Browse content similar to 05/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello and welcome to Westminster In Review, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:21 | |
our look at the last three months here at Parliament, a term dominated | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
by arguments over Brexit, a budget that backfired | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
and an unpredictable American president. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
It is the Brexit debate that has taken up the most time and stirred | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
the strongest passions. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:37 | |
And you emerge in Wonderland where suddenly countries throughout | 0:00:37 | 0:00:41 | |
the world are queueing up to give us trading advantages. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:47 | |
Once again we become a sovereign nation state in command | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
of our own destiny and I am absolutely delighted about that. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:55 | |
Embarrassment for the Chancellor, forced to drop part of his budget | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
almost as soon as he delivered it. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
It is shocking and humiliating that the Chancellor has been forced | 0:01:01 | 0:01:06 | |
to come here to reverse a key budget decision. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:12 | |
The British Prime Minister met the new US President, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:14 | |
but there was an explosive reaction from the Commons Speaker. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even | 0:01:17 | 0:01:22 | |
more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:29 | |
And there were other changes of direction as a scheme allowing | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
child refugees from Europe into the UK was suddenly stopped. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:37 | |
How does she live with herself leaving thousands of children | 0:01:37 | 0:01:41 | |
subject to disease, people trafficking, squalor? | 0:01:41 | 0:01:47 | |
What many will remember most about Westminster's spring term had | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
nothing to do with arguments over Europe. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
The ancient home of Britain's democracy was at the centre | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
of an attack for which the terror group IS claimed responsibility. | 0:01:56 | 0:02:02 | |
In the space of 90 terrifying seconds, Khalid Masood ploughed | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
killing three before storming into the precinct of Parliament. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:13 | |
He fatally stabbed a police officer, PC Keith Palmer. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:18 | |
52-year-old Masood was then shot dead by armed police. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:25 | |
The incident did not last long, but its extreme violence | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
and suddenness shocked and bewildered Parliament. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:32 | |
Order, I am now going to suspend the sitting of the house. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
This house is now suspended, but please wait here. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
For several hours MPs and parliamentary workers | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
were under lockdown. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
There has been a serious incident within the estate. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
It is clear that the advice from the police and director | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
of security is still that the chamber should | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
remain in lockdown. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
I hope the house would agree that in the current circumstances it | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
would not be right to continue with today's business. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:06 | |
The following morning the Prime Minister addressed | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
a sombre House of Commons. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
Yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
But today we meet as normal, as generations have done before us | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
and as future generations will continue to do, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
to deliver a simple message. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
We are not afraid. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
And our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
Mr Speaker, yesterday we saw the worst of humanity, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
but we will remember the best. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
We will remember the extraordinary efforts to save the life of PC | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
Keith Palmer, including those by my right honourable friend | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
the member for Bournemouth East. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:50 | |
And we will remember the exceptional bravery of our police, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
security and emergency services. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
And as the Prime Minister said, when dangerous and violent incidents | 0:03:56 | 0:04:00 | |
take place we all instinctively run away from them for our own safety. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:05 | |
The police and emergency services run towards them. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:09 | |
We are grateful for the public servants yesterday, today and every | 0:04:09 | 0:04:14 | |
day that they pull on their uniforms to protect us all. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
This democracy is strong and this parliament is robust. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
This was an horrific crime, but as an act | 0:04:22 | 0:04:25 | |
of terror it has failed. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
Hear, hear. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
Those who attacked us hate our freedom, our peaceful democracy, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
our love of country, our tolerance, our | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
openness and our unity. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
As we work to unravel how this unspeakable attack happened, | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
would she agree with me that we must not, either in our laws or by our | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
actions, curtail these values? | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
Indeed we should have more of them. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
One man cannot shut down the city and one man | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
cannot lockdown democracy. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
No terrorist outrage is representative of any faith | 0:05:00 | 0:05:05 | |
or of any faith community and we recommit ourselves | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
to strengthening the bonds of tolerance and understanding. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:13 | |
This attacker and people like him are not of my religion, | 0:05:13 | 0:05:16 | |
nor are they of our community and we should condemn all of them | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
who pretend to be of a particular religion because they are not | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
of a religion. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:24 | |
If they were of a religion, they would not be carrying | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
out acts like this. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:28 | |
We have to stay united and show them that they cannot win on these | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
grounds and we are here to stay. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
One MP thought it surprising Westminster hadn't | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
been attacked before. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
Those of us who are privy to the information and background | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
of these matters know very well that it has been little short | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
of a miracle that over the course of the last few years we have | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
escaped so lightly from the evil that is I am afraid present | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
in our society and manifests itself in the senseless, hideous acts | 0:05:57 | 0:06:02 | |
of violence and evil. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
Reaction also in the House of Lords. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
Where we do what is right, where we behave properly, | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
where that generosity and extraordinary sense of duty that | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
leads people to treat a terrorist in shame, | 0:06:16 | 0:06:21 | |
where that bravery of somebody like PC Keith Palmer is demonstrated, | 0:06:21 | 0:06:26 | |
that there is a victory for what is right and good over | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
what is evil, despairing and bad. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:35 | |
When the roads were reopened around Westminster, the public were quick | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
to place flowers as a tribute to those who had been killed | 0:06:37 | 0:06:42 | |
and the tributes continued to grow in the succeeding days. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:49 | |
Undoubtedly the biggest day-to-day political story | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
of the term was Brexit. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
Oddly, though, at the start of the year politicians were not | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
where the focus lay. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
The ten men and one woman who make up the UK's Supreme Court | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
were the centre of attention. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
They were deciding if Parliament should pass an act to start | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
the process of the UK leaving the EU, or could it be done by prime | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
ministerial edict alone? | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
Strangely the case was not brought by a politician, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
but by a businesswoman, Gina Miller, who was | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
a Remain supporter. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
For five days the country had been enthralled by the court hearing | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
with the politicians looking on anxiously whichever | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
side they backed. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
Some saw it as a debate over the entire governance of Britain. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
Finally on January the 24th, the president of the Supreme Court | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
announced its judgment. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:41 | |
Today by a majority of 8-3 the Supreme Court ruled | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
