Browse content similar to 09/10/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The parties have reshuffled their teams, and the battle lines are | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
beginning to take shape. The government says it plans to limit | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
the increase in rail fares for hard-pressed commuters. It's the | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
latest salvo in this hard-fought battle over who can do most to | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
improve living standards. It is likely to be the divided line | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
between David and Ed Miliband when they go toe to toe for the first | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
bout of prime ministers questions since conference. Has the government | :01:10. | :01:17. | |
border scheme been an expensive farce? The Chief Inspector of | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
Borders seems to think so. We get reaction from the Home Office | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
minister. Happy birthday, David Cameron. The Prime Minister is 47 | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
today but it doesn't mean he gets special favours when it comes to | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
getting his hands on a Daily Politics mug. Stay tuned to see if | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
you can. All that in the next 90 minutes of pure television gold. It | :01:40. | :01:46. | |
is worth the licence fee in its own right as the director-general told | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
me last week. Join us for this televisual extravaganza, including | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
two of Westminster 's hottest screen stars. Damian Green, from the Home | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
Office, and Shadow Justice Secretary Siddique Khan. They both kept their | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
jobs in the recent reshuffle probably because the leaders | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
couldn't find their telephone numbers! First we will talk about | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
the British borders, and more specifically, the lack of electronic | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
borders. A report today says the multi-million pound E borders system | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
designed to prevent suspected criminals and terrorists travelling | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
into the UK has a serious failings. The independent chief us of Borders | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
found that fewer than two thirds of passenger journeys were actually | :02:33. | :02:41. | |
monsters -- monitored. We found only 65% of advanced passenger | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
information was on the system. We found that the alerts had been | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
duplicating effort at the border and they have not been applied | :02:48. | :02:50. | |
consistency between Heathrow and they have not been applied | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
other ports. So the interception of people who has been -- have been | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
wanted, these people have been intercepted at the gates of Heathrow | :02:58. | :03:06. | |
but not at other ports. We found up to 650,000 alerts for individuals | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
who might be smuggling drugs or tobacco into the country but they | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
have not been acted upon or deleted without action. We also found that | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
people who were deported or excluded from Britain have not been prevented | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
from boarding flights to come back to Britain, which was one of the | :03:22. | :03:30. | |
main benefit of the original plan. So it has generally been a failure? | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
Not for the police, because they have benefited enormously. But in | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
terms of the original business benefits, I have identified that | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
only one out of eight has been delivered. The Immigration Minister, | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
Mark Harper, says the figure that you have used in terms of the system | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
is up to 78% rather than the 65% you have found. What do you say to that? | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
Well, this inspection finished in the spring and summer of this year | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
and it was that figure at the time of the inspection, and that is the | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
data we got from the Home Office at that time. The bottom line is, for | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
this to be an effective system, we need a very high percentage of data | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
to be on the system. It was intended that this would be achieved by now, | :04:16. | :04:24. | |
but what was not, or underestimated, is the fact that EU | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
law prevents a lot of information about passengers on EU flights being | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
put on the database. That is still a legal barrier to the completion of | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
the date on the system. John Vine, thank you. That is what the | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
inspector has to say. Damian Green, an expensive farce? It was chaos | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
when we took over in 2010 and we reset the contract so the snapshot | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
shows that we are probably five or six years further back than we ought | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
to be, and I think the interesting figures there were about six months | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
ago it was only 65% of journeys being counted, and now we have got | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
it up to 78%, and that is 90% of flights. When we came in in May 2010 | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
it was meant to be 90% by 2010, and we discovered that it just wasn't | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
working at all. You are getting the blame. This is month 40 as a | :05:18. | :05:26. | |
coalition government, and you sacked the contractors in 2010, your first | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
act, so in the fourth year 600,000 records have been deleted and in | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
2012 they were deleted, you were running the show them. Did you leave | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
a Horlicks behind? That is what Damian says. I am asking you. You | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
are saying now he's been in charge this time it should be up and | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
running. But do you accept that? Do you accept you left a mess behind? | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
The idea was to export the borders to have good information of | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
passengers coming in and going out. to have good information of | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
That only came about in 2003 and towards the end of the time in | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
That only came about in 2003 and government we had it up and running | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
and had invested in it. Remember that John Reid said the Home Office | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
was not fit for purpose in 2005. We set up the UK BAe and we are doing | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
really good work on the borders. These guys come and get rid of the | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
contractors that sued the government for half £1 billion. In the fourth | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
contractors that sued the government year, there is a failure, and to | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
contractors that sued the government blame us. It is a joke. What it is, | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
it is a system that was getting better and it was a shambles and is | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
now up to 90% of flights. John Vine is right that there are legal | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
problems which were not recognised back ten years ago when it was set | :06:45. | :06:53. | |
up, that there are theologians in the European Commission means that | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
free movement of Borders means you cannot even check people, that and | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
-- and we disagree with it. What we have done is we have got 78% | :07:03. | :07:12. | |
coverage. He says 65%. Yes, that he says that the six months ago, and in | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
that six months we have improved, and that is what we have done over | :07:16. | :07:25. | |
three and a half years. It is interesting, almost the worst kind | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
of party politics, that you leave behind a shambles, you blame it all | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
on the shambles, then you say it has been put right, and then you say you | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
haven't done it fast enough after you took seven years to create a | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
shambles for both of you. Not one person who had previously been | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
excluded or deported from the UK, and therefore you might think would | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
be on a watchlist they've previously been excluded, has been prevented | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
from getting on a plane. Not through this, but there are the watch lists | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
available in the indexing system. What is the point of this if it | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
can't do it? If you've been excluded or deported from the UK you would | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
think on any system you would show up? The purpose of this has been | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
extremely useful, particularly for policing. We have arrested 10,000 | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
people at the border in the past three years. The border is a | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
significant tripwire that stops dangerous criminal people coming | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
into this country, and that, I think, is generally attributable to | :08:24. | :08:32. | |
the system. The purpose is advanced information. You have to make sure | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
in advance of stopping them getting on a plane, and you fail. Lipstick | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
with the Home Office. A Home Office campaign emerging illegal immigrants | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
to go home has been banned for using misleading arrest statistics. -- | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
let's stick with the Home Office. It involved poster vans driving through | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
six London boroughs in July and drew over 200 complaints to the | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
advertising standards authority, but the agency cleared the campaign of | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
being offensive or irresponsible. Was it a mistake, Damian? We are | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
evaluating the full effect, but it wasn't a mistake. It lets people | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
know that the traditional view is if you have been here illegally nothing | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
will happen to you, and that is now not the case. We are now actually | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
tracking people down who have no right to be here and removing them. | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
So you are comfortable with the idea of vans coming round with inaccurate | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
information, saying there was 106 arrests in your area, which is not | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
true in every area. I take the point from the ASA, but I'm glad they said | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
it was not irresponsible or offensive. It is hard-hitting. But | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
this is the kind of thing that helps restore com -- public confidence | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
that things are happening on the immigration system that did not | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
happen in the past. Does it restore confidence, or do you think they are | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
offensive? We had a report saying the board is not working, a big | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
failure, and this kind of gimmick to restore confidence. It was cleared | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
