Browse content similar to 22/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks, this is the Daily Politics. | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
It's one year since Boy George unveiled his emergency budget. | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
We'll be looking at how "austerity Britain" is shaping up. The | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
Chancellor is spending more than his predecessor and he's racked up | :00:30. | :00:37. | |
a record deficit for the first two months of the new financial year. | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
You'd better shape up cos you need a loan. Greek jokes aside, things | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
are looking serious in the eurozone. We'll have the latest. | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
Order, order, in the House of Lords! The Upper House is looking | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
for a new speaker. If you want the job, you propbably need to be posh | :00:55. | :01:03. | |
and you have until tomorrow to apply. -- probably. | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
And just how sexist is the beautiful game? We'll be talking to | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
one MP who's not happy with the FA. Maturity and common sense go hand | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
in hand in the adult game, and me playing for the parliamentary | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
football team, or any other lady playing in a park match, should not | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
be caught up in rules designed to Yes, all that and more coming up in | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
the next 90 minutes of cartoon capers. And with us for the | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
duration, Westminster's answer to Statler and Waldorf. They're a | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
couple of Muppets, you know! The former Conservative Leader, Michael | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
Howard - he's now a Lord. And the former Chancellor, Alistair Darling. | :01:44. | :01:50. | |
He's still a humble MP. Welcome to you both. Now first this morning, | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
we're not one to labour a point, but we know a U-turn when we see | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
one. And yesterday, despite bluff to the contrary, the Government | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
announced yet another U-turn, this time over sentencing policy. We | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
covered it on the programme yesterday. This is what the Justice | :02:05. | :02:15. | |
:02:15. | :02:17. | ||
Secretary, Ken Clarke, had to say I have done many U-turns in my time | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
and they should be done with purpose and panache when you have | :02:20. | :02:29. | |
to do them. I actually don't think this is a U-turn at all. I don't. | :02:29. | :02:39. | |
Let me explain. The opposition front bench has taken some sort of | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
tickling powder! I have been listening with bated breath for the | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
best part of 20 years to the Secretary of State. Michael Howard, | :02:48. | :02:55. | |
did you feel a tiny bit sorry for him? Well, I don't think... He | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
doesn't need... Good question! doesn't need people to feel sorry | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
for him, that would be the last thing he wanted. I welcome the | :03:04. | :03:10. | |
changes, I think they are good for the victims and potential victims, | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
and good for the integrity of the criminal justice system. Do we | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
resigned ourselves to having jails that are stuffed to come as a day? | :03:18. | :03:27. | |
It doesn't. A -- stuffed to capacity. When I said prison works, | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
we build more prisons and build more capacity. One of the problems | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
now is that although Labour talked tough on crime and the prison | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
population continued to increase, the capacity was not increased. | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
There seems to be a game going on between the two camps, tougher and | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
tougher, who is the winner at the moment? Crime did fall by the time | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
we left office so that was good. Prison is part of that. I think | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
what matters is what works and Ken Clarke did come up with some | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
interesting ideas when he first announced this policy. If we can | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
stop people going to prison in the first place, there is a lot of | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
evidence that once people start going to prison, they will go back | :04:12. | :04:19. | |
again and again and again. This isn't about -- this is an about | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
turn. David Cameron said yesterday it was a U-turn. What is more | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
interesting in some ways, certainly as we are about to discuss the | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
economy, if I was in the Treasury at the moment, I would say that is | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
�100 million gone. If you add that to what has happened on the NHS, | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
where there has been a spectacular U-turn and we have a dog's | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
breakfast of an administration, or the Forestry sell-off, the Treasury | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
must be worried that the savings they were promised a few months ago | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
will be increasingly difficult to get. I get the sense that you feel | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
it was a missed opportunity, you were quite sympathetic to the | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
points of view put forward by Ken Clarke, am I right? Back in the | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
days when I used to practise law, when you were in the High Court and | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
someone was found guilty and the convictions were read out, you | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
would cost -- often find this person would start defending in | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
their teens, they were sent to young offenders' institution... | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
you bring yourself to say Ken Clarke was right? No, he made a | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
mess of what he was doing in the sense of the way he presented the | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
policy. Substance was fine, presentation was clumsy? If people | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
have offended, if they have done something wrong, they need to go to | :05:36. | :05:44. | |
prison and we need to be tough. There was tough on crime, and also | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
tough on the causes of crime, and trying to divert people out of that | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
prison system makes sense. On the issue of savings, he still has to | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
come up with a substantial saving. Where will he get it from? I think | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
there are things that can be looked at. He is making some changes to | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
the legal-aid system. I think there are certain areas where it would be | :06:09. | :06:17. | |
possible to save more money on legal aid. The practice of giving | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
legal aid for criminal proceedings in Scotland is a bit more stringent | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
than that which exists in England and there are different | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
interpretations... Will that balance the figure? It would help. | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
There would be other efficiency savings that could be produced. I | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
am not sitting with the Justice Department's budget. You know the | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
terrain very well. �100 million is a lot of money. We will leave it | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
there. Now, this time last year, the | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
Chancellor, George Osborne, was dusting down his red box and | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
preparing to deliver his emergency Budget. The economy one year on is | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
the topic of the opposition day debate in the Commons this | :07:04. | :07:12. | |
afternoon. So how is Boy George's austerity plan shaping up? Over to | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
you, Anita. Exactly one year ago today, George | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
Osborne delivered the coalition government's emergency Budget. He | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
warned that it was happening at a moment when "fear about the | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
sustainability of sovereign debt was the greatest risk" to economic | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
recovery. He needed to be "tough" to get the deficit under control. | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
But how strong has he really been? At the time of the emergency Budget, | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
the forecast for public sector borrowing in 2010-11 was �149 | :07:39. | :07:49. | |
:07:49. | :07:49. | ||
billion. And the outcome - �143 billion. So on that score the | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
economy looks on track. But what about public borrowing this year? A | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
year ago, the forecast was �116 billion. That was subsequently | :07:59. | :08:09. | |
:08:09. | :08:09. | ||
increased to �122 billion. And with figures for two months of the | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
financial year in so far, it's by no means clear that even the higher | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
figure will be right. Net borrowing in April and May last year was | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
�25.9 billion. And in the same months this year, �27.4 billion. So | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
borrowing is actually higher so far this year than last year. And in | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
the medium term, getting the deficit down requires economic | :08:30. | :08:37. | |
growth. The emergency Budget forecast growth in 2011 of 2.3%. | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
The forecast now, 1.7%, according the Office for Budget | :08:39. | :08:46. | |
Responsibility. And even lower according to some independent | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
forecasters. The Chancellor says he has no Plan B, but is his Plan A | :08:52. | :09:02. | |
:09:02. | :09:05. | ||
Thank you. We have got a former Chancellor and the former Shadow | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
Chancellor with us. Let me start with Michael Howard. Spending is | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
still rising, the deficit is increasing and the national debt is | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
soaring, what is going right? Everyone agrees the cuts have yet | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
to be put into effect and yet to make an impact. I don't think you | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
can make judgments on a month-by- month basis. This is a five-year | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
project and I think you only have to look at the way in which the | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
markets are treating British credibility to see that it is on | :09:34. | :09:41. | |
track. How borrowing rate is 0.25% above Germany's. In terms of | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
credibility in the markets it is working. We have had very good | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
employment figures, half a million extra jobs created in the last year. | :09:49. | :09:55. | |
There is much to be pleased about, but we had the most awful | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
inheritance, as you know, and I think it was necessary to take the | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
action which the Government is taking to deal with that. He has | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
been chancellor for 12 months and every month during that 12 months | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
he has spent more than the preceding year and are Gordon Brown | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
and Alistair Darling. Be Kizzy it takes time for the measures to be | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
put into effect. -- because it takes time. Many require | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
legislation. You can't expect but I ducked the pain is still to come? | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
In many respects a package right. It is interesting, isn't it, that | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
what the opposition are saying is borrow more. It will be interesting | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
to see whether Alastair agrees with Ed Balls's latest proposition, | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
which is that the VAT increase should be reversed. Are you taking | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
away my gunpowder? Teeing it up for me. I want to come to that in a | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
minute. If, as we know from the figures, I have them here, as I | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
said to Michael Howard, spending is still rising, up 5%, the deficit is | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
still increasing and the national debt is going through the roof, the | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
Ed Balls criticisms that the economy slowed because we are | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
cutting too fast too soon isn't borne out by the figures. I think | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
there is something bigger at play. Ever since the new government was | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
