Browse content similar to 19/10/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello, and welcome to Wednesday In Parliament. | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
At Prime Minister's Questions Theresa May is challenged over | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
mental health, sexual abuse and arms sales to Saudi Arabia. | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
The Chancellor urges fellow Tories to stop leaking to newspapers | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
as ministers work out how to tackle Brexit. | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
And a Conservative wonders why it's not possible to check the tdeth | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
of child migrants to make stre they're under 18. | :00:39. | :00:47. | |
There are various tax rate that can be done without even opening a | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
child's mouth. -- various x,rays. The session started with both | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbxn 50 years ago on the 21st of October | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
1966, an avalanche of coal waste crashed into a school and 18 houses | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
in the South Wales village of Aberfan, killing 116 | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
children and 28 adults. The disaster made headlines around | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
the world and devastated thd Jeremy Corbyn reckoned it | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
would never be forgotten. Many in that community are still | :01:12. | :01:24. | |
living with that tragedy and they will live with that tragedy for the | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
rest of their days. I remember it very well as a young person growing | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
up at that time and watching collections for the disaster fund. I | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
think the BBC documentary presented last night was absolutely brilliant | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
and poignant. It serves to remind us all of what that disaster w`s about. | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
I'm an age where I can remelber those terrible scenes on television | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
about what happened in Aberfan. I did not see the whole of thd | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
documentary, but the bits that I did see I thought were very poignant, as | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
the Right Honourable gentlelan said. Interestingly, what it showdd that | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
issue of those in power not being willing to step up to the plate | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
initially and accept what h`d actually happened. | :02:08. | :02:08. | |
Jeremy Corbyn moved on his lain topic, mental health and thd NHS. | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
One in four of us will suffdr a mental health problem. Analxsis by | :02:15. | :02:23. | |
the fund suggests that 40% of our mental health trusts had thdir | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
budgets cut last year. Six trusts have seen their budgets cut for | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
three years in a row. Is thd Government happy that we ard | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
delivering parity of esteem for mental health? It is right that we | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
are delivering parity of esteem in our National Health Service. We ve | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
been waiting too long for this. It's important that it is being done But | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
we are investing more in mental health services. An estimatdd record | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
?11.7 billion. Particularly, we are increasing the overall numbdr of | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
children's beds to the highdst number of children's beds in | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
relation to mental health problems. I had a letter from Colin, ` family | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
member of his have a chronic mental health condition. He, like lany | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
others, who have relatives going through mental health crisis, says. | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
The NHS is so underfunded that too often it's left to the underfunded | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
police forces to deal with the consequences of this crisis. Indeed, | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall have this month threatens | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
legal action against the NHS because he is forced to hold people with | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
mental conditions in police cells because there aren't enough NHS | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
beds. I simply ask the Primd Minister this. If the Government is | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
truly committed to parity of esteem, why is this trust and so many others | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
facing an acute financial crisis at the present time? Halai first of all | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
stay to: but I think we all in this house recognise the difficulty that | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
people have when they are coping with mental health problems. Can I | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
commend those in this house who have been prepared to stand up and | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
referred to their own mental health problems. I think that's bedn an | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
important signal to people with mental health issues across the | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
country. He raises the whold question of the interaction between | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
the NHS and police forces. H'm proud of the fact that when I was Home | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
Secretary I worked with the Department of Health to bring a | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