Parliament authorising it to do so. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
Less than a week later a bill was drawn up | 0:07:53 | 0:07:55 | |
notable for its brevity. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
It was just 170 words long. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
Its title, The EU Notification of Withdrawal Bill. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
It was there to enforce the outcome of last summer's referendum | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
when the British people voted in favour of EU withdrawal. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
Now it is universally known as Brexit. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
But what sort of Brexit would it be? | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
Are we going to get a detailed plan, Prime Minister? | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
How far from the tentacles of the European Union did | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
Britain want to get? | 0:08:24 | 0:08:25 | |
Prime Minister Theresa May left no one in any doubt | 0:08:25 | 0:08:28 | |
with a speech in mid-January. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
But I want to be clear. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the single market. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
I am equally clear that no deal for Britain is better | 0:08:37 | 0:08:41 | |
than a bad deal for Britain. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:46 | |
Although Brexit supporting politicians hadn't wanted any bill, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
fearing it was really about vetoing the referendum result, a mass of MPs | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
still piled into the Commons for the Brexit Bill's first debate. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
At the core of this bill lies a very simple question. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:03 | |
Do we trust the people or not? | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
Above all it is our duty to ensure an outcome that is not just | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
for the 52% or the 48%, but for the 100%. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
This is a big deal. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
You are not just divvying up the Nana Mouskouri records | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
here or divvying up the bargain box set, where this has an impact | 0:09:20 | 0:09:25 | |
on each and every one of us. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
The British people did not vote to make themselves poorer by pulling | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
ourselves out of the greatest free trading single market | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
the world has ever seen. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
A veteran pro-European thought the Brexiteers were living | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
in the world of Lewis Carroll in how they saw the UK's future | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
trading prospects. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
Apparently you follow the rabbit down the hole and you emerge | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
in Wonderland where suddenly countries throughout the world | 0:09:48 | 0:09:53 | |
are queueing up to give us trading advantages and access | 0:09:53 | 0:10:00 | |
to their markets that previously we have never been able to achieve. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
I do want the best outcome for the United Kingdom | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
from this process. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
No doubt somewhere there is a Hatter holding a tea party | 0:10:09 | 0:10:13 | |
with a dormouse with a teacup. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:19 | |
We need success in these trading negotiations to recoup | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
at least some of the losses which we are going to incur | 0:10:23 | 0:10:28 | |
from leaving the single market. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:33 | |
For me this referendum was a massive, peaceful revolution | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
by consent of historic proportions. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
This bill at last endorses that revolution. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:46 | |
I feel I would be abandoning my duty to my constituents who have | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
overwhelmingly and unwaveringly made their point that they do not | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
want to leave the European Union. | 0:10:54 | 0:11:02 | |
I campaigned like others on this side for Remain but I accept | 0:11:02 | 0:11:02 | |
the democratic vote and I think we should allow the Article 50 | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
notice to be triggered. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
This is the moment we begin to take back control of our laws, | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
our borders and our money. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
Once again we become a sovereign nation state in command | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
of our own destiny and I am absolutely delighted about that. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:19 | |
For Labour these were difficult times. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:22 | |
Most of their northern MPs had supporters back | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
in their constituencies who voted in their thousands to leave the EU. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
History has its eyes on us today so here is my answer. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
I can no more vote for this than I can vote against my conscience. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
I can no more vote for this because it is against my values. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
I can no more vote for this than I can vote against my own DNA. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:44 | |
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, had imposed a three-line whip. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
Labour MPs had to back the government and vote for the bill. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:51 | |
That meant a handful of resignations within Labour's shadow team. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:55 | |
For the shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, it meant | 0:11:55 | 0:12:03 | |
a dubious absence from the Commons voting lobbies. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
The following week, the Brexit Bill went through all its stages | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
with no alterations. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:09 | |
One Conservative Remain supporter saw her fervent Brexiteer party | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
colleagues in a less than favourable way. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
I feel sometimes I am sitting along with colleagues who are like jihadis | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
in their support for a hard Brexit. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
No Brexit is hard enough, be gone, you evil Europeans, we never want | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
you to darken our doors again. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
I am afraid I heard speeches last week exactly making that point. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:32 | |
As the bill passed through the Commons the pro-EU SNP claimed | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
it had all been done in a rush. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:38 | |
The government's refusal to accept a single amendment means | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
there will be no report stage. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
The programme motion means there is no debate on third reading. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
I am informed by the library that the last time that combination | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
happened was the Defence of the Realm Act of 1914 | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
which was about the First World War. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:57 | |
For this to happen in any bill would be an abuse. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
To happen on this bill is an outrage. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
What is it about the procedures of this place that allow a bill | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
of this constitutional significance to be railroaded through in this | 0:13:07 | 0:13:09 | |
disgraceful fashion? | 0:13:09 | 0:13:14 | |
When the result was declared there was no doubt about | 0:13:14 | 0:13:16 | |
the government's victory. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:17 | |
The ayes to the right 494, the noes to the left, 122. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:27 | |
There was a curious footnote. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:35 | |
While waiting for the vote, the SNP MPs struck a defiant musical | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
note in the chamber, perhaps like the band playing | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
on as the Titanic sank. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
The SNP sang the European anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:50 | |
Order, order. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
Until they were told to stop. | 0:13:52 | 0:14:09 | |
Order! | 0:14:09 | 0:14:10 | |
Huge political change wasn't confined to Europe. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
On January 20th, Donald Trump was sworn in as 45th president | 0:14:12 | 0:14:12 | |
of the United States of America. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:14 | |
I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear... | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
So who would be the first British politician to meet the new top dog? | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
The Prime Minister? | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
The Foreign Secretary? | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
No, it was this man, Nigel Farage of Ukip, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
the man credited in some quarters at least for achieving Brexit. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
When news emerged that Theresa May would be | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
going to meet the new president, the Labour leader thought some | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
plain talking was needed. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
How confident is she of getting a good deal for global Britain | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
from a president who wants to put America first, buy American | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
and build a wall between his country and Mexico? | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
I am not afraid to speak frankly to a president of the United States. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:50 | |
I am able to do that because we have that special relationship, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
a special relationship that he would never have | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
with the United States. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
President Trump produced a series of executive orders, | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
the most controversial being his intended ban | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
