Image source, AP

Late on 19 February, Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the 27 other EU members reached an agreement, external on the UK's position in the EU, after two days of talks in Brussels.

David Cameron said the deal will give the UK "special status" and he will campaign to stay in the union.  

The key points of the deal are:

• An "emergency brake" on migrants' in-work benefits for four years when there are "exceptional" levels of migration. The UK will be able to operate the brake for seven years
• Child benefit for the children of EU migrants living overseas will now be paid at a rate based on the cost of living in their home country - applicable immediately for new arrivals and from 2020 for the 34,000 existing claimants
• The amending of EU treaties to state explicitly that references to the requirement to seek ever-closer union "do not apply to the United Kingdom", meaning Britain "can never be forced into political integration"
• The ability for the UK to enact "an emergency safeguard" to protect the City of London, to stop UK firms being forced to relocate into Europe and to ensure British businesses do not face "discrimination" for being outside the eurozone.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs move on to a debate on end of life care.

Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Health Committee, says high quality end of life care "is not available to everyone".

She argues that end of life care should begin "much earlier on" than it currently does, and that more training needs to be provided for medical staff.

She tells MPs that people diagnosed with dementia will want to get powers of attorney in place "at a much earlier stage".

In February, the government published a report, external setting out the case for the UK staying in a reformed European Union (EU).

The report claims the package of reforms secured by David Cameron “resets the balance in our relationship with the EU” making it in the UK's "national interest to remain in the EU."

The report says the UK is stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU as

• the UK can access the Single Market and play a leading role in determining the rules that govern it
• EU membership attracts international investment into the UK
• the UK’s membership of the EU "gives us more influence on the world stage"
• membership enhances the UK’s ability to co-operate in combating crime and terrorism, "while respecting the fact that the sole responsibility for our country’s national security rests with the UK Government"

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers now move to the day's main business, the double-headed debate covering the motion to set the referendum date and the government's policy paper "The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom's special status in a reformed European Union, external".

Select Committee
Parliament

That's it - Chris Grayling leaves the witness chair after his grilling by MPs.

He's the final person to appear in front of the committee. Members will now get to work on producing their report on the private members' bill process.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour peer Baroness Bakewell complains that transitional payments to women who have not been informed about the change in state pension age - the subject of a debate in the Commons, external last week  - will not be in "remit of the review".

Baroness Altmann says that peers with worries about the remit of the review can raise them directly with John Cridland, as "he will be conducting an independent review".

Reality Check

Image source, HM Government

The government paper on the options for the UK if it were to leave the EU contained this chart, laying out the levels of tariffs imposed by the EU on most-favoured nations (that's pretty much everyone who is in the World Trade Organisation but not the EU). It ranges from 0% for cotton to 42.1% for sugar. 

No figures were put on how much those extra tariffs would put on the price of products being imported into the UK, but this report, external from December 2015 from Stronger In Europe claimed that the UK would have to match the tariffs placed on UK products by the EU, which would raise the price of EU imports by £11bn.

It said that the UK would have to impose such tariffs or the EU would have no incentive to reach a trade deal.

Leave campaigners argue that any extra costs would be cancelled out by savings from not having to contribute to the EU budget.

House of Commons
Parliament

Science Minister Jo Johnson says the government will protect the science budget "in real terms for the rest of this parliament".

He says that the government is "giving the science community the certainty it needs".

He adds that UK universities are "stronger" as a result of our membership of the European Union, arguing that the EU provides funding for research and opportunities for collaboration with researchers abroad.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative Simon Hoare asks Chris Grayling if there is any capacity, in terms of House staff, to resource, clerk and chair legislation on other days, other than Friday, referring to repeated suggestions that private members' bills be taken on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

"What I would observe, in my role as leader, the pressures on our time," Chris Grayling responds.

"One of the challenges we have is fitting in everything that needs to be fitted in and also giving opposition parties the time they have allocated."

