Browse content similar to 11/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Will Lords reform be the | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
issue that drives the coalition apart? Senior Lib Dems warn there | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
will be consequences if the bill doesn't get through parliament. MPs | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
voted in favour of Lords reform last night. But 91 Conservatives | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
voted against the plans, the biggest rebellion since the | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
coalition was formed. The government also doesn't have a | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
timetable for getting the bill through. So, is Nick Clegg's dream | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
now dead in the water? We will be talking to the minister responsible. | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
How should we pay for our care when we get old? It's a problem | :01:15. | :01:21. | |
politicians have been wrestling with for years. The government's | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
long awaited white paper on the issue will be published later today | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
but will it answer the big questions? | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
It should be a lively Prime Minister's Questions and we will | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
have all the action live at midday. And do young people know what | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
customer service is? We will be joined by the boss of one of | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
Britain's biggest retailers, who thinks the youth of today have got | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
a lot to learn. All that coming up in the next 90 | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
minutes of TV gold, a programme of Olympian proportions. And with us | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
today for this marathon are two of Westminster's most athletic minds. | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
The Constitutional reform minister Mark Harper. Not got much to do | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
these days of course! And we hope to be joined, although there is an | :02:11. | :02:18. | |
empty chair at the moment, by the shadow Olympics minister Dame Tessa | :02:18. | :02:26. | |
Jowell. She is stuck in traffic. With the Olympics, just get used to | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
it! We will let you know when the dame arrives but we don't do titles | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
here. She would just be Tessa Jowell to us. | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
Let's go to that a vote in the Commons. The government did win the | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
vote on the principle of the proposed reform to the Lords, with | :02:46. | :02:56. | |
:02:56. | :02:56. | ||
a handsome majority. But, it is a big but, it suffered its biggest | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
rebellion since it came to power. Yes, 91 Conservative MPs voted | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
against the plans. What's more, the government was forced to drop its | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
timetable for pushing the bill through. That throws the bill's | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
progress through parliament into doubt. In a moment we will be | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
hearing from one of those opponents but first, here's a flavour of the | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
debate yesterday. Mr Speaker, we have listened carefully to the | :03:16. | :03:24. | |
debate so far. LAUGHTER. Confident that we will get a significant | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
majority with a second reading, but for Lords reform to progress it | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
needs those who support reform to vote for reform and to vote for | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
that reform to make progress through this House. It is clear | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
that the opposition are not prepared to do that, so we will | :03:40. | :03:50. | |
:03:50. | :03:52. | ||
not... ALLOW Lord SPEAKING. It is clear that the opposition are not | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
prepared to do that so we will not move the programme to motion | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
tonight. Can I commend the government for the wisdom of its | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
decision? But can I put it to my right honourable friend that | :04:05. | :04:13. | |
whatever moral authority this bill had, it has now lost. The decision | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
to withdraw the programme motion is a victory for parliament. While we | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
support the second reading of the bill, we could not support the | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
government's attempts to curtail the motion and we welcome the fact | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
they have withdrawn the motion today. Can I make it clear that it | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
is the very substantial opposition from within the Conservative Party | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
that is responsible for the withdrawal of this motion and not | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
the Labour Party, and that should be perfectly clear. Shouldn't we | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
just go home? He knows it is all over, they know it is all over, we | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
have more important things to be debating. Let's call the whole | :04:56. | :05:06. | |
:05:06. | :05:08. | ||
shooting match off! The honourable gentleman can go home. LAUGHTER. | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
But the government plans to proceed with his legislative programme. | :05:11. | :05:21. | |
:05:21. | :05:33. | ||
Order! Order! The ayes to the right, 462. The noes to the left, 124. | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
That was yesterday's debate. Joining me now from the central | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
lobby of parliament is one of those Conservative rebels, Eleanor Laing. | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
Welcome to the programme. You must be pretty happy that the government | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
pulled the programme motion. I am pleased that democracy has spoken. | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
Those who want the bill say they want to expand democracy and that | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
is what has happened. The House of Commons has exerted its democratic | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
muscle against the government, that is what they say they want, the | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
government held to account, and that is what happened yesterday. | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
The government did the right thing in pausing the bills so further | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
negotiations can take place. there bill effectively dead or | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
suspended? I don't imagine it is dead but I am sure the minister | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
would enlighten us on that but it ought to be substantially amended | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
and now we have time for that. Those of us who are voting A | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
against the bill and planned to vote against the programme motion | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
simply wanted to have the full debate on this matter in a joint | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
committee report, and the House of Commons has not even debated the | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
Joint Committee report. In the eight months that the joint | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
committee looked at these measures, we realised there was far more to | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
this issue than eight tinkering with the House of Lords. It is | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
fundamental parliamentary reform and it deserves to be properly | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
looked at. Number 10 have said it is still possible to get the first | :07:07. | :07:15. | |
elected Peers imposition by the next election. It might be. The | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
government had a majority in the House of Lords so it might be butts | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
it should not be so until it has been properly considered. | :07:25. | :07:31. | |
Liberal Democrats say you have not kept your side of the bargain. A | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
deal is a deal. The coalition is a compromise, of course it is. It is | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
not be deal. Fundamental constitutional parliamentary reform | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
is not a bargaining chip for short- term political advantage. It should | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
not be used as such. That is an abuse of parliament. The coalition | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
agreement does not give Conservative MPs the right to vote | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
against a key piece of legislation. Every member of parliament has the | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
right to vote with their conscience on any matter. Thank you. | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
Still no sign of Tessa Jowell. I hope she realises now just how bad | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
the traffic is given to be during the Olympics. Clearly she has not | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
been allocated one of those lanes... Those of you not in London do not | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
realise that this city now has lanes that those in Moscow had for | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
the Politburo where only certain cars are allowed to travel. We are | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
joined in the studio by the Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster. I see in | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
the corner of the studio, the Dane has arrived! You might as well come | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
in, it is only television. Come and protect me because we are having | :08:49. | :08:56. | |
the Olympics knocked! I will not come to you first and since you | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
can't answer back I will say, now you know how bad the traffic will | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
be in the Olympics. That is cheap! Cheap but true! As the Prime | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
Minister said, we will take the summer and we will talk to | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
colleagues to see if there is a way to get to a position where we have | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
an agreed way forward. The bill got a very large majority at second | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
reading, son there is a clear sense in the House of Commons over ruled | :09:23. | :09:31. | |
that the principle of getting the first elections in 2015 is | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
supported, so we need to see if there is a way forward. 91 of your | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
colleagues voted against the principle. Probably even more would | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
have voted against the timetable had it come up. What makes you | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
think between now and September you can change the minds of so many | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
Conservatives? That is why we will not rush ahead. What makes you | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
think you can change their mind? All the rebels I have spoken to | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
will not change their mind. The government blinked, they backed | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
down, they have won. The House of Commons have set out support in | :10:10. | :10:17. | |
principle of the bill. I will come back to Labour in a minute... I | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
just want to say, it is a serious question and I don't understand | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
what the answer will be, which is how will you change their mind? | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
sat through days of debate, I met with colleagues myself so there are | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
a number of issues that colleagues have got about the implications of | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
the House of Lords reform. Some do not agree with the principle, some | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
are comfortable but they did not like some issues around the | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
electoral system... So you still think you can win a timetable | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
motion in September? We will speak with colleagues and the plan is to | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
then move forward in September with something we can get agreement on | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
but we do not know the solution until we have had those | :11:01. | :11:08. | |
conversations. We are all learning as we go along, if you fine you | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
don't think you can change your colleagues' mindss, you would bring | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
