Browse content similar to 15/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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between what they pay and what other taxpayers pay. Questions to | :00:06. | :00:15. | |
This morning I had a meeting with colleagues and others. Initial to | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
know why duties, I shall have further meetings later. | :00:20. | :00:26. | |
Thousands of people in my constituency work hard at for less | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
than �26,000 a year. Does my right honourable friend agree with me | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
that everybody who believes in the necessity of capping benefits must | :00:36. | :00:44. | |
vote for the Welfare Reform Bill tonight? My honourable friend is | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
right. We are right to reform welfare. Welfare costs have got out | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
of control in our country. We want to make sure that work always pays. | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
We want to make sure that if people do the right thing, we are on their | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
side. It cannot be right for some families to get over �26,000 a year | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
in benefits that is paid for by people who are working hard and pay | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
their taxes. Everyone in the House should support the welfare bill | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
tonight. It is disappointing that Labour talk about welfare, but will | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
:01:25. | :01:29. | ||
not vote for welfare reform. THE SPEAKER: Ed Miliband. | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
Mr Speaker, when the Prime Minister signed off his welfare bill, did he | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
know that it would make 7000 cancer patients worse off by as much as | :01:39. | :01:47. | |
�94 a week? That is not the case. We are using the same definition of | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
people who are suffering and are terminally ill as the last | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
government. We want to make sure those people are helped and | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
protected. If you are in favour of welfare reform, you want to | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
encourage people to do the right thing, it is no good talking about | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
it, you have to vote for it. usual, he does not know what is in | :02:07. | :02:16. | |
his own bill. Listen to Macmillan Cancer Support. On 13th June 2011 - | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
cancer patients to lose up to �94 a week. These are people who have | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
worked hard all their lives, who have done the right thing, who have | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
paid their taxes. And when they are indeed, the Prime Minister is | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
taking money away from him. I ask him again, how can it be right that | :02:35. | :02:43. | |
people with cancer, 7000 of them, are losing �94 a week? We are using | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
the same test as the last government supported. All we see | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
here is a Labour Party desperate not to support welfare reform, and | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
try to find an excuse to get off supporting welfare reform. Anyone | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
who is terminally ill get immediate access to the higher level of | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
support. We will provide that to all people who are unable to work. | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
That is the guarantee we make. He has to stop reading of his | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
responsibilities and back the welfare reform he talks about. | :03:17. | :03:27. | |
:03:27. | :03:31. | ||
Speaker, he doesn't know the detail support allowance after one year | :03:31. | :03:38. | |
for those in work-related activity, cancer patients, 7000 of them, are | :03:38. | :03:48. | |
:03:48. | :03:49. | ||
losing �94 a week. I ask him again, how can that be right? Order. The | :03:49. | :03:56. | |
question has been asked. Order. Order. The answer will be heard. | :03:56. | :04:02. | |
is wrong on the specific point. First of all, our definition of | :04:02. | :04:09. | |
terminally ill is the same one used by the last government. Anyone out | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
of work will be given the extra support that comes from employment | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
support allowance, irrespective of a person's income or assets. That | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
will last for 12 months. He is wrong, and he should admit it. On a | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
means-tested basis, this additional support can last indefinitely. That | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
is the truth. He should check his facts before he comes to the house | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
and chickens out of welfare reform. Let's be clear about this. In the | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
first answer, he said his policy was the same as the last government. | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
Now he has admitted that they are ending contributory best employment | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
support allowance after one year. Let me tell him what Macmillan | :04:50. | :05:00. | |
:05:00. | :05:02. | ||
Cancer Support says. I think they should listen. This is what they | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
are saying. I think it is a disgrace that Conservative members | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
are shouting while we are talking about people with cancer. This is | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
what they say. Many people will lose this benefit simply because | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
they have not recovered quickly enough. Mr Speaker, asking the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
question again, will he now admit that 7000 cancer patients are | :05:27. | :05:34. | |
losing up to �94 a week? Let me explain it again to him. I do not | :05:34. | :05:42. | |
think he has got the point. Order. Order. I think it is a disgrace | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
that members on both sides of the house are shouting their heads off | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
when matters of the most serious concern are being debated. I repeat | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
what I have said before. The public despise this sort of behaviour. | :05:54. | :06:01. | |
Let's have a bit of order. This is important, and I want to explain to | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
the honourable gentleman why he has got it wrong and what we are | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
proposing is right. The definition of who is terminally ill, these are | :06:09. | :06:16. | |
horrible things to discuss, but let me explain. It is the same | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
definition, six months. Anyone out of work who lives longer than that | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
will be given the extra support that comes from employment support | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
allowance. That is irrespective of a person's income or their assets, | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
and will last for 12 months, not the six months that the Leader of | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