elected from last May, they have been saying that there will be | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
substantial cuts and it is probably the fear of what is about to happen | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
that is depressing economic activity. Why? If you are a | :11:35. | :11:37. | |
businessman, would you think about taking on more people at the | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
moment? You probably wouldn't because you would say everybody is | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
telling me how bad it is going to be, there will be less spending | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
power in the economy. A lot of commentators have made the point | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
that you can actually talk down activity. Michael is right, when | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
people say one or two commentators uttering the review of what has | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
happened over the last 12 months and they are saying it has not been | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
so bad. A lot of the actual cuts were only supposed to come in from | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
this April and they will gradually build up. I do agree with Michael, | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
and if the figures had been the other way I would make this point, | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
you have to watch month-by-month figures. But there is now a growing | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
consensus that growth will be less than George Osborne said 12 months | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
ago, the IMF has said if this carries on, a Plan B will have to | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
be looked at. If you get low growth, you will get higher borrowing and | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
higher debt and that is now a real possibility. But this year, 2011- | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
2012, George Osborne plans to cut public spending by the 0.6%. How | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
much less... How much less would you have cut it by? As I have said | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
you, it is a matter of judgement as to how fast you bring down the | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
deficit. 0.6% is not fast. Expressing it percentage terms it | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
might not seem that way. Let's go back ticking clock's problem. He | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
has to find another �100 million. He will not find it through getting | :13:08. | :13:18. | |
people out of prisons. A government and it spends on pensions, public | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
services, defence and so on. As anyone who has ever run a | :13:21. | :13:28. | |
department will tell you, �100 million... The big problem is the | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
Government's strategy from the start was to eliminate the | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
structural deficit during the course of this Parliament. The risk | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
is if you go too fast -- too far too fast, you suppress growth and | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
it becomes more difficult to get your borrowing ground -- down. | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
you agree with Ed Balls that VAT should be cut temporarily back to | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
17.5%? What he is doing is simply giving an example of the sort of | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
thing the IMF was talking about. He is talking about tax breaks for | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
people as well as perhaps more quantitative easing if that is | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
necessary. He is not alone in that. Does he have your support been | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
saying VAT should be cut? He has my complete support in saying that | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
George Osborne's approach runs the risk of derailing the recovery. | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
Come on, you're just an MP now, you are not in government. An honest | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
answer would be appreciated. Do you agree with Ed Balls that VAT should | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
be cut to 17.5%? It is a matter of judgement as to what you actually | :14:34. | :14:40. | |
do. I will not second-guess everything Ed Balls does. I am not | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
asking you to second guess, I am asking whether you agree or | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
disagree. I am surprised by your reluctance, it is a simple question. | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
I agree with his analysis that if you take too much money out of the | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
economy, you run the risk of developing the economy. That has | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
always been my position. He is not alone in that, other commentators | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
are making the same point. You seem reluctant to support Ed Balls on | :15:04. | :15:11. | |
this full up I am not. Then support him! I do support him... He he will | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
not saying you support his specific plan to cut VAT to 17 were 5%. | :15:17. | :15:23. | |
is a matter of judgement as to what you do to support the economy. I | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
support the critique he has mounted in relation to that and I will not | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
second-guess the individual judgments. It sounds like a no. | :15:33. | :15:43. | |
:15:43. | :15:44. | ||
It sounds like that to me, but viewers will make up their minds. | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
The Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded the | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
growth forecasts for this year and next year. One of the main reasons | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
why it is the incredible squeeze on living standards at the moment. The | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
poorer you are, the tighter the squeeze. There is a danger that | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
this is a vicious circle and you won't get the growth that you need. | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
You have to take tough action to deal with the problems we inherited. | :16:09. | :16:15. | |
No doubt you are going to ask about Greece later on in the programme. | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
Greece is an abject lesson in what happens if the Government spends | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
more than it can afford. You then have a horrible consequences, which | :16:26. | :16:33. | |
we can see. Back in 2005, in the 2005 general election, I warned | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
that the Labour Government was spending too much. More than the | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
country could afford. I spelled out exactly what cuts in spending | :16:41. | :16:50. | |
should take place. I want to move on. You mentioned Greece, so let's | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
move to my favourite musical. won't start singing. As you have | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
been hearing, whatever the trials and tribulations have been it for | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
the UK economy, spare a thought for Greece. Last night, George | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
Papandreou won a confidence vote in the Parliament. The struggle has | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
started. He is seeking to push through further unpopular austerity | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
measures to avoid defaulting on a country's debts. As MPs cast their | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
votes, thousands of protesters gathered to show their disquiet, | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
putting it mildly. Tim Willcox is in Athens. He survived that touch | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
and go vote. That does not guarantee that he will be able to | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
pass the austerity measures. are right. Most commentators | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
thought that he would pass the confidence vote last night and in | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
the end he did with the majority of 12. Far more difficult for him and | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
a far more difficult thing politically is to push through the | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
latest austerity package next week. 28 billion euros worth of austerity | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
measures, involving the selling-off of state assets, utilities like | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
electricity and water and this caught behind me. -- Court. There | :18:04. | :18:11. | |
will be more job losses and higher taxes as well. The protesters were | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
accepting that the vote would go his way, but they are adamant that | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
they don't want to sue the state crown jewels being sold off to the | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
highest bidder just to pay the interest on the debts that they | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
blame the eurozone for. normally see protests, and | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
sometimes they are a vocal minority, but does this represent the mood in | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
Greece at the moment? Not entirely. Having been here just a couple of | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
days it is interesting. A lot of private sector workers have taken a | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
lot of pain in the last couple of years. They have been told their | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
salary will be hard, take it or leave it. Many people have suffered | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
a lot. They have looked at the public sector workers and thought | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
they have a cushy number, and that there are too many people doing not | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
quite enough for the country. There is a divide between public sector | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
and private sector workers here. Last night it was interesting. It | :19:06. | :19:13. | |
was not the fat cats of the public sector losing their cushy jobs, | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
paid well with good pensions. There were more middle-class people there, | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
very worried about what the austerity package would mean for | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
them. A real cross-section of people last night. No real violence, | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
none of the anarchy that we have seen in recent weeks. The police to | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
disperse them with tear gas. I think that George Papandreou will | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
have a tough job on his hands to get this through. I have been | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
speaking to the Finance Minister who took Greece into the euro in | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
2001. He said he had no regrets about doing that. He said it was | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
like giving a family first class tickets and I asked if they could | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
afford it and he said they did have bought it for a while with great | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
growth. He said that the bail out package from the IMF and the ECB | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
was too much pitched towards austerity and not growth. That is | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
why he thought the latest austerity package would be good for growth. | :20:06. | :20:13. | |
Thank you very much. Very clear. While Anita was on the line to | :20:13. | :20:21. | |
Athens, the Associated Press have reported that the German Chancellor, | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
of course they will be the ones putting up the money if there is | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
another bail out, Angela Merkel is warning that full-scale | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
restructuring of Greek debt would have an controllable consequences | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
on the financial markets. -- uncontrollable. Berlin are still | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
holding out. We are joined by MEP, Daniel Hannan. We also have our | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
guests of the day. Regardless of what the Chancellor is saying, is | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
there not a widespread expectation that at the end of the day, after a | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
second bail out, or a third, that Greece will default? An almost | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
universal expectation. The only people that deny it, or pretend to | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
deny it, of the eurozone finance ministers. Unbelievably they are on | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
the verge of committing another 80 billion on top of the 110 billion | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
euros committed 13 months ago, which we were told was a one-off to | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
get Greece through the liquidity crisis. Those bail out have not | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
been useless, they have been actively harmful. The result is | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
Greece now owes more money. The debt has been spread from a small | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
number of bankers to the taxpayer is in general. The more we defer | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
this problem, the worse the reckoning when it comes. Greece got | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
a massive bail out last year, 110 billion euros. Since then, the | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
price of Greek debt has been through the roof. Greece still | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
