:00:00. > :00:13.Now on BBC News, it's time for The Week in Parliament.
:00:14. > :00:17.Hello there and welcome to the programme in a week when the Home
:00:18. > :00:21.Secretary unveils a fresh investigation into the police over
:00:22. > :00:31.the Stephen Lawrence murder case. Only a public inquiry will get to
:00:32. > :00:34.the truth. They are matters of huge concern expressed and contained in
:00:35. > :00:36.the report. The Silk Commission sets out its
:00:37. > :00:40.latest proposals for devolution in Wales, but when will the changes
:00:41. > :00:43.actually be made? And we're told that people just don't like it, so
:00:44. > :00:47.we ask an expert what she thinks of the wall of noise that is Prime
:00:48. > :00:53.Minister's Questions. I have spoken in many parliaments in the world.
:00:54. > :00:58.They are like mortuaries. I don't want that to happen in the British
:00:59. > :01:01.Parliament. First, a former Cabinet Minister called it one of the most
:01:02. > :01:04.shocking statements he'd heard in his 35 years in parliament. Jack
:01:05. > :01:07.Straw was reacting to the announcement by the Home Secretary,
:01:08. > :01:09.Theresa May, that there's to be a public inquiry into undercover
:01:10. > :01:18.policing after evidence emerged of police corruption in the Stephen
:01:19. > :01:21.Lawrence murder investigation. An independent review by QC Mark
:01:22. > :01:24.Ellison found the family had been spied on and that relevant
:01:25. > :01:29.information about the case had not been disclosed to an earlier public
:01:30. > :01:32.inquiry. He also concluded there were reasonable grounds to suspect
:01:33. > :01:39.one former Met officer had acted corruptly. Key evidence was the
:01:40. > :02:00.subject of mass shredding in 2003. A hard drive containing relevant data
:02:01. > :02:02.was only discovered in 2013. As a result of this, there are serious
:02:03. > :02:11.concerns that further relevant material has not been shown because
:02:12. > :02:13.it has been destroyed. The other question was whether there was
:02:14. > :02:18.inappropriate activity directed at the family. Ellison finds that
:02:19. > :02:26.officers were deployed into activist groups that sought to influence the
:02:27. > :02:28.family. On the allegation of smearing, Ellison has found no
:02:29. > :02:42.surviving record that supports the claim. However, given the lack of
:02:43. > :02:45.written records from the era and since such tasking would have been
:02:46. > :02:49.more likely to be oral rather than written, Ellison says he cannot
:02:50. > :02:51.reject the claims. I don't say this lightly. The greatest possible
:02:52. > :03:02.scrutiny is now needed into what has taken place. And so, given the
:03:03. > :03:05.Gravity of what has now been uncovered, I have decided that a
:03:06. > :03:13.public inquiry led by a judge is necessary to investigate undercover
:03:14. > :03:16.policing. Only a public inquiry will get to the full truth behind the
:03:17. > :03:27.mattes of huge concern expressed and contained in Mark Ellison's report.
:03:28. > :03:30.I have to say, in the 35 years I have been in this House, it's one of
:03:31. > :03:48.the most shocking and serious statements I have heard by any
:03:49. > :03:51.minister from any party. Could I say to the Home Secretary, that as the
:03:52. > :03:54.Home Secretary and police authority, who established the MacPherson
:03:55. > :03:57.inquiry, I was very struck in the three months it took me to establish
:03:58. > :04:00.the inquiry and agree the terms, by the reluctance of the Metropolitan
:04:01. > :04:06.Police Service to have any inquiry which focused forensically on the
:04:07. > :04:15.facts. As they resisted such calls for four years. Given what has now
:04:16. > :04:18.been said, had that evidence been offered, it is at least possible
:04:19. > :04:20.that Sir William MacPherson and his colleagues would not only have
:04:21. > :04:23.concluded that there was institutional racism, they may have
:04:24. > :04:34.concluded there was institutional corruption as well. When we embarked
:04:35. > :04:37.on the corruption case, we knew there would always be something. It
:04:38. > :04:40.is difficult to convince other police officers and even the Home
:04:41. > :04:49.Secretary that there has been this corruption. And it's taken over one
:04:50. > :05:00.year. But it has been 21 years since Stephen was killed. The fact that
:05:01. > :05:02.we, as a family, had to go through all this and still there is more to
:05:03. > :05:11.come out... Now let's go back to the House of
:05:12. > :05:14.Commons. This week saw a rather different Prime Minister's
:05:15. > :05:20.Questions, with an outbreak of cross party unity over the situation in
:05:21. > :05:23.Ukraine. By recent standards it was a rather tame affair in a showdown
:05:24. > :05:31.which has been getting rowdier and rowdier. A recent Hansard Society
:05:32. > :05:34.survey showed nearly 70% of people thought there was too much party
:05:35. > :05:37.political point scoring and almost half deemed it too noisy and
:05:38. > :05:40.aggressive. And it's not just the viewers at home. The Speaker too has
:05:41. > :05:51.often expressed his anger and exasperation with the going's on.
