16/05/2012 Daily Politics


16/05/2012

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Morning folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. On the show today...

:00:46.:00:49.

Torrential rain, lightning and even snow - Europe's economies are being

:00:49.:00:57.

blown off course. So how will Britain navigate the storm? Managed

:00:57.:01:02.

to get info on the plans for tomorrow, although absolutely

:01:02.:01:08.

illegal. David Cameron predicted it would be the next big scandal

:01:08.:01:10.

waiting to happen. Now it's happening, so will the government

:01:10.:01:13.

regulate the lobbying industry? had a mini re-shuffle of his pack

:01:13.:01:17.

yesterday. Today, geared up by positive polls, Ed Miliband faces

:01:17.:01:26.

the Prime Minister in PMQs. We'll bring it to you live. Ban the

:01:26.:01:34.

packed lunch and provide free school meals for all children. Kick

:01:34.:01:37.

boxer, reality TV star and political hopeful Alex Reid gives

:01:37.:01:39.

us his prescription for improving children's health. All that to come

:01:39.:01:43.

before 1pm. And with us for the duration two politicians with a

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future so bright, I might need to send for my shades. Who wrote this?

:01:49.:01:53.

A except there is no sun! Cabinet Office minister Mark Harper, and

:01:53.:01:55.

shadow secretary of state for Scotland Margaret Curran. Welcome

:01:55.:02:00.

to you both. Now, Theresa May has been addressing the Police

:02:00.:02:02.

Federation annual conference in sunny Bournemouth. It's a rite of

:02:02.:02:05.

passage for most Home Secretaries, but when you're pushing through 20%

:02:05.:02:08.

budget cuts and some of the most radical reforms for decades to

:02:08.:02:11.

forces in England and Wales, it's perhaps no wonder that relations

:02:11.:02:20.

between government and the police are so frosty. We are waiting to

:02:20.:02:24.

hear from Theresa May, she is just about to get on her feet at that

:02:24.:02:32.

conference. The chairman of the Police Federation was on the show

:02:32.:02:36.

earlier, we expect that is still him speaking there, in fact, he has

:02:36.:02:46.
:02:46.:02:49.

been speaking so long, we cannot It is a bit of a rite of passage

:02:49.:02:52.

for any home secretary when you appear in front of the Police

:02:52.:02:56.

Federation, but when you are carrying 20% of the budget you can

:02:56.:03:02.

expect a bit of a mauling I suspect. Why is a Conservative-led

:03:02.:03:07.

government being criticised for being "on the precipice of

:03:07.:03:10.

destroying the police service"? are having to make tough decisions

:03:10.:03:14.

about the funding going into the police and 80% of spending on the

:03:14.:03:19.

police is on pay, so clearly we have to take tough decisions on pay,

:03:19.:03:23.

but two you pay freeze along with the public sector and tough

:03:23.:03:27.

decisions on pensions. But police officers after this will still end

:03:27.:03:32.

up well-paid, with some of the best pensions in the public sector and

:03:32.:03:35.

the Windsor reforms do not take money out of the service, they are

:03:35.:03:38.

about making sure hard-working officers get paid for the jobs and

:03:38.:03:44.

skills they have. Is it really your contention that 20% could be cut

:03:44.:03:49.

from the police budget without any deterioration in front line

:03:49.:03:56.

services? HMIC said you could take out at least 12% without any change

:03:56.:04:01.

in front line services. They did not say at least. So of the extra

:04:01.:04:04.

savings we are making on paid do not affect frontline services but

:04:04.:04:08.

also we want policing to be more flexible. As a government we have

:04:08.:04:12.

produced some of the red tape and bureaucracy so you can have a

:04:12.:04:15.

larger percentage of officers on the front line rather than in the

:04:15.:04:20.

back office. I understand that, you are attempting to make it more

:04:20.:04:26.

efficient. But my question was are you saying that by doing that, by

:04:26.:04:32.

going for efficiency as well as a 20% cut you can really do a 20% cut,

:04:32.:04:36.

cut the number of police officers and leave the front line untouched?

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It is the budget being cut, not the number of police officers. We think

:04:43.:04:47.

you can still deliver a very good for online services, still keep

:04:47.:04:57.
:04:57.:05:00.

driving crime down. We have not had a big fall in numbers for --

:05:00.:05:05.

numbers. It is still falling. You leave it up to individual

:05:05.:05:08.

authorities and Constable's to make the individual decisions based on

:05:08.:05:11.

local circumstances but we are confident they can continue to do

:05:11.:05:15.

that. Does Labour support police opposition to changes in pay and

:05:15.:05:20.

conditions? Their position has been there is always a case for reform

:05:21.:05:25.

in any service at any time, that is the nature of government and public

:05:25.:05:28.

services so what did not take opposition to anything. But we are

:05:28.:05:32.

saying the government has got it wrong. Who would have thought a

:05:32.:05:35.

Tory lead government would have such a severe relationship with the

:05:36.:05:40.

police, were you have 30,000 police officers demonstrating last week?

:05:40.:05:47.

That is unheard of. I understand that. You would have any cut by 12%,

:05:47.:05:54.

you say? That is in line with the report but do you support major

:05:54.:05:59.

changes in the pay and conditions of the police service? I think

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changes in pay and conditions must be properly negotiated with the

:06:03.:06:07.

police and you have to have the conscience of the service with you

:06:07.:06:12.

and the government's approach has been wrong. That is the kind of

:06:12.:06:19.

thing he said. Let me be specific... Should there be an end to automatic

:06:20.:06:22.

retirement after 30 years? You would have to talk to the police

:06:23.:06:27.

force about that? What is your view? You would not talk to them

:06:27.:06:31.

about a Anne Lesley daughter should be done. Not at the moment I do not

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think it should end. Have some of the payments being too generous?

:06:38.:06:42.

Not necessarily. It would not be proper for a government or shadow

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minister to say they would select... Hang on, let me make my argument.

:06:49.:06:52.

The nature of negotiations between public service officers and

:06:52.:06:57.

government is when you look at a package of change and when the

:06:57.:07:00.

confident of that change. I would negotiate what to change with the

:07:00.:07:05.

service. What would you change? would not pick one thing out.

:07:05.:07:10.

you would not change? In terms of the public services, funding for

:07:11.:07:16.

them, the 12% cut, which most of us would want to go through...

:07:16.:07:19.

understand that but you cannot say one thing you would change. I would

:07:19.:07:23.

have a better relationship with the police and negotiate with them.

:07:23.:07:27.

Labour has supported our changes. When we put these to the Police

:07:27.:07:30.

negotiating Board we accepted the tribunal's judgment and Yvette

:07:30.:07:35.

Cooper made it clear she supported it, and wrote to Paul Likido and

:07:35.:07:41.

said it was a difficult decision but Labour supported it. They

:07:41.:07:46.

accept our savings and the changes we are making. We say there is a

:07:46.:07:50.

case also Evans, told the scent is a more viable Cup but could be made,

:07:50.:07:54.

you can detect fun run services and you would not make police officers'

:07:54.:07:58.

pay for your cups. There was a big fall in crime when Labour was in

:07:58.:08:02.

power and ran the police service. Well, at least the sun's out in

:08:02.:08:09.

Westminster today. His is still out? It is. Apologies if it's still

:08:09.:08:12.

raining where you are. There's little else to be cheerful about.

:08:12.:08:15.

The governor of the Bank of England has just downgraded growth again

:08:15.:08:19.

and revised upwards his forecast on inflation again. The Treasury's

:08:19.:08:22.

blaming our problems on the eurozone of course, they've let

:08:22.:08:25.

their frustration be known this morning urging Brussels to make a

:08:25.:08:28.

decision either way on Greece and do something to make Europe more

:08:28.:08:36.

competitive. Here's Jo. Welcome to this special Olympic race for

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growth. And as the starting gun for 2012 is fired, the UK host has got

:08:41.:08:45.

off to a bad start. Our 0.2% backward step in the first quarter

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contrasted with 0% growth figures for the eurozone published

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yesterday. But the stronger German performance of 0.5% is credited

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with preventing the eurozone from slipping back into recession. The

:08:58.:09:01.

UK trainer, Mervyn King, this morning revised the Uk's chances

:09:01.:09:11.
:09:11.:09:11.

down from a 1.2% growth forecast for 2012 to 0.8%. -- UK's. Growth

:09:11.:09:14.

is expected to zig zag throughout 2012 due to events such the Queen's

:09:14.:09:18.

Diamond Jubilee with an additional bank holiday. And we found out

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today the rate of inflation is expected to remain above the 2%

:09:21.:09:24.

target "for the next year or so". There is one piece of encouraging

:09:24.:09:27.

news for Team UK - unemployment has fallen by 45,000 between January

:09:27.:09:35.

and March to 2.63 million. The detrimental impact that the

:09:35.:09:38.

eurozone crisis could have on a worsening economy is shown by trade

:09:38.:09:41.

figures yesterday that show Britain still sends half its exports to the

:09:41.:09:49.

eurozone and only after 3% to fast growing China. Andrew, William

:09:49.:09:59.
:09:59.:10:02.

Hague is come around the corner. Look busy! We're joined now by

:10:02.:10:09.

Allister Heath, the Editor of City AM. The Governor has had to revise

:10:09.:10:12.

upwards its inflation forecast, it is not falling as fast as he said

:10:12.:10:18.

it would. The significance of that, I would suggest to you, is that it

:10:18.:10:23.

means the squeeze on real living standards still continues and that

:10:23.:10:26.

is the major reason why the economy is not growing, people are not

:10:26.:10:29.

spending. I think that was one of the most important figures to come

:10:30.:10:35.

out today, this gulf between inflation and pay rises. Pay rises

:10:35.:10:39.

are virtually nothing when Pate -- bonuses are included. The country

:10:39.:10:44.

is going through a national pay cut, this has been going on for a couple

:10:44.:10:48.

of years, people are becoming poorer. Savings are going down in

:10:48.:10:54.

real terms, so a house prices and so on. -- prices. In a way there is

:10:54.:10:57.

nothing anybody can do about that because wages are high compared to

:10:57.:11:02.

the size of the economy. But the government could have been doing

:11:02.:11:07.

more on inflation, they could have done something about inflation but

:11:07.:11:12.

unfortunately it has beaten the target of the court. It follows

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from this inflation upgrade and the effect of the squeeze on spending

:11:16.:11:22.

it has that he has then downgraded his growth forecast as well?

