:00:00. > :00:00.prison. It is time for the week in
:00:00. > :00:14.Parliament. Hello and welcome to the programme.
:00:15. > :00:17.It's too much water and too few women - at Prime Minister's
:00:18. > :00:20.Questions, David Cameron is accused of not grappling with the floods and
:00:21. > :00:31.not having enough female MPs and ministers. He runs his government
:00:32. > :00:35.like the old boys network. That is why he is failing women across his
:00:36. > :00:40.party and across the country. Of the Conservatives, around 20% of women,
:00:41. > :00:45.that is below what I want to achieve, we are making progress and
:00:46. > :00:48.will make more progress. Also on this programme we talk to a former
:00:49. > :00:51.top Whitehall mandarin on why he's all in favour of fixed term
:00:52. > :00:57.parliaments. And we speak to a man on a mission about how he's
:00:58. > :01:01.persuading youngsters to vote. Most of them do not know. The worst thing
:01:02. > :01:08.is that there will be passionate about issues, but will not let those
:01:09. > :01:12.issues to politics. We begin with Prime Minister 's questions. MPs
:01:13. > :01:19.gathered on the first day of a 48 hour cheap strike. It was this, the
:01:20. > :01:22.widespread flooding has caused real misery that came up fast. Weeks of
:01:23. > :01:26.wet and windy weather have left land, homes and businesses
:01:27. > :01:29.underwater causing untold damage. Roads have been submerged and
:01:30. > :01:35.railway lines washed away. The Labour leader asked if more could
:01:36. > :01:38.have been done. Many people do feel the response as being too slow and
:01:39. > :01:44.they are being left alone and isolated. Does he agree with me that
:01:45. > :01:46.the events we have seen demand a comprehensive look at the
:01:47. > :01:52.Government's investment in flood protection and the speed of its
:01:53. > :01:55.response? The Prime Minister promised the Government would report
:01:56. > :02:05.on these issues by the end of January. Can you tell us when the
:02:06. > :02:08.report will be available? This Government has spent ?2.4 billion
:02:09. > :02:11.over this period which is more than the ?1 billion spent under the
:02:12. > :02:14.devious Government. Let me announce today that a further ?100 million
:02:15. > :02:19.will be made available to cover maintenance of the next year. This
:02:20. > :02:22.will cover ?75 million for repairs, ?10 million for urgent work in
:02:23. > :02:25.Somerset to deliver the action plans delivered by local agencies and ?15
:02:26. > :02:28.million for extra maintenance. But I can confirm that is new money that
:02:29. > :02:39.will protect more houses and help our country more with floods and we
:02:40. > :02:42.will continue to do what is right. Ed Miliband switched subjects, to
:02:43. > :02:49.the Prime Minister's pledge to lead the way on women's equality. Look at
:02:50. > :02:54.the all-male front bench before us. He says he wants to represent the
:02:55. > :02:59.whole country. I guess they didn't let women into the Bullingdon club
:03:00. > :03:04.either. He said a third of his ministers would be women, he is
:03:05. > :03:07.nowhere near meeting the target. Half of the women he appointed as
:03:08. > :03:11.ministers after the election have resigned or been sacked. In his
:03:12. > :03:21.cabinet there are as many men who went to Eton or Westminster as there
:03:22. > :03:27.are women. Does he think it is his fault that the Conservative Party
:03:28. > :03:30.has a problem with women? He is interested in the figures, let me
:03:31. > :03:33.give him the figures. Of the full members of the cabinet who are
:03:34. > :03:39.conservatives, a quarter of them are women. Not enough, I want to see
:03:40. > :03:45.that grow. Of the front bench ministers of the Conservatives,
:03:46. > :03:50.around 20% are women. That is below what I want to achieve in 33%. We
:03:51. > :03:55.are making progress, and we will make more progress. This party is
:03:56. > :04:13.proud of the fact that we had a woman Prime Minister... Yes, yes, to
:04:14. > :04:31.be fair to the Labour Party. Order. Mr Gove... Order. You really...
