Browse content similar to 05/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning folks and welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
A date is set for the big Clegg-Farage bout, but Nick Clegg | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
can't wait to land the first punch as he lays into UKIP, saying it's | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
the Lib Dems who'll really deliver EU reform. | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
The waters are subsiding, but how did politicians come off when they | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
waded into the floods crisis? Just two weeks to the budget, is | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
drinking wine and spirits such a sin that it deserves such hefty taxes? | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
And parking tickets, speed cameras and overflowing bins - can anyone | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
bring an end to the annoyances of everyday life in Britain? | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
All that coming up in the next 90 minutes of the very finest public | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
service broadcasting. And joining us, two people who are not the least | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
bit annoying - in fact, they are going to keep you entertained with | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
their easy manner and witty repartee for the duration of the programme: | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles and the Shadow Europe | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
minister, Gareth Thomas. Welcome to the programme. Good to be here. | :01:37. | :01:48. | |
Could you say that with a bit more enthusiasm? ! | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
First this morning: What's the impact of immigration on British | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
jobs? Well, the Government has used figures which claim that for every | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
100 immigrants that arrive here, 23 British jobs are lost. But the BBC's | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
Newsnight programme has claimed that the Government is suppressing a | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
report by civil servants which says that the impact on British jobs is | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
much smaller than that, and it would be "politically awkward" to publish | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
it. Here's Theresa May making that 23 jobs for 100 immigrants claim in | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
a speech in December. We asked the advisory committee to | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
look at the effects of immigration on jobs. They found a clear | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
association between non-European immigration and employment in the | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
UK. Between 1995 and 2010, the committee found and associated | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
displacement of 160,000 British workers. For every additional 100 | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
immigrants, they estimated 23 British workers would not be | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
employed. There is a zero displacement fallacy and Government | :02:58. | :02:59. | |
must never make that mistake again of falling for it. Eric Pickles, why | :03:00. | :03:07. | |
is Downing Street sitting on a report suggesting the impact of | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
immigration is much less than first thought? For Gibney, it is not | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
sitting on a report. The report is not ready, and when it is, we will | :03:16. | :03:25. | |
publish it. -- forgive me. Theresa May looked for independent figures, | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
those figures came up and went through rigour, and this report will | :03:32. | :03:39. | |
also go through a degree of rigour. In terms of sitting on the report, | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
we knew some of the conclusions were around at Christmas time. They were | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
leaked at that point and we still haven't seen the report, which is | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
why there is a suggestion Downing Street is sitting on it. It is not | :03:51. | :03:58. | |
finished, I've not seen the report, I will be interested in the report. | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
As far as I know, the Prime Minister has not seen the report. Well, we | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
have been told that the figure in terms of impact on jobs for British | :04:08. | :04:16. | |
workers is virtually mill. -- nil. I have no way of judging whether that | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
is an accurate interpretation. If it does come out with that sort of | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
guidance, will you change your policy? We will look and see how | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
rigorous these figures are. I think that has to be an understanding of | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
the relationship between migration and benefits. We have a tradition of | :04:38. | :04:45. | |
welcoming people into this country who can contribute to national | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
wealth. We need to understand controlled immigration is a good | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
thing for this country. What isn't a good thing is uncontrolled | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
immigration. Over the last couple of years, we will have seen a big | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
influence of people coming to London. Last time I looked, we were | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
the sixth largest French city, bigger than Bordeaux. Do you accept | :05:13. | :05:20. | |
one of the main tenets for your claim for immigration is based on | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
the fact that many jobs are being taken by immigrants, as your | :05:27. | :05:36. | |
Government puts it? Our point is we believe immigration should be | :05:37. | :05:38. | |
controlled. We've gone through a decade or so where immigration was | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
not terribly well controlled. What we need to ensure is that as the | :05:44. | :05:51. | |
economy starts to grow, our population has the necessary skills | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
and knowledge to take up jobs. That is not putting up a ring paints | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
backtrack fence around our borders. We appreciate people who can come | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
and contribute. Can I ask why the Home Secretary made much of that | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
original report in 2012 which seem to show there would be 23 fewer jobs | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
for every 100 people coming? She said, it is clear from this report. | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
But if you read the statistical caveats in this report from two | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
years ago, the report says, results are statistically insignificant when | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
outliers are removed from the data. That means you take away figures | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
that look a bit dodgy. It went on to say, the results may not be robust. | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
That was in the original result, yet your party made so much political | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
significance out of it and never made mention of those caveats. The | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
report was published, it is there on websites for people to read. But the | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
Home Secretary said it is clear that it is 23 for every 100. When you | :07:02. | :07:09. | |
read this report, it is far from clear. To reason made a point, it is | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
in the report. Nobody at the time suggested it was wrong. They did. A | :07:17. | :07:24. | |
research tank the day after it was published put out a huge analysis of | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
this and blue enormous holes in it. So it is not right to say that, I'm | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
afraid. Can I ask about the net migration figure? Do you still think | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
you should be trying to get that to tens of thousands when it is | :07:39. | :07:46. | |
currently over 200,000? I think we need to knowledge the figure is | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
going to vary enormously. But I think it is important we do continue | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
to press down on non-EEC migration figures. It is our aim to achieve | :07:56. | :08:03. | |
it. Really? You are going to be able to get down from 212,000 when you | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
cannot control the bulk of immigration from the EU? It is our | :08:09. | :08:17. | |
aim to get down non-EU figures. If we were to get some control over EU | :08:18. | :08:29. | |
figures, the loss would be to Britain. There are many British | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
workers overseas. I think controlled immigration is a very good way... | :08:35. | :08:43. | |
Well, the figures have gone up. There are fewer criminals being | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
deported, fewer people being found in being deported. The conclusions | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
of the report are virtually out there, Vince Cable says the report | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
is completed and should be published. Surely within the next | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
couple of days these reports could be published and could inform the | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
debate about immigration any more sensible way then clearly Theresa | :09:05. | :09:13. | |
May with her speech. Gareth, your record on immigration is | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
unbelievable. There were ten years of uncontrolled immigration. I've | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
made it clear that when this report is ready, it will be published. | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
Actually, the numbers in terms of immigration are going in the wrong | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
direction according to your own figures. The number of deported | :09:31. | :09:38. | |
criminals and illegal migrants being deported is going down. On the issue | :09:39. | :09:46. | |
of employment and wages being undercut, we know you have to tackle | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
some of the abuses being revealed in the labour market. One area where we | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
know there are problems is the care sector, where agencies are being | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
used to recruit people from aboard. We need to make that illegal. We | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
need to tackle the lack of enforcement over the minimum wage. | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
There have only been two prosecutions since 2000. How many | :10:12. | :10:21. | |
were there under Labour? I don't know exactly, but they were better. | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
We've got the figures, it wasn't. Fewer than ten. And they weren't | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
prosecutions, they were cases raised with people abusing the system. | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
Now, the date for the big televised bout between Nick Clegg and Nigel | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
Farage was announced today - it will be on BBC Two on Wednesday two April | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
at 7pm. But some early salvos are already being fired. This morning, | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
Mr Clegg made a speech on Europe in which he attacked UKIP MEPs as lazy | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
and effective. Here's what he had to say. | :10:55. | :11:08. | |
Martin Horwood from the Liberal Democrats joins us from outside | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
Parliament, and UKIP's Roger Helmer is in Brussels. Mr Clegg criticises | :11:12. | :11:23. | |
Nigel Farage for not voting opera Nona -- often enough in the European | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
Parliament. It turns out they vote more than Mr Clegg. Well, he is the | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
Deputy Prime Minister, what is their excuse? Well, he is the leader of a | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
big party X might you cannot criticise other people for voting | :11:42. | :11:50. | |
when you yourself vote less. Lib Dem MEPs and the liberal group across | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
Europe have a much better record and that is what you should compare it | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
with, not Government ministers in this country who are obviously | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
undertaking a lot of other duties and obviously don't turn up to lobby | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
