16/05/2012

:00:46. > :00:49.Morning folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. On the show today...

:00:49. > :00:57.Torrential rain, lightning and even snow - Europe's economies are being

:00:57. > :01:02.blown off course. So how will Britain navigate the storm? Managed

:01:02. > :01:08.to get info on the plans for tomorrow, although absolutely

:01:08. > :01:10.illegal. David Cameron predicted it would be the next big scandal

:01:10. > :01:13.waiting to happen. Now it's happening, so will the government

:01:13. > :01:17.regulate the lobbying industry? had a mini re-shuffle of his pack

:01:17. > :01:26.yesterday. Today, geared up by positive polls, Ed Miliband faces

:01:26. > :01:34.the Prime Minister in PMQs. We'll bring it to you live. Ban the

:01:34. > :01:37.packed lunch and provide free school meals for all children. Kick

:01:37. > :01:39.boxer, reality TV star and political hopeful Alex Reid gives

:01:39. > :01:43.us his prescription for improving children's health. All that to come

:01:43. > :01:49.before 1pm. And with us for the duration two politicians with a

:01:49. > :01:53.future so bright, I might need to send for my shades. Who wrote this?

:01:53. > :01:55.A except there is no sun! Cabinet Office minister Mark Harper, and

:01:55. > :02:00.shadow secretary of state for Scotland Margaret Curran. Welcome

:02:00. > :02:02.to you both. Now, Theresa May has been addressing the Police

:02:02. > :02:05.Federation annual conference in sunny Bournemouth. It's a rite of

:02:05. > :02:08.passage for most Home Secretaries, but when you're pushing through 20%

:02:08. > :02:11.budget cuts and some of the most radical reforms for decades to

:02:11. > :02:20.forces in England and Wales, it's perhaps no wonder that relations

:02:20. > :02:24.between government and the police are so frosty. We are waiting to

:02:24. > :02:32.hear from Theresa May, she is just about to get on her feet at that

:02:32. > :02:36.conference. The chairman of the Police Federation was on the show

:02:36. > :02:46.earlier, we expect that is still him speaking there, in fact, he has

:02:46. > :02:49.

:02:49. > :02:52.been speaking so long, we cannot It is a bit of a rite of passage

:02:52. > :02:56.for any home secretary when you appear in front of the Police

:02:56. > :03:02.Federation, but when you are carrying 20% of the budget you can

:03:02. > :03:07.expect a bit of a mauling I suspect. Why is a Conservative-led

:03:07. > :03:10.government being criticised for being "on the precipice of

:03:10. > :03:14.destroying the police service"? are having to make tough decisions

:03:14. > :03:19.about the funding going into the police and 80% of spending on the

:03:19. > :03:23.police is on pay, so clearly we have to take tough decisions on pay,

:03:23. > :03:27.but two you pay freeze along with the public sector and tough

:03:27. > :03:32.decisions on pensions. But police officers after this will still end

:03:32. > :03:35.up well-paid, with some of the best pensions in the public sector and

:03:35. > :03:38.the Windsor reforms do not take money out of the service, they are

:03:38. > :03:44.about making sure hard-working officers get paid for the jobs and

:03:44. > :03:49.skills they have. Is it really your contention that 20% could be cut

:03:49. > :03:56.from the police budget without any deterioration in front line

:03:56. > :04:01.services? HMIC said you could take out at least 12% without any change

:04:01. > :04:04.in front line services. They did not say at least. So of the extra

:04:04. > :04:08.savings we are making on paid do not affect frontline services but

:04:08. > :04:12.also we want policing to be more flexible. As a government we have

:04:12. > :04:15.produced some of the red tape and bureaucracy so you can have a

:04:15. > :04:20.larger percentage of officers on the front line rather than in the

:04:20. > :04:26.back office. I understand that, you are attempting to make it more

:04:26. > :04:32.efficient. But my question was are you saying that by doing that, by

:04:32. > :04:36.going for efficiency as well as a 20% cut you can really do a 20% cut,

:04:36. > :04:43.cut the number of police officers and leave the front line untouched?

:04:43. > :04:47.It is the budget being cut, not the number of police officers. We think

:04:47. > :04:57.you can still deliver a very good for online services, still keep

:04:57. > :05:00.

:05:00. > :05:05.driving crime down. We have not had a big fall in numbers for --

:05:05. > :05:08.numbers. It is still falling. You leave it up to individual

:05:08. > :05:11.authorities and Constable's to make the individual decisions based on

:05:11. > :05:15.local circumstances but we are confident they can continue to do

:05:15. > :05:20.that. Does Labour support police opposition to changes in pay and

:05:21. > :05:25.conditions? Their position has been there is always a case for reform

:05:25. > :05:28.in any service at any time, that is the nature of government and public

:05:28. > :05:32.services so what did not take opposition to anything. But we are

:05:32. > :05:35.saying the government has got it wrong. Who would have thought a

:05:36. > :05:40.Tory lead government would have such a severe relationship with the

:05:40. > :05:47.police, were you have 30,000 police officers demonstrating last week?

:05:47. > :05:54.That is unheard of. I understand that. You would have any cut by 12%,

:05:54. > :05:59.you say? That is in line with the report but do you support major

:06:00. > :06:03.changes in the pay and conditions of the police service? I think

:06:03. > :06:07.changes in pay and conditions must be properly negotiated with the

:06:07. > :06:12.police and you have to have the conscience of the service with you

:06:12. > :06:19.and the government's approach has been wrong. That is the kind of

:06:20. > :06:22.thing he said. Let me be specific... Should there be an end to automatic

:06:23. > :06:27.retirement after 30 years? You would have to talk to the police

:06:27. > :06:31.force about that? What is your view? You would not talk to them

:06:31. > :06:38.about a Anne Lesley daughter should be done. Not at the moment I do not

:06:38. > :06:42.think it should end. Have some of the payments being too generous?

:06:42. > :06:49.Not necessarily. It would not be proper for a government or shadow

:06:49. > :06:52.minister to say they would select... Hang on, let me make my argument.

:06:52. > :06:57.The nature of negotiations between public service officers and

:06:57. > :07:00.government is when you look at a package of change and when the

:07:00. > :07:05.confident of that change. I would negotiate what to change with the

:07:05. > :07:10.service. What would you change? would not pick one thing out.

:07:11. > :07:16.you would not change? In terms of the public services, funding for

:07:16. > :07:19.them, the 12% cut, which most of us would want to go through...

:07:19. > :07:23.understand that but you cannot say one thing you would change. I would

:07:23. > :07:27.have a better relationship with the police and negotiate with them.

:07:27. > :07:30.Labour has supported our changes. When we put these to the Police

:07:30. > :07:35.negotiating Board we accepted the tribunal's judgment and Yvette

:07:35. > :07:41.Cooper made it clear she supported it, and wrote to Paul Likido and

:07:41. > :07:46.said it was a difficult decision but Labour supported it. They

:07:46. > :07:50.accept our savings and the changes we are making. We say there is a

:07:50. > :07:54.case also Evans, told the scent is a more viable Cup but could be made,

:07:54. > :07:58.you can detect fun run services and you would not make police officers'

:07:58. > :08:02.pay for your cups. There was a big fall in crime when Labour was in

:08:02. > :08:09.power and ran the police service. Well, at least the sun's out in

:08:09. > :08:12.Westminster today. His is still out? It is. Apologies if it's still

:08:12. > :08:15.raining where you are. There's little else to be cheerful about.

:08:15. > :08:19.The governor of the Bank of England has just downgraded growth again

:08:19. > :08:22.and revised upwards his forecast on inflation again. The Treasury's

:08:22. > :08:25.blaming our problems on the eurozone of course, they've let

:08:25. > :08:28.their frustration be known this morning urging Brussels to make a

:08:28. > :08:36.decision either way on Greece and do something to make Europe more

:08:36. > :08:41.competitive. Here's Jo. Welcome to this special Olympic race for

:08:41. > :08:45.growth. And as the starting gun for 2012 is fired, the UK host has got

:08:45. > :08:47.off to a bad start. Our 0.2% backward step in the first quarter

:08:47. > :08:52.contrasted with 0% growth figures for the eurozone published

:08:52. > :08:58.yesterday. But the stronger German performance of 0.5% is credited

:08:58. > :09:01.with preventing the eurozone from slipping back into recession. The

:09:01. > :09:11.UK trainer, Mervyn King, this morning revised the Uk's chances

:09:11. > :09:11.

:09:11. > :09:14.down from a 1.2% growth forecast for 2012 to 0.8%. -- UK's. Growth

:09:14. > :09:18.is expected to zig zag throughout 2012 due to events such the Queen's

:09:18. > :09:21.Diamond Jubilee with an additional bank holiday. And we found out

:09:21. > :09:24.today the rate of inflation is expected to remain above the 2%

:09:24. > :09:27.target "for the next year or so". There is one piece of encouraging

:09:27. > :09:35.news for Team UK - unemployment has fallen by 45,000 between January

:09:35. > :09:38.and March to 2.63 million. The detrimental impact that the

:09:38. > :09:41.eurozone crisis could have on a worsening economy is shown by trade

:09:41. > :09:49.figures yesterday that show Britain still sends half its exports to the

:09:49. > :09:59.eurozone and only after 3% to fast growing China. Andrew, William

:09:59. > :10:02.

:10:02. > :10:09.Hague is come around the corner. Look busy! We're joined now by

:10:09. > :10:12.Allister Heath, the Editor of City AM. The Governor has had to revise

:10:12. > :10:18.upwards its inflation forecast, it is not falling as fast as he said

:10:18. > :10:23.it would. The significance of that, I would suggest to you, is that it

:10:23. > :10:26.means the squeeze on real living standards still continues and that

:10:26. > :10:29.is the major reason why the economy is not growing, people are not

:10:30. > :10:35.spending. I think that was one of the most important figures to come

:10:35. > :10:39.out today, this gulf between inflation and pay rises. Pay rises

:10:39. > :10:44.are virtually nothing when Pate -- bonuses are included. The country

:10:44. > :10:48.is going through a national pay cut, this has been going on for a couple

:10:48. > :10:54.of years, people are becoming poorer. Savings are going down in

:10:54. > :10:57.real terms, so a house prices and so on. -- prices. In a way there is

:10:57. > :11:02.nothing anybody can do about that because wages are high compared to

:11:02. > :11:07.the size of the economy. But the government could have been doing

:11:07. > :11:12.more on inflation, they could have done something about inflation but

:11:12. > :11:16.unfortunately it has beaten the target of the court. It follows

:11:16. > :11:22.from this inflation upgrade and the effect of the squeeze on spending

:11:22. > :11:28.it has that he has then downgraded his growth forecast as well?

