18/11/2015 Prime Minister's Questions

will lead to a flight of talent from Wales. Questions to the Prime

Minister. This morning, I had ministers -- meetings with my

ministerial colleagues Mr Speaker, may I associate myself

and the whole house with what the Government have said about the

attacks in Paris. People in Blackpool were among those murdered

on a Tunisian beach, and our tower was lit in red white and blue for

those killed by terrorist in France. I raised an issue about

neighbourhood policing and security being threatened by the scale of

proposed cuts, and the Lancashire funding formula which has now been

admitted to be flawed. Can I reflect him -- asking to reflect on the

words, when facts change, change my mind, and when local intelligence

can be crucial against, perhaps this isn't the time to jeopardise it with

arbitrary Treasury cuts. I thank the honourable gentleman for what he

says about Paris and the importance of the whole house coming together

over this issue, and perhaps the house would like a brief update. One

British and, Nick Alexander, was killed at the Bataclan Theatre.

Three other British National Party now been released from hospital and

returned to the UK. The Foreign Office and red cross of providing

support for at least another 15 nationals for trauma. We will be

providing support for all of those affected by what happened. There has

been news from France this morning in terms of terrorist arrests, and I

can say more about that later on. On policing, what I would say to the

honourable gentleman is that we have quite rightly in this Parliament

protected counter-terrorism policing. We are going to protect

that again in this Parliament. What we have done in terms of policing

otherwise is we have seen an increase in neighbourhood officers

over the course of the parliament, and a 31% cut in crime. Let me

commend the police, not just counter-terrorism police but all

police, for the work they do, and we will announce our proposals next

week. Mr Speaker, as our hearts go out to the people of France at this

time, will the Prime Minister agree with me that the first duty of Her

Majesty is government must be to protect British citizens from harm?

So will he take immediate action to secure our UK borders from those who

threaten our nation, and on security grounds alone, restore complete

sovereignty over our British borders from the European Union? I think my

honourable friend raises a very important question, and I want to

explain in answering a very important point, which is because

the UK is not only Schengen Area, we already retain full control over who

is entering our country, and we are able to check all entrants at the

border, EU nationals and EEA nationals included. On the house

might be interested to know that since 2010 we have refused entry to

almost 6000 EU national, and many of these were stopped at our border

controls in Calais. In terms of other people we have stopped, since

2010 we had denied entry to nearly 19 -- 95,000 people, and one of the

principal reasons for not letting people in is national security

concerns. We have that situation already because we are not in the

Schengen Area. THE SPEAKER: Mr Jeremy Corbyn.

I want to start, Mr Speaker, by expressing the horror of all those

on this side of the house at the events in Paris on Friday evening,

and our concern you'd -- continued solidarity with all victims, whether

they be in Paris, Beirut, Ankara, Damascus or anywhere in the world.

We know that at least one British and has been killed, and many more

injured. Many British people live and work in Paris, millions visit

Paris and France every year. Can the Prime Minister continue what he was

saying earlier in response to my friend the member from Blackpool in

terms of giving support to the British affected by the attacks, and

what the Government's latest advices on travelling to France and our need

to show the best possible normality in relations with the French

people? I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his remarks and I say

what a pleasure it was to be with him last night at the England-France

football match, where I thought there was a tremendous display of

solidarity. I'm sure they can say in the Marseille is louder in the Stade

de France, but I was proud to be there. There is never any

justification for terrorism, and we can all be clear about that at all

times. He asked specifically what we could do more to help British people

caught up in his problems. Peter Ricketts, our ambassador in France,

is doing a brilliant job, and I'm keeping my eye closely on the

consular situation. In terms of travel advice, it is all on the

Foreign Office website, but I agree with him, the most important thing

is for people to carry on with their lives. It is important that the

Eurostar continues to function, flights continue to go, people

continue to travel to enjoy London and Paris and go about our business.

Yes we need enhanced security, and that is happening with the way that

the police are acting here in the UK and elsewhere, but one of the ways

to defeat terrorism is to show them that we will not be cowed. We know

that sadly after such atrocities as we have seen, intolerance often

increases. Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, racism. Will the

Prime Minister agree with me that it is vital that everyone in public

life, particularly politicians, are careful about how we discuss these

issues, and will he also join with me in making it very clear that the

dreadful events of terrorism in Paris have nothing in common

whatsoever with the 2 million British Muslims in this country who

are as appalled as anyone else by the events in Paris last Friday? I

will happily join the right honourable gentleman in that. Some

of the strongest and best statements have been made by a whole series of

magician Muslims coming together to say that these attacks are in no way

carried out in their name. But I do think it raises an important issue,

which cannot be said often enough, that these watches of Isil are no

reflection of the true religion of Islam, which is a religion of peace.

