06/11/2013 Daily Politics

Good morning, this is the Daily Politics. Today's top story: 1775

jobs will go at shipyards in Glasgow and Portsmouth. Ship building on the

south coast of England. Completely. The news was confirmed in the last

hour, we will bring you all the Westminster reaction as it happens.

The job losses are bound to feature in PMQs. The weekly battle between

David Cameron and Ed Miliband is live at midday.

The dispute over what exactly happened in Falkirk continues to

cause the Leader of the Opposition headaches - the local MP joins us in

the studio. Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. That am I an addict? No.

And can a self-confessed crack smoker continue as Toronto mayor? --

but am I an addict? What is your view? I will tell you later, give me

a time to think! I know you are an expert! Brave!

All that and more in the next 90 minutes. And with us for the

duration of today's programme, two of Westminster's finest - the Shadow

Attorney General, Emily Thornberry, and the former Environment

Secretary, Caroline Spelman. Welcome.

First today, this morning's breaking news. Bad news for the Clyde and

Portsmouth. Navy ships have been built at Portsmouth for 500 years,

but this morning we learnt ship building is to cease at the

dockyard. That'll be in the second half of next year. Gerald Vernon

Jackson is the leader of Portsmouth Council, he joins us. This is a big

blow, it will be around 1000 job losses after a dockyard workforce of

around 11,000, it is very big. For me, the real worry is that

Portsmouth is the last place in England which builds and has the

ability to build advanced surface warships. All of the yard is being

able to do that in the future would be in Scotland. What if Scotland

chooses independence? The Royal Navy has never bought chips from outside

our shores, now it will have to go looking to a foreign country to buy

ships. To go to France, Germany, Scotland. That is very bad,

strategically, for the defence of the UK. We will know on September

the 18th next year whether Scotland votes for independence, but will the

capacity have to be moved to England? The Royal Navy has never

bought any ships from a foreign power, and by that time Scotland

will be a foreign power. That is a huge waste of money. The Royal Navy

built submarines at Barrow in Furness and they let most people go.

We lost all the skills. When a new contract arrives you have to

re-employ Andrey skilled people, a waste of public money. It is the

wrong decision at the wrong time. Defence budgets are being scrapped

all over Europe, including in this country. People are not ordering the

kind of ships that Portsmouth builds. That aside Scottish

independence, isn't it inevitable that work would be concentrated in

the two yards opposite each other on the Clyde, and that Portsmouth would

be the victim? That decision could have been made if the issue of

Scottish independence was not around. We are in island nation and

we depend on the sea to bring in all the food we eat, the gas and the

central heating. We depend on the Navy to defend our sea lanes. It is

ludicrous that the Royal Navy would have to go to a foreign power to buy

warships. I don't think we will be building many more ships. I think

the Royal Navy only has about 19,000. We have about 40 based in

Portsmouth. The size of the Royal Navy has shrunk, we have one third

of the number of frigates and destroyers we had when Mrs Thatcher

came to power, so it is much smaller, but the political decision

should have been not to make this decision until the Scottish

independence... They could have waited for ten months to make this

decision. What is the argument against that? Ten months is not

long. There has to be a lead time so that the skills and excellent

workforce in Portsmouth and the Clyde have the opportunity to find

jobs commensurate with their skills. With the renaissance of

manufacturing, certainly in my area, the West Midlands, these

skills are highly sought after for investors looking to invest in this

country. There are job losses in Scotland, too, almost as many as

Portsmouth. Do you think these people could move from Portsmouth to

the West Midlands? Not necessarily even have to move. If you look at

how Tata invested in Jaguar Land Rover, they have created many extra

jobs since the crash, 24,000 jobs in the supply chain alone, and part of

the reason was looking at the pool of skilled labour. We are incredibly

short of skilled engineers and engineering apprenticeships. There

lots of apprenticeships but that are vacancies for people with these

skills in your part of the world. Don't go away, but I need to hear

from you. I wish Caroline was right. We can't forget that for every job

loss in one of these yards, there are the shops, the people who

provide the materials, many other jobs, the whole supply chain. The

effect on Portsmouth will be enormous. Certainly, I hope that

companies would be able to move into that area and employ some of these

people. But there are certainly no guarantees, and if I was living in

Portsmouth tonight I would be very worried, coming up to Portsmouth. --

coming up to Christmas. The idea is that we either build more warships,

or that we keep Portsmouth open eye closing one of the Scottish yards.

Does Labour have a policy? At 12:30pm, I think Vernon Coaker will

be asking on which basis this decision has been made, we need a

proper explanation to what extent it has been a political decision or a

commercial one, is that all isn't there Scottish factor? People in

Glasgow and Portsmouth deserve that. Do you think you have been

sacrificed on the altar of Scottish independence, or an attempt to stop

it? It is clearly a political decision. The orders for where ships

are built or maids are made by ministers. They could have made the

decision to keep naval ship holding in England for the future. They have

made the decision that they do not want to do that. They must assume

that Scotland will vote no? That must be there working assumption? Or

they have made the strategic decision that it is okayed to build

Royal Navy ships abroad, I think they are wrong. The Secretary of

State, Mr Hammond, is saying no to other things in Scotland, he says,

you become a foreign country, we will not build better. There was a

simple and easy solution that we suggested to the MoD, which they

have rejected. I think we are now going to go to Portsmouth. It has

been confirmed that Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will make

his statement after PMQs. We are joined now by our reporter in

Portsmouth. Have workers officially been told about the 940 job losses?

This is a city built on naval shipbuilding. It is a long history

and very proud heritage. The news that some 940 jobs will be lost has

gone Dell like a lead balloon, as you might imagine. -- gone Dell

unlike a red balloon. 140 jobs here, 700 zero jobs in Scotland, but

Portsmouth is bearing the brunt. No new warships will be built here.

