:00:14. > :00:15.Hello and welcome to Monday in Parliament.
:00:16. > :00:19.Schools won't be forced to become academies
:00:20. > :00:28.but the Education Secretary insists they're the way forward.
:00:29. > :00:35.When he said last week I am not going to leave the job half done, I
:00:36. > :00:37.am not going to leave the job half done.
:00:38. > :00:40.Labour says knives, drugs and mobile phones are being hurled over
:00:41. > :00:43.the walls to prisoners at a London jail.
:00:44. > :00:50.Prisons are dangerous places. We have heard that the government wants
:00:51. > :00:54.to transform prisons for over a year. Words are no longer enough.
:00:55. > :01:09.Do you have any idea what it looks like to a group of MPs? I can only
:01:10. > :01:13.apologise again for not being able to turn up, but I would.
:01:14. > :01:15.But first, the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announced last Friday
:01:16. > :01:18.that the Government was abandoning plans to force all schools in
:01:19. > :01:22.The proposal had many critics - including some Conservative MPs.
:01:23. > :01:25.The announcement of a change of heart was somewhat lost
:01:26. > :01:32.But the Education Secretary has been explaining her position to MPs.
:01:33. > :01:35.There will be no blanket requirement to become an academy -
:01:36. > :01:36.although it will be forced on some school.s
:01:37. > :01:42.although it will be forced on some schools.
:01:43. > :01:44.We still want every school to become an Academy by 2022.
:01:45. > :01:48.But we always intended this to be a six year process, in which good
:01:49. > :01:50.schools should be able to make their own decisions
:01:51. > :01:54.However, we understand the concerns that have been raised about a hard
:01:55. > :01:59.deadline and legislating for blanket powers to issue Academy orders.
:02:00. > :02:02.That is why, Mr Speaker, I announced on Friday that we have
:02:03. > :02:04.decided it is not necessary to take blanket powers
:02:05. > :02:06.to convert good schools in strong local authorities to
:02:07. > :02:14.So, instead of taking a blanket power to convert all schools,
:02:15. > :02:17.we will seek powers in two specific circumstances, where it is clear
:02:18. > :02:22.that the conversion to Academy status is pressing.
:02:23. > :02:24.In our worst-performing local authorities, we need to take
:02:25. > :02:26.more decisive action, so that a new system
:02:27. > :02:28.led by outstanding schools can take their place.
:02:29. > :02:30.Similarly, because of the pace of academisation in some areas,
:02:31. > :02:32.it will become increasingly difficult for local authorities
:02:33. > :02:35.to have the ability to offer schools the necessary support.
:02:36. > :02:38.There will be a need to ensure these schools are not dependent
:02:39. > :02:43.We will therefore seek provisions to convert schools in the lowest
:02:44. > :02:45.performing and unviable local authorities to Academy status.
:02:46. > :02:48.This may involve, in some circumstances, conversion of good
:02:49. > :02:50.and outstanding schools, when they have not chosen
:02:51. > :02:54.But the need for action in these limited circumstances is clear.
:02:55. > :03:00.It is good to see that, despite her best efforts,
:03:01. > :03:03.this u-turn is getting the airing it deserves today.
:03:04. > :03:05.What she announced on Friday was a significant and
:03:06. > :03:10.However she wants to dress it up, dropping her desire to force
:03:11. > :03:13.all schools to become academies by her arbitrary deadline of 2022
:03:14. > :03:19.School leaders should take it as a very clear signal that the foot
:03:20. > :03:22.is off their throats and they should not feel they should jump
:03:23. > :03:30.I would have thought, given this scale
:03:31. > :03:43.of the opposition to her plans, and the huge sense of panic
:03:44. > :03:46.and of upheaval that they have caused to school leaders,
:03:47. > :03:49.she might have shown a little more humility in her statement today.
:03:50. > :04:05.If I were her, I would at least apologise.
