Browse content similar to 29/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Britain is to take | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
in several hundred of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees, but with | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
more than two million having fled the country is it any more than a | :00:44. | :00:55. | |
token gesture? Some Conservative MPs don't think the Government's | :00:56. | :00:57. | |
Immigration Bill is tough enough. Can a deal be done to avoid a defeat | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
in the Commons tomorrow? Labour has got its 50p tax rate, the Lib Dems | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
favour a mansion tax. Is hitting the rich an election-winning formula? It | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
is all smiles as the Governor of the Bank of England meets Alex Salmond. | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
But will the First Minister still be smiling when he's heard the | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
Governor's speech this afternoon, addressing the independence issue? | :01:17. | :01:27. | |
All that in the next 90 minutes of the very finest public service | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
broadcasting. And with us for the duration today Shadow Public Health | :01:34. | :01:35. | |
Minister Luciana Berger and Conservative Party Chairman Grant | :01:36. | :01:43. | |
Shapps. Welcome to both of you. Any truth in the rumours that Lynton | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
Crosby is not very impressed with you and you'll be replaced by Esther | :01:47. | :01:53. | |
McVey before the general election? No truth whatsoever. We get on | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
really well. He said, just remind us, when did we ever have a cross | :02:01. | :02:08. | |
word? So, you will be party chairman. That is not up to me but | :02:09. | :02:19. | |
no plans. As usual, we are bringing new Prime Minister 's questions at | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
noon. Now, we're expecting a statement from the Home Secretary, | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
Theresa May, immediately after Prime Minister's Questions. She'll have | :02:29. | :02:30. | |
details of that decision to allow Syrian refugees in. And we'll bring | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
you that later in the programme. First this morning though the Prime | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
Minister was holding talks with his backbenchers last night to resolve | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
an impending revolt over the Government's Immigration Bill | :02:41. | :02:42. | |
tomorrow. As many as 100 many conservative MPs do not think the | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
bill is tough enough and are threatening to amend the bill. The | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
Conservative MP Dominic Raab has tabled his own amendment and joins | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
me now from Central Lobby. What do you want to see changed? It is a | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
very practical unfocused amendment. I want to deal with the hundreds of | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
cases each year, where claiming spurious rights to family life and | :03:09. | :03:17. | |
other social ties, we have serious criminals flouting and scuppering | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
deportation orders. If we do that, we could strengthen a decent bill | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
and show the public we are dealing with a problem we have been | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
grappling with for several years. The bill does make it easier for | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
foreign criminals to be deported. As you say, you'd think the bill is | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
reasonable. If you carry on along this line, it could scupper the | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
whole thing. It will take five minutes to have a debate on this, | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
preferably more. It is one amendment, voting for it or against | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
it. I would not vote against it because my amendment did not pass. | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
As for the existing clauses, they are a step in the right direction. | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
They are a balancing act for the judges. They will almost certainly | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
be dumbed down. Let's not just talk about the problem, let's deal with | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
it precisely. Mine is a modest, focused amendment and I hope it is | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
acceptable. Have you had discussions with ministers? Is their sympathy | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
for you strengthening of the amendment? I am not going to brief | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
on air my ongoing discussions because it is not a professional | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
thing to do. Over the last three years, I have had a range of | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
consultations. Ministers have been great, including the Home Secretary | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
and officials. My complaint is not lack of consultation. There are a | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
number of objections and I have tried to deal with them. I think we | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
have seen some of the objections fall away. It has been well covered | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
in the press today the concerns that Strasbourg may have issued an | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
amendment against this. I am trying to get this practical and value | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
adding measured through to strengthen what is a decent bill to | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
deal with this problem. The public wants us to tackle issues and not | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
just talk about them. It sounds in your professional way that a | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
compromise is on the cards. You sound confident and optimistic that | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
there will be some give here. There is many a slip between a cup and a | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
lip. There is cross-party support and it is the most popular | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
amendment. Senior Labour people back it as well. I am not going to sort | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
of bob and weave. That is the deal on the table. It is an amendment and | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
it is relatively short. I have catered for all the concerns and | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
thought through the legalities and concerns. Remind me of that Billy | :06:00. | :06:07. | |
the kid phrase? There is many a slip between the cup and the lip. Dominic | :06:08. | :06:20. | |
Raab writes in the Daily Mail today, I have tabled a clear and robust | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
amendment about the deportation of foreign criminals jailed for a year | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
or more, unless they face a risk of being tortured or murdered on | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
return. What is wrong with that? The bill achieved a lot of what, as | :06:36. | :06:47. | |
Dominic was saying, helps matters. What is wrong with the phrase? The | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
point about the bill as it stands committed to make it easier to | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
deport foreign criminals it will build on the work which is to cut | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
nearly a third of net immigration in the country. Doing a lot of the | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
right things. Will you accept the amendment or not? It is an | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
independent amendment. I would not have to ask if it was going to be | :07:16. | :07:27. | |
accepted or not. It is a government Bill. Let me try one more time will | :07:28. | :07:37. | |
stop will you will you not accept the amendment? The bill as it | :07:38. | :07:50. | |
stands... I'm answering your question. This is as we want it. | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
Will Labour vote for it? The likelihood of us reaching the | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
Dominic Raab amendment tomorrow is unlikely. The Government has | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
dedicated just four hours to the report stage. The Government has | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
tabled 52 amendments. Dominic Raab tabled his amendment very late. If | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
it were earlier, we might have a different conversation. You mean, I | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
have just wasted my time. Unfortunately... If we do reach this | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
amendment for a vote, how will Labour vote? I have concerns. The | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
issue with this amendment as it is written means we | :08:32. | :09:38. | |
Opportunities for us to vote on this tomorrow. I don't think you are | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
right to tear up the human rights act. Article eight spells out there | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
is a right to a family life and that is where a number of foreign | :09:51. | :09:52. | |
criminals have not been deported because the courts have lent over | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
backwards in many cases to rule in favour of a right to family life. | :09:58. | :10:04. | |
But Article eight says that can be overruled when necessary for | :10:05. | :10:06. | |
national security, public safety, preventing disorder, crime or to | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
protect others. Unlike you cannot send people back to be tortured on | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
which there are no exemptions. This amendment simply requires judges to | :10:19. | :10:26. | |
approve the deportation of foreign criminals who have been jailed for | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
more than a year unless they face the risk of being tortured or | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
murdered. Why does that fly in the face of Article eight? My | :10:33. | :10:41. | |
understanding of it is, I can only go on... Do you agree now your | :10:42. | :10:49. | |
understanding is wrong? We have looked at this issue and it is our | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
interpretation that it does fly in the face of the human rights act. I | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
would not want anything to compromise that. That is the issue | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
with this amendment tomorrow. The criminals pleading to a right to | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
family life in the UK is accounting for 98 ascent of successful appeals. | :11:07. | :11:13. | |
We had this crazy situation a couple of years back to dispute whether the | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
cat was the reason they should not be deported. Theresa May got into | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
hot water over that. But the fact we are having to have this discussion | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
shows the balance has gone wrong. What this bill already does, as you | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
suggested, it tightens up the whole different set of criteria in order | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
to make it easier to deport people. This government has had a lot of | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
success in getting rid of people who have been in this country for too | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
long who should not have been here. Sometimes with a terrorist | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
background and it should be easier to deport them. We have a good track | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
record on this. It turns out that far from flat-lining, the economy | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
