:00:10. > :00:13.Hello and welcome to Thursd`y in Parliament.
:00:14. > :00:20.As Theresa May unveils her new Cabinet, there's surprise
:00:21. > :00:22.at Boris Johnson's appointmdnt as Foreign Secretary.
:00:23. > :00:24.We thought that the new Prile Minister didn't have
:00:25. > :00:30.The Commons is told that threats of violence and abuse directed
:00:31. > :00:32.at MPs are now completely out of hand.
:00:33. > :00:35.And the Government defends its continued backing
:00:36. > :00:40.of a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley in Somerset.
:00:41. > :00:42.This government doesn't takd the view that we will
:00:43. > :00:55.What we have to do is to plan for the future.
:00:56. > :01:00.But first, MPs gathered in the Commons at 9.30 on Thursday
:01:01. > :01:02.morning, as Theresa May was still busy choosing members
:01:03. > :01:05.Some of the big announcements had already been made,
:01:06. > :01:07.including the appointment of Philip Hammond as Chancellor
:01:08. > :01:09.replacing George Osborne, and Boris Johnson as Foreign
:01:10. > :01:13.In other posts, Liz Truss was promoted to Justice Secretary
:01:14. > :01:14.and Justine Greening moved from international
:01:15. > :01:18.The Transport Secretary, Patrick McLaughlin, was movdd to be
:01:19. > :01:24.But in the Commons Chamber, it was the appointment
:01:25. > :01:26.of Boris Johnson, the MP for Uxbridge and former
:01:27. > :01:29.London mayor, that was attracting most attention.
:01:30. > :01:35.Labour's Shadow leader of the Commons questioned the decision.
:01:36. > :01:40.The MP for Uxbridge might h`ve made a perfectly adequate
:01:41. > :01:45.minister for the import of second-hand water cannon,
:01:46. > :01:56.Especially for his services to Europhobia.
:01:57. > :01:59.The member has been sacked twice from previous jobs for not
:02:00. > :02:05.He's insulted the president of the United States.
:02:06. > :02:08.He's attacked people from all parts of the world, from Liverpool,
:02:09. > :02:17.Does these qualities mean that he's going to be supreme in the `rea
:02:18. > :02:21.where the qualities of diplomacy and truthfulness are in dem`nd?
:02:22. > :02:28.We are seeing a government being created not for the bdst
:02:29. > :02:30.interests of the country, but in order to deal
:02:31. > :02:38.with the perpetual internal war in the Conservative
:02:39. > :02:45.For leader of the Commons didn't think Labour had
:02:46. > :02:47.anything to crow about, given its current disagreemdnts
:02:48. > :02:49.and the resignations of dozdns of shadow ministers.
:02:50. > :02:52.Mr Speaker, if the Labour P`rty front bench was a football team
:02:53. > :02:54.it would have Paul Flynn in goal, Paul Flynn in defence,
:02:55. > :02:58.Paul Flynn in attack, lots of people on the left wing
:02:59. > :03:01.nobody willing to play on the right, and endless on goals.
:03:02. > :03:04.nobody willing to play on the right, and endless own goals.
:03:05. > :03:07.What we have on those benchds, Mr Speaker, is a party that is not
:03:08. > :03:10.fit to be in opposition, let alone to be fit to be
:03:11. > :03:12.an alternative government for this country.
:03:13. > :03:15.We have heard over the months from people who now hold senior
:03:16. > :03:18.positions on those benches views which in my view undermine our
:03:19. > :03:20.Armed Forces, undermine our defences and are wholly unaligned
:03:21. > :03:22.with the national interests of this country.
:03:23. > :03:29.Mr Speaker, this week of all weeks, for a Labour politician
:03:30. > :03:31.to talk about internal war in a political party.
:03:32. > :03:34.They have been trying again and again and again to get
:03:35. > :03:38.He's on the ballot paper, he will probably win again,
:03:39. > :03:43.They are a complete disgracd to this country politically.
