Browse content similar to 23/10/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. The future of Scotland's biggest oil refinery and | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
petrochemical works is in the balance. The company that owns the | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
huge Grangemouth complex is a key part of Britain's industrial | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
infrastructure has announced that the petrochemicals complex is to | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
close with the loss of hundreds of jobs. The decision follows a bitter | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
row between management and unions over cost-cutting. The future of the | :00:59. | :01:05. | |
oil refinery is also in the balance. Remember John Major? He used to be | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
the Prime Minister. Yesterday, he had a whole host of advice for | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
Number Ten's present incumbent, including a windfall tax on the | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
energy companies. Will the former Prime Minister's | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
words come back to haunt David Cameron at PMQs? We will have all | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
the action live at midday. Would you want some of these in your | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
back garden? We will be talking to one Tory MP who does not. | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
We have a responsibility to future generations to protect the | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
countryside. The local community does not want 300 acres of solar | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
panels in our back yard. All that is coming up. Great British | :01:43. | :01:58. | |
Bake Off eat your heart out! We made these. | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
Jo did this with me as her able assistant. The Daily Politics is | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
where it's at! We have cakes, muffins, apple turnovers, something | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
French and fancy on the programme today. | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
Who is that? What about rough puff? Some kind of strange drug, I think. | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
We have two contestants who have promised me they have never suffered | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
a soggy bottom, the Conservative Party Chairman, Grant Shapps, and | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
the brand-new Shadow Transport Secretary, Mary Creagh. Breaking | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
news. It is grim for Grangemouth. The decision by INEOS, a Swiss-based | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
company, to close its petrochemical site at Grangemouth in Scotland has | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
shocked everybody. It follows a pay dispute over pay and conditions and | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
what needs to be done to secure new investment to keep the | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
petrochemicals plant going. Let's get the latest from our Scotland | :02:52. | :02:59. | |
correspondent, Laura Bicker. Laura, I guess the unions can now be in no | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
doubt that the company is not bluffing? Exactly. That is what the | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
main owner of INEOS, the main shareholder in INEOS said at the | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
weekend in a Sunday newspaper. He said he would close down the plant | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
and he warned workers if they voted the wrong way, there would be no | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
happy ending at this plant. Workers filed into a canteen this morning. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
They were told at 10.00am that the petrochemical element of this plant | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
would close. That's around 750 workers, we are told. They filed out | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
very unhappy, very angry. They are not sure about redundancy payments | :03:38. | :03:48. | |
currently. We have heard from the INEOS company, the chairman of the | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
site here, he said there was only ever going to be one outcome to this | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
story and we continued to lose money. INEOS says it is losing ?10 | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
million a month at this site. They say the proposed strike action, | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
which was called off, has cost them ?20 million. The Scottish Government | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
yesterday intervened. He said it was discussing a potential buyer. It | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
says it was looking at other players when it came to this plant. I | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
understand that union officials are talking to both the Scottish | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
Government and the Government at Westminster to try to come to a deal | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
when it comes to this plant. We will hear from the unions within the next | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
hour. But real shock here for the workers as they head home and wonder | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
what their future holds. Let's stick with the petrochemical complex to | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
begin with. The petrochemical complex feeds off the oil refinery. | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
Stick with petrochemicals to begin with. INEOS is out of this now. This | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
isn't going to change. They are gone from the petrochemical complex. They | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
have called in the liquidators? That's exactly what they have said | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
in their statement this morning. Certainly, that is what they have | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
told the workforce. They do not want to keep hold of the petrochemical | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
plant. They said that they have no choice but to call in the | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
liquidators. They say that, "We will struggle to comprehend what has | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
happened here. The employees were offered a chance to secure | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
substantial new investment in the company, preserve their jobs and | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
keep their salaries. . Sadly, this will no longer be the case." They | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
offered workers a deal whereby they would offer workers a cut in pay and | :05:29. | :05:35. | |
in pensions in return, they said, that would help keep the plant | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
running. They said without that, the plant would have to shut by 2017. | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
So, this morning, they say this should come as no surprise to | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
workers after the vote, after that ballot where workers, around half of | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
them, decided not to take that option, the survival plan. They say | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
that this was the only outcome after that ballot. Alright. Final | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
question. The oil refinery has not been closed. It's not operating, the | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
oil refinery has still been shut down. Do I take it from that... The | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
oil refinery... That could also be under threat? Well, the oil refinery | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
has been shut down for a week as part of a health and safety. INEOS | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
need to close down the plant ahead of any planned strike action. It's | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
not been started today. The oil refinery has not been restarted, | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
which is something we expected to hear about. They say it will not be | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
restarted until unions give them a guarantee that there will be no | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
strike action. Unions have already given them that guarantee. They said | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
they gave them that guarantee last week. But they want to discuss these | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
new terms and conditions that they say is being imposed on their staff. | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
We are still at a stalemate when it comes to the oil refinery. Its | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
future again is being discussed. Thank you very much for bringing us | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
up-to-date. We are joined now by the Labour MP for the Grangemouth | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
constituency, Michael Connerty. Have the unions made an existential error | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
here? They have been set up. It is quite clear this company prepared | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
for this conflict quite well. They are bringing in petrol in tankers. | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
The company made it clear if you can't agree to this new deal, which | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
will bring ?300 million in new investment, then it's off? The | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
difficulty was the way they did it. I have never seen a negotiation like | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
this. I have represented this place for 21 years. We have lost thousands | :07:42. | :07:48. | |
of jobs. It's now down to 1,300. That is true of all petrochemical | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
works? Exactly. I remember the $10 when crude was only getting $10. Now | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
it is $113. The feed stock is hugely expensive. The unions said they were | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
willing to negotiate all of this. We will give you a no strike agreement, | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
not just to the end of the negotiations, but as long as it | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
takes. They wouldn't withdraw this ultimatum. If you had seen the | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
letter... I have seen the letter. The company is losing ?150 | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
million... They have two problems. They are paying huge amounts for the | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
feed stock and the refinery is losing money hand over fist. They | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
lost ?110 million on the refinery. They are locked into a deal that BP | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
made them sign when they bought the plant to say they will take all the | :08:38. | :08:46. | |
gas that comes off. They have to take all of that to 2017. It's now | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
full of... It's a basket case? It is not a basket case. What they are | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
doing in Norway, and in Grangemouth, was to bring in ethane from the | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
States. Sure. They said to me in 2022 and beyond, there is a lot of | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
money to be made here and they wanted to take ?50 million out of | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
that plant. They are talking not just about the workers, they are | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
talking about shutting the plant... I know. They want to bring in ethane | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
from the States because it is a lot cheaper. Correct. It's a stand-off. | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
To do that was going to cost ?300 million in new investment to build | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
the port facilities to bring in this ethane from the United States, where | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
it is a lot cheaper. And they wanted new conditions in terms to go ahead. | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
The unions said no. It seems like this petrochemical plant is going to | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
close unless someone else comes to buy it. Who is going to buy it? That | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
is still a serious prospect. Who? I think anyone who looks at this - the | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
