Browse content similar to 01/03/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Tuesday in Parliament. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:15 | |
On this programme: | 0:00:15 | 0:00:16 | |
The Chancellor's accused of teeing up Project Fear | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
when it comes to the economic impact of Brexit, but George Osborne | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
insists he's only repeating what big independent institutions think. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:27 | |
British exit would both cause an immediate economic shock | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
and have longer economic costs. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
MPs hear from a former sex worker who says the laws on | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
prostitution need to change. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
And there's a call to allow the Welsh to decide how to mark | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
St David's Day. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
This Saint David's Day report did put the village of Llandewi Breffi | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
on the map long before the contemporary Daffyd | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
of Little Britain fame. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
But first, once again, it was a day when the referendum | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
on our membership of the EU featured heavily in Parliament. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
At the start of the day, at Treasury Questions, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
the Chancellor announced he'd publish a document weighing up | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
the costs and benefits of Britain's membership. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
It'll be put together by the Treasury and released | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
sometime before the referendum, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:13 | |
which is to be held at the end of June. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:17 | |
The Chancellor insists it'll be a "sober" assessment. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
Both George Osborne and the Government are strongly | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
campaigning for the UK to stay in. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
My responsibility as Chancellor is for jobs, livelihoods | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
and living standards. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
It is clear to me that a UK exit from the EU would be a long, | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
costly and messy divorce that would hurt all of those things. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:39 | |
We have already seen the sterling fall and HSBC yesterday predicted | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
a further 15-20% slump in the event of | 0:01:43 | 0:01:44 | |
a vote to leave. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:45 | |
The finance ministers and central bank governors | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
of the G20 concluded at the weekend that a British exit would cause | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
an economic shock, not just to the UK, | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
but to Europe and the world. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
Mr Speaker, what people are asking for in this referendum campaign | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
is a serious, sober and principled assessment from the Government, | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
setting out the facts, and I can announce today | 0:02:02 | 0:02:04 | |
that the Treasury will publish, before the 23rd of June, | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
a comprehensive analysis of our membership of a reformed EU | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
and the alternatives. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
It will include the long-term economic benefits and costs of | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
EU membership and the risks associated with an exit. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
Mr Speaker, isn't it extraordinary that the Chancellor asked the G20 | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
to make that statement, and is not the case that he did | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
in fact make the request to them in order that they | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
could tee up this element of Project Fear? | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
Chancellor... | 0:02:30 | 0:02:31 | |
The idea that the US Treasury Secretary or the head | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
of the IMF, or indeed the central bank governor of China, | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
dances to a British tune, I'm afraid, is a bit fanciful. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:42 | |
The central bank governors and the finance ministers of the G20 | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
are saying what, frankly, every major | 0:02:45 | 0:02:50 | |
independent economic institution is saying, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
at the moment, which is that a British exit would both cause | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
an immediate economic shock and have longer economic costs. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
Wouldn't there be a double whammy if Britain left the EU? | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
First you've got that risk of depreciation, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
widely predicted, which leads to higher inflation and interest | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
rates, but second, any notion that our exporters | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
are going to benefit from a cheaper pound is more than offset | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
by those additional tariff barriers that those firms | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
will encounter worldwide. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:24 | |
If my right honourable friend's rather apocalyptic view | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
of our leaving the European Union is correct, was it not both either | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
irresponsible or inaccurate of the Prime Minister to say | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
he ruled nothing out, prior to the completion of the most | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
unsatisfactory renegotiation? | 0:03:39 | 0:03:44 | |
Well, we have secured a renegotiation which I think | 0:03:44 | 0:03:46 | |
addresses the principal British concerns about our membership | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
of the European Union. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
Now we can advocate membership of this reformed EU and I think | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
we will be stronger, safer and better off | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
in that European Union. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
Those who wish us to stay in the European Union say, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
on one hand, that we are an insignificant and too | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
small an economy to stand on our own, but on the other hand, | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
if we leave the European Union, it will cause an economic meltdown | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
around the world. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:11 | |
