23/03/2016 Prime Minister's Questions

businesses in Scotland that will benefit from a cut in corporation

tax. As he is he saying he opposes that?

THE SPEAKER: Order. Questions to the Prime Minister.

Sir Peter Bottomley. A Belfast prison of the died last

week as a result of injuries caused by a bomb placed under his vehicle.

A murder investigation is under way, a man has been charged, but we

should offer our condolences to the family and friends. Let me also

briefly update the house on the attacks yesterday in Brussels.

Details are emerging, but at least 34 people were killed and many

others injured. Daesh claimed responsibility, following their

attack in Istanbul. We are aware of for British nationals injured, and

we are concerned about one missing British national. We face a common

terror threat and I am sure the whole house will join me in

expressing our solidarity with the people of Belgium. I spoke to the

Belgian Prime Minister yesterday to pass on our condolences, our police

and agencies are doing everything they can to support. We have

increased police patrols and border screening here. The Home Secretary

will make a statement later setting out the steps we are taking. Britain

and Belgium share the same values of liberty and democracy, the

terrorists want to destroy everything that we stand for, but we

will never let them. I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and

others this morning, and I shall have further such meetings later

today. Bombers aim for public reaction and this unity. Can we

disappoint them by uniting for hope, not hate? He is absolutely right to

say that. These people packed their explosives with nails to kill as

many innocent people, women and children, as they could, and we

should unite in condemnation, stand with the people and Government of

Belgium and with all countries afflicted by this appalling menace

and say they shall never went. I wish to support the words just said

by the member for Worthing and the Prime Minister in solidarity with

the people of Belgium and the victims of the horrific attacks that

have taken place in Brussels and Ankara in the last few days. We pay

respect and tribute to their families and friends and enormous

respect to the emergency services of all the nominations for the huge

work they have done to save life. We must defend our security and values

in the face of such outrages and refuse to be drawn into a cycle of

violence and hatred. We take pride in our societies of diverse faiths,

and creeds, and we will not allow those who seek to divide us to

succeed. My right honourable friend will respond on behalf of the Labour

Party to the Home Secretary. I also joined the Prime Minister in sending

my deepest condolences to the man's wife and daughters, the people of

Northern Ireland chose to follow the path of peace when they widely

adopted the Good Friday agreement, the actions of an unrepresented few

should not change the course supported by the overwhelming

majority of people. On a different subject altogether, last week I got

a letter from Adrian, he said, I am disabled and live in constant fear

of my benefits being reassessed and stopped and being forced onto the

street. Could the Prime Minister do what the Chancellor failed to do

yesterday and apologise to those who went through such anguish and upset

during the threat of cuts in their personal independence payment? Let

me thank the right honourable gentleman for what he said about the

terrorist attacks in Belgium and for what he said about Northern Ireland

and the fact that we have achieved so much peace and progress in that

valuable part of the UK. Turning to the issue of disability benefits, as

I said on Monday, when you are faced with having to take very many very

difficult decisions, including many spending reductions, as we were

after becoming the Government in 2010, you do not always get every

decision right. I am the first to admit that, and on every occasion

that happens it is important you learn the lessons of. But we will

continue to increase spending on disability benefits, which will be

?46 billion more a year by the end of this Parliament, to pay to I

became Prime Minister. Government figures published only this morning

showed the number of people with disabilities and homeless is now up

by 39% since 2010. 300,000 more disabled people are living in

absolute poverty. That is why people like Adrian are very worried, there

has been big disarray in the cabinet, so can the Prime Minister

now absolutely, categorically rule out any further cuts to welfare

spending in the lifetime of this Parliament? Simply, yes or no? Let

me respond to the point he made. He talked about the number of people in

