Browse content similar to 20/06/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. This is the Daily Politics. Today's top story: | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
European leaders meeting in Mexico agree new plans to shore up the | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
eurozone, including using the bailout funds to buy-up government | :00:51. | :01:00. | |
bonds. But is Angela Merkel fully signed up? David Cameron picks a | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
fight with the Argentine president over the Falkland Islands, telling | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
Cristina Fernandez at the G20 she should respect the wishes of | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Falkland Islanders. Back home, Vince Cable gets ready to unveil | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
his plans to curb executive pay but will a shareholder vote every three | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
years really end what the PM described as crony capitalism? | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
how much is enough? We'll hear from the economist, Lord Skidelsky, on | :01:24. | :01:32. | |
how Britain has become a nation obsessed with consumption. We are | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
invited to discover our souls in shopping. More stuff does not make | :01:37. | :01:47. | |
:01:47. | :01:48. | ||
us any happier. He said sipping wine from a silver goblet. All that | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
to come before 1pm and, of course, Prime Minister's Questions at Noon | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
today, starring William Hague and Harriet Harman, since Mr Cameron is | :01:53. | :02:03. | |
:02:03. | :02:04. | ||
in Mexico for the G20 meeting. That is over but he has gone to me the | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
Mexican President, and also the richest man in the world. And we've | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
been joined for the whole programme by the International Development | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
Minister, Alan Duncan, and the Shadow Leader of the House, Angela | :02:16. | :02:26. | |
:02:26. | :02:30. | ||
Eagle. She has very carefully chosen her jacket to colour co- | :02:30. | :02:37. | |
ordinate with my tie. Welcome to you both. We'll come to the big | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
issue of the eurozone in just a moment. First, let's take a look at | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
the other overnight story coming out of the G20 meeting. David | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
Cameron's confrontation with the Argentinian President over the | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
Falklands Islands. Yes, last night the Prime Minister told Cristina | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
Fernandez de Kirchner that her country should respect the views of | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
Falkland Islanders, who will vote in a referendum on the issue of who | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
should control the islands next year. I wanted to make absolutely | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
clear here, at the G20, to the Argentine President, that the | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
people of the Falkland Islands have decided to hold a referendum about | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
their future. If she believes in democracy, she should respect the | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
outcome of that referendum. It was important to make that point and a | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
made it with some vigour. David Cameron speaking after his | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
discussion with the Argentinian President, Cristina Fernandez de | :03:27. | :03:36. | |
Kirchner. The Prime Minister is making a very straightforward | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
statement of principle. It was not his confrontation with her, it was | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
her confrontation with him. Trying to thrust a letter into his hand | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
while being filmed by a member of staff. He did not seek her out? | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
Downing Street is saying he did. The Prime Minister has made a | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
principled statement. It is the view we have held since the | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
island's were invaded 30 years ago. We are commemorating that this | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
month. In international law, the Prime Minister is 100% right. Her | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
antics, which are trying to detract attention from domestic problems, | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
are getting a bit out of hand. Labour policy is bipartisan on | :04:23. | :04:31. | |
this? I do not know who did the media stunt. We were invaded 30 | :04:31. | :04:38. | |
years ago. It is a very important principle. Let me finish my | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
sentence. Sovereignty is important. Self-determination is important. We | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
will see what happens with the referendum next year. David Cameron | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
is not speaking to the Argentinians about the Falklands. The | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
Argentinians are refusing to talk to the Falkland Islanders. Wouldn't | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
it be helpful if somebody talk to somebody? Always better to talk | :05:02. | :05:09. | |
than resort to other issues. Jaw- jaw, better than war-war. Let's | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
wait until we have the referendum. The views of the people that live | :05:14. | :05:22. | |
in the Falklands will be tested. It will be plain for all to see. | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
is there to talk about? Is it the policy of the Labour Party that the | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
islanders can determine their own future? Of course it is. Let's see | :05:32. | :05:42. | |
what they say in the referendum. The islands belong to the Falklands. | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
We will not negotiate on a share off the boil. Of that is down to | :05:47. | :05:55. | |
the Falkland Islanders. -- that is down. We're being very careful in | :05:55. | :06:03. | |
following what Argentina is doing. This is mostly the sounding off of | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. We do not want to be | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
provocative. We want to state the principle it is up to the islanders. | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
There are facts. The Argentine economy is in a mess. It is | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
interesting for the eurozone. It has never really recovered from the | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
time in defaulted. That is not allowed him to international | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
borrowing markets again. It is in a mess. Its military is apparently | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
the same as it was in 1982. They have had no money to upgrade it. | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
There does seem evidence the sabre- rattling from when Sarah's is to | :06:40. | :06:50. | |
:06:50. | :06:50. | ||
cover for this. -- Buenos Aires. Let's not be complacent about the | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
mess here. You have these lines tripping off your tongue. Last time | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
you work on the show, you told me they would not have a double dip. | :07:01. | :07:11. | |
:07:11. | :07:11. | ||
Net sort out the mess at home. Remember who created the mess! | :07:11. | :07:19. | |
that case, I have to throw my hands up. Always blame the man in the | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
pink tie. This afternoon, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
will announce his plans for controlling the pay of Britain's | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
most senior business people. After months of consultation, Mr Cable | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
has decided on three measures which he hopes will go some way to | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
limiting executive pay. His plans include forcing companies to have | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
binding votes on executive pay every three years. Companies will | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
then have to stick to their pay plans for the next three years or | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
hold another shareholder vote. They will also have to publish a simple | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
figure every year showing how much executives have been paid. And they | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
will have to say how much an executive will be paid if they are | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
sacked or quit. At the moment, shareholders vote every year on | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
executive pay packages, but the result isn't binding. In January, | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
David Cameron said shareholders and customers are being ripped off by | :08:03. | :08:13. | |
:08:13. | :08:13. | ||
the excessive growth in payment unrelated to success. Will the | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
measures stop the crony capitalism that David Cameron talked about? | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
is very important. We have seen a new sort of Army of people called | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
management, who are getting extremely well paid, but not for | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
taking a particular risk. Those who do take the risk - shareholders - | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
have become divorced from management. I think you need to | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
take a longer term view. A three- year horizon is a big step forward. | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
That was not what Vince Cable intended to do. Has somebody got to | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
him and watered the proposals down? He clearly said to the House of | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
Commons there would be an annual binding vote on future pay policy | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
and he wanted to increase the bar at which any future pay packages | :09:01. | :09:08. | |
were endorsed to 75% and may have both gone. I think a three-year | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
horizon is better. A lot of people are getting rewarded for short-term | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
share increases. They should be rewarded for a much longer term | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
improvement in the fortunes of companies. A three-year package is | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
much better than a one-year package, where a manager can just organise | :09:24. | :09:31. | |
its he has a share increased, do a takeover, get some money and then | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
go. Vince Cable said he would get 75%. To think they have been | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
watered down to some extent because people like you and your colleagues | :09:41. | :09:48. | |
think it is better? I am not aware of such discussions. For someone | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
with a commercial background, I think it is sensible step forward | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
for reconnecting shareholder voting power with the decisions on | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
remuneration for senior managers. This will do and go some way in | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
trying to correct what David Cameron sees as excessive pay | :10:07. | :10:14. | |
unrelated to success. It is an embarrassing climbdown. The | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
Government stands up for the wrong people. It is standing up for | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
shareholders. In the week after, it became clear that last year | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
managers got an increase of 12% in their pay, taking it and average of | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
nearly 5 million a year in the FT- SE 100, while everyone else had | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
stagnating pay levels. The economy was not doing fantastically. It is | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
not the time to water down what the Government announced it was going | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
to do. That is what Vince Cable appears to be doing. What they | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
should be doing is having an employee on a report. They should | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
be publishing ratios of pay from the average to the highest for | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
every company. They should also check and require fund managers to | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
