19/12/2012

:00:42. > :00:46.Morning, folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. Relations between

:00:46. > :00:51.police and the Government have hit a new low after startling

:00:51. > :00:54.developments in the row over Andrew Mitchell. He was the trauma of --

:00:54. > :00:58.former chief whip. He now demands an inquiry into the affair that

:00:58. > :01:02.cost him his job after new allegations about the role of the

:01:02. > :01:06.police. A police officer was arrested on suspicion of misconduct

:01:06. > :01:08.in public office, something to do with the Mitchell affair, we are

:01:08. > :01:13.told. The government will announce that

:01:13. > :01:17.it is pulling almost half our troops out of Afghanistan next year.

:01:17. > :01:21.Does it make military sense or are we just cutting and running?

:01:21. > :01:25.Councils in England will find out how much cash they are going to get

:01:25. > :01:30.from central government later. Not a lot, I suspect, in these

:01:30. > :01:33.straitened times. Will town halls be able to maintain council tax

:01:33. > :01:37.freezes? Should we give MPs an early

:01:37. > :01:41.Christmas present, a pay rise? We will hear from the former civil

:01:41. > :01:50.servant who thinks that. expenses scandal was born in part

:01:50. > :01:54.from the fact that MPs' salaries have been fudged for far too long.

:01:54. > :01:58.All that coming up in the next 90 minutes of public service

:01:58. > :02:02.broadcasting at its very finest. To help us with his broadcasting tour

:02:02. > :02:06.de force, we scoured Westminster for two of the finest political

:02:06. > :02:13.minds in the business. But we couldn't find them! We settled

:02:13. > :02:16.instead for the International Development Minister, Alan Duncan,

:02:16. > :02:20.and the Shadow Scotland Secretary, Margaret Curran.

:02:20. > :02:24.Let's turn our attention to the latest twist, more than a twist, a

:02:24. > :02:28.dramatic development, in the row over the former Chief Whip Andrew

:02:28. > :02:33.Mitchell. He has now demanded a full inquiry after new revelations

:02:33. > :02:37.have emerged about the affair that cost him his job. You will recall

:02:37. > :02:40.he stepped down in October after the press got hold of details of an

:02:40. > :02:45.altercation with a police officer in Downing Street, it was about

:02:45. > :02:48.getting his bike through the main gates. It has now been alleged that

:02:48. > :02:53.a police officer has posed as a member of the public and falsely

:02:53. > :02:58.claimed to have witnessed the event. Number Ten says the allegations are,

:02:58. > :03:02.quote, exceptionally serious. In 20th September 12, Andrew

:03:02. > :03:05.Mitchell was involved in an argument with the police about

:03:05. > :03:10.whether he was allowed to take his bike out of the main gate in

:03:10. > :03:14.Downing Street -- September 2012. The police account of the incident,

:03:14. > :03:17.leaked to the press, accused Mr Mitchell of calling the police

:03:17. > :03:22.plebs. He admitted losing his temper and swearing but maintains

:03:22. > :03:27.he never used the word plebs. After much pressure... Pressure he was

:03:27. > :03:31.forced to resign as chief whip in October. Channel 4 News and

:03:31. > :03:33.Dispatches last night alleged another police officer posed as a

:03:33. > :03:39.member of the public and falsely claimed to have seen the events,

:03:39. > :03:43.which he then e-mailed to his MP, John Randall, Mr Mitchell's deputy

:03:43. > :03:51.chief whip. The Mel claimed there were other witnesses, including

:03:51. > :03:56.tourists. -- de Gmail claimed. But T C -- CCTV footage does not show

:03:56. > :03:59.crowds of people watching and listening. The Metropolitan Police

:03:59. > :04:01.Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe made clear it was an ongoing

:04:01. > :04:06.criminal investigation and that there was more to this than meets

:04:06. > :04:09.the eye, and he hopes people will support his actions once they hear

:04:09. > :04:14.the full story. The Police Federation, the organisation

:04:14. > :04:17.representing most officers, made a lot of the running on the story and

:04:17. > :04:20.called for Andrew Mitchell to resign. The Metropolitan Police

:04:20. > :04:25.Federation this morning said it unequivocally and categorically

:04:25. > :04:28.refutes any allegation that it was part of a conspiracy to unseat a

:04:28. > :04:33.cabinet minister. They have declined our request to be

:04:33. > :04:36.interviewed on the programme, but here is Ken McKay of the West

:04:36. > :04:41.Mercia Police Federation speaking back in October just before he met

:04:41. > :04:48.with Andrew Mitchell. I don't represent the Metropolitan Police

:04:48. > :04:52.officers. But we think the issue of integrity is significant. Society

:04:52. > :04:56.demands that police officers are honest and we should expect the

:04:56. > :05:01.same standards of Cabinet ministers, somebody is not telling the truth

:05:01. > :05:05.and we have to resolve this. you at risk of being accused of

:05:05. > :05:09.being political over an issue that has been gone over enough? This is

:05:09. > :05:13.absolutely not a political campaign of any sort. This is about

:05:14. > :05:18.integrity of police officers. We have officers' notes being

:05:18. > :05:24.described by a Cabinet minister as not being accurate. I would like

:05:24. > :05:27.that issue resolved. It is really as simple as that. That was the

:05:27. > :05:31.Police Federation back then. They are quieter this morning. In a

:05:32. > :05:35.moment we will speak to David Davies, a friend of Mr Mitchell,

:05:35. > :05:41.but first let's look at the CCTV footage first shown on Channel 4

:05:41. > :05:46.last night. This is Mr Mitchell on the left, he is going over to go to

:05:46. > :05:50.the side gate, having been told he can't go to the main one. The

:05:50. > :05:54.police log says this is when he Airth -- issued expletives about

:05:54. > :05:59.the police and call them plebs, but the CCTV does not look as if they

:05:59. > :06:04.are even talking as he goes out the gates, he does not look back, no

:06:04. > :06:08.body language suggests... It is not conclusive but no body language

:06:08. > :06:15.suggests the exchange took place then, as the Police Lock said.

:06:15. > :06:20.This is outside Downing Street, we can't be absolutely sure it is

:06:20. > :06:23.7:30pm but it is that night, there is nobody there, but the police log

:06:23. > :06:27.said several members of the public were present and that members of

:06:27. > :06:32.the public looked visibly shocked and somewhat taken aback by the

:06:32. > :06:42.language he used. As you can see, there is one person. We blotted

:06:42. > :06:45.

:06:45. > :06:50.them out. But there certainly was not a crowd, as the police lock --

:06:50. > :06:54.log suggested, although we need to establish the timing of the CCTV.

:06:54. > :06:59.But taken together there is at least prima Farsi evidence that the

:06:59. > :07:03.police log does not quite stand up on that CCTV. We are joined by

:07:03. > :07:08.Conservative MP David Davies, a friend of Andrew Mitchell. Brian

:07:08. > :07:12.Paddick, the former Metropolitan Police commander of, also joins me

:07:13. > :07:21.in the studio. You have spoken to Mr Mitchell, what is his frame of

:07:21. > :07:26.mind? He wants an inquiry and to be vindicated, frankly. He admitted to

:07:26. > :07:33.swearing but none of what he calls the toxic language. We are now in a

:07:33. > :07:37.position where he was somebody -- where somebody masqueraded as a

:07:37. > :07:42.civilian deliberately to put him in a bad light. In the midst of all

:07:42. > :07:47.this we see that the actual log, at least be think it is, the one in

:07:47. > :07:51.the newspapers, makes claims about the existence of a crowd which is

:07:51. > :07:57.simply not there. I have looked at the footage which you have just

:07:57. > :08:01.shown, there was no footage at any points around when Mr Mitchell left.

:08:01. > :08:06.The timing of the second CCTV bit that we showed, showing almost no

:08:06. > :08:11.one outside Downing Street, you believe that timing is coterminous

:08:11. > :08:15.enough with what was going on inside the gates? A minute or two

:08:15. > :08:19.either side. There were one or two people walking by, nobody seemed to

:08:19. > :08:23.stop except one person turned and looked, I am not sure if that was

:08:23. > :08:28.the exact time, but that was it. They looked in the way that any

:08:28. > :08:31.tourist might look at Downing Street. There is no crowd that. The

:08:32. > :08:36.idea of a crowd being outside the gate and being visibly shocked is

:08:36. > :08:41.simply nonsense. I'd like you to imagine if this was in a court of

:08:41. > :08:47.law, what a defence lawyer would do with a policeman in the witness box

:08:47. > :08:53.with his evidence with something that was plainly wrong in the

:08:53. > :09:00.middle of it. Let me come on to the e-mail in a moment, let me stick

:09:00. > :09:06.with the CCTV. If you go back and read the police log, it is quite a

:09:06. > :09:13.long walk, if you read that and then watch the CCTV, does it not

:09:13. > :09:18.raise real questions about the voracity of the police log?

:09:18. > :09:22.looks implausible, it does not look like it fits at all. As you already

:09:22. > :09:26.pointed out, a position where Andrew Mitchell is supposed to have

:09:26. > :09:31.verbally assaulted the police, if you believe the log, he was walking

:09:31. > :09:35.away from the policeman for most of that period, he is looking at the

:09:35. > :09:41.gate, not turning to make any comments, he is simply walking away.

:09:42. > :09:47.It does not seem to add up. Let's put it no higher than there are

:09:47. > :09:51.doubts about the police log now in the light of the CCTV. Let's turn

:09:51. > :09:56.to the witness, it was this witness and the e-mail which paid such Jake

:09:56. > :10:01.-- played such a crucial part in Mr Mitchell losing his job, it is what

:10:01. > :10:04.really got the Prime Minister's attention. We now understand this

:10:04. > :10:10.witness is a serving policeman and has told Channel 4 that he does not

:10:10. > :10:16.stand by the e-mail that he wrote. He appears to be in the same group,

:10:16. > :10:21.the diplomatic Protection Squad, as the people in Downing Street. He

:10:21. > :10:25.may even work in the same place. We don't know, but he might. He is in

:10:25. > :10:29.a group which includes the same people, certainly. We don't know

:10:29. > :10:34.why he did it, who put him up to it, although there is an intimation

:10:34. > :10:38.that somebody date in Michael Crick's commentary last night. We

:10:38. > :10:42.don't know where he got the information. His e-mail is very

:10:42. > :10:46.similar to parts of this log. It looks almost identical in parts.

