Browse content similar to 14/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Could morning, folks. This is the Daily Politics. David Cameron | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
continues his trip to the United States. Last night to watch a | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
basketball game with Barack Obama. Today it is down to business with | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
the official talks at the White House. | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
Top of the agenda is the military operation in Afghanistan and the | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
timetable for withdrawing troops. We will be looking at so called | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
endgame in a campaign that has been going on for over a decade. | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Back home, the latest job figures show that unemployment has risen | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
again to 2.67 million. The number of people in work has also | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
increased. And with just one week to go before | :01:17. | :01:25. | |
the Chancellor delivers his spring Budget, and -- an influential | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
Conservative thinker delivers his advice. My biggest brokers would | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
not be the eurozone or the deficit. It would be the rise of China and | :01:33. | :01:41. | |
other new economies. All of that to come before 1 | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
o'clock today along with Prime Minister's Questions. The novelty | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
value, it is Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman because the Prime Minister | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
is in Washington DC. With us for the duration, Cabinet Office | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
minister Mark Harper and shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan. | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
Welcome to you both. So David Cameron's American road trip is | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
under way. He touched down in Washington yesterday afternoon and | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
after checking into Blair House just opposite the White House, | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
where dignitaries stay if they are in favour, he was whisked off by | :02:18. | :02:26. | |
Air Force One with Barack Obama. There he is watching a college | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
basketball game in Ohio. The leaders chatted about the game, | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
there's a surprise. Apparently it was not particularly good but not | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
that we are bothered about that. Andy wolfed down a hot dog and a | :02:38. | :02:45. | |
can of Coke, which is mandatory. -- he wolfed down. Otherwise you get | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
stuck in the slammer! We assume he had a refreshing | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
night's sleep back in DC but his body clock must have been all over | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
the place! David Cameron is due to arrive in the White House this | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
afternoon for formal face-to-face talks with the President. We are | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
told they will discuss a range of issues including the timetable for | :03:08. | :03:15. | |
withdrawing from Afghanistan. Let's go live to Washington, the White | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
House, and our political editor Nick Robinson. Tell me, Afghanistan, | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
is that top of the agenda and what shape of the discussions likely to | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
take? It is. Even though these talks were scheduled long before, | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
the recent problems that have beset the Afghan operation, the slaughter | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
of six British soldiers and then of course here in the United States | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
the real focus on one rogue American soldier massacring a | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
series of Afghan civilians, even though the trip was arranged long | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
before, these guys needed to talk. They are preparing for a NATO | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
summit to be held in Chicago in May. What does it need to do? Fill out | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
the detail beneath the headline. The headline says that our boys | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
will be home by the end of 2014. That is the message that the Prime | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
Minister and the President want to give to their electorate. They have | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
not said exactly when and exactly how fast and under what conditions. | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
What is interesting is that in recent weeks, the Americans have | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
begun to shift forward, to speed up, if you like, a possible withdrawal | :04:19. | :04:28. | |
plans. Leon Panetta taught about the -- talked about the Afghans | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
taking control towards the end or the middle of next year. That is a | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
few months earlier. That would speed up the moment that British | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
and American combat troops can come home. The Prime Minister tends to | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
do this when you ask him a question. He uses his arm. He says he wants | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
to see a gradual reduction in the number of British troops, not to | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
see the numbers high and then for of some sort of cliff edge. What | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
this means is that by the beginning of 2013, I think they will agree | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
today that quite significant numbers will come back. It looks | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
like this, tell us if we are right, that they will keep the 2014 | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
endgame, the final withdrawal, but they would both like to see a | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
substantial reduction in British and American troops involved in | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
combat operations taking place in 2013. That is what will get | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
confirmed at the news conference in a few hours' time. I think you | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
should not prepare for detailed answers from them. They will want | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
to put that back to the NATO summit in May. There is no doubt that | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
there is huge electoral pressure on the President here to have | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
something to say about when the boys come home. He wants to go to | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
the electorate in November with a positive message, that the | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
withdrawal, the ball down, is beginning to start. The British | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
cannot afford to be out of step. It is a phrase that the Prime Minister | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
likes to use, being in lockstep with the President. What that means | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
is, frankly, that Britain's contribution is so tiny compared to | :05:59. | :06:06. | |
America. There are roughly 10,000 for the UK and over 100,000 for the | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
US. If the Americans start to move on a certain date, we are going to | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
start to move on a certain date. That is why when the US Defence | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
Secretary made that speech about mid-to-late 2013, the British were | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
unsettled, unnerved, and then within a few days the British said | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
OK, that is our timetable, too. miss you but it is good to see you | :06:29. | :06:38. | |
there. I will try to get you a White House baseball cap. Now you | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
are talking! And I will hold on to the Daily Politics mug for you! | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
also want some Air Force One chocolates. We are ready to be | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
bribed at every opportunity. Thank you for joining us in the early | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
hours of Washington as the US capital is waking up. | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
On his way out to the United States the Prime Minister had time to | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
brief journalists travelling with him on a plan being considered by | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
George Osborne to issue 100 year Government bonds. They would mature | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
in 100 years' time. Some of us may not be alive by then. They would | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
take advantage of record low interest rates that British debt is | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
enjoying at the moment. Let's talk to Louise Cooper. I notice that the | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
Office of debt management has said they will put this idea out to the | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
market. They are not just offering it, they are seeing if there is an | :07:31. | :07:41. | |
:07:41. | :07:45. | ||
appetite for it. Will there be if - - and appetite? I don't know. 100 | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
years is very unusual. In Austria and France, the term is 50 years | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
and in Japan it is 40 years. This would be a very bold and brave step | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
for the UK Government. We do have some perpetuities, these are bonds | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
that pay for ever and you never get your money back. They were issued | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
in the period after the First World War and before the Second World War, | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
between 1921 and 1946. Really, the only long-dated issue for the UK is | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
a 50 year issue which came into the market two years ago. It sold very | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
well but 100 years is a different kettle of fish entirely. I can see | :08:25. | :08:35. | |
those looking at the long-term horizon would like the certainty of | :08:35. | :08:45. | |
:08:45. | :08:45. | ||
the longer term. But his and 50 years long enough for anybody? -- | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
isn't 50 years long enough? regulator is forcing us a liability | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
matching. That means that if you have a 50 year pension liability | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
that companies have to pay out, then they have to own assets of the | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
same timescale. So absolutely. But I am not convinced that many | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
pension companies have 100 year timescales. 50 year debt has gone | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
very well. I am not sure that 100 your debt would go equally well. | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
Pricing it will be very difficult because there is nothing comparable | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
out there on the international markets. Finally, is there any idea | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
where you are in the City about what the yield would be about the | :09:27. | :09:37. | |
:09:37. | :09:39. | ||
100 yr bonds? The 50 year bond is yielding 3.3% so potentially it | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
could be up to 5%. But 100 years, that is a huge risk on the UK | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
Government and economy. Who will be in charge in 100 years? One would | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
hope that investors would demand a premium for that risk. In the crazy | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
world of low interest rates, who knows? Maybe they should issue them | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
in Chinese because we might all be speaking Chinese by then. And can I | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
say that I have not got a mug! Leave that to me. You get me a 100 | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
yr Bond and I will get you a mug! Thank you for joining us. | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
