Browse content similar to 23/01/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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us to settle this question about Good morning folks. Welcome to the | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
Daily Politics. The Prime Minister promises an in and out out | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
referendum on the European Union before 2018. But before that he | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
will try to negotiate a better deal for Britain that he can say yes to. | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
David Cameron argues the reform of the EU to make it more competitive | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
and he says if we can negotiate such an agreement, he will campaign | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
for Britain to stay in. We will bring you reaction to that speech | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
from the worlds of politics and business and we have got Prime | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
Minister's Questions live at noon. And have we got the news wrong? | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
Designer Wayne Hemmingway makes a plea for more good news. | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
On the whole, stories that could move mankind forward and impact on | :01:21. | :01:29. | |
our lives don't get the exposure they deserve. | :01:29. | :01:35. | |
Good news, it will never catch on! What happened to Martin Lewis. He | :01:35. | :01:42. | |
argued for that. With us for the duration on this big day for | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
British politics, two politicians. Shadow Energy Secretary and former | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
Europe Minister, that's relevant, it is Caroline Flint and | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
Conservative Party chairman, Grant Shapps. Welcome to you both. Thank | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
you. Thank you. | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
So if David Cameron is Prime Minister after the next general | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
election, he says the British people will get a vote vote on | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
whether we should remain members of the European Union by 2018, giving | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
him time to negotiate the repatriation of major powers from | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
Brussels back to Britain. The Prime Minister said in a speech in London | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
this morning, delayed from last Friday because of the Algerian | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
hostage crisis. Jo has the details. The Prime Minister said that he | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
wanted the European Union and Britain's relationship to it to | :02:29. | :02:37. | |
change. The EU interfierce too much in natural life. Powers should be | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
repattry repattry -- repattry repatriated to the United Kingdom. | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
The treaty commitment for all member states should be removed. | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
Some countries might want to pursue further inger further integration, | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
but Britain does not. David Cameron would seek to negotiate a new deal | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
with Europe. He set out a rough timetable. Legislation will be | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
drafted before the next election. If the Conservatives win an overall | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
majority at the election, they will pass the new law in their first | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
year in Government and the referendum itself will be held in | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
the first-half of the Parliament by the beginning of 2018. He concluded | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
by saying if he could renegotiate a new settlement, he would campaign | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
to stay in the EU. That, he said, was the best path for Britain and | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
for Europe. Let's have a listen to what Mr Cameron had to say. | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
advocate change, but from those who denounce new thinking as heresy. In | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
its long history, Europe has experience of her particulars who | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
turned out to have a point. My point is this, more of the same | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
will not secure a long-term future for the eurozone, more of the same | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
will not see the European Union keeping pace with the new | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
Powerhouse economies, more of the same will not bring the European | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
Union closer to its citizens. More of the same will just produce more | :04:08. | :04:14. | |
of the same. Less competitiveness, less growth, fewer jobs. Today | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
public disillusionment with the EU is at an all time high and there | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
are several reasons. People feel that the EU is heading in a | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
direction that they never signed up to. They resent the interference in | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
our national life life by what they see as unnecessary rules and | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
regulation. They wondered what the point of it is? They ask why can't | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
we have what we voted to join - a Common Market. Now some argue that | :04:44. | :04:50. | |
the solution is therefore, to hold a straight in/out referendum now. | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
Now, I understand the impatience of wanting to make that choice | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
immediately, I don't believe that to make a decision at this moment | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
is the right way forward either for Britain or for Europe as a whole. A | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
vote today today between the status quo and leaving would be an | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
entirely false choice. Now, while the EU is in flux, and when we | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
don't know what the future holds and what sort of EU will emerge | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
from this crisis is not the time to make such a momentous decision | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
about the future of our country. It is wrong to ask people whether to | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
stay or go before we have had a chance to put the relationship | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
right. How can we sensibly answer the question - in or out? Without | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
being able to answer the most basic question. What is it that we are | :05:39. | :05:46. | |
choosing to be in or out of? So the next Conservative manifesto in 2015 | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
will ask for a mandate from the British people for a Conservative | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
Government to negotiate a new settlement with our European | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
partners in the next Parliament. It will be a relationship with the | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
single market at its heart. And when we have negotiated that new | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
very simple in or out choice. To stay in the European Union on these | :06:13. | :06:23. | |
new terms or to come out altogether. It will be an in/out referendum. | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
Legislation will be drafted before the next election and if a | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
Conservative Government is elected, we will introduce the enabling | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
legislation and pass it by the end of that year. And we will complete | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
this negotiation and hold this referendum within the first-half of | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
the next Parliament. It is time for the British people to have their | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
say. It is time for us to settle this question about Britain and | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
Europe. Now, I understand the appeal of going it alone, of | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
charting our own course, but it will be a decision we will have to | :06:58. | :07:05. | |
take with cool heads. People on both side of the argument will need | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
to avoid exaggerating their claims. Of course, Britain could make her | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
own way in the world outside the EU if we chose to do so. So could any | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
other member state, but the question we will have to ask | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
ourselves, is that the best future for our country? We will have to | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
weigh carefully where our true national interests lies. | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
The Prime Minister speaking this morning. Joining Caroline Flint and | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
Grant Shapps, the deputy leader of UKIP, Paul Nuttall and we are | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
joined by the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy. | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
Welcome to you all. Grant gran, the Prime Minister -- Grant Shapps, the | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
Prime Minister said if we can negotiate such an arrange m, I will | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
campaign for it, with all my heart and soul to stay in. What happens | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
if he can't? We know there has to be a negotiation in any case | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
because you have got 17 countries within the eurozone who will | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
require a different treaty in order to handle the political aspects of | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
that closer union of currency. So in that case, they require our kind | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
of involvement in order to produce that new treaty and that of course, | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
is a negotiation into itself. So the idea that there could be no | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
negotiation, I think... No, no, I didn't ask that. I asked what | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
happens if he can't sufficient powers returned to Britain that he | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
thinks worthwhile recommending. What would he do then? We will have | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
a referendum. One step at a time. First of all, we are going to | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
publish legislation in this Parliament that we will pass in the | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
next Parliament. I know that. November 2017 we will have a | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
referendum based on what ever has been negotiated by then. You are | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
asking what will be negotiated? no, I'm saying if the Prime | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
Minister feels at the end of the day, that he is not -- he has not | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
got a big enough package of powers to recommend to the British people | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
what does he do in the referendum? Does he say we should still stay in | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
or we have got today's status quo, we should leave. What should he do? | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
Rather than trying to estimate the end of the process, let's be clear | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
about what the process is and know there will be a referendum. So | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
either way, people will get to choose and decide. That's vital. | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
The British people have been overlooked for too long. | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
You are not answering the question. The Prime Minister didn't answer | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
the question this morning either. But Michael Gove... The public will | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
answer the question. So does that matter? No, no, we are going to | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
have a referendum which does not have a package of repatriated | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
powers, we want to know what the Prime Minister will say? We don't | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
believe that will be the situation for the simple reason - well, it | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
won't be because there will be a renegotiation in order for the euro | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
countries to do what they want. We don't know what he wants out of | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
The British people will decide and... You won't answer the | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
question and the Prime Minister won't. Michael Gove told The Mail | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
on Sunday, you are only serious if you threaten to leave. That's what | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
he said. You are not serious, are you? Well, a referendum gives the | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
British people the upper han. They are not doing the negotiations, | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
you are, are you going to say to Europe, if we are do not get a | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
sufficient package which I can go to the British people and say, | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
"Vote to stay in." Will you say, we will leave? The answer is we don't | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
believe we will be in that position... You don't know, do you? | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
I can't see into the future. The process is simple. In the en, the | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
British people will get to decide. We have said we want a campaign to | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
be in, but on a new basis of renegotiation. It is impossible to | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
end up in the position that you describe. | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
Grant Shapps, none of this answers my question. But I know when I am | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
beaten, Caroline Flint? There will be some negotiation because there | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
is clearly... So we are agreed...? Hang on a second. The truth is | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
David Cameron, it is an important speech today for all of us in the | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
country, politicians and the public, said we will have a referendum by | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
the end of 2017, but it is on the basis of what we don't know is | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
going to be his, if you like, negotiating platform of what he | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
will decide, if I don't get this and if I don't get that, I will be | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
saying yes or no. It is an unknown where we are going now. It creates | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
uncertainty and in terms of building bridges, Andrew, in order | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
to get any changes, we have to get, you have to get agreement by all 27 | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
member states. I don't think this is thought through about how we are | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
going to negotiate. If it is true, as the Prime Minister says, that he | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
would like to stay in the European Union. | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
If you don't want a in/out referendum, vote Labour? | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
position is we do not believe today, if we were in Government today, | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
Andrew and we have been asked if we would have a referendum, our | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
position is today where we stand as a country, it is not in this | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
country's interests to have an in/out referendum. | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
If you don't want a referendum on the EU, vote Labour? We are saying | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
that... Is that right? We are saying, actually we are saying | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
today we don't think it is right to spend the next five years. | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
You will not give the British people... I condition tell you what | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
the situation is going to be -- I can't tell you what the situation | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
is going to be at the next election when these changes go on in Europe. | :12:37. | :12:47. | |
:12:47. | :12:47. | ||
You criticised him for not being able to tell me. If we were asked | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
do we think we should enter into discussions about an in/out | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
referendum. I can't tell you what the European Union situation will | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
be in two or three years time and in those circumstances we are not | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
ruling out, but we are saying it is a distraction. | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
You might offer an in/out referendum in the 2015 election? | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
You don't rule that out? We cannot rule in or out if you like the | :13:11. | :13:19. | |
possibility of having one in the future. What I'm saying... We have | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
supported in Parliament, legislation, we have got | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
legislation which says if there is a transfer.. You voted against it? | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
No, we didn't. No, we didn't. I have it here. No, no, I have got | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
your voteling record here. You voted against it. | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
We thought Parliament should decide. We did not vote against it. The | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
truth is, hang on, hang on. We have got law on the books that says if | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
there is a transfer of of powers there should be a referendum. It is | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
our law. Charles Kennedy and Paul Nuttall. | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
Charles Kennedy, your party was having a petition demanding an | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
in/out referendum. You must be pleased this morning? I have got | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
long form on this. Because I was in favour of a referendum and voted in | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
the House of Commons when I was a European spokesman back at the time | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
of Maastricht all those years ago. I always felt that, I felt we | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
should have had a referendum on Europe 25 years ago to try and | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
lance this boil. We never have. Where we are now, is first of all, | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
the one thing that is clear and it is only within the last ten days | :14:28. | :14:34. | |
that Ed Miliband has made this all party despite what has been said, | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
that that as a result of what we insisted in Government, the | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
coalition Government, you have got a law on the statute book that says | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
the future Prime Minister or Government negotiate a treaty at | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
European Union level which involves more powers going from the UK to | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
Brussels. There has got to be a referendum. So whatever the outcome | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
of the election, all parties accept that and that is a guarantee. | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
that's not an in slr out referendum. Your party at one stage was | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
gathering a petition for an in/out referendum. You must be pleased, we | :15:08. | :15:17. | |
Are we? The Prime Minister is not even able to answer question number | :15:17. | :15:24. | |
one. Can you answer mind? My answer to you is that he is not putting | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
forward an in-out referendum. He is saying if he is elected he will | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
begin a process of renegotiation, the outcome of which he does not | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
know, but he will put the outcome to the British people. That seems | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
to me as clear as mud. I thought you wanted and in out referendum? | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
When you have a referendum on Europe, as I hope we do one day, | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
and there is a legal mechanism now it there is a future treaty. | :15:50. | :15:57. | |
that is not in out. We know it is rather like the wording of the | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
question to be put to the Scots. Everyone knows the question, are | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
you for fundamentally against Europe? That is the argument and | :16:05. | :16:12. | |
what it will become. I think this is very ill judged from the Prime | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
Minister's point of view. What is the point of view Kip after today? | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
-- UKIP after today. This is as clear as mud. If you want the | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
reason why we have to be here, listen to these three. Because we | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
do not know. If UKIP did not exist and it was not bowling where it was, | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
the Prime Minister may not have -- would not have done this. That may | :16:34. | :16:40. | |
or may not have been, but the Conservatives are the only party | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
offering this. Will you run candidates in the Conservative | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
marginals? I think we should. could result in Labour winning the | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
marginal? It is hypothetical. You have the President of the European | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
Commission, the President of the European Council, the President of | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
France, the former Belgian Prime Minister, they have all said that | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
negotiation is not on the table. But it is even more hypothetical | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
that you would ever win an election so your only hope of an in out | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
referendum is for the Conservatives to get an overall majority at the | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
next election. You may not think it is a good enough promise but it is | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
your only hope because you are not going to do it. Surely the point is, | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
in the Liberal Democrat and Conservative manifestos, there were | :17:22. | :17:30. | |
clear promises for referendum. There was no referendum promise. | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
There was. You're mistaken. There was not. There was. No, I can tell | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
you as a fact, there was not. The Lisbon Treaty had already passed. | :17:41. | :17:48. | |
Cameron give a cast-iron guarantee. Just to be factually correct,... | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
had already broken the cast-iron guarantee. For me because Lisbon | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
was already past. We voted against it. -- only because. If you cannot | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
be trusted on that, how can you be trusted on this? He gave a cast- | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
iron guarantee that there would be a referendum on Lisbon. He broke it | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
as soon as they passed. It had already been broken. This is about | :18:11. | :18:17. | |
the Conservatives and UKIP politics. Cameron is running scared and | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
worried about UKIP voters. Prime Minister has said this is a | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
red line for any future coalition, Charles Kennedy, not that you would | :18:28. | :18:35. | |
suspect the Lib Dems to promote it, but that he would proceed to do it, | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
you would expect the coalition partners to abstain to allow the | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
referendum to happen. Will the Lib Dems go along with that orders at | :18:42. | :18:49. | |
about the possibility of a lid on coalition? -- or does that rule out | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
the possibility of a Liberal Democrats conservative coalition. | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
On the assumption that they would need another coalition. I could not | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
see us signing up to that, myself, quite frankly. I can only speak for | :19:01. | :19:09. | |
myself, because we're talking hypothetical. I think the preamble | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
to the question reveals the immense amount of questions that David | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
Cameron has raised for himself in this position. As opposed to | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
providing answers with this contribution. He is now into all | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
these hypothetical about the possible outcomes of an election, a | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
possible coalition negotiation, Possebon negotiations in Europe and | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
a possible referendum. He is going to have a hell of a time getting | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
through three weeks of an election campaign without putting flesh on | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
those bones. We will let you go, Charles Kennedy. I would suggest | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
that our viewers may think that all four of you have a lot of questions | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
to answer after this morning. It is not getting any clearer. Let | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
us get reaction from the Eurosceptic Conservative | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
backbencher, Mark Pritchard. Was it a good speech? It was. It was well | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
considered, for for one clever in many ways. All credit to the Prime | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
Minister. David Cameron is the first British Prime Minister to | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
offer the British people a referendum in that format decades. | :20:10. | :20:18. | |
It is also with an in-out option. That is considerable progress. I | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
pay tribute to him today. He did not make it clear what is | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
negotiating stance would be if he did not get the negotiating a deal | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
that he wanted. Are you presuming that he would then campaign to pull | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
Britain out? I would not presume to read his mind. Would you like to | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
have heard? I think you raised an important question. There are | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
challenges in the speech, not least whether Europe would allow us to | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
repatriate powers back. Certainly there are noises out of Brussels | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
and Paris this morning suggesting that they are reluctant to do so. | :20:48. | :20:56. | |
That means that, yes, the question that door to the Prime Minister | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
will be, "Prime Minister, which way would you campaign of the powers | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
are not coming back?" so there are challenges ahead. For people like | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
myself, who have voted for a referendum for many years ahead -- | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
past, with many other members are not left Parliament, we have come a | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
long way. There is a consensus within the British Conservative | :21:19. | :21:21. | |
parliamentary party. I think you are right to point out the | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
challenges are now for the Lib Dems and the Labour Party. I think they | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
will change their position by the time of the next election but my | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
job is to give full support for the Prime Minister. He might be calling | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
for a more competitive, more flexible and democratic Europe. | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
That is a big shout. Lot of people would agree with that. -- In your | :21:45. | :21:52. | |
eyes, what is a renegotiated the go -- renegotiated relationship? | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
flexible, more competitive. And the more democratic Europe. But I think | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
one of the other challengers for the next five years, does that mean | :22:02. | :22:10. | |
that, to quote the Prime Minister, a does that mean more of the same? | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
There are issues around border controls, whether we can start to | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
repatriate social and employment laws and powers, trying to reduce | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
the number of regulations. Europe may be uncompetitive. Britain | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
should not continue to be not as competitive as it could be for the | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
next five years. So why you supporting, would you like those | :22:32. | :22:40. | |
powers repatriated? You agree fresh data's manifesto, an emergency | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
brake from any legislation that affects financial services, the | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
same with existing EU criminal- justice measures and policing. Are | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
those you read lines? I would not call them that. Has a long shopping | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
list and I think the fresh Start group has done an excellent job of | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
setting out some of the areas that we would like to see returning to | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
British sovereignty. There are challenges. The comments coming out | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
of Europe within the last few hours, it does not bode well. But the | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
Prime Minister is right to say that it does not mean we do not show | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
leadership and it does not mean that we do not set out to achieve | :23:16. | :23:23. | |
the very best for Britain. A better deal for Britain. I think it is my | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
job to support the Prime Minister. Whilst saying that any strategy on | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
Europe should be realistic and achievable, time will tell whether | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
it is unrealistic or achievable. And you want those negotiations to | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
start immediately? I do not think we should have more of the same for | :23:41. | :23:49. | |
five years. I do nothing that is acceptable for British business and | :23:49. | :23:54. | |
it does not help our competitors. We are being shackled by | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
regulations and red tape and bureaucracy from Europe. Yes, | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
support the Prime Minister but let's not wait for five years to | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
get on and do some of the stuff. Also, if Europe is saying no to | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
repatriating powers, we need to be more flexible with the timetable of | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
when the referendum comes about. Finally, will this speech stock of | :24:17. | :24:26. | |
the rise of UKIP? I think it will dent them. -- stop the rise. I | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
think UKIP are now in a position where they will hopefully be able | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
to support the Conservative party position. Otherwise they are going | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
to help the Labour Party and even if the Labour Party moved to a | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
referendum commitment manifesto, which I think they will, I think | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
the commitment will be more fake or weaker than the strong commitment | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
the Prime Minister has made today. -- more vague. Grant Shapps, Mark | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
Pritchard has set out that it will be unacceptable to some of his | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
colleagues if the strategy for negotiation does not start | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
immediately. For a start, the interesting thing about this speech | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
is that it unite the Conservative Party. The more interesting part of | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
it is that I think it unites the country, who feel that things have | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
moved a long way since the 1970s. He is said it will not be | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
acceptable to wait five years. for some people it will never be an | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
agreement that will be acceptable. They want to get out. Some people | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
will have to produce but that is fine. The important thing, you | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
cannot deny the debate is out there. People are talking about this in | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
the streets. They want to have a proper choice. For the first time, | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
the first time in decades, they know that this question will be put | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
to them and they will have a proper choice. It is great that we can | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
have the debate. David Cameron has not made it clear. What is the | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
basis on which she will support voting yes or no in five years' | :25:48. | :25:56. | |
time? There is plenty of time for the debate. But you have to build | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
bridges. We know we will be on this. You want to sign up to everything | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
that comes your way. You give away a lot of powers. That is ridiculous. | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
He says it will dent the increases that you have made, Paul. He is | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
confident that it will dent your rise? It will do the opposite. He | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
is taking the debate on to our turf but is not going far enough towards | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
the views of the British party -- British public. We will go on and | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
win the European elections next year. He has made sure that Europe | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
will be the centre point of the general election in 2015. We're | :26:27. | :26:36. | |
happy about that. The French Foreign Minister, let's imagine | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
Europe is a football club but you join but once you're in, you cannot | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
say, "Let's play rugby". But actually, that is exactly how rugby | :26:45. | :26:54. | |
started! Can you smell something whiffy? Perhaps a bouquet of rotten | :26:54. | :27:04. | |
:27:04. | :27:04. | ||
eggs, a soupcon? But there are something strained wafting across | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
the Channel. There is something from Europe that we cannot opt out | :27:07. | :27:12. | |
of. According to today's papers, Le Stink has been attributed to a | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
harmless but smelly leak from a factory in northern France. Is | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
there nothing these Europeans will not stoop to? It is getting up the | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
collective noses of the great British public, but at least on the | :27:25. | :27:27. | |
south-east coast anywhere. At a time like this we would like to | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
reassure you as a public service broadcaster we will endeavour to be | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
fragrant at all times and aromatic, or at least three from olfactory | :27:35. | :27:44. | |
unpleasantness. -- 3. I think the scriptwriters were loaded | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
dictionary this morning! On the contrary, you can have this sweet | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
smelling objet d'art arriving in your home, perfumed with flavourful | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
Romans from Darjeeling, Ceylon or, in your case, your local POW shop. | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
It is not to be sniffed at. Will you need to do is listen to us. | :28:00. | :28:10. | |
:28:10. | :28:11. | ||
-- pound shop. Let's see if you can # Welcome to the cheap seats, | :28:11. | :28:21. | |
:28:21. | :28:35. | ||
welcome to the cheap seats, welcome # Love, Love, Love, Love all your | :28:35. | :28:45. | |
:28:45. | :28:50. | ||
You want to be citizens of the European Union? No! The Danes don't | :28:50. | :28:58. | |
either. In the name of the present and in the name of the future, we | :28:58. | :29:08. | |
:29:08. | :29:22. | ||
And to be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics mug, send | :29:22. | :29:30. | |
your answer to a special e-mail address: You can see the terms and | :29:30. | :29:36. | |
conditions on our website: Coming up to midday. | :29:36. | :29:42. | |
Let's have a look at Big Ben. There it is. Prime Minister's Questions | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
just coming up shortly. It is chiming already. We are running | :29:46. | :29:53. | |
late. Nick Robinson is with us. I'm told that the Prime Minister was | :29:53. | :29:54. | |
cheered by backbenches -- backbenchers when he walked into | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
the Commons. I expect he will be cheered when he stands up again. | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
They think, the Conservatives, but they have got Labour on the run. | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
Labour's hope is that the string of Tories that you have seen going | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
through the studio today, is a return to the days of John Major | :30:10. | :30:15. | |
were the Tories talk to each other about Europe. And the great British | :30:15. | :30:20. | |
public say, "Excuse me, what about us?" I think this will be noisy and | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
aggressive, because you are seeing today one of the defining questions | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
of the next general election and the next five years in British | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
politics. Who wins this argument between Cameron and Miliband will | :30:32. | :30:36. | |
determine, quite possibly, who the next Prime Minister is. He has no | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
choice but to go on Europe. He has to, but he will not tell us that he | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
will back a referendum. Let's go Thank you, thank you Mr Speaker. Mr | :30:46. | :30:56. | |
:30:56. | :30:56. | ||
Speaker... Before answering the honourable | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
gentleman's question, I am sure the whole House will wish to join me in | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
paying tribute to Kingsman Robert Shaw, 1st Battalion the Duke of | :31:02. | :31:04. | |
Lancaster's Regiment. He died in The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
Birmingham last Wednesday as a result of wounds he sustained in | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
Afghanistan. He gave his life for the safety of the British people | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
and his brave contribution must never be forgotten. Our condolences | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
are with his loved ones. Mr Speaker, this morning I had meet meetings | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
with ministerial colleagues and I shall have further much meetings | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
today. I am sure the whole House and the | :31:25. | :31:35. | |
:31:35. | :31:45. | ||
whole country would want to associate themselves with the the | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
comments associated kingsman Robert Shaw. Why is there such a gap | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
between what the Prime Minister says and what the Prime Minister | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
does? I think the honourable gentleman | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
asks an important question and I do not deny for one second that we | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
have had to take difficult decisions about defence spending in | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
our country. At �33 billion a year, we have the fourth largest defence | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
budget anywhere in the world and I think it is very important that we | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
make sure that we have the right scale and shape of armed forces and | :32:17. | :32:24. | |
they have the right capability. That's why we are investing in | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
drones and investing more in key intelligence capabilities and | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
making sure we have the aircraft to make sure we have highly mobile | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
armed forces. I am proud of what our armed forces do and because we | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
are balancing their budget, they will be better equipped for the | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
future. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. 68 | :32:44. | :32:54. | |
years ago this Sunday the Nazi camp was liberated as we mark Holocaust | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
Memorial Day will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring young | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
people always have the opportunity to learn about what took place | :33:00. | :33:09. | |
during the darkest period in our history and will he commend the | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
work of the Holocaust Education Trust. | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
In praising the Holocaust Education Trust. A brilliant charity and | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
organisation that makes sure young children get the opportunity to go | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
and see the places where the terrible events of the Holocaust | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
took place. I had the privilege this week of meeting with the | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
Holocaust survivor whose story was truly her owic and truly | :33:35. | :33:43. | |
heartbreaking, but who in her 90s is making this case so future | :33:43. | :33:50. | |
generations will learn. We should learn about happened in Rwanda, in | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
Bosnia and Cambodia and elsewhere, there is too much prejudice and | :33:54. | :34:00. | |
persecution in our world. THE SPEAKER: Ed Miliband. | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
Mr Speaker... Mr Speaker, can I join the Prime Minister in paying | :34:04. | :34:14. | |
:34:14. | :34:17. | ||
tribute to kingsman David Robert Shaw of the Duke of Lancaster's | :34:17. | :34:26. | |
Regiment. Mr Speaker, can the Prime Minister guarantee if he gets nis | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
in/out referendum -- his in/out referendum he will be campaigning | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
to stay in? This argument, this entire argument is about what is in | :34:35. | :34:40. | |
the natural interests of Britain. We want a European Union that is | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
more open, more flexible, more competitive. Not just good for | :34:44. | :34:50. | |
Britain, but good for Europe too. I don't think that was quite a | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
complete answer to my question, Mr Speaker. Let's see if we can press | :34:55. | :35:01. | |
him a bit further about how he is going to vote. Is he saying that if | :35:01. | :35:08. | |
he doesn't achieve his negotiating strategy he will recommend, the | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
part-time chancellor can just hang on a minute, is he saying if he | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
doesn't achieve his negotiating strategy, he will recommend Britain | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
leaves the European Union? Well, first of all, he is accepting | :35:20. | :35:27. | |
the premise that the Conservatives will win the next election. And | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
interestingly, and interestingly, not raising the fact that the | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
unemployment figures are down once again today. Employment is up by | :35:36. | :35:41. | |
90,000 this quarter. And the rate of job growth last year was the | :35:41. | :35:46. | |
fastest since 199, but I answered - - 199, but I answered his question | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
clearly, I want to see a strong Britain in a reformed Europe. We | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
want to reset the relationship. We will hold that referendum. We will | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
recommend that resettlement to the British people. But the question | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
now is for him - has he got a a clue what he would do? | :36:04. | :36:13. | |
:36:14. | :36:14. | ||
Mr Speaker he had - well, the clue is in the title, Prime Minister's | :36:14. | :36:16. | |
Questions, he is supposed to be answering the questions! Now, he | :36:16. | :36:24. | |
had six months to think about this. It is not too much to ask. The | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
right honourable member for Rushcliffe he would say that he | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
would vote yes in a referendum. The Children's Secretary, who is hiding | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
away down there, he has briefed that he wants us to leave the | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
European Union and I am just asking the Prime Minister a straight | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
question - in the referendum can he guarantee that he will vote yes in | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
an in/out referendum? Yes, I support Britain's membership of a | :36:51. | :36:58. | |
reformed European Union. You don't only - only the Leader of the | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
Opposition would go into negotiations expecting to fail. We | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
go into negotiations knowing what is best for Britain, but let me put | :37:05. | :37:11. | |
it to him again. We now have a very clear approach. A renegotiation and | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
then a referendum. What is his answer? Let me tell him. He is | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
meant to lead the Opposition and you can't fight something with | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
nothing. Mr Speaker, I say first of all, the | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
reason the people behind him are cheering is not because they want | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
to vote yes in a in/out referendum, it is because they want to vote no. | :37:34. | :37:39. | |
Now, look, he still hasn't answered the question. He still hasn't | :37:39. | :37:44. | |
answered the question. Let's put it another way and give him another | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
chance. We know from his speech this morning that he wants to go | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
off and negotiate for fairness and flexibility and motherhood and | :37:51. | :37:58. | |
apple pie in Europe, can he name one thing, just one thing, that if | :37:59. | :38:01. | |
he doesn't get, he will recommend leaving the European Union? | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
I don't want Britain to leave the European Union. I want Britain to | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
reform the European Union. We have set out the whole areas where we | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
want... THE SPEAKER: Members are shouting | :38:15. | :38:17. | |
their heads off at the Prime Minister. They must desist. Let's | :38:17. | :38:18. | |
hear the answers. The Prime Minister. | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
We have been very clear about what we want to see change. The whole | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
series of areas social legislation, employment legislation, | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
environmental legislation where Europe has gone too far and we need | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
to properly safeguard the single market. We want to make sure that | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
ever closer union done apply to the United Kingdom. These are the | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
things that we are fighting for, but let me put it to him again. We | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
want a renegotiation and a referendum. What does he want? Or | :38:49. | :38:56. | |
doesn't he know? So Mr Speak Mr Speaker, four hours | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
since the big speech, he can't answer the most basic question of | :38:59. | :39:07. | |
all! Whether He is for yes or whether he | :39:07. | :39:15. | |
is for no? And why can't he answer is it Mr Speaker? Why can't he say | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
he will vote yes in a referendum? Because he is frightened of the | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
people behind him and the only thing that's changed is a few few | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
months ago, when he said he was against an in/out referendum is not | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
the situation in Europe, but the situation in the Tory Party. Why | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
doesn't he admit it? He has been driven to it, not by the national | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
interests, but dragged to it by his party. | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
The most basic question of all is do you want a referendum? I do. | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
Does he? Our position is no, we don't want | :39:48. | :39:56. | |
an in/out referendum. My position is precisely the same | :39:56. | :40:02. | |
as his position when we voted together, yeah, when we voted | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
together, when we voted together in October 2011 against an in/out | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
referendum. My position has not changed, it is his position that | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
has changed Mr Speaker. And here is the truth. Six months | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
of planning a speech on a referendum, he can't even tell us | :40:20. | :40:29. | |
:40:30. | :40:37. | ||
whether it is a yes or no? THE SPEAKER: I said a moment ago | :40:37. | :40:39. | |
that members shouldn't shout their heads off at the Prime Minister, | :40:39. | :40:41. | |
neither should members shout their heads off at the Leader of the | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
Opposition and the questions must and they will be heard. Mr Ed | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
Miliband. Mr Speaker, he is going to put Britain through years of | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
uncertainty and take a gamble with our economy. He is running scared | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
of UKIP. He has given in to his party and he can't deliver for | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
Britain. I have politely to say to the right honourable gentleman, his | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
whole argument about there being uncertainty is undermined by the | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
fact that he cannot answer whether he wants a referendum or not. Can I | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
give him a little bit of advice? He needs to go away, get a policy, | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
come back and tell us what it is. Meantime, our approach is what the | :41:18. | :41:20. | |
British people want, it is right for business, it is right for our | :41:20. | :41:30. | |
economy and we will fight for it in the years ahead. | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
Mr Speaker, around the world world 170 million people, children under | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
the age of five are stunted so malnourished that it affected their | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
physical and possibly their cognitive development. The world | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
has enough food for everyone. As leading NGOs like Save The Children | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
launch a major campaign against malnutrition, will the Prime | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
Minister tell us what action the UK will be taking during its | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
presidency of the G8? My honourable friend is right to raise this issue | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
particularly as we chair the G8 and because some of the leading non- | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
Governmental organisations launched this campaign today. Above all, | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
what Britain will be doing is meeting the commitment we made. A | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
commitment that we have made that we have kept whereas many other | :42:20. | :42:22. | |
countries have broken their promises and we will be using that | :42:22. | :42:28. | |
money to make sure that we focus on the issues of malnutrition and | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
stunting because it is not acceptable that there is so many | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
millions of families in the world that go hungry every day and every | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
night. Mr Speaker the British automotive | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
industry a world-class success story. 82% of the cars we produce, | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
we export. Key is inward investment and key to inward investment is | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
continuing membership of the European Union. Has the Prime | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
Minister heard the growing voices of concern being expressed from | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
within the industry over the prolonged ung uncertainty his | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
speech this morning will cre kate? Does he -- create? Does he begin to | :43:06. | :43:13. | |
recognise the damage he might do to our economy and to a sector | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
employing millions of British workers? It is very welcome for the | :43:17. | :43:24. | |
first time since the 1970s, Britain is a net exporter of cars. That is | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
something to celebrate, but I don't agree with him about what he says | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
about business. This morning, you see, the Institute of Directors, | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
the Director-General of the CBIi, the the Federation of Small | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
Businesses, all coming out and saying this is the right approach. | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
Let's get a good deal for Britain. Let's reform Europe and make it | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
more open and competitive and let's put the choice to the British | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
people in a referendum. I welcome the Prime Minister's | :43:50. | :43:56. | |
answer and support for ending hunger. Does he recognise the | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
importance of the route causes of hunger? The land grabs, the use of | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
land for biofuels and the need to make sure that investment in these | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
countries is suitably transparent? Will he use the G8 to to seek | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
action on these causes? honourable friend is right to raise | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
this and I think because Britain is meeting its promises in terms of | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
the money for aid, we are best placed to make the arguments about | :44:22. | :44:26. | |
what I call the golden thread that are all the things that help move | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
move countries from poverty to wealth. Making sure there is a | :44:29. | :44:32. | |
proper rule of law, accountable, a free press, property rights and we | :44:32. | :44:38. | |
will be making the argument in the G8. We need greater transparency | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
about land ownership, and greater transparency about companies and | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
greater transparency about tax. Can the Prime Minister confirm his | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
is the first Government for 30 years, not to offer hard-pressed | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
consumers a Government funded energy efficiency scheme following | :44:57. | :45:06. | |
the closure of Warm Front last Because scheme is many times the | :45:06. | :45:12. | |
size of that scheme. Warm front helped 80,000 families a year. Our | :45:12. | :45:17. | |
scheme could help to hundred and 30,000 families here so it is | :45:17. | :45:23. | |
potentially a better scheme. -- 230,000 families a year. What | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
assessment as the Prime Minister made of unemployment in my | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
constituency, and in particular what assessment has made of that | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
there being more or women in work than ever before? The point de | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
honourable gentleman makes is absolutely right. There are more | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
people employed in the private sector than ever before, and more | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
women employed in our country than ever before. When you look at the | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
unemployment figures that have come out today, what is remarkable is | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
that employment is up in almost every region and unemployment is | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
down in almost every region. There is a lot more to do but clearly | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
over 500,000 new jobs in the private sector last year, the | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
fastest job creation rate since 1989, I think this shows that we | :46:06. | :46:13. | |
are on the right track. Does the Prime Minister believe it is fair | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
the press and City Council, one of the areas of highest deprivation | :46:16. | :46:21. | |
and poverty in the country should receive a 12% cut in government | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
funding when his own West Oxfordshire district council | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
receives only a 1% cut? Will the Prime Minister look at this again | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
and give Preston a fairer deal? And what I would say to the honourable | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
gentleman is that of course local government across the board is | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
facing a difficult funding settlement. I do not hide from that | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
but the figures are as follows. The area Formula Grand per head in his | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
constituency is �501, but in my constituency it is �320. I | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
completely accept that needs are greater in different parts of the | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
country and that is why figures are different, but I think the figures | :47:00. | :47:06. | |
speak for themselves. May I congratulate my right | :47:06. | :47:14. | |
honourable friend on a landmark speech. Demonstrating serious | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
leadership of our country and leadership on the important issue | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
of Europe. Can I invite my Right Honourable Friend to agree with me | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
on this issue, that it is not simply the United Kingdom which is | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
seeking to renegotiate the treaties, there is a serious imperative on | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
those members of the Eurozone who have introduced this disastrous | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
single currency policy into Europe which has caused economic chaos. | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
They are the ones in need of Treacy re- negotiation, not just us. | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
thank my right honourable friend for what he says. The point he | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
makes is correct. There is a big change taking place in Europe | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
because of the reforms necessary to deal with the single currency. That | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
is why treaty change and change in Europe is coming. There is also | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
already a big debate in Britain about our role in Europe and I | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
think that politicians have a choice. You either walked towards | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
that and try to shake that choice and get a good deal for Britain and | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
make changes that will benefit all of Europe or you stick your head in | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
the sand as the party opposite is doing and hope the whole thing will | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
go away. Why is it the Prime Minister thinks that Scotland's | :48:20. | :48:27. | |
referendum process is too long, but he thinks his five year process is | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
fine. --? The it is a very easy answer which is that the Scottish | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
nationalists, in my view, misguidedly, want to leave the | :48:34. | :48:40. | |
United Kingdom as it is. I will be arguing right across the House that | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
Scotland should stay in the United Kingdom. I want to see a change | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
Europe. Then we asked the people. - - changed Europe. It is a busy | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
morning, and I'm sure the Prime Minister will have seen today's | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
report from the Department of communities and local government | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
highlighting the huge savings that could be made from turning around | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
the country's most troubled families, such as the �224 million | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
saved by councils in Greater Manchester, acquitting to 32,000 | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
per family. They asked the Prime Minister what he is doing to ensure | :49:14. | :49:20. | |
these lessons are made use of across the country? I do not | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
understand why people are trying to shout down what should be a cross- | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
party initiative to try and deal with the most troubled families in | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
our country. There is one council that actually spent up to 20% of | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
its budget on just 3% of its families. This is a problem | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
affecting all local authorities across the country and I commend | :49:40. | :49:43. | |
the approach that the Communities Secretary is taking to bring | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
together local councils and work out how we can help these families | :49:47. | :49:54. | |
solve their problems and reduce a major impact on taxpayers as well. | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
The Government's welfare bill will plunge 200,000 extra children into | :50:00. | :50:04. | |
poverty. Children in places like Liverpool are already suffering. | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
Yet the Government wants to make the poor go away by redefining | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
poverty. Does the Prime Minister really think he is going to get | :50:11. | :50:17. | |
away with this? What I would say it is that actually the introduction | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
of universal credit will reduce the number of children living in | :50:20. | :50:26. | |
relative income poverty by around 250,000. Those are the figures. On | :50:26. | :50:31. | |
the issue of welfare, we face a clear choice. Given that in-work | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
benefits have gone up by 20% over the last five years compared with a | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
10% increase in wages, we believe it is right that benefits should | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
not continue to go up ahead of wages. I know from what Labour have | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
done this week, great sound of fury, voting against the Bill, saying it | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
is wrong but completely refusing to reverse it. That is the policy | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
vacuum that we face from the party opposite. | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
By a given a keen interest in the single market's of the Prime | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
Minister, will look at mortgage limits restricting legal work to a | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
small number of larger firms and depriving local practices of the | :51:08. | :51:15. | |
work that keeps them at the heart of local businesses? | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
We do want to see a competitive market in financial services and in | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
conveyancing. I pick it is a major issue in our economy to get a | :51:22. | :51:28. | |
mortgage market moving. There are good signs that credit conditions | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
are easing, but we need to make sure they are easing for people who | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
are trying to buy their first flat and their first home who do not | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
have a big deposit and a lot of help from the Bank of mum and dad. | :51:38. | :51:45. | |
We need to make sure we're on their side. In answer to the member for | :51:45. | :51:51. | |
Scunthorpe, the Prime Minister justified these very large cuts in | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
defence spending with 5000 troops being sacked right now on the basis | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
that he had to face some difficult decisions on expenditure. But those | :52:00. | :52:05. | |
decisions were made in 2010. The security risk facing this country | :52:05. | :52:12. | |
is now much worse. As he himself has abolished in many of his own -- | :52:12. | :52:18. | |
and many of his honourable friends feared. Given those threats, is | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
there not an overwhelming case for looking again at the Strategic | :52:22. | :52:24. | |
Defence Review and ensuring that our troops have the numbers needed | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
to justify our defence? I think the honourable gentleman makes a | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
serious point. The point about the defence reviews is that they are | :52:33. | :52:35. | |
every five years and so there will be the opportunity to look over | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
again. What I would say to him about the level of risk, and that | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
made this point in my statement on Monday, is that the risks are | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
changing. We face the biggest risk from the Afghanistan area, but the | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
proportion of the risks we face has declined. So we are able to use | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
resources, as we drove down in Afghanistan, to cope with the other | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
risks. But the overall point is absolutely dead yes, we're going to | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
have a smaller regular army, although the extra reserves will | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
mean that overall level of our army hardly changes. But they will be | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
better-equipped, more capable, more mobile, more capable of dealing | :53:15. | :53:22. | |
with the modern threats that we face. Can I congratulate the Prime | :53:22. | :53:28. | |
Minister on his speech on Europe this morning? As Prime Minister has | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
a history of going into bat for Britain and the party opposite has | :53:31. | :53:37. | |
a history of going in and surrendering. Can I ask the Prime | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
Minister, is not a big difference between that side and this that | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
this side trusts the people and that side wants to deny them a say? | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
I think my friend back makes a very important point. Frankly, the | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
British public have seen a treaty after treaty introduced to this | :53:56. | :54:04. | |
house, passing powers from Westminster to Brussels, and they | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
see a big change taking place because of the Eurozone. That is | :54:07. | :54:11. | |
why I think it is right to resettle Our relationship with Europe and | :54:11. | :54:21. | |
:54:21. | :54:25. | ||
then trust the people. Recent revelations show that serious abuse | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
of powers involving blacklisting continues with the involvement of | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
the police and security services. Will the Prime Minister order an | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
immediate investigation into the scandal that has ruined and | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
continues to run the lives of many hard-working men, women and their | :54:41. | :54:48. | |
families? -- ruin the lives. I know the opposition will be raising this | :54:48. | :54:53. | |
issue today in the debate and blacklisting is a completely and -- | :54:54. | :54:57. | |
a completely unacceptable practice. I think of the previous Government | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
was right to make it unlawful and we have seen no evidence that the | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
regulations are not doing their job. The company responsible was shut | :55:06. | :55:10. | |
down in 2009, but let me say that a welcome the frankness that Labour | :55:10. | :55:17. | |
are using on -- on opposition day debate to investigate something | :55:17. | :55:24. | |
that went wrong while there were in office. My honourable friend | :55:24. | :55:26. | |
insists on five excellent principles, including democracy | :55:26. | :55:32. | |
based on national parliaments and Sue project's ever-closer union. | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
Other member states want to go ahead with more integration and are | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
demanding it. Last year, on the fiscal compact, they ignored his | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
veto and went ahead, irrespective of the rules of the European Union. | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
Will my right honourable friend tell us what will happen if by next | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
spring they insist on going ahead with their own intended the poor | :55:53. | :55:59. | |
souls -- intended proposals and what will he do in response? Can I | :55:59. | :56:05. | |
thank my honourable friend for what he says? I think the Eurozone | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
countries need to make changes to the European Union. They are | :56:09. | :56:15. | |
changing the union to fix the currency. That is what Jose Manuel | :56:15. | :56:23. | |
Barroso's report is about. I think that this, frankly, gives us the | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
opportunity and the right to argue that for those countries that are | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
not in the Eurozone and, frankly, I believe are never going to join the | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
Eurozone, but there are changes that we would like, not just for | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
ourselves but for a more open, competitive and flexible Europe. | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
There is going to be change in Europe. The Eurozone countries need | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
to make changes but we should not back off from pushing forward our | :56:45. | :56:54. | |
agenda. Is the Prime Minister aware that there can be nothing more | :56:54. | :57:02. | |
gruesome than to see him getting out of austerity riddled Britain to | :57:02. | :57:12. | |
:57:12. | :57:17. | ||
wine and dine at Davos with several hundred at millionaires who helped | :57:17. | :57:24. | |
to create the crash? Does it confirm the theory that if you want | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
to identify the posh boys, look at the company you keep?! A seem to | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
remember that last year I ran into the leader of the opposition but I | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
will leave that to one side. To be fair, I think when he sees the | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
speech I will be making, which will be arguing that we need greater | :57:40. | :57:44. | |
transparency over tax, greater responsibility over tax avoidance | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
and tax evasion issues, greater transparency about companies and | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
land issues, he may even find there are some of the things that I'm | :57:52. | :58:02. | |
going to say that he might agree with. | :58:02. | :58:04. | |
Will be Prime Minister cut through the relevant arguments coming from | :58:04. | :58:07. | |
the other side of the house and give a very simple message to the | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
British people that if we have a Conservative government after the | :58:11. | :58:16. | |
next election, they will have their say in a referendum on Europe. If | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
we do not have a Conservative government, we will not have a | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
referendum. My honourable friend makes a good point. I believe it is | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
right to resettle a relationship with Europe, to make it more open, | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
more competitive, more flexible, to make us feel more or -- to make us | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
feel more comfortable inside that union and give the British people | :58:34. | :58:41. | |
the referendum they deserve. the Prime Minister confirm that 3.4 | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
million families with someone who is disabled will be worse off as a | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
result of his benefit rating cap? Why is he making life more | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
difficult for these families? of all, Disability Living Allowance | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
is not included in the cap and it is not related to people's income, | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
it is actually related to people's needs. If you look as a whole at | :59:06. | :59:09. | |
what we're doing with the disability living allowance, | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
overall the amount of money we are spending on disability is going to | :59:13. | :59:21. | |
go up and knock down. My right honourable friend's admiration for | :59:21. | :59:26. | |
the economic and political wisdom of Lord Heseltine is well known. In | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
the light of his speech this morning, will he consider inviting | :59:31. | :59:35. | |
Lord Heseltine to conduct an inquiry into the consequences for | :59:35. | :59:39. | |
the United Kingdom if we lose the EU -- if we leave the European | :59:39. | :59:45. | |
Union? I always listen closely to what Michael Heseltine says and I | :59:45. | :59:50. | |
am a huge fan of his plans for an industrial strategy. On the issue | :59:50. | :59:54. | |
of Europe, we have not always agreed. He was a leading proponent | :59:54. | :59:56. | |
of Britain joining the single currency and I have always been | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
opposed to that. Of -- on the issue of the referendum, I remind my | :00:02. | :00:04. | |
honourable friend that an in/out referendum was very much part of | :00:04. | :00:10. | |
his manifesto in the last election. In the interests of collision | :00:10. | :00:19. | |
harmony, I think we will leave that to one side. | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
A Swansea constituent of mine with a chronic medical condition tells | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
made but he has just �20 a week to spend on food and clothing after | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
paying his utility bills. After April, after the welfare cuts, he | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
will have just �2 a day. If the Prime Minister believes that we are | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
all in it together, will be agreed to review the impact on the very | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
poorest of the welfare cuts, so that the sacrifice of my | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
constituents are in line with us on? I will look closely at what the | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
honourable gentleman says. Let me just makes the point that if you | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
compare 2013 with 2010 in terms of the level of benefits, it is worth | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
making the point that an unemployed person on jobseeker's allowance is | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
getting �325 more this year than in 2010. A couple on jobseeker's | :01:13. | :01:20. | |
allowance, �500 more. And out of work mother, �420 more. What are | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
the opposition trying to week after week is paint a picture that we | :01:25. | :01:32. | |
have unfairly cut welfare. It is simply not true. Order. Mr Richard | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
Fuller. Health inequality in the country is persistent and damaging | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
and recently the Department of Health announced a 5.5% increase in | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
their allocation to local authorities for public health | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
responsibilities and a 10% increase for Bedford. Does the Prime | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
Minister agree that these funds will go a long way to help tap -- | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
help tackle long term health inequalities? I think my friend | :01:58. | :02:05. | |
back makes an important point. For many years, public health funds | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
were raided to deal with problems in the NHS, because we increase the | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
budget. We have run France -- we have ring-fenced some of this, so | :02:16. | :02:26. | |
:02:26. | :02:28. | ||
that we can tackle some of these problems. The house has heard that | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
the Prime Minister is looking forward to meeting people from | :02:31. | :02:38. | |
national and international banks. When will you visit a Foodbank? | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
me praise what food banks do in this country. I will point out that | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
the use of the banks has increased 10 times under the last Labour | :02:48. | :02:57. | |
government. He will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
to the athletes who took part in the British transplant Games? | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
Linked to that, well he encourage people to register for organ | :03:04. | :03:14. | |
:03:14. | :03:15. | ||
donation which will help save lives? I pay tribute to all of | :03:15. | :03:25. | |
:03:25. | :03:51. | ||
those who took part. He is right to Let me make the point that the | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
reason we have to make the cuts is because of the mess left by her | :03:54. | :04:02. | |
government. When it comes to helping the disabled and the | :04:02. | :04:10. | |
vulnerable, this government... Crispin Blunt. By Pitt the Younger | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
said that Europe was not to be saved by any single man. | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
He went on to predict that England it would save Europe by her example. | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
Will my right honourable friend be aware that I believe he is in | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
danger of contradicting what impaired because his example today | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
and his exertions over the next four years stand the best possible | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
chance of rescuing the European Union for Europe and Britain. | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
thank my friend back for what he says. He makes an important point, | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
which is at the -- that the agenda is not simply saying that this is | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
what Britain wants and if we do not get it, we will leave, it is an | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
agenda that is good for the European Union. We face a | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
competitiveness challenge from the countries in the south and east. We | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
have to accept that Europe is not working properly. It is adding to | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
the costs of business and regulation. We need to change that, | :05:02. | :05:12. | |
:05:12. | :05:12. | ||
not just for our sake but for the So Prime Minister's Questions comes | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
to an end and Europe dominated the exchanges. Ed Miliband showing once | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
again that he always watches the Daily Politics before he goes into | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
the chamber. He took the same line that I was taking with Grant Shapps | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
as to what would happen if we don't get a deal. Will Mr, Mr Cameron say | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
we should leave the European Union? The Leader of the Opposition had | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
about as much success with the Prime Minister as I had with the | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
chairman of the Conservative Party. Mr Cameron snapped back that what | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
was Labour's real position on the referendum. They didn't know if | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
they were for or against one. However, Mr Miliband replied there | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
that he said no, we don't want an in/out referendum. He said, "We | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
haven't changed our mind." So can I ask you Caroline Flint again, the | :06:04. | :06:10. | |
question I began with before PMQs, if you don't want an in/out | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
referendum, vote Labour? We think our interests are better served | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
inside the European Union so we don't support an in/out referendum. | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
Do we think there should be reform in the European Union? Yes, we do, | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
but we don't support an in/out referendum. There are too many ifs | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
about what Europe will look like next year and the year after, but | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
what Cameron caused by his speech today is a huge amount of | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
uncertainty that cannot be in our interests at a time when we need | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
economic recovery. So we will go into the 015 election, with the -- | :06:48. | :06:54. | |
2015 election with the Conservatives promising an in/out | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
referendum and Labour not? reason why we don't believe in an | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
in/out referendum because we don't know what Europe will look like | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
next year or the year after that. The priority has to be about | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
getting jobs and growth across the European Union and in Britain and | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
this is a distraction. Have you just fallen into a trap | :07:14. | :07:21. | |
that the Tories created for you? You seem less certain before PMQs | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
than after. You have had your marching orders. I said last week | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
on Question Time that we did not support an in/out referendum and | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
I'm saying it today and I have said the reasons why because we we we do | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
not believe it is in the national interests and the problem we have | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
got is Cameron is following his party interests rather than a | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
bigger picture issue which is Britain. | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
Perish the thought that a pliical leader would -- political leader | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
would follow his party interest. It will never catch on! Thank you for | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
clarifying that. Let's go to what our viewers made of PMQs. Yes, some | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
interesting e-mails. One viewer said David Cameron looks like a | :08:01. | :08:08. | |
fool announcing a a proposed referendum. Steve in Exeter, the | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
Tory Party ignoring the rest of us., "It was Pathetic last time under | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
John Major and it is just as pathetic now." Chris says, "We | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
don't want a referendum words uttered by Ed Miliband and words | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
which will return to haunt him in the next general election | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
campaign." Ian whitely said, "Ian did better than expected. However | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
saying we don't want an referendum is an own goal and guaranteed that | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
the Tories will give him a pasting other it.". The politics of this | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
are interesting for the Prime Minister because there is a number | :08:46. | :08:53. | |
of reasons I think he has gone down this road. One is he hopes to ditch | :08:53. | :09:03. | |
:09:03. | :09:05. | ||
UKIP. Secondly, he hopes it destabilises Labour and it is | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
popular with his own side. If you look at what happened before PMQs | :09:09. | :09:18. | |
when the Prime Minister entered the chamber. | :09:18. | :09:28. | |
CHEERING I have never known I was so popular | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
Mr Speaker! Well, you are not! | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
We will see how long that lasts. The cheers for the Prime Minister | :09:35. | :09:41. | |
from his own side. The Lib Dems were quiet about it. Where do we go | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
from here? LAUGHTER | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
We keep talking about it for a long time. I will tell you where. The | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
the Conservatives say they have got something they can campaign about | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
and they think that they have got Labour in a trap by saying that | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
they are against a referendum and to my surprise not leaving wriggle | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
room. That Ed Miliband decided not to back a referendum is not a | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
surprise. He said to James Landale on Sunday morning on the Breakfast | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
sofa, he said it leading up to this. What surprised me was that he | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
didn't leave himself any wriggle room at all that just before 2015 | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
he could say, "Well, since the Germans are saying we have a treaty | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
change, I now accept." he doesn't appear to have left himself that | :10:27. | :10:37. | |
:10:37. | :10:37. | ||
space. The Tories will celebrate. Orchd, Orchd -- on the other hand, | :10:37. | :10:43. | |
the what are you promising to renegotiate? What are your | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
benchmarks for success, Prime Minister? Because we don't really | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
trust you on this, his own party don't trust him on this issue, he | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
would like this written down in our manifesto so you can't change your | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
mind after the election. The question that I asked the Prime | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
Minister at the news conference, that Ed Miliband asked at the news | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
conference, you asked the party chairman, which is - what if you | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
don't get the deal that you say you want? The Prime Minister did give | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
an answer to be fair. It was a curious and by tsar nature of P -- | :11:14. | :11:21. | |
bizarre nature where Ed Miliband said he-given an -- he hadn't given | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
an idea and David Cameron said Ed Miliband hadn't begin an answer | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
when he had. If David Cameron goes in and effectively says, "Look, I | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
am going to vote yes come what may." Euro-sceptics will say you | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
have got no negotiating hand. What will happen in the capitals of | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
Europe, they will say, "You have lost your nerve. We know you will | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
vote yes. Reread the opinion polls are in favour and they are moving | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
in that direction, we will give you something." Harold Wilson got | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
something in 1975, but it won't be enough to satisfy those people who | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
are cross with Europe. Harold Wilson had the press cheer | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
leading for him to stay in last time including the Tory press. This | :12:05. | :12:15. | |
won happen this time. While watching PMQsI had little elves go | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
into into Downing Street and they have they have e-mailed to say | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
there are indications from Downing Street to say if Europe does not | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
take your bid for renegotiation seriously, the Prime Minister may | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
have to say, we leave. What's revealing about that point, | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
Andrew is the Prime Minister was asked that question directly by me | :12:36. | :12:43. | |
and before me by Andy Bell of Channel 5, he did not say that. You | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
asked the chairman of the Conservative Party and he didn't | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
reply. He was asked three times on the floor of House of Commons, he | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
didn't say it. But the moles can say what they like. The elves have | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
done good work. I have spent the last two weeks | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
trying to get a definitive answer from Labour on whether they would | :13:07. | :13:16. | |
have an in/out referendum. We got it from Mr Miliband and we had it | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
from Caroline Flint. This is the way you will end up going, isn't | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
it? My little elves caught a straw in the wind. | :13:24. | :13:32. | |
I will check the elves health. are out! | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
We need more information on your elves! | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
I want to challenge one thing, you are trying to get going or people | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
are trying to get going the idea that political leaders only make | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
speeches in the interests of their political parties. If that were | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
true and this this wasn't about the future of Britain and Britain's | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
relationship with Europe, how would you explain the Conservative Party | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
against its own political interests, campaigning to keep Scotland in the | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
United Kingdom? The truth is, we don't always do things which are in | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
the party's interests. We believe that that keeping Scotland in the | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
United Kingdom is in the United Kingdom's interests and we believe | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
that keeping Britain in a reformed Europe is in the United Kingdom's | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
interests and it is about what the people of this country want and | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
giving people a choice. It makes the point that you don't always, | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
that political parties... What would success look like to David | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
Cameron? The issue that will dominate discussion from now until | :14:26. | :14:33. | |
2015. I know... We are going to move on. We are not going to leave | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
Europe altogether, however, but Nick Robinson is sadly going to | :14:37. | :14:46. | |
leave us. Not forever. Find out who the elves are. | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
They have to do something when they are not making Christmas gifts. | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
Do you fin the news depressing you further? Not on this programme! | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
George Osborne might like it if journalists focus more on job | :14:59. | :15:08. | |
creation than job losses. The designer Wayne Hemmingway | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
visited the BBC's new newsroom at Broadcasting House to tell us why | :15:12. | :15:22. | |
:15:22. | :15:33. | ||
journalists should do more to This week according to some | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
research, it is supposed to be the most miserable week of the year, | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
peak with blue Monday. So perhaps it is time to reflect at why the | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
main News Channels seem to help us concentrate on bad news stories and | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
a seedier side of life. According to the BBC, three of the top ten | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
most followed stories of 2012 were about flooding. | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
At number seven, were the floods in September. As the heavy rain | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
continued to fall, the inevitable happened. At number three, were the | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
floods in July. At number two, were the floods in | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
November. Of the other seven, two involved | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
the murder of children, but another was the sinking of a cruise ship | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
with multiple fatalities. And all the time has been the misery of | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
Syria without any real developments for months and little hope. There | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
can be no denying that these are are stories that need telling, but | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
what bothers me is on the whole, stories that could move mankind | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
forward and impact on our lives don't get the exposure they deserve. | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
Here is a couple of stories you might have missed. | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
In Japan, scientists managed to create eggs from mice stem cells, | :16:47. | :16:54. | |
raising hope of a cure for human infer tilt. The US journal Science | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
said it was one of the most important breakthroughs. | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
A a bicycle has been developed from cardboard. | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
If you search the internet for good news stories, there are various | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
websites that that address this, but they don't do it justicement | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
perhaps we need fewer crime correspondents and fewer war | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
reporters and that way we might encourage people to go out and | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
achieve more and put a smile on at on the faces of the people at its | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
bus stop. Wayne Hemmingway joins us now. You complain about flood | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
stories and you talked about Syria, but if seems to be -- but it seems | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
to be what the public wants? Do the public want to see a reporter stood | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
in their wellies with an umbrella up saying it is snowing. We know it | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
is snowing! They do like it, you see. It is like saying that | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
everybody likes, that tabloids sell more than broadsheets. If that's | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
fed to people all the time, that's what they want. Surely we have got | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
to look at things that make us happy sometimes rather than think, | :18:08. | :18:14. | |
"I am glad I am inside in the warmth. Or I am glad I am not in | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
that country." It it all seems to be crass and to me it seems to be | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
getting worse. Right. One would say in the news | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
business that those are our and finally stories. Some of the | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
stories that lift the news and you are saying you would like more of | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
that? And finally seems like something that Trevor McDonald | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
would have done in the 70s or 80s. How often do you see Will Gompertz | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
is a good good reporter. And it feels like you might as well be | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
saying, "Here we have a light hearted story from Will about the | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
arts." The creative industries are the second biggest driver of the UK | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
industry. It is worth the design industry alone is worth �35 billion | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
and when you make the creative industries, music, art, design, TV | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
and media and it is �37 billion.. Caroline Flint do you think it is | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
too negative? There has been a sea change in terms of some technology | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
stories and some creative stories coming in more forcefully in the | :19:19. | :19:28. | |
Sometimes, there is an imbalance. I think of the Olympics, and the | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
human stories about volunteering. It is not the people are saying | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
they want to be cushioned in a suite world where everything is | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
right but a think people want to have some hope about what we can do | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
it in our communities when we come together. There was a great story | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
the other week about a breakthrough in terms of preventing breast | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
cancer. Again, I think people want to get a balance between the things | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
that happen. It is not about protecting politicians, there are | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
stories out there in communities which says something about how | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
people can find solutions. And it is about job creations. I saw that | :20:03. | :20:10. | |
breast cancer story on the BBC. Stories about job creation, today... | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
Lemmy make his point. There has been a big job creation story today. | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
By and we have reported it. public will like to know that it | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
was on the run -- running order for today's programme at one point but | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
it dropped off. The positive news gets drowned out. It is because the | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
Prime Minister made the most significant speech of the collision. | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
He drowned out his own good news. There is a dangerous thing | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
underneath this. If we do not talk about great scientific discoveries, | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
young people are not encouraged to become scientists. If we talk about | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
art and design, the second-biggest private of the economy, as a story | :20:49. | :20:55. | |
for the end of the programme, we dismiss it. The renewable energy | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
stories are always negative. It is all was against wind farms. | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
going to give you an opportunity, Caroline Flint and Grant Shapps, to | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
say something nice about each other. Say something nice about the | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
Conservative Party. Conservative Party, it is good to | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
have democratic politics in the UK but I think -- and I think we | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
should think ourselves lucky that we can resolve things at the ballot | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
box and not through other means. Say something nice about the Labour | :21:19. | :21:27. | |
Party. I agree with Caroline Flint. Actually, on a small political -- I | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
have just done a small spot or Channel 4 are saying that all | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
politicians across a spectrum work hard for their constituents. That | :21:34. | :21:36. | |
applies to politicians for all parties and we are fortunate to | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
live in a democracy where we basically work together on more -- | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
on most staff. You're only here but the clashes. Great that we got that | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
on today. By that is enough of all that stuff. | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
It will never catch on. Returning to Europe, we have not discussed | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
that for a four minutes or so. David Cameron did a big speech on | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
Europe this morning and in a moment we will get business reactions, but | :22:01. | :22:08. | |
first, here is the German Foreign Minister firing a warning shot. | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
With such decisive issues, as the future of our common currency, we | :22:14. | :22:21. | |
do not need less, but more integration. We share the vision of | :22:21. | :22:30. | |
a better Europe. We need a new commitment to the principle of | :22:30. | :22:39. | |
solidarity. Not all but everything must be decided in Brussels by | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
Brussels. We differentiate but cherry-picking is not an option. | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
And that was the German Foreign Minister making a statement on the | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
day when it was announced that Britain is now Germany's biggest | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
global trade partner. We have just overtaken France. The Trade and | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
between the countries has soared to 153 billion euros. -- trade and | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
business between the countries. There we go, Anglo-German business | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
is stronger than ever and overtaking the French. Daniel | :23:11. | :23:19. | |
Hodson is a former Chief Executive for the City institution, Liffe. | :23:19. | :23:26. | |
And Roland Rudd is from Business for New Europe. The Prime Minister | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
is promising to try and get some deep-seated reforms on Europe, some | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
of which will benefit all of Europe and some specifically Britain. Then | :23:34. | :23:40. | |
he will put that results to the British people and he hopes to stay | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
in on this basis. What is wrong with that? Well, I like a lot of it. | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
I like the fact that he wants to put competitiveness at the heart of | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
the European strategy and that, rather than full integration, is | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
what is important. I think you'll find that the French and Germans | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
are not that keen on the new treaty. I like his talk about a single | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
market council. We used to have an internal market council and it | :24:06. | :24:16. | |
:24:16. | :24:16. | ||
emerged into a competitive ness Council. All his vision is good. My | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
concern is we are placed into limbo land by the referendum pledge, the | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
in/out pledge that could take place in five years' time. Most people | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
and things three years away, so five years is a long time and it | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
creates a huge amount of uncertainty. It is unsettling for | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
business. That is the bit I would have preferred not to have heard. | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
But rather than the first half, which I think is very encouraging. | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
It is unsettling for business? is, but there are opportunities to | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
accelerate the process. First of all, from the point of view of the | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
People's pledge, which I represent, this is an encouraging move. We do | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
not think it goes far enough. We think it is interesting to hear Ed | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
Miliband's pronouncement in the House. Certainly, we will be | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
working to try to get greater certainty on the Labour position. | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
Were you want you that we would like for Labour to be in favour of | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
the referendum. But the Labour leader said explicitly that he is | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
not going to do that. That is true, but the point is that we have 20 | :25:22. | :25:30. | |
MPs off all shades -- of all shades signed up for pledge. And we | :25:30. | :25:36. | |
believe that there are many more who will sign the pledge. There are | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
indications this morning that there will be considerable pressure on | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
the Labour side. Do you want an in/out referendum now? No, but we | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
want to make sure that the campaign is going to be long and drawn out, | :25:49. | :25:56. | |
but that it is a campaign which starts now. Based on what? In terms | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
of David Cameron and the negotiations, people have a right | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
to know the programme of change that he will go forward on. And | :26:02. | :26:08. | |
therefore, what does success look like, to prevent an in/out | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
referendum or enable the Prime Minister to come clean about how he | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
will vote. That is not there at the moment. Going back to Roland Rudd, | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
decent again -- you said we were last on the programme that you did | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
not think the French and Germans want to have any more integration. | :26:26. | :26:34. | |
Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel agreed last night to unveil a new | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
programme of fiscal and monetary integration in May of this year in | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
time for the June council. It is true that they want to see the | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
progress they have made on stabilising the euro continue. And | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
we will see other measures throughout the year that underpin | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
that stability. You must not forget, one year ago at this conference | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
people were saying, when will the euro break-up? Now it is conceived | :26:59. | :27:06. | |
wisdom that it will be fine. It has passed a worse. -- past its worst. | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
Angela Merkel is calling Mr Holland Francois. That is so close they are, | :27:12. | :27:18. | |
first name terms. I think it is a much better relationship. Over the | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
weekend, the French Foreign Secretary said that we're going to | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
see more measures to ensure that the relationship continues. They do | :27:26. | :27:29. | |
not necessarily want another treaty change for some we will see about | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
that. Roland Rudd, thank you for joining us. Very briefly, would you | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
be happy to see repatriation of powers? Do you think we should stay | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
in? What I say is that I want an in/out referendum. We know that it | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
but answer my question. The answer is as Caroline says. We need to | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
know where the line in the sand is. It is part of a process taking | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
place now. Well, we begun a programme without getting answers | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
so why should we end it differently? | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
And Astrid was the clue to our Guess The Year contest, but did you | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
remember when it happened? -- Maastricht was the clue. | :28:07. | :28:13. | |
Yes, it was 1992. Press the buzzer. | :28:13. | :28:20. | |
Clive Brown of Cheshire. Well done. OK, that is it. Thank you to all | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
our guests and special thanks to a our two guests who have been here | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
throughout. The One o'clock News will be starting on BBC One but we | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
will be on at 12:15pm tomorrow, slightly later because of the | :28:33. | :28:38. |