Browse content similar to 20/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
Another day on the EU referendum campaign trail, another letter | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
urging voters to back one side or another. | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
Today, we've heard from a group of former White House advisers. | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
But this week's also seen some big numbers and big arguments deployed | :00:52. | :00:53. | |
by the heavy hitters on each side of the referendum debate. | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
We'll be looking at what's fact and what's not. | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
This time next week, junior doctors in England will be | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
staging the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS. | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
Will doctors or the Government pull back? | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
From the doctors' strike to the steel crisis to the first | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
rise in unemployment since last summer - | :01:14. | :01:15. | |
what will Jeremy Corbyn choose to ask David Cameron | :01:16. | :01:17. | |
We'll bring you all the action live at midday. | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
And the public has spoken - in a story that's gone around | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
the world, an online vote decides that the UK's new polar | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
research vessel should be called Boaty McBoatface. | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
But are ministers preparing to overrule the will of the people? | :01:35. | :01:44. | |
Surely not. I like the name. Is it a boat or a ship? A line that | :01:45. | :01:54. | |
is where the debate is going to centre. | :01:55. | :01:55. | |
All that in the next hour and with us for the whole | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
of the programme today, two MPs who would never dismiss | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
the views of the general public in so cynical a fashion. | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
At least not in an election year, anyway. | :02:04. | :02:05. | |
It's the Culture and Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey | :02:06. | :02:07. | |
and the former Labour minister and Leave campaigner Kate Hoey. | :02:08. | :02:09. | |
First today - what else but the EU referendum? | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
And it's clearly a week for American interventions in the debate, | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
because ahead of President Obama's visit, eight former | :02:21. | :02:22. | |
US Treasury Secretaries have written to the Times saying voting to leave | :02:23. | :02:24. | |
the European Union on June 23rd would be a "risky bet" for the UK. | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
David Cameron says it's an "important letter", | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
of "belittling Britain's place in the world". | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
You can expect to hear a lot more of this type of thing. | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
But away from those day-to-day skirmishes, this week has at last | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
seen the big hitters from each side of the debate answer the public's | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
demand for facts with some real substance - | :02:49. | :02:50. | |
JoCo's been keeping an eye on the field of play. | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
Yes, we've seen some star strikers take to the pitch this week. | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
Chancellor George Osborne was first, and he kicked off on Monday | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
with Treasury forecasts that the UK economy would be 6% poorer by 2030 | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
a figure the Treasury says equates to ?4,300 per household. | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
Leave campaigners were quick to put the boot into that figure, | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
They also pointed out that the Treasury forecast assumed | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
that net migration over the same 14-year period would reach | :03:28. | :03:29. | |
That's 185,000 a year from 2021 - much higher than the Government's | :03:30. | :03:37. | |
target of "tens of thousands" For the Leave Campaign, | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
Michael Gove went on the attack with his own figure, | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
repeating the central claim that the ?350 million spent | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
on the European Union each week could be redirected into the NHS. | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
But their figures have also been tackled by their opponents, | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
who point out that number does not take into account Britain's rebate | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
on the membership cost and other grants Brussels spends in the UK, | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
And just to remind you that if you're hungry for more facts | :04:05. | :04:12. | |
about the debate, you can find out more on | :04:13. | :04:14. | |
Andrew, we are glued to them. We are indeed. Ed Vaizey, can we | :04:15. | :04:26. | |
start with something, is the Government claiming that if we leave | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
the EU, by 2030, each household will be ?4300 worse off? The Government | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
is saying that the growth of the UK economy would be lower if we let the | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
European Union, lullaby some 6% and that equates to around ?4000 per | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
household -- lower by some 6%. If you take it and divided by the | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
current household in the UK and I know you have an issue with that, | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
and indeed, the BBC Reality Check does, which is a very good thing, | :05:01. | :05:08. | |
but... But are you claiming that households will be ?4300 worse off? | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
I couldn't be clearer in saying that we save the economy will contract by | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
around 6%, around ?36 billion that we will not grow and that equates to | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
?4300 per household, it can be loss of income, loss of jobs... You are | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
not measuring household income in this equation, you are measuring GDP | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
per household. It is clear in the document that Kate has brought with | :05:37. | :05:43. | |
her that it is clear to -- equal to ?4300. I have listened to the great | :05:44. | :05:51. | |
BBC business editor explaining it using the word... But two things are | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
not the same. 27 million households, GDP is 1.8 trillion. If I do the | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
same calculation as the Treasury, that gives me a household per GDP, | :06:02. | :06:09. | |
the income, of 60 7,000. Average household incomes, which measure | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
people's living standards, ?44,000, they are entirely different. There | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
are lots of figures that may be confusing the issue. The key point | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
is that on any scenario you take our position outside of the European | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
Union, Britain will grow less slowly and be poorer. It is not just of the | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
Treasury saying that. An independent survey of likely growth scenarios | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
for the UK economy shows we will be poorer if we left the European | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
Union. Hold on, hold on, I am not going to let you try and talk your | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
way out or something. I am going to try! If you wanted to measure | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
whether households would be worse or better off, you should use average | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
household income and you didn't. Why not? Because we talked about GDP and | :06:57. | :07:04. | |
the Treasury is making an estimate across three scenarios. There is | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
actually a worst-case scenario. I understand that but why didn't you | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
use the proper measure, which is household income? Well, that is your | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
assertion. Well can you tell me any other... Hold on. Can you tell me | :07:20. | :07:26. | |
other project on the Treasury red paper where they use this metric of | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
GDP per household? The LSE independent report came out in March | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
which had the same criticism of the BBC Reality Check, which uses... Has | :07:36. | :07:46. | |
the Treasury used this before? It said the GDP will contract by X, | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
that is per household... What does this relate to? It may well have | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
been used in the red book, it may well have been used during Treasury | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
analysis in the Scottish referendum or looking at other policies, but | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
the point is, it is very clear what that document says, which is why | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
Kate has it in front of her. I am trying to work out... Let me ask you | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
this question. No, I am asking the questions, I am not letting you | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
answer your own questions. I want you to answer this. If you think | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
about GDP per household is such an important measure, why did you take | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
the projected GDP in 2030 and divided by the number of households | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
today, not the number of households projected for 2030. Because we are | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
saying it is equivalent to the households today, it is a figure | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
that brings it in line. You asked me to look at different surveys and how | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
they are calculated, can you point to any survey, any economic | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
analysis, independent economic analysis, that says the UK would be | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
better off if we let the European Union? My fundamental point is that | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
on a range of measures, and the Treasury has taken a mid-range | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
measure of a mid-range scenario. If it really wanted to frighten the | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
horses, it could have taken the WTO scenario. Can we come back and get | :09:17. | :09:23. | |
some clarity on this? If you are trying to measure GDP per household | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
in 2030, which, is, as I suggested is a dubious metric in the first | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
place, why did you use the number of households now, which is 27 million, | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
not the official projection of households of 31 million? That is a | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
question you can put the Treasury people who put together but the | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
point I am trying to make is that every analysis of our position, | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
whether leave the EU, is that it will grow less quickly than if we | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
stay. It will cost us, as citizens of the UK, cost us as households. | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
But when it gets to the detail, it is quite difficult. Let me ask you | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
one final thing. You use the number of households now, 27 million, but | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
to get to the GDP for 2030, you assume a huge rise in immigration, | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
which must mean there will be a lot more households. Why do you assume | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
that you will break your immigration target in every year for the next 15 | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
years? Well, immigration is one of the key issues that we debate | :10:34. | :10:40. | |
constantly, but... So why do you break it? There will be a lot of | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
people coming to live in this country and a lot of Brits moving | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
out, there are more than a million Britons now living in the European | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
Union. But you have an immigration target of 100,000, your Government's | :10:55. | :11:03. | |
target is to get net migration down to 100000 and your projections | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
assume it rises by at least 150,000, 185,000, every year up to 2030, why? | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
We have set ourselves stretching targets but this is an economic | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
analysis based on the current scenarios. So you are going to break | :11:19. | :11:25. | |
your immigration targets? We haven't succeeded in meeting our immigration | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
targets. But by having a tough immigration target, we have reduced | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