the Opposition said. On a means- tested basis, this additional | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
support can last indefinitely. It is the same test as the last | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
government. It is put in place fairly. We have listened to | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
Macmillan Cancer Support, and we have made sure someone is reviewing | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
all the medical tests that take place under the system. I know he | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
wants to create a distraction from the fact that he will not support | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
welfare reform, but I have answered his question. He should now answer | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
mind - why will you not back the bill? In case he had forgotten, I | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
asked the questions, and he fails to answer them. Let me try and | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
explain it to him. Listen to professor Jane Mayer, chief medical | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
officer or of Macmillan Cancer Support. "in my experience, one | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
year is simply not long enough for many people to recover from cancer. | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
The serious physical and psychological side-effects can last | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
for many months, even years after treatment has finished. It is | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
crucial that patients are not forced to return to work before | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
they are ready". Macmillan Cancer Support and Britain's cancer | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
charities have been making this argument for months. I am amazed | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
that the Prime Minister does not know about this argument. Why | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
doesn't he know about these arguments? The House of Commons is | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
voting on this bill tonight. He should know about these arguments. | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
I ask him again, will he now admit that 7000 cancer patients are | :07:59. | :08:06. | |
losing up to �94 a week? I have answered his question three times. | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
With a full explanation. The whole point about our benefit reforms is | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
that there are proper medical tests. So we support those who cannot work | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
as a generous and compassionate country should, but we make sure | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
those who can work have to go out to work so that we do not reward | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
bad behaviour. He is attempting to put up a smokescreen, because he | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
has been found out. He made a speech this week about the | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
importance of welfare reform, but he cannot take his divided party | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
with him. That is what this is about, weak leadership of a divided | :08:43. | :08:52. | |
party. Mr Speaker, what an absolute disgrace to describe cancer | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
patients in this country as a smokescreen. This is about cancer | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
charities who are concerned on their behalf, and he does not know | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
his own policy. It is not about those who are terminally ill, it is | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
about those recovering from cancer who are losing support as a result | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
of this government. We know he does not think his policies through. | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
Isn't this one occasion when if ever there was a case to pause, | :09:19. | :09:28. | |
listen and reflect, this is it. Why doesn't he do so? This week, we | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
have seen the honourable gentleman get on the wrong side of every | :09:32. | :09:40. | |
issue. If it is cutting the deficit, we now have these CBI, the IMF, his | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
brother, Tony Blair, all on our side and only he is on his own. On | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
welfare reform, we have everyone recognises that welfare needs to be | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
reformed, apart from the right honourable gentleman. On the health | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
service, yes, we now have the Royal College of GPs, the Royal College | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
of Nurses, the Royal College of Physicians, the former Labour | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
Health Minister and Tony Blair all on the side of reform. And on his | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
own, the right honourable gentleman, a weak leader of a divided party. | :10:10. | :10:20. | |
:10:20. | :10:28. | ||
That is what we have learned this Prime Minister, Mike constituent's | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
mother, a British national, on a recent visit to India, was | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
kidnapped and then beheaded in a horrendous murder incident. Can I | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
ask the British Government to urge the Indian authorities to carry out | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
a fall and transparent and thorough investigation and bring to account | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
those responsible for this horrendous murder so that my | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
constituents and his family can get justice for their mother? | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
understand why my honourable friend wants to raise this case. On behalf | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
of the house, we send our condolences to the family. I | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
understand their wish for justice to be brought to bear on the | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
perpetrators. The Foreign Office has been providing the family with | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
consular support, and they will arrange to meet my right honourable | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
friend and the family to see what further assistance we can give. | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
However, responsibility for investigating crime committed | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
overseas has to rest with the police and judicial authorities in | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
that country. We cannot interfere in the processes, but I take to | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
heart the points he makes. Speaker, we know that the deficit | :11:32. | :11:42. | |
:11:42. | :11:44. | ||
was the price paid to avoid a depression caused by... Are caught | :11:44. | :11:51. | |
by the bankers. But in March, the forecast for the budget deficit was | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
increased by �46 billion, �1,000 per person. Will he now at last | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
accept that cuts are choking growth, that that is stoking inflation, and | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
both are increasing the deficit? He is going too far, too fast, | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
hindering and not helping the recovery. Yes or no? The deficit is | :12:10. | :12:20. | |
the price paid for Labour's profligacy in office. Tony Blair in | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