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course. There is a drag on spending from this inflation. People's in

:11:28.:11:33.

comes are falling by 2% every year, much more than the real terms

:11:33.:11:37.

public spending cuts. Public spending is falling by about 1% a

:11:37.:11:43.

year, but wages are falling about two at the cent a year, as our

:11:43.:11:50.

savings, so that is the drag. The eurozone plays a role and other

:11:50.:11:55.

factors, but let's not forget that according to official figures the

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eurozone did better than the UK in the second quarter. Because of

:11:58.:12:04.

Germany? Yes, in other words, you could say the UK is dragging down

:12:04.:12:10.

the eurozone. I would not go that far but Germany is a powerhouse and

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everyone else is in crisis. Did I hear right this morning when he

:12:16.:12:25.

said the economy might not recover to its 2007, 2008 level for --

:12:25.:12:32.

until 2018? That is plausible now because the economy is still about

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3% smaller, it is shrinking again, we are stuck here, much poorer than

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they were a few years ago and we have wasted several years of

:12:41.:12:46.

progress. How does it feel to preside over a lost decade? One of

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the problems was that the peak of economic output that happen under

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Labour was at the scent, the largest fall from peak to trough in

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the developed world and we are still recovering from that. We

:12:59.:13:03.

never told anybody it would be fast, dealing with the deficit is a

:13:03.:13:09.

necessary condition of growth. Excuse me, you did tell people, in

:13:09.:13:12.

20th June 10 in the Chancellor's first Budget you told us about the

:13:13.:13:18.

sum of 2012, -- by the sum of 20 told that economy would have grown

:13:18.:13:28.
:13:28.:13:30.

We did not say we would recover from the deficit and debt problems

:13:30.:13:36.

we have. You just told this programme but nobody told us the

:13:37.:13:42.

economy was going to grow fast but your first set of projections of

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the government was that it would recover. We never said we would

:13:46.:13:51.

recover from the big drop quickly. Since then the problems in the

:13:51.:13:54.

eurozone have happened. One of the things the Governor said this

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morning was that the problems in the eurozone was the single biggest

:13:58.:14:02.

risk to economic growth in this country, which backs up some of the

:14:02.:14:05.

things you were saying the Treasury were telling you this morning, it

:14:05.:14:13.

is a big risk because we export 50% about put to the eurozone.

:14:13.:14:18.

output. You never told us at any stage that by the time you come up

:14:18.:14:22.

for re-election that the economy will still be smaller than it was

:14:22.:14:28.

in 2007. I challenge you to give me any time you told us that.

:14:28.:14:34.

economy is not going as well as hoped, we have set out the reasons

:14:34.:14:39.

why. This was always going to be difficult to recover from a big

:14:39.:14:43.

drop in output and inheriting the worst deficit we have had in

:14:43.:14:48.

peacetime. More difficult when you thought, right? Absolutely.

:14:48.:14:53.

Business will have to help us, we saw good output of cars yesterday,

:14:53.:14:59.

for example, we have a surplus on that since 1976. Exports of cars

:14:59.:15:03.

grew 20% so There is a sign of our manufacturing business is

:15:03.:15:12.

If he if more debt was the solution, this would be a tiger economy and

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yet Labour's proposals is more debt. In fact, we have more debt because

:15:17.:15:20.

of the plans... First of all the Government said categorically we

:15:20.:15:25.

are out of the danger zone when clearly we were not. The it was

:15:25.:15:29.

pre-emptive, to put it mildly. Their actions are making the

:15:29.:15:33.

economy worse, it's not just that they are engulfed by forces beyond

:15:33.:15:38.

their control. It is their lack of intervention. How would more debt

:15:38.:15:44.

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

:15:44.:15:52.

too far and too fast. How much do you think they are cut so far?

:15:52.:15:57.

of the police force for example. How much have they cut so far?

:15:58.:16:04.

Across the whole economy? Yes. Overall spending. 10% of something

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

:16:11.:16:14.

can you say they are cutting too far and too fast when you don't

:16:14.:16:20.

know how much they have cut? you can't do at policy by policy.

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The macro economic impact is the overall total. You didn't know how

:16:23.:16:30.

much they had cut, so how can you say they are doing it too fast?

:16:30.:16:38.

out, all of that is unemployment is No, it's going down. Overall

:16:38.:16:44.

unemployment is falling. When unemployment was falling, it's now

:16:44.:16:49.

long-term unemployment increasing. It's a different matter. Part-time

:16:49.:16:53.

jobs have increased. And it is the whole economic impact they are

:16:53.:16:59.

having because they are not getting the balance in the economy by two.

:16:59.:17:05.

Let me come to the eurozone. I think we are being agreed, it's the

:17:05.:17:09.

biggest threat to the UK economy at the moment. You follow these things

:17:09.:17:14.

more closely. There was a real mood shift in the European elite over

:17:14.:17:17.

the weekend and in the German newspapers and magazines close to

:17:17.:17:24.

the Government. And what is happening now is they are preparing

:17:24.:17:32.

to let Chris go now. It's looking likely, yes. -- Greece. It looks

:17:32.:17:35.

like there will be a new set of elections which was confirmed

:17:35.:17:39.

yesterday and the anti- austerity parties are in the lead, so it

:17:39.:17:44.

increasingly looking likely that in a few weeks' time we have an anti-

:17:44.:17:47.

austerity government in Greece thumbing its nose is that the

:17:47.:17:52.

Germans and the EU and saying, you were too scared to let us go from

:17:52.:17:56.

there eurozone, so give us some money and let us go away. You can't

:17:56.:18:00.

accept that if you are a bank. It's looking likely they will go and

:18:01.:18:05.

people have started to plan for that. I was alarmed when I spoke to

:18:05.:18:09.

sources in Berlin who said one of the reasons they moved to this view

:18:09.:18:13.

of they thought there was a big enough firewall in place to stop

:18:13.:18:19.

contagion. Greece was 2% of the EU GDP, and they had a firewall in

:18:19.:18:24.

place. Now, when I last looked, there wasn't one in place. That is

:18:24.:18:29.

utterly implausible. It is a concocted mechanism with very

:18:29.:18:33.

little cash in it and a lot of public-relations spinner. I'm

:18:33.:18:37.

worried everybody will start to look if Greece goes for the other

:18:37.:18:40.

countries could leave and that could be the solution and therefore

:18:40.:18:43.

there will be a domino effect but in the short term I think they

:18:43.:18:49.

could leave earlier than we think. We haven't got much time and if you

:18:49.:18:54.

can't answer it, I would argue just say, but would it be better now if

:18:54.:19:00.

Greece left the road? I don't think it sensible for me to speculate.

:19:00.:19:07.

You don't want to speculate? I do don't think so. We shouldn't blame

:19:07.:19:12.

the ordinary Greek people. It's a problem of the lead rather than the

:19:12.:19:16.

people. I don't think it would be good for Greece to go. I think it's

:19:16.:19:20.

better if we see this as a European problem and solution and we

:19:20.:19:23.

shouldn't be the powerhouse economies. We have to be concerned

:19:23.:19:27.

about all the people of Europe, not just those doing well. It will be

:19:28.:19:32.

on the agenda for quite some time. Before the last election David

:19:32.:19:34.

Cameron said that lobbying was the "next big scandal waiting to

:19:34.:19:37.

happen". That followed an expose of former Labour ministers saying they

:19:37.:19:40.

could influence government decisions. The Coalition Agreement

:19:40.:19:43.

included a promise to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists but

:19:43.:19:48.

there was nothing in last week's Queen's Speech. In recent months,

:19:48.:19:51.

though, there's been no shortage of new revelations, including details

:19:51.:19:53.

of links between News International's chief lobbyist,

:19:53.:19:56.

Frederic Michel, and the office of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

:19:56.:20:03.

Here's a reminder of what Mr Michel reported to his boss James Murdoch.

:20:03.:20:09.

Managed to get some information on the plans for tomorrow. Although,

:20:09.:20:17.

absolutely illegal. What do you make of that? I thought was a joke.

:20:17.:20:27.
:20:27.:20:29.

The! Makes it a joke. Is it? It was completely unethical, wasn't it?

:20:29.:20:38.

And not so sure. I'm really not familiar with the ins and outs of

:20:38.:20:43.

Westminster protocol. I know the rules around lobbying and those

:20:43.:20:52.

bits and pieces are of some debate. James Murdoch. Debate, we will come

:20:52.:20:56.

on to that a moment. But yesterday, Lord Leveson annouced that Frederic

:20:56.:20:59.

Michel and Jeremy Hunt's former special adviser Adam Smith will

:20:59.:21:03.

give evidence to the inquiry later this month. Let's get back to the

:21:04.:21:08.

issue of lobbying. Last year, you promised there would be legislation

:21:08.:21:11.

in the second session of this Parliament on the register but it

:21:11.:21:16.

wasn't in the Queen's Speech, was it? We did a consultation from

:21:16.:21:20.

January through to April, it closed a couple of weeks ago, and we said

:21:20.:21:24.

we will take the results of that, produce a white paper and a draft

:21:25.:21:30.

