Browse content similar to 07/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning folks and welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
Coming up in the next hour and a half - Is the 50p tax rate holding | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
back an already feeble recovery? A group of leading economist think so | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
and are calling on the Chancellor to scrap it. We'll ask if they're | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
right. The train arriving on Platform two | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
is from Germany. MPs ask why the contract from Thameslink trains | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
went abroad. Warnings our planes could be going | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
abroad too if the Government doesn't do anything about airport | :00:50. | :00:58. | |
expansion in the South East. there any question you would like | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
me to ask her? I would give the lessons in how ring to be a | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
reporter later. I will give you some lessons on how to be an ever | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
do because I was your boss. And could small, local TV stations | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
be just what British viewers have been waiting for - our guest the | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
:01:25. | :01:27. | ||
Culture Scretary thinks so. I like that. | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
All that coming up in the programme, and of course, the first Prime | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
Minister's questions of the new political term. Now the new series | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
of Strictly Come Dancing may have Jason Donovan and Edwina Curry, but | :01:37. | :01:46. | |
we can top that. Oh yes! Doing the Lambada we have shadow culture | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
secretary, Jeremy Hunt. And the shadow environment secretary, Mary | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
Creagh's also here. I'm told yoga's more her thing. | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
Anyway, there will be no dancing on the show today, we have much more | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
serious matters to discuss. Yes, Parliament got right back into | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
the swing of things yesterday evening, subjecting the Prime | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
Minister to his twice-yearly grilling in front of the Liaison | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
Committee. In the forefront of MPs' minds was the News of the World | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
hacking scandal following yesterday's evidence from News | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
International executives. But the Prime Minister warned the committee | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
not to use the scandal as an opportunity to get back at | :02:21. | :02:28. | |
journalists over the MP's expenses scandal. | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
We must not be seen to be the fall and leaping on this opportunity to | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
over regulate the media. It is a vital industry for Britain and an | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
important part of our democracy. We want it to be free, vigorous and be | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
able to uncover wrong doing. No there is a danger of the pendulum | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
swinging too far the other way and I think MPs have a particular | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
responsibility. In the end, what ever the Levison report comes up | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
with we need to be able to legislate and put it in place. | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
Jeremy Hunt, in what way cut as -- pendulum swing too far the other | :03:07. | :03:16. | |
way? I think what he was saying is that things have gone wrong in the | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
wake things have been regulated and there were not enough safeguards in | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
place. But, we depend on a free society. In phone hacking it was | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
uncovered by journalists in the Guardian by reporting which has | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
been compared to Watergate in terms of how impressive it was. He is | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
saying don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, in a free | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
society we need a vigorous press that holds politicians to account | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
and we don't want to lose that. you get rid of the Press Complaints | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
Commission, which seems to be on the cards, what would replace it? | :03:52. | :03:59. | |
We need something that stops short of politicians regulating the | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
content of newspapers. Because what makes our newspaper industry able | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
to do its job well, is the fact people like me as Culture Secretary, | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
has no control over what goes into them. We need something that gives | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
the public more confidence than the PCC was able to do. Her what would | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
independent regulation look like? We don't want to Prix just -- | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
prejudge largest is never so. We hope he will come back within the | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
year with his recommendations on this aspect. What the Prime | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
Minister has said, let's look at the concept of independent | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
regulation. Regulation at arm's length from politicians but also | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
from editors and does have the power to credibly sanction | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
newspapers that stepped out of line, but stopped short of politicians | :04:47. | :04:55. | |
telling newspapers what they can write. Did you ever discuss the | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
Murdoch attempt to take over all of BSkyB with David Cameron? No, this | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
is something which is as soon as I got the job in deciding on this | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
merger it was a quasar judicial process, which was meaning I was | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
deciding like a judge. It is a role laid down in the enterprise at so | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
it was a decision I made on my own. If you never discussed the matter | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
with the Prime Minister, how were you able to tell the Commons the | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
Prime Minister's conversations with Murdoch executives had been a | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
relevant? They were irrelevant for this merger because what ever | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
conversations he may have had about the merger, nothing was transmitted | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
that to me. I was deciding this on my own. As I said in my statement, | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
it is the only decision I have had as a minister I was deciding on my | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
own without any reference to the Cabinet or the Prime Minister. | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
you don't know what he said, it is hard to decide whether it was a | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
relevant? It was a relevant for this merger because he did not | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
communicate with me any instructions. He was letting me | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
decide this on my own, which is the right thing under the law Labour | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
passed into 1002. A Will you publish the minutes of the meetings | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
you have had with Murdoch executives? I already have. Every | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
conversation? The minutes of meetings we have had were part of | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
the process. At the outset we published the Times of the meetings | :06:27. | :06:35. | |
and who was present. Then as soon as the merger was abandoned, we | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
then publish the minutes of the meeting so people could see what | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
was discussed. When Labour was in power it substantially used under | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
the ability of one media company to get a hold of another media company. | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
It made it a more liberal regime, but now you want to tighten it | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
again? That's right, we have written about the rules on media | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
ownership. We did say to Jeremy, of the rules on which she could reject | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
the BSkyB bid won narrowly drafted. We have written to Jeremy asking | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
for was to work on a cross-party basis for some short-term, quick | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
legislation to be passed through to tighten up the rules. We want to | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
hear from you were the you are prepared to work on a cross-party | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
basis to do that? We have gone a lot further than the proposals Ivan | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
has made and we have talked about whether to remove politicians from | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
the process altogether. One of the problems in this process was, | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
although I was deciding in a quasar judicial role and I sought | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
independent advice at every SAT -- stage, people won't trust what a | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
politician does with media barons. You are talking about that but you | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
have not done it? We need to talk up that before Levison reports. It | :07:54. | :08:03. | |
goes through the the 2013 Queen's Speech and may not be in place in | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
2015. Why is there a rush to do this? Will there be any other | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
takeovers? Who knows but what this sorry episode has shown is the | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
current system of regulation is not a fit for purpose. I appreciated | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
talking about a number of things, but is it your intention to do | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
anything this side of lovers and? We will listen to all suggestions | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
but this is headline-grabbing by Labour. If there was another bit, I | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
would have the opportunity to refer this to Ofcom for investigations on | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
grounds of fit and proper person, on the grounds of media plurality. | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
All the safe grounds people would be concerned about exist. Ofcom has | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
the time at any time to withdraw a broadcasting licence from someone | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
it deems not to be a fit and proper broadcaster. There are protections | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
in place, but we want to go further. It is right to hear what the report | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
says before we decide what to do. It does not look like you will get | :09:04. | :09:11. | |
it. But you found out on the Daily Politics. We also heard of | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
opposition trying to get headlines, who would ever have heard of that! | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
Now, should trains running on British railways be built in | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
Britain? The contract to build new trains for the Thameslink network | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
was awarded in July to Siemens who will build the trains in Germany | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
rather than the Derby-based manufacturer, Bombardier. The | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
decision's prompted accusations that the Government's failing to | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
protect British industry. The awarding of second contract for | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
Crossrail trains has now been delayed until the New Year. This | :09:36. | :09:46. | |
:09:46. | :09:49. | ||
morning the Transport Secretary explained the Government's decision. | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
It is astonishing the French and Germans managed to build so many of | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
their own trains. Have you discussed this with officials on | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
how we can be slotted into that same astonishing category? It is my | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
perception we need to look at how these things are done in other EU | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
member states. We need to consider how socio-economic factors are | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
