Politics live blog - Thursday 31 March

Rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen

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William Hague makes a statement at the Foreign Office. Photograph: Screengrab from Sky News

3.22pm: David Cameron is holding a press conference with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, at 3.30pm. It's going to be a fairly short affair - two questions for British journalists, and two for Turkish journalists - but we'll get some words from Cameron about Moussa Koussa at the very least, and perhaps even some new information. We'll find out soon.

3.16pm: Scottish prosecution authorities have said that they want to interview Moussa Koussa, the Libyan defector, about the Lockerbie bombing. My colleague Severin Carrell has the full details.

2.50pm: Here's an afternoon reading list.

• Emma Thelwell at Channel 4's FactCheck investigates whether the Office for Fair Access can stop universities raising tuition fees to £9,000.

The [Department for Business] spokesman added: "Offa have the power to not approve an access agreement if they do not feel it is sufficiently stretching. Without an access agreement in place the university could not charge more than £6,000."
But how tough is Offa? An Offa spokesman told FactCheck that since it was set up in 2002 it hasn't flexed its muscles once. Not one university's fee proposal has been refused.
And how powerful is Offa? In February The Guardian reported that 13 of the 16 Russell Group universities didn't meet current benchmarks.
There was talk from the coalition of £500,000 fines; but none have been imposed.

• Revolts.co.uk says that, following the vote on the North Sea oil windfall tax, there are now only two Lib Dem backbenchers who have been totally loyal to the government in Commons votes: David Laws and Tom Brake.
• Michael Crick on his Newsnight blog identifies three Tories who may vote for the alternative vote: Michael Gove, Andrew Lansley and David Mowat.
• Jill Rutter at the Institute for Government blog says that since the general election there has been "an unprecedented level of churn" at the top of the civil service.

By the first anniversary of the government, of 16 departments, only six will not have had a change of permanent secretary – so ministers, all of whom have with under a year's experience in all those departments, will all have someone with less experience at the top.

2.39pm: Brian Clarke, the chair of the Prison Officers Association in Birmingham, has told the BBC that his members will meet tomorrow to discuss strike action following the government's decision to privatise the jail in the city. According to PoliticsHome, this is what he said:

Tomorrow we will be having a meeting of the branch and there will be instructions from our union on actions that will be taken in the coming weeks. The union has a policy, to live mandates from conferences last year and the year before, that should any public sector prison be privatised, then industrial action up to and including strike action will take place.

1.44pm: A spokesman for Ed Balls has been in touch to suggest that, given that I have quoted from the FT's story about Balls changing his stance on the structural deficit (see 11.55am), it would fairer to quote his words in full. (The FT was using quotes from a Balls interview with Mehdi Hasan in the New Statesman.) I'm always happy to put things in context, and so here's the key passage from the interview in the Staggers.

Few would doubt that Balls is master of his Treasury brief, but there has been the odd misstep. In a television interview on 30 January, he denied that under Labour there had been a structural deficit - the part of the deficit that would remain even after the economy had recovered to normal levels of output - in the years preceding the 2008 crash. "Was there a structural deficit? I don't think so," he told the BBC. I point out that, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK had the second-highest structural budget deficit of all the G7 economies in 2007. Isn't he walking into the Tories' "deficit denial" trap by making such statements?
Balls chooses his words carefully. "We had a deficit every year under the Labour government because our policy was to balance the current budget but to borrow to invest - up to 3 per cent of GDP." He makes a small concession: "In retrospect, three years on, it was clear once the financial crisis had hit that people reappraised what their view of trend growth was and, in retrospect, of course there was a structural deficit. But there wasn't a structural deficit as judged by policymakers at the time. George Osborne was saying he was going to match Labour spending plans."
It is said that spending got "out of control" under Labour before the crash. Balls is defiant. "Were we acting in an irresponsible way in 2006 and 2007 on public spending? No, we were not. That is my absolute contention. I'm not going to say something that is untrue simply because the Tories want me to say it."

1.02pm: Here's a lunchtime summary.