publish how they vote on executive remuneration packages. What is | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
wrong with having workers on these remuneration boards and having a | :11:15. | :11:25. | |
:11:25. | :11:25. | ||
ratio between lowest and highest payers? You do not think I would be | :11:25. | :11:33. | |
good for the corporate health of the country! What I am saying is | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
introducing politics for political purposes... It is not a question of | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
politics. How would it improve the corporate nature? It is important | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
to see what the value of businesses are and how they treat the work | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
force by looking at these ratios. It is an indication and it makes | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
the point that businesses do not perform in a vacuum. Here are part | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
of society. They should behave in a way that looks after all of the | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
staff and not pay excessive increases, which takes no account | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
of the wages squeeze and the real hardship a pupil and the society | :12:09. | :12:19. | |
:12:19. | :12:20. | ||
are suffering at the moment. -- that people and society is | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
suffering from at the moment. companies may have a few employees | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
who are paid a lot because they're very technically proficient people. | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
Another sort of company might employ a lot of people, let save to | :12:35. | :12:44. | |
ring road works, which is an Army of lower-paid people. -- let's say, | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
doing road works. It should be up to them to explain that but the | :12:49. | :12:57. | |
information should be out there. I have big news. Ministers will not | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
attend the England quarter-final match against Italy in Kiev. They | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
said there is still selective justice in the Ukraine. If they | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
make it to the semi-finals, in Walsall, ministers will attend. No | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
decision has been taken on the final, which is in the Ukraine. | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
It's almost lunchtime and the news from Athens is that a government | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
will be formed imminently. Which means, that by tea time, it will | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
probably have collapsed! Nevertheless, world leaders, who | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
have been gathering at one of their regular G20 beachside pow-wows, | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
have apparently come up with yet another scheme to rescue countries | :13:33. | :13:42. | |
in peril. The details will apparently be fleshed out at the EU | :13:42. | :13:52. | |
:13:52. | :13:52. | ||
summit next week. Nothing concrete was agreed in Mexico. So, what do | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
we know? Spare a thought for those poor G20 leaders having to drag | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
themselves away from the beach in Mexico and back to their respective | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
countries. But have they actually achieved anything? For the first | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
time, Angela Merkel has indicated that Germany may be prepared to | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
allow the eurozone's bailout funds of around �600 billion to start | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
buying the debt of the weaker eurozone members. It is hoped such | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
a move would help to push down the borrowing costs of countries like | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
Span and Italy. Steps are also being made towards a banking union | :14:21. | :14:23. | |
within the eurozone, which could mean an EU-wide deposit guarantee | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
scheme and a rescue fund for banks that get into difficulty. David | :14:28. | :14:30. | |
Cameron said he believed there was important progress towards a | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
solution to the eurozone crisis, although European leaders have said | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
there will be nothing concrete until the EU summit at the end of | :14:36. | :14:43. | |
the month. It has not been all smiles however. When referring to | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
the new French government's plan to increase income tax for high | :14:46. | :14:55. | |
France's European Affairs Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, dismissed the | :14:55. | :15:05. | |
:15:05. | :15:10. | ||
comments as misplaced British We've been joined by the new French | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
Socialist MP for London and Northern Europe, Axelle Lemaire. | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
Welcome back to the programme. Thank you. | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
Now, all these reports were coming overnight that the eurozone | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
countries in mex -- and Mexico seem to have agreed that that bail out | :15:30. | :15:37. | |
funds could be used to buy Spanish and it Italian foreign debt, but I | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
have looked to find where this agreement could be. I can't see | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
anybody saying that, particularly Mrs Merkel? Well, the fact that | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
they mentioned the bail out and link it to the Spanish debt problem | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
is an improvement in itself. I think there is another source of | :15:55. | :16:01. | |
agreement in the fact that they make reference to final communique. | :16:01. | :16:09. | |
Make reference to growth enhancing measures. What does that mean? | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
means that States at a domestic level, but probably at European | :16:14. | :16:21. | |
level, will try to implement measures, and invest money in some | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
identified sectors such as new technologies, inhe vation, where -- | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
innovation, where is there a potential to create growth and jobs. | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
Mrs Merkel didn't even give a press conference before she left Mexico? | :16:34. | :16:41. | |
She didn't need to because they agreed on a press communique. | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
No, everyone gave a press conference. I think she didn't | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
because she didn't want to be asked questions. The wires out of Germany | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
are full of stories of the German Government playing down the idea | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
that bail out funds could be used to buy sovereign debt? It is | :16:56. | :17:03. | |
mentioned in the communique. No. No, it is not actually. The communique | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
simply talks about ways to reduce the cost of sovereign debt. It | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
doesn't mention using bail out funds to buy it? Your president | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
wants it, doesn't he? Of course. And what I have heard about the the | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
summit is that - it was harmonious, more than six months ago which | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
shows that there is real improvement and they are all keen | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
to come to a result. Last time you got rid of the Greek | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
and the Italian governments? teams, the French and German teams | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
are clearly discussing together ahead of the European summit and | :17:40. | :17:47. | |
that's when things will be decided. Your president is going - he is on | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
the way to increasing, it increase the top rate of tax to 75%. He has | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
increased minimum wage. He is going to have new rules to stop stop | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
factory closures. Is that the pro growth measure that would encourage | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
businesses to invest in France? thing about the dividend tax. You | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
talk about tax. We talk about growth. Why is that? Because the | :18:11. | :18:19. | |
idea is to create an incentive for companies to reinvest their profits | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
into investments so into the creation of new values instead of | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
distributing the money to shareholders. Last year only, in | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
France, 45 billion euros were paid to shareholders from CAC-40 | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
companies. That money could have been used in the investment | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
products. If you were a shareholder, why | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
would you invest if you you don't get a dividend? These in the long- | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
term, these companies are likely to make bigger profits. | :18:51. | :18:58. | |
Don't you want shareholders to get dividends and spend it? If you take | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
them away, they won't spend it? is an opportunity to promote small | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
and medium sized companies. It is a question of a long-term economic | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
strategy. It is not about creating a tax haven. | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
Does the British Government have a position on whether the bail out | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
funds, one of which doesn't exist yet, which is the ESM, the other | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
one does which is the EFSF. Does the British Government think these | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
funds should be used to buy sovereign debt of Spain and et and | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
Italy. I don't know. I don't know what has | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
come the of the summit. The big picture is these decisions which | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
look as as though they will be taken in France are unlikely to | :19:44. | :19:51. | |
make France more attractive and and competitive. A a lot of investors | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
can invest in UK companies instead of French ones if they are not | :19:56. | :20:04. | |
going to get a dividend. A a lot of people will look elsewhere if | :20:04. | :20:11. | |
France does this. A rich-hunt is unlikely to lead to the growth that | :20:11. | :20:17. | |
President Hollande claimed? It does not seem to be lead to go growth | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
here. The floor is is yours! reminds me of Mr Sarkozy's. | :20:24. | :20:30. | |
We have had encouraging employment figures today. That's good news. | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
The claimant count went up. The point that we have to keep on | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
making. There is no quick fix. You can't pay off a mortgage with a | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
mortgage. One of the advantages in the UK is very, very low interest | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
rates. If we were to go the Ed Balls route and take out a bigger | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
mortgage to pay off the mortgage, interest rates would go up. That | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
would kill growth. There is long, slow, hard escape from the legacy | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
we have inherited. You need a more balanced plan. This Government has | :21:01. | :21:08. | |
driven us back into double dip recession. Only Italy and the UK | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
are in a double dip recession. The plan we have got in this country is | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
not working. We need a more balanced plan. We need a plan for | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
jobs and growth. We need to invest in infrastructure, to kick start | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
the economy and to create more jobs. Does Labour have a position on | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
whether the bail out funds should be used to buy sovereign debt? | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
it is for the eurozone to decide. I know that. I know that. It is yes | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
