Browse content similar to 18/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning and welcome to the programme. We've got our first | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
Westminster Happy Hour of 2012 for you coming up. In a moment we'll | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
take you to the Commons for Prime Minister's Questions and Welsh | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
Questions. You can get in touch with us while were on air via | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
Twitter. The address is @walespolitics or you can send an | :00:35. | :00:44. | |
Before we go off to Westminster, a quick chat with my guests. The | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
Labour AM Mark Drakeford and the Conservative, Nick Ramsay. | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
Good morning. Before we go over to the Commons, let's start with the | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
monthly unemployment figures out this morning. A headline figure, | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
coming from someone who doesn't really understand statistics, | :01:01. | :01:07. | |
unemployment has fallen slightly on the quarter. In Wales it stands at | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
8.9% compared to 8.4% across the UK. An intimate going down has to be | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
good news. -- unemployment going down. | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
If it was true, that would be good news for Wales. If you look behind | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
the monthly figures, you find unemployment in Wales is growing | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
year on year, the trend is upwards. Vacancies are down. | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
Unemployment is up 7,000 on the year. | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
The rate of unemployment is growing over the year as well. Very sad to | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
say because these are dreadful consequences for individuals and | :01:41. | :01:47. | |
families. The Edward for unemployment is bleak in Wales. -- | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
the outlook. Nick, we wouldn't necessarily | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
expect Mark to consider that positive? Let's have an alternative | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
view from new? On the face of it, any drop in | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
unemployment is a good thing. Mark is right, you have to look at the | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
long-term picture. Let's not forget that the bells government itself | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
has a role to play in unemployment. We need to have an advance on | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
things like enterprise zones in Wales and we keep up with England. | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
There is a debate on the wing about when we will hear more about | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
enterprise zones. Carwyn Jones says he doesn't have all of the fact so | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
we can't make the announcement. Andrew RT Davies, you would leader,, | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
said he was not convinced. At the end of the day, the Welsh | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
government does have tools at its disposal. We think it to be doing | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
more than it is to alleviate the problems we are facing. | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
Mark Drakeford, enterprise zones aren't going to be the only cure. | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
The biggest problems is youth unemployment. What can the Welsh | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
government do to contribute to erasing that? | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
That is where the Welsh government is doing something intensely | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
practical. The Welsh jobs growth fund which the government has put | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
in place. The coalition government scrapped across the UK and it is | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
trying to reinvent it all over again. You look at the figures and | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
youth unemployment over the UK is well over a million and it's almost | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
a quarter of all young people in the UK are now unemployed. In Wales, | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
we have a plan which will eat into that, it won't solve the whole | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
problem but it is a very active, very practical and focused scheme | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
that will bring thousands of young people off the dole and into work | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
in Wales and that wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for the | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
Welsh government plan. Your party will probably been -- be | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
in a bit of a pickle. Do you support things like this the Welsh | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
government are doing when the UK government scrapped the future jobs | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
fund? Listening to mark, there, he does | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
say a lot of things which do resonate but I think on that | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
broader picture, things like the jobs fund which has gone in the UK, | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
we've got to remember the legacy which was inherited by the | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
Westminster government. I regret certain things had to go but we had | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
to deal with the economic situation. The UK government is getting on | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
with doing that and it is for the boss government to play its part | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
with them. We will be back to you within the | :04:24. | :04:30. | |
hour. Let's cross over to Westminster, now. | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
Figures show some encouraging signs but there is much to do to insure | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
the session does not leave a legacy of worthlessness in Wales. The | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
government could remains committed to creating the right conditions | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
for the private sector to grow. 46% of the workers in my | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
constituency, 45% of my workers in the Honourable Member's | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
constituency, work in the public sector. The coalition sacked the | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
public sector workers and the private sector jobs would increase, | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
that was the theory. Can the Minister ask me how many private | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
sector jobs were created in his constituency in the last six months | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
and also in my constituency. The Honourable Gentleman repeatedly | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
raises the issue of public sector jobs in Wales. He will know that it | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
is generally agreed that Wales is at over-dependent on the public | :05:24. | :05:31. | |
sector and and are dependent on the private sector. The creation of | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
private sector jobs is largely the responsibility of the Welsh | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
Assembly Government which is, of course, his party is in control of. | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
The potential risks of jobs in relation to peacocks is a worry to | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
all in South Wales and well beyond in the United Kingdom. What action | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
can the Minister take with his colleagues here in Westminster and | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
in co-ordination with the Welsh government? Will he pledged to do | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
everything possible to help them find a funder to secure these jobs | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
over the long term? Yes, Mr Speaker. The issue of | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
Peacocks is one of great concern, not just to Wales but to the whole | :06:10. | :06:17. | |
of the UK. 10,000 people are employed by Peacocks. The Secretary | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
of State has been in communication with the Secretary of State for | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
business to discuss this issue and understand that the Welsh | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
government minister has been in contact with the Minister of State. | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
Figures published yesterday by the TUC estimate that between now and | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
2017, another 40,000 public sector jobs will be lost in Wales. What is | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
his department during to stem that loss and generally, what is his | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
department doing to assist the economy of Wales? The Honourable | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
Gentleman is right, the old BR figures do project there will be a | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
loss of public sector jobs. At the same time, the figures predict | :07:00. | :07:07. | |
there will be a gain of 1.7 million private sector jobs doing the same | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
period and my department is strongly engaged with the | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
Department of business very, very closely indeed to do all we can to | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
ensure that the private sector grows in Wales. | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
The Secretary of State and the Minister will know, and you just | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
referred to the awful news about Peacocks. Taxpayers' money, | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
billions of pounds of taxpayers' money pumped into the bank's wasn't | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
pumped in so that those banks can now pull the plug on companies like | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
Peacocks. Can I ask him and his right on will print -- Right | :07:42. | :07:49. | |
Honourable friend to save this company? | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
The Right Honourable Gentleman makes a very important point which | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
is quite correct. He will understand, I'm sure, at this is | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
very early days in this unfortunate saga. Our department is liaising | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
with the Department of business to do all we can to insure those jobs, | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
if possible, can be saved. Number two. | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
I've had a range of meetings with what government ministers and look | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
forward to meeting the minister for business on 6th February when they | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
plan to discuss, amongst other things, inward investment. | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
She will know that RBS are blaming a lack of investors for their | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
decision to pull the plug on a deal to save Peacocks, threatening | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
thousands of jobs. My constituents can't understand why they were | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
expected to bail out RBS but RBS are refusing to help them in their | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
hour of need. What is she doing to talk to RBS about their | :08:45. | :08:52. | |
responsibilities in this matter? Mr Speaker, can I say first of all | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
at the moment I heard about Peacocks, I discussed it with the | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
Secretary of State for business, innovation and skills. The minister | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
for business has spoken to the Minister of State for the | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
Department of business, innovation and skills. I have the greatest of | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
sympathy. I have shopped in Peacock's myself and I know how | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
many jobs depend on Peacocks. It's important weak export every | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
possibility but I won't stand in this dispatch box and make any | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
false promises. We are going to look at what we can do for Peacocks | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
but it will involve the Welsh government, as he well knows. | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
