21/03/2016 Monday in Parliament


21/03/2016

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Hello and Welcome to Monday in Parliament, our look at the best

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of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

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On this programme: David Cameron works to keep the show on the road

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after the Government's wobbly weekend, following the shock

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I am sad that he has left the government but I can guarantee

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the work of being a compassionate Conservative government

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But Labour tries to extract full political advantage.

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The prudent thing for the Chancellor to do is to withdraw this budget

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And peers vote to allow 3000 unaccompanied child

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They are victims being in Europe if they are unaccompanied.

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But they are in danger of becoming slaves.

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The cry from the Opposition benches, questioning why the Chancellor,

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George Osborne, was not in his place to reply to the Shadow Chancellor,

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Mr McDonnell was attempting to take full advantage of the weekend's

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dramatic political events, all started by Iain Duncan Smith's

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decision to quit as Work and Pensions Secretary,

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citing differences over policy with the Chancellor,

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in particular, the inclusion in the Budget of benefits cuts

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for disabled people at a time of tax reductions for the better off.

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With the benefit changes now being reconsidered,

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the Shadow Chancellor seized the moment.

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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make

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a statement on changes to the Budget.

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Immediately after this urgent question the Prime Minister

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will make a statement, and following that the Secretary

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of State for Work and Pensions will set out the Government s

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position on personal independence payments and the welfare cap.

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I am grateful to have the opportunity to set out how this

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government, how this government, through our long-term economic plan,

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is creating growth, generating employment,

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cutting the deficit and securing long-term prosperity for the people

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Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question.

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I asked it because the Budget process is in absolute chaos.

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It is unprecedented for a Government to have withdrawn a large part

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of the Budget and accepted two Opposition amendments before we have

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He said the proposed cuts would have left is able to people up to ?150

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every week worse off. People need Bragg reassurance that

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the benefits are safe. Can I ask the chief Secretary, can he tell us,

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which other vulnerable groups is the Chancellor considering targeting?

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Within five days, and enormous hole has appeared in the budget. Isn't it

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the prudent thing for the Chancellor to do, to withdraw this budget and

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start again? I say that this is no way

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to deliver a Budget and no way There is no question of this

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Government cutting disability benefits to the level

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we inherited in 2010. Spending has gone up by ?3 billion

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in real terms on disability benefits.

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Five days ago, the Chancellor stood at that Dispatch Box and published

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the Budget scorecard with a ?4.4 billion cut to PIP.

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Where is the revised scorecard without it?

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Is it true that this cut will instead come from elsewhere

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If the Chancellor is too scared to answer questions in this House

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on the issue, he is not fit to do the job.

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Does the Financial Secretary agree that the first duty of a Chancellor

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and his Treasury team when preparing a Budget is to have regard

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to the medium-term national interest and to provide sound finances

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for the benefit of our businesses, our investments and our employment?

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If we now have a situation in which Chancellors are expected

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to produce, on every occasion, popular spending commitments

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and popular tax cuts, while there is a failure to control

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out-of-control Budgets, we will have the sort of economic

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performance achieved by the recent Governments of Greece,

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Italy or the United Kingdom under Gordon Brown.

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Harold Wilson once said that a week was a long time in politics.

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How long is a long-term economic plan?

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You frequently remind us, Mr Speaker, about the people

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listening and watching at home`our constituents.

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On the second day of the Budget debate, the shadow Chancellor

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pledged that if the Government would look again at the personal

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independence plans, the Opposition would not play politics with that.

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friend agree that this is too serious an issue

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We on the Scottish National Party benches agree that the deficit must

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be cut and that we must control the debt, but that that should not

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With the disability cuts and the ?3.5 billion of cuts to come

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in 2019-20, and with corporation tax cuts, capital gains tax cuts

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and an increase in the income tax threshold, does the Minister really

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Does the Minister agree that it would have taken real courage

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for the Chancellor to come here today, and that in failing

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to show that courage he has shown he is not fit to lead his party?

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His failure of courage is not only that, however.

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It is a discourtesy to this House that renders us incapable

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of properly examining the Budget, because we do not know how

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the Chancellor proposes to meet his fiscal targets.

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With the greatest respect, I think that is pompous nonsense.

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And straight after that came the Prime Minister.

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David Cameron was in the Commons to give a statement about the latest

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attempt to solve the migrant crisis in Europe.

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But he diverted from that to talk about the weekend troubles that had

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descended on the upper reaches of the Government.

