:00:18. > :00:19.Hello and welcome to the Week In Parliament.
:00:20. > :00:22.As world leaders talked at the United Nations climate change
:00:23. > :00:24.summit, homeowners in the North of England knew
:00:25. > :00:28.More than one month's rain fell in one day.
:00:29. > :00:30.Does the Secretary of State agree that extreme weather events are,
:00:31. > :00:33.unfortunately, increasingly a feature of British weather?
:00:34. > :00:35.Another month, another clash between the Commons and the Lords.
:00:36. > :00:41.One MP is not sending peers any Christmas cards.
:00:42. > :00:44.The super-annuated, unelected, unaccountable panjandrums
:00:45. > :00:47.in the House of Lords have told us what the elected house should be
:00:48. > :00:53.doing when we have a settled view on it.
:00:54. > :00:56.And bring on the reserve team. It was deputy day at PMQs.
:00:57. > :01:01.Labour's deputy mocks the Prime Minister's European talks.
:01:02. > :01:02.He has been jetting all over the place.
:01:03. > :01:07.No wonder we had to buy him his own aeroplane.
:01:08. > :01:14.The good news is, we have a party leader who is respected abroad.
:01:15. > :01:16.They may be connected. They may not.
:01:17. > :01:19.As homeowners mounted a huge clean-up operation in large parts
:01:20. > :01:22.of Cumbria, Lancashire and the Scottish borders,
:01:23. > :01:24.the subject of climate change came in for detailed discussion
:01:25. > :01:31.It was hard not to believe weather patterns were changing,
:01:32. > :01:33.as parts of Cumbria suffered particularly at the hands
:01:34. > :01:42.It was the third time in the space of a decade that the county had
:01:43. > :01:46.Worst hit was the city of Carlisle, where pictures of stranded
:01:47. > :01:51.householders rescued from flooded homes were numerous.
:01:52. > :01:53.A road in the heart of the Lake District was smashed
:01:54. > :01:59.The Prime Minister visited some of the stricken parts of the county.
:02:00. > :02:04.In the Commons, the extent of the flooding was spelled out.
:02:05. > :02:07.There is a mark on the bridge in Carlisle showing the flood
:02:08. > :02:11.The 2005 flood was half a metre higher than 1853,
:02:12. > :02:13.which was the highest on record until then.
:02:14. > :02:22.This flood was half a metre high again.
:02:23. > :02:25.Does this Secretary of State agree that extreme weather events
:02:26. > :02:27.are unfortunately, increasingly a picture of British weather,
:02:28. > :02:30.and that government policy as to adapt,
:02:31. > :02:38.And the Honourable lady is absolutely right
:02:39. > :02:40.about the extreme weather patterns we are
:02:41. > :02:44.As we say, it is consistent with the trends we are seeing,
:02:45. > :02:47.Climate change is factored in to all the modelling work
:02:48. > :02:51.Insurance claims should be met speedily and not in six
:02:52. > :02:57.People need them now and not in six or nine months' time.
:02:58. > :02:59.These people need urgent help, now, so will be Chancellor,
:03:00. > :03:02.today, give the house a guarantee that people will receive the help
:03:03. > :03:08.I can, today, announce a ?50 million fund
:03:09. > :03:09.for families and businesses affected in the area.
:03:10. > :03:11.This will be administered by the local
:03:12. > :03:15.authorities, to avoid some of the administrative troubles
:03:16. > :03:20.And when it comes to rebuilding the infrastructure
:03:21. > :03:22.of Cumbria and Lancashire and other areas affected,
:03:23. > :03:25.we are assessing, now, the damage to the flood defences
:03:26. > :03:30.and the damage to the roads, and funds will be made available.
:03:31. > :03:32.The flooding was also concerning peers.
