House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbench peer Lord Woolf says the legal aid service is not serving the public well "due to lack of resources".

He says the system is "in peril" and adds that it is going to be "no easy task" to undo the "damage which has been done".

House of Lords
Parliament

In the House of Lords pers are debating Legal Aid.

Labour peer Lord Goldsmith said "legal advice can make an enormous impact on peoples lives" and went on to praise lawyers who are willing to donate their time for free, known as working "pro bono".

However, he says the pro-bono sector "will never be a substitute" for the legal aid system

Lord Goldsmith is a former Attorney General and the President of the Bar Pro-Bono Unit.

The Bar Pro-Bono Unit is a charity which helps to find pro bono (free) legal assistance from volunteer barristers.

House of Commons
Parliament

The House of Commons has been debating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - known as TTIP. Conservative MP Peter Lilley said he was "very suspicious of critics" of trans-Atlantic trade deals.

He said he suspected such people of being "against trade" and even "against America".

However, in the case of TTIP, he was concerned that:

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The Speaker of the Commons John Bercow has said the Government should make any announcement it is planning about airport expansion to MPs in the Commons first.

Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary Lilian Greenwood said there was media speculation that the government may hold a press conference this evening on the subject.

Mr Bercow said it was "blindingly obvious" that the "wish" of MPs was for any update to be made in the Commons first: 

Image source, PA

UK interest rates have been left unchanged again at 0.5% by the Bank of England's rate-setters.

The nine rate-setters on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 8-1 for no change.

Ian McCafferty, one of four external members of the MPC, was the only one to vote for a rate rise, as he has done at the previous four meetings.

It is the 81st meeting in a row at which rates have been left unchanged at that level.

The minutes of the meeting, external showed policymakers concentrated on the continuing subdued inflation environment.

Inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) stood at -0.1% in October and the rate-setters predicted it would be slightly positive in November.

The MPC's job is to keep CPI close to the government's target of 2.0%.

The minutes predict that inflation will stay below 1% until the second half of next year.

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Image source, AFP

The UK's trade deficit - the difference between the amount it imports and exports - widened considerably in October, according to official figures.

The monthly deficit was £4.14bn, up from £1.07bn in September.

Between August and October there was a deficit of £8.4bn, a £2.4bn increase from the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said., external

The growing deficits were due to a big increase in imports of goods, combined with a small decrease in exports.

"October's dismal UK trade figures provided further signs that the economic recovery has remained worryingly-unbalanced in the fourth quarter," said Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics.

"The economic recovery looks unlikely to garner support from the external sector in Q4, and instead will remain reliant on the domestic services sector."

The monthly trade deficit figures are notoriously volatile, and the ONS lost the national statistic designation from the series following a series of errors last year.

The deficit in goods in the three months to the end of October was £31.6bn, £2.5bn wider than in the previous quarter.

That was largely due to a £1.6bn fall in fuel exports and £1.3bn rise in imports of machinery and transport equipment.

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The chairwoman of the commons health select committee has described a report into the unexpected deaths of more than 1,000 people at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust as "really disturbing"

Sarah Wollaston said it was "particularly disturbing" that patients' families had not been informed

She said the investigation into the trust should examine "why is it that this happened and what is it about the culture," adding "we need to make sure this isn't something that's happening across the board".

Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander has criticised what she said appeared to be "very serious failures in culture and leadership" at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

She said there had been a  "seeming failure to investigate" unexpected deaths of adults with learning difficulties and older people with mental health problems by the trust.

Commenting on a draft report which found the NHS failed to investigate the deaths of more than 1,000 people, Ms Alexander said she was "concerned about safety at the trust today".

She called on Jeremy Hunt to publish the full report next week on a day MPs could scrutinise its findings and called for an end to the "to-ing and fro-ing" between NHS England and the trust.

Image source, AFP

Donald Trump has hit back after two high-profile Scottish snubs in the wake of his call for Muslims to be banned from entering the US.

The US presidential hopeful was dropped as a business ambassador for Scotland by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

And he has also been stripped of an honorary degree by Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

Mr Trump responded: "The UK politicians should be thanking me instead of pandering to political correctness."

Read more

The Leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling says the Government has not made a decision yet on airport expansion.

He was asked in the Commons by Shadow leader of the House Chris Bryant whether he would guarantee that the government would make a statement in the Commons first about any decision, rather than holding a press conference.

Mr Grayling said:

The Armed Forces Covenant, which ensures those serving in the armed forces are treated fairly and receive support, will be extended to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the Merchant Navy.

The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will be announcing the change to Parliament as part of the annual report on the Armed Forces Covenant. It will apply to those who "served on a civilian vessel while it was supporting HM Armed Forces".

The news was welcomed by the RFA:

The Daily Politics

Former universities minister David Willetts - now a Conservative peer - is the guest of the day on Thursday's Daily Politics. He'll be discussing David Cameron's EU renegotiations, prisons reform and pensioner benefits with presenters Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn.

Do the older generation get too good a deal? Former Labour cabinet minister Caroline Flint will be on the programme to discuss. She's called for Labour to do more to court older voters.

Also on the show, Conservative MP Stewart Jackson (pictured below) will explain why he wants a tightening up of the postal voting system (spoiler: he thinks it's too susceptible to fraud).

From Conservative to Liberal and back to Conservative again. Why do some politicians go on a political journey, and others never change their minds about anything? Reporter Ellie Price has been finding out. Labour peer John Reid will also be on the programme to discuss.

And just how clever is David "two brains" Willetts? Andrew Neil will be putting him through his paces with a little quiz, later in the programme.

All that, and more on the Daily Politics from 12:00 GMT. You can watch the programme on BBC Two, or by clicking on the 'Live Coverage' tab above.

Downing Street has confirmed that later this afternoon the prime minister will chair a meeting of the sub committee that is considering airport capacity in the South-East of England. 

The prime minister's official spokesman added that it was still the case that the government would show a clear direction on airport expansion by the end of the year.