One do you make of it? I heard Robert Peston this morning querying | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
it being a publicity stunt but I have no problem with George Osborne | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
exploring this. We have low interest rates and it is worth | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
exploring whether we can get lower yields in relation to 100 years | :10:34. | :10:42. | |
bonds. We can get a lot of debt a way for 2% at the moment that this | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
would be more expensive debt. is exactly why what we are talking | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
about is consulting with the market on whether this is a good idea. She | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
said there were lots of uncertainties about it. That is why | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
there are consultations going on. Also whether Perpetual's would make | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
sense. We have to use the strength of our debt market to see if we can | :11:06. | :11:13. | |
unlock the existing low interest rates. I understand that, but it is | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
not a lower rate if you have to pay higher rates on a 100 yr Bond. In | :11:20. | :11:27. | |
the early years you will be paying out higher debt. One of the huge | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
costs on the Government purse at the moment is servicing debt. Why | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
would you take out debt where you are paying more than you would if | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
you took out a shorter term debt? And we have no idea what the | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
economy will be like in 50 years. We don't know about next year, | :11:42. | :11:51. | |
never mind 100 years. We certainly won't be there! You will be, Andrew. | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
That is the bad news for our viewers! What do you think about | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
the bonds? That does not seem like a safe bet to me. When it matures, | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
you will be beyond caring, I think. The David Cameron's flight to the | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
United States turned out to be busy for the journalists. Speaking to | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
the press on the plane, David Cameron talk about his plans for | :12:14. | :12:21. | |
reform and human rights law. He suggested it was not in the | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
coalition Government but if it was he would be going faster towards | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
changing human rights laws. The European Court of Human Rights has | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
ruled that prisoners should get the right to vote. Plans to reform the | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
court would be very difficult to carry out and would risk friction | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
and divisiveness in the 47 states signed up to the European | :12:43. | :12:49. | |
Convention on Human Rights. Much of the criticism of the court may be | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
manufactured by the British popular press. There is a mischievous | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
report that since 1966, dealing with the United Kingdom alone, we | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
have found violations against the United Kingdom. That was in three | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
out of four of all cases brought against the country. This is a | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
gross distortion, to my mind, and one that was clearly designed to | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
undermine the reputation of our court. Sir Nicholas Bratza giving | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
evidence to the Human Rights Committee in Parliament yesterday. | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
Mark Harper, he says it is a gross distortion, the way the court is | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
being presented. Do you see him as a block to reform? What we have | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
said we are going to do, which is agreed on by both parties in the | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
Government, is reform. Despite what he says, the 47 countries in the | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
Council of Europe have a lot of agreement about speeding up the | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
decisions, looking at the recruitment of judges, and dealing | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
with the fact the courts have got a backlog of 150,000 cases, which is | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
not working. But not reducing the scope, which is what David Cameron | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
would like to see. That is the big stumbling block. We have talked | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
about the level at which decisions are taken. We have agreed that the | :14:03. | :14:09. | |
national court system is why you should predominantly -- where you | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
should predominantly deal with human rights. That balance has not | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
been right. In a number of cases recently, that has not happened, | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
and we are discussing that with the other 46 members of the Council of | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
Europe. The hint from David Cameron and the Conservatives is that the | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
Liberal Democrats are holding back the Government on this area. Do you | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
agree? It is clear that the two coalition parties, and this from a | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
different perspective. There are things that we agree on, and we are | :14:36. | :14:45. | |
doing this. Reforming the court, the bill of Human Rights. But that | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
is in disarray, if you listen to the commission. There are some | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
things that the commission do agree on. There will be some things that | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
they do not agree on and we will debate those things during the next | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
general election campaign and the public will have the opportunity to | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
decide what direction the Government should take. And if you | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
do not get anywhere with reform, which lots of people are saying, | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
should Britain consider pulling out if only for a temporary period of | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
time? That is not something we want to do. We are one of the architects | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
of the Convention. Britain stands up for human rights around the | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
world. The test is getting it right. We want the court and the | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
convention to work. That is why we want to work with other countries | :15:28. | :15:38. | |
:15:38. | :15:40. | ||
Would Labour like to see this to, but they wouldn't have the power to | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
supersede Parliament? There are issues with the European Court | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
needs reform. The backlog is important and the quality of the | :15:48. | :15:58. | |
:15:58. | :15:58. | ||
judges,... How do change that? There are few instances where we | :15:58. | :16:07. | |
would be the church. The last time was 1992. -- chair. You speak to | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
your 47 partners, work with them are so when it comes to you being | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
the chairperson, you have a plan in place. The third issue is the | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
margin of appreciation, individual countries getting within the family | :16:21. | :16:28. | |
of 47 nations. And saying to the Turkish Supreme Court, and the | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
Russian Supreme Court, if a Russian citizen goes to a court, they can't | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
now go to the Supreme Court. We think that's a step too far. I just | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
want to let you know about a fantastic programme on BBC Two | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
tonight presented by someone called Andrew Neil. I have been | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
investigating human rights for a programme called Rights Gone Wrong | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
which is broadcast on BBC Two tonight at 9pm. Viewers might | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
recall my interview with a man called John Hirst, convicted of | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
manslaughter and, while in prison, fought the right for prisoners to | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
have the boat. That's how the Strasbourg court ruled. -- though | :17:10. | :17:20. | |
:17:20. | :17:24. | ||
two. Then parliament voted 10-1 To do you understand, when you see | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
human rights rulings have allowed you to claim that it's now time for | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
murder is, rapists and paedophiles to celebrate, it risks undermining | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
the concept of human rights in a lot of ordinary people's eyes. | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
refer you to the answer I gave a few moments ago. If you can't | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
accept the truth of the answer, I'm sorry. The highest court in Europe | :17:50. | :17:56. | |
has have voted mayor Droz, rapist, manslaughter, -- murderers, it's | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
not undermining it at all. brought some vegetables afterwards, | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
though. Rights Gone Wrong, tonight on BBC Two. | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
When David Cameron and Barack Obama sit down in the Oval Office for | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
their official bilateral meeting later today, top of their agenda | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
we're told will be the so-called end game in Afghanistan. It is | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
still a little bit away, though. Both leaders are keen to see a | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
speedy withdrawal of troops. But the question is how quickly can | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
that be done while handing over to the Afghans in an orderly manner. | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
That's probably more difficult than most people realise. Yesterday, the | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
Prime Minister said Afghanistan will not be a perfect democracy by | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
the time British troops return home. I think we had worked that out. Jo, | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
give us the background to this. in the wake of the killing of 16 | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
civilians by a US soldier and the deaths of six British servicemen | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
last week, tensions are running high. The UK currently has just | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
over 9,000 troops in Afghanistan. Last year, David Cameron promised | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
to reduce the number from the original peak of 9,500 by the end | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
of 2012. America is a far bigger player with over 100,000 people | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
stationed there. And President Obama has also already started | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
withdrawing troops. He's said he's aiming to pull out a total of | :19:15. | :19:21. | |
33,000 by this summer. Both are signed up to a ISAF and Nato plan | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
which sees combat forces aiming to leave the country by the end of | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
2014. Subject to conditions on the ground and the rate at which Afghan | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
forces can be trained. But Leon Panetta, Obama's defence chief said | :19:33. | :19:42. | |
David Cameron has talked of not wanting to "See a cliff edge in | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
2014 when all of the remaining troops come out at once." So, | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
Andrew, it looks like the two men will have a lot to talk about today. | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
Thanks, Jo. We've been joined by the Conservative MP John Baron, who | :19:53. | :20:01. | |
sits on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. What is the mood in your | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
