:00:05. > :00:08.Those are the headlines. I will back at 3am. Now it's time Hello
:00:08. > :00:11.there, and welcome back to The Week In Parliament, as MPs and peers
:00:11. > :00:26.Coming up in the programme: David Cameron and Ed Miliband turn up
:00:26. > :00:31.Coming up in the programme: David heat in the row over the cost of
:00:31. > :00:34.fuel. We have a cost of living crisis in this country, energy bills
:00:34. > :00:44.are rising and he supports the energy companies, not the consumer.
:00:44. > :00:48.It is obvious why he wants to talk about the cost of living, because he
:00:48. > :00:52.has not got an economic policy any more. We talk to three Westminster
:00:52. > :00:56.reshuffles and the battles ahead. And with the election for a new
:00:56. > :00:58.deputy speaker on the horizon we find out what it takes to do the
:00:58. > :01:09.job. I found in my time that if find out what it takes to do the
:01:09. > :01:12.jolly well hoped that somebody on the other side would do something
:01:12. > :01:15.which could earn your rebuke as well. But first, Ed Miliband has
:01:15. > :01:18.accused the Prime Minister of having no answer to his promise to freeze
:01:18. > :01:22.energy prices for 15 months. But policy a "gimmick". The two men
:01:22. > :01:24.energy prices for 15 months. But resuming battle at Prime Minister's
:01:24. > :01:26.Questions for the first time since before their party conferences.
:01:26. > :01:28.Questions for the first time since having wished David Cameron a happy
:01:28. > :01:45.Minister said there is a certain birthday, Ed Miliband launched his
:01:46. > :01:46.amount you can do freezing energy prices. The Chancellor said it was
:01:46. > :02:12.idea? The first of all, can I thank prices. The Chancellor said it was
:02:12. > :02:14.idea? The first of all, can I thank Government is doing is legislating
:02:14. > :02:18.to put people on to the lowest energy tariffs. That is a real step
:02:18. > :02:21.forward. But I have to say on this issue of just promising a freeze,
:02:21. > :02:24.this is a classic case of him saying one thing and doing another. Month
:02:24. > :02:28.after month, he stood out this dispatch box as energy secretary and
:02:28. > :02:37.regulation of the regulation, target after target all of which put energy
:02:37. > :02:44.prices up. He says he wants to bring prices down, can he confirm that
:02:44. > :02:57.since he became prime minister? I can say first of all that energy
:02:57. > :03:02.Let me make this point. There is one international wholesale price of
:03:02. > :03:05.gas. I know he would like to live in some sort of Marxist universe where
:03:06. > :03:13.you can control all these things but economics. Mr Speaker, he says he
:03:13. > :03:17.wants lower prices, but prices are going up on his watch, that is the
:03:17. > :03:21.reality. Can he confirm that while his energy policy is so—called
:03:21. > :03:24.virtually nobody, a 20 month freeze million households and 2.4 million
:03:24. > :03:37.businesses across this country? The businesses across this country? The
:03:37. > :03:43.problem is, 12 hours later, he said he might not be able to keep his
:03:43. > :03:45.promise. This is not a policy, it's a gimmick and the reason is because
:03:46. > :03:52.why he wants to talk about the cost he is in favour of a carbonisation
:03:52. > :04:07.why he wants to talk about the cost of living, because he has not got an
:04:07. > :04:13.in the Shadow cabinet. Energy bills me tell you the best present I could
:04:13. > :04:14.in the Shadow cabinet. Energy bills are rising and he supports the
:04:14. > :04:22.is. More spending, more borrowing energy companies, not the consumer.