Image source, Reuters

Some of those campaigning for the UK to leave the EU have cited Norway as an example of a post-Brexit model which the UK could emulate. Many others, it must be said, have dismissed this and insisted that the UK will organise its own arrangements with the EU and won't base them on any other country's deal. Now the Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg has admitted that her nation - which is outside the EU but a member of the European Economic Area - "lacks influence" in Brussels and wished it was a full member of the EU. She has told the BBC's Brussels correspondent Ben Wright:

For the record, Norway has access to the single market and follows EU legislation in areas such as the free movement of goods, services, people and money. 

It is not bound by EU laws governing things like agriculture and fisheries or monetary union, but it does have to make a financial contribution to the EU budget. It does not get to vote on EU policies.

Image source, PA

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has thrown his weight behind Another Europe is Possible, a campaign group making an "alternative" case for staying in the EU. The group, which launched last month and has drawn support from Labour and Green Party MPs and activists, believes employment and environmental protection should be at the heart of a "social Europe":

Experts have warned a review of the state pension age could mean people joining the workforce today will have to wait until their mid-70s before they retire, 

Former CBI boss John Cridland has been appointed to lead the review, the first of regular five-year assessments.

Those under the age of about 55 will be affected by the shake-up, which will consider what the state retirement age should be from April 2028.

The results will be published next May.

The government said the review, required under existing legislation, would consider changes in life expectancy as well as wider changes in society and "make sure that the state pension is sustainable and affordable for future generations".

Read more here.

House of Lords
Parliament

Work and Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann is repeating the answer to this afternoon’s urgent question on the state pension age in the Lords.

Important statements, or answers to urgent questions, are often repeated in the House of Lords to allow peers to get a chance to scrutinise the government.

Following the statement, peers will hold a ten minute question and answer session with Baroness Altmann.

Select Committee
Parliament

"I'm anxious to protect the rights of individual backbenchers," says Sir Edward Leigh.

"Is it easier for the government to bring in its supporters to vote down a bill on a Tuesday evening?"

Chris Grayling agrees, and says that it's one of the factors that the committee needs to take into account.

House of Lords
Parliament

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Hamwee criticises the government after the Home Office admitted, external gap-year students on temporary contracts during busy periods were being used to help process asylum claims.

Baroness Hamwee argues that "decisions are very sensitive and complex" and inappropriate for "young people to make such decisions". She asks if there is "likely to be an extra cost of incorrect decisions". 

Home Office Minister Lord Bates replies that "out of 290 decision makers only two are undergraduates, both of whom are law graduates".

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow business minister Yvonne Fovargue says the department was cut by 17% in the spending review of last November, and adds that the UK spends the lowest amount on research and development of the G8 countries.

She calls for more research and development funding to be spent in the North of England, and says it is too concentrated in the South East at present.

Select Committee
Parliament

"I'm quite astounded that you said that we may make the process less likely to get a bill through," says Labour's Jenny Chapman.

"I don't see how it can be any less likely - the clerks have made it clear that all and only government bills get through."

Responding, Chris Grayling says that he thinks any private members' bill that passes through the House should command significant support.

"I do think that would be the expectation of the public," he continues.

House of Lords
Parliament

Shadow work and pensions minister Baroness Sherlock criticises the government for not making disabled people and victims of domestic violence aware of help available for them to pay the under-occupancy charge.

She tells peers that by the government's own evaluation "one third of people hit by the bedroom tax [another name for the under-occupancy charge] were not aware of the discretionary housing payments, external".

Work and Pensions Minister Lord Freud replies that due to an ongoing court case he is "more circumscribed than usual" on what he can say but tells peers that awareness of help is increasing. 

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's Carol Monaghan says science investment falling to 0.44% of GDP in 2012 was an "embarrassment".

She says the Scottish government has increased its expenditure on "research and knowledge exchange", and she calls on the UK government to do the same.