view of the Government backbenchers about Afghanistan at the moment? | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
Great concern, a lot of things going wrong in the short term and | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
is a feeling if we don't have the orderly withdrawal, in certain | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
sections, we could have another Vietnam on our hands if we don't | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
open meaningful, nor unconditional talks with the Taliban. Part of the | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
withdrawal must involve the Taliban? Yes, it's essential. The | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
problem with the mission so far is the under-resourced the task, | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
underestimated and have been playing catch-up ever since. We | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
have confused the mission. Building human rights and democracy. We have | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
confused the enemy because there are fundamental differences between | :20:47. | :20:53. | |
Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It is not automatic but if we allow the | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
Taliban to remain in control in certain areas, they will allow Al- | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
Qaeda back into the country. have no evidence Al-Qaeda is still | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
there. Good point. The evidence suggests Al-Qaeda left many years | :21:06. | :21:12. | |
ago and we have more for this battle into the Taliban. As we | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
showed in Northern Ireland, you can fight and talk at the same time. | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
Soldiers only by times the politicians must now negotiate | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
otherwise we risk a disorderly end it. What do we talk to the Taliban | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
about? A common ground. There's no love lost between Al-Qaeda and the | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
Taliban. Let's remember why we initially went into Afghanistan, to | :21:37. | :21:43. | |
deny Afghanistan two Al-Qaeda. could say it's job done. But since, | :21:43. | :21:50. | |
the mission has moved into building democracy and human rights. It's | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
confused. We should explore common ground with a Taliban because | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
there's no love lost between them up, although there is different | :21:58. | :22:05. | |
shades of Taliban. In doing so, we would have to accept for example | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
that all this stuff we used to say about the number of girls in school | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
and women in Parliament, that's all going to go, isn't it? To a certain | :22:16. | :22:24. | |
extent, yes. It depends which part of the country they are in control | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
of for so it's important why it's important to focus on the original | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
mission. My understanding is that we are there to protect the streets | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
of the UK and the west from Al- Qaeda. They left many moons ago and | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
we have got to remain clear on what our mission is. Isn't that broadly | :22:44. | :22:52. | |
the Opposition's attitude, as well? There needs to be game-plan. For | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
example, the regional players are crucial. Pakistan, China, very | :22:58. | :23:07. | |
important. What is their stance? Secondly, they in need to be talked | :23:07. | :23:16. | |
to. The Taliban had opened at negotiations in Qatar. They had | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
shown a willingness but the American position so far have been | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
at they will not talk to the Taliban unless they accept the | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
constitution. This may or may not be the right thing to do, it's not | :23:27. | :23:34. | |
for me to say. If we do talk to the Taliban and tried to come to a | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
political settlement, we are handing over at least part of the | :23:37. | :23:46. | |
country to the Taliban. Correct? Yes, by definition. Pakistan is a | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
pluralist society. I don't accept they would revert to what would | :23:51. | :23:59. | |
happen Al-Qaeda was in charge of. The Taliban were in charge. They | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
did a pretty good job of putting women back to medieval status and | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
blowing up Buddhist temples and stoning people they didn't like and | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
be heading others. Your political strategy may be right or wrong, but | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
let's not denied that an element of that would happen again. We have | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
got to talk to them. That would be the consequence. I'm not sure. | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
There needs to be game-plan. You can't have a game plan to withdraw | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
the military by 2014. They need to do with politics. That is the | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
consequence of it. It includes talking to Pakistan. And China and | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
India and the regional players. course we should talk to Pakistan | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
but you don't need to talk too much to Pakistan to know what they want. | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
They prefer the Taliban in there because it's a bulwark against | :24:51. | :25:01. | |
:25:01. | :25:03. | ||
India. Their nightmare is India taking over Pakistan. This is the | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
reason why we need to have a clear plan to withdraw but also we can't | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
make the main -- same mistakes are made in the 1980s when the Russian | :25:12. | :25:20. | |
troops withdrew. It's the cliff- edge nightmare scenario. Are we | :25:20. | :25:28. | |
talking to the Taliban already? Answer my question, please. We know | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
from the political discussions the Taliban have made some moves in | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
talking. There will clearly be political discussions going on. | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
we talking to the Taliban? I don't know is the honest answer. That's a | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
good answer. I don't think we are. I think we are looking to the | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
Americans on this and the American position so far is we will not talk | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
to the Taliban unless they accept the constitution and that will not | :25:55. | :26:01. | |
happen. We need to open on conditional talks with the Taliban | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
and that's where the at Americans are failing. I'm going to give you | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
the final word. Our troops are working with the Afghan security | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
forces to make sure they are growing in strength, sufficiently | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
well-trained so when we leave in an orderly manner, they can provide | :26:20. | :26:28. | |
security for their country. According to a noticeable, they | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
have been infiltrated by the Taliban. I'm not sure that is true. | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
The Afghan national army, there is a difference between them and the | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
police force. The Afghan national army has done well. It is right and, | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
unfortunately, Afghan security forces when they are in control of | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
a district have proved themselves almost worthless put up I have a | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
feeling we will be returning to this. Then there will be continue | :26:57. | :27:05. | |
discussions on this in the States. Now it's time for our Guess The | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
Year. We will remind you how to enter in a minute, but let's see if | :27:09. | :27:19. | |
:27:19. | :27:25. | ||
you can't remember when this President Gorbachev, tear down this | :27:25. | :27:34. | |
There has not been a storm like this for as long as anyone can | :27:34. | :27:44. | |
:27:44. | :28:22. | ||
David Owen at heard the result at his room in that house of Commons. | :28:22. | :28:32. | |
:28:32. | :29:02. | ||
-- don't they all look young in Let's take a look at a big banner, | :29:02. | :29:11. | |
time for the week of a For the the price minister is in | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
the USA for his talks with Barack Obama and it means this week we | :29:15. | :29:24. | |
have the battle of the deputies. Last week at Prime Minister's | :29:24. | :29:32. | |
Are you up for it? People don't believe it. It's not that | :29:32. | :29:38. | |
complicated to resolve. This afternoon, it is the battle of the | :29:38. | :29:47. | |
deputies. Nick Clegg and the coalition. Harriet Harman and the | :29:47. | :29:57. | |
:29:57. | :29:59. | ||
Labour Party. Who will win the I don at my black silk pyjamas | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
every night and dream of these things. It is time to face the | :30:04. | :30:14. | |
:30:14. | :30:20. | ||
Oh, the drama. I'm exhausted just watching that. James Landale joins | :30:20. | :30:27. | |
us. Are the Tory backbenchers going to chair on Nick Clegg today? | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
Tory MP has already been tweeting this will be a target rich | :30:30. | :30:35. | |
environment, what should I ask? Nick Clegg will have to look over | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
his shoulder as much as in front. Presumably Labour will ask as many | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
embarrassing questions as possible to Mr Clegg? Yes, health, | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
unemployment figures, the secret courts, the Justice white paper. | :30:49. | :30:56. | |
European Human Rights. He's not done one of these before for over | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
one year. This is because the Foreign Secretary is in Washington | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
with the Prime Minister. The Deputy Prime Minister does stand-in when | :31:05. | :31:12. | |
he's away normally but when he's away on trips,. He has been up | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
against Harriet Harman once before. He's only done this once or twice | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
before. And against Jack Straw. Harriet Harman was interim leader. | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
This was before Ed Miliband was leader of the Labour Party. The be | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
unemployment figures are out this morning, too. We don't want to miss | :31:33. | :31:43. | |
:31:43. | :31:47. | ||
anything. Let's go straight over I have been asked to reply. My | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
right honourable friend the Prime Minister is visiting the United | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
States. I am sure the whole House would like to join me in sending | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
servicemen who died in Afghanistan last Tuesday. Sergeant Nigel Coupe | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. Corporal Jake Hartley. | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
Private Anthony Frampton. Private Christopher Kershaw. Private Daniel | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
Wade and private Daniel Wilford, all from 3rd Battalion the | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
Yorkshire Regiment. These men had outstanding courage and | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
selflessness. This tragic incident will long be remembered by our | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
nation because it reminds us all of the immense danger that our armed | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
forces regularly endure to guarantee the safety and security | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
of our country. Mr Speaker, we are also deeply shocked at the | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
appalling news that a number of Afghan civilians were wounded and | :32:39. | :32:46. | |
killed in Afghanistan on Sunday morning. We send our sympathy to | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
the families affected by this terrible incident. I had meetings | :32:50. | :32:55. | |
this morning with my colleagues and others in addition to my duties in | :32:55. | :32:59. | |
his house and I will have further such meetings today. I would like | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
to associate myself with the Deputy Prime Minister's comments about the | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