every day. Mr Clegg was my big new idea is you should close down the | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
Strasbourg bit of European Parliament. Hardly a new idea, most | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
people think it should be, but the French don't and the French have a | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
veto. Explain to us how Mr Clegg will overcome the French veto. I | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
think we do just have to build a consensus. There is a consensus | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
already. Not in France, there isn't. We need to build up the pressure. | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
This is a colossal waste of money. It is just one example of how we can | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
still tackle waste. We know that, no one disagrees with you on that. Name | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
me one mainstream ranch politician that thinks that should be closed. | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
Well, it is in the treaty that the Strasbourg parliament is part of the | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
process. So this needs to be on the political agenda and we are trying | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
to do that. We are saying there are things that can be tackled. Could | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
you name me one mainstream French politician that think that | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
Parliament should be closed? The top of my head, no. That's because there | :13:15. | :13:25. | |
isn't one. We need to look at areas where the EU can focus more | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
resources on creating British jobs, fighting cross-border crime and | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
environment. Roger, you get paid a fair bit with decent expenses for | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
growing -- going to Brussels. Don't you think you should do some work | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
for it? My voting participation rate in the Europe where -- European | :13:45. | :13:52. | |
Parliament is better than the average of Lib Dems. The | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
participation rate is actually double Nick Clegg's participation | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
rate in London and he lives near his Parliament wearers Nigel Farage has | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
to travel eight hours to get to Strasbourg. So these comparisons are | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
outrageous. One other point to - we in UKIP are much more focused on | :14:14. | :14:16. | |
what is going on in Britain in Europe, and if you look at our 150 | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
or so councillors, a recent study in the times of the four major parties | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
showed that, of those parties, UKIP councillors have the top rate of | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
participation and Lib Dem councillors have the bottom. What do | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
you say to that, Martin? We're not talking about councillors, we're | :14:37. | :14:43. | |
talking about MEPs. But he said his voting record is on average better | :14:44. | :14:50. | |
then Lib Dem MEPs. Well, he must be an outlier. You get as a whole has | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
the worst record of any British and European party, and they are paid to | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
fight Britain's corner in the European Parliament. They are not | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
doing it. We are paid to serve the interests of our electors. Our | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
electors in UKIP voted for us because they want is to get Britain | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
out of the European Union and work. Your leader served our interests by | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
not turning up to the European fisheries meeting apart from one | :15:20. | :15:22. | |
meeting in an entire year. That was when he was lecturing everyone else | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
about how terrible European policy was. | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
UKIP voted the right way on that issue. Nigel Farage, as has been | :15:34. | :15:41. | |
rightly pointed out, is the leader of a large and growing political | :15:42. | :15:44. | |
party and he has enormous calls on his time. I have never met a man who | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
work so hard or deliver so much value. Let me tell you how | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
representative democracy is supposed to work, it is not to advance your | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
poetical party but to do a job of work. That is what we do here -- | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
your political party. We are doing what our electors want us to do and | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
you will find that out on May the 22nd. Do you agree with Paul | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
Nuttall, number two in your party? It says, my attendance record is | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
flaky to say the least but so what, I treat Brussels with the contempt | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
it deserves. I treat Brussels with a fair measure of contempt. They're in | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
mind that we have a different objective. The Lib Dems want to | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
build Europe and sit in dusty committee rooms passing European | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
laws and maxing out on daily allowances. We are concerned about | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
arguing the case and spreading the message at home. Some of our MEPs | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
have more emphasis on the work in Brussels, some have more emphasis on | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
the work at home. The voters are the people who decide if we are doing a | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
good job. We have a Euro election on May 22 and I think you may find that | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
the voters agree that we are doing the things they elected us to do. | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
Martin Horwood, at the last election, your party said, Liberal | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
Democrats think we should have a real vote. It should be in or out of | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
Europe, that is the vote we want. Yet when George Osborne proposed | :17:15. | :17:17. | |
that in the cabinet yesterday, Lib Dems opposed it. He proposed a | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
referendum bill which we have ready had in this Parliament, based on | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
Conservative Party policy. We did support and in-out referendum at the | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
time of the Lisbon Treaty and we will continue to support it under | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
similar circumstances. You are frightened to death of it. We are | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
not, we proposed it. Why don't you want one now? We proposed it not | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
when the Lisbon Treaty was going through but at the time and we would | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
do that again. What is wrong with having one now? The timing, as we | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
know, is not right. We are not looking for a referendum to pave the | :17:58. | :18:00. | |
way for exit from the European Union. Why not have a real vote now? | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
At the time, most other parties were not supporting an in-out referendum. | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
We have consistently supported an in -out referendum. Conservative Party | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
policy at the time was to have a referendum only on particular | :18:20. | :18:21. | |
transfers of power. We went along with that in the coalition and we | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
have legislated for that. We have spent an enormous amount of | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
government time and Parliamentary time for baiting a government bill, | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
then a Tory Private Members' Bill. I think we have more important things | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
edge time debating a government bill. | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
There is room, if the Lib Dems want to change their mind. We could put | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
this into the Queen's Speech. I could leave the programme, to be | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
Prime Minister, we could make an announcement straightaway. They | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
haven't found time for the legislation to put .7% of gross | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
national income being devoted to international development as | :19:05. | :19:06. | |
promised in the coalition agreement. That would be my first preference. | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
If he agreed to that, would you agree to a referendum? We haven't | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
got time for the international developer built, then I don't see | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
how we can create time for a third attempt... Mr pickles says he can | :19:20. | :19:30. | |
offer the 0.7%... Will you therefore agree to a referendum? We have never | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
objected to the principal. He is offering what you wanted. Let me | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
finish. We have never objected to the principle of a referendum. I did | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
not oppose the referendum bill that went through recently. We just | :19:48. | :19:50. | |
disagreed with the detail. We'll have different formulas, we don't | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
support the one the Conservatives have come up with -- we all have. We | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
will not be agreeing to the bill they are proposing. What kind of | :19:59. | :20:05. | |
in-out referendum would you like? This is the same position we have | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
had since the Lisbon Treaty. When there is a transfer of power, or if | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
there is a transfer of power, presented as part of the treaty | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
change, we would have an in-out referendum. We did not have that. | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
When the Lisbon Treaty went through, we supported it at the time | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
and the Conservative Party did not support us. The Lisbon Treaty was | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
job done by the general election campaign. In the general election | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
you are still saying, Liberal Democrats think we should have a | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
real vote, in or out. At the time of the treaty, we supported an in-out | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
referendum. And in the election campaign. The election manifesto | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
said the same thing. At the time of the transfer of power we would | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
support an in-out referendum. Don't expect us to pave the way for | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
something that will damage British jobs and our ability to fight | :21:00. | :21:01. | |
cross-border crime, to protect the environment. Rubbish, rubbish, | :21:02. | :21:09. | |
rubbish. Let me bring in Labour. Will you ever come out for a | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
referendum? We support the 2011 sovereignty act. If there were to be | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
a further transfer of power to Brussels it is right there is a | :21:19. | :21:21. | |
referendum and British people are asked if they want to support the | :21:22. | :21:28. | |
transfer of power. But not in-out. We don't support the idea of an | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
in-out referendum fix for 2017. For similar reasons to those that Martin | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
has expressed. Perhaps best underlined by the engineering | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
Federation yesterday who made clear that the uncertainty that that | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
referendum is causing is a ready having an impact on investment | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
decisions by British business. The engineering employers Federation, | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
their businesses spoke yesterday about the way in which investment | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
decisions... Give me an example. I don't have the detail. Don't you | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
