Politics blog + PMQs live
Rolling coverage of all the day's political developments including Jack Straw at the final hearing of the Iraq war inquiry and live coverage of prime minister's questions
9.51am: Theresa May, the home secretary, has said the government will spend 18m over the next two years on tackling crime involving knives, guns and gangs. Here's an extract from the Press Association story about this.
The funding announcement comes after former EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella, whose 16-year-old brother Ben was stabbed to death three years ago, highlighted the best ways to combat the issue.
The 27-year-old actress, who was appointed a government adviser on the issue last year, called for anti-knife crime presentations for schools and more work with young children to stop them getting involved.
May said: "Brooke Kinsella has done a great job in highlighting what works and what could work better in trying to achieve that.
"Off the back of Brooke's recommendations, we will invest money into changing attitudes and behaviour, alongside being tough on those who persist in being involved in senseless crimes."
In her report, Kinsella called for more anti-knife projects in schools, more data-sharing between police, schools and other agencies and a scheme to deal with the "fear and fashion" factor of knives.
9.39am: The Jack Straw hearing has just started. I won't be covering it all, because I will be looking at other stories too this morning, but I will be monitoring it.
9.32am: The Iraq inquiry has just posted a 28-page witness statement from Jack Straw on its website, as well as 10 declassified documents. I'll take a look at them soon.
9.29am: As I thought, Alastair Campbell is pleased with Nick Clegg this morning. (See 9.18am.) At least, reasonably pleased. Campbell is still worried about the impact of the cuts. But he has just posted this on his blog.
If Nick Clegg is seeking to become the voice of the mentally ill within government, then he deserves support.
9.18am: Nick Clegg has given at least three interviews this morning to publicise the government's new mental health strategy. The Press Association and PoliticsHome have been monitoring. Here are the main points.
He said 70,000 people could get back into work as a result of a 400m initiative to improve mental health services. The government wants to give mental health the same priority that physical health gets.
This is 400m. It's new money, it's extra money, and it's money that could lead to the 1.2m people that don't have access, having access to talking therapies. Evidence suggests that would mean 70,000 people going back into work, who presently can't work because of their mental health conditions ...For far too long frankly there has been a stigma attached to mental health issues which has meant it's going to be brushed under the carpet. I don't think any responsible Government can ignore something which affects one in four people in this country. And I think for too long people have spoken warm words for the needs of mental health and actually it still ends up being a Cinderella service in the NHS.
He said the government would scrap the law saying that MPs detained under the Mental Health Act automatically lose their seats. Campaigners believe that this is discriminatory, because MPs do not have to leave parliament if a physical illness means that they have to take sick leave. Clegg said the law about MPs being disqualified was "an old fashioned approach to mental health that is completely out of step with what we now know".
(Alastair Campbell will be pleased about this. He has been campaigning for this! law to be abolished and gave evidence on this subject to the Speaker's conference.)
Clegg said there would be more money to help military veterans with mental illness.
Many people think that soldiers coming back from conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan, they have been so brave and so courageous, I think people think 'Well, surely they are not susceptible to mental health problems'. But often, actually, the toughest battle for them is when they have actually come back from the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He denied suggestions that he knocks off work early. This allegation was prompted by a report in the Sunday Telegraph saying that he stops taking paperwork for his ministerial red box at 3pm from Monday to Thursday and at 12pm on Friday.
This is all about, apparently, what my office asks other Whitehall departments - the deadline that they provide papers so that my team can look at these things, provide advice to me, and I usually read these papers at night, usually fairly late at night. This is standard practice across Whitehall. I may have many flaws but not working hard enough - I think even my staunchest critics would not say that.
He said events in Egypt were "incredibly exciting".
It is incredibly exciting what is going on, it reminds me so much of the time when the Berlin Wall fell, the power of the people out on the streets, in a regime which two weeks ago everybody thought was one of the most stable regimes in the region. I don't think it is really for me or anybody else to start dictating exactly when the transition should take place but clearly it is already taking place, and that holds out at least the exciting prospect of real ! democrac y and real freedom and openness in Egypt for the first time ever.
8.54am: It will be a busy morning. Nick Clegg has been giving an interview to publicise the government's new mental health strategy - I'll summarise the main points shortly - and there are various other lively items on the agenda. Here's a full list.
9am: Brooke Kinsella, the actor, publishes the report she has compiled for the Home Office on knife crime. She started to campaign on this issue after her brother Ben was stabbed to death.
9.30am: Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, gives evidence again to the Iraq inquiry. It's the inquiry's last public hearing.
10.30am: Jim Devine, the former Labour MP, is due to go on trial for expenses fraud.
12pm: Prime minister's questions.
I'm just blogging until 1pm today. But until then, as usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web.
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