Browse content similar to 22/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. This is the Daily Politics. | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
Today's top story: Former Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, calls for more | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
public spending cuts to fund tax cuts for business. As lobbying | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
intensifies ahead of next month's Budget, has the Chancellor got any | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
room for manoeuvre? Iain Duncan Smith's flagship work | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
experience programme for jobseekers is under pressure, as Tesco's, | :00:56. | :01:03. | |
Argos and Superdrug demand changes to the scheme. So is it a great | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
leg-up for the unemployed, or the equivalent of 'forced labour'? | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
It's Wednesday so it must be Prime Minister's Questions. We'll bring | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
you live coverage of PMQs from Noon as Ed Miliband squares up to David | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
Cameron. And, as Nick Clegg visits an | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
Olympics venue, the writer and historian, Iain Sinclair, says the | :01:21. | :01:31. | |
:01:31. | :01:32. | ||
Games are a disaster for East London. We need to defend the magic | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
and the interest of what this area already was - a place of industrial | :01:37. | :01:47. | |
:01:47. | :01:51. | ||
fossils, wild beauty and thriving All that to come before 1:00pm, and | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
with us for the whole programme two accomplished political performers. | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
In fact you could say they are the Adele and James Corden of | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
Westminster! Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, and the | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
policing minister, Nick Herbert. Welcome to you both. Now, there are | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
still four weeks to go before the Budget but George Osborne is | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
probably already a bit fed up of all the demands being made on him | :02:14. | :02:23. | |
and the unwanted public advice from some of his own backbenchers. | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
Yes, the former Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, has returned to politics | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
with a call for business regulations to be scrapped and | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
further public spending reductions to pay for tax cuts Some other | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
Conservative backbenchers are threatening to rebel unless the | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
Chancellor changes plans to cut child benefit from all higher rate | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
tax payers The CBI says that business taxes should be cut by | :02:39. | :02:49. | |
:02:49. | :02:52. | ||
�500 million to boost growth and investment. Lib Dem, David Laws, | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
says pension tax relief for high earners should be scrapped to pay | :02:55. | :03:01. | |
for raising the income tax threshold to �10,000 immediately. | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
And Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, has also called for tax cuts | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
suggesting a range of options for the Chancellor to be paid for by | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
extra borrowing. So, Nick Herbert, will the | :03:09. | :03:17. | |
Chancellor listen to his former Cabinet colleague, Liam Fox? They | :03:17. | :03:24. | |
used to share a curry together in the Treasury. We will have to wait | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
and see what happens in the Budget. There is quite an important point | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
of difference between the various representations that have been made | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
for some for reductions in taxation which should be funded by changes | :03:42. | :03:49. | |
and reduction in public spending. And Ed Balls, who is saying let us | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
reduce taxation, but actually we will fund it by borrowing. It is a | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
fundamental difference and fundamentally wrong. Why is it | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
wrong? It would put at risk, confidence in our economy, and at | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
risk, confidence in interest rates which is important for businesses | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
and households with mortgages and for the prospects of returning to | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
sustainable growth. Caroline Flint, what do you say to that? | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
Government is borrowing �158 billion more based on their | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
planned... Over a five-year period. It is part of their plans to cut | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
public spending. Yes, there would be cuts in public spending but you | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
have to stimulate growth and jobs as well on that is why we suggested | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
a temporary VAT reductions. It would cost 12 billion but the | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
dividends would out way that with getting people spending again. But | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
presently people are worrying about spending and it is having an | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
adverse effect on the economy. A temporary VAT cuts would create the | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
opportunity for families to spend more. We think it is the right | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
thing to do. You will never agree and these are well established a | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
opposing positions. But Liam Fox also said it is intellectually | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
unsustainable to believe workplace rights should remain untouchable. | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
Do you agree? We are taking measures to make it easier for | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
businesses to hire people and some of the changes we are making to | :05:22. | :05:28. | |
employment tribunals are about that. So you do agree? The flexibility is | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
important and we are taking steps to enhance that. The do you agree? | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
I think I have just agreed. wanted you to say the words. | :05:38. | :05:46. | |
agreed. We are getting somewhere. Should the Chancellor perform a U- | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
turn and child benefit for higher rate tax players -- taxpayers. He | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
might be defeated in the Commons if he doesn't. This is about the | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
Budget and what the Chancellor is going to say next month. It is | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
never a good idea for his colleagues to predict what he is | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
going to say. There is this idea you start paying benefit right of | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
the income scale even to people who don't require it. I think in all of | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
the changes we have been making, we have been focused on the lowest | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
paid. It is one of the important reasons we are making progress from | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
paying tax at all. Just for clarity, in this case, you don't agree he | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
should do a U-turn? I certainly don't agree that he should do a U- | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
turn, but these are matters for the Chancellor next month. Can I say | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
something about this idea to create jobs, you make it easier to sack | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
people which seems to be the Liam Fox argument. When I talk to | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
businesses in my constituency, the small businesses are worried that | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
even if they have more export opportunities, they are afraid to | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
expand because they don't get support from the banks and | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
elsewhere. The answer isn't growing our economy by making it easier to | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
sack people, we need to get lending going again, so small businesses | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
feel confident about taking people on. It is a disgrace there are | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
firms in our country who could expand but cannot do so because of | :07:15. | :07:21. | |
the mess this Government has got us into now. We will be speaking | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
exclusively to Liam Fox in the Sunday politics this weekend. | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
Now to the story that keeps on running - the Government's plans to | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
reform the NHS. This afternoon the Labour Party are staging a debate | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
in the House of Commons, calling on ministers to publish something | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
called the 'risk register' - a detailed analysis of what could | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
potentially go wrong with the proposed changes in the health | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
service. So far the Government has refused to publish the information. | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
We can talk now to a Lib Dem MP who wants the register to be published, | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
Andrew George. Why is it so important to get the | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
register published? Is it best to go into this debate in the dark, or | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
have the best information available. The fact is, it is better to have | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
as much information as possible from Government, if you are going | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
to particularly give the green light to what is going to beat the | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
biggest reorganisation of the health service in its 63 years. | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
People will say it is just another excuse to block the Bill, as they | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
are going through legislation, it is not wise to publish all of the | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
information, there has to be some confidentiality? The debate around | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
the risk register is it you like, a bit of a sideshow. The main issue | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
is the legitimacy of the Bill itself and the impact it is likely | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
to have on the NHS and that is worth the core of the debate is. | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
The debate about the risk register and its publication, which the | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
information tribunal clearly has instructed the Department of Health | :08:55. | :09:03. | |
to publish, is a sideshow, but it is the information and it would be | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
helpful in informing the debate. you think you'll get any more | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
concessions on the NHS bill? have to continue to work as best as | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
we can to achieve concessions. The latest we are pushing for as limo | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
Democrats, is too constrained democratisation of the NHS through | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
proposed amendments in the House of Lords and it is something I am sure | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
will be welcome if we can achieve it. My position is, although we | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
have made the bill less bad, I'm not persuaded the Bill should go | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
through. OK, Andrew George, thanks very much. Nick Herbert, you must | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
be fed up with your Lib Dem coalition colleagues? They have | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
disrupted this Bill all the way through, caused a pause in the | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
legislation, numerous concessions and they still want more. Nick | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
Clegg is reportedly trying to get more concessions so there isn't a | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
revolt at his party's spring conference. What do you say to | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
them? I am not fed up with them and there has been a process of debate | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
about the health reforms. They are important in terms of the transfer | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
of responsibility from the bureaucracy of Primary Care Trust, | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
and putting that responsibility effectively in the hands of GPs | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
through the commissioning groups, giving patients therefore, more | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
control, more choice. Saving money through the reduction in | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
bureaucracy, �4.5 million will be saved. The direction of travel of | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
