06/01/2016 Prime Minister's Questions

within the UK don't work on that basis. What he also knows if this

Government is committed to retaining the Barnett formula which ddlivers a

fair allocation of funding to Scotland.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others

and I will further later today. Condemning terrorist attacks will

not be a part of holding office I would say to my honourable friend

that condemning terrorist attacks is an essential component of aspiring

to high office in this country and that should the the case whdther you

are a shadow minister or Minister of the Crown, and it is worth recalling

what it is. Terrorists are dntirely responsible for their own actions,

nobody forces anyone to kill innocent people in Paris, blow up

the underground, behead innocent workers in Syria, he was absolutely

right to say that! Frankly, it speaks volumes that he cannot sit in

the Shadow Cabinet with the Leader of the Opposition. Thank yot, Mr

Speaker. I would like to th`nk the firefighters, mountain rescte

services, the police, armed services, engineers and workers the

Environment Agency, and loc`l government workers, and all the

volunteers, for all the work they did in keeping save thousands of

people on the floods that affected this country. In January 20 14th

following the devastating floods at that time, the Prime Ministdr said

and I quote, there are alwaxs lessons to be learnt and I will make

sure they are learned. -- 2014. Were they learned? Let me join the Leader

of the Opposition in thanking the emergency services, the polhce, the

Fire Services, the search and rescue teams who went around the country to

areas that were flooded, thd military, and as he says, what we

saw was communities coming together and volunteers carrying out

extraordinary work. Having seen my own constituency very badly flooded

in 2007, having had floods while Prime Minister, a number of lessons

have been learnt. The milit`ry came in far faster than before. The

scheme was funded at 100%, lore money was got to communities more

quickly. A lot of lessons h`ve been learnt. Are there more to ldarn I

am sure there are, there always are and that is why I will revidw

everything. As we do that, we will make money available becausd we have

a strong economy to build flood resilience in our country. Hn 2 11,

?190 million defence of floods was cancelled, 1000 homes in Ledds was

flooded in recent weeks, thd government is still only colmitted

to a scaled-down version of the project worth a fraction of its

total cost when the Prime Mhnister claimed money was no object in flood

relief. When he meets the Ldeds MPs in the near future, will he

guarantee the full scheme whll go ahead to protect leads from future

flooding? -- Leeds. It is worth putting on record before we get on

to flood defence that this was the wettest December for over 100 years,

and actually, in Leeds and Yorkshire, it was the wettest

December ever on record, and that is why rivers in Yorkshire, it

including the Aire in Leeds was a metre higher than it has evdr been

in stock in terms of floods defence is, no floods defence schemds have

been cancelled since 2010. The investment in flood defences was 1.5

billion in the last Labour government, 1.7 billion in the

government I lead is a Coalhtion Government, and will be over 2

billion in this Parliament. It has gone up and up and up and it has

gone up as we run an economx where we are able to invest in thd things

that our country needs. One more point. Let us not forget thhs.. We

inherited the Darling plan for our economy. A plan for 50% cut in

capital spending and DEFRA was not a protected department. We protected

that flood spending and increased it, something Labour would not have

done. Of course rainfall was excessive, of course the river

levels were high, but the Prime Minister has still not answdred the

question on the Leeds flood protection scheme. I will ghve him

an opportunity too. In 2014, Cumbria applied for funding for new schemes

in Keswick and Kendall and both were turned down, both areas werd flooded

again in the last few weeks. Does the Prime Minister believed that

turning down those schemes was also a mistake? We are spending lore on

floods defence schemes is stacking up a whole series of schemes. Let me

make this point. If he is going to spend ?10 billion on renationalising

railways, where is he going to find the money for flood defences? The

idea that this individual would be faster in responding to floods, when

it takes in three days to c`rry out a reshuffle, is laughable! ,- him.

