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Mr Benn remarks that there is "nothing patriotic" about leaving the EU and we need to face global challenges with "optimism". 

The British people have to make a choice between "the fear" that we have lost our identity, and our experience that as a member of the European Union, Britain's voice has been "amplified", he says.

The British people will make that choice in due course, he concludes. 

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Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn rises to respond in the debate on European Affairs.

Mr Benn says Conservative MPs are "desperate to be disappointed" over the package of changes to the UK's membership of the EU that Mr Cameron agreed at the European Council meeting in Brussels last week. 

The Labour Party are "overwhelmingly in support" of Britain remaining in the European Union, he insists. 

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"There will be no second referendum," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond emphatically tells the House of Commons.

"The proposition on the ballot paper is clear and I want to be equally clear: a vote to leave will trigger [the UK's exit from the EU]," he tells MPs, "to do otherwise would represent a complete disregard for the will of the people."

In an apparent swipe at Mayor of London Boris Johnson- who suggested a second referendum if a leave vote prompted the EU to offer a new deal, external  - Mr Hammond goes on to say "no individual, no matter how charismatic or how prominent, has the right or the power to refine unilaterally the right or the will of the people".

Making his case for why the thinks the UK should vote to stay in the EU, the prime minister insist the country will be safer, stronger and better off.

Responding to the figures on homelessness in England, minister Marcus Jones said the government was increasing funding to £139m over the next four years to tackle the problem. And he added:

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent

The change in the migration figures was slight; a small annual increase in net migration  as fewer people left the country. The significance though was the persistence of a historically high total; for almost two years the figure has remained at three times the level promised by the government.

And now the referendum campaign has freed ministers to admit that they have no faith in David Cameron's policy to cut the numbers coming from the European Union.

While the prime minister has insisted his EU renegotiation would reduce the attraction of the British welfare system to would-be migrants, the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, directly contradicted him.

The only way to achieve the level of net migration promised by the Conservatives, he said was to regain control of Britain's borders by leaving the European Union.

David Cameron is hosting a Q&A at BAE systems in Lancashire, and says he's "excited" to be there, telling workers the business is "very important" for the UK.

Addressing the EU referendum, which is to be held on 23 June, he says it's a "choice for a generation", adding that it's bigger than a general election. He adds:

Voters will be asked to decide whether they want the UK to stay in, or leave, the EU.

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Image source, PA

More figures to pour through now - this time on political party donations. The Conservatives received more than £5m in the final quarter of 2015, compared with Labour's  £2.67m, according to the Electoral Commission.

It says £2m of Labour's gifts were from unions - including around £940,000 from Unite and £353,000 from Unison. Its income was topped up with £1.5 million of public funding, while the Conservatives received £303,000.

Figures for the other parties are as follows:

• Liberal Democrats - £828,657
• UK Independence Party (UKIP) - £196,282
• British National Party - £180,000
• Scottish National Party (SNP) - £54,030

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The former shadow minister was speaking to Andrew Neil about some Labour MPs not wanting to appear with Conservatives.

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Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, Sir Bill Cash, notes that the foreign secretary has not said the renegotiation is both "legally binding" and "irreversible" .

Sir Bill tells MPs his committee has concluded "it is clear that this is not irreversible".

Philip Hammond replies that the renegotiation "can only be reversed by all 28 members states of the EU agreeing".

"I can assure him as long as this government is in office Britain will never agree to that happening," he adds.

UK net migration figures "are an unhelpful distraction from good and thorough policy making", say the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.

Chai Patel, its legal & policy director, said the government's target to bring numbers down to the tens of thousands should be scrapped, and priority given to creating "an effective, just and fair immigration system that makes the most of the UK’s need for workers, as well as upholding the human rights of all residents".

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MPs now turn to today's big debate on “European Affairs”.

It's a rather broad title but it’s expected that MPs will use this as an opportunity to air their views on the renegotiation of the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU) and the forthcoming EU referendum.

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SNP MP Chris Law raises a point of order on the spat at PMQs "regarding mothers' opinions on clothing".

He complains that the SNP have been "told off for clapping in this House" but nothing was done to reprimand the prime minister, who in Mr Law's opinion "should give a full and proper apology for his conduct in this House".

Speaker John Bercow responds that is not his place to "intervene to prevent members from presenting their own views" but offers some advice to MPs.

He tells MPs and ministers to ask themselves before they make a comment "would I be content for my behaviour to be seen and heard by my constituents?"

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Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, opening the debate on European Affairs, tells MPs "I always considered myself a Eurosceptic".  

Despite this, he will campaign to stay in the European Union, he says.

He argues: "We do not live an ideal world but we live in the real world and the EU is part of that real world.

"The question is not do we like it; the questions we have to answer is - are we safer, stronger and better off in the EU than out of it.

"I am a sceptic who will vote with my head to remain, because I know with my heart it is what is best for Britain."