Westminster today - as it happened: Theresa May faces fresh questions over destruction of Windrush landing cards
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Theresa May has faced fresh questions over the destruction of thousands of landing cards amid the escalating row over the treatment of the Windrush generation.
Documents recording the arrival of children of Caribbean migrants were destroyed by the Home Office in 2010 - when Ms May was home secretary - but she tried to blame the previous Labour administration by saying the decision was taken in 2009.
Downing Street later said it was an "operational" decision taken by officials rather than ministers, but Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, said it was "pretty unlikely" that the Home Office would destroy records.
The row began when it emerged many of the Windrush generation had been denied medical care, lost their jobs or threatened with deportation to Caribbean countries they left as children.
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Theresa May has called China's President Xi Jinping to discuss Britain's involvement in missile strikes on Syria, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister said US-led action was a "proportionate, legal and responsible" response to the suspected chemical attack by the regime on the rebel-held city of Douma on April 7.
The leaders agreed that use of chemical weapons "by anyone, anywhere, for any purposes was unacceptable" - which comes after the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
China was one of just three members of the United Nations Security Council - along with Russia and Bolivia - to vote for a resolution condemning the strikes.
Beijing has previously joined Moscow in using its veto on the Security Council to block Western attempts to impose sanctions on the Syrian regime over its actions in the civil war.
In her call with Mr Xi, the Prime Minister suggested the international community should come together to establish an "independent mechanism" for attributing responsibility for incidents like Douma.
"The Prime Minister explained our strikes had been proportionate, legal and responsible, and aimed at alleviating humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deterring their willingness to use them in the future," a No 10 spokesman said.
"The Prime Minister set out that Russia's blocking of diplomatic action underlined the importance of the international community working together to re-establish an independent mechanism that attributes responsibility to the perpetrators of attacks such as the one in Douma."
Senior MPs will examine why HM Revenue and Customs refused to assist French authorities with a financial probe into a company that had donated considerable sums of money to the Conservative party.
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The Information Commissioner's powers must be beefed up in the wake of the Facebook scandal, a senior Tory MP has said.
Damian Collins, chairman of the powerful Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said it was "ridiculous" that the Information Commissioner had to wait so long before searching the premises of Cambridge Analytica.
Officers for the Information Commission searched the premises in central London after a High Court judge granted a warrant.
Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham sought access to records and data in the hands of the company amid claims that Facebook data may have been misused by political campaigns.
Mr Collins, whose committee launched an inquiry into fake news, said: "The law has to apply to companies like Facebook in protecting our data.
"We have to go further and make sure our regulatory bodies have got the power to go into these companies and make sure they're obeying the law."
"The tech sector has lagged behind" in terms of regulation, he said, despite being a "well-established industry".
He told the Voice Of The Listener And Viewer spring conference that means "giving the Information Commissioner the power to go into companies without notice" to inspect them.
He said: "We have got ourselves in a position where we are largely reliant on the tech companies telling us they're complying, without the ability to check."
Earlier, Jeremy Corbyn said the rise in homelessness shows there is something "deeply wrong with our country", in a speech where he set out Labour's plans to build a million "genuinely affordable" properties over 10 years.
The Labour leader promised a "new era of social housing" and a return to a system where a decent home is "not a privilege for the few".
The plan involves building 100,000 affordable homes a year - with Labour promising to tear up Conservative rules which allow homes worth up to £450,000 to be classed as affordable.
Launching a consultation on Labour's plans at an event in London, Mr Corbyn said it was a "time of crisis for our housing system".
"A million on housing waiting lists, tens of thousands of children in temporary accommodation without a home to call their own, homelessness up by 50 per cent since 2010, the indignity of sleeping on our streets at night or sofa-surfing among friends," he said.
There were "sky high" rents and house prices, and "luxury flats proliferating across our big cities while social housing is starved of investment".
He said that housing had "become a means of speculation for the wealthy few".
On the plight of homeless people, he said: "There is something that I think is deeply wrong with our country that we tolerate the idea that several thousand of our citizens should sleep rough on our streets every night, or if a church is open they will sleep on church pews.
"We can, must and will do better than that in the future."
Labour former minister Tessa Jowell looked on as MPs paid tribute to her courage fighting a brain tumour during an emotional debate in the Commons.
Baroness Jowell received a standing ovation in the House of Lords in January after making an emotional plea for more cancer treatments to be made available through the NHS.
MPs including Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt used today's debate in the Commons to praise her work to improve cancer treatment in the wake of her diagnosis.
Mr Hunt said: "I just wondered whether I could follow the shadow health secretary on behalf of the Prime Minister and the whole Cabinet in commending Tessa's campaigning.
"Most people come to this place hoping to leave a legacy; she has left not just one legacy, but two.
"Her amazing achievements with London 2012 and her amazing campaigning on cancer.
"It's our privilege to take part in this debate and our duty to act on what she's saying."
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "Tessa Jowell is an inspiration to all of us and on behalf of the shadow cabinet we pay tribute to her today.
"I hope all members of the House find her bravery extraordinary - she has achieved so much and I just wanted to put on record that we will work constructively with Government to implement many of the recommendations that (Sarah Jones MP) is outlining."
Lady Jowell took a seat at the back of the Commons chamber with her family in an area usually used by guests of MPs.
Labour's Siobhain McDonagh fought back tears as she paid tribute to Lady Jowell.
She told MPs: "My purpose of speaking is simply to say to Tessa: We are with you."
Her voice cracked with emotion as she added: "Politics is a rough old trade and sometimes you fall out with people, people that you think the most of.
"I just wanted to be here to say to Tessa - whatever arguments or disagreements, it counts for nothing in comparison to my admiration and my determination to do anything to support her in her campaign."
That's it for The Independent's politics liveblog for the day. Thanks for following!
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