The first Prime Minister's Questions since the General Election takes place
MPs pay tribute to ex-Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, who died aged 55 on Monday
By the look of things, Westminster's 650 MPs are going to have to decide what to do with the £7,000 pay rise that seems to be coming their way. Labour MP Stella Creasy has an interesting solution. She says it is "unjustifiable" and she will let residents in her Walthamstow constituency decide how it is spent locally.
Image source, PAThe government's Education and Adoption Bill is being published on Wednesday, with much of the focus on incentives and sanctions for coasting and failing schools. But children's minister Edward Timpson has told the ConservativeHome website, external that it is also a "landmark" piece of legislation for adoption, containing important reforms to simplify the process and ensure no child is "left behind". Mr Timpson, two of whose brothers are adopted, said he had personal experience of how rewarding adoption can be – "not just for the child, but for the whole family":
Quote MessageAs a result of the Education and Adoption Bill – introduced to Parliament today – we’ll be able to establish, where councils are unable or unwilling to do so, new Regional Adoption Agencies to seriously speed up the time it takes to match children with the right family for them. This means children spending less time with their lives on hold in the care system, and more time settling into their new homes."
Image source, PALabour leadership contender Andy Burnham has said he will not accept the £7,000 rise in basic pay for MPs recommended by the independent watchdog Ipsa. Mr Burnham said the proposed pay increase - which would see their pay go up by 10% to £74,000 next month - "could not be justified" in the current financial climate. He said he would turn it down "at source" or donate the money to local groups. Downing Street said on Tuesday that MPs would be entitled to the money if the move goes ahead following a final consultation.
The joint fourth biggest party in the Commons tweets...
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Image source, PACommons Speaker John Bercow will chair his first Prime Minister's Questions of the new parliamentary session today. It is also a big day for his deputies, who are being chosen in a ballot of MPs. Voting takes place between 10.00 and 13.00. We already know who will fill the three positions as only three candidates - Lindsay Hoyle, Eleanor Laing and Natascha Engel - have put their names forward. However, whoever gets the most votes will serve as the chair of the ways and means committee - meaning they will get the plum job of chairing the debate on the Budget every year. In the last Parliament, Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle had that task and he is favourite to continue in the role.
Image source, AFPConservative MP Damian Collins says the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups should be re-run, saying recent revelations about Fifa suggest "we cannot have any confidence" in how the tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively. The MP, a member of the Commons sports select committee, tells the BBC's Victoria Darbyshire show that there is "enough evidence to suggest the process was corrupted".
By Mark Mardell, The World This Weekend
Image source, Getty ImagesUS Senator Rand Paul has been making waves with his stand against mass surveillance and The Patriot Act. Mark Mardell wonders if his brand of libertarianism could have an influence on British politics.
"It is not a strand of thought immediately obvious on the British political landscape, but I have a feeling it may be one of the forces and fault lines in Prime Minister David Cameron's new government," writes Mark.
Storing and maintaining Britain's 19 laid-up nuclear submarines has cost taxpayers nearly £16m over the last five years, it has emerged.
The out-of-service vessels have been stored at Rosyth in Fife since 1980 and Devonport in Plymouth since 1994.
Campaigners have raised concerns about the hulks' safety, blaming a "lack of decision" for the delay in dismantling.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it took its duty to manage disposal of submarines "very seriously".
A Freedom of Information request to the MoD by the BBC revealed the combined cost of preventing any nuclear materials on board getting into the environment from the seven submarines at Rosyth and 12 in Devonport.
Every school in England rated inadequate by Ofsted, up to 1,000 over five years, will become an academy, under a bill to be published later.
The Education and Adoption Bill will also scrap the requirement for academy sponsors to consult locally on whether they should take over schools.
The aim is to "sweep away bureaucratic and legal loopholes", said Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.
Labour said the "divisive" bill missed the challenges faced by schools.
Away from domestic politics, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to travel to Brussels where he will be presented with a new plan to solve Greece's debt crisis.
International creditors will detail economic reforms needed if Greece is to receive further funding.
Mr Tsipras has already said he has new proposals of his own that would involve painful concessions.
A €300m (£216m) payment from cash-strapped Greece to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is due on Friday.
The draft deal has been put together by the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank following emergency talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
From his 2001 book The Future of Politics
Image source, PAQuote MessageTwenty years ago, it was still possible to find pubs where signs above the bar said 'No politics or religion', presumably because they were the two subjects most likely to cause a fight. Nowadays, you never see it, because either people don't discuss politics at all, or, if they do, it's conducted with such apathy that the chief danger is that the participants will fall asleep."
Labour should run its own "distinctive" campaign to stay in the European Union in the upcoming referendum on the UK's membership, Andy Burnham has said.
The leadership hopeful said the party must "learn the lessons" of last year's Scottish independence referendum.
It has been suggested Labour lost Scottish votes because it campaigned with the Conservatives for a "No" vote.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold an in/out referendum on the EU before the end of 2017.
MPs will get a chance to pay tribute to Charles Kennedy in the House of Commons at 12:30 BST, immediately after PM's questions. As was shown yesterday Kennedy, Lib Dem leader from 1999 to 2006 and an MP from 1983 to 2015, was a hugely popular figure. To find out more about his life and career, here's The Charles Kennedy Story.
Image source, PAThere is still a sense of shock and sadness across Westminster after the news yesterday that former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy had died aged 55. Catch-up with all the tributes from Tuesday.
Hello and welcome to our rolling political coverage of events on the day of the first Prime Minister's Questions since the General Election. David Cameron is still there as Prime Minister, though William Hague, pictured above, won't be as he decided to stand down as an MP. There's also a change of line up on the opposition benches, with Harriet Harman acting Labour leader. And SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson will get to ask questions too.