14/05/2014 Daily Politics

Morning folks, welcome to the Daily Politics.

A prominent youth member of UKIP quits

the party claiming it has descended into a form of "racist populism."

Sanya-Jeet Thandi, seen here in last year's UKIP

election broadcast, says the party's direction is "terrifying."

We'll speak to UKIP's Director of Communications.

At one time he was ahead in the polls and a win

So has Ed Miliband's electoral strategy gone a bit flat?

Who will be on the front foot at Prime Minister's Questions?

We'll have all the action live at midday.

And, no it's not a B movie, it's a campaign video from

Their leader will be here to explain all.

And with us for this televisual feast are two

subterranean creatures that don't often see the light of day.

The Policing Minister, Damian Green and the Shadow

Now another day, another UKIP headline.

A prominent Asian youth member has quit the party claiming that it has

descended into a "form of racist populism."

Sanya-Jeet Thandi, who's 21, wrote on a blog for the Guardian website

that the party was turning the election into a game of us and them.

Three years ago Miss Thandi was described by Nigel Farage

Here they are appearing together in an official UKIP video.

You are 18 and a rising star in the party. One of the other things that

has often been said and in the early days of UKIP's existence, the BBC

encourage this, we start out with this idea that if you believe in the

United Kingdom and leave we should not governed from Europe, that this

was white only? People say it is white only, it is ridiculous. We

have Greek members, and Turkish. With is us now is Patrick O'Flynn,

UKIP's Director of Communications and a UKIP candidate in the East of

England in the forthcoming European This is your rising star? She was on

Channel four News singing the praises of UKIP's policy saying it

did not discriminate people from EU countries and other countries around

the world. I am curious about that. Young people are free to join and

leave parties as they want. I do think it is a bit shabby of her to

be one week did bend our immigration policy and then throw the racist

words in the mix. Have you asked her what has turned her? I have never

had a conversation with her in my life, I did send a tweet

congratulating her on Channel four News. I thought she was one of your

rising stars? She was a prominent member, she has been concentrating

on her studies. As recently as last week she did seem to be singing the

praises of our immigration policy. Maybe you have been neglecting her.

You do have priorities in life and our priority is the European

elections. You are in here having to talk about it, the media on the

left, the right and the Centre are talking about it. It follows from a

coast of people saying inappropriate things in your party. It follows

from you trying to make out you had a moment last week when you had

members from various grounds all showing. It was a nice picture, this

has blown it out of the water. Did you see the poll at the weekend

which showed in the European elections, 16% of people from

non-white backgrounds will be voting UKIP. I'd ain't we are making great

strides in the ethnic community. Why can't you hold onto this bright,

young star of which is politics? You can hold onto these things on an

individual basis. You have chosen a candidate who has rather strange

views on homosexuality. Those views are evolving. He said it in 2012,

not that long ago, not the dark ages of the 50s. I think it was when he

was a conservative, now he is in UKIP he is more relaxed. You have

chosen another former Conservative to run in Grimsby who once said she

wanted to send all of the immigrants back home. You are talking about

Victoria it -- Victoria Ayling who said she wanted to send away the

illegal immigrants. There has not been an announcement of the

candidate. It is death by 1000 cuts. The polls say we are rising.

Politicians tell me there is only one poll that matters. They do look

at these polls very carefully. But every time you tell us it is just a

couple of rotten apples and you are getting rid of them, something else

jumps out to cause you major embarrassment. Our party has more

than doubled the membership. We are on 37,000 and will have more to say

on benchmarks soon. We have what Drew pulled our voting intentions.

We have growing pains. I know it is something novel in British politics

pause these guys have shrinking pains. She said in the Guardian that

the reason she supported UKIP stemmed from liberal I hear, smaller

taxes, and on immigration policy that was fair equal opportunities.

Maybe she should have joined the Conservatives. But you have not

delivered either. Sounds like she is eminently qualified with sound

instincts to join the Conservative Party and I encourage her to do so.

Have you had talks with her? Nope, I first learned of her existence over

the past few months. So the Tories... I am only saying I

haven't. Far as I know she has done this on her own. Would you like to

have talks with her? I am interested in talking to people. Every time a

UKIP councillor, MEP or candidate opens their mouth there seems to be

another problem. Godfrey Bloom accusing women being sluts for

failing to clean behind the fridge. His flatmate in Brussels has told us

what he thinks of women. Patrick excuses the views on homosexuality

with the excuse he is 70. What age has got to do with it. He is

entitled to have his views. What has age got to do with it? Demographics

show that older people are less comfortable with homosexuality. The

point he is making, and it is fair enough, no matter how often these

things happen, how often we in the media pounce on them, UKIP's ratings

are not being touched? Patrick has talked about its growing pains

because they are going from a small base to a less small base. They are

attracting people, former members of the National front who are joining

UKIP. Patrick was the director of communications when Andre Lamb

picks, whose vile views were exposed on Twitter. They do not have a

conversation with him as well? No one outside of UKIP either in the

media or in other parties understand why all of this debt can be thrown

at them but they are still doing well.

Now, new figures released this morning show that a total

of 140,000 Romanians and Bulgarians were being employed in the UK in the

That number is down slightly on the total number being employed

However, there has been a rise in the numbers

These are the first set of employment figures since Bulgarians

and Romanians gained the same rights to work in the UK as other EU

Here's David Freeman from the Office of National Statistics speaking

The number of people born in Bulgaria and Romania working in the

UK is 140,000. We compared these figures from a year ago and last

year there were 112 thousand Romanians and Bulgarians in

employment. If you look at the total number of people born abroad who

work in the UK, that increased to 172,000. The main impact on that

change is from the eight countries that joined the European Union in

2004. UKIP have said when the gates were opened in January two

Bulgarians and Romanians on January the 1st they would come

thousand. You got it very wrong? Nope, we didn't. The figure is down

on Nope, we didn't. The figure is down

doubt, Sir Andrew Green's central projection of about 50,000 more a

year. Nigel Farage said this in his debates with Nick Clegg, he wasn't

talking about debates with Nick Clegg, he wasn't

400 million people. If you look at workers from

400 million people. If you look at the year. From the eight other

countries, 74,000 were in the first quarter of the country alone. It

countries, 74,000 were in the first out of control. Nigel Farage, on

question out of control. Nigel Farage, on

doors, we are talking about when the restriction is lifted, the emphasis

was put on that, he said opened the doors to 29 million vulgarians and

Romanians. It is only 4% came, that with the over a million people.

