Nicola Sturgeon calls for an "overwhelming victory" for the Remain campaign in the referendum on EU membership.

Ellie Price
Daily and Sunday Politics reporter

Today is the last day at work for one of Westminster’s unsung heroes, John Prince, the librarian in the MPs' library, who’s retiring after 44 years.

He kindly showed me round last week, which was very nice of him seeing as you’re meant to be there unless you’re an MP.

There are 40,000 books in there, as well as some other pretty cool things, like a telephone that looks like it belongs on the set of Downton Abbey.

Image source, Getty Images

Alan Johnson, who is leading Labour's campaign to stay in the EU, says a government report warning about the implications of EU exit - which has been rejected by Leave campaigners - raises "important questions on how Britain will disentangle itself from 40 years of co-operation with our closest allies, neighbours and biggest trading partner". He adds.

Nicola Sturgeon says she has "no plans" to share a platform with David Cameron during the referendum campaign. While they both want the same outcome, she says they are coming at it from "slightly different perspectives" and can better maximise pro-EU support by making their own arguments. She pooh-poohs the idea of all pro-EU politicians coming together, saying the debate should be taking place in "town halls, workplaces and pubs" not confined to the political classes. 

Reality Check

There is no precedent for a country leaving the EU.

Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty sets out the process: negotiations would last two years and after that the UK would cease to be a member of the EU, unless the other 27 states unanimously decided to extend the negotiations.

When Greenland voted to withdraw from the European Community – the organisation that preceded the EU – in 1982 (after gaining a high level of internal autonomy from Denmark in 1979) a deal was reached three years later, after difficult and protracted negotiations, mainly over fisheries.

A deal for the UK is likely to be more complicated and the negotiations lengthier, especially if the UK wanted to retain full access to the Single Market.

The other 27 EU countries would be in charge of the timetable and a new deal for the UK would have to be approved by the European Parliament and the remaining 27 EU countries by Qualified Majority Voting.

The UK would remain a member of the EU, under the current terms, for as long as the negotiations are ongoing.

The SNP leader concluded her speech by saying she believes remaining in the EU is in the interest of communities, businesses and individuals - not just in the UK but across the entire EU. Moving on to questions from the audience, she again insists she does not want an Out vote to trigger a second independence referendum in Scotland although she believes there is a "strong case" this will happen if Scotland is "taken out of the EU against its will". 

Nicola Sturgeon says the EU is not perfect and can often be "bureaucratic and messy". She has particular misgivings over how it dealt with Greece's debt problems, concerns she says are widely shared among social democrats. Nation states, she believes, should have more discretion in certain areas, such as public health, citing some of the problems Scotland has had in trying to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol. However, she lists the achievements that the EU has secured in the fields of environmental protection and workers rights, saying this has left millions of people "wealthier, healthier, happier and freer". These benefits should be "celebrated not renounced".

Ms Sturgeon says she will campaign "wholeheartedly" for the UK to remain in the EU and she wants an "overwhelming" In vote in Scotland, England and all other parts of the UK. She takes head-on the argument that she would quite like the UK to vote to leave so this could trigger another independence referendum in Scotland, should Scotland itself vote to stay in. While there is a "real chance" there could be another referendum in such a scenario - that is her "honest assessment" - she makes clear that she does not want that to happen. She believes in Scotland leaving the UK one day but not in that way.

The SNP leader said there was no contradiction in Scotland aspiring to be an independent country while remaining a member of the EU. She said all 28 EU members were independent countries, nine of whom had smaller populations than Scotland. The idea of countries "working together for the common good" appeals to her and many other people, she says, adding that Scotland has been "pooling its sovereignty for many years". 

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been speaking to an invited audience in London. She started by making a joke about the rarity of a political speech on a Leap Day, pointing out there seem to have been more referendum days in Scotland than leap days. Reflecting on the lessons of the 2014 independence referendum in Scotland, she says whatever the outcome of the EU vote, she hopes there will be an "uplifting" democratic debate that will leave a "positive legacy" that will benefit the whole of the UK.

Aside from the EU, there are other items on MPs' agendas today. First up in the Commons is defence questions and later on there will be an opposition day debate on the steel industry. The Huffington Post's Paul Waugh picks up on the two issues and sees a possible link between them. 

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Image source, Reuters

Downing Street says they are "happy to look at " proposals for the prime minister to take part in a TV debate on EU referendum.

Number Ten say so far they have received no "formal invitations" from the broadcasters.

It is thought David Cameron would be reluctant to take part in the large Wembley arena debate planned by the BBC on 21 June - two days before the referendum.

However it is thought Mr Cameron might be more sympathetic to a Question Time-style format - where he is questioned by a studio audience.

He took part in such a Question Time debate during the General Election.

Under this format, Mr Cameron would not appear on the stage at the same time or go head-to-head with a representative of the Leave campaign.

A spokesman for the Vote Leave campaign said they had not decided who they might put up against the prime minister but were "up for a TV debate".

The spokesman noted that both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove "would be very effective."

However they have not ruled out putting up a leading business figure.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Image source, House of Commons

Ministers campaigning to leave the EU have accused the government of behaving unconstitutionally over its bar on allowing them to see some civil service documents during the EU referendum campaign.

The government is expected to be pressed to make a statement on the issue in the Commons later.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood has been accused of exceeding his authority, with some pro-Brexit ministers indicating they may seek to defy the government - by demanding their civil servants show them any papers they demand relating to the EU question.

They claim that a Secretary of State is constitutionally in charge of a department and cannot be over-ruled by the cabinet secretary over access to departmental papers.

One cabinet minister said: "The Cabinet Office does not have the power to make the order to withhold information from individual secretaries of state. They cannot stop someone like me seeing all the information from my department."

Downing Street has insisted all ministers had signed up to the agreement on access to papers prior to the referendum and indicated that it would not back down on the issue.

BBC News Channel

Claims that the UK faces at least 10 years of "uncertainty" if it votes to leave the European Union have been rejected by Leave campaigners. 

A government analysis says the economy, financial markets and the rights of Britons living overseas could be affected during a complex negotiation to "unravel" the UK's membership.

But Commons leader Chris Grayling, who is campaigning for a UK exit, said the 10-year claim was "ludicrous".

He accused the government of running a "relentless campaign of fear". Read more.

Image source, PA

Nicola Sturgeon is to set out what she sees as the positives of EU membership for both Scotland and the UK.

In a speech in London, Scotland's first minister will argue that the EU should be reformed from within.

She will say she hopes the referendum on 23 June will end in an "overwhelming victory" for Remain campaigners.

Ms Sturgeon's intervention comes as the UK government published analysis suggesting an EU exit could lead to a "decade of uncertainty", with an impact on the economy and jobs. Read more.

Monday looks set to be dominated by continuing arguments and skirmishes over the EU. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is making a major speech in London putting the case for the UK's continued membership. The UK government is warning that a vote to leave the EU could trigger a decade of economic uncertainty - an argument rejected by Leave campaigners. There is also a simmering row over whether ministers backing EU exit should be blocked from seeing certain government documents about UK-EU relations in the run-up to the referendum on 23 June.

Ceredigion is named as the least Eurosceptic area of Britain in a new survey ahead of the EU referendum.