taken into account in other EU member states, while being fully | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
compliant with EU procurement law. We need to look at how other member | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
states seek to take into account of their strategic, national interests | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
without breaching EU procurement law. We need to see if there are | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
lessons we can learn for the way we do public procurement in the UK. | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
That was Philip Hammond, and joining us now is Steve from | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
Siemens. He is not hear it, but we hope to get him later on. Listening | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
to Philip Hammond it sounded like a regret. That decision was not the | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
right decision for British industry, it was regrettable it had to go to | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
Siemens and now afterwards, Philip Hammond is saying we will have a | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
look at the rules and see if we can interpret them differently to | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
favour home-grown companies without breaking EU regulations? There was | :11:11. | :11:17. | |
an element of that in his tone and I don't want to be someone who is | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
continually blaming the last Government. All Government makes | :11:19. | :11:25. | |
mistakes. Do you think he has regrets? The procurement system was | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
set up by the last Government and then you have to stick to the rules. | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
What Philip feels is the rules were very narrowly set on cost grounds | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
and made it difficult to take into account what he described as socio- | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
economic factors, long-term, strategic implications of trains | :11:43. | :11:50. | |
being built in the UK as opposed to be been built a board. -- abroad. | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
The contract for the new South West Trains going to Hitachi, which will | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
create 500 jobs, we have shown we are learning from perhaps some of | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
the mistakes in the way that put your money happened. You say they | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
were narrowly set but there was room for manoeuvre. Do you think | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
the Government failed to manoeuvre correctly in the way France and | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
Germany seems to be able to do so they can award their own companies. | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
You can interpreted differently and the Government was a naive and did | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
not do that? I don't think you can, once the procurement is set up, you | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
get judicially reviewed if you don't follow that process to the | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
letter. So the way you have to do it is to allow yourself at the | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
outset to take into account socio- economic factors, which allows the | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
bidders to construct their bids accordingly. We obviously do want | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
to want it train building industry in the UK. What do you accept on | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
the socio-economic argument, not only would jobs be lost at the | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
Derby-based, Bombardier there will be an knock on effect to the skill | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
set in that area and the supply chain of companies where there will | :13:01. | :13:08. | |
also be redundancies? It will have a huge impact. It is regrettable. | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
British-based companies have to put in competitive bids. It is right we | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
have an open procurement system and it is right they have to compete | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
with the best of what is on offer internationally. But I think there | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
are a lot of things we can learn from the way that process happened. | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
Jeremy Hunt is blaming Labour for the way the system is set up, but | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
it was difficult for the Government to do anything about. Labour has | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
said they should call in a review, but they can't can make? They could | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
have pause the contract and that was set out in the Comprehensive | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
Spending Review last year. What we have in Parliament today is the | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
1,400 Bombardier workers who were laid off and a city of Derby led by | :13:52. | :13:58. | |
the Tories, now considering whether to do its judicial review. You do | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
admit this is a system set up by Labour? The it was, and we are only | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
at the preferred bidder status so there is a question from Chris | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
Williamson and Margaret Beckett, the contract has not been finally | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
awarded. It does take the biscuit that somehow blame is being | :14:14. | :14:21. | |
attached to a Tory council for this. This is a procurement process. | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
is extraordinary a Tory Government is using taxpayers' money. We need | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
to have modern infrastructure. What benefit would there be in pausing a | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
process if the performance for process was set up to make it | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
difficult or impossible to make any other decision than the one we made. | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
We need to move forward and make sure we learn lessons going forward. | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
There is also a point that Jeremy Hunt did make an this is a | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
competitive tender. Companies bid from right across Europe. If you | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
look at the figures, a large proportion of British companies win | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
French and German contracts and only a small percentage of foreign | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
companies win British contracts. That is just the way the cookie | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
crumbles, you cannot complain about every bit that does not go | :15:11. | :15:18. | |
Britain's way? They have been thousands of jobs done in Derby and | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
a cross the supply chain. This is when the Government's thrust | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
towards growth is about rebalancing the economy and we fail to see how | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
this decision does that. Looking ahead to Cross Road, are you | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
confident and hope for it there will be tenders that will be | :15:35. | :15:45. | |
:15:45. | :15:46. | ||
That is why we want to change these processes. We can have a better | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
discussion that we are having with Mary. She accepted there were | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
mistakes in the process and they are unfortunate mistakes and we | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
regret those. It is incredibly difficult and exactly the wrong | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
time in terms of what we are trained to do with the economy. But | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
there was little else if we -- we could have done and the way forward | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
is to say, how can we do this better in the future? | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
Do win wonders for the German economy, production rose by 4% in | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
July. -- it is doing wonders. No doubt the people in Derby will be | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
celebrating that! We can be masters of our destiny," or at least that's | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
what the Chancellor George Osborne told an audience in the City of | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
London last night. He gave a very gloomy prognosis for the British | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
economy, but insisted that there was no alternative to his deficit | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
reduction plan. So how can economic growth be promoted? Well, writing | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
in the Financial Times this morning, 20 leading economists have called | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
on the Chancellor to scrap the top 50p tax rate, which they say is | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
hindering Britain's competitiveness. But it is a sticky political as | :16:51. | :16:58. | |
well as economic issue. Here's Jo. The 50p tax rate, which is paid on | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
earnings above �150,000, was introduced by Labour and came into | :17:00. | :17:10. | |
force just before the election in. April 2010. -- in April 2010. The | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
Conservatives did not pledge to scrap it, they thought to do so | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
would allow Labour to claim they were favouring the rich. George | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
Osborne has said he regards it as a temporary tax, but he also said in | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
the 2010 Spending Review, "Those with the broadest shoulders bear | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
the greatest burden." However, there is currently a review as to | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
whether the tax raises money, or actually does economic damage. | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
Today's letter to the Financial Times from 20 economists makes that | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
point, arguing that it makes the UK less competitive internationally | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
and less attractive as a destination for both foreign | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
investment and talented workers. But in a Com Res poll published | :17:42. | :17:49. | |
yesterday, 57% were against abolishing the 50p rate. Many | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
Conservative MPs would support scrapping the 50p rate, but if it | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
was to go, many Liberal Democrats would want another form of wealth | :17:54. | :18:04. | |
:18:04. | :18:04. | ||
tax on the most expensive land or property. We had hoped to be joined | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
by a signatory of that letter, but he has not made it, probably on the | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
same train as the man from Siemens! Good job we have two guests or we | :18:16. | :18:22. | |
would be talking to ourselves! The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
Danny Alexander, he says the scrapping the 50p rate is, cloud | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
cuckoo land. Do you agree? cannot afford to do it. The | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
economists talk about the long-term damage and we agree and have always | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
said it is a temporary measure. But we have always said when dealing | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
with this incredible economic mess we are in, we have to do it in a | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
way that is fair and everybody has to play a part. So we have to be | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
careful thinking about these measures to do so anyway that | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
continues to maintain public support for a very tough set of | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
economic policies. So it is a very fine judgements. I understand you | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
will not do it now, back which you are implying you wish you do not | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
have it -- but you are complying. Do your Liberal-Democrat Coalition | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
partners agree? We all agree weenies competitive tax rates. | :19:21. | :19:28. | |
does not mean anything. -- we need competitive. Is 50p at a long-term | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
competitive rate? The Chancellor said it is temporary | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
and we believe it needs to be. you Liberal-Democrat partners agree | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
it is temporary? Danny Alexander and George Osborne are an the | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
Treasury and the need to do things to make further UK economy more | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
competitive and make sure up the tax burden is fairly sped, they | :19:54. | :20:02. | |
have to make that judgment. I am not asking for a judgement. I have | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
not seen his senior Liberal Democrat member of the Government | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
say it should only be temporary -- a senior. Have you? What you have | :20:11. | :20:17. | |
seen them say is there is a very strong case for moving the burden | :20:17. | :20:25. | |