:03:33. > :03:35.By declaring an interest, as a Cumbrian, would my honourable
:03:36. > :03:37.friend agree that the priority must first
:03:38. > :03:41.so unfortunately and unhappily and disastrously affected,
:03:42. > :03:43.and secondly, to make sure that any additional
:03:44. > :03:45.rain that is threatened doesn't actually exacerbate the existing
:03:46. > :03:51.We are looking at a potential scheme to reduce the risk
:03:52. > :03:53.of flooding in Kendal, but it is at an early
:03:54. > :03:58.My Lords, within the six-year programme,
:03:59. > :03:59.the proposed Kendal scheme is scheduled for 2021.
:04:00. > :04:01.We are considering, with other funding
:04:02. > :04:06.partners, how we can bring this scheme forward.
:04:07. > :04:10.Could the Minister tell us what cognizance is taken
:04:11. > :04:13.by the government of the stochastic modelling performed by the insurance
:04:14. > :04:16.industry and how many one in 100- year events it takes for it to cease
:04:17. > :04:22.My Lords, I am sure the right reverend gentleman
:04:23. > :04:25.will appreciate that this is probably a matter for God,
:04:26. > :04:27.because every time we have tried to predict,
:04:28. > :04:38.Lady Williams with the last word, for now, on the floods.
:04:39. > :04:40.Another head-on clash between the Commons and the Lords
:04:41. > :04:45.MPs on Tuesday night said a decisive no to the plans of the Lords
:04:46. > :04:48.to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in the referendum on
:04:49. > :04:54.It is the policy of the opposition parties to bring Britain's voting
:04:55. > :05:00.And Labour peers have indicated they will not accept the decision
:05:01. > :05:05.At the end of October, the two Houses of Parliament clashed
:05:06. > :05:06.over cuts to tax credits, with peers blocking
:05:07. > :05:13.That led to a review being ordered into how the Lords operates.
:05:14. > :05:16.In a moment, we will be analysing what has been an eventful term
:05:17. > :05:18.in the Lords, with a couple of experts.
:05:19. > :05:21.First, we can remind ourselves of Tuesday's debate in the Commons
:05:22. > :05:30.There are understandable sensitivities surrounding
:05:31. > :05:33.Making such a fundamental change to the franchise for this vote
:05:34. > :05:35.alone, but not for others, would, inevitably and,
:05:36. > :05:43.perhaps, justifiably,lead to accusations of trying to fix
:05:44. > :05:46.the franchise in favour of either the remain or the leave campaign.
:05:47. > :05:50.That is why we have chosen to stick with the tried and tested proven
:05:51. > :05:55.If it is good enough for choosing the government of this country,
:05:56. > :05:57.then surely it is good enough for the
:05:58. > :06:01.And we should not jiggle around with it for a one-off,
:06:02. > :06:05.This actually is a constitutional outrage that the super-annuated,
:06:06. > :06:09.unelected, unaccountable panjandrums
:06:10. > :06:12.in the House of Lords have told us what the elected house should be
:06:13. > :06:17.doing when we have a settled view on it.
:06:18. > :06:21.They should learn their place. They must be subservient
:06:22. > :06:24.to the elected house and it is high time we had House of Lords reform.
:06:25. > :06:29.It is 40 years since this issue was voted on this country.
:06:30. > :06:33.Major constitutional referenda are a once-in-a-generation
:06:34. > :06:38.choice - perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime choice
:06:39. > :06:41.about the country's future direction.
:06:42. > :06:50.It is that the young people of this country deserve a say
:06:51. > :06:53.in the decision which will chart our country's future.
:06:54. > :06:56.As a society, an explicit comment that we do not feel
:06:57. > :06:58.16 and 17-year-olds are fully formed because, if we did,
:06:59. > :07:05.we would not suggest they had to stay in education.
:07:06. > :07:07.We would not suggest that they cannot book
:07:08. > :07:11.We would not suggest that they have not
:07:12. > :07:12.even allowed to buy their sparklers at
:07:13. > :07:18.What we have found in Scotland, and the evidence backs
:07:19. > :07:21.it up, is that, by giving the franchise to 16
:07:22. > :07:24.and 17-year-olds, they remain engaged in the political process
:07:25. > :07:32.Whilst the rest of the UK may have had low numbers in Westminster
:07:33. > :07:38.elections, we had a much higher, above 70%, in Scotland.