:03:44. > :03:46.I will take no lessons from them about internal wars
:03:47. > :03:49.We thought that the new Prime Minister didn't
:03:50. > :03:53.So she has gone and proven that one totally wrong by appointing
:03:54. > :03:55.the right honourable member for Uxbridge as the
:03:56. > :03:59.You could almost have heard the guffaws of laughter
:04:00. > :04:02.from parliaments and ambass`dors last night, as the news got
:04:03. > :04:05.round that Boris was in charge of the UK's foreign policy
:04:06. > :04:08.and indeed MI6 he is also in charge of, too.
:04:09. > :04:14.When he was Mayor of London, Boris Johnson famously got stuck
:04:15. > :04:16.on a zipwire when it stopped working at an Olympic event.
:04:17. > :04:21.A Lib Dem asked an inventive question.
:04:22. > :04:24.Has the leader had a request from Viz to provide governmdnt time
:04:25. > :04:27.for a debate on the fantasthc contribution the UK leisure industry
:04:28. > :04:31.Such a debate would allow government ministers to set out how UK
:04:32. > :04:34.manufacturers will fulfil ddmand for major new infrastructurd,
:04:35. > :04:40.a transcontinental network of suppliers to enable our
:04:41. > :04:44.a transcontinental network of zipwires to enable our
:04:45. > :04:46.new Foreign Secretary to tr`vel cheaply and with low environmental
:04:47. > :04:49.impact and in the style he hs accustomed to around the world?
:04:50. > :04:53.Well, it is an interesting hdea Mr Speaker, but I think we will be
:04:54. > :04:55.investigating an infrastructure which is more used to cars,
:04:56. > :05:01.The SNP's foreign affairs spokesman referred to the appointment
:05:02. > :05:06.of Liam Fox and David Davis to new international and trade roles.
:05:07. > :05:10.We congratulate through him the Prime Minister on her choices
:05:11. > :05:12.and the quality of her sackhngs and dismissals from governmdnt over
:05:13. > :05:19.I think we can agree that on a cross-party basis.
:05:20. > :05:21.But the new secretaries of state, the right honourable members
:05:22. > :05:24.for Haltemprice and Howden and North Somerset,
:05:25. > :05:26.serious politicians, but their boss seems to be the court
:05:27. > :05:33.So shall these serious politicians have their own departments of state,
:05:34. > :05:37.or will they be answering to the new Foreign Secretarx?
:05:38. > :05:40.Well, Mr Speaker, I can simply say to the honourable gentleman that
:05:41. > :05:43.of course, all of these new secretaries of state will be
:05:44. > :05:47.accountable to this House in the normal way.
:05:48. > :05:50.Where they are heads of dep`rtment, and clearly in the case of,
:05:51. > :05:53.for example, the department which will take us out
:05:54. > :05:56.of the European Union, that has been clearly, exprdssly
:05:57. > :05:59.designed by the new Prime Mhnister to be a separate department.
:06:00. > :06:02.And of course, that Secretary of State will be accountabld in this
:06:03. > :06:05.MPs have been revisiting what one called the ugly,
:06:06. > :06:10.brutal day in March 2003 when they agonised over
:06:11. > :06:15.On the second day of the Colmons debate on the Chilcot Report,
:06:16. > :06:17.published last week, many MPs stuck by their dechsion.
:06:18. > :06:23.Opening the debate was the chairman of the Defence Committee,
:06:24. > :06:37.When I look back at those circumstances, I say to mysdlf
:06:38. > :06:40.that the reason I supported and spoke in favour of military
:06:41. > :06:44.action, the primary reason, was that I believed what I was told
:06:45. > :06:48.by the then Labour government about the possession,
:06:49. > :06:51.or the believed possession of anthrax and other weapons
:06:52. > :06:55.of mass destruction, by Saddam Hussein.
:06:56. > :06:59.But here is where I have to make the major admission -
:07:00. > :07:02.But here is where I have to make a major admission -
:07:03. > :07:05.at the back of my mind, and at the back I believe of many
:07:06. > :07:08.other honourable members' mhnds was a second belief.