:10:46. > :10:50.You have to wonder where that came from. If you take these bits of

:10:50. > :10:56.evidence together, as we have been discussing with you this morning,

:10:56. > :11:01.we did not be fair at least to raise the question that there is a

:11:01. > :11:06.potential conspiracy by certain police officers against a cabinet

:11:06. > :11:11.minister? I hate to use the word conspiracy, it has legal meanings,

:11:11. > :11:15.but it certainly looks like collusion of some sort. This is

:11:15. > :11:19.what the inquiry need to establish. I have heard to complain before

:11:19. > :11:23.about surveillance States, we live an estate where pretty much

:11:23. > :11:27.everybody's telephone, text and the Mail records are available to the

:11:27. > :11:31.police. They should be able to work out who talked to who in a matter

:11:31. > :11:36.of days or, at most, weeks. There is no reason why it should take

:11:36. > :11:40.long to verify. And establish what the goings-on were. I don't want

:11:41. > :11:46.you to go away, I want you to come back in in a moment, but before you

:11:46. > :11:50.do, one more question. You say Mr Mitchell wants an inquiry, what

:11:50. > :11:54.kind of inquiry are we talking about to get to the bottom of this?

:11:54. > :11:58.I'm perfectly comfortable with a police inquiry so long as it is

:11:58. > :12:05.clearly fair and independent and does not treat the police as

:12:05. > :12:10.different from Mr Mitchell. would carry it out? I don't mind.

:12:10. > :12:16.You might have the Met Police carry it out. They would be investigating

:12:16. > :12:20.themselves? Under IPCC supervision. Or possibly another police force,

:12:20. > :12:24.that is what normally happens in these circumstances. From my point

:12:24. > :12:28.of view the key issues are it has to restraint -- Swift, we have to

:12:28. > :12:34.resolve this issue before Mr Mitchell's career disappears into

:12:34. > :12:39.history, and it has to be fair. David Davies, I would like your

:12:39. > :12:44.reaction. I turn to Brian Paddick, a former senior officer in the Met

:12:44. > :12:51.Police. What do you make of this? Certainly there seemed to be an

:12:51. > :12:53.element of doubt raised by the CCTV. There is no audio track, Mr

:12:53. > :12:58.Mitchell has said some of the things he said were under his

:12:58. > :13:01.breath, even the comment that he admitted to, and it could possibly

:13:01. > :13:07.be that even when he is walking away that he could be saying these

:13:07. > :13:10.things. We don't know. He can't be saying them under his breath if the

:13:10. > :13:16.police lobby is accurate, it says that members of the public were

:13:16. > :13:19.visibly shocked. -- if the police log is accurate. That is a separate

:13:19. > :13:25.issue, the members of the public who were shocked... They could not

:13:25. > :13:30.be shocked because they did not hear him. That is the thing. If the

:13:30. > :13:34.CCTV is from the right time, it does not show any body outside the

:13:34. > :13:38.gates, or one person walking back and forth. That seems to be

:13:38. > :13:41.inconsistent with what is in the police log. The things we can be

:13:41. > :13:47.certain about are that there is a definite question over whether

:13:47. > :13:52.members of the public were present and shocked by what was said.

:13:52. > :13:54.can also be sure if the fall-back position is he was muttering that

:13:54. > :13:59.toxic phrases about plebs and you should know your place and all the

:13:59. > :14:03.rest of it, if he is muttering under his breath, even if they had

:14:03. > :14:08.been people there, they could not have heard him. -- even if there

:14:08. > :14:12.had been people. We don't know how loudly he was saying them. You said

:14:12. > :14:16.he could have been muttering them, but I am saying that if the police

:14:16. > :14:20.log says he was muttering them, the other parts of the log that members

:14:20. > :14:26.of the public were visibly shocked could not stand up. Is that not

:14:26. > :14:30.right? From a CCTV we cannot concludes that he did not say the

:14:30. > :14:35.things he is alleged to say, there is no soundtrack. We can't see his

:14:35. > :14:38.lips moving or not moving. We have to rely on other evidence as far as

:14:38. > :14:45.VAT is concerned. Where there is a question of doubt is whether the

:14:45. > :14:49.members of public were outside and were shocked, because the CCTV

:14:50. > :14:55.appears to have shown none. We will lose David Davies in a moment, so I

:14:55. > :14:58.will go back to him. If the CCTV is coterminous with events, it means

:14:58. > :15:02.the police log is clearly wrong, and if it is wrong on that it could

:15:02. > :15:05.be wrong about other things? would like you to think about what

:15:05. > :15:09.would happen in a court of law of a defence lawyer was questioning the

:15:09. > :15:13.policeman. Did you make this up? Why did you say people were shocked

:15:13. > :15:20.when nobody was there? The evidence would be torn to shreds, Brian

:15:20. > :15:25.knows that. He has seen that sort of thing happen elsewhere. I am a

:15:25. > :15:35.phrase it causes a great shadow to forgo their this piece of evidence

:15:35. > :15:35.

:15:35. > :15:39.Alan Duncan, you were a colleague of Mr Mitchell. Tell me what you

:15:39. > :15:44.make of it. He was my Secretary of State for two-and-a-half years.

:15:45. > :15:50.I've known him for 35 years and my judgment is solid. If he says that

:15:50. > :15:53.all he said, I believe him. He has been through the mincer for two

:15:53. > :15:59.months and I agree with every single word but David Davis has

:15:59. > :16:04.just said in his analysis and in his call for an inquiry. It turns

:16:04. > :16:08.out to be the case a Cabinet minister has lost his job because a

:16:08. > :16:12.serving police officer has false abide evidence in any mail to the

:16:12. > :16:17.Deputy Chief Whip, this is a scandal and a disgrace and it needs

:16:17. > :16:21.a full inquiry that David Davis and others are calling for. We have got

:16:21. > :16:28.to get to the bottom of this and I don't quite simply understand what

:16:28. > :16:33.position Brian was trying to adopt just now. An inquiry is going to

:16:33. > :16:36.take place and we shouldn't prejudge that inquiry. No one is

:16:36. > :16:43.prejudging it but we are raising the issues of the inquiry has to

:16:43. > :16:48.address. Let me come to Margaret Curran. We are looking at the

:16:49. > :16:52.possible, a potential collision of various elements of the police

:16:52. > :16:56.against a Cabinet minister. This is an extraordinary development in a

:16:56. > :17:02.story which is astonishing. I'm sure people across the country will

:17:03. > :17:10.be aghast at that possible outcome. What really concerns me is why did

:17:10. > :17:14.it take Channel 4 documentary to bring this all-out? We have had

:17:14. > :17:18.some words from Number Ten Downing Street for that do you think they

:17:18. > :17:24.handle it properly at the time? There was an inquiry carried out by

:17:24. > :17:27.Jeremy Heywood. Yes, let's face it, Andrew Mitchell have stayed there

:17:27. > :17:34.for months defend himself with the support of Number Ten, so I don't

:17:34. > :17:40.think there is any criticism here. They had the CCTV footage. The

:17:40. > :17:47.investigation included a review of the CCTV evidence. They will have

:17:47. > :17:50.seen that do so why didn't they make the most of that footage?

:17:51. > :17:58.remember there was nothing in the CCTV which in any way suggested

:17:58. > :18:04.that Andrew Mitchell had behaved badly at all. It was inconclusive.

:18:04. > :18:07.Margaret Curran, the Labour Party has dined out on this because it is

:18:07. > :18:12.playing to a narrative that this Government is run by a bunch of

:18:12. > :18:16.posh, out of touch lads who looked down on the rest of us. I think we

:18:16. > :18:23.have to stop using the word pleb until we get to the bottom of this,

:18:23. > :18:28.correct? I still think the Government is run by a posh, out of

:18:28. > :18:33.touch lads are but it's not just about what Andrew Mitchell said

:18:33. > :18:36.will the at your party conference, the word pleb was everywhere.

:18:36. > :18:42.were making a huge fund it at the expense of a minister which may not

:18:42. > :18:48.be true. We need to establish the facts. I don't know if it's true or

:18:48. > :18:51.not. You have admitted there are serious doubts. In terms of our

:18:51. > :18:58.criticism of the Government, that might have been an illustration of

:18:58. > :19:04.it, but the substance of that still remains. Nonetheless, that's the

:19:04. > :19:09.main point. What's happening here is very serious but it's not just

:19:09. > :19:15.about did they exam the CCTV images properly. It looks as if the

:19:15. > :19:25.witness statements were not properly taken. It's an incumbent

:19:25. > :19:25.

:19:25. > :19:30.inquiry. It does seem as if it wasn't done properly. CCTV is open

:19:30. > :19:36.to interpretation. What is not, if it is true, if this so-called

:19:36. > :19:42.witness turns out not to have been there and a serving member of the

:19:42. > :19:46.same part of the police that were on the gate, it's very serious.

:19:46. > :19:51.This is just a theory. We don't know. We have to wait for the

:19:51. > :19:54.inquiry. My theory is, these guys on duty in Downing Street at the

:19:54. > :19:59.time, though and their mate, who was part of the same outfit, wasn't

:19:59. > :20:03.there, and for some reason, that person then masqueraded as a member

:20:03. > :20:08.of the public and repeated the story. That is a possible

:20:08. > :20:13.explanation for what has taken place. To talk about a conspiracy

:20:13. > :20:21.amongst the police to unseat the Cabinet minister is wrong. It over

:20:21. > :20:26.the top. What about collusion? is, at best, a few officers

:20:26. > :20:30.discussing with each other how best to get this into the public domain.

:20:30. > :20:35.What about leaking the log to the press? Do Bernard Hogan-Howe said

:20:35. > :20:39.there is more to this than meets the eye. Mr Mitchell says it's got

:20:39. > :20:44.no confidence in the police but has full conference in Bernard Hogan-

:20:44. > :20:48.Howe investigating his own officers. There is much to meet the eye to

:20:48. > :20:53.this. We have run out of time. Thank you. Now Alan, what would you

:20:53. > :20:57.like for Christmas? Don't tell me yet. Margaret? How about a pay

:20:57. > :21:00.rise? Well, that's exactly what our next guest, former civil servant,

:21:00. > :21:10.Martin Narey, thinks you should get. You'll have the chance to thank him

:21:10. > :21:24.

:21:24. > :21:31.in a minute. But first, here's his It's Christmas at Westminster. But

:21:31. > :21:33.there's little evidence sign of warmth towards MPs. If you years

:21:33. > :21:38.have passed since the expenses scandal which damaged the

:21:38. > :21:46.reputation but the ghost of it remains. Last month, a jury found

:21:46. > :21:51.that Margaret Moran falsely claimed �53,000 of expenses. Denis McShane

:21:51. > :21:57.was forced to leave this place after being proven to be both a

:21:57. > :22:04.fraudster or and a forger. And more recently, Nadine Tories took part

:22:04. > :22:14.in I'm a celebrity. MPs are give plenty of material to those who

:22:14. > :22:16.

