Sebastian Payne

Following the plane crash in Siani this weekend, Downing Street has just announced all flights set to depart from Sharm to the UK have been delayed so further security checks can be undertaken. In a statement, No.10 says David Cameron spoke to President Sisi yesterday evening to discuss ensure there are ‘tightest possible security arrangements at Sharm el-Sheikh airport’. Both sides appear to think the plane was subject to an explosion: ‘While the investigation is still ongoing we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed. But as more information has come to light we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device.

Ukip has plumped for John Bickley as its candidate in the upcoming Oldham West & Royton by-election, following the death of Michael Meacher. Although other names were in the frame, Bickley was the natural choice — he came very close to winning in the nearby seat of Heywood & Middleton in a by-election last year. Ukip HQ will be hoping Bickley can use his local following to, at the very least, increase the party's vote share. In the 2015 general election, Ukip received 20 per cent of the vote, a 17 per cent increase since the 2010 election. But Ukip still has an almighty challenge to win the seat: Labour won Oldham West with a 14,738 majority in May and the seat has been held by the party for over 40 years.

Did Kids Company receive preferential treatment and funds because it was the ‘favoured’ charity of the Prime Minister? This was the key question put to two senior civil servants at the Public Accounts select committee this afternoon — and naturally, their answers were evasive. Richard Heaton, formerly the permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, said ‘I was aware it was prime minister's favoured charity' but there was no smoking gun that it received any ‘special treatment’ — Heaton said he 'didn't see anything unusual in the correspondence' — although the definition of what counted as special treatment was pulled apart throughout. It remains to be seen how this preference was known.

The government needs to get thinking quickly about a new tax credits proposal that is acceptable to the Commons and the Lords. George Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement in four weeks' time and he has promised to outline the results of his ‘listening’ exercise. This afternoon’s debate on a backbench motion about the cuts showed that Conservatives support phasing out tax credits, but the main concerns expressed were over the speed of the transition. Notably, 20 Tory MPs supported the Labour motion criticising the cuts — including Bernard Jenkin, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Heidi Allen.

Lord Lisvane, better known as Sir Robert Rogers, thinks the talk of a constitutional crisis over tax credits is overblown. Having served in the House of Commons for over 40 years, most recently as Commons’ Clerk until he retired last year, he is one of the few people who fully understands the relationship between the Lords and the Commons. Speaking to Coffee House, Lisvane explains this is business as usual: ‘I think there has been a great deal of hyperbole. The regulations that the Lords considered on Monday were required to be laid before the Lords as well as the Commons under Tax Credits Act 2002 and the Lords considered them. They came to a view the government didn’t like that much’.

George Osborne and John McDonnell went head-to-head at Treasury Questions today and one topic predictably dominated: tax credits. There was a charged atmosphere in the Commons as the shadow chancellor explained ‘the Chancellor has a choice before him’ and outlined his proposal for reversing the planned cuts to tax credits. The plan differs somewhat from Osborne's: ‘He can push on with the tax giveaways to multinational corporations. He can press on with tax cuts to the wealthiest few in inheritance tax that he announced in his summer budgets.