of taxation it from earned income to unearned income. -- of taxation | :20:25. | :20:31. | |
from. Capital gains tax, those kinds of things. That is an old- | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
fashioned description. Nobody has described it as that for ages! The | :20:35. | :20:42. | |
Tories got rid of that description! So working hard and saving money | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
and getting a derisory rate of interest, that is unearned income? | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
You are asking me what the Liberal Democrats are saying. You have used | :20:52. | :20:58. | |
the phrase. That is what some have said. There is an understanding in | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
Liberal Democrats circles that we need competitive and fair rates of | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
taxation but how we do it is a matter for the Chancellor. We have | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
our economist in another studio now. Is it... Up I know you would keep | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
the 50p tax rate, but as Labour envisage this rate stays | :21:19. | :21:25. | |
indefinitely? -- I know. It we want a progressive taxation policy that | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
leads to a balanced and prosperous economy and it is clear the 50p | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
rate has to stay. That is the policy at the moment. Do you change | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
it? Until the recovery is secured. The figures we saw last night, at | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
the recovery is not secured. I what policy is about a tax cut for part | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
-- for families. The VAT rise has taken �450 out of people's pockets | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
and if you give that to middle income families, they will span | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
that on the high street which is where we need to see jobs created. | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
Well, joining us now is one of the signatories to that letter, Michael | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
Ben-Gadd, of City University. Real wages are in decline, inflation it | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
is rocketing, manufacturing is contracting, High Street is in | :22:18. | :22:25. | |
meltdown, the eurozone is in crisis, why would you make scrapping the | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
50p tax rate the priority? I do not know if it is the priority. But to | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
follow what on what was said, at a do not understand the moral | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
imperative on insisting those people already paying 24% of income | :22:40. | :22:46. | |
tax that they should be punished further. Beyond that, this happens | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
to be a tax that if anything, it is counter-productive. According to | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
all the theoretical and Imperial models, it raises no extra revenue, | :22:57. | :23:05. | |
it just punishes people. Let me make it very clear, and not one of | :23:05. | :23:11. | |
those people who think lowering taxes is ever self financing. I am | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
not making an argument in favour of reductions in taxation, it is a | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
necessary evil and if government spending is as high as it is, it | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
has to be financed. But this particular tax not only does not | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
raise revenue, but it lowers the size of the economy. Or we do not | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
know that yet because we will not know what the revenue implications | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
art of the rate until all the self- assessment has happened -- we do | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
not. People in higher brackets are in the self-assessment category A | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
and we do not go -- not get those figures in until January so we do | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
not know what the revenue implications have been on the 50p | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
tax rate. We have a theoretical models of human behaviour. And when | :23:57. | :24:03. | |
you raise taxes, you get lower economic activity. That is not | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
controversial. But at what point our taxes so high? This is not just | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
about 50p book that on top of National Insurance contributions | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
that brings the effective marginal tax rate to something in the order | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
of 64%, not counting all the rest. It is an enormous disincentive to | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
walk -- to work and all the previous experience we have does | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
suggest it brings no extra revenue. But Chancellors have to deal with | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
priorities and if he had money to spare, would it be more sensible | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
for him to take people out of the 40% tax bracket who are now in | :24:43. | :24:49. | |
there, heads of English departments at comprehensive schools, they need | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
more relief than those on those -- than those on the 50% rate? It is | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
not about if they need relief and I will put aside the moral argument, | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
but I suggest this is one of the rare instances. I do not believe | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
you can expand government consumption because of some | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
multiplier that you will get higher output to pay for it, I do not | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
believe that cutting taxes pays for itself. It may make the economy | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
bigger, but it will also make the deficit bigger. This is unusual | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
because the rate has been set so high that it is not going to have | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
any effect and it will improve the overall performance of the economy. | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
Professor, I am glad you made it. If the figures come out in January | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
and show the 50p rate has not raise more revenue, what would your | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
attitude be? I do not think we should rely on the figures, I would | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
like to see the Independent office for but it responsibility looking | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
at this. But the Professor said it is an enormous disincentive to | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
work... But they are doing that taxing come up why can these | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
figures not be reliable? It is a macro-economic framework we are | :26:07. | :26:17. | |
:26:17. | :26:17. | ||
looking that. And am not talking about that. The idea if you are on | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
a 140,000 and if you get 150,000 you are not going to work, that is | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
nonsense. What would the. Be of a 50 p rate if it did not raise | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
revenue? -- what would the purpose be. Mack that is a good question | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
and is important, but we need to make sure that taxis and system is | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
fair in tough times. -- the taxation system. | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
Now, we're delighted that Mary and Jeremy decided to grace our sofa | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
rather than the Strictly Come Dancing dance-floor. There are many | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
perks to coming on the show. But I'm afraid the only winners here | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
will be you, the viewers. Sorry, guests. It doesn't matter how well | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
you do, you won't be winning one of these. | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
We'll remind you how to enter in a minute, but let's see if you can | :27:02. | :27:12. | |
:27:12. | :27:12. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds | :27:12. | :27:55. | |
Of I now are open colder Hall, of Britain's first atomic power | :27:55. | :28:05. | |
:28:05. | :28:24. | ||
To be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics mug, send your | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
answer to our special quiz email address - that's [email protected]. | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
And you can see the full terms and conditions for Guess The Year on | :28:32. | :28:42. | |
:28:42. | :28:42. | ||
our website. Put we got the year, didn't we? -- | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
we got. We did, unusually. | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
That was Eisenhower. It's coming up to midday here, just | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
take a look at Big Ben, and that can mean only one thing. Yes, Prime | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
Minister's Questions is on its way. We have not had one since the | :28:57. | :29:03. | |
second week in July. And that's not all, James Landale is here. Good to | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
have you here, I do not know where to begin. If you were briefing Ed | :29:07. | :29:12. | |
Miliband this morning, where would you start? So much has happened! | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
would say you have to talk about the economy, it is the only issue | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
that has matters, a lot has changed since Parliament last discussed | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
this. Regardless of the ammunition David Cameron has got, he has to | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
say what Labour says about it and test the position of the government. | :29:29. | :29:35. | |
Which you agree with that, Mary? can see George Osborne brief think | :29:35. | :29:41. | |
the Prime Minister as we sit and look at the chamber. -- briefing. | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
But the other interesting question is what have the backbenchers been | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
talking about. What are we going to say about riots? What about | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
planning comic Europe? Those other issues. It will be interesting to | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
see what we get about that today. And the Liberal Democrats, they | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
seem to be on the strategy of being in government but a bit semi- | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
detached now. It is differentiation, loyal | :30:08. | :30:16. | |
differentiation. That is my own phrase for it! | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
Liberal Democrats! LD! We are a few weeks away from the Liberal- | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
Democrat common -- conference and they have to recover from that | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
awful elections in May and have had to repair ground, and they are | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
doing that by appealing to other voters, particularly those who felt | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
abandoned by the Liberal Democrats and one of the ways they have done | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
that is by saying that three schools, it is not a nasty Tory | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
policy but will help the disadvantaged in society, and bail- | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
out differentiation t take place by doing that. Getting scratchy in the | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
Coalition? I think that is a good phrase, we | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
can be loyally different and also head for the same goal. If we had a | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
Cabinet meeting yesterday and there was a good sense of camaraderie and | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
a sense that some of the things are not totally representative. Let's | :31:07. | :31:17. | |
:31:17. | :31:29. | ||
In Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Paul Watkins. Corporal mark Palin. James | :31:29. | :31:39. | |
:31:39. | :31:40. | ||
Wright. Lieutenant Daniel claque. Sergeant Barry Western Front kilo | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
company. We should also remember a senior | :31:45. | :31:53. | |
aircraft meant James Smart who died in a road traffic accident in Italy | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
on 20th July whilst supporting operations in Libya. I pay tribute | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
to their outstanding courage and selfishness. -- selflessness. They | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
have given their lives serving our country and made our world safer | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
and secured. Our thoughts and deeper sympathy will be with their | :32:09. | :32:16. | |
families, friends and colleagues. This week sees the 10th anniversary | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
of 200 macro so we should remember all of those who lost their lives | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
that they and those who died in pursuit of a safer future | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
throughout the last decade. I had meetings with ministerial | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in this house | :32:30. | :32:36. | |
