10/01/2014

:00:00. > :00:09.another difficult and dark day for the Metropolitan Police. More news

:00:10. > :00:15.at the talk of the hour. -- top. Time now for the Week in Parliament.

:00:16. > :00:20.Hello again, and welcome back to the Week in Parliament, and a belated

:00:21. > :00:24.happy new year! It's been a busy first few days for MPs. And peers,

:00:25. > :00:28.too, got 2014 off to a rousing start, with a debate on an in-out

:00:29. > :00:32.referendum on our EU membership. It is not about being anti-European or

:00:33. > :00:37.pro-European. It is about allowing people to decide their own future.

:00:38. > :00:42.This bill is a pig in a poke and it cannot be in the national interest

:00:43. > :00:45.to buy into it. After the UK's Christmas drenching, the PM is asked

:00:46. > :00:50.about the causes of the recent stormy weather. Colleagues across

:00:51. > :00:54.the House can argue whether it is linked to climate change or not.

:00:55. > :00:56.I've very much suspect that it is. Also on this programme, David

:00:57. > :01:00.Cameron says he'll protect state pensions. We ask if there's a

:01:01. > :01:04.growing gap between young and old when it comes to government policies

:01:05. > :01:08.and voting behaviour. But first, in four months' time, we'll all have a

:01:09. > :01:10.chance to vote in elections to the European Parliament. Already Europe

:01:11. > :01:13.has provided plenty of scope for debate this year, with much

:01:14. > :01:16.discussion over workers coming to the UK from Bulgaria and Romania and

:01:17. > :01:22.whether or not child benefit should go to nonresident children of EU

:01:23. > :01:24.migrants. And then of course there's the Private Members' Bill, which

:01:25. > :01:30.guarantees an in-out EU membership referendum in 2017. If that were to

:01:31. > :01:34.result in a vote to leave the EU, May's elections to the European

:01:35. > :01:36.Parliament would be our last. The Referendum Bill is being piloted

:01:37. > :01:39.through Parliament by Conservative backbenchers, because the Liberal

:01:40. > :01:44.Democrats wouldn't agree to it being government business. When the

:01:45. > :01:51.legislation got its first airing in the Lords, some 69 peers put their

:01:52. > :01:54.name down to speak. My Lords, the principle behind this bill is that

:01:55. > :02:01.the people have a right to decide their own future. We had a vote, of

:02:02. > :02:09.course, in 1975 in which we embrace the common market by a huge

:02:10. > :02:14.majority. I was one of those votes. But that vote needs reinforcing. The

:02:15. > :02:17.institutions of Europe have changed beyond imagination since then, and

:02:18. > :02:27.no-one, no-one in this country below the age of 60 has had any say. It's

:02:28. > :02:30.caused great controversy and has resulted in growing scepticism, not

:02:31. > :02:36.just about Europe but about all of our political processes. How much

:02:37. > :02:39.longer can we allow, let alone encourage, the issue of Europe to

:02:40. > :02:45.distort our politics and destroy the public's respect for our

:02:46. > :02:54.institutions? It is about letting people decide their future. It will

:02:55. > :03:03.be a brave man who denies them that choice and an even braver, unelected

:03:04. > :03:05.peer. We all know it isn't really a Private Members' Bill. It is a

:03:06. > :03:11.Conservative Party bill for Conservative Party reasons. And it

:03:12. > :03:13.is to create a consensus of unity among people deeply divided on the

:03:14. > :03:17.question of European Union, and, at the same time, to persuade voters

:03:18. > :03:28.tempted by UKIP not to down that path. Labour does not have these

:03:29. > :03:43.visceral internal divisions to manage. It doesn't! It doesn't. It

:03:44. > :03:53.doesn't. It doesn't! It doesn't! It doesn't! With one or two honourable

:03:54. > :03:59.exceptions! We are unambiguously a pro-European party. This bill is a

:04:00. > :04:03.pig in a poke and it cannot be in the national interest to buy into

:04:04. > :04:07.it. And their Lordships would be failing in their constitutional duty

:04:08. > :04:14.if they do not give this bad bill the fullest Parliamentary scrutiny.

