:00:00. > :00:00.won the tour once more. Now it's time for The Week In
:00:00. > :00:19.Parliament. Hello, and welcome back to The Week
:00:20. > :00:23.In Parliament. And to a new session here at Westminster. A few political
:00:24. > :00:31.appeal falls while we have been away but some things remain the same. ``
:00:32. > :00:37.upheavals. The Queens speech set out the lineup
:00:38. > :00:39.for the coalition 's fifth and final year of government. Bursting with
:00:40. > :00:45.new ideas, or lacking in imagination? Take your pick. This is
:00:46. > :00:48.a packed programme of a busy and radical government! The first thing
:00:49. > :00:53.the Queens speech needed to have done is signal a new direction in
:00:54. > :00:57.the jobs we created this country and whether hard work powers. When a
:00:58. > :01:01.backbench MP rose to thank Her Majesty for the speech, she summed
:01:02. > :01:10.up the dilemmas faced by the modern man. Does he risk insulting me? If
:01:11. > :01:20.he he failed to mention that I am also a softly spoken charmer? If you
:01:21. > :01:24.were to compliment me, does he risk the wrath of the Labour Party 's
:01:25. > :01:29.women's Caucus? Learn what that was about later on. A week is a long
:01:30. > :01:34.time in politics, and three weeks turned out to be an eternity. At
:01:35. > :01:37.least for the mainstream parties. The political landscape was turned
:01:38. > :01:42.on its head, with UKIP enjoying a major breakthrough in the local
:01:43. > :01:46.elections, and storming to victory in the European poll. UKIP are of
:01:47. > :01:51.course not in the Commons. So Westminster remains the domain of
:01:52. > :01:54.the established parties and indeed the establishment. With full pomp
:01:55. > :02:01.and ceremony, the Queen on Wednesday presided over the annual State
:02:02. > :02:05.opening of Parliament. Parts of the ceremony expressing the historic
:02:06. > :02:10.link between the monarchy and the two Houses of Parliament can be
:02:11. > :02:15.traced back as far as the 14th century. This year there was
:02:16. > :02:19.something very new, or sort of. For the first time, the Queen travelled
:02:20. > :02:24.to Westminster in her diamond jubilee coach. It has taken a decade
:02:25. > :02:29.to construct. For a horse`drawn carriage, it is pretty up`to`date,
:02:30. > :02:33.with electric windows and heaters. It also contains fragments from
:02:34. > :02:39.dozens of historical artefacts. Such as Henry VIII warship and the Mary
:02:40. > :02:48.Rose. From the code breaking centre, Bletchley Park, and, a
:02:49. > :02:51.Spitfire. In the House of Lords, peers dressed in their traditional
:02:52. > :02:57.attire, took their seats. Familiar faces could be glimpsed, such as the
:02:58. > :03:08.Archbishop of York. And to Conservative peers. ``two. A quick
:03:09. > :03:10.blast of the trumpets... And the Queen, wearing her robes of state
:03:11. > :03:15.and Crown, walked through the Royal Gallery to the House of Lords.
:03:16. > :03:20.There, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took their places on the
:03:21. > :03:30.thrones. The Queens messenger went to summon BMPs from the Commons to
:03:31. > :03:34.hear the speech. ``the MPs. The bit that people always remember, the
:03:35. > :03:39.slamming of the doors in the face of Black Rod, a sign of the supremacy
:03:40. > :03:49.of the MPs. He knocked three times and was M. `` and was let in.
:03:50. > :03:55.Mr Speaker, Her Majesty the Queen commands this honourable house. As
:03:56. > :04:11.usual, and audible comment from Labour 's Dennis Skinner. Coalition
:04:12. > :04:15.'s last stand. Then, that walk`through from the Commons to the
:04:16. > :04:22.Lords with the rival politicians engaging in ever so jolly breezy
:04:23. > :04:26.banter. Finally, the Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling handed Her Majesty a
:04:27. > :04:30.copy of the speech to read out. To strengthen the economy and provide
:04:31. > :04:35.stability and security, my ministers will continue to reduce the country
:04:36. > :04:42.'s deficit. Helping to ensure that mortgage and interest rates remain
:04:43. > :04:48.low. An updated chance `` Charter for budget responsibility
:04:49. > :04:54.future governments spend taxpayers money responsibly. My government
:04:55. > :04:59.will also continue to cut taxes in order to increase people 's
:05:00. > :05:03.financial security. Legislation will impose higher penalties on employers
:05:04. > :05:11.who fail to pay their staff the minimum wage. Measures will be
:05:12. > :05:16.brought forward to limit excessive redundancy payments across the
:05:17. > :05:19.public sector. My government will continue to implement major reforms
:05:20. > :05:27.to the electricity market and reduce the use of plastic carrier bags to
:05:28. > :05:31.help protect the environment. A key priority for my ministers will be to
:05:32. > :05:37.continue to build an economy that rewards those who work hard.
