Browse content similar to 22/02/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks - welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
The Supreme Court says rules which stop thousands of British | :00:42. | :00:49. | |
citizens bringing their foreign spouses to the UK do not | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
contravene human rights law, but they are still defective. | :00:54. | :00:55. | |
This British man was released from Guantanamo Bay and paid | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
compensation by the British Government. | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
But he went on to join Islamic State and carried out a suicide bombing | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
There's plenty on the agenda today, as our political masters meet | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
for their regular bout of PMQs - live and uninterrupted | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
And as elections approach in Northern Ireland, | :01:15. | :01:23. | |
will political peace reign once the polls close? | :01:24. | :01:25. | |
Or are we heading for further stalemate? | :01:26. | :01:33. | |
All that in the next 90 minutes, and with us | :01:34. | :01:45. | |
for the duration are the Northern Ireland | :01:46. | :01:47. | |
Secretary James Brokenshire and the Shadow International Trade | :01:48. | :01:49. | |
First this morning, let's head over to the Supreme Court which has been | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
considering the Government's income rules which apply to British | :01:55. | :01:56. | |
Several couples have been challenging these rules through the | :01:57. | :02:07. | |
Supreme Court and it to the High Court. Our correspondent Dominic | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
Casciani is there at the Supreme Court. Doiminic, I will come to the | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
defective bit in a minute, but in principle is this a victory for the | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
Government? I think even though in technical terms they have lost, and | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
I dare say James Brokenshire with you in the studio will be one | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
pleasantly surprised and pleased by this judgment given his former | :02:33. | :02:33. | |
involvement in immigration policy, but what this | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
amounts to is an endorsement by the Supreme Court, our highest judges, | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
to be very controversial policy, saying British citizens who wanted | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
to bring in a foreign spouse from outside the EEA, that they had of a | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
minimum income to bring that in an sponsor that arrival of ?18,600. And | :02:57. | :03:05. | |
they have been called escape generation, lots of criticism of | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
this, people saying that it was a breach of their family life, of | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
their human rights, but the Supreme Court today has ruled in effect that | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
the Government has the power to set that minimum income level, and | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
although it has a harsh effect on some families, it is an entirely | :03:22. | :03:30. | |
legitimate exercise in order to help control immigration. OK, so the | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
court has ruled they are illegal in principle and this has been through | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
the High Court, the appeals court and now the Supreme Court. But the | :03:37. | :03:43. | |
7-member team at the Supreme Court also said they were using, in their | :03:44. | :03:52. | |
words, defective, so what will the Government now have to do to make | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
sure they are not just legal in principle, but not defective? There | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
are two key issues, Andrew. Firstly, how the rule has dealt with | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
children. The court has said when immigration officers are assessing | :04:06. | :04:07. | |
each case of each family that wants to be reunited to settle in the UK, | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
the immigration officers have to do more to dig into account the best | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
interests of children including exceptional circumstances -- take | :04:18. | :04:20. | |
into account. That may tip the balance of allowing a settlement | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
depending on the nature of what is going on in that family. Secondly, | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
the court says effectively that although the minimum level itself | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
has been set on a rational basis, at ?18,500 or thereabouts, there needs | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
to be wider consideration of the entire circumstances of a family, | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
so, for instance, if you own a house or have other assets, should that be | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
taken into account for the final decision on whether they can stay? | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
In essence it means the rules would need to be tweaked here and there | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
and in practical terms means it would almost certainly benefit some | :04:57. | :04:58. | |
of the wealthier families caught up in this. We hear tales of bankers in | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
America for instance who cannot come over to the UK to join their | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
British, but in practical terms it will not have a lot of satisfaction | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
to many families caught in this from the polar end of the spectrum, | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
including many families from Asian backgrounds across the UK -- poorer | :05:17. | :05:24. | |
end of the spectrum. Doiminic, thank you for summing up what has been | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
happening in the Supreme Court. James Brokenshire, in principle the | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
Supreme Court accepts this but it sounds like you will have to change | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
the operation of the rules? Certainly we will look at the | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
judgment in detail, what the judges have said, but it is right, from | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
what we have just heard, that the court has said the rules are | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
compliant with article Eight, the right to a family life. That was the | :05:50. | :05:56. | |
primary test in relation to this particular case. It is worth | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
underlining why these rules were introduced in the first place. About | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
fairness to the UK taxpayer, in other words that people coming here | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
to settle had a minimum income in order to support themselves. As | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
ministers we took advice from the body of experts advising ministers | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
on a range of issues in relation to immigration. And they came up and | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
endorsed this figure, ?18,600, but also in relation to higher figures | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
were children were involved. You need to be earning more if you have | :06:25. | :06:31. | |
children? That is right. In other words it goes to about ?22,400 with | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
one child and slightly higher thereafter, again in relation to | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
that reliance on the state. Saw the court has sided with the Government. | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
In principle, but has criticisms of the organisation. But what is your | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
view on the principal? Is it right from the Government to set a minimum | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
income level before you can bring a foreign spouse into the country? I | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
think the Supreme Court has given a very well reasoned judgment, | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
actually. They have conceded the principle, which I think is right. | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
That is that if you are a British citizen and you want to marry | :07:07. | :07:09. | |
somebody from abroad and bring them here then you should be able to | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
support and accommodate them without recourse to public funds. It is your | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
decision to get married. It is your decision to get married, but you | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
could also go to live in their country, if that is how you want to | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
conduct your family life, so I think it is reasonable to say that you | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
should not be putting that additional burden on the state, but | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
the Supreme Court has been absolutely right to speak about the | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
way in which this may discriminate against poorer families and the way | :07:38. | :07:40. | |
in which we must take into account the needs of children. And I am | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
pleased James has acknowledged that and said the Government will look at | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
that again, I think that is the right approach. It was a good | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
judgment and should now be studied carefully and implement it. Once we | :07:52. | :07:53. | |
leave the EU, can you tell us, with this rule | :07:54. | :08:09. | |
apply to British citizens marrying EU citizens? There is a completely | :08:10. | :08:11. | |
different arrangement that exists regarding EU citizens, you are | :08:12. | :08:13. | |
right. Well, there is no arrangement... I know this has been | :08:14. | :08:15. | |
a point of issue raised... That is why I am raising it. Can we tell at | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
the moment? At the moment we are looking at the whole immigration | :08:20. | :08:21. | |
policy. We have not reached a determination in respect of that but | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
it is precisely these issues that obviously us being able to take back | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
control allows us to relook at some of these themes. A brief word? I | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
think we have at the moment and unbalanced system with preferential | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
treatment given to people from the European Union. One of the | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
consequences of leaving the EU is that system might become more | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
egalitarian. It will certainly have to be addressed. Indeed. We will not | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
have time to address that this morning, though, Jo... Yes. | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
It's emerged that a British man who joined the so-called | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
Islamic State group, and who died in a suicide bomb | :08:59. | :09:00. | |
attack in Iraq on Monday, was a former prisoner at Guantanamo | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
The terrorist, named by the group as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
is believed to have detonated a car bomb in a village south of Mosul. | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
The 50-year-old, also known as Jamul-Uddin al-Harith, | :09:10. | :09:11. | |
was suspected of terrorism by the Americans but freed | :09:12. | :09:13. | |
He was also reportedly paid up to ?1 million in compensation | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
The 50-year-old was born Ronald Fiddler in Manchester, later | :09:20. | :09:30. | |
changing his name to Jamul-Uddin al-Harith after converting to Islam. | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
Shortly after 911 he travelled to Pakistan and was later seized by | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
American forces, there was taken to Guantanamo Bay where he was held for | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
two years accused of being an Al-Qaeda operative. He was one of at | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
least 16 British detainees. He was eventually released in 2004. US | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
interrogators found he provided useful information on Taliban | :09:59. | :10:00. | |
interrogation techniques. On his return he was reportedly awarded | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
compensation by the British Government as part of a settlement | :10:05. | :10:11. | |
to detainees. In 2014 he crossed from into Turkey volunteering to | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
fight for IS but claiming his knowledge of Islam was basic. They | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
eventually blew himself up in a car bomb attack near Mosul on Monday. | :10:21. | :10:29. | |
Was this man be monitored by British security services? I am unable to | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
comment on individual security aspect and indeed we are unable to | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
confirm whether this individual was involved in the way you have | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
