Browse content similar to 04/09/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. This is the Daily Politics. Back | :00:40. | :00:50. | |
from our summer break. There is plenty going on. President Putin | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
warns the West against unilateral action against Syria, although he | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
didn't rule out supporting a United Nations resolution authorising a | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
military strike if it was proved beyond doubt that the Syrian | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
government had used chemical weapons against its own people. Across the | :01:01. | :01:12. | |
pond American Senators have agreed on a draft resolution that would | :01:12. | :01:18. | |
authorise the use of force in Syria. It would allow President Obama to | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
use limited and tailored military action to respond to the use of | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
chemical weapons. Congress will vote next week. So what is likely to | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
happen? It's the first PMQs since the summer | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
break. It's the first since that vote on Syria last week. We will be | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
looking at how the parties are shaping up. | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
Ed may not want to go to war but appears the unions do. News this | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
morning that the GMB union has cut the money it gives to the Labour | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
party by more than a million pounds. And should MPs vote with their party | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
or their conscience? We will be delving into the world of | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
parliamentary rebellion. All that and more coming up. X | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
Factor, Strictly, eat your heart out. There's only one programme the | :02:03. | :02:13. | |
British public has been pining for. It's called the Daily Politics. One | :02:13. | :02:21. | |
half of the Eagle sisters, Angela. She's shadow leader of the House of | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
Commons in her spare time. And the pin-up boy of the Metropolitan | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
Police. The former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. Welcome to you | :02:30. | :02:38. | |
both. Now first this morning, let's discuss the latest scandal to rock | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
the mother of parliaments. Pornography! Because a freedom of | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
information request has revealed that users of computers in the | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
Palace of Westminster tried to access internet pornography 300,000 | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
times last year. We would like to point out that 5,000 people work in | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
parliament, including MPs and peers. So somebody is using it quite a | :03:04. | :03:13. | |
lot! It is fairly astonishing. I have never been so bored in my job | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
that I have resorted to that! Website got it from a Freedom of | :03:19. | :03:25. | |
information request. According to the figures, almost 115,000 attempts | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
to access pornography from the Palace of Westminster in November, | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
but only 15 in February. Why is that? I did the elementary maths, | :03:35. | :03:44. | |
Andrew, and 5000 people work there which means there is 60 attempts to | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
access her head but I should point out the House of Commons have | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
dismissed this as grossly inaccurate -- 60 attempts per head. It might be | :03:55. | :04:06. | |
pop-ups, they said. I don't know. Did you not have to actively go onto | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
pop-ups, they said. I don't know. the website? Having never gone on to | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
a porn site, I'm afraid I can't answer that. I don't think accessing | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
pornography is a good use of tax answer that. I don't think accessing | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
payers money so I bet you the figures are different next year. The | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
people who work at the House of Commons are paid for by the | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
taxpayer. Not all of them. Some of this information seems dodgy but why | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
was it released in the first place if it is not thought to be accurate? | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
I have no idea where they got the figures from. You don't know whether | :04:44. | :04:51. | |
it is some automatic process that goes on in computers, you know. This | :04:51. | :05:02. | |
is very dodgy stuff. We have spent longer on this than I would have. | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
The story is over! To something you will be more comfortable talking | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
about, the economy! Labour is on the front foot in the Commons today, | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
wanting to debate the crisis - their words not mine - over the cost of | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
living. A report out today says almost five million British workers | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
now earn less than the so-called living wage. A whole host of recent | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
figures though suggest economic good news. Although writing in today's | :05:27. | :05:36. | |
Guardian, the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls warns that the UK could be | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
approaching an unsustainable recovery. But growth is returning | :05:38. | :05:47. | |
and getting stronger, so say the think tanks. We welcome the return | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
of growth. It is welcome but very delayed. We have had three years of | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
stagnation and since 2010 living standards have fallen by effectively | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
£20 a week for people in this country apart from a few at the very | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
top. The issue is what we can do to create a sustainable economic growth | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
rather than one that is fuelled by more bubbles in house prices? You | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
have conceded that your argument about the flat-lining... But growth | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
was the key and that was what the Labour Party's economic critique was | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
built on and you said yourself you should perhaps congratulate the | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
coalition that after one of the deepest recessions in history, | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
growth is returning, unemployment did not reach the heights that were | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
predicted in the OECD raised its projections for growth in the | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
economy to 1.5%. That is all good news but the fact is, we have had | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
three years of no growth, we have a million young unemployed and two | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
thirds of the jobs created in the last period are on very, very low | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
wages indeed so if we are going to have a proper rebalancing of the | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
economy and sustainable growth going forward is we have to reboot the | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
economy in a way that is sustainable. How do we do that? | :07:11. | :07:18. | |
Create the sustainable recovery? A million private sector jobs have | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
been created. But on very low pay. There are still millions of people | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
in work who cannot make ends meet. Even those who are in work are | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
finding life tough. When you have an economy that is based on consumer | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
spending, that is not the most sustainable. We have to make our way | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
in the world in the 21st-century and look at how we can support future | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
industries that will make as prosperous in the future rather than | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
unsustainable house price booms. The government will no doubt be | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
delighted that growth has returned. The question is, what sort of | :07:56. | :08:04. | |
recovery? Consumption is up, public confidence is returning, mortgage | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
approvals and house prices are up. Will we enter another debt fuelled | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
boom? I do not want to get involved in too much party your poo because | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
people have had a difficult time -- ya-boo. But the government has stuck | :08:21. | :08:30. | |
to its guns. It has taken the necessary painful measures to sort | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
out the mess and this news is encouraging. If the projections, | :08:34. | :08:41. | |
growth of 2%, are achieved, that is encouraging. If the projections, | :08:41. | :08:48. | |
far more than anyone in visit and I think the Chancellor deserves some | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
credit for ticking by his -- sticking by his very tough | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
decisions. Many people said he shouldn't. There was much advice | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
that it should be changed. He stuck to them and I believe we are reaping | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
the benefit of that and thank goodness because it has been a very | :09:05. | :09:16. | |
tough time. What sort of recovery has George Osborne started if we | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
give him the credit for growth returning? Consumption is up. | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
Mortgage approvals are up. House prices are up. It looks exactly like | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
the sort of boom that the Conservatives criticised because | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
they said it led to bust in 2008. These are exactly the same | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
conditions that led to the bust and the recession. If you look at what | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
the new governor of the Bank of the recession. If you look at what | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
England said in his speech, I think we are not heading for that. He will | :09:42. | :09:48. | |
keep interest rates low precisely so that people can continue to meet | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
their mortgage payments. He does not think that would be the result. This | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
their mortgage payments. He does not recovery is led by the private | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
sector to. One of the things that Labour said, it is all very well the | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
shake out in the public sector but it will not be picked up in the | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
private sector and thank goodness that has been shown to be wrong. | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
Let's look at the private sector jobs. Angela Eagle said many of them | :10:13. | :10:20. | |
are part-time and low paid and have not been as a direct replacement of | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
the public sector jobs lost. Do you accept that there is a problem with | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
the cost of living? I do except that there is a serious issue to be | :10:30. | :10:37. | |
looked at with the living wage -- I accept. We are looking at what one | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