This is the last naval yard with the capability to build advanced

warships in England, and the leader of the council says it is a

devastating blow. He believes there will be some kind of capability

necessary in England for building this type of vessel. The sweetener

is that it will be retained as a maintenance yard where work will be

carried out repairs and maintenance, but that cut little ice with those

likely to lose jobs today. There has already been quite a stiff political

reaction. The Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South, Mike Hancock, says

workers will be utterly devastated by this news today. The local

Chamber of Commerce has weighed in, saying that the headline job losses

are merely the tip of the iceberg. There are many other jobs in the

supply line which will now be lost as a result of this decision. We

will know more detail when Philip Hammond stands up and makes the

statement in the House of Commons at around 12:30pm. Thank you. We are

joined now by Mike Hancock, the local MP for the area. He joins us

in the House of Commons. He was Lib Dem but I think he is independent

now. What is your reaction to the decision to close naval building in

Portsmouth? I am absolutely devastated, along with the

individuals concerned and the city as a whole. 500 years of tradition

will be swept away, 940 jobs will go, which will be very hard to

replace and very difficult to get all those people that came to work

in a very quick time. It is very disappointing and pretty upsetting

for everybody concerned. Do you believe the decision has been taken

to close Portsmouth but keep the two yards on the Clyde as part of the

Government pulls-macro efforts to keep the union together? I'd have to

be extremely cynical to say that was the only reason. I think it is part

of the reason. I think the other parties do way in which the Ministry

of Defence has run the procurement programme for the last ten years --

I think the other part is the way. I think BAE one to minimise their --

want to minimise their costs. It is a combination of the three things

which we will have to pay a price for in Portsmouth. If we are in an

era of deep defence cuts, we spend about ten percentage of our GDP on

defence these days, then three shipyards will be one too many for

the Navy? These are not the sort of things you could replace easily. If

things went knees up in Scotland by the referendum going against the UK

Government, it would be very hard to replace what we have taken apart in

Portsmouth. I don't think there is a fallback. I think it is a very

serious foolish government which puts all its eggs in one basket when

it has three, efficient yards. People I have spoken to are heaping

praise on the workforce in Portsmouth, the unions in Portsmouth

have played the game, they have kept disputes to a minimum and worked

with the company. The company has rewarded them by stabbing them in

the back in this way, which I think is a very bitter blow for anyone,

including many of my constituents, who spent their whole working lives

in that yard. Thank you for joining us. We will

wait to see what the Defence Secretary Mr Hammond has to say at

12:30pm when he makes that statement. One of the difficulties,

I would suggest, is that the frigates and destroyers that we make

now are incredibly sophisticated. They are floating computers at the

highest level. When you lose these skills, almost no body makes a

ships, other than the Americans and ourselves and maybe one or

people are highly skilled, they need to keep their skills up to date,

we're not in a position to switch the tap on and off. We are really

short of skilled labour, we can't fill positions in the growing part

of the private sector. The recovery has barely begun and we are short of

skilled labour? ! Bee we are short of engineers, and these computing

skills are transferable. Longbridge closed with thousands of jobs. They

have all been reabsorbed into the success of the West Midlands car

manufacturing. Jaguar Land Rover took them on. Into similar jobs, car

building, there will not be an alternative boat builder. This is

one way of finding a sustainable future. There was a loss of 500

engineering jobs in Southampton. The most popular job that people moved

into, not through choice, was being taxi drivers. That is not moving

skills into high-end engineering. We can go over to Nick Robinson.

The decision was whether this was a strategic commercial or a political

decision? We are well aware of the politics of

the Clyde, aware of the danger of closing one of the Glasgow shipyards

on the Clyde ahead of a Scottish referendum. Here is the case against

that that is being made to me by defence insiders. First of all, they

say that Govan builds ships cheaper than Portsmouth. From a Tory

perspective, it is in their interest to keep jobs in the south of England

and not have jobs in Scotland. The more compelling case is this. They

say that the decisions about which shipyards to close were discussed

three years ago when the government had a Strategic Defence Review in

2010. That was before Alex Salmond was re-elected in Scotland. In other

words, what people are saying is that it was always inevitable that

once this massive project of building two aircraft carriers came

to an end, the jobs would go. The issue then was, did the jobs go in

Portsmouth or Scotland? There is no doubt that political factors around

the referendum have reinforced the case in Scotland. The case being

made to me is that there were overwhelming reasons to choose Govan

and Scotstoun. The issue of the timing has been discussed in the

studio. Bearing in mind it is less than a year until the referendum,

why not wait until we knew which way Scotland would go? The reason may be

that there is a problem looming. Work is gradually being wound down

on those aircraft carriers. It will carry on until 2015 but it is being

wound down. Replacement work, work for the new generation of frigates,

13 of them, that is not due to start for many years. There was a gap that

had to be filled if we were to find there was no work at all on the

Clyde. What we know is that the gap will be filled by orders for new

vessels, things we did not know about before. The Ministry of

Defence has found money by renegotiating the contract for

aircraft carriers to keep people working on the Clyde. If they had

done nothing, those jobs would have gone unless they work being

subsidised for sitting, literally, on their hands. Thank you very much.

Ed Miliband is under pressure to open the Labour enquiry into the

selection of their candidate in Falkirk this morning, after the

Unite union issued a statement last night giving their side of events

following a number of newspaper allegations over the weekend. Over

to Jo to bring us up to date. It is a complicated story and gets more

complicated as the days go by. Unite have issued a statement aimed at

"clearing up the confusion" over their role in the selection of the

Labour Party candidate in Falkirk. Unite say the core of the

allegations reported by the Daily Mail and other newspapers over the

weekend were already contained within the internal Labour Party

report, which Unite claim they never received but one of their officials

has read. Unite describe the internal Labour report as "no more

than a list of allegations" and that it couldn't be considered a final

investigation into what went on in Falkirk. But, perhaps confusingly,

they say that Labour was right not to reopen its July enquiry. The most

senior Labour figure to weigh into the debate over Falkirk was former

Chancellor Alistair Darling who said on Monday that Labour should

consider reopen its investigation, saying it was important that this

time the outcomes were published. But yesterday Ed Miliband was

repeatedly asked whether Labour would reopen their enquiry or

publish the findings of the old one. He told journalists a second police

investigation was underway, and he did add that leader of the Scottish

Labour Party, Johan Lamont, would look into any new allegations that

emerge. I was taking notes! We are joined in

the studio by the former Labour MP for Falkirk, Eric Joyce. Welcome

back. Should Labour reopen the investigation? Yes, of course they

should. There are many reasons. The longer a lawyer's statement is...

