Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 31 October.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

Before listing my engagements, I am sure that the whole House will wish to join me in paying tribute to Corporal David O’Connor of 40 Commando, the Royal Marines, and Corporal Channing Day of 3 Medical Regiment, the Royal Army Medical Corps. We owe them and all others who have lost their lives a deep debt of gratitude. Their courage, their dedication and their sheer professionalism will never be forgotten by our nation, and our sincere condolences are with their colleagues, their friends and their families.

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties in this House I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I am sure that the whole House will want to associate itself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about our brave service personnel and to send our deepest condolences to their families.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that if he cannot get a good deal for Britain in the EU budget negotiations, he will use the veto and reject any advice on this matter from those who gave our rebate away?

[The Prime Minister]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. This Government are taking the toughest line in these budget negotiations of any Government since we joined the European Union. At best, we would like it cut, at worst, frozen, and I am quite prepared to use the veto if we do not get a deal that is good for Britain.

But let us be clear that it is in our interests to try to get a deal, because a seven-year freeze would keep our bills down compared with annual budgets. Labour’s position is one of complete opportunism. Labour Members gave away half the rebate, they sent the budget through the roof and now they want to posture rather than get a good deal for Britain—the nation will see right through it.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

I start by joining the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Corporal David O’Connor of 40 Commando, the Royal Marines, and Corporal Channing Day of 3 Medical Regiment, the Royal Army Medical Corps. Their deaths are a reminder of the unremitting danger that our troops face on a daily basis on our behalf. They both showed the utmost courage and bravery, and our condolences go to their family and friends.

The Prime Minister has an opportunity today to get a mandate from this House for a real-terms reduction in the EU budget—which he says he wants—over the next seven years, which he could take to the negotiations in Europe. Why is he resisting that opportunity?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the whole country will see through what is rank opportunism. People have not forgotten the fact that Labour gave away half our rebate in one negotiation and agreed a massive increase to the EU budget when in government. Now, today, Labour has not even put down its own resolution on this issue. The nation will absolutely see straight through it. The right hon. Gentleman is playing politics; he is not serving the country.

[Edward Miliband]

When it comes to consistency, the Prime Minister seems to have forgotten what he said as Leader of the Opposition just four months before the last general election—[Interruption.] I would have thought that Government Members were interested in what the Prime Minister said when he was Leader of the Opposition. He said:

“At a time when budgets are being cut in the UK, does the Prime Minister agree that in reviewing the EU budget, the main purpose should be to push for a real-terms cut?”.—[Official Report, 14 December 2012; Vol. 502, c. 647.]

That is what he said when he was in opposition. So when it comes to opportunism, this Prime Minister is a gold medallist. At a time when he is cutting the education budget by 11%, the transport budget by 15% and the police budget by 20%, how can he be giving up on a cut in the EU budget before the negotiations have even begun?

[The Prime Minister]

We have to make cuts in the budget because we are dealing with the record debt and deficit that Labour left us. If the right hon. Gentleman wants to talk about consistency, perhaps he can explain why his own Members of the European Parliament voted against the budget freeze that we achieved last year. Perhaps he can explain why the Socialists group in the European Parliament, of which he is such a proud member, is calling not for an increase in the budget, not for a freeze in the budget but for a €200 billion increase in the budget—and while they are at it, they want to get rid of the rest of the British rebate. Is that his policy?

[Edward Miliband]

It is good to see—[Interruption.]

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister is certainly getting very angry, Mr Speaker, but perhaps he is worried about losing the vote this afternoon. The reality is that our MEPs voted the same way as his on the motion before the European Parliament 10 days ago. He cannot convince anyone on Europe. Last year he flounced out of the December negotiations with a veto and the agreement went ahead anyway. He has thrown in the towel even before these negotiations have begun. He cannot convince European leaders; he cannot even convince his own Back Benchers. He is weak abroad, he is weak at home—it is John Major all over again.

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman’s position is completely incredible. He says he wants a cut in the EU budget but he does not sanction a veto. We have made it clear that we will use the veto, as I have used it before. So let me ask him: will you use the veto?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I will not be using the veto. I ask the Prime Minister—this is about the 10th time I have done so—to respect parliamentary procedure in these matters.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

The south-east region is often regarded as the engine driver of the British economy, but the Solent region faces many challenges, particularly with the announcement of job losses at Ford last week. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the case for a city deal for Southampton and Portsmouth is particularly compelling?

[The Prime Minister]

It is particularly compelling that we ensure that Southampton has a city deal. I understand that it is on the list. Obviously the news from Ford was very disappointing; it was a blackspot in an otherwise strong performance by the British automotive industry. I know that the Business Secretary will work very closely with Southampton city council to do everything we can to help people find jobs.

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

Q2. May I ask a straightforward question which should command a straightforward answer? In the forthcoming police and crime commissioner elections, it is predicted that the turnout will be as low as 20%. Does the Prime Minister think that that gives democratic legitimacy?

[The Prime Minister]

I want the turnout to be as high as possible, but I recognise that in new elections for a new post that is always a challenge. It is even a challenge when we have dedicated Labour MPs resigning from this House to stand as police and crime commissioners. One point that the police and crime commissioner will be able to make in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency is that we should celebrate the fact that since the election crime is down 20%.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

Q3. In recent months, northern Lincolnshire has benefited from several positive announcements from the Government and the private sector that will boost the local economy. However, my right hon. Friend will be aware that Kimberly-Clark announced last week the closure of its factory at Barton-upon-Humber, in my constituency, with the loss of up to 500 jobs. Will he assure me that the Government will do everything possible to attract new business to the area?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance, and I know that that is sad news for the workers at Barton-upon-Humber. I understand that the local council is working closely with Jobcentre Plus and the company to establish a local taskforce to help employees to find alternative employment, and the Government will give that our support.

[Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)]

Q4. Following the press reporting of the Hillsborough disaster and the phone hacking scandal, self-regulation of the press, by the press, is simply no longer acceptable to the public. More than three quarters of respondents to two recent polls backed an end to media self-regulation. Prime Minister, your Ministers have been briefing against Leveson. Whose side are you on—the