Browse content similar to 21/03/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and Welcome to Monday in Parliament, our look at the best | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
of the day in the Commons and the Lords. | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
On this programme: David Cameron works to keep the show on the road | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
after the Government's wobbly weekend, following the shock | :00:24. | :00:25. | |
I am sad that he has left the government but I can guarantee | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
the work of being a compassionate Conservative government | :00:33. | :00:34. | |
But Labour tries to extract full political advantage. | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
The prudent thing for the Chancellor to do is to withdraw this budget | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
And peers vote to allow 3000 unaccompanied child | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
They are victims being in Europe if they are unaccompanied. | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
But they are in danger of becoming slaves. | :00:58. | :00:59. | |
The cry from the Opposition benches, questioning why the Chancellor, | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
George Osborne, was not in his place to reply to the Shadow Chancellor, | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
Mr McDonnell was attempting to take full advantage of the weekend's | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
dramatic political events, all started by Iain Duncan Smith's | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
decision to quit as Work and Pensions Secretary, | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
citing differences over policy with the Chancellor, | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
in particular, the inclusion in the Budget of benefits cuts | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
for disabled people at a time of tax reductions for the better off. | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
With the benefit changes now being reconsidered, | :01:34. | :01:34. | |
the Shadow Chancellor seized the moment. | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make | :01:40. | :01:41. | |
a statement on changes to the Budget. | :01:42. | :02:07. | |
Immediately after this urgent question the Prime Minister | :02:08. | :02:17. | |
will make a statement, and following that the Secretary | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
of State for Work and Pensions will set out the Government s | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
position on personal independence payments and the welfare cap. | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
I am grateful to have the opportunity to set out how this | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
government, how this government, through our long-term economic plan, | :02:33. | :02:43. | |
is creating growth, generating employment, | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
cutting the deficit and securing long-term prosperity for the people | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question. | :02:52. | :02:58. | |
I asked it because the Budget process is in absolute chaos. | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
It is unprecedented for a Government to have withdrawn a large part | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
of the Budget and accepted two Opposition amendments before we have | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
He said the proposed cuts would have left is able to people up to ?150 | :03:13. | :03:25. | |
every week worse off. People need Bragg reassurance that | :03:26. | :03:45. | |
the benefits are safe. Can I ask the chief Secretary, can he tell us, | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
which other vulnerable groups is the Chancellor considering targeting? | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
Within five days, and enormous hole has appeared in the budget. Isn't it | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
the prudent thing for the Chancellor to do, to withdraw this budget and | :04:01. | :04:02. | |
start again? I say that this is no way | :04:03. | :04:11. | |
to deliver a Budget and no way There is no question of this | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
Government cutting disability benefits to the level | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
we inherited in 2010. Spending has gone up by ?3 billion | :04:20. | :04:31. | |
in real terms on disability benefits. | :04:32. | :04:33. | |
Five days ago, the Chancellor stood at that Dispatch Box and published | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
the Budget scorecard with a ?4.4 billion cut to PIP. | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
Where is the revised scorecard without it? | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
Is it true that this cut will instead come from elsewhere | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
If the Chancellor is too scared to answer questions in this House | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
on the issue, he is not fit to do the job. | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
Does the Financial Secretary agree that the first duty of a Chancellor | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
and his Treasury team when preparing a Budget is to have regard | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
to the medium-term national interest and to provide sound finances | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
for the benefit of our businesses, our investments and our employment? | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
If we now have a situation in which Chancellors are expected | :05:17. | :05:18. | |
to produce, on every occasion, popular spending commitments | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
and popular tax cuts, while there is a failure to control | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
out-of-control Budgets, we will have the sort of economic | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
performance achieved by the recent Governments of Greece, | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
Italy or the United Kingdom under Gordon Brown. | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
Harold Wilson once said that a week was a long time in politics. | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
How long is a long-term economic plan? | :05:44. | :05:45. | |
You frequently remind us, Mr Speaker, about the people | :05:46. | :05:55. | |
listening and watching at home`our constituents. | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
On the second day of the Budget debate, the shadow Chancellor | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
pledged that if the Government would look again at the personal | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
independence plans, the Opposition would not play politics with that. | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
friend agree that this is too serious an issue | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
