Browse content similar to 14/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Through the morning, this is the Daily Politics. Coming out in the | :00:23. | :00:28. | |
next 90 minutes of public service broadcasting at its finest: More | :00:28. | :00:36. | |
gloomy news on the economy with an extra 80,000 out of work, the DPM | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
says he has a plan, but can it deliver growth? The unions are | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
spoiling for a fight over pensions with ballots for strike action this | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
autumn. Can disruption to public services be prevented? | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
The shrinking British house, they are being built up to one-third | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
smaller than the recommended size. We are certainly not getting any | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
smaller! We well as the housing minister what is going to do about | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
it. Everything goes with HP Sauce! And why do things always taste | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
worse with the bad stuff taken out? What has happened to Houses of | :01:11. | :01:21. | |
:01:21. | :01:22. | ||
HP Sauce! I am not that much of a fan. I like it but it is not | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:32. | ||
something I cannot live without! Probably some continental staff. | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
You'll have chips just to have the HP Sauce with them. Before all of | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
that, Prime Minister's Questions at noon, and joining us for the | :01:41. | :01:46. | |
duration today, shadow Olympics Minister and Labour MP for Dulwich | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
and West Norwood, at least for now, Tessa Jowell. And the Housing | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
Minister, whose constituency is getting bigger under the boundary | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
changes, no doubt to cope with all these houses he is not building, | :01:57. | :02:06. | |
Grant Shapps. He is here to celebrate that you found out! -- he | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
is here to celebrate that and his birthday. What is it like to be 21? | :02:11. | :02:17. | |
It is not my birthday until November. It looks like the | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
government is heading for a confrontation with public sector | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
unions over reforms to pensions. Unison has announced it is | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
balloting for strike action, as is the Fire Brigades Union. This was | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
Dave Prentis at the TUC conference this morning. Today, Brendan Barber | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
has convened a meeting of all public service unions to look at | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
uniting, co-ordinating industrial action when the talks fail, and in | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
moving to industrial action, I commit Unison to work as one with | :02:48. | :02:56. | |
our sister Unison's GMB and Unite. -- unions. Today, as general | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
secretary of Unison, I give formal notice to 9,000 employers that we | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
are now balloting for industrial action. Grant Shapps, are we brace | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
ourselves for a winter of discontent? Well, I really hope not. | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
It sounds like it, though. I do not think it is the way forward. I do | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
not think it is going to solve anything. Even Labour, with their | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
close connections to the unions, are urging them not to do this. | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
There is no need for it at this stage. The government has never | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
been through this kind of hardship, none of your ministers have | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
experienced like the strikes this country used to have. I do not | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
think you have to live through the 1970s in order to be able to deal | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
with it. The political mood is completely different, and the | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
unions would be misjudging that mood, not least because there is no | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
support in the country. Almost everybody, in the private and | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
public sectors, you are sharing a lot of the pain with the sluggish | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
situation that we have got globally. I think striking will only make it | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
worse. I do not think they will have the backing of the people. | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
is that because of that political mode that the Labour Party is not | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
exactly wholeheartedly supporting this strike action, as we saw with | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
Mr Miliband yesterday. important thing is that negotiation | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
continues, and that it is negotiation in good faith, | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
responsible, decent negotiation between the employers and the trade | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
unions. The unions told Mr Miliband that the negotiations were a sham, | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
that is the deeply held belief of the unions involved in the | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
negotiations. I think that is right, Andrew, I think that is the view | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
that the unions have, and it is for the government now to get those | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
negotiations back on course. Because, you know, we are talking | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
about millions and millions of public sector workers who are, for | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
many people in this country, the most important people in their | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
lives. These are not people to take strike action likely, but they are | :04:58. | :05:04. | |
at risk of being driven to the edge of being able to stand the | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
intransigence of the Government. the negotiations are a sham, which | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
I think he seemed to concede, and it is what the union leaders and | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
activists believe, why wouldn't you back them going on strike? Well, I | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
do not think... I have, in government, been responsible for | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
these negotiations, and in local government before that, and the | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
best thing is not to provide a running commentary on negotiation, | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
but for both sides to be serious, as I am absolutely sure the unions | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
are. There will always be a few people, both on the employers' side | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
and on the union side, was spoiling for a fight. I do not believe that | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
represents the overwhelming number of trade unionists, and I think | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
that the onus is now on the employee has to show the unions | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
that they are serious about negotiation. I think the | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
Government's stepped in May of imposing a 3.5% surcharge on | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
pension contributions at a time when negotiations were under way | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
was very unwise and provocative. the Fire Brigades Union, they have | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
announced they are balloting members for a strike. The Fire | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
Brigades Union is in the grip of the hard left. What are you going | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
to do if the fire brigade goes on strike? You have not that the Green | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
goddesses any more. Well, look, we had that quite protracted strike | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
under the previous government. I hope they do not join us. The Green | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
goddesses were not deployed then. You think you can survive without | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
them? It was a long strike, and we survive them. Very skilfully | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
handled by John Prescott. He knows a thing or two about the unions. | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
knows a lot about negotiation. upshot of that strike is that it | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
turned out to be a very long and protracted strike and largely | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
pointless. It could have been discussed through negotiation. I | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
would not comment either on the detail of the negotiation, because | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
we are not in the room, it is unhelpful to give a running | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
commentary of negotiations that are going along, and I think most | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
people in this country recognise that people are living a lot longer. | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
I quoted this statistic before that I welcome somebody to check or | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
challenge, but everyday life expectancy in this country is | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
raised by the Towers. It is a confusing statistic. -- eight hours. | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
You have to do something about it. OK. With your shadow of Olympic | :07:33. | :07:40. | |
portfolio around two, why are we having to pay Tube drivers who are | :07:40. | :07:48. | |
already on a basic salary of �43,000, a basic salary, �1,800 | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
bonus simply to turn up during the Olympics? Well, the fact is that | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
this is a decision, incidentally, of Transport for London. I know | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
that, but do you agree with it? important thing is that this is not | :08:02. | :08:09. | |
a no-strike agreement. This is compensation for the extra hours. | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
No, it is not compensation. It is a bonus for turning up. Their basic | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
is 43,000. If they work longer hours, they will get overtime at a | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
higher rate. Andrew, I sincerely think that describing it as a bonus | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
for turning up during the Olympics is misrepresenting this payment. | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
Why do they need anything? Because they will be working longer hours. | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
The pressure of demand will be much greater. And it is important that | :08:42. | :08:49. | |
the Underground Service runs smoothly. You are the minister, I | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
will ask you. No. My view is that overtime is fine, but we do not | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
need bonuses like this to try to avert action which should not take | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
place anyway. I understand that. If I was a trade union leader, seeing | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
this, I would say �1,800 just for turning up? Let me finish the | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
question, this lot, your government are a soft touch. The militants, | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
you give in. I think that most people realise that the coalition | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
could be accused of lot of things, but not being a soft touch. If you | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
look at... I disagree with that, hold on a minute, if you look at | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
the deficit reduction measures we have put in place. I mean in terms | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
of strikes. Every single one of those measures as an implication, | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
and often on people's jobs as well. People have been taking very | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
difficult decisions as well. I look after areas of local government, | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
and we have not seen strikes and a wide scale. That is my point, you | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
have not been tested. We have made cuts. No doubt he will be in the | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
weeks ahead, you will keep us in a job. I will be getting my back out | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
again. I am up for it. It is not cold | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
compared to where I come from. I want to let you into a TV secret. | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
This studio may look big on television, but that is thanks to | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
the use of a wide-angled lens. The same lens is used by estate agents | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
and housebuilders when they are showing off properties. Funny, that, | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
because it turns out that you build up an average 15% smaller than the | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
recommended size, and some are as much as one-third of the size they | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
should be. There are even rumours that they buy especially small | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
furniture for their show homes, a bit like in here. They learned all | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
their tricks from the telly, you know. Now we know where this lot | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
are moonlighting, for estate agents! Grant Shapps, it is a | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
serious point. Architects are saying that new homes are not big | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
enough for families. Is there anything you can do about it? | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
think there is. It is a real problem, I think, by the way. Homes | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
should be big enough to live in. It is important enough to have enough | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
space to bring up families. I agree we need bigger homes. One of the | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
first things I did was scrap something called the density | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
targets. That is something slightly different, which has not led to | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
housebuilders signing up to a building homes... No, that is not | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
