07/03/2012

:00:42. > :00:46.Good morning. This is The Daily Politics. Six British soldiers are

:00:47. > :00:51.missing presumed dead in Afghanistan. Their armoured vehicle

:00:51. > :00:58.was caught in an explosion in Helmand province. It is the biggest

:00:58. > :01:04.single loss of life for British forces since 2006. Over 400 British

:01:04. > :01:08.military personnel have now perished in the Afghan conflict.

:01:08. > :01:14.The Prime Ministers says it is a desperately sad day for our country.

:01:14. > :01:19.The Labour leader calls it a dark day. Expect a muted atmosphere at

:01:19. > :01:23.Prime Minister's Questions. Is this year's budget proving

:01:23. > :01:27.taxing for George Osborne? We will have more later.

:01:27. > :01:32.The Health Bill could become law within weeks after being amended to

:01:32. > :01:38.within inches of its life. But that will not stop the unions marching

:01:38. > :01:43.on Westminster. There are still determined to kill the Health Bill.

:01:43. > :01:50.All that coming up in the next 90 minutes. Morning in the United

:01:50. > :01:52.Kingdom given that the news from Afghanistan. We are joined by the

:01:52. > :01:58.Housing Minister Grant Shapps and the shadow Defence Secretary, Jim

:01:58. > :02:04.Murphy. We will speak about this development in Afghanistan. The MoD

:02:04. > :02:06.has announced that six British soldiers, I understand they are

:02:06. > :02:09.from 3rd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment and 1st Battalion, the

:02:09. > :02:14.Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, are missing, believed dead in the south

:02:14. > :02:20.of the country. Their armoured vehicle was caught in an explosion

:02:20. > :02:25.in Helmand province yesterday. No bodies have been recovered but I

:02:25. > :02:30.understand the difficult process of recovery is under way. If their

:02:30. > :02:36.deaths are confirmed, and it looks that way, it brings the number of

:02:36. > :02:40.British soldiers killed during the Afghan conflict to over 400. This

:02:40. > :02:46.is what the Prime Minister had to say this morning. This is a

:02:46. > :02:50.desperately sad day for our country and for the families concerned. It

:02:50. > :02:55.is a reminder of the massive price we're paying for the work we're

:02:55. > :03:01.doing in Afghanistan, the sacrifice that our troops have made an

:03:02. > :03:06.continue to make. I believe it is important work for our national

:03:06. > :03:10.security at home, but this work will increasingly be carried out by

:03:10. > :03:16.Afghan soldiers. Today we should think of the families and their

:03:16. > :03:20.loss. We will hear more from the Prime Minister and a leader of the

:03:21. > :03:26.opposition at Prime Minister's Questions. Prime Minister's

:03:26. > :03:32.Questions is sure to begin with this sad development in Afghanistan.

:03:32. > :03:38.Let's go to our correspondent in Kabul. Bring us up to speed with

:03:38. > :03:43.what you now know? We know what that a massive

:03:43. > :03:48.explosion took place, claiming the lives of these six British troops.

:03:48. > :03:55.We do not know because of the explosion. British personnel are at

:03:55. > :04:00.the scene and they have secured the site. The recovery operation is

:04:00. > :04:05.under way. This was a massive Warrior armoured fighting vehicle,

:04:06. > :04:11.very heavy and robust, and designed to withstand a powerful explosion.

:04:11. > :04:17.But in this case it seems like the vehicle was more or less destroyed.

:04:17. > :04:24.Two different theories are being looked at by a British forces in

:04:24. > :04:29.the area, that either it was at IED, or that it may have been something

:04:29. > :04:39.which was in the area for a lot longer, so be it mine, a so-called

:04:39. > :04:44.legacy mine, that could have been planted decades earlier. The

:04:44. > :04:51.precise location where this took place is very unstable. Insurgents

:04:51. > :04:56.are active in the area and have been planting IEDs recently.

:04:56. > :05:02.In London, the Ministry of Defence is uncertain, it thinks it is

:05:02. > :05:08.unlikely that it was a legacy bomb from the Soviet occupation. But we

:05:08. > :05:15.do not know. If this is at Taliban attack, the recovery process is

:05:15. > :05:23.dangerous. They call it a daisy chain attack, that you can going

:05:23. > :05:29.and then another bomb goes off. A bad is possible.

:05:29. > :05:37.-- that is possible. IEDs are a major killer of coalition forces

:05:37. > :05:42.and civilians in Afghanistan. Almost one-third of civilians have

:05:43. > :05:49.been killed by IED. Since the conflict began, more than 200

:05:49. > :05:59.British service personnel have been killed by IEDs. They are very cheap

:05:59. > :06:08.

:06:08. > :06:14.to make and relatively easy to position. INAUDIBLE Jim Murphy, I

:06:14. > :06:20.suspect, I do not know for sure, but I suspect that a lot of people

:06:20. > :06:24.watching this will wonder why are we still there, why are these young

:06:24. > :06:29.British men and women as well having to risk their lives and lose

:06:29. > :06:35.their lives in this case for what? That is a fair question that many

:06:35. > :06:42.people will ask this morning. In other countries, there will be a

:06:42. > :06:46.similar response where there has been tragic loss of life. Can I

:06:46. > :06:52.express my condolences on behalf of the opposition to the families who

:06:52. > :06:56.have lost their loved ones. It is a terrible day for the country as the

:06:56. > :07:03.Prime Minister has said. But it is a day that the families will find

:07:03. > :07:08.hard to recover from. But on the wider point, we are there because

:07:08. > :07:18.to have an Andover no space in Afghanistan, it means that the

:07:18. > :07:20.

:07:20. > :07:25.Taliban will come to us. I do think that this is in our national

:07:25. > :07:32.interest. The easy thing for the opposition to do would be to say,

:07:32. > :07:36.let's ask questions, but that is for another day. It is in our

:07:36. > :07:41.interests as a country, as a people, that we should make the country and

:07:41. > :07:45.media that can no longer launch terrorist attacks against us.

:07:45. > :07:51.is obviously the view of the government as well, Grant Shapps,

:07:51. > :07:58.but we have been in Afghanistan since 2001, that is 11 years ago

:07:58. > :08:03.and the Taliban still seems very powerful. It seems to be able to go

:08:03. > :08:10.across the border with Pakistan with impunity. It looks like it has

:08:10. > :08:14.the capability to kill six of our military personnel. All the

:08:14. > :08:24.discussion in Afghanistan is that when we do get out, the Taliban

:08:24. > :08:26.

:08:26. > :08:32.will probably takeover anyway. The people who have lost loved ones

:08:32. > :08:37.today, they will still think, why? First and foremost, for the country

:08:37. > :08:42.as a whole and for the families involved, a tragic day that I know

:08:42. > :08:48.the Prime Minister will reflect on in half-an-hour. We must not forget

:08:48. > :08:52.their personal sacrifice. I endorse everything that Jim Murphy has said.

:08:52. > :08:58.There is a direct connection between terrorist training camps in

:08:58. > :09:05.Afghanistan and what happens on the streets of our own capital. That is

:09:05. > :09:11.why it was right to act. There is a structured plans. There will be

:09:11. > :09:15.none of our forces in combat roles by 2014. We know they are coming

:09:15. > :09:20.out and you're right, it will not be perfect, there will not be a

:09:20. > :09:25.democracy as we see it here, but large achievements have been made.

:09:26. > :09:31.Women and children are able to go about their lives. If female

:09:31. > :09:37.children are able to go to school. If that was the objective, we

:09:37. > :09:42.should have kept the Soviet Union there. More children went to school

:09:42. > :09:48.under the Soviet Union. But that was not the reason we went in there

:09:48. > :09:53.in 2001? If you are arguing that it has not been a straight forward

:09:53. > :09:57.campaign, that is obviously true. Sometimes you have got to take

:09:57. > :10:02.difficult decisions and progress with them even when the outcomes

:10:02. > :10:06.are difficult. Overall, I think Britain can be proud of its role in

:10:06. > :10:13.helping to get rid of a terrible regime, and protecting British

:10:13. > :10:18.lives in Britain as a result. trying to put myself, and it is

:10:18. > :10:21.impossible to do because no one can understand the grief, but I am

:10:21. > :10:27.trying to imagine how you would feel if your child had been lost

:10:27. > :10:30.and you have just heard the news. If you lost a loved one in the

:10:30. > :10:36.Second World War, you felt that they were fighting against the

:10:36. > :10:44.greatest evil the world had seen, if you lost a son in the Falklands,

:10:44. > :10:49.it was to retake the islands from a fascist dictator. I just wonder

:10:49. > :10:57.what you would think this morning? What would you say to them?

:10:57. > :11:02.were right. Those families to have lost a loved one have been informed.

:11:02. > :11:07.It is important that the families know. It is a much more difficult

:11:07. > :11:14.argument to make. In the Second World War, if we had not gone into

:11:15. > :11:18.mainland Europe, Hitler would have come here. There was a clear

:11:18. > :11:24.national interest in it in the First World War and the Falklands

:11:24. > :11:28.war. We have to make the arguments across the party's consistently.

:11:28. > :11:34.When I was in Afghanistan and met remarkable men and women from our

:11:34. > :11:39.armed forces. They appreciate that they are getting the young girls to

:11:39. > :11:44.school but that is not the primary purpose, the primary purpose is to

:11:44. > :11:51.keep our country save. We have to have a better conversation with the

:11:51. > :11:55.public about that. I am sure we will return to this later. It will

:11:55. > :12:01.be a subdued house today for Prime Minister's Questions.

:12:01. > :12:05.Now, super Tuesday, the day when a Republican candidate is usually

:12:05. > :12:10.confirmed has been and gone and we have no idea who will go up against

:12:10. > :12:20.Barack Obama in November. He is a flavour of the action from last

:12:20. > :12:25.

:12:25. > :12:29.night. -- here is a flavour. What a great night. There are three states

:12:29. > :12:33.under our belt now and counting and we will get more before the night

:12:33. > :12:39.is over. To the millions of Americans who look around and can

:12:39. > :12:43.only see jobs that they cannot get, I have a message. You have not

:12:43. > :12:53.failed, you have a president that has failed you and that is going to

:12:53. > :12:56.