Yes, of course they should. What do you say to that, Emily? I say that

we have suspended the party in Falkirk, we have had an

investigation, we are completely changing the way Labour Party does

things, and our relationship with the trade unions. We have stopped

the system of getting members into the Labour Party directly through

the unions which may have been abused. We have stopped any members

who were recruited under that basis of being involved in the selection

process. The National executive committee will be looking after the

election process. The local party is in special measures and the

controversial candidates are no longer standing. What more should

the Labour Party do? You have had a good say, Eric Joyce? The Labour

Party say nothing untoward went on in Falkirk, and Emily has listed a

whole list of things. This is a very significant move, this is 40% of

this constituency. You have suspended 40% of the members as you

have said. It seems very clear that Unite have been very domineering in

this process and in the Grangemouth process, and Labour seems afraid to

admit that many things went wrong in Falkirk. Forgave me but I am a

practical politician and we have done what we should have done. We

have referred our findings to the police. There may well be another

investigation. There were allegations made in the Daily Mail.

That was investigated by our general secretary. You know... They were

living at three different addresses as an old lived at the same place! I

feel that we have done what we need to do. What we need to do now is

select somebody to replace you! Have you done all that you need to do?

Why did the Labour Party not even speak to the people at the centre of

this order candidate that really were trying to put in? -- that they

were trying to put in? The enquiry was done by a small number of people

and I have not seen the report. Those who were being enquired into

were told that the report would not be available. You are asking about

the details of the investigation and I do not have those details because

I was not... I am not asking for the details, I am asking you a simple

question. How can it be a proper enquiry when you did not interview

the two main people on the Unite side? I tell you what, why do not

help me? What do you think the Labour Party ought to do more than

we have done? You have just asked another question. It is manifestly

obvious that there are hundreds of people who've been signed up to make

the conclusion public. Instead of saying that the party 's position is

here, there is nothing... Alistair Darling once an enquiry, I suggest

he knows more about Scottish Labour policies than you. Johan Lamont was

another enquiry. I suggest she knows more about these matters than you.

Why would the party in London not agree to what these major figures in

Scotland one? What Ed Miliband said yesterday was that if new

information came to light, there would be in enquiry. You said and

enquiry by smart -- you said and enquiry? The most important thing

for the people of Falkirk is to get a new Parliamentary candidate so we

can have a good MP in that area representing those people. The real

question for the people of Falkirk is to ask whether they are being

represented properly by a Labour candidate. We have run out of time.

You just get to be the Observer here! Very briefly, where do we go

from here? Labour has to do have an enquiry. Emily said nothing happens

but that will not do. Let's say we have no enquiry, what will be the

result of that? We have given our information to the police. They are

the ones... It is up to the police. OK, we are going to have to go. We

have PMQs. We have a major public issue that Labour does not want an

enquiry in, that is quite at the moment! The days are getting wetter,

politicians are tearing each other up. Here is something I want you to

do, smile. A survey for the organisation of economic development

has found that the British are more satisfied with our lives than five

years ago. According to the OECD, we are even ahead of Germany, the US,

and Japan as one of the best places to live and work. Well - whether you

believe that or not - there's one thing these people can't measure.

Just one thing that will guarantee to turn that frown upside down. It

is snow-white! Yes. You've guessed. The real measure of contentment.

Your true path to Utopia, Nirvana, and Shangri-La. The Daily Politics

Mug! And all you have to do is listen to JoCo. We'll remind you how

to enter in a minute, but let's see if you can remember when THIS

happened. For the first time for the benefit of Her Majesty's subjects,

the opening of Parliament was filmed. A Cabinet crisis. The

resignation of Mr Thornycroft. Over eight miles long, it will be the

first motorway to be built in Great Britain.

# Everybody let's rock! To be in with a chance of winning a

Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our e-mail address. You can see

the full term and conditions on our website. You can reach Nirvana! It

is coming up to midday, let's take a look at big then. PMQs are only a

few minutes away. If you would like to comment on the proceedings, you

can e-mail us. Or you can treat your thoughts. -- tweet. Portsmouth is a

big breaking story this morning, it will come up in PMQs. It does not

provide the two frontbenchers so what will Ed Miliband talk about? He

has talked about the cost of living for a number of weeks so I think you

will find something new. You can occasionally push your luck too much

and they will be strongly tempted to think of something else. Maybe the

crisis in ANA. -- accident and emergency. You have the crisis at

Colchester Hospital. It would not surprise me if that is the area he

wants to talk about instead of talking about water bills and energy

bills. The Prime Minister, whatever issue Ed Miliband brings up, he will

want to broaden it out to the growth figures which are beginning to go

Britain's way. Yes, but the trouble is that he gets drawn into that

territory and gets drawn back into the issue of cost of living. There

are conservative voices saying that they won something to say in

response to Labour voices. They are desperate to get back to a broader

agenda. The trouble is that today that someone will say that we have

lost an awful lot of jobs in shipbuilding. There is a Scottish

dimension, is there not? I have been to the Prime Minister's briefing

with his spokesman and we repeatedly said that a lot of people here think

that Scottish votes are more important than English votes and the

primaries are's spokesman repeatedly declined any opportunities to answer

that question. He said they were difficult decisions but they were in

the national interests. He would not deny that the retention of the union

was important. There is a whole programme about that. I mean, there

are no votes for the Tories in this, are there? No. It is interesting

that they would do that. There are no votes on the Clyde. It is a tough

commercial point. Over to the Commons.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues, in addition

I will have further such meetings later today.

I am sure we wish to associate ourselves with the Prime Minister

putts-macro fitting tribute. Hard-working businessmen facing

tough decisions... Decent trade unionists and newspapers including

the Daily Mirror will have been appalled by the... The so-called

leveraged tactics... The so-called leveraged tactics of Unite in the

Grangemouth dispute. Will my right honourable friend take steps to

ensure that families and children and homes are protected from a

minority of militants? He makes an important point. This

sort of industrial intimidation is completely unacceptable. We have

seen wanted posters put through children's letterboxes, we have seen

families intimidated and we have seen people 's neighbours being told

that they are evil. It is completely shocking, what has happened. It is

also shocking that the Labour Party is refusing to have a review to

stand up to Len McCluskey, and at the next stage, they should do so.