What the Secretary of State agree that inward investment eight N | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
important part in the economy of Wales but to have an impact, we | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
have to work together with Westminster and Cardiff. Is it not | :09:44. | :09:51. | |
disappointing the Welsh Assembly seems reluctant to speak to the | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
department to provide growth? My Honourable Friend is right. I | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
was disappointed in the article in the Western Mail today to see that | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
no reference was made to working with the Department of business, | :10:02. | :10:08. | |
innovation and skills on an interview on this very subject. | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
I've always advocated that we should be working together. I was | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
delighted to see that my Honourable Friend, Lord Greene, who is | :10:18. | :10:25. | |
responsible for UK TI, has opened an invitation to every single MP to | :10:25. | :10:32. | |
get together with UK TIA and host a seminar in a constituency together | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
with MPs from neighbouring constituencies and I think that is | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
a great innovation where we can all work together whether it is | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
government, Assembly Members, MPs and members of this house. | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
Worrying news of Peacocks, especially for the constituents of | :10:50. | :10:57. | |
the Cardiff West MP and represented by the Honourable Member for | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
Pontypridd. There are implications across the country, including my | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
own constituency, where many people work in retail sectors. Will she | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
directly intervene to keep these 10,000 vital jobs, not least as the | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
joblessness numbers are now rising inexorably in the UK. Implement his | :11:17. | :11:26. | |
fact-finding and consumer confidence is plummeting. | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
-- implement his flat lining. He knows that a direct intervention | :11:32. | :11:39. | |
would not be appropriate until more details are out about this reported | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
failure of Peacocks. Can I also say because there are so many jobs | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
depending on this, if there are any redundancies or job losses that | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
come out from this, JobCentre plus would absolutely be there to | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
provide individual support, as they have done in other instances. Can I | :11:57. | :12:03. | |
assure him that all those people be on this table whose jobs depend on | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
Peacocks, all of us together will do what we can. | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
To follow up further on the terrible situation facing Peacocks. | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
Given that Assembly ministers have been slow off the mark to take | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
action to help out with this situation facing the company, it | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
will the Secretary of State insure that ministers on both ends of the | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
M4 will work together to put pressure on the banks to make sure | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
we say this important Welsh company? | :12:34. | :12:41. | |
I think my Honourable Friend is absolutely right. This is a very | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
important company and their Rahmani jobs, as I said before. I cannot | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
say it too often that we will look at doing all we can but I cannot | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
stand here and make any promises at this stage before we have any | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
further particulars and we know the outcome of the current knitters | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
emissions taking place between Peacocks and the banks. She should | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
be comforted that the Welsh government, the business Secretary | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
of State in our government and myself have all been in contact on | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
this matter. Number three, Mr Speaker. | :13:15. | :13:22. | |
Unemployment for disabled people. The Government is analysing the | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
responses to the Sayce report and will consider the implications | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
before publishing a statement on future policy. | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
Wrexham Remploy has made good progress in the last four years on | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
providing jobs for people in the Wrexham and North East Wales. The | :13:41. | :13:49. | |
Sayce review and its contents threatens Remploy across Wales. The | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
Minister for Disabled People is refusing to give any detail of the | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
financial position of Wrexham Remploy until this review is | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
completed. Will the Minister please work with me to obtain those | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
in my constituency will know what their future is and the government | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
isn't threatening them? The Honourable Gentleman will know | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
that the Sayce review in fact did commit that existing employees in | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
Remploy should be offered the opportunity for business support | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
over a decent period of time to develop businesses. The Sayce | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
report shows commitment to Remploy. I hear what the gentleman has to | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
say about his communications with the Minister for Disabled People | :14:34. | :14:41. | |
and if he would care to write to me, I would certainly pursue the matter. | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
Find you, Mr Speaker. The way in which the government proposes to | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
abolish disability living allowance will take �105 million away from | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
disabled people in Wales, many they desperately need to help them cope | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
with the extra cost of living with a disability. What meetings has the | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
Minister or the Secretary of State had with disabled people in Wales | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
on the Welfare Reform Bill and how do they intend to address people's | :15:07. | :15:17. | |
:15:17. | :15:19. | ||
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people, and | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
this will be targeted at people who need most help. As she will know, | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
the new independence payment will be an objective, fair and strongly | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
evidence-based assessment, which will enable accurate assessments of | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
individuals to determine who will visit -- benefit most from | :15:36. | :15:46. | |
:15:46. | :15:49. | ||
additional support. The office has regular discussions | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
with the Transport Office regarding transport issues which affect we | :15:55. | :16:05. | |
:16:05. | :16:05. | ||
else. Will the great Western rail line -- the First Great Western | :16:05. | :16:15. | |
:16:15. | :16:17. | ||
wine improve prices of houses along the route? I am not in a position | :16:17. | :16:26. | |
to comment on electrification of the writ. I would expect all | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
householders to well can this. Ministers have been campaigning for | :16:30. | :16:36. | |
a direct route into London, and a service from Aberystwyth to | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
Shrewsbury. Can I urge the minister to help take action on both fronts? | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
He will be assured that the Wales Office does what it can to improve | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
transport links with in Wells's the stop we have a great -- with in | :16:55. | :17:01. | |
Wales. We should take the opportunity to buy a home and in | :17:01. | :17:10. | |
The issue of my right honourable friend's living arrangements and a | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
matter for her, and that has been positively vindicated by the recent | :17:14. | :17:21. | |
letter from the Prime Minister, to his Honourable Friend the Minister | :17:21. | :17:31. | |
:17:31. | :17:31. | ||
of Hemsworth. We're on the subject of the Great Western franchise! | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
Some of the services run on the line that suffers from severe | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
crowding. Will the Welsh Office be supporting the call for greater | :17:40. | :17:48. | |
capacity on the cross-border route under the new franchise? He may be | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
aware that extra capacity is being provided this year, with an extra | :17:51. | :17:57. | |
48 carriages, which will add 4,500 extra seats at peak times between | :17:57. | :18:07. | |
:18:07. | :18:09. | ||
London and South West else. -- South Wales. | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
There will statement confirmed that the Welsh government will receive | :18:11. | :18:20. | |
an extra... This is an opportunity for the Welsh government to act in | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
areas they are responsible for, to ensure Wales has a bright future. | :18:26. | :18:36. | |
:18:36. | :18:36. | ||
In... Schools and Wales will be better resourced, closing the | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
education funding gap between England and Wales. I constituency | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
will receive an extra �34,000 a year. Does the Secretary of State | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
agree that this will help the children and young people of Wales, | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
after the underfunding of education? I do agree because it | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
was the extra funding that went from the Treasury to the Welsh | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
government that enabled the leader of the Welsh Democrats in the | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
assembly. -- in the assembly to negotiate extra funding into | :19:13. | :19:20. | |
pupils' deprivation fund. That was following what we had introduced, | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
and I think it was worth the -- was worth mentioning that the gap | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
between spending in England and Wales between pupil has remained at | :19:31. | :19:40. | |
�600. In the Autumn Statement was the capital investment programme, | :19:40. | :19:50. | |
:19:50. | :20:00. | ||
Overall it has been a good settlement for Wales, and the | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
additional money announced in the autumn financial statement has made | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
a great difference to the way in which the Welsh government is | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
budgeting. I meet regularly with Welsh government ministers and my | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
colleagues and the Treasury, and I will ensure, if he wishes to no | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
further, that we talked together on further development. | :20:22. | :20:29. | |
On funding, why does the new high- speed drill plan not follow the | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
original route, through a Heathrow hub, galloping track -- travellers | :20:35. | :20:44. | |
direct access to the airport? knows, that was the previous Labour | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
Government's writ, but can I say to him that matters concerning high- | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
speed rail, HS2 and Wales are handled by the Under-Secretary of | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
State and Mike department. I will ask my colleague to write to him. | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
know we're on the subject of funds -- now we're on the subject for | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
funds to the National Assembly. find that astonishing. She has a | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
duty, and the whole of the Wales Office has a duty, to advance the | :21:17. | :21:27. | |
interest of Wales. were lost a great opportunity. Is it the truth | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
that she has spent the last 18 months demanding expensive funding | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
