Asked what he thought of Iain Duncan Smith's suggestion that he's a closet Brexiteer simply looking to further his political career by backing a Remain vote, Savid Javid has told the BBC that "unfortunately some people in this debate prefer to play the men rather than the ball". He adds. 

After his battle bus arrived in Birmingham for the latest leg of his Brexit tour, UKIP leader Nigel Farage was told by two women that he needed to "shout louder" about the need to leave the EU. Mr Farage said he was shouting so much already that he has almost gone hoarse.

On the walkabout, the UKIP leader was asked to pose for the obligatory selfies and is also asked to sign a Union Flag. Asked about claims by the Leave side that the UK would be able to cut VAT on fuel and other things outside the EU, he said the "world is our oyster" if the UK leaves when nothing can be done at the moment.

He also said the UK needed to send back any illegal Albanian migrants trying to make their way by boat to the UK, warning if that doesn't happen, it would encourage more people to come and will end up with "dead bodies washing up on our beaches". 

Downing Street has said it is taking “every necessary action” to protect the UK’s border security after suspected Albanian migrants were rescued off the Kent coast.

The prime minister’s spokesman said “a small number” of people were trying different, more dangerous routes after measures improved the situation in Calais.

He outlined the steps the government has taken to try to disrupt the route, including new powers for border guards to board vessels and make arrests which came into effect today.

No 10 said it was taking an “intelligence-led” approach to tackling illegal migration, pointing to three new maritime hubs and investment in new vessels which are due to be fully operational by the end of next year.

The migrants rescued over the weekend have been taken to an immigration centre to be “processed”.

Away from the EU referendum for a moment, David Cameron and Nicola Sturgeon are attending a church service in Kirkwall, Orkney to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. Read full story

Image source, PA

Chris Grayling used his Q&A to defend "reasonable" claims that Brexit could lead to a cut in fuel bills and to argue that the UK and other EU countries should take a firm stance on asylum claims from Albania, treating the majority of people travelling to Western Europe from that country as economic migrants.

He also says that his party will pull together whatever the outcome of the 23 June referendum amid speculation of a leadership challenge to David Cameron. 

While there has been the occasional "sharp word" during what has been a long and lively debate, he says he does not feel he is part of a party that is about to "rip itself to pieces". There needs to be stability in the event of a vote to leave, he argues, with Mr Cameron and top civil servants remaining in place to begin negotiating the terms of exit. 

The Conservatives will not do anything that allows Labour to gain ground, he adds, claiming "they are barely fit to be an opposition let alone a government".

Chris Grayling is asked what the Queen thinks about Brexit and whether the abdication of sovereignty to the EU could be regarded as "treasonable". He bats this one back by saying that as Lord President of the Council, he has more dealings with the monarch than many ministers and nothing she has ever said to him implies that she would ever get dragged into a debate of such a sort or allow herself to be politicised by expressing a view. Earlier this year, of course, the Sun claimed the Queen backs Brexit - a headline subsequently ruled to be misleading by the press watchdog but which the newspaper stands by. 

Chris Grayling concludes with a warning about what will happen if the UK votes to remain in the EU, saying that if people want to live in a sovereign, independent country they have "no alternative" but to vote to leave. 

Taking questions from the audience, Mr Grayling says that although the question of the UK's relationship with the EU will continue to be debated in the future, he believes the referendum result should be final and both sides should respect the result and work to make the best of it. 

The process of deeper economic and political integration is "already under way" across the EU, Mr Grayling argues, and will affect the UK "whether we like it or not".

He cites a recent commitment by European Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker to create a "social pillar of rights" - which he warns could duplicate social protections already in place in the UK and influence policy over pensions and the NHS. 

Mr Grayling says he is "not in the business of dismantling social rights in the UK but I am in the business of having control over my country" - adding that the UK would not have an opt-out from such a process.

It is now Chris Grayling's turn to speak about the EU, making the case for a vote to Leave. The Conservative MP and Cabinet member starts by pointing out the inadequacies of the eurozone in the past 15 years, saying countries such as Greece led the "life of riley" by not paying their taxes and building up huge deficits that the rest of the EU had to bail out. While the EU was able to stabilise the situation, he suggests it will struggle to do so again in the event of what he says will inevitably be another financial collapse. 

Energy Secretary Amber Rudd says it is wrong to claim, as the Leave side have done, that fuel bills would fall in the event of Brexit, with the UK having greater flexibility to cut VAT. On the contrary, she says being in the EU "keeps fuel prices lower" by giving the country access to more sources of energy and helping it to influence the shape of the inter-continental energy market. 

Business Secretary Sajid Javid is taking questions from the audience of business owners. He is told that the EU needs to do more to award contracts to small firms and to reduce procurement costs. The business secretary says there were problems in the past but there is a "much greater recognition" now of the needs of smaller firms and the fact they can't afford to hire a load of lawyers and compliance officers. 

The EU may not be ideal but it is trying to do more business with the rest of the world and we we must not "let the perfect be the enemy of the good".

Moving on to a question about the tone of the debate on immigration, Mr Javid says he understands this is a key issue for some people but for most firms the question of the economy and prosperity trumps that.

Julie Deane from the Cambridge Satchel Company - whose customers apparently include Taylor Swift - tells the Birmingham audience that the EU's single market is a "bottom layer" of certainty and stability for firms like hers. It would be more difficult to source fabric and other material from outside the EU, she warns, while having to cope with exports tariffs could be "crippling and brand damaging". 

Former Dragon's Den judge Piers Linney then takes the stage and says that no other trading model "comes close" to delivering the benefits that the EU's single market does at the moment. Most firms, he adds, are "not big fans" of the EU but take a "cool-headed, transactional" view about its benefits and understand that a vote to leave "does not provide much upside". 

Business Secretary Sajid Javid, who is backing a Remain vote despite being an ardent Eurosceptic in the past, admits that the EU is far from perfect and in the past has imposed an "undue burden" of regulation on small firms. But thanks to UK lobbying, this trend has started to reverse, he says. In the event of Brexit, this progress would be lost and there would be a "screeching" return of tariffs and other extra business costs. 

He also warns the economic uncertainty that would follow a vote to leave would disproportionately affect small firms, which would be the first to have bank credit and loan facilities withdrawn. He concludes by repeating his description of SMEs as the backbone of UK business and says it is a gamble to put them at risk by leaving. 

Much has been said about the importance of Labour voters to the Remain campaign. 

According to a poll for The Times Red Box, external this morning, 36% of voters do not know the party's stance on the referendum (it is backing a vote to stay in the EU). The Guardian, meanwhile, reports , externalconcerns in the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign after an internal analysis found only half of Labour voters knew their party was in favour of staying in the EU.

In the event of Brexit, small firms will be "hit hard", says Business Secretary Sajid Javid. He says it is a "myth" that many small firms don't trade with Europe and won't be affected if the UK votes to leave. On the contrary, he says 400,000 SMEs sell directly into the EU while twice as many are part of a supply chain that does so. These companies, he adds, are the backbone of the UK economy and what makes it tick. 

Sajid Javid is now making a speech in Birmingham making the small business case for remaining in the EU.