might do about that. Increasing the minimum wage? Yes, I am pleased we | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
are looking at that. But we have taken 2.7 million of the least | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
well-paid people out of tax, which is a significant contribution. We | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
have frozen council tax. It helps people at the bottom by taking them | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
out of tax. We have seen figures to date showing that over a million | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
people have fallen down below living wage standards in the last year, so | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
wages are continuing to be squeezed down. Yes, we have got some growth | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
and that is to be welcomed, but because we have had three years of a | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
flat-lining economy we are the only G-7 country that has not got back to | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
2008 levels of growth in our economy. Thank you, both. | :11:30. | :11:36. | |
It's been a long hot summer. Or at least it has for Jo. She has been | :11:36. | :11:45. | |
sunning herself on the Costa del Chiswick. I've been here tidying the | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
office and manning the phones. So for those of you who have only just | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
tuned back into politics, Jo has been brushing up on what the party | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
leaders got up to on their summer holidays. | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
Yes, it's been a summer of highs and lows for the party leaders. David | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
Cameron went on so many holidays the papers nicknamed him "departure | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
lounge Dave", as he took trips to Portugal, Scotland and Cornwall. He | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
also revealed he had been suffering from a bad back, which meant he | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
could no longer go deerstalking in the Hebridies. But he could at least | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
comfort himself with the gloom hanging over Ed Miliband. The Labour | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
leader reportedly had his mobile phone switched off while he enjoyed | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
a fortnight in the south of France, so perhaps he didn't hear news that | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
Labour's poll lead over the Tories fell from 13 points in May to just | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
three by the end of July. The leader's own personal ratings also | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
continued to slide, with one poll putting him on -31. That even led | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
some to draw parallels with the failed Tory leadership of Iain | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
Duncan Smith. As usual, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg took his family to | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
the Spanish town which is home to his wife's family. But he still | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
weighed in on some of the summer's big stories, including taking time | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
to criticise the Home Office for ad vans telling illegal immigrants to | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
"go home". But everyone's holidays were cut short by the decision to | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
recall parliament for a vote on Syria, and at least in the short | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
term, the decision to oppose the government seems to have given | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
Labour and Ed Miliband a boost, with the party's lead over the | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
Conservatives back up to double digits. Andrew. | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
And we're joined now by the Home Office Minister, the Liberal | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
Democrat MP, Jeremy Browne. Let's have a look at some of the things | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
that have been happening. We learned this morning that the GMB is now one | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
of the big unions that helps this morning that the GMB is now one | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
bankroll your party, and is now going to only pay for 50,000 members | :13:39. | :13:47. | |
rather than 650,000 members. Tom Watson says this could be the | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
beginning of the end of the historic link between the Labour Party and | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
the unions, which has endured for over 100 years. It is the absolute | :13:55. | :14:02. | |
right of the GMB executive committee to take this decision. I hope we can | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
involve the link with the trade unions so we get more people who are | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
out at work defending people in their trade unions... We have to | :14:11. | :14:19. | |
change it and evolve it. Perhaps it hasn't changed soon enough. We have | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
to persuade individual members of the trade unions that they should | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
join the party. After all we have been talking about the problems of | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
people on low wages now. The coalition government have given a | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
tax cut to millionaires. We have got to have discussions with those who | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
are defending people's rights not to be treated arbitrarily at work and | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
persuade them that the Labour Party is for them. The GMB things only 50% | :14:47. | :14:56. | |
-- 50,000 people will choose to affiliate with the party rather than | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
650,000. That means you have been taking the money of 600,000 people | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
under false pretences. It is in the GMB's rules that they can affiliate | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
how much the executive committee decides and they have made this new | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
decision. We need to go and argue with them that the best interests of | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
their members are served with them being actively involved in the | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
Labour Party. If we can get another 100,000 of them actively involved, | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
that is more members than the Conservative Party has in the whole | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
country. We want to create a new mass participation party. This is a | :15:37. | :15:47. | |
big risk but we can come out stronger? Where else in the Western | :15:47. | :15:56. | |
world is there a mass party? It is a tough call, politics has been | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
declining everywhere. So why on earth do you think the Labour Party | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
will buck the trend? We have to try to recreate new interest in our | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
democracy and politics and to do that we have to try to get more | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
democracy and politics and to do people involved. But the GMB things | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
that less than a 10th of the people they all -- automatically affiliate | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
will volunteer to affiliate! We have to go and tap the discussions. And | :16:23. | :16:25. | |
will volunteer to affiliate! We have then you will get 50,000! They think | :16:25. | :16:32. | |
that. We have to go and have the discussions. They know their members | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
but I want to talk to GMB members and save join the party, make us | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
stronger, help create a fairer society. How many people do the | :16:42. | :16:51. | |
Conservative Party have as members? Membership of political parties has | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
been declining. But he won't tell us! Why not? You will have to ask | :16:54. | :17:03. | |
the chairman, Grant Schatz. He won't tell me but I thought he might tell | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
you! I have not asked him!But you won't make it public. The reason we | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
are assuming is because membership has collapsed! There has been a | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
widespread trend which is people join special-interest groups, single | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
lobbying issue groups, and they choose to do that rather than | :17:22. | :17:30. | |
joining. I was going to ask Angela what she would regard as a success. | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
If we can get more than there are Conservative party members, that | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
would be good. But you will never know! You have set a yardstick which | :17:40. | :17:47. | |
is unknown! I think it is around 100,000, that is the rumours. The | :17:47. | :17:54. | |
rumours are it has plummeted below 100,000. 253,000 voted in your last | :17:54. | :18:02. | |
leadership and the rumours are that your party will not tell as the | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
figures because it is probably below 100,000, so you have set a pretty | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
figures because it is probably below low yardstick. How many Lib Dems are | :18:09. | :18:16. | |
there? Not as many as I would like. It is about 50,000. I have got | :18:16. | :18:24. | |
42,500. I think Labour are doing the right thing. When I joined the Lib | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
Dems 20 years ago, it was more like 100,000 I think and that is the | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
Dems 20 years ago, it was more like decline that nearly all of the party | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
have seen. It is across the western world. But I think Labour are doing | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
the right thing. The era of the block vote and people being | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
surprised to a political party they do not necessarily support is | :18:48. | :18:54. | |
anachronistic. We want to revive our party and revive politics. The | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
lobbying bill yesterday, where the coalition government are trying to | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
stop campaigning groups from having a say at the general election, is | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
trying to exclude even more. In your view, how many people of your fellow | :19:08. | :19:17. | |
backbenchers voted against the government over Syria because they | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
do not like David Cameron rather than the issue? Stop a lot They make | :19:20. | :19:48. | |
very good speeches which made it very clear I would think there is a | :19:48. | :20:00. | |
large number who are worried about Mr Miliband than Part of the problem | :20:00. | :20:38. | |
was this was Barack Obama has specifically excluded even need the | :20:38. | :21:13. | |
report of the UN inspectorate. For you to make We needed a serious, | :21:13. | :21:22. | |
thoughtful approach to this issue, rather than a bungled, rushed vote | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
that was announced on Twitter without any of the proper This is a | :21:25. | :23:01. | |
rapidly moving situation. We've had more intelligence released. We've | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
had the appalling napalm bombing of a primary school by a Syrian fighter | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
jet. We've got the additional intelligence | :23:08. | :23:37. | |
What is your view? Would you like another vote? I don't think there | :23:37. | :23:47. | |
should be another vote on the same question. The only caveat I would | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
put, my short answer is no. The slight caveat is if there is a | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