I will have further meetings today. The whole House will agree with the | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
tributes the Prime Minister just made to members of the armed forces | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
who made the ultimate sacrifice defending the country. Earlier this | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
week the Government pushed through legislation which says terror | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
suspects must be given access to mobile phone as an the internet and | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
which ends relocation orders so they cannot be kept out of London | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
in the run-up to the Olympics, or the Queen's Jubilee without | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
emergency legislation. Well decent law-abiding people out there will | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
be shocked to discover he is weakening protection for him whilst | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
pushing through what people think is a charter of rights for would-be | :33:10. | :33:15. | |
terrorists? I don't agree with that. We consulted very carefully with | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
the police and security services in order to try to get to a better | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
position. Control orders didn't have the confidence of the public, | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
they didn't work in too many cases and the arrangements we have put in | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
place will keep this country safe and have greater public consultants | :33:32. | :33:39. | |
-- confidence. Can I thank the house and all of my | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
Hexham constituency for the messages of support whilst I was in | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
hospital. I am now recovered, thanks to the outstanding care of | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
the NHS and its hard-working doctors and nurses. Would the Prime | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
Minister agree with me, as many doctors and nurses did it must be | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
our mission to improve and reform the NHS so the service we so | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
cherish will improve with the challenges we face ahead? | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
Can I say how good it is to see him back in his place and fully | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
recovered. He is right, the point of our health reforms is to put | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
doctors in charge, dish patients greater choice, heal the divide | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
between health and social care and I believe will lead to a stronger | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
NHS and better outcomes for patients. | :34:26. | :34:36. | |
:34:36. | :34:40. | ||
Ed Miliband. Can I stop by joining the Prime Minister by giving our | :34:40. | :34:50. | |
:34:50. | :35:08. | ||
condolences to the servicemen who All of them demonstrated tremendous | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
bravery and courage in the line of duty and we send our deepest | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
condolences to their family and friends. Let me also joined the | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
Prime Minister in remembering all of those who died in the terrorist | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
attacks of September 11th, 2001. We all said at the time we would never | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
forget, and it is right we pay particular attention on this, the | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
10th anniversary of September 11th so for the victims and their | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
families, we show we are true to the words we spoke in the aftermath | :35:39. | :35:46. | |
of those terrible attacks. Let me also, as the House returns, thank | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
the police service he did such a tremendous job in the riots over | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
the summer. It is on the subject of policing I want to start my | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
questions to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister wants to hold | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
his elections for police commissioners, not alongside local | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
elections as a resolute -- originally intended, but in | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
November next year. How much extra money does he expect this to cost? | :36:10. | :36:16. | |
It will cost an extra �25 million. This money won't be taken from the | :36:16. | :36:24. | |
police budget. Mr Speaker, he is making about policy worse by | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
wasting money. He could easily have decided, if he wanted to postpone | :36:29. | :36:35. | |
these elections, to have them in 20th May 13. And indeed, subsequent | :36:35. | :36:41. | |
elections will be held in 20th May 16. Can the Prime Minister tell us | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
why he has decided to waste this money in this way? It is important | :36:45. | :36:51. | |
to get this policy right and make sure it works. First of all, why is | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
the party opposite so frightened of an election? What have they got to | :36:56. | :37:03. | |
fear? And on the subject he called it, the Right Honourable Gentleman, | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
called it that policy. Let me tell him what his own shadow policing | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
minister said. He said this, only direct election, based on | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
geographic constituencies will deliver a strong connection to the | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
public which is crucial. Why is he so frying have having an election | :37:22. | :37:28. | |
and proper police accountability? We know what the public know, this | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
is the wrong priority for the country. What did we see during the | :37:33. | :37:38. | |
riots? We saw visible, effective policing. The Prime Minister tells | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
us the country cannot afford the current police budgets. We have got | :37:42. | :37:48. | |
to cut the number of police officers by 16,000. But he tells | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
the country it can afford �100 million and more as a result of his | :37:53. | :38:00. | |
decision to waste money on 42 elected politicians earning over | :38:00. | :38:06. | |
�120,000 a year. Mr Speaker, that could pay for 2000 extra police | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
officers. Isn't the truth this is the wrong priority at the wrong | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
time for the country? As ever he has got his figures are wrong. | :38:16. | :38:23. | |
Because, the police authorities that only 6% of the country have | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
heard of will be abolished and that all save money. Let me put it to | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
him again, why is he frightened of direct elections so the police | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
become accountable? He was responsible for the last Labour | :38:37. | :38:43. | |
manifesto and this is what the last Labour Prime Minister said "the | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
Home Secretary will bring forward proposals for directly elected | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
representatives to give local people more control over policing". | :38:53. | :39:00. | |
Why the U-turn? Mr Speaker, we know he has got the wrong priorities on | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
the police and he is refusing to back down. He hasn't just got the | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
wrong priorities on the police, but on the health service as well. Can | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
the Prime Minister tell us, Mr Speaker, why the number of people | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
who have had to wait more than six months for an operation has gone up | :39:17. | :39:25. | |
by more than 60% since he came to office? I am not surprised he want | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
to change the subject, because on policing he was having his collar | :39:30. | :39:35. | |
felt because he has done a U-turn on the policy he used to be | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
committed to. In our health service, as I said some moments ago, what we | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
are seeing is more cancer patients getting treatment, more doctors in | :39:44. | :39:51. | |
the NHS, fewer bureaucrats, a reduction... I know they don't like | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
hearing. Order. There is too much noise and what is beginning to | :39:57. | :40:03. | |
sound like orchestrated heckling. It should stop. The Prime Minister. | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
The trouble is, they don't like hearing good news about what is | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
happening in the National Health Service. And the fact is, if you | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
look at the waiting times for outpatients, they have fallen since | :40:16. | :40:22. | |
the last elections. Ed Miliband. is a complete non- answer, he | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
cannot even answer the question. Mr Speaker, we are talking about | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
people up and down this country who have been waiting longer for their | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
operations. And the Government chief whip, he should care about | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
these people who have been waiting longer for their operations. Let me | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
tell the Government chief whip and the whole front bench what we are | :40:45. | :40:53. | |
talking about. The number of people, 20th June 11, 20th June 10 the | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
number of people waiting for operation for over six months, up | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
by 20%. Those waiting for a heart operation, up by 62%. Those waiting | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
for orthopaedic operations, of Price 72%. Those waiting For I | :41:10. | :41:16. | |
surgery, the country and I asking for a simple explanation from the | :41:16. | :41:21. | |
Prime Minister, why as he happen? The amount of time people are | :41:21. | :41:26. | |
waiting for an out-patient operation has gone down. That has | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
what happened. We have targets for 90% of people to get their | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
treatment at within 18 weeks and those targets are being met. He may | :41:34. | :41:40. | |
not like the truth, but that is the truth. I have to say to him, that | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
is why you now see the Royal College of GPs, the Royal College | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
of Physicians, the Royal College of Nurses all supporting our health | :41:48. | :41:55. | |
reforms. He even C Lord Desai, the former health minister supporting | :41:55. | :42:05. | |
:42:05. | :42:07. | ||
our health reforms. Labour have got themselves in a position of | :42:07. | :42:13. | |
reposing all reforms on the NHS. Speaker, a figure Prime Minister is | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
on another planet. He had his holidays interrupted, fair play to | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
him, but it took time off his holiday to tell the morning News, | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
the whole health profession is now on board for what is being done. Mr | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
Speaker, does he read the newspapers? Only on Tuesday of this | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
week, the BMA, the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
midwives all rejected his bill, and that was this week. The truth is, | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
under this Government we are seeing reckless and needless | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
reorganisation of our public services. Police numbers down and | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
waiting lists up. Under Labour quasar police officers up and | :42:55. | :43:00. | |
waiting lists down. Why doesn't he do the right thing for the future | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
of our public services and scrap both of these dangerous plans? | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
Isn't it interesting he does not dare, in six questions mention the | :43:08. | :43:18. | |
:43:18. | :43:22. | ||
economy. And when it comes sue the health reforms, when it comes to | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
our health reforms, let me quote him at what the man his governments | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
at plucked from the NHS to run the Department of Health, Lord Darzi | :43:31. | :43:40. | |
says about these reforms "proposals for the NHS reform have ACAS this | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
in the right direction and are to be welcomed". So now you have | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
people working in the health service supporting the changes we | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
are making and Labour wanting to cover the money and also cut the | :43:53. | :44:01. | |
reform. Isn't it's no surprise the health minister said this "it is a | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
tough fact of life, that what Labour says matters less almost | :44:05. | :44:11. | |
more than what anybody else says". I could not have put that better | :44:11. | :44:19. | |
myself. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that building | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