forward the timetable? You tend to look on the dockside of things, I | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
am a natural optimist -- on the black side of things. You have to | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
be! We will work with colleagues. That is the fourth time you will | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
work with colleagues. Let me speak to Don Foster. And we will make | :11:33. | :11:43. | |
:11:43. | :11:44. | ||
progress. We will see. You can have me back in September. These stories, | :11:44. | :11:54. | |
:11:54. | :11:56. | ||
Andrew! Honestly! You deputy leader, Simon Hughes, said there will be | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
consequences if the Tories do not stick to their side of the deal. | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
is very simple. Two opposing political parties came together | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
predominantly to solve the economic mess... A what will the | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
consequences be? I hope we will continue to work together | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
regardless of the outcome of this. The answer to your question is that | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
a number of my colleagues will find it more difficult in the future if | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
it is not delivered to support some of the more difficult decisions we | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
have to make. Time will tell. In English, it means that if | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
relationships are a bit more fractious, it makes it more | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
difficult to do a deal. A but what will the consequences be? No idea. | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
What I want to happen is what most people in the House of Commons | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
wants to happen. We have a number of Conservative colleagues to agree | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
with the principle of Lords reform, they don't like some of the detail, | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
we can accommodate that. Colleagues in the Labour Party are a bit | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
competes used as to whether they want more time -- a bit confused. | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
463 MPs want this to happen and we will find a way of making this | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
happen. You are filibustering! You know you are doing it! I can tell | :13:14. | :13:24. | |
:13:24. | :13:26. | ||
that you know! No! I want to bring tacit him. Either way, welcome. | :13:26. | :13:32. | |
I apologise to your viewers. Congratulations on your Dane had. | :13:32. | :13:42. | |
Though as you know, we don't do titles. -- Dame heard. You are | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
willing laboured to will the end and not the means. You will | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
therefore risk the end. First of all, the end is the problem between | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
the coalition parties. That is the first point. We are absolutely | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
clear that we support reform. There will obviously be discussions over | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
the summer about the possibilities of making progress but so profound | :14:07. | :14:15. | |
of the divisions in the Conservative Party... Mark is a | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
decent man and an optimist, but how they are going to heal these rifts | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
with their coalition partners is very hard to understand. The rift | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
would not matter if you back the government on the issue of which | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
you agree in principle. The let me answer that question. The risk of | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
that is that this very important constitutional legislation is | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
denied proper scrutiny. How much time do you want? It is not a | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
matter of apportioning and number of days. It is if you ever want it | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
to come out of the House of Commons. No, Mark. Just listen. The | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
challenge is to make sure that every single bit of the bill is | :14:58. | :15:05. | |
properly scrutinised in committee. I understand that. You cannot have | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
another 100 days. Can you tell me any major constitutional reform | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
that Labour has put through that did not have the timetable motion | :15:12. | :15:19. | |
with it? We have always actually gone to a referendum on major | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
constitutional change and that is one thing, one of the major | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
sticking points. But my point is, Tessa Jowell, every major reform | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
labour has proposed of the constitution, you have always | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
timetable to the bill so why would you not agree to this one? Because | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
we are concerned that proper scrutiny of the legislation will be | :15:43. | :15:53. | |
made impossible by filibustering, just a second... No, no. We brought | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
forward three sets, five sets of major constitutional change when we | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
were in government. Reform to the House of Lords, getting rid of | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
their hereditary Peers... The new timetable them all. This is | :16:08. | :16:18. | |
:16:18. | :16:22. | ||
That is a procedural detail on a failed... I am suitably admonished. | :16:22. | :16:30. | |
The principle remains that just as there were a clauses on the | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
boundaries built that what walked out and were not subject to proper | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
scrutiny, we have to make sure this legislation... What do you say to | :16:38. | :16:45. | |
that was back Tessa, please. Miller and says he wants this in | :16:45. | :16:51. | |
the House of Lords to be debated. - - Ed Miliband. We have to agree a | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
number of days, or we are prepared to have that discussion, but at no | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
point to the Labour Party say how many days. It employs you never get | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
to the end and you never make progress. Everyone who wants reform | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
to happen needs to help... Go to parliament which means there will | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
be no scrutiny... While the Lib Dems in such high dudgeon was Mac | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
21 Lib Dems voted against tuition fees and another eight abstained. | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
Now you're up up an arms because Conservatives of litigants house of | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
Lords reform. I am not sure we are in high dudgeon. A little low | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
dudgeon. It would have been great if the Conservatives had been able | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
to deliver the vote on the timetable motion on that -- in the | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
way we delivered on some difficult things. We have confidence that the | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
prime minister will work with his colleagues. He all right. Yes or | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
note. If you can't say yes or no, don't answer. Will we get Lords | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
reform was much on confident we will get some reforms in the House | :17:58. | :18:06. | |
of Lords. Some reform. As clear as mud. I think Don Foster goes... | :18:06. | :18:13. | |
Musical chairs. You'll have to change chairs. Not until he has | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
change chairs. Not until he has How we pay for our care when we get | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
old is one of the most pressing issues in politics. Ministers will | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
set out their plans later today for the future of social care in | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
England. The plans have been beset by delays so will this document | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
finally provide answers to the big questions? Jo. | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
There are few who would disagree that social care in England is in | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
that social care in England is in need of reform. But how you do that, | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
and how you pay for it, has been a headache for both Conservative and | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
Labour governments. The new White Paper suggests a "universal | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
deferred payment" scheme. This would offer a state loan to | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
pensioners moving into residential care so they do not have to sell | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
their homes immediately. At the moment, anyone with assets of more | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
than �23,250 has to pay for their own care. But the loan, with | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
interest, would be reclaimed after their death. There are also | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
proposals to cap the amount individuals will have to pay | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
towards nursing home fees. It's a contentious issue and it's not yet | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
clear what the level of the cap would be. Before the last election, | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
there were cross-party talks which ultimately broke down acrimoniously. | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
An independent review last year recommended that the cap should be | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
set at �35,000. Ministers are not yet expected to make specific | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
commitments. Here's what the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley had to say | :19:30. | :19:36. | |
Secretary Andrew Lansley had to say this morning. They are worried | :19:36. | :19:42. | |
about how we will be paid for. We have invested in social care, some | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
don't billion pounds through this column and. But in addition, one | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
will make clear that we are not only going to give people access to | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
loans scheme that means they don't have to sell the home to pay for | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
care, but in addition we support the principles which the deal not | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
commission set up but would set a cap on care costs, but we need to | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
establish, not least with the Spending Review as the basis for | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
this, how that is to be paid for in the future. Andrew Lansley. | :20:11. | :20:13. | |
We're joined now by the chief executive of the Alzheimer's | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
Society, Jeremy Hughes. How confident are you that there is | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
going to be some concrete agreement on how social care is funded quiz | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
mag unfortunately I don't think we were there for that any promises | :20:27. | :20:35. | |
about the funding. What the Goldman failed to do is make any commitment | :20:35. | :20:41. | |
on the funding. We have waited to years, we have had the commission, | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
on were read it will become but did not commission because the | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
Government doesn't seem to be committed to putting forward the | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
morning. Both parties or at all. There were cross-party talks that | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
were meant have happened in February, but they don't seem to | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
have happened. People are paying enormous costs for their own care, | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
nothing has been promised about fixing it. It needs to be addressed | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
urgently are not waiting for the Comprehensive Spending Review. The | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
review can tell us how much money we've got, but we need a discussion | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
on how what is spent. Shame on you box. People still don't know | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
whether they will have to pay for their own care when they're old. Do | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
you support the idea of a cap was much we've made it clear we support | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
the principle, but as soon as you get them to dealing with the | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
details, it is up paying for it what the Secretary of State has set | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
out his it will be dealt with through the Spending Review. We've | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
