Browse content similar to 09/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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the Express has the story that the Queen has been told to take it easy | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
after Prince Charles stood in for her at the last minute during an | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
official ceremony. Now it's time for the Week In Parliament. | :00:11. | :00:24. | |
Hello and welcome to The Week in Parliament. The British recession is | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
finally at an end. But the big business decisions are far from | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
over. The politicians worked out where they stood on Pfizer's bid to | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
take over AstraZeneca. Is he ruling out a ruling in using the public | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
interest test? The most important intervention we can make is to back | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
British jobs, British science, British R, British medicines and | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
British technology. But for the troubled Co`op group it was another | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
week of gloom. A former Treasury Minister speaks of deplorable | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
governance failure. You cannot lose money on that scale and have the | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
level of debt they have without bad things being enforced on you. And | :01:01. | :01:07. | |
later, we will recall a fateful political day 20 years ago. But | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
first, is it about science? Is it about the national interest? Or is | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
it about trust? Commons have to tread carefully when asked to | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
intervene in big business dealings. The proposed takeover of AstraZeneca | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
by Pfizer this week led to concerns over British jobs and innovation. | :01:27. | :01:34. | |
Pfizer, based in New York, is the world's largest pharmaceutical | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
company. If the takeover happened, it would be the biggest ever foreign | :01:38. | :01:44. | |
acquisition of a British company. A former boss of the UK firm described | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
Pfizer as a Praying Mantis that sucks the lifeblood out of | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
companies. On Tuesday, the Lib Dems updated MPs. I engaged early with | :01:53. | :02:00. | |
both companies to ensure the outcome is positive for the UK, precisely to | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
avoid previous failures in this situation. One of our options as the | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
Government would be to consider using our public interest test. This | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
would be a serious step and not one would be a serious step and not one | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
that should be taken lightly. I am open`minded about it. While | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
stressing that we are operating within serious European legal | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
constraints. The bottom line is this. The assurances the governments | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
has extracted from Pfizer are not worth the paper they are written on. | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
If I am wrong, why, less than three days after giving them, did the | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
Pfizer CEO say yesterday that following completion of the | :02:42. | :02:43. | |
AstraZeneca takeover, it would be split into three parts, all of which | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
could subsequently be flogged off afterward? Would my honourable | :02:47. | :02:57. | |
friend agree that Britain benefits enormously from the free movement of | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
investment and ideas? Will he, therefore rule out any the economic | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
measures been called for by some in this house? `` that have been. And | :03:06. | :03:20. | |
rule out any attempts to frustrate this deal on protectionist grounds? | :03:21. | :03:35. | |
While the Secretary of State emphasised that the Government can | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
and should intervene under the 2002 Enterprise Act, to protect the | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
public interest, when AstraZeneca is a key national champion in the key | :03:42. | :03:43. | |
pharmaceutical sector where Britain is a world leader? My constituents | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
experience of Pfizer is of a model corporate citizen. I think what is | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
enervating some people in the house is the fact this is a fantastic vote | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
of confidence in the United Kingdom and gives us the possibility of | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
hosting the world's leading research`based pharmaceutical | :03:57. | :03:58. | |
company in the United Kingdom as a consequence. Yes, I am sure it is a | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
vote of confidence, but equally I am sure the companies are motivated by | :04:03. | :04:04. | |
hard`headed commercial considerations, and we should be | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
motivated by the national interest. Vince Cable. But his words failed to | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
calm the political mood at Westminster. The business battle | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
dragged on. And the political heat continued to rise. At Prime | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
Minister's Questions, Labour leader Ed Miliband said the Pfizer takeover | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
bid was causing deep concern in the business and scientific communities. | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
The Business Secretary said yesterday that he was not ruling out | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
intervention. What type of intervention is under consideration | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
by government? I have to agree with what the Business Secretary said | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
yesterday. But the most important intervention we can make is to back | :04:53. | :04:55. | |
British jobs, British science, British medicines and British | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
technology. There needs to be a proper assessment of this bid. And | :05:01. | :05:02. | |
yesterday, the Business Secretary said he was open to doing this. This | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
could be done straightaway through this House and we would support | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
making that happen. Will he agree to do it? Let me make this point. I | :05:12. | :05:19. | |
worry it may be lost in this debate. And I know, of course, he thinks he | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