think you should have the detail before you make the claim? It was | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
reported in The Financial Times, a perfectly reputable newspaper. That | :22:12. | :22:18. | |
is not the point, can you give me an example of one company who has said | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
they will not invest until the referendum is in -- is resolved. I | :22:22. | :22:29. | |
can't but perhaps the question is to those business organisations. There | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
are a series of business organisations, the CBI as well as | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
the F. We know in terms of construction, | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
soap manufacturing, the motor industry has never been better, in | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
terms of what is happening on the ground, I can't see any evidence. I | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
will have a look at The Financial Times piece. Will you come first in | :22:53. | :23:01. | |
the European elections? We have every chance, we are working hard in | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
that direction, we can't afford to give up and be complacent but I | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
think we will create an earthquake in British politics. Let me send you | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
a book on the management of expectations. Thanks to both of you. | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
It is called optimism! The waters are subsiding but how did | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
the politicians fare when they waded into the floods at the height of the | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
crisis? Here was Eric Pickles on The Andrew Marr Show last month. We made | :23:26. | :23:28. | |
a mistake, there is no doubt about that. We perhaps relied too much on | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
the Environment Agency's advice. I think we recognise now that we | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
should have done... We should have dredged. It is important that we get | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
on the process of getting those people back into their houses. We | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
are able to do some serious pumping but at the moment the level is too | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
high. Don't you think ministers should apologise to farmers who said | :23:54. | :24:01. | |
you need to dredge now? I will apologise, I apologise unreservedly | :24:02. | :24:03. | |
and I am sorry that we took the advice that we did. Eric Pickles is | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
still here, do you still blame squarely be in by at agency rather | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
than ministers taking responsible at sea? -- responsibility. There is now | :24:14. | :24:23. | |
a growing consensus on the need to dredge the Somerset Levels, they | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
were man-made, but that does not mean to say dredging is appropriate | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
everywhere. I have worked closely with the bar and agency for the last | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
month. I have seen what they are doing -- with the Environment | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
Agency. In Parliament and on that programme I praised the work of the | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
biomed agency. Given that there is a consensus -- I praised the work of | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
the Environment Agency. People were suggesting we should have dredged, | :24:52. | :24:54. | |
perhaps we should have paid more attention to them. Sometimes in | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
government, we are kind of reluctant to say sorry. It is a compensated | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
situation. Fortunately the levels are likely to drop. -- complicated | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
situation. If you look at different rivers, different measures will be | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
necessary. We will still have ground water for months to come. Do you | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
think at the time, there was too much of a blame game? Too much | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
finger-pointing going on between ministers, including yourself, when | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
people were just revelling to keep their places dry? It was not the | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
intention. I accepted I made a mistake of answering the question, | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
which sometimes politicians should not do. There is now a consensus | :25:40. | :25:46. | |
around what needs to be done. Owen is back... Are you friends with Owen | :25:47. | :25:53. | |
Paterson again? Never ceased to be friends. We reported he was cross | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
about you grandstanding, as he called it. We remain friends, the | :25:58. | :26:05. | |
condition here's -- he is suffering from isn't to my wife is suffering | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
from minor how difficult it is and he is doing a fantastic job to be | :26:11. | :26:12. | |
back. We have an apology to make. I am | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
afraid that there's been a serious breach of security here at the Daily | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
Politics. One of the programme's presenters walked into the building | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
here at Westminster earlier this morning carrying unconcealed | :26:24. | :26:25. | |
documents which were caught on camera by waiting photographers. | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
Amongst those documents was the answer to today's Guess the Year | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
competition. It has come to our attention that the photograph is | :26:35. | :26:42. | |
doing the rounds on Twitter. Here it is for any of you tempted to cheat. | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
Don't get too excited - we've blurred out the date. | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
Yes - I apologise - I've offered my resignation to the BBC - but was | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
told I would have to endure the on-screen humiliation of having my | :26:54. | :26:55. | |
misdemeanour revealed on telly instead. Good job nothing like that | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
ever happens in government, hey, Eric? I am happy to accept your | :26:59. | :27:06. | |
resignation. I am happy you don't employ me! I do indirectly. That was | :27:07. | :27:14. | |
very quick! We'll remind you how to enter in a minute, but let's see if | :27:15. | :27:16. | |
you can remember when this happened. If some of my former colleagues are | :27:17. | :27:29. | |
to be believed, I must be the first minister in history who resigned | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
because he was in full agreement with government policy. British beef | :27:33. | :27:39. | |
is safe. # I've got the power. I can no | :27:40. | :27:57. | |
longer follow Solly the mandate of the Communist Party of the Soviet | :27:58. | :27:59. | |
Union. -- To be in with a chance of winning a | :28:00. | :28:20. | |
Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email address - | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
that's [email protected]. And you can see the full terms and conditions | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
for Guess the Year on our website - that's bbc.co.uk/dailypolitics. | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
It's coming up to midday here - just take a look at Big Ben - and that | :28:36. | :28:39. | |
can mean only one thing: Yes, Prime Minister's Questions is on its way. | :28:40. | :28:46. | |
It is a beautiful spring day and Nick Robinson is here. Patrick Rock, | :28:47. | :28:55. | |
a senior adviser, he had to resign over allegations of child abuse | :28:56. | :28:58. | |
images, he has been arrested but not charged. Jonathan Ashworth MP writes | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
to the head of the civil service, when was Number ten first made aware | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
of these allegations? When was the Prime Minister first made aware? | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
When were you as Cabinet Secretary made aware? What advice did you | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
give? A lot of unanswered questions. There are. When you are | :29:15. | :29:22. | |
in opposition and you want to keep a story running, you always say there | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
are a lot of unanswered questions. That is what Eric's party did when | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
they were in the opposition. What is at the root of this is that we do | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
not know the timeline of when Patrick Rock was arrested and | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
dismissed. There was a three-week gap between it and the news | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
emerging. Some newspapers feel very strongly that after the Leveson | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
enquiry, all the talk that police were too close to the press, there | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
is an increasing policy of keeping the media in the dark about ordinary | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
police operations. The question underlying all of this detail is was | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
there a deliberate attempt by people close to Patrick Rock and the police | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
to keep this quiet, in the hope that he was cautioned and never charged, | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
because he has not been charged. I think that is what underlies many | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
questions about who knew what and when. Jonathan Ashworth says, how | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
much time passed between Number ten first becoming aware and Patrick | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
Rock being spoken about them, the police being alerted and Mr Rock's | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
resignation. Some commentators have thought it is a strange situation | :30:30. | :30:32. | |
for a democracy where someone who is at the heart of government can be | :30:33. | :30:35. | |
arrested and it takes a long while for anyone to know about it. That is | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
right, there is secrecy built into this and it causes concerns. It may | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
get raised by a backbench Labour MP Joan Prime Minister's Questions. It | :30:47. | :30:49. | |
won't be raised by Ed Miliband will stop my hunch is that it will be | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
Ukraine that is the subject he deals with. | :30:55. | :31:15. | |
Russian lake is a major retail park which will create 2000 new jobs. My | :31:16. | :31:30. | |
listening campaign and the local Telegraph have supported this | :31:31. | :31:33. | |
proposal. In nine years in Parliament, I've never known of a | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
development to have so much public support. Could the Prime Minister | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
used his best efforts to ensure the outcome of the public enquiry is | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
announced as soon as possible? I know my honourable friend campaigns | :31:49. | :31:51. | |
vigorously for job creation and his local constituents. I'm sure years | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
where I'm not able to get involved in specific planning decisions but I | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
understand a decision will be made as soon as possible. That will | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
involve the secretary of state taking into account all points of | :32:06. | :32:17. | |
view. Mr Speaker, the whole House and country have been watching | :32:18. | :32:20. | |
events in the Ukraine with great concern. Does the Prime Minister | :32:21. | :32:26. | |
agree Russia's actions violate Ukraine's sovereignty and | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
territorial integrity and without justification? Does he further agree | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
these actions deserve to be condemned unreservedly across the | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
international community? I agree that what Russia has done is | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
completely unacceptable. We should be clear about our national interest | :32:48. | :32:50. | |
and our aim in all this. Our national interest is that we have an | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
interest in a world where the rule of law is upheld and territorial | :32:55. | :33:02. | |
integrity is expected. We should be clear our aim is to deter further | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
action and to de-escalate the situation. He is right to say the | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
action by the Russian Government should be condemned by the whole | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
