BBC News Channel

Tim Farron, Lib Dem leader, tells the BBC he is "hugely frustrated" with Labour after last night's welfare bill vote. He says it seems a "no brainer" that Labour would want to oppose the welfare reforms proposed by the government.

He says the welfare reforms together with the Budget takes money from hard working people and the young while giving an inheritance tax cut "to the 6% of richest estates" - which is "obviously unfair and unnecessary".

Labour's "unbold and unambitious" approach let the Conservatives "off the hook", he adds.

Do you think there'll be a time where there won't be a bank levy? When all public money has been recouped from the banks we bailed out? That's a question from Conservative Mark Garnier.

Can the spending review be comprehensive when so many government policy areas are ring-fenced, Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg asks.

George Osborne says it's right for a government to make a judgement about it's priorities, although "that obviously increases pressures elsewhere in government".

Is he willing to allow himself a little leeway on the 2% defence spending commitment or the 0.7% on overseas aid in case you need to under or overspend one year?

The chancellor begins to answer: "Thankfully that challenge doesn't arise because...

"You're doing marvellously," interjects Mr Rees-Mogg with a smile. "And we all sing peons on praise to you for that."

"What are we going to do about the home secretary?" asks Labour's Wes Streeting, to some small titters from the room. He used to be president of the NUS and says Theresa May's restrictions on visas for overseas students are seriously hampering universities, not least because of how much money they bring in.

"She's doing an excellent job,"responds the chancellor. "And part of her job is to make sure we have legitimate students coming into this country. She has been rightly tough on bogus colleges."

What about the mayor of London then, Mr Streeting asks. "I think there's a risk that Heathrow expansion is held up by political factors", he says, Boris Johnson's opposition presumably being one of them.

"We want to see new runway capacity in the south east," Mr Osborne says, telling the committee ministers are carefully looking at the Davis report on airport capacity.

"If we get the government process wrong it will delay a decision", says the chancellor, because it could open it up to successive judicial reviews.

House of Commons
Parliament

Turning our attention to the Finance Bill debate for a moment, the SNP has declared itself the true opposition to the government's plans.

Moving an amendment to the Budget-enacting bill, the party's shadow Treasury spokesman Roger Mullin - elected to Parliament in Gordon Brown's former seat - says he is "proud to stand here to lead for the opposition". 

He also mentions the lack of MPs on the Labour benches.

The SNP is going to "do something Labour have refused to do and that is to test this Finance Bill", the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP adds.

Conservative Stephen Hammond asks the chancellor about criticism of his "fiscal rules" - something George Osborne sums up as the idea that "in normal times you should be running an overall surplus and using that money largely to pay down national debt".

Answering the question, he tells the committee:

Should the rule distinguish between capital and current spending, Mr Hammond asks.

"I think if you try to separate capital from current you are not keeping your eye on your overall budget balance," the chancellor replies. "And I think you do get into questions about definitions of what is capital spending."

Is training a teacher inherently less good spending than building a classroom? "They are both good investments in the future", says the chancellor.

Labour's John Mann up now. He's begins with some questions on the banking sector and then asks why George Osborne is "cutting infrastructure spending so much". What he's referring to is the announcement by government last month that many rail upgrade projects will be delayed or cancelled.

Mr Osborne says he shares Mr Mann's "frustrations", but lays the blame squarely at Network Rail's door.

Mr Mann says the government's tax and spending plans are based on an additional 1.2 million people coming to the UK over this Parliament. Where will they live, he asks.

The chancellor disputes the suggestion that his plans are "predicated" on this level of immigration - instead saying those are merely the Office for National Statistics' population predictions. He says the government is determined to get immigration "under control".

Labour's Bill Esterton asks if it's the actions of "a wise chancellor" to increase the amount borrowed by poor students when they go to university - that's a reference to the government's decision to abolish maintenance grants and make them loans instead.

The chancellor says "difficult decisions" have to be taken to keep our university system "brilliant". He says the cost of maintenance grants is "unsustainable" and if they were kept in place it would be impossible to lift the cap on the number of students able to go to university.

George Osborne is up before the Treasury Committee. He's been asked about the ability of the Bank of England to control inflation and now Conservative Stephen Baker is very worried about the low interest rates.

The chancellor tells him the UK is generally in a period of lower interest rates "and that just forces government to work harder" to get things like the allocation of credit right.

House of Commons
Parliament

"That is our position and that is what all of our party will doing today," says Shabana Mahmood, when she's asked by minister David Gauke whether she's speaking for all of her party's backbenchers given the rebellion yesterday on the welfare bill.

"Abstaining on second reading... does not mean that we will not press matters to a vote at a later stage," she adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Shabana Mahmood tells the House her party will abstain on the Finance Bill later today.

Image source, Reuters

The rest of us write emails, but politicians write letters, and freshly-appointed Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has written one to Harriet Harman. In it he tell her Labour "must join us" in opposing the government’s plans to cut welfare. 

Here is some of what he had to say:

BBC News Channel

Stewart Hosie was also asked his views on the welfare bill - his answer? "Labour are in absolute meltdown."

BBC News Channel

SNP deputy leader and economic spokesman Stewart Hosie is asked his views on the launch of the 2015 spending review, in which each unprotected department has been asked to come up with savings plans of 25% and 40% of their budget.

Mr Hosie says that will be "extraordinarily hard" on those departments and on the devolved administrations.

Mr Hosie said departments had already come up "with serious and bold savings, but some of this just becomes completely unmanageable". 

Asked if he thought, perhaps, there was some game-playing going on from the the chancellor, who might not really expect to slash as much as 40% from departments, Mr Hosie replied:

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Andy Burnham was asked whether he should have taken a more principled position like that of his leadership rival who voted against the welfare bill.

Conservative MP Rob Wilson has defended claiming 9p on expenses for a 352-yard car journey to a constituency event. It was one of a number of claims under £1 for short journeys, including 60p for a trip on his bicycle.

He's explained his actions in a statement to BBC Berkshire - and said the short journeys were to meet his constituents.

Mr Wilson said "overall" he'd saved the taxpayer "several hundreds of thousands of pounds over the past 10 years by commuting into London by train rather than paying for hotels or renting a property".

Stormont Finance Minister Arlene Foster has echoed warnings from the DUP's Sammy Wilson that welfare reform could lead to the collapse of devolution. On Tuesday, Mr Wilson said the new welfare bill - which as we know passed its first Commons hurdle on Monday night - "probably spells the end of the Northern Ireland Assembly".

He said Sinn Féin would probably block any devolved cuts, putting the Stormont budget under greater pressure.

Ms Foster said a short time ago: "Welfare reform has to be dealt with or the Assembly and Executive ceases to exist."

However, she said if the Westminster government stepped in to impose legislation it could solve the problem.

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