Bill which will be put out for pre- legislative screening. We're not

:21:30.:21:35.

going slow on this. I think everybody assumed because it was

:21:35.:21:38.

such a key issue, particularly raised by David Cameron, it would

:21:38.:21:42.

be in the Queen's Speech. No, we want to get this right. I did a

:21:42.:21:46.

number of meetings with both the industry, pro transparency groups,

:21:46.:21:50.

and a lot of people didn't like what was in our initial proposals,

:21:50.:21:53.

so running off and doing this in a hurry, coming up with something

:21:54.:21:57.

badly drafted people don't think a sensible and will solve the problem,

:21:57.:22:02.

is not sensible. What people will want us to do is to listen to the

:22:02.:22:06.

consultation, draw up some sensible well thought-through ideas, make

:22:06.:22:10.

sure they will solve the problem and then introduce legislation and

:22:10.:22:15.

get it done. What is so complicated? If you want to

:22:15.:22:19.

introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, what is so difficult

:22:19.:22:24.

about that? The scope of such a register, one of the debate is, do

:22:24.:22:29.

you just include lobbying companies, those who lobby for third parties

:22:29.:22:34.

for money question up if you don't include in house people, people

:22:34.:22:38.

like Frederic Michel would be included. Do you include trade

:22:38.:22:48.

unions? If you do that, how do you stop legitimate lobbying which is

:22:48.:22:51.

help for, and making sure its transparent. If you don't think it

:22:51.:22:55.

through, we will have lots of unforeseen consequences and then we

:22:55.:22:58.

will be back in a year or two and you will say to me, why didn't you

:22:59.:23:03.

think it through properly and get it right? Can you see why people

:23:03.:23:07.

are looking at the sceptically? David Cameron said there was an

:23:07.:23:10.

issue which exposes the far too cosy a relationship between

:23:10.:23:14.

business, government and money, a scandal we have got to do something

:23:14.:23:20.

about. And now, you are saying lobbying is a very legitimate

:23:20.:23:24.

practice will that do we really need any legislation on this? If

:23:24.:23:28.

people are transparent, elected officials right down and report the

:23:28.:23:33.

meetings they have, do we need to register? Well, we've said

:23:33.:23:36.

ministers are transparent with who we meet and we need a cab to people

:23:37.:23:40.

who lobby for third parties, where it's not clear who they are

:23:40.:23:46.

lobbying for. Lots of people, the industry, from the charitable

:23:46.:23:50.

sector, think it needs to go much further, so this clearly

:23:50.:23:54.

controversy. There's no point rushing on to do something. Our

:23:54.:24:03.

initial proposals, we could have a narrower, just excluding enhanced

:24:03.:24:07.

lobbyists. If ministers meet people from in-house lobbyists for its

:24:07.:24:11.

other, we say who we are meeting with, published information so that

:24:11.:24:15.

transparent but people responded to the consultation in meetings are

:24:15.:24:19.

held and don't agree with us. Clearly this and controversy.

:24:19.:24:24.

you confident that special advisers for government ministers know what

:24:24.:24:30.

the rules are? Well, I would hope so. I think if they didn't, the

:24:30.:24:32.

events of the last few weeks and what happened to Jeremy Hunt's

:24:32.:24:40.

special adviser will make them run off... Mark, but mention trade

:24:40.:24:43.

unionists for the do you think you should be broader and should

:24:43.:24:48.

include trade unions bearing a man they have so much in evidence in

:24:48.:24:55.

the Labour Party? I do think the problem with this is the Government

:24:55.:25:00.

is hiding behind events because it's not just the Jeremy Hunt and

:25:00.:25:05.

Leverson Inquiry, but Adam Verity, and Liam Fox. I do think all

:25:06.:25:14.

politicians have to be not just a party thing, but can see questions

:25:14.:25:18.

and who are these people, who are the special advisers? Labour had

:25:18.:25:23.

plenty of time to do something about this, too. It does look like

:25:23.:25:28.

after the MP's expenses, David Cameron properly said this could be

:25:28.:25:33.

the new wave of accountability and transparency that we need. And I

:25:33.:25:35.

think the Government are trapped by these events rather than guiding

:25:36.:25:44.

them. No, I think it's important to get it right. Obviously. The does

:25:45.:25:49.

it just applied to the Government, for example. Should have applied to

:25:49.:25:56.

just ministers or appears or ministers? If we get it wrong, I'll

:25:56.:26:02.

be back on his programme in a year's time... You will be saying

:26:02.:26:06.

why did you get it right? Why didn't you listen to people?

:26:07.:26:16.
:26:17.:26:22.

long as we are not seen to be dragging our feet. Now if you were

:26:22.:26:24.

watching yesterday you will have seen the Transport Secretary

:26:24.:26:26.

extolling the virtues of mode shifting. That's civil service

:26:26.:26:30.

speak for walking to work rather than taking the train or car. Where

:26:30.:26:32.

do they get this language from? We've had literally several

:26:32.:26:35.

requests for more of the same from viewers. Well, you're in luck.

:26:35.:26:38.

There's an absolute treasure trove of public information films from

:26:38.:26:41.

the Department for Transport available at the click of a mouse.

:26:41.:26:43.

And to save you even that bother, here's the Transport Minister

:26:43.:26:50.

Norman Baker. Hello. Thank you for asking me along to a conference

:26:50.:26:57.

today. It will be good to meet you all in person. My virtual

:26:57.:27:00.

appearance arise be to demonstrate that if the mode of transport. We

:27:00.:27:05.

also have a further option, alternatives to travel. I wonder

:27:05.:27:14.

what they are? Great production values. I think we produce it,

:27:14.:27:18.

didn't we? Joke! And Mr Baker's always happy to send you one of

:27:18.:27:21.

these recorded messages for your conference, wedding or Bar Mitzvah.

:27:21.:27:28.

Whatever you want, he will send one and you can show it to your friends.

:27:28.:27:30.

Alternatively, pay attention for the next couple of minutes and

:27:30.:27:36.

we'll send you something much more valuable. We'll remind you how to

:27:36.:27:46.
:27:46.:28:01.

enter in a minute. But let's see if # God only knows what I'd be

:28:01.:28:11.
:28:11.:28:15.

And # And no, don't bring me down, I beg of you, darling.

:28:15.:28:25.
:28:25.:28:37.

# Baby, everything is all right. It was in this quiet street, almost

:28:37.:28:43.

identical houses, whoever helped him to escape last Saturday, dumped

:28:43.:28:53.
:28:53.:29:03.

# Wild Thing, you make everything Wild Thing! Thank you. That's the

:29:03.:29:09.

best introduction you have given me for a while. I am a blushing. We'll

:29:09.:29:18.

remind you how to enter in a minute. To be in with a chance of winning a

:29:18.:29:21.

Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email

:29:21.:29:24.

address. And you can see the full terms and conditions for Guess The

:29:24.:29:28.

Year on our website. It's coming up to midday here. Just take a look at

:29:28.:29:31.

Big Ben and that can mean only one thing. Yes, Prime Minister's

:29:31.:29:34.

Questions is on its way. There hasn't been one since the end of

:29:34.:29:42.

April. Speaking of Wild Things, here is Nick Robinson. Economy,

:29:42.:29:48.

economy, economy, stupid. Yes, a battle about two arguments. Ed

:29:49.:29:52.

Miliband will want to say Britain is in recession when the eurozone

:29:52.:29:55.

is not, Britain's economic problems are created in Downing Street and

:29:55.:30:00.

not in Europe. David Cameron will say, held on a second, at the

:30:01.:30:05.

unemployment figures. Much better than Europe, comparable with

:30:05.:30:10.

America. It's an argument they have to have. The Prime Minister as a

:30:10.:30:13.

big speech on the economy tomorrow because it will define it not just

:30:13.:30:18.

the next few months, but the battle at the next election as well.

:30:18.:30:23.

getting tougher for the coalition. There's no good economic news

:30:23.:30:30.

around apart from the unemployment. No, particularly because the cut in

:30:30.:30:37.

real wages. Even unemployment is a statistic. You either like it or

:30:37.:30:42.

fear it. What is not a statistic for real people is when you say, I

:30:42.:30:46.

have got less money than I had a year ago and bills are going up and

:30:46.:30:50.

that sense of wage cuts is a phenomenon which is incredibly hard

:30:50.:30:54.

for a government to get up from underneath. A Stormer looming

:30:54.:30:58.

across the channel which, despite the Treasury review this morning,

:30:58.:31:02.

will be of no control. The only thing which helps the Government

:31:02.:31:05.

politically is the governor -- Governor of the Bank of England

:31:05.:31:10.

clearly blames the return for that. He said was the same problem we've

:31:10.:31:14.

had for the last 2.5 years and Europe had to make his mind up.

:31:14.:31:19.

Interestingly, he said it was not about whether they were in or out

:31:19.:31:23.

of the euro but said it was about imbalances, basically the wealthier

:31:23.:31:27.

countries had to take up some of the slack from the poorer countries.

:31:27.:31:31.

It had to be dealt with rather than having an argument about Greece's

:31:31.:31:41.
:31:41.:31:44.

future. Let's go straight over to I am sure the house will join me in

:31:44.:31:49.

paying tribute to the servicemen killed on Saturday. Corporal Brent

:31:49.:31:52.

McCarthy and Lance Corporal Lee Davies from first Battalion Welsh

:31:52.:31:56.

Guards. Our condolences are with their families and loved ones. They

:31:56.:32:00.

were courageous and highly respected men who were engaged in

:32:00.:32:03.

the important work of training and mentoring the Afghan police. Their

:32:03.:32:08.

service to our nation must never be forgotten. This morning I had

:32:08.:32:14.

meetings with people and I will have further such meetings later

:32:14.:32:20.

today. They associate myself for the Prime Minister's correct

:32:20.:32:24.

tribute to Al-Faw and servicemen? It is the right thing to do. Can I

:32:24.:32:28.

also welcome the fall in unemployment we have seen today and

:32:28.:32:33.

perhaps more importantly, the rise in employment. Can the Prime

:32:33.:32:38.

Minister assure me he will continue to invest in the apprenticeships,

:32:38.:32:42.

the work programmes and the other schemes that get my constituents

:32:42.:32:48.

and all constituents back to work? I find my honourable friend for

:32:48.:32:52.

what he says about the scheme's we are putting forward. It is welcome

:32:52.:32:56.

that we have had the largest rise in employment for over one year.

:32:56.:33:01.

The number of people at work since the last election is up by 300 and

:33:01.:33:06.

some 2000 and private sector jobs are now up by over 600,000. We are

:33:06.:33:09.

not remotely complacent about this because although there is good news

:33:09.:33:13.

about youth unemployment and the claimant count coming down, there

:33:13.:33:17.

are still too many people in part- time work he won full-time work and

:33:17.:33:21.

we still have the challenge of tackling long-term unemployment.

