Labour U-turns over support for bill to force future governments to keep a budget surplus
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says he's changed his mind on the parliamentary tactics
The move prompts anger among some Labour MPs
The UK withdraws from a prospective £5.9m contract to provide prison services to Saudi Arabia
Plans to clamp down on illegal immigration pass their first Commons hurdle
Former home secretary David Blunkett has taken his seat in the House of Lords. The former Labour MP was, as ever, accompanied by his guide dog as he swore the oath of allegiance to the Queen in a short introduction ceremony.
Image source, PAMayor of London and Conservative MP Boris Johnson is on the second day of his visit to Japan. During a visit to Toyota's headquarters in Nagoya, Mr Johnson took the new Mirai hydrogen powered car for a spin, cheerfully admitting that he gave it "some welly" and may well have broken the 40mph speed limit around the factory.
Transport for London has ordered four of the "zero emissions" cars to conduct maintenance on the bus and tube network as part of a deal announced by the London mayor.
Mr Johnson later met the cast of the British musical Top Hat, which is on tour in Japan, and had a different kind of spin with actress Charlotte Gooch.
Image source, PAConservative MP tweets...
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Image source, PAThe founder and editor-in-chief of the Big Issue magazine, John Bird, is to join the House of Lords as one of four new non-party political peers, it has been announced.
The other new peers chosen by the House of Lords Appointments Commission are academics Julia King and Mary Watkins and civil engineering expert Robert Mair.
Mr Bird, who launched the title in 1991 as a way of helping homeless people to earn money having slept rough himself, said he hoped to bring a different perspective to policy making and to encourage "thinking outside the box".
Quote MessageMine will be a voice in the legislative process for the thousands of people The Big Issue has helped over the past 24 years and continues to help today through our philosophy of social entrepreneurialism based on self-help. I believe that one of the complexities of modern policy is that sometimes the best thinkers, like The Big Issue, are left outside the box. Yet if we are to have social opportunity and social justice for all, the thinking within the box needs to change."
Here's a clip of Labour deputy leader from earlier today
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Victoria Derbyshire
Image source, AFPLabour MP John Mann, a thorn in the side of successive Labour leaders, says shadow chancellor John McDonnell "looks a bit of a fool" following his U-turn over the budget surplus.
Mr Mann says the shadow chancellor should never have said he would support George Osborne's fiscal charter - rules setting out the terms for achieving an annual budget surplus - in the first place, describing it as a "political trap and an economic nonsense".
With a large number of Labour MPs set to defy the whip and vote against the government later this week, Mr Mann says he believes Mr McDonnell realised his position was "politically untenable" and has been forced to backtrack.
Although the party has "ended up in the right place", Mr Mann says the issue has been mishandled and informing MPs of the change in an e-mail an hour before Monday's Parliamentary Labour Party meeting was "old politics at its worst".
Mr Mann also urges Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to "rein in" his shadow chancellor over his support for so-called "people's quantitative easing", arguing that getting the Bank of England to print money for public investment would create an even bigger asset bubble that would only hurt public sector workers.
The Liberal Democrats say they are launching a cross party campaign to give 16-year-olds a vote in the upcoming referendum on EU membership.
The party says it will push for the franchise to be widened as the bill paving the way for the vote by the end of 2017 reaches the House of Lords.
The Lib Dems, who have more than 110 peers in the Upper House, say the will table an amendment after the bill's second reading later on Tuesday.
Lord Wallace, the party's leader in the Lords, said:
Quote MessageThe future of the UK is at stake and it is vital that 16 year olds get a say in that future. The Liberal Democrats have long battled for votes at 16, it is an age in which you take on a host of new adult responsibilities yet have no voice in the running of your own country. Regardless of the wider battle, on this occasion 16- and 17-year-olds must be allowed to vote. This is too important an issue, a decision that will alter our nation’s course, those that have the longest stake in the future of this country should not be denied a say."
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Chancellor of the Exchequer tweets...
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Image source, PAThe shadow cabinet is meeting this morning amid a row over Labour's policy on achieving a budget surplus. Read our full story.
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker has told reporters: "We'll no doubt discuss that in the shadow cabinet now, it'll be an interesting discussion."
Image source, PAThe government says it has raised £591.1m from selling its final stake in Royal Mail at 455p a share.
The money was raised from selling a 13% stake in the business, while a 1% stake was awarded to Royal Mail workers.
The sale means the government has received a total of £3.3bn from the Royal Mail privatisation.
The privatisation of Royal Mail began in December 2013, but it was criticised after the shares almost doubled from their initial price of 330p.
Image source, PAEconomic commentators have been reacting to the fall in inflation to -0.1%, saying it further reduces the likelihood of an imminent rise in interest rates.
Image source, Getty ImagesDeputy Labour leader Tom Watson has been asked about the party's economic policy and its apparent U-turn over whether to back the government's fiscal charter. He insisted he was happy with Labour's position and asked why John McDonnell had changed the party's stance on the conditions for meeting a future budget surplus, he replied that he was a "very wise and judicious shadow chancellor".
The Liberal Democrats have announced a memorial service for former leader Charles Kennedy will be held at St George’s Cathedral in Lambeth, south east London, on 3 November. A service celebrating Mr Kennedy's life was held in Glasgow in June following his death at the age of 55.
Inflation turned negative again in September, official figures just released have shown, with the CPI measure falling from 0% in August to - 0.1%.
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Image source, Getty ImagesImmigration will take up the majority of MPs' time today but what else are we expecting in Parliament? Well, it is the first major Commons outing for new shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander since her appointment last month. She will go head to head with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the regular session of Health Questions. There is also a ten-minute rule bill on no fault divorce tabled by Conservative MP Richard Bacon while the adjournment debate is on the use of drones in conflict, secured by former defence minister Andrew Murrison. Over in the Lords, peers will debate the European Union Referendum Bill for the first time while former home secretary David Blunkett will take his place on the red benches for the first time as he is sworn in as a Labour peer.
Norman Smith
Assistant political editor
The BBC's Norman Smith says that while many Labour MPs are "aghast" at the party's change of position over whether to support the government's fiscal charter and the lack of consultation within the shadow cabinet, he says Jeremy Corbyn's uncompromising anti-austerity stance will "chime" with those who elected him leader last month and with sections of the public.