:07:39. > :07:51.How long will it be before young people start
:07:52. > :08:02.What worries me is when a 1617 -year-old remains that.
:08:03. > :08:04.How long will it be before young people start
:08:05. > :08:08.And the last thing we need is more young people becoming militants.
:08:09. > :08:10.But many of my colleagues have called for more
:08:11. > :08:18.They have opinions, they want to be heard.
:08:19. > :08:21.And at the end of that debate, MPs voted 303 to 253 to reject
:08:22. > :08:23.the decision of the Lords, so not lowering the referendum
:08:24. > :08:32.But is that the end of the matter? Or could peers keep the issue going?
:08:33. > :08:34.The Commons Speaker had told MPs that the Lords position involved
:08:35. > :08:37.what is termed financial privilege .
:08:38. > :08:40.In other words, there is a cost to the taxpayer and so it not
:08:41. > :08:49.is something the Lords should have any say over.
:08:50. > :08:52.So, does this increase the tension between the Commons and the Lords?
:08:53. > :08:55.I am joined in the studio now by the BBC's parliamentary
:08:56. > :08:56.correspondent Sean Curran and by Professor Meg Russell
:08:57. > :08:58.from the Constitution Unit. Welcome to the programme.
:08:59. > :09:00.Starting with you, Professor Russell, the government
:09:01. > :09:01.used this phrase, "financial privilege".
:09:02. > :09:04.Does this boil down to really just a device to muzzle
:09:05. > :09:14.One of the things which people mistake is where the claim
:09:15. > :09:18.It is not actually a claim by the government, it is a claim
:09:19. > :09:22.The decision as to whether a Lords amendment is subjected to financial
:09:23. > :09:24.privilege actually comes from the Commons' clerks
:09:25. > :09:29.and the Commons' Speaker, not from ministers.
:09:30. > :09:31.Any amendment which is going to cost a significant
:09:32. > :09:34.amount of money will receive a response that financial
:09:35. > :09:40.That can then be claimed by the Commons when
:09:41. > :09:42.rejecting the amendment, with an implication that the Lords
:09:43. > :09:51.But it is very, very blurry, both in terms of the definitions
:09:52. > :09:53.and of what the Lords can do in response.
:09:54. > :09:56.Sean Curran, it looks like it is going to happen on Monday
:09:57. > :09:59.night - the issue is going to go back to the Lords.
:10:00. > :10:01.What do you anticipate happening on Monday?
:10:02. > :10:03.Well, as Meg said, there is, kind of, a convention,
:10:04. > :10:05.an unwritten rule, to say that, once we have
:10:06. > :10:08.had this financial privilege invoked, then the Lords should back
:10:09. > :10:11.Actually, because the Commons have rejected the amendment and we have
:10:12. > :10:14.had this ruling of financial privilege from the Commons' Speaker,
:10:15. > :10:16.the Lords cannot simply reinsert the original proposal,
:10:17. > :10:23.to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote, but they can they can
:10:24. > :10:26.to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote, but they can propose
:10:27. > :10:28.something called an Amendment In Lieu, which is what Labour
:10:29. > :10:33.They are going to argue that they can come up
:10:34. > :10:34.with a low-cost alternative, while getting more or
:10:35. > :10:37.less the same thing - 16-year-olds being able to take part
:10:38. > :10:39.in the referendum - and they hope this will get
:10:40. > :10:41.round the rules on financial privilege.
:10:42. > :10:43.So, what we will have is another round
:10:44. > :10:45.of parliamentary ping-pong, where legislation is batted from one
:10:46. > :10:47.end of the Houses of Parliament to the other.