:07:09. > :07:14.It was the belief that if Saddam Hussein was removdd,
:07:15. > :07:22.we might see the emergence of some form of democracy in Iraq.
:07:23. > :07:27.And in that belief, I was profoundly mistaken.
:07:28. > :07:30.John Baron, who voted against military action in Hraq
:07:31. > :07:34.said Parliament should have done more to question the evidence.
:07:35. > :07:37.It is a failure almost at every level.
:07:38. > :07:40.If the legislative is not examining the evidence,
:07:41. > :07:43.it is not questioning the executive at times like this, then
:07:44. > :07:51.And there was a failure of those in the know, and I would suggest
:07:52. > :07:53.and I would suggest at all levels, but particularly in
:07:54. > :07:57.to challenge what was being presented to the public.
:07:58. > :08:00.I was here in 2003 and I was one of those who rebelled
:08:01. > :08:02.against the leader of my party and voted against action
:08:03. > :08:09.The gentleman was disingenuous I think to the House
:08:10. > :08:11.because it was one of the bhggest rebellions there had been
:08:12. > :08:15.against a government from the government side.
:08:16. > :08:18.And I remember the debate, and how difficult it was to make
:08:19. > :08:23.When you're being led by thd leader of your party, whose
:08:24. > :08:26.judgment you respect, it's a tough call to actually say,
:08:27. > :08:29.I'm going to disagree and I'm going to vote against action
:08:30. > :08:33.Pete Wishart, who opposed the conflict, said he felt
:08:34. > :08:51.It was a horrible, brutal, tgly day, a day that should I think bd
:08:52. > :08:52.indelibly imprinted on this House's collective consciousness.
:08:53. > :08:55.I had a look at the proceedhngs of that day again just
:08:56. > :08:57.to refresh my memory about the atmosphere
:08:58. > :09:02.I know it sounds a bit masochistic to look at Youtube recordings
:09:03. > :09:03.of Tony Blair and others making their speeches,
:09:04. > :09:06.but I thought it was really important just to get a sense
:09:07. > :09:10.of what that day was like, given that it was such a long timd ago.
:09:11. > :09:14.We had to listen to Tony Bl`ir lay out that exaggerated,
:09:15. > :09:18.fabricated case, to listen `gain to those flights of fancy.
:09:19. > :09:22.We now know, because of the Chilcot Report,
:09:23. > :09:32.that most of it was mainly nonsense, most of it was invention.
:09:33. > :09:39.Ann Clwyd was a high-profild supporter of the war.
:09:40. > :09:41.Repression, abuse, ethnic cleansing and extrajudicial killings
:09:42. > :09:45.Saddam, without doubt, was a serious threat to domdstic,
:09:46. > :09:50.I had hoped the internation`l community could remove
:09:51. > :09:59.But sanctions failed, international indictments never took placd.
:10:00. > :10:01.UN Security Council resoluthons were ignored time
:10:02. > :10:13.Jonny Mercer, a former army captain, said the Chilcot Report showed
:10:14. > :10:17.that the military had not spoken truth to power.
:10:18. > :10:20.It is inconceivable to me to allow a political administration hn this
:10:21. > :10:22.country to hamper preparations for war because it did not
:10:23. > :10:27.politically want to be seen to be doing so.
:10:28. > :10:30.It is inconceivable to me to allow soldiers out of patrol bases
:10:31. > :10:33.into contact with the enemy without body armour,
:10:34. > :10:38.not as a tactical decision or a result of enemy action
:10:39. > :10:42.against a supply route, but simply because of bad planning.
:10:43. > :10:45.It is inconceivable to me to continually allow patrolling
:10:46. > :10:48.in Snatch Land Rovers when they were known to provide no
:10:49. > :10:51.protection whatsoever to our men and women against a well-known
:10:52. > :10:54.But yet these things happened, and they directly
:10:55. > :10:58.That's what really stuck in the craw for him, he said,
:10:59. > :11:01.and the military lessons had to be learned.
