Laura Kuenssberg
Newsnight Chief Correspondent

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

It's traditional for politicians to venture into the overcrowded, stuffy Moncrieff's cafeteria in the Houses of Parliament to talk to lobby journalists who have the pleasure of working out of Westminster from time to time. They rarely go without the intention of dropping some hint, or giving away a little bit of their thinking. But normally, just a little.  

Today though, it seems Liz Kendall, one of the contenders for the Labour leadership used the lunch to go all or bust.

Read the rest of the post on Newsnight Live.

BBC News Channel

Image source, Reuters

Nigel Farage insists that UKIP is united ahead of a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU - and predicts that other parties will be "torn apart" by the debate.

He is asked if he intends to "take a break" as some party figures have urged him to do (though they may have hoped he would relinquish the leadership rather than take the summer off).

"I'll take a few weeks off," Mr Farage says, confirming that deputy leader Paul Nuttall will be in charge in his absence.

"I'm not running away," he adds, given that he suspects an EU referendum will take place in May next year.

BBC News Channel

UKIP leader Nigel Farage tells the BBC News Channel that David Cameron's immigration plans will prevent skilled workers coming from outside the EU but not unskilled migrants from inside the EU.

"It is all the wrong way round," he says.

He claims figures showing net migration to the UK reaching its highest level for a decade will add to public anger about the issue.

Image source, Reuters

Liz Kendall was keen to set out a radical policy platform - ideas distinct from Labour under Ed Miliband - at a Westminster lunch earlier.

The shadow care minister backed new free schools - a policy opposed in Labour's manifesto. She criticised trade union leaders for trying to dictate the outcome of the leadership contest. And for the first time Liz Kendall said she would commit Labour to spending 2% of national income on defence. The reason Labour lost the election was simple, she said.

The party decided the British public had shifted to the left because it wished that to be true. And it was the party's politics, not Ed Miliband's personality, that was the problem.

Recognising the challenge Labour and its future leader faced, she said things could get worse with the prospect of boundary changes, the threat of UKIP and a potential Lib Dem recovery. There was, she added, no God given right for the Labour party to exist.

Marc Williams
Newsnight Election Producer

As is often repeated, the Tory Government's elusive goal on net immigration is to get it down to the tens of thousands. Their failure to meet this target is largely blamed on the inability to control immigration from inside the EU. 

However, to get a sense of how this issue has escalated in such a short period of time, there was a time not that long ago when, forget about "tens of thousands", net migration to the UK from inside the EU could be measured in the thousands (2,000, in fact) in 2002. This was just before the accession of Poland, Czech Republic et al in 2004.

The latest figures out today show that the equivalent figure is now at 178,000. This represents an 8900% increase.

Read the full post on Newsnight Live.

Image source, Labour Party

Labour backbencher John Mann says he will put forward his own vision for the party's future and does not rule out putting himself forward for a leadership bid.

The Bassetlaw MP has had plenty to say since Labour's defeat on 7 May, including in a blog about why the party lost., external

He says Labour had been "spectacularly monochrome" in contrast to the "glorious technicolour" of the SNP and the "quirkiness" of UKIP.

Image source, AFP

Green Party politicians including leader Natalie Bennett and MP Caroline Lucas have signed a letter to the Guardian, external welcoming a referendum on the EU.

"The last few days have seen a tussle between big businesses over whether or not Britain should stay in the EU. But a focus solely on corporate interests undermines the issues at the heart of this debate, " the letter reads.

The Greens - supporters of UK's membership of the EU - say that the bloc has secured some protections for workers' rights and the environment.

Employment law expert Omer Simjee, of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, says:

Shadow home secretary - and Labour leadership candidate - Yvette Cooper responded earlier to today's migration figures.

Image source, Airbus

Downing Street has responded to the comments from Airbus that it would reconsider investment in the UK if the country were to leave the EU.

The prime minister's spokesman said: "What rightly you hear from business is the need for the importance of certainty and the PM's approach is the one that gives certainty. He has a clear plan to renegotiate and put that to a referendum.”

The spokesman also said that the UK has seen very high levels of "foreign direct investment into the UK… We continue to see the confidence of investors in the UK as a place to do business".

Image source, PA

It seems the bank holiday rail strike was called off after unions received a "revised offer" in their pay dispute with Network Rail.

Members of the RMT and TSSA unions had been due to walk out for 24 hours from 17:00 on Monday in a row over pay.

The RMT said the union's executive had decided to suspend the strike, after the TSSA earlier called off its action.

It is not clear to what extent train services cancelled on Monday and Tuesday will be reinstated.

And now for some reaction from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) to the government's proposals on immigration. Frankly, it's not sure about them.

The CBI says the new rules on illegal working should "not blur the lines between employment law enforcement and a crackdown on criminal activity.” It also says that the "net migration target should be scrapped".

That's right folks. The rail strike is off. For this weekend at least.

Conciliation service ACAS said earlier it understood that next week's rail strike by members of the Rail and Maritime (RMT) Union which looked set to paralyse huge swathes of the system, has been called off.

"We understand that strike action next Monday by RMT has been suspended," ACAS said in a statement, without elaborating.

Liberal Democrat peer and former London mayoral candidate Lord Paddick attacks the Conservatives' proposals to cut net migration.

"The Tories promised to cut net migration to tens of thousands but failed spectacularly. Instead of admitting their target was a stupid idea, they have pushed the 'let's sound tough on immigration' button yet again," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Southwark and Bermondsey MP and Lib Dem party grandee Simon Hughes has given his backing to Tim Farron in the race to become the next leader of the vastly diminished Liberal Democrats. He told politicshome.com, external Mr Farron was a “proven campaigner” for the party and would focus on the issue of affordable homes.

“People are being priced out of buying a home for themselves or their family here in London,” Mr Hughes said at a joint appearance with Mr Farron in his former constituency.