world. I'm sure we agree there needs to begin to new pressure on the | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
Russian Government, but all members will welcome the talks that are | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
going on as we speak between John Kerry and the Russian Foreign | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
Minister. Given the fragility of the situation on the ground, does the | :33:30. | :33:32. | |
Prime Minister believes one important outcome for these talks is | :33:33. | :33:35. | |
if they lead to direct high-level talks between Russia and the | :33:36. | :33:43. | |
Ukraine's to de-escalate this situation, the most important thing | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
is a forum for discussions in which both parties can speak to each | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
other. There have been some contacts between Russian and Ukrainian | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
ministers. This morning, there are meetings taking place in Paris | :33:56. | :33:58. | |
covering other issues as well, but that has been some progress in | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
putting together a contact group, an idea I proposed to the Polish Prime | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
Minister back in January, to start having a group of countries around | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
Russia and Ukraine to encourage such dialogue to take place. That is the | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
single most important thing. Clearly we all hope for a good outcome from | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
those talks, but the EU also has a crucial role to play. Does he agree | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
be you must show it is up to the task of dealing with the biggest | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
security crisis on this continent since Kosovo? Given the issues | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
raised about the UK's position from the leaked Downing Street document, | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
can the Prime Minister tell me what he will be tailored billing -- | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
tabling tomorrow? It is important the EU shows a unity of purpose at | :34:52. | :34:56. | |
tomorrow's leaders meeting. What we need to do is be clear that the | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
status quo we are faced with today, where Russian troops are outside | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
their bases in the Crimea, is an acceptable. As I've said, costs and | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
consequences need to follow. That is why we'd suspended preferences -- | :35:11. | :35:17. | |
preparations for the G8 meeting. It is hard to see in these | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
circumstances how a G8 meeting could go ahead. We've withdrawn royal and | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
ministerial visits to be Paralympic Games. There are further options we | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
should consider, but we also need to consider what extra steps, extra | :35:33. | :35:39. | |
political, economic and bloom at it steps, to discourage Russia from | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
taking further steps in terms of disrespecting the territorial | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
integrity of Ukraine. I completely share his view on the G8 and other | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
issues mentioned. When he was leader of the opposition in 2008, at the | :35:56. | :36:03. | |
time of the invasion of Georgia, he said Russian armies cannot margin to | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
other countries while Russian shoppers carry on shopping in | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
Selfridge's. Does he agree that we should look at asset freezes and | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
travel restrictions on designated individuals so that Russia is clear | :36:17. | :36:18. | |
about the consequences of its actions? When we look at the | :36:19. | :36:25. | |
diplomatic steps we can take, nothing should be on the table. -- | :36:26. | :36:34. | |
off the table. We've already taken steps to making sure corrupt | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
Ukrainian oligarchs are dealt with appropriately in the UK. I think | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
there is a steps we need to take a next -- in respect of the current | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
situation, and then agree with our European partners, and I will be | :36:51. | :36:59. | |
speaking to Mr Obama this afternoon, about further steps. I'm sure he | :37:00. | :37:07. | |
will push for as broad an agreement as possible and I welcome that. Let | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
me ask him about Ukrainian support. Does he agree that the way forward | :37:12. | :37:15. | |
is providing them with their support, while making it clear that | :37:16. | :37:18. | |
their Government needs to be inclusive and protect the rights of | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
the Russian speaking population within the Ukraine? And does he | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
further agree there is no reason for rushing to believe that | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
strengthening ties between the EU and Ukraine does not have to be at | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
the expense of Russia's I agree it is important that should not be seen | :37:37. | :37:43. | |
as a tug-of-war. We should be in favour of the people of Ukraine | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
being able to decide their own future. In my view, this has been as | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
much about Ukraine wanting to lean towards the as wanting to get rid of | :37:54. | :37:56. | |
their appalling levels of corruption may pad to put up with in the | :37:57. | :38:05. | |
Government. -- they've had to put up with. Two important points have been | :38:06. | :38:12. | |
made. They must make sure they have an inclusive step -- set of | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
institutions and laws that do not discriminate against minorities or | :38:20. | :38:22. | |
Russian speakers, but also that we stand ready, as members of the | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
European Union, as leading players in the IMF, to help the Ukraine in | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
its time of need. There are all sorts of steps Ukrainian Government | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
will have to make to make that possible, but if they can do that, | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
we should stand by them. I welcome that. Let me say this. All of us | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
recognise this as a delegate and dangerous moment for international | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
security. It is the combination of diplomacy, resolve in the | :38:53. | :38:54. | |
international community and support for the Ukrainian Government and | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
Ukrainian self-determination that is the best hope for ensuring an end to | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
this crisis. I can assure the Prime Minister that the Government will | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
have our full support. I'm grateful for what the Right Honourable | :39:11. | :39:12. | |
Gentleman has said this morning. Just as we need to see tomorrow a | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
voice of unity and clarity from the countries of the European Union | :39:18. | :39:20. | |
Daschle not always easy when there are 28 countries around the table - | :39:21. | :39:24. | |
but it is also welcome when there is a unified voice going out from this | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
House to say to the Russian Government, what you have done is | :39:29. | :39:31. | |
wrong and should not be allowed to stand. Last week, a judge sentenced | :39:32. | :39:48. | |
a man to nine years in prison for causing the death by dangerous | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
driving of two teenage girls. Given that that amounts to objectively for | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
years per life, does the Prime Minister agree it is high time we | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
looked again at the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
driving? First of all, I congratulate my honourable friend | :40:07. | :40:09. | |
for a happy news on the weekend. I'm sure members across the House want | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
to join me in that. The point she raises is an issue that was raised | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
at prime ministers questions last week. As I said then, I think it is | :40:18. | :40:23. | |
important the Chancellor looks at what more we can do to ensure we | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
send the clearest possible message about this being unacceptable. Last | :40:28. | :40:37. | |
July, the Prime Minister rightly promised legislation regarding | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
Internet rape porn. So canny explain why clause 16 of his criminal | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
Justice Bill does not ban simulated child abuse or stage rape online? | :40:47. | :40:54. | |
The Honourable Lady has a long record of fighting on these issues | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
and a ban on rape porn is being carried through. I will look | :41:00. | :41:02. | |
carefully at the issues she is raising now. I think we do have a | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
good record of putting in place stronger Internet filters, working | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
with the industry to make sure searches for unacceptable terms | :41:12. | :41:15. | |
can't be made, and for separate legislative steps like banning rape | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
porn. I will look carefully at the specifics. In 2009, there were 610 | :41:20. | :41:29. | |
18 to 24-year-olds in Chester who were out of work and claiming | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
jobseeker's allowance. Last month, that number was halved. This week is | :41:33. | :41:40. | |
National apprenticeship week. We'll Prime Minister congratulate | :41:41. | :41:42. | |
employers who are creating apprenticeships and jobs so we never | :41:43. | :41:50. | |
again see the massive waste of young talent? My honourable friend is | :41:51. | :41:58. | |
right to raise national apprenticeship week. It is an | :41:59. | :42:01. | |
important week to advertise to businesses large and small the | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
advantages of taking on apprentices. What we will see during this | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
parliament is 2 million apprenticeships start. That is what | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
we are aiming for. 1.6 million have already taken place. As he says, | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
unemployment in his own constituency has fallen, as has the claimant | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
count, but we want to see smaller firms coming forward and taking on | :42:23. | :42:30. | |
their first apprentice. In 2006, a seven-year-old girl and her brother | :42:31. | :42:34. | |
died of carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty boiler at their | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
hotel in Greece. Their father and his partner narrowly escaped with | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
their lives. After seven agonising years, the inquest into their deaths | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
is about to begin, but the legal aid agency has refused funding to be | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
legally represented at being quest. On Friday, Thomas Cook tried to | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
prevent the Kong -- the inquest from even taking place. Will the Prime | :42:59. | :43:01. | |
Minister meet with me and the parents to hear why it is imperative | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
the parents are legally represented at this inquest said the fullbacks | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
are what -- full facts are learnt surrounding their children's deaths? | :43:12. | :43:19. | |
I do remember this absolutely tragic case and it is appalling it has | :43:20. | :43:22. | |
taken so long for the inquest to take place. When you've lost a | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
child, you want to know the answer is and whether it could have been | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
prevented, and that lessons will be learned for the future. I'm very | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
content to arrange the sort of meetings she is talking about a help | :43:35. | :43:37. | |
in this case and make sure the Foreign Office, who do, I think, an | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
excellent job of helping people when they are dealing with overseas | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
issues, is doing all it can. In Braintree, an employment has | :43:50. | :43:58. | |
dropped, and youth unemployment has dropped 6.3% to 4.4% since 2010. | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
Would the Prime Minister agree with me that the Chancellor's long-term | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