true, homes are now being built figure in the last six months or so. | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
We are starting to see an improvement. -- build bigger. Those | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
density targets were put in place by John Prescott when he was in the | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
office of the Deputy Prime Minister. I think that actually forcing lots | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
of homes into a very small space is a bad idea. People need space to | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
live and grow, and we are supportive of the idea of making | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
them larger, against which you have the economics of time to produce | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
enough homes. There is a balance to be struck. Is there anything you | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
can do to stop housebuilders building what the architects are | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
saying is an average three-bedroom home in the UK which is 88 square | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
metres, shorter than the minimum size? Some of them are even smaller | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
at 74 square metres, missing 22. That is a whole room, isn't it? | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
That is right. What can you do to stop that? First of all, let's let | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
the local areas decide what is the right kind of size. We want those | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
targets set in neighbourhoods. If you are in the centre of London, | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
Kensington and Chelsea has the densest housing in Europe, then | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
they will set one kind of prescription. But actually, out in | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
a more rural area, they may say that we want larger properties. I | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
think you can be flexible about it. This is why we need planning reform, | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
which is a big row going on at the dead, and that is tied up with the | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
subject. Tessa Jowell, if you get rid of the density quotas and | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
ratios, you live in a densely populated part of London, your | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
constituency is there. People still want some space between homes. Is | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
there still the problem of not enough land to build on? There is | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
certainly a shortage of land. There is also a shortage of decent | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
housing. It is not just that there is a great pressure to build more | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
homes. It is probably one of the great crises of the time in which | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
we live. We've got 2.5 million homes in the 13 years that we were | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
in government. -- we build. short of the target. Of course it | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
is, but you have to invest through incentivise in developers, but also | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
making money available to local councils. You also have to bring | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
already owned council homes up to decent standard. We were very | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
successful in that. Four out of 10 were in poor standard, fell below | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
the decent standard measure in 2002, which was down to one in 10 by the | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
tyre we got to 2010. We still have this shortage. You are saying the | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
issue is a planning issue, but the architect Hussain it is not a | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
planning issue. They say there is enough room for these houses to be | :14:00. | :14:09. | |
built, you are not using brownfield site on sites which are already | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
available. I suspect at the end it is to do with economics, it is a | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
question of the cost of land and the cost of building. We are clear | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
that people should have space to live and grow, and that means doing | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
things like ending the practice of garden grabbing, which became a | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
very big thing, and we will change that policy to say that it should | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
not be the expected norm. It means that people do not end up with | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
space and gardens, room to expand. The homes that are built on those | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
locations are, of course, very small by definition. There are a | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
whole bunch of things you need to do. OK, thank you. | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
Unemployment has reached almost 8% of the labour force, just over 2.5 | :14:54. | :15:01. | |
million people out of work, 80,000 of those, sorry, 800,000 young | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
people under 24. It is the largest increase in unemployment in over | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
two years, further evidence of the sclerotic state of the economy. | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
What to do? This morning the Deputy Prime Minister has been writing a | :15:15. | :15:23. | |
prescription for growth, and Jo has Nick Clegg has put his hard hat on | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
today, warning of even tougher times ahead. Telling his audience | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
the situation is even worse than six months ago. But he has a plan. | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
Not a new plan B, but a speeding up of the national infrastructure plan, | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
which the DPM says will lay the foundations for long-term growth. | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
He has said that this represents a gear change, rather than a change | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
of policy. With 40 projects given special priority, including new | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
train lines, high-speed broadband and improvements to motorways and | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
the National Grid. He's promising to pull levers, but the question | :15:59. | :16:07. | |
remains - can he fix it? Government is not helpless. The coalition | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
Government is not reluctant. That's despite the darkening global | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
picture and the need to stay on top of the deficit, we'll do whatever | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
it takes to return our economy to health. Whether driving co- | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
operation abroad, or pulling the right levers at home. Tessa Jowell | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
and Grant Shapps are still with us. We are joined by Mark Littlewood, | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
the director of Institute of Economic Affairs. Grant Shapps how | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
much new money is in this programme? I think I read the whole | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
of the speech and what he was saying, there are important | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
projects. He outlines 40 of them, where the plans are already kind of | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
there. Everyone knows we need, for example, upgrades in broadband to | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
high speed in this country and carry out some of the rail projects, | :16:54. | :16:56. | |
but actually they are clogged down in Whitehall and don't move ahead | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
at the speed they should. What he was talking about is the | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
responsibility on all of us, ministers like me, to breakthrough | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
that log-jam in Whitehall and get the projects moving and use the | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
force of Government to make sure we get the infrastructure in place. | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
There's no new money? Well, again, actually, alongside this, Danny | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
Alexander was saying to ministers where you have money left over in | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
your budgets don't go away, but spend is on the projects, so we'll | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
make sure this is the focus and any money goes into delivering these | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
quickly. That is old money being spent differently. So there is no | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
new money? Being absolutely straight. There is a huge deficit. | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
If we don't cut it, we're in big trouble. We are not looking to | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
assign new money but get the work done quicker. At a time when we | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
have a crisis in housing and growth, that is your fellow minister who | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
told the Commons that on 5th and the Deputy Prime Minister says the | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
situation is even worse than six months ago and unelployment is | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
rising at a faster rate than the eurozone or America and the growth | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
figures are likely to be dire, the coalition's response is to bring | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
forward some infrastructure plans? That's it? The response is not to | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
raise yet more debt, because we have seen in repeated countries, in | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
Spain, fort gal and Ireland and Greece, what happens if all you do | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
is add to debt and if you look at the stimulus packages that went | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
ahead in France and Germany and in the States, they are in the same or | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
worse pictures that we are in right now, even having added further to | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
debts, so we don't think that is the answer. We think it's to | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
prioritise the spending. President Obama in his first stimulus package, | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
announced a number of jobs like this, that were new stimulus | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
programmes, rather than bringing forward of what was already in the | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
pipeline, and in the end American unemployment rose. He's had to come | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
back with a new package of stimulus measures and we don't know what | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
impact that will have. Why would you think simply bringing these | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
things forward would make any difference? I think that kind of | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
demonstrates the point about simply adding to the debt. What happens is | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
you end up putting pressure on long-term interest rates. Are you | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
doing it? It's expenditure that we already said we planned to do over | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
the period, but isn't happening as fast as we would like. We think we | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
can put the pressure on and break threw the Whitehall log-jam and get | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
it done. By the way, this is working in as much as Britain | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
borrowed at the lowest-ever rate - or had investment in bonds at the | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
low-est rate this week, because people believe that we are a | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
sustainable economy. If it's so cheap to borrow and it is | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
historically cheap to borrow, why don't you borrow more and build | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
more roads, bridges and tunnels? Here is one simple fact - we have | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
arguments about tuition fees and investment in the police and those | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
pensions on the union stuff we were talking about, we have a �43 | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
billion interest on the debt that we pay a year. We could do anything | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
of these things if we didn't have that debt. The priority for paying | :19:59. | :20:05. | |
down that debt trumps everything else. Mark, is this going to make | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
any difference to the economy? I wouldn't hold your breath that - | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
I'm not, believe me. If this is the Government's strategy for growth, | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
don't expect to see the growth forecasts graded upwards in virtue | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
of Nick Clegg bringing about greater efficiency of putting | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
cables in the ground and doing that this year rather than next. I'm | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
delighted if he's found a better way to make Whitehall more | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
efficient, but that doesn't constitute a strategy for growth. | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
Grant Shapps is right, the deficit being gotten under control is a | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
necessary condition. What else needs to be done? You remember when | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
Nick Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister we were promised the great | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
repeal act, the biggest war on red tape and the greatest recalibration | :20:48. | :20:57. | |
between the individual and the State since 1832. Red tape and | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
regulation has increased under the coalition Government. Not even | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
including the EU. Whitehall directives have increased. Now, it | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
is a challenge to get growth into the British economy, with the US | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
hitting the buffers and the eurozone public a problem, but | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
there's also a choice. The coalition Government is not making | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
some of the tougher decisions it could in slashing back red tape and | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