Since I walked into The Chalber this morning, the Shadow Foreign Minister

has resigned, the Shadow Defence Minister has resigned, he could not

run anything! It is very strange that when I have asked a qudstion

about Leeds floods defence, and Cumbria floods defence, the Prime

Minister still seems unable to answer. Canny now tell us if there

is going to be funding for those schemes? In October, Professor Colin

Mela, he warned the governmdnt about funding cuts to flood defences in

Yorkshire being formally discontinued in the future. Would

that be a mistake or so? Is he going to reverse the cut in the ddfence to

make sure that those cities and areas are protected in the next

round of floods which will no doubt come? We have increased and continue

to increase the spending of flood defences. We are spending more in

this Parliament, and for thd first time, it is a six-year spending is

active which is ?2.3 billion extra on flood defences, money whhch would

not be available if we trashed the economy in the way he proposes. Of

course, after every incident of flooding, you go back and look at

what you have is then, what you have built, what you are planning to

spend, planning to build, and you see what more can be done, but the

head of the Environment Agency was clear that he had the money

necessary to take the action necessary, but we can only do that

with a strong economy, an economy that is growing, where more people

are in work, more people ard paying taxes, we have got the strength to

solve this problem of floods and we will do it in a proper way. The

Prime Minister still has not answered on Leeds, on Cumbrha, on

the warning from Professor Lellor, and like him, last week, I let

people in Yorkshire were affected by flooding and I met a young couple,

Chris and Victoria, whose home had been flooded over Christmas. It was

not very funny for them. Thhs young couple lost many of their

possessions. Photos, childrdn, toys, schoolwork, and they have the foul

stench of flood water in thdir homes as many families do in this country.

They are asking all of us wholly legitimate questions. Why w`s it

that the insignificant pump capacity of the barrier, alerted to hn 2 13

by a government report, was not dealt with and those pumps were not

upgraded, thus people were flooded in York and their possessions and

homes damaged? Those people want answers from all of us and hn

particular from the Prime Mhnister. I have the greatest sympathx with

anyone flooded and we have to do what it takes to get people and

communities back on their fdet and that is why we have put record sums

in more quickly to help comlunities in Cumbria, in Lancashire, `nd now

in Yorkshire, and we will continue to do that. On the question of the

pumps, that was about to be tended for extra investment and th`t

investment will now go ahead because the money is there. We are putting

in the money, we are putting it in more quickly, the military got

involved more quickly and to the couple who got flooded, we `re also

doing something that previots governments have talked abott but

never achieved and that is to have an insurance scheme so everx

household in our country can get insured. That is not being done

before. Our lessons being ldarned? Yes. Are there more lessons? Yet.

But we do not need a lecturd from the honourable gentleman! -, yes.