grew by almost 2% last year. This year is expected to reach the dizzy | :12:04. | :12:15. | |
heights of 2.4%. We are starting to the financial crisis behind us but | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
is there an appetite to make the wealthy difference to Labour and the | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
Lib Dems think so. The Conservatives not so much. | :12:25. | :12:34. | |
Tax rates became the latest political tussle after Shadow | :12:35. | :12:36. | |
Chancellor, Ed Balls, announced a new target for Labour on the weekend | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
- Britain's biggest earners. He whacked the rich with a promise to | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
raise income tax on earnings above ?150,000 to 50%. Boss class cried | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
out Labour's attitude was "if it creates wealth, let's kick it" - | :12:47. | :12:48. | |
complained former Trade Minister, Lord Jones. That may not deter the | :12:49. | :12:59. | |
Lib Dems though. They're willing to wring billions from the really rich | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
with a mansion tax on properties over ?2million and a 20% cut to the | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
lifetime tax-free limit on pension contributions to just ?1million. All | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
measures approved at their party conference last year. The | :13:09. | :13:10. | |
Conservatives however, don't think it pays to take too much from top | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
earners. David Cameron has ruled out a mansion tax saying it's not right | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
if you want to reward saving and people who work hard and do the | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
right thing. Whilst Boris wants them to brood on bringing down the top | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
tax rate to a beneficent 40% which George Osborne has not yet ruled | :13:26. | :13:50. | |
out. Basically, you could only go into coalition with Labour on that | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
basis. What is right is to say we should be asking people who do have | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
large amounts of wealth to be able to contribute more. That has to be | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
the right thing to do. I would like to see more people moved out of | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
income tax at the bottom end. The Lib Dem policy has been very | :14:11. | :14:12. | |
successful and saved a lot of money. We would like to go further | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
and match that to the national minimum wage. Nobody on the national | :14:16. | :14:22. | |
minimum wage has to pay income tax. It seems right it is the people with | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
the most money, with large amounts of wealth, who contribute to that. | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
That is up to you. You want a mansion tax on homes of more than 2 | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
million and tax relief to be cut back on pensions. You want capital | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
gains tax to rise on income tax. You want to keep the 45p tax rate. I do | :14:45. | :14:51. | |
not think it would rule out going to 50. -- you would rule out. All of | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
these things you are more likely to get from Labour than the | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
Conservatives. What with the Tories agreed to? Let me ask him. We have | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
the chairman of the Conservative party here. The only question we | :15:08. | :15:17. | |
should be asking ourselves is, do we want to grow the economy and what | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
help the poorest people the most? The answer is getting jobs and | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
making sure people keep more of the money they earn. If by taking any of | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
these steps it means there are fewer jobs in the economy and it means | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
taxes are raised and employment levels are depressed as a result, it | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
is the wrong thing to do. I do not think mansion tax makes sense. I am | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
trying to find out where you are. You are against 50p as well. You can | :15:48. | :15:57. | |
jack up taxes and export all of the expertise and wealth creators to | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
another country. You would like a mansion tax? If I could come back to | :16:04. | :16:11. | |
a point, if I could. Thank you very much. We hear from the Lib Dems and | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
the Tories about how they would increase the income tax threshold. | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
We have asked the people on lowest and middle incomes to pay the most. | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
The average household is actually seeing a net reduction of ?891 | :16:31. | :16:40. | |
because of tax changes. You want a mansion tax? What we need to be | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
looking at is an introduction of the 50p tax. You want a mansion tax? | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
Yellow marker that is what we are looking at. Just looking at? It is | :16:54. | :17:01. | |
your policy to have a mansion tax. As we heard from Ed Balls, I think | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
it is fair. So, you want it? This morning my job is not to argue about | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
the reasons for all against, it is to establish what you are for. You | :17:12. | :17:17. | |
want a mansion tax and so does he. You want a top rate of tax of 50p? | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
You would go along with that, wouldn't you? The key question is | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
whether it raises more money. It is a very marginal case. | :17:27. | :17:39. | |
If it did, would you go along with Labour on a 50p tax? You need to | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
have more money coming from the richest to help the poor. If it | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
reduces the income and damages the economy, there is no point. But it | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
is a matter of negotiation for the two of you. You are both in favour | :17:55. | :18:04. | |
of an mansion tax, you would want it if it brought more money in on the | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
50p. The chairman of the Conservative Party is against both. | :18:09. | :18:24. | |
We're talking Lib-Lab. I would be very dubious. Provocative. If the | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
Lib Dems are not against it, have you got any idea what this 50p rate | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
with ringing? We now essentially what has happened by reducing the | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
tax rate down to 45p has seen a giveaway of ?3 billion. Where did | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
you get that figure from? That is from the Treasury. No it is not, | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
where did you get it from. That is the figure we have in terms of... | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
No, you don't. HMRC figure that the court is down to 100 million. Not | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
300. The Treasury figure is not 3 billion. We know that we saw a ?10 | :19:08. | :19:15. | |
billion extra raised by increasing the tax rate. We don't know that | :19:16. | :19:23. | |
either. Shall we just clarify this. What was done previously was based | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
on assumptions that ministers may, not made by their hatred seek, done | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
in very quick time by George Osborne in the run-up to the 2012 budget. | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
The 10 billion figure Ed Balls alluded to was a HMRC projection. | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
The whole thing is complicated, lower rates coming in, venue hire | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
rates were coming in. Between both of your parties, you have made quite | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
a Horlicks of the whole thing. What we do know is when the top rate was | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
cut to 45%, the amount the government talk in from that rose by | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
about 7 billion. What we don't know if it was more people paying tax or | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
if they had held back their income until the 45p came in. The reason I | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
ask is because your party has come up with this because it is an | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
essential part of cutting the deficit. But if it's main purpose | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
was to cut the deficit, you need a clear idea of how much it will bring | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
in? The previous estimates made by George Osborne, work done by the | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
hate Jamar is the was done in quick time and there was lots of | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
assumptions made by behaviour. As far as I am aware, we did see an | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
increase of ?10 billion that came into the Treasury as a result when | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
the tax rate went up to 50p. I have looked through the figures and that | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
is not true. There is a lot of talk about the squeezed middle, where are | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
all these ordinary middle-class families who don't, particularly in | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
London and the south-east, don't earn that much. 40,000 a year if you | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
live in London and the south-east is not a princely sum. What are you | :21:13. | :21:21. | |
doing about them? We want to get rid of the deficit, we have got rid of a | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
third of it so far. We said by 2017, 18 we can pay back money, or start | :21:28. | :21:37. | |
to pay back money. You will only have 1.5 trillion to pay back. You | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
will pay that back before any of those in the 40% bracket will get | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
any relief? The important key moment is the point when we stop adding to | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
the debt and start repaying it. The only argument about tax or anything | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
else is what helps us get to that point the fastest. There is no doubt | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
the number of jobs created in the economy and the speed at which the | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
economy has started to grow can be put at risk by Ed Balls figures. He | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
came out at the weekend using the wrong figures, without realising | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
that those were projections and not actual figures. Julian, then | :22:17. | :22:30. | |
Luciano. If we allowed you to have ?1 million tax-free annual pension, | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
which is still a lot of money, ?45,000 a year to live on, but we | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
will not subsidise people above that. People with a House worth ?2 | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
million, they can provide more money to help people at the bottom. What | :22:45. | :22:53. | |
if they are asset rich and cash poor. What if they inherited the | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
House, an old lady who has no income, what will they do? It would | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
he set up as a charge against the House, so you would not pay it until | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
you sell the House. But then you would not get the money to pay for | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
