam
tweets: From now on I plan to respond to any question from a colleague with, "First of all, let me pay tribute to the work you do" #pmqs
A misplaced tribute
House of Commons
Parliament
"SNP gain!" an MP yells out as Michael Connarty, the Labour MP for Linlithgow, stands up. That gets a rebuke from the Speaker. Mr Connarty's question is about a constituency's property headache. Mr Cameron pays tribute to Mr Connarty for standing down at the next election. But he isn't. Awkward! There's a lot of laughter in the Commons at that. The PM finishes his answer by saying: "I'll write to him in my capacity as an MP, or whatever it is after the election!"
Tim Montgomerie, The Times
@montie
tweets: A question from @SimonDanczuk was a gift but Cameron really on top form #PMQs
John Rentoul, Independent on Sunday
@JohnRentoul
tweets: EdM did have a plan for Cam's surprise: "no one believes him". Trouble is it was rubbish. @benrathe @chrisdeerin #PMQs
Green sun
House of Commons
Parliament
Green MP Caroline Lucas says she agrees with the PM that the "sun shines bright green" on Brighton - presumably she doesn't mean that literally. She's also raising a commuter railway issue - is this PMQs going off the rails? David Cameron points out that the local Green council is "incapable of emptying people's dustbins".
Claimant count
House of Commons
Parliament
Huge cheers for Simon Kirby from his Conservative colleagues as he rises to speak. He managed to get the Tories favourite phrase "long-term economic plan" into his question early on. He cites positive economic figures in his Brighton constituency, and asks the PM if he thinks the sun will continue to shine on the seaside town. Mr Cameron pays tribute to the MP, and notes the claimant count in Brighton has dropped 52% since the last election.
London Bridge station
House of Commons
Parliament
Jim Dowd, the Labour MP for Lewisham West, is fed up with the "abysmal service" at London Bridge station. It's a "debacle", he says - and goes so far as to call for a compensation scheme. "The pressures are immense," David Cameron replies. "You cannot criticise this government for failing to invest in London's transport infrastructure," he adds. No word on compensation for commuters, though.
Labour 'taken hostage'
House of Commons
Parliament
In response to a question from Conservative backbencher Pauline Latham about Alex Salmond, David Cameron says the former Scottish first minister has taken the entire Labour party "hostage". The "ransom note" calls for higher borrowing unfettered welfare and weaker defence, among other things, he adds.
On the right track?
House of Commons
Parliament
Richard Drax, the South Dorset Tory, wants more than the £50m rail infrastructure improvement scheme for South West trains. "I believe this government has done right by the South West," the PM replies.
James Kirkup, Daily Telegraph
@jameskirkup
tweets: #pmqs is a perfect illustration of sentiment in big parties: Tories confident, Labour gloomy. Arguably both irrational, given the polls.
PMQs bingo
House of Commons
Parliament
Heather Wheeler, the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, triggers some Tory cheers as she cites a fall in unemployment in her constituency. For anyone playing PMQs bingo, she also gets in the phrase "long-term economic plan". Cue more vocal Conservative approval.
Sam Macrory, BBC News
@sammacrory
tweets: Cameron beaming. Cameron family beaming. #pmqs looked like it cheered Nancy up after her Clarkson-gate inspired hunger strike.
David Wooding, The Sun
@DavidWooding
tweets: Bad move by Miliband challenging Cameron on VAT. The PM gives a straight "no" and is haranguing Ed in Nat Ins but he won't answer. #pmqs
Mark Ferguson, Labour List
@Markfergusonuk
tweets: Well that wasn't Ed's best #PMQs. Cameron answered the first question and Miliband never really got back on the front foot
Defibrillators
House of Commons
Parliament
Simon Wright is the Lib Dem MP who immediately follows Ed Miliband. The volume in the chamber suddenly falls as he raises the case of a mother who lost her three-month-old baby because of a rare heart condition. "There's nothing more heartbreaking than losing a child," David Cameron replies. He says the Budget featured more money for defibrillators.
Pic: Ed Miliband
The last exchanges
House of Commons
Parliament
David Cameron says his party has made his promises on not raising taxes and says the choice for voters is between competence under the Conservatives and chaos under Labour. Mr Miliband says the government has been "of the few for the few" and it's time for a better plan with a Labour government.
Cameron hits back
Mr Cameron responds with a defence of his government's record on the NHS. He says Mr Miliband has had five years to come up with an economic plan and demonstrate some leadership, but he says he has failed on every count.
Miliband on the attack
House of Commons
Parliament
Mr Miliband accuses the prime minister of wanting to cut the health service and says no-one will believe what Mr Cameron promises on VAT or the NHS because he has broken all his previous pledges. He asks the PM to rule out any further cuts in the top rate of income tax.
Labour National Insurance rise?