:05:38. > :05:40.Legislation will be brought forward to give those who have saved
:05:41. > :05:47.discretion over the use of their retirement funds. My government 's
:05:48. > :05:51.pension reforms will also allow for innovation in the private pensions
:05:52. > :05:59.market, to give greater control to employees. Extend the ice and
:06:00. > :06:06.premium bond schemes, and abolish the town p tax rate on savers ``
:06:07. > :06:16.``ISA. My government will ensure that all infants will receive a free
:06:17. > :06:18.school meals. ``10p. Childcare will be extended to the most
:06:19. > :06:26.disadvantaged two years old `` two `year`olds. My government will
:06:27. > :06:30.continue its programme of political reform. My ministers will introduce
:06:31. > :06:37.legislation on the recall of members of Parliament. My government will
:06:38. > :06:42.continue to implement new financial powers for the Scottish parliament.
:06:43. > :06:47.And, make the case for Scotland to remain a part of the United Kingdom.
:06:48. > :06:51.In all, 11 bills made up this year 's Queen 's speech, the morning
:06:52. > :06:56.ceremonial events gave way to debate in the Commons in the afternoon,
:06:57. > :06:59.including speeches by opposition leader and prime minister. Labour
:07:00. > :07:02.leader Ed Miliband focused on lessons that could and should be
:07:03. > :07:09.learned from last month 's Council and European elections. The custom
:07:10. > :07:13.of these debates is to address our opponents across the dispatch books
:07:14. > :07:18.in our house. Today, on its own, that would be inadequate to the
:07:19. > :07:22.challenge we face. There is a bigger opponent to address in this Queen 's
:07:23. > :07:25.speech debate. The belief among many members of the public that this
:07:26. > :07:31.house cannot achieve anything at all. Any party in it. About 10% of
:07:32. > :07:38.those entitled to vote at the recent elections voted for UKIP. As
:07:39. > :07:42.significant, over 60% did not vote at all. Whatever side we sit on in
:07:43. > :07:46.this house, we have all heard it on the doorstep. You are all the same.
:07:47. > :07:52.In it for yourself. It doesn't matter who I vote for. Of course, Mr
:07:53. > :07:57.Speaker, that is not new, but there is a depth of and scale of
:07:58. > :08:01.disenchantment that we ignore at our peril. This is what the Queens
:08:02. > :08:06.speech would have looked like. A banking bill to support small
:08:07. > :08:10.businesses, a community built to dissolve power. An immigration bill
:08:11. > :08:14.to stop workers from being undercut. Consumers build to freeze
:08:15. > :08:20.energy bills, and NHS bill to make it easier to see your GP and stop
:08:21. > :08:27.privatisation. To make that happen, we need a different government, we
:08:28. > :08:30.need a Labour government. I listen to the Leader of the Opposition
:08:31. > :08:36.speech, and I had to say there was a complete absence of anything
:08:37. > :08:39.approaching a coherent plan. Nothing on the deficit, nothing on taking
:08:40. > :08:44.long`term difficult decisions, nothing on growth, and frankly, I
:08:45. > :08:48.believe that is his problem. Not that he went to campaign in some
:08:49. > :08:52.target council seat and didn't know the name of the labour `` leader of
:08:53. > :08:56.the council. Nor any campaigns on the cost of living, but he doesn't
:08:57. > :09:01.know the cost of his own groceries. He has no coherent plan for
:09:02. > :09:07.Aberconwy and has nothing to say about how genuinely to improve our
:09:08. > :09:12.public services `` our economy. And nothing to say about strengthening
:09:13. > :09:16.Britain's place in the world. That was not enough in the Queens speech,
:09:17. > :09:21.but we should be clear about this, the fifth year of this Parliament.
