Browse content similar to 05/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
Commuters in London and the south-east struggled to work today | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
as a strike on the Underground brought problems to the morning | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
rush-hour. The trains are going nowhere, but are the Tories inching | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
towards making it harder for the unions to call a strike? | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
Danny Alexander says the Tories will cut the top rate of tax "over his | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
dead body". As the Lib Dems have another public falling out with | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
their coalition partners, we ask if there's anything they do still agree | :01:04. | :01:05. | |
on. It's Wednesday. That means it's | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
nearly time for your weekly bout of Punch and Judy politics - we'll | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
bring you PMQs live at midday. And Parliament has an infestation. | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
Not it's not the politicians, or the journalists - it's mice. We'll be | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
meeting a cat that could be sent in to clean up the Commons. | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
All that in the next 90 minutes of the finest broadcasting your licence | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
fee can buy. And joining us for the show are two politicians who'd never | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
let a little thing like a Tube strike keep them away from | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
Westminster on a Wednesday - Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and | :01:43. | :01:44. | |
Shadow Defence Secretary Vernon Coaker. Welcome to you both. They | :01:45. | :01:52. | |
asked to work from home today but we told them to get on their bikes. | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
Let's start today with the latest on this strike affecting commuters | :01:57. | :01:58. | |
coming into London. Yes the 48-hour walk-out by the RMT | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
and TSSA unions started last night, they're striking over proposed job | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
cuts and ticket office closures and with only a limited service until | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
Friday morning there have been big problems for people heading to work | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
in the capital. Let's talk now to our correspondent, Daniel Boettcher. | :02:13. | :02:22. | |
How bad has it been where you are? It is pretty calm at the moment but | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
during the rush hour there were occasions when passengers were | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
queueing onto the pavement, prevented from going into the | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
concourse because it was too busy. The Northern line going through here | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
does have a good service, it is the only one that does. Others are | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
running what they call a special service. London Underground saying | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
eight out of 11 Tube lines have some service. We don't know exactly how | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
many trains are running. The unions are saying the strike is rock-solid, | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
they are describing it as a skeleton service. Both sides in this dispute | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
have a different take on how much disruption there has been. It is | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
clear when you look at the buses and trains and other services, a lot of | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
people have moved on to those. There have been big queues at stations and | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
bus stops as people have tried to find alternative ways of getting | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
into work. They face the same this evening on the way home, again | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
tomorrow and a further 48 hour strike next week. I understand you | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
caught sight of Boris Johnson, what was he talking to commuters about? | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
Firstly he was apologising for the disruption, he said this was a | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
pointless strike and he said there had to be more negotiations. Both | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
sides accusing each other of intransigence over this. Boris | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
Johnson also repeating the idea there should be a 50% threshold for | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
strikes, that 50% of members have to vote in favour on key public | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
services like public transport. Thank you very much. Spirits are not | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
dampened behind him. It is OK if you are a skeleton, you | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
have still got service, not so much for the rest of us. What about the | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
idea of the Mayor's, that at least 50% of people should vote for a | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
strike before they can call one? The first point to make, I am really | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
sorry commuters are being subjected to those disruptions, it is quite | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
unnecessary. TfL are trying to modernise the Tube and do sensible | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
things in a sensible way, and this strike is quite unjustifiable. The | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
right thing to do is to condemn the strike, which we do unequivocally, | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
and which Labour have refused to do. Ed Miliband's helpful contribution | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
was to say there should be negotiations. I don't know what | :04:54. | :05:03. | |
Boris was supposed to do, get out to Rio and negotiate? He has been out | :05:04. | :05:11. | |
since the weekend, Bob Crow. His mind was made up well in | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
advance, Bob Crow wanted a strike. Fewer than 50% of union members | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
voted and within that 50%, not everybody voted for a strike. What | :05:22. | :05:29. | |
about the idea of a 50% turnout before you can call a strike? That | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
is an idea that has been ventilated at various times. We keep it under | :05:36. | :05:44. | |
review. The risk is you would enable union leaders to manipulate the | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
results, so you get the result over 50% which lends greater legitimacy | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
to the result. There are some other oddities with the way strike laws | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
work at the moment. I understand that but it doesn't seem... You say | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
it is under consideration which is a way of saying you're not going to do | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
it. We have no plans to do it at the moment at we will continue to keep | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
it under review. If only 30% of people vote in total, does that | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
undermine the legitimacy of the strike? Absolutely, it makes it a | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
very weak mandate and it means that you can only then get, | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
realistically, if that small number of people have only voted for a | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
strike... If more than those come out on strike, it is likely to show | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
a degree of intimidation behind the strike and that is what I think is | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
bothersome. When Boris Johnson was elected mayor on a turnout of 38% in | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
2012, that was a very weak mandate. No, because that is about the | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
ability of the union to call people out on strike. How can one turnout | :06:54. | :07:01. | |
of between 30 and 40% have no mandate, but a man who gets elected | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
mayor with only a turnout of 38% come out cannot be a mandate? You | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
would have to ask Boris, he is urging the case for a 50% threshold. | :07:12. | :07:20. | |
Which confirms that you are against the 50% threshold. We are keeping it | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
under review. There are risks attached to it. On this strike there | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
are to be no compulsory redundancies. Indeed, some people | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
will be hired. People who are behind ticket offices that almost nobody | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
uses will be redeployed to the platforms. And that will add to the | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
security and safety of the overall operation. What is wrong with that? | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
What we know is that negotiations have taken place. We said the | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
strikes should not have gone ahead. It is clear from the newspapers... | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
What is wrong with it? It is a matter for the unions and the TfL | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
and the Mayor. I am asking you, what is wrong with the system that uses | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
no compulsory redundancies, almost nobody uses ticket offices, you get | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
the people on to the platforms and people are happier, and no | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
compulsory redundancies. I think people are concerned about the lack | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
of ticket offices and face-to-face contact. I have been in Tube | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
stations where the Oyster card has not worked, people are not sure what | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
is going on so they will be concerned. It is a matter for | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
negotiation. It would be helpful if the Mayor of London had met the | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
leader of the union coming hasn't met him in five years. It would have | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
been helpful if Bob Crow had not gone to Rio de Janeiro. Instead of | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
arguing about if we need strike laws, what is clear is that CFO, -- | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
TfL, the Mayor of London and the union should sit down and negotiate | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
these things. Is Bob Crow right to call his members on strike? He is | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
right if he thinks there is an issue at stake, he is right to go to his | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
members and say, we think there is a dispute that needs to be pursued and | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
we think the only way is a strike. It is up to him. Why can't you stand | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
up for hard-working people who want to get to work and do their day 's | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
work? We are standing up for hard-working people, we have said | :09:31. | :09:32. | |
quite clearly that the strike should not have gone ahead. What people | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
will be concerned about is we have heard Boris Johnson's only | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
contribution, to start talking about changing the laws with respect to | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
strikes. You have not been able to confirm if it will be Conservative | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
policy. I think he has confirmed it won't be. And he doesn't know what | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
he is talking about. I think people would want to know what Boris's | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
pitch is, to get it resolved, get around the table and sort it out. | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
The truth is that Bob Crow decided to call the strike. It is both of | :10:08. | :10:16. | |
them. He did win the votes for it, his members voted for it. When you | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
have got a mandate to call a strike, it doesn't mean you have to call it. | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
Except that there is an oddity in the law which means if you have got | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
a strike mandate, you have to use it within 28 days or you lose it. And | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
once you have used it, it remains in place for ever. That does need to be | :10:36. | :10:42. | |
looked at. Bob Crow called the strike, pushed off on his crews, so | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
the negotiations could not take place. -- on his cruise. But he | :10:47. | :10:56. | |
booked it a year ago. Instead of making sound bites, let's save two | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
of one that millions of people are suffering, let's say two Bob Crow | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