concessions for her Buckingham constituents, rather than advancing | :21:35. | :21:45. | |
:21:45. | :21:47. | ||
Wales'' interests? Is she not more concerned with building tunnels | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
than worrying about helping Wales? I am surprised that the right | :21:54. | :21:56. | |
honourable gentleman, because in all the years that he was the | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
Secretary of State for Wales, he did not achieve the electrification | :22:00. | :22:10. | |
of one inch. Whereas we have already announced the | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
electrification of the line to Cardiff. It is still open to us one | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
day, which has unfinished business, and as he well knows, we are | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
working on the electrification of the Valley's line. -- it is still | :22:26. | :22:36. | |
:22:36. | :22:39. | ||
open to Swansea. There are too many private conversations taking place. | :22:39. | :22:46. | |
The Secretary of State met the anti Human Traffic co-ordinator in Wales | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
for December. This is a key priority for the Government, and we | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
recognise the importance for tackling this. I thank the Minister | :22:55. | :23:05. | |
:23:05. | :23:09. | ||
for that, and the -- we have been warned about the internal problem. | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
But the minister recommend to the Prime Minister that we have a | :23:14. | :23:21. | |
similar tzar for the rest of the United Kingdom? The Government is | :23:21. | :23:30. | |
supportive of the introduction of the co-ordinated in Wales. -- co- | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
ordinator. I am sure he will make his own strong representation in | :23:34. | :23:44. | |
:23:44. | :23:50. | ||
Madrid are tough. Can you sure the house that | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
staffing levels in terms of immigration and security will be | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
maintained at a proper level? He makes an extremely important | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
point, which I raised when I was on the other side of the house. | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
Holyhead is an extremely important port, and the Wales office is in | :24:09. | :24:16. | |
close co-ordination with the Home Office on that particular issue. | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
I am delighted to say that despite having a small department of around | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
60 staff, two apprentices were recruited to the Wales office last | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
year. Both are doing very well. I know that their teams are already | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
impressed with their professional attitudes and levels of competence, | :24:37. | :24:47. | |
:24:47. | :24:50. | ||
as a mine. -- am I. We should consider encouraging suppliers to | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
the Welsh Office to higher apprentices? This is being done by | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
the Department of work and pensions. I know of the great work that my | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
honourable friend has been doing in this area, and although we are a | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
small department, and we rely on the Ministry of Justice for many of | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
her services, I will try to ensure what I can to make sure that the | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
suppliers are encouraged to adopt similar practices. He might also be | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
pleased to know that the Welsh government has recruited 24 new | :25:25. | :25:31. | |
apprentices in 2010, and 66 in 2011, and I'll write to the Welsh | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
government to ask if they can ensure their suppliers do the same. | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
While admiring the work of my close comrade, the Member for Harlow, | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
isn't there a danger that apprenticeships that are being | :25:44. | :25:54. | |
:25:54. | :25:54. | ||
relabel dashing labelled to work experience, without a job or skill | :25:54. | :26:03. | |
at the end, is likely to increase their -- the disillusionment among | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
young people? I would hope that he would be pleased to know that all | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
the apprentices at the Welsh government undertake business | :26:12. | :26:18. | |
administration N V Q's, and they are recruited through a fair and | :26:18. | :26:24. | |
open process. I think that shows that the apprentice programmes are | :26:24. | :26:31. | |
helping young people to take up jobs in the future. We are | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
discussing matters of interest, especially to the people of Wales. | :26:35. | :26:43. | |
Order. A forecast of public sector job | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
losses was published in November by the Office of budget responsibility. | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
This forecast was based upon UK white economic data, and no | :26:52. | :27:00. | |
regional breakdown is available. is not just public sector jobs at | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
risk in Wales. Does the Minister agree that the jobs in jeopardy in | :27:05. | :27:12. | |
my constituency, at Peacocks, and at risk because of the economic | :27:12. | :27:22. | |
:27:22. | :27:23. | ||
decisions taken by the Government to stave off consumer demand? | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
share the honourable gentleman's concern about their plight. As far | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
as I can see, it is nothing a told to do with the inept -- economic | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
policy of this government, but everything to do with the banking | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
arrangements they have had. This is a matter that the Wales Office is | :27:40. | :27:49. | |
concerned about, and will continue to express concern. They understand | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
that the it -- the effect that non- payment of work undertaken can have | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
one small businesses, and the Government is determined to tackle | :27:59. | :28:06. | |
this standard of late payment which exist across all businesses. | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
The Secretary of State will be aware of a number sub-contractors | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
working on the Pembroke power station who have not been paid as a | :28:12. | :28:19. | |
result of the dispute between the contractors. Could she help but as | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
put pressure on the companies to resolve these differences and get | :28:22. | :28:31. | |
the sub-contract has paid? -- sub- contractors. I have always | :28:31. | :28:39. | |
supported the rights of workers over late payment. In 1994, I | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
signed an early-day motion, so I have been consistent in my support | :28:42. | :28:52. | |
:28:52. | :28:54. | ||
for a long time. I am happy to meet with him, to see if I can tell. | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
have regular discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
issues affecting Wales. minister will be aware that both | :29:03. | :29:09. | |
the English region and Wales lose out because the allocation is not | :29:09. | :29:16. | |
based on need, and in the case of Wales it is around �300 million per | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
year. What indication can the Government give us that there will | :29:18. | :29:24. | |
be reform? Governments of all political complexions for many | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
years have recognised the need for some parts of the UK to be funded | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
differently from others. There have been concerns expressed about the | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
Barnett formula, but the priority is to reduce the deficit, and any | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
changes to the system must take place once the public finances have | :29:40. | :29:47. | |
been stabilised. The Welsh Assembly have funded the initial development | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
of a motorsport, bent -- complex. Will he ensure the Government gives | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
of refunding support possible to get this project off the drawing | :29:55. | :30:03. | |
board and onto the track. I commend the honourable gentleman on the | :30:03. | :30:08. | |
word he has put in, in respect of the project. This is a matter that | :30:08. | :30:16. | |
the wills office is very interested Questions to the prime minister. | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
This is about David Cameron's engagements. | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
and in addition to my duties in this house, I shall have further | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
such meetings later today. The Prime Minister will be aware of | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
the very strong uptake of academy status of schools in | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
Gloucestershire but is he aware of the enormous differences in funding | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
which puts those schools at the bottom of the league table in terms | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
of the funding? I welcome the Government's move to a national | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
formula but in the meantime, will he look at the very serious | :30:52. | :30:54. | |
situation with regards to those schools in Gloucestershire? | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
By Honourable Friend is quite right. We need to sort out this problem | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
even before looking at a national funding formula. It is a former low | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
we inherited I believe it is flawed and that is why we are or reforming | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
it. I will happily discuss with him how we can deal with this problem. | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
I think the growing evidence is that Academy Schools are not only | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
good for the peoples that go to these schools but also by raising | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
standards and aspirations in those areas, they are raising standards | :31:26. | :31:34. | |
of all schools and the same time. Ed Miliband. | :31:34. | :31:41. | |
Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister told us that unemployment | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
would fall in each year of this Parliament. Today, unemployment | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
rose for the six months in a row. Does he think it has anything to do | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
with his government? The government takes absolute | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
responsibility for everything that happens in our economy. I take | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
responsibility for that. Any increase in unemployment is | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
disappointing and it is a tragedy for the person who becomes | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
unemployed and can lead to difficulty for that family and that | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
is what we are taking so much action to help people back into | :32:14. | :32:20. | |
work. If you look at the figures today, it is noteworthy that while | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
the increase in unemployment is hugely and welcome, there is still | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
an increase in the number of people employed. Another 18,000 people in | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
work. What that shows his we need more private sector employment, we | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
need to move further and faster on that agenda. It is also worthy to | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
note that there is a small decrease in long-term unemployment and I | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
hope that shows schemes like the work programme we are introducing | :32:45. | :32:50. | |
are beginning to have an effect. We need to go further and faster. | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
There is not an ounce of complacency in this government and | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
we will do everything we can to help people back to work. | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
Doesn't the Prime Minister understand when he boasts about | :33:01. | :33:09. | |
rising employment, it shows how out of touch he is? In some parts of | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
London, 100 people are chasing three vacancies. That is the | :33:14. | :33:20. | |
situation people are facing. Can he confirm that under his policies, | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
far from things getting better over the coming year, he expects things | :33:23. | :33:31. | |
to get worse and unemployment to rise to 2.8 million. | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