• William Hague has said that Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister who has defected to the UK, is not being offered immunity from British or international justice. Several Tory MPs have called for him to be put on trial because of his alleged involvement in Lockerbie. Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, said: "I believe that this man really should be put in front of a British or international court for war crimes, if it is true that he was behind the Lockerbie bombing." And Patrick Mercer, MP for Newark, said: "What advantage he gives to us and to the rebels must be balanced by what he has done in the past. The fact remains that if this man has carried out crimes or been involved in criminal activity, then he must be brought to justice." Downing Street has said that it is up to prosecutors to decide if they want to charge Koussa. (See 10.39am and 12.24pm.)
• Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary, has announced that Birmingham prison will be privatised. Although private providers have already been given contracts to run new prisons, HMP Birmingham will be the first to be transferred from public management to private management. It will be taken over by G4S in October. Another prison, Doncaster, which is run by Serco, will operate under a new payment by results system, which will involve Serco being rewarded if it can cut reoffending rates. In a statement to the Commons announcing a total of four new prison contracts, Clarke said they would save £21m by 2014. The Prison Officers Association described the privatisation announcement as a "disgrace". Clarke said military personnel were on stand-by in case prison staff decided to strike.
• Jim Devine, the former Labour MP, has been jailed for 16 months for fiddling his expenses. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saunders said: "These offences constituted a gross breach of trust which, along with others, has had the effect of causing serious damage to the reputation of parliament." Caroline Davies has the full story.
• A Commons committee has written to News International asking for information about how many police officers were paid for information by the Sun. Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs committee, addressed the letter to Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive. In 2003, when she was editing the Sun, Brooks told a committee that the newspaper had paid officers for information. (See 9.34am.)
• Grandparents could get rights of access to their grandchildren when parents divorce under plans published by the Ministry of Justice. A review on family justice by David Norgrove suggests building access rights for grandparents into parenting agreements. "The panel recognises the importance that grandparents play in children's lives, and that this is a relationship that is often highly valued by both children and other family members," the report says. "The importance of this continuing after parents have separated came through strongly in the call for evidence."
• Ed Miliband has said that Labour will be "the first line of defence against the damage being done by a Conservative-led government and their Liberal Democrat allies". He made the claims as he launched Labour's local election campaign. In an earlier interview, he also defended his decision to compare those taking part in the anti-cut demonstration on Saturday to those campaigning against apartheid or for civil rights in the US and dismissed suggestions that Labour councils should raise council tax to protect services. (See 8.57am.)
Photograph: Reuters

12.37pm: In the Commons earlier this morning Vince Cable, the business secretary, insisted that there was no higher education funding crisis. It has been claimed that most universities are planning to charge £9,000 in tuition fees and that this will make the loan system unaffordable. But, when Labour's Gareth Thomas put this to him, Cable rejected it. According to PoliticsHome, this is what he said.

There is no hole in finances. If he follows the public announcement that universities have made, he will have seen that, of the 36 that we are aware of, 13 are planning to charge the maximum and many of those will have substantial fee remission under the Oxford model.

Cable also said there was a "wide distribution" of fee arrangements among universities and that only around a quarter of them had announced their plans.

12.24pm: More on Moussa Koussa. At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning, the prime minister's spokesman sidestepped questions about whether Koussa would face criminal charges over any possible involvement in attacks on Britain.

The way justice is carried out in this country is not a matter for the government; it is a matter for prosecutors. I am not clear that any request has been made [by them for access to Koussa].

The spokesman also said that Koussa's son came with him to the UK.

11.55am: It's taken me a while to get round to the papers because it's been a busy morning. But here we go. You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. All the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here. And, as for the rest of the papers, here are the articles I found particularly interesting.

• Tom Whitehead in the Daily Telegraph says grandparents will get the legal right to access to their grandchildren in divorce cases under plans being announced today.

For the first time, separating parents will be expected to ensure grandparents continue to have a role in the lives of their children after they split up.
Parenting Agreements will be drawn up that explicitly set out contact arrangements for grandparents. These can then be used as evidence in court if a mother or father goes back on the deal.
The recommendation is part of a sweeping review of the family justice regime commissioned by the Government and led by David Norgrove, a former civil servant.
The Government is likely to accept the recommendations after Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said last year that it was "crazy" that millions of grandparents lost contact after separation and divorce. He said that they played a vital role if relationships broke down.

• George Parker in the Financial Times (subscription) says that, after denying that the last Labour government was running a structural deficit, Ed Balls has now admitted that it was.

