21/02/2018 Wednesday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to the programme.

Coming up:

Jeremy Corbyn muses on David Davis's

assurance that Brexit won't end

in a Mad Max dystopia.

Doesn't the prime Minister feel he

could set the bar just a little bit

higher?

Theresa May comes back

with a quip of her own.

And the Health Secretary announces

a review into the way medical

problems caused by NHS

treatments are handled.

Patients and their families has been

too long feeling they are not

listened to. Making a complex

situation even worse.

But first, the exchanges between

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn

at Prime Minister's Questions

are usually a Brexit-free zone.

But the Cabinet will be convening

at the PM's country residence,

Chequers, on Thursday to pin down

the UK's future

relationship with the EU.

And so the Opposition Leader

made an exception.

He began with David Davis's

assurance that post-Brexit,

Britain would not descend

into a war-ravaged desert

where society has collapsed.

Yesterday, the Brexit secretary

assured the country that Brexit will

not plunge Britain into a mad Max

style world, borrowed from this post

be a fiction. Doesn't the Prime

Minister feel he could set the bar

just a little bit higher?

My

Minister.

As the right honourable

gentleman knows, when we leave the

European Union, we are going to be

able to take control of our borders,

our money, and are lost. And I have

to say to him, the only fiction

around in relation to Brexit and the

European Union, is the Labour Party

putt front bench who cannot even

agree with themselves what is.

He

also said fears about the regulatory

praise to the bottom were based on

nothing. So, why then, did his own

department exit polemicist State

there could be opportunities for

Britain in the regulating areas such

as environment and employment law.

Can I say to the right honourable

gentleman, he talks what we actually

want to achieve when we leave the

European Union. I'll tell him what

we want to achieve. We want to make

sure this is in a country that can

negotiate free trade deals around

the world. We want to ensure that we

have a good trade agreement with the

European Union, and that is what we

will start to negotiate. We want to

ensure we have a good security

partnership with the European union.

I set out in detail in my speech in

Munich last week.

They were braving

the working Time directive would

this be scrapped, the CBI and unions

are very clear that they are not

looking for a bonfire of

regulations. Quite the opposite. The

only part that wants scrap work are

the property opposite.

I have been

clear since I became prime Minister.

This is a government that will not

only protect workers' rights, but in

hearts workers' rights. Let's look

at the conservative record in

government. Who was it, which

government that was it that took

action? A conservative government.

Which government is it? That got

Matthew Taylor to actually report on

the new economy, so we assure

workers get the right. A

conservative government, not labour.

Which government is it making sure

that voices are heard on the boards

of companies are the conservative

government, not labour.

I do not

know if she has had the chance to

read the daily telegraph today, but

62 of her backbenchers want a

bonfire of regulations. Wants to

destroy workers' rights, in this

country. Halfway through the six

speeches we were told would set out

the Government's negotiating

position. So far, all we have had,

is waffle and empty rhetoric.

Business need to know. People want

to know. Even her backbenchers have

demanded to know. But it is not

clear from today's exchanges, this

government is not on the road to

Brexit, Mr Speaker, it is on the

road to nowhere.

Prime Minister.

I

think I have, I think I have

mentioned to the right honourable

gentleman before, that his job is to

ask a question. Not to, but I am

perfectly happy, I am perfectly

happy to respond to the point that

he made. He said that we have not

set out any details. Can I suggest

to him that he needs to think very

carefully about the security

partnership that we want with the

European Union when we have left? I

set out in my speech in Munich last

week, exactly what we want that

security partnership to cover,

because we believe, we believe in

ensuring that we are maintaining the

security and safety of people here

in the UK, but also of people in

Europe.

And she ended the exchanges

with this jibe.

Young normally he's said that every

week and asked me to sign a blank

check. I know he likes checks, but

really, that is terribly...

Downing Street later clarified

that the Prime Minister

was using what's commonly

known as a 'pun'.

The Health Secretary has announced

a review into the way medical

problems caused by NHS

treatments are handled.

He concentrated on three treatments.