cannot borrow. The only people lending to the Greeks of the | :21:49. | :21:57. | |
European Central Bank and the IMF. The price that they had to pay, | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
cutting the size of the state, not once there was servant has lost a | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
job. The privatisation programme, nothing has been privatised. Is it | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
time to get real and realise we have to bite the bullet? There are | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
two things here. Firstly, Greece has to make fundamental structural | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
changes to the economy. The balance between public and private sector, | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
competition and so on. It is not as simple as saying, OK, let's cast | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
them adrift. Let the eurozone put them out. I was not saying that. I | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
was simply saying they would have to default on the debt. As things | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
are going at the moment, at the likelihood of practical default, in | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
terms of running things over and extending the repayment, that looks | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
inevitable. That is why I think it would be far better... Firstly, | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
Greece have to play their part, but the eurozone in particular has to | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
realise that if you have a single currency, it comes with | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
consequences. The stronger people have to help restructure the weaker. | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
That has appeared in the United States. Yes, but that is one | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
country. That is right. But we have the fix that was adopted when the | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
euro was put in place. We just about got away with it in the good | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
times, but in bad times it is coming unstuck. That is why I have | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
argued in my article in the Times that the eurozone has to accept | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
that if you want a single currency to last, then you have to do | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
something and play an active part in making the necessary changes in | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
Greece, but not just in Greece, other countries, too. Michael | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
Howard in his article in the Times this morning, at he asked the | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
question of whether the eurozone could survive in its current form. | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
He did not quite answer that but he did raise the question. What is | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
your opinion? When you consider the future of the eurozone, you have to | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
take into account the extent to which there is an almost, and | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
perhaps you can delete the world almost, irrational commitment on | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
the part of political leaders, not on the part of the people living in | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
the eurozone, but on the part of many of their political leaders, to | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
keep the eurozone in being as it is, regardless of the consequences. | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
They see it as an absolute touchstone of their European dream. | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
I fear that their countries, their populations, will play a very heavy | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
price for this. It is the sort of thing that Daniel and I warned | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
about all those years ago, when we were opposing our entry into the | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
euro. One thing I want to say about what Alastair has said, he alighted | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
at the beginning of his response to you. First of all he said EU, then | :24:39. | :24:45. | |
he said the eurozone has to play its part. The eurozone certainly | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
has to but the EU does not. In my article I make it clear this is | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
about the eurozone. I have read it. 12.5 billion and all of the bail | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
out, the European stabilisation mechanisms, which is twice as much | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
as we saved in awe of the cuts. That is true, and also because of | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
our IMF commitment, and as I say in the article, it is in our interests | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
to have a stable euro. It is in our interests that European Union gets | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
through this crisis. It might have been better if we turned the clock | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
back 11 years, if there had been a smaller core of eurozone countries. | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
Then they could have got into a state that others might have wanted | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
to join. That did not happen. The problem now is that we have got | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
Greece on the edge of default, with huge exposures to French and German | :25:39. | :25:47. | |
banks, and other banks in Europe as well. The idea that if Greek -- | :25:47. | :25:54. | |
Greece does default, but it will be confined to Greece, and not | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
spreading into Ireland and Portugal, that is like allowing human beings | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
to go bust and hoping for the best. We have drawn that analogy. Let me | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
ask you, Daniel, a lot of people is said that the single currency could | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
not work unless there were fiscal transfers. So a single fiscal | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
policy as well. Some people are now arguing for that. Does that put | :26:17. | :26:23. | |
Europe at a severe Crossroads? puts it at odds with its own | :26:23. | :26:32. | |
population, as Michael said. Rather than saying it has not been | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
successful for European integration increase, instead they are saying | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
it is successful and let's have more. We need fiscal union, | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
economic union. It would be nice to hear some acknowledgement from all | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
of the people in Britain that 10 years ago wanted to take us into | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
the euro, which would have put us into this precise as if not worse, | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
I have yet to hear it from Tony Blair, Nick Clegg, Chris Huhne, any | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
of the people that sat there telling us we would be finished if | :26:58. | :27:06. | |
we did not join. Free advice but don't hold your breath. Are you all | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
Euro-sceptics? I am not in that camp. You were prow not to take us | :27:10. | :27:18. | |
into the euro. -- proud not to take us into the euro. Yes, but I am not | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
in favour of joining it. Have you ever been? No. You were in the | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
Treasury when Gordon Brown said that everybody was in favour. | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
have to go to PMQs and we will talk about it during that. It is time | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
for the Guess The Year quiz. Worryingly, we have some | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
competition. President Obama is getting in on the act. Look at this | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
mug. That should put all of those Birthright doubts to rest. In case | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
it does not, look at the back. That is his birth certificate. What sort | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
of mug would not believe that? You don't want to waste your time | :27:58. | :28:04. | |
spending $20 on one of those. What you want is one of these. I am | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
afraid that my Paisley birth certificate is not on the back, and | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
neither is Anita's London one. We were both born in Inner Mongolia | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
and we will not tell you about it. And we don't want to tell you how | :28:19. | :28:29. | |
:28:29. | :28:44. | ||
old we are! First, can you tell us # The time has come for me to hang | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
my head in shame. Their ashes have been piled up in | :28:50. | :28:57. | |
the amounts of Auschwitz and the fields. Their blood Christ to | :28:57. | :29:07. | |
:29:07. | :29:25. | ||
heaven. But their voice cannot be # Just running scared. | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
# Age place we go. ICN by parachute, the rebels have struck along the | :29:30. | :29:40. | |
:29:40. | :29:50. | ||
coast within Havana. -- by C and by OK, to be in with any chance of | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
winning the mug, please send your answers to this e-mail addressed. | :29:55. | :30:04. | |
For terms and conditions, please go to the website. It is almost no day. | :30:04. | :30:09. | |
Big Ben. That can only mean one thing, Prime Minister's Questions. | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
Kevin Maguire from the Mirror. What does Ed Miliband go on? Which U- | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
turn does he choose? I think you should choose military. Army, navy, | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
air force, all attacking David Cameron. He says you do the | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
fighting and I will do the talking. I would make David talk about | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
defence cuts today. That would be interesting from a Labour | :30:32. | :30:38. | |
opposition leader, arguing Tory weakness from defence. Take the | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
battle to David Cameron. We know there is a lot of unease on the | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
Conservative benches on those cuts. David Davies is saying that Britain | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
is no longer a military power. wonder what has happened to the | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
money, then. How much unease is there on the Labour benches about | :30:55. | :31:03. | |
Miliband's personal poll ratings? His opponents that have never | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
backed him have become more vocal and those that supported him are | :31:06. | :31:12. | |
going quiet. Would you agree with me that whatever happens, well, as | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
things stand at the moment, Ed Miliband will lead his party into | :31:17. | :31:25. | |
the next election? Likely but not I was unaware of that event, but I | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
wish you a happy anniversary. I'm sure the whole House would wish to | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
join me in paying tribute to craftsman Andrew Found that the | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Corporal Lloyd Newell | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
from the Parachute Regiment and private Gareth Bellingham from the | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment. They were talented, brave and | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
dedicated soldiers who made the bottom at sacrifice overseas for | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
the safety of British people at home. We send out our deepest | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
condolences to their families, friends and colleagues of Dr this | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
and I shall have further such meetings later today. Kerry | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
McCarthy. I thank the prime minister for that response and can | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
I associate myself with the moving tributes he has just paid. A year | :32:13. | :32:22. | |
ago with the Chancellor stood up to deliver his first Budget. Given | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
that on the Government's own assessment, the efforts will have a | :32:27. | :32:32. | |
statistically insignificant impact on child poverty, can I recommend | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
the prime minister watches the BBC documentary bought kits to find out | :32:35. | :32:41. | |
how the other half lives and can I ask him if he regrets allowing his | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
chance that to take money away from families with children rather than | :32:44. | :32:50. | |
the bankers who caused a crisis? High I will look at the programmes | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
each honourable lady mentions, but even at a difficult time, this | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
money put more money into the poorest families, we have frozen | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
council tax and we have taken steps to help working families and the | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
budget and the subsequent Budget, neither of them raised Child | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
poverty because of the steps we took. We inherited a complete mess | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
from the party opposite, but we are dealing with it in a way that | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
protects families. Can the Prime Minister confirm that this country | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
will not be contributing a penny towards the Greek bail-out other | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
than what we contribute to the IMF? The honourable lady is right, we | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
are senior members of the IMF, we sit on the IMF board, we have | :33:33. | :33:39. | |