poverty, we have seen poverty fall over this Parliament. Secondly, he

referred to the regrettable rise in homelessness, with figures out

today, but it is still 58% below the peak that it reached under Labour,

that is important. They talked about the number of disabled people, this

is a Government committed to supporting the disabled, but in the

last two years there are extra 293,000 disabled people who got it

to work. We want to continue as we have set out in our manifesto to

close that this ability gap. As for the question about further welfare

reductions, let me repeat a statement that the new secretary

made on Monday, the Chancellor made on Tuesday. I dealt with these

issues on Monday. If he does not ask the questions, I get the answers,

even if he had not given the questions, but we are not planning

additional welfare savings other than the one that we set out in our

manifesto and that are in train. My question was actually about the

poverty of people with disabilities, which the Prime Minister did not

answer. In his failure to explain how he would fill the hole in his

Budget left by the change of heart on the IP, the Chancellor said, we

can absorb such changes. If it is so easy to absorb changes of this

nature, why did the Chancellor and the Prime Minister ever and answered

in the first place? Will he now listen and learn and withdraw the

?30 a week cut to disabled ESA claimants, which is Government is

pursuing? The changes have been through both Houses of Parliament,

and it is important to note that employment and support allowance for

the most disabled, the support group, are up by ?650 a year under

this Government, we have increased the higher rate of attendance

allowance, carers allowance, the enhanced rate of PIP, because a

stronger economy should support the most disabled people, and that is

what we have legislated to do. If he wants to get on to discussing black

holes, I say, bring on the argument, because we inherited an 11% Budget

deficit from the Labour Party. Under this team of ministers and this

Chancellor, we have cut that deficit by two thirds since we became the

Government. From Labour, all we have had is more proposals for more

spending, more welfare, more taxes, more debt, all of the things that

got us into the biggest mess with the biggest Black hole in the first

place. If it is also fine and dandy, why did the member for Chingford

feel it necessary to resign as Work and Pensions Secretary, complaining

that the cuts being announced were to fit arbitrary fiscal targets? He

said they were distinctly political rather than in the national economic

interest. If the -- in the initial announcement he proposed

cuts in PIP, then changed his mind. Is the honourable member right when

he says it was a political decision? After seven or eight years of

economic growth, it is right to be targeting a surplus, as a

responsible Government put aside money for a rainy day. I do not want

to be part of a Government that does not have the courage to pay off our

debts and leave them instead to our children and grandchildren. That is

the truth. What is dressed up as compassion from the party opposite

just means putting off difficult decisions and asking our children to

pay the debts we were not prepared to pay ourselves. I don't know why

the shadow leader of the house is shouting at me. We have got an

interesting document, the spreadsheet of which Labour MP is on

which side. The honourable lady shouting, but it says here... She is

neutral but not hostile. The Chief Whip on the other hand is being a

bit quiet. Mr Speaker... There are five

categories. We have core support,... I have got all the way. We have got

poor support,... You can include me in that lot. They have -- the Chief

Whip is being quiet because she is in hostile. I thought I had

problems! If I could invite the Prime Minister

to leave the theatre and return to reality... The reality is he has

presided over a Budget that unravelled in two days and now

contains a 4.4 billion black hole. He may wish to consult the

Chancellor on get another change of heart on this matter. Could he now

consult the Chancellor and tell the country who will pay for this black

hole? Will it be cuts or tax rises? Where we'll be cuts fall, where

we'll be tax rises take place? 4.4 billion has to be found from

somewhere. Suddenly the king of fiscal rectitude speaks! He may have

noticed the Budget passed last night and it cuts the deficit in every

year of this Parliament, it delivers a surplus by the end of this

Parliament, and none of that will change. He talks about this

Budget,... Hold on, hostile shout, that's right, but neutral but not

hostile, you have to be quiet, I think.