:04:32. > :04:35.Order! You really are a very over excitable individual. You need to
:04:36. > :04:43.write out 1000 times, I will behave myself at Prime Minister's
:04:44. > :04:46.Questions. To be fair to the Labour Party, they have had some interim
:04:47. > :04:54.leaders who are women, but they have this habit of replacing them with
:04:55. > :05:05.totally ineffective men. Of course, Mr Speaker, he mentions Lady
:05:06. > :05:11.Thatcher. Unlike him, she was a Tory leader who won a general election.
:05:12. > :05:16.He runs his government by the old boys' network. That is why he is
:05:17. > :05:22.failing women across his party and across the country. Isn't it
:05:23. > :05:27.interesting that with six questions and an invitation to condemn the
:05:28. > :05:31.strike today, not a word? Isn't that the truth. He raises constituency
:05:32. > :05:35.selections in a week when he has completely rolled over to the trade
:05:36. > :05:38.unions. Let's be clear about what is happening, they keep their block
:05:39. > :05:44.vote, they get more power over discretionary funding and they get
:05:45. > :05:48.90% of the votes for their leader. He told us he would get rid of the
:05:49. > :05:54.red flag, all he has done is run-up the white flag. David Cameron, with
:05:55. > :05:57.the last word at Prime Minister's Questions, taunting Ed Miliband over
:05:58. > :06:02.the Tube strike and the Labour leaders' plans for internal party
:06:03. > :06:05.reform. Now to Thursday and the latest
:06:06. > :06:08.session of an inquiry into fixed term parliaments. It's an idea
:06:09. > :06:12.familiar to Americans, but over here it's traditionally been down to the
:06:13. > :06:16.PM to choose the date for the general election. When the Coalition
:06:17. > :06:20.came to power, it agreed a five-year fixed term - so how's it going? A
:06:21. > :06:27.former top civil servant faced questions from MPs. You think that
:06:28. > :06:36.Mr Blair made a mistake in calling a general election after four years in
:06:37. > :06:39.2001 and 2005? Surely the reason he called another election was the
:06:40. > :06:42.Government had run out of steam and he wanted a fresh mandate.
:06:43. > :06:45.Absolutely not, I am afraid I am cynical, I think he called an
:06:46. > :06:53.election because he thought he could win it. And he did. That is the
:06:54. > :06:56.whole point about the difference between giving the power to call an
:06:57. > :07:01.election to the incumbent, versus Parliament deciding that it is going
:07:02. > :07:04.to be on a fixed date. Personally I am in the Parliament camp and
:07:05. > :07:07.saying, let's have this as a fixed term, not to give this very strong,
:07:08. > :07:16.I think, biased towards incumbents to be able to choose the date. Lord
:07:17. > :07:20.O'Donnell joins me now in the studio. Don't civil servants like
:07:21. > :07:25.fixed term Parliaments because they make everything lovely and easy and
:07:26. > :07:28.you can plan stuff? I wouldn't say Government is ever easy but a fixed
:07:29. > :07:34.term Parliament means one uncertainty has gone. You know that
:07:35. > :07:40.with certainty, the date of the next election. That is good. Other than
:07:41. > :07:46.that, you get a bit more time to plan. You probably get in another
:07:47. > :07:50.budget than you would in a four year Parliament. Which we have had mostly
:07:51. > :07:56.in the Second World War, post-2nd World War period. On balance I think
:07:57. > :08:01.civil servants will think this is better and it is a fairer system. If
:08:02. > :08:05.the incumbent government gets to choose when the election is, it
:08:06. > :08:12.gives them a slight advantage over the opposition. Isn't there a
:08:13. > :08:17.problem when you get to this .5 years in, that there is not much
:08:18. > :08:20.going on? There is very little legislation. Normally the
:08:21. > :08:24.government, if they were ahead, would choose to go for an election,
:08:25. > :08:28.or if they are not ahead and you would get a year which is horrible.
:08:29. > :08:34.Under the old regime, the government is hanging around, hoping something
:08:35. > :08:38.would happen to give them a chance. This final year, it is the first
:08:39. > :08:43.time we have had this. The honest answer is, it is unprecedented so we
:08:44. > :08:45.are not sure. But it gives an opportunity for Parliament to be
:08:46. > :08:48.thinking in a more, hopefully, standing back, not quite passing so
:08:49. > :08:51.much legislation but concentrating on implementation of what they have
:08:52. > :09:03.already put through in terms of legislation already. You were
:09:04. > :09:09.saying. You were saying you would hope Parliament would tackle issues
:09:10. > :09:20.like obesity, how realistic is it? It doesn't have to be business as
:09:21. > :09:23.usual, is what I am saying. They could think about debating some of
:09:24. > :09:26.the big issues that we face, how a society going to deal with some of
:09:27. > :09:31.these long-term issues like the ageing population, climate change
:09:32. > :09:36.and those things. I think they could. Will they? It is in their
:09:37. > :09:40.hands. I would really like to see them doing it because I think...