:04:06. > :04:09.I have to say, it is a matter of regret that on such an important
:04:10. > :04:11.issue, the Shadow Secretary of State did rather let herself
:04:12. > :04:15.Mr Speaker, those of us concerned with this issue have expressed
:04:16. > :04:16.concerns, for instance, about compulsion, of course,
:04:17. > :04:19.but also about planning for school places, transport across changing
:04:20. > :04:21.catchment areas and what happens when there is a failing
:04:22. > :04:23.school with no suitable Academy to take it over.
:04:24. > :04:26.So, can I just say that I think the House is grateful
:04:27. > :04:29.to the Secretary of State for having listened, and we would now
:04:30. > :04:32.urge her to look at these which might be described
:04:33. > :04:35.as the final pieces in the academisation jigsaw.
:04:36. > :04:37.We very much appreciate the tone and the constructive nature
:04:38. > :04:41.I am pleased the Secretary of State is not sticking to her guns,
:04:42. > :04:44.and I welcome her change of heart and the U-turn
:04:45. > :04:47.Will she also reconsider another ill-advised proposal in the white
:04:48. > :04:49.paper, the abolition of the requirements for schools
:04:50. > :04:59.Well, the honourable gentleman and I discussed this, I think,
:05:00. > :05:02.when I gave evidence to the education select committee.
:05:03. > :05:05.We have been absolutely very clear that there is a role
:05:06. > :05:08.We expect trust boards to have parent governors.
:05:09. > :05:10.But we also think that's not the only way for parents
:05:11. > :05:15.I feel rather embarrassed for the Minister.
:05:16. > :05:18.As they try to sneak through this U-turn during one of the most racist
:05:19. > :05:20.campaigns that we have ever seen in the capital.
:05:21. > :05:23.Toby Young admitted he had been arrogant and he regretted resizing
:05:24. > :05:25.teachers, state schools and local education authorities.
:05:26. > :05:27.Will the Minister acknowledged that the teachers, the Labour Party,
:05:28. > :05:30.the students and the parents were right and she was wrong?
:05:31. > :05:32.I think the honourable lady has let herself down by that
:05:33. > :05:34.patronizing question, if I might say.
:05:35. > :05:37.I have been very clear all the way along, since the first
:05:38. > :05:39.day of my appointment, that the most important
:05:40. > :05:41.people in the education system are the teachers.
:05:42. > :05:44.The quality of teachers is the single most important thing
:05:45. > :05:51.that attracts and that helps young people to make standards.
:05:52. > :05:53.Mr Speaker, if any government Minister puts
:05:54. > :05:55.a proposal forward, we are likely to have comments,
:05:56. > :05:58.but that does not mean that we should not put
:05:59. > :06:01.That is not the kind of person that I am.
:06:02. > :06:04.When I said last week I wasn't going to leave the job half done,
:06:05. > :06:07.I am not going to leave the job half done.
:06:08. > :06:10.Now, knives, drugs and mobile phones are being thrown over the walls
:06:11. > :06:12.at a London jail where two prison officers have been assaulted.
:06:13. > :06:15.That was the charge from Labour who demanded an urgent
:06:16. > :06:18.The party's justice spokesman said there aren't enough staff to patrol
:06:19. > :06:31.Drugs, phones and even knives have been thrown over the wall
:06:32. > :06:33.because there were insufficient patrolling of the grounds
:06:34. > :06:35.and cell searches because of insufficient staffing numbers.
:06:36. > :06:37.Will additional officers be provided to overtake these basic tasks
:06:38. > :06:40.until order is restored and a review of staffing at this and similar
:06:41. > :06:47.This is not an isolated incident, it is typical of the dangers
:06:48. > :06:49.of the problems across the prison and youth estate.
:06:50. > :06:52.Mr Speaker, 14 prisons staff are assaulted every day.
:06:53. > :06:54.There were 4963 assaults by staff on prisoners in 2015
:06:55. > :06:57.compared with 3640 in 2014, a 36% increase in attacks.
:06:58. > :06:59.Prisons are now violent and dangerous places.
:07:00. > :07:06.Serious harm and suicides are at record levels.
