11/10/2013 The Week in Parliament


11/10/2013

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Those are the headlines. I will back at 3am. Now it's time Hello

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there, and welcome back to The Week In Parliament, as MPs and peers

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Coming up in the programme: David Cameron and Ed Miliband turn up

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Coming up in the programme: David heat in the row over the cost of

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fuel. We have a cost of living crisis in this country, energy bills

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are rising and he supports the energy companies, not the consumer.

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It is obvious why he wants to talk about the cost of living, because he

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has not got an economic policy any more. We talk to three Westminster

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reshuffles and the battles ahead. And with the election for a new

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deputy speaker on the horizon we find out what it takes to do the

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job. I found in my time that if find out what it takes to do the

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jolly well hoped that somebody on the other side would do something

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which could earn your rebuke as well. But first, Ed Miliband has

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accused the Prime Minister of having no answer to his promise to freeze

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energy prices for 15 months. But policy a "gimmick". The two men

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energy prices for 15 months. But resuming battle at Prime Minister's

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Questions for the first time since before their party conferences.

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Questions for the first time since having wished David Cameron a happy

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Minister said there is a certain birthday, Ed Miliband launched his

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amount you can do freezing energy prices. The Chancellor said it was

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idea? The first of all, can I thank prices. The Chancellor said it was

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idea? The first of all, can I thank Government is doing is legislating

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to put people on to the lowest energy tariffs. That is a real step

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forward. But I have to say on this issue of just promising a freeze,

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this is a classic case of him saying one thing and doing another. Month

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after month, he stood out this dispatch box as energy secretary and

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regulation of the regulation, target after target all of which put energy

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prices up. He says he wants to bring prices down, can he confirm that

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since he became prime minister? I can say first of all that energy

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Let me make this point. There is one international wholesale price of

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gas. I know he would like to live in some sort of Marxist universe where

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you can control all these things but economics. Mr Speaker, he says he

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wants lower prices, but prices are going up on his watch, that is the

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reality. Can he confirm that while his energy policy is so—called

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virtually nobody, a 20 month freeze million households and 2.4 million

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businesses across this country? The businesses across this country? The

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problem is, 12 hours later, he said he might not be able to keep his

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promise. This is not a policy, it's a gimmick and the reason is because

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why he wants to talk about the cost he is in favour of a carbonisation

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why he wants to talk about the cost of living, because he has not got an

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in the Shadow cabinet. Energy bills me tell you the best present I could

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in the Shadow cabinet. Energy bills are rising and he supports the

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is. More spending, more borrowing energy companies, not the consumer.

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is. More spending, more borrowing and more debt. That would lead to

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higher taxes and higher mortgage rates. That is the double whammy

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that would hit every family in this country. Not only have I got the

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birthday present of the Shadow Chancellor staying in post and

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incidentally also the birthday Secretary staying in post, I also

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revealing their election campaign. He said it all depended on the two

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of them together because "they would credibility". That is, I have to

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say, like the captain of the Titanic running on his safety record. A

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rousing return to Westminster for MPs after a three—week break for

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their conferences. The annual autumn get—togethers are a chance for party

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leaders to set out their ideas and rally the troops. But the return to

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work has been a brutal one for some. reshuffled their ministers, and

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work has been a brutal one for some. Labour leader too made changes to

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his team. On the Government side, some lost their jobs, including

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his team. On the Government side, Lib Dem MP for Taunton, Jeremy

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Browne. Then there was the surprise promotion to the Home Office of

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wrote a book alleging a cover—up another Lib Dem, Noman Baker, who

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wrote a book alleging a cover—up around the death of the scientist,

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Dr David Kelly. The Shadow Leader of the Commons, Angela Eagle, toyed

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with all this at Business Questions, beginning with the fate of the

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Richard Benyon, who lost his job in beginning with the fate of the

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on Monday and was good natured the shake—up. I must say I have

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on Monday and was good natured enough to repeat a tweet he received

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news. It said: Fisheries minister after he had been given the bad

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news. It said: Fisheries minister sacked. Word is he's gutted. We

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news. It said: Fisheries minister a Liberal Democrat sacked for being

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I am surprised the Deputy Prime Minister managed to spare himself.