:12:56. > :13:02.change. We are going to win a few, we are going to lose a few, but it

:13:02. > :13:09.looks like we're going to get at least a couple of gold medals and a

:13:09. > :13:13.whole parcel full of silver medals. We have won in the West, the

:13:13. > :13:17.Midwest and the South, and we're ready to win across this country.

:13:18. > :13:24.Joining us now is Michael Magan from Republicans Abroad. Good

:13:24. > :13:28.morning. It is still pretty unusual to have so many candidates alike in

:13:28. > :13:33.the field at this stage in a Republican nomination race? It is

:13:33. > :13:37.really different. Mitt Romney was hoping he could pull-out into the

:13:37. > :13:42.fast lane yesterday but he has Rick Santorum in his rear-view mirror.

:13:42. > :13:48.It looks like it will be a dog fight? It will be longer than

:13:48. > :13:52.anyone anticipated and with the crime is coming up in the side, and

:13:52. > :13:57.with how well Rick Santorum did yesterday, Mitt Romney will have a

:13:57. > :14:03.few hard weeks in front of him. you think that Mitt Romney will

:14:03. > :14:08.seize the day? It is delicate at the moment. He is trying to seize

:14:08. > :14:12.the day. He is hoping that Newt Gingrich stays in the race even

:14:12. > :14:18.though he only one Georgia last night because that continues to

:14:18. > :14:22.take delegates away from Santorum. What Rick Santorum would like is

:14:22. > :14:27.for Newt Gingrich to drop out. No one is paying attention to Ron Paul

:14:27. > :14:32.at the moment. The Republicans are desperate to coalesce around a

:14:32. > :14:36.single figure, but is the problem that Mitt Romney is still

:14:36. > :14:43.struggling to be inspirational enough for a broad spectrum of

:14:43. > :14:47.Republican voters? I think you see him trekking to the right. He has

:14:47. > :14:53.had to go more and more to the right as Rick Santorum puts

:14:53. > :14:58.socialist issues on the agenda. He is winning in cities and are been

:14:58. > :15:03.areas, but he is struggling in the country. He is having a hard time

:15:03. > :15:08.with people who have not gone to college. There is an old saying,

:15:08. > :15:17.Democrats fall in love with their candidate and republicans fall in

:15:17. > :15:21.line. We will see people fall in Does he really fit the bill? It is

:15:21. > :15:25.hard for me. In some ways, Mitt has been running for President for

:15:25. > :15:30.eight years. The general population is waiting for somebody that is

:15:30. > :15:34.really going to inspire them, and I think we are seeing right now the

:15:34. > :15:38.Republican candidates leant towards the convention in Tampa later this

:15:38. > :15:43.year. His problem is that he is weak in the south. If the

:15:43. > :15:48.Republicans do not take the South, they will not take the White House.

:15:48. > :15:52.Santorum won Tennessee yesterday. Evangelicals do not like him being

:15:52. > :15:58.a Mormon. The race now moves to Kansas, which is not sudden, but it

:15:58. > :16:01.is quite sat in the Midwest, Mississippi, Alabama. You are right,

:16:01. > :16:07.it is going to be hard for Mitt Romney in the coming weeks. The

:16:07. > :16:10.other thing to keep in mind, he is out spending rate Santorum 5-1.

:16:10. > :16:15.money is unbelievable, isn't it? The Democrats must be running their

:16:15. > :16:21.hands in glee. Any smart Democrat now is rubbing their hands in worry.

:16:21. > :16:27.Why? There is a long time until November. By Obama's negative

:16:27. > :16:30.numbers are still quite high. You still have him around 45%. But in

:16:30. > :16:37.every poll, he beat whoever you choose. By five points at the

:16:37. > :16:43.moment, the gap is not that big. The gap is not any when he was

:16:43. > :16:46.expected to be between Obama and Mitt. Is there any chance, as a

:16:46. > :16:51.journalist who would love the prospect, of a brokered convention?

:16:51. > :16:57.People like to talk about that. know we do! You will have to

:16:57. > :17:00.explain it for the viewers. means, and we have not had one for

:17:00. > :17:04.a long while, that we get to the convention and there is no clear

:17:05. > :17:09.front runner, no overall majority for any money, and so you can

:17:09. > :17:13.broker, you can do deals to create majorities for and against. It used

:17:13. > :17:19.to be called the smoke-filled rooms, but you're not allowed to smoke now,

:17:19. > :17:23.so they are just filled! At a candidate he was not of the ballot

:17:23. > :17:28.papers, some are walking by. It is an interesting thing. Is there any

:17:28. > :17:35.chance? Of course, there is always a chance. What is the chance? I

:17:35. > :17:40.don't know. George W Bush's former chief of staff kind of mentioned

:17:40. > :17:43.Jeb Bush's name last week, but at the same time you had Barbara Bush,

:17:43. > :17:47.the former first lady, saying this is the messiest primary she has

:17:47. > :17:53.ever seen. There are rumblings of a brokered convention, I'm not sure.

:17:53. > :17:58.We will be watching extremely closely. I think the winner is one

:17:58. > :18:02.of the people who did not have the name on the ballot paper, Obama,

:18:02. > :18:07.because I do not mean to be unkind, but watching these four candidates,

:18:07. > :18:12.it is like four different parties. We are going to have to move on,

:18:12. > :18:17.keep your eye on Illinois, that is the next big state that Mr Romney

:18:17. > :18:21.has to win. It may not feel like it, the weather in London is a bit wet,

:18:21. > :18:26.Jim Murphy knows what I am talking about, he will translate for you

:18:26. > :18:30.later, the subtitles are coming up! But spring is about to spring, like

:18:30. > :18:34.the budget, only a few weeks away, the days have been getting longer,

:18:34. > :18:38.you might have organised a nice Easter break in the Seychelles for

:18:38. > :18:43.the Maldives or Paisley. I don my black silk pyjamas every night and

:18:43. > :18:48.dream the dream. Not everyone in Westminster is happy, over to you,

:18:48. > :18:53.Jo! The budget is only a fortnight away, and George Osborne could be

:18:53. > :18:56.forgiven for losing his beauty sleep. In fact, the Sweet dreams he

:18:56. > :19:00.once had a bad thing the Chancellor who share the proceeds of growth

:19:00. > :19:04.may be turning into nightmares. The economy is predicted to grow by a

:19:04. > :19:08.miserable 0.7% this year, leaving Mr Osborne limited room to

:19:08. > :19:11.manoeuvre. Angry motorists are desperate for some relief from

:19:11. > :19:15.record petrol prices, but the Treasury argues it has already done

:19:15. > :19:20.a lot to cut duty. And there is pressure on him to wake up, smell

:19:20. > :19:24.the coffee and end unpopular plans to cut child benefit for higher-

:19:24. > :19:30.rate taxpayers. There are demands from the Lib Dems to move faster

:19:30. > :19:33.towards raising the income tax threshold to �10,000. Does he have

:19:33. > :19:37.any cheerful thoughts for the long night between now and the budget?

:19:37. > :19:41.He may try to make life easier for small businesses by cutting

:19:41. > :19:46.regulation and perhaps offering tax cuts. And he might be able to

:19:46. > :19:50.please many Conservatives by cutting the 50% top rate of income

:19:50. > :19:55.tax, but only by making up for it with some sort of wealth tax,

:19:55. > :19:58.perhaps the mention tax proposed by Vince Cable. For many Tories,

:19:58. > :20:03.giving in to the Liberal Democrats is seen as sleepwalking towards

:20:03. > :20:10.disaster. Andrew. Sleepwalking towards disaster, sleepwalk back

:20:10. > :20:14.there. It is not a disaster in any way! We are joined by Ben Page,

:20:14. > :20:19.good morning, from Ipsos MORI. He is going to tell us how the Poles

:20:19. > :20:27.are doing. On his original plan, we will see if it survives, Mr Osborne

:20:27. > :20:33.taking child benefit away from the 40% plus taxpayers, or... Very

:20:33. > :20:37.popular when it first came out, in October, when you first sit the CSR,

:20:37. > :20:41.18 months ago. To be honest, people are still in favour of reducing the

:20:41. > :20:47.benefits bill. The question always is how, and of course most people

:20:47. > :20:52.do not have kids. Most people do not burn this sort of money.

:20:52. > :20:56.they do not care? Well, they might aspire to add some point, so it is

:20:56. > :21:00.a real juggling act for him. Whatever he does is going to affect

:21:00. > :21:06.one of his core constituencies for one group of voters that he might

:21:06. > :21:10.quite like to please, and frankly I am glad I'm not George Osborne.

:21:10. > :21:17.You're not alone in that! That does not mark you out, Ben Page! This is

:21:17. > :21:23.true. The 50p rate is popular. is... Most people do not pay it.

:21:23. > :21:26.be honest, although they might aspire to, it is very unlikely.

:21:26. > :21:31.Interestingly, inheritance tax is much more unpopular, even though a

:21:31. > :21:34.tiny minority pay that. Because people hope that their home will be

:21:34. > :21:39.expensive enough, we fantasise about a property getting more

:21:39. > :21:43.expensive. The top rate of tax is a popular measure, but not among some

:21:43. > :21:46.of George Osborne's key constituencies. Any data on the

:21:46. > :21:50.trade-off that is being talked about, although I'm not sure it is

:21:50. > :21:56.going to happen, between cutting the top rate of income tax on money

:21:56. > :22:00.that you work for but increasing his mansion tax or higher property

:22:00. > :22:06.pounds in council tax, increasing the tax on the property you living?

:22:06. > :22:09.Particularly if it is an expensive property. People in Kensington and

:22:09. > :22:13.Chelsea are quaking in their boots! No, I have not got a simple answer

:22:13. > :22:17.on that one. I do not think there is, but whatever he does, he is

:22:17. > :22:20.going to annoy some of his core constituency, and that is a problem,

:22:21. > :22:24.but it is all small numbers of people. A lot of these is about a

:22:24. > :22:27.signal he is sending to the broader electorate and the country as a

:22:27. > :22:30.whole about whether he is on their side, because at the end of all

:22:30. > :22:38.this is the Ronald Reagan question, will I feel better with these

:22:38. > :22:42.people and four years' time question --? Eric Pickles has made

:22:42. > :22:46.it clear he does not like the idea of a mention tax, he has said it

:22:46. > :22:51.would be a big mistake and it would hit the south-east, Tory seats like

:22:51. > :22:57.your arm, which are not hugely safe. Putting the politics aside, what

:22:57. > :23:01.you find in some of these places is that this could become a Grammy tax.

