:00:40. > :00:50.Good morning. This is the Daily Politics. Back
:00:50. > :00:53.from our summer break. There is plenty going on. President Putin
:00:53. > :00:56.warns the West against unilateral action against Syria, although he
:00:56. > :00:59.didn't rule out supporting a United Nations resolution authorising a
:00:59. > :01:01.military strike if it was proved beyond doubt that the Syrian
:01:01. > :01:12.government had used chemical weapons against its own people. Across the
:01:12. > :01:18.pond American Senators have agreed on a draft resolution that would
:01:18. > :01:21.authorise the use of force in Syria. It would allow President Obama to
:01:21. > :01:24.use limited and tailored military action to respond to the use of
:01:24. > :01:30.chemical weapons. Congress will vote next week. So what is likely to
:01:30. > :01:33.happen? It's the first PMQs since the summer
:01:33. > :01:38.break. It's the first since that vote on Syria last week. We will be
:01:38. > :01:42.looking at how the parties are shaping up.
:01:42. > :01:46.Ed may not want to go to war but appears the unions do. News this
:01:46. > :01:51.morning that the GMB union has cut the money it gives to the Labour
:01:51. > :01:56.party by more than a million pounds. And should MPs vote with their party
:01:56. > :01:58.or their conscience? We will be delving into the world of
:01:58. > :02:03.parliamentary rebellion. All that and more coming up. X
:02:03. > :02:13.Factor, Strictly, eat your heart out. There's only one programme the
:02:13. > :02:21.British public has been pining for. It's called the Daily Politics. One
:02:21. > :02:27.half of the Eagle sisters, Angela. She's shadow leader of the House of
:02:27. > :02:30.Commons in her spare time. And the pin-up boy of the Metropolitan
:02:30. > :02:38.Police. The former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. Welcome to you
:02:38. > :02:43.both. Now first this morning, let's discuss the latest scandal to rock
:02:43. > :02:50.the mother of parliaments. Pornography! Because a freedom of
:02:50. > :02:53.information request has revealed that users of computers in the
:02:53. > :02:58.Palace of Westminster tried to access internet pornography 300,000
:02:58. > :03:04.times last year. We would like to point out that 5,000 people work in
:03:04. > :03:13.parliament, including MPs and peers. So somebody is using it quite a
:03:13. > :03:19.lot! It is fairly astonishing. I have never been so bored in my job
:03:19. > :03:25.that I have resorted to that! Website got it from a Freedom of
:03:25. > :03:30.information request. According to the figures, almost 115,000 attempts
:03:31. > :03:35.to access pornography from the Palace of Westminster in November,
:03:35. > :03:44.but only 15 in February. Why is that? I did the elementary maths,
:03:44. > :03:49.Andrew, and 5000 people work there which means there is 60 attempts to
:03:49. > :03:55.access her head but I should point out the House of Commons have
:03:55. > :04:06.dismissed this as grossly inaccurate -- 60 attempts per head. It might be
:04:06. > :04:10.pop-ups, they said. I don't know. Did you not have to actively go onto
:04:10. > :04:15.pop-ups, they said. I don't know. the website? Having never gone on to
:04:15. > :04:18.a porn site, I'm afraid I can't answer that. I don't think accessing
:04:18. > :04:25.pornography is a good use of tax answer that. I don't think accessing
:04:25. > :04:28.payers money so I bet you the figures are different next year. The
:04:29. > :04:34.people who work at the House of Commons are paid for by the
:04:35. > :04:39.taxpayer. Not all of them. Some of this information seems dodgy but why
:04:39. > :04:44.was it released in the first place if it is not thought to be accurate?
:04:44. > :04:51.I have no idea where they got the figures from. You don't know whether
:04:51. > :05:02.it is some automatic process that goes on in computers, you know. This
:05:02. > :05:08.is very dodgy stuff. We have spent longer on this than I would have.
:05:08. > :05:13.The story is over! To something you will be more comfortable talking
:05:13. > :05:16.about, the economy! Labour is on the front foot in the Commons today,
:05:16. > :05:21.wanting to debate the crisis - their words not mine - over the cost of
:05:21. > :05:24.living. A report out today says almost five million British workers
:05:24. > :05:27.now earn less than the so-called living wage. A whole host of recent
:05:27. > :05:36.figures though suggest economic good news. Although writing in today's
:05:36. > :05:38.Guardian, the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls warns that the UK could be
:05:38. > :05:47.approaching an unsustainable recovery. But growth is returning
:05:47. > :05:53.and getting stronger, so say the think tanks. We welcome the return
:05:53. > :05:59.of growth. It is welcome but very delayed. We have had three years of
:05:59. > :06:03.stagnation and since 2010 living standards have fallen by effectively
:06:03. > :06:09.£20 a week for people in this country apart from a few at the very
:06:09. > :06:13.top. The issue is what we can do to create a sustainable economic growth
:06:13. > :06:18.rather than one that is fuelled by more bubbles in house prices? You
:06:18. > :06:24.have conceded that your argument about the flat-lining... But growth
:06:24. > :06:29.was the key and that was what the Labour Party's economic critique was
:06:29. > :06:32.built on and you said yourself you should perhaps congratulate the
:06:32. > :06:37.coalition that after one of the deepest recessions in history,
:06:37. > :06:42.growth is returning, unemployment did not reach the heights that were
:06:42. > :06:48.predicted in the OECD raised its projections for growth in the
:06:48. > :06:53.economy to 1.5%. That is all good news but the fact is, we have had
:06:53. > :06:57.three years of no growth, we have a million young unemployed and two
:06:57. > :07:03.thirds of the jobs created in the last period are on very, very low
:07:03. > :07:07.wages indeed so if we are going to have a proper rebalancing of the
:07:07. > :07:11.economy and sustainable growth going forward is we have to reboot the
:07:11. > :07:18.economy in a way that is sustainable. How do we do that?
:07:18. > :07:24.Create the sustainable recovery? A million private sector jobs have
:07:24. > :07:28.been created. But on very low pay. There are still millions of people
:07:28. > :07:33.in work who cannot make ends meet. Even those who are in work are
:07:33. > :07:37.finding life tough. When you have an economy that is based on consumer
:07:37. > :07:42.spending, that is not the most sustainable. We have to make our way
:07:42. > :07:46.in the world in the 21st-century and look at how we can support future
:07:46. > :07:52.industries that will make as prosperous in the future rather than
:07:52. > :07:56.unsustainable house price booms. The government will no doubt be
:07:56. > :08:04.delighted that growth has returned. The question is, what sort of
:08:04. > :08:09.recovery? Consumption is up, public confidence is returning, mortgage
:08:09. > :08:14.approvals and house prices are up. Will we enter another debt fuelled
:08:14. > :08:21.boom? I do not want to get involved in too much party your poo because
:08:21. > :08:30.people have had a difficult time -- ya-boo. But the government has stuck
:08:30. > :08:34.to its guns. It has taken the necessary painful measures to sort
:08:34. > :08:41.out the mess and this news is encouraging. If the projections,
:08:41. > :08:48.growth of 2%, are achieved, that is encouraging. If the projections,
:08:48. > :08:53.far more than anyone in visit and I think the Chancellor deserves some
:08:53. > :08:56.credit for ticking by his -- sticking by his very tough
:08:56. > :09:01.decisions. Many people said he shouldn't. There was much advice
:09:01. > :09:05.that it should be changed. He stuck to them and I believe we are reaping
:09:05. > :09:16.the benefit of that and thank goodness because it has been a very
:09:16. > :09:18.tough time. What sort of recovery has George Osborne started if we
:09:18. > :09:21.give him the credit for growth returning? Consumption is up.
:09:21. > :09:27.Mortgage approvals are up. House prices are up. It looks exactly like
:09:27. > :09:32.the sort of boom that the Conservatives criticised because
:09:32. > :09:34.they said it led to bust in 2008. These are exactly the same
:09:34. > :09:38.conditions that led to the bust and the recession. If you look at what
:09:39. > :09:42.the new governor of the Bank of the recession. If you look at what
:09:42. > :09:48.England said in his speech, I think we are not heading for that. He will
:09:48. > :09:52.keep interest rates low precisely so that people can continue to meet
:09:52. > :09:55.their mortgage payments. He does not think that would be the result. This
:09:55. > :10:00.their mortgage payments. He does not recovery is led by the private
:10:00. > :10:06.sector to. One of the things that Labour said, it is all very well the
:10:06. > :10:10.shake out in the public sector but it will not be picked up in the
:10:10. > :10:13.private sector and thank goodness that has been shown to be wrong.
:10:13. > :10:20.Let's look at the private sector jobs. Angela Eagle said many of them
:10:20. > :10:25.are part-time and low paid and have not been as a direct replacement of
:10:25. > :10:30.the public sector jobs lost. Do you accept that there is a problem with
:10:30. > :10:37.the cost of living? I do except that there is a serious issue to be
:10:37. > :10:44.looked at with the living wage -- I accept. We are looking at what one
:10:44. > :10:49.might do about that. Increasing the minimum wage? Yes, I am pleased we
:10:49. > :10:55.are looking at that. But we have taken 2.7 million of the least
:10:55. > :11:00.well-paid people out of tax, which is a significant contribution. We
:11:00. > :11:05.have frozen council tax. It helps people at the bottom by taking them
:11:05. > :11:11.out of tax. We have seen figures to date showing that over a million
:11:11. > :11:16.people have fallen down below living wage standards in the last year, so
:11:16. > :11:21.wages are continuing to be squeezed down. Yes, we have got some growth
:11:21. > :11:26.and that is to be welcomed, but because we have had three years of a
:11:26. > :11:30.flat-lining economy we are the only G-7 country that has not got back to
:11:30. > :11:36.2008 levels of growth in our economy. Thank you, both.
