Browse content similar to 28/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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in Washington state are fading. Dozens of people were killed when a | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
hillside collapsed. Around 90 people are still missing. | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Now, The Week in Parliament. Coming up on the programme: Sparks | :00:00. | :00:23. | |
fly at PM's questions, as David Cameron and Ed Miliband argue over | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
freezing energy bills. A price freeze for households and visitors | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
is feasible, workable, and it will happen under a Labour government. If | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
he is concerned about energy prices, he might want to explain why he has | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
voted against it Budget that has a ?7 billion cut to energy prices for | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
businesses and consumers up and down the country. Also on the programme, | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
as our relationship with Europe comes into focus ahead of the | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
elections, we hear the call for European national parliaments to | :00:55. | :00:57. | |
have a greater say over what goes on in the EU. And, you know who he is, | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
but do you know what he does? We will hear on `` from one expert on | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
whether we need a job description for the PM. There have been times | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
when the opposition has disappeared, and the PM had a sense of personal | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
destiny that was alarming. First, I minister's questions, when David | :01:21. | :01:29. | |
Cameron and Ed Miliband argued about the price freeze. Last year, Labour | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
announced it would force a price freeze for 20 months after the | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
general election, if it were to win. This policy was derided by the PM. | :01:40. | :01:46. | |
The Labour leader wanted to know what the government made of SSE's | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
announcement. The energy Secretary said he was calling on other | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
suppliers to do the same, and freeze their bills. Is it now the PM's | :01:54. | :02:01. | |
policy that we should freeze bills? It is our policy that bills should | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
be cut, and they are being cut under this government. That is what is | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
happening. When we come to the small print, let's have a look at what | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
Scottish and Southern said about the labour policy. `` Kattegat labour. | :02:15. | :02:24. | |
Wheat is not having an economic policies, weak is not responding to | :02:25. | :02:39. | |
the Budget. That is what week is. On Labour policy, it does not appear to | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
have a solution for reducing the cost of supplying the Lecras city | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
and gas. A 20 month price freeze would not reduce the cost of | :02:47. | :02:54. | |
supplying energy `` supplying electricity and gas. He is not the | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
PM at all, he is the PR man for the energy companies, that is what he | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
is. Bills are rising, and what is clear is that his argument against a | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
freeze has been totally demolished today. A price freeze for households | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
and businesses is feasible, workable, and it will happen under a | :03:15. | :03:22. | |
Labour government. All of this shows, he just doesn't get the cost | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
of living crisis that is happening around this country. Can he confirm | :03:27. | :03:35. | |
that the living standards will be falling over the course of this | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
Parliament, and it is the first time that has happened since the war. | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
After a week, we finally got to the Budget. He finally has something to | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
say about the Budget. If he is concerned about energy prices, he | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
might want to explain why he has voted against a budget that has a ?7 | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
billion cut to energy prices for businesses and consumers up and down | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
this country. Why did they vote against that? If he is concerned | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
about the cost of living, why do they vote against a personal | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
allowance of ?10,500 for every single worker in our country? If | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
they are concerned about the cost of living, why did you vote against | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
giving pensioners the right to spend their own money as they choose? If | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
you care about the cost of living, why did you vote against abolishing | :04:24. | :04:30. | |
the savings tax paid by the poorest people in this country? Not a clue | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
about how to help working people, not a clue how to run the economy, | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
no clue about the Budget. Not for the first time, calm down, dear, | :04:42. | :04:50. | |
calm down. Or, should I say, for the benefit of the Chancellor, eyes | :04:51. | :04:59. | |
down, is, eyes down. The truth is, living standards are falling over | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
this Parliament. You can't solve the cost of living crisis, Mr Speaker, | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
because he doesn't think there is one. He won't freeze energy bills | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
because you think it has nothing to do with government. The thing was | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
alone with his PM, he will always stand up for the wrong people. What | :05:18. | :05:24. | |
is happening under this government, inflation is falling, unemployment | :05:25. | :05:26. | |
is coming down, 1.3 million more people in work, 400,000 more | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
businesses in our country, we are helping this economy recover from | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
the ravages that were left under Labour. That is the truth. Everyone | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
can see that we have a plan for a better future for our country, and | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
everyone can see here is flailing around, a man with no plan, and | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
increasingly no future. David Cameron, and Ed Miliband. Elections | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
to the European Parliament will be held on May 22. With that poll | :05:59. | :06:08. | |
looming, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage held the first debate about our | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
place in Europe. Snap polls after the debate suggested that Nigel | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
Farage had come out on top. The pair clashed, as you would expect, over | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