putting the minimum wage up next month. You can make those decisions, | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
but you can't then claim that economic growth is the overriding | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
priority. Other things appear to be the priorities. All right. The | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
Government seems to think bringing forward infrastructure is part of | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
this solution. You think deregulation on a large scale is | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
the solution. What say you? I think both have pairt to play, unlike -- | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
part to play, unlike the Government, we would create a fund for | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
infrastructure projects and very particularly training young people | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
through a further tax. A windfall tax on bankers' bonuses which is | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
estimated to bring around �3.5 billion. There is a combination | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
here and all over the papers today you saw the Westfield. You would | :22:08. | :22:15. | |
get 3.5 billion simply from taxing them? Yes. At what rate? I thought | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
it was much smaller than that. in one year you get 1.75 billion. | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
The Government have set a lower rate, which means that the tax - | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
the bankers' tax will yield less. We would do it differently and also | :22:32. | :22:38. | |
introduce a short-term cut in VAT, in order to boost demand. Although | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
the original VAT introduced by us was scoffed at, we saw retail sales | :22:43. | :22:50. | |
increase. I want to very quickly just say, take the Westfield | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
shopping centre in East London. Traditionally, higher than the | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
national average levels of unemployment. 900 million worth of | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
investment six years ago, with withstood because they decided they | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
could stick with it, which withstood the downturn, but coupled | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
with the investment of public money in regenerating the Olypmic park. | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
Also making that site now a site which in legacy will be a site for | :23:21. | :23:29. | |
business to invest. I wish they had called it Eastfield. It is | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
Westfield in the east. The point is that 18,000 jobs, but not just jobs | :23:34. | :23:41. | |
- Only 2,000 locally. But that will change. If this worked, why did | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
your Government cut infrastructure spending by 50%? We used PFI in | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
order to fund it. No, no, in the plans that you come ut -- out with | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
in 2009. You cut it going forward by 50%, so if it's such a good | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
thing, why do it? Government investment in infrastructure, but | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
the point I'm making to you and using this as an example is that | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
that is an example about how Government enables the regeneration | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
and making it worthwhile, the investment, by clearing this | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
contaminated brownfield site and invests very heavily in | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
apprenticeships so you begin to get a trained workforce available. The | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
retailers at Westfield have formed their own retail academy. I don't | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
want to dwell on that. It's only one part of the country in the | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
capital. It's not relevant to Manchester or Birmingham. I want to | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
come to you. It's a model that others can follow. What do you say | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
to Mark that you are actually increasing regulation? Far from a | :24:45. | :24:51. | |
bonfire, it's growing like topsy? If I want to bring something new in | :24:51. | :24:59. | |
I have to follow this one-in one- out rule. I have to scrap something. | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
The first thing I did was scrap the awful Home Information Packs. | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
is not a bonfire, but standing still. Things go on all the time. | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
Actually, to say this is all over is completely untrue. We are | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
passing through Parliament, because democracy is a slow process, the | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
very first piece of legislation from my department. It involves | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
quite a lot of legislation, which is scrapped in the process. It | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
hasn't even got through Parliament yet, but it's in the works and it's | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
happening. Actually, it's right. It's in your department and it's | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
been one of the better ones, but it isn't happening across Whitehall | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
and my concern is I don't believe that there is a single senior | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
Cabinet minister whose head is on the block for this. A massive | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
bonfire was promised. It is true that your rule has stemmed the flow. | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
The burden of regulation is growing less quickly than it was were the | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
previous Government, but that ain't enough. It actually has to be cut | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
back seriously and you need to go through with a red pen and | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
basically torch most of the stuff. I think that the sort of people in | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
Government seem to realise this needs to be done. There some sort | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
of good intention there, but there hasn't yet been the political will | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
to do that on a serious scale. have to leave it there. Thank you | :26:10. | :26:16. | |
Mark, you two have to stay! Lock the doors! We come to the moment, | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
when we give away the mug. It's much-beloved by viewers and | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
politicians alike, I can tell you. In fact, it's almost as sought- | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
after a a Parliamentary constituency with a decent majority. | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
Are there any left? After this week, not quite!, we can't give away a | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
safe seat in our competition. Sorry about that, Tessa, but a mug would | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
be a good consolation prize? certainly would. Even we are not | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
allowed to take them home. We'll remind you how to enter in a moment, | :26:46. | :26:56. | |
:26:56. | :26:56. | ||
but let's see if you can remember when this happened. The Republican | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
nomination for 1980 also seems more than usually a prize worth going | :27:01. | :27:09. | |
for. # Video killed the radio star... # | :27:09. | :27:19. | |
:27:19. | :27:26. | ||
# Oliver's army is here to stay... # I can't, I can't, stand losing | :27:26. | :27:33. | |
# I can't, I can't stand losing... # Are you pleased to see it back? | :27:33. | :27:42. | |
Very much, yes. # It's trag di$$NEWLINE# It's hard | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
to bear... # I don't think anyone would share the view that there is | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
mounting chaos. # I will survive | :27:51. | :28:01. | |
:28:01. | :28:06. | ||
# Oh, as long as I know love I know I'll stay alive... # Well, to be in | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
with a chance of winning the mug send your answer to our special | :28:09. | :28:19. | |
:28:19. | :28:27. | ||
That opening piece by a rather young Martin Bell was maybe | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
misleading, or maybe not. It's a trick. You have to decide. It's | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
coming up to midday. We'll look at Big Ben. There it is behind us. | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
Lovely morning this morning, actually. It can only mean one | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
thing - Prime Minister's questions on its way and James is here. You | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
are from Nick Clegg. You were there? I was. How did it go? | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
Warmish response. Lots of academics and economists in the hall. They | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
were left scratching their heads. His message was we need to make | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
sure that the Government spends its capital budgets on time, but not | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
actually rush them forward, so all the talk of acceleration is not | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
going to happen. He's saying we are not going to make the same mistakes | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
as previous governments over spending on the Jubilee Line here | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
in London and they want to make sure the things happen on time. | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
Some people thought it was motdest in ambition, that perhaps the | :29:18. | :29:20. | |
Government has -- modest in ambition, that perhaps the | :29:20. | :29:28. | |
Government has to do more. Governance over the years, there | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
was an implication that if he presses the right buttons the | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
Government machine will click into action. Many previous Government | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
ministers will explain that that ain't how it works? That was his | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
ambition. He said he's going to have a meeting and Danny Alexander | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
will knock heads together and make sure the projects get spent on time. | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
We wait to see if it happens. Minister's questions. What do you | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
think Mr Miliband will go on if suggested the economy last week. I | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
was utterly wrong. I would suggest perhaps the economy might be raised | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
by him. He has pegs. The Alistair Darling book is now history. | :30:04. | :30:09. | |
manage it might get an airing. If he cannot today stand up and say, | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
"This is what my party believes should happen on the economy ", | :30:13. | :30:20. | |
when can he? He has to go on an a day when unemployment is now rising | :30:20. | :30:26. | |
than fat -- faster than the United States or the eurozone, he has to | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
go on it? I'm absolutely sure that he will and the fact that one in | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
five young people are now out of work and that families are being | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
squeezed in a way that view can ever remember. Also, feel more | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
pessimistic about the future. go and find out. Over to the House | :30:46. | :30:56. | |
:30:56. | :31:06. | ||
Grieving families are waiting months and years for inquests to be | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
concluded, longer than anywhere else in the country. They have | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
Minister instruct the Justice Secretary to sack the incompetence | :31:15. | :31:20. | |
Tayside Coroner? I will certainly look at the particular case that | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
the honourable gentleman razors. have been reforming coroners | :31:24. | :31:26. | |
services and putting money and resources into them to try to make | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
them more effective, but I will take up the individual case that he | :31:30. | :31:36. | |
makes. Mary MacLeod. Mr Speaker, when the Prime Minister give us an | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
update on his recent visit to Russia, especially in relation to | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
the tragic murder of Alexander Litvinenko, whose widow lives in my | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
constituency? It caused a risk to public safety. Would he meet with | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
her to give her an update? My right honourable friend the Foreign | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
Secretary spoke to Alexander Litvinenko's widow before I | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
travelled to Moscow, and let me be clear that the British government | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
has not changed its the one jot about how wrong it was for that | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
murder to take place and how we need a proper explanation of what | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
happened and he was responsible, and we want justice for that family. | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
We have not changed our view, but I think it is right, at the same time, | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
to try to build a better relationship with Russia across a | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
whole range of issues. We have common interests in trying to grow | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
our economies and trade, common interest in working together on | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
issues like the Middle East peace process. I made sure when I went to | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
Russia that I did not just raised the Alexander Litvinenko case but | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
other human rights cases, including another case, with the Russian | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
President and with others. I think that is the right way to conduct | :32:43. | :32:49. | |
international relations. Mr Ed Miliband. Mr Speaker, today's | :32:49. | :32:54. | |
figures show that unemployment is up by 80,000. Does the Prime | :32:54. | :33:00. | |
Minister still think the British economy is out of the danger zone? | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
Well, first of all, let me say that these unemployment figures are | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
disappointing figures, I do not want to hide from that. Every last | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
job as a tragedy for that family, and I want to do everything I can, | :33:12. | :33:14. | |
and his government will do everything it can to of those | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