what you want to spend now? Absolutely, it takes some time to | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
come in. So you can't use it to finance current spending? Most | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
people I expect, with pay as they go. You said people on mansion tax | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
to use it to take people out of tax altogether, if you are declaring the | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
mansion tax, you cannot use it? You would defer a small bit of it. | :23:35. | :23:43. | |
Labour, cut capital gains tax to 18%, so it was less than the basic | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
rate of income tax. That helps people who get paid in ways you can | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
adjust to that. We wanted to be equal to have the balance between | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
the different options. The times we will have to face 2015, 16, George | :23:57. | :24:04. | |
Osborne told us he would be balancing the books. That is not | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
going to happen. Now we will have a deficit of 79 billion. The policy is | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
you are going to follow, the ones that have stopped other economy is | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
growing and increased unemployment elsewhere. The Chancellor has the | :24:19. | :24:26. | |
whole service -- Civil Service, it is only fair when we have seen the | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
?3 billion giveaway to those on the highest incomes, those on the lowest | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
have that to suffer over the course of your government. You guys don't | :24:35. | :24:41. | |
even know your own numbers. As Ed Balls proved that the weekend. You | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
take the Labour version of the mansion tax becomes a home tax, | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
taxing houses of 440,000. That as it starts, no doubt it would come down | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
after that. People would be hit because they live in an area with | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
higher House prices like London and they would be hit by your so-called | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
mansion tax. In principle, why do you think it is right those with the | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
broadest shoulders don't contribute as much? They do, they pay most of | :25:13. | :25:20. | |
the tax of the tax in this country. My concern is if you get rid of the | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
wealth creators in this country, unemployment goes up and that is | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
what has happened in other countries who have pursued the same line as Ed | :25:27. | :25:35. | |
Balls. You have mentioned France. I have a little test for you. You have | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
mentioned have bad things are under President Hollande. Family people | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
are unemployed in France? 11.1%. What is the size of the French | :25:49. | :25:57. | |
deficit? Pass. 4.1%. What is the size of the French national debt? | :25:58. | :26:10. | |
Around 100%. 93.4%. Why is the 50p tax such a disincentive? Here is | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
what I know, you can create an economy where people want to work in | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
the economy, create jobs and they employ people. I was in Halifax last | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
week and met an individual who has just done into business, she started | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
six months ago and is ready to employ her first employee. The | :26:31. | :26:33. | |
things we are doing to make it easy to employ people... We had to stop | :26:34. | :26:44. | |
there. Julian we will keep you go but we will keep these two hostage | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
because we were having so much fun. Now, the pub landlord, Al Murray, is | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
a patriotic, right wing, Queen-loving character - just like | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
the Prime Minister, some might say. They both enjoy a pint and a white | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
wine for the lady, Blue Nunn presumably. And it turns out they're | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
also related. Yes genealogists have discovered that Al Murray is the | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
Prime Minister's first cousin five times removed. | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
Who worked that out? Their great-great-great-great-great | :27:11. | :27:12. | |
grandfather is one William Thackeray, grandfather of the famous | :27:13. | :27:19. | |
novelist. And they don't just have shared interests, as you can see | :27:20. | :27:22. | |
that have a remarkable visual resemblance too. Maybe the next time | :27:23. | :27:32. | |
they meet in the Dog and Duck they can have a toast with one of these. | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
But if either of them wants to get their mitts on one, they'll have to | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
enter our competition. We'll remind you how to enter in a | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
minute, but let's see if you can remember when this happened. This | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
contains flashing images. A belief dictates that justice be | :27:51. | :28:06. | |
served and mercy be shown. I think it is an easy one this one. | :28:07. | :29:21. | |
To be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics mug send your answer | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
to our special quiz e-mail address. And you can see the full terms and | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
conditions for Guess The Year on our website. | :29:30. | :29:31. | |
It's coming up to midday here, just take a look at Big Ben. That can | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
mean only one thing! Yes, Prime Minister's Questions on its way. And | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
that's not all - Nick Robinson is here. Syria, the economy, got to be | :29:40. | :29:47. | |
two things? I think so. It is a repeat of last week. Ed Miliband | :29:48. | :29:54. | |
will want to gain some of the credit for the decision on Syria. Labour | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
put the motion down debated on Syria. The conservative Immigration | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
Minister said it would be a token to have Syrian refugees. Ed Miliband | :30:02. | :30:08. | |
will want to claim this is because of Labour pressure in Parliament. | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
And we are only days since Ed Balls unveiled the policy on 50p tax. The | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
day after the GDP numbers. He did not raise the economy, he would be | :30:20. | :30:27. | |
jeered about as much as Ed Balls was jeered for the amount of time he | :30:28. | :30:31. | |
took to get to his feet yesterday. It will be interesting to see how | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
Labour are just position as evidence of the recovery gathers steam? It | :30:36. | :30:45. | |
has been doing that already. But the cost of living crisis will not be | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
sold by growth on this scale. In a sense both parties agree with that. | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
The problem again, before the recession. Let's go over to the | :30:57. | :30:58. | |
Prime Mr Speaker, figures showed the UK | :30:59. | :31:12. | |
economy is growing at its fastest rate since 2007. That is proof that | :31:13. | :31:20. | |
our plan is working. There is a choice, stick with it or abandoned | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
the plan that is delivering a better economic future and jobs for my | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
constituents in Norwich North. With the Prime Minister Brindley | :31:30. | :31:39. | |
long-term decisions are helping -- with the Prime Minister agree these | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
long-term decisions are helping? That should be the test of the | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
decisions we are taking. It will secure a better future, more | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
stability, more peace of mind for our children and grandchildren. Last | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
week we saw the biggest number of new jobs in a quarter since records | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
began. This week we see the fastest growth in our economy was she is. | :32:03. | :32:06. | |
There should be no complacency, the job was nowhere near complete. If we | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
stick to our long-term economic plan, we can see our country rise | :32:12. | :32:27. | |
and people rise as well. We were welcomed the change of heart | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
regarding Syrian refugees. We look forward to the statement by the Home | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
Secretary. Will he reassure the house he will act with the utmost | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
urgency, because we are talking about the most honourable people in | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
refugee camps, who need help now? We will act with the greatest urgency. | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
When it comes to Syria, we have acted with the greatest urgency | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
throughout. We have made available ?600 million, which makes the second | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
largest humanitarian donor. We have provided food for 188,000 people and | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
clean water for almost 1 million. Medical consultations for almost a | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
quarter of a million. We will be coming forward with a scheme to help | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
the most needy people in the refugee camps and offer them a home in our | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
country. We want to make sure we help those who have been victims of | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
sexual violence. The Foreign Secretary has rightly, on behalf of | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
the whole country, championed this across the world. I welcome the | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
decision by the Government to accept Syrian refugees. It is a very | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
important cause. Another subject, can I ask the Prime Minister, who | :33:41. | :33:47. | |
said this before the election, showing we are all in this together | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
means the rich will pay their share? That is why the 50p tax rate | :33:52. | :34:09. | |
will have to stay. Be fact is... The question has been asked and the | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
answer must be heard. Under this government, the richest will pay | :34:15. | :34:17. | |
more in income tax in every year than any year when he was in | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
office. I want the richest to pay more in tax and under this | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
government they are. We are creating jobs, we are creating growth. We are | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
encouraging investment. What we heard from Labour over the last 48 | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
hours is they want to attack that grows, they want to tax jobs and | :34:36. | :34:44. | |
businesses. We now have in Britain and anti-business, and he grows, | :34:45. | :34:54. | |
anti-jobs party. What we have is a policy with the overwhelming support | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
of the most important people of all, the people of Britain. He is | :34:59. | :35:08. | |
busy rather coy in telling us. It was he who said it in 2009, just | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
before the election. It was him that said, the 50p tax rate was a symbol | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
of us all being in it together and now it has gone. Now, can he tell us | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
