16/03/2018 The Week in Parliament

Hello and welcome to

the Week In Parliament,

coming up, Theresa May tells MPs

Russian diplomats will be expelled

after Moscow fails to give

an explanation for the nerve agent

attack in Salisbury.

They've treated the use of military

grade nerve agent with...

The Labour leader condemns

the attack, but he doesn't put

the blame on the Russian

government.

Our response must be decisive and

proportionate and based on clear

evidence.

And YouTube gets a dressing down.

This isn't about perfection, this is

about you being the wrong person

before this committee and not having

a clue what you're talking about.

But first...

It was the first time a nerve agent

had been used offensively in Europe

since the Second World War and it

happened on British soil.

The attack on the former Russian spy

and his daughter in Salisbury

dominated the week in Parliament.

On Monday afternoon,

the Prime Minister came

to the Commons to update MPs.

It is now clear that Mr Scrip can --

Skripan and his daughter... Russia's

record of conducting state-sponsored

assassinations and our assessment

that Russia views some defectors as

legitimate targets for

assassinations, the Government has

concluded that it is highly likely

that Russia was responsible for the

act against them. She said there

were two possibilities. Either this

was a direct act by the Russian

state against our country, or the

Russian government lost control of

its potentially catastrophically

damaging nerve agent and allowed it

to get into the hands of others.

Angie demanded an escalation from

Moscow.

Should there be no credible

response, we will assume that

this... Jeremy Corbyn condemned the

attack. The investigation into the

events must reach its conclusions,

we need to see both the evidence and

a full account from the Russian

authorities in light of emerging

evidence that the Prime Minister has

just referred to.

The Labour leader

turned to party funding, claiming

there had been large donations from

Russian oligarchs...

We are all

familiar with the way huge fortunes

often acquired in the most dubious

circumstances in Russia sometimes

connected with criminal elements

have ended up sheltering in London

and trying to buy political

influence in British party politics.

Meddling in elections as the Prime

Minister put it, there has been over

£800,000 worth of donations to the

Conservative Party from Russian

oligarchs and their associates.

Well, that febrile mood persisted

when the Prime Minister returned

to the despatch box on Wednesday.

The deadline she'd set

the Kremlin of midnight had

passed without a response.

Theresa May set out

the Government's position.

They have treated the use of a

military grade nerve agent in Europe

with sarcasm, contempt and defiance.

So Mr Speaker, there is alternative

conclusion. Other than that the

Russian state was culpable for the

attempted murder of Mr and his

daughter. Under the Vienna

convention, we will expel 23 Russian

diplomats who have been... They have

just one week to leave. This will be

the single biggest expulsion for

over 30 years, and it reflects the

fact that this is not the first time

that the Russian state has acted

against our country.

The attack and

Salisbury was an appalling act of

violence. Nerve agents are

abominable if used in any war, it is

utterly reckless to use them in a

civilian environment. Our response

has to be both decisive and

proportionate. And based on clear

evidence.

When it became clear that Jeremy

Corbyn was not going to blame the

gremlin...

I couldn't understand a

word...

His behaviour demeans his

office. There was a terse response

by the Prime Minister.

It was clear

from the remarks that were made by

backbenchers across the whole of

this House on Monday that there is a

consensus across the back benches of

this House. I'm only sorry that the

consensus does not go as far as the

right honourable gentleman.

Who could have taken the opportunity

as the UK Government has done the

contempt the culpability of the

Russian state. -- to condemn.

Many on the Labour backbenches

spoke out in support

of Theresa May's action,

including one MP who explicitly

condemned his own leader's response.

Responding with strength and resolve

your country is under threat is an

essential component of political

leadership. There is a Labour

tradition that understands that. And

it has been understood by prime

Ministers of all parties who have

stood at the despatch box.

Spokesmen from other parties

expressed solidarity

with the Government.

There has to be a robust response of

the use of terror on our streets. We

must act in a measured way to show

that we will simply not tolerate

this behaviour.

We welcome the

decisive action that's been taken by

the Prime Minister today it sits in

contrast with the policy of

appeasement that we've heard from

the front backbench of the Labour

Party.

But it was a senior Conservative

who emphasised the seriousness

of the whole situation.

It's just a question of expressing

anger about Salisbury. This is

actually a serious threat to the

safety of the Western world, a

lesson to do something together...

In a newspaper article on Friday,

Jeremy Corbyn warned against rushing

into a new Cold War with Russia

before there was conclusive evidence

that Moscow was behind

the nerve agent attack.