:11:36. > :11:45.It's been a long hot summer. Or at least it has for Jo. She has been
:11:45. > :11:48.sunning herself on the Costa del Chiswick. I've been here tidying the
:11:48. > :11:52.office and manning the phones. So for those of you who have only just
:11:52. > :11:56.tuned back into politics, Jo has been brushing up on what the party
:11:56. > :12:00.leaders got up to on their summer holidays.
:12:00. > :12:04.Yes, it's been a summer of highs and lows for the party leaders. David
:12:04. > :12:07.Cameron went on so many holidays the papers nicknamed him "departure
:12:07. > :12:11.lounge Dave", as he took trips to Portugal, Scotland and Cornwall. He
:12:11. > :12:14.also revealed he had been suffering from a bad back, which meant he
:12:14. > :12:18.could no longer go deerstalking in the Hebridies. But he could at least
:12:19. > :12:23.comfort himself with the gloom hanging over Ed Miliband. The Labour
:12:23. > :12:26.leader reportedly had his mobile phone switched off while he enjoyed
:12:26. > :12:30.a fortnight in the south of France, so perhaps he didn't hear news that
:12:30. > :12:35.Labour's poll lead over the Tories fell from 13 points in May to just
:12:35. > :12:38.three by the end of July. The leader's own personal ratings also
:12:38. > :12:42.continued to slide, with one poll putting him on -31. That even led
:12:43. > :12:47.some to draw parallels with the failed Tory leadership of Iain
:12:47. > :12:51.Duncan Smith. As usual, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg took his family to
:12:51. > :12:56.the Spanish town which is home to his wife's family. But he still
:12:56. > :12:59.weighed in on some of the summer's big stories, including taking time
:12:59. > :13:03.to criticise the Home Office for ad vans telling illegal immigrants to
:13:03. > :13:07."go home". But everyone's holidays were cut short by the decision to
:13:07. > :13:10.recall parliament for a vote on Syria, and at least in the short
:13:10. > :13:13.term, the decision to oppose the government seems to have given
:13:13. > :13:16.Labour and Ed Miliband a boost, with the party's lead over the
:13:16. > :13:21.Conservatives back up to double digits. Andrew.
:13:21. > :13:26.And we're joined now by the Home Office Minister, the Liberal
:13:26. > :13:31.Democrat MP, Jeremy Browne. Let's have a look at some of the things
:13:31. > :13:35.that have been happening. We learned this morning that the GMB is now one
:13:35. > :13:39.of the big unions that helps this morning that the GMB is now one
:13:39. > :13:47.bankroll your party, and is now going to only pay for 50,000 members
:13:47. > :13:52.rather than 650,000 members. Tom Watson says this could be the
:13:52. > :13:55.beginning of the end of the historic link between the Labour Party and
:13:55. > :14:02.the unions, which has endured for over 100 years. It is the absolute
:14:02. > :14:07.right of the GMB executive committee to take this decision. I hope we can
:14:07. > :14:11.involve the link with the trade unions so we get more people who are
:14:11. > :14:19.out at work defending people in their trade unions... We have to
:14:19. > :14:24.change it and evolve it. Perhaps it hasn't changed soon enough. We have
:14:24. > :14:28.to persuade individual members of the trade unions that they should
:14:29. > :14:34.join the party. After all we have been talking about the problems of
:14:34. > :14:39.people on low wages now. The coalition government have given a
:14:39. > :14:44.tax cut to millionaires. We have got to have discussions with those who
:14:44. > :14:47.are defending people's rights not to be treated arbitrarily at work and
:14:47. > :14:56.persuade them that the Labour Party is for them. The GMB things only 50%
:14:56. > :15:02.-- 50,000 people will choose to affiliate with the party rather than
:15:02. > :15:08.650,000. That means you have been taking the money of 600,000 people
:15:08. > :15:13.under false pretences. It is in the GMB's rules that they can affiliate
:15:13. > :15:18.how much the executive committee decides and they have made this new
:15:18. > :15:24.decision. We need to go and argue with them that the best interests of
:15:24. > :15:30.their members are served with them being actively involved in the
:15:30. > :15:34.Labour Party. If we can get another 100,000 of them actively involved,
:15:34. > :15:37.that is more members than the Conservative Party has in the whole
:15:37. > :15:47.country. We want to create a new mass participation party. This is a
:15:47. > :15:56.big risk but we can come out stronger? Where else in the Western
:15:56. > :16:01.world is there a mass party? It is a tough call, politics has been
:16:01. > :16:06.declining everywhere. So why on earth do you think the Labour Party
:16:06. > :16:09.will buck the trend? We have to try to recreate new interest in our
:16:10. > :16:13.democracy and politics and to do that we have to try to get more
:16:13. > :16:18.democracy and politics and to do people involved. But the GMB things
:16:18. > :16:23.that less than a 10th of the people they all -- automatically affiliate
:16:23. > :16:25.will volunteer to affiliate! We have to go and tap the discussions. And
:16:25. > :16:32.will volunteer to affiliate! We have then you will get 50,000! They think
:16:32. > :16:37.that. We have to go and have the discussions. They know their members
:16:37. > :16:42.but I want to talk to GMB members and save join the party, make us
:16:42. > :16:51.stronger, help create a fairer society. How many people do the
:16:51. > :16:54.Conservative Party have as members? Membership of political parties has
:16:54. > :17:03.been declining. But he won't tell us! Why not? You will have to ask
:17:03. > :17:09.the chairman, Grant Schatz. He won't tell me but I thought he might tell
:17:09. > :17:13.you! I have not asked him!But you won't make it public. The reason we
:17:13. > :17:19.are assuming is because membership has collapsed! There has been a
:17:19. > :17:22.widespread trend which is people join special-interest groups, single
:17:22. > :17:30.lobbying issue groups, and they choose to do that rather than
:17:30. > :17:36.joining. I was going to ask Angela what she would regard as a success.
:17:36. > :17:40.If we can get more than there are Conservative party members, that
:17:40. > :17:47.would be good. But you will never know! You have set a yardstick which
:17:47. > :17:54.is unknown! I think it is around 100,000, that is the rumours. The
:17:54. > :18:02.rumours are it has plummeted below 100,000. 253,000 voted in your last
:18:02. > :18:06.leadership and the rumours are that your party will not tell as the
:18:06. > :18:09.figures because it is probably below 100,000, so you have set a pretty
:18:09. > :18:16.figures because it is probably below low yardstick. How many Lib Dems are
:18:16. > :18:24.there? Not as many as I would like. It is about 50,000. I have got
:18:24. > :18:30.42,500. I think Labour are doing the right thing. When I joined the Lib
:18:30. > :18:32.Dems 20 years ago, it was more like 100,000 I think and that is the
:18:32. > :18:37.Dems 20 years ago, it was more like decline that nearly all of the party
:18:37. > :18:43.have seen. It is across the western world. But I think Labour are doing
:18:43. > :18:48.the right thing. The era of the block vote and people being
:18:48. > :18:54.surprised to a political party they do not necessarily support is
:18:54. > :18:58.anachronistic. We want to revive our party and revive politics. The
:18:59. > :19:04.lobbying bill yesterday, where the coalition government are trying to
:19:04. > :19:08.stop campaigning groups from having a say at the general election, is
:19:08. > :19:17.trying to exclude even more. In your view, how many people of your fellow
:19:17. > :19:20.backbenchers voted against the government over Syria because they
:19:20. > :19:48.do not like David Cameron rather than the issue? Stop a lot They make
:19:48. > :20:00.very good speeches which made it very clear I would think there is a
:20:00. > :20:38.large number who are worried about Mr Miliband than Part of the problem
:20:38. > :21:13.was this was Barack Obama has specifically excluded even need the
:21:13. > :21:22.report of the UN inspectorate. For you to make We needed a serious,
:21:22. > :21:25.thoughtful approach to this issue, rather than a bungled, rushed vote
:21:25. > :23:01.that was announced on Twitter without any of the proper This is a
:23:01. > :23:04.rapidly moving situation. We've had more intelligence released. We've
:23:04. > :23:08.had the appalling napalm bombing of a primary school by a Syrian fighter
:23:08. > :23:37.jet. We've got the additional intelligence
:23:37. > :23:47.What is your view? Would you like another vote? I don't think there
:23:47. > :23:54.should be another vote on the same question. The only caveat I would
:23:54. > :23:56.put, my short answer is no. The slight caveat is if there is a
:23:56. > :24:00.put, my short answer is no. The complete change in the issue that we
:24:00. > :24:11.are being asked to confront and consider,
:24:11. > :24:16.must reserve the right to have another look at it. We all agree
:24:16. > :24:28.with that. But... We have to leave it. The cruel vagaries of politics.