House of Commons
Parliament
Mr Miliband quotes statistics which he says show Conservative spending cuts after the election would be greater than anything seen in the last five years. Mr Cameron says he is wrong - and repeats his questions to the Labour leader about national insurance rises, claiming it is Labour's "job's tax".
Jane Merrick, The Independent
@janemerrick23
tweets: I wonder whether David Cameron is regretting boycotting a 2-way debate with Ed Miliband because he's winning this one #pmqs
James Chapman, Daily Mail
@jameschappers
tweets: Cameron pulls the rug from under Miliband by categorically ruling out VAT rise #pmqs
Cameron's VAT pledge
House of Commons
Parliament
Yesterday shadow chancellor Ed Balls travelled to Birmingham to pledge that Labour wouldn't increase VAT in the next parliament. The move was intended as a dividing line against the Tories, who Labour suggested would have to either raise taxes elsewhere as a result. By making clear that David Cameron has ruled out a VAT hike too, the PM has delighted Conservative MPs.
Mark Wallace, Conservative Home
@wallaceme
tweets: AMBUSH. Cameron rules out VAT rise. Osborne didn't yesterday. They tempted Miliband into the trap and he fell right in. #PMQs
Tax and spending plans
House of Commons
Parliament
Mr Miliband responds by saying that no-one will believe Mr Cameron and goes on to press him over the Conservatives' spending cut plans. But David Cameron has a question of his own - will Ed Miliband rule out rises in national insurance contributions? Mr Miliband says Mr Cameron will have plenty of time to ask questions "after May 7" - implying he will be in opposition by then.
VAT rise ruled out
House of Commons
Parliament
Turning to his questioning of the prime minister, Mr Miliband references the PM's announcement on his "retirement plans" in 2020. He quotes the PM as saying he believed in giving straight answers to straight questions. Mr Miliband jokes that after five years of PMQs "that was music to my ears". He then asks the PM to rule out a rise in VAT. In answer to the question, Mr Cameron says: "Yes." There are huge cheers from the Tory benches.
Vicki Young, BBC News
@VickiYoung01
tweets: Murmurs of yes from our 1st time voters as Lab MP says dark future for young people #PMQs
Miliband tribute
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour leader Ed Miliband is on his feet, and begins by endorsing the prime minister's comments on victims on contaminated blood. He also echoes the prime minister's earlier tributes to those who died in the Alps plane crash.
Pic: David Cameron in action
Jane Merrick, The Independent
@janemerrick23
Nancy Cameron is cheering her Dad along with Tory MPs. Future leader of the Conservative Party? #pmqs
Contaminated blood: PM apologises
House of Commons
Parliament
Rory Stewart raises the contaminated blood story. David Cameron says MPs on all sides of the Commons have raised the issue. He says the next government will have to deal with the issue - but says it's right "we use this moment" to take stock. And he apologises on behalf of the government.
Youthful prospects
House of Commons
Parliament
Ann McKechin suggests to the PM, in the session's opening question, that prospects for the young are looking rather dark. David Cameron responds by saying things are working out in Scotland, pointing to improved unemployment stats in her constituency.
Alps air crash
David Cameron begins by speaking of the Germanwings air crash. He says he's spoken to Germany's Angela Merkel and Spain's Mariana Rajoy. He tells MPs he "made clear the UK is ready to offer any assistance we can".
Julian Huppert, Lib Dem MP
@julianhuppert
tweets: In the Chamber for #PMQs ... Still looking for some good ideas for a question! #fb
... And we're off
House of Commons
Parliament
Big Ben has bonged 12 in Westminster - and the final PMQs of the parliament gets under way with raucous cheers from MPs.
Landale's punt
BBC Deputy Political Editor James Landale was "taking a punt" when he asked David Cameron if he would serve a third term, he tells the Daily Politics. He thinks Ed Miliband might go on Mr Cameron's future plans at Prime Minister's Questions.
'Real Conservative government'
House of Commons
Parliament
Senior Conservative MP and member of the awkward squad Christopher Chope asks what more Francis Maude could have achieved if he'd been part of a "real conservative government" and not part of a coalition. Francis Maude replies that the Cabinet Office have actually achieved a "huge amount" in coalition and pays tribute to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander.
On the PMQs list
Today's Commons business papers provide a handy list of who's going to be asking questions: among those on the list are Defence Committee Chair Rory Stewart, the Greens' Caroline Lucas and Labour's Simon Danczuk - who's been rather outspoken in his views on Ed Miliband this week.
Tony McNulty, ex Labour MP
@Tony_McNulty
tweets: Might it be the Speaker's last #PMQs as well? Just asking....
Praise for Francis Maude
House of Commons
Parliament
Several Conservative MPs are turning Francis Maude's last questions session before retiring as an MP into a victory lap and using their question to thank him for his five year term as minister for the Cabinet Office. Conservative chair of the Public Administration Committee Bernard Jenkin says Sir Francis will "have truly left its mark not just on the civil service but in this house" and says his "tenacity commitment and sincerity are of great credit to him".