or no? However, we think that the European Central Bank should be the | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
lender of last resort. They have to have a mechanism for dealing with | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
the problems that there are sheltering these countries. | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
The ECB bought over 200 billion of sovereign debt last year. I will | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
ask you one more time and it is yes or no, does Labour have a position | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
on it? The minister has been on, he says he doesn't know. Does Labour | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
have a position or not? We haven't got a position because we haven't | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
seen what they are suggesting, but what we were saying earlier is that | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
they have to have a lender of last resort. It has to be... No, you | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
said that that twice. How do you feel about Mr Cameron | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
touting for rich rich French folk come to go live in London? Either | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
you try to help the rich or you try to create a friendly economic | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
environment for businesses which is what they want to do in France. | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
Would you advice the British Labour Party to go for a top rate of tax | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
of 75%? I won't advice the Labour Party. | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
They need all the help they can get? I will not comment on what UK | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
does and I hope that's what British, that's what British politicians | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
think. First of all, you want people to | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
invest. You want people to start-up new businesses. But if they do | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
really well, you will take away 75% of their income. You are mixing two | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
issues here. There is the 75% rate concerning 3,000 individuals on one | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
side and the whole pack of tax measures concerning companies which | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
are very, which are very bald and likely to create growth. So it is | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
two different issues. How much do you think taxing 3,000 individuals | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
at 75% will raise? Probably not very much. What's the point in | :23:32. | :23:39. | |
doing it then? It is symbolic. Happens if they come here? | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
report was launched this morning in France. 20% of the French | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
population, a fifth of the French population owns more than three- | :23:49. | :23:54. | |
quarters of French properties, French values, French... There is a | :23:54. | :24:03. | |
disproportion in how the wealth is owned and distributed. Unlike this | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
country you have a wealth tax so it has not worked? Well, no, because | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
it was cracked by Mr Sarkozy. The distributional figures were the | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
same before he did that. I would suggest what will happen is that | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
nobody will now pay themselves more than one million euros. It is a | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
marginal rate. But nobody will pay themselves, why would you? It is on | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
revenues only. What it means is that people will have - that rich | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
bunch which spend a lot of money in France, will have less money to | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
spend and that will inhibit your growth as well? Well, I think it is | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
a pure cliche to think that when the 3,000 rich people spend money. | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
This is likely to have the the economic effect of a entire | :24:51. | :24:59. | |
community. When I say it is symbolic. London is a good example. | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
If you can redistribute money to people who aren't as rich as that, | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
they tend to spend it in the economy, but people who are very | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
rich save it. Why don't we have a 75% tax then | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
for the very rich? Are you in favour of a 75% rich tax? You will | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
see what our manifesto says when we get to the election. I am not going | :25:23. | :25:30. | |
to write it here. We have to have economies that are | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
fairer. We have to get the right balance between rewarding - we have | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
to get the right balance between rewarding success and ensuring that | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
you don't. Are you for or against it? I am not | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
going to make our tax policy in this programme much as you would | :25:47. | :25:53. | |
like me to, Andrew. I am just looking for an opinion. | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
Are you enjoying being a French Socialist member of the assembly? | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
Very much. Until she came on to your programme. | :26:02. | :26:11. | |
We love having her. I was in Paris yesterday, hence my pin. I received | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
my Republican scar of. -- scarf. | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
You should have wore it today. You are our line into the French | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
national Assembly. Thank you. | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
Andrew, have you noticed more French people coming over? I am | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
going over to Paris in a few weeks time. I am going to help the | :26:32. | :26:40. | |
economy. PMQs shorts shortly. We will be treated to Harriet mar man | :26:40. | :26:49. | |
taking on -- Harman taking on William Hague. The PM went or the | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
summit. He has a number of meetings and maybe he will find to have fun | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
recharge his batteries. You will not see pictures of him on the | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
beach. If he does get a moment to chillax, there is one thing we hope | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
the PM did pack and that's the only way to drink his coffee, the Daily | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
Politics mug! It is a perfect way for hiding a cocktail in the sun! | :27:14. | :27:20. | |
If you want to your hands on one of these mugs, you can do so, but you | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
have got to win the Guess the Year competition. | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
Stop giving away our secrets! See if you can remember when this | :27:31. | :27:41. | |
:27:41. | :27:44. | ||
From stepping in the Baltic. The Iron Curtain has descend across the | :27:44. | :27:54. | |
:27:54. | :27:57. | ||
Continent. Next in importance was the | :27:57. | :28:07. | |
:28:07. | :28:13. | ||
After 40 years of Japanese domination, Korea makes a start on | :28:13. | :28:20. | |
the road back to national independence. All japs have got the | :28:20. | :28:27. | |
order to clear out. Britain's hospitality to the 2,000 | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
visitors include hostesses. They are ready and able to fix the | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
delegates up with anything from afternoon tea to an afternoon at | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
the dance. # Give me five minutes more | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
# # Only five minutes more # Let me stay | :28:44. | :28:51. | |
# Let me stay in your arms # Here am I | :28:51. | :28:58. | |
# Begging or only five minutes more # Only five minutes more # | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
To be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics for your cocktail, | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
send your answer to: You can see the full terms and | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
conditions for guess the year on our website -- Guess the Year on | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
our website. It is coming up to midday. Let's | :29:17. | :29:23. | |
look at Big Big Ben. It is a glorious summer's day in | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
Westminster. We have James Landale. Is it true because the press | :29:28. | :29:33. | |
revealed that the flat that the Prime Minister was staying in, the | :29:33. | :29:38. | |
G20 logo, if you turned the camera around, you could see he was beside | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
a beautiful beach and Caribbean waters. So his people took pictures | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
of journalist sitting in the sun. Two things happened. One, was the | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
subsequent interview that took part a day later with the Chancellor, it | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
was originally inside, there was a bland logo behind the camera. That | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
was away from the windows, but yes, I am told that Downing Street | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
officials have taken photographs of journalists relaxing and are | :30:02. | :30:09. | |
threatening to release the photos if there is anymore comments... | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
would any journalist be worried about relaxing in the sun for a | :30:13. | :30:20. | |
while? It is a good question. Relaxed or gone to the sun? | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
experience, I rarely get time to do that and if I don't somebody will | :30:24. | :30:29. | |
find more work for me to do! So much to do about nothing at PMQs | :30:29. | :30:38. | |
today? A bit of Syria, I think. I think we will have a bit of health | :30:38. | :30:47. | |
are my well informed punts on what Harriet Harman to go on. Harriet | :30:47. | :30:54. | |
Harman and William Hague are oldies at this. They have done it | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
previously. So they have done this before. They know the routine. | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
Occasionally there is the potential for sparks and health is clearly a | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
live issue with the industrial action tomorrow and I think also | :31:06. | :31:12. | |
there might be questions about rationing. There was a Freedom of | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
Information Request. In the Health Service. That's where | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
I suspect she might go. A lot of issues to go on? There is | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
meat and there is lots of of humour. I expect chillaxing and Jeremy | :31:26. | :31:36. | |
:31:36. | :31:44. | ||
Browne. Mr Speaker! I have been asked to | :31:44. | :31:52. | |
attending the G20 summit in Mexico. I am sure the whole House will wish | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
to join me in paying tribute to the servicemen who have lost their | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
lives in Afghanistan since the last Prime Minister's Question Time. | :32:02. | :32:08. | |
Lance Corporal James Ashworth and corporal Alex guy of the 1st | :32:08. | :32:12. | |
Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment. Our sincere condolences | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
are with families and loved ones. Last week I visited the armed | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
forces in Helmand where I was reminded of their exceptional work | :32:20. | :32:27. | |
on behalf of our country. That work and the sacrifices must never be | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
forgotten. I joined the Foreign Secretary in expressing our deepest | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
sympathy to the families of our fallen heroes and prayed God will | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
comfort them. Belfast International Air link into Heathrow is an | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
invaluable asset to the economy of Northern Ireland. There are deep | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
concerns that this link is at risk because the landing slots are | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
allocated to carriers, rather than regional airports. Will the | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
Government urgently publish a strategy that ensures our | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