put, my short answer is no. The complete change in the issue that we | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
are being asked to confront and consider, | :24:00. | :24:11. | |
must reserve the right to have another look at it. We all agree | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
with that. But... We have to leave it. The cruel vagaries of politics. | :24:16. | :24:28. | |
One minute, the coast of the Commons, the next you are just | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
toast. Even when your career is at an end, cruel and unusual judgements | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
do not stop. No, they don't. Spare a thought for this little fellow here. | :24:37. | :24:46. | |
There he is. Do you know who it is? Well done, it looks nothing like | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
him. Chris Huhne. Enough people voted for him to become Prime | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
Minister in 1963. He emerged without voted for him to become Prime | :24:55. | :25:02. | |
even a vote in the Conservative Party. Would you like to come and | :25:02. | :25:11. | |
help us tomorrow morning? He was chosen by a cabal of older Tony and | :25:11. | :25:17. | |
is, that Iain Macleod called the Magic Circle, in a famous editorial | :25:17. | :25:25. | |
in The Spectator. Nobody elected him, because in the own -- olden | :25:25. | :25:32. | |
days they were not elected. It has been found that while Margaret | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
Thatcher, Winston Churchill and Tony Blair still fly off the shelves, | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
maybe because people are throwing them, not a single person has bought | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
little Alex. Nobody voted for him, nobody is buying him. Enough to make | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
you choke on your digestive. But the quality of our tea is not strained. | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
If there was a Daily Politics Toby jug, I am sure it would be more | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
popular than anybody else. There we go. Who is that?The good old Daily | :26:02. | :26:09. | |
Politics muggy will always be in vogue. We will remind you how to | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
enter the competition in a moment. Let's see if you can remember when | :26:15. | :26:17. | |
this happened. Who is the Briton who checked in as | :26:17. | :26:25. | |
Richard Reid? # Just can't go on too long | :26:25. | :26:50. | |
# Your tragedy starts to happen... # I'll stand by your side, as I | :26:50. | :27:00. | |
always do. Smugglers decreed we should wear burkhas, which the | :27:00. | :27:09. | |
Taliban force every woman in Afghanistan to wear. | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
# You got stuck in a moment, now you can't get out of it. # I am today | :27:14. | :27:23. | |
resigning from the government. To be in with a chance of winning a | :27:23. | :27:53. | |
mug and the Douglas Hume jug, send your ansa to our special quiz e-mail | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
address. You can see the terms and conditions on our website. | :27:59. | :28:07. | |
It is coming up to mid-day, Big Ben will appear as magic. Prime Minister | :28:07. | :28:13. | |
's questions will be pretty good, I think. We will hear the fallout from | :28:13. | :28:24. | |
the Syria debate. Jesse Norman had some sort of position in number ten, | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
and he has had to resign, he has effectively been fired. There will | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
be others, no doubt. He is on the policy board, so he is an adviser, | :28:35. | :28:42. | |
but he was brought off the back benches as a rising star. He did not | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
vote with the government on Syria, so he has gone. There has to be | :28:48. | :28:59. | |
consequences, said an insider. Desperately proving that the Bell | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
did not work! Or she has got to purchase a hearing aid! We tested | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
it, it was working! They tested it the week before! They could be more | :29:08. | :29:21. | |
victims? Once the reshuffle comes, there will be fallout. The | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
interesting thing about PMQ 's, what there will be fallout. The | :29:25. | :29:33. | |
is the tone? The real poison has entered the relationship between the | :29:33. | :29:35. | |
Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition. People often think that | :29:35. | :29:42. | |
the leaders hate each other. Often, they do not, there is a respect. But | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
real poison into the relationship. I think Ed Miliband will go on Syria, | :29:47. | :29:56. | |
he is wanting to show that there is something you can do, but he opens | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
himself up to the possible charge that he helped Parliament to rule | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
out military action, when he personally said he was in favour in | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
the right circumstances. There were so many caveats. But his starting | :30:09. | :30:15. | |
position was, there were chemical weapons that did cross a red line, | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
it was the case that the President Assad used it, but now, he says it | :30:19. | :30:27. | |
is the Prime Minister's fault. David Cameron has got problems in terms of | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
his management of it, it looks like he rushed to an American timetable | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
and could not deliver. To which the Americans then changed. People like | :30:36. | :30:42. | |
Malcolm Rifkind say, for goodness sake, talking, because the only way | :30:42. | :30:50. | |
Parliament can have another vote, the only way the Prime Minister will | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
then another vote, is if the politics changes. If the leader of | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
the opposition says, I am willing to join with you in certain | :30:59. | :31:05. | |
circumstances. We need to trust each other. At the moment, there is not a | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
chance. Living standards are the theme of the day for the Labour | :31:09. | :31:16. | |
Party. Economic growth.Let's find out. | :31:17. | :31:24. | |
Before listing my engagements, the house will wish to join me in | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
congratulating the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
son, Prince George of Cambridge. I am sure I speak for the nation in | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
son, Prince George of Cambridge. I sending our congratulations and wish | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
them and Prince George a happy and healthy life. I can assure | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
honourable members they can offer their own congratulations next | :31:44. | :31:45. | |
Monday when This morning I had meetings with | :31:45. | :31:53. | |
ministerial colleagues and others and I shall have other meetings | :31:53. | :32:04. | |
today. Can I also congratulate their Royal Highnesses. Since we last met | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
there has been a spate of good economic news. Unemployment is down | :32:09. | :32:19. | |
and the economy is growing. Isn't it time for those who still oppose it | :32:19. | :32:24. | |
to stop messing around, give it up, and abandoned plan B? Business | :32:24. | :32:40. | |
confidence is at its highest level since 2000 date, consumer confidence | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
is up, and the figures on construction, manufacturing and | :32:45. | :32:46. | |
is up, and the figures on services are going in the right | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
direction. These are early days but services are going in the right | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
it is because of the tough decisions that this government took that we | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
can now see progress and the party opposite told us unemployment would | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
go up, it has gone down, they said the economy would go backwards, it | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
has gone forwards, and it is time for them to explain why they were | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
wrong and we were right. Ed Miliband! I join the Prime Minister | :33:11. | :33:22. | |
in congratulating the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
Prince George and I wish them all of Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
the happiness in the world. At the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
tomorrow, will the Prime Minister do everything he can to get other | :33:33. | :33:39. | |
countries to match the UK's important aid commitment to | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Almost one third of | :33:42. | :33:47. | |
town-macro families have been forced to leave their homes but the UN has | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
less than half the resources that it needs. -- one third of Syrian | :33:51. | :34:02. | |
families. We are the second largest aid donor there has been. We must | :34:02. | :34:10. | |
make clear our revulsion at the use of chemical weapons, our desire for | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
a peace process but above all getting donor countries together and | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
making sure they do everything they can to live up to their | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
responsibilities so we can help the Syrian people. The Civil War and | :34:24. | :34:30. | |
refugee crisis in Syria are having profound impacts across the Middle | :34:30. | :34:36. | |
East, specifically in Lebanon, where the population is up by 20% since | :34:36. | :34:43. | |
the Civil War began. What specific support beyond the welcome | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
humanitarian assistance can Britain give to these countries to help them | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
deal with the burden on their economy and society and | :34:50. | :34:56. | |
infrastructure? Having been to a refugee camp in Jordan I have seen | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
how great the pressures are. That camp is now one of the biggest | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
how great the pressures are. That cities in that country. We have well | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
funded embassies and diplomatic networks, very close relationships | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
with Jordan and Lebanon and the Turks as well. We are well placed | :35:12. | :35:20. | |
because we are spending serious money on the humanitarian aid | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
programmes. At the end of the day we need a solution to the Syrian | :35:24. | :35:30. | |
crisis. We also need to make sure we are clear about our revulsion in | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
terms of chemical weapons. We should be making sure our aid programme is | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
helping give the Syrian people protection from the appalling | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
attacks. The revulsion about chemical weapons attacks is shared | :35:46. | :35:54. | |
on all sides of the House. I wanted to talk about getting the talks | :35:54. | :36:00. | |
going. The opposition Syrian National Council is meeting the | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
Foreign Secretary in the next couple of days. Can the Prime Minister tell | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
us what work he is doing to make those talks in Geneva happen? One is | :36:08. | :36:17. | |
we want to support those elements of the Syrian opposition that support a | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
clueless stick, democratic and free Syria -- a pluarlistic. But we go | :36:24. | :36:32. | |
further because we recognise the rebels that back those views also | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
deserve our support, in terms of training and advice, because we | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
won't get a peace process in Syria unless Assad realises that his | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
regime is under some sort of threat and pressure, not just from the | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
rebels but from the millions of Syrians that we must be standing up | :36:51. | :36:57. | |