Adel Darwish, political commentator
@AdelDarwish
tweets: any bets on how many "kitchen", " Lame Duck" & "2nd term" puns will be in the last #PMQs in this parliament?
Charlotte Leslie, Tory MP
@CLeslieMP
tweets: Asking one of the last #PMQs of the Parliamentary Term....
Carolyn Quinn, Radio 4 presenter
@carolynquinncq
tweets: Samantha Cameron & 2 younger children are in the gallery to watch last PMQs before general election
Tony Grew, Commons journalist
@ayestotheright
tweets: Bit of frontbench musical chairs going on before #PMQs making sure some women cabinet ministers visible
Umunna slams Salmond
Daily and Sunday Politics
On the Daily Politics, Chuka Umunna says it is "distasteful and hubristic" of Alex Salmond to try and dictate the terms of the general election, saying it should be up to voters. Mr Salmond says he would work with Labour to scupper a Tory minority government.
'No question of injustice'
House of Commons
Parliament
Policy Minister Oliver Letwin replies that Mr Anderson is "unaware of the actual situation". Any papers "kept back on security grounds" have already been handed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission who are conducting their own investigation, he tells MPs, so there is "no question of any injustice of the kind he suggests taking place". Mr Letwin adds that if he is still on his role after the general election he will seek to "expedite the review".
Tory wobble?
Are the wheels coming off the Conservative election campaign, asks Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics. Conservative MP Priti Patel defends the PM and says her party is going all out to win the election.
'Shrewsbury 24' papers
House of Commons
Parliament
Labour's David Anderson is on his feet urging the government to release papers on a 1972 strike which led to six pickets being jailed, among them actor Ricky Tomlinson. On 23 January 2014 MPs voted by 120 to three to call on the government to release the papers, but Mr Anderson accuses the government of "blocking" their release "to protect Tory ministers from 40 years ago" and "sending innocent men to their graves as convicted criminals". Campaigners want to quash convictions against 24 men - the "Shrewsbury 24" - who were accused of violent picketing and intimidating workers in Shropshire, in 1972.
VAT?
Daily and Sunday Politics
"We don't need to increase VAT, that is not in the plan," Conservative MP Priti Patel tells the BBC's Daily Politics. Labour's claims to the contrary are "a complete distortion". She declines to give a "cast iron guarantee". This is seized on by Labour's Chuka Umunna, but he uses a similar form of words when asked to rule out a rise in National Insurance. Labour has no plans to do that, he says.
Cabinet Office questions
House of Commons
Parliament
Proceedings in the House of Commons have just got under way with questions to Minster for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude and his ministerial team. Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland has the first question, asking about what steps are being taken to support small businesses through public procurement. He argues there needs to be a "culture change" in the civil service to open up the system.
Vicki Young, chief political correspondent
@vickiYoung01
tweets: We've left Westminster to watch last #PMQs with 1st time voters in Birmingham part of BBC's #generation2015
'Unwanted child'
UKIP is the "unplanned, unwanted child" of the Conservative/Lib Dem marriage, according to the co-author of a new book on five years of coalition government. "UKIP is the real coalition effect; an anti-politics party which has seized on the resentment of a disaffected public in the post-expenses era. It is the coalition's tearaway child," writes Mike Finn. The Coalition Effect 2010-2015, by Mr Finn and Anthony Seldon is published on Thursday.
Final PMQs - the stats
The clock is ticking down to the final Prime Minister's Questions before the general election. For the stattos amongst us, this will be the 162nd session since the coalition government came to power in 2010. David Cameron has been present on 151 occasions during the past five years, with other ministers deputising 11 times. Mr Cameron is not quite the most scrupulous of PMs when it comes to the weekly session. Tony Blair has the best attendance record since 1979, making it to 95% of sessions between 1997 and 2007.
Best of PMQs from last five years?
Daily and Sunday Politics
As MPs get ready for the final PMQs of the current Parliament, BBC archives recall some of the highlights of the last five years. David Cameron and Ed Miliband have dominated the proceedings but other MPs have also popped up with a few sound bites, planted questions, funny and serious lines of their own. And the Speaker has been there to try and keep them in order, and urge them to keep it quiet. Watch some of those highlights here
Grill Hague
William Hague will be answering your questions on the BBC News Channel shortly. You can still get a query in to the former Conservative leader, who is standing down as an MP at the general election, by using the hashtag #BBCAskThis on Twitter.
Jobs pledge
Jim Murphy is pledging to invest £1bn in a jobs guarantee for 5,000 Scots aged 18-24, in a speech in the City of London. The package would be funded by UK Labour's plans to reintroduce a tax on bankers' bonuses and cut pension tax relief for those on high incomes. The SNP is calling it an "empty promise". Read more here.