these reforms are right. The point is, why at this stage are your | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
coalition colleagues still trying to change the Bill yet again? Is | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
that what Nick Clegg should be doing? Is it what you would expect | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
him to be doing? The Government is committed in seen these reforms | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
through. There is a process of Parliamentary debate. There is a | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
debate outside, the Prime Minister met some of the principal players | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
last week. It is perfectly OK to have a discussion about this and | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
people propose amendments. What is important is we maintain the | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
direction of these reforms. It is important the NHS does change, | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
because we needed to adapt to the modern challenges and rising costs | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
of care. It is important we move away from the bureaucratic system | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
we have had in the past and give it the opportunity to save money and | :11:28. | :11:35. | |
give patients more control. But she judges publish the at-risk register, | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
-- Risk Register? No Government has published a risk register. The | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
previous Government didn't. Andy Burnham himself refused a Freedom | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
of Information Act request to publish the risk register when he | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
was Health Secretary. Now he is calling for it, which is | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
hypocritical. Blatant opportunism? We are talking about a transition | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
risk register which is only to do with this massive reorganisation of | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
the NHS, which this coalition Government has decided to embark on. | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
When Andy Burnham was in Government, the issue was the department will | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
register. But this is different. isn't. It is, that is why the | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
information commissioner allowed it. When Andy was in Government, the | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
Information Commissioner did not insist. It is a risk register about | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
the reorganisation of the NHS. The information commissioner has seen | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
it and has said there is information that is pertinent to | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
the debate about the changes to the NHS. That is why we have is motion | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
today and white the Liberal Democrats can go with this today. | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
And why not just publish it? It is naked political opportunism. You're | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
not going to get civil servants to give advice of these risk registers | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
which requires them to set out things like worst case scenarios if | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
what they think is going to happen is, it is going to be published and | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
used for partisan political advantage. Governments have not | :13:11. | :13:19. | |
published these in the past. This is about a bill, an act that will | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
be made by you if you had your way. The public have never heard of a | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
risk register before. This is a sideshow about what the debate is | :13:28. | :13:35. | |
about, which is the importance of these reforms to secure the NHS for | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
the future. Naked political opportunism! We | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
have never heard that on this programme. | :13:45. | :13:53. | |
Is the Government's work experience scheme in trouble? It was hailed as | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
a way to help some of our one million unemployed 16 to 24 year | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
olds get jobs, providing work experience whilst participants | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
claim Jobseeker's Allowance. But it's not quite gone to plan. | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
Critics have accused companies involved of using slave labour and | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
now some of those big stores have also expressed concerns. So what | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
was the big idea, Jo? It must all have seemed so simple | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
when the Department for Work and Pensions came up with the scheme. | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
So how does it work? Under the Work Experience programme, young people | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
on benefits are offered placements of up to two months while still | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
receiving Jobseeker's Allowance plus expenses. The Government says | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
it's a voluntary scheme and participants can pull out in the | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
first week without sanctions. But pulling out any later could mean | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
they lose their benefits. Firms who have signed up include Boots, | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
McDonald's and Primark. Over 34,000 people have taken up the scheme and | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
50% of those have stopped claiming benefits. Work and Pensions | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, says the scheme gives participants | :14:44. | :14:50. | |
experience, a line for their CV and a stint in business. But not | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
everyone agrees. Critics say people aren't able to do work experience | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
in their chosen field and that big companies are profiting from free | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
labour. Or "slave labour". They say that the scheme isn't voluntary as | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
those who pull out lose their benefits. So is the scheme in | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
danger of failing apart? Tesco, one of the firms who backed the scheme | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
has announced it'll offer paid placements with a guarantee of a | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
job to all those people it takes on - if they do well. And Argos and | :15:20. | :15:22. | |
Superdrug say they're suspending their involvement pending talks | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
with the DWP to ensure the scheme is voluntary and benefits won't be | :15:26. | :15:36. | |
:15:36. | :15:39. | ||
removed from those who leave the scheme. But Hhecalls the scheme's | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
critics "modern-day Luddites" and And we are joined by Anne Marie | :15:44. | :15:51. | |
O'Reilly, from the campaign group Boycott Workfare. We can see the | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
absurdity in a multi-millionaire minister calling people jobs snobs. | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
By at you do not normally get paid work experience but in this case | :16:00. | :16:08. | |
they will get jobseeker's allowance of --. They have to work on threat | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
of sanctions. That is after they signed up. We have been contacted | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
by people this week who having seen it in the headlines, have found out | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
for the first time it is voluntary because that is not how it is being | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
portrayed. Once they signed up to it, they can step away very early | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
without sanctions but if they stay on it for a while, there is as | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
sanction. Most people will think, better to be getting some work | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
experience, getting up in the morning, mixing with colleagues, | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
and sitting at home doing nothing. The opting for one week is true of | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
only one of the government's five schemes. Other people put people to | :16:55. | :17:03. | |
work on threat of sanction it... How are you going to get a job if | :17:03. | :17:13. | |
:17:13. | :17:14. | ||
These schemes are designed to hold another subsidy to big business. | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
ASDA, McDonald's and Tesco can afford to pay wages and they are | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
not. The government is basically introducing an eight-week, unpaid | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
interviewed for jobs? 1100 people worked for Tesco on the schemes and | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
did not get a job from it, which is hundreds of thousands of hours. | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
That is unpaid work. The taxpayer is paying them. Maybe we have a | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
right to expect them to do something for that money. What is | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
wrong with that principle? Young people earning �53 a week on | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
jobseeker's allowance, that is �200 a month. The idea that they should | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
be working 30 hour weeks in order to have the bare minimum to survive | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
is absurd and people can see that. That is why Iain Duncan-Smith is | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
coming out with mad accusations because the public at large can see | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
this is a threat to wall of us, because it is replacing paid work | :18:10. | :18:19. | |
and driving down wages -- threat to all of us. But you on the | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
jobseeker's Allowance, �53.45 for a young person a week, that works out | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
at �1.50 an hour. That is not what I would regard as much experience. | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
That is doing things for nothing. These people would be on this | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
benefit anyway. The question is, should they be allowed to | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
voluntarily joined a scheme that gives them experience? 34,000 have | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
been through this scheme and over half of them have gone into work so | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
it has benefited them and surely that is a good thing. What on earth | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
is wrong with that? In terms of these people who said they have | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
received sanctions, 200 people have received sanctions. You have the | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
option of dropping out after the first week if you do not like it. | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
This has been a good experience for people who would otherwise be on | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
benefits. It is not a form of slave labour, you are confusing it with | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
other schemes... Why are big companies like Tesco and Argos up | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
in arms? Chris Grayling, the minister in charge, said that you | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
were running a disgraceful campaign and when Tesco said, we are not too | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
happy about this, he said it was a U-turn and that it was a better | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
offer for young people. Which bit is the right? The Tesco offer is a | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
good offer! It is a good thing, if not a bad thing! You do not think | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
it is a disgraceful campaign? a misleading campaign. It has | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
benefited a lot of young people with experience while they are | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
claiming benefits and I disagree that the public will be worried | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
about this. The public will see it is voluntary, it is commonsense, | :19:59. | :20:07. | |
and it gives something... Can I correct you? Briefly. It is | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
disabled people and people with terminal cancer that this | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
government wants to make work for free. That is not happening for | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
Tesco. It's is voluntary. Do you have examples of Tesco employees | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
people with terminal cancer under this scheme? The government is | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
trying to keep these figures very much under wraps. You made an | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
accusation. Oh I have not made an accusation at Tesco but it is | :20:35. | :20:41. | |
government policy. You can look a DWP policy... You must approve of | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
what the government is doing because it is a continuation of | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
Labour policies. James Purnell said in 2008 that Reggie everyone on | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
benefits should be forced to do something in return -- that | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
