:00:38. > :00:42.Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics.
:00:42. > :00:45.David Cameron and Nick Clegg put on a show of unity as the two leaders
:00:45. > :00:48.announce a �9 billion investment in Britain's rail network, but work
:00:48. > :00:53.won't start for at least two years and Labour say rail passengers face
:00:53. > :00:56.higher fares to pay for it. Preparations for the Olympics reach
:00:56. > :01:00.fever pitch as the first of thousands of athletes arrive in the
:01:00. > :01:03.UK. Boris Johnson says London is ready.
:01:03. > :01:07.Should foreign students studying in the UK be counted in our
:01:07. > :01:14.immigration figures? With net immigration 250,000 per year, we'll
:01:14. > :01:17.debate the issue of student visas. And why are we having such a
:01:17. > :01:22.miserable summer? And can we blame politicians for
:01:22. > :01:27.the endless rain? We have been in this long, long recession and then
:01:27. > :01:35.you have the worst weather on history.
:01:35. > :01:41.No descent summer Nothing to lift you out of the mire.
:01:41. > :01:45.What a miserable pair! We will try and cheer you up.
:01:45. > :01:48.All that in the next hour. And with us for the whole programme today is
:01:48. > :01:51.the cross-bench peer, Jo Valentine, who runs the business organisation
:01:51. > :01:53.London First. Welcome to the Daily Politics. So, with just under two
:01:53. > :01:57.weeks to go, is Britain ready for the Olympics? Boris Johnson
:01:57. > :02:02.certainly thinks so. This is about sport. It is about achievement and
:02:02. > :02:07.effort and competition and supreme human endeavour and I think that's
:02:07. > :02:12.why people are so excited and what's going on now, you speak
:02:12. > :02:20.about the curtain up moment, actually we are at the last moment
:02:20. > :02:24.before curtain up and there is a bit of pre-curtain up for things to
:02:24. > :02:28.talk about. When the opening ceremony ceremony begins I think a
:02:28. > :02:35.lot of these issues that we are discussing will melt away and I
:02:35. > :02:40.think people's excitement at seeing London transform looking wonderful
:02:40. > :02:43.at the moment and in the eye of the world, we will be great indeed.
:02:44. > :02:50.Boris Johnson talking to BBC Breakfast today.
:02:50. > :02:55.Do you agree? Is London ready? Will it be all right on the night?
:02:55. > :02:57.can't predict, but we are doing as much as we can to prepare for it. I
:02:58. > :03:00.think it will be great and I think the mayor and Transport for London
:03:00. > :03:06.have been putting in rehearsal time and thinking through the issues,
:03:06. > :03:11.but none of us us knows how it is going to be.
:03:12. > :03:16.Do you think there has been a sense of shambles because of the recent
:03:16. > :03:21.security and transport problems with the M4 and GS4 on security?
:03:21. > :03:26.have to say, I do agree with Boris. I think we are at the pre-curtain
:03:26. > :03:31.up, nervous phase and there is little blips and the little blips
:03:31. > :03:34.will continue, but we need o keep going and and keep keep preparing.
:03:34. > :03:38.We can't do anything about the weather! Boris Johnson says it is
:03:38. > :03:42.his mission to ensure the �9 billion spent on the Games has a
:03:42. > :03:46.lasting effect. That's crucial, isn't it? Not just in terms of
:03:46. > :03:50.legacy, but how it will impact on Britain? And that's a long game
:03:50. > :03:55.really. We have seen this huge regeneration of the East End of
:03:55. > :04:01.London. We need to make sure that the soft things, the sport, we all
:04:01. > :04:04.keep enthuse astic about sport, we get the jobs in the jobs in the
:04:04. > :04:08.East End and the buildings and making sure the park bleeds out
:04:08. > :04:12.into the wider East End area. Are you confident that will happen?
:04:12. > :04:15.Talking about �9 billion, that's the same as the rail upgrade the
:04:15. > :04:21.Government announced today? It is difficult to put a measure on these
:04:21. > :04:28.thix. What -- things, what the Olympics will do for London, nobody
:04:28. > :04:31.knows until we are past past it. It is tremendous that we have this
:04:31. > :04:39.iconic event. Let's hope it puts London on the map and we have got
:04:39. > :04:42.an opportunity to take advantage of All right. It is time for our quiz.
:04:42. > :04:48.The question for today is, what piece of music has David Cameron
:04:48. > :04:51.said he would like to see as England's National Anthem? Is it
:04:51. > :04:54.Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory or Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
:04:54. > :04:58.by the Smiths? Yes Yes! Very appropriate!
:04:58. > :05:02.We'll give you the correct answer at the end of the show. Now after
:05:02. > :05:06.their troublesome tangle over Lords reform, the Prime Minister and his
:05:06. > :05:09.Lib Dem deputy are putting on a show of unity today. Pushing their
:05:10. > :05:12.plans for Britain's rail network and claiming it is evidence the
:05:12. > :05:16.coalition can deliver. Nick Clegg and David Cameron say it is the
:05:16. > :05:20.biggest investment snt railways since the age of steam. �9 billion
:05:20. > :05:24.will be invested over a five year period. That includes �5 billion
:05:24. > :05:30.for the completion of current schemes such as Crossrail and
:05:30. > :05:34.Thameslink and �4.2 billion for new projects. This will include a
:05:34. > :05:38.programme of major electification. Over 850 miles of electified track
:05:38. > :05:43.will be added to the network including the line from we had ford
:05:43. > :05:46.to to -- Bedford to Sheffield. There will be upgrade work, in
:05:46. > :05:50.particular the East Coast main line from London to Leeds and Newcastle.
:05:50. > :05:54.However, none of the building work will start until 2014. It is
:05:54. > :05:59.thought the plans could mean big fare rises for passengers. Fares
:06:00. > :06:03.are due to go up by 3% more than inflation in January and the same
:06:03. > :06:06.the following year. Speaking this morning, David Cameron and Nick
:06:06. > :06:13.Clegg said this plan was an essential part of the Government's
:06:13. > :06:16.overall programme. This is just one as aspect of the
:06:16. > :06:22.long-term mission of this coalition Government. The coalition has come
:06:22. > :06:28.into question. Some asking whether it has real momentum for the rest
:06:28. > :06:33.of the Parliament and others asking if it should end? I am I am more
:06:33. > :06:37.committed to making this coalition Government today than I was in May
:06:37. > :06:43.2010 when Nick Clegg and I formed this Government. Above all, that
:06:43. > :06:47.means accepting that there are no simple, quick, easy short cuts
:06:47. > :06:52.which secure instant political popularity. In fact, something that
:06:52. > :06:56.we have accepted in Government at this time we need to put short-term
:06:56. > :07:02.popularity to one side and get on with making the big, long-term
:07:02. > :07:08.reforms and changes that this country so des so desperately needs.
:07:08. > :07:14.Joining us from Leeds is Norman Baker. Here in the studio is the
:07:14. > :07:20.Shadow Transport Secretary, Maria Eagle and Stephen Joseph.