:24:28. > :24:33.One minute, the coast of the Commons, the next you are just
:24:33. > :24:37.toast. Even when your career is at an end, cruel and unusual judgements
:24:37. > :24:46.do not stop. No, they don't. Spare a thought for this little fellow here.
:24:46. > :24:51.There he is. Do you know who it is? Well done, it looks nothing like
:24:51. > :24:55.him. Chris Huhne. Enough people voted for him to become Prime
:24:55. > :25:02.Minister in 1963. He emerged without voted for him to become Prime
:25:02. > :25:11.even a vote in the Conservative Party. Would you like to come and
:25:11. > :25:17.help us tomorrow morning? He was chosen by a cabal of older Tony and
:25:17. > :25:25.is, that Iain Macleod called the Magic Circle, in a famous editorial
:25:25. > :25:32.in The Spectator. Nobody elected him, because in the own -- olden
:25:32. > :25:37.days they were not elected. It has been found that while Margaret
:25:37. > :25:42.Thatcher, Winston Churchill and Tony Blair still fly off the shelves,
:25:42. > :25:47.maybe because people are throwing them, not a single person has bought
:25:48. > :25:52.little Alex. Nobody voted for him, nobody is buying him. Enough to make
:25:52. > :25:58.you choke on your digestive. But the quality of our tea is not strained.
:25:58. > :26:02.If there was a Daily Politics Toby jug, I am sure it would be more
:26:02. > :26:09.popular than anybody else. There we go. Who is that?The good old Daily
:26:09. > :26:15.Politics muggy will always be in vogue. We will remind you how to
:26:15. > :26:17.enter the competition in a moment. Let's see if you can remember when
:26:17. > :26:25.this happened. Who is the Briton who checked in as
:26:25. > :26:50.Richard Reid? # Just can't go on too long
:26:50. > :27:00.# Your tragedy starts to happen... # I'll stand by your side, as I
:27:00. > :27:09.always do. Smugglers decreed we should wear burkhas, which the
:27:09. > :27:13.Taliban force every woman in Afghanistan to wear.
:27:14. > :27:23.# You got stuck in a moment, now you can't get out of it. # I am today
:27:23. > :27:53.resigning from the government. To be in with a chance of winning a
:27:53. > :27:59.mug and the Douglas Hume jug, send your ansa to our special quiz e-mail
:27:59. > :28:07.address. You can see the terms and conditions on our website.
:28:07. > :28:13.It is coming up to mid-day, Big Ben will appear as magic. Prime Minister
:28:13. > :28:24.'s questions will be pretty good, I think. We will hear the fallout from
:28:24. > :28:29.the Syria debate. Jesse Norman had some sort of position in number ten,
:28:30. > :28:35.and he has had to resign, he has effectively been fired. There will
:28:35. > :28:42.be others, no doubt. He is on the policy board, so he is an adviser,
:28:42. > :28:48.but he was brought off the back benches as a rising star. He did not
:28:48. > :28:59.vote with the government on Syria, so he has gone. There has to be
:28:59. > :29:03.consequences, said an insider. Desperately proving that the Bell
:29:03. > :29:08.did not work! Or she has got to purchase a hearing aid! We tested
:29:08. > :29:21.it, it was working! They tested it the week before! They could be more
:29:21. > :29:25.victims? Once the reshuffle comes, there will be fallout. The
:29:25. > :29:33.interesting thing about PMQ 's, what there will be fallout. The
:29:33. > :29:35.is the tone? The real poison has entered the relationship between the
:29:35. > :29:42.Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition. People often think that
:29:42. > :29:47.the leaders hate each other. Often, they do not, there is a respect. But
:29:47. > :29:56.real poison into the relationship. I think Ed Miliband will go on Syria,
:29:56. > :30:01.he is wanting to show that there is something you can do, but he opens
:30:01. > :30:05.himself up to the possible charge that he helped Parliament to rule
:30:05. > :30:09.out military action, when he personally said he was in favour in
:30:09. > :30:15.the right circumstances. There were so many caveats. But his starting
:30:15. > :30:19.position was, there were chemical weapons that did cross a red line,
:30:19. > :30:27.it was the case that the President Assad used it, but now, he says it
:30:27. > :30:31.is the Prime Minister's fault. David Cameron has got problems in terms of
:30:31. > :30:36.his management of it, it looks like he rushed to an American timetable
:30:36. > :30:42.and could not deliver. To which the Americans then changed. People like
:30:42. > :30:50.Malcolm Rifkind say, for goodness sake, talking, because the only way
:30:50. > :30:55.Parliament can have another vote, the only way the Prime Minister will
:30:55. > :30:59.then another vote, is if the politics changes. If the leader of
:30:59. > :31:05.the opposition says, I am willing to join with you in certain
:31:05. > :31:09.circumstances. We need to trust each other. At the moment, there is not a
:31:09. > :31:16.chance. Living standards are the theme of the day for the Labour
:31:17. > :31:24.Party. Economic growth.Let's find out.
:31:24. > :31:28.Before listing my engagements, the house will wish to join me in
:31:28. > :31:32.congratulating the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their
:31:32. > :31:36.son, Prince George of Cambridge. I am sure I speak for the nation in
:31:36. > :31:38.son, Prince George of Cambridge. I sending our congratulations and wish
:31:38. > :31:44.them and Prince George a happy and healthy life. I can assure
:31:44. > :31:45.honourable members they can offer their own congratulations next
:31:45. > :31:53.Monday when This morning I had meetings with
:31:53. > :32:04.ministerial colleagues and others and I shall have other meetings
:32:04. > :32:09.today. Can I also congratulate their Royal Highnesses. Since we last met
:32:09. > :32:19.there has been a spate of good economic news. Unemployment is down
:32:19. > :32:24.and the economy is growing. Isn't it time for those who still oppose it
:32:24. > :32:40.to stop messing around, give it up, and abandoned plan B? Business
:32:40. > :32:45.confidence is at its highest level since 2000 date, consumer confidence
:32:45. > :32:46.is up, and the figures on construction, manufacturing and
:32:46. > :32:48.is up, and the figures on services are going in the right
:32:48. > :32:52.direction. These are early days but services are going in the right
:32:52. > :32:57.it is because of the tough decisions that this government took that we
:32:57. > :33:02.can now see progress and the party opposite told us unemployment would
:33:02. > :33:07.go up, it has gone down, they said the economy would go backwards, it
:33:07. > :33:11.has gone forwards, and it is time for them to explain why they were
:33:11. > :33:22.wrong and we were right. Ed Miliband! I join the Prime Minister
:33:22. > :33:24.in congratulating the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of
:33:24. > :33:29.Prince George and I wish them all of Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of
:33:29. > :33:33.the happiness in the world. At the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg
:33:33. > :33:39.tomorrow, will the Prime Minister do everything he can to get other
:33:39. > :33:42.countries to match the UK's important aid commitment to
:33:42. > :33:47.alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Almost one third of
:33:47. > :33:51.town-macro families have been forced to leave their homes but the UN has
:33:51. > :34:02.less than half the resources that it needs. -- one third of Syrian
:34:02. > :34:10.families. We are the second largest aid donor there has been. We must
:34:10. > :34:15.make clear our revulsion at the use of chemical weapons, our desire for
:34:15. > :34:20.a peace process but above all getting donor countries together and
:34:20. > :34:24.making sure they do everything they can to live up to their
:34:24. > :34:30.responsibilities so we can help the Syrian people. The Civil War and
:34:30. > :34:36.refugee crisis in Syria are having profound impacts across the Middle
:34:36. > :34:43.East, specifically in Lebanon, where the population is up by 20% since
:34:43. > :34:46.the Civil War began. What specific support beyond the welcome
:34:46. > :34:50.humanitarian assistance can Britain give to these countries to help them
:34:50. > :34:56.deal with the burden on their economy and society and
:34:56. > :35:00.infrastructure? Having been to a refugee camp in Jordan I have seen
:35:00. > :35:03.how great the pressures are. That camp is now one of the biggest
:35:03. > :35:07.how great the pressures are. That cities in that country. We have well
:35:07. > :35:12.funded embassies and diplomatic networks, very close relationships
:35:12. > :35:20.with Jordan and Lebanon and the Turks as well. We are well placed
:35:20. > :35:24.because we are spending serious money on the humanitarian aid
:35:24. > :35:30.programmes. At the end of the day we need a solution to the Syrian
:35:30. > :35:36.crisis. We also need to make sure we are clear about our revulsion in
:35:36. > :35:40.terms of chemical weapons. We should be making sure our aid programme is
:35:40. > :35:46.helping give the Syrian people protection from the appalling
:35:46. > :35:54.attacks. The revulsion about chemical weapons attacks is shared
:35:54. > :36:00.on all sides of the House. I wanted to talk about getting the talks
:36:00. > :36:04.going. The opposition Syrian National Council is meeting the
:36:04. > :36:08.Foreign Secretary in the next couple of days. Can the Prime Minister tell
:36:08. > :36:17.us what work he is doing to make those talks in Geneva happen? One is
:36:17. > :36:24.we want to support those elements of the Syrian opposition that support a
:36:24. > :36:32.clueless stick, democratic and free Syria -- a pluarlistic. But we go
:36:32. > :36:38.further because we recognise the rebels that back those views also
:36:38. > :36:43.deserve our support, in terms of training and advice, because we
:36:43. > :36:47.won't get a peace process in Syria unless Assad realises that his
:36:47. > :36:51.regime is under some sort of threat and pressure, not just from the
:36:51. > :36:57.rebels but from the millions of Syrians that we must be standing up
:36:57. > :37:04.for, who want democracy and freedom. We should be on their side.