everyone on benefits. When I was Employment Minister we had the | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
scheme to get people ready for work through the JobCentre, so they | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
could apply for apprenticeships and training programmes, but the key | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
issue is about how much these schemes will lead to a job and what | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
you can't have, and maybe this is one of the worries of Argos and | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
Tesco and Primark, is this perceived as a conveyor belt of | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
people coming through on eight weeks cycles replacing people who | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
might be in full-time and part-time work and you have to be on the ball | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
about that. Let me put that to the minister. Of those who have been on | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
it, over half have gone into work so there is evidence it is | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
successful in giving people... into permanent jobs? Into jobs or | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
coming off benefits. What is a permanent job these days? There are | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
no figures on the government about what proportion have gone into work. | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
Labour, to its shame, introduce these schemes. The difference is | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
the coalition is rolling it out on a massive scale. Nearly 400,000 | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
people had been referred to the work programme in the last year and | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
the government has yet to tell us how many have been forced into | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
similar unpaid work positions. It can be for up to six months which | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
is disgusting. You do need to give people out of work the opportunity | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
for work placements. The question is, what support is given to these | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
people on the outset and what journey will they be on? That is | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
why the Future Jobs Fund was very much geared to looking at companies, | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
both in the public and private sector, who could look at their | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
work force and say, we will work with the JobCentre and see if we | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
can get some of your people into jobs. We cannot have a conveyor | :22:42. | :22:48. | |
belt... EU have made that point. The Tory MP said last night that | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
your campaign is a lot of people waving a copy of the Socialist | :22:53. | :23:01. | |
Worker? Absurd! Are you a member of that party? Absolutely not. Boycott | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
Workfare was formed by people who have experience of these schemes | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
and is driven by the public who are outraged that the high street and | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
big companies are being propped up by people... It is not forced. | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
does it have a sanction attached to its then? We have to move on. Thank | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
you for being with us. There is an idea that David Cameron is trying | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
to freeze the minimum wage next month. There is all sorts of talk! | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
We have been discussing it for half-an-hour. Stop doing this! | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
come onto his programme for me to tell you what the government is | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
doing? Let's wait and see what the Chancellor does next month! I know | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
when I am not getting anywhere! Now yesterday Communities Secretary | :23:48. | :23:50. | |
Eric Pickles launched the Government's new community | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
integration strategy, a plan to help us all get along with each | :23:53. | :24:03. | |
:24:03. | :24:03. | ||
other a little bit better. Lovely! It is never going to work! One of | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
his proposals is the concept of a Big Lunch, where neighbours sit | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
down together to eat a big lunch. Who would ever have thought that | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
Eric Pickles would come up with the idea of a big lunch? It would not | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
be a small lunch! If the "big society" has disappeared without | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
trace, why not have a big lunch? And what better way to get a big | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
lunch off to a good start than making sure you've all got the best | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
crockery on show. Something like a Daily Politics mug perhaps. You | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
wondered where we were going with that! So did I because I had not | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
seen the script before! But to get your hands on one you will have to | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
win our Guest the Year competition. Can you remember when this | :24:44. | :24:54. | |
:24:54. | :25:19. | ||
A fair local tax is one which does not fall too heavily on any, single | :25:19. | :25:29. | |
:25:29. | :25:44. | ||
# It's no secret #. Lift-off of Colombia on its first | :25:44. | :25:54. | |
:25:54. | :26:02. | ||
# Looking to your heart, you will find #. | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
We as hostages will give our utmost support to see in this problem | :26:07. | :26:16. | |
finished. # Don't tell me it is not worth | :26:16. | :26:26. | |
:26:26. | :26:27. | ||
# At everything I do, they do it for you #. | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
To be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics mug, send your | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
answer to our special quiz email address. And you can see the full | :26:36. | :26:43. | |
terms and conditions for Guess The Year on our website. | :26:43. | :26:50. | |
What it is coming up to midday, so we can look at Big Ben behind me. | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
There she is, he is, or whatever. Prime Minister's Questions is on | :26:55. | :27:02. | |
the way. Nick Robinson is with me. An unusual start to PMQs. We have | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
grown used to starts in which tributes are paid to soldiers who | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
have died in Iraq, then in Afghanistan. I am told that he will | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
pay tribute to a Marines, the veteran, brilliant foreign | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
correspondent of the Sunday Times, somebody I know you knew and I | :27:19. | :27:25. | |
think you even hired, who died today in Syria, who so I think it | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
will be a moment in which the House is reminded of the horror of what | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
is happening in Syria, the risks that some extraordinary brave | :27:34. | :27:43. | |
colleagues of hours take to bring that used to the world. -- ours. | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
She was American by background but became very British, one of the | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
foremost correspondents. I think she was the foremost foreign | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
correspondent of her generation. Wherever there was trouble in the | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
world, you could be pretty sure that she was there and she | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
reported... She was always in the thick of it and her reporting was | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
superb, completely honest, no agenda at all, and full of | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
compassion. It is interesting that she was doing that right down to | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
the last minute and broadcasters... She often got to places that we | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
couldn't get too! People listening to Radio 4 this morning we have | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
heard her voice. I think it was recorded yesterday. There was an | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
added poignancy that hours later we learned she had died in an | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
explosion. Very symbolic as the eye patch that she had to wear over ten | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
years because she lost that when a grenade hit her in Sri Lanka, which | :28:42. | :28:49. | |
was just a sign... Sri Lanka, the Maghreb, Chechnya, she was there. | :28:49. | :28:56. | |
It is very sad, I was very sad when I heard that news today. What else | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
will happen? I will be amazed if Ed Miliband does not go on health. | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
Week after week he has made the Prime Minister looks pretty | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
uncomfortable on the subject. A week ago, before half-term, he was | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
able to get away at some of the tensions within the Tory party. I | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
would be surprised if he did not try to do the same for the Liberal | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
Democrats. What we also know it is the Liberal Democrats are having a | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
spring conference. They do this old fashioned thing called democracy in | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
the Liberal Democrats and that means the leadership cannot control | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
what is debated and there is already an emergency motion tabled, | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
it may not get chosen, calling for the Health and Social Care Bill to | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
get scrapped. It is the same man pushing it to push it a year ago. | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
One of the things that contributed to the pause. There is a petition | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
among at Lib Dems to scrap the Bill and there is certainly a sense that | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
even senior Liberal Democrats might want to water down part of the | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
competition clauses. I heard something very interesting | :30:03. | :30:08. | |
yesterday, Andrews. Nick Clegg is now telling his allies that they | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
are losing more activists over this issue of health than they did over | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
the increase in tuition fees. That is how serious the Health and | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
Social Care Bill is a Liberal Democrats because for them, many of | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
whom either work in the health service and have friends in the | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
health service, they have got an instinctive distrust of the | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
Conservatives on this issue and they don't quite get one of their | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
party is going along with it. instinctive rather than detailed. I | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
suspect even Lib Dem activists for don't really know what is in it. | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
absolutely. Vast numbers of people say they don't know what is in it, | :30:46. | :30:51. | |
around 80%. Go around the House of Commons and asked... It is about | :30:51. | :30:57. | |
trust. In the end, the nervousness on the Labour side, privatisation | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
and competition. I occasionally TVs Labour former ministers and say, | :31:02. | :31:12. | |
:31:12. | :31:15. | ||
you brought in private companies -- I occasionally TVs. -- tease. | :31:15. | :31:23. | |
Straight to the House of Commons I am sure the whole House will wish | :31:23. | :31:29. | |
to join me in sending our deepest condolences to the families and | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
friends of senior aircraft man, Ryan Tomlin. It is clear from the | :31:33. | :31:39. | |
tributes paid to him, he was a determined young man with potential. | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
His service and sacrifice to this nation will never be forgotten. | :31:43. | :31:49. | |
Members of the House will have seen the talented and respected foreign | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
correspondents of the Sunday Times, Marie Colvin, has been killed in | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
the bombing in Syria. It is a desperately sad reminder of the | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
risks journalists take to inform the world on what is happening and | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
off thoughts are with her family and friends. I have had meetings | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
with ministerial colleagues and others, and I will have further | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
such meetings later today. Can I associate myself but the | :32:14. | :32:20. | |
Prime Minister's Commons with -- about our brave troops and the | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
brave journalists to report their activities as well. The Prime | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
Minister has said one of his main priorities is fighting crime. Then | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
why since the election there has been a cut in over 4,000 in the | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
number of frontline police officers? In South Yorkshire, the | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