Ed Miliband! Let me start by joining the Prime

Minister in recognising the enduring importance of giving thanks on

Remembrance Sunday to all those men and women who have served our

country. This is a moment to remember all of those who have lost

their lives and to think about their families. That is why I know members

from across the house, and across the country, are wearing their

poppies with pride this week. Could the Prime Minister guaranteed there

won't be an A crisis this winter? We will do everything we can to make

sure the NHS continues to perform in the excellent way that it does

today. Let me give him the latest figures. Last week was the 27th week

in a row that we met our A targets. The NHS is treating 1.2

million more people in A than it was when he was in office. I can

tell him where there will be a particular problem. There won't be a

winter crisis in the NHS in Wales, where Labour are in control, because

there is a crisis every day of the week in Wales.

Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister is simply wrong about the figures. If

you look at what is happening in our A departments in hospitals, the

target has been missed for 15 consecutive weeks. The whole country

will have heard that the Prime Minister can't guarantee that there

won't be a crisis this winter in A, that is because there is

already a crisis, Mr Speaker. That is what the president of the Royal

College of emergency medicine says. He's says, I know they don't want to

hear about the crisis in A, but they're almost daily in instances in

most A departments of patients facing extended trolley waits. The

Prime Minister said let me give him one simple fact...

Order, there is simply too much noise in the chamber on both sides.

I appeal to the house, I get bucketloads of letters every week

from members of the public complaining about it. Cut it out, it

is low-grade, down-market and not necessary.

Let me give him one simple fact, in A today, the average waiting time

is 50 minutes. When the Shadow Health Secretary was sitting here as

Health Secretary, the average waiting time was over 70 minutes.

Those are the fact. Because this government didn't take the

advice... I wouldn't listen to the Health Secretary, he is the man who

refused to apologise for the mess at Stafford! The NHS is getting better

under this government. Across the medical profession they

are saying there is a crisis in A We have a Prime Minister saying

crisis, what crisis? How out of touch can he be? In the last year, a

million people waited more than four hours in A A weights are.

Patients waiting on trolleys up, delayed discharges up, ambulance

response times up. Why? Because of a top-down wee organisation that

nobody wanted all voted for. How many NHS managers have received a

six-figure redundancy package as a result of the reorganisation? There

are 20,000 fewer administrative grades in the NHS. There are 5500

more doctors in the NHS. There are 1000 more midwives. There are 1000

more health visitors. Let me tell him why. His Health Secretary said

it would be irresponsible to increase NHS spending. We rejected

that advice. We invested in our NHS and we are proud of it.

What the Shadow Health Secretary did was warned of cuts to social care,

that is exactly what they did and that is the crisis they produce.

Here is the answer to the question he didn't answer. The answer is 2300

managers have received six-figure payoffs.

Order. Too much noise. It had better stop, or the process will take

longer. I say to those who can't grow up, try. Try.

He is giving P45 's two nurses and six-figure payoffs to managers. Can

he tell us how many of the people who have been let go from the NHS

about three been fired, paid off and then we hired? We are saving ?4.5

billion by reducing the amount of managers in the NHS, and for the

first time anyone re-employed house to pay back part of the money they

were given. That never happened under Labour. But we don't have to

remember the Labour record of the past, we can look at the Labour

record in Wales. They have been running the health service. They cut

the budget by 8.5%, they have not met a cancer target since 2008, an

A targets since 2009. He is too weak to stand up to the poor

management of the NHS in Wales, just as he is too weak to sack his Health

Secretary. And we have a Prime Minister to

clueless to know the facts about the NHS.

Prime Minister sacks nurses. He seems to be saying it is untrue. If

he gets facts, he can tell me whether it is untrue. The NHS is

failing because of his boss should organisation, the abolition of NHS

Direct, cuts to social care and 6000 fewer nurses. He is the only person

responsible for the crisis. We have taken 20,000 administrators

out of the NHS, and I will not take lectures from a government which saw

patients drinking out of... Order, members are shouting from the

tops of their voices, they must stop doing so.

Let me give him the facts about the NHS under this government. Mixed sex

accommodation downed by 98%, over 1 million more people treated in A,

half a million more inpatient. We are not following Labour 's advice,

which was to cut the NHS. Under this government, the NHS is getting

better. Labour would have cut it, they never stand up for the NHS.

What the hell country will have heard today is a Prime Minister

complacent about the A crisis and clueless about what is happening in

the NHS. Watch the British people know is that the NHS is heading into

winter with fewer nurses, a lack of A doctors and a shortage of beds.

He promised to protect the NHS but it is now clear that the NHS is not

safe in his hands. Once again, he is wrong on the

facts. There are more A consultants working in A than five

years ago. That is why we are meeting targets in England, that is

why Labour is missing targets in Wales. I am clear, my job is to

stand up for the NHS and deliver a stronger NHS. When will he

understand that his job is to stand up to the bullyboys of Unite and

show courage? Marcus Jones.

Thank you. Over the past week, we have heard about Unite union 's

attempt at strategy to disrupt business supply chains. Given the

Government 's push for inward investment, what signal does the

Prime Minister thinks this action sends around the world to businesses

looking to invest in Britain? This sort of industrial intimidation

is bad for Britain, it very nearly cut off petrol surprise to a large

part of the United Kingdom. neither the Prime Minister nor the

leader of the opposition has found fit to raise it. I hope the Prime

Minister 's Ford are with people set to lose their jobs. -- the Prime

Minister 's thoughts. Will he agree with the BAE 's statement that

Glasgow is the best place to build frigates? The Defence Secretary will

be making a statement right after Prime Minister's Questions. Our

first thoughts should be with all of those affected. Frankly, I was

surprised that the Leader of the Opposition did not choose to raise

this important issue. We want our Royal Navy to have the best and most

modern ships and the best technology, meaning we will go on

building warships on the Clyde. We will announce three new offshore

patrol vessels, keeping that yard busy rather than paying it to remain

idle, as the last government proposed. There will be job

reductions in Portsmouth, but there are many more people involved in

ship servicing than building, so the workforce will go from 12,000 to

11,000. But under this government we will have aircraft carriers, type 45

destroyers, new frigates, submarines. If there was an

independent Scotland, we would not have any warships at all.

