10/01/2014 The Week in Parliament

another difficult and dark day for the Metropolitan Police. More news

at the talk of the hour. -- top. Time now for the Week in Parliament.

Hello again, and welcome back to the Week in Parliament, and a belated

happy new year! It's been a busy first few days for MPs. And peers,

too, got 2014 off to a rousing start, with a debate on an in-out

referendum on our EU membership. It is not about being anti-European or

pro-European. It is about allowing people to decide their own future.

This bill is a pig in a poke and it cannot be in the national interest

to buy into it. After the UK's Christmas drenching, the PM is asked

about the causes of the recent stormy weather. Colleagues across

the House can argue whether it is linked to climate change or not.

I've very much suspect that it is. Also on this programme, David

Cameron says he'll protect state pensions. We ask if there's a

growing gap between young and old when it comes to government policies

and voting behaviour. But first, in four months' time, we'll all have a

chance to vote in elections to the European Parliament. Already Europe

has provided plenty of scope for debate this year, with much

discussion over workers coming to the UK from Bulgaria and Romania and

whether or not child benefit should go to nonresident children of EU

migrants. And then of course there's the Private Members' Bill, which

guarantees an in-out EU membership referendum in 2017. If that were to

result in a vote to leave the EU, May's elections to the European

Parliament would be our last. The Referendum Bill is being piloted

through Parliament by Conservative backbenchers, because the Liberal

Democrats wouldn't agree to it being government business. When the

legislation got its first airing in the Lords, some 69 peers put their

name down to speak. My Lords, the principle behind this bill is that

the people have a right to decide their own future. We had a vote, of

course, in 1975 in which we embrace the common market by a huge

majority. I was one of those votes. But that vote needs reinforcing. The

institutions of Europe have changed beyond imagination since then, and

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

caused great controversy and has resulted in growing scepticism, not

just about Europe but about all of our political processes. How much

longer can we allow, let alone encourage, the issue of Europe to

distort our politics and destroy the public's respect for our

institutions? It is about letting people decide their future. It will

be a brave man who denies them that choice and an even braver, unelected

peer. We all know it isn't really a Private Members' Bill. It is a

Conservative Party bill for Conservative Party reasons. And it

is to create a consensus of unity among people deeply divided on the

question of European Union, and, at the same time, to persuade voters

tempted by UKIP not to down that path. Labour does not have these

visceral internal divisions to manage. It doesn't! It doesn't. It

doesn't. It doesn't! It doesn't! It doesn't! With one or two honourable

exceptions! We are unambiguously a pro-European party. This bill is a

pig in a poke and it cannot be in the national interest to buy into

it. And their Lordships would be failing in their constitutional duty

if they do not give this bad bill the fullest Parliamentary scrutiny.

Some will argue that a referendum creates uncertainty. Indeed, we have

heard some of that from the Labour front bench. But, my Lords, I argue

that having an end date for a referendum results uncertainty. --

and resolves. My Lords, William Gladstone 150 years ago defined

liberalism as a principle of trust in the people only qualified by

prudence. It is that combination of trust and prudence that we will put

into the scrutiny of this bill. Lady Falkner. In the run-up to the Euro

elections we mentioned earlier, we'll be bringing you regular

snippets of Euro news. This nugget's an interesting one for UKIP. On

Thursday, Marie Le Pen, leader of France's Front National, said that

her party has far more in common with UKIP than UKIP would care to

admit and that the two parties could help bring down the Berlin Wall of

Brussels after the Euro elections. I wonder what Nigel Farage makes of

that. Back now to the UK, and something more immediately pressing

- the recent storms and floods. Gales and wet weather have swept

over much of the UK since before Christmas. Hundreds of people in the

South of England were left without electricity over the holiday and

floods are continuing to cause disruption in many parts. As

homeowners and businesses count the cost, questions have been asked

about our flood defences and the preparedness of local authorities

and power companies. At a subdued Prime Minister's Questions, the

Labour Leader, Ed Miliband, raised the subject with David Cameron. He

will recognise that some people felt the response at times was too slow.