:22:16. > :22:23.think they are already pretty So, although this is a time of

:22:23. > :22:28.giving, it might appear time for an ex civil servant who has had his

:22:28. > :22:38.fair share of runnings with MPs to argue we need to pay MPs more. A

:22:38. > :22:42.

:22:42. > :22:50.We pay them a �65,000 a year. That is much more than the average UK

:22:50. > :22:56.salary. But it's much less than we pay thousands of individuals in

:22:56. > :23:00.jobs much less important. I know of one talented local councillor who

:23:00. > :23:07.has abandoned her ambitions to enter Parliament, because she knows

:23:07. > :23:10.many of her officials in more than an MP. The reality is, the expenses

:23:11. > :23:17.gamble Osborne, in part, from the fact that MPs' salaries have been

:23:17. > :23:25.fudged for far too long. MPs have to hold Government to account.

:23:25. > :23:28.Ministers who are on multi-million- pound apartments, are drawn from

:23:28. > :23:33.their ranks. Too many people from all political persuasions think,

:23:33. > :23:39.for a job which offers little security and involves a persistent

:23:39. > :23:48.scrutiny of everything they do, the �65,000 in year is not enough. We

:23:48. > :23:53.are going to have to be more And Martin Narey joins us now. How

:23:53. > :23:58.much more generous would you like their salaries to be? I wouldn't

:23:58. > :24:07.like to put a figure on it, but I think we should pay MPs nearer to

:24:07. > :24:12.the salary of GPs, �104,000. Head teachers in London, �112,000.

:24:12. > :24:16.Certainly a lot more than 65,000. You are worried that Parliament is

:24:16. > :24:19.not going to attract enough talented individuals for that do

:24:19. > :24:23.you think that is already happening or is that a prediction for the

:24:23. > :24:28.future? It might already be happening. I know people who are

:24:28. > :24:34.decided not to go for parliament. We know one third of the 2010

:24:34. > :24:39.intake lost more than �30,000 to into Parliament. People may have

:24:39. > :24:44.done that when it was a job which offered status but now it's a job

:24:44. > :24:49.which involves being held in contempt. Before the 2010 election,

:24:49. > :24:56.I chaired a debate with three MPs. Ed Balls, David Willets and David

:24:56. > :25:01.Laws also Ed Balls was a Kennedy Scholar at 20 treat. A 24, David

:25:02. > :25:07.Willets was heading a monetary unit in the Treasury. A 23, David Laws

:25:07. > :25:13.was a President of JP Morgan. We won't get people of that colour but

:25:13. > :25:17.at �65,000 a year. Do you agree? It's to do good for an MP to talk

:25:17. > :25:21.about salaries, particularly in the residual climate of expenses, so

:25:21. > :25:27.first of all, Martin, Foyle seasonal generosity of spirit. I'm

:25:27. > :25:31.not expecting a pay rise. I would say, if we're going to have a

:25:31. > :25:34.parliament of Merit, in the long term, we will have to approach this

:25:34. > :25:38.issue in the spirit of enlightenment and ask what is going

:25:39. > :25:44.to underpin a working Parliament which can serve the needs of this

:25:44. > :25:50.country. Mia denigration is not going to achieve that. Do you agree

:25:50. > :25:53.with that? Do no, this is my only income. I live a reasonable life.

:25:53. > :26:01.It's not the most privileged life but I have a good standard of

:26:02. > :26:06.living. You need to be careful with the odd would that the only talent

:26:06. > :26:11.you won't attract are people who can get better paid salaries. We

:26:11. > :26:14.get people who perhaps come through ordinary working life, not

:26:14. > :26:19.necessarily achieving the greatest in society, but has a great deal to

:26:19. > :26:26.offer in terms of parliamentary life. And also, if I could quote

:26:27. > :26:31.Tony Blair, talking about his son going into Parliament, he said by

:26:31. > :26:36.far and away the biggest factor in determining this for an individual

:26:36. > :26:40.would be your vocation. It's a cause, not a career. If you only

:26:40. > :26:46.judge it on a salary, I think you're in for a big disappointment

:26:46. > :26:51.because the motivation for this job is gone. Why have the salaries

:26:51. > :26:56.slipped behind council leaders, head teachers? No government, MP,

:26:56. > :27:00.wants to suggest they want to be paid more. I don't know. Some of

:27:00. > :27:05.the behaviour in the expenses scandal was indefensible. It's the

:27:05. > :27:09.case MPs were told their expenses would be treated liberally because

:27:09. > :27:13.their salaries were so low. I was a senior civil servant. By the time I

:27:13. > :27:19.left, I was earning far more than MPs. In the Department of help

:27:19. > :27:25.alone right now there are 40 civil servants earning �150,000 a year,

:27:25. > :27:31.but MPs have to hold people like that to account. Thank you so much.

:27:31. > :27:34.Now, you're all set for your big day out. You've got your best

:27:34. > :27:36.outfit on and your winning smile, as you grip and grin your way

:27:36. > :27:39.through that line-up of Westminster's leading political

:27:39. > :27:47.lights. And what did the Queen get from her loyal Cabinet as her

:27:48. > :27:52.Jubilee present? 60 coasters. Very useful, no doubt, in protecting the

:27:52. > :27:56.palace Chippendale from those unsightly coffee rings. I certainly

:27:56. > :28:00.hated when my Chippendale gets coffee rings. I thought they were

:28:00. > :28:04.dancers, actually, the Chippendales? But, really, we can't

:28:04. > :28:07.help thinking that Her Maj would have preferred one of these. That's

:28:07. > :28:16.what she really wants. Sadly, she'll have to wait for another

:28:16. > :28:19.anniversary. But you don't have to. Because this fine gift, almost

:28:19. > :28:22.certainly not by Royal Appointment, can be delivered to you. And all

:28:22. > :28:26.you have to do is win our Guess- The-Year competition. We'll remind

:28:26. > :28:36.you how to enter in a minute. But let's see if you can remember when

:28:36. > :28:54.

:28:54. > :28:58.# Freedom, freedom, give me some To enact legislation of this kind

:28:58. > :29:08.of thing that before Parliament at the moment is like throwing a match

:29:08. > :29:16.

:29:16. > :29:26.# Take my hand, don't be afraid, I want to prove every word I say...

:29:26. > :29:27.

:29:27. > :29:32.# Hay, a little girl, Mamma, I'm so hot to handle now...

:29:32. > :29:39.# I Love You Baby and if it's quite all right, I Need You Baby, to warm

:29:39. > :29:49.the lonely nights... # Trust in me when I say...

:29:49. > :29:50.

:29:50. > :29:58.# 0, pretty Baby, don't bring me down, oh, pretty Baby, let me love

:29:58. > :30:07.To be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics mug, send your

:30:07. > :30:17.answer to our special quiz email address. And you can see the full

:30:17. > :30:21.

:30:21. > :30:25.terms and conditions for Guess The This programme is full of coasters.

:30:25. > :30:30.It's coming up to midday here. Just take a look at Big Ben. There it is

:30:30. > :30:33.behind me. Yes, Prime Minister's Questions is on its way. There's no

:30:33. > :30:43.Nick Robinson today but we've found another Nick. The Guardian's Nick

:30:43. > :30:45.

:30:45. > :30:51.Watt joins us. We have got to go I am sure the whole House will wish

:30:51. > :30:54.to join me in sending our best wishes for Christmas to our brave

:30:54. > :30:58.armed forces in Afghanistan, to their families who will be missing

:30:58. > :31:02.them and to service men and women around the world, you are always in

:31:02. > :31:06.our thoughts. We owe you a deep debt of gratitude and send

:31:06. > :31:10.heartfelt thanks at Christmas time. This morning I had meetings with

:31:10. > :31:13.ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties and a

:31:13. > :31:17.house, I will have further meetings today.

:31:17. > :31:23.Can I thank my right honourable friend for his comments about

:31:23. > :31:28.wishing a merry Christmas to our service families and their

:31:28. > :31:34.families? Could he also tell me what progress has been made by Sir

:31:34. > :31:40.John Holmes in his review of medals, especially for those who served on

:31:40. > :31:44.the Arctic convoy? I thank my honourable friend for his remarks

:31:44. > :31:48.about our troops. On the issue of medals, which has gone on for a

:31:48. > :31:53.very long time, I am delighted to tell the house that we have reached

:31:53. > :31:57.a resolution. I asked Sir John to conduct a review not just into

:31:57. > :32:01.medals in general but to look at one of the most important cases.

:32:01. > :32:06.More details will come from the Ministry of Defence in the New Year,

:32:06. > :32:11.egg -- including how veterans can reply, but on the Arctic convoys,

:32:11. > :32:15.Sir John has recommended, and I agree, there will be an Arctic

:32:15. > :32:19.convoy A* met all. I am very pleased that some of the brave men

:32:19. > :32:24.of the Arctic convoys will get the recognition they so richly deserved

:32:24. > :32:27.for the dangerous work they did. On Bomber Command, Sir John concluded

:32:27. > :32:32.they had been treated inconsistently with those who

:32:32. > :32:39.served in Fighter Command and he has recommended, and I agree, that

:32:39. > :32:45.they should be awarded a Bomber Command Class. I pay tribute to my

:32:45. > :32:49.right Jean-Marc Ayrault -- to my right honourable friend to have

:32:49. > :32:57.complained over these issues and I am glad that we have reached a

:32:57. > :33:01.resolution. Ed Miliband. I want to start by joining the

:33:01. > :33:05.Prime Minister in paying tribute to our troops in Afghanistan, who

:33:05. > :33:09.continue to show such courage and bravery. It is particularly

:33:09. > :33:14.important at this time of year to remember them and, indeed, their

:33:14. > :33:18.families, many of whom will be separated from them. They are in

:33:18. > :33:23.our thoughts. I want to welcome the Government's expected announcement

:33:23. > :33:28.today on reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan during 2013,

:33:28. > :33:34.we await that statement. Can the Prime Minister tell the House how

:33:34. > :33:38.many British troops and civilian staff will be left in Afghanistan

:33:38. > :33:44.after the 2014 deadline, and can he confirm they will be under Afghan

:33:44. > :33:47.LED command? I join him in welcoming what our troops do. At --

:33:47. > :33:52.specifically on Afghanistan, we must decide about the draw down of

:33:52. > :33:56.trips between now and the end of 2014, and what the Defence

:33:56. > :34:01.Secretary will announce his because of the success of our forces and

:34:01. > :34:06.the Afghan national security forces and the fact we are moving from

:34:06. > :34:12.mentoring at a battalion level to a brigade level by the end of 2013,

:34:12. > :34:19.we will see troops come home in two relatively even steps, 2013 and

:34:19. > :34:26.2014, leaving probably around 5200 troops at the end of 2013, compared

:34:26. > :34:30.to the 9000 we have now. It is good to pay tribute again to them, many

:34:30. > :34:36.going back for tour after tour. Many of those I have spoken to have

:34:36. > :34:40.been impressed with the Afghan national forces. PO's 2013, we have

:34:40. > :34:44.said there will be nothing like the number of troops now, we promised

:34:44. > :34:48.the Afghan that we would provide an officer training academy that they

:34:48. > :34:53.have specifically asked for and we are prepared to look at issues

:34:53. > :34:57.above and beyond that, but that is the starting base line.

