Labour's Angela Eagle has welcomed the additional support for Scunthorpe but has described it as "too little too late".

Brian Wheeler

It looks as if the government's controversial plans to introduce the right-to-buy for housing association tenants will be the first test of the new English votes for English laws legislation.

The second reading of the Housing Bill, which will only apply to England and Wales, is due to take place on Monday, 2 November.

The legislation is also expected to introduce the requirement for local authorities to dispose of vacant high value council properties to fund right to buy extension and to build more affordable homes.  

The right-to-buy is being outlawed in Scotland and it is not an issue the SNP would normally have voted on in the Commons.

But the fact that it is the first piece of legislation on which they will be prevented from voting on is likely to prompt fresh claims of being "second class" citizens, particularly if there are any potential financial implications for Scotland in the proposals.

Chancellor George Osborne says the Chinese investment in Manchester announced on Friday and the new wave of devolution deals, creating elected mayors in Newcastle/Sunderland and the Tees Valley in return for handing substantial powers to those city regions, proves there is "unstoppable momentum" behind his ambition of creating a Northern Powerhouse. 

Tory MP tweets 

In his broadcast clip, Sajid Javid also refers to his department's list of companies not paying the minimum wage, published earlier. He says it is "unacceptable" for any employer to be infringing the law in this way and "letting down" their staff. Naming and shaming firms those responsible has "worked in the past", he adds, and the government will continue to do it.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid has been giving more details of the £9m package of additional financial support for Scunthorpe steel workers from the government and Tata Steel. At a "difficult time" for those working in the industry, he says the state must do everything it can to support alternative employment opportunities for those losing their jobs and to help people to re-train. 

Asked whether this is a merely a "sticking plaster", Mr Javid says there is huge over-capacity in the industry, leading to a collapse in global steel prices. 

The UK, he adds, is seeking action to deal with any "unfair trading practices" that have exacerbated this market trend and pushing the EU to expedite plans to reduce electricity bills for energy-intensive industries. 

In the Commons, Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh intervenes in the defence debate to express concern that enshrining the 2% spending pledge would give too much power to "creative accountants" in government to shoehorn non-core defence spending - such as aid or intelligence - within the target. He compares fulfilling the target to trying to land a "helicopter on the deck of a moving aircraft carrier" and says it could cause "chaos" in the defence procurement chain. Responding, Julian Lewis says the Defence Select Committee, which he chairs, is going to look into the issue of "creative accounting" in the MoD budget but jokes that because the 2% is a minimum expectation and not a precise target the deck of the aircraft carrier is "quite an enormous one..and all you have to worry about is putting that helicopter down on some part of that enormous deck". 

Brian Wheeler

What will be the first piece of legislation to be subjected to new "English votes for English laws" (EVEL) procedures that became law yesterday?

That is the question taxing Westminster's finest minds this morning (and the politics live team).

There is a list of bills circulating that it could apply to - but the whips office could not confirm anything last night.

Our Commons sources tell us that EVEL will only come into effect on bills that have not yet had their second Commons reading.

Bills that it will definitely apply to are those that were in the Queen's Speech, but have yet to be presented.

Image source, PA

MPs are debating a private members bill , externalproposed by Conservative MP Gerald Howarth which would enshrine in law the government's commitment to spend 2% of national income on defence in line with the Nato target. Speaking up in favour of the bill, fellow Tory Julian Lewis says the pledge is a modest one given that the UK consistently spent more than 4% of its income on defence for four decades up to 1990 and the figure only dipped below 3% in 1994-5. The 2% level is an "inadequate minimum", he admits, but has value because he and others have become increasingly worried that the Nato commitment is "in jeopardy" and the move would "send a signal" that defence still plays a significant role in the "league table" of public spending commitments. 

Image source, AFP

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood was interviewed on Radio 4's Today earlier. Here's a little bit of a flavour of what she said about the party's performance in May's general election and her hopes for next year's Welsh Assembly elections.

Legislation to ban new psychoactive substances in the UK is being rushed, MPs have warned.

The Home Affairs Committee said ministers were not working properly with their own expert drug advisers.

The MPs also said past governments' spending on education about the dangers of so-called legal highs had been "shockingly inadequate to date".

Policing minister Mike Penning said the government would consider the committee's criticism.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are products chemically designed to mimic drugs that are already banned. Some 67 deaths in England and Wales last year were linked to their use.

Read our full story

The government has released a report of 115 companies who did not pay their staff the minimum wage. 

Between them, the top companies on the list failed to pay workers more than £389,000, according to the government.

The retailer Monsoon topped the list.

Read more here

Here are some responses from Twitter:

Image source, PA

The Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales are to be extended, with an extra 188 square miles of land deemed as National Park land. 

The changes, which will take effect next August, will bring the boundaries of the two areas much closer together. 

The Lake District will expand to the east and south, while the Yorkshire Dales will grow to the north and west. 

The move has been announced by the Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss. She said: 

Image source, AFP

Fresh from his visit to a pub in Buckinghamshire on Thursday evening, the Chinese President Xi Jinping will spend the last day of his week-long state visit in Manchester, 

To coincide with the trip, the UK and China are set to agree a number of partnerships meant to "unlock the potential" of the government's so-called Northern Powerhouse.

The first direct flights between Manchester Airport and China are among deals expected to be approved later. Read our full story.

Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne is to announce new devolution deals for the North East of England.

Mr Osborne's measures will mean Newcastle and Sunderland, and Tees Valley will both vote in a directly elected mayor in 2017.

Image source, PA

The government has announced it is pledging more money  to support those affected by job losses at Tata Steel in Scunthorpe.

Tata Steel has pledged £3m to support job creation in Scunthorpe which the Government will match and add a further £3m specifically for training of affected employees specifically for training.

Baroness Redfern, leader of North Lincolnshire Council, will also lead a taskforce to identify local needs and consider whether additional support is necessary.

Ahead of the start of the Plaid Cymru conference, leader Leanne Wood is training her guns on Labour, still the dominant force in Welsh politics, ahead of May's Assembly elections.

She attacked Labour's "record of failure" on health in Wales.

Ms Wood is due to address delegates in Aberystwyth later.

More on the health story here.

Full rolling video coverage of the Plaid conference here

Image source, Getty Images

The Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London will be shorter this year, Buckingham Palace has said.

Some politicians and royals will lay wreaths at the same time, rather than individually, to limit standing time for the Queen and elderly veterans.

David Cameron will continue to pay his respects on his own but leaders of the four main opposition parties will not.

Read more here.

Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of the day in politics. Stay tuned for updates in video and text on the final day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK, the Plaid Cymru conference and anything else that crops up. The diary is pretty quiet at the moment but something normally happens on a Friday.