whether he rules out cutting the top rate further to 40p? The Chancellor | :35:26. | :35:33. | |
set out yesterday exactly what our priorities are. Cutting taxes for | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
the lowest paid and for middle-income people. I am not | :35:38. | :35:40. | |
surprised he did not hear the Chancellor because, like the rest of | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
the Labour Party coming here was not here yesterday. -- the Labour Party, | :35:44. | :35:51. | |
he was not here yesterday. They left the Shadow Chancellor all on his | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
own. While we are in the business of who has said interesting things in | :35:58. | :36:06. | |
recent days... Let me ask him this... Mr Robertson! Mr Robertson, | :36:07. | :36:21. | |
calm yourself, man! The lion must get back in his den. There is plenty | :36:22. | :36:31. | |
more. There is plenty more. While we are on the subject of interesting | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
quotes, who, in the last 48 hours, said this? Do I think the level of | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
public spending going into the crisis was a problem for Britain? | :36:42. | :36:48. | |
No, I don't, nor our deficit, nor the national debt. He even said in | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
some areas, we can spend more. That is the Shadow Chancellor. We were | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
talking earlier about our children. Can our children in future turned to | :37:03. | :37:09. | |
the dictionary and look up the definition of denial and find it | :37:10. | :37:17. | |
will say Balls, aired. A long time ago, I asked a question. The Prime | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
Minister failed to answer it. Let's give him another go. Does he rule | :37:24. | :37:33. | |
out giving another tax cut to the richest in society by cutting the | :37:34. | :37:41. | |
top rate to 40p? Calm down, calm down. Yes, yes or no? There is so | :37:42. | :37:53. | |
much good news I cannot wait to get up and tell him. Our priority is to | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
cut taxes for the lowest paid in our country. That is why we have taken 2 | :37:59. | :38:04. | |
million people act of tax. Let us look to the reaction to his 50p | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
announcement. Businesses have said it would cost jobs. Labour ministers | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
that he's served alongside have queued up to say it is economic leap | :38:14. | :38:21. | |
illiterate. The ISS has said it will raise hardly any money. It is a | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
disastrous policy launch from a disastrous Labour economic team. | :38:27. | :38:33. | |
With every answer he shows who he stands up for, a few at the top and | :38:34. | :38:37. | |
not the ordinary families of Britain. That is the truth. It is a | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
very simple question. I know the Prime Minister does not love | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
answering questions at Prime Minister 's questions but that is | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
the point of these occasions. We are asking him a very simple question. | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
We have a very clear position which we would reverse the millionaires | :38:58. | :39:03. | |
tax cut and put a top rate of tax back to 50p. I am asking him for a | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
very simple question: Does he rule out reducing the top rate to 40p? | :39:10. | :39:18. | |
Yes, or no? Our priority are tax cuts for low earners and middle | :39:19. | :39:27. | |
earners. What have we seen from him so far this year? A banking policy | :39:28. | :39:36. | |
the Governor of the Bank of England will say increases risk. A tax | :39:37. | :39:39. | |
policy that business leaders said would be a risk to our recovery. | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
There is a crisis in our country, it is a crisis of economic credibility | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
for the Labour Party. The whole country will have heard he had three | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
opportunities to answer and he could not give us a straight answer to the | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
question. After four years of this government, people are worse off. | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
This is a Prime Minister who has already given those at the top, | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
millionaires, a ?100,000 tax cut and he wants to give them another one. | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
He can only govern for the few, he can never governed for the many. I | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
will tell you who we are governing for, the 1.3 million people who got | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
jobs under this government, the 400,000 new businesses under this | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
government, the 2 million people we have taken out of tax under this | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
government, people on the minimum wage you have seen tax bills come | :40:34. | :40:37. | |
down by two thirds under this government, that is who we are | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
governing for. We have more factories producing more goods and | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
more people taking home a pay packet, more security for | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
hard-working families. Now we can see their risks - Labour, a wrist to | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
jobs, a risk to the recovery and the future of Britain 's security. Mr | :40:56. | :41:09. | |
Speaker, the severe flooding on the Somerset levels is causing acute | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
distress to the people who live in that area. Will the Prime Minister | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
gave a commitment today to both take immediate action to try and clear | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
the flood water from the Somerset levels as soon as possible, and also | :41:23. | :41:26. | |
to put in place a long-term plan to try and make sure that this does not | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
happen again in the future? I can give my honourable friend both those | :41:33. | :41:42. | |
assurances. COBRA will be meeting again. The system is not -- the | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
situation is not acceptable. Dredging will start as soon as it is | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
practical and as soon as the waters have started to come down. The | :41:56. | :41:58. | |
Environment Agency is pumping as much water as possible, given the | :41:59. | :42:02. | |
capacity of the rivers around the levels. I have ordered high pressure | :42:03. | :42:10. | |
pumps to be made available to increase this operation as soon as | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
there is capacity in the rivers to support that. We are looking at | :42:15. | :42:21. | |
further help and I will try to get this problem sorted. Can I invite | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
the Prime Minister to visit my constituency in Corby? Spend a day | :42:28. | :42:36. | |
on a zero hours contract with someone on the minimum wage and he | :42:37. | :42:39. | |
can get an insight into the world of work for many people on his watch? I | :42:40. | :42:47. | |
will be visiting his constituency in the next 16 months. It is | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
unacceptable that people are paid below minimum wage. We want to see | :42:54. | :42:56. | |
more enforcement, more action to make sure that does not happen. It | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
is not accessed double. We have a minimum wage for a good reason and I | :43:03. | :43:09. | |
want to see it properly enforced. Is it not the case we have learned over | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
successive years over the last two or three decades that irresponsible | :43:15. | :43:25. | |
economic policy to maximise tax rates, if they are set too high, | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
they are the politics of envy and raise less taxes? Might honourable | :43:31. | :43:37. | |
friend makes a very sensible point. The point of this is to raise | :43:38. | :43:40. | |
revenue and not to make a political point. What the party opposite wants | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
to do is make a political point because they believe in the politics | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
of envy and not raising money for public services. In the end, the | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
truth is this... The top 1% of taxpayers in our country are paying | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
30% of the total income tax take. The richest taxpayers are actually | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
going to be paying more in every year of this government. Mr Speaker, | :44:02. | :44:15. | |
over 300,000 people are reported to be paid less than the minimum wage. | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
I was heartened by what the prime minister just said. If that is the | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
case and he is really committed to the minimum wage, why have only two | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
employees been prosecuted and half the level of investigations? We have | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
seen around 700 penalties issued for not paying minimum wage. We are | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
taking enforcement action and we need to take more enforcement | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
action. The Chancellor has made very clear that we also want to see the | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
opportunity for the minimum wage to rise as the economy recovers. It | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
should be possible to see the value of the minimum wage restored. We are | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
keen to see that happen. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I know the Prime | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
Minister deals in facts. We have more jobs in this country than ever | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
recorded before. We also have a gross prediction that is higher than | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
anyone would have thought a year ago. Will we now consider looking at | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
the minimum wage and considering whether the level of the minimum | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
wage could be racer that we ensure that everyone benefits from this | :45:22. | :45:29. | |
recovery? -- could be raised. It is extremely good news we have over 30 | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
million people in work - record numbers in work. What has happened | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
under this government is that the minimum wage has gone up by 10%. We | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
have cut taxes are low earners and that means another 10% increase in | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
the minimum wage. I hope it will be possible to see the real value of | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
the minimum wage restored. I think we should listen and allow the low | :45:52. | :45:53. | |
pay commission to do their work. I do not want to see this issue is | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
becoming something of a political football. Everyone agrees, as an | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
economy recovers, it should be possible to restore that value. | :46:03. | :46:11. | |
A man who lived in the UK for 40 years and who has family in my | :46:12. | :46:20. | |
constituency has been convicted of blastomeres and sentenced to death | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
in Pakistan. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2010 and | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
was treated in Edinburgh. But the judges refused to take that into | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
account. I wrote to the Foreign Secretary yesterday, but can the | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
Prime Minister is your meat the government is doing what they can to | :46:37. | :46:44. | |