his memoirs, I know they do not want to hear about Tony Blair any | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
more, funny, that. He was a Labour leader who used to win elections. | :12:28. | :12:36. | |
He said that by 2007, spending was out of control. We have to get on | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
top of debt and spending and the deficit. I understand that the | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
Labour leader is trying to persuade the shadow Chancellor of that. Good | :12:43. | :12:52. | |
The Prime Minister will be aware that yesterday was the anniversary | :12:52. | :13:02. | |
:13:02. | :13:10. | ||
of the liberation of the Falkland Sees the United States will he | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
remind the President that they will never be acceptable to her | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
Majesty's government, and if the special relationship means anything, | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
it means that they defend British sovereign treat -- sovereignty over | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
our own territory. He makes an excellent point and I'm sure | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
everybody will want to remember the anniversary of the successful | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
retaking of the Falkland Islands and the superb bravery and courage | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
of all our armed forces who took part in that action. We should also | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
remember those that fell in terms of taking back the Falklands. The | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
point he makes is a good one. What I would say is this, as long as the | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
Falkland Islands want to be a sovereign British territory, they | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
should remain so. End of story. This week we have seen the | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
government changed its mind on the NHS, and sentencing, student visas | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
and dustbin collection, so will the Prime Minister tell us now whether | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
the Prime Minister will change his mind on a government plans to force | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
women to wait up to two years longer before they qualify for | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
their state pensions? All parties supported the equalisation of the | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
pension age between men and women. That needed to happen. It also | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
needs to happen that we raise pension ages to make sure the | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
pension system is affordable. Appoint a would make is because we | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
have been able to do that, we have really into pensions back to | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
earnings, and pensioners are �15,000 better off in their | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
retirement than they would have been under Labour. I think that is | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
a good deal and the right thing to do. If anyone in the party opposite | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
wants to be serious about pension reform and dealing with the deficit, | :14:49. | :14:59. | |
:14:59. | :15:00. | ||
I agree with the government's timetable for increasing the men's | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
state pension age to 66, because it happens gradually. But I would ask | :15:05. | :15:12. | |
the Prime Minister to think again about women's state pension age. | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
The timetable has women's state pension age going up too quickly | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
and leaves women of my age, born in 1954, without enough time to plan | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
for what could be two years extra work. Will the Government please | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
look at this again? I understand the concerns about this. But I said | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
in the House last week that over 80 % of those affected will only see | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
their pension age come in one year later. So it is actually a very | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
relatively small number. But the key thing is making sure that the | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
pension system is sustainable so we can pay out higher pensions. There | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
is a similar argument that the house was having in the previous | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
set of questions about the sustainability of public sector | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
pensions. We have to take these difficult decisions. They are right | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
for the long term and they mean a better pension system for those who | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
are retiring. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Institute | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
for Fiscal Studies that with inflation at 4.5 %, more than twice | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
the government target, it is hitting pensioners and lower income | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
families the hardest? The point about pensions is there is the | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
triple guarantee that they will go up by earnings or 2.5 %, or | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
whichever is higher, so it won't affect them in that way. We clearly | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
want to see inflation come down. There is a shared agreement across | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
the House that it is right for the Bank of England to have the | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
responsibility. I notice he does not raise today the welcome news | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
that we have seen the biggest fall in unemployment in one month | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
figures than we have seen at any time in a decade. I think it is | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
time the party opposite started welcoming that good news. There is | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
increasing concern within the house and across the country about the | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
hidden suffering of traffic to children and re- trafficked | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
children. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is essential that a | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
co-ordinated, multi-agency approach across the country from borders to | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
local authorities and local police forces, including the excellent | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
charitable organisations involved in the work, is promoted urgently? | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
My Honourable Friend makes extremely good point and I know how | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
hard the party works on this group. I listen very carefully on what | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
they have to say. One thing that I hope will make a difference is the | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
formation of the National crime agency which should bring a greater | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