Forecasts are no longer set out by the government, they are set out by | :33:35. | :33:37. | |
the Independent office of budget responsibility and unlike in his | :33:38. | :33:46. | |
day, these forecasts are not fixed and fiddles by ministers, they are | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
set out. The Government should do everything it can to help people | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
into work. That is what we have the work programme helping 3 million | :33:53. | :34:01. | |
people, the youth contract which will get subsidised private sector | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
jobs for young people, work experience for 250,000 young people, | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
and half of those of benefits within two months. That is 20 times | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
better value than the future jobs fund. There is no boasting about | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
anything. What we have here is growth in the private sector, | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
contraction in the public sector but we need to get the economy | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
working and key to that is low interest rates his plans were put | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
at risk. He doesn't seem to understand the | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
reason the figures matter is that they show next year unemployment | :34:35. | :34:41. | |
will get worse not better on his policies. Nothing he can say can | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
deny that. That long list of policies, according to the | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
independent study, will make no different. Let us talk about young | :34:49. | :34:56. | |
people. In the last year, can he confirm we have 147,000 young | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
people out of work for more than six months? That's double what it | :35:00. | :35:06. | |
was a year ago. An increase of one engine 2%. Why has he allowed it to | :35:06. | :35:16. | |
happen? -- an increase of 102%. Unemployment amongst young people | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
is up by 7%. That is far too high. It is not a 40% increase we had | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
under Labour but it is far too high. What we need to do is help those | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
young people into work and that is what our programmes are doing. Let | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
me make this point, there is a fundamental difference between the | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
way this government measures youth unemployment and the way the last | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
government did. This is important. His government counted young people | :35:44. | :35:50. | |
who were on jobseeker's allowance but in any form of steam as not | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
unemployed. This Government is saying, until you get a permanent | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
job, we will measure you as unemployed. That is frank, | :35:58. | :36:00. | |
straightforward and what we never got from them. | :36:00. | :36:08. | |
Mr Speaker, it really is back to the 1980s. A Tory government, a | :36:08. | :36:18. | |
Tory, a Tory government, a Tory government blaming unemployment on | :36:18. | :36:25. | |
the figures. No wonder he has rehired Lord Young, Mr Speaker, the | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
and employment secretary in the 1980s. On long-term youth | :36:28. | :36:35. | |
unemployment, which has the scarring effect on our young people, | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
desperate for work, out of work for more than six months, that has | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
doubled, that has doubled in the last year. However he twists and | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
turns about the figures, can he confirm it is up by 102% in the | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
last year? I have explained the figures. If | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
you look at the number of young people who have been out of work | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
for longer than 12 months, that number has started to go down. That | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
is not nearly enough. Far more needs to be done but that is what | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
the work programme is all about. There is a context to all of this. | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
If we want to get unemployment down, we need interest rates to be kept | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
down. We've had a reminder in recent days what happens when you | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
don't have a plan to get on top of your debts and get the economy | :37:20. | :37:26. | |
working. That's what he doesn't understand. You have a government | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
clear about his plans and an opposition that have absolutely no | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
idea. Last year he marched against the cuts, now he tells us he | :37:35. | :37:44. | |
accepts the cuts. -- now he tells us he excepts the cuts. He is so | :37:44. | :37:50. | |
incompetent, he can't even do a U- turn properly. | :37:50. | :38:00. | |
:38:00. | :38:01. | ||
Mr Speaker,... The house must try to calm down and | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
contain itself. Ed Miliband. Mr Speaker, I know he doesn't want | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
to talk about the young people out of work in this country because he | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
is embarrassed by his record on what's happening but he owes it to | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
them to tell the facts as they are about what is happening to them. I | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
come back to this point. The Prime Minister said in his answer that | :38:23. | :38:25. | |
long-term unemployment amongst young people is going down. It is | :38:25. | :38:32. | |
not, Mr Speaker, it is going up. He mentions the work programme. He | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
introduced the work programme with great fanfare in June. What has | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
happened to long-term youth unemployment since he introduced | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
his work programme? Let me give him the figures. I will | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
give him the figures exactly. There are far too many people long-term | :38:47. | :38:55. | |
unemployed. There are 246,000 young people unemployed for over a year | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
but that is down 11,000 on the last quarter. That is not enough. We | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
want to do more but it is because we have the work programme, the | :39:05. | :39:11. | |
youth contract, 400,000 apprenticeship schemes, 250,000 | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
people coming into work experience, we are making a difference. Why | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
doesn't he come up with something in a constructive instead of | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
knocking everybody down? I'll tell him what he should do, he | :39:23. | :39:33. | |
:39:33. | :39:39. | ||
should change course. Yeah, yeah. Because why he is unemployment | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
rising? Why he has unemployment rising? Because he is cutting too | :39:43. | :39:49. | |
far and too fast. It's his record, however much he twists and turns, | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
it his record, that's why unemployment is going up. What we | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
have Mark -- what we have, Mr Speaker, is women's unemployment | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
the highest since the last Tory government, youth unemployment the | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
highest since the last time there was a Tory government. Isn't the | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
truth for the defining characteristic of this government | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
is it stands the Fide and does nothing as thousands of people find | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
themselves unemployed? To be fair to the Honourable | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
Gentleman, he does actually changed course every day. He is an expert | :40:25. | :40:32. | |
in changing course. Labour's Shadow Chancellor said two days ago, my | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
starting point is we are going to have to keep all the cards. That's | :40:35. | :40:42. | |
what he said. The deputy leader said yesterday, we are not | :40:42. | :40:52. | |
excepting the cuts. He is flip flopping on a daily basis. The | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
founder of a Labour's business forum said this, Labour offers | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
nothing. The pro-business, pragmatic approach to 12 and | :41:00. | :41:06. | |
Enterprise have gone. Rule instead there is a vision and leadership | :41:06. | :41:16. | |
:41:16. | :41:19. | ||
My Right Honourable Friend will be aware that I'd recently made a case | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
for my late constituents, the armed forces minister, he will be aware | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
of the fighting fit report written by my Honourable Friend the Member | :41:29. | :41:36. | |
for South West Wiltshire. Due to the stigma often attached to mental | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
illness, many soldiers wait years before seeking help. I hope my | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
Honourable Friend can tell the House what will be done about this? | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
I think my Honourable Friend is entirely right to raise this issue. | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
The mental stars -- the mental scars of people who serve this | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
country can be every bit as steep as the physical scars and it is not | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
something we have always understood properly. That is why I think the | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
report by my Honourable Friend is so important, as someone with real | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
experience in this. We have accepted and implemented almost all | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
of its recommendations, we have lodged a stress helpline and we are | :42:17. | :42:27. | |
:42:27. | :42:31. | ||
introducing advanced services. With a tragic accident involving the | :42:31. | :42:38. | |
cruise ship Costa Concordia and liners the same size or bigger that | :42:38. | :42:44. | |
will visit the Clyde in the coming months ahead, does the minister | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
think it is the right decision to close the coastguard station? The | :42:48. | :42:54. | |
case in Italy is clearly a tragic case and our heart goes out to | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
people who have lost loved ones across the world. We need to wait | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
and see what the exact cause of the accident was before we jump to | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
conclusions about changes in regulation or other things. If | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
There are changes that need to be made, including to the issue he | :43:10. | :43:18. | |
raises, we will make them. The prime minister has very kindly | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
undertaken to bring a comprehensive bill early in the next session. | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
Will he end the uncertainty for water customers by publishing the | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
draft Bill now so we can have proper parliamentary scrutiny? | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
I can say to my Honourable Friend that we will be publishing a draft | :43:38. | :43:45. | |
water bill for the coming months. As she knows, there are many | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
important parts to this Bill. One part that stand out is the promise | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
we've made and funding supplied to help cut water bills in the south- | :43:53. | :43:58. | |
west of the country from 20th April 13. This addresses a historic and | :43:58. | :44:04. | |
fairness. People have felt they have paid unfair charges to provide | :44:04. | :44:14. | |
:44:14. | :44:20. | ||
clean beaches. In America, directors from the | :44:20. | :44:22. | |
baled out companies have been taken to court for gross mismanagement. | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
They say they can't bring action against the Royal Bank of Scotland. | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
Will the Prime Minister consider introducing a legal sanction of | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
strict liability in the Financial Services Bill so that those | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
responsible for the banking crisis will be taken to task because after | :44:40. | :44:46. | |
all, we are already in this together. | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
The Gentleman makes an important point. This gives us an important | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