:07:20. > :07:25.Norman Baker, it is not a stimulus for now, is it? That is a bit
:07:25. > :07:30.churlish. We have five year plans for the railways and the present
:07:30. > :07:34.plan ends in 2014. There has been a massive investment
:07:34. > :07:38.programme going on in the railways. Everything that was on the stocks
:07:38. > :07:41.has been taken forward and more besides. This is another batch of
:07:41. > :07:45.investment programmes for the railways. We have got the biggest
:07:45. > :07:47.investment programme going on now than we have had since the 19th
:07:48. > :07:52.century. I suppose what passengers will say,
:07:52. > :07:55.if it is not starting or they are not going to see the benefits for a
:07:55. > :07:59.few years, but they are going to have to pay for it upfront, how
:07:59. > :08:03.much will a passenger expect to pay in fare rises?
:08:03. > :08:07.A lot of investment is going on now. There has been investment decisions
:08:07. > :08:13.taken in the autumn statement and the in 2010 Spending Review. This
:08:13. > :08:18.is the latest of the of the announcements... Sure, but how much
:08:19. > :08:23.will fares go up? We had ten years of above inflation rises under the
:08:23. > :08:26.last Labour Government. We inherited a position where Network
:08:26. > :08:30.Rail was inefficient and what we are doing is driving the
:08:30. > :08:34.inefficiencies out of Network Rail by 30% and that will release money
:08:34. > :08:39.which can be reinvested in the railways and keep fares down.
:08:39. > :08:42.Let's come to the breakdown. Can you tell us How much will come from
:08:42. > :08:48.the taxpayer? We know it will come from that and how much from the
:08:48. > :08:51.efficiency savings you have just set out? Well, that will be a
:08:52. > :08:59.matter for for negotiation negotiation between the Department
:08:59. > :09:03.of Transport and the Treasury. We need to concentrate on today's news.
:09:03. > :09:08.�9.4 billion. Electification of a line to Wales. We inherited a
:09:08. > :09:11.position where Wales is the only country apart from Albania that had
:09:11. > :09:14.no electified railway. This is major stuff and people should be
:09:14. > :09:20.pleased with the investment today. There will be a lot of people
:09:20. > :09:24.people pleased in the industry because they have been enkujing
:09:24. > :09:30.encouraging to do the improvements and many experts think they are
:09:30. > :09:34.more important than HS 2. Will that still be necessary? Of course. We
:09:34. > :09:42.need HS 2 and the investment in the investment in the existing
:09:42. > :09:46.infrastructure.. HS 2 is necessary. We have been successful and the
:09:46. > :09:51.last 15 years, the country has been successful in driving up passenger
:09:51. > :09:56.numbers, 64% up since 1997 that we have to get more capacity. That's
:09:56. > :10:04.good news. Norman Baker stay with us. What's
:10:04. > :10:11.your response, Stephen Joseph. Record numbers of passengers, can't
:10:11. > :10:15.get from Norman Baker the rises that passengers will expect. It is
:10:15. > :10:19.clear that as Norman said there, is good news from the point of view of
:10:19. > :10:24.investment. We wanted to see this electification and the other
:10:24. > :10:28.investments happen, but you are right to say that it seems to be
:10:28. > :10:34.coming on the back of large fare rises and if you look in the small
:10:34. > :10:40.print they talk about more fare rises beyond even the ones planned
:10:40. > :10:43.of RPI plus 3% for each of the next three years, that's a large fares
:10:43. > :10:47.increase and it contrasts with the way in which other countries do
:10:47. > :10:52.this which is they regard this as investment as a national asset and
:10:52. > :10:56.we would want to see this investment coming from taxpayer
:10:56. > :10:59.funding and from borrowing rather than having even more swinging
:10:59. > :11:04.fares rises. The Government will say there isn't
:11:04. > :11:09.the money. Just teen Greening said it is not -- Justine greening said
:11:09. > :11:15.it is not a money tree. On the issue of State owned rail companies
:11:16. > :11:21.bidding to win the the franchises is it right they should get the
:11:21. > :11:25.franchises and use the money to to plough into their railways? More
:11:25. > :11:28.investment for the network, without Government money being provided and
:11:28. > :11:32.the better service for the passenger. The pay the franchise is
:11:32. > :11:38.let is the key point rather than who gets a franchise for each
:11:38. > :11:41.individual train company. Maria Eagle, you must be pleased.
:11:41. > :11:45.These are major upgrades that are going on. Good news for Wales and
:11:45. > :11:48.the north? I am pleased there is investment for the railways, but
:11:48. > :11:52.let's be clear about this. Half of the money that is being announced
:11:52. > :11:55.today is to complete programmes that have been started like
:11:55. > :12:00.Thameslink and Crossrail. You are saying it is an old
:12:00. > :12:05.announcement? There is a lot of reannouncements and a lot of spin.
:12:05. > :12:11.The announcements that aren't completing old arrangements were
:12:11. > :12:13.announced mainly by Andrew Adonis in 2009 2009, and cut by the
:12:13. > :12:18.current Government and have been announced into the next Parliament.
:12:18. > :12:21.You are pleased that it is going to happen? Yes, but let's not be
:12:21. > :12:27.fooled by the charade we have seen today which is more about covering
:12:27. > :12:31.up splits in the coalition than it has been about improving the
:12:31. > :12:36.railways. No spending until after 2014, that does not help get jobs
:12:36. > :12:40.and growth now. Labour started some of these,
:12:40. > :12:45.announced some of the upgrades. Where would Labour get the money
:12:45. > :12:48.from if they weren't putting up fares? Taxpayers, what the current
:12:48. > :12:53.Government are doing, what the current Government is doing, �4
:12:53. > :12:57.billion goes into the railway, what the current Government is doing, is
:12:57. > :13:01.giving a postdated cheque, it is allowing Network Rail to borrow
:13:01. > :13:04.against assets. A lot of the money will be coming from borrowing by
:13:04. > :13:07.Network Rail. Would you support that? That's
:13:07. > :13:11.something that has been used in the past. It is unsustainable in the
:13:11. > :13:16.long-term and it is a question that you have to ask the Government, how
:13:16. > :13:20.much more money are they going to allow Network Rail to borrow? How
:13:20. > :13:25.much more are they going to be allowed to borrow? Fares going up
:13:25. > :13:32.is a contentious issues, but if the upgrades produce increased
:13:32. > :13:36.efficiency and higher speed trains, will it be worth it? The fare
:13:36. > :13:40.argument is one if you are travelling on the trains, you want
:13:40. > :13:43.to see the quality has gone up. There is an impossible balance
:13:43. > :13:48.which we have been touching on between taxpayers, borrowing and
:13:48. > :13:54.fares. Somebody has to pay for it and we are in an up happy position
:13:54. > :13:59.with the debt we have got in the UK. On the borrowing, I am pro
:13:59. > :14:05.borrowing. If you know you are likely to get economic benefit out
:14:05. > :14:08.of the investment then I think it needs prioritisation and one could
:14:08. > :14:12.go further and ring-fence borrowing into that investment.