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LAUGHTER. Then we realised the Prime Minister's new strategy was to stop

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his backbench rebellions giving Minister's new strategy was to stop

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many people as possible a job. It seems a small state needs a big

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government. When it emerged that the deputy prime minister had put a

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conspiracy theorist in the Home Office, behind the back of the

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furious Home Secretary, I understand shooting up the charts as a result

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Speaker, I am sure we all look forward to the new Home Office

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Minister telling us what really happened at Roswell, whether NASA

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faked the moon landings and whether building. Light—hearted stuff there

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from Angela Eagle, but after a busy spell of conferences and reshuffles

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what changes are we really going to see? I gathered together three avid

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Westminster—watchers. Charlotte Henry, a Liberal Democrat who writes

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the blog, Digital Politico. Paul Richards, a labour campaigner,

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author, tweeter and blogger. And from the right, Raheem Kassam, the

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editor of the blog and website, Trending Central. I asked Charlotte

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conference speech, holding open Trending Central. I asked Charlotte

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voters. Think Clegg has put that government, would go down well with

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voters. Think Clegg has put that equities didn't flag between the two

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equidistant theme as we go towards parties. —— equidistant. I think he

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equidistant theme as we go towards the next general election. I think

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they pick who goes into Government, the next general election. I think

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they pick who goes into Government, the voters. We pick how many seats

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and votes each party gets is decided deciding who will run. There had

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He did that in his conference speech been a call for Ed Miliband to come

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He did that in his conference speech but that instantly provided a stick

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for the Conservatives to beat him with. If you take the three leaders'

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speeches, it is hard to remember any of them, apart from the fuel freeze,

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imagination and is still part of the debate going into this Parliament so

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this was a proper policy. Of course increasingly, the Tories don't know

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how to attack it. It is breaking importantly. But David Cameron has

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described it as Marxist. If that is the level of your response to a

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sensible idea that resonate with people struggling with bills, great.

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If that is the level of the debate he wants to have. The public are

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saying the bills are too much. Only Ed Miliband has a response. David

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Cameron in his speech did not say anything at all? That is probably

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about right. The one thing I can remember from David's speech is

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about right. The one thing I can necessarily the best talking point

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for the public to pick up on. But I grassroots, for the base, for party

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faithful, not the public. For the people I have spoken to, one of

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faithful, not the public. For the people mentioned was Ed Miliband's

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speech about energy prices. You people mentioned was Ed Miliband's

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think it is. We have these quotes from Ed Miliband from two years

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think it is. We have these quotes where he said fuel prices have to

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this great goliath of climate change that is not occurring and the Tories

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stick for a long time. Let's move that is not occurring and the Tories

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stick for a long time. Let's move Westminster, things have moved on

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come to you. The Liberal Democrats Westminster, things have moved on

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come to you. The Liberal Democrats have got to start with Norman Baker.

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understand Nick Clegg wanting to have got to start with Norman Baker.

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understand Nick Clegg wanting to imprint liberalism on the Home

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Office. But I think this is flaring the tension in the Home Office.

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Instead of having somebody who can act as a conciliatory. What do you

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think the Conservatives will make of the appointment of him? I think

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Charlotte is entirely right in the analysis that you needed someone who

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can pull Theresa May a little bit more to the liberal side of the

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spectrum. Softly, gently, rather than presenting her with a very

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stark opposite number or whatever you would call it. But part of me

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wants to believe there is some calculation about this. Regarding

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the immigration vans and things calculation about this. Regarding

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discussed in earlier months. That is to say they needed someone who would

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mind, with a stream of consciousness to say they needed someone who would

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mind, with a stream of consciousness about these issues. Baker will

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certainly speak his mind. If you are a minister with those views, the

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officials will freeze you out. You can speak your mind all you like but

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if you cannot pull the levers of power, then you become frozen out.

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You are a lame duck from the start. power, then you become frozen out.

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You are a lame duck from the start. Miliband also reshuffled his team.

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Much speculation about rooting out of Blairites. He has put together a

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team that people like Liam Byrne are still there, others that you thought

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front bench. And he has rewarded his might be moved out are still in

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front bench. And he has rewarded his own supporters. Which leader doesn't

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do that? But he has put together a balanced team. This is a team that

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will take us into the next general election. He is putting together the

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people who believes can reach out to voters. Whatever way you try to

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people who believes can reach out to it, those guys who are big hitters

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in the Labour movement have had their wings severely clipped on

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in the Labour movement have had front bench. They may nominally

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in the Labour movement have had on the front bench... I don't think

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being those shadow ministers are Shadowing makes these things even

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world. Solving world poverty is Shadowing makes these things even

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a minor role. What it means you Shadowing makes these things even

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out of the country for a lot of time. Let's come back to the stuff

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that matters, Labour needs to pick up more votes, where will it get

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more votes from? The tactic now up more votes, where will it get

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living, practical policies. Ed Miliband has taken onboard criticism

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that has been coming and he has tough talking on energy bills which

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understand and you will hear more of this over the next few years. Very

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practical as the band. David Cameron also reshuffled his pack. A lot

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practical as the band. David Cameron talk about flat caps and minorities

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and women and/or those kind of things. What is he trying to do

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is this an attempt to shore up the reshuffle that he has had.