responsibilities as members ofs of the IMF it. We were not involved in | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
the first Greek bail-out, we are not members of the eurozone and we | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
will not become members of the eurozone as long as I am standing | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
here. I don't believe the European financial mechanism should be used | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
for Greece and we don't think that is appropriate and I don't believe | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
that should happen. Ed Miliband. Can I join the Prime Minister in | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
paying tribute to craftsman Andrew Found from the Royal Electrical and | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
Mechanical Engineers, Corporal Lloyd Newell from the Parachute | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
Regiment and private Gareth Bellingham from 3rd Battalion the | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
Mercian Regiment. They all served their country with dedication and | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
bravery and our hearts go out to their family and friends. Armed | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
forces date is also coming up this Saturday and that is an opportunity | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
to remind us all of the service that is provided by the armed | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
forces in Afghanistan, Libya and all around the world. It is a | :34:32. | :34:34. | |
moment to recognise the service they provide with honour and | :34:34. | :34:40. | |
courage for our country. We support the mission in Libya, but in the | :34:40. | :34:45. | |
last week both the First Sea Lord and the Commander in Chief Air | :34:45. | :34:47. | |
Command have raised concerns over the prospect of an extended | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
campaign. Can the Prime Minister take this opportunity to assure the | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
House that sufficient resources are in place to maintain Britain's part | :34:55. | :35:02. | |
in the mission at the current rate of engagement? Can I join the right | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
honourable gentleman in paying tribute to our armed forces, I am | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
particularly looking forward to our Armed forces Day on Saturday, when | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
we will celebrate the contribution they make to our national life and | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
the enormous and that they do to keep us safe. In terms of Libya, | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
similar to the mission in Afghanistan, it is funded out of | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
the reserve so it does not put additional pressures on the defence | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
budget. I have sought assurances and received them from the Chief of | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
Defence Staff General Sir David Richards that we are capable of | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
keeping up this operation for as long as it takes. I think that is | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
vital and I would argue that the pressure is building on Gaddafi, | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
time is on our side, not on Gaddafi's side. When you look at | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
what is happening in Libya, you see a strengthening of the revolt in | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
the West, more people deserting Gaddafi's regime, growing | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
unpopularity of his regime and other coalition holding strong, | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
time is on our side, pressure is growing and I believe we will take | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
it to a satisfactory conclusion. am with the Prime Minister that we | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
should keep up the pressure on the Libyan regime and we do provide | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
powerful support for the mission. But don't the concerns that have | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
been expressed by members of our armed forces point to something | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
very important, the need to look again at the Strategic Defence and | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
Security Review precisely to make sure that we have the right | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
capability and we have the right focus. The Foreign Secretary | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
described the Arab Spring as a more important event and 9/11. But the | :36:36. | :36:38. | |
National Security Strategy published last year doesn't mention | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
Libya, Egypt or Tunisia. Isn't it right, in the light of the changes | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
we have seen, to look again at the Strategic Defence and Security | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
Review to make sure we can sustain the conflict in Libya? I am | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
grateful for the question, because it is important. One of the reasons | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
for having a National Security Council that its weekly is all the | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
time to ask if we have the right resources, do we have the right | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
strategy. We have had a review of the national security and Defence | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
Review over the last year. For point I would make is this. That | :37:13. | :37:15. | |
strategic Defence Review did actually put in place mechanisms to | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
say we may well be fighting two conflicts at the same time fault | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
but it also put in place the necessity of having a very flexible | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
armed forces say exactly the sort of operations we are fighting and | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
dealing with in Libya. The point I would also make it as it does seem | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
to be strange, having not had one for 10 years, to then want to have | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
two Strategic Defence Reviews within one year. We have got the | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
right flexibilities in our armed forces, they are performing | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
magnificently in Libya. If anything I would like to speed up the | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
implementation of the strategic Defence Review because so much of | :37:52. | :37:55. | |
the new equipment we are looking to have in terms of drones and things | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
like that, it would be helpful to have them now. Far from being the | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
wrong strategic posture, it is right and it is good we are putting | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
it in place. I think it will come as news to the wider defence and | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
security community that there has been a review of the original | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
Strategic Defence and Security Review. If there has been a review | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
since the Arab Spring took place, why doesn't the Prime Minister | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
publish the results of that review? Let's have a consultation with the | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
experts who know about these issues. There is clear concern across the | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
military about some of these issues. Let me ask the Prime Minister, and | :38:34. | :38:43. | |
let me say this to this in all sincerity. When our military chiefs | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
raised concerns and raised legitimate concerns about the | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
conduct of our operations, surely it is not the right thing to say | :38:50. | :38:56. | |
you did the fighting and I will do the talking. In retrospect, was at | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
that very crass and high-handed? -- wasn't that. I have huge respect | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
for the people that run hour armed services, they do in incredibly | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
good job, they are very professional and they are involved | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
in the National Security Council, they were involved in the drawing | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
up of the National Strategic Defence Review will but the only | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
point I have made is when you are at war, and we are in Afghanistan | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
and Libya, it is very important, whether you are a political or | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
military leader, to think very carefully about what you are about | :39:27. | :39:34. | |
to say. Can I ask the Prime Minister if he is aware of the | :39:34. | :39:41. | |
decision abruptly made to close the Passport Office in which, which has | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
obliged a six year-old boy to make 200 mile round trip to an interview | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
and another constituent to travel to Newcastle. Is this acceptable? | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
will look very closely at the point my honourable friend raises. But in | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
the modern age, we have all sorts of ways of carrying out interviews | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
that don't necessarily involve people having to travel to a | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
passport my office. Her what matters is having an efficient | :40:05. | :40:12. | |
service so people can get the documentation they need. Given the | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
number of U-turn as the prime minister has made, including on | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
sentencing, NHS reform, Forestry sell-off and school reforms, it is | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
a wonder that he knows which way he is facing. But will he now have the | :40:25. | :40:35. | |
:40:35. | :40:47. | ||
Prime minister. I did not get all of that. That is the trouble but a | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
dark it is a reminder of the importance of government | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
backbenchers keeping calm and quiet, not least so that prime minister | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
Count hear properly. It would probably also help if you | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
didn't read out the whip's it at the start of the question. I think | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
the question was about the important point about women and | :41:07. | :41:13. | |
pensions. What I would say is this. I do think it is right to have the | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
equalisation of men's and women's pension age at 65 and that is going | :41:16. | :41:21. | |
ahead. I also think it is important to raise the pension age to 66 | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
because the fact is people are living longer and our country, that | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
is a good thing, but we have to make sure we can pay for good | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
pensions for the future. It seems to me the alternative is to stick | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
your head in the sand, end up with a situation where you either end up | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
cutting pensions or building up debts for our children that would | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
frankly irresponsible. This government is taking difficult | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
decisions, but I think they are the right ones. Does the Prime Minister | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
agree there is still too much homophobia in sport, especially | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
football, and the event he is hosting later today in Downing | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
Street will go some way to tackling that prejudice. Her I completely | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
agree with my honourable friend and I am delighted to be hosting a | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
party for Britain's lesbian, gay and Trans ended community in | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
Downing Street today. One of the issues in sport is Hamp few out | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
players there are end all sorts of sports, and I applaud those who are | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
coming tonight, and I hope that will encourage schoolchildren to | :42:20. | :42:26. | |
recognise homophobic bullying is completely unacceptable. If the | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
Prime Minister is serious about tackling the issue of runaway | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
fathers, which he said last week, why is he making it harder for | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
single mothers to get maintenance payments by charging them extra | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
child support? We are going to go on funding a child support a | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
mechanism and it is right that we do. But I don't think it is wrong | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
to ask people to make a contribution to that. Taxpayers | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
currently are putting in a huge amount of money, they will go on | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
putting in money, but to ask people to pay the wharves -- towards the | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
cost does not reduce the impact of what I said. People that walk away | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
from their responsibilities and don't fund their children, that | :43:04. | :43:13. | |
should not be allowed to happen in Britain today. Next year, it is the | :43:13. | :43:19. | |
centenary of the death of Captain Robert Scott on the Antarctic. Does | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