:37:04. > :37:09.There is no difference within the House on the need to stand up for
:37:09. > :37:22.the innocent people of Syria. The question... The question... JEERING.
:37:22. > :37:26.We have approached this in a calm and measured way so far and we
:37:26. > :37:35.should carry on doing that. There are large barriers, big barriers, as
:37:35. > :37:39.we found out, to the Geneva peace talks actually happening. Can I ask
:37:39. > :37:44.the Prime Minister whether there isn't a case for immediate talks
:37:44. > :37:48.between those countries backing the rebels and those countries backing
:37:48. > :37:52.the regime? That happened during the Civil War in Lebanon and would at
:37:52. > :37:57.least provide a basis for discussion. I agree that Britain
:37:57. > :38:01.should use all of its diplomatic muscle to discuss with those
:38:01. > :38:05.countries that have backed the regime and to join with those
:38:05. > :38:09.countries who backed the rebels and the opposition to try to bring those
:38:09. > :38:14.talks about and that is why I have had repeated discussions, for
:38:14. > :38:18.instance with President Putin, and why I travelled to see him
:38:18. > :38:21.specifically to discuss this, but I come back to this point. It is all
:38:21. > :38:24.specifically to discuss this, but I the real world for the countries
:38:24. > :38:29.supporting either side to want the peace talks to take place. What you
:38:29. > :38:33.also need is for those people involved in the conflict in Syria to
:38:33. > :38:38.recognise that it is in their interest to see the beginning of the
:38:38. > :38:40.peace process. I think we can convince the Syrian national council
:38:40. > :38:47.peace process. I think we can it is in their interest, but we need
:38:47. > :38:56.the regime, Assad himself, to realise that it is is -- it is in
:38:56. > :39:09.his interest. And for that to happen the world is to take a very tough
:39:09. > :39:18.response. We must not in any degree give up our after revulsion of the
:39:18. > :39:22.chemical weapons attacks... Nobody disagrees with our revulsion at the
:39:22. > :39:27.use of chemical weapons, the question is how to deal with it.
:39:27. > :39:34.Given the difficulty of getting direct talks moving between the
:39:34. > :39:38.Syrian government and the opposition, is there a case for
:39:38. > :39:47.getting regional partners involved? We know the role Iran has played in
:39:47. > :39:51.fuelling this conflict but given that successful diplomacy involves
:39:51. > :39:58.talking with those with whom we profoundly disagree, what is the
:39:58. > :40:01.position on Iraqi participating? The Foreign Secretary will be meeting
:40:01. > :40:10.with the Iranians Foreign Minister -- the position on Tehran
:40:10. > :40:16.participating? Let's not forget what Iran have done to our embassy. We
:40:16. > :40:22.all want these peace talks to take place, we all want Geneva to happen,
:40:22. > :40:27.but we can't want it more than the participants involved in Syria's
:40:27. > :40:31.bloody conflict and we have to make sure it is in the interest that
:40:31. > :40:37.these talks go ahead and that is why yes, diplomacy is important, but the
:40:38. > :40:43.work that we do with the Syrian opposition, that is important. They
:40:43. > :40:46.are standing up for millions of Syrians who have been bombed out of
:40:46. > :40:52.their houses. Those are the people you need to talk to in the refugee
:40:52. > :40:56.camps in Jordan and elsewhere to see how they feel how badly the rest of
:40:56. > :40:59.the world is letting them down. Nobody disagrees with that of the
:40:59. > :41:05.world is letting them down. Nobody disagrees with that overview we take
:41:05. > :41:10.about Iran's behaviour but the question is how to bring the
:41:10. > :41:15.regional parties and the opposite sides together? Does he accept there
:41:15. > :41:19.remains support across the country for Britain taking every diplomatic,
:41:19. > :41:25.political and you monetarily and effort to help the Syrian people?
:41:25. > :41:29.Last week's vote was not about Britain shirking its global
:41:29. > :41:35.responsibility. It was about preventing a rush to war. Last week
:41:35. > :41:40.the House of Commons voted clearly and I respect the outcome of that
:41:40. > :41:42.vote and I won't be bringing back plans for British participation in
:41:42. > :41:48.vote and I won't be bringing back military action. I agree we must use
:41:48. > :41:55.everything we have in our power, and diplomatic networks, influence with
:41:55. > :42:02.other countries, membership of the EU, NATO, UN, but my only regret
:42:02. > :42:07.from last week is I do not think it was necessary to divide the House on
:42:07. > :42:18.a vote that could have led to a vote but he took the decision that it
:42:18. > :42:22.was. SHOUTING. We hear today the UK services business activity index is
:42:22. > :42:27.at its highest level for six and a half years. Does this not show that
:42:27. > :42:30.the government economic policy is working? Will the Prime Minister
:42:30. > :42:33.the government economic policy is commit to ensuring our increased
:42:33. > :42:40.prosperity helps to pay for Shrewsbury's Northwest relief road?
:42:40. > :42:45.I will look at the proposal. I know he wants Shrewsbury to be a
:42:45. > :42:49.connected hub in our country. The good news about this economic
:42:49. > :43:02.recovery is we are seeing it in more people in work. 1.3 million private
:43:02. > :43:06.sector jobs more and we need to see further progress with that because
:43:06. > :43:09.the best way to improve living standards in the country is to see
:43:10. > :43:17.an increasing number of people in gainful work. Jack Straw! May I
:43:17. > :43:24.press the Prime Minister on the issue of relations with Iraq. His
:43:24. > :43:27.previous answers sounded as if he had taken no account of the fact
:43:27. > :43:35.that since our embassy was outrageously sacked by the reigning
:43:35. > :43:41.president and his thugs, there has been an election in Iran that has
:43:41. > :43:44.led to a different individual becoming president who to my
:43:44. > :43:49.knowledge is someone the West and a British Prime Minister can deal
:43:49. > :43:52.with. Can I ask him to look carefully with the Foreign Secretary
:43:52. > :44:00.at how we make steps now to improve relations with Iran and try to get
:44:00. > :44:04.them involved in solving Syria? I agree that the election of a
:44:04. > :44:11.president who has a greater commitment to reform is a positive
:44:11. > :44:15.step and I have written to President Rouhani to raise a series of issues
:44:15. > :44:19.that need to be settled between Britain and Iran and we need to see
:44:19. > :44:24.progress on what he himself has said is important, which is trying to
:44:24. > :44:29.come to an agreement where Iran gives up the idea of nuclear weapons
:44:29. > :44:33.and in return we see every leaf on sanctions. But we should do this not
:44:33. > :44:39.from a position of just hoping for the best. We have seen what Iran can
:44:39. > :44:48.be capable of. We should go into these discussions cautiously.