They both can't be true, Chancellor. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
Well, our argument is that we will be stronger, | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
better off, inside a European Union. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
And that is the sort of positive choice we face as a country, | 0:04:22 | 0:04:27 | |
and I don't think this is the right time. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
I mean, I, personally, don't think we should | 0:04:30 | 0:04:33 | |
leave the EU, but even those who contemplate leaving the EU | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
should think about this. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:36 | |
With the economic situation the world faces at the moment, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
with the geopolitical situation we face in Europe, | 0:04:39 | 0:04:46 | |
with Putin on our doorstep and the crisis in the Middle East, | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
is this the right moment to leave? | 0:04:49 | 0:04:50 | |
George Osborne. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:51 | |
Well, a little later in the day, the UK's top civil servant | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
defended his decision to stop ministers who back Brexit | 0:04:54 | 0:04:56 | |
from receiving some official referendum-related documents. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
Sir Jeremy Heywood was appearing in front of | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
the Public Administration Committee. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:01 | |
He explained exactly what the rules were. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:06 | |
The area where the civil service is not going to be providing advice | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
to ministers in that position is very specific and set out | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
in the Prime Minister's letter | 0:05:13 | 0:05:14 | |
and set out in my guidance to principal secretaries. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
That is the provision of briefing material, | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
speech material, because we don't think it is appropriate. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
I don't think it is appropriate either - | 0:05:22 | 0:05:24 | |
it didn't happen in 1975, very much the same precedent - | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
to provide material to ministers who want to argue | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
against the Government's position so that they can make that case | 0:05:30 | 0:05:33 | |
against the Government. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:34 | |
Can you give me an example, | 0:05:34 | 0:05:35 | |
a practical example, of what material may have a bearing | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
on the referendum question? | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
You know, pick a department at large, say... | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
Well, if... | 0:05:42 | 0:05:43 | |
It's not happened, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:44 | |
because the guidance is very clear on the subject. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
But if a minister wanted to argue against the Government position | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
commissioned a brief of the facts that would stand up | 0:05:50 | 0:05:56 | |
that position or a line of argument, that would be ruled out | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
by the guidance, | 0:05:59 | 0:06:00 | |
because that is exactly the sort of information | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
which would have a bearing on the referendum question. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
This sounds much more reasonable and I very much welcome that. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
Can I just clarify, why, in your letter, you said, | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
it will not be appropriate or permissible for the civil service | 0:06:12 | 0:06:17 | |
to support ministers who oppose the Government's official position | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
by providing briefing speech material on this matter. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:22 | |
This includes access to official departmental papers, | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
excepting papers that ministers have previously seen, on issues relating | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
to the referendum question, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
prior to the suspension of the collective agreement. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:33 | |
What papers do you not intend them to see? | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
Briefings and speech material. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
So, only briefings and speech material? | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
That's the basic principle, yes. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
When you say, OK... | 0:06:41 | 0:06:42 | |
In the... | 0:06:42 | 0:06:43 | |
In the Q and A, they can see or commission any papers produced | 0:06:43 | 0:06:49 | |
by the departments in the normal way, except those that | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
have a bearing on the referendum question or are intended to be used | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
in support of their position on the referendum. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
That only applies to briefings and speech material? | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
That is the material we are talking about, yes. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
So, any material facts are available? | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
Facts are dealt with in a different paragraph. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
I mean, this is marvellous. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:10 | |
What a breath of fresh air. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
I couldn't agree more. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:17 | |
This is so straightforward(!) | 0:07:17 | 0:07:18 | |
We might be able to shorten this whole session. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
That would be a pleasure. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
It would. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:23 | |
Will there ever be a case where the paper does relate | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
to the question of the EU referendum and yet it is passed to a minister | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
who is pro-leaving the EU? | 0:07:29 | 0:07:34 | |
I am not really going to get into hypothetical cases here. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
The spirit of this is very clear. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
These are situations which are going to happen and people | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
will have to make decisions. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:41 | |
It will only go so far, that is all I can say. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
All I can say is, the spirit of this is very clear. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
There is an official Government position. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
There is official Government business and anybody | 0:07:49 | 0:07:50 | |
who is supporting that official Government business will get | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
the same civil service support as usual. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:54 | |
In one area alone, in those cases where ministers have decided | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
they want to oppose the Government's official policy, | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