:05:52. > :06:04.Order. Order! Order! Order! Order! Order. Order. Order. I say to the
:06:05. > :06:09.children's minister, try to calm down and behave like an adult. And
:06:10. > :06:16.if you can't, if it is beyond you, leave the chamber, get out, we will
:06:17. > :06:20.manage without you. John Bercow, in 2011, clearly less than impressed.
:06:21. > :06:23.More recently at a lecture last month the Speaker shared his
:06:24. > :06:27.thoughts about PMQs and the ear splitting noise in the Chamber. I'm
:06:28. > :06:33.all in favour of having it as an institution. Speakers and
:06:34. > :06:36.parliaments around the world say they wish the Prime Minister would
:06:37. > :06:48.come in every week. That is the good bit. The bad bit is when the decibel
:06:49. > :06:51.level makes Deep Purple seem like a soft playing band of the 1970s,
:06:52. > :06:54.rather than what they were, the latest band in the world. --
:06:55. > :06:57.loudest. Of course the decibel busting noise level at PMQs is
:06:58. > :07:01.nothing new. Here's a familiar face bringing the roof down in 1995.
:07:02. > :07:10.These are party matters. Will he tell us his position? Mr Blair.
:07:11. > :07:18.Order! There is one very big difference. There is one very big
:07:19. > :07:31.difference. Yeah. Oh, no, one big difference. I lead my party, he
:07:32. > :07:34.follows his. And if past prime ministers have had to deal with the
:07:35. > :07:37.shouting and ya booing, so have former Speakers. Here's Betty
:07:38. > :07:41.Boothroyd moving things along a bit in 1997. Order. This is so
:07:42. > :08:00.time-consuming. Come on! Spit it out. Come on!
:08:01. > :08:16.Order! Order. There is no point in waiting for silence. The honourable
:08:17. > :08:20.gentleman will not get silence. Simon Hughes, learning the hard way
:08:21. > :08:23.that there's no mercy for he who hesitates. So it's rough, it's tough
:08:24. > :08:28.and it's certainly noisy. But for a definitive verdict we thought we'd
:08:29. > :08:30.ask an expert to check it out. The former Commons Speaker, Betty
:08:31. > :08:33.Boothroyd, kindly nipped down the corridor to the Chamber on Wednesday
:08:34. > :08:37.to watch the latest joust and then came back here to pick out some of
:08:38. > :08:42.her favourite moments from this week's PMQS. I am full of passion
:08:43. > :08:53.and commitment on behalf of these people. I like that. That is what
:08:54. > :09:00.Parliament is made of. I am joined by Betty Boothroyd. Thank you for
:09:01. > :09:05.coming into see us. Do you think that Prime Minister's Questions is
:09:06. > :09:10.noisier now? Well, I think it is in general noisier. But today was
:09:11. > :09:20.rather an exception. But it has got noisier. Let me tell you where I'm
:09:21. > :09:33.coming from about the noise. I have spoken in many parliaments in the
:09:34. > :09:37.world. I want the British Parliament to be robust, but not noisy so that
:09:38. > :09:40.it becomes for showmanship. But today was more docile largely
:09:41. > :09:48.because of the first question that came from the Leader of the
:09:49. > :09:51.Opposition to the Prime Minister. We are told that 60% of people do not
:09:52. > :09:57.like Prime Minister's Questions. Are they right to dislike it? I don't
:09:58. > :10:06.think they are right to dislike it. I don't think they learn much from
:10:07. > :10:12.it. But those who do watch it enjoy it, I think. They like to see people
:10:13. > :10:15.who are robust and to feel that they have all the answers, or at least
:10:16. > :10:19.all the questions. It is enjoyable to a large audience. And of course,
:10:20. > :10:25.as you know, there are queues outside the House of Commons to get
:10:26. > :10:28.into Prime Minister 's questions. Seats are as scarce as hen's teeth,
:10:29. > :10:32.so somebody must love it. But if they do not learn anything what is
:10:33. > :10:38.the point? If it was quieter they would learn much more. Much depends
:10:39. > :10:46.on the sort of questions that are asked. Questioners have to seek
:10:47. > :10:50.information from our Prime Minister. Tell him that his policies are not
:10:51. > :10:53.being carried out. If the questions were of that nature they would be
:10:54. > :11:01.much more understanding and learning of what it is all about. A lot is to
:11:02. > :11:09.do with the questioning. We have a classic question here. There is
:11:10. > :11:17.almost 1 million young people unemployed in the UK. More than 1
:11:18. > :11:24.million. In my constituency, people are worse off since 2010. How is the
