Plans to impose an annual limit on benefit payments could be ambushed in the House of Lords following a warning from within Whitehall that the move risked making 40,000 families homeless.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said Labour would need policies for a different economy, welfare state and form of government

In the Westminster village, the talk is of 'Blue Labour'. But does this nascent ideology offer a real way forward for the left, asks Amol Rajan – or is it just another empty political buzz-phrase?

Unemployment fell in the first three months of the year but economists today warned the broader picture fuelled concern for the future of the labour market.

Thousands of disabled people and their supporters marched past Parliament today to protest against the Government's spending cuts on welfare benefits.

Full details of MPs' expenses repayments - and how dozens had their overall bills cut - can be revealed today.

MPs were paid £3.2 million in expenses from the final two months of 2010, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) disclosed today.

The Government today defended its plans to axe scores of quangos after MPs warned it had "botched" the process.

Ed Miliband tried to widen the divide inside the Liberal Democrats yesterday by inviting disaffected members to play an important role in Labour's root-and-branch review of its policies. The Labour leader sought to exploit the tensions inside Nick Clegg's party after the Government's decision to raise university tuition fees, saying that Liberal Democrats could work closely with Labour without leaving their own party.

Labour leader Ed Miliband today appealed to disenchanted Liberal Democrats to work with him against the coalition Government.

David Cameron launched his "happiness index" yesterday as he announced that the Government would measure people's quality of life as well as economic growth. From April, the Office for National Statistics will seek to establish the key areas that matter most to people's wellbeing – such as health, levels of education, inequalities in income and the environment.

Measuring the nation's "wellbeing" as well as its wealth will make it easier for the Government to help British people attain "the good life", David Cameron said today.

Today's cuts are about more than just today's problems. Hamish McRae on why they signal a new era of lower ambitions for government and a shrinking public sector