:23:01. > :23:06.They may not be very wealthy at all in terms of day-to-day expenditure.

:23:06. > :23:11.The process of revaluing is quite a lengthy process. It was started in

:23:11. > :23:15.Wales in 2005 and started to take years. It is expensive, �250

:23:15. > :23:18.million. The coalition agreement said that we were not to a re-

:23:18. > :23:24.evaluation. There is a variety of difficulties in bringing something

:23:24. > :23:28.like this in. I understand that there may be someone in a big house

:23:28. > :23:34.that they got many years ago and it has soared in value, over 2 million,

:23:34. > :23:38.but they are relatively cash poor. But you are putting a new welfare

:23:38. > :23:41.cap on housing benefit which could force a number of people in houses

:23:41. > :23:46.they are in now to move to other houses, so if it is good for them,

:23:47. > :23:50.why is it not good for your mythical old lady? But in the

:23:50. > :23:54.politics of it aside, dealing with the logic of it, if you're going to

:23:54. > :24:00.introduce something like this, you need a whole process involving

:24:00. > :24:04.people visiting lots of properties. It is a long period. The coalition

:24:04. > :24:07.agreement rules that having a revaluation during the Parliament.

:24:07. > :24:12.Say without getting to a process costing hundreds of millions of

:24:12. > :24:17.pounds. I doubt it would bring the cash in in time. -- so you would

:24:17. > :24:25.get into. You are close to the child benefit cut, but you are

:24:25. > :24:33.calling for a fuel duty cut. Did you photocopy his opinion poll?

:24:33. > :24:38.wish it had been that choreographed! It does seem like

:24:38. > :24:41.policy by opinion poll. But in politics to one side, he says, I

:24:41. > :24:44.understand why he says that, because the politics is such a mess

:24:44. > :24:49.for the government. We had a conversation about the Republican

:24:49. > :24:54.Party. UK Coalition is behaving like the Republican Party, all over

:24:54. > :24:59.the place, all sorts of briefings against one another. I know time

:24:59. > :25:02.his shot before PMQs, but one policy deserves more attention,

:25:02. > :25:06.which is couples earning �18,000 are going to see a change in their

:25:06. > :25:13.tax credits which means that unless they go for 16 hours per week up to

:25:13. > :25:19.24 hours per week, they will lose �3,000. I want to explain this.

:25:20. > :25:25.That is misleading. You lose your tax credits. Unless you go from 16

:25:25. > :25:30.up to 24 hours, the problem is in a labour market with so many people

:25:30. > :25:34.out of work, how does a couple find those hours? You raise a very

:25:34. > :25:41.important point, but we have not got time to go there. We will maybe

:25:41. > :25:45.try to do it afterwards. Ben, thank you for being with us. Our two

:25:45. > :25:49.guests have reached the pinnacle of public life. How do we know?

:25:49. > :25:52.Because they have been invited on to the Daily Politics. It is an

:25:53. > :25:56.honour called in to a select few, especially on a Wednesday, and

:25:56. > :26:01.these pillars of society would not be the men they are without a sense

:26:01. > :26:06.of history and understanding of our glorious island story. I can see

:26:06. > :26:11.where this is going. The government is worried that too few of our

:26:11. > :26:15.schoolchildren will have a scale similar heights as our guests,

:26:15. > :26:20.which must mean they are going nowhere! Why? They do not have that

:26:20. > :26:23.sense of history, that sense of continuity, and so worried is the

:26:23. > :26:27.government that they are considering an overhaul of the

:26:27. > :26:34.history syllabus. In the spirit of public service, we thought we would

:26:34. > :26:44.do our own history quiz. Everything in our guests love! Can anyone tell

:26:44. > :26:46.

:26:46. > :26:51.me what happened in 1215? We can try! A Labour government?!

:26:51. > :26:55.could call that a trick question or just a stupid mistake on my part!

:26:55. > :27:04.Let's go with the second. Magna Carta. That is the correct answer.

:27:05. > :27:12.All right, what happened in a 1769? It is your turn! Grant does not

:27:12. > :27:16.know! It is nothing to do with Scotland, it is the introduction of

:27:17. > :27:22.the spinning mule, which was a key moment in the industrial revolution.

:27:22. > :27:28.Was it really? That is what I was going to say! I have not read the

:27:28. > :27:33.opinion poll! Finally, what happened in 2004? What seminal

:27:33. > :27:39.broadcasting event took place in 2004? You first appeared on this

:27:39. > :27:43.programme. More important than that, it was the introduction of the

:27:43. > :27:49.Daily Politics Eid. The clue is in the title. If you want to be part

:27:49. > :27:54.of history, you just have to enter the guest of the competition.

:27:54. > :28:04.will remind you had to enter. see if you can remember when this

:28:04. > :28:04.

:28:04. > :29:24.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 79 seconds

:29:24. > :29:34.To be in with a chance of winning, send your answer to our special e-

:29:34. > :29:36.

:29:36. > :29:39.mail address. He can see the full terms and conditions on our website.

:29:39. > :29:42.Yes, Stephen Fry and all of these other quiz masters will be feeling

:29:42. > :29:46.pretty secure in their jobs after my performance. It is coming up to

:29:46. > :29:51.midday, we can take a look at Big Ben, as we always do, Prime

:29:51. > :29:56.Minister's Questions on its way. Nick Robinson is here, too, and the

:29:56. > :29:59.debts of the six British soldiers, not confirmed, it will overshadow

:29:59. > :30:03.everything. I think it will. We have grown used to the names of

:30:03. > :30:08.people who have lost their lives being read out at the beginning of

:30:08. > :30:12.Prime Minister's Questions. We know that six debts are not worse than

:30:12. > :30:15.one for the people involved, but when it takes you over this

:30:15. > :30:21.threshold, entirely arbitrary, it means nothing to people who have

:30:21. > :30:25.lost someone, that it is the 400th, every last is serious, but there

:30:25. > :30:29.are moments like this where the House of Commons will feel a need

:30:29. > :30:34.not just to pay tribute but to reflect on the huge sacrifices that

:30:34. > :30:39.are being made. It is an interesting issue, though, because

:30:39. > :30:43.all three main parties, the main parties in parliament singer from

:30:43. > :30:46.the same song sheet on this. They do pretty much, and we are in a

:30:46. > :30:49.situation where the British government is amongst the slowest

:30:49. > :30:53.of international government to say we want to get out. Other

:30:53. > :30:58.governments have wanted to get out, and there was a sign of tension

:30:58. > :31:02.between David Cameron and President Obama when the President seemed

:31:02. > :31:06.desperate to have withdrawn. The British government have been the

:31:06. > :31:10.last to say, this is right, we are staying, and they have had the

:31:10. > :31:13.support of the opposition parties. I wonder if anyone will stand up to

:31:13. > :31:18.speak for those, and they do exist in the country, we think we should

:31:18. > :31:22.get out quickly. It has been read that people have done that. You

:31:22. > :31:26.have observed how rarely the issue has been debated over the 10 years,

:31:26. > :31:30.the 11 years since British forces moved in. My instinct is probably

:31:30. > :31:34.not, but you will see, maybe somebody will say it is right to

:31:34. > :31:38.leave. Is there a strong movement on the backbenches? Not strong.

:31:38. > :31:42.There are people who have asked questions about whether the level

:31:43. > :31:47.of sacrifice is worth it. The bigger worry, and this was raised

:31:47. > :31:57.by David Miliband, will it revert to being as bad as it was before

:31:57. > :32:01.

:32:01. > :32:06.when we pull out? Straight over to I hope you will permit the

:32:06. > :32:10.following announcement. Yesterday a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle

:32:10. > :32:15.on patrol near the eastern province of hell man was struck by an

:32:15. > :32:20.explosion. It is with great sadness that I must tell the House that six

:32:20. > :32:23.soldiers are missing, believed killed. Five soldiers are from 3rd

:32:23. > :32:26.Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment, and one is from 1st Battalion, the

:32:26. > :32:31.Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. Our thoughts are with the family and

:32:31. > :32:37.friends of these brave men. This would be the largest loss of life

:32:37. > :32:43.in a single incident in Afghanistan since 2006. It takes the total

:32:43. > :32:52.number of casualties to over 400. Every death reminds us of the human

:32:53. > :32:56.cost paid by our armed forces. The commanders of the armed forces have

:32:56. > :33:01.stressed their commitment of our troops to the mission and getting

:33:01. > :33:07.the job done. I know that everyone will want a message of support to

:33:07. > :33:14.go out from this house today to the armed forces. This morning I had

:33:14. > :33:20.meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. Can I echo

:33:20. > :33:28.the Prime Minister's tribute to the fallen? Their service and their

:33:28. > :33:30.sacrifice humbles us all. With this terrible news in mind, will my

:33:30. > :33:35.Right Honourable Friend used his meetings with President Obama next

:33:35. > :33:39.week to co-ordinate a prudent withdrawal of forces from

:33:39. > :33:44.Afghanistan and to ensure that Afghan forces get the training they

:33:45. > :33:49.need to take over? Next week is an opportunity to make sure that

:33:49. > :33:57.Britain and America, as the two largest contributors to the nation

:33:57. > :34:02.in Afghanistan, art together and in one step when it comes to training

:34:03. > :34:07.the army and the Afghan police. All NATO partners should have a

:34:07. > :34:15.properly co-ordinated process for transition in that country. We

:34:15. > :34:19.should be able to bring our forces home. Can I join the Prime Minister

:34:19. > :34:25.in expressing sadness at the terrible news of our six soldiers

:34:25. > :34:30.missing, feared dead. Today we are reminded of the sacrifice that our

:34:30. > :34:36.service personnel make on our behalf. By putting themselves in

:34:36. > :34:40.harm's way for our benefit, they demonstrate the utmost courage. We

:34:41. > :34:45.owe them and all of those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan an