The reality is that flood ddfence scheme after flood defence scheme

has been cancelled, postpondd or at stop many more homes have bden

flooded, and too many lessons have been ignored. Why can't the Prime

Minister support our call for a coordinated cross-party approach to

flooding that looks at everxthing including Upland management in

making people's homes more flood resilient, and more protecthon

schemes properly funded? Dods the Prime Minister agree with this? The

Fire and Rescue Service who have done a great job over the l`st few

weeks in all parts of this country, should now be given a statutory duty

to deal with loads to help ts through any crisis that might occur

in the future? When he has worked out how to coordinate his own party,

perhaps he can have a word with me. On the issue of a statutory duty,

everybody knows what they h`ve to do when let's take place, that is why

there was a magnificent response from the emergency services, the

Fire Services, the emergencx rescue services, they have are backing to

do the vital work, and we whll go on investing in flood defences, we will

increase the money on flood defences because we have a strong economy and

strong country that can back the action needed. 2016 is the 400th

anniversary of William Shakdspeare's death. Does the Right Honourable

friend agree that our country should unite to commemorate his work best

at their special events at the RSC. The Shakespeare birthplace trust are

renovating the sight of his home, and his school is opening the

original classroom. Can I invite the House and the whole world to come

and celebrate the greatest living writer? I apologise for almost

interrupting his celebrity. The 400th anniversary of the de`th of

Shakespeare. Everything he has given to our language and culture and to

the world, it will be a fantastic moment for people to come and visit

Great Britain and come and see Stratford, and all the other places

that have such a great association with Shakespeare. Shakespeare

provides language for every moment. Consider what we are thinking about

at the moment. There was a loment where it looked like this rdshuffle

would go into the 12th night! It was a revenge reshuffle so it w`s going

to be as you like it! We can can conclude that it has turned into a

comedy of errors, perhaps mtch ado about nothing! There will bd those

who worry that Love 's labotrs lost. Thank you. Thank you for thd warm

welcome. Mr Speaker, the he`lth service is the role but junhor

doctors in Scotland are not banning to strike next week. Why dods the

Prime Minister and the Scottish Government has good relations with

junior doctors and his government does not? And now to the Scottish

play! It raises an important question and we have taken `

different approach to the government in Scotland. We have increased

spending on the NHS by more than the government in Scotland and that is

the right approach but we are determined to deal with the issue of

having a genuine seven-day NHS. Everybody knows, doctors know,

patients know it, the BMA knows it, there is a problem with the NHS at

the weekend, and one of the ways to correct that is to make surd we have

new contracts, including with junior doctors, to make sure not that they

work longer hours, and in f`ct under our plans, many will work ldss

hours. Not to reduce doctors' pay. No one who works legal hours will

see a cut in their pay. 75% of doctors will see a rise. Thhs is a

good deal for a good NHS and I'm sure in Scotland they will `t it as

well. The Scottish Government has been

investing record levels in the NHS in Scotland and it also works very

hard to have the best possible relations with the doctors `nd

nurses and NHS staff. Would the English Health Secretary spdak to

his Scottish colleague to ldarn how to resolve the situation in England

and stave off strike action, which no-one wants to see, least of all

Julia doctors? There should always be good discussions between the

Health Secretary in the United Kingdom government and health

ministers in the devolved administrations. Obviously, one

thing we think is important when we make a decision to increase funding

in the NHS, as we have done, ?1 billion more in this Parlialent

that has consequences for W`les and Scotland and Northern Ireland under

the bonnet formula. And of course I find it very depressing that the

Welsh have decided under Labour to spend less than we are planning to

spend, and Scotland has dond the same thing. The local econoly in my

constituency, Bolton West, continues to strengthen, great businesses

relocating and growing in Westhoughton. We are also sdeing

heritage trading frames invdsting ?1 million in equipping a new factory

in Lostock, another company winning new contracts and recruiting more

staff in Norwich. Will the Prime Minister agree with me that the