:09:41. > :09:45.People are a bit fed up with politics. They are not engaging,
:09:46. > :09:48.they are not bothering to vote, they are not joining political parties
:09:49. > :09:51.and I would like to see that trend reversed. I would like to see people
:09:52. > :09:55.getting excited by politics, so much so that when it comes to the next
:09:56. > :10:00.election they are fired up and they want to vote. But MPs are a tribal
:10:01. > :10:07.bunch, they fight elections and they pass laws. We have an adversarial
:10:08. > :10:10.system, yes. But some of the great things we have done, if you look at
:10:11. > :10:13.foreign policy initiatives, if you look at when we take troops out in
:10:14. > :10:20.harm's way, we try to get cross-party consensus. I think there
:10:21. > :10:27.is nothing wrong to be thinking about some issues, can we not get
:10:28. > :10:31.cross-party agreement? When the Coalition was set up and the idea of
:10:32. > :10:34.a five year fixed term was first thought of, was there much planning
:10:35. > :10:41.and thought about where and what would be happening by years four and
:10:42. > :10:46.five? You have to separate the two things. It would be difficult to say
:10:47. > :10:48.what were the effects of the first fixed term Parliament and the first
:10:49. > :10:55.coalition since the Second World War, because they are both happening
:10:56. > :10:59.together. On day we had a Coalition and we did not know whether there
:11:00. > :11:01.would be a fixed term Parliament. They had lots of constitutional
:11:02. > :11:04.reforms in hand, like House of Lords, voting system, boundary
:11:05. > :11:10.changes, most of those have not happened, a fixed term Parliament
:11:11. > :11:13.has. I think the Coalition was always going to be on a path where
:11:14. > :11:20.on day one, they are at their closest together. As they approach
:11:21. > :11:25.the election date, they will think about differentiating their product.
:11:26. > :11:29.Both of them, I guess, will say, look at the good things that happen
:11:30. > :11:32.in government, it is mostly down to us, and the bad things, it is
:11:33. > :11:37.because the other party didn't let us do them.
:11:38. > :11:45.I think you will hear that from both Conservatives and Lib Dems. Do you
:11:46. > :11:50.think the idea of fixed term Parliaments will stick? I think so.
:11:51. > :11:55.It would require a new administration to actually reverse
:11:56. > :11:59.the legislation. I think the fact... I think the fairness, why should the
:12:00. > :12:11.incumbent get to choose when an election is? Why can't we have as
:12:12. > :12:15.many countries have fixed term, it is five years, let's use it as an
:12:16. > :12:18.opportunity to plan for five years. This morning I was saying, what
:12:19. > :12:22.about a spending review which lasted five years rather than just three,
:12:23. > :12:28.or as we used have, one. Do you think we will see another coalition?
:12:29. > :12:32.Do the public like it? Whether the public like it or not, it is very
:12:33. > :12:35.hard to vote for a coalition, you have to vote for an individual
:12:36. > :12:39.party. The pollster experts tell me that the combined share of the two
:12:40. > :12:42.main parties has been on a trend of decline so you would have to say,
:12:43. > :12:48.the basis of that evidence, coalitions have become more likely.
:12:49. > :12:52.Between now and May 2015, anything could happen so I think it would be
:12:53. > :12:56.a foolish person that predicted one way or another. One thing I would
:12:57. > :13:02.say, we shouldn't rule out minority government as well. It is not just
:13:03. > :13:08.single party or coalition, you could have a minority government. We will
:13:09. > :13:12.get you back to see what happens. Thank you for coming in.