economic plan is working? And following the recent success, will | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
you join me in thanking Braintree District Council and job centre plus | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
for all they are doing in encouraging local businesses to hire | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
young people? My honourable friend has a very strong track record of | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
campaigning and fighting for these issues. He co-founded a campaign, | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
and let's recognise the fact we have created 1 million new jobs under | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
this Government. One thing my honourable friend was pushing for | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
was under 21 's should not have to pay national insurance contributions | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
when they are employed. That is something brought in to the Autumn | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
Statement which I think will make a huge difference. The Braintree jobs | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
there has also made a huge difference. I noticed the opposite | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
party seemed to groan as soon as falling unemployment was mentioned, | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
but it is falling, and it is a welcome sign. Does the Prime | :45:06. | :45:15. | |
Minister share my astonishment at a decision announced yesterday that | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
trans-Pennine express, which covers train services across the whole of | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
the North of England, is to lose one in eight of its trains, which are to | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
be transferred to Chilton rail for the greater comfort and convenience | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
of commuters in the south of England? Isn't that your | :45:36. | :45:43. | |
constituency? LAUGHTER | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
JEERING Is he aware that the trans-Pennine | :45:48. | :46:08. | |
services are already amongst the most overcrowded in the country? | :46:09. | :46:17. | |
HECKLING There is quite a simple matter of | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
courtesy, the right honourable gentleman will be heard however long | :46:24. | :46:26. | |
it takes so the quicker people remember their manners, the better. | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
I say to members opposite, this may be a laughing matter to them, it is | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
certainly not a laughing matter to people in the North of England. | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
Could he bear in mind that this decision has been made without the | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
agreement of the train operating company, but by Porter Brook and the | :46:45. | :46:55. | |
leasing company. The Prime Minister! Order! I was fair to the right | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
honourable gentleman but the question was, frankly, too long. I | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
will look very carefully at the point the right honourable gentleman | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
raises. We have announced plans to electrify the trans-Pennine railway | :47:11. | :47:13. | |
line which I think will make a big difference. We are going ahead with | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
the northern hub that will also make a difference. These are big steps | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
forward. I hope he won't find it too cheeky if I point out that the line | :47:23. | :47:25. | |
that he and I use, the Cotswold line, has also received a lot of | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
extra investment under this government and he now enjoys a | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
double track line when he makes his journey from my constituency into | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
London. CHEERING | :47:40. | :47:48. | |
Thank you, sir. Not me? Not Hugh! Another time, if the honourable | :47:49. | :48:04. | |
gentleman is lucky -- not you! Can I put on record my thanks to the Prime | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
Minister for the efforts he puts in to securing export orders, but can I | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
ask is assurance that his government will leave no stone unturned in the | :48:13. | :48:20. | |
pursuit of exports to pursue -- support apprenticeships and highly | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
skilled jobs. It was a huge pleasure to see the quality of the | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
apprenticeships that BAE Systems are offering in building the Typhoon | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
aircraft. I can give him my assurance that I will go on banging | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
the drum for British exports, including defence exports. We had | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
very good progress with the order from an -- from | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
I was criticised by the party opposite for taking defence | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
contractors on trade missions overseas. They don't think it is | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
appropriate, I think it is appropriate, we should stand up for | :49:00. | :49:01. | |
our defence industry and defence jobs. Cook the Prime Minister and | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
the speculation over the future of the Hunting Act by confirming he | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
doesn't instance to use a statutory instrument to repeal or amend the | :49:13. | :49:16. | |
act by removing the limit on the number of dogs that can be used? | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
This will quite properly be a matter for the House of Commons. As he will | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
know, what has happened is a group of Welsh and other members of | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
Parliament have looked at a particular problem of pest control | :49:33. | :49:34. | |
in upland areas of Wales and other parts of the country, they are | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
making a proposal. It will be properly examined by the Department | :49:39. | :49:41. | |
and the House of Commons will be able to decide. Further to my | :49:42. | :49:50. | |
honourable friend's question and during National apprenticeships | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
week, we should celebrate the fact that in the last year, half a | :49:55. | :49:57. | |
million people began an apprenticeship, nearly double the | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
number who started in 2009-10. We should not rest there. Does the | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
Prime Minister agreed we need to do more to incentivise schools to | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
promote apprenticeships and to do more to get employers to come | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
forward, particularly for young people? My honourable friend speaks | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
with great commitment because of his chairmanship of the education select | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
committee. The point he and I have discussed is we need to make sure we | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
are giving the clearest possible information to young people in | :50:31. | :50:33. | |
schools about the choices they can make. I think the academic path of | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
A-levels and UCAS and universities has been well set out and | :50:38. | :50:40. | |
understood, including by Britain's teachers. We need it as well | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
understood what the opportunities are for vocational education and | :50:46. | :50:48. | |
apprenticeships, not least because you don't have to choose long-term | :50:49. | :50:52. | |
between the two, you can carry out an apprenticeship and carry out a | :50:53. | :50:55. | |
degree earning and learning at the same time. This year is the EU year | :50:56. | :51:03. | |
of tackling food waste. Given the absolute scandal of up to 40% of | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
food being wasted in this country, and huge numbers of people going to | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
food banks because they can't afford to feed themselves and their | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
family, will the Prime Minister throw his weight behind this | :51:15. | :51:17. | |
initiative and support efforts to reduce food waste in this country? | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
It is important to tackle the issue of food waste and a number of | :51:23. | :51:25. | |
important debates have been held in this house and Westminster Hall | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
about this issue. The most important thing in terms of helping people | :51:31. | :51:33. | |
with weekly budgets is to make sure we keep growing the economy, getting | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
people back to work, creating jobs and keeping taxes down so they have | :51:38. | :51:41. | |
more of their own money to spend as they choose. Over the last few | :51:42. | :51:47. | |
months in Somerset, we have had a dead huge of press, media and film | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
cameras which has now receded and is barely a trickle but this lunch is | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
still with us -- we have had a deluge. But the floods are still | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
with us. Long-term local management of the rivers cannot be met within | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
the constraints of local government finance. Will he commit to me that | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
whatever needs to be changed, will be changed, in order to give a | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
sustainable management for the future? I would commend all of the | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
Somerset MPs for working together extremely well, ringing together the | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
local agencies, local councils, farmers and others to come up with | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
the right long-term solution for the people of Somerset -- bringing | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
together. I agree the cameras and press have departed and it is | :52:36. | :52:38. | |
important we don't take our eye off the important issue of training the | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
Somerset Levels. I am getting regular reports and I look forward | :52:43. | :52:45. | |
to seeing the report from him and other colleagues. We have known for | :52:46. | :52:52. | |
months that are A departments in our hospitals are in trouble but now | :52:53. | :52:56. | |
we find that almost 30,000 ambulances are stuck in queues | :52:57. | :53:02. | |
outside hospitals -- have been stuck in queues. Does the Prime Minister | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
regret not having had a grip on this more quickly? The point I would make | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
is that we have met the A targets more times this winter than when the | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
shadow health secretary was sitting in the cabinet with responsible for | :53:16. | :53:21. | |
the NHS -- responsibility. I would commend what A departments have | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
done because they are coping with around 1.2 million more A | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
attendances every year than when we can to power in 2010. I think they | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
have Do You Feel What I Feel doesn't work and they are doing it on the | :53:35. | :53:37. | |
basis of having not only many thousands more doctors, but I can | :53:38. | :53:47. | |
tell the house there are more nurses in the NHS than at any time since | :53:48. | :53:56. | |
the 1940s and it is a record the government can be proud of. | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
The village of Barrow has fewer than 300 houses, the local authority has | :54:04. | :54:11. | |
given permission for over 100 houses but the planning inspector has | :54:12. | :54:13. | |
overturned a refusal of the planning authority and will impose 504 more | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
houses into that village, against the wishes of the local MP, local | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
authority and local people. Will my right honourable friend look again | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
at the workings of the working Inspectorate to ensure that from now | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
on, the planning inspector puts the wishes of local people at the heart | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
of the localism act as he intended? I will look very carefully at the | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
specific incidents that the honourable member brings to the | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
house. Under the localism act, local authorities are able to produce a | :54:52. | :54:54. | |