:07:07. > :07:09.We have heard for a year that the government wishes
:07:10. > :07:14.Now is the time for action before more prisons become ungovernable,
:07:15. > :07:16.and we see more serious injury or, God forbid, the death
:07:17. > :07:21.This government is not in denial about the situation.
:07:22. > :07:25.We have not been idle in seeking to address it and we do not lack
:07:26. > :07:28.vision or political will in terms of the issues that the honourable
:07:29. > :07:35.I can also assure him that the Secretary of State
:07:36. > :07:38.takes this issue extremely seriously, and it is our
:07:39. > :07:46.He said the Justice Secretary's ?1.3 billion plan to reform prisons
:07:47. > :07:48.and give autonomy to governors was key to improving
:07:49. > :07:55.The nature of offenders currently in custody has changed.
:07:56. > :08:03.Today, there are around 30% more people sentenced to prison
:08:04. > :08:09.for violent offenders, and prisoners are acting today often
:08:10. > :08:11.more spontaneously and more violently than they did
:08:12. > :08:13.in the past in order to achieve their objectives.
:08:14. > :08:16.In terms of recruitment, I repeat what I said
:08:17. > :08:20.We have been recruiting at full strength for the last two years.
:08:21. > :08:24.We have recruited an extra 2830 officers since January 2015,
:08:25. > :08:27.and we are continuing to recruit at that level to make
:08:28. > :08:40.sure that our prisons are adequately staffed.
:08:41. > :08:42.Inspectors have warned of Dickensian squalor inside Wormwood Scrubs
:08:43. > :08:45.following a scathing report, a review of the jail as a rat
:08:46. > :08:48.infested, overcrowded with inmates spending up to 22 hours a day locked
:08:49. > :08:57.Of course, overcrowding and poor conditions exacerbate
:08:58. > :09:05.the risk of violence, not only to staff but
:09:06. > :09:10.On the issue of staffing, it is very clear from a recent
:09:11. > :09:12.statement from the Prison Governors Association that understaffing
:09:13. > :09:15.The issue is about increasing staffing.
:09:16. > :09:17.Although the government has increased the numbers of prison
:09:18. > :09:21.Since 2012, the number of assaults in prisons have doubled,
:09:22. > :09:23.the number of assaults upon staff have doubled, and although he talks
:09:24. > :09:27.about recruiting more staff recently, the number of staff
:09:28. > :09:30.altogether have fallen, and those staff are frightened,
:09:31. > :09:33.we are talking about brave prison officers who are
:09:34. > :09:38.We have a whole violence reduction project, it is a two-year project.
:09:39. > :09:41.It would not be helpful to give a shopping list of individual
:09:42. > :09:48.measures now before the House, but I can tell her that there
:09:49. > :09:51.is detailed, serious work going on, across the estate,
:09:52. > :09:54.the violence diagnostics tool, and many other measures in order
:09:55. > :09:56.to back up hard-working prison officers.
:09:57. > :09:58.The prevalent use of lethal highs, in particular, spice,
:09:59. > :10:01.in HMP Northumberland, in my constituency, is one
:10:02. > :10:04.of the very clear causes of these increases in violence and very
:10:05. > :10:05.unpredictable behaviour by our prison population.
:10:06. > :10:08.My constituents will be very surprised to hear quite how much
:10:09. > :10:10.stuff is being thrown over prison walls -
:10:11. > :10:18.mobile phones, drugs, legal highs and nights.
:10:19. > :10:24.mobile phones, drugs, legal highs and knives.
:10:25. > :10:26.In 2016, we've got the ability to stop this happening.
:10:27. > :10:28.These newest psychoactive substances are legally dangerous,
:10:29. > :10:30.they do terrible harm to the loved ones of the families
:10:31. > :10:33.who inadvertently bring them in in prisons, and we need our local
:10:34. > :10:36.communities to work with us and the police in trying to stop
:10:37. > :10:39.this terrible flow of these evil drugs over prison walls.