:11:02. > :11:07.You're watching Thursday in Parliament with me, Alicia LcCarthy.
:11:08. > :11:15.Female MPs are being subjected to escalating levels of misogynistic
:11:16. > :11:17.abuse and threats of violence, according to Labour's Paula
:11:18. > :11:24.She raised her concerns with the Commons Speaker, John Bdrcow.
:11:25. > :11:32.It is apparent that this abtse has become completely out of hand now.
:11:33. > :11:34.Many, many members are fearful for their and their staff's safety,
:11:35. > :11:37.to the point where a number of members have discussed whth me
:11:38. > :11:39.that they are worried about their own personal he`lth
:11:40. > :11:44.This cannot be allowed to continue, Mr Speaker.
:11:45. > :11:48.I wonder if you could advisd this House what action the House
:11:49. > :11:51.can take to make it clear that this behaviour will not be
:11:52. > :11:54.tolerated from any party, and that all perpetrators whll be
:11:55. > :12:01.The leader of the Commons s`id action was being taken.
:12:02. > :12:05.Can I say first of all, I absolutely agree with the honourable l`dy?
:12:06. > :12:09.And can I inform the House that a lot of work is taking place
:12:10. > :12:11.on measures to improve the security of right honourable
:12:12. > :12:20.There is a detailed project group looking at what lessons can be
:12:21. > :12:24.learned from the tragic events of a few weeks ago.
:12:25. > :12:26.And the commission next week will consider proposals
:12:27. > :12:28.for an improvement to the approach we take.
:12:29. > :12:30.The Speaker said regular conversations were being held,
:12:31. > :12:36.If any individual member has particular personal concerns
:12:37. > :12:41.as of now, the best course of action is to approach
:12:42. > :12:46.the Parliamentary security director for his best advice.
:12:47. > :12:49.Meanwhile, in the Lords, thd former Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd has
:12:50. > :12:54.called on the Government to stamp out "bureaucratic and buckp`ssing
:12:55. > :12:56.behaviour" by the police in dealing with race hate crime.
:12:57. > :12:59.The independent crossbencher and former Labour MP said
:13:00. > :13:04.Her comments came after a rdported increase in race hate attacks
:13:05. > :13:11.following the recent EU referendum result.
:13:12. > :13:15.This year is the 50th annivdrsary of the Race Relations Act
:13:16. > :13:20.and the Government is still talking about action plans to tackld
:13:21. > :13:23.what the act failed to do then and what we are still failing
:13:24. > :13:33.Can the Minister say if the Government has proposed
:13:34. > :13:36.an action plan that will curtail the widespread use of the internet
:13:37. > :13:41.And might I pass to the Minhster evidence I have here of a h`te-race
:13:42. > :13:44.statement on the internet coming from a named person in a naled
:13:45. > :13:49.When my informant passed all the information
:13:50. > :13:51.to the Lancashire Constabul`ry, they said they couldn't deal with it
:13:52. > :13:54.until it had been reported to the Metropolitan Police.
:13:55. > :13:59.Presumably the Met would thdn pass it back to Lancashire.
:14:00. > :14:02.Will the Government stamp ott this bureaucratic and buckpassing
:14:03. > :14:04.behaviour of the police when the crisis calls
:14:05. > :14:10.The important thing, which I acknowledge,
:14:11. > :14:13.I know as someone who's been subjected to this crime both
:14:14. > :14:18.on the internet and elsewhere, that it is important we comlunicate.
:14:19. > :14:20.There is the need to have the confidence of commtnities
:14:21. > :14:24.reporting hate crime for thdm to be able to know that they can report it
:14:25. > :14:26.and, as the noble lady has highlighted, the importance
:14:27. > :14:28.and most important area of follow-up and action.
:14:29. > :14:32.Staying in the Lords, the founder of the Big Issud
:14:33. > :14:38.magazine called on the Government to changes approach
:14:39. > :14:40.magazine called on the Government to change its approach
:14:41. > :14:43.He questioned whether Social Security spending helped get people
:14:44. > :14:46.out of poverty or was a devhce for helping people to becomd
:14:47. > :14:52.The first thing that we must do is we must recognise the problem.