local plan and get that agreed, which will give local people greater | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
control over what is built and where. In the meantime, things are | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
judged against the national planning policy framework which does have | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
protections for green belt. It does insist on going out with Brownfield | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
development and it does take into account pre-existing local plans. If | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
that needs to be clarified, clarify it we will. First the government | :55:18. | :55:24. | |
told Northern councillors to stop doffing their caps in the hopes of a | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
hand-out. Then the High Court ruled that government cuts in European | :55:30. | :55:32. | |
funding for Liverpool and Sheffield were illegal. What does this say | :55:33. | :55:39. | |
about the government? What I would say to the honourable lady is of | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
course, Liverpool, the city she represents, has huge needs in terms | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
of funding. I believe the funding it gets reflects those needs. If you | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
look at the spending per dwelling in Liverpool, for 2014, it is ?2595 per | :55:55. | :56:03. | |
dwelling. Obviously the needs for her constituency are much greater | :56:04. | :56:06. | |
than the needs of my constituency. But it is a full ?700 more per | :56:07. | :56:15. | |
dwelling than is spent in my constituency. So I don't believe | :56:16. | :56:17. | |
that the people of Liverpool are being short-changed. They are | :56:18. | :56:20. | |
properly funded for the services that they need. | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
Last year I met the surgeon Tim Underwood who leads the outstanding | :56:26. | :56:32. | |
sufferable cancer team at Southampton General. -- | :56:33. | :56:41. | |
surgery is gruelling, and many people are unaware that persistent | :56:42. | :56:51. | |
heartburn and difficulties swallowing can be a symptom of this | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
type of cancer. Will he commit to raising awareness of this terrible | :56:56. | :57:03. | |
disease and ensure the NHS as the chance to diagnose it earlier. How | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
we raise the awareness of cancer has an important effect in terms of | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
early diagnosis. A pilot is being run in the north-east and Cumbria to | :57:15. | :57:17. | |
raise awareness of this type of cancer, and we are committing more | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
than ?350 million of additional funding to support early diagnosis. | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
The key is making sure more people have their cancer discovered from | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
trips to the GP and their own inspections and self-awareness, | :57:33. | :57:35. | |
rather than finding out these things in emergency, often when it is too | :57:36. | :57:43. | |
late. There is almost 1 million young people unemployed in the UK, | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
more than 1 million people on zero our contracts. In my constituency, | :57:48. | :57:55. | |
people are ?1811 worse off since 2002. How does the Prime Minister | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
have the audacity to suggest that his party is a worker 's party? Let | :58:00. | :58:06. | |
me give him the figures for the north-east since the last election. | :58:07. | :58:10. | |
There are 24,000 more people in work in the north-east since the last | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
election. There are 40,000 more private-sector job since the last | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
election. Unemployment has fallen... He is shouting because he | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
doesn't want to hear the answers about the long-term economic plan. | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
The honourable gentleman should not be shouting, he has asked the | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
question, let him hear the answer. He could be asking about the massive | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
expansion that Nissan in Sunderland provided jobs in the north-east, the | :58:38. | :58:41. | |
new Hitachi train factory that will be built. All of this shows the plan | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
is working and frankly, more important than these figures is the | :58:47. | :58:49. | |
fact that every single job means another family with a pay packet, a | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
stability, security and peace of mind that this government is all | :58:54. | :58:55. | |
about. A small family run business in | :58:56. | :59:12. | |
Felixstowe is taking an as this. Adding to an excellent scheme and | :59:13. | :59:15. | |
announcement by BT they are creating 100 new apprenticeships. Would my | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
right honourable friend agree that earning while you are learning is | :59:21. | :59:22. | |
great for young people in Suffolk and they are building the skills | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
that are vital to deliver our long-term economic plan. I would | :59:28. | :59:33. | |
certainly agree. The big companies in Britain are taking on apprentices | :59:34. | :59:36. | |
in larger and larger numbers and that is hugely welcome. I think the | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
challenge is to encourage the small and medium-size enterprises of | :59:42. | :59:45. | |
Britain to take on apprentices, too. We need to make it simple, we need | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
to make sure it pays and we need to advertise to promote to these | :59:51. | :59:52. | |
companies what a great job apprentices can do. To coincide with | :59:53. | :00:03. | |
today's launch about youth unemployment, figures have been | :00:04. | :00:05. | |
published in the House of Commons library which showed that despite | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
the figures just quoted, the dole queue for under 25 still reaches | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
from London to Edinburgh. Does the Prime Minister think that reflects | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
the success in this policy? Would he be prepared to meet to discuss | :00:22. | :00:29. | |
long-term solutions? Of course there are still too many people unemployed | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
in our country but there are 1.6 million new private-sector jobs, 1.3 | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
million more people in work, big cuts in unemployment, big reductions | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
in claimant count and almost half a million fewer people reliant on out | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
of work benefits. That is what we want to do and we haven't forgotten | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
the record of the Labour Party. Unemployment rose by nearly half a | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
million, female and implement rose by 24% and use and implement went up | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
by 45%. They should be making an apology instead of giving lectures. | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
In recognising British success at the Oscars, with the Prime Minister | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
join me in congratulating Bournemouth University and the arts | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
university, where over 50 graduates helped with the design effects for | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
that amazing British film, Gravity. Does it not prove that Bournemouth | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
leads the way in digital media, as a great tourism destination, and also | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
does amazing party conferences as well... He is right about all of | :01:36. | :01:43. | |
those things. Bournemouth University does have excellent courses that | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
have helped to build up the British postproduction and facilities | :01:48. | :01:49. | |
industry which is now so busy helping to create these blockbuster | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
films. It is very good to see that not only are we winning Oscars for | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
British films but the British Judeo 's are -- studios are full to | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
bursting point and the postproduction industry is leading | :02:05. | :02:06. | |
the world. We need to go on backing this industry. That is why my right | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
honourable friend the Chancellor has been making steps with things like | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
elbowing the computer games industry, -- helping the computer | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
games industry and continuing to back the important film tax credits. | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
Recently is Coast ambulance service, a private company, has gone bust, | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
owing thousands of pounds in wages to hard-working staff -- East Coast | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
ambulance. But the prime Minister agree that the best way to protect | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
patients, staff and NHS resources is to extend Freedom of Information to | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
private companies bidding for contracts and stop the invasion of | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
our NHS by predatory private health care companies. I will look | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
carefully at the individual case he raises. This government is putting | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
?12.6 billion into the NHS and I don't believe we should rule out | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
saying other organisations cannot help to deliver NHS services with if | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
we look at the hinge in Brook Hospital in Cambridge it is | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
providing better services because of the changes we have made. I will | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
look at the Freedom of Information request but I think it is important | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
we have a health service that can access the best of private, public | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
and voluntary. It is good news that the Prime Minister has apparently | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
resuscitating plans for a recall the bill but can he confirmed he intends | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
to push ahead with a genuine system of record and not fall back on the | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
Deputy prime minister's Bill and which is recall in name only and | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
would not empower voters in any meaningful sense at all. I fear it | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
will be difficult to satisfy my honourable friend on this point. I | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
think we should take the draft clauses as the starting point for | :03:57. | :03:58. | |
what I think would be an excellent reform, that we committed to in our | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
manifesto, in the coalition agreement. That is to say that if | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
members of Parliament are seriously in breach of standards and judged to | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
be so, they shouldn't have to wait for a general election to receive | :04:12. | :04:13. | |
the verdict of their constituents. Exchange between the two | :04:14. | :04:32. | |
frontbenchers dominated by Ukraine and by consensus. Both agree | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
something must be done although neither had much of an idea what | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
that something should be. The leader of the opposition in Plyed -- | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
implied a tougher line, but that is what you tend to do when you are in | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
opposition, just as Mr Cameron did over the invasion of Georgia. So a | :04:51. | :04:59. | |
low-key, consensual PMQ and I think some of you did not like it. It | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
provoked a mixed response. Beginning with the positive, one viewer said | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
this was a rare occasion when both leaders looked and talked like | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
proper, democratic politicians. On Twitter, one person said, it is like | :05:20. | :05:27. | |
they have grown up this week. But Philip Jones tweeted, boring | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
questions from Ed Miliband on Ukraine, and another Tweet said, the | :05:32. | :05:41. | |
dullest PMQ in history. Someone else said, Ed Miliband did not ask | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
anything of substance, he may as well have not been there. Sometimes | :05:47. | :05:55. | |