the civil service will not be effected to provide | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
briefing material or speech material | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
to support that case against the Government, | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
and I think it would be quite wrong if the civil service | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
was involved in that. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:10 | |
It would be a very significant change in the civil service's role | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
in our country, to be actively briefing ministers | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
against the Government policy - | 0:08:15 | 0:08:16 | |
it would be a very significant change. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
I wouldn't support it and I don't think anybody in the Cabinet | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
is asking for that, to be honest. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
Sir Jeremy Heywood. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:25 | |
Back in the Commons, a senior Conservative argued | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
that the Foreign Office should prepare for | 0:08:27 | 0:08:29 | |
a UK vote to leave the EU. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
Crispin Blunt, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
said that so far there was little sign of contingency planning. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
If the country votes out on the 23rd of June, | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
a huge effort will be needed to disentangle the United Kingdom | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
from its existing commitments | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
and to work on new trade arrangements, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
to name but one element of the work that will need | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
to be undertaken. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
A very large part of that effort will fall on the Foreign Office. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
Yet, the committee has found little or no evidence that the British | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
civil service is making any sort of contingency plan | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
in the event of Brexit. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:09 | |
Brexit is not a remote possibility - | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
it is a very real prospect in the hands | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
of the electorate and the competing campaigns. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:17 | |
And so, I urge ministers and their officials to begin | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
planning, not just an outline, for the consequences of a decision | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
by the British people to leave the European Union. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
The debate looked at how much money was being allocated to | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
the Foreign Office. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:30 | |
Crispin Blunt argued it wasn't enough. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
The Office remains overstretched and underfunded for | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
the tasks it faces. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
Its actual funding base is dysfunctional | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
and, if it does not actually distort policy decisions, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
it certainly means that resource allocation is | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
no longer allowed with actual British interests. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:52 | |
We know that, since 2010, the Government has repeatedly | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
cut the budget for the Foreign Commonwealth Office. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
And now we have a Foreign Office that is not only | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
the smallest office of any one department but one which has already | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
had its budget slashed by 16% in real terms. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
According to the report, mentioned several times | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
in the debate today, by the House of Commons Foreign | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
Affairs Committee, we spend less on diplomacy than Canada, | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
France, the United States and even New Zealand. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
While I welcome and support the announcement | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
that the FCO's budget will be protected in real terms, | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
this comes after five years of cuts that have | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
reduced the workforce to an all-time low and risked | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
undermining its ability to have influence in the world. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
The threats to our security from Daesh cannot be effectively | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
addressed by solely dropping bombs in Syria, Libya | 0:10:38 | 0:10:40 | |
or, indeed, Iraq. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
The effects to our economy from events in China | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
and the Eurozone cannot simply be washed away | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
by the Treasury. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
We need to equip the FCO, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:50 | |
not only to meet the challenges of today, | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
but to be able to rise to meet the unknown challenges of tomorrow. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:58 | |
The minister insisted there had been cuts under Labour, | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
leading to cutting of jobs and the closure of the language | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
school, and he defended the current settlement. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:07 | |
We would all like to feel that the budgets available | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
to us were unlimited. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
In the real world, the budgets are finite and are constrained to... | 0:11:12 | 0:11:18 | |
By the Government's overall need to bring | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
down the deficit and address a long history of this country | 0:11:21 | 0:11:27 | |
living beyond its means, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:29 | |
in terms of the public finances. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
The overall resource departmental expenditure | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
limit for the FCO will rise in line with inflation. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
That is in each of the four years covered by the spending review, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:42 | |
increasing our funding from ?1.1 billion in 2015-16 | 0:11:42 | 0:11:49 | |
to ?1.24 billion by 2019-20. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
We believe that this settlement will enable the department | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
to maintain our world-class diplomatic service, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
including our network of posts around the world, | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