:11:28. > :11:33.course. There is a drag on spending from this inflation. People's in

:11:33. > :11:37.comes are falling by 2% every year, much more than the real terms

:11:37. > :11:43.public spending cuts. Public spending is falling by about 1% a

:11:43. > :11:50.year, but wages are falling about two at the cent a year, as our

:11:50. > :11:55.savings, so that is the drag. The eurozone plays a role and other

:11:55. > :11:58.factors, but let's not forget that according to official figures the

:11:58. > :12:04.eurozone did better than the UK in the second quarter. Because of

:12:04. > :12:10.Germany? Yes, in other words, you could say the UK is dragging down

:12:10. > :12:16.the eurozone. I would not go that far but Germany is a powerhouse and

:12:16. > :12:25.everyone else is in crisis. Did I hear right this morning when he

:12:25. > :12:32.said the economy might not recover to its 2007, 2008 level for --

:12:32. > :12:38.until 2018? That is plausible now because the economy is still about

:12:38. > :12:41.3% smaller, it is shrinking again, we are stuck here, much poorer than

:12:41. > :12:46.they were a few years ago and we have wasted several years of

:12:46. > :12:50.progress. How does it feel to preside over a lost decade? One of

:12:50. > :12:54.the problems was that the peak of economic output that happen under

:12:54. > :12:59.Labour was at the scent, the largest fall from peak to trough in

:12:59. > :13:03.the developed world and we are still recovering from that. We

:13:03. > :13:09.never told anybody it would be fast, dealing with the deficit is a

:13:09. > :13:12.necessary condition of growth. Excuse me, you did tell people, in

:13:13. > :13:18.20th June 10 in the Chancellor's first Budget you told us about the

:13:18. > :13:28.sum of 2012, -- by the sum of 20 told that economy would have grown

:13:28. > :13:30.

:13:30. > :13:36.We did not say we would recover from the deficit and debt problems

:13:37. > :13:42.we have. You just told this programme but nobody told us the

:13:42. > :13:46.economy was going to grow fast but your first set of projections of

:13:46. > :13:51.the government was that it would recover. We never said we would

:13:51. > :13:54.recover from the big drop quickly. Since then the problems in the

:13:54. > :13:58.eurozone have happened. One of the things the Governor said this

:13:58. > :14:02.morning was that the problems in the eurozone was the single biggest

:14:02. > :14:05.risk to economic growth in this country, which backs up some of the

:14:05. > :14:13.things you were saying the Treasury were telling you this morning, it

:14:13. > :14:18.is a big risk because we export 50% about put to the eurozone.

:14:18. > :14:22.output. You never told us at any stage that by the time you come up

:14:22. > :14:28.for re-election that the economy will still be smaller than it was

:14:28. > :14:34.in 2007. I challenge you to give me any time you told us that.

:14:34. > :14:39.economy is not going as well as hoped, we have set out the reasons

:14:39. > :14:43.why. This was always going to be difficult to recover from a big

:14:43. > :14:48.drop in output and inheriting the worst deficit we have had in

:14:48. > :14:53.peacetime. More difficult when you thought, right? Absolutely.

:14:53. > :14:59.Business will have to help us, we saw good output of cars yesterday,

:14:59. > :15:03.for example, we have a surplus on that since 1976. Exports of cars

:15:03. > :15:12.grew 20% so There is a sign of our manufacturing business is

:15:12. > :15:17.If he if more debt was the solution, this would be a tiger economy and

:15:17. > :15:20.yet Labour's proposals is more debt. In fact, we have more debt because

:15:20. > :15:25.of the plans... First of all the Government said categorically we

:15:25. > :15:29.are out of the danger zone when clearly we were not. The it was

:15:29. > :15:33.pre-emptive, to put it mildly. Their actions are making the

:15:33. > :15:38.economy worse, it's not just that they are engulfed by forces beyond

:15:38. > :15:44.their control. It is their lack of intervention. How would more debt

:15:44. > :15:52.help us? It's a balance, you've got to get it right. They are cutting

:15:52. > :15:57.too far and too fast. How much do you think they are cut so far?

:15:58. > :16:04.of the police force for example. How much have they cut so far?

:16:04. > :16:11.Across the whole economy? Yes. Overall spending. 10% of something

:16:11. > :16:14.like that? 1%. So, if you don't know the answer to my question, how

:16:14. > :16:20.can you say they are cutting too far and too fast when you don't

:16:20. > :16:23.know how much they have cut? you can't do at policy by policy.

:16:23. > :16:30.The macro economic impact is the overall total. You didn't know how

:16:30. > :16:38.much they had cut, so how can you say they are doing it too fast?

:16:38. > :16:44.out, all of that is unemployment is No, it's going down. Overall

:16:44. > :16:49.unemployment is falling. When unemployment was falling, it's now

:16:49. > :16:53.long-term unemployment increasing. It's a different matter. Part-time

:16:53. > :16:59.jobs have increased. And it is the whole economic impact they are

:16:59. > :17:05.having because they are not getting the balance in the economy by two.

:17:05. > :17:09.Let me come to the eurozone. I think we are being agreed, it's the

:17:09. > :17:14.biggest threat to the UK economy at the moment. You follow these things

:17:14. > :17:17.more closely. There was a real mood shift in the European elite over

:17:17. > :17:24.the weekend and in the German newspapers and magazines close to

:17:24. > :17:32.the Government. And what is happening now is they are preparing

:17:32. > :17:35.to let Chris go now. It's looking likely, yes. -- Greece. It looks

:17:35. > :17:39.like there will be a new set of elections which was confirmed

:17:39. > :17:44.yesterday and the anti- austerity parties are in the lead, so it

:17:44. > :17:47.increasingly looking likely that in a few weeks' time we have an anti-

:17:47. > :17:52.austerity government in Greece thumbing its nose is that the

:17:52. > :17:56.Germans and the EU and saying, you were too scared to let us go from

:17:56. > :18:00.there eurozone, so give us some money and let us go away. You can't

:18:01. > :18:05.accept that if you are a bank. It's looking likely they will go and

:18:05. > :18:09.people have started to plan for that. I was alarmed when I spoke to

:18:09. > :18:13.sources in Berlin who said one of the reasons they moved to this view

:18:13. > :18:19.of they thought there was a big enough firewall in place to stop

:18:19. > :18:24.contagion. Greece was 2% of the EU GDP, and they had a firewall in

:18:24. > :18:29.place. Now, when I last looked, there wasn't one in place. That is

:18:29. > :18:33.utterly implausible. It is a concocted mechanism with very

:18:33. > :18:37.little cash in it and a lot of public-relations spinner. I'm

:18:37. > :18:40.worried everybody will start to look if Greece goes for the other

:18:40. > :18:43.countries could leave and that could be the solution and therefore

:18:43. > :18:49.there will be a domino effect but in the short term I think they

:18:49. > :18:54.could leave earlier than we think. We haven't got much time and if you

:18:54. > :19:00.can't answer it, I would argue just say, but would it be better now if

:19:00. > :19:07.Greece left the road? I don't think it sensible for me to speculate.

:19:07. > :19:12.You don't want to speculate? I do don't think so. We shouldn't blame

:19:12. > :19:16.the ordinary Greek people. It's a problem of the lead rather than the

:19:16. > :19:20.people. I don't think it would be good for Greece to go. I think it's

:19:20. > :19:23.better if we see this as a European problem and solution and we

:19:23. > :19:27.shouldn't be the powerhouse economies. We have to be concerned

:19:28. > :19:32.about all the people of Europe, not just those doing well. It will be

:19:32. > :19:34.on the agenda for quite some time. Before the last election David

:19:34. > :19:37.Cameron said that lobbying was the "next big scandal waiting to

:19:37. > :19:40.happen". That followed an expose of former Labour ministers saying they

:19:40. > :19:43.could influence government decisions. The Coalition Agreement

:19:43. > :19:48.included a promise to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists but

:19:48. > :19:51.there was nothing in last week's Queen's Speech. In recent months,

:19:51. > :19:53.though, there's been no shortage of new revelations, including details

:19:53. > :19:56.of links between News International's chief lobbyist,

:19:56. > :20:03.Frederic Michel, and the office of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

:20:03. > :20:09.Here's a reminder of what Mr Michel reported to his boss James Murdoch.

:20:09. > :20:17.Managed to get some information on the plans for tomorrow. Although,

:20:17. > :20:27.absolutely illegal. What do you make of that? I thought was a joke.

:20:27. > :20:29.

:20:29. > :20:38.The! Makes it a joke. Is it? It was completely unethical, wasn't it?