Murphy hits out
Labour's leader in Scotland, Jim Murphy, wades into the row over Alex Salmond's pledge to bring down a Tory minority government if he could. Mr Murphy accuses the SNP of being David Cameron's little helpers. He insists the only party that can get rid of the Conservatives is Labour - and the more SNP MPs that are elected, the better Mr Cameron's chances of hanging on to power. This is starting to get complicated...
Social media election?
YouGov polling guru Stephan Shakespeare pours cold water on the idea that this will be a "social media election", saying the parties are not sophisticated enough in their use of Twitter and Facebook and are effectively using them to "deliver leaflets". He also points to research suggesting Jim Davidson (pictured above) is the favourite comedian of UKIP supporters in a speech to an advertising industry conference.
Have Your Say
Here's some of the comments that have landed in our inbox this morning:
I hope they allow Sir Peter Tapsell a question at his last PMQs. A last chance for a sensible question. Perhaps he might actually get an answer.
Graham Brown
If, as is often said, '24 hours is a long time in politics', then 5 years is a lifetime! Much media ado about nothing!
Graeme Lowe
What we can expect to see here is Alex Salmond block the Conservatives and then use this as a lever to get a large amount of concessions out of Labour by threatening to do the same thing to them. It is a tactic driven by self interest with no regard to the damage it will do both North and South of the border.
Terra Tkai
Click on the 'get involved' tab above to find out how you can contact us and we'll put up a few more of your thoughts later.
Hague on Salmond
William Hague, the outgoing leader of the House, isn't impressed by Alex Salmond's pledge to deny the Conservatives the ability to govern as a minority in the event of a hung parliament. He tells Norman Smith: "What is clear from this now is you know what you get if you vote Labour: you get a weak Labour government, even if the Labour party had fewer seats than the Conservatives, propped up by Alex Salmond and at the mercy every day of Alex Salmond, who would be demanding higher immigration, higher welfare spending, higher taxes, weaker defences." There'll be more of Mr Hague at 11.30 when he'll be answering readers' questions from the #BBCAskThis hashtag.
Tony Grew, Commons journalist
@ayestotheright
tweets: Last #PMQs of this session! Exciting. Of course pretty much everything is 'last' at this stage in the parliament
Mary Macleod, Conservative MP
@MaryMacleodMP
tweets: Can hardly believe 5 years have gone by so quickly! Last #PMQs of this #Parliament today. Will be sitting in usual place, 2 rows behind PM
#BBCAskThis
Norman Smith will be interviewing William Hague, the former Conservative leader who's standing down from parliament, at 11.30. Tweet your questions to #BBCAskThis - and we'll keep you posted on what the leader of the House has to say ahead of his final PMQs as an MP.
Safety concerns
Asked if he is concerned about the safety of the Airbus A320, a commonly-used aircraft, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says: "It has a very good safety record and the normal aviation safety authorities will be looking at the fact of this case. They and the Department for Transport will take any action necessary."
Alps air crash
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has given a brief statement on the Alps jet crash, confirming at least three British people have lost their lives. He said: "The Germanwings accident is a terrible tragedy and I want to offer my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all those involved in the accident. We currently believe that three British people have been killed in this tragedy, but we can't rule out the possibility that further British people have been involved - the level of information on the flight manifest doesn't allow us to rule out that possibility until we've completed some further checks. We are in contact with the families known to have been killed." Here's our story.
Approval ratings
The SNP is very happy to draw attention to today's YouGov/Sun polling showing that Nicola Sturgeon's net approval rating across the UK is +7, a long way ahead of her rival party leaders. "These figures underline that the SNP providing a strong voice for Scotland and helping deliver progressive policies across the whole UK is a winning formula among people in England as well as Scotland," deputy SNP leader Stewart Hosie says. Ms Sturgeon's numbers certainly compare well to the Westminster trio: David Cameron's net rating is -5, Ed Miliband's net rating is -39 and Nick Clegg's net rating is -47.
Leaving No 10
Retirement planning from within Downing Street never quite works out according to plan, Matthew Engel notes in his Financial Times sketch today. He points out that just one postwar prime minister has left No 10 voluntarily - Harold Wilson in 1976, whose decision appeared to be based on the fact his mind was going. "He was still thinking more clearly than the others," Mr Engel says. He believes the current man in Downing Street should have learned more from history and kept "schtum": "If David Cameron had thought at all, he has not thought sensibly."
CityHallLabour
@CityHallLabour
tweets: Not only the last pre-election #PMQs today but also last Mayor's Question Time. Boris to be grilled on Garden Bridge, crime rises and more.