Mr Miliband initially feared that Mr Balls's appointment as shadow chancellor would fuel Tory claims that Labour was "in denial" on the deficit.
That view was reinforced in January when Mr Balls was asked by the BBC whether Labour was running a structural deficit – the part of government borrowing that remains when the economy returns to normality – before the 2008 crash. "Was there a structural deficit? I don't think so," Mr Balls said. However, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the UK had the second highest structural deficit among its members before the crash.
Mr Balls told the New Statesman: "In retrospect, three years on, it was clear once the financial crisis had hit that people reappraised what their view of trend growth was and – in retrospect – of course there was a structural deficit."

• Steve Richards in the Independent says the Lib Dems are very influential within government.

If anything the influence of the Liberal Democrats on the Coalition is growing, and exceeds what they might have expected on the basis of their relatively small number of seats. They are, in theory, the rather pathetic, junior partners in a coalition of the radical right. Yet in reality they are important and substantial partners, at times almost co-equals.
By this I do not mean merely that they provide cover for a leap to the right, although that is, to some extent, a consequence of their presence. Their policy contribution is distinctive and significant. Beyond the referendum on electoral reform, Clegg can credibly claim that in several areas his party has helped to make the Coalition more progressive and less reactionary than it might have been.
I make the observation not on the basis of any conversations with "friends of Nick Clegg" who are desperate to avoid meltdown in the local elections and to claim progressive distinction. I have not had such conversations of late. I do so by looking at what is happening in policy terms within the Government. Policies are the most accurate guide – much more so than private conversations with friends of anyone.

• The Times (paywall) says Downing Street is considering slowing the pace of NHS reforms.

Instead of a swift revolution, in which GPs take control of all local healthcare services within two years, Downing Street is considering a slower pace of change, making 2013 a goal rather than a deadline.
"Are we doing this in one step or a number of steps?" a government source said. "There's no settled course."
Putting the brakes on reform would be a major concession for the Government, which is committed to transferring most of the £110 billion NHS budget to family doctors and increasing competition within the NHS. Measures include allowing private healthcare providers to tender for contracts.

• Robert Winnett and Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph says British taxpayers contributed more than £300 each on average to the European Union last year.

The British contribution increased from £5.3billion in 2009 to £9.2 billion last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The increase is equivalent to the extra money being raised from the increase in National Insurance for higher-rate taxpayers, or the new 50p top rate of income tax. Taxpayers are being forced to contribute more following Tony Blair's decision to reduce the size of this country's rebate.

11.31am: The Commons standards and privileges committee has published its report on phone hacking. It did not investigate specific allegations; it just looked at the issue of whether the hacking of an MP's phone would constitute a contempt of parliament. It concludes that hacking could potentially be a contempt - but that MPs who think that their phones have been hacked would do better to pursue the matter through the courts. Here's the statement that the committee has issued.

The committee has concluded that a specific act of hacking could potentially be a contempt, if it can be shown to have interfered with the work of the House or to have impeded or obstructed an MP from taking part in such work. It has also concluded that a series of acts of hacking could potentially be a contempt, if it can be shown that the hacking has interfered with the work of the House by creating a climate of insecurity for one or more MPs.
The committee looks forward to publication by the government of a draft privileges bill in the present session of parliament. It proposes that the draft bill should include a definition of what is meant by 'contempt of parliament' and that the bill should codify parliament's powers to impose sanctions, including a power for the House of Commons to fine.
The committee points out that hacking is an offence under the criminal law—although it also notes that the law as it relates to hacking is currently being reviewed by another committee of the House—and that civil law remedies may be available to MPs, just as they are available to others. It suggests that MPs and the House should pursue legal remedies in preference to proceeding against hackers for contempt. And it recommends that only in exceptional circumstances should a hacker who has been brought before a court of law be proceeded against subsequently for contempt.
In the view of the committee, there should be no special provision made in law to provide MPs or parliament with remedies for phone hacking through the courts that are not available to other victims of hacking. The law must apply equally to all.

Jim Devine. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

11.24am: A colleague has sent me the text of the remarks made by Mr Justice Saunders when he sentenced the former Labour MP Jim Devine to 16 months in jail. Here's the key passage.