He said police needed to confirm

that the Russian mafia

wasn't responsible.

Now, most of our legislation

is made by the Government.

But it is possible for individual

MPs to change the law.

And one way is through

a Private Member's Bill.

It was this humble type of bill

that was responsible for some major

social change in Great Britain

in the 60s, the legalisation

of abortion and the abolition

of the death penalty for murder.

More recently, a law to reduce

homelessness and a ban on under-18s

using sunbeds were the result

of private members' bills.

The best chance for MPs to bring

in this kind of Bill is to finish

high up in the ballot held

at the start of every session.

The ballot drop for private members

bills in the present session is

about to take place. 461 members

enter the ballot this year. We now

come to the members who get the

first pick of the...

20 names are chosen but generally

only the top seven or so will get

a day's debate on an allocated

Friday.

Debating time is limited.

And without government backing,

there's little chance

of a Bill becoming law.

Now, if you had a magnifying glass

handy then, you may have spotted

the name Angus MacNeil at the very

top of that list.

He's introducing a measure to allow

the families of refugees to join

them in this country.

And earlier, I spoke to him.

I began by asking why he'd

chosen that subject.

It's a subject that makes a

difference in people's lives. In

politics one of the things we should

be doing is helping people. I think

if all the people -- of all the

peoples in the world who need help,

refugees are those people. This

bill...

Very few backbenchers's Bill

get through.

They are held on a

Friday, there's a lot of pressure on

MPs to be away. Saying that, if they

do get the MPs to be there, it

should progress to the next edge. I

am quite nervous about that because

you can't take everything for

granted. Having them on Friday is

bad. It should be Wednesday or

Thursday, given proper time. But

there can be a variety of other

reasons the Government decides their

big hefty utility against private

members bills. That could be a

difficulty. Often, governments look

for excuses not to do it, sometimes

they wish they had thought of it

themselves. Sometimes they wish it

wasn't there. I hope the Government

eventually wishes they thought of

this themselves, I would be quite

happy if the Government adapted this

and didn't need to be done this way.

Sometimes these bills fall because

other MPs talk about, they just go

on and on and so the Bill doesn't

have enough time to get through.

That's not a dignified way of

getting rid of a bill that.

Absolutely. The best way for that to

be decided is on a boat.

Some people

don't like these bills. They are

badly drafted and this is the reason

why other MPs oppose them. You have

to be careful there's no unintended

consequences from these measures.

Absolutely, and also when people

have something against the Bill,

they will look in the detail and

spin... Indeed, Thomas can make --

commas can be quite important.

Would

like to see more backbench bills

getting through?

I think so. I think

they have to be good in the first

place, they have to commend support

but they have to be given the time

for that support. That is the

difficulty of having private members

bills on Friday. There are other

days of the week when the Government

and the business managers and

Parliament are scraping around

looking for a debate just filled the

time. You could see with the

publicity that this bill has

generated, there is greater... Some

of the things that have been debated

on Wednesday or Thursday...

Thank

you.

And Angus MacNeil was on his feet

first thing on Friday to put

the case for his bill

in the Commons.

And after three and a half hours,

the Bill cleared its first

hurdle in the Commons.

But it'll face a trickier test

when it comes under more

detailed scrutiny by MPs.

It used to be that cometh

the spring, cometh the Budget.

The full holding up the briefcase

outside Number 11, how much a pint

was going to be and a rabbit

out of the fiscal hat.

But that was in the old

days, well, last year.

It all changed when the Chancellor

announced budgets were now

to be autumnal affairs,

with just a limited

statement in the spring.

So it was that Philip Hammond rose

in the Commons on Wednesday

with what he said would be

a short statement.

He began by characterising his mood.

If their are any in the chambers,

there, they're over there. I,

meanwhile, and at my positively most

figure like today as I contemplate a

country which bases the future with

unique strengths. This Autumn

Statement, 2016, I have committed to

£60 billion of new spending, shared

between long-term investment in

Britain's future and support for our

public services. With almost £9

billion extra for our NHS and our

social care system am a £4 billion

going into the NHS in the 18 height

in 19 alone. -- Wendy 18-20 19.

This

complacency today is astounding. We

face in every public service a

crisis on a scale we've never seen

before. Hasn't he listened to the

doctors, the nurses, teachers, the

police officers, the carers and even

his own counsellors? They are

telling him they can't wait for the

next budget. They're telling him to

act now.