:44:48. > :44:56.Does he agree accuracy of statistics is vital to inform
:44:56. > :45:01.public debate? Is he aware that 4% of the people believe that Elvis
:45:01. > :45:04.Presley is still alive? Double the number we hear today that they that
:45:04. > :45:13.the member for Doncaster North is not a natural leader! I can see my
:45:13. > :45:18.Honourable Friend, he has put his summer to very good use. I am
:45:19. > :45:21.grateful for his question. You need to see opinion polls before you can
:45:21. > :45:30.grateful for his question. You need see a true trend. Why does the
:45:30. > :45:35.Prime Minister believe that his plans to restrict lobbying are
:45:35. > :45:44.opposed from organisations from the Salvation Army, the Countryside
:45:44. > :45:48.Alliance, and so on. I listen to the exchanges before I came in and
:45:48. > :45:55.it seems to me there is a concerted campaign being run by the trade
:45:55. > :46:00.unions, who mysteriously managed to convince members of parliament to
:46:00. > :46:05.raise this problem. We know what is going on. They do not want the
:46:05. > :46:11.trade unions brought within the law, they walked the trade unions to go
:46:11. > :46:13.on spending millions, trying to alter an election campaign rather
:46:13. > :46:20.than having them properly controlled by the law. That is what
:46:20. > :46:29.the lobby in bill is about. -- lobbying. The UK economy will
:46:29. > :46:33.benefit from £50 million by a posting them round the world yacht
:46:33. > :46:38.race. Will the Prime Minister come to Gosport to see one of the top
:46:38. > :46:44.marine and sailing centres and congratulate those people who are
:46:44. > :46:49.flying the flag for tourism trade and watersports? I think my
:46:49. > :46:54.Honourable Friend is right. I have seen a model of the vessel. I
:46:54. > :46:58.welcome the fantastic contribution it makes to the economy. It was
:46:58. > :47:04.great to see the race in London for the first time and that it was led
:47:04. > :47:09.by a British boat and supported by the great campaign. I will take
:47:09. > :47:15.into account the kind invitation. I wish Sir Robin Knox Johnston well
:47:15. > :47:20.and all those taking part. Can I take him back to the answer he gave
:47:20. > :47:26.my friend a few minutes ago, can he be more positive about building
:47:27. > :47:32.better relations urgently with Iran, as one of the keys of bringing
:47:32. > :47:36.about a peace process in Syria and the region, simply attacking Iraq
:47:36. > :47:43.all the time will not bring them to the negotiating table. It is better
:47:43. > :47:46.that he is more positive. If you are trying to build a relationship
:47:46. > :47:53.with someone, it depends on the actions they take. Given that the
:47:53. > :47:57.Iranian government was complicit in completely smashing the embassy and
:47:57. > :48:02.residence in the capital, we will want to see action so that we can
:48:02. > :48:06.build that relationship. I have reached out by writing to the
:48:06. > :48:12.President, congratulating him on his accession to power, and wanting
:48:12. > :48:16.to discuss these issues. If we believe there is a magical key to
:48:16. > :48:22.the Syrian conflict, I suddenly adopting a different posture, I do
:48:22. > :48:28.not think we will make a good decision. La suite, we saw the
:48:28. > :48:31.proportion of households with no one in work for to the lowest since
:48:31. > :48:40.records began. Is this further evidence well for -- welfare
:48:40. > :48:45.reforms are working? He makes a very good point. In the second
:48:45. > :48:52.quarter, there are 3.5 million households without work, down
:48:52. > :48:57.182,000 on the year and 425,000 since the election. Each statistic
:48:57. > :49:02.tells a story about people who will be able to get into work, provide
:49:02. > :49:07.for their family, make something for their lives. We should be proud
:49:07. > :49:12.of the reforms. Every single one of them was opposed by the party
:49:12. > :49:16.opposite. We have not just saved £83 billion of measures they
:49:16. > :49:24.opposed, we have given hope to millions of families. I condemn the
:49:24. > :49:28.opposed, we have given hope to chemical attacks in Syria. Is it
:49:28. > :49:34.not time for joined-up thinking? Surely an American strike would
:49:34. > :49:40.squander opportunities offered by the new Iranian leadership and by
:49:40. > :49:44.the new US initiative in Palestine? Will the Prime Minister do what
:49:45. > :49:50.British people want and insist that the G20 searches for a way to bring
:49:50. > :49:58.about a ceasefire, rather than a new bombing raid. I respect the
:49:58. > :50:02.decision the house came to after the debate and Britain will not
:50:02. > :50:06.play any part in action. I would ask her to put herself for a moment
:50:06. > :50:12.in the shoes of the President of the United States and others. He
:50:12. > :50:16.set a clear redline. If there was large-scale chemical weapons used,
:50:16. > :50:22.something had to happen. We know the regime used chemical weapons on
:50:22. > :50:27.previous occasions. I think that to ask the President, having made that
:50:27. > :50:33.warning, to step away from it, I think that would be perilous. In
:50:33. > :50:38.response, I think you would see more chemical weapons attacks from
:50:38. > :50:43.the regime. The Honourable Lady has a long track record in supporting
:50:43. > :50:49.peace talks and I respect that. I will do everything to bring the
:50:49. > :50:53.peace talks together. I do not believe there is a contradiction in
:50:53. > :50:56.taking a tough line on the use of chemical weapons and also want in
:50:56. > :51:06.the peace talks that could bring the crisis to an end. -- wanting.
:51:06. > :51:10.the peace talks that could bring Cancer funding per head in
:51:10. > :51:14.Herefordshire is half that than in Birmingham. Academic research
:51:14. > :51:20.suggests that the current funding formula discriminates against rural
:51:20. > :51:24.areas. And against older people. Does he share my view that the NHS
:51:24. > :51:30.should move as quickly as possible to fairer funding for rural areas?
:51:30. > :51:34.He makes an important point. He will know we have given many
:51:34. > :51:39.decisions away from ministers to NHS England. They said they are
:51:39. > :51:44.looking at a fairer formula and I am sure they will look at those
:51:44. > :51:49.arguments. I would ask him to look at the cancer drugs fund, which has
:51:49. > :51:53.been a success. Sadly it was not copied by Labour in Wales. The fund
:51:53. > :52:01.has helped constituents to get treatment they need. Can he tell
:52:01. > :52:06.the House what he is doing to support food banks in the United
:52:06. > :52:10.Kingdom. What we have done is something the food bank movement
:52:10. > :52:14.had asked for for years but Labour did not grant them because they
:52:14. > :52:18.were worried about public relations and that is the ability to say to
:52:18. > :52:23.people at the JobCentre who needed help that they could go to a food
:52:23. > :52:27.back. That might be something they did not want to do because it was
:52:27. > :52:35.bad publicity. We did it because it was right. Does the Prime Minister
:52:35. > :52:39.agreed that the combination of good weather, deficit reduction and the
:52:40. > :52:44.control on public spending has given confidence to business and
:52:44. > :52:50.individuals to create 1.3 million jobs? Given these encouraging
:52:50. > :52:56.figures, is he somewhat surprised that the opposition believe the
:52:56. > :53:00.policy will cost 1 million jobs? He could add to the good weather that
:53:00. > :53:10.Andy Murray when macro Wimbledon and England retained the Ashes. --
:53:10. > :53:14.won. There was a key judgment parties had to make weather in this
:53:14. > :53:19.Parliament they get to grips with the deficit and take tough
:53:19. > :53:27.decisions to turn the country round. We make those tough decisions. The
:53:27. > :53:36.party opposite got to them. -- ducked them. The Government is
:53:36. > :53:39.right to extend nursery provision. Four in 10 councils will not have
:53:39. > :53:45.sufficient places. Can he guaranteed those children promised
:53:45. > :53:47.a place will actually have one? We put in place funding to provide
:53:47. > :53:54.that and I am confident they will put in place funding to provide
:53:54. > :53:59.receive the services they deserve. Unemployment in my constituency is
:53:59. > :54:05.lower than any time since the general election. Locally I
:54:05. > :54:08.organised two jobs fairs and I am organising a third. Does he agree
:54:08. > :54:11.that this goes to show the Government is right to stick to the
:54:11. > :54:18.economic plan despite calls to abandon it by the members opposite?
:54:18. > :54:22.He is right. The figures on employment are encouraging with
:54:22. > :54:27.more people in work than ever before. More people in private
:54:27. > :54:31.sector employment. A record number of women in work and almost 1
:54:31. > :54:36.million more people in work compared with the situation we
:54:36. > :54:44.inherited. At some stage the party opposite will have to admit they
:54:44. > :54:48.got it wrong. Even today, the shadow chancellor is saying he will
:54:48. > :54:57.borrow even more, even when we have started turning around the economy,
:54:57. > :55:01.he has learned nothing. £3.3 billion profit windfall while
:55:01. > :55:05.ordinary families face energy bills going up by £300 in year. Why is
:55:05. > :55:08.ordinary families face energy bills the Prime Minister not standing up
:55:08. > :55:13.to energy companies and getting a better deal from the market for
:55:13. > :55:17.ordinary families? I do not know where she was in the debate on the
:55:17. > :55:20.energy bill but this government is legislating to make sure people are
:55:20. > :55:23.put on the lowest tariffs. This legislating to make sure people are
:55:24. > :55:25.government has done that. When the leader of the Labour Party was
:55:25. > :55:28.Energy Secretary and bills leader of the Labour Party was
:55:28. > :55:37.through the roof, there was none of this sort of action. Given that the
:55:37. > :55:47.end N S has revised figures up words for growth, -- ONS come and
:55:47. > :55:51.there are good conditions for young people to get into work, does he
:55:51. > :55:57.think this would have been achieved if he took the advice of the Shadow
:55:57. > :56:01.Chancellor? It is interesting. Every time there is a question
:56:01. > :56:05.about the economy and the fact more people are in work and more
:56:05. > :56:07.businesses are established and the economy is growing, the party
:56:07. > :56:13.businesses are established and the opposite do not want to hear a word
:56:13. > :56:18.of it. Britain is succeeding and Labour is failing. Will the Prime
:56:19. > :56:23.Minister accept any responsibility for the fact it is forecasted on
:56:23. > :56:29.wages working people will, by the time of the election, have lost