described, but what I can say is this Government has done more than | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
any in terms of the powers we have introduced to stop people being able | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
to travel out to get involved in Jeff Hart. We introduce powers to | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
seize passports -- to get involved in Jihad. And we have used the royal | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
prerogative to do that. I pay tribute to the work of our security | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
agencies in keeping our country safe and doing all they do to prevent | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
travel where that is identified. But if you have put all those things in | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
place to protect the British people, how was it possible for Iman held in | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
Guantanamo accused of being an Al-Qaeda operative -- a man held. | :11:17. | :11:26. | |
Then being able to join IS? As I say, I cannot comment on the | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
specifics and I am sure there were a number of factors, but I can see | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
there is a huge amount of effort undertaken by our security and | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
intelligence agencies. So it was a security failure? I do not think you | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
can comment in that way. I think clearly steps are taken by our | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
agencies and also at the border as well. You have information used for | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
passengers who travel on airlines to better identify but it is a question | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
of what the facts may or may not have been in this case and I do not | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
think they can jump to any judgments. But you were the security | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
minister in 2014 of course when this man did leave the country, so you | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
would be any perfectly good position to be able to advise people about | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
whether the proper security precautions were taken or whether, | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
as I say, it was a failure, because he managed to leave the country? Jo, | :12:11. | :12:20. | |
as I have said I cannot comment on the specific factors on this case. | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
Do you know them? We do not comment... But this happened on your | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
watch, James Brokenshire, and people will not want to think you are | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
evading the question because the straightforward point here is that | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
people might expect for detainees from the camp, and of course people | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
were not tried after they had left, but people accused of being Al-Qaeda | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
operatives, even if there is a ten year lag, there might be a red flag | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
if someone was trying to leave the country, for example, particularly | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
heading for an area like Syria in 2014 when you read the security... | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
There are a few thinker. Where there is evidence we will prosecute for | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
terrorist offences. -- there are a few things here. And there are when | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
certain thresholds are met things to stop people travelling again. There | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
is also ongoing work from the security and intelligence agencies. | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
So it depends on thresholds and the individual factors of a case. But | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
would you broadly say that was a failure if someone like that had | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
been able to get out of the country and go to fight in Syria? I think it | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
would depend on the individual factors and circumstances, what that | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
individual had disclosed, and indeed what information was held. So it is, | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
yes, the work that the agencies do the monitor, as they do in relation | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
to subject of interest, but I think it is important not to jump the | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
judgment but knowing that, yes, rigorous work is undertaken when | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
there is information to stop people travelling, when it is thought they | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
are travelling out to become involved in Jihad. When this man was | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
released in 2004 David Blunkett them Labour minister at the time said, I | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
don't think will find anyone released in the announcement today | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
will actually be a threat to the security of the British people. What | :14:06. | :14:08. | |
do you see now? It was absolutely wrong and it sticks in my croc as I | :14:09. | :14:17. | |
am sure it does to everyone who heard the news of this man. Given a | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
settlement from the public funds of the British Government at that time. | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
I understand one has to see that settlement was to avoid a court case | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
in which the Government believed security information would be | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
revealed. That is important, isn't it? And that of course keeps us all | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
safer. Whilst I understand it I think it is really galling that | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
someone like that was given that settlement and clearly there was a | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
failure at that time of information coming back from Guantanamo. It does | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
us no good to have people held without trial. It does us no good to | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
have people tortured and we must absolutely stand-up for that | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
principle. It was wrong Guantanamo should have been constructed. Lieber | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
got the balance wrong at the time? Yes, we got the balance wrong in not | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
making sure people were properly monitored and kept in check -- | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
Labour got the balance wrong at the time? Where people monitored for a | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
period of time are forever, people ask why they were given | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
compensation? I want to pick up on one point on how the law has | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
changed. The Justice And Security Act to be able to have evidence that | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
was sensitive and touched on national security issues that was | :15:34. | :15:35. | |
not able to be put into evidence because it would have been public at | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
that time, and therefore we are now in a position to defend cases we | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
were not able to defend previously. Why did the British taxpayer give | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
him ?1 million? , I cannot comment on confidential settlement and court | :15:54. | :15:56. | |
cases but I can say that, yes, cases were settled in the past, because | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
otherwise we would have had to disclose publicly highly sensitive | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
information and that was why we changed the law. There were | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
certainly cases settled and that was because of this factor of having to | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
the school 's national security... Trials are held in camera? At that | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
stage the rules were different -- having to disclose national | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
security. In other words, certain sections of a trial that are able to | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
consider highly sensitive information in a way not possible | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
previously, this was a gap in the way the courts operated and that was | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
why we still bet on why the situation is very different now | :16:37. | :16:44. | |
About 850 people considered a national security threat have gone | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
to fight with IES, half of whom have returned to the UK. What precautions | :16:50. | :17:01. | |
are put in place for them? -- IS. It is a question of the way in which we | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
use data to monitor people coming back, advanced passenger | :17:07. | :17:15. | |
information,... Not 450, but security services do not have the | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
money. There could be more. The security services do an incredible | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
job. That is not the point. Why we have invested heavily into their | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
work and given extra powers to disrupt. It is important to | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
recognise the incredible work they do every day to keep us safe. We | :17:36. | :17:37. | |
appreciate that. Now, we're told the Prime Minister | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
has full confidence in her Business Secretary, | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
Sajid Javid, over the issue That is always a worry if you are | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
the minister concerned if the Prime Minister says that. | :17:57. | :17:59. | |
Mr Javid has been accused of misleading party colleagues over | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
the effect of a business rate revaluation which could leave more | :18:03. | :18:04. | |
than a quarter of companies facing higher bills. | :18:05. | :18:06. | |
The Government has dismissed claims that they underestimated | :18:07. | :18:08. | |
potential rate rises, but some Tory MPs have | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
One of those is former Conservative Chairman | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
Grant Shapps and he joins us now from central lobby. | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
As the government been misleading you on business rates? Yes, | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
certainly in my constituency because I received a letter at the weekend | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
which suggested from ministers that business rates for companies in my | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
area would go down by about 1.5% but actually I discover in the heart of | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
my constituency in a not very well of and salubrious part of the | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
constituency there are businesses about to be wiped with a ?1000 or | :18:51. | :19:03. | |
3000 -- 1000 - 3000% rise. I am very concerned. It is certainly at odds | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
with the reassurances we have been given. When Sajid Javid says that | :19:08. | :19:17. | |
business rates will fall in some areas in England do you accept these | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
figures? No. This has been poorly handled. I think I know what has | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
happened. I used to be in the community is the parliament and our | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
officials said to us this is on the domestic rates. These have to be | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
revalued. We told them politely we would not do it. Domestic rates have | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
not been reviled for 24 years in England and they should have | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
followed the same examples with business rates than we would not be | :19:46. | :19:53. | |
in this mess -- not been revised. It is going to raise about ?1 billion | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
or more. The statistics that have been sent out have in the case of my | :19:59. | :20:06. | |
constituency been very misleading and do not take into account the | :20:07. | :20:08. | |
businesses will try to challenge the new rates are many will be | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
successful -- and take that into account. Your statistics are so | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
dodgy you cannot convince your own site. It is important to recognise | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
these changes are about fairness, dealing with values and property | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
that were last valued at the time of the financial crash. That is at the | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
heart of this. These are revenue neutral. Increases are to do with | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