my right honourable friend recognise that this brave, historic | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
son of Plymouth left a significant scientific legacy which is still | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
today helping to form the world's environmental agenda? I thank my | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
honourable friend for raising this issue and it is an important | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
centenary coming up and I am pleased so much is going on across | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
the country to celebrate that, particularly in Plymouth. I would | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
make a point that it is not just the scientific discoveries that are | :43:49. | :43:55. | |
important, it is the inspirational figure, the adventure -- adventurer | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
and and -- explorer, that incredible sense of adventure he | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
had that inspires young people today. The Prime Minister has been | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
forced to abandon his original plans on sentencing. Will he now | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
changed his mind on the proposal to prevent police holding the DNA of | :44:12. | :44:20. | |
those arrested but not charged with Per and he had we will look | :44:20. | :44:26. | |
carefully at the issues of DNA. I have to say to the right honourable | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
gentleman, we inherited an unacceptable situation with a DNA | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
database that had grown out of control and without proper rights | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
for people. We have put in place a better system, there is always room | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
to see if it can be improved, but we made a big step forward from the | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
mess we're at were left by the last government. It is a bit lace -- | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
late to be looking at the proposal, it is in the House of Commons. Let | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
me explain his own policy to the Prime Minister. Around 5,000 people | :44:56. | :45:05. | |
each year are arrested on suspicion of rope and not charged. -- rope. I | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
know he wants some help from the Home Secretary. In certain cases, | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
these individuals have gone on to commit further offences and be | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
convicted as a result of the DNA being held on a national database. | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
But his proposal is that for those arrested and not charge, the DNA | :45:22. | :45:30. | |
will be disposed of straight away. discard the DNA of those arrested | :45:30. | :45:39. | |
but not charged? By Nova mack is some concern -- I know there is | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
some concern. The more noise, the greater the difficulty in getting | :45:43. | :45:53. | |
:45:53. | :45:55. | ||
Order. I understand, Mr Speaker, there is some worry that in this | :45:55. | :46:04. | |
Government we actually talk to each other! This is clearly not the case. | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
The Shadow Chancellor raises this issue. It is perfectly clear that | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
the Shadow Chancellor and the leader of the Labour Party don't | :46:12. | :46:20. | |
speak to each other at all. And I have the proof, Mr Speaker. Because | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
this week he made a huge announcement on a massive VAT cut, | :46:24. | :46:31. | |
and yet it was only... JEERING. us focus on an answer to the | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
question and then we will move on to the next question. Mr Ed | :46:35. | :46:44. | |
Miliband. Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker... Let me give this lesson to the | :46:44. | :46:51. | |
Prime Minister... STEERING. It will be better to talk to his colleagues | :46:51. | :46:59. | |
before they perform the policy, not afterwards. Instead of listening to | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
the Home Secretary, why not listen to the rape crisis representative? | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
With the reporting of rapes on the increase and conviction rates still | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
shockingly low, the evidence this database provides is vital. The | :47:13. | :47:19. | |
more of this data we hold, the more chance we have of catching rapists. | :47:19. | :47:24. | |
Sue says this really is a no- brainer. Mr Speaker, this is | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
another policy on crime that is callous, not thought through and | :47:27. | :47:35. | |
out of touch. Why doesn't he think again? First of all, if he actually | :47:35. | :47:42. | |
understood the policy, he would no... If he understood the policy | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
he would know that the police are allowed to apply to keep DNA on the | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
commuter, not something that he mentioned. -- computer. He comes up | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
with some idea, gets it completely wrong in the House of Commons, and | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
we will find afterwards that he has given us a partial picture. That is | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
what his questions are all about. Not surprising he does not want to | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
talk. The hands of the Prime Minister must be heard. The Prime | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
Minister. -- the answer. I am not surprised that he does not want to | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
talk about the issues that his party has been putting forward this | :48:18. | :48:27. | |
week because I don't suppose his party have talked. Order. We need | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
to simmer down. As a parrot, I am appalled at the party opposite | :48:32. | :48:38. | |
burgeoning our children with ever more unsolicited debts. The party | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
opposite of putting fees for word with their tax cuts and spending | :48:43. | :48:49. | |
commitments, on which the VAT cut is the latest. Order! The | :48:49. | :48:57. | |
honourable gentleman will now resume his seat. Thank you, Mr | :48:57. | :49:07. | |
:49:07. | :49:11. | ||
Speaker. There are 400 avoidable deaths of people with epilepsy and | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
other conditions. I ask for an immediate referral to the tertiary | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
specialist, and in education support for children with an | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
assessment so that they can fulfil their potential. Could the Prime | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
Minister and meet with me, the Joint Epilepsy Council and | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
Professor Helen Cross, to progress these provisions which will not | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
only save costs but also lives? I would be delighted to meet with | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
her and Helen Cross, who I know well. She works at Great Ormond | :49:42. | :49:44. | |
Street and is an absolutely brilliant clinician, and someone | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
that I know well. I am keen to improve the support that we give to | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
people with epilepsy. One of the steps that we are taking is putting | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
in place more personal budgets and more single assessments, which I | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
think will help with epilepsy. My understanding is that there are | :50:00. | :50:04. | |
many good things in her bill, but there is some concern that it could | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
have too much of the medical approach to special educational | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
needs. I have some sympathy with that but I know many professionals | :50:11. | :50:21. | |
:50:21. | :50:21. | ||
have their concerns about we could talk about that when we meet. | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
my honourable friend tell the House what the results have been? What | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
would a proposed cut in VAT do to the British economy at this stage | :50:29. | :50:35. | |
in the cycle? I do think my right honourable friend raises an | :50:35. | :50:40. | |
important point. Making a uncut to VAT right now, when the concerns | :50:40. | :50:50. | |
:50:50. | :50:54. | ||
are about deficit would be insanity. -- unfunded cut. Labour's Plan B | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
stands for bankruptcy. The Prime Minister frequently tells us that | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
we are all in this together. Can he explain why banks are being | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
rewarded with a �2 billion tax cut on their obscene bonuses and | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
parents of disabled children are being penalised with the benefit | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
cut of �1,400 per year? How is that fair? I tell you what this | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
Government has done, which has put in place a �2.5 billion bank Levy, | :51:22. | :51:28. | |
raising more than Labour's bonus tax, every single year. If members | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
opposite want to see irresponsible people are earning a lot of money | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
paying proper taxes, perhaps they can explain this. Why did they | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
voted in as the measures on disguised earnings in the Finance | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
Bill that would raise �800 million from people that are giving loans | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
to themselves to dodge taxes? I think that is probably a detail but | :51:50. | :51:58. | |
the leader of the Labour Party was not really aware of. While of | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
course we should not be making a unilateral contribution to the | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
Greek bail-out, does the Prime Minister not agree that we have | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
something that would help regenerate the Greek economy and | :52:08. | :52:16. | |
put right a 200 year wrong, and that is to give the marbles back? | :52:16. | :52:22. | |
am afraid I don't agree with the honourable gentleman. Order. I want | :52:22. | :52:29. | |
to hear the Prime Minister's views on marbles! The short answer is | :52:29. | :52:37. | |
that we are not going to lose them! Is the Prime Minister aware that | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
670,000 people, two-thirds of home according to his Government | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
equality impact assessment have a disability, will lose up to �13 per | :52:46. | :52:52. | |
week because of his changes in housing benefit and occupancy | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
roles? This is a complete betrayal of his Chancellor's promise not to | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
balance the budget on the backs of the poor. I have looked carefully | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
at this issue and I know there are concerns. The point and make his | :53:06. | :53:13. | |
first. It is right that we Reform Housing Benefit. The cost of got | :53:13. | :53:17. | |
out of control, raising two 22 billion. The cost of housing | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
benefit should reflect the size of the family not the House. But we | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
have made an exception to people that have carers so that an | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
allowance is made in the housing benefit. It is no good saying you | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
are in favour of welfare reform and cutting the costs of welfare but | :53:33. | :53:35. | |
never being able to find a single part of the bill that you agree | :53:35. | :53:43. | |
with. Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming a new report by the | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
mobility Reform Group? They show how through partnership working | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
they can deliver wheelchairs that transform young people's lives. | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
Will he meet with me and the ambassadors to discuss how the | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
Government can take this forward? know that charity well, they are | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
excellent. I will certainly arrange a meeting for him. The point we | :54:09. | :54:16. | |
want to make on wheelchairs is that we want to the health care reforms | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
to give greater choice for GPs and patients so people can get the | :54:19. | :54:27. | |
wheel chair of their choice, at the time they needed, rather than just | :54:27. | :54:32. | |
having to take what you are given. Over five years there have been no | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
mistakes made in the setting of school examination papers. Since | :54:36. | :54:41. | |
the 16th May this year there have been 10 mistakes made. What does | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
the Prime Minister intend to do for those among the 250,000 young | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
people affected, who lose either the University of choice or the | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
university at all because of this staggering incompetence? | :54:54. | :55:00. | |
honourable gentleman is right and this is not an acceptable situation. | :55:00. | :55:08. | |
We have discussed this and we are taking a strong course to make sure | :55:08. | :55:14. | |
this does not happen again. former Labour Secretary of State | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
Lord Hutton has described current proposals on pension reform as the | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
best chance we have to deliver sustainable system which is fair to | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
both scheme payers and the taxpayer. Does my right honourable friend | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
agree with me that when it comes to these major long-term issues, we | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
should build the broadest possible consensus? Will he seek the support | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