renounced some fondant in terms of more money from the health budget | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
to help with funding social care. We have announced the universal | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
deferred schemes that everybody will know they don't have to sell | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
their house within the lifetime and we have set up some positive... | :21:55. | :22:03. | |
That stops right to wake us might from 2015. -- that starts at Reuter | :22:03. | :22:13. | |
:22:13. | :22:14. | ||
Y equals Mac from 2015. Their relatives will have to sell it. | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
have a bizarre situation that the manger is a disease like cancer. | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
you have cancer at me what we did on the NHS or if you have dementia, | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
you don't have any support and you have to pay for rich deferred | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
payments is an improvement, but people are still paying enormous | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
costs. Tessa Jowell, Labour was in power for a long perk -- on and did | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
nothing at this in a broad sense. Support the idea of a cap at | :22:39. | :22:45. | |
�35,000 was marked we support the principles, but think action has to | :22:45. | :22:53. | |
be taken up. 1.4 million -- 1.4 billion has been returned from the | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
Department of Health to the Treasury. Why can't 700 million | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
offer be directed to local authorities to provide care for | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
frail elderly people in their own homes quotes Max I will come on to | :23:05. | :23:15. | |
:23:15. | :23:19. | ||
Does Labour support back �35,000 cap was Mark -- choir's Mac were | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
reduced support the principle of a cap. But the second thing is we've | :23:25. | :23:32. | |
got to agree proposals that a sustainable in the long term. | :23:32. | :23:41. | |
talks have been taking place. cross-border talks have broken down. | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
Rhino that Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall, are ready to resume those | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
cross-party talks at any Tonge. Most people watching at home will | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
feel it is ridiculous that we have spent 20 minutes talking to her | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
house will perform while at Houghton, as we do it, the Iraq | :23:59. | :24:09. | |
:24:09. | :24:33. | ||
Work we work that ends in his What would you like to see? | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
Presumably you would like to see something that clears up the issue | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
of what people have to do in terms of planning. The other issue is | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
about the health budget and the local authority budget and do you | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
think there should be a single budget that crosses those two, so | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
when an old person read something in their home, the authority | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
doesn't say, that is not us it is another authority. We are expecting | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
the white paper to say there will be more personal care budgets | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
provided to individuals. You can't have the same person managing two | :25:11. | :25:17. | |
budgets without proper support. We meet one system that supports | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
people in a joined-up way. -- we meet. The proposals we are | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
expecting this afternoon will not make any big difference, they are | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
talking another couple of hundred million pounds. All of the money | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
used so far has just reduced some of the cuts, it has not led to any | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
improvements. Colleagues had an extremely busy | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
week on the Daily Politics. You can see Roger Federer with his hands on | :25:50. | :25:57. | |
the prize there. No wonder Andy Murray was so upset. Also providing | :25:57. | :26:06. | |
comfort to Bob Diamond. All that it must be a boost to him now he is | :26:06. | :26:13. | |
not getting a multi-million pound pay-off. And speaking of France, | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
David Cameron you only one act of diplomacy could restore Anglo- | :26:17. | :26:26. | |
They do like their coffee in big mugs. It has been a busy week for | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
my little ceramic friend, but it's not over. One of you lucky people | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
can win this well-travelled consumption device. We will remind | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
you of how to enter in a minute, but let's see if you can remember | :26:40. | :26:50. | |
:26:50. | :26:52. | ||
This will be the first time that British voters will have been to | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
the polls on their way to school. shall certainly be voting | :26:58. | :27:08. | |
:27:08. | :27:43. | ||
Conservative. Every outbreak of There are men walking the streets | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
today with eggs in their pocket on the off-chance they will bump into | :27:46. | :27:56. | |
:27:56. | :28:23. | ||
# Just like me, they long to be The day to be me the chance of | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
winning, and a rendition of Karen winning, and a rendition of Karen | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
Carpenter by Andrew Neil, send your answers into us. You can see the | :28:34. | :28:42. | |
full terms of conditions on the website. The music he enjoyed when | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
he became middle-aged! You are very brave! I can hear the voice of Nick | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
Robinson. I thought it was going to be James Landale, but life is full | :28:53. | :29:00. | |
of disappointments. Coming up to midday. Let's take a look at Big | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
Ben before we look at cygnet. Prime Minister's Questions is on its way. | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
The final PMQs before the summer recess. A few things to talk about. | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
I think what will be intriguing is whether Ed Miliband wants to talk | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
about the House of Lords or not. He might calculate it is not the | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
biggest topic at the water cooler today, and maybe talk about social | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
care. Or will he be tempted, as it is the last one, to use it as a | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
theme for the Government being in a mess, for the coalition falling | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
apart? May be tempted to do that rather than talk about House of | :29:38. | :29:47. | |
Lords head on. You can be accused of writing the weekend report. | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
Those big summaries on a Sunday. What Ed Miliband wants is a phrase | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
like on the shambles for the Budget. A phrase or a thought. He has to go | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
wider. And also stick with the Government through the summer. | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
is true that the coalition heads into the summer he in pretty bad | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
shape. It is in chaos over House of Lords reform. The economy has | :30:10. | :30:15. | |
barely grown since 2009. All the time you have been in power it has | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
hardly grown. When you speak to Treasury officials of the record, | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
they now say, we don't expect much growth before 2015. It is pretty | :30:24. | :30:30. | |
grim. Per the economic difficulties, we all know what they are like. | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
That remains the Government's central proposition. It is part of | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
the reason we don't want to spend every day talking about a house of | :30:37. | :30:46. | |
Lords reform. I don't agree about the state of the coalition. But | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
relationships are very good. Of course there are tensions, there | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
are bound to be when you have two parties working together, but the | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
last government, with only one party, there were a lot of | :30:57. | :31:00. | |
attention saying that government, or worse than anything we have as | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
two parties working together to sort out these interests -- issues | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
in the notional interest. Who said it closed list system for electing | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
the House of Lords would be entirely undesirable? It would | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
entrench the powers of the party's? I did and we are not recommending | :31:16. | :31:24. | |
The police said we would not have a closed list. Let's see what is | :31:24. | :31:34. | |
:31:34. | :31:37. | ||
I am sure the whole House would wish to join me in paying tribute | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
to PC Ian Dibell who was shot and killed in Clacton-on-Sea on Monday. | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
Even though he was off duty at the time, he acted selflessly when he | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
saw members of the public at risk. This is typical of the behaviour of | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
our brave police force. His death is a reminder of the great debt we | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
owe it everybody in the police force and we send our deep | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues. In addition to | :32:05. | :32:15. | |
duties in this House I shall have further meetings later today. | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
am repeat the remarks that the Prime Minister made to the House | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
about the brave police officer who lost his life. Can the Prime | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
Minister explained why he is making it easier for corporate law to be | :32:26. | :32:33. | |
amended... So rich, copyright law to be amended by secondary | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
legislation? Does this have anything to do with the 23 meetings | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
that he and his ministers have had with Google? We are following the | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
recommendations of the Hargreaves Report recommissioned. It is | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
important that we update copyright law in this country and that is | :32:50. | :33:00. | |
:33:00. | :33:02. | ||
what we propose to do. A report into the York Hill child heart unit | :33:02. | :33:10. | |
in Glasgow says that the provision of paediatric intensive care may be | :33:10. | :33:19. | |
unsafe if critical issues are not addressed. It is now suggesting | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
that Leeds should be closed while Glasgow is not affected. It is | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
absurd and this review must be thrown out. He quite rightly speaks | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
up for his local hospital, an excellent hospital. My local | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
hospital has also not been selected under the safe and sustainable | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
review. I would say as prime minister and as a parent but we | :33:42. | :33:47. | |
have to recognise the operations that are being carried out are | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
incredibly complex and in the end, this review was led by clinicians | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
and it is about trying to save lives to make sure that we | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
specialise the most difficult work in a number of hospitals around the | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
country. I am sure that what really matters is that more parents don't | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
suffer the agony of losing their children because we do not have the | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
highest standards of care in the hospitals that are chosen. Can I | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to PC Ian Dibell. He | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
demonstrated extraordinary bravery well-being of duty. His selfless | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
act and his tragic death remind us what the police do for us right up | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
and down this country and I am sure there are condolences of the House | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
go to his family and friends. At this last Question Time before | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
the recess, can I remind the Prime Minister what he said before the | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
election when asked why he wanted to be Prime Minister. With | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
characteristic humility, he said: Because I think I'd be good at it. | :34:52. | :35:02. | |