I have read a number of references which speak highly of Mr. Devine. He is described as a hard working psychiatric nurse, a committed and dedicated union official, and an MP who worked hard to right wrongs suffered by others and particularly those who were less well off. He has done a great deal of good in his life. I treat Mr Devine as a man of positive good character who has lost his good name as a result of these convictions. That in itself is a significant punishment.
In reaching my decision as to the appropriate sentence in cases such as this, I have had considerable assistance from the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Chaytor. I have also taken into account the relevant Guidelines which are agreed. Mr. Devine's offences are less serious than the offences in the case of Chaytor as the period of time over which the offences were committed is less and the amount dishonestly obtained was less.
Nevertheless Mr. Devine also 'set about defrauding the public purse' in a 'calculated and deliberate way'. He also supported his claims with forged documents. These offences constituted a gross breach of trust which, along with others, has had the effect of causing 'serious damage to the reputation of Parliament'. Mr. Devine made his false claims at a time when he well knew the damage that was being caused to Parliament by the expenses scandal but he carried on regardless. He also does not have the significant mitigation that both Mr. Chaytor and Mr. Illsley had of pleading guilty.
In my judgement the appropriate sentence is one of 16 months imprisonment. Those sentences are to be served concurrently on both counts of which he was convicted.

Here's the report Caroline Davies has filed for the Guardian about Devine being jailed.

11.18am: William Hague is now taking questions at the Foreign Office press conference. Will Moussa Koussa stay in the UK? And will more people defect?

Hague says he will not speculate about future defections. That would not be helpful, he says. He realised the Koussa was dissatisfied when they spoke recently, even though Kousa had to "read out the script" from the regime.
Koussa is in a secure place. He is discussing his options with the British authorities, Hague says.

11.08am: Michael Gove, the education secretary, has today published information showing how every secondary school in England performs in every GCSE subject. According to the Department for Education's news release, this means 14m "hidden" exam results have been released. Here's the top of the Press Association story about this announcement.

Thousands of pupils missed out on achieving five good GCSEs in traditional subjects last year after schools failed to enter them for the courses.
New government figures show that 175 state secondaries did not enter a single pupil for all of the subjects required to attain the new English Baccalaureate.
To achieve the English Bacc, introduced by the Government last year, a student must achieve at least a C grade at GCSE in English, maths, science, history or geography, and a foreign language.
But national figures have shown that just over a fifth (22%) of teenagers in England took the required subjects last summer, with one in six (15.6%) gaining the award.
New data published by the Department for Education today reveal by school the numbers of pupils achieving the English Bacc, and the places where students missed out.
Some 24,600 pupils were taking GCSEs last year at the 175 schools where no one gained the Baccalaureate, an analysis of the statistics suggests.

10.51am: Jim Devine, the former Labour MP, has been jailed for 16 months for fiddling his expenses, the BBC reports.

10.45am: William Hague is still speaking. He says the report being issued today will be updated every three months so that abuses get highlighted.

Members of the public will be able not just to read the report, but to comment on it online.
The report is more extensive than previous ones. It covers 26 countries in depth, he says.
Hague says he does not accept the argument that democracy is not right for all people. The torrent of optimism flooding the Middle East quashes the idea that Arabs do not democracy.
If the uprisings succeed, there will be the biggest extension of democracy since the fall of the Berlin Wall. If they fail, the human rights situation in the region will get worse.
Hague says that human rights situation in Iran is worse than at any time over the last 10 years.
There was no significant progress on human rights in China in 2010, Hague says.
Photograph: Jens Meyer/AP

10.39am: William Hague is speaking now. He says he is launching the Foreign Office report on human rights. The full report is now on the Foreign Office website.

The government promised a foreign policy that would have support for human rights and poverty reduction at its core, he says. Support for human rights "is part of our national DNA".
The Libyan people have suffered serious human rights abuses for decades. Their plight is now worse than ever, he says. Britain and its allies have intervened in Libya to save lives. It is action that is "legal, necessary and right".
Hague says Moussa Koussa travelled to the UK under his own free will. The government will release further details later. He is one of the most senior members of the regime. His resignation shows that Colonel Gaddafi's regime is "fragmented, under pressure and crumbling from within".
• Moussa Koussa is not being offered any immunity from prosecution, Hague says.