Hands up who is core support plus? Anybody else? I would tell you what

this Budget did, it had a million people out of income tax, it saw

more money for our schools, it helped the poorest people to save,

it cut taxes for small businesses, for the self-employed, it made our

economy stronger and our country fairer, and it will help this

country do better. The truth is it was a Budget that

fell apart in two days. Many people with disabilities went through the

most unbelievable levels of stress and trauma after the attempt to --

after the PIP announcement was made. There are still people going through

stress and trauma. I am not sure those members opposite that are

shouting so loudly at the moment have any idea what it is like to try

and balance a Budget at home when you do not have enough money coming

in, the rent is going up and the children need clothes. Order. There

is too much shouting on both sides of the house. Stop it. The public

are bored stiff by it. The right Honourable gentleman will finish his

question, we will have an answer, but no shouting from members of any

grouping. The Budget has do mean something for everybody, however

poor and however precarious their lives are. This Budget downgraded

growth, downgraded wage growth, downgraded investment, the

Chancellor has failed on debt targets, on deficit targets, as the

official figures have shown. The fiscal rule is failing. The Treasury

Select Committee scrutinised it, they could not find any credible

economist who backed it. Can the primaries to find anybody that backs

a Budget and a policy that is a Budget with a big hole in it and

downgrades everything a forecast that they set themselves before the

Budget was made? He's a bit late because the budget

passed through this House with large majorities on every single vote. Let

me remind him, this is a government that is spending more

on the disabled than in any year under the last Labour government. We

are spending more on the most disabled, including the most

disabled children in our country. We got more disabled people into work

and ever happened under Labour and what we see with this budget is the

background of an economy that is growing, employment at a record

high, investment that is rising, businesses that are creating jobs in

Britain, that is the envy of other European economies. And it's because

we got a strong economy that we are able to provide this support. That

is what you concede, Britain getting stronger and the Labour Party a

threat to the economic security of every family in our country. I'm

sure the Prime Minister is as appalled as I am that incidents of

anti-Semitism are on the rise. Does my right honourable friend agree

with me that all organisations, public and private, should root out

anti-Semitism without hesitation? I completely agree with my honourable

friend. Anti-Semitism is an absolute cancer in our society and we should

know that when it grows, it is the signal of many even worse things

happening to ethnic groups and different groups all over our

country. There is, sadly, a growth of anti-Semitism in our country and

we see it in terms of attacks on Jewish people and Jewish students

and it absolutely has to be stamped out. We should all, all of us,

whatever organisation we are responsible for, make sure that

happens. We do see a growth in support for segregation and four

anti-Semitism in the heart of the Labour Party and I would say to the

lead opposite it is his party, he should sort it out.

Order! This sort of gesticulation across the chamber... Order! Is way

below the level and the dignity of the senior members of the front

bench on either side. Terribly tedious. Cut it out. Angus

Robertson. When terrorists attack Russells or Paris or London or

Glasgow, we are as one in our condemnation of these atrocities, as

we equally condemn the killings of your CDs, of Kurds, of Syrians and

Iraqis by other extremists. -- of Yazidis. We owe a debt of gratitude

to those who work here and abroad in the face of the ongoing terrorist

threat. Will the Prime Minister confirm that absolutely everything

is being done to help the Belgian authorities and the people of

Belgium in the wake of the Brussels tax? I can certainly confirm that.

In my conversation with the Belgian Prime Minister, I made a number of

offers about policing and intelligence assistance that we

could give, particularly high-end expert and technical capabilities.

There are already some intelligence officers embedded with the Belgian

authorities and strong police to police co-operation. Clearly the

Belgians could be with an unprecedented situation in their

country. We stand ready to do anything more that we can and we are

examined all the capabilities we have here to see what more we can do

to safeguard our own country. A defining characteristic of a

democratic society is our trust in our institutions and democratic

oversight by parliamentarians of those who work so hard to keep us

safe. We have that oversight with our police, we have that oversight

with our security services. We don't yet have that with UK special forces

under the intelligence and security committee or the Defence Select

Committee. Will the Prime Minister address this? I'm afraid I just part

company with the right honourable gentleman on this one. We have put

in place I think some of the most extensive oversight arrangements for

our intelligence and security services. They do a remarkable job

and, of course, the police are regular record to account both

locally and nationally. I think the work our special forces do is

absolutely vital for our country. They are subject to international

law, as everyone else's in our country, but I do not propose to

change the arrangements under which these incredibly brave men work. In

England, this government has delivered better GCSEs, better

A-levels and a better chance of getting into university than Labour

in Wales. Would my right honourable friend agree with me that members

opposite have no right to criticise our education policies when their

own education minister in Wales has had to issue a public apology for

the failure of his own? I think my honourable friend makes an important

point. What we've seen in England, and we should praise the teachers

who worked so hard to deliver these results, but it's the result of

rigour in standards, independents in our schools and accountability for

results. And when we look at Wales, we don't see those things in place

so I would urge the Welsh Assembly Government and urge Welsh people

when they've got a choice that these elections to make sure that they

vote for parties that but education reform, education standards,

education rigour and education accountability first. In 1992, the

oil tanker Bray ran aground on the coast of Shetland. It was carrying

tonnes of crude oil which spilled into the seas and on our shoreline.