Primados Primodos is a hormone-based

pregnancy test used in the sixties

and seventies, which,

it's claimed, led to

miscarriages and birth defects.

Sodium valproate Sodium

valproate is a drug used

to treat epilepsy which,

if taken during pregnancy,

has been linked to autism

and learning difficulties.

Mesh And vaginal mesh implants used

after complications in childbirth

which some patients complain caused

crippling side effects.

Jeremy Hunt admitted the NHS

hadn't listened to patients.

We must acknowledge that the

response to the issues from those in

authority have not always been good

enough. Sometimes, the reaction is

felt, overly focused on defending

the status quo other than addressing

the needs of patients. As a result,

patients and their families have

spent too long feeling that they

were not being listened to, making

agony of a complex medical school

situation even worse. So, today, in

addition to practical steps for each

of these three cases, it all also

setting out plans to establish a

fairer, quicker and more

compassionate way of addressing

issues when they arise.

Mr Hunt stopped short of announcing

a full public inquiry.

Young we have heard that implants

lead women in pain. This is an

ongoing public health scandal, and

we hope the Government will do much

more to support those affected. Now,

Meche has been suspended in

Scotland, and in other countries

around the world. I understand Meche

has been paused for use in case of

prolapse. Will they consider fully

suspending mashed totally while this

review is carried out?

When it comes

to mash, there is no EU country that

has banned its use, and indeed, Mr

alias and New Zealand, they have

not, in my understanding, introduced

a full band. We have taken very

clear advice. We obviously have a

responsibility to all patients and

medical advice from the chief

medical officer is very clear, that

some women do benefit from Meche, if

it is appropriately used, and so, we

are following that advice.

Several MPs were worried

about the way previous

investigations had been handled,

particularly in relation to the drug

used as a pregnancy test.

Half of my constituents, and I think

the Minister for this step in the

right direction statement. By

announcing another review, can he

reassure the House that one of these

reviews can investigate the cover-up

we know has occurred over decades of

Primodos, and if a crime has been

created, it will be dealt with.

The

difficulty in the case of Primodos,

and this is important to families

concerned, is the fact that

scientist did not agree about the

issue, and so, because of that, we

do, unfortunately, find ourselves

having to review what has happened,

and the expert working group was the

first attempt to do that. But we are

going to give them a free hand to

look at that, and any other evidence

that has come to light, and draw her

own conclusions.

One MP wasn't happy

about the Conservative peer who's

been chosen to lead the review.

Young is the Secretary concerned,

and as a director of the company,

which specialises in introducing

pharmaceutical companies into how

they can most effectively lobby

Parliament, what was that due to

victims who start off being

incredibly suspicious of ourselves

in this House and the NHS

establishment?

I do not think anyone

has a better track record than her

for campaigning for women's health

issues. She has shown in her career,

absolute willingness to take on the

establishment am a the is scientific

establishment, when she thinks it is

the right things to do. She does it

with a great deal of knowledge and a

huge amount of passion, so I have

every confidence that she will do a

good job.

You're watching Wednesday

in Parliament with me, Mandy Baker.

The Defence Secretary,

Gavin Williamson, says the world

'got caught napping' when it came

to the rising threat

from states like Russia.

Mr Williamson was making his first

appearance in front of the committee

that scrutinises the work

of his department.

He was asked about the challenges

facing world security and stability.

The Americans said that since

Christmas, the priority is potential

conflicts. The French, their top

priority is terrorism. We understand

why. Where, on that sort of scale,

where does the UK stand?

We will

probably seek to compromise. We

would highlight a state based

threats as the top priority, and at

the speed of which they are

escalating, but within a hair, it is

followed by the terrorism threat

that comes up straight after that. I

think the world got caught napping

in terms of arise of those state

based threats. We had emerged out of

a Cold War with the belief that

things were just going to get better

and better. You had one superpower

that strode across the world, and

you did not actually have any

challenge that. We are seeing that

change quite dramatically. You are

seeing the rise of the increasing

assertiveness of Russia. You have

seen that there has been a tenfold

increase in the amount of submarine

activity in the North Atlantic on

behalf of the Russians. You are

seeing the Russians being more

interested in the Mediterranean

region. Of course, their involvement

in the conflict in Syria. But then

you are seeing new nations that are

starting to play a greater role in

the world, such as China. You are

seeing the challenges that we face

in terms of North Korea.