for, who want democracy and freedom. We should be on their side. | :36:57. | :37:04. | |
There is no difference within the House on the need to stand up for | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
the innocent people of Syria. The question... The question... JEERING. | :37:09. | :37:22. | |
We have approached this in a calm and measured way so far and we | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
should carry on doing that. There are large barriers, big barriers, as | :37:26. | :37:35. | |
we found out, to the Geneva peace talks actually happening. Can I ask | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
the Prime Minister whether there isn't a case for immediate talks | :37:39. | :37:44. | |
between those countries backing the rebels and those countries backing | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
the regime? That happened during the Civil War in Lebanon and would at | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
least provide a basis for discussion. I agree that Britain | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
should use all of its diplomatic muscle to discuss with those | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
countries that have backed the regime and to join with those | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
countries who backed the rebels and the opposition to try to bring those | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
talks about and that is why I have had repeated discussions, for | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
instance with President Putin, and why I travelled to see him | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
specifically to discuss this, but I come back to this point. It is all | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
specifically to discuss this, but I the real world for the countries | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
supporting either side to want the peace talks to take place. What you | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
also need is for those people involved in the conflict in Syria to | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
recognise that it is in their interest to see the beginning of the | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
peace process. I think we can convince the Syrian national council | :38:38. | :38:40. | |
peace process. I think we can it is in their interest, but we need | :38:40. | :38:47. | |
the regime, Assad himself, to realise that it is is -- it is in | :38:47. | :38:56. | |
his interest. And for that to happen the world is to take a very tough | :38:56. | :39:09. | |
response. We must not in any degree give up our after revulsion of the | :39:09. | :39:18. | |
chemical weapons attacks... Nobody disagrees with our revulsion at the | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
use of chemical weapons, the question is how to deal with it. | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
Given the difficulty of getting direct talks moving between the | :39:27. | :39:34. | |
Syrian government and the opposition, is there a case for | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
getting regional partners involved? We know the role Iran has played in | :39:38. | :39:47. | |
fuelling this conflict but given that successful diplomacy involves | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
talking with those with whom we profoundly disagree, what is the | :39:51. | :39:58. | |
position on Iraqi participating? The Foreign Secretary will be meeting | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
with the Iranians Foreign Minister -- the position on Tehran | :40:01. | :40:10. | |
participating? Let's not forget what Iran have done to our embassy. We | :40:10. | :40:16. | |
all want these peace talks to take place, we all want Geneva to happen, | :40:16. | :40:22. | |
but we can't want it more than the participants involved in Syria's | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
bloody conflict and we have to make sure it is in the interest that | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
these talks go ahead and that is why yes, diplomacy is important, but the | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
work that we do with the Syrian opposition, that is important. They | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
are standing up for millions of Syrians who have been bombed out of | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
their houses. Those are the people you need to talk to in the refugee | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
camps in Jordan and elsewhere to see how they feel how badly the rest of | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
the world is letting them down. Nobody disagrees with that of the | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
world is letting them down. Nobody disagrees with that overview we take | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
about Iran's behaviour but the question is how to bring the | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
regional parties and the opposite sides together? Does he accept there | :41:10. | :41:15. | |
remains support across the country for Britain taking every diplomatic, | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
political and you monetarily and effort to help the Syrian people? | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
Last week's vote was not about Britain shirking its global | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
responsibility. It was about preventing a rush to war. Last week | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
the House of Commons voted clearly and I respect the outcome of that | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
vote and I won't be bringing back plans for British participation in | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
vote and I won't be bringing back military action. I agree we must use | :41:42. | :41:48. | |
everything we have in our power, and diplomatic networks, influence with | :41:48. | :41:55. | |
other countries, membership of the EU, NATO, UN, but my only regret | :41:55. | :42:02. | |
from last week is I do not think it was necessary to divide the House on | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
a vote that could have led to a vote but he took the decision that it | :42:07. | :42:18. | |
was. SHOUTING. We hear today the UK services business activity index is | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
at its highest level for six and a half years. Does this not show that | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
the government economic policy is working? Will the Prime Minister | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
the government economic policy is commit to ensuring our increased | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
prosperity helps to pay for Shrewsbury's Northwest relief road? | :42:33. | :42:40. | |
I will look at the proposal. I know he wants Shrewsbury to be a | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
connected hub in our country. The good news about this economic | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
recovery is we are seeing it in more people in work. 1.3 million private | :42:49. | :43:02. | |
sector jobs more and we need to see further progress with that because | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
the best way to improve living standards in the country is to see | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
an increasing number of people in gainful work. Jack Straw! May I | :43:10. | :43:17. | |
press the Prime Minister on the issue of relations with Iraq. His | :43:17. | :43:24. | |
previous answers sounded as if he had taken no account of the fact | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
that since our embassy was outrageously sacked by the reigning | :43:27. | :43:35. | |
president and his thugs, there has been an election in Iran that has | :43:35. | :43:41. | |
led to a different individual becoming president who to my | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
knowledge is someone the West and a British Prime Minister can deal | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
with. Can I ask him to look carefully with the Foreign Secretary | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
at how we make steps now to improve relations with Iran and try to get | :43:52. | :44:00. | |
them involved in solving Syria? I agree that the election of a | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
president who has a greater commitment to reform is a positive | :44:04. | :44:11. | |
step and I have written to President Rouhani to raise a series of issues | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
that need to be settled between Britain and Iran and we need to see | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
progress on what he himself has said is important, which is trying to | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
come to an agreement where Iran gives up the idea of nuclear weapons | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
and in return we see every leaf on sanctions. But we should do this not | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
from a position of just hoping for the best. We have seen what Iran can | :44:33. | :44:39. | |
be capable of. We should go into these discussions cautiously. | :44:39. | :44:48. | |
Does he agree accuracy of statistics is vital to inform | :44:48. | :44:56. | |
public debate? Is he aware that 4% of the people believe that Elvis | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
Presley is still alive? Double the number we hear today that they that | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
the member for Doncaster North is not a natural leader! I can see my | :45:04. | :45:13. | |
Honourable Friend, he has put his summer to very good use. I am | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
grateful for his question. You need to see opinion polls before you can | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
grateful for his question. You need see a true trend. Why does the | :45:21. | :45:30. | |
Prime Minister believe that his plans to restrict lobbying are | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
opposed from organisations from the Salvation Army, the Countryside | :45:35. | :45:44. | |
Alliance, and so on. I listen to the exchanges before I came in and | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
it seems to me there is a concerted campaign being run by the trade | :45:48. | :45:55. | |
unions, who mysteriously managed to convince members of parliament to | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
raise this problem. We know what is going on. They do not want the | :46:00. | :46:05. | |
trade unions brought within the law, they walked the trade unions to go | :46:05. | :46:11. | |
on spending millions, trying to alter an election campaign rather | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
than having them properly controlled by the law. That is what | :46:13. | :46:20. | |
the lobby in bill is about. -- lobbying. The UK economy will | :46:20. | :46:29. | |
benefit from £50 million by a posting them round the world yacht | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
race. Will the Prime Minister come to Gosport to see one of the top | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
marine and sailing centres and congratulate those people who are | :46:38. | :46:44. | |
flying the flag for tourism trade and watersports? I think my | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
Honourable Friend is right. I have seen a model of the vessel. I | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
welcome the fantastic contribution it makes to the economy. It was | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
great to see the race in London for the first time and that it was led | :46:58. | :47:04. | |
by a British boat and supported by the great campaign. I will take | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
into account the kind invitation. I wish Sir Robin Knox Johnston well | :47:09. | :47:15. | |
and all those taking part. Can I take him back to the answer he gave | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
my friend a few minutes ago, can he be more positive about building | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
better relations urgently with Iran, as one of the keys of bringing | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
about a peace process in Syria and the region, simply attacking Iraq | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
all the time will not bring them to the negotiating table. It is better | :47:36. | :47:43. | |
that he is more positive. If you are trying to build a relationship | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
with someone, it depends on the actions they take. Given that the | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