the number of businesses there. The revaluation itself in more has to be | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
revenue neutral. It is important to recognise 600,000 businesses are | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
being taken out of this tax altogether. 500,000 facing rises of | :20:50. | :21:00. | |
up to 300%. That is why the Business Secretary has introduced | :21:01. | :21:01. | |
transitional arrangements, that there is a separate fund work around | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
?2.3 billion to ease this process. It is that sense of fairness on how | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
property values have changed. If it is going so swimmingly and is so | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
fair and you have already got this package that is going to be put to | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
use why is that talk of further compensation in the budget? You have | :21:24. | :21:31. | |
got the ?2.3 billion. There is talk of more. We recognise the issues and | :21:32. | :21:38. | |
listening carefully. Should you not have listened carefully before | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
proceeding? It is important to note that it is about the increase in | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
those valuations that lies behind why these changes are being brought | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
about and how listening to the issues that have been raised we will | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
be asleep you focused on the implementation of the transitional | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
relief. It is not true the cap is 300%, it is 3000%. If you were rates | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
exempt before but the property value happens to have gone up you can go | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
from paying ?100 to being several thousand pounds a year. It is all | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
very well to say this is because the rateable value has gone up but if | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
you are at the rateable value has gone up but if you are a | :22:23. | :22:24. | |
hairdressing company or the noodle bar in Hatfield in a very run down | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
area then the value of the property has nothing to do with the ability | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
of your business to generate sufficient profits to pay that kind | :22:33. | :22:42. | |
of increase, 1000, 2000, 3000%. The system is not fit for purpose. | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
Advice to ministers is to be straightforward. Let's not carry on | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
telling people that is revenue neutral when it is going to raise an | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
extra ?1 billion. Let's not send out people table saying they are going | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
to see a fall in rates when they are going to see a rise. Let's make sure | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
we are on the side of small businesses who generate all the | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
wealth in this country. Other than calling for a review of business | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
rates does Labour have a policy? We need to understand exactly what has | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
gone on because James said this is revenue neutral yet the Chancellor | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
in the budget last year said he was putting ?6.7 billion to ensure that | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
business rates would come down. Either he has broken that promise or | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
it is revenue neutral. The point is that what the government has not | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
done in publishing the figures, and that Grid Grant was talking about, | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
it has not included either the 2% factor for inflation or the appeals | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
adjustment, which is when like when the airlines overbook seats because | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
they know, from the government's point of view, they know that the | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
appeals that will come in will reduce their revenue by about 5%. We | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
are 7% shy and those of visual figures and James needs to be | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
honest. If it is revenue neutral as you claim, it does not bring revenue | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
to the tragedy, at the time when it needs it, why bother? It is about | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
fairness. Values of property. You are making more enemies than | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
friends. Why bother? It is the sense of overall furnace with businesses | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
where the property value has increased. Recognising businesses | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
not paying at all. The money that sits behind all of that. 6.7 billion | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
of the 600,000 businesses, recognising the contribution that | :24:47. | :24:54. | |
small business makes. Sajid Javid is the Communities Secretary, not the | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
Business Secretary. He was the Business Secretary, we are just slow | :25:00. | :25:00. | |
catching up! Now, all eyes will be on Copeland | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
and Stoke-on-Trent Central tomorrow and the crucial | :25:08. | :25:09. | |
by-elections taking place. I'll be up all night | :25:10. | :25:11. | |
with results over on BBC One. Stoke, as you all know, | :25:12. | :25:14. | |
is home to British pottery-making. But, whatever the result there, | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
you can be sure of one thing, that the exclusive and strictly | :25:18. | :25:20. | |
limited supply of Daily Politics The Staffordshire Potteries may be | :25:21. | :25:22. | |
home to a 200 year-old tradition of Josiah Wedgwood, | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
Royal Doulton, the finest bone china But none of those terms can be | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
applied to Daily Politics stoneware. But wherever they're | :25:33. | :25:39. | |
from and whatever they're made from, Yes, there is only one way you can | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
get your hands on one of these, by entering our Guess the Year | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
competition, and there He does amuse and entertain | :25:54. | :25:55. | |
so many people, including my children, | :25:56. | :26:16. | |
who would be heartbroken I am today introducing | :26:17. | :26:18. | |
a new National Living Wage. # I must have called | :26:19. | :26:30. | |
a thousand times #. # Cos the players gonna play, | :26:31. | :26:52. | |
play, play, play, play # And the haters gonna hate, | :26:53. | :26:54. | |
hate, hate, hate, hate # Baby, I'm just gonna shake, | :26:55. | :26:56. | |
shake, shake, shake, shake # Heartbreakers gonna break, | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
break, break, break, break # And the fakers gonna fake, | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
fake, fake, fake, fake #. To be in with a chance of winning | :27:06. | :27:13. | |
a Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz | :27:14. | :27:15. | |
email address - Entries must arrive by 12:30pm | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
today, and you can see the full terms and conditions | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
for Guess The Year on our website - Yes, Prime Minister's | :27:25. | :27:27. | |
Questions is on its way. And we've also been | :27:28. | :27:42. | |
joined by John Pienaar. I have no idea where to go. So much | :27:43. | :27:56. | |
the front benches could talk about. All I would suggest for the Prime | :27:57. | :27:59. | |
Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, in the shadow of these | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
two crucial elections. Absolutely. On the eve of polling if you were | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
going to guess what was going to come up, the perceived strong cards, | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
you would expect Jeremy Corbyn to look for a way to attack on the NHS, | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
in particular an issue in Copeland, and you would expect a reason made | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
to attack Jeremy Corbyn as a reader and human being, but that is pretty | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
much what she does every week. The business rates story is bubbling | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
along nicely. I think whatever is going to be offered as sweeteners to | :28:37. | :28:45. | |
those people affected, that is going to be held back probably until the | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
budget. We are also waiting to see whether the Ronald Fidler case comes | :28:51. | :28:57. | |
up. The suicide bomber, who went from Guantanamo Bay. Jeremy Corbyn, | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
the leader of the party defending both by-elections. Labour holds both | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
seats. Normally when you are the opposition you do not worry about | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
you losing by-elections eats. Precisely. The fact we are having | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
this conversation about what is going to be happening in Copland and | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
Stoke, by the normal rules it should be a slam dunk for Labour. It shows | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
you there is a problem on the Labour side. No one would deny that it | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
exists. Start with the opinion polls, 14 points behind the Tories, | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
then 16, then 18. Theresa May even went to Stoke. We thought the Tories | :29:43. | :29:51. | |
were leaving it for you cap. To try to win. You will get exotic the | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
rising that the Tories might be dark horse the race. We would be | :30:00. | :30:09. | |
surprised. Much shorter odds in Copeland. The NHS has been an issue | :30:10. | :30:17. | |
in Copeland. Talk of the maternity hospital closing, having to go to | :30:18. | :30:25. | |
Carlisle. If I was Jeremy Corbyn perhaps I would make Copeland the | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
priority. When you mentioned those issues, in Copeland there is the | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
hospital future that is in question, you have Sellafield, this debate is | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
huge. As far as Jeremy Corbyn is concerned that is a negative. It is | :30:44. | :30:51. | |
coming back to his doorstep. Although his line on nuclear power | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
is softened when you talk to people randomly around the constituency in | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
Copeland, it is all people seem to want to talk about. If I was to say | :31:02. | :31:12. | |
Brickhouse you would know why. I would say it is another beautiful | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
constituency. That is true. I say that because that was the last time | :31:19. | :31:28. | |
the constituency held by an opposition party was lost in a | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
by-election. That was 1960. It is really unusual. Really unusual for | :31:34. | :31:41. | |
an opposition party to lose a by-election in a seat it is holding. | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
Absolutely. When you go back to the past or years example of a governing | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
party winning a seat in 1982, the other side, split between the social | :31:53. | :32:01. | |
democratic and Labour Party. It is complicated by the dynamic around | :32:02. | :32:04. | |
the Sellafield nuclear plant and the issue of nuclear power which clouds | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
the water in national terms. The local Labour Party said in the | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
north-west constituency that they were so pro-nuclear you could see | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
them glow in the dark. They are trying to make a clear distinction | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
between the liberal bill-mac local Labour Party... Let us go to the | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
House of Commons. Mr Speaker, last year the campaign | :32:30. | :32:56. | |
group Fighting Cuts at the hospital were due to deliver a strong | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
petition to Downing Street, but they were turned away at the gates and | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
told, today is not a good day. Comeback after Thursday. How can the | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
Prime Minister justify this disgraceful dismissal of the people | :33:11. | :33:21. | |
of Corb Lund? -- Copeland. The petition was indeed delivered and | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
accepted by Downing Street yesterday so I suggest to the honourable lady | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
she considers what she said in her question, but I am aware of the | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
issues raised around West Cumberland Hospital, and I am aware of those | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
because the very good Conservative candidate in Copeland, Trudy | :33:37. | :33:45. | |
Harrison, has indeed raise those issues with me, and made very clear | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