But at the same time, we do have to recognise that whether these

terrorists are in Tunisia or Egypt or Paris or London they spout the

same bile that they claim comes from the religion of Islam, and that is

why we have to take apart what they say and prove that that is not the

case. It is not good enough to say there is no connection between these

terrorist and Islam, they are making a connection. We need to prove that

it is not right, and the support of Muslim scholars is absolutely vital

and I commend them for their work. Surely a crucial way to help defeat

Isil is to cut off its funding, its supply of arms and its trade. Can I

press the Prime Minister to ensure that our allies in the region and

all countries in the region are doing all they can to clamp down on

individuals and institutions in their countries who are providing

Isil with vital infrastructure, and will he, through the European Union

and other forums if necessary, consider sanctions against those

banks and companies and if necessary countries who turn a blind eye to

financial dealings with Isil which assist them in their work? We do

play a leading role, as I said yesterday, in making sure that the

supply of money and weapons and support is cut off, but I think we

should be clear about where Isil got their money from originally. What

happened was that because we didn't have a Government in Iraq that

effectively represented all of its people, and because in Syria you

have a leader who is butchering his own people, Isil was able to get

hold of oil, get hold of weapons, get hold of territory, get hold of

banks, and it is that that they have been able to use in order to fund

their hatred and violence, and so we cannot dodge for ever the question

of how to degrade and destroy Isil both in Iraq and in Syria, and that

is why I will be setting out my response to the foreign affairs

select committee. So yes, go after the money, the banks, cut off their

supplies, but don't make that a substitute for the action that is

required to beat these people where they are.

Next week the Chancellor will present his Autumn Statement stood a

house. Can the prime and is to clarify something about the source

of the necessary extra funding to be set out for the security services

which we support. Will it come at the expense of other areas, either

within the Home Office budget or a win in other areas of public

spending, or from new funding? Does he want to go on longer so that the

Chancellor can explain the answer to him? We will set out in full our

decisions next week, but we have already said that we will be funding

an increase in the security services of 1900 personnel, safeguarding the

counterterrorism budget, and we will be seeing an increase in terms of

aviation security. All of this is part of an overall spending

settlement. At the same time as funding our security, increasing our

defence spending, we have to make decisions that eradicate our budget

deficit and keep our economy strong. We don't do that just for the common

-- current generation, we do it for our children and grandchildren,

because none of these things, not even strong defence, is possible

without a strong economy. I am not sure where the money is coming from

following the Prime Minister's answer, but no doubt it will come.

London has been targeted by terrorists before, and this weekend

was Mike events in Paris have focused attention not just on London

but also other cities throughout the whole of Britain. Policing plays a

vital role in community cohesion, gathering intelligence of those who

may be about to be a risk to all of us. But this is surely undermined if

we cut the number of police officers by 5000. Does the Prime Minister

agree with the commission of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Bernard

Hogan-Howe, who said, I quote, I genuinely worry about safety of

London if the cuts go through on this scale? The right honourable

gentleman asks where the money comes from. We on this side of the house

never forget that every penny we spend comes from taxpayers. Borrowed

money is simply taxes that are deferred, and that is why it is so

important to eradicate our deficit at the same time as making sure we

find our security intelligence services and police properly. We are

protecting the counterterrorism budget. We see a 3800 increasing

neighbourhood police officers in the last parliament at the same time as

a 31% increase in -- 31% cut in crime. The Shadow Home Secretary has

said that a 10% efficiency target for the police is doable. Is the

Leader of the Opposition saying that he doesn't agree with his Shadow

Home Secretary? There does seem to be a little bit of disagreement on

the opposition front bench today. I have a question from a taxpayer,

actually. And his name is John, and he says, at a time...

LAUGHTER SHOUTING.

