The Lib Dems want ministers to take radical steps to encourage banks to help to struggling small and medium-sized businesses.

The Scottish Parliament is expected to vote decisively against the introduction of ID cards.

Labour MP Paul Flynn has been stripped of a Parliamentary allowance for making fun of other MPs on his blog.

How Sandhurst was brought to the DR Congo

Foreign Secretary David Miliband says that piracy around Somalia "is a grave danger to stability in the region".

Around 300,000 visas giving people the right to come to Britain may be wrongly approved every year, MPs are told.

The government is under pressure to publish details of a proposed database of all phone and internet records.

NI's first and deputy first ministers broker a deal on policing and justice to end a political stalemate at Stormont.

Eastern and Central European workers have not distorted labour markets in older EU member states, a new EU report says.

The Conservative Party is promising to peg exams in England to an international benchmark to ensure standards.

To the Tories - how much less will be spent on what?

Every area of England is to be covered by a Children's Trust Board, the government announces.

NI's First and Deputy First Ministers will brief a Stormont committee later in a meeting that hints at the end of the deadlock.

Advice given to Tony Blair about the legality of the Iraq war was fatally 'flawed', a former senior law lord claims.

Councils express concern that they will not have enough cash to comply with new laws on tackling flooding.

A leading judge says he fears a conflict of interest as courts increasingly depend on income from offenders.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has met key energy providers as they compile a report on price fairness

An assembly member warns that 400 suspensions or sackings of staff over the last two years is putting pressure on the NHS.

What happened to pledge of charges for foreign lorries?

Showbiz expert Ashley Pearson says Cabinet enforcer Liam Byrne's precisely timed demands for coffee, soup and briefings are still "amateur" compared with some celebrities.

Cohabiting couples would be refused the same rights as those who wed, under a Conservative think tank's plans.

Why environmental groups are as relevant as ever

The PM says he is not ruling out a law change on organ donation, despite experts rejecting the idea of "presumed consent".

The CBI says the UK economy will shrink by 1.7% in 2009, with unemployment rising to nearly 3 million by 2010.

The financier behind a move to find another bidder to take over HBOS says he was discouraged from finding an alternative.