and Boris Johnson, sit down around the table and sort it out. This is | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
the line all oppositions take. What is the alternative? David Cameron | :11:11. | :11:19. | |
says the following, Bob Crow's Tube strike is plain wrong and he should | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
call it off today. Do you agree? We have said it should not have gone | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
ahead, Ed Miliband has said that. You think Mr Crow was wrong to call | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
the strike? We have said it should not have gone ahead. There is no | :11:34. | :11:41. | |
equivocation. You should express a real view. That the strike should | :11:42. | :11:52. | |
not go ahead, that is a real view. I think what everybody wants to say, | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
is to love people like me and you talking about it, get them around | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
the table, talk about it and sort it out. Getting new two around the | :12:00. | :12:10. | |
table hasn't got us very far. -- you two around the table. | :12:11. | :12:12. | |
Fans of a coalition bust-up haven't had to look far this week as the | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
list of things the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats don't agree on | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
just grows and grows. We've already had a very public row over | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
appointments to Ofsted. And today Treasury Minister Danny Alexander | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
says the Tories can cut the top rate of tax "over my dead body". So, are | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
they still in coalition, or are they just cohabiting? Jo-Co has the | :12:31. | :12:31. | |
details. Is the coalition love-in well and | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
truly over? Danny Alexander's previously been accused of "going | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
native". But today he's out to prove he's not true blue, but yellow to | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
the core. He's said the Tories will only be able cut the top rate of tax | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
to 40p "over my dead body" - a position likely to enrage many in | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
the Conservative Party. And, coalition tensions are rising | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
elsewhere in government too. Reports this morning say the Lib Dems have | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
blocked a plan to cap council tax rises at 1.5%. Also this week - | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
coalition cheerleader David Laws got into a rather public row with | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
Michael Gove over Ofsted. He let it be known he was "furious" over the | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
decision not to re-appoint Labour peer Sally Morgan as Ofsted chair. | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
And the slow divorce has been picking up pace in the Lords, where | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
Lib Dems peers are increasingly happy to inflict defeats on the | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
Government on issues like the EU referendum. With Government | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
legislation drying up in the Commons, it seems the coalition's | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
radical phase could be over. And as they don't agree on enough to bring | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
forward any new major bills, there's even less reason for the two parties | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
to avoid fighting in public. Thanks, Jo-Co. Sorry we had a | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
problem with the graphic, nothing animated, it got stuck. I don't know | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
why we didn't take a monkey wrench to it. With us now is our new BFF - | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
that means Best Friend Forever: it's the Deputy Leader of the Liberal | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
Democrats, Malcolm Bruce. He is fresh from his triumph on the Sunday | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
Politics. Malcolm Bruce, the new deputy leader of the Lib Dems. This | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
is now a loveless marriage, isn't it? We will have to go through 16 | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
months of the constant tests. It never was a marriage, it was an | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
agreement between two parties to run the government together, they have | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
different agendas and backgrounds but we have had a core objective to | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
turn the country around, which we are succeeding and it doesn't mean | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
we have to agree on every policy. You are staying together for the | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
sake of the kids, also known as the deficit. It is the sake of the | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
people. We are turning the country around, tackling the deficit. | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
Liberal Democrats have cut taxes, boost pensions and we have got the | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
deficit under control, kept interest rates down, we have growth coming | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
back into the economy and you say it hasn't been worth it. I have told | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
you nothing, For many movers and shakers at Westminster | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
we have disagreements. You pick fights, you picked a fight over who | :15:13. | :15:25. | |
would be head of Ofsted. I would suggest the Secretary of State | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
picked that fight. He himself has not put its head above the parapet. | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
Would you thought it would have consulted the schools minister about | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
how to replace and who to replace the inspector of schools with? The | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
fact that he didn't suggests... Why hasn't he said something in public | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
then? I think they have met in the course of the week. That's not | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
public. They work together. He just unleashes his friends, more bad | :15:54. | :15:56. | |
blood into it. They have agreed together a process which was not in | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
place at the weekend. Danny Alexander, who now feels he has to | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
do begin self up to the left of the party because they all think he's | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
gone to Tory, picking an aunt Sally. The Tories know they can't cut the | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
top rate of tax to 40% this side of the election. Even if they wanted to | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
but, all of a sudden, he said they will do it over my dead body. He's | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
picking a fight. He was being challenged by left-wing newspaper. | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
He gave a straightforward answer, which the Lib Dems do not believe | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
the priority between now and the election should be. He's ever Tories | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
wouldn't do it over his dead body. They won't attempt to do it. In | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
which case, his body will be relevant. I think is entitled to the | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
public we don't support it. We know that. It over his dead body. We | :16:48. | :16:55. | |
support carrying on with raising the tax threshold. We are trying to see | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
if we can go on in the next Parliament to go further. We are | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
trying to say the people, this is how we differ, and when you come to | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
an election can do can make choices. You were once quoted as saying Uber | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
fed governing the Lib Dems than a small Tory majority. I said, in | :17:12. | :17:18. | |
2010, when the coalition was formed, it was a real advantage having a | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
coalition with a broad base, in order to do the really difficult | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
things that had to be done to get the deficit down. And that's | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
absolutely the case. At the next section, I want an outright | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
Conservative Government. I get on well with them. I understand | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
completely why the Lib Dems want to pick these fights, because they have | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
paid a heavy political price for being in coalition. I feel like a | :17:42. | :17:50. | |
marriage counsellor here. I'm saving you for the best. You just used the | :17:51. | :18:01. | |
phrase, picking fights. They want to differentiate themselves I | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
understand that. It's politics. We are getting on the long-term plan, | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
doing the job in Government, in a purposeful way, to secure the | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
long-term... You're grateful to have the Lib Dems counteracting your | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
right-wing element. That is not a factor. Isn't it? We don't have an | :18:19. | :18:25. | |
outright majority, and that's what we'll be campaigning for at the next | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
election. You keep the right place because you need Lib Dems support. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
It's not a factor far as I'm concerned. What is important is we | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
continue to give a stable Government when we still have a deficit that is | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
too high, and would need to continue to do the difficult radical things | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
needed to drive it down. Do you fancy replacing the Tories in a | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
loveless marriage? Not a loveless marriage. We want to replace a Tory | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
led Government at the next election. Even I have worked that out. If you | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
don't get an overall majority, have denied any kind of discussions with | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
the Lib Dems? Not at all. Do you think you might as the election | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
approaches? The Labour Party will be focused on winning... We know that. | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
It's an important thing to state because people will speculate. There | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
is no surprise that you want to win the next election. People speculate | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
but I thinking about it. On a lot of things, the Lib Dems are much closer | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
to you than they are to Frances Maude and his party. You don't want | :19:38. | :19:41. | |
to 40% rate of tax, you want a mansion tax, you want more taxes on | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
the rich, as well. You could possibly get on quite well together. | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
It depends on which part of the Liberal Party you talk to. What | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
about this part? You will find liberals are very different, | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
depending on who you speak to. I go back to the point, we would campaign | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
for an outright Labour majority. In terms of saying to the Liberals, | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
we're not thinking about negotiating with them or what will happen. We | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
would campaign... Isn't that a mistake? Those on your own party | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
criticised the fact you didn't lay the ground for negotiations last | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
time round? I don't think it is a mistake because people want to know | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
you are confident, you're going into the next election believing you can | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
win it. On what major policies do you to disagree on? Nuclear weapons. | :20:34. | :20:42. | |
I'm not sure what policies on nuclear weapons. You didn't get that | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
at them you were in Government. We are in the favour of the renewal of | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
Trident. In respect of Trident alternative for the future, it's | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
quite clear they wanted very much reduced level of... They'd want like | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
the like. Would that be a deal-breaker? Defence of the country | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
is a huge issue. You asked me for a big policy difference between us and | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
the Liberals. Everybody wants to win the election and be realistic. The | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