:11:25. > :11:30.Prime Minister have the audacity to say that his party as a worker's
:11:31. > :11:37.party. The passion is in there. He has got
:11:38. > :11:42.a fight to the very end for his constituents. I love that sort of
:11:43. > :11:47.thing. And the cheers. They are cheering him on. He is a good Member
:11:48. > :11:56.of Parliament. He seems very good to me. A lot of people think it is a
:11:57. > :12:00.game. There is gamesmanship. You get people asking questions just to be
:12:01. > :12:07.on the front page. What do you make about that? Absolutely right. I
:12:08. > :12:12.deprecated. It seemed to be taking up most of question time. Will you
:12:13. > :12:17.congratulate my local authority on doing this or somebody who has put a
:12:18. > :12:23.level crossing in an area for children. Condemning the local
:12:24. > :12:29.planning authority. I deprecate it. That is not what prime ministers's
:12:30. > :12:38.questions is all about. There are other times when that can happen. It
:12:39. > :12:44.is abysmal. Question time in Britain, there is no other Western
:12:45. > :12:49.nation where the Prime Minister comes before his Parliament once or
:12:50. > :12:56.twice a week and is accountable to his Parliament. It is unique. We
:12:57. > :13:04.must cherish it. We should not abuse it. We should cherish it. It is
:13:05. > :13:07.unique in the British system. But there are two audiences for Prime
:13:08. > :13:12.Minister's questions. The people watching at home and the MPs in the
:13:13. > :13:18.chamber. What does it mean to MPs? It means a good deal to them. MPs
:13:19. > :13:24.get themselves elected because they want to change the flow of the pens.
:13:25. > :13:30.They are passionate people. They want to be hard. They want to make
:13:31. > :13:39.progress. They want to be really did. -- re-elected. It means a good
:13:40. > :13:46.deal to them. Question time, the chamber is packed. Rows of members
:13:47. > :13:52.standing because there is not enough space. It means a great deal to
:13:53. > :13:58.them. They want to catch the eye of the speaker. Is it a chance for them
:13:59. > :14:05.to assess how their leader is doing? Absolutely. They like to cheer their
:14:06. > :14:11.leader on, they like to test the leader. They want to see what the
:14:12. > :14:18.leadership is and to push the leadership. Of course it is a test
:14:19. > :14:22.of the leadership. It can get very passionate and noisy. What did you
:14:23. > :14:34.find was the best way to deal with that? A smile on your face. A bit of
:14:35. > :14:40.Kumar. That sort of thing. -- humour. Do not lose your temper. Put
:14:41. > :14:49.a smile on your face. It can go the other way. We can have statesmanlike
:14:50. > :14:55.exchangers. Let us take a look at a clip of David Cameron and Ed
:14:56. > :14:58.Miliband. This is a delicate and dangerous moment for international
:14:59. > :15:05.security and is the combination of diplomacy, resolve and support for
:15:06. > :15:08.the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian self-determination that is
:15:09. > :15:15.the best hope for securing an end to this crisis. The government will
:15:16. > :15:20.have our full support. I am grateful for what the right honourable
:15:21. > :15:24.gentleman has said. Just as we do see a voice of unity and clarity
:15:25. > :15:29.from the countries of the European Union, not always easy to get, but
:15:30. > :15:34.it is also welcome that there is a clear and unified voice rang out
:15:35. > :15:38.from this house to say to the Russian government what you have
:15:39. > :15:47.done is wrong and what you have done should not be allowed to stand. That
:15:48. > :15:56.showed great unity of purpose between two leaders. It was a
:15:57. > :16:00.splendid exchange. I do not often go into what Prime Minister's
:16:01. > :16:05.questions. But I was proud to be in there today to see that exchange.
:16:06. > :16:12.Should they all be like that? They should always be like that. There is
:16:13. > :16:17.calm, proper questions are asked, there is no train to make political
:16:18. > :16:23.points. They should be dealt with seriously. I loved that exchange. It
:16:24. > :16:28.is not often it occurred and they want to see more of it. Wouldn't it
:16:29. > :16:32.be a little doll? It was not always be like that. You would have a
:16:33. > :16:36.lovely passionate man coming about the working class or somebody doing
:16:37. > :16:47.something. It would reduce the tension. It is a colourful arena.