people back into work. That is why we have 360,000 apprenticeships | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
starting this year, that is why we have 10,000 extra university places, | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
and that is why, in the Work Programme, we have the biggest | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
welfare-to-work programme this country has seen since the 1930s. | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
But at the same time, let me say to the right honourable gentleman that | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
it is right that we get on top of our debt and deficit, and today of | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
all days it shows the danger of getting into a position that other | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
European countries are in, where the whole credibility is being | :33:46. | :33:52. | |
questioned. Ed Miliband. Mr Speaker, people are going to dress the Prime | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
Minister on results. They do not want to hear his been about the | :33:55. | :34:02. | |
Work Programme. Youth unemployment is up by 78,000 on today's figures. | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
Even after his work programme has started. What young people and | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
their families are has been his, where are the jobs? The Work | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
Programme is the best way to help young people and indeed all people | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
back into work. Now, of course, as I have said, these figures are | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
disappointing, but we shouldn't ignore the fact that since the | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
election there are 500,000 more jobs in the private sector, and | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
employment overall. There are 300,000 more people in work than | :34:30. | :34:38. | |
there were one year ago. There is not one ounce of complacency in | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
this Government about the need to do more to help people back to work. | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
We have a growth plan that includes cuts in Corporation Tax, freezing | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
the council tax, cuts in petrol duty, introducing the Beatle Growth | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
Fund, making sure we have enterprise zones in every part of | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
our country, but we will be adding to that programme so we help people | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
get back to work. -- Regional Growth Fund. He and his government | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
are the byword for complacency in this country on the issue of | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
unemployment! Youth unemployment was falling at the general election, | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
and it has risen on his watch, it is his responsibility. Women's | :35:17. | :35:23. | |
unemployment, too, is at its highest level since 1988. And, Mr | :35:23. | :35:28. | |
Speaker, he is making the situation worse by cutting the childcare tax | :35:28. | :35:34. | |
credit. How does it make sense, when unemployment is rising for | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
women, to cut the support that helps them back into work? Let me | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
remind the honourable gentleman that youth unemployment went up by | :35:42. | :35:48. | |
40% under the last Parliament. 278,000 more young people | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
unemployed when he was sitting in the Treasury and breaking our | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
banking system and bankrupting our economy. That is what people | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
remember. Now, when it comes to childcare, what this government is | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
doing and we are the first government to do it is making sure | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
they are 15 hours of reach out care for every four-year-old and every | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
three-year-old, and we have extended that to every two-year-old. | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
We have focused the tax credit system on the poorest people in our | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
country so that child tax credits are going up by �290 this year and | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
next for those who need the most. But let me say to the honourable | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
gentleman that on a day when France and Germany are meeting to stop | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
Greece go bankrupt, he must be the only person in the world he thinks | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
you spend more to get out of a debt crisis. Ed Miliband! Mr Speaker, it | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
is no wonder he does not want to talk about the British economy and | :36:40. | :36:44. | |
what is happening here, because of what is actually happening. And not | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
for the first time he is wrong in what he says at the dispatch box. | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
Youth unemployment was falling at the general election, and now it is | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
rising. Now, why is it not working, Mr Speaker? The reason is because | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
his claim that the Chancellor's central claim that you could cut | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
the public sector and the private sector would make up the difference | :37:10. | :37:17. | |
is not happening. For every two jobs, for every two jobs being cut | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
in the public sector, less than one is being created in the private | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
sector. Isn't that the clearest sign yet that his policy just isn't | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
working? So now we have it, Mr Speaker. He wants to tell us about | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
the golden inheritance left by the last government! The fact they | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
completely bust our banking system, the fact they doubled the National | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
debt, the fact they gave us the biggest budget deficit in Europe | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
that we are still recovering from. And he cannot even be consistent | :37:46. | :37:51. | |
inside one day. This is what he said yesterday to the TUC. He said, | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
you cannot spend your way to a new economy. Just 24 hours later, he | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
has changed his tune all over again. No wonder the last Chancellor of | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
the Exchequer said they have no credibility whatsoever. | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
Miliband! The Mr Speaker, what an insult to the people up and down | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
this country who have lost their jobs! He does not even try to | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
answer the question about his central economic strategy to cut | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
the public sector and make the private sector make up the | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
difference. It is not happening! And the truth is, Mr Speaker, look | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
at what has happened over the last year. Britain has grown slower than | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
any other EU country apart from Portugal and Romania. Now, can the | :38:34. | :38:37. | |
Prime Minister tell the country, and tell the people who have lost | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
their jobs, what he is going to do differently over the next year | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
compared to what he did over the last year? Let me correct him on | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
his facts. This year, Britain is actually growing faster than | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
America. That is something he does not choose to tell us. But look, | :38:55. | :39:05. | |
let me and said... Let me answer directly... Order! The Prime | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
Minister's answers must be heard. The Prime Minister. Let me answer | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
directly this point about an employment in the public sector. | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
All governments right now are having to take difficult decisions | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
about cutting public spending. Anyone standing here would have to | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
make those decisions. This government is reducing the welfare | :39:23. | :39:26. | |
bill and is cutting and his reforming public sector pensions. | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
If we were not taking those steps, you would have to make deeper cuts | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
in terms of the rest of the public sector. He would be having even | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
more unemployment, that is the truth. When is he going to learn | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
what I thought he said yesterday, you cannot spend your way to a new | :39:41. | :39:47. | |
economy? Is that still is be a 24 hours later? Ed Miliband! | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
Speaker, so the message to all those people who have lost their | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
jobs is the Prime Minister is not going to change course. The | :39:54. | :40:03. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer has lashed himself to the mass. -- Mass. | :40:03. | :40:09. | |
Not for the first time, perhaps! Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker, youth | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
unemployment is at its highest level for 19 years. Women's and | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
employment is at its highest level for 23 years. -- and employment. | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
The highest level since the last time there was a Tory government. | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
It turns out he is just like all the others. For him, unemployment | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
is a price worth paying. It is this government that is cutting | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
corporation tax, that has frozen the council tax, that cut the | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
petrol duty, that started the regional growth fund, that ended | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
the jobs tax, that has the biggest apprenticeship programme in decades, | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
and that has increased capital spending compared with what Labour | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
left. The truth is, Mr Speaker, it was the last government that Rob | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
young people of their future by piling up the debt! It is this | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
government that will deal with our debts and give them back their | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
future. Kris Hopkins! Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister will be | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
aware that the consultation on the draft national planning policy | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
framework will come to an end next month. Can he confirm that the | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
Government's proposals will ensure that local residents will be at the | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
forefront of decision-making and important green spaces will retain | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
their existing protection, and that this will not become a developer's | :41:25. | :41:31. | |
charter? I can certainly give him that assurance. The fact is we do | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
need reform. The current system is too slow, too bureaucratic, and it | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
does not give local people are not of a save. What we're doing is | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
replacing a vast 1,000 page bureaucratic guide with something | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
which is much shorter. Local development plans will mean that | :41:46. | :41:51. | |
local communities and local people have a far greater say in what is | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
developed and where. We are not changing the rules are national | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
parks, one green belts, on areas of outstanding natural beauty. Net the | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
say this to everyone in a house, because there should be cross-party | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
support in the house. That let me say. Today, the first-time buyer | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
with no support from their family is aged 37. I think that is wrong. | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
We need to build more houses to help more young people get and the | :42:18. | :42:24. | |
housing ladder. Mr Robert Flello. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Last week | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
the Prime Minister told this House that there are 25,000 police | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
officers in back office jobs, but a Majesty's Inspectorate of | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
Constabulary said that there are less than a thousand police | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
officers and PCSOs in those jobs. Week after week, this house he is a | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
litany of evasion, inaccurate answers and arrogant put-downs from | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
the Prime Minister. We want a proper answer, so let's give the | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
Prime Minister a chance today. Is it the inspectorate or is it the | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
Prime Minister? We won't get an answer. I think the honourable | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
gentleman is confusing two things, and that is the number of police | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
officers who are not our frontline duties and the number of police | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
officers who are actually in back office roles, like IT or a jar. | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
Those are the figures that I gave, those are the figures that are | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
right, and what is so complacent about the party opposite is they | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
are not prepared to consider any reforms to try to get more police | :43:22. | :43:30. | |
on to the front line, on to our streets. Dr Sarah Wollaston. I know | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
the Prime Minister is serious about tackling violent crime, antisocial | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
behaviour and over one million hospital admissions in England per | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
year for alcohol related conditions. Will he meet with me to discuss the | :43:41. | :43:46. | |
evidence that we need to go further on minimum pricing, availability | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