the amount of net migration and as you know, a lot of people who come | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
to this country are students that come to study at our world-class | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
universities. That is not the argument, you have included them in | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
your 100,000. Kate Hoey, can you name an independent study that says | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
we are better off if we leave? Probably not better off. Even one | :11:52. | :11:59. | |
that says we will be the same? I think we are discussing this, with | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
the greatest respect, in the wrong way. With the greatest respect, I | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
think our viewers would like an answer to the question, can you name | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
any reputable study that will show us better off or even just the same | :12:10. | :12:17. | |
if we leave? I can't produce a study that says that because what I am | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
interested in in terms of leaving the EU is the Democratic argument, | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
and the argument that we will then control the money we are currently | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
bringing in and I don't feel that all of these different economists... | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
Look, they can bring out paper after paper and they will all have | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
disagreements about the long-term effects. So even if we were worse | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
off, you would want to leave? I don't think we will be because all | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
of the evidence shows that, as a proud country that is economically | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
sound, we would be able to trade with the rest of the world and do | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
equally well. I just don't accept the underlying assumptions... Banks | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
are a key figure in your side of the campaign. He says that even if the | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
Treasury figures right and I think, as we have demonstrated, there is a | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
lot of doubt about it, banks says that ?4300 is a price worth paying. | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
That is nonsense, I don't know when he said it but... He made a press | :13:21. | :13:28. | |
conference for the league campaign. Nobody would think everybody being | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
worse off by 2030 is right. Let's look at the reputable bodies. The | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
IMF, the IFS, the World Bank, the OECD, the White House, major | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
financial institutions, they all think it would be bad for us to | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
leave. Can you name any global institution that thinks it would be | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
good for us to leave? I'm not sure that any global institution or | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
certainly any other country... They are all part of this kind of idea | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
that somehow, it is important to them. America wants, for example, us | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
to stay in the EU because it suits them. I am interested in what is it | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
our interests as a country and I'm not going to change my views that we | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
are better off leaving by discussing what another country thinks. So the | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
answer is not a single ally that we have, not a single friend of this | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
country, not a single global institution, favours us leaving the | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
EU? I'm not surprised that that, because the European Union is an | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
institution that is fundamentally about supporting and wanting the | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
global corporations and the big business to do very well indeed, but | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
I can think of one person who was the ex-Prime Minister of Australia | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
who very clearly thinks we should leave. Tony Abbott? I am not sure | :14:47. | :14:56. | |
that is true. He was coming around to the idea that we should stay. | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
This decision and the boats are not by Tony Abbott. You raised Tony | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
Abbott? They are not by anybody outside of this country, the British | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
people will decide and not just look at the detail of this gobbledygook, | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
an econometric model that is not going to be read in my constituency | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
or in the housing estates... So your site will not produce an equivalent | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
scenario? I doubt very much that we want to. To give us an idea of | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
whether we might be better off? It is not just about economics. That is | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
what we are talking about because the Treasury report came out. | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
I think it is John Howard, the ex-Australian Prime Minister who | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
said we should leave. Thank you. One final question. You are not going to | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
ask me about gravity modelling Ayew? No, we're not going to look at that. | :15:57. | :16:04. | |
Last year, the Treasury, at this time, couldn't even tell us | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
accurately what the GDP for 2015 would be. Why would we give any | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
credence to what it thinks the GDP for 2030 would be? We live in a free | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
country, so you can dismiss that document. I put off watching some | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
excellent BBC programmes last night to read through it. Did you read the | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
model? It would be important for your viewers, because very few of | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
your viewers will have seen this. Look at this gobbledygook. This is | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
meant to be a serious document. Just because you don't understand it, | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
doesn't make it gobbledygook. Andrew, I know you are one of the | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
few people who doesn't understand it. I am not an economist. We are | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
not a free country at the moment because our laws can be overruled by | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
the Court of Justice and we are subject to majority voting. These | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
are the issues that matter. When you talk to people, this might have been | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
done by the Treasury and they spent lots of money and it, but this will | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
not decide the vote. We will have to leave it there. I think we have got | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
as far as we are going to get today, which wasn't very far! | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
But there is time. We can come back tomorrow. With another document? | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
This time next week, junior doctors in England will be | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
staging the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS as part | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
of their dispute over a new contract being introduced by the Government. | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
Medics will walk out of Accident Emergency, | :17:38. | :17:39. | |
intensive care and maternity units for the first time - | :17:40. | :17:41. | |
although consultants, nurses and midwives will still be working. | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
Well, yesterday, the profession's regulator the General Medical | :17:45. | :17:47. | |
Council said that some hospitals may struggle to cope and striking | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
may not be the "right option" in some places. | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
Let's talk now to Labour's Shadow Health Minister Justin Madders, | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
he's in the central lobby of the Houses of Parliament. | :17:57. | :18:04. | |
Jeremy Hunt says an all-out strike which withdraws life-saving care | :18:05. | :18:12. | |
over a dispute on Saturday pay rates is disproportionate. Do you agree or | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
disagree? What Jeremy Hunt has got to do is give straight answers as to | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
whether he has the legal power to impose these contracts or not. In | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
the Commons on Monday, he was asked five times what is legal powers were | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
to impose contracts and he refused to answer. His lawyers are using | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
different words to the one he used the Bisley and he spent thousands of | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
pounds on another case arguing individual trusts and he is not the | :18:38. | :18:44. | |
appropriate employer. He is trying to impose something, which | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
apparently he doesn't have the legal power to. It is within his hands to | :18:48. | :18:53. | |
end this. Do you agree or disagree, but this all out strike for the | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
first time in the history of the NHS is a proportionate response to this | :19:00. | :19:02. | |
dispute? Junior doctors don't want to go on strike, they made an offer | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
yesterday to get round the negotiating table if he dropped the | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
threat of imposition. Given he probably doesn't have the legal | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
powers to impose that contract, I don't know what is stopping him | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
getting around the table. This name-calling is not doing to reduce | :19:23. | :19:25. | |
the temperature or resolve the dispute. Will you be showing | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
solidarity and standing on the picket line with junior doctors | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
because I'm assuming you think it is a proportionate response? My | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
presence wouldn't make any difference, there is nobody other | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
than Jeremy Hunt who can bring this to a conclusion. Is that yes no, you | :19:44. | :19:52. | |
will be joining them on the picket line? People can make their own | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
decisions. I will see what I'm next week. We need to see what the | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
government are doing to resolve the situation. Given we know it seems | :20:01. | :20:08. | |
unlikely the government can impose the contracts, what have they got to | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
lose by getting round the table and talking and stopping the strikes in | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
the first place. You backed the strikes, so why wouldn't you be | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
joining junior doctors? I am hoping we don't have a strike, I am hoping | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
there is time to resolve this. There are six days to go, you should be | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
asking the government what they will do to avert the strikes. They have | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
sat on their hands for six weeks. I will ask a minister in a minute, but | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
a former health minister says an all-out strike would do lasting and | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
irreparable harm to the profession. He said maybe junior doctors will | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
deeply regret this. Do you think junior doctors should listen to him? | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
They have two make-up their own minds. What the damage to the NHS is | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
being done by this current health trust. Worst records for A | :21:01. | :21:08. | |
attendances. He should be trying to improve the services, rather than | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
dividing them. In terms of Labour's position on strike action, Heidi | :21:14. | :21:15. | |
Alexander said she didn't want to see any member of the Shadow Cabinet | :21:16. | :21:22. | |
on the picket line. But you said individual Labour MPs are making | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
their own minds up, John McDonnell was on the picket line. John is a | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
supporter of the trade union, so there is no surprise. Does it help | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
the Labour Party's position? If there are deaths blamed on the | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
strike, that could see public support for junior doctors fall off | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
a cliff and that will drag your party in also? It is more important | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
what our party is saying. It is critical we try to get a resolution. | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