:13:13. > :13:15.Let's turn our attention to a not unrelated topic - just how do you
:13:16. > :13:19.get youngsters to register to vote - and to turn up at the polling
:13:20. > :13:22.station? It's no secret that younger people are less likely to take part
:13:23. > :13:26.in elections, but why and what can be done? A campaign group called
:13:27. > :13:30.Bite the Ballot is leading the charge - and in the week held a
:13:31. > :13:37.national voter registration day - an idea which won praise in the House
:13:38. > :13:40.of Lords. I pay tribute to Bite the Ballot for organising hundreds of
:13:41. > :13:43.events with the aim of registering young people to vote. My Lord, warm
:13:44. > :13:46.words but no parsnips and I strongly urge the Government to ensure, not
:13:47. > :13:49.encourage, but ensure that an inspiring curriculum is taught in
:13:50. > :14:00.each and every school including academies and free schools. And that
:14:01. > :14:07.every school should facilitate everyone of or near voting age to
:14:08. > :14:09.register to vote. I would also ask the Government to enclose, or to
:14:10. > :14:12.consider enclosing electoral registration forms with the official
:14:13. > :14:14.communications they have with young people, for examples national
:14:15. > :14:25.insurance numbers and driving licence applications. On the last
:14:26. > :14:29.point, that is where I will take back. We're considering how best to
:14:30. > :14:32.encourage all this. The new citizenship programme for study
:14:33. > :14:34.which has been agreed to be taught from September 2014 stipulates
:14:35. > :14:36.pupils should be taught about Parliamentary democracy and actions
:14:37. > :14:39.citizens should take in Democratic and electoral processes to implement
:14:40. > :14:51.decisions locally, nationally and beyond.
:14:52. > :14:55.Lord Wallace on the Government's efforts to get people to register to
:14:56. > :15:03.vote. With me now is Mike Sahni from Bite the Ballot. Why aren't people
:15:04. > :15:07.registering to vote? Ultimately, in my opinion and as a teacher for five
:15:08. > :15:10.years and having toured the country trying to engage people with a team
:15:11. > :15:19.of youngsters by my side, most of them just don't know. They do not
:15:20. > :15:22.feel as if they know enough. The worst thing is they will be
:15:23. > :15:30.passionate about issues but will not related issues to politics. Whose
:15:31. > :15:33.fault is that? Why don't they know? The top people responsible should be
:15:34. > :15:36.parliament, elected representatives. Surely they have a job and the
:15:37. > :15:40.mission statement is to engage people in democracy. I do not know
:15:41. > :15:44.how well the can do it that if we cannot inspire the youngest to
:15:45. > :15:50.participate. We have to look beyond that as well. Society and democracy
:15:51. > :15:54.is for all of us. Parents, grandparents... Grandparents must
:15:55. > :15:58.have lived through so many clear-cut reasons as to why they believe it is
:15:59. > :16:02.your duty to vote. Conversations in the family home, in school. If it is
:16:03. > :16:11.going to change, parliament should be the trailblazers to say we need
:16:12. > :16:15.to start inspiring. Isn't it the case that it is becoming bit cool
:16:16. > :16:18.and trendy to think that voting is pointless? Russell Brand made a big
:16:19. > :16:21.point about going to vote making no difference. I know. That seems a
:16:22. > :16:24.sort of poor message, really, if ultimately Russell did say that we
:16:25. > :16:32.have tried voting and it does not work. But we have not tried voting.
:16:33. > :16:39.If you look at the last election, young people had the lowest turnout.
:16:40. > :16:45.Decisions are not made towards them because they are not seen as making
:16:46. > :16:48.a difference in the balance box. You cannot make sweeping statements like
:16:49. > :16:57.that if the country do not actively come out, even if it is to abstain.