:34:45. > :34:50.immense debt of gratitude. Our thoughts are with their friends and

:34:50. > :34:55.family and colleagues. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that

:34:55. > :35:01.we must restate clearly it the reasons for our mission in

:35:01. > :35:09.Afghanistan, a more stable, self- governing Afghanistan for greater

:35:09. > :35:14.and better outcomes in that region? And for safety at home. He is right,

:35:15. > :35:18.our mission in Afghanistan remains vital to our national security. We

:35:18. > :35:25.are there to prevent that country becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda

:35:25. > :35:28.where they might plan attacks on our country. We well equipped the

:35:28. > :35:32.forces and government of Afghanistan to take care of their

:35:32. > :35:39.own national security without the need for foreign troops on their

:35:39. > :35:48.soil. That is our game and we are making progress. The Afghan

:35:48. > :35:53.national army stands at 184,000. It is on target for 190,000 by the end

:35:53. > :35:59.of this year. We are making progress and this is absolutely

:35:59. > :36:04.essential for bringing our troops home. But agree that we need to

:36:04. > :36:10.restate clearly why they are there, Y eight days in our national

:36:10. > :36:14.interest. As the commander of the battalion said to me today, his men

:36:14. > :36:20.have higher morale. They know they are doing an important mission for

:36:20. > :36:24.this country and they want our support. Three the Prime Minister

:36:24. > :36:28.and I also agree that it is essential that we build now for a

:36:29. > :36:33.political settlement in Afghanistan for when our troops are gone. Can

:36:33. > :36:40.he take this moment to update the house on what diplomatic progress

:36:40. > :36:44.is being made on securing a more inclusive settlement needed for a

:36:44. > :36:48.successful Afghanistan? Does he agree that the international

:36:48. > :36:54.community must increase the pace of progress towards this settlement so

:36:54. > :37:00.that we can do all we can to make concrete progress between now and

:37:00. > :37:05.the end of 2014? We are clearly planning the increase in the army

:37:05. > :37:09.and the police, the physical forces that takeover, but the greatest

:37:09. > :37:14.difference we could make is a stronger political settlement that

:37:14. > :37:19.will make sure that Afghanistan has a chance of real stability and

:37:19. > :37:23.security in the future. There are proper discussions now between the

:37:23. > :37:27.Afghan and Pakistani governments. There is a clear message coming out

:37:27. > :37:32.of both countries to all those who are engaged in violence to give up

:37:32. > :37:37.that violence and join a political process. There is strong support

:37:38. > :37:42.for that across the Arab world, particularly in the Middle East. We

:37:42. > :37:47.need to support that and send a clear message to the Taliban.

:37:47. > :37:53.Whether it is our troops are Afghan troops that are there, they will

:37:53. > :37:59.not win on the battlefield. A political settlement will give the

:37:59. > :38:04.country a chance of peaceful progress. I would like to echo the

:38:04. > :38:11.Prime Minister's tributes to our brave men and women who are asked

:38:11. > :38:15.to make sacrifices on a daily basis to keep our country says. Will the

:38:15. > :38:19.Prime Minister confirm that despite these tragic events, the mission

:38:19. > :38:27.will remain in Afghanistan in one form or another for as long as it

:38:27. > :38:31.takes to produce a secure Afghanistan? We have a very clear

:38:31. > :38:36.timetable which is all about transition, parts of Afghanistan

:38:36. > :38:41.will be handed to Afghan security control, which will allow our

:38:41. > :38:46.troops to move into the background and eventually out of the country.

:38:46. > :38:51.We are already seen in Helmand province, one of the toughest parts

:38:51. > :38:58.of Afghanistan, Lashkar Gah is now controlled by Afghan forces so this

:38:58. > :39:03.process is now on going. I believe it can be properly completed by

:39:04. > :39:08.2014 so we can leave in a proper and orderly fashion. But let's be

:39:08. > :39:13.clear, the relationship between Britain and other countries in

:39:13. > :39:22.Afghanistan will go on. We must learn the lessons of the past which

:39:22. > :39:25.is what a mistake it was to turn away from Afghanistan. The Prime

:39:25. > :39:33.Minister's Business Secretary says of the Government's sanction on

:39:33. > :39:39.economic growth, our actions are, frankly, rather piecemeal. Does the

:39:40. > :39:44.Prime Minister agree? I do not agree with that. This Government is

:39:44. > :39:49.cutting corporation tax, investing in apprenticeships, building

:39:49. > :39:54.enterprise zones, and making sure that across our economy the

:39:54. > :39:59.rebalancing is taking place it is necessary for economic growth.

:39:59. > :40:03.constituents have to wait longer to get a hospital appointment and they

:40:03. > :40:08.would in England. There are five times less likely to get certain

:40:08. > :40:13.cancer drugs than in England, and if they get to hospital, they are

:40:13. > :40:18.twice as likely to get an infection than they would be in England. Does

:40:18. > :40:25.this prove that you cannot trust Labour with the NHS? He makes an

:40:25. > :40:30.important point. What has happened to the NHS in Wales shows what has

:40:30. > :40:35.happened if you do not put in the resources. Resources have been cut

:40:36. > :40:41.in Wales. The NHS should have been reformed to make sure that people

:40:41. > :40:48.get the treatments they need. There are much longer waiting times in

:40:48. > :40:58.Wales and that is an example of what happens without the reform.

:40:58. > :41:06.

:41:06. > :41:12.The Prime Minister is proud of his welfare reforms. Hear, hear! Can he

:41:12. > :41:15.look me in the eye and tell me he is proud of the decision to remove

:41:15. > :41:25.all disability benefits from a 10- year-old child who can hardly walk,

:41:25. > :41:34.who cannot go to the pilot herself, because she has cerebral palsy? --

:41:34. > :41:40.the toilet. This government is not cutting the money going into

:41:40. > :41:43.disability benefits. As someone who has filled out the form for a

:41:43. > :41:49.disability living allowance, and who has had a child with cerebral

:41:49. > :41:53.palsy, I know how long it takes to fill out the form. We will have a

:41:53. > :42:03.proper medical tests so people who need that help will get it more

:42:03. > :42:08.

:42:08. > :42:13.quickly. -- test. I say to the honourable gentleman for Brighton

:42:13. > :42:20.that that sort of nice it is not acceptable in this chamber.

:42:20. > :42:25.Friday, two police officers came to see me about the life threatening

:42:25. > :42:32.effects of new legal high called black mamba. I am informed that

:42:32. > :42:37.this is the latest legal high being sold on our streets today. Now that

:42:37. > :42:45.we have regulations that allow us to act swiftly to ban potentially

:42:45. > :42:50.dangerous legal highs, would my Right Honourable Friend act on this

:42:50. > :42:54.substance immediately? honourable friend raises an

:42:54. > :43:00.important issue. We are determined to stamp out this sort of thing and

:43:00. > :43:10.my honourable friend is aware of this particular substance. We have

:43:10. > :43:11.

:43:11. > :43:17.an early warning system that brings this sort of thing to our attention.

:43:17. > :43:22.A delivery driver from Dartford is the sole earner in his family. He

:43:22. > :43:27.currently works 20 hours each week. Under the Prime Minister's

:43:27. > :43:32.proposals, and less he works 24 O'Haras per week, he will lose all

:43:32. > :43:42.his working tax credit. He says he has approached his employer to

:43:42. > :43:42.

:43:42. > :43:48.increase his hours, but he was told that the are simply were not there.

:43:48. > :43:53.What is the Prime Minister's advice to this man? We need to reform the

:43:53. > :43:59.tax credit system because we have a massive budget deficit. When we

:43:59. > :44:04.came into office, tax credits were going to nine out of 10 families,

:44:04. > :44:08.including people write up the income scale. In terms of this

:44:08. > :44:12.specific case, we're dealing with the basic unfairness that we asked

:44:12. > :44:18.a single parent to work 16 hours before getting access to the tax

:44:18. > :44:23.credit system. I think it is only right to say to couples that they

:44:23. > :44:31.should work 24 hours between them. If they do that, they will actually

:44:31. > :44:41.be better off. That answer is no use to that man and his family. He

:44:41. > :44:46.cannot find the extra hours, he is going to lose... The Defence

:44:46. > :44:56.Secretary shirts, what about his wife? To his wife is looking after

:44:56. > :44:58.

:44:58. > :45:06.their three children and cannot find work consistent with that. --

:45:06. > :45:11.shouts. This man and 200,000 couples are going to lose as a

:45:11. > :45:17.result of this. Before the election, the Prime Minister said that for

:45:17. > :45:22.Labour to say that the changes we are making to tax credits will hit

:45:22. > :45:29.low-income fact -- families is simply not true. Why has he broken

:45:29. > :45:32.that promise. To answer him directly, I do not think it is

:45:32. > :45:37.unreasonable when we say to a single parent that they have to

:45:37. > :45:43.work 16 hours to get access to the tax credit system, again not think

:45:43. > :45:49.it is unreasonable to ask a couple to work an average of 12 hours each.

:45:49. > :45:53.This relates to a bigger picture. We have a massive budget deficits.

:45:53. > :45:59.If he is not going to support the welfare camp, the housing benefit

:45:59. > :46:08.camp, if he will not support cuts to tax credits, how will we deal

:46:08. > :46:14.In case the Prime Minister did not realise, in Dartford there are five

:46:14. > :46:17.people chasing every vacancy. It is just not enough on a prime minister

:46:17. > :46:21.to say, they should get out to work. If they cannot find the work, they

:46:21. > :46:25.will find they are better off on benefits than in work, something

:46:25. > :46:29.the Prime Minister said he wanted to avoid. It goes to this matter of

:46:29. > :46:34.trust. The Prime Minister made a clear promise, just like he made a

:46:34. > :46:42.clear promise on child benefit. Before the election, he said, I'm

:46:42. > :46:47.not going to flannel you... I am going to give it to you straight. I

:46:47. > :46:52.like child benefit. I would not change child benefit. I would not

:46:52. > :46:55.means-test child benefit. I do not think that is a good idea. We are

:46:55. > :46:59.already established he has broken his promise to low income families.