on people travelling to the United States from certain | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
countries, mainly Muslim. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:11 | |
The Home Secretary was asked to comment. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
Do you disagree with Trump's ban? | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
Yes, and I support the position the government has taken - | 0:15:18 | 0:15:23 | |
the Foreign Secretary spelt out that it is divisive and wrong. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
When Theresa May visited President Trump in Washington | 0:15:27 | 0:15:31 | |
at the end of January, not everyone was convinced that | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
handholding within sight of TV cameras at the White House | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
was a wise move. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:40 | |
The Prime Minister said the new president was welcome | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
to come to Britain this year for a state visit. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
A protest petition sprang up. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:48 | |
He has threatened to dump international agreements | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
on climate change. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:51 | |
He's praised the use of torture. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
He's incited hatred against Muslims. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
He's directly attacked women's rights. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:01 | |
Just what more does President Trump have to do before the Prime Minister | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
will listen to the 1.8 million people who have already | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
called for his state visit invitation to be withdrawn? | 0:16:06 | 0:16:16 | |
The right honourable gentleman's foreign policy is to object | 0:16:21 | 0:16:25 | |
to and insult the democratically-elected head of state | 0:16:25 | 0:16:27 | |
of our most important ally. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:28 | |
The arguments over President Trump's visit also had lighter moments. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:38 | |
Given the Foreign Secretary once famously declared that he wouldn't | 0:16:38 | 0:16:43 | |
go to New York in case he was mistaken for Mr Trump, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
is there any chance that President Trump will not come | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
to London on a state visit in case he is mistaken | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
for the Foreign Secretary? | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
I am embarrassed to tell you, Mr Speaker, that not only... | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
I think I was mistaken for Mr Trump in Newcastle, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
which rather took me back. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:00 | |
But also in New York. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:06 | |
A very humbling experience it was, as you can imagine. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:13 | |
I can't tell you who was the exact progenitor of the excellent idea | 0:17:13 | 0:17:19 | |
to accord an invitation to the president to | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
come on a state visit but the invitation has been issued. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
I think it is a wholly appropriate thing. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:27 | |
And what about President Trump coming to Parliament? | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
The Commons Speaker said an address to MPs and peers by a foreign leader | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
was not an automatic right. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
He spoke about the President's intended travel ban. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:40 | |
Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
strongly opposed to an address by President Trump | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
in Westminster Hall. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:52 | |
After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
in Westminster Hall. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:07 | |
We value our relationship with the United States. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:12 | |
If a state visit takes place, that is way beyond and above the pay | 0:18:12 | 0:18:16 | |
grade of the Speaker. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
However, as far as this place is concerned, I feel very strongly | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
that our opposition to racism and to sexism, and our support | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
for equality before the law and an independent judiciary | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:37 | |
APPLAUSE. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
Two words: well done. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
We shouldn't have clapping in the chamber but sometimes it's | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
easier just to let it go on than to make a huge fuss about it. | 0:18:54 | 0:19:02 | |
It'd been a remarkably strong intervention by John Bercow. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
I asked the BBC's political reporter, Iain Watson, | 0:19:04 | 0:19:06 | |
how surprising it was to hear a Speaker so forthright | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
in the Commons. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:12 | |
It was very surprising. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:13 | |
It's not something you would expect in Parliament. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
You would expect people to abide by certain conventions, | 0:19:15 | 0:19:25 | |
a certain degree of diplomacy, certainly by the historic | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
role of the Speaker. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
That was surprising and it certainly surprised me. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:31 | |
It wouldn't be Westminster if we didn't have conspiracy theories, | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
gossip and all the rest of it. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:36 | |
Some people were suggesting that what John Bercow was trying to do | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
was trying to maintain his role as Speaker for a few more years yet | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
by saying something that would please the opposition benches | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
- Labour, Liberal Democrat, the Scottish nationals - | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
people who are not at all keen on Donald Trump and his message. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
So to some extent he was getting them onside. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
But it was interesting that a Conservative MP soon afterwards, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
James Duddridge, tried to get a motion of no confidence | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
in the Speaker. | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
So rather than elongating his time in that prestigious chair, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
it looked as though, for a short amount of time, that he | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
might actually be out. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
But then it transpired that there was not really much | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
support for that after all. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:10 | |
So in fact he seems to have got away with what was a very robust | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
denunciation of a foreign leader, and certainly what he succeeded | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
in was preventing, whatever else happens with Donald Trump, | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
preventing him from having the same honour as President Obama | 0:20:18 | 0:20:20 | |
and addressing MPs in Westminster Hall. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:30 | |
Economic austerity has remained in place in the first months of 2017 | 0:20:31 | 0:20:36 | |
and looks set to stay for the rest of this Parliament. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
Cuts continued across all areas of spending, | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
including local councils. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:43 | |
Perhaps the most human effect of the squeeze was in the area | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
of caring for the elderly. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
With people living longer, the cost of social care looks | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
set to keep on rising. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
So how can things change? | 0:20:51 | 0:20:53 | |
At a committee session, a minister suggested the way forward | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
lay with sons and daughters. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:01 | |
I wonder how you plan to fund social care to keep pace | 0:21:01 | 0:21:06 | |
with those growing numbers. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:10 | |
Nobody ever questions the fact that we look after our children. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
That's just obvious. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
Nobody say it's a caring responsibility - | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
it's just what you do. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:21 | |
I think some of that logic and some of the way that we think about that | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
in terms of the sort of volume of numbers that we see | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
coming down the track, will have to impinge on the way | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
that we start thinking about how we look after our | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
parents. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
Because in a way, it is a responsibility - | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
in terms of our life-cycle, it's similar. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
So should we all be paying for rising social care costs | 0:21:40 | 0:21:43 | |
by shelling out more in our council tax? | 0:21:43 | 0:21:44 | |
A big rise in the tax in Surrey was suddenly called off, | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
leading to speculation that a secret deal had been done | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
between the government and the local council. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:51 | |
After all, Surrey is well represented in the Cabinet. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
Information had fallen into the lap of the Labour leader. | 0:21:54 | 0:22:03 | |
I have been leaked copies of texts sent by the Tory | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
leader, David Hodge, intended for somebody called Nick, | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
who works for ministers in the Department for Communities | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
and Local Government. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
And these text read: "I am advised that DCLG officials have been | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
working on a solution and that you will be | 0:22:17 | 0:22:22 | |