:10:40. > :10:41.Now, researchers at Oxford University have said findings
:10:42. > :10:44.backing the Government's push for a seven-day NHS in England
:10:45. > :10:47.The study disputed that there was a "weekend effect" -
:10:48. > :10:50.with death rates higher for those admitted over the weekend period.
:10:51. > :10:53.That was one of the issues the Health Secretary faced
:10:54. > :10:54.when he appeared before the Health Committee.
:10:55. > :10:57.If we expand, if we say, OK, we are going to have
:10:58. > :10:59.everything every day, is there not the danger
:11:00. > :11:01.that, in actual fact, we will admit more people,
:11:02. > :11:04.so the ratio will look better, when in actual fact,
:11:05. > :11:06.the exact same numbers of people will have died, we won't have
:11:07. > :11:09.prevented any deaths, we will just have made our
:11:10. > :11:12.We can get into discussions about the different studies,
:11:13. > :11:14.but I think the most comprehensive study was the Fremantle study
:11:15. > :11:17.that was published last September, which was a huge national...
:11:18. > :11:20.It's not more comprehensive, it's the same data set,
:11:21. > :11:23.only they included all of the A attendances
:11:24. > :11:26.and they actually drilled further into the paper.
:11:27. > :11:32.And they include in that paper that there is a weekend effect,
:11:33. > :11:34.they conclude that the standard of care that we give
:11:35. > :11:37.at weekends is different, because you have to be more ill
:11:38. > :11:42.That is a big reason why we believe we should have a seven-day NHS,
:11:43. > :11:44.because we don't believe there should be a difference
:11:45. > :11:47.in the criteria for admission at the weekends as in the week.
:11:48. > :11:49.MPs asked what was being done about so-called bed blocking.
:11:50. > :11:52.What assessments have you made of the effects of the social care
:11:53. > :11:54.funding restraints which you have mentioned, particularly within those
:11:55. > :11:57.authorities on the operations and finances of the NHS during
:11:58. > :12:03.Has one got an impact the other?
:12:04. > :12:12.Obviously there is a very direct operational impact if people
:12:13. > :12:14.are left in hospital longer than they should be
:12:15. > :12:17.when they are fit for discharge because of the processes necessary
:12:18. > :12:19.to admit them either in the social care system
:12:20. > :12:28.So, there is a link to A performance, which is itself under
:12:29. > :12:32.That is another reason why we need to break down these budgetary
:12:33. > :12:34.barriers between the NHS in the social care system.
:12:35. > :12:39.I think that is one of the things that we need to recognise.
:12:40. > :12:42.I think we also need to recognise as well that the social
:12:43. > :12:46.care system and the NHS, if we're to achieve these
:12:47. > :12:48.challenging efficiency savings that we have been talking
:12:49. > :12:57.about earlier, are both targeting the same set of individuals.
:12:58. > :13:00.The most vulnerable clients in the social care system are going
:13:01. > :13:02.to be in full-time residential care and they will remain
:13:03. > :13:10.People who are most at risk, if councils get these decisions
:13:11. > :13:14.wrong, are the people who are living independently but perhaps need a lot
:13:15. > :13:16.of support and perhaps are quite vulnerable, the sort of people
:13:17. > :13:33.Those people, we need to be sure the social care
:13:34. > :13:38.system is there for them, because otherwise, they are going
:13:39. > :13:44.Departments and possibly have a protracted length
:13:45. > :13:46.of stay in hospital, so there is absolutely impact
:13:47. > :13:50.on the NHS, which is why I think we are having a much more serious
:13:51. > :13:53.discussion between CCGs and local authorities then
:13:54. > :13:57.Jeremy Hunt said he realised the savings he wanted to make
:13:58. > :14:06.It is possible to reduce cost and improve the quality of care,
:14:07. > :14:17.improve the working environment for doctors and nurses
:14:18. > :14:22.all at the same time, and there are lots and lots of examples.