:20:38. > :20:43.And not so sure. I'm really not familiar with the ins and outs of

:20:43. > :20:52.Westminster protocol. I know the rules around lobbying and those

:20:52. > :20:56.bits and pieces are of some debate. James Murdoch. Debate, we will come

:20:56. > :20:59.on to that a moment. But yesterday, Lord Leveson annouced that Frederic

:20:59. > :21:03.Michel and Jeremy Hunt's former special adviser Adam Smith will

:21:04. > :21:08.give evidence to the inquiry later this month. Let's get back to the

:21:08. > :21:11.issue of lobbying. Last year, you promised there would be legislation

:21:11. > :21:16.in the second session of this Parliament on the register but it

:21:16. > :21:20.wasn't in the Queen's Speech, was it? We did a consultation from

:21:20. > :21:24.January through to April, it closed a couple of weeks ago, and we said

:21:25. > :21:30.we will take the results of that, produce a white paper and a draft

:21:30. > :21:35.Bill which will be put out for pre- legislative screening. We're not

:21:35. > :21:38.going slow on this. I think everybody assumed because it was

:21:38. > :21:42.such a key issue, particularly raised by David Cameron, it would

:21:42. > :21:46.be in the Queen's Speech. No, we want to get this right. I did a

:21:46. > :21:50.number of meetings with both the industry, pro transparency groups,

:21:50. > :21:53.and a lot of people didn't like what was in our initial proposals,

:21:54. > :21:57.so running off and doing this in a hurry, coming up with something

:21:57. > :22:02.badly drafted people don't think a sensible and will solve the problem,

:22:02. > :22:06.is not sensible. What people will want us to do is to listen to the

:22:06. > :22:10.consultation, draw up some sensible well thought-through ideas, make

:22:10. > :22:15.sure they will solve the problem and then introduce legislation and

:22:15. > :22:19.get it done. What is so complicated? If you want to

:22:19. > :22:24.introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, what is so difficult

:22:24. > :22:29.about that? The scope of such a register, one of the debate is, do

:22:29. > :22:34.you just include lobbying companies, those who lobby for third parties

:22:34. > :22:38.for money question up if you don't include in house people, people

:22:38. > :22:48.like Frederic Michel would be included. Do you include trade

:22:48. > :22:51.unions? If you do that, how do you stop legitimate lobbying which is

:22:51. > :22:55.help for, and making sure its transparent. If you don't think it

:22:55. > :22:58.through, we will have lots of unforeseen consequences and then we

:22:59. > :23:03.will be back in a year or two and you will say to me, why didn't you

:23:03. > :23:07.think it through properly and get it right? Can you see why people

:23:07. > :23:10.are looking at the sceptically? David Cameron said there was an

:23:10. > :23:14.issue which exposes the far too cosy a relationship between

:23:14. > :23:20.business, government and money, a scandal we have got to do something

:23:20. > :23:24.about. And now, you are saying lobbying is a very legitimate

:23:24. > :23:28.practice will that do we really need any legislation on this? If

:23:28. > :23:33.people are transparent, elected officials right down and report the

:23:33. > :23:36.meetings they have, do we need to register? Well, we've said

:23:37. > :23:40.ministers are transparent with who we meet and we need a cab to people

:23:40. > :23:46.who lobby for third parties, where it's not clear who they are

:23:46. > :23:50.lobbying for. Lots of people, the industry, from the charitable

:23:50. > :23:54.sector, think it needs to go much further, so this clearly

:23:54. > :24:03.controversy. There's no point rushing on to do something. Our

:24:03. > :24:07.initial proposals, we could have a narrower, just excluding enhanced

:24:07. > :24:11.lobbyists. If ministers meet people from in-house lobbyists for its

:24:11. > :24:15.other, we say who we are meeting with, published information so that

:24:15. > :24:19.transparent but people responded to the consultation in meetings are

:24:19. > :24:24.held and don't agree with us. Clearly this and controversy.

:24:24. > :24:30.you confident that special advisers for government ministers know what

:24:30. > :24:32.the rules are? Well, I would hope so. I think if they didn't, the

:24:32. > :24:40.events of the last few weeks and what happened to Jeremy Hunt's

:24:40. > :24:43.special adviser will make them run off... Mark, but mention trade

:24:43. > :24:48.unionists for the do you think you should be broader and should

:24:48. > :24:55.include trade unions bearing a man they have so much in evidence in

:24:55. > :25:00.the Labour Party? I do think the problem with this is the Government

:25:00. > :25:05.is hiding behind events because it's not just the Jeremy Hunt and

:25:06. > :25:14.Leverson Inquiry, but Adam Verity, and Liam Fox. I do think all

:25:14. > :25:18.politicians have to be not just a party thing, but can see questions

:25:18. > :25:23.and who are these people, who are the special advisers? Labour had

:25:23. > :25:28.plenty of time to do something about this, too. It does look like

:25:28. > :25:33.after the MP's expenses, David Cameron properly said this could be

:25:33. > :25:35.the new wave of accountability and transparency that we need. And I

:25:36. > :25:44.think the Government are trapped by these events rather than guiding

:25:45. > :25:49.them. No, I think it's important to get it right. Obviously. The does

:25:49. > :25:56.it just applied to the Government, for example. Should have applied to

:25:56. > :26:02.just ministers or appears or ministers? If we get it wrong, I'll

:26:02. > :26:06.be back on his programme in a year's time... You will be saying

:26:07. > :26:16.why did you get it right? Why didn't you listen to people?

:26:17. > :26:22.

:26:22. > :26:24.long as we are not seen to be dragging our feet. Now if you were

:26:24. > :26:26.watching yesterday you will have seen the Transport Secretary

:26:26. > :26:30.extolling the virtues of mode shifting. That's civil service

:26:30. > :26:32.speak for walking to work rather than taking the train or car. Where

:26:32. > :26:35.do they get this language from? We've had literally several

:26:35. > :26:38.requests for more of the same from viewers. Well, you're in luck.

:26:38. > :26:41.There's an absolute treasure trove of public information films from

:26:41. > :26:43.the Department for Transport available at the click of a mouse.

:26:43. > :26:50.And to save you even that bother, here's the Transport Minister

:26:50. > :26:57.Norman Baker. Hello. Thank you for asking me along to a conference

:26:57. > :27:00.today. It will be good to meet you all in person. My virtual

:27:00. > :27:05.appearance arise be to demonstrate that if the mode of transport. We

:27:05. > :27:14.also have a further option, alternatives to travel. I wonder

:27:14. > :27:18.what they are? Great production values. I think we produce it,

:27:18. > :27:21.didn't we? Joke! And Mr Baker's always happy to send you one of

:27:21. > :27:28.these recorded messages for your conference, wedding or Bar Mitzvah.

:27:28. > :27:30.Whatever you want, he will send one and you can show it to your friends.

:27:30. > :27:36.Alternatively, pay attention for the next couple of minutes and

:27:36. > :27:46.we'll send you something much more valuable. We'll remind you how to

:27:46. > :28:01.

:28:01. > :28:11.enter in a minute. But let's see if # God only knows what I'd be

:28:11. > :28:15.

:28:15. > :28:25.And # And no, don't bring me down, I beg of you, darling.

:28:25. > :28:37.

:28:37. > :28:43.# Baby, everything is all right. It was in this quiet street, almost

:28:43. > :28:53.identical houses, whoever helped him to escape last Saturday, dumped

:28:53. > :29:03.

:29:03. > :29:09.# Wild Thing, you make everything Wild Thing! Thank you. That's the

:29:09. > :29:18.best introduction you have given me for a while. I am a blushing. We'll

:29:18. > :29:21.remind you how to enter in a minute. To be in with a chance of winning a

:29:21. > :29:24.Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email

:29:24. > :29:28.address. And you can see the full terms and conditions for Guess The

:29:28. > :29:31.Year on our website. It's coming up to midday here. Just take a look at

:29:31. > :29:34.Big Ben and that can mean only one thing. Yes, Prime Minister's

:29:34. > :29:42.Questions is on its way. There hasn't been one since the end of

:29:42. > :29:48.April. Speaking of Wild Things, here is Nick Robinson. Economy,

:29:49. > :29:52.economy, economy, stupid. Yes, a battle about two arguments. Ed

:29:52. > :29:55.Miliband will want to say Britain is in recession when the eurozone

:29:55. > :30:00.is not, Britain's economic problems are created in Downing Street and

:30:01. > :30:05.not in Europe. David Cameron will say, held on a second, at the

:30:05. > :30:10.unemployment figures. Much better than Europe, comparable with

:30:10. > :30:13.America. It's an argument they have to have. The Prime Minister as a

:30:13. > :30:18.big speech on the economy tomorrow because it will define it not just

:30:18. > :30:23.the next few months, but the battle at the next election as well.

:30:23. > :30:30.getting tougher for the coalition. There's no good economic news

:30:30. > :30:37.around apart from the unemployment. No, particularly because the cut in

:30:37. > :30:42.real wages. Even unemployment is a statistic. You either like it or

:30:42. > :30:46.fear it. What is not a statistic for real people is when you say, I

:30:46. > :30:50.have got less money than I had a year ago and bills are going up and

:30:50. > :30:54.that sense of wage cuts is a phenomenon which is incredibly hard

:30:54. > :30:58.for a government to get up from underneath. A Stormer looming

:30:58. > :31:02.across the channel which, despite the Treasury review this morning,

:31:02. > :31:05.will be of no control. The only thing which helps the Government

:31:05. > :31:10.politically is the governor -- Governor of the Bank of England

:31:10. > :31:14.clearly blames the return for that. He said was the same problem we've

:31:14. > :31:19.had for the last 2.5 years and Europe had to make his mind up.

:31:19. > :31:23.Interestingly, he said it was not about whether they were in or out

:31:23. > :31:27.of the euro but said it was about imbalances, basically the wealthier

:31:27. > :31:31.countries had to take up some of the slack from the poorer countries.

:31:31. > :31:41.It had to be dealt with rather than having an argument about Greece's

:31:41. > :31:44.

:31:44. > :31:49.future. Let's go straight over to I am sure the house will join me in

:31:49. > :31:52.paying tribute to the servicemen killed on Saturday. Corporal Brent

:31:52. > :31:56.McCarthy and Lance Corporal Lee Davies from first Battalion Welsh

:31:56. > :32:00.Guards. Our condolences are with their families and loved ones. They

:32:00. > :32:03.were courageous and highly respected men who were engaged in

:32:03. > :32:08.the important work of training and mentoring the Afghan police. Their

:32:08. > :32:14.service to our nation must never be forgotten. This morning I had

:32:14. > :32:20.meetings with people and I will have further such meetings later

:32:20. > :32:24.today. They associate myself for the Prime Minister's correct

:32:24. > :32:28.tribute to Al-Faw and servicemen? It is the right thing to do. Can I

:32:28. > :32:33.also welcome the fall in unemployment we have seen today and

:32:33. > :32:38.perhaps more importantly, the rise in employment. Can the Prime

:32:38. > :32:42.Minister assure me he will continue to invest in the apprenticeships,

:32:42. > :32:48.the work programmes and the other schemes that get my constituents

:32:48. > :32:52.and all constituents back to work? I find my honourable friend for

:32:52. > :32:56.what he says about the scheme's we are putting forward. It is welcome

:32:56. > :33:01.that we have had the largest rise in employment for over one year.