immigration, jobs, and who makes our laws. All of that coincided with a | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
report from the Lords EU committee, calling for a greater role for | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
national parliaments in EU decision`making. It called for | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
Parliament to be able to work together to impose new legislation, | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
or amend existing EU law. We got together to macro Europe experts. `` | :06:39. | :06:54. | |
two. I asked Katy Ghosh had disconnected it was. Three quarters | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
of British voters feel that their voice is not heard in the EU. 34% | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
turnout last time we had European elections, and we are not expecting | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
it to be very different this time. Think everything very big gap that | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
has opened up between British voters and European affairs. We think it is | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
a crisis of epic proportions and action needs to be taken. Lord | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
Boswell, you have chaired a committee that has been looking at | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
how to get national parliaments more involved in Europe. Tell us what it | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
recommends. We are trying to produce a practical manual or Toolkit that | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
democratic engagement. I think there democratic engagement. I think there | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
is a problem, and we need to debate that further. We have no single, | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
1`shot solution. Part of it is that we should do our job at that as | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
national parliaments, holding our own governments to account, going to | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
council meetings in Brussels, and they then represent the national | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
position. Also, we have made a lot of suggestions about how we might | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
learn how to create a collaboration between each other, and how we might | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
work together to influence legislation, before it ever gets to | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
the last stage, when people start going around talking about whether | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
you play a yellow card or a red card, or whatever it is. It is to | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
get in early, try to create a dialogue, provided that the European | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
institutions are prepared to play with that, and if they are you do | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
not need treaty change to do this, you can carry it out today if that | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
is what you want to do. You think that giving national parliaments | :08:37. | :08:38. | |
more of a say would make the process more democratic? It definitely | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
would. We strongly support the committee's recommendations, they | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
are practical solutions that could be achieved now. We feel that | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
citizens would have more faith in their say over the European Union if | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
they saw their elected politicians scrutinising the Lords, and having a | :08:56. | :09:02. | |
much stronger say. We support the idea that our parliament could get | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
together with other parliaments in saving no to a law, which is | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
something they can't do now. The committee has said, how about being | :09:12. | :09:13. | |
more constructive? How about having the power to say that if they want | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
power to impose a European policy. It would help to see these | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
bread`and`butter issues, that they affect us. It affects the food we | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
eat, the jobs we have, the education and the environment. I think we need | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
to bring issues closer, and strengthening the arm of our | :09:35. | :09:36. | |
national Parliament over EU policy would help to do that. Give me an | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
example. How would this work was Mac we are about to publish a report on | :09:43. | :09:52. | |
food waste. I think when it is reported very shortly, you will see | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
it is a serious attempt to start focusing on something which is | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
politically interesting to citizens, important to the environment and the | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
future of Europe, and requires a European level involvement as well | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
as a national one. That is the kind of thing that can happen. If you are | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
going to do that, I think at the moment the debate is rather skewed, | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
because everyone says, what can you do to hold things up? What can you | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
do to stop things happening? It happens right at the end of the | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
legislative process. A more rational way of doing it, which is in effect | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
the way a national Parliament works, is you discuss it with your | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
government in the beginning, discuss it with the executive, you modify | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
proposals and say that that is not on, that would be a good way to go, | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
that is the option to follow, then you have the debate, and you hope to | :10:43. | :10:50. | |
get an agreed solution. Is the problem of the communication? It is | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
very difficult to get information to the people about the EU in a way | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
they are interested in. Most of this stuff just is not sexy. Most of it | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
doesn't feel immediate enough, it doesn't touch on our daily lives. | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
There is a gulf that is growing up in our country, between people and | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
politics more generally. It is not just about our relationship with the | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
EU, it is about how we think and feel about politics. We want to hear | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
a lot more about information, starting in primary schools, getting | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
people enthused about politics. We need to crack this, we need to stop | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
talking about the EU and its policies and laws as something | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
separate to us. When we get people talking about issues of jobs in | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
schools, we are making it part of the mainstream debate. Thank you | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
very much for coming into the programme. | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
