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| LIVE: Prime minister's questions | LIVE: Prime minister's questions |
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| Live coverage of Commons - from Democracy Live | Live coverage of Commons - from Democracy Live |
| By Emma Griffiths 1159 Another political story today is about the Labour government's response to the Calman Commission on devolution. In Scotland the SNP are in power and are waiting to see what they say. It is expected to mean more tax-raising powers for Scotland. Ken Clarke says the Tories are "reasonably sympathetic" towards the Calman findings, including the tax measures. Jacqui Smith says the SNP did not bother to engage in the government process because they were "wedded" to increasing devolution. For the SNP Mike Russell says they did "engage with Calman" but the commission had not been "prepared to consider independence". | |
| 1155 From BBC political correspondent Jo Coburn: Should the Bank of England's secret loans to RBS and HBOS been kept a secret for so long? The Governor Mervyn King said it was vital for the stability of the banking system but the Liberal Democrats have called it a cover-up. Leader Nick Clegg is bound to question the Prime Minister on why the public was kept in the dark. The Conservatives response on this has been more low-key. David Cameron may focus on Afghanistan and ask Gordon Brown about which other coalition countries are making more troops available for the mission there or question the Prime Minister on broader issues to do with the economy. | |
| 1148Ken Clarke says it's a "long and complicated judgement" which requires some care - although there are undoubtedly some individual cases of people being unfairly treated. But he says there is the question of where banks would get the money to repay charges. | |
| 1143And there's another bank story today - they've won their appeal to stop the Office of Fair Trading investigating the fairness of overdraft charges - seemingly a nail in the coffin for customers who had hoped for a refund. Jacqui Smith says it is "disappointing" and banks should be thinking about being fair to their customers. | |
| 1140As expected - some discussion in the Daily Politics studio about the secret loans - Jacqui Smith, who was in Cabinet at the time, says she did not know about them | |
| 1139Ken Clarke has just explained his absence on the Daily Politics the other week - which coincided with his party leader David Cameron confirming there would not be a referendum, under a Tory government, on the Lisbon Treaty. The famously Euro-friendly Tories frontbencher told the programme he was not the "best person to explain that to worried Conservatives". | |
| 1136What might crop up this week? Well, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable has tabled an urgent question about so called "secret bank loans" to RBS and HBOS last autumn - that has been denied by the Speaker but the chancellor is now due to make a Treasury statement at 1230 GMT, which will be followed by responses from Mr Cable and shadow chancellor George Osborne. | |
| 1132Hello and welcome to our live coverage of prime minister's questions. As usual we'll be bringing you all the action from the Commons from 1200 GMT, ahead of that we'll get the insider's view from this week's guests on BBC 2's Daily Politics - former home secretary Jacqui Smith and shadow business secretary Ken Clarke. My colleague Jo Coburn will also be providing some analysis. |