:09:22. > :09:24.For the first time ever, we are introducing tax`free childcare to
:09:25. > :09:29.help hard`working families and creating new laws on producing shale
:09:30. > :09:33.gas to give us energy security. New laws to build a high`speed rail link
:09:34. > :09:38.to modernise infrastructure, we can build more homes and help young
:09:39. > :09:40.people, outlawing modern slavery, confiscating assets from criminals
:09:41. > :09:44.and protecting people who volunteer. Cutting red tape, curbing
:09:45. > :09:49.the abuse of zero hour contracts, this is a packed programme of a busy
:09:50. > :09:56.and radical government. Should the right honourable member bring
:09:57. > :09:59.forward a private members bill? Will he give them the same wholehearted
:10:00. > :10:05.support he showed me in the past year? I can certainly give my
:10:06. > :10:09.honourable friend that undertaking, he did a brilliant job in bringing
:10:10. > :10:12.that bill before the House of Commons. The Leader of the
:10:13. > :10:15.Opposition was talking about one of the things, some of the things that
:10:16. > :10:22.turned people away from politics. I think one of the ways to turn people
:10:23. > :10:26.back into politics would be to say that Britain should be a member of a
:10:27. > :10:30.reformed European Union, or not? It is the British people who need to
:10:31. > :10:35.have that say. David Cameron, but it is not all serious this ``
:10:36. > :10:44.seriousness. The Commons can be light`hearted, when the backbencher
:10:45. > :10:48.gave an address. It is the time for humourous observations, and there
:10:49. > :10:53.were certainly plenty this year. The Conservative MP noted that she was
:10:54. > :10:58.the first MP to make the vote of thanks since Lady Tweedsmuir back in
:10:59. > :11:03.1957, a speech she had been taking a look at. She discusses the cost of
:11:04. > :11:06.living, reform of the upper house and finished by advocating the
:11:07. > :11:13.advantages of having more women parliamentarians. It is a shame that
:11:14. > :11:15.the response she received from the then Leader of the Opposition was
:11:16. > :11:23.less able to stand up to contemporary scrutiny. Mr Gaitskell,
:11:24. > :11:26.with gallant intent I am sure, replied to a nodding Commons that
:11:27. > :11:32.Lady Tweedsmuir had probably made some good points but that he was
:11:33. > :11:39.unable to respond to any of them. Such was the destruction of her soft
:11:40. > :11:50.and attractive boys. `` distraction of her soft and attractive voice.
:11:51. > :11:56.Despite being a grandmother, she was rather easy on the eyes. He found it
:11:57. > :12:01.quite impossible to concentrate on anything she had to say. In
:12:02. > :12:04.recounting this, I realise that I may have left the current Leader of
:12:05. > :12:16.the Opposition with a very modern man's dilemma. Does he now risk
:12:17. > :12:24.insulting me? If he fails to mention that I am also a softly spoken
:12:25. > :12:33.charmer? Or, if he were to compliment me, does he risk the
:12:34. > :12:37.wrath of the Labour Party 's women's Caucus? Potentially losing the newly
:12:38. > :12:42.introduced power of recall? These are perilous times! And, the MP had
:12:43. > :12:59.a shocking revelation to make. There must be no compromise of
:13:00. > :13:03.standards, but we must recognise we cannot set women up to fail. It must
:13:04. > :13:08.be tailored to enable us to be our best. I have benefited from some
:13:09. > :13:13.excellent training by the Royal Navy. But on one occasion I felt it
:13:14. > :13:18.was not as desperate as it might have been. Fascinating though it
:13:19. > :13:25.was, I felt that the lecture and practical demonstration on how to
:13:26. > :13:28.keep your penis and testicles in the field fails to appreciate that some
:13:29. > :13:40.of us had been issued with the incorrect kit. Give us the
:13:41. > :13:43.opportunity, give us the training and women will embrace the
:13:44. > :13:50.challenge. That has been Portsmouth's experience. Ed Miliband
:13:51. > :13:58.was a proper gentleman in his reply. I can certainly say, Mr Speaker,
:13:59. > :14:02.that it can take guts to dive off the high board. She should try
:14:03. > :14:15.wrestling a bacon sandwich live on national television. Mr Speaker, it
:14:16. > :14:22.is clear that the day she deserved a place on the podium.
:14:23. > :14:28.Ed Miliband, will be debate carries on for five days after that. And the
:14:29. > :14:33.backbench Speaker was the chair of the Commons home affairs committee.