:16:48. > :16:52.You would always have these are marvellous personalities that would
:16:53. > :16:55.reduce the tension. I enjoyed today's Prime Minister's questions
:16:56. > :17:00.very much. That would seem a good moment in which to end it. Thank you
:17:01. > :17:12.for coming to see us. At the start of the week, a report
:17:13. > :17:21.on Welsh devolution was released this week. It did not seem like long
:17:22. > :17:26.since we had lost had a chat about proposals to devolve more powers to
:17:27. > :17:30.the Welsh assembly. This is a tale of two reports. Last time we spoke
:17:31. > :17:33.with talk about the first report. That was whether the Welsh
:17:34. > :17:38.government should get responsibility for raising some of the money it
:17:39. > :17:45.spends. At the moment it relies on a crud from Westminster. Those
:17:46. > :17:52.proposals now in draft. What we have had as a second report, the sequel
:17:53. > :17:59.if you like. Whether the powers at Westminster that should be
:18:00. > :18:05.transferred to Wales. What are the key proposals? If you look at the
:18:06. > :18:15.proposals there are 61 of them. If you look at the key policy areas,
:18:16. > :18:19.policing, youth justice and larger energy projects. The Welsh
:18:20. > :18:25.government has limited energy planning responsibilities. Things
:18:26. > :18:29.like windfarms are approved at Westminster by a planning inspector
:18:30. > :18:37.at without the say so of local people. The Welsh government would
:18:38. > :18:39.have more say. It is interesting. The government as Swensen is
:18:40. > :18:46.interesting. The government has once Mr has made a lot of what of all
:18:47. > :18:54.standards in areas that are already devolved. It would be one of the
:18:55. > :19:00.questions of the week, particularly areas like health and education. It
:19:01. > :19:05.is not just the Coalition. One Labor MP has said that even though she is
:19:06. > :19:15.a passionate advocate of devolution, the government's record
:19:16. > :19:25.of health means she will be likely the looking carefully. If you look
:19:26. > :19:29.at flooding, the flooding in Wales was not as bad as England. Nobody is
:19:30. > :19:33.suggesting Westminster should lose responsibility for flooding in
:19:34. > :19:37.England. There are suggestions they should be 20 more assembly members.
:19:38. > :19:45.Will that mean few MPs at Westminster? If you look at the
:19:46. > :19:53.number at the moment there are 60. The suggestion is that that should
:19:54. > :20:01.rise to 80. How would you pay for that? Few MPs. That is the
:20:02. > :20:09.suggestion. That would have to be approved by Westminster. Potential
:20:10. > :20:13.cuts in numbers of MPs further down the line. That is a possibility. At
:20:14. > :20:21.the moment it is the National Assembly for Wales. Maybe it could
:20:22. > :20:27.be called the Welsh name for Parliament. That would reflect its
:20:28. > :20:33.growing status as a lawmaking and possibly tax-raising body. One final
:20:34. > :20:37.question. The second lot of proposals, when is anything going to
:20:38. > :20:43.happen? Not before the general election. The UK government is
:20:44. > :20:47.saying that there are too many things to consider before the
:20:48. > :20:53.election. Interesting that labour equally as cautious. In Wales the
:20:54. > :21:00.support devolution, at Westminster, slightly more cautious. Nobody is
:21:01. > :21:07.rushing to give power away. Thank you.
:21:08. > :21:09.From Wales to Europe, where we all get the chance to vote in the
:21:10. > :21:15.elections to the European Parliament in late May.
:21:16. > :21:21.Nick Clegg and Nigel Farrow Shadow Creek on a debt for their televised
:21:22. > :21:27.encounter. You will be able to watch them on the 2nd of April at 7pm and
:21:28. > :21:30.a repeat on BBC Parliament. On Thursday, EU leaders agreed to
:21:31. > :21:37.suspend negotiations with Russia for these free travel. David Cameron
:21:38. > :21:44.promised to stand up for the people of Ukraine. And in a speech in
:21:45. > :21:47.London on Tuesday, the EU migration commissioner dismissed Tory calls
:21:48. > :21:53.for reform of free movement as a very British issue. She said there
:21:54. > :21:57.was little support for renegotiating treaties. You can watch that speech
:21:58. > :22:03.on BBC Parliament on Saturday night or on the eye player.
:22:04. > :22:06.This is the week in Parliament. Theresa May announced a fresh
:22:07. > :22:07.inquiry into the police conduct of the Stephen Lawrence murder
:22:08. > :22:20.investigation. Friday was suddenly a contrast
:22:21. > :22:29.across the UK. We are talking about temperatures. Across many parts of
:22:30. > :22:33.the Midlands, 16-17. In Scotland, cold enough to snow in Edinburgh.