she wants to see no downgrading of services at West Cumberland | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
Hospital, she has made that clear to me and the health ministers. Thank | :33:55. | :34:02. | |
you, Mr Speaker. I have constituents concerned about the new funding | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
formula. Can I be assured that when deciding on funding for our schools | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
we will look at costs such as the apprenticeship levy and things like | :34:13. | :34:14. | |
that to ensure they have the money they need to educate our children? I | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
thank my honourable friend for raising this. The question of | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
schools funding and the system we have is important. I think the | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
current system is unfair, not transparent and out of date and that | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
has been the general view for some time now. The problem is it cannot | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
support the aspiration of all our children to get a great education | :34:36. | :34:38. | |
and we do indeed want to see children being able to get the | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
education they deserve that ensures they can go as far as their talent | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
and hard work take them. The Labour Government did nothing to address | :34:49. | :34:50. | |
the funding system and we are looking at that funding system. It | :34:51. | :35:03. | |
is... It is a consultation and I am sure the comments my honourable | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
friend has raised will be noted by the Secretary of State for | :35:09. | :35:18. | |
Education. Thank you, Mr Speaker. When hospitals are struggling to | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
provide essential care, why is the Prime Minister's Government cutting | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
the number of beds in our National Health Service? Thanks to the | :35:29. | :35:37. | |
medical advances, the use of technology, the quality of care, | :35:38. | :35:43. | |
what we see in hospital stays is actually the average length of time | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
for staying in hospital has virtually halved since the year | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
2000. Let's actually look at Labour's record on this issue. In | :35:54. | :36:03. | |
the last six years of the last Labour Government, 25,000 hospital | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
beds were cut, but we don't even need to go as far back as that. | :36:09. | :36:15. | |
Let's just look at what was Labour's policy before the last election. | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
Because before the last election, the Right Honourable member, a | :36:23. | :36:31. | |
former Shadow Health Secretary, said, what I would cut our hospital | :36:32. | :36:39. | |
beds. Labour policy to cut hospital beds. Mr Speaker, back in 2010 there | :36:40. | :36:50. | |
was the highest ever level of satisfaction with the health service | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
delivered by a Labour Government. The BMA tells us, Mr Speaker, that | :36:54. | :37:03. | |
is doctors, that 15,000 beds have been cut in the last six years, the | :37:04. | :37:11. | |
equivalent of 24 hospitals, and as a result we have longer waiting times | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
in A, record charges and more people on waiting lists. The Prime | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
Minister claims the NHS is getting the money it needs, so why is it one | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
in six of A units in England are set for closure or downgrading? I | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
will tell the honourable gentleman what is happening and what has been | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
happening since 2010 in A 1500 more emergency care doctors, which | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
includes more Andrew Neil consultants, 2400 more paramedics, | :37:45. | :37:56. | |
-- more emergency consultants. What the NHS... He speaks about what the | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
NHS needs and what it needs is more doctors and we are giving it more | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
doctors. What it needs is more funding and we are giving it more | :38:05. | :38:08. | |
funding. What it does not need is a bankrupt economy, which is exactly | :38:09. | :38:18. | |
what Labour would give it. Mr Speaker, I asked the Prime Minister | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
by one in six A units are currently set for closure or | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
downgrading. She did not answer. One of the problems, and she well knows | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
this, is that ?4.6 billion cut the social care which has a knock-on | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
effect, and her friend, the Tory chair of the Local Government | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
Association, Lord Porter, has said, and I quote, "Extra council tax | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
income will not bring in anywhere near enough money to alleviate the | :38:47. | :38:54. | |
growing pressure on social care. Two weeks ago -- social care." Two weeks | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
ago we found out about the sweetheart deal with Tory Surrey. | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
When will the other 151 social department in England get the same | :39:06. | :39:13. | |
as the Surrey deal? The right honourable gentleman refers to the | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
questions he asks me about Surrey County Council two weeks ago. Those | :39:18. | :39:20. | |
claims were utterly destroyed the same afternoon. So rather than | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
asking the same question, he should stand up and apologise. Mr Speaker, | :39:28. | :39:44. | |
far from apologising it is the Prime Minister who ought to be reading her | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
correspondence and answering the letter from 62 council leaders | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
representing social services authorities who want to know if they | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
are going to get the same deal as Surrey, as they are grappling with a | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
crisis that has left over 1 million people not getting the social care | :40:04. | :40:09. | |
they need. Mr Speaker, we opposed the Tory cuts in the NHS which | :40:10. | :40:20. | |
involved scrapping of nurses' bursaries because we believed it | :40:21. | :40:23. | |
would dissuade people from entering training. We were told it would | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
create an extra 10,000 training places in this Parliament. Has this | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
target be met? There are 10,000 more training places available for nurses | :40:35. | :40:38. | |
in the NHS, but the right honourable gentleman talks about the amount of | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
money being spent on the NHS. It is this Conservative Government that is | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
putting the extra funding into the NHS, and I remind the right | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
honourable gentleman, I remind the right honourable gentleman that we | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
are spending ?1.3 billion more on the NHS this year than Labour | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
planned to do if they had won the election. Mr Speaker, my questions | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
were about the social services funding to pay for social care. No | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
answer. My questions were about the number of nurse training places | :41:13. | :41:19. | |
being brought in. No answer. In reality, 10,000 fewer places have | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
been filled because there are fewer applications. There is a problem in | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
building up for the future. In addition, the Royal College of | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
Midwives estimate is shortage of 3500 midwives in England, and the | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
Royal College of Nursing warned the nursing workforce is in crisis. If | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
fewer nurses graduate in 2020 it will exacerbate what is already an | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
unsustainable situation. Will the Prime Minister at least commit | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
herself to reinstating the nurses' bursary? He asked me a question | :41:56. | :42:03. | |
about nurses' training places which I answered. I have to say to him, if | :42:04. | :42:07. | |
he doesn't like the answer he gets, he cannot just carry on asking the | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
same question. If I have answered it previously. He is talking about all | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
these issues in relation to what is happening in the NHS. Let's just | :42:18. | :42:19. | |
look at what is happening in the NHS. We have 1800 more midwives in | :42:20. | :42:28. | |
the NHS since 2010. We have more people being seen in A since 2010. | :42:29. | :42:39. | |
We have more operations every week in the NHS. Our NHS staff are | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
working hard, providing a quality of care for patients up and down the | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
country. What they do not need is a Labour Party policy that leads to a | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
bankrupt economy, because Labour's policy, you spend money on | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
everything which means you bankrupt the economy, and have no money to | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
spend on anything. That does not help doctors and nurses, it does not | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
help patients, it does not help the NHS and it does not help ordinary | :43:06. | :43:08. | |
working families up and down this country. Mr Speaker, yes, let's look | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
at the National Health Service. Let's thank all those that work so | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
hard in our National Health Service, but recognise the pressures they are | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
under. Today the married to re-foundation trust finds nurses are | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
so overstretched they cannot provide the high care needed for patients at | :43:31. | :43:38. | |
the very end of their lives -- the Marie Curie Foundation. It prevents | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
patients from having the dignity of dying at home. There is a nursing | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
shortage and something should be done about it such as reinstating | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
the nurses' bursary. Mr Speaker, her Government has put the NHS and | :43:51. | :43:52. | |
social care in the state of emergency. Nine out of ten NHS | :43:53. | :44:03. | |
trusts are unsafe. 18,000 patients per week are waiting. Mr Speaker, I | :44:04. | :44:11. | |
repeat the figure. 18,000 patients a week are waiting on trolleys in | :44:12. | :44:19. | |
hospital corridors. 1.2 million of them very dependent... Mr Speaker, | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
it seems to me that some members do not want to be concerned about the | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
fact there are 1.2 million elderly people not getting the care that | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
they need. The legacy of her Government will be blighting our NHS | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
for decades. There are hospitals, fewer A departments, fewer nurses | :44:41. | :44:43. | |
and fewer people getting the care they need. We need a Government that | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
puts the NHS first, and will invest in our NHS. First of all I have to | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
say to the right honourable gentleman that he should consider | :44:56. | :45:04. | |
correcting the record, because 54% of hospital trusts are considered | :45:05. | :45:07. | |
good or outstanding. Quite different from the figure he has shown. | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
Secondly, I will take no lessons on the NHS from the party... Oh, the | :45:15. | :45:25. | |
deputy leader of the Labour Party says we should take lessons on the | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
NHS. I will not take any lessons from the party that presided over | :45:29. | :45:35. | |
met staff's hospital, and what happened at that hospital. -- | :45:36. | :45:43. | |
Midstaff. They say we should learn lessons. I tell you who should learn | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
lessons. The Labour Party, who still fail to recognise that if you are | :45:50. | :45:52. | |
going to fund the NHS, and we are putting more money in - there are | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
more doctors, more operations, more hospitals. If you're going to fund | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
the NHS you need a strong economy. Now we know that Labour have a | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
different sort of phrase for their approach to these things. Remember | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
they used to speak about boom and bust. Now it is borrow and bankrupt. | :46:10. | :46:22. | |
We must get through backbenchers' questions and the answers to them. | :46:23. | :46:29. | |
Brendan Cox will meet with the Duchess of Cornwall to launch plans | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