of being offensive though. Has been banned. But not being offensive, for | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
inaccuracy. The reality is it been banned. I am pleased the ASA banned | :10:13. | :10:24. | |
it. Good. Should be banned? We are all bold enough to remember when the | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
words go home were used in certain parts of our city -- old enough. I | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
had a conversation with my mum and my brother and we still remember | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
what that phrase meant in the 1970s and 80s. It might not be unlawful, | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
but a government in touch with ordinary people, especially in those | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
six boroughs, we all understand we want illegal immigration to come | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
down and we think that those who are here unlawfully should go back to | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
the country of origin, but saying go home in the six most ethnically | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
diverse boroughs in London shows you do not understand what people feel | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
in the city. The fact you have that figure, 106 arrests, which means | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
those of us who you think should have confidence in you won't because | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
you have a misleading figure. Many people think immigration is out of | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
control and the people are here illegally in the UK should be going. | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
But picking up on the point that it does evoke a time that many people | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
in those borrowers thought had gone. I don't think it does. In the top | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
left-hand corner is, in the UK illegally. People can quite make the | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
difference between people who are here illegally or legally. One of | :11:34. | :11:43. | |
the things about coalition government is we are two parties and | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
we don't agree on everything. Those things we don't agree on, we can put | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
to the electorate. So you are proud of that? Are you proud of that | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
poster? I think it is a useful contribution to letting people know | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
that unlike under your gum, things are happening. Diane Abbott, who | :11:59. | :12:06. | |
just left the Labour front bench, she said Labour was not tough | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
enough, no loud voices of protest from Labour, it was the Liberal | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
Democrats. I was on the Andrew Marr show that Sunday protesting loudly. | :12:13. | :12:23. | |
I didn't see it. I will not be lectured by you in your party about | :12:23. | :12:30. | |
racism, Damian. Are you saying the party is racist? I'm not saying the | :12:30. | :12:37. | |
party 's races. Diameter -- Diane Abbott said you are too strong on | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
immigration and you are moving to the right. Is she the Labour Party | :12:40. | :12:46. | |
or are you the Labour Party? We will find out what she said when we get | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
her on the TV at some time. Now, the government has fired the latest | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
salvo in the cost of living debate that looks set to be a least one of | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
the major battle grounds in the next election. The Transport Secretary | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
has announced this morning a plan to cap increases in rail fares next | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
year as part of a series of announcements that the government | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
will make in the run-up to the Autumn statement, coming, we think, | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
in early December of this year but we don't know yet. It is all | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
designed to show us humble voters that politicians really get it when | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
it comes to paying the bills. David Cameron even acknowledge this week | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
that Ed Miliband had struck a chord with his pledge to freeze energy | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
prices. So, who has the more appealing message? I couldn't | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
possibly comment, but I'll try. All of the main parties have been trying | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
to persuade voters that they are going to do the most to tackle the | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
cost of living crisis and reduce household bills. Today it is the | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
conservatives turn and the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLaughlin, | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
announces a cap on rail fare increases. Some rail fares could | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
have increased by 9.1% in 2014, but the government will limit the | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
maximum increase to 6.1%. This is what the Transport Secretary had to | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
say this morning. What we are announcing is a reduction on the | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
amount which the train operators can put up the cost of rail tickets, so | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
for all commuters it will mean that they will be much more assured as to | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
what the cost will be and there will not be the variance in rail fare | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
increases. Quite often there has been a lot of criticism that we said | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
that the increase would be plus 1% and then they have seen the rise of | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
10%. We have reduced the Flex to make it a lot clearer over what | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
people will pay. The government hopes to build on announcements like | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
George Osborne's conference pledge to try to find the cash to freeze | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
fuel duty until 2015. They argue that the best way to tackle the cost | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
of living is through growth and have been buoyed by new figures out from | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
the IMF which suggest that the UK economic recovery is gaining pace. | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
But wage increases are still failing to keep pace with inflation, and | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
Labour are trying to capture the public mood with their populist | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
promise to freeze energy prices until 2017. Let's speak to achieve | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
political correspondence Norman Smith. This is going to be the | :15:09. | :15:16. | |
battle ground between the government Smith. This is going to be the | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
and the opposition, isn't it? It will show how far Labour has | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
succeeded in dragging the debate away from economic confidence, onto | :15:23. | :15:30. | |
who benefits from the recovery. We are told to expect that week by week | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
there will be a series of announcements to ease keep pressure | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
points on family budgets. We are told to expect something on energy | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
prices, on water bills, on bank charges, on landlord fees. We got | :15:44. | :15:51. | |
trains today. The caveat is, do not assume that financial woes will be | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
taken away. There are two reasons. One is money. There was the offer of | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
the petrol duty frees, which may or may not be possible. Perhaps more | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
problematic is the politics. It is very hard to criticise labour for | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
sticking plaster politics if you do exactly the same. -- decides Labour. | :16:12. | :16:20. | |
The other difficulty is, what do you do? It is not clear how you ease the | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
pressure in these key areas. We know that because we have seen repeated | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
efforts by the government to do something about energy bills. We | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
have had re-writing energy bills, energy summits, we have been up and | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
down 100 times and I suspect most people feel we are getting huge | :16:37. | :16:47. | |
energy bills. This train fair announcement, all it | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
energy bills. means is instead of going up by | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
three times the rate of inflation, they will go up by two times the | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
rate of inflation. Why is that progress? It will save the people | :16:58. | :17:15. | |
using these fares 30 or 40 pounds, and every little helps. So, it will | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
be a lower increase than they originally thought that they will be | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
paying up to twice the rate of inflation. There are races -- their | :17:24. | :17:31. | |
wages are going up by one or 2%, train fares are going up by 6%. This | :17:31. | :17:45. | |
is an announcement about those prices the train companies were | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
allowed to put up outside inflation. The increase will be | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
less. But their living standards will go down because the increase is | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
going up more than their pay. By definition, they will be worse off. | :17:58. | :18:10. | |
You are taking averages. On average, rail fares in this particular | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
category are going to go up by at least twice as much as people's pay | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
packets. I disagree with Norman's analysis where he says the debate | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
has been wrenched away from growth analysis where he says the debate | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
and economic confidence to the cost of living. The biggest help to cost | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
of living is having a job. Because of the growth coming into the | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
economy we have created 1.4 million private sector jobs over the last | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
couple of years and those people, clearly that helps them deal with | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
daily life. Under the last government, the ability to increase | :18:45. | :18:51. | |
outside inflation was far bigger than currently proposing. No it | :18:51. | :18:58. | |
wasn't. I was in the department. Up until 2003, it was minus fares. From | :18:58. | :19:10. | |
2009 onwards, we reduced it. What these guys did was they abolished or | :19:11. | :19:18. | |
stop on the Flex, brought it in up to 5%. It is possible for the guv | :19:18. | :19:28. | |
regulate prices -- the government to regulate prices. Today I am pleased | :19:28. | :19:38. | |
to see the government recognised you can readily. But prices go up of | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
wages. The difference is that the British Government can control | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
British Rail fares. What it cannot do is control the world or the price | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
-- world oil price. To say there is a 20 month freeze... But it is not | :19:55. | :20:10. | |
generated by oil. Historic experience tells us if you have a | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
time limited freeze, you get a massive spike beforehand and | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
afterwards. In any case, as Ed has had to admit honestly, it is not | :20:19. | :20:28. | |
scaremongering to say that the price bounces up and down and if it goes | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
up you will have to suspend it. Why do you think the British economy is | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
growing more quickly than any other major economy in the G7? Are we | :20:36. | :20:51. | |
growing quickly? The forecast has changed today. The IMF have changed | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
their forecast for this year and the year after. They have not said that | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
things are hunky-dory. They change their forecast for this year and | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
next year. They are still suggesting we should bring forward | :21:08. | :21:15. | |