:04:15. > :04:19.Some will argue that a referendum creates uncertainty. Indeed, we have

:04:20. > :04:23.heard some of that from the Labour front bench. But, my Lords, I argue

:04:24. > :04:35.that having an end date for a referendum results uncertainty. --

:04:36. > :04:38.and resolves. My Lords, William Gladstone 150 years ago defined

:04:39. > :04:43.liberalism as a principle of trust in the people only qualified by

:04:44. > :04:50.prudence. It is that combination of trust and prudence that we will put

:04:51. > :04:53.into the scrutiny of this bill. Lady Falkner. In the run-up to the Euro

:04:54. > :04:56.elections we mentioned earlier, we'll be bringing you regular

:04:57. > :05:00.snippets of Euro news. This nugget's an interesting one for UKIP. On

:05:01. > :05:03.Thursday, Marie Le Pen, leader of France's Front National, said that

:05:04. > :05:07.her party has far more in common with UKIP than UKIP would care to

:05:08. > :05:13.admit and that the two parties could help bring down the Berlin Wall of

:05:14. > :05:18.Brussels after the Euro elections. I wonder what Nigel Farage makes of

:05:19. > :05:21.that. Back now to the UK, and something more immediately pressing

:05:22. > :05:25.- the recent storms and floods. Gales and wet weather have swept

:05:26. > :05:30.over much of the UK since before Christmas. Hundreds of people in the

:05:31. > :05:33.South of England were left without electricity over the holiday and

:05:34. > :05:35.floods are continuing to cause disruption in many parts. As

:05:36. > :05:38.homeowners and businesses count the cost, questions have been asked

:05:39. > :05:42.about our flood defences and the preparedness of local authorities

:05:43. > :05:45.and power companies. At a subdued Prime Minister's Questions, the

:05:46. > :05:51.Labour Leader, Ed Miliband, raised the subject with David Cameron. He

:05:52. > :05:54.will recognise that some people felt the response at times was too slow.

:05:55. > :05:58.In particular, can he tell the House whether it has become clear why it

:05:59. > :06:01.took so long for some of the energy distribution companies to restore

:06:02. > :06:04.power to homes over Christmas, and what steps does he believe can be

:06:05. > :06:10.taken to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen again? I think

:06:11. > :06:13.he is absolutely right. In all of these circumstances, no matter how

:06:14. > :06:16.good the preparation, there are lessons to learn. There are lessons

:06:17. > :06:19.to learn on this occasion. On the positive side, the flood defences

:06:20. > :06:32.did protect up to one million homes over the December and Christmas

:06:33. > :06:36.period. There are some negatives are there. In particular, some of the

:06:37. > :06:39.energy companies did not have enough people over the holiday period for

:06:40. > :06:42.an emergency response is a lesson to be learned, so we need to learn

:06:43. > :06:46.these lessons. My right honourable friend will be leading this exercise

:06:47. > :06:48.and the Energy Secretary is already looking at the levels of

:06:49. > :06:50.compensation and preparedness and speed of response from energy

:06:51. > :06:54.companies, but I would welcome lessons that can be learned from all

:06:55. > :07:04.areas so we can be even more prepared in the future. Given the

:07:05. > :07:07.scale of risk, and the Prime Minister also respond to the

:07:08. > :07:17.possibility of DEFRA doing a survey and whether we can meet the needs of

:07:18. > :07:20.this kind? In this current four-year period we are spending ?2.3 billion

:07:21. > :07:31.compared with 2.1 billion in the previous period. In the early

:07:32. > :07:34.December flooding action, about 800,000 homes were protected by

:07:35. > :07:44.previous flood defence work and over Christmas, another 200,000. But