:33:21.:33:26.

We're not complacent, whereas the flexible new deal took four years

:33:26.:33:30.

to put in place the work programme has been put in place in 12 months

:33:30.:33:33.

and is targeted at helping be difficult to help and long-term

:33:33.:33:42.

unemployed who we want to help back Can I join the Prime Minister in

:33:42.:33:47.

paying tribute to Corporal Brent McCarthy from the Royal Air Force,

:33:47.:33:50.

Lance Corporal Lee Davies from first Battalion Welsh Guards? They

:33:50.:33:54.

both showed the utmost bravery and courage and our thoughts are with

:33:54.:33:59.

their family and friends. We need to make sure the welcome reduction

:33:59.:34:02.

in unemployment today is sustained by economic growth. Can the Prime

:34:03.:34:06.

Minister tell us what discussions he has had about a great plan for

:34:06.:34:12.

Europe with the new President of France? -- Growth Plan. Many

:34:12.:34:16.

welcome the fact that on this occasion he has welcomed the fall

:34:16.:34:21.

in unemployment. It is not just that unemployment has come down, so

:34:21.:34:25.

has the claimant count and it is worth saying that the number of

:34:25.:34:29.

people on out-of-work benefits has fallen by 70,000 since the election

:34:29.:34:33.

but there are still challenges, we must go on investing in

:34:33.:34:36.

apprenticeships and in the work programme. I had a brief discussion

:34:36.:34:41.

of the President of France after his victory. I look forward to

:34:41.:34:46.

having a longer bilateral with him before the G8 starts this weekend,

:34:46.:34:51.

and specifically to discussing what more we can do to help in terms of

:34:51.:34:57.

European growth. Together with the Italian Prime Minister and other

:34:57.:35:00.

prime ministers we have put forward steps that can help the European

:35:00.:35:05.

economy to move, let's complete the energy single market, the digital

:35:05.:35:09.

single market, the services single market, these things could

:35:09.:35:13.

seriously at to growth in Europe. That is what we should be focused

:35:13.:35:16.

on and I look forward to discussing that and more with the French

:35:16.:35:23.

President. It is a shame he did not sue the French President three

:35:23.:35:33.
:35:33.:35:40.

months ago when he was in the UK. - I am sure a text message and Ella

:35:40.:35:50.
:35:50.:35:53.

well go down well! -- LOL will. This government needs a proper

:35:53.:36:02.

growth plan, which -- plan, as does the UK. Does he really agree with

:36:02.:36:05.

the Foreign Secretary that the problems of our economy is that

:36:05.:36:11.

British business is not working hard enough? I have to admit

:36:11.:36:15.

perhaps I have been over using my mobile phone but at least I know

:36:15.:36:18.

how to use one rather than just throwing it at the people who work

:36:18.:36:28.
:36:28.:36:36.

There will be common ground between the British view of what needs to

:36:36.:36:40.

happen in Europe and the French view, I note that the French

:36:40.:36:44.

President, when asked how he would stimulate growth, he said the means

:36:44.:36:50.

cannot be extra public spending since we want to rein it in. So it

:36:50.:36:53.

is interesting that the French President does not back the Labour

:36:53.:36:57.

view that the way out of a debt crisis is to borrow more, spend

:36:57.:37:05.

more and add to your debts. I think in Britain we need to have the low

:37:05.:37:08.

interest rates that we do, because when this government came to power

:37:08.:37:13.

we have the same interest rates as Spain, today, ours are below 2%,

:37:13.:37:19.

where Spanish rates are over 6%. To the Shadow Chancellor, who was

:37:19.:37:24.

saying from a sedentary position that this was delusional, let me

:37:24.:37:27.

remind him what he said... The simplest measure of monetary and

:37:27.:37:31.

fiscal policy credibility is long- term low interest rates. Those were

:37:31.:37:40.

his words. That is what Britain has and what we must not lose.

:37:40.:37:45.

totally failed to answer the question about the Foreign

:37:45.:37:49.

Secretary who is saying the problem in our economy is that British

:37:49.:37:53.

businesses not somehow working hard enough. I notice he is now trying

:37:53.:38:01.

to claim the President of France is There is one group of people that

:38:01.:38:06.

we know are losing their jobs, the police. 30,000 of them marched on

:38:06.:38:09.

the streets last week. Can the Prime Minister tell us how many

:38:09.:38:16.

frontline police officers have been lost since he came to power?

:38:16.:38:20.

not surprised he wants to rush of the economy after the first few

:38:20.:38:23.

questions. Let me remind him what the government is doing to boost

:38:23.:38:33.

the economy... We cut corporation tax, boosted enterprise zones,

:38:33.:38:35.

investing in building an infrastructure, but because we have

:38:35.:38:38.

a plan to deal with the deficit we have the lowest interest rates

:38:38.:38:45.

where as he would give us the highest interest rates. -- whereas.

:38:45.:38:49.

A majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary have found police

:38:49.:38:51.

forces are planning to increase the proportion of police officers and

:38:51.:38:56.

staff working on the front line. So they are taking people out of the

:38:56.:39:02.

back office and putting them on the front line. Let me say this to the

:39:02.:39:05.

honourable gentleman... Both parties are committed to making

:39:05.:39:09.

cuts in police budget. He is committed to a billion pounds of

:39:09.:39:13.

cuts, but the point is this, we are reforming allowances, cutting

:39:13.:39:17.

paperwork, freezing pay, reforming pensions. He would not do any of

:39:17.:39:21.

those things, so his cuts will be deeper because he does not have the

:39:21.:39:28.

courage to do the right thing. the economy, we are in double dip

:39:28.:39:33.

recession, a recession made in Downing Street, made by the two of

:39:33.:39:43.
:39:43.:39:43.

them. That is the reality. On policing, everybody will have

:39:43.:39:51.

noticed his answer. He is sucking so many police officers from the

:39:51.:39:55.

back of this, but what is happening to the number of frontline police

:39:55.:40:03.

officers? 5,000 fewer frontline officers, fewer 999 responders,

:40:03.:40:09.

fewer neighbourhood police, fewer traffic police. What was his sales

:40:09.:40:14.

pitch? They were elected for the promise of more police officers! No

:40:15.:40:18.

wonder they are losing the elections. What was a sale pitch

:40:18.:40:28.
:40:28.:40:30.

just before the election? -- his. Any Cabinet minister who says to me

:40:30.:40:34.

here on my plans, they involve far my reductions, will be sent

:40:34.:40:37.

straight back to their department to go away and think again. Is it

:40:37.:40:43.

any wonder the police are furious with his broken promise? Oh dear,

:40:43.:40:50.

he is having a bad day. Whoever was standing here right now would have

:40:50.:40:55.

to cut police budgets, they accept that, we accept that. But if you

:40:55.:40:59.

don't have the courage to deal with allowances, paperwork, pay, you

:40:59.:41:09.
:41:09.:41:16.

I'm extremely calm! This is what his own police spokesman said, he

:41:16.:41:22.

was asked the question aren't you accepting the need for a freeze on

:41:22.:41:27.

police pay? That is what Yvette Cooper has said recently. No it. So

:41:27.:41:31.

they don't accept a freeze on pay, the pension reform, they would not

:41:31.:41:34.

do the paperwork cuts, they would be cutting the police more deeply.

:41:34.:41:40.

That is that the slick -- their position. No policy ideas. I know

:41:40.:41:46.

he will have extensive training before he goes before Leveson. I

:41:46.:41:52.

have got a suggestion... I think it should include anger management. It

:41:52.:41:57.

would be good for him. It is not just policing when he broke

:41:57.:42:01.

promises, we all remember the promises three years ago to the

:42:01.:42:06.

nurses. He told the conference there will be no top down

:42:06.:42:10.

reorganisation. He did not go back to the Royal College of Nursing

:42:10.:42:13.

conference this year, I noticed. Can the Prime Minister tell us how

:42:13.:42:18.

many fewer nurses there are some see came to power? The number of

:42:18.:42:23.

clinical staff in the NHS has gone up. The reason for that is because

:42:23.:42:28.

this government has put more money into the NHS every year! What is

:42:28.:42:35.

his commitment? His commitment is that spending on my chest is

:42:36.:42:43.

irresponsible. -- the NHS. What is happening in the NHS is the lowest

:42:43.:42:47.

number of people waiting for 18 weeks in our NHS, that is because

:42:47.:42:53.

we have more doctors, more clinical staff and fewer people who what

:42:53.:43:01.

Eurocrats working in the NHS. Hill of bureaucrats. Back to the

:43:01.:43:06.

bunker with that I'm afraid. There are fewer nurses now. They could

:43:06.:43:10.

not even get the figures right on the radio, they could not tell us

:43:10.:43:17.

how many nurses. All because he has diverted billions from patient care

:43:17.:43:21.

to it top-down reorganisation that nobody voted for and nobody wanted.

:43:21.:43:25.

I know he does not like being reminded of his words but that is

:43:25.:43:30.

because he broke his promise. That is the problem with this government,

:43:30.:43:37.

they cut taxes for millionaires and cut services for the rest of us. I

:43:37.:43:43.

know they don't like hearing about it but what did the honourable

:43:43.:43:46.

member for Cleethorpes say, we cannot convince voters we are on

:43:46.:43:50.

their side when we give top earners a tax-cut, leaving Mr and Mrs

:43:50.:43:55.

Average reeling. That is the truth of this government. They are unfair,

:43:55.:44:01.

out of touch and they stand up for the wrong people. This government

:44:01.:44:05.

has delivered a tax cut for every single working person in the

:44:05.:44:10.

country. We froze the Council Tax we're every household. We have

:44:10.:44:16.

taken 2 million people out of tax in our country. But what is the big

:44:16.:44:26.

decision? -- at that the lead at it this week? He did the person who

:44:26.:44:30.

said they had to be serious about the deficit, about welfare reform,

:44:30.:44:34.

the person who told us they had run out of money and they replaced him

:44:34.:44:38.

with a policy chief who thinks Labour's problem is they are not

:44:38.:44:42.

close enough to the trade unions. That is his big decision. I often

:44:42.:44:46.

wonder whether his problem is whether he is weak, or left wing,

:44:46.:44:55.