:10:48. > :10:49.We know that the government is braced for this,
:10:50. > :10:52.because we had an announcement on Thursday from Chris Grayling,
:10:53. > :10:54.the Leader of the Commons, that time is being put
:10:55. > :10:57.into the parliamentary schedule next week for the House of Commons
:10:58. > :11:03.So, it could go on for a couple more days.
:11:04. > :11:05.We are certainly in for a bit of a clash.
:11:06. > :11:12.That ended with Lord Strathclyde being told to make a review of how
:11:13. > :11:14.the Lords operates, but what can he actually
:11:15. > :11:19.What do you think Lord Strathclyde could possibly come up with?
:11:20. > :11:24.It ended with that and the government backing down
:11:25. > :11:28.That was slightly ironic, given that they said how outrageous
:11:29. > :11:31.it was that the House of Lords should intervene and so on.
:11:32. > :11:34.But in terms of the Strathclyde review, I think it is quite tricky
:11:35. > :11:38.He is very canny and he knows the House of Lords extremely
:11:39. > :11:40.well, but there are a number of issues here.
:11:41. > :11:43.There is the financial issue, which obviously touches on that one.
:11:44. > :11:46.There is also the whole question of delegated
:11:47. > :11:48.legislation and whether the Lords should retain its veto.
:11:49. > :11:50.To really do anything in a thoroughly-definitive way
:11:51. > :11:55.requires the government to legislate.
:11:56. > :11:57.And getting legislation through would be very difficult.
:11:58. > :12:00.It would be difficult in the Lords, obviously, but actually,
:12:01. > :12:02.also very difficult in the Commons, because
:12:03. > :12:05.there would be an inclination by MPs to load any bill with amendments,
:12:06. > :12:08.to try and introduce wider issues of Lords reform.
:12:09. > :12:11.So, I think they are going to want to stay away from that
:12:12. > :12:13.and the ultimate answer is some kind of
:12:14. > :12:15.cross-party agreement on where the conventions work.
:12:16. > :12:20.Do you think the nub of all this, Sean Curran, is actually
:12:21. > :12:23.that the Conservatives do not have a majority in the House
:12:24. > :12:25.of Lords and they are not used to that
:12:26. > :12:27.and that really is a source of incredible irritation
:12:28. > :12:30.Well, of course, for years, governments are always
:12:31. > :12:32.being challenged and defeated by the House of Lords,
:12:33. > :12:35.because members of the House of Lords will say, "It is our
:12:36. > :12:37.job to scrutinise legislation and propose changes
:12:38. > :12:39.and that is something which cuts across party
:12:40. > :12:41.But, of course, the Conservatives have been
:12:42. > :12:46.As I say, almost 25 defeats a year during the coalition
:12:47. > :12:51.They have had 23 defeats just since May,
:12:52. > :12:53.so they are suffering a lot of defeats in the Lords
:12:54. > :13:01.and it is clear that ministers are getting frustrated.
:13:02. > :13:04.Now, particularly on the votes at 16 and 17, there is definitely
:13:05. > :13:06.a feeling that they think Labour and the
:13:07. > :13:07.Liberal Democrats are trying to push
:13:08. > :13:12.forward a policy and using unelected peers to do it.
:13:13. > :13:15.But the coalition issues here about how the House of Lords
:13:16. > :13:17.should be made up, there is no fundamental agreement.
:13:18. > :13:20.Again, I think this is a matter of the parties sitting down
:13:21. > :13:22.and agreeing something amongst themselves about
:13:23. > :13:25.how seats should be shared out in the House of Lords.
:13:26. > :13:27.Because it is very much a movable feast.
:13:28. > :13:29.We hear claims over the tax credit thing
:13:30. > :13:32.that there would be enormous numbers of new Conservative peers put in,
:13:33. > :13:34.which is something that Cameron could, in theory,
:13:35. > :13:36.do, even though everybody thinks it would be
:13:37. > :13:45.I think there is a deal to be struck here on the only
:13:46. > :13:48.powers, on the one hand, and calming it down,
:13:49. > :13:50.on the side of the Opposition and some agreement on the principles
:13:51. > :13:52.of composition coming from the Prime Minister
:13:53. > :13:55.That may just stabilise the situation.
