:00:13. > :00:14.Hello and welcome to Tuesday In Parliament,
:00:15. > :00:17.our look at the best of the day in the Commons and the Lords.
:00:18. > :00:21.the Government makes clear what it's negotiating for as it fights to get
:00:22. > :00:43.Its whole aim is to make Harold Wilson's renegotiation look
:00:44. > :00:45.Will Britain reach its 2020 targets for obtaining power
:00:46. > :00:48.I recognise, as that letter does, that we don't have
:00:49. > :00:51.the right policies, particularly in transport and heat, in order to
:00:52. > :00:55.Labour attacks the Government proposals to alter the rules
:00:56. > :01:02.I predict from the floor of the House of Commons that there
:01:03. > :01:08.will be civil disobedience because bad laws need to be changed.
:01:09. > :01:10.But first, David Cameron has laid out what he's aiming for in
:01:11. > :01:15.his lengthy attempts to re-negotiate Britain's relationship with the EU.
:01:16. > :01:19.In his speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs,
:01:20. > :01:23.the Prime Minister said he believed his objectives were
:01:24. > :01:26."mission possible", though it may be hard work to get there.
:01:27. > :01:28.Britain needed a model of EU membership, he said, that worked
:01:29. > :01:32.for Britain and for other countries outside the Eurozone.
:01:33. > :01:35.And he believed the coming in/out referendum represented a huge
:01:36. > :01:40.Inside the Commons, David Cameron's goals were set out
:01:41. > :01:49.First, we want to end the United Kingdom's obligation to work
:01:50. > :01:52.towards an ever closer union as set out in the treaties.
:01:53. > :01:55.For many British people, this simply reinforces the sense
:01:56. > :02:01.of being dragged against our will towards a political union.
:02:02. > :02:04.Secondly, we want to enable national Parliaments to work together to
:02:05. > :02:07.block unwanted European legislation, building on the arrangements
:02:08. > :02:15.Thirdly, we want to see the EU's commitment to subsidiarity fully
:02:16. > :02:18.implemented, with clear proposals to achieve that.
:02:19. > :02:22.We believe that if powers do not need to reside in Brussels, they
:02:23. > :02:30.As the Dutch have said, the ambition should be Europe where necessary,
:02:31. > :02:39.We must also reduce the pull factor drawing migrants to the UK to take
:02:40. > :02:42.low-skilled jobs, expecting their salary to be subsidised
:02:43. > :02:50.We have proposed that people coming to Britain should live here
:02:51. > :02:53.and contribute for four years before they qualify for in-work
:02:54. > :02:56.benefits or social housing, and that we should end the practice
:02:57. > :03:06.The Prime Minister has said and he repeated this morning that
:03:07. > :03:11.should his concerns fall on deaf ears, he rules nothing out, but he
:03:12. > :03:16.also believes that meaningful reform in the areas that I have described
:03:17. > :03:21.would benefit our economic and our national security, provide a fresh
:03:22. > :03:24.settlement for the UK's membership of the European Union, and offer a
:03:25. > :03:31.basis on which to campaign to keep the United Kingdom as a member of a
:03:32. > :03:35.reformed European Union, and it is that which remains
:03:36. > :03:39.I commend the statement to the House.