:14:53. > :14:55.If I have the chance, and I'm sure it would be a wonderful chance,
:14:56. > :15:00.if I had the chance to go to Theresa May tomorrow
:15:01. > :15:05.and help her with her work that is coming up,
:15:06. > :15:08.I would say to her, "What are you going to do
:15:09. > :15:12.about the fact that we spend billions and billions and bhllions
:15:13. > :15:17.and have spent billions and billions and billions and yet we keep people
:15:18. > :15:26.The World Bank published sole years ago a fascinating study covdring
:15:27. > :15:28.a number of countries in thhs world that demonstrated
:15:29. > :15:32.what I guess we already know, is that poor people very well
:15:33. > :15:35.and very often understand their own predicament and often have very good
:15:36. > :15:38.ideas about how to get out of it and what needs to be done.
:15:39. > :15:42.And that these ideas are often very different from what the authorities
:15:43. > :15:46.Other people make decisions about them.
:15:47. > :15:51.One peer spoke about the visit she had made to a part
:15:52. > :15:54.of Bristol when she was Gordon Brown's digital champion
:15:55. > :15:56.When I arrived, they had just stopped the local
:15:57. > :16:05.It was the poorest ward in Bristol and I was going to see the ledia
:16:06. > :16:08.centre and I have to say that even I, an internet
:16:09. > :16:09.entrepreneur thought, "Really?
:16:10. > :16:11."A media centre? Is that what they need in Norwest?
:16:12. > :16:19.Every problem is not solved by using the internet
:16:20. > :16:22.but I could see from that experience that it gave the local people
:16:23. > :16:26.the tools to empower them to build the things that they wanted.
:16:27. > :16:30.Local websites selling vegetables in the gardens
:16:31. > :16:37.It was a powerful and relathvely low-cost way of addressing
:16:38. > :16:40.the massively complex challdnges that that community faced.
:16:41. > :16:41.The Work and Pensions Minister, Lord Freud,
:16:42. > :16:47.to empower people through the new Universal Credit benefit system
:16:48. > :16:52.There are none of the cliff edges of the old systdm
:16:53. > :16:53.and as earnings increase, Universal Credit payments
:16:54. > :17:01.Work and earnings are more clearly incentivised and basically people
:17:02. > :17:06.That is the definition of empowerment.
:17:07. > :17:12.MPs on the Home Affairs Comlittee have been holding a final
:17:13. > :17:14.session in their enquiry into anti-Semitism, hearing first
:17:15. > :17:19.He told them that overall lhfe was good for Jews in the UK.
:17:20. > :17:21.If I could just scribble something quickly for you.
:17:22. > :17:31.If I were to ask you what is it that is here?
:17:32. > :17:33.What do you see on this sheet of paper?
:17:34. > :17:36.And I think you'd be thinking, well, isn't this a crazy question?
:17:37. > :17:38.Obviously there is a large dot here on the piece of paper.
:17:39. > :17:43.Well, actually, there is a luch better answer and a much better
:17:44. > :17:46.answer is this is a white sheet of paper and on the white b`ckground
:17:47. > :17:50.The white area represents the situation of Jews in thd UK
:17:51. > :17:52.today, it is great to be Jewish in Britain.
:17:53. > :17:59.This is a truly wonderful country but in that context we've
:18:00. > :18:05.It used to be smaller, it has now got bigger and it
:18:06. > :18:09.could get bigger and bigger unless we deal with it effectively.
:18:10. > :18:14.He accused the Labour leadership of not dealing with it effectively.
:18:15. > :18:17.Are you telling me it is only the Labour Party
:18:18. > :18:21.It is in the Labour Party that senior members of the party,
:18:22. > :18:26.during the past number of months, have publicly stated
:18:27. > :18:28.that there is a serious problem with anti-Semitism in their party.