is extremely clever, and we all know that...! But we may have missed this | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
point. Britain benefits massively from being open to investment. | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
Nissan is now producing more cars than the whole of Italy. Jaguar Land | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
Rover, under Indian ownership has created 9000 jobs in the West | :05:39. | :05:41. | |
Midlands since I became Prime Minister. Vodafone and AstraZeneca | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
have benefited from the backing of an open country to go out and build | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
and buy businesses around the world. There is more inward investment into | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
Britain today than the rest of the EU combined. Don't put that at risk. | :05:55. | :06:02. | |
Is he ruling out or ruling in using the public interest test on this | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
takeover? We could make it happen. His Business Secretary could make it | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
happen and we would support it. If he does not take action now, and the | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
bid goes through without a proper assessment, everyone will know that | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
he was cheerleading for this bid, not championing British science and | :06:21. | :06:34. | |
British industry. I think it is deeply sad that the Leader of the | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
Opposition makes accusations about cheerleading when what the | :06:38. | :06:39. | |
Government was doing was getting stuck in to help British science, | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
British investment and British jobs. And doesn't it tell you everything | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
that, given the choice of doing the right thing for the national | :06:46. | :06:48. | |
interest, working with the Government or making short`term | :06:49. | :06:50. | |
political points, that is what he chooses to do? The Secretary of | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
State for Business, Innovation and Skills said that he was working with | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
civil servants to ensure that any assurances given by Pfizer during | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
the proposed takeover of AstraZeneca could be made legally binding. Does | :07:04. | :07:11. | |
the Prime Minister back this? The more we can do to strengthen the | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
assurances we are given, the better. The only way you get assurances is | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
by engaging and getting stuck in with these companies, which is what | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
we have been doing. I find it extraordinary that the Labour Party | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
criticises us for that. The Pfizer bid is driven by tax advantages. Has | :07:28. | :07:39. | |
the Government talks to the US about proposed changes to their tax laws? | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
Pfizer mention in the letter to me, the patented box as a positive | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
reason for wanting to invest in Britain and to examine whether they | :07:49. | :07:50. | |
can increase manufacturing in Britain. The way the patent box | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
works is that you only get the lowest tax benefit if you make your | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
investments and research in the UK, and then exploit the research by | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
manufacturing in the UK. I agree, we should be incredibly hard`headed | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
about this. It is an advantage that Britain is a low tax country. We | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
used to stand in the House of Commons and bemoan the fact that | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
companies were leaving because of high taxes. They now want to come | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
here. That is not enough. We want investment, jobs and research that | :08:20. | :08:22. | |
comes with that competitive tax system. David Cameron. By contrast | :08:23. | :08:30. | |
to the soaring profits of the pharmaceutical industry, the | :08:31. | :08:32. | |
financial fortunes of the Co`op group have been less than | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
impressive. Reports this week found the group's current board to be | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
manifestly dysfunctional. The Co`op Bank faced near collapse last year | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
following the discovery of a billion hole in its balance sheet. The Co`op | :08:43. | :08:50. | |
Group has reported losses of ?2.5 billion. It is the worst result in | :08:51. | :09:00. | |
their history. On Wednesday, the author of the report was at the | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
Commons Treasury Committee. I had not been on the long march. I had | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
not been a corporate for 30 years. I was somebody from the outside and I | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
was confronting them with some uncomfortable truths. My language | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
has been forthright because I believe I needed to speak in upper | :09:15. | :09:22. | |
case. I needed to be very explicit about the extent of the failure, | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
because otherwise... Nothing will be done. My fear about that report is | :09:30. | :09:37. | |
that it will be dearly noticed at an AGM, and then as happened in 1956, | :09:38. | :09:47. | |
dither, dither, dither. Do you accept any criticism that you have | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
leaned far too heavily on governments and professional | :09:51. | :09:52. | |
management, and not recognised nearly as important a unique selling | :09:53. | :09:54. | |
point of the co`operative movement as democratic structures? And for | :09:55. | :10:06. | |
that reason and that reason alone, the very many good proposals you are | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
putting forward are placed in jeopardy? I think the cooperative | :10:10. | :10:26. | |
model is a genuinely good model. But there is nothing about being a | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
cooperative that guarantees success. Co`op 's have to be well lead. They | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
need good management and they need empowered boards of directors. That | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
goes for the Co`op just as any other form of business. If drastic action | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
was not taken, the Co`op would not survive into the next decade, I was | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
warned. The first question I was asked was about the policy on | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
plastic bags. Was I being overly dramatic in suggesting there is a | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