Romanians. It is only 4% came, that number is down. Since those

restrictions were lifted because that is what UKIP talked about. You

restrictions were lifted because were wrong. Based on one

restrictions were lifted because benchmark. We are

restrictions were lifted because predicting a very big, long-term

rise in Romanian and Bulgarian rise in Romanian and Bulgarian

David Cameron cannot fulfil his promise of getting net migration

down. It is just going to go up and promise of getting net migration

that is a betrayal of the British people.

that is a betrayal of the British answer that in a minute. But on the

that is a betrayal of the British have hundreds and thousands of Olga

Aryans and Romanians. That was wrong. We are going to have hundreds

and thousands of them. He is ignoring it. They started

scaremongering in the run-up to January the 1st. They have been

proved wrong and decided to go for broke and continue to

scaremongering. They are not scaremongering from the number of

immigrants from the eight countries. When the previous government did not

have transitional controls, that is the lessons we learned. That is why

we put controls on Romania and Bulgaria and we have not had a

similar problem. Underlying this, it comes out as part of the

unemployment statistics, we have more people in work than ever before

and 75% of the new jobs are being taken by British citizens. That

figure was 55% at the end of the Labour government. We will have to

leave it there. Now, we've talked a lot

on this programme about ?gurus?. Oh yes, we keep up with all

the hot political trends. This week Labour's new guru is

in town. He's called David Axelrod

and he helped Barack Obama win two He's been hired to give Ed Miliband

strategic advice between now But judging by the latest polls

on this side of the pond he might have his work cut out performing the

same magic for the labour leader. As always at times like this

JoCo is on hand to explain why. chief -- former campaign chief David

Axelrod has arrived in the UK. With a year to go until the general

election, Labour is watching its once healthy lead in the polls

slowly narrow. The BBC's poll of polls up until April, shows April

now only four percentage points ahead.

One of those polls found that Miliband's leadership rating

was lower than Nick Clegg's. Whilst that's miserable reading

for Miliband's election man it's still not good enough

for a successful Cameron campaign. For the Conservatives to gain an

overall majority it's thought they need to be 11 percentage points

ahead of Labour by the election. There is however a big electoral

wildcard - Scotland, where Labour currently have 41 out of 59 MPs.

If Scotland votes yes to independence it would force everyone

to radically recalculate their electoral mathematics.

Let's speak now to Joe Twyman, he's director

of political research at YouGov. Welcome to the programme. If you

were David Axelrod, what would you be thinking? I would think I have

got an awful lot of money and I have got a big job to do. This time last

year, Labour were ten points ahead and now it is pretty much neck and

neck depending on which poll you look at. But both parties are only

on 34% of the vote and you are not going to win a majority in the

general election with that share. That could lead to a very

interesting situation come this time next year when Labour win the most

seats but the Conservatives win the most votes in a hung parliament. And

then who knows what happens. Do you think these two latest polls which

put the Conservatives two points ahead, is that part of a pattern

which will increase or will it go back, do you think, let's look at

the Sunday Times poll at the weekend which found Labour ahead? Individual

polls are interesting but what is really important is the long-term

trends over months or years. Some people will say it is the European

elections coming up so polls are always slightly odd, but what we are

seeing in terms of longer term trends going back to the election,

is the decline of that gap. And the Conservatives moving ever closer to

Labour. That is worrying if you are Labour strategist because that has

to be changed if you're going to be successful at the ballot box. Thank

you. And thanks, John-macro. --

John-macro. Mary we find out that Mr Miliband's

personal ratings are below Gordon Brown's. What is going on? Polls go

up and they go down. We do not pay too much attention to polls. You

do, you spend a lot of money in the Labour Party. I do not know what

David Axelrod does but I know Ed Miliband's leadership has inspired

thousands of people to join the Labour Party and to rejoin the

Labour Party. We have thousands of people out talking to people on the

doorstep. I think there is a UKIP effect. What would that be? A vote

for UKIP is a vote for none of the above, it is a protest vote. I think

we will not see that affect as strongly at the general election.

There is no doubt at the European elections that UKIP has sent a mass

mailing out to people. I can see why that would affect the state of the

parties if you are right, but I do not understand how that would affect

the public's assessment of Mr Miliband as a leader. We have had

Taylor advised debates, Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg -- televised debates.