co-ordination to vital issues such as this. | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
The SNP won a landslide in the recent elections and the mandate to | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
improve the powers of the Scottish parliament. So will the Prime | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
Minister respect the Scottish electorate and accept the six | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
proposals for improvement in the Scotland Bill by the Scottish | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
government? For we listened very carefully to what people have to | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
say and week of course respect that the SNP won the mandate in Scotland | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
and we are responding positively. But the first point I would make is | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
that the Scotland Bill before the house is a massive extension of | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
devolution. He shakes his head, but is an extra �12 billion of spending | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
power. We will go ahead with that and look at the proposals that Alex | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
Salmond has had. I take the respect agenda seriously, but it is a two- | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
way street. A street in which I respect the views of the Scottish | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
people, but they also have to respect we are still part of, and | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
will always be part of, I believe, a United Kingdom. Last Friday was | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
the 9th anniversary of the British Legion, and on Tuesday, 120 | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
soldiers from the Air assault Brigade will march into Parliament | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
to welcome them back from Afghanistan. Can have a Prime | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
Minister repeat his assurance that the armed forces covenant will be | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
rewritten for the first time in history and written into law? | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
give that assurance and I'm delighted that the Royal British | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
Legion have agreed an approach we will take in the Armed forces Bill | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
and that is being passed through the house. I am glad that the | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
forced -- House of Commons will be welcoming the soldiers from the | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
Brigade as the rest of the armed forces, the bravest of the brave, | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
the best of the best, there isn't too much we can do for the people, | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
which is why the armed forces covenant matters and why we kept | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
our promise Stoop double the operational allowance to soldiers | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
serving in Afghanistan. Millions of our constituents are once more | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
facing big increases in their gas and electricity bills. Many will | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
find it very difficult to make ends meet. What action will the | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
government take to help them? are taking a range of actions. | :19:38. | :19:45. | |
Obviously, the fact we have or oil costing $115 per barrel and gas | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
prices rising by 15 % over a year, that has an impact, but we are | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
putting �250 million into the warm home discount and funding a more | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
targeted warm front scheme that will help 47,000 families this year. | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
We are legislating so social tariffs have to offer the best | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
prices available. We are keeping a promise to say that Post Office | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
card account holders should get a discount. We are keeping the winter | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
fuel payment. And we have permanently increase the cold | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
weather payments. We didn't just allow him to be increased in an | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
election year. We are keeping the higher payments that are very | :20:19. | :20:27. | |
valuable to his constituents. week my Honourable Friend the | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
Member for Stoke visited a school near Stafford. In meetings, parents | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
expressed the excellent teaching -- gratitude for the excellent | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
teaching but also of a provision of their children after the age of 19. | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
Knowing his deep concern in the area, what encouragement can my | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
right honourable friend give them? We have to support special schools. | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
The pendulum again special education swung too far against | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
inclusion, and it is important we give parents and carers proper | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
choices to make sure they can choose between mainstream and | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
special education. He raises the important point that many parents | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
of disabled children when they become young adults want them to go | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
on studying in further education colleges and elsewhere, but the | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
current rules seem to suggest that once they have finished the course, | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
that is it. Parents asked what we will do now and we have to find a | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
better answer for parents who are finding their much-loved children | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
living for much longer and want them to have a purposeful and | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
complete life. In the face of what are crippling energy price rises, | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
driving pensioners and one off family into fuel poverty by the | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
thousands every day under the coalition, can I ask him, he's heat | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
struggling with his energy bill or are any others of the 21 | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
millionairess in his Cabinet struggling with the energy bills? | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
And when is he going to take a personal grip of this situation? | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
From reading the papers this week the people who seem to be coining | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
it are the ones who worked for the last government, but there we are. | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
Clearly fuel prices have gone up because of what has happened to | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
World War -- world gas and oil prices, but we are serious about | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
helping families. That is why we have frozen the council tax and a | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
lifting one million people out of tax and a taken a set of measures | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