Perhaps we can now make some progress with short questions and

:44:55.:45:05.
:45:05.:45:12.

Does my right honourable friend supposed that the Chancellor Merkel

:45:12.:45:19.

now regrets that she did not take the advice which he gave her last

:45:19.:45:26.

October about the big bazooka? If she had fired at them, it would

:45:26.:45:36.
:45:36.:45:37.

have spared the European Union from its present crisis. I can't quite

:45:37.:45:42.

give a direct answer to that. What I would say is the eurozone has to

:45:42.:45:46.

make a choice. If it wants to continue as it is, then it has got

:45:46.:45:51.

to build a proper firewall, it has got to take steps to Secure the

:45:51.:45:56.

weakest members of the eurozone, or it's going to work out it has to go

:45:56.:46:00.

in a different direction. It either has to make up or looking at a

:46:00.:46:04.

potential break-up. It's a choice they have to make and they can't

:46:04.:46:12.

put it off. Mr Speaker, if Andy Coulson was not vetted, why did he

:46:12.:46:17.

attend secret briefings and what documents did he see? Isn't this a

:46:17.:46:24.

mess? I know the honourable lady is desperate to find a smoking gun but

:46:24.:46:28.

I absolutely tell her this is absolutely not it. We took a view

:46:28.:46:34.

on coming to office that, in the past... Order, order. The question

:46:34.:46:38.

has been put and the answer must be heard. We took a view they had been

:46:38.:46:42.

too many people who had been cleared at the highest level and it

:46:42.:46:46.

led to some of the problems in terms of Alastair Campbell.

:46:46.:46:51.

Actually, when it came to it, Andy Coulson was in the prices are being

:46:51.:46:56.

development vetted, so there is absolutely no mystery about this at

:46:56.:47:04.

all and I would ask it to go and look somewhere else. Britain has

:47:04.:47:14.
:47:14.:47:14.

just posted its first quarterly trade surplus in cars since the

:47:14.:47:17.

1975 nationalisation of British Leyland by one of the last Labour

:47:17.:47:21.

governments before last. Will the Prime Minister welcomed the news

:47:21.:47:25.

that Britain has not only cut its deficit, by 25% over the last two

:47:25.:47:32.

years, but is, once again, a huge car exporter? My honourable friend

:47:32.:47:35.

makes an extremely good point and the party opposite do not want to

:47:35.:47:40.

hear the good news. He's absolutely right that, while we're taking

:47:40.:47:43.

difficult decisions, the deficit has now been reduced by one quarter,

:47:43.:47:47.

so we are on our way to balancing the budget and dealing with our

:47:47.:47:51.

problems but on the issue of motor- car manufacture, it is encouraging,

:47:51.:47:57.

the first time since 1976 we have a surplus in car manufacturing. It's

:47:57.:48:03.

because of the Hardwick people have put in at the various companies --

:48:03.:48:08.

hard work. It extremely good news that it's taken this long to get

:48:08.:48:11.

back to a surplus in car manufacturing and Britain is a real

:48:11.:48:19.

home for manufacturing. Two years ago during the general election,

:48:19.:48:25.

your press reported not to bring in VAT increases. Has the Prime

:48:25.:48:30.

Minister considered if he were to honour that pledge, and reverse the

:48:30.:48:35.

VAT increase, it would put money in people's pockets, stimulate the

:48:35.:48:39.

economy, and get Britain out of a double-dip recession made in

:48:39.:48:44.

Downing Street? The reason we had to put up VAT is we were left to

:48:44.:48:48.

the biggest budget deficit anywhere in Europe, bigger than Spain,

:48:48.:48:55.

Greece, Portugal. The complete mess left by the party opposite, we now

:48:55.:48:57.

know from reading a former Chancellor's memoirs, he was going

:48:57.:49:05.

to put up VAT, too. Mr Speaker, you may be aware this is adult learning

:49:05.:49:09.

week and Gosport's inspirational read and grow charity has received

:49:09.:49:16.

a lottery funding. Can I invite the Prime Minister and the education

:49:16.:49:20.

team to visit to see for themselves how this could be rolled out to run

:49:20.:49:25.

the rest of the country to benefit people? I think she's absolutely

:49:25.:49:29.

right to raise this issue. It's a tragedy there are too many adults

:49:29.:49:36.

in our country who don't have proper reading skills. It's vital

:49:36.:49:39.

we put that right through initiatives like the one she

:49:39.:49:42.

recommends in terms of adult learning week, but we have got to

:49:42.:49:46.

do better in our schools in the first place to make sure no one is

:49:46.:49:52.

that behind. You can teach reading so no child gets left behind

:49:52.:49:56.

through the phonic scheme the Secretary of State is leading. And

:49:56.:50:01.

we must make sure it's available for every child in every school.

:50:01.:50:08.

The police service in Northern Ireland has revealed that between

:50:08.:50:14.

1960 and 2005 it kept body parts and tissue samples of 64 cases of

:50:14.:50:19.

suspicious deaths without notifying families concerned, many in my

:50:19.:50:22.

constituency and other police forces in England have done the

:50:22.:50:26.

same. The whole House will sympathise with the families

:50:27.:50:30.

concerned and obviously the shock which has been felt throughout

:50:30.:50:37.

Northern Ireland today. Will the Prime Minister demand a speedy

:50:38.:50:42.

answer as to what happened in these cases so that families can no was

:50:42.:50:46.

quickly as possible? Does he want an independent review to explain

:50:46.:50:52.

exactly how this practice went on for so long right across the UK?

:50:52.:50:56.

thank him for his question. I speak for everyone in the House to

:50:56.:50:59.

express sympathy for the families who found out this terrible news

:50:59.:51:04.

about their loved ones. It must be a time if you'd anguish for them. I

:51:04.:51:08.

am extremely sorry this report has been leaked because was going to be

:51:09.:51:12.

announced properly on Monday when they could be a proper statement at

:51:12.:51:18.

explanation about what has gone on. I'm sure the Secretary of State for

:51:18.:51:21.

Northern Ireland will listen carefully to the inquiry but first

:51:22.:51:24.

of all let's publish the information on Monday so everyone

:51:24.:51:31.

can see what went wrong and why this happened. Growing up in a

:51:31.:51:35.

council house, I remember how proud people in my timidity were to be

:51:35.:51:40.

the first in their families to own their own home. That people in my

:51:40.:51:50.
:51:50.:51:50.

I think my honourable friend makes an important point. The right to

:51:50.:51:53.

buy your council house was a hugely important social and economic

:51:53.:51:57.

change which gave people a stake in their society, the community, and

:51:57.:52:00.

led to a huge improvement in many housing estates up and down the

:52:00.:52:05.

country. It's very sad that, under the last government, discounts were

:52:05.:52:12.

allowed to go away. We are going to increase the discount rate away to

:52:12.:52:17.

�75,000, which, in some cases, will quadruple the available discount

:52:17.:52:22.

for for years of Labour neglect. Hopefully we can get council

:52:22.:52:32.
:52:32.:52:35.

In recent weeks, we have had Britain back into recession, a

:52:35.:52:40.

botched Budget, crazy advice from the Cabinet Office to stop our

:52:40.:52:48.

petrol at home, -- stock. Which of these dizzy think has caused the

:52:48.:52:54.

collapse of his reputation for competence -- does he think? Today,

:52:54.:52:58.

unemployment is falling, more people are in work, yes, we had a

:52:58.:53:01.

difficult economic situation, but he listens to the Governor of the

:53:01.:53:04.

Bank of England this morning, and he would have heard we are coming

:53:05.:53:08.

up with a textbook response to what needs to be done to clear up the

:53:08.:53:16.

mess made by people like him. Businesses and homeowners in my

:53:16.:53:21.

constituency of my Derbyshire are having a tough time at the moment.

:53:21.:53:25.

It would be worse if it wasn't for consistently low interest rates.

:53:25.:53:30.

Under Labour, they were the same as Spain are full of this week we are

:53:30.:53:37.

at a record low under 2%. Spain's are at 6%. Will the Prime Minister

:53:37.:53:40.

assure the people of my Derbyshire he will do nothing to put the

:53:40.:53:45.

situation into jeopardy? She makes a very important point which is

:53:45.:53:50.

that for every increase in interest rate of 1%, it will add �1,000 to

:53:50.:53:56.

the typical family mortgage. British interest rates are below 2%

:53:56.:53:59.

because the world has confidence that, in spite of our economic

:53:59.:54:03.

difficulties, we have a plan to deal with a deficit. You can see

:54:03.:54:07.

from that and around Europe what happens if you don't have a plan,

:54:07.:54:10.

interest rates go up and is bad for business, homeowners, the economy,

:54:10.:54:18.

and that's what we would get if we listen to the party opposite.

:54:18.:54:21.

agencies led down their children involved in the Rochdale sex-abuse

:54:21.:54:30.

cases. The whole house must agree that children need a safe place to

:54:30.:54:34.

live. In that context, given the wide scope concerns about the

:54:34.:54:39.

private children's homes operating in this area, will the Prime

:54:39.:54:41.

Minister look at having an inquiry into whether they are properly

:54:41.:54:49.

funded and have properly trained staff? Will he make sure they work

:54:49.:54:53.

effectively? It I'm glad he bases this issue for that a truly

:54:54.:54:57.

shocking case for the we need to look carefully at what went wrong.

:54:57.:55:01.