At a time when we are facing the greatest threat from terrorism ever

faced, police numbers and resources are cut. Demands on the police have

been increasing steadily as budgets are slashed, increasing stress on

officers. Couple that with detrimental changes to their pay,

terms, conditions and pensions, it is no wonder that morale in the

police force is so poor, one in three are considering leaving the

force. Will he be able to tell us whether or not this community

policing and other police budgets are protected or not in next week's

Autumn Statement? Let me tell him again, neighbourhood

policing numbers have gone up by 3800. In the capital city, we have

seen a 500% increase in neighbourhood policing. We have

also, because we have cut bureaucracy, but the equivalent of

an extra 2000 police on the streets. But I will tell the Leader of the

Opposition something. As well as wanting resources, the police want

the appropriate powers. And hasn't come to something when the leader of

Her Majesty Osman opposition thinks that the police when fronted by a

Kalashnikov waving terrorist isn't sure what the reaction should be!

Mr Speaker, the attacks on Paris were quite clearly an attack on all

of us. Does the Prime Minister agree that our resolve must be

unbreakable? We should hunt down Isil wherever it is operating,

wherever it is planning, wherever it is plotting, and if that means shoot

to kill, then so be it, and if that means action in Syria, then so be

it. I think my Hywel Poole friend is right. What I have said is that in

order to respond to this very severe threat that we face, we need focus

on counterterrorism here in the United Kingdom giving our

intelligence agencies the laws they need, giving our police the powers

they need, and making sure we are vigilant. We need counter extremism

as we were discussing earlier, the importance of stopping the poisoning

of these young minds, not least through these radical preachers on

the Internet. But we also need to stop the problems at their source.

We know where much of this problem is coming from. It is Isil, not just

in Iraq, but in Syria. What I said to the house yesterday is I will

prepare a detailed report to demonstrate that we do have a clear

strategy of bringing in the neighbourhood powers, bringing in

the regional powers, building a future for these countries and

stability in the least, but I believe part of that is taking

action against Isil wherever it is. In the wake of terrorist outrages

and the ongoing civil war in Syria it is very welcome that there is

significant diplomatic progress in trying to find a solution to the

Syrian crisis. The UK joined the United States and France and Russia

and Iran at talks in Vienna at the weekend and all signed a communique

committing progress through the United Nations. Will he confirm that

he will support a UN Security Council resolution on this before

seeking to intervene Mellitah rally in Syria? I am grateful for asking

this question. Russia has different aims to ours and have obediently

threatened to veto any such resolution. -- repeatedly. It is

always preferential to have the full backing of the United Nations

Security Council but what matters most of all is that any action we

would take would both be legal and would help protect our country and

our people right here. You cannot outsource to a Russian veto the

decisions we need to debar country safe. The first survey of UK public

opinion on military intervention since the Paris attacks has shown

52% believe that the UK should engage with all countries to

coordinate an appropriate response Mellitah Relay or otherwise backed

by United Nations resolution and only 15% believe the UK should

independently launch our strikes. Will he commit to giving a

commitment to secure a UN Security Council resolution, which the UK and

Russia agreed to? I could not be clearer. Of course it is or was

preferential in whatever action you are taking, whether lifting people

out of the Mediterranean or taking action in the Middle East against

Isil, it is always preferential to have a you, United Nations Security

Council resolution but is they are threatened with veto again and again

my job is not to read an opinion poll but to do the right thing to

debar country safe. -- keep our. The French armed police, who stormed the

Bataclan and killed those vile murderous scum are heroes and so are

the British armed forces who protect our public spaces and people. Will

the Prime Minister sent a note of unequivocal support to those

officers on patrol and ensure that in the review next week they have

the resources they need to keep us safe? I absolutely agree. We ask the

police every day to take risks on our behalf and let me thank the

police who policed so effectively the game at Wembley last night. In

terms of the French police the House would welcome an update. We have

seen the news of an operation in Paris, two suspects have died, seven

arrests made, this operation has finished. We should all bravery of

the French police handling with what is a very challenging situation. I.

I hope that can be consensus right across the House. If we are

confronted with a situation like this the British police should not

be in any doubt. If you have a terrorist who is threatening to kill

people you can and must use force. -- lethal force. President Obama

said I have emphasised the importance of tax credits to help

working families afford childcare and keep families in the workplace.

Does he agree with the importance the president of the United States

has attached to tax credits? What is important is that we do the best we

can to help low-paid people and that is why we are taking people out of

income tax. 3 million of the lowest paid taken out of income tax since I

became Prime Minister. An ?11,000 threshold before B will have to

start paying tax at all. Helping working families with childcare,

helping a national Living Wage starting next year, something I

suspect President Obama would love to introduce in the United States.