Iranian government was complicit in completely smashing the embassy and | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
residence in the capital, we will want to see action so that we can | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
build that relationship. I have reached out by writing to the | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
President, congratulating him on his accession to power, and wanting | :48:06. | :48:12. | |
to discuss these issues. If we believe there is a magical key to | :48:12. | :48:16. | |
the Syrian conflict, I suddenly adopting a different posture, I do | :48:16. | :48:22. | |
not think we will make a good decision. La suite, we saw the | :48:22. | :48:28. | |
proportion of households with no one in work for to the lowest since | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
records began. Is this further evidence well for -- welfare | :48:31. | :48:40. | |
reforms are working? He makes a very good point. In the second | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
quarter, there are 3.5 million households without work, down | :48:45. | :48:52. | |
182,000 on the year and 425,000 since the election. Each statistic | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
tells a story about people who will be able to get into work, provide | :48:57. | :49:02. | |
for their family, make something for their lives. We should be proud | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
of the reforms. Every single one of them was opposed by the party | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
opposite. We have not just saved £83 billion of measures they | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
opposed, we have given hope to millions of families. I condemn the | :49:16. | :49:24. | |
opposed, we have given hope to chemical attacks in Syria. Is it | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
not time for joined-up thinking? Surely an American strike would | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
squander opportunities offered by the new Iranian leadership and by | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
the new US initiative in Palestine? Will the Prime Minister do what | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
British people want and insist that the G20 searches for a way to bring | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
about a ceasefire, rather than a new bombing raid. I respect the | :49:50. | :49:58. | |
decision the house came to after the debate and Britain will not | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
play any part in action. I would ask her to put herself for a moment | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
in the shoes of the President of the United States and others. He | :50:06. | :50:12. | |
set a clear redline. If there was large-scale chemical weapons used, | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
something had to happen. We know the regime used chemical weapons on | :50:16. | :50:22. | |
previous occasions. I think that to ask the President, having made that | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
warning, to step away from it, I think that would be perilous. In | :50:27. | :50:33. | |
response, I think you would see more chemical weapons attacks from | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
the regime. The Honourable Lady has a long track record in supporting | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
peace talks and I respect that. I will do everything to bring the | :50:43. | :50:49. | |
peace talks together. I do not believe there is a contradiction in | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
taking a tough line on the use of chemical weapons and also want in | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
the peace talks that could bring the crisis to an end. -- wanting. | :50:56. | :51:06. | |
the peace talks that could bring Cancer funding per head in | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
Herefordshire is half that than in Birmingham. Academic research | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
suggests that the current funding formula discriminates against rural | :51:14. | :51:20. | |
areas. And against older people. Does he share my view that the NHS | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
should move as quickly as possible to fairer funding for rural areas? | :51:24. | :51:30. | |
He makes an important point. He will know we have given many | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
decisions away from ministers to NHS England. They said they are | :51:34. | :51:39. | |
looking at a fairer formula and I am sure they will look at those | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
arguments. I would ask him to look at the cancer drugs fund, which has | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
been a success. Sadly it was not copied by Labour in Wales. The fund | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
has helped constituents to get treatment they need. Can he tell | :51:53. | :52:01. | |
the House what he is doing to support food banks in the United | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
Kingdom. What we have done is something the food bank movement | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
had asked for for years but Labour did not grant them because they | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
were worried about public relations and that is the ability to say to | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
people at the JobCentre who needed help that they could go to a food | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
back. That might be something they did not want to do because it was | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
bad publicity. We did it because it was right. Does the Prime Minister | :52:27. | :52:35. | |
agreed that the combination of good weather, deficit reduction and the | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
control on public spending has given confidence to business and | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
individuals to create 1.3 million jobs? Given these encouraging | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
figures, is he somewhat surprised that the opposition believe the | :52:50. | :52:56. | |
policy will cost 1 million jobs? He could add to the good weather that | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
Andy Murray when macro Wimbledon and England retained the Ashes. -- | :53:00. | :53:10. | |
won. There was a key judgment parties had to make weather in this | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
Parliament they get to grips with the deficit and take tough | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
decisions to turn the country round. We make those tough decisions. The | :53:19. | :53:27. | |
party opposite got to them. -- ducked them. The Government is | :53:27. | :53:36. | |
right to extend nursery provision. Four in 10 councils will not have | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
sufficient places. Can he guaranteed those children promised | :53:39. | :53:45. | |
a place will actually have one? We put in place funding to provide | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
that and I am confident they will put in place funding to provide | :53:47. | :53:54. | |
receive the services they deserve. Unemployment in my constituency is | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
lower than any time since the general election. Locally I | :53:59. | :54:05. | |
organised two jobs fairs and I am organising a third. Does he agree | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
that this goes to show the Government is right to stick to the | :54:08. | :54:11. | |
economic plan despite calls to abandon it by the members opposite? | :54:11. | :54:18. | |
He is right. The figures on employment are encouraging with | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
more people in work than ever before. More people in private | :54:22. | :54:27. | |
sector employment. A record number of women in work and almost 1 | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
million more people in work compared with the situation we | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
inherited. At some stage the party opposite will have to admit they | :54:36. | :54:44. | |
got it wrong. Even today, the shadow chancellor is saying he will | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
borrow even more, even when we have started turning around the economy, | :54:48. | :54:57. | |
he has learned nothing. £3.3 billion profit windfall while | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
ordinary families face energy bills going up by £300 in year. Why is | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
ordinary families face energy bills the Prime Minister not standing up | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
to energy companies and getting a better deal from the market for | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
ordinary families? I do not know where she was in the debate on the | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
energy bill but this government is legislating to make sure people are | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
put on the lowest tariffs. This legislating to make sure people are | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
government has done that. When the leader of the Labour Party was | :55:24. | :55:25. | |
Energy Secretary and bills leader of the Labour Party was | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
through the roof, there was none of this sort of action. Given that the | :55:28. | :55:37. | |
end N S has revised figures up words for growth, -- ONS come and | :55:37. | :55:47. | |
there are good conditions for young people to get into work, does he | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
think this would have been achieved if he took the advice of the Shadow | :55:51. | :55:57. | |
Chancellor? It is interesting. Every time there is a question | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
about the economy and the fact more people are in work and more | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
businesses are established and the economy is growing, the party | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
businesses are established and the opposite do not want to hear a word | :56:07. | :56:13. | |
of it. Britain is succeeding and Labour is failing. Will the Prime | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
Minister accept any responsibility for the fact it is forecasted on | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
wages working people will, by the time of the election, have lost | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
£6,660 in real terms while he has been in Number 10? There is only | :56:29. | :56:35. | |
one sustainable way to get living standards up, and that is to get | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
the economy growing, to cut taxes and to keep mortgage rates low, | :56:40. | :56:42. | |
the economy growing, to cut taxes which we are doing. If we listened | :56:42. | :56:48. | |
to the party opposite, who have won plan, to spend more and build up | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
more debt, we would be back to where we started -- one plan. As | :56:52. | :57:04. | |
the Syrian tragedy has unfolded, I have always had the Armageddon | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
question in the back of my mind, which I will put to the Prime | :57:09. | :57:19. | |
Minister. If the Americans illegally bombard the Assad forces, | :57:19. | :57:26. | |
and Assad legally invites the Russians in, to degrade the rebels, | :57:26. | :57:36. | |
what will NATO do? The first thing I would say is that we would never | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
support illegal action. We debated this at some length last week. It | :57:41. | :57:47. | |
is not the case the only way action can be legal is a United Nations | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
resolution. We would only support action that is illegal. Britain | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
would not be taking part in any of this action. You have to put the | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
Armageddon question around the other way, which is if no action is | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
taken following President Obama's Red Line, and it is not taken | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
following the use of chemical weapons, you have to ask what sort | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
of Armageddon other Syrian people going to be facing? The Prime | :58:15. | :58:21. | |
Minister says he does not support a mansion tax for people living in | :58:21. | :58:26. | |
mansions over £2 million. Because, he claims, some people living in | :58:26. | :58:31. | |
these mansions are capital rich and cash poor. Can the Prime Minister | :58:31. | :58:37. | |