:03:40. > :03:47.The Prime Minister has set out in his speech this morning and in
:03:48. > :03:52.the letter to the President of the European Council, the Prime Minister
:03:53. > :03:56.As we have already heard in comments from his own Back Benchers,
:03:57. > :04:01.the problem that the Prime Minister faces and, in fact, the reason he
:04:02. > :04:07.has been so reluctant to put his position down on paper until now is
:04:08. > :04:11.that there is nothing he can renegotiate that will satisfy
:04:12. > :04:32.-- the large number of right honourable and honourable
:04:33. > :04:35.Members sitting behind him who want to take Britain out
:04:36. > :04:39.They are desperate to be disappointed, and they are here
:04:40. > :04:43.After all the statements made by the Prime Minister, the Minister for
:04:44. > :04:45.Europe, the Foreign Secretary, and the former Foreign Secretary about
:04:46. > :04:49.being in Europe and not being run by Europe, and after all the pledges to
:04:50. > :04:50.restore the primacy of national Parliaments
:04:51. > :04:53.and to get an opt-out from the charter of fundamental rights
:04:54. > :04:57.Is that the sum total of the Government's position
:04:58. > :05:00.Is not the onus on those who advocate that we should
:05:01. > :05:04.stay in the European Union to explain why we should put up with
:05:05. > :05:08.being a second-tier country in an increasingly centralised
:05:09. > :05:16.My right honourable friend must know that this is pretty thin gruel,
:05:17. > :05:20.it is much less than people had come to expect from the Government.
:05:21. > :05:25.It takes out a few words from the preamble but does nothing
:05:26. > :05:31.about the substance of the treaties - it deals with competition,
:05:32. > :05:34.for which the European Commission itself has a proposal - and it fails
:05:35. > :05:38.It seems to me that its whole aim is to make Harold Wilson's
:05:39. > :05:46.It needs to do more - it needs to have a full list of powers that will
:05:47. > :05:49.be restored to the United Kingdom and to this Parliament, not
:05:50. > :05:56.How are the so-called legally irreversible
:05:57. > :06:00.changes going to be made when even the legal expert from the European
:06:01. > :06:06.Commission says that the Danish and Irish precedents are not valid?
:06:07. > :06:11.How is he going to be able to sell this pig in a poke?
:06:12. > :06:14.The Prime Minister has paid the usual lip service to the EU's
:06:15. > :06:17.crisis of competitiveness, but, rather like what happened under
:06:18. > :06:21.his predecessor, Tony Blair, 15 years ago, nothing has changed.
:06:22. > :06:24.The Minister's own officials are growing weary of initiatives that
:06:25. > :06:29.What exactly is going to be different this time?
:06:30. > :06:31.Will the Minister spell out the details
:06:32. > :06:36.of the plans that will magically make the EU more competitive?
:06:37. > :06:39.If there is one thing that does not change, it is the nature
:06:40. > :06:42.of the honourable gentleman's interventions on this subject.
:06:43. > :06:44.While our right honourable friend the Prime Minister is embarking on
:06:45. > :06:49.very important negotiations, and I wish him success on competitiveness
:06:50. > :06:52.in particular, will the Minister for Europe ensure that when we are
:06:53. > :06:56.negotiating the benefit rights of those foreign nationals who work
:06:57. > :06:59.alongside British people in employment in this country,
:07:00. > :07:04.we remember the interests of the 2 million or so British nationals who
:07:05. > :07:08.live and work in the EU and do not wish to see those
:07:09. > :07:14.Governments start to discriminate against our nationals
:07:15. > :07:27.Would he also thank the Prime Minister for his honesty today in
:07:28. > :07:33.You confirm it is his understanding that recent remarks said that if the
:07:34. > :07:37.UK were to leave the EU we would not be able to negotiate an independent
:07:38. > :07:41.Would he also thank the Prime Minister for his honesty today in
:07:42. > :07:44.coming forward with a renegotiation package that makes it clear that
:07:45. > :07:46.if the package is successful, we will still be in a political
:07:47. > :07:51.That allows Eurosceptics to say, "No longer do we have to pretend
:07:52. > :07:53.there's going to be a substantial renegotiation, we can get
:07:54. > :07:58.Will the Minister pass on my thanks to the Prime Minister?
:07:59. > :08:01.Can I cheer up the Minister by assuring him that pro-EU, pro-reform
:08:02. > :08:05.Members on this side of the House warmly welcome his statement today?
:08:06. > :08:08.What would be the Government's position in the event
:08:09. > :08:15.Members on these Benches remember the '90s, and we do not want to see
:08:16. > :08:18.this Prime Minister marching out into the rose garden and inviting
:08:19. > :08:21.the right honourable member for Wokingham to put up or shut up.
