House of Commons
Parliament

The House now moves on to an urgent question on the financial position of NHS trusts.

Health Minister Ben Gummer says a "number of trusts" are running a deficit because of staffing needs. He says the "best hospitals" have begun to transform their finances, others have not. He says "tough controls" to cost of agency staff and consultant contracts will enable trusts to be on a sustainable footing "next year". 

Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander accuses Ben Gummer of being "in a state of denial". She says "he either doesn't understand the size of the problem of he simply has his head in the sand".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Andrew Gwynne in the debate about the changes bringing women's pensions in to line with men's: 

You can follow the Commons' debates here.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton Rupa Huq becomes the latest member to ask about the so-called "bedroom tax" court ruling. She says the "despicable and discredited" policy "needs to go".

Iain Duncan Smith says Rupa Huq is mistaken in her interpretation, and that the debate in the court of appeal was over the role of local authorities. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Oral questions is concluded and peers move onto the Immigration Bill at committee stage which applies to the whole of the UK.

The bill extends the use of the “deport first appeal later” to all immigration appeals.

The bill also introduces an offence of illegal working and establishes an agency to tackle exploitation of illegal workers.

Opposition amendments today concern the returning of asylum seekers to safe countries, immigration detention and exemptions from immigration health surcharge.

The president of the European Council says "good progress" has been made in on David Cameron's reform demands as he prepares to publish a "new settlement" on the UK's EU membership.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith asks "how many victims of domestic violence does the bedroom tax discriminate against and how much would it cost to exempt them?"

Minister Justin Tomlinson says he doesn't "believe it does" discriminate and says that the government has trebled support for domestic violence.

Owen Smith says the "bedroom tax" discriminates against 280 victims of domestic violence and it would cost £200,000 to exempt. He asks how much money it will cost to "defeat those victims in the supreme court?"

Justin Tomlinson repeats his earlier line about not wanting to create "artificial lines". He says it's "right" to make sure people are "given the right support".

House of Lords
Parliament

Another Lib Dem, this time Baroness Tonge, has the final question and asks if the government plans to recognise a Palestinian state.

In October 2014, MPs voted 274 to 12 to recognise the Palestinian state; however the vote was purely symbolic. 

The government has previously said that it reserves the right to recognise a state of Palestine when it was “appropriate for the peace process”.

More than 100 countries have recognised the Palestinian state but Israel has argued that such a move would undermine a peace settlement.

Image source, AP wire

House of Commons
Parliament

Eilidh Whiteford, Social Justice and Welfare spokesperson for the SNP, raises the court ruling against the so-called "bedroom tax" last week. She says the government has previously been forced into a climbdown on carers allowance, and asks "why won't they do the same?"

Minister Justin Tomlinson says the government "don't want to create an artificial line that some people would just fall under". 

He says there are "1.7m on the housing waiting list" and that "they welcome any moves to free up homes". He adds that he "will not abandon the 241,000 in overcrowded accommodation".

The Daily Politics

Talking about proposals for an "emergency brake" on in-work benefits, Conservative MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who wants the UK to leave the EU, told the Daily Politics: "What this feels like is EU technocrats, yet again, controlling the decisions."

She added: “David Cameron's asked for very little in the very first place. My frustration is that he isn’t even getting what he’s asking for, so for me that isn’t enough.”

House of Commons
Parliament

Commons' debates have begun for the day and the first question was about support for women affected by changes to pension ages.

The SNP's Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh asks what measures the government is taking to help women affected.

Work and Pensions Minister Shailesh Vara says he wants to "remind" the SNP of the government's record for women in work. He says the female employment rate is at record levels, and an extra one million women in work and 100,000 more "older women" in work since last year. 

He says the people Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh is worried about are all "benefiting from the measures I've just said".

Follow detailed coverage on Westminster Live. 

BBC Radio 4

Image source, Conservative Party

Conservative MP Mark Pritchard, a Eurosceptic who revealed on Sunday that he would "reluctantly" campaign for the UK to remain in the EU, says he is worried that if Britain left the European Union, France and Germany would become more dominant. He told Radio 4's World at One: 

BBC News Channel

The Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has dismissed as "a sideshow" reports of progress in Britain's renegotiation of its membership of the EU. A spokesman for the prime minister has said there has been progress on the idea of Britain having an "emergency brake", whereby in-work benefits for new arrivals could be halted for a period of time. 

Ms Lucas accused the prime minister of "trying to look tough" in front of his backbenchers and said the level of benefits was not what drew migrants to Britain. She added: 

Rosa Prince, author of Comrade Corbyn, told the Daily Politics she did not known the Labour leader well before writing the biography, but she learned he has "a fascinating back story".

The Daily Politics

As the first full biography of Jeremy Corbyn hits the shelves, Daily Politics reporter Ellie Price took to the streets to see if people actually want to read political biographies.

Image source, Reuters

A number of UKIP branches in Wales plan to rebel if candidates from outside Wales are imposed on them for May's assembly election, a senior party spokesperson has told BBC Wales.

It follows a row over reports that party leaders want former Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless to stand.

Letters of objection have been sent to UKIP's national executive committee (NEC) ahead of a meeting on Monday.

BBC Wales understands two local parties have indicated they are likely to fold.

Read the full story

Image source, Thinkstock

Labour says 800,000 people have fallen off the electoral register, with university areas showing particularly high drop-off rates. Universities are no longer allowed to block-register students to vote and students now have to register individually.

The party's shadow minister for young people and voter registration, Gloria De Piero, wants the government to encourage university chiefs to give students the chance to register to vote when they enrol at an institution. She said: 

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The Conservative MP Nigel Evans is unimpressed with reports of an emerging deal on an "emergency brake", by which Britain could stop benefits to migrants if the welfare system is under severe pressure. He said if this then had to be approved by all the member states, it was not a breakthrough.  

The European Commission has confirmed it has produced a "text" which says that the UK meets the criteria for triggering the proposed emergency brake - a development described by the Prime Minister's spokesman as a "significant breakthrough".

Read more.