The election according to Geordie Shore
Following Russell Brand's 2013 call on the electorate not to vote, another important figure from the celebrity commentariat has spoken out. Geordie Shore's Gaz Beadle gently suggests to the Sun Nation website that there needs to be greater attention paid to the political process in the nation's schools. "Even at year 11, even at year 10, just do a class a week on the Labour party and the Conservatives - do, like, mock elections in school," he says. "Then we'd understand it and when you actually leave school you'd know what you're doing and you'd know how to vote." Beadle's comments are not the first time he has spoken out about education. He has previously said on Geordie Shore: "I should have a degree in pulling women." Note for older readers: Geordie Shore is an MTV reality show about the exploits of young North Easterners.
Food banks
Over the last five years Labour backbenchers have repeatedly returned to the same issue - food banks - in PMQs. Labour has pointed to figures from the Trussell Trust charity showing the number of people using food banks has increased from 41,000 in 2009-10 to 913,000 in 2013-14. Today Ed Miliband's party is unveiling its pledges to reduce the need for food banks through a range of measures, including coordinating the government's approach to food policy, tackling low pay and abolishing the "bedroom tax". "We want to make sure that nobody has to rely on food banks to put food on the table," shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves will say.
Conor Pope, LabourList blogger
@Conorpope
tweets: Nick Clegg is that one guy who didn't realise it's not the last day of parliament and non-uniform day until tomorrow
Beth Heath Netherton
@bethania_ezakia
tweets: Last PMQs today, fingers crossed it's like school Leavers and they all sign each other's shirts #PMQs
Sir James Spicer 1925-2015
The Daily Telegraph
The obituary of former Conservative MP Sir James Spicer, who became the party's vice-chairman in 1968, appears in today's Telegraph. Sir James was a staunch Tory but he is also remembered as the founder of the parliamentary gym. He kept fit throughout his life - and even swam the Thames for charity aged 69, drinking a pint of whisky to kill the germs. He told a health conference in Westminster after a colleague died of a heart attack aged 48: "Basically, MPs drink too much and do too little exercise."
Salmond the provocateur
Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor
Rarely a day seems to go by now without Alex Salmond riling, provoking, prodding politicians at Westminster - now he is trying to goad both the Conservatives and the Labour Party. His strategy is to say to Labour voters in Scotland "you can switch to the SNP because we can stop David Cameron becoming prime minister". The real fear of many Labour MPs is by doing so he aids and abets David Cameron in his strategy of trying to present Ed Miliband as being in the pocket of Alex Salmond.
Ian Birrell, columnist
@ianbirrell
tweets: Been sent a pic of Penrose Report into contaminated blood scandal. Shouldn't take too long to read - only 1,800 pages
Chris Ship, ITV News Deputy Political Editor
@chrisshipitv
tweets: Last #pmqs involving both Cameron and Miliband today. Whatever happens in 6 weeks time, one of them won't be their party leader any more
The curse of Clegg?
Nick Clegg has been attracting some stick this morning for "cursing" the English cricket team by wearing its kit. He was speaking on Sky earlier about mental health issues - but some on Twitter were more bothered by what he was wearing, as the Mirror's Owen Bennett points out. "Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for England cricket," one tweeter moans. Another says Clegg's choice of outfit "seems appropriate somehow, given respective failings". Liberal Democrat supporters will be hoping the England team's habit of collapsing without warning isn't reflected in the party's vote share on 7 May...
A 'tactical concession'
The Guardian
The idea that David Cameron's announcement he wouldn't seek a third term was a "statement of the bleeding obvious", as Michael Gove put it, is met with raised eyebrows by Rafael Behr in the Guardian. "It was obvious to the kind of person who runs war games of party leadership scenarios the way football fans study fixture lists to predict their team's progress," he writes. "That is not most people." Mr Behr's take on the PM's unexpected announcement is that it contains a "whiff of capitulation" to see off potential "regicidal rumblings" after the election. He suspects it was planned, too - because the Shredded Wheat simile "suggests attention to the nuance of how the message should be delivered".
Giles Dilnot, Daily Politics reporter
@reporterboy
tweets: I confess I don't have high hopes for this last PMQs and last two are my basis for that.
Pollsters on PMQs
BBC Radio 4 Today
We're tremendously excited by today's PMQs, of course, but the pollsters on Today are telling us we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking it will actually influence the electorate. "It's about teeing up your troops at all - it's not about the voters," Deborah Mattinson of Britain Thinks says. Ben Page of Ipsos Mori agrees. "Most people aren't going to be listening to PMQs today," he adds. "The people who are paying attention are going to hear the same message over and over again, but it's wrong to say that the entire country are wracked with election fever."
Pollsters on Cameron
BBC Radio 4 Today
Will David Cameron's third-term comments make much of a difference? Ben Page of Ipsos Mori doubts it. "It will add to the perception of arrogance but that isn't really moving the dial on the perception of parties," he says - because characteristics like competence and being good in a crisis, where Mr Cameron outperforms Ed Miliband, matter more. Deborah Mattinson of Britain Thinks says a third of her organisation's panel of undecided voters have said they've noticed the story however. "They're saying this does matter, they're feeling unsettled by it. It's playing to a negative view they already have of David Cameron."
