Radio Scotland

The Scottish Conservative leader has called on voters in Scotland to back the Conservatives as the only credible opposition to the SNP.

Image source, PA

Speaking ahead of her party's conference in Edinburgh later, Ruth Davidson accused Labour of failing to challenge the Nationalists, since they came to power in 2007.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, Ms Davidson said: "We can read a poll as well as the next person and all the polls at the moment are telling us that there is one party that is out in front.

"What people across Scotland want to see is someone that's really going to challenge that party and put them under pressure - that's going to test their ideas and can be the sort of opposition that we've just not seen in Scotland for the last nine years.

"I would go as far as to say that in nine years as official Scottish opposition, the Labour Party just hasn't laid a glove on the SNP."

Iain Duncan Smith says the "smear" tactics used by the campaign to stay in the EU risk long-term damage to the government.

The Home Office risks undermining Britain's security if it does not get a grip on its much-delayed e-borders scheme, a committee of MPs says.

Only the Tories can challenge the SNP and prevent Scotland becoming a "one party state", David Cameron tells a gathering of Scottish party members.

An audience member cites Britain Stronger In chairman Lord Rose’s comments yesterday, that wages would probably rise in the UK if it left the EU - and, with that in mind, challenges Labour’s decision to support continued membership.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says the party wants to reform Europe to “protect wages” and enforce trade union rights and secure long-term investment.

He rejects the notion put to him that he and Mr Corbyn have not been out campaigning much, saying Labour has been “crowded out” by the media because of coverage of Tory divisions over Europe. He adds:

UKIP MEP and health spokeswoman Louise Bours says she’s sure scare tactics will continue to be used throughout the campaign - but suggests it's coming from the In campaign, not those pushing for a vote to leave.

Making her case for Britain to leave the EU, she says the UK has "tremendous influence in the world" and thinks that case isn’t been made enough. She also challenges remarks made earlier by Mr McDonnell and says it is Nato, not the EU, that has kept peace in Europe.

On the row between the different leave campaigns, she says she wished those running them would “put their egos aside” and join together in the common interest.

Footballer Jermaine Jenas says he doesn’t feel like he’s being given enough facts from either side of the campaign to make an educated decision on the referendum. He thinks there have been “scaremongering tactics” – but says it’s a familiar tactic in football.

Meanwhile, Guardian columnist Zoe Williams says she thinks the Out campaigners have been making a better “hope” case and she would like to see the In campaign replicate that.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says the campaign needs to “calm down a bit”, adding that most people “just want a sensible, rational debate” – which is met with some applause. He says he voted against joining the European common market in 1975 but he’s now of the view that the UK should stay in the EU, because withdrawing at a time of “fragility” in the economy “would set us backward”. He also argues that the UK can better secure peace and combat climate change by being a member.

The first question is on the EU referendum and whether the campaign who scares people the most will win.

Justice minister Dominic Raab - who supports an EU exit – says there’s been lots of "scaremongering" from the In campaign.

“I think we need to debate the substance of this,” he says, before explaining why he thinks the UK would be better off out of the EU - namely that it would “bring back democratic control” to the UK.

The City of London Corporation votes "overwhelmingly" to support the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU.

Comments by the French finance minister have triggered a row between opposing camps in the EU referendum. Emmanuel Macron told the Financial Times, external his country could end UK border controls in Calais if the UK votes to leave the EU. Out campaigners including Boris Johnson dismissed his warning as scaremongering.

David Cameron and Francois Hollande were asked about his intervention at a press conference - the French president said there would be "consequences" if the UK voted to leave.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, addressed business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce conference, setting out his vision of a "new economics".

Question Time and This Week are still to come - you can watch on the Live Coverage tab above.

David Cameron's jibe at Leave EU campaigners that they are indulging in "David Icke-style" conspiracy theories has provoked a response from the man himself.

For younger readers, Icke is a former Coventry City goalkeeper and BBC sports presenter who gained brief notoriety in the 1990s for declaring that he was the son of God, before going in to a career as conspiracy theorist author and speaker.

He ran in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election in 2008 which he described as an opportunity to highlight the "rapidly emerging - and global - Big Brother State".

Icke says on his blog:

House of Lords
Parliament

And with that business in the House of Lords is brought to a close.

Peers will be back on Monday to debate the government's reformed Tax Credits plans.

If you cannot wait till then MPs will be back tomorrow at 9.30am for Private Members Bills.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative peer Lord Deben, who as John Gummer was environment secretary from 1993 to 1997, support the idea behind Labours amendments.

He criticises the government for not including any infrastructure requirements in the bill. 

"We want to support the bill but this sort of stuff needs to be in there for it to work."

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour table a group of "probing amendments" to test the governments plans on linking new build schemes to local infrastructure.

Labour housing minister Lord Kennedy of Southwark argue "we cannot just build a group of houses and have no access to health services, dentists, schools, shops and transport."

Probing by are tabled with no intention of seeing the amendment carried. Probing amendments are instead designed to provide an opportunity for discussion of a specific point.

House of Lords
Parliament

Crossbench peer Lord Cameron of Dillington tables an amendment to set up a series of exemptions from the requirement to build starter homes.

Under the amendment, local authorities would be able to exempt applications that:

• come from a “build to rent” scheme
• contain supported housing for younger people, older people, people with special needs, or people with disabilities
• contain a homeless hostel 
• contain refuge accommodation 
• contain specialist housing

Lord Cameron argues the greater flexibility will encourage building firms to take part in the scheme.

"Exemption sites have an invaluable proven track record of promoting building", he adds. 

Reality Check
Tamara Kovacevic

Image source, PA

Further to my earlier post, we’ve been trying to find out how effective the Le Touquet agreement has been at stopping the flow of irregular migrants to the UK.

There aren’t any figures available for the number of people refused entry to the UK at the Calais border point.

But the UK Government does publish the total number of those who are stopped at all immigration checks on the continental side of the Channel.

That includes the operation in Calais – and similar checkpoints in Dunkirk, at several French train stations, and in Belgium, at Brussels Gare du Midi train station.

Between 2005 – when the agreement came into force – and 2015, a total of 55,494 people were refused entry to the UK at those points, according to government statistics (Source: UK Government Immigration Statistics Release, updated on 3 March 2016).

It’s reasonable to assume that most of those people would have been stopped in France, but we can’t be sure as the statistics do not go to that level of detail.

Image source, Getty Images

According to research commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA) many families in England could be forced out of their council homes and be unable to afford alternative housing in the same area.

According to the LGA-commissioned study, almost 60,000 households in England will not be able to afford to pay rents at the market rate or take advantage of the right to buy.  

Subsidised rents for households earning more than £30,000, or £40,000 in London, will be scrapped in April 2017.

Social housing tenants will be asked to pay rent at or near market rates.

The policies come under the Housing and Planning Bill, currently being debated in the Lords.

Read more here.

House of Commons
Parliament

The House of Commons has adjourned for the day.

It will sit again at 9:30am tomorrow to consider private members' business.

Bills under consideration include the Driving Instructors (Registration) Bill and the House of Commons (Members' Fund) (No.2) Bill.