:14:12. > :14:15.Can you, if you want to change the structure of the network, can you
:14:15. > :14:18.rule out nationalising the railways? We are looking at trying
:14:18. > :14:22.to get better value for money for the money that goes into the
:14:22. > :14:27.railways. There is no doubt the fragmented structure that we have
:14:27. > :14:30.is leading to extra costs up to �1.2 billion a year extra costs. We
:14:30. > :14:33.have not come to a final decision about how to get better value for
:14:33. > :14:37.money, but saying you are not going to look at the structure of the
:14:37. > :14:43.industry is ignoring a big elephant in the room. We need to make sure
:14:43. > :14:47.we get to get better value out of the money that's been spent.
:14:47. > :14:49.It would be unrealistic, wouldn't it, to imagine you could have the
:14:49. > :14:55.improved railways without passengers and taxpayers coughing
:14:55. > :15:01.up for it? Well, I think, you need to have taxpayers coughing up
:15:01. > :15:04.upfront, but there is a concern which London First shares which is
:15:04. > :15:07.London in the South East in particular and actually the country
:15:07. > :15:12.generally, has the highest fares in Europe and that the fares rises
:15:12. > :15:17.that have been talked about will actually add to that. So there
:15:17. > :15:21.comes a point where there is a competitiveness between London and
:15:21. > :15:25.other world cities about the fares that are coming. We argue actually
:15:25. > :15:29.that some of this investment will end up saving money and that some
:15:29. > :15:33.of the measures that have been talked about are reducing the
:15:33. > :15:36.contribution that taxpayers already make to the network. This is about
:15:36. > :15:42.investment and other countries as I say, regard that as something which
:15:42. > :15:51.the State pays for because there are wider benefits from it even non
:15:51. > :16:00.users benefit from having a good That press conference with David
:16:00. > :16:06.Cameron and Nick Clegg seemed to be more about, a statement about the
:16:06. > :16:11.coalition. It works very well, across departments, between parties,
:16:11. > :16:17.very well. So you are not at your colleagues throats about Lords
:16:17. > :16:22.reform? Of course not. We are two different parties of course but we
:16:22. > :16:26.work very well together, rather better than the last coalition
:16:26. > :16:30.between the Blairites and the Brown writes, I might say. Thank you.
:16:30. > :16:33.What does the 2011 census tell us about England and Wales? In a
:16:33. > :16:37.moment we will be finding out as the Office for National Statistics
:16:38. > :16:41.has just published the data. But why do we need to bother with one
:16:41. > :16:44.at all? Here's a reminder from 1951, with some graphics that we can only
:16:44. > :16:49.dream of producing on the Daily Politics.
:16:49. > :16:55.It is 20 years since we had a census and high time we had some
:16:55. > :17:02.up-to-date facts about ourselves! For instance, how many men of
:17:02. > :17:08.there? How many women? How old? What do we do for a living? So we
:17:08. > :17:12.are having a Stocktake. Reform is left for each household, and the
:17:12. > :17:17.head of the house is responsible for thrilling it in. Take your time
:17:17. > :17:23.and be sure to give the right answer -- for a filling it in. If
:17:23. > :17:29.in doubt, ask the person who does the form for his secrecy. Use the
:17:29. > :17:34.technical name for your job. If you are not sure, ask your employee at.
:17:34. > :17:38.See that someone is at home to handed over on Monday, April 9th.
:17:38. > :17:44.It is strictly confidential and your answers will draw a picture of
:17:44. > :17:47.the nation and its needs. How times have changed!
:17:47. > :17:50.I am joined now by Pete Benton, who is programme director from the
:17:50. > :17:56.Office for National Statistics. He was also deputy director of the
:17:56. > :18:02.2011 census. How many people are living in England and Wales? 56.1
:18:02. > :18:06.million people, the growth of about 7% since the last census. It is
:18:06. > :18:12.actually the biggest growth we have seen since we started doing them in
:18:12. > :18:16.1801. Is that surprising was that it is slightly more than we had
:18:16. > :18:25.estimated previously but only slightly, it is broadly in line
:18:25. > :18:29.with what we expected for stocks that that might have jumped high
:18:29. > :18:36.enough... We have been estimating the impact
:18:36. > :18:41.of migration so we are broadly in line. One in six of us are over 65
:18:41. > :18:45.now. So nothing to look forward to. Can you tell us anything about the
:18:45. > :18:52.immigration patterns in the last ten years? The detail will come up
:18:52. > :18:59.later in the year. We are publishing Dijk breakdown of
:18:59. > :19:03.nationally and by local authority - - publishing the breakdown. There
:19:03. > :19:09.are half-a-million more people living in England and Wales than
:19:09. > :19:15.suggested, this has been suggested. Do you expect that? It is very hard
:19:15. > :19:18.to measure and that is why we do a censor's once every ten years.
:19:18. > :19:25.Roughly half of the growth is probably due to migration and the
:19:25. > :19:32.other half is natural change. It is a mixed picture. How useful is this
:19:32. > :19:36.information? Absolutely critical. How much local authorities get to
:19:36. > :19:41.provide public services, how much the health service gets, it is
:19:41. > :19:46.obviously open to question but it is very helpful as a basic starting
:19:46. > :19:51.point. It would be very helpful if we had net migration statistics,
:19:51. > :19:55.and then we could have a factual argument about the net migration
:19:55. > :20:03.target. They don't measure one half of the target so I don't understand
:20:03. > :20:07.that. Are those figures possible to get? More detail later in the years.
:20:08. > :20:11.The census will not tell us the ins and outs. It measures the
:20:11. > :20:17.population now and we need to piece together what that means about the
:20:17. > :20:22.change. Do you think we still need to have a census? Is it something
:20:22. > :20:28.we need to continue to have? Absolutely. It is helpful across a
:20:28. > :20:37.whole range of public services. is a massive exercise, isn't it.
:20:37. > :20:40.sent out 23 million forms last year. We had 35,000 field staff. We have
:20:40. > :20:46.captured and process the data and we had billions of data items
:20:46. > :20:52.literally. Two billion keys were pressed back operators. To get the
:20:52. > :20:57.information out in 50 runs is a huge achievement. A people have a
:20:57. > :21:04.legal obligation to Phil Lane reforms. Yes, and 19 out of 20
:21:04. > :21:10.people did. -- people have a legal obligation to fill out the forms.
:21:10. > :21:15.Response rates were fantastic in 2011. How will we do it in the
:21:15. > :21:21.future? Every time we do a sense as we take a look at the best way to
:21:21. > :21:25.do it. I read a review in 2003. We are in the middle of the review for
:21:25. > :21:29.the future. It is too soon to say but we are looking at whether we
:21:29. > :21:32.can use information that is already collected.
:21:33. > :21:35.If you are a non-EU student, paying thousands of pounds for the
:21:36. > :21:40.privilege of studying at one of our universities, should you be classed
:21:40. > :21:42.as an immigrant? At the moment you are, but the government is coming
:21:42. > :21:46.under increasing pressure to exclude them from the net inward
:21:46. > :21:56.migration totals. Neat way of earning billions of pounds from
:21:56. > :22:02.