contacting me to agree a memorandum of understanding." | 0:22:22 | 0:22:26 | |
Will the government now publish this memorandum of understanding? | 0:22:26 | 0:22:36 | |
What the Labour Party fails to understand is that this is not | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
just a question of looking at money, it is a question of looking | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
at spreading best practice and finding a sustainable solution. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
And I have to say to him that if we look at social care | 0:22:50 | 0:22:54 | |
provision across the entire country, the last thing social care | 0:22:54 | 0:22:56 | |
providers need is another one of Labour's bouncing cheques. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:01 | |
Saving for a rainy day, Chancellor? | 0:23:01 | 0:23:03 | |
So could the Chancellor help with cheques that didn't bounce? | 0:23:03 | 0:23:11 | |
March 8th was budget day. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:12 | |
Time for Philip Hammond, doing his first budget, | 0:23:12 | 0:23:14 | |
to parade the familiar red box. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
Grinning and bearing it, Chancellor? | 0:23:16 | 0:23:17 | |
We already knew that the budget was going to be moved | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
from the spring to the autumn. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
In the Commons, Mr Hammond went into reflective mode, | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
recalling the last time a Chancellor presented a final spring budget. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:28 | |
24 years ago, Norman Lamont also presented what was billed them | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
as the last spring budget. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
He reported on an economy that was growing faster | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
than any other in the G7 and he committed to continued | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
restraint in public spending. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:44 | |
The then-Prime Minister described it as the right budget at the right | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
time from the right Chancellor. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
What they failed to remind me, Mr Deputy Speaker, was that ten | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
weeks later he was sacked - so wish me luck today. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:59 | |
The joke would come back to bite Mr Hammond. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:03 | |
He failed to spot the massive trouble that lay ahead. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:07 | |
For those worried about the social care crisis, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
the Chancellor had some good news. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
So today, Mr Deputy Speaker, I am committing additional grant | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
funding of ?2 billion for social care in England over | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
the next three years. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:26 | |
But someone's to pay for that ?2 billion injection | 0:24:26 | 0:24:28 | |
and that is where Mr Hammond's budget went seriously wrong. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:30 | |
He explained why self-employed workers, including Britain's army | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
of tradesmen in their distinctive white vans, were going to pay more | 0:24:34 | 0:24:38 | |
tax in the form of higher national insurance contributions or NICs. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:47 | |
Employed and self-employed alike use our public | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
services in the same way. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:50 | |
But they are not paying for them in the same way. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
The lower national insurance paid by the self-employed is forecast | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
to cost our public finances over ?5 billion this year alone. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
This is not fair to the 85% of workers who are employees. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
To be able to support our public services in this budget, | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
and to improve the fairness of the tax system, I will act | 0:25:04 | 0:25:06 | |
to reduce the gap to better reflect the current differences | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
in state benefits. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:19 | |
It was a disastrous move, as the Scottish Nationalists soon spotted. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
We've seen a scandalous attack on aspiration, | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
on the self-employed, taxing them more, changes to NICs, | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
?4.2 billion or so from people. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:42 | |
The 'party of aspiration' taxing those self-employed | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
putting in active, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
real, hard disincentives to starting businesses, to employ people, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:52 | |
for stepping out on one's own. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:53 | |
I think that is a decision which will come back | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
to haunt this Chancellor. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:56 | |
The next day's headlines were not good news for the Chancellor. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
There were stories of a massive falling out in numbers | 0:25:59 | 0:26:07 | |
10 and 11 Downing St between Prime Minister | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
and Chancellor. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:10 | |
Then, in an embarrassing U-turn, Philip Hammond dropped | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
the national insurance rise, and he did it in the Commons, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:14 | |
to the undisguised glee of the opposition. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
Since the budget, Parliamentary colleagues and others have | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
questioned whether the proposed increase in class 4 contributions... | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
JEERING. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:22 | |
..have questioned whether the proposed increase in class 4 | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
contributions is compatible with the tax lock commitments made | 0:26:24 | 0:26:26 | |
in our 2015 manifesto. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:36 | |
The Chancellor said a 2015 act made clear the government's | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
tax lock applied only to some self-employed people. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:41 | |
It is clear from discussions with colleagues over the last few | 0:26:41 | 0:26:48 | |
days that this legislative test of the manifesto commitment does | 0:26:48 | 0:26:52 | |
not meet... | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
..Mr Speaker, does not meet a wider understanding | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
of the spirit of that commitment. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
LAUGHTER. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
Mr Speaker, it is very important, both to me and to my | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
right honourable friend, the Prime Minister, that we comply | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
not just with the letter, but also the spirit of the commitments | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
that were made. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:18 | |
This is chaos. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:19 | |
LAUGHTER. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:21 | |
It is shocking and humiliating that the Chancellor has been forced, | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
forced to come here to reverse a key budget decision announced | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
less than a week ago. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:33 | |
If the Chancellor had spent less time writing stale | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
jokes for his speech and the Prime Minister less time | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
guffawing like a feeding seal on those benches, | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
we would not be landed this mess. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:48 | |
Let's be clear, let's be clear. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
This was a ?2 billion tax hike for many middle and lower earners. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:57 | |
Loyal conservatives had initially supported the Chancellor's tax rise, | 0:27:57 | 0:28:06 | |
so the about turn had caused one loyal Tory, a New Forest MP, | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
a spot of embarrassment. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:10 | |
I'm in some difficulty because my article robustly | 0:28:10 | 0:28:12 | |
supporting the Chancellor's early policy in the Forest Journal | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
is already with the printer. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:25 | |
LAUGHTER. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:27 | |
And I just... | 0:28:27 | 0:28:28 | |
Having been persuaded of the correctness of the course | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
that he is now following, I merely needed an opportunity | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
in which to recant. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:37 | |
I asked Iain Watson how bad relations between Prime Minister | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
and Chancellor have got in the days following the budget. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:47 | |
I suppose if you're doing the scale of disagreements between, | 0:28:47 | 0:28:49 | |
say Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, it'd be at ten. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
Between David Cameron and George Osborne, publicly - | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
their predecessors - that'd probably be around one | 0:28:54 | 0:28:56 | |
or two on the scale. | 0:28:56 | 0:28:57 | |
This was certainly above five, I would say. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:03 | |
There were briefings from either side, none of these, | 0:29:03 | 0:29:05 | |
of course, were official. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:06 | |
Friends of the Prime Minister, friends of the Chancellor, | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
there were suggestions that the Chancellor found some | 0:29:08 | 0:29:10 | |
people in Downing Street, some people working | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
with the Prime Minister, to be economically illiterate. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
There was also a view from Downing Street that the Cabinet | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
had not been fully informed of what he intended to do | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
on national insurance, and just to underline how serious | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
that was, this wasn't simply about some people paying a bit more | 0:29:21 | 0:29:24 | |
in what is effectively a tax, it was breaching a Conservative | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