The real tragedy is that we

are ten years on from the financial

crisis but austerity is still with

us and there was a lack of hope

given to the people of the United

Kingdom from their statement today.

The Chancellor has been very upbeat

today but why is he so upbeat when

the growth figures showed that we

have gone from near the top of the

G7 and the G20 growth lists, to the

bottom of both?

The future is

uncertain and the likelihood of

unexpected political developments

leaves to significant downside risks

to public forecast. Can I ask the

Chancellor whether he sees any of

those political downside risks

sitting directly in front of him?

Funnily enough Philip

Hammond did see risks

on the Labour front bench,

and what's more, he said,

business had told him they shared

those risks, too.

The Chancellor is always looking

for new ways to increase revenue.

The longest-serving MP,

the Father of the House,

is Kenneth Clarke, a former

Conservative Chancellor

himself of course.

He had a idea.

Can I suggest that he looks at some

of the extraordinary tax anomalies

he has inherited in the tax

treatment of older, prosperous

people in full-time work in this

country?

LAUGHTER

i think i am perfectly well placed

to make my point.

One Conservative later made

the point that perhaps imposing

a new tax targeted at a core element

of the party's support may not be

a good idea after all.

And now let's have a look at some

other news from Parliament in brief.

The peer who was Britain's first

female Muslim Cabinet minister said

she won't be intimidated by letters

inciting violence against Muslims.

Her comments came after four suspect

packages were sent to MPs

from a Muslim background.

The previous day, MPs had condemned

the letters encouraging people

to take part in a

"Punish a Muslim" day.

I received a message, my lord, from

a friend. She said, please do not go

out on the 3rd of April, it is

punished a Muslim day. I will, along

with many others, be going out on

the 3rd of April because we will not

be intimidated in this way.

The Government reported

a new and worrying development

in the investigation into the fire

at Grenfell Tower.

It's nine months since

the blaze claimed 71 lives.

The cladding and insulation

on the outside of the building have

already failed all preliminary tests

by the police.

Investigators have found now that

a flat door from the building

could only hold back a fire for half

the time it was supposed to.

The door is believed to have been

designed to resist fire for up to 30

minutes, but when tested by the

Metropolitan Police, failed after

approximately 15 minutes. The

Metropolitan Police considered that

this test result might have wider

implications for public safety and

alerted my department.

Professor Stephen Hawking, who died

on Wednesday at the age of 76,

was remembered at Prime

Minister's Questions.

Theresa May paid tribute

to his courage and persistence,

and his brilliance and humour,

which inspired people

across the world.

Jeremy Corbyn said, as well as being

an acclaimed scientist,

Professor Hawking was also

passionate about the NHS

and universal health care.

The International Trade Secretary

criticised President Trump's

decision to impose tariffs

on imports of steel and aluminium

into the United States.

Liam Fox told MPs he'd be working

with the European Union to win

an exemption from the tariffs.

Dr Fox said the 25% duties

could harm US industries

as well as those in other countries.

We do disagree with the US decision

to implement tariffs on steel and

aluminium imports based on national

security considerations. These

unilateral trade measures have weak

foundations in international law and

they are not consistent with the

Department of defence's own

judgement in an investigation that

was conducted on the basis of

national security.

Mistrust, anxiety and prejudice

are characterising too many

parts of the country,

the Communities Secretary has said.

Sajid Javid told MPs

there was a "lack of meaningful

mixing" between people

from different backgrounds,

as he set out a government

consultation paper on how

to improve integration.

But the plans earned a stinging

rebuke from the SNP.

This government has pandered, let's

be honest, to tabloids and Stoked

anti-immigration rhetoric for years.

He should apologise for their part

in this. This is, after all, a

government of go home vans, of a

possible -- hostile environment, a

preventing asylum-seekers from

working which we know what eight

immigration.

The Scottish and Welsh First

Ministers met Theresa May

in Downing Street to discuss what'll

happen to devolved powers,

such as regulation of

fisheries and farming,

once they come back

from Brussels after Brexit.

The issues that remain between us

are not insignificant but neither

are they insurmountable. And I think

with understanding and good will on

both sides, then I think a deal can

be reached. That is not to say that

there is certainty at this stage

that it will be reduced. -- that it

will be reached.

Owners of dogs with behavioural

problems can buy collars which give

the animal an electric shock.

The idea is help train them,

but campaigners argue

the devices are cruel.

MPs called for their use

to be banned in England.

A Conservative described

what happened when one woman used

an electric collar on her dogs.