You now see

state based threats as perhaps the

top end of your priorities. That is

a massive change from where we will

use that earlier in 2010, there was

no existential threat to the United

Kingdom. If that is the conclusion

that you have come to, which is to

some extent the conclusion that they

have recently reached in the United

States, do you accept that that has

an important consequence in both

terms of your for structure and your

readiness?

Yes it does.

We are very

pro what you do, find frustrating,

is on the one hand, we argue for

more resources for defence, but yet

we see you're in, year out examples

of major procurement programmes that

still run late or go very badly over

budget, despite being perennially

told that lessons have been learned

and picked up what went wrong last

time and so on and so forth. Can you

give us any confidence that as part

of this NDP process, you are going

to design a system which will

actually remove a lot of barriers?

The major theme for the programme,

which we have conducted, gets

precisely after that issue. It is

about can we more accurately do the

forecasting, can we make sure that

we derive more stability in the

programme, can we shorten the

process to make sure we are not

institutionally imparting delay,

which in itself drives cost growth.

Now, earlier this week

the Irish Deputy Prime Minister,

accused three leading supporters

of the UK's departure

from the European Union,

among them the Labour MP Kate Hoey,

of being 'reckless'.

The comment came after

the Brexiteers had criticised

the Good Friday Agreement,

also known as the Belfast Agreement.

Well, on Wednesday Kate Hoey

responded during a meeting

of the Northern Ireland Affairs

Committee.

If anyone says anything, and I have

said it, the best agreement could be

refreshed, saying to kill all babies

at birth, do you think it is quite

possible in Northern Ireland to be

absolutely 100% in favour of peace

and against violence and against all

the things that are spoiling

people's lives, and yet want to have

a look at how we make the

institutions in Northern Ireland

actually work better?

Did score the remember the

centrepiece.

Seemed more focused on the get out

of you

my comment had nothing to do with

Brexit. The

and I would just, the

warning right there. But the impact

that has on communities is one that

is very destabilising. And I for

one, and the people of Ireland as a

whole, will not have a Good Friday

Agreement, just to facilitate so

that is going on between... I say in

conclusion, tearing up the

agreement, it does not do us any

favours to suggest that is the case.

Well, there was an impassioned plea

for Brexit not to unravel

the Good Friday Agreement

in the Lords, from the former

Independent Reviewer

of Terrorism Legislation.

He said the Agreement

was a remarkable document,

that had had 'stunning' effects.

It has brought together in a

democratic forum, people who used to

kill each other. It has and meant

that people that used to behaving

that way have been prepared to put

aside their very sure wrongly dealt

traditions.

He was speaking at the start of ten

days of detailed debate

on the controversial EU Bill,

which, as we all know by now,

is the Bill which brings an enormous

raft of laws generated by the EU

over the past 40 years

into UK domestic law.

As in the Commons, peers have put

forward huge numbers

of suggested changes,

but it's not expected that the Lords

will vote very often,

or even at all, on the issues

at this stage.

A Conservative former

chancellor said he wanted

to speak up for leaving

the European Union customs union.

The Government, he said,

was aiming to strike a free trade

agreement with the EU:

What respect what having a

free-trade agreement leave it worse

off than it is that it is now?

He was interrupted by a Lib Dem

who pointed to Treasury forecasts

suggesting that leaving the single

market would make the UK

economy worse off.

The free trade agreement route still

needs an unbelievably damaged

country in every region, especially

in the Northeast. And virtually in

every single industry sector.

Lord Lamont wasn't

having that.

I'm not when you were persuaded by

just a piece of paper with a

statistic. What matters, noble

members, are they really going to

say that this piece of paper with a

statistic somehow analyses the

product? What we are talking about,

if the free-trade agreement, to the

noble Baroness, if you have a

free-trade agreement, Yemen access

to the market.