We on the Scottish National Party benches agree that the deficit must | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
be cut and that we must control the debt, but that that should not | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
With the disability cuts and the ?3.5 billion of cuts to come | :06:26. | :06:35. | |
in 2019-20, and with corporation tax cuts, capital gains tax cuts | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
and an increase in the income tax threshold, does the Minister really | :06:42. | :06:43. | |
Does the Minister agree that it would have taken real courage | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
for the Chancellor to come here today, and that in failing | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
to show that courage he has shown he is not fit to lead his party? | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
His failure of courage is not only that, however. | :07:01. | :07:02. | |
It is a discourtesy to this House that renders us incapable | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
of properly examining the Budget, because we do not know how | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
the Chancellor proposes to meet his fiscal targets. | :07:11. | :07:20. | |
With the greatest respect, I think that is pompous nonsense. | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
And straight after that came the Prime Minister. | :07:26. | :07:27. | |
David Cameron was in the Commons to give a statement about the latest | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
attempt to solve the migrant crisis in Europe. | :07:31. | :07:32. | |
But he diverted from that to talk about the weekend troubles that had | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
descended on the upper reaches of the Government. | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
Despite the unusually bitter tone of the ex-Work | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
and Pensions Secretary's resignation letter, David Cameron paid tribute | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
to Mr Duncan Smith's time in the Cabinet. | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
Mr Speaker, my right honourable friend, the Member for Chingford | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
and Woodford Green, spent almost a decade campaigning for welfare | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
reform and improving people s life chances, | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
and he has spent the last six years implementing those | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
In that time, we have seen nearly half a million fewer children living | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
in workless households, over a million fewer people | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
on out-of-work benefits and nearly 2.4 million more people in work. | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
In spite of having to take difficult decisions on the deficit, | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
child poverty, inequality and pensioner poverty are all down. | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
My right honourable friend contributed an enormous amount | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
to the work of this Government and he can be proud | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
Then on to shoring up the Government's record | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
We will go on with our plans to rebuild sink estates, | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
to help those with mental health conditions, to extend our troubled | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
families programme, to reform our prisons and to tackle | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
discrimination for those whose life chances suffer because of the colour | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
And, in two weeks time we will introduce the first ever | :08:47. | :08:54. | |
national living wage, giving a pay rise to the poorest | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
All of this is driven by a deeply held conviction that everyone | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
in Britain should have the chance to make the most of their lives. | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
None of this would be possible if it was not for the actions | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
of this Government and the work of my right honourable friend | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
the Chancellor in turning our economy around. | :09:17. | :09:27. | |
He has come here today and the Secretary of State for Work and | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
Pensions is here, practically every other Cabinet Minister. What has | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
happened to the Chancellor of the Exchequer? Where is he today? | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
Can he tell us why he is still defending a Budget that not only has | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
inequality and a tax on the disabled and the poorest in our country | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
at its core, but provides tax relief to the richest | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
The Budget has a big hole in it and it is up to the Prime Minister | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
to persuade his great friend the Chancellor to come | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
here to explain how he will fill that hole. | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
Or perhaps the Chancellor should consider his position and look | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
for something else to do, because he clearly has not been | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
successful at producing a balanced Budget that is in the interests | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
of everyone in the country, particularly those with | :10:17. | :10:18. | |
I have repeatedly asked the Prime Minister about | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
the devastating impact of benefit cuts to the most vulnerable, | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
including the disabled and ill, many of whom will go on, | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
sadly and tragically, to take their own lives. | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
Does the Prime Minister understand that people watching the ongoing | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
fall-out in the Conservative party are totally horrified that more time | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
is spent talking about the jobs of Tory Ministers than about the impact | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
of his damaging policies on the weakest in society? | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
The Prime Minister says he is a compassionate Conservative | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