:14:23. > :14:24.I think the question that would be legitimately thrown at me
:14:25. > :14:27.for saying that comment is, yes, but that takes time,
:14:28. > :14:29.and I think the challenge that people feel is,
:14:30. > :14:31.have we got enough time to make these changes?
:14:32. > :14:34.I recognise that, and that is why the role of NHS improvement in
:14:35. > :14:36.giving trusts the support they need in what is a very challenging time.
:14:37. > :14:37.You're watching Monday in Parliament with me,
:14:38. > :14:42.for the new Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb.
:14:43. > :14:44.He was promoted to the role following the resignation
:14:45. > :14:48.One Labour MP said he would be judged according to how far
:14:49. > :14:50.he's prepared to stand up to the Chancellor George Osborne.
:14:51. > :14:53.Can I start by welcoming the Secretary of State
:14:54. > :14:57.He has started today by trying very hard to strike a different tone
:14:58. > :15:02.He said in an interview last week that he wanted his Department
:15:03. > :15:04.and his Ministers to understand the human impact
:15:05. > :15:09.What does he think the human impact will be of his plans to cut
:15:10. > :15:13.?1.2 billion away from disabled people
:15:14. > :15:19.What does he think the impact is for the 500,000 people
:15:20. > :15:26.who are set to lose ?1,500 a year in ESA?
:15:27. > :15:28.I thank the honourable gentleman for the kind words
:15:29. > :15:33.He obviously was not listening to the earlier
:15:34. > :15:37.questions on this subject, because at the end of this
:15:38. > :15:40.Parliament we will be spending more than at the beginning of this
:15:41. > :15:41.Parliament on supporting disabled people.
:15:42. > :15:43.We will be spending around ?50 billion
:15:44. > :15:45.supporting disabled people, far more than was ever,
:15:46. > :15:49.ever spent under the previous Labour Government.
:15:50. > :15:53.Is the Secretary of State aware that he will be assessed on how far
:15:54. > :15:58.he is willing to stand up to the Chancellor over cuts that hit
:15:59. > :16:04.His predecessor was not willing to do that until the last moment.
:16:05. > :16:06.Has the Secretary of State got more courage and guts
:16:07. > :16:12.The honourable gentleman is wrong to try to focus
:16:13. > :16:15.on divisions between the Treasury and the DWP.
:16:16. > :16:18.When a Department such as the DWP spends between a quarter and a third
:16:19. > :16:20.of all taxpayers' money, we need to make sure
:16:21. > :16:24.that it is working closely aligned with the Treasury to achieve
:16:25. > :16:28.the things we want to achieve as a Government.
:16:29. > :16:29.Stephen Crabb's first question-time
:16:30. > :16:34.Now, two elections that got rather lost
:16:35. > :16:37.on polling day last Thursday were by-elections for Westminster.
:16:38. > :16:46.Will members wishing to take their seats
:16:47. > :16:54.Gill Furniss is now the Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside
:16:55. > :17:00.And Chris Elmore is the new Labour MP for Ogmore.
:17:01. > :17:03.I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful
:17:04. > :17:05.and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth,
:17:06. > :17:10.her heirs and successors according to law, so help me God.
:17:11. > :17:12.Two new MPs, happy to be in Parliament.
:17:13. > :17:15.Much less enthusiastic about being in Parliament,
:17:16. > :17:17.it seems, is the chief executive of Vote Leave,
:17:18. > :17:22.The Treasury Committee had to issue a parliamentary order to get
:17:23. > :17:26.Matthew Elliot to give evidence to its inquiry into the EU.
:17:27. > :17:29.He turned down three invitations, incurring the displeasure
:17:30. > :17:33.of the committee chairman, Andrew Tyrie.
:17:34. > :17:36.The committee was forced to summon you under a parliamentary order
:17:37. > :17:44.This is the first time certainly that I have felt the need
:17:45. > :17:47.to issue such a thing in order to secure a witness.
:17:48. > :17:51.It's the first time that I have ever seen it done on any committee
:17:52. > :17:54.I've served and I've been on committees for
:17:55. > :17:58.most of the 18 or 19 years that I've been in Parliament.
