The Daily Politics

Kit Malthouse, Conservative MP, says his issue with the EU concerns ever-closer union. If David Cameron can "pull us out of that I'd start to feel a little bit more comfortable", he says, and adds:

Labour MP Karin Smyth says she's pro-European but acknowledges there is "an appetite for more information".

The Daily Politics

Former Conservative minister Nick Herbert, who has launched Conservatives for Reform in Europe (CRE) to argue for continued EU membership under renegotiated terms, tells the Daily Politics the group supports the PM's stance to secure a "substantial renegotiation", and will await the outcome of the talks.

"It's my decision," he says when asked why he set the group up - and denies that the PM asked him to. But he says he did speak to Conservative colleagues and David Cameron - but not the chancellor.

He says many feel strongly that it is a question of weighing up the costs and the benefits. There are risks in leaving but changes are needed to the UK's terms of membership, he adds.

The Daily Politics

Stephen Kinnock is asked about Jeremy Corbyn's call for sympathy strikes to be allowed in the UK. Mr Kinnock warns it could "stir up a hornet's nest without a fully thought-out strategy" to demonstrate that Labour "is a party of business".

"We want to amend capitalism, not end capitalism," he adds, and says the party needs to engage with business.

The Daily Politics

"I'm firmly committed to the UK keeping a nuclear deterrent", says Welsh Labour MP Stephen Kinnock. It comes after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who wants to scrap Trident, suggested the UK could keep its Trident submarine fleet but without carrying nuclear warheads. But Mr Kinnock, who says he lived in Russia for three years, added: "This is not the time to be dropping our guard."

The Daily Politics

The government has been "asleep at the wheel" when it comes to helping the UK steel industry, Labour's Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock says. He says ministers haven't taken action on Chinese steel "dumping", and there's been no proper strategy on public procurement combined. The impact on Port Talbot - where 750 jobs are to be cut - will be "huge".

Kit Malthouse says it's "a dreadful blow" for Port Talbot, but he rejects accusations the government has been sitting on its hands. He says ministers are working to prevent steel dumping.

The Daily Politics

Conservative MP Kit Malthouse endorses the government's push to teach Muslim women in the UK to speak English, saying the “foundation of integration is language acquisition”.  The PM’s comments were “very balanced and measured”, he adds.

But Labour MP Karin Smyth said: "I think it's clumsy, I think it will be counter-productive for those communities."

But Zubeda Limbada, founding director of ConnectJustice, says:

Commening on the Tata Steel job losses, the prime minister's official spokesman has said it is "a worrying time for the workforce", and added:

Image source, AP

A new law reasserting the power of UK Parliament law over the EU could be passed, David Cameron has said, once his reform talks are concluded.

"I think there is a good case for it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The prime minister did not deny reports he had asked Justice Secretary Michael Gove to look into it.

Mr Cameron, who is renegotiating Britain's EU membership ahead of an in-out vote before 2018, said he was "very suspicious" of Brussels.

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The government estimates there are 190,000 Muslim women in England who speak little or no English.

Ministers are determined to tackle some of what they see as the underlying issues, amid mounting concern about the number of Britons going to Syria to join so-called Islamic State.

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UKIP's employment spokesman, Jane Collins MEP, has criticised the government and the EU over the latest jobs cuts in the steel industry. She says it is "another EU-endorsed body blow to British industry".

Image source, Getty Images

Steel company Tata is to cut 1,050 jobs, with 750 of those in Port Talbot and others in Llanwern, Trostre, Corby and Hartlepool, it has confirmed.

Sir Clifford Boulton, clerk of the Commons from 1987 to 1994, died on Christmas Day aged 85, The Daily Telegraph, external reports.

His obituary in the newspaper says he was "a man of wit, courtesy, in heated situations, impartiality, intellect and vast experience".

On his retirement from the role in 1994, the then leader of the House of Commons Tony Newton paid tribute to Sir Clifford's "distinguished career" at the House.

"Sir Clifford has been a part of this place for 40 years and more, and he has been clerk to our most senior Committees - Public Accounts, Procedure and Privileges," he said.

"For the past seven years he has been Clerk of the House. His tenure of that office has been the longest in recent times, but it will be remembered not so much for that as for its exceptional quality, with his outstanding grasp of our often complex procedures."

Anjum Anwar, chairwoman of charity Woman's Voice, which aims to empower women, says she is "absolutely amazed" by Mr Cameron's comments on Muslim women learning English.