:08:22. > :08:25.We want the Prime Minister to tell us where he stands - we do not want
:08:26. > :08:28.that lot dictating what happens in the event of an out vote.
:08:29. > :08:31.I am grateful for the honourable gentleman's kind thoughts,
:08:32. > :08:38.but I always strive to continue to be cheerful in this job.
:08:39. > :08:41.Meanwhile in the Lords, peers were also getting their opportunity to
:08:42. > :08:46.react to the Prime Minister's European negotiating position.
:08:47. > :08:54.The Prime Minister did not want a referendum, but he was forced into
:08:55. > :09:03.Our European partners did not know what he wanted to negotiate.
:09:04. > :09:06.The only thing we know for certain, and I am sure the Minister can
:09:07. > :09:09.confirm this, is that whatever he does negotiate will result in his
:09:10. > :09:12.returning to Downing Street saying that it has been a triumph, and he
:09:13. > :09:18.My Lords, in these negotiations, will the Government be sure to look
:09:19. > :09:22.after the interests of the 2 million British citizens living elsewhere
:09:23. > :09:26.As the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, reminds us so frequently, people
:09:27. > :09:31.like him who are residents of other EU countries would be adversely
:09:32. > :09:37.affected if we were to leave, and we would naturally wish the interests
:09:38. > :09:40.of the noble Lord and others to be fully protected
:09:41. > :09:43.The media trick is going to be to polarise and build this up
:09:44. > :09:46.as a Punch and Judy show, with deals achieved or not.
:09:47. > :09:49.That is natural, and I suspect there will be one or two political
:09:50. > :09:54.The more we can show that we are concerned with bringing the EU model
:09:55. > :10:02.That is bound to require treaty change in due course,
:10:03. > :10:05.for the simple reason that the treaties, right up to Lisbon,
:10:06. > :10:10.They were designed in the pre-digital era and do not fit what
:10:11. > :10:26.The firm that produces the malaria drug Lariam has told MPs
:10:27. > :10:30.that it should not be prescribed to people with a history
:10:31. > :10:33.The Defence Committee is investigating Lariam
:10:34. > :10:35.after servicemen and women reported severe side-effects,
:10:36. > :10:39.including hallucinations, depression and suicidal thoughts.
:10:40. > :10:42.Former army captain now MP Johnny Mercer started by questioning
:10:43. > :10:50.the pharmaceutical firm Roche about the "mass distribution" of Lariam.
:10:51. > :10:52.So what sort of view would you take against
:10:53. > :10:57.an organisation that essentially did some sort of mass distribution?
:10:58. > :11:00.So it had a group of individuals that would go to
:11:01. > :11:05.an area and say, there you go, there is your anti-malarials, crack on.
:11:06. > :11:09.Is that in line with the manufacturer's guidelines or is
:11:10. > :11:13.it outside of those very clear manufacturer's guidelines?
:11:14. > :11:16.Roche said the expectation was that a physician would carry out an
:11:17. > :11:22.In the material we had circulated, there is a check list that
:11:23. > :11:24.the physicians are supposed to go through.
:11:25. > :11:26.Absolutely, and they go through that in detail.
:11:27. > :11:28.If that is not done, they're using that outside of the
:11:29. > :11:31.guidelines that you as manufacturers have laid down, correct?
:11:32. > :11:40.The expectation would be that a physician sees every individual
:11:41. > :11:42.prior to prescribing any drug which sits under the legal classification.
:11:43. > :11:47.Yes, and if that expectation is not fulfilled then the organisation that
:11:48. > :11:52.is not fulfilling that expectation is falling short, is it not?