So long, farewell
It may be the last Prime Minister's Questions of the parliament, but for many MPs it will be their last ever. More than 80 members are retiring from the House of Commons at the election, including political big hitters such as former Conservative leader William Hague, former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell. The Telegraph's Rosa Prince has been interviewing some of those who are bidding farewell.
'Last laugh'?
The Independent
John Mullin looks at the SNP's strengthening hand in Westminster politics - as he puts it - in an opinion piece for the Independent. He notes the party's four-fold increase in membership and opinion polls which suggest the SNP is on course to take most of Labour's Scottish seats. "Little wonder, then, that the SNP is pressing home its advantage," Mr Mullin writes. He says the party is having the last laugh, and enjoying giving Westminster a taste of its own medicine.
"Middle England might well be furious. But if the SNP can exploit this post-referendum chaos to push forward towards its existential goal, why ever would it not do so?"
'Crass, spin-driven stunts'
The Daily Mail
David Cameron needs to get out of his kitchen and on to his soapbox, Amanda Platell urges in the Mail. She's not impressed by his penchant for PR stunts, from the Arctic huskies trip to last week's walk around Downing Street with a camera attached to his head. "Here's a plea from a loyal Tory before it's too late: stop patronising us, Dave," Ms Platell writes. "Cease these silly PR stunts and get on with the hard work of winning our support." Not that he needs to do much work to win this particular columnist over, mind. She adds: "The alternative - a government run by a callow quasi-Marxist — is unthinkable."
Cricketer Clegg
Sky News
Nick Clegg is on Sky dressed as a cricketer at The Oval. No, you're not going mad. England doesn't have a new deputy opening batsman. He's launching a mental health initiative and highlighting the fact that the issue has been "brushed under the carpet" in elite sports like cricket as elsewhere. "Sportswomen and men are well attuned to talking about the physical issues which surround their sporting prowess, but there are often very significant mental health issues that aren't talked about openly. The more that is done the more it will serve people well in the future." Cricketers like Jonathan Trott, Marcus Trescothick and Steve Harmison have previously been very open about their "stresses and strains", as the Lib Dem leader puts it.
Future leaders?
The Daily Telegraph
There's a large dose of scepticism from the Telegraph's James Kirkup about the prospects of David Cameron actually making it through to 2020. "Even Mr Cameron's friends expect that his end would come quickly after any EU vote, whatever its outcome," he writes. If it does happen as the PM plans, though, he suggests it would be sensible to look beyond Theresa May, George Osborne and Boris Johnson as potential successors. Mr Kirkup offers a wide range of alternatives: from relatively new Cabinet arrivals Sajid Javid and Nicky Morgan, via junior ministers like Esther McVey and Dan Poulter, to relative unknowns like backbencher Philip Lee and Mr Osborne's chief economic adviser Rupert Harrison. It all feels rather speculative, he notes. "All this, of course, rests on that opening assumption of Tory victory in this year's general election, a victory that is still far from certain."
Paul Waugh, PoliticsHome editor
@paulwaugh
tweets: Grant Shapps tells me: "Alex Salmond is threatening to undermine a Government chosen by the British people..." [1/2]
and: Shapps: "This is a man who lost his battle in Scotland but is now determined to bring chaos and insecurity to the rest of the country" [2/2]
Jim Murphy speech
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy is to make a speech in London a little later, in which he will unveil plans to create 5,000 jobs for young people in Scotland through taxes most raised in the City of London. Mr Murphy will say £1bn worth of taxes raised from bank bonuses will help fund a "Scottish Jobs Guarantee". Read more here.
Poll stalemate
Looking back at the last three months it seems nothing much has changed, as this graph of the parties' polling from YouGov/Sun suggests. What was a dead heat in January remains a dead heat today - although Labour and the Conservatives seem to be slowly squeezing UKIP of support. Today Nigel Farage's party is down to 12%, compared to the two main parties' deadlock on 35%.
Third-term views
The Sun
David Cameron was right to speak out about a third term, The Sun newspaper suggests this morning. It's published a poll which finds 55% of voters back the PM, while a fifth of voters now think more of him too. That certainly reflects the majority of comments we received yesterday supporting Mr Cameron's announcement that he wouldn't seek re-election in 2020. Do send in your comments today to politics@bbc.co.uk and we'll publish a selection of them later.
Laura Kuenssberg, BBC Newsnight chief correspondent
@bbclaurak
tweets: Morning - last PMQs of the parliament today, end of an era! Possibly the last for one of the leaders..... Maybe more than one
It must be love?