leading a one nation Government, so how does he feel when a former | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
leader of his party and a member of his Cabinet for six years says | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
Obviously, we have worked very closely together for the last six | :11:04. | :11:11. | |
years, and I am very proud of the things | :11:12. | :11:13. | |
Behind those statistics are human beings who are able to put food | :11:14. | :11:31. | |
on the table and have a better life for their families | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
because of the work that we have done together. | :11:35. | :11:36. | |
I am sad that he has left the Government, | :11:37. | :11:38. | |
but I guarantee that the work of being a compassionate | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
Conservative Government will continue. | :11:42. | :11:42. | |
You're watching our round-up of the day in the Commons | :11:43. | :11:44. | |
The Government is defeated in the Lords when peers vote | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
to allow child refugees into the country. | :11:50. | :11:50. | |
The arguments about cuts to disability benefits continued | :11:51. | :11:52. | |
After David Cameron, it was the turn of the new Work | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
and Pensions Secretary, Stephen Crabb, to field | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
Stephen Crabb confirmed that cuts to the Personal Independent Payment | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
And he said the Government had no further plans to make reductions | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
But Labour MPs questioned him on where the Government | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
was going to find the ?4.4 billion they had been hoping | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
Before Christmas, the Government held a consultation on how part | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
of the PIP assessment worked in relation to aids and appliances. | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
As the Prime Minister indicated on Friday, | :12:30. | :12:31. | |
I can tell the House that we will not be going ahead | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
with the changes to PIP that had been put forward. | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
I am absolutely clear that a compassionate and fair welfare | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
system should not just be about numbers; behind every | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
statistic there is a human being, and perhaps sometimes in government | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
So I can also confirm that after discussing this over | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
the weekend with my right honourable friends the Prime Minister | :13:00. | :13:01. | |
and the Chancellor, we have no further plans to make welfare | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
savings beyond the very substantial savings legislated for by Parliament | :13:07. | :13:08. | |
two weeks ago, which we will now focus on implementing. | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
And he said he wanted to start a new conversation | :13:12. | :13:13. | |
I am determined, therefore, that all views will be listened | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
to in the right way in the weeks and months ahead, and I will be | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
personally involved in these discussions. | :13:23. | :13:24. | |
The events of recent days demonstrate that we need to take | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
time to reflect on how best we support and help | :13:28. | :13:29. | |
That is the welfare system I believe in, and I commend this statement | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
welcome and congratulations to the new Secretary of State. | :13:36. | :13:57. | |
He and I have history at the Wales Office, | :13:58. | :13:59. | |
and I look forward to renewing our relationship. | :14:00. | :14:01. | |
On the basis of today s statement at least, it looks like it will be | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
a bit more productive than the one I had with his predecessor. | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
However entertaining it has been watching this Tory civil | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
war over the weekend, what really matters are the 640,000 | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
disabled people who have been in the firing line of | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
the Prime Minister s Budget, so on their behalf I sincerely thank | :14:21. | :14:31. | |
the new Secretary of State for doing the right thing and | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
But however welcome that decision, the manner in which it came | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
about leaves many questions unanswered and strips | :14:39. | :14:39. | |
all credibility from the claims of this Government and this | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
Prime Minister to protect all of the people of Britain. | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
Never again can he or this Government claim that we | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
Last week, the Government proposed taking a further ?4.3 billion out | :14:49. | :14:57. | |
of the pockets of disabled people to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest. | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
Even by their standards, that was a new low. | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
I am glad that they have been forced to backtrack on the latest | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
round of PIP cuts, but the policy s problems are more fundamental. | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
The PIP roll-out has consistently failed to meet the Government s | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
Given that we now have a ?4.4 billion gap ` a big hole | :15:17. | :15:25. | |
in the Red Book, will he say, as a member of the Cabinet, | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
where the Government will find that money from? | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
If it is from the welfare budget, which part of the welfare budget | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
For almost three hours now, we have been addressed | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
by a Treasury Minister, the Prime Minister and now | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
the new Secretary of State, and yet we still have not had | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
an answer to Labour s very direct question of where the ?4 | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
There are two possibilities: Either the Government do not know, | :15:50. | :15:57. | |
or they do know but will not tell us. | :15:58. | :15:59. | |
We have explored that issue in depth for a long time this afternoon. | :16:00. | :16:07. | |