international airport maintains its link with Heathrow? The Department | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
for Transport will consult on future aviation policy in the | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
summer and a spot evidence on options about maintaining the | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
status of the UK as an international hub for aviation. The | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
London to Belfast link is important. There are 18,000 flights per year | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
between the two Belfast airports and the five main London airports. | :33:27. | :33:33. | |
I hope he agrees our steps to devolve power over passenger duty | :33:33. | :33:43. | |
:33:43. | :33:43. | ||
rates will also boost investment and tourism. As my right honourable | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
friend will know from my recent letter to the Prime Minister, the | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
situation at the Coryton oil refinery on the Thames is becoming | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
increasingly difficult. In an attempt to secure our manufacturing | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
and well-paid jobs and fuel supplies cut will he use the | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
offices of the Prime Minister to secure an urgent summit, bringing | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
together the heads to explore every single avenue possible to keep the | :34:10. | :34:17. | |
refinery open? This is very disappointing news. My honourable | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
friend has been very active on theirs. They have been helping the | :34:21. | :34:28. | |
administrators secured the long term prospects for the refinery. We | :34:28. | :34:34. | |
are looking at further options, working with the council's task | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
force. The Ministry of State has met with representatives of the | :34:39. | :34:46. | |
workforce and the local community. Can I join the Foreign Secretary in | :34:46. | :34:51. | |
paying tribute to Lance Corporal James Ashworth of 1st Battalion | :34:51. | :35:00. | |
Grenadier Guards and corporal Alex Clive of the Royal Anglian Regiment. | :35:00. | :35:06. | |
They died serving our country with the utmost bravery. We join him in | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
sending our deepest condolences to their family and friends. While we | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
know there is still a long way to go before the people of Burma get | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
the democracy to which they are entitled, the fact that progress | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
has been made is due to the extraordinary commitment and | :35:22. | :35:29. | |
courage of one Women, injuring more than two decades of house arrest. | :35:29. | :35:35. | |
Will the Foreign Secretary join me in expressing our utmost admiration | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
for Aung San Suu Kyi? I absolutely will. It is highly appropriate to | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
raise this in Prime Minister's Question Time. I was the first | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
European Foreign Minister to visit Aung San Suu Kyi and visit them at | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
the beginning of this year. I found her not only in reputation but | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
substance, and absolutely inspirational figure. There is | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
still a long way to go - not only bringing democracy to Burma - but | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
ending ethnic conflicts. We look to the Government of Burma to continue | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
to travel on this road to release remaining political prisoners. | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
Across all parties we look forward to giving Aung San Suu Kyi a | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
tremendous welcome tomorrow. thank the Foreign Secretary for | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
that answer. He was right to visit Burma when he did. Whilst we | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
support the suspension of sanctions on Burma, will he reassure us the | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
position of the British government will remain? Sanctions will be | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
reimposed unless there is sustained progress towards democracy and the | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
rule of law. That is very much our position. I have said that to be | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
Foreign Minister of Burma. We argued with the European Union that | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
sanctions and restrictive measures should not be lifted | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
unconditionally but should be suspended. That is so they can be | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
reimposed if progress comes to a stop. They have been suspended for | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
12 months. We will review progress through that period. Having met the | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
President of Burma, he is absolutely sincere in his | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
intentions. There will be elements within the Government of Burma who | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
are not so enthusiastic about these changes and who will be alarmed | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
about success in recent by- elections of Aung San Suu Kyi and | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
her party. We will keep up the pressure as well as a welcome for | :37:31. | :37:37. | |
these changes. I thank the Foreign Secretary for that answer and to | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
his commitment to keep up the pressure for progress. Can I turn | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
to domestic issues? Specifically the National Health Service. This | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
week, a survey showed that 90% of Primary Care Trusts, because of the | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
financial pressure they are under, are restricting access to treatment. | :37:57. | :38:04. | |
This will hit older people. How can he justify an elderly person with | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
cataracts in both eyes being told they can only have surgery in one | :38:08. | :38:15. | |
of them? How can he justify that? It is totally unacceptable if | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
trusts are rushing on grounds of financial considerations. The NHS | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
medical director has written to them to tell them the only criteria | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
of decision must be clinical and not financial. If evidence is found | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
they are ignoring that, the Secretary of State can intervene. | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
The Department of Health were looking to cases where they using | :38:36. | :38:42. | |
financial conditions. Allegations like this have been made before, | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
including under the last government. The Department of Health is very | :38:45. | :38:54. | |
clear about that a match to be welcomed across the House. There is | :38:54. | :39:01. | |
evidence. It is not just cataract operations. There are 125 different | :39:01. | :39:08. | |
treatments being rationed on the ground -- the grounds of cost. What | :39:08. | :39:14. | |
should he say to an elderly patient who needs a hip replacement? Wait | :39:14. | :39:21. | |
in pain or tried to pay it and go privately. I say three things. -- | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
tried to pay and Gove. Arbitrarily restricting access to operations | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
was not just happening under the last government, it was allowed | :39:31. | :39:38. | |
under the last government, such as in it 2007. Patients in Suffolk had | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
to wait 14 weeks for routine surgery. The NHS Trust was told not | :39:43. | :39:52. | |
to operate on non urgent cases until they waited a minimum of 20 | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
weeks. I would say, GPs and doctors should be going to work tomorrow, | :39:56. | :40:04. | |
not on strike. We, on this side of the House, encourage them to go to | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
work. I hope she and a Lord Bannside of the House was so | :40:08. | :40:15. | |
clearly today there are those doctors should be at wet mire. -- | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
and all on that side of the House will say clearly. We do not want | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
GPs to go on strike but we are proud of what we did in the NHS. | :40:26. | :40:33. | |
More doctors, more nurses, cutting waiting lists. It is always the | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
same. Labour builds up the NHS and the Tories track it down. Today he | :40:39. | :40:46. | |
is saying he is 100% behind the Government's health plans. It is a | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
different story in his own constituency, isn't it? Last month, | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
the Foreign Secretary took to the streets, marching in protest | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
against NHS cuts. Let's remind ourselves what the Prime Minister | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
said about midwives. Just before the general election, the Prime | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
Minister wrote for The Sun newspaper, because, professionally | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
of course, they were all in it together. He said, we will increase | :41:17. | :41:23. | |
the number of Maguire's by 3000. Can he confirm they have broken | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
their promises? -- midwives. That was a long question of though I | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
congratulate her on not having the Shadow Chancellor here today, which | :41:35. | :41:43. | |
does help everyone concentrating. He is obviously Dom the Chancellor | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
is at the G20. The Shadow Chancellor is presumably doing | :41:47. | :41:53. | |
another opinion poll on what people think of him. On the questions that | :41:53. | :42:00. | |
are asked... We are going to tell him that for nothing! On the | :42:00. | :42:07. | |
questions of poor value under the Conservatives... I am glad she says | :42:07. | :42:15. | |
GP should be at wet mire. She should tell that to her own | :42:15. | :42:21. | |
spokesman. -- at work tomorrow. She said there would be a lot of public | :42:21. | :42:27. | |
support for the action they are taking. There is a clear division | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
across the floor of the House. It is perilous to go into the affairs | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
of another constituency. That is nothing to do with funding or | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
health reforms. I will tell her all about that separately if she would | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
like. We are proud of what has happened in the National Health | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
Service when we look at average waiting times for both in-patients | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
and outpatients. They are lower than at the last general election. | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
The best performance ever has now been detained for patients waiting | :43:01. | :43:07. | |
after 18 weeks to be treated. The total number of qualified clinical | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
staff is higher than at the election. There are 3900 more | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
doctors since the election. Hospital infection levels are at | :43:16. | :43:22. | |
their lowest level since surveillance of them began. And he | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
never answered the question about midwives. Before the election, the | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
leader of the opposition was all, yes we can. As soon as he became | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
Prime Minister, it is no we cannot. Services rationed, patients | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
suffering and public satisfaction at the new lead. That is the Tories | :43:43. | :43:48. | |
on the NHS. The Prime Minister once told us he could sum up his | :43:48. | :43:58. | |
:43:58. | :44:00. | ||
priority in three letters - N H S. Isn't it more like, Ella well! -- | :44:00. | :44:09. | |
LOL! It obviously took a long time to think of that one. I have set | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
out the achievements of the Government on the National Health | :44:13. | :44:19. | |
Service, in in the King's Fund, in its latest report. -- event. They | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
say there is no evidence of a decline in service quality or | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
performance. Infection rates have not notice as they deteriorated but | :44:30. | :44:36. | |