police helicopter which was responsible for apprehending over | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
700 criminals last year, will be scrapped by the police minister | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
against the advice of the Chief Constable? How can he explain these | :32:46. | :32:52. | |
matters, which indicate to the public that crime will rise when it | :32:52. | :32:58. | |
is simply another broken promise... The Prime Minister. I on the issue | :32:58. | :33:04. | |
of the helicopter, there are talks under way between the South | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
Yorkshire Police and ACPO. I'm sure coverage will be maintained. I | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
would make the point recorded crime is down under this Government. And | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
also, if you look at the figures from her Majesty's Inspectorate of | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
the constabulary, they believe there will be more invisible | :33:20. | :33:25. | |
policing roles this march of than there were a year ago. | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
This Monday was meant to be a happy reunions for pupils at Alvechurch | :33:30. | :33:33. | |
middle school following their half- term break. But it turned out to be | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
a day of mourning for the school and the community because of the | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
news of a coach crash in France. He claimed the life of a much-loved | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
local teacher, Mr Peter Rippington and left many schoolchildren | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
seriously injured. Will the Prime Minister join me in expressing | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
sympathy for those affected and for those who are still in France being | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
treated, a swift recovery and speedy return home? I am grateful | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
to him for raising this desperately, desperately sad case. I know Peter | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
Rippington was much respected in the local community and that the | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
school and will be missed. Thoughts and sincere condolences I am sure | :34:12. | :34:18. | |
from everyone in the House will be with his constituents. I can tell | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
him our consular staff in France continued to provide support to | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
those in France. The ambassador has visited passengers in hospital and | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
is liaising with the local authorities and we will do | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
everything we can with the French authorities to get people safely | :34:31. | :34:38. | |
home. Mr Ed Miliband. Can I join the Prime Minister in | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
paying tribute to senior aircraft and an Ryan Thomson from the RAF | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
Regiment, who died bravely and courageously serving our country | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
and our thoughts are with his family and friends. We are also | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
thinking today about the tragic death of Marie Colvin. She was a | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
brave and tireless reporter across many continents and in many | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
difficult situations. She was an inspiration to women in her | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
profession. Her reports in the hours before her death showed her | :35:07. | :35:10. | |
works at her finest. Our thoughts today are with her family and | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
friends. Mr Speaker, on Monday the Prime Minister held his emergency | :35:15. | :35:25. | |
:35:25. | :35:28. | ||
NHS summit. He managed to execute - - exclude the main organisations if | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
other following professions, the GPS, the midwives, the | :35:32. | :35:37. | |
psychiatrists, the physiotherapists and the radiologist's. How can he | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
think it is a good idea to hold a held summit which excludes the vast | :35:42. | :35:50. | |
majority of people who work in the NHS? What I want to do a safeguard | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
the NHS. We on this side of the house, we are putting more money | :35:56. | :36:03. | |
into the NHS. Money they are specifically, explicitly committed | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
to taking out. Money alone is not going to be enough. We have got to | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
meet the challenge of an ageing population, more expensive | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
treatments, more people on long- term conditions and that is why we | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
have to reform the NHS. My summit was about those organisations | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
including clinical commissioning groups up and down the country, | :36:26. | :36:32. | |
8,200 GP practices that want to put these reforms in place. A Ed | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
Miliband. So he has no answer to his ridiculous sum at which | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
excluded the bass majority of people who were in the medical | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
profession? Let's remind ourselves what the Prime Minister said just a | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
few short months ago during his so called listening exercise. He said | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
change, if it is to work should have the support of people who work | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
in the NHS. We have to take on nurses and doctors with us. Now he | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
can't even be in the same a room as the doctors and nurses! Doesn't | :37:06. | :37:12. | |
that tell him that he has lost the confidence of those who work in our | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
National Health Service? What I want to know is, when is he going | :37:17. | :37:23. | |
to ask a question about the substance of the reforms? He | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
doesn't want to ask about choice because they used to be in favour | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
of choice. But there won't back choice in the bill for stampede | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
does not want to ask a question about competition because they used | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
to favour competition. They used to support GPs are put in charge of | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
health budgets. They won't support it, even though now it is in the | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
bill. Why not ask a serious question? Why not incidentally, as | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
we are being kept here to vote at 7pm on the publication of the risk | :37:59. | :38:09. | |
:38:09. | :38:10. | ||
registers, why don't it you ask a question about that? Mr Ed Miliband. | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
If he does not think it is a serious question about the | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
exclusion of the vast majority of people the work in the NHS, he | :38:21. | :38:31. | |
:38:31. | :38:33. | ||
shouldn't worried... Order. The house must calm down. Tranquil and | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
statesmanlike is the mode for which a members should stride. Mr Ed | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
Miliband. We will come to the substance of this Bill. But let me | :38:42. | :38:48. | |
ask me -- in his question, there were people who attended the summit | :38:48. | :38:53. | |
and expressed the concerns about his bill, even those who were | :38:53. | :38:59. | |
invited to his summit. So can he tell us what changes, if any, he is | :38:59. | :39:06. | |
planning to make to his bill? doesn't he stop worrying about a my | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
diary and start worrying about his complete lack of substance? We are | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
going ahead with these reforms because we think it is good for | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
patients to have choice. We think it is good to have the involvement | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
of independence and voluntary sectors in the NHS. We think it is | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
good to have more emphasis on public health. That is why we are | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
doing these reforms. Let me remind him of one thing he used to believe. | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
He used to believe this, and this is what his health secretary said - | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
the private sector puts its capacity into the NHS for the | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
benefit of NHS patients, which I think most people in this country | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
will celebrate. They are committed to a 5% cap on the private sector, | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
which would need hospitals like the Marsden Hospital, sacking doctors, | :39:52. | :39:58. | |
sacking nurses and closing wards. Let me ask him again, we are here | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
at 7pm to vote on the risk register, are you going to ask a question | :40:02. | :40:08. | |
about it, or are you frightened of your own motion? It would be good | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
if we can preserve some Parliamentary manners. The Prime | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
Minister will know I am not frightened of anything. Mr Ed | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
Miliband. Mr Speaker, nobody lead - - believes him and nobody trusts | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
him on the NHS. I met with senior staff working with HIV services to | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
explain to me how this Bill will fragment and disrupt services. The | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
Health Secretary should be quiet and listen to the people who work | :40:35. | :40:45. | |
:40:45. | :40:47. | ||
in the health service! If he had done some listening before... He | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
should calm down, Mr Speaker. They explain HIV treatments is | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
commissioned by one organisation, the Primary Care Trust. Under his | :40:57. | :41:02. | |
plans, it will be commissioned by three organisations, the national | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
commissioning Board, the clinical commissioning Group and the Health | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
and well-being board. They certainly it will damage the world | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
class service they provide for patients. Why won't he listened to | :41:14. | :41:19. | |
the people who actually know what they are talking about in the NHS? | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
If the Right Honourable Gentleman is opposing other organisations | :41:23. | :41:29. | |
that have expertise in Aids and treatment taking part in the NHS he | :41:29. | :41:31. | |
will be opposing the Terrence Higgins Trust, who do an enormous | :41:31. | :41:38. | |
amount to support her HIV. The fact is, what we can see is complete | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
opportunism from the party opposite. They used to back choice, backed | :41:42. | :41:48. | |
the independent sector, back reform. I say, you don't save the NHS by | :41:48. | :41:56. | |
opposing reform, you save it by delivering reform. Ed Miliband. | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
does not understand his own bill. Mr Speaker, let me just explain to | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
him the question was about the fragmentation of commissioning and | :42:05. | :42:15. | |
:42:15. | :42:19. | ||
what the experts... Order. Opposition Members are becoming | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
over-excited. And there is a long time to go and I want to get to the | :42:22. | :42:31. | |
bottom of the Order Paper. Let me address the Health Secretary, I | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
don't think the Prime Minister wants advice from him. Let me | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
explain, it is about the fragmentation of commissioning. You | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
have got it, I am glad. Maybe then when you get up Buchan answer the | :42:45. | :42:54. | |
:42:55. | :43:08. | ||
question?! Border! Keep me out of The reason he has lost... Order! | :43:08. | :43:16. | |
Order! I say that to the Shadow Chancellor as well. Members might | :43:16. | :43:22. | |
be enjoying themselves, I ask them to think what the country thinks. | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
Order! Of what the country things on and we conduct ourselves. He has | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
lost the confidence and the NHS because of the promises he made | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
before the election. Will he give a straight answer to the question I | :43:35. | :43:41. | |
asked two weeks ago, and admits he has broken his promise of no top- | :43:41. | :43:46. | |
down reorganisation? Any longer, I think we would have to put him on a | :43:46. | :43:53. | |
waiting list for care, it took so long. He asked about integration, | :43:53. | :44:01. | |
he asks about... Let me explain to him, caused 22 and caused 25 at | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
plays a specific duty on key organisations to integrate health | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
and social care. The Bill is all about integration. Here we are, | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
question five, and he still won't mention his vote on the risk | :44:15. | :44:21. | |
registers. I think I know why. Because I have here Labour's brief | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
for this afternoon's debate. There is an excellent section explaining | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