truth is... Winning outright victory will be a challenge for us. That | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
shocks me. I may have to have a minutes silence. I think the public | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
would expect parties to have a plan B. Yes, you want to win, but you | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
must have some idea. We're not going to discuss it in public because you | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
set your manifesto and you see what your outcome is pleased we will say | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
what the process will be and we are prepared to negotiate in those | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
circumstances. Can you hold your policy inside the Labour Party that | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
there will have to be a like-for-like replacement of | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
Trident? Absolutely. Ed Miliband is an soft on this? Not at all. What | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
about council taxes? You want a cap of 1.5 percentage to be said, | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
otherwise there has to be a referendum, and the Lib Dems want to | :22:15. | :22:23. | |
be able to do 2%. Yes, I doubt the background to that. It's a story in | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
the papers today. The Conservatives have lost that battle. You would | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
like to reduce it. It will be held at 2%. Something will no doubt be | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
announced in due course in the proper way. There are agreements in | :22:36. | :22:45. | |
coalition. I have seen Borgen, so I know how it works! In the Thatcher | :22:46. | :22:54. | |
years when I was a minister, you come out and start a different | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
views. You argue it out. It's the same in a coalition. We will see you | :22:59. | :23:09. | |
very shortly. For many movers and shakers at Westminster it's one of | :23:10. | :23:17. | |
THE social events of the year. Last year guests paid ?400 to sip | :23:18. | :23:20. | |
champagne and rub shoulders with celebrities like Peter Stringfellow. | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
And Holly Valance. Who is that? And Francis Maude. Yes, he is with us | :23:26. | :23:38. | |
now! In previous years, the organisers have auctioned off City | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
internships for the kids, or a day's shooting on a country estate. To | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
show their commitment to social mobility. And last year someone was | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
said to have paid ?10,000 just to meet Justin Bieber backstage at a | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
gig. That wasn't you, was that, Andrew? I didn't know he was a Tory! | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
That wouldn't even cover his bail these days. So what is this | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
glittering event I hear you ask? Why, it's the Conservatives' Black | :24:08. | :24:10. | |
and White fundraising ball. It used to be called the Blue Ball but now I | :24:11. | :24:17. | |
have to be more diverse. Which is being held tonight at a secret | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
location somewhere in London. It's hardly secret. It's usually in | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
Battersea Park. Good thing they won't have to use public transport. | :24:26. | :24:28. | |
They have all got chauffeur driven cars. Sadly not. But as those Tory | :24:29. | :24:35. | |
donors dig deep into their pockets, there's one prize that won't be up | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
for auction. Inevitably it's the Daily Politics mug. Here's what it | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
would look like if David Cameron had one. And it would raise so much | :24:46. | :24:55. | |
money the party could tell all its donors to pack up and go home. We | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
should point out that the event is no longer black-tie. But it looks a | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
lot better if we put him in black-tie. Artistic licence. We'll | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
remind you how to enter in a minute. But let's see if you can remember | :25:12. | :25:13. | |
when THIS happened. COMMENTATOR: This first London | :25:14. | :25:25. | |
Marathon, even before it started, is already the most remarkable success. | :25:26. | :25:33. | |
# It's my party and I'll cry if I want to # Cry if I want to # You | :25:34. | :25:42. | |
would cry too if it happened to you... | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
# Oh, tainted love # Oh, tainted love # Now I know I've got to run | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
away # We fade to grey. # We fade to | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
grey. # Don't you ever stop being dandy, | :26:04. | :26:22. | |
showing me your hand some # Prince Charming # Ridicule is nothing to be | :26:23. | :26:24. | |
scared of. Dot. To be in with a chance of winning a | :26:25. | :26:40. | |
Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email address. | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
[email protected]. And you can see the full terms and conditions for | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
Guess The Year on our website. It's coming up to midday here. I think we | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
have got the Big Ben camera again. We can afford it for one week only. | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
Prime Minister 's questions is on moon. If you'd like to comment on | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
proceedings you can email us at [email protected] or tweet | :27:05. | :27:06. | |
your thoughts using the hashtag #bbcdp. We will read them out if | :27:07. | :27:14. | |
they are possible to read out on daytime television. Nick Robinson is | :27:15. | :27:22. | |
here. Thank you so much. I meant to bring in a picture which I thought | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
would appreciate that please you. It's a picture of me and Alex | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
Ferguson. Really? I thought that would make you jealous. He plays | :27:31. | :27:38. | |
with a round ball. Things are not going very well at my favourite | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
club. Floods have been in an useful to it's been hard for the to avoid | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
floods. It's been tempting given Prince Charles's criticism | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
yesterday, implied, when he said wider take so long for anything to | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
happen? It would be tempting for Ed Miliband to ask, a signal it's | :27:58. | :27:59. | |
become critical, the fact the Prime Minister is chairing this Cobra | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
emergency meeting. We are a long way off but any politician who remembers | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
New Orleans, and what happened to George Bush, knows you do not ignore | :28:10. | :28:16. | |
something in a particular location when people are saying where are the | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
authorities? It's not on the scale of New Orleans, is not as political, | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
but the pictures are dramatic, and I was talking to a minister the other | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
day and David Cameron was talking about dredging endlessly. He's taken | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
a real interest in this. Maybe because it comes from a rural | :28:36. | :28:38. | |
constituency and has knowledge of flooding, but it could be he got | :28:39. | :28:41. | |
pretty acute political antenna and will realise if those pictures keep | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
going on, and with Prince Charles unit, and Ed Miliband races it | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
today, these things can damage him. It's been the policy of the | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
Environment Agency not to dredge, and do the opposite. The previous | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
head wanted to get rid of the pumping stations and the local | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
advice I understand, if you go down there, not in London, but the local | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
advice, the drainage experts, people who run the water board, say we | :29:07. | :29:09. | |
should never have stopped dredging. It's becoming a big problem. I think | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
that's right for the these are not ordinary rivers but artificial | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
drainage. Built by the Dutch for Charles I, I believe. You have to do | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
dredge them. The pattern has been, you dredge them and put the silt on | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
the field which has the effect of increasing the fertility and raising | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
the level of the land either side but, apparently, there is an EU | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
directive which prevents the silt being put on the land for that you | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
can only put it within one machine's length of the bank which | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
seems a bit bonkers. People just want a sense of urgency. Let's get | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
on with it. That's a big thing I think people want. Why doesn't it | :29:55. | :30:01. | |
just happened? Sympathy. We said dredging was a problem and then we | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
said no, but we won't do it. Local people have always thought dredging | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
in the Norfolk Broads, where they have retained control of their below | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
sea level, they have been dredging and they haven't been flooded. As I | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
understand it, there's quite a gulf between the Government the | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
Environment Agency. And Lord Smith, ex-Labour politician, they are not | :30:26. | :30:28. | |
happy with this performance by the Prime Minister can hardly attack the | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
agency or Chris Smith at PMQ 's. He can't, but he can look like he's | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
taking charge. I'm under Tony Blair with foot and mouth, and it was | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
following the official advice, doing what the Minister of agriculture | :30:42. | :30:44. | |
said, and there was a moment in that scandal where he suddenly thought, | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
and I was called in for a meeting with him and the chief scientist, | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
and a group of journalists, and there was a sense of the Prime | :30:54. | :30:55. | |
Minister thought, forget all this, I'm sick of this advice. I'm taking | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
charge here. Francis would know better than I would, with the Prime | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
Minister has got to that moment but I think Prime ministers tend to have | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
moments where they think, enough of this. I'm in charge. We will ask | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
Francis Lai questioned when we come back. Let's go to Prime Minister 's | :31:13. | :31:14. | |
questions. London is the commercial centre of | :31:15. | :31:39. | |
the Western world. With the economy falling, would he agree that the | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
efforts of the RMT union to bring London to a halt is nothing short of | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
economic vandalism? I absolutely agree with my right-friend-macro. | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
There is absolutely no justification for a strike. We need a modernised | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
Tube line working for the millions of Londoners who use it everyday. | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
The fact is only 3% of transactions involve ticket offices so it makes | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
sense to have fewer people in those offices but more people on the | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
platforms and the stations. I unreservedly condemn this strike. | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
When the shadow defence minister was asked to do so today, he said it was | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
a matter for the union. I hope the right honourable gentleman, the | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
leader of the opposition, will get up and unreservedly condemn this | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
strike today. JEERING | :32:33. | :32:40. | |
The ongoing floods and storms are seeing people driven out of their | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
homes and affecting significant parts of the country. Many of those | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
affected feel the government's response has been slow and more | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
could have been done sooner. We'll be Prime Minister tell the house | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
what action is being taken to ensure areas affected have all the | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
necessary support they need? Let me update the house on this very | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
serious situation. I don't accept the government has been slow, we | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