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is this an attempt to shore up support in the north? I think so. It

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that was a calculation in that as is very well done. It was a good PR

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as George Osborne's reshuffle rather well. The Treasury appointment is

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as George Osborne's reshuffle rather calculating conservative figure

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as George Osborne's reshuffle rather David Cameron is. That will play to

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the Conservative Party's strengths. You are keen on the idea that the

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Conservative Party could hook up voters? We have this initiative

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about how Conservatives can help is not about uniting the parties,

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but about tactically voting to make sure that we do not have a Marxist

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in power. It is unlikely that we are going to have a Marxist in power.

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Even if he wins the election. I going to have a Marxist in power.

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going to finish by asking you all the same question. What is your

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party's Achilles' heel? We have the same question. What is your

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to be very careful that as the economy turns around we do not let

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the Conservatives get power, we economy turns around we do not let

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Further cuts to top balance the to look at welfare reform. It is

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Further cuts to top balance the books. If we are going to take

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we front up to the difficult things. we must be careful to make sure

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we front up to the difficult things. Because labour is ahead in the

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say anything radical and hope for Because labour is ahead in the

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say anything radical and hope for the best then we can cross the

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catastrophic. We have to remain the best then we can cross the

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radical reform party. Is it the the best then we can cross the

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danger for you. The Conservative Party must not appear complacent? I

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efforts to reach out to the people do not think that is quite correct.

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efforts to reach out to the people who have defected to UKIP. There are

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numbers are growing. We are going to see that at the European elections.

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The Conservative Party need to start beating the left with the socialist

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stick harder and harder. What Ed Miliband is doing is pulling them

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further away to the left and getting away with it. I do not think Tony

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Blair would have allowed that. I would contest that it will be as

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relevant in the future. We need would contest that it will be as

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start showing that the Labor Party should no longer be a party of the

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far left. We look forward to an should no longer be a party of the

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to rest interesting 15 months. —— interesting. Time to take a look

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trading. The business Secretary —— interesting. Time to take a look

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MPs that he was confident the shares were in the right place. That was

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following claims the business was being sold off cheap. My very rough

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estimate is that we have had about 700,000 applications and about seven

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times oversubscribed. There was 700,000 applications and about seven

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of interest. The culture Secretary told MPs that she hopes to put a

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final version of the cross—party Charter on press regulation forward

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for approval by the end of the month. Two versions of the charter

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have been proposed, one from the race, one from the Parliament. They

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came in response from the lettuce race, one from the Parliament. They

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came in response from the lettuce and enquiry. —— the Leveson Enquiry.

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effective self—regulation. The In the interim, we should make the

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effective self—regulation. The environment Secretary has confirmed

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spread of bovine tuberculosis. A environment Secretary has confirmed

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coal is being carried out in two parts of southern England that

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involves shooting animals. Can he confirm whether that is the case and

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if so, what is the scope of the research is and what he has cause to

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think the 2005 review that found the gassing of badgers could not be

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think the 2005 review that found the is no longer valid? We made it clear

:19:58.:20:01.

that we would look at other methods of removing wildlife. We will not

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use gas and unless it is proven of removing wildlife. We will not

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be safe, humane and effective. On produced its draft budget. The

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Finance Minister said it would protect the NHS in Wales and boost

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economic growth. Labour ministers through. They are due to vote on the

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final version before Christmas. The name of the new deputy speaker

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will be announced on Wednesday. The name of the new deputy speaker

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vacancy arises after the resignation of Nigel Evans, who faces sexual

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of the honourable member for report announced on the Commons on Tuesday.

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them stopped to think about the Valley. In other words, wanted,

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them stopped to think about the essential qualities they will need

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for the job? Who better to ask than a former Deputy Speaker with 13

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reprimanded somebody on one side, able to demonstrate that you are

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other side would do something that you would hope that somebody on

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other side would do something that could only a rebuke. —— earn a

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rebuke. This vacancy is for an MP from the coalition ranks. But the

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whole house are going to be voting. How can the candidates reach out to

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parties on all sides? It is very parties to decide between one person

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and another. Other than personality. different line. I do not understand

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how anyone imagines it would work. You will be working as part of a

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speaker. The question is the house European affairs. You might only be

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the Deputy, but when you are in European affairs. You might only be

:22:45.:22:51.

cherry you are the one in charge. —— chair. What advice to Sir Alan have?

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Take it cautiously. Try and find an early opportunity to show that you

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are utterly trying to be evenhanded. That you understand the house. And

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that you will seek to implement them. The house as a whole is a

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that you will seek to implement place. It will want you to succeed,

:23:19.:23:23.

I think. Occasionally, MPs just cannot help themselves. As an angry

:23:23.:23:25.

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