infrastructure spend. But when they said the British economy needed a | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
boost, they had not realised that the economy had already turned. They | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
did not see the turn last April and have had to double their forecast. | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
Many people in the city think that even that is not enough. The answer | :21:28. | :21:35. | |
is, why do you think we are the fastest-growing economy in the G7? | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
If you do not know the answer I am not sure that I do! I will tell you | :21:40. | :21:50. | |
this... What about George Osborne? George Osborne broadcast in 2010. He | :21:50. | :22:00. | |
was wrong! The OBR and the IMF got it wrong. What I do say, let me | :22:00. | :22:08. | |
finish, when George Osborne became Chancellor and we were coming out of | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
recession, we were on the path of recovery and that stopped. Nobody | :22:12. | :22:20. | |
knows if that was a dead cat bounce. Nobody knows what would have | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
happened had we invested earlier than we did. Why are we growing | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
faster than the German economy? I am not sure of the answer to that. Tell | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
me what you think it is. What is interesting about the IMF report is | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
that they were saying we needed to spend in the way that Ed Balls has | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
been advocating. They have had to say, it appears the British economy | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
is outperforming most other economies. The British economy is | :22:52. | :23:01. | |
getting better at the same time as they are downgrading their forecasts | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
for the world economy. Relatively we are doing even better than that. Why | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
do either of you give the IMF the are doing even better than that. Why | :23:06. | :23:14. | |
time of day? Because they are an independent body... Where did they | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
last get something right? When did any economist? Humour Letty forbids | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
me from saying anything! -- humility. The IMF did not see the | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
financial crisis, did not see the British economy turning in April of | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
this year. Its growth forecasts have had to double in the space of months | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
and change not just reddish, but others. -- change not just British | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
ones. Why would you give them the time of day? They can trust us. | :23:45. | :23:56. | |
History tells us that they get it wrong more often than they get it | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
right. I hope we are coming out of it, I hope they are right. I think | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
there is a consensus that the economy is doing better than it was | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
a year ago. I am going to move into economic forecasting. Could this be | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
the day when David Cameron's birthday dreams come true, as he | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
turns 47? I bet there is just one thing on his mind. He does not want | :24:24. | :24:30. | |
a Mickey Mouse towel or a six-pack of real ale. He is after only one | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
thing - you tried to get ahead of the game following the Daily | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
Politics on Twitter. Hello, I minister! -- hello, Prime Minister! | :24:39. | :24:51. | |
He wants a Daily Politics mug. You might think following us on Twitter | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
is the way to get your hands on one. Even if it is your birthday, do not | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
expect special favours. There is only one way to get your hands on | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
expect special favours. There is one and we will tell you how. | :25:03. | :25:16. | |
Can you remember when this happened? I have got a little list of benefit | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
offenders who I will soon be rooting out and who never would be missed. | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
They never would be missed! To be in with a chance of winning a | :25:23. | :27:00. | |
Daily Politics mug, I minister, send your answer to the e-mail address | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
and you can see the full terms and conditions and guess the year on our | :27:04. | :27:15. | |
website. Or ask Andrew, he knows! Let's take a look at Big Ben, there | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
it is. Prime Minister's Questions is on its way. We have not had one | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
since the second week in September. It means James Landale is here, | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
welcome. A third book on you copy a -- a great assortment of things | :27:34. | :27:41. | |
today to choose from. Ed Miliband is criticised for making speeches and | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
not following it up. Earlier it was the cost of living and energy | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
prices. This is his first big moment to reinforce the message. If you | :27:49. | :27:54. | |
look at the alternatives, they are not attractive. He does not want to | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
make the Leveson Report re-apolitical foot all, literacy and | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
numerous is also part of Labour's record, there is not much ground | :28:04. | :28:11. | |
that he might want to get on. I would expect him to stay in his | :28:11. | :28:17. | |
rift. He wants to occupy his own political territory. David Cameron | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
will obviously talk about train fares. I think that is right when | :28:21. | :28:31. | |
you look at the others. In the Home Office, if you see somebody looking | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
through your wastebasket, it is not Office, if you see somebody looking | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
a Russian spy, it is your new ministerial colleague! We have had | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
our first meeting with Norman, we had the crime commissioners in, and | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
Norman listened to the Home Secretary speak and that is always a | :28:47. | :28:53. | |
good way to go through meetings, I find. Very sensible! HD Cam down? | :28:53. | :29:08. | |
She is always calm. I bumped into a senior Liberal Democrat this morning | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
who predicted there will be a resignation in the Home Office | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
who predicted there will be a within six months over a row. They | :29:13. | :29:18. | |
think he is going to be dangerous as a minister. I spoke to some | :29:18. | :29:30. | |
Conservatives who want to put Nick Clegg in his box. | :29:30. | :29:48. | |
Sure the people worn to join me in offering condolences about the | :29:48. | :29:54. | |
people who lost their lives in Nairobi, and it shows how we must do | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
all we can to defeat international terrorism. I am sure the house will | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
want to join me in paying tribute to PC Andrew Duncan who died on the | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
21st of September while on duty, a reminder of the sacrifices that | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
police officers make on our behalf, every day of every year. On a | :30:10. | :30:15. | |
happier note, the house will wish to congratulate Professor Peter Higgs | :30:15. | :30:20. | |
who is sharing this year 's Nobel Prize for physics, a richly deserved | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
recognition of his lifetime of research and a tribute to the UK's | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
world leading universities where the research was carried out. Mr | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
Speaker, this morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and in | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
addition to my duties with the house I will have further meetings later | :30:35. | :30:43. | |
today. Can I associate myself and constituency entirely with the | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
victims of terrorism in Nairobi and to PC Andrew Junction -- Andrew | :30:46. | :30:52. | |
Duncan, and to offer my congratulations to Professor Higgs. | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
Can the Prime Minister confirm that less than one third of families in | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
Britain will benefit from his marriage tax break? What I can | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
confirm is that all married couples paying basic rate tax will benefit | :31:04. | :31:08. | |
from this move, and I tell you why I think it's important, it's not about | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
the money, it is about the message. I think marriage is a great | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
institution and I think we should be supporting marriage, including | :31:16. | :31:22. | |
through the income tax system. Prime Minister, with the disappearance of | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
the minimum practice income guarantee many doctors surgeries | :31:26. | :31:32. | |
serving remote, rural areas like the one in my constituency faced death | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
not by a thousand cuts, but maybe death by one cut. They self -- serve | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
a lot of elderly residents and a number of children who do not have | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
a lot of elderly residents and a access to public transport to go | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
into neighbouring Clitheroe. Will he investigate this issue and ensure | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
that my constituents will not be isolated and they will continue to | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
receive the excellent service that they do from their doctor 's | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
surgery? I will look carefully at the Casey makes. I also read present | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
a large rural constituency where the Casey makes. I also read present | :32:04. | :32:07. | |
there are small practices -- the case he makes. But many more | :32:07. | :32:15. | |
surgeries are offering many more options given to patients, and we | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
want to see a growth of that, not least to make sure that people can | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
go to GP surgeries rather than accident and emergency services if | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
it is a GP that they may, but I will look at the specific point he makes. | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
Mr Speaker, I join the Prime Minister in sending my condolences | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
to the friends and families of the British nationals murdered in | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
Nairobi and all of those killed in that cowardly act. It was a heinous | :32:38. | :32:43. | |
act of terrorism and reminds us of the importance of combating | :32:43. | :32:45. | |
terrorism at home and around the world. I also join him in paying | :32:45. | :32:51. | |
tribute to PC Andrew Duncan. His death is a terrible tragedy and is a | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
reminder of the bravery shown by our brave policemen and women, day in, | :32:56. | :33:11. | |
day out, on our behalf. I send my condolences to his family and | :33:11. | :33:13. | |
friends. On a completely different note, Mr Speaker, I join him in | :33:13. | :33:15. | |
celebrating the tremendous achievement of Peter Higgs in | :33:15. | :33:17. | |
winning the Nobel Prize for physics. He is a great British scientist. | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
While we're on about it, happy birthday to the minister. -- to the | :33:20. | :33:26. | |
Prime Minister. Mr Speaker, on Monday, the Prime Minister said, and | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
I quote, there is a certain amount you can do freezing energy prices, | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
while the Chancellor said in his conference speech that it was | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
something out of, and I quote, -- L. Can he tell us if freezing energy | :33:39. | :33:48. | |
prices are good idea, or a communist plot -- Das Kapital. I will leave | :33:48. | :33:56. | |
the communist plots to him. First of all, can I thank him for his kind | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
remarks. There is nothing I would rather be doing on my birthday than | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
this. What this government is doing is legislating to put people on to | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
the lowest energy tariffs. I think that's a real step forward. I have | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