Lord Lamont.

And he and all the other

peers continue their work

on the EU Bill next Monday.

The Government has promised

a new immigration system.

This is the procedure EU

citizens would use to apply

for the new settled status,

which will grant those who've spent

five years in the UK equal

rights on health care,

education, benefits and pensions.

The Immigration Minister said a new,

digital system was being

designed from scratch,

and it should go live

from this autumn.

We are currently designing and

testing and working with groups to

make sure that the system is simple

and straightforward as possible. I

think that is critically important.

Must be something that needs to be

done on bone or a tablet, it has to

be something that people find

user-friendly and easy to use. You

have to design them in a

straightforward and intuitive ways

possible, and we very much hope,

that it will be going live, I think

is important to emphasise that.

Soon

after Christmas, taking a bit longer

than we thought presumably. It is a

simple question, you sort of touched

on it, but there are are some more

is less technologically literate

than others.

There will still be

those for possibilities for those

who cannot utilise it very well. I

sometimes take issue with the

slightly age assumption that those

where order cannot utilise

technology. They my parents for

example they can utilise it as well.

But we got to be mindful,

particularly, and it is important

when designing a digital system to

think of those who may have some

accessibility issues those were

vision impaired, learning

difficulties, and we know from

previous government, that if you

deny something for someone with

learning difficulties, then the

whole population finds its... I

think it is a really important

component yet to make them as

straightforward as he possibly can.

Another Labour MP had

concerns about the number

of applications.

If, as he expect it hits the

deadline, will be...

I gets very

important point, and I don't think

we should just be considering people

who cannot make an application

because the system failed, but there

may be applicants and for good

reason, have not been able to apply

within the two years due to ill

health. And so, we do not intend to

be very draconian, and obviously, if

there is a sort of problem with us

managing demand, we will have a

proportionate response. To those who

have not been able to respond within

the two years.

The Committee is also looking

into 'reciprocal arrangements',

the rights of UK citizens

who live in EU countries.

We've focused hugely on people from

the 27 coming here, and actually

there has been very little

commentary on British nationals who

choose to go over to the EU. These

are matters of the negotiations to

determine. But I think it is a

really important point and we must

focus not just on the nationals were

here, but also citizens who choose

to go overseas.

Because I have a

direct interest in this, declaring

an interest, if I may. I have three

children, grandchildren, so for

practical purposes I am very

considerable to agree with what you

just that. We need to protect them

and be suitably protective of all

those people who wish to come here

under the rules as they are.

The Committee Chair,

and long-time eurosceptic,

Sir Bill Cash, there.

Labour has said the Government must

assess the impact its economic

policies have on equality.

Speaking during a debate

on the Finance Bill which puts parts

of the budget into law,

the shadow Women and

Equalities Minister,

said the government's actions

were already having a damaging

effect on women and children.

I understand that the Prime Minister

is a little bit preoccupied. She is

a little bit we at the moment,

dealing with a very serious ransom

note at the moment. But I honestly

believe that she will not be pleased

that her legacy will be that of the

hindering of women and their life

chances. More children are homeless,

more children are homeless, or

living in temporary accommodation

that at any other time since 2007,

2008 financial crash.

A Conservative thought it would be

hard to gather the impact

information Labour wanted.

Does the minister agree with me that

to carry out these assessments, that

it would slow down government

business and that is perhaps why the

position was put in the new clause

to make it difficult for us to get

our voices through Rose

a lot of

this information is not available.

The button is not an argument for

not finding information, but some of

it is extremely difficult to

actually generate. I would as far as

my honourable friend was discussing,

is a Machiavellian plan to gum up

government processes,

And a little later,

Labour's move was defeated

by 304 votes to 265,

a government majority of 39.

Parliamentary procedure can

be a little baffling

but the government's business

managers, the whips,

are expected to know all the rules.

But spare a thought

for Kelly Tollhurst,

promoted to the job just last month

and still getting to know what's

what.

as amended in the public, to be

considered. Very good!

She won't do that again!

And that's all we've got time for.

So from me, Mandy Baker, goodbye.