:46:59. > :47:05.Why has he broken his promise to middle-income families, too? Here

:47:05. > :47:10.we go, another change she does not support. He seems to think... He

:47:10. > :47:16.seems to think that people... Order! The question has been asked,

:47:16. > :47:21.the answer must be heard. Does he really think that people earning

:47:21. > :47:26.�20,000, �25,000, should pay for his child benefit? I don't agree

:47:26. > :47:30.with that! We have to make savings, not giving child benefit to the

:47:30. > :47:34.wealthiest 15% of families, of course it is a difficult decision,

:47:34. > :47:39.life is about difficult decisions, government is about difficult

:47:39. > :47:46.decisions. Isn't it a pity he is not capable of taking on?

:47:46. > :47:49.Miliband! Mr Speaker, first of all, we are talking about families on

:47:49. > :47:52.�43,000 per year, and secondly it is no good the Prime Minister

:47:52. > :47:56.saying he now supports the principle that people on high

:47:56. > :48:00.income should not get child benefit, because before the election he

:48:00. > :48:04.supported the opposite principle and he said quite clearly to

:48:04. > :48:08.families about down the country, I'm not going to take away your

:48:08. > :48:13.child benefit. Mr Speaker, in my book, there is a simple word for

:48:13. > :48:20.that, it is a broken promise, a broken promise by this Prime

:48:20. > :48:24.Minister. Two broken promises! They are right, two broken promises, two

:48:24. > :48:29.broken promises. The reality is this. Low-income families are

:48:29. > :48:32.losing tax credits, middle-income families are losing child benefit.

:48:32. > :48:38.Does the Prime Minister understand why people just do not believe him

:48:38. > :48:41.when he says, we are all in this together? I really do think it is

:48:41. > :48:46.time for the right honourable gentleman to listen to his own

:48:46. > :48:50.shadow chief secretary, who said, we must ensure we pass the test of

:48:50. > :48:56.fiscal credibility. If we don't get this right, it does not matter what

:48:56. > :49:00.we say about anything else. She is absolutely right. Reducing our

:49:00. > :49:05.deficits take tough decisions. He has opposed every single cut, the

:49:06. > :49:10.welfare cap, the housing benefit cap, the ASBOs is Legal Aid cuts.

:49:10. > :49:16.No wonder, when people dial up a radio phone-in and work out who he

:49:16. > :49:26.is, they all say the same thing, he is not remotely up to the job.

:49:26. > :49:31.

:49:31. > :49:36.Let's... Order! Let's hear from Mr Speaker. Following last week's

:49:36. > :49:39.statement on the use of wild animals in circuses, could the

:49:40. > :49:45.Prime Minister inform the House whether they plan will be

:49:45. > :49:50.introduced in this Parliament and before the next general election?

:49:50. > :49:55.Well, I do want to see... I do want to see a ban introduced. It is the

:49:55. > :49:58.overwhelming opinion of members in this house. We are putting in place

:49:58. > :50:01.a regulatory scheme in the short term, but my right honourable

:50:01. > :50:07.friend the Environment Secretary made absolutely clear that it is

:50:07. > :50:10.our intention to introduce a ban in fall as well. Mr Paul Blomfield.

:50:10. > :50:15.Today the Business Select Committee published a major report on

:50:16. > :50:20.consumer debt. Last November, we reported 60% of people worried

:50:20. > :50:23.about debt and 3.5 million considered pay-day loans. In the

:50:23. > :50:27.years since the government concluded its consultation, no

:50:27. > :50:31.action has been announced. Will the Prime Minister commits to act now

:50:32. > :50:36.to protect vulnerable families, or will he accept he is out of touch

:50:36. > :50:40.with the financial reality facing them as a result of his policies?

:50:40. > :50:44.As the last exchange proved, we are worried about debt, the whole

:50:44. > :50:48.country needs to worry about debt, and the Labour Party does not seem

:50:48. > :50:51.to understand there is a problem. There has been a debt problem in

:50:51. > :50:56.our economy and also for many households, and we need to make

:50:56. > :50:58.sure that they get help. That is why we are making sure that

:50:58. > :51:01.Citizens Advice Bureau continues to get help, because they are one of

:51:01. > :51:05.the most important services for helping people in that way.

:51:05. > :51:11.Douglas Carswell. The coalition agreement contains many bold and

:51:11. > :51:14.brilliant proposals to give Britain the change that we need. Open

:51:14. > :51:19.primaries, a bonfire of the quangos, radical localism. Sometimes,

:51:19. > :51:22.progress has been slower than some of us are beside would have hoped.

:51:22. > :51:28.Sometimes, the radicalism has been slightly blunted. Is this because

:51:28. > :51:32.of the constraints of collision or because of the Whitehall machine?

:51:32. > :51:36.Well, it is good to have such a helpful start from my honourable

:51:36. > :51:40.friend! I think this government has done a number of radical things

:51:40. > :51:44.right across the board, whether it is welfare reform to make sure it

:51:44. > :51:47.always pays to work, whether it is education reform to give greater

:51:48. > :51:52.independence to our schools, whether it is tax reform to give as

:51:52. > :51:56.competitive tax rates. Of course, I always want us to go further and

:51:56. > :52:01.faster. I do not blame the Whitehall machine. In the end, the

:52:01. > :52:05.politicians must take responsibility. Mr Tom Harris.

:52:05. > :52:07.of my constituents was arrested in Goa nearly three years ago on drugs

:52:07. > :52:11.charges. He was subsequently released when it turned out that

:52:11. > :52:14.the police officers who arrested him were themselves under

:52:14. > :52:18.investigation for corruption. He has spent the last 22 months in a

:52:18. > :52:22.legal limbo, his passport confiscated, he cannot travel or

:52:22. > :52:26.work. He does not even know when his case will come to court. Does

:52:26. > :52:29.the Prime Minister agree that justice delayed is justice denied?

:52:29. > :52:34.Will he make sure that a Foreign Office minister immediately

:52:34. > :52:37.urgently to discuss the case? will certainly do that. It is very

:52:37. > :52:40.important that we feel we can stand up for constituents on the other

:52:40. > :52:43.side of the world of being treated in this way and we can take up

:52:43. > :52:47.these cases. The work of Fair trials abroad and other

:52:47. > :52:51.organisations is very important, and I will make sure that the

:52:51. > :52:55.Foreign Office meet with him very soon. Mr Lee Scott. Will the Prime

:52:55. > :52:58.Minister join with me in congratulating the project that is

:52:58. > :53:02.piloting in my constituency which is being funded by both the private

:53:02. > :53:07.sector, the London borough of Redbridge, various charities,

:53:07. > :53:12.congratulating the co-chairman at the interface group to get young

:53:12. > :53:16.people with special needs into employment? I will certainly join

:53:16. > :53:19.him in supporting that project. I think it is important that we not

:53:19. > :53:23.only help children with special needs through their schooling time

:53:23. > :53:26.but also through that transition after school and into college and

:53:27. > :53:31.then try to help them to find work. It sounds like this is an excellent

:53:31. > :53:36.project that deserves support. mistake Sharon Hodge them. And as

:53:36. > :53:40.the Prime Minister if it is true, backward, the problem is that

:53:40. > :53:43.policies being run by two public school boys who do not know what it

:53:44. > :53:47.is like to go to the supermarket and put things back on the shelves

:53:48. > :53:54.because they cannot afford it for their children's lunchboxes? What

:53:54. > :53:58.is worse, they do not care either. Not my words, Mr Speaker, the words

:53:58. > :54:02.of Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire. I would have thought,

:54:02. > :54:09.coming from the north-east, she should be celebrating the fact that

:54:09. > :54:19.Nissan are going to be building their new car in Britain. Instead

:54:19. > :54:19.

:54:19. > :54:24.of whatever the nonsense was that she ran out! Oliver Colvile.

:54:24. > :54:27.personal tributes to our fallen as well. Mr Speaker, on Monday,

:54:27. > :54:32.Clare's Law came into being. Would my right honourable friend be

:54:32. > :54:37.willing to meet with me and Sergeant Howarth to learn first-

:54:37. > :54:41.hand how this team's ground- breaking initiative in Devonport,

:54:41. > :54:46.Operation compass, is helping to make sure that children in my

:54:46. > :54:50.Devonport constituency end up by growing up in an area where there

:54:50. > :54:54.is not going to be domestic violence any more? I think I write

:54:54. > :54:58.animal Friend is right to raise this issue in his constituency and

:54:58. > :55:01.also to raise it this week, when we have international women's day. --

:55:01. > :55:04.My right honourable friend. The movement on Clare's Law is

:55:04. > :55:09.important, it is a breakthrough to give women this information if they

:55:09. > :55:13.seek it. I want us to follow that by looking at a specific offence of

:55:13. > :55:19.stalking. I want us to continue to support the rape crisis centres and

:55:19. > :55:24.to make sure we act on domestic violence right across the board.

:55:24. > :55:33.Question Number Ten, closed question, Brian Donohoe. Number Ten.

:55:33. > :55:38.I look forward to visiting Scotland's Sue. -- Scotland soon.

:55:38. > :55:43.Mr Brian Donohoe. I am not so sure, Mr Speaker, that I do not know that

:55:43. > :55:52.he is coming to my constituency very soon indeed. In fact, later

:55:52. > :55:56.this month, to his Tory party conference in true. -- Truman. But

:55:56. > :56:01.I want to know whether or not he agrees with main that the

:56:01. > :56:04.uncertainty that has been created by the nationalists around the

:56:04. > :56:09.separatist idea of a referendum that has been delayed longer than

:56:09. > :56:14.it should be is not leading to an uncertainty of inward investment

:56:14. > :56:18.boat in my constituency and elsewhere. Will he come with me,

:56:18. > :56:23.while he is in Scotland, to see some potential inward investment?