why you don't publish risk registers. The second argument is | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
particularly strong, it goes like this. Andy Burnham block the | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
publication of the Department of Health Risk register in September | :44:38. | :44:48. | |
2009. There we are, absolutely revealed as a bunch and rank | :44:48. | :44:51. | |
opportunists, not fit to run opposition and not fit for | :44:51. | :44:58. | |
Government. I will tell you what happens under the last Labour | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
Government, the lowest waiting times in history. A more doctors | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
and nurses than ever before. The high as patient satisfaction on the | :45:07. | :45:15. | |
NHS. I will match our record on a NHS with him any day of the week. | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
And the problem with this Prime Minister is he asked people to | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
trust him and he has betrayed that trust. The problem with this Prime | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
Minister is that on the NHS, he thinks he is right and everyone | :45:27. | :45:33. | |
else is wrong. It has become, not a symbol on how his party has changed, | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
but of his arrogance. I'd tell him this, this will become his poll tax. | :45:39. | :45:48. | |
He should listen to the public and Six questions and not a mention of | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
the motion may have put in front of the House tonight! To not back it | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
up is an absence of leadership. Members of both sides of the House | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
are yelling at each other. It is rude and it should stop. Let me | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
tell him what is actually happening in the health service under this | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
government. Waiting times for outpatients, down. Waiting times | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
for in-patients, down. Number of people waiting in total, down. | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
Number of people waiting for more than a year, half. Hospital | :46:23. | :46:31. | |
infections, down. Mixed-sex wards down by 94%. 4,000 more doctors. | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
1,000 more midwives and fewer managers. He talks about what | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
people think about this government. Let me remind him of what his | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
candidate said about him this week. You are not articulating a vision | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
or destination, you are not clearly identifying a course and no one is | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
following years. My problem is, you are not a leader. If I couldn't | :46:54. | :47:03. | |
have put it better myself. Thank you, Mr Speaker. In 2009 when the | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
Conservatives took control of Lancashire County Council, | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
fostering services were rated as unsatisfactory. Since then, their | :47:12. | :47:18. | |
budget has reduced by �120,000 and they are now rated as outstanding. | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
Would my right honourable friend join me in congratulating the | :47:23. | :47:25. | |
county councillor and his Conservative colleagues for not | :47:25. | :47:30. | |
only do more for less but doing it better as well. I certainly join my | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
honourable friend. Across the country you have different councils | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
could be with the issues of fostering and adoption and | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
producing very different results -- coping with the issues. I think we | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
need to publish these figures for we can see which councils are | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
getting value for money but above all, which families are really | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
doing the best to get those children out of care and into a | :47:54. | :48:00. | |
loving home. The national minimum wage has lifted millions of workers | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
out of poverty pay so will the Prime Minister's support hard- | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
working people and give a commitment today to drop and just | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
plans to freeze it? We support the minimum wage and we have supported | :48:14. | :48:22. | |
its up grading and it has an important role to play. | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
children of Somalia should have an expectation of a life before death. | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
Does not tomorrow's London conference at E opportunity to | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
signal to the terrorists and corrupt that we are determined to | :48:37. | :48:42. | |
do what we can to ensure stability and good governance in Somalia -- | :48:42. | :48:51. | |
provide the opportunity? Given Somaliland's experience of peace | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
building in the region. We will be welcoming the President of | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
Somaliland to the conference and Somaliland has taken an important | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
step forward in showing that you can have better governance, better | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
economic progress, and they are in many ways an example to follow but | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
this conference is not about recognising Somaliland, it is about | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
trying to put in place the building blocks in the international | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
computer -- community and the Somalis themselves for a stronger | :49:20. | :49:26. | |
Somalia, and that means taking action on piracy, hostages, and to | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
increase funding in Mogadishu, and working with all parts of Somalia | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
to try to give that country, which has been more blighted by famine, | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
disease, terrorism and violence, and almost any other in the world, | :49:39. | :49:44. | |
to give that country a second chance. Given what the Prime | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
Minister said last week in Scotland, which he devote as much time to | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
facing up to the grievances that the English feel from the current | :49:52. | :49:59. | |
proposals of devolution as he will be giving new proposals to | :49:59. | :50:06. | |
Scotland? When he opened a major debate on the English question so | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
that members of all parts of the house can advise him on what | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
measures of devolution English people need if we are too big | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
equity with other parts of the UK - - will he opened a major debate? | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
have set up a West Lothian group to look at this and we need to make | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
sure that devolution works for everyone in the United Kingdom but | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
I would part company slightly because I believe the United | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
Kingdom has been an incredibly successful partnership between all | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
its members and I think that far from wanting to appeal to English | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
people, to nurture a grievance they feel, I want to appeal to my fellow | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
Englishman to say, this has been a great partnership for Scotland and | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
a great partnership for England. Scotland must make its choice but | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
we hope Scotland will choose to remain in this partnership that has | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
done so well for the last 300 years. Does the Prime Minister agree that | :51:01. | :51:10. | |
an elected mayor with more power presents a great authority for | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
local people, including those of us in Bristol that want more rail in | :51:14. | :51:20. | |
the area? I do support having elected mayors in our great cities. | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
It is for those cities to choose. I am encouraged by what has happened | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
in Liverpool. We will be having a referendum and people in Bristol | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
will be able to make that choice but at the same time, the | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
government is going through a huge act and devolution to cities in | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
terms of the powers and the money that we are prepared to offer them | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
so that they can build their own future. If you think of how Bristol | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
leaves Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, -- Bristol, Leeds, | :51:49. | :51:56. | |
Manchester. They built themselves up not from instruction from London. | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
On Tuesday, the Education Secretary said the Prime Minister's decision | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
to set up the Leveson Inquiry is having a chilling effect on freedom | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
of expression. Thus the Education Secretary speak for the government? | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
-- does the? It was right to set up the Leveson Inquiry and that is | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
very supported by the entire government but I do think that my | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
right honourable friend is making an important point, which is even | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
as this inquiry goes on, we want to have a vibrant press that feels it | :52:28. | :52:35. | |
can call the powerful to account and we don't want it... Although | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
sometimes one may feel some advantage to having it been chilled, | :52:38. | :52:45. | |
but that is not what we want. constituents will be supporting the | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
Chancellor's refusal yesterday to sign of the EU accounts. Does the | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
Prime Minister agree with me that it is totally unacceptable that for | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
17 years, they have failed to get orderlies to sign off on their | :52:59. | :53:04. | |
accounts? It wasn't just Britain that took the stand, it was the | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
Dutch and the Swedes as well. For too long these accounts have not | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
been properly dealt with and corruption has not been properly | :53:11. | :53:17. | |
dealt with and it is right to make this stand. Last week in Edinburgh, | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
the Prime Minister said there were more powers on the table for | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
Scotland but could not name any. A few months ago he mocked the idea | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
of Scotland control its own oil wealth. Can the Prime Minister at | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
name one power he has on his mind from this latest U-turn? I did not | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
think that the Scottish Nationalist Party favour devolution! I thought | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
they favour of separation! Yet a thing as you are offered a | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
referendum that gives you the chance to put that in front of the | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
Scottish people, you start running away -- as soon as you. Tomorrow | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
members of this House will have the chance to debate the importance of | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
cycling. The Minister for cycling has made some welcome and | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
announcements and Investment. There is much to do. Will the Prime | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
Minister commit the government to support this campaign, increase | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
investment in cycling and take much greater steps to promote cycling | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
across the country? This Times campaign is excellent. Anyone who | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
has got on a bicycle particularly in one of our busiest cities knows | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
that you are taking your life into your hands. We do need to do more | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
to makes life a link -- cycling safer. The government is making it | :54:34. | :54:42. | |
putting in money for training for children and better cycling routes | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
and facilities. If we want to encourage the growth in cycling we | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
have seen, we want to get behind campaigns like this. Since he has | :54:51. | :55:01. | |
:55:01. | :55:03. | ||
been prime minister,... The company has won contracts on | :55:03. | :55:09. | |
the DWP alone worth 224 million. In view of the facts there are record | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
numbers of unemployed people and that employees of this company have | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
been arrested, what action is he taking to make sure that neither | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
vulnerable unemployed people from all the taxpayer are victims of | :55:22. | :55:31. | |