to say on this issue, just promising a freeze, it is a classic case of | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
him saying one thing and doing another. Month after month, he has | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
stood at this dispatch box as energy another. Month after month, he has | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
secretary and pollution -- produced policy of the policy, regulation of | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
that regulation, target after target, all of which has seen energy | :34:29. | :34:35. | |
prices go up. What is clear from the answer is that he has no answer on | :34:35. | :34:40. | |
the Labour energy price freeze. What is clear is that it will not happen | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
under him, but it would happen under a Labour government. He mentions his | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
policy on tariffs, and he says his policy will put everybody on the | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
cheapest energy tariff. Can he explain why at least 90% of the | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
country will get no benefit from his policy? First of all, let's deal | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
with the new Labour energy policy. Let's spend some time on it. First | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
of all, let's examine the fact that he has committed to a new | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
decarbonisation target that would add £125 to everybody's bill in the | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
country. Perhaps he would like to mention that when he gets to his | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
feet. He also didn't mention that just 12 hours after making his | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
pledge, he said he might not be able to fulfil it because of | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
international wholesale gas prices. And isn't that the case, that what | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
international wholesale gas prices. he is promising is a price increase | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
before a promise, a broken promise, and then a price increase after the | :35:39. | :35:45. | |
promise. One price increase, one price -- broken promise, another | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
price increase, that sounds like every Labour government since the | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
war. What is clear is that he is floundering around and has no answer | :35:54. | :36:00. | |
to Labour's energy price freeze. He did not even defend his own policy, | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
which won't benefit to 90% of the country. He has no idea. He says he | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
wants to bring energy prices down. Can he confirm that energy prices | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
have gone up by £300 since he became prime minister? I can tell you that | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
energy prices doubled under Labour and electricity prices went up by | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
50%. Let me make this point to him. There is one thing governments | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
cannot control, and that is the international wholesale price of | :36:28. | :36:38. | |
gas. I know he would like to live in some sort of Marxist universe where | :36:38. | :36:40. | |
you can control all of these things, but he needs a basic lesson in | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
economics. Perhaps he should remember what the Labour industry | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
minister said, he sat in the government with him in the last | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
government, and in an effort to appeal to tribal socialism and the | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
minority in the country he has put at risk millions of jobs, putting up | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
a sign over the country, don't invest here. That is the new | :36:57. | :37:07. | |
left-wing Labour Party. Mr Speaker, I do suggest that he goes away after | :37:07. | :37:13. | |
Prime Minister 's questions and tries to work out his position on | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
the energy price freeze, because initially he said the policy was in | :37:17. | :37:19. | |
knots, then he said on Monday that initially he said the policy was in | :37:19. | :37:26. | |
it struck a chord and that it could make a difference, so he has no idea | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
about the policy. Why are energy prices so high? Once again he did | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
not answer the question. I want to remind him of the words of the | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
previous leader of the opposition, who said this, when the gas prices | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
go up they rush to pass on costs onto us, but when they are coming | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
down, we wait a very long time before we see anything coming | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
through on our bills. Mr Speaker, that was him that said that. Why has | :37:51. | :37:58. | |
he changed his mind? What we need is a more competitive energy market so | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
the consumer benefits. What he seems to be suffering from is complete | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
amnesia that he was the energy secretary. Let me remind him of one | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
of the first acts this government took. We inherited an energy policy | :38:12. | :38:19. | |
from him that would have put £179 on every single bill because of his | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
renewable heat initiative. And we cancel it. That was his policy. | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
While we are dealing with quotes, let's have a guess who said this. To | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
deal with the problems of climate change, energy bills are likely to | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
rise. Who said that? Anyone? The last energy secretary who is still | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
here and he pushed up prices again and again. Everybody wants low | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
prices, but we will get them by dealing with the cause of the low | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
price instead of a gimmick that collapsed after 12 hours. Mr | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
Speaker, he says he wants low prices, but prices are going up on | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
his watch. That is the reality. Can he confirm that while his energy | :39:01. | :39:07. | |
policy, the so-called cheapest tariff policy, benefits almost | :39:07. | :39:14. | |
nobody, a fact he didn't deny, and a 20 month freezing bills would save | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
money for 27 million households and 2.4 million businesses across the | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
country. The problem is that 12 hours later he said he might not be | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
able to keep his promise. It's not a policy, it's a gimmick. And the | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
reason it is a gimmick is it occurs he is in favour of a decarbonisation | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
target that would add £125 of everybody's bail. It is obvious why | :39:36. | :39:38. | |
he wants to talk about the cost of everybody's bail. It is obvious why | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
living, because he hasn't got an economic policy any more. He told us | :39:41. | :39:47. | |
over and over again that if you cut spending, you damage public | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
services. Now even the BBC disagree with that. He told us over and over | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
again that if you cut spending, the economy will not grow. The shadow | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
chancellor says keep going. Let me tell you the best birthday present I | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
could have, the shadow chancellor staying in the shadow cabinet. | :40:04. | :40:16. | |
Mr Speaker, he said something very interesting. He said he did not want | :40:16. | :40:23. | |
to talk about an economic policy, he wants to talk about the cost of | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
living. Now doesn't that say it all? He doesn't realise that an | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
economic policy is about the cost of living and what hundreds of | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
thousands and millions of families are facing in this country. Whatever | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
you say about him, he is true to form. We have a cost of living | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
crisis in this country, energy bills Arkwright -- rising, and he supports | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
the energy companies, not the consumer. We have a Prime Minister | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
who always stands up for the wrong people. Well, we know what is cost | :40:51. | :40:56. | |
of living policy is, more spending, more borrowing, and more debt. That | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
would lead to higher taxes and higher mortgage rates. That is the | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
double whammy that would hit every family in the country. But not only | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
have I got the birthday present of the shadow chancellor staying in | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
post, and incidentally, the birthday present of the Shadow Health | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
Secretary staying in post, I also have this special birthday treat | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
which is the shadow chancellor yesterday revealing their election | :41:20. | :41:32. | |
campaign. He said it all depended on the two of them together because, | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
and I quote, I'm not making this up, they would win because of their | :41:35. | :41:36. | |
and I quote, I'm not making this up, experience and track record and | :41:37. | :41:39. | |
their credibility. I have to say, Mr Speaker, that is like the captain of | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
the Titanic running on his safety record. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | :41:43. | :41:52. | |
Millions of people have chosen to collect their benefits and pension | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
at the post office using a post office current account. This | :41:56. | :41:58. | |
contract is due to expire in 18 months time. It is vital that these | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
people and the future of rural post offices at either the post office | :42:02. | :42:09. | |
continues after 2015, or a similar product. I hope the government -- | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
government insures it does. The Post Office card account has been a great | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
benefit for many people and has not only helped the post offices but | :42:17. | :42:19. | |
particularly older people having access to those accounts and I will | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
look very carefully at what he says. Why is market intervention by the | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
state in mortgage is OK, but market intervention in the energy market is | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
not? We are intervening in the mortgage market because banks are | :42:35. | :42:38. | |
failing to provide mortgages so that young people can get on the housing | :42:39. | :42:48. | |
ladder. We are also intervening by putting everybody on the lowest | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
energy tariff. Not the leader of the opposition cannot control, although | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
he would like to, is international gas prices. He needs a basic lesson | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
in economics and it sounds like the gas prices. He needs a basic lesson | :42:58. | :43:04. | |
honourable gentleman does as well. Industrial chemicals, herbicides and | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
plant food are used in a variety of diet pills which are banned for | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
human use but widely advertised on the Internet for consumption. Does | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
my right honourable friend agree with me that action needs to be | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
urgently taken to prevent the importation of the substances in | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
Capshaw form, where they can only be planned for human consumption -- | :43:23. | :43:29. | |
capsule form. There have been some extremely serious cases of young | :43:29. | :43:31. | |
people in particular suffering from extremely serious cases of young | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
these sorts of medication that you are able to order on the Internet. I | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
will look carefully at what she says about whether there is further | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