:22:02. > :22:06.foreign scholars, or fiddling the Graduation day at the London School
:22:06. > :22:11.of Economics. They have come from all over the world for this moment
:22:11. > :22:15.and for many it is a proud finale for their time in the UK, but if
:22:15. > :22:20.you have spent years studying in this country, are you a visitor at
:22:20. > :22:25.or immigrant? The official answer is immigrant but it might depend on
:22:25. > :22:30.who you talk to. Rumour has it Downing Street is considering
:22:30. > :22:34.taking a non-EU students out of the Immigration totals. Business and
:22:34. > :22:38.education are for it, the Home Office, dead against. They say it
:22:38. > :22:42.would be fiddling the figures. Funnily enough you would think the
:22:42. > :22:51.Home Office would be keen. The government wants their inward
:22:51. > :22:58.migration to fall below 100,000. It is currently 250,000. 290,000 non-
:22:58. > :23:03.EU students in the UK. Students come here for one or two or three
:23:03. > :23:09.years. We know from figures, from studies at a Home Office have done,
:23:09. > :23:13.that 20% of them never actually leave. The United Nations thinks
:23:13. > :23:16.that is immigration. Of course it is part of immigration and they
:23:16. > :23:21.should be part of the immigration figures and it would be absurd for
:23:21. > :23:25.that not to be. Maybe, but when universities and ministers in
:23:25. > :23:30.business and education are looking at is what overseas students bring
:23:30. > :23:35.to the party's. It is not just the funding they bring but the broader
:23:35. > :23:41.economic benefit in the UK, which is estimated at about �8 billion
:23:41. > :23:46.plan and him and set to increase. This is a major export industry.
:23:46. > :23:51.Those in favour of change say they are just after a level playing
:23:51. > :23:57.field with the British universities. If you come on a temporary basis to
:23:57. > :24:01.study and least, most people would say you are not a migrant, but
:24:01. > :24:05.sadly our compared today's don't see it that way. International
:24:05. > :24:09.students are definitely in the temporary camp. Australia and
:24:09. > :24:12.Canada and the US has been aggressive in marketing themselves
:24:12. > :24:17.to international students and they are pulling ahead and we are
:24:17. > :24:26.getting left behind. Even if that is true, is it a good enough reason
:24:26. > :24:31.for not including non-EU students in the figures? Those who just --
:24:31. > :24:36.suggests they shouldn't be a two categories. The vested interests,
:24:36. > :24:41.the universities who think it will keep foreign students away. It is
:24:41. > :24:47.not, frankly. If you look at those applying to come this year, it is
:24:47. > :24:54.9% up. Nothing about the immigration debate is simple.
:24:54. > :24:58.Perhaps one day, someone will offer a degree in it. Post grad of course.
:24:58. > :25:00.David Thompson reporting. Jo Valentine is still with us, and we
:25:00. > :25:06.have been joined by the Conservative backbench MP Mark
:25:06. > :25:10.Reckless. Jo Valentine, why do you think there is a move to take
:25:10. > :25:14.students out of the immigration statistics? It is rather confusing
:25:14. > :25:22.because they come for a certain length of time. Nobody comes them
:25:22. > :25:26.out so we don't really know what is going on. -- counts them out. The
:25:26. > :25:31.government meets to know when the students actually leave and at the
:25:31. > :25:36.moment they don't. We heard that 20% of the non-EU students they
:25:36. > :25:42.never leave. I don't believe we have accurate data on that. What do
:25:43. > :25:49.you say to that? 20 dissent is about right I think. How do you
:25:50. > :25:59.know? -- 20 dissent. We have a net migration survey and that is when
:25:59. > :26:02.the statistics are sourced. We do not know precisely the numbers
:26:02. > :26:06.because they do not say why they are leaving. But what the
:26:06. > :26:11.government is doing is taking action on the student rude and the
:26:11. > :26:16.family wrote and business visas, and overall pressing down on
:26:16. > :26:21.immigration. What would your response be if the government did
:26:21. > :26:28.decide to take non-EU students out of those figures? I think that
:26:28. > :26:33.would be a mistake. A do you think they will do that? I have spoken to
:26:33. > :26:37.Damian Green and I think he is closest to it. It would technically
:26:37. > :26:43.be difficult to do. The government has cut out a lot of the abuse of
:26:43. > :26:50.the student visa, so where we should be seeing big reductions in
:26:50. > :26:55.net migration is for the student shall all because of the work they
:26:55. > :27:02.government has done. This is a big export of hours. What damage does
:27:02. > :27:08.this do, restricting the number? Metropolis, it is about perception
:27:08. > :27:13.as much as anything -- the trouble is. We need to be seen as a
:27:13. > :27:16.welcoming country. We want good international students. We want
:27:16. > :27:21.those international students to come here to study and trade with
:27:21. > :27:25.us in the future and add to the cultural life. Anything which sends
:27:25. > :27:29.the message that we are not as welcome as we were for students,
:27:29. > :27:37.and indeed more than half of the current students are saying they
:27:37. > :27:41.would not recommend the UK as a place to come, that was an NUS dead
:27:41. > :27:46.-- survey, that is the last thing we want. You don't want to cut off
:27:46. > :27:51.the supply of foreign money coming into the country. This section is
:27:51. > :27:55.an issue. I would ask Jo Valentine not to talk down the UK in this
:27:55. > :28:00.area because I think the government has brought him some sensible
:28:00. > :28:04.reforms, but people are coming for a degree at a recognised university
:28:04. > :28:10.and they can do that. They will still be allowed to stay on if they
:28:10. > :28:15.get a graduate job paying 20,000 or more. No where else apart from
:28:15. > :28:20.Australia do you do that, where you come some way to university and you
:28:20. > :28:24.are allowed to join the labour market after you finish your degree.
:28:24. > :28:28.But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence from foreign students
:28:28. > :28:34.saying either they don't feel welcome all it is much difficult to
:28:34. > :28:38.come here. Even Vince Cable has sympathies lying in that direction.