return this man to the UK to get the treatment he needs? I can get the | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
honourable lady the assurance she asked for. I am concerned about this | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
death sentence, and it is our long-standing policy to oppose the | :46:54. | :46:55. | |
death and naughty in all circumstances. But the Pakistani | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
authorities can be in no doubt of the seriousness with which we view | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
this. We spoke to the Punjab in Monday, and the high commission in | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
Islamabad continues to raise this. Foreign officials are meeting | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
Pakistani officials in London today. We take this seriously and we are | :47:16. | :47:26. | |
making that clear at every level. Portsmouth is an entrepreneurial | :47:27. | :47:33. | |
city delivering eight drop of 25% in GSA claimants over the last year. | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
With this in mind, is the Prime Minister aware of a commercial plan | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
put forward to build a number of specialist vessels designed to | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
revolutionise and facilitate the industrialisation of the tidal | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
energy sector. Would the Prime Minister agree that Portsmouth would | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
be an excellent place to build those ships? Can I congratulate the | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
honourable lady for everything she has done to highlight Portsmouth and | :47:59. | :48:06. | |
all matters and maritime. I am aware of this project. I understand there | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
will be a meeting with the business department. It is testament to the | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
excellent reputation Portsmouth has that there is so much interest in | :48:16. | :48:18. | |
this sector that we want to see expanded. The appointment of a | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
minister the Portsmouth will make a big difference. It is good news the | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
youth claimant is down so far in Portsmouth, but we must stick to the | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
economic plan. Increasingly in London, young people are finding it | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
impossible to be able to afford or rent or buy a home. Why is it under | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
this government we are seeing the fewest number of housing starts | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
since the 1920s and a housing bubble that is being driven by wealthy, | :48:49. | :48:55. | |
overseas buyers? First of all, on that last point, it is this | :48:56. | :48:58. | |
government that is introducing capital gains tax for overseas | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
buyers, some think the Labour Party for 13 years never did. When it | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
comes to housing, you have nearly 400,000 new homes delivered since | :49:10. | :49:12. | |
2010. Huge amounts of money going into social housing. It is this | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
government reforming the planning system, often opposed by the party | :49:19. | :49:20. | |
opposite, to make these things happen. Does my right honourable | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
friend share my concern that the Public Administration select | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
committee enquiry into police recorded crime statistics has found | :49:32. | :49:39. | |
flaws in reliability. While crime is undoubtedly falling over all, would | :49:40. | :49:41. | |
he agree with me the Home Office should work urgently with police | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
chiefs across the country to restore the authority of these statistics | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
and police chiefs should concentrate on leadership based on values and | :49:51. | :49:55. | |
service to the public, not on discredited targets? On his last | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
point, we scrapped all targets apart from the target of reducing crime, | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
which is the most important thing. It is important statistics are as | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
robust as possible, that is why we transferred responsibility to the | :50:13. | :50:15. | |
independent office of National statistics. We have passed HMRC to | :50:16. | :50:21. | |
carry out an audit on crime recording in every Louise Fors. The | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
Home Secretary has written to all police constables to make sure | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
statistics must be recorded credibly. It is whether you look at | :50:33. | :50:40. | |
crimes recorded by the police or the British crime survey, they show | :50:41. | :50:42. | |
crime is falling and has fallen by more than 10%. I would like to thank | :50:43. | :50:50. | |
the Prime Minister for his comments about the man in Pakistan who has | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
given the death sentence. Dozens of your own back ventures have said | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
they will support the amendment to the Immigration Bill which will be | :51:01. | :51:03. | |
incompatible to any treaties. One Tory MPs have demanded British | :51:04. | :51:09. | |
Parliament be able to veto every single European law, which he knows | :51:10. | :51:12. | |
is unworkable. The Prime Minister has given concession after | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
concession to the anti-Europeans. When will he learn they will never | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
be satisfied with anything except a British withdrawal from the European | :51:23. | :51:28. | |
Union? I don't agree. We need to correct in the Immigration Bill, the | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
fact it has been so difficult to deport people who don't have a right | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
to be here, who should be facing trial overseas, or should be | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
deported overseas, but they make spurious arguments about the right | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
to a family life. It is right we are changing that. It is a sensible step | :51:47. | :51:50. | |
and nothing anti-European about that and we should pass the Immigration | :51:51. | :52:01. | |
Bill with speed. Mr Speaker, last year the government successfully | :52:02. | :52:04. | |
deported Abu Qatada. The new Immigration Bill will crack down on | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
illegal immigrants make it easier to deport foreign criminals. Can he | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
confirm immigration law applies to political parties and their gurus? I | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
can, but I am sure I should not comment on this case that is now | :52:23. | :52:30. | |
being investigated. Don't tempt me! It is an important piece of law we | :52:31. | :52:34. | |
will be discussing on Thursday, because we don't just need to have | :52:35. | :52:37. | |
control at our borders, we need to make sure Britain cannot come to | :52:38. | :52:40. | |
Britain and abuse our health service or get rights to counsel or other | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
housing, bank accounts and driving licences if they have no right to be | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
here. The Immigration Bill makes those important changes. And many | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
more, including making it possible for us to deport people who don't | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
matter have a risk in their own country before they have an appeal. | :53:01. | :53:03. | |
They can appeal from overseas. I hope we will not delay too much | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
before passing this bill. People in my constituency and up and down the | :53:10. | :53:12. | |
country are working harder just to make ends meet, as their pay is | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
outstripped by prices. Does the Prime Minister agree with the | :53:17. | :53:20. | |
Business Secretary who said a property fuelled recovery is the | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
wrong recovery? And the answer is on page 37 in his folder! What I think | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
he will find is the Business Secretary said, it is welcome that | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
in terms of our GDP growth, we have seen strong growth in manufacturing | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
and industrial production and not just in services. In terms of making | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
sure we genuinely help people, as our economy grows, we need to cut | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
taxes. We have cut taxes, because we have made difficult decisions about | :53:53. | :53:58. | |
public spending. Every one of those decisions has been opposed by the | :53:59. | :54:01. | |
party opposite will stop if we had listened to them people would have a | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
more difficult situation with the cost of living. Can I thank the | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
Prime Minister for his announcement on the dredging of the rivers in | :54:11. | :54:18. | |
Somerset, an area where we have an area bigger than the size of Bristol | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
underwater and it has been under water for more than a month. Can I | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
take it from him, that what he is doing is committing the whole of | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
government, including DC LG, transport and the Treasury to | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
working with Defra to deal with this situation, not now, but for future | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
years as well? I can give him that assurance. I don't want to see | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
dredging work being held up by arguments in other departments. We | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
have got to crack this problem. I would like to praise all the | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
emergency services, Environment Agency, local flood wardens who have | :55:00. | :55:02. | |
done such a valuable work, including in the Somerset Levels. We now need | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
to move more rapidly to things like dredging. Mount Pleasant in my | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
constituency is a development site that used to belong to Royal Mail. | :55:12. | :55:19. | |
It was sold for an absolute song. Is it morally right for at least half | :55:20. | :55:25. | |
of that site to be used for local people. Independent valuers have | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
said developers could build 50% genuinely affordable housing and | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
still make a huge profit. In those circumstances, given the level of | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
local opposition, would it not be outrageous for the Mayor of London | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
to approve the development of this site? How can 12% affordable housing | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
help with the cost of living crisis for Londoners? I am happy to look at | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
the site she mentions. But I think it is important we allowed the Mayor | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
of London to carry out his planning responsibilities. When there are | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
redevelopment opportunities, it is important they are not endlessly | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
blocked because we need the developments, we need the growth and | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
we need the housing. With the Prime Minister... The honourable gentleman | :56:11. | :56:17. | |
is talking about Holocaust Memorial Day, let's have some respect. | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
Holocaust Memorial day to race on Monday, will he join me in | :56:22. | :56:29. | |
