Browse content similar to 27/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
This is the Daily Politics. Waging war on EU migration, the Prime | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
Minister says he wants to make it harder for EU immigrants to claim | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
benefits in the UK, and they will not qualify for jobless benefits | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
until they have been here for three months. They will not receive | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
housing benefit immediately either. It has led to what EU commission | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
accusing Mr Cameron of an unfortunate overreaction and warning | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
that Britain risks being seen as the nasty country of the EU. We will ask | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
the Bulgarian ambassador if he is right. Will it get nasty at PMQs? It | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
normally does, tune in for the action at midday. | :01:15. | :01:21. | |
And we will be discussing pigs in the trough, not MPs and their | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
expenses, or even Andrew and his noises, the real thing! | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
All that and more coming up in the next 90 minutes and with us for the | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
duration two former BBC employees who have moved on to bigger and | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
better things, I wish we all could! That is what it says down here. | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
Esther McVey, formerly of the Heaven And Earth Show, Shopping City and | :01:45. | :01:52. | |
How Do They Do That? , who was now the employment must. Owen Smith used | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
to work on Radio 4's flagship Today programme, never heard of it either! | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
For the better-known programme in Wales, Dragon's Eye, we all watched | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
that! He is now the shadow Welsh secretary, I do not know whether | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
that is a promotional deal motion. Welcome to you both. What a thing to | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
say! If we decide to take an early lunch... Just move in here. We do | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
not get the autocue! Let's talk about their current day jobs, Esther | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
is pretty rare these days, let me get this right, she's female, a | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
Tory, she has a seat in the North of England, and she is not standing | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
down at the next election, a bit unusual. At the last count, there | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
are three standing down, three and a half if you include Louise Mensch! | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
And you have managed to escape the exodus. Absolutely, I am a | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
Conservative MP on Merseyside, you said the North, but in my hometown. | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
Merseyside is the North, isn't it? Yes, I was just pointing it out | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
specifically. Sarah Wollaston, another one of the 2010 intake, she | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
says something needs to be done to detoxify this role of being a female | :03:11. | :03:21. | |
Tory MP. And? Go on! Is she right? Absolutely not! For me, someone who | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
tried for ten years to become a Conservative MP, and the only one on | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
Merseyside, it was because I believe in what are timeless values. It is | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
not always a sexy message, sometimes that is the difficulty, living | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
within your means, saving, looking after yourself, having these sort of | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
freedoms to do things, not always sexy, but it is the truth. It is | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
about a long-term message, about building strong foundations, it is | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
about being secure, and all of these things, we have just got to reach | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
out and make sure that they are relevant at the moment, which we | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
know they are, with making sure workdays, making sure education | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
system is sound, so you know... It was not a Jew for a speech, just a | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
question! So you do not agree with Sarah Wollaston, do you agree with | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
Nick Boles that you are seen as the party of the rich? Absolutely not, | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
it is a party that cut through all classes, all parts of the country, | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
all different regions, all different ethnicities, because it is built on | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
very strong foundations and core values. Everybody knows you have to | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
live within your means, everybody knows... But you are proportionally | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
more southerners, you are an exception. That being the case, we | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
need to make sure I am no longer the exception, that we go out and build | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
on what we have got, but it is the oldest party, it is always | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
modernising, the first to have a female leader, all these things. So | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
you do not agree with Sarah Wollaston, you do not agree with | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
Nick Boles, are there any of your colleagues that you agree with? | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
Yeah, the rest of them! They all believe that this is the party to be | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
in. Either way this is the party that is actually digging the country | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
out of the mess, and that is what we always do, isn't it? Pick up the | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
pieces when we have been left in debt, left in a vulnerable position, | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
and that is what we do. It is good to see you so on message! Listen, I | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
am not on message, hang on a sec, Andrew, I am not on message, this is | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
the reason I bought for ten years to become a Conservative MP, because | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
that is what I believe in. It is not about message, that is the reason I | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
did it. I do not know why this individual Tory MP decided to | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
resign, but the reason the papers are running a story about the Tory | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
party potentially not being a welcoming place for women is that | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
there is still a perception that the Tory party went through what was | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
effectively a spin operation, trying to present itself as having | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
modernised, and did manifestly has not. Spin operation?! You would | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
never get Labour doing that! They have tried to present themselves as | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
a modernised party... The key thing is, you said, I do not know why she | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
stood down, and that is why what you have just said was all hyperbole and | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
a spin. You don't know why. I want to come on to Scotland, and | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
Labour's attitude towards it. Do you agree with the Welsh First Minister, | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
Carwyn Jones, that Scotland should not be allowed to keep sterling as | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
part of a currency union? I don't think he said that. What he said | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
was, in the event that Scotland voted to leave the UK, he would hope | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
and expect that the Welsh Assembly Government, the Welsh people more | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
broadly, as part of a currency union, would have some say... He | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
described it as a recipe for instability, and these things matter | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
in a time of crisis. I think that is entirely right, it would be | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
destabilising in Scotland left the UK. I think what he said was that he | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
would expect the Welsh people and the Welsh government, as one of the | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
parties in the union, one of the parties in the currency union, to | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
have a proper seat at the table in any negotiation that followed a | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
referendum to get Scotland to leave the union. I would be uncomfortable | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
being part of a currency union with competing governments trying to run | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
it. I think that is a legitimate concern. Are you against it? I would | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
be worried that if Scotland were to leave the union, we would expect | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
there to be a currency union between a Scotland outside the Union in | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
other respects, but inside the currency. What he was pointing out | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
was two things, that there are many and answered questions in | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
yesterday's white paper, and that Wales would expect to have a say in | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
how it would play out. Are you against a currency union of Scotland | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
went independent? Personally, I do not think Scotland will go | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
independent. I would like to put on record that I do not think they are | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
going to. Look, Scotland is having a referendum, and you can only have | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
the debate if you assume, on some of the questions that people like me | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
asked, that it goes independent. You can do other questions that assume | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
that it stays part of the Union, but if it did go independent, would | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
Labour support a currency union Kaymer on current evidence and | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
polling, it is reasonable to assume they will not, but I would expect | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
there to be a very detailed discussion between the British | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
government... Of course there will be a detailed discussion, Alex | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
Salmond is not fixing independence until 2016, that is not what I asked | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
you. It is very hard to say, isn't it, whether it would be the rest of | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
the UK at that point, Britain's interests to expel Scotland from the | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
currency union? Since devolution, why has Wales been the worst | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
performing part of the UK? In what sense? According to the centre for | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
public policy at the University of Glasgow, in terms of productivity, | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
per capita GDP, unemployment, performance of schools and | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
hospitals. What more do I need to say? That is a very sweeping | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
generalisation, I do not think it stands up to scrutiny. I have read | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
the research, and I do not think it stands up. In terms of per capita | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
GDP? We have declined versus England in terms of per capita GDP, but the | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
overall amount of GDP generated by Wales over that period as increased, | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
the volume of jobs has increased, productivity on three or four | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
different measures has increased. The reality is that we know that | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
Wales, like the north-east of England and other post-industrial | :09:45. | :09:46. | |
parts of Britain, like the north-west, are parts of Britain | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
where it is more difficult to generate economic growth, and that | :09:51. | :09:53. | |
is why we have seen those parts struggling to a greater extent. | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
Let's be clear, Wales is hit harder by the policies of the Tory | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
governorate in Westminster, worse economic performance in Wales as a | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
result of greater difficulties. You'll be pleased to know that an | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
employment, when you talk about national things like jobs, you be | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
pleased to know that unemployment is significantly down... We outweigh | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
over and we have to stop. It is a good start! Jo. It is more than a | :10:24. | :10:30. | |
year since Andrew Mitchell clashed with a police officer as he cycled | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
out of Downing Street, but did he use the word pleb? Yesterday the | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to support | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