:17:59. > :18:03.And I think, frankly, the difficulty of
:18:04. > :18:08.getting you here is scarcely consistent with the application
:18:09. > :18:17.that you put to be the campaigner for leaving the EU.
:18:18. > :18:20.Do you accept now that it was a mistake to muck
:18:21. > :18:27.Well, I regret that I was unable to attend when Dominic Cummings
:18:28. > :18:34.I'm very grateful to you for accepting my apology
:18:35. > :18:41.And then when it came to the other opportunity to attend, I'm sorry...
:18:42. > :18:44.There are two of those, aren't there?
:18:45. > :18:47.I am sorry that my diary couldn't be rescheduled to be here.
:18:48. > :18:49.There are two of those now you raise it.
:18:50. > :18:51.The first was you decided to go to Switzerland,
:18:52. > :18:54.you told my office, to meet some Swiss politicians
:18:55. > :19:01.I had a trip to Switzerland to see a number of groups including
:19:02. > :19:05.politicians, business groups, a whole host of activities, yes.
:19:06. > :19:10.And do you think that's consistent with your duty to Parliament?
:19:11. > :19:13.That was arranged, or I was invited, at about 48 hours' notice.
:19:14. > :19:17.So I didn't feel it was appropriate to change my diary...
:19:18. > :19:23.I didn't receive it until the Monday.
:19:24. > :19:25.But Andrew Tyrie hadn't finished yet.
:19:26. > :19:29.Do you have any appreciation of what it looks like to a group
:19:30. > :19:32.of MPs that you're telling them that you'd rather
:19:33. > :19:42.I can only apologise again for not being able to turn up at that point.
:19:43. > :19:45.And then what about the following week?
:19:46. > :19:47.We said you could come the following week
:19:48. > :19:49.and we had a message to say you're too busy.
:19:50. > :19:52.The key objective for Vote Leave has always been to make sure
:19:53. > :19:54.that you get the best possible evidence for your inquiry
:19:55. > :19:57.into the economic and financial benefits of Britain's membership
:19:58. > :20:01.of the EU and I think for that occasion,
:20:02. > :20:04.we suggested that our former chairman,
:20:05. > :20:08.Lord Lawson, might attend in my place.
:20:09. > :20:11.As I said, he is a former chairman of Vote Leave...
:20:12. > :20:17.I suggested to him over the weekend, yes.
:20:18. > :20:19.Andrew Tyrie remembered someone else who had
:20:20. > :20:22.turned down invitations to a Commons committee.
:20:23. > :20:27.The only other witness that certainly of a committee
:20:28. > :20:34.that I have chaired who decided that he didn't want to attend
:20:35. > :20:39.in the six years I've been chairing select committees
:20:40. > :20:42.was the Prime Minister before the liaison committee
:20:43. > :20:46.and he thought better of it reasonably quickly.
:20:47. > :20:48.There were some rather more light-hearted exchanges
:20:49. > :20:52.It was sparked by an intriguing question
:20:53. > :20:58.He wanted to know if the Government was going to publish a list
:20:59. > :21:00.of organisations and individuals in public life,
:21:01. > :21:03.including politicians, who had campaigned for the UK
:21:04. > :21:10.You won't be surprised, perhaps, to hear the Minister's answer.
:21:11. > :21:14.I beg leave to ask the question by my name on the order paper.
:21:15. > :21:19.The Government has no plans to publish such a list.
:21:20. > :21:21.The Prime Minister has been clear that Britain
:21:22. > :21:27.My Lords, when the CBI warns that a million jobs
:21:28. > :21:31.may be lost should we leave the EU,
:21:32. > :21:34.it is spookily reminiscent of what they said during the euro
:21:35. > :21:37.debate and used exactly the same arguments.
:21:38. > :21:40.So can I ask my honourable friend, if he will not
:21:41. > :21:44.publish a list, will he encourage those who told us that
:21:45. > :21:48.terrible things would happen if we did not join the euro
:21:49. > :21:51.to 'fess up before they tell the British public
:21:52. > :21:57.that if we should leave the EU, there will be a disaster?