:13:56. > :13:57.Are you optimistic, looking to the future
:13:58. > :14:00.going into the New Year or do you think it is just going to be
:14:01. > :14:03.It is always hard to be optimistic with
:14:04. > :14:06.It is something which has been debated
:14:07. > :14:08.not just through the whole of the 20th
:14:09. > :14:10.century, but going back centuries before that.
:14:11. > :14:13.It is always going to be tricky, but they think there is an agreement
:14:14. > :14:15.that could be forged here and Lord Strathclyde,
:14:16. > :14:18.as I said, is canny and I hope that he
:14:19. > :14:20.may be starting to think through some of this stuff.
:14:21. > :14:23.Because he does not want to see this descending into chaos and,
:14:24. > :14:25.potentially, the end of the House of Lords,
:14:26. > :14:26.with enormous difficulties for the government.
:14:27. > :14:34.Both of you, thank you very much for joining me
:14:35. > :14:40.Some thoughts on the future of the Lords.
:14:41. > :14:41.Lord Strathclyde's report is expected soon.
:14:42. > :14:45.Now hot foot from the watery north of England, David Cameron
:14:46. > :14:48.was quickly away from Westminster again, when he left for talks
:14:49. > :14:51.with the President and Prime Minister of Romania.
:14:52. > :14:54.It was the latest stop-off on David Cameron's European tour,
:14:55. > :14:56.as he attempts to win support for an improved British deal
:14:57. > :15:01.as a member of the EU, with that in-out referendum
:15:02. > :15:06.The Prime Minister's absence meant it was deputies day
:15:07. > :15:12.For Labour, Angela Eagle focused on those renegotiations.
:15:13. > :15:15.Mr Speaker, I see that the Prime Minister can't be with us
:15:16. > :15:18.to answer questions today, because he is visiting Poland
:15:19. > :15:23.and Romania, the latest leg his seemingly endless
:15:24. > :15:35.He's been jetting all over the place.
:15:36. > :15:38.No wonder we had to buy him his own aeroplane.
:15:39. > :15:43.So can the Chancellor tell us, please, how is it all
:15:44. > :15:55.Well, the good news is we have a party leader
:15:56. > :15:56.who is respected abroad.
:15:57. > :16:12.The Prime Minister is in central and Eastern Europe because we are
:16:13. > :16:15.fighting for a better deal for Britain, something that never
:16:16. > :16:20.would have happened if there had been a Labour government.
:16:21. > :16:26.Well, Mr Speaker, I have to tell him that many of his own
:16:27. > :16:29.backbenchers are pretty unimpressed with how it's going so far.
:16:30. > :16:34.Given that the Prime Minister has pre-resigned, does he really aspired
:16:35. > :16:45.to be Britain's first post EU Prime Minister?
:16:46. > :16:47.I'm not sure I would be quoting the views of backbenchers
:16:48. > :16:50.if I was speaking for the Labour Party at the moment.
:16:51. > :16:55.parties are trying to get momentum, they are trying to get rid of it.
:16:56. > :17:03.We are fighting for a good deal for Britain in Europe.
:17:04. > :17:05.Since he didn't answer the question about his own
:17:06. > :17:09.prime ministerial activities, he might be more willing to answer
:17:10. > :17:12.something about somebody a few places down from him on the bench,
:17:13. > :17:19.A reference to the Home Secretary Theresa May.
:17:20. > :17:29.Mr Speaker, if he won't listen, if he
:17:30. > :17:33.won't listen to the doubts of his own backbenchers,
:17:34. > :17:36.perhaps he will listen to someone who has written
:17:37. > :17:56.Mr Speaker, it's from Donald of Brussels.
:17:57. > :17:58.Meaning Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.