:07:45. > :07:48.whenever there is flooding, it then makes sense to look at the proposals

:07:49. > :07:55.in the programme for flood defence work and to see what more can be

:07:56. > :07:58.done. As well as the Government money, we are keen to leave it in

:07:59. > :08:09.more private sector money and local authority money, which is now

:08:10. > :08:14.possible under the arrangements. But I am happy to commit. The Prime

:08:15. > :08:16.Minister will know that the science is clear that the extreme weather

:08:17. > :08:19.conditions affecting our communities, including around the

:08:20. > :08:22.Kent estuary, RA destruct live and inevitable consequence, at least in

:08:23. > :08:25.part, of climate change. Given he has said this should be the greenest

:08:26. > :08:28.government ever, will he now support carbon reduction targets so we can

:08:29. > :08:42.take action to protect people and property? I agree with my honourable

:08:43. > :08:48.friend that we are seeing more abnormal weather events. Colleagues

:08:49. > :08:52.can argue as to whether it is linked to climate change or not. I suspect

:08:53. > :08:58.it is. The point is, it makes sense to invest in flood defences,

:08:59. > :09:07.mitigation and to get the information out. David Cameron at

:09:08. > :09:14.the start of the week made a promise to protect state pension. He said it

:09:15. > :09:20.would continue to rise by 2.5% until 2020. He rejected the suggestion

:09:21. > :09:27.this was a political move aimed at keeping the older voters in the Tory

:09:28. > :09:31.fold. The fact is, older people are more likely to vote. What can the

:09:32. > :09:40.party do to stop the slide in the youth vote. Earlier, I gathered a

:09:41. > :09:46.senior MP, and James, the youngest Conservative in the house and a

:09:47. > :09:49.senior politics lecturer. I asked if it was not fair that all the people

:09:50. > :09:56.who went out to vote should not the rewarded. I think it is absolutely

:09:57. > :10:02.right that given the start up in the last election, we will keep these

:10:03. > :10:07.pensions. He should stick to that promise. If you want to look at what

:10:08. > :10:12.people float, it is not just about what I am going to get, when you

:10:13. > :10:18.look at people who were not voting, it is because they think they are

:10:19. > :10:24.all the same, that what they say is not true. Whenever a politician

:10:25. > :10:32.stands up, when they make a pledge, they stick to that. Our young people

:10:33. > :10:40.not voting because politicians have nothing to offer them? That is part

:10:41. > :10:47.of it. They have become very deep. It is -- this effect did. What we

:10:48. > :10:54.need to do is get young people to realise that as well is protesting,

:10:55. > :10:57.they need to get involved in formal politics otherwise parties will not

:10:58. > :11:13.focus on their interest. A gap has opened up. But that gap has got

:11:14. > :11:16.significantly bigger. ? There has been a mess of decline. Younger

:11:17. > :11:18.people don't feel it is their duties evoke same that older voters do.

:11:19. > :11:22.They don't feel guilty about it. They think it is worth while but

:11:23. > :11:25.they will not have axed about it if they have not voted. Why is this?

:11:26. > :11:31.Has there been a broad change in culture? People don't talk about top

:11:32. > :11:34.politics over the dinner table or argument in pubs. They are not

:11:35. > :11:38.imbued in politics I think used to be? One of the main problems is that

:11:39. > :11:42.there is not a huge difference between parties will stop it was

:11:43. > :11:46.once clear what Labour and the Conservatives stood for. But we tend

:11:47. > :11:51.to do now is exchange scripts when one party changes. If there is not a

:11:52. > :11:57.distinct difference. I believe that one of the great issues of politics

:11:58. > :12:00.is a gross unfairness to the younger generation that all parties have

:12:01. > :12:04.followed for a very cynical reason, because as you rightly say, it is

:12:05. > :12:09.the elderly people who vote. Politicians are doing that, it is

:12:10. > :12:14.the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. It is done for entirely disreputable