danger that the Co`op may not exist into the next decade, if fundamental | :10:54. | :11:05. | |
changes are not made? You have a reputation for never knowingly | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
overstating your views. I think you are right to caution them about the | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
need to take this situation very seriously. You cannot lose money on | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
the scale they have been losing money on. And have the level of debt | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
they had, without bad things being forced on you. I'm afraid that your | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
story about plastic bags is true of the way the national board operates. | :11:30. | :11:43. | |
We move from the macro of how we deal with billions of pounds of | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
debt, down to the size of pens in which chickens lay eggs. These are | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
all important. But there does need to be a sense of priority and | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
proportionality. And now a look at some of the other stories around | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
Parliament over the last week. The Government has scaled back plans to | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
strip suspected terrorists of their citizenship and leave them | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
stateless. Now the Home Secretary can only revoke somebody's | :12:09. | :12:10. | |
citizenship so long as she believes the individual can still belong to a | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
state somewhere. We are now seeking to address the concerns that have | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
been expressed about leaving individuals stateless permanently in | :12:22. | :12:23. | |
circumstances where they have no recourse to another nationality. I | :12:24. | :12:32. | |
cannot support the very notion that so much power should be concentrated | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
in one individual, a Home Secretary, whether good or bad, that they may | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
make decisions of this nature without us being able to challenge. | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
The worst civil liberties erosions have occurred when this House has | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
been bounced into urgent decisions. That is what is happening today. I | :12:48. | :12:57. | |
resent it. Why was this place off limits to be a UN representative? | :12:58. | :13:14. | |
This detention centre as adults awaiting clearance. There was anger | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
in the House of Lords that the UN reckoned to was not allowed to | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
visit. It can do our national reputation no good at all if it | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
should ever be felt that the United Kingdom is refusing access to a UN | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
special rapporteur. It has caused a lot of concern, not only in this | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
country, but internationally. And that a failure to allow the UN | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
special rapporteur to enter causes even more alarm. What he has | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
absolutely failed to do is to explain to the house why this | :13:48. | :13:49. | |
special rapporteur was the night access. `` was denied access. It is | :13:50. | :13:59. | |
a very simple question. Not the meetings she did have. But why | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
specifically she could not go there? The Home Office determines whether | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
it is suitable for people to attend. Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
has a statutory rule for addressing that issue. It is not a question of | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
denying this person an opportunity of doing her job. Four months until | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
Scotland votes, and the Sunday Herald firmly supports a yes to | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
Scott independence. The SNP accuses the no campaign of scare tactics. | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
The people of the Borders and the rest of Scotland are being subjected | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
by the self`styled project fear campaign, described by its own | :14:35. | :14:36. | |
supporters as negative, nasty, threatening, and that the Prime | :14:37. | :14:55. | |
Minister is toxic in Scotland. I have to say, it is a bit rich to | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
hear the honourable gentleman talking about Project fear and we | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
have the First Minister on St George's did go to Carlisle and | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
deliver a lecture that I can only describe as Project ridiculous. `` | :15:05. | :15:19. | |
St George's Day. This is a massive opportunity for this country. Unless | :15:20. | :15:21. | |
the Government streamlines the regulatory system, and unless it | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
gets its act together, this massive opportunity will not be realised. I | :15:25. | :15:35. | |
have no idea the history of her illness. It is a question which will | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
cross many people 's minds. What is the availability for liver | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
transplants. It would seem to me that that may have been something | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
which could have been looked at. I too learnt with great sadness of the | :15:52. | :16:03. | |
death of Ms Baltacha, and I was unaware of the history of her | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
condition. But transplant services are very active in this country. | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
There are more taking place compared with a few years ago. And there are | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
better techniques to ensure colour at and patients. And events marking | :16:19. | :16:27. | |
the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. His words live and breathe in | :16:28. | :16:36. | |
the language of everyday speech. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, | :16:37. | :16:48. | |
then vanished into thin air in one fell swoop, you are quoting | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
Shakespeare. He may have died so long ago, but as long as men can | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
breathe and eyes can see, this shall live and give life to be. Exactly 20 | :17:00. | :17:07. | |
years ago, the political world was stunned by the news of John Smith | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
suffering a fatal heart attack aged 55. He had been Labour leader for | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
two years, and was widely expected to become the next Labour occupant | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