opportunity to look at the best of the world, CU has tougher penalties | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
and see if we can introduce them to our system. That is what will be | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
introducing this with a major overhaul in dealing with a rickety | :45:03. | :45:12. | |
I knew ago, the Prime Minister told me that the reason for the new | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
health bill was because simply the country has European levels of | :45:16. | :45:24. | |
health spending, but does not have European levels of success. now we | :45:24. | :45:33. | |
know that is not the case, will he shelf the disruptive Belgium -- the | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
destructive bill? I have great respect for him, but I do not agree | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
on this. With the Health Bill, an exercise was taken, in which the | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
Deputy Prime Minister and I played a larger role. We listened to | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
health professionals, doctors, to understand what they most wanted to | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
see in the NHS reform bill, and that is what we are delivering. He | :45:57. | :46:05. | |
says it is not the case that we have outcomes batter not as good as | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
to Europe, and in some cases we could be doing a lot better. But to | :46:09. | :46:15. | |
argue that the NHS needs money and not reform is not correct. | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
In the north-east, unemployment among women is rising at twice the | :46:19. | :46:25. | |
rate of men. Where does the Prime Minister think the women's places? | :46:25. | :46:33. | |
In the home, the workplace for the JobCentre? -- or the JobCentre? | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
want to see more women in the workplace. There is a disappointing | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
increase in unemployment amongst women, but since the election there | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
are 59,000 more women in work today, than there were at the time of the | :46:46. | :46:55. | |
last election. I am not satisfied with that, so we have helped with | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
child care, we're introducing universal credit, support for all | :46:59. | :47:05. | |
women who work, not just those who work more than 16 hours, and | :47:05. | :47:15. | |
:47:15. | :47:19. | ||
lifting the threshold on income tax. I met a couple in Redditch who were | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
appalled that a family in their area were getting more and benefits | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
than they earned working full-time. Does he think that is right, or | :47:26. | :47:32. | |
fair? She makes an important point. I think we owe it to people who | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
work hard, who do the right thing and pay their taxes, to make sure | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
there are some limits on welfare. What we are seeing with the benefit | :47:42. | :47:48. | |
cap is that a family can get up to �26,000 in benefit. You would have | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
to earn �35,000 to achieve that standard of living. That is why we | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
are introducing a benefit cap. Some of the most vulnerable people | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
in society will undoubtedly be financially penalised as a result | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
of the measures going through the Lords. Is it any wonder that people | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
say it is the same old Tories, and they are a nasty party? I do not | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
accept what he is saying. The point of Employment and Support Allowance | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
is that there are two groups. There are those who cannot work, who need | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
help, and many people will go straight into that group, and will | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
receive the benefit for as long as they needed. If you look at what we | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
have said, and that report by Professor Harrington, there will be | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
more cancer sufferers getting benefits, and fewer people facing | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
the face-to-face interview. He should look at the evidence before | :48:45. | :48:52. | |
asking the question. I was shocked to discover that | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
mainstream terrestrial television carries adverts for online bingo at | :48:56. | :49:06. | |
:49:06. | :49:10. | ||
5pm, 31 hours is dedicated to live casino and gaming, which is classed | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
as shopping. At a time where there is trillions of pounds worth of | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
debt in the country, we should be encouraging people to be moderate | :49:19. | :49:23. | |
in their expectations and behaviour. Will the Prime Minister please | :49:23. | :49:25. | |
protect consumers and the vulnerable from this kind of | :49:25. | :49:35. | |
:49:35. | :49:37. | ||
activity, by asking for a review. Order! The question was too long. | :49:37. | :49:39. | |
The honourable lady raises an important issue about gambling | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
advertisements on television. I am in favour of deregulation and | :49:42. | :49:48. | |
trying to allow businesses to get on and succeed. Gambling programmes | :49:48. | :49:57. | |
and advertising are strictly regulated by Ofcom and the | :49:57. | :49:59. | |
Advertising Standards Authority, but what I would say to the | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
honourable lady is it is not just a question of regulation, it is a | :50:04. | :50:12. | |
question of responsibility of the advertisers themselves. I think the | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
companies have got to ask themselves whether they are | :50:15. | :50:21. | |
behaving responsibly. On the subject of gambling, in | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
Hackney we have 90 bookmakers, three times the national average. | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
Will the Prime Minister listen to the bait that took place yesterday, | :50:28. | :50:38. | |
:50:38. | :50:38. | ||
and take action this Friday, and instruct his ministers to push | :50:38. | :50:44. | |
forward with this? I will look at the debate, and I am all for it. I | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
would like the local authorities to have greater powers in this. I will | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
look at her suggestions the stock will the Prime Minister agree with | :50:52. | :50:59. | |
me that in this, the 30th here of the Falklands war, the actions of | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
the Argentine government are deplorable? Will he remained | :51:04. | :51:11. | |
Argentina that they lost the Falklands war, and it has up to the | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
islanders to determine their own future? It is important that we | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
commemorate the Falklands war of this year, the 30th anniversary, | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
and we remember all of those who served and fought so hard, and | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
those who gave their lives and have not come home. We should remember | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
all of these people this year. The vital point is we are clear that | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
the future of the Falklands Island is a matter for the people | :51:34. | :51:40. | |
themselves. As long as they want to be part of the United Kingdom, they | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
should be able to do so. I am determined we should make sure the | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
defences are in order, which is why the National Security Council | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
discussed it yesterday, but the key point is that we support the | :51:52. | :52:02. | |
:52:02. | :52:02. | ||
Falkland Islanders rates. Those people want to remain British, and | :52:02. | :52:11. | |
the Argentinians want them to do something else. | :52:11. | :52:18. | |
Mr Speaker, we have seen a rise in unemployment today, to over 3,000 | :52:18. | :52:25. | |
in my constituency. This is a 16% increase. -- in the past year. When | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
does the Prime Minister expect unemployment to start falling? | :52:29. | :52:36. | |
forecasts have been set out by the of Office for Budget Responsibility. | :52:36. | :52:42. | |
They expected to be a law that the end of this Parliament, and | :52:42. | :52:52. | |
:52:52. | :52:53. | ||
employment to be higher. -- they We're keeping interest rates low, | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
so the economy can grow, and we do not fall into the mistakes that | :52:57. | :53:07. | |
:53:07. | :53:07. | ||
others in Europe have fallen into. Closed questions. The honourable | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
lady raises an important issue regarding the working-time | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
directive and its effect on the NHS. No one wants to go back to the time | :53:16. | :53:24. | |
when junior doctors were working 18 or 19 -- 80 or 90 hours a week. But | :53:24. | :53:30. | |
we can see that the Working Time Directive has had an adverse effect | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
on the NHS, and that is why the government is discussing this issue | :53:34. | :53:41. | |
to make sure we have flexibility in this area. Does he share widespread | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
concerns coming largely from the medical profession themselves, but | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
while we wait for lengthy processes to consider the directive across | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
Europe, it has not even been decided what it is there going to | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
be discussing, but we're seeing a critical undermining of junior | :53:59. | :54:04. | |
doctors. We're seeing an eroding of the future of the NHS, and we're | :54:04. | :54:11. | |
putting patient care and lives at risk. I think she is right. This | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
has nothing to do with the single market. This has to do with how we | :54:15. | :54:25. | |
run the health service, and in particular training programmes for | :54:25. | :54:29. | |
junior doctors. What we can do to sort this out is that the health | :54:29. | :54:34. | |
and business secretaries are discussing the directive to give | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
the NHS they help it needs to deliver the best, safest service to | :54:37. | :54:44. | |
patients. Is the Prime Minister aware that | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
every single medical problem at a hospital in my constituency is | :54:51. | :54:58. | |
related to weekend working by exhausted junior doctors, far from | :54:58. | :55:01. | |
this directive being a problem, it is a solution to the fact that we | :55:01. | :55:10. | |
have had far too many exhausted doctors in charge of patients. | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
cannot believe that every problem in his hospital is down to that | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
problem, but I can say that the local hospital has serves my | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
constituents was threatened with massive downgrading, partly because | :55:24. | :55:26. | |
of the Working Time Directive because they could not supply the | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
training modules for junior doctors. This seemed a classic example of | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
the card being put in front of the horse. We ought to be determining | :55:34. | :55:43. | |
what hospitals we want, but this time directive was getting in the | :55:43. | :55:53. | |
:55:53. | :55:55. | ||
way for -- getting in the way. Does the Prime Minister agree that | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
opportunities are helped in Asia, regarding the talks between the UK | :55:59. | :56:04. | |
and Hong Kong, showing that this country is open for business? | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
makes a vitally important point, clearly the markets in Europe are | :56:07. | :56:13. | |
going to be difficult. 50% of what we export goes to the EU, and we | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
see a freezing effect across the European Union. But the rest of the | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
economy is growing, and we need to get out there and sell to these | :56:21. | :56:26. | |
markets. Exports to China were up by 20% last year. The arrangements | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
that the Chancellor has come to, which is going to make London one | :56:30. | :56:33. | |
of the great trading centres, is one important breakthrough, but we | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
need many more. Could the Prime Minister clarify what the coalition | :56:39. | :56:45. | |
government's position is on inheritance-tax? Like its -- | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
constituency received correspondence from the junior | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
