• Peers have voted by a majority of 242 to allow the gay marriage bill to continue its passage through the Lords. Although victory for the pro-bill lobby was never seriously in doubt, the size of their win took some peers by surprise. The Lords voted by 390 votes to 148 to reject an attempt by Lord Dear, a crossbencher, to defeat the bill at second reading. It is very unusual for the Lords to block a bill at second reading and some peers may have been voting against Dear because they were opposed to the idea of the Lords trying to obstruct legislation in this way, not because they were great supporters of the bill. But the size of the majority means the bill must now be certain to become law. However, it is still likely that attempts will be made to amend it in the Lords, in particular to strengthen the protection available to churches who do not want to conduct gay weddings. Lady Stowell, a government whip, told peers in her wind-up speech that the government would not necessarily object to amendments of this kind.

• A bid to include a target to decarbonise the UK's electricity generation by 2030 has been narrowly defeated in the Commons, to the dismay of green campaigners and businesses that had backed the goal as a way of stimulating investment in renewables and low-carbon energy.

• Cressida Dick, head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan police, has said that the police's ability to monitor communications data is "beginning to degrade". Giving evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about the attack at Woolwich, she strongly suggested that she favoured fresh legislation in this area, although she said the final decision was one for politicians. (See 3.39pm.)

• Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, has announced that up to 600 Afghans could be allowed to resettle in the UK under the terms of a package announced to support interpreters who helped British forces in Afghanistan.

• Judge Dean Spielmann, the president of the European court of human rights, has said that it would be a "total disaster" if Britain were to pull out of the European convention on human rights.

• The Home Office has announced that two "legal high" chemical compounds marketed as Benzo Fury and NBOMe are to be temporarily banned for up to 12 months.

• A leading City commentator has described George Osborne's plan to boost the housing market through state mortgage subsidies as one of the most stupid economic ideas of the past 30 years.

• A Ukip regional chairman has stepped down over alleged racist comments made on Facebook. As the Press Association reports, Ukip's East Midlands chairman and Lincoln councillor Chris Pain, who blamed the remarks on a hacker, will remain leader of the Ukip group on the county council. Pain is reported to have branded illegal immigrants "sandal-wearing, bomb-making, camel-riding, goat-f******, ragheads" on his Facebook page, though he has strongly denied making the comments.

• The Labour MP Emily Thornberry has launched a campaign to erect a statue of the suffragette Emily Davison in parliament.

That's all from me for tonight.

Thanks for the comments.