:35:02. | :35:07. | ||
LAUGHTER. Mr Speaker, where did it all go wrong? It is this government | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
that has kept benefits, that has capped immigration, that has taken | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
two million out of tax, that has cut taxes for 25 million people, | :35:17. | :35:23. | |
Cup the fuel duty, increased NHS spending and cut the deficit by | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
25%! I cannot read out the list of all the things he got wrong, we | :35:27. | :35:34. | |
haven't got time! They are obviously well with today, it is a | :35:34. | :35:42. | |
shame it didn't happen last night! Last night, he lost control of his | :35:42. | :35:49. | |
party and not for the first time, he lost his temper as well. Because | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
we understand it was fisticuffs in the lobby with the member for | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
Hereford and south Hertfordshire. I notice that the posh boys have | :36:00. | :36:07. | |
ordered him off the estate today! Who does the Prime Minister blame | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
most for the disarray in his government? The Liberal Democrats | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
or his own backbenchers? Is the best he can do today is a bunch of | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
tittle-tattle Andrew Marr... How utterly pathetic! -- tittle-tattle | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
and rumours. On the day we are introducing social reform that will | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
help people up and down the country, we get half-baked gossip. If we | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
want to see House of Lords reform, all of those who support House of | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
Lords reform need to not only vote for House of Lords reform but | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
support to the means to bring that reform about. He came to the House | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
of Commons yesterday determined to vote yes and then vote no. How | :36:53. | :37:00. | |
utterly pathetic! It is the same old story with the Prime Minister. | :37:00. | :37:06. | |
He blames everybody other than himself. The government is a | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
shambles and he blames the leader of the opposition. That is what it | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
has come to. But Mr Speaker, his problems to the start last night. | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
They started months ago with the part-time Chancellor's budget. | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
Because they make the wrongs choices and they stand up for the | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
wrong people. So can he remind us after all of the U-turns when he | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
still thinks it is right to give a banker earning a million pounds a | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
�40,000 income tax cuts next April? It was the Chancellor's budget that | :37:40. | :37:46. | |
cut taxes for 25 million working people! That it two million people | :37:46. | :37:53. | |
out of tax! -- that took it! And has left us with a top rate of tax | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
that was higher than any of the times he and his neighbour were in | :37:57. | :38:03. | |
the Treasury, literally it wrecking the British economy. No answer on | :38:03. | :38:10. | |
his millionaire's tax cuts and we will keep asking the question! If | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
he is raising taxes on ordinary families and pensioners and he is | :38:14. | :38:20. | |
cutting tax on millionaires...! They say they are not raising taxes. | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
Can he therefore explain what has not been explained... He says I am | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
weak. What can be weaker than having 91 people vote against you | :38:30. | :38:37. | |
in the House of Commons!? Can he explain what has not been explained | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
since the Budget. Why it is it fair when you are cutting taxes for | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
millionaires to ask pensioners to pay more? | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
We increased pensioner's weekly income by �5.30, the biggest | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
increase in the pension in the history of the pension! What the | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
Budget did his cut taxes for every working person in the country, take | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
two million people out of tax, the top rate of tax change was paid | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
more than four times over by the richest people, and that compares | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
with what we were left by the party opposite! The most indebted | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
households, the biggest budget deficit in Europe and never wants | :39:18. | :39:24. | |
an apology for the mess they left this country him! No answer on the | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
disarray in his government, no answer on the tax cuts for | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
millionaires, no answer on a tax rise for pensioners. Perhaps he has | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
an odd sock on the biggest issue. He said in the new year, we have | :39:37. | :39:42. | |
got to do more to bring the economy back to health. What has he | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
delivered since then? A double-dip recession made in Downing Street. | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
Isn't the reality of the biggest failure facing the government is | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
not the programme motion on Lords reform, it is their whole economic | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
plan? It is under this government we got 800,000 more private sector | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
jobs, inflation is down, unemployment is down, interest | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
rates are at a record low, we are now a net exporter of cars for the | :40:10. | :40:15. | |
first time since 1976, we completed the biggest construction project in | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
Europe, which is the Olympics, we have started the next biggest | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
project, which is CrossRail, this government set up the enterprise | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
zones, has backed apprenticeships, has seen business rebalance in this | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
country and we will never forget what we were left by the party | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
opposite! They were bailing out eurozone countries with taxpayers' | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
money, they were paying �100,000 for just one family's housing | :40:42. | :40:50. | |
benefit, they had gun-control well- fed, uncontrolled immigration, -- | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
UN controlled welfare. Never has so much been borrowed, never has so | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
much been wasted, never have so many people been let down and this | :40:59. | :41:09. | |
:41:09. | :41:09. | ||
country will never forgive them for what they did! SHOUTING. The more | :41:09. | :41:19. | |
:41:19. | :41:24. | ||
red he gets, the less he convinces people! Order! Order! Order! | :41:24. | :41:30. | |
Members on both sides of the House now need to calm down. That is all | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
there is to it. Ed Miliband. It is the same lecture we have had on the | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
economy for the last two years and things are getting worse, not | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
better, and every time he gets up with that list of statistics you | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
just shows how out of touch he is. Tax cuts for millionaires, double- | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
dip recession, you terms of doing U-turns, isn't the truth is that he | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
did not just lose the confidence of his party last night, he is losing | :41:59. | :42:09. | |
the confidence of the country? -- U-turns of do you. There is only | :42:09. | :42:15. | |
one person going red, and that is read Ed Miliband! Who backed Red | :42:15. | :42:24. | |
Ken Livingstone? Red Len McCluskey? He proposed �30 billion of more | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
spending? Who has given up... Apologies, order. The Prime | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
Minister's answers must, and however long it takes, they will be | :42:35. | :42:42. | |
heard. Let's take what he has done in the last year. He opposed a | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
welfare cap, and immigration cap, a housing benefit cap, he opposed | :42:45. | :42:53. | |
every thing of the government proposed. We know what he is | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
against but when will we find out what he is for? This government has | :42:58. | :43:08. | |
:43:08. | :43:10. | ||
a great record on educational reform! The huge success of the | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
University Technical College initiative! Will the Prime Minister | :43:13. | :43:19. | |
please confirm he will support a further round of abdication as this | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
autumn and that funding is available so that businesses, | :43:23. | :43:33. | |
:43:33. | :43:38. | ||
universities... INAUDIBLE. SHOUTING. Very good to see the honourable | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
lady on such feisty form. She's absolutely right to speak up for | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
university technical colleges. These are a great addition to the | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
schools we have our country. They really are a really high profile | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
way to have proper vocational education so we can give young | :43:55. | :44:04. | |
people the skills they need to have a great career in the future. | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
Monday June 25th, the Health Secretary announced a possibly | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
administration of the NHS Trust that covers Bexley, Bromley and | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
Greenwich and that night he met with the members for Bexley and | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
Bromley. Despite the Greenwich members asking for such a meeting, | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
at this moment in time there's no date in the diary and no date | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
forthcoming. How can the Prime Minister explain to me why the | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
residents of Greenwich are not given the same respect by his | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
minister as the residents of Bexley and Bromley? I think the honourable | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
lady raises the important point. It's a difficult situation that has | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
taken place at his NHS Trust. It is quite right that the Health | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
Secretary is using the powers that were put in place by the last | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
government to deal with these issues. It is partly because of the | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
PFI contracts that are unsustainable. I will take | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
seriously what she says it and see if I can arrange a meeting between | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
her and one of the health ministers to discuss this issue. In my | :45:02. | :45:04. | |
constituency of North West Leicestershire keep the average | :45:04. | :45:10. | |
pre-tax income is just under �25,000 a year. Does my right | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
honourable friend a sense -- share my sense of incredulity that the | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
party opposite still want the benefits cap of �26,000 a year | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
after tax? Doesn't is demonstrate he was really on the side of hard- | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
working families? I think my honourable friend makes an | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
important point. They came to the House of Commons and said they | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
would back a welfare cap, but they opposed a well-fed cat. He is right. | :45:33. | :45:42. | |
It shows he was on the side -- it shows who is on the side of those | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
who want to work hard. We backed the workers, they backed the | :45:46. | :45:56. | |
shirkers. The 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers is to | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
be disbanded. This means 600 soldiers are facing redundancy. | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
This is a battalion and a regiment with a proud history of service to | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
this country. Will the prime minister not reconsider the cuts to | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
this Battalion? What I would say to the honourable gentleman, we looked | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
at this issue very carefully and took our time, which many times we | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
are criticised for, to make sure we got this right. I do think the | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