party in the coalition government stating, if the Tories were | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
governing alone, they would be cutting inheritance tax for | :56:53. | :56:57. | |
millionaires, and they would pay for it by reducing public spending | :56:57. | :57:07. | |
:57:07. | :57:08. | ||
even more. Is this true? It is covered in the coalition agreement. | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
Last week on the Syrian border, I met Syrian army deserters who had | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
refused to tell their fellow- citizens and a small child winded | :57:17. | :57:22. | |
by the regime. If things are to get better, the world must stop selling | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
arms to Syria. What evidence does the Prime Minister have of | :57:27. | :57:34. | |
countries selling arms to them? makes an extremely. Important point. | :57:34. | :57:42. | |
We need to tighten the sanctions. In terms of who is helping the | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
Syrian government to oppress their people, there is growing evidence | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
that Iran is helping them, and there have been intersections of | :57:51. | :57:59. | |
shipments from Turkey, which are interesting in this regard. But | :57:59. | :58:04. | |
organisations are standing up against this Rector tyrant whose | :58:04. | :58:14. | |
:58:14. | :58:16. | ||
killing his own people for. -- wretched tired and. | :58:16. | :58:20. | |
A warning has been made that a similar crisis as in the Horn of | :58:20. | :58:24. | |
Africa is now threatening western Africa. What will the Government do | :58:24. | :58:30. | |
to try to help prevent this? raises an important point. I will | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
study the report carefully. My understanding is the British effort | :58:34. | :58:38. | |
was swifter in getting aid into the Horn of Africa, leading the pack, | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
in terms of the extent of the response, the money committed, and | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
also the speed at which it went in. Clearly the Horn of Africa and is a | :58:46. | :58:52. | |
difficult place to deliberate to, not least because of the control -- | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
place to deliver to, not least because of the control that is over | :58:56. | :59:04. | |
Somalia, but I will be read the report carefully. In it over row | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
raised the case of my constituent, 14-year-old, who was killed outside | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
her home by a driver under the influence of drugs. Could the Prime | :59:13. | :59:21. | |
Minister meets her family to discuss a change to the long, -- | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
the Prime Minister met her family to discuss a change to the long, | :59:25. | :59:32. | |
can you beat us? It is issue we take the issue of drug driving very | :59:32. | :59:41. | |
seriously. Equipment to test for this will be available in police | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
stations very short-lived. We are examining this closely in | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
government, and we need to look at whether there would be an | :59:49. | :59:51. | |
opportunity in the second legislative session to take forward | :59:51. | :59:56. | |
the measures I know he will be campaigning for. | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
Does the Prime Minister share my concern that yesterday's ruling by | :59:59. | :00:05. | |
the European Court of Human Rights at Aber could have a can of beer a | :00:06. | :00:15. | |
:00:16. | :00:16. | ||
-- deported? How could the court operates more proportionately, so | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
that rights are respected, but the safety of the public is always | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
I agree wholeheartedly with what the Right Honourable Gentleman has | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
said. I think this judgement is difficult to understand, frankly, | :00:29. | :00:35. | |
because huge efforts have been going to buy the British government | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
to have a deportation with assurances agreement with Jordan to | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
make sure people wouldn't be mistreated. In this case, the | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
European Court of Human Rights has found he wasn't going to be | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
tortured but they were worried about the process of the court case | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
in Jordan. It's immensely frustrating. I think a country like | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
Britain, which has a long tradition of human rights, should be able to | :00:56. | :01:04. | |
deport people who mean best harm. I'm going to Strasbourg next week | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
to make the argument that as we are chairing the Council of Europe, | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
this is a good time to actually make reforms to the European Court | :01:12. | :01:22. | |
:01:22. | :01:23. | ||
of Human Rights and make sure it acts in a proportion that way. | :01:23. | :01:28. | |
A young boy he was kidnapped from his home in Canning chase and taken | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
to Thailand by his mother. Six months later, his father tracked | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
him down in a remote village, finding his son couldn't speak, his | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
teeth were broken and he was bruised. He said had he not got him | :01:41. | :01:46. | |
then, he would have been sold. Each year in the UK over 500 children | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
are kidnapped in similar circumstances. Will the Prime | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
Minister meet with me and the boy's father, who has set up a charity | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
and is in the gallery today, to discuss what the government can do | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
to help parents of abducted children? | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
You are right to raise this case. It is a simply appalling case and | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
any parent can't help but be chilled to the bone about what | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
happened to this poor boy. I think it's vital that we put in place the | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
best possible arrangements as he knows that the child exploitation | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
and Online Protection system will be put into the National crime | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
agency. I hope will be able to legislate for the crime agency and | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
make sure it is properly resourced Pickles as he says, it's vitally | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
important that we get on top of these acts right away. The early | :02:36. | :02:45. | |
effort is vital achieve -- in saving these children. | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
When do the prime minister expect to be cross examined by the club is | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
an inquiry? Doesn't he agree that he British people deserve an answer | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
as to why he appointed one of Murdoch's top lieutenants, Andy | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
Coulson, to the heart of the British government? | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
I will be delighted to appear at the Levinsen inquiry whenever I am | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
invited and I'm sure other politicians will have the same view | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
and I would answer all the questions when that happens. It's | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
good to see the Honourable Gentleman on good form. I will tell | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
my children, no need to come to the National Museum to see a dinosaur, | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
come to the House of Commons at 12:30pm. | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
And on that bombshell, the speaker brings an end to Question Time, | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
dominated, really, by jobs. The latest unemployment figures and the | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
threat to jobs at Peacocks in South Wales. Plenty to talk about in | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
Cardiff. A we will deal with what we have | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
just seen in chronological order. Going back to Welsh questions with | :03:53. | :04:00. | |
our guests, Nick Ramsay and Mark Drakeford. Let's go back an hour. | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
If we can remember that far back. David raised some of the points we | :04:04. | :04:12. | |
heard about to ring Channel:'s questions. It's no surprise that -- | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
we heard during Cheryl Gillan's questions. It's no surprise that | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
high-speed rail came up. She seemed a glum figure today? | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
I usually tell people to give her a break but it was no surprise it | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
came up. The Labour Party have very Pickles to say on a lot of issues. | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
If you look at what Cheryl Gillan has delivered, the referendum on | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
powers for the Assembly, the electrification to Cardiff, I think | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
there is a lot of positive things that Cheryl Gillan has done and I'm | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
not surprised Peter Hain and others don't want to talk about it. | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
We will go on to talk about Peacocks but can we get a response? | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
I think she did look down in the mouth and a bit thin skinned when | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
some of these points were being made. The business about her | :05:00. | :05:06. | |
selling her house is neither here nor there. The real important issue | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
is the fact that here is a government prepared to commit | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
billions of pounds to dig a tunnel underneath her constituency in | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
order to deal with problems. The Transport Secretary says it | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
will save money overall. You know, I haven't found anyone | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
else who can read that announcement in that way. At the same time, they | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
are not willing to commit the millions of pounds we need to take | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
the line to Swansea. I was interested and pleased to see the | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
Secretary of State said that there wasn't a closed question and she | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
would come back to it. She also kept up in the er the | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
electrification of the valleys line, which is vitally important to us | :05:50. | :05:56. | |
here in Wales. Underneath the froth, I think there were some important | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
things being said. Let's deal with the Peacocks | :05:59. | :06:09. | |
:06:09. | :06:10. | ||
announcement. There was a question related to the conduct of RBS, who | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
basically have the power over the future of the store. A suggestion | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
came from Jennie will it yesterday that made the the Bank should show | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
compassion since it is a publicly owned bank, to Peacocks. | :06:26. | :06:31. | |
We are on the Royal Bank of Scotland and jobs in Peacocks are | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
really important in Wales. It's not a trivial point being made. There | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
is a public interest being made and this is a publicly owned bank. In | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
the background there is a bigger picture. Peacock's trades at a | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
profit every week, every month. What it can't do is service the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
debt saddled round its neck for the equity by out that went on a few | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
years ago. In that sense it is a classic story of what is happening | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
in the British economy over the last five years. I thought here in | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
the chamber yesterday, the economy must -- economy minister, Edwina | :07:06. | :07:14. | |
Hart, answered questions for a carefully.. She was clearly very | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
careful not to say anything that might prejudice a better outcome | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
for Peacocks than might otherwise be the case. We are not at the end | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
