Chancellor George Osborne says more intelligence staff will be hired over the next five years to disrupt terror plots. The announcement comes just a week after the Investigatory Powers Bill was launched which would give government more online surveillance powers.

The UK should be the most business-friendly country in Europe, David Cameron says, pointing out that the country is rising up the global league table of the best places to set up and run a company. Real economic progress has been made in the past five years, he says, but the prime minister admits more needs to be done to increase exports, to rebalance the economy and to improve vital infrastructure, particularly broadband speeds. He urges businesses to work with government on introducing the national minimum wage and the apprenticeship levy, making sure the UK is the "leader of skills in Europe not the follower".

David Cameron says the "entrepreneurial spirit" has flourished in the UK in the past five years, citing the growth of "Tech City" in London and the number of start-ups but accepts "there is more to do". In his speech, he says he wants to set out where the "UK is" and will also touch on two big subjects - the deficit and the UK's future in Europe. 

David Cameron starts his CBI speech by paying tribute to its outgoing boss John Cridland and his successor Carolyn Fairbairn. He also welcomes the CBI's focus on the UK being a global ecomomic force, saying this is appropriate given the visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi this week- following on from the recent visit of China's president. 

The CBI conference has kicked off - David Cameron is expected shortly to give a speech.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Government sources say the prison building programme being set out today will be self financing "over time." 

They say the money will be recouped from lower levels of re-offending and the sale of the existing prison land for re-development. 

They say the initial cost of the new prisons will be announced in the Autumn Statement. 

Sources say they believe it is one of the biggest prison building programmes in recent years. It will be followed by further announcements on reform or prison management and conditions      

However they say the prison building programme will cost more than £1bn.

George Osborne needs to ensure the security of working people, according to a statement from Shadow chancellor John McDonnell:

Danny Shaw
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

The feasibility of the government's plans to replace out-of-date prisons with new buildings depends largely on the size of the prison population, which is notoriously hard to predict. 

Prisons can't be closed unless there's appropriate prison capacity elsewhere - or unless the overall population is falling. 

There's no sign that the population is falling - it's currently 85,884 - but it's not rising as fast as predicted a year ago, when the last official population projections were published. 

It was estimated then that the population would be between 87,100 and 88,900 in June 2015. It was in fact around 86,000, which may have given ministers more confidence their plans can be achieved. 

The projections said that by 2020 the population could be anything between 81,400 and 98,900, with the "central scenario" - the most likely - saying it would be 90,200. If the population did edge towards the upper estimates it would be extremely hard for the Government's plans to work - because they'd need to build thousands of extra places as well as replacing old ones. 

New prison population forecasts are due to be published this month. 

David Cameron may hold an EU referendum in June according to The Times, external, if European leaders agree to the bulk of his reform package at next month's summit. However Downing Street has denied the claim and insists no date will be agreed until negotiations are complete.

A former Labour defence minister has said the row between Jeremy Corbyn and the chief of the defence staff over the UK's nuclear weapons system has been "overblown". You'll remember that Sir Nicholas Houghton said on Sunday he would be worried if Mr Corbyn - who has said he would not be prepared to use Britain' nuclear deterrent under any circumstances - was to pursue such a policy in power. Labour responded by saying this was a violation of the military's political neutrality. Read our full story here. Lord West suggested Sir Nicholas "maybe strayed a little further than he should have done" but the dispute should not be over-exaggerated.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Paul Johnson, the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, says departmental cuts of the magnitude of 30% will be needed if the chancellor is to secure a budget surplus by 2018-9. He told the BBC that George Osborne could choose to slow the pace of cuts to bring the budget into balance a little bit later but that was not going to happen as the chancellor was determined to reduce debt and prepare the public finances for the challenges ahead. 

Image source, PA

The Guardian, external reports claims that Britain's foreign policy is suffering a crisis of confidence leaving it “sidelined in Syria, ineffective in Ukraine, unwilling in Europe, and inimical towards refugees”. 

The warning comes from a report from former British diplomats, intelligence officers and foreign policy academics.

Image source, Thinkstock

Nine new prisons will open in England and Wales - five by 2020 - under plans to close Victorian jails and sell them for housing, the government has said.

About 10,000 inmates will be moved to the new institutions in an attempt to save an estimated £80m a year.

The move will form part of Chancellor George Osborne's spending review on 25 November.

It will make the country's prison system "fit for purpose in the 21st Century", the Treasury said.

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