:33:01. > :33:06.The number of people at work since the last election is up by 300 and

:33:06. > :33:09.some 2000 and private sector jobs are now up by over 600,000. We are

:33:09. > :33:13.not remotely complacent about this because although there is good news

:33:13. > :33:17.about youth unemployment and the claimant count coming down, there

:33:17. > :33:21.are still too many people in part- time work he won full-time work and

:33:21. > :33:26.we still have the challenge of tackling long-term unemployment.

:33:26. > :33:30.We're not complacent, whereas the flexible new deal took four years

:33:30. > :33:33.to put in place the work programme has been put in place in 12 months

:33:33. > :33:42.and is targeted at helping be difficult to help and long-term

:33:42. > :33:47.unemployed who we want to help back Can I join the Prime Minister in

:33:47. > :33:50.paying tribute to Corporal Brent McCarthy from the Royal Air Force,

:33:50. > :33:54.Lance Corporal Lee Davies from first Battalion Welsh Guards? They

:33:54. > :33:59.both showed the utmost bravery and courage and our thoughts are with

:33:59. > :34:02.their family and friends. We need to make sure the welcome reduction

:34:03. > :34:06.in unemployment today is sustained by economic growth. Can the Prime

:34:06. > :34:12.Minister tell us what discussions he has had about a great plan for

:34:12. > :34:16.Europe with the new President of France? -- Growth Plan. Many

:34:16. > :34:21.welcome the fact that on this occasion he has welcomed the fall

:34:21. > :34:25.in unemployment. It is not just that unemployment has come down, so

:34:25. > :34:29.has the claimant count and it is worth saying that the number of

:34:29. > :34:33.people on out-of-work benefits has fallen by 70,000 since the election

:34:33. > :34:36.but there are still challenges, we must go on investing in

:34:36. > :34:41.apprenticeships and in the work programme. I had a brief discussion

:34:41. > :34:46.of the President of France after his victory. I look forward to

:34:46. > :34:51.having a longer bilateral with him before the G8 starts this weekend,

:34:51. > :34:57.and specifically to discussing what more we can do to help in terms of

:34:57. > :35:00.European growth. Together with the Italian Prime Minister and other

:35:00. > :35:05.prime ministers we have put forward steps that can help the European

:35:05. > :35:09.economy to move, let's complete the energy single market, the digital

:35:09. > :35:13.single market, the services single market, these things could

:35:13. > :35:16.seriously at to growth in Europe. That is what we should be focused

:35:16. > :35:23.on and I look forward to discussing that and more with the French

:35:23. > :35:33.President. It is a shame he did not sue the French President three

:35:33. > :35:40.

:35:40. > :35:50.months ago when he was in the UK. - I am sure a text message and Ella

:35:50. > :35:53.

:35:53. > :36:02.well go down well! -- LOL will. This government needs a proper

:36:02. > :36:05.growth plan, which -- plan, as does the UK. Does he really agree with

:36:05. > :36:11.the Foreign Secretary that the problems of our economy is that

:36:11. > :36:15.British business is not working hard enough? I have to admit

:36:15. > :36:18.perhaps I have been over using my mobile phone but at least I know

:36:18. > :36:28.how to use one rather than just throwing it at the people who work

:36:28. > :36:36.

:36:36. > :36:40.There will be common ground between the British view of what needs to

:36:40. > :36:44.happen in Europe and the French view, I note that the French

:36:44. > :36:50.President, when asked how he would stimulate growth, he said the means

:36:50. > :36:53.cannot be extra public spending since we want to rein it in. So it

:36:53. > :36:57.is interesting that the French President does not back the Labour

:36:57. > :37:05.view that the way out of a debt crisis is to borrow more, spend

:37:05. > :37:08.more and add to your debts. I think in Britain we need to have the low

:37:08. > :37:13.interest rates that we do, because when this government came to power

:37:13. > :37:19.we have the same interest rates as Spain, today, ours are below 2%,

:37:19. > :37:24.where Spanish rates are over 6%. To the Shadow Chancellor, who was

:37:24. > :37:27.saying from a sedentary position that this was delusional, let me

:37:27. > :37:31.remind him what he said... The simplest measure of monetary and

:37:31. > :37:40.fiscal policy credibility is long- term low interest rates. Those were

:37:40. > :37:45.his words. That is what Britain has and what we must not lose.

:37:45. > :37:49.totally failed to answer the question about the Foreign

:37:49. > :37:53.Secretary who is saying the problem in our economy is that British

:37:53. > :38:01.businesses not somehow working hard enough. I notice he is now trying

:38:01. > :38:06.to claim the President of France is There is one group of people that

:38:06. > :38:09.we know are losing their jobs, the police. 30,000 of them marched on

:38:09. > :38:16.the streets last week. Can the Prime Minister tell us how many

:38:16. > :38:20.frontline police officers have been lost since he came to power?

:38:20. > :38:23.not surprised he wants to rush of the economy after the first few

:38:23. > :38:33.questions. Let me remind him what the government is doing to boost

:38:33. > :38:35.the economy... We cut corporation tax, boosted enterprise zones,

:38:35. > :38:38.investing in building an infrastructure, but because we have

:38:38. > :38:45.a plan to deal with the deficit we have the lowest interest rates

:38:45. > :38:49.where as he would give us the highest interest rates. -- whereas.

:38:49. > :38:51.A majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary have found police

:38:51. > :38:56.forces are planning to increase the proportion of police officers and

:38:56. > :39:02.staff working on the front line. So they are taking people out of the

:39:02. > :39:05.back office and putting them on the front line. Let me say this to the

:39:05. > :39:09.honourable gentleman... Both parties are committed to making

:39:09. > :39:13.cuts in police budget. He is committed to a billion pounds of

:39:13. > :39:17.cuts, but the point is this, we are reforming allowances, cutting

:39:17. > :39:21.paperwork, freezing pay, reforming pensions. He would not do any of

:39:21. > :39:28.those things, so his cuts will be deeper because he does not have the

:39:28. > :39:33.courage to do the right thing. the economy, we are in double dip

:39:33. > :39:43.recession, a recession made in Downing Street, made by the two of

:39:43. > :39:43.

:39:43. > :39:51.them. That is the reality. On policing, everybody will have

:39:51. > :39:55.noticed his answer. He is sucking so many police officers from the

:39:55. > :40:03.back of this, but what is happening to the number of frontline police

:40:03. > :40:09.officers? 5,000 fewer frontline officers, fewer 999 responders,

:40:09. > :40:14.fewer neighbourhood police, fewer traffic police. What was his sales

:40:15. > :40:18.pitch? They were elected for the promise of more police officers! No

:40:18. > :40:28.wonder they are losing the elections. What was a sale pitch

:40:28. > :40:30.

:40:30. > :40:34.just before the election? -- his. Any Cabinet minister who says to me

:40:34. > :40:37.here on my plans, they involve far my reductions, will be sent

:40:37. > :40:43.straight back to their department to go away and think again. Is it

:40:43. > :40:50.any wonder the police are furious with his broken promise? Oh dear,

:40:50. > :40:55.he is having a bad day. Whoever was standing here right now would have

:40:55. > :40:59.to cut police budgets, they accept that, we accept that. But if you

:40:59. > :41:09.don't have the courage to deal with allowances, paperwork, pay, you

:41:09. > :41:16.

:41:16. > :41:22.I'm extremely calm! This is what his own police spokesman said, he

:41:22. > :41:27.was asked the question aren't you accepting the need for a freeze on

:41:27. > :41:31.police pay? That is what Yvette Cooper has said recently. No it. So

:41:31. > :41:34.they don't accept a freeze on pay, the pension reform, they would not

:41:34. > :41:40.do the paperwork cuts, they would be cutting the police more deeply.

:41:40. > :41:46.That is that the slick -- their position. No policy ideas. I know

:41:46. > :41:52.he will have extensive training before he goes before Leveson. I

:41:52. > :41:57.have got a suggestion... I think it should include anger management. It

:41:57. > :42:01.would be good for him. It is not just policing when he broke

:42:01. > :42:06.promises, we all remember the promises three years ago to the

:42:06. > :42:10.nurses. He told the conference there will be no top down

:42:10. > :42:13.reorganisation. He did not go back to the Royal College of Nursing

:42:13. > :42:18.conference this year, I noticed. Can the Prime Minister tell us how

:42:18. > :42:23.many fewer nurses there are some see came to power? The number of

:42:23. > :42:28.clinical staff in the NHS has gone up. The reason for that is because

:42:28. > :42:35.this government has put more money into the NHS every year! What is

:42:36. > :42:43.his commitment? His commitment is that spending on my chest is

:42:43. > :42:47.irresponsible. -- the NHS. What is happening in the NHS is the lowest

:42:47. > :42:53.number of people waiting for 18 weeks in our NHS, that is because

:42:53. > :43:01.we have more doctors, more clinical staff and fewer people who what

:43:01. > :43:06.Eurocrats working in the NHS. Hill of bureaucrats. Back to the

:43:06. > :43:10.bunker with that I'm afraid. There are fewer nurses now. They could

:43:10. > :43:17.not even get the figures right on the radio, they could not tell us

:43:17. > :43:21.how many nurses. All because he has diverted billions from patient care

:43:21. > :43:25.to it top-down reorganisation that nobody voted for and nobody wanted.

:43:25. > :43:30.I know he does not like being reminded of his words but that is

:43:30. > :43:37.because he broke his promise. That is the problem with this government,

:43:37. > :43:43.they cut taxes for millionaires and cut services for the rest of us. I

:43:43. > :43:46.know they don't like hearing about it but what did the honourable

:43:46. > :43:50.member for Cleethorpes say, we cannot convince voters we are on

:43:50. > :43:55.their side when we give top earners a tax-cut, leaving Mr and Mrs

:43:55. > :44:01.Average reeling. That is the truth of this government. They are unfair,

:44:01. > :44:05.out of touch and they stand up for the wrong people. This government

:44:05. > :44:10.has delivered a tax cut for every single working person in the

:44:10. > :44:16.country. We froze the Council Tax we're every household. We have

:44:16. > :44:26.taken 2 million people out of tax in our country. But what is the big

:44:26. > :44:30.decision? -- at that the lead at it this week? He did the person who

:44:30. > :44:34.said they had to be serious about the deficit, about welfare reform,

:44:34. > :44:38.the person who told us they had run out of money and they replaced him

:44:38. > :44:42.with a policy chief who thinks Labour's problem is they are not

:44:42. > :44:46.close enough to the trade unions. That is his big decision. I often

:44:46. > :44:55.wonder whether his problem is whether he is weak, or left wing,

:44:55. > :45:05.Perhaps we can now make some progress with short questions and

:45:05. > :45:12.