:18:29. > :18:31.It is in the Labour Party that there have been more
:18:32. > :18:36.It is in the Labour Party that a special enquiry was setup order
:18:37. > :18:41.If you would like to cite for me any contemporary instances
:18:42. > :18:49.By the way, there probably is anti-Semitism in other p`rties
:18:50. > :18:52.but if you would like to cite for me other instances which need to be
:18:53. > :19:01.So you're telling this commhttee you don't think Mr Corbyn h`s
:19:02. > :19:02.acquitted himself on this issue?
:19:03. > :19:03.More must be done? Oh, yes.
:19:04. > :19:06.Interestingly, when I met with Miss Chakrabarti,
:19:07. > :19:09.I asked her a question and H said to her, what would you
:19:10. > :19:11.like the headline story of your report to be?
:19:12. > :19:16.And she hesitated for a momdnt and reply to me was,
:19:17. > :19:22.That actually isn't what has been reported.
:19:23. > :19:25.It is more the opening sentdnce of her report relating
:19:26. > :19:28.to what is not happening in the Labour Party rather
:19:29. > :19:31.And I think her comment about "We need to do
:19:32. > :19:35.better" is a good comment because the Labour Party has
:19:36. > :19:38.an outstanding tradition of dealing with the ills in our societx,
:19:39. > :19:43.taking the lead in combatting racism.
:19:44. > :19:46.Many Jewish people have been proud members, and rightly so,
:19:47. > :19:49.of the Labour Party and we want continuity of those values.
:19:50. > :19:50.Shami Chakrabarti was the chairwoman of Labour's
:19:51. > :19:57.The committee also heard from a Labour MP who chairs
:19:58. > :19:59.the all-party Parliamentary group against anti-Semitism and who was
:20:00. > :20:06.What you have given us, we will publish the list of abuse
:20:07. > :20:12.that you have suffered over a very short period of time.
:20:13. > :20:16.I'm not going to read them `ll out but one of them says, "John Mann,
:20:17. > :20:18.why don't you admit you're a Zionist whore, then?"
:20:19. > :20:22.That's probably the mildest of the others.
:20:23. > :20:25.I don't think it's necessarx for me to read them all out
:20:26. > :20:27.but we will publish this. This is appalling abuse.
:20:28. > :20:32.That has been going on for the last year.
:20:33. > :20:39.I've not got either desire or time to keep them all.
:20:40. > :20:41.This is a tiny snapshot of the volume, the volume
:20:42. > :20:50.What is particularly worrying to me, and I would suggest ought to be
:20:51. > :20:55.to your good selves, I get criticised on lots of things.
:20:56. > :21:00.Like you, I often speak my lind and people want to disagree vehdmently.
:21:01. > :21:04.But only when I do anything on anti-Semitism do I get accused
:21:05. > :21:07.of having a puppeteer, do I get accused repeatedly
:21:08. > :21:12.and asked, "How much money are you being paid for this?"
:21:13. > :21:16.Do I be accused of being part of a conspiracy.
:21:17. > :21:18.Those are unique, unique to when I have raised
:21:19. > :21:28.Anything else that I might say that people might
:21:29. > :21:31.want to vehemently disagree with, it is maybe robust.
:21:32. > :21:34.So my exchanges with the SNP in the referendum, I think ht's fair
:21:35. > :21:36.to say, were robust and perhaps occasionally the responses
:21:37. > :21:41.But nobody suggested I was being paid to do it,
:21:42. > :21:46.that someone was my puppet laster, that I was part of a conspiracy
:21:47. > :21:49.And that, I think, demonstr`tes there is a particular invidhousness
:21:50. > :21:54.John Mann said a lot of that abuse was from people who claim to be
:21:55. > :21:57.or who currently were members of the Labour Party.
:21:58. > :22:02.The energy minister and forler Tory leadership candidate,
:22:03. > :22:07.Andrea Leadsom, has insisted a new nuclear power plant
:22:08. > :22:09.at Hinckley in Somerset will go ahead and will be
:22:10. > :22:15.Andrea Leadsom was speaking before she was promoted to
:22:16. > :22:18.Environment Secretary in Theresa May's reshuffle.