:12:15. > :12:22.reasons and we are treating a younger generations abominably and

:12:23. > :12:25.particularly when they are told by Russell Brand not to vote. Of course

:12:26. > :12:29.they should vote. They should get out and vote. What to do to

:12:30. > :12:33.encourage them? If they are not angry or mobilise, what are you

:12:34. > :12:39.doing? Won I wrote a book that was designed for young people because it

:12:40. > :12:43.is full of wicked stories. I promise you they read the book. It was

:12:44. > :12:47.designed to get people interested in politics. Not only fun and

:12:48. > :12:50.passionate but the principles behind it and how the importance of

:12:51. > :12:56.politics and unchanging everyone's life. I think this generation has

:12:57. > :13:01.missed out on this and there has been a fixation on other things,

:13:02. > :13:04.sadly. I'm sure it will come back and when the younger generation

:13:05. > :13:10.realise how unfairly they have been treated, with their benefits taken

:13:11. > :13:14.away, and benefits given to rich pensioners who don't need them! It

:13:15. > :13:20.is quite unjust. We should have things like you winter fuel

:13:21. > :13:24.allowance when we are very well off indeed. Do you feel there is a real

:13:25. > :13:29.danger of young people not voting now in their late teens and 20s are

:13:30. > :13:36.going to go on to become nonvoters in their 30s, 40s and 50s, we will

:13:37. > :13:39.actually see a decline in the vote. That is really possible. There is an

:13:40. > :13:44.idea of a generation effect if going out and voting is a habit and you do

:13:45. > :13:48.it once and you get in the habit of doing that subsequent elections.

:13:49. > :13:50.There is a danger of that. The positive is we have a situation

:13:51. > :13:56.where adult wood is delayed and young people are staying in their

:13:57. > :14:01.parents homes for young of -- longer. As they get more of a stake

:14:02. > :14:05.in society there is a possibility they will be more interested in

:14:06. > :14:10.politics. I fear the other trend. James, do you fear that schools

:14:11. > :14:12.could be doing more? It seems of young people learn about politics

:14:13. > :14:16.they learn about the nuts and bolts on how a bill gets through or a

:14:17. > :14:19.committee works. Then in toddler issues because teachers are too

:14:20. > :14:23.frightened to talk about issues. I don't think that is true. I visit

:14:24. > :14:27.schools in my constituency all the time we talk about schools all the

:14:28. > :14:31.time. They have more collections and engage a lot. There is a youth

:14:32. > :14:41.Parliament that engages young people with quasi- vertical... Is that not

:14:42. > :14:45.a extreme group? I don't think if you talk more politics in schools

:14:46. > :14:48.people will be more engaged. I do think it is a simple problem that

:14:49. > :14:51.simple solutions. Paul talks about the generational differences in

:14:52. > :14:56.terms of the way political parties engage in older people because they

:14:57. > :15:00.are loyal -- more likely to vote. That is a concern. We can talk about

:15:01. > :15:04.how much we engage with schools, there can be a valid concern. The

:15:05. > :15:07.reality is that the world is moving on unchanging and our political

:15:08. > :15:13.system has not yet managed to adapt to the pace that it should. People

:15:14. > :15:20.are more likely to engage with young voters on Facebook or Twitter. They

:15:21. > :15:28.are more likely to join a campaign online rather than aim political

:15:29. > :15:33.action. Is not about the schools do, it is about getting into the new

:15:34. > :15:38.generation of technology? I'm slightly sceptical about that. I

:15:39. > :15:42.know that citizenship education is taught in schools by quality is

:15:43. > :15:44.variable and it is always taught by dedicated teachers interested in

:15:45. > :15:49.politics. I think there is a knowledge gap. Young people don't

:15:50. > :15:54.know about formal politics to make the choice about which party. The

:15:55. > :15:58.Obama campaign, using social media can be exciting to get young people

:15:59. > :16:00.involved that we should note that that campaign got young people