commemorating the Holocaust Memorial trust? I am grateful to the | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
honourable gentleman for his question. Holocaust day is an | :56:36. | :56:41. | |
important day. It gave me an enormous pleasure to welcome to | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
Downing Street, no less than 50 Holocaust survivors who came and | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
talked about their stories. Incredible and brave. We should rank | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
them for the work they have done going into school after-school | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
reminding people of the dangers of what happened in the past and how we | :57:00. | :57:02. | |
should drive out hate and prejudice from our national life. The | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
Holocaust commission has been set up and it is a cross-party commission | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
with representatives from all parties, in order to ask the | :57:12. | :57:18. | |
question, as tragedy -- tragically these Holocaust survivors come to | :57:19. | :57:20. | |
the end of their lives, what should we do as a country to make sure the | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
memory of this never fades? Whether it is recording their memories, | :57:26. | :57:28. | |
museum, all these things will be looked at. I am sure the report will | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
have support across this House. Despite the rhetoric, for most | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
ordinary people, the reality is child poverty up, foodbank usage up, | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
payday lending up, energy costs up, and wages down. The Prime Minister | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
said he wanted the top job because he thought he would be good at it. | :57:49. | :57:54. | |
So, when will he start to govern for all of the people in all of the | :57:55. | :57:59. | |
country? Just to correct the first thing that came out of his mouth, | :58:00. | :58:02. | |
under this government child poverty is down. I am not satisfied with the | :58:03. | :58:10. | |
measure, I think we need a better measure. But employment is up, | :58:11. | :58:17. | |
growth is up, the number of businesses is up. Yes we have a long | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
way to go to restore our economic fortunes but we have a long-term | :58:21. | :58:26. | |
economic plan, delivering for Britain's families. We have got to | :58:27. | :58:32. | |
stick at it. Mr Speaker, I am pleased to report large companies | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
are finding Watford and attractive place to do business from. I want to | :58:37. | :58:46. | |
mention Wickes who are setting their headquarters up. But I went to the | :58:47. | :58:53. | |
enterprise Hub in Watford last week and saw quite a few small businesses | :58:54. | :59:01. | |
such as AC Solutions who said to me they were frustrated why the amount | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
of bureaucracy and red tape that is hindering their business. I would | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
like to ask the Prime Minister what he intends to do about it? I am | :59:11. | :59:17. | |
grateful for what he says about the business environment in Watford. We | :59:18. | :59:20. | |
are helping with taxes and red tape and helping with exports on red | :59:21. | :59:26. | |
tape. This is going to be the first government in modern history that at | :59:27. | :59:28. | |
the end of the parliament we will have less regulation than at the | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
beginning of the parliament. I would commend the Minister for government | :59:34. | :59:36. | |
policy and the business Department for his heroic effort to get those | :59:37. | :59:42. | |
legislation onto websites so people can tell us what we can remove. We | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
are on target for scrapping 3000 regulations under this government. | :59:48. | :59:52. | |
This month, Cabinet papers revealed the Thatcher government sought to | :59:53. | :00:01. | |
escalate the miners strike, close pits and the scars of that dispute | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
are deep in communities like Wigan. Some families have never recovered | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
and some have died waiting for justice. 30 years on they deserve | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
the truth and an apology. Why are they still waiting? As my right | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
honourable friend said, we have a system for releasing paperwork from | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
ten, 20, 30 years ago and we should stick to that. If anyone needs to | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
make an apology for their role in the miners strike it should be | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Arthur Scargill for the way he made that union. If other people want to | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
ask about their roles, there was the role of the leader of the Labour | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
Party, who at that time never condemned the fact they would never | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
hold a ballot. There are lessons for Labour to land, and judging from | :00:48. | :00:49. | |
their performance today, they have not learned any of them. Thank you | :00:50. | :00:59. | |
Mr Speaker. There are plans to how is the new Bishop of Bath outside | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
the city. Can the Prime Minister do everything in his power to postpone | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
the residents of the bishops of Bath and Wells which has served perfectly | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
well for 800 years? I think that might be a question for the member | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
for Banbury, who guides me in these important issues. But I will go away | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
and look at the issue of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. I will try and | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
put the image of Blackadder out of my mind and try and come up with the | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
right answer. If we are to have a parliament that reflects the people | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
it serves, the Prime Minister must he disappointed that one in ten of | :01:40. | :01:48. | |
his women MPs who came in in 2010 have indicated they will not | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
re-stand. And that one of his most senior chairs of committee is facing | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
deselection. What is the Tory party's problem with women? I am | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
proud of the fact in the last parliament we had 19 women | :02:07. | :02:08. | |
Conservative MPs and now it is closer to 50 in this Parliament. Do | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
I want is to go further and faster? Yes I do. We will start by targeting | :02:14. | :02:23. | |
his seat at the next election! I am sure the whole House will wish to | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
congratulate my right honourable friend, the chancellor of the | :02:29. | :02:30. | |
Exchequer, in sticking to their economic ones which is producing | :02:31. | :02:38. | |
prosperity for the country. Would he agree with me it would be a foolish | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
mistake if the British people were to place their trust in the shadow | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
chancellor who has never owned up to their responsibility of last Labour | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
government the catastrophic budget and sticks to the Socialist party of | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
tax and spend which will ruin Britain? He put it with Carrick | :03:03. | :03:10. | |
touristic strength and clarity. The party opposite have learned no | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
lessons from the past, they said they will do it all over again and | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
have a tax policy that tack -- cost jobs and now they have as Ms saying | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
they have not got a clue. They remind me those two, have you seen | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
the film Gravity? It is about to people who stepped out into a void | :03:33. | :03:41. | |
and had no clue what to do next. Caroline Lucas. In light of the | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
Prime Minister's welcome recognition at last week's PMQs, Brighton is a | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
superb and sunny place. Will he visit Brighton energy co-op in my | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
constituency that is showing the real potential of renewable energy, | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
particularly solar power? And if we can see the energy strategy | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
particularly provision for energy providers to sell to consumers, its | :04:08. | :04:10. | |
potential would have far more. We pursue this strategy instead of | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
fracking? I am sure I will be in Brighton before long and look | :04:18. | :04:19. | |
forward to hearing about the renewable energy story. We need both | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
of these things, we have set out the strike prices and the energy act, so | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
we can be a real magnet or investment in renewable energy. We | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
also need to take advantage of shale gas, clean gas, helping to keep | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
energy bills down. I would say to those in the green movement who | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
oppose it simply because shale gas includes carbon, it is a misguided | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
approach. We want affordable energy as well as green energy. That should | :04:50. | :04:51. | |
be our goal. The Home Secretary is about to make | :04:52. | :05:04. | |
a statement to the House following PMQ 's. He only asked one question | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
and then moved on, perhaps because we are getting this statement. It | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
was then argy-bargy about the economy. It was interesting because | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
the Prime Minister came off the back of the announcement by Ed Balls of | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
Labour going for a top rate of 50p, it was not the best received | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
announcement. Then we had the growth figures. The Prime Minister seemed | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
to be less than sure-footed, despite the backdrop to today's PMQs. Last | :05:34. | :05:48. | |
week, Christopher says, Ed Miliband asked David Cameron to allow Syrian | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
refugees into the UK. This week he well. Maybe all this lark works. | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
Another tweet saying we have descended into farce. Quite a few | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
e-mails and tweet along that line, because of the noise and bickering. | :06:02. | :06:11. | |
Philip Jones, Ed Miliband smells the Prime Minister -- nails the Prime | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
Minister. The runner can Nelson from Liverpool, Ed Miliband attempts to | :06:15. | :06:23. | |
raise the politics of envy. Ray from Nottingham, how does Ed Miliband get | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
away with the tax cut for millionaires jibe? A bit messy, | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
Nick? In a way because Ed Miliband did a simple tactic in asking a | :06:37. | :06:44. | |
question, don't get the answer, ask it again, don't get the answer and | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
ask it for a third time. That is what the Labour leader decided to | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
do. The Prime Minister does not want to rule this out because one day | :06:56. | :07:05. | |
they may want to do it. He had not got easily a kind of easy answer to | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