legislative or regulatory action that can be taken in order to | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
protect people from substances that might be safe in other circumstances | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
but should not be marketed in this way. Why is the Prime Minister | :43:47. | :43:54. | |
taking away £7 billion a year of support to children until 2015? We | :43:54. | :44:03. | |
are putting in more support for children. We are providing the | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
childcare offer not just for four-year-olds and three-year-olds, | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
but also for two-year-olds. We have introduced for the first time a | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
pupil premium so children from the poorest homes are actually going to | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
get more money following them into school. He shakes his head, but | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
frankly he should sit in shame at the OECD report that came out | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
yesterday that showed that after a lifetime in education under Labour | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
ally young people are bottom of the league in terms of results. That is | :44:31. | :44:37. | |
what he should focus on. It is time the house heard from John Randall. | :44:37. | :44:48. | |
Can I draw my honourable friend 's attention to the recent report by | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
Imperial College about the detrimental health effects of | :44:53. | :44:55. | |
aircraft noise, and could he make detrimental health effects of | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
sure that when the government decide and look at the Davis commission | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
report that health and environmental and look at the Davis commission | :45:04. | :45:15. | |
considerations are paramount? He has not had the chance to speak from the | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
backbenches in the way he just has and I look forward to hearing other | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
contributions from him. He brings a huge amount to the House and | :45:22. | :45:30. | |
environmental law will be included in the report and there will be a | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
speech about the issue soon. Does the Prime Minister think it is | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
acceptable that since he came to office the number of people claiming | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
jobseeker's allowance from more than two years has increased by 390%? | :45:44. | :45:51. | |
What has happened is that the number of workless households has gone down | :45:51. | :45:53. | |
to its lowest level. The number of of workless households has gone down | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
households claiming benefit has gone down. And why we are at it, if she | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
looks at what is happening in the north-west, since the election, | :46:01. | :46:09. | |
18,000 people more in employment, more people employed in the private | :46:09. | :46:15. | |
sector, unemployment has fallen by 7000 since the election in the | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
north-west and workless households down by 26,000. She should be | :46:20. | :46:26. | |
talking up her region. I wonder if the Prime Minister has seen today's | :46:26. | :46:32. | |
BBCi CM report showing that despite reductions in spending, people think | :46:32. | :46:38. | |
that services provided by local government are better. Does this | :46:38. | :46:44. | |
show you can get more for less? When I woke up this morning and heard the | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
BBC was reporting that you can cut public spending and make public | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
services that I thought I had died and gone to happen for a moment. -- | :46:52. | :46:59. | |
want to heaven. It is one of the many pillars of Labour's policy that | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
has collapsed today. The IMF have shown them they were wrong. They pop | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
has collapsed today. The IMF have the public spending cuts would lead | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
to worse services and the BBC have told them that is wrong. That is | :47:12. | :47:20. | |
what has happened today. Labour's childcare guarantee will be great | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
for working parents, so says Boris Johnson. Does the Prime Minister | :47:24. | :47:30. | |
agree? We are helping working parents with childcare and that is | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
what the tax relief on childcare that this government will be | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
introducing the be about. -- will be about. In 2nd January of my | :47:40. | :47:51. | |
constituents -- in January, two of my constituents were killed by a | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
driver who received just over ten years for his crime. People in the | :47:53. | :48:02. | |
area has signed a petition calling for those who drive while | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
disqualified to receive tougher sentences. Does he believe the law | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
should be looked at in this area? On a Mac ever look at the petition and | :48:12. | :48:19. | |
I will like to offer -- I will look at the petition and I offer my | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
condolences to the men's families. Someone with ten previous | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
convictions, disqualified at the time, killing two people, the | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
sentence was ten years and as I understand the maximum available is | :48:32. | :48:38. | |
14 years. The government has introduced legislation, so we are | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
looking at this area. The Justice Secretary has asked the sentencing | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
council to review the sentencing guidelines. We should look at this | :48:48. | :48:54. | |
specific case in the light of that. A family in my constituency owning | :48:54. | :49:05. | |
£18,000 per year are paying 3200 and £76 -- £3276 in energy bills. Why is | :49:05. | :49:16. | |
he siding with energy bosses? I want to see people's Energy Bill is | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
coming down. That is why we are legislating to see people on the | :49:20. | :49:25. | |
lowest tariffs and we are looking at the rules put in place by the Leader | :49:25. | :49:33. | |
of the Opposition when he was energy secretary, and we are looking at the | :49:33. | :49:45. | |
promises that cannot be met. Does the Prime Minister agree with the | :49:45. | :49:48. | |
director-general of the CBI that whether you are a small, medium or | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
large business you have to grow and invest as a business and higher | :49:52. | :49:58. | |
taxes just do not do that? My honourable friend is entirely right. | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
What we heard at Labour's conference was that they were going to put up | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
taxes on some of Britain's biggest and most successful businesses. | :50:06. | :50:12. | |
Labour's message to business is, go somewhere else. They want to fight a | :50:12. | :50:18. | |
petty Socialist campaign against successful business. That is wrong | :50:18. | :50:24. | |
for the economy. Question eight, closed question. My original letter | :50:24. | :50:36. | |
was about economic development. Local growth is a priority and we | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
are helping to create 66,000 jobs with investment specifically in the | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
north-east of £330 million. We do not want to go back to the previous | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
Administration's system, but the local growth Cabinet committee | :50:49. | :50:55. | |
brings together the secretaries of state from the key departments. Is | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
he aware that the Department of Health are consulting on changing | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
the funding formula for health care in the north-east and Cumbria | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
because the effect of taking £230 million out of the health care | :51:08. | :51:16. | |
budget for the region, who stands up for the North of England? The whole | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
government stands up for the north-east of England. If you want | :51:19. | :51:27. | |
news, you have got Hitachi building a trade that, Nissan expanding in | :51:27. | :51:34. | |
sunny land, -- Sunderland, there is plenty of expansion. Demi answer his | :51:34. | :51:42. | |
question. This year's funding is going up for £170 million, a 2.3% | :51:42. | :51:51. | |
increase. Under the Labour plans, health spending would be cut. The | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
Shadow Health Secretary, the man they have decided to keep in the | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
Shadow Cabinet, has said that increasing health spending is | :52:00. | :52:05. | |
irresponsible. We do not agree with that and that is why we are spending | :52:05. | :52:16. | |
more money. Can I congratulate the government on ending the unfairness | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
in free school meals? By the Prime Minister look to ending similar | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
unfairness or six form -- were sixth form colleges have to pay VAT but | :52:25. | :52:33. | |
schools or academies with six forms do not. I think it is good we will | :52:33. | :52:35. | |
schools or academies with six forms have the same system. I think it is | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
good that children in infants school will not be having to pay for school | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
meals as well. I will look carefully at his VAT point. The Prime Minister | :52:47. | :52:57. | |
will know from his script that I am an extremely proud member of a trade | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
union movement which seeks to stand up for workers, who is living | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
standards have been reduced under his watch. What personal sacrifice | :53:05. | :53:11. | |
him and his family -- have he and his family had to make in these | :53:11. | :53:17. | |
times? I am glad that he stands up as a trade unionist. Just as I | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
welcome the reshuffle I am sure he is delighted with it. Probably they | :53:22. | :53:30. | |
would not call it a reshuffle, but rather a purge. He asked for the | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
Blairites to be purged and they have gone. It has been difficult because | :53:34. | :53:41. | |
of the appalling deficit and that his party left in government. In my | :53:41. | :53:50. | |
constituency there is a school that his party left in government. In my | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
is at threat of being closed down by the county council. I have spoken to | :53:54. | :54:00. | |
the Education Secretary and it has been generic over four years. With | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
the Prime Minister assure me that his office will look into fair play | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
in this subject, given that the county council education portfolio | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
holder has said that in his opinion the school should close, but the | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
first part of the consultation has only just been completed a few | :54:16. | :54:22. | |
months ago. I will look at the case but under our education reforms | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
there is greater opportunities for schools to gain their independence | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
and for new schools to establish themselves. I hope he will look at | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
and for new schools to establish the structural changes we made to | :54:32. | :54:35. | |
education, because they may help in this case. Under this government, | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
the cost of childcare is rocketing while wages have stagnated. Families | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
are facing nursery costs rising fast than wages -- faster than wages. | :54:46. | :54:54. | |
When is he going to extend free nursery provision to 25 hours? We | :54:54. | :54:59. | |
have extended the hours that people get when they have four-year-olds, | :54:59. | :55:05. | |
when they have three roads, and for the first time introduced childcare | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
assistance when they have two-year-olds. We are also | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
introducing proper tax relief on childcare so that people who work | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
hard and do the right thing can get help. I hope when it comes to vote, | :55:18. | :55:24. | |
the party opposite will support us. One month ago I installed call | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
blocking technology in a partially deaf constituent's home. In the last | :55:28. | :55:34. | |
month, 65% of the calls Mrs Moffat received have been using -- nuisance | :55:34. | :55:42. | |
calls. Can my right honourable friend commits the government to | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