manifesto commitment. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:32 | |
That is what has caused the problems and Downing Street looked as though | 0:29:32 | 0:29:35 | |
they were trying to distance themselves from that very swiftly. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:37 | |
If I was a wealthy investor, should I be buying shares | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
in Philip Hammond? | 0:29:40 | 0:29:41 | |
I think in the short term, you probably should actually, | 0:29:41 | 0:29:47 | |
because, and this will pop up time and again, and we have | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
to use the B-word, Brexit, what Theresa May does not want to do | 0:29:50 | 0:29:53 | |
is create any impression of instability, just as very crucial | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
negotiations have to begin within the European Union. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:57 | |
To lose our Chancellor would be unfortunate, | 0:29:57 | 0:30:01 | |
to say the least. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:03 | |
And I think losing anyone else from the Cabinet | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
would look like carelessness. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:06 | |
So therefore she wants to hold on to the people | 0:30:06 | 0:30:10 | |
in the key positions, even if he made a bit of a mistake. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:15 | |
I think what we had was really a private rapping of the knuckles. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
I think he will stay in place during the Brexit process. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
In the longer term, if you're going to say "Is he going to be | 0:30:21 | 0:30:24 | |
Chancellor again at the time of the next General Election | 0:30:24 | 0:30:26 | |
or beyond?", I think perhaps she might be thinking of another | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
potential role for him by them. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
Just as one of Philip Hammond's main budget policies turned to ashes, | 0:30:32 | 0:30:34 | |
there was another burning issue elsewhere in the UK that caused | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
a political impasse. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:38 | |
With unexpected speed the Northern Ireland Assembly in | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
Belfast came to an end in January. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
Part of the reason was a row over a green energy scheme that had cost | 0:30:42 | 0:30:46 | |
millions of pounds in public money. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:47 | |
When the Northern Ireland first Minister, Arlene Foster | 0:30:47 | 0:30:49 | |
of the DUP, didn't stand down because of the scandal, | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
the Deputy first Minister, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, | 0:30:52 | 0:30:56 | |
did resign, meaning the assembly couldn't continue. | 0:30:56 | 0:31:00 | |
Mr McGuinness was known to be in declining health. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
His death was announced on March the 21st. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:07 | |
The elections for a new Stormont Assembly produced | 0:31:07 | 0:31:11 | |
a remarkable result. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:13 | |
Sinn Fein won 27 seats, one behind the Democratic Unionist | 0:31:13 | 0:31:16 | |
tally of 28 seats. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:19 | |
For the first time the Unionists did not have a majority on the assembly. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:23 | |
Talks began on power-sharing, but several weeks later | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
the future of devolution in Northern Ireland | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
looked uncertain. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
Voting in other parts of the UK was meanwhile producing some | 0:31:31 | 0:31:35 | |
traditional by-election excitement. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:37 | |
A one-time member of the Shadow Cabinet, Tristram Hunt, | 0:31:37 | 0:31:39 | |
announced he was leaving Parliament and taking up a top | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
job at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:46 | |
It meant a by-election in Stoke-on-Trent Central. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:50 | |
The Ukip candidate was its newly elected leader, Paul Nuttall, | 0:31:50 | 0:31:54 | |
but when stories emerged that he had been making some exaggerated | 0:31:54 | 0:31:59 | |
claims about his past, Mr Nuttall's campaign ran | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
out of steam. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
Stoke Central was retained for Labour. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:06 | |
200 miles further north in scenic West Cumbria, | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
it was a different story when Trudy Harrison gained Copeland | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
for the Conservatives. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:15 | |
Will the member wishing to take her seat please come to the table. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:20 | |
It was the first time in 35 years that a governing party had | 0:32:20 | 0:32:23 | |
made a by-election gain. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:28 | |
Trudy Harrison enjoyed a rapturous welcome | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
into the Commons chamber a few days later. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
CHEERING. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:39 | |
But what about the reasons for the by-elections? | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
I asked Ian Watson why two Labour MPs had simply walked | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
away from Westminster. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
One thing that united the pair of them, they were basically | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
Blairite if you like, they were people who were not | 0:32:49 | 0:32:51 | |
regarded as modernisers within the Labour Party, | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
in the not too distant past people who were seen | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
as ministerial material. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:56 | |
In fact Tristram Hunt was even seen as a potential Labour leader at one | 0:32:56 | 0:33:00 | |
stage and considered standing in the leadership election | 0:33:00 | 0:33:02 | |
after the 2015 general election. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
But I think from private conversations I had with one of them | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
there was a feeling they wanted to put Jeremy Corbyn to the test. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:10 | |
He was saying effectively that in some other electoral tests Labour | 0:33:10 | 0:33:15 | |
was never expected to win certain by-elections where Conservatives | 0:33:15 | 0:33:19 | |
were up against Liberal Democrats. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
They were saying, here is two Labour seats. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
If your left-wing brand of Labour politics is really going to triumph, | 0:33:25 | 0:33:32 | |
you should win in those seats. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:34 | |
What actually happened of course is Labour lost Copeland rather | 0:33:34 | 0:33:37 | |
disastrously and even had a fall in share of the vote in Stoke | 0:33:37 | 0:33:42 | |
at a time when usually governments are losing votes | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
and losing seats midterm. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:46 | |
There has been a lot of talk of coup attempts | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
and manoeuvrings by the Unite union. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:49 | |
What is going on? | 0:33:49 | 0:33:51 | |
What I think we have is a kind of proxy coup going | 0:33:51 | 0:33:54 | |
on if you like in the Unite union. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
It is the country's largest union, it is also the biggest single donor | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
to the Labour Party. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:00 | |
It is currently run by an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, Len McCluskey, | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
who is up for re-election at the moment. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
He has given money directly to Jeremy Corbyn's re-election | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
campaign, so not just giving money to the party, but to someone | 0:34:07 | 0:34:10 | |
he believes will keep the party on the left of British politics, | 0:34:10 | 0:34:14 | |
some would say the far left of British politics. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:18 | |
At the moment Labour is somewhere in the region of 19-20 points behind | 0:34:18 | 0:34:21 | |
the Conservatives in the polls and those who oppose | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
Jeremy Corbyn within the party and here at Westminster believe | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
the only way Labour can recover, it would be a huge job to do, | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
but the only way it can recover is by first removing | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
an unpopular leader. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:35 | |
Their way of doing that is to try to remove another leader, | 0:34:35 | 0:34:37 | |
a leader of a trade union who is seen as his bulwark his | 0:34:37 | 0:34:41 | |
funder and his greatest supporter. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
Westminster's committees had another good time, | 0:34:44 | 0:34:51 | |
Westminster's committees had another good term, | 0:34:51 | 0:34:52 | |
probing deeper into issues and shedding new light | 0:34:52 | 0:35:09 | |
on national scandals. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:10 | |
Some big reputations took a hammering. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:12 | |
The credibility of Britain's speed cyclists was hanging by a thread | 0:35:12 | 0:35:12 | |
when hearings continued into the doping allegations that | 0:35:12 | 0:35:12 | |
have surrounded the sport. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:13 | |
Damning evidence was given about the absence of any record | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
keeping into exactly what was given to riders and when it was given. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
The extent of our investigation is confined to this particular race | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
for which there are zero records by Doctor Freeman. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
What excuse has British Cycling given to you for this woeful | 0:35:24 | 0:35:26 | |
lack of record-keeping? | 0:35:26 | 0:35:27 | |
We haven't had an excuse from them. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
There is just an acknowledgement that there was no | 0:35:29 | 0:35:31 | |
policy and no records. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:32 | |
That's it. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:33 | |
And the same for Team Sky as well? | 0:35:33 | 0:35:35 | |
Team Sky did have a policy, it is just that not everybody | 0:35:35 | 0:35:38 | |
was adhering to it. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:40 | |
There was a pasting too for the Internet giants Google, | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
Facebook and Twitter. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
MPs on the Home Affairs Committee accused them of doing too little | 0:35:44 | 0:35:47 | |