tragic events in Afghanistan. I am sure that members on both sides of | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
the House will express their deepest sympathies to families that | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
have lost loved ones at this deeply distressing time. Today the Prime | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
Minister is in America where unemployment is coming down... When | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
an implement is coming down and the economy is growing. -- where | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
unemployment is coming down. In Britain, unemployment is at its | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
highest for 17 years and the economy is flats lining. Can the | :33:35. | :33:41. | |
Deputy Prime Minister explain what has gone wrong? What went wrong was | :33:41. | :33:48. | |
the Labour Government for 13 years! Creating the most unholy mess in | :33:48. | :33:53. | |
2008 which we are now having to clear up. The only way... The only | :33:53. | :34:00. | |
way to get the economy moving is to fix the deficit, get banks lending | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
again and have a tax and benefit system that pays people to work. | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
Will he introduce a Freedom Bill to get rid of a lot of bossy and | :34:11. | :34:17. | |
unloved regulations? As my honourable friend knows, we have | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
already introduced a large set of measures, which has removed a lot | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
of unnecessary clutter from the statute book. Any further | :34:25. | :34:32. | |
opportunity to do so, we would grab that with open arms. Harriet Harman. | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
So Mr Speaker, can I joined the Deputy Prime Minister in paying | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
tribute to Sergeant Nigel Coupe of 1st Battalion the Duke of | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
Lancaster's Regiment and from 3rd Battalion the your to regiment, | :34:44. | :34:53. | |
Corporal Jake Hartley, Private Christopher Kershaw, Private | :34:53. | :35:00. | |
Anthony Frampton, Private Daniel Wade, Private Daniel Wilford? They | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
served our country determination. Their deaths remind us of the great | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
sacrifice our servicemen make on our behalf. I joined with the Prime | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
Minister in expressing our horror at the murders in Afghanistan on | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
Sunday of 16 civilians including nine children. We deplore the crime | :35:20. | :35:27. | |
and express our deepest condolences. Today's figures show unemployment | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
up and the hardest hit are young people looking for work and women | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
being thrown out of work. The Deputy Prime Minister says that the | :35:35. | :35:37. | |
Liberal Democrats are making a difference in this Government. | :35:37. | :35:45. | |
With more than 1 million women looking for work, what difference | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
does he believe he has made to those women? Mr Speaker, of course | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
these figures are disappointing, any increase in unemployment is | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
disappointing. It is a personal tragedy for anyone that loses their | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
job and for their families. She should be careful not to pretend | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
that his problem was invented by this Government. The unemployment | :36:08. | :36:14. | |
of women went up by 24% under Labour. Youth unemployment went up | :36:14. | :36:22. | |
by its 40% under Labour. It was remorseless since 2004. We all need | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
to work together to bring unemployment down. Is the Speaker, | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
when we left Government, unemployment was coming down. -- Mr | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
Speaker. Their policy is not only driving up and implement but they | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
will have to borrow more. It is hurting but it is certainly not | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
working. For all his bluster, the truth is that having five Liberal | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
Democrats seated around the Cabinet table has made no difference | :36:50. | :36:57. | |
whatsoever. Listen to what the Business Secretary said on economic | :36:57. | :37:04. | |
policy. This Government has no compelling vision. These days, | :37:04. | :37:13. | |
nobody agrees with Nick. Does he agree with Vince Cable? It is worth | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
looking at the details published on the unemployment statistics. Behind | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
the headline figures, long-term Annapurna actually came down in the | :37:21. | :37:28. | |
quarterly figures. -- long-term unemployment. And importantly, the | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
number of jobs created in the private sector outstripped the jobs | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
left in the public sector. Under her Government, the Labour Party | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
sucked up to the City of London and relied too much on jobs in the | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
public sector. We are having to remedy those mistakes and we are | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
creating new jobs in the private sector. Mr Speaker, he is | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
complacent about unemployment under his Government. The Lib Dems are | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
making no difference on unemployment, just as they are | :37:59. | :38:05. | |
making no difference on the NHS. When it comes to the NHS, the | :38:05. | :38:11. | |
Deputy Prime Minister obviously thinks he is doing a stunning job. | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
Can he explain why he has failed to persuade the doctors, nurses, | :38:16. | :38:25. | |
midwives, paediatricians, fizzy -- physiotherapists and patients? | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
Speaker, the Labour Party used to believe in reform. Now they believe | :38:29. | :38:37. | |
in stopping the NHS of cash and failing to provide reform. Her own | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
manifesto... Order, order. We must hear the response from the Deputy | :38:42. | :38:49. | |
Prime Minister. Indeed. Her own manifesto said, to safeguard the | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
NHS in tougher fiscal Times, we need sustained reform. The Labour | :38:54. | :39:01. | |
Party was right then and from now. What happened? -- and at the wrong | :39:01. | :39:09. | |
now. We are prouder what Labour did when we work Government -- we are | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
proud about what Labour did when we were in Government. And nobody | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
believed him. No wonder he cannot convince those that work in the | :39:17. | :39:24. | |
health service. They cannot even convince his own Government. People | :39:24. | :39:32. | |
are still against this bill because it has not changed one bit. It is | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
still a top down reorganisation. Order, order. I said a moment ago | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
that the Deputy Prime Minister's response must be heard. The | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
question from the deputy leader of the Labour Party must be heard. | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
That is the be-all and end-all of it. Harriet Harman. This bill is | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
still the top down reorganisation and it will cost the NHS of fortune. | :39:53. | :39:59. | |
It will still lead to fragmentation and privatisation. It is clear that | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
the Deputy Prime Minister will not stand up for the NHS. The only | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
thing that to stand up for his when the Prime Minister walks in the | :40:05. | :40:15. | |
:40:15. | :40:16. | ||
room. -- he stands up for his when the Prime Minister walks in. | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
Speaker, Mr Speaker... Some of her colleagues must think the Liberal | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
Democrats make a difference because they were handing out leaflets at | :40:23. | :40:28. | |
our conference in Gateshead while their leader was throwing SAK and | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
going to watch Hull play football. -- throwing the sick day. Is she | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
proud of the fact that the Government spent �250,000 of | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
taxpayers' money on sweetheart deals for the private sector that | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
did not help anybody in the NHS? Is she proud of the fact that under | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
the 2006 Act, which a friend worked on, it was a privatise its charter | :40:52. | :40:59. | |
in which a Government offered an 11% premium on the private sector | :40:59. | :41:07. | |
to undercut the NHS? Is she proud of that? We will... A order, order. | :41:07. | :41:17. | |
:41:17. | :41:17. | ||
Some members are perhaps not initiated in the ways of PMQs. The | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
Deputy Prime Minister does the answering and that is the situation. | :41:20. | :41:25. | |
Harriet Harman. We will compare what our Government did on the NHS | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
with what his Government is doing any day. He says that the problem | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
with this bill is that doctors and nurses just don't understand it. | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
But the problem is that they do. However, even at this late stage, | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
it is within his power to stop this bill. Next Monday, the bill reaches | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
its final stage in the House of Lords. There are nine to Lib Dem | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
peers, and their votes will decide whether or not this bill becomes | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
law. Will he instruct Shirley Williams and his peers to vote to | :41:59. | :42:06. | |
stop the bill? Mr Speaker, the right honourable lady has invited | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
me to make a comparison. Let me make three comparisons. Order. I | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
say it again. The response must be heard. That is all there is to it. | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
The Deputy Prime Minister. right honourable lady has invited | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
me to make comparisons. The shadow health secretary has said that it | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
is irresponsible to increase NHS spending. They do not believe in | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
more money for the NHS. We do. Comparison number one. They indulge | :42:35. | :42:37. | |
of the private sector with sweetheart deals which we are | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
making a legal in this bill. They one sweetheart deals for the | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
private sector and we do not. They presided over inequality in the NHS, | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
which began we are making a statutory obligation in is built to | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
deliver a more equal at come on the NHS which they failed to deliver in | :42:56. | :43:06. | |
:43:06. | :43:07. | ||
13 years. -- in this Bill to deliver a more equal outcome. | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
Absolute rubbish. And in undermining the NHS and making | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
Shirley Williams vote for he has trashed not one but two national | :43:15. | :43:22. | |
treasures. He did not mean to sign the bill, but he did. He could stop | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
the bill, but he went. He says the Lib Dems make a difference, but | :43:27. | :43:34. | |
they don't. What has happened to that fire liberal tradition? They | :43:34. | :43:39. | |
must be turning in their graves. The party of William Gladstone. The | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
party of David Lloyd George. Now the party of Nick Clegg. I know she | :43:44. | :43:52. | |
has a pre-prepared script that she sticks to religiously, but it is | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
worth having a question and answer thing, that is what this is about. | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
What we are doing on this side of the house, the two parties that | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
have come together in the coalition, is to sort out the banking system | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
that she left in a mess. Sorting out the public finances that she | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