I've asked my friend the Secretary of State for Education, to do this,

:55:01.:55:04.

and he has asked the Children's Commissioner to do a piece of work

:55:04.:55:08.

on it. We need to look at why information was not passed more

:55:08.:55:11.

rapidly from children's homes to please, what action was not taken

:55:11.:55:16.

more rapidly and I think there are issues about inspections, and why

:55:16.:55:20.

action was not taken and I think it's very important we get to the

:55:20.:55:27.

bottom of a truly dreadful case. Huddersfield Town at fans are

:55:27.:55:30.

celebrating today having won a place in the League One play-off

:55:30.:55:34.

final at Wembley. But also, winning in my constituency are local

:55:34.:55:38.

manufacturing businesses who are winning new orders, creating new

:55:39.:55:42.

jobs and apprenticeships. Will the Prime Minister agree with me that

:55:42.:55:45.

the record number of apprenticeships in the UK is a

:55:45.:55:48.

clear sign that this government is committed to getting Britain

:55:48.:55:54.

working? I'm grateful to my honourable friend. I wish

:55:54.:55:57.

Huddersfield Town or the best although that might be a prime

:55:58.:56:03.

ministerial curse. On apprenticeships, we achieved

:56:03.:56:08.

457,000 starts last year and are hoping to achieve another similar

:56:08.:56:12.

figure this year. The budget has been increased. They should deliver

:56:12.:56:17.

250,000 more apprenticeships across Parliament than where planned by

:56:17.:56:21.

the party opposite. There is a lot more to do to make sure these are

:56:21.:56:24.

high quality apprenticeships and we are targeting young people who need

:56:24.:56:32.

help most. My honourable friend, a member for Manchester Central, made

:56:32.:56:36.

reference to the case and situation in Rochdale. I want to speak about

:56:36.:56:42.

the girls in that case, who went to hell and back in terms of what they

:56:42.:56:46.

experienced and a tribute to their bravery in coming forward and

:56:46.:56:51.

standing up to their abusers. They did it to get justice and to stop

:56:51.:56:56.

it happening to others. Of Honourable girls like this are

:56:56.:57:00.

don't usually get heard by politicians. -- a vulnerable. They

:57:00.:57:04.

don't get access to influence. How will the Government responded to

:57:04.:57:09.

these terrible crimes and will the Prime Minister's support a serious

:57:09.:57:14.

case review? Can I pay tribute to the honourable gentleman because it

:57:14.:57:18.

has been absolute divide to say they have been brave to come

:57:18.:57:22.

forward and tell their stories and all the difficulties it involves

:57:22.:57:27.

but also he, himself, has talked about people who have come to his

:57:27.:57:30.

constituency surgeries, and of course this is a problem across

:57:30.:57:33.

communities, but there are particular problems in particular

:57:33.:57:39.

communities and he has been brave to say that. In terms of what he

:57:39.:57:45.

asked, about a review, I will have a look at that. The children's

:57:45.:57:47.

commissioner will come up with recommendations within one month

:57:47.:57:53.

and I understand Rochdale borough has conducted a review of child sex

:57:53.:57:55.

exploitation which will be published but the issue of a

:57:55.:58:02.

serious case review, I'm prepared to look about as well. Next year,

:58:02.:58:06.

Camborne academy will become the first ever British School to host

:58:06.:58:09.

international students science fair, welcoming schools from around the

:58:09.:58:13.

world. Does he agree with me that if Britain are to prosper in the

:58:13.:58:16.

future we need to lead the world in science and technology and we

:58:16.:58:19.

should support the efforts of schools like this leading the way?

:58:19.:58:23.

I think is absolutely right to highlight this issue and the school

:58:23.:58:27.

in his constituency which is clearly doing a good job. If they

:58:27.:58:30.

want to compete in a competitive global market, we need more science

:58:30.:58:34.

teaching, more science graduates, and encourage science graduates

:58:34.:58:38.

back into the classroom to train at the next generation of scientists

:58:38.:58:42.

and engineers. There has been and 80% increase in the number of

:58:42.:58:49.

students taking science GCSEs since 2010 and the second is that the

:58:49.:58:53.

education has put in place some a bursary schemes to encourage our

:58:53.:58:58.

top science graduates back into the classroom -- Secretary of State for

:58:58.:59:02.

Education. It is now clear that the Government does not have a

:59:02.:59:07.

comprehensive long-term strategy for care. So does he agree that the

:59:07.:59:11.

sharp increase in home care charges released in figures today is the

:59:11.:59:16.

result of his cut of �1 billion from local council budgets for

:59:16.:59:21.

older people? A I'm afraid I don't think the honourable gentleman's

:59:21.:59:26.

figures are right. In the spending review, we put �2 billion extra

:59:26.:59:30.

into adult social care. We have inherited a situation where there

:59:30.:59:35.

is not a clear strategy for social care for that we need to deliver

:59:35.:59:39.

one. That's why it is going to be a white paper coming forward this

:59:39.:59:47.

year. It has got to look at... They had 13 years when they ducked

:59:47.:59:50.

decision after decision. Royal commissions were held, nothing was

:59:50.:00:00.

done. Within two years, we have done far more than they did in 13.

:00:00.:00:04.

Summer 2000 highly-paid public servants have been exposed for

:00:04.:00:09.

avoiding their fair share of tax. Would the Prime Minister agree,

:00:09.:00:13.

whenever somebody has paid a salary using taxpayers' money, the

:00:13.:00:20.

Government should insist that they are on the payroll, pay full income

:00:20.:00:24.

tax and national insurance? Up I agree with what she says. We have

:00:24.:00:28.

been shocked by the level of this problem. The Treasury is looking at

:00:28.:00:32.

it closely but the principle she announces, if you are paid by the

:00:32.:00:40.

public, you should pay tax properly, is spot on. Will the Prime as it

:00:40.:00:46.

takes for the Severn barrage project, entirely private finance,

:00:46.:00:53.

the biggest renewable projects in Europe, and does he accept with a

:00:53.:01:01.

flat economy in Britain, this private investment is a no-brainer

:01:01.:01:07.

I heard him waxing eloquent on this project and I think it has many

:01:07.:01:13.

advantages. There is a huge amount of renewable energy to be delivered

:01:13.:01:16.

through this barrage. There's lots of problems and environmental

:01:16.:01:21.

groups have been divided but I'm happy to listen to his views as he

:01:21.:01:26.

takes for this important piece of work and there are many

:01:26.:01:31.

opportunities to look at energy connectors and co-operation,

:01:31.:01:33.

particularly between England, France and other northern European

:01:33.:01:40.

countries. Both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts

:01:40.:01:44.

Committee have praised the work programme for getting off the

:01:44.:01:47.

ground in an very air in stark contrast to the four wasted years

:01:47.:01:51.

it took for Labour's programme to get off the ground. What further

:01:51.:01:55.

help can the Prime Minister give to my striving jobseeker's in Tamworth,

:01:55.:01:59.

where unemployment figures are falling to find the work they want?

:01:59.:02:02.

I think the honourable gentleman makes an important point because

:02:02.:02:09.

not only has the work programme got up and running quickly, but it has

:02:09.:02:13.

helped 519,000 people and will help over 3 million people in total. The

:02:13.:02:17.

key difference between it and previous programmes is payment by

:02:17.:02:20.

results so we are paying providers more money for the more difficult

:02:21.:02:25.

people who have been out of work for a long time and had serious

:02:25.:02:28.

challenge is about getting back into the workplace are like the big

:02:28.:02:31.

users programme, not just to help people who have fallen out of work

:02:31.:02:35.

recently, but in a totally lost connection with the labour market.

:02:35.:02:45.
:02:45.:02:48.

In April last year the government announced successful bids in round

:02:48.:02:51.

one, I was pleased to be included, it means 500 jobs, rescuing people

:02:52.:02:56.

from some of the poorest housing conditions in the country. 13

:02:56.:02:59.

months later it not a penny of that regional growth fund money has

:02:59.:03:03.

materialised. Will the Prime Minister tell me why and if he

:03:03.:03:08.

cannot, will he find out and ensure this money flows before the summer

:03:08.:03:15.

recess? I will look at the case. Around half of the projects are now

:03:15.:03:22.

under way, serious amounts of money are being disbursed. In terms of

:03:22.:03:25.

comparison with the regional development agencies the overhead

:03:25.:03:30.

costs of 3 million compared with 240 million so we can pour more

:03:30.:03:33.

money into these projects but I will look at his specific project

:03:34.:03:43.
:03:44.:03:53.

and write to him shortly. We come The economy dominated those

:03:54.:04:02.

exchanges. Plenty to talk about. The eurozone did not feature that

:04:02.:04:12.
:04:12.:04:24.

much. We heard Greece will have new It takes place at a time where the

:04:24.:04:28.

Left Party are in the polls at around 28% so it will be

:04:28.:04:32.

interesting to see another round of elections -- if another round of

:04:32.:04:42.

elections resolves anything. Now we will hear about the e-mails you

:04:42.:04:45.

have been sending. There was a feeling people thought Ed Miliband

:04:45.:04:51.

did not land a big enough blow on David Cameron bearing in mind

:04:51.:04:57.

difficult economic news. This from Karl... He said he was eloquent and

:04:57.:05:00.

direct, David Cameron never answers questions and reverts to futile

:05:00.:05:06.

jokes. David Cameron turns Prime Minister's Questions into a farce.

:05:06.:05:09.

He spins his answers, no credibility, nobody believes for

:05:09.:05:15.

the coalition says, the NHS will be the coalition's downfall. Colin in

:05:15.:05:19.

rugby... There is something amiss with Ed Miliband. Despite the

:05:19.:05:22.

plight the country is in he does not seem able to land any telling

:05:22.:05:26.

blows on David Cameron, I don't see how Labour can win a general

:05:26.:05:30.

election with him as leader. This from Martin Bristol in

:05:30.:05:35.

Wolverhampton... A growth plan is that more borrowing to do with the

:05:35.:05:38.

growth crisis, Ed Miliband needs to understand British business does

:05:38.:05:48.

not want more borrowing. There must be concern in government about the

:05:48.:05:53.