:45:12. > :45:19.Does my right honourable friend supposed that the Chancellor Merkel

:45:19. > :45:26.now regrets that she did not take the advice which he gave her last

:45:26. > :45:36.October about the big bazooka? If she had fired at them, it would

:45:36. > :45:37.

:45:37. > :45:42.have spared the European Union from its present crisis. I can't quite

:45:42. > :45:46.give a direct answer to that. What I would say is the eurozone has to

:45:46. > :45:51.make a choice. If it wants to continue as it is, then it has got

:45:51. > :45:56.to build a proper firewall, it has got to take steps to Secure the

:45:56. > :46:00.weakest members of the eurozone, or it's going to work out it has to go

:46:00. > :46:04.in a different direction. It either has to make up or looking at a

:46:04. > :46:12.potential break-up. It's a choice they have to make and they can't

:46:12. > :46:17.put it off. Mr Speaker, if Andy Coulson was not vetted, why did he

:46:17. > :46:24.attend secret briefings and what documents did he see? Isn't this a

:46:24. > :46:28.mess? I know the honourable lady is desperate to find a smoking gun but

:46:28. > :46:34.I absolutely tell her this is absolutely not it. We took a view

:46:34. > :46:38.on coming to office that, in the past... Order, order. The question

:46:38. > :46:42.has been put and the answer must be heard. We took a view they had been

:46:42. > :46:46.too many people who had been cleared at the highest level and it

:46:46. > :46:51.led to some of the problems in terms of Alastair Campbell.

:46:51. > :46:56.Actually, when it came to it, Andy Coulson was in the prices are being

:46:56. > :47:04.development vetted, so there is absolutely no mystery about this at

:47:04. > :47:14.all and I would ask it to go and look somewhere else. Britain has

:47:14. > :47:14.

:47:14. > :47:17.just posted its first quarterly trade surplus in cars since the

:47:17. > :47:21.1975 nationalisation of British Leyland by one of the last Labour

:47:21. > :47:25.governments before last. Will the Prime Minister welcomed the news

:47:25. > :47:32.that Britain has not only cut its deficit, by 25% over the last two

:47:32. > :47:35.years, but is, once again, a huge car exporter? My honourable friend

:47:35. > :47:40.makes an extremely good point and the party opposite do not want to

:47:40. > :47:43.hear the good news. He's absolutely right that, while we're taking

:47:43. > :47:47.difficult decisions, the deficit has now been reduced by one quarter,

:47:47. > :47:51.so we are on our way to balancing the budget and dealing with our

:47:51. > :47:57.problems but on the issue of motor- car manufacture, it is encouraging,

:47:57. > :48:03.the first time since 1976 we have a surplus in car manufacturing. It's

:48:03. > :48:08.because of the Hardwick people have put in at the various companies --

:48:08. > :48:11.hard work. It extremely good news that it's taken this long to get

:48:11. > :48:19.back to a surplus in car manufacturing and Britain is a real

:48:19. > :48:25.home for manufacturing. Two years ago during the general election,

:48:25. > :48:30.your press reported not to bring in VAT increases. Has the Prime

:48:30. > :48:35.Minister considered if he were to honour that pledge, and reverse the

:48:35. > :48:39.VAT increase, it would put money in people's pockets, stimulate the

:48:39. > :48:44.economy, and get Britain out of a double-dip recession made in

:48:44. > :48:48.Downing Street? The reason we had to put up VAT is we were left to

:48:48. > :48:55.the biggest budget deficit anywhere in Europe, bigger than Spain,

:48:55. > :48:57.Greece, Portugal. The complete mess left by the party opposite, we now

:48:57. > :49:05.know from reading a former Chancellor's memoirs, he was going

:49:05. > :49:09.to put up VAT, too. Mr Speaker, you may be aware this is adult learning

:49:09. > :49:16.week and Gosport's inspirational read and grow charity has received

:49:16. > :49:20.a lottery funding. Can I invite the Prime Minister and the education

:49:20. > :49:25.team to visit to see for themselves how this could be rolled out to run

:49:25. > :49:29.the rest of the country to benefit people? I think she's absolutely

:49:29. > :49:36.right to raise this issue. It's a tragedy there are too many adults

:49:36. > :49:39.in our country who don't have proper reading skills. It's vital

:49:39. > :49:42.we put that right through initiatives like the one she

:49:42. > :49:46.recommends in terms of adult learning week, but we have got to

:49:46. > :49:52.do better in our schools in the first place to make sure no one is

:49:52. > :49:56.that behind. You can teach reading so no child gets left behind

:49:56. > :50:01.through the phonic scheme the Secretary of State is leading. And

:50:01. > :50:08.we must make sure it's available for every child in every school.

:50:08. > :50:14.The police service in Northern Ireland has revealed that between

:50:14. > :50:19.1960 and 2005 it kept body parts and tissue samples of 64 cases of

:50:19. > :50:22.suspicious deaths without notifying families concerned, many in my

:50:22. > :50:26.constituency and other police forces in England have done the

:50:27. > :50:30.same. The whole House will sympathise with the families

:50:30. > :50:37.concerned and obviously the shock which has been felt throughout

:50:38. > :50:42.Northern Ireland today. Will the Prime Minister demand a speedy

:50:42. > :50:46.answer as to what happened in these cases so that families can no was

:50:46. > :50:52.quickly as possible? Does he want an independent review to explain

:50:52. > :50:56.exactly how this practice went on for so long right across the UK?

:50:56. > :50:59.thank him for his question. I speak for everyone in the House to

:50:59. > :51:04.express sympathy for the families who found out this terrible news

:51:04. > :51:08.about their loved ones. It must be a time if you'd anguish for them. I

:51:09. > :51:12.am extremely sorry this report has been leaked because was going to be

:51:12. > :51:18.announced properly on Monday when they could be a proper statement at

:51:18. > :51:21.explanation about what has gone on. I'm sure the Secretary of State for

:51:22. > :51:24.Northern Ireland will listen carefully to the inquiry but first

:51:24. > :51:31.of all let's publish the information on Monday so everyone

:51:31. > :51:35.can see what went wrong and why this happened. Growing up in a

:51:35. > :51:40.council house, I remember how proud people in my timidity were to be

:51:40. > :51:50.the first in their families to own their own home. That people in my

:51:50. > :51:50.

:51:50. > :51:53.I think my honourable friend makes an important point. The right to

:51:53. > :51:57.buy your council house was a hugely important social and economic

:51:57. > :52:00.change which gave people a stake in their society, the community, and

:52:00. > :52:05.led to a huge improvement in many housing estates up and down the

:52:05. > :52:12.country. It's very sad that, under the last government, discounts were

:52:12. > :52:17.allowed to go away. We are going to increase the discount rate away to

:52:17. > :52:22.�75,000, which, in some cases, will quadruple the available discount

:52:22. > :52:32.for for years of Labour neglect. Hopefully we can get council

:52:32. > :52:35.

:52:35. > :52:40.In recent weeks, we have had Britain back into recession, a

:52:40. > :52:48.botched Budget, crazy advice from the Cabinet Office to stop our

:52:48. > :52:54.petrol at home, -- stock. Which of these dizzy think has caused the

:52:54. > :52:58.collapse of his reputation for competence -- does he think? Today,

:52:58. > :53:01.unemployment is falling, more people are in work, yes, we had a

:53:01. > :53:04.difficult economic situation, but he listens to the Governor of the

:53:05. > :53:08.Bank of England this morning, and he would have heard we are coming

:53:08. > :53:16.up with a textbook response to what needs to be done to clear up the

:53:16. > :53:21.mess made by people like him. Businesses and homeowners in my

:53:21. > :53:25.constituency of my Derbyshire are having a tough time at the moment.

:53:25. > :53:30.It would be worse if it wasn't for consistently low interest rates.

:53:30. > :53:37.Under Labour, they were the same as Spain are full of this week we are

:53:37. > :53:40.at a record low under 2%. Spain's are at 6%. Will the Prime Minister

:53:40. > :53:45.assure the people of my Derbyshire he will do nothing to put the

:53:45. > :53:50.situation into jeopardy? She makes a very important point which is

:53:50. > :53:56.that for every increase in interest rate of 1%, it will add �1,000 to

:53:56. > :53:59.the typical family mortgage. British interest rates are below 2%

:53:59. > :54:03.because the world has confidence that, in spite of our economic

:54:03. > :54:07.difficulties, we have a plan to deal with a deficit. You can see

:54:07. > :54:10.from that and around Europe what happens if you don't have a plan,

:54:10. > :54:18.interest rates go up and is bad for business, homeowners, the economy,

:54:18. > :54:21.and that's what we would get if we listen to the party opposite.

:54:21. > :54:30.agencies led down their children involved in the Rochdale sex-abuse

:54:30. > :54:34.cases. The whole house must agree that children need a safe place to

:54:34. > :54:39.live. In that context, given the wide scope concerns about the

:54:39. > :54:41.private children's homes operating in this area, will the Prime

:54:41. > :54:49.Minister look at having an inquiry into whether they are properly

:54:49. > :54:53.funded and have properly trained staff? Will he make sure they work

:54:54. > :54:57.effectively? It I'm glad he bases this issue for that a truly

:54:57. > :55:01.shocking case for the we need to look carefully at what went wrong.