change to the way in which police forces were dealing with people in | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
mental health crises so that we do see those triage pilots out on the | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
street. We do see better NHS support being given to police forces say the | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
number of people who are having to be taken to a police cell as a place | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
of safety in some areas has, overall, I think it has mord than | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
halved. In some areas it cole down by even more than that. This is a | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
result of the actions that this government has taken. | :04:48. | :04:48. | |
A Labour MP asked about the latest problems around the child | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
sexual abuse enquiry, which is now on its fourth | :04:52. | :04:53. | |
chairwoman after Dame Justice Lovell got quit in the summer. | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
She set up the enquiry. She appointed the chair. She was the | :05:00. | :05:10. | |
individual responsible for the s successful Sochi was Home Sdcretary | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
in April and the only person who had the power to act. Can she now | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
finally tell us when she personally learned of the serious problems | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
developing in this enquiry, and why it was that she took no acthon at | :05:23. | :05:30. | |
all? Can I say I recognise that the honourable lady has taken a | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
particular interest in this issue. I'm sure she will recognise, as I | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
hope other members of this house do, why it was that I set up thd | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
enquiry. For too long peopld who had been subjected to child sextal abuse | :05:42. | :05:54. | |
had their voices unheard. They felt they weren't getting justicd. That's | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
why it's very important that the enquiry is able to continue and | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
finite justice for them. Thdre were stories around about the enpuiry and | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
about individuals related to the enquiry. But the Home Secretary | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
cannot intervene on the bashs of suspicion, rumour or hearsax. | :06:13. | :06:13. | |
The SNP's Westminster leader turned to the conflict in Yemen and | :06:14. | :06:15. | |
whether or not British arms were being used by Saudi forces | :06:16. | :06:23. | |
It is beyond doubt that the Saudi air forces bombing Yemen flxing | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
planes made in Britain by phlots trained by Britain, and thehr | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
droppings missiles made in Britain. I asked a direct question and she | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
couldn't answer it. I can try for a second time. Can she give this house | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
an assurance that civilians have not been killed by bombs being dropped | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
on Yemen which are partiallx manufactured in Scotland under | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
license by our government? Hf she doesn't know the answer to that | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
question, how can she possibly in good conscience continue selling | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
them to Saudi Arabia? First of all, in response to the right honourable | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
gentleman, the point he madd was very simple, which is that we press | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
for proper investigations into what has happened and that those | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
incidents before we reach a decision or a conclusion on what has happened | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
in relation to those incidents. We have a very strong relationship with | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
Saudi Arabia, that is important for this country. It's important in | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
terms of dealing with counterterrorism and a numbdr of | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
other issues. But what mattdrs when incidents happen about which there | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
was concern is that they're properly investigated. | :07:31. | :07:31. | |
Earlier this week, Downing Street said that Theresa May had ftll | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
confidence in her Chancellor, Philip Hammond, after reports | :07:35. | :07:36. | |
he was trying to slow progrdss towards the UK's leading thd EU | :07:37. | :07:39. | |
Some newspapers said colleagues believe that Mr Hammond | :07:40. | :07:41. | |
was attempting to undermine the process by delaying | :07:42. | :07:43. | |
A Treasury source said the claims were rubbish. | :07:44. | :07:51. | |
The man himself was asked about the newspaper stories | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
when he appeared before the Commons Treasury committee. | :07:55. | :07:56. | |
He was also asked about the progress of Brexit negotiations, and angered | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
a Labour MP when he repeated the Government's line that linisters | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
We cannot have a public deb`te about what our negotiating | :08:03. | :08:15. | |
If we were to do that, we would have no negotiating position. | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
So we won't be having a public debate, Chancellor, | :08:20. | :08:21. | |
about the future relationshhp with the European Union? | :08:22. | :08:23. | |
We must now leave that in the hands of the Governmdnt? | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
That's a ridiculous extrapolation, if I may say so. | :08:27. | :08:28. | |
Of course we'll be having a public debate. | :08:29. | :08:30. | |
We are clearly having it every single day. | :08:31. | :08:32. | |
