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The EU referendum is weighing on the housing market, economists have said, after new figures showed a slight slowdown in annual house price inflation. Year-on-year growth slipped from 4.9% to 4.7% in April, according to the Nationwide Building Society although the average price of a house in the UK still crept up to £204,368. 

Howard Archer, from IHS Insight, said a vote to leave on 23 June could result in a "marked hit" to market activity while Mark Posniak, from Dragonfly Property Finance, said the outcome could "determine the fate of the market for several years to come".

Of course, many people believe a fall in house prices would be a good thing, particularly in hotspots such as London and the south of England, giving first-time buyers more chance to get on the property ladder. 

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David Cameron has said we would "trash our economy" by following the Leave campaign's proposals for an Australian-style points-based immigration system if the UK leaves the EU.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Radio Derby, the prime minister said: "Australia has more migration per head than we do here in the UK, so I think it's the wrong approach. 

"I also think if we were to say to Europeans they needed work permits to come to Britain, European countries would say to us we need work permits to go and work there. So not only would we trash our economy, we'd also reduce opportunities for people to work in other countries."

Labour has said TUC research about the impact of Brexit on wages highlights why the UK must remain in the European Union. 

The report suggests average take-home pay would be £38 a week lower by 2030 if the UK votes to leave the EU. Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said it reinforced why EU membership was "vital for jobs, wages and rights at work". 

Energy Secretary Amber Rudd will team up with former Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable later to make the employment case for staying in the EU. 

They are expected to highlight research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) which suggests that more than 100,000 UK manufacturing jobs will be created by the EU's single market by 2030 and would be at risk if the UK left. Ahead of the campaign stop in Bristol, Ms Rudd said. 

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The UK's economy would suffer "a substantial shock to trade" if it left the EU, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in its latest warning about the consequences of Brexit. 

By 2020, GDP in the UK could be more than 3% below the level it might otherwise have been if it had remained in the EU, the OECD says.

In the rest of the EU, GDP would be about 1% weaker as a result, it says.

Lower trade openness would hit the UK's economic dynamism and productivity in the long term too, it adds. Read more

Here's a more detailed explanation of how the Australian points-based immigration system being proposed by Vote Leave differs from the controls in place in the UK at the moment. Immigration systems compared

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Here's a summary of the immigration proposals being put forward by the Leave campaign.

• The automatic right of all EU citizens to come to live and work in the UK will end, as will EU control over vital aspects of the social security system.
• Those seeking entry for work or study should be admitted on the basis of their skills without discrimination on the ground of nationality
• To gain the right to work, economic migrants will have to be suitable for the job in question. 
• For relevant jobs, the UK will be able to ensure that all those who come have the ability to speak good English 
• EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK will not be affected as they will be given indefinite leave to remain and neither will Irish citizens
• The 1972 European Communities Act will be amended to make it easier to remove criminals and other persons whose presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good.
• The application of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights to UK law will be ended

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Some news from last night in case you missed it - Caroline Lucas is to stand for the leadership of the Green Party as a job share

The party’s only MP and ex-leader wants to partner with work and pensions spokesman Jonathan Bartley under the slogan “The Power of Working Together”.

The pair say they want to forge a new “progressive alliance” with other political parties willing to advocate electoral reform – potentially including deals over who would contest particular parliamentary seats.

Ms Lucas, who led the Greens before the current leader Natalie Bennett took over in 2012, is the party’s best-known face. 

The MP for Brighton Pavilion since 2010, she was immediately touted as a likely successor when Ms Bennett said she would not stand again when her term expires at the end of August.

A new leader will be elected at the party's autumn conference in September.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are setting out what is in effect their “migration manifesto.”  

Under Vote Leave's plans, EU migrants would no longer be allowed free access to the UK - instead they would have to have a job, skills that were wanted, educational qualifications, a decent standard of English "for relevant jobs" and be in good health. 

This new points based system would be delivered before the next election; as would changes to the European Communities Act and an opt out from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights to make it easier to deport unwanted migrants. 

It sounds like it is a legislative agenda they would expect Mr Cameron to follow if he wanted to remain prime minister after a vote to leave. Critics of Mr Johnson are likely to view his latest intervention as yet further evidence of his desire to offer an alternative leadership after the referendum.  

This morning however those close to Mr Cameron were dismissive of the plans. They said that while an Australian-style system seemed "superficially" attractive  - it was not suitable for the UK and wouldn't work with per head of population levels of net migration into Australia much higher than in the UK. 

They also accused Brexit campaigners of being ready to crash the economy as part of their attempts to curb migration. 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady says the Leave side's warning about the impact of immigration on low-paid workers should be taken "with a shovel-full of salt".

Her organisation is warning wages could be hit by a vote to leave, with employee rights also affected. But Mick Cash, of the RMT union, is backing an exit vote, saying the EU "is not working for ordinary people", pointing to austerity policies being pursued.

A new Vice UK documentary about Jeremy Corbyn has been released this morning. The behind-the-scenes footage includes the Labour leadership team's PMQs preparations - after which Mr Corbyn's communications director, Seumas Milne, complains that the planned questions are regularly leaked from inside the top team. Watch it here:, external

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Ministers need to justify their case for a "gargantuan" £250m lorry park put forward to ease disruption caused by cross-Channel services, MPs have said.

The Transport Select Committee said the decision to proceed with a 4,000-space park in Kent was taken "hastily" by the government.

Two sites the "same size as Disneyland in California" are being considered.

It comes after part of the M20 was used 32 times last summer by queuing lorries - a process known as Operation Stack.

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The Guardian

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In non-referendum news, The Guardian says Liverpool's Labour mayor, external has criticised shadow home secretary Andy Burnham, who is bidding to become the mayor of Greater Manchester.

Mr Burnham had said the role is a “cabinet-level job requiring cabinet-level experience” - and Mr Anderson described this as “the most ignorant and insensitive comment anybody could actually make because it is disrespectful to every local government leader who has worked hard for their area”.

More from the papers, and The Times says in committing to the Australian-style points system, external, and a three-year timetable for its implementation, the Brexit campaign "risks opening itself to attack on two fronts".

Its timetable appears to commit the campaign to rapid negotiations with the rest of the EU - it had previously talked about delaying exit talks to put an alternative trade system in place, the paper adds. And Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for stricter immigration controls, has dismissed the Australian system as unsuitable for the UK.

The EU referendum campaign stays on the front pages with coverage focusing on a pledge by Vote Leave to push for a points-based system to control immigration if Britain opts to exit the EU.

Brexit campaigners, reports the Daily Mail, say their plans would pave the way for an "immigration revolution", external and slash numbers arriving from the EU to meet the Tory promise to cut net migration to below 100,000.

The Daily Telegraph says the joint declaration, external by Justice Secretary Michael Gove, former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Employment Minister Priti Patel represents a major challenge to David Cameron's authority.

It will be seen as the first policy of a Eurosceptic manifesto and will bolster claims by critics of the prime minister that he cannot remain in power until 2020 in the event of a Leave vote, says the paper.

Read a full digest of Wednesday's papers