tell me how he rounds that circle with his support with the bedroom | :58:37. | :58:43. | |
tax? That is where he is punishing people who are capital poor and | :58:43. | :58:50. | |
have no cash. He has to get clear what is a tax, and what is not a | :58:50. | :58:55. | |
tax. Before the changes, there was a subsidy for people who had | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
additional rooms they did not use. We believe it is fair to have the | :59:00. | :59:05. | |
same rules in private sector rented accommodation and in council | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
accommodation. You have ranted and raved, Labour, about the spare room | :59:10. | :59:17. | |
subsidy. Will you reverse it? Are you going to reverse it? That means | :59:17. | :59:26. | |
no. That means yes. Any chance? Absolutely nothing to say. It is | :59:26. | :59:41. | |
not a trivial decision for somebody to leave their home and their | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
country, fleeing for their safety. How many people must have left | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
Syria before it is impossible for the regime to declare any kind of | :59:50. | :59:56. | |
moral entitlement to govern back- country? I do not believe the | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
regime is legitimate. The way it has treated its own people, the | :00:02. | :00:07. | |
bombing of its own citizens and the use of chemical weapons, it is an | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
illegitimate regime. We have to bring pressure to bear for a | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
transition so that we can end up with Syria in totally different | :00:15. | :00:23. | |
hands. The cost of secondary school uniform has spiralled to £285 as | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
new free schools and academies insist on branding clothing. But | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
one Academy, 70% of parents had to take out a loan. Why has the Prime | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
Minister failed to act so that his policy is leading to loans that can | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
only add to the profit of pay-day loan companies? Like many parents I | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
think it is right for schools, if they want to choose, to have a | :00:51. | :00:58. | |
tough uniform policy. I was at the opening of a free school in | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
Birmingham yesterday where the parents were very grateful of the | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
fact that is exactly the policy they had. What I see from the | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
Honourable Lady is trying to find a way of opposing free schools. We | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
Honourable Lady is trying to find a now have 194 free schools in our | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
country that they don't like, because parents think it is a good | :01:20. | :01:44. | |
education. It cost the Ministry of Defence £1.4 billion to extend the | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
life of the Trident submarines in order that the Liberal Democrats | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
could have a study of alternatives. Now that study has shown there is | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
no alternative, will the Prime Minister consider signing the main | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
contract for the first two submarine so that we can never | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
again be blackmailed by the Liberal Democrats in a hung parliament? I | :02:06. | :02:12. | |
have to credit the Honourable Gentleman with a remarkable | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
consistency on the issue, on which I agree with him. We have Trident. | :02:15. | :02:22. | |
It is the right approach. We need to renew Trident. The delay of the | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
decision has saved money. His point about the review is right. If you | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
want to have a proper functioning deterrent, you need to have the | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
best and that means a permanently at Sea submarine based alternative. | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
That is what a Conservative only government after the next election | :02:42. | :02:52. | |
will deliver. Is it not the case... Is it not the case... Order. The | :02:52. | :03:01. | |
Honourable Gentleman is something of an exotic creature in house. | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
That excite the interest on government benches. I wish to hear | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
what the Honourable Gentleman has to say. Is it not the case that in | :03:08. | :03:16. | |
real wages have fallen by almost 1500 pounds the years since he | :03:16. | :03:17. | |
became Prime Minister? We live in 1500 pounds the years since he | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
tough times because of the incredible mess we had to clear up | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
from the party opposite. The party opposite, complaining about the | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
economy, complaining about living standards, is like the arsonist | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
complaining to the fire brigade. This government is turning the | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
economy round and that is how we will get living standards up. | :03:40. | :03:49. | |
Burnley recently was awarded by the Department of business, innovation | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
and skills, an award for the most enterprising town in the UK. Would | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
he wish to congratulate the many businesses in Burnley who are | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
members of the scheme on their achievement? I congratulate | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
businesses large and small for the enterprise they have shown. The | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
fact about the recovery is that it is private sector-led. That is what | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
we needed after excessive government spending and it is very | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
good that businesses have done so much to take people on and get the | :04:22. | :04:31. | |
economy moving. The first Prime Minister's | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
questions of the new parliamentary season. It was | :04:34. | :04:45. | |
It was built by everybody except Nick Robinson as a Guy Fawkes night | :04:45. | :04:52. | |
of action but in fact it was rather subdued, so Nick Robinson was night. | :04:52. | :05:09. | |
-- was right. Someone said to me it was like two bald men fighting over | :05:09. | :05:16. | |
a coma, Ed Miliband and David Cameron talking about Syria -- -- | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
comb. The Tory backbenches were laced with | :05:21. | :05:34. | |
questions planted by the whips on the economy but they were still a | :05:34. | :05:43. | |
little bit behind the times because nobody managed to plant a question | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
about the GMB withdrawal of money. It happened too late. They should | :05:48. | :05:56. | |
keep up with the news. A flat encounter between the two | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
today, says John. Both tried to be statesman-like and both not willing | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
to make others think otherwise. Helen Manning says, David Cameron | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
does not need to take lessons on Syria from duplicitous and | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
hypocritical Ed Miliband. Backbone was needed to take action in Syria. | :06:17. | :06:25. | |
But Diane said I thought David Cameron might be attacked humble and | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
contrite after his humiliating defeat. As a floating voter I would | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
have hoped for him to show some understanding there was no appetite | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
for military intervention but his performance today was bad and | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
arrogant. Someone else asks is it known how | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
much of the economic rise in growth is due to natural changes rather | :06:48. | :06:55. | |
than the Prime Minister's policies? While PMQ 's have been going on in | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
London there are reports that German intelligence had been briefing the | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
German parliamentarians in Berlin. They have said their information is | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
that Assad in Syria was responsible for the poisoned gas attacks on the | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
21st of August and German intelligence says the intercepted | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
traffic between Hezbollah, they had Lebanese -based group operating on | :07:19. | :07:26. | |
Assad's side, and the Iranians embassy in Berlin, in which the | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
traffic between Hezbollah and the Iranians embassy confirmed that | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
Assad had used chemical weapons. Confirmation from a country that | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
will not be part of any action but interesting that that is what German | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
parliamentarians are being briefed on. Briefly, that is pretty | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
significant because the doubts amongst many MPs were about the | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
assertion that the Assad regime was definitely responsible. They had | :07:58. | :08:12. | |
widespread doubts in the House because of the reliance on Israeli | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
intercepts, partly. German intercepts are much less politically | :08:18. | :08:25. | |
controversial, hot if you like, then Israeli ones, and the fact that the | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
Germans are not in favour of action but are releasing that assessment is | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
really quite significant and would perhaps persuade people like Andrew | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
Mitchell that Britain should look at this again. It underlines that we | :08:39. | :08:46. | |
should keep an open mind. And also, why did we have such a rush to vote | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
last week before all of this had been given a chance to come out? Do | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
you think the vote would have been different then? I think there was a | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
big worry in the House of Commons on all sides that there was a kid and | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
timetable and that we were being bounced into a decision before all | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
of the processes and evidence had been gone through so that does cast | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
some doubt on the Prime Minister's judgement. This came out from | :09:11. | :09:21. | |
several Labour backbenchers. Why is it Labour policy to put so much | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
faith in Iran? It is not about faith, it is about trying to get a | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
dialogue about the people behind what is going on in the Middle East. | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
You need to recognise reality on the ground. What is going on between | :09:35. | :09:44. | |
tribes, which countries are supporting which actors in Syria, | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
and to try to get some sort of process to deal with this. Yes, but | :09:48. | :09:54. | |
why do you think Iran is the key to peace and progress in Syria? That is | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
not what was being said but what was asked is since there is now a new | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
president in Iran, does this present a new opportunity to try to get more | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
constructive engagement? What evidence is there to suggest that | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
this new president is a chance for that? He has been seen as being much | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