It caused economic and environmental devastation. Since a report into

that disaster, we have had an emergency pump stationed in the

Northern Isles. It is our protection against ever being blighted in that

way again. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency now wants to take

that talk away. There will be no finance for it after September. Will

the Prime Minister look again at that decision and will he give an

undertaking to the people of Shetland that he made in 2014 not to

leave them exposed in that way again? The writer will gentleman

makes a very important point and my understanding is that the one told

that has been there, sustained off the coast of Scotland, has played an

important role in the past. The cost is between two and ?3 million the

year and it is currently used very sparingly, so it is right to look at

the right way to deliver the service in the future. Alternative options

will take time to develop and implement, which is why we've

announced that this will be funded until the 30th of September 2016 and

will have to make a decision on provision in due course and I'll

keep him in touch with those develop on. -- developments. We believe in

doing the right thing and that's why it's absolutely right that the

proceeds of crime are returned to the local communities that have been

the victims of crime. Staffordshire's Police and Crime

Commissioner, Matthew Ellis, is calling on community groups in

Cannock Chase to apply for grants from his proceeds of crime fun. Does

my right honourable friend agree that this shows that our excellent

Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner is delivering real

value for the people of Staffordshire? I think she makes an

important point. I think Police and Crime Commissioners Ruby now have

bedded in properly as a means of bringing up police to account. I

think the a committee recently said that they provide clarity for

policing and are the most vibrant public as providing accountability.