left in a mess. Sorting out the economy that she left in a mess. | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
Stopping the offered through privatisation of the NHS, which she | :44:16. | :44:23. | |
left in a mess. -- stopping the arbitrary privatisation of the NHS. | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
In opposition they are running out of ideas. In Government they ran | :44:27. | :44:33. | |
out of money. My right honourable friend may be aware of figures | :44:33. | :44:39. | |
released this week which showed that there has at least been some | :44:39. | :44:45. | |
progress towards the target of 15% of women on boards by 2015. What | :44:45. | :44:52. | |
can our coalition Government do to ensure that they meet this target | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
and enrich our boards with a diversity of talent to achieve the | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
growth that we need as a country? think it is excellent news that | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
there has been real progress in a few short months that we have been | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
in Government. Far more progress than in 13 years under Labour. I | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
think everybody now agrees that there is a real consensus that | :45:12. | :45:17. | |
having women on boards is good for all of the companies involved. | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
There was a woefully a representative mixed on our boards | :45:21. | :45:31. | |
and I hope that we can continue to improve that. -- unrepresentative | :45:31. | :45:40. | |
I hope you enjoyed the support of the police at his conference in | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
Gateshead. When there will be 3,000 extra police you promised at the | :45:46. | :45:53. | |
general-election will be imposed? Mr Speaker, as her own party | :45:53. | :46:01. | |
acknowledges, the police need to make savings. The key thing is, not | :46:01. | :46:08. | |
exactly what the total number is, but where are the police? Or does. | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
I don't know what members are having for breakfast. His answers | :46:12. | :46:19. | |
must be heard. Where police officers are properly deployed. In | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
the last decade, far too many police officers were filling out of | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
paperwork in the back of this rather than on the streets where | :46:27. | :46:33. | |
they belong. Does my right honourable friend share the | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
priorities of my constituents who believe that this Parliament should | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
focus its attention on cutting the deficit, promoting growth and | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
getting people off welfare into work? And would be bemused at they | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
learned we were going to spend much of our time discussing the reform | :46:50. | :46:58. | |
of the House of Lords. How shall I explain that priority to them? | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
suspect in the same way he will no doubt explain to them that there | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
are other priorities like changing the boundaries, of constituents, | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
but I know was close to his heart and his party. Government can do | :47:12. | :47:19. | |
more than one thing at once. I also believe there's a simple democratic | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
principle that people are make the laws of the land should be elected | :47:23. | :47:33. | |
:47:33. | :47:33. | ||
by people who have to obey the laws of the land. Mr Speaker... Mr | :47:33. | :47:43. | |
:47:43. | :47:43. | ||
Deputy Speaker... Mr Speaker, my apologies. Study after study, | :47:43. | :47:50. | |
services with social care is crucial for older people. That's | :47:50. | :47:56. | |
what's happening in my constituency, so can I ask the Deputy Prime | :47:56. | :47:58. | |
Minister why he is still cheerleading for a Bill which | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
scraps trusts and Corporation and puts the future health of older | :48:02. | :48:10. | |
people, including my constituents, at risk? I am a backing a bill | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
which includes a new statutory obligations to integrate social and | :48:14. | :48:21. | |
health care of. He is quite right. It's one of the abiding failings in | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
the health service, these two services not properly integrated. | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
They haven't been integrated and the last 10 years and that's what | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
we are trying to do now. The Health and well-being board will bring | :48:35. | :48:42. | |
representatives together. Can I begin by congratulating the | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
Government on its efforts to tackle the irresponsible pricing of | :48:46. | :48:53. | |
alcohol by supermarkets. I commend the Government for that but does he | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
agree with me that the safest place to drink is in the community pub, | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
beer is a lower strength a drink, and it would create 5,000 jobs, | :49:05. | :49:09. | |
scrapping the duty escalator, so will he take his colleagues out for | :49:09. | :49:15. | |
a beer and tell them not to put up the duty on the great British pint? | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
All those questions are for the Chancellor to announce at the time | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
of the Budget but I'm sure everyone agrees with his a sentiment that we | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
should support committee pubs with just such an important part of the | :49:27. | :49:37. | |
:49:37. | :49:39. | ||
fabric of our communities up and down the country. Mr Dennis Skinner. | :49:39. | :49:49. | |
:49:49. | :49:49. | ||
Is he aware that now the gang of four Tories are gallivanting around | :49:49. | :49:56. | |
America, he has got the chance to shine? Now, what does he really, | :49:56. | :50:03. | |
really think about this Murdoch sleaze and the latest developments, | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
the Prime Minister riding borrowed police forces, and playing Andy | :50:09. | :50:15. | |
Coulson in the heart of government, man to man, what does he really | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
think that? I'm giving Emma chance to separate from the ranks of the | :50:20. | :50:30. | |
:50:30. | :50:39. | ||
Tories behind him. Come on, be a Order, order! Let's hear the answer. | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
Mr Speaker, we had to wait a while for him to get going, but he was | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
great. I think we are soon going to celebrate, it that the right word, | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
boarded two years of the honourable members presence in this House, and | :50:53. | :51:03. | |
:51:03. | :51:04. | ||
then delighted to see, in all that time, he has not mellowed one bit. | :51:04. | :51:09. | |
Will the Deputy Prime Minister join me and my right honourable friend | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
in congratulating the citizens of Chelmsford on their newly acquired | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
status following her Majesty's announcement that Charles would is | :51:17. | :51:23. | |
to be a city? Does he agree that it's entirely appropriate in an | :51:23. | :51:28. | |
Olympic year that Essex's first City should be chosen but it's also | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
looking forward to hosting the mountain biking competition during | :51:32. | :51:42. | |
:51:42. | :51:44. | ||
We are aware of the Colchester and Chelmsford rivalry but I can | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
confirm the results of a civic honours competition in honour of | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Chelmsford, Perth and St Basayev | :51:53. | :52:03. | |
:52:03. | :52:04. | ||
have been at awarded to be rights to call themselves a city. I know | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
there will be disappointment in other communities who ended the | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
contest, but I think it's another announcement which lifts the spirit | :52:11. | :52:20. | |
of the nation in the year of the Diamond Jubilee. Before the general | :52:20. | :52:26. | |
election, the Deputy Prime Minister said he was profoundly hostile to | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
the closure of Remploy factories. Now 1,700 disabled people are | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
losing their jobs because of the closure of 36. What difference has | :52:36. | :52:46. | |
he made? As she will know, this is a consequence of review conducted | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
by the head of the UK Disability Forum. Her conclusions are | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
supported by a organisations like mind and Mencap and I don't want to | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
disagree with them, because this is their conclusion and what they | :52:59. | :53:04. | |
think we should be doing. They believe a segregated employment | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
which was started in the aftermath of the Second World War, is not the | :53:08. | :53:13. | |
best way to promote the interests of disabled people in this country | :53:13. | :53:19. | |
in the 21st century. Last weekend, adapted Prime Minister spoke about | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
the need for a tycoon tax. Does the and 10 that to include individuals | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
who claim they want tax on the rich but said of companies that they | :53:32. | :53:38. | |
only pay 20% are not 50% of their income, such as Ken Livingstone? | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
is worth dwelling on the explanation provided by Ken | :53:41. | :53:47. | |
Livingstone for his exotic tax arrangements. I quote from | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
interview he made this weekend. "I get lots of money from different | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
sources and I give it to an accountant and they manage it. That | :53:56. | :54:06. | |
:54:06. | :54:09. | ||
Thank you, Mr Speaker. In September 2010, I raised with the Prime | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
Minister the case of a college in my constituency which lost �4 | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
million following the closure of the regional development agencies. | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
I ask him for a hand up, not a handout, for young people in my | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
constituency. Lastly, but college was officially opened yet, 18 | :54:26. | :54:32. | |
months on, there's no progress in addressing the short ball. There | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
should be no barriers to people's talent and aspiration -- short 4th. | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
Will he give the UN people of West Lancashire a handout? -- a | :54:41. | :54:50. | |
shortfall. Of course we will look into the case of a college. They | :54:50. | :54:53. | |
are unbelievably important providing skills and support to | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
young people seeking to get the right qualifications to get into | :54:56. | :55:03. | |
work. We have been working with a government to provide a hugely | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
expanded apprenticeship programme, the largest ever in our country, | :55:07. | :55:16. | |
and I am prepared to make sure ministers look SHE raises. After a | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
2004 copper because disaster, began Masters licensing authority was | :55:19. | :55:29. | |
:55:29. | :55:31. | ||
created. -- cockle pickers. Can you assure me that any cuts in red tape | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
will not lead workers unprotected, in particular the shell fisheries | :55:37. | :55:43. | |
industry? I hear what he says. It an important issue to get the | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
balance right and I know DEFRA is working to make sure the gang | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
masters Licensing Authority works in a manner which has affected and | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
there is down on the abuse. But does so in a business friendly | :55:57. | :56:04. | |
manner, to minimise the amount of unnecessary red tape. I'm sure | :56:04. | :56:06. | |
would up the Prime Minister would like to heartily congratulate the | :56:06. | :56:15. | |
city of Perth for its restoration of city status. He will know that | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
fantastic cross-community support which has led to the restoration of | :56:19. | :56:25. | |
this honour. Can I thank him and his department for organising this | :56:25. | :56:32. | |
competition. Those are the kinds of questions I like. I think it's a | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
good thing, of course, on behalf of everybody in the House, and I would | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
like to convey my congratulations to the people of Perth who have | :56:40. | :56:47. | |