Back to the Commons and domestic affairs. Labour MPs have voted to | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
support the coalition proposal to set a welfare spending less `` | :11:52. | :11:59. | |
limit. It would include spending on the vast majority of benefits, | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
including maternity and paternity pay, child benefit, universal | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
credit, and housing benefit. Jobseekers allowance and the state | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
pension will be excluded. 13 Labour MPs voted to reject the cap. Power | :12:14. | :12:21. | |
welfare cap ensures that never again can the costs spiral out of control, | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
and the incentives become so distorted that it pays not to work. | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
From now on, any government wanting to spend more on welfare will have | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
to be honest with the public, honest about the costs, secure the approval | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
of Parliament to breach the cap. We, on this side of the house, support | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
capping social security spending. The Leader of the Opposition | :12:47. | :12:48. | |
advocated it last year, and with welfare spending now at ?13 billion | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
higher than the government planned in its spending review, Habitat | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
labour will make different and fair choice is to get the security bill | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
under control, and tackle the issues of rising spending `` Labour. I | :13:04. | :13:14. | |
believe that our welfare system should be based on facts. It should | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
be based on need, I believe that whatever short`term political | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
advantage he bought think is gained by voting for this is far outweighed | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
by what is problematic. And no, I will not be voting for this cap in | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
the lobbies tonight. I listen very carefully for what the honourable | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
lady from Hackney said, no point during her speech did she think | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
about the other side of coin. People who have to pay the bills. They have | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
needs and requirements, and many low`paid people have to pay the | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
bills. We need a good welfare system, where there is a solid and | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
straightforward safety net so that if people end up in a problem they | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
have a way off being rescued and kept from destitution. However, to | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
argue that we shouldn't try to manage the total costs is nonsense. | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
I intend to vote against this today, and I hope other Scottish MPs will | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
do so as well. To acquiesce to this nasty, Tory nonsense, that puts more | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
pain on pensioners, carers, disabled people and low income families, | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
would be an abject failure of leadership. Let's take a look at | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
some other news around Westminster. Britain's Big six energy supplies | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
have been told they must take part in the first full`scale | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
investigation into whether consumers are getting a fair deal. They have | :14:42. | :14:43. | |
been referred to the competition and markets authority by the energy | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
watchdog, Ofgem. It says an investigation into profit increases | :14:50. | :14:51. | |
and price rises could lead to companies being written up. Her | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
tackling these issues through the authorities revise companies and | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
investors with the competent that is processed will be evidence based, | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
fair and just and free from vertical interference. If I were standing | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
where the Secretary of State is still today, I would be taking | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
action to impose price fees for consumers is that of defending the | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
big six. Why doesn't he just enforce a price freeze right now? Workplace | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
pension scheme charges will be capped at .75%. The pensions | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
Minister has announced. He said the changes will transfer around ?200 | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
million of pension industry profits to savers pockets over the next ten | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
years. This government will be the first to get a grip on the issue of | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
pension charges. We are going to put charges in a vice and we will | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
tighten the pressure, year after year. This image tweeted after the | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
budget but the Conservative Party chairman into a spot of bother. | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
Labour claimed it was patronising and showed the government was out of | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
touch. A Labour MP could not resist a dig. Beer and bingo. It may not | :16:04. | :16:11. | |
exactly be the bread and circuses of our age but as leading lights of the | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
Coalition rush forward to express their love for it, will pry Minister | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
dissociate himself from the snobbish and disdainful comments made by his | :16:23. | :16:32. | |
party chairman? I think the honourable gentleman to advertising | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
the fact that this government is cutting taxes and quite right | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
because their industry was decimated by Labour. May I thank you also for | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
pointing out the Chancellor 's approach of cutting beer duty. We | :16:46. | :16:55. | |
backed responsible drinkers. I am sure the gentleman sitting opposite | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
enjoys a game of bingo. It is the only time he get close to number | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
ten. David Cameron with the last laugh. PMQ 's is for many people the | :17:05. | :17:13. | |
most visible part of the prime ministers week. What do the job | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
actually involve? There is no doubt it is a role which has changed over | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
the years. Compare the powers of Winston Churchill against those of | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
the doubting Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair. And contrast that with | :17:25. | :17:33. | |
David Cameron who gave Parliament a vote on taking action against Syria | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
and lost. The political and constitutional committee is taking a | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