:28:38. > :28:44.It should be more difficult to come here because under the previous
:28:44. > :28:48.government, it was a gaping hole in the immigration system. Vast
:28:48. > :28:53.numbers were coming, either not to study or to work rather than to
:28:53. > :28:58.study, so tightening that up and focusing on universities, I think
:28:58. > :29:03.that is the right policy. I think the Home Office data needs to be a
:29:03. > :29:10.lot smarter than it currently is. We cannot differentiate between a
:29:10. > :29:15.good student and a bogus student. We are getting 5% of the visitors
:29:15. > :29:20.of Chinese students as the rest of Europe. That is because we have a
:29:20. > :29:23.very clunky system which does not differentiate between somebody
:29:23. > :29:29.trying to disappear into the undergrowth and a high-spending to
:29:29. > :29:36.rest. A using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. We have our own border
:29:36. > :29:40.controls. I do not want the EU to take over our border controls. We
:29:40. > :29:45.hear from universities and business but I want to speak for my
:29:45. > :29:50.constituents, who feel that for too long, net immigration at 200,000 a
:29:50. > :29:55.year, they want to see it back to where it was when we had a
:29:55. > :30:00.Conservative government and I think we should keep that promise. Do you
:30:00. > :30:07.suppose the idea of a migration cap completely? The problem is we have
:30:07. > :30:12.free migration within Europe. The vast majority come from there. I
:30:12. > :30:18.respected government's desire to regulate migration but do we need
:30:18. > :30:22.to get cleverer at it, we need to get people who add value, and we
:30:22. > :30:28.will be getting a lot more income into the UK if we allow migration
:30:28. > :30:36.to come in at the current 250,000 level for the future. We July
:30:36. > :30:42.Britain to sign up to border-free control? I do not think that is
:30:42. > :30:47.practical. If they are trying to go to continental Europe, the Chinese,
:30:47. > :30:51.I hope they would just be applied once, and then behind the scenes we
:30:51. > :30:56.can see what documents are processed. I would like to see them
:30:56. > :31:00.able to apply in their own language other than English. Do you think
:31:00. > :31:06.the government is going to hit its net migration target of tens of
:31:06. > :31:10.thousands by the next election? I hope it will be. I think it may
:31:10. > :31:16.be possible. We want to see a significant reduction in the net
:31:16. > :31:19.migration figure in the next few quarters. We want to see the
:31:19. > :31:24.reduction in student visas come through to the net migration
:31:24. > :31:27.figures and we have to keep bearing down on all channels. I am
:31:27. > :31:36.concerned that has study work is open to any graduate but the
:31:36. > :31:41.government has done a lot of work But non-EU immigration is 250,000.
:31:42. > :31:45.If you took the students out of it, you might get closer? I am not sure
:31:45. > :31:48.if that's right because we are doing a lot to bring down the
:31:48. > :31:52.student numbers. Do you agree with the Home Office that it would be
:31:52. > :31:55.fiddling the figures if the Government did that? I don't think
:31:55. > :31:59.we should do it because it would be fiddling the figures, but the
:31:59. > :32:05.students are here for several years. Many of them stay on after they
:32:05. > :32:08.have finished their education. My constituents want to see the
:32:08. > :32:13.overall numbers reduced to tens of thousands a year and not hundreds
:32:13. > :32:22.and hundreds of thousands as we saw in the previous Government.
:32:22. > :32:25.Thank you very much. Even though Parliament breaks up
:32:25. > :32:27.for the summer tomorrow there's still a lot going on in the world
:32:28. > :32:30.of politics. Later today, the Treasury Select Committee is taking
:32:30. > :32:33.further evidence on the LIBOR fixing scandal, they'll hear from
:32:33. > :32:35.amongst others Lord Turner, who is head of the Financial Services
:32:36. > :32:39.Authority. On Tuesday, Nick Buckles, the Chief Executive of G4S can
:32:39. > :32:42.expect a rather uncomfortable time in front of the Home Affairs Select
:32:42. > :32:46.Committee, MPs will be grilling him to find out just where it went
:32:46. > :32:49.wrong recruiting security staff. There will be no rest for the
:32:49. > :32:52.coalition leadership when Parliament breaks up. Nick Clegg
:32:52. > :33:01.and David Cameron face a fraught summer trying to work out a
:33:01. > :33:03.compromise on Lords reform. Well no easy task! Joining me now are the
:33:03. > :33:06.Mirror's Kevin Maguire and Pippa Crerar from the Evening Standard.
:33:06. > :33:10.Welcome to both of you. Kevin Maguire, yes, we have got Lord
:33:10. > :33:14.Turner in front of the Treasury Select Committee. Is there going to
:33:14. > :33:21.be a vote on the make-up of the committee holding the banking
:33:21. > :33:24.inquiry and there will be noticeable absences? Yes. A former
:33:24. > :33:29.banker or she worked in a financial services industry and admitted they
:33:29. > :33:32.never got to grips with Bob Diamond and John Mann who led the charge
:33:32. > :33:36.all the way. There is a lot of noses which have been put out of
:33:36. > :33:39.join and public support within both the main political parties for
:33:39. > :33:43.widening who is on the commission. So it is a fractious committee at
:33:43. > :33:48.the moment. Will it do the job that's required?
:33:48. > :33:52.Well, what is that job? Nobody is sure. But if there is a row over
:33:53. > :33:58.the composition it will make its task for difficult and I am sure
:33:58. > :34:01.Andrew Tyrie and the others did this election with the best of
:34:01. > :34:06.intentions and involved other people, however, there is a big
:34:07. > :34:16.question mark against who is on and particularly who isn't. And who is
:34:17. > :34:17.
:34:17. > :34:20.off. Pipa, what about this discrepancy
:34:20. > :34:28.with Theresa May and the Home Office and when they did know that
:34:28. > :34:31.they weren't going to get the 3 3,500 people? Boris Johnson let the
:34:32. > :34:35.cat out of the bag by suggesting that Theresa May may have known
:34:35. > :34:39.sooner than she admitted to. So we will be wanting to get to the
:34:39. > :34:43.bottom of that later today. It has been terrible for them. The one
:34:44. > :34:48.thing with the Olympics that has to be right in the public's minds is
:34:48. > :34:52.security and the problems with this are just really damaging top London,
:34:52. > :34:56.London's reputation and the coalition's reputation around the
:34:56. > :34:59.world and that's bad news. And it will have long reaching
:34:59. > :35:04.ramifications particularly as G4 are the private security firm who
:35:04. > :35:10.are up for contract, I think it is nine private prisons and several
:35:10. > :35:13.police forces, they have dn dropped by by -- been dropped by Surrey
:35:13. > :35:18.Police and West Midlands could follow suit.
:35:18. > :35:23.What about it being described by Jeremy Hunt that it was a hitch and
:35:23. > :35:27.mistakes were made. Do you think that's an underat the same time? --
:35:27. > :35:31.under statement? The soldiers will be there to show you are you are
:35:31. > :35:35.seats. If I was a member of the armed forces having to give up my
:35:35. > :35:40.holiday with the prospect of my regiment being reduced in size, I
:35:40. > :35:44.wouldn't be that happy even if I got to see a bit of the athletics.
:35:44. > :35:48.Theresa May has been called to the House to be questioned. More about
:35:48. > :35:53.GS4 this afternoon. That will keep us busy!
:35:53. > :35:59.Moving on to the rail announcement, it turned into something of a
:35:59. > :36:04.restating of coalition vow, I felt, but is there a feeling that
:36:04. > :36:12.although MPs on both sides of the coalition maybe restless, the
:36:12. > :36:17.leadership, everything is is hunky- dory at the top? It was back to the
:36:17. > :36:21.Rose Garden. If I was Samantha or Miriam, I would be worried! They
:36:21. > :36:26.could be off this summer! Are they taking their parties with them. I
:36:26. > :36:31.have got my my doubts about that and we saw it with Gordon Brown and
:36:31. > :36:36.Tony Blair. You say, "Come on, everybody, this way, we're all
:36:36. > :36:41.together and they look over their shoulders and there is very few
:36:41. > :36:45.people following them. The difficulties have not gone away
:36:45. > :36:50.around House of Lords Reform. There will have to be a compromise, these
:36:50. > :36:55.current plans are dead, it is dead as a dodo and it is finished and it
:36:55. > :37:00.is gone. We got that! Can they take their parties with them? I don't
:37:00. > :37:04.see the coalition falling apart, but it has become unstable and it
:37:04. > :37:10.was sold at the beginning all about offering Britain a stable
:37:10. > :37:11.Government. Well, it is unstable and they cannot agree on a lot of
:37:11. > :37:19.important things other than austerity.