:16:58. > :17:00.It seems clear youngsters are engaged in single issues. How can
:17:01. > :17:08.politicians get onto that and engage them at all? Ultimately, the thing I
:17:09. > :17:15.enjoy about this campaign at the minute is we're driving demand. When
:17:16. > :17:17.that demand reaches a certain level, the political parties will have to
:17:18. > :17:25.supply to it. Otherwise they risk being left on the shelf. We need
:17:26. > :17:28.more effort from all the parties to can imitate ideologies to younger
:17:29. > :17:36.age. It almost feels as if they feel it. --fear. Why are people not
:17:37. > :17:45.ending the citizens report? Things like this are simple but not being
:17:46. > :17:48.done. But aren't so many more options open to younger people? If
:17:49. > :17:51.they feel passionately, they can have a Twitter or Facebook campaign
:17:52. > :18:01.and there are plenty of ways for them to them without getting
:18:02. > :18:03.involved in politics. There are. But at the minute traditional politics
:18:04. > :18:06.lies with where the decisions are made. Political parties make
:18:07. > :18:10.decisions and laws that we live by, so of course we can drum up interest
:18:11. > :18:13.on Twitter, but will that really make a difference and change
:18:14. > :18:17.people's lives? It goes hand-in-hand. It is great young
:18:18. > :18:20.people can use social media to drive up interest in things they care
:18:21. > :18:23.about but ultimately we need to use the channels of communication
:18:24. > :18:29.available to them at local, national or global level. Have things like
:18:30. > :18:31.independence for Scotland made a big difference to the numbers of
:18:32. > :18:39.youngsters who have registered to vote, given that they have lowered
:18:40. > :18:43.the vote to 16? They have. I can only speak on one example. We
:18:44. > :18:50.visited Scotland to test out the resources we've use in schools. We
:18:51. > :18:55.had 132 students across the day and only two of them were registered.
:18:56. > :18:58.Most of them did not know you have to register to vote in the
:18:59. > :19:02.referendum. Again, we hear political parties saying that we should lower
:19:03. > :19:06.the voting age to 16, but no-one knows where they stand. We need to
:19:07. > :19:15.make sure people can make an informed decision. Time will tell if
:19:16. > :19:19.young people come out in Scotland. Thank you for coming in to see us.
:19:20. > :19:24.A Bill which allows same-sex weddings to take place in Scotland
:19:25. > :19:31.has been passed by MSPs at Holyrood. The Marriage and Civil Partnership
:19:32. > :19:41.Bill Scotland Bill is passed. They voted to back the idea by 105 votes
:19:42. > :19:43.to 18. The first gay and lesbian weddings could take place this
:19:44. > :19:47.autumn. The announcement of the result was applauded by MSPs and
:19:48. > :19:50.those in the public gallery. The Scottish Government said the move
:19:51. > :19:51.was the right thing to do. But Scotland's two main churches oppose
:19:52. > :19:55.the idea. And now to Europe. MEPs gathered in
:19:56. > :19:58.Strasbourg in the week and as ever there was a cornucopia of subjects
:19:59. > :20:10.up for discussion. Here's our Europe reporter, Alasdair Rendell, with his
:20:11. > :20:13.top five of the week's EU moments. The violence in Ukraine took centre
:20:14. > :20:16.stage in transport this week. The debate took part as Baroness Ashton
:20:17. > :20:21.was in Kiev to talk with Government and opposition leaders. MEPs were
:20:22. > :20:29.critical of the absence from Parliament. It is possible that she
:20:30. > :20:33.comes here and discusses with us the strategy and then she goes to Kiev.
:20:34. > :20:36.A new law to strengthen the rights of the passengers got the green
:20:37. > :20:38.light from MEPs. They backed the directive that would give travellers
:20:39. > :20:44.better rights to information, care and rescuing when stuck at an
:20:45. > :20:48.airport. --re-routing. The President of Italy addressed MEPs. The DAT
:20:49. > :21:01.general said the EU needed to end the policy at any cost. But there
:21:02. > :21:04.were protests on bringing an end to the single currency. MEPs call for
:21:05. > :21:07.more investment in the European canal network, saying it would be an
:21:08. > :21:11.environmentally friendly way of taking freight across Europe. And
:21:12. > :21:13.from the Commission, the home affairs Commissioner and announced
:21:14. > :21:21.findings into corruption across the EU. Corruption costs in the European
:21:22. > :21:31.Union is no less than 120 billion euros. Alistair Rendall, in a week
:21:32. > :21:47.at Westminster, dominated by water and women!
:21:48. > :21:52.A very powerful jetstream and one that has been stuck in the same
:21:53. > :21:56.place for weeks on end has been responsible for the spells of wet
:21:57. > :21:59.and windy weather we continue to see. The winter across southern
:22:00. > :22:02.England could be one of the wettest in nearly 250 years. In Scotland,
:22:03. > :22:03.the December just gone was the wettest in a