to help with energy bills which I describe. We have also managed to | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
cut petrol tax this year, paid for by the additional tax on the North | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
Sea oil industry. I notice that while the party opposite wants to | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
support the petrol price tax, they don't support the fuel -- increase | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
in the North Sea oil tax. Absolutely typical of an | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
opportunistic opposition. The Prime Minister will be aware that this | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
week is National diabetes wheat and the theme this year is let's talk | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
diabetes to encourage people with the condition to speak out and not | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
feel stigmatised all worried about being discriminated against, or | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
joked against in school or in the workplace. Would the Prime Minister | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
please support the campaign? certainly will. And my Honourable | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
Friend makes extremely good point, that many people with diabetes find | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
it an embarrassingly honest and something they don't want to talk | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
about, yet it is affecting more and more people. We have to find a way | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
to encourage people to say that there is nothing abnormal or wrong, | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
but we need to help people manage their diabetes, particularly | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
because you want to see them have control over health care and spend | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
less time in hospital if at all possible. I fully support the | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
campaign and we have to look at the long-term cost of people getting | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
diabetes and recognise there is a big public health agenda, | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
particularly about exercise, that we need to get hold of. The Prime | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
Minister will know that this is the first opportunity I have had to ask | :23:51. | :24:01. | |
:24:01. | :24:03. | ||
him a question. I stand here fresh and full of hope, so why would give | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
the Prime Minister one more chance to answer the question. People in | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
my constituency and up and down the country faced enormous increases in | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
their energy bills announced by Scottish Power. They need help now. | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
When is the Prime Minister going to keep his promise, made in | :24:19. | :24:26. | |
opposition, to take tough action on it excessive energy prices? As I | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
said in answer some moments ago, we are taking action. There is only a | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
certain amount you can do when you see fuel prices go up by as much as | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
they have over the last year, a 50 % increase in oil and gas, but we | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
do have the warm home in Kuyt -- Discount, the warm front scheme, | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
and making sure that where there are special tariffs, companies have | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
to offer them to their users. That makes a difference and there is the | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
point about the Post Office card account holders who currently don't | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
get all the discounts available to people who paid by direct debit. We | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
are making sure they get the discount. She shakes her head, but | :25:02. | :25:12. | |
:25:12. | :25:17. | ||
in one year that's a lot more than Would my Right Honourable friend | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
congratulate the ladies in Ilkeston who made part of the lace on the | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress. This is the last traditional | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
lace factory here, and that town centre has declined in the recent | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
years over those losses. Would my Right Honourable Friend agree with | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
me that the review into revitalising our town centres has | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
come at a perfect time and time by the Prime Minister to attend our | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
constituents as part of this. would be delighted to come to the | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
constituency. I didn't know that their constituents were responsible | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
for the lace on the Duchess's incredible dress, but I feel I | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
leave today's session enriched by the knowledge. We do want to see | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
the growth in manufacturing and production in Britain, and what we | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
are seeing in the economy, difficult as the months ahead will | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
inevitably be, a growth of things made in Britain, whether that is | :26:10. | :26:18. | |
cars, vans or lace for people stresses. Mr Speaker, the United | :26:18. | :26:27. | |
States secretary of state, Robert Gates, has said - I beg your pardon, | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
Secretary of Defence - has said that the NATO operation in Libya | :26:32. | :26:42. | |
:26:42. | :26:46. | ||
has exposed serious security gaps. A first -- but First Sea Lord, | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
Admiral Mark Stanhope, has said that the operation in Libya cannot | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
be sustained for longer than three months without serious cuts | :26:55. | :27:05. | |
:27:05. | :27:13. | ||
elsewhere. Given those problems... Isn't it time that the Prime | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
Minister reopened at the defence review and did another U-turn on | :27:16. | :27:23. | |
his failed policies? He is called Mark Stanhope, that is his name. I | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
had a meeting of the First Sea Lord yesterday, and he agreed we could | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
sustain the mission as long as we need to, and that is exactly the | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
words that the chief of defence staff used yesterday, because we | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
are doing the right thing. I want one simple message to go out from | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
every part of this government and every part of this House of Commons, | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
that time is on our side. We have got NATO, the United Nations, the | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
Arab League and we have right on our side. The pressure is building, | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
militarily, diplomatically, politically and time is running out | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
for Colonel Gaddafi. On the issue of the defence review, I would say | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