our remaining relatively stable. MRSA and ceded the Silk are | :44:36. | :44:46. | |
reducing. These are important achievements in-house service. -- | :44:46. | :44:53. | |
C-difficile. They are a contrast with the number of managers | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
doubling under the Labour Party. At contrast when they were last in | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
power when the number of NHS managers rose six times as fast as | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
nurses and a huge contrast with Wales where Labour is cutting NHS | :45:07. | :45:17. | |
:45:17. | :45:18. | ||
Given the appalling behaviour of Liberal Democrat Cabinet members in | :45:18. | :45:26. | |
not supporting the Secretary of State for Culture Secretary, would | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
my preferred Deputy Prime Minister arrange a divorce divorce from the | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
yellow peril so we can govern with Conservative policies as a minority | :45:35. | :45:45. | |
Government? LAUGHTER | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
THE SPEAKER: Order. I'm sure members having heard the question | :45:49. | :45:55. | |
will wish to hear the answer. I am sure they will, Mr Speaker. I | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
think my honourable bringing up a divorce might be troubling to Mrs | :46:00. | :46:05. | |
Bone and we should all seek to reassure her that he is only | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
talking about a political one! But as someone who helped to negotiate | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
the coalition and who values enormously our co-operation with | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
the Liberal Democrats, I will not be advocating a divorce in the | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
Government. Can the Foreign Secretary confirm | :46:21. | :46:27. | |
that apart from Italy, the UK is the only country in the G20 in a | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
double dip recession? Well actually, the actual fact of | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
the matter is that the IMF forecast that in the coming year, the | :46:37. | :46:44. | |
British economy - they may not want to know what is going to happen. | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
The Shadow Chancellor, he is not here with his hand gestures, but he | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
said we should take notice of the IMF and they say in the coming year | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
the the British economy is going to grow faster than the German or | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
French economy. That next year, growth in the British economy will | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
be similar to that of the United States and twice that of the | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
eurozone and that would not be happening had we not brought the | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
excessive deficits and debts of the last Government under control. | :47:13. | :47:20. | |
Thank you Mr Speaker. In light of the historic signing in China for | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
record investment, the granting of the turn around cruise terminal in | :47:24. | :47:30. | |
Liverpool and the support of the automotive industries for 1,000 | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
more jobs at Jaguar and saving the vaux Vauxhall would you say this | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
Government had done more in two years to expand private enterprise | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
on Merseyside than Labour did in its entire tenure? | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
Well, yes I would, Mr Speaker. I would say - I would say exactly | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
that. And I would point out that that success which she described is | :47:53. | :48:03. | |
:48:03. | :48:04. | ||
37%, British exports to China, going up 61%, British exports to | :48:04. | :48:11. | |
India, going up 73% and that is also because the British Government | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
is out there championing British business which the other side | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
neglected to do. Account Secretary of State | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
Secretary of State inform the House why it is in their proposals for | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
regional pay that why he wants to see his nurses in Richmond, | :48:28. | :48:34. | |
Yorkshire to be paid less than say nurses doing the same job say in | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
Richmond, Surrey? Well there, is an issue that the | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
pay review bodies are now now examining as the honourable member | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
will know. They will report next month, but the case for local pay | :48:46. | :48:49. | |
and they will make their recommendations, we can debate that, | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
the case for local pay was was made by a Chancellor of the Exchequer | :48:54. | :48:59. | |
who said it makes sense to recognise thighs that a more -- | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
recognise that a more considered approach offers the best route to | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
employment. That Chancellor of the Exchequer was his neighbour, the | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
right honourable member for kal caddy. | :49:13. | :49:20. | |
THE SPEAKER: I'm sure Conservative backbenchers which to hear from one | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
of their coalition colleagues. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
The Department of Health accepts that radiotherapy is the cheapest | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
and most effective way of treating cancer, despite this the department | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
will spend over �1.5 billion on cancer drugs this career, but less | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
than a third of that on radiotherapy. In the south-west | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
several of our hospitals rely on charity to fund basic radiotherapy | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
services... THE SPEAKER: Order. Order. Order. A | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
one sentence question and a short sentence. So could the right | :49:57. | :49:59. | |
honourable gentleman speak to the Prime Minister about authorising | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
the investment that unused money into radiotherapy so hospitals in | :50:04. | :50:11. | |
my region... LAUGHTER | :50:11. | :50:13. | |
My honourable friend is right to point to the importance of | :50:13. | :50:15. | |
radiotherapy. It is also important to stress that decisions on | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
treatments should be made by clinicians based on whatever is | :50:18. | :50:24. | |
appropriate for their patients, but we are investing over �150 million | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
more over the next four years to expand radiotherapy capacity and I | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
know my honourable friend will welcome that. As well as the fact | :50:34. | :50:40. | |
that at the same time over 12,500 extra patients benefited from the | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
�650 million Cancer Drugs Fund introduced by this Government. | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The regional growth fund is the Government's | :50:49. | :50:55. | |
flagship scheme for boosting jobs and growth in the regions. The | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
recent National Audit Office report criticised it for spending too much | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
money on projects creating too few jobs. In some cases, �200,000 per | :51:04. | :51:11. | |
job. What is the Government doing about it? Well, the honourable | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
member's region will benefit, including �235 million from the | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
regional growth fund. Of course, it is important that that money is | :51:19. | :51:24. | |
spent effective and my colleagues will do their up most to ensure | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
that is happening, but it is important to remember his region | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
benefits from so many other things the Government is doing, including | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
infrastructure projects to support growth in the West Midlands and an | :51:36. | :51:43. | |
enterprise zone in Birmingham City centre and an enterprise zone for | :51:43. | :51:51. | |
the Black Country. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My constituent Ian Tapper | :51:51. | :51:56. | |
has lost 300 cattle to Bovine TB. The last Government did nothing | :51:56. | :52:03. | |
about this issue. Whilst I recognise the work this Government | :52:03. | :52:09. | |
has has done, when it comes to disease control regular regulations | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
there will be proportion nationality and nothing that is | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
likely to detract from their livelihood? My honourable friend | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
raises an important issue. Bovine TB is one of the most serious | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
challenges facing the British cattle farming industry and last | :52:23. | :52:31. | |
year around 26,000 cattle were slaughtered in England alone. DEFRA | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
will be making an announcement tomorrow will how they intend to | :52:35. | :52:41. | |
proceed on this subject. Cattle measures continue to be the found | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
aches of our TB -- foundation of our TB control. I invite him to | :52:47. | :52:49. | |
stand-by for an announcement tomorrow. | :52:49. | :52:59. | |
The Foreign Secretary will be aware that today the 14th Dalai Lama is | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
in London and will be visiting Parliament this afternoon. Will he | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
use this opportunity to restate his Government's commitment to the | :53:06. | :53:14. | |
Human Rights of Tibetans within Chin We -- China? We believe in the | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
universalality of Human Rights. And that is a point that I often make | :53:18. | :53:25. | |
to Chinese leaders including in the dialogue that I conduct with China | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
on an annual basis. We have a formal Human Rights dialogue with | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
China which we do not shy away from raising any of these cases. We do | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
see, as did the last Government, we see Tibet as part of the people's | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
Republic of China. But we also look for meaningful dialogue between | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
representatives of the dal la la of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese and | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
we will support that. Government has made clear its | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
commitment to to root out tax avoidance by public officials and | :53:55. | :54:03. | |
civil servants. Account deputy, can the Foreign Secretary make clear... | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
Can the Foreign Secretary make clear that the Government will be | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
robust in rooting out tax avoidance by the corporate sector who do jobs | :54:11. | :54:14. | |
for Government or are employed by the Government? | :54:14. | :54:21. | |
Yes, and I won't mention to the Deputy Prime Minister his slip! | :54:21. | :54:28. | |
LAUGHTER It is between ourselves! | :54:28. | :54:29. | |
LAUGHTER In these four four walls! Yes, | :54:29. | :54:35. | |
absolutely, the Chancellor set out clear in the Budget his | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
determination to deal with tax avoidance and to do so without | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
warning in future and I know for the Chancellor -- I know if the | :54:43. | :54:49. | |
Chancellor was here he would say that applies to the corporate | :54:49. | :54:54. | |
section as well. The Government believes it is not | :54:54. | :54:57. | |
reasonable or fair that households should receive a greater income | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
from benefits than the average weekly wage for working households. | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
In some cases, it can be more than double the average household income | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
and our changes will mean no family on benefits will earn more than a | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
working family's average salary, �26,000 for a couple and single | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
parent households. This strikes the right balance between supporting | :55:19. | :55:25. | |
families and providing incentives to work. | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