That is why I am saying we need to be putting pressure on the | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
government and Jeremy Hunt to show a bit of humility and get background | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
the negotiating table. Whether we take an individual position or not | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
is not helping to resolve the matter. The pressure has to be put | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
on Jeremy Hunt to come up with some concrete proposals to resolve the | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
issue. He has done nothing since he announced imposition in February. Ed | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
Vaizey, if this all out strike goes ahead, as it will be the first time | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
ever in the history of the NHS, do you think Jeremy Hunt of the BMA | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
will blink first to prevent it happening? Obviously I hope the | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
strike doesn't go ahead. We'll Jeremy Hunt be the one who blinks | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
first? His position is a respectable position. We had in our manifesto we | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
wanted to introduce seven-day working. There have been lengthy | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
negotiations with the BMA. We agreed 90, 90 5% of the contract. In terms | :22:49. | :22:56. | |
of what Jeremy is saying, three quarters of junior doctors will see | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
their pay increase, no want will see their pay decrease. We have had all | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
these negotiations but we are in a position where Jeremy Hunt has not | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
been able to resolve this. There is no whether Jeremy to go. It is a | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
matter that the junior doctors. I am not sure why they feel the need to | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
go for an all-out strike. Can you deny a staffing crisis would be | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
worse in the week with more medics shifted to weekends without any | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
additional resources. It is clear, if you put more medical resources | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
and shift them through the weekend but don't add any extra investment, | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
it will struggle in the week and that is why they are on strike. It | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
is about reforming the contracts, which Labour have agreed that the | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
contracts need reforming, they cannot stay the way they were. It is | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
incorporating weekend working, a seven-day NHS. With no extra | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
resources. We shouldn't get different care and staff at the | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
weekend and you get in the week. No one is going to lose money from this | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
contract. Ed Vaizey, you deflect the core question at the centre of this | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
dispute. If you have seven days and you shift some of the resources from | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
the week to the weekend, then you do not make up the shortfall in | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
resources, there will then be uneven share, doctors are not prepared to | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
do that. I do not see where this call for extra resources comes from. | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
From junior doctors. It is simply a renegotiation of the contract to | :24:28. | :24:29. | |
ensure Saturday and Sunday is treated the same as a weekday. It is | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
perfectly right. Given the contract was 95% agreed with the BMA, given | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
junior doctors are not going to lose money, I genuinely, I genuinely | :24:43. | :24:50. | |
cannot see why in all -- an all-out strike is needed. I worked with | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
Jeremy Hunt when he was Culture Secretary. I know what he does has | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
Health Secretary. We couldn't have anyone more committed with the time | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
he spends in hospitals and talking to people on the front line. Simon | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
Stephens, a former Labour adviser now chief of the NHS, has worked in | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
the health arena all his working life. We couldn't have two more | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
committed people. But it hasn't worked. Are you comfortable with the | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
idea that some of your labour colleagues are out on the picket | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
line or supporting the strike in the way they are? I have Saint Thomas 's | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
hospital just across the road and I talked to my doctors and work with | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
them. If they are out on strike and will go and talk to them. The | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
problem is now, we have got to a stage where the Prime Minister, | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
instead of floating off round the country doing this EU stuff, he | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
should realise there is a crisis looming next week. He should be | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
getting involved. I think Jeremy Hunt has lost the confidence of | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
people. Whether right or wrong, he has lost the confidence of the trade | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
union and lost the confidence of the ordinary doctors. Therefore the | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
Prime Minister needs to step in. He should be stepping in now and | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
saying, this isn't working. Not necessarily sacking Jeremy Hunt, but | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
him calling it in, having tea and biscuits or what ever they used to | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
do. Sorry Justin, we haven't got time to come back to you. | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
Now, minister and Leave campaigner, Michael Gove, is fond of quoting | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
Robert Burns who once wrote "But facts are chiels that winna | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
In modern English that means something like "facts are fellows | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
who will not be shaken, and cannot be disputed." | :26:33. | :26:34. | |
Whether this week's referendum facts winna ding, we'll | :26:35. | :26:36. | |
But there is one thing that downa be disputed, | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
and that's the value of a Daily Politics mug, | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
which will be just as desirable in or out of the EU. | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
And just like the Treasury we've even come up with our own | :26:49. | :26:51. | |
complicated equation to show you how to win one. | :26:52. | :26:59. | |
Proof if you needed it that our producers are | :27:00. | :27:08. | |
And if that wasn't entirely clear, to be in with a chance of winning | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
this week's mug all you need to do is see if you can remember | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
# This town, is coming like a ghost town #. | :27:18. | :27:29. | |
I grew up in the 30s with an unemployed father. | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
He didn't riot, he got on his bike and looked for | :27:33. | :27:34. | |
work and he kept looking till he found it. | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
# And soon you will find that there comes a time... | :27:40. | :27:41. | |
MUSIC: "Souvenir" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. | :27:42. | :28:04. | |
Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made. | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
To be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics mug, | :28:11. | :28:30. | |
send your answer to our special quiz email address: | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
Entries must arrive by 12:30pm today, and you can see the full | :28:36. | :28:38. | |
terms and conditions for Guess The Year on our website: | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
It's coming up to midday here, just take a look at Big Ben. | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
And that means we're just moments away from Prime | :28:48. | :28:50. | |
Lovely spring day year in London. It is cold. Moan, moan, moan. It is | :28:51. | :29:09. | |
a beautiful day. And that also means we're joined | :29:10. | :29:11. | |
by the BBC's political I am very happy with the weather. | :29:12. | :29:24. | |
What do we think Jeremy Corbyn will go on? I think he will go on | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
education. Not sure, but a few hints and whispers have reached my ears. | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
What is going on right now, on the Tory benches, which is one of the | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
reasons he might raise it is nervousness by the government's | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
plans to force all schools in England to be academies. Including | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
primary schools. Another controversial part, which lots of | :29:48. | :29:50. | |
conservatives are worried about, including powerful bonuses in local | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
government. If you have a good school that is not a academy, if it | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
isn't broke, why try to fix it. Why put schools through this upheaval | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
and reorganisation? Lots of concerns on the Labour benches, the Shadow | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
Education Secretary has been talking about it. I wouldn't be surprised if | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
Jeremy Corbyn will talk about that. One of the reasons he may do that is | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
there is growing concern of the Conservative back benches. A lot of | :30:20. | :30:22. | |
chatter about a tweak to these plans, if not for U turn. Can they | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
do a U-turn, wouldn't that look ridiculous? It's not like they | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
haven't done it before. It is one of the patterns we have seen in this | :30:35. | :30:37. | |
government, put forward by the government and then dropped. They | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
don't just tweak, it is gone. The government is not listening, would | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
change its mind. The government does a U-turn, the government has changed | :30:49. | :30:55. | |
its mind. Can they introduce some phasing in? It is mainly | :30:56. | :31:00. | |
Conservative MPs concerned about this because smaller primary | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
schools, it is ridiculous. They are probably reasonably happy with their | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
primary schools. Yes, they are working all right. There may be | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
Conservative ministers. Let's go over to the Commons. | :31:14. | :31:21. | |
Mr Speaker, this morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues | :31:22. | :31:28. | |
and in addition to my duties today, I shall have further such meetings | :31:29. | :31:35. | |
this morning. -- today. On her 21st birthday in 1947, a young woman | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
declared her whole life, whether long or short, would be dedicated to | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
the service of our nation. Nobody, Mr Speaker, could possibly argue | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has done anything other than fulfil | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
her promise to the nation with dignity and grace. People across the | :31:55. | :32:02. | |
country will be marking the Queen's 90th birthday tomorrow in many | :32:03. | :32:05. | |
different ways, many honourable and right Honourable members will have | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
joined the WRI in the four the Queen initiative, tidying the | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
neighbourhoods, some will be raising a small glass and many will be | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
having a proper knees up. So when the Prime Minister next has an | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
audience with the Queen, will he pass on my best wishes and those... | :32:25. | :32:36. | |
And those of the whole house. To our remarkable monitor, and long may she | :32:37. | :32:43. | |
rain. CHEERING. | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
I'm very glad my honourable friend has raised this, I will certainly | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
pass on his best wishes and best wishes from right across Yorkshire. | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
Tomorrow is an important landmark, not only for Her Majesty the Queen | :32:58. | :33:00. | |
but also for the country and Commonwealth as a whole. She has | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
served our nation with such dignity, with such ability for so many years, | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
64 years on the throne and I think it is right we will have the | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
opportunity in the House tomorrow to pay tribute to what she has done and | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
I know the whole country and the whole house will want to join me in | :33:18. | :33:25. | |
saying, long may she reign over us. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