to remove online content that was either objectionable, | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
exploitative or racist. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
You are providing a platform which has acted as a moneymaking | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
machine for the peddlers of hate, extremism, supporters of ISIS, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:02 | |
for supporters of neo-Nazi groups. | 0:36:02 | 0:36:07 | |
That is happening on your platform and the way | 0:36:07 | 0:36:09 | |
in which you are prevaricating and dancing around | 0:36:09 | 0:36:12 | |
this is disturbing. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
If I am honest with you, Mr Barron, all you need to do is say, "Yes, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
that has happened and this is what we are doing." | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
We have no interest in making money from that. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:24 | |
It has happened, we work very hard to make sure that doesn't happen | 0:36:24 | 0:36:28 | |
and we work with advertisers to give us more transparency so they do not | 0:36:28 | 0:36:33 | |
appear next to political content but it is worth pointing out that | 0:36:33 | 0:36:41 | |
some of the videos you are referring to were not those that | 0:36:41 | 0:36:44 | |
break our guidelines. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:45 | |
There are not many business activities where somebody openly | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
would come and give evidence to this committee and have to admit, | 0:36:47 | 0:36:50 | |
no matter how many times they danced around, have to admit | 0:36:50 | 0:36:55 | |
that they are making money and people who use their platform | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
are making money out of hate. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
That is happening on your platform. | 0:37:01 | 0:37:03 | |
We never want to make money out of hate. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:05 | |
You as an outfit, you are not working nearly hard | 0:37:05 | 0:37:08 | |
enough to deal with this. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:12 | |
We are looking very hard in this area. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
Does the Prime Minister know what she is doing? | 0:37:15 | 0:37:17 | |
Also getting the Westminster committee treatment was, | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
yes, the Brexit process. | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
MPs grilled this man, Sir Ivan Rogers, who resigned | 0:37:21 | 0:37:24 | |
as Britain's ambassador to the European Union | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
in January, claiming ministers were suffering muddled thinking. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:31 | |
It is a negotiation on the scale that we haven't experienced | 0:37:31 | 0:37:34 | |
probably ever, but certainly since the Second World War. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:40 | |
This is going to be on a humongous scale. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
We are going to have enormous amounts of business running up | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
various different channels and they involve difficult | 0:37:46 | 0:37:50 | |
trade-offs for her Majesty's government and different trade-offs | 0:37:50 | 0:37:58 | |
trade-offs for her Majesty's government and difficult trade-offs | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
for the other 27 on the other side of the table. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:12 | |
A month later the minister known as the Brexit Secretary gave some | 0:38:12 | 0:38:12 | |
remarkably frank views about whether Britain | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
had a plan B if no deal with the EU was ever reached. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:17 | |
Can you tell the committee whether the government has | 0:38:17 | 0:38:17 | |
undertaken an economic assessment of the implications for the British | 0:38:17 | 0:38:17 | |
economy and for British businesses of there being no deal? | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
Well, in May an estimate during the Leave campaign, | 0:38:20 | 0:38:24 | |
during the referendum campaign, I think one of the issues that has | 0:38:24 | 0:38:28 | |
arisen is those forecasts do not appear to have been very | 0:38:28 | 0:38:30 | |
robust since then. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:36 | |
Not since then? | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
Under my time, no. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
So you are saying there has been no further assessment | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
of the implications of no deal at all since before the referendum? | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
Is that correct? | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
No, that's not correct. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
You are putting words in my mouth. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:51 | |
No, no. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:52 | |
Yes, you are. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
One of the difficulties about your sort of style of yes, | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
no answers and questions is you don't deal with what we can | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
do to mitigate and much of this is about mitigation. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
Any forecast that you make, any forecast that you make depends | 0:39:02 | 0:39:04 | |
on the mitigation you undertake. | 0:39:04 | 0:39:08 | |
David Davis was one of several Cabinet ministers to look | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
in on the House of Lords from time to time. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
The Prime Minister was watching as well. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:15 | |
The reason? | 0:39:15 | 0:39:16 | |
The passage of the Brexit Bill in the upper house. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
A record 184 members of the Lords spoke in the initial two-day debate. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:25 | |
But the real drama came in the following two weeks. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
The government suffered two heavy defeats on the bill | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
at the hands of their Lordships. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:35 | |
Firstly, peers wanted guarantees to be given to EU nationals living | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
and working in the UK. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:42 | |
We have over 3 million people living in this country | 0:39:42 | 0:39:44 | |
who are European Union nationals. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
But it is not just them who are experiencing anguish, | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
it is also their family members, their employers. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
These people are not bargaining chips, they actually... | 0:39:52 | 0:39:57 | |
If we say quite freely that they are free to stay, | 0:39:57 | 0:40:00 | |
that actually does give the moral high ground to our government | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
and its negotiations. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
It is quite clear to everyone in this house that there is no | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
chance parliament would approve the expulsion of EU citizens legally | 0:40:09 | 0:40:13 | |
resident in this country. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
No way. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:18 | |
I think that the government ought to accept that the weight | 0:40:18 | 0:40:23 | |
of opinion is in favour of that unilateral guarantee. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:28 | |
Why is everybody here today so excited about an amendment | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
which looks after the foreigners and not the British? | 0:40:31 | 0:40:38 | |
My Lords, this is a matter of principle. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
It is a simple matter of principle, of being prepared to do the right | 0:40:41 | 0:40:46 | |
thing because it is the right thing, and being prepared to say so. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:51 | |
These amendments are at the wrong time in the wrong bill on the wrong | 0:40:51 | 0:40:55 | |
subject and we should support the rights of British | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
citizens living in Europe. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:02 | |
Peers voted for the guarantee for EU workers. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
A week after that another riposte for the government. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:12 | |
A week after that another reverse for the government. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:14 | |
Peers demanded a meaningful parliamentary vote in two years' | 0:41:14 | 0:41:17 | |
time on the final EU exit deal. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:19 | |
My Lords, the essence of this amendment is very clear, | 0:41:19 | 0:41:21 | |
it has been clear from the start. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
It simply seeks to ensure that Parliament and not ministers have | 0:41:23 | 0:41:26 | |
control over the terms of our withdrawal at the end | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
of the negotiating process. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:33 | |
We now face the most momentous, peace time decision of our time | 0:41:33 | 0:41:38 | |
and this amendment, as my noble lord has so clearly set out, secures | 0:41:38 | 0:41:42 | |
in law the government's commitment, already made to another place, | 0:41:42 | 0:41:49 | |
to ensure that Parliament is the ultimate custodian | 0:41:49 | 0:41:54 | |
of our national sovereignty. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
So we get to the final hour at midnight when the deal has been | 0:41:57 | 0:42:00 | |
done and the Prime Minister says, "Hang on a second, I can't agree | 0:42:00 | 0:42:03 | |
a deal, I've got to go and consult the House of Commons." | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
It is ridiculous. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
Can it honestly be imagined that if one or other house, | 0:42:08 | 0:42:11 | |
whether it is approval or an act of Parliament, goes back | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
to Europe in just under two years' time and says, | 0:42:14 | 0:42:16 | |
"We don't like the deal," that the other 27 will say, "Oh, | 0:42:16 | 0:42:20 | |
dear, here is a much better one?" | 0:42:20 | 0:42:23 | |
I ask your Lordships to rest on the long contested principle | 0:42:23 | 0:42:28 | |
that this country's future should rest with Parliament | 0:42:28 | 0:42:32 | |
and not with ministers. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:35 | |
And it is in that spirit that I commend this new clause | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
to your Lordships' house. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:42 | |
The government cannot possibly accept an amendment | 0:42:42 | 0:42:45 | |
which is so unclear on an issue of this importance on what the Prime | 0:42:45 | 0:42:49 | |
Minister is to do if Parliament votes against leaving | 0:42:49 | 0:42:53 | |
with no agreement. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:56 | |
With that risk, my Lords, let us remember the first | 0:42:56 | 0:42:58 | |
principle I stated. | 0:42:58 | 0:43:00 | |
The government is intent on delivering the result | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
of the referendum. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:05 | |
Having been altered twice by peers, the bill, following strict | 0:43:05 | 0:43:08 | |