either the former chief whip, who insists he did not, or the police | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
officer, who says he did. Both are sticking to their stories, this is | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
what Andrew Mitchell had to say yesterday. I have told the truth | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
about these incidents. The police did not. My reputation was | :10:54. | :11:01. | |
destroyed. I was vilified relentlessly over 33 days, with over | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
808 females received during the course of that first week. -- 800 | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
hate e-mails. I and my family were driven from my home, with as many as | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
20 journalists and photographers camped outside. My children were | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
followed by the press. My 92-year-old mother-in-law was | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
pursued in Swansea. I was spat out in the street. I lost my job after a | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
career spanning more than 25 years in Parliament, serving my | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
constituents, my party and my country. Andrew Mitchell giving a | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
press conference yesterday, Esther McVey, do you feel sorry for him? I | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
do, and I think that was very heartfelt, because you have the | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
trial in the media, speculation, nobody got to the root of what | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
happened, and yet people felt free to say whatever they wanted to, and | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
when you look at what happens to his family, what happened to his wife, | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
his mother-in-law, his daughter, you know, you have to reflect on that | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
and think what the man as an individual has gone through. He | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
started off with the word the truth, and that is what we are searching | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
for. It is still disputed. That goes to the very heart, really, of, you | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
know, the police, the organisation, is this something we have faith in? | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
I think it is really important... Have you lost faith in the police? | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
No, but they need to get to the bottom of this to ensure that | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
everybody has faith, that they will always be treated fairly. What we | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
are looking at here is an unfair situation, and an unresolved | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
situation. Was David Cameron wrong to sack him, in effect? At the time, | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
what he needed to do was not have a distraction of what was going on in | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
the House, he was the chief whip, so in that regard, you thought, I do | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
not want this stopping us getting on with our day-to-day business, | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
because whether it is opposition, the media or whatever, it would | :13:03. | :13:04. | |
constantly being pulled back to the person, rather than the job to get | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
the country right. I understood what he did, and so Andrew did not want | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
to be a distraction to the Government business... I think he | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
would like to come back. You know what? He may well do. Do you think | :13:20. | :13:26. | |
so? If he is exonerated? There is not an opportunity for him to be | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
completely exonerated, he would have to take some sort of libel action | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
himself. You think he should clear his name once and for all? I cannot | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
say what he should and should not do, but if he believes that is the | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
party should follow, and he's a very tenacious man, obviously a strong | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
man, if he thinks that he can put his family through that, then that | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
is what he should pursue and do. What about the police? Esther McVey | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
talked about the trust in the police, we have had this statement | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
from the CPS, one officer charged, five others facing misconduct | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
proceedings. How do you feel about the police now? Disappointed, | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
because I think all of us want our police to be as well respected and | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
well trusted as they have been traditionally, and this has clearly | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
cast a pall over policing in Britain, and we do need to trust our | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
police. It is a vital part of our society, people have got trust and | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
faith in the honesty, above all else, the police, and therefore this | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
is a serious matter. I know there is now one prosecution that is being | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
taken forward, but it is still a question of the said, she said, | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
there are still contested evidence about who said what at the gates of | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
Downing Street. But I think the whole affair, as it has played out, | :14:44. | :14:51. | |
has been deeply unfortunate. As it poisoned relations between the | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
police and politicians particularly? No, because most people operating as | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
politicians in their constituencies or in Westminster work extremely | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
well alongside local and national plea, and I think there are still | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
respect and trust. And still a general belief the police will act | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
honestly but we do and you need to see further reforms. It's crucial we | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
have standards in the police that people can properly respectful we | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
have the report from Lord Stevens in which he said, in respect of this | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
Plebgate affair, it underlines to have stronger standards, | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
investigative standards, the recommendation you should merge the | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
IPCC and the HMI C. They shouldn't investigate themselves? There seems | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
to be missed trust and duplication because it is the police | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
investigating the police, quite often. I think we need to review | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
that to restore some trust. Should Andrew Mitchell be given his job | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
back? I don't know, it's a question for the Prime Minister. I don't know | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
what he said Downing Street also I know what he says and what the | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
policeman said he says, so I'm not in a position to judge. If the said | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
what he is alleged to have said, it's a serious thing. Why do this | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
become such a big issue? In part, it's about the perception that the | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
Tories are the party which represents the village and the rich | :16:16. | :16:18. | |
in this country and that's why it rang true for lots of people. | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
Fundamentally, it actually getting the country back on its feet and | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
getting an extra million people into employment. And cutting taxes. | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
Astor, the notion of the Tory party is that party of the workers is | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
ridiculous. I will have to stop you there. Andrew. Now how do you try | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
and see off UKIP and please your backbenchers all in one go? Talk | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
tough on immigration, of course, especially EU immogration. David | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
Cameron has outlined a number of new measures to crack down on EU | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
migrants coming to the UK in the future. Writing, ironically, in that | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
most pro-Eu of papers, the Financial Times, the Prime Minister said | :16:57. | :16:58. | |
people were deeply concerned about levels of migration from Bulgaria | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
and Romania. So what are the details? The Borgen British | :17:04. | :17:13. | |
podcasting has the information. Brigitte Nyborg, you can call me. | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
David Cameron has today announced a number of restrictions to welfare | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
for current and future migrants from other EU countries, which he hopes | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
to implement next year with the support of the Liberal Democrats. Mr | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
Cameron says migrants shouldn't be able to receive out-of-work benefits | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
for the first three months. And payments will be stopped after six | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
months unless the claimant has a genuine chance of a job. An earnings | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
threshold will also be introduced, new migrants will not be able to | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
claim housing benefit immediately. And anyone not seeking work will be | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
sent back and won't be able to return for 12 months. The | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
announcement comes ahead of the restrictions affecting Bulgarian and | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
Romanians being able to come here and work, which have been in place | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
since 2007, expiring at the end of next month. Mr Cameron also wants to | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
restrict the numbers coming to the UK from current and new EU countries | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
in the future, saying the right of free movement in Europe couldn't be | :18:07. | :18:18. | |
unqualified. But European Commissioner Laszlo Andor has warned | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
David Cameron of hysteria and the UK being seen as a nasty country. While | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
Labour's Yvette Cooper said the Prime Minister was playing catch-up | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
and copying their idea. Andrew, back to you. Thanks, Borgen. I'm joined | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
now by the head of UKIP's policy unit, Tim Aker. You have a policy | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
unit? When did that happen? If David Cameron got that through, we would | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
have more controlled migration from Eastern Europe and still all the | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
benefits of labour capital. You can tell there's an election round the | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
corner because David Cameron starts talking like a Eurosceptic. They've | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
already said the knot breeze to this, they're not least the right to | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
residency proposals so they take Mr the European Court of Justice. If he | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
gets this through, it's a step in the right direction but we have | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
known this when Bulgaria and Romania joined. Why now am so late, are they | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
talking about it now? We have known for ages the restrictions are coming | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
off in January. And this is now November for the why has he waited | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
so long? He hasn't waited so long. It's two years worth of work, Iain | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
Duncan Smith, Teresa May, putting these in place and fermenting them. | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
There are various stages you got to deal with, domestic legislation but | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
you have got to see what is acceptable, what would be working | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
within the EU framework. None of this will be in place by January. | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
Yes, it will, actually. The two things in place will be the habitual | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
residence test, a tougher, stronger more accurate thing which wasn't | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
there before. The other thing in place in January is the six months | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
in the country, which is coming from the Home Office. You don't need | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
legislation for that? So it happening? It's not a border control | :20:09. | :20:15. | |
issue, to benefit issue. You're not restricting the numbers. European | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
commissioners are very unhappy with this so they will do what they have | :20:22. | :20:24. | |
done over the rights to residency proposals, they will take it to the | :20:25. | :20:27. | |
European court of justice. That takes a long while. There are two | :20:28. | :20:34. | |
parts to this. It will take a while but the numbers will still come. | :20:35. | :20:42. | |
200,000 Roma here. You need to have a serious discussion about where the | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