which host not only the FCO but also 32 other | 0:12:01 | 0:12:05 | |
Government departments and agencies. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
The Foreign Office Minister, David Lidlington. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
You're watching Tuesday in Parliament, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
here on BBC Parliament, with me, Alicia McCarthy. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
The Home Affairs Committee is investigating whether it's time | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
to change the laws on prostitution. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
Some of the activities around prostitution are illegal, | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
such as kerb-crawling or soliciting on the streets, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
but the act of exchanging money for sex is legal. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:36 | |
Campaigners say the people who buy sex should be criminalised. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
MPs heard some powerful testimony from a woman who was a sex worker | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
for six years. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
The rape and violence is horrendous. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
My own experience... | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
You know, three rapes, one gang rape which happened inside. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:59 | |
My friend did not survive. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:00 | |
I can't... | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
I can't fathom how any Government would sanction an industry that... | 0:13:03 | 0:13:09 | |
And the only way to... | 0:13:10 | 0:13:11 | |
You know, I was beaten and abused and raped by buyers. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
Removing them or making them a smaller amount, | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
do you know what I mean? | 0:13:18 | 0:13:19 | |
It does not make it more dangerous. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
Prostitution is one other form of violence against women | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
but the problem is that our laws do not yet | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
reflect that because, at present, overwhelmingly, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
the burden of criminality falls on those who sell sex and I think | 0:13:31 | 0:13:36 | |
we are all agreed that that is wrong. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
Women who are exploited through prostitution should not be | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
punished for that. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
Nobody selling sex should be criminalised for it. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
But what we need to do, as a society, is send a message | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
to the minority of men in this country, because most | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
men do not pay for sex, but we need to send a message | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
to that minority that it is not an acceptable way to treat another | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
person, and we know that the threat of criminal sanctions | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
are a key method for discouraging paying for sex. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:06 | |
But an alternative view was offered by another witness. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
Do you believe that we should change the law on prostitution? | 0:14:09 | 0:14:13 | |
Do you think it is ready to be changed? | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
Yes, I do believe that the law on prostitution should be changed, | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
but perhaps not in the manner in which the committee | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
is considering it at present. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:21 | |
We, as sex workers, are seeking the right to | 0:14:21 | 0:14:24 | |
work together for safety | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
and, in doing so, to increase our labour rights, | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
as well, as workers. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
At present, the sex industry is the only industry in the UK that | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
I can think of which compels me, as a woman, to work alone, | 0:14:37 | 0:14:43 | |
and leaves me wide open to attack from predators and attackers. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
I speak from 22 years of experience across a vast range of activities | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
within the sex industry, from on-street selling to | 0:14:52 | 0:14:57 | |
webcam work to lap-dancing to escorting. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
It is my view that when two consenting adults come together | 0:15:00 | 0:15:02 | |
behind closed doors, then the state does not have any | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
right or a role to intervene. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
The state should intervene when harm occurs. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
And we can debate the "harm" all day. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
I should just say, at this point, that I witnessed first-hand, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
whilst I was working on the street, the effects of further | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
criminalisation in 1993, and precious police resources | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
were driven away from looking after us to chasing down our | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
clients, and the levels of violence against sex workers | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
went through the roof. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:33 | |
In Ipswich in 2006, five prostitutes were murdered by Steven Wright | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
in the space of a few months. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
Leading the police investigation was | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
Detective Superintendent Alan Caton. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
Now retired, he thinks buying sex should be illegal. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
We don't, in this country, send a clear single or principle | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
to what our view is around prostitution. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
I formed my view after the very tragic events in 2006, | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
where all of the women who were murdered and all | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
of the other women who were working on the streets of Ipswich | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
at the time were drug-addicted. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:03 | |
When we spoke to those women, they were using drugs before | 0:16:03 | 0:16:06 | |
they went out onto the streets so that they could face | 0:16:06 | 0:16:08 | |
what they were doing. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
None of the women I spoke to, certainly, would have said | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
that was their choice. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
They would want to get out. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:17 | |
Most of the men, when we spoke to the men, why did they do it? | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
It was because they could do things that they can't do at home. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