fraud? This is an important issue. I understand this issue dates back | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
two years to schemes run by the previous government... It was the | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
company itself that raised the issue with the relevant authorities. | :55:40. | :55:43. | |
There is an ongoing police investigation so it would be | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
inappropriate for me to comment further. The investigation needs to | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
be thorough and then we can take into account its findings. | :55:52. | :55:55. | |
Generations of young people have benefited from work experience | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
schemes through getting any experience of the working world. | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
Will the Prime Minister praised those companies who will do | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
everything they possibly can to encourage work experience schemes | :56:07. | :56:13. | |
unlike the militant hard left who would like to see people get a | :56:13. | :56:22. | |
handout rather than a hand up? is true, the overwhelming majority | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
of the country thinks that companies offering work experience | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
schemes to those on benefits is a good thing. It is not a compulsory | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
scheme, it is a scheme that young people have asked to go on and the | :56:35. | :56:38. | |
findings are that around half of them are getting work at the end of | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
these schemes. That is a far better outcome than the Future Jobs Fund | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
and about the 20th of the cost so we should encourage companies and | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
young people to expand work- experience because it gives people | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
the chance of seeing work and all that it involves an gives them a | :56:54. | :56:59. | |
better chance of getting a job. Thousands of workers right across | :56:59. | :57:04. | |
Lancashire in every constituency are concerned and angry about the | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
Eurofighter Indian contract. Earlier this week you her -- had a | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
meeting with the Tory MPs. When will you be arranging a meeting for | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
all Lancashire MPs? I am not arranging any meetings at 10 | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
Downing Street but it is possible the Prime Minister might. I met | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
with a number of MPs who have BAE Systems in their constituents, | :57:28. | :57:35. | |
including the honourable member for Hull, so why have had many MPs come | :57:35. | :57:41. | |
to see me. -- so I have had. This government is committed to helping | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
with Thai food in every way we can and that is why I had been taking | :57:45. | :57:52. | |
trips right across the Middle East -- Typhoon. I often get criticised | :57:52. | :58:00. | |
by Labour MPs for taking BAe system on the aeroplane but I think it is | :58:00. | :58:05. | |
right to fly the flag for British Industry! Last week at the | :58:05. | :58:11. | |
breakfast table... My wife was saying how she knew the Prime | :58:11. | :58:16. | |
Minister wanted to deport that terrorist Abu Qatada straight away | :58:16. | :58:26. | |
and put the national interest first,... But she knew it was being | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
blocked by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Liberal Democrats. | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
Suddenly, our 11-year-old son Thomas asked... | :58:34. | :58:43. | |
LAUGHTER Foster are his Nick Clegg a goodie or a bad it? -- is Nick | :58:43. | :58:48. | |
Clegg a goodie or baddie? There is only so much detail I can take from | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
your household! In believing that I am very keen that Abu Qatada should | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
be deported, your wife is indeed psychic. That is exactly what I | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
believe. That is why the Home Secretary is working so hard with | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
the Jordanians to get the assurances that we need so that | :59:06. | :59:10. | |
this can take place and the Deputy Prime Minister family backs that | :59:10. | :59:20. | |
:59:20. | :59:20. | ||
approach! -- fully backs that approach! Rents are falling in the | :59:20. | :59:24. | |
private rented sector, you have said, when the evidence is that | :59:24. | :59:29. | |
rent is rising. Will the Prime Minister now take this opportunity | :59:29. | :59:35. | |
to put the record straight or which he continued to blame the tenant | :59:35. | :59:39. | |
when the real responsibility lies with landlords charging ever higher | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
rent and a failure of his government's house building | :59:42. | :59:52. | |
programme -- which he continued to blame? Coming from a party that saw | :59:52. | :59:58. | |
housebuilding fall to its lowest level since the 1920s! We have put | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
great effort into stamping out and kicking out racism in football in | :00:03. | :00:08. | |
this country. When my right honourable friend brings together | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
the sport later today, will he assure the House he will do | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
everything to ensure that prejudice does not creep back into the game | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
and that racism stays out of football? My honourable friend is | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
right to raise this. It was a huge achievement, where Britain and its | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
football authorities and football clubs lead the world in kicking | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
racism Out Of Football, something that has not happened in all other | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
countries. Some of the recent signs are worrying. This matters so much | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
not just to football but to government and everyone in the | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
country because footballers are role-models to young people. What | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
people see on the football pitch, they copied when they go to learn | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
to play football so it is important to bring people together and make | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
sure we keep racism out of football for good. Can I associate myself | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
with the Prime Minister's condolences to the member of the | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
armed forces who lost his life in the last week? I am sure the Prime | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
Minister would like to join me in thanking the thousands of people we | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
serve in the reserve armed forces. However, does he agree that it is | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
inappropriate and unsatisfactory and perhaps even arrogant that when | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
constituents to serve in the reserve Marine forces in Dundee | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
expressed concerns about the possible closure of that attachment, | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
I wrote to the Ministry of Defence and they have refused to give me a | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
definitive answer? I thank the honourable gentleman for raising | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
the case of the brave man from the RAF who gave his life and all of | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
those who serve in Afghanistan. The Reserve forces in our country are a | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
huge national asset. We want to see them expanded. We have put an | :01:55. | :02:03. | |
billion pounds into that expansion to make sure that we can do that. | :02:03. | :02:12. | |
No decision has been taken on the future of Dundee. If you look | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
across Scotland, you will see we need more people to join the | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
reserves. I hope everybody will back the recruitment campaigns | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
because if we are going to move to an army of 80,000 regulars and | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
40,000 reservists, we need a cultural change will be really | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
respect what our reserve forces are doing -- where we really respect. | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
The US marshals will on Friday is caught my 65-year-old constituent | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
from Heathrow to a jail in Texas where he will face pressure to | :02:48. | :02:58. | |
:02:58. | :02:59. | ||
plea-bargain -- if caught. Can the Prime Minister say the steps he is | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
taking to withdraw the expedition treaty which has been so unfair to | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
the likes of Gary McKinnon and now my constituent. I understand why my | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
honourable friend raises this. In the case of Chris tapping, he has | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
obviously been through a number of processes, and the Home Secretary | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
has thoroughly considered his case. He raised his book point more | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
generally of the report into the extradition arrangements, which we | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
are now considering. He did not call for fundamental reform. The | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
Home Secretary will carefully examine his findings and take into | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
account the views of Parliament that have been expressed in recent | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
debates. Balancing these arrangements is vital but it is | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
important that at the same time we remember why we welcome -- enter | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
into these treaties, which is to show respect for each other's | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
judicial treaties and make sure people can be tried for crimes and | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
Britain can benefit from that as well, so a proper and thoughtful | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
review must take place and this case shows why. My government | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
response to the unfair relationship between pub companies and their | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
licensees so far has been self- regulation, not statutory | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
regulation. On January 12th, this House voted unanimously to set up a | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
review panel to be agreed by the Business Select Committee to review | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
the implementation of self- regulation. To date there has been | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
absolutely no response from the government. Can the Prime Minister | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
tell me, is he back in the will of Parliament or the will of the pub | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
companies? I am a keen supporter of Britain's pubs so I will write to | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
the honourable gentleman and get a good answer. In his speech made in | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
Edinburgh last week, the Prime Minister described Scotland as a | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
pioneering country and a turbine hall of the Industrial Revolution. | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
The next revolution in this country will be in green technology and the | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
Green Investment Bank will be key in its promotion. Does he agree it | :05:10. | :05:20. | |
:05:20. | :05:28. | ||
Edinburgh is the perfect location And the different towns and cities | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
and regions want to host this green investments of the investment bank. | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
Can I ask the Prime Minister returning to the issue of the NHS | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
and the Pirton and question posed by the leader of the opposition, | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
why has the Prime Minister broken his promise not to engage in | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
another top and reorganisation of the National Health Service? | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
What we are doing is abolishing the bureaucracy that has been holding | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
the NHS back. We will be cutting in this Parliament, �4.5 billion of | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
bureaucracy by getting rid of the primary care trusts and strategic | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
health authorities, all of which will be invested in patient care. | :06:08. | :06:16. | |
His own party's policy is saying real increases in NHS spending are | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
"irresponsible". We think it is responsible and that is why we are | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
putting the money in and they will take the money out. There have been | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
lot of interruptions but I am concerned about the interests of | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
backbenchers. Last week in Ethiopia would save the children, I saw at | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
first hand how malnutrition is stunting the growth of the world's | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