:56:23. > :56:27.It is a promise, Mr Speaker, that he made to me at a meeting one year

:56:27. > :56:31.ago. When he asked me this question one year ago, I met with a

:56:31. > :56:35.delegation from his constituency. I agree with every word he said, and

:56:35. > :56:40.I make this offer. As I am going to be untrue, he can make the short

:56:40. > :56:45.trip from his constituency, we can share a platform together and point

:56:45. > :56:52.out the dangers of separatism and the nationalist agenda. Are you up

:56:52. > :56:56.for it?! Labour-controlled Corby Borough Council... Order! I want

:56:57. > :57:01.the honourable lady is question to be heard in full with a bit barchan,

:57:01. > :57:09.respect. Louise Mensch was not Labour-controlled Corby Borough

:57:09. > :57:12.Council are trying to suppress a report into a scandal. �26 million

:57:12. > :57:16.of money has been wasted, and now councillors are being threatened

:57:16. > :57:19.with disciplinary action if they blow the whistle. Does the Prime

:57:19. > :57:24.Minister agree that the council should come clean with call the

:57:24. > :57:28.people? I absolutely agree with the honourable lady. She raises an

:57:28. > :57:31.important point, which is that there are proposals for total

:57:31. > :57:36.transparency and local government, that expenditure over �500 should

:57:36. > :57:39.be separately documented, but the salaries, names, budgets and

:57:40. > :57:43.responsibilities of staff paid over 58,000 should all be published,

:57:43. > :57:48.including councillors allowances and expenses, including

:57:48. > :57:53.organisational charts. We want the wind of transparency to go through

:57:53. > :57:57.local government. Mr John Fryer. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Article 16

:57:57. > :58:01.of the European fiscal compact says very clearly that it will be

:58:01. > :58:05.incorporated into the European treaties in five years. Will he

:58:05. > :58:10.promised to veto that, what does not expect to be here in five

:58:10. > :58:13.years' time? What the treaty says very clearly is that it can only be

:58:13. > :58:18.incorporated with the position of all 27 member states of the

:58:18. > :58:23.European Union, and our position has not changed. Nigel Adams.

:58:23. > :58:28.you, Mr Speaker. Can the Prime Minister join me, along with the

:58:28. > :58:32.thousands of families with missing loved ones, including the family of

:58:32. > :58:35.losing your woman Claudia Lawrence, in supporting the sensible

:58:35. > :58:40.recommendations of the justice Select Committee's report into

:58:40. > :58:43.missing people's rights and the presumption of death? I think this

:58:44. > :58:47.is an important issue that he raises, and they pay tribute to

:58:47. > :58:52.Peter Lawrence and his support for this campaign, missing people. The

:58:52. > :58:57.justice Select Committee has made an important report but the present

:58:57. > :59:00.law is complicated and recognise that there are difficulties faced

:59:01. > :59:03.by those whose loved ones are missing. We will consider the

:59:03. > :59:09.recommendations carefully, and I will write to the honourable

:59:09. > :59:11.gentleman when we come up with an answer. Sheila Gilmore. If the

:59:11. > :59:15.Prime Minister manages to persuade his Chancellor to remove some of

:59:15. > :59:20.the anomalies of the child benefit policy to help people earning over

:59:20. > :59:24.�43,000 per year, will he then take action to help the couples on a

:59:25. > :59:29.minimum wage you are set to lose �3,000 from April? I think we have

:59:30. > :59:33.dealt with his earlier, which is, you know, we are making a long-term

:59:33. > :59:38.reform, quite apart from the unfairness between the single

:59:38. > :59:42.person on 16 hours, we are making a long-term reform, universal credit,

:59:42. > :59:46.which will mean everyone is better off in work, no matter how many

:59:46. > :59:52.hours they work. That is something you had 13 years to put in place,

:59:52. > :59:56.we will have it done in 18 months. Mr Tim Farron. On Saturday, 2000

:59:56. > :00:00.people marched through my town to present a petition calling for

:00:00. > :00:04.radiotherapy services at the General Hospital in Kendal. Will my

:00:04. > :00:09.right honourable friend agree to meet with us to make sure we bring

:00:09. > :00:13.cancer treatment to Campbell so that local lives can be made longer

:00:13. > :00:17.and Jenny's shorter? -- Kangaw. know from having visited his

:00:17. > :00:20.constituency how important the issue of the hospital is. I know

:00:20. > :00:23.the Health Secretary is fully engaged in this issue, and that I

:00:23. > :00:28.can fix a meeting between him and my right honourable friend to make

:00:28. > :00:34.sure the issue is dealt with. Royal Bank of Scotland has recently

:00:34. > :00:38.axed another 300 jobs. Mostly in Edinburgh and London. However, the

:00:38. > :00:40.jobs have not gone completely. They have all been outsourced to India.

:00:40. > :00:44.The Prime Minister and the government are the biggest

:00:44. > :00:48.shareholders on behalf of the stakeholders, so when will the

:00:48. > :00:51.Prime Minister stand up to RBS and prevents these Maeve Lewis job

:00:51. > :00:58.losses in the UK? I think the most important thing we have to do with

:00:58. > :01:04.the role Bank of Scotland is to recognise is that the last

:01:04. > :01:08.government but �45 billion into that bank. �2,500 for every working

:01:08. > :01:13.family, and the most important thing is we get that money back. We

:01:13. > :01:17.need RBS to return to health. It has got to deal with its bad loans,

:01:17. > :01:20.it has got to grow the rest of its business. Then we would get into a

:01:20. > :01:26.position where we can return people the money that they put into the

:01:26. > :01:30.bank. That is what matters most of all. Mr Kris Hopkins. Thank you, Mr

:01:30. > :01:33.Speaker. Can I offer my sympathies to the families and friends of the

:01:33. > :01:38.six soldiers who have been killed, five of which served with the

:01:38. > :01:41.Yorkshire Regiment, the 3rd Battalion the Duke of Wellington's,

:01:41. > :01:46.which I had the privilege of serving with. I ask the Prime

:01:46. > :01:50.Minister, I recognise the vital role which our troops endeavour to

:01:50. > :01:56.undertake, and I support that process. Can I say that we do need

:01:56. > :02:00.to bring our troops back in 2015? Can I ask the Prime Minister that

:02:00. > :02:02.we do everything to support the families of those who are lost?

:02:02. > :02:06.honourable friend speaks with considerable experience because of

:02:06. > :02:10.his service in our armed forces. I think it is important that we have

:02:10. > :02:13.the date for our troops coming home from Afghanistan, a date which I

:02:13. > :02:17.said we would not be in a combat role or anything like the numbers

:02:17. > :02:21.we are in now at the end of 2014. It is important that they have all

:02:21. > :02:25.the equipment between now and then to keep them as safe as possible.

:02:25. > :02:30.The last government started this with the extra money put into

:02:30. > :02:34.vehicles since 2006, and we have spent around �2 billion are better

:02:34. > :02:38.protected vehicles. We put an additional 160 million on to Kuyt

:02:38. > :02:41.IED equipment. But he is absolutely right that we need to do more for

:02:41. > :02:44.their families at home, and that is what the military cupboard process

:02:44. > :02:50.and the Cabinet committee which I chair the first meeting of is all

:02:50. > :02:56.about. Mr Speaker, using Applied Language Solutions was supposed to

:02:56. > :02:58.save the West Midlands Police �750,000 per year, and yet we heard

:02:58. > :03:03.about a translator or shortage being unable to quiz suspects for

:03:03. > :03:07.weeks. Is that we can't -- is that what we can expect the private

:03:07. > :03:11.tenders in policing? I do not think there is anything wrong with the

:03:11. > :03:16.police getting back office functions carried out by private

:03:16. > :03:20.sector organisations. Indeed, when the shadow policing minister was

:03:20. > :03:23.asked the question at the Home Office, Home Affairs Select

:03:23. > :03:26.Committee, he said he was quite relaxed about that. I think that is

:03:26. > :03:33.right. I am delighted that the honourable lady is looking at the

:03:33. > :03:43.issue of whether to become a police and prime commissioner, and I hope

:03:43. > :03:43.

:03:43. > :04:59.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 79 seconds

:04:59. > :05:04.many honourable members will It quickly picked up when Ed

:05:04. > :05:09.Miliband moved on using the first two questions on Afghanistan and

:05:09. > :05:15.then moved on to tax credits and the Government's tax policy. We

:05:15. > :05:17.will speak about that in a minute, but before we do, let's hear what

:05:17. > :05:23.you made of Prime Minister's Questions.

:05:23. > :05:29.The vast majority of the e-mails were in response to the soldiers'

:05:29. > :05:39.death in Afghanistan. One viewer, says, why is it in our national

:05:39. > :05:40.

:05:40. > :05:45.interest to be in Afghanistan now, but not after 2014.

:05:45. > :05:49.Rogers says, David Cameron stated that our reason to be in

:05:49. > :05:54.Afghanistan was to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven

:05:55. > :05:59.for al-Qaeda terrorists. Is this the same safe haven that we provide

:06:00. > :06:05.for terror such as Abu Qatada? There were questions about welfare

:06:05. > :06:10.and it NHS reforms. Peters says that the Conservatives do not

:06:10. > :06:14.understand about breaking promises to the electorate. Before the

:06:14. > :06:20.election they told us they would protect child benefit and disabled

:06:20. > :06:29.allowances, and now they are reneging on promises. A viewer from

:06:29. > :06:35.Doncaster as says that Ed Miliband position is not credible.

:06:35. > :06:40.We were having a riot over the 50 pence tax rate. We were having a

:06:40. > :06:47.row over whether the 50p child benefit should be taken away from

:06:47. > :06:53.taxpayers. Can you elucidate? fair to the Labour Party, they have

:06:53. > :06:57.been trying to get this on the agenda day after day. There is the

:06:57. > :07:02.discussion it within the coalition about what to do about shall

:07:02. > :07:07.benefit and that so-called cliff- edge of taking it away. That has

:07:07. > :07:11.been distracting from this. Ed Miliband will feel pleased that he

:07:11. > :07:21.has got that firmly on the agenda and to suggest that there is an

:07:21. > :07:22.

:07:22. > :07:29.injustice about taking money away from low-income families. If you do

:07:29. > :07:33.not work 24 hours as a couple, you will lose all of your tax credits.