and particularly the marketing of alcohol to young people? And I am | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
very happy to meet with the honourable lady, who has made it a | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
lot of speeches and written a lot of articles about this issue, about | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
which she feels passionate, and she is right in many ways that actually | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
there is a problem of binge drinking in our country, and a lot | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
of it is related to very low cost alcohol, particularly in | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
supermarkets. What I want to see is an end to that the discounting, | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
rather than perhaps the way for which he suggests, but I'm happy to | :44:17. | :44:24. | |
meet and discuss this vital issue. Angus MacNeil. A poll last week | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
show that 60% of Scots want oil revenues devolved to Scotland. | :44:28. | :44:38. | |
:44:38. | :44:39. | ||
the Prime Minister agree with 68% of Scots, or does he not? Well... | :44:39. | :44:49. | |
If you as a stupid question, you get hasty Bonanza! The fact is that | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
the whole of the United Kingdom, rightly, has invested in the North | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
Sea. The whole of the United Kingdom should benefit from the | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
North Sea. I think we should do everything possible to keep the | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
United Kingdom together, because we are stronger, England, Scotland, | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
Northern Ireland and Wales, than we ever would be separately. Mrs Helen | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
Grant. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that we need more | :45:13. | :45:23. | |
:45:23. | :45:25. | ||
I completely agree. The current figures are simply not good enough. | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
Only 14% of FTSE 100 company directors are women. We should do | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
far better. We have some experience from the problems and the problems | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
we had in our own party and the need to take much more pro-active | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
action to make sure we have a better balance at the top of | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
politics and at the top of the boardrooms as well. Aren't the most | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
vulnerable people in the care of the Health Service those silent | :45:53. | :45:59. | |
voitions who live in residential homes -- voices, who live in | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
residential homes? Will he express his regret that the reduction of | :46:04. | :46:10. | |
number of inspections is 70%, because money was moved from | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
inspection to bureaucracy? Doesn't this again prove that the National | :46:15. | :46:22. | |
Health Service is not save in the hands of the Nasty Party? I think | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
the report that is released today makes a very important point about | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
the future and work of the Care Quality Commission and I think it's | :46:29. | :46:32. | |
important that it focuses on inspections and making sure that | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
standards are high. Rather than simply, on a process of | :46:37. | :46:39. | |
registration and bureaucracy. I look forward to see the | :46:39. | :46:49. | |
:46:49. | :46:50. | ||
Government's response, but I think it's a very good report. Was my | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
Right Honourable friend taught at whatever school he happened to | :46:54. | :47:01. | |
attend, that one of the key functions of Parliament over the | :47:01. | :47:09. | |
sentries has been -- centuries has been to diminish what historians | :47:09. | :47:16. | |
call the over-mighty subject? In the 18th century - | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
LAUGHTER THE SPEAKER: I want to hear the | :47:19. | :47:26. | |
honourable gentleman's views about the 18th century. | :47:26. | :47:36. | |
In the 18th century it was the Indian naybobs and in the 19th | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
century it was the ruthless industrialists humanised by | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
shaftsbury. In the 20th century it was the trade union leaders tamed | :47:47. | :47:57. | |
:47:57. | :48:00. | ||
by Lady Thatcher. Today, the allmighty subject is the bankers. | :48:00. | :48:10. | |
:48:10. | :48:16. | ||
In the United States the federal authorities are prosecuting a wide | :48:16. | :48:24. | |
swathe of the top banks. When is that going to happen here? Well, | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
first of all, the Right Honourable gentleman obviously had a much | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
better aide indication than I did. That is apparent. Also, very good | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
to hear him say something very positive about Margaret Thatcher. | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
That is also good. I think the serious point that he's make ing is | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
right, that we need to see responsibility from our bankers. I | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
support what Vickers has said in terms of the reforms that we need | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
and to answer his question directly, if people break the law, no matter | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
where they come from or who they are, they should face the | :48:54. | :49:02. | |
consequences and be punished. does the Prime Minister think of | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
local authorities encouraging developers to put in planning | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
applications not on greenbelt, but greenfield sites in order to use | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
the new homes bonus to balance their budgets? I have the | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
completely original and shocking view that these matters should be | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
matters for local people and local authorities. I think in the past we | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
have had far too much central direction. I think people in | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
Derbyshire should make up their own mind, through their local council, | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
about what planning should take place and where. That's the agenda | :49:32. | :49:38. | |
this Government is going to follow. I'm sure my Right Honourable friend | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
would have noted the very sound advice recently that in order for a | :49:42. | :49:44. | |
Government to operate effectively there should be complete unity at | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
the top. With this in mind, could he assure the House and country he | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
does not feel the need to re-write a Budget 48 hours before it is due? | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
I can confirm that these discussions these days take place | :49:58. | :50:05. | |
in a proper way and between the two partners in the coalition and it's | :50:05. | :50:10. | |
not a battle between number 10 and 11. It's nothing like going to the | :50:10. | :50:16. | |
dentist and there is no need for anaesthetic when there is a meeting. | :50:16. | :50:22. | |
I'm all all parties in the House have welcomed the news that | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
Mikeical Brown has been found living under an assumed name in the | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
republic of Dominica. Can the Prime Minister tell the House what steps | :50:33. | :50:41. | |
this Government is taking to bring Mr Brown to face justice? We like | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
to extend the countries that we have these treatities with and I'll | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
look into the case and get back to the honourable gentleman. While we | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
are at it, perhaps we can search for the individual donor to the | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
Labour Party. I gearplg there was only one and e-- gather there was | :50:55. | :51:05. | |
:51:05. | :51:06. | ||
only one and he was called Alastair Campbell. Will the Prime Minister | :51:06. | :51:13. | |
join me in congratulating Burnley football club, who, in partnership | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
with a local university, have delivered the first university of | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
football business in the UK, which has generated immense interest | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
among the young people in the country and across Europe. I with | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
will happily praise the work of the club. I've been very struck in this | :51:30. | :51:33. | |
job of the privilege you get of seeing different football clubs | :51:33. | :51:40. | |
working not just on their own football skills, but on inspiring | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
young people not only here, but around the world. There is a huge | :51:45. | :51:49. | |
role for football to change people's lives and I fully support | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
what our clubs do. Contrary to the answer last week, can the Prime | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
Minister confirm that the winter fuel allowance this year will be | :51:58. | :52:07. | |
�50 less for the over-60's and �100 for the over-80's. Age UK say it's | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
a cut. Does he agree? That payment will be as set out by Labour in | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
their March Budget, one that he supported, but at the same time the | :52:16. | :52:19. | |
increase in the cold weather payments is actually going to be | :52:19. | :52:28. | |
maintained throughout this Parliament. Small and medium-sized | :52:28. | :52:31. | |
enterprises are vital around the country. But sadly the cost of new | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
regulations put on businesses under the previous Government amount to a | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
starringering �90 billion a year. - - staggering �90 billion a year. | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
What is the Prime Minister doing to tackle that unacceptable burden on | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
British businesses There's an unacceptable burden in terms of | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
regulation and so what this Government does specifically on the | :52:51. | :52:59. | |
retail sectors, we have removed 257 regulations. We have the new one in, | :52:59. | :53:05. | |
so any minister wanting to introduce a regulation has to | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
abolish one first. All regulations are up on a website for everyone to | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
challenge to see what is still necessary and what we can get rid | :53:12. | :53:18. | |
of. The Prime Minister will be aware that right across the whole | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
of the United Kingdom, we have some excellent industries, businesses, | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
trained staffed within those companies, but because of the | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
decision to put off banking reform until after the next election, | :53:33. | :53:39. | |
surely that will have a detrimental effect on the companies and it will | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
cause a major difficulty? The point I would make is that we ask | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
professor Vickers to look at this issue and he recommended | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
legislating in this Parliament, but introducing the reforms at the same | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
time as the changes elsewhere in 2019. That is exactly what we are | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
going to do. But at the same time, it seems vital that we address the | :53:59. | :54:02. | |
issue of the failure of banks to lend enough money, particularly to | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
small businesses. That's why we put in the Merlin agreement in place | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
and that's why bank lending is not going down, as the Shadow | :54:12. | :54:19. | |
Chancellor is wrong about, as with everything. It's going up. With | :54:19. | :54:21. | |
with the closure of the Derbyshire building society headquarters in my | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
constituency, perfectly situationed to take the Green Investment Bank, | :54:25. | :54:34. | |
with the move from Derby to Nottingham and the Post Office | :54:34. | :54:40. | |
sorting centre and other offices and with the closure of another | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
company and the potential closure of bombardier, would the Prime | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
Minister encourage his Secretary of State to look at sending more Civil | :54:49. | :54:53. | |
Service jobs to Derbyshire so that we can have more employment in the | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
area? She makes an important point. I know that there are real concerns | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
because of what has happened at Bombardier and let me say this, on | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
the issue of the Green Investment Bank, I know there are going to be | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
many bids to house this excellent institution. On the issue of | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
Bombardier, let me say this - I think it's encouraging to hear that | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
the Department of Transport is looking into the possibility of | :55:16. | :55:20. | |
upgrading an existing fleet of their diesel trains to enable them | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
to run using electric power. This could be a good breakthrough. The | :55:24. | :55:26. | |
fact is, about the previous contract and we have discussed this | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
in the House before, it was established by the last Government. | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
We had to follow those instructions. That's why that contract had to be | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
awarded elsewhere, but we looking to the future of the company and | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
Derby and we want to make sure this is a bright future. Last week, the | :55:43. | :55:46. | |
Prime Minister told the honourable member for South Derbyshire he | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
would do everything he could to help Bomb yardier, but the British | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
train building industry is hanging in the balance now, as a result of | :55:54. | :56:00. | |
the plan to build trains in Germany, rather than in Derby. Can I ask the | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
Prime Minister if he will meet me and a cross-party delegation from | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
Derby to discuss how to review the contract and it is possible to | :56:08. | :56:13. | |
review it, in order to secure the future of the industry and keep | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