Rents in my constituency are high. Jobcentre Plus, there are 900 | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
families who have between them 2,000 to 4,000. Their benefits will | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
be cut on average on the 1st April by �200 a month. This will either | :55:40. | :55:46. | |
cause them to rack up rents arrears or have to move. Mayor, Boris | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
Johnson, says he will not preside over the removal of the poor from | :55:51. | :55:54. | |
inner London. Boris gets it. Why doesn't the Government? | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
Well, I know that the honourable member has long running concerns | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
about this and has frequently expressed them and I think it is | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
important to stress that for all but the most expensive parts of | :56:06. | :56:11. | |
London, at least 30% of all private rental properties will be | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
affordable. In London, under the system, that we inherited, 150 | :56:15. | :56:20. | |
families were receiving housing benefit of over �50,000 a year. And | :56:20. | :56:24. | |
that is not acceptable to the taxpayers of this country in | :56:24. | :56:29. | |
general. And our reforms are fair. Housing benefit will be paid to | :56:29. | :56:36. | |
meet rents of almost �21,000 a year. There is also �190 million fund for | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
discretionary payments to help local authorities with the changes | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
and including assistance to renegotiate lower rents with | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
landlords, but the principle remains and I say it again, it is | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
not fair that people on housing benefit can afford to live in | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
streets and homes that people out working hard are unable to live in | :56:53. | :56:59. | |
themselves. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Wales is the | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
only nation in the UK without a single yard of electified rail | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
track thanks to the party opposite as a former Secretary of State for | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
Wales, could the Foreign Secretary persuade the Government that | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
extending track as far as Swansea, not just Cardiff, will be great for | :57:14. | :57:20. | |
Wales and cheaper than the refurb of Tottenham court Station? Well, | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
the Welsh Secretary is working hard on this. We are committed to | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
electifying over 300 miles of railway routes which compares | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
actually with just nine miles electified under the last | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
Government. An interesting contrast in infrastructure investment. The | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
Department for Transport is currently considering a business | :57:39. | :57:43. | |
case for electification between Cardiff and Swansea, prepared in | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
Wales, and I understand that the decision will be made by the summer | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
and of course, it will depend on whether it is affordable and on the | :57:52. | :57:54. | |
assessment of competing priorities as well. | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
There is more work to do, but for the third month, unemployment has | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
reduced in Scotland and for the second year in a year, Scotland is | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
the best location for foreign investment in the UK. Would the | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
Foreign Secretary take the opportunity to congratulate the | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
Scottish Government and Scottish development international which is | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
the lead agency that secures Foreign Secretary foreign direct | :58:17. | :58:22. | |
investment? The honourable member is right to draw attention to the | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
employment figures which we must never be complacent about and there | :58:26. | :58:32. | |
is more work to do. The right honourable lady didn't ask about | :58:32. | :58:38. | |
these and they show a fall in unloimt unemployment of 51,000. | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
Importantly, youth employment coming down by 29,000 in the last | :58:42. | :58:47. | |
quarter, but long-term unemployment is still rising and that remains a | :58:47. | :58:53. | |
challenge. Of course, Scotland as part of the United Kingdom is an | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
attractive place to invest in and I congratulate many Scottish people | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
and businesses on their work. They would have harder work to do if | :59:01. | :59:07. | |
Scotland were not part of the United Kingdom. | :59:07. | :59:13. | |
While welcoming overseas students who come to this country to get a | :59:13. | :59:19. | |
world-class education, will my honourable friend look on vice vice | :59:19. | :59:26. | |
vice qulorce on chancellors who believe they can't compete? Last | :59:26. | :59:32. | |
year 10,000 students -- -- 120,000 students were granted the right to | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
extend their stay here? Yes. The Government has introduced reforms | :59:37. | :59:43. | |
to stamp out abuse and restore order to the out of control student | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
visa system. Making the immigration system easier for students, | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
universities and the UK Border Agency to operate. So we are | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
closing bogus colleges and regulating the remainder. | :59:55. | :59:58. | |
Restricting the right-to-work here and bring dependants and making | :59:58. | :00:04. | |
sure that all but the best go home at the end of their studies. On | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
that basis, of course, talented students from around the world are | :00:07. | :00:15. | |
welcome here in the United Kingdom. As MP for Rotherham, can I welcome | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
the fact that the right honourable gentleman has realised the ambition | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
thwarted in 2001 and briefly is in charge of the clattering trade. | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
Will he he take this opportunity, as we have two Asian Nobel prize | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
winners in the House of Commons this week, to invite a third, | :00:37. | :00:46. | |
currently rotting in the Chinese goulag. From the dispatch mention | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
his name and invite him here to London for next year? | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
Well, it is the nice words about Rotherham are being exchanged at | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
Prime Minister's Questions. I welcome the question from the right | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
honourable member. We raise individual cases, of course, with | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
the Chinese and often do so publicly, but I will assess which | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
one to say raise and when to do so, of course, but the Human Rights | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
dialogue that we have with China is very important and it is important | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
that in China there is an understanding of our deep concerns | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
about many of these cases. He can rest assured I will be raising them. | :01:23. | :01:33. | |
:01:33. | :01:41. | ||
N-the cause of deficit reduction, the Government is reducing funding | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
to the police by 20% in real terms over four years. Can my right | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
honourable friend assure me in the cause of deficit reduction he will | :01:47. | :01:56. | |
be insisting on a reduction to the European Union budget by over 20%? | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
Highly desirable as that would be, that contribution is not decided by | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
a single decision of Government, but is the balance between two | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
large figures determined in other ways. He can rest assured however, | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
that we will be better at negotiating about this than the | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
honourable members opposite. The Shadow Foreign Secretary is sit | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
there and when he was Minister for Europe, the party opposite gave | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
away �7 billion of the British rebate. For nothing in return and | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
that was an abject failure of negotiation and leadership that we | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
will not repeat. Does the Foreign Secretary agree | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
with the words of the honourable member when he was quoted in the | :02:40. | :02:47. | |
Newcastle Journal as Saying, "I see no regional argument for re-- I see | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
no argument for regional pay.". pointed out the views expressed by | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
the former leader of the Labour Party on local pay and regional pay. | :02:56. | :03:04. | |
It is also worth pointing out that the last Government in 2007 | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
introduced local pay into Her Majesty's courts and tribunal | :03:07. | :03:14. | |
service. Would my right honourable friend | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
agree what a wonderful announcement it was for Rolls-Royce, future | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
engineering jobs, bottom bardier look look -- Bombardier creating | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
more jobs. This indeed is good news. It is | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
good news for investment in this country. It is good news for Derby | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
and the area and it is good news for the long-term security of this | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
country that we are prepared to invest confidently in submarine | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
technologies for the long-term. Account Foreign Secretary tell the | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
House how the snooper's charter which the Government plans to intro | :03:54. | :04:03. | |
durex differs from -- differs from -- -- introduction differs? | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
differs from that. The proposal of the last Government was to hold all | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
data in a central database. This is requiring provide torce hold on to | :04:13. | :04:21. | |
-- providors to hold on to their data. This is designed to be a | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
criminal's nightmare and unless we update it, unless we update our | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
ability to detect terrorism, to detect criminality in this country | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
then that will have a serious effect. I am plan to go look at | :04:36. | :04:42. | |
this in detail. It is important for maintaining law and order. | :04:42. | :04:49. | |
The highlight of the Olympic torch relay will take place on 6 6 July - | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
- 6th July when it arrives in Southend. Would my right honourable | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
friend agree the Olympic Games is an opportunity for our country to | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
come together and celebrate this Government putting the great back | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
into Britain? Well, the arrival of the torch in | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
Southend is one of the highlights. The other highlight the fact that | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
today it is passing through Richmond in Yorkshire. I would have | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
dearly loved to have been there to see it, but that is one of the | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
highlights. He is quite right there, is an enormous opportunity for this | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
country. We are looking through the Olympic Games to secure over �1 | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
billion worth of iward investment to attract four million extra | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
visitors include to go Southend, to use the Games, to inspire more | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