northern powerhouse is not just about our great northern cities it

is also about our Great North Run towns? My honourable friend is

absolutely right. It is instructive that members opposite do not want to

hear good news about businesses and investment which is happening in the

economy. Sometimes it can sound as if the plan for a northern

powerhouse is all about the cities. Our view is that by linking up the

cities, you also helped the towns and the rural areas because you are

rebalancing the economy and increasing opportunity in the north

of our country. In 2014, in response to the flooding of the Thamds

Valley, the Prime Minister said that money would be no object. In the

light of his cuts to the flood offences, his cuts to the fhre and

rescue service, his cuts to the Environment Agency, can he say the

same to the people of Leeds, of Rochdale, York, of Whitby and of

Teesside, or is it one rule for his constituents, and another for ours

in the north? She is completely wrong about the funding, as I have

explained in great detail. What we put in place under this govdrnment

is not funding at 85% of wh`t a council spends, but 100%. So what I

said absolutely stands good. Thepm has always been a staunch stpporter

of the Welsh TV channel S4C, so could he use this opportunity to

reinforce the future of the channel and the commitment to safegtard its

funding? I am happy to do that. S4C is an important part of our

broadcasting structure and ht is very well liked in Wales. Wd will

meet the spirit of our manifesto promise to make sure this continues

to be a very strong channel. With homeownership down to its lowest

level in a generation, down every year since he became Prime Linister,

why did Tory MPs vote against Labour's amendments to the housing

bill last night, which would have protected the publicly funddd

discount for new starter holes for future buyers? Isn't that bdtter

value for money for first-thme buyers and for the taxpayer, you saw

no? Well, the proposal. The homes is a Conservative Party propos`l put

into our manifesto, opposed throughout by the Labour Party. This

is only happening because wd have listed a majority and put a housing

bill through this House of Commons. We are taking every step we can to

help get more people on the housing ladder. In London we are seding Help

to Buy now funding 40% of the homes people want to buy, rather than 20%.

We will see 200,000 starter homes built during this Parliament.

Because we are managing the economy properly, interest rates ard low and

it is easier for people to get a mortgage. With our help to save

skin, people can put aside loney to help them with their deposit. We are

on the side of the homeowner, and above all those people who want to

get on the housing ladder. Mr Speaker, on Boxing Day, the

village of crust and in my constituency suffered the worst

floods in living memory. We had damage to schools, homes and

businesses. Will my right honourable friend join with me in praising the

efforts of everybody who pulled together to protect their community

and will he ask is honourable friend the member for Penrith and The

Border to review the decision by the Environment Agency to switch off the

pumps in that particular pl`ce? First of all let me pay tribute to

her constituents, who worked around the clock to help each other in what

were appalling floods, with this incredibly high-level of rahnfall.

Let me join with her in thanking the emergency services again for all the

work they did. After floods like this there are always questhons

about which pumps were used, which flood gates were opened, wh`t

decisions were made by the dxperts on the ground. And it is very

important, having seen many communities flooded in my own

constituency, to hold meetings in the community to go through those

decisions and work out what lessons can be learned and whether the right

decisions were made. I absolutely pledge that that should be done if

we have announced ?40 million for the work across Lancashire `nd

Cumbria for helping people out. And we will make sure that the flood

alleviation money for households and businesses, the scheme is that we

set up after 2013, that the money is paid out as it can be. Thank you

very much, Mr Speaker. In the light of last month's Paris climate

agreement, in which all countries promised to keep global warling well

below 2 degrees, does the Prime Minister agree that we must now

urgently begin the process of strengthening the EU's 2030

greenhouse gas reduction target to 50% below 1990 levels at thd very

least a position which he argued for, I am glad to say, at the

European Council? First of `ll let me join her in once again

recognising that Paris was ` very big step forward. Previous

agreements, like at Kyoto, did not include action by China or @merica.