this. For 10 years they haven't had a defence review, now they want to | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
win a row. At the end of this review we have the 4th highest | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
defence budget for any country in the world. We have superb armed | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
forces, superbly equipped and they are doing a great job in the skies | :28:15. | :28:25. | |
:28:25. | :28:27. | ||
By the time PMQs have finished, 450 children will have died from | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
preventable disease and famine. Is it not the case that increasing | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
Britain's aid budget is very much the right thing to do and will save | :28:35. | :28:41. | |
millions of lives across the world. I very much welcome the support | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
from the Honourable Gentleman for the policy of increasing our aid | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
budget and reaching the 0.7 % target of gross national income. I | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
think there are good reasons for doing this. First of all, we are | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
keeping a promise to the poorest people in the poorest countries of | :28:57. | :29:01. | |
the world and we are saving lives. Yes, of course, things are | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
difficult at home but I think we should keep the promise even in the | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
midst of difficulties. The second point I would make is that we are | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
making sure our aid budget is spent very specifically on things like | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
that she Nations for children that will save lives. -- vaccinations. | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
That will mean a child vaccinated every two seconds and a life saved | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
every two minutes. The last point I would make to anyone who has doubts | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
about this issue, is I really do think that as well as saving lives, | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
it is also about Britain's standing for something in the world and | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
standing up for something in the world, the importance of having a | :29:35. | :29:41. | |
strong aid budget, mending broken countries, as well as having an | :29:41. | :29:50. | |
issue as well. In that this carer's week when we celebrate the | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
contribution of Birmingham's care assistants and the loving families | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
who look after their loved ones, will the Prime Minister join with | :29:58. | :30:04. | |
me in condemning Birmingham City Council for cutting care to 4,100 | :30:04. | :30:09. | |
of the most vulnerable in our city, branded unlawful by the High Court. | :30:09. | :30:16. | |
Bank and I asked the Prime Minister what he intends to do to make sure | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
that never again does Birmingham City Council fail the elderly and | :30:18. | :30:24. | |
disabled? I think everybody in the House should welcome that it is | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
Careys week, and I will have a reception in Number Ten tonight to | :30:28. | :30:31. | |
celebrate that with many people who take part and are carers. This | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
government is putting in �400 million to give carers more breaks | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
and specifically putting in �800 million to make sure those looking | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
after disabled children get regular breaks. What we have in Birmingham | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
is an excellent Conservative and Liberal Democrat alliance doing a | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
very good job recovering from a complete mess Labour made of the | :30:51. | :31:00. | |
Last night on Channel 4 television there was documentary called the | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
killing fields, showing the atrocities committed by the Sri | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
Lankan government to the Tamil people which resulted in over | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
40,000 people being killed. Would the Prime Minister join me in | :31:12. | :31:14. | |
calling for justice for the Tamil people and the people who have lost | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
their lives? I didn't see the documentary, but I understand it | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
was an extremely powerful programme and it refers to some very worrying | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
events that are alleged to have taken place towards the end of that | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
campaign. And what the government has said, along with other | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
governments, is that there should Lankan government does need this to | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
be investigated and the UN needs this to be investigated and we need | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
to make sure we get to the bottom of what happened. The Prime | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
Minister will be aware of the shambles of corporate governance | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
which is the duration at Natural Resources Corporation. I would not | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
expect him to give specific comment on it, but would he agree on behalf | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
of millions of pension holders and small shareholders across the | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
country that high standards of corporate governance at the City of | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
London is critical, as is the role of the Financial Reporting Council? | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
I am aware of this problem and the Honourable Gentleman makes | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
important point. We have caused want companies to come to London to | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
access capital to float on the main market, and that is one of the | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
attractions of Britain, that we are an open economy, but when the | :32:18. | :32:20. | |
companies come they have to understand we have rules of | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
corporate governance that are there for a reason and we need to obey | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
the rules, and I'm sure the Chancellor will be addressing this | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
not only in his speech tonight, but also in the papers we will publish | :32:31. | :32:41. | |
in subsequent days. Mr Speaker, does the Prime Minister agree with | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
me that if the coalition government had not adopted the economic policy | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
that it has rather than listen to the advice of the Shadow Chancellor | :32:50. | :32:55. | |
mortgage interest rates could be 5% higher than what they are now? | :32:55. | :32:59. | |
Honourable Friend makes important point. In this country today, | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
tragically, we have agreed levels of government debt that German | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
interest rates. That is an enormous monetary boost to our economy and | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
we should all welcome the cut in unemployment today. If we had not | :33:11. | :33:15. |