:56:29. > :56:35.£6,660 in real terms while he has been in Number 10? There is only
:56:35. > :56:40.one sustainable way to get living standards up, and that is to get
:56:40. > :56:42.the economy growing, to cut taxes and to keep mortgage rates low,
:56:42. > :56:48.the economy growing, to cut taxes which we are doing. If we listened
:56:48. > :56:52.to the party opposite, who have won plan, to spend more and build up
:56:52. > :57:04.more debt, we would be back to where we started -- one plan. As
:57:04. > :57:09.the Syrian tragedy has unfolded, I have always had the Armageddon
:57:09. > :57:19.question in the back of my mind, which I will put to the Prime
:57:19. > :57:26.Minister. If the Americans illegally bombard the Assad forces,
:57:26. > :57:36.and Assad legally invites the Russians in, to degrade the rebels,
:57:36. > :57:41.what will NATO do? The first thing I would say is that we would never
:57:41. > :57:47.support illegal action. We debated this at some length last week. It
:57:47. > :57:52.is not the case the only way action can be legal is a United Nations
:57:52. > :57:57.resolution. We would only support action that is illegal. Britain
:57:57. > :58:01.would not be taking part in any of this action. You have to put the
:58:01. > :58:06.Armageddon question around the other way, which is if no action is
:58:06. > :58:10.taken following President Obama's Red Line, and it is not taken
:58:10. > :58:15.following the use of chemical weapons, you have to ask what sort
:58:15. > :58:21.of Armageddon other Syrian people going to be facing? The Prime
:58:21. > :58:26.Minister says he does not support a mansion tax for people living in
:58:26. > :58:31.mansions over £2 million. Because, he claims, some people living in
:58:31. > :58:37.these mansions are capital rich and cash poor. Can the Prime Minister
:58:37. > :58:43.tell me how he rounds that circle with his support with the bedroom
:58:43. > :58:50.tax? That is where he is punishing people who are capital poor and
:58:50. > :58:55.have no cash. He has to get clear what is a tax, and what is not a
:58:55. > :59:00.tax. Before the changes, there was a subsidy for people who had
:59:00. > :59:05.additional rooms they did not use. We believe it is fair to have the
:59:05. > :59:10.same rules in private sector rented accommodation and in council
:59:10. > :59:17.accommodation. You have ranted and raved, Labour, about the spare room
:59:17. > :59:26.subsidy. Will you reverse it? Are you going to reverse it? That means
:59:26. > :59:41.no. That means yes. Any chance? Absolutely nothing to say. It is
:59:41. > :59:45.not a trivial decision for somebody to leave their home and their
:59:46. > :59:50.country, fleeing for their safety. How many people must have left
:59:50. > :59:56.Syria before it is impossible for the regime to declare any kind of
:59:56. > :00:02.moral entitlement to govern back- country? I do not believe the
:00:02. > :00:07.regime is legitimate. The way it has treated its own people, the
:00:07. > :00:11.bombing of its own citizens and the use of chemical weapons, it is an
:00:11. > :00:15.illegitimate regime. We have to bring pressure to bear for a
:00:15. > :00:23.transition so that we can end up with Syria in totally different
:00:23. > :00:29.hands. The cost of secondary school uniform has spiralled to £285 as
:00:29. > :00:33.new free schools and academies insist on branding clothing. But
:00:33. > :00:39.one Academy, 70% of parents had to take out a loan. Why has the Prime
:00:39. > :00:45.Minister failed to act so that his policy is leading to loans that can
:00:45. > :00:51.only add to the profit of pay-day loan companies? Like many parents I
:00:51. > :00:58.think it is right for schools, if they want to choose, to have a
:00:58. > :01:00.tough uniform policy. I was at the opening of a free school in
:01:00. > :01:05.Birmingham yesterday where the parents were very grateful of the
:01:05. > :01:11.fact that is exactly the policy they had. What I see from the
:01:11. > :01:14.Honourable Lady is trying to find a way of opposing free schools. We
:01:14. > :01:20.Honourable Lady is trying to find a now have 194 free schools in our
:01:20. > :01:44.country that they don't like, because parents think it is a good
:01:44. > :01:47.education. It cost the Ministry of Defence £1.4 billion to extend the
:01:47. > :01:52.life of the Trident submarines in order that the Liberal Democrats
:01:52. > :01:56.could have a study of alternatives. Now that study has shown there is
:01:56. > :02:02.no alternative, will the Prime Minister consider signing the main
:02:02. > :02:05.contract for the first two submarine so that we can never
:02:06. > :02:12.again be blackmailed by the Liberal Democrats in a hung parliament? I
:02:12. > :02:15.have to credit the Honourable Gentleman with a remarkable
:02:15. > :02:22.consistency on the issue, on which I agree with him. We have Trident.
:02:22. > :02:28.It is the right approach. We need to renew Trident. The delay of the
:02:28. > :02:32.decision has saved money. His point about the review is right. If you
:02:32. > :02:38.want to have a proper functioning deterrent, you need to have the
:02:38. > :02:42.best and that means a permanently at Sea submarine based alternative.
:02:42. > :02:52.That is what a Conservative only government after the next election
:02:52. > :03:01.will deliver. Is it not the case... Is it not the case... Order. The
:03:01. > :03:05.Honourable Gentleman is something of an exotic creature in house.
:03:05. > :03:08.That excite the interest on government benches. I wish to hear
:03:08. > :03:16.what the Honourable Gentleman has to say. Is it not the case that in
:03:16. > :03:17.real wages have fallen by almost 1500 pounds the years since he
:03:17. > :03:23.became Prime Minister? We live in 1500 pounds the years since he
:03:23. > :03:27.tough times because of the incredible mess we had to clear up
:03:27. > :03:31.from the party opposite. The party opposite, complaining about the
:03:31. > :03:36.economy, complaining about living standards, is like the arsonist
:03:36. > :03:40.complaining to the fire brigade. This government is turning the
:03:40. > :03:49.economy round and that is how we will get living standards up.
:03:49. > :03:53.Burnley recently was awarded by the Department of business, innovation
:03:53. > :03:59.and skills, an award for the most enterprising town in the UK. Would
:04:00. > :04:03.he wish to congratulate the many businesses in Burnley who are
:04:03. > :04:09.members of the scheme on their achievement? I congratulate
:04:09. > :04:13.businesses large and small for the enterprise they have shown. The
:04:13. > :04:19.fact about the recovery is that it is private sector-led. That is what
:04:19. > :04:22.we needed after excessive government spending and it is very
:04:22. > :04:31.good that businesses have done so much to take people on and get the
:04:31. > :04:34.economy moving. The first Prime Minister's
:04:34. > :04:45.questions of the new parliamentary season. It was
:04:45. > :04:52.It was built by everybody except Nick Robinson as a Guy Fawkes night
:04:52. > :05:09.of action but in fact it was rather subdued, so Nick Robinson was night.
:05:09. > :05:16.-- was right. Someone said to me it was like two bald men fighting over
:05:16. > :05:21.a coma, Ed Miliband and David Cameron talking about Syria -- --
:05:21. > :05:34.comb. The Tory backbenches were laced with
:05:34. > :05:43.questions planted by the whips on the economy but they were still a
:05:43. > :05:48.little bit behind the times because nobody managed to plant a question
:05:48. > :05:56.about the GMB withdrawal of money. It happened too late. They should
:05:56. > :06:02.keep up with the news. A flat encounter between the two
:06:02. > :06:07.today, says John. Both tried to be statesman-like and both not willing
:06:07. > :06:11.to make others think otherwise. Helen Manning says, David Cameron
:06:11. > :06:17.does not need to take lessons on Syria from duplicitous and
:06:17. > :06:25.hypocritical Ed Miliband. Backbone was needed to take action in Syria.
:06:25. > :06:30.But Diane said I thought David Cameron might be attacked humble and
:06:30. > :06:34.contrite after his humiliating defeat. As a floating voter I would
:06:34. > :06:39.have hoped for him to show some understanding there was no appetite
:06:39. > :06:42.for military intervention but his performance today was bad and
:06:42. > :06:48.arrogant. Someone else asks is it known how
:06:48. > :06:55.much of the economic rise in growth is due to natural changes rather
:06:55. > :07:00.than the Prime Minister's policies? While PMQ 's have been going on in
:07:00. > :07:05.London there are reports that German intelligence had been briefing the
:07:05. > :07:11.German parliamentarians in Berlin. They have said their information is
:07:11. > :07:16.that Assad in Syria was responsible for the poisoned gas attacks on the
:07:16. > :07:19.21st of August and German intelligence says the intercepted
:07:19. > :07:26.traffic between Hezbollah, they had Lebanese -based group operating on
:07:26. > :07:32.Assad's side, and the Iranians embassy in Berlin, in which the
:07:32. > :07:39.traffic between Hezbollah and the Iranians embassy confirmed that
:07:39. > :07:43.Assad had used chemical weapons. Confirmation from a country that
:07:43. > :07:47.will not be part of any action but interesting that that is what German
:07:47. > :07:53.parliamentarians are being briefed on. Briefly, that is pretty
:07:53. > :07:58.significant because the doubts amongst many MPs were about the
:07:58. > :08:12.assertion that the Assad regime was definitely responsible. They had
:08:12. > :08:18.widespread doubts in the House because of the reliance on Israeli
:08:18. > :08:25.intercepts, partly. German intercepts are much less politically
:08:25. > :08:31.controversial, hot if you like, then Israeli ones, and the fact that the
:08:31. > :08:36.Germans are not in favour of action but are releasing that assessment is
:08:36. > :08:39.really quite significant and would perhaps persuade people like Andrew
:08:39. > :08:46.Mitchell that Britain should look at this again. It underlines that we
:08:46. > :08:49.should keep an open mind. And also, why did we have such a rush to vote
:08:50. > :08:54.last week before all of this had been given a chance to come out? Do
:08:54. > :08:59.you think the vote would have been different then? I think there was a
:08:59. > :09:03.big worry in the House of Commons on all sides that there was a kid and
:09:03. > :09:07.timetable and that we were being bounced into a decision before all
:09:07. > :09:11.of the processes and evidence had been gone through so that does cast
:09:11. > :09:21.some doubt on the Prime Minister's judgement. This came out from
:09:21. > :09:25.several Labour backbenchers. Why is it Labour policy to put so much
:09:25. > :09:29.faith in Iran? It is not about faith, it is about trying to get a
:09:29. > :09:35.dialogue about the people behind what is going on in the Middle East.