very much, Mr Speaker. I am also looking forward to wishing her a | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
happy birthday tomorrow. But until then, Mr Speaker, until then, could | :33:36. | :33:43. | |
the Prime Minister explain why he is intent on forcing good and | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
outstanding schools to become academies against the wishes of | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
teachers are parents, school governors and local councils? The | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
short answer is because we want schools to be run by head teachers | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
and teachers and not by bureaucrats, that is why we support the policy. | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
But we also support it because of the clear evidence of academies. If | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
you look at converter academies, 88% of them are either good or | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
outstanding and you look at schools started by academies, they see a 10% | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
improvement on average over the first two years. The results are | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
better, education is improving, I say let's complete the work. Mr | :34:28. | :34:33. | |
Speaker, he hasn't managed to convince the former chair of the | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
Education Select Committee, his friend the Member for Beverly Ann | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
Holderness, who said, "Current evidence does not approve that | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
academies raise standards overall or for disadvantaged children." Why is | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
the Prime Minister ignoring evidence of select committee chairs and so | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
many others on this issue? The results speak for themselves. Under | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
this Government, there are 1.4 million more pupils in good or | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
outstanding schools, but let me take him to a school near where he lives. | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
Let's try the downhills primary school not far from his | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
constituency. It was in special measures, taken over by an academy | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
and two years later, it was a good school, so the question I would put | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
to the Leader of the Opposition and indeed so many other MPs opposite, | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
why do you want to stand on a picket line under a banner saying "Save our | :35:30. | :35:40. | |
failing schools"? Mr Speaker, as he well knows, every teacher, parent, | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
pupil wants the best they can get for their schools and they want a | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
good education system. What many are concerned about is this top-down | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
reorganisation. If he won't listen to the former chair of the Education | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
Select Committee, will he listened to his friend the Member for | :35:59. | :36:03. | |
Colchester, who said this, "If a school is well governed, well-run | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
and performing well, it should be left alone and allowed to do its | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
job." Can the Prime Minister explain why good school leaders should focus | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
their time and resources not on educating children but on arbitrary | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
changes imposed from above? Let me make two points on the specific | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
issue he raises. I would say to outstanding or to good schools, they | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
have nothing to fear from becoming academies, but a huge amount to | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
gain. The truth is, even about outstanding or good schools, we want | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
them to be even better and the truth is academies and greater | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
independence, letting headteachers run their schools, has been hugely | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
effective and actually, this is something started by the Labour | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
Government, given rocket boosters under this Government. We have seen | :36:55. | :36:57. | |
massive improvements in our schools because of academies and we say | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
let's get on with it, finished the job and give all of our children are | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
great opportunity. Mr Speaker, I'm sure the Prime Minister is aware of | :37:10. | :37:12. | |
the views of people in Oxfordshire on this issue. Councillor Tilly, the | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
Conservative Cabinet member for education in his own county, said, | :37:17. | :37:29. | |
"I am fed up with the from above", "Saying you will do this and you | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
won't do that." He claims to be an advocate of devolution so is he not | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
concerned about criticisms from the Member for altering the sale West | :37:39. | :37:40. | |
who says there is little accountability or parental | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
involvement. Can't the Prime Minister understand the anger so | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
many people feel just being imposed on them, a system they don't want on | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
what of often already very good or outstanding schools? It is always | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
good to get a lecture McDevitt lecture on diktats from somebody | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
who's press secretary is an avowed Stalinist. The truth is, creating | :38:04. | :38:11. | |
academies is true devolution because you are putting the power in the | :38:12. | :38:14. | |
hands of the headteachers and the teachers. And of course you will | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
find people in local Government who want to keep things exactly as they | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
are, but the truth is, one of the reasons I so strongly supported | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
academies is that when they fail, they are intervened on so much | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
faster. Local authority schools are often left to fail, year after year | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
after year. I think one year of a failing school is one year to many, | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
so let's encourage academies, let's build a great education system and | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
let's have opportunity for all our children. Mr Speaker, last week, I | :38:48. | :38:55. | |
spent a very interesting afternoon at a local school in my | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
constituency. I visited Duncan primary school and it is a good to | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
outstanding school and I had a long discussion with the headteacher, | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
parents, parent - governors and year six pupils. The year six pupils were | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
very interesting, asking me to say this to the Prime Minister, "Why are | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
you doing this?" They love their school. They like it the way it is, | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
they don't want any top-down reorganisation and he hasn't even | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
convinced the former Education Secretary Kenneth Baker, who says I | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
don't quite know why the Government is doing this. What is his answer to | :39:39. | :39:45. | |
those very smart pupils in year six? My answer to those pupils in year | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
six is very much the answer that he gave, because I was following his | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
tour of the school and this is what the Right Honourable gentleman said. | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
"I Want to see a family of schools and I want to see them properly | :39:58. | :40:05. | |
funded. " with our reform to the formula, there will be fair funding | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
across the country and with our plans for academies, there will be | :40:11. | :40:13. | |
genuine families of schools, families that choose to group | :40:14. | :40:16. | |
together and here is the point about outstanding schools, not only will | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
they be able to get better but in groups of academies, they will be | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
able to help others schools to improve, so a game, that is why we | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
need this reform, to make outstanding and good schools even | :40:31. | :40:33. | |
better and to help raise the aspiration of all. That is what it | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
is all about. Mr Speaker, we appear to be heading into some kind of | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
fantasyland here. The Institute for fiscal is to -- fiscal studies state | :40:46. | :40:54. | |
that school spending is expected to fall by at least 7% in real terms in | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
the next four years. It is the biggest cup since the 1970s. So why | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
on earth is the Prime Minister proposing to spend ?1.3 billion on a | :41:05. | :41:12. | |
top-down reorganisation that wasn't in his manifesto, teachers don't | :41:13. | :41:15. | |
want it, parents don't want it, governors don't want it, | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
headteachers don't want it, even his own MPs and councillors don't want | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
it. Can't he just think again and support schools and education, not | :41:26. | :41:31. | |
force this on them? Let me answer his question very directly about | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
spending, because we have protected spending per pupil all the way | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
through the last Parliament and all the way through this Parliament and | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
we are spending ?7 billion on more school places to make up for the | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
woeful lack of action under the last Labour Government. That is the truth | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
on spending. Now, he talks about fantasyland. I think it is the | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
Labour Party that this week entered fantasyland, where they are now | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
abandoning trident in Scotland, they have selected someone who sits on | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
platforms with extremists in London and they have now decided that when | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
I read they were going to ban McDonnell from the Party Conference, | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
I thought it was the first sensible decision they have made, but it | :42:15. | :42:18. | |
turns out it wasn't the job destroyer they wanted to keep away | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
from their conference, it was one of Britain's biggest destroyers. No | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
wonder Labour MPs are in despair. Frankly, I'm loving it. | :42:28. | :42:44. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I ask my right honourable friend whether he | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
agrees with the Treasury forecast issued on Monday, which warns that | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
if we stay in the European Union, there will be 3 million more | :42:56. | :43:03. | |
migrants by the year 2030? Last year, my right honourable friend and | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
I were elected on a clear manifesto pledge to reduce net migration to | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
the tens of thousands. How are we going to be able to deliver on that | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
pledge unless we leave the European Union? The point about the Treasury | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
forecast is it takes the Office of National Statistics' figures and the | :43:22. | :43:24. | |
OBR figures and it doesn't alter them, but it is trying to make a | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
very clear and pure argument, backed by the governor of the Bank of | :43:30. | :43:32. | |
England, that shows what would happen if Britain leads the EU. | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
There is a demand out there for independent and clear statistics and | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
that is exactly what the Treasury provided. | :43:40. | :43:50. | |
It is believed that the recent murder of Glasgow shopkeeper Asad | :43:51. | :43:53. | |
Shah was religiously motivated and this week, faith leaders launched a | :43:54. | :44:01. | |
campaign across Scotland entitled United Against Extremism. Will the | :44:02. | :44:04. | |
Prime Minister join me and colleagues of all parties in | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
supporting the aims of this campaign to support and foster understanding | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
and to stand up to extremism? I will certainly join The Right Honourable | :44:15. | :44:17. | |
gentleman. This was an absolutely shocking murder and I think what it | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
demonstrates again and what his question hints that is we need not | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
