Summary

  • First Minister Nicola Sturgeon predicts new independence referendum if UK votes to leave EU

  • Tory London mayor candidate Zac Goldsmith says he is a "non head-banging" Eurosceptic

  • Labour has been accused of a "whitewash" over the report into its election defeat

  • Ex-Labour frontbenchers Frank Field and Chuka Umunna warn over the party's electoral chances

  1. Treasury says 0.2% inflation will 'further boost pay packets'published at 10:50

    Commenting on the Office for National Statistics Consumer Prices Index inflation stats, a Treasury spokesperson said: "Inflation at 0.2% continues the trend we've seen over the past year where low inflation, driven by falls in food and fuel prices, has supported family incomes and household budgets.

    "Wages are continuing to rise well above inflation and the National Living Wage will give a further boost to pay packets in April."

  2. David Mundell: 'Strong argument' for EU vote in Junepublished at 10:35

    David MundellImage source, PA

    A UK cabinet minister has said there is "no argument" against holding a referendum on the country's EU membership in June.

    Scottish Secretary David Mundell said the timescale would be sufficient for people to weigh up the issues.

    He argued that it would be possible to have an EU vote just a month after May's Scottish Parliament election.

    But he stressed that the timing would depend on successful renegotiation of the UK's EU membership.

    Last week, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was concerned that a June vote on the EU would leave too little time for the issues to be properly aired.

    She also warned Prime Minister David Cameron that a "narrow" focus on the renegotiation of UK membership risked allowing the campaign for Brexit to "steal a march".

    Read more

  3. Lib Dem Norman Lamb blames pre-election polls for Conservative winpublished at 10:30

    Norman Lamb

    Inaccurate pre-election opinion polls were a "significant factor" in the Conservatives gaining an overall majority in May, a former cabinet minister has said.

    Lib Dem Norman Lamb said people were "really fearful" of the consequences of a Labour-SNP coalition.

    He criticised the media, saying it was "the only thing the commentariat were focused on".

    If journalists had instead interrogated policy issues, he said, voters would have thought more about the health service and welfare cuts.

    But he also admitted accurate polling might not have saved his party, adding: "I'm self aware enough to know that we were going to get a hit."

  4. David Miliband: 'Passionate' about Labour, but will talk about the party in my own timepublished at 10:20

    David Mililband has refused to be drawn on the state of the Labour Party or its leader Jeremy Corbyn following a speech about public trust.

    The former Labour foreign secretary told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, who quizzed him on the issue, that she already knew "the passion I have about the party".

    He argued that any time he talked about Labour politics it completely obscured everything else.

    Instead he would make his views known in his own time, he said.

    Mr Miliband had been giving an update on the refugee crisis at Edelman in London on public trust. 

    Now based in New York as president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, he earlier claimed that using wealth and income to buy political power leads to "the ultimate corrosion of public trust".

    Inqualities of income can only be tackled if the inequalities of wealth, status and rights are "understood", he said.

    "If wealth and income buy you political power you have the ultimate corrosion of public trust," he added.

  5. Watch: Views on tackling extremism in schoolspublished at 10:10

    Victoria Derbyshire

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  6. EU Parliament debating digital strategypublished at 10:00

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  7. Brexit will make the UK 'more exposed' to the refugee crisis - David Milibandpublished at 09:48

    David Miliband

    Britain would not reduce the flow of refugees if it leaves the EU, former Labour foreign secretary David Mililband has claimed.

    He said it was a myth to believe that withdrawing from the EU will push the problems of refugee flow "further away".

    "The UK leaving EU doesn't change geography..." he said. "I would argue that Brexit would leave Britain more exposed because it would make cooperation more difficult.

    "Brexit would move customs post from Calais to Dover."

    Mr Miliband, who lost the Labour leadership to his brother Ed in 2010, is giving a lecture at the global communications marketing firm Edelman, external in London.

    He is currently president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee in New York.

  8. David Miliband: Extremes of right and left 'empowered' because centre left is 'perceived as not having answers'published at 09:35

    Ed Miliband and David MilibandImage source, Getty Images

    The reasons the political extremes of right and left "are being empowered" is because answers from the centre left "are not being perceived as being right", former Labour foreign secretary David Mililband has claimed.

    During a lecture at the global communications marketing firm Edelman , externalin London, he argued that "people are saying they want better answers".

    Mr Miliband became president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee in New York after he lost the Labour leadership to his brother Ed in 2010.

    "Trying to pretend you have an answer without the substance - there are obviously huge issues there," he said. 

    So no clues yet as to whether there's a return to British politics in the offing...

  9. Government urged to use Bitcoin-style digital ledgerspublished at 09:20

    CabinetImage source, Getty Images

    The UK's chief scientific adviser has urged the government to adopt the technology that powers crypto-currency Bitcoin to run various public services.

    Bitcoins are powered by blockchains - digital ledgers that record information from Bitcoin transactions to DNA.

    Sir Mark Walport has argued that they could be used by government departments as a more secure way of managing data.

    They could be used to help with tax collection, benefits or the issuing of passports, he has said.

    Blockchains consist of "blocks" of data in a digital ledger.

    Copies of these ledgers are shared by all the computers that access them, meaning they are distributed across the network.

    Read now

  10. UK should have listened to Ebola warnings, report sayspublished at 09:15

    MedicsImage source, AFP/Getty Images

    The government should have paid more attention to warnings about Ebola before a formal emergency was declared, a group of MPs has said in a report.

    The UK's response to the outbreak was described as "strong and swift" after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an emergency in August 2014.

    But MPs said the government had been "too reliant" on the flawed WHO system.