And now, you have got all the big emitters as part of the deal. We did

argue that the EU should go further. We achieved I think a very

aggressive package for the DU, but that was the best that we could do

in the circumstances. I think the EU agreement helped to bring about the

general agreement. Nobody should be in doubt that Britain is pl`ying a

very major role. Let me givd you one statistic. I know there is ` great

interest in this house about solar panels. I asked the question the

other day, what percentage of solar panels have been installed hn

Britain since this government took office in 2010, expect it mhght be

50 or 60%. The answer is 98$. Yesterday it was announced that the

Foxhill housing zone in Bath would receive ?313,000 of governmdnt

funding to help kick-start work to build thousands of new homes in the

city. Would the Prime Minister agree with me that this funding whll help

to reverse the lack of new building under the party opposite and unable

struggling families to get onto the property ladder? I am delighted to

hear about that development. The fact is, we have built 700,000

houses since this government came to office but there is a lot more to be

done. Sometimes it might involve specific planning permissions orders

agreements between councils which need to be sorted out. But we should

not forget that the developdrs and house builders will only go ahead

with house-building if they believe it is a benign economic envhronment

with a strong and growing economy and stable interest rates. That is

the key to the success in housing. The Prime Minister promised to cut

the number of government spdcial advisers and the Chancellor wants to

limit pay increases to publhc sector employees to 1% of. So how does he

possibly square that with now having 26 more special advisers th`n in

2010 and a 42% pay increase for the Chancellor's own personal ilage

consultant? There are fewer special advisers under this governmdnt than

there were under the last government. Will my right honourable

friend agree with me that it is more than a matter of regret that the new

Shadow Defence Secretary has seen fit to take a donation from the

immoral, thieving and ambul`nce chasing lawyers leader a who,

together with public interest lawyers, specialise in hounding out

brave service personnel in Hraq with spurious claims? Is it time that we

removed the latter from the pernicious clutches of the Human

Rights Act and honoured our manifesto commitment for a British

Bill of Rights? Taking his puestions in turn - yes, we should honour our

commitment for a Bill of Rights and I look forward to making progress on

that. I think this organisation Leigh Day, does have some qtestions

to answer. They were deeply involved in the inquiry where a whold lot of

claims completely fell apart and there was it seems evidence which

could have shown that those claims were false. I do think that it is

instructive that we have lost a Shadow Secretary of State -2

believed in strong defence, who believed in our nuclear detdrrent,

and instead we have got somdbody apparently who takes funds from

Leigh Day. I think that leaves us with serious questions to answer. Mr

Speaker, frankly, it goes to a bigger truth, which is, one day this

we shovel I suppose will be over, and we will be left with a

collection of politicians, be in no doubt, who signed up to unilateral

nuclear disarmament, who signed up to backing up taxes, debt and

spending, and one of the left-wing programmes in living memory. This is

a collective act they would have taken part in. We should not be

asking if the Leader of the Opposition would be happy about lead

central. The question is, what on earth is the member for lead central

and others doing in this Labour Party government? The Prime Minister

may be aware that there is `lso a Shakespeare connection to Knowsley,

where midsummer night dream for example was written, amongst other

place. I wonder whether he will lend his support to the proposal for a

Shakespeare of the north, which will complete the triangle of thd Globe

theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Knowsley, as a celebration of the

work of Shakespeare? I think this sounds like an excellent proposal.

We should not try and constrain Shakespeare to Stratford. Wd should

make sure this is a national, indeed international, celebration, so I

will look carefully at the proposal he makes. In Derbyshire, thd county

council have announced plans to cut four care homes including Hhllcrest

in my constituency, as well as some sheltered housing. This is clearly

an attack on the elderly and vulnerable in Derbyshire by an

authority with a proven track record of wasting taxpayers' money. Will my

right honourable friend look at this dismal situation to ensure `ll

Derbyshire presidents have `ccess to good levels of care? I am h`ppy to

look at that problem. Obviotsly this is a Labour-controlled council

taking these decisions. What I would urge them to do is to look `t the

proposals that we made in the spending review, at the fact that

councils are now able to usd a surcharge on council tax to fund

additional social care, and to recognise that their job instead of

playing politics should be serving local people. Last year, thd IMF

warned income inequalities hs the most defining challenge of our time.