:34:57. > :35:02.Can I thank the Prime Minister for that answer? Given that thousands

:35:02. > :35:06.of British troops will still be in harm's way in Afghanistan, can he

:35:06. > :35:09.say what specific effort the government is making with the

:35:09. > :35:12.international community to match the continuing military efforts

:35:12. > :35:17.with the greater diplomatic efforts which I know he and I both think

:35:17. > :35:21.are important? This is what gives us our best chance of leaving

:35:21. > :35:28.behind an inclusive and durable political settlement in Afghanistan,

:35:28. > :35:32.which is so important. He is entirely right. As well as a

:35:32. > :35:36.military track, there has always been a political and diplomatic

:35:36. > :35:43.track. After 20th December 14 there will still be some troops involved

:35:43. > :35:49.in returning equipment and dealing with logistics. -- after December

:35:49. > :35:53.2014. We will not be leaving Afghanistan in terms of our support

:35:53. > :35:58.and help for the Afghans, we will contribute �70 million a year to

:35:58. > :36:04.help pay for the Afghan national security forces, we will have an

:36:04. > :36:08.aid programme in excess of �170 million a year for Afghanistan. In

:36:08. > :36:13.terms of the diplomatic track, the thing we are most focused on his

:36:13. > :36:18.bringing Afghanistan and Pakistan together. I have personally hosted

:36:18. > :36:22.two meetings between the presidents, I hope to host more meetings in the

:36:23. > :36:26.New Year. I spoke to present Karzai this morning to encourage him to

:36:26. > :36:31.keep working on this vital relationship so that Pakistan and

:36:31. > :36:35.Afghanistan can see they have a shared interest in a stable future.

:36:35. > :36:39.I want to turn to another issue and recognise the work of thousands of

:36:39. > :36:43.volunteers helping out in our nation's food banks, and the

:36:43. > :36:46.millions of people donating food to them. Is the Prime Minister as

:36:46. > :36:51.concerned as I am that there has been a sixfold increase in the last

:36:51. > :36:54.three years on the number of people relying on food banks? Let me echo

:36:54. > :36:58.what he said about volunteers, people working hard in our

:36:59. > :37:07.communities, part of what I call the big society, to help those in

:37:08. > :37:13.need. It is a good time of year to thank our volunteers and what they

:37:13. > :37:17.do, but I share his concern about people struggling to pay the bills,

:37:17. > :37:22.struggling to deal with their budgets. The most important thing

:37:22. > :37:27.is to get on top of inflation, and inflation is coming down, to get

:37:27. > :37:32.more people into work and out of poverty, and we see 600,000 more

:37:32. > :37:35.private sector jobs this year, and we are helping those families by

:37:35. > :37:41.freezing the council tax and by making sure that we help families

:37:41. > :37:44.with the cost of living. Mr Speaker, we both paid tribute to

:37:44. > :37:50.the work of the volunteers, but I never thought the big society was

:37:50. > :37:54.about feeding hungry children in Britain. The problem is that

:37:54. > :37:58.working people are turning to food banks. One headteacher of a school

:37:58. > :38:01.rated at standing by a Ofsted said that even children with a parent or

:38:02. > :38:05.parents in work are often struggling with the trades between

:38:05. > :38:13.heating their homes, buying their children cloves or buying them

:38:13. > :38:18.booed. -- rated outstanding by Ofsted. Two-thirds of teacher new

:38:18. > :38:22.staff providing pupils with food or money to prevent them going hungry,

:38:22. > :38:27.according to one study. Why is this happening and why does it appear to

:38:27. > :38:33.be getting worse on his watch? need to do more to help the poorest

:38:33. > :38:38.in our country, that is why we have lifted the personal tax allowance

:38:38. > :38:42.and taken 2 million of the lowest paid people out of tax altogether.

:38:42. > :38:48.If you take someone on minimum wage who works full-time, because of the

:38:48. > :38:53.tax changes we have made, their income tax bill has been halved. I

:38:53. > :38:57.would also make this point, because of the decisions we made in this

:38:57. > :39:02.Government to increase the child tax credit by �390 ahead of

:39:02. > :39:07.inflation, we have helped those families with their bills and win

:39:07. > :39:11.continue to do so in the future. -- and will continue.

:39:11. > :39:14.I am afraid they are sounding very out of touch with families up and

:39:14. > :39:18.down the country. The problem is what the Chancellor did not tell us

:39:18. > :39:24.in the Autumn Statement, his tax will be hitting working families

:39:24. > :39:27.who rely on tax credits. The reality is that in the third year

:39:27. > :39:33.of his government, more children are going hungry and more families

:39:33. > :39:35.are relying on food banks. Isn't it the clearest indictment of his

:39:35. > :39:43.Government's values that while low and middle-income families are

:39:43. > :39:48.being hit, at the same time he is giving an average of �107,000 tax

:39:48. > :39:51.cuts on people earning over �1 million. What is out of touch is

:39:51. > :39:55.denying the fact that we had a deficit that by his government that

:39:55. > :39:59.we are having to deal with, that is what we have had to do. We are

:39:59. > :40:03.doing it at the same time as cutting taxes for the poorest in

:40:03. > :40:08.the country, increasing child tax credits and freezing the council

:40:08. > :40:12.tax to help those families. When it comes to the top rate of tax, the

:40:12. > :40:16.richest in our country will pay more in tax and every year of this

:40:16. > :40:21.government than any year of his government. He might not like those

:40:21. > :40:30.facts but he can't deny them. The problem is nobody believes any

:40:30. > :40:35.more. -- believes him any more. We know who he stands up for. Where

:40:35. > :40:41.was he last weekend? Back to his old ways, partying with Rebekah

:40:41. > :40:46.Brooks. No doubt both looking forward to the Boxing Day Hunt, Mr

:40:46. > :40:50.Speaker. But before he was elected, the Prime Minister said, unless you

:40:50. > :40:56.can represent everyone in our country, you cannot be a One nation

:40:56. > :41:02.party. That was then, this is now. Everyone now knows he cannot be a

:41:02. > :41:06.One nation Prime Minister. It would not be Christmas without

:41:06. > :41:10.the repeats, and that is all we ever get from the honourable

:41:10. > :41:15.gentleman. I'll tell him what we have done this year, we said we

:41:15. > :41:19.would take action on jobs, we have 600,000 more private sector jobs.

:41:19. > :41:23.We said we would help with the cost of living, we have frozen council

:41:23. > :41:28.tax for the third year in a role. We said we would deal with the

:41:28. > :41:34.deficit, we have cut it by a quartet. What has he told us about

:41:34. > :41:39.the deficit this year? Nothing? About welfare? Nothing. About his

:41:39. > :41:42.education plans? Nothing. The fact is that he has absolutely nothing

:41:42. > :41:51.to offer except for the same old something-for-nothing culture which

:41:51. > :41:55.got us into this mess in the first place. Rob Wilson.

:41:55. > :41:59.Trust and the police is an essential part of a just and

:41:59. > :42:05.democratic society -- Trust in the police. Will the Prime Minister

:42:05. > :42:10.therefore seek... I apologise for interrupting, members must now come

:42:10. > :42:16.down. Both the questions and the answers must be heard. -- members

:42:16. > :42:18.must now calm down. Will the Prime Minister seek personal assurances

:42:18. > :42:23.from the commission of the Metropolitan Police that no stone

:42:23. > :42:27.will be -- Knowstone will be left unturned to get to the truth about

:42:27. > :42:34.allegations that a serving police officer fabricated allegations

:42:34. > :42:37.against a member of the cabinet? First, let me say, again, at

:42:37. > :42:43.Christmas time, it is right to pay tribute to brave police officers

:42:43. > :42:47.who look after us around the clock and do an extremely good job. But

:42:47. > :42:51.his point is important, a police officer posing as a member of

:42:51. > :42:56.public and sending an e-mail to potentially blacken the name of a

:42:56. > :43:00.cabinet member has to be seriously investigated, it is a serious issue.

:43:00. > :43:04.The Metropolitan Police Service is conducting a thorough and well

:43:04. > :43:07.resourced investigation to get to the truth as quickly as possible.

:43:07. > :43:10.The Independent Police Complaints Commission will supervise the

:43:10. > :43:16.investigation and I think we should allow them to get to the truth.

:43:16. > :43:22.David Anderson. Despite what the Prime Minister just said in

:43:22. > :43:26.response to our leader, the facts on diseases such as rickets and

:43:26. > :43:30.tuberculosis being on the increase in this country, food banks are

:43:30. > :43:34.increasing, kids are going to school hungry and we have a

:43:34. > :43:38.stagnant economy. Is the Prime Minister proud that his policies

:43:38. > :43:42.are taking this country back to the 1930s?