have been having Cobra meetings on a daily basis and taken action across | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
the board. There are currently 328 properties flooded. 122,000 | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
properties were rejected last night because of the flood prevention | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
measures in place. 1.2 million protected since December. There are | :33:25. | :33:27. | |
still seven severe flood warnings across the coast of Cornwall, Devon | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
and Dorset and there are 69 flood warnings in place, which means more | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
flooding is expected and immediate action is required. There are 219 | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
flood alerts in place. There is a serious situation in Dorset with so | :33:44. | :33:46. | |
many people losing electricity. Over 60,000 homes have been reconnected | :33:47. | :33:54. | |
overnight. Whatever is required, whether it is dredging work, whether | :33:55. | :33:57. | |
it is support for emergency services, whether it is fresh money | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
for flood defences, whether it is action across-the-board, this | :34:03. | :34:05. | |
government will help those families and get the issue sorted. | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
Notwithstanding the prime Minister's response, you know many | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
people in those areas feel the response has been too slow and that | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
they have been left on their own and isolated. Does he agree that the | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
events we have seen demand a comprehensive look at the | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
government's investment in the protection and the speed of | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
response? The Prime Minister 's promise to report by the end of | :34:35. | :34:38. | |
January. Can he tell us when the report will be available -- the | :34:39. | :34:39. | |
Prime Minister promised. I can tell the house he will make a | :34:40. | :34:49. | |
comp offensive statement tomorrow. This government has spent 2.4 | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
billion over this four-year period, which is more than the ?2.2 billion | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
spent under the previous government. Let me announce that a further ?100 | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
million will be made available to fund essential flood repairs and | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
maintenance over the next year. This will cover ?75 million for repairs, | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
?10 million for urgent work in Somerset to deliver the action plan | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
that is being prepared by the local agencies, and ?15 million for extra | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
maintenance. I would make the point, we are only able to make these | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
decisions because we have looked after the nation's finances | :35:26. | :35:32. | |
carefully. I can confirm it is new money that will protect more houses | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
and help our country more with floods, and we will continue to do | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
what is right. Actually the figures show that investment by the | :35:43. | :35:44. | |
government has fallen over this period, not risen. But the reality | :35:45. | :35:52. | |
is that the scale of challenge we face, from climate change and | :35:53. | :35:55. | |
floods, demands we have a conference of look at the investment that is | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
required and I am glad the Prime Minister has said the environment | :36:00. | :36:02. | |
Secretary will come to the house tomorrow. I wanted to do another | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
subject. The Prime Minister -- I want to turn to another subject was | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
that the Prime Minister said he was going to lead the way on women's | :36:14. | :36:20. | |
equality. Can the Prime Minister tell us, how is that going in the | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
Conservative Party? Let me go back to the very important issue of | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
flooding. Order. People getting very excited on both sides of the house. | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
The question has been put, the answer must we heard. I am that he | :36:35. | :36:43. | |
is asking me about constituency selection with Falkirk going on. Let | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
me return to the issue of floods. If you look at 2010 to 2014, when this | :36:49. | :36:55. | |
government was in office, the funding was ?2.4 billion more than | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
when Labour were in office. Secondly, and this will be of | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
interest to a number of constituency MPs, when it comes to funding, the | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
bell in the scheme also matters because it is the way the government | :37:09. | :37:17. | |
supports local authorities. Order, order, you are an incorrigible | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
delinquent at times. Behave yourself, man. I know that many | :37:22. | :37:29. | |
honourable members with flooded homes in their constituencies will | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
want to hear about this scheme because it is the way that central | :37:34. | :37:36. | |
government helps local government. Let me say that we will be paying | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
local authorities 100% of eligible costs above the grant threshold, we | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
will be extending the eligible... Mr Speaker... However longer session | :37:47. | :37:53. | |
takes, the questions will be heard and the answers will be heard. | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
Order... That is what the public has a right to expect of this house. | :38:00. | :38:06. | |
They claim to be concerned but they won't listen to the answers. We are | :38:07. | :38:10. | |
extending the eligible spending period for the claims until the end | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
of March 2014, recognising that the bad weather is continuing. I can say | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
to colleagues in Cornwall we will make sure they don't suffer from | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
having a unitary authority, which we know they believe is very important. | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
On the important issue of getting more women into public life... | :38:29. | :38:30. | |
CHEERING because we will not represent or | :38:31. | :38:40. | |
govern our country properly unless we have more women at every level in | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
our public life and in our politics. I am proud of the fact that as | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
leader of the Conservative Party, the number of women MPs has gone | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
from 17 to 48, but we need to do much more. I want this to go | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
further. We have also seen more women in work than ever before, a | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
tax cut for 11 million women. We have stopped pensions binned it | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
related against women -- being discriminated against women and we | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
are putting women at the front of international aid programmes. There | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
is more to do but we have a good record of helping women in our | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
economy. Mr Speaker... JEERING | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
I do have to say, a picture tells a thousand words. This is a prime | :39:31. | :39:41. | |
Minister who said... I apologise for having to interrupt again. Calm | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
yourselves, it is only just after midday, many hours of the day | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
remain, don't destroy your systems by exploding. A picture tells 1000 | :39:53. | :39:58. | |
words, look at the all-male front bench before us. And he says he | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
wants to represent the whole country. Mr Speaker, I guess they | :40:03. | :40:09. | |
didn't let women into the Bullingdon club either. So there we go. He said | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
a third of his ministers would be women, he is nowhere near meeting | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
the target. Half of women he appointed after the election have | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
resigned or been sacked. In his cabinet, there are as many men who | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
went to Eton or Westminster as there are women. That is the picture. Does | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
he think it is his fault that the Conservative Party has a problem | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
with women? Let me give him the figures. Of the full members of the | :40:39. | :40:45. | |
Cabinet who are conservatives, 24%, one quarter of them are women. Not | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
enough, I want to see that grow. Of the front bench ministers, of the | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
Conservatives, around 20% are women, that is below what I want to achieve | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
in 33%. We are making progress and we will make more progress. Let me | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
make this point, this party is proud of the fact that we had a woman | :41:07. | :41:08. | |
Prime Minister... CHEERING | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
Yes, yes. To be fair... To be fair to the | :41:14. | :41:26. | |
Labour Party... Order, Mr Gove... LAUGHTER | :41:27. | :41:35. | |
Order! You really are a very over excitable individual. You need to | :41:36. | :41:48. | |
write out 1000 times, I will behave myself at Prime Minister's | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
Questions. To be fair to the Labour Party they have had some interim | :41:56. | :41:58. | |
leaders who are women but they have a habit of replacing them with | :41:59. | :42:07. | |
totally ineffective men. HECKLING | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
Of course, he mentions Lady Thatcher. Unlike him, she was a Tory | :42:14. | :42:25. | |
leader who won a general election. And Mr Speaker, I noticed the member | :42:26. | :42:33. | |
for North Essex in his place and he wrote a very interesting article | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
recently. He said we men are all guilty of such unconscious lights to | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
women. The Prime Minister recently greeted a leading high profile | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
business woman at a reception by asking, where is your husband? Mr | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
Speaker, that says it all. The reason representation matters is | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
because it shapes the policies they government introduces and how they | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
impact on women in the country. And he is failing women. Can he say why, | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
for the first time in five years, has the gap between men's and | :43:06. | :43:12. | |
women's pay increased? The fact is there are more women in work in our | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
country than ever before in our history. We have seen a tax cut for | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
12 million women, a pension increase that is benefiting women, tax free | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
childcare that will help women who want to go out to work, or support | :43:25. | :43:31. | |
on childcare. He talks about MPs and candidates, he might enjoy this. The | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
Labour candidate for Wythenshawe has made an endorsement today, he has | :43:36. | :43:43. | |
endorsed Miliband, David Miliband. Mr Speaker... If I were him, I would | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
not be talking about candidates this week, of all weeks. Because what is | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
the Tory Party doing? Removing one of their most senior women and | :43:56. | :43:58. | |
seeking to replace her with an old it's only on. It says it all about | :43:59. | :44:06. | |
the Conservative Party -- old Etonian. I will tell him why the | :44:07. | :44:10. | |
gender pay gap is increasing. The minimum wage has been losing value, | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
there is a growth of zero our on tax and the problem women have accessing | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
childcare. -- zero our contracts. He is going backwards. He runs his | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
government by the old boy network, that is why he is failing women | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
across his party and the country. The win six questions and an | :44:36. | :44:38. | |
invitation to condemn the strike today, not a word. He raises | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
questions in a week when is completely rolled over to the trade | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
unions. Let's be clear about what is happening. They keep their block a | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
vote, they get more power over their discretionary funding, and they get | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
90% of the votes for the leader. He told us he was going to get that of | :44:58. | :45:00. | |