We are doing it here. Integrating health and social care would be a

great prize for devolved cities and regions. Without effective

democratic and clinical overstate things can go badly wrong. Already

in Manchester a major hospital reorganisation is waiting judicial

review. Can I ask him to ensure that proper safeguards are in place so

the local authorities retain a last resort to refer NHS changes or

independent clinical reviews? I will look carefully at what he says. This

goes to a larger point which is we are currently changing the way our

country is run. These big devolution deals in Greater Manchester and

Liverpool and the West Midlands mean we are going to have powerful Metro

wheres who are accountable to local people for their decisions they

made, which as I direct form of accountability and we can be

confident of devolving health and social care to those authorities.

Our country has been too centralised for too long. Our northern cities

will benefit from these massive devolution deals but if we devolved

the power and the money we have to devolve the trust and the

accountability as well. Against the backdrop of a tidal wave of local

job losses, the Teesside collective industrial carbon capture is the

very real potential to secure a major StepChange in our industrial

renaissance. Ahead of the Paris conference will he meet with me and

the industrial leaders driving this project so we can secure these

immense climate change games with the UK leading this industrial

revolution and make this initiative a reality for Teesside and the UK? I

know how important it is that we all work on behalf of Teesside not least

because of the difficulties that have been in Redcar and that is why

we have the task force and that is why the additional resources are

going in. I am happy to look at the project he docs about. It may be

best for him to meet with the Energy and Climate Change Secretary. We

have to make decisions about all of these technologies. In my

constituency of North Warwickshire manufacturing is thriving thanks to

innovative small businesses such as one group who are creating

high-quality local jobs and apprenticeships in engineering.

Given the challenges these types of company fees in finding traditional

funding support what assurances can you give that this Conservative

government understands the importance of our innovators and

will continue to provide initiatives such as the annual investment fund

to ensure British businesses continue to lead the way? We want to

rebalance the British economy, not just in terms of the devolution of

power, but also CE is thriving manufacturing sector. Manufacturers

want to see continued investment into the captive bolt centres that

do a good job of making sure technology taken up, strong support

for the apprenticeship programme, and they also want to make the

annual investment allowance permanent and it will be at ?200,000

throughout this parliament so that manufacturing companies and others

who want to make investments now they can do so in a way that will be

profitable. My niece is safe and well having been caught up in the

aftermath of the Paris attacks and she wants to know as a student for

three years in Paris whether this country is going to be safe on her

return? She is worried about the cuts to the ambulance, the police

under services in this country and whether we will be prepared with

those cuts to be as prepared as those in Paris. I want to know why

we are not joining with the Russians to get a UN mandate to remove Isis

from Syria. I am glad to year that his niece is safe after these

terrible attacks. To answer her question, we are doing everything we

can to make sure this country is safe. After the intelligence we had

some years ago about the potential of a marauding firearms attack at

multiple locations and perhaps the capital city or elsewhere we have

run exercises, done research, looked at everything we can, to make sure

that ambulances and crews will be able to go into a hot zone and

recover casualties, that we have the right number of armed police in the

different parts of our country, that we can respond including using other

forces, and we have looked at what the French have done in terms of

surging troops onto the street and we have made sure that can happen

here. There's never a 100% guarantee of safety but we are doing

everything possibly can. I warmly congratulate the Prime Minister on

new funding that has been announced for special forces equipment, but

may I draw his attention to the plight of David and Maria Summers

who have struggled to obtain a permanent residency for Maria

despite being married for 45 years? Did he encourage officials to look

again at this case? I am happy to look again at this case but it gives

me the opportunity given the constituency he represents to say

something about a group of people that we see very little about

because we do not comment on their amazing work, but Hereford is an

important part of the nation's security domestic league and

overseas. Very brave people work there and we should give them

credit. My constituent was a soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan and is