:37:19. > :37:25.Relations between MPs of either party have plummeted to the lowest
:37:25. > :37:29.depths and that isn't good for the future of the Government.
:37:29. > :37:35.Well, we have got three MPs, two from the coalition. We will see if
:37:35. > :37:41.their manage to keep their hands by their sides. It could be a busy
:37:41. > :37:45.summer. Do you think there is a chance of persuading enough Tory
:37:45. > :37:49.rebels to come on and vote through a timetable motion? That's what
:37:49. > :37:54.they are hoping for. If a timetable motion got defeated, there is
:37:54. > :37:59.closure motions that you could use to get past the filler bustering.
:37:59. > :38:03.You have senior Tory MPs such as Graham Brady suggesting that any
:38:03. > :38:06.element of an elected House would undermine the authorities of the
:38:06. > :38:12.House of Commons and the sentiment is so strong that David Cameron,
:38:12. > :38:17.even fe spends all summer, wing and wining and and dining and getting
:38:17. > :38:21.to to know the Lords rebels will find it difficult to win them over.
:38:21. > :38:24.Labour's position has to be looked at because you know, there isn't an
:38:24. > :38:29.easy choice, is there? Ed Miliband has to think hard, doesn't he,
:38:29. > :38:33.before he continues down that road of scuppering or seeming to help
:38:33. > :38:37.scupper Lords Reform, an issue close to Lib Dem hearts if he wants
:38:37. > :38:42.to go in coalition with them? think he is happy for it to fail
:38:42. > :38:47.this time, but he does not want to be seen to wield the dagger and he
:38:47. > :38:53.has a hidden problem, there are only 25 Labour MPs who rebelled,
:38:53. > :38:58.but there are dozen more who say when it comes to the crunch, they
:38:58. > :39:01.will not vote for Lords Reform, they think that voting for Lords
:39:01. > :39:06.Reform will help Nick Clegg and their hatred of Nick Clegg and it
:39:06. > :39:11.is a hatred, they feel he betrayed Labour and they were sick when he
:39:11. > :39:14.used to pose to a leader of the a party to the left of Labour and he
:39:14. > :39:23.goes into coalition, that means they will not back it when push
:39:23. > :39:25.comes to shove. And for the rest of the programme
:39:25. > :39:28.I've been joined by the Labour MP, Seema Malhotra, Conservative
:39:28. > :39:30.backbencher Rory Stewart and Duncan Hames for the Liberal Democrats.
:39:30. > :39:33.Welcome to the Daily Politics. It doesn't seem to be any hatred
:39:33. > :39:37.between you just yet. Rory, over the weekend we heard comments from
:39:38. > :39:43.within the Tory Party, Graham Brady warning the coalition will fracture
:39:43. > :39:46.before 2015. Do you agree? No, I don't. I think what you may see in
:39:46. > :39:49.the last year is the parties beginning to define themselves
:39:49. > :39:52.ready for the next election. It is difficult. We have been through a
:39:52. > :39:55.tricky time, but it is about relationships and it is about
:39:55. > :39:59.communication, it is about managing how two different parties relate to
:39:59. > :40:02.each other. Do you recognise the
:40:02. > :40:05.characterisation from our hacks saying they have never seen such
:40:05. > :40:10.hatred between Liberal Democrats and Tories, not just over Lords
:40:10. > :40:13.Reform, but over the state of the coalition? I need to bring in
:40:13. > :40:16.Duncan. Well, Rory and I get on very well.
:40:16. > :40:21.We were discussing our summer holiday plans.
:40:21. > :40:28.I am delighted for both of you! Is there that level of dislike now?
:40:28. > :40:32.Well, there is a lot of frustration. It is evident after two two years,
:40:32. > :40:41.the areas we don't agree, but we did have an agreement about what we
:40:41. > :40:43.would achieve in Government. What we would set out to achieve. We can
:40:43. > :40:46.only govern if we are prepared to work together and there is a
:40:46. > :40:49.determination to do that. Liberal Democrats in the coalition
:40:49. > :40:55.Government are able to deliver policies like cutting taxes for the
:40:55. > :41:00.lowest paid people in this country. The Conservatives won't help you
:41:00. > :41:04.deliver on Lords Reform. Liam Fox, a former Cabinet Minister says the
:41:04. > :41:08.Lib Dems only make up one sixth of the coalition, so you can't expect
:41:08. > :41:12.to get everything you want. accept we can't get everything we
:41:12. > :41:17.want. The coalition isn't what we would have wanted by any means.
:41:17. > :41:20.What do you say to that? Tory MPs, we have had a string of senior
:41:20. > :41:23.Liberal Democrats saying, "Can you expect Lib Dem MPs to walk with the
:41:23. > :41:31.Government in the division lobbies and vote for their seats to be
:41:31. > :41:39.scrapped in the boundary review when Tory MPs haven't delivered on
:41:39. > :41:43.Lords Reform?". I am a Lords rebel. This is about communication. These
:41:43. > :41:47.issues are deep in our parties. The Conservative Party feels deeply
:41:47. > :41:50.about the constitution in a particular way. Duncan feels deeply
:41:50. > :41:53.about the constitution in a different way. We disagree,
:41:53. > :41:57.strongly. You can't have a relationship whether it is a
:41:57. > :42:00.marriage or a coalition where you say, "I'm going to force you to do
:42:00. > :42:05.something you hate in return for you doing something I hate.".
:42:05. > :42:09.In terms of what Labour is doing, is this what is going on behindted
:42:09. > :42:12.behind the scenes, Ed Miliband trying to woo the Liberal
:42:12. > :42:15.Democrats? Is this the opportunity to get them on side ahead of the
:42:15. > :42:19.next election I don't think so. This is something that is clear
:42:19. > :42:25.about Labour's position we are saying that the House of Lords
:42:25. > :42:28.Reform needs to go beyond petty politics. This is important for the
:42:28. > :42:32.way we run our country and we want to see a referendum and no back
:42:32. > :42:39.room deals and an open and clear debate that people can participate
:42:39. > :42:43.in. I think this is a real turning point for the coalition because up
:42:43. > :42:48.until now, increasing the marriage analogy, the honeymoon period is
:42:48. > :42:53.over and there is a choice. I felt that looking at David Cameron
:42:53. > :42:56.yesterday in the Sunday Times piece it was an over ture to the Liberal
:42:56. > :42:58.Democrats more than it was to Tory rebels. And there is the fault line
:42:58. > :43:02.is emerging between the Conservatives and the Liberal
:43:02. > :43:07.Democrats. Does David Cameron need to do to
:43:07. > :43:12.win over rebels like yourself? as rebels need to do more to
:43:12. > :43:16.communicate. The Government needs to do more to communicate. I don't
:43:16. > :43:18.think it is faithal. There are things we disagree and we are
:43:18. > :43:22.different parties, different histories and different parties, it
:43:23. > :43:27.would be ludicrous if we didn't disagree. We are communicating and
:43:27. > :43:30.doing the important things on the economy above all.