of number ten. He was the first political leader to die in office | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
since the death of another labour leader some decades earlier. We now | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
recall that fateful day in 1994. We heard a few moments ago that the | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
Labour leader John Smith has died. He suffered a heart attack early | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
this morning. The news of John Smith's sudden death shocked | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
politicians and the public alike, with the clearly raw in Westminster. | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
There was a quiet sense of grief in his constituency. Only the previous | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
evening, and upbeat John Smith had attended a fundraising dinner with | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
his wife Elisabeth. The Labour Party, from the grassroots to the | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
Shadow Cabinet, were stunned at the loss of a leader widely tipped to | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
win the next general election. Tributes to the formidable Commons | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
former came from all sides. In many ways, irreplaceable loss to the | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
country. They say nobody is irreplaceable, but there are a few | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
characters who are. And here's one. The sadness today is that someone | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
with so much to give has been denied the chance of being Prime Minister | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
of the country. His dignity, his mind, his bearing, his solemnity, | :18:46. | :18:52. | |
and his sense of humour, made him, I thought, ideal for the task. As a | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
mark of respect, the Scottish Conservatives have suspended their | :18:59. | :19:01. | |
conference. Town representatives cancelled their meetings. And when | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
the Commons sat, they put aside normal business to pay their own | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
tributes. We regret having to report to the house the death of the Right | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
Honourable John Smith QC. The house will wish to note that this setting | :19:20. | :19:29. | |
will now be suspended until 330. When MPs did reassemble that | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
afternoon, the tributes to John Smith were naturally sombre and | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
heartfelt. They were led by the Prime Minister. When I think of John | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
Smith, I think of an opponent and not an enemy. I shall remember him | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
with respect and affection. And when I think of his premature death, I | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
shall think of the waste it has brought to our public life. The | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
waste of a remarkable political talent. A waste of a higher and | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
honourable ambition to lead our country. Not long ago, I observed a | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
colleague `` observed to a colleague that I had never known a man like | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
John. He had such calm certainty, such next rule strength and | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
self`confidence. While he had supreme confidence, he lacked any | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
trace of cockiness or conceit. `` natural strength. He just knew what | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
he could do. Last night, Madam Speaker, he spoke at a gala dinner | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
in London. He was in high vessel and high spirits. He spoke not from a | :20:44. | :20:52. | |
text from notes. `` hi fettle. When he sat down, I congratulated him | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
especially on his final sentence. Spoken as it was off the cuff and | :20:59. | :21:10. | |
from the heart. They were almost the last words I heard him speak. He | :21:11. | :21:18. | |
looked at the assembled gathering and said, and I quote: the | :21:19. | :21:28. | |
opportunity to serve our country. That is all we ask. Let it stand as | :21:29. | :21:44. | |
his appetite. `` epitaph. We have lost a powerful advocate for the | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
politics of progress in Britain and a thoroughly decent and deeply | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
gifted man. Whatever our loss, it is nothing to that of his wife | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
Elisabeth and of their children. I have to confess that my grief is | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
mixed with anger. Anger that he is gone, when his vitality and his | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
value was so clear. Anger that he has been denied the chance to show | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
the full scope of his great talents in highest office. Anger that he has | :22:20. | :22:28. | |
been taken from his family, that he cherished so very much at such a | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
young age. He used to come to me on occasions and asked if I had any | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
good jokes. That kind of on Billy called cord that stretch out from | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
him to others is important in our movement `` umbilical. I laid bets | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
on him opening that door at number ten, and I believe he would have | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
done that without any question whatsoever. He was a dedicated | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
politician. He played a hard game when it was necessary. As the Prime | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
Minister said, there was never any malice in his attacks. The House of | :23:07. | :23:14. | |
Commons as the political world reacted to his death. They went on | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
to pick Tony Blair as their leader two months later. The rest, as they | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
say, was history. You are watching the week in Parliament, after a week | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
when the controversial takeover plan dominated the mines at Westminster. | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
Hello there. The weather promises us some prospects of some slightly | :23:38. | :23:39. | |
warmer weather as we head through next week. And before we get there, | :23:40. | :23:41. | |
an unsettled weekend on the cards. warmer weather as we head through | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
next week. And before we Blustery showers, windy at times, and that | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
wind will feel quite cold. There will be some sunshine as well | :23:48. | :23:50. | |
through the course of the weekend. We | :23:51. | :23:51. |