Westminster procedures, had to return to the Commons. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:12 | |
MPs rejected the Lords' alterations. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:15 | |
But when the two issues returned to the Lords there was, | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
surprisingly, little or no appetite for a protracted battle. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:22 | |
The Lords caved in. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
It is now time for this house to give way to the House | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
of Commons on this matter. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:32 | |
And so with all final opposition voted down, | 0:43:32 | 0:43:33 | |
the Brexit Bill became law. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:37 | |
The next stage in the Brexit drama took place many | 0:43:37 | 0:43:40 | |
miles from Westminster. | 0:43:40 | 0:43:42 | |
At a news conference at her stately residence in Edinburgh, | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, announced her | 0:43:45 | 0:43:48 | |
intention to ask for a second independence referendum to take | 0:43:48 | 0:43:52 | |
place sometime between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of 2019. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:58 | |
What Scotland deserves in the light of the material change | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
of circumstances brought about by the Brexit vote | 0:44:00 | 0:44:04 | |
is the chance to decide our future in a fair, free and democratic way. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:10 | |
When Theresa May declared now is not the time for a referendum, | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
the party's Westminster leader stepped up the pressure. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:18 | |
The Prime Minister can wag her finger as much as she likes. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:23 | |
If she is not prepared to negotiate on behalf of the Scottish government | 0:44:23 | 0:44:27 | |
and secure membership of the single European market, people in Scotland | 0:44:27 | 0:44:31 | |
will have a referendum and we will have our say. | 0:44:31 | 0:44:38 | |
He is comparing membership of an organisation that we have been | 0:44:38 | 0:44:41 | |
a member of for 40 years with our country. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:45 | |
We have been one country for over 300 years. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:50 | |
We have fought together, we have worked together, | 0:44:50 | 0:44:53 | |
we have achieved together and constitutional gameplaying must | 0:44:53 | 0:44:58 | |
not be allowed to break the deep bonds of our shared history | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
and our future to. | 0:45:01 | 0:45:09 | |
At Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament was soon debating | 0:45:09 | 0:45:11 | |
the First Minister's call for an independence referendum. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
The future of Scotland should not be imposed upon us, | 0:45:14 | 0:45:16 | |
it should be the choice of the people of Scotland. | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
Most people in Scotland are sick to death of the games. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:22 | |
Most people in Scotland don't want another referendum any time soon. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
Just three years after the last one. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
And most people in Scotland see the plain common | 0:45:28 | 0:45:32 | |
sense in our own position. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:35 | |
The Parliament went on to vote in favour of the demand for a second | 0:45:35 | 0:45:39 | |
independence referendum. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:40 | |
The motion as amended is therefore agreed. | 0:45:40 | 0:45:45 | |
APPLAUSE. | 0:45:45 | 0:45:46 | |
12:28pm, Wednesday March 29th, and in Brussels, Sir Tim Barrow, | 0:45:46 | 0:45:49 | |
Britain's ambassador to the EU, hands over a letter to the European | 0:45:49 | 0:45:53 | |
Council President, Donald Tusk. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:57 | |
The endlessly talked about triggering of Article 50 | 0:45:57 | 0:45:59 | |
of the Lisbon Treaty had finally happened. | 0:45:59 | 0:46:09 | |
The letter had been drawn up in the Prime Minister's office. | 0:46:13 | 0:46:16 | |
Its delivery confirmed Britain was deadly serious | 0:46:16 | 0:46:17 | |
about leaving the EU. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:18 | |
Donald Tusk sounded unimpressed. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
There is no reason to pretend that this is a happy day, | 0:46:20 | 0:46:22 | |
neither in Brussels, nor in London. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:26 | |
Britain's EU membership wasn't ended but it did represent | 0:46:26 | 0:46:28 | |
the beginning of the end or, as a Prime Minister | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
put it in the Commons: | 0:46:31 | 0:46:33 | |
This is an historic moment from which there can | 0:46:33 | 0:46:36 | |
be no turning back. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:37 | |
A few minutes ago in Brussels, the United Kingdom's permanent | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
representative to the EU handed a letter to the president | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
of the European Council on my behalf, confirming | 0:46:41 | 0:46:43 | |
the government's decision to invoke Article 50 | 0:46:43 | 0:46:45 | |
of the Treaty on European Union. | 0:46:45 | 0:46:52 | |
The Article 50 process is now underway and, | 0:46:52 | 0:46:54 | |
in accordance with the wishes of the British people, | 0:46:54 | 0:46:56 | |
the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. | 0:46:56 | 0:47:00 | |
I know that this is a day of celebration for some | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
and disappointment for others. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:04 | |
The referendum last June was divisive at times. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:11 | |
Not everyone shared the same point of view or voted the same way. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:14 | |
The arguments on both sides were passionate. | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
Let us come together and work together. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
Let us together choose to believe in Britain with optimism and hope. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
For if we do, we can make the most of the opportunities ahead. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:25 | |
We can together make a success of this moment. | 0:47:25 | 0:47:27 | |
And we can together build a stronger, fairer, better Britain. | 0:47:27 | 0:47:37 | |
Labour will not give this government a free hand to use | 0:47:38 | 0:47:41 | |
Brexit to attack rights, protections and cut services. | 0:47:41 | 0:47:43 | |
Or create a tax dodger's paradise. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:44 | |
So let's be clear, Mr Speaker. | 0:47:44 | 0:47:45 | |
The Prime Minister says that no deal is better than a bad deal | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
but the reality is no deal is a bad deal. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:58 | |
The Prime Minister says that she thinks that | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
Brexit will bring unity to the United Kingdom. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:06 | |
It will not. | 0:48:06 | 0:48:09 | |
On this issue, it is not a United Kingdom. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:15 | |
And the Prime Minister needs to respect | 0:48:15 | 0:48:17 | |
the differences across the nations of the United Kingdom. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:20 | |
I am determined that I will look my children in the eye | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
and be able to say that I did everything to prevent this | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
calamity that the Prime Minister has today chosen. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:28 | |
I wish my right honourable friend good fortune in her negotiations | 0:48:28 | 0:48:33 | |
until she comes to true glory and is welcomed back to this House | 0:48:33 | 0:48:36 | |
as a 21st-century Gloriana. | 0:48:36 | 0:48:41 | |
I asked Iain Watson, as the mammoth EU negotiations now begin, | 0:48:41 | 0:48:44 | |
what are the potential risks for the Prime Minister? | 0:48:44 | 0:48:50 | |
I think there are huge risks for Theresa May and that may seem | 0:48:50 | 0:48:53 | |
a strange thing to say because at the moment her personal | 0:48:53 | 0:48:55 | |
ratings are extremely positive. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:56 | |
The party, as we have been discussing, is about 20 points clear | 0:48:56 | 0:48:59 | |
in some polls, of the Labour opposition, but to some extent | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
she may have reached a high watermark of her popularity | 0:49:02 | 0:49:04 | |
because negotiations are only really beginning. | 0:49:04 | 0:49:08 | |
At the moment it has been easy to keep the coalition, if you like, | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
of Conservatives in her party, the Remainers and Leavers, | 0:49:11 | 0:49:13 | |
and so on, together, because she has a simple message, | 0:49:13 | 0:49:16 | |
which is that she is carrying out the will of the British people, | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
the 52% who voted to leave the European Union | 0:49:19 | 0:49:21 | |
in the referendum. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:23 | |
How you carry that out becomes the tricky bit for her. | 0:49:23 | 0:49:26 | |
So, for example, were she to concede that Britain had to pay an exit | 0:49:26 | 0:49:30 | |
bill, a kind of divorce settlement with the rest of the European Union, | 0:49:30 | 0:49:33 | |
then currently perhaps somewhere in the region of 70 or 80 | 0:49:33 | 0:49:38 | |
of her own MPs, who at the moment are cheering her to the rafters, | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
would start to question whether she should be walking away | 0:49:42 | 0:49:44 | |
from the European Union without paying a penny or by paying | 0:49:44 | 0:49:47 | |
a smaller sum. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:49 | |
So at the moment she's looking unassailable but that phrase, | 0:49:49 | 0:49:52 | |
when it's used in politics, usually unravels rather quickly | 0:49:52 | 0:49:54 | |
and people are 'sailable'. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:56 | |
And as if the whole EU negotiations were not enough of a headache, | 0:49:56 | 0:50:02 | |
Theresa May has that additional problem of a Scottish Parliament | 0:50:02 | 0:50:04 | |
vote in favour of holding a second independence referendum north | 0:50:04 | 0:50:07 | |
of the border. | 0:50:07 | 0:50:11 | |
Do you think it's just a fact that big political change always brings | 0:50:11 | 0:50:14 | |
about unintended consequences? | 0:50:14 | 0:50:16 | |
Referendums are all the go here at the moment, aren't they? | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
The Liberal Democrats are actually going for a second | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
referendum on the EU. | 0:50:21 | 0:50:22 | |
They are saying, let people see the final deal, | 0:50:22 | 0:50:24 | |
then have another vote. | 0:50:24 | 0:50:25 | |
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party and their allies, | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
the Greens, are saying, let's have a second | 0:50:27 | 0:50:29 | |
independence referendum. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:30 | |
And although it looks like an unintended | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
consequence, to be fair this | 0:50:32 | 0:50:33 | |