EU has competence and it doesn't control the borders. You are quite | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
right, the commission standing alone here. We have now gathered support | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
across various countries across Europe who are like-minded with us | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
and it shows how far removed the commissioners's views are the people | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
on the ground. It's taken two years to get on the ground. Iain Duncan | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
Smith was in Paris last week, and we are getting a critical mass who are | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
thinking the same things. We will have the habitual residence test, | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
the removal after six months, and in the various other things which are | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
coming will be in place next year. I will come to Labour in a minute. | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
Which European countries agreed welfare payments should be stopped | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
after six months? They have different rules of the moment, so | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
you have places like Germany, they would say you have got to have done | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
stuff so long, different rules, we are all different. But they don't | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
agree with that specifically? Whether it's from general taxation | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
or the insurance rules or contributory system in the paid | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
into, so the rules are slightly different. Which country agrees that | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
those not seeking work will be removed and not able to attend the | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
12 months? That its future work going on for the other four David | :22:00. | :22:06. | |
Cameron... You told me you had all these countries lined up who were | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
backing us. And they will be Germany, Spain, Denmark... All these | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
countries support that? They are working with us, that's right. Where | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
is the evidence any of these countries reporters on this? These | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
are the negotiations which have been done the two years. I follow German | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
and French politics carefully and I'm not aware of those governments | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
supporting this. Were you at the same meeting of Iain Duncan Smith | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
two weeks ago in Paris? Are you telling me Iain Duncan Smith had a | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
breakthrough at these meetings and France and Germany will support the | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
return to host country after 12 months? I am saying is this is what | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
we are all agreeing at the moment for the David Cameron is leading the | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
way. I'm asking a game for them to the French and Germans agree with | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
this or not? If they do, where are they on the record saying they do | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
so? You do your domestic, consensus of opinion, | :23:06. | :23:39. | |
benefits for the first three months? Yes I supported as eight months ago. | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
Does Labour support stopping payments after six months and less | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
of a genuine chance for a job? On all of these things, actually. We | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
have not seen the details for that we have only seen one article, so it | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
needs to be looked at. They are pretty clear policies. Will new | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
migrants not be able to claim housing benefit immediately? I | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
think, again, alongside the three-month rule, that's probably | :24:08. | :24:10. | |
reasonable. Do you agree those not seeking work should be removed and | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
not be able to return for 12 months? Again, I want to see the | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
detail. They are talking about... They are saying if they see beggars | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
and vagrants from Eastern Europe and they can't show that they are | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
queueing up to do any work, they will be removed. Do you agree with | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
that? Howard sack the other going to determine that question how will | :24:34. | :24:42. | |
they know? -- how are they going to determine that? So you might not | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
support that? We need to see the detail, Andrew. The key thing, the | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
law changes. The reality is, Labour... Left us in this mess. It | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
was the way we dealt with immigration. You have done this. The | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
key thing, the reason we have been ahead of the game... You haven't. | :25:09. | :25:18. | |
You have to let him speak. If that Cooper gave a speech in which she | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
said you should title the habitual residency. Too late. We have been | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
doing it for two years. People should be of claim benefits abroad. | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
And dealing with a minimum wage. Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I just... | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
It's all about party politics. Listen to me. This is an unpleasant | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
arms race for the three of you, trying to be nasty to foreigners. | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
That's what the three of you wondering. Labour, of all parties, | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
which allowed for mass immigration when you were in power, for you now | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
to try to outdo the Tories in being nasty. Migrants, it really is quite | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
remarkable. Labour has learned the lesson that we fail to appreciate | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
what a big impact it would have on working-class communities where | :26:12. | :26:14. | |
there's a lot of low-wage people. And now we want to recognise the | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
fact that we should put in place transitional controls, we should | :26:20. | :26:21. | |
have thought about the impact on the working classes. Should've, | :26:22. | :26:29. | |
could've, would have. Excuse me. Be quiet, both of you. A final question | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
to my UKIP guest. Do you think a lot of Romanians and Bulgarians will | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
come in January? Yes. Potentially for the if I was in their position, | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
and very low standard of living. These two have been bickering for | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
years over this issue. UKIP is on the rise. The Tory held seat, if | :26:49. | :26:58. | |
third now. Congratulations. Are you determine to speak over every time I | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
speak? You're doing pretty well so far. Nobody said the challenge of | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
being the UK's foremost broadcaster was an easy one. Trying to maintain | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
impartiality during such a turbulent debate is nigh on impossible. Maybe | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
I shouldn't confess this but, well, I feel I'm among friends. Well, I | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
did until I started this programme! The question is this: In or out? Can | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
we still dip our Scottish shortbread into our English breakfast tea? And, | :27:25. | :27:27. | |
if the biscuit gets soggy and falls in, whose turn is it to clean up the | :27:28. | :27:39. | |
Daily Politics mug? Not me! Well, my bravehearts, you can make the | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
choice. Destiny can be in your hands whether you're from Paisley or | :27:44. | :27:45. | |
Penge, Portadown or Pontypridd! But only if you win this little beauty. | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
Well read. We'll remind you how to enter in a minute. But let's see if | :27:52. | :27:53. | |
you can remember when this happened. We have become a grandmother. Other | :27:54. | :28:09. | |
grandson. Called Michael. -- they grandson. | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
# How can we dance when our world is turning? # How do we sleep whilst | :28:16. | :28:28. | |
our Beds are burning? Here we are for the first time in the House of | :28:29. | :28:35. | |
Commons televised. # Here we are, back to reality. I still think I'm | :28:36. | :28:42. | |
doing what I believe to be right. # I hear your voice, it's like an | :28:43. | :29:00. | |
angel sighing # I have no choice, I hear your voice # Feels like flying. | :29:01. | :29:08. | |
# I close my eyes. To be in with a chance of winning a | :29:09. | :29:16. | |
Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email address. | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
That's [email protected]. And you can see the full terms and conditions | :29:22. | :29:23. | |
for Guess The Year on our website. He has been fired, I can tell you. | :29:24. | :29:41. | |
Let's take a look at Big Ben. . Yes, Prime Minister's Questions is on its | :29:42. | :29:45. | |
way. If you'd like to comment on proceedings you can email us at | :29:46. | :29:47. | |
[email protected]. Or tweet your thoughts using the hashtag | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
#bbcdp. We'll read some out after PMQs. Nick Robinson is here fresh | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
north of the border. There is not an earthquake in Messman stuck because | :30:00. | :30:06. | |
Big Ben was bouncing up and down. -- in Westminster. I have got to ask, | :30:07. | :30:17. | |
what a beautiful Mr Miller band to do today? It will be interesting to | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
see if he wants to mention immigration. -- Ed Miliband. I doubt | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
that. I think you'll want to talk about health. Let's go straight to | :30:29. | :30:31. | |
the Commons. This morning I had meetings of | :30:32. | :30:38. | |
ministerial colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in this | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
House, I shall have further such meetings later today. | :30:42. | :30:48. | |
This week I have launched a cross-party campaign with the | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
support of the GMB union to provide justice for the 3230 workers and | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
their families who were victims of blacklisting by 44 construction | :31:01. | :31:03. | |
companies. We have written to all the companies involved and will post | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
their responses on our website. Will the Prime Minister join me in this | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
campaign to support hard-working people and stamp out the terrible | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
disease of blacklisting? I am very glad to join my honourable friend, | :31:19. | :31:21. | |
and I congratulate him on the work that he has done on this issue. | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
Blacklisting is illegal, blacklisting is wrong. This sort of | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
intimidation is wrong, just as intimidation of non-striking workers | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
or indeed managers is also wrong. I am happy to condemn both forms of | :31:35. | :31:37. | |
intimidation, and I hope others will as well. Mr Ed Miliband. Mr | :31:38. | :31:48. | |
Speaker... Mr Speaker, following his U-turn on payday lending, can I ask | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
the Prime Minister why he has moved in two short months from believing | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
that intervening in broken markets is living, and I quote, in a Marxist | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
universe, to believing it is a solemn duty of government? Well, as | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
I have said, there are some dreadful practices that take place in the | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
payday lending market, and there are some very disturbing cases, and | :32:12. | :32:14. | |
frankly for 13 years they did absolutely nothing about it! So I am | :32:15. | :32:22. | |
proud of the fact, I am proud of the fact that we have intervened to | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
regulate this market properly, and we are also going to be put in place | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
a cap. Mr Speaker, let me be very fair to the right honourable friend. | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
I followed very carefully his interview on Desert Island discs, | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
and I think it is there to say that he is no longer a follower of marks, | :32:39. | :32:46. | |
he is having angels instead. -- Engels. Ed Miliband! | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
You would have thought he would be spending his time as Prime Minister, | :32:52. | :32:59. | |
Mr Speaker. What is surprisingly off what is surprising, Mr Speaker, is | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
that the Chancellor said just a few weeks ago, and I quote, that | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
attempts to fix prices crash endeavour and blunt aspiration. For | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
the avoidance of doubt, can he just reassure us that his U-turn had | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
nothing to do with the prospect of losing a vote in parliament the | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
following day? I am sorry the right honourable gentleman has had a | :33:25. | :33:27. | |
slight sense of humour failure, not a very good start to these | :33:28. | :33:34. | |
exchanges! I have done a little bit of research, Mr Speaker, and in | :33:35. | :33:37. | |
three years he has never asked me a question about payday lending, not | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