the red flag. All he's done is run up the white flag. Mr Speaker, with | :45:01. | :45:20. | |
40 farms in West Norfolk led by expansion plans, unemployment has | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
fallen by 20% since March last year. If the awareness means another 440 | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
hard working families receiving a pay packet facing a brighter future | :45:29. | :45:36. | |
and our long-term economic plans? My honourable friend is absolutely | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
right. We saw, two weeks ago, the biggest increase in employment in | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
one quarterly figure since records began in the 1970s. We are seeing an | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
employment come-down, more people in work, new jobs, the overwhelming | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
majority, full-time jobs. Nine out of ten of them in the last year have | :45:58. | :46:00. | |
been in better paid professions rather than low paid jobs. We are | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
seeing economic success and every one of those jobs isn't just a | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
statistic, but some on the pay packets can help take care of their | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
family and have the dignity and security that work brings. Isn't it | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
surprising, not a word about the economy today from Labour? They know | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
it's growing and their forecasts were wrong. In evidence to the Welsh | :46:21. | :46:28. | |
select committee, the leader of the Welsh Conservative assembly group | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
said about the income tax in the draft Wales Bill, it was not a | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
sensible course of action. Subsequently, that day, the | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
Secretary of State for Wales and said he was expressing very much a | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
personal view of his own. Later, he received a letter from the Welsh | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
Assembly group, the Conservatives, saying it was worry much their | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
opinion. Who speaks for Wales? The leader of the assembly or the sect | :46:58. | :47:00. | |
of state for Wales? He's doing a superb -- superb job standing up for | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
Wales. The NATO conference in Wales will be a success for the Welsh | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
economy. In terms of the future of devolution, we are in favour of | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
taking these further steps, we will bring forward legislation, taking | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
steps in making sure that people in Wales have a real say and I want the | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
Conservatives in Wales to stand up as a lone tax party in Wales and, | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
under our devolution plan, that's exactly what they will do. A couple | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
of weeks ago, the Daventry University technical College open | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
the doors to its new campus where, under the stewardship of it | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
excellent principle, its first 96 students will be learning the | :47:43. | :47:44. | |
vocational skills young people need to compete in the future. Does he | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
agree with me University technical colleges like this will ensure young | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
people across the country have a brighter and more secure future and | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
can be the benefits of the long-term economic plans? He's absolutely | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
right. Making sure we have the best skills and the best schools is a key | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
part of our long-term economic plan. I support very much the University | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
technical college movement. The number of pupils taught in | :48:13. | :48:15. | |
underperforming schools under the Scotsman has fallen by 250,004 | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
years, that is tens of thousands of young people who will have the | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
chance of a good future and the chance to get a job and get involved | :48:26. | :48:31. | |
in the modern economy. These buildings help people in that way. | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
On the 22nd of February 2012, I ask the Prime Minister about fraud at a | :48:37. | :48:43. | |
company working with job-seekers. He told me he was waiting for the truth | :48:44. | :48:46. | |
before he would act. This week's guilty pleas by staff reveal a | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
culture of fraud in Co. Isn't the list taxpayer fraudsters getting too | :48:53. | :49:02. | |
long? When is it going to stop? She makes an important point, but the | :49:03. | :49:05. | |
answer I would give is, instead of banding around names of companies | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
where many people in those companies will be working hard to do a good | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
job, what we should do is investigate wrongdoing properly, and | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
make sure cases are properly taken to court as in this case, it clearly | :49:19. | :49:28. | |
was. Does the Prime Minister share my outrage at the false choice | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
prevented that was ended by the Environment Agency between urban and | :49:34. | :49:39. | |
rural areas from flooding? Does he recognise my constituents and | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
elsewhere expect this and maintenance, dredging and not | :49:45. | :49:51. | |
abandonment? I think is absolutely right, there shouldn't be a false | :49:52. | :49:54. | |
choice between protecting the town or the countryside. I think what we | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
need to see, and where I think the debate is now rightly going, is, | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
from the late 1990s, for far too long, the Environment Agency | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
believed it was wrong to dredge. Those of us with rural | :50:11. | :50:14. | |
constituencies affected by flooding, have seen the effectiveness of some | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
dredging taking place. If it's good to some places, I think we need to | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
make the argument it would be good for many more places. I have said we | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
were the dredging in the Somerset Levels because that will make a | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
difference, but I believe it's time for the Environment Agency, natural | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
England, and the departments to work out a new approach to make sure | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
something which did work, frankly, for centuries, is reintroduced | :50:41. | :50:46. | |
again. Mr Speaker, Queen Victoria was on the throne when the Dunlop | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
factory in my constituency first produced tyres for the motorsport | :50:54. | :51:02. | |
industry. Jaguar Land Rover now welcome the expansion of the Jaguar | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
plant. The Business Secretary and Birmingham City Council have | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
identified three sites and a financial package to relocate. Will | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
Prime Minister join with a Business Secretary and me in urging the | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
company to look at those alternatives, and not walk away from | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
125 years of manufacturing history? I was briefed on this issue just | :51:26. | :51:28. | |
before coming to the chamber and I'm happy to look carefully at it and | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
see what can be done. The recovery of the automotive sector, | :51:34. | :51:35. | |
particularly in the West Midlands, has been hugely welcomed for our | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
country. Dunlop is a historic brand and I will do everything I can to | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
work with a Business Secretary to get a good outcome. South Essex is | :51:44. | :51:53. | |
proof our long-term economic plan is working. However, the current | :51:54. | :52:00. | |
options under consideration for an additional Thames crossing are | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
limited in their ambition and do not maximise the economic potential of | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
the Thames Gateway. Will he therefore agreed to meet with me and | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
other interested people so he can hear why the first option and the | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
third option are not the right answer? Where Essex goes, the rest | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
of the country follows, as my honourable friend says. This is an | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
important issue and we have to look at the potential bottlenecks which | :52:27. | :52:29. | |
were held back the economy. I'm happy to meet with him. The Thames | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
Gateway is a vital development for our country. I want is economic | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
environment spread throughout the country and I'm happy to hold that | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
meeting. Royal Mail shares are trading at 580 7p, 80% higher than | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
when the Government sold off its share. Does the Prime Minister still | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
believe that his Government properly valued Royal Mail and the price was | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
set at the best deal for the taxpayer? I think the Government did | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
a good job to get private-sector capital into Royal Mail, something | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
which, frankly, has evaded Governments of all colours and | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
persuasions for decades, and I well remember sitting on that side of the | :53:13. | :53:15. | |
House and hearing about the appalling losses in Royal Mail, tens | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
of millions, hundreds of millions of pounds, and the fact it's now well | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
managed, well-run, with private-sector capital is a great | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
environment for our country. -- of element. -- of element. We have a | :53:32. | :53:39. | |
strong history of supporting apprenticeships across a range of | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
sectors. With national apprenticeship week approaching next | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
month, does he agree with me the emphasis by this Government on | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
increasing apprenticeships for men and women is exactly what is needed | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
to support people getting back into work and training? She is absolutely | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
right. This Government has invested record amounts in apprenticeships, | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
over 1.5 million people have started, including many the East | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
Midlands, and I met them in her constituency. Each and every one of | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
these apprentices if someone is getting a chance, skilled, a job, | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
and the opportunity to build a life for themselves and stability and | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
security which the birthright of every single person in the country. | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
Can I tell Prime Minister the loss of the railway line at Dawlish in | :54:31. | :54:37. | |
the storms is a devastating blow to the economy of Devon and Cornwall | :54:38. | :54:41. | |
and it comes just a year after we lost the railway service from whole | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
month in last year's floods. Does he accept we have to spend a great deal | :54:47. | :54:50. | |
more investing in the resilience of our transport infrastructure and | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
leave the Government United both in its acceptance of and determination | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
to do something about climate change? I agree wholeheartedly on a | :54:59. | :55:05. | |
number of points, first of all, we need to make sure urgent action is | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
taken to restore these transport links, and I will cheer a meeting | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
this afternoon bringing together the problems of the floods and the | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
effect on transport. Secondly, we have to go on investing in rail | :55:20. | :55:22. | |
schemes for them we are putting record amounts into rail schemes. | :55:23. | :55:30. | |
The third point, we have done a real analysis of the resilience of the | :55:31. | :55:33. | |
infrastructure, something carried out by the Cabinet office, and where | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
extra production and infrastructure is needed, it will be put in place. | :55:39. | :55:46. | |
We recently visited a company in my constituency who brought | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