look at the prime ministers powers and in the week, heard from the | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
leading academic Lord Hennessy. When he stopped at a studio earlier, I | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
asked you whether there should be a written job description. It would be | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
nice to get closer to something approaching that, rather than the | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
scraps of paper we have operated on in the past. Years ago in the | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
National Archives, I came across a description for the prime minister. | :18:02. | :18:08. | |
It was not shown to the prime minister of the time or anybody | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
else. It was for a group of academics who wanted help for a | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
conference on what prime ministers were compared to a American | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
presidents. I would write down what I thought the British premier stock | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
was four and then I sent it around to various people in Whitehall. I | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
produced a version in one of my books in 1995. I updated with a | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
colleague of mine. The Select Committee is doing that enquiry so I | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
offered them I functional analysis as what the prime minister is four | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
as head of government. It came down to, one of those things that only a | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
minister can do. It is the nearest thing there is to a job description. | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
I would not grace with such a title but it might be a good idea to do | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
it. I suggested to the Select Committee that they have a crack. Is | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
that you worry that the prime minister is too powerful? It is nice | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
to know what they are meant to do. There have been times... They would | :19:11. | :19:20. | |
say what is all this about excessive power? You should do my job. There | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
have been times when Cabinet have been remarkably powerful. And the | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
prime minister had a sense of personal destiny which was on the | :19:30. | :19:37. | |
alarmingly end of the spectrum. Margaret Thatcher was regarded as | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
being the same but I don't think she was. She loved getting her way but | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
only after a hell of a good argument. Ministers have to appear | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
in front of Parliament every week. But who really holds on to a count? | :19:50. | :20:01. | |
As the sound of liberty as people can see it either way. I was very | :20:02. | :20:10. | |
pleased that Tony Blair appeared twice a year before the liaison | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
committee. Because prime ministers had not appeared before committees. | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
There was none of that deeper accountability. They never really | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
let the glove on him or any subsequent prime ministers? Tony | :20:26. | :20:33. | |
Wright was remarkable. He said prime minister, we may be in a war in the | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
Middle East and we have spent hours in the House of Commons whether we | :20:39. | :20:46. | |
should kill foxes. Can you start a proper debate on whether we should | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
kill humans or not? Of the prime minister even have the power to wage | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
war? You can't imagine now they pry would take us to war without a vote | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
in Holland. Her the agent property powers would be used because they | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
would be time to consult parliament. We do have a consensus now and I | :21:05. | :21:11. | |
think that is important. If there is time, a proper debate in the House | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
of Commons, that the Commons is given a full opinion from the | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
eternal general `` attorney general and it is a proper intelligence | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
assessment. And that seems to be the consensus. That is a considerable | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
advance in this country. It was remarkable, I have a suspicion that | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
the summary in the Mediterranean was ready to go at a minute is noticed, | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
even neck and indications are that meant I would be surprised if they | :21:42. | :21:43. | |
were listening to the House of Commons debate as they sat there | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
undetectable, ready to launch the missiles against Syria. And then it | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
was snatched away, the warmaking possibility from the prime ministers | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
hands. And that was remarkable. When you think about it. The role of the | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
prime minister has changed over time. It continues to change. Given | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
the speed of the world in which we now live. Should be not just accept | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
that and be happy with its? The great thing about an open society is | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
being ever so mighty, you have to have some sense of what is and isn't | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
proper. Parliament is the instrument. There is no point having | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
Parliament if it cannot stay in the pie ministers held. Tony Blair once | :22:27. | :22:35. | |
said to me, my old dad used to say, that Parliament existed for two | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
reasons to control the power of the Perth and the power of the sword. He | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
is absolutely right. There is no point in Parliament otherwise. thank | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
you very much. The funeral was held on Thursday of | :22:49. | :23:01. | |
former MP Tony Benn. It was an emotional farewell at Westminster. A | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
large cloud lined the road. There were tears and applause are that | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
procession arrived at the Margaret Church. Along with politicians, | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
celebrities also paid their respects. It is a passing of an era. | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
There are not many MPs are would pay money to go and speak. He was a big | :23:26. | :23:33. | |
draw. He used to pack theatres because people love to hear him | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
speak. He would stay on stage and people would say, I remember I met | :23:40. | :23:47. | |
you years ago. He loved this engagement with the people. What we | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
have lost is a politician who connected politics with the people. | :23:52. | :24:00. | |
In west this week dominated by the size of the energy bills. | :24:01. | :24:11. | |
This time last year we were coming to | :24:12. | :24:12. |