:55:01. > :55:04.I've asked my friend the Secretary of State for Education, to do this,

:55:04. > :55:08.and he has asked the Children's Commissioner to do a piece of work

:55:08. > :55:11.on it. We need to look at why information was not passed more

:55:11. > :55:16.rapidly from children's homes to please, what action was not taken

:55:16. > :55:20.more rapidly and I think there are issues about inspections, and why

:55:20. > :55:27.action was not taken and I think it's very important we get to the

:55:27. > :55:30.bottom of a truly dreadful case. Huddersfield Town at fans are

:55:30. > :55:34.celebrating today having won a place in the League One play-off

:55:34. > :55:38.final at Wembley. But also, winning in my constituency are local

:55:39. > :55:42.manufacturing businesses who are winning new orders, creating new

:55:42. > :55:45.jobs and apprenticeships. Will the Prime Minister agree with me that

:55:45. > :55:48.the record number of apprenticeships in the UK is a

:55:48. > :55:54.clear sign that this government is committed to getting Britain

:55:54. > :55:57.working? I'm grateful to my honourable friend. I wish

:55:58. > :56:03.Huddersfield Town or the best although that might be a prime

:56:03. > :56:08.ministerial curse. On apprenticeships, we achieved

:56:08. > :56:12.457,000 starts last year and are hoping to achieve another similar

:56:12. > :56:17.figure this year. The budget has been increased. They should deliver

:56:17. > :56:21.250,000 more apprenticeships across Parliament than where planned by

:56:21. > :56:24.the party opposite. There is a lot more to do to make sure these are

:56:24. > :56:32.high quality apprenticeships and we are targeting young people who need

:56:32. > :56:36.help most. My honourable friend, a member for Manchester Central, made

:56:36. > :56:42.reference to the case and situation in Rochdale. I want to speak about

:56:42. > :56:46.the girls in that case, who went to hell and back in terms of what they

:56:46. > :56:51.experienced and a tribute to their bravery in coming forward and

:56:51. > :56:56.standing up to their abusers. They did it to get justice and to stop

:56:56. > :57:00.it happening to others. Of Honourable girls like this are

:57:00. > :57:04.don't usually get heard by politicians. -- a vulnerable. They

:57:04. > :57:09.don't get access to influence. How will the Government responded to

:57:09. > :57:14.these terrible crimes and will the Prime Minister's support a serious

:57:14. > :57:18.case review? Can I pay tribute to the honourable gentleman because it

:57:18. > :57:22.has been absolute divide to say they have been brave to come

:57:22. > :57:27.forward and tell their stories and all the difficulties it involves

:57:27. > :57:30.but also he, himself, has talked about people who have come to his

:57:30. > :57:33.constituency surgeries, and of course this is a problem across

:57:33. > :57:39.communities, but there are particular problems in particular

:57:39. > :57:45.communities and he has been brave to say that. In terms of what he

:57:45. > :57:47.asked, about a review, I will have a look at that. The children's

:57:47. > :57:53.commissioner will come up with recommendations within one month

:57:53. > :57:55.and I understand Rochdale borough has conducted a review of child sex

:57:55. > :58:02.exploitation which will be published but the issue of a

:58:02. > :58:06.serious case review, I'm prepared to look about as well. Next year,

:58:06. > :58:09.Camborne academy will become the first ever British School to host

:58:09. > :58:13.international students science fair, welcoming schools from around the

:58:13. > :58:16.world. Does he agree with me that if Britain are to prosper in the

:58:16. > :58:19.future we need to lead the world in science and technology and we

:58:19. > :58:23.should support the efforts of schools like this leading the way?

:58:23. > :58:27.I think is absolutely right to highlight this issue and the school

:58:27. > :58:30.in his constituency which is clearly doing a good job. If they

:58:30. > :58:34.want to compete in a competitive global market, we need more science

:58:34. > :58:38.teaching, more science graduates, and encourage science graduates

:58:38. > :58:42.back into the classroom to train at the next generation of scientists

:58:42. > :58:49.and engineers. There has been and 80% increase in the number of

:58:49. > :58:53.students taking science GCSEs since 2010 and the second is that the

:58:53. > :58:58.education has put in place some a bursary schemes to encourage our

:58:58. > :59:02.top science graduates back into the classroom -- Secretary of State for

:59:02. > :59:07.Education. It is now clear that the Government does not have a

:59:07. > :59:11.comprehensive long-term strategy for care. So does he agree that the

:59:11. > :59:16.sharp increase in home care charges released in figures today is the

:59:16. > :59:21.result of his cut of �1 billion from local council budgets for

:59:21. > :59:26.older people? A I'm afraid I don't think the honourable gentleman's

:59:26. > :59:30.figures are right. In the spending review, we put �2 billion extra

:59:30. > :59:35.into adult social care. We have inherited a situation where there

:59:35. > :59:39.is not a clear strategy for social care for that we need to deliver

:59:39. > :59:47.one. That's why it is going to be a white paper coming forward this

:59:47. > :59:50.year. It has got to look at... They had 13 years when they ducked

:59:50. > :00:00.decision after decision. Royal commissions were held, nothing was

:00:00. > :00:04.done. Within two years, we have done far more than they did in 13.

:00:04. > :00:09.Summer 2000 highly-paid public servants have been exposed for

:00:09. > :00:13.avoiding their fair share of tax. Would the Prime Minister agree,

:00:13. > :00:20.whenever somebody has paid a salary using taxpayers' money, the

:00:20. > :00:24.Government should insist that they are on the payroll, pay full income

:00:24. > :00:28.tax and national insurance? Up I agree with what she says. We have

:00:28. > :00:32.been shocked by the level of this problem. The Treasury is looking at

:00:32. > :00:40.it closely but the principle she announces, if you are paid by the

:00:40. > :00:46.public, you should pay tax properly, is spot on. Will the Prime as it

:00:46. > :00:53.takes for the Severn barrage project, entirely private finance,

:00:53. > :01:01.the biggest renewable projects in Europe, and does he accept with a

:01:01. > :01:07.flat economy in Britain, this private investment is a no-brainer

:01:07. > :01:13.I heard him waxing eloquent on this project and I think it has many

:01:13. > :01:16.advantages. There is a huge amount of renewable energy to be delivered

:01:16. > :01:21.through this barrage. There's lots of problems and environmental

:01:21. > :01:26.groups have been divided but I'm happy to listen to his views as he

:01:26. > :01:31.takes for this important piece of work and there are many

:01:31. > :01:33.opportunities to look at energy connectors and co-operation,

:01:33. > :01:40.particularly between England, France and other northern European

:01:40. > :01:44.countries. Both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts

:01:44. > :01:47.Committee have praised the work programme for getting off the

:01:47. > :01:51.ground in an very air in stark contrast to the four wasted years

:01:51. > :01:55.it took for Labour's programme to get off the ground. What further

:01:55. > :01:59.help can the Prime Minister give to my striving jobseeker's in Tamworth,

:01:59. > :02:02.where unemployment figures are falling to find the work they want?

:02:02. > :02:09.I think the honourable gentleman makes an important point because

:02:09. > :02:13.not only has the work programme got up and running quickly, but it has

:02:13. > :02:17.helped 519,000 people and will help over 3 million people in total. The

:02:17. > :02:20.key difference between it and previous programmes is payment by

:02:21. > :02:25.results so we are paying providers more money for the more difficult

:02:25. > :02:28.people who have been out of work for a long time and had serious

:02:28. > :02:31.challenge is about getting back into the workplace are like the big

:02:31. > :02:35.users programme, not just to help people who have fallen out of work

:02:35. > :02:45.recently, but in a totally lost connection with the labour market.

:02:45. > :02:48.

:02:48. > :02:51.In April last year the government announced successful bids in round

:02:52. > :02:56.one, I was pleased to be included, it means 500 jobs, rescuing people

:02:56. > :02:59.from some of the poorest housing conditions in the country. 13

:02:59. > :03:03.months later it not a penny of that regional growth fund money has

:03:03. > :03:08.materialised. Will the Prime Minister tell me why and if he

:03:08. > :03:15.cannot, will he find out and ensure this money flows before the summer

:03:15. > :03:22.recess? I will look at the case. Around half of the projects are now

:03:22. > :03:25.under way, serious amounts of money are being disbursed. In terms of

:03:25. > :03:30.comparison with the regional development agencies the overhead

:03:30. > :03:33.costs of 3 million compared with 240 million so we can pour more

:03:34. > :03:43.money into these projects but I will look at his specific project

:03:44. > :03:53.

:03:54. > :04:02.and write to him shortly. We come The economy dominated those

:04:02. > :04:12.exchanges. Plenty to talk about. The eurozone did not feature that

:04:12. > :04:24.

:04:24. > :04:28.much. We heard Greece will have new It takes place at a time where the

:04:28. > :04:32.Left Party are in the polls at around 28% so it will be

:04:32. > :04:42.interesting to see another round of elections -- if another round of

:04:42. > :04:45.elections resolves anything. Now we will hear about the e-mails you

:04:45. > :04:51.have been sending. There was a feeling people thought Ed Miliband

:04:51. > :04:57.did not land a big enough blow on David Cameron bearing in mind

:04:57. > :05:00.difficult economic news. This from Karl... He said he was eloquent and

:05:00. > :05:06.direct, David Cameron never answers questions and reverts to futile

:05:06. > :05:09.jokes. David Cameron turns Prime Minister's Questions into a farce.