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Despite the unusually bitter tone of the ex-Work

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and Pensions Secretary's resignation letter, David Cameron paid tribute

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to Mr Duncan Smith's time in the Cabinet.

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Mr Speaker, my right honourable friend, the Member for Chingford

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and Woodford Green, spent almost a decade campaigning for welfare

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reform and improving people s life chances,

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and he has spent the last six years implementing those

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In that time, we have seen nearly half a million fewer children living

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in workless households, over a million fewer people

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on out-of-work benefits and nearly 2.4 million more people in work.

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In spite of having to take difficult decisions on the deficit,

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child poverty, inequality and pensioner poverty are all down.

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My right honourable friend contributed an enormous amount

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to the work of this Government and he can be proud

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Then on to shoring up the Government's record

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We will go on with our plans to rebuild sink estates,

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to help those with mental health conditions, to extend our troubled

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families programme, to reform our prisons and to tackle

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discrimination for those whose life chances suffer because of the colour

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And, in two weeks time we will introduce the first ever

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national living wage, giving a pay rise to the poorest

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All of this is driven by a deeply held conviction that everyone

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in Britain should have the chance to make the most of their lives.

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None of this would be possible if it was not for the actions

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of this Government and the work of my right honourable friend

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the Chancellor in turning our economy around.

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He has come here today and the Secretary of State for Work and

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Pensions is here, practically every other Cabinet Minister. What has

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happened to the Chancellor of the Exchequer? Where is he today?

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Can he tell us why he is still defending a Budget that not only has

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inequality and a tax on the disabled and the poorest in our country

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at its core, but provides tax relief to the richest

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The Budget has a big hole in it and it is up to the Prime Minister

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to persuade his great friend the Chancellor to come

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here to explain how he will fill that hole.

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Or perhaps the Chancellor should consider his position and look

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for something else to do, because he clearly has not been

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successful at producing a balanced Budget that is in the interests

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of everyone in the country, particularly those with

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I have repeatedly asked the Prime Minister about

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the devastating impact of benefit cuts to the most vulnerable,

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including the disabled and ill, many of whom will go on,

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sadly and tragically, to take their own lives.

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Does the Prime Minister understand that people watching the ongoing

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fall-out in the Conservative party are totally horrified that more time

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is spent talking about the jobs of Tory Ministers than about the impact

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of his damaging policies on the weakest in society?

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The Prime Minister says he is a compassionate Conservative

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leading a one nation Government, so how does he feel when a former

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leader of his party and a member of his Cabinet for six years says

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Obviously, we have worked very closely together for the last six

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years, and I am very proud of the things

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Behind those statistics are human beings who are able to put food

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on the table and have a better life for their families

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because of the work that we have done together.

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I am sad that he has left the Government,

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but I guarantee that the work of being a compassionate

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Conservative Government will continue.

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You're watching our round-up of the day in the Commons

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The Government is defeated in the Lords when peers vote

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to allow child refugees into the country.

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The arguments about cuts to disability benefits continued

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After David Cameron, it was the turn of the new Work

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and Pensions Secretary, Stephen Crabb, to field

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Stephen Crabb confirmed that cuts to the Personal Independent Payment

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And he said the Government had no further plans to make reductions

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But Labour MPs questioned him on where the Government

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was going to find the ?4.4 billion they had been hoping

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Before Christmas, the Government held a consultation on how part

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of the PIP assessment worked in relation to aids and appliances.

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As the Prime Minister indicated on Friday,

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I can tell the House that we will not be going ahead

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with the changes to PIP that had been put forward.

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I am absolutely clear that a compassionate and fair welfare

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system should not just be about numbers; behind every

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statistic there is a human being, and perhaps sometimes in government

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So I can also confirm that after discussing this over

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the weekend with my right honourable friends the Prime Minister

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and the Chancellor, we have no further plans to make welfare

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savings beyond the very substantial savings legislated for by Parliament

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two weeks ago, which we will now focus on implementing.

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And he said he wanted to start a new conversation

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I am determined, therefore, that all views will be listened

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to in the right way in the weeks and months ahead, and I will be

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personally involved in these discussions.

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The events of recent days demonstrate that we need to take

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time to reflect on how best we support and help

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That is the welfare system I believe in, and I commend this statement

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welcome and congratulations to the new Secretary of State.

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He and I have history at the Wales Office,

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and I look forward to renewing our relationship.

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On the basis of today s statement at least, it looks like it will be

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a bit more productive than the one I had with his predecessor.