to bring communities together over the weekend of the 17th and 18th of | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
June to mark the first anniversary of our colleague's death. It is for | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
more than 10 million people across the country to come together as | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
communities and neighbours for events such as student parties and | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
picnics and bake off. Will the Prime Minister join me and agree that such | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
event is a moment of national reflection but also celebration in | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
our communities and it will be a fitting tribute to Jo? And as she | :47:04. | :47:10. | |
herself said it will remind us that we have far more common with | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
ourselves than things that divide us. I am happy to agree with him | :47:16. | :47:21. | |
that what is becoming known as the great get-together is a fitting and | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
important tribute to our late colleague Jo Cox and I would like to | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
commend her husband Brendan and I am sure everybody would like to do so, | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
for the work he has done. It is important we remember there is more | :47:38. | :47:39. | |
that brings us together than divides us. This opportunity at this point | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
of national reflection and celebration of the strength of our | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
communities is important as we face the future together. We stand at | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
momentous times for this country and it is important we remember that | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
being united makes us strong, we should recognise the things that | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
unite us as a country and as the people, the bonds that we shared | :48:04. | :48:07. | |
together, and this is a very fitting tribute to our late colleague. In | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
recent days the Prime Minister has said that it is a key personal | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
commitment to transform the way that domestic violence is tackled. It is | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
hugely welcome that she has called for ideas about how the treatment of | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
victims can be improved and more convictions secured against abusers. | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
Combating violence against women and preventing domestic violence is the | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
aim of the Istanbul convention which the UK has yet to ratify. Does she | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
agree with members across this house that the convention should be | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
ratified as a priority? He has raised a particularly important | :48:52. | :48:54. | |
subject. It is one that I take particularly seriously. I worked | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
very hard on it as Home Secretary and I continue to do so as Prime | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
Minister. Over 400,000 victims of sexual violence in the last year. We | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
signed up to the Istanbul convention and are committed to ratifying it | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
and that is why we supported the members bill in principal at second | :49:16. | :49:18. | |
reading and that committee stage. The measures we have in place in | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
many ways go further than the convention but I am very clear that | :49:25. | :49:27. | |
we need to maintain this momentum and that is why I am setting up a | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
ministerial working group to look at the legislation and how we can | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
provide good support for victims and to look at the possibility of a | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
domestic violence act in the future. This Friday the Commons will | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
consider a bill on the Istanbul convention and government ministers | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
have been working very hard with my colleague who has cross-party | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
support for her bell. Given the importance of this issue and the | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
Prime Minister's personal commitment she has outlined again today will | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
she encourage members to support the bill and discourage any attempts to | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
use Parliamentary tactics to stop it? I am very happy to join him in | :50:07. | :50:16. | |
that. The minister for vulnerability has had a number of constructive | :50:17. | :50:19. | |
discussions with the member for Banff and Buchan and tabled mutually | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
agreed amendments which the government will be voting for this | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
Friday and I hope that all born Friday will be supporting those | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
measures. It is an important bill which the government has been | :50:37. | :50:38. | |
supporting and I hope it will they support across all parts of this | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
house. Residents in the village of highly in my constituency are | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
concerned by the 4000 homes proposed under the Greater Manchester spatial | :50:50. | :50:52. | |
framework more than doubling the size of that village. What | :50:53. | :50:59. | |
assurances can she give to my constituents that the green belt is | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
safe with this government? I am happy to give that commitment. The | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
government is very clear that the green belt must be protected. Very | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
clear that boundary should only be altered when local authorities have | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
fully examined all other reasonable options and if they go down that | :51:19. | :51:21. | |
route they should compensate by improving the quality or | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
accessibility of the remaining green belt land so that can be enjoyed. I | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
know the particular issue he has raised and I believe the framework | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
led to quite a number of responses. There was a lot of interest in the | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
consultation. I am sure all those views will be taken into account. | :51:39. | :51:45. | |
Last week the all-party group for children of alcoholics launched a | :51:46. | :51:48. | |
manifesto for change. 2.5 million children are growing up in the home | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
of a problem drinker. I did as well. These children are twice as likely | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
to have problems at school, three times as likely to commit suicide, | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
four times more likely to become an alcoholic yet 138 local authorities | :52:07. | :52:08. | |
have no plan to support these children. All the Prime Minister | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
work with the all-party group to establish the first ever government | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
strategy to tackle both hidden problem that blight the lives of | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
millions? She has raised an important issue and I know she | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
recently spoke very movingly about her experience and I am sure members | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
recognise the devastating impact that addiction can have on | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
individuals and their families. This is an important issue for her to | :52:36. | :52:39. | |
raise. It is unacceptable that children bear the brunt of their | :52:40. | :52:43. | |
parents' condition. It is important than the government is committed to | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
working with MPs and health professionals and those affected to | :52:48. | :52:50. | |
reduce the harm of addiction and give people the support they need | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
and we will be looking carefully at the proposal she has raised. | :52:55. | :53:05. | |
Question nine. It is absolutely appalling when people tried to make | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
a business out of dragging our brave troops through the courts. In the | :53:11. | :53:14. | |
case of Northern Ireland 90% of deaths were caused by terrorists and | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
it is essential the justice system reflects this. It would be wrong to | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
treat terrorists more favourably than soldiers or police officers and | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
that is why as part of her work to bring forward the Stormont House | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
bill we will make sure that investigate of bodies are fair, | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
balanced and proportionate soul veterans are not unfairly treated or | :53:37. | :53:42. | |
disproportionately investigated. It does not go as far as I and others | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
would like. There is no prospect of new credible evidence coming forward | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
against our veterans of the troubles up to 40 years after the event and | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
yet people are starting to use the same techniques in Northern Ireland | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
against them as were used against veterans of Iraq. Surely the answer | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
has to be a statute of limitations preventing the prosecution of | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
veterans to do with matters that concerned prior to the date of the | :54:13. | :54:20. | |
Belfast Agreement. As he knows this is an issue that we are looking at | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
as part of the Stormont House agreement. We are ensuring that the | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
investigative bodies responsible for looking at depths during the | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
troubles will operate in a fair balanced and proportionate manner. | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
We want cases to be considered in chronological order. We are going to | :54:39. | :54:42. | |
be consulting fully on these proposals because we want to make | :54:43. | :54:49. | |
sure we get this right. The new local housing allowance cap for | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
social tenants when introduced in 2019 will hit people on low income | :54:53. | :55:00. | |
in my constituency really hard. In Maidenhead the allowance will often | :55:01. | :55:07. | |
exceed the average rent but in Merthyr Tydfil not so. This will | :55:08. | :55:16. | |
mean that tenants including many older be bought will be expected to | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
find almost ?500 a year towards the rent. Will she acts to introduce | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
clear guidance to at the very least exempt older people from these cuts | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
and ensure that the local housing allowances in line with local rents? | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
Yes. I believe local authorities are in a position, they have a fun they | :55:38. | :55:41. | |
can exercise discretion in relation to this matter. There will be | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
incidences across the country and there were some steps taken to | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
ensure that particularly vulnerable people were not affected as you | :55:53. | :55:59. | |
suggest. The lack of large-scale vaccine manufacturing has been | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
described for our country as a national security issue. Which will | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
take many years to build up. Will she look into what more the | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
government can do to address this highly critical health and defence | :56:13. | :56:20. | |
concerned? She is right to raise this in the context she has. The | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
government takes it very seriously. Being able to ensure we can scale up | :56:26. | :56:31. | |
vaccine production in the event of a pandemic is very important to | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
national security. The precise details are confidential but I can | :56:37. | :56:40. | |
assure her we have provisions in place to make sure that urgently | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
needed vaccines are available in the UK at short notice including in the | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
event of pandemic. As a contingency we are funding a ?10 million | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
competition to establish a world leading centre on vaccine | :56:56. | :56:58. | |
manufacturing but it is only part of the picture because we have one of | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
the most successful vaccination programmes in the world backed up by | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
?300 million. Last night Bristol council said its budget very | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