People have seen a lot of those people. When people meet Ed Miliband

and they listen to his policies and when they meet him and they see him,

people see his charisma, see his leadership... His charisma? Yes, his

charisma, he's charismatic. When you look at the trend in these polls,

the more the British people see Ed Miliband, the less they like what

they see. His poll ratings have got consistently worse over the last two

years. When people look at the policies Ed Miliband has formulated

for our party, whether it is 25 hours a week for childcare to help

working people get a job and help their families, whether it is the

gas and electricity price freeze, derided by the Conservatives and now

imitated by them... Each of these policies on Rome, they are pretty

popular in the country, so why therefore has Labour's poll lead all

disappeared? There is an argument about whether it has disappeared. It

has certainly narrowed. There is a coalition government, there is a

media focus on David Cameron and Nick Clegg. That is where most of

the media attention is focused. The great media personality is Nigel

Farage who has never knowingly photographed without a pint of beer

and a cigarette in his hand. Is Ed Miliband charismatic? He is. Mrs

Miliband thinks he is charismatic. I do. People like him,

Miliband thinks he is charismatic. I him, he is sincere. It just may be

that your fundamental pitch is not gelling with the British people. But

when you talk about a cost of living crisis, and I emphasise the word

crisis as opposed to cost of living problems, people think times have

been tough, it is not easy, we have to tighten our belts but it is not a

crisis. It is a crisis. When you have a million people relying on

food hand-outs, when you have children and elderly people being

thrust into poverty, people look around them in their towns and

cities and they think, my child will not be able to go to university with

the tuition fees, they will not be able to afford their own home and

they see a government that is interested in tax cuts for the very

rich at the top, not helping people at the bottom to have a hand up. We

have just had yet again very good unemployment figures coming out, it

is at the lowest in Europe after Germany, if there is a cost of

living crisis, why are retail sales in the shops so strong and why is

every consumer confidence index rising? If you are one of the

850,000 young people who has not got a job, there is a crisis. We know

the scarring effects of long-term unemployment and older women and

young people. Hold on, almost 300,000 of those people are

university students. These consumer confidence indices and retail sales

are driven by people on average incomes. So if there is a cost of

living crisis for the average person in this country, why are retail

sales so strong and why figures are the figures, there may

be students but they are trying to pay their way through university to

minimise the debts they will come out with after university. And our

confidence question, people in the south-east of seeing the house

prices rise. There is an issue about consumer spending is being fuelled

by people who feel they are richer because that house price is going

up. That is not the case. These are national and they break them down

regionally and national and they break them down

every region. No people in national and they break them down

Tamworth that I have been speaking to, do not feel confident. They are

not splashing a load of cash and consumer durables. It is not a

recovery being felt across consumer durables. It is not a

United Kingdom. It is interesting if that is true that it is not being

reflected in the polls. The best you can hope for is to be the largest

party again, isn't it? No, Labour had a lead of 16%. You think you can

have an 11% lead over Labour? Well the polls move. They do not move

like Krakatoa! You really think you can get an 11% lead? What are you

one these days? I am looking at the economy. I am looking at the figures

we have had today. Falling youth unemployment. Mary has a cheek to

dog at 850,000, I spent days in opposition talking about a million

people under the age of 24. 150,000 fewer of them are out of work than

they used to be. You could get that 11 point lead, it would be

conceivable if it was not for something called UKIP and you do not

know how to handle UKIP. Every time you come up with a policy or an

approach or a policy or an approach or strategy towards them rises in

the polls. We have seen what has happened in the run-up to the

European elections. People traditionally use European elections

as a free kick. We have seen the Green Party get 15% in the European

election and more or less disappear for decades. People behave

differently than general elections. I do not think it is a great

predictor of a general election. OK. Now as you know here

at the BBC we like to cover all the Yesterday Jo had an opera singer

performing some arias in the studio. But we also like to reflect the

fringe pastimes that might still The government's been thinking

about one such event - something The top minds at the Home Office

have written a report looking at the benefits of keeping the pubs open

during this competition, which is Are you sure you don't mean

the Olympics? Anyway, the report says England has

a 54% chance of getting past the group stage,

whatever that is, and an 11% chance So it sounds like the England team,

whoever they are, won't be bringing They do however have

a good chance of winning the Cup And you won't have to go to Brazil

to do it. We'll remind you how to enter

in a minute, but let's see if you can remember when this happened -

and just a warning there is some Nice music. I liked it. To be in

with a chance of winning a mug, send your answer to our e-mail address.

Full terms and conditions are online.

It is coming up to midday here. Big Ben is behind me. I love that shot!

And in front of me is Nick Robinson of the BBC here for Prime Minister's

Questions. They are becoming quite rare these days because I think

after today there will not be one next week because Parliament has

nothing to do. They are all off to the seaside. Then it is the Whitsun

holiday so they will get two weeks. And then when they come back there

will be the week go now. I have had meetings with ministerial

colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in this House,

I will have further meetings later. The UK has 104 billionaires, London

has 72 billionaires. Wes Brown Wales and the valleys is in the top

poorest regions in Europe. Why is Lord Mandelson intensely relaxed

about people getting filthy rich. What is worthwhile is the massive

fall in unemployment and the increase in employment we have seen

across the country. In terms of Wales, unemployment has fallen by

5000 in the last quarter and fallen by 25,000 in the last election. In

terms of making sure the richest in our country pay their taxes, we see

the richest 1% paying a greater percentage of income tax than ever

they did under Labour. What we are seeing is abroad based recovery and

I want to make sure everyone in our country can benefit and that is why

we are cutting taxes and keep people from paying income tax. At the end

of November, a director of the Stagecoach company acquired Manston

airport in my constituency for ?1. On budget day, she announced she was

going into consultation with the view to closing an airport which is

worth hundreds of jobs, and major diversion field and a search and

rescue base. Since then we have sought to find a buyer. Last night

the river oak company, who already have airport interests put in a

realistic offer to keep the airport open, save jobs and develop the

business. At present the owners are reluctant. I don't expect my right

honourable friend to engage in commercial negotiations, but will he

ensure that the CAA operating licence remains open, the airport

remains open and further discussions are held and will he encourage those

discussions to take ways? I know my honourable friend has been fighting

hard with the honourable member about the future of Manston airport

and recognise it has played an important role in the local economy.

The future of the airport remains the responsibility of the owner, but

I think it is important the government is engaged. I know the

Transport Secretary is engaged and will be talking to the owner about

this issue and contacting the potential purchasers. In

this issue and contacting the they had to make a commercial

decision but the government will do everything it can to help.