of both sides of the House for the proposals? I thank my honourable | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
friend for the question and for the way that he puts it. The point is | :55:42. | :55:48. | |
this. The Hutton Report is a good report. It is not about attacking | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
and downgrading public sector pensions. It is a way of making a | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
big public sector pension affordable into the long term. It | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
is respecting all of the accrued rights that people have. We need to | :55:59. | :56:04. | |
win the argument here on the basis of fairness. It is right for the | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
taxpayer to put money into public sector pensions, but we do need to | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
know they are affordable for the long term. The steps that Lord | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
Hutton puts forward are absolutely right and I hope the party opposite | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
will take a responsible view and recognise that we need to make this | :56:18. | :56:24. | |
change for the long-term good of our country. 18 months ago one of | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
my constituents required knee surgery and was pleased to hear he | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
only had to wait six weeks. In our needs another operation and has to | :56:32. | :56:39. | |
wait 10 months. He is in agony and unable to walk. He is angry and | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
wants to know if this is what the Prime Minister meant when he said | :56:42. | :56:47. | |
the NHS was safe in his hands. you give me the case, I will look | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
at it. We have not changed the waiting-list targets which have | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
been in place in the NHS for a long time, in particular the two week | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
target which is part of the NHS constitution. -- 18 week target. | :57:01. | :57:06. | |
Waiting times have come down. The lesson is this. If it was not for | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
this Government putting in �11 billion extra, money that the party | :57:10. | :57:16. | |
opposite does not support, all waiting times would go up. On July | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
18th last year, the economic Secretary to the Treasury stated | :57:20. | :57:24. | |
with regard to the decision to sign Britain up to the eurozone bail-out | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
mechanism that, and I quote, where these decisions were taken by the | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
previous Government, this Government judges them to be an | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
appropriate response to the crisis. Does this remained a Government's | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
position? I know my honourable friend is pursuing this issue with | :57:41. | :57:50. | |
his normal boggart tenacity. The facts of this case of very clear. - | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
- are very clear. The Government signed us up to a European | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
financial mechanism which we are having to pay out under. This | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
Government has got us out of it by tougher glaciation in Brussels so | :58:02. | :58:10. | |
that we don't have to contribute after 2015. -- tough negotiations. | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
Can I express condolence for those soldiers that have fallen in | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
Afghanistan? Those that serve are the lines of our country and we | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
must do everything we can to repay the debt of gratitude that we owe | :58:21. | :58:30. | |
them. The October, 2010, STS are has been overtaken by events and | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
the world is a different place. Will he do the right thing for the | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
armed forces and the country and order a new chapter to this | :58:37. | :58:43. | |
outdated review? I respect of the honourable gentleman said, and | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
particularly his fitting tribute to the armed forces. I think the idea | :58:47. | :58:52. | |
of totally re- opening the defence review at a time when our armed | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
forces are engaged and doing such a fantastic job is actually the wrong | :58:55. | :58:59. | |
one. I make this point. What the defence review was all about was | :58:59. | :59:03. | |
making sure that we have flexible armed forces so they can be | :59:03. | :59:06. | |
committed to different parts of the world and they get the backing they | :59:06. | :59:10. | |
need. It was about getting rid of the main battle tanks in Germany | :59:10. | :59:14. | |
and Britain money into the enablers and the forces of the future. That | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
is what the defence review is about. Libya shows that it is working and | :59:18. | :59:23. | |
we should stick with it. Will my right honourable friend welcome the | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
campaign for high-speed rail campaigning outside Parliament | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
today to bring thousands of much- needed jobs to the Midlands and the | :59:30. | :59:34. | |
North, to help address the North- South divide? Will he confirm that | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
it will come to Yorkshire? I can happily confirm all of those things. | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
I do believe if we really are serious about trying to rebalance | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
our economy, make sure we get growth across the country and not | :59:47. | :59:50. | |
just in the South East, then the time for high-speed rail has come | :59:50. | :59:58. | |
and that is why it has my strong support. The Secretary of State for | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
Wales has said she is prepared to be sacked because of opposition on | :00:01. | :00:11. | |
:00:11. | :00:13. | ||
high-speed rail. I prefer to focus on the fact that in one year as | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
Welsh Secretary, she has secured something that 13 years of your | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
Welsh Secretary never achieved, which was the Elettra vocation of | :00:21. | :00:29. | |
the line between Paddington and Cardiff. -- electrification. | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
agoraphobic man from Middlesbrough received so much money from state | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
benefits that he set up his own illegal loans company. He received | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
a staggering amount of money in benefits, according to the judge at | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
his trial. We should reform the benefits system. You are absolutely | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
right. The people that sent us here what us to sort out the welfare | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
system so that it is available for people that genuinely need help, | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
but if you can work and you are offered a job, you should not live | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
your life on welfare. We voted for it but what a pity that the party | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
opposite talked about it but did not have the guts to back it. | :01:11. | :01:18. | |
people know that Rochdale is the home of co-operation. Next year is | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
the United Nations International Year of co-operatives. Will the | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
Prime Minister consider visiting Rochdale to show support for mutual | :01:28. | :01:36. | |
isn't in the 21st century? I know the Prime Minister's record of | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
visiting Rochdale and what can happen when he gets there. I am a | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
strong supporter of co-operatives and mutuals. They have a huge role | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
to play in our economy and in the provision of public services, and | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
we will be making some announcements about that, maybe in | :01:53. | :01:59. | |
Rochdale, in the months to come. Earlier this year, the Prime | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
Minister demonstrated strength of character to talk about the issue | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
of multiculturalism. In view of the fact that I have a Christian first | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
game and seeks surname, I try to combine the best of my traditional | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
Indian values with my English values. We can learn a lot from our | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
Indian partners, many of whom define themselves by their | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
nationality first and foremost, regardless of religious and ethnic | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
background. I pay tribute to my honourable friend and the work that | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
he does on this issue. It is vital as a country that we build a | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
stronger national identity. People clearly feel that of course you can | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
have all sorts of different religious identities and cultural | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
identities, but it is very important that we build a strong | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
British identity and he is living proof of that. Tomorrow the | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
European Parliament will decide whether to reduce the EU carbon | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
reduction target by 30% in 2020. According to reports, the vote will | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
be very close but it will not pass because one Conservative MEP out of | :03:04. | :03:13. | |
25 will vote to for the 30% target alone. Will they honour the | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
agreement and vote for the target tomorrow? We are committed to the | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
30% target and nothing will change that. I will do a deal with the | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
honourable lady. I will work with my MEPs if she works on hers. In | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
recent months that they have voted for a higher its EU budget, you EU | :03:30. | :03:37. | |
taxes, and they even voted against scrapping first class air travel | :03:37. | :03:43. | |
for MEPs. Perhaps she would like to fly over and give them a talking | :03:43. | :03:51. | |
to? Last but not least. With the National Audit Office estimating | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
the cost of criminal reoffending to the economy at �10 billion per year, | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
does my right honourable friend agree with me that the need to | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
reduce offending levels on the unacceptably high rates we | :04:02. | :04:09. | |
inherited from the last Government must be the focus of a penal | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
policy? My honourable friend has considerable experience because of | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
his career before coming to this place. We inherited a system | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
whereby each prison place cost �40,000, half of prisoners reoffend | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
within a year of getting out, half of prisoners are wrong drugs, and | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
10% of foreigners that should not be in this country in any event. | :04:30. | :04:38. | |
The key is to make sure that we reduce costs and reform prisons, | :04:38. | :04:48. | |
:04:48. | :04:55. | ||
He went on the military and the complaints of the top brass in | :04:55. | :05:03. | |
Britain. Then he came back and almost an issue from left field | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
because no one was expecting it, on keeping their DNA of those who have | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
been arrested on rape, but not convicted. We will come back to | :05:14. | :05:21. | |
that issue in a moment. Before we do that, let's hear what you | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
thought. By and large, more positive about | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
Ed Miliband than I can remember for a long time. Last week it was due | :05:30. | :05:38. | |
to a good performance, and this There are tweets from political | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
correspondent and they have been quite positive. As for your | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
comments, very thoughtful. Charles says David Cameron was equivocal | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
about when that Britain would pay for the Greek bail-out, he should | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
be much clearer about whether there is a possibility on Britain being | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
made to contribute. Colin, when our scoring the first question, did | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
Cameron never categorically say the UK would not give money to Greece | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
in future bail-outs? Gym, last week Miliband had to prove he was a | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
bruiser to silence the critics, this week he is using Libya to show | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
he is a statesman and the Tories are not necessarily the natural | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
party of the military. Jacqueline says, I am disgusted at the | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
absolute weakness of the Labour MP talking about U-turns, this | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
government listens. What is the point of having green papers if you | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
don't debate them? Charles, why do the gunman shout and yell if there | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
is an awkward question on new terms and pensions, it is an obvious | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
stage-managing tactic. The Prime Minister stated we were at war with | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