:05:09. > :05:15.He spins his answers, no credibility, nobody believes for

:05:15. > :05:19.the coalition says, the NHS will be the coalition's downfall. Colin in

:05:19. > :05:22.rugby... There is something amiss with Ed Miliband. Despite the

:05:22. > :05:26.plight the country is in he does not seem able to land any telling

:05:26. > :05:30.blows on David Cameron, I don't see how Labour can win a general

:05:30. > :05:35.election with him as leader. This from Martin Bristol in

:05:35. > :05:38.Wolverhampton... A growth plan is that more borrowing to do with the

:05:38. > :05:48.growth crisis, Ed Miliband needs to understand British business does

:05:48. > :05:53.not want more borrowing. There must be concern in government about the

:05:53. > :06:02.Bank of England downgrading growth, many people, including myself,

:06:02. > :06:05.wonder if not 0.8% is optimistic. We have these foul winds blowing in

:06:06. > :06:10.from Europe, whatever happens it will be a drag on the British

:06:10. > :06:14.economy for the foreseeable future. We are not in a great position to

:06:14. > :06:18.weather that. Strategically the coalition must feel it is in a

:06:18. > :06:21.dodgy position at the moment? think it feels vulnerable but

:06:21. > :06:28.politically feels it can at least say to the country it is over there,

:06:28. > :06:32.not here. Politically that takes a bit of the heat of them. And maybe

:06:32. > :06:36.why Ed Miliband did not really land blows. He did find, but it was one

:06:36. > :06:39.of those sessions that did not seem to change much, it did not really

:06:39. > :06:45.get anywhere. But the debate going on inside the Commission is

:06:45. > :06:48.interesting. -- coalition. We are still not having a debate where

:06:49. > :06:53.parts of the Liberal Democrats begin to peel away and Seychelles

:06:53. > :06:58.we changed plants? The anxiety I hear at the top of the coalition is

:06:58. > :07:01.how to realise things they have already announced, had to get bank

:07:01. > :07:05.lending, the Lib Dems have always believed the banks would probably

:07:05. > :07:10.not deliver that and the way to do it would be to use either one of

:07:10. > :07:13.the nationalised banks to force them to lend money. So that

:07:13. > :07:17.argument is going on behind the scenes, about what you do to force

:07:17. > :07:22.banks to give money. The other is how to get infrastructure spending

:07:22. > :07:27.spent quicker and on projects that would realise growth. I thought

:07:27. > :07:31.underlying it, you got a glimpse of two interesting new strategies. Ed

:07:31. > :07:36.Miliband wanted to ally himself directly with France's President,

:07:36. > :07:41.where the Tories can always say you messed it up, he wants to have a

:07:41. > :07:46.new alliance with the new man in town. The Tories had an interesting

:07:46. > :07:50.new strategy, too. David Cameron said on police cuts look, you are

:07:50. > :07:54.with us, Labour, in identifying cuts but if you resist what he

:07:55. > :08:01.called the difficult choices on pay, pensions, then surely you are

:08:01. > :08:04.actually cutting more staff than we the coalition would do. So post-

:08:04. > :08:10.election a was seen both parties looking for new political

:08:10. > :08:19.strategies and messages. So even though it did not make fireworks it

:08:19. > :08:23.was one for my notebook. Miliband saw the new kid on the

:08:23. > :08:27.block when he came here, but David Cameron and Angela Merkel did not

:08:27. > :08:33.see him. It was the first time either of them had met yesterday,

:08:33. > :08:43.which is interesting. There is a big test coming up and it is

:08:43. > :08:45.

:08:45. > :08:49.difficult to know which way Francis Holland will go. If so Reza do well

:08:49. > :08:54.in these elections and get 50 seats added on and it you add in other

:08:54. > :09:01.left-wing parties you could see a big enough coalition, an anti-

:09:01. > :09:10.austerity coalition, and anti- Brussels package coalition. What

:09:10. > :09:13.does Labour then do? Back at? think Mr Holland is perhaps a get-

:09:13. > :09:17.out clause for Angela Merkel because it does seem the austerity

:09:17. > :09:24.drive in Europe has not really worked, it has created political

:09:24. > :09:29.and economical crisis and a new approach is needed. The thing now

:09:29. > :09:33.the British public are coming round when we see the proles -- polls.

:09:33. > :09:41.You series the same Angelina -- Angela Merkel will say we will redo

:09:41. > :09:45.the package? -- are you seriously saying. Flexibility was a word

:09:45. > :09:49.being used yesterday, we need a more flexible approach, add new

:09:49. > :09:53.ingredients in, I don't think they would just say tear up the previous

:09:53. > :09:56.plan and let's start again, but I think they will use the election as

:09:56. > :10:02.a way to say we need new approaches and that might give breathing space

:10:02. > :10:07.for some new approaches. When you go be on the rhetoric and look at

:10:07. > :10:14.what is being proposed there are even parts of this that the Tory...

:10:14. > :10:18.Euro bonds, for example, the idea you can pay for infrastructure in a

:10:18. > :10:22.new way and get it moving. Or more funds for the European Investment

:10:22. > :10:26.Bank, for example, a whole series of measures which may be good,

:10:26. > :10:29.Mirabad, may make a difference. What they don't really effect is

:10:29. > :10:38.the debate about whether Greece cuts as much, or whether France

:10:38. > :10:47.does. I can see Mr Cameron standing up and we know what will happen. It

:10:47. > :10:56.is quite clear the fiscal pack will be untouched. Angela Merkel is

:10:56. > :11:06.adamant about that. But they have - - but they are not keen on euro

:11:06. > :11:13.

:11:13. > :11:18.bronze. -- bombs. -- bonds. It makes no difference to Greece's

:11:18. > :11:24.situation. We did not say business also working hard enough, we said

:11:24. > :11:29.we will get out of this problem by business going out warning orders.

:11:29. > :11:33.As at some parts of the world are growing very fast and our job as a

:11:33. > :11:36.government is to make our business able to succeed in his part of the

:11:36. > :11:40.world which is why we are putting this it into UK trade and

:11:40. > :11:45.investment, making our Foreign Office network... I understand that.

:11:45. > :11:48.You can say historically under both parties the elite was far too

:11:48. > :11:53.obsessed the durable Jay's -- is a declining part of the world. And

:11:53. > :11:56.not enough effort into the emerging markets. But that is a systemic

:11:56. > :12:00.long-term strategy, it does not get you growth this side of the next

:12:00. > :12:04.election. It does because the rest of the world is growing a bit you

:12:04. > :12:08.have the country's growing by up to 9%, if you can get your business to

:12:08. > :12:11.go and win those markets you can start delivering growth now. That

:12:11. > :12:17.is what William Hague was talking about. A under Labour we exported

:12:17. > :12:24.more to Ireland and China, Brazil, India and I think Russia combined.

:12:24. > :12:28.We have to make the -- meet these challenges. But growth is now the

:12:28. > :12:32.word being used and that was their Aardman before because before with

:12:32. > :12:37.the Tories it was austerity was the word, deficit-reduction were the

:12:37. > :12:42.words. But growth is part of the answer and the thing that is the

:12:42. > :12:46.sort of step change we are beginning to see. The problem is

:12:47. > :12:52.growth is like world peace - everybody wants it but nobody knows

:12:52. > :13:00.what it means. They thought it would produce growth but so far it

:13:00. > :13:04.has not. An interesting moment will come at the G8 meeting, the first

:13:04. > :13:08.chance that going back to the original idea of G8 meetings, a

:13:08. > :13:12.fireside chat, away from cameras and microphones, a chance to retort,

:13:12. > :13:19.there is a moment where a new French President will be surrounded

:13:19. > :13:23.by it not just Angela Merkel and David Cameron, but also Barack

:13:23. > :13:28.Obama, and a look round the room I suspect of come on guys, this has

:13:28. > :13:33.to be sorted. There is a meeting coming up in a couple of weeks in

:13:33. > :13:39.June of the G20 which will give the Chinese, Indians, Indonesians the

:13:39. > :13:44.chance to put on the pressure that comes after these new elections.

:13:44. > :13:52.There is a whole series of pressure points where other leaders will

:13:52. > :14:02.push people to do more. Let's see what reaction at the Home Secretary

:14:02. > :14:10.

:14:10. > :14:15.got in Bournemouth. I think it was Home Secretary. I believe you're a

:14:15. > :14:19.disgrace. We had a sound problem there. He got applause! I think it

:14:20. > :14:25.was quite a hostile question to the home secretary, she got silent

:14:25. > :14:31.treatment, then he asked a hostile question and they all erupted. Do

:14:31. > :14:36.you think the Conservative Party is happy that as a government you now

:14:36. > :14:43.spend more on overseas aid than on the police? We don't spend anywhere

:14:43. > :14:47.near as much as the public think we do on overseas aid. We are not...

:14:47. > :14:51.We're not going to balance the books on the back of the poorest.

:14:51. > :14:56.Coming back to the police, that guy that asked the question, of course

:14:56. > :14:59.the police are finding a pay freeze and reductions in their pensions

:14:59. > :15:03.tough but we are still going to leave them with the most generous

:15:03. > :15:10.pensions in the public sector. They have to play their fair share that

:15:10. > :15:12.everybody is going to have as well. By 2014, 2015 according to the

:15:12. > :15:17.government's projections on public spending, the Total Home Office

:15:17. > :15:26.budget is 8.8 billion, including all spending on the police in

:15:26. > :15:32.England and Wales, and the foreign A lot of the spending on the police

:15:32. > :15:39.does not come from the Home Office. The Government is spending more.

:15:39. > :15:44.More than overseas aid. But it doesn't come from the Home Office.

:15:44. > :15:50.But it comes from a government. not disagreeing with you. But you

:15:50. > :15:54.just did. So, you accept, but your Conservative-led government will

:15:54. > :15:59.spend more on overseas aid than the police? If that's what you're

:15:59. > :16:04.telling me, I don't have the fact. We like to help. It's what public

:16:04. > :16:09.service broadcasting is all about. Andrew, always here to help.

:16:09. > :16:11.have to move on. Thank you very much. Now, despite numerous

:16:11. > :16:13.campaigns by an array of celebrities, school dinners are

:16:13. > :16:16.still being criticised for being unhealthy. Jamie Oliver first

:16:16. > :16:20.targeted them in 2005, where he came across the infamous Turkey

:16:20. > :16:24.Twizzler. Despite improvements and education programmes, the UK now

:16:24. > :16:27.has the highest rate of childhood obesity in Europe. Well, now

:16:27. > :16:30.another celebrity is having a go. This time it's Alex Reid, the

:16:30. > :16:40.former cage fighter and actor, and winner of Celebrity Big Brother.

:16:40. > :16:55.

:16:55. > :16:59.I want to find a solution to the problem of healthy school food for

:16:59. > :17:03.all children. I'm about to be a father and I really don't want my

:17:03. > :17:13.little girl growing up in an unhealthy environment, at school,

:17:13. > :17:14.