Bank of England downgrading growth, many people, including myself,

:05:53.:06:02.

wonder if not 0.8% is optimistic. We have these foul winds blowing in

:06:02.:06:05.

from Europe, whatever happens it will be a drag on the British

:06:06.:06:10.

economy for the foreseeable future. We are not in a great position to

:06:10.:06:14.

weather that. Strategically the coalition must feel it is in a

:06:14.:06:18.

dodgy position at the moment? think it feels vulnerable but

:06:18.:06:21.

politically feels it can at least say to the country it is over there,

:06:21.:06:28.

not here. Politically that takes a bit of the heat of them. And maybe

:06:28.:06:32.

why Ed Miliband did not really land blows. He did find, but it was one

:06:32.:06:36.

of those sessions that did not seem to change much, it did not really

:06:36.:06:39.

get anywhere. But the debate going on inside the Commission is

:06:39.:06:45.

interesting. -- coalition. We are still not having a debate where

:06:45.:06:48.

parts of the Liberal Democrats begin to peel away and Seychelles

:06:49.:06:53.

we changed plants? The anxiety I hear at the top of the coalition is

:06:53.:06:58.

how to realise things they have already announced, had to get bank

:06:58.:07:01.

lending, the Lib Dems have always believed the banks would probably

:07:01.:07:05.

not deliver that and the way to do it would be to use either one of

:07:05.:07:10.

the nationalised banks to force them to lend money. So that

:07:10.:07:13.

argument is going on behind the scenes, about what you do to force

:07:13.:07:17.

banks to give money. The other is how to get infrastructure spending

:07:17.:07:22.

spent quicker and on projects that would realise growth. I thought

:07:22.:07:27.

underlying it, you got a glimpse of two interesting new strategies. Ed

:07:27.:07:31.

Miliband wanted to ally himself directly with France's President,

:07:31.:07:36.

where the Tories can always say you messed it up, he wants to have a

:07:36.:07:41.

new alliance with the new man in town. The Tories had an interesting

:07:41.:07:46.

new strategy, too. David Cameron said on police cuts look, you are

:07:46.:07:50.

with us, Labour, in identifying cuts but if you resist what he

:07:50.:07:54.

called the difficult choices on pay, pensions, then surely you are

:07:55.:08:01.

actually cutting more staff than we the coalition would do. So post-

:08:01.:08:04.

election a was seen both parties looking for new political

:08:04.:08:10.

strategies and messages. So even though it did not make fireworks it

:08:10.:08:19.

was one for my notebook. Miliband saw the new kid on the

:08:19.:08:23.

block when he came here, but David Cameron and Angela Merkel did not

:08:23.:08:27.

see him. It was the first time either of them had met yesterday,

:08:27.:08:33.

which is interesting. There is a big test coming up and it is

:08:33.:08:43.
:08:43.:08:45.

difficult to know which way Francis Holland will go. If so Reza do well

:08:45.:08:49.

in these elections and get 50 seats added on and it you add in other

:08:49.:08:54.

left-wing parties you could see a big enough coalition, an anti-

:08:54.:09:01.

austerity coalition, and anti- Brussels package coalition. What

:09:01.:09:10.

does Labour then do? Back at? think Mr Holland is perhaps a get-

:09:10.:09:13.

out clause for Angela Merkel because it does seem the austerity

:09:13.:09:17.

drive in Europe has not really worked, it has created political

:09:17.:09:24.

and economical crisis and a new approach is needed. The thing now

:09:24.:09:29.

the British public are coming round when we see the proles -- polls.

:09:29.:09:33.

You series the same Angelina -- Angela Merkel will say we will redo

:09:33.:09:41.

the package? -- are you seriously saying. Flexibility was a word

:09:41.:09:45.

being used yesterday, we need a more flexible approach, add new

:09:45.:09:49.

ingredients in, I don't think they would just say tear up the previous

:09:49.:09:53.

plan and let's start again, but I think they will use the election as

:09:53.:09:56.

a way to say we need new approaches and that might give breathing space

:09:56.:10:02.

for some new approaches. When you go be on the rhetoric and look at

:10:02.:10:07.

what is being proposed there are even parts of this that the Tory...

:10:07.:10:14.

Euro bonds, for example, the idea you can pay for infrastructure in a

:10:14.:10:18.

new way and get it moving. Or more funds for the European Investment

:10:18.:10:22.

Bank, for example, a whole series of measures which may be good,

:10:22.:10:26.

Mirabad, may make a difference. What they don't really effect is

:10:26.:10:29.

the debate about whether Greece cuts as much, or whether France

:10:29.:10:38.

does. I can see Mr Cameron standing up and we know what will happen. It

:10:38.:10:47.

is quite clear the fiscal pack will be untouched. Angela Merkel is

:10:47.:10:56.

adamant about that. But they have - - but they are not keen on euro

:10:56.:11:06.
:11:06.:11:13.

bronze. -- bombs. -- bonds. It makes no difference to Greece's

:11:13.:11:18.

situation. We did not say business also working hard enough, we said

:11:18.:11:24.

we will get out of this problem by business going out warning orders.

:11:24.:11:29.

As at some parts of the world are growing very fast and our job as a

:11:29.:11:33.

government is to make our business able to succeed in his part of the

:11:33.:11:36.

world which is why we are putting this it into UK trade and

:11:36.:11:40.

investment, making our Foreign Office network... I understand that.

:11:40.:11:45.

You can say historically under both parties the elite was far too

:11:45.:11:48.

obsessed the durable Jay's -- is a declining part of the world. And

:11:48.:11:53.

not enough effort into the emerging markets. But that is a systemic

:11:53.:11:56.

long-term strategy, it does not get you growth this side of the next

:11:56.:12:00.

election. It does because the rest of the world is growing a bit you

:12:00.:12:04.

have the country's growing by up to 9%, if you can get your business to

:12:04.:12:08.

go and win those markets you can start delivering growth now. That

:12:08.:12:11.

is what William Hague was talking about. A under Labour we exported

:12:11.:12:17.

more to Ireland and China, Brazil, India and I think Russia combined.

:12:17.:12:24.

We have to make the -- meet these challenges. But growth is now the

:12:24.:12:28.

word being used and that was their Aardman before because before with

:12:28.:12:32.

the Tories it was austerity was the word, deficit-reduction were the

:12:32.:12:37.

words. But growth is part of the answer and the thing that is the

:12:37.:12:42.

sort of step change we are beginning to see. The problem is

:12:42.:12:46.

growth is like world peace - everybody wants it but nobody knows

:12:47.:12:52.

what it means. They thought it would produce growth but so far it

:12:52.:13:00.

has not. An interesting moment will come at the G8 meeting, the first

:13:00.:13:04.

chance that going back to the original idea of G8 meetings, a

:13:04.:13:08.

fireside chat, away from cameras and microphones, a chance to retort,

:13:08.:13:12.

there is a moment where a new French President will be surrounded

:13:12.:13:19.

by it not just Angela Merkel and David Cameron, but also Barack

:13:19.:13:23.

Obama, and a look round the room I suspect of come on guys, this has

:13:23.:13:28.

to be sorted. There is a meeting coming up in a couple of weeks in

:13:28.:13:33.

June of the G20 which will give the Chinese, Indians, Indonesians the

:13:33.:13:39.

chance to put on the pressure that comes after these new elections.

:13:39.:13:44.

There is a whole series of pressure points where other leaders will

:13:44.:13:52.

push people to do more. Let's see what reaction at the Home Secretary

:13:52.:14:02.
:14:02.:14:10.

got in Bournemouth. I think it was Home Secretary. I believe you're a

:14:10.:14:15.

disgrace. We had a sound problem there. He got applause! I think it

:14:15.:14:19.

was quite a hostile question to the home secretary, she got silent

:14:20.:14:25.

treatment, then he asked a hostile question and they all erupted. Do

:14:25.:14:31.

you think the Conservative Party is happy that as a government you now

:14:31.:14:36.

spend more on overseas aid than on the police? We don't spend anywhere

:14:36.:14:43.

near as much as the public think we do on overseas aid. We are not...

:14:43.:14:47.

We're not going to balance the books on the back of the poorest.

:14:47.:14:51.

Coming back to the police, that guy that asked the question, of course

:14:51.:14:56.

the police are finding a pay freeze and reductions in their pensions

:14:56.:14:59.

tough but we are still going to leave them with the most generous

:14:59.:15:03.

pensions in the public sector. They have to play their fair share that

:15:03.:15:10.

everybody is going to have as well. By 2014, 2015 according to the

:15:10.:15:12.

government's projections on public spending, the Total Home Office

:15:12.:15:17.

budget is 8.8 billion, including all spending on the police in

:15:17.:15:26.

England and Wales, and the foreign A lot of the spending on the police

:15:26.:15:32.

does not come from the Home Office. The Government is spending more.

:15:32.:15:39.

More than overseas aid. But it doesn't come from the Home Office.

:15:39.:15:44.

But it comes from a government. not disagreeing with you. But you

:15:44.:15:50.

just did. So, you accept, but your Conservative-led government will

:15:50.:15:54.

spend more on overseas aid than the police? If that's what you're

:15:54.:15:59.

telling me, I don't have the fact. We like to help. It's what public

:15:59.:16:04.

service broadcasting is all about. Andrew, always here to help.

:16:04.:16:09.

have to move on. Thank you very much. Now, despite numerous

:16:09.:16:11.

campaigns by an array of celebrities, school dinners are

:16:11.:16:13.

still being criticised for being unhealthy. Jamie Oliver first

:16:13.:16:16.

targeted them in 2005, where he came across the infamous Turkey

:16:16.:16:20.

Twizzler. Despite improvements and education programmes, the UK now

:16:20.:16:24.

has the highest rate of childhood obesity in Europe. Well, now

:16:24.:16:27.

another celebrity is having a go. This time it's Alex Reid, the

:16:27.:16:30.

former cage fighter and actor, and winner of Celebrity Big Brother.

:16:30.:16:40.
:16:40.:16:55.

I want to find a solution to the problem of healthy school food for

:16:55.:16:59.

all children. I'm about to be a father and I really don't want my

:16:59.:17:03.

little girl growing up in an unhealthy environment, at school,

:17:03.:17:13.
:17:13.:17:14.