:09:35. > :09:44.You need to recognise reality on the ground. What is going on between
:09:44. > :09:48.tribes, which countries are supporting which actors in Syria,
:09:48. > :09:54.and to try to get some sort of process to deal with this. Yes, but
:09:54. > :10:00.why do you think Iran is the key to peace and progress in Syria? That is
:10:00. > :10:06.not what was being said but what was asked is since there is now a new
:10:06. > :10:11.president in Iran, does this present a new opportunity to try to get more
:10:11. > :10:16.constructive engagement? What evidence is there to suggest that
:10:16. > :10:21.this new president is a chance for that? He has been seen as being much
:10:21. > :10:25.more moderate all around, by the people that watch these things, and
:10:25. > :10:30.in fact the Prime Minister has already written to him as he
:10:31. > :10:35.revealed. It is not very nice when you have to deal in diplomacy but
:10:35. > :10:41.you have to try to get the people having an effect into a dialogue.
:10:41. > :10:46.What is the evidence that this new president is in anyway more moderate
:10:46. > :10:51.than the previous one? He is known by those who know him. You heard
:10:51. > :11:01.Jack Straw talking about M. Less of a head-banger. You are aware that he
:11:01. > :11:05.is the man, when Iran was having this green revolution, educated
:11:05. > :11:10.people marching in the streets for basic freedom, that this man you
:11:10. > :11:13.describe as more moderate called for the extermination of these
:11:13. > :11:21.protesters. I didn't say he was a Democrat. This is Iran and they are
:11:21. > :11:25.post-revolution. What is more extreme than calling for the
:11:25. > :11:31.extermination of demonstrators? It is pretty extreme. What can be more
:11:31. > :11:39.extreme? Nothing can be more extreme. Why do you call him a
:11:39. > :11:42.moderate? He is widely seen as a potential new start for diplomatic
:11:42. > :11:48.relations between the West and Iran which have been in deep freeze since
:11:48. > :11:55.the uranium Revolution. Interesting development. -- the Iranians
:11:55. > :12:01.revolution. That came up again and again. It is right to make sure we
:12:01. > :12:04.give Iran a chance to show it has turned a page and the new president
:12:04. > :12:09.may indeed meet that. But your point turned a page and the new president
:12:09. > :12:15.about what he has done in the past are very relevant. That is why we
:12:15. > :12:20.should test it and see whether there is a change in Iranians policy. Why
:12:20. > :12:23.should anybody outside of this country care what Mr Cameron or Mr
:12:23. > :12:33.Miliband have to say about Syria? country care what Mr Cameron or Mr
:12:33. > :12:39.They are irrelevant. This region has been convulsed by an extraordinary
:12:39. > :12:44.catastrophe. The G20 is a chance to move the process forward. Anybody
:12:44. > :12:49.who knows anything about Syria, which in this country is not a lot,
:12:49. > :12:56.knows that negotiation is not an option. This is a tribal war which
:12:56. > :13:01.the Assad clan know there can only be two outcomes for them. They win
:13:01. > :13:06.or they get killed. This is why I was so strongly in favour of
:13:06. > :13:09.military action. The only way in which the Assad regime will be
:13:09. > :13:15.brought to the negotiating table is if they realised if they continue,
:13:15. > :13:18.they will lose. That is why it is essential that the world sends an
:13:18. > :13:24.incredibly strong signal about military action. But the Prime
:13:24. > :13:28.Minister made it clear we are not going to send that message. That is
:13:28. > :13:34.true but as I say, we need to await further evidence and I believe the
:13:34. > :13:41.Americans will take action. You think he will get the vote in
:13:41. > :13:45.Congress? I think he will.The German intelligence may help. The
:13:45. > :13:50.Prime Minister has been defeated on a central issue of his premiership.
:13:50. > :13:55.Normally that would cause chaos in the first Prime Minister 's
:13:55. > :13:59.questions, shouting match, demands for vote of no-confidence. The two
:13:59. > :14:04.leaders reminded me of people who had had a few really strong can
:14:04. > :14:10.argument at a party and came down in the morning sheepish. Ed Miliband
:14:10. > :14:14.repeatedly said, there is no different on this issue of chemical
:14:14. > :14:18.weapons, but nobody asked him whether there was! He feels
:14:18. > :14:21.vulnerable on that. The Prime Minister felt the need to repeatedly
:14:21. > :14:25.tell people there would be no military action because both men
:14:25. > :14:32.feel uncomfortable about where they military action because both men
:14:32. > :14:36.have ended up. We are on the eve of almost certain United States
:14:36. > :14:39.military action in Syria and they were having a perfectly interesting
:14:39. > :14:45.chat about who might go to peace talks, but with the best will in the
:14:45. > :14:48.world it did not feel like the most pressing set of questions given that
:14:48. > :14:55.serious military action could happen. I still have my doubts he
:14:56. > :15:03.will get it through the house. I think he will get it through the
:15:04. > :15:08.Senate. Isolationist and protectionist contingent, tea party
:15:08. > :15:19.and left wing there. But we will see! John Kerry said he would not
:15:19. > :15:23.rule out them taking action anyway! If it turns out that the president
:15:23. > :15:27.has a majority in Congress and the Americans proceed, what are the
:15:27. > :15:31.implications for the people we've just been watching? We are
:15:31. > :15:32.spectators. Many people may be saying, thank goodness for that.
:15:32. > :15:37.They may think that is exactly what saying, thank goodness for that.
:15:37. > :15:40.their elected representative to do, not for Britain to join the United
:15:40. > :15:44.States, but it does minimise the influence of the British Government
:15:44. > :15:50.over the course of events. If there is a phase two, if after the
:15:50. > :15:56.military action there is a Syrian reaction or an Iranian reaction or
:15:56. > :15:59.Russian reaction, which then needs more military operations, would that
:15:59. > :16:04.be sufficient for the British Government say, well, maybe we
:16:04. > :16:10.should consider our position? Given that overnight at those
:16:10. > :16:13.Congressional hearings we've heard the Secretary of State refused to
:16:13. > :16:18.rule out boots on the ground in certain circumstances, talk about
:16:18. > :16:23.hardening up the punishment of the regime to be beyond what Obama
:16:23. > :16:24.originally talked about. It seems to be this debate, however much the
:16:24. > :16:29.front benches may wish it otherwise, be this debate, however much the
:16:29. > :16:38.this debate cannot end, it won't end. Tune in next week.
:16:38. > :16:41.Something a little different. Time was our cuddly looking guest of the
:16:41. > :16:43.day, nice looking Andrew Mitchell here, would strike fear into the
:16:43. > :16:48.day, nice looking Andrew Mitchell hearts of Conservative MPs in his
:16:48. > :16:51.role as his party's top enforcer, the Chief Whip. These days, though,
:16:51. > :16:56.you could be forgiven for thinking the boot was on the other foot, with
:16:56. > :17:00.backbenchers seemingly feeling free to rebel with gay abandon. The
:17:00. > :17:02.latest manifestation of this was last week's defeat for the
:17:02. > :17:11.latest manifestation of this was government over Syria, but it's not
:17:11. > :17:17.just a passing fad. These days the Commons is a pretty scary place if
:17:17. > :17:21.you are a Prime Minister. It is clear to me that the British
:17:21. > :17:25.Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to
:17:25. > :17:30.see British military action. I get that and the government will act
:17:30. > :17:34.accordingly. Last week's revolt on Syria was a biggie, but it was not
:17:34. > :17:39.alone. Imagine if you could build your own MP. They would probably be
:17:40. > :17:44.independent, fearless, not afraid to put the views of their constituents
:17:44. > :17:49.above those of the party machine. In fact, a bit of a rebel. Well, if
:17:50. > :17:55.that is your cup of tea, the good news is there's a lot of them about.