There will be further opportunities later today and tomorrow | :16:08. | :16:09. | |
Let me just repeat the commitment that I have made today: We will not | :16:10. | :16:20. | |
be pressing ahead with the proposed PIP cuts; we will not be seeking | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
alternative offsetting savings; and the Government do not have plans | :16:24. | :16:25. | |
The new Work and Pensions Secretary, Stephen Crabb. | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
A little bit like those chains you get when moving house, | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
the move of Stephen Crabb to Work and Pensions Secretary means someone | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
else has to move into the job of Welsh Secretary. | :16:39. | :16:40. | |
And the new Welsh Secretary is Alun Cairns. | :16:41. | :16:42. | |
He used to be a junior Minister in the Wales Office. | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
Mr Cairns was also in action in Parliament on his first day. | :16:46. | :16:47. | |
He faced questions from the Public Administration Committee | :16:48. | :16:50. | |
about how well devolution is working in the UK. | :16:51. | :16:52. | |
He was asked if civil servants in Whitehall were sufficiently | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
sensitive to the realities of devolution. | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
Decisions made in Richmond House can have an impact on Wales even though | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
Do you find for example that in that particular area devolution | :17:06. | :17:12. | |
It is fair to say health is one of the policy areas where policy had | :17:13. | :17:24. | |
by and large been devolved in terms of how the health policy | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
would develop in Wales compared to that in England. | :17:28. | :17:29. | |
But there are still patients in Wales that will get treated | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
As there could well be hospital reform that takes place | :17:33. | :17:40. | |
on the English side of the border for example the Department of Health | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
would always bring that to the attention of the devolved | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
administrations as part of its consultation, | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
and the Welsh Government would be important stakeholders to that. | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
Could it be improved and taken to another level? | :17:57. | :17:59. | |
That is a matter for some debate and I would be happy | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
The Government has suffered another defeat in the House of Lords. | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
Peers voted by a margin of 102 in support of a plan for 3,000 | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
unaccompanied child refugees currently in Europe to be allowed | :18:13. | :18:14. | |
The proposal, put forward during debate on the Immigration Bill, | :18:15. | :18:22. | |
came from the Labour peer, Lord Dubs, who was himself a child | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
refugee, escaping to Britain from Nazi Germany in 1939 by means | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
Of the 13,000 plus unaccompanied children who arrived in 2014 some | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
In 2015 nearly 6,000 were unaccounted for. | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
Isn't that a dreadful thing that children have just disappeared | :18:46. | :18:48. | |
In many parts of Europe children may be sleeping rough without adequate | :18:49. | :18:57. | |
Please keep fighting for the rights of refugee children | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
It is very distressing to see how these children are having such | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
England has plenty of room for these children and just | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
to show our humanity our doors should be opened. | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
I would be happy to offer a place of safety to one or two as I have | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
I believe that is a typical response, I have certainly picked | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
them up, and I am sure many others have as well. | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
What we're getting is a response from British people. | :19:35. | :19:56. | |
The noble Lord is not right to disregard the pull factor. | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
We seen the consequences of Chancellor Merkel's statement | :20:01. | :20:02. | |
which have resulted in a very great pull factor. | :20:03. | :20:04. | |
My own fear would be that if the House made this an obligation | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
that would encourage people to send their children | :20:08. | :20:09. | |
from where they now are unaccompanied into Europe | :20:10. | :20:11. | |
in the hope that they would take advantage either of this provision | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
if carried, or some future provision which might be carried forward. | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
Horrendous journeys, separation from families, | :20:18. | :20:31. | |
some placed into the hands of smugglers and people traffickers. | :20:32. | :20:33. | |
Some facing exploitation of every kind. | :20:34. | :20:35. | |
They are entitled to international protection and due respect | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
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. | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
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 | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
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 | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
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. | :21:53. | :21:54. | |
It is a principled objection to this particular amendment. | :21:55. | :22:05. | |
At the end of the debate, peers voted 306 to 204, | :22:06. | :22:07. | |
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? | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
Because they have never really made this clear that there is a direct | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
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. | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
83 other countries have thanked us by actually using the policy | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
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 | :23:23. | :23:31. | |
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 | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
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 | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
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 | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
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. |