By Jennifer Scott, political reporter

MPs crammed into Westminster Hall today to discuss the contentious issue of assisted dying after a petition - sparked by the campaign of Dame Esther Rantzen to change the law - came to the floor.

Conservative Simon Jupp told the story of how one of his own constituents made his mind up on the issue.

They met when he was walking past the elderly man's garden, where he was pruning on his wife's behalf as she was now in a local care home.

"At this point I could see he wanted to cry," said Mr Jupp. 

"In a very British way he apologised and went on to explain… his dear wife, the love of his life, is terminally ill, has no quality of life, lives in constant pain and can't leave her bed.

"He visits her everyday and every single day she tells him she doesn't want to be here any more. It was clearly breaking his heart."

The man asked the MP if he supported assisted dying.

"The look of relief when I said yes was palpable, and we shared a moment together," said Mr Jupp. "And I will never forget that conversation."

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates is now joining Sophy Ridge, and he comes prepared with some new polling on the Tees Valley mayoral election.

Ben Houchen has a seven-point lead on 51% of the projected vote, he says, with Labour's candidate trailing behind with an estimated 44% and the Liberal Democrats with 5%.

"It's not a massive lead," Sam stresses. "It's down from 73% when this seat was last fought, he's dropped to 51%, but a clear lead over Chris McEwan the Labour candidate and the Lib Dems far behind there."

He adds that he was "really ahead" in the over-65s category.

Turning to the West Midlands, a YouGov poll has put Conservative candidate Andy Street two points ahead of Labour.

"YouGov say these figures are essentially too close to call… actually you can see the Lib Dems, Reform, Green and the independent George Galloway-backed candidate totalling much more than the 2%.

"If you squeeze these, then that might just turn the outcome."

Sam says that Thursday - the day of the local elections - could well be a "red letter day" for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

This would be the case "if he loses half of his local councillors" and mayoral elections. 

"But this polling suggests that Rishi Sunak is in with a chance of holding on" in Tees Valley and the West Midlands.

If he does that, Sam says, "could it be Labour who have been ramping up expectations, then end up having to do some explaining?"

As a reminder, here are the candidates for the Tees Valley mayoral election:

• Ben Houchen, Conservatives; 
• Chris McEwan, Labour; 
• Simon Thorley, Lib Dems.

And for the West Midlands:

• Siobhan Harper-Nunes, Greens; 
• Richard Parker, Labour; 
• Andy Street, Conservatives; 
• Sunny Virk, Lib Dems; 
• Elaine Ruth Williams, Reform; 
• Akhmed Yakoob, independent.

That wraps up tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, but we'll have all the latest from Westminster and beyond throughout the night.

The week has kicked off with a huge political story - the resignation of Humza Yousaf - and will end with another, as voters across England and Wales turn out for the local elections.

Sky's political reporter Alexandra Rogers has looked ahead to a potentially defining night for Rishi Sunak's premiership, when hundreds of council seats, police and crime commissioner jobs, and mayoral posts will be up for grabs.

Read her full explainer below:

We're turning briefly to the diplomatic row which has erupted between the UK and Irish governments over Rishi Sunak's Rwanda policy.

Dublin has claimed that the threat of being sent to Rwanda has led to some migrants crossing from Northern Ireland into Ireland, and that it would introduce emergency legislation to send them back to the UK.

Our Ireland correspondent Stephen Murphy says some refugees in the country feel like they are being used as "pawns in a much wider political game".

He says he has spoken to five or six people that have attributed their journey from Britain to Northern Ireland, and subsequently to Ireland, as directly due to the Conservatives' Rwanda scheme.

There is "reality" in the Irish government's claims, Murphy says - but he adds the suggestion migrants from Northern Ireland make up 80% of those seeking support is "also just an estimate".

"It is a political row, but it's hard sometimes to remember at the heart of all this is people, and the people here that we spoke to, they really do feel they're now being used as pawns in a much wider political game."

Read more on this below:

 Next up is Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland and current leader of the Alba Party.

Asked for his reaction to the day's events, he says: "I do feel for Humza (Yousaf) today, I mean I've been there, I've done a resignation speech as first minister."

Mr Salmond says most people in politics aspire to be in the "top job", adding: "It's a great wrench when you leave it."

Sophy then asks about suggestions that the Alba Party could have propped up the Scottish government with their one MSP. A source had said: "That would be like doing a deal with the devil."