has been flagged up, the danger has been | 0:50:33 | 0:50:35 | |
flagged up for a long time because in their election manifesto, | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
the SNP said they would call a second referendum if one | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
of two things happened. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:41 | |
If there was sustained support for independence or, secondly, | 0:50:41 | 0:50:46 | |
if there was a material change in circumstances. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:53 | |
And they specified, "Such as Scotland being dragged out | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
of the EU against its will." | 0:50:55 | 0:50:56 | |
Because that has happened, the Scottish Parliament has now | 0:50:56 | 0:50:59 | |
voted for that second referendum. | 0:50:59 | 0:51:01 | |
But the decision rests here at Westminster to the SNP | 0:51:01 | 0:51:04 | |
will be putting pressure on the Conservative government | 0:51:04 | 0:51:06 | |
to try to concede that. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:10 | |
I think they have no chance of doing that | 0:51:10 | 0:51:13 | |
during the Brexit negotiations. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:13 | |
So to what extent do you think this demand for a referendum is simply | 0:51:13 | 0:51:17 | |
a counterpoint to the SNP's own domestic difficulties | 0:51:17 | 0:51:19 | |
in Holyrood? | 0:51:19 | 0:51:20 | |
To some extent, calling for a second referendum will be a rallying cry | 0:51:20 | 0:51:23 | |
for SNP supporters ahead of crucial local elections in Scotland in May, | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
that is certainly true. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:27 | |
But equally, I think there is a feeling that they might | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
have missed their moment if they don't push | 0:51:30 | 0:51:32 | |
for a referendum now. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:35 | |
What they are hoping to do is to pick up some | 0:51:35 | 0:51:41 | |
who voted to stay in the UK in the 2014 Scotland | 0:51:41 | 0:51:44 | |
referendum but now are worried about leaving the European Union. | 0:51:44 | 0:51:46 | |
These 'no Remainers', if you like, are seen as a happy hunting ground | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
for the SNP and if they leave the demands for a referendum much | 0:51:49 | 0:51:52 | |
beyond Brexit, perhaps that vote will no longer be interested | 0:51:52 | 0:52:00 | |
in coming their way and perhaps by then people might see | 0:52:00 | 0:52:03 | |
the details of the Brexit deal and it'll all settle down. | 0:52:03 | 0:52:05 | |
They want to exploit this when they can. | 0:52:05 | 0:52:07 | |
I think that is the overwhelming reason for calling for this | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
at the moment, rather than simply trying to distract people | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
from what they have been doing in government. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
For many the issue of Brexit has been inextricably | 0:52:14 | 0:52:16 | |
linked with immigration. | 0:52:16 | 0:52:17 | |
And that issue has itself been given an added edge by the sight | 0:52:17 | 0:52:21 | |
of the thousands of refugees from Syria and other war zones | 0:52:21 | 0:52:23 | |
making their way to safe havens across Europe. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:28 | |
Last year, largely thanks to the efforts of this man, | 0:52:28 | 0:52:31 | |
the Labour peer Lord Dubs, the government agreed that the UK | 0:52:31 | 0:52:36 | |
would take in some 3000 unaccompanied child | 0:52:36 | 0:52:38 | |
refugees from Europe. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:45 | |
But the scheme, known as the Dubs Scheme, | 0:52:45 | 0:52:47 | |
was wound up in February. | 0:52:47 | 0:52:49 | |
When the Home Secretary said it was acting too much | 0:52:49 | 0:52:51 | |
as an incentive for people to make dangerous sea crossings. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:53 | |
The abrupt ending angered opposition MPs. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:55 | |
There are still so many children in need of help. | 0:52:55 | 0:52:58 | |
She knows there are thousands in Greece in overcrowded | 0:52:58 | 0:53:00 | |
accommodation or homeless, or in Italy, still at risk | 0:53:00 | 0:53:02 | |
of human trafficking. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:06 | |
Or teenagers in French centres which are being closed down now | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
and they have nowhere left to go. | 0:53:09 | 0:53:11 | |
These are children who need looking after over a period. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:16 | |
When we accept them here, it is not job done, it is making | 0:53:16 | 0:53:19 | |
sure that we work with local authorities, that we have the right | 0:53:19 | 0:53:22 | |
safeguarding in place. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
It seems that the government tried to sneak out what they knew would be | 0:53:24 | 0:53:28 | |
a very unpopular announcement when they were busy avoiding | 0:53:28 | 0:53:30 | |
scrutiny in this House about the Brexit deal. | 0:53:30 | 0:53:32 | |
Is this the shape of things to come? | 0:53:32 | 0:53:35 | |
And is this what comes of cosying up to President Trump? | 0:53:35 | 0:53:38 | |
How does she live with herself? | 0:53:38 | 0:53:43 | |
Leaving thousands of people, leaving thousands - | 0:53:43 | 0:53:45 | |
and members opposite can jeer - how does she live with herself, | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
leaving thousands of children subject to disease, people | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
trafficking, squalor and hopelessness? | 0:53:50 | 0:54:00 | |
She describes how she doubts that the children in | 0:54:05 | 0:54:07 | |
France are looked after. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:08 | |
But I can say to the right honourable lady, the children | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
who are most vulnerable are the ones in the camps out in | 0:54:11 | 0:54:14 | |
Jordan, out in Lebanon. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:15 | |
These are the ones who are really vulnerable. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:17 | |
And those are the ones that we are determined | 0:54:17 | 0:54:19 | |
to bring over here. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
In all, 350 children were accepted into the UK under the Dubs Scheme. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:25 | |
Now, leave or remain? | 0:54:25 | 0:54:33 | |
That's very definitely the big issue here at Westminster but no, | 0:54:33 | 0:54:36 | |
I'm not talking about the EU. | 0:54:36 | 0:54:37 | |
Parliamentarians have to decide whether they are going to leave this | 0:54:37 | 0:54:40 | |
place, the Palace of Westminster, while it undergoes a massive | 0:54:40 | 0:54:43 | |
restoration programme. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:43 | |
And there's no doubt the work is urgently needed. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
The masonry's crumbling, the ageing electrics and plumbing | 0:54:47 | 0:54:49 | |
needs serious upgrading. | 0:54:49 | 0:54:50 | |
It's a mammoth programme that could take six years. | 0:54:50 | 0:54:53 | |
The cost, some ?3 billion. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:56 | |
MPs argued over whether the work could go on around them. | 0:54:56 | 0:55:05 | |
Much of our infrastructure is well past - in some cases decades past - | 0:55:05 | 0:55:08 | |
its life expectancy. | 0:55:08 | 0:55:14 | |
And the risk of catastrophic failure is such as a fire or a flood rises | 0:55:14 | 0:55:17 | |
exponentially every five years that we delay. | 0:55:17 | 0:55:19 | |
We should be in absolutely no doubt, there will be a fire. | 0:55:19 | 0:55:22 | |
There was a fire a fortnight ago. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:23 | |
There are regularly fires and people patrol the building 24 | 0:55:23 | 0:55:26 | |
hours a day to make sure that we catch these fires. | 0:55:26 | 0:55:34 | |
As during the Second World War, the House of Commons debating | 0:55:34 | 0:55:37 | |
chamber should at all times retain a presence in the old | 0:55:37 | 0:55:40 | |
Palace of Westminster. | 0:55:40 | 0:55:41 | |
Instead of building what I would deem to be a folly costing | 0:55:41 | 0:55:49 | |
?85 million of a replica chamber in the courtyard of Richmond House, | 0:55:49 | 0:55:52 | |
we should, as in the war, use the House of Lords chamber. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:58 | |
But still no timetable has been agreed for Parliament's restoration. | 0:55:58 | 0:56:00 | |
Now spring is with us in winter is left for behind. | 0:56:00 | 0:56:05 | |
But adverse wintry conditions left their mark on the supermarket | 0:56:05 | 0:56:07 | |
shelves of the nation in February as freezing temperatures gripped | 0:56:07 | 0:56:12 | |
the growing areas of the continent. | 0:56:12 | 0:56:14 | |
In particular, courgettes disappeared for weeks on end. | 0:56:14 | 0:56:16 | |
When the shortage was brought to the attention of the House | 0:56:16 | 0:56:18 | |
of Lords, a minister said now was the time for British growers | 0:56:18 | 0:56:21 | |
to step up to the plate. | 0:56:21 | 0:56:23 | |
In a very real sense. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:30 | |
He will have seen the news reports of empty shelves in supermarkets, | 0:56:30 | 0:56:33 | |
with the crisis expected to last until the spring. | 0:56:33 | 0:56:35 | |
And meanwhile, prices have tripled, in part because it costs more to fly | 0:56:35 | 0:56:38 | |
vegetables from the USA and from Egypt than it does to bring | 0:56:38 | 0:56:41 | |
them overland from Spain. | 0:56:41 | 0:56:42 | |
I was seeking to be courteous to the noble Baroness | 0:56:42 | 0:56:44 | |
but it is certainly no crisis. | 0:56:44 | 0:56:48 | |
The only shortage will be of iceberg lettuce which we think will be | 0:56:48 | 0:56:51 | |
for about a few months and there is a wonderful variety | 0:56:51 | 0:56:54 | |
called cos, which is even better. | 0:56:54 | 0:56:58 | |
I think it is only fair that we hear from the Greens | 0:56:58 | 0:57:00 | |
on this particular subject. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:02 | |
I produced a report on how to make London more sustainable | 0:57:02 | 0:57:04 | |
in its food supplies and part of that was actually | 0:57:04 | 0:57:07 | |
shortening supply chains. | 0:57:07 | 0:57:08 | |
Half the vegetables that we eat in this country are imported, | 0:57:08 | 0:57:11 | |
including native crops like cauliflowers and onions. | 0:57:11 | 0:57:18 | |
Isn't it time that the government's forthcoming Green Paper on food | 0:57:18 | 0:57:21 | |
and farming seeks to tackle this decline in home-grown veg? | 0:57:21 | 0:57:23 | |
Very much so. | 0:57:23 | 0:57:25 | |
In fact I was pleased only this morning to hear that cauliflowers | 0:57:25 | 0:57:27 | |
from Cornwall are coming onto the market. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:29 | |
So we have a great opportunity again to buy some British vegetables. | 0:57:29 | 0:57:35 | |
Some food for thought from the appropriately-named Lord Gardiner. | 0:57:35 | 0:57:38 | |
And that's it for this term. | 0:57:38 | 0:57:40 | |
MPs are back straight after Easter Monday, | 0:57:40 | 0:57:43 | |
so do join us for our daily round-up each evening at 11 o'clock | 0:57:43 | 0:57:46 | |
on BBC Parliament. | 0:57:46 | 0:57:47 | |
Until then, from me, goodbye. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:57 | |
Whoo! This is what I call a proper playground. | 0:58:08 | 0:58:11 | |
This is the real deal. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:13 | |
Woohoo! | 0:58:13 | 0:58:14 | |
She's going to kill it. You're not going to make it. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 | |
Whoa, the acceleration is enormous! | 0:58:17 | 0:58:19 | |
Whoo! | 0:58:19 | 0:58:20 | |
That's insane! | 0:58:20 | 0:58:21 | |
Whoa! | 0:58:21 | 0:58:22 | |
For decade after decade, | 0:58:27 | 0:58:28 |