:17:59. > :18:02.And he writes, "Uncertainty about the future of the UK
:18:03. > :18:06.in the European Union is a destabilising factor."
:18:07. > :18:14.Well, since the Conservative Party announced its
:18:15. > :18:18.policy on the referendum, we have received the lion's share
:18:19. > :18:21.of investment into Europe, here in this
:18:22. > :18:26.George Osborne and Angela Eagle exchanging blows.
:18:27. > :18:31.And now a look at some of the other stories inside Parliament this week.
:18:32. > :18:33.The Justice Secretary Michael Gove has said the government will move
:18:34. > :18:36.as quickly as it can to drop criminal courts charges.
:18:37. > :18:41.The charges were introduced by his predecessor Chris Grayling,
:18:42. > :18:43.but magistrates had strongly criticised them.
:18:44. > :18:45.If the charge has been repealed by primary legislation,
:18:46. > :18:55.why is it still being posed up to Christmas?
:18:56. > :18:58.Will be charges imposed be remitted, and the magistrates who resigned
:18:59. > :19:01.in protest be reinstated, and will he tell us the cost
:19:02. > :19:05.of the debacle, and how much it adds to the ?15 million he has already
:19:06. > :19:06.wasted on privatisation of fine collection,
:19:07. > :19:09.We moved as expeditiously as possible, in order
:19:10. > :19:11.to suspend the charge, and the best legal advice available
:19:12. > :19:13.to the Department suggested that this was the most
:19:14. > :19:15.effective way of relieving magistrates of the obligation
:19:16. > :19:19.Interesting to watch, but is it fair to have them
:19:20. > :19:22.Thousands of exotic creatures, such as meerkats, are now being kept
:19:23. > :19:26.They are all available on the internet, but MPs say
:19:27. > :19:31.The pet food manufacturers association estimate
:19:32. > :19:35.that the exotic pet population in the UK, that includes fish,
:19:36. > :19:39.has now got to the total of 42 million, and
:19:40. > :19:45.Indeed, a number of reptiles and amphibians alone kept in this
:19:46. > :19:49.country is now anywhere between two and 7 million.
:19:50. > :19:54.Primates are highly intelligent mammals, with a range
:19:55. > :19:57.That would suggest that one of the drivers here
:19:58. > :20:00.is that often people to see exotics as cute and cuddly stop far too
:20:01. > :20:03.Most people should stick to collecting the stuffed toys
:20:04. > :20:05.on offer from Comparethemarket, and should steer clear
:20:06. > :20:10.The not-for-profit organisation has been with us for over 30 years,
:20:11. > :20:11.but privatisation of the channel is coming.
:20:12. > :20:14.Peers fear what we could end up watching.
:20:15. > :20:18.Does the noble Baroness, the Minister not agree
:20:19. > :20:21.that the privatisation of Channel 4 would
:20:22. > :20:27.mean a major reduction in this distinctive and impressive news
:20:28. > :20:35.How it is possible that a great Thatcherite success is now under
:20:36. > :20:40.threat, one which supports more than 350 independent production
:20:41. > :20:43.companies annually, and is now under threat of what looks
:20:44. > :20:46.like the equivalent of a one-off car-boot
:20:47. > :20:53.Channel 4 is not under threat, it has an important remit.
:20:54. > :20:57.It had to deliver innovative, experimental and distinctive
:20:58. > :21:00.content, that appears to a device society,
:21:01. > :21:02.and looking at all the options we would obviously have
:21:03. > :21:11.If you go down to the woods today, will they still be there?
:21:12. > :21:13.Ancient woodlands are disappearing, says the Woodland Trust,
:21:14. > :21:15.as pylons, housing estates and roads are constructed.
:21:16. > :21:20.Their role in raising the human spirit
:21:21. > :21:27.It's been estimated that some 28,000 hectares
:21:28. > :21:31.of ancient woodland has been lost since 1930s.
:21:32. > :21:34.You know, soon, there will be none of
:21:35. > :21:39.I mean, that is so minuscule, isn't it?