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However entertaining it has been watching this Tory civil

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war over the weekend, what really matters are the 640,000

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disabled people who have been in the firing line of

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the Prime Minister s Budget, so on their behalf I sincerely thank

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the new Secretary of State for doing the right thing and

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But however welcome that decision, the manner in which it came

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about leaves many questions unanswered and strips

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all credibility from the claims of this Government and this

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Prime Minister to protect all of the people of Britain.

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Never again can he or this Government claim that we

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Last week, the Government proposed taking a further ?4.3 billion out

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of the pockets of disabled people to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest.

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Even by their standards, that was a new low.

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I am glad that they have been forced to backtrack on the latest

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round of PIP cuts, but the policy s problems are more fundamental.

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The PIP roll-out has consistently failed to meet the Government s

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Given that we now have a ?4.4 billion gap ` a big hole

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in the Red Book, will he say, as a member of the Cabinet,

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where the Government will find that money from?

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If it is from the welfare budget, which part of the welfare budget

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For almost three hours now, we have been addressed

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by a Treasury Minister, the Prime Minister and now

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the new Secretary of State, and yet we still have not had

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an answer to Labour s very direct question of where the ?4

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There are two possibilities: Either the Government do not know,

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or they do know but will not tell us.

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We have explored that issue in depth for a long time this afternoon.

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There will be further opportunities later today and tomorrow

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Let me just repeat the commitment that I have made today: We will not

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be pressing ahead with the proposed PIP cuts; we will not be seeking

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alternative offsetting savings; and the Government do not have plans

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The new Work and Pensions Secretary, Stephen Crabb.

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A little bit like those chains you get when moving house,

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the move of Stephen Crabb to Work and Pensions Secretary means someone

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else has to move into the job of Welsh Secretary.

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And the new Welsh Secretary is Alun Cairns.

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He used to be a junior Minister in the Wales Office.

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Mr Cairns was also in action in Parliament on his first day.

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He faced questions from the Public Administration Committee

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about how well devolution is working in the UK.

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He was asked if civil servants in Whitehall were sufficiently

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sensitive to the realities of devolution.

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Decisions made in Richmond House can have an impact on Wales even though

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Do you find for example that in that particular area devolution

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It is fair to say health is one of the policy areas where policy had

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by and large been devolved in terms of how the health policy

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would develop in Wales compared to that in England.

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But there are still patients in Wales that will get treated

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As there could well be hospital reform that takes place

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on the English side of the border for example the Department of Health

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would always bring that to the attention of the devolved

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administrations as part of its consultation,

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and the Welsh Government would be important stakeholders to that.

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Could it be improved and taken to another level?

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That is a matter for some debate and I would be happy

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The Government has suffered another defeat in the House of Lords.

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Peers voted by a margin of 102 in support of a plan for 3,000

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unaccompanied child refugees currently in Europe to be allowed

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The proposal, put forward during debate on the Immigration Bill,

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came from the Labour peer, Lord Dubs, who was himself a child

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refugee, escaping to Britain from Nazi Germany in 1939 by means

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Of the 13,000 plus unaccompanied children who arrived in 2014 some

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In 2015 nearly 6,000 were unaccounted for.

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Isn't that a dreadful thing that children have just disappeared

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In many parts of Europe children may be sleeping rough without adequate

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Please keep fighting for the rights of refugee children

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It is very distressing to see how these children are having such

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England has plenty of room for these children and just

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to show our humanity our doors should be opened.

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I would be happy to offer a place of safety to one or two as I have

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I believe that is a typical response, I have certainly picked

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them up, and I am sure many others have as well.

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What we're getting is a response from British people.

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The noble Lord is not right to disregard the pull factor.

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We seen the consequences of Chancellor Merkel's statement

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which have resulted in a very great pull factor.

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My own fear would be that if the House made this an obligation

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that would encourage people to send their children

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from where they now are unaccompanied into Europe

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in the hope that they would take advantage either of this provision

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if carried, or some future provision which might be carried forward.

:20:15.:20:17.

Horrendous journeys, separation from families,

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some placed into the hands of smugglers and people traffickers.

:20:32.:20:33.

Some facing exploitation of every kind.

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They are entitled to international protection and due respect

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for their rights as refugees even more so than adults.

:20:39.:20:41.

Surely this must be the lifeboat rule.

:20:42.:20:43.

Nelson Mandela once said there can be no clearer revelation

:20:44.:20:46.

of a society's soul than the way it treats its children.

:20:47.:20:48.

We must do something, absolutely something, to help.

:20:49.:20:50.

To stop those children from being victims.

