Image source, PA

Labour MP Dan Jarvis has come out in favour of Andy Burnham in the contest to lead the party.In an article in the Daily Mirror, external, he says Burnham "has the strength, experience and character needed to bring our party together and restore Labour’s connection with the British people".

The shadow justice minister and former army officer writes: 

BBC Scotland's political editor Brian Taylor says  Labour's decline in Scotland has been slow and steady and that their revival, if there is to be one, will not be instantaneous.

Here's a bit more from Yvette Cooper's interview in the Financial Times in which she has criticised Ed Miliband's stance on business.

The shadow home secretary who is standing in the contest to be the next leader of the Labour Party said that under its former leader the party sounded "anti-business, anti-growth and ultimately anti-worker."

The wife of Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor, has claimed that Labour needs to "reset our relationship with business around a shared vision for building an economy that faces the future".

She added that "Labour has to show we want to build business up not knock them down".

She also argues that Labour should drop its opposition to the recent reduction in corporation tax. 

The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)  Mike Nesbitt has met the Prime Minister  in London at the start of the new Parliament. 

He says he urged David Cameron that the government must not collapse the Northern Ireland Executive over welfare reform difficulties.

 A spokesman for Downing Street described the meeting as routine and private.  

Image source, PA

Prospective leader of the Labour Party, Yvette Cooper, has given an interview, external to the Financial Times and said that her party needs to re-set its relationship with business.

She says Labour and business should unite around a "shared vision" of creating the jobs and economic growth of the future and that although people knew Labour wanted to stop exploitation in the workplace, they weren't convinced of the party's commitment to creating more jobs and stronger growth.

Ms Cooper says she will set up a Business Advisory Group if she becomes Labour Leader, which will include businesses that don’t support the party.

New MPs coming to Westminster have a lot to get used to. David Cornock, BBC Wales Parliamentary correspondent, has been speaking to some of the new intake from Wales , including one who says the House of Commons is "like Hogwarts".

MPs need to attend to key psychological factors in a changed and yet unchanging institution, says Cranfield University's Dr Richard Kwiatkowski.

In his piece, external on the politicshome website, external he points out how newly-elected or  re-elected MPs may be feeling emotionally as election fever subsides.

Now that Jim Murphy has said he is standing down as the leader of the Labour party in Scotland, who are the people most likely to take on the role?

Glenn Campbell, political correspondent at BBC Scotland, takes a look. 

Image source, Getty images

Writing in the Spectator, external , associate editor and Conservative supporter Toby Young sounds a note of caution about Tory proposals to repeal the Human Rights Act. 

The party's  manifesto, external  says: "The next Conservative government will scrap the Human Rights Act, and introduce a British Bill of Rights."

Toby Young says he's "nervous about the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights becoming less sacrosanct,  particularly Article 10, which deals with freedom of expression".

Time for a quick look back at the main political stories of the day:

David Cameron re-pledges to boost NHS funding and create a "seven-day" health service, in his first major post-election speech.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey says his union is not considering ending its ties with the Labour Party, after yesterday suggesting it might.

John Bercow has been re-elected as Speaker of the House of Commons as MPs returned to Parliament for the first time after the election.

 Angela Eagle has joined the race to become Labour's deputy leader.  

The chairman of JCB says the UK should not fear an exit from the European Union.

European Union defence and foreign ministers have approved plans to establish an EU naval force to combat people smugglers operating from Libya. 

The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said the aim of the operation was to disrupt the business model of smugglers and traffickers' networks in the Mediterranean. The EU is expected to seek United Nations support for the mission.

Image source, AFP

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

The unions have "influence" over Labour, rather than power: 

John Bercow has been re-elected as Commons' Speaker. The full story is here.

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent

Yvette Cooper's campaign team have released a list of MPs backing her in her bid for the Labour leadership. 

A source said they had more than the 35 required to guarantee a place on the ballot paper, although they are not saying exactly how many have offered their support. 

Former ministers Chris Bryant, David Hanson and John Healey are among the named MPs. 

Hazel Blears' former special adviser Paul Richards and activist Luke Akehurst will also work on the campaign, said the source, alongside regional organisers Shelia Murphy and Caroline Badley.

The SNP have accused Labour of refusing to come to an agreement about seating arrangements in the Commons.

During the election of the Speaker, the SNP sat in some of the former Lib Dem seats but some Labour MPs, including Dennis Skinner, continue to occupy seats which the SNP had sought to reserve. 

Labour is not commenting, but the SNP's Pete Wishart MP accused the party of not recognising the nationalists as the third largest party:

Over at the Newsnight live page , producer Ed Brown looks at where the 5,000 extra GPs being promised by the government might come from...