BBC News Channel

Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O'Donnell has defended the restrictions on civil servants providing briefing material to ministers campaigning to leave the EU, telling the BBC that this is not unfair but a reflection of the reality that it is the civil service's responsibility to support government policy.

The role of the UK's top civil servant, he insists, is not to act as an independent referee between the two sides but to ensure that what ministers say is "factually accurate". He acknowledges the next few months are going to be "quite tricky" but says there is a precedent for the current situation, when the Conservatives and Lib Dems took different sides over the 2011 AV referendum but knuckled down afterwards and continued to work together.

European Parliament
Brussels

Summing up the debate for the Commission, Euro and Social Dialogue Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis tells MEPs that the result of the referendum is now "in the hands of the British people". 

He pledges that the Commission would table the legislation necessary to enact the terms of the deal "immediately" after a vote to remain. 

On migration, he adds that "only" a "European solution" will manage to resolve the crisis. 

European Parliament
Brussels

Responding to the debate, European Council President Donald Tusk tells MEPs that the migration crisis and the UK referendum are "strictly interconnected". 

He adds that how the EU seeks to tackle the crisis will be "of key significance" to the referendum campaign. 

He says that those who want to "keep the unity" of the EU should strive to agree a common response to the crisis "with the fullest determination possible". 

He adds that if the "emerging unity" on the crisis is violated, then "they may in fact contribute to the UK leaving the EU". 

He also tells MEPs that "no-one should have any illusions" that the deal brokered last week will be the only one offered on new EU membership terms, adding:

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Eleanor Garnier
Political Correspondent

The PM's official spokesman was asked about the fact General Sir Michael Rose was mistakenly included on the list of former generals who have said in a letter that the UK is safer in the EU.

Pushed on whether there would be an apology, he said: "We hold our hands up. This was our mistake and we regret that."

Asked if the PM and General Rose had spoken, the spokesman said he wasn't aware of a conversation and pointed out that the General was in New Zealand at the moment. 

Image source, UK Parliament

In a rare move, former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been speaking in a debate in Westminster Hall, the secondary chamber of the House of Commons. He used the occasion to criticise the government's "unnecessary" decision to close a Department of Business (BIS) office in Sheffield, a move which has put 250 jobs at risk. Mr Clegg, who is MP for Sheffield Hallam, suggested Business Secretary Sajid Javid had taken the decision for political reasons. 

Eleanor Garnier
Political Correspondent

The PM's official spokesman has said David Cameron has confidence in Justice Secretary Michael Gove despite their contradictory claims on whether or not the the EU deal is legally binding. 

Asked if the PM had confidence in the justice secretary, the official spokesman said: "Yes he does."

When asked if Mr Gove would still be in post in a year's time he said : "I'm not going to hypothesise about positions in a year's time. We don't speculate on reshuffles."

The spokesman was also asked whether there had been any discussions about ministers not using their government titles when campaigning. He said there had not been as far as he was aware. 

European Parliament
Brussels

Catherine Bearder, the only remaining Liberal Democrat MEP following the 2014 European Parliament elections, says she thanks the other EU states for showing tolerance for "yet more British demands".

She adds that the British people have been "fed lies and scare stories" from a "largely foreign-owned media". 

However, former UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson - who was expelled from the party last March - says the UK's deal is "not worth the paper it's written on". 

She also describes David Cameron as "arrogant" for not meeting more MEPs during last week's summit. 

European Parliament
Brussels

Italian social democrat Roberto Gualtieri says that the Socialist and Democrat group "will respect" the agreement reached last week. 

The MEP, who was one of the three "sherpas" who observed the talks on behalf of the European Parliament, says the group will "not prevent" or delay the implementation of the changes.  

He adds that, legally speaking, the changes will require Parliament to pass the measures - but that on a political level, he believes the idea "commands a broad majority". 

Another one of the "sherpas", German Christian democrat Elmar Brok, says that he believes the UK "got what it needed" to secure a vote to remain in the EU. 

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

In his first interview since the EU negotiation deal, Lord Hill, the UK's EU Commissioner, dismisses Michael Gove's suggestion that the deal is not legally binding. He told the World At One that the European Court of Justice had never overturned "a clearly expressed binding agreement". 

Tens of thousands of people could miss out on a vote in the EU referendum and May's Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections after changes to the registration process.

At least 770,000 names have been removed from the electoral register, the Electoral Commission says.

The watchdog said young people had been hit the hardest.

The government says the new system will cut down on electoral fraud and "ghost" entries on the register.

Full story here.

BBC News Channel

European Council president Donald Tusk has rejected claims that David Cameron's deal to keep Britain in the EU could be overturned. Downing Street also insists the agreement is legally irreversible. But Conservative MP Dominic Raab disagrees, telling the BBC:

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who oversaw David Cameron's renegotiation with the EU, has insisted the deal can not be annulled by the European Court of Justice. The Justice Secretary Michael Gove had warned it could be struck down by the Court, because the terms of the agreement are not yet included in any EU Treaties. Downing Street has insisted the deal is binding. But the UKIP MP Douglas Carswell says it could still unravel.    

European Parliament
Brussels

The DUP's Diane Dodds says the referendum in June will be the UK's "independence day". 

She adds that, despite the best efforts of David Cameron, the EU has shown itself "neither willing nor able" to change. 

She adds that, if the UK votes to stay in, its sovereignty will continue to be "eroded", and British taxpayers will pay "billions more to the EU than we get back". 

She says that the "mediocre tweaks" agreed last week bring "no guarantees" of future treaty change, and says the ECJ and European Parliament will be able to "unravel" the agreement.

European Parliament
Brussels

UKIP leader Nigel Farage tells MEPs that David Cameron "didn't get very much" from his renegotiation efforts, which he likens to a "modern day impression of Oliver Twist".

He says the prime minister's decision to lodge the deal at the United Nations is "completely meaningless". 

"You might as well lodge a pair of socks," he adds. 

He takes Donald Tusk to task for his claim that the deal is "legally binding", adding that that a decision from the European Court of Justice in 2006 stated their rulings over EU law cannot be "prejudiced" by international law. 

He adds that treaty change in the near future is unlikely, because it would "trigger new referendums", and that many MEPs have made clear today that they "will not support British exceptionalism".

Maltese MEP David Casa intervenes to ask whether Mr Farage would carry on at the European Parliament if there is a vote to remain. 

In reply, Mr Farage says the referendum will be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to leave the EU.

He predicts that there will be a vote to leave, and that all the British MEPs would leave the Parliament "within a short time".  

The SNP is urging voters in Scotland to make sure they are registered to vote after figures suggested the number on the electoral register has fallen by 100,000.

On 1 December 2015, 4.03 million people were registered to vote in local government and Scottish Parliament elections - a decrease of about 100,000 compared to 2 March 2015, according to data published by the National Records of Scotland.

The SNP said it was "extremely worrying".

The Daily Politics

Reviewing the exchanges between David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn with BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Labour MP Gisela Stuart, and Conservative MP Nick Boles. 

They joined Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn on the Daily Politics straight after the exchanges, which were dominated by statistics about the state of the NHS and a further strike planned by junior doctors.