But what we can't do is publish the various options which mhnisters | :08:33. | :08:42. | |
will be considering and the modelled output of those options in terms | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
That would be to undermine our negotiating position | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
A public vote is very difficult to have, Chancellor, | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
without the evidence available either to parliamentarians | :08:55. | :08:56. | |
So we could have a public debate, but it won't be | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
I would be a very poor publhc debate and I think that the disappointing | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
I would suggest to you that there will be plenty of people producing | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
material, between now and ndxt March. | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
Tax payers pay for the Treasury to do that work, Chancellor. | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
I think the public and parliamentarians deserve | :09:17. | :09:17. | |
I have to say that I expect that the majority view | :09:18. | :09:25. | |
The heart of the matter is that we are having | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
And the public debate occurs every time the Brexit Cabinet | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
Within 24 hours we have a vdry full and public debate. | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
I'm not going to tie everybody in the room with the long lhst | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
of leaps that there have bedn, but we can identify the datds | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
of meetings even if they're not made public merely from the arrival | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
Don't you think it would be a far more intelligent way | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
to have a debate by publishhng proposals, than to carry | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
on with this idea that we c`n't say anything because it will interfere | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
with our negotiating position and running commentary? | :10:09. | :10:10. | |
We're having a running commdntary anyway. | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
The Government can't keep this stuff secret for 24 hours between itself. | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
Once it gets into the hands of our counterparties, | :10:18. | :10:19. | |
27 countries plus the EU, it might as well get | :10:20. | :10:21. | |
I think it would be far mord helpful to this debate if we were able | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
to conduct these internal discussions privately | :10:27. | :10:27. | |
We need space to explore different options. | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
It's no secret that there are different views about how | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
we should approach of the negotiation. | :10:34. | :10:35. | |
We are exploring together how to give the Prime Minister | :10:36. | :10:37. | |
I think your first sentence gives a pretty clear view of your own | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
attitude to whether or not one agrees with it is another m`tter. | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
Andrew Tyree the main campahgn during the referendum, | :10:45. | :10:46. | |
Another committee member, the Conservative Jacob Rees Mogg, | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
was and is an outspoken supporter of Brexit. | :10:50. | :11:10. | |
The press have had you down as a Remainer, but I think | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
everything you said has been a positive view of how Brexht can | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
The Chancellor smiled slightly at that. | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
My job is to look at the economy, the challenges it will face | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
and the opportunities that will be in front of us to make sure | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
we are well-equipped to seize those opportunities. | :11:30. | :11:30. | |
But also to make sure that we spot the challenges coming. | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
The Chancellor on his Brexit position. | :11:34. | :11:41. | |
You're watching Wednesday in Parliament, with me, | :11:42. | :11:43. | |
The former head of a progralme to help England's most disadvantaged | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
families has hit back at cl`ims that the initiative has madd | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
The programme was launched hn 2 12, at a cost of ?448 million, | :11:50. | :11:57. | |
and was intended to turn around the lives of 120,000 familids. | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
But the National Institute of Economic and Social Rese`rch | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
using data from a quarter of the families taking | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
part in the first stage, found a very small number | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
Jonathan Portes, one of the authors, called it "a perfect case study | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
of how the manipulation and misrepresentation | :12:20. | :12:21. | |
of statistics by civil serv`nts and politicians meant bad | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
Well, the top civil servant at the Department for Communities | :12:25. | :12:33. | |
argued the research and the way it was reported didn't | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
What the evaluation does show is that the families | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
in the programme did improve their outcomes. | :12:43. | :12:43. | |
It does show that quite cle`rly whether that's work or school | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
It also shows that there is a statistically signific`nt | :12:47. | :12:53. | |
improvement in how they feel about their lives, | :12:54. | :12:55. | |
and in particular about feeling that the worst is behind thdm. | :12:56. | :12:57. | |
We don't want to go into the detail of... | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
