This was the week that…

·         Parliament was rocked by revelations about the misuse of MPs expenses [more]

·         One of David Cameron’s closest aides was forced to quit over his ‘unacceptable’ expenses claims [more]

·         Labour suspended a former minister from the parliamentary party [more] and accepted the resignation of the Justice Minister over the expenses scandal [more]

·         Two Labour peers faced suspension from the House of Lords after being found guilty of intending to accept money to amend legislation [more]

·         An opinion poll showed that Labour support has fallen to a record low [more]

·         A poll of Euro-election voting intentions showed a three-way tie for second place, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP all on 19% [more]

·         European leaders criticised Cameron’s decision to move his party to the fringes of European politics [more]

·         Nick Clegg’s public approval rating continued to rise [more]

·         An expert on crime reduction said Labour had failed in its pledge to be ‘tough on the causes of crime’ [more]

·         On Burnley Council, Labour and Tory councillors teamed up with 4 BNP councillors to try to unseat the Lib Dem council leader [more]

Over the last week we learnt that…

·         The number of unemployed jumped 244,000 in the first three months of the year [more]

·         BT announced that it is to cut 15,000 jobs, mostly in the UK [more]

·         100 primary schools are closing every year as demand for places looks set to grow [more]

·         Alistair Darling’s economic forecasts are over-optimistic, according to the Bank of England [more]

·         Teenage crime has soared 60% under New Labour [more]

·         The government has cut funding by 25% for five key environmental initiatives [more]

·         Only 13% of terrorism arrests lead to convictions [more]

·         Gordon Brown is “brutal” and has “anything but” a moral compass according to a former aide [more]

Over the last week the Liberal Democrats…

·         Launched their European Election campaign under the slogan ‘Stronger Together Poorer Apart’ [more]

·         Wrote to party leaders urging them to fully accept the recommendations of the investigation into MPs’ expenses [more]

·         Called for intercept evidence to be made admissible in court in terrorism cases [more]

·         Welcomed proposals for a mandatory code on alcohol sales [more]

·         Revealed the environmental impact of the government’s major road schemes [more]

·         Uncovered the fact that over 15,000 farmers earn less than the minimum wage [more]

·         Argued for a shift in focus in crime policy – from punishment to crime prevention [more]

·         Pushed for an investigation into allegations against the police at the G20 protests [more]