poorest children. Does the Prime Minister agreed the UK as a real | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
opportunity to lead the international debate which will | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
help the growth of the world's children and economic growth as | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
well. I think she is right about this. Not only because we work with | :06:56. | :07:02. | |
excellent organisations, Save the children, who do excellent work, | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
but the UK is the second largest bilateral donor into the horn of | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
Africa where we have seen this awful famine. Not only are we doing | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
our bit in terms of investment and time, but it gives us an | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
opportunity to lead the debate on where we need to take the | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
development on aid agenda next. Order. Ten-minute rule motion. | :07:25. | :07:31. | |
The Speaker allowed PMQs to overrun because of the interruptions and | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
the rowdiness during questions about the NHS. I was thinking I | :07:37. | :07:43. | |
wonder if the founding fathers of the NHS going back to 1848, would | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
have thought by 2012 it could still create such heat and light in the | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
House of Commons, so many years later? Ed Miliband decided to go on | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
that subject. It is the first pit - - fur PMQs in a row he has gone on | :07:58. | :08:08. | |
:08:08. | :08:09. | ||
the NHS. -- third PMQs. As you say, most people think David | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
Cameron was on the run over this issue. | :08:12. | :08:19. | |
Diane said, I have heard nothing from David Cameron that reduces my | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
anxiety and the NHS reforms. This from David in Birmingham - | :08:24. | :08:32. | |
complete hypocrisy. David Cameron said his reforms needed the support | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
of health professionals but he is ignoring them because they don't | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
agree. Someone else said, what of those | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
risk registers Ed Miliband was going on about? | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
Martin from Wolverhampton said, Ed Miliband's questions were shallow, | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
the role of Government should be to lead, that means facing down | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
interest groups who oppose change. Someone else said, are all Ed | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
Miliband cares about is people the work in the NHS, not about those | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
who use it. I remember the days in the NHS was | :09:09. | :09:16. | |
not to talk about it. Except that we will ring-fence it, but it is | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
safe in our hands. When they said that, the polls showed they | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
overtook Labour and trust for a brief period. Today the gap is back | :09:25. | :09:35. | |
:09:35. | :09:36. | ||
to his -- its historic whiteness. Where did it go wrong? It is a | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
self-inflicted wound. People do give David Cameron credit for the | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
reform of the NHS, which since its foundation has been seen as a | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
Labour issue. Margaret Thatcher said she went private because she | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
wanted to go to see the doctor she wanted, on the day she wanted and | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
the time she wanted. But then became the policy of all | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
governments within the NHS, rather than the private sector. The truth | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
is they did not think through the politics of what this Bill would | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
mean and how they would get it through. David Cameron is | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
determined not to abandon it, and as I was saying, the biggest threat | :10:15. | :10:22. | |
to it now comes from the grass roups -- grass roots the Lib Dem | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
revolt rather than the Cabinet, where everyone has decided to hold | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
their nose, carry on until the summer and hope something else | :10:29. | :10:36. | |
comes up. The danger is, if they give in to more concessions to the | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
Lib Dems, or Labour Peers and the House of Lords, and they whittle it | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
down even more, it won't be worth the candle. They have all this he | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
put on them for reforms for skeleton of what it was meant to | :10:49. | :10:57. | |
be? Not only that, what Ed Miliband argued also, a change had to have | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
the doctors and nurses on side, now you won't be in the same room as | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
them. The most interesting one which David Cameron ignored was the | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
complexity of commissioning. I know ministers who are worried, that in | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
an attempt to bite of this opposition, keep the Lib Dems happy, | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
they have created a more and more complex bureaucratic structure, but | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
far from saving cash will involve a series of disputes from different | :11:24. | :11:31. | |
bodies within the NHS, it is this our money to spend? Let's have a | :11:31. | :11:38. | |
legal challenge to it. So the challenge which is recognised by | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
ministers internally. The big week will be next week over the | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
competition. The hints given by Nick Clegg he gave today, is a week | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
are a listening Government. So the hint was, there may be more | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
concessions to come on the issue of competition. It is not just the | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
public understanding the detail, it is most people involved in the NHS, | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
we work for an organisation, we don't always understand the detail | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
on how they run. But the danger is things go wrong in a way that | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
affects patient care and then people turn round and blame the | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
Government. If you could escape Cabinet collective responsibility | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
and able to be honest with us, I bet you would say, Andrew, I wish | :12:22. | :12:28. | |
we had never gone down this road? On the hypothetical, I cannot | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
escape collective responsibility. I don't want it. The choice is | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
whether you think the NHS can standstill or if you have to make | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
changes to enable it to rise to the challenges of the ageing population, | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
the cost of treatment, the long- term illnesses people have. We | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
believe it is necessary to make these changes. It is in the context | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
of rising spending on the NHS, are the principal it remains care that | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
it is free at the point of use and extending the principles the | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
previous Government agreed to. people think you could have done | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
these changes without the need for a massive bill. We could have | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
picked up where Labour left off and you could have continued without | :13:11. | :13:18. | |
the left of the Labour Party and the unions... Then you would have | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
lost significant savings because removing these bureaucracies... | :13:24. | :13:31. | |
have created bigger bureaucracies since the NHS has been founded? | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
is a 4.5 billion saving. I don't think is true there is unanimous | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
opposition amongst the professionals in the health service. | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
I know from my own constituency, talking to GPs, where the ability | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
control services in the interest of the patience is welcomed. It was | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
clear from the summit, where the Prime Minister was talking to these | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
groups on how the changes will work. The other., Labour believed there | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
is a short-term advantage in jumping on this and opposing these | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
reforms. But, look at how they are going back on reforms from a | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
position the previous Government had. Backwards on health reform | :14:08. | :14:15. | |
where they are turning their back on education and the anti- reform | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
parties. It won't do them very good. Caroline Flint, we know Labour is | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
against this health bill, you are voting against it and so on. But | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
does Labour have a policy on health now? We did have a policy on health | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
which we still support. It involves looking at our health service and | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
how it changes. We still support more of the services in hospitals, | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
being in communities to prevent people getting ill. The key issue, | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
is the start of this process the Government embarked upon, a process | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
they promised in the manifesto they wouldn't and wasn't in the | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
coalition agreement. They wanted to put clinicians, the health service | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
workers in the front line of the discussions about the future of the | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
NHS. We now have a situation where, I would say it is unanimous, ensure | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
you will find doctors and nurses who supported - but overwhelmingly | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
all the institutions to represent doctors, radiologist's and nurses | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
and so on, say they are not happy. Why are they not happy? It could | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
open up our NHS to European competition law which would distort | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
the way we have a managed NHS which uses the private and public sector | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
to effect. It is different to using the private sector to get capacity | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
into opening it up to a free-for- all. They are saying in our | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
hospitals, in order to balance the books, half the beds been used for | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
private patients. We are hearing consultants saying, we cannot see | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
within the time limits we used to have, but if you go private we will | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
see you next week. I don't want to go back to those days. Waiting | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
times are falling. They are falling for in-patients and outpatients. | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
Waiting times for A&E are missing their targets, waiting times to get | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
is seen in 18 weeks are. Can I come back and get an answer to my | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
question? How will Labour reform the NHS? We would carry on some of | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
the work we were dealing in Government, which is look at ways | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
in which having services in our community which will better help | :16:26. | :16:33. | |
people prevents illnesses in the future. What else? Collaborative | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
network to do with cancer. One of the dangers the Government is doing | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
now... You on to the Government again, I am asking you about Labour | :16:42. | :16:49. | |
now. Our policy is supporting and managed NHS. I don't know what that | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
means? You have an NHS that has local accountability and we have | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
said we are happy to look at a more clinician input into that. We had | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
an NHS that it was working well, huge satisfaction and cost- | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
effective, when you look at some of the regimes around the world where | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
it is a more private sector involvement. In our country we have | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
something unique and precious, and which is why so many members of the | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
public, including those who vote Conservative are worried about what | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