young people to take up sport. It is a great moment for Britain. | :05:45. | :05:52. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. We know that the Prime Minister likes - forgive | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
me! We know the Prime Minister likes to chillax down the pub, but | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
when it comes to Anglo-French relations, shouldn't he adopt a | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
more sober approach? Well, the Prime Minister always has | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
excellent relations with any president of France including with | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
the new president of France and we should welcome and applaud the fact | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
that the city we are standing in, sitting in today, is the seventh | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
largest city for French people in the world and of course, they are | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
welcome here in the United Kingdom whatever their Government is doing | :06:25. | :06:35. | |
:06:35. | :06:44. | ||
I think the Speaker's wrist watch must have come to a stop was at the | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
main bone of contention was the NHS. A troublesome Tory MP wanted a | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
divorce between the Tories and the Lib Dems. The Deputy Prime Minister, | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
as he is always called by Simon Hughes, William Hague always said | :07:01. | :07:09. | |
he was not up for a divorce. Johnny Depp and Vanessa parody up on their | :07:09. | :07:16. | |
way to a divorce. They can also report that Ken Livingstone came | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
top of the Labour Party NEC elections. He was top of the poll. | :07:21. | :07:28. | |
He said he was not going to run for election again and he has. From | :07:28. | :07:37. | |
Athens, the head of the Socialist Party, says Greece has a government. | :07:37. | :07:45. | |
That is a first step chorus --! Let's find her what you thought | :07:45. | :07:54. | |
about the elongated PMQs. -- find out. It was David Cameron and Ed | :07:54. | :08:02. | |
Miliband eat your heart at. This from built in Doncaster, William | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
Hague was as ever the great performer. I think Harriet Harman | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
and the Labour Party actually like William Hague. We think he is | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
lovely. Should David Cameron be looking over his shoulder? David | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
Cameron can only dream about such a performance. Barton from | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
Wolverhampton. A complete cheap shot up from Harriet Harman. In the | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
Labour years it was not matched by productivity gains. The Government | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
is claiming credit for increasing the number of doctors in the NHS. | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
It takes seven years to train a doctor. All these doctors will have | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
done the bulk of their training under the last Labour government. | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
This from Ellis. It is good to know we will have high growth next year. | :08:54. | :09:04. | |
Also orders been up and the deficit being paid off. -- being up. | :09:04. | :09:10. | |
like our viewers when they do things like that. NHS, I know it is | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
not up there in public concern with the economy, which are still the | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
number one issue. It is becoming a problem from thicker -- for the | :09:19. | :09:25. | |
Government, isn't it? The first couple of years this Parliament has | :09:25. | :09:31. | |
been dominated by rows over NHS reform. You will recall how hard it | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
was for the Government to get that through their paws. The impact of | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
that legislation will begin to start having consequences. Those | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
changes now will be operating on the ground. Harriet Harman started | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
poking fun at those members of the Government, such as William Hague, | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
who have been protesting against changes to their own hospitals in | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
their own areas. William Hague said, the changes to the hospital in his | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
constituency a lot about the broad thrust of government reforms will | :10:04. | :10:14. | |
:10:14. | :10:18. | ||
stop that is beginning to take effect. -- government reforms. | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
There is also the problem with saying Hellyer hospital. | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
Chairman of the NHS Confederation says, the NHS is heading for an | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
iceberg. I do not think that is right. The floor of the House of | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
Commons is not the best place and to allocate scarce NHS resources. | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
We had the example of a politician same, by coming up to anything with | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
radiotherapy? -- why can we not do anything? The act we have passed | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
will gradually come into effect. GPs will have more power to decide | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
for patients the kind of commissioning choices we were | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
hearing during Question Time. But implementation of the Act were | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
largely address this issue and bring to patients are more, if you | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
like, consumer power through their GPs, to get the sort of decisions | :11:11. | :11:20. | |
taken that they want. The magazine for GPs, GP Magazine, has published | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
a Freedom of Information announcement. It shows that 90% of | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
trusts are imposing restrictions on certain aspects of care - including | :11:30. | :11:37. | |
hip and knee operations was up 90%! It has always been the case that | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
NHS has limited resources for insatiable demand. There have to be | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
mechanisms, given that price is not the mechanism, because things are | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
free. We want to see choices made by clinicians will clinical reasons. | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
Behind that is any budget. Budgets are not infinite. Within budget | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
constraints, they're going to have to make these clinical decisions. | :12:01. | :12:08. | |
Pat has always been the case in the NHS. They say it is getting worse. | :12:08. | :12:15. | |
As with pensions, one of the real problems, is that as we get older, | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
particularly as we get older and live possibly with infirmity, the | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
demand on the NHS is dramatically increasing. As drugs and pioneering | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
techniques cumin, some of the costs are also increasing above the rate | :12:29. | :12:38. | |
of inflation. -- inflation will stop -- off inflation. | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
confederation is blaming the lack of spending for these issues. The | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
Government is committed to increasing spending in the NHS in | :12:46. | :12:56. | |
real terms. Not by much. You would not have given that guarantee. You | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
did not commit to increase in health spending. If you were in | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
power, we would have the same problem. With which not have spent | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
�3 million on a top down reorganisation of the National | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
Health Service we did not tell the electorate about before the | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
election, by forcing through the Health Bill in the House of Commons | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
and the House of Lords. They should be dealing with Parrott has Asian | :13:21. | :13:31. | |
:13:31. | :13:37. | ||
properly. I think Alan has been -- inflation properly. I think there | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
are being examples of people having to wait and not having access to | :13:41. | :13:51. | |
:13:51. | :13:53. | ||
treatment they need. This will grow and grow. Take a look at this. It's | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
the EU's foreign policy supremo, Baroness Cathy Ashton. She used to | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
be a Cabinet Minister in Gordon Brown's government. Here she is, | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
about to meet the President of Serbia for a photocall. Somebody | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
has to come with me because I do not know what he looks like. Who | :14:08. | :14:18. | |
:14:18. | :14:31. | ||
So, welcome again, Mr President. They got that in the end. We know | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
what he looks like now. You often see on American television in the | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
primary elections, American interviewers like me trying to get | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
a moment with the candidate who has come from Tennessee or something. | :14:46. | :14:51. | |
The first question is, what is the name of the President of | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
Kazakhstan? It is not fair, it is it? I have been to press | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
conferences where are I have stuck up by hand. It is the Romanian | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
Foreign Minister in front of me and I go, sir! It is funny. It is a | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
great clip. It is not fair. You cannot be expected to know the | :15:12. | :15:18. | |
names of everyone. Of course not. People mistake me for my sister. | :15:18. | :15:26. | |
That is what happens. I completely forgive them. Harold Macmillan had | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
a wonderful technique when he could not remember a constituent. How is | :15:31. | :15:40. | |
the old complaint? The Speaker has the most extraordinary memory. I | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
have seen him on the street with constituents. It is like mahout is | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
the operation you had three weeks ago? -- it is like, how is the | :15:50. | :16:00. | |
:16:00. | :16:01. | ||
operation? Once a week I get mistaken in the street for the | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
streaker. You have to meet a lot of foreign politicians in your job for | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
international aid. Do you have a problem? Normally I am very well | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
briefed. I did give once at an Arab conference. The Foreign Minister | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
was gracious enough to say, in this, we'll look the same. Do you carry | :16:24. | :16:32. | |
photographs of them? -- we all look. When Neil Kinnock went to visit | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
Ronald Reagan with Denis Healey Club rum Reagan thought Denis | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
Healey was the British ambassador. --, Ronald Reagan thought. Can you | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
imagine if no-one in Britain had to work more than a 15-hour week | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
because we had enough money to lead a good life? Sounds great, doesn't | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
it? Well, that was the prediction by the economist, John Maynard | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
Keynes, 100 years ago. He was right about how much money we would have | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
by now but his predictions about work were dead wrong. Robert | :16:59. | :17:09. | |
:17:09. | :17:25. | ||
Why are we so obsessed with economic growth? It makes as | :17:25. | :17:32. | |
Richter. We need more riches to buy more. We are obsessed with | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
consumption. To buy more, we need to work harder. We work in order to | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
buy. This may explain something which would otherwise seem puzzling. | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
About 100 years ago, John Maynard Keynes predicted that by now we | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
would only be working 15 hours a week. Technology would have allowed | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