stronger families and stronger communities is absolutely essential | :44:24. | :44:30. | |
and key in dealing with anti-social and delinquent behaviour? She is | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
absolutely right. I think this is important and I'm sure there will | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
be all-party agreement on this, as well as a tough response from the | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
criminal justice system to the riots, some exemplary sentences and | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
the doubt by the court system and by praise or those who have been | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
involved in speeding up the justice system. At the same time we need to | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
do more to strengthen communities, strengthen families, increased | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
discipline in schools and make sure the welfare system supports | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
responsible behaviour. We will be bringing forward proposals along | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
those lines and I hope they will have support from everyone in this | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
house. Before the summer the Prime | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
Minister took part in a TV documentary which highlighted crime | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
and anti-social behaviour in my constituency. In his assessment, | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
would he expect crime and anti- social behaviour on that estate and | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
across Leicester to increase or decrease when he cuts 200 police | :45:26. | :45:35. | |
officers from the Leicestershire I want to see crime and anti-social | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
behaviour go down. And today, on the one in 10 of police officers | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
are on the beat at one time. There are 25,000 police officers in back | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
office jobs and not on the frontline, so we all have a | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
responsibility to get the budget deficit under control. His party | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
has committed to a �1 billion cut in the police, but we have to | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
recognise it is about getting officers on the front line, and | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
that is the debate we should be engaged in. In the way of the riots, | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
can I commend the government and the mayor of London's support for | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
communities like Enfield that were badly hit. Is this not a good time | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
to support a global day of prayer that will take place in Wembley in | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
London? I pay tribute to what the Mayor has done and to what the | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
Department of community and local government has done to make sure | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
money is available to rebuild communities. And the good thing | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
about the high street support scheme of �20 million is 29 local | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
authorities have already registered for VAT and I hope the money will | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
be spent quickly to rebuild the high streets. -- for that. Does the | :46:47. | :46:55. | |
Prime Minister support the closure of local police stations? It is up | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
to Chief Constable has to work out how best to police their areas. But | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
what I am finding from talking with police constables across the | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
country is they want to put resources into visible policing on | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
the streets. And they have the support of a government could sink | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
the paperwork, outperforming pay and pensions, taking be difficult | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
decisions to make sure we have more police on the streets than we what | :47:18. | :47:25. | |
under Labour. Will the Prime Minister join me in sending a very | :47:25. | :47:30. | |
clear message to the travellers at the a legal Dale Farm site that we | :47:30. | :47:35. | |
all hope they move off peacefully it to avoid an unforced affection, | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
but be in no doubt that the Government fully support Basildon | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
council and Essex police in reclaiming this green belt land on | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
behalf of the law-abiding majority? -- illegal. I give my support to | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
the Essex police and to all the county and district councils that | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
have been involved, and I pay tribute to the honourable member | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
for the hard work he has put in on this. This is a basic issue of | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
fairness. Everyone in this country has to obey the Lord, -- obey the | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
law, including that law about planning permission and building on | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
green belt land. When this has been done without permission, it is an | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
illegal development and those people should be moved away, and I | :48:17. | :48:24. | |
agree with the way he put that question. The Prime Minister oppose | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
Labour's and T gangs laws and the riots happened and he is backing | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
them. Now he wants to scrap we location powers, what happens | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
before he admits them mess he is replacing them with his putting | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
national security at risk? -- the mess. I do not accept that. When we | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
looked at control orders in the review, we listened carefully 2am I | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
five, the security services, the Metropolitan Police and all those | :48:52. | :48:58. | |
involved -- we listened carefully to MI5. We make sure we had a | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
system that was illegal, because the courts on picked so many of the | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
last changes, that the public can have confidence end and there are | :49:07. | :49:13. | |
safe. On the day when 200 people from Bombardier in Derby are here | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
to see if we can change the arrangements for the Thameslink | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
contract, can the Prime Minister give hope about future contracts | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
and changing the tender arrangements? Ms we were left in | :49:26. | :49:36. | |
from the last government! -- of the mass. -- the mess. I want to help | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
Bombardier, that is an excellent company that employs people in | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
Derbyshire and has done a brilliant job in this country for so many | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
years. But before people shout from the party opposite, let me remind | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
them, this procurement process was designed and initiated by the | :49:53. | :49:58. | |
previous government and it is no good them shuffling off their | :49:58. | :50:03. | |
responsibility, it is their responsibilities. Why does the | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
government cannot agree with the police that children as young a | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
seven it should be banned from having shotgun licences,? -- as | :50:11. | :50:17. | |
young a seven. We should and forced proper laws and if they need | :50:17. | :50:25. | |
toughening, I will look at that. Speaker, the Liberal Democrats make | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
up 8% of this Parliament but seem to be influencing the free school | :50:30. | :50:39. | |
policy, many issues like health and abortion. Order, order! The | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
question from the honourable lady will be heard! Does the Prime | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
Minister think it is about time we told the Deputy Prime Minister who | :50:48. | :50:58. | |
:50:58. | :51:05. | ||
is the boss? -- he told. I wanted to hear the question, but I want to | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
hear the Prime Minister's answer! know the honourable lady is | :51:10. | :51:20. | |
:51:20. | :51:21. | ||
extremely frustrated about... Maybe I should start again! I am going to | :51:21. | :51:31. | |
:51:31. | :51:42. | ||
Thank you, Mr Speaker, having scrapped the future jobs fund and | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
BMAs, at young people not in education and employment and | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
training is at a record high of 18.4%. When, Mr Speaker, when of | :51:53. | :51:59. | |
things going to get better for our young people? -- when of things. | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
This is a difficult situation in terms of young -- of youth | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
unemployment, a situation getting worse during the economic good | :52:06. | :52:12. | |
times, and there was a 40% increase in youth unemployment during the | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
last government. There is now are a disturbing increase in those not in | :52:17. | :52:20. | |
education and employment and training over 18, under 18 it is | :52:20. | :52:26. | |
coming down. The steps we are taking on to improve schooling, to | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
raise the participation age to 18 and increase the level of | :52:30. | :52:36. | |
percentage -- of apprenticeships for to 380 this year. And we are | :52:36. | :52:39. | |
introducing a biggest back-to-work programme that has taken place in | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
this country since the 1930s and will be made available to young | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
people in danger of being left out of employment, education and | :52:46. | :52:52. | |
training. I have been working with local businesses, my councils and | :52:52. | :52:59. | |
other organisations to help promote the economy. Given the economic | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
background, it is imperative that we grow both the local and national | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
economy. Can the Prime Minister tell us what new measures the | :53:06. | :53:12. | |
government will introduced to help promote such growth? -- will | :53:12. | :53:17. | |
introduce. I enjoyed seeing first- hand what is happening in Cumbria | :53:17. | :53:23. | |
to get the local economy moving. The action we are taking improve -- | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
includes cuts in corporation tax, Enterprise Zones, but specifically | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
for Cumbria, the money we are investing for super-fast broadband | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
will help that county, at the degree the more it -- particularly | :53:36. | :53:44. | |
the most rural areas, to make sure everybody can benefit. CCTV played | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
a vital role in the arrest of many people in the riots cannot why is | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
he undermining best and the protection of freedoms Bill? We are | :53:53. | :54:01. | |
not! When the Prime Minister comes to consider next week's vicars | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
report on the banks which have been rescued with fantastic amounts of | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
taxpayers' money, would he have no truck with the argument that the | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
banks cannot be reformed to prevent another crisis because they are | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
struggling to cope with the crisis they have already created? Never | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
again should British taxpayers have to bail out banks too big to fail! | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
He is right that this Government must take action to reform the | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
banks and that is what we are doing. We have set out how we are getting | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
rid of the tripartite structure that failed under the last | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
government, we are putting the Bank of England back in charge, and we | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
are making sure we cannot have these catastrophic bank failures | :54:43. | :54:49. | |
that cost the taxpayer in the future. We look forward to | :54:49. | :54:54. | |
receiving the report. There are two things to a Secure, the safe and | :54:54. | :54:58. | |
secured banking system, and also proper bank lending to small | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
businesses particularly, and that is what government policy will aim | :55:04. | :55:11. | |
for. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister will be aware that | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
his government are consulting on their changes to housing benefit | :55:15. | :55:21. | |
claims under the criteria of under occupancy, this will adversely | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
affect 450,000 disabled people, 33,000 in the north-east alone his | :55:26. | :55:33. | |
stand to lose an average of �607 per year, a substantial number in | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