:07:33. > :07:38.The Labour Party are saying, if you going to find money to deal with

:07:38. > :07:41.50p, if you're going to find my to deal with higher incomes getting

:07:42. > :07:48.child benefits, surely you should find money to deal with this

:07:49. > :07:53.problem? For the key to this is the word working. It is a working tax

:07:53. > :07:59.credits are the Government's line is that we will increase the number

:07:59. > :08:03.of hours. If you work for fewer than 24 hours combined per week,

:08:04. > :08:12.then you're not really in any kind of full time employment and

:08:12. > :08:17.therefore do not qualify for credit? That is exactly right. The

:08:17. > :08:23.Government is saying that it was a much too generous system, a system

:08:23. > :08:28.that paid out money even to members of parliament. It was possible to

:08:28. > :08:33.get tax credits even over �50,000 each year. They are trying to clip

:08:33. > :08:37.back. They say there is a fairness that if a single parent has to work

:08:37. > :08:42.16 hours per week, then a couple combined should work longer than

:08:43. > :08:47.that. The opposition say it is all very well, but if you cannot get

:08:47. > :08:54.the work, you would be better off living on welfare than staying in

:08:54. > :09:02.work. Jim Murphy, lay out your stall, because I had to interrupt

:09:02. > :09:08.you beforehand. Now is your chance. It is your job. What is the case

:09:08. > :09:13.against the government policy? is straight forward. I do not think

:09:13. > :09:19.it is complicated to resolve. Viewers at home her out of work and

:09:19. > :09:24.go to the JobCentre or maybe see an advert online, someone who is out

:09:24. > :09:29.of work in that situation, someone who is trying to work 16 or 17

:09:29. > :09:32.hours but gets these tax credits, someone who is unemployed, it will

:09:32. > :09:42.not be in their financial interest to go to work because they're

:09:42. > :09:46.better off on benefit. Some people cannot find those extra seven hours.

:09:46. > :09:50.Sometimes there are five people chasing every job it in certain

:09:50. > :09:55.cities. I do not think the Government meant to do this, I am

:09:55. > :10:00.not saying that it was malevolently intended, but it is an unintended

:10:00. > :10:07.consequence of other changes they are making, and they should think

:10:07. > :10:13.about it again. Grant Shapps, what is the case against? The welfare

:10:13. > :10:16.system is a mess and it has spiralled out of control. We all

:10:16. > :10:21.remember when Frank Field under Tony Blair was going to reform it

:10:21. > :10:27.and he never did. It is a messy system which we are massively going

:10:27. > :10:33.to reform with the universal credit. At that time, every single person

:10:33. > :10:38.who works will always be better off by working than with benefits. Once

:10:38. > :10:43.we move to that situation it will be a system that no one else got

:10:43. > :10:48.round to reforming. That is a promise for tomorrow. These changes

:10:48. > :10:52.are this year. Why should someone on the minimum wage to believes in

:10:52. > :11:02.the dignity of work and is struggling, what is the answer to

:11:02. > :11:02.

:11:02. > :11:07.that? What Ed Miliband has done today is to find one element within

:11:07. > :11:14.their that he can spot without answering The Big Questions. How do

:11:14. > :11:22.you get people out of the benefits trap? He got this point from an

:11:22. > :11:26.answer to a parliamentary question in the same parliamentary question.

:11:26. > :11:30.In the same answer it explains that under the Universal Credit, which

:11:30. > :11:40.comes in next year, people will always be better off. What about

:11:40. > :11:44.

:11:44. > :11:48.this year? They have given up. This is much more interesting. You are

:11:48. > :11:53.in government, you answer the question. You're saying that

:11:53. > :11:57.something will come along next year. How does it help the cost of

:11:57. > :12:03.welfare if someone cannot find the work and they're better off on

:12:03. > :12:13.benefit? Most people watching the programme will say that they get

:12:13. > :12:17.

:12:17. > :12:23.the Prime Minister's point. The threshold has not doubled, but it

:12:24. > :12:28.has risen to 24 hours. I think your difficulty with all of this, Jim,

:12:28. > :12:32.as with every other area of policy is that you make these complaints

:12:33. > :12:38.and you say that these things need reforming, but you do not agree

:12:38. > :12:41.with end of the individual measures that are taken. That is a ludicrous

:12:41. > :12:47.assertion because on defence I identified billions of pounds of

:12:47. > :12:52.cuts that we would support. I have been at reading about you on

:12:52. > :12:57.defence. He also said at a mess was made of defence procurement whilst

:12:57. > :13:02.you were in office. What will happen to those people until that

:13:02. > :13:12.universal credit comes out, what happens to that group of people?

:13:12. > :13:17.soon as you are in work you are outside of this situation. We are

:13:17. > :13:23.not seeing double the number of fire us, we're saying 24. Your

:13:23. > :13:28.answer might be a reasonable answer if there were jobs. If there were

:13:28. > :13:36.extra hours in the local Tesco... am going to have to break-in. I

:13:36. > :13:41.think we have got the point. If it is very unfair. If the question

:13:41. > :13:45.from the Conservative MP, he asked the Prime Minister what is blunting

:13:45. > :13:50.the radical agenda of this Government is it the coalition or

:13:50. > :13:55.is it quite haul? What is the answer? I have been a government

:13:56. > :14:00.minister for two years, Jim Murphy has been one before, and it is true

:14:00. > :14:06.that the machinery of government is too slow for modern-day living. In

:14:06. > :14:15.a world where we send e-mails back and forwards we still have 12 weeks

:14:15. > :14:24.for every single consultation. Why? Are they can be much faster. It has

:14:24. > :14:28.taken weeks to pass the localism act in my area. It should not take

:14:28. > :14:33.half a Parliament to implement promises. So it is Whitehall?

:14:33. > :14:37.is the machinery of government and Whitehall. We have made progress on

:14:37. > :14:43.things like introducing universal credit which is a radical change in

:14:43. > :14:46.welfare, in areas like education and housing as well. But things

:14:46. > :14:51.need to change in the Whitehall machine for at things to change

:14:52. > :14:57.faster. One of the people pushing hardest against the Whitehall

:14:57. > :15:04.machine was Steve Haldon in Downing Street. What was his official

:15:04. > :15:10.title? Blue-sky thinkers. He has gone to California, depressed by

:15:10. > :15:16.the grander scale of some of the things you are doing. He has now

:15:16. > :15:22.tweeted his final Tweet. Steve Hilton guru, this chap who is not

:15:22. > :15:26.10, but seems to know a lot of what is going on in Downing Street. The

:15:26. > :15:33.machine has gone on the blink, so his final tweets are not been

:15:33. > :15:38.received. Do you know who he is, Steve Hilton guru? It is not you?

:15:38. > :15:48.It is not me. It is remarkably close to a lot of the trade when

:15:48. > :15:50.

:15:51. > :15:57.One time I was impressed him time, he said I should not be on, he said

:15:57. > :16:03.the Daily Politics was more my level! Harsh! Harsh but fair!

:16:03. > :16:08.not think we will miss Steve Waugh the guru more. We have got the twit,

:16:08. > :16:13.I have been scented. Steve Hilton guru, you should be ashamed of your

:16:13. > :16:20.inability to focus on what is important for my citizens'! He was

:16:20. > :16:27.that? He has also just tweeted, can he come to the Spectator's summer

:16:27. > :16:34.party? Maybe that is how we will find out who he is! When I was

:16:34. > :16:38.first appointed a minister by Tony Blair, you never know what to

:16:38. > :16:44.expect, you get summoned to the Downing Street of this, you meet

:16:44. > :16:48.him, you chat to him, and he says, what I need to tell you is that the

:16:48. > :16:51.British Civil Service as the engines of a roll Royce, -- Rolls-

:16:51. > :16:56.Royce, but they also have the brakes of a Rolls-Royce, so get

:16:56. > :17:00.behind the wheel and drive it as well and as quickly as you can.

:17:00. > :17:05.When ministers come to the end of their life, they don't say, I wish

:17:05. > :17:09.I had made fewer decisions. We did not reflect on what we started with,

:17:09. > :17:13.Afghanistan. There was a very important word in the very first

:17:13. > :17:17.question from Nick Boles, who is very loyal and close to the

:17:17. > :17:22.leadership, which is that they should be a prudent draw down, as

:17:22. > :17:25.he puts it. This is a way of signalling, with the Prime Minister

:17:25. > :17:29.going to the White House next week, that there is quite a bit of

:17:29. > :17:33.concern about the fact that there may be an imprudent withdrawal by

:17:33. > :17:38.Americans from Afghanistan. Quite interesting that ahead of that

:17:38. > :17:42.visit we have got something on the top of the agenda. We had better

:17:42. > :17:47.leave it there. We say farewell to Steve Hilton guru, who were there

:17:47. > :17:57.you are, we will miss you. There is one final tweets, there is always

:17:57. > :18:01.one. Your guru has let the wigwam. He is like that, he is gone. He has

:18:01. > :18:06.left the wigwam of trust. I have invited him to the Jacuzzi of

:18:06. > :18:14.justice! Didn't you question the idea of having a mansion tax on

:18:14. > :18:16.wigwams? There is room for both! The 2010 strategic defence and

:18:16. > :18:19.security review announced spending cuts of the armed forces, including

:18:19. > :18:24.the Navy, and that means less word for naval dockyards which employ

:18:24. > :18:28.tens of thousands of people. With the prospect of a referendum on

:18:28. > :18:33.Scottish independence, should the UK government continued to direct

:18:33. > :18:36.work to base is more of the border? The leader of Portsmouth council

:18:36. > :18:46.says no further contract should be awarded to Scotland until the issue

:18:46. > :18:54.

:18:54. > :18:58.Welcome to Portsmouth. You can see people coming into the city here,

:18:58. > :19:02.the commercial port here, and over here the heart of the city, the

:19:02. > :19:05.Royal Navy. The Royal Navy has been here for 800 years, this is the

:19:05. > :19:15.home of the Royal Navy, not for sentimental reasons but because

:19:15. > :19:19.

:19:19. > :19:24.this is the most economic place to We build ships here, we provision

:19:24. > :19:33.them here, we run them out of here, and at the end of their lives, we

:19:33. > :19:37.It just seems to me incredibly strange that the government is

:19:37. > :19:41.thinking of allowing shipbuilding to finish here in Portsmouth and

:19:41. > :19:46.only to happen in Scotland. A Scotland that might well become

:19:46. > :19:49.independent very soon, which means there would be no advance warship

:19:49. > :19:59.building left here in the United Kingdom, and that seems the

:19:59. > :20:03.