Bombardier in Britain? We want to keep it in Great Britain and the | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
company working and that's why I've just said there is this new | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
opportunity. This should be set in the context of the fact that we are | :56:25. | :56:30. | |
putting a lot of investment into our rail industry. �14 billion into | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
network grants for Network Rail. 3.8 billion for Crossrail. 750 | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
million for high-speed II. This is a Government that wants to do more | :56:39. | :56:46. | |
for our railway industry and wants to do more more Bomb yard -- | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
bombardier were so badly left down. Campaigners on the right want to | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
get rid of the 50 pence tax rate and those on the left want to | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
juggle with VAT. Will the Prime Minister agree that the most fair | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
way to maintain confidence in the economy is to stick to the | :57:00. | :57:02. | |
Government's policies, but accelerate the process of raising | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
the tax threshold to �10,000? have made and I'm grateful to my | :57:08. | :57:12. | |
friend for thinks question, but we have raised the perm allowance | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
significantly in our budgets and taken over one million people out | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
of tax altogether and committed to going further. On that tax, we | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
should look at the evidence of this. We are going to find out soon just | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
how much money this tax is raising. Let's look at it and see whether | :57:27. | :57:33. | |
it's a good way of raising money or not. Prime Minister, when the | :57:33. | :57:38. | |
Croydon riots hit our borough on that terrible Monday night, there | :57:38. | :57:43. | |
were, at most, 100 police officers on the streets, including some very | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
young Community Support Officers, facing mobs, hundreds and hundreds | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
strong. The result being that my borough was undefended, it was | :57:51. | :57:56. | |
burnt, it was looted. Can I put it to the Prime Minister, not as a | :57:56. | :58:02. | |
partisan point, but as a sensible point, that when the facts - when | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
the criminal facts change in England, following the riots, a | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
sensible Government would pause for thought and change its mind and the | :58:09. | :58:15. | |
last thing it would do is reduce police numbers? Firstly, I came to | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
visit Croydon and met with him and met with a number of people, who | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
had seen some shocking things happen in that borough, that must | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
not be allowed to happen again. Let me say to him, even after the | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
changes we are making in police funding, the police will be able to | :58:27. | :58:32. | |
surge in a way that they did in Croydon and did in Tottenham and in | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
Manchester and in Salford. The problem on the night of the riots | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
was that surge didn't take place soon enough. I think he's confusing | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
the response to the riots in the immediate circumstances and what is | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
happening to police funding. The police have assured me they will be | :58:48. | :58:51. | |
able to deliver as many police on to the streets of London as they | :58:51. | :58:59. | |
did when they got control of the riots. Following the question from | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
the honourable member from Keighley, would the Prime Minister agree to | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
meet other organisations to reassure their members that the | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
proposed changes to the planning system don't represent a blank | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
cheque? I'm very happy to meet anyone to discuss this. I know the | :59:17. | :59:26. | |
National Trust have specifically met already with the planning | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
minister and have had a lot of reassurances about what the | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
planning changes mean. Let me a it again - because we'll have stronger, | :59:34. | :59:37. | |
local plans, that gives local people a greater ability to decide | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
what is in the local plan and what is out of the local plan. At the | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
same time, having a presumption in favour of sustainable development | :59:44. | :59:47. | |
will cut a lot of bureaucracy in the system. We are not changing the | :59:47. | :59:52. | |
rules for greenbelt or ANOBs or special sites of scientific | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
interest and all the rest. I do think people need to focus on that, | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
because what we need to happen is sensible, sustainable development | :00:00. | :00:04. | |
to go ahead, without the bureaucracy and topdown system, but | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
with all the reassurances that people need. Last week the Prime | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
Minister told this House that the number of young people not in | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
education, employment or training was coming down. In actual fact the | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
published figures show that over the last three quarters it has | :00:18. | :00:20. | |
risen by 27,000. Would the Prime Minister like to take this | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
opportunity to correct the record? I think he'll find what I actually | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
said was that the number of 16-18- year-olds who are not in employment, | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
education or training has come down. Indeed, they have come down and | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
that is a step forward, but if you look at the overall number of youth | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
unemployment it has gone up and that is unacceptable and that's why | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
we need the work programme, we need the more apprenticeships and more | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
university places and it's that, that this Government is putting its | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
money into. Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating all the | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
winners in last night's women in public life awards, including the | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
excellent Mary Mears in Brighton and Hove. I will certainly join my | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
honourable friend in doing that and congratulating the winners. As I | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
said to my honourable friend, the member nor Maidstone, I think we | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
need to do more to promote women in public life, whether in politics or | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
local Government. This party took some steps, I think frankly we | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
still have more to do, because there are many organisations in our | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
country where we don't have equality of opportunity, where we | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
need to have that, and it's not enough just to open the door and | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
say it's able to let everyone in. There are occasions when you need | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
to take positive action in order to get this done. Now that the Prime | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
Minister has committed himself fully to backing the boundary | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
changes, which will reduce the number of MPs in this House, and | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
ensure that Prime Minister's questions reflects the subject that | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
has been most debated in the corridors of Westminster over the | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
past number of days, will the Prime Minister now commit to delivering | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
on the other pledge that he and his colleagues made, before the | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
election, which was to deal with the scandal of people who are | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
elected to this House who do not take their seats and continue to be | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
paid millions of pounds in allowances, included the equivalent | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
of short money, which they can use for party political purposes, | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
whilst we have to use it for Parliamentary purposes. Please give | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
us a vote to deal with that. Firstly, on the boundary review, | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
what we are looking at here is trying to make sure a basic | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
fairness, which is that every seat in the House of Commons should be | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
the same size. Today, what we have, is you have got some seats that | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
have as many as 90,000 voters and some seats, including some in Wales, | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
that have as few as 40,000. How can that be fair? On the issue in terms | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
of Northern Ireland and the issue he raises, I haven't changed my | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
view and I think it's an issue that needs addressing. In Kenya last | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
week the father of my constituent was killed and his mother was | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
kidnapped and remains missing. What steps are the British Government | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
taking to assist in the return of Mrs Tebbett and the apprehension of | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
the murderers? We are doing everything we possibly can on this | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
desperately tragic case. I chaired a meeting of cobra about this | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
yesterday to make sure we are co- ordinating everything the | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
Government does. The Foreign Secretary has met with the family | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
today. I think on some of the cases it's not right to air all of the | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
issues in public, but I can reassure him, the family and all | :03:39. | :03:49. | |
:03:49. | :04:03. | ||
that know the family, we'll do A prime minister was talking about | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
a growth strategy, because growth is something he has that precious | :04:07. | :04:14. | |
little of. We saw the parameters of what will dominate this autumn and | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
into the conference season, the economy taking stage. We will hear | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
from our guests in the moment. Concern about unemployment figures | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
is reflected in about 90% of the e- mails. Diane Road, we do not want | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
excuses, we want action to tackle unemployment, not more pain of | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
tuition fees and austerity. Ian sex head, a winner for Ed Miliband, | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
clear questions, a very funny crack at the Chancellor. I cannot imagine | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
what he was referring to. David Cameron could not answer the | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
question without referring to the last government. From Mark Allen, a | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
definite win for Miliband, Cameron repeating questions and looking | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
rattled. This is far more to win in Manchester, as ever, Mr Cameron | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
chooses not to answer the questions about the economy and unemployment. | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
People need a boost. But we had this also from John in Welwyn | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
Garden City, Ed Miliband used his questions correctly for PMQs and | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
was on a par with David Cameron, but Labour still have a problem | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
arguing the economy because they have not pushed their alternative. | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
This is from Trevor in Lancashire, discussing and employment, she and | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
Mr Cameron have reminded Mr Miliband that if his party had not | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
allowed net migration to rise to 200,000 per year, unemployment | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
would not be as high as it is now? From Martin in Wolverhampton, David | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
Miliband, Freudian slip, Ed Miliband has no credibility. The | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
problem we have is a lack of productivity and wealth creation. | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
The Chancellor lashed to the mast. An interesting turn of phrase. | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
something to stare that! -- sniff at! Have we seen the parameters of | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
the British political debate this autumn, the coalition on the back | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
foot over the economy, because of the lack of growth and the huge | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
squeeze on living standards? Labour on the offensive, now, because they | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
see a big opportunity. As we also know from the poll in the Times | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
this morning, the public is not yet convinced that Labour or Mr | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
Miliband in particular knows what to do about the economy either. Is | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
that what will dominate the conference season? Yes, we are in a | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
holding position at the moment where you have the political mood | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
and the public mood beginning to say, we buy the idea that the | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
deficit needs to be reduced, but we are looking to see what more the | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
government and everybody else can do to promote growth, find jobs. | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