10.31am: William Hague will be giving a news conference at the Foreign Office shortly. He is launching the government's annual report on human rights, but we expect the questions will focus on Moussa Koussa. Hague will be starting any time now. Photograph: Martin Argles

10.06am: Grant Shapps, the housing minister, has announced two initiatives designed to encourage house building. He is getting the public sector to release land for development, starting with the Homes and Communities Agency. And some of it is going to be offered to builders under a Build Now, Pay Later scheme, which will allow them to pay for the land at some point in the future. This will help builders with cash flow problems, he says. According to the Department for Communities news release, the six sites being released for development today could lead to as many as 3,000 homes being built, and up to 18,000 jobs in construction and related industries being supported. This is what Shapps is saying:

Up to 40 per cent of the land ready for development in this country is simply sitting idle in the hands of the public sector. So today I'm giving the green light to the Homes and Communities Agency to lead the way by making six new sites available for development. These will be the first of many sites as all government departments will now be asked to make land available for housebuilding and, crucially, will be held accountable for the homes built and jobs supported through this.

10.02am: There's a lot of interest in quite what the apparent defection of Moussa Koussa to the UK means for Libya. Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, described it as a potential tipping point on the Today programme this morning. My colleague Mark Tran has more details on his Libya live blog.

9.34am: The phone hacking story isn't getting any better for News International. Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, has today written to Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive, asking her to provide details of how many police officers were paid for information by the Sun. In 2003, when she was editor of the Sun, she told a Commons committee that her paper had paid officers for information, which is against the law.

In his letter, which has been released to the media, Vaz says he wants to know how many officers were paid while she was editor, how much they were paid, and when the practice stopped.
Vaz is raising the issue now because John Yates, the acting deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, told his committee on Tuesday that officers were now carrying out some research into what Brooks said in 2003. (At a culture committee hearing last week, Yates was criticised for the fact that the police did nothing about the revelation in 2003, even though, as Yates put it himself, her comments did relate to "possible offences".) Vaz has also written to Yates asking for information about the research now being undertaken by the police into this affair.

8.57am: Evan Davis's interview with Ed Miliband isn't going to dominate the headlines today. But Davis had some very sharp questions. Here are the highlights.

• Miliband defended his decision to compare those taking part in the anti-cut demonstration on Saturday to those campaigning against apartheid or for civil rights in the US. This passage from his speech (which, curiously, doesn't seem to be on the Labour party website) has been mocked by David Cameron and others. Miliband said he was not trying to suggest that the government cuts were comparable to apartheid. Instead, he was trying to make a point about the importance of the people exerting power.

The march on Saturday was about politics being practised by people making their voice heard in a peaceful way ... That tradition of politics not just being about what happens at Westminster, or in legislative chambers, but about people themselves making a difference is an important tradition ... If politics is just practised by elites, and is just about you and me and people in Westminster, then actually I think many people will be alienated from that process.

• He said that he and his partner Justine decided to get married after having children. This came out when he was asked what marriage meant to him.

For me, it's a way of of expressing my love and commitment to Justine ... When we had children, we decided it was right to formalise and make that public commitment. But different people make different choices ... I think marriage is a good institution. But in the end stable families come in different forms.

He also insisted that he did not feel under political pressure to marry. "If I had, I would have got married earlier," he said.
• He dismissed suggestions that Labour councils should raise council tax to protect services. The Labour party has today put out a press notice saying that Labour councils charge council taxpayers on average £207 less than Tory councils and £40 less than Lib Dem councils. When asked whether Labour councils should put up council tax to avoid cutting services, he appeared to reject the idea.

At a time when living standards are squeezed, I think it's good that councils are keeping their council tax down.

Miliband also said raising "a small amount of money on the council tax" would not make a huge difference given the overall scale of the spending cuts. He also said that Labour was reviewing its policy on capping council spending.
• He said Labour was in "such different shape" from the 1980s. Labour councils were acting responsibly, he suggested. He was "proud" of what Labour councils were doing; they were making efficiency savings, but they were doing their best to protect services that people value.
• He refused to provide any new information about public spending cuts Labour would be making. He said that the party had already indicated that it would accept some cuts: to the road transport budget, to employer training, to welfare. But, when it was put to him that these cuts came "nowhere near to the £50bn" that would be cut under Labour's plans over this parliament, he said a Labour government would have had a spending review.
• He refused to say when a Labour government would eliminate the deficit. Labour went into the election pledging to halve the deficit over four years. When pressed as to what his plan for the deficit was in the long term, Miliband said: "We've always said that we will look at it parliament by parliament." But he insisted that Labour would promote growth more effectively than the government and that this would help reduce the deficit.