once! Not a single question. I have been asked about all sorts of | :33:44. | :33:46. | |
things, look, it is right to intervene when markets are not | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
working and people are getting hurt, that is what we are doing. 13 | :33:51. | :33:57. | |
years they had, they looked at a cap in 2004, and they rejected it. That | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
was when he was working in the Treasury. We have looked at a cap, | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
we looked at the evidence from Australia and elsewhere, it is the | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
right thing to do, and I am proud that we are doing it. Ed Miliband! | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
Mr Speaker, even by his standards, this is a bit rich. On the 22nd of | :34:14. | :34:20. | |
May 2012, they voted against capping payday lenders. On the 4th of July | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
2011, they voted against capping payday lenders. On the 3rd of | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
February 2011, they voted against capping payday lenders. We were for | :34:31. | :34:33. | |
it, they were against it. Clearly, he wants to claim... Clearly, he | :34:34. | :34:40. | |
wants to claim this is a principled decision, so can the Prime Minister | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
explain why the Government intervening to cap the cost of | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
credit is right, but the Government capping energy bills is communism? I | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
feel like one of those radio hosts who says, and your complaint is, | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
caller? We are taking action when they did not take action. We are | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
doing the right thing. He should be standing up and congratulating as. | :35:05. | :35:11. | |
He wants to turn... He wants to turn to energy, let me turn specifically | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
to energy. The point is we do not have control of the international | :35:17. | :35:19. | |
price of gas, so what we need to do is have more competition to get | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
profits down, and roll back the costs of regulation to get prices | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
down. That is a proper energy policy, and when it comes... We know | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
his version of intervention, his version of intervention is take | :35:34. | :35:36. | |
money from the Co-op and do not ask any questions! Ed Miliband! Mr | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
Speaker, Mr Speaker, here is the reality... Here is the reality, this | :35:44. | :35:51. | |
is not a minor policy adjustment, it is an intellectual collapse of their | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
position, because the two months, because for two months they have | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
been saying that if you take action to intervene in markets, it is back | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
to the 1970s, it is Marxism, and now they realise they are on the wrong | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
side of public opinion. That is the reality. Now, on energy, on | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
energy... On energy, he must realise... Order! We will get | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
through Question Time. However long it takes! I appealed to members | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
simply to calm down and think of the electorate, who we are here to | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
serve. Very straightforward, Ed Miliband! They are shouting because | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
they have no answer, Mr Speaker, and he must realise the gravity of the | :36:40. | :36:42. | |
situation, when there are figures this week showing 31,000 deaths as a | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
result of the cold winter, with around 10,000 as a result of cold | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
homes. So can he explain how things are going to be better this winter | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
than they were last? Well, what they will be this winter, and this is a | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
vitally important issue, what there will be is the cold weather payments | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
that we have doubled from their previous level. They will be in | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
place. The Winter fuel payment will be in place, the warm homes discount | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
that helps two million people in our country, that will be in place. The | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
increase of the pension, that will be in place. Now, look, every excess | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
deaths in the winter is a tragedy, and there were 31,000 last year. He | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
might care to recall that when he was Energy Secretary, there were | :37:29. | :37:34. | |
36,500. Ed Miliband! Mr Speaker, I asked him a very specific question, | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
how will it be better this winter than last? On the reality, prices | :37:39. | :37:44. | |
are going to be higher than last. For the average household, the | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
British Gas bill went up ?123 this week, and it was also revealed that | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
the profits of the energy companies are up 75% in the last year alone. | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
Why, under his government, is unacceptable for the British people | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
to pay exorbitant prices to fund exorbitant profits? What is | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
intellectual incoherence is not to address the fact that there were | :38:11. | :38:13. | |
36,500 winter deaths when he was standing here as Energy Secretary, | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
and that number was low at last year. What is intellectual | :38:19. | :38:21. | |
incoherence is to promise a price freeze for 20 months' time when you | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
do not control the global price of gas, incoherent and a total con. | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
While we are on the collapse of intellectual positions, more | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
borrowing, more spending, more taxing - exactly the things that got | :38:35. | :38:37. | |
us into this mess in the first place, and he remains committed to | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
each and everyone! Ed Miliband! Mr Speaker, I will tell you what is a | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
con, it is saying one thing before the election and then another thing | :38:48. | :38:53. | |
as Prime Minister. Here is what the honourable member for Richmond, here | :38:54. | :38:56. | |
is what the honourable member for Richmond said about him, he likes | :38:57. | :38:59. | |
reading out tweets, Mr Speaker, maybe will listen to this one. If | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
the PM can casually drop something that was so central to his | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
identity, he can drop anything. Hashtag green crap, that is this | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
Prime Minister all over! The truth is that any action he takes on the | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
cost of living prices is that he is being dragged there kicking and | :39:22. | :39:24. | |
screaming. On the cost of living prices, he is not the solution, he | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
is the problem. Nobody believes that he or his cabinet had any sense of | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
the pressures facing the people of Britain! I think everyone can | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
recognise a collapse when they see one, we just saw one right now! | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
Isn't it interesting... Isn't it interesting, the week before the | :39:45. | :39:48. | |
autumn statement, he cannot ask about the economy because it is | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
growing? He cannot ask about the deficit because it is falling, he | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
cannot ask about the numbers on work because they are rising. People can | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
see that we have a long-term plan to turn our country around, and people | :40:01. | :40:03. | |
can also see him sitting in his room, desperate for bad news to suit | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
his own short-term political interests! | :40:07. | :40:15. | |
Mr George Freeman! Mr Speaker, one in eight men will be diagnosed with | :40:16. | :40:24. | |
prostate cancer, the silent killer of middle-aged men. Survival rates | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
have risen to 80% because of improvements in science and | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
charities which have gone from five blokes raising $500 to the world's | :40:33. | :40:39. | |
biggest prostate charity. With the Prime Minister meet with me and | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
representatives of UK research charities to help the UK innovate | :40:43. | :40:45. | |
more quickly I think my honourable friend raises a very important | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
issue, where everybody wants to see more research and better outcomes in | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
terms of prostate cancer, and can I personally praise for that | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
magnificent growth on his top lip? I have noticed a number of my | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
colleagues suddenly resembling banditos and others on these | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
benches, not something I am fully capable of myself, I am jealous on | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
those grounds as well! But this is important, better diagnosis, better | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
knowledge and information are all vital to beat prostate cancer. The | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
Prime Minister one said he wanted to see rising living standards for | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
all, not just rewards for those in high finance. Why, then, real wages | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
down by over ?1600, while bank bonuses are up by 83%? That is | :41:31. | :41:37. | |
happening because we are cutting taxes, disposable income went up | :41:38. | :41:40. | |
last year, and what we have done is lit the first ?10,000 that people | :41:41. | :41:47. | |
turn out of tax altogether. That is worth ?700 for every person who pays | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
that tax. That is something he should be welcoming. In addition, we | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
have frozen the council tax, cuts the petrol duty, and helped in all | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
sorts of ways with family incomes. Every single step opposed by the | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
party opposite. Mr Richard Fuller. Thank you, Mr Speaker. This | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
foundation provides an lifting support for people living with | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
dementia in Bedfordshire and for their carers. -- uplifting. | :42:16. | :42:17. | |
Following his challenge on dementia last year and ahead of the G8 Summit | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
that he will host in London next month, can my right honourable | :42:23. | :42:24. | |
friend send a message to my constituents about his commitment to | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
achieving real progress on dementia research and care? I am very | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
grateful to my honourable friend for raising this issue. I think for too | :42:33. | :42:35. | |
long in our country people thought of dementia as a natural part of | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
ageing, rather than what it is, a disease that we should be fighting | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
with all the energy that we are fighting heart disease and fighting | :42:44. | :42:45. | |
cancer. As part of the dementia challenge, we will double research | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
funding over the lifetime of this Government, from 26 million to up to | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
66 million per year in 2014-15, but we also want to see an increase in | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
diagnosis rates, because getting to grips with this early, and we want | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
the rates to go to two thirds. I think is constituents will welcome | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
those pledges. Through the G8 chairmanship, we can galvanise | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
action around the world as well. Mr Speaker, REPORTER: Years the people | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
of Scotland were promised they would receive a detailed and costed white | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
paper to answer all their questions. Instead they got a thick document | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
full of false promises. In the absence of detailed costings, it was | :43:25. | :43:27. | |
not a blueprint for independence but a wish list. Given that the entire | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
white paper is based on the assumption that Scotland would keep | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
the pound as part of a sterling zone with no Plan B, can the Prime | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
Minister tell us whether that lack of Plan B calls into question the | :43:41. | :43:42. | |
entire credibility of the white paper? I very much agree with the | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
honourable gentleman. We have been waiting a long time for this | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
document. We were told it would answer every question, and yet no | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
answer on the currency, no answer on the issue of EU membership, no | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
proper answers one NATO. We were left with a huge set of questions, | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
and for Scottish people, also the prospect of a ?1000 bill has the | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
price of separation. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker! We are celebrating a year after new owners | :44:16. | :44:27. | |
