Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

BBC economics editor Robert Peston says the chancellor's plans to commit his, and future, governments to balancing the books in normal times "is very significant". He says the previous Labour government had a "golden fiscal rule" that allowed it to borrow to invest, and no government since World War II has been subject to the kind of "straitjacket that the chancellor wishes to put on himself".

What Mr Osborne is saying is that in normal times there should be no borrowing at all, which is "a massive reduction in his discretion to behave in the way that chancellors have in the past", he says. The big issue is whether it  is "sensible prudence or debt fetishism"?

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Andy Burnham has the most support so far among Labour MPs to become the party's next leader, with 53 colleagues backing the shadow health secretary.

According to figures released by Labour, external, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall have also exceeded the threshold of 35 nominations needed to get on to the ballot paper with 41 and 36 each.

Jeremy Corbyn and Mary Creagh have 11 and five nominations at the moment. But more than a third of Labour's 232 MPs have yet to state a preference.

Contenders need the support of 15% of MPs to secure a place on the ballot paper for September's election. The winner will be decided by a vote of Labour party representatives, members and affiliates, to be conducted on a one-member, one-vote basis.

Details of the progress that the quintet are making towards the nominations target have been published on the party's website, external and will be updated until nominations close on 15 June.

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said that 86 out of Labour's 232 Labour MPs have yet to support any of the candidates.

Tory ministers should be free to "speak their minds" about the future EU referendum, the chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee has said.

Graham Brady urged PM David Cameron to declare now that the vote would be "a matter of conscience for ministers and backbench MPs alike".

It would allow a "mature and rational" debate on the EU vote, Mr Brady said.

No 10 has denied reports ministers may have to resign if they did not back any deal Mr Cameron reaches on the EU.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, external, Mr Brady - chairman of the influential committee of backbench Conservative MPs - said the vote on European Union membership was a "totemic issue".

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Last night MPs overwhelmingly backed plans for a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union. The vote, which followed the first debate on the EU Referendum Bill, means the legislation moves to the next stage of its progress through Parliament.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said a "generation" had been denied a say on the UK's place in Europe, and the public must now have the "final say". MPs voted by 544 to 53 in favour of the bill.

The Conservatives and Labour support the bill, but the SNP opposes it.

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A quick catch-up on the top politics stories at the moment beginning with the news that Chancellor George Osborne is to introduce a rule that will commit future governments to spending no more than they collect in revenue.

Mr Osborne will use his annual Mansion House speech later to outline his plan to limit governments to a balanced budget in "normal" times, defined as any time the economy is growing. It is something that has been achieved by few governments since World War II.

Mr Osborne will announce the change in his set piece speech, using that 'fix the roof' phrase we've become quite used to since the financial crisis:

Hello and welcome to our rolling political coverage of a day which is centred, literally, around Prime Minister's Questions at noon. That will be followed by David Cameron delivering a statement to MPs about the G7 summit. This evening Chancellor George Osborne has some big announcements planned for his Mansion House speech in the City.