doing all it can to remove this menace, including making telephone | :55:47. | :55:55. | |
companies responsible for treating these calls? I am sure he advised | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
his constituent about the Telephone preference service? It is a bane in | :56:00. | :56:06. | |
some people's lives. I am sure we can look further at what else can be | :56:06. | :56:12. | |
done. On reflection, does the Prime Minister agree that allowing greater | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
time for greater diplomatic discussions to take place over Syria | :56:16. | :56:23. | |
was preferable to rushing in and bombing a country? The fact that | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
America was so clear that it would take action was what brought about a | :56:26. | :56:31. | |
change of heart on behalf of the Syrian government and that is the | :56:31. | :56:38. | |
lesson we should learn. One of the biggest factors for many young | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
people's budgets is the cost of their mortgage. Can the Prime | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
Minister tell us what will be the effect on mortgage rates if the | :56:46. | :56:48. | |
government were to increase borrowing by 27.9 billion as the | :56:48. | :56:55. | |
opposition have called for since promising iron discipline? One of | :56:55. | :57:02. | |
the most important aspects of people's bills is the mortgage | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
payments they have to make and the Shadow Chancellor is shouting it is | :57:05. | :57:09. | |
not true, but he is committed to increasing borrowing and if you | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
borrow more you risk interest rates and mortgage rates going up. | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
Families across the country understand that and understand you | :57:16. | :57:22. | |
only get to grips with the cost of living and living standards if you | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
have a proper economic plan for getting the deficit down, getting | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
growth and cutting taxes. That is what this committee is doing. My | :57:30. | :57:38. | |
constituent was brutally murdered and his girlfriend gang raped whilst | :57:38. | :57:43. | |
on holiday in Sri Lanka two years ago. Justice continues to be denied | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
on holiday in Sri Lanka two years and the key suspect is a close ally | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
of the Sri Lankan president. Is the Prime Minister, double meeting the | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
President at the Commonwealth heads of government summit next month, and | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
what will he say to him? I think it is right for the British Prime | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
Minister to go to the Commonwealth conference, because we are big | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
believers in the Commonwealth at making that organisation work for | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
us. It is right in going to the Commonwealth conference, we should | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
not hold back in being clear about those aspects of human rights record | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
in July, we are not happy with. If gives me the retail, I will make | :58:21. | :58:29. | |
sure those points are properly made. You cannot make those points if you | :58:29. | :58:35. | |
do not go. Will the Prime Minister welcome the scrap metal dealers act | :58:35. | :58:41. | |
which came into force last week? It has got the support of the Church, | :58:41. | :58:45. | |
extra taxes will boost Treasury revenues and it will make the trains | :58:45. | :58:51. | |
run on time. Can he say that about any other piece of legislation? Can | :58:51. | :58:58. | |
I say to the honourable gentleman what pleasure it gives me today to | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
refer to him as my right honourable friend. I welcome the effect of the | :59:03. | :59:09. | |
Scrap Metal Bill, which brings revenue to the Treasury. It also | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
helps deal with this crime, particularly because of the price of | :59:15. | :59:22. | |
metals. I know this will help make sure that lead is not stolen from | :59:22. | :59:30. | |
churches again. 83% of the beneficiaries of the government's | :59:30. | :59:34. | |
proposed marriage tax break will be men. Just 17% will be women. Why | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
does the Prime Minister have such a blind spot when it comes to women? I | :59:39. | :59:45. | |
think it is worth supporting marriage through the income tax | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
system. Let me make this challenge to the party opposite - in | :59:49. | :59:54. | |
government, they gave a marriage tax break through the inheritance tax | :59:54. | :59:59. | |
system. They get a married tax break to the rich. I want to give it to | :59:59. | :00:10. | |
everybody. Does the Prime Minister believes that when the European | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
Union forces my constituents to buy 20 cigarettes at a time rather than | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
their current ten it will reduce the number they smoke? It does not, on | :00:18. | :00:25. | |
the face of it, sounds sensible. I was not aware of this issue. Let me | :00:25. | :00:33. | |
get back to him. Why has he told members of his party behind closed | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
doors that forcing through same-sex marriage legislation was a turbo | :00:37. | :00:44. | |
mistake? I have not and I am proud that we passed same-sex marriage in | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
this parliament and proud of the road I played in bringing it | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
forward. I think marriage is a wonderful thing and that goes | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
whether you are a man and a woman or a man and a man or a woman and a | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
woman. It makes the country fairer and I hope that is clear. With even | :01:00. | :01:11. | |
Boris Johnson admitting that his Thames Estuary airport plan has no | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
support, does the Prime Minister welcome Sir Howard Davies's | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
statement that some plans will not even past first base | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
environmentally? I do not want in any way to interfere with what | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
Howard Davies is doing. He is the right person to carry out this | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
report. It is important we try and build cross-party consensus on the | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
basis that it is a therapy process and so that all parties will be able | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
to endorse it when the conclusions and so that all parties will be able | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
come out. Order. The first prime ministers questions | :01:40. | :01:55. | |
and is the end of the conference season. The freezing energy prices | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
dominated the conference and it dominated questions again today. | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
That is what the argument was about, back and forth between the front | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
benches. We will argue the toss over the substance of the policy and also | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
the politics in a minute. First let's hear what you thought of the | :02:11. | :02:18. | |
questions. Lots of e-mails, almost all about cost of living and the | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
debate on energy. Diane says it was a commanding return for Ed Miliband | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
who won hands down on a specific issue, the energy price freeze. | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
Popular and very welcome for millions of households. Ray Newton | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
says we will pay more for the energy as between now and the next election | :02:36. | :02:45. | |
as they increase prices to prevent a possible future retail price | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
freeze. Jacqueline says it sounds like neither the Labour Party or the | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
Tories have a clue on how to rein in the vast profit making machines | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
known as energy companies. Both are rich and not to care about the bills | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
like the rest of this. John in Leeds says David Cameron wants to talk | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
about everybody's policies but their own, and Ed Miliband wants to talk | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
about anything but Labour's past polities. The energy companies would | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
do well to generate the hot air in the palaces of Westminster 's every | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
Wednesday. It's interesting that in the debate they are moving away from | :03:19. | :03:27. | |
the macroeconomic matters, growth figures, inflation, employment, to a | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
language where they are trying to get ordinary households to engage, | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
talking about things that matter, energy prices, rail prices. This | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
will be the nature of the debate between now and Christmas, I would | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
suggest. It's the nature of the debate Ed Miliband wants to have. I | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
don't think it's the nature of the debate David Cameron wants to have. | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
We saw some of the uncertainty in the response from David Cameron. | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
Sometimes the energy price freeze was a Marxist plot, sometimes it was | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
a gimmick, sometimes it was something he wanted to match. We are | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
sure that the Conservatives will have their own offer, but that is | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
because the Conservative position is uncertain. They have do have some | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
retail offers to match this kind of thing, and it is a concern to the | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
electorate and they want those votes may have to do something. But | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
equally, David Cameron does not want this to be the debate at the | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
election. He does not want it to be about which is the best party to | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
help people now the cost of living. He wanted to be about the economy | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
and the future, almost a question of timing about who has the best for | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
the future. You saw some attempt by the Prime Minister to say the real | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
debate was about the economy not the cost of living, but quite an | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
undeveloped argument. We saw some of the flaws in Ed Miliband's position, | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
that David Cameron pointed out with his own record in government as | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
energy secretary, but also the inconsistency with the | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
decarbonisation plans. A mixed message I think is what we got. | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
Damian Green, the Prime Minister said he was intervening in the | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
mortgage market because the mortgage market was functioning properly. | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
Does that mean the energy market is functioning properly? He said he was | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
intervening in the mortgage market because it wasn't functioning | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
properly particularly for young, first-time buyers. We understand | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
that. So does he think the energy market is functioning? He also said | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
he had intervened in the energy market with the move to put people | :05:22. | :05:29. | |
on lower tariffs. Which won't affect 90% of those who pay bills. It | :05:29. | :05:35. | |
depends on what you are paying now. If everybody is on the lowest | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
tariff, it's not the lowest tariff, it's the only tariff. And how will | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
you therefore know if it is the lowest? Markets will operate. We | :05:44. | :05:51. | |
know that the energy market is at least as dysfunctional as the | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
mortgage market. So why is it wrong to say that we can take a price | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
freeze, and interregnum price freeze, not forever, while we get | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