:04:22. > :04:24.is. More spending, more borrowing and more debt. That would lead to
:04:24. > :04:28.higher taxes and higher mortgage rates. That is the double whammy
:04:28. > :04:39.that would hit every family in this country. Not only have I got the
:04:39. > :04:41.birthday present of the Shadow Chancellor staying in post and
:04:41. > :04:54.incidentally also the birthday Secretary staying in post, I also
:04:54. > :04:57.revealing their election campaign. He said it all depended on the two
:04:57. > :05:13.of them together because "they would credibility". That is, I have to
:05:13. > :05:18.say, like the captain of the Titanic running on his safety record. A
:05:18. > :05:21.rousing return to Westminster for MPs after a three—week break for
:05:21. > :05:24.their conferences. The annual autumn get—togethers are a chance for party
:05:24. > :05:31.leaders to set out their ideas and rally the troops. But the return to
:05:31. > :05:34.work has been a brutal one for some. reshuffled their ministers, and
:05:34. > :05:36.work has been a brutal one for some. Labour leader too made changes to
:05:36. > :05:39.his team. On the Government side, some lost their jobs, including
:05:39. > :05:41.his team. On the Government side, Lib Dem MP for Taunton, Jeremy
:05:41. > :05:44.Browne. Then there was the surprise promotion to the Home Office of
:05:44. > :05:46.wrote a book alleging a cover—up another Lib Dem, Noman Baker, who
:05:46. > :05:50.wrote a book alleging a cover—up around the death of the scientist,
:05:50. > :05:53.Dr David Kelly. The Shadow Leader of the Commons, Angela Eagle, toyed
:05:53. > :05:54.with all this at Business Questions, beginning with the fate of the
:05:54. > :06:08.Richard Benyon, who lost his job in beginning with the fate of the
:06:08. > :06:14.on Monday and was good natured the shake—up. I must say I have
:06:14. > :06:16.on Monday and was good natured enough to repeat a tweet he received
:06:16. > :06:20.news. It said: Fisheries minister after he had been given the bad
:06:20. > :06:21.news. It said: Fisheries minister sacked. Word is he's gutted. We
:06:21. > :06:22.news. It said: Fisheries minister a Liberal Democrat sacked for being
:06:22. > :06:39.I am surprised the Deputy Prime Minister managed to spare himself.
:06:39. > :06:41.LAUGHTER. Then we realised the Prime Minister's new strategy was to stop
:06:41. > :06:46.his backbench rebellions giving Minister's new strategy was to stop
:06:46. > :06:51.many people as possible a job. It seems a small state needs a big
:06:51. > :06:54.government. When it emerged that the deputy prime minister had put a
:06:54. > :06:56.conspiracy theorist in the Home Office, behind the back of the
:06:57. > :07:09.furious Home Secretary, I understand shooting up the charts as a result
:07:09. > :07:12.Speaker, I am sure we all look forward to the new Home Office
:07:12. > :07:15.Minister telling us what really happened at Roswell, whether NASA
:07:15. > :07:19.faked the moon landings and whether building. Light—hearted stuff there
:07:19. > :07:22.from Angela Eagle, but after a busy spell of conferences and reshuffles
:07:22. > :07:24.what changes are we really going to see? I gathered together three avid
:07:24. > :07:27.Westminster—watchers. Charlotte Henry, a Liberal Democrat who writes
:07:27. > :07:31.the blog, Digital Politico. Paul Richards, a labour campaigner,
:07:31. > :07:34.author, tweeter and blogger. And from the right, Raheem Kassam, the
:07:34. > :07:37.editor of the blog and website, Trending Central. I asked Charlotte
:07:37. > :07:42.conference speech, holding open Trending Central. I asked Charlotte
:07:42. > :07:57.voters. Think Clegg has put that government, would go down well with
:07:57. > :07:57.voters. Think Clegg has put that equities didn't flag between the two
:07:57. > :08:15.equidistant theme as we go towards parties. —— equidistant. I think he
:08:16. > :08:16.equidistant theme as we go towards the next general election. I think
:08:16. > :08:22.they pick who goes into Government, the next general election. I think
:08:22. > :08:24.they pick who goes into Government, the voters. We pick how many seats
:08:24. > :08:34.and votes each party gets is decided deciding who will run. There had
:08:35. > :08:41.He did that in his conference speech been a call for Ed Miliband to come
:08:41. > :08:43.He did that in his conference speech but that instantly provided a stick
:08:43. > :08:52.for the Conservatives to beat him with. If you take the three leaders'
:08:52. > :08:56.speeches, it is hard to remember any of them, apart from the fuel freeze,
:08:56. > :09:00.imagination and is still part of the debate going into this Parliament so
:09:00. > :09:04.this was a proper policy. Of course increasingly, the Tories don't know
:09:04. > :09:10.how to attack it. It is breaking importantly. But David Cameron has
:09:10. > :09:13.described it as Marxist. If that is the level of your response to a
:09:13. > :09:16.sensible idea that resonate with people struggling with bills, great.