worked on a cross-party basis to get his accolade today. | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
treasured piece of green space near Cheltenham is attracting a lot of | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
sporting attention this week. But other green spaces will be at risk | :56:55. | :57:00. | |
it the national planning policy for framework doesn't follow Germany's | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
example of combining economic success with tough controls to | :57:04. | :57:10. | |
protect the countryside balls can he reassure us a truly green of | :57:10. | :57:17. | |
planning framework is still a safe bet? The Government will be | :57:17. | :57:24. | |
publishing it shortly. I think it's important we do everything to | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
promote growth because we need jobs and new homes for young families | :57:28. | :57:32. | |
who are not able to have a home that they can call their own, but | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
that should be tempered by social environmental considerations and | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
that the balance will be properly reflected in the planning framework | :57:41. | :57:48. | |
when it is published shortly. Monday, the housing minister told | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
me the Government had no plans to introduce rent controls in the | :57:51. | :57:57. | |
private sector. Is he aware that the rising of the private sector | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
rents in central London, capping housing benefit, means many | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
families on benefit are being forced out, a process of social | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
cleansing. Will he give a commitment to the Government will | :58:10. | :58:16. | |
examine the case for private sector rent control? As he knows, are at | :58:16. | :58:20. | |
the same time as announcing the restraint on the housing benefit | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
budget, which was a commitment in his own party's manifesto to bring | :58:25. | :58:31. | |
that part of the benefits system under control, with a major fund to | :58:31. | :58:36. | |
deal with hard cases. We have unveiled a number of measures which | :58:36. | :58:40. | |
should lead to a sick of a good increase in affordable homes bought | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
up it's the lack of supply or affordable homes which is the | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
problem in London -- are significant. Changes to child | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
benefit will mean a single income family earning �43,000 a year and | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
one parent stays at home to care for children will subsidise a | :58:58. | :59:06. | |
couple earning over �80,000. Does he think this is fair? I think it | :59:06. | :59:12. | |
is there that someone who is earning far beyond the average | :59:12. | :59:16. | |
should not be subsidised with child benefit from people are much lower | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
income support of he raised a perfectly valid point which is the | :59:20. | :59:27. | |
cut-off point can create these anomalies which you can have one | :59:27. | :59:32. | |
earner on a 40 Preet �1,000 having child benefit removed while a two | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
earners earning �80,000 will not. We were looked at implementing this | :59:37. | :59:43. | |
in a sensitive manner. The DUP the Prime Minister will be aware of the | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
Series incidents been my constituencies including explosives | :59:47. | :59:53. | |
planted on Friday, adjacent to schools. Will he condemn those | :59:54. | :59:59. | |
things which bring misery to the committee and can be sure of a | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
house in the absence of the international monitoring commission, | :00:03. | :00:07. | |
they will monitor any linkage between such activity and | :00:07. | :00:14. | |
proscribed organisations? The Of course I utterly condemn the | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
cowardly attacks in East Belfast which endanger the lives of all | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
those areas, including young children attending school. A | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
totally reprehensible bring. I understand these attacks are being | :00:29. | :00:39. | |
:00:39. | :00:41. | ||
investigated and has no remit that these are terrorist attacks. The EU | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
is presently consulting on changes to the rules governing the state | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
aid in assisted areas. The Government has shown commitment to | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
Northern Lincolnshire by establishing an enterprise zone in | :00:55. | :01:02. | |
order to attract a larger business. The changes will restrict aid. Can | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
he assure me the Government will fight these proposals? | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
delighted that the enterprise zone in north Lincolnshire is now taking | :01:13. | :01:20. | |
shape and it will be a huge boost for investment from major investors | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
in renewable energy, in that part of the world love. I hear what he | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
says about the reviews about the rules being applied for regional | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
aid of. We are extremely mindful we don't want those rules to undermine | :01:34. | :01:40. | |
the excellent work taking place in North Lincolnshire. The Ministry of | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
Justice announced today that it had given two new contracts worth �30 | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
million of public money. This company has been under | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
investigation by the police, the Department of work and pensions, | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
the Public Accounts Committee, and since I had been raising concerns | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
about it, I have received 15 the e- mails, public alleging a bad | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
practice and fraud. Will it the public continued to give them | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
public money? She raises a serious issue. The police investigation | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
into the allegations of fraud where contracts entered into by the | :02:17. | :02:24. | |
previous government. We have now launched hour alone audit of the | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
existing contracts which they have received from government and if | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
there is any evidence of systematic abuse, we will end contact with | :02:34. | :02:42. | |
them. The six British servicemen killed in Afghanistan last week | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
will be repatriated next Tuesday. And would include three of my | :02:46. | :02:55. | |
constituents. At this difficult time for the families, or will the | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
Deputy Prime Minister assure me and my constituents everything is being | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
done by the Government to support the families? I know how strongly | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
he must feel about this terrible accident it. Three of his | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
constituents have sadly lost their lives. The MoD would wish to | :03:11. | :03:18. | |
confirm with him that they would do everything they can to make sure | :03:18. | :03:25. | |
the bodies are returned to the families as soon as possible. | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
the Deputy Prime Minister consider the implications of the Treasury's | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
planned changes in the controlled foreign companies are rules? They | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
will in cent advise multinationals having recourse to tax havens. | :03:38. | :03:45. | |
Opening this new tax rule is estimated to cost developing | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
countries �4 billion in much needed revenue and the Exchequer here, �1 | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
billion. World this invidious change be corrected in forthcoming | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
Budget measures? He raises an important issue. I have spoken to | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
campaigners on this myself and I know action Aid has been speaking | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
to Treasury ministries as well. It's incredibly complicated ones | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
you get into the detail but it's something which was not dealt with | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
in the last 13 years which we are now prepared to look into. Will my | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
right honourable friend join me in welcoming the launch today of the | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
Government's adoption action plan which sets out how we can achieve | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
more adoptions, more quickly? Does he agree that making adoption work | :04:31. | :04:37. | |
well everywhere should be the priority of everywhere who have the | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
interests of of vulnerable people at heart? It is so frustrating for | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
couples and parents who want to adopt children and not good for the | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
children concerned when they are in order that delays and that is why | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
it's a very good thing this seems to be a general consensus recently, | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
Prime Minister to accelerate the adoption process and it will now | :04:59. | :05:07. | |
indeed happen. Is it right that when your constituent it took a | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
young daughter to the Indy and later received a letter from the GP | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
saying the but it was inappropriate and also reminded of the costs of | :05:16. | :05:23. | |
up to visit, is this the future of the NHS under this government where | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
elderly and bomber will people are going to be scared to ask for | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
treatment? Of course not, and that letter was issued under the current | :05:32. | :05:40. | |
system. He does touch on a very serious issue which not only we | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
face in this country but every single developed society around, | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
faces bore for we have health care systems are not designed for a mass | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
of the ageing population where a large number of older people have | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
chronic conditions and spent much longer in hospital than before and | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
that's why we need to make sure they are kept strong in their homes | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
and in their communities support for that is what this NHS bill is | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
all about. Students at comprehensive schools are just as | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
likely to study A-level history as their private school counterparts. | :06:15. | :06:22. | |
However, only half as likely to study maths and physics. What is | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
the Government going to do about the social mobility issue that we | :06:26. | :06:35. | |
had in the sciences? Does he support the proposed as Sir Isaac | :06:35. | :06:36. | |
Newton at Maths School in north book to address this issue? It's an | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
important point. It's all the reasons why the new English back | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
Laura places emphasis on those scientific disciplines and why we | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
have protected the science budget in order to send out a clear system | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
that we value sciences for the that's why we place an emphasis on | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
a young youngsters take not maths and science for our collective of | :07:00. | :07:09. | |
:07:10. | :07:11. | ||
He says the health bill would be going through unamended without the | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
Liberal Democrats, but will he listen to people up and down the | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
country that know the real truth? The Tories would not be getting | :07:17. | :07:25. | |
their shambolic bill at all without him and his MPs propping them up. | :07:25. | :07:35. | |
:07:35. | :07:36. | ||
would have thought he would welcome legislation that gets rid of the | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
practice of sweetheart deals for the private sector which his party | :07:39. | :07:49. | |
:07:49. | :07:51. | ||