it. He said all the things he should have been able to do, about the | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
growth rate and inflation and unemployment, and pulling out all | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
those quotes from business leaders and former Labour ministers having a | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
go. He struggled to do. What is most interesting about it, Ed Miliband | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
was criticised internally for not sticking with strategy. He announced | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
something in a speech and talked about something different. What it | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
showed what he had learned that lesson. If you're going to make a | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
big announcement and think it is popular, stick with it. Keep it in | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
peoples minds and keep banging away with it until people have caught and | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
on that is what you are about. Why would a Conservative Prime Minister | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
not say that one day, when finances allow it and economic conditions | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
are, we would like to return to 40p? We want all taxes to come down, | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
including all rates of tax. He did not say that. What he did say in | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
response to this political manoeuvring from Ed Miliband, trying | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
to kind of stick around this 40, 45, 50p tax thing, the Prime Minister | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
said his main concern is getting tax down for lower and middle income | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
people. You are going to expect it Prime Minister to stand at a | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
dispatch box -- you are not going to expect a Prime Minister to stand at | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
a dispatch box before the election and bright a budget. What we're | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
looking for is principles of taxation. Why did he not say, of | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
course he is taking those at the lower end out of tax? He has not | :08:50. | :10:09. | |
done anything Labour has got you on the run on this, they have made you | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
nervous about top rates of tax. Where as most conservatives would | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
like to see a red return to the top rate of 40%, because of Labour's | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
position, the Prime Minister is frightened of the political fallout? | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
For Labour it is all to do with positioning. For us it is what | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
creates a better economy. We have come out over the weekend and said | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
it would be mad to sign up to putting tax up to 50p, if that means | :10:40. | :10:47. | |
it loses jobs. We would only return to taxes under a Labour government? | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
The Prime Minister was asked three times, a direct question. He did not | :10:54. | :11:02. | |
and set it. While we have seen this ?3 billion giveaway to these people | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
earning the top rate of tax, when the average working person is now | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
?1600 worse off. If you don't include the fact they have had their | :11:14. | :11:23. | |
taxes reduced. The equivalent of those tax credits and child benefit, | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
it is ?881 per household. The Prime Minister was asked a direct question | :11:30. | :11:37. | |
about the top 1%, who had not had to experience any pain. It is a much | :11:38. | :11:52. | |
larger amount than 1%. You will probably have the figures? Who pay a | :11:53. | :12:04. | |
higher tax rate. Higher, not top. Three .5 million paid 40%. It would | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
be close to 5 billion by the end of your government. Why is 40p and then | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
now if it wasn't unfair for 13 years of Labour government? We are coming | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
back to what is happening now. The average working person, ?1600 worse | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
off. What do the cuts to the top rate of someone earning tax meant? | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
Reduce their income down from 116,000 to 114,000. I'm talking | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
about the current context of deficit reduction. Millions of households up | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
and down the country are expected to pay while those with the top incomes | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
have not reduced the bonanza. I don't think it is fair. Do you agree | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
with the 2.7 million who have been taken out of paying any tax? All of | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
those people have been taken out of tax entirely. Rather than talking | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
about those 2.7 million... You cannot talk about that in isolation. | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
You have to look at the combination, the other fact is child benefit, you | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
have to look at the impact of working tax credit. In my | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
constituency I have working couples who cannot make up the hours because | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
of the local supermarket in my constituency, don't have the hours | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
for them to do. You must accept employment has gone up, more people | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
are in work, including in your past, certainly in the north-west and the | :13:36. | :13:41. | |
last election. The rate of wager my constituency has gone down by 1%. | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
And they have been increased to ?10,000, the amount they can earn | :13:48. | :13:58. | |
tax-free. What Labour have concluded is they do not want to get stuck in | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
an economic debate. The Chancellor made an announcement on economic | :14:03. | :14:12. | |
deficit reduction and then made a statement about the 40p tax. Whose | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
side are you on is one of the most powerful questions in politics. | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
Briefly, Andrew, Barack Obama used it again and again. That is why he | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
beat Mitt Romney. He could say that Romney was on the side of the rich. | :14:30. | :14:38. | |
He did his best to prove that. The when asked, did he like football, he | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
said, yes, two of my friends own teams. We need you to stay. While we | :14:44. | :14:53. | |
have been talking, Theresa May has been giving MPs details of plans to | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
allow some Syrian refugees into Britain. Here is what she said. Our | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
country has a proud tradition of providing protection to those in | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
need. Whether are particularly difficult cases of honourable | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
refugees who are at risk, we are willing to look at those cases. | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
Following a meeting in London in recent days, I can tell the house | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
that the Government will be launching a new programme to provide | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
emergency sanctuary in the UK for displaced Syrians who are | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
particularly vulnerable. There we go. A small number of Syrian | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
refugees will be allowed in. You said, taking in a small number of | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
Syrian refugees was tokenistic. I did not want to see happen we are | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
putting over half ?1 billion in aid. That is as much as the other | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
European countries altogether, that be discounted and then a relatively | :15:48. | :15:55. | |
small move of taking in the small number being replaced. You said it | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
was tokenistic. I was being asked in an interview, isn't it good that all | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
these other countries, Germany, France and elsewhere, are taking | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
people in? I was trying to point out we are giving more help than all of | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
those countries put together. Why don't we take in more? There are 2 | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
million people and we cannot take in all of them. 5000, 10,000 is more | :16:19. | :16:27. | |
than tokenistic and is a humanitarian gesture. The cases we | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
are talking about now is children, where both parents have been killed | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
and they do not have that support. Perhaps women who have been sexually | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
abused. We are looking at the most honourable cases. The very worst | :16:44. | :16:52. | |
cases. People in Britain can stand proud. We have given a huge amount | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
of aid and we have this approach as well. We are stepping up to the | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
plate and doing our bit. Is it not a sign of how toxic this issue has | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
become that even Labour is only arguing for 500 Syrian refugees? | :17:06. | :17:17. | |
I would like to understand the detail of how it will work. I'm not | :17:18. | :17:27. | |
sure how it will work. We have to look in the context of the other | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
countries that are signed up for it. Ireland is taking 90 people. France | :17:32. | :17:39. | |
is taking relatively the same number as us. But we are British, aren't we | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
meant to be better at this? We have a proud history. Why don't we argue | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
for more? We want to be part of the process, set an example. It will be | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
hundreds, rather than thousands, that is the indication? The scale of | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
this thing shows with 2 million people displaced in Syria and moving | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
out of Syria, there is not a physical number we could reach that | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
could solve the problem. It is right to take the most vulnerable cases. | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
At that to the extraordinary amount of British aid, ?600 million. It is | :18:16. | :18:25. | |
a foreign aid budget of 14 billion, we should give more instead of how | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
we do spend it. Giving money to India that has its own space | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
programme. That is coming to an end. But it is not ended yet. 27 | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
countries in the EU, we are giving more than all of them put together. | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
The Home Office have resisted taking refugees. They want to get net | :18:45. | :18:51. | |
migration down to meet a Tory promise of getting net migration | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
down. Like it or not, people think refugees are different -- different | :18:55. | :19:01. | |
from immigrants, in terms of the merit of them coming here. | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
Now, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England is in Edinburgh | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