The first time he got -- the dogs

got the shock was by mistake, so

after a small dog that they were

walking past made her jump, from

then on her pet associated the

shocks with small dogs and there for

became afraid of them, so when she

described the day in July when her

dogs turned on and should suit, she

had tears in her eyes and she

stated, they connected the pain of

the electric shock with little dogs

because of the first time I used to

call her, the day that machine came

in this House, I regret.

Now then, a senior official

at YouTube has apologised to MPs

for the company's slowness

in removing extremist

and offensive videos,

in particular those produced

by neo-Nazi groups such

as National Action.

William McCants faced an

uncomfortable round of questioning

from the Home Affairs committee.

In fact, you might want to hide

behind the sofa at this point.

We apologise for those videos

being on our platform.

They should not have been there.

You should not have had to come

back to us repeatedly.

These four videos,

because they are from a proscribed

terrorist organisation, should not

have remained up on our platform.

Do you have any reviewers based

in the United Kingdom?

I believe we have a large team

of reviewers based in Ireland.

Which is not in the United Kingdom.

Right.

I'm not sure, of course, we have

full-time employees which work

on this, but if you're asking me

about contractors that we use,

I'm not sure if they're based

in the UK or not.

So you put some of these

decisions out to contract?

Certainly, and that is part

of the trouble here is that these

videos were going to people

who were not able to identify them.

That is why they're going to be

routed to specialists and why

the general reviewers

are going to be given training

in order to identify these videos.

How many of the people

who make these decisions are

actually not YouTube employees?

Generally, I don't know a number.

You don't even know where your

review teams are based,

who they are, whether they are done

through contract to other

companies or organisations

or whether it is done by YouTube.

Now, all of the statements

that you gave us at the

beginning of this evidence session

about how much it mattered to you,

personally, these things are

actually being implemented by staff

on your behalf or by

people on your behalf.

It is frankly shocking that you seem

to know so little about who

they are, where they are,

what training they've had or even

whether they are employed

by your organisation.

You have no response to that.

I have

been brought on to deal with

counterterrorism policy. I work at a

very high level. Our trust and

safety teams are making sure that

the reviewers get the training that

they need.

When we had evidence from

YouTube in the past you were very

clear that when it was copyrighted

materials such as songs or albums,

the minute they appear you remove

them within minutes. Within minutes,

and yet you have nothing, you have

not invested anything to match that

find of copyrighted material, and

yet, this stuff is dangerous. It

leads to people losing their lives.

It is illegal.

We are putting in

place fixes

every day, spending

millions of dollars to address this

problem. Our technology is getting

faster and we are expanding the

number of personnel who work on this

issue. We continue to make

improvements. Are we perfect? No.

Will we be perfect? No. Oh we will

get better.

This is not about

perfection, is about you being wrong

person before this committee and not

knowing what you're talking about.

Telling it like it is.

Now, with a whirlwind

tour of the wider world

of politics this week, here's

Julia Butler and our countdown.

At five, turning on a penny after an

outcry of treasury proposals to

review small change. Downing Street

says there are no plans to scrap

small coins. Perhaps we should all

move to Finland since the Nordic

nation has been declared the world's

happiest country. The UK rolled in a

19th. It seems like he would have

more fun with a thin. He prime Mr

adopted a more relaxed approach this

week when she visited the scene of a

narrative agent attack in Salisbury.

Angela Merkel is finally sworn in as

Chancellor of Germany. But the corks

will be staying in the campaign. It

took many days per to be approved

after political deadlock. And now,

and the Bob Neill who gave his...

I

will do my best to be naturally

short.

Laughter at Bob Neill there.

How could anyone stoop so low?

Julia Butler.

Finally, MPs are always anxious

to put in a good word

about their constituency

and the ideal time to do this

is Prime Minister's Questions.

So in the very dying minutes,

one Conservative seized his chance.

The inspirational Music Man project

in South End that works

with people who have learning

difficulties has now set a world

record for tinkling the most

number of triangles ever,

so does my right honourable friend

agree with me that that is yet

another reason why South End

should be made a city?

The Prime Minister seemed unwilling

to commit to Southend becoming

a city just on the strength

of that, but...

I am very happy to congratulate

the music man project in Southend

for the record that they have

achieved in tinkling triangles.

Now there's a phrase you don't hear

a prime minister say every day.

Well, that's all for now.

Don't forget there's a round up

of the day in Parliament every night

at 11pm on BBC Parliament.

But for now, from me,

Mandy Baker, goodbye.