decision to have a smaller regular army of 80,000, but a much larger | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
reserve force, at over 30,000, is the right balance. The Government | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
is putting �1.5 billion into building up those reserves and I | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
hope members across the House will help with the process of | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
encouraging employers to allow territorial army reservists to | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
serve their country. We've made sure no existing regimental names | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
or cap badges will be lost so it is the right package for the future. | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
On Sunday, independent observers hailed the first free elections in | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
Libya for 47 years as broadly free and transparent and offering real | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
hope for the future. Does my right Friend agree -- right honourable | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
friend agree with me that we should congratulate the Libyan people on | :47:11. | :47:16. | |
the progress they have made since the struggle to overthrow with the | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
brutal to state to ship, and the message this sends other, including | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
Aung San Suu Kyi, who yearn for democracy in their own country. | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
sure my honourable friend speaks for the whole house and the country | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
in sending congratulations to the Libyan people for what looked like | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
successful elections. It was a year ago that things did not look as if | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
everything would turn out well in Libya. I'm proud of the fact that | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
the NATO alliance and this country stay true to the course and helped | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
to secure the right outcome in Libya and those people now have the | :47:48. | :47:51. | |
chance of successful democracy and prosperity that is denied to too | :47:51. | :47:57. | |
many in this world. He hit the North West London NHS is currently | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
consulting on the closure of four out of nine accident and emergency | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
units. The medical director has said north-west London would | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
literally run out of money if these closures don't go ahead. What kind | :48:09. | :48:15. | |
of consultation is it that poses a choice between the closure of half | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
of the accident and emergency unit in north-west London and a | :48:18. | :48:24. | |
potential bankrupting of the local NHS? On the issue of money, we have | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
put �12.5 billion extra into the NHS. That is a decision that her | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
party opposes answer is that extra spending for the NHS is | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
irresponsible. We will make sure that all consultations are probably | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
carried out. A patch properly carried out. And we want to make | :48:42. | :48:51. | |
sure we have Kafka access to and Pay has my right honourable | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
friend's attention been drawn to be a's adverse assessment that the | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
regular train service to Stansted Airport takes 47 minutes, which is | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
not universally correct across the timetable and in any case is too | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
long. Will he commit to a major upgrade it -- upgrade of the West | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
Anglia line so airport passengers can get a truly fast service that | :49:14. | :49:20. | |
my constituents deserve? understand why the my honourable | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
friend wants to speak up for people in his constituency who want her to | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
train service. As part of the new rail franchise in East Anglia, he | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
will be asking bidders to propose affordable Investment aimed at | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
improving services and I'm sure they will listen carefully to what | :49:37. | :49:43. | |
he said today. He had the Government rightly donates to | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
billions in overseas aid to developing countries, including | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
India, to eradicate poverty and disease. Despite this, the Canadian | :49:51. | :49:58. | |
government, including the Government of Quebec, are to invest | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
$58 million in asbestos producing mines, not for use in Canada, of | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
course, but to export to developing countries, including India, which | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
will put thousands of poor people at risk from the deadly asbestosis. | :50:11. | :50:18. | |
Will the Prime Minister and the International Development Secretary | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
per encourage international communities, including the World | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
Health Organisation, to oppose this outrageous decision? I will be | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
seeing their head of the World Health Organisation later today so | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
I can raise this issue with him. Asbestos is banned in the UK, the | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
EU and other countries. We are opposed to its use anywhere and | :50:38. | :50:42. | |
would deplore its supply to developing countries. If it does | :50:42. | :50:49. | |
not supply funds and... We are not aware that Dafydd funds have been | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
used in that way at all. I would take urgent action if that were the | :50:53. | :51:02. | |
case. On September fourth, the European Court of Human Rights is | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
hearing the case of the lady who lost her job at British Airways for | :51:08. | :51:12. | |
wearing a crucifix as a mark of her Christianity. The behaviour of | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
British Airways was a disgraceful piece of political correctness. He | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
I was surprised to receive the Government is resisting her appeal. | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
I can't believe that the Government is supporting this suppression of | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
religious freedom in the workplace so what are we going to do about | :51:30. | :51:36. | |
this sad case? For once I can say I wholeheartedly agree with my right | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
honourable friend. I fully support the right of people to wear | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
religious symbols at work. It is absolutely a vital religious | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
freedom. What we will do is if it turns out that the law has the | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
intention, as has come out in this case, we will change the law and | :51:51. | :51:58. | |
make clear that people can wear religious emblems at work. He does | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
the Prime Minister accept the findings of the Independent Action | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
for children report which shows that by 2015, the most vulnerable | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
families with children in this country, including those in | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
employment, will lose up to �3,000 a year because of this Government's | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
policies? At a time when millionaires are getting tax cut of | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
over 40,000 at the year, can he say we really are all in this together? | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
High I know the report he quotes doesn't actually include some of | :52:25. | :52:30. | |
the steps we have taken, like providing more nursery a education | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
for disadvantaged to Urals. If he looks at Universal Credit and the | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
design of Europe reversal credit, we will be helping parents with the | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
most disabled children to make sure they get the help they need. Will | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
the Prime Minister comment on the worrying stand-off between the | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
Egyptian military, who are clearly trying to cling on to power in | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
defiance of the Arab Spring, and as the Mohamed Morsi, who may not be a | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
liberal Catholic report -- liberal or conservative, but his Democratic | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
League elected? I've been very struck by what the president-elect | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
has said about how he wants to govern on behalf of everyone | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
Chinook Egypt, how he wants to respect religious and other | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
freedoms and I hope he the current tension can be resolved. But people | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
have to respect the Derek -- democratic will of the Egyptian | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
people as they expressed it. At the last election the Prime Minister | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
promised the pensioner's bus passes were say. Will he reject calls from | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
the Lib Dems and now from his close ally the honourable member for | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
Grantham and Stamford and categorically rule out means | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
testing of bus passes, including in his manifesto for the next general | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
election? As the honourable lady will know, at the last election I | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
made it clear promise about a bus passes, TV licences, winter fuel | :53:49. | :53:57. | |
payments. We are keeping all of those promises. Paul as Melinda | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
Gates has recently said, women in developing countries want to raise | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
healthy and educated children who can contribute to communities. | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
Would my right honourable friend agree that one of the ways we can | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
support this is to help those who wish to plan their family to do so? | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
I think the honourable lady is absolutely right. Later today I | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
will be speaking at a seminar event with Melinda Gates and a whole | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
range of leaders from across Africa and other parts of the developing | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
world about exactly this issue. We should be doing more to allow | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
mothers access to birth control so they can plan their family size. | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
The evidence shows that as countries develop, family size does | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
reduce and populations become more sustainable, but we should help | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
people plan that process. It is not about telling people what to do, it | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
is about allowing people the choice that in his country we take for | :54:47. | :54:53. | |
granted. Members will know that St Patrick, a Roman Britain, respected | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
by all traditions in Ireland, is a unifying figure. He established his | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
mission in my constituency of South Down, where today many people of | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
all faiths, drawing on his legacy, work unstintingly to build peace | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
across the divide. Will the Prime Minister, when next in Northern | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
Ireland, perhaps during the Olympics, come to San Patrick | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
Stewart country, meet with these people and which this -- witness | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
his unique heritage for himself and where he will not find any rebel | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
Tories? I don't know whether the honourable lady can guarantee that! | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
We do have an active branch in Northern Ireland and I'm sure... It | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
is an intriguing and very kind invitation. I hope that the | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
Olympics will bring the whole of a United Kingdom together. The torch | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
relay has already helped to achieve that and I was very privileged to | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
see it in my own constituency. She makes an intriguing invitation and | :55:54. | :56:00. | |