In particular, can he tell the House whether it has become clear why it

took so long for some of the energy distribution companies to restore

power to homes over Christmas, and what steps does he believe can be

taken to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen again? I think

he is absolutely right. In all of these circumstances, no matter how

good the preparation, there are lessons to learn. There are lessons

to learn on this occasion. On the positive side, the flood defences

did protect up to one million homes over the December and Christmas

period. There are some negatives are there. In particular, some of the

energy companies did not have enough people over the holiday period for

an emergency response is a lesson to be learned, so we need to learn

these lessons. My right honourable friend will be leading this exercise

and the Energy Secretary is already looking at the levels of

compensation and preparedness and speed of response from energy

companies, but I would welcome lessons that can be learned from all

areas so we can be even more prepared in the future. Given the

scale of risk, and the Prime Minister also respond to the

possibility of DEFRA doing a survey and whether we can meet the needs of

this kind? In this current four-year period we are spending ?2.3 billion

compared with 2.1 billion in the previous period. In the early

December flooding action, about 800,000 homes were protected by

previous flood defence work and over Christmas, another 200,000. But

whenever there is flooding, it then makes sense to look at the proposals

in the programme for flood defence work and to see what more can be

done. As well as the Government money, we are keen to leave it in

more private sector money and local authority money, which is now

possible under the arrangements. But I am happy to commit. The Prime

Minister will know that the science is clear that the extreme weather

conditions affecting our communities, including around the

Kent estuary, RA destruct live and inevitable consequence, at least in

part, of climate change. Given he has said this should be the greenest

government ever, will he now support carbon reduction targets so we can

take action to protect people and property? I agree with my honourable

friend that we are seeing more abnormal weather events. Colleagues

can argue as to whether it is linked to climate change or not. I suspect

it is. The point is, it makes sense to invest in flood defences,

mitigation and to get the information out. David Cameron at

the start of the week made a promise to protect state pension. He said it

would continue to rise by 2.5% until 2020. He rejected the suggestion

this was a political move aimed at keeping the older voters in the Tory

fold. The fact is, older people are more likely to vote. What can the

party do to stop the slide in the youth vote. Earlier, I gathered a

senior MP, and James, the youngest Conservative in the house and a

senior politics lecturer. I asked if it was not fair that all the people

who went out to vote should not the rewarded. I think it is absolutely

right that given the start up in the last election, we will keep these

pensions. He should stick to that promise. If you want to look at what

people float, it is not just about what I am going to get, when you

look at people who were not voting, it is because they think they are

all the same, that what they say is not true. Whenever a politician

stands up, when they make a pledge, they stick to that. Our young people

not voting because politicians have nothing to offer them? That is part

of it. They have become very deep. It is -- this effect did. What we

need to do is get young people to realise that as well is protesting,

they need to get involved in formal politics otherwise parties will not

focus on their interest. A gap has opened up. But that gap has got

significantly bigger. ? There has been a mess of decline. Younger

people don't feel it is their duties evoke same that older voters do.

They don't feel guilty about it. They think it is worth while but

they will not have axed about it if they have not voted. Why is this?

Has there been a broad change in culture? People don't talk about top

politics over the dinner table or argument in pubs. They are not

imbued in politics I think used to be? One of the main problems is that

there is not a huge difference between parties will stop it was

once clear what Labour and the Conservatives stood for. But we tend

to do now is exchange scripts when one party changes. If there is not a

distinct difference. I believe that one of the great issues of politics

is a gross unfairness to the younger generation that all parties have

followed for a very cynical reason, because as you rightly say, it is

the elderly people who vote. Politicians are doing that, it is

the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. It is done for entirely disreputable

reasons and we are treating a younger generations abominably and

particularly when they are told by Russell Brand not to vote. Of course

they should vote. They should get out and vote. What to do to

encourage them? If they are not angry or mobilise, what are you

doing? Won I wrote a book that was designed for young people because it

is full of wicked stories. I promise you they read the book. It was

designed to get people interested in politics. Not only fun and

passionate but the principles behind it and how the importance of

politics and unchanging everyone's life. I think this generation has

missed out on this and there has been a fixation on other things,

sadly. I'm sure it will come back and when the younger generation

realise how unfairly they have been treated, with their benefits taken

away, and benefits given to rich pensioners who don't need them! It

is quite unjust. We should have things like you winter fuel

allowance when we are very well off indeed. Do you feel there is a real

danger of young people not voting now in their late teens and 20s are

going to go on to become nonvoters in their 30s, 40s and 50s, we will

actually see a decline in the vote. That is really possible. There is an

idea of a generation effect if going out and voting is a habit and you do

it once and you get in the habit of doing that subsequent elections.