:16:01. > :16:03.involved on social media so they could then get other people involved

:16:04. > :16:08.to knock on doors. It is a mixture of traditional media and new social

:16:09. > :16:14.media will stop I don't think there is a whole new world. It is an

:16:15. > :16:18.integrated world. There will be some youngsters who are engaged in

:16:19. > :16:21.interested and take the tram and -- Timon travelled to look at the

:16:22. > :16:28.Twitter feeds but there is a whole vast array of youngsters who don't

:16:29. > :16:31.feel engage. You can do this. Russell Brand has 7 million

:16:32. > :16:40.followers on Twitter. Hammy do we have? 8000. It is good, it is part

:16:41. > :16:45.of it. It is a way of communicating in a tiny sentence to get a case in

:16:46. > :16:48.point. There is a fall in the understanding. Young people should

:16:49. > :16:51.be raging against what we are doing to the environment, what we're doing

:16:52. > :16:58.to their future, how we are pondering planet. Their children and

:16:59. > :17:03.grandchildren. We need inspirational figures. We need a British Obama,

:17:04. > :17:09.some on the left people away from the mundane and the mercenary

:17:10. > :17:15.politics. Appalling that I advertise for a job, not a huge salary but

:17:16. > :17:20.enough to live in London, I had 162 applications from people that all

:17:21. > :17:26.well qualified. 161 were disappointed. The oughta be

:17:27. > :17:33.aggressively targeting policies that young people, young people are

:17:34. > :17:35.interested in all sorts of things. Why are you not making more of an

:17:36. > :17:39.effort for policies that would really make a difference to them?

:17:40. > :17:44.That speaks to the underlying truth of this, young people don't vote in

:17:45. > :17:48.the numbers that old people don't vote. Put your parties look where

:17:49. > :17:52.voting groups are and where they are more likely to get votes and stay in

:17:53. > :17:55.power or get in power if they are in a position. That is not to say we do

:17:56. > :18:01.not have policies were young people, all the parties to but engaging with

:18:02. > :18:05.young people is not as easy to do in the traditional way. On individual

:18:06. > :18:09.issues, it comes up in my constituency where young people will

:18:10. > :18:12.really engage, we have one of the local music services the council was

:18:13. > :18:16.considering closing down and there was a big campaign and I was swamped

:18:17. > :18:21.with messages, phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages from young

:18:22. > :18:24.people. That is the problem. There is a gap. Young people care about

:18:25. > :18:29.issues, the care about things that affect them. If you say there are

:18:30. > :18:33.more policies are young people, there are a lot of policies out

:18:34. > :18:36.there that apply to people positively and negatively. There is

:18:37. > :18:38.a gap between the engagement of issues and the engagement with the

:18:39. > :18:42.political structures that exist. That is what we need to bridge.

:18:43. > :18:46.There is not an easy answer to but we need to be conscious of it. We

:18:47. > :18:53.need to explore different ways of communicating. That seems a good

:18:54. > :19:00.point to end it. Thank you all very much. Let's take a look at other

:19:01. > :19:05.venues around Westminster. There will warm tributes from all sides to

:19:06. > :19:14.the former Northern Ireland Mr Labour MP Paul Gardens. The 60

:19:15. > :19:21.-year-old who represented, died a week. Printable, eloquent and

:19:22. > :19:28.tireless and unfailingly courteous, measured and respectful. He always

:19:29. > :19:33.played the ball, never the men of the woman. An outstanding man who

:19:34. > :19:38.came into politics for the right reasons. His passing is a loss on so

:19:39. > :19:42.many levels. At the tail end of 2012, riots Brigade in Belfast over

:19:43. > :19:46.the decision to fire the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall only on

:19:47. > :19:53.designated days. The former US diplomat Dr Richard Haas was

:19:54. > :19:56.appointed to resolving disputes over fight disputes. They ended without a

:19:57. > :20:01.deal on New Year's Eve. The Northern Ireland Secretary describe it is