The Guardian
There's a rather striking conclusion to Guardian sketchwriter John Crace's article looking back at five years of the Cameron-Miliband PMQs clashes. He starts by suggesting that things have got a bit stale: "What began with some purpose when they first squared up to each other more than four and half years ago has long since descended into a punch-drunk pantomime stalemate." But what's caused this deadlock? Mr Crace's theory is that "the big untold story of PMQs… is one of love. The reason Dave and Ed just can't land a killer blow on each other is because the bond between them is too strong. They both need the other to look good."
Contaminated blood
BBC Radio 4 Today
Gill Fyffe, who was infected with Hepatitis C following a blood transfusion after giving birth, tells Today that accountability is important for transfusion victims. "I don't think we can fix what happens for the thousands of people who have been made ill, or suffered or who have died," she says ahead of publication of Lord Penrose's inquiry report into the use of contaminated blood products by the NHS later. "But what we can do is make sure in the future when mistakes are made… it would be great if it were easier for mistakes to be acknowledged immediately. It shows respect to the people who are left to deal with the consequences of the mistakes and it lessens their burden as they don't need to fight for recognition, they don't need to fight for help."
Rupert Myers, British GQ Political Correspondent
@RupertMyers
tweets: The narrative of the Presidential contest slowly winning vs small parties? YouGov/Sun: Con 35%, Lab 35%, Ukip 12%, Lib Dem 8%,%, Green 6%
Obesity approach 'inexplicable'
MPs on the Health Select Committee have criticised the NHS's approach to obesity as "inexplicable". They say the NHS in England spends more on bariatric surgery than well-established measures to prevent obesity - and that health workers should use every opportunity to deal with the problem. Urgent steps are needed to help people understand the wider health benefits of physical activity, the committee's report adds. More here.
Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor
@BBCNormanS
tweets: Interviewing William Hague at 11.30 today as he prepares to step down after 25 years in Parliament. Send any questions to #BBCAskThis
'Extreme verve'
BBC Radio 4 Today
Alison White, registrar of the new Register of Consultant Lobbyists, doesn't give much away about her own views on the effectiveness of the system she's overseeing from today. She acknowledges that "the legislation was quite narrowly drafted to address a particular issue". But it seems being a lobbying registrar doesn't mix well with doing actual lobbying to change the rules about lobbying. "It's not my role to lobby for change to the legislation itself," she says. Instead she'll be focused on spending her days "implementing the legislation that's there" with "extreme verve and vigour".
Double act
Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is going to be grilled by Mumsnetters from 12.45pm this afternoon, in a live Q&A. His wife, lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, will also be making a media appearance - on LBC, where she'll be interviewed by Shelagh Fogarty at 2.30pm.
Tackling lobbying
BBC Radio 4 Today
Today sees the statutory register of lobbyists come into force. It's been heavily criticised by some - and Tamasin Cave of Spinwatch has been among its most vocal critics. She tells the Today programme that "the register has loopholes built into it so hardly anybody in the industry is going to be covered". The other problem is it won't show the interactions between lobbyists and government, "and that's what a register is for".
Shredded Wheat politics
The Times
Matthew Parris, never one to let his cereal go soggy, has delved into the PM's thinking behind his Shredded Wheat analogy in his James Landale interview. "Terms are like Shredded Wheat - two are wonderful but three might just be too many," the PM said. Mr Parris is confused but plucky in his efforts to work out what David Cameron meant. "Slim Weetabix" is "naughty but nice", whereas the "massive" Shredded Wheat biscuits are just "gross", he suggests. "Or did he perhaps mean the mini-biscuit version of Shredded Wheat? In that case three would be pathetically few. We are left to guess. How Confucian is modern politics." And how enduring is the marketing power of Shredded Wheat, the BBC's Magazine Monitor points out.
Clive Coleman, BBC legal correspondent
@colemancr
tweets: This is big thinking. Goes to heart of doctrine of the primacy of the jury, but is to address cases where it looks like jury made big error
Today in the Commons
House of Commons
Parliament
So, what's coming up in the House of Commons today? Well, it's a busy day which kicks off at 11.30 GMT with questions to Cabinet Office ministers. That'll take us up to PMQs at noon, after which - provided there are no urgent questions or statements - Labour MP Fiona O'Donnell will propose a bill on tax transparency and international development.
The main business is dedicated to scrutiny of the Budget-enacting Finance Bill, which will go through all its stages this afternoon. MPs will also consider a motion on terrorism and, if necessary, any Lords amendments to government bills. Gordon Marsden, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, closes the day with a short debate on social care and military compensation.
More on HS2
BBC Radio 4 Today
Lord Hollick, chairman of the House of Lords committee which has found there's no "convincing case" for the HS2 rail link, is on the Today programme suggesting there's just not a need for it right now. "The average usage of capacity across the week is 43%, it's between 50% and 60% in peak times," he says. "There is some overcrowding after the peak time ends on Friday and during football matches at the weekend - it's possible this could be addressed by pricing."