of the story yet. There were some important things said today but I | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
think we should let this carry on in the hope that we will yet have a | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
conclusion that protects the majority of the interests of people | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
that work at the company. We will get nicked's years before | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
we carry on. Where do you stand on the role of the bank in this case? | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
I heard somebody on the radio yesterday, a banker, saying that a | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
bank should behave like a bank, deal on a commercial basis and no | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
other basis. I agree with what Marx said. We are | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
not dealing with banks in the normal sense. There is a public | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
interest within RBS and we need, at the moment, companies to get the | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
support they need. We had an urgent question on Peacocks and a quarter | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
of Assembly Members spoke on that question, showing the level of | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
concern. I really hope the minister is talking to cap its letter | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
peacocks, I think she is, and talking to the Westminster | :08:28. | :08:36. | |
government. -- talking to Peacocks. If banks were treated as commercial | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
organisations, RBS wouldn't be a bank today. It would have gone to | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
the wall. Let's go to unemployment, I think | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
you have a point to make. We hear from the Government that the vision | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
went reducing the number of people employed in the public sector, the | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
private sector would take up the slack. You were just mentioning | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
something of a. The proposition that the public | :09:04. | :09:13. | |
sector jobs would be picked up by private sector employment. It is | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
certainly not working. If you look at the last quarter, there were | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
160,000 jobs lost in the public sector and 8,000 jobs created in | :09:24. | :09:32. | |
the private sector. That is hardly a commensurate number. The point I | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
was making was to do with RBS and Lloyds Bank. The Office for | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
National Statistics now counts those organisations as public | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
sector organisations. When I am giving those figures, 160,000 | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
public sector jobs lost and 8,000 private sector jobs created, as | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
they counted those banks as private sector, there wouldn't have been a | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
single job created in the home of the private sector across the whole | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
of the United Kingdom across the whole of the last quarter. The idea | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
this government has got it right by saying private sector growth will | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
take up the slack in the economy, it simply doesn't stack up. | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
I thought we were getting on too well there. I always have a rule in | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
my speeches and a don't mention more than two statistics. You can | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
use them to say whatever you want but I think the issue here is about | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
growth of the private sector in Wales. I understand what was just | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
said that there is a concern that if you blink -- lose public jobs, | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
you can lose the balance. But the government said the private | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
sector would take up the slack. Do you think it is? | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
I don't think it will happen very quickly but I think the UK | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
government got it right in trying to put the right mechanisms in | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
place to grow the private sector. We will be back with you before we | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
head off for lunch but coming up on the programme we will hear from | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland's political editor, on the | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
independence referendum. First let's have a look at what is | :11:09. | :11:15. | |
going on in Cardiff Bay today. Hello. Another interesting | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
afternoon in the Senedd. We have questions as usual on a Wednesday | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
to ministers. This week it is the finance minister, Jane Hutt, and | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
Edwina Hart. AMs will raise the issue of Peacocks, as they did | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
earlier today. Find out what the latest is from the business | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
minister. Then we move on to the Conservatives, using their big | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
debate to talk about how we treat our youngest and most vulnerable | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
children. There is a programme designed for zero-three-year-old in | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
our most disadvantaged communities. Their valuation of that programme | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
showed it was having most difficulty in helping the families | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
it was intended to help in those circumstances. That should be | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
interesting. They also want to follow up on the foundation days. | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
People might remember that, learning through play at schools. | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
They are worried the training to practitioners of the addition phase | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
was inconsistent. Pyecombe we want to talk about local health boards. | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
-- Plaid Cymru. They don't think they are accountable or transparent | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
enough. The Lib Dems want to talking their debate about | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
broadband. They want to highlight the fact the Chancellor is giving | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
almost �57 million to roll-out the next generation in Wales. They want | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
to raise the issue of what the Welsh government is doing. They | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
want to see them doing more to tackle the areas where broadband is | :12:49. | :12:56. | |
not available. That can be damaging if you have a business in rural | :12:56. | :13:03. | |
Wales. This afternoon, Darren Millar, Clwyd West am, is reminding | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
us that older people have rights as well. And sure that would go down | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
well with the older people in his constituency. | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
I thought you are going to say that it would go down well with our | :13:14. | :13:21. | |
guests! Thank you, we will see you later. | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
With over 90 recommendations, the publication of Plaid Cymru's review | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
into its poor performance in last year's Assembly election will be | :13:28. | :13:35. | |
required reading for am as. The document also said the party should | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
consider adopting the Welsh National Party of its English name. | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
We will be hearing from one of its authors. The party is looking for a | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
new leader. We heard from Adam Price, who is backing Leanne Wood. | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
This week a reporter has been speaking to of an MP, Howell | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
Williams. Who will be played Cymru's next | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
leader? Who will follow Ieuan Wyn Jones? Of one MP has made his | :14:05. | :14:12. | |
choice -- of one MP. Who are you backing? | :14:12. | :14:19. | |
I am backing Elin Jones. For lots of reasons. I think she has the | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
presence as being an ex-minister and I think she is a brave | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
politician. She is prepared to nail her colours to the mast and pursue | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
a policy, as we saw when she was Minister of Agriculture. I also | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
think she has the vision to be a leader and also a potential First | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
Minister, if we get into government, as we sincerely hope to do some | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
time in the next few years. Why have you chosen Elin Jones over | :14:45. | :14:51. | |
any of the other candidates? There are four candidates in total. Why | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
not Simon Thomas, Dafydd Ellis- Thomas or Leanne Wood? | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
I am so glad we have such a calibre of candidates. Any of those could | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
be a leader of the party and they all bring different things to the | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
table. Looking across them, I think Elin Jones combines political | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
courage and vision with her experience and enthusiasm for the | :15:14. | :15:24. | |
job. I think she is the best of the You know Elin Jones pretty well. If | :15:24. | :15:31. | |
you were going to sell her to potential voters, what would you | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
say about her? She is someone who has been committed to the cause of | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
the party and constituency for many years. I have known her since the | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
mid- 90s. She has an expertise in economic matters. She has expertise | :15:48. | :15:56. | |
on having been a former minister. That is very good. People cannot | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
acquire that expertise without having something that Elin Jones | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
has. She has a vision for the party and country. She has determination | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
to press the cause. I would be happy on Monday morning to see her | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
leading the party. I would be confident that she would be leading | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
the party and possibly leading Wales, if we get in the position | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
where she would be First Minister. What about her as a person? How | :16:23. | :16:30. | |
would she won the hearts of Welsh voters? It is fair to say that she | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
is not a huge personality among large groups of people, but she is | :16:33. | :16:41. | |
a very kind, warm and funny person when you know her personally. She | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
has a very attractive personality. Her workmates recommend her vision, | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
as I said, her bravery, and it is those sort of qualities that made | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
me think that Elin Jones would be the person to lead the party and | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
potentially to be the first minister of. | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
Simon Thomas and Dafydd Elis-Thomas are also standing for the leader of | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
the Plaid Cymru party. We will hear from their supporters and the | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
coming weeks. At the moment we will go over to the boil. | :17:14. | :17:24. | |
:17:24. | :17:32. | ||
I am joined by Jocelyn Davies, the You have published a report on the | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
party, and the issue is that you want to change your name. We had | :17:36. | :17:44. | |
disappointing results in the last assembly election. They were | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
looking at her vision, communication, membership, | :17:47. | :17:54. | |
structure, a whole range of things. There was also a recommendation | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
that the National Executive should think about whether the party | :17:56. | :18:03. | |
should think about having another name. At the moment we are | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