my constituency. How does this meet the government's fairness test? | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
This is a specific exclusion to deal with people who have careers | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
living in the home, -- but we have to reform housing benefit. Housing | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
benefit was one of those budget items that was out of control. In | :55:50. | :55:56. | |
London, we had some families claiming �80,000 of housing | :55:56. | :56:02. | |
benefits just for one family. So this doesn't need to be reformed. - | :56:02. | :56:09. | |
- does need a. He says, how many? Frankly, too many! It is no good | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
for the party opposite to complain about every reduction to public | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
spending when they left us with the budget -- with the biggest budget | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
deficit in Europe! The Prime Minister has listened to Liberal- | :56:22. | :56:28. | |
Democrat colleagues by delaying the police elections until next year. | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
Will he now listen to Conservative colleagues and take that | :56:31. | :56:38. | |
opportunity to hold a referendum on Europe? That is an ingenious way of | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
putting the question! As a explained yesterday, I want us to | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
be influential in Europe about the things that matter to our national | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
interest, promoting the single market, pushing forward for growth, | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
getting low energy prices. But I do not see the case for a referendum | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
on Europe. We are in Europe and we have to make it work for us! Does | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
the Prime Minister agree with his Housing Minister that because of | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
the economic policies of the government, we now have a great | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
crisis? And when he does a U-turn, it will he cut VAT, which has | :57:13. | :57:20. | |
Labour's policy, will he give tax cuts to the rich? -- will he cut. | :57:20. | :57:25. | |
He obviously had time to read this, which says that increasing VAT was | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
the policy of Labour in the last election. He should focus on the | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
fact the person responsible for Labour's economic policy at the | :57:35. | :57:42. | |
lack -- at a last election said it had no credible policy. And nothing | :57:42. | :57:49. | |
has changed for Labour! Will the Prime Minister join me in | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
congratulating members from both sides of this House in both houses | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
of this Parliament for their generosity in responding to the | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
letter from Mr Speaker and the Lords be kept in supporting a gift | :58:00. | :58:05. | |
for her Majesty the Queen for her forthcoming died end -- Diamond | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
Jubilee from this Parliament? delighted to join the honourable | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
gentleman in praising everyone who contributed to this very | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
imaginative and I think sensible gift for her Majesty's Diamond | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
Jubilee. And perhaps I can pay it a particular tribute to him, if | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
because he has worked so hard to make this work. -- because. To have | :58:29. | :58:32. | |
a Diamond Jubilee is an extraordinary think we will be able | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
to celebrate this lifetime. With electricity and gas bills going up | :58:37. | :58:44. | |
by 20%, and 6 million families in this country now facing a fuel | :58:44. | :58:50. | |
poverty, does the Prime Minister still think it was right to cut the | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
winter fuel payments to pensioners by �100? We are going ahead with | :58:56. | :59:00. | |
the winter fuel payments set out by the last Labour government in that | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
budget. At the same time, we are increasing the cold weather | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
payments on a permanent basis. So this Government is being more | :59:08. | :59:18. | |
generous than the last government! In looking to address the economic | :59:18. | :59:26. | |
recovery, is it better to help those who have as little as �100 a | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
week of tax, but those who take home more than 10 times that amount | :59:31. | :59:38. | |
after tax? Let me point out two things we have done. One is to lift | :59:38. | :59:45. | |
�1 million -- �1 million out of income tax, a Coalition agreement. | :59:45. | :59:51. | |
-- 1 million people. We have increased in over two years by �290 | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
the tax credits that code to the poorest families in the country, | :59:55. | :00:00. | |
and that is why we have taken difficult decisions -- that go to. | :00:00. | :00:05. | |
But we have not had an increase in child poverty. In better economic | :00:05. | :00:13. | |
times under the last government, child poverty went up. Bringing | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
Siemens manufacturing wind turbines to the Humber is vital for jobs and | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
a breakthrough on renewable energy and hopefully increasing the UK | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
industry in this area. Local councils and businesses are doing | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
what they can to attract Siemens to the area, but we face strong | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
foreign competition. Will this Government do what the last | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
government did and back this? Will the Prime Minister do everything he | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
can to secure this? I agree with this, it is vital for the future of | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
the economy and for the future of the area she represents. I met with | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
Mum -- with members of parliament from Humberside to discuss this and | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
have spoken to the head of Siemens about the importance of this | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
investment, we are carrying on with this extra money to go into the | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
development of this industry and we packet all the way. At the meeting | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
this morning with organisations working dent the Horn of Africa, | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
representatives expressed their gratitude that the British | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
Government has been so generous -- in the Horn of Africa. That famine | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
is getting worse, will this Government continue to provide | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
international leadership to help the people in East Africa? I can | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
certainly give the honourable lady that assurance. The response of the | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
British public has been remarkable. These are difficult times, but they | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
have shown an incredible generosity and led the world in the | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
contributions they have made. And because this Government has made | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
the decision to fulfil a pledge of reaching 0.7% of national income | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
going into aid, we are leading the world in the amount of money we are | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
putting into the Horn of Africa back to vaccinate children, to save | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
lives and to recognise this is an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Does | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
the Prime Minister agree with me that his Housing Minister is an | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
absolute star? In the face of declining planning permissions for | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
new build homes, in the face of the lowest number of new homes being | :02:14. | :02:22. | |
built at this year in 12 months, lower than any year of Labour's | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
administration for house building, his Minister's great idea is to ask | :02:27. | :02:35. | |
councils to build more moorings for houseboats! Fantastic!,. I thought | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
he was doing so well until he got all political! -- I thought. House | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
building is too low in this country and it is a shocking statistic that | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
the typical first-time buyer is now in their mid-thirties. So we do | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
need to change and more houses to be built, and I think my Housing | :02:55. | :03:01. | |
Minister is doing a first class job! While much attention is being | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
paid to the military activities in Libya over the summer, will the | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
Prime Minister join me in congratulating captain Steve Norris | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
and the crew in the work they are doing to combat drugs in the | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
Caribbean? They intercepted �50 million of cocaine over the summer | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
and have been helping humanitarian affects after hurricane Irene. | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
is an important point. We should focus on and praise the incredible | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
work our services have done in Libya and Afghanistan, there are | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
the ongoing tasks like trucks in the West Indies, protecting the | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
Falkland Islands, the work took prevent piracy off the Horn of | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
Africa, all these tasks people are giving a lot of time and effort to | :03:50. | :04:00. | |
:04:00. | :04:06. | ||
and we should praise and thank them Neighbour leader, Ed Miliband went | :04:06. | :04:13. | |
on elected police leaders. And then on to waiting lists where there are | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
some figures we will look at in a minute. The dog that did not bark | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
was the economy, even though it is on everybody's minds at the moment. | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
Wondering whether there will be any growth this quarter in the British | :04:29. | :04:37. | |
economy. We speculated, and many of you have speculated on Twitter that | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
Labour could not go on the economy because this is the day Alastair | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
Darling's book comes out. It did not happen and we will hear from | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
our experts in a minute. But we want to hear from you first. | :04:51. | :04:58. | |
Matt in Highgate said David Cameron wrong-footed Ed Miliband on | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
policing and the NHS. I would have thought questions on the economy | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
would have been a more productive area for the leader of the | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
opposition. For example the cuts seem to have snuffed out growth. | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
And of a handsome and Al says it was a win for Ed Miliband. The | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
Prime Minister could not answer the questions put to him and at the | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
same time sacking 16,000 police officers. The silence on the Tory | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
benches on that one was clear. This comes from Steve in Wiltshire, | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
saying belabour are two-faced when it comes to wasting money when it | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
was there party that got this country into this mess in the first | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
place. This on a says that they are making | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
police redundant, so much for not affecting frontline services. | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
Police stations are being closed and others downgraded. | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
There was also this from David in Hexham about the elections for | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
police commissioners. The Prime Minister asked why Ed Miliband is | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
so frightened of an election it sounds as though the Prime Minister | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
is intending these to be political. On waiting lists we had a few. | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
Chris Kelly said what a joke, one side says waiting lists have gone | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
up, one side says they have gone down. My mother had to wait six | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
months for eye treatment and it seems like a long time for me. | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
Andy from East Sussex says I will have waited 36 weeks for my knee | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
operation if it goes ahead in September. | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