I welcome the fall in unemployment. For all of those people who have

found work it is good for them and good for their families. Following

the appearance of Pfizer at the select committee yesterday, can the

Prime Minister tell us what assurances he is seeking from them

and their takeover of AstraZeneca. These are jobs he predict did would

never come to Britain and would never be there all stop but it is

important because what we see is the largest quarterly increase of people

in work, 280,000. We see unemployment is coming down, youth

unemployment is coming down and long-term youth unemployment coming

down with long-term economic plan working, we see the number of

vacancies going up. Honourable members may be interested to know,

three quarters of the new jobs over year have gone to UK nationals and

also, the employment of Romanians and Olga Aryans went down in the

first three months of this year, following the lifting of the

controls, which I think is notable. In terms of Pfizer and AstraZeneca

this government has been cleared to get stuck in to seek a possible

guarantees on British jobs, investment and British science. We

discussed this last week and one of the most important things is the

right honourable gentleman was asked for a meeting with Pfizer, but said

he was too busy politically campaigning. He put party politics

ahead of the national interests. I am not going to take any lectures

from the guy who was negotiating with Pfizer over the heads of the

board of AstraZeneca. Pfizer does not need a PR man, they have got the

Prime Minister. Now, for all sides of the House, the appearance of

Pfizer at a select committee raises more questions than answers about

so-called assurances. The head of Pfizer said there would be a fall in

research and development spending as a result of the takeover. Has the

Prime Minister got assurances these cuts will not take place in the UK?

What is the way of getting those guarantees? Is it getting stuck in

with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, battling for the British interest?

Or, is it standing back like he has done, doing nothing apart from

playing politics. I am clear what the British interest is, it is

British jobs, British science, writ -ish research and development and I

will do our bit link I can to receive those guarantees. 175,000

employed in life sciences in our country because we encourage

investments. Companies have chosen to come and invest here because it

is a great country to come and do business. The problem is, his

assurances are vague, have caveats and are inappropriate. Not my words

but the words of the Presidents of the Royal Society. His assurances

are useless and there is no guarantee on research and

development. The head of Pfizer said yesterday, " there will be job cuts

somewhere". Has he got an assurance these job cuts will not take place

in the UK? We have assurances on the percentage of research and

development that will happen here, investment in Cambridge, investment

in Macclesfield. If he is arguing, do we want further assurances? Yes

we do. Do we want to make sure those jobs stay here? Yes we do do we want

more investment in British universities and science? Yes we do.

I say, get stuck in, negotiate hard, fight for Britain. He says, play

politics and put that before the national interest. His negotiations

aren't working. They are worthless. On research and development, on

jobs, he has no answers. What about the possible carving up of the

merged company? Nobody wants a company to be bought, split up and

sold off. Has he got assurances that won't happen in the course of this

takeover? We want a good out, or British investment and jobs. We know

what happens if you take the approach of the Labour Party. Let's

remember Kraft and Cadburys. We had wonderful speeches about locking

investments and then complete and abject surrender and the closure

plans under Labour. We have learned the lessons of the mistakes Labour

made. We are operating under the framework they left us, which he

wrote while he was at the Treasury. We will get results for British

science and investment by being engaged rather than standing off and

playing politics. He sold off Royal Mail at a knock-down price and the

Chancellor's Westman made a killing. That is what happens with his

assurances. The truth is, he cannot give us a guarantee because the

chief executive says, " he wants to conserve the option a la tea of

splitting up the company and flogging it off". Last week the

Prime Minister said he would judge the takeover on British jobs,

British investment and British science. But he cannot offer

assurances on any of those things. Isn't it obvious we should have a

proper test of the public interest and if the deal does not pass, we

should lock it. He raises this issue about the public interest test.

Which party, which government and which individual, when he was in the

Treasury writing the rules, got rid of that test? It was the right

honourable gentleman. That is what we see on a day when unemployment is

down, when more people are in work. He will try any trick, rather than

to talk about what is happening in our economy. The country is getting

stronger, he is getting weaker. He may not think it is important to

talk about a company that is 2% of UK experts and which 30,000 jobs

depend. It is crucial to our national interests. And the truth

is, he is not powerless, he is the Prime Minister. He can act on a

public interest test. We're talking about one of our most important

companies. Nobody is certain about his assurances and he is calling

back on the old idea that the market knows best and does not need rest.

From Royal Mail to AstraZeneca, this is a Prime Minister whose ideology

means he cannot stand up for the national interests. If the things

these companies are important, why didn't he meet with them rather than

go canvassing. He put his own party political interest ahead of the

national interest. He fails to understand with measure British

interest in British science, jobs and investment. But we measure it on

us being a country open to overseas investment. There is a reason

companies are coming here to make cars, build trains, make new drugs

in our company is because we cut taxes, welcome investments, we are

growing our economy and we have more people in work. We will not take a

lecture from the party that brought this economy to its knees. I am sure

the honourable gentleman is delighted to be greeted. The sun is

shining and people are preparing to come to Cornwall for their holiday.

When they arrive they will see some of the recent storm damage still has

not been put right. Cornwall doesn't just need a long-term, economic

plan. We need help today. Will he meet with me to see what more can be

done? I am happy to go on discussing with Cornish MPs and with the

council to make sure we do every thing to help Cornwall back onto its

feet after the storms. I have said the money is under the scheme, so

all of the emergency funding that Cornwall had to spend, it had

claimed back. It still has time to work on that claim. We have

increased the amount of money going through the Environment Agency to

repair storm damage. There is an opportunity for Cornwall to have

somebody as well. I am sure people are preparing to go to Cornwall and

when they get there they will have a very good time. This week the Public

Accounts Committee criticised the MoD for failing to account for a one

2p underspend, and went on to say this might result in higher spending

in future years. Does the Prime Minister think he is right he has

balanced the books at the MoD? I remember coming government where we

were left with a 38 William pounds black hole. If the criticism is the

Secretary of State is careful with the pounds and the pennies and

making sure there is an underspend, that can be carried forward into

further investment to make sure we have the best investment for the

troops, I suspect he may plead guilty. Stevenage continuously the

economic recovery. It shows our long-term economic plan is working.

economic recovery. It shows our Will the Prime Minister join with

economic recovery. It shows our in congratulating the

economic recovery. It shows our institutions and businesses in my

constituency that have increased apprenticeship starts to over 800

apprenticeship starts now? My honourable friend is right. In

Stevenage unemployment has fallen by 24% over the last year which shows

our economic plan is working and every one of those people is not

just a They have zero hour contracts which do not pay enough to pay the

rent. Unemployment in Stockton has fallen over the last year. If he

looks at the unemployment figures, he will see that the number of

people in part-time work he will see that the number of

full-time work has fallen increasingly. People are able to

find the full-time work that they want. There is an increase in people

claiming housing benefit because there is an increase in people who

are in work. That is what is happening in our country, we are

getting people back to work. Mr Speaker, thousands of people in

my constituency are forced to use the NHS in Wales said they will be

concerned about yesterday's report which showed serious failings in the

care of fail older people at two NHS hospitals in Wales -- frail older

people. Don't the people of Wales and my constituency deserve better?