difficult decisions very difficult because of the abject failure of the | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
previous murmur to get a grip on the finances. It has taken a Labour | :57:19. | :57:24. | |
mayor to face up to the challenge but government cuts are making his | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
job almost impossible and it is doing more with less. We did our | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
bit, will the Prime Minister meet with the mayor of Bristol to discuss | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
the funding deal that the people of Bristol deserve? I understand the | :57:40. | :57:47. | |
Communities Secretary has had such a meeting to discuss the issues she | :57:48. | :58:01. | |
raised. 17 years ago my constituent received a phone call that no parent | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
should ever have to take. The collar told them that their daughter | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
Kirsty, who was backpacking in Thailand, had been brutally | :58:11. | :58:14. | |
murdered. The tie as warranties are due to close the investigation into | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
her murder but as yet her case remains unsolved, her killer remains | :58:21. | :58:26. | |
free and her parents have not justice or closure. Can I ask her to | :58:27. | :58:33. | |
push the Thai authorities to use DNA techniques to bring the killer to | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
justice, to endeavour to provide more support to families who have | :58:38. | :58:41. | |
lost loved ones abroad and finally to ensure that Kirsty's personal | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
effects are at last returned home to her parents from Thailand? I am sure | :58:47. | :58:53. | |
the whole house would offer condolences to the family and | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
recognising the trauma they have been through as a result of the | :58:58. | :59:04. | |
killing of their daughter. It is obviously not for the British | :59:05. | :59:06. | |
government to interfere with police investigations that take place in | :59:07. | :59:11. | |
another country but I understand the Foreign Office has been providing | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
support and our embassy in Bangkok will continue to raise these issues | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
as it has been with the Thai government and I am sure the Foreign | :59:20. | :59:26. | |
Office will keep him updated. In the Lancaster house speech she said of a | :59:27. | :59:29. | |
future trade agreement with the EU that no deal for Britain is better | :59:30. | :59:34. | |
than a bad deal for Britain. In the spirit of consistency will that | :59:35. | :59:37. | |
appeal to any future trade goals she Asians with the US? By Mike | :59:38. | :59:44. | |
President Trump has said that America comes first -- negotations. | :59:45. | :59:51. | |
We will be ensuring when we negotiate trade deals they will be | :59:52. | :59:59. | |
good deals for the UK. In the same sex marriage act we took the power | :00:00. | :00:05. | |
subject to consultation to give humanists in England and Wales the | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
opportunity to celebrate marriages as they do in Scotland. We have had | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
the consultation with 90% approval and there has been referenced in the | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
Law Commission which has concluded. And she gave her attention to laying | :00:19. | :00:21. | |
there is order and giving humanists same rights in England as they enjoy | :00:22. | :00:29. | |
in Scotland? This is an issue he has been following closely over recent | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
years. He recognises this is an important area of law and complex | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
and we want to make sure the proposals are considered properly | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
which is why the Ministry of Justice is examining the differences in | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
treatment that exist within marriage law so that the differences can be | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
minimised and I am sure he will agree it is right and fair to | :00:56. | :01:04. | |
approach it that way. My constituent's chances of survival | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
from buying the Attic cancer were no better than his mother's who died 40 | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
years earlier. A disease soon to become the fourth biggest cancer | :01:15. | :01:23. | |
killer in the UK -- pancreatic. Will she championed a significant | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
increase in spending on pancreatic cancer researcher, which lags behind | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
that of other cancers? He has raised a very important point which | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
obviously is of particular relevance in the case of the constituent | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
referred to. It is the case that pancreatic cancer is one that is | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
very difficult to deal with and to treat and there has been a lot of | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
attention over the years on certain cancers, like breast cancer, bowel | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
cancer, prostate cancer, but I am sure it is important the appropriate | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
attention is given to cancers which are more difficult to deal with like | :02:02. | :02:11. | |
pancreatic. In February 2008 the brother of one of my constituents | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
was unlawfully killed in the Ukraine. His Ukrainian wife is | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
clearly implicated in his death. Earlier this year a coroner in Devon | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
ruled that he was tricked into standing on a carriageway before | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
being run down by a car with stolen license plates and death was | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
immediate. Every time an investigating officer makes progress | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
with this case and the Ukraine they are replaced. This has happened ten | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
times and the case has stalled. And I implore her to raise this case | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
with the Ukrainian Prime Minister so we can get justice and closure for | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
Barry's mother, brother and the family? I am sure that the whole | :02:57. | :03:05. | |
house will join me in offering condolences to the family following | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
his death in 2008. I understand he has discussed this case with the | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
Foreign Secretary. It is not for the British government to interfere in | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
the legal processes of another country but the Foreign Office has | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
been regularly raising this case with the Ukrainian authorities and | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
will continue to do so and I understand UK police have assisted | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
the investigation on a number of occasions and all information from | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
the UK coroner will be passed on and I am sure the Foreign Office will | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
keep him updated. Tens of thousands of disabled people on the | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
portability scheme have had their cars removed by this government. In | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
November a minister said they were looking at payments to keep their | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
car pending appeal. Next week my constituents will lose her car. Can | :03:57. | :04:04. | |
the Prime Minister of the house on the progress of this review to help | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
Margaret and thousands like her? He raises an issue about the way these | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
assessments are made and the implications of decisions being | :04:15. | :04:23. | |
taken. He referred to a review in relation to payments and the moat | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
ability elements of that and I will write to him with further details. | :04:27. | :04:38. | |
It was a gear this week sends a hospital was closed due to fire | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
safety concerns. There are no community gets locally within St | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
Ives, Penzance or Saints just or rural areas in between. Campaigners | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
agree that there is valued Community Hospital needs to be opened a urgent | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
priority. Will she apply some pressure to NHS property services | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
and Cornwall NHS managers to get the building work done and open these | :05:04. | :05:12. | |
community beds? This is obviously a concern for his constituents and he | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
is right to raise it. He will recognise the first priority must be | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
to ensure patients are being treated in a safe environment and I | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
understand the local CCG and the NHS have been working to ensure that | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
community hospitals are fit to deliver that expectation in | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
Cornwall. A review has been undertaken into the repairs needed | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
to bring the Community Hospital up to a safe standard and the CCG will | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
be looking at the entrance at facilities and needs once the local | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
plan has been agreed and then Health Secretary has heard his | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
representations. The government business rate hike could devastate | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
the local economy in migrating constituency. Brighton Pier is | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
facing a 17% increase, the world end pub, a hotel a 400% increase. Does | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
she recognise Brighton will be disproportionately affected and will | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
she set up a discretionary fund to support small businesses and agreed | :06:17. | :06:18. | |
to a full review of the whole system? Business rates are based on | :06:19. | :06:26. | |
the rental values of properties and the rental values of properties | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
change over time going up and down and it is right that rates changed | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
to recognise that. That is the principal of furnace that underpins | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
the business rates system. We want to support businesses and recognise | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
that for some business rates will go up when these revaluations take | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
place which is why we have put significant funding in place for | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
transitional relief but I recognise there has been particular concern | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
there will be some small businesses that are particularly adversely | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
affected by the result of this evaluation and that is why I have | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
asked the Chancellor and the Communities Secretary to make sure | :07:05. | :07:06. | |
there is appropriate relief for those cases hardest-hit. She gave a | :07:07. | :07:20. | |
sympathetic answer to the honourable friend for the new Forest. Can I put | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
it to her that for many of us there is something profoundly wrong with a | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
criminal justice system which can pursue veterans will risk their | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
lives for this country, 40 years on after any possibility of new | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
evidence, while at the same time is capable of paying out ?1 million to | :07:44. | :07:51. | |
a terror suspect. In relation to this issue in Northern Ireland, we | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
are... The issue with the legacy bodies was part of the Stormont | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
House agreement and we are working to deliver on that agreement. As I | :08:01. | :08:11. | |
said, the overwhelming majority of our armed forces serving in Northern | :08:12. | :08:13. | |
Ireland served with great distinction and we owe them a huge | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
debt of gratitude. The situation at the moment is there a case is being | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
pursued against officers who served in Northern Ireland. We want to see | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
developing a legacy body, a proportionate fair and balanced | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
approach. We recognise the majority of individuals were the result... | :08:35. | :08:43. | |
Were at the result of the hands of terrorists. The Prime Minister | :08:44. | :08:51. | |
pledged to end the burning injustice of so few working-class boys going | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