This came from a Freedom of Information request in earlier in | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
the year. We will try to get more recent ones, but hospital waiting | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
times have increased by 60% over the last year, with patients having | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
to wait several months for vital tests. And hundreds of patients | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
have waited more than 13 weeks to find out if they have cancer or | :06:56. | :07:04. | |
heart disease. Let me ask you both this. Why, six | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
years after it has been founded and 100 bn the year being spent on it, | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
why do we have a health system where everybody has to wait six | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
months? I think we need to reform the NHS and bring down those | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
waiting times. If I may say it was a very selective use of statistics | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
by Ed Miliband. He picked on one particular elements were waiting | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
times may have gone up, but there are other elements where they may | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
have gone down. But with the NHS, we are meeting the target to treat | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
90% of people within 18 weeks. The reason for that is we made a very | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
big call to protect spending on the NHS at a time of massive cuts | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
elsewhere. At a time when the Labour Party went into the last | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
election saying there were cuts pending on the NHS. Ed Miliband's | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
Polar Sea he stood on at the last election means the situation would | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
have been a whole lot worse. both parties have been in power for | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
long periods of time. You have both always said the health service is a | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
priority. And you had both spent a lot of money on it as well. And we | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
have a health system, and I don't think it is true in France and | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
Germany, and if you have insurance it is not true in the United States, | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
people are waiting six months to have scams, tests. It is very | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
worrying. You need these things right away. Under the Labour Party, | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
the average waiting time was below under 18 weeks. It was 18 months | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
when we came into power. It was 10 weeks on average when we left power | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
in 20th May 10. What we have seen this year is a huge disruption of | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
the NHS, a reorganisation of the NHS and people worrying about their | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
jobs and being made redundant. Standards are slipping, but it is | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
waiting times in A&E or on waiting lists for operations. Prior | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
understand that, he said it is running it better than you, you | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
said you run it better than they are. What is it about our health | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
service that still has people, people who are distraught, worried | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
and have nowhere else to go because they cannot afford to go deprive it, | :09:25. | :09:31. | |
having to wait six months for quite crucial medical procedures? If I | :09:31. | :09:38. | |
could just make the point that I think we will both agree on. When | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
you do international comparisons with other systems in other | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
countries, the NHS does very well. He does very well across a range of | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
indicators. One of the most important things about the NHS is | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
it is one of the only Systems in the world where people on lower | :09:55. | :10:03. | |
incomes are less likely to get the treatment they need quickly. | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
sadly disrupted. The answer to your question, Andrew is it is an | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
ideological playground. The Conservatives have come in what the | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
marketing of services and have created disorder and uncertainty. | :10:17. | :10:24. | |
That is impacting on frontline patient services. So, the Alastair | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
Darling book is so toxic, that for a while Labour won't be added to | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
talk about the economy? I think Ed Balls will have a thing or two to | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
say about the economy this afternoon. They have an economic | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
policy, they have something to say about the 50 pence debate which is | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
mainly if there is going to be a review of it is should be carried | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
out by the Op Art and not be HMRC. But clearly the Alastair Darling | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
Baulk means any questions to anybody to the Labour Party must | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
begin with the question, do you agree with Alastair Darling your | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
economic policy at the moment is not credible. Do you agree with | :11:09. | :11:16. | |
that? I don't agree with that. The have a very clear policy. We went | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
into the last election saying we would halve the deficit. You never | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
told us how? We didn't, and we went in Government. What one major thing | :11:26. | :11:34. | |
would you cut? The Government has cut too far, too fast and that | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
means... We have been clear about some of the things we would do. | :11:38. | :11:44. | |
What one major thing would you cut? We are not in Government at the | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
moment. I'm not asking for 20, just one would be night. The talked- | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
about 12% Police cuts and we think the 20% Police cuts the Government | :11:54. | :12:01. | |
is doing is too much. But we agreed 12% is feasible. We were looking at | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
the Welfare Reform and we would have been able to make savings in | :12:04. | :12:11. | |
the NHS. Because we wouldn't have been undertaking a �2 billion | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
restructuring of the NHS, we would have had a stable NHS where we | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
could have squeezed greater efficiency. Within the Labour Party | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
there is a debate about how they earned the right to talk about the | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
economy, do they talk too much about the past? There's an argument | :12:28. | :12:36. | |
the next election won't be about cutting and the rates as it is, but | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
what is fascinating is what process they go through to reach that point. | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
It is very much a live debate within the party at the moment. | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
other thing we saw happening is because of Nick Clegg's policy as | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
you have called it, Royal difference elation, something like | :12:53. | :13:02. | |
that. The Tory backbenchers are saying if he can do that, we want | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
some of that. We saw a reflection of that on the floor just now. It | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
is an issue now for party discipline. If you talk to MPs, | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
Conservative backbenchers, they will say, if the Chief Whip said | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
you do not raise it, then you do not raise it. But so many Liberal | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
Democrats are wanting difference policies talked about, there's no | :13:28. | :13:35. | |
restraint on the backbenches. It allows all the latent issues will | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
be more vocal about it. I've been Europe is one of them. Rumbling on | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
the backbenches? The to normal for any Government. If we had won the | :13:47. | :13:54. | |
last General Election, it is how Westminster happens. The Cabinet is | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
united and we recognise we need an enterprise economy and that means | :13:58. | :14:05. | |
having competitive tax rates. But it has to be done fairly, we have | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
to carry the country with us. We agree completely on that. We will | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
have to leave it there. Are you going to the party conferences? | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
will be. The Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, but not in that | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
order. I can tell you can't wait! | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
I am looking forward to it, that is how sad I am. | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
It is the highlight of the political year. | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
The highlight of my life. It you live in the flightpath of a | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
major airport you're probably not a fan of airport expansion. There was | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
a plan to build a third runway at Heathrow but it was scrapped as the | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
result of an election pledge from the Conservatives. Now, no new | :14:51. | :15:01. | |
:15:01. | :15:19. | ||
runways are planned in the south- International air travel is the | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
lifeblood of multinational companies. And despite advances in | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
video-conferencing, that face-to- face meeting is vital and demand | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
for that is growing. Heathrow is operating at 98% capacity at the | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
moment. The government has ruled out runway three as an option or | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
any increase incapacity in the south-east, so the prospects for | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
business travel of frankly week. The government is doing a good job | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
of looking at how to make airports better rather than bigger in the | :15:49. | :15:56. | |
south-east. But the truth is that 68% are stacking above our heads | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
and the problem comes back to capacity again. Another proposed | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
solution is high-speed rail, a great idea for joining up the north | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
and south of the country, but it only releases 4% of capacity at | :16:09. | :16:19. | |
:16:19. | :16:22. | ||
Heathrow, so worth having, but not a gain changes. -- a game change of. | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
Long-term, there are various proposals for new airports, the | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
Thames estuary, Birmingham, but for business, those solutions will not | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
come soon enough. One argument against increasing capacity or is | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
climate change concerns and the Government is right to put pressure | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
on airlines and airports to do as much as possible to combat carbon | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
emissions. But we have to recognise if you cannot fly out of London, | :16:48. | :16:53. | |
people may fly out of Frankfurt. The government could look at | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
unpopular solutions like making plane tickets on affordable to | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
family and friends and allowing businesses to take those tickets, | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
but I think the government should look again at expanding airport | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
capacity in the south-east. Otherwise, we risk business being | :17:10. | :17:18. | |
done in Frankfurt or Paris instead of London. | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
And Baroness Valentine is here. On your last point about risking | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
losing business to Frankfurt for example, is their hard evidence -- | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
hard evidence London has lost business to other European capitals | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
as a result of not having deferred runaway? People expect companies | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
will move from say Paris -- from London to say Paris or Geneva, | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
teams are being put together our offshore. 50% tax is not helpful, | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
immigration tax as well, so the issue of being open to business, | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