more moderate all around, by the people that watch these things, and | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
in fact the Prime Minister has already written to him as he | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
revealed. It is not very nice when you have to deal in diplomacy but | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
you have to try to get the people having an effect into a dialogue. | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
What is the evidence that this new president is in anyway more moderate | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
than the previous one? He is known by those who know him. You heard | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
Jack Straw talking about M. Less of a head-banger. You are aware that he | :10:51. | :11:01. | |
is the man, when Iran was having this green revolution, educated | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
people marching in the streets for basic freedom, that this man you | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
describe as more moderate called for the extermination of these | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
protesters. I didn't say he was a Democrat. This is Iran and they are | :11:13. | :11:21. | |
post-revolution. What is more extreme than calling for the | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
extermination of demonstrators? It is pretty extreme. What can be more | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
extreme? Nothing can be more extreme. Why do you call him a | :11:31. | :11:39. | |
moderate? He is widely seen as a potential new start for diplomatic | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
relations between the West and Iran which have been in deep freeze since | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
the uranium Revolution. Interesting development. -- the Iranians | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
revolution. That came up again and again. It is right to make sure we | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
give Iran a chance to show it has turned a page and the new president | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
may indeed meet that. But your point turned a page and the new president | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
about what he has done in the past are very relevant. That is why we | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
should test it and see whether there is a change in Iranians policy. Why | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
should anybody outside of this country care what Mr Cameron or Mr | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
Miliband have to say about Syria? country care what Mr Cameron or Mr | :12:23. | :12:33. | |
They are irrelevant. This region has been convulsed by an extraordinary | :12:33. | :12:39. | |
catastrophe. The G20 is a chance to move the process forward. Anybody | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
who knows anything about Syria, which in this country is not a lot, | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
knows that negotiation is not an option. This is a tribal war which | :12:49. | :12:56. | |
the Assad clan know there can only be two outcomes for them. They win | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
or they get killed. This is why I was so strongly in favour of | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
military action. The only way in which the Assad regime will be | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
brought to the negotiating table is if they realised if they continue, | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
they will lose. That is why it is essential that the world sends an | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
incredibly strong signal about military action. But the Prime | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
Minister made it clear we are not going to send that message. That is | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
true but as I say, we need to await further evidence and I believe the | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
Americans will take action. You think he will get the vote in | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
Congress? I think he will.The German intelligence may help. The | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
Prime Minister has been defeated on a central issue of his premiership. | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
Normally that would cause chaos in the first Prime Minister 's | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
questions, shouting match, demands for vote of no-confidence. The two | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
leaders reminded me of people who had had a few really strong can | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
argument at a party and came down in the morning sheepish. Ed Miliband | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
repeatedly said, there is no different on this issue of chemical | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
weapons, but nobody asked him whether there was! He feels | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
vulnerable on that. The Prime Minister felt the need to repeatedly | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
tell people there would be no military action because both men | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
feel uncomfortable about where they military action because both men | :14:25. | :14:32. | |
have ended up. We are on the eve of almost certain United States | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
military action in Syria and they were having a perfectly interesting | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
chat about who might go to peace talks, but with the best will in the | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
world it did not feel like the most pressing set of questions given that | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
serious military action could happen. I still have my doubts he | :14:48. | :14:55. | |
will get it through the house. I think he will get it through the | :14:56. | :15:03. | |
Senate. Isolationist and protectionist contingent, tea party | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
and left wing there. But we will see! John Kerry said he would not | :15:08. | :15:19. | |
rule out them taking action anyway! If it turns out that the president | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
has a majority in Congress and the Americans proceed, what are the | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
implications for the people we've just been watching? We are | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
spectators. Many people may be saying, thank goodness for that. | :15:31. | :15:32. | |
They may think that is exactly what saying, thank goodness for that. | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
their elected representative to do, not for Britain to join the United | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
States, but it does minimise the influence of the British Government | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
over the course of events. If there is a phase two, if after the | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
military action there is a Syrian reaction or an Iranian reaction or | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
Russian reaction, which then needs more military operations, would that | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
be sufficient for the British Government say, well, maybe we | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
should consider our position? Given that overnight at those | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
Congressional hearings we've heard the Secretary of State refused to | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
rule out boots on the ground in certain circumstances, talk about | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
hardening up the punishment of the regime to be beyond what Obama | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
originally talked about. It seems to be this debate, however much the | :16:23. | :16:24. | |
front benches may wish it otherwise, be this debate, however much the | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
this debate cannot end, it won't end. Tune in next week. | :16:29. | :16:38. | |
Something a little different. Time was our cuddly looking guest of the | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
day, nice looking Andrew Mitchell here, would strike fear into the | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
day, nice looking Andrew Mitchell hearts of Conservative MPs in his | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
role as his party's top enforcer, the Chief Whip. These days, though, | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
you could be forgiven for thinking the boot was on the other foot, with | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
backbenchers seemingly feeling free to rebel with gay abandon. The | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
latest manifestation of this was last week's defeat for the | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
latest manifestation of this was government over Syria, but it's not | :17:02. | :17:11. | |
just a passing fad. These days the Commons is a pretty scary place if | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
you are a Prime Minister. It is clear to me that the British | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
see British military action. I get that and the government will act | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
accordingly. Last week's revolt on Syria was a biggie, but it was not | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
alone. Imagine if you could build your own MP. They would probably be | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
independent, fearless, not afraid to put the views of their constituents | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
above those of the party machine. In fact, a bit of a rebel. Well, if | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
that is your cup of tea, the good news is there's a lot of them about. | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
This Parliament is currently the most rebellious parliament in terms | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
of the number of divisions of any in the post-war era. If you go back to | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
the 1950s, there were two sessions, two whole years in which not a | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
single government MP rebels even once. Today's whips would bite your | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
hand off for that level of cohesion. So who is Britain's most rebellious | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
MP? Philip le bone, focused on Kettering. My test as always, were I | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
to walk down Kettering high street and speak to 100 of my constituents | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
who had the time, energy and enthusiasm to look at the | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
legislation before the House, what would a majority decide? At the end | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
of the day, my job is to represent constituents in Westminster. It is | :18:40. | :18:42. | |
of the day, my job is to represent not to represent Westminster in the | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
constituency. The real problem for the whips, the men and women tasked | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
with trying to make backbenchers to the party line, isn't serial rebels | :18:50. | :19:02. | |
like Philip, revolt isn't a risk-free option. There's lots of | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
opinion poll evidence showing that people want their MPs to be | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
rebellious, that is on the increase. The percentage of them | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
wanting to be loyal is on the decline. The problem is there's no | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
evidence that the public then reward MPs at the ballot boxes. And there | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
is evidence the public punish divided parties. If the public were | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
to see that there was a party, for example be Conservative Party, which | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
allowed freedom of thought amongst its backbenchers, allowing them to | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
be independently minded on issues, giving them all free votes at | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
committee stages of bills, for example, I think the public would | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