As I understand it these are very concerning reports which do need to

be studied because the NHS in Wales is not in a good state. We have had

an 8% cut in the budget. The last time A targets were met in Wales

was in 2009. The last time the urgent cancer treatment target was

met was in 2008. We really season problems in the NHS in Wales and

frankly the Labour Party are chatting to each other on the front

bench and they should be getting a grip of this issue and sorting out

the NHS. The Pfizer boss did give assurances

to the business committee yesterday. He gave an absolute

assurance that any takeover of AstraZeneca would result in a fall

in research and development into new drugs in the UK. The AstraZeneca

boss said it could put lives at risk. How can any Prime Minister

worth the title not immediately conclude that the right thing to do

in the national interest is to call this in? As I explained to his right

honourable friend, we are operating under the legal framework put in

place by the Government he was a member of. I actually think, when he

looks at The Record of what was said yesterday, I think you will find

that the quotes he gives are not accurate. Does the Prime Minister

agree that the building of vital roads like the A5 M1 link Dunstable

Northern bypass will create even more jobs and that continued

infrastructure investment like this is a key part of our long-term

economic plan? I agree. I have spent some time in his constituency stuck

on the A5 and I know how much it does need this remedial work done.

It is absolutely vital for this part of our country. We are investing

more in our railways since any time since the Victorian times and we are

investing more on our roads since the 1970s. It is keyed to the

success of our long-term economic plan.

Is there a good reason why the promised will not condemn the tax

affairs of Tory supporting Gary Barlow as morally wrong? I could not

be clearer that I condemn all of these progressive tax avoidance

schemes. And more than just condemning them, this government has

taken legislative action to say to people, to coin a phrase, we want

your money for good. Mr William Cash. Order, order! Lets

have a respectful silence for Mr William Cash.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My right honourable friend will know that my

international do on gender equality act came into force last night. Will

he note that this will protect women and girls throughout the world and

furthermore that particularly in places like Nigeria and Syria, it

provides an opportunity to be able to do whatever we can to relieve

their tragedy. Will he be good enough to have a word with the

secretary of the, our excellent Secretary of State for International

development and do whatever we can to use that act to help those people

who are being severely afflicted? I am sure the whole house will want to

join me in amending this honourable gentleman for his bill and getting

this important measure on the statute book. This year, Britain is

taking some huge steps forward, using the power of our aid budget to

really try and drive change in our world, to end forever the scandals

of forced and early marriage and female genital mutilation. We are in

a really strong position to drive change on this. He mentioned Nigeria

and I can announce today that we have offered Nigeria further

assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft and the team to work with

US experts to analyse information on the girls' location. As I said last

week, this is an act of pure evil, the world is coming together not

just to condemn it but to help the Nigerians find these girls.

50,499 ambulances have been waiting in queues of at least half an hour

at accident and emergency units up and down the country. What is he

going to do about it? What we are doing about it is making sure the

?12.7 billion extra that we are putting into the NHS, unlike the

Labour NHS cut in Wales, is going to good use and we can actually see in

our NHS, we have 1.2 million more people attending accident and

emergency and over this winter period, we met our targets for

accident and emergency. I remember the last time the Labour leader

raised our hospitals at Prime Minister's Questions. It was back in

November. He has not had a word to say about it since! He predicted a

winter crisis, he sat there day after day dying for it to happen. It

did not happen because we have a strong NHS with more doctors and

nurses serving our country. The Prime Minister is well aware of

the wonderful work done by the Royal British Legion centre with our brave

servicemen and women who have been injured in conflict through adaptive

sports and adventurous training. At the end of this month, I will be

joining a team from the centre with the honourable members for Bass

North, chat and Aylesford, to raise awareness of this wonderful work and

will the Prime Minister wish us every success in this aim? I will

certainly wish the honourable gentleman from across the House, the

honourable gentlemen and ladies. I wish them well. The Royal British

Legion plays a key part in standing up for our veterans and their

interests and making sure we raise money and serve them properly. We

work very closely with them in government. The Battle Back centre

is an extraordinary facility. I wish you well and hope the fundraising

goes well. When the Prime Minister goes up to

Scotland this week, when he explained to our agricultural

producers in rural countries, wide by 2019 we will be receiving the

lower-level -- lowest level per hectare, not only of any country in

the UK but in the whole EU? What I will be explaining on my trip is how

Scotland is better off inside the United Kingdom, that we have all of

the negotiating power of the UK around the table to get a good deal

for Scotland, whereas an independent Scotland would have to queue up

behind other countries to get back into the European Union and

specifically on agriculture, because of the hard work of my right

honourable friend the agriculture secretary, we're actually making

sure that there will be extra support for Scottish farmers

absolutely in line with what the Scottish

absolutely in line with what the for. Richard Harrington.