to university. Can she tell me how cutting every single secondary | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
school in Rochdale, Trafford and Manchester through the new schools | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
funding formula is going to do anything other than make that | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
injustice even worse? We want to ensure through the education system | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
that we have a good school place for every child. And the Conservatives | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
in government we have seen 1.8 million more children in good or | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
outstanding schools. We are looking at the funding formula for schools. | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
We are listening to the comments made. Everybody across this house | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
will recognise that for some time it has been said the existing funding | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
formula is not transparent and is fair. But I can assure that our | :09:38. | :09:46. | |
education policy is about ensuring every child has the opportunity to | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
go as far as their talents and hard-working Ed Balls them to do. -- | :09:51. | :10:01. | |
enables. You saw what a cut run means for a town and club like | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
Sutton. With Wimbledon out of the picture wonder if she will join me | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
in teen graduating Sutton for such a spirited performance on Monday and | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
in wishing Lincoln well to keep the non-league spirit alive in the next | :10:20. | :10:30. | |
round. He must be heard. Finally come gradually to and thanking | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
arsenal for their generosity and allowing Sutton to keep a little bit | :10:37. | :10:46. | |
of an extra slice of the FA Cup pie. Any reference to pie. I am happy to | :10:47. | :10:58. | |
congratulate Sutton on the extremely good run that they had in the FA | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
Cup. It is important and makes a huge difference to local areas when | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
their football club is able to progress to that extent and is able | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
to be up there with the big boys and do as well as they did and I am | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
happy to congratulate Lincoln city on the success may have shown and we | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
wish them well for the future. Finally, Michelle Thomson. The green | :11:26. | :11:33. | |
investment bank is currently being sold. Some reports suggest that the | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
contract could soon be concluded. This despite the U:K.'s dated focus | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
on research and development and the fact that no realistic guarantees | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
have yet been given as to the continuation of the proper | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
headquarters and board based in Edinburgh. Will she commits to | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
looking again as to why a sale at this time is not in the best | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
interest of Edinburgh or the green agenda or the UK taxpayer? Before I | :12:03. | :12:12. | |
respond I also am apologies. I am sorry to the member for Stroud and | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
mixing him up with the member for Lincoln. I was obviously getting | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
carried away with the football fever. In relation to the green | :12:22. | :12:34. | |
investment bank, I will write to her with response to the questions she | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
has raised. The Prime Minister has applied a very straight bat. We will | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
leave it there. The Speaker although hers in the | :12:44. | :12:59. | |
cricketing metaphor, which at least raised overall tone. Don't even go | :13:00. | :13:07. | |
there! It is at least a proper sport. I will come onto the NHS in a | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
minute but a developing news story here... Caroline Lucas, the Krhin | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
member for Brighton, raised the question of business rates. Small | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
businesses in her community, some of them faced some high-rises -- the | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
Green member for Brighton. The Prime Minister said she had asked the | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
Chancellor and the community secretary, Sajid Javid, for "Proper | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
relief." That suggests to me something is in the pipeline on | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
that. We heard earlier from Grant Shapps on this programme. Mr Corbyn | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
went with the NHS, he had a number of figures to throw out the Prime | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
Minister about hospital bed cuts, about the lack of doctors and | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
nurses, taking away the nurses' bursary, 62 Council leaders writing | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
to the prime ministers saying they did not have enough for social care. | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
And the Prime Minister of course as is often the case on PMQs, had her | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
own statistics, not often relevant to his. There was a kind of passing | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
statistics across the front benches there from both sides. We will go | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
back to the political invocations of this in a minute, but first, what | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
did our viewers make of the exchanges? They were not that keen | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
on the bandying about of statistics because they could not really follow | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
them, perhaps like the rest of them. John Baker from them instead, says | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
the Prime Minister clearly had her feathers ruffled on the NHS, could | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
not answer any of Jeremy Corbyn's questions and looked uncomfortable. | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
Her response was just to attack Labour. I suppose that is her job. | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
Another one, what is the truth? I have very little confidence in most | :14:52. | :14:54. | |
of the politicians in Westminster and PMQs only endorses this feeling. | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
Ten Bassett, not the most stimulating PMQs, the Prime Minister | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
displaying confidence, but I do wish the NHS was no longer a political | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
football. We all agree citizens want and deserve great health care. | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
Rather than fight I would like to see some consensus. Edward Buxton, | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
he says Jeremy Corbyn is replaying the Labour Party's strategy from the | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
losing 2015 election campaign, keep banging on and on about the NHS. All | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
right. John, Mr Corbyn certainly got the NHS onto the agenda here for | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
Prime Minister's Questions. But I wonder, given the importance of the | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
two by-elections we were discussing earlier, did he do enough, in a way, | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
to get it onto the agenda so it can be big in the news tonight, big in | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
the papers tomorrow, so that people in Stoke and in Copeland think it is | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
high up the agenda again? I am not sure he succeeded in doing that. | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
There was no particular punch through moment of revelation or | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
blood on the floor at the end of it. He did get the NHS to be the main | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
subject of dispute in that regard it was mission accomplished, but then | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
we got into, as you say, a crossfire of statistics, which I suspect from | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
evidence already as well would have left many bamboozled and excluded | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
from the substance of the debate. On both sides I think that was largely | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
the case, and they were preaching to the converted. But Jeremy Corbyn did | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
set out to get this as the main subject of dispute and succeeded in | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
doing that. Theresa May was not left empty-handed or there is no | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
ammunition. She came back, as we expected, with an attack on Labour's | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
economic competence, a round of ammunition that will always be happy | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
to backfire. When the leader of the opposition said nine out of ten NHS | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
trusts are unsafe, what did he mean? I am not sure where that figure came | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
from but the figure that really struck me in the exchange, and if I | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
were Gillian Trout, the one I would be plucking out for the people of | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
Copeland, that figure where she was saying, we have 80,000 more | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
midwives. If we have 18,000 more midwives, why are you closing the | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
maternity unit in the West Cumberland Hospital and shifting it | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
40 miles to Carlisle, and as a doctor and blue light ambulance | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
driver who has done that journey from West Cumberland to Carlisle, | :17:22. | :17:29. | |
she knows just what that means. You are referring to the Copeland | :17:30. | :17:31. | |
by-election there, making your point. In fairness, I will get you | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
to respond briefly. Units allegation in regard to the closure of the unit | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
that I do not think is true. I know a lot of scaremongering is around -- | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
Barry has made an allegation in regard to the closure of the unit. | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
This is why our candidate in Corb Lund has been campaigning on this | :17:52. | :17:54. | |
and pointing out that we are the ones sticking out for the NHS -- in | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
Copeland. But she could not confirm one way or another whether that | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
closure would take place. It is uncertain. Yes and regarding the | :18:05. | :18:13. | |
birthing units, midwifery led, consultant led, it is these issues | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
were our candidate is campaigning and sticking it for the | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
constituency. When Mr Corbyn said nine out of ten NHS trusts are | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
unsafe but did not explain, Barry not quite sure what he meant, but I | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
am pretty sure that what he did mean is that they are unsafe in the sense | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
that nine out of ten trusts this winter have broken the normal | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
operational rule that no more than 85% of hospital beds should be | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
occupied. You keep a margin because of the unforeseen. If there is an | :18:48. | :18:53. | |
infection, delay, winter flu, whatever, nine out of ten have | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
breached that rule will stop in that sense they are unsafe and that is | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
not good. We know the pressures the NHS is under which is why I | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
certainly pay tribute to the NHS staff working so hard, but it is | :19:06. | :19:08. | |
also the fact we have put in the additional consultant into A I | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
want to come back... You may have done that, but nine out of ten NHS | :19:15. | :19:22. | |
trusts this winter were above... They had more than 85% of beds | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
occupied, and to minimise risk of infection, delays in getting | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
treatment, they are not meant to breach that limit. In that sense | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
they are unsafe. I would say to you that this has been a very pressured | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
winter, which we do understand, and we are slow to recognise that. That | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
is why we have been putting in place additional steps, why actually in | :19:48. | :19:50. | |
terms of the way in which additional funds have been coming into the NHS | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