:11:53. > :11:59.We appreciate that you are not responsible for the way in which the
:12:00. > :12:07.Army prescribes this medication but in the light of the public concern
:12:08. > :12:13.and publicity about cases where there have been severe and sometimes
:12:14. > :12:18.irreversible side-effects apparently caused by it, have you had occasion
:12:19. > :12:22.to write to the Ministry of Defence and to stress to them the
:12:23. > :12:27.precautions that they ought to be taking specifically with regard to
:12:28. > :12:36.individual assessments for prescribing this en masse?
:12:37. > :12:38.-- individual assessments before prescribing this en masse?
:12:39. > :12:43.We treat all general practitioners exactly the same way with this
:12:44. > :12:45.and we have written to all general practitioners with
:12:46. > :12:51.We haven't actually looked at the military in a different way.
:12:52. > :12:53.Having said that, we are just starting to get in touch
:12:54. > :12:57.with them now about the most recent article that came out in the press.
:12:58. > :12:59.Dr Nichol described some of Lariam's side-effects.
:13:00. > :13:05.There has been shown to be an increased risk of depression,
:13:06. > :13:10.psychosis, hallucinations and terrors that are disturbing
:13:11. > :13:18.And we have called that out in the information you have got,
:13:19. > :13:24.and to the extent of indicating in the label that anybody who has a
:13:25. > :13:27.past history or an existing history of depression or anxiety should not
:13:28. > :13:34.Julian Lewis thought it raised an obvious problem.
:13:35. > :13:38.You're a soldier, you know that you have had some episodes or
:13:39. > :13:44.some anxieties in the past, but you really would feel pretty inhibited
:13:45. > :13:49.before saying to the medical officer in your regiment, I really shouldn't
:13:50. > :13:55.take this stuff because it could have a very serious effect on me.
:13:56. > :14:02.You are looking at somebody who has had malaria,
:14:03. > :14:07.a few years later took Lariam and had an adverse effect from it.
:14:08. > :14:17.It was prior to 2013 when I think this came in.
:14:18. > :14:21.And I wouldn't have said that I was somebody who would have
:14:22. > :14:26.The feelings of mistrust towards others.
:14:27. > :14:28.Probably it precludes all members of Parliament.
:14:29. > :14:36.Are you aware that people who live and work in malarial areas in Africa
:14:37. > :14:40.are amazed that this drug is still prescribed as a popular prevention
:14:41. > :14:51.There is an increased risk of these events, which is why the
:14:52. > :14:59.benefit/risk ratio, the balance of risk to the balance of benefit in
:15:00. > :15:04.taking the drug, is still believed to be valuable and important in this
:15:05. > :15:09.global endemic, if it is prescribed to the right people.
:15:10. > :15:12.What we tried to wheedle out today, and I think we have been quite
:15:13. > :15:15.successful, is that if it is not used within those guidelines,
:15:16. > :15:17.like any medication that has side-effects, it is going to cause
:15:18. > :15:20.adverse problems and some families clearly feel
:15:21. > :15:23.their lives have been quite significantly affected by this.
:15:24. > :15:29.And certainly I don't want you to think that I have a personal crusade
:15:30. > :15:32.against the company, its nothing to do with that.
:15:33. > :15:35.It is about representing families that for one reason or another,
:15:36. > :15:38.rightly or wrongly, this hasn't been used properly and they have
:15:39. > :15:44.Dr Nichol replied that if she was in that situation she would want to
:15:45. > :15:49.understand if all the appropriate assessments had been made.
:15:50. > :15:52.You're watching our round-up of the day in the Commons and the Lords.
:15:53. > :16:00.The Energy Secretary talks about keeping the lights on this winter...
:16:01. > :16:03.Labour and the SNP have launched a final assault on Government plans
:16:04. > :16:11.to tighten up the rules on trade union strike ballots.
:16:12. > :16:19.The Trade Union Bill will introduce a 50% turnout requirement,
:16:20. > :16:22.while in some public services at least 40% of the people entitled
:16:23. > :16:25.to vote would have to vote yes for action to go ahead.