Libya, I thought it was humanitarian action. Was it just a | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
slip or can we expect something else next? | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
Interesting. He certainly did say we were at war. Two walls. Michael | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
Howard, we have had the First Sea Lord speaking out, we have had the | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
air Chief Marshal speaking out, head of the RAF, and we have had | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
the Chief of the General Staff speaking out, head of the army. As | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
the Telegraph says, that prime minister surely must accept | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
something is going badly awry when such a senior officers feel obliged | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
to vent their so far -- have done their frustrations. It is easy for | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
senior officers to in effect ask for more. That is what they are | :07:26. | :07:34. | |
doing. The challenge for anyone who is saying we ought to redo the | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
Strategic Defence Review is where are you going to find the money? We | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
know we have to tackle the deficit. Every department has to play its | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
part in achieving that objective. The defence department is one such | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
department. As I have heard Liam Fox say many times, if you accept | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
the amount of money which is available for the defence | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
department and you do a strategic Defence Review, you come up with a | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
Defence Review which the Government announced an published and is | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
implementing. That is the challenge for those who seek to criticise, | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
where is the extra money going to come from? As one Labour MP pointed | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
out, not Mr Miliband, the Defence Review did not mention Tunisia or | :08:22. | :08:30. | |
Algeria or Egypt or Libya. Yes, but that doesn't mean we haven't been | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
performing our role in accordance with the limitations imposed by the | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
United Nations Security Council resolution very effectively in | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
Libya in partnership with other countries. We are not doing it on | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
our own and we are doing it pursuant to wait Security Council | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
resolution and we're doing it effectively. The Air Chief Marshal | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
says these huge demands on the RAF and in the morale among MN is | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
fragile. The RAF's ability to conduct future operations will be | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
compromised if the Libyan conflict lasted be on September. Well, let's | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
hope there aren't any unknown future operations. We didn't think | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
there... I remember when the prime minister was Leader of the | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
Opposition, he told us you could not impose democracy from 30,000 | :09:17. | :09:24. | |
feet. Within a few months, Eurofighter jets are dropping bombs | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
from over 15,000 feet. Not seeking to impose anything on anybody, we | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
are seeking to protect civilians. I believe that if his action had not | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
been taken and we had seen a bloodbath in Benghazi, as we | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
absolutely would have seen, public opinion would have been horrified | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
and would have said to the Government, what did you do to stop | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
it? It was noteworthy that Ed Miliband, in the course of his | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
questioning of the Prime Minister, maintained his support for the | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
mission in Libya. If you maintain that support, certain consequences | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
flow from it. Alistair Darling, would it be fair to say that if | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
Labour had won the election, and he had remained as Chancellor, as you | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
had agreed he would, Labour would have had to have done a Defence | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
Review which, in strategic terms, would not have been that different | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
from the one the coalition has done. Of course we would. There are long- | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
term problems in the MoD particularly in relation to | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
procurement. Also, successive governments have always anticipated | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
that we would be doing less in defence, not more, but then events | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
come along, whether it was Iraq or Afghanistan, now Lydia, which means | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
we are committing troops and there is a cost to that. Like Michael, I | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
agree that we could not have stood by and let a bloodbath occur in | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
Libya. However, interesting listening to David Cameron, there | :10:55. | :11:01. | |
is no doubt that our policy has moved from that. He was talking | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
about time being on our side and it was only a matter of time before | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
Gaddafi when. We will be pleased when Gaddafi goes, but that | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
suggests we might be in this for quite a long time, which brings me | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
to the Chiefs of Staff, who are saying that if you commit British | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
forces, whether they are unable or air forces, for a long period, that | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
comes that is a - at a cost. There is no saying it comes from the | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
Reserve, that his public expenditure, just as much as if it | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
came out of the MoD Leger. There has been a degree of mission creep. | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
The other thing that worries me is that every time we say we should | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
not be and this alone, if you look at who is engaged in Libya at the | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
moment, it is basically as and the French. We can't carry on becoming | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
engaged that way. That is not to say we stand aside, if we are faced | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
with another similar situation, nobody can put up with that, but I | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
think that chiefs of staff are making good boy. If Gordon Brown | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
had said you did the fighting, I'll do the talking, he would have been | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
pulverised. That was a silly thing of David Cameron to say. The second | :12:10. | :12:16. | |
three questions were on the issue of the DNA samples. Do you think, | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
given that he went on a specific problem with cancer patients last | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
week as a result of the welfare reforms, is it now his tactic to | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
pick something quite particular that involves a detailed knowledge? | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
He is operating on the assumption that the Prime Minister is | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
sometimes not so good on the detail. No, it is David Cameron's Achilles | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
heel. We saw it the previous week with 7,000 cancer victims who would | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
lose money, David Cameron was not on top of it, and he was struggling | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
to date. He is very stylish, but sometimes this substance is more | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
difficult. I think Ed Miliband, who is not always stylish but knows the | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
detail, is going to work away at that. He got under the prime | :13:01. | :13:10. | |
minister's skin. I suspect, before Prime Minister's Questions, David | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
Cameron will be breaking out into cold sweats, worrying about those | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
details. I want to pick up before we left off before PMQs. I said, | :13:20. | :13:26. | |
would you accept that from what we know now, despite the criticisms, | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
it is as certain as it can be that Mr Miliband will lead Labour into | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
the next election? You were not quite as certain, explain what you | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
mean. I think it is likely he will, but I don't think it is certain. | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
There is so much background noise in Parliament about it, right from | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
the beginning. A majority of MPs did not support him. I know some | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
who supported him who now regret it. Some quite senior, some people and | :13:55. | :14:02. | |
the Shadow Cabinet. He is on a kind of Probation, really. The Labour | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
constitution in opposition is very different. In power you need 20% of | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
MPs to sign for somebody else. It is only 12.5%... Let me get | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
Alistair Darling's reaction. I think he will lead us into the next | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
election. I supported his brother, but I have been very clear that | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
once we had the election result, it was elected and he deserves to be | :14:26. | :14:33. | |
backed. As Michael will testify, once a leader is elected, he is | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
entitled to get the support of his whole party. I don't have time for | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
people going around murmuring in the background. It would put us out | :14:41. | :14:48. | |
of a job! I am not necessarily against that! Do you think | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
unemployment is high enough? sure you could get a job somewhere. | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
We need to move on. Kevin Maguire, thank you. | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
Now, here's a question - is the beautiful game sexist? | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
Cricket is not! Up Well, one female MP certainly thinks so. She's been | :15:08. | :15:10. | |
booted off the parliamentry football team because she's of the | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
fairer sex, and she ain't too happy about it. Here's Tracey Crouch, the | :15:14. | :15:24. | |
:15:24. | :15:33. | ||
MP for Chatham and Aylsford, with Today's grassroots football | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
promotion for boys and girls is incredibly successful. Youth | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
development forming a key part of the County FA's development | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
programme so more and more girls than boys are playing organised | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
football every weekend. -- girls and boys. However girls growing up | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
in the 1980s were not supposed to play football. Except I did, I love | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
football, I played it in the garden, in the street and against the shop | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
wall. The only time I did not play it was at school when I was not | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
allowed to play football. At primary I would try to play at | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
break time, but I was told it was not ladylike. Then I went to an all | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
girls' secondary school where it was all hockey and netball. It | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
wasn't until I went to university that I played my first 11 aside | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
match competitive league and then when I graduated I continued to | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
play 11 aside, including, an occasion, for the parliamentary | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
football team. But since I got elected last May, I have been | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
unable to play for the 11th azide team and have been limited to five- | :16:34. | :16:41. | |
a-side. It is still good fun and good exercise, but it is not great. | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
I support age restrictions, the walls are there to protect | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
youngsters. At 13 girls and boys are physically different and they | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
haven't developed the skills to play football maturely. However I | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
do think that once you get over 21 and you are a more mature | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
footballer, the rules should be reviewed, especially for amateur | :16:58. | :17:08. | |
Immaturity and common sense go hand-in-hand in the adult game. | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
Knee playing for the parliamentary football team or any other lady | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