that has been factored in in a different way to front-load some of | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
that investment. But it is right to say there are more A consultants | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
there. And coming to this issue of beds it is also worth recognising we | :20:04. | :20:06. | |
treat people is different now. The length of stay, which about 15 years | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
ago was around eight days, is now about five days. Also looking at the | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
Labour Party on this, they actually saw this as a success in terms of | :20:18. | :20:20. | |
closures... She actually said when she was... The length of stay may | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
have sorted but the length of time you have to wait to get in is | :20:24. | :20:26. | |
getting longer and longer under this Government. Waiting lists are rising | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
on a number of fronts. That is true, isn't it? That is why we have | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
invested in the NHS, something the Labour Party said they would cut. | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
They were not going to invest in extra support and funding. They | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
cannot get in because there are not enough hospital beds. Germany on a | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
per capita basis has almost twice as many beds as we do in hospitals and | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
in Germany you will find none of the waiting list is equivalent to what | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
you have to wait for in this country, none. BBC recently had a | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
number of reports from German hospitals. Every health system has | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
its own faults, but in Germany and even in France, the degree of | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
waiting times to get these things done nothing like they are in | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
Britain. And we see huge pressures in the NHS with an ageing | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
population, more levels of... The German population is ageing even | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
more. They have a demographic time bomb no. With the serious issues | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
presented in A, that is why we have put more doctors into A, why | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
we have been taking steps to support individual NHSs under pressure and | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
why we continue to invest in the NHS, something the Labour Party said | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
they would not do. A quick word from you. Can I say over the last five | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
years of the Tory Government ?20 billion was taken out of social | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
care. We are ?4.6 billion short of what social care needs now and that | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
is the extent of the cuts. That is what is causing the problem. The bed | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
blocking... If you cannot get people out of hospital you cannot get them | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
into hospital. I think our viewers are probably reeling from the | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
statistics. Let's give them a break. While we were on PMQs, Mr Blair's | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
office made a statement, as Mr Tony Blair. That is interesting. Yes, you | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
will remember during question time the Conservative MP Julian Brazier | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
invited the Prime Minister to rise to the debate of the story, | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
prominent in a number of newspapers this morning, particularly the Daily | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
Mail. The story of Ronald Fiddler, the Isis suicide bomber who it | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
turned out had been a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, was returned to this | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
country then heavily compensated by the Government at that time. Much | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
outrage in the Daily Mail, certainly an echo of that on the Government | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
side as well, and Tony Blair, and although Theresa May did not rise to | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
this, Tony Blair has. Whilst PMQs was on a committee released a | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
statement in his office who said it was actually the Conservative | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
Government in 2010 and not his repeat this compensation to Ronald | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
Fiddler. He was probably working his way through the system... It was the | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
coalition Government in power when the money was paid out. Does it | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
confirm a figure? The figure is ?1 million, as you can see. He has more | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
interesting things to say as well about the Daily Mail. Yes, he points | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
out that at the time of the detention the Daily Mail was arguing | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
for the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees on the basis they were | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
being held for an extended period without charge, and this is a fact. | :23:36. | :23:38. | |
He also argues in the statement that we now have in the last few minutes, | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
that the then opposition party, the Conservatives, then in -- known | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
Government, were also echoing those calls, and he said this. "Those Who | :23:49. | :23:51. | |
demanded their release should not be allowed to get away with telling us | :23:52. | :23:59. | |
it is a scandal." And the Daily Mail campaign for his release. It will be | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
interesting to read that one in the Daily Mail tomorrow. Good to have | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
you with us, John. Let's pick up on another issue raised at PMQs. | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
The Prime Minister was asked about ongoing police investigation is into | :24:14. | :24:22. | |
the Trouble is in Northern Ireland. It was Julian Lewis who put the | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
question to Theresa May, and he joins us from the Central lobby | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
know. What is it you are calling for? I am calling for a break-out | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
from this endless cycle of investigating and reinvestigating | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
cases where there is no prospect of credible new evidence coming | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
forward, and what we need to do is to draw a line under it by bringing | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
in a statute of limitations that would prevent the further attempts | :24:50. | :24:57. | |
to drag ex-service personnel through the courts, up to 40 years after the | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
events which are being investigated over and over again, and for which | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
they have never been persecuted. But as you know these police legacy | :25:08. | :25:09. | |
investigations into killings that occurred during the Troubles are | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
looking at paramilitaries and also security forces. Would it be right | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
to stop those, in terms of the families that were affected? My | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
concern has to be about the welfare of the Armed Forces. It is bad | :25:23. | :25:30. | |
enough that people have to go into situations of extreme danger when | :25:31. | :25:32. | |
they are serving their country. It is completely unconscionable that | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
they should be dragged through endless processes on the basis of no | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
credible evidence, and therefore we need to put an end to this matter, | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
just as we have put an end to the similar behaviour in Iraq when the | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
lawyer said it couldn't be done. It could be done and it has been done. | :25:50. | :25:51. | |
Well, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | :25:52. | :25:53. | |
is of course James Brokenshire, who's still with us. | :25:54. | :25:55. | |
What will you do about it? I think there are concerns about the whole | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
issue of legacy in Northern Ireland. This touches on victims as well | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
obviously as well as personnel and police. The Stormont agreement two | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
years ago set process to have a balanced fair and equitable system. | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
We want to move forward with that. We think it provides the most | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
effective way of dealing with these issues. To ensure... But should | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
officers still be investigated or should there be a cut-off point? | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
Ultimately I think it comes down to the issue of evidence, and the | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
police and prosecutors looking at it in that way. They are independent of | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
government and rightly so. But you yourself are quoted in the papers at | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
the end of January. You criticise the legacy investigations for | :26:44. | :26:45. | |
disproportionately focusing on members of the security forces. You | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
stand by that? I think the whole system is not effectively balanced. | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
That is a concern that was reflected in the Stormont house, and actual | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
concept of proportionality that was born within it. That is why I do | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
support that coming forward, that is why we have been working with the | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
parties in Northern Ireland, recognising justice is devolved in | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
Northern Ireland, to get agreement so we can actually see this moving | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
forward for the benefit of everybody, who frankly the system is | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
letting down. But the figures do not necessarily bear that out. If 70% of | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
those legacy investigations are directed towards reviewing killings | :27:26. | :27:34. | |
caused by paramilitaries, not of security forces? 90% of those who | :27:35. | :27:36. | |
died during the Troubles were at the hands of terrorists. Only 10% were | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
involved in some state -based link. But is it right to pursue those? | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
Ultimately this is for the police and prosecutors. I believe in the | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
rule of law... But you have waded in by giving your view. I said it was a | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
question of having that proportionately balanced system that | :27:54. | :27:55. | |
the Stormont has set forward and I want to step forward, to get into | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
the public consultation to ensure we give confidence to everyone being | :28:01. | :28:09. | |
able to take this forward. We have literally 30 seconds. What is your | :28:10. | :28:11. | |
response to James Brokenshire? Will you push this? Learn from what they | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
did in South Africa. Time comes when you have to say enough is enough for | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
all concerned. Cut-off date should be the date of the Belfast agreement | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
and anything relating to matters before that should be | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
non-prosecutable. The end, finished and good riddance. And otherwise? I | :28:26. | :28:27. | |
think we have run out of time. There's just time to put you out | :28:28. | :28:30. | |
of your misery and give Not that long ago! Slam that button | :28:31. | :28:48. | |
and we will find the winner. Matthew Mott, from London. You have the | :28:49. | :28:58. | |
answer, well done, you win a month. -- you will win a mug. | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
The News at One is starting over on BBC One now. | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
Jo and I will be here at noon tomorrow with all the big | :29:07. | :29:08. | |
I've searched the world to find these extraordinary people. | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
I woke up and I could suddenly just play the piano. | :29:14. | :29:21. | |
The human body is unique within nature. | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
And the most extraordinary people on the planet | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
are those who are helping to unlock its mysteries. | :29:31. | :29:35. |