only to stand up against violence and acts of appalling violence like | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
this, but we also need to stand up against the extremist mindset that | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
sometimes tries to justify events like this or other such outrages. | :44:34. | :44:40. | |
Total agreement with the Prime Minister and the murder of Asad Shah | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
is just the most recent of sectarian extremism targeting the community in | :44:46. | :44:52. | |
the UK. This is reports, dear being refused employment, businesses being | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
boycotted, children being shunned and people working to bring faith | :44:59. | :45:01. | |
leaders together facing death threats. Does the Prime Minister | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
agree this is totally unacceptable in a country where we believe in | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
free speech and religious tolerance and the time has come for all | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
community and all faith leaders of all religions to stand up against | :45:13. | :45:14. | |
extremism? I agree Faith leaders can play a | :45:15. | :45:23. | |
huge role in standing up against extremism, and I welcome what they | :45:24. | :45:31. | |
do. But the attack on Muslims by other Muslims demonstrates once | :45:32. | :45:34. | |
again that what we face is not some clash of civilisations between Islam | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
and Christianity, or Islam and Buddhism. What we are seeing is a | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
small minority in a great religion in our world, is lamb, believing | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
there is only one way, our violence, extremist way of professing their | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
faith. This is a battle in Islam and we have to be on the side of the | :45:58. | :46:05. | |
moderate and help them win it, otherwise we take the wrong path. | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
The future of services provided by Paignton hospital has been thrown | :46:10. | :46:13. | |
into doubt by news that the CCG and local trust are about to launch a | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
consultation which could see it close with no replacement. | :46:18. | :46:17. | |
Does the Prime Minister share my concerns and agree it is vital | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
services are placed and the trust and the CCG are unsupported actions. | :46:23. | :46:31. | |
I understand no decision has been made. These bodies are clinically | :46:32. | :46:38. | |
led and I think it is important. Decisions about what services are | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
required will be taken by that group. If there are significant | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
changes, they have to meet key tests. Support from clinical | :46:47. | :46:49. | |
commissioners, public engagements and clarity on the clinical evidence | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
base and support, all those things have to be satisfied. Mr Speaker, | :46:54. | :47:02. | |
the air in our cities is both toxic and illegal with diesel fumes | :47:03. | :47:11. | |
contributing to 800 deaths a week. 40,000 a year. So why is the Prime | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
Minister, instead of removing the most heavily polluting diesel | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
vehicles from our streets, lobbying the EU in Brussels with the Mayor of | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
London, to weaken plans to improve our air quality and save lives? We | :47:27. | :47:34. | |
are investing in better air quality. Since 2011 we have committed ?2 | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
billion to help us operators upgrade their feet. We have seen her quality | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
improved in terms of emissions of nitrous oxide is coming down by 17%. | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
When it comes to these standards we all have to meet, we are working | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
with our car industry. I want a car industry in Britain. I am proud of | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
the fact it has recovered so strongly. In the north-east of | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
England we now make more cars than the whole of Italy. We are going to | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
make sure they have the resources they need to meet the high standards | :48:08. | :48:15. | |
that are set out. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that fish | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
and chips taste test on the beaches of Skegness and that is why 4 | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
million people visit every year. Does the Prime Minister agree with | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
me, that we should work with the Environment Agency, the local | :48:29. | :48:31. | |
enterprise partnership, the local councils and builds on the work of | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
this government that has brought jobs and growth, extend the tourist | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
season and build ?1 billion coastal economy by the end of this decade? | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
By honourable friend is right, that is why I announced the 5-point plan | :48:46. | :48:49. | |
for tourism last year, to encourage people to visit UK resorts, both | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
from overseas and British people as well. That is what is happening. In | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
the week where we are supporting fish and chips on this side of the | :48:58. | :49:05. | |
House, they are banning McDonald's. Mr Speaker, more than 2000 people | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
have signed a petition started by Alison's chemist in Cockermouth in | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
my constituency, calling on the government not to cut the funding | :49:16. | :49:18. | |
for community pharmacists. Given the major reports last week from Bootsy | :49:19. | :49:23. | |
face investigation by the regulator, isn't it time the Prime Minister and | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
his government supported independent pharmacies which are vital lifeline | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
for our community and help to keep the high streets alive? We are | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
supporting the pharmacies. There is a specific scheme to help will stop | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
if we look at the massive fire -- last five year there was a massive | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
increase in pharmacy spending and we have to make sure as much of the NHS | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
resources go to the front line, nurses, doctors and the operations | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
and the A we want to see carried out. We have to make sure we are | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
getting value for money in pharmacies but also protecting the | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
pharmacies she talks about. Mr Speaker, given his earlier important | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
comments, does my right honourable friend agree, it is the duty of all | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
members of this House to condemn, without caveat, all extremism and | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
never, never to share a platform with any extremist? I think my | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
honourable friend is absolutely right. If we are going to condemn, | :50:25. | :50:33. | |
not just by Liz and -- violent extremism, but extremism that | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
justifies violence in anyway, we cannot back these people and appear | :50:37. | :50:39. | |
on platforms with them. I am concerned about Labour's candidate | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
as Mayor of London who has appeared again, and again... The leader of | :50:46. | :50:53. | |
the Labour Party is saying it is disgraceful. Let me tell him... | :50:54. | :51:00. | |
Solomon Ghani, the honourable member for tooting has appeared on a | :51:01. | :51:04. | |
platform with him nine times. This man support IS. Mr Speaker, they are | :51:05. | :51:14. | |
shouting down this point because they don't want to hear the truth. | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
Anyone can make a mistake about who they appear on a platform with. We | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
are not always responsible for what our political opponents say. But if | :51:28. | :51:30. | |
you do it time at the time, time after time, it is right to question | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
your judgment. Mr Speaker, news overnight of a management and worker | :51:37. | :51:45. | |
buyout at Tata will bring hope the families. It is important UK | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
Government provides all the supporter can. Will the Prime | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
Minister become the company's head of sales and meet with Port Talbot's | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
biggest customers to make sure no orders for Welsh steel are lost? We | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
will do everything we can to help this company and help it with its | :52:07. | :52:09. | |
customers during this difficult time. Right now we are talking with | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
the board of Tata to make sure the questions they need answered, are | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
answered by us. We want to have a proper sales process with proper | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
buyers coming forward and we want to be cleared the government is | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
prepared to support that process and support the outcome. That is exactly | :52:28. | :52:34. | |
what we will do. The EU security is only as strong as its weakest | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
border. Does the Prime Minister share my concerns, not only over | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
Angela Merkel's legitimate and -- legitimisation over the Turkish | :52:46. | :52:55. | |
leaders speech. Is he concerned currently Angela Merkel seems to be | :52:56. | :53:03. | |
outstripping everyone in making the case that Brexit. If you are in the | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
Schengen zone you are only as strong as your weakest border. But we're | :53:10. | :53:13. | |
not in the Schengen zone. The second point, the Schengen zone has decided | :53:14. | :53:20. | |
to offer visas to Turkish nationals. We have not made that decision and | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
we will not be making that decision. At Visa is not a right to go and | :53:25. | :53:32. | |
live and work reside. The Visa is a right to visit. So let's be clear | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
also, those Turks with their visas are visiting Schengen countries, | :53:37. | :53:38. | |
don't have those rights and they don't have the right to come to | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
Britain automatically either. Important to get back clear. In the | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
last hour we have had the devastating news that reduce gas | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
proposed to close a site with the loss of 700 jobs. Will the Prime | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
Minister in strip his ministers to contact the company and the unions, | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
and arrange urgent meetings, preferably to save these jobs. If | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
that proves impossible, to establish a task force to create alternative | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
opportunities for this loyal and hard-working workforce? I can give | :54:11. | :54:12. | |
the honourable gentleman that assurance. I heard is new shortly | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
before PMQs. We will make sure a task force of ministers available to | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
talk to the company, the local community to provide assistance in | :54:25. | :54:26. | |
terms of retraining and other things to be done to help. Mr Speaker, Mrs | :54:27. | :54:34. | |
Thatcher used to organise seminars for ministers and senior academics | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
for colleagues like myself whose knowledge of modern science she | :54:40. | :54:47. | |
thought needed to be improved. Would he contemplate similar seminars for | :54:48. | :54:50. | |
some of his senior and very respect did Cabinet colleagues with | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
businessmen, on the nature of international trade in today's | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
world? Because some of their respective figures believe you | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
simply turn up and sell goods and services that comply with British | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
made rules, but don't have to comply with any rules agreed with the | :55:12. | :55:15. | |
country to which you are selling. And would he also include some of | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
the many businessmen who are cutting investment decisions on hold now, | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
because of the uncertainty about Brexit after June the 23rd will stop | :55:29. | :55:38. | |
if we made our whole future trading arrangements with the outside world | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
as uncertain as some people are trying to do. I always listen very | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
careful to my right honourable friend and will consider such | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
seminars. I hope they will never be as frightening as seminars sometimes | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
used to be under Mrs Thatcher. One of the first times I met her, I was | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
responsible for trade and industry research. She asked me what today's | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