Contaminated blood report due
A long-awaited report on a Scottish inquiry into the contamination of blood supplies between 1970 and 1991 is due to be published later today. Thousands of people were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV through NHS blood products, in what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. The inquiry, led by former High Court judge Lord Penrose, has taken six years and cost about £12m. Read more here.
Peep peep!
This may not be the piece of information that finally clinches which way you're going to vote on 7 May, but the parenting website NetMums has at least come up with a question the party leaders haven't been asked before: which children's TV character are you? David Cameron plumps for Thomas the Tank Engine because "he's a British icon, he's blue, he's loyal and reliable and he always saves the day". Ed Miliband opts for a more futuristic option, while Nick Clegg's preferred character is - er - more furry… Here are their choices.
Miscarriages of justice
BBC Radio 4 Today
MPs want the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to be a little less timid in referring cases of potential miscarriages of justice to the Court of Appeal. Their report calls on it to "man up", the BBC's legal correspondent Clive Coleman tells the Today programme. But Richard Foster, chair of the CCRC, says MPs concluded his organisation was functioning well. He says there's often "no point" reviewing cases where there isn't a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would quash a conviction - but accepts that a review of the current arrangements would be a good idea.
HS2 case 'not convincing'
The government has no convincing case for spending £50bn building the HS2 rail link between London and the North, according to a committee of peers. The Lords' Economic Affairs Committee has published a report in which it said the government's main arguments in favour of HS2 - increasing railway capacity and rebalancing the economy - were still to be proven. The government maintains that the high-speed rail link will deliver big benefits. More here.
Polls update
It's level-pegging, suggests the first in a new series of polls by ComRes/ITV News. Its phone survey of 1,001 adults interviewed between 20-22 March put both the Conservatives and Labour on 35%. UKIP is down three points to 10% and the Greens slip one point to 7%, suggesting the two main parties are squeezing the support of their challengers. "This is extraordinary," writes blogger Mike Smithson on politicalbetting.com. "In all the time I've been covering polling I cannot recall a sequence like the one we are seeing this week." He's pointing out that the ComRes poll follows three others all giving the Tories and Labour equal vote shares.
Alps plane crash
A search and recovery operation is resuming in the southern French Alps after Tuesday's crash of a Germanwings plane with 150 people on board. Last night, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was "sadly likely" there were some British nationals on board.
PMQs comfort zones
Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor
The course of Prime Minister Questions in this parliament is almost a metaphor for this election campaign in that neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband have really established a decisive edge over the other. It's reached a deadlock stalemate scenario where increasingly both men retreat back to their comfort zones. Ed Miliband goes on the NHS, David Cameron on the economy, the arguments are very familiar. Even the language has become very core voter-ish. You just sense that as with PMQs, so with this election: neither man is able to deliver a knockout blow and we are basically in a complete deadlock.
'Howls of anguish'
Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor
Alex Salmond's comments yesterday have provoked howls of anguish from the Conservative Party who say the former first minister of Scotland is trying to sabotage the democratic free will of the British public. But actually they are no such thing - Mr Salmond is entirely free to vote whichever way he wants if he is elected to Westminster. The real howls of anguish are most justified from the Labour Party, as Mr Salmond is seeking to give Labour voters in Scotland encouragement, permission and an incentive, even, to switch to the SNP. Labour MPs fear that not only is that strategy working, but it is aiding and abetting David Cameron's strategy of portraying Ed Miliband as in the pocket of Mr Salmond.
Today's papers
Wednesday's newspapers are dominated by Tuesday's plane crash in the Alps. But some political stories do appear too, including David Cameron being heckled, the final coalition cabinet and Alex Salmond's comments. You can cast your eye over them all on one handy page here.
Salmond 'sabotage'
Today's New Statesman carries some striking quotes from Alex Salmond that were big political news yesterday evening. Here's a summary of the story:
Covering Europe
One of the biggest reports out this morning comes from the European Scrutiny Committee, whose members have criticised the "lack of time" given to debating Europe. It's "deplorable" how little MPs have picked over European legislation, they say - and the same goes for the BBC, which their report concludes needs to improve its European coverage "substantially". Committee chairman Sir William Cash, a Conservative MP, said the BBC had "very particular obligations" to be impartial and to "educate and inform". More here.
Last grilling
Today will see the final Prime Minister's Questions of this parliament. Will they all be demob happy we wonder? Will David Cameron be asked about his announcement on Monday that he wouldn't seek a third term as PM if he retains power in May? We'll watch the whole thing on your behalf to find out.
Good morning
Hello and welcome to another day of action with the Politics Live team. It's Alex Stevenson and Pippa Simm here bright and early, ready to take you through all the events, reaction and analysis from Westminster and the election campaign trail. It was a busy day yesterday, here you can read how it all panned out.