As we approach Remembrance Sunday, looking ahead to the centenary of

the First World War, will he join me in commending the work of the

Victoria Cross trust? Will he look in particular at how the government

might assist the trust and it's important task of restoring and

maintaining the grades of some of the nation 's bravest soldiers,

sailors and aircrew? I pay tribute to his support for the

Victoria Cross Trust, and his hard work. I appreciate any initiative

which remembers those who gave their lives for the country. Lots of this

falls under the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, we will work with

both of organisations to do everything so that these people are

properly remembered. Page 47 of the Tory party manifesto says, we. The

-- we will halt the forced closure of A ward. How was I going, Prime

Minister? Go were no changes to services unless they are supported

by MPs, and that is what -- the complete difference of what happened

under Labour. According to Unite, it is increasingly recognised that

bullying, violence and harassment is a major problem in industry. Does

the Prime Minister agree that the authorities should always

investigate harassment against employees and their families,

including when they involve members of a trade union? My honourable

friend is right. They are very serious, these allegations of

harassment. They need to be looked at. The party opposite is ducking

its responsibilities and we will have to consider what to do to stop

the leader of the Labour Party is behaving like the Mayor of town

towards the Mafia. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I asked a question about

zero hours contracts and most honourable members would agree that

the response was a fudge. Can I put it plainly and simply to the Prime

Minister. How many people in this place and in the government

buildings are employed on zero hours contracts? He does not care! I do

not have those figures to hand but I can tell the honourable gentleman

that we are having a review into these contracts and we are

particularly looking at those people on zero hours contracts who are 4

billion for working with other employers. -- 4 billion. The Prime

Minister and the Chancellor closed the gaping loophole left by the last

government 's too close stamp duty. Is it not now time to close the

other disgraceful loophole they left for overseas investors to buy a

property in London? My honourable friend makes a very important point.

The stamp duty change we made was vital to make sure foreign buyers

pay stamp duty properly in London. That needed to happen. The Shadow

Chancellor who was city minister when these things went wrong is

shaking his head. It is this government who insisted that people

pay the taxes that are due. The Prime Minister is right to extend

supervision to short sentence prisoners and to seek new ways of

reducing reoffending, but he must be aware of the growing concern that

his government's current plans will undermine the probation service. Now

that a criminal investigation has been opened into G4S and So ago,

Willie sit down with the Justice Secretary and trial the payment by

results proposal that he has made to see whether it works? I welcome

that. He has huge experience in this area about the importance of making

sure there is probation support for people when they leave prison. I

think it can make a big difference to reducing reoffending. The fact is

that half of all prisoners are back in prison within two years. It is

time to try a different approach and that is what the Lord Chancellor is

doing. The regional growth fund created 23 jobs this year. Can we

congratulate the managing director and Jaguar Land Rover, as well as

Bentley, on this success. We consider a visit to the company? I

would be delighted to make that visit. I would like to look at what

is happening in the Black Country in terms of greater job opportunities.

This is a country where the 1.4 million in private sector

employment. That is in spite of the prediction where would we are aware

we would lose jobs. Since the Prime Minister decided to deliberately

downgrades the country's terror laws, two suspects have used their

government granted freedom to escape. The latest one was clad in a

burger. Will the Prime Minister admits this was a irresponsible

mistake was to mark -- burka. I do not accept what the Right honourable

gentleman says. Under the control order regime , seven people

absconded. These were control orders that were being hacked away by the

courts. We needed a new system that had the confidence of the police and

security services. We will look at every single thing we can do to make

sure the system is as good and robust as it can be. We should be

frank that what we are dealing with is people who are not able to charge

and lock-up. Many of them we would like to throw out of the country but

we cannot currently. We need a regime like this but we will do

everything we can to make sure it is robust. Woods the Prime Minister

join me in congratulating the engineering industries in Morecambe?

They export and fabricate metal exports all over the world. They

have contributed to the drop in employment -- unemployment in my

constituency. Is this not in stark contrast to the grim economic

predictions of the party opposite? Would he visit the industry with me?

My honourable friend does an excellent job for standing up for

the people of Morecambe. Across the West, private sector employment is

up since 2010. The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance is

down 29,000, and he is right that the party opposite addicted that we

would lose 1 million jobs. The answer is the complete opposite.