playing in a pub or a charity match should not get caught up in roles | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
that are designed to protect 13- year-old girls. -- and rules. | :17:19. | :17:27. | |
Tracey Crouch is with us now. Without meaning to be dismissive at | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
the marvellous players in Parliament, why have they even | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
registered on the FA's radar? FA provide the opportunity for him | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
pays to plead that play football on a regular basis. A maybe begins | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
legend teams or charity teams. They provide the venues and referees so | :17:44. | :17:51. | |
they have to abide by the FA rules. Has it always just been the boys | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
that les? No. When I was a researcher for Michael Howard, I | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
used to play for the parliamentary football team. It is ironic that | :17:59. | :18:09. | |
:18:09. | :18:16. | ||
now I'm an MP, I am not allowed to Why have they changed it? Do they | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
explain the discrepancy? The rules around mixed football are set by | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
FIFA and the FA have to abide by them. There are rules for mixed | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
football which protect young people playing against each other, and | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
those rules are right. It is right to protect 13 year-old girls and | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
boys. The fiscal differences mean that you have to use those rules. | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
You are not a burly bloke, aren't you worried that they will flatten | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
you? No. It is a competitive game but it is one of skill. You don't | :18:48. | :18:57. | |
need to be burly to play well. know that you are a big football | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
fan. Is this that Raiders of right and proper? At raiders. I am | :19:02. | :19:11. | |
totally on her side. -- outrageous. The don't sit on the fence! | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
there anything you can do about it? Why is that Blatter setting the | :19:15. | :19:21. | |
rules? It was the first time that I heard it was FIFA in charge. That | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
hardly encourages you. The parliamentary football team started | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
off as fun, and now it has reached the situation where it is | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
nonsensical that Tracey cannot play. The ride them to change the rules. | :19:33. | :19:42. | |
That always works. -- bribe them. And you could wear tighter shorts?! | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
Who takes up your position? Where do you normally play? The right | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
wing or centre forward. So you are fast? I used to be. Who does it | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
now? One of the chaps, I suppose. I have not been able to play since I | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
was MP. Since the election I have not been able to. Is there anything | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
you can do apart from coming on the programme and telling us it is | :20:07. | :20:15. | |
rubbish? I hope that the FA see sense. It is not an association | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
football match. It is a charity match or a friendly. I don't think | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
the FA rules should apply to those games. Speaking of FA rules, it | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
stay with us. There is another thing going on at the moment, | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
football-related. What about nationalism? Yesterday they | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
announced that there would be Team GB football teams competing at | :20:36. | :20:44. | |
London 2012. Not greeted with universal pleasure. Phil Pritchard, | :20:44. | :20:53. | |
you are not doing cartwheels? was historic agreement between all | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
of the Football Association's, but nobody had told the Scottish and | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
the Welsh. It would be a disaster. It sets an example that we do not | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
want to be replicated for World Cups and European football. I urge | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
the Olympic Committee to forget this and to leave Team GB alone. | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
When did you last qualify for World Cup? We are going back a few years | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
but we are hopeful for the European Championships. Scotland has not | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
made that bad a start. We are looking forward with positivity | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
with that one. Apart from making you feel sad, at my point is that | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
there could be some Scottish players that would like the chance | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
to play on an international stage. Kenny MacAskill once called England | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
football team the Great Satan. There is fantastic rivalry between | :21:42. | :21:49. | |
four of the home nations of the United Kingdom. I think that most | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
Scottish footballers accept it is all about independence of the | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
football teams. Scotland being able to compete in Europe, that is the | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
pinnacle of our game. Maybe a few administrators and nations care | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
about football at the Olympics. But nobody else really gives a fig. | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
am glad you said fake. Thank you. Let's turn to our Scottish | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
representatives. Team GB? I think there is an important point here. | :22:19. | :22:26. | |
There are people that would like to stop Scotland and Wales and | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
Northern Ireland competing and just to have the British team. There is | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
a philosophical argument. All things British. Listing to the guy | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
from the Olympics this morning, he sounded unconvinced about whether | :22:39. | :22:45. | |
or not there was an agreement to do this. I am Welsh. I have long | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
thought we should have Team GB. There are so many brilliant players | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that have never had the | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
chance to play in a European Championship or the World Cup. I | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
think that Team GB could win it. don't think that football should be | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
part of the Olympics, actually. That is another debate. If it is | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
going to be part of the Olympics, it should be Team GB. Hold the | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
front page. The House of Lords is having a busy week this week, | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
believe it or not. Yes, Peers have been debating their own future. | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
They are always interested in that. Nick Clegg wants to turn it into | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
the senate of 300 members. Their rapid hundred at the moment. Peers | :23:28. | :23:36. | |
have also been mulling over who would be the new Speaker. -- there | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
are 800 at the moment. What does the job entail? Tension is rising. | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
No, it is! Did you know there was an election in Westminster soon? | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
You would be forgiven for not having heard of it. It is a done | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
your contest. Nominations close for the post of Lords speak of. What do | :23:57. | :24:02. | |
they do? This is Mr Bercow. We know his job and his famous cry of order. | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
You will not hear much of that from this lady. Baroness Hayman's role | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
as the current Speaker of the House of Lords is rather different to | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
demand that sits in this chair. That is not just because he sits in | :24:15. | :24:22. | |
a chair and she sits on a Woolsack. Yes, a sackful of wall. In the | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
Commons, the Speaker can call members to speak, he can rule on | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
points of order, he can select amendments on bills to be discussed, | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
and he has the power to chop a member out of the chamber. The | :24:35. | :24:41. | |
Lords Speaker can do none of that. The idea being they do not need | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
such robust hand on the tiller. Here, she is limited to chairing | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
debates, offering advice on procedural matters, acting as | :24:49. | :24:56. | |
ambassador to the work of the house. You will not hear her doing this. | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
Or do. The Government Chief Whip as no business what forever shouting | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
from a sedentary position. Order! The Honourable Gentleman will | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
remain in the chamber. That is because in the Lords the Speaker | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
cannot discipline any of the members. I am not entirely sure she | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
is even allowed to wake them up. history teacher used to sound like | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
the Speaker. Rupert Redesdale, Liberal Democrat peer, and | :25:23. | :25:33. | |
crossbench peer Lady de Sousa join us now. I am running but I am not | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
going to vote for myself. I do not believe the Speaker should have any | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
power. I am running to make sure that my fellow peers don't forget | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
that the House of Lords is self- regulated and should remain so. | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
Your campaign is to get no votes. I expect it is going pretty well? | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
can say it is almost 100% successful. I was standing in the | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
lobby and somebody said they were going to vote for me precisely | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
because they are not happy with the idea of a speaker getting power, | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
because that is a route for the executive to get power in the House | :26:05. | :26:12. | |
of Lords. Frances D'Souza, what do you think the job should entail? | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
feel passionately that the job is to do without reach. A lot of | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
people out there don't know what the House of Lords does. I think | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
there is a sterling job to do. An ambassador role, but really a | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
representational role. If you want to talk to Europe, who do you call? | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
That sounds a bit grand, but in the case of the House of Lords and you | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
want to talk to them, who do you call? Actually you need the Speaker | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
because they are the link with the outside world, a link to you, the | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
other parliaments and the House of Commons. I think that is worthwhile. | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
Who would you like to vote for? will not tell you who. I will give | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
you a clue. I am standing. One vote will go to me at least and it may | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
well come from me. Just because you are standing, that is not a clue. | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
It is not a clue with Rupert Redesdale. I have just been trying | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
to persuade my colleagues on my right that what he might be able to | :27:11. | :27:18. | |
do with his second vote is vote for me but he is not that convinced. | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
am clear that I will vote for you if you save that you will not take | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
any further powers as Speaker. house will decide on powers but I | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
have Furness said and I firmly believe that the job is an outward | :27:32. | :27:39. | |
facing one. -- firmly said. Will Nick Clegg get Lords reform? | :27:39. | :27:46. | |
question is whether we will get Lords reform? No. I think that his | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
way will be got in maybe about 10 years' time. I am not saying that | :27:50. | :27:56. | |
he won't get it, but it will take more time, I suspect. He will | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
probably be commissioner in Brussels by them. What do you | :27:59. | :28:09. | |
think? I think they could debated. I will be voting for reform but | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
whether it takes place, I doubt it. That option would not win. You want | :28:14. | :28:20. | |
his vote, don't argue! Thank you to both of you for being such good | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
sports and for joining us from the House of Lords. That is it. Have | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
you got a candidate? I don't know yet. The names are not in until | :28:29. | :28:36. | |
tomorrow. And you have not got a vote. Only a matter of time. Lord | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
Darling, that has got a ring. We will give you the answer to Guess | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
The Year tomorrow because we ran out of time, for a change. Thank | :28:45. | :28:49. |