Image source, PA

Construction union UCATT has endorsed Sadiq Khan for London Mayor, Labour-supporting website Labourlist reports, external. The Tooting MP has also secured the backing of GMB and Unite unions.

Mr Khan is one of a number of candidates in the running to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor, elections for which take place next year. They include: Diane Abbott, Tessa Jowell, David Lammy, Gareth Thomas and Christian Wolmar. Dr Neeraj Patil and Keeran Kerai  have also put their names forward. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Speaker John Bercow announces the results of the election for Commons deputy speakers (although we already knew them as only three names were put forward for the three positions).

They are incumbents Labour's Lindsay Hoyle and Conservative Eleanor Laing, and Labour MP Natascha Engel - who replaces Dawn Primarolo who stepped down at the election.

Mr Hoyle has been re-elected chairman of ways and means, a high-profile role which involves chairing the Budget statement.

Sajid Javid is making his Commons debut as business secretary. He tells MPs the Conservatives "are the party of the many not the few...devolving to every corner of the United Kingdom".

But Nigel Nelson felt PMQs was "as deeply unsatisfying as ever".

In an opinion piece for the Mirror,  he wrote, external : "Ed Miliband had morphed into Harriet Harman who is now asking the questions for Labour. But some things never change. Harriet asked David Cameron questions he never answered and David Cameron answered questions Harriet had never asked."  

What did political commentators make of today's Prime Minister's Questions, the first of the new Parliament.

The New Statesman's George Eaton thought David Cameron "effortlessly commanded" the session, and suggested it served as a reminder the session showed Labour "how great the task ahead of it is".

"The ease with which Cameron berated Harman over her party's past record may convince more in the party that only a post-2010 MP can make progress," he writes., external

Spotted outside the Defra building: campaigners calling on the government to prosecute more people who mistreat horses. Needless to say, no animals were harmed in the making of this protest - it's a dummy.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Speaker calls an end to tributes to  former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and moves onto the main business - another day's debate on the Queen's Speech. Today, MPs focus on the bills relating to devolution and growth across Britain.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Stephen Pound, MP for Ealing North, says "many hearts broke" when they heard the news of Charles Kennedy's death. 

He recalls Mr Kennedy "creasing the sides of the nation with his humour" on the airwaves and on panel show 'Have I Got News for You', and remembers being told that "to appear on the programme, you have to be prepared to be a prat, or Charles Kennedy".

"I appeared on 'Have I got News for you'", says Mr Pound to chuckles from MPs. "Demonstrably, I'm not Charles Kennedy."

House of Commons
Parliament

House of Commons
Parliament

Greg Mulholland follows the emotional tributes from fellow Lib Dems Norman Lamb and Tim Farron to their former leader.

The Leeds MP pays his respects to a man who "lit up the room when he walked in... a genuine, warm and humble man".

Mr Mulholland recalls the time when Charles Kennedy, as Liberal Democrat leader, took his party to its most successful General Election result, winning 62 seats in 2005.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

And what about Gloria de Piero, the shadow women and equalities minister and MPs' pay? She says she "couldn't look at her constituents in the eye" if she accepted the money. She says there should be a mechanism for MPs to refuse the pay rise - so it can be "given back to the taxpayer".

Asked whether she'll be accepting the money, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan says there is "no mechanism" for MPs not to accept it as Ipsa pays their salaries directly into their bank accounts.

But she adds: "I already make charitable donations and this is an opportunity to increase them."

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

MPs' pay is set to rise by £7,000 under proposals put forward by the watchdog in charge of setting their salaries. Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority chief executive Marcial Boo says "overall" MPs won't be benefiting any more than they were before because of changes to their pensions and allowances.

What if MPs don't want to accept the money? They are welcome to choose to give it to charity, he says, but stresses that Ipsa's job is to pay MPs their salaries directly.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Could you envisage Britain leaving the European Convention on Human Rights? Nicky Morgan is asked. She tells the World at One that she supports "getting sense back" into the way human rights legislation is applied in the UK. Leaving the ECHR  would be "a big step" but "I don't think we should be tying our hands at this stage", Ms Morgan says, adding: "We should be looking at all possible options."  

House of Commons
Parliament

Replacing Charles Kennedy in his seat of Ross, Skye & Lochaber is Ian Blackford, who rises next to speak.

The SNP MP pays tribute to the "cheeky chappy" who he beat with a majority of 5,124 in the previous election, but says it was only due to "the national tide that he lost his seat".

 "Charles charmed the constituents, just as he did in this House," says Mr Blackford, and was "deeply loved by many throughout his constituency."

"It was absolute privilege to campaign against him."