if I can take it up, I will. One of the success stories of this | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
government is in its commitment to rural community and farming. Today | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
nearly 2000 dairy farmers are meeting in Westminster to fight | :56:08. | :56:14. | |
drastic reductions of milk prices. Will the Prime Minister join them | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
in their fight to get a fair deal for their product? I think my | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
honourable friend is absolutely right to speak up for British | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
farmers. He does an extremely good job in doing that. This government | :56:25. | :56:30. | |
is investing in our countryside, not least we the rural broadband | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
programme, but we want to see a fairer deal between farmers and | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
supermarkets so we will be legislating. I can also tell him | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
that today we are announcing �5 million extra in additional funds | :56:41. | :56:44. | |
under the rural economy grant scheme and that can help to make | :56:44. | :56:53. | |
our dairy industry more competitive. What will the prime minister say to | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
the 150,000 adults that the Government itself estimates will be | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
denied a second chance for education as a result of their | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
plans to charge full-cost fees to over 24 year-olds studying A-level | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
and equivalent programmes and access courses? There will be a | :57:11. | :57:18. | |
full statement about this issue this week. It is important fact we | :57:18. | :57:21. | |
expand per further education opportunities. If we are going to | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
expand those, we need to adapt fast be clear about how to pay for them. | :57:25. | :57:30. | |
That is what we repeatedly get about Bath from the party opposite. | :57:30. | :57:37. | |
Absolutely no idea how they would pay for any of their policies. | :57:37. | :57:43. | |
government has achieved a great deal and the last two years. -- | :57:43. | :57:50. | |
deer last two years. Didn't that new issues are emerging, doesn't | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
the Prime Minister agree with me that now would be a good time for | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
the political parties to review the coalition agreement for the future? | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
He I absolutely agree that in a coalition, you need to keep working | :58:03. | :58:10. | |
out the next set of things you want to achieve. This coalition has | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
achieved cuts to corporation tax, taking people out of income tax, a | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
massive expansion in terms of trust schools, a huge contribution to the | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
health service that is now performing better than at any time | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
and the last decade, and I'm committed to making sure we now | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
look at the next steps we want to take to make our country a better | :58:28. | :58:38. | |
:58:38. | :58:41. | ||
A grandfather from Gwent far has a grandson returning from Afghanistan. | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
20,000 soldiers face losing their jobs. Labour has persuaded big | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
firms like John Lewis to guarantee a job veteran -- veterans a job | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
interview. Will the prime minister get the private sector to do the | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
same? I welcome what the honourable gentleman says. We should do | :58:57. | :59:00. | |
everything we can to work with employers, either in the public or | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
private sector, to help find her ex-service personnel jobs. They are | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
people who have been trained brilliantly and contributed | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
incredibly to our country and I'm sure we can do more to help them. | :59:12. | :59:16. | |
For instance, in the public sector, the education secretary has a | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
programme of troops to teach us to cry to get people who have served | :59:20. | :59:27. | |
our country to inspire further generations. On the prime ministers | :59:27. | :59:33. | |
watch, the army will be reduced to its smallest size since 1750 and | :59:34. | :59:38. | |
half the size it was at the time of the Falklands war. Does he accept | :59:38. | :59:42. | |
that history is not kind to prime ministers who are perceived to have | :59:42. | :59:52. | |
:59:52. | :59:52. | ||
left our country without a strong defence capability? By no per he | :59:52. | :59:59. | |
speaks with great power about military issues. And if you look at | :59:59. | :00:04. | |
the overall balance of what we are doing, 80,000 regular soldiers, | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
30,000 TA, fully funded, will mean the army is a similar size after | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
these reforms to what it was before. Much the most important thing is we | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
inherited a �38 billion deficit in our defence budget. We have closed | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
or deficit, it is now fully funded. We have some huge investments going | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
ahead for the army, the Navy and the air force and this country | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
under this coalition government will always be well-defended. | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
the Prime Minister assist the House and tell us when the Chancellor of | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
the Exchequer is going to take the advice of the member for South | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
Northamptonshire, admit he made false allegations last week and | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
finally apologise? If we look at what might right honourable friend | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
the Chancellor said, he said that the Shadow Chancellor had some | :00:54. | :01:02. | |
questions to answer. I'm not sure there's anyone in this House who | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
doesn't think the Shadow Chancellor has some questions to answer. | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
Perhaps before we break for the summer, we should remember one or | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
two of those questions. Ruud is on the regulatory system that failed? | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
Who go or city minister when Northern Rock was selling 110% | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
mortgages? Who advised the Chancellor and the prime minister | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
that there was no more boom and bust? Who helped create the biggest | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
boom and biggest bust and he has never apologised for the dreadful | :01:32. | :01:42. | |
:01:42. | :01:42. | ||
record he had in Office? Shrewsbury remains the only county town in | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
England without a direct rail service to our capital city. When | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
the new rail franchises are apportioned in August, will the | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
Prime isn't just or use his good office to ensure that government | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
does everything possible to ensure Shrewsbury is connected to London? | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
My honourable friend always speaks up for Shrewsbury. He's right that | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
when these franchises are looked at, there are opportunities to make the | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
case for more investment and for more services and I'm sure the rail | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
operators and others will listen very closely to what he said today. | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
Per my constituent is recovering from cancer. But she has had her | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
ESA's stopped after 365 days. The Government's consultation on | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
changing this rule ended in March. When are we going to see justice | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
for the 7,000 cancer patients in this situation? I have looked | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
carefully at this case and I know she has now had a response from the | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
minister about this issue. There are two types of ESA. 1 Where | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
there's opponents' support and it is not means tested, and another | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
where there's means testing after a year. We are making sure that more | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
people with cancer are getting more help and more treatment and I think | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
that is very important. It is absolutely right there are two | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
forms of allowance for those people who can't work, who did genuinely | :03:08. | :03:18. | |
:03:18. | :03:22. | ||
can't work or prepare for work, get Prime Minister's Questions comes to | :03:22. | :03:32. | |
:03:32. | :03:34. | ||
amend. There will not be another one until the fifth September. The | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
party conference season begins at the end of September. As Nick | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
Robinson said, the leader of the opposition used the coalition's | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
problems over House of Lords reform to paint a wider picture of the | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
general problems of the coalition, particularly of the economy and the | :03:52. | :04:02. | |
:04:02. | :04:05. | ||
fact we are in a double-dip Mark in Dudley says, it strikes me | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
that David Cameron is living in a political parallel universe because | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
he is out-of-touch with reality. Stephen agreed, Ed Miliband clearly | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
won the argument, me keep some rising the government's shambles. | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
But Jaqueline says, if all Ed Miliband can come up with his | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
tittle-tattle, the bottom of the barrel has been found. And David | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
from Bury St Edmonds said, terrible stuff from Ed Miliband. Schoolboy | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
stuff and attempts at pathetic point-scoring totally irrelevant. | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
But quite a few people agreed with Marjorie: I feel depressed with all | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
three parties. If this is democracy at work, it is not very effective. | :04:51. | :04:58. | |
I feel a plague on all your houses. And if no party do is do the right | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
thing on care for the elderly because of a backlash, I fear for | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
the future of. There was a time when the coalition | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
would go to a second round but my understanding is that they will not | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
attempt a second coalition agreement to see them through, | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
which suggests that if they can't get House of Lords reform through, | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
what else can they give Nick Clegg? It is not obvious. One of the | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
reasons I don't think they are in quite the panic they might have | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
been is that it is not pushing him that much legislation. This | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
government does not have a huge legislative agenda. The | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
Conservatives have their mind on bringing back things they believe | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
are popular for them before the election, another Welfare Bill and | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
an education bill, but there is not that sort of legislation being | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
driven through. So we are in this row about the nature of the | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
coalition deal. Wasn't it interesting that a Tory backbencher | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
wanted to embarrass the Prime Minister by asking whether it was | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
time to renegotiate the coalition agreement? The Lib Dems say, there | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
was a deal, we give you what you want and we get House of Lords | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
reform. The Tories say, that is not the deal. We gave you a referendum | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
on changing the voting system. We never promised to Lord's reform. | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
You can see the tension about what to do next. Do you hear more voices | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