of the former Pfizer site and with our commitment to small and | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
medium-sized enterprises in Kent, we now have 1400 jobs and 60 companies. | :44:32. | :44:38. | |
Would the Prime Minister agree with me that when the private sector | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
needs a proactive government, we can replicate these sorts of successors | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
around the country? Can I praise for the work she in. Clearly it was a | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
blower Pfizer made their decision and I think many people thought it | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
would be the end of that site in terms of jobs and investment but | :45:00. | :45:02. | |
because of the hard work she is put in, and also my right honourable | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
friend, the Business Secretary, and the science minister, a huge amount | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
of work, the enterprise zone is working well, attracted over 20 | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
high-tech companies, and Pfizer is now staying with 500 jobs as well. | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
It has been a success and shows if you work with the private sector, | :45:21. | :45:23. | |
you can get good results like this. Andy McDonald. The disability | :45:24. | :45:29. | |
benefits Consortium, over 50 charities have signed a letter to | :45:30. | :45:31. | |
the Secretary of State calling for immediate action to exempt disabled | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
people from the bedroom tax. Why on earth does he and his government | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
refused to listen? What we have done is exempt disabled people who need | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
an extra room but it does, I think, come back to a basic issue of | :45:49. | :45:51. | |
fairness. And that basic issue with this. People in private sector | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
rented accommodation who get housing benefit and don't get a subsidy for | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
a spare room whereas people in council houses do get a subsidy for | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
spare rooms and that's why I think it was right to end that, thinking | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
of the 1.8 million people in our country on housing waiting lists. I | :46:11. | :46:17. | |
wonder what the is to have a chance to watch any of the fantastic rugby | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
league World Cup semifinal match which took place between England and | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
New Zealand at the weekend? The tournament has been a great success | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
and shortly rugby fans will have the Rugby union World Cup to look | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
forward to in 2015 with games in England and Wales. Will he agree | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
with me that the great interest in rugby presents an opportunity for my | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
constituency to attract visitors to the birthplace of the game? I think | :46:44. | :46:50. | |
he is absolutely right that it is the best possible advertisement for | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
his time and I have done a public meeting in his high Street and know | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
what a varied reception you can get in the town of rugby. It's hard to | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
keep up with a quantity and quality of rugby union and rugby league | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
games. I made a wager with a New Zealand Prime Minister I would wear | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
a kiwi cuff link if they won in the rugby union match and they did so | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
last week but fortunately, nobody noticed. The Prime Minister has | :47:17. | :47:25. | |
vowed to fight for the UK with its head, heart and soul, but when it | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
comes to a debate of guts, we now have a blueprint for independence. | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
We know what his UK will look like. Will he now stop being pathetic and | :47:36. | :47:42. | |
debate the issues with the first Minister? I'm enjoying the debate | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
were having now, which is where it should take place. Of course, there | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
should be a debate including televised debates, but this is a | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
debate between people in Scotland. This is not a debate between the | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
leader of the Conservative Party and the UK Prime Minister and the | :48:00. | :48:02. | |
Scottish first Minister? It's a debate between the leader of the no | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
campaign and the leader of the yes campaign. And they should fight it | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
out on the facts. And on the issues. I know you want to find every | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
destruction possible because when it comes the economy, jobs, Europe, all | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
the arguments are for staying together. For future reference, you | :48:20. | :48:26. | |
shouldn't be yelling at the Prime Minister like an overexcited puppy | :48:27. | :48:33. | |
dog. It is unseemly. You can do a lot better if you try. Mary McLeod. | :48:34. | :48:43. | |
Small businesses and traders, 40 million people employed in them, in | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
Bradford and I is the web, 825 new business has been set up in the last | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
two years. -- I saw worth. Will you join with me in encouraging | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
businesses to become champions in all of our secondary schools to | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
inspire another generation of entrepreneurs? First of all, the new | :49:03. | :49:10. | |
businesses setting up in Britain, we do have 400,000 more businesses than | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
three years ago, but the point she makes about encouraging businesses | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
into schools to inspire young people about enterprise, about small | :49:19. | :49:21. | |
business and what that can involve, I think it's really important and I | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
would urge all MPs to make the most of small business Saturday and in | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
the visits they make to primary schools and secondary schools to | :49:30. | :49:32. | |
push the case for good business access and discussions. Four weeks | :49:33. | :49:40. | |
ago in Eccles, I met a woman, 55 years old, a mother married to | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
Tony. For the last four years, Joyce had problems in their memory and on | :49:46. | :49:48. | |
her 55th birthday she was diagnosed with onset dementia. Her family are | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
devastated but his inspirational woman and now fighting for better | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
services for people in similar circumstances. Will he ensure at the | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
G8, in London in two weeks time, there is a real plus for increase in | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
research and quality of care and support and prevention as well as | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
the important search for a cure? She's absolutely right. There was no | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
one single thing we have to do. The research budget is going up but we | :50:18. | :50:20. | |
also need to work within the health and social care sector to improve | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
standards but frankly, we also need to make our communities more | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
dementia friendly and something all of us can do is actually to become a | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
dementia friend, a simple relatively short test, and that of learning, | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
about how to help people in our communities with dementia. It's when | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
people are trying to go on a bus, or access their bank account, or go to | :50:43. | :50:45. | |
the post office, how they live their lives with something we can all make | :50:46. | :50:54. | |
a difference too. Last Friday, on the border between Gibraltar in | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
Spain, one about the dramatic pouches was opened, clear breach of | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
our sovereignty, -- diplomatic pouches. I ask what further | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
measures, political and indeed any other measures we can take towards | :51:11. | :51:17. | |
Spain, to stop this harassment of our people in Gibraltar? First of | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
all, he is right to raise this because it is a breach of the | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
principle of state immunity and the principles underlying in the Vienna | :51:28. | :51:30. | |
Convention on diplomatic conventions. It's a serious action | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
which took place. We asked the Spanish authorities to investigate | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
and they have done that and we are perceived and expiration. We are | :51:39. | :51:41. | |
reassured this will not happen again but that me be absolutely clear, we | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
will always stand up for the rights of people in Gibraltar and for the | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
sovereignty of Gibraltar. Earlier the Primus tag line for the | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
government is doing in relation to fuel poverty in the winter. -- the | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
Prime Minister. Outlined. The further north, incomes are lower, | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
the Colbert is, and fuel prices are higher. What additional measures can | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
he take to ensure the alleviates the problems suffered by people in | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
Northern Ireland? I do think the cold weather payments are perhaps | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
the key thing because they are triggered I load temperatures and | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
they kick in at ?25 a week, which makes the biggest difference. The | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
warm homes discovered, the energy companies themselves are putting in | :52:29. | :52:32. | |
place to help tackle fuel poverty. The measures under the last | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
government, fuel poverty is lower today than it was when the party | :52:37. | :52:43. | |
opposite was in office. It is my right honourable friend aware of the | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
concern in Suffolk about using a road toll to pay for improvements to | :52:49. | :52:54. | |
be a 14? And the consequent risk but introducing tolls on the roads may | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
undermine support for the sensible concept of road pricing? I am well | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
aware of the strong feelings about this issue and had been approached | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
by many MPs but I believe that road tolls can play an important part in | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
providing new road capacity. It's important we find way to praise for | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
road capacity, but I understand the concerns about this individual case. | :53:20. | :53:25. | |
Does he realise he has something in common with the SNP? While he | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
refuses to back a call on a freeze on energy bills, they were not there | :53:32. | :53:39. | |
to grips with the energy companies, what does he think this says to the | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
millions of Scottish people? Getting to grips with energy bills means | :53:47. | :53:48. | |
more competition in the market which we are delivering. We were left the | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
big six by the party opposite and we see new companies coming in and | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
people like the leader of the opposition sensibly deciding to | :53:59. | :54:04. | |
switch their energy supply, good or very principle. We need to go back | :54:05. | :54:07. | |
the costs of the levies, and we're looking at that, as well. The Prime | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
Minister will be aware that MPs from rural areas across party lines have, | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
for many years, campaigned for a fair funding formula for schools. | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
Ably led by David kidney, the former Labour MP, and by the Honourable | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
member for Buster, the issue has been brought to a head again and we | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
have been expected to expect news shortly. Can't reassure teachers | :54:32. | :54:41. | |
they won't be disappointed? I do understand the concerns because | :54:42. | :54:44. | |
these funding formulas are built up over many years and there are places | :54:45. | :54:48. | |
in the country which do feel disadvantaged, particularly in rural | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
areas, who can suffer exclusion and poverty and feel there is not proper | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
reflection in the funding formula. The Education Secretary will see | :54:59. | :55:07. | |
what he can do. In my constituency, the engine room of the economy is S | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
M Es full sub while business rates rising by an average ability of | :55:12. | :55:21. | |
thousand pounds in this Parliament? Really are extending the freezer | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
business rates that the last government was going to get rid of | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
that we are extending the freeze on business rates for the last | :55:31. | :55:34. | |
government is going to get the dog. --. | :55:35. | :55:37. | |
we are on the subject of how to help business. How on earth can it be a | :55:38. | :55:55. | |
good idea to say you want to increase corporation tax as you go | :55:56. | :55:58. | |
into the next Parliament? That seems, to me, absolutely mad in | :55:59. | :56:08. | |