According to the Watford Chamber of Commerce, this year Watford will

benefit from a total of ?1.5 Commerce, this year Watford will

in new investment. Already started, we have got a new road, two train

stations, two secondary schools being refitted and we have a

brand-new UTC. To cap all of that, today that has been an announcement

that unemployment is 667 less than a year ago. But I am very concerned

that this continues. I would like to ask the Prime Minister what his

strategy is to make sure this continues. If he takes my advice, Mr

Speaker, he will continues. If he takes my advice, Mr

something that is one long-term, two economic. First of all, can I say to

my honourable friend how well commit is that unemployment in Watford over

the last year has fallen by 30%. We are getting the people of Watford

back to work and cutting unemployment. What he says in terms

of the important investment with the rail link and the two new stations

and re-building new schools are absolutely vital. The long-term plan

is not just about jobs and cutting taxes, as important as those are, it

is also about supporting business and small business in particular, by

building the infrastructure we need. Because we have taken difficult

long-term decisions, we have been able to put this investment into our

roads and railways. able to put this investment into our

able to see a GP within 48 hours was not a priority. Does this Prime

Minister regret this? If you listen to the Royal College of GPs, they

are saying there is something like 40 million more GP appointments

since 2010. The patients survey always quoted by Labour ministers

when they were in government says 93% of people say appointments in

the GP system are convenient. Frankly, I want more. As the father

of three young children, I know how important it is to get timely GP

appointments. That is why we are training 5000 more GPs. We have

named GP for frail and elderly people. We have a thousand GP

centres which now open 8am to 8pm and at weekends. I tell you what I

do regret. I regret the fact the last Labour government signed a

contract with GPs which meant they did not have to offer a service out

of hours or at weekends. Because of the investment we are putting into

the NHS, actually, we are providing better services. If he is wondering

about the idea of a 48-hour target, he might ask why Labour scrapped one

in Wales. Nigel Evans. Ribble Valley Council has recently

approved its core strategy. Will he reassure local councillors that this

will now give them extra power to protect those areas within the

Ribble Valley that are not already earmarked for development. And will

he come and visit the Ribble Valley and see for himself why the Ribble

Valley is consistently voted one of the best places to live in the

United Kingdom and why local people want to keep it that way. I look

forward to visiting my honourable friend's constituency and broader

constituencies in Lancashire as well. I think the assurance I can

give him is this. When local councils put in place their local

plan, they will have far greater ability to determine how much

housing, what sort of housing and where it goes. That is what we are

trying to put in place and the faster local councils can put

implants the more power and responsibility they will have.

As the Prime Minister has acknowledged, the number of people

who are in work but have to claim housing benefit to make ends meet is

growing, but the cost of that will be an extra ?5 billion over the

course of this Parliament. Does the Prime Minister consider that a sign

of success? The most important thing we have done in respect to housing

benefit is to put a cap on it. When we claim to office there were

families claiming 60, 70, ?80,000. When we put the cap on housing

benefit, what was the Labour reaction? It was to vote against it.

When we said housing benefit should not be paid in respect of spare

rooms that people are not using, what was Labour's attitude? To

oppose it. The good news from his seat is, here is something which is

not going up, it is unemployment and it is down 31% in his constituency.

Some of those people in work are claiming housing benefit but because

of this government's long-term economic plan, more of his

constituents are in work and earning. Mr Andrew Percy.

Extra flood defence funding for the Humber area following the tidal

surge in December was most welcome but many of my constituents are

still out of their homes and there is concern that we get the 300

million which is needed over the next five years. MPs are working

across party on this. Will the prime Minster meet with us so we can meet

with him to discuss the high risk of flooding? I had an experience of

very positive and good meetings with members of Parliament for Humberside

on a cross-party basis. We worked very hard to make sure the Siemens

investment went into a hole which is going to bring not just jobs to that

factory but a whole new industry and supply chain into the area --

investment went into Hull. I will make sure we do all we can to

protect people's homes and businesses.

While I welcome the I hope you enjoyed that because you

will not be getting another one for a long time. The two frontbenchers

went backwards and forwards over Pfizer. Not a single new fact was

introduced in the exchanges. They just repeated what we have heard

many, many times before. Viewers did not engage and the subject matter.

Actually, what they did engage and was the performances of the party

leaders. Colin in Rugby said I do not know what scale politicians used

to measure charisma, but it did it matter if it is the Bofors scale, Ed

to measure charisma, but it did it air or possibly hot air.

to measure charisma, but it did it the wild applause

to measure charisma, but it did it for Ed Miliband was from the

Conservative MPs. for Ed Miliband was from the

long-term economic for Ed Miliband was from the

but those and zero hours contracts do not think it is working. Terry

Casey from Liverpool says the Prime Minister does not understand the

rich are earning a lot more Minister does not understand the

hence the rise in the tax. And some else accuses Ed Miliband of playing

politics, if you get to me. I got lost on that one. You can explain to

me later. Or all three main Westminster party is going to take

the view that the European elections do not say anything about the future

course in politics? The Greens did very well in 19 18, in the 1980s

when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, UKIP did well in the past

and another leader, Robert Kilroy silk. But if there is a big turnout

or whether there is a protest vote. I thought what was striking today is

Ed Miliband with news on a difficult wicket, a couple of the polls have

shown Labour behind and employment figures are very good. What he

wanted to avoid before an election is David Cameron pointing it out and

him pointing out he was scared to talk about the economy. It is better

than Manning crisis polls which have turned in the wrong direction. You

can talk about this long-term sustainability, but it looks like

this coalition government will go to the polls in a benign economic

atmosphere. The governor of the Bank of England is forecast for this

year, three point -- 3.4% growth and they have raised 2015, up 3%. No one

on the left or the right sort that would be a kind of background to the

run up to the election? We hoped for growth earlier and when we left

government growth was rising, unemployment was falling and so was

inflation. All of those things changed around 2010. We had three

wasted years when we did not have growth. But growth for who? Where is

the recovery being felt? It is being felt in London and the south-east

and we have talked about House prices. But working people are on

average ?1600 worse off with council tax bills going up, food going up

and rent going up. Putting a ceiling on rent rises, these are the

policies people are calling out for when we go out on the doorstep. So

it is a recovery for the South. Labour said if you follow these

policies, they won't be growth, there won't be recovery. We are now

seeing strong growth. We have cut the deficit by a third. Unemployment

coming down. There is clearly a palpable recovery going on across

the economy. Helping young people, at least the young unemployment

figures are coming down. And the long-term economic plan is working.