work to be replaced by leisure. In fact we're still working 40 hours a | :17:59. | :18:07. | |
week. There are two main reasons were the go on working such long | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
hours. The first is, if there has been a big increase in inequality | :18:12. | :18:18. | |
since the 1980s. There is the fact of human in sociability. We compare | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
our fortunes with those of others and find them wanting. Advertising | :18:23. | :18:31. | |
whips up the desire to have the self-destructing frenzy. We are | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
invited to find our souls in shops. Surveys have shown that more Wells, | :18:36. | :18:43. | |
a small stuff, does not make us any happier. There are certain basic | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
foods like health, security, friendship, personality, respect, | :18:48. | :18:54. | |
harmony with nature, leisure, which most people would accept has been | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
part of a good life. By restoring the concept of enough to our | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
vocabulary, can we expect to get off the gross treadmill and start | :19:04. | :19:13. | |
to think about how to live agreeably and well? -- growth. And | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
Lord Skidelsky has managed to tear himself away from the shops of New | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
Bond Street to join us in the studio. Did you buy anything? | :19:21. | :19:31. | |
not have any money. Why do you think he got it so wrong in terms | :19:31. | :19:38. | |
of by now we would all be living the good life? He did not take into | :19:38. | :19:48. | |
account sociability. There is no natural terminus. People never say, | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
enough is enough. They're not just thinking about themselves and their | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
wants. They up thinking about their wants relative to others. He | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
underestimated the amount of inequality there would be by now. | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
He thought everything would go up more or less together. In fact, a | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
lot of people to have enough - more than enough. A lot of people are | :20:14. | :20:21. | |
more wealthy than they were. Absolutely! Relatively speaking, | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
what they call the median income - the average income - have diverged | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
more and more since the 1980s. Taking human nature into account | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
and people wanted to keep up with the Joneses, we will never think we | :20:35. | :20:41. | |
have had enough in that broad sense. If we consult what we want and then | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
compare that with others, you will never get there. If you think in | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
terms of what is enough for the good life, if one can get back | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
question addressed, people might start saying, I have got enough for | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
a good life? I do not have to go on and on and on club wanting more and | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
more and more. Is this a good calling from you at the time when | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
actually what we need - arguably - is the people to go out and spend | :21:10. | :21:20. | |
:21:20. | :21:20. | ||
money in the shops? We need the We are going into the future. It is | :21:20. | :21:27. | |
not politics today. It is not daily politics that we are in the | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
business of. You are. We are. We are the Daily Politics. | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
You are trying to do us out of a job! Then we won't have any money | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
to spend. We have got a lot of repair work to do on our present | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
economy before we can get in a position of saying, "Most people | :21:45. | :21:52. | |
have enough." Is this desirable, Alan Duncan? He can't get enough of | :21:52. | :21:59. | |
his iPad. People want modern inventions and to say there is | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
enoughness, we could be gardening on the allotment and looking at the | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
butterflies on half the income being happy. | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
Couldn't Couldn't more people be doing that? People want their | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
holidays and they want to pay their bills and want a better house. They | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
want a better car and that's human nature and it is ghot it is not | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
going to change and if Lord Skidelsky was right, the Chinese | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
would there be in the Paddy fields. I thought David Cameron was into | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
quality of life, but isn't that more, you know, thinking about what | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
Lord Skidelsky is saying, rather than what you are outlining? No. I | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
think David Cameron is right about well wellbeing and that's to do | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
with things you can't count in terms of money like human | :22:41. | :22:48. | |
relationships and things like that, a happy mar arjs good friends -- | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
marriage, good friends. But to say we should limit income in order to | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
create jobs for other people are be satisfied with our lot because we | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
have more leisure. To have good leisure, you need a good income too. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
Of course. No one is denying that. Enough is a good income in order to | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
enjoy these things. What we are saying is if you go on with a | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
single goal which is simply to increase gross dom domestic product | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
and your own income forever and ever and ever, you are crowding out | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
these other things. Some ideas for your next, manifesto, | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
Andrew? Gross Domestic Product doesn't measure happiness or the | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
things that don't have a price. And we have to have a balance between | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
those things that you can't price in the market, the good life, | :23:38. | :23:45. | |
leisure, happy family life, time to enjoy. | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
Would you want to put a limit? have to look at how we value things | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
and we have to think about the constraints that are coming into | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
the way our economy works because the Earth can only sustain so much | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
economic activity. We need to see what we can do about those which is | :24:01. | :24:08. | |
what Alan spends his time doing, who have to live on on $3 a day. | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
Lord Skidelsky, at the moment, the priority seems to be, helping | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
unemployed people get into work, but people working longer. I think | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
you are past retirement age, I hope I am not being rude, but you are | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
still working? So you are not putting your feet up? There is a | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
difference between idleness and leisure. I don't have to. I am not | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
obliged at this point to work for a living. I have done my working for | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
a living and I do what I want to do. One of the things I want to do is | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
appearing on this show! Here. Here. That's not work. | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
A pleasure. I am not getting paid for it. I don't have to do it. | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
It is giving people more time to do things they want to do rather than | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
what they have to do. And you are right, a lot of people, about 13 | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
million people in this country aren't even on below the minimum | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
poverty line. Lord Skidelsky, we hope you will | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
come back on the programme as part of your leisure time. | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
I hope you will ask me. We will! The Greek Conservative | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
leader is off to tell the President of Greece that he can form a | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
Government. Who will be the next Prime Minister? We don't know the | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
nature of the coalition, but at least by the end of the day there | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
will be a new Prime Minister of Greece. | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
Finally, wait. MPs have coined the term Parliamentary stone for the | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
amount of flab they put on after being expose totted treats on offer | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
-- to the treats on offer at Westminster. Here Adam who has | :25:47. | :25:54. | |
blown our catering budget. Come with hee, with me while we | :25:54. | :26:02. | |
test if Westminster types are as glut news as reports -- glutonous | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
reports. Would you like a doughnut? I am a | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
savoury person. I am Shadow Health Secretary, I | :26:12. | :26:20. | |
don't think they are healthy enough. Not one of the plain ones? No. They | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
have all got topings Yes, that was Bill Oddie. | :26:27. | :26:33. | |
You have to be careful. You get invited to lots of breakfasts and | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
lunches and it is impolite to refuse. | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
But you will refuse us? And take steps like going to the gym where | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
I'm heading. Some of their colleagues need help | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
to be as virtuous which comes in Westminster's Weightwatchers group. | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
We tracked down a member. temptation is the institution of | :26:56. | :27:04. | |
House of Lords tea because a long day, you got lots of votes, you | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
think "I will go and have a cup of tea." Before you know it, you are | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
having a teacake and toast and it does build up. | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
Ed Balls entered the London Marathon, David Cameron knows a run | :27:20. | :27:30. | |
:27:30. | :27:32. | ||
some days keeps the moobs at bay. Lord Adonis looks as if he could | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
with a few doughnuts. It turns out this lot are healthier | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
than we thought. Or are they? will have that one. Don't give that | :27:40. | :27:47. | |
one away. It is the biggest one. | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
We have got doughnuts. Yes, we have. Why have you got them all? I am | :27:53. | :28:00. | |
looking after them. They are all fresh. Never tempted. You have not | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
put on the Parliamentary stone, have you and you haven't. | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
Discipline. Discipline. It is an unhealthy place to work, | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
isn't it? There is food and booze everywhere. It can be and long days | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
and a sedentary lifestyle. Don't use the lifts, use the stairs. | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
I was running at 6am. Yes, but from the police! | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
There is time to give you the answer to our Guess the Year | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
competition, it was 1946. Remember the black and white footage? Alan | :28:30. | :28:37. | |
just press that button and you will pick this week's winner. And it | :28:37. | :28:44. | |
is... Dave O'Neill from London. It must be my long lost Irish cousin! | :28:44. | :28:51. | |
That's it for today. Thanks to our guest, Alan Duncanan and ang -- | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
Alan Duncanan Angela Eagle. We will be back tomorrow with more | :28:55. | :28:57. |