appreciate that. Rebellious MPs aren't new, but the new mode -- mood | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
of revolt at Westminster seems here to stay, and that could make whips | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
and ministers afraid, very afraid. We are all scared here. We are | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
joined by the Conservative MP Peter bone, who's been known to display a | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
rebellious streak or two in the past. You are looking at me | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
quizzically. How much of a rebel are you? I voted more times for the | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
government and the deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
government and the deputy Prime Prime Minister. I can't be that | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
rebellious. New one of the top six most rebellious MPs. I think it's | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
different when you have a coalition government. I voted all along for | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
Conservative policies. When liberal ones were being put forward I voted | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
against. I don't think last week's vote on Syria can possibly ever be | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
suggested that the whips can tell you to vote when you are putting | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
people 's lives at risk. I think people across the House made their | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
own decisions. I don't think they said, OK, my whip is telling me to | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
vote this way, I will do that. What do you say to that? There are still | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
Conservative MP is, there was a government motion and David Cameron | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
put his case. Is it really valid to say there shouldn't be whips | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
involved in that vote, when it was a key part of foreign policy and | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
delivered a humiliating defeat for David Cameron? To be fair, on an | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
issue like that you have to have cross-party support. There's a block | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
of people on both sides who are virulently opposed to using | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
military... The question about the whips. I don't think your point | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
really stands on that debate. There's another trend that has been | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
going on in Parliament over recent years which is much greater power | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
for the legislature to hold the executive to account. David Cameron | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
made that point in the immediate aftermath, that he accepted that | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
this was the of Parliament. He is a Democrat and would accept what | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
Parliament had decided. Parliament has moved to give much greater | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
power, we all made this decision, to the legislature at the expense of | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
the executive. So it's a nightmare for the whips, whose job it is to | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
make sure that people oil. If that happened every day we never get any | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
legislation passed. It shows you that the job of the whips has become | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
a more sophisticated and difficult one. But it's always been a myth | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
a more sophisticated and difficult that the whips can bully and cajole | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
people. In order to be in Parliament you have to be quite a tough | :22:00. | :22:02. | |
character. In the end, charm and persuasion are much more | :22:02. | :22:03. | |
character. In the end, charm and weapons ban the bludgeon. There was | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
good but discipline under Tony Blair at the beginning, and that must have | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
been partly down to the whipping operation. I agree with Andrew that | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
soft power is always better when you are dealing with MPs. The difference | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
between Tony Blair's Parliament and the parliament we've got now is that | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
they were big majorities then. At the moment we have not only got a | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
coalition, it is pretty unstable at both edges. That is why Peter | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
can... He's picking and choosing which things he is rebelling on. I | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
think we've had 185 coalition MPs rebel, which is why Philip Cowley | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
was saying this is the most rebellious Parliament. It makes life | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
interesting when they can't vote to support their own legislation. Do | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
you want to get rid of the whips office? I get could be abolished in | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
a sense that elected MPs should not be whips. All the things done in | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
running the House could be done by paid officials. The government | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
should be able to argue its case and then expect its MPs to support it. | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
We should not come under pressure from other MPs telling me how to | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
vote. You have to have whip's offices. They are an essential part | :23:17. | :23:27. | |
of the government getting its legislation. You were Chief Whip for | :23:27. | :23:34. | |
six weeks, do you miss it? The Chief Whip's drop is incredibly | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
difficult. I'm enjoying not being chief whip. Do you think George | :23:38. | :23:46. | |
Young has done a good job? An extremely good job in very difficult | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
circumstances. You've made his life very difficult. I think the new | :23:50. | :23:56. | |
change in Parliament, the fact that Parliament is beginning to hold the | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
executive to account is a really good thing. David Cameron promises | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
in his speech on fixing broken politics, before he came to power, | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
he has honoured that. It was very courageous and right of him to bring | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
Parliament back and put a motion to the House. That would not have | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
happened under Blair. Philip Cowley's words there, the | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
constituents that MPs represent won't necessarily thank you for | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
supposedly representing their interests. UR in Parliament to do | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
what you think is right. Tony Blair did bring Parliament back and we did | :24:33. | :24:40. | |
have a vote. When did we vote on Afghanistan? The majority help. | :24:40. | :24:49. | |
Let's go back to Syria. France's National Assembly holds an emergency | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
debate on Syria this afternoon but no vote is planned. French MPs will | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
debate the country's position on possible military action on Syria. | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
Axelle Lemaire is an Assembly Members in the French Socialist | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
party and represent a constituency that includes Great Britain. What is | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
it like to be France's new best friend, sorry, America's new best | :25:11. | :25:19. | |
friend? Should I understand there is any jealousy in that comment? No, I | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
think burgers go well with french fries. The reason why France... | :25:23. | :25:35. | |
Sorry, we seem to be having a little bit of trouble with the line. I'll | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
just come back to getting my original question correct. How did | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
you feel about being America's new best friend? No, we seem to have | :25:44. | :26:04. | |
lost the line. I'm back! Let me ask you this. What I wanted to say is | :26:04. | :26:12. | |
the reason why France is leading on this is that we've always been | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
against the use of chemical weapons. My country was the first to | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
against the use of chemical sign the protocol in 1925, | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
prohibiting the use of chemical weapons after World War II. It is | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
here in Paris in 1993 that the convention of Paris was signed and | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
ratified by 183 countries full stop France is a member of the Security | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
Council, so of course we are hand-in-hand with America on this. | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
But it is not just France alone. I think that is the National Assembly | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
behind you there. Why shouldn't your Parliament have a determining vote, | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
like the British Parliament and the American Congress? Why is your | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
president able to do this without parliamentary sanction? It is my | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
time to be a little jealous now. According to the terms of the French | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
constitution, Article 35 precisely, in case of military intervention, | :27:13. | :27:19. | |
the French president has a duty to inform Parliament. He can do so | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
three days after the start of an intervention. But there is no vote. | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
That is what the text says. That is the theory. In practice, there is | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
the theory. In practice, there's an increased political pressure to | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
organise such a vote. We would have to find entirely that option, but | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
what is important for the moment is to have a debate. That is what we | :27:44. | :27:50. | |
are going to have. Are you voting for war? For the moment I'm not | :27:50. | :27:56. | |
going to vote, I need to be convinced. I want to see the | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
evidence. The intelligence services have released some documents that | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
were classified, which helps me make my view on the issue of the | :28:05. | :28:11. | |
intervention. I was amazed to realise that the zones attacked by | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
chemical weapons are entirely controlled by the opposition. I'm | :28:14. | :28:20. | |
sorry, we've run out of time. Thank you for bearing with us in the | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
glorious Paris sunshine. It's quite nice in London as well. Time to put | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
you out of your misery and give you answers to Guess the Year. It was | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
2001. We will find out who the winner is. | :28:34. | :28:41. | |
That is it for today. Thanks to all of our guests. The one o'clock News | :28:41. | :28:48. | |
starting on BBC One. We will be back tomorrow at noon. I will be joined | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
by the chairman of the Local Government Association. I'm off to | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
Brussels. She gets all the gigs! | :28:56. | :28:59. |