figures were, I didn't know. I wanted the floor to open up and | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
swallow me at that moment. Just because you have friendly relations | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
with the country, doesn't mean you get automatically good trade | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
relations. We are very pleased President Obama is coming on Friday, | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
but it is worth noting, even though we have a friendly relationship with | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
America, we cannot sell beef or lamb to the United States of America. The | :56:32. | :56:35. | |
point is, you don't need good relations, you need nailed down | :56:36. | :56:44. | |
trade relations. Mr Speaker, at the budget the Chancellor announced the | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
creation of a northern school strategy, which I broadly welcome. | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
But I am concerned that the progress it could make would be reversed by | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
the government's forced a cad plans. Why is the government pushing these | :56:58. | :57:02. | |
plans, which parents in my constituency don't want and plans, | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
which even a former Tory Education Secretary, describes as a plain daft | :57:08. | :57:14. | |
and unnecessary? What I said to the honourable gentleman, wake of the | :57:15. | :57:17. | |
outcome of this review, which the Chancellor sets up. The point is, | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
some schools that have been failing for year after year have been left | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
by local authorities in that state. We have found the way to help | :57:27. | :57:32. | |
succeed schools to fly and for failing schools to improve is to | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
have academies. The evidence is in front of us and that is why we are | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
so keen in progressing this. One of the reasons my right honourable | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
friend led his party to victory at last year's general election, was | :57:48. | :57:50. | |
the pledge to reduce immigration to the tens of thousands. Can he tell | :57:51. | :58:01. | |
us why the OBR project immigration to be above 200,000 a year for the | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
rest of this decade? By what assumptions do they reach this | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
figure? Can he give some details? The OBR don't take into account the | :58:12. | :58:15. | |
agreements we have just reach with the European Union over welfare and | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
other immigration restrictions. The Treasury document is very clear | :58:19. | :58:24. | |
about not trying to make all sorts of different assumptions by | :58:25. | :58:28. | |
variables, but to take a very clear set of statistics, established by | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
the OBR. That is why it was interesting when the governor of the | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
Bank of England came out and said it wasn't analytically robust process. | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
It doesn't take into account the agreement we reached in Europe. In | :58:41. | :58:49. | |
2009, Michelle was brutally raped and murdered in Walthamstow. Since | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
2011, a man wanted in connection with this crime and seven other | :58:55. | :59:01. | |
counts of sexual violence in my constituency, has been evading | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
extradition from India. Over 30 court appearances and another one | :59:07. | :59:09. | |
planned tomorrow. Yet, despite the severity of this crime and the delay | :59:10. | :59:14. | |
in these proceedings, there is no record of any ministerial or | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
diplomatic representations from either the Foreign Office or the | :59:20. | :59:24. | |
Home Office. Will the Prime Minister today, personally committed to put | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
this right and directly raised this matter with his counterpart, so we | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
can finally seek justice for Michelle? I am happy to give the | :59:34. | :59:40. | |
honourable lady that assurance. The British government is always raises | :59:41. | :59:43. | |
all these individual cases, if that is what the victims want us to do. | :59:44. | :59:49. | |
We always raise them, just as we raise a series of cases where there | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
are British people stuck in the Indian justice system. I wasn't | :59:54. | :59:57. | |
aware of this specific case, if she gives me the details I will raise it | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
appropriately. With the president of the United States visiting the UK | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
later this week, can I ask my right honourable friend to raise the issue | :00:09. | :00:13. | |
of the islanders. The government concluded in a report last year that | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
they have a right of resettlement and with the US military presence, | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
will he raise the case of US assistance for the right of return | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
to the British Indian Ocean Territory? I certainly will be | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
discussing this issue. I know it is right right honourable friend raises | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
it. There are many chip Austrians who live in Crawley. What he said is | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
not entirely correct. What the National Security Council and the | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
Cabinet have been doing is looking at the situation of the islanders | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
and reviewing all of the options for how we can help with their future. | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
Those discussions have taken place and we need to come to a conclusion | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
about the best way forward. Some people think the worst case that has | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
been made so far to vote to leave the EU is the claim that England is | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
an island. Could the Prime Minister tell the House what the worst | :01:14. | :01:22. | |
argument he's heard from Brexit is? I think probably the one we would | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
get out of the Eurovision Song contest. Not only would that be | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
incredibly sad, but given Israel and Azerbaijan and anyone near Europe | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
seems to enter, I think we are pretty safe from that one. Would my | :01:38. | :01:51. | |
right honourable friend point out to President Obama, in a series of | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
European court judgments, such as Davis and Shrems using fundamental | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
rights, the EU has established its jurisdiction over our intelligence | :02:06. | :02:07. | |
data and sought to prevent our intelligence sharing with the United | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
States. Will he therefore warned the president, if we vote Remain, far | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
from the US gaining influence in the EU, the United States is losing | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
control and influence over her closest ally. I am sure the | :02:22. | :02:29. | |
president will take all of these calculations into account before | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
saying anything. Let me make two points. First of all, this decision | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
is a decision for the British people and the British people alone. We are | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
sovereign in making this decision. Personally, I believe we should | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
listen to advice from friends and other countries. I struggle to find | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
the leader of any friendly country who thinks we should leave. When it | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
comes the United States, it is worth looking at what so many Treasury | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
secretaries have said, going back over a Republican or Democrat | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
administrations. It may not be the determining factor for many people, | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
but listening to what our friends say in the world, is not a bad idea. | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
The average property price in Hackney is ?682,000. The medium rent | :03:14. | :03:23. | |
for a two-bedroom flat for month is 1500 pounds and overcrowding and | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
demand for social housing is the highest I have seen in 20 years. Can | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
the Prime Minister tell my constituents how the housing bill | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
will help them? It is going to help them because we are building starter | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
homes for the first time that people come by. We are extending the right | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
to buy two housing association tenants, so they can buy homes. I | :03:45. | :03:53. | |
noticed the lady giving us the benefit of her wisdom. Many people | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
in her constituency would love to buy a council House or a housing | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
association House. We have the Help to Buy scheme which is helping many | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
people get on the housing ladder. And with shared ownership, all of | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
those things will help. Since 2010, 101,000 homes have been built in | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
London, including 670,000 affordable homes. We need to build many more. | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
We need to do the right thing and that his side we are on. Prime | :04:25. | :04:38. | |
Minister, woodland is much valued, not least the recycling much of our | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
hot air, but especially ancient woodland. There is only 2% of the | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
remaining. It is as precious as the rainforest and its biodiversity | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
cannot be replaced. Would the Prime Minister agree this precious habitat | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
and the Prime Minister has 331 ancient and veteran trees in his | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
constituency, would he agree it ought to be protected in line with | :05:01. | :05:02. | |
Heritage sites and national monuments? I am lucky to have an | :05:03. | :05:11. | |
ancient forest in my constituency, containing many of the trees she | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
mentions. I will look carefully at what she says. The most important | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
thing we can do is make sure we are planting more forests, more trees | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
and woodland, which this government has a very good record on. The | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said recently, politics in | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
Northern Ireland was on a more stable footing than it has been for | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
some time. We will continue to offer strong leadership for a better | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
future in Northern Ireland. The people in Northern Ireland are | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
concerned about a two sided approach to the past to investigate a police | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
officer who bravely stopped an IRA bomber trying to kill police | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
officers 25 years ago at a police station. Will the Prime Minister | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
agree with me, we have to get behind our security forces, praise them for | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
the work they did in Northern Ireland and not persecute them going | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
forward? Let me be tribute to the right honourable gentleman and his | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
Members of Parliament and members of the assembly. It is right to say | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
politics in Northern Ireland is more stable and is more given our ban has | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
been for many years. Obviously, issues around the acts of the past | :06:23. | :06:30. | |
cause pain and difficulty on both sides of the debate. But we have an | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
independent and impartial justice system. Order. | :06:35. | :06:46. | |
And as Laura correctly predicted, the Leader of the Opposition went on | :06:47. | :06:54. | |
academies and education, and all primary schools being made to become | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
academies. Plenty have chosen to do so but it seems the Government would | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
like every state school in the country to become academies. All six | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
questions went on that. He implied there were many education experts, | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
former Conservative ministers, against the idea and he asked the | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
Prime Minister to step down on this idea. I think he has asked him to | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
step down on something else, but not today! But the day is early, he may | :07:22. | :07:29. | |
