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Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman, whose Camberwell and Peckham constituency is home to the charity Kids Company, said: "There is evidence of the need among children and young people in Southwark for what Kids Company provides. 

"They work with some of our most deprived and vulnerable children and young people. 

"The government should work with Camilla who is the founder and inspirational leader".

The Institute for Directors says 70% of its members think Greece will be forced to leave the European single currency within the next year. Of 847 respondents to a recent survey, 622 thought this was either very or somewhat likely. And 45% of those questioned thought that other countries would follow Greece out of the eurozone if it abandoned the Euro. While 48% of respondents thought "Grexit" would damage the UK economy, 38% believed it would make little difference. Reacting to this, Simon Walker, director of the employers' body, says:

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In response to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's comments on last night's Question Time, No 10 has said there is no intention to charge patients for missed GP appointments. A Downing Street spokeswoman said David Cameron is committed to free health care for all. She said efforts were being made to encourage people to take more personal responsibility but reiterated there was no intention to charge patients for missed appointments.

Conservative MP Bob Neill is to chair Syed Kamall's campaign to become the party's London mayoral candidate. Writing inConservativeHome, external, the former local government minister says Mr Kamall - one of a handful of candidates competing for the nomination - can "complete the success story Boris Johnson began". He writes: 

The Daily Politics

Martin Lewis - the self-styled Money Saving Expert - has appeared on the BBC's Daily Politics to talk about a tuition fees, and an issue he believes will cause "visceral anger over" in "middle Britain".

Mr Lewis, who is also the former head the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information, says that when he was doing work for the government on this issue he was told that the £21,000 threshold would "rise with average earnings from 2017".

But now he suggests the Conservatives don't want that to happen.

"It's a misselling to everybody who has started university after 2012. It's effectively a retrospective price hike. 

"We would not allow commercial company's to retrospectively price hike the price of loans."

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Commuters could be set for a summer of delays as rail workers on several train routes have voted for strike action.

Southern Rail engineers were the latest to announce a five-day strike on Friday beginning on 12 July. Northern Rail staff have also voted to strike.

The Rail and Maritime Transport (RMT) union said the Southern Rail strike was the result of a "comprehensive breakdown" in industrial relations.

The strikes come as the government plans to tighten strike laws.

Full story here.

So here's an update on the Kids Company story which has generated a lot of interest this morning, and is the result of a joint BBC Newsnight and Buzzfeed investigation.

After chief exectuive Camila Batmanghelidjh appeared on BBC television a few hours ago defending her actions amid claims she gave children cash, the charity has now released a statement saying it is to cut staff and appoint a new chief executive because of "unprecedented financial strain". 

Ms Batmanghelidjh, a high-profile campaigner and founder of Kids Company, is to take up a new advocacy and clinical role once her replacement as chief executive has been appointed. 

Ms Batmanghelidjh earlier rejected reports that bad management of funds at the charity led to government pressure for a restructure - and she insisted such claims are a "red herring". 

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The UK is being "left behind as a nation", Labour leadership hopeful Yvette Cooper will warn as she calls for increased investment in science and hi-tech industry to protect the country's economic future.

Ms Cooper will take part in the latest hustings with leadership rivals Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall and Jeremy Corbyn at a conference organised by trade union Unison in Manchester today.  

She will set a target of creating two million new high-skilled manufacturing jobs and increasing public and private investment on research and development to 3% of GDP.

The shadow home secretary will claim that her plan would "transform our economy" and help the country "punch well above our weight".

A small victory for the Liberal Democrats in South West London, as they won the council seat previously held by the Conservative who toppled Vince Cable in May's general election. 

Tania Mathias stepped down as a councillor for the Hampton Wick ward on Richmond Council, south-west London, after dramatically deposing the Business Secretary as MP for Twickenham. 

But despite being reduced to just eight MPs nationally, the Liberal Democrats showed some resilience by winning the local by-election by more than 100 votes. 

Geraldine Locke secured 1189 votes (42.96%) while Conservative Jon Hollis could muster only 1081 (39.0%) with the Green Party (237), Labour (185) UKIP (69) and independent candidate Michael Lloyd (seven). 

Turnout was 34.89%.

BBC News Channel

Camila Batmanghelidjh the chief executive of children's charity Kids Company, has appeared on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show to defend her actions while running the charity.  

She said: "I am happy go so long as the children are being looked after. This was never about me or the charity." 

"I think the government is not happy with how outspoken I am, that's the truth. 

"I think what's happened is I've been outspoken since the Labour government was in power. 

"I have always said there is a problem with child protection."

She added: "They can get rid of me but it doesn't get rid of the problem."  

Asked specifically about the claims she handed out cash to children, she said: "Do your children get cash? Because if you are in a school canteen or a college canteen you need cash to eat; if you want to top up your electricity metre you need cash to top up your electricity metre."

A woman prison custody officer who was allegedly assaulted as she escorted a prisoner at a crown court has died. 

Lorraine Barwell, 54, who worked for Serco, was attacked as she escorted a prisoner between London's Blackfriars Crown Court and a waiting van parked in the courtyard on Monday.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove said: "I was shocked to hear of the tragic death of Lorraine Barwell. No words can express the devastating effect this will have on her family and friends and my deepest sympathies are with them at this difficult time.

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Some of the newspapers are reporting this morning that the BBC plans to send 200 people to this year's Lib Dem conference, thus outnumbering Lib Dem MPs by 25 to one.

Here is what a BBC spokesperson had to say about the stories: