Michael Buchanan
Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC News

Image source, EPA

Following Chancellor George Osborne decision yesterday to scrap his tax credit cuts, one of the key ways he is going to meet his manifesto commitment of cutting £12bn from welfare spending is through Universal Credit.

This is the government's main welfare reform, bringing together six working age benefits into a single monthly payment.

But it is a programme that has been beset by problems that was further delayed on Wednesday, costing money.

The latest figures show there were 141,000 people claiming Universal Credit in October 2015.

More here.

Is the pain just being delayed? Former Conservative minister Andrew Lansley, Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey and Torsten Bell from think tank Resolution Foundation discussed the measures.   

The Daily Mail

The Mail's Sebastian Shakespearesays Sir William Blair QC has been, externalpromoted this week to Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. Sir William's younger brother Tony was also a barrister - before making a name for himself in politics.

More from the Institute for Fiscal Studies' response to the Spending Review. IFS director Paul Johnson said the long-term cost of George Osborne's decision to scrap tax credit cuts would be nil.

The IFS estimated that 2.6m families would be an average of £1,600 a year worse off under the new system of Universal Credit than they would be under existing tax credits, but 1.9m would be £1,400 better off.

Universal Credit is a new welfare payment that merges a number of benefits into one. It is being phased in over the next few years, starting in different regions at different times.

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Image source, ALAMY

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell quoted from and threw a copy of Mao's Little Red Book at George Osborne during the Spending Review. What exactly is this tome?

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Conservative MP Julian Lewis, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, says he will not be voting for air strikes. Giving his personal opinion, he says a "grand alliance" is needed involving France, Russia and the United States. He says Western forces should work with the Syrian regime - comparing the situation with Churchill working with Stalin to defeat the Nazis.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Turning to George Osborne's Spending Review, Robert Chote of the Office for Budget Responsibily plays down a description in The Guardian, external of his office as "helpful elves" for George Osborne after better than expected economic forecasts allowed the chancellor to cancel tax credit cuts and protect police budgets. In context the amount in question, £27bn, is not actually very large, he says.  

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, the chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, says he expects a majority of MPs will back air strikes in Syria when it comes to the vote. Asked how he will vote, he says he would need to see the terms of the government's motion first:  

A final question from the SNP brings the statement to an end, after two hours and 45 minutes. Speaker John Bercow informs the House that 103 MPs questioned the PM – which must be one of the highest numbers to have ever taken part in such an event.

The SNP's Peter Grant has the penultimate question to the prime minister. He argues that a ceasefire is an "absolute requirement" to end the Syrian civil war, and says the prime minister has given "no cause for optimism" that this is imminent.

David Cameron says the concept of ceasefires is a lot closer as a result of the Vienna process, and argues it would be "helped" by defeating IS.

He says of the SNP: