Browse content similar to 17/07/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Daily Politics. Shocking failings in the NHS put 11 | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
hospitals in special measures, but who's to blame - this government or | :00:50. | :00:58. | |
its Labour predecessor? Or both? David Cameron warned was the next | :00:58. | :01:08. | |
:01:08. | :01:08. | ||
big scandal waiting to happen - so he waited three years to do anything | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
about it. Today we finally get a bill to regulate lobbying. | :01:14. | :01:21. | |
Boris wants to turn it into the 33rd London borough, but Heathrow wants a | :01:21. | :01:31. | |
:01:31. | :01:34. | ||
third runway - the airport's boss joins us live. | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
And you thought the Heathrow flight path was loud? We'll measure noise | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
levels in the Commons as political temperature rises. Order, order. | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
There is still far too much shouting. | :01:51. | :02:01. | |
:02:01. | :02:03. | ||
All that coming up in the next 90 minutes of scorching hot political | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
debate. And keeping cool in our air-conditioned studio this morning | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
is Westminster's hottest political talent. Labour's Chuka Umunna, he's | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
the Shadow Business Secretary, and the Planning Minister, Nick Boles. | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
Welcome to you both. First this morning, yesterday's damning report | :02:18. | :02:26. | |
into serious failings in NHS hospitals continues to resonate here | :02:26. | :02:33. | |
at Westminster. Indeed, the terms of the political debate may have | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
changed with the Health Secretary trying to position himself as the | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
champion of NHS patients rather than the NHS itself. Thousands may have | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
met an early death in the 14 hospitals concerned, but what really | :02:48. | :02:58. | |
:02:58. | :03:01. | ||
seemed to matter in the Commons was who was to blame. Rob the last | :03:01. | :03:08. | |
government left the NHS with a system covering up weak leadership, | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
and failed to prioritise compassionate care. This system's | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
reputation, this is uncomfortable for honourable members, mattered | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
more than individual patients. Targets mattered more than the ball. | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
At health questions, the Health Secretary claimed this was an | :03:30. | :03:40. | |
:03:40. | :03:48. | ||
historical report about the past. I measures. Most viewers, if you asked | :03:48. | :03:55. | |
them, is your treatment good treatment, from the NHS, they would | :03:55. | :04:04. | |
say, yes, I get a good service. Were there failings? Clearly. But in this | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
report, there is a claim that Labour ministers, colleagues of mine in | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
government, deliberately and wilfully sought to cover up failings | :04:14. | :04:24. | |
:04:24. | :04:27. | ||
in the NHS. Nowhere in this report, I would happily handed to Nick Boles | :04:27. | :04:35. | |
now, we know what page it is on, but nowhere in this report didn't say | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
there was evidence that that happened. A lot of this relates to | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
more salad tea. Andy Burnham, he was one of a number of Labour Health | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
Secretary is, in 2009, asked for a proper investigation into those | :04:48. | :04:55. | |
hospitals with high mortality rate. That was produced in April 2010, I | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
believe, and identified hospital trusts which needed to be looked at, | :05:01. | :05:09. | |
50 of them. Do you feel ashamed or at least disappointed that all of | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
these serious failings in the health service still existed after 13 years | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
of Labour government? I would not claim that every element of NHS | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
service provision was perfect under my government, and I am disappointed | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
that failings impacted on families and would have caused upset. People | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
died because of inadequacy of care, in many cases. Sir Bruce Keogh and | :05:27. | :05:37. | |
:05:37. | :05:38. | ||
the NHS has said in defence of this wild claim of 13,000... I did not | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
say 13,000, I understand that it is controversial and it is not in the | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
report, but many people died because of inadequate care. That happened in | :05:47. | :05:54. | |
Mid Staffordshire. Professor Brian John and, he says labour ignored his | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
findings about high mortality rates. We don't accept that. We | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
commissioned in 2009, Andy Burnham asked the NHS to look into high | :06:05. | :06:13. | |
mortality rates. Professor Brian Jarman said he e-mailed Andy Burnham | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
and said there were an alarming number of patient deaths, therefore | :06:18. | :06:26. | |
that was a red flag . Are Ness Thornton said it would be more | :06:26. | :06:33. | |
appropriate to take it up with the Care Quality Commission -- Baroness | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
Thornton said. Andy Burnham looked at the hospitals where there were | :06:37. | :06:44. | |
high mortality rate. This is an independent review, produced and | :06:45. | :06:52. | |
commissioned by the Government, and it has not shown any findings that | :06:52. | :06:59. | |
Andy Burnham did not act properly. Tame side get a very bad press in | :06:59. | :07:06. | |
this. It is claimed that Labour ignored a whistleblower in 2005, | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
warnings to Parliament in 2006, a coroner 's report in 2006 and | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
warnings from Andrew Lansley, when he was the Shadow health minister, | :07:17. | :07:27. | |
:07:27. | :07:27. | ||
in 2009. Both wary as the evidence to back this up? The way in which | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
these hospital trusts were identified was based on mortality | :07:30. | :07:40. | |
:07:40. | :07:41. | ||
figures. It may have got worse under this government. Am I saying the NHS | :07:41. | :07:49. | |
was perfect during my party's time in government? No. Even if we spent | :07:49. | :07:57. | |
the whole of the GDP on the health service, it would never be perfect, | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
but after all the money spent, after the feeling in this country that he | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
helped service is, quote, the envy of the world, that so many people | :08:04. | :08:13. | |
should be dying from substandard care? It is the question of the | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
numbers. Anybody dying is a matter of regret. You would not want that | :08:20. | :08:28. | |
to happen to anyone, it does not matter how many numbers. But what | :08:28. | :08:35. | |
Sir Bruce Keogh says is that, on the whole, the NHS had massively | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
improved after decades of neglect. You would have seen this in the | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
Sunday papers, there has been an attempt to deliberately smear one | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
individual on the Labour front bench at the moment, Andy Burnham, because | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
they have TV tested him, he is one of our most effective communicators. | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
Let me come on to Nick Boles. Stephen Dorrell, the former | :08:59. | :09:06. | |
Conservative Health Secretary, said that patients listening to what | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
happened yesterday will think it is divorced from any focus of what is | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
important to them, the quality of care delivered by the health | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
service. But your party decided to play politics. I don't think it is | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
playing politics to say that when concerns were raised by patients and | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
health service workers that they were not adequately considered or | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
brought into the public domain. It is not Conservatives that were | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
running the Care Quality Commission, are Ness Young was appointed by the | :09:42. | :09:49. | |
last government and the regulator, Bill Moyers, they have both said | :09:49. | :09:59. | |
that there was a real pressure. It derived from the approach of the | :09:59. | :10:09. | |
:10:09. | :10:10. | ||
last government that they could manage the NHS, which is a total | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
error. You cannot manage show an organisation of that size. You | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
guarantee the funding, which the Labour Party would not do, by the | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
way, we stand up for patients' interest. If you weren't playing | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
politics, why was this figure of 13,000 deaths allowed to be briefed | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
out at the weekend to all the major Sunday newspapers when we know that | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
Sir Bruce Keogh said it is clinically meaningless and | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
academically reckless to use such statistical measures? Nobody ever | :10:39. | :10:49. | |
:10:49. | :10:51. | ||
sent me a piece of paper is saying, 13,000 deaths. I am very junior and | :10:51. | :10:59. | |
not a health minister, but you would have thought we would all have been | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
told that. If you see David Cameron's statement following Mid | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
Staffordshire, he said, the author of the report does not blame any | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
specific policy, does not blame the last Secretary of State for health. | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
He says we should not seek scapegoats. Yet you are seeking to | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
scapegoat Andy Burnham. We are trying to hold the Labour Party and | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
its last Secretary of State for health responsible for a system | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
whereby they wanted to manage the NHS, they wanted to resist any | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
attempt to show that things were not working in the NHS. That will never | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
work. They need to take responsibility. The Labour Party | :11:42. | :11:44. | |
does not take responsibility for anything, they need to take | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
responsibility. Two of the places getting a bad rap, Basildon and | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
Tameside health trust 's, they are two of the worst. Since you came to | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
power you have cut 128 nursing post at Tameside and over 300 from | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
Basildon. Severn Trent have cut front-line staff by 1117. | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
Professor Keogh said there is absolutely no financial reason for | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
these decisions. My trust in Lincolnshire is in special measures | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
and as a result of this report it is urgently trying to recruit 200 extra | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
nurses. The government does not any more tell them what they should do | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
with their money. They have a responsibility to spend it | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
responsibly and we have a responsibility to show everyone if | :12:22. | :12:30. | |
things are going one as a result of poor management. Baroness Young | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
claimed that David Cameron misrepresented her comments. She | :12:34. | :12:44. | |
:12:44. | :12:44. | ||
asked him to correct it. But her quota is on the record. -- her quota | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
is on the record. Now, get your ear defenders ready. | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
That was last week's PMQs, of course, which got pretty noisy - but | :12:55. | :13:05. | |
:13:05. | :13:07. | ||
just how noisy? Order, order, there is still far too much shouting on | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
both sides of the chamber. The Prime Minister, I think, is concluding his | :13:12. | :13:22. | |
:13:22. | :13:22. | ||
answer. Tessa Munt and Alan Cairns, two backbench MPs were there. | :13:22. | :13:32. | |
:13:32. | :13:33. | ||
Look at Tessa Munt, what are you holding? That is my iPad, it is a | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
decibel monitor. I will be using it today, I don't believe it will be | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
any different from normal. You will be using this app on our behalf to | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
measure how noisy it was. How noisy was it last week? I put the decibel | :13:47. | :13:57. | |
count on the iPad and it crossed the 100 mark for the first time. It was | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
a most intimidating environment last week, it was an absolute bearpit. | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
100 on the decibel count is apparently just short of a power | :14:03. | :14:12. | |
drill. If that is on a persistent basis, you can imagine. A jet flying | :14:12. | :14:22. | |
over is 103 decibel is, that is the noise you are putting up with and | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
the noise the party leaders have to fight against. Did John Bercow | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
struggle to keep everything under control? I think it is sometimes | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
quite difficult, it is almost impossible to be heard. You will | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
hear him call for order repeatedly. It gives some indication. It is | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
quite difficult to get us to pay attention. I don't do any shouting, | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
I think it isn't dignified and unnecessary. It is the last one of | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
the term this Wednesday, I would imagine there is no question there | :14:49. | :14:59. | |
:14:59. | :14:59. | ||
will be some shouting. Whose fault is it? Tessa Munt says she does not | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
shout but whose fault is it that they get to that level of crescendo? | :15:05. | :15:13. | |
The week before last, the Prime Minister won convincingly and... So | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
the issue would accept that context and therefore, last week, the Labour | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
Party came out and it was simply survival for Ed Miliband and come on | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
that basis, the whips had probable eyes that probably organised louder | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
voices to support him. If you are on the opposition and your own side | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
behind you are silent, it must be the most lonely place in the world | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
and that's the purpose of the noise behind, to show support for your own | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
site, for your leader, and to give him confidence. You are shaking your | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
head, Tessa Munt. It's childish, pathetic. I would rather hear what | :15:51. | :16:00. | |
they say. I struggle to listen to the little speakers I have on the | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
back of the seats. You can't hear a word said. People on television here | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
it better because they have the equipment. But it is pathetic, and I | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
think it just is despicable, really, because it makes the whole thing an | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
absolute playground. It doesn't give us any respect of politicians. If | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
you did that in the council chamber, there's no question you would be | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
thrown out. That's what should be happen. We should listen, have | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
respect, because how does anybody expect us to get respect if we don't | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
behave in a sensible grown-up manner? How louder do think it will | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
be? I think some people might be frightened of being named by the | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
speaker, and I think it will probably get to about 90 today. | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
think higher than that. All right, we have taken nap addiction. Come | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
back to us after PMQs. Thanks. Now, before the last election, David | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Cameron said that Lobbying was the next big scandal waiting to happen. | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
Well, he turned out to be quite a clairvoyant. Today the government | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
publishes a bill to regulate the business of lobbying and try to put | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
an end to the perception that politicians are cabs for hire. | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
Here's Jo Le Taxi. Very good. Yes, the debate about lobbying was | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
reignited earlier this year when Conservative MP Patrick Mercer was | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
one a of a number of parliamentarians caught on camera | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
offering themselves out as hired consultants. I could normally | :17:34. | :17:43. | |
:17:44. | :18:07. | ||
wrong-doing but resigned the Tory Whip following the Panorama and | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
Daily Telegraph sting back in May, prompting calls for the government | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
to take action. The Coalition Agreement had promised to regulate | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
lobbying through introducing a statutory register of lobbyists. | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
Over three years later, the government are today publishing a | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
bill that would set up this statutory register and introduce new | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
measures to reform party funding The move comes at a time when David | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
Cameron is facing pressure over decisions to drop plans for plain | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
cigarette packaging and a minimum price for alcohol. With the | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
opposition claiming he has been lobbied by his election strategist | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
Lynton Crosby, whose firm has been advising tobacco giant Philip Morris | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
International. And Labour are also under fire over their links to the | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
trade unions and claims that Unite has been trying to fix parliamentary | :18:49. | :18:59. | |
:18:59. | :19:00. | ||
selection processes. Andrew. Thanks for that. David Cameron thought | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
lobbying was going to be the next big scandal. Why did he hire a | :19:06. | :19:12. | |
lobbyist as his election strategist? Mr Crosby is an expert strategist | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
and has run a series of elections for the Australian Prime Minister, | :19:16. | :19:23. | |
and for Michael Howard. And Boris Johnson's election campaign. What he | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
does in his other time of his own business. He is employed by the | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
Conservative Party, not by the government. Secondly, he's only | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
employed for one day a week and thirdly, the Conservative Party pays | :19:35. | :19:42. | |
him. He will call for paper, calls the tune. The Prime Minister decides | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
what he will do with his time. The unions on the other hand, are paying | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
the Labour Party and have a secure place in the Labour Party's | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
constitution, they vote for the leader and policy. There is a | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
fundamental difference between these two situations. Will Lynton Crosby | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
is that one day a week between now and election? If his time increases, | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
he will be able to less work for other people and more work for the | :20:09. | :20:15. | |
Conservative Party. A lobbyist, it becomes your full-time study just? | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
Should he? He doesn't lobby the Prime Minister, ministers. If | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
anything, we tried to lobby him to make sure he understands why our | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
policies are important. How do you know he hasn't lobbied ministers? | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
Because the Prime Minister has made it clear he's never lobbied him on | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
any other subjects... He's not made it clear he hasn't had a discussion | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
about tobacco with Mr Crosby. said he has not been lobbied. Have | :20:49. | :20:56. | |
you ever had a discussion, Chuka with a union leader about any of | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
your policies? Have they ever had a role in the election of your leader? | :21:00. | :21:07. | |
Yes, he would've lost to David Miliband but for hit their boat. We | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
are paying a relatively modest sum to an election strategist. There was | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
a big difference. It's not one of the great secrets of British | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
politics that the unions have been influencing the Labour Party. A | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
level political science, we learn that. What influence if any Mr | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
Crosby, with his lobbying, has had on your government policy? We have | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
been very clear he's employed by the Conservatives for one day a week to | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
provide election strategy advice. The does not have any role, not any | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
contact with civil servants. He's not lobbying and is not allowed to. | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
I think there is an important distinction to be made between big | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
tobacco, alcohol, commercial interests, and trade unions which | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
represent millions of working people. Many people working in the | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
studio. There is an important distinction but the key thing here | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
is transparency and accountability. The extent to which the Labour Party | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
has contributions from the unions is on public record. The problem with | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
lobbying, this argument Nick is making, we'd paid Lynton Crosby to | :22:21. | :22:31. | |
coming to us and we will be him, I've never heard of anybody | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
suggesting that. Transparency and accountability, will this bill the | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
government is introducing today, we are putting down amendments to this, | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
to makes sure all of the lobbying companies in the country fully | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
disclose who their clients are and the extent to which they get money | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
from them. Secondly, to ensure people like Lynton Crosby are also | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
covered by these rules. The idea he won't have any impact on policy | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
whatsoever is ludicrous. Let me put that to him. Will Lynton Crosby's | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
list of clients the public as a result of this bill? The rules will | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
apply to all people who are lobbying on behalf of companies in the UK. | :23:12. | :23:19. | |
we will see the company 's he has? don't know the details of the bill. | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
Let's be clear, Andrew, the Labour Party was in government for 13 | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
years. We had Bernie Ecclestone giving Tony Blair �1 million and | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
surprise surprise, Tony Blair turns around and does not ban cigarette | :23:32. | :23:38. | |
advertising in the sporting events. Oh please, come on. Of course, it's | :23:38. | :23:48. | |
taken three years. Andrew. didn't you do it in 13 years? | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
tobacco advertising for example, we banned billboard advertising, banned | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
smoking in public places, banned smoking advertising in sport, and | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
actually come as a result of some of the issues raised, Tony Blair said | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
at the time, it wasn't so much what happened but we introduced so many | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
of the disclosable switch mean people know what he contributed. Let | :24:10. | :24:18. | |
me finish. Why didn't you introduce a lobbying register? Let me finish | :24:18. | :24:26. | |
my sentence. Answer my question. As a result of the rules we | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
introduced, we do now know what is paid to political parties and all so | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
there are certain rules where overseas companies can no longer | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
contribute into election campaigns which didn't exist under the | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
Conservatives. Are there more things we can do? Of course there are but | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
why we're putting down amendments to this bill but to say nothing | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
happened about transparency in 13 years is nonsense. Do you think | :24:53. | :25:01. | |
there should be a requirement that trade unions, we have to count an | :25:01. | :25:08. | |
audit of its membership to prove its accuracy? I think there is an | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
independent audit of their members and they are not carrying about at | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
themselves. It will be interesting to see how they propose doing it and | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
who will fund it but transparency and accuracy of membership figures | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
for trade unions is a good thing. I don't think they will disagree with | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
that but let's look at the detail. What does Lynton Crosby get for one | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
day a week? I don't know but is an expert man and I'm sure he charges a | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
lot more than I do, to be frank. It's so sought after, its backstory | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
so compelling, it's so often the topic of conversation for television | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
viewers up and down the country that, naturally, it now has its own | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
Wikipedia page. Of what do I speak? Well, the trusty Daily Politics mug, | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
of course. We've had nothing to do with this page. We wouldn't blow our | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
own mug's trumpet. We'll leave it to our many fans and followers to do | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
that. In fact this one's a mock-up. And we're in good company because | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
Chuka here has a famous wikipedia page. Everyone loves my page.Now | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
the page used to include the flattering quote "may end up as the | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
UK's Barack Obama". Chuka has made it absolutely clear that he had | :26:20. | :26:28. | |
nothing to do with putting that quote on the page. Transparency. | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
Nothing, nothing, nothing. In fact, Chuka has criticised journalists who | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
have compared him to the US President. So it couldn't have been | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
him, could it? I have never compared to the US president though I have | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
once or twice head Barack Obama saying he is really American's | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
Chuka. Now, our mug doesn't need bigging up because we know that | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
hundreds of you will compete to win one in Guess The Year. Particularly | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
after that introduction. We'll remind you how to enter in a minute. | :26:55. | :27:05. | |
:27:05. | :27:05. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 61 seconds | :27:05. | :28:07. | |
But let's see if you can remember next government. And I am, indeed, | :28:07. | :28:17. | |
:28:17. | :28:23. | ||
Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email address. | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
And you can see the full terms and conditions for Guess The Year on our | :28:27. | :28:37. | |
:28:37. | :28:37. | ||
website. I'm going to let you do that next time. It's coming up to | :28:37. | :28:47. | |
:28:47. | :28:47. | ||
midday here. Just take a look at Big Ben. Another glorious sunny day here | :28:47. | :28:53. | |
in Westminster. I hope it's lovely where you are, too. It is PMQs. The | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
final one before the summer recess. We should be in for some fireworks. | :28:58. | :29:04. | |
Nick Robinson is here. I think the situation in Albania may come up. | :29:04. | :29:14. | |
:29:14. | :29:15. | ||
Maybe? Maybe the NHS and lobbying? No, really? The only thing that is | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
equally predictable is the noise level, unless the speaker has | :29:19. | :29:21. | |
decided to intervene. What's intriguing about this is how the | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
Tories have decided in recent weeks to increase the pressure on Labour, | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
to increase the volume. If you saw the tactics Jeremy Hunt used | :29:29. | :29:36. | |
yesterday, they are very similar to what David Cameron did two weeks ago | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
to Ed Miliband on the trade unions in PMQs, to come from nowhere, Bell | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
to your opponent around the head, get your backbenchers screaming | :29:44. | :29:52. | |
behind you, in order to say, we are all together on this. -- belt your | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
opponent. That is believed well for the Tories. They have done it on | :29:56. | :30:03. | |
welfare, the trade unions. And the NHS. I am blaming Len McCluskey for | :30:03. | :30:11. | |
this hot weather, by the way. always his fault! Tactically, what | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
do you do if you are Ed Miliband? Last week, they reacted, they were | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
organised, the whips were there. The tribal loyalties reasserted | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
themselves. The question is whether you try to equal the noise or tried | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
to take the heat out of it and appear statesmanlike. Since this is | :30:31. | :30:38. | |
the last PMQs until September, let's go to the last PMQs until September. | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker, this morning I had meetings... I had meetings | :30:43. | :30:53. | |
:30:53. | :31:00. | ||
with ministerial colleagues and People using Scunthorpe General | :31:00. | :31:06. | |
Hospital today are asking for reassurance. Given Serb Bruce Keogh | :31:06. | :31:12. | |
says now is not the time for hasty reactions or recriminations, will | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
the Prime Minister committed the resource and support as well as the | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
challenge to ensure that the Scunthorpe Hospital delivers | :31:20. | :31:30. | |
:31:30. | :31:30. | ||
high-quality care across all departments? Let me echo what he | :31:30. | :31:38. | |
said about the Keogh reporter. It is a good report and it says that even | :31:38. | :31:47. | |
those hospitals which have been investigated, in many instances they | :31:47. | :31:57. | |
delivered care. This government is putting the money in, �12.7 billion | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
extra over this Parliament. We will help those hospitals that are | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
challenged to make sure they provide the best they can in the NHS. | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
I am sure you will be as delighted as I am to know that unemployment in | :32:12. | :32:20. | |
Watford has fallen once again to the lowest level since the end of 2009. | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
I hope that the Prime Minister will agree with me that this is a good | :32:25. | :32:27. | |
example of government policy is a good example of government policies | :32:27. | :32:36. | |
to small businesses working, because they are the ones that provide the | :32:36. | :32:46. | |
:32:46. | :32:49. | ||
thousands of jobs and apprentices shown at the Watford jobs fair two | :32:49. | :32:58. | |
weeks ago. He is right, today 's unemployment figures are welcome and | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
they show a very significant fall in the claimant count, 20,000 in the | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
last month. It is encouraging, and some of that is because of the extra | :33:07. | :33:08. | |
resources we put into apprenticeships. Over 1 million | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
people have started apprenticeships in this Parliament. I hope the fall | :33:11. | :33:13. | |
in unemployment will be welcomed across the House. | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
The vast majority of doctors and nurses working in the NHS perform to | :33:16. | :33:18. | |
a very high standard, day in, day out. But everybody in the country | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
will be concerned that some hospitals are letting people down. | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
Sir Bruce Keogh's report found frequent examples of an adequate | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
numbers of nursing staff. Will the Prime Minister tell us what he is | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
doing to ensure adequate numbers of nurses? The Keogh report is | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
excellent. When you have a problem of high mortality rates, | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
relatively, in some hospitals, it is important to hold an investigation, | :33:35. | :33:41. | |
get to the truth and then take action to deal with that. We are | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
putting �12.7 billion into the NHS. Over the course of the last year we | :33:46. | :33:53. | |
have seen an extra 900 nurses in our NHS. That backs up the 8500 extra | :33:53. | :34:00. | |
clinical staff since this government came to office. | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
But the reality is thereof 4000 fewer nurses than when the Prime | :34:03. | :34:09. | |
Minister came to power. One of the issues raised in this report was | :34:09. | :34:15. | |
about nursing staff. It was also reflected in the Francis report | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
about benchmarks for the numbers of nursing staff. If there are over | :34:18. | :34:25. | |
4000 fewer nurses, is that helping or hindering sorting out these | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
problems? He makes the link between the 11 hospitals put into special | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
measures and nursing numbers. He might be interested in the figures. | :34:32. | :34:39. | |
Eight of the 11 hospitals identified actually have more nurses today than | :34:39. | :34:46. | |
in 2010. If, for instance, you take the hospital in Scunthorpe that was | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
just mentioned, although that is on the list of the 11 hospitals, | :34:52. | :34:56. | |
thereof 100 extra nurses working there than three years ago. When it | :34:56. | :35:03. | |
comes to clinical staff, ten of the 11 hospitals have higher numbers of | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
clinical staff. In the Francis report, Francis did not support | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
mandatory nursing numbers. All well-run hospitals will have the | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
right number of nurses and doctors and care assistant. One of the | :35:18. | :35:25. | |
purposes of these reports is to make sure hospitals are better run. | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
That his reforms are diverging money from patient care and across the | :35:28. | :35:35. | |
health service the number of nurses is falling -- but his reforms are | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
diverging money from patient care. On deaths from cancer, the | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
government planned legislation on plain cigarette packaging, he | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
changed his view after he hired Lynton Crosby, who also happens to | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
work for big tobacco in the shape of Philip Morris. Are we really | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
supposed to believe it is a coincidence? It is clear he does not | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
want a proper conversation about the health service. He had not done his | :36:02. | :36:07. | |
homework on nursing numbers. He asks about plain packaging on cigarettes. | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
Let me be clear, the decision not to go ahead for the time being is a | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
decision made by me and the Health Secretary. If you don't agree with | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
the decision, you can attack me for making it. Funnily enough, it is the | :36:21. | :36:27. | |
same decision made by the last government. I have got here the | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
latter that the former health Secretary of State roads to a | :36:31. | :36:36. | |
minister explaining why he wasn't going ahead. He said this, this is a | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
letter to the honourable member for Dulwich, he said, no studies have | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
shown that introducing plain packaging of tobacco would cut the | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
number of young people smoking. Given the impact the plan would | :36:47. | :36:54. | |
have, we would need strong and convincing evidence to go ahead. To | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
summarise, if his attack on me is that we are not doing something he | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
decided not to do, I would suggest a different line of questioning. | :37:06. | :37:14. | |
Once again, the Prime Minister doesn't know his fact. In February | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
2010, my right honourable friend in his tobacco strategy set out quite | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
clearly that he was in favour of having plain cigarette packaging. | :37:24. | :37:30. | |
That quote is from earlier. Here is the difference, my right honourable | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
friend moved to that position in February 2010. He used to be in | :37:35. | :37:43. | |
favour of plain cigarette packaging, then changed his mind. | :37:43. | :37:51. | |
Can he now... Can he now... Can he now and so the question that he has | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
not answered four weeks - has he ever had a conversation with Lynton | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
Crosby about plain cigarette packaging? I will answer, he has | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
never lobbied me on anything. But if he wants a lobbying scandal, why | :38:06. | :38:12. | |
doesn't he try the fact that the trade unions by aye his policies and | :38:12. | :38:18. | |
candidates, they even bought and paid for his leadership. The whole | :38:18. | :38:26. | |
of the country will have heard those same weasel words he is sticking to. | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
He can't deny that he had a conversation with Lynton Crosby | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
about this issue. Even by the standards of this Prime Minister, | :38:35. | :38:45. | |
:38:45. | :38:45. | ||
this is a disgraceful episode. His own honourable member of the Totnes, | :38:45. | :38:53. | |
they described it as a day of shame for this government. He is the Prime | :38:53. | :39:01. | |
Minister of Benson and hedge funds is, and he knows it! Can't you see | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
there is a devastating conflict of interest between having your key | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
adviser raking it in from big tobacco and then advising you not to | :39:09. | :39:16. | |
go ahead with plain packaging? this on a day when this government | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
is doing something they never did for 13 years, publishing a lobbying | :39:20. | :39:27. | |
bill. Let us remember why we need one. We had former Labour ministers | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
who describe themselves as cabs for hire, we had Cabinet ministers | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
giving passports for favours, a Prime Minister questioned by the | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
police under cash for honours. They are in no position to lecture anyone | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
on standards in public life. Isn't it remarkable on the day of a | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
massive fall in the claimant count, a fall in unemployment, a rise in | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
employment, he has nothing to say? Last year he said this, next year, | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
unemployment will get worse not better, under his policies. Isn't it | :40:01. | :40:10. | |
time to admit you were wrong? The reality that he cannot admit is | :40:10. | :40:16. | |
against the advice of every major public health organisation, he has | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
caved in to big tobacco. That is the reality about this Prime Minister, | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
and he knows it. It is Andy Coulson all over again. He is a Prime | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
Minister who doesn't think the rules apply to him. Dinners for donors, | :40:31. | :40:41. | |
:40:41. | :40:45. | ||
Andy Coulson and now big tobacco in Downing Street. He always stands up | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
for the wrong people. The reason his leadership is in crisis is he can't | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
talk about the big issues. We are getting to the end of a political | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
session where the deficit is down, unemployment is falling, crime is | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
down, welfare is capped, Abu Qatada is back in Jordan. This country gets | :41:00. | :41:10. | |
:41:10. | :41:18. | ||
stronger every day, every day, he Thank you, Mr Speaker. I know the | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
Prime Minister will want to thank those fantastic NHS staff who are | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
rolling up their sleeves and doing everything they can to Jews avoided | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
the early deaths. They are asking the Prime Minister for minimum unit | :41:30. | :41:37. | |
pricing in order to help them do that job. To stop people falling | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
into addiction in the first place. Minimum pricing is falling into | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
death row, will the Prime Minister give it a reprieve until we know the | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
outcome of the Sheffield report and the Scottish reports, at least? | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
fights a strong and noble campaign on an issue that she cares a great | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
deal about. What we are able to do is introduce something... Order, the | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
question has been asked, let's hear the answer. We can introduce | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
something the last government never did, to say it should be illegal to | :42:10. | :42:18. | |
sell alcohol to lower the price of duty plus VAT. That is something, in | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
all the binge drinking problems we had under Labour, they never managed | :42:21. | :42:30. | |
to do. In February I asked the Prime | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
Minister if he thought it was fair that Mr and Mrs Goodwin, both | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
registered blind, should pay bedroom tax? He promised to look into the | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
case. His family wrote to the Prime Minister but did not receive a | :42:40. | :42:46. | |
reply. Why didn't the Prime Minister keep his word? I will look urgently | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
at this case. I reply to honourable members' correspondence right across | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
the house, and I always will. In terms of the spare room subsidy, we | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
put into place fair rules where it does not affect pensioners and | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
people who need that spare room. I have is when I write back, there is | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
one question I won't be able to answer, which is we still don't know | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
whether the party opposite are going to replace this, because they will | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
not give us an answer. This summer, when Labour members are | :43:20. | :43:30. | |
:43:30. | :43:32. | ||
in Blackpool on their Unite beach towels, can they assure me that his | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
government, free both from week leadership and Len McCluskey, will | :43:36. | :43:45. | |
not put into law the welfare benefits as a human rights? He makes | :43:45. | :43:51. | |
a good point. Last week there was a rare piece of candour from the | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
Labour Party. They now have a welfare reform they are in favour | :43:57. | :44:03. | |
of. They want to make welfare are human rights. That is the policy of | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
the Labour Party. They oppose the welfare cap, they oppose getting the | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
deficit down and they want to make benefits a human rights. | :44:12. | :44:21. | |
Will the Prime Minister joined... Order, let's have some order. Mr | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
Campbell must be heard. Will he join with me in wishing a speedy recovery | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
to the right honourable member for North Belfast, Mr Nigel Dodds, who | :44:30. | :44:36. | |
was injured when seeking to resolve problems in his constituency during | :44:36. | :44:38. | |
the recent unacceptable disturbances? Will he also join with | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
many in Northern Ireland who want to see an initiative headed up by Dr | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
Richard Haass from the USA and the considerable effort and goodwill | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
that will be required to resolve all of the outstanding issues which have | :44:52. | :45:00. | |
been plagued by violent opposition for too long? Everyone was concerned | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
to hear about the honourable member knocked over in his constituency and | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
I gather he is now improving. We look forward to welcoming him back | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
to this House. On this issue, it's very important we see responsibility | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
on all sides in Northern Ireland and we do take steps in making sure | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
these marches can go ahead in a way which respects the fact that | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
communities must be good neighbours to each other. That's what's | :45:27. | :45:37. | |
:45:37. | :45:39. | ||
required and I know we will help in any way we can. Overall, over 4500 | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
foreign national offenders were removed from the UK in 2012 and the | :45:44. | :45:54. | |
:45:54. | :45:55. | ||
rate has remained consistent by then that the number of foreign nationals | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
in England and Wales is still too high and while it is lower than at | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
the election, we can do more and which is why the Justice Secretary | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
is looking to secure transfers with countries in the high as the portion | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
of offenders. Foreign national offenders will be deported except in | :46:06. | :46:13. | |
exceptional circumstances but I do think everyone can celebrate the | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
removal of Abu Qatada who went back to Jordan and can I congratulate the | :46:16. | :46:22. | |
Home Secretary on her hard work? the Home Secretary has deported Abu | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
Qatada, something the previous government failed to do, will he do | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
all he can to send foreign nationals in prison in our country back to | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
prison in their own country and saving British taxpayers hundreds of | :46:37. | :46:43. | |
millions of pounds as a result? absolutely agree about this issue | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
and the fact it requires real drive from the centre of this government | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
and which is why we held a national meeting on this, why we are trying | :46:50. | :46:58. | |
to sign compulsorily agreement with Albania and Nigeria and I will make | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
sure these issues are raised in meetings with foreign national | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
prisoners to be returned. We shouldn't rule out steps, including | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
helping countries like Jamaica, with around prison regimes so it easier | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
to return people. It's a major priority for the government and they | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
want us to do better. The Prime Minister claims he did not know that | :47:19. | :47:27. | |
Lynton Crosby worked for a tobacco company but he's the heart of Tory | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
party strategy. Why is he developing a bad habit, perhaps an addictive | :47:32. | :47:39. | |
one, of turning a blind eye as to who his advisers actually work for? | :47:39. | :47:44. | |
Let me explain, the role of Lyndon Crosby is to advise me about how to | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
defeat a divided and useless Labour Party. And I have to say, on the | :47:50. | :47:59. | |
basis of today's evidence, I'm not sure he's really necessary. In my | :47:59. | :48:08. | |
Welsh constituency... Order, we must have a question from Mr Davies. | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
my Welsh constituency, patients have to wait 36 weeks for treatment. Next | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
door, English constituencies wait 18 weeks. What lessons does the Prime | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
Minister believed the government can learn from how the NHS has been | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
managed in Wales over these years? There's a very clear lesson which is | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
going to vote Labour. You can see what's happening in Wales, where | :48:32. | :48:37. | |
Labour are in control of the NHS, they cut the budget by 8%, and, as a | :48:37. | :48:43. | |
result, you can now see in Wales, they haven't met a single waiting | :48:43. | :48:49. | |
time targets since 2009. Meanwhile, in England, we are increasing | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
spending on the NHS. The Shadow Chancellor keeps pointing at the | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
Health Secretary, but here's the man who said it would be irresponsible | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
to increase spending on the NHS. If you want to do better, you need to | :49:05. | :49:15. | |
:49:15. | :49:18. | ||
move the two people next to you, and you need to do it fast. Order. | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
Flynn should be heard with courtesy. Will the Prime Minister study the | :49:24. | :49:32. | |
precise meaning of the word" question" and" answer" and the need | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
for a link between the two? Following the record number of | :49:37. | :49:43. | |
unanswered questions, and the record number of preprepared party | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
political diatribe last week at question Time. A demeaning spectacle | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
which changed him and his office. Can he give me an answer today to | :49:53. | :50:02. | |
this question. Which is relevant and courteous? I'm assuming that one was | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
quite complicated for a whips question is how we obviously thought | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
of it himself, but this government is far more transparent than its | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
predecessors about the information be published, the public spending | :50:13. | :50:23. | |
data, far more transparent than the last government. I'm pleased to say | :50:23. | :50:25. | |
unemployment in Northampton North continues to go down. Does the Prime | :50:26. | :50:31. | |
Minister agree with me that today's jobs figures prove that this | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
government's economic policy has not led to the disappearance of 1 | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
million jobs which was a forecast made by the leader of the | :50:38. | :50:45. | |
opposition? I do think it's extraordinary, on this day there is | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
a fall in unemployment at the leader of the opposition had nothing to say | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
about it. He hasn't asked a full set of questions about the economy since | :50:54. | :51:00. | |
February because he knows that our policies are working, Britain's | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
economy is mending, and he's absolutely right, the forecast was | :51:03. | :51:11. | |
made that, we would not make up for the loss of public sector jobs with | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
jobs in the private sector. They are shouting because they don't want to | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
hear good news about falling unemployment. People do want to know | :51:19. | :51:27. | |
about more businesses, and the economy making progress. Too much | :51:27. | :51:34. | |
shouting on both sides of the House. How many of the Conservative | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
Party's millionaire donors asked the Prime Minister to cut the 50p top | :51:38. | :51:44. | |
rate of tax? That was definitely a whips hand-out, no doubt about that | :51:44. | :51:52. | |
one. Let me explain to the honourable lady and it dashed an | :51:52. | :51:58. | |
important distinction... Order, calm down. The top rate of tax and this | :51:58. | :52:05. | |
government is higher in every year than in any year under the previous | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
government. The way it works in her party is that trade unions give | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
Labour money which buys the policies, the candidates, the MP, | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
even the leader. I'm not surprised they are worried about the product | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
they ended up with. Enfield has the early advantage of a welfare cap for | :52:27. | :52:34. | |
the last three months. With JS a falling twice the rate of the rest | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
of the country. With youth unemployment at a lower level, the | :52:38. | :52:44. | |
lowest since early 2009, can the Prime Minister ensure where Enfield | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
leaves, the country follows. I paid tribute to the people in Enfield to | :52:49. | :52:53. | |
find jobs. The welfare cap is not only bike because it would be wrong | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
for people out of work to be able to earn more than a typical family in | :52:57. | :53:05. | |
work, but people seeing a welfare cap coming down the road, are | :53:05. | :53:11. | |
finding jobs and that's good news for them and the economy. Would | :53:11. | :53:16. | |
Adrian B Croft, being asked to provide a report on government | :53:16. | :53:26. | |
:53:26. | :53:26. | ||
regulars, is the doughnut for the party? That is he a donor for the | :53:26. | :53:34. | |
party? I think his report was an excellent report. In terms of | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
encouraging enterprise, jobs. Wealth creation. Let me explain one more | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
time, there is a big difference, if you are a trade union and you give | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
money to the Labour Party, you can pick the candidates and vote for | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
them, you can pick the leader and vote for him, pick the policies and | :53:52. | :53:59. | |
vote for him. I was elected by a one member, one vote membership system. | :53:59. | :54:09. | |
:54:09. | :54:09. | ||
He was elected by a trade union stitch up. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
Any government should be able to introduce a reasonable cap on very | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
high claims for taxpayer funded benefits but if we are all in it | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
together, then why is the government resisting the introduction of a cap, | :54:23. | :54:26. | |
sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds, individual case is the | :54:26. | :54:28. | |
government resisting the introduction of a cap, sometimes | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
hundreds of thousands of pounds, individual cases over �1 million, | :54:34. | :54:41. | |
farm support system? This government has the huge amount of tax reform to | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
make sure people pay their taxes they owe. And of course, we always | :54:45. | :54:54. | |
look at the Common agricultural policy to make sure it's fair. | :54:54. | :55:00. | |
Speaker, in order to save the Prime Minister time, I was a member of the | :55:00. | :55:08. | |
Unite union since the age of 16 as an engineering apprentice, and I'm | :55:08. | :55:18. | |
:55:18. | :55:18. | ||
quite happy to debate who spent their youths more productively. On | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
the 26th of June, in response to a question from my honourable friend | :55:23. | :55:31. | |
from Ealing North, on the Tory dinners for donors, the Prime | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
Minister said he would be happy to publish the Gold report. Is there a | :55:36. | :55:39. | |
reason he hasn't done so, is because he hasn't done so, is it because | :55:39. | :55:46. | |
he's ashamed of the fact his party has had more donors than a late | :55:46. | :55:53. | |
night kebabs shop? It's a time when we ought to remember the donation of | :55:53. | :56:00. | |
Mr Mills. �1.6 million to the Labour Party, who got advice about how to | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
dodge his taxes. When they get an answer to when you're going to pay | :56:03. | :56:12. | |
the money back, I will answer his question. While still hoping the | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
Prime Minister will agree with the CBI and me and withdraw support for | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
HS2, he will remember last November giving me an undertaking that people | :56:22. | :56:29. | |
who are disrupted by this project will be generously compensated. It's | :56:29. | :56:36. | |
here where, on phase one, HS2 has not yet the basic consultation and | :56:36. | :56:41. | |
on current plans, won't do for three months. Really please intervene, | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
speed up the process, before those constituents and other peoples whose | :56:45. | :56:51. | |
lives are affected, are totally ruined? She's absolutely right to | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
raise this. We will set out further consultation later this year. We are | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
committed to a very generous and fair compensation scheme. Matters | :57:01. | :57:03. | |
relating to compensation are important which is why we must make | :57:03. | :57:06. | |
sure we get the decisions right but the Transport Secretary will be | :57:06. | :57:15. | |
happy to meet with hair and discuss her constituents concerns. The Prime | :57:15. | :57:19. | |
Minister has certainly been helping the Jersey registered companies with | :57:19. | :57:27. | |
their ex-sports. Perhaps he could tell the House whether the reason he | :57:27. | :57:32. | |
took a man with him to Kazakhstan was because he donated �300,000 to | :57:32. | :57:40. | |
the Tory party. -- exports. Let's remember which government it was who | :57:40. | :57:45. | |
will make sure Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, pay taxes properly, | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
it's this one. I will tell you directly why I took him to | :57:49. | :57:56. | |
Kazakhstan. His company employs tens of thousands of people in this | :57:56. | :58:01. | |
country, it's investing billions into the North Sea, and major | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
British energy company and I'm proud of the fact that we fly the flag for | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
British energy companies and so, when I finished taking them to | :58:09. | :58:15. | |
Kazakhstan, I will take them to India, China, Malaysia. We are not | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
embarrassed about business, industry, enterprise and jobs on | :58:18. | :58:28. | |
:58:28. | :58:45. | ||
this side of the House. We want more Angela Merkel, have they examined | :58:45. | :58:53. | |
the evidence that it is the existence of the European single | :58:53. | :59:00. | |
currency, which is a major cause of despair which is now sweeping across | :59:00. | :59:05. | |
southern Europe, and threatens democracy of Portugal, Spain and | :59:05. | :59:14. | |
Greece? When I meet with Angela Merkel, we often discuss the single | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
currency. I think it's important that, whatever 1's personal views | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
about the single currency, and I never want Britain to join it, we | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
have to respect those countries which are in the single currency and | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
want to make it work. I believe there's an opportunity for Britain, | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
at the same time is doing that, to argue that the European Union itself | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
needs to change. We need make this organisation where members of the | :59:36. | :59:41. | |
single currency can be comfortable and members want not, can be | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
comfortable also. I think Angela Merkel understands that. I think the | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
Prime Minister from Italy, who I will be meeting with straight after | :59:49. | :59:52. | |
the session, understands that, as well, which is why it is achievable | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
to get a better settlement for Britain, and one we can get in a | :59:56. | :00:01. | |
referendum by the end of 2017. Prime Minister failed to say next | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
week when it's going to give back the stolen cash given to the | :00:05. | :00:11. | |
Conservative Party. When will you give it back? I have to say, the | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
whips hand out have been very active this week. What we need to see is | :00:16. | :00:22. | |
when are we going to get the payers money given back from Mr Mills's | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
donation? Never mind a donation which happened 20 years ago. This | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
happened at 20 weeks ago. One of the first activist government was to | :00:32. | :00:38. | |
bring a request to fund a security measures in Jewish free schools. | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
Parents in Hendon in my constituency where paying for this additional | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
security measures from their own pocket. After the last government | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
refused to help. As his funding arrangement ends in 2015, can I ask | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
them to support my campaign for the Education Secretary to continue with | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
this scheme? I will look very carefully about my honourable friend | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
says. I'm a strong supporter of free schools and also, the community | :01:08. | :01:15. | |
Security trust which has provided a lot of security for schools. My | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
right honourable friend, the Education Secretary, will be happy | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
to look to see how we can continue to give support. Given the scandal | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
of price-fixing in the oil and gas industry, is currently being | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
investigated by the European Union, does the Prime Minister agree with | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
me that it's important to be absolutely transparent about the oil | :01:33. | :01:41. | |
and gas companies that Lynton Crosby's firm represents? Have they | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
got nothing to say about unemployment, improving education, | :01:45. | :01:52. | |
capping welfare? It pains me to point this out to the honourable | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
lady but she has received �32,000 from affiliated trade unions. Let me | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
explain the difference. With Lynton Crosby, the Conservative Party gives | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
them money to help us get rid of labour. That's the way it works. | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
With the Labour Party, the unions give you money and that's the way it | :02:11. | :02:18. | |
works. And yet she says this. On her website, " I'm a member of Unison | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
and Unite and I rightly raise trade union issues in Parliament." That is | :02:24. | :02:34. | |
:02:34. | :02:48. | ||
will be heard. Many water companies in England are | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
paid huge dividends. They've avoided paying tax and are not properly | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
accountable. And proposing an annual increase of �80 a year on water | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
rates. With the primers to make sure no public subsidy is given to Thames | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
Water or any other water company which puts the profits and its | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
shareholders had the interests of ordinary ratepayers and the tax | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
payers of his undermine? Let me be clear, I've always had companies | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
should pay the tax they owe. I don't want to comment on individual | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
companies but that is the case. Any support from government must be | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
targeted to benefit customers bills and provide value for taxpayers. | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
There is merit in the Thames tunnel proposal and we need to look back | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
carefully because it would be a benefit for London, for his | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
constituents, and for everybody in London but I sure we will use | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
everything at our disposal to get the best deal for London, and for | :03:45. | :03:55. | |
:03:55. | :03:58. | ||
taxpayers. Did the Prime Minister asked Lynton Crosby... ? We can run | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
through this one again. Let me have another go at explaining it. It | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
works like this. The Conservative Party gives Lynton Crosby money and | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
he helps us attack the Labour Party, right? But trade unions give | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
money to the Labour Party. The other way round. For that, they buy your | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
candidates. They buy your MPs. They buy your policies and even give you | :04:24. | :04:31. | |
this completely hopeless leader. Last but not least, Andrew | :04:31. | :04:40. | |
Griffiths. My constituent was diagnosed with cervical cancer at | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
the age of 25 when she had her first smear test. Sadly, she had to have a | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
hysterectomy. We'll Prime Minister join me in congratulating her on her | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
drop your pants and save your life campaign, to raise awareness of | :04:53. | :05:00. | |
cervical cancer? Willingly agreed to talk to the Health Secretary about | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
her wish to bring the age at which young people can have a smear test | :05:05. | :05:12. | |
down from 25 down to 20? I paid tribute to his constituents for the | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
bravery in raising this campaign and speaking so frankly about it. This | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
screening programme we have had in the NHS has been one of its greatest | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
successes in terms of early diagnosis of saving lives and we | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
should always be asking what the latest evidence is for the screening | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
programme and when it should start and I'm sure my right honourable | :05:30. | :05:40. | |
:05:40. | :05:51. | ||
friend will want to talk to him of this session. We will not see the | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
light can until the 13th of September. The NHS and lobbying | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
dominated the exchanges between the front benches, and also the | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
backbench exchanges with the Prime Minister. It was another rowdy | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
house, very noisy, we will give you the exact decibel count a little | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
later. The Prime Minister was in a kind of boisterous mood, I think, | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
would be the best way to describe them. We will see what it means in a | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
second. Let's find out what you thought. Ian Whiteley said, a win | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
for Dave, although Ed landed a couple of blows. | :06:25. | :06:32. | |
The Prime Minister for Benson and Hedges was a good one. He should | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
have stuck to the Keogh reports and left Lynton Crosby to the | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
backbenches. Jim from Nuneaton, by linking to a | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
hospital care to nursing staff numbers, Cameron had Miliband in a | :06:42. | :06:49. | |
tight corner by explaining that the worst hospitals had more staff than | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
three years before. Another viewer says, I can't tell of Miliband is | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
waving or drowning. For once, David Cameron has found | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
the right way to answer a question with an answer which is relevant to | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
the question. A good set of questions from Miliband. Cameron's | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
claims are not justified. PMQs is nothing more than | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
prearranged soundbites and preplanned noise. At the end of | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
term, Ed Miliband had a very good day, clearly highlighting his | :07:19. | :07:29. | |
:07:29. | :07:30. | ||
difficulty when dealing with facts over spin, validating the difference | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
between what Keogh said and what the Tories have spun. Jacqueline says | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
that David Cameron plays with words. Obviously he had a conversation | :07:36. | :07:43. | |
about the cigarette packaging. Nick, summer recess, we are right in | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
the middle of the electoral cycle. The polls don't help us too much, | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
one Pole said Labour were 11 points ahead, then another one said that | :07:49. | :07:56. | |
Labour and the Tories were neck and neck. Although it is not exactly | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
clear what is happening, the Tories head to this recess in a better mood | :08:01. | :08:10. | |
than they thought a couple of months ago? Much better. You describe David | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
Cameron as boisterous. His backbenchers were cheerful. The | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
opposite is the case at times with Labour, they looked alarmed at | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
times. Organised, but not looking as cheerful. Why are they cheerful? | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
Partly the list which the Prime Minister gave out, the deficit is | :08:28. | :08:37. | |
down. Compared to 2010.Abu Qatada has gone home, the European | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
referendum private member's bill the other day, it does not get them | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
closer to rest the random but it has cheered them up and got them onside. | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
The economic news is possibly the most important, which is it is a | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
little bit better than it was. Everybody is waiting for the next | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
GDP figures, but if it confirms that not only was there no trouble dip, | :08:59. | :09:06. | |
there was no double-dip, it feels like relatively good news. The | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
Tories feel better about themselves, which is why David Cameron has | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
spurned a mini reshuffle which was down for tomorrow. It was going to | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
involve, I am told, a widespread reshuffle underneath the Cabinet to | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
prepare for a Cabinet Mac Pro reshuffle ahead of the election, but | :09:24. | :09:32. | |
the Prime Minister thought, why disrupt the good mood? A reshuffle | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
upsets some people you fire, disappoint those who do not get | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
promoted and you perhaps upset those who feel passed over. And yet the | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
fundamental feature of British living standards at the moment is | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
they are still in decline. We saw worse than expected inflation | :09:51. | :10:00. | |
figures, last week, and although average earnings rose a bit, 1.7, | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
earnings are still not keeping pace with prices. I would suggest that | :10:05. | :10:15. | |
:10:15. | :10:19. | ||
for all the bluster and boisterous behaviour and so on, the | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
Conservatives can't really feel good about themselves until living | :10:23. | :10:29. | |
standards start to rise again. It is very difficult to win an election | :10:29. | :10:39. | |
:10:39. | :10:45. | ||
with living standards in decline. Nobody is pretending we are out of | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
the woods, but employment is growing and jobs have been created in a way | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
that has surprised all of us, I don't think anybody would expect | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
that jobs would come through as constant -- consistently as they | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
have. Families are still feeling squeezed. The only answer to that is | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
the one which we have been pushing since 2010. We have to get | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
government borrowing down, jobs growing and we have to help | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
businesses export. Those are arguments being made very | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
effectively in Prime Minister's Questions by the Prime Minister, and | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
it is just showing signs that it might work. That is why I think | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
there is room for optimism, but no sense of comfort about where we are. | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
Lynton Crosby was mentioned a lot, the Australian lobbyist and election | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
Guru now working for the Conservatives. He is expected to | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
lead the Conservative election campaign, to be the chief adviser, | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
come 2015. He has just been door step to buy a television crew. | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
Did you ever lobby the Prime Minister on tobacco? The Prime | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
Minister has said everything that needs to be said on that issue. | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
Well, that was a piece of seminal television! It took the debate on | :11:50. | :11:58. | |
enormously! You may mark! I've now got six seconds of Lynton Crosby, I | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
was told this morning I only had four! Six seconds of public service | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
broadcasting at it finest! At least we know what he looks like now! You | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
out to get Crosby because you are frightened of him? I don't think we | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
are frightened of him. He has sharpened up the Tory act, you can | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
data the resurgence of Mr Cameron two when Mr Crosby got stuck into | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
providing strategy. The big issue is about their potential conflict and | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
what conversations the Prime Minister has had with Lynton Crosby | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
in respect of tobacco. Time and time again, we saw it in the exchange is | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
now in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister has been asked, have | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
you had a conversation involving any mention of tobacco with Lynton | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
Crosby? Time and again, you has failed to answer. You are right in | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
the sense that Crosby undoubtedly has changed the way in which they | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
are seeking to campaign. My prediction is that we will see the | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
most vile, nasty and personal campaign in the lead up to this | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
election. We have 95 weeks to go. I think it will be the most vile we | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
have seen in political history. You have seen the kind of personal | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
remarks and smears that have been heaped on Andy Burnham over the last | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
48 hours. Actually very different to when the Prime Minister gave his | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
statement on Mid Staffordshire. I think we will see more of that. I | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
understand that is the way Mr Crosby does things. But the reason for | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
junking the policy... There were two policies, and the reason for junking | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
the minimum pricing for alcohol policy and the policy for having | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
plain packaging for cigarettes could be that the Prime Minister has | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
succumbed to lobbying from Mr Crosby, that is a possibility. We | :13:57. | :14:04. | |
have no evidence. The other reason could be that Mr Crosby gave advice | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
in a get the barnacles off the ships strategy, get rid of politics | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
involving posh boys telling ordinary people what to do. That second | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
reason, you can agree or disagree with it, but it would be an entirely | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
legitimate piece of political advice to give, correct? That may or not be | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
the case, I don't know. But if they will go down the politics of smear | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
route, I don't actually think... are smearing the Prime Minister by | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
saying he is in the pocket of big Tobacco. He needs to answer the | :14:38. | :14:46. | |
question. I have lots of years in the pockets of big Tobacco. Pension | :14:46. | :14:56. | |
:14:56. | :14:57. | ||
and Dell -- bends -- Benson and Hedge fund is, I believe was said. | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
We are talking about the decibel levels in the House of Commons, but | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
I think we have a general problem in British politics at the moment. Does | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
this type of thing, the politics of smear, the shouting you see in the | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
House of Commons, encourage more people to engage with politics or to | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
walk away from it? One of the challenges for both parties in the | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
lead up to the general election is, is the way we conduct ourselves and | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
do our politics going to encourage people to take an interest and vote, | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
or will it switch them off? I think people are more political than ever | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
but I think one of the big problems we have is that they are switched | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
off party politics more than ever. A lot of people watching this | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
programme will watch it because they like PMQs, but a lot of people | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
don't. Reign I don't think the suggestion that Lynton Crosby simply | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
said to get rid of these policies because it is a way of pursuing a | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
Tory election strategy free of distractions gets him or the Prime | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
Minister quite off the hook. Mr Crosby is in the room and is in | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
effect wearing two have, one is the paid representative of what Labour | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
calls big Tobacco, the large tobacco firms, particularly Philip Morris, | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
if he is in Norris but happens to be there on one occasion because he is | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
being paid for by the Conservatives, there is not transparency about why | :16:22. | :16:32. | |
he is giving the advice he is giving and on whose behalf. The sooner he | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
takes a full-time position with the Tories, if he is doing their | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
election campaign, the better, I would imagine? The Lib Dem leader | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
Nick Clegg is also saying that he is not a government policy adviser, but | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
here's highly influential with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
In part, that is about telling them what not to do, policy wise. It just | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
happens that one of the things he told them not to do, because it | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
would be a destruction, was in the interest of one of his paid clients. | :17:06. | :17:15. | |
:17:16. | :17:18. | ||
We will see if he survives over the summer. Thank you. It might as well | :17:18. | :17:28. | |
:17:28. | :17:34. | ||
rain until September. I remember when he went to arrest and in rails | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
unasked for some asparagus tips and she came back and said, we haven't | :17:36. | :17:43. | |
got any but we do have some Benson & Hedges. Good one. I've not had that | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
one before. We could get you a gig somewhere else. Now earlier we asked | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
two MPs to measure the noise levels in the commons during PMQs. We will | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
get them to do stand-up comedy next time. Tessa Munt and Alun Cairns | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
join us now again from Central Lobby. How loud was it? 89. It was | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
quite loud but didn't quite cross the 90 mark I suggested. It was more | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
subdued in last week. There was cautioned a little bit by the whips | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
not to be too loud about, as I said earlier, last week there was a web | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
operation to come out in strong support for Ed Miliband and then we | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
retaliated on our side. Your decibel reading was the same as the food | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
blender so pretty noisy. What about you Tessa Munt? Somebody was looking | :18:33. | :18:40. | |
over your shoulder because it wasn't from you, to say you hit 92? | :18:40. | :18:47. | |
actually went to 95 and 96 and then 97. Oh my goodness. Yours was lot | :18:47. | :18:57. | |
:18:57. | :18:58. | ||
higher. That is Liverpool Anfield football ground which can get to 98. | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
It was terrifically loud. You were sitting at the back and I was the | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
front. My Lib Dem colleagues were quieter but I had some extremely | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
noisy colleagues behind me. Allah coalition partners. You're blaming | :19:12. | :19:20. | |
the Conservatives. -- oh, you are blaming your coalition partners. | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
They were in full song behind me. I suspect my gadget picked them up | :19:27. | :19:36. | |
clearly. Where you out of the chamber, only getting 94 question | :19:36. | :19:43. | |
mark. I suggest the reason it went high at the front is because the | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
noise came from the other side, rather than from our side but I | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
think the important issue to recognise if it's a terrible | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
environment to ask a question and a difficult environment to answer it, | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
and that's why each side is basically trying to put the other | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
side. That's not the purpose of PMQs. The purpose is to scrutinise | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
the Prime Minister. He told me it serves the purpose, Tuesday night is | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
the time of the week he gets to know everything which is going on in | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
every department in case the question comes up. OK, thank you | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
very much for being our noise level watchers and have a good summer | :20:22. | :20:30. | |
break. Is that what you do with your Tuesday night? Absolutely, I do | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
symptoms from the Commons din over their long summer break, well, they | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
could spend some time under the Heathrow flight path. That's where I | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
live. According to a government report, noise pollution levels of at | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
least 57 decibels affect almost 260,000 people living near the | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
airport. But Heathrow insists it needs a third runway and today is | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
making its submssion to the Davies Commission on airport capacity. It | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
conveniently won't report until after the next general election. | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
Heathrow's Chief Executive, Colin Matthews, has got on his soapbox for | :21:01. | :21:11. | |
:21:11. | :21:20. | ||
travelling nearly half a million flights. Heathrow is how the world | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
's conscience come to the UK and how the UK connects to the world. -- | :21:24. | :21:31. | |
continents. They bring trade, which brings economic growth, which brings | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
jobs, and the world economy is changing. The fastest growing | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
economies are the most distant ones today and the UK is in the global | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
competitive race to win in those marketplaces before our competitors. | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
We are one of the world 's most successful airport and, unlike other | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
UK airports, we had the scale to compete with Paris, Amsterdam, | :21:53. | :22:00. | |
Frankfurt, and Dubai. We bring transfer traffic from right across | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
Europe to Philip Long haul aircraft every single day of the year. That | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
makes them efficient, economically viable, and means we fly long-haul | :22:08. | :22:15. | |
routes we wouldn't otherwise have flown from the UK. But there is no | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
more room here to put on new flights to many of the world 's | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
fastest-growing economies. The choice for government is this, do we | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
build on the strength of Britain has had to many of the world 's | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
fastest-growing economies. The choice for government is this, do we | :22:27. | :22:36. | |
build on the strength of Britain has had to throw or close it and at and | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
new airport would. Closing Heathrow as the Mayor would suggest would | :22:43. | :22:50. | |
cost 100,000 jobs and be bad news and thousands of businesses which | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
are based around Heathrow in the last 50 years want more | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
international links on their doorstep, not fewer. Today we have | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
put forward new options for a third runway at Heathrow. Our proposals | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
show how we can add more flights at Heathrow and still improve the | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
environmental performance of the airport and with new aircraft | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
technology, we show how we can have more flights and reduce the amount | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
of noise. The debate is complex and there is no easy answers but | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
Heathrow is more convenient for passengers, better placed for | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
business and will deliver economic growth more quickly and cost less so | :23:28. | :23:38. | |
:23:38. | :23:45. | ||
Welcome to the programme. During the enquiry into terminal five, in 1999, | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
BAA said they did not want a third runway so what's changed? People | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
recognise just how important it is to the UK that we have direct | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
connections to economies around the world. Those economies which are | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
growing, China, India, they are a long way away and you can't take a | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
shorthaul flight there, you can't take a train and you have to have | :24:05. | :24:13. | |
long haul flights. We trade 20 times more with countries whom we have | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
direct, rather than directing in transit. There's an element of trust | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
for people living under the flight path, your proposal doesn't rule out | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
a fourth runway, so your plan has no limit? There is a trust question and | :24:30. | :24:32. | |
Dubai can airport commission taking an objective data driven view of | :24:33. | :24:42. | |
:24:43. | :24:44. | ||
what's best for this country. -- and we welcome. It is fundamentally a | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
political decision. I think the economic cycle. We need the growth | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
but noise is a real issue. It impact on local people is an issue and | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
therefore it's right we choose the best option. But you can't rule out | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
plans for a fourth runway in ten years time? I don't know on what | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
basis someone historically said that because it's not our decision. It's | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
a government decision which says what is our aviation policy. We are | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
making our case today to the Davies Commission and we look forward to | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
them coming to view. We think there's good evidence to say it | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
matters to the UK. Over 700,000 people live under the current flight | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
path. You mentioned the environmental impact. If a third | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
runway was used to capacity, it would lead to 220,000 extra | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
aeroplanes flying over London every year emitting 23.6 million tonnes of | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
CO2 every year. If you want the globally low carbon solution, you | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
would put your most efficient hub as close as possible to London. If you | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
want low carbon solutions, you would definitely have your best hub as | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
close as possible to London. In terms of noise, it's a real issue. | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
We can drive noise down with a third runway because aircraft are getting | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
quieter, we can develop operating procedures which means less of a | :26:12. | :26:19. | |
noise reaches the ground and we can improve the scheme on the ground. | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
third runway at Heathrow, no efforts and bats, that's what David Cameron | :26:22. | :26:29. | |
said before the last election. have you said up a commission which | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
is considering a third runway at Heathrow? We are looking at all the | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
options. Like many commitments made in the manifesto, we are going to | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
stick to my commitment until the next election. And beyond, and wait | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
for the Davies Commission to report. It's overwhelmingly in our | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
country 's national interest to have a hub airport capable of connecting | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
us with a growing market of the world. You would like to see a third | :26:56. | :27:06. | |
runway? We don't know where to put it. What about expanding Gatwick and | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
Stansted where you have more room? They are all options we are looking | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
at. They have intense political difficulties attached to them, as | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
does the third runway at Heathrow. None of these things are easy. None | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
of them is politically comfortable, but all of us, as parties, have to | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
grapple with it and I think we all agree the Davies Commission is the | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
right way to get very high quality objective answers. Lynton Crosby, | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
let's think of him, is this another barnacle you have to get off the | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
boat? We have a clear policy which we are going to maintain. We will | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
only look at it again once we have the full advice from the Davies | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
Commission in 2015. After the next election, which is kicking it into | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
the long grass. It's not, it's a huge important project and it's | :27:58. | :28:08. | |
important we look at it thoroughly. Labour has flip-flopped on this. The | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
issue is, the difference between our position, we don't have an automatic | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
preference for a third runway but the shame of this is it a classic | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
example of the big infrastructure decision where you need cross-party | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
agreement and we reached it two and half years ago... I hate to | :28:26. | :28:34. | |
interrupt you but we have to do is leave it. Just time to give you the | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
result to Guess the Year. The answer was 1970. James Fletcher is the | :28:39. | :28:47. |