There is a danger of that. The positive is we have a situation

where adult wood is delayed and young people are staying in their

parents homes for young of -- longer. As they get more of a stake

in society there is a possibility they will be more interested in

politics. I fear the other trend. James, do you fear that schools

could be doing more? It seems of young people learn about politics

they learn about the nuts and bolts on how a bill gets through or a

committee works. Then in toddler issues because teachers are too

frightened to talk about issues. I don't think that is true. I visit

schools in my constituency all the time we talk about schools all the

time. They have more collections and engage a lot. There is a youth

Parliament that engages young people with quasi- vertical... Is that not

a extreme group? I don't think if you talk more politics in schools

people will be more engaged. I do think it is a simple problem that

simple solutions. Paul talks about the generational differences in

terms of the way political parties engage in older people because they

are loyal -- more likely to vote. That is a concern. We can talk about

how much we engage with schools, there can be a valid concern. The

reality is that the world is moving on unchanging and our political

system has not yet managed to adapt to the pace that it should. People

are more likely to engage with young voters on Facebook or Twitter. They

are more likely to join a campaign online rather than aim political

action. Is not about the schools do, it is about getting into the new

generation of technology? I'm slightly sceptical about that. I

know that citizenship education is taught in schools by quality is

variable and it is always taught by dedicated teachers interested in

politics. I think there is a knowledge gap. Young people don't

know about formal politics to make the choice about which party. The

Obama campaign, using social media can be exciting to get young people

involved that we should note that that campaign got young people

involved on social media so they could then get other people involved

to knock on doors. It is a mixture of traditional media and new social

media will stop I don't think there is a whole new world. It is an

integrated world. There will be some youngsters who are engaged in

interested and take the tram and -- Timon travelled to look at the

Twitter feeds but there is a whole vast array of youngsters who don't

feel engage. You can do this. Russell Brand has 7 million

followers on Twitter. Hammy do we have? 8000. It is good, it is part

of it. It is a way of communicating in a tiny sentence to get a case in

point. There is a fall in the understanding. Young people should

be raging against what we are doing to the environment, what we're doing

to their future, how we are pondering planet. Their children and

grandchildren. We need inspirational figures. We need a British Obama,

some on the left people away from the mundane and the mercenary

politics. Appalling that I advertise for a job, not a huge salary but

enough to live in London, I had 162 applications from people that all

well qualified. 161 were disappointed. The oughta be

aggressively targeting policies that young people, young people are

interested in all sorts of things. Why are you not making more of an

effort for policies that would really make a difference to them?

That speaks to the underlying truth of this, young people don't vote in

the numbers that old people don't vote. Put your parties look where

voting groups are and where they are more likely to get votes and stay in

power or get in power if they are in a position. That is not to say we do

not have policies were young people, all the parties to but engaging with

young people is not as easy to do in the traditional way. On individual

issues, it comes up in my constituency where young people will

really engage, we have one of the local music services the council was

considering closing down and there was a big campaign and I was swamped

with messages, phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages from young

people. That is the problem. There is a gap. Young people care about

issues, the care about things that affect them. If you say there are

more policies are young people, there are a lot of policies out

there that apply to people positively and negatively. There is

a gap between the engagement of issues and the engagement with the

political structures that exist. That is what we need to bridge.

There is not an easy answer to but we need to be conscious of it. We

need to explore different ways of communicating. That seems a good

point to end it. Thank you all very much. Let's take a look at other

venues around Westminster. There will warm tributes from all sides to

the former Northern Ireland Mr Labour MP Paul Gardens. The 60

-year-old who represented, died a week. Printable, eloquent and

tireless and unfailingly courteous, measured and respectful. He always

played the ball, never the men of the woman. An outstanding man who

came into politics for the right reasons. His passing is a loss on so

many levels. At the tail end of 2012, riots Brigade in Belfast over

the decision to fire the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall only on

designated days. The former US diplomat Dr Richard Haas was

appointed to resolving disputes over fight disputes. They ended without a

deal on New Year's Eve. The Northern Ireland Secretary describe it is

disappointing but... A clear message from the premise that, from me in

the Irish government is that this should not be seen as the end of the

road. The process has seen valuable work done and real progress has been

made. The discussions did manage to achieve a considerable amount of

common ground which this government believes can provide a basis for

continuing discussions between the parties. Fixed odds betting

terminals, gaining terminals where you can bet hundreds of pounds in

just a minute were the other subject raised at prime Minister Bosna

questions. Ed Miliband excepted Biba had not done enough about them when

it was in power and challenged David Cameron to go further. One in three

calls to the gambling helpline about these machines and they are

entrusted and deprived areas. For example, there are 340 in one of the

most -- deprived boroughs in the country, new. Will he give us a

timetable whether the government will act. We will report in the

spring as a result of the review under way. It is important to get to

grips with this. There is a pattern, we have the problem of 24 hour

drinking and that needed to be changed and mitigated and we have

done that. We have the problems created by the deregulation of

betting and gaming which she is raising today and we need to sort

that out. We also have problems in the banking industry and elsewhere

that we have sorted out. As I say, if he wants to... As I said, if he

wants to input ideas into that review, that is the right way

forward. The committee on standards in public life think that MPs and

public officials should have lessons in ethical behaviour as it would

help restore people's trust department after the expenses and

lobbying scandals in Lords and Commons. We spoke to the committee

chairman, Lord Bute and asked the ethical decisions. We're not talking

about simple cases of AIDS are rigid -- exaggerated corruption. We're

talking about conflict issues. This also plans to the laws. Some people

will be worried that people going into public servers don't already

have this kind of ethical code. What would you say to them? Many members

of Parliament have high a standard of personal integrity and I don't

think I am stemming from any other point of view than that. The

difficulty is they have been cases in recent times that have caused

public alarm and despondency. There is a case for having more

transparency. Having some degree of great attention to fix that as a way

of embedding principles and one of the things I would hope to do as

chairman of the standards of public life is to see a firmer in bedding

of the principles of integrity and selflessness in public life in all

sectors that these same time contribute to a balanced debate. In

your experience, have you had to deal with ethical dilemmas? Your A

early on my life I was working on a particular bill and we were

approached by a firm that is a widely respected body in the

education area but it had views on a particular aspect of this bill and

they said come and help us out. I am glad that experience he said to me

that you should not talk to these people but you will pay for your own

lunch. The idea that it is brown paper bags is not the problem. The

problem is the grey areas. Lobby on Parliamentary ethics as peers debate

the rights and wrongs of EU membership.