manufacturing jobs back to this country from China. Can he say what | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
the Government is doing to encourage more bring jobs to the UK as a | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
long-term economic plan? It was a huge pleasure to see a company which | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
makes ventilation decrement, bringing jobs from China back into | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
the UK. This is a small trend at the moment, 1500 jobs in manufacturing | :56:13. | :56:19. | |
coming back since 2011. If we manage to make sure energy is competitive, | :56:20. | :56:22. | |
the labour market is flexible and competitive, a friendly company for | :56:23. | :56:30. | |
business with low tax rates including local low corporate tax | :56:31. | :56:33. | |
rates, there's no reason more companies shouldn't come back to | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
Britain. We won't have that every Avenue anti-Labour Party policy. | :56:38. | :56:45. | |
Lastly, the CQC issued an appalling and damning report on Liverpool | :56:46. | :56:51. | |
community health. Will the Prime Minister have the historic HR | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
practices, the disciplinary actions, and the subsequent payoffs, which | :56:56. | :56:58. | |
were used as a mechanism to bully staff, forensically examined and | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
ensure the executive team and the board are held to account and | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
actually make this huge statement that bullying is not acceptable in | :57:08. | :57:14. | |
the NHS? I think she's absolutely right to raise this specific case, | :57:15. | :57:17. | |
but also the general lessons it brings. Of course, we have more to | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
do, but the CQC is a hugely improved organisation. We have got a chief | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
inspector of hospitals, and this is much more transparent than has been | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
in the past, but we're happy to look at the specific concerns about | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
bullying and we can make sure the CQC deals with this. This week, the | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
anniversary of that dreadful report into Stafford Hospital, and she's | :57:40. | :57:44. | |
absolutely committed to making sure there was a change of culture in the | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
NHS where we don't put up with poor practice and we're not afraid or | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
ashamed to surface these problems and deal with them. In my | :57:55. | :58:00. | |
constituency, business confidence is growing and unemployment has fallen | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
by over a quarter in 12 months. Will he agree with me we should take no | :58:05. | :58:07. | |
lectures from the Shadow Chancellor? We should, given the | :58:08. | :58:14. | |
report, the Green budget, which said, and I quote from last week, " | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
the latest challenge for the Chancellor remains have into content | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
of recession caused by the party opposite? " he's making an important | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
point. The Institute of fiscal studies report at this morning does | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
say the change in economic outlook from a year ago is really quite | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
remarkable. The UK recovery is getting ever closer to achieving | :58:37. | :58:42. | |
escape velocity. We keep being told by the Shadow Chancellor it's about | :58:43. | :58:45. | |
time. If we had listened to him, there would be more borrowing, | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
spending, more debt, and his view is very clear that if we gave him back | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
the keys to the car, he would drive it just as fast into the same wall | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
and wreck the economy all over again. Can the Prime Minister make | :58:58. | :59:06. | |
clear whether he still, quite wrongly, is going to try to end the | :59:07. | :59:14. | |
ban on fox hunting? My view remains what was in the manifesto on which I | :59:15. | :59:17. | |
stood with his House of Commons and the opportunity to have a debate and | :59:18. | :59:23. | |
a vote on this issue. Does he share the anxiety of many of us that the | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
programme for the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria has fallen | :59:28. | :59:35. | |
so badly behind? I agree with my right honourable friend, what is a | :59:36. | :59:38. | |
promising start with chemicals not only being discovered and removed | :59:39. | :59:44. | |
but also destroyed, there do seem to be indications that the programme is | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
slowing, and not all the information necessary is forthcoming. I | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
discussed this with President Putin 48 hours ago. Britain will continue | :59:54. | :59:57. | |
to put pressure on all parties to make sure the chemical weapons are | :59:58. | :00:04. | |
produced and destroyed. Overseas students who are offered places at | :00:05. | :00:08. | |
top British universities get extra coaching in English and maths but | :00:09. | :00:11. | |
hard-working Hackney students from poor backgrounds with top A-level | :00:12. | :00:13. | |
predictions are not even offered a place if they have a C grade in | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
maths. It's not fair and doesn't help social mobility. What will he | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
do to support hard-working Hackney students? We must continue with | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
what's been happening in Hackney, the introduction of the academy | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
schools, like the mothball academy, which is one of the most impressive | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
I have visited anywhere. We need to continue with the Chancellor's plan | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
to add an cap student numbers at universities, so anyone can get a | :00:42. | :00:48. | |
place of those universities. About GCSE grades, we have to be clear, in | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
the end, universities set the criteria rather than the Government, | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
but I'm happy to look at the specific issue. I also believe that | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
if people don't make the correct grades, in GCSEs, poetically innings | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
in maths, we ought to encourage retakes and more work. There isn't a | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
job in the world that doesn't require good English and maths, and | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
that's a very important message. No doubt the Prime Minister saw the | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
scenes of destruction resulting from storm damage in Dawlish, in my | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
constituency. The rail line is out of action, 25 families evacuated. | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
One House is about to fall into the sea. Devon and Cornwall feel cut | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
off. Is he taking all action possible to take transport systems | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
back in action and families back in their homes and Willie review the | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
funding to protect the railway line which can't be implemented for lack | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
of funding -- will he review? I'm happy to look at the suggestions she | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
makes. That's why we're having a meeting this afternoon not only is | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
this a vital artery for the south-west of our country, but also | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
one of the most before railway lines anywhere in the country, so it's | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
hugely upsetting and disturbing what is happening, and we will look at | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
the options, with great urgency. The Prime Minister will be aware of the | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
investigation into the systematic beating abuse of young men and boys | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
at a detention centre in my constituency. The victim toll has | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
topped 300. This is the biggest investigation ever undertaken by | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
Durham Constabulary, a relatively small police force. Will he commits | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
that, if it proves necessary, the Home Secretary will meet with the | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
PCC, the chief comes to land myself, to ensure the highly | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
successful team have the resources it needs to see this investigation | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
to its conclusion? The victims deserve no less. I'm very glad to | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
give the honourable lady that assurance because I don't support | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
the police merger ideas of the past. I think some of the smaller police | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
forces are hugely capable, but when they are doing very large | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
investigations like this, on occasion, they need help and support | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
so we should make sure that is available. I'm pleased with the | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
support the National Crime Agency is doing and they are fully established | :03:17. | :03:19. | |
and able to deal with the new serious crimes in terms of people | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
smuggling and sexual abuse and the like, and I think we will hear more | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
from them about the great work we're doing. I congratulate him on EU | :03:28. | :03:38. | |
referendum Bill. And also the whole of the House of Commons in passing | :03:39. | :03:46. | |
it. Will he tell us whether the dead parrot is merely resting? Does he | :03:47. | :03:54. | |
have a plan to introduce the Parliament act so we can get the | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
parrots squawking again? I hope this parrots which has beautiful plumage | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
can be resuscitated if one of my colleagues Windsor Private members | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
Bill on their side of the House, because we know the British public | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
deserve it, and I'm sure my colleagues will be delighted to | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
bring the bill back in front of this House but let's be clear, because | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
they've all gone a bit quiet over there, about why this bill was | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
killed in the House of Lords. The Labour Party, and I'm afraid to say | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
the Lib Dem party, do not want to give the British people say. Now, | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
this House, frankly, should feel affronted. We voted for this bill | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
and supported bill, so I hope this House will come together as one and | :04:38. | :04:46. | |
insist on this bill. In the Chancellor's budget of 2012, he made | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
a welcome announcement about tax breaks or the computer games | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
industry. This was passed by the European Commission last April and | :04:55. | :04:56. | |
since then, we've heard nothing and the game 's body is having a rough | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
time. Can the Prime Minister address this wretched Mark I absolutely sure | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
his frustration. I think it's perfectly within the Government's | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
right to set out a way of helping and supporting vital industries like | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
this would so important for the future of our country. We are | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
discussing it with European Commission and hopefully there will | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
be good news to come shortly. Following the questions from the | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
honourable member, of course it's absolutely true that resident in | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
Cornwall following the recent storms have been concerned that England | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
would be completely cut off. And, in view of that, whilst MPs from | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
Cornwall and the south-west of being content to support the billions for | :05:45. | :05:51. | |
HS2 and transport logics to the north, where they accept the | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
relatively small amounts needed to ensure the resilience of the rail | :05:56. | :05:58. | |
line between Penzance and Paddington? I know from personal | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
experience how vital the Penzance to Paddington link is and how many | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
people rely on it. I'm happy to look at this very urgently. Let me just | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