:21:58. > :22:00.My Lords, I think it depends on who my noble friend
:22:01. > :22:02.has been listening to. LAUGHTER
:22:03. > :22:08.was clear at the time that it was not in Britain's interest to join
:22:09. > :22:12.like the governor of the Bank of England, the IMF, the OECD,
:22:13. > :22:16.also raised concerns about Britain joining the euro and now
:22:17. > :22:21.they are unanimous that Britain should remain in the EU.
:22:22. > :22:24.Can he tell his noble friend that this question
:22:25. > :22:29.has got nothing whatsoever to do with minister responsibility?
:22:30. > :22:32.Indeed, it would be quite sinister if the minister said he could
:22:33. > :22:36.publish such a list rather than saying the Government will not
:22:37. > :22:40.I can't understand why this question is
:22:41. > :22:49.My Lords, I didn't think of it was one reason and secondly,
:22:50. > :22:53.I'm not responsible for the questions that
:22:54. > :22:59.There was a philosophical contribution from Lord Wright.
:23:00. > :23:05.probably too young to have been in the House when the noble Lord,
:23:06. > :23:09.But he once said, I think in this House,
:23:10. > :23:12.but certainly in writing that anybody who has
:23:13. > :23:14.not changed his mind in the
:23:15. > :23:18.last ten years has probably not been thinking.
:23:19. > :23:24.I am too young to have been in the House, but I know
:23:25. > :23:28.Professor Dahrendorf of the LSC, and the LSC are
:23:29. > :23:32.quite clear that we should remain in the EU.
:23:33. > :23:41.My Lords, if the intention behind the question was to infer
:23:42. > :23:43.current wisdom or otherwise through past behaviour,
:23:44. > :23:46.could the minister remind the House which Chancellor of
:23:47. > :23:49.the Exchequer shadowed the Deutschmark and pressed the late
:23:50. > :23:52.Baroness Thatcher to enter into the exchange rate mechanism
:23:53. > :24:09.Noble friend, could my noble friend explain, given the Government's
:24:10. > :24:13.warnings that leaving the European Union today,
:24:14. > :24:16.we are told, might result in war in Europe,
:24:17. > :24:18.might result in mortgages going through the roof,
:24:19. > :24:22.might result in the loss of 3 million jobs, how on earth did
:24:23. > :24:26.the Prime Minister decide to call a referendum on this matter in the
:24:27. > :24:31.first place and also, how could my right honourable friend the
:24:32. > :24:35.Prime Minister possibly contemplate as he told us,
:24:36. > :24:37.walking away from the negotiations
:24:38. > :24:43.To take the last part of the question first,
:24:44. > :24:45.I don't think it's right for my noble friend
:24:46. > :24:56.The choice is dramatic uncertainty if we leave and
:24:57. > :25:00.we know what we are in now with the reformed Europe if we stay.
:25:01. > :25:03.The final reminiscence came from Lord Lawson.
:25:04. > :25:08.Can my noble friend confirm that he was not too young to recall
:25:09. > :25:15.that in January 1989, when I was still Chancellor
:25:16. > :25:18.of the Exchequer, I made a speech spelling out why
:25:19. > :25:23.monetary union would be a disaster, and why we should not join it and
:25:24. > :25:26.why the European Union would be foolish to go ahead.
:25:27. > :25:28.So perhaps he can set the record right against
:25:29. > :25:33.those who are clearly too young to recall the past.
:25:34. > :25:38.My Lords, I don't remember every speech that noble
:25:39. > :25:41.Lord made but in many cases, he was very wise.
:25:42. > :25:43.Another diplomatic answer there from the Minister,
:25:44. > :25:46.which brings us to the end of Monday In Parliament.
:25:47. > :25:49.Alicia McCarthy will be here for the rest of the week.
:25:50. > :25:56.But from me, Kristiina Cooper, goodbye!