:43:30. > :43:34.The come pen tators are saying David Cameron is in trouble. David
:43:34. > :43:40.Cameron is struggling to recapture his authority and confidence. Calls
:43:40. > :43:44.for George Osborne to be moved out of the of the teshry. Do you agree
:43:44. > :43:48.with think of these? We believe in an independent Parliament. The fact
:43:48. > :43:52.that out of 340 divisions there is one in which 92 people rebel
:43:52. > :43:55.shouldn't be the crisis, that ends the world. People who believe in
:43:55. > :43:58.independent parliaments should believe and there is a possibility
:43:58. > :44:01.of days greement, that shouldn't mean the collapse of the coalition,
:44:01. > :44:06.the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and I think it means web
:44:06. > :44:09.get on while disagreeing. We have got the summer to regroup.
:44:09. > :44:12.Do you remember the Government's cap on benefits? That's the plan to
:44:12. > :44:15.stop households from claiming more than �26,000 in benefits per year.
:44:15. > :44:18.Well, the cap hasn't yet come into force, but already the Work and
:44:18. > :44:23.Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith is claiming the policy is a
:44:23. > :44:26.success. He has released figures this morning which show that 1,700
:44:26. > :44:33.people who would have been affected by the cap, which comes into force
:44:33. > :44:39.next year, have now started working. How have they worked those figures
:44:39. > :44:42.out? They have written to everybody affected by the benefits cap. In
:44:42. > :44:46.Penrith, we have written to 82 people people we think who are
:44:46. > :44:50.affected and those people, they get three telephone calls and a letter
:44:50. > :44:53.and they get in touch in order to get support to help them get into
:44:53. > :44:58.work if they are worried about the benefits cap m
:44:58. > :45:01.They have managed to compile figures from people who were claim
:45:02. > :45:07.beyond the �26,000 and who are not, even though it is ahead of the cap
:45:07. > :45:11.coming in in.? They will continue to get the money until 2013, but
:45:11. > :45:19.they are warning them that they might not longer continue to see
:45:19. > :45:23.the money and offering them help to move on.
:45:23. > :45:28.1300 people have stopped claiming? They come down below the benefits
:45:28. > :45:38.cap. If the cap was lowered, you would save more money and force
:45:38. > :45:38.
:45:38. > :45:43.What we have tried to do is choose a number that reflects the average
:45:43. > :45:47.income of the country. We disagreed with Labour because we believe that
:45:47. > :45:52.people earning more than the average income of working people in
:45:52. > :46:00.this country should not got any benefits. We have chosen the
:46:00. > :46:08.average as the cat. Even though some Tory MPs have figured a number
:46:08. > :46:13.of 20,000? It is working. There will be people seeking work all the
:46:13. > :46:18.time and going back to work. What is fundamental and Labour have been
:46:18. > :46:24.supportive of the benefit cap but saying it needs to be done in a
:46:24. > :46:29.different way, taking awareness of child poverty. We see it there is a
:46:29. > :46:34.crisis, long-term youth unemployment, a six-year
:46:34. > :46:42.unemployment high... But do you support the cat being �26,000 a
:46:42. > :46:47.year? There me to be variations. Labour has asked about a regional
:46:47. > :46:51.housing benefit cap, and do you determine that independently,
:46:51. > :46:55.having a commission that recognises that housing costs may be cheaper
:46:55. > :47:00.in different parts of the country. Absolutely everybody is in support
:47:00. > :47:05.of people going back to work. it is not the same as supporting a
:47:05. > :47:09.cap, which is very popular in the country and is obviously working.
:47:10. > :47:15.Labour supports the cap but would like to see regional variation, CU
:47:15. > :47:19.would be happy for families in Liverpool and Glasgow to be able to
:47:19. > :47:24.claim less than in your London constituency? We need to look at
:47:24. > :47:29.what the government is not telling you. The government is not saying
:47:30. > :47:34.that of the 56,000 families affected, over 29,000 have over
:47:34. > :47:39.four children. We have to see what the impact will be on child poverty
:47:39. > :47:43.and other social issues. Are the Liberal Democrats completely at
:47:43. > :47:47.ease with the cap and the effect it will have one large families
:47:48. > :47:55.squares match I voted for their benefits cat. But not all your
:47:55. > :47:59.colleagues did. No. But the proposals in that Bill were amended
:47:59. > :48:03.so people in the support group, people who are so ill that they
:48:03. > :48:08.cannot reasonably hope to go back to work, they are excluded from the
:48:08. > :48:12.benefit cap, and I think that is a way that we were able to take a
:48:12. > :48:19.policy that was Conservative invention to make it Seren, so we
:48:19. > :48:24.could have confidence in it. there is speculation, the measure
:48:24. > :48:29.will affect large families and that would impact 200,000 children. Are
:48:29. > :48:34.you happy with that? I understand that is a consequence because those
:48:34. > :48:37.families got in receipt of the largest amount of benefits. Our
:48:38. > :48:42.concern was the real way for them to raise their living standards was
:48:42. > :48:49.to get into work, and that this policy does not help those people
:48:49. > :48:54.who were not able to physically go to work, which is why we secured
:48:54. > :49:01.the exemption for the Support Group, which I was proud to do. How many
:49:01. > :49:07.households are affected? In your constituency, none I suppose.
:49:07. > :49:12.have 82... Sorry, we have eight. was going to say! I have not seen
:49:12. > :49:19.my figure in Wiltshire. We have won a council covering several
:49:19. > :49:23.constituencies. In your area and, quite a few. Yes, and we have
:49:23. > :49:26.12,000 on the waiting-list for housing in Hounslow so this issue
:49:26. > :49:30.will have wider ramifications in terms of its impacts.
:49:30. > :49:34.It's coming to the end of the show and we've got a few minutes left so
:49:34. > :49:37.what shall we talk about? I know, the weather! Yes, it's been a
:49:38. > :49:39.pretty miserable summer so far. So, what is all this rain doing to the
:49:40. > :49:46.national mood? Giles has been finding out.
:49:46. > :49:56.# Rainy days and Monday's always get me down #.
:49:56. > :49:56.
:49:56. > :50:04.How does the weather make you feel? LAUGHTER. Depressed. I am from
:50:04. > :50:08.Israel, it is much hotter there. We get used to it. The British summer!
:50:08. > :50:15.We have been in this long recession and then you have the worst weather
:50:15. > :50:20.in history. No decency. Nothing to lift you out of the mire! For this
:50:20. > :50:25.country at this time, and the Olympics, everybody should be happy.