repeat something I was trying to say at the beginning of questions about | :06:13. | :06:14. | |
the bell rings scheme because Caucus members of Parliament are concerned | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
that now they have unitary authority, they need a big claim for | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
triggering it, and we are sorting it out so the money will be there. On | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
the transport links, it's an urgent requirement to get this right. | :06:27. | :06:27. | |
Order. It overran a little bit but Prime | :06:28. | :06:43. | |
Minister's Questions have come to an end. Two main themes, one was the | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
flooding situation, how much money is being spent, the length of time | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
that people particularly in the Somerset Levels have been | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
underwater. Mr Miliband moved on to women, or lack of, in the | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
Conservative Party, according to him, cleverly stacking his front | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
bench role of women to make the point, nothing like symbolic | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
politics. I suppose it did not mean anything if you are listening to | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
this on radio. I am not sure we even got a cutaway of the front bench | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
from the House of Commons. We will talk about that in a minute. Let's | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
hear what you thought. Those issues sparked a lot of interest from our | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
viewers, we have had lots of e-mails, and about the general tone | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
of performance in the chamber as always. This from Ian Jordan, a | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
commanding performance from Ed Miliband who has captured the | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
concerns on another key issue, the floods, and left David Cameron | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
rattled. 90% of the country has no interest in tubes strikes and point | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
scoring about it. This came from Diane intro in Cornwall. The | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
devastation affecting large parts of the South West was down to feature | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
at the Jews, Mr Miliband clearly understands our concerns, as does | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
Prince Charles, but David Cameron does not get it. This from Tim Bass, | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
a poor performance by Ed Miliband, he is in the pocket of the unions | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
and cannot condemn the Tube strike. He did not land a punch on women's | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
issues. Women in the Conservative Party, says Gordon, shows Miliband | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
has nothing useful to ask on national or international issues, | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
but on Twitter, Cameron Ratcliffe said Ed Miliband is on strong ground | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
talking about women, as half the Shadow Cabinet are female. This will | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
play well at the election against Hoff Tories. -- toff Tories. A | :08:37. | :08:46. | |
couple of people thought the Speaker's performance was | :08:47. | :08:46. | |
inappropriate. It did it did seem to be mannered and | :08:47. | :08:57. | |
preplanned. As the deacons the deselection of an Macintosh, was | :08:58. | :09:11. | |
that the reason this was triggered off by Ed Miliband? I think there is | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
that, she is a prominent conservative woman and the fact she | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
is about to be replaced by an old Tony was a gift the Labour Party. | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
Four women MPs new to the House of Commons have also announced they are | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
not running again. One of them, unfortunately the only woman to ask | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
a question from their benches today. They have chosen not to run again. | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
In his own lights, David Cameron has a woman problem. A third of | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
ministers to be women was his target, by his own figures it is | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
about a quarter of a cabinet and a fifth of ministers overall. The | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
truth is these things matter. They did actually cut away. The pictures | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
are pretty devastating. Of course Labour pact its front bench and | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
unusual for the Conservatives, there was not a single woman inside. | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
Theresa May was not there, Maria Miller, Theresa Villiers. Why didn't | :10:06. | :10:14. | |
you see that coming? There are four women in the Cabinet and they are | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
usually there, Justine Greening has an international role and she may be | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
brought. Theresa Villiers is Northern Ireland Secretary so she | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
may be in Belfast. I don't know the reasons why they are not there. It | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
is very unusual. The only two women, one is Miss McIntosh is being | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
deselected, and the other is an who is standing down. It is not quite | :10:36. | :10:37. | |
the only people who were in shock. -- who were in a shot. We have many | :10:38. | :10:49. | |
more women MPs than before, as the prime ministers said it is not | :10:50. | :10:51. | |
enough and we would like there to be more. Labour solve the problem by | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
having all women short lists. I remember a senior colleague saying | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
what you are doing will never work, it only worked for us when we forced | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
it by having all women short lists. My reply was, that means you did not | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
change your party. If we succeed in significantly increasing the number | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
of women candidates and women MPs, without coercion, then we will have | :11:13. | :11:23. | |
done something more significant. You don't reflect modern Britain, that | :11:24. | :11:24. | |
is the reality. I hear that. You need to do something about it. | :11:25. | :11:37. | |
Every constituency association that selected a woman could have selected | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
a white male, and they didn't. That is evidence that the party is | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
changing. I don't know what was going on in the constituency of Miss | :11:45. | :11:45. | |
McIntosh. How can in her constituency party, one of | :11:46. | :12:02. | |
the people in the particles are a silly little girl. What an | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
incredible thing to say. That is a bit of a generalisation from one | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
example. There have been three deselection attempts on Conservative | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
MPs, two have been men, one has been a woman. It is hard to discern a | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
pattern from that. Maybe it is a Tory equivalent of the Arab Spring. | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
Maybe your rank and file have decided they have minds of their | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
own. They have always had minds of their own and have vigorously | :12:30. | :12:37. | |
expressed them. The number of Tory women MPs who are standing down is | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
the same proportion as in Labour. It is of no great significance. That is | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
a man clutching at straws. Half the Shadow Cabinet are women, half | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
candidates listed in seats that are winnable at the next general | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
election... There are women candidates. You try doing what we do | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
and not having all women short lists. I am proud that we have a | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
Moura presence to party. You have a front bench pack full of men -- a | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
more representative party. Neither of you would be held in government | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
are the Lib Dems because they offered no women in the Cabinet. You | :13:20. | :13:29. | |
have to think about that. I think the reason this is politically | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
potent at this time is the difference in attitudes of women and | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
men to austerity, for example. You can theorise about why this is, it | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
may be that women are in control of spending in households, often, they | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
are trying to make ends meet, they are worrying about the weekly shop. | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
It is a generalisation, it is not always true but if you look at | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
opinion polling, men are much more sympathetic to cutting public | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
spending than women, there is quite a big tap in attitudes. The reason | :13:58. | :14:06. | |
Labour can make a deal of this is there is evidence in the opinion | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
polls and on the doorstep that women are much less pathetic to the cuts, | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
to benefits changes, to the pressure on their finances, and that is | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
hurting the Tories. I need to move on to floods. People have still got | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
stagnant water coming up to their front doors, whether they are men or | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
women. Is there any doubt in your mind that the government has taken | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
over events in the Somerset Levels from the Environment Agency? This | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
government is now in the driving seat? No doubt that it is the Prime | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
Minister rather than the bar and secretary. Two things we noticed, | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
invited to criticise -- rather than the Environment Secretary. Chris | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
Smith clearly said he is wrong about the choice between town and country | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
and the issue of dredging, and he made it absolutely plain that he | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
would be chairing the emergency committee of Cobra this afternoon. | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
David Cameron, in the clearest possible way, said he is in charge | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
now. Given the Prime Minister is in charge, why would he claimed this | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
government is spending more on flood defences when it is clearly not? He | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
is saying there is more public spending on flood defences. If you | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
take all the money that is being spent by the government and local | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
authorities on flood defences, that has risen. Total expenditure on | :15:31. | :15:41. | |
flood defences is expected to fall from 646 million from the EU came to | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
power, to 546 million x 2015. In real terms, total spending falls to | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
100 million. My understanding is if you look at all of the spending, tax | :15:55. | :16:06. | |
payer funded then , it has risen. Government grants down, local | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
councils are spending more. People might say councils are having to cut | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
other things to subsidise the fact the government have cut their | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
grants. In terms of what is being spent on flood defences, it is up. | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
Mr Cameron can't take credit, central government spending is down. | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
People are suffering flooding, notwithstanding the debate about who | :16:33. | :16:34. | |
is spending what, they want the government to get a grip and they | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
want it sorted with a sense of urgency. I think they are getting | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
that. It has taken a few weeks. You are not getting that we have run out | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
of time. We have to move on, we have important matters still to content | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
with. Nick, you are raised. Pay the fee on the way out. -- you are | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
released. The teaching of creationism is | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
banned in state funded schools but that is not the case in the | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