:20:03. > :20:07.strategically a really stupid view Britain gets 90% of its imports and

:20:07. > :20:12.exports by the sea. We have to keep the sea lanes saved and open,

:20:12. > :20:15.otherwise no one in this country eats, drinks or can drive a car.

:20:15. > :20:18.The Navy is usually important, and we have got to be able to build

:20:18. > :20:22.high quality strategic warships here in Britain, are the only way

:20:22. > :20:32.to do that is to make sure they are built in Portsmouth, because it is

:20:32. > :20:38.

:20:38. > :20:42.And we are joined by Gerald Vernon Jackson and Stewart Maxwell, SNP

:20:42. > :20:46.member of the Scottish parliament, who is in Edinburgh. We will be

:20:46. > :20:49.with you in a moment, but we do not know Scotland is going to become

:20:49. > :20:54.independent, isn't it a little bit presumptuous to say or what should

:20:54. > :20:57.go to English basis? I am saying that until we know, we should not

:20:57. > :21:01.make a decision about cloning down the only place in England that has

:21:01. > :21:07.the ability to build advanced strategic warships. If the decision

:21:07. > :21:12.is made in the next year, those skills will have gone. If there is

:21:12. > :21:16.no independence in Scotland, well, if there is in 2014, there will be

:21:16. > :21:19.nowhere left in the UK to be able to build advanced warships, and

:21:19. > :21:25.Britain will have to go abroad to buy them. That is not a good

:21:25. > :21:30.strategic place to be. We have just lost a contract. The Navy put out

:21:30. > :21:35.contracts, and no British firm bid to do the work because the skills

:21:35. > :21:39.have gone. We have got rid of that bit of industry. But that is not

:21:39. > :21:46.really to do with Scotland. You could be using the idea of Scottish

:21:46. > :21:50.independence to make a case in what is a global market. Not for

:21:50. > :21:53.contract to build aircraft carriers and frigates. If we are going to

:21:53. > :21:56.give the ability to build advanced warships, we have to be realistic.

:21:56. > :21:59.There will be a referendum in Scotland about independence, and we

:21:59. > :22:04.do not know which way it is going to go. If you can promise me that

:22:04. > :22:08.people will vote to stay in the UK, it changes the argument. I cannot

:22:08. > :22:13.promise you that, Stewart Maxwell, why should the UK government pay

:22:13. > :22:16.for ships to be built an independent country? Well, of

:22:16. > :22:19.course, should building on the Clyde goes back many hundreds of

:22:19. > :22:23.years, and the fact is that the arts win orders not because of

:22:23. > :22:26.where they are based but because of the excellence of the workforce and

:22:26. > :22:31.their ability to deliver on time and on budget high-quality ships.

:22:31. > :22:35.That is why they win orders, and frankly the idea that you should

:22:35. > :22:38.try and stop yards on the Clyde being allowed to bid for orders or

:22:38. > :22:44.get orders from the UK government is nonsensical when they are busy

:22:44. > :22:47.sending orders or around the world. You are making the case of the

:22:47. > :22:51.Clyde being the best, but you can see the argument, can't you? While

:22:51. > :22:57.we are waiting to hear what happens with Scotland, why don't we fly the

:22:57. > :23:00.flag here and have the contracts delayed for the moment? Well, it is

:23:00. > :23:04.an interesting positive case for the union that you should try to

:23:04. > :23:09.frighten shipbuilding workers in Scotland into voting no in case

:23:09. > :23:14.they lose their jobs. Over the last 10 years, the first 10 years of the

:23:14. > :23:18.last Labour government, about 5,000 shipbuilding workers in Scotland

:23:18. > :23:22.lost their jobs, so the impact of the UK on the shipbuilding industry

:23:22. > :23:26.in Scotland has been quite dramatic and has really decimated the

:23:26. > :23:32.industry. The fact is that EU... What are you building on the Clyde

:23:32. > :23:36.and who for? Well, the fact is that they are building parts of the

:23:36. > :23:41.carriers, as you well know. And who are they for? The Royal Navy?

:23:41. > :23:44.Interestingly enough, it was your party has started the contracts

:23:44. > :23:48.that send shipbuilding contracts to South Korea. It was under the

:23:48. > :23:52.Labour government... Answer a straight question, it is being for

:23:52. > :23:56.the Royal Navy on the Clyde and Rosyth. The Royal Navy, Scotland

:23:56. > :24:00.would be a foreign country to the Royal Navy. You are attacking the

:24:00. > :24:03.British government. I have got criticisms of the British

:24:04. > :24:06.government, but you are attacking them for ships to be built abroad,

:24:06. > :24:10.and yet an independent Scotland will build ships abroad in a

:24:10. > :24:15.country called Scotland for the Royal Navy? It is a ludicrous

:24:15. > :24:19.assertion, the type of risk that is associated with separation. What is

:24:19. > :24:22.ludicrous is Jim Murphy's argument that shipbuilding is protected by

:24:23. > :24:26.the union, by the anti- independence parties will operate

:24:26. > :24:30.from London. The shipbuilding industry in Scotland has been

:24:30. > :24:35.decimated for decades of actions by the UK government. The first 10

:24:35. > :24:40.years of the last Labour government, 50% of jobs of shipbuilding in

:24:40. > :24:42.Scotland were lost to Scotland as a direct result of the Labour Party.

:24:42. > :24:46.One could argue, as a representative of Scottish

:24:46. > :24:50.constituents, you should be arguing for these to be built in Scotland.

:24:50. > :24:54.My father worked in the shipyards, my family has relied on it for many

:24:54. > :24:57.years. I thought quite a few were close. What has kept them alive is

:24:57. > :25:02.the Royal Navy and the skills of the people who work there, we

:25:02. > :25:06.should be proud of those people. Stuart and I live half a mile away

:25:06. > :25:10.from each other just outside of Glasgow. It is a ludicrous argument.

:25:10. > :25:14.Is it not inconceivable that an English taxpayer would allow Royal

:25:14. > :25:20.Navy ships to be built in an independent Scotland? Is that

:25:20. > :25:24.inconceivable? The Royal Navy has never build a warship outside of

:25:24. > :25:28.the United Kingdom. It has never happened. The skies in the SNP have

:25:28. > :25:33.not got an answer, and it is the type of risk... We need more of a

:25:33. > :25:36.conversation about it during the build up. A final word. That is why

:25:36. > :25:40.it is important before the referendum we keep sportsmanship

:25:40. > :25:44.building open to make sure that if Scotland becomes independent,

:25:44. > :25:47.advanced warship construction can take place in the rest of the UK

:25:47. > :25:52.that would remain. It is very important that that happens to keep

:25:52. > :25:56.our options open for strategic reasons. Thank you to you and du

:25:56. > :25:59.Stewart Maxwell in Edinburgh. You might be forgiven for thinking

:25:59. > :26:04.that the Health and Social Care Bill, which is still... And would

:26:04. > :26:09.not stand in a way are we doing this! It is not easy, is it? You

:26:09. > :26:12.see what I have to deal with? The other social care bill is the most

:26:12. > :26:17.controversial bill ever, you might think, but it is on course to

:26:17. > :26:21.become law within weeks. -- the Health and Social Care Bill. Unions

:26:21. > :26:26.are still angry about the bill, and they are set to besiege parliament

:26:26. > :26:31.later today in a big protest. Let's find out what is known to happen,

:26:31. > :26:36.we are joined by the TUC's deputy general secretary, who will be

:26:36. > :26:41.taking part in the rally tonight. Is there a certain sadness with you,

:26:41. > :26:46.Frances O'Grady, that you have done these huge protests, huge number of

:26:46. > :26:50.medical bodies against this bill, but it is becoming more? There is

:26:50. > :26:54.still time to save the NHS. We have got thousands of professionals,

:26:54. > :27:00.staff, patients descending on Westminster tonight, asking the

:27:00. > :27:04.government to think again and stop this �3 billion worth being wasted

:27:04. > :27:09.on a top-down reorganisation of the NHS that nobody wants that nobody

:27:10. > :27:13.voted for. What is your main complaint? I know it is a

:27:13. > :27:16.complicated bill with lots of things you do not like, but if you

:27:16. > :27:21.had to sum it up in a paragraph, what do not like about the reform?

:27:21. > :27:25.This will be the end of the NHS as we know it, and the basic founding

:27:25. > :27:29.principle that the NHS should be free at the point of need to all.

:27:29. > :27:36.The government intends to let the cap on private income for hospitals,

:27:36. > :27:43.so we will see few queue-jumping by anybody who can wave a fat credit

:27:43. > :27:48.card. And of course the regulatory body will have this new duty to

:27:48. > :27:52.remove obstacles to competition, so we will see big business fat cats

:27:52. > :27:57.coming into the NHS and putting profit before people. The

:27:57. > :28:00.Government needs to listen. Thank you for that. It is a good summary.

:28:00. > :28:04.If in three years' time the NHS is still free at the point of use,

:28:04. > :28:09.still treating the same number of people it does today and waiting

:28:09. > :28:15.lists are about the same as now, you will have proved to be wrong.

:28:15. > :28:20.Is that right? It is very unlikely. All the while colleges, including

:28:20. > :28:25.the doctors, the nurses, the midwives, the physiotherapists, the

:28:25. > :28:30.radiographers, have joined with unions and patience and the public

:28:30. > :28:34.to say that the Government must think again. They need to drop the

:28:34. > :28:38.bill and go back to the founding principles of the NHS, otherwise we

:28:38. > :28:43.are going to see US-style healthcare with the richest doing

:28:43. > :28:47.very well and the rest of us being left behind. I look forward to our

:28:47. > :28:52.conversation in three years' time to see what has happened. But, I

:28:52. > :28:57.want to see you before them, but you know what I mean! The answer to

:28:57. > :29:06.guess he was 2004, you get to pick a winner. We are running out of

:29:06. > :29:11.time! It is Peter Colaba from Cambridgeshire. That is it, thank

:29:11. > :29:15.you to our guests, special thanks to our guest of the day. The BBC

:29:15. > :29:19.News is starting on BBC One. I'll be back tomorrow on my own, Jo is