What does it say that Mr Yousaf would rather collapse his own leadership than make a deal with the Alba Party?

"Well, what it says is it is not true," Mr Salmond says. 

He adds: "I'm not certain that everyone around Humza Yousaf was acting in his best interests."

Newspaper 'briefed' about replacing Yousaf

The politician points to a Times newspaper story from this morning that claimed Mr Yousaf would resign - and be replaced by John Swinney.

"That might well be accurate," he says. "But I'm very puzzled by this."

Mr Salmond also questions reports that Mr Yousaf was trying to save his job in a phone call to Ash Regan - the MSP for the Alba Party - at 7.30am today.

Sophy asks him to clarify whether he thinks there was a plot to oust Mr Yousaf in favour of Mr Swinney.

The Alba Party leader points again to The Times front page.

"Somebody briefed The Times newspaper," he says.

Sophy Ridge puts to Douglas Ross that he is the "Keir Starmer of Scotland", having used the SNP's latest leadership crisis to call for an early election.

Sir Keir has done just that at Westminster on many occasions, having seen the Tories replace both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss since he became Labour leader.

Scottish Conservatives leader Mr Ross says 17 years of SNP rule has worsened the country, and claims that waiting lists in Scotland are the "worst anywhere in the United Kingdom".

He says his inbox is "full of people" who can't see a GP or get the surgery they need.

"We know more and more people in Scotland are going private because they can't wait in pain," he says.

Mr Ross denies it is the "unspoken political truth" that his party needs the SNP to do OK in order to avoid Labour "mopping up" seats.

"These are nationalists who want to divide our country all over again, just like they did in 2014. So I want to see as many of them removed from office as possible," he says.

Next up on the show is Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

He tells Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge that Humza Yousaf's departure was "inevitable" after his decision to "dump" the Greens out of government.

Asked if there is an SNP frontrunner his party fears the most, Mr Ross says there will be "no contest" with John Swinney likely to be crowned leader.

"It will be more of the same, which is focusing on independence at the expense of the real priorities that people across Scotland have," he says.

Mr Ross also calls for an election in Holyrood.

Keith Brown, the SNP's deputy leader, is then asked whether an election should be called for the Scottish parliament - which is not due until 2026.

He says: "No I don't.

"In Scotland we have a fixed term parliament set by Westminster. People elected MSPs in 2021, they expect them to serve a five-year term."

Mr Brown says those calling for an election - "particularly the Labour Party" - should consider "they have had eight leaders in the time that we've had two leaders".

He adds: "I think in Scotland what people are interested in is making sure we don't end up, as has happened in the rest of the UK, having to pay subscription charges, huge council tax hikes that we've seen in the rest of the UK..."

Sophy interrupts, pointing out the SNP would be accusing another party in this position of not having a mandate.

Mr Brown says: "I think it's important to bear in mind the circumstances."

First up with Sophy Ridge is Keith Brown, the deputy leader of the SNP.

He is asked who he thinks the next leader of his party should be, and says this needs to be "somebody who is experienced and somebody who will bring unity hopefully to the parliament but also to the party".

Mr Brown says one person who would do that is John Swinney, a name we have heard many leading SNP figures back today.

"There may well be others of course as well," he adds.

The deputy leader is then pressed on the possibility of Mr Swinney becoming first minister, and a warning from MP Joanna Cherry that there is "no need for an unseemly rush by the (old) boys' club to stitch up the succession".

He says: "The majority of the cabinet are female and of course we had a very lengthy period with a female leader, so anybody can come forward for this contest.

"I just mention John Swinney as one person who would meet the criteria that I think is very important for the new leader, whoever that is."

We're kicking off tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge with - what else - the resignation of Humza Yousaf.

The leader of the SNP, who only took on the role in March last year, has been at the centre of a chaotic few days in Holyrood after he made the surprise announcement to end his powersharing deal with the Scottish Greens on Thursday.

Mr Yousaf cut ties following a bitter row over the SNP's climbdown on climate targets as he said the agreement between the parties had "served its purpose".

But as a result, his former Green allies teamed up with the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats to get behind no confidence motions designed to force him out.

Ahead of those votes taking place, Mr Yousaf stepped down as Scotland's first minister just after midday on Monday as he said he was "not willing to treat my values and principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power".

Before we get into tonight's interviews, get a catch-up on the story from our political reporter Alix Culbertson.