:50:25. > :50:28.It is something to make us smile. It will never happen again in our
:50:28. > :50:35.lifetime so blow the weather, we are the British and we will get
:50:35. > :50:40.through it! If I compare it to the war in Afghanistan, it is not a
:50:40. > :50:45.major issues. It would be nice to have a bit of sunshine. It makes
:50:45. > :50:48.you laugh that they spend all this money trying to get fake rain in
:50:49. > :50:58.Wembley for the Olympics and we will get the real stuff! It is
:50:59. > :51:04.
:51:04. > :51:09.Giles Dilnot and the view of some Londoners. So are we ever going to
:51:09. > :51:17.get our summer? We can talk now to Laura Tobin in the BBC Weather
:51:17. > :51:21.Centre. Will we ever get a summer? It is the million dollar question.
:51:21. > :51:27.The long-range forecast suggests that there is no prolonged dry, hot,
:51:27. > :51:31.sunny spell in the forecast. But there may be a brief glimmer at the
:51:32. > :51:36.end of the tunnel. We are quietly optimistic that within the next
:51:36. > :51:43.couple of weeks, things will become a little more settled, a little
:51:43. > :51:48.less wet. Why has it been so bad? It is to do with the jet stream. We
:51:48. > :51:53.have been talking about it for quite a while. This is a fast
:51:53. > :51:58.moving band of their high up in the atmosphere and it drags the weather
:51:58. > :52:02.fronts from the United States the right to ask. In a normal summer,
:52:02. > :52:08.the jet stream should be to our North Sea. Keeping the wet and
:52:08. > :52:12.windy weather across small north- western areas. This year, the jet
:52:12. > :52:21.stream has been to the south, keeping six sessions of weather
:52:21. > :52:26.What about our neighbours? Why aren't they getting it, especially
:52:26. > :52:31.in northern Europe? For they are lucky because they are on the other
:52:31. > :52:37.side of the jet stream. They are on the warm side of things. They have
:52:37. > :52:40.had high pressure in eastern Europe, and across eastern parts of America.
:52:41. > :52:46.Where we have high pressure around the globe, we have had some
:52:46. > :52:50.excessive heat conditions. One many people that have been devastating.
:52:50. > :52:56.Of course. Who can we blame for pushing the jet stream that far
:52:56. > :53:00.south? At the moment, the main thing is the fact we have got the
:53:00. > :53:07.blocked area of high pressure in the States, pushing their jet
:53:07. > :53:11.stream north. There is also minute discussion as scientists will have
:53:11. > :53:21.around El Nino, climate change and the Arctic ice as well. Many
:53:21. > :53:24.
:53:24. > :53:28.Duncan Hames, experts have begun to blame melting ice. Is there any
:53:28. > :53:31.evidence of this? I don't know if we can definitively say the
:53:31. > :53:36.position of the jet stream this year it is to do with climate
:53:36. > :53:40.change but it is a timely reminder that we normally enjoy better
:53:40. > :53:43.weather in the summer than our latitude would entitle us to
:53:43. > :53:49.because of this jet stream, and that means the climate in Britain
:53:49. > :53:52.is very fragile and if things like ice melting from the Greenland
:53:52. > :53:57.causes temperature changes which leads to the jet stream moving
:53:57. > :54:02.slightly, that could have a very big effect on us. Soon you are
:54:02. > :54:07.saying we will have more of this? Has the bad weather affected the
:54:07. > :54:12.mood in House of Commons? I think we have had more to affect the mood
:54:12. > :54:17.than the weather! We don't get to go outside very much! It affects me
:54:17. > :54:21.deeply because I have undertaken to walk 100 miles every week through
:54:21. > :54:27.my constituency in the next few weeks, so why will be doing it with
:54:27. > :54:33.a big umbrella. But the weather in your constituency is probably not
:54:33. > :54:37.as fine as down south or is it noticeably worse? It is! It is
:54:38. > :54:43.definitely colder. I could not believe I was in July yesterday and
:54:43. > :54:47.the thought I have 600 miles to go... We cannot blame the
:54:47. > :54:57.government for this! Always blame the government for everything, if
:54:57. > :55:00.
:55:00. > :55:06.in any doubt. She is staying quiet! What about the Olympics? If it
:55:06. > :55:10.continues to reign over the Olympics, will its damage it?
:55:10. > :55:15.suggest people watched the swimming and diving. And maybe the velodrome.
:55:15. > :55:18.I don't think it will dampen spirits. One thing that is positive
:55:18. > :55:25.about the Olympics is that everybody seems to be excited about
:55:25. > :55:32.it. You don't think the weather will put people off coming here?
:55:32. > :55:38.When we had a torch coming through, we have the rain lashing and we had
:55:38. > :55:42.nearly double the population of the town watching good torch procession.
:55:42. > :55:47.There is a serious point about preparations if we are going to
:55:47. > :55:52.have more flash flooding and the sort of weather that has blighted
:55:52. > :55:56.your constituency. Should the government be doing more? We have
:55:56. > :56:01.done a big thing, we have changed the insurance situation. It is
:56:01. > :56:05.difficult to get flood insurance and we are on the cusp of a big
:56:05. > :56:09.deal with insurers that everybody should be able to get decent flood
:56:09. > :56:14.insurance. We have had other great schemes, communities working with
:56:14. > :56:19.government to get flood defences. Labour has been calling for an
:56:19. > :56:24.injection of cash to help the fly- tipped areas, particularly in the
:56:24. > :56:29.north-west and the Midlands. -- a flood hit areas. And for any
:56:29. > :56:33.development that you have, you should plan for where rainwater
:56:33. > :56:39.might growth. That has been lacking, in terms of natural defences, water
:56:39. > :56:45.being able to drain away so we do not see the floods we have seen.
:56:46. > :56:49.Should the government be planning now for future years? We must plan
:56:49. > :56:54.for the future but part of that planning must be about response
:56:54. > :57:03.because when you have flooding and the results of very heavy rain full
:57:03. > :57:07.initial periodof time, that causes problems. Traditional programmes of
:57:07. > :57:11.projects like the Thames barrier, those projects would do nothing to
:57:11. > :57:15.help those communities say we need to make sure we have a good
:57:15. > :57:20.response in place ready for when these events inevitably happen.
:57:20. > :57:23.what sort of response should that be? About how local service
:57:23. > :57:30.providers and people in the community can look after people
:57:30. > :57:35.that may find themselves excluded, and so that people know not to take
:57:35. > :57:40.dangerous chances. An example from been my constituency, we have flood
:57:40. > :57:45.wardens, everybody gets a text message, people now know how to
:57:45. > :57:48.evacuate and we have learnt this painfully. We are getting better.
:57:48. > :57:52.Mountain rescue has been amazing in their support.
:57:52. > :57:56.There is just time before we go to find out the answer to our quiz.
:57:56. > :58:06.The question today was: What piece of music has David Cameron said he
:58:06. > :58:15.
:58:15. > :58:25.would like to see as England's Or Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
:58:25. > :58:32.
:58:32. > :58:40.I will not make all of using a rendition but can you tell me what
:58:40. > :58:46.the right answer is? Jerusalem. Jerusalem. The carpenters, rainy
:58:46. > :58:48.days on Mondays. That is not on the list! You are absolutely right.
:58:48. > :58:51.Jerusalem. That's all for today. Thanks to