you cannot win. At least the Ukrainian issue was addressed last | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
week -- this week, which it failed to do last week. It is still very | :06:01. | :06:09. | |
hard to pin down, when they say there will be consequences, what | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
these consequences will be. In part, that is because countries are | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
defending their own interests. That document is seen outside Downing | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
Street made clear Britain did not want our trade sanctions or stop | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
Russians investing in the City of London. And in part it is because | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
there simply isn't agreement. I think the Government and the US are | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
of the view it would be a disaster for different countries to announce | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
different things at different times. There has to be agreement. | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
David Cameron says today it is hard to see, I think was the phrase he | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
used, how the G8 summit should go ahead. Yesterday, the Italian | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
Foreign Minister said he thought it could go ahead. Unless they can | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
agree, it is no use the prime ministers saying anything. Germany | :06:58. | :07:07. | |
didn't say it shouldn't go ahead, but he said it is our chance to talk | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
to Mr Putin. And the German factor is important. Not only have | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
historically the Germans been in favour of a more diplomatic approach | :07:18. | :07:25. | |
to Russia - Berlin is not that far from the Black Sea, so there are | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
historical reasons, there are also economic and political reasons. The | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
German Foreign Minister comes from the social Democratic party, he is | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
an alley of the former Chancellor who is on the board of gas problem | :07:43. | :07:56. | |
-- Gazprom. Having said that, pushed by Ed Miliband with this quote, | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
Russian armies cannot march into other countries while Russian | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
shoppers march into Sainsbury's, the Prime Minister did say there would | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
have to be more actions. My guess is there will be targeted sanctions on | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
certain individuals in the Russian Government to do with their visas | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
and assets being frozen. And now would it be left at that? Just a few | :08:21. | :08:33. | |
individuals? Well, there is encouraging news that there has been | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
contact between Ukrainian and Russian ministers. We need to see | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
things de-escalate. The second important thing, following on from | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
what Nick said, is EU Council of foreign ministers is meeting | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
tomorrow, and that provides an opportunity to get a more | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
co-ordinated response. Well, it provides an opportunity, but will it | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
do anything? The Germans are the key in this because they have the | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
biggest trade relations with Russia, as Nick said, they are | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
hugely dependent on Russian oil and gas. And a third of all European | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
union exports to Russia come from Germany. In the first nine months of | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
last year, 27 billion euros from Germany alone - three times what | :09:24. | :09:34. | |
America exports to Russia - at a time when the German economy is | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
struggling to recover from recession. Well, the German economy | :09:39. | :09:46. | |
is probably one of the strongest in Europe. The British economy is | :09:47. | :09:55. | |
growing faster. I think the point of Germany is I would hope it | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
recognises the importance of sending a strong message. What would you | :10:00. | :10:07. | |
like that message to be? There needs to be clarity about the timetable | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
and steps we need to see from President Putin. He needs to know | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
the European Union would be as one around a series of diplomatic events | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
such as attendance at the G8, and he needs to know there would be | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
agreement around issues such as travel and these bands. -- and visa | :10:25. | :10:38. | |
bands. So that sense of risk. Do you think he cares? In the past, I think | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
he is recognised there is a significant relationship with the | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
EU. So there are economic risks for him. What is the risk he is running? | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
He has a huge surplus because he sells oil and gas. No European | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
leader can see its country run out of gas, so where is the risk? The | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
risk is from other parts of the Russian economy. Many Russian | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
businesses trade with the European Union and will not want to break off | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
those relationships. Actually, there are now many. Most of Russian | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
exports to the EU are oiling gas. That's it. When did you last by | :11:21. | :11:37. | |
something that was made in Russia? -- oil and gas. That's it. When did | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
you last buy something made in Russia? There's been a whole series | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
of things, you mentioned Georgia, problems in Moldova. Russia is | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
surrounded by former states who are attempting to weaken it. What | :11:54. | :12:01. | |
penalty did the pen name -- Kremlin paid full backing to chunks of | :12:02. | :12:15. | |
Georgia? -- pay for bagging two chunks of Georgia? We now know they | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
are seeking to recreate the influence it had before. But that | :12:21. | :12:29. | |
was not intended. It was only the image sure departure of the | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
president. Which Mr Putin in the press conference yesterday said was | :12:35. | :12:42. | |
the rightful leader and should be returned to power. Nobody apart from | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
him thinks that he is the rightful leader. Well, he is the one matters! | :12:49. | :12:57. | |
What are the sanctions? I still don't understand, what is the | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
punishment for Vladimir Putin for pursuing a policy that may not have | :13:02. | :13:11. | |
been planned, but he is pursuing now nevertheless? Well, we have to act | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
together. Military sanctions are utterly out of the question. Can you | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
hear them in the pocket that hard? His machine, his cronies, can you | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
hit them hard by freezing the assets? Well, they are on average | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
20% poorer than there were on the weekend because of the ruble. That's | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
the kind of point I'm making, creating a more unstable position | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
for the regime. The dictatorship in Belarus is going to face social | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
pressures. I've been to the Ukraine and number of times, I can remember | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
the enormous optimism in the early 1990s. It has fallen into my asthma | :13:59. | :14:09. | |
of corruption. -- into a miasma. There is a sense that you do not | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
hold a meeting unless you are going to say something at the end of it. | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
And you have to do something at the end of it. I thought it was | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
interesting the Prime Minister was saying he'd had meetings with | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
Chancellor Merkel and the French president. I don't know whether that | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
was together or separately at this stage, but it suggests to me there | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
will be awareness among those leaders that they cannot afford to | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
go to Brussels for an emergency summit on Ukraine having issued | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
those kinds of condemnations and not then have something substantial to | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
show for it. You may be right, Andrew, people may say, is that it? | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
But I think they know people want them to say some link. John Kerry | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
yesterday, the US secretary of state, sounded as if he was partly | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
putting pressure on Europe, but partly beginning to gain confidence | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
Europe might just be about to do something, which would be hitting | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
two things. It would hit Russia's international standing. The Sochi | :15:11. | :15:18. | |
Summit is actually quite important to give them the money he spent for | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
the Winter Olympics. And also hitting the lives of people around | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
him. I agree with you, it is hard to seek trade sanctions. It was | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
interesting that after the Russian stock market went into freefall and | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
the ruble hit its lowest level in recorded history, even though the | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
Kremlin spent 10% of its massive reserves trying to prop the ruble | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
up, Mr Putin announced a stand-down of the Army on the border with East | :15:49. | :15:59. | |
Ukraine. So that would suggest it did have an effect. It might not be | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
sanctions, but the finances do play a role for Mr Putin. We shall see. | :16:04. | :16:12. | |
One final point is we can't see it here but my colleagues are tweeting | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
about it. The wife of the Prime Minister was in the gallery watching | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
Prime Minister 's questions. We think she's only done it once since | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
David Cameron was Prime Minister. Maybe she fancied seeing how he was | :16:27. | :16:38. | |
getting on. Always nice when the wife turns up. | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
Who remembers what now seems like a quaint tradition on budget day? Ken | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
Clarke, at the despatch box with a whiskey, Geoffrey Howe sipping a gin | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
and tonic. Andrew, you might even remember Disraeli with his brandy. | :16:53. | :17:02. | |
Who writes this?! More recent chancellors, however, including | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
George Osborne, have had just a glass of water to keep the thirst at | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
bay, as in budget after budget since 2008 they have raised duty on wine | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
and spirits by inflation plus 2%. In our soapbox this week, wine critic | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
Peter Richards puts the case for calling time on the duty escalator. | :17:17. | :17:31. | |
These beautiful surroundings of the South Downs and I am at Hambledon, | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
England's oldest commercial vineyard. It is one of nearly 450 | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
vineyards in the UK and a make up part of a Wine and spirit industry | :17:45. | :17:47. | |
that is worth ?20 billion to our economy. The Chancellor has said | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
that he wants to support growth and employment. So he should be toasting | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
this vibrant sector. But instead, with every budget committee raises | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