independent sector. For the academic and television presenter Alice | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
Roberts, the answer is yes and she argues that teaching the subject as | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
a science could have dire consequences for a child's | :17:18. | :17:17. | |
education. Welcome to at Bristol, one of the | :17:18. | :17:38. | |
UK's biggest interactive science centres. Here, children and adults | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
can learn about the stars in the sky, see what our brains look like | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
and find out about our Jeanne Emms. Science helps us understand | :17:49. | :17:50. | |
ourselves and the world around us. -- our Jeanne | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
a think it is incredibly important that we are honest in children -- | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
with children and that includes being honest about the overwhelming | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
evidence of evolution. Teaching a religious story as scientifically | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
valid is nonsense. I don't have a problem with creationism being | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
discussed in religious education lessons but it has no place in | :18:18. | :18:19. | |
science education. Our government agrees that | :18:20. | :18:36. | |
creationism should not be taught as a scientifically valid theory in any | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
state funded schools, and that includes free schools. But in the | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
private sector, there are schools teaching creationism as science. | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
Should we allow creationist schools at all in the UK? Should we validate | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
creationist exams? I think there needs to be more debate on this | :18:55. | :18:56. | |
issue. Science is more than just a load of | :18:57. | :19:11. | |
facts, it is based on evidence, and it is a way of thinking that teaches | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
us to question everything we think we know. I think that is what we | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
should be teaching our children, rather than some unswerving belief | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
in ancient texts. In fact, I think creationism has the potential to | :19:27. | :19:39. | |
ruin a scientific education. It And Alice Roberts joins me now from | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
Bristol. She was meant to be here with us in Westminster but her train | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
was cancelled, presumably due to the travel disruption in London! It was | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
the weather. What evidence to you have that teaching of creationism | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
can ruin a scientific education? It produces a very narrow minded | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
approach to the world. I think a really good example of the kind of | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
impact it can have on somebody's life is out there. A man was | :20:07. | :20:15. | |
educated in one of these schools which ran this is part of the | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
curriculum and he's been quite outspoken about what it was taught | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
in school about anybody who believes in evolution was dishonest, it was | :20:22. | :20:29. | |
an indefensible theory, so it teaches and narrow-minded attitude. | :20:30. | :20:31. | |
In fact, he's published an article in the new statesman today, talking | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
about this whole issue, and giving some excerpts from the accelerated | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
Christian education curriculum as well. It does talk about evolution | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
as an indefensible failure. Do you think people have the fact choose | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
whether their children are taught creationism, even in the remit of | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
science? I think people have the right to choose, obviously, how | :20:57. | :20:58. | |
their children are educated to a certain extent but the Government | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
has a clear policy about this. Pseudoscience shouldn't be taught in | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
science. I'm not talking about what gets stored outside of science | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
lessons. The Department for Education is very clear that | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
pseudoscience, including teaching creationism science has no place in | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
science lessons. It seems odd to me to have one rule for one set of | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
schools and one rule for another. When state schools are inspected, | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
they are looking at that issue but when independent schools are | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
inspected, sometimes by Ofsted, sometimes by other inspectors, they | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
don't seem to mind any more. That seems to me to be very inconsistent. | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
Do you have a problem with faith schools generally? Is it | :21:43. | :21:44. | |
specifically this point? Specifically the fact that, when we | :21:45. | :21:52. | |
are looking at science, we should be teaching science, not allowing | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
pseudoscience to creep in to education in this way. Do you agree | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
with that? Should be banned in all schools? There's a personally | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
distinction -- as a personal distinction. They don't necessarily | :22:09. | :22:16. | |
have a choice. Independent schools, people do have a choice. As long as | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
it's transparent. The point about inspection is important. As long as | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
this is made clear, I think parents have a right to choose a particular | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
way of religious education, religious approach, if that's what | :22:32. | :22:33. | |
they want full survey is not something I would do myself. There | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
was a perfect sensible distinction to be made. You don't think it harms | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
the teaching of science? If it does harm it, then it shouldn't be taught | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
in any school? As long as it's made clear, parents can make that choice. | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
And then it's up to them. I'm in favour of people, on a well-informed | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
basis, making that choice themselves. Alice, come back. Surely | :22:58. | :23:06. | |
Ofsted have a problem if they visited an independent school and it | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
was teaching of the Earth was flat? Surely there would have a problem | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
with that? It's one thing to point it out and make it clear it's | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
happening. And to comment on it for some it's another thing to ban it. I | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
think we have to be wary, of simply disapproving of something and | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
banning it. Are they not certain basic standards? Why would that not | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
apply across the board? The key thing is this is somewhere where | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
parents have a choice. As long as they know what the choices, they | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
know what the locations. It should be left up them. Creationism is best | :23:46. | :23:53. | |
taught within the context of its education. Within the context of | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
saying this is one thing that some people think but it needs to be done | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
alongside the other things that people think. I think it's a belief | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
rather than fact. It's about where it's appropriate sleep taught. | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
Alice, thank you very much for that we have to leave it there but thank | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
you very much. Now MPs like Francis and Vernon have a lot to put up | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
with. All the voting. The cut-price bars. The demands of representing | :24:23. | :24:25. | |
their constituents. The cut-price bars. The pesky media. The cut-price | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
bars. And to cap it all the Houses of Parliament are apparently | :24:32. | :24:34. | |
infested with mice. The problem's so bad that some MPs have demanded that | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
the Commons authorities get a new cat. We didn't have a cat to send, | :24:39. | :24:41. | |
so we sent Giles over instead. Hello there. Is it news the House of | :24:42. | :24:54. | |
Commons is full of rodents? You think Lott anyway. I'm talking about | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
the little brown fairy things, rats and mice. No, this building is full | :25:00. | :25:06. | |
of them. It's an old building. Looks and crannies and, no, I don't mean | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
the bars where MPs drink. But they are looking to a solution. Come | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
here, you. Yes, eight out of ten overpaid consultants would tell you | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
within a whisker the answer is cats. Introducing a couple in this | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
building and the mice might vanish. Downing Street cat, Larry, is about | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
as active as a tired sloth and prefers publishing diaries to | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
killing, but some MPs are demanding cats. I want them dead. It's not | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
nice when they are polling and you relating alike in the next day and | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
it's covered. It is disgusting. -- you relating. In my personal space, | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
I'm now frightened to go in at night, switch the light on in case | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
they are scurrying away. The problem is, will people be frightened? | :26:03. | :26:11. | |
Giles Dilnot. And he's still standing on a chair somewhere in the | :26:12. | :26:18. | |
Commons so if you see him, please do help. Or just leave him there. Now | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
in the interests of helping MPs and peers with their problem we asked | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
viewers of the Daily Politics if their cats were up to the job. In a | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
moment we'll see some of them, but first we're joined by Phoebe the cat | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
and Vicky Snook from the Battersea Cats Home. Welcome. Phoebe, good | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
mouse? She does like to hand but is looking for a slower pace of life | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
these days. Aren't we all? She could join Daily Politics. You know how | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
big the Palace of Westminster is. One cat wouldn't be enough, would | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
it? It depends on how good a hand to the catches. The presence of a cat | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
in itself would be enough to start to scare the mice away for them they | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
will be aware that the pubs around. You should take over this afternoon. | :27:02. | :27:09. | |
That there is a predator around. We pull rehab got mice in the studios. | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
-- we have possibly got mice in the studios. We have up to 190 cats | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
across the three centres looking for homes. Phoebe is one of them. We | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
urge people to get in touch through the website. Or call one of the | :27:27. | :27:35. | |
re-homing centres in London, old Windsor or brands Hatch. I'm sure | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
they will. My cat is from Battersea Cats Home. He's a great mouse. It's | :27:42. | :27:49. | |
a match made in heaven. It's time to see the winner of Guess The Year. It | :27:50. | :27:56. | |
was 1981. Francis, press that button. Richard Williams in Cardiff, | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
well done. OK, that's about all for today. Thanks for bringing Phoebe | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
in. Thank you for the guests. The one o'clock News started on BBC One | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
in a moment. I'll be back tomorrow at noon with all the big political | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
stories of the day. And, as promised, we believe you have some | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
pictures of your cats that have sent in. Bye bye. | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
# Pussycat, pussycat, I've got flowers and lots of hours to spend | :28:31. | :28:46. | |
with you # Your cute little pussycat # Pussycat, pussycat, I love you # | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
Yes, I do. | :28:50. | :28:53. |