:43:42. > :43:47.I would hope that the honourable gentleman and his constituency

:43:48. > :43:52.would be celebrating today the fact that Nissan has announced another

:43:52. > :43:56.�125 million investment into our country. This is one of the biggest

:43:56. > :44:01.and most successful car plants anywhere in Britain. Yes, we face

:44:01. > :44:05.tough economic times, but we have over 1 million new private sector

:44:05. > :44:10.jobs. Last year and this year saw some of the fastest rates of new

:44:10. > :44:14.business creation. Yes, there are tough times and have choices, but

:44:14. > :44:20.our economy is rebalancing and we should recognise that -- tough

:44:20. > :44:25.times and tough choices. In March we introduced a local green space

:44:25. > :44:30.was it -- designation to protect green space is not just for newts

:44:31. > :44:33.and landscape painters are but also urban and suburban areas. Can you

:44:33. > :44:36.reassure local councils that they can and should use this new

:44:36. > :44:43.designation and it has not been undermined by any recent

:44:43. > :44:46.pronouncements? I would reassure my honourable friend that the national

:44:46. > :44:53.planning policy framework will be put in place. It was 1000 pages

:44:53. > :44:57.long, now just 50 pages long. That is our planning framework. We are

:44:57. > :45:00.giving greater power and delivery to local authorities. And also to

:45:00. > :45:08.have neighbour that plans so that these decisions can be made where

:45:08. > :45:14.they should, more locally. I have in my hand a genuine suicide

:45:14. > :45:19.note from a constituent of mine who sadly took his own life after he

:45:19. > :45:24.was informed that he was no like -- no longer entitled to DSA

:45:24. > :45:32.disability benefits. Across the UK, over 1000 people have died only

:45:32. > :45:35.months after being told this. This is 2012. We are supposed to be a

:45:35. > :45:42.civilised society. We should be looking after the disabled citizens

:45:42. > :45:48.here in the UK. Will the Prime Minister will listen to the 62,000

:45:48. > :45:51.people who signed Pat's petition and finally, finally, please, or do

:45:52. > :46:01.an assessment of all changes hitting disabled people in this

:46:02. > :46:03.

:46:03. > :46:08.I will look carefully at the tragic case he brings to the House and our

:46:08. > :46:12.thoughts go to his family. The actual money we're putting into

:46:12. > :46:16.disability benefits over the coming years is going up and not down but

:46:16. > :46:20.I think everybody knows and accepts we need to have a review of

:46:21. > :46:25.disability been at -- benefits. Some people have been stuck on

:46:25. > :46:32.benefits and have not been reviewed year after year after year. That is

:46:32. > :46:36.the view of charities and the Government as well. As we approach

:46:36. > :46:42.Christmas, will the Prime Minister join me in celebrating the fact

:46:42. > :46:47.that there are more people in employment this Christmas than

:46:47. > :46:50.there ever has been in this nation's history? The honourable

:46:50. > :46:55.lady makes an important point and, after all, the Leader of the

:46:55. > :47:00.Opposition said back in January, unemployment was going to go up. He

:47:00. > :47:04.stood at the dispatch box and said that but, the fact is, unemployment

:47:04. > :47:08.has come down, employment has gone up, a record fall in youth

:47:08. > :47:12.unemployment in the last quarter, all of those things are welcome as

:47:12. > :47:16.we see such a growth in the private sector because everyone knows we

:47:16. > :47:19.have to rebalance the economy where we shed some jobs in the public

:47:19. > :47:29.sector but we need to grow the private sector and that's what's

:47:29. > :47:47.

:47:47. > :47:54.happening. Merry Christmas, Mr Thank you. People realise the Prime

:47:54. > :48:00.Minister has a Dickensian view for the UK. Workhouse for the many. But

:48:00. > :48:05.why is he limiting welfare benefits for parents caring for adult

:48:05. > :48:12.children? With disability? Can we have an explanation from Ebenezer

:48:12. > :48:18.I think it was a case of Mary Christmas and happy speaking

:48:18. > :48:22.opportunities in the new year. We have not restricted disability

:48:22. > :48:25.benefits but put more money into disability benefits. That is what

:48:25. > :48:29.this Government is doing but what I would say to the honourable

:48:29. > :48:36.gentleman, we have taken difficult decisions to increase tax credits

:48:36. > :48:42.by 1%, public sector pay by 1% and out of work benefit by 1% but it's

:48:42. > :48:46.a tough decision which needed to be taken. Last week, the published

:48:47. > :48:52.census figures reveal the previous government presided over the

:48:52. > :48:56.largest wave of emigration our country has ever seen. Yet, next

:48:56. > :49:00.Christmas, our borders will be thrown open even wider to

:49:00. > :49:06.potentially limitless immigration for the 29 million people who live

:49:06. > :49:10.in Romania and Bulgaria. Will my Right Honourable friend look

:49:10. > :49:17.seriously at triggering the the national interest clauses buried

:49:17. > :49:22.deep in the EU directives to stem this new flow, especially for those

:49:23. > :49:28.with criminal records or of those who seek access to the benefit

:49:28. > :49:31.system? Let me echo what he said in the first half of his question. The

:49:31. > :49:36.last government allowed a completely under control system of

:49:36. > :49:41.migration where we saw net immigration of 200,000 the year, 2

:49:41. > :49:46.million people across a decade, two cities the size of Birmingham

:49:46. > :49:52.staying in our country every year and not one word of apology for the

:49:52. > :49:55.mess they left. He makes an important point as the transitional

:49:55. > :50:00.controls come of the accession countries. I will look carefully at

:50:00. > :50:05.what he says. We have rules to restrict access to benefits. We

:50:05. > :50:08.will go one to make those as robust as possible. I mentioned the

:50:08. > :50:12.national interest clauses in a statement on Europe on Monday. I

:50:12. > :50:17.think those can only be triggered if there are emergency conditions

:50:17. > :50:22.but I will look carefully at what he said. One month ago, the PM told

:50:22. > :50:28.the House the universal credit put in place work incentives for people

:50:28. > :50:33.on all levels of income. Why does the Department now say that

:50:33. > :50:37.universal credit will mean working women will consider giving up work?

:50:37. > :50:41.That's not the case at all. Universal credit means, because we

:50:41. > :50:45.are bringing different benefits together, people will always be

:50:45. > :50:51.better off in work and always be better off working extra hours.

:50:51. > :51:00.That is what we're doing. They had 13 years to sort out these poverty

:51:00. > :51:04.traps and a completely failed. constituent is currently stuck in

:51:04. > :51:08.Cuba despite having a British passport. I wonder if the Prime

:51:08. > :51:13.Minister could encourage the Cuban authorities to look with compassion

:51:13. > :51:18.and speed to try to get him back home for Christmas with his family?

:51:18. > :51:23.I quite understand why my honourable friend raises this case.

:51:23. > :51:30.He was born in Cuba, entered the UK, but obtained a British passport in

:51:30. > :51:33.1997. We are in regular contact with the Cuban authorities who have

:51:33. > :51:39.advised him he should expect to receive his Cuban passport this

:51:39. > :51:43.week which will enable him to travel. Ultimately, this decision

:51:43. > :51:48.rests with the Cuban authorities have but the British will continue

:51:48. > :51:51.to assist him and keep in touch with him. In April, the Prime

:51:51. > :51:56.Minister said energy efficiency would be place at the heart of

:51:56. > :52:00.government policy. On Monday this week, the Government's alone up

:52:00. > :52:06.fuel poverty advisory group warned that there could be over 9 million

:52:06. > :52:10.house sales in fuel poverty and that is 25% of all households in

:52:10. > :52:17.Stoke-on-Trent. Can the Prime Minister tell us and tell me why,

:52:17. > :52:25.from next year, expenditure on his programmes for low income

:52:25. > :52:28.households will be halved that of 2010-11? I know she has an interest

:52:29. > :52:35.in this matter but the green deal is a bigger programme being brought

:52:35. > :52:39.in. Labour have promised to abolish fuel poverty altogether in their

:52:40. > :52:44.2005 manifesto and yet, it went up. That actually what happened but,

:52:44. > :52:48.what we have done, we are investing in the warmer front scheme,

:52:48. > :52:53.maintain the winter fuel payments, increased cold weather payments,

:52:53. > :52:59.making money available to help people, and the green deal and the

:52:59. > :53:03.Eco scheme are some of the biggest ones introduced in this country.

:53:03. > :53:09.Does the Prime Minister agree with the shadow Health Secretary but any

:53:09. > :53:14.increases in expenditure of the NHS would be, as he put it,

:53:14. > :53:17.irresponsible? He makes an important point. Some people and

:53:17. > :53:22.House of Commons might have missed this because, in a recent health

:53:22. > :53:27.debate, the Health Secretary after the shadow Health Secretary, does

:53:27. > :53:31.he stand by his comment that it is irresponsible to increase NHS

:53:31. > :53:37.spending? What did the shadow Health Secretary reply? He said,

:53:37. > :53:47.yes, I do. It may be Christmas time and the shadow health secretary is

:53:47. > :53:47.

:53:47. > :53:51.a gift that keeps on giving. Speaker, last week 100 young

:53:51. > :53:55.homeless people came to this House for the first ever young homeless

:53:55. > :54:00.People's Parliament. I'm grateful to you for being President --

:54:00. > :54:05.present. I'm grateful for the support. But they were excellent

:54:05. > :54:09.young people giving powerful personal testimony as to why they

:54:09. > :54:12.have become homeless and sending out, in no uncertain terms, what

:54:12. > :54:18.they expect from us in this House for that can I ask the Prime

:54:18. > :54:21.Minister this question? Above all, they want their voice to be heard.

:54:21. > :54:25.And they agreed that they would seek a meeting with the Prime

:54:25. > :54:30.Minister. Will the Prime Minister received a delegation of those

:54:30. > :54:34.young homeless people? Can I join you in welcoming the fact they came

:54:34. > :54:38.to Parliament to make these points. I will listen very carefully to

:54:38. > :54:44.what they have to save. The truth is, we have seen housing benefit

:54:45. > :54:48.increase by 50% in recent years and, even under our plans, housing

:54:48. > :54:53.benefit will continue to increase. What we need to do in Britain is

:54:53. > :54:59.build more homes. Build more homes in the private sector and the

:54:59. > :55:06.social sector. That is the vital task ahead of us and I pay credit

:55:06. > :55:09.to be planning ministers and others to make this happen. The closure of

:55:09. > :55:13.the original state sponsored lifeline helicopter service to the

:55:13. > :55:19.Isles of Scilly two months ago has prevented significant challenges to

:55:19. > :55:22.islanders, medical services and the economy. But local people and other

:55:22. > :55:26.stakeholders are working together to find solutions. Would the Prime

:55:26. > :55:31.Minister be prepared to meet a small delegation of islanders and

:55:31. > :55:36.myself in order to explore what assistance the Government can

:55:36. > :55:42.provide them in their Al of desperate need? He makes an

:55:42. > :55:45.important point. Proper transport links to the Isles of Scilly are

:55:46. > :55:49.vital. Other providers are looking to fill the gaps left by the

:55:49. > :55:52.helicopter service. This would provide the most long-term

:55:52. > :55:56.sustainable option rather than government subsidy but obviously we

:55:56. > :56:00.have to look at all the options. This is part of other country which

:56:00. > :56:10.is connected to the mainland. It is necessary to have a meeting, of

:56:10. > :56:16.