might happen to something that is so valued within our country. | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
Miliband, third week in a row he has done well? Yes, this is a rich | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
seam for him. He is playing the Prime Minister's words back at him. | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
What is so damaging for David Cameron is having those words to | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
say we have to have the doctors and nurses onside, and now the joke, | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
you cannot have them in the same route. It does enormous damage to | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
the Prime Minister. Another break point, Frank Field, Labour | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
backbencher speaking up for the English. And when he did so, saying | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
they should be more devolution, quite a lot of Cheers. I could not | :17:58. | :18:08. | |
:18:08. | :18:10. | ||
see where they were coming from, I There is a growing view that | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
Westminster are just has to negotiate the terms of the divorce, | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
but if the Scottish decide to stay in the UK but want one devolution, | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
that becomes as big an issue for England as for Scotland and it | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
cannot be one way. It is not up to the Scots alone to decide what more | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
devolution should mean. The rest of the United Kingdom has to have a | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
say as well. There are aspects which are important for us to | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
discuss in England. If we look at regions around the country, bit | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
ability for them to encourage investment -- and the ability. I am | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
sure places like the Yorkshire and Humberside, where I have my | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
constituency, we would like to look at opportunities for that... Back | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
to regional government. In the localism built... No... We put in a | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
bill to allow some of the powers that the mayor in London has in | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
other parts of England. This is a debate that is about England as | :19:10. | :19:18. | |
well. There were huge latitude over tax regimes and therefore you get | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
into internal tax competition, where the Scots are able to do one | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
thing in the north and the Midlands have no... A lot of the anger was | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
about MPs just below the border, in the north, who could see the new | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
powers and ability just a few miles away, and thought, what about us? | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
It is the extremities of the UK, often amongst the poorest, the | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
north-east, the south-west for example, where people will say, we | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
need more power. The West Lothian question should remain. A lot of | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
people will think that if there is devolution, more devolution, they | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
will wonder whether Scottish MPs will be voting at all on purely | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
English matters. It is all in debate. Only two more years to go! | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
We don't have to resolve its this week! Big news while we were | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
watching PMQs. Eric Pickles has sent me a tweet to say he wants a | :20:23. | :20:30. | |
cup, too. Being avuncular and friendly, Eric Pickles, we will | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
give you one but you have to come on the programme to get it. A are | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
you going to be Big Lunch? I always like a big lunch. | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
Just 156 days to go before the London Olympics, and preparations | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
for the Games are stepping up a gear. Today a mocked-up terror | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
attack on the London Underground is being staged as part of a massive | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
exercise to test security. And this morning Nick Clegg has been | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
visiting some of the venues for the Games. The Deputy PM said he | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
believed the Olympics will leave a legacy of growth and jobs for the | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
area. But not everyone is happy about the greatest show on earth | :21:05. | :21:13. | |
arriving in London. The writer Iain Sinclair has spent decades | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
documenting the capital city and its edgelands. He says the Olympic | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
development in east London has ruined one of the capital's most | :21:18. | :21:28. | |
:21:28. | :21:44. | ||
magical wildernesses. Here's his The promoters of the great Olympic | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
schemes in the Lower Lea Valley keep stressing at every possible | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
occasion that this area was nothing but a waste land, when in fact it | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
was one of the most magical margins of London, reduced by their | :21:59. | :22:06. | |
activities to nothing but a toxic well than us. -- wilderness. The | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
special quality of this landscape is that it mixed decaying | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
industrialism with grunge pasture, a wild nature of orchards that | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
everybody was free to wander, and we are now in danger of losing all | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
of that for some concrete Arcadia, some computer-generated future, and | :22:26. | :22:35. | |
I am sad about that. One of the consequences of creating the bright | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
new future is the expulsion of the inconvenient old past. The people | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
who used to be here, living in warehouses, walking along the | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
marshes, cycling, fishing. They all had to make way, the whole | :22:50. | :23:00. | |
:23:00. | :23:05. | ||
One of the consequences of the great Olympic development has been | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
the privatisation of public space and a huge growth in the apparatus | :23:10. | :23:18. | |
of security. We have created an area which has to be protected. So | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
this is the legacy that all the fuss has been about. A flat-pack | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
stadium, an Aquatic Centre at looks like a concrete factory, a gigantic | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
artwork and an enormous shopping mall. I don't think it is worth it. | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
I think back to that wonderful will do miss that was here before. Not a | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
waste land. -- wilderness. One of the most manifest, rich and | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
deserving parts of London, and I am sorry to lose it. | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
And Iain Sinclair is with us now. He painted a very poetic picture of | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
an area that others might have said you have romanticised and actually | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
it was wasteland and has now been put to better use. Being a romantic | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
does not disqualify you from being revolutionary. If you go back to | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
Wordsworth and William Blake, romanticism is just having an | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
enriched sense of the past and to honour the past and not to enforce | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
that amnesia upon it that way it's everything out to the glittering | :24:20. | :24:28. | |
better future. -- that wipes everything out. Are you a lone | :24:28. | :24:34. | |
voice? You described the number of people using the area. Locally | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
there is a huge support for what I say. The officials always used this | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
term "Waste Land" and say there was nothing there. One of the things | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
that was there is this list of compulsory purchases and it goes on | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
for page after page, hundreds and hundreds of names. That was what | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
was there. While we were waking that film, an old man with a dog | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
came to me and said, I don't know where I am, I grew up here, there | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
were eight different businesses where I took an apprenticeship. It | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
has all gone. But as you said, it is part of the decay of | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
industrialism and that is why perhaps it has gone. It has gone in | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
that sense. That world has passed and what was left was the | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
environment. Is that not a signal to move on? It was a signal that | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
this was a good territory to exploit because it was dying | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
industrial mixed with a rough country that nobody could see what | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
to do with. The awful thing is that it has been a mirror image of what | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
we think it is. In fact there were active boat clubs and sports | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
facilities, great chunks of Hackney Marshes have been turned into | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
concrete, there is a battle going on at the moment about a car park | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
taking over the marshes and a basketball court and they do not | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
want the tarmac there, but you have to have the tarmac for the cars. | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
not there, where would you have put the Olympic village? Paris. | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
Let's think of something within the UK! I would not have put it is. | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
Really we should not have gone for it. We should have learnt the | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
lesson of pickets lot. We got the World Athletics Championships a few | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
years before this and we had to give them back. We were going to | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
use it to exploit any we around the M25 and it did not make sense | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
economically so we abandoned it. Just to go back to where it is, do | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
you think there is a sense of regret that this Waste Land, will | :26:42. | :26:50. | |
do this, has gone forever? I have no regrets as well at all. It is a | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
wonderful iconoclastic view but it is Waste Land. Let's look at the | :26:54. | :27:01. | |
legacy. There are going to be 11,000 houses permanently created, | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
we desperately need those houses, low-cost accommodation with that, | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
as 10,000 jobs that will be permanently created as well. -- and | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
10,000 jobs. I think that is something the public will welcome. | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
Women look at these industrial and grimy canals -- when they look at. | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
They will say, this is a very good use of the land and something that | :27:25. | :27:31. | |
will benefit the public. We can't put it as housing because this is | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
extremely radioactive soil. 7500 tons of radioactive soil came out | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
under that stadium and is sitting in a disposal unit. This was an | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
area of land on dams, a small nuclear reactor... Which makes the | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
point, this has been a fantastic opportunity for the East End to | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
detoxify the area. But they can't do it! Newham Council have done a | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
fantastic job. They have already got 5,000 people into work, 2500 | :28:03. | :28:09. | |
long-term unemployed, they have 300 social homes coming on, 300 | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
affordable homes. I look at that as a mother and I want open space but | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
I want open space where I think my children would be safe to go into. | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
That isn't what it represented in terms of what you presented in your | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
film. You have to move on. I have been there 45 years, I have put my | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
children round and my grandchildren round and they have also right! | :28:33. | :28:40. | |
have had the final word, thank you. -- they have all thrived. Their due | :28:40. | :28:49. |