figures said 2022, we will break even. Who? I think the chemical | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
industry is still viable. Let me finish, Andrew. 30% of the ethane | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
that goes down the pipeline comes from Grangemouth. They are going to | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
turn that tap off. It means there is a demand for... There is a world | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
surplus and it can be made more cheaply elsewhere. If you think | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
someone else can buy this, give me a name? I don't know who is in the | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
frame. Let me give you two names. I will tell you why they are not going | :10:32. | :10:43. | |
to do it. Dow Chemical, reinvesting in the United States. BASF, German, | :10:44. | :10:52. | |
has told the German government unless energy prices come down, we | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
will move to America as well. Who would buy Grangemouth in these world | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
conditions? I think at the moment we have to look at whether the | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
Secretary of Fps of the Scottish Government says he is looking to | :11:08. | :11:16. | |
find new buyers. I know that. Who? The biggest problem for us is do we | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
say that because of the decision of this company not to negotiate - you | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
said it wasn't a question of sharing the future, it was a case of we want | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
all of this for us after 2022. It seems sensible to me to pay back the | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
debt and then make a lot of money, then they should share it with the | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
people in the company. Did they set out to do this because they got | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
beaten in 2008? That is a very dangerous way to run a company. Will | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
there be calls to nationalise it? I don't think there will be a call | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
from this present Government... I wasn't thinking of that, I was | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
thinkingior party? You could lumber the taxpayer with this loss-making | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
business? This is the company - they briefed me for an hour-and-a-half | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
about how they would make all of this money. They seem to want to | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
beat the union down. That is not a good way to go forward. In the 21st | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
Century, are we wanting to have a situation where you have to beat the | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
workers down and make people hate you to get more profit more quickly? | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
I don't think so. What is the Westminster Government doing about | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
it? There will be an urgent statement this afternoon from Ed | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
Davey. He will be outlining the next steps, working with the Scottish | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
Government. For people watching this who are not experts in the industry, | :12:37. | :12:45. | |
all of these detailed discussions real boil down to - there are 750 | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
jobs here. If the Government can do anything to help them, we will. In | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
the end, this needs to be a business which stands alone as a profitable | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
business otherwise clearly it can't buck the economics of the market. | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
The Government's already offered some treasury guarantees on raising | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
the money that is needed for this investment. What else can the | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
Government do? I'm concerned about the future of the oil refinery and | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
in terms of the resill generals of the UK's fuel supply. We have seen a | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
plant already shut down. We are still waiting for that report. Of | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
course, it is not just the jobs being lost today. There are many | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
more jobs dependent in the supply chain. I well understand. The | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
company had asked for that guarantee. What do you want the | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
Government to do? We want to see a strategic review of what we are | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
doing about the fuel because what we don't want is to add to the | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
cost-of-living crisis by seeing petrol prices rising. A strategic | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
review? People's jobs are at stake here. Absolutely. How You have | :13:50. | :14:10. | |
called for a strategic review while you did nothing when you were in | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
power? There are a whole series of costs in the industry. And the | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
future is bright, it is the bridge to the future that is the problem. | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
The future is grim. What is happening - well, Michael has | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
described if the port changes can be made, if shale gas... He is a | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
politician. He is not putting a penny up. You haven't got the money. | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
I don't have the money. So it is irrelevant. I have confidence in my | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
constituents. I know... I understand that. I worked in that industry when | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
I was a student. I know the industry. I'm well aware of that. | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
There is money to be made. That bridge can be crossed. Can you... I | :14:52. | :15:03. | |
remember Timex in Dundee, the same union under a different name. They | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
said this is a good factory, there is a future here. But we need a | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
change in working practices. The union didn't agree. Then they left | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
Dundee. Will we see the same in Grangemouth. | :15:16. | :15:23. | |
I hope they are going to get somebody else to run the plant. | :15:24. | :15:36. | |
Thank you. We will wait and see. It's a tough time for your | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
constituents. Very worrying. Keep in touch with us because it is a big | :15:43. | :15:44. | |
story. As part/ Mac a Parliamentary hat, | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
Charles Dickens was a guest. -- as a parliament Rehak. | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
If you could just sit down a moment! Where was I? Margaret | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
Thatcher has been there. I haven't. There's still time. I am talking | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
about the Press Gallery Lunch. It usually an excuse for some House of | :16:10. | :16:16. | |
Commons claret. Yesterday, John Major spoke. They got more than they | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
bargained for. He certainly seems to be on fine | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
form yesterday lunchtime. As the last Conservative leader to win a | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
general election, his views will have been listened to carefully at | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
Conservative HQ. He told the journalists that George Osborne | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
should impose a windfall tax of this winter on the energy companies who | :16:37. | :16:38. | |
are raising prices and making massive profits. He also once more | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
help for the silent have nots who are being overlooked. Too many | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
people, he said, were falling behind through no fault of their own. He | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
also had words of warning for Iain Duncan Smith, saying he should | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
listen to some of his critics on welfare reform rather than just the | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
bean counters who obsess over abuse in the system. On Europe, the former | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
Prime Minister said he was opposed to James Warton's bill for an EU | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
referendum by 2017. He backed the idea of a referendum, although he | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
says Britain will vote to stay in the EU and that will end the debate | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
for a generation. He had to say to the BBC will stop I think there is a | :17:19. | :17:27. | |
real chance -- to the BBC. I think there's a real chance the government | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
will be forced to provide more help to people. It would be entirely | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
reasonable for the Chancellor then to recoup the money back from the | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
energy companies in a one off in past given the scale of their | :17:39. | :17:48. | |
profits. John Major. I'm joined by two men who never turned out a lunch | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
invitation. They are journalists! Tim Shipman from the Daily Mail and | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
Kevin Maguire from the Mirror. Tim Shipman, John Major seems to | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
surprise everybody in the press gallery. Did he surprise number ten | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
with his announcements, particularly on energy? He did a bit. He | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
surprised journalists. I cover anybody ever making so much news as | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
John Major yesterday. -- I can't remember. Does it mean, Kevin | :18:20. | :18:31. | |
Maguire, that he not only made these dramatic announcements but he then | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
went on to the cameras afterwards, which sort of looked planned, | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
choreographed, and surely there must have been some conversation going | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
on? I think the great man of British politics burst into colour and he | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
said, look, I am free, I can say what they like. You thought, he's | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
still a Tory but he sounds like he has a Labour manifesto. He can say | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
what he likes. They windfall tax. Go back to 1987, that was a Labour | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
policy. Margaret Thatcher had a couple of windfall taxes in the | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
1980s. He is free, and as he said, he can say what he likes. He | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
actually believes it on energy. Because he is the last Conservative | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
leader to win an overall majority, is he a man worth listening to? A | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
lot of MPs will think years. Don't forget, John Major got millions of | :19:33. | :19:41. | |
votes in 1992. A local Tories in marginal seats might think he has | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
something to say. When Tony Blair turned up yet -- last year, he said | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
he would only be there to see if he can still do it. John Major seems to | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
want to get involved in the polity is going on. Not only did he talk | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
about energy prices, he gave the Prime Minister a hard time about how | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
Tory MPs don't seem to care about the poor. For me, that was almost | :20:05. | :20:12. | |
more striking. It sounded like a bit of a warning to both parties. Yes, | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
no doubt more for the Conservatives in tone. It was all quite laden with | :20:19. | :20:27. | |
political overtones, Kevin. It was. He says, I know these people, I was | :20:28. | :20:36. | |
brought up with them. No doubt, when you have three bowling boys at the | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
top of the Conservative party, there was a comment in there. You cannot | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
say that Ed Miliband was dragged up in Yorkshire. His father was a | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
famous academic. John Major, he is old school. It is hard now to see | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
somebody like him getting to the top of British politics, possibly. Thank | :21:01. | :21:08. | |
you both very much. Grant Shapps, is John Major worth listening to? | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
Fanelli. He is right in terms of... He is right in terms of themes. You | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
have got a recession that we now discover was the biggest the country | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
ever had. The economy strength by the last election. It has taken a | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
long time to start to rebuild the growth, turn the corner. We're not | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
even back yet. As a result, there are lots of people whose cost of | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
living pressures are enormous. John Major is right to remind not just | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
the government but the country that those are the biggest challenges we | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
face. On the windfall tax on energy companies, why is it a bad idea? We | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
said it was interesting rather than a bad idea. A euphemism. We need to | :21:58. | :22:05. | |
ensure that is more competition in the marketplace. Things like that | :22:06. | :22:13. | |
?19 billion investment announced yesterday on Hinkley Point, that is | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
really important. We have got to have a mix of measures. The idea | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
that we can simply declared that everybody will pay less in energy | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
prices, as Ed Miliband has tried to do, in the knowledge that they were | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
put up the prices in advance... Or that we can somehow punish the | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
industry for not being competitive enough... Hold on. Yesterday was the | :22:43. | :22:50. | |
second biggest investment in the world. It is not going to do | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
anything about energy prices now. Heating or eating. John Major really | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
expressed it in those stark terms. He seemed to be pointing the finger | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
at the Conservatives, saying, you just don't understand the number of | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
people out there who are suffering. Absolutely we understand. He is | :23:13. | :23:15. | |
making a good point, which is that because of the failure to invest in | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
power plants over the years, over a decade, we have ended up in a | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
situation where we have ludicrously expensive power in this country. | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
This is something you can only address by building more, for which | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
you need the investment. One thing not to do is put people off | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
investing power in this country, or you make it more expensive for the | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
consumer in future. Let's go to Mary Creagh. Ed Miliband was tweeting | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
that John Major was making Labour's argument. But he did say that the | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
energy freeze wasn't workable. He is wrong. It is hugely embarrassing for | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
David Cameron to have a former Prime Minister break his self-denying | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
ordinance and speak out in this way and say the Conservative party is | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
out of touch. I am asking why you think his energy freeze cannot work. | :24:09. | :24:17. | |
What we have heard from Grant Shapps is more hot air. We have an energy | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
policy from this government which is basically, put on a jumper. That is | :24:23. | :24:33. | |
not sustainable. Investment in green energy has more than halved since | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
your government came in. It is down to ?3 billion. All of the community | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
schemes that were in the pipeline have been messed about because of | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
the solar tariff messed up. You didn't commission a single nuclear | :24:48. | :24:55. | |
power station in 13 years. Nothing was made or agreed. We put the | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
climate change act into action, which created the playing field | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
which said we want to move towards cleaner, greener energy. That has | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
more than halved under your government. We are having a cost of | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
living crisis where people are having to make, as John Major said, | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
the choice between heating their homes and eating. He knows it | :25:18. | :25:20. | |
because that is where he has come from. There will be a big gathering. | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
Somebody will drop something to somebody else's head. There may be | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
tears and screaming. Not PMQs. I'm talking about Prince George's | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
christening. The third in line to the throne is being welcomed into | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
the Anglican Church today in a short ceremony at St James's Palace. | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
Prince George is nicknamed Tips. You could call him PG Tips. Other brands | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
are available. Sounds like a good excuse to toast the big day in the | :25:54. | :25:56. | |
Daily Politics away. In honour of Little George and we have given our | :25:57. | :26:04. | |
DP mark a bit of a make over. -- our DP mug. Look at that. Very soon to | :26:05. | :26:12. | |
be on sale in every rubbish shot in the country. Surely the knighthood | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
must be in the post-ex-macro we have done this and you can win this piece | :26:17. | :26:23. | |
of royal memorabilia. -- in the post! | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
Here is JoCo to tell you what to do. Let's see if you can remember when | :26:30. | :26:31. | |
this happened. Even as the Israeli Prime Minister | :26:32. | :26:57. | |
talked to Mr Wilson, shells were falling on her country from across | :26:58. | :26:58. | |
the Jordan border. I, Charles, Prince of Wales, to | :26:59. | :27:16. | |
become your lease, of life and limb. -- do become your legion. | :27:17. | :27:37. | |
I Richard Nixon do solemnly swear... | :27:38. | :28:01. | |
Thanks for the musical complement. I will remove that pen from your hand | :28:02. | :28:09. | |
in a moment. Send your answer to our special quiz e-mail address. You can | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
see the full terms and conditions of Guess The Year on our website. | :28:16. | :28:25. | |
Just you try. It is, up to midday. There is Big Ben behind me. -- is | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
coming up to midday. It means Nick Robinson is in the studio. Energy I | :28:32. | :28:40. | |
was sure would come on in PMQs. Even that could be overshadowed by | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
Grangemouth. I think that's right. The number of jobs involved directly | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
and indirectly means that it has to be a question that will come up at | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
question time. It has to be a source of anxiety. I will be amazed if Ed | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
Miliband can resist quoting John Major. David Cameron will cloaked -- | :29:00. | :29:08. | |
quote John Major back at Ed Miliband. The language about excess | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
profits, about the need to do something, frankly, is more helpful | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
to Ed Miliband. John Major spoke about people in a way that David | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
Cameron couldn't. He spoke about his kind of people, the nearly poor, the | :29:23. | :29:27. | |
people behind lace curtains who don't shout out. It was quite a | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
devastating implicit indictment of the existing government. It was | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
particularly of Iain Duncan Smith. There is form here. John Major | :29:40. | :29:42. | |
doesn't much like Iain Duncan Smith. He led the destruction of any chance | :29:43. | :29:55. | |
of the Conservatives being elected in 1987. -- 1997. John Major said, | :29:56. | :30:07. | |
when you are targeting strongest -- scroungers, a lot of people are | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
struggling. I have at the transcript. There was an implicit | :30:12. | :30:18. | |
attack on the bedroom tax. Let's go straight to the House of Commons. | :30:19. | :30:25. | |
Thank you Mr Speaker. It is clear from the tributes that he was a | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
highly talented and professional soldier. Our thoughts are with his | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
family, his friends and colleagues at this very difficult time. He has | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
made the ultimate sacrifice and we must never forget him. On a happier | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
note, I'm sure the whole House will join me in celebrating the | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
economiesening of baby Prince George later today. -- the christening of | :30:50. | :30:58. | |
baby Prince George later today. Mr Speaker, could I join my right | :30:59. | :31:08. | |
honourable friend in his tribute to Corporal Brynin. And also in his | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
applause for the christening of Prince George this morning. Could I | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
ask my honourable friend, does he think it's a good time for an | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
apology from those regional branches of the Police Federation who so | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
reduced the Member for Sutton Coldfield and also from the Leader | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
of the Opposition? Let me start by saying on behalf of the whole House | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
and everyone in the House that we should put on record what an | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
incredible job the police do on our behalf every day. I see that at very | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
close hand. And the Leader of the Opposition and I saw that at the | :31:47. | :31:54. | |
Police Bravery Awards last week. The former Chief Whip gave a full | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
explanation what happened. The police said he gave no explanation | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
so it is now clear, reading the IPC C report, that the police do need to | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
make an apology. The officers concerned and the Chief Constables | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
are coming to the House today and I hope they will give a full account | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
and a proper apology to the Home Affairs Select Committee. It is, as | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
I think a moment for us all to consider what we said at the time | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
and I hope the Leader of the Opposition will do the same thing. | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
THE SPEAKER: Mr Ed Miliband. Mr Speaker, can I join the Prime | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
Minister in paying tribute to the Lance Corporal, who died on his | :32:34. | :32:36. | |
second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was a brave professional soldier | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
and I send our deepest condolences to his family and friends. I also | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
join the Prime Minister in celebrating the christening of | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
Prince George later today and send best wishes to the Duke and Duchess | :32:49. | :32:51. | |
of Cambridge. The Prime Minister said that anyone who wanted to | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
intervene directly in energy markets was living in a Marxist universe. | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
Can he tell the House how does he feel now that the red peril has | :33:02. | :33:09. | |
claimed Sir John Major? We are intervening. We are - I'm not | :33:10. | :33:17. | |
surprised he wants to quote the last Conservative Prime Minister and also | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
forget the mess that the people in between made of our country. Let me | :33:21. | :33:29. | |
be clear, though. I do believe in intervening in the energy market. | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
That is why we are legislating to put customers on the lowest tariff. | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
Where John Major is absolutely right is that bills in this country have | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
reached a completely unacceptable level. We need to take action on | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
that. We need to help people to pay their bills and we also need to help | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
to get bills down. This is where we need a very frank conversation about | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
what it is that is putting bills up. We are prepared to have that | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
conversation. He is employed in cynical ploys and gimmicks. Mr | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
Speaker, John Major was a Conservative Prime Minister who won | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
a majority, unlike this Prime Minister. But, Mr Speaker, I think | :34:14. | :34:30. | |
the Prime Minister said something rather interesting. He obviously now | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
does believe, he does agree with Sir John Major that the energy price | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
increases are unacceptable. If we agree that they are unacceptable, | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
what are we going to do about it? The former Prime Minister says, | :34:44. | :34:46. | |
given the scale of their profits, we should recoup that money. That is | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
the quote from him. He wants to do it through a windfall tax. I say we | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
need a price freeze. What does the Prime Minister want to do to recoup | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
that money for the consumer? Let me answer that question directly. We | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
need to roll-back some of the green regulations and charges - yes, yes. | :35:04. | :35:12. | |
We all know who put them in place. We all know who put them in place. | :35:13. | :35:19. | |
THE SPEAKER: Order. The House is very overexcited. I want to hear the | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
answers. Let's hear the Prime Minister. | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
First of all, he talks about John Major winning election. And he is | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
right. He beat a weak and incredible Labour Leader. Isn't this rather | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
familiar? John Major also said - and he is right - the first thing he | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
said was that Labour's policy was unworkable. He is absolutely right. | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
So what we need to do is recognise there are four bits to an energy | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
bill, there are the wholesale prices, which are beyond our | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
control, there are the costs of transmission and the Grid, which are | :35:58. | :36:00. | |
difficult to change, there are the profits of the energy companies and | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
there are the green regulations. It is those last two that we need to | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
get to grips with. I can tell the House today that we will be having a | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
proper competition test, carried out over the next year to get to the | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
bottom of whether this market can be more competitive. I want more | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
companies, I want better regulation, I want better deals for consumers. | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
Yes, we also need to roll-back the green charges that he put in place | :36:29. | :36:35. | |
as Energy Secretary. Mr Speaker, he really is changing his policy every | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
day of the week. It is extraordinary. His Energy Secretary, | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
who is in his place, says it is nothing to do with "green" taxes. | :36:46. | :36:48. | |
60% of the "green" taxes were introduced by him. Who is the man | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
who said vote blue to go green? It was him! I'll tell you what is weak, | :36:54. | :37:01. | |
Mr Speaker, it is not standing up to the energy companies and that is | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
this Prime Minister all over. He talks about the big six energy | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
companies. Who created the big six energy companies? When Labour came | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
to power, there were 17 companies in the market. Now, there are just six. | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
Mr Speaker, I can help members opposite. I have the briefing that | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
backbench Labour MPs have been given about their own energy policy. They | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
might want to listen - yes - they might - in case they haven't read | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
the briefing, they might want to read it. Question seven - what would | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
stop the energy companies just increasing their prices beforehand? | :37:40. | :37:48. | |
Absolutely no answer. Question six - I think - let me share your briefing | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
with you. How will you stop - question six - how will you stop | :37:54. | :37:57. | |
companies just increasing their prices once the freeze ends? Here we | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
have the great Labour answer - the public would take a dim view. A dim | :38:04. | :38:10. | |
view. How incredibly brave(!) Let's have question nine. This says it | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
all. Labour's briefing - this is what it says - Ed Miliband was | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
Energy Secretary in the last Government. Isn't he to blame for | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
rising bills? We all know the answer - yes, he is. I'll tell him what | :38:25. | :38:32. | |
happened. When I was Energy Secretary, energy bills went down by | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
?100. Since he became Prime Minister, they are up by ?300. Let's | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
clarify where we are. The Prime Minister says these price rises are | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
unacceptable. He says he wants to act. Now, he is the Prime Minister. | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
I know - I sometimes forget this. He is the Prime Minister. He can act. I | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
have a suggestion. He should implement Labour's price freeze. | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
There's an Energy Bill going through the other place. We can amend that | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
and we can bring in that price freeze right now. Two parties | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
working together in the national interest. Let's do it. Mr Speaker, I | :39:10. | :39:28. | |
think he's been following too much of his own advice wearing too many | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
woolly jumpers and getting a bit overheated. Let's do it. We can | :39:33. | :39:35. | |
bring in this price freeze right now. He knows perfectly well it is | :39:36. | :39:44. | |
not a price freeze, it is a price con. He admitted it was a price | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
conthe very next day because he cannot control global gas prices. | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
The truth is, prices would go up beforehand, he wouldn't keep his | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
promise and prices would go up afterwards. It ask a -- is a cynical | :39:59. | :40:05. | |
ploy from the Energy Secretary who wrecked the market in the first | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
place. Mr Speaker, I'll tell him what is a con. Telling people last | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
week that the answer was to switch suppliers. Let me ask the Prime | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
Minister, what does he say to someone who took his advice last | :40:21. | :40:23. | |
week to switch from British Gas only to discover that NPower was raising | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
its prices by 10%? It is worth people looking at switching. You can | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
save up to ?250. We want a more competitive energy market. He left | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
us a market with just six players. We have already seen seven new | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
energy companies come into that market. So we need an annual audit | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
of competition to make this market more competitive, something he never | :40:48. | :40:50. | |
did when in office. We need to roll-back the costs that have been | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
imposed on people's energy bills part of which he was responsible | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
for. One of the first acts of this Government was to take the ?179 that | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
he was going to put on to energy bills because of his renewable heat | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
initiative. He put bills up. He's trying to conthe public. We will | :41:08. | :41:14. | |
deliver for hard-working people. Mr Speaker, John Major said what we all | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
know - we have a Prime Minister who stands up for the energy companies, | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
not hard-pressed families. Many people face a choice this winter | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
between heating and eating. These are the ordinary people of this | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
country who this Prime Minister will never meet and whose lives they will | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
never understand. The difference is John Major is a good man, the right | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
honourable gentleman is acting like a conman. That is what we are | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
seeing. He is promising something he knows he can't deliver, he knows he | :41:48. | :41:50. | |
can't deliver because he never delivered it when he was in office. | :41:51. | :41:59. | |
THE SPEAKER: Mr Andrew Stevenson. Thank you, Mr Speaker. In the town | :42:00. | :42:08. | |
where I live, unemployment is down and small businesses are | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
flourishing. However, serious traffic congestion is holding back | :42:13. | :42:15. | |
the economic growth of the area. Will the Prime Minister join with me | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
in welcoming the start of a six-week consultation on a bypass that would | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
address this problem and boost job creation? I welcome what my | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
honourable friend says. He is right. The need for building bypasses and | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
roads in our country. That is why we are spending ?3 billion on major | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
upgrades. I welcome the consultation on this bypass. It comes at the same | :42:41. | :42:49. | |
time of very good news on unemployment. Thank you. On this day | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
20 years ago, the Provisional IRA brutally murdered innocent men, | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
women and children on the Shankill Road in Belfast. Will the Prime | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
Minister join with me and my right honourable and honourable colleagues | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
in ensuring that no-one is in a civilised society will ever equate | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
innocent victims with guilty murderers? I join the honourable | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
gentleman in commemorating that appalling act and the appalling loss | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
of life that took place that day. We all remember that. Of course, no-one | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
should ever glorify in any way terrorism or those who take part in | :43:28. | :43:30. | |
terrorism. What he knows and what I know is that everyone in Northern | :43:31. | :43:33. | |
Ireland has to try to come together to talk about a shared future and to | :43:34. | :43:40. | |
try to leave the past behind. Rural Post Offices are vitally important, | :43:41. | :43:43. | |
but they need more Government work to survive. They have to continue to | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
pay pensions and benefits and are ideally placed to provide banking | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
and identity check facilities. Will the Prime Minister encourage all his | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
Ministers to give more Government work to Post Offices? We all want to | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
see the Post Office network survive and thrive. Unlike the last | :44:07. | :44:09. | |
Government, who saw nearly a third of the rural Post Office network | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
close, we have committed that no Post Office will close in this | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
Parliament. So I absolutely hear what he says. The current | :44:18. | :44:20. | |
arrangements for collecting pensions and benefits will remain in place at | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
least until 2015 and the Department for Work and Pensions and the Post | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
Office are discussing an extension to 2017. Mr Speaker, 1.5 million | :44:30. | :44:43. | |
people in the UK are addicted to drugs. I know of one individual who | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
has been on these products for over 45 years - his total life ruined. | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
They are not drug misusers. They are victims of the system of repeat | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
prescriptions. Will the Prime Minister advise the Department of | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
Health to give some guidance to the clinical commissioning groups to | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
introduce withdrawal programmes in line with the advice from the | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
professor who is the expert in this field to give these people back | :45:12. | :45:12. | |
their lives? I know he has campaigned strongly on | :45:13. | :45:25. | |
this issue over many years. I join him in praising Professor Ashton. | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
This is a terrible affliction. They are not drug addicts but have become | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
hooked on tranquillisers. The Minister for Public health is happy | :45:37. | :45:39. | |
to discuss the issue with him. As he says, the relevant guidance is an | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
issue. I know the Prime Minister is well | :45:44. | :45:52. | |
aware of the concerns that many of our people have on rising energy | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
prices. Will he therefore acts to reduce the effect of Chris | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
Hughton's unfortunate legacy by cutting the carbon reduction policy, | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
elongating circuits that targets and relieving the burner -- burden on | :46:09. | :46:15. | |
business people? We have to have an honest discussion on this. On energy | :46:16. | :46:22. | |
bills is ?112 of green taxes and regulations. We need to work out | :46:23. | :46:29. | |
what is necessary to go on winning overseas investment into the UK. It | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
simply is the politics of the conman to pretend that you can freeze | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
prices when you are not in control of global energy prices, but the | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
proper approach is to see what is driving -- driving a bills. SPEAKER: | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
The word conman is on Parliamentary. Order, order. -- not Parliamentary. | :46:54. | :47:01. | |
The Prime Minister is a man of great versatility in language. It is below | :47:02. | :47:17. | |
the level. We will leave it there. Yesterday, the Independent reported | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
the government's failure to close the Eurobonds tax loophole, which | :47:25. | :47:27. | |
could be losing the Exchequer ?500 million per year. As the Prime | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
Minister ever been lobbied on this loophole? And will he pledged to | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
close it immediately? I have never been lobbied on this issue. I looked | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
at it this morning. The Treasury has listened to the arguments and made | :47:44. | :47:46. | |
the decisions for the reasons she knows. Over 300,000 new businesses | :47:47. | :48:03. | |
have been registered in the UK over the last three years, a record | :48:04. | :48:06. | |
figure. The key priority in supporting these businesses over the | :48:07. | :48:08. | |
difficult first few years of trading is to make sure we bear down on | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
regulation. Much has been done. What more can the government do to | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
support these risk-takers at this difficult time? I'm grateful to my | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
honourable friend for his question. The news out today is that we now | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
have the largest number of companies in our country that has ever | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
existed. Over the last three years, we see 400,000 extra companies | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
become established. We have to help them in every where we can. The most | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
powerful thing we are doing is cutting the national issue runs they | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
will have to pay by ?2000, starting next year. That will be a boost to | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
small businesses. Also, the red tape they are threatened with, we are | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
dealing with at every level, including the European Council this | :48:52. | :49:04. | |
week. It is an agenda right across the board to help small businesses. | :49:05. | :49:12. | |
New research shows that his government is scrapping low learning | :49:13. | :49:23. | |
-- lower earning aspirate benefits -- aspiring parents on benefits. | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
Isn't it time for a rethink? Labour want unlimited benefits for | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
families. There are no longer the Labour Party. They are the welfare | :49:33. | :49:35. | |
party. It is clear from the questions they ask. We think it is | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
right to cap benefits so that no family can earn more out of work | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
than they would earn in work. Evidence issuing this is encouraging | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
people to look for work. For a party that believes in hard-working | :49:50. | :49:53. | |
people, that is good news. For the welfare party, that is bad news. The | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
Prime Minister will be aware of the business model and Welsh water, | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
which is a not-for-profit company responsible to its consumers and not | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
its shareholders. Does the Prime Minister agree that such a company | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
in the energy supply sector would introduce real competition? We want | :50:13. | :50:18. | |
more competition in the sector, whether it come from private | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
businesses, cooperative businesses, or, as he says, charities. We want | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
an open energy market. What we were left was the big six, a six letter | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
asked by the party opposite. We were also left an Ofgem where the Leader | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
of the Opposition had appointed five of the nine people. It will take | :50:36. | :50:50. | |
approximately seven years to rehouse the 1400 tenants who wished to | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
downsize because they can't afford to pay the bedroom tax in my | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
constituency. Will the Prime Minister and advise them to move to | :51:00. | :51:02. | |
private rented accommodation, increasingly welfare bill, or should | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
they save money by turning down the heating and wearing a jumper? What | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
is fair about removing the spare room subsidy is that it makes the | :51:13. | :51:15. | |
situation fare between private sector rented accommodation and | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
council sector rented accommodation. It is that fairness we want to see | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
in our country. The party opposite have opposed every single welfare | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
reduction that we are proposing. ?85 billion they would have to find for | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
opposing every single thing we have done to get this country back on | :51:32. | :51:43. | |
track. The positive outlook for Osborne construction in my | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
constituency this year, with increased turnover and a strongly | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
increased forward order book is in the real economy all over the | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
country, not just my constituency. Will the Prime Minister undertake | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
not to be diverted from the long, hard slog of writing the public | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
finances and using the burdens on business so that plan a can continue | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
to enable businesses in my constituency to put our economy | :52:15. | :52:20. | |
right for the long-term? I'm glad to hear that the company is working his | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
constituency, as it is about the country. That is worthwhile. I take | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
this opportunity to pay tribute to him as a constituency MP standing up | :52:29. | :52:37. | |
for people in businesses in Reigate. More businesses, more jobs, turning | :52:38. | :52:45. | |
our country around. Fixed odds betting machines around -- and allow | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
the user to stake ?100 every 20 seconds for up to 30 hours per day. | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
They have transformed the local bookies from places where you can | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
have a flutter on the horses into high-street diddle casinos. Will the | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
Prime Minister consider banning these addictive machines, as has | :53:04. | :53:10. | |
recently happened in Ireland? This is an issue I have been repeatedly | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
lobbied on. I think it is worth having a proper look at this issue | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
to see what we can do to make sure that, yes, we want to have a | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
bookmakers that are not overregulated, but on the other hand | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
a fair approach and a decent approach that up -- prevents problem | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
gambling. Last year, 130 parents come on teachers and staff in | :53:37. | :53:39. | |
Bedfordshire were disappointed when their free school application file. | :53:40. | :53:48. | |
The Federation is now under investigation. We'll be Prime | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
Minister please use his good offices to ensure that the failed free | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
school application in mid-Bedfordshire is incorporated | :53:56. | :53:59. | |
into this enquiry? I'm grateful to look at my honourable friend's | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
suggestion. We need to have a proper policy of making sure that proposals | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
for free schools are ready to go ahead. When you look at the free | :54:10. | :54:15. | |
schools in our countries, two thirds have been judged good or | :54:16. | :54:18. | |
outstanding, which is a higher proportion than schools within the | :54:19. | :54:22. | |
state sector. I think it is worth not just continuing with this policy | :54:23. | :54:35. | |
but putting rocket boosters on it. I've visited Liverpool earlier this | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
year to launch the International Festival for business 2014. I | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
discussed with the mayor the prospect of obesity in terms of | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
overseas investment and the importance of this international | :54:47. | :54:55. | |
festival. -- the prospect of progress. Support to local govern | :54:56. | :55:04. | |
should be restricted to need - does the government agree? How does he | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
explain that households in our region have lost ?40 over the UKIP | :55:10. | :55:19. | |
years, where's households in his constituency in Game six? -- over | :55:20. | :55:26. | |
the past two years. The spending per dwelling in his area is ?3122, where | :55:27. | :55:36. | |
as in Oxfordshire it is less. I fully accept the need is greater in | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
his area. But I would argue that of a relatively fair balance between | :55:43. | :55:50. | |
the two. Following decades of underinvestment and hollow | :55:51. | :55:51. | |
promises, the Coalition's decision to fully work on the 811 is | :55:52. | :55:59. | |
inspiring confidence. -- the age 11. He is right. The ?100 million we are | :56:00. | :56:16. | |
investing in the road is an important part of that. This is | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
going to be completed in 2014. This will cut congestion on the route | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
between Cambridge and Norwich. The Shadow Chancellor wants to go and | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
watch the Canaries. He will be able to get their -- get there quicker. | :56:33. | :56:42. | |
Two weeks ago, the head of the Security service warned of the | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
extent of Islamist extremism. This week, two individuals have been | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
charged with serious offences. What is the Prime Minister going to do in | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
January, when some of those that the same -- Home Secretary has judged | :56:58. | :57:07. | |
hydrogen security are released? -- when some of those that the Home | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
Secretary has judged pose the biggest security risk are released? | :57:11. | :57:18. | |
We have had repeated meetings, including yesterday, to set out a | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
series of steps to counter the extremist narrative. We will be | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
blocking sites online. Facebook have reversed the decision dated | :57:29. | :57:31. | |
yesterday to show beheading videos online. We will take all the steps | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
and many more to take -- keep the country safe. Following the | :57:36. | :57:42. | |
Guardian's reckless handling of the Edward Snowden leaks, will be Prime | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
Minister join me in paying tribute to the men and women of our | :57:47. | :57:49. | |
intelligence services who have no voice but who do so much to keep the | :57:50. | :57:57. | |
country safe? He is right. It is a great privilege of this job to work | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
with our intelligent and securities services and to meet some of the | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
people who work for them. He is right to say they don't get thanked | :58:07. | :58:09. | |
enough because of the job they do. But I am convinced the work that | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
GCHQ and others do our behalf of the country helps to keep us safe. We | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
have seen that again this week with the arrests that have taken place. | :58:19. | :58:21. | |
Once again, we and police and intelligence work. We cannot praise | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
these people too highly. -- brilliant police and intelligence | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
work. The reality of work formally ends of people, low pay, short time, | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
a dizzy exploitation, were exposed on TV this week. Did the Prime | :58:38. | :58:49. | |
Minister see it -- did the Prime Minister CE? Everybody wants to see | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
living standards increase. That is why we have cut taxes for the | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
typical working person by ?705. Let's make the point about zero | :59:02. | :59:09. | |
hours contracts. The proportion of people in those contracts in 2012 | :59:10. | :59:13. | |
was the same in the year 2000. The number of people employed and zero | :59:14. | :59:20. | |
hours increased by 75% between 2004 2009. That is when that lot were | :59:21. | :59:28. | |
government. Businesses in Crawley are creating hundreds of new jobs, | :59:29. | :59:32. | |
leading to unemployed falling to 2.7% last month. Does my honourable | :59:33. | :59:38. | |
friend agree with me that the way to raise living standards is to | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
increase the policies of economic growth rather than the discredited | :59:44. | :59:51. | |
policies of get? He is right. What we have seen is business confidence | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
is rising, consumer confidence rising, exports increasing, | :59:57. | :00:00. | |
manufacturing is up, we see a big road in terms of employment. -- a | :00:01. | :00:08. | |
big growth. We want to do more to help people feel better off by | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
reducing taxes, which is what we are doing. All of this will be put at | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
risk if we give up on reducing the deficit. That is what the party | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
opposite would give us, a 11 E of higher mortgage rates and taxes. | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
Does the Prime Minister think it is fair that a sacked a pregnant woman | :00:29. | :00:35. | |
will not have to pay ?1200 to take a maternity disk image and Katie the | :00:36. | :00:43. | |
planning tribunal? The one thing we have done is to make sure people | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
don't earn those rights until they work for a business for two years. | :00:49. | :00:57. | |
Thanks to the Chancellor's policies, unemployment in Burton fell by 10% | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
last month. It is now at its close level since September, 2008. Many of | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
those jobs were created in small businesses. They now have the | :01:09. | :01:19. | |
confidence to invest. My honourable friend is right. I implement in the | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
West Midlands fell by 14,000. I wrote to you onleth May about -- | :01:22. | :01:47. | |
on 8th May about the possible involvement of Lynton Crosby in | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
health matters. I raised it again in the summer adjournment debate. I | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
have served in in House under four previous Prime Ministers who replied | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
to members' letters. THE SPEAKER: This question will be | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
heard with some courtesy as I expect of all questions. It is very simple | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
and very straightforward. I have served under four previous | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Prime Ministers who replied to members' letters. Why won't you? I | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
will certainly reply to his letter. Let me give him the reply. Public | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
health responsibility is a matter for the Department of Health. Lynton | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
Crosby's job is the destruction of the Labour Party and he is doing a | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
good one. STUDIO: That brings us to the end of | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
Prime Minister's Questions. It is remarkable that Grangemouth wasn't | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
raised at all during PMQs. Sometimes people are reluctant to raise issues | :02:48. | :02:55. | |
coming up with urgent questions. Neither frontbench chose to mention | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
it. That is something I think that the Nationalists won't let go. | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
Remember, energy is a reserve power in many aspects to Westminster, yet | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
it didn't come up at that part of the House of Commons which is | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
broadcast on network television to the nation. That was a dog that | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
didn't bark. We got one that did and that was Mr Cameron making a U-turn | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
on the Tory attitude towards green levies. He was on the back foot, the | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
Prime Minister a lot of the time, he announced that the Government was | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
now going to review the green levies, ?112 in an average dual fuel | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
bill, he said. They will look at ways to cut that. | :03:40. | :03:48. | |
We will speak about this new Conservative policy in a minute. | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
Let's find out what you thought about PMQs. | :03:53. | :03:54. | |
There were a few comments towards the end of PMQs about the dog that | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
didn't bark. This from Mike, "This disaster is not at the top of David | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
Cameron or Ed Miliband's list. Surely a great advert for | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
independence." The e-mails were of course on the energy debate and in | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
response to John Major's comments yesterday. Our viewers gave a win to | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
Ed Miliband. "John Major has given Ed Miliband an easy introduction to | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
PMQs this week." Another one, "I'm no fan of Ed Miliband, but a good | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
performance from him today largely due to David Cameron's inability to | :04:34. | :04:47. | |
deal with the energy bills issue." Lorna says, "I think it was out of | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
order for David Cameron to infer that Ed Miliband is a conman." | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
This from Ray, "Following yesterday's news from NPower about | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
the increase in energy prices, yet again a large number of consumers | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
are going to take a hit on their energy costs. Let's not worry too | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
much. This is the Labour Party's contribution to the cost-of-living | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
crisis. Mr Miliband's premature announcement has to be the worst | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
thought-out policy announcement in modern sosh economic history." | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
Normally, I would go to Nick to ask some questions. But want to come to | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
Grant Shapps this week because of this announcement on green levies | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
that is the Prime Minister is reviewing. What green levies will | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
you look at and take off the electricity bills? That will be part | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
of the review, of course. It is fair to say the levies are starting to be | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
a significant amount of money. For example, Ed Miliband trumpeted the | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
idea of having a cut of ?125, but we know he had also signed up to a new | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
green levy which would mean ?100-something would be added to the | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
energy bills so we need to look at the total now that... You voted for | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
these green levies? We voted in different times. No, you voted for | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
ALL the green levies. You, the Conservatives, voted for ALL the | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
green levies that Ed Miliband introduced in the 2008 Climate | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
Change Bill? But, bear in mind, that energy prices have gone much, much | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
higher than they were at the time of the last Parliament when these were | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
being voted through. The consumer is really hurting. Now, the answer is | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
not to do nothing and nor is it to lock the market and say force the | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
market to give you a discount that can't be sustainable. The answer is | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
to bring online more supply, nuclear power, fracking through shale gas, | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
and look at the extra costs which are adding to the energy bill of | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
which renewable is starting to become a significant amount of | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
money. Energy prices were beginning to rise fast because there became a | :06:54. | :07:02. | |
world shortage of gas. Of the ?112 that we pay on our dual fuel bill | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
towards green-related levies, how much has been added by the | :07:09. | :07:10. | |
coalition? I don't have the number on that. 50%? OK. So you have added | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
50% of the levies we now pay and now you are saying you are going to take | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
them away again? When we came in 2010, wholesale gas prices weren't | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
what they were now. They were rising fast? Circumstances change so it is | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
right to go back and look at whether these things were right. It's not | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
has happened up until now... I thought you were going to be the | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
greenest Government ever? We will be. How can you be the greenest | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
Government ever if you are taking away green levies? We are building | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
homes now at code level four, it means that the amount of Co2 emitted | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
from homes is far less. You don't do that to do with putting additional | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
costs of people's energy bills... Do you now... Hold Hold on, you can | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
still be the most green Government in history. You can build things | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
like homes which emit 20% of the country's Co2... Do you regret at a | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
time of rising energy prices you added to this rise by putting on | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
these levies? I would love to know... You were told at the time. | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
Hold on. We were chatting about the strike prices, that is the price at | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
which you can build a new nuclear power station. This Government | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
ending years of delay has agreed to a contract which is essentially at | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
?95... Twice the wholesale market price? Interestingly, by comparison, | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
to a price that Labour could have got had they made this agreement | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
when they were in power. I told you that during PMQs. Are you reducing | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
your arguments to things I tell you... That was a very good point. | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
You didn't know? In which case, it does bring us back to the big | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
question of why did they not invest all of those years ago. I didn't | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
know that. Fascinating. Why aren't the investments made? This is not a | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
further education class for you! Have you squared the Lib Dems on | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
this? This Government will have to go forward together on these | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
policies. Have you squared the Lib Dems? They will have to be part of | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
this. The Lib Dems are going to agree to reductions in the green | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
levies? The Lib Dems understand that people are hurting and rather than | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
coming up with gimmicks, cons, what you have to do is do the things that | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
will bring down the price of fuel. One of which is to look at the green | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
levies. We will get this in the Autumn Statement? It will be coming | :09:42. | :09:50. | |
out very soon. December 1st, no, 4th, live Daily Politics special. | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
You will be getting a bill from me shortly! This is quite remarkable, | :09:58. | :10:04. | |
is it not? I thought Grant Shapps chose his words quite carefully. He | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
didn't claim they were squared, he said that they would be part of | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
whatever was done. I'm sorry, forgive me. They are not squared? | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
The Tory source I have been talking to online does claim that the | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
Liberal Democrats have been in conversations in the past week about | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
what could be done. Curious, this, I was talking to a senior Cabinet | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
Minister who insisted that the very thing we have just announced was not | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
going to happen. I'm one of these people that refuses to score PMQs. | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
It is not a football match. I will break the habit of a lifetime. That | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
was a nightmare for David Cameron. He has been forced week after week | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
to change his position on the issue of energy prices. He's now made a | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
concession on policy which isn't clear what it will mean for | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
consumers. It is very much work in progress. We are told there will be | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
a statement in the Autumn Statement about the detail on green levies. We | :11:02. | :11:09. | |
are told that various authorities, Ofgem, the office for fair trading | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
and the new competition authority, the CMA, will look at the way the | :11:16. | :11:28. | |
market works. This is policy being made on the hoof. Right. However, if | :11:29. | :11:35. | |
the Prime Minister pulls it off, and it is a big if, he could have shot | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
your fox. You are promising to freeze prices. If they cut green | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
levies, they will be cutting electricity prices? That is | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
unlikely. If they can do it, they will? He's announced something the | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
OFT doesn't know anything about. And the OFT is not... Is it Ofgem... | :11:54. | :12:03. | |
Office of Fair Trading. That's conceding Ed Miliband's point that | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
the energy market is broken. We have heard about the end of green levies. | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
What do they pay for? They pay for people to replace their boilers and | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
home insulation, to keep people warm. We have seen the home | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
insulation industry collapse under this Government. They paid for | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
incentives for people to invest in green energy which is local, | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
community... At the moment, what you are doing, under the policy that | :12:30. | :12:31. | |
they have inherited from you, is you are making people on average on | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
below average incomes in their fuel bills pay for the insulation of the | :12:38. | :12:40. | |
poor. Surely, it would be much fairer if we are going to do that at | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
all to put that on general taxation? What we have got... Wouldn't it? The | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
insulation has collapsed... No, that was your policy. Address the point | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
that I'm making that it was your policy, it was outlined in various | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
Government Acts that you would put on to ordinary people's fuel bills | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
green levies that would be used to insulate the homes of the poor. Why | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
would it not be fairer if you want to do that to put it on to general | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
taxation? We took the decision in the Climate Change Act that that was | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
the way to go. I know that. We couldn't predict the future. But | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
also, what we have got now is a situation where businesses are | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
hurting and people are hurting. What is the Government doing about that? | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
Week after week, David Cameron is coming back and he has nothing to | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
say. The green energy supply of this company is frozen. That is a big | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
problem. But there are billions being spent on offshore wind at the | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
moment? Well, ?3 billion over the last three years is not... There's | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
one further down between Wales and the West Country. Angela Knight said | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
?11 billion had been invested in that. Offshore wind at three times | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
the current wholesale cost of energy. It is higher than the | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
nuclear deal his Government has agreed. Nick? One is that ?112 that | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
the Prime Minister referred to, that is the amount that he says comes | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
from these green levies and other regulations and note the word "other | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
regulations". It's made up of lots of different elements. There's no | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
suggestion that you can abolish the ?112. I looked at the possibility | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
that the Treasury would take it on to their books, in other words what | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
you were saying to Mary Creagh, the taxpayer pays. The estimate is ?2.5 | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
billion. That is ?2.5 billion the country hasn't got unless it wants | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
to do what John Major... They always seem to find money when they need | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
it. That is a small amount of money in a budget of ?56 billion? They | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
have to pay for free school meals, they have to pay for marriage tax | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
allowance... They found ?2 billion to do that. Your point is valid, but | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
it's a little bit - and they add up. There is another target for 2013 | :15:03. | :15:14. | |
that Ed Miliband has signed up to four more new renewables. What we | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
are saying is, let's look at all of that. Are you, not Mary Creagh's | :15:22. | :15:33. | |
government, are you the government that set the carbon price? You set | :15:34. | :15:45. | |
it higher than the proposal by 2020. Rather than steam-roll ahead, when | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
the wholesale price was lower, circumstances have changed since | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
then. Grangemouth. This is highly relevant to Grangemouth. Both your | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
governments have loaded onto heavy industry enormous energy costs. A | :16:04. | :16:14. | |
factory in Cheshire has been closed because of energy costs. A | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
petrochemical plant in Grangemouth can't compete because of costs. It | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
was to bring in cheaper gas from America. Both of you have created | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
this problem. Today is an admission that it is time to look at some of | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
these costs. It was interesting that Grangemouth wasn't raised. I'm | :16:38. | :16:46. | |
surprised nobody asked a question. I was at pub two fox biscuits. -- at | :16:47. | :16:55. | |
Fox biscuits. They said it adds to the viability issue. Did you buy any | :16:56. | :17:03. | |
biscuits? Otherwise you are not coming back! I'm giving you cake. | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
I'm giving him facts. We have got to get something back. A final word | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
from Nick Robinson. I think you were saying, Grant Shapps, the government | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
will stop subsidising wind power. Were you? I am saying it is time to | :17:20. | :17:30. | |
look at the risk. These are the figures, even if they did, that is | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
?30 of the average bill. Less than 2%. But it is off. It is off. It | :17:36. | :17:44. | |
will be welcome. This argue it is going to continue. Just before we | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
move on, we were hoping to speak to the finance minister of the Scottish | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
government in Edinburgh. We have been told that the Scottish Cabinet | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
has gone into an emergency session because of events in Grangemouth. If | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
we hear more, we will bring it to you. For a change we are going to | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
talk about energy bills. As we have been discussing, the prime and is | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
has opened a debate about Queen levies. -- the Prime Minister has | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
opened a debate about green levies. The government has given the | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
go-ahead for solar production. But there is huge opposition, not least | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
from Conservative MPs, including Brooks Newmark. The campaigns and | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
gains a solar farm in his constituency. -- against. Here is | :18:30. | :18:45. | |
his soapbox. My constituency has some of the most beautiful | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
countryside in the country. We have an area of outstanding natural | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
beauty, an area known as Constable country. It is now under threat. | :18:53. | :19:02. | |
Although it's hard to imagine, a solar panel farm is being considered | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
behind me. It is not just a solar panel farm over a few thousand feet | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
or even one acre. We're talking 300 acres of prime agricultural land | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
being covered with solar panels. This is something you might expect | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
to see at the Tate modern in London. It is certainly not something I | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
would expect to see here in this part of Essex. I am known in the | :19:28. | :19:36. | |
will stop I understand the need for -- I am no NIMBY. I understand there | :19:37. | :19:48. | |
is a need to reduce costs in energy. But this is not the solution. Surely | :19:49. | :19:57. | |
it is better that we use Brownfield sites rather than prime agricultural | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
land? What is happening today is that playing -- planning revelations | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
are being abused. You can build a solar panel farm here and you can | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
graze sheep weaving in and out of the solar panels and say it is not a | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
change of use of the land. Planning regulations today say you don't need | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
environmental impact assessments for solar panel farms. Yet for a house | :20:26. | :20:32. | |
to my left, they wanted to build a garage and were told that given the | :20:33. | :20:35. | |
impact it has on the local environment, they could not build a | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
garage. Yet for some reason, building a 300 acre solar panel farm | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
you don't need an environment for assessment for. I don't blame the | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
local farmers. They stand to make millions. But we have a response | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
ability to future generations to protect the countryside full stop -- | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
responsibility to future generations to protect the countryside. We do | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
not want solar panels in our backyard. Looks new mud joins asked | :21:06. | :21:14. | |
now. It was fairly Claire -- Brooks Newmark joins me now. It was fairly | :21:15. | :21:22. | |
clear how you feel. We have a responsibility to protect our | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
countryside. There are a number of Brownfield sites we can use. But | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
they are not appropriate. They are in parts of the country where there | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
is not enough sunlight. That is what the body for responsible -- | :21:37. | :21:44. | |
responsible said. There are plenty of places in Essex where there are | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
Brownfield sites. Now disused airfields, commercial properties | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
with rooftops, loads of other places. -- there are disused | :21:53. | :22:02. | |
airfields. I want to see 300 acres of solar panels. -- I do not want to | :22:03. | :22:12. | |
see. Times are changing. There is a difference between a TV aerial on a | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
house and 300 acres of panels covering the countryside. Do you | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
have sympathy with that? These are decisions for local people. His | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
point about the environs impact assessment is not the 70 Val. | :22:29. | :22:40. | |
Actually, what we know from -- his point about the environmental impact | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
assessment is not a valid. It could be a positive benefit to the | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
biodiversity of Essex. It is not necessarily a win-lose situation. | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
The visual impact is clearly something that local planning | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
authorities need to look at. You are focusing too much on statics. You're | :23:02. | :23:12. | |
absolutely right. -- aesthetic. We are covering 300 acres of some of | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
the most beautiful countryside in panels. Are the planning laws up to | :23:21. | :23:28. | |
scratch? No, they are not. There are holes in the laws. The planning | :23:29. | :23:39. | |
officers say yes, but there is the biodiversity argument, and as long | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
as the farmer can come up with a read -- reason such as insect life | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
weaving in and out between the panels, that would be all right. To | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
me, that is ludicrous. The second point I would make is, the chap | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
wanted to build a garage. He had to have an assessment. To build 300 | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
acres of SS -- panels, you don't need an assessment. But you need | :24:04. | :24:13. | |
clean energy. I support that. I support energy diversity. Everybody | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
says that! There are certain areas in the country that are designated | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
as areas of outstanding beauty. They are beautiful and we want to | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
preserve them. Name some other parts of the country where they should be. | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
The desolate North? I don't want them in rural areas. We could use | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
disused airfields. There are fired in my area. I'm not saying we | :24:44. | :24:50. | |
shouldn't have them. -- there are five in my area. How confident are | :24:51. | :24:58. | |
you of success? I am lukewarm, to be honest. I hope to get a more robust | :24:59. | :25:10. | |
letter of support. I don't have the same extreme reaction. I think we | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
need a mix of energy. I don't know about that particular location, | :25:15. | :25:22. | |
there are some proposed in my own constituency. I have had letters | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
about it. You're right about needing to cut CO2. Yesterday we had a big | :25:28. | :25:35. | |
investment in nuclear that produces no CO2. There are other ways to do | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
it. It was 16 billion yesterday. Give or take. I will always rely on | :25:43. | :25:52. | |
your research. You can continue the discussion afterwards! At least we | :25:53. | :26:00. | |
are building something. Your reaction to the PMQs announcement? | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
Energy bills will be brought down by green levies? There are huge | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
disincentives for a lot of industries that are feeling the pain | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
of these green levies. When they were brought in, the price of energy | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
was different. We have to be defensible in government. When | :26:22. | :26:23. | |
things change, we must learn to adapt. -- we have to be flexible in | :26:24. | :26:33. | |
government. So, thumbs up from me. Thank you. I to the dispute over the | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
giant Grangemouth complex in Scotland, where the owner has said | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
they will close a petrochemical plant. -- back to the dispute. It | :26:46. | :26:56. | |
has put the future of the oil refinery in doubt as well as the | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
petrochemical complex. The energy secretary has been speaking in the | :27:01. | :27:02. | |
House of Commons in the last few minutes. The government is saddened | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
by this move, particularly because of the uncertainty it will bring for | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
the workforce and all those who indirectly over their livelihood to | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
the Grangemouth petrochemical plants. The government doesn't | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
underestimate the plant's importance both for the local community and the | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
Scottish economy. While respecting the right to make this decision, it | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
is regrettable that both parties have not managed to negotiate a fair | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
and equitable settlement that delivers a viable business model for | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
the plant. Even at this late stage, government urges them to continue | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
dialogue and we will for all possible help with this. Very much a | :27:46. | :27:52. | |
holding statement there. It doesn't take as far. Watch this space. It | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
will be covered all day. Before we go, time to put you out of your | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
misery. The answer to Guess The Year. It was 1969. The giveaway | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
should have been the black and white footage of Mr Nixon being sworn in | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
for the first time in January, 1969, as president of the US. Grant | :28:16. | :28:18. | |
Shapps, I have not told them the winner. You can whack that button | :28:19. | :28:28. | |
and make somebody a happy bunny. Neil Kemp from Reading. Well done. | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
That is it for today. Thanks to both our guests for being such good | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
sports. The BBC News is starting on BBC One. I will be back tomorrow | :28:41. | :28:50. | |
with all the big political stories of the day. Will Hutton will be with | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
us. From all of us here, have a good afternoon. Goodbye. | :28:55. | :28:58. |