That is a question that Ed Miliband was asking of the government. It is | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
a question that is being asked across government, which in | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
government, by the city, everybody is saying, what more can you do? We | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
had a speech from Nick Clegg having half a crack at it. The government | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
is promising more. Nick Clegg was talking about what he had set up, | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
and we are going to hear more from David Cameron at the party | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
conference, or from George Osborne at the Autumn Statement. 29th | :07:13. | :07:19. | |
November. Can the government get through this period and come up | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
with something? We heard David Cannon at Prime Minister's | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
Questions repeating his list, cutting corporation tax, etcetera | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
etcetera. -- David Cameron. But the government is clearly aware that | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
that list is a holding pattern and they have to do more. If there is a | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
plan for growth, or at least if plans are taking centre-stage, she | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
endured apartments come in Malta that? -- shouldn't your department | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
come in more to that? I was looking at the figures, there are 330 | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
houses with planning permission, but they are not being built. | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
think the figure is smaller, but any house which has planning | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
permission at not being built needs to be got going, and we are looking | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
at ways to manoeuvre or put pressure on housebuilders to start | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
building. Shouldn't it be time- limited, if you get planning | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
permission? That is my... That is one possibility, but let me also | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
said that half of the house builders are very small businesses. | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
If you force them to build when they cannot, you send more | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
businesses bust and make more people unemployed. Government is | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
complex, they are inter-related facts, but the unemployment figures | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
today were not what you would want to say. For everybody who has been | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
experiencing that, you know, along with the MPs who have been | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
experiencing the thought of it, it is a difficult process. The | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
difference is, which was not mentioned there, is that | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
unemployment is below where it was 18 months ago at the election. Are | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
they million private-sector jobs have been created. There is, I | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
think, just a glimpse of the idea that if you can create sufficient | :09:00. | :09:05. | |
dynamism in the economy, then there is a way through this, and adding | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
to the debt, spending more public money is the opposite to that. That | :09:08. | :09:15. | |
is the way to get into more mess and higher repayments. There are | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
750,000 long-term empty properties in Britain. I can tell you exactly, | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
we have put �100 million into a fund to make announcements any day | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
now about how we expect that to be spent by local communities to help | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
bring those homes back into use. Some homes are empty because people | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
are moving around and that sort of thing, so the true figure is lower, | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
but I absolutely back that 100%. Either way, putting 2.5 billion | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
into the decent homes programmed which Tessa was mentioning earlier. | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
We are keen to see that fish, and that makes homes more habitable as | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
well. -- See that finished. Why do you think so many Labour voters do | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
not think Ed Miliband is prime ministerial material? I think that | :10:00. | :10:07. | |
is changing, and I think that... I think that what Ed is doing, and | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
over the last six months, he is developing an account of Britain | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
from which policy flows, from which position as for the Labour Party, | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
focusing on the pressure for families that do not consider | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
themselves to be rich, do not consider themselves to be poor, the | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
pessimism about the prospects that people feel, about their own | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
children. But also recognising, in very tough terms, the need to | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
address the deficit. When will that be reflected in public opinion? The | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
poll in the Times this morning is disastrous reading for him, among | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
his own supporters. Andrew, it is not disastrous. 40% of Labour | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
voters do not think he is prime ministerial material. Labour | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
voters! I hope that I will come back many times over the next three | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
years and you will say that position changed. Absolutely | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
clearly. Now, there is a second point I wanted to make, having | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
answered that question, which is that you know a Prime Minister is | :11:11. | :11:17. | |
on the ropes when they start reeling off lists, but what David | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
Cameron has got to think about... He was truly terrible today, and he | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
is actually a pretty slick and self-confident PMQs performer, but | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
the other story today is how the Conservatives have been deserted by | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
women voters. And there is a very important point here. I mean, I am | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
doing a speech at the launch of some research we have done on the | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
modern British family later today with Britain Thinks. You know, | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
having set in a number of these focus groups, are what these | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
mothers are playing back is what Ed Miliband is talking about. Now, the | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
Tories, we know, are very worried about the decision of women, and | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
David Cameron's performance to date did absolutely nothing, scoffing at | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
the cost of childcare, which is the means by which women are able to | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
work and make their family afford everything they need. What was | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
that? Don't go on? I didn't say anything, but she is not to turn it | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
into a monologue! James, the one thing that was not mentioned at all | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
at PMQs, and it is the dark cloud hanging over us all at the moment, | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
is the eurozone crisis, which could be heading towards the end game now. | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
That is the other issue which could hang over the way the crash of | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
Lehman Brothers did over the party conference season. That is the | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
other thing. I saw Bloomberg reporting yesterday that there is | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
now a 98% expectation that the Greeks will default. And you have | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
got Chancellor Merkel pleading with them, saying, don't even raised the | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
issue, don't speculate about it, to try to calm the markets. This is | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
the cloud hanging over the government at the moment, because | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
if that goes as badly as the worst case scenarios are, that would | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
force the government to change all its parameters. At the moment, | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
there is a debate about finding growth and what the government can | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
do, but if the eurozone goes down and you have another 2008 Mark Two, | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
then all the parameters change, and the government at the moment are | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
trying to plan ahead, see if they can foresee how they could get out | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
of that. The EC and the worry is genuinely there, but at the moment | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
they say, what can we do? -- but the fear and the worry. Apart from | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
George Osborne try to encourage fiscal unity. As long as he is not | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
part of it. Thank you for that, James. Watch this space over the | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
weekend. Over the past few weeks, thousands | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
of us were last seen him and we pay for our gas and electricity entries. | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
Most of the big energy companies have put prices up, but did you | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
know that you are also paying for many of the Government's green | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
initiatives through your energy bills? We sent Matthew Sinclair of | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
the TaxPayers' Alliance and the author of a new book on green taxes | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
are a former power station to give us his take on a rising energy | :14:15. | :14:25. | |
:14:25. | :14:28. | ||
When you open your electricity and gas bill, are you aware of just how | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
much of that cast is the result of attempts to cut greenhouse gas | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
emissions? Are you prepared, can you afford the drastic rises in | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
prices that are coming as a result of draconian climate change | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
regulation? To meet our environmental targets, we need to | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
invest more in the energy sector than Germany, France and Spain put | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
together. Aim for all that investment means higher profits for | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
the energy companies. -- paying. Paying for higher profits means | :14:56. | :15:03. | |
higher bills. �200 billion just does not come cheap. Independent | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
analysts think the huge investment needed in the energy sector is | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
going to drive a more than 50% rise in real terms in deal of your | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
household bills. Even if we use energy more efficiently, we are | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
still looking at more than a third increase in our bills, and we have | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
to pay for the extra insulation it takes to be more a vision. Despite | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
the huge cost, this enormous that of does very little to affect | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
global warming. Our paltry share of global emissions, less than 2% of | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
the total, is almost meaningless, particularly if we are just | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
exporting those emissions, moving their missions and jobs from | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
Runcorn to Ryan Donk does not aim for the climate. Politicians make | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
all these measures less cost- effective by picking losers. The | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
most expected sources of income like solar panels debt by far the | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
most subsidy. It would be more sensible to focus on research for | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
now and then deploy these new sources of energy when they are | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
affordable. Big businesses make billions in windfall profits. | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
Governments levy hefty green taxes. It is consumers who pay the price. | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
The people who will be hit the hardest of the poor and the elderly. | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
They are the most vulnerable families in Britain, and it is | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
simply wrong for politicians do and then the bill for this expensive, | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
corrupted and failing agenda. Particularly at a time when there | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
are so many other pressures on their finances. They cannot afford | :16:35. | :16:45. | |
:16:45. | :16:51. | ||
Matthew now joins us. The point you made is that we need to focus on | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
research before we actually adopt the forms, but with predictions | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
that the light may go off soon, isn't it crucial we look now and | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
that we use them rather than wasting more time on research? | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
should be separating out two challenges. One of keeping the | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
light on and then cutting emissions. Keeping the light on doesn't have | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
to necessity any of the big costs which talking about here. The | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
amount that needs to be invested in repolice station pts and renewal in | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
the reports I was talking about there, is much less than the amount | :17:21. | :17:29. | |