These are not disabled individuals, as the discussion went earlier, | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
these were primarily married men, men with partners, | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
men with children, who feel that they can go out and exploit | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
women for payment. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
Alan Caton concluded that prostitution cannot be made safe. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
It was, he said, an inherently dangerous activity. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:43 | |
Russia has an important role to play in maintaining a partial truce | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
in Syria, the Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood has | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
told the Commons. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:51 | |
But at the same time he and many MPs condemned Russia's military | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
involvement in the country. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
Violence has reduced since the cessation of hostilities | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
was implemented on the 27th February, although there have been | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
reports of violations. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
The agreement excludes attacks on so-called Islamic State | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:14 | |
The Syrian conflict is now almost in its sixth year and as a result | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
of that, and the brutality and the terror of Daesh, | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
over 250,000 people have lost their lives, half | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
the population have been displaced and over 13 million people | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
are in need of humanitarian aid. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
Russia's military intervention last autumn has compounded | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
the violence and Russia's claims to be targeting terrorists has | 0:17:35 | 0:17:40 | |
carried out strikes on moderate opposition groups and on civilians. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
Over 1,300 civilians have been killed and over 5,800 have been | 0:17:44 | 0:17:49 | |
injured by Russia or regime air strikes since the start | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
of Russia's campaign. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
The cessation of hostilities is an important step towards ending | 0:17:56 | 0:18:00 | |
the terrible violence in Syria and bringing | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
a lasting political settlement. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
The cessation came into force on the 27th of February. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:10 | |
Since then, we have seen a reduction in violence, | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
which is of course, a huge step forward. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
But we need to see this sustained and to see a reduction in the number | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
of reported violations. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
We have received reports of a number of violations which we have passed | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
on to the UN and ISSG co-chairs in Vienna. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:33 | |
We need swift action to reduce these violations and we look to Russia | 0:18:33 | 0:18:39 | |
in particular to use its influence with the regime to ensure | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
that the cessation endures and that there are no further violations. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:49 | |
Can the Minister address how it is even conceivable | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
that the monitoring of this agreement is being jointly conducted | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
by Russia, the same party that is responsible for the vast | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
majority of recent civilian deaths? | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
If the reports of Russian and regime violations are verified, | 0:19:01 | 0:19:05 | |
what measures will the UK pursue to force a change in | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
the calculations of both Putin and Assad? | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
The UK has a critical role, Mr Speaker, to play in giving | 0:19:11 | 0:19:15 | |
everybody confidence in the system, in particular, the violations | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
will be called out and the agreement protected. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
Russia has absolutely no desire to bring hope or humanitarian | 0:19:22 | 0:19:27 | |
relief, I'm sure, to many areas Syria. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
What they want is to increase fear, despair and the collapse | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
of the opposition. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:42 | |
I am sure they also hope that the peace period will bring | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
a greater influx of refugees fleeing from Syria towards the West. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:47 | |
It isn't simply just about Syria here. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
It's about the wider strategic implications of what is happening | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
not just here, but also the role Russia is playing | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
on the international stage, not least with Ukraine and indeed | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
Crimea, and the consequences of the influx of refugees and that | 0:19:59 | 0:20:04 | |
political impact that it is having across Europe as well. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
And we are not blind to that, whatsoever. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
The most credible and consistently effective ground forces | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
against Daesh in both Syria and Iraq are our friends the Kurds and yet | 0:20:13 | 0:20:18 | |
again and again, our Nato ally Turkey uses any excuse, | 0:20:18 | 0:20:23 | |
including the present ceasefire, to attack them and degrade them. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:29 | |
When is Her Majesty's government going to take this issue seriously? | 0:20:29 | 0:20:35 | |
My honourable friend articulates the complexity of the challenge | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
that we face in Syria with so many moving parts and so many | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
organisations and indeed entities pursuing quite separate agendas. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:47 | |
That makes it very, very difficult indeed. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
Asked about aid drops, he said these were not ideal. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
Their destination could be affected by the weather and they were likely | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
to be taken away by the strongest people who found them. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
Aid convoys, though slower, would do a better job. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
Now, are too many claims for whiplash injuries being made | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
by people involved in minor road accidents? | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
At Lords Question Time, a Conservative peer said Britain | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