:17:56. > :18:02.This Parliament is currently the most rebellious parliament in terms
:18:02. > :18:05.of the number of divisions of any in the post-war era. If you go back to
:18:05. > :18:10.the 1950s, there were two sessions, two whole years in which not a
:18:10. > :18:16.single government MP rebels even once. Today's whips would bite your
:18:16. > :18:21.hand off for that level of cohesion. So who is Britain's most rebellious
:18:21. > :18:26.MP? Philip le bone, focused on Kettering. My test as always, were I
:18:26. > :18:31.to walk down Kettering high street and speak to 100 of my constituents
:18:31. > :18:34.who had the time, energy and enthusiasm to look at the
:18:34. > :18:40.legislation before the House, what would a majority decide? At the end
:18:40. > :18:42.of the day, my job is to represent constituents in Westminster. It is
:18:42. > :18:46.of the day, my job is to represent not to represent Westminster in the
:18:46. > :18:50.constituency. The real problem for the whips, the men and women tasked
:18:50. > :19:02.with trying to make backbenchers to the party line, isn't serial rebels
:19:02. > :19:04.like Philip, revolt isn't a risk-free option. There's lots of
:19:04. > :19:06.opinion poll evidence showing that people want their MPs to be
:19:06. > :19:10.rebellious, that is on the increase. The percentage of them
:19:10. > :19:14.wanting to be loyal is on the decline. The problem is there's no
:19:14. > :19:17.evidence that the public then reward MPs at the ballot boxes. And there
:19:17. > :19:21.is evidence the public punish divided parties. If the public were
:19:21. > :19:24.to see that there was a party, for example be Conservative Party, which
:19:24. > :19:27.allowed freedom of thought amongst its backbenchers, allowing them to
:19:27. > :19:30.be independently minded on issues, giving them all free votes at
:19:30. > :19:34.committee stages of bills, for example, I think the public would
:19:34. > :19:38.appreciate that. Rebellious MPs aren't new, but the new mode -- mood
:19:38. > :19:44.of revolt at Westminster seems here to stay, and that could make whips
:19:44. > :19:48.and ministers afraid, very afraid. We are all scared here. We are
:19:48. > :19:52.joined by the Conservative MP Peter bone, who's been known to display a
:19:52. > :19:56.rebellious streak or two in the past. You are looking at me
:19:56. > :20:00.quizzically. How much of a rebel are you? I voted more times for the
:20:00. > :20:03.government and the deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the
:20:03. > :20:07.government and the deputy Prime Prime Minister. I can't be that
:20:08. > :20:11.rebellious. New one of the top six most rebellious MPs. I think it's
:20:11. > :20:15.different when you have a coalition government. I voted all along for
:20:15. > :20:20.Conservative policies. When liberal ones were being put forward I voted
:20:20. > :20:23.against. I don't think last week's vote on Syria can possibly ever be
:20:23. > :20:28.suggested that the whips can tell you to vote when you are putting
:20:28. > :20:31.people 's lives at risk. I think people across the House made their
:20:31. > :20:36.own decisions. I don't think they said, OK, my whip is telling me to
:20:36. > :20:41.vote this way, I will do that. What do you say to that? There are still
:20:41. > :20:45.Conservative MP is, there was a government motion and David Cameron
:20:45. > :20:49.put his case. Is it really valid to say there shouldn't be whips
:20:49. > :20:53.involved in that vote, when it was a key part of foreign policy and
:20:53. > :20:59.delivered a humiliating defeat for David Cameron? To be fair, on an
:20:59. > :21:03.issue like that you have to have cross-party support. There's a block
:21:03. > :21:07.of people on both sides who are virulently opposed to using
:21:07. > :21:12.military... The question about the whips. I don't think your point
:21:12. > :21:15.really stands on that debate. There's another trend that has been
:21:16. > :21:20.going on in Parliament over recent years which is much greater power
:21:20. > :21:23.for the legislature to hold the executive to account. David Cameron
:21:23. > :21:28.made that point in the immediate aftermath, that he accepted that
:21:28. > :21:31.this was the of Parliament. He is a Democrat and would accept what
:21:31. > :21:36.Parliament had decided. Parliament has moved to give much greater
:21:36. > :21:40.power, we all made this decision, to the legislature at the expense of
:21:40. > :21:45.the executive. So it's a nightmare for the whips, whose job it is to
:21:45. > :21:49.make sure that people oil. If that happened every day we never get any
:21:49. > :21:53.legislation passed. It shows you that the job of the whips has become
:21:53. > :21:55.a more sophisticated and difficult one. But it's always been a myth
:21:55. > :22:00.a more sophisticated and difficult that the whips can bully and cajole
:22:00. > :22:02.people. In order to be in Parliament you have to be quite a tough
:22:02. > :22:03.character. In the end, charm and persuasion are much more
:22:03. > :22:07.character. In the end, charm and weapons ban the bludgeon. There was
:22:07. > :22:11.good but discipline under Tony Blair at the beginning, and that must have
:22:11. > :22:15.been partly down to the whipping operation. I agree with Andrew that
:22:15. > :22:21.soft power is always better when you are dealing with MPs. The difference
:22:21. > :22:25.between Tony Blair's Parliament and the parliament we've got now is that
:22:25. > :22:30.they were big majorities then. At the moment we have not only got a
:22:30. > :22:35.coalition, it is pretty unstable at both edges. That is why Peter
:22:35. > :22:41.can... He's picking and choosing which things he is rebelling on. I
:22:41. > :22:45.think we've had 185 coalition MPs rebel, which is why Philip Cowley
:22:45. > :22:49.was saying this is the most rebellious Parliament. It makes life
:22:49. > :22:54.interesting when they can't vote to support their own legislation. Do
:22:54. > :22:59.you want to get rid of the whips office? I get could be abolished in
:22:59. > :23:03.a sense that elected MPs should not be whips. All the things done in
:23:03. > :23:07.running the House could be done by paid officials. The government
:23:07. > :23:13.should be able to argue its case and then expect its MPs to support it.
:23:13. > :23:17.We should not come under pressure from other MPs telling me how to
:23:17. > :23:27.vote. You have to have whip's offices. They are an essential part
:23:27. > :23:34.of the government getting its legislation. You were Chief Whip for
:23:34. > :23:38.six weeks, do you miss it? The Chief Whip's drop is incredibly
:23:38. > :23:46.difficult. I'm enjoying not being chief whip. Do you think George
:23:46. > :23:50.Young has done a good job? An extremely good job in very difficult
:23:50. > :23:56.circumstances. You've made his life very difficult. I think the new
:23:56. > :24:01.change in Parliament, the fact that Parliament is beginning to hold the
:24:01. > :24:05.executive to account is a really good thing. David Cameron promises
:24:06. > :24:10.in his speech on fixing broken politics, before he came to power,
:24:10. > :24:14.he has honoured that. It was very courageous and right of him to bring
:24:15. > :24:21.Parliament back and put a motion to the House. That would not have
:24:21. > :24:24.happened under Blair. Philip Cowley's words there, the
:24:24. > :24:27.constituents that MPs represent won't necessarily thank you for
:24:27. > :24:33.supposedly representing their interests. UR in Parliament to do
:24:33. > :24:40.what you think is right. Tony Blair did bring Parliament back and we did
:24:40. > :24:49.have a vote. When did we vote on Afghanistan? The majority help.
:24:49. > :24:52.Let's go back to Syria. France's National Assembly holds an emergency
:24:52. > :24:58.debate on Syria this afternoon but no vote is planned. French MPs will
:24:58. > :25:02.debate the country's position on possible military action on Syria.
:25:02. > :25:07.Axelle Lemaire is an Assembly Members in the French Socialist
:25:07. > :25:11.party and represent a constituency that includes Great Britain. What is
:25:11. > :25:19.it like to be France's new best friend, sorry, America's new best
:25:19. > :25:23.friend? Should I understand there is any jealousy in that comment? No, I
:25:23. > :25:35.think burgers go well with french fries. The reason why France...
:25:35. > :25:40.Sorry, we seem to be having a little bit of trouble with the line. I'll
:25:40. > :25:44.just come back to getting my original question correct. How did
:25:44. > :26:04.you feel about being America's new best friend? No, we seem to have
:26:04. > :26:12.lost the line. I'm back! Let me ask you this. What I wanted to say is
:26:12. > :26:16.the reason why France is leading on this is that we've always been
:26:16. > :26:21.against the use of chemical weapons. My country was the first to
:26:21. > :26:25.against the use of chemical sign the protocol in 1925,
:26:25. > :26:30.prohibiting the use of chemical weapons after World War II. It is
:26:31. > :26:36.here in Paris in 1993 that the convention of Paris was signed and
:26:36. > :26:41.ratified by 183 countries full stop France is a member of the Security
:26:41. > :26:47.Council, so of course we are hand-in-hand with America on this.
:26:47. > :26:52.But it is not just France alone. I think that is the National Assembly
:26:52. > :26:58.behind you there. Why shouldn't your Parliament have a determining vote,
:26:58. > :27:02.like the British Parliament and the American Congress? Why is your
:27:02. > :27:08.president able to do this without parliamentary sanction? It is my
:27:08. > :27:13.time to be a little jealous now. According to the terms of the French
:27:13. > :27:19.constitution, Article 35 precisely, in case of military intervention,
:27:19. > :27:24.the French president has a duty to inform Parliament. He can do so
:27:24. > :27:30.three days after the start of an intervention. But there is no vote.
:27:30. > :27:34.That is what the text says. That is the theory. In practice, there is
:27:34. > :27:38.the theory. In practice, there's an increased political pressure to
:27:38. > :27:44.organise such a vote. We would have to find entirely that option, but
:27:44. > :27:50.what is important for the moment is to have a debate. That is what we
:27:50. > :27:56.are going to have. Are you voting for war? For the moment I'm not
:27:56. > :28:00.going to vote, I need to be convinced. I want to see the
:28:00. > :28:05.evidence. The intelligence services have released some documents that
:28:05. > :28:11.were classified, which helps me make my view on the issue of the
:28:11. > :28:14.intervention. I was amazed to realise that the zones attacked by
:28:14. > :28:20.chemical weapons are entirely controlled by the opposition. I'm
:28:20. > :28:24.sorry, we've run out of time. Thank you for bearing with us in the
:28:24. > :28:29.glorious Paris sunshine. It's quite nice in London as well. Time to put
:28:29. > :28:34.you out of your misery and give you answers to Guess the Year. It was
:28:34. > :28:41.2001. We will find out who the winner is.
:28:41. > :28:48.That is it for today. Thanks to all of our guests. The one o'clock News
:28:48. > :28:53.starting on BBC One. We will be back tomorrow at noon. I will be joined
:28:53. > :28:56.by the chairman of the Local Government Association. I'm off to
:28:56. > :28:59.Brussels. She gets all the gigs!