You say nobody predicted this would be the background to the election,

George Osborne predict did it. He said we would need to go through the

pain of austerity. He predict did things with a better, he did not

predict 3.4% growth, which is what the banks predicted because he has

to depend on the OBR figures for growth and they are consistently

wrong. The OBR is not the Treasury either. George Osborne sensibly

set... You know when you speak to senior Conservatives they will

surprise the economy is growing by over three and a half percent. We

are not surprised the economy is growing because that was the purpose

of the plan. I am talking about the volume of the growth which I think

has surprised all of the Westminster establishment on the left and the

right. The monetary policy committee meeting this morning, which is more

important than anything that happened at Prime Minister's

Questions. As the bank is telling us if the economy is growing by over

3%, it is a return to normality. 3% is the growth rate you get coming

out of a recession and at last we have reached that. So when do

interest rates return to normal? Has anybody given the thought too, the

closest we get to an election, does it not become a political move for

the Governor of the bank to start to change interest rates. In America

the Federal Reserve tries to avoid it in a presidential year. People

are stretched on their mortgages and can only afford them because

interest rates have been low for so long. While growth will help lots of

people, the rise in interest rates will help savers but will hurt

people with mortgages and push some over the edge. The governor was

signalling interest rate rises would come sooner than he originally

thought, but they will be gradual. I suspect if he thinks it has got to

be done, they will try to do it slowly and steadily rather than

waiting and waiting and doing it at one go. But it will be a big event,

even if it is only 25 basis points, it is the turning of the cycle, the

day he does that. What I cannot work out is, will he really do that this

side of voting day? The hint is, he is given the upgrading of economic

forecasts. But the interesting thing is, compared with him and his

predecessor, Mervyn King, he was a politician first. He was a Canadian

politician before he ran the Canadian central bank. He will be

aware of the political sensitivity of putting up interest rates. But if

the Bank of England concludes it has got to be done, I suspect it will

be. I suspect he will hold off, not just for political reasons but the

external pressures coming in on Britain at the moment are

deflationary. The strength of sterling, the spectre of deflation

in the Eurozone. I have just come back from Italy which has been hit

by Italy, so has Greece, Spain and Portugal. Even Sweden, in the north.

And this overcapacity in China, which will more than likely be

dumped on Europe, these goods will come in cheaply. I suspect because

of these deflationary pressures will not allow him to raise interest

rates for a while? He will not want to do anything to choke off the

recovery. And become political. We don't want to see people defaulting

on their mortgages. Damien talks about a recovery but when we have

half a million people on 0-hours contract 's, a million part-time

workers who would like to move to full-time work but can't because

their employers are not offering, or they cannot get the child care they

need. It is not a recovery fully spread across all parts of the UK

economy. It is spreading across all parts. One of the interesting things

about this recovery is how balanced it is, it is not just a consumer

recovery. Business investment as well. If it is not just consumers

and businesses have got somewhere else to go, what else is it? It is

exports as well. Overall, exports throughout the coalition's life have

been a negative on growth. But they are coming in the right direction

now. Manufacturing is doing better than people thought. A very low

base? The base actor the recession was extremely low, it has now

recovered under this government. And also the big issues leading up to

these elections is immigration. The Prime Minister squeezed in a mention

of it. You can look at the figures that show a big increase in the

number of people coming from the EU as a success story. Jobs are being

created and there is a record number of British people in jobs. If you

are UKIP, you can say, we did not get it right about Romania and dog

area but there is still a surge of people coming from the EU. It is

whether the data can be read in more than one way. Do these figures that

came out today, Vince Cable saying, I told you so. Or is Nigel Farage to

save I don't care which bit of Europe came from, they are still

coming. I suspect if they had gone on that it would have been more

interesting. We will not see you for a few weeks. Just go and do some

gardening, nothing else to do. We will see you on June 18. We will be

counting the days. The weather will be nice, what ever

you decide to do. How do you know that?

I believe the BBC weather forecast. LED lights are becoming more

popular, not just as flickering indicators are machines but for

vehicle headlights, industrial lighting and even illuminating

homes. They are seen as more efficient and longer lasting than

traditional lamps. It is perhaps for this reason they are also being seen

as an alternative option for street lighting by some councils. For soap

box this week, we hear from Simon Nicholas who is a leading campaigner

against LED street lighting in Trafford in South Manchester.

and spreading across Britain. Now councils up and down the country

want to use LEDs to light up our streets at night. Here in West

London they have already made the switch. Here in West London they use

them. They claim to use less energy. The cost of the PFI contract to

install these is unknown. In my own borough of Old Trafford, the cost

was similarly shrouded in secrecy. There is a question about how

cost-effective it really is. In order to achieve savings over

traditional lights, they must be supplied with a very high colour

temperature omitting high levels in the blue spectrum. There is an

increasing research which supports the view that blue

bad for health and the environment. A number of studies suggests the

blue lighting leads to the suppression of melatonin, a hormone

which leads to sleep. A report in 2009 recommended caution before any

widescale move to lean sodium lighting and broad-spectrum

lighting. Here, people have complained the new lights have

disrupted their sleep and they have had to use cardboard on the windows

to block the lighting. I believe we need to halt and reverse the spread

of LED lighting until wider research has been explored in the cold light

of day. And Simon Nicholas is with me now.