terms of a new Labour jobs tax. By the end of this year, over 8000 | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
people in our country would have been diagnosed with pancreatic | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
cancer. Only 4% will even have the chance of a five-year survival | :56:19. | :56:21. | |
rate. And these figures have not changed for the last 30 years. When | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
the Prime Minister join the all-party group and pancreatic | :56:27. | :56:33. | |
cancer UK to improve these dreadful outcomes? There is always an issue | :56:34. | :56:40. | |
raised by those charities who are campaigning on some of the less | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
well-known and less prevalent cancers that they don't get a fair | :56:46. | :56:48. | |
share of the research funding. It's an issue I had taken up by the | :56:49. | :56:52. | |
Health Secretary and I think we need to make sure we are spreading | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
research funding and the work we do into cancer fairly across different | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
disciplines and cancers. Could I repeat, energy companies are making | :57:02. | :57:16. | |
77% profits per customer in 2012. Does the Prime Minister agree that | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
this is unacceptable? And, if so, what immediate steps is he proposing | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
to take to protect customers from blatant profiteering? What we need | :57:27. | :57:32. | |
to do is create a more competitive energy market. We inherited a | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
situation with just six big companies, we have seen seven new | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
companies coming to the market, and the number of people with | :57:42. | :57:44. | |
independent suppliers like the leader of the opposition, has | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
doubled during this Parliament, so we're making progress. I always | :57:51. | :57:53. | |
follow up the Honourable gentleman says, because recently gave an | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
interview when he went on the radio and said about Labour 's policies, | :57:57. | :58:00. | |
and said, I don't know our position on welfare, education, how we would | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
run the NHS. I think? That would be a good thing. -- I think a question | :58:07. | :58:15. | |
on that would be a good thing. What lessons has he learned from the | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
failures of the last Labour government which, despite claiming | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
just 13,000 immigrants will arrive in the UK, deliberately allowed more | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
than 1 million to come into our country? I think he raises an | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
important point because of course the benefits within the EU of free | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
movement, but there should be proper transition controls. We increase the | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
transition controls on Bulgaria and the mania from five years to seven | :58:42. | :58:44. | |
years, when we became the government, but it still baffles me | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
why the last Labour government decided to have no transitional | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
controller told for the a predicted 14,000 Polish people would arrive to | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
work in Britain but it was over 700,000. It is a shameful direction | :59:01. | :59:07. | |
of duty. The Prime Minister will be aware that the Mayor of London, | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
Boris Johnson, proposes to close nearly every single ticket office on | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
the London Underground network. With over 700 jobs being lost. Does the | :59:19. | :59:26. | |
Prime Minister believe that that is the way to raise living standards | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
for ordinary Londoners? The best way to happen Londoners is to make sure | :59:32. | :59:34. | |
we have a safe and affordable tube station and use modern technology to | :59:35. | :59:39. | |
deliver that. I think the conversation the Honourable Lady | :59:40. | :59:42. | |
needs to have is with the trade union would have done so much damage | :59:43. | :59:45. | |
to our underground, and we ought to be having on our underground, | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
permanent systems which provide a good service. Mr Speaker, earlier | :59:51. | :00:00. | |
this week, in Brighton, I was tested for HIV. This Sunday, it was world | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
AIDS Day. With the Prime Minister agree that in view of the fact in | :00:06. | :00:08. | |
this country, one in five people with HIV don't know they have it, | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
regular testing is to be in courage? I absolutely pay tribute to my | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
honourable friend and to all Honourable friends around this House | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
and in politics who campaigned so persistently and consistently on | :00:24. | :00:25. | |
this issue. It's vitally important we improve the livelihoods of people | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
with HIV and AIDS in the UK, but also vital we go on working | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
internationally including through the aid budget, to tackle HIV and | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
AIDS around the world but I think we can be proud of the money we have | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
put into things like the global fund and the fact, in this country, we | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
have achieved not .7% of gross national income when other countries | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
are broken promises. He's very keen to encourage energy users to switch | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
energy providers to get the best tariff. Why is it so difficult, over | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
the last three years, for mobile phone providers to be able to | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
switch? I think right across these utilities we want to see it made | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
easier for people to switch full sub we have done that on banks and is | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
now easier to switch bank account because of the hard work of a | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer. It's now easier to switch energy. Because | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
of the excellent work of climate change secretary. But it also be | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
easier to switch on other utilities, so it is an important bit of work we | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
are doing. The number of apprenticeships in Cornwall has | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
doubled since 2010. It helps to create a stronger economy and a | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
fairer society. Will he meet with me and a delegation of young people | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
from Cornwall to see how we can further promote these worthwhile | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
schemes? I am delighted with the news from Cornwall about the number | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
of apprenticeships. It's been a major financial commitment to help | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
fund apprenticeships. It's making a real difference but we have lots to | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
do to tackle worthlessness and unemployment for people between the | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
ages of 16 and 24 for the always happy to meet with him when I'm in | :02:03. | :02:11. | |
Cornwall. House prices are going up. At a time when real wages are coming | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
down. Does the Prime Minister accept that when interest rates go up, | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
after the election, this will detonate a sub-prime debt crisis of | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
his making? The greatest danger in terms of interest rate is if we had | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
a government that believed in more borrowing, more spending and more | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
taxes. That is what would drive up interest rates, that is what would | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
head the cost of living, and that is what every family in this country | :02:38. | :02:39. | |
should dread. Order. That's the end of primers as | :02:40. | :02:48. | |
questions. The first exchange between them were on payday loans. | :02:49. | :02:55. | |
And regulations to cap them in various ways. | :02:56. | :03:07. | |
Mr Cameron said that the opposition had decided not to do it in power, | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
they both have the same policy, not an unrewarding exchange between the | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
two. They then got onto the issue of the number of people who died last | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
winter because of the cold, and the fears of the number that will this | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
year, that will happen this year, and that brought us onto energy | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
prices and the usual exchanges about whether there should be a freeze or | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
not and what was the answer to rising energy prices. We may talk | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
about that in a moment. And the other thing of note, what I think | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
was generally pretty in distinguished exchange, Diane Abbott | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
asking a question about London and about the London Underground, which | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
those of us in the studio take to be the launch of her mayoral campaign. | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
We know these things! We don't, really. Half the backbenchers want | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
to go for that job! Diane from Cornwall said, a good week for Ed | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
Miliband who adroitly linked payday lenders to energy costs and the fear | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
of cold weather deaths and NHS backlogs. Jim brought in from | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
Nuneaton said, David Cameron summed the situation up nicely at the end | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
of his exchange with Ed Miliband, desperately searching for bad news | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
on which to score political points. But this is from Bernard Whitaker, | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
Newcastle upon Tyne, can run all over the place and payday loans, he | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
struggles on electricity. -- Cameron. Alan Waugh would, a very | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
interesting point, is Tory ideology becoming inconsistent under David | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
Cameron? Interventionist tendencies. From John Smith, nothing | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
from Labour on the economy, the thing that troubles the majority of | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
hard-working folk. The reason MPs or a number of them were wearing red | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
ribbons is as a sign for international AIDS day, which is | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
this Sunday, and there was a question about AIDS testing in the | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
exchanges there. Immigration did not come up, interesting thing is that | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
the issue that regularly comes top of the polls after the economy is an | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
issue about immigration, but the mother of Parliaments does not talk | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
about it on the one bit that is broadcast on network television. You | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
said Ed Miliband would not raise it, I think we all agreed, in that it | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
would have been an opportunity to do what David Cameron briefly did at | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
the end, when a Tory backbencher raised it. The Prime Minister was | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
then able to say Labour got it wrong in 2004, the lack of transitional | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
controls to prevent so many polls and other Eastern European is coming | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
over. But that is is chosen topic of the day, this climb-down. | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
Interestingly, while we have been on air, the EU commission have been | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
reacting. We heard earlier one EU commission speaking on the Today | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
programme, very critical of David Cameron's article in the Financial | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
Times, and now a justice commissioner has said it is | :06:12. | :06:13. | |
non-negotiable for member states, the issue of freedom of movement, | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
and went on to say, a woman called Vivian Reading, that Britain had | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
always been in favour of enlarging the EU and now politicians seem | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
unhappy with it. What is striking on these benefits tightening up is that | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
the Liberal Democrats wanted it to be known that they had accepted | :06:32. | :06:34. | |
them, not just as it were acquiesced, but that they were in | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
favour, and the Labour Party's only criticism was that they recommended | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
tightening up earlier. So there is now a cross-party consensus about | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
the need to tighten up benefit controls. You only have to look at | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
the opinion polls that were all over the front pages the other day, the | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
Daily Mail, to know why. It is not just the top issue regularly, but | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
people's concern about the influx of EU migrants, you are talking about | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