:09:16. > :09:23.If that is the level of the debate he wants to have. The public are
:09:23. > :09:27.saying the bills are too much. Only Ed Miliband has a response. David
:09:27. > :09:39.Cameron in his speech did not say anything at all? That is probably
:09:39. > :09:43.about right. The one thing I can remember from David's speech is
:09:43. > :09:46.about right. The one thing I can necessarily the best talking point
:09:46. > :09:50.for the public to pick up on. But I grassroots, for the base, for party
:09:50. > :09:53.faithful, not the public. For the people I have spoken to, one of
:09:53. > :09:53.faithful, not the public. For the people mentioned was Ed Miliband's
:09:54. > :10:16.speech about energy prices. You people mentioned was Ed Miliband's
:10:16. > :10:19.think it is. We have these quotes from Ed Miliband from two years
:10:19. > :10:19.think it is. We have these quotes where he said fuel prices have to
:10:19. > :10:24.this great goliath of climate change that is not occurring and the Tories
:10:24. > :10:30.stick for a long time. Let's move that is not occurring and the Tories
:10:30. > :10:32.stick for a long time. Let's move Westminster, things have moved on
:10:32. > :10:38.come to you. The Liberal Democrats Westminster, things have moved on
:10:38. > :10:38.come to you. The Liberal Democrats have got to start with Norman Baker.
:10:38. > :10:59.understand Nick Clegg wanting to have got to start with Norman Baker.
:10:59. > :11:07.understand Nick Clegg wanting to imprint liberalism on the Home
:11:07. > :11:13.Office. But I think this is flaring the tension in the Home Office.
:11:13. > :11:24.Instead of having somebody who can act as a conciliatory. What do you
:11:24. > :11:27.think the Conservatives will make of the appointment of him? I think
:11:27. > :11:30.Charlotte is entirely right in the analysis that you needed someone who
:11:30. > :11:39.can pull Theresa May a little bit more to the liberal side of the
:11:39. > :11:42.spectrum. Softly, gently, rather than presenting her with a very
:11:42. > :11:52.stark opposite number or whatever you would call it. But part of me
:11:52. > :12:01.wants to believe there is some calculation about this. Regarding
:12:01. > :12:12.the immigration vans and things calculation about this. Regarding
:12:12. > :12:14.discussed in earlier months. That is to say they needed someone who would
:12:14. > :12:18.mind, with a stream of consciousness to say they needed someone who would
:12:18. > :12:21.mind, with a stream of consciousness about these issues. Baker will
:12:21. > :12:25.certainly speak his mind. If you are a minister with those views, the
:12:25. > :12:28.officials will freeze you out. You can speak your mind all you like but
:12:28. > :12:33.if you cannot pull the levers of power, then you become frozen out.
:12:33. > :12:42.You are a lame duck from the start. power, then you become frozen out.
:12:42. > :12:48.You are a lame duck from the start. Miliband also reshuffled his team.