Harriet Harman went to begin with on the unemployment figures which | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
were out this morning. They showed another rise. But then moved on to | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
the NHS where we had a number of exchanges. I'm not sure it added | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
too much of to the some of your knowledge on this issue. But Labour | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
continuing to oppose the NHS reforms and urging the Government | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
to drop the whole Bill entirely. I think they both survived to fight | :08:14. | :08:24. | |
another day. First we are going to There was a bit of ping-pong about | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
the style of both deputies today. This on Twitter, Nick Clegg giving | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
Harriet Harman a rough time. Nick Clegg every week, police. This | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
email. I was pleasantly surprised with Nick Clegg's performance at | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
PMQs. He made Harriet Harman look like an amateur. And this on | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
Twitter, stop whining about the mess and start governing. And this | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
on Twitter, Cameron is eating hot dogs while the back bed and Tory | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
MPs give Nick Clegg a kicking. Not as many as expected of those, | :09:00. | :09:07. | |
perhaps. And on the Mile, Harriet Harman has shown Ed Miliband how to | :09:07. | :09:17. | |
:09:17. | :09:17. | ||
handle PMQs. -- on email. There were relatively few questions for | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
Nick Clegg. Yes, this was very benign. He normally get hostile | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
flat from all over the house. Remarkably steady this time. Only | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
two a really difficult questions, one from Peter Lilley about why the | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
Government should bother with Lords reform when there are more | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
important issues and also the question of child benefit and | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
dealing with it. The rest of it was remarkably benign. The two issues | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
that Harriet Harman chose to go on, the health service and the economic | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
policy, they are two issued that the Liberal Democrats and the | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
Conservatives are broadly in alignment on. Therefore I think it | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
was difficult to drive a wedge through the Conservatives and the | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
Liberal Democrats on that issue. looked reasonably confident and his | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
performance was reasonably assured, I think most fair-minded people | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
would say. I agree with that. It is the first time he has done one of | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
these, standing in for the Prime Minister, for well over a year. | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
Clearly that time in Government of absorbing the material, going to | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
the meetings, doing more Deputy Prime Minister's Questions every | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
month, that means you get better at these things and you get more used | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
to it and you are better able to deal with whatever is thrown at you. | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
The criticism thrown against him in the early days was that he would | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
get too tetchy and his own irritation would show. He has | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
clearly worked on that. He had the few good lines in terms of | :10:46. | :10:52. | |
attacking Ed Miliband for his sick day over the weekend. I think he | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
will be quite satisfied with that. Are you going to throw a big party | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
when health bill becomes law? It has been a nightmare for you. | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
has been difficult in Parliament. When we had the debate about it | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
yesterday and Andrew Burnham was challenged to save what it was that | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
he was opposed to in the bill, and he could not tell us. The health | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
bill is full of things that Labour was in favour of in opposition, | :11:19. | :11:28. | |
social care working with health care. Taking bureaucracy out of the | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
doctors' hands and into the public's hands. Labour cannot tell | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
us what they don't like about it. Rebels are always more attractive | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
to the press than the opposition. But Labour has made the running. It | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
seemed to be with the grain of public opinion, which does not | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
really like the reforms. Public opinion does not usually like | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
public service reforms to begin with. You have not just said that | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
this would make the NHS was, you have not just said that we do not | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
like it and it would be more bureaucratic and more difficult, | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
you have said it will destroy the NHS. You have said it will | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
privatise the NHS and it is the end of the NHS as we know it. If by | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
2015 it is still functioning roughly the way that it does now, | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
that is a problem. We hope that the NHS does function. Nobody wants to | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
see patients suffering for political advantage. The shore. But | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
the NHS will be very different. If there is a postcode lottery, | :12:28. | :12:35. | |
millions of pounds spent on reorganisation, if hospitals get | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
private patients which means waiting lists grow longer, if GPs | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
are compromised into choosing profit over patients. All of these | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
things will mean that the NHS that we know and what we were raised on | :12:46. | :12:54. | |
will be very different. Some of these changes are already taking | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
place and that is why we have seen these exchanges in PMQs. What do | :12:58. | :13:06. | |
you say to that? The things that people value about the NHS, being | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
treated based on need and not ability to pay, that is absolutely | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
staying in place. What about waiting list times? She cannot | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
afford waiting-lists to go up, can you? They are not, they are going | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
down. We do not have to look at what Labour would do for comparison. | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
My constituency is on the border with Wales. In Wales, where Labour | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
is in Government, they are cutting spending on health, waiting lists | :13:32. | :13:39. | |
are twice as long. Welsh Labour was against the reforms of Tony Blair | :13:39. | :13:45. | |
Labour as well. In it is a very good example. If you want the | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
health service to be successful, you have to put the money in, which | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
we are, and you have to reform it, which we are. Labour have put the | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
money in Government and throw it away in opposition. You work with | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
Nick Clegg in the Cabinet Office. Let me ask you about the | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
constitutional side since we have got you here. You saw that question | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
from Peter Lilley about the House of Lords reform. How much | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
resistance is there to House of Lords reform on the Tory | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
backbenches? Some people are not keen on it but lots of people agree | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
with the central proposition that people that make laws should be | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
elected. Lots of people on that programme have discussed the House | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
of Lords and welfare and the health bill. When you challenge appears on | :14:30. | :14:37. | |
that central proposition, they do not defend it. -- challenged peers. | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
They pretend that they do not make the law and they just offer advice. | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
That is rubbish. We can deal with the deficit, we can reform welfare, | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
and we can make our Parliament more democratic. You can do more than | :14:51. | :15:00. | |
one thing at to time. I understand that. I was more interested in the | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
process. The impression that I get one I talked to Tory MPs is that | :15:06. | :15:14. | |
there is no real enthusiasm for this. -- when I talk to Tory MPs. | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
They just wish it would go away. You will have to whip them through | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
big time. It was in our manifesto in 2001 and in 2005 and 2010. It is | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
clearly true that the Liberal Democrats are more enthusiastic | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
than we are but lots of Conservatives think the House of | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
Lords should be more democratic, and when you point out there are | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
800 of them, they get paid, they are former MPs, actually having | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
fewer is something that the public would agree with. It is not at the | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
top of their list of priorities. Has Labour made up its mind? We do | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
not know the nature of the reforms exactly but it is a working | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
assumption that it will be staged towards an 80% a elected Lords. Has | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
Labour made up its fight if it wants to go along with that? -- | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
made up its mind. It must be tempting to oppose it. Our policy | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
is clear. We believe the second chamber should be fully elected. We | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
need to resolve the issue of what powers they had. And what should be | :16:15. | :16:25. | |
:16:25. | :16:32. | ||
The draft Bill publish last year had huge problems with it. We will | :16:32. | :16:39. | |
see at the committee can improve it. The problem with doing that, if | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
you're going to make a huge changes, the way to do it is by doing it | :16:45. | :16:55. | |
:16:55. | :16:55. | ||
with consensus rather than papering over the tracks. They know they | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
might do little but was at the general election. A balance of | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
power? Many people say, this is an opportunity to mess up the | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
Government's programme. Let's do what we can. I think from a twinkle | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
in his eye, that's the way he's going for so there are many in the | :17:14. | :17:21. | |
Labour Party... I just like watching the House of Commons | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
reform. What do sent to Conservative backbenchers who say, | :17:25. | :17:32. | |
I'm not going to work for this? If we have a second elected chamber, | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
there will be able permanent balance of power in a high and as | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
of the Lib Dems? Firstly, in the last Parliament before the | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
coalition government, the Lib Dems had a balance of power under the | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
existing system. I set out the case for why actually, having a House of | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