well before it is out! And the Prime Minister was robust and his defence | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
over academies, which will be interesting if, in the end, they do | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
decide to change their policy on academies. Let's first hear what you | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
made of PMQs. They responded to the debate around | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
the academisation of schools in England. J in Milton Keynes says, | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
just my imagination perhaps but the Tory benches appeared to be | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
unusually quiet during David Cameron's and sewers regarding | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
academisation. From York, I want schools to be run | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
by teachers, not bureaucrats. This was a bit rich for a man campaigning | :08:04. | :08:13. | |
to allow unelected Eurocrats to run British lives. | :08:14. | :08:16. | |
In Norwich, Mr Cameron continues to rule over the dispatch box and Mr | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
Corbyn again goes on the wrong subject. Education, however | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
important, is not the issue of the day. How about the junior doctors' | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
strike? And Chris says the knock-about between Corbyn and | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
Cameron is becoming ever more boring and pointless, the backbencher | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
questions are often more interesting and challenging and I think we | :08:39. | :08:40. | |
should give more time to backbenchers. John Burke gives more | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
time then there has been in the past, but point taken -- John | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
Bercow. It is almost 20 to one, so he has | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
allowed it to go over, but the long business about the Queen at the | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
beginning. I don't think she is watching today, she is out at | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
Winsley. She normally watches but she is out today -- at Windsor. Do | :09:04. | :09:11. | |
they not get television in winds are? She is out and about, you are | :09:12. | :09:20. | |
meant to know that. The Counselor mentioned by Jeremy Corbyn watches. | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
The issue of academies is a very important issue and Mr Corbyn had | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
six questions about it. Simply in terms of the process, or in terms of | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
media management, is there a difficulty when you go with | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
something that is important but is not on today's agenda or this week | :09:41. | :09:47. | |
agenda -- this we's agenda Chris Watt doesn't it then struggle to | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
make the news? It can be a problem and we have seen it with Jeremy | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
Corbyn before, on days when he has gone on housing, an issue he really | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
cares about, but it dominates the session and then doesn't go anywhere | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
else. That could happen with this debate, it is a wider danger, but | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
what I thought was interesting was that in a funny way, David Cameron | :10:08. | :10:10. | |
was sending more robust on these plans than Nicky Morgan, the | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
Education Secretary, has. What Jeremy called and didn't raise the | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
comments Nicky Morgan made yesterday in an interview to the BBC that | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
critics have raised important issues, it is legitimate to raise | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
questions and question the policy. If that doesn't end there will be | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
changes, I am not sure what is, I don't know if Jeremy Corbyn hadn't | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
seen the comments and he didn't as perhaps the most pertinent question, | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
can the Prime Minister guarantee right now there will not be any | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
changes to this plan at all? I don't think David Cameron would have been | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
able to. The Government has long been in favour of academies and it | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
picked up the idea of academies from the last Labour Government and it | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
puts rocket boosters under it, and they have been expanding at quite a | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
fast rate, particularly in the second there is for you, but where | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
did the pressure come from to make all schools academies? It is a good | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
question, I don't know. I don't know whose idea it was. I think what they | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
have done is, it is important to put it into context, when they say they | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
are making all schools academies, it is going to be spread over six | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
years, and I think the impetus, I don't know which individuals have | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
pushed it, but as more schools become self-governing academies and | :11:35. | :11:37. | |
fewer schools are under local authority control, you get a | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
mismatch where a lot of money is spent on bureaucracy managing fewer | :11:41. | :11:50. | |
schools and academies have made a material difference to school | :11:51. | :11:52. | |
standards and therefore a decision will be made, if you have a halfway | :11:53. | :12:00. | |
house, to go full house. Are you concerned about the way of support | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
against this idea on the Tory benches? I represent a rule | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
constituency and all secondary schools are academies and I have | :12:10. | :12:16. | |
primary schools that are small -- eight to community. If they may go | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
to MPs and say they are nervous about this but it does not mean MPs | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
say it must not happen but in terms of what Nicky Morgan was saying, | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
they will say I have small primary schools that are nervous, they don't | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
have the necessary resources to handle academisation, can we discuss | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
the best way? In my constituency, a lot of my schools are becoming | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
academy trusts and I think it is working very well and I think having | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
all schools academies will work very well but I noticed my constituents | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
and dear colleague, Melinda Tilly, was mentioned by Jeremy Corbyn and | :12:58. | :13:05. | |
she will be furious about that. Even Michael Gove, who was the Radzi | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
Education Secretary, didn't go for this one size fits all, he was keen | :13:10. | :13:18. | |
to have a variety of size of schools if the school was delivering and | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
doing well and the key to all of this is the head and how the school | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
is run and I can just see that where a school is being run well and there | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
is a good head that now hanging over them, and I know you say it is going | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
to take a lot of time, but that is going to weigh down on them and the | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
rest of the staff and it just doesn't seem necessary. Yes, we all | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
want to tackle schools that are failing, but to kind of have this | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
top down... I have had lots of problems with my local authority | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
but, you know, there are some really, really good schools and you | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
don't want it all to be the same. Do you have academies in your | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
constituency and local authority? Yes. Those schools that come under | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
the local authority, do they really run them now? Ultimately, they still | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
have control over various aspects, in terms of they make them all come | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
to various meetings where their heads have to go off and talk about | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
how they can share things across the authority, that is very good, but it | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
is not how it used to be. The head has not got the power to make | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
decisions about how they make changes to their own school. Laura, | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
do you think they will keep their requirement for parent governors in | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
school? That was one of the things that also was angering Tory MPs. | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
There has already been a bit of mood music around that softening up | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
because the idea of chucking of parents who have been involved in | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
their children's schools successfully be years seemed to many | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
people to be going too far, so that may have already been tweaked and | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
they may have acknowledged they are not going to throw people off, as it | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
were. But I do think that on this whole issue, there is a bit of a | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
misunderstanding from a lot of people about how the local authority | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
role has already changed to become a lot more supervisory. Lots of people | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
believe in the ideas of academies very passionately, the evidence is | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
disputed, it is mixed in some places but not in others, but in terms of | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
the genesis of this, fascinating that Ed Vaizey said he didn't know | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
where the impetus to force academisation came from. There was a | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
suspicion when this was announced, just on the eve of the budget, by | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
the Chancellor, not the Education Secretary, that it was in part to | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
try to show the Conservatives went all about the economy, not all about | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
the deficit, they still wanted to have the social reforms, they still | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
had ideas. And George Osborne wished to be associated with that. For his | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
leadership bid. Exactly. There is an expectation around some education | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
experts that this policy would inevitably come in, it has been the | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
direction of travel for some time but the political timing of when it | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
actually emerged is significant, so if we review this reform in that | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
context, if I have to back down, it is a bit of a failure of that | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
political strategy. Your councillor Tilly, "If it's not broke, don't fix | :16:13. | :16:15. | |
it. I don't think schools should be force. We have been supportive of | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
the Government's agenda, we have been helping schools to convert | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
wherever they could and now all of a sudden they are going to force the | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
rest of them. It makes my blood boil. I am put in a position where I | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
can't protect schools. One size does not fit all." Absolutely. Has she | :16:32. | :16:43. | |
been text in you? Is it a tweet? That is classic Melinda, "Making my | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
blood boil". She is a very strong minded and highly successful member | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
of the Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet responsible for education. | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
She has strong views and has never hidden her strong views on a range | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
of Government policies. You have quite a few Tories... In what we | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
could call the rebel quarter on this issue. Tim Loughton, former | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
education minister. Graham Stewart, Jason McCartney, Will Quinn, James | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
cartridge, Edward Leigh, Stuart Jackson, Richard Drax, Lucy Allen, | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
Richard Benyon, Caroline Noakes, quite a lot. And you only have a | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