currently training to be a doctor in London. He told me that with the

proposed in your doctors contracts morale in the NHS is law than at any

other point during his time on the front line. Does he agree that Loma

rile amongst our junior doctors is a threat to patient safety? -- low

morale. Please look very carefully at what the government is offering

before you decide to go one strike because what is on offer is not an

increase in hours, for many doctors it will mean life long hours, it is

not a cut in the pay bill for junior doctors, it is an 11% basic pay

increase. It will mean a better rostering of doctors including at

weekends with more support for consultants. Go on the Department of

Health website, look at the calculator and see how you will be

affected because we have given a guarantee that anyone working legal

hours will not be worse off under this contract. This is good for the

NHS, good for doctors, patients, good for patients and I hope the BMA

will call off their damaging strike. Fundamental to the success of the

Good Friday Agreement was the spirit of peace and reconciliation that saw

dozens or hundreds of convicted terrorist released from prison. Many

had been found guilty of murder. Yet in the last week we hear the

alarming news of a 66-year-old former paratrooper being arrested in

connection with events that took place 43 years ago. In a week we are

all having to once again contemplate sending our young men and women into

harm's way with our security services on high alert, what message

does this send to our armed forces and security services? I understand

his concern that the feeling that many will have on seeing this news

but the truth is about our country is one of the most important things

about it is the government does not decide who is prosecuted and who is

not. We have the rule of law, independent prosecuting authorities.

This is something people across the world pride out for and we have here

and we have to support them even when they take decisions that

sometimes we want attention. Yesterday the principal parties in

Northern Ireland came together and agreed a deal to make sure that the

devolved institutions and continue to work. That deal involved people

who have lost loved ones to terrorism, who have been opposed to

each other all of their lives, sitting down and working together to

try to deliver good government for this part of the United Kingdom and

that is what we should look to to the future. The decision last week

by HMRC to close their offices in Bradford will mean the loss of over

2000 high school high wage jobs, 1.2 million in business rates and almost

12 million of the district's retail step goal spending which will have a

devastating impact on Bradford. And you give me assurances that HMRC

will meet with Bradford MPs to consider the clear economic and

social case for keeping those offices in Bradford open? I am happy

to ask the financial secretary to meet with the local MPs. We will

make sure that Jobcentre plus and all of the supporters there for

people who potentially are their jobs. In Bradford, the claimant

count is down by 26% in the last year so jobs are available. It is a

difficult and important point I am going to make, everyone in this

House wants to see HMRC raise more money and make sure that people and

companies do not avoid their taxes and that means reform and it means

to make sure that HMRC is even more effective in raising the taxes on

which our public services depend. Acknowledging that sport can bring a

nation together and nations together, as demonstrated at Wembley

last night, which he ensure that in addition to the welcome extra

investment in the police and security services, investment in

sports such as cricket will be maintained because they are a tool

to help us face longer term challenges in integrating

communities? I am sure over the next week the spending requests will

quicken as we get closer to the spending review. It is important we

have put in place the school sport premium for primary schools and it

is making a real difference. There is a role for the sporting bodies to

play. Many receive large amounts of money from the television contracts

and the more of them that the more of them that can use that to ensure

we are bringing on the young stars of tomorrow, that is absolutely

vital. As the new leader of the anti-austerity movement in

Oxfordshire, can he tell us how his campaign is going? What I said to my

local council is what I say to every council, which is you have to get

more for less, not less for more. On this side of the House we want to

make sure that every penny that is raised in council tax is well spent

and if his council would like to come in and get the same advice I

will gladly oblige. At a time when he saw rightly emphasises the need

for our solidarity with France, and I asked if he can see what he can do

to ensure that the Franco British Council set up over 40 years ago to

promote civil society partnership can continue to do its important

work in fields as diverse as defence and community cohesion? Without a

very small amount of funding from both governments it will not be able

to do that. I am happy to look at that proposal. France and Britain

have a lot to learn from each other and we should enter into these

discussions in that spirit. We have a lot to learn about integrating

people into our country, about how we have effective counter-terrorism

policing, about how to share intelligence, and I am committed to

making sure we burst you all of those things with France. Wigan

council has had a cut in funding over the last five years and lost a

third of its staff. Does he advise I should write to the leader of the

council regarding the reduction or should I place the blame firmly

where it belongs, with his government? If he is looking for

someone to blame she might want to blame the Labour Party which left

the country with the biggest budget deficit anywhere in the Western

world. The advice I would give her about her local council is to look

at its overall spending power, the combination of business rates,

council tax and Grant and ask what money they have got to provide local

services. Points of order come after the

urgent question. But we will hear from him then.

Order. Urgent question, Sir Gerald power. -- Howarth. Further to the

question asked by my honourable friend, may I ask the Secretary of

State for Northern Ireland, if she will make a statement about the

arrest of a former member of the parachute regiment on duty in

Londonderry in January 1972? Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable

member for his question. As part of the ongoing investigation by the

PSNI into the events surrounding Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in

1972, a former soldier was arrested for questioning on the 10th of

November. Only he were subsequently released on bail. Criminal Court

investigations are a message -- matter for police to