Former Cabinet minister and Leave campaigner Liam Fox has said Bristol Council should take action after instructions on how to vote in the EU referendum were issued with the image of a pencil hovering over the Remain box. See our full story

BBC Breakfast

Image source, PA

In his BBC interview earlier, Michael Gove said it was a mistake for a Conservative government to add VAT to domestic fuel bills in 1993.

It follows Vote Leave's claim that leaving the EU would allow the government to scrap VAT on household gas and electricity bills.

In 1993, the government of John Major introduced a VAT rate of 8% on domestic fuel bills, later cut to 5% under Labour – the lowest rate allowed under EU rules.  

Mr Gove was also part of the coalition government that raised the standard rate of VAT from 17.5% to 20% in 2010.

Asked if he had fought the case in Cabinet since then to reduce the standard rate from 20%, he said: "One of the difficulties we have is that we cannot lower VAT rates as long as we are in the European Union.

"If we were to leave the European Union then we could remove VAT on fuel. If we stay in the European Union that is not something that we are able to do."

Challenged over the fact that EU rules allow a standard VAT rate at 15%, he said: "What we cannot do is remove VAT on fuel inside the European Union."

The Daily Telegraph

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Former foreign secretary William Hague has said both sides will need to "live with" the result of the EU referendum, whatever the outcome. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, external, Lord Hague - who is now a member of the House of Lords and a Remain supporter - dismisses the prospects of another vote in a few years if next month's result is very close, saying most Conservatives would have "no appetite" for a reprise. He writes. 

Image source, PA

Image source, Tim Martin

Thinking of escaping the EU referendum with a visit to your local? Well... pub company JD Wetherspoon has printed 200,000 beer mats making the case for why it believes the UK would be better off outside the EU. These will be on show in its 920 pubs in the run-up to the June 23 referendum. They carry a message on both sides, signed by Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin, asking why the public should trust the views of the IMF and Christine Lagarde - who has said the UK would be worse off outside the EU. They also draw attention to what Mr Martin says are "corporate governance" issues at the IMF. He says.

Image source, Reuters

Business Secretary Sajid Javid is calling upon the Dragons to bolster his case for staying in the EU. He will appear later alongside Piers Linney - a former judge in the long-running BBC show Dragon's Den - to argue why EU membership helps small business owners and entrepreneurs. Five other ex-Dragons have signed an open letter supporting EU membership. Appearing in Birmingham later, Mr Javid will argue that 1.2 million SMEs depend on trade with Europe, with a quarter of all small firms either trading directly with Europe or supporting a business which does, figures questioned by the Leave side. He will say.  

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

The Remain campaign have accused Brexit supporters of making more than a £100bn worth of unfunded spending commitments.

In a report just published they accuse those campaigning to leave the EU of "fantasy land" economics.

They accuse Brexit campaigners of making more than 20 unfunded commitments adding up to £111bn - more than ten times the potential annual £10bn saving from no longer paying money into the EU.

They claim the Leave Campaign have pledged substantial extra cash for the NHS, schools, pensions, scientific research, roads and much more if the UK left the EU.

On the NHS, they cite promises to raise pay for junior doctors, build more hospitals, scrap prescription charges and use money paid to Brussels to boost NHS budgets. 

Brexit campaigners have dismissed the claims as "made-up figures." They say they have not made any specific spending commitments but have simply "illustrated" how money could be spent outside of the EU.

BBC Breakfast

Justice Secretary Michael Gove has just been interviewed on BBC Breakfast. The pro-Leave minister says the only way that the UK would be able to cut VAT on fuel would be to leave the EU. He said it would then be up to the prime minister and chancellor of the day to decide whether to do it. He says he thinks it would be a good idea because "VAT is an unfair tax that hits the poorest people hardest".

He rejects the charge that the referendum debate has been too negative, saying his side has been "positive and upbeat", and says he is confident the Conservative Party - which is split on EU membership - can be reunited after 23 June.

"This is not about the Conservative Party, it's about our country," he adds.

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A second Labour MP from Liverpool has entered the race to be the first Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region.

Luciana Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, follows neighbouring MP Steve Rotheram (Walton), who revealed his candidacy last week.

Liverpool's directly elected mayor Joe Anderson also announced his plans to stand on Thursday.

The contest for the Labour nomination is due in the summer before the election takes place next May.

Read more

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Small and medium-sized businesses are the focus of debate this morning, with Business Secretary Sajid Javid saying many rely on the EU.

He will cite Department for Business, Innovation and Skills analysis, estimating that 8% export to the EU and a further 15% are in the supply chains of other businesses that export to the EU. 

Louise Stewart, of the Federation of Small Business, says her organisation is staying neutral in the referendum, with members holding different views in different parts of the country.

FSB members, she says, "really want more information".

"We might be talking about it every day in the main, but there seems to be more heat than light in some cases."

The Sun

Apprentice star Lord Sugar writes in The Sun, external this morning that the UK would be seen as "the mugs of the world" if it votes to leave the EU.

He says the EU is vital for trade and while it is not perfect, "I never got a business deal I wanted by storming out of a boardroom and then expecting them to dance to my tune".

The Amstrad founder made similar comments in a BBC Newsnight interview last week.

BBC Breakfast

Small Business Minister Anna Soubry, from the Britain Stronger in Europe Campaign, defends her side's claim about the scale of backing for the EU among so-called SMEs. As well as those that export directly to the EU, she says 1.2 million of them rely on such exports as part of the supply chain.

She also calls for young people to get involved in the EU debate, claiming the Leave campaign "tend to be older" as well as "male" and "pale".

Remain campaigners have hit back at this morning's claims that leaving the EU would allow the UK to scrap VAT on fuel, describing it as "fantasy land" economics.

They have accused Brexit campaigners of promising a "make-believe land of milk and honey" if the UK left the EU, and are set to release a report later this morning which they say will detail Leave's "unaffordable" spending commitments.

The Stronger In campaign argues that taxes would increase outside the EU because of damage to public finances caused by an exit.

Brussels will "start to set the rules for the NHS" as part of a move towards deeper integration that will kick in if the UK votes Remain, Chris Grayling will warn.

The pro-Brexit cabinet minister will claim major reform plans are being kept deliberately under wraps during the campaign but will go "full steam ahead" if Britain opts to stay in on 23 June. "If we vote to remain in the EU then it would be EU rules that would determine our minimum wage, EU rules that would say how our pensions work," he will say in a speech in London.

"It would be EU rules to govern our skills system and even EU rules that would tell us how health services should work."

The EU referendum is coming along at the same time as the British steel industry is at a crossroads. What are the issues?

An Australian family at risk of being deported from the UK - whose case was raised by the SNP during Prime Minister's Questions - have been told they can stay until August, but will not be allowed to work in the meantime.

Kathryn Brain, her husband Gregg and son Lachlan moved to Dingwall in the Highlands in 2011 on a student visa, but the rules later changed.

The family had thought they were at risk of being deported on Tuesday.

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Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith says the significance of this morning's claims on fuel VAT by Michael Gove, Gisela Stuart and Boris Johnson is that it tells us "the Leave campaign now view their route to victory as through the working man and woman". This involves campaigning hard on wage and tax levels, he says.

Plenty of EU referendum stories in this morning's papers, with the Guardian's front page asking: "Can Cameron keep Britain in Europe?" and the Telegraph suggesting fears over migration have boosted the Leave campaign.

Here's a rundown of Tuesday's splashes.