today to discuss the currency implications of a "yes" vote in the | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
Scottish independence referendum. Mr Carney, who met First Minister Alex | :19:16. | :19:17. | |
Salmond for discussions this morning, has agreed to provide | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
technical, objective, dry analysis ahead of the vote in September. The | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
Scottish Government say they plan to keep the pound under independence, | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
but the UK Government has said any such currency union would be | :19:28. | :19:40. | |
unlikely. The Bank of England is an independent institution. It does not | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
take a role in party politics. We had a splendid discussion and have | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
agreed to continue the technical discussions. Not negotiations, but | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
the technical discussions the Bank of England has been having with the | :19:57. | :19:58. | |
Scottish Government so our proposals are soundly based on technical | :19:59. | :20:05. | |
terms. Clear as mud! A lot of the use of the word, " technical". What | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
is quite interesting is, people have said is it right for the governor of | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
the Bank of England, it covers the whole of the UK. And founded by a | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
Scotsman. He is a Canadian. Mark Carney, because he is a Canadian, | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
because he was governor of the bank of Canada, because they have had to | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
independence referendums in Q where the issue of the currency was an | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
issue, he is well placed to judge the complexities of this argument. | :20:39. | :20:47. | |
Quebec. We are told he is giving a speech, which will be playing a very | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
big in the politics of Scotland in the next few months. One of the | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
messages will be, a successful currency coming out of the economic | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
European monetary union, is it does involve ceding some national | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
sovereignty which is a difficult issue for the Scottish Nationalists | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
who want Scotland to regain total national sovereignty. Then say as | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
part of a national union we will give back some of our national | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
sovereignty. Exactly, the question whether Britain should join the | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
national sovereignty, then we would give some power over our interest | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
rates, and fiscal spending to Brussels. Of course, if you are | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
going to say, a bank in England, a bank in London will set your | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
interest rates, the Scottish might think it is not really governing | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
yourselves at home. We shall see. Let's return to the issue of Syria. | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
So the government has announced that Britain will take in some of the | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
most vulnerable refugees fleeing from the Syrian conflict. But as the | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
death toll tops 100,000 should we be intervening more directly? In our | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
Soapbox this week, Sunny Hundal, founder of the left wing Liberal | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
Conspiracy blog argues that it is time to contemplate taking military | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
action. His report contains images that some viewers may find | :22:10. | :22:10. | |
upsetting. More disturbing pictures from Syria. | :22:11. | :22:37. | |
Most are too upsetting to show. These are amongst 55,000 images | :22:38. | :22:44. | |
smuggled out of the country showing systematic murder by the government. | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
It is compared to what happened in that see Germany. I think the time | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
has come to discuss military intervention. Not only has the | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
bloodshed. Worse and has the potential to get worse, the conflict | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
is spreading elsewhere. The two main arguments against intervention is we | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
could aggravate the situation or, it is their mess and we should not get | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
involved. Both arguments are redundant. Syrian rebels forced to | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
recruit Al-Qaeda groups, who are not interested in freedom but want to | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
establish a permanent base away from Afghanistan. They want to share a | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
state in both Syria and Iraq before other Middle Eastern countries are | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
absorbed. If they get the upper hand they will use that new base to | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
launch audacious attacks in Islamic countries and the West. The | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
humanitarian crisis gets worse every day. Over 100,000 people have died | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
since this conflict began and nearly 10 million people have been driven | :23:46. | :23:47. | |
away from their homes. More worryingly, the civil war in Syria | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
is spreading to nearby countries like Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
Pakistan. As they get drawn in further, thousands more will die and | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
millions more will become refugees. We cannot sit by and watch another | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
Rwanda take Les. Despite peace talks there is no viable, diplomatic | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
solution. And Bashar al-Assad will not lead because Russia and Iran are | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
backing him. Al-Qaeda groups will not simply disappear. I am not | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
saying the UK and the USA act alone. They can work with NATO, and other | :24:22. | :24:30. | |
groups in the region. But Syria will become a danger. Intervention is not | :24:31. | :24:38. | |
a matter of if, but when. If we wait the cost of human lives is likely to | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
be much, much higher. Very moving. | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
And Sunny Hundal joins us now. You are arguing in favour of | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
intervention, have you always been in favour of intervention in this | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
conflict? Yes, in Syria. I was against the war in Iraq, but I have | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
said we have got to do something about Syria because it will become a | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
much broader civil war, draw in other countries and become an | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
intractable conflict that will draw us in sooner or later. What was your | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
reaction when the British Parliament had its say and voted against some | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
sort of incident -- intervention? I don't think that was right. The US | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
government had not explained what their plan was. Their focus was just | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
on chemical weapons. I wanted a broader intervention. We hadn't even | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
explain to the public until what the vote was for and why we would go in. | :25:35. | :25:42. | |
At that time I said it was right to have a pause, but not just take it | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
off the table entirely. The problem is, the Conservative government | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
said, we will not do anything about this now. We have taken the option | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
of the table and Labour have followed them. It is the wrong thing | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
to do because it sends out a signal saying the UK Government will not | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
get involved, so resident is sad can do what he wants. What sort of input | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
-- intervention do you envisage? The Arab League is calling on us to do | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
more of an intervention. There have been two cease-fires, 2011 and 2012, | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
which fell apart and the massacres followed after that. The Arab League | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
has been saying for a while, gets a military firepower. What we need is | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
a no-fly zone. We need to be much stronger on President Assad in | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
saying he has to leave. There is no way he will leave, he has been | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
backed to the hilt. Who or what would replace President Assad? I | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
think this Syrian people should make that choice. Don't you have to make | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
that a thought. The argument people by many in Iraq was the lack of | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
planning and what would happen afterwards. Do you not have to think | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
through a strategy after President Assad? Yes, but we need to get the | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
local people involved, get the surrounding countries involved. So | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
it is not just the UK and the US intervening. You get the local | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
countries involved, the Arab League have a peacekeeping force, get some | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
stabilisation and then we can have peaceful elections. The UN has | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
accused the opposition, and the opposition is broad in that sense, | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
of war crimes. Last week, so quite recent. Are they any better? There | :27:32. | :27:40. | |
is a danger of lumping the opposition in one block. There is | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
lots of groups. Al-Qaeda affiliated groups are starting to get the upper | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
hand. These groups have come in and said, we are not interested in just | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
getting rid of President Assad, we want to establish ourselves in Syria | :27:58. | :28:00. | |
and Iraq and have a conflict in Lebanon and other places. They are | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
part of the problem. I don't think we should work with them. If we | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
don't help the Syrian rebels, the moderate rebels, they will lose | :28:13. | :28:15. | |
out. The only option we have is between President Assad and | :28:16. | :28:17. | |
Al-Qaeda, which is the worst solution. We are running out of | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
time. But we have to pick the winner of | :28:22. | :28:23. | |
our competition. Very nice part of the world. That is | :28:24. | :28:37. | |
it for today, thank you to our guests. The one o'clock News is | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
starting on BBC One. We will be back tomorrow with the big elliptical | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
stories of the day. Make sure you join me here. From all | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
of us, goodbye. | :28:56. | :29:00. |