questioning whether we should have a bilingual name, and there | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
suggestions are being floated around that we have a Welsh | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
National Party, as there is an English equivalent. We are handing | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
back to the national executive to think about it. There will be a lot | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
of debate about the name change, but there is a lot of stuff on the | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
report. There are 95 recommendation is. It is only the second part of | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
the name that will change, isn't it? That is to try to reach out to | :18:32. | :18:39. | |
non-speaking Welsh voters. I wonder why they would be more likely to go | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
with the Welsh National Party, than Plaid Cymru the party of where else. | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
It is a bit of a mouthful. It was the official name, but that has | :18:48. | :18:58. | |
:18:58. | :19:00. | ||
been shortened to Plaid Cymru Bridge. -- Plaid Cymru. There is a | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
stereo type and a misconception that is held about Plaid Cymru | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
members that not only are we the party that stands up for the | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
language and champions the language, that we and our party for Welsh | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
speakers. I am not a Welsh speaker, so I know it is not true. Every | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
Plaid Cymru member will say that a voter will say to them, I cannot | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
vote for you because I speak what - - I do not speak Welsh. The name is | :19:26. | :19:33. | |
only one tiny bit of that. What else are you going to do to engage | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
people who have not traditionally voted for you? Everyone will know | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
that our long-term aim for Wales is to have an independent country. | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
That is a very topical discussion, and the debate is moving on fast. | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
Things have changed since we have written the report, and it is | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
changing by the day. We're saying that what we need to do is better | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
articulate the message and explain to people what it all means, and | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
what it would mean to them, in terms of things that affect them of | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
the day, so not just a constitutional issue, but things | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
that affect them, such as health, education and the economy. We're | :20:14. | :20:20. | |
saying we cannot now seriously say that we can have a coherent body of | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
policy developed by 15 minutes of debate at the conference once a | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
year. So we must have a better way of doing it and involving the | :20:27. | :20:35. | |
members much earlier, better communications. This would include | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
a slimmed-down leadership team, so we are better able to support the | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
new leader, which we will be electing shortage. Time is against | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
us, and next thing we will ask you about the leadership team. | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
For the past couple of weeks, the issue of a referendum on Scottish | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
independence has been big political news. We have heard the news of the | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
Prime Minister, the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and Carwyn | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
Jones. The journalist across at all is in Cardiff today, and he has | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
been talking to a loss. I am delighted to say I have been | :21:10. | :21:18. | |
joined by BBC Scotland's political editor, Brian Taylor. Let us take | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
this from the beginning. There seems to be disagreement between | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
the governments, about whether Scotland has a legal right to hold | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
this referendum. There are fundamental disputes about the | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
nature of the referendum. We're talking about process and rules, | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
and some people might say that it is dull. It is detail, and it may | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
be dull, but it matters. We're talking about the future of the | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
United Kingdom, which has survived for 300 years. The National see it | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
has run its course, another say it should be defended. It might be a | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
smart idea to get it right with regard to the rules! It is not | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
settled and not decided. The constitution as an issue is | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
reserved to Westminster, but Alex Salmond says he cannot hold a | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
legally-binding referendum, but has the mandate and authority to | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
consult the people as to whether there should be negotiations with a | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
view to Scotland being independent. It is also a question about the | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
timing. Alex Salmond favours 2014. David Cameron does not fit for that. | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
He wants a referendum earlier than that. They wanted as soon as | :22:34. | :22:42. | |
possible. Alex Salmond said it is wise to take time, given the | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
severity of it all. He said during the election campaign, the Holyrood | :22:47. | :22:56. | |
election campaign, and I cannot see a way that the UK government can | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
force him to change his hand, because the referendum is being | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
organised by the Scottish parliament. The UK government could | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
call a referendum of their own tomorrow if they want, but they do | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
not want to do so. They fear there may be a backlash against their | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
position and the Scots may see this as unwarranted interference. Alex | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
Salmond has not want to call it tomorrow, because he fears he may | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
lose. He feels that economic circumstances may not be propitious. | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
I guess is that that Alex Salmond will win. I cannot see how the UK | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
government can force his hand. he win on the question of what the | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
question will be? Because that is not straight for what. | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
government say they are prepared to hand over the power on a permanent | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
-- temporary basis to the Scottish Parliament to run a legally binding | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
referendum, but only if they get assurances. One is on timing, but | :23:50. | :23:56. | |
they will not get that. The other was on the questions. They want a | :23:56. | :23:58. | |
straightforward yes or No to independence, which is difficult to | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
get the wording right. Alex Salmond says he wants the option for devo | :24:03. | :24:10. | |
max, which is Scotland controlling tax and revenues, but not foreign | :24:10. | :24:17. | |
affairs. He wants this as a fall- back, to divide the Unionist camp. | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
For the same reason the Unionists do not wanted on the ballot paper. | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
The issue, to me, it is the absolute core of the dispute. Not | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
timing, not whether it is the electoral commission, not where | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
there are 16 or 17 year-olds can vote, it is the question of | :24:36. | :24:43. | |
questions to be asked. If you think about it, does it really matter if | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
it is 2013 or 2014 when the decision is taken? What really | :24:47. | :24:57. | |
:24:57. | :25:01. | ||
matters is what the question to be asked would be. Has the Alex -- has | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
Alex Salmond played a blinder, and if he does not get independence he | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
would get devo max, which has a long way along that road. Yes, | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
there are some in the SNP who have a worry about having devo max on | :25:14. | :25:20. | |
the ballot paper, and think it may be a temptation or cul-de-sac. Alex | :25:20. | :25:27. | |
Salmond says no, he has take all along, and people said there would | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
never be a Scottish parliament or SNP administration, all of these | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
things have come to pass. Now he says he believes independence will | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
come to pass. But he has a back-up. He is beginning to exasperate his | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
rivals in the Unionist camp with regard to that. But I wondered if, | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
once the dust of the argument settles down, if the Unionist | :25:51. | :25:59. | |
argument can be more persuasive and reasonable, perhaps this might put | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
Alex Salmond on the back foot a little bit. There is a long wait to | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
go. Very briefly, what happens next? The Scottish government | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
publish a consultative paper next Wednesday. We have already had a | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
consultation paper from the UK government, and then it is a battle | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
between the governments about who wins. It is going to be fascinating. | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
Thank you very much. Before we go we will have a chat | :26:24. | :26:30. | |
with the guests. Brian Taylor said the Unionists need to perhaps make | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
a more reasonable argument. Can I call you a Unionist? I'm a | :26:34. | :26:44. | |
:26:44. | :26:52. | ||
devolutionist, within the union, so I suppose you could put it away. | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
What is going on with the SNP is more important to the future of | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
Wales and what is going on with Plaid Cymru. What happens would | :27:01. | :27:08. | |
have a profound importance on Wales' relationship with the rest | :27:08. | :27:18. | |
:27:18. | :27:23. | ||
of the United Kingdom. People who are run Wales who... As a | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
devolutionist, there is a devo max option, does that appeal to you | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
that regard to will? I do not think the devolution process in Wales has | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
finished. There are things in Wales that we might have that we do not | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
currently have. What did you make a Brian Taylor's comments? You can | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
call me a Unionist. I agree that Brian Taylor made excellent points, | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
and the issue about the United Kingdom that has survived for 300 | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
years. We have all benefited as different countries in the union so | :27:54. | :28:02. | |
much but I think it would be a tragedy if that was lost. This | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
sounds like a Unionist are doing reasonably. I do have my reasonable | :28:07. | :28:12. | |
moments! I think he is right -- David Cameron is right and getting | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
the sorted out. But it is wrong to tell Alex Salmond what he should be | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
doing. That is not a case of telling him what to do. We have a | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
Scottish parliament, we accept there is a Scottish parliament, and | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
it is for the Scottish people to decide what to do. The timing of | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
the referendum affect us all, and the uncertainty has gone on for too | :28:32. | :28:39. |