:56:16. > :56:21.Order. Let's have a bit of order. When the Great Train robber stole

:56:21. > :56:27.�2.5 million from the Royal Mail, they were sentenced to 30 years in

:56:27. > :56:34.prison. Yet, when our bankers get caught fraudulently taking billions

:56:34. > :56:40.of pounds from poor people throughout the world, they walk

:56:40. > :56:45.away with fat pensions. How can we ever be in anything together as

:56:45. > :56:54.long as we tolerate powerful villains who what to privileged to

:56:54. > :56:59.be put behind bars? This is why at the weekly review into the LIBOR

:56:59. > :57:01.scandal recommends a series of changes including their being

:57:01. > :57:05.criminal sanctions and I think where people have broken the law

:57:05. > :57:12.they should face that full force of the criminal law. What punishment

:57:12. > :57:20.we should design for the people who sold our gold at half price is

:57:20. > :57:25.another matter altogether. Dementia is a condition, a terrible

:57:25. > :57:30.condition that destroys lives. Will my Right Honourable friend, the

:57:30. > :57:33.Prime Minister, join with me in commending Warwickshire County

:57:33. > :57:38.Council and local health care partners on developing of the

:57:38. > :57:41.excellent Coventry and Warwickshire dementia programme which is

:57:41. > :57:45.providing an excellent service to dementia sufferers and their

:57:45. > :57:52.carers? I'm happy to John a Honourable friend in paying tribute

:57:52. > :57:58.to his county council. -- to join my honourable friend. We must do

:57:58. > :58:01.more to combat dementia. This is a disease, not just a natural part of

:58:01. > :58:05.ageing and we need to increase the research which goes into dementia,

:58:05. > :58:09.improve the care people getting hospitals and care homes and makes

:58:09. > :58:12.sure there is more dignity, but this is something where all

:58:12. > :58:15.communities that to come together and make more dementia friendly

:58:15. > :58:19.communities and that's where we can lead the way by bringing

:58:19. > :58:22.organisations together as they have obviously done in Warwickshire.

:58:22. > :58:28.It's interesting the Prime Minister said that those to break the law

:58:28. > :58:33.should feel the full force of it as the Prime Minister's local and has

:58:33. > :58:37.illegally hunted foxes with dogs. Can he remind the House how many

:58:37. > :58:45.times he has ridden with the hunt, whether he used his own horse, or

:58:45. > :58:55.whether he borrowed a horse for a friend? I can happily put on record

:58:55. > :59:00.

:59:01. > :59:05.but I have never broken the law in Could I reassure my honourable

:59:05. > :59:10.friend that those in my constituency who are most strongly

:59:10. > :59:14.in favour of reforming benefits focusing more on those who need

:59:14. > :59:19.them, are take me away from those who don't, are those who live on

:59:19. > :59:23.council estates who are fed up with working long hours to subsidise the

:59:23. > :59:27.lifestyle for those who don't go to work. I think they Honourable

:59:27. > :59:33.friend makes an important point. We made three do that will decisions.

:59:33. > :59:37.We said a 1% pay freeze on the public sector, a 1% increase on

:59:37. > :59:42.that working benefits, and a 1% freeze on tax credits. The party

:59:42. > :59:46.opposite support the 1% freeze on public-sector pay, that is progress,

:59:47. > :59:52.but they don't support the 1% increase on welfare benefits. They

:59:52. > :59:56.think people out of work, their income should go up faster than

:59:56. > :00:01.people who are in work. That's why they are so out of touch with the

:00:02. > :00:09.nation and why they don't deserve to be in government. Thank you, Mr

:00:09. > :00:14.Speaker. With his neighbours in trouble over phone hacking and the

:00:14. > :00:21.local hunt, he finds himself stuck alone over Christmas watching films

:00:21. > :00:25.on TV. Which one of these will he fancy watching? The Grange who

:00:25. > :00:30.stole Christmas, star and the chance of the Exchequer? The

:00:30. > :00:38.Muppets Christmas Carol starring the Lib Dem members of the Cabinet.

:00:38. > :00:43.Or it's not a wonderful life for I think he will have to swap out

:00:43. > :00:49.from Wallace and Gromit and had a Muppets Christmas Carol instead. I

:00:49. > :00:51.have got one suggestion that, full of Christmas cheer. Everybody knows

:00:51. > :00:57.the Shadow Chancellor does a brilliant job playing Santa Claus

:00:57. > :01:00.at a Christmas party every year. He does an excellent job. Why not give

:01:00. > :01:10.everyone an early Christmas present, make the arrangement permanent and

:01:10. > :01:21.

:01:21. > :01:24.Order, order. The House should hear the voice of Bacon. Thank you. Does

:01:24. > :01:29.he agree with the increasing numbers of informed commentators

:01:29. > :01:32.who believe that the ring-fencing of investment banking subsidiaries

:01:32. > :01:36.of commercial banks will not work properly and what is required is

:01:36. > :01:40.complete separation? The Government has looked at this issue very

:01:40. > :01:44.carefully. Obviously we commissioned the report which came

:01:45. > :01:50.up with the idea of ring-fencing. I think that is right. What we want

:01:50. > :01:54.to make sure is that, if a bank fails, it can fail safely without

:01:54. > :02:03.tax payers having to stump up the money to sorted out. That would be

:02:03. > :02:10.a major advance and something the whole country would support.

:02:10. > :02:16.Speaker, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister will be aware of the

:02:16. > :02:21.welcome news this morning that the Attorney General's application to

:02:21. > :02:26.quash the Hillsborough verdict was upheld by the High Court. He will

:02:26. > :02:28.understand that this now will involve the Hillsborough families

:02:29. > :02:37.and a great deal of legal costs to make sure they are properly

:02:37. > :02:44.represented. Will he agreed to waive the VAT on the CD, the

:02:44. > :02:47.proceeds of which will go directly to the families? First of all, can

:02:47. > :02:51.I join the Right Honourable gentleman in welcoming the decision

:02:51. > :02:55.made today. The Hillsborough families have long wanted to have

:02:55. > :02:59.up this new inquest. I think it's very good the system has moved

:02:59. > :03:03.relatively rapidly since the statement and debate in this House

:03:03. > :03:07.to help bring it about. I received representations about the

:03:08. > :03:13.Hillsborough families single for the a chance of the Exchequer is

:03:13. > :03:18.currently on the other side of the Atlantic but as the First Lord of

:03:18. > :03:23.the Treasury, I think I can confidently predict a decision

:03:23. > :03:29.which will go down well in Merseyside. As this is the season

:03:29. > :03:33.of goodwill and humbug, will the Prime Minister confirm that, for

:03:33. > :03:39.the greater part of the peerage of the last Labour government, the top

:03:39. > :03:47.rate of tax was 40p, and the gap between rich and poor widened, and

:03:47. > :03:50.left nearly 4 million children living below the poverty line.

:03:50. > :03:54.makes an extremely good point. He could have added to that for that

:03:54. > :03:58.they left a record deficit. They saw youth unemployment double, made

:03:58. > :04:07.a complete mess of the economy, had an open-door immigration system and

:04:07. > :04:13.have never apologised for one word of it. Many people perhaps watching

:04:13. > :04:19.our proceedings are very interested in the issue of fuel poverty. They

:04:19. > :04:24.may have been a little confused with the Commons the Prime Minister

:04:24. > :04:33.made too much Honourable friend for Stoke-on-Trent. Will he confirm,

:04:33. > :04:36.let's be transparent, that a body which advises up to 9 billion house

:04:36. > :04:43.sales, a record since records first began, of people suffering from

:04:43. > :04:47.cure poverty, will he explain to the House and to our constituents

:04:47. > :04:54.as we approach Christmas what is the Government prepared to do about

:04:54. > :04:58.this horrible scandal of fuel poverty? He is entirely right that

:04:58. > :05:04.this is a scandal. It needs to be dealt with for that the figures he

:05:04. > :05:08.gives I don't believe are correct. The figures I have, in a 2012, it

:05:08. > :05:11.expected there would be 3.9 million households in fuel poverty but we

:05:11. > :05:15.are committed to tackling fuel poverty. That's why we have

:05:15. > :05:19.maintained the winter fuel payments, increased the cold weather payments

:05:19. > :05:26.and kept the increase permanent. Investing in the warmth and scheme,

:05:26. > :05:34.the warm home a discount and the For the the front bench promised to

:05:34. > :05:44.abolish a few poverty but they put And that's it. The final PMQs of

:05:44. > :05:47.

:05:47. > :05:51.Ed Miliband went on the draw down of troops from Afghanistan. There

:05:51. > :05:58.will be a statement after PMQs, we will cover some of these issues

:05:58. > :06:04.before 1pm. The Prime Minister told us it is effectively two equal

:06:04. > :06:11.steps, over 5000 troops will come home next year, so by the end of

:06:11. > :06:16.2013 there will be 5200 left, they will come home in 2014. PO's 2014,

:06:16. > :06:20.he says Britain will have no combat role at all but we might be helping

:06:20. > :06:25.to operate an opposite training academy, which is what the

:06:25. > :06:29.Government had so wanted over there. Mr Miliband is largely in agreement

:06:29. > :06:34.on Afghanistan, so then he moved on to food banks in the run-up to

:06:34. > :06:40.Christmas. He said there were six times the reliance on food banks

:06:40. > :06:44.now than before. The Prime Minister did not confirm that but he did not

:06:44. > :06:50.disputed. Them they had an argument. Mr Miliband also mentioned that the

:06:50. > :06:53.Prime Minister had been seen with Rebekah Wade at the weekend. On the

:06:53. > :06:58.Andrew Mitchell thing, just to let you know what else we learned, the

:06:58. > :07:04.Prime Minister said that it was a very serious issue, particularly

:07:04. > :07:08.this e-mail from what now looks to be a serving police officer. The

:07:08. > :07:12.Metropolitan Police were doing, quote, a thorough and well

:07:12. > :07:15.resourced investigation. We have subsequently learned there are now

:07:15. > :07:20.30 police working on this investigation into what has been

:07:20. > :07:24.known as plebgate, and it is being supervised by the IPCC, the

:07:24. > :07:28.Independent Police Complaints Commission. So they are some of the

:07:28. > :07:31.news lines which have come out. While we were on air, the Pollard

:07:31. > :07:37.report on Newsnight has been published and I will give you a few

:07:37. > :07:40.details in a moment, but first, your reaction to PMQs.