:21:40. > :21:43.And how quickly could all that be whittled away?
:21:44. > :21:47.From the outset, if we lose the ancient woodland that we have
:21:48. > :21:49.left, they are gone for ever, and others
:21:50. > :21:52.?50 million, over the past five years, in forestry.
:21:53. > :21:54.Private woodland owners continue to be motivated to bring unmanaged
:21:55. > :22:03.and underused woodlands back into management.
:22:04. > :22:06.With Syria dominating the political agenda,
:22:07. > :22:10.the current turmoil in Libya has attracted less political attention,
:22:11. > :22:13.but the subject of Britain's relationship with Libya led
:22:14. > :22:16.to a rare return to Parliament by Tony Blair.
:22:17. > :22:19.The former Prime Minister was facing the questions of the Foreign Affairs
:22:20. > :22:24.On the issue, only in a busy, you can't make any judgments,
:22:25. > :22:27.because you weren't in government in 2011, but a very simple question.
:22:28. > :22:30.Knowing what you know now, do you think that Libya
:22:31. > :22:33.is in a better or worse place as a result of the 2011
:22:34. > :22:36.intervention? Look.
:22:37. > :22:38.You've got to put the counterfactual always.
:22:39. > :22:42.What would have happened if we hadn't?
:22:43. > :22:49.The Libyan people were not going to accept the continuation
:22:50. > :22:53.You know, look, this again goes to a wider
:22:54. > :22:55.arguments, where you often find people saying, "Look,
:22:56. > :23:01.wouldn't it just be better if we dealt with the dictators?"
:23:02. > :23:05.You know, at least when we had Assad there, and Saddam is there,
:23:06. > :23:07.and Gaddafi there, and I don't know, Ben Ali there, we knew
:23:08. > :23:10.what we were dealing with, and I completely understand that
:23:11. > :23:14.I think what the Arab Spring shows you is that
:23:15. > :23:16.however much we may want to have dealt with those people,
:23:17. > :23:19.the populations of these countries are not going to tolerate them,
:23:20. > :23:21.and in particular they are not going to
:23:22. > :23:23.tolerate a tiny group of people, often unrepresentative
:23:24. > :23:28.of the majority in the country, running the country.
:23:29. > :23:33.I can tell you, today, Libya is a real security problem,
:23:34. > :23:35.a security problem, actually, for us,
:23:36. > :23:40.I don't think you can make the judgment as to
:23:41. > :23:43.whether it would be better if we hadn't intervened,
:23:44. > :23:45.because then you have to say, well, how would that
:23:46. > :23:48.have then played out as Gaddafi tried to cling on to power,
:23:49. > :23:52.And you can look at Syria today, where we
:23:53. > :23:59.Time now for a look at some of the more offbeat events
:24:00. > :24:01.in the political world in the last week.
:24:02. > :24:18.No date yet for the EU referendum but we do no date for the
:24:19. > :24:24.referendum... We know where the results will be announced, the
:24:25. > :24:34.commission has opted for Manchester. Labour's Ed Balls lest his seat at
:24:35. > :24:40.the election. He has to beat Ofcom edition from people like Prime
:24:41. > :24:47.Minister's wife Samantha Cameron. From's comments about the Muslim
:24:48. > :24:53.race has public call for him to be banned. A Scottish senate? A Labour
:24:54. > :24:56.peer is calling for a second chamber in Edinburgh. He said it could be
:24:57. > :25:04.housed in the old school once mooted for the Scottish parliament. Jeremy
:25:05. > :25:08.Corbyn's has won this award for the sixth time. Honourable mentions go
:25:09. > :25:11.to the SMB Stewart McDonald. Find out what happens
:25:12. > :25:15.when the Commons and the Lords resume their battle
:25:16. > :25:17.over the voting age. Joanna Shinn will be
:25:18. > :25:22.here with Monday In Parliament But for now, from me,
:25:23. > :25:28.Keith Macdougall, goodbye.