:12:48. > :12:55.Much speculation about rooting out of Blairites. He has put together a
:12:55. > :12:57.team that people like Liam Byrne are still there, others that you thought
:12:57. > :13:13.front bench. And he has rewarded his might be moved out are still in
:13:13. > :13:16.front bench. And he has rewarded his own supporters. Which leader doesn't
:13:16. > :13:20.do that? But he has put together a balanced team. This is a team that
:13:21. > :13:28.will take us into the next general election. He is putting together the
:13:28. > :13:32.people who believes can reach out to voters. Whatever way you try to
:13:33. > :13:34.people who believes can reach out to it, those guys who are big hitters
:13:34. > :13:40.in the Labour movement have had their wings severely clipped on
:13:40. > :13:45.in the Labour movement have had front bench. They may nominally
:13:45. > :13:46.in the Labour movement have had on the front bench... I don't think
:13:46. > :13:52.being those shadow ministers are Shadowing makes these things even
:13:52. > :13:59.world. Solving world poverty is Shadowing makes these things even
:13:59. > :14:01.a minor role. What it means you Shadowing makes these things even
:14:01. > :14:04.out of the country for a lot of time. Let's come back to the stuff
:14:04. > :14:06.that matters, Labour needs to pick up more votes, where will it get
:14:06. > :14:10.more votes from? The tactic now up more votes, where will it get
:14:10. > :14:13.living, practical policies. Ed Miliband has taken onboard criticism
:14:13. > :14:18.that has been coming and he has tough talking on energy bills which
:14:18. > :14:34.understand and you will hear more of this over the next few years. Very
:14:34. > :14:36.practical as the band. David Cameron also reshuffled his pack. A lot
:14:37. > :14:38.practical as the band. David Cameron talk about flat caps and minorities
:14:38. > :14:42.and women and/or those kind of things. What is he trying to do
:14:42. > :14:50.is this an attempt to shore up the reshuffle that he has had.
:14:50. > :14:56.is this an attempt to shore up support in the north? I think so. It
:14:56. > :15:08.that was a calculation in that as is very well done. It was a good PR
:15:08. > :15:22.as George Osborne's reshuffle rather well. The Treasury appointment is
:15:22. > :15:27.as George Osborne's reshuffle rather calculating conservative figure
:15:27. > :15:29.as George Osborne's reshuffle rather David Cameron is. That will play to
:15:30. > :15:38.the Conservative Party's strengths. You are keen on the idea that the
:15:38. > :15:48.Conservative Party could hook up voters? We have this initiative
:15:48. > :15:55.about how Conservatives can help is not about uniting the parties,
:15:55. > :16:01.but about tactically voting to make sure that we do not have a Marxist
:16:01. > :16:03.in power. It is unlikely that we are going to have a Marxist in power.
:16:03. > :16:08.Even if he wins the election. I going to have a Marxist in power.
:16:08. > :16:10.going to finish by asking you all the same question. What is your
:16:10. > :16:18.party's Achilles' heel? We have the same question. What is your
:16:18. > :16:21.to be very careful that as the economy turns around we do not let
:16:21. > :16:35.the Conservatives get power, we economy turns around we do not let
:16:35. > :16:40.Further cuts to top balance the to look at welfare reform. It is
:16:40. > :16:42.Further cuts to top balance the books. If we are going to take
:16:42. > :16:55.we front up to the difficult things. we must be careful to make sure
:16:55. > :16:56.we front up to the difficult things. Because labour is ahead in the
:16:56. > :17:04.say anything radical and hope for Because labour is ahead in the
:17:04. > :17:04.say anything radical and hope for the best then we can cross the
:17:04. > :17:13.catastrophic. We have to remain the best then we can cross the
:17:13. > :17:15.radical reform party. Is it the the best then we can cross the
:17:15. > :17:20.danger for you. The Conservative Party must not appear complacent? I
:17:20. > :17:28.efforts to reach out to the people do not think that is quite correct.
:17:28. > :17:33.efforts to reach out to the people who have defected to UKIP. There are
:17:33. > :17:37.numbers are growing. We are going to see that at the European elections.