When they bring forward ideas like using the process -- proceeds of

crime light she says, they should be rewarded at the ballot box. The list

of Cabinet ministers who have resigned since the premise expresses

full confidence in them is extensive so does the Prime Minister still

have full governors of the Chancellor? Of course because he is

the one working as part of a team that has delivered the

fastest-growing economy in the G7, 2.4 million people in work,

inflation that is virtually zero, wages that are growing, an economy

that is getting stronger. The House of Commons library confirms that

this year, our net contribution to the EU will increase by over ?2.6

billion. I think it is actually 2600 ?27 million. Prime Minister, should

that money be spent supporting people in Bulgaria and Romania or

should it be spent in this country supporting our vulnerable and

disabled people? What I would say to my honourable friend is, our net

contribution to the EU accounts for about just over 1p in every pound

that is paid in taxes. So as we enter this vital debate, we have to

work out whether we believe that that sort of investment, 1p out of

every pound, is worth the jobs and the investment and the growth and

the security and the safety and the solidarity that we get through

working with our partners. I will be on the side saying that I think that

it is and he is clearly going to be on the side saying that he thinks

that it isn't, but we should have a polite and reasonable debate as we

go about this. What I would stay, which I'm sure he will welcome, is

we have, of course, limited our contributions to the EU budget

because we set an overall budget which is falling over the next six

years. The reason our contributions vary as part of it is generated

determining on the success of your economy. Because our economy has

been growing faster than others in Europe, we been making a slightly

larger contribution than we otherwise would be. My constituents

Susan suffered not only the death of her son but the unexplained

circumstances in which this occurred. This meant a 12 year

battle with the authorities in Belgrade, where this happened. The

UK coroner has now ruled this as murder so would the Prime Minister

or Foreign Secretary meet with the family and do what can be done to

get a proper investigation to resolve the question marks that

remain and achieve justice for Peter? I'm not aware of the case the

honourable lady mentions but it is important that hurt constituent gets

proper resolution in this matter and I'll make sure she has a meeting

with Foreign Office ministers to discuss it. JP Morgan Chase,

sun-seeker, Cobham lush and many other local businesses are

supporting the inaugural mid Dorset apprentice ship and jobs fair. I

know the Prime Minister will be warmly welcomed if he happens to be

free. It is on the 15th of April in Wimborne. I know the Prime Minister

will warmly welcome the news that unemployment in my constituency is

down by more than 60% but will he ensure that we are not complacent

and that we secure the vital infrastructure needed to get good

quality jobs in Dorset and across the south-west? He is absolutely

right. One of the reasons why we've managed to get our unemployment rate

down to around 5% and we've seen 2.4 will he and more of our fellow

countrymen and women into work is because we've seen businesses

recover and apprenticeships are taking place as part of the 3

million target for adventurous we have in this Parliament. Academics,

civil society and the Scottish Government have all condemned the

government's anti-lobbying clause in new grant agreements. How can the

Prime Minister promote transparency, democracy and freedom of speech

overseas when this clause is clamping down on those principles

here in the UK? I would answer very simply that I want to see taxpayers'

money going to good causes, rather than in lobbying ministers and MPs

and spending money here. That's what they should be spending their money

on. That it is worth making the point that we are only one day away

from what would have been separation day for Scotland. Had that happened,

there wouldn't be money for charities, there wouldn't be money

for anything. Pubs are the beating heart of many communities across the

UK. Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming the support given to

pubs in successive budgets, join me for duty frozen pint in the Crown

Hotel in my constituency and tell the House more he can do to support

this vital part of our economy? I thanked him for his kind invitation.

I think we've seen in budget after budget this government supporting

the pub industry is such an important part of our economy and

such an important part, particularly of rural communities. I can make one

announcement today which is that subject to the usual conditions,

will be extending pub opening hours on the 10th and 11th of June this

year to mark Her Majesty The Queen's 90th birthday. I'm sure that will be

welcome right across the House. If you compare my constituency to the

constituency of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, you will find

that I have four times the number of youths unemployed, more than double

the disabled claimant count and an average weekly wage of 20% less. Are

these the reasons that the Prime Minister and Chancellor never had

the compassion to realise that the disabled cuts were so obviously

wrong when everybody else did? I give him one further opportunity -

will he apologised to my constituents who have been scared

witless over the past week? Obviously there remain challenges in

his constituency but the claimant count is down by 16% in the last

year alone but at the claimant count has fallen by 50% since 2010 and the

claimant count but he is visibly mentioned has fallen by 12% in the

last year. That has been because we have a strong economy, businesses

want to invest in our country, we are supporting apprenticeships and

we are making sure that growth is delivering for people and in just

two weeks, the national living wage will come in, giving the poorest

people in our country a ?900 a year pay rise and that will be tax-free

because we are lifting the tax threshold in our country. Does my

right honourable friend the Prime Minister - is my right elbow friend

the Prime Minister aware of the remarks of Sergei Lavrov this

morning that we should put aside our differences, that terrorist should

not be allowed to run the show, and will he agree with me that we should

be stronger if we could work together but to do that we are going

to have to have a better understanding of Russian security?

What I would say is, of course we want to work with everyone we can to

combat terrorism but when it comes particularly to what is happening in

Syria, it is vitally important that the Russians stopped any attacks and

do not restart any attacks against moderate Sunnis, moderates in

opposition, which clearly have to form a part of our country. You

cannot in the end defeat terrorism simply through use of guns and

missiles. You defeat terrorism through governance and good working

democracies cause in that way, people can see their own interests

being represented by the countries in which they live. The former Work

and Pensions Secretary described the cuts to personal independence

payments for the disabled as divisive, unfair and against the

national interest. The Chancellor's U-turn suggests he now agrees. Can

the Prime Minister explain how on earth he allowed this to happen in

the first place? Well, it's good to have an intervention from someone

who I think is neutral but not hostile. I'm sure if she keeps

going, she could join core group plus. She'd be very welcome in core

group plus. I'll tell you what this government has done - it has

increased spending on disability benefits, it's seen 293,000 more

disabled people into work in the last two years, 2.4 million more

people into work. That is bringing the country together. We've got a

growing economy that is delivering a fairer society. My right honourable

friend will have seen the recent OECD reports on literacy and

numeracy in England. Based on data from 2012, it ranks our teenagers as

bottom out of 23 developed countries for basic maths and reading. A

damning indictment of 13 years of Labour's education policy. Doesn't

this show... Order! The honourable lady is entitled to ask a question.