needed to meet targets. Offshore wind that is costing all the money | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
there. I was trying to set out a plan that looks as more at how we | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
can develop new options and make clean energy cheaper, rather than | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
making dirty energy more expensive. Even if we are willing to pay more, | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
other countries aren't. Saying we need everyone to take up the more | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
expensive sources is vanity that doesn't get us anywhere, because we | :17:53. | :18:00. | |
are less than 2% of the global total. In terms of the viewers and | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
the e-mails about the costs, would it be better from the punters' | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
point of view if it was made clear what percentages are going towards | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
green taxes? Would you be in favour of more transparency on people's | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
bills? I think that would be great, because people don't know. How many | :18:18. | :18:25. | |
people could even tell you the European Union emissions. All the | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
policies have never really been debated. There has never been the | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
contentious debate as in Australia and the United States and Canada | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
and as a result that means people are not aware. They rate it as the | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
most important economic issue, more important than the eurozone, than | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
any other. Even so if we researched in some of the other forms and you | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
put more transparency on the bill so people could see how much was | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
going towards that, you have to accept that over the years not | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
enough has been invested into our energy supply so we are all having | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
to pay for it now and we have to get on with it? It's a fiction to | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
say that Britain's energy sector isn't fit for purpose. It's only - | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
Enough has been invested? It's only not fit for purpose if you have the | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
idea that we need to generate more energy by 2020 in renewables. What | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
Britain did was invested a huge amount in gas and there is a | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
relatively affordable - we can all find the problems, but we had a | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
relatively affordable way forward in the dash for gas that happened | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
and a relatively low emissions way forward. We stand out as being low | :19:31. | :19:38. | |
renewables and it's the word that is driving up the huge costs. | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
you a climate change sceptic? think it's real and I think that | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
man makes a contribution to it. I'm no scientist but I'm willing to | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
debate on that basis. The problem is the cost and failure of the | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
policies. On the cost issue, Grant Shapps, Matthew has outlined it's | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
the number one issue, does that surprise you? That is what people | :19:58. | :20:04. | |
are most worried about? It doesn't surprise me at all. I have to take | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
issue with one or two of the ideas raised. Solar power, for example, | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
even without the Government's subsidy, the feed tariff, is a win | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
for hundreds of my constituents who have got solar panels on their roof. | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
There has been a scheme that every single council house has got the | :20:23. | :20:29. | |
offer and people have taken it up and it's giving them money off | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
every year. What about the tariff, which is an incredible amount | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
compared to the price of the energy and the other subsidies.? We know | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
that it only saves at the high level to get the industry kick- | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
started and it will come down in future years. Up until next April | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
is the best time if you are thinking of putting cells on the | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
roof. The point is this - houses account for 27% of all the Co2 and | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
buildings is 50%. So unless you grapple with the problems of | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
climate change, but by the way, will be here longer than the | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
economic problems now. Do you accept that basically people's | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
bills are going to go up something like �300 a year, the average bill, | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
as a result of the Government's green energy policies? No, I don't | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
think that is right. According to one of the senior policy advisers | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
to David Cameron, he says that is what is going to happen in a leaked | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
memo. I can always take a line out of those. He goes on to say, "The | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
policies are set to add �300 a year to the average household fuel | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
bill." Put them together. We have heard there is a generous feed-in | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
tariff available for solar and quite generous for others like | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
heating on the roof also. If you put the two things together, I've | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
just said it's possible my constituents are experiencing �200 | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
year improximity by going for solar. You can offset the rises. That's | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
all right for some. It's not all right for the most vulnerable | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
families who will be hit. talking about my council tenants, | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
who have had the scheme done through third parties. They are | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
fitting the panels and letting the householders get the money for it. | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
Everybody else is paying for that and they don't necessarily want to. | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
That is the point. They want to see how much is added on to my bill to | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
pay for your council tenants' benefits of having that energy and | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
they don't want to pay up to �300 a year. No-one wants to pay more | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
money. You agree that others around the country are paying for that? | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
have to get to a position in the country where we decarbonise the | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
energy supply and you can only do that by taxing the really dirty | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
things and giving advantage to the things that are really clean like | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
solar. It's perfectly sensible and people can mitigate some of the | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
rises by very inexperiencive things like a �15 metre on your window | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
sill to be clear whether you have left things switched on and I think | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
those could be practical and help people. Briefly, Tessa, isn't the | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
problem and the challenge over the next 20 years we'll have a decline | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
in our own gas supply and what will we do? That has to be addressed. I | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
think that Matthew - We can't do both, can we? No, but what we have | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
to address now and people watching at home are thinking not about what | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
is going to happen in 20 years, but how they'll pay the bill that will | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
come through the door at the end of this month. There are six million | :23:26. | :23:33. | |
people in this country who are in fuel poverty. Regrettably the | :23:33. | :23:42. | |
Government are winding up under the legislation Consumer Focus which | :23:42. | :23:50. | |
represents consumer interests in relation to the fuel companies. | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
whole debate here is largely meaningless. Neither Consumer Focus | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
nor the green deal are going to make a big difference to the | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
majority of consumers who will see mass jif upgrades in their bills | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
and -- massive upgrades in their bills and that can't be offset. | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
There will be a third increase. I'll have to stop you there. How | :24:10. | :24:17. | |
many of you are old enough to remember this? | :24:17. | :24:25. | |
# English beef and Irish stu # For every meal, we know of course, | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
everything goes with HP Sauce ...." "$$TRANSMIT This traditional | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
British sauce was named HP, after the inventor who was a | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
Nottinghamshire grocer heard it was being served in the Houses of | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
Parliament. It was said to be a favourite of Harold Wilson's when | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
he wanted to be thought of as a man of the people and questions were | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
asked in Parliament when production was re-located from Birmingham to | :24:51. | :24:58. | |
the Netherlands. The Netherlands?! That was a few years ago. Now, it's | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
US owners have -- its US owners have caused fresh controversy by | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
tinkering with the restcy. It is still made from tomatos and | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
tamarind and molasses, but the amount of salt has been cut, in | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
line with Government targets. It's good to see the deregulation agenda | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
is going strong! We are joined by Geoffrey Robinson. He's a fan of | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
the sauce. Many of us are. One of the Midlands MPs who campaigned to | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
keep production in the UK joins us, when it was going to Holland, and | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
it is now owned by the Yanks, but we need to test it ourselves, so | :25:36. | :25:46. | |
:25:46. | :25:48. | ||
John come on in. This is from the executive dining room. We'll remind | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
ourselves of the taste of the original sauce. Right, now. Let me | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
just check this out here. Come on, Jo, get stuck in. I've been looking | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
forward to this. This is the new stuff. I need to get the original | :26:02. | :26:12. | |
:26:12. | :26:13. | ||
first. Can I have one? Of course you can. I need one there. The old | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
stuff, definitely better! It's spicier, I think. While we are | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
tasting all this and you all have to try this. This is an important | :26:23. | :26:29. | |
consumer test. We did give a chance for the owners to speak. The owners | :26:29. | :26:35. | |
are now Heinz of the 57 varieties, to defend themselves and they said | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
this: this very minor change to our famous recipe was made in November | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
last year and rigorous consumer tests confirmed there was no | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
significant difference in flavour between the old and the new recipes. | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
Can you taste the difference? you for that, Heinz. There went the | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
way of coke, I would like to remind you. What is the story here? It's a | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
very sad one. I think the reduction of salt is just silly. We are all | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
in favour of that, but to take it out of a recipe which is long- | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
established and written there. remember the bottle used to have | :27:10. | :27:20. | |
:27:20. | :27:22. | ||
the labels in French. It was great. They are now in Birmingham mews | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
seem and the whole country is becoming an archaeological | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
industrial site instead of industry, but there is a serious issue, apart | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
from the salt, ownership of British assets and the subsequent move | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
abroad. This is the nanny state gone mad, Tessa. I can see the | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
Daily Mail headline now! You have ten seconds to defend yourself. | :27:47. | :27:54. | |
not continue to sell both and mark one quote low salt.". There is a | :27:54. | :28:04. | |
:28:04. | :28:05. | ||
difference. I don't know whether I can tell it is less salt. It's | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
silly. It's consumed in small quantities. I'm hungry enough this | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
lunch time to eat either. It may enhance the flavour of soups and | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
stews and hash browns. They called it Wilson's gravy for a while. | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
have to move on, but we have put it back on the map and it's time to | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
put you out of your misery. Ronald Reagan going for the Republican | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
nomination was the clue. The answer was of course, 1979. Even though | :28:34. | :28:42. | |
Martin mentioned that 1980 date. You have to pick a winner. The | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
winner is Richard Scott from Dunstable. Richard, the mug is | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
yours. That's it for today. We thank all of your guests. We praise | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
HP. Special thanks to Grant and Tessa for being our guests. We are | :28:54. | :28:59. |