:17:14. > :17:18.I visited schools across the country and was horrified to see

:17:18. > :17:21.that some of the children were eating chocolate and crisps for

:17:21. > :17:28.lunch. It's affecting their ability to concentrate and their behaviour

:17:28. > :17:33.in class. And making them very beasts. You know what, I've got a

:17:33. > :17:38.radical solution to the problem -- obese. Let's get big businesses to

:17:38. > :17:41.sponsor school children. Let's get the supermarkets, banks, corporate

:17:41. > :17:46.giants to by marketing in return for investment in the scheme and in

:17:46. > :17:56.return, they will find help the school dinners for all the children

:17:56. > :18:00.rather than putting the burden on To do this I need to raise �1

:18:00. > :18:05.billion a year. I think it's something these wealthy and

:18:05. > :18:10.powerful corporate giants have a responsibility to do. You know,

:18:10. > :18:14.they can and would still make a profit under my scheme. Essentially,

:18:15. > :18:19.I like to make school meals compulsory and banner packed

:18:19. > :18:29.lunches. Sounds radical. It's going to stop all the junk marketed at

:18:29. > :18:32.

:18:32. > :18:39.I was a chubby kid and a fussy eater. Eating a healthy turned my

:18:39. > :18:43.life around so let's get behind us and let's do lunch. It doesn't get

:18:43. > :18:48.up there than this. OK, let's do lunch then.

:18:48. > :18:55.And we're joined now in the studio by Alex Reid. You said you were a

:18:55. > :18:59.chubby kid and deducts per you want? Yes, I got lots of nieces and

:18:59. > :19:02.nephews and in my family, some of my brothers are feeding their

:19:02. > :19:08.children have bleak and how they perform in school, and the others

:19:08. > :19:16.are naughty. -- held belief. Is it down the packed lunches? I had

:19:16. > :19:21.packed lunches. School dinners were not very nice. You can't regulate a

:19:21. > :19:29.healthy packed lunch, so if we can provide free help the school meals

:19:29. > :19:33.it's going to be fantastic. On that aspect, have you had any interest?

:19:33. > :19:37.It's a lot of money, a billion pounds. It would pay for every

:19:37. > :19:45.child at school to have a free school meals. Yes, I haven't got

:19:45. > :19:49.the exact statistics but that's the starting point. Jamie Oliver had

:19:49. > :19:53.500 million and couldn't achieve, unfortunately. He started the

:19:54. > :19:57.battle so let's try to carry on from there. His was about the

:19:57. > :20:02.school meals people are having rather than raising money. Who are

:20:02. > :20:07.you talking to? Major supermarkets also look what happened with

:20:07. > :20:15.McDonald's. Their plan is to have a McDonald's four minutes away from

:20:15. > :20:20.every person on the planet. If we get somebody like that behind this,

:20:20. > :20:24.McDonald's was a treat for me when I was a kid, but now kids want to

:20:24. > :20:28.go there all the time. If we could get them to go behind us and do

:20:28. > :20:34.healthy food, it's the marketing force of what do you think of the

:20:34. > :20:38.idea? One of the flaws there is you could have school meals but you

:20:38. > :20:44.can't make people have them. One of the issues is about educating

:20:44. > :20:47.parents and educating young people. One thing which is very good in my

:20:47. > :20:51.own private schools, in my constituency, if you get the

:20:51. > :20:58.children to understand healthy eating, growing their own

:20:58. > :21:04.vegetables, they actually then, the past apart argument, they are due

:21:04. > :21:14.to their parents to have helpings. -- they are due to their parents to

:21:14. > :21:15.

:21:15. > :21:19.This less likelihood they would go out and buy the sweets. You have

:21:19. > :21:23.got to persuade people so they don't just do this at school but

:21:23. > :21:26.when they leave school they are in to help the team for the rest of

:21:26. > :21:33.their lives for the would you like to see big business stump up cash

:21:33. > :21:38.for this project? I'm not sure about that for I have to

:21:38. > :21:45.congratulate youth. You probably have a connection with young people

:21:45. > :21:50.that we don't. Glasgow is a particular difficult place. It's a

:21:50. > :21:55.huge issue. We're only beginning to understand the impact of food and

:21:55. > :22:00.the significance of it. Marketing is right. I think the whole debate

:22:00. > :22:04.is really interesting for the is lukewarm of political support here.

:22:04. > :22:07.This is exactly what I want to do, to get the discussion going. I went

:22:07. > :22:12.to schools last year for the bed- and-breakfast campaign across the

:22:12. > :22:22.country, and the standard of the meals was atrocious. The parents

:22:22. > :22:22.

:22:22. > :22:28.don't know. The parents need educating. My plan, we have a

:22:28. > :22:31.healthy, I'm getting tongue-tied and excited... In some schools

:22:31. > :22:35.where they had help the school meals they had their health the

:22:35. > :22:41.shepherd's pie for lunch and they never knew what a shepherd's pie

:22:41. > :22:47.was when they went home. That would inspire the adults to, mum, we had

:22:47. > :22:52.this at school today. Just before you go, though, what about your

:22:52. > :23:02.political ambitions? I probably know as much about politics as you

:23:02. > :23:03.

:23:03. > :23:11.I am passionate. I was a soldier because I believe in fighting for

:23:11. > :23:14.what was right. I would go for Labour. I don't know. The policies

:23:14. > :23:24.that hand-in-hand with the things I believe in but I'm not ready for

:23:24. > :23:27.

:23:27. > :23:33.that. Not ready yet? I will talk to later on. The maybe one day. Is it

:23:33. > :23:38.true in Glasgow curry and chips is the healthy option? You should know.

:23:38. > :23:41.I have not been there for a while. I just wanted to check. Now, it's

:23:41. > :23:45.not just the shadow cabinet reshuffle. Westminster is ablaze

:23:45. > :23:48.with speculation about another series of crucial appointments.

:23:48. > :23:51.It's a bit a exaggeration! Tonight backbench Conservative MPs will be

:23:51. > :23:57.choose which colleagues should represent them on 1922 committee.

:23:57. > :24:00.The 301 group of MPs has put forward a full slate of candidates.

:24:01. > :24:04.Their success though hinges on the support of the 20-20 group of MPs.

:24:04. > :24:07.What influence the 40 group will wield is still unclear. If they

:24:07. > :24:12.abstain they could end up helping the 101 group's candidates win

:24:12. > :24:15.through. What do you mean you're not following me? Now, I'm told

:24:15. > :24:22.there are even some Conservative ministers who don't know their 301s

:24:22. > :24:29.from their 1922s. So here's a little quiz for you, Mark. Lucky

:24:29. > :24:34.you! Which of these MPs are members of which backbench grouping? Your

:24:34. > :24:37.MPs are: David Morris MP. Brandon Lewis MP. Alec Sherbrooke MP. Henry

:24:37. > :24:47.Collingridge MP. Your groups are: The 40 Group. The 2020 Group. The

:24:47. > :24:48.

:24:48. > :24:53.301 Group. The 101 Group. First of all, Henry Collingridge is not an

:24:53. > :24:58.MP. I know the other three. I couldn't tell you which was in

:24:59. > :25:06.which group. Elections today for the 1922 Committee is a matter for

:25:06. > :25:12.backbenchers also. I don't know which groups they are end and I'm

:25:12. > :25:17.not even sure all of those groups exist. Let's see if Mark's got the

:25:18. > :25:23.answer right. He doesn't know any of the answers, so no change there,

:25:23. > :25:33.frankly. David Morris is in 40 Group. Whatever that is. Brandon

:25:33. > :25:35.

:25:35. > :25:41.Lewis a member of the 2020 Group. Alec Sherbrooke a 301 man. And

:25:41. > :25:44.Henry Collingridge is not a real MP. He's a fictitious MP, a fictitious

:25:44. > :25:47.Prime Minister indeed from the drama House of Cards. And the 101

:25:47. > :25:56.group. That's a not a real conservative backbench grouping

:25:56. > :25:59.either. We made that up. You got two right. What do you say to Mark

:25:59. > :26:04.Pritchard, one able colleagues, but Downing Street should spend more

:26:04. > :26:08.time trying to fix the economy and less time trying to fix the 1922

:26:08. > :26:13.elections. It's about backbenchers and I don't believe everything I

:26:13. > :26:17.read in newspapers. They are not just at backbenchers. Ministerial

:26:17. > :26:23.aides had been allowed to vote. it was a decision by the 22

:26:23. > :26:31.executive. I'm going to let my backbench colleagues make the

:26:31. > :26:37.decisions today. You don't get to vote. No, quite right too. Graham

:26:37. > :26:43.Brady presents the user back benches to the Prime Minister.

:26:43. > :26:47.up 301 group of loyalists, they have been wined and dined in

:26:47. > :26:54.Downing Street to vote the right way. That's what they say in the

:26:54. > :27:00.papers also that's what they say. Are you in it? I have talked to

:27:00. > :27:06.them about government policy. It's good that there are so many groups

:27:06. > :27:12.of Conservative colleagues. It's a very vibrant parliamentary party.

:27:12. > :27:21.We discuss issues. You are divided, aren't you? No, all Conservative

:27:21. > :27:25.MPs are united. We want to win an overall Conservative majority.

:27:25. > :27:32.good news is, we have enough Conservative MPs to have a range of

:27:32. > :27:38.groups. We want a Conservative majority government up the next

:27:38. > :27:42.election to love and the right policies. That deliver the right

:27:43. > :27:47.policies. Just time to put you out of your misery and give you the

:27:47. > :27:51.answer to Guess The Year. The answer was 1966. You could tell

:27:51. > :27:58.that because nearly all the footage was black and white before we had

:27:58. > :28:08.colour TV. This is the red button. If you push that, you will get the

:28:08. > :28:15.

:28:15. > :28:20.winner. Mary, in Lincolnshire. Alex, thanks very much for being here.

:28:20. > :28:23.Thanks to the two of you for joining us today. Thanks to our

:28:23. > :28:27.guests. The One O'Clock News is starting over on BBC One now. Jo

:28:27. > :28:32.will be back tomorrow at noon with all the big political stories of

:28:32. > :28:39.the day. You won't be joining me, will you? No, I have other things

:28:39. > :28:42.to do tonight, I'm afraid. I will be back on BBC One later. I'll be

:28:42. > :28:46.joined by music impresario Harvey Goldsmith. And we'll be discussing