:07:40. > :07:45.There was a strong response to the issue of food banks raised by the

:07:45. > :07:48.Labour leader, Ed Miliband. John and Leeds, rather than the Prime

:07:48. > :07:52.Minister thanking volunteers for giving out food to those who can't

:07:52. > :07:56.afford to eat, the Prime Minister of the 7th richest country on earth

:07:56. > :08:00.should hang his head in three -- in shame.

:08:00. > :08:04.Diane says that Cameron's finely- tuned rhetoric conceals the truth,

:08:04. > :08:09.but nothing can hide be back to that more and more people are

:08:09. > :08:13.suffering, ordinary people as well as the poor and vulnerable.

:08:13. > :08:17.Bill in Doncaster asks whether Ed Miliband can do Prime Minister's

:08:17. > :08:21.Questions without mentioning the rates in -- the cuts in the top

:08:21. > :08:23.rate of tax which affects a tiny number of people and is neither

:08:23. > :08:29.here nor there in terms of deficit reduction.

:08:29. > :08:32.James can sell asks why Ed Miliband can't ask a question which is not

:08:32. > :08:38.about welfare? It needs changing, merry Christmas.

:08:38. > :08:41.That was not me, that was the end of the e-mail!

:08:41. > :08:47.Our viewers were particularly impressed by your comments before

:08:47. > :08:53.PMQs. They agreed with every word you said, they said they were

:08:53. > :08:57.insightful. I will let you carry on. I thought we saw a strong David

:08:57. > :09:02.Cameron, a not so strong David Cameron. The strong David Cameron

:09:02. > :09:08.was on Afghanistan, when Miliband simply raise the issue, because

:09:08. > :09:14.Philip Hammond is making a statement as we speak. He says that

:09:14. > :09:16.they are taking down troops, but there is a strategy to mentor and

:09:16. > :09:21.trainee Afghan National Army. There are huge questions about how well

:09:21. > :09:25.that is going with all the green on blue incidents. But there is the

:09:25. > :09:28.political and diplomatic strategy, trying to get Pakistan and

:09:28. > :09:33.Afghanistan talking. When I travelled with the Prime Minister

:09:33. > :09:38.to Afghanistan, he set up a meeting between President Karzai and the

:09:38. > :09:44.President of Pakistan. Where he was not so strong, one of those e-mails

:09:44. > :09:47.to Jo said the Prime Minister's finely-tuned rhetoric. I fear that

:09:47. > :09:52.his finely tuned antennae were not so strong when Ed Miliband asked

:09:52. > :09:57.him about the third bank, a sixfold increase, and he said, that is a

:09:57. > :10:01.wonderful example about the Big Society. Ed Miliband hit back and

:10:01. > :10:04.said, I never believed Big Society was about feeding hungry children.

:10:05. > :10:08.I am sure the Prime Minister will want to think about whether

:10:08. > :10:13.invoking the Big Society, the nation coming together, whether you

:10:13. > :10:17.want to talk about that when there are, clearly, very hungry children.

:10:17. > :10:20.A at Christmas time you think about this issue more, perhaps, than in

:10:20. > :10:30.the rest of the year, and it begs a lot of questions about whether

:10:30. > :10:31.

:10:31. > :10:34.there are gaps in our very exhaustive Welfare State. It calls

:10:34. > :10:39.into question issues about parenthood, our kids going to

:10:39. > :10:43.school not having had breakfast, some of those basic things. I am

:10:43. > :10:47.not denying the issue, but equally I think there are big issues around

:10:47. > :10:53.it. Britain is not as rich as it could end should be, we are picking

:10:53. > :10:57.up the pieces are of an illusory period of economic growth and we

:10:57. > :11:00.are getting blamed for a lot of the difficult medicine we are having to

:11:00. > :11:05.administer to clear up the mess. There are complicated factors in

:11:06. > :11:12.this important issue, to which we should be incredibly sensitive.

:11:12. > :11:14.I visited a Food Bank in my Glasgow constituency last week. What was

:11:14. > :11:19.interesting is the people were reporting that a number of people

:11:19. > :11:23.were in work and beginning to use those banks. They say there is a

:11:23. > :11:25.step change in the type of people using such facilities. One of the

:11:25. > :11:29.issues we have pressed the Government on as they are not

:11:29. > :11:33.collecting figures about the use of big banks, and they need to, they

:11:34. > :11:38.need to start understanding why people are using them. What is a

:11:38. > :11:48.foodbank? People can go and essentially be giving booed, often

:11:48. > :11:51.

:11:51. > :11:58.on perishables. -- given food? Perishables from supermarkets?

:11:59. > :12:03.allotted it is donations, -- a lot of it is donations, often churches.

:12:03. > :12:07.There is an exponential growth in this. What we need to do is at

:12:07. > :12:12.least tried to beef ban about some of the experiences of people who

:12:13. > :12:16.are on the receiving end of this. - - at least tried to be found. There

:12:16. > :12:20.are reports about mothers with three kids, it is not the

:12:20. > :12:24.stereotypical issue, people think about drug addicts, people who

:12:24. > :12:30.can't get their act together or find food, these are ordinary

:12:30. > :12:34.families really beginning to struggle. We are all one paycheck

:12:34. > :12:38.away from pretty serious poverty. The Guardian broke the story that

:12:39. > :12:45.the Prime Minister had been seen with Rebekah Wade? It was my

:12:45. > :12:49.colleague, Patrick Winter. It has not been denied? The story stands?

:12:49. > :12:52.They very quickly admitted it was the case. About two years ago I had

:12:52. > :12:56.the story about the original Christmas party where they met,

:12:56. > :13:00.these centres around the houses for about 10 days and I think they have

:13:00. > :13:05.learned their lesson that it is best to be transparent. Rebekah

:13:05. > :13:09.Wade is under arrest and being charged, we can't focus on the

:13:09. > :13:15.details, but on a range of things. Is it wise for the Prime Minister

:13:15. > :13:19.to speak to somebody who has been charged? Everyone is innocent until

:13:19. > :13:26.they are proved guilty. A lot of people go to court, you can still

:13:26. > :13:30.talk to them. I have not seen the details of the story. Shall we are

:13:30. > :13:36.letting it tell you? It was a social event in a place called

:13:36. > :13:43.Chipping Norton. -- shall we let Nick Watt tell it to you? The it

:13:43. > :13:49.was the grandson of David Astor, his birthday party. They were at

:13:49. > :13:55.the same party, so what? I am asking if you think it is wise,

:13:55. > :13:59.given the history? I think the point my colleague Patrick Winter

:13:59. > :14:02.was making in his story is that this is at the moment the Prime

:14:02. > :14:07.Minister is having to make decisions about what to do with the

:14:07. > :14:11.Leveson inquiry. It was a social event, it wasn't a formal meeting.

:14:11. > :14:16.There are no implications for anything in terms of public policy.

:14:16. > :14:20.Is he meant to turn his back on her and be rude? He is a very cordial,

:14:20. > :14:28.polite manner. I think he should have got on his horse and ridden

:14:28. > :14:32.away... Was it that big a drawing room?! While we were with Prime

:14:32. > :14:39.Minister's Questions, the Pollard report, Nick Pollard, an editor of

:14:39. > :14:42.Sky News, he has been investigating the Newsnight decision to drop the

:14:42. > :14:46.Jimmy Savile inquiry. There are a number of inquiries going on at the

:14:46. > :14:50.moment, this is on dropping the Jimmy Savile story on Newsnight.

:14:50. > :14:55.That was a couple of months ago, it seems like years ago but it was not

:14:55. > :14:58.that long ago. The Pollard report concludes that it was a flawed

:14:58. > :15:03.decision to drop the investigation and it plunged the BBC,

:15:03. > :15:08.particularly its top management into, quotes, chaos and confusion.

:15:08. > :15:11.They found it very hard to deal with it. However it also concludes

:15:11. > :15:18.that BBC bosses did not put pressure on the programme to drop

:15:18. > :15:24.the expose, but it says that some staff knew about, quote, the darker

:15:24. > :15:27.side to support as they prepared to tributes to him. -- the darker side

:15:27. > :15:33.to Jimmy Savile. The report is critical of George Entwistle, who

:15:33. > :15:39.has now gone, and the deputy editor of Newsnight, Stephen Mitchell, has

:15:39. > :15:44.resigned. There will be a new editor of Newsnight in the New Year.

:15:44. > :15:47.An attempt to revitalise Newsnight and a new editor will happen in the

:15:47. > :15:52.New Year. Helen Boaden, the head of news who has kind of been on

:15:52. > :15:55.gardening leave, not quite, she will return to her job. That will

:15:55. > :15:59.be a popular decision in the BBC News rooms. The most important

:15:59. > :16:04.thing the report says is that there was no improper pressure not to run

:16:04. > :16:07.the Newsnight film. People assume that Peter Ripon, the former editor

:16:07. > :16:12.of Newsnight who made the decision not to to do the Jimmy Savile

:16:12. > :16:16.programme, that he was presented with the ITV programme. He was not.

:16:16. > :16:20.He was presented with a much earlier version, that is the most

:16:20. > :16:26.important thing. Who could have said, we are not running it now but

:16:26. > :16:29.we will put more effort in? -- he could have said. The report says

:16:29. > :16:34.there are silos in the BBC and we all have to work more closely

:16:34. > :16:37.together. The mistake Peter Ripon made later was when the Sunday

:16:37. > :16:41.Times was putting in Freedom of Information requests, why didn't

:16:41. > :16:50.people in an editor of another programme and ask them to just look

:16:50. > :16:53.at the film's. -- why didn't he pour in an editor. I think the

:16:53. > :16:58.nation was aghast at the Jimmy Savile issue, but there is another

:16:58. > :17:03.dimension, the credibility of the BBC. Part of what people like about

:17:03. > :17:08.Newsnight, perhaps we don't like it so much, is it does hold the

:17:08. > :17:13.political class to account and it is seen as objective and credible,

:17:13. > :17:20.as, indeed, other BBC programmes... Would you care to mention any

:17:20. > :17:26.names?! Daily Politics, the Sunday Politics, this week. Your present

:17:26. > :17:30.is in the post. There are obviously challenges for us, but I think the

:17:30. > :17:34.public think that. If you are beginning to think, I'm not

:17:34. > :17:38.terribly sure they have done that properly and credibly, that is a

:17:38. > :17:47.very serious charge. If you can rescue that and revitalise

:17:47. > :17:51.Newsnight, the shake-up, it needs This is clearing at the stables

:17:51. > :17:55.because, without which, Newsnight would not survive. They are doing

:17:55. > :17:59.their utmost. They are trying to restore the integrity of Newsnight.

