Parliament has now been prorogued ahead of the general election.

The close of business brings the current parliamentary session to an end.

The formal dissolution of parliament, ahead of the general election, will take place on Monday.

At 5.00pm on that day all the members of parliament elected at the last general election will cease to be MPs.

Ahead of the dissolution, MPs and peers spent the day rushing through a raft of legislation.

One high profile casualty was the Identity Cards Bill, which home secretary Charles Clarke had already been forced to withdraw.

The Gambling Bill makes it on to the statute book, but only after a government concession to limit the number of new super-casinos to just one.

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill was also set for approval, but without clauses that would have outlawed religious hatred.

Elsewhere, the Inquiries Bill - which overhauls the way in which major public inquires are conducted - made its way to the statute book.

The Railways Bill, the Disability Discrimination Bill, the Education Bill and the Finance Bill were also passed.

The Crossrail Bill, which will pave the way for an east-west rail link in London, was carried over until the new parliament.