Well, I think at some level you have to bring out the detail a bht, | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
if you will just forgive me with one more point. | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
What I think we need to sort of in a way put in context | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
is that this evaluation onlx ran for 12 to 18 months with individual | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
bits of data, and what provdd not to be possible in the research | :13:17. | :13:19. | |
was to be able to form a kind of control group, | :13:20. | :13:21. | |
that would have allowed you to say, here's a group of families that | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
didn't have a troubled families intervention, | :13:25. | :13:26. | |
that are similar to the ones that did, and therefore how can | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
That's the thing that the rdsearch wasn't able to prove. | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
But the report does also sax they were unable to find consistent | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
evidence that the programme had had any significant or systemic impact. | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
That was attributable to the programme - | :13:39. | :13:39. | |
although the outcomes did ilprove and that is shown in the ev`luation. | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
We're going to move on now from the actual publication | :13:46. | :14:05. | |
The frustration is that it hs one part of a much bigger story, | :14:06. | :14:08. | |
and I think the other thing is the way that it is being | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
presented in the media, and if I'm honest quite | :14:12. | :14:13. | |
deliberately, is that it hasn't got the caveats across. | :14:14. | :14:15. | |
Nowhere does the word "Attributable"... | :14:16. | :14:17. | |
When you say "quite deliber`tely," who are you attributing that to | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
Sorry, I mean I've got nothhng to lose in a scenario like this | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
I think lots of comment madd by those closely involved | :14:27. | :14:29. | |
with the evaluation, which has been leading on the press | :14:30. | :14:31. | |
in the last few days, has been unedifying. | :14:32. | :14:33. | |
They didn't wait until the rest of the evaluation was out, | :14:34. | :14:35. | |
I'm sure they feel suppressdd, that simply isn't true. | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
I'm the first to say that Jonathan Portes and NIESR, | :14:39. | :14:40. | |
their research, after a lot of correction and sorting ott, | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
I accept the findings of the research. | :14:43. | :14:44. | |
Which is over the timescale they looked at the families, | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
which was really early on in the programme, | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
that the changes in those f`milies, which they do not dispute, | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
you cannot directly attribute to the troubled families programme. | :14:54. | :14:55. | |
You can on the other hand fhnd a lot of information as to why thdy hadn't | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
frankly put any of the cave`ts in the public domain... | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
So you're unhappy with the way the people who are funded | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
by the department to do this the evaluation have | :15:06. | :15:07. | |
And I don't want to make it a personal thing, because actually | :15:08. | :15:15. | |
I accept that within this one piece of research it doesn't provd | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
Did I ask the department to sit on it? | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
No, I didn't, I think it's better to have that stuff out and washed | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
out in the public domain so you can have a discourse about it. | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
Now, a Conservative MP is c`lling for child migrants arriving | :15:29. | :15:30. | |
in the UK from Calais to have their teeth tested | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
Several unaccompanied children have arrived to join relatives | :15:34. | :15:41. | |
in the UK this week, but there have been suggesthons that | :15:42. | :15:43. | |
The Monmouth MP David Davies said mandatory teeth checks | :15:44. | :15:55. | |
would reassure people, and it was a suggestion takdn up | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
There was a lot of dissatisfaction in the paper today, saying | :15:59. | :16:08. | |
that these are adults rather than children, and it went on to say | :16:09. | :16:11. | |
that the best way of identifying the age is dental examination. | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
And that's why I'm asking this question, because it then wdnt | :16:16. | :16:17. | |
on to say that they couldn't do a dental examination becausd wisdom | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
teeth are highly significant, and they couldn't do it | :16:21. | :16:22. | |
But of course, there are various X-rays that can be done without even | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
So I think there is something very strange about that, | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
and I wondered why it hasn't been possible to make some agreelent | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
whereby if you wanted to cole in you should be obliged | :16:34. | :16:35. | |
to be allowed to be checked in terms of age. | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
Well, my lords, I must confdss to be 49 years of age and still not | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
having wisdom teeth, but that probably says | :16:42. | :16:43. | |
We are working very closely with the French authorities | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
and their partner agencies to ensure that all those who come to the UK | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
from the camps are eligible under the Dublin Regulations. | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
So all individuals who are referred to the UK authorities by thd FTDA, | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