:17:37. > :17:43.The Conservative Party need to start beating the left with the socialist
:17:43. > :17:47.stick harder and harder. What Ed Miliband is doing is pulling them
:17:47. > :17:56.further away to the left and getting away with it. I do not think Tony
:17:56. > :17:57.Blair would have allowed that. I would contest that it will be as
:17:57. > :18:04.relevant in the future. We need would contest that it will be as
:18:04. > :18:05.start showing that the Labor Party should no longer be a party of the
:18:05. > :18:12.far left. We look forward to an should no longer be a party of the
:18:12. > :18:15.to rest interesting 15 months. —— interesting. Time to take a look
:18:15. > :18:27.trading. The business Secretary —— interesting. Time to take a look
:18:27. > :18:31.MPs that he was confident the shares were in the right place. That was
:18:31. > :18:37.following claims the business was being sold off cheap. My very rough
:18:37. > :18:41.estimate is that we have had about 700,000 applications and about seven
:18:41. > :18:51.times oversubscribed. There was 700,000 applications and about seven
:18:51. > :18:55.of interest. The culture Secretary told MPs that she hopes to put a
:18:55. > :18:59.final version of the cross—party Charter on press regulation forward
:18:59. > :19:03.for approval by the end of the month. Two versions of the charter
:19:03. > :19:05.have been proposed, one from the race, one from the Parliament. They
:19:05. > :19:14.came in response from the lettuce race, one from the Parliament. They
:19:14. > :19:18.came in response from the lettuce and enquiry. —— the Leveson Enquiry.
:19:18. > :19:28.effective self—regulation. The In the interim, we should make the
:19:28. > :19:28.effective self—regulation. The environment Secretary has confirmed
:19:28. > :19:39.spread of bovine tuberculosis. A environment Secretary has confirmed
:19:39. > :19:45.coal is being carried out in two parts of southern England that
:19:45. > :19:48.involves shooting animals. Can he confirm whether that is the case and
:19:48. > :19:52.if so, what is the scope of the research is and what he has cause to
:19:52. > :19:58.think the 2005 review that found the gassing of badgers could not be
:19:58. > :20:01.think the 2005 review that found the is no longer valid? We made it clear
:20:01. > :20:05.that we would look at other methods of removing wildlife. We will not
:20:05. > :20:12.use gas and unless it is proven of removing wildlife. We will not
:20:12. > :20:18.be safe, humane and effective. On produced its draft budget. The
:20:18. > :20:25.Finance Minister said it would protect the NHS in Wales and boost
:20:25. > :20:41.economic growth. Labour ministers through. They are due to vote on the
:20:41. > :20:44.final version before Christmas. The name of the new deputy speaker
:20:44. > :20:48.will be announced on Wednesday. The name of the new deputy speaker
:20:48. > :20:56.vacancy arises after the resignation of Nigel Evans, who faces sexual
:20:56. > :21:14.of the honourable member for report announced on the Commons on Tuesday.
:21:14. > :21:26.them stopped to think about the Valley. In other words, wanted,
:21:26. > :21:28.them stopped to think about the essential qualities they will need
:21:28. > :21:34.for the job? Who better to ask than a former Deputy Speaker with 13
:21:34. > :21:47.reprimanded somebody on one side, able to demonstrate that you are
:21:47. > :21:52.other side would do something that you would hope that somebody on
:21:52. > :21:58.other side would do something that could only a rebuke. —— earn a
:21:58. > :22:01.rebuke. This vacancy is for an MP from the coalition ranks. But the
:22:01. > :22:06.whole house are going to be voting. How can the candidates reach out to
:22:06. > :22:16.parties on all sides? It is very parties to decide between one person
:22:16. > :22:32.and another. Other than personality. different line. I do not understand
:22:32. > :22:42.how anyone imagines it would work. You will be working as part of a
:22:42. > :22:45.speaker. The question is the house European affairs. You might only be
:22:45. > :22:51.the Deputy, but when you are in European affairs. You might only be
:22:51. > :22:59.cherry you are the one in charge. —— chair. What advice to Sir Alan have?
:22:59. > :23:06.Take it cautiously. Try and find an early opportunity to show that you
:23:06. > :23:13.are utterly trying to be evenhanded. That you understand the house. And
:23:13. > :23:19.that you will seek to implement them. The house as a whole is a
:23:19. > :23:23.that you will seek to implement place. It will want you to succeed,
:23:23. > :23:25.I think. Occasionally, MPs just cannot help themselves. As an angry