:14:34. > :14:37.I think we need to confront UKIP on their immigration agenda. All three
:14:38. > :14:47.party leaders were right to condemn the statement of Nigel Farage, that
:14:48. > :14:54.he felt uncomfortable if Romanians were going to move in. They have
:14:55. > :15:00.turned it into to stay neighbour and eight by neighbour. I think it is
:15:01. > :15:09.important we should confront this. This is what they said about my
:15:10. > :15:20.parents. That they did not want to live near Asians and by people. He
:15:21. > :15:24.is making a very fair point. I draw attention to the members of the
:15:25. > :15:28.house who have not read the community Select Committee from the
:15:29. > :15:34.last government that looked into community cohesion and integration.
:15:35. > :15:39.Even from second and third generations, it was the pace of
:15:40. > :15:42.change that they object to, not necessarily the colour or ethnicity
:15:43. > :15:47.of the people coming in. It was that that was so unplanned.
:15:48. > :15:50.And he's talking about the effect of the UK Independence Party.
:15:51. > :15:53.And the spectre of UKIP was also looming in the House of Lords. The
:15:54. > :16:00.leader of the Labour peers reflected on the their democratic right to
:16:01. > :16:03.vote for UKIP. I do not respect that party's simplistic policies which
:16:04. > :16:10.offer little more than a return to some rose`tinted past which did not
:16:11. > :16:13.exist. William E Simon was perhaps wise when he said bad politicians
:16:14. > :16:21.are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote. The fact that
:16:22. > :16:24.64% of our electors did not see the point in voting and some of those
:16:25. > :16:27.who did voted for a plague on all your houses shows that we as
:16:28. > :16:33.national politicians have failed in many ways. We have failed to listen,
:16:34. > :16:36.to take action, to address the concerns. We have overpromised and
:16:37. > :16:42.underdelivered and the parties have failed to respond to the myriad
:16:43. > :16:47.changes that we face. And there were some reflections on the reality of
:16:48. > :17:03.Coalition Government. I am proud that my party did not shirk its
:17:04. > :17:06.responsibilities. At a time when the country 's finances were in jeopardy
:17:07. > :17:09.and the eurozone faced collapse and the economic crisis continued to
:17:10. > :17:18.unfold, to do so would have been irresponsible. My party has paid a
:17:19. > :17:25.heavy place, but in hindsight I do not think it was the wrong thing to
:17:26. > :17:29.do. The irony is all governments are coalitions. Compromises between
:17:30. > :17:37.different wings of the party, or even between number ten and number
:17:38. > :17:46.11. Nobody ever gets everything they want. In the end, it is about
:17:47. > :17:49.balance. While the Queen was delivering her
:17:50. > :17:51.speech on Wednesday, there was some bad behaviour in the school
:17:52. > :17:54.playground. Home Secretary Theresa May and Education Secretary Michael
:17:55. > :17:57.Gove got into a bit of a punch`up over how to deal with extremism in
:17:58. > :18:00.schools. A letter from Mrs May blamed the Education Department for
:18:01. > :18:04.failing to tackle allegations of Islamic influence in schools in
:18:05. > :18:06.Birmingham. Mr Gove's team believes the Home Office hasn't done enough
:18:07. > :18:12.to confront extremism before it develops into terrorism. On Thursday
:18:13. > :18:15.the Shadow Leader of the the unedifying war between the Home
:18:16. > :18:29.Secretary and the Education Secretary on the Government strategy
:18:30. > :18:31.combat extremism. It seems that there are separate approaches being
:18:32. > :18:39.pursued in different Government departments, while the community
:18:40. > :18:43.secretary is nowhere to be seen. The Prime Minister is said to be
:18:44. > :18:46.furious. The Government should be protecting our young people from
:18:47. > :18:50.coming under the influence of extremist ideas. Instead it appears
:18:51. > :19:02.to be deeply occupied with conducting a proxy leadership battle
:19:03. > :19:05.within the Conservative Party. Does the reader of the house agree with
:19:06. > :19:08.me that this is too important to be treated in this contemptuous way? We
:19:09. > :19:12.are well used to this Coalition fighting, but things have now got so
:19:13. > :19:16.bad that both parties are turning on themselves. The Education Secretary
:19:17. > :19:20.is disparaging the Home Secretary. She is fighting against him. I know
:19:21. > :19:30.that he is classically trained, the he should beware of the ides of May.