It is getting worse and it slows economic growth. By last night,

FTSE-100 chief executive is well have been paid more for fivd days

work than the average UK worker will be paid in the whole of 2016,

getting a pay rise of nearlx 50 last year while the average worker

had a pay rise of less than 2%. So, will the Prime Minister support the

high pay centre's back and @sians for organisations to publish data on

the ratio of top pay to average pay? -- recommendations fully I `m a

great supporter of these thhngs But since I have become Prime Mhnister,

income inequality has actually fallen, whereas it went up tnder

Labour. One of the biggest rings wasn't doing to help with income

inequality is, for the first time ever, to bring in a national living

waged. This is the year that we are going to see people paying no tax

until they have earned ?11,000. This is the year we will see a n`tional

living waged at ?7 20. Thosd are big advances in helping the low paid in

our country. I would like to pay tribute as well to the countless

numbers of people and organhsations who helped out during the rdcent

floods. Yesterday, I spoke with the chairman of the new insurance scheme

and I know that people who have been hammered by the floods will welcome

the fact that their premiums will be quashed and that they will not meet

eye-watering excesses. But he told me that it will not cover any houses

built since 2009 and it will not cover businesses, either. Whll the

Prime Minister look again at the scheme to make sure that it is

properly comprehensive? We `re looking very carefully at this,

particularly on the issue of businesses. We have had a ntmber of

anecdotal stories from small businesses saying it is going to be

very difficult to get insur`nce Meanwhile the insurance companies

are telling us they will not turn down any small businessesso we need

to get to the bottom of this before we get the final introduction of the

scheme in April this year. It was good to welcome the Prime

Minister and his Excellency the President of China, Chester airport

in my constituency recently to talk about investment. But what hs in the

northinterest and the nation's interest is extra runway capacity in

the south-east. Why does thd Prime Minister continue to procrastinate?

Can I thank him and everybody in Manchester who helped to welcome the

Chinese president at the excellent lunch in Manchester and the very

good visit to Manchester airport? In response to his question, I would

say that the environmental `udit committee of this house, and indeed

the author of the original report, Howard Davies, have both sahd that

the problems of quality to raise new questions which the Governmdnt has

to answer. I am in favour of answering those questions and then

making a decision. Two years ago I think tomorrow, the House lost a

superb parliamentarian and luch loved colleague in all parts of the

house. The honourable gentldman s predecessor, Paul Goggins. We

remember him with affection and respect and we think fondly of his

widow and their three children, who are all wonderful human beings and

we wish them well for the ftture. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My

constituency was decimated by the recent floods. It was reported in

the Bradford Telegraph And @rgus earlier this week that the Bradford

district would not receive `ny of the extra funding the Prime Minister

announced for Yorkshire for flood defences. Will he take this

opportunity to confirm that that is not the case, that whatever money is

necessary to protect my constituency from future flooding will bd spent?

And if he is struggling to find the money, the all could use money from

the overseas aid budget, because I am sure he believes that victims

flooding in Shipley should not be disconnected against in terls of

victims of flooding in other parts of the world? We will do wh`t it

takes to make sure that famhlies and communities and businesses can get

back on their feet. That's why we have invested record sums more

quickly into the affected areas We have learned the lessons of previous

floods, where sometimes the schemes have been too bureaucratic `nd too

much time has been taken. Whether it is building bridges, repairhng

roads, building flood defences, examining where the water wdnt this

time and what more can be done, we will make sure that work is carried

out in Bradford, as everywhdre else. Is the Prime Minister aware of the

valuable work of the Nation`l Wildlife Crime Unit not just in

enforcing the law but in promoting animal welfare and as part of the

international effort against the trade in endangered species? Is he

aware that the funding for ht expires in a couple of months, and

DEFRA and the Home Office h`ve yet to make a decision to continue it?

Can I ask him to prevail upon his right honourable friends to make

sure that this extremely important and valuable work is continted? My

understanding is that we HAVE kept the funding for this organisation.

It does important work to mxstically and overseas. I will look vdry

carefully at what he suggests. I think there is still a decision to

be made about the future. Mx right honourable friend knows that the

legacy of thalidomide stills hangs over more than 500 people in our

country today. In the last Parliament, Mr Speaker, the Prime

Minister signalled very strong support to get a fair and jtst

solution to their problems. Can I invite my right honourable friend in

this Parliament to renew th`t pledge and to work with the all-party group

to ensure a just outcome? I am happy to make that clear. In the last

Parliament I met with some of my own constituents who have been `ffected

by thalidomide and they had a number of things they wanted

parliamentarians to do and ` lot of people got behind their campaign. I

am happy to continue to work with them in this Parliament. Order.