8.25am: Q: On marriage, did you feel this was something you had to do?

Miliband says it's a way of expressing his love and commitment to Justine. When they had children, they decided it was right to formalise their commitment to each other.
Marriage is a good institution. But stable families come in different forms. His love and commitment to his partner was solid anyway. But he decided to make this commitment.
That's it. The interview's over. I'll post a summary in a moment.

8.24am: Q: How would you summarise your vision of Labour?
Miliband says his Labour party is one that allows people to get on and do better, and that allows the next generation a better chance. The next generation faces "massive" challenges. Only 9% of people think the next generation will do better than the last.

8.19am: They are still talking about the economy. He says you cannot necessarily say that the deficit would be higher under Labour at the end of this parliament, because that depends on how you run the economy.

Q: Would you like Labour councils to raise their council tax, so they do not have to cut spending?
Miliband says there is a bigger issue here. It is important to share the burden. After 1945 Britain took a decision about what kind of country it wanted, and then decided how to tackle the deficit.
Q: But today your Labour press release is all about cuts. It also says Labour councils charge less in council tax than Tory ones. Would you like them to raise council tax?
Miliband says raising "a small amount of money" on the council tax would not make much difference.
Q: As for how cuts are being implemented, have you got a view as to how councils should be making cuts?
Miliband says councils should be doing all they can to protect services. Good Labour councils are consulting residents. In Durham the council did this. People said they wanted adult social care protected.
Labour is in a "different shape" from the 1980s. Labour councils are making efficiency savings.
Photograph: David Moir/Reuters

8.13am: Ed Miliband is now now. Evan Davis is doing the interview.

Q: Why did you compare the anti-cuts rally to the anti-apartheid movement?

Miliband says the march on Saturday was about politics being practised by the people. The idea that people can make a difference is important. It is surprising that people are still talking about Miliband's speech, not the cause.
Q: So you were not suggesting that what the government is doing is comparable to apartheid?
Miliband says people often do not think about politics as something that people control. But people do have an influence, as the U-turn over forest privatisations showed.

Q: Are your plans for cuts equivalent to two-thirds of the government's?
Miliband says George Osborne said the government's cuts would be £40bn higher than those planned by Labour. Labour would halve the deficit over four years.
The government is not doing enough to promote growth. That is why the government has had to revise its borrowing figures up.
Q: You would cut spending by £50bn in real terms between now and 2013-14. The government would cut by £30bn more. But can you tell us what those £50bn cuts would be?
Miliband says he is not in government. He cannot remember a Conservative opposition answering questions like this.
Q: But you were in government?
Miliband says if Labour had won the election, there would have been a spending review.
Labour has accepted some cuts, like those to the transport budget and some welfare cuts.
Q: But you said there was an alternative. What is it?
Miliband says the alternative involves halving the deficit over four years.
Council leaders say they could have made some cuts. But they are having to cut £1 for every £4 they spend.

Q: Under your plans, there would still be a deficit at the end of this parliament? How would you get it down?
Miliband says that goes back to the point about growth. Cuts and taxes are not the only way to tackle a deficit.
Q: What are your plans for the defict in the long term?
Miliband says Labour will look at this parliament by parliament.

8.08am: Labour is launching its local election campaign this morning and Ed Miliband will be on the Today programme at 8.10am. In advance, the party has put out figures claiming that the average family will lose the equivalent of £182 because of local government spending cuts. "Labour launches our election campaign with a clear pledge to people across the country: we will be your voice in tough times," Miliband says.

But there are plenty of other things happening today too. Here's a full list.
9.30am: Department for Education publishes new figures on school preformance at GCSE.
10am: Vince Cable, the business secretary, gives evidence to a Commons committee about the budget.
10am: Jim Devine, the former Labour MP, is sentenced for fiddling his expenses.
10.30am: William Hague, the foreign secretary, publishes the annual Foreign Office report on human rights.
11am: Ed Miliband launches Labour's local elections campaign at an event in Birmingham.
11am: The Commons standards and privileges committee publishes a report on whether phone hacking constituted a contempt of parliament.
2.45pm: Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, and Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister, give evidence to a Commons committee on sustainable development.
3.30pm: David Cameron holds a press conference with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister.
As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news. I'll also take a look at the papers (there wasn't time for a round-up yesterday) and bring you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and an afternoon one at about 4pm.