:19:31. > :19:42.I am grateful for the response to the statement. Quite a good joke
:19:43. > :19:45.about May, unfortunately we in June. Absolutely, they are working
:19:46. > :19:59.together. They are working to take measures that will be effective.
:20:00. > :20:02.Actually, as she has seen, the extremism task force has already
:20:03. > :20:05.given rise to a range of measures that we have been taking in order to
:20:06. > :20:08.deal with that. Well paid bankers have come in for
:20:09. > :20:12.plenty of adverse comment in recent years. But what about the levels of
:20:13. > :20:15.pay of some top council officials? Earlier this year it was learnt that
:20:16. > :20:17.the chief executive of Wandsworth Council in London, Paul Martin, was
:20:18. > :20:20.receiving more than ?3230,000 in annual pay and bonuses, far beyond
:20:21. > :20:31.the Prime Minister's salary of ?142,000. `` 232 pals in pounds. ``
:20:32. > :20:46.230 ?2000. So, in the words of the advertisement, is he worth it? What
:20:47. > :20:49.attracted you to the job? Wandsworth is renowned as being one of the most
:20:50. > :20:52.remarkable councils in the country. The basis for that is that over
:20:53. > :20:55.decades it has achieved a reputation for providing the highest possible
:20:56. > :21:09.services and the law was spent in tax. `` lowest spent. The current
:21:10. > :21:13.band E council tax is ?3388. `` ?388. If the council was to double
:21:14. > :21:18.that, and it has no intention of doing that, it would be the third
:21:19. > :21:21.lowest council tax in the country. I say that to give a sense of the
:21:22. > :21:31.difference between Wandsworth in its generally commercial approach. The
:21:32. > :21:40.salary does not interest you. The salary reflects the standard of the
:21:41. > :21:43.council. How is that? The salary reflects the demands that the
:21:44. > :21:49.council makes upon its senior officers The arguments over pay and
:21:50. > :21:53.bonuses. Now a quick look back at the State
:21:54. > :21:56.Opening. It was a landmark day for one person at Westminster, the Clerk
:21:57. > :21:59.of the Commons, Sir Robert Rodgers. It marked his 42nd State Opening
:22:00. > :22:04.and, more to the point, his final one as he's retiring in the summer.
:22:05. > :22:09.Sir Robert told Eleanor Griffiths`Jones about the work of
:22:10. > :22:13.the Clerk of the Commons. The Clerk acts as number one port of
:22:14. > :22:18.call for MPs and the Speaker for advice on the constitution and
:22:19. > :22:21.parliamentary procedure. We give our advice. It's always rigidly
:22:22. > :22:24.politically impartial and the other thing is you do give advice in
:22:25. > :22:28.confidence because it may be a very good indication, to the other side
:22:29. > :22:37.of tactics that are going to be employed, or ideas that people may
:22:38. > :22:43.have in mind. In the Commons chamber he sits on the right`hand chair at
:22:44. > :22:48.the table of the House. We are always ready to advise the chair on
:22:49. > :22:56.a point of order. Without warning you need to act quickly. I thought
:22:57. > :22:59.the honourable gentleman was the man in the mustard suit, but the Clerk,
:23:00. > :23:03.who is the fount of all wisdom, advises me that its colour is
:23:04. > :23:10.tangerine. He also has an important role in lawmaking. If it's a Bill
:23:11. > :23:13.that started here a week past I write on the title page of the Bill
:23:14. > :23:18.in Norman French, which has been used for centuries. Then I or one of
:23:19. > :23:24.my colleagues does actually carry the Bill physically from the House
:23:25. > :23:28.of Commons to the House of Lords. At the same time the text of the Bill
:23:29. > :23:31.is on the shared dry between the two public Bill offices using some of
:23:32. > :23:35.the most advanced text handling software in the world. So it's a
:23:36. > :23:37.perfect example of a quite picturesque survival living with
:23:38. > :23:46.something which is the cutting edge of technology. You're watching the
:23:47. > :23:49.Week in Parliament, after a week when David Cameron hailed the
:23:50. > :23:52.Queen's Speech as a packed programme. And Ed Miliband warned
:23:53. > :23:54.that Parliament was facing a battle for relevance and legitimacy in the
:23:55. > :23:58.eyes of the public.