    Instead it should have listened to other groups that were warning about Ebola months earlier, the report said.

    The WHO has since set out plans to reform after health experts said its response to the outbreak was too slow.

    The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported in March 2014.

    Read more

  11. European Union nurses face English language checkspublished at 09:10

    NurseImage source, SPL

    Nurses and midwives coming to Britain from the EU will now need to prove they are fluent in English, under new rules.

    Until now, checks have only been applied to nurses outside the EU.

    It means any nurse who is unable to show they have sufficient language skills will need to have an English language assessment.

    The move by the Nursing and Midwifery Council brings the profession in line with doctors, who are already vetted in this way for patient safety.

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  12. BT to create 1,000 new call centre jobs in the UKpublished at 09:05

    BT logoImage source, Ben Stansall

    BT has announced it will create 1,000 UK jobs as part of a commitment to answer more of its customer calls from within the UK.

    The telecoms giant pledged in September that 80% of its consumer customer calls would be dealt with in Britain by the end of this year.

    Currently just half of such calls are answered in the UK, with the rest answered in Bangalore and Delhi.

    BT said, external the roles would be created between now and April 2017.

    The jobs will be spread across BT's UK call centres, with an initial 100 created in Swansea.

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  13. Polling firm says 'we must try harder' after failure to predict election outcomepublished at 08:48

    YouGov has said it’s looking to recruit more disengaged and older voters to address the problem of unrepresentative samples which led to polling companies not accurately predicting the outcome of the General Election.

    An inquiry into the inaccuracies of the polling system found samples contained too many Labour voters and too few likely to vote Conservative.

    Joe Twyman from the polling company YouGov told BBC Breakfast it was becoming “more and more difficult” to get people to take part in surveys.

    He said the firm spent thousands of pounds in recruiting people and paid out millions, but they’re now looking to recruit in “a more targeted manner”.

    He said: “We need to work harder."

    Asked whether trust in polling could be restored, he said people should understand polls aren’t precise but pollsters were “certainly determined to get it right next time”. 

  14. Nicky Morgan: Face veil policy is up to schoolspublished at 08:40

    Nicky MorganImage source, Getty Images

    Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has said it’s up to schools to decide their own uniform policy - including whether girls should wear a face veil.

    Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Mrs Morgan said she supported the prime minister’s stance and it wasn’t for the government to tell people what to wear.

    She said schools were among institutions that may have a policy against veils for pupils and teachers, as it could be important for young children to see teachers’ mouths when learning to read or speak.

  15. Scottish Secretary David Mundell calls for 'reboot' of politicspublished at 08:28

    David MundellImage source, PA

    Scottish Secretary David Mundell has called for a "reboot" of the relationship between Holyrood and Westminster.

    Mr Mundell said there should be an end to the "petty politicking and sniping" between Scottish and UK governments after the Scottish elections in May.

    Improving relations between Edinburgh and London was a key theme in the Smith Commission, external on further devolution.

    The SNP said Mr Mundell should match his "warm words" with real action.

    The Scottish Secretary told a briefing session for journalists in Edinburgh that this year represented a golden opportunity.

    He also told the gathering that there was a "strong argument for" holding the referendum on Britain's EU membership in June and "no argument" against it.

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  16. Nicky Morgan launches anti-extremism drivepublished at 08:18

    CompositeImage source, Met Police

    An "educate against hate" website is to be launched by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, as part of a renewed drive against extremism.

    The website will hold information for schools and parents to tackle the "spell of twisted ideologies".

    There will also be a "tougher approach" to preventing illegal, unregistered schools.

    Mrs Morgan says the aim is to protect "impressionable minds from radical views".

    The measures will be announced at Bethnal Green Academy in east London, a school attended by three girls who ran away to Syria last February.

    Read more

  17. Election polling errors blamed on 'unrepresentative' samplespublished at 08:06

    David and Samantha CameronImage source, PA

    The failure of pollsters to forecast the outcome of the general election was largely due to "unrepresentative" poll samples, an inquiry has found.

    The polling industry came under fire for predicting a virtual dead heat when the Conservatives ultimately went on to outpoll Labour by 36.9% to 30.4%.

    A panel of experts has concluded this was due to Tory voters being under-represented in phone and online polls.

    But it said it was impossible to say whether "late swing" was also a factor.

    The majority of polls taken during last year's five-week election campaign suggested that David Cameron's Conservatives and Ed Miliband's Labour were neck-and-neck.

    Read more

  18. Tuesday's papers: Steel jobs and Cameron speech on Muslim womenpublished at 08:02

    Financial Times/Telegraph front pages

    David Cameron's comments about Muslim women, and the loss of hundreds of steel jobs in the UK, make front page headlines.It's fair to say that the verdict on Mr Cameron's comments is not exactly positive.

    Read more

    Steel jobs and Muslim women

    David Cameron's comments about Muslim women, and the loss of hundreds of steel jobs in the UK, make front page headlines.

    Read More
  19. Good morningpublished at 08:00

    Hello and welcome to rolling coverage of Tuesday's political developments. We'll start with a look at the papers and the stories which are currently making the news.

  20. Trump debate: What UK commentators thoughtpublished at 21:55

    Donald Trump speaking in New HampshireImage source, AP

    Addressing supporters in New Hampshire earlier, Donald Trump conspicuously made no mention of events in London. Meanwhile, aides in Scotland have re-released a statement suggesting the debate was a waste of time and arguing that Scottish businesses are rallying behind the entrepreneur and presidential candidate. As we close our coverage for the evening, here's a round-up of what British commentators have been saying about the debate, one describing it as a "festival of irrelevance". 

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