:20:02. > :20:04.disappointing but... A clear message from the premise that, from me in

:20:05. > :20:07.the Irish government is that this should not be seen as the end of the

:20:08. > :20:13.road. The process has seen valuable work done and real progress has been

:20:14. > :20:17.made. The discussions did manage to achieve a considerable amount of

:20:18. > :20:20.common ground which this government believes can provide a basis for

:20:21. > :20:25.continuing discussions between the parties. Fixed odds betting

:20:26. > :20:29.terminals, gaining terminals where you can bet hundreds of pounds in

:20:30. > :20:32.just a minute were the other subject raised at prime Minister Bosna

:20:33. > :20:36.questions. Ed Miliband excepted Biba had not done enough about them when

:20:37. > :20:40.it was in power and challenged David Cameron to go further. One in three

:20:41. > :20:44.calls to the gambling helpline about these machines and they are

:20:45. > :20:51.entrusted and deprived areas. For example, there are 340 in one of the

:20:52. > :20:55.most -- deprived boroughs in the country, new. Will he give us a

:20:56. > :21:00.timetable whether the government will act. We will report in the

:21:01. > :21:04.spring as a result of the review under way. It is important to get to

:21:05. > :21:08.grips with this. There is a pattern, we have the problem of 24 hour

:21:09. > :21:11.drinking and that needed to be changed and mitigated and we have

:21:12. > :21:14.done that. We have the problems created by the deregulation of

:21:15. > :21:19.betting and gaming which she is raising today and we need to sort

:21:20. > :21:21.that out. We also have problems in the banking industry and elsewhere

:21:22. > :21:29.that we have sorted out. As I say, if he wants to... As I said, if he

:21:30. > :21:33.wants to input ideas into that review, that is the right way

:21:34. > :21:38.forward. The committee on standards in public life think that MPs and

:21:39. > :21:42.public officials should have lessons in ethical behaviour as it would

:21:43. > :21:46.help restore people's trust department after the expenses and

:21:47. > :21:55.lobbying scandals in Lords and Commons. We spoke to the committee

:21:56. > :22:00.chairman, Lord Bute and asked the ethical decisions. We're not talking

:22:01. > :22:10.about simple cases of AIDS are rigid -- exaggerated corruption. We're

:22:11. > :22:15.talking about conflict issues. This also plans to the laws. Some people

:22:16. > :22:18.will be worried that people going into public servers don't already

:22:19. > :22:23.have this kind of ethical code. What would you say to them? Many members

:22:24. > :22:28.of Parliament have high a standard of personal integrity and I don't

:22:29. > :22:32.think I am stemming from any other point of view than that. The

:22:33. > :22:37.difficulty is they have been cases in recent times that have caused

:22:38. > :22:44.public alarm and despondency. There is a case for having more

:22:45. > :22:48.transparency. Having some degree of great attention to fix that as a way

:22:49. > :22:52.of embedding principles and one of the things I would hope to do as

:22:53. > :22:58.chairman of the standards of public life is to see a firmer in bedding

:22:59. > :23:03.of the principles of integrity and selflessness in public life in all

:23:04. > :23:06.sectors that these same time contribute to a balanced debate. In

:23:07. > :23:14.your experience, have you had to deal with ethical dilemmas? Your A

:23:15. > :23:17.early on my life I was working on a particular bill and we were

:23:18. > :23:20.approached by a firm that is a widely respected body in the

:23:21. > :23:26.education area but it had views on a particular aspect of this bill and

:23:27. > :23:31.they said come and help us out. I am glad that experience he said to me

:23:32. > :23:38.that you should not talk to these people but you will pay for your own

:23:39. > :23:48.lunch. The idea that it is brown paper bags is not the problem. The

:23:49. > :23:50.problem is the grey areas. Lobby on Parliamentary ethics as peers debate

:23:51. > :23:52.the rights and wrongs of EU membership.