very high numbers in the opinion polls. So UKIP calling the shots | :07:04. | :07:12. | |
again. But is it UKIP? You could say that UKIP is breathing down their | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
necks ahead of the European elections, the last set of migration | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
statistics were not good for the Government, so they may be trying to | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
get in pre-emptively. We know this 1st of January deadline looms, the | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
point at which Romanians and Bulgarians can, if they choose, come | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
and work freely, there are plenty here already, of course, working | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
self-employed or on special work permits. But there is also coming up | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
in Parliament a Tory backbench rebellion on this issue of Romania | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
and Bulgaria. There are all sorts of political reasons. Partly because | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
they are worried about UKIP. If all three age of parties are now | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
effectively saying the same thing, the only party that has got a | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
different story, tougher than all three of them, is UKIP. That is | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
true. The reason I cavil with you slightly... Did you?! If UKIP did | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
not exist, the fact that the predictions were for 14,000 polls to | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
come per year and the total over ten years was more than 700,000, that | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
would have created a climate of public anxiety, whether UKIP were | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
there ten. They have not created it, they have served the wave of | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
anxiety. I accept your cavil, I will then go up and see it means! Let's | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
come back to the issue of energy prices, at a time when we know that | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
more old people dying because of cold, as they did last winter, the | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
need to, and that there is a fear of whether that will happen again, | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
given that energy prices have gone way ahead of any possible income | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
increased that old people have had, is it not really embarrassing that, | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
at the same time, the energy can show a 75% increase in profits? Of | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
course it is an embarrassing thing for them, and it is obviously | :09:04. | :09:05. | |
something that we have really got to deal with what we are doing, and the | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
thing that I suppose I admire the nerve of Ed Miliband was to put | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
legislation in place which rapidly increased the prices, the green | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
levies, and now he is saying, he would want to freeze prices. What we | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
have got to do is remove what Government can genuinely do, and | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
that will be looking at the green levies, looking at what we can do | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
there, bringing the prices down. We have to do that, it has to be | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
affordable for the people on the ground. The green levies are one | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
issue, you both have always sung from the same song sheet, Labour and | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
conservative. But they did introduce a more, you are quite right. But | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
there is an additional problem, because the green levies do not | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
extend to profits. If they have got 75% increase in profits, there is | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
something systemically wrong with the market, and yet you have been in | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
power for over three and a half years now, and I see no changes that | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
you have made to the energy market. You are quite right. We have got to | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
make sure the markets work. We believe any market, and we have to | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
make sure they are going to work. That is why David Cameron has said | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
we are bringing more people into the marketplace, and we are going to do | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
it within a time frame. Yes, this is something we have to accelerate. The | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
Autumn Statement coming up next week, it is almost certain, I think, | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
talking about this, that there will be movement on the green levies. | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
Some of them will be scrapped or diminished or put onto general | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
taxation. We'll Labour supports that? I don't know, we need to look | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
at their proposals. You are responsible for a lot of the green | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
levies. The current government introduced more of the green levy | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
cost than the last Labour government. You did introduce a lot. | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
In order to try and encourage, incentivise renewables... They | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
account for 10% of the bill. But I mean, I want to make this point, Mr | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
Miliband talks about the need for a price freeze, yet the 2008 climate | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
change act, for which she was responsible, had a specific | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
intention of raising energy prices. That was the specific intention, | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
because it put a lot of money into onshore wind, which was twice the | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
normal price of electricity, and offshore wind, which is three times | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
that, and solar power as well. Now, the intention was to do it, so now | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
to call for a price freeze on it seems either inconsistent or | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
hypocritical or both. No, the intention was to try to deal with | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
the prospect of climate change by getting the energy companies to take | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
greater responsibility for paying for developing the next generation | :11:53. | :11:55. | |
of carbon neutral and carbon free energy. Which are more expensive. | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
You are entirely right that it is not down to the energy levies, it is | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
not down to the green levies. It is to do with the fact that you have | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
vertically integrated energy companies, who both generate, | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
transmit and sell to consumers. Which you created. The last Tory | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
government is what privatised energy in this country. Not a Mac, we are | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
going historic now! You allowed them to be integrated. Tell us a bit more | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
about... We need to freeze the bills because people... We know that is | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
Labour policy, we have covered the freeze quite a lot on this | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
programme. You will be with me for the Autumn Statement next Thursday, | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
it has been delayed a day. Any hints you can do? We know these green | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
levies are going to be shifted in some way. It may turn out to be | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
complex. It would be interesting to see whether he wants to announce it | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
on his big day or get it out of the way so that it is not all that | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
anybody talks about, that is one thing that is worth watching for. | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
But he has got to raise some money to pay for the goodies promised by | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories at their party conferences. | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
One brief thoughts on price? The Treasury always looks for pain-free | :13:15. | :13:17. | |
ways of putting taxes up, that is why there was the fuel duty | :13:18. | :13:20. | |
escalator, remember that? Marvellous, we can put money on | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
petrol, nobody will mind, but then of course people do mind. After the | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
protest it never went up again. Or let's put it on energy bills, they | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
will not mind, that is green. What we discover is that civil servants | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
come up with ways to put bills up painlessly, and politicians | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
discover, actually, people find it quite painful. And when they all | :13:42. | :13:44. | |
agree, it is incumbent on us to look harder at the issues. Which is why | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
you have got journalists here. Well done! Toady! I'm going to give him a | :13:52. | :13:59. | |
fiver afterwards. Going back to a story we covered earlier, the | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
announcement that David Cameron will restrict benefits for out of work EU | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
migrants, attempting to limit numbers coming year in the future | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
just five weeks before restrictions relaxed on Bulgarians and Romanians | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
coming to the UK to live and work. Speaking earlier on the BBC, Alp | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
Mehmet from Migration Watch UK is that Mr Cameron is just doing what | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
everyone else in Europe would like to do. He suggests that we are the | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
nasty country or likely to be labelled as a nasty country. Is he | :14:28. | :14:30. | |
saying that to the Germans, I wonder, who have some other | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
concerns? Or the French, who have already acted? Or any of the other | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
countries? In Dade, does he say that to the Romanians and Bulgarians that | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
I talked to say, you are mad for opening up in this way? -- indeed. I | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
welcome what the Prime Minister is proposing for I believe he is | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
proposing. We do need to tighten the benefits system, we cannot have | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
uncontrolled access to the labour market in this way. It was never | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
intended for that purpose. It was never intended for countries that | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
are so far and bounced from the sort of countries that Romania and | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
Bulgaria are at the moment. Joining us is the Bulgarian Ambassador | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
Konstantin Dimitrov. Welcome to the Daily Politics. What is your | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
reaction to David Cameron's financial Times article in which | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
each attempts to limit welfare benefit in a number of ways to | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
migrants? I think it's an expected political announcement in the form | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
of an article. It is to be read very carefully, to be studied, to be | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
consulted back in my capital. It is, which is very important to us, and | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
indirect confirmation that the UK Government will lift the remaining | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
restrictions to access to the labour market for Bulgarians and Romanians, | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
levelling them up with the rest of the citizens of the European Union. | :15:54. | :16:00. | |
And I had confirmation from the Foreign Office that this is indeed | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
the message among the Alliance of the article in question. So there is | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
no doubt in your mind that the final restrictions on Bulgarians and | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
Romanians will be lifted in January? That they will have the same rights | :16:16. | :16:18. | |
of movement across European borders as the rest of the EU? May I make an | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
important decision, the right of movement is there but the right to | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
work legally was subject to some administrative restrictions which | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
will go. They will go, and it's a different subject altogether, the | :16:37. | :16:38. | |
issue of the access to your social welfare system. I understand that. I | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
would like to have a triple distinction in this amalgam of | :16:45. | :16:58. | |
notions. Let me ask you this. Are you broadly sympathetic to the | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
tightening up of welfare benefits for EU migrants? In principle, we | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
stick to the view that those who have access to benefits should have | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
contributed to the gross domestic product of each nation where the | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