Let's look at the impact on health and sleep deprivation. How much

evidence have you got to support the claims made in that film that LED

lighting does have a negative impact? There is a lot of

multinational research which have been published to support that. It

is well acknowledged that blue light at night does affect sleep. And

also, the whole issue will blue light in the environment affects not

just human beings but also ecosystems of other animals and

plants. It is not a naturally occurring to have blue light at

night. There is a number of research that has been published. People are

not going to be sleeping under the lights. It is not as if you are

getting direct exposure, as if it was inside the house with you? I

think you do get exposure if it is coming through your living room

window in the evening and also, if you have a crack in the curtains, it

can come through and liked the room. Also it has been suggested that you

can get up in the middle of the night and walk into a room which

does not have the curtains closed and it can trigger your body clock

by just doing that. Is it true that even with the curtains closed, if

you are standing in the bedrooms, if you have an LED light facing your

house, you would have it streamed through the window? Guests. I went

to a gentleman's house last night and he has a downstairs flat and it

is streaming in almost like a floodlight from across the road into

his bedroom. It does last longer than some of the traditional

lighting that is used and is more efficient in terms of energy

consumption. Is that the reason behind using them? It is more

efficient but only if you tune it to omit a large amount of blue light.

There are other issues as well such as glare. They are extremely bright.

And also Flickr. There is concern and I have spoken to public health

England about this, that different types of streetlights operating at

different frequencies might cause problems in terms of seizures and

that sort of thing. Have you actually won your battle in

Trafford? In a sense, gas. They were in denial for a while about the

issue of health. They have gone away and given me a commitment that they

will not fit high colour temperature LEDs in Trafford. If more than -- is

more benign specifications do not stack up financially, they will not

be suppressed. I am worried about councils turning off the lights

altogether. As somebody who regularly site 's home later

tonight, there is research in a large amounts of accidents when the

lights are turned off. Eric Pickles says people should not be doing

aerobics at three o'clock in the morning. I do not think we want

lessons from Eric and aerobics but I think it is important that we have a

safe lighting system. Do you think this is? No, I think LED lights in

Salford, they have installed them, they have cut their bill, it is a

low-energy way of lighting the streets, councils are under pressure

and a price freeze would reduce that but I do think blue light, it is the

blue light which is most likely to keep us awake is staring at our

hand-held phones and our computers and we do that voluntarily. What you

say about the claim of Tory councils wanting to switch off the lights to

save money. Eric Pickles says he loves them being switched off at

night because it saves money and helps and sleep. Councils saving

money is not sensible if they are not saving on essential things. The

thing to do it is in areas where it does not make a difference. Having

full streetlights on at three o'clock in the morning inroads where

nobody walks down is not a sensible use of taxpayers' money. Is that

stops a fatal car crash. Cars have headlights. Public health England

has said that they are not convinced, there is research showing

that they can cause problems. Public Health England is not convinced by

that. The research on crime generally is almost perverse. It

shows that crime goes down if you switch the lights off. I made that

face as well when I heard that but it is fair to say that on the house

aspects and the crime and safety aspects, the research is at best

inconclusive. There is also environmental issues as well. Royal

commission report said it advised government to do some research and

not to rush into LED street lighting until the full environmental impact

had been considered. Thank you and come and tell us what Trafford

decide to do in the future. A crack team of researchers has been

on to the House of Commons and they tell us that last year there was a

PMQs after the Queens speech I stand corrected! But now there is some

doubt about it. There are several anti-EU groups

in each electoral region, including ex-UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass and his

"An Independence from Europe" Party. Let's have a look

at their election broadcast. No one would have believed that in

the first years of the 21st century, Britain's affairs were being watched

and scrutinised by an alien world. With our three political parties who

lie to the public about their intentions, minds more Eurocrat than

ours, slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And then it came.

The hideous body of the EU, smashing our democracy and destroying our

laws. Plotting to annihilate our currency and sucking up our pension

funds. And Mike Nattrass is here in the

studio. Welcome to the Daily Politics. There is the United

kingdom Independence party and now there is the An Independence From

Europe party. It is a bit like the people's Judaean front and the

Judaean front... Traditionally in British politics, it was the far

left that went into endless factions. I think there were 16

different Trotskyite groups. Are you not in danger of doing the same? No,

we are not the same. We are to the left of UKIP. We do not believe in

privatisation which is being bandied around by Nigel who does tend to

wreck policy on the hoof. We are against privatisation especially in

the National Health Service but of course we want to get out of Europe.

That is our main policy. By referendum? Not necessarily. Our own

sticky issue and does not need a referendum. It really needs MPs with

a backbone to get us out. They need a referendum because otherwise they

are scared to do it. Am I right in thinking the main motivation of this

party is to get Nigel? There is no personal animosity? No, there is...

Do you despise him? Jelena I would rather stay away. Of the 12 MEPs he

had, there are now six. Where you kicked out of UKIP or did you leave?

I resigned when I found that he was trying to change the members' ballot

when he trying to change the members' ballot

order of the list of candidates. I walked out of a meeting in

Strasbourg where he was gerrymandering the list. Your

election broadcast seems rather similar to one that UKIP had. It was

mine, I own it. I paid for it. In the early 2000s I think I did four

broadcasts for UKIP. I was the deputy leader at the time. Do you

have problems as UKIP has had that people are saying rather outlandish

and Ed Jepson of all things. -- and objection all things. Not so far. I

have had some amusing telephone calls. Mostly people ringing up and

saying good luck. Have you had any far right problems? I do not think

so. You have somebody from the Dutch Freedom party. They left the Dutch

Freedom party for that reason. In the same way that some people from

UKIP have distanced themselves because he has joined a group in the

European Parliament which is probably obnoxious. You both want to

leave Europe, you differ on privatisation but what other

distinguishing characteristic you have other than you are not Nigel

Farage? I am a grammar school kid, I did not go to public school. Just

one policy, quickly. We think assemblies should not exist in their

present form. Regional assemblies. They should be occupied by MPs who

break from Westminster, it leaving the English to deal with English

matters in the English Parliament. Very well. We have to leave it there

but thank you. We have to pick who won guessed the year. -- the winner

is Ruth Duffy from Lancashire. We'll be back tomorrow

at noon with all the big political We'll be joined by pensions expert

Ros Altman, so do join us then.