the amount of tax we pay on wines and spirits through an alcohol duty | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
escalator. Effectively punishing business, the wider economy, and you | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
and me, the consumers. Taxation now accounts for a whopping 57% of the | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
price of your average bottle of wine. It is even more for sparkling | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
wine and spirits. If the escalator domains in place, tax on wine will | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
increase by 30% by 2018. It is undoubtedly true that alcohol | :18:27. | :18:37. | |
can contribute to a number of social and health problems. But overall, | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
alcohol consumption in this country is in long-term decline. Plus, when | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
it is consumed sensibly, as the majority of us do, it cannot only be | :18:48. | :18:50. | |
good for your health but it gives great pleasure, brings people | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
together and acts as a profoundly civilising rather than anti-social | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
force. The trade also has an economic benefit. An independent | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
study found that scrapping the alcohol duty escalator would | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
generate an extra ?230 million for public finances, and create 6000 new | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
jobs. But raising duty again this year would actually produce less | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
revenue and cost jobs. UK drinkers pay more duty than Germany, France, | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
Italy, Spain and Poland combined, despite drinking less. It is time | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
for government to take a sober look at the facts and call time on duty. | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
And from the vineyards of the South Downs to our studio here in | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
Westminister - but without even a glass of bubbly for us, we're joined | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
by Peter Richards. One of the issues is that alcohol has become more | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
affordable, hasn't it? By 2010, alcohol was 20% more affordable than | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
in 1980 so one could say, what are you complaining about? If you asked | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
most people on the street if the price of alcohol has gone up, you | :20:01. | :20:02. | |
would get the same answer, absolutely. I hear it from a lot of | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
people. From my experience of working on Saturday kitchen, my job | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
is to find affordable wines for people. When I started eight years | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
ago finding a good affordable wine at ?67 was pretty easy. -- six or | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
?7. The general impression if you look back 20 years ago, there is a | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
lot more variety out there and a lot more good wine that is more | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
affordable than it used to be. Things are getting better but if you | :20:33. | :20:35. | |
took to businesses who are trying to sell this stuff, it is increasingly | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
difficult for them to do business -- if you talk to businesses. I was | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
talking to one wine producer who said there will be three results. | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
First is that prices go up, the second is that quality is lowered | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
and the third is I start looking for a different market to sell my wine. | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
That what worries me, there is a danger that we lose our status as | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
one of the best places to enjoy wine in the world. That is historically | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
what Britain has done best and I think it is in danger. Because of | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
the Chancellor's policies it is fundamentally counter-productive, | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
you lose more money than you gain. What do you say to that, that it is | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
counter-productive? At the point of it, probably for health reasons and | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
also to raise revenue, is working against you. We made a number of | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
changes to make it easier to have a cheaper pint. We are a couple of | :21:29. | :21:35. | |
weeks away from the Budget. I can't think of anything more career | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
limiting for a member of the Cabinet to suggest anything with regard to | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
taxation. You don't think Peter will get his wish? Taxation is rightly a | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
matter for the Chancellor. You are going to make a deal earlier on in | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
the programme. I realised I had exceeded my authority so to do that | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
twice on the same programme... Why are wine and spirits being treated | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
differently to beer? I think beer was regarded as the local, able | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
traditional drink in Britain. -- a more traditional drink. 42% of what | :22:15. | :22:23. | |
is sold in pubs and bars is wines and spirits. You are still not going | :22:24. | :22:35. | |
to tempt me... Is it because wine is too middle class? I drink wine and I | :22:36. | :22:44. | |
am not middle-class. Is that why it is treated different league? -- | :22:45. | :22:51. | |
differently? The Chancellor took the view to beer which was widely | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
welcomed. Community pubs remain open. The gentleman makes a | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
reasonable point but I don't want to give any indication that I know what | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
the Chancellor may or may not do with regard to wine duty. Does PETA | :23:06. | :23:13. | |
have a case? I think he has a case and I agree with his suggestion that | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
they should be a proper look at the economic arguments. I think when new | :23:18. | :23:26. | |
evidence comes forward, you should always look at it. Like Eric, I | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
think it would be career limiting for me... They are so timid on this | :23:31. | :23:38. | |
programme. We are shifted by nature. You say it is good for your health, | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
it was brought in because there were fears about the cost of people who | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
did drink too much, who abused alcohol and the cost to the NHS and | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
the taxpayer, do you not think that is still a pertinent case? You | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
couldn't deny that alcohol can contribute to social and health | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
problems for it is only sensible to say that. If you look at the facts, | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
and it is important to look at the facts, it is not necessarily a clear | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
origin between controlling price and abuse. I would also say -- not | :24:09. | :24:16. | |
necessarily a clear correlation. I would also say alcohol abuse has | :24:17. | :24:19. | |
gone down and the incidence of industry and King have reduced. -- | :24:20. | :24:28. | |
incidents of binge jinking. -- drinking. I think we should get | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
legislators and the goal industry and the health lobby together, | :24:33. | :24:34. | |
rather than having this disparate dynamic, to try to work towards a | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
sensible way of moving forward on the health front and not penalising | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
the vast majority of consumers who drink alcohol responsibly. According | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
to Reuters, President Putin has been nominated for the Nobel Peace | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
Prize... Who says satire is dead... Another 200 have been nominated, I | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
don't think Paddy Power will make in favour but he has nevertheless been | :25:06. | :25:07. | |
nominated. Since he became Communities | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
Secretary in 2010 our guest of the day, Eric Pickles, has made a number | :25:11. | :25:13. | |
of populist pledges. Try saying that after a few drinks. Mr Pickles has | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
backed weekly bin collections. In 2011 he said it was "a fundamental | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
right for every Englishman and woman to be able to put the remnants of | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
their chicken tikka masala in the bin without having to wait for two | :25:26. | :25:27. | |
weeks for it to be collected." In July last year he proposed a | :25:28. | :25:43. | |
grace period of 15 minutes for people parking on double yellow | :25:44. | :25:45. | |
lines. Mr Pickles has also pledged to ban fixed cameras and so-called | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
"spy cars" used to catch people parking illegally. And in November, | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
he endorsed a number of proposals designed to help lower council tax | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
rates - one of which was the suggestion that councils should use | :25:58. | :25:58. | |
sheep instead of lawn mowers. That was one of many, it was not | :25:59. | :26:09. | |
number one. That'll shear a few pounds off the budget. Eric Pickles | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
is still with us here in the studio. How is the weekly bin collection | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
coming on? We have protected 6 million people so they get | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
collections weekly. We have introduced new changes in building | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
regulations to ensure that we don't have been blight. 70% of bins are | :26:27. | :26:33. | |
now collected fortnightly. It is a matter of for the local authority | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
but I have removed the inevitability of fortnightly collection. It had | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
disappeared in Northern Ireland, just about disappeared in Scotland. | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
You are not responsible for Northern Ireland or Scotland. The country you | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
are responsible for is called England. 70% of ins are still | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
collected fortnightly. We have only been in office a little while. Four | :26:59. | :27:07. | |
years. The canned -- context, a weekly basis. -- the contracts come | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
up on a weekly basis. Do you want to do parking? The ban on fixed cameras | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
and Spike cars, you said below could be changed before Easter -- spy | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
cars. You said the law could be changed. Government can't act by | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
diktats, all of these things we put out for consultation. The | :27:33. | :27:39. | |
consultation has just ended, I am carefully considering it. I ought to | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
make an announcement imminently. It will happen before Easter? I can't | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
prejudge what I am going to say. Why not? You know what imminently is? In | :27:52. | :28:00. | |
your case, no. Are there lots of sheep boy is it still silence of the | :28:01. | :28:09. | |
lambs? -- or is it? We did suggest a lot of other things about joint | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
poetry and but I'm glad you enjoyed the sheep! Now, it's time to put you | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
out of your misery and give you the answer to Guess the Year - yes, it | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
was 1990 - Geoffrey Howe resigning was the clue. Eric - press the | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
button. Well done, Larry, the mug is yours. | :28:28. | :28:30. | |
OK, that's all for today. Thanks to our guests. The One O'Clock News is | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
starting over on BBC One now. We'll be back tomorrow at noon with all | :28:35. | :28:37. | |
the big political stories of the day. Do join us then. Do we know | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
what we are doing? No, but we will both be here. | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
I will be here on Friday. I won't be! Bye-bye. | :28:52. | :28:57. |