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They are victims being in Europe if they are unaccompanied.

:20:54.:20:59.

But they are in danger of becoming slaves.

:21:00.:21:03.

We have an obligation, as many have said so much more

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eloquently than I, to look after some at least of the children.

:21:07.:21:13.

The problem is that this amendment as it stands,

:21:14.:21:19.

as I understand it, applies to anyone up to the age of 18.

:21:20.:21:24.

And that goes far too wide particularly at a time when the de

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facto, whatever the legal position is, the de facto age of maturity has

:21:30.:21:32.

We should not be doing anything which encourages one child

:21:33.:21:41.

to actually make that perilous journey where they fall

:21:42.:21:45.

into the hands of the criminal gangs and where they put their lives

:21:46.:21:48.

at risk to cross those seas to actually get to Europe.

:21:49.:21:52.

We want the action to be taking place there.

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It is a principled objection to this particular amendment.

:21:55.:22:05.

At the end of the debate, peers voted 306 to 204,

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a majority of 102, for an order requiring the Government to let

:22:08.:22:10.

Earlier, at question time, peers debated adding folic acid

:22:11.:22:14.

Pregnant women are encouraged to include more of it

:22:15.:22:20.

It could reduce the number of stillbirths and babies

:22:21.:22:26.

It's been a regular issue in the Lords.

:22:27.:22:31.

The Government says it has no plans to introduce folic acid into food

:22:32.:22:34.

Labour's Lord Rooker, a former chair of the Food Standards

:22:35.:22:38.

Is it not like English ministers having a polio vaccine and refusing

:22:39.:22:45.

Does the Minister accept my final point?

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Because they have never really made this clear that there is a direct

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link between neural tube defects, lifelong serious disability of those

:22:55.:23:00.

babies born alive, and folate, a vitamin deficiency

:23:01.:23:02.

And it was the UK that told the world this in 1991.

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83 other countries have thanked us by actually using the policy

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to reduce the numbers of abortions and babies born

:23:14.:23:15.

The Minister should be ashamed of this situation he has been forced

:23:16.:23:22.

I am not going to argue on the science because I think

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the scientific link between folate levels and neural tube defects

:23:32.:23:34.

Although our decisions should be informed by scientists and doctors

:23:35.:23:40.

I don't think they should be determined by scientists

:23:41.:23:42.

This balance between individual responsibility and state

:23:43.:23:47.

responsibility is one best left to political judgment.

:23:48.:23:50.

Is the Minister not aware that we have debated this many times

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in this House and it has been almost unanimous,

:23:54.:23:57.

the view that something should be done to deal with this problem?

:23:58.:24:00.

On a previous occasion I remember clearly someone saying that

:24:01.:24:07.

if you did not want to have it you could have bread specifically

:24:08.:24:11.

made without the additives and in that way you would be able to

:24:12.:24:14.

If you are going to change the way we produce white bread in this

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country a much stronger and broader case has to be made.

:24:22.:24:24.

It is in the Scottish Government that I understand are now laying out

:24:25.:24:35.

They are supported by the administrations

:24:36.:24:40.

Why is England taking this isolationist view when across

:24:41.:24:45.

She is right that Scotland are considering this.

:24:46.:24:52.

They are looking at the practical issues around implementation

:24:53.:24:55.

and she is right that other countries in the world,

:24:56.:24:57.

But many other countries have not including all European

:24:58.:25:01.

The fact is that the voluntary approach that this Government has

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been wedded to is simply not working.

:25:06.:25:09.

If it is known that the voluntary approach is not working,

:25:10.:25:14.

what then is the Government going to do?

:25:15.:25:16.

The Government is looking at all aspects of preconception

:25:17.:25:18.

We currently have no plans to introduce the mandatory

:25:19.:25:23.

fortification of flour with folic acid.

:25:24.:25:26.

We plan shortly to engage with relevant stakeholders to look

:25:27.:25:30.

at other measures which could provide good preconception health

:25:31.:25:32.

including how to address the low blood folate levels of women

:25:33.:25:35.

which can lead to neural tube defects.

:25:36.:25:38.

The former managing director of Waitrose supermarkets has been

:25:39.:25:40.

Mark Price was also the deputy chairman of the John Lewis

:25:41.:25:46.

Partnership, and he will now sit in the Upper House as Lord Price.

:25:47.:25:50.

It was announced last month Lord Price will be taking over

:25:51.:25:52.

from Lord Maude as a Trade and Investment Minister.

:25:53.:26:01.

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