for the UK to be seen to be open, is driving people offshore. But it | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
is difficult when people here, if they are losing business if that | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
has not happened specifically because of a third runway, and also | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
that does not seem to be much support for this Heathrow expansion. | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
The Coalition parties opposed a third runway, Boris Johnson is on | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
board, you have a local authorities and environmental bodies, is this | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
argument dying a death? We are all worried about the economy. The UK | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
is a global trading nation and our links are the lifeblood of that | :18:32. | :18:39. | |
global trade. Heathrow is running at 98% capacity. And that is | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
thoroughly unhealthy now, but when demand doubles by 2050, it is set | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
to double, it is constraining fat demand and it is not helpful to the | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
economy. But you do not have support, politically, | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
environmentally, nobody is backing your case. That is not entirely | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
true. Many people understand the economic argument that you need the | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
National -- international air links to make future international | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
relationships, and build relations with emerging economies and all the | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
economies. So there is support from business saying we need this. You | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
would have to ask other people. We are concerned the government does | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
not avoid this. It seems the Government and the opposition are | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
avoiding this. Looking at the environmental aspect, one of the | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
big push us by the campaigners when they opposed the third runway, -- | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
one of the big issues. There could be unsafe for nitrogen dioxide | :19:45. | :19:51. | |
levels, it is claimed, what do you say to that? One is carbon-dioxide | :19:51. | :19:58. | |
and won his local noise. There are different arguments around each. | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
There is a trade-off between what you do with cars running around | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
Heathrow and what you do with the air, and you can offset depending | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
on what you do. Can I put the economic argument to you? The | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
government's message and priority at the moment is promoting growth, | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
you of boosting jobs and trying to get economic productivity and no to | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
a third runway that would do exactly that. Baroness Valentine | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
makes a good point about the importance of thinking about growth, | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
but it has to be sustainable growth. I do not think it is sustainable to | :20:32. | :20:39. | |
keep on expanding Heathrow. Where is the capacity going to go? We -- | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
we want the economy to grow over the next decade and the question is, | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
is it sustainable to keep adding lanes to the M25 or keep growing | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
Heathrow, do we look at something else? You sped -- she said high- | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
speed rail would reduce the need for flights by 4%, but look at what | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
happens to Japan. Way you have a fully developed high-speed rail | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
network, it has a massive impact on the number of domestic flights -- | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
way you have. Look at the air travel between Tokyo and Osaka, it | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
has been massively affected. Will high-speed rail be enough to absorb | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
that extra capacity without expanding an airport in the south- | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
east? I do not say it would be a panacea that deals with the entire | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
problem, there is a trade-off. We have other airports in London and | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
we have to find a sustainable way of dealing with the pressures at | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
Heathrow and I do not think a third runway would be sustainable. If you | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
ruling out a third runway in the south-east? We want to try more | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
imaginative ways to tackle the problem. The maximum it would | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
replace from Heathrow is 4%, domestic flights. It has nothing to | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
do with our connections to the rest of the world and even if you took | :21:58. | :22:05. | |
out 4%, you will be talking about about 94%. Other airports run to | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
75%, so that is not the solution. Labour supported a third runway and | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
you are now reviewing the policy, are you going against it? It is | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
under review and we want to make sure if there is airport expansion | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
in the south-east, it is compatible with our obligations two emissions. | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
We need to make sure that it is hoped sustainable and carbon | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
emissions, we have a big issue with air quality in London, particularly | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
with the Olympics coming up where we could face large fines from the | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
EU. We have not ruled out and put expansion in the south-east, not | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
unlike the Conservatives. With high-speed rail, a lot of | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
Conservative MPs are fighting against it. It is not a short-term | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
solution and will not be ready by 2024 stop only to Manchester, I | :22:54. | :23:04. | |
mean Birmingham. -- by 2020. Only to Manchester, I mean Birmingham. | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
The Japanese started then network in 1964, so it takes a very long | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
time. -- the network. Is the Government doing have a long term | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
think? A long-term thing is to have a shift from air travel to rail | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
travel and that is what we are doing. No time for another | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
question! Now the moment the Culture | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
Secretary has been waiting for. It's his big idea and he won't be | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
knocked off course by trifling matters like the phone hacking | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
scandal or decisions about the ownership of one of our major | :23:36. | :23:38. | |
broadcasters. Because Jeremy Hunt has identified what the British | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
public have been crying out for - local city-based TV stations of the | :23:42. | :23:49. | |
kind common in the United States. Here is David Thompson with a sneak | :23:49. | :23:56. | |
preview of what we've got to look forward to. | :23:56. | :24:03. | |
We cut to ABC news channel, a weekday mornings. -- welcome to. | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
Sadly, which almost certainly will not have meteorologists called | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
Casanova, but if Jeremy Hunt gets his way, we will get local | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
television stations like they do it in the USA. The Culture Secretary | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
wants to see as many as 20 news stations, with the first starting | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
by 2013. The project would be funded by a �40 million chunk of | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
the TV licence fee but would be self financing after that. Are in | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
the morning, breaking news is crucial... Fans say it will hold | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
local politicians to account and give community is a bespoke news | :24:41. | :24:47. | |
service, so local news for local people. -- communities. Opponents | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
claim it many places will not get a station because of signal problems | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
and that it might not be financially viable. Local TV has | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
been tried in this country but has yet to succeed as it has in the USA | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
and Europe. Whatever the rights and wrongs, however, Jeremy Hunt | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
probably does not want to see this. Obviously, the people who live here | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
are not satisfied with this explanation. White, so what do you | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
want now? -- the right. If I have to teach you have to be a reporter, | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
I will do that later. Do that later, but the lady expressed herself and | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
I am here, is there a question you would like to ask me? I would give | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
you lessons in how to be a reporters. I will give you lessons | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
in how to be an editor, because I was once you're past. For you were | :25:39. | :25:49. | |
:25:49. | :25:53. | ||
ones, but what happened? -- I was once you're past. -- your boss. You | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
were ones, what happens. Local newspapers are closing in droves, | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
why it local television stations? The need to adapt their model and | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
people are passionate about what is going on in their area -- they need | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
to. Local papers and radios are popular, why are we won of the only | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
countries that does not have good local television? What are local | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
television stations closing all the time if they are so popular? | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
have never had a model before that brings down the cost sufficiently | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
and the model does not cover the whole country, but unfortunately, | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
because we are working with existing transmitters. It covers | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
60%, most of the local -- of the major towns, and it is, but we can | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
bring down the Costa around the cost of running a local newspaper. | :26:44. | :26:51. | |
-- bringing the cost. I would expect them in larger places to do | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
a lot of broadcasting. People are never going to know when | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
the and-a-half of broadcasting is. That is a condescending view of the | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
world. The what is wrong with that?! -- what is. It depends on | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
the assumption that only broadcast by Andrew Neil at the BBC are worth | :27:13. | :27:22. | |
watching! What is wrong with that?! Under these plans, on that hour and | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
a half a day, that is 30,000 additional broadcast hours of local | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
news that we do not currently have. Local news is under threat already, | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
a regional news on the BBC networks and on the ITV network, why | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
shouldn't -- shouldn't we be use that instead? The issue is cost and | :27:41. | :27:49. | |
quality. -- should and we increase that instead? Is this going to be | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
sustainable and is the amount of advertisers out there to support a | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
local television station Alba and where will they be? It is unlikely | :27:58. | :28:08. | |
:28:08. | :28:08. | ||
to be out in wild Scotland or wild Wales. I am very surprised Labour | :28:08. | :28:15. | |
is against this. We are not against it! We are asking questions. Let me | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
finish, look at the general election last year, that was | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
transformed by those leaders' debates, couldn't we have that in | :28:23. | :28:31. | |
our country for local democracy? Speaking of local participation, if | :28:31. | :28:41. | |
:28:41. | :28:41. | ||
you can get the winner. It is John Stevens, the winner. | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
Do not give the address. He is only the media Secretary! The year was | :28:47. | :28:54. |