:16:26. > :16:28.Labour and the SNP called for unions to be allowed to
:16:29. > :16:30.Proposing the changes the SNP's spokesman described the legislation
:16:31. > :17:00.He keeps talking about it being ideological. Do you think it is
:17:01. > :17:05.ideological for people who send their children
:17:06. > :17:07.to schools in my constituency who cannot get childcare
:17:08. > :17:10.during an unjustified strike with a very low turnout in a ballot?
:17:11. > :17:12.Is it ideological for hard-pressed commuters
:17:13. > :17:15.in my constituency who cannot get to work because of strikes called
:17:16. > :17:33.The problem with that analysis is that it is based on ignorance.
:17:34. > :17:38.the real test of a trade union and the biggest gamble in trade union
:17:39. > :17:42.has to take when it decides to take industrial action is how many people
:17:43. > :17:52.participate in the industrial action.
:17:53. > :17:53.If the Opposition believe that e-voting
:17:54. > :17:56.is the future and the way to go, why are they proposing returning
:17:57. > :17:59.The problem is actually more profound, of course.
:18:00. > :18:03.The security of a postal vote sent to a person's home does remove
:18:04. > :18:06.a large area of risk in terms of intimidation that could attach to
:18:07. > :18:10.We all know that the real fraud is the fraudulent
:18:11. > :18:21.In reality, they want to discourage turnout and make
:18:22. > :18:30.That is rule one from the Tory party political playbook - disfranchise
:18:31. > :18:35.It was suggested that the thresholds have been met in transport.
:18:36. > :18:38.In fact, the bus drivers strike earlier this year took place
:18:39. > :18:41.at the behest of a turnout of 21%, inconveniencing all the workers who
:18:42. > :18:49.Transport for London reported that there were 6.5 million passengers
:18:50. > :18:54.in London who needed to make alternative arrangements.
:18:55. > :18:57.There is no place in today's society for this unbelievably brutal attack
:18:58. > :19:04.on hard-working men and women in the workplace.
:19:05. > :19:08.that when ordinary people are pressurised
:19:09. > :19:17.I predict from the Floor of the House of Commons that there
:19:18. > :19:24.will be civil disobedience because bad laws need to be changed.
:19:25. > :19:27.It is pretty clear, as I understand it from what Labour Front Benchers
:19:28. > :19:31.are saying, that we are in a time of increased militant union activism.
:19:32. > :19:35."We will support all demonstrations in Parliament or on the picket line.
:19:36. > :19:43.Can the hon member for Wansbeck, Ian Lavery, not see that what we
:19:44. > :19:46.are trying to do is to protect the public through increased
:19:47. > :19:52.If this Bill is forced through, we will see more industrial unrest,
:19:53. > :19:54.as the hon Member for Edinburgh East said.
:19:55. > :19:55.Disputes will not end, victimisation in
:19:56. > :19:58.the workplace will not end, health and safety abuses at work will not
:19:59. > :20:01.end, discrimination will not end and exploitation will not end.
:20:02. > :20:03.Frustrated workers will not stand back, no matter what
:20:04. > :20:09.We will end up with workers being forced to break rotten laws.
:20:10. > :20:16.By increasing the democratic mandate, the Bill will not stop
:20:17. > :20:20.strikes - it may not even lead to many fewer strikes - but it will
:20:21. > :20:23.reassure members of the public that strikes are happening on the basis
:20:24. > :20:25.of strong democratic mandates, and that their lives are not being
:20:26. > :20:30.The Energy Secretary Amber Rudd says she IS committed to meeting
:20:31. > :20:35.the target for the UK to get 15% of its energy from renewable sources
:20:36. > :20:39.A leaked private letter recently suggested she feared
:20:40. > :20:45.But at the latest session of the Energy and Climate Change Committee,
:20:46. > :20:48.she said new policies were needed to encourage greater use of renewables
:20:49. > :20:58.I have been writing to other ministers in other departments,
:20:59. > :21:03.particularly transport, to urge them to work across Government to make
:21:04. > :21:12.We have made our interim target and exceeded it,
:21:13. > :21:16.but it is going to be challenging to make the rest of the target,
:21:17. > :21:19.but I remain committed to making good progress towards that target.