saying that they think at some stage the coalition will goad its | :06:36. | :06:44. | |
separate ways in 2014? Not that it would provoke an election, but that | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
they will go their separate ways because both the Conservatives and | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
the Lib Dems want to establish their own identities again and it | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
will be a supply in confidence minority Conservative government. | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
Yes, the question is when. Everybody has agreed there will | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
come a point, and particularly when we know the date of an election. | :07:08. | :07:15. | |
Never forget what a big issue that is. It is made it 2015. There will | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
come at a point when the Lib Dems will say, we give the government if | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
every support so it survives but we are now a certain our separate | :07:25. | :07:31. | |
identity. Sorry to move away but one other thought about what the | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
view was said. Never forget the contrast between where we are now | :07:35. | :07:43. | |
on the eve of this holiday and the eve of the Christmas holiday. I | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
would have said that at Christmas Ed Miliband had a pretty miserable | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
PMQs before Christmas. The opinion polls were bad and the talk around | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
the Labour Party will, what are we going to do? Oh my God. Look at the | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
transformation. It is a total transformation. You know have a | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
leader of the Labour party feeling absolutely confident in PMQs, | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
commanding it in many ways, embarrassing his opponents. He has | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
a significant lead in the polls. He is mocking the government. A | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
coalition that is in trouble not just between themselves but between | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
the Tory backbenchers and the Conservatives. It was almost | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
inconceivable at Christmas that Ed Miliband would be able to have the | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
thought of performance that he did today. He will go into the summer | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
knowing that lots of the was do not much like this but on the other | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
hand, it is the government that is in crisis and not him. If the | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
economy is in for several years of more hard pounding, which everybody | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
from the Chancellor and the Cabinet Secretary downwards suggests that | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
we are, the original coalition plan that living standards would be | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
rising, if that does not happen by 2015 and if you have a coalition | :08:59. | :09:07. | |
increasingly fractious, she did a betting man put money on Labour | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
being at least the largest party at the next election -- shouldn't | :09:10. | :09:18. | |
abetting man? No. The economic situation is tough and we know that. | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
But it is worth remembering that the private sector is doing what we | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
said, it is not growing as fast as we hoped, largely because people | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
are being very disciplined. Companies are being flexible. | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
Unions in the private sector, we have seen that in the car industry, | :09:36. | :09:43. | |
very sensible deals. It is difficult. Mick is right, there is | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
not a massive legislative programme. That comes back to abate we were | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
having yesterday. Government is not just about passing an enormous | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
quantity of bills. It is about using the legislation we have used, | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
delivering one all of those things, not passing more and more and more | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
pills. I understand that but if you could not win an overall majority | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930s and up | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
against the most unpopular prime minister since records began, what | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
makes you think you have any chance of a majority in 2015 after five | :10:19. | :10:26. | |
years of hard, economic times? had fewer than 200 seats. We gained | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
the largest number of scenes that we have gained ever. But we had a | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
massive mountain to climb. What would make cute game more after | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
five years of almost no growth? -- what would make you get more? | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
Because the voters will look at the context, like the eurozone, the | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
difficult decisions we make to deal with the deficit, get finances | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
under control, and they look at what could have been. They are | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
looking at that now and Labour is between 10 and 15 points ahead in | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
the polls. But that often happens in the mid-term. As we get closer | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
to the election, people will ask themselves not just about us but | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
about the alternative and I think they will say they want David | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
Cameron to continue as Prime Minister and we will set out that | :11:16. | :11:24. | |
case. I will ask is personally, not as a politician. -- I will ask this | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
personally. If Labour did end up as the largest party, as the polls | :11:29. | :11:36. | |
suggest, although the elections are a long way away, would it be your | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
view that they should... If they went in with the Lib Dems they | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
would have an overall majority. Do you think they should stay as a | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
minority government, like Harold Wilson in 74, or do a deal with the | :11:51. | :12:00. | |
Lib Dems? It depends on so many things, Andrew. Certainly I think | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
that increasingly people feel that Ed Miliband and Labour is talking | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
the language and talking about the things that matter to them. He | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
seems to have the right priorities. If after the next election, and | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
particularly if the boundary changes go through, we would expect | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
my Meg Munn but seems to be down, of course if we were the largest | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
party it would be crazy not to enter into discussions with other | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
parties -- we would expect our numbers to beat down. But it would | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
be on the basis to carry a legislative programme, not, as this | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
government is, a discredited day-in day-out irrelevance which diverts | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
from the things that really matters in this country. It is the end of | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
term, speculating way ahead, but remember one of the big reasons | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
Gordon Brown could not form a coalition with the Liberal | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
Democrats is that there were used, not weeks and months and even days | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
after the election, there we use of anger of the Liberal Democrats to | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
Gordon Brown. -- there were years. The Lords reform for Labour is | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
quite important. If the perception of the Liberal Democrats is that | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
the Labour Party screwed up the Lord reform, do you think they will | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
be saying, we must give Ed Miliband a parliamentary majority? It is a | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
very interesting calculation in the mind of the Labour leader. On the | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
one hand, any opposition would want to have government and the way to | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
do that is to refuse to co-operate on Lords reform. On the other hand, | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
if you are playing the medium term game, how can you persuade, not | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
Nick Clegg because I don't think Ed Miliband would ever do a deal with | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
Nick Clegg, more likely Vince Cable, how to convince him we are serious | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
about corporate politics in the way the Labour Party are used to be if | :14:03. | :14:09. | |
Labour are now seem to be playing games about Lords reform? My Labour | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
sources tell me they believe that come the election, the Lib Dems | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
will be so diminished in numbers and so toxic as a concept that they | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
would rather form a minority government. Nick is right to say we | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
are talking about circumstances in two-and-a-half years and we do not | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
know. On the point about Lords Reform Bill, that presupposes that | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
the Lords reform holds the degree of importance across the Liberal | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
Democrats that it does on Nick Clegg. It is important not to | :14:40. | :14:47. | |
underestimate -- underestimate the degree to which he is personally | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
invested in this. We have to leave it there. Debut for being with us. | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
See you in September. -- thank you for being with us. It might as well | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
Rain Until September. It will! might have a nice September, that | :15:06. | :15:15. | |
is what they always say. What to do with the youth of today? It's a | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
perennial question, and with youth unemployment at just over a million, | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
a big problem for the government. But what if young people aren't | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
even up to the job and don't have the skills required for the | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
workplace? Well, one business man thinks he has the answer. Here's | :15:27. | :15:34. | |
Colin Smith, chairman of Poundland, To have worked in retell for most | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
of my life. Businesses that have employed tens of thousands and we | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
have sought to employ those who are motivated to work and to learn and | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
who are enthusiastic, confident and with an aspiration to succeed. | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
These are the ideal colleagues for any business, but finding them has | :15:53. | :16:03. | |
:16:03. | :16:07. | ||
Recently, I read about a major supermarket recruiting staff for | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
everyday activities like working on the tail for serving customers. The | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
supermarket reported no problems in filling their positions, but three- | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
quarters of those higher it had to be sent for remedial creed job | :16:23. | :16:32. | |
training before they could start I've experienced similar problems. | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
Over the years, I've become disappointed at the inability of | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
young people to access job opportunities because of their lack | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
of basic but crucial life skills. The ability to communicate with | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
people other than their close friends. The capacity to work | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
together and to co-operate with people they might not have met | :16:55. | :17:01. | |
before. The willingness to listen to the opinions of others. And even | :17:01. | :17:11. | |
:17:11. | :17:13. | ||
the ability to turn up for work on Business leaders must play their | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
part in preparing young people for work. They need to open their doors | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
to young people, even if it is only for a few hours, to give them an | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