was now "the whiplash capital of the world" and accused insurance | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
companies of taking a cavalier approach to claims. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
First, a former surgeon explained more about the nature | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
of the injury. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:35 | |
The whiplash phenomenon is thought to occur usually when a vehicle | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
is struck heavily from behind with the | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
result that the passenger or the driver in the vehicle | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
that is hit has a sharp flexion of the neck | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
followed by a sharp hyperextension. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
Now, if it happens that the individual in question has | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
already got disc degeneration in the neck, | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
there is no doubt at all that this may on occasions result in actual | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
damage to the spinal cord with significant physical results. | 0:21:55 | 0:22:00 | |
The noble Lord, with his experience as a neurologist, of course | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
highlights the complicated nature of this injury | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
and the fact that the injury is not detectable usually on scans. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
He also makes the point about pre-existing degenerative | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
injury, which can exist. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
When he next meets the industry, ask them to explain | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
cases such as that of Mr John Elven of Watford. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
He was involved in a negligible traffic incident where | 0:22:21 | 0:22:25 | |
there was no apparent damage to either vehicle. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:29 | |
And at the first opportunity, he notified his insurers, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
Esure, that he was subject to what he believed was going to be | 0:22:31 | 0:22:36 | |
a false whiplash and damage claim. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:40 | |
Despite a series of requests, | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
Esure have given no indication that they | 0:22:42 | 0:22:44 | |
have investigated this case in any way. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
Is this not an example of the reason that the industry is known in this | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
country as the whiplash capital of the world and it's the consumer | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
that ultimately pays for this cavalier attitude? | 0:22:55 | 0:23:00 | |
Hear, hear. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
My noble friend is quite right to draw the House's attention | 0:23:02 | 0:23:04 | |
to this very major problem with the significant increase | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
in the number of claims and our large number of claims | 0:23:07 | 0:23:11 | |
in comparison with other European countries. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:13 | |
Anyone who is notified of what sounds suspiciously | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
like a fraud should not do anything to encourage it. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:20 | |
If individuals are invited to take part in such an endeavour, | 0:23:20 | 0:23:25 | |
they are potentially committing a criminal offence. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
Will my noble friend the Minister | 0:23:29 | 0:23:30 | |
accept, and I'm declaring my interest as set out in the register, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:35 | |
that there is serious concern not only in this House, | 0:23:35 | 0:23:39 | |
but also in the insurance industry, at the way | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
in which we have allowed to happen a situation | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
where 80%, 80% of all personal injury claims are said to be | 0:23:45 | 0:23:50 | |
whiplash claims. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
And will he find some way of stopping these cold callers? | 0:23:53 | 0:23:58 | |
One of my colleagues as had a cold call from a claims management | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
company calling itself the Department of Compensation! | 0:24:02 | 0:24:07 | |
LAUGHTER. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:12 | |
Individuals can have a telephone preference service installed | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
on their telephones and we are also exploring the possibility of | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
call-blocking devices for vulnerable consumers. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
When somebody rings you, as they ring me from time to time, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
inviting me to take part in a fraud, I endeavour to extract details | 0:24:22 | 0:24:27 | |
from them without revealing the particular position I hold. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:32 | |
Unfortunately, my voice appears to cause them only to put | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
down the phone. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:41 | |
A Liberal Democrat is calling for the Welsh Assembly | 0:24:41 | 0:24:43 | |
to have the power to set bank holidays in Wales. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:46 | |
It's not the first time the case has been made to devolve the power | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
to Cardiff Bay. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:50 | |
Mark Williams argued it was time for Wales to have a power that | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
Scotland already has. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
He set out the case on the feast day of Wales' national saint. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
It was in the village of Llanddewi Brefi in 550 AD, | 0:24:58 | 0:25:03 | |
at a raucous meeting of the Synod of the Welsh Church, | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
that David, finding it difficult to make himself heard, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
placed a cloth on the ground and earth rose to form a mound | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
on which he could stand and preach. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
So, this St David's miracle did put the village of Llanddewi Brefi | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
on the map long before the contemporary Daffyd | 0:25:21 | 0:25:25 | |
of Little Britain fame. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
It should therefore be of no surprise that the calls | 0:25:27 | 0:25:31 | |
for the possibility of St David's Day becoming a bank holiday | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
in Wales are particularly strong in my constituency. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
Mr Williams won the right to take his bill forward | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
but without government support, it won't become law. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
And that's it for now, but do join me at the same time | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
tomorrow for another round-up of the day at Westminster, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
including the highlights of Prime Minister's Questions. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
But until then, goodbye. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 |