and are then interviewed by French and UK officials, and where credible | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
and clear documentary evidence of age is not available, | :17:07. | :17:08. | |
criteria including physical appearance and demeanour ard used | :17:09. | :17:10. | |
as part of the interview process to assess age. | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
That is the process in France, and I want noble lords to bd quite | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
clear that we are bound by the French system | :17:17. | :17:18. | |
When those children come here, we do not use dental X-rays | :17:19. | :17:33. | |
to confirm the ages of thosd seeking asylum in the UK. | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
The British Dental Associathon is vigorously opposed to thdm, | :17:37. | :17:38. | |
and has described them as inaccurate, | :17:39. | :17:39. | |
May I do something I don't think I've ever done before, | :17:40. | :17:56. | |
The peer who'd championed t`king children from the so-called | :17:57. | :17:58. | |
Jungle camp in Calais welcomed their arrival. | :17:59. | :18:10. | |
May I do something I don't think I've ever done before, | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
which is to welcome what the Government has said today. | :18:14. | :18:15. | |
Could I say that this is good news that child refugees | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
are coming to Britain, I wish we'd had these | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
statements several months ago, but it's happening now | :18:21. | :18:22. | |
May I simply ask the Ministdr to assure us that all presstre | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
is being brought to bear on the French Government, | :18:27. | :18:28. | |
because I understand they have a part to play | :18:29. | :18:30. | |
in assessing the other children who come under the Immigrathon Act. | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
The minister said pressure was being brought to bear, | :18:34. | :18:35. | |
and the UK Government was trying very hard to work with the French. | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
Now, Scottish Nationalists have led calls in the Commons for ministers | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
to guarantee all European Union citizens living in the UK | :18:42. | :18:43. | |
retain their existing rights after Brexit. | :18:44. | :18:45. | |
Around 3 million EU citizens are waiting to find out | :18:46. | :18:47. | |
if they can remain here, while the Government seeks | :18:48. | :18:49. | |
to guarantee the futures of Britons living overseas. | :18:50. | :18:51. | |
The SNP accused Conservativds of using EU citizens | :18:52. | :18:53. | |
Despite repeated requests, this Government has refused | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
to guarantee in the long term the rights of EU nationals who have | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
made their home in the United Kingdom. | :19:06. | :19:06. | |
In the meantime, in England and Wales hate crime has so`red | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
and xenophobic rhetoric is common in the mainstream media and sadly | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
also sometimes in the mouths of Government ministers. | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
Nobody is suggesting that anybody is going to be ejected | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
from the United Kingdom, and she is simply | :19:22. | :19:23. | |
But would she understand and admit that there is a layer of colplexity | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
So, if she is giving rights to people, which I think | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
we would all accept, what effective date | :19:34. | :19:36. | |
what then happens when people go outside the UK and seek | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
to return, and all these things are relevant also | :19:43. | :19:44. | |
to British nationals, that the Government has to negotiate | :19:45. | :19:46. | |
Many of the people we're talking about provide vital services | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
For instance, 6% of the doctors working in the Welsh health | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
We are facing a crisis wherdby a third of our doctors may retire | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
We're going to need these pdople, and extra qualified individtals | :20:04. | :20:06. | |
to work in health services, and the rhetoric by the Govdrnment, | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
if enacted in policy, will have a detrimental imp`ct | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
on the delivery of health services in my country. | :20:15. | :20:16. | |
Isn't it time we got our act together as a country, and gave | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
people who given their lives and their taxes to this country | :20:20. | :20:21. | |
the security that they need to know that they can remain? | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
The point is that there are people out there who have been emboldened | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
by the current political clhmate, who want to see EU | :20:32. | :20:33. | |
nationals living here expelled, and worse. | :20:34. | :20:35. | |
And giving the sort of sign`l but she is calling for | :20:36. | :20:37. | |
and which I support today would be a very powerful signal in s`ying | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
that the views of these people are wholeheartedly rejected | :20:43. | :20:44. | |
On this side of the House wd don't believe in cutting off our nose | :20:45. | :21:02. | |
to spite our face, we want to see unilateral and immediate action | :21:03. | :21:04. | |
to guarantee the status of DU national succumbed to be it | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
And we don't believe, to be absolutely clear, | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
that that will undermine the Government's ability to secure | :21:12. | :21:13. | |
the status of UK nationals living in other EU countries, | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
because we believe they also are an asset to the communities | :21:17. | :21:18. | |
The Government has been cle`r that it wants to protect thd status | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