majority of 12. More than 12 officially in terms of | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
the rebellion. It is always interesting with these debates | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
because on the one hand, people say the Government doesn't listen and it | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
is a terrible thing and then if the Government does listen and amends | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
any policy, it is seen as a U-turn. Shouldn't you listen before the | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
announcement? According to you, a lot of MPs have raised issues. It is | :17:47. | :17:54. | |
not to say they are opposing academisation and spreading it over | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
six years, but it is perfectly right that we have a dialogue with any MPs | :17:58. | :18:00. | |
that raise concerns and they will be reflecting the concerns... Very few | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
people on many sides oppose academies as such. Mr Corbyn does. | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
If he had a good one in his constituency, maybe he wouldn't, | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
London has had fewer than the rest of the country. It is the top down | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
making it happen, the one size fits all, as Melinda has said. I would | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
turn it around and say it is bottom-up and academisation is | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
precisely the opposite of one size fits all because it gives | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
headteachers the freedoms to drive their schools. We will come back to | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
this, it is an important issue and only refers, of course, to England, | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
but that means a lot of schools. I want to quickly say, I think Melinda | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
Tilly has to come on the Daily Politics after all this. With Ed | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
Vaizey. I don't think I would survive. It is bad enough, being | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
destroyed by Melinda would be too much. I think you could cope. | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
Now, a Conservative MP is warning the Government could face defeat | :19:02. | :19:03. | |
in the Commons unless it gives way and offers sanctuary in Britain | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
to thousands of unaccompanied child regugees stranded alone in Europe. | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
Heidi Allen claims another 30 Tory MPs are "waiting | :19:10. | :19:11. | |
to be convinced" ahead of a vote next week. | :19:12. | :19:13. | |
The government's position has so far been that it's better to help | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
vulnerable people from camps in the affected regions and avoid | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
providing incentives for migrants to attempt the journey to Europe. | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
And Heidi Allen joins us now from Central Lobby. | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
Heidi Allen, is there any indication that the Government is going to | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
shift ground on this? Well, I am hoping so, yes. We had a Westminster | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
Hall debate yesterday morning and James Brogan shar spoke very | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
positively that an announcement would be coming in the coming days | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
but we are desperate to hear the content, because so far we have | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
seen, from our point of view, not as much assistance to children in | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
Europe already as we would like, so we are waiting to hear what he will | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
say. He has, as immigration minister, said the Government will | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
be looking to do more but it is the central issue of whether the | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
Government would actually change its mind in terms of helping | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
unaccompanied children that already are in Europe, when it has | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
repeatedly said no, we will focus effort and perhaps more effort on | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
dealing with children and families in refugee camps in countries like | :20:19. | :20:19. | |
Jordan. That is right. It still remains the | :20:20. | :20:33. | |
right thing to do. That way I look at it is, nobody would argue leaders | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
across the world were slow to react to this. It is a great plan, educate | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
the region, but the plan came after so many people made the journey | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
already. I saw the boats for myself in Lesbos, you don't want anybody | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
getting into those. But the fact remains, some of them are here. | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
Three weeks ago I was in Calais. There are children who are totally | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
vulnerable. No safe guarding. Are we going to look at ourselves in the | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
mirror and say, they can stay there. It is not good enough. What about | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
incentives? They are here already, what the government keeps stating | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
that by taking and agreeing to take a certain number of those | :21:17. | :21:18. | |
unaccompanied children in Europe, it will only tempt more people to make | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
the journey? But there are so many of them who have a genuine right to | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
claim asylum here. When I came back from Calais three weeks ago, the | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
first Syrian refugee boys who had made it through the process, they | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
were with us. But there was no room for the fourth one in the car and he | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
was sent back to the jungle to wait for another month. So it is the | :21:46. | :21:47. | |
processing and the mechanics, there are children out there already with | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
family in the UK and Europe and we have the ability to facilitate that | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
more quickly. I don't agree with the arbiter in number of 3000. But if we | :21:59. | :22:05. | |
can say if we don't have processes in place at the right locations to | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
identify these children at risk, the number becomes arbitrate. But we | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
need to see action on the ground. Ed Vaizey, should we move on this? I | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
cannot say if the government is going to move. The minister is | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
giving evidence to the home affairs select committee. He has indicated | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
he is taking this seriously. I would echo what Heidi said, on the one | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
hand we have a robust policy, which is to help people in the region, to | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
take specific people we can into the UK, but not to help the human | :22:42. | :22:48. | |
traffickers, as it were. You know we have an outstanding record in terms | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
of the financial support as well, both to the Mediterranean rescue | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
operation and Syria. But people feel strongly about this. It is a | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
horrible thing to have to talk about, but all factor. But that has | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
to be a potential factor because a lot of people are coming here via | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
criminal gangs and it is important there is a clear policy. Heidi, in | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
terms of support, are there enough Tory MPs to defeat this? Why all | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
these things, it hinges on the announcement James is able to make. | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
He talks to me and colleagues on a regular basis. It is within his | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
power, it depends on what he's going to announce. Something else perhaps | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
we don't think about, the other all factor is a nasty one and that is | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
the pull factor of abuse and trafficking of children being put | :23:46. | :23:47. | |
into prostitution. Because they are left there? Yes, it happens, I talk | :23:48. | :23:55. | |
to the doctors at Medecins Sans Frontieres, the injuries they | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
sustained, it is awful. Heidi Allen, thank you very much. | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
Now let's talk about one of the biggest democratic | :24:07. | :24:08. | |
Or indeed the results of our Guess the Year comeptition. | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
No I speak of course of the online poll held to choose a name | :24:16. | :24:18. | |
for the UK's new ?200 million polar research vessel. | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
More than 120,000 people wanted it to be Boaty McBoatface. But it looks | :24:24. | :24:32. | |
like the government might step in to thwart their democratic will. | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
It's the ship that launched a thousand smiles. | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
The Royal research ship, due to be built by 2019, | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
will be used to study the Polar regions. | :24:49. | :24:50. | |
They asked Britain what we should call it and Britain spoke. | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
Yes, the minister in charge didn't like that idea. | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
It's not a duck and it doesn't have a daft name, | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
We have a link of Shakespeare and heroines. | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
We ask our staff first for a short list. | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
And then we iron out any embarrassing situations. | :25:18. | :25:19. | |
She drowned, so that wouldn't be good. | :25:20. | :25:26. | |
Boaty McBoatface, that is a lesser-known Shakespearean | :25:27. | :25:28. | |
character from the Scottish play, I believe. | :25:29. | :25:30. | |
But I think it would fall beautifully within | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
But back to the Polar explorer, a case of a rose by any other name? | :25:38. | :25:47. | |
Let's name this boat Boaty McBoatface and let's see it | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
as a monument to minister or folly, and a lesson | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
to all those in positions of authority in ministries. | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
For goodness sake, if you're going to try a bit of Aye democracy, | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
The man who used to be in charge of the British Navy sort of disagrees. | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
I think Her Majesty, although inwardly, she will be | :26:12. | :26:13. | |
amused at the whimsy of the British nation, | :26:14. | :26:15. | |
it will be difficult to say the words. | :26:16. | :26:16. | |
"I name you Boaty McBoatface, God bless you and all | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
The Queen may also have trouble with the other | :26:20. | :26:28. | |
suggestions like 'Usain Boat', 'Boatimus Prime' and 'What Iceberg'. | :26:29. | :26:30. | |
The moral of this story - if you're asking the public, | :26:31. | :26:33. | |
There we go. Should it be called Boaty McBoatface? Whatever happens, | :26:34. | :26:48. | |
it will be called that by the public. Maybe 20, 30 years' time, | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
people will have no idea why it is called that. I agree, one you start | :26:55. | :27:01. | |
this, democracy is all right, but once you start asking... Be careful | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
what you say, Kate. Some suggest as it is a polar ship it should be | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
called What Iceberg. What is your view on this, Ed Vaizey. Trust in | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
politics is going down, we should go with the will of the people. Joe | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
Johnson said it was stupid to call it that. As we get more involved in | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
the European Union, eventually the Brussels bureaucrats will abolish | :27:34. | :27:36. | |
the British sense of humour. This will be a great memorial. You have | :27:37. | :27:44. | |
just handed Kate right line. In that one sentence you have annoyed Joe | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
Johnson and annoyed the Chancellor, joining sides with Kate Hoey. What | :27:50. | :28:07. | |
about Ice, Baby Ice. Ice, Ice Baby. On that shock moves, they are split | :28:08. | :28:18. | |
on the issue of Boaty McBoatface. Let's give put you out of your | :28:19. | :28:27. | |
misery and give you the answer to Guessed The Year. It was 1981. Well | :28:28. | :28:36. | |
done Kenny McGrath. The royal wedding was the giveaway. The one | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
o'clock News is starting on BBC One. We will be here at noon tomorrow | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
with another edition of your favourite Daily Politics. We hope | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
Her Majesty will be back from her parameter elation is. Until then, | :28:50. | :28:50. | |
goodbye. | :28:51. | :28:53. |