The same goes for every other member. Doesn't this show why a more

rigorous curriculum and more autonomy for schools to succeed are

vital to turn around the life chances of the next-generation? My

honourable friend makes an important point, which it is worthwhile

benchmarking your education system against other advanced countries.

And what we've seen in recent years is that the competition is very

tough but when you let other countries that are succeeding,

whether it is the Republic of Korea or Finland, they have well-paid

teachers, they have proper accountability systems for results,

they have a rigour in terms of their discipline and that is exactly what

we are introducing in our country with the new curriculum coming in

right now. The women of this country are tired of waiting, waiting for

equal pay, waiting for an end to maternity and pregnancy

discrimination and waiting for a fair deal for pensioners. It is

2016. Can I ask the Prime Minister how much longer? The honourable lady

is absolutely right to raise these issues and it is good that the pay

gap is now at a historic low. It is almost evaporated for under 40s, but

there is more to be done in the public sector and the private sector

to bring that about. On the issue of pensions, what we've introduced is a

pensions system which will benefit many, many women in years to come

because we've got a single tier pension without a means test,

operated for prices, earnings or 2.5%. We were only able to do that

because we raised the pension age, saving over the long-term something

like no 5p. A difficult decision but the right one because it means we

can look our pensioners in the eye and know they are getting security

in their old age. -- something like ?0.5 billion. If we are going to

meet the target for apprenticeships to which the Prime Minister

referred, the whole public sector needs to play its part. Will the

Prime Minister and ensure that every part of the public sector invests in

training our young people so we have the skills the country needs? He is

right to raise this. It is a very stringent target, getting 3 million

apprentices trained in this Parliament. We are going to have to

see those large companies that have put their shoulders of the wheel on

this agenda to continue to do so, but there are two sectors where we

need to do better. One is in the public sector, where we need more

public sector organisations to get behind apprenticeships, and we need

to make it simple and attractive for small businesses to start training

apprentices again. That is what my right honourable friend, the Member

for Grantham, is doing and we all need to work very hard to do this by

the end of the Parliament. If the UK votes to leave the EU in June, does

the Prime Minister believed that the EU institutions will respond

vindictively? It's a very difficult question to answer. I think that if

we were to vote to leave, I do think we should be naive about believing

that other countries would automatically cut us some sort of

sweetheart deal. I think if you just take one industry as an example,

take farming. Our farmers now know they have duty-free, quota free, tax

free access to a market of 500 million people. Were we to leave,

can we really guarantee that French farmers or Italian farmers or

Spanish farmers wouldn't put pressure on their governments to

give us a less good deal? I don't think we can and that's one of the

many reasons I think we are safer, more secure and better off in a

reformed EU. In April 2015, the Prime Minister said that there

should be a new Carlisle principle to ensure that other parts of the UK

do not lose out by Scottish devolution. Could the Prime Minister

confirm that this principle will apply, who will review the position

and when will it report and who will it report to? He is absolutely right

and I think this is important, particularly for constituencies like

his, very close to the border, to make sure that decisions that are

made, quite sensibly and rightly, by devolved parliaments and assemblies

don't disadvantage the rest of the UK. That was the principle set out

and the Chancellor will report regularly on that as he updates the

House on his fiscal plans. I trust that the Prime Minister will be

aware that there is a critical meeting of the board of Tata in

Mumbai on Tuesday. I will be flying out to Mumbai with the general

secretary of community union to make the case for British Steel. That

meeting will be deciding the future of the Port Talbot steelworks in my

constituency. Will the Prime Minister join me in exhorting Tata

to stand with that plan and to secure the future of the Port Talbot

steelworks? I absolutely give him my backing on that. A team of ministers

met yesterday to discuss all of the things that we can do to get behind

the steel industry at this vital time. It is an extremely difficult

market situation with the massive global overcapacity and the huge

fall in steel prices but the areas where we've taken action already,

and will continue to look at what we can do, and that is stated

compensation so we can secure the energy costs, greater flexibility

over EU emissions legislation. We've done huge amount in terms of public

procurement, which can make a big difference our steel industries, and

all of those things and more, and making sure that tartar and others

understand how valuable we believe this industry is to the UK and as a

government, within the limits that we have, we want to be very

supportive and helpful.