As the Prime Minister's madd clear, the only circumstances in which that | :21:24. | :21:33. | |
would not be possible, are if British citizens' rights | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
in other EU member states wdre not protected in return. | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
The Government has provided repeated assurances on this point, | :21:43. | :21:44. | |
And I'm sorry but the SNP has not included this | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
At the end, the SNP's motion was rejected by 43 votes. | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
Now, plans to allow people to raise money by selling their penshon | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
annuities have been dropped by the Government. | :21:59. | :22:00. | |
Annuities - financial products that provide regular payments to retired | :22:01. | :22:02. | |
people until death - have long been criticised for giving | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
Last year, the then Chancellor George Osborne announced | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
he'd be extending pensions freedoms, allowing people | :22:11. | :22:12. | |
But this week, that option was withdrawn. | :22:13. | :22:22. | |
A Lib Dem said dropping the policy showed the Government didn't | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
trust people to look after their own money. | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
It was specifically included in the manifesto on which this | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
Government was elected, yet yesterday afternoon | :22:35. | :22:35. | |
the Government announced, Mr Speaker, via the press, | :22:36. | :22:37. | |
not via this House, that thdy were scrapping the whole deal. | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
This is a huge U-turn, announced after clear lobbyhng | :22:41. | :22:42. | |
by the industry that never really subscribed to this, and a f`ilure | :22:43. | :22:45. | |
with the Government to work to build a reasonable | :22:46. | :22:47. | |
Of course it's right that protections are put in placd | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
to ensure people are not exploited on the secondary annuities larket, | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
but there are tens of thous`nds of people trapped in poor v`lue | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
annuities who are eager to be able to take advantage | :22:57. | :22:58. | |
Rather than being to the benefit of British pensioners, it | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
And it is for this reason, Mr Speaker, that we are not prepared | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
to allow such a market to ddvelop, and we will not be taking | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
Doesn't this announcement rdpresent two new problems - first of all | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
to those hundreds of thousands of pensioners who have been marched | :23:21. | :23:22. | |
up the hill only to be marched back down again, and left uncert`in | :23:23. | :23:33. | |
about their own financial options, but secondly also to those other | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
generations of potential savers who are baffled by pensions | :23:37. | :23:38. | |
generally, and will find thhs mixed message about chopping and changing | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
on flexibilities even more of a reason to feel sour towards | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
We've got a savings crisis hn this country, and the Government needs | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
far more consistency and a clearer policy here. | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
The minister said no-one wanted to see people being baffled, | :23:59. | :24:00. | |
and all politicians had a dtty to educate and inform peopld | :24:01. | :24:03. | |
about the importance of savings and pensions. | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
A Labour MP is calling for a tightening up of the rules | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons said | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
there were just over 51,000 surgical procedures in 2015 - | :24:14. | :24:15. | |
Kevin Jones put forward a Bhll calling for a change in the rules, | :24:16. | :24:26. | |
to allow the General Medical Council to strengthen the rules, | :24:27. | :24:29. | |
and recognise specific qualifications and accredit`tions. | :24:30. | :24:32. | |
His Bill also aims to tackld the marketing around | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
The law at present allows any qualified doctor, not even | :24:36. | :24:37. | |
a surgeon, to perform cosmetic surgery without undertaking | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
additional training or qualifications. | :24:41. | :24:43. | |
My Bill aims, Mr Speaker, to close this loophole, | :24:44. | :24:45. | |
and has the support of the Royal College of Surgeons. | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
His Bill also aims to tackld the marketing around | :24:53. | :24:54. | |
Some of the techniques that are used would be more appropriate | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
for selling double glazing than cosmetic surgery | :25:00. | :25:00. | |
These include two for one offers, along with glossy brochures, | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
with no explanation of the potential risks of undergoing surgery. | :25:05. | :25:06. | |
The whole thrust of the advdrtising is to sell procedures withott any | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
counselling or advice on whether or not it is appropriate | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
for an individual to undergo such procedures. | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
Well, Mr Jones won the right to take his Bill forward, | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
but it won't make real progress unless it's backed | :25:23. | :25:24. | |
And that's all from me for now, but do join me again at the same | :25:25. | :25:35. | |
time tomorrow for another round up of the day in Parliament, | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
including a Commons debate on what went wrong at BHS. | :25:39. | :25:40. | |
But for now, from me, Alicia McCarthy, goodbye. | :25:41. | :25:46. |