the market to function properly? What's wrong with that? You have to | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
distinguish between the issue and the Labour policy. The Prime | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
Minister said there was resident in the issue, but not the particular | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
policy. As already discussed, the idea at a time specific price | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
freeze, we know from way back in the 1970s when the government used to | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
try it, it doesn't work. You get spikes either side. It is peculiarly | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
inappropriate in this instance because the British government does | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
not control the world price of oil. In the 1970s Roy Hattersley was | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
sitting in the office down the right in thinking he could control the | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
price of sugar and bread. That is not what the Labour Party are | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
proposing. Labour is proposing an energy market that is widely | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
regarded as dysfunctional, and we need to sort it out, and while we | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
sort it out, over 20 months, we will freeze the price. Your version of | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
the Labour policy would be more coherent than anything Ed Miliband | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
said. He did not say he would sort the energy market out. He has. He | :07:04. | :07:11. | |
has got form. As energy secretary, he did lots of things to put prices | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
up, so it will be interesting to know which of his previous act as | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
energy secretary he is prepared to disavow. Did I describe your party | :07:19. | :07:26. | |
policy wrongly? You must have read the same script is me this morning. | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
We don't believe that about the BBC, I'll say that out loud. Tony Blair | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
and Gordon Brown said they would have a windfall on utilities, and | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
these guys said they would hike up the prices, go overseas, there will | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
these guys said they would hike up be chaos, and it didn't happen. We | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
used the windfall tax to have the new Deal which had young people | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
getting jobs. In the 20 months it takes to have a new regulator with | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
teeth to have the six energy companies who control 97% of the | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
energy for households and businesses, while we have a | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
situation where they can group their energy into one common pool which | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
situation where they can group their can be given out to households and | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
businesses, then we can separate it out and for 20 months we would have | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
a freeze on energy prices. Your government wanted to regulate the | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
price of alcohol, because of abuse, they announced today that they want | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
to regulate the price on the train operating companies who are charging | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
obscene amounts. And they want to regulate matters with mortgage | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
companies. So it is possible when there is a market system that is not | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
functioning, that is not working properly, for us to step in and sort | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
it out. Damian Green? I think the training sample is interesting. | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
Clearly train companies have monopoly franchises, and because of | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
their particular power than the government can and does regulate | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
that. The simple practical point, not even an economic point, is that | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
the British government does not control the price of oil and gas. | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
They are internationally set. So what do you do? Why have energy | :09:05. | :09:12. | |
companies after Ed Miliband's Beach, a couple of them, volunteered to | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
freeze their prices. They were already in place. They had this low | :09:16. | :09:24. | |
tariff coming. It's only the new customers. It goes to Damian's point | :09:24. | :09:33. | |
that you can freeze prices. Energy prices have been rising everywhere | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
because of the increased demand for natural gas as our own natural gas | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
has been running out, and there has been a huge demand across the | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
world, and that has pushed up energy prices. But at the same time, you, | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
both of you, have done more to push up prices by pricing the climate | :09:50. | :09:58. | |
change act in 2008 under David -- Ed Miliband, supported by the | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
Conservatives, so I don't understand why the premise that -- by Minister | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
is ganging up on him because he voted for it as well. That was at a | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
time of rising energy prices and it has added another £112 to the | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
average household bill. So you are both guilty, I would suggest. We | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
have a decarbonising strategy that will reduce the carbon from fuel by | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
2013. These guys don't want to do it. The jewel adding to the bill in | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
the process. We are talking about the current cost of living crisis. | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
It is a separate issue about reducing the carbon in the fuel. | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
Will here is what you can do. At the moment, on your green taxes, you are | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
making the average household pay, moment, on your green taxes, you are | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
and it did happen under you, because moment, on your green taxes, you are | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
there was Westminster consensus, you are making people on average incomes | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
pay for the electricity subsidies to poorer people because there is part | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
of the green tax is a subsidy to poorer people, so if you really want | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
to do it, pay it out of general taxation which would be more | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
progressive and poorer people's bills would not be so high? It is a | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
combination of taxation and bills would not be so high? It is a | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
individuals having a slight price increase. That is why we said we | :11:16. | :11:24. | |
would sort it out with a bill from 2015 until the beginning of 2017 to | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
sort out the prices people are paying. Hold on a minute. First of | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
all you want to introduce a tougher carbon target than this government, | :11:32. | :11:38. | |
and at the same time you will cut the green taxes? We want to | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
and at the same time you will cut decarbonise by 2013. In the short | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
term, we will bring the bills down by 2017 and we will have a regulator | :11:46. | :11:55. | |
that will be brought in with teeth between 2015 and 2017. At the same | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
time we will sort out the market. But you cannot have a tougher green | :11:58. | :12:06. | |
target and say you are going to cut the green subsidies in the | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
electricity bills. We are though. Since 2009, to give you an example, | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
the amount of money the energy company -- companies have invested | :12:16. | :12:23. | |
in clean energy to 2.9 billion. They are not investing. If they invested | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
in clean energy that is one way the bill can come down. That is an | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
example of holding the energy companies to runs -- ransom. But | :12:30. | :12:38. | |
it's not the same as a price freeze. The company making the biggest | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
profit has invested the lease. The idea that profit leads to investment | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
is not true. -- invested the least. James, you looked puzzled. At some | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
point in the next few months it is clear that the government will | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
promise to reduce energy taxes. At some point that is going to happen. | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
There will be a coalition row over it, but they will achieve it at some | :13:00. | :13:06. | |
point. Would Labour match that? We would have to wait and see. You just | :13:06. | :13:13. | |
said you would. The point is this, you have a situation in the last | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
four years while you guys have been in power, the average household bill | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
has gone up by £300 per year for families and for businesses £1800 | :13:20. | :13:26. | |
per year. We would say we would freeze it from 2015 to 2017 and in | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
that period we would have a regulator with teeth and pass a bill | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
to sort out the energy companies. But if you were to reduce green | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
taxes you can do it in a way that distorts the market less because you | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
would not be imposing prices on individual companies. We are | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
committed to having clean energy. We are going to take out the carbon | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
from the energy. You are committed to the green taxes. We are committed | :13:52. | :13:59. | |
to the realistic target. Why would companies invest during a price | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
freeze when they are by your own standard not investing in the way | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
you suggest for clean energy? We were told that companies would leave | :14:07. | :14:14. | |
because of the windfall tax. We were told before 1997 that having the | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
minimum wage would lead to companies going down. None of these | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
scaremongers stories bore fruit. But there have been huge under | :14:25. | :14:32. | |
investment in energy for over 20 years in this country. It has been | :14:32. | :14:41. | |
bad in the both of you. We have not invested in new gas plans. There is | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
no investment going on. That is why we need a fundamental change. You | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
guys are in consensus and do nothing but sit on your hands. Is the | :14:50. | :14:56. | |
Chancellor, because we know James is right, we know what he wants to do, | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
he wants to shoot their fox by saying they will take the green cap | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
taxes away and the bill will fall. It won't just be frozen, it will | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
fall. Can he get them to agree to that? I am sure the Chancellor is | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
persuasive but I should not make his announcement is persuasive but I | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
should not make his announcements for him. | :15:15. | :15:25. | |
Tony Blair called himself a naive, foolish nincompoop for introducing | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
the Freedom of Information Act 13 years ago. He thought the act, which | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
provides access to information held by public authorities, could stop | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
discussion of sensitive issues. Some say it is time Freedom of | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
Information went further and applied to private companies who provide | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
public services. We hear why in this week's Soapbox. | :15:48. | :16:04. | |
