Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Chris Grayling the Leader of the House of Commons said: 

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BBC political correspondent Chris Mason says last night's defeat on tax credits was "a real blow" for the government and there are "big questions" as a result: what will George Osborne do about the tax credits changes and about the relationship between the elected Commons and unelected Lords?

Owen Smith, shadow work and pensions secretary, called on the chancellor to spell out his "reverse course" in the wake of the vote, in the Commons later. He warned that any attempt to increase the personal tax allowance and living wage would not offset losses for people affected by the tax credit changes.

Mr Smith also defended the House of Lords' actions last night, saying it had a duty to use its expertise to scrutinise the government's proposals, accusing ministers of trying to "sneak" the plans through by Statutory Instrument.

Eleanor Garnier
Political Correspondent

Well the chancellor has conceded. He said that he will announce new measures at the end of November to soften the blow of the cuts to tax credits.

They will be reworked; but they will still happen. We just don’t know what form they will take. It’s going to be very difficult for the chancellor to smooth over the impact of the cuts, but at the same time save that £4.4bn.

Labour is calling on the Chancellor not to wait until the autumn statement to reveal his revised plans. They’re demanding he comes to the Commons today.

The chancellor also made clear after last night’s defeat that there would be consequences for the Lords too, who, he said, had acted in an unconstitutional way and needed to be dealt with.

So the government is going to have a review of constitutional issues that’s going to be led, we assume, by the Prime Minister. We’ll see more details of that later today. 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

George Eaton, political editor of the New Statesman, says the chancellor is in a difficult position but argues that he has the potential to turn it around as it's early in the Parliament. Labour, he says, must not be fooled into thinking lots of tactical wins mean a big strategic victory. He adds that it was legitimate for the Lords to do what they did last night.

Spectator assistant editor Isabel Hardman says if the government were to introduce lots of new Conservative peers in response to the defeat it would look "rather petulant". She also questions the government's decision to introduce the changes by Statutory Instrument which, she says, allow for less scrutiny. She adds that Labour needs to be careful in its approach to welfare cuts, saying "generally the public are very supportive" of reform.

A North-South divide is affecting children aged under five from poor families in the north of England, a new report by a think-tank has found.

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) said London's poorest children outperformed those in the north.

The report is being launched by former deputy prime minister John Prescott and Labour MP Dan Jarvis in Sheffield.

It has detailed a number of "tests" or benchmarks for the government'snorthern powerhouse scheme.

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Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Reflecting on last night's defeat, senior Conservative MP David Davis has said the House of Lords did the right thing in defeating the government on tax credits.

The former minister, who is backing a critical motion on tax credits in the Commons on Thursday, told the Today programme earlier:

Mr Davis said Chancellor George Osborne would have to slow down the introduction of the tax credit changes, and he dismissed as "a ridiculous threat" suggestions the government could create more than 100 new peers to create a Conservative majority in the House of Lords.

"The public would be disgusted by that," he warned.

Image source, Thinkstock

A joint session of the Supreme Court and Privy Council is to hear appeals in two cases where convictions were gained under the doctrine of joint enterprise.

Joint enterprise has become an effective way to prosecute murder, especially in cases involving gangs.

But it is controversial because in such cases, there is no need to prove a member of the group intended to kill.

Campaigners say up to 600 people are serving life for murder as a result of unjust joint enterprise convictions.

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Image source, ALAMY

The issue of the so-called "tampon tax" on sanitary products will be raised with the European Commission, a UK Treasury minister has said.

David Gauke said the government sympathised with efforts to force a negotiation with the EU for a reduction in the 5% VAT rate on sanitary items.

But he said the UK was unable to apply a zero rating under EU law.

MPs rejected the Finance Bill amendment, which would have forced a negotiation, by 305 to 287 votes.

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Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent

Within an hour of defeat in the House of Lords, a chancellor who insisted only last week that he was comfortable with the judgements he’d made on tax credits announced that he would soften the cuts.  

Until last night, while insisting they were listening,  ministers refused to admit they were considering any concessions to their critics. Now George Osborne has just a month to draw up plans to put in place transitional help for those affected by cuts and to establish how that help will be paid for.

Downing Street believes the House of Lords has broken a constitutional convention and will announce details of a review to explore how it might be restored.

Tax credit claimants will focus on what form the cuts will now take and George Osborne’s opponents will ask what damage the episode has done to his political fortunes.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg says the government has promised to take the edge off the impact of tax credit cuts but it only has four weeks to come up with a way to do it, while sticking to the plan of balancing the books. The cuts will save £4.5bn, she says, and any slowing down means those savings would come much later than planned "and he's just reluctant to do that".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Downing Street has signalled a review of Lords conventions to address what it says are "constitutional issues", in light of the vote.

Chris Grayling tells Today the government must not "act on the hoof", but take a "measured" response. "There will have to be change of course there will", and says details of the review will be "worked on in the next few hours".

Asked whether the government would pack the Lords with new Tory peers, he says ministers "are not ruling anything in or out at the moment".

He's "reluctant to see really dramatic change", he adds, but argues: "I don't really see how after yesterday we can say that no change is needed."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

"This is the first time the Lords have intervened to block a financial measure," says Chris Grayling.

Put to him that the government should have put the measures in a bill, rather than a statutory instrument, he rejects the idea that the Lords would have acted any differently.