:17:59. > :18:04.Of course, the issue of Jimmy Savile has not just about the BBC

:18:04. > :18:09.but children's homes, and all sorts of things, over 400 people have

:18:09. > :18:14.come forward saying, over the last 30 years, they were abused by Jimmy

:18:14. > :18:21.support. This is a massive issue and that is where the focus now has

:18:21. > :18:26.to be. Very briefly. The one BBC executive who has been saying for

:18:26. > :18:32.years, we have got to get out of it is Steve Mitchell, the deputy head

:18:32. > :18:38.of news. He's the one taking early retirement. My interview with Jimmy

:18:38. > :18:45.support on Channel 4, 1995, has been uncovered of. It is on a

:18:45. > :18:49.YouTube. I will put the link on Twitter this afternoon for the at

:18:49. > :18:54.that time, I knew nothing about it but, watching it now, it's very,

:18:54. > :18:57.very interesting. Nick, thank you very much.

:18:57. > :18:59.The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will make a statement in

:19:00. > :19:02.the House of Commons this afternoon announcing how much money central

:19:02. > :19:05.government will give to local councils in England next year. For

:19:05. > :19:08.the third year in a row, the Government is offering additional

:19:08. > :19:11.funding to councils which agree to freeze council tax bills. But some

:19:11. > :19:14.councils insist the extra money isn't enough and say they will have

:19:14. > :19:18.to increase council tax to protect services. This morning I spoke to

:19:18. > :19:21.Sir Merrick Cockell, the Chairman of the Local Government Association.

:19:21. > :19:28.I asked him whether he thought that more councils might raise bills

:19:28. > :19:31.next year. Clearly, I get to talk to a lot of

:19:31. > :19:35.councils and some very well run councils are having real

:19:35. > :19:38.difficulties. They may have been able to freeze it for the last few

:19:38. > :19:43.years but are having real difficulties with their budgets

:19:43. > :19:50.next year and be on that. That is down to social care, the cost of

:19:50. > :19:55.our population getting older, more people getting older, whose cost of

:19:55. > :19:58.care falls to local councils. Many people think that we only clean the

:19:58. > :20:04.streets and do other things but we are responsible for many essential

:20:04. > :20:07.services including care for the elderly and it's a rising budget.

:20:07. > :20:11.In eight years' time there will be allowed vast funding gap and many

:20:11. > :20:16.councils are preparing for that now. We should not underestimate the

:20:16. > :20:21.difficulty in balancing budgets. But those budgets for things like

:20:21. > :20:23.social care would not have to be cut if Eric Pickles is right in

:20:23. > :20:29.saying councils could afford to freeze their council tax if they

:20:29. > :20:35.cut out lavish expenditure. honestly, lavish expenditure is

:20:35. > :20:39.history now. I lead one of the council's one of the arrangements

:20:39. > :20:45.in west London, at the very forefront of sharing services,

:20:45. > :20:49.driving a totally new way of providing public services but, even

:20:49. > :20:53.been a revolution these in this, the savings we are finding our

:20:53. > :20:57.across the three councils, in three years' time, will be about �50

:20:57. > :21:00.million a year, about half of what we have got to find in the last

:21:01. > :21:05.spending round. However efficient you are, this is not something you

:21:06. > :21:12.can just do by getting rid of sparkling water. You have got to do

:21:12. > :21:17.that as well. Find different ways of providing public services.

:21:17. > :21:21.Duncan, do you think Eric Pickles is being deliberately controversial

:21:21. > :21:27.by saying they could freeze the council tax by cutting out lavish

:21:27. > :21:32.expenditure? No, he's an experienced politician. You think

:21:32. > :21:35.lavish expenditure could be cut? What is trying to do here is to

:21:36. > :21:40.appreciate a quarter of government spending goes to government

:21:40. > :21:44.councils, so they will have to carry the burden. He's trying to

:21:44. > :21:47.make sure but the spending announcement they will make this

:21:48. > :21:53.afternoon is fair and not politically loaded, which, in the

:21:53. > :21:57.past, a lot of us thought the spending rewards will have been. It

:21:57. > :22:01.will be fair between north and south, counties and counties, urban

:22:01. > :22:06.and rural, and we don't want to play party politics but this to be

:22:06. > :22:13.fair and equitable although it's going to be tough. I don't think

:22:13. > :22:22.that's realistic because the greatest charge will be that you

:22:22. > :22:26.been desperately unfair. 20% of cuts is disproportionate. The

:22:26. > :22:31.Government is failing this test. You talk about lavish expenditure.

:22:31. > :22:37.We saw it this week in a letter to the Government. Many artists in the

:22:37. > :22:44.north-east say the autistic -- artistic function of the local

:22:44. > :22:49.government is lavish. The council tax benefit cuts, put on to local

:22:49. > :22:53.government, is taking money from the poorest families. It's the

:22:53. > :22:57.poorest local authorities taking the biggest share of the cut for

:22:57. > :23:04.the what about people paying the council tax? Do you back the

:23:04. > :23:09.freeze? We don't want people to pay They say they will have to cut

:23:09. > :23:14.things like social care. They are cutting it by 20% and then say you

:23:14. > :23:20.can't put on any council tax freeze. In Scotland, they are playing the

:23:20. > :23:23.same trick. The impact of that is very serious cuts in local

:23:23. > :23:29.government and that's the reality. They are carrying a

:23:29. > :23:31.disproportionate cut which is affecting the poorest. They are

:23:31. > :23:35.carrying the burden of a disproportionate cut. The

:23:35. > :23:40.Government is saying you have got to keep the council tax frozen but

:23:40. > :23:46.we won't give you additional money as we did last year, so they are

:23:46. > :23:51.squeezing it again by another 1%? Social care, the big important

:23:51. > :23:55.things, will be cut. He's not saying you must freeze it but he's

:23:56. > :24:01.trying to give people an incentive so they can. Less of an incentive

:24:01. > :24:06.than last year. Yes, but it's not because we want to do these things.

:24:06. > :24:10.We inherited it. Do you can only do things with the money you have. If

:24:10. > :24:15.we were to borrow more national, interest rates would go up were to

:24:15. > :24:19.be deeply painful to individuals and businesses. So far we have

:24:19. > :24:24.managed to keep it low what is a very significant thing. There are

:24:24. > :24:28.some very difficult things to balance her. Pain is not nice but

:24:28. > :24:32.you can't conjure up money out of thin air. The inheritance we

:24:32. > :24:36.received is a painful one of four that we are trying to sorted out.

:24:36. > :24:42.Don't blame us for what we're trying to sort out. At the minimum,

:24:42. > :24:48.you should make sure it is even- handed. Tenor local authorities

:24:48. > :24:52.with the most deprived committees are being cut by eight times more.

:24:52. > :24:58.Conservative councils are amongst those who will defy the Government

:24:58. > :25:02.and may go ahead and raise it. There's a level of local government

:25:02. > :25:06.autonomy. They are democratically accountable. It's up to them.

:25:06. > :25:09.you. The Prime Minister spoke about Afghanistan during Questions. And

:25:09. > :25:12.in the last half hour, the Defence Secretary has given more details

:25:12. > :25:18.about the next phase of withdrawing British troops from the country.

:25:18. > :25:22.Let's listen to what he had to say. By the end of 2013, we expect that

:25:22. > :25:27.UK forces will no longer need to routinely men to the Afghan

:25:27. > :25:32.national army below brigade level. -- mentor. This is a move up from

:25:32. > :25:38.our current Battalion level mentoring and is a reflection of

:25:38. > :25:43.improving Afghan capacity and is in line with Chicago milestone. As the

:25:43. > :25:46.Prime Minister has just announced, a progressive move to brigade level

:25:46. > :25:52.monitoring will also allow us to make further reductions to our

:25:52. > :25:56.force levels from the 9,000 we will have at the end of this year. Our

:25:57. > :26:02.current planning envisages a reduction to around 5,200 by the

:26:02. > :26:07.end of next year. This number is based on current UK military advice

:26:07. > :26:11.and is in line with the NATO strategy agreed at Lisbon and the

:26:11. > :26:16.emerging planning. It also reflects the real progress being made in

:26:16. > :26:22.Helmand province. We will keep his number under review as the plan it

:26:22. > :26:26.firms up and other allies make decisions in the new year. Let me

:26:26. > :26:29.be clear, Mr Speaker, this reduction is possible because of

:26:29. > :26:38.the success of the Afghan national security forces in assuming a

:26:38. > :26:43.leading role. That was the Defence Secretary. He calls it a successful

:26:43. > :26:48.so we won't know that until we have gone. There's a bit of that but

:26:48. > :26:52.this illustrates a transition from the focus on defence to development.

:26:52. > :26:56.The ministry in which I sit. To give you wants to stick. A decade

:26:56. > :27:02.ago, there's almost no children in school in Afghanistan thanks to the

:27:03. > :27:07.Taliban. Now there is nearly 6 million. 40%, girls. We will be

:27:07. > :27:11.there for the long term. We have pledged up to 2017. We will spend

:27:11. > :27:15.millions of pounds a year so that transition put us into a new phase

:27:15. > :27:19.which is making a positive difference in that country. They

:27:19. > :27:25.can't be there it all hell breaks loose. I thought was interesting

:27:25. > :27:30.when the Prime Minister said PMQs is about political developments. We

:27:30. > :27:34.need to keep the diplomatic and political exchanges developing

:27:34. > :27:39.because there is still very challenging issues there. We hear

:27:39. > :27:43.about young girls being shot. It's not like we're just turning our

:27:43. > :27:50.back on that part of the world. We still want to engage with them.

:27:50. > :27:54.shall see, 5,000 troops going next year. Coming down to 5,000, the

:27:54. > :27:58.year after that, when we will be out of our combat role in

:27:58. > :28:02.Afghanistan, the Government says. Now there's just time before we go

:28:02. > :28:05.to put you out of your misery and give you the answer to Guess The

:28:05. > :28:15.Year. Yes, Enoch Powell's Rivers Of Blood speech. Any ideas, Alan or

:28:15. > :28:19.

:28:19. > :28:29.Margaret? Without looking. A 68? looked. It was 1968. Alan, push

:28:29. > :28:34.

:28:34. > :28:40.that buzzer. The year after I was You are the winner. Well done.

:28:40. > :28:45.Thank you. We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Our final PMQs edition