insight into what work really is. They need to become involved in | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
schemes in their communities, such as the challenge, to help generate | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
the next generation of business leaders, to give young people a | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
stake in society, and a feeling of self-worth and a chance to succeed | :17:41. | :17:48. | |
in whatever they do. We are joined by Colin Smith. You | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
mentioned the challenge, which is a charity you run. What does it do? | :17:54. | :18:01. | |
It runs intensive programmes for young people, 15 and 16 year-olds. | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
It helps them learn how to build relationships, to improve their | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
understanding of other people from a wide variety of backgrounds, and | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
also built the really important soft skills, teamwork, leadership, | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
and building confidence. One of the things we dust -- discussed before | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
is the number of Saturday jobs have diminished over the years for 16 | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
year-olds, the really young people. Milk rounds are not there any more. | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
And paper rounds. Just the idea of getting up in the morning and going | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
out to work, even if it is only a couple of days a week. That is a | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
real issue. When I was a youngster, obviously a long time ago, I worked | :18:47. | :18:57. | |
as a petrol pump attendant. That is why I am encouraging businesses | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
across the country to really get involved in opening their doors at | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
young people. Even if it is only for a few hours a week. Her what | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
has at the response been from businesses? Are vague King to take | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
people on in the way Woolworths used to? For I think they are, a | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
young people have to work really hard at opening up those | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
opportunities. They have to learn those skills to do with personal | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
presentation, positive attitude, communication, teamwork. They need | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
to be given the opportunity to learn those skills and learn the | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
worth Beckett -- worth -- work ethic. Has it always been the case | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
that young people don't have much in terms of communication skills? | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
They are not very good with adults and it is just that they have not | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
had the opportunities to practise rather than failures in education | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
or parenting? I don't think we can look at any one issue like failure | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
in education or parenting. This is an issue for everybody. I really do | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
feel that we've all got to work together to create the opportunity | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
to give them the level of experience they are going to need | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
to go into the workplace. What do you think of the idea of some sort | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
of compulsory Voluntary Service for National Service or something that | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
would force young people to give service to the community. We've | :20:24. | :20:25. | |
introduced the National Citizen Service, which is not voluntary, | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
but has had to take up in the areas it has started. VAT is quite good | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
because it helps children meet people from different backgrounds, | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
maybe do things they are not used to doing, it helps with things like | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
teamwork and leadership. You are a supporter of that. Absolutely. | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
other thing we have been trying to encourage is a large number of new | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
a sprinter ships to give people on the job training as well as | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
training in the academic environment. Those are helpful. And | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
encourage young people to go into the workforce. I meet a lot of | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
young people who want to succeed. It is about giving them the | :21:03. | :21:11. | |
opportunities. Thank you. Jesse Norman tweeting that the | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
rumours of his demise are much exaggerating. That is from Mark | :21:17. | :21:27. | |
:21:27. | :21:29. | ||
Twain. For I didn't know what you meant! Military head was not on. -- | :21:29. | :21:35. | |
my literary head. PMQs, we have just watched the last one until | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
September. How will we cope? These people are bitterly disappointed | :21:42. | :21:44. | |
they can't watch it from the comfort of the Daily Politics | :21:45. | :21:51. | |
studio until the autumn. We will invite them! Here is Quentin Letts | :21:51. | :22:01. | |
:22:01. | :22:03. | ||
with his guide to the main event of P is for PMQ use, Prime Minister's | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
Questions, held in the House of Commons once a week. This is the | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
chance for the Leader of the Opposition to have a good old go at | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
the Prime Minister and for the PM to have a go back. Both men looking | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
for a one-line singer which will be picked up by the media. The Prime | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
Minister of our country can't even urge his party to support his own | :22:23. | :22:31. | |
position. A weak, weak, weak. grammar-school boy is not going to | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
take any lessons from that public school boy. How I want to talk | :22:37. | :22:45. | |
about the future. He was the future once. Until the 1960s, prime | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
ministers did not have regular a poor month and the House of Commons | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
because they were not responsible for any single government | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
department, but in 1961 comes this important innovation, P&G is. In | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
that very first session, Harold Macmillan says, I am grateful to | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
the honourable member about what he said on the arrangement of | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
questions. This arrangement suits me much better because I know when | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
to come here. Good old Harold! People sometimes alleged that he | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
and Hughes is too rowdy, too raucous, that it means parliament. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
I don't know about that. It was ever thus. I've been covering the | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
Commons since the last days of Mrs Thatcher and it was noisy then. | :23:27. | :23:35. | |
BBC's radio coverage goes to 1978. Pretty noisy then. And in 1983, Mrs | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
Thatcher, Prime Minister. The right net -- right honourable member is | :23:39. | :23:49. | |
afraid of an election, is he? Frightened. Can't stand it. | :23:49. | :23:55. | |
Frightened! Bakelite headphones like these yielded to the goggle | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
box in the late 1980s when TV coverage started. Viewers watching | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
pm queues could see something rather odd. Backbenchers ball- | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
winning to their feet as if they were on poco States. They were | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
trying to catch the Speaker's eye, trying to say I want to ask the | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
Prime Minister a question. The first 10 minutes or so, the Leader | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
of the Opposition has his go. Once he has spent his bullets, it is the | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
turn of backbenchers, some of whom are guaranteed ago after a weekly | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
ballot, but after that it is everyone to him or herself. This | :24:28. | :24:35. | |
can be a terrible tyrant and PMQs televised is arguably one of the | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
reasons for us so many sound bites. But this weekly scrutiny of the | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
Prime Minister is a good thing. It gets used reviewers interested in | :24:43. | :24:49. | |
what is going on in Parliament. PMQs is still very much a big | :24:49. | :24:59. | |
:24:59. | :25:02. | ||
potato of the House of Commons week. J B potato! -- a big potato! | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
You said you wanted the Prime Minister to renegotiate the | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
coalition agreement, what did you mean by that? Most coalition's mid- | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
term have a review and from a party political point of view, the Lib | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
Dems and the Conservatives need to take a look at it agreement. Times | :25:20. | :25:26. | |
are changing, new issues are emerging. A calm sensible look at | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
it would be useful. After today's PMQs, who heads off to Tuscany with | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
a bigger spring in their step, Labour or the coalition? | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
Undoubtedly Labour are going home more cheerful. As ever, you have an | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
opposition leader looking a bit Blyth, a bit unconcerned about what | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
is happening to the country, but very smooth. A prime minister | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
getting very frustrated that things are not going his way. It was like | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
that today, but we had a spectacular moment on the | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
backbenches. And Mary Morris from Newton Abbot... You may remember | :26:03. | :26:13. | |
:26:13. | :26:13. | ||
this, Andrew. There used to be a lady called Dame Ellen... | :26:13. | :26:20. | |
Terrifically Batty! You may say that! I couldn't possibly comment. | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
Did you know you were going to be called and is as important your | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
profile as an MP to have got that question out? We are talking about | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
it on network television. I think she did a great job asking the | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
question, there was real passion. The chamber was rowdy and raucous, | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
but she did a fantastic job and David landed the question smoothly. | :26:42. | :26:49. | |
-- handled. I had not expected to be called, but I did feel it was | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
important to raise the issue. We are halfway through a coalition now | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
and there are clearly tensions emerge and. It is important, | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
particularly for the Conservatives, to give some input into what | :27:02. | :27:11. | |
happens next. Quentin, you have described our guest here, Mark | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
Harper, as an MP who could pass for it door-to-door Bible salesman! Was | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
there to complement or an insult? You sense with him that he might | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
smell like toothpaste, he is very, very clean. He did very well | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
yesterday, he might have sold a few Bibles yesterday, but it was not | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
good enough for the coalition. you both assure us that the Speaker | :27:35. | :27:42. | |
is losing his campaign to make PMQs less noisy? He has lost it, it was | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
loud and raucous. We could not hear the questions. But he did his best. | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
We thank you both for that. The last PMQs for this parliamentary | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
term. You are not a door-to-door salesman. Only in the sense that | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
all politicians a door-to-door salesman for their own parties. I'm | :28:03. | :28:09. | |
very relaxed. Quinton and I get on very well. Most politicians are | :28:09. | :28:16. | |
pleased to be written about. It is time to put you out of your misery | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
and give you the answer to guess the year. It was 1970. Tessa, press | :28:22. | :28:32. | |
:28:32. | :28:36. | ||
that red button. This is the winner. Sue Middleton from Norfolk. He was | :28:37. | :28:45. |