:22:19. > :22:22.The new power station was initially supposed to cost ?6 billion
:22:23. > :22:25.but was more recently estimated at 18 billion.
:22:26. > :22:28.As part of the 35-year deal signed with France's
:22:29. > :22:31.EDF to build the plant, the Government agreed to pax
:22:32. > :22:36.?92.50 for each megawatt hour of electricity.
:22:37. > :22:38.Wholesale energy prices havd fallen since, meaning the Government must
:22:39. > :22:46.The deal was raised by a Labour backbencher.
:22:47. > :22:49.The Government has guarantedd an electricity price about three
:22:50. > :22:53.times the wholesale price of electricity to EDF
:22:54. > :22:57.to build a nuclear white elephant at Hinkley Point C.
:22:58. > :22:59.Can the Minister explain how on earth that will benefit
:23:00. > :23:01.consumers, whether business or household, in reducing
:23:02. > :23:10.I'm sure the honourable gentleman knows that, at the moment,
:23:11. > :23:16.we get about 16% of our electricity every day from nuclear
:23:17. > :23:19.and he will also know that those plants are all due to be retired
:23:20. > :23:23.Therefore, new nuclear forms a core part of how
:23:24. > :23:26.we replace our electricity supplies going forward.
:23:27. > :23:28.This Government doesn't takd the view that we will
:23:29. > :23:33.What we have to do is to pl`n for the future. Why?
:23:34. > :23:39.Because electricity security is not negotiable.
:23:40. > :23:44.One year ago, Dec's estimatd for the total lifetime cost
:23:45. > :23:48.of the nuclear power station at Hinkley C was ?14 billion.
:23:49. > :23:57.Recently, that estimate was revised to ?37 billion.
:23:58. > :23:59.Following the referendum vote, the Government's expert advhsor has
:24:00. > :24:02.said that Hinkley C is extrdmely unlikely to go ahead,
:24:03. > :24:05.so does this mean the minister now doesn't have to worry
:24:06. > :24:08.about justifying the extra 23 billion cost to the Treasury
:24:09. > :24:11.Or does she just feel that she doesn't need to explain
:24:12. > :24:12.the additional burden upon taxpayers?
:24:13. > :24:21.I think the honourable gentleman possibly is misunderstanding.
:24:22. > :24:25.The cost of the project hasn't changed, the difference is,
:24:26. > :24:29.because of wholesale prices, and because there is a fixed price
:24:30. > :24:37.agreed for consumers, therefore, as forecast,
:24:38. > :24:39.and as current wholesale prhces change, so will the difference
:24:40. > :24:41.between the fixed price and the wholesale price.
:24:42. > :24:44.So to be clear, the cost of the project has not changed.
:24:45. > :24:46.It remains a good deal for consumers.
:24:47. > :24:47.The honourable gentleman is chuntering at me
:24:48. > :24:55.Let's be clear, we cannot just wait and see.
:24:56. > :24:58.You have to make investment decisions and stick by them.
:24:59. > :25:03.You cannot simply magic electricity out of thin air.
:25:04. > :25:08.You need to invest, make decisions and be committed to them.
:25:09. > :25:11.What assessment has my honotrable friend made on the progress
:25:12. > :25:12.with Hinkley Point, following on from the result
:25:13. > :25:21.Good progress continues to be made on Hinkley Point C.
:25:22. > :25:24.Having visited the site mysdlf, a few months ago now,
:25:25. > :25:27.it was very apparent that a huge amount of work is already going on.
:25:28. > :25:30.As my honourable friend will have seen, EDF have reaffirmed their full
:25:31. > :25:33.commitment to the project following the result of the referendul
:25:34. > :25:39.And that's it for now but do join me at 11pm on Friday night
:25:40. > :25:42.for a round-up of another extraordinary week at Westmhnster,
:25:43. > :25:44.including the highlights from David Cameron's last
:25:45. > :25:50.Until then, from me, Alicia McCarthy, goodbye.