I visited schools across the country and was horrified to see

:17:14.:17:18.

that some of the children were eating chocolate and crisps for

:17:18.:17:21.

lunch. It's affecting their ability to concentrate and their behaviour

:17:21.:17:28.

in class. And making them very beasts. You know what, I've got a

:17:28.:17:33.

radical solution to the problem -- obese. Let's get big businesses to

:17:33.:17:38.

sponsor school children. Let's get the supermarkets, banks, corporate

:17:38.:17:41.

giants to by marketing in return for investment in the scheme and in

:17:41.:17:46.

return, they will find help the school dinners for all the children

:17:46.:17:56.

rather than putting the burden on To do this I need to raise �1

:17:56.:18:00.

billion a year. I think it's something these wealthy and

:18:00.:18:05.

powerful corporate giants have a responsibility to do. You know,

:18:05.:18:10.

they can and would still make a profit under my scheme. Essentially,

:18:10.:18:14.

I like to make school meals compulsory and banner packed

:18:15.:18:19.

lunches. Sounds radical. It's going to stop all the junk marketed at

:18:19.:18:29.
:18:29.:18:32.

I was a chubby kid and a fussy eater. Eating a healthy turned my

:18:32.:18:39.

life around so let's get behind us and let's do lunch. It doesn't get

:18:39.:18:43.

up there than this. OK, let's do lunch then.

:18:43.:18:48.

And we're joined now in the studio by Alex Reid. You said you were a

:18:48.:18:55.

chubby kid and deducts per you want? Yes, I got lots of nieces and

:18:55.:18:59.

nephews and in my family, some of my brothers are feeding their

:18:59.:19:02.

children have bleak and how they perform in school, and the others

:19:02.:19:08.

are naughty. -- held belief. Is it down the packed lunches? I had

:19:08.:19:16.

packed lunches. School dinners were not very nice. You can't regulate a

:19:16.:19:21.

healthy packed lunch, so if we can provide free help the school meals

:19:21.:19:29.

it's going to be fantastic. On that aspect, have you had any interest?

:19:29.:19:33.

It's a lot of money, a billion pounds. It would pay for every

:19:33.:19:37.

child at school to have a free school meals. Yes, I haven't got

:19:37.:19:45.

the exact statistics but that's the starting point. Jamie Oliver had

:19:45.:19:49.

500 million and couldn't achieve, unfortunately. He started the

:19:49.:19:53.

battle so let's try to carry on from there. His was about the

:19:54.:19:57.

school meals people are having rather than raising money. Who are

:19:57.:20:02.

you talking to? Major supermarkets also look what happened with

:20:02.:20:07.

McDonald's. Their plan is to have a McDonald's four minutes away from

:20:07.:20:15.

every person on the planet. If we get somebody like that behind this,

:20:15.:20:20.

McDonald's was a treat for me when I was a kid, but now kids want to

:20:20.:20:24.

go there all the time. If we could get them to go behind us and do

:20:24.:20:28.

healthy food, it's the marketing force of what do you think of the

:20:28.:20:34.

idea? One of the flaws there is you could have school meals but you

:20:34.:20:38.

can't make people have them. One of the issues is about educating

:20:38.:20:44.

parents and educating young people. One thing which is very good in my

:20:44.:20:47.

own private schools, in my constituency, if you get the

:20:47.:20:51.

children to understand healthy eating, growing their own

:20:51.:20:58.

vegetables, they actually then, the past apart argument, they are due

:20:58.:21:04.

to their parents to have helpings. -- they are due to their parents to

:21:04.:21:14.
:21:14.:21:15.

This less likelihood they would go out and buy the sweets. You have

:21:15.:21:19.

got to persuade people so they don't just do this at school but

:21:19.:21:23.

when they leave school they are in to help the team for the rest of

:21:23.:21:26.

their lives for the would you like to see big business stump up cash

:21:26.:21:33.

for this project? I'm not sure about that for I have to

:21:33.:21:38.

congratulate youth. You probably have a connection with young people

:21:38.:21:45.

that we don't. Glasgow is a particular difficult place. It's a

:21:45.:21:50.

huge issue. We're only beginning to understand the impact of food and

:21:50.:21:55.

the significance of it. Marketing is right. I think the whole debate

:21:55.:22:00.

is really interesting for the is lukewarm of political support here.

:22:00.:22:04.

This is exactly what I want to do, to get the discussion going. I went

:22:04.:22:07.

to schools last year for the bed- and-breakfast campaign across the

:22:07.:22:12.

country, and the standard of the meals was atrocious. The parents

:22:12.:22:22.
:22:22.:22:22.

don't know. The parents need educating. My plan, we have a

:22:22.:22:28.

healthy, I'm getting tongue-tied and excited... In some schools

:22:28.:22:31.

where they had help the school meals they had their health the

:22:31.:22:35.

shepherd's pie for lunch and they never knew what a shepherd's pie

:22:35.:22:41.

was when they went home. That would inspire the adults to, mum, we had

:22:41.:22:47.

this at school today. Just before you go, though, what about your

:22:47.:22:52.

political ambitions? I probably know as much about politics as you

:22:52.:23:02.
:23:02.:23:03.

I am passionate. I was a soldier because I believe in fighting for

:23:03.:23:11.

what was right. I would go for Labour. I don't know. The policies

:23:11.:23:14.

that hand-in-hand with the things I believe in but I'm not ready for

:23:14.:23:24.
:23:24.:23:27.

that. Not ready yet? I will talk to later on. The maybe one day. Is it

:23:27.:23:33.

true in Glasgow curry and chips is the healthy option? You should know.

:23:33.:23:38.

I have not been there for a while. I just wanted to check. Now, it's

:23:38.:23:41.

not just the shadow cabinet reshuffle. Westminster is ablaze

:23:41.:23:45.

with speculation about another series of crucial appointments.

:23:45.:23:48.

It's a bit a exaggeration! Tonight backbench Conservative MPs will be

:23:48.:23:51.

choose which colleagues should represent them on 1922 committee.

:23:51.:23:57.

The 301 group of MPs has put forward a full slate of candidates.

:23:57.:24:00.

Their success though hinges on the support of the 20-20 group of MPs.

:24:01.:24:04.

What influence the 40 group will wield is still unclear. If they

:24:04.:24:07.

abstain they could end up helping the 101 group's candidates win

:24:07.:24:12.

through. What do you mean you're not following me? Now, I'm told

:24:12.:24:15.

there are even some Conservative ministers who don't know their 301s

:24:15.:24:22.

from their 1922s. So here's a little quiz for you, Mark. Lucky

:24:22.:24:29.

you! Which of these MPs are members of which backbench grouping? Your

:24:29.:24:34.

MPs are: David Morris MP. Brandon Lewis MP. Alec Sherbrooke MP. Henry

:24:34.:24:37.

Collingridge MP. Your groups are: The 40 Group. The 2020 Group. The

:24:37.:24:47.
:24:47.:24:48.

301 Group. The 101 Group. First of all, Henry Collingridge is not an

:24:48.:24:53.

MP. I know the other three. I couldn't tell you which was in

:24:53.:24:58.

which group. Elections today for the 1922 Committee is a matter for

:24:59.:25:06.

backbenchers also. I don't know which groups they are end and I'm

:25:06.:25:12.

not even sure all of those groups exist. Let's see if Mark's got the

:25:12.:25:17.

answer right. He doesn't know any of the answers, so no change there,

:25:18.:25:23.

frankly. David Morris is in 40 Group. Whatever that is. Brandon

:25:23.:25:33.
:25:33.:25:35.

Lewis a member of the 2020 Group. Alec Sherbrooke a 301 man. And

:25:35.:25:41.

Henry Collingridge is not a real MP. He's a fictitious MP, a fictitious

:25:41.:25:44.

Prime Minister indeed from the drama House of Cards. And the 101

:25:44.:25:47.

group. That's a not a real conservative backbench grouping

:25:47.:25:56.

either. We made that up. You got two right. What do you say to Mark

:25:56.:25:59.

Pritchard, one able colleagues, but Downing Street should spend more

:25:59.:26:04.

time trying to fix the economy and less time trying to fix the 1922

:26:04.:26:08.

elections. It's about backbenchers and I don't believe everything I

:26:08.:26:13.

read in newspapers. They are not just at backbenchers. Ministerial

:26:13.:26:17.

aides had been allowed to vote. it was a decision by the 22

:26:17.:26:23.

executive. I'm going to let my backbench colleagues make the

:26:23.:26:31.

decisions today. You don't get to vote. No, quite right too. Graham

:26:31.:26:37.

Brady presents the user back benches to the Prime Minister.

:26:37.:26:43.

up 301 group of loyalists, they have been wined and dined in

:26:43.:26:47.

Downing Street to vote the right way. That's what they say in the

:26:47.:26:54.

papers also that's what they say. Are you in it? I have talked to

:26:54.:27:00.

them about government policy. It's good that there are so many groups

:27:00.:27:06.

of Conservative colleagues. It's a very vibrant parliamentary party.

:27:06.:27:12.

We discuss issues. You are divided, aren't you? No, all Conservative

:27:12.:27:21.

MPs are united. We want to win an overall Conservative majority.

:27:21.:27:25.

good news is, we have enough Conservative MPs to have a range of

:27:25.:27:32.

groups. We want a Conservative majority government up the next

:27:32.:27:38.

election to love and the right policies. That deliver the right

:27:38.:27:42.

policies. Just time to put you out of your misery and give you the

:27:43.:27:47.

answer to Guess The Year. The answer was 1966. You could tell

:27:47.:27:51.

that because nearly all the footage was black and white before we had

:27:51.:27:58.

colour TV. This is the red button. If you push that, you will get the

:27:58.:28:08.
:28:08.:28:15.

winner. Mary, in Lincolnshire. Alex, thanks very much for being here.

:28:15.:28:20.

Thanks to the two of you for joining us today. Thanks to our

:28:20.:28:23.

guests. The One O'Clock News is starting over on BBC One now. Jo

:28:23.:28:27.

will be back tomorrow at noon with all the big political stories of

:28:27.:28:32.

the day. You won't be joining me, will you? No, I have other things

:28:32.:28:39.

to do tonight, I'm afraid. I will be back on BBC One later. I'll be

:28:39.:28:42.

joined by music impresario Harvey Goldsmith. And we'll be discussing

:28:42.:28:46.

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