:21:20. > :21:22.It is because I am so committed to that that I'm encouraging other
:21:23. > :21:28.This is, after all, a cross-Government target,
:21:29. > :21:34.Are you on target to meet your 2020 objectives of 15% renewable energy.
:21:35. > :21:39.It is difficult to say at the moment.
:21:40. > :21:42.The private letter would indicate that it is not on target.
:21:43. > :21:46.You asked me whether we're going to meet her 2020 target.
:21:47. > :21:49.It is our aim that we should meet it.
:21:50. > :21:58.I recognise, as the letter does, that we don't have
:21:59. > :22:01.the right policies, particularly in transport and heat, in order to
:22:02. > :22:04.make that 2020 target, but we have four to five years and I remain
:22:05. > :22:10.Last week, National Grid, for the first time, used emergency
:22:11. > :22:18.I think they call it demand slide balancing reserve, where I'm sure
:22:19. > :22:22.you're aware, large businesses are paid to cut energy usage.
:22:23. > :22:29.They were a number of factors that triggered this, low wind speed, a
:22:30. > :22:37.couple of coal-fired power stations had maintenance issues, but given
:22:38. > :22:41.that, are you satisfied with the way in which National Grid handled last
:22:42. > :22:50.The reason why margins are takers because we have failed over
:22:51. > :22:53.a long period to invest in a sufficient restructure to support
:22:54. > :23:01.What we had last week was a notice of insufficient margin.
:23:02. > :23:11.It's about the buffer rather than the actual
:23:12. > :23:13.supply of electricity and I am satisfied the National Grid handled
:23:14. > :23:17.it and I would just point out to the committee that since 1999, there
:23:18. > :23:30.Now if you've got a query about your income tax, or your tax
:23:31. > :23:33.credit, is it worth phoning up Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs?
:23:34. > :23:37.A Conservative MP says the performance of the tax call centres
:23:38. > :23:43.Between April and June this year, only half of all phone calls
:23:44. > :23:45.for help from the public were answered successfully.
:23:46. > :23:48.The chief executive of HMRC has been facing the questions of the
:23:49. > :23:59.In 2014-15, you talked about the fact that only
:24:00. > :24:05.Over the first half of this year, you said we would dipping to
:24:06. > :24:18.That is staggeringly bad by anybody's measures.
:24:19. > :24:22.When I was in front of the PAC in September, I was at pain to bring
:24:23. > :24:25.them up to date with a first-quarter particularly because we were not
:24:26. > :24:29.serving to a level that we believe we should have been in and we have
:24:30. > :24:44.Tax credit claimants have a right to make a call that gets through.
:24:45. > :24:47.She said a new telephony system was now in place.
:24:48. > :24:51.We have at any one time the ability to have up to 20,000
:24:52. > :25:00.Making that change was really important and this will help to
:25:01. > :25:03.serve better but as we implemented it, it was challenging
:25:04. > :25:15.Call handling to one or two minutes longer for a number of months.
:25:16. > :25:19.We get 50 million calls in a year, that's quite a lot of time lost.
:25:20. > :25:23.We are very apologetic for that period of call service.
:25:24. > :25:28.A big part of this is to provide services online and allow people to
:25:29. > :25:36.actually go online and not have to wait even five minutes or longer.
:25:37. > :25:38.We are determined to continue to try making improvements
:25:39. > :25:41.for the service but the first issue was unacceptable.
:25:42. > :25:48.MPs are now off on their half-term autumn break.
:25:49. > :25:52.The Commons returns on Monday, which is when we'll be back with
:25:53. > :25:57.Until then, from me, Keith Macdougall, goodbye.