National 's work. However, there are two conditions attached to it. One | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
of them if they should be a non-discriminatory attitude to | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
specific citizens from a specific country in the EU, and indeed, all | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
national legislative measures should be in full compliance with | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
applicants in EU legislation. Is it the case, as I think I have seen you | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
have said, that noble dairy 's who have applied to come and work here | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
have been turned down anyway? -- no Bulgarians. Those who have provided | :17:54. | :18:00. | |
the necessary documents have been granted to work here in the specific | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
category to which they belong, in other words, there hasn't been a | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
trend of the number of workers so far because it is contrary to the | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
new legislation, so, in other words, the 1st of January, once the | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
floodgates opened, the access to your labour market, you will see a | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
situation of access through work permits towards the situation of | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
finding work without the permit characteristic for the transitional | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
periods. Are you saying we will not see the floodgates opening? We will | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
not see a sudden rush of large numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
coming to work in this country? We are not crystal ball gazers but the | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
analysis suggests that because of the factors I explained below, the | :18:52. | :18:59. | |
easy access to your labour market for legally working Bulgarians | :19:00. | :19:02. | |
before the 1st of January, we don't see any objective be requisite for a | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
rising coming of our complete clearance. Moreover, there is a | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
large-scale information campaign of the existing restrictions to the | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
access of your social welfare system and indeed, the need for people to | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
be absolutely immaculate in terms of the documents they will have to have | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
two even applied for work here in the period after the New Year | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
coming. The gap in living standards in GDP between Bulgaria, Romania and | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
the western part of the EU, France, Germany, the UK, it is large. That | :19:41. | :19:49. | |
is true. Are you not worried, as movement for jobs becomes friction | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
free, that you lose a lot of your best and brightest? We are very | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
worried and if I have to be very honest with you, it is a problem of | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
a brain drain for Bulgaria, much more than the influx of the best | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
qualified nurses and doctors, entrepreneurs or financiers into | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
your country. I can understand why that is a worry. Do you think | :20:14. | :20:20. | |
Britain is becoming a nasty country in its attitude towards this? I | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
don't think so but there was a nasty anti-bug Aryan campaign from certain | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
politicians and certain media which I will not name. -- antibody Aryan. | :20:31. | :20:43. | |
Go on. -- anti-Bulgarian. I am too much of an ambassador. Now, have all | :20:44. | :20:52. | |
you Borgen fans caught up on last weekend's episodes? We are obsessed | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
on this programme. If you have you'll know that Brigitte Nyborg's | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
new party makes a break through in the Danish Parliament after her MPs | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
tackle the contentious issue of Danish pork and animal welfare | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
standards. Put your hands over your ears. Well, believe it or not, that | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
issue is also very topical here because a number of celebrity chefs | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
have joined forces to try and change what we feed our pigs. Here's | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
Thomasina Miers, winner of MasterChef and co-founder of the | :21:17. | :21:18. | |
Wahaca restaurant chain with her soapbox. | :21:19. | :21:30. | |
For 9000 years of humans have lived alongside domestic pigs, they have | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
been the perfect partner for consuming wasted humans produce and | :21:36. | :21:44. | |
converting it into calories and pork roast to eat, but that changed a | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
decade ago. After the outbreak of foot and mouth disease and its | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
devastating consequences for British livestock in 2001, politicians and | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
-- introduced a ban on feeding catering waste on pegs without | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
considering the impact. The ban them became permanent across the EU. We | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
now have a crazy system with pegs are being fed food humans could eat | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
and much of it is Sawyer, where rainforests are being cut down at an | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
alarming rate. -- soy. It is used for animal feed and Europe now | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
produces 40 million tonnes a year which is not sustainable. Many pig | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
farmers are now going out of business because of the expensive | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
price of grain when I have a ready-made food source in the form | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
of food waste for their livestock, a significant portion of farmers now | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
want to feed their livestock pigs will. The UK is also out of step | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
with the rest of the world. The government of other countries like | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, China and many states in America but | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
organise the best way of telling food waste into a valuable resource | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
is to feed it to livestock. Inside are banning the practice, the | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
Japanese support pig farmers who want to use food waste as feed. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
Eco-pork is sold on the same supermarket shelves where the waste | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
originated. Working in restaurants can we separate food waste into food | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
bins to avoid cross contamination, and easy solution. Recycling food | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
waste into livestock feed is also a print way of increasing Europe's | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
food security for the future. And Thomasina Miers joins us now. | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
Welcome to the programme. It didn't work last time because there was | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
that cross contamination. What makes you think it will be different now? | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
Last time, you talk by the single incident of foot and mouth which had | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
devastating consequences, so a temporary ban was put on the pigs | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
will industry which sadly spread across the EU and is now | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
semipermanent. That's what we're trying to change for the in New | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
Zealand, China, America, South Korea, Japan, they have a very good | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
swill system for the day take the catering waste, cook it to a certain | :24:02. | :24:09. | |
level, which safely killed pathogens including foot and mouth, and make | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
it two double foot of in the UK, we are throwing out 15 million tonnes | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
of food waste a year, just in the UK. If you took a globally the food | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
waste your chucking out and fed it to animals, you would be liberating | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
enough grain to feed 3 billion people. You said it had devastating | :24:28. | :24:35. | |
consequences, that one incident. How do you reassure people that that | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
incident wouldn't be repeated? There are several things to do. If you | :24:39. | :24:45. | |
listen to our detractors, they are highlighting a lethal outbreak of | :24:46. | :24:47. | |
foot and mouth disease again but foot and mouth is already out | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
there, it's everywhere, it's a question of controlling it. Proper | :24:52. | :24:54. | |
investigations were not done at the time. It was a remiss farmer who | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
wasn't doing the correct heat treating. It was one farmer. We're | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
talking about factories, having proper regulations, like the food we | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
eat is pasteurised and cooked. It wasn't necessarily downed that | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
farmer treating outbreak. The type of foot and mouth was similar to one | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
in South Africa the year before. Proper investigations were not done | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
so it absolutely not sure it was foot and mouth. You've obviously | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
thought about it carefully, thought that what happened in the past. Have | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
you had any response from the EU or government? They passed a blanket | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
ban. We are trying to engage the subject of politicians because, | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
apart from anything else, the health scares of what we're doing at the | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
moment, are really scary, so 50 million tonnes of food waste are put | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
into landfill, which is completely untreated for the rodents, rats, | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
Vernons -- seagulls are scavenging on it. I can see the sense of the | :25:59. | :26:06. | |
argument. What we got to do is have consumer confidence there. People | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
are fearful of there being another food scare. I think that's what we | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
have got to do, allay peoples fears, explain clearly, as you are doing | :26:17. | :26:23. | |
very coherently. And putting regulation in place to ensure it | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
couldn't have this contamination gainful we look at the human food, | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
look after pig food. I say, start lobbying your local MPs. Would you | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
support it? I think, when you hear him make the arguments, they sound | :26:38. | :26:44. | |
plausible. I only read about it last week. What is striking is so minute | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
of the interested parties, pig producers, veterinarians, so opposed | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
to it, and the reason they are opposed to it is they think we don't | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
have the structures in place, the treatment plants, the means to | :26:57. | :27:03. | |
separate out the waste to guarantee you weren't feeding pigs to pigs. | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
You can feed animals to animals, only chickens and pigs but not to | :27:11. | :27:18. | |
beef. It looks like it ought to be interesting. The sustainability | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
issues you raise are very important. I think we need to be | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
very, very clear that we could do something like this safely, because | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
the downside is enormous. You can understand it in a way. I understand | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
it as a mother of two children, as someone who has been friends of | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
farmers who lost livestock. It was horrific, foot and mouth for the it | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
wasn't proven it was caused by the swill industry, number one. It | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
happens across the world safely. America, New Zealand, Japan. If they | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
can do it, why can't we? The third thing is, what is the third thing? | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
Don't worry. It's always terrible things first, second and third. | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
Maybe the farmers are the ones who have to convince Festival. Convince | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
them and create a new economy. -- convince farmers. OK, we have run | :28:11. | :28:18. | |
out of time. Now, it's time to put you out of your misery and give you | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
the answer to Guess The Year. Esther press that big red button now! The | :28:25. | :28:33. | |
answer was 1989. She is my best friend. OK, that's all for today. | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
Thanks to our guests. The One O'Clock News is starting over on BBC | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
One now. We'll be back tomorrow at noon with all the big political | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
stories of the day. Anne Widdecombe will be with us so do join us then. | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
Bye bye. Bye bye. | :28:50. | :28:51. |