Ahead of an expected Commons vote on the VAT charged on sanitary products, Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin recalls being lobbied on the subject by Stella Creasy, now a Labour MP.

Labour MP Frank Field has told the BBC that the government is on "thin ice" with its own backbenchers as Conservative MPs "wake up to the fact" of what the cuts to tax credits will mean to their constituents and "as time goes by they are getting more concerned".

Mr Field, who has secured a backbench debate on the issue later this week in the Commons, suggested the government was penalising the so-called "strivers" that it so often purported to support. 

Image source, Getty Images

On the day that she is being sworn into House of Lords, the Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, has said she wants the government to "hear loud and clear" the concerns about the impact of tax credit cuts on working families. She told the BBC.

The Daily Politics

An annual saving of £80,000 could be made in Parliament by using paper instead of vellum for formally recording Acts of Parliament, a committee of MPs has said.

But calligrapher Patricia Lovett said the Domesday Book and Magna Carta have only endured physically because they have been made up - at least partly - of long-lasting vellum, which is made from calfskin.

She spoke to Jo Coburn, Tory MP Paul Scully, and Labour MP Anna Turley about the bid to keep using vellum.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

This is not just a row between the opposition parties and the government about George Osborne's plan to cut the benefits paid to millions of working parents. This debate has become a proxy for a whole list of different politicians' motivations.

Read Laura's thoughts on what is driving the chancellor, Conservative backbenchers and other key players in the tax credits debate.

Image source, ALAMY

Opposition parties and Eurosceptic Conservative MPs are joining forces to try to force a tax cut on sanitary products.

An amendment to the Finance Bill would compel ministers to negotiate with the EU for a reduction in the 5% VAT rate, dubbed the "tampon tax" by campaigners.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) currently categorises the products as "non-essential, luxury" items.

It says the VAT rate is the lowest allowed under EU law.

Read the full story

Vicki Young
Chief Political Correspondent

This is a real challenge for George Osborne as tax credits are a fundamental part of his policy. The Conservatives went through the general election and got a majority promising to make billions of pounds worth of welfare cuts. They say they are well within their rights to carry on with this policy. 

What ministers are so angry about is that they think the Lords has no right to challenge this - the convention has always been that the Lords doesn't challenge things which have financial implications. The Conservatives say they made it pretty clear all the way through that this kind of thing would be happening. 

The Daily Politics

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood spoke to the Daily Politics after her party conference this weekend, looking ahead to next year's assembly elections.

Speaker John Bercow is "more vulnerable all the time" as the Conservative Party would like to unseat him according to journalist Bobby Friedman who has written a book about the Speaker.

Lord Oakeshott, who has been pointing out how his warnings about Lib Dem prospects under Clegg at the election turned out to be correct, says Labour will be "hammered" unless moderates reassert themselves over the next few years. His remarks came on the Daily Politics show after Labour MP Anna Turley said Labour was a "broad church".

The Daily Politics

Ex-Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott said he doesn't believe the Conservatives would be in power if the Liberal Democrats had changed their leader when he had wanted (ie before the General Election)

The Daily Politics

John Bercow has never been shy telling about MPs when he thinks they have stepped out of line in the Commons, but lately the Speaker and former Conservative MP has also had a few things to say about several controversial issues.

In a Daily Politics film, with clips of the Speaker in action in the Commons, Giles Dilnot spoke to former deputy speaker Nigel Evans and Andrew Gimson from the ConservativeHome blog.

The Daily Politics

Paul Scully, a Conservative MP says the Lords shouldn't oppose the tax credit cuts. He would like to see it "go through uninterrupted". He advises the Lords not to overstep the mark constitutionally and to make their case to the chancellor afterwards, as he is in "listening mode". 

The Daily Politics

Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat peer, told the Daily Politics the bill on tax credits "is a welfare measure" rather than a financial measure, meaning the Lords has a right to oppose it. (The long-held convention is that the Lords does not challenge the Commons over financial measures)

The Daily Politics

The peer, and former Lib Dem MP, Susan Kramer is asked about what the Lib Dem Lords are up to over tax credits.

Susan Kramer, a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords, told the Daily Politics the job of the Lords was to review, scrutinise and revise legislation as well as challenge the government. She urged other peers to oppose the government's tax credit cuts. 

The Daily Politics

BBC political correspondent Chris Mason on the challenges to government plans for tax credit cuts.