Lords elected, where you want a wide spread of opinion, actually | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
works very well the House of Commons were used to draw the | :18:00. | :18:09. | |
Government based on first-past-the- post. 15 year terms of a lot longer | :18:09. | :18:16. | |
than... Less than life. It would be up to the public and the way they | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
voted in the general election. It depends how many people vote for | :18:20. | :18:30. | |
:18:30. | :18:31. | ||
them. That's totally logical. Now we will move on. James, banks of | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
being with us. George Osborne has had plenty of advice ahead of his | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
Budget next week. Should he drop the 50p tax rate? Introduce a | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
Mansion Tax? Hit high earners with pension changes? Whatever he | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
decides on tax, Tim Montgomerie, the editor of the Conservative Home | :18:44. | :18:54. | |
:18:54. | :19:09. | ||
website, wants the Chancellor to If I were the Chancellor, my | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
biggest focus would not be the eurozone, and the deficit. It would | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
be the rise of China and other new economies. Up until recently, China | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
had no high-speed rail. Now they have as much as Europe, and soon as | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
much as the whole world of. Half of all degrees are awarded in China, | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
Singapore and Japan are for Science and Engineering. In Britain, it is | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
under one third. The number of elevations in China is up by 1,000% | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
but it is falling here. In order to compete, I know what we have to do. | :19:46. | :19:56. | |
:19:56. | :20:00. | ||
Unpopular things but necessary We need a new airport in the south- | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
east of England. Replace employment laws would stop firms from taking | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
on extra workers. Pace science teachers more than geography | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
teachers, we need profit-making schools, privatise roads. And we | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
need to link the retirement age to life expectancy. I'm told by spin | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
doctors that these are impossible unpopular things to do. But | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
sometimes, the things which are not right for a politician are right | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
for the country. There's no point doing these things at half measures, | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
just like there is no point dieting one day and pinching the next. If | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
we are going to make a difference, we might as well do all of these | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
things and that's what I would do. I would end axe every single one of | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
his unpopular measures. My great Britain plan will be a climb to | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
more jobs, higher incomes, and prosperity for everyone. And Tim | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
Montgomerie joins us in the studio. As we were just saying, you're not | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
the Chancellor. Perhaps you would not be an acting of these unpopular | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
ideas. Why do you think that list you read out, profit-making, | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
privatising roads etc, would transform the long-term prospects | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
of this country? Like with any reform, and this is the main thing | :21:19. | :21:26. | |
I wanted to communicate with that a video, NHS reforms, unless the | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
public first double think there is a problem, it's hard to end at any | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
reform which is why I talked about the innovation in China, they | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
invest so much in infrastructure. Once we understand the nature of | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
the competitiveness we face as the country and the risk to jobs and | :21:44. | :21:51. | |
income, then there will be a hunger for the radical reforms I suggest. | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
I'm happy to go through each one of them. George Osborne has often | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
talked about the rise of emerging countries, and China, so he | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
obviously has identified the problem but has not come to the | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
same conclusions as you. What makes you think he would look up these | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
ideas, when the main aim of the Government is reducing the deficit? | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
Vince Cable wrote a letter last week where he said he thought the | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
Government lacks a compelling message. I think there is a danger | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
of that, yes, because if you ask the average person what they think | :22:24. | :22:31. | |
the Government is about, they will say it's about the big society, and | :22:31. | :22:38. | |
deficit cuts. I think a big message that it's about competitiveness and | :22:38. | :22:44. | |
growth is a better method of the Government should focus on. The do | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
you like any of those proposals which have been listed? The I'm not | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
going to go through them. It's a matter for the Chancellor to | :22:52. | :22:59. | |
respond to. Do you like a new airport? What Tim is right about | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
his it is about competitiveness. We have talked about being more | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
competitive abroad. That's why we talk more about the Commonwealth | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
now and some fast-growing countries and a lot of what the Chancellor | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
will be talking about is making us more competitive ness, which is why | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
we encourage companies to... Don't you need to take a more radical | :23:21. | :23:28. | |
look at? There is certainly an appetite to take difficult | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
decisions. We have spent the last two years making difficult | :23:31. | :23:38. | |
decisions, not always popular, but necessary. If ideas come forward we | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
conclude will have those effects which are unpopular, we have to | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
make the case to people. The are what about dropping the 50 p tax | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
rate? The Chancellor will set out our views on that next week and has | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
commissioned research allowed how much money it raises. The priority | :23:55. | :24:02. | |
is to help low income families have more money in their pocket. In my | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
constituency, I doubt anybody pays the 50 pence tax. I'm concentrating | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
on the thousands of people for the you have to earn over one and in | :24:12. | :24:21. | |
the �2,000. -- �150,000 a year. I want to focus on modest families. I | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
want to cut taxes for them to make their lives easier. It won in by | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work, training, education, | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
our ability to compete is diminished, not enhanced. America, | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
India, Brazil, you have an active industrial policy creating jobs and | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
growth. You don't talk about the importance of what the Government | :24:47. | :24:54. | |
can do to stimulate growth when it is flat lining. We are going to | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
come to America. While David Cameron is rubbing shoulders with | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
Barack Obama in America, Ed Miliband tried to show that he is | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
the true ally of the President on Monday when he talked about the US | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
economy. Here's what he said in his pre-budget press conference. Labour | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
warned 18 months ago that cutting too far and too fast would not work. | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
And we, and other economists, have been proved correct unfortunate | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
leak in what we said would happen. If you look at what is happening | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
with Barack Obama, in the USA, growth is stronger, and, indeed, | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
jobs are being created much more quickly in that economy. The result | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
of him taking a different approach. The first thing George Osborne | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
should do is change course. A Ed Miliband calling for a change of | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
course. He points to America saying growth is on its way, unemployment | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
is on its way down, but its debt is unbelievably high, borrowing costs | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
are up because they lost their triple-A rating, so it's not | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
exactly clear to say if we follow the path of the USA, Britain would | :26:01. | :26:09. | |
do better. EU countries also have no groat or you can try to | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
stimulate growth by getting policies. -- growth. You're more | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
likely to do that if people are paying taxes and national insurance | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
rather than out of work. It's difficult when you see a better | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
picture Look Now the unemployment statistics than here. What you | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
don't do is sold a borrowing problem by spending more money and | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
giving up fiscal control -- solve the. Sir Nicol forebears is across | :26:40. | :26:42. | |
the country they need to keep borrowing costs low so they can | :26:42. | :26:50. | |
continue to invest and create jobs. We are still creating more jobs | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
than are being lost the public sector. Part-time jobs. But not | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
able to keep up with the losses. There are more jobs in the private | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
sector than being lost in the public sector. There are more | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
people in employment today than in May 2010. Can David Cameron learn | :27:10. | :27:19. | |
anything from Barack Obama? I agree with him on the debt is at issue. | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
That Continent is bogged down by the eurozone problems but America | :27:23. | :27:31. | |
is not anywhere near so connected. We cannot solve a debt crisis by | :27:31. | :27:38. | |
increasing our debt. In terms of looking further afield, if the | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
Chancellor thought he wouldn't be able to do anything, because his | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
inner coalition... One of the great things about the coalition in the | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
beginning is they had the rose garden moment where we had welfare | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
and education reforms, the vote on the Alternative Vote and raising | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
the tax threshold and I think we need another moment like that where | :28:00. | :28:07. | |
the Lib Dems stop fighting over small issues and go bold again. | :28:07. | :28:13. | |
It's not worth the paper they are written on. Attacking the Lib Dems | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
will not do you any good. If you read what Nick Clegg said, to get | :28:19. | :28:26. | |
his Senate, David Cameron could have said it exactly. Don't confuse | :28:26. | :28:32. | |
good Lib Dem activists with Billie Dove. Thank you. No time to pick | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
the winner of the guests the air competition. We will try to do that | :28:35. | :28:43. | |
tomorrow. The answer was 1987. Mrs Thatcher's second landslide of. | :28:43. | :28:52. | |
Tune in tomorrow. We thank all of our guests. The One O'Clock News is | :28:52. | :28:56. |