I am the Cabinet member for finance in the London Borough of Camden and | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
like all public services across the country we are having to make cuts | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
because of storage. Here in Camden we spend over £400 million buying | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
goods and services from outside the public sector. My fear is that this | :16:22. | :16:28. | |
complex web of private contracts will reduce accountability because | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
it will be less transparent to the taxpayer how this money is spent. | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
This could increase waste and the chances that the taxpayer gets | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
ripped off. Despite delivering millions of pounds worth of public | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
service contracts, and sourcing companies get to dock the public | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
scrutiny we expect, all because private companies are not covered by | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
Freedom of Information. The Freedom of Information Act allows citizens | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
to ask public bodies like the council about any information they | :17:01. | :17:08. | |
hold on any subject. But the Freedom of Information Act only applies to | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
government and not the new generation of private companies | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
delivering public services and that is a big problem. So, it is vital | :17:14. | :17:34. | |
that the Freedom of Information Act is a big problem. So, it is vital | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
is updated to include any funded by the taxpayer, whether it is a | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
private firm, public sector body or a voluntary organisation. Openness | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
is a fundamental safeguard for the taxpayer, especially when every | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
pound has to work as hard as it can. That is why it is time for the | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
private sector to work by public sector rules if they want our | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
contracts. Theo Blackwell joins us now. | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
Is the biggest problem when it comes to scrutinising outsourced companies | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
providing services, particularly if you are a council? There is not a | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
level playing field at the moment between the council, the NHS and | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
level playing field at the moment private providers. What we are | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
asking for is some safeguards. In 2015, there are going to be a large | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
number of cuts to public sector organisations. Camden are visiting | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
between 60 and £70 million. There are changes to the NHS which involve | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
private sector companies. All of these will ask private sector -- | :18:32. | :18:40. | |
questions about the relationship and information on citizens can access. | :18:40. | :18:50. | |
The government say they have not done that because information pics | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
closure -- this clover should -- disclosure should be part of their | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
contracts, and it is not. public bodies will be working with each | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
other and we do not want a piecemeal way of dealing with it. We want a | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
standard across the country. In the United States there are clear rules | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
across Freedom of Information and safeguards encouraging | :19:14. | :19:22. | |
whistle-blowing by the public. They get a return in the United States. | :19:22. | :19:29. | |
Why shouldn't private companies, under the same scrutiny? The just a | :19:29. | :19:39. | |
select committee and the Gulf might have looked at it. Everyone agrees | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
that when you look at it, that bit up to be under scrutiny. We have | :19:45. | :19:54. | |
just taken through legislation with the Independent Police Complaints | :19:54. | :20:00. | |
Commission that when companies like G4S are providing police services, | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
they can be investigated by the IPCC. This is different because the | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
contracts signed by the public sector should ensure that the | :20:09. | :20:15. | |
provider provides the information so that the public sector body can be | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
problem held to account. But they that the public sector body can be | :20:17. | :20:25. | |
are not. They should be. The Ministry of Justice said it was | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
overcharged by G4S and circle. The case has been looked at by the | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
Serious Fraud Office but clearly they cannot scrutinise in the way | :20:33. | :20:48. | |
that you say they should. I think the Freedom of Information Act | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
should be extended. I can get information about restraint | :20:53. | :21:01. | |
policies. The private companies will give us manuals, but the public | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
companies will not even know they are doing a public job. Why should | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
some rules apply to them but not these guys. Some of the health | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
service, education, councils, justice, the Home Office is being | :21:16. | :21:26. | |
privatised. As normal citizens need access to no higher taxes are being | :21:26. | :21:34. | |
spent. There needs to be distinction between private work and work for | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
the public sector. We need to know that the public sector work can be | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
brought under question with Freedom of Information. I tried that and it | :21:45. | :21:52. | |
did not work. You could not get the information? That is what needs to | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
be thought about. There is a question about the use of that. | :21:58. | :22:05. | |
Private sector companies will be creating profits from this | :22:05. | :22:14. | |
information. You cannot request information on a private prison but | :22:14. | :22:23. | |
you can on a public one. What has that got to do with legislation? The | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
next Labour Justice Secretary will bring in this act. Please be patient | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
X Mac -- please be patient -- please be patient. Could this be | :22:34. | :22:53. | |
terror the private sector -- geek are the private sector from bidding | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
for public contracts? The private sector seems to have a culture that | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
reflects public service. There is no point in doing something on the | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
cheap if we find out that fraud or waste or ripping off customers | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
happens five years down the line. Hold the front page! Politicians and | :23:14. | :23:23. | |
journalists disagree. Oh, yes, big news. This time, the matter of | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
Britain's free press and how it should be neglected. The Culture | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
Secretary confirmed the government had rejected the present history's | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
plans for regulation designed to toughen up what they do at the | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
moment. The Privy Council meets today to discuss which Royal Charter | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
will win out in this battle. It is very, graded. The scent has already | :23:46. | :23:53. | |
begun, with the newspapers promising they will go to judicial review, | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
even Europe, if the government proceeds in the way it plans. | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
You cannot have a voluntary system where volunteers do not want to | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
volunteer. So, you won't? I think there is the possibility of a | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
judicial review. We could go and see there is the possibility of a | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
what Europe has to say. The idea that papers will roll over and do | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
something that they really passionately do not believe in is | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
unlikely. I would hope that we do not. | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
What do you do if you go ahead with this statutory regulation and no one | :24:32. | :24:40. | |
turns up? It is a Royal Charter, that is different. If it is the law | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
of the land, Royal Charter, in the end one assumes respectable people | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
obey the law. That is not what Roger Alton is saying and he is from The | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
Times. It feels like we are in a negotiation phase. What the editors | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
want to do is use the Human Rights Act to judicially review this and | :25:05. | :25:14. | |
then possibly go to the court of human rights, but others want to | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
abolish the Human Rights Act. But on human rights, but others want to | :25:17. | :25:26. | |
the issue itself, has the judiciary had legal advice on whether its | :25:26. | :25:34. | |
policy, which is to broadly support the statutory Royal Charter, is | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
their legal advice that it would pass muster? It is independent | :25:38. | :25:47. | |
regulation. Have you had legal advice? I am not privy to the advice | :25:47. | :25:53. | |
any party might have had but we are trying to reach a cross-party | :25:53. | :26:00. | |
consensus by this Friday. There is a Westminster consensus. What Maria | :26:00. | :26:07. | |
Miller and Harriet Harman said yesterday was that they have got to | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
try and reach consensus on Friday. I cannot give a running commentary. | :26:11. | :26:20. | |
Let me come to you, has the government taken legal advice that | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
what it proposes would stand judicial review and the European | :26:24. | :26:32. | |
Court in Strasbourg? Is there the right to a free press in the | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
European articles? We have not got to the stage of proposals. Table are | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
wondering why it is taking so long. Maria Miller was saying that there | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
are still negotiations between parties. Article ten of the Human | :26:47. | :26:54. | |
Rights Act, freedom of expression, the mischief the police are worried | :26:54. | :27:01. | |
about is paying exam through damage. It would not be in breach of Article | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
ten because a balancing exercise says freedom of expression trumps | :27:06. | :27:13. | |
privacy. That is not the legal advice that the papers have. One of | :27:13. | :27:20. | |
the leading QCs in the country says, by supporting Parliament's | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
Royal Charter for press regulation to be agreed by the Privy Council, | :27:24. | :27:33. | |
my party is turning its back on a genuinely free press. What is the | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
biggest complaint? That we cannot agree on anything. There is a | :27:38. | :27:43. | |
situation where the three leaders have agreed on the Royal Charter. | :27:43. | :27:50. | |
You journalists are not happy. I know you agree on that. We are | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
trying to find out, what do you do if the press say they will not play | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
with it and they will fight it all the way to Strasbourg? In my view, | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
they are not one homogenous group. There are differences of opinion and | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
I hope by this Friday we will have an agreement. You seldom get the | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
most enlightening part of a public debate in the last few days before | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
agreement is reached. Of course, you all agreed we should invade Iraq as | :28:21. | :28:29. | |
well! Let's give you the answer. The year was 1992. Press your red | :28:29. | :28:36. | |
button. The winner is... | :28:36. | :28:45. | |
Thank you for being with us today. I hope you enjoyed it. The one o'clock | :28:45. | :28:53. | |
News is starting on BBC One. We are back tomorrow at noon with the Daily | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
Politics. The clue is in the name. | :28:57. | :29:01. |