There are 1 million more people in jobs. It is about time they

apologised or the wrong prediction. Last month, a Tory councillor was an

invite to Number Ten. He is subject to an arrest warrant in Pakistani

connection with a brutal murder. After shaking this man's hand, and

having photos taken, would the Prime Minister like to say that he thinks

this gentleman should be returned to Pakistan have faced justice? I am

looking carefully into this case and I will write to the honourable

gentleman. May I ask the Prime Minister whether he is of the

opinion that the intelligence services of some countries may be

dangerously out of political control? Is the confidence that he

is kept fully informed of all sensitive, external initiatives

taken by our services? I do not want to break the rule of commenting on

intelligence issues but to answer his question as directly as I can, I

have looked very carefully at the governance we have in the UK for our

intelligence services, the work of the intelligence and Security

committee, and the oversight, particularly by the Home Secretary

and Foreign Secretary. We have a good system in our country and I am

fully involved in these decisions. Two years ago the Prime Minister

quite rightly agreed that extra resources be made available to

assist in the search for Madeleine McCann and yet only months later he

turned down a request for my constituents, Kerry Needham, whose

son Ben is still missing after 22 years. Will the Prime Minister think

again and response to my letter by making extra resources available to

help a desperate mother search for her son? This has been a

heartbreaking case that I know the whole country has followed over the

years. I will look carefully at the letter. Obviously, it is very

important that the police make these decisions themselves. The government

will stand by to help which is what happened with the Madeleine McCann

case. Can I ask the Prime Minister to elaborate on his statements about

the effects that the government are going to put in place with regards

to the mediation between the core jobs at BAE Systems and the many

thousands of jobs in the supply chain? I will expand a little but I

will leave the Defence Secretary to give Eddie tell answer. The current

workforce in Portsmouth will go down to 12,000. The MoD will invest ?100

million in Portsmouth into vital shipbuilding works, and as he knows,

there have been many more people involved in ship servicing than

building. Two aircraft carriers are at Portsmouth and that will mean a

lot of work for Portsmouth and the naval base. Many women face

discrimination when they become pregnant. How will charging them

?1200 to go to an industrial tribunal help them? Before he

attacks the trade unions, I would like to make it clear that I am a

trade unionist and I am proud of it! I think there are millions of people

in our country who are also proud but they are led badly by Willie boy

tactics. -- Belize. Intimidating families, intimidating witnesses and

intimidating the Leader of the Opposition! That is what we have

come to with Unite. They picked their candidates, they picked their

leader and then they bully him into other get what they want. I think

the questions was about tribunal 's! It is a good idea to remember the

essence of the question that was placed. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Judicial reviews can be valuable for communities to have their say. What

steps is the Prime Minister taking to prevent what is happening in

Bristol where a small, unrepresentative group are using

judicial review, costing the taxpayer thousands. It is preventing

the building of a stadium for Bristol Rovers. I know that my

honourable friend has been campaigning very hard and

relentlessly to provide Bristol Rovers with the ground that they

need, and I commend her for that. There has been an issue with

judicial reviews and these play a role in holding the government to

account but I share her frustration that judicial review has become an

industry, and we need to fix that. We have taken a series of steps to

do that. A bit of courtesy, the honourable gentleman did not hear.

It is perfectly understandable. One of the objectives before the Second

World War was to bring about a fairer society in the UK. Is he

aware how wrong it is that the Chancellor would never have any form

of financial insecurity is now pursuing policies that take place on

the most vulnerable, millions who are badly paid and find it difficult

to feed their children. What is happening is unacceptable and

contemptible. What I would say to the honourable gentleman is that we

have taken 2.4 million of the poorest people in our country out of

income tax altogether. The figures simply do not fit with the story he

is trying to tell. The facts are that inequality is at its lowest

level since 1986. There is more money being given to the poorest

children in our schools. Applications from disadvantaged

children to universities has gone up and not down, fact. There are fewer

households where people do not work. I am keen to answer the question, Mr

Speaker. Payday lending, regulated properly for the first time. Yes, a

proper consultation of zero hours contracts. Those are the actions we

are taking to build a better Britain. Thank you, Mr Speaker. On

the 3rd of September I wrote to the prisons minister requesting a

meeting to discuss the future of Wellingborough. I received no

response to that request. I received a letter from the prisons minister

that the prison was to be sold. I do not understand because it was the

third cheapest in the country to be run. Would the Prime Minister meet

with me and constituents to discuss the matter? I will arrange for that

meeting with the prison minister so he can discuss the future of the

prison. It is important to modernise it and get value for the money. The

Prime Minister has been boasting about 1 million extra jobs in this

country. Can he therefore explain why the number of people in my

constituency, unemployed for more than two years, has risen by 350% in

the last year alone? It is the worst in the country. Nine of the ten

constituencies in this measure are in the north-east. Mr Speaker, is

this because the same old Tories, who do not care... The fact is that

we are seeing right across the country, including in every region,

more opportunity in jobs, more people involved in the, and the

claimant count coming down. In the north-east we have a new factory

that will make a real difference. We have the expansion of Nissan which

will do very well. We need to do more to keep the economy growing and

keep people employed. I am certain about one thing. We will not do that

if we put up taxes because the fact is, today, Labour is the greatest

risk to our recovery. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can the Prime Minister

confirm that in the review of levies on energy Bills, it is the fairness

of the funding process that is the priority. Does the government still

support vital measures to enslave people's homes? -- insulates. Of

course we want to see that. We want to help vulnerable people to keep

their Bills down. We should be looking at every subsidy and making

sure it is value for money and making sure it is not in place for a

moment longer than is needed. Mr Speaker, the Chancellor of the

exchequer would not answer this. After so-called new jobs that he

spoke about, how many of those on zero hours contracts? I do not have

the figure for that but the fact is that there are more people at work

in our economy than ever before. Two thirds of those jobs have been

full-time jobs, and while we're on the subject, perhaps it is a good

moment to recognise that Labour controlled Don Caster does not pay a

living wage whereas London does! Don Caster. Is it not more important

than ever to tell our young people that engineering offers them

rewarding careers? My honourable friend is absolutely right about

this and he has campaigned hard for respect for engineering. We are

seeing a growth of young people studying engineering but it is true

that if you look at the skills shortage list, there are still

engineering jobs on that list, and that is a rebuke to our country

where we need to get more people studying maths and science at

school, and more people studying engineering at University. Last

year, Banca's bonuses grew 91% faster than wages for ordinary

working people despite the prime Anissa's assurances that this would

not happen. Can the Prime Minister talus whether he is unwilling to act

or whether he is useless at being Prime Minister? The point the

honourable lady should bear in mind is bonuses were 85% higher when the

Shadow Chancellor was sitting in the Treasury. It is this government that

is making sure... Sun order! I want to hear the answer. We inherited a

situation where the cleaners were paid higher tax rates than the

managers they worked for. She should look at her own front then for

anyone who is useless! James Landale was right, he said

they would probably go on the A crisis or the NHS. The Leader of the

Opposition concentrated on the pressure that the A units are

under. Maybe anticipating a cold winter, and if there is one, you

could see the pressure grow and grow. Maybe the Leader of the

Opposition was laying downy marker for what is to come if the winter is

really cold -- laying town a marker. Relations between the Speaker of the

House and the Prime Minister reached a new depth. For the second week in

a row, the the Speaker interrupted the Prime Minister just as he was

getting into his stride in a reply to Mr Miliband, and then rebuking

the Prime Minister for not quite answering a particular question. The

Prime Minister was asked how many zero-hour contracts there were in

the Palace of Westminster. He did not know the answer. There were 1810

years ago, 73 when Labour left office, there is now 163 -- there

were 18 ten years ago. He also said that of Scotland were independent we

would have no navy ships at all. I think by week, he meant Bay. That is

probably not quite true. Adjust for accuracy's sake, an interesting

fact. When the Edinburgh and Westminster Parliament 's were

unified in 1707, the English navy had 240 ships, the Scottish Navy had

three. What are the e-mails saying? Public service broadcasting at its

finest! E-mails and tweets. Most of the

reaction was about the NHS and A Ian Jordan in Tamworth, Ed Miliband

has hit a rich seam politically on the cost of living and did well to

mix up his attacker with the NHS, on which Cameron was weak. But I feel

he should go back to the debt, obviously missing debates on the

broader economy. Colin in Rugby says that if the figures quoted by Ed

Miliband about the numbers of people receiving six-figure pay-outs and

those made redundant and re-employed are correct, it is a disgrace. Is it

possible for the Daily Politics to check the numbers? I am sure that

Andrew will. Sue in Cheshire says that any

problems in A were caused by Labour. Ed Miliband should wake up

to the fact that uncontrolled immigration and diabolical GP

arrangements mean more people turning up A for problems which

should dealt with elsewhere. Samuel says it takes seven years to

train a doctor, the coalition has been in power for three years, so

who trains the new doctors, Dave? Another person said that many people

do not use the NHS regularly so it ends up a battle of statistics.

James, do you detect a beer in government circles that the NHS will

become a big issue in a cold winter? There is certainly a fear of that. I

would expect in the Autumn statement that something is announced to that

effect. I am speaking not from knowledge but from some eyes, cold

weather payments, more money to help. The problem for the government

is that... We have had these crises before, these things are promised

every winter. It has a real impact on some people. The government,

politically, will face a lot of blame for the reorganisation. Even

if there is no direct link, there is a political narrative for Labour.

the government has already marked an extra dimension ?50 million to help

with winter pressures. This extra 1.2 million people going through

A, why has that happened? I think you had a tweet from somebody

mentioning the GP contract. It is incredibly difficult to get a GP

appointment when you needed. I am a mother, I have to ring up and get

these appointments. If you go to the telephone advice service, very often

they direct you to take your relatives straight to A We really

need to revisit the question of GP availability. We worked during the

week, GPs need to be available at weekends. We finish work late, they

need to be available in the evening. We pay more, we need more access.

Reign the reason we are asking questions about A isn't just in

anticipation of a cold winter, it is because the service is more

ill-equipped and ill-prepared for this winter, for the A crisis,

than it has been for many years. 111 does not have nurses on it. That

is the advice line? Yes. And GP contracts have changed, we had a

guarantee you could get an appointment within 48 hours, the

Tories has stopped that. It did not work. But the biggest reason, and I

was on the bill when they were trying to reorganise the National

Health Service, I said, don't spend ?3 billion reorganisation. Not only

will you be laying off all these managers and rehiring them with a

different name, but you are taking your eye off the ball, elderly

people largely use the NHS and they need to be supported at home so they

do not come into A on a blue light in crisis. That is why we are

ill-equipped. When we were trying to deal with the huge deficit as a new

government coming in, we made the conscious decision not to cut

spending to the Department of Health. The department that I ran

had to take a huge reduction of 30%, but the Department of Health was

spared because... You did not tell us about it. The public believe we

spend too much on managers and management, that money needs to be

redirected to the front line automatically. That means some

redirection of resources. The in increase demand through A has a

lot to do with the fact that people can't get hold of the doctor, the

family doctor, the gatekeeper and the linchpin of the National Health

Service. What is the answer, the reorganisation of the GP contract

has resulted in more people going to A? It was reorganised in 2001,

2002, it did not result in the crisis. The change in government

came in 2010, that is history. You don't think it had anything to do

with it? Know, in 2010 the 48-hour guarantee was got rid of, and the

additional money for keeping GPs open on Saturdays. I am a mum as

well, trying to get an appointment for a child when you work is really

difficult, of course. People work long hours and, certainly, of

course, we should have GP surgeries open in the evenings and weekends.

That was not a condition of the reorganisation, of the new

contracts, which were incredibly generous to GPs? We are talking

about contracts from ten years ago. The changes made then do not have

the impact now. The impact now is getting rid of the 48 hours, and GPs

open on Saturdays. Weren't the reorganisation come back to haunt

you? In the last election you said that you would increase health

spending in real terms by a bit which, broadly, that you never said

you would go for a massive reorganisation of the NHS. I was

with fancy before elections, when he met with GPs in my constituency to

ask whether they would be willing to take back a commissioning role in

the NHS. He got a resounding yes. I am watching our GP commissioners get

good results. For example, A locally has a GP supported unit next

to A, local to me. It was not in your manifesto. We made it clear

that we would not cut expenditure to the NHS, we would tackle expenditure

on management... The Prime Minister repudiated the idea of a major

top-down wee organisation. GP commissioners are close to the

ground, they can address these winter pressures by putting

resources where they are really needed. You did not tell us. I was

not Secretary of State for health. I don't mean you, personally! The

Secretary of State as GPs whether they would take on a commissioning

role. He was in the studio as Shadow Health Secretary and he did not tell

our viewers that is what he was planning. James, no standard of

living? One brief reference, but that was about it.

It seems that every opportunity he can, the Prime Minister will

shoehorn Unite in? In recent prime ministers questions it is a much

more organised campaign by the Labour with us, they are getting

everybody to read out the questions so it is repeated. You get momentum.

Labour, they could have organised to ask more questions about health or

maybe the cost of living, just to keep that going. Clearly, the

Conservatives believe there is a rich seam, they want to keep

punching the wound on this. As long as it is unresolved and there are

unresolved questions, they will keep pushing. Thank you, James.

Did you enjoy school dinners? Did. What was your favourite? Fish and

chips. Fish and chips on a Friday, all peak custard and cake? Despite

recent campaigns to improve their nutrition and image, take-up is very

poor. Nick Clegg wants to change this and announced at the Lib Dem

conference that all five to seven-year-olds will get free

lunchtime meals from September. It is National School Dinners We Can,

we have gone back to the dining room. Anne Bull has this week

Up until recently, people's perceptions of school food has not

been positive. People can remember soggy cabbage and lumpy custard.

There has been hard work going on to make improvements and we are cooking

on gas now. What have you got there? Some salad. Salad, is that your

favour? Yes. I have cucumber, spaghetti, sweetcorn, and red. That

is nice bread, is it home-made? I think so. Politicians are getting

the message as well. Nick Clegg announced a package to give free

school meals to all children in England. The Department for

Education published their school food plan in the summer. Many

schools have already introduced free school meals to primary school

children, realising the benefits they provide. Only 1% of packed

lunches contain the nutritional standards that have been applied to

school food. School food is fresh and healthy and is the best option.

Across the country, take-up of school food remains stubbornly low

and the majority of children bring in a packed lunch or buy something

outside of school, which is more than likely junk food. Head teachers

tell us that performance, behaviour and concentration all improve when

children have a balanced meal. Working parents say free school

meals can save money on packed lunches. Academies and free

schools, and those outside of local government control, do not have to

do apply food standards. It is a time we were more transparent. Anne

Bull joins us now. I am feeling hungry! The biggest problem is

image, or it has been in the past. People will remember semolina. Is

that an issue now? We have moved on from there. It has taken time, I

agree. The image of school food and nutritious food is important. This

week is National school Dinners Week and it allows us to showcase what is

good about food up and down the country. We are giving the children

the chance to try food. Local councils are doing it differently we

were in a school in Islington and they have taken on board free school

dinners. What about the take-up? Why do not more schoolchildren take

school dinners? I think the take-up has gone up in the last five years.

It is still low, though? Exactly. The image is still one of the issues

but in the older children, they are allowed out of school. We are

working with headteachers and the school in terms of this approach. We

are trying to encourage children to eat within the school. There are

some children who are fussy eaters and I have always opted for school

dinners. It is more convenient. There are a lot of children who say

they do not like them. I will be interested to see what the take-up

is like once you have offered the free school meal to children. What

can you do about parent's attitudes? A lot of them remember what it was

like in their day. Research has shown that there is a 92%

satisfaction rate from parents so we must be getting it right. There is

work to do but we are getting there. You said you were frustrated but

what are you doing to persuade the government to include parents within

the National food standards? The plan was introduced in July and we

represent the industry and schools. We are saying as part of the plan

that we want standards across the board in academies and free schools.

I have been into schools in my constituency is and you have to get

over this stigma that is applied. Free schools are included in this?

Academies do have some autonomy. It is not just the saving in the cost

of the food that the improvement in academic attainment. Why would you

not want to embrace this approach? There is a two month advance in

terms of educational attainment in one academic year. What is not to

like about that improvement? In Islington... Is it across The

Borough that it is happening? It is our borough and in the last four

years we have had free school meals. Teachers say behaviour and

concentration is better. They get children to grow tomatoes in a

bucket and they get them to understand about food and nutrition.

It is, without doubt, a fantastic policy. The Liberals did not like it

but they are now in favour of it. What goes around comes around.

Now, in London we are used to our Mayors being rather unorthodox

characters. Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson - neither of them would be

confused for a conventional, ordinary politician. But the Mayor

of Toronto, Rob Ford, puts our city leaders firmly in the shade. A few

months ago rumours emerged of a video featuring Rob Ford smoking

crack cocaine. He initially denied the allegations but after the

Toronto police announced they had a copy of the tape, he admitted he had

smoked crack. But he is refusing to go. Here's the mayor in action over

the last few days - starting with his unusual way of dealing with the

Canadian press. Thank you very much, get off my

property! Thank you very much. Do you not understand? Get off my

property, partner! Thank you very much. Thank you. What you tell us,

Mr Mayor? Thank you! I have been advised that we are now in

possession of a recovered digital video file relevance to the

investigations that have been conducted. That file contains images

which appear to be those images that were reported in the press. I think

it is fair to say that the Mayor does appear in that video but I am

not going to get into the details of what activity is depicted. Yes, I

have smoked crack cocaine. Do I? Am I an addict? No. I have tried it in

one of my drunken stupor is about a year ago. There have been times when

I have been drunk. I want everybody in the city to see the tape. I

sincerely, sincerely, sincerely apologise. I may be wrong but I

think he apologised most sincerely. That is Rob Ford. And we're joined

by Jeff Semple, a reporter for CBC - that's the Canadian Broadcasting

Corporation. He's been working in Toronto for the last three years but

moved to London only last week. You got a promotion! I will miss

covering him! You finally have a story! I have been the butt of jokes

in many e-mails. Are the people of Toronto angry? I did a live report

about the international reaction to all of this and as shocking as it

seems on the outside looking in, a lot of people in Toronto are not

surprised. The writing was on the wall. Since the reporter published

that they had seen this video, saying that they had been shown the

video, the admission is not surprising. What is surprising is

that he is insisting on keeping his job but also running in the next

election. When easy up? In a year. It's may seem far-fetched that he

would keep his job but I can take you back to the Mayor of Washington,

DC. He got re-elected. Yes, I think so. Is he still in with a chance? He

is, and I was looking at the polling numbers at the weekend and it is

remarkable. His support has held steady and one report suggested his

support had gone up after he apologised for the oh deal. I think

politicians could study Rob Ford. Does he have previous bad

behaviour? He does. He was in trouble for drunk driving

allegations, smoking marijuana, and it is not uncommon to hear about Rob

Ford turning up at public events intoxicated. Is he a good Mayor of

Toronto? That is a sticking point. That is where people love or love to

hate Rob Ford. He came to power to stop the gravy train at City Hall.

He cut government waste in spending and if you talk to supporters of Rob

Ford, they say they do not care what he does in his own time as long as

he keeps taxes down. We are going to cover the election for the first

time! We will need your help! I have run out of time so will not ask you

if you want to confess to anything! Now, time to put you out of your

misery and give you the answer to Guess The Year. 1958 was the answer.

Caroline, press that big button there and reveal the winner. That's

all for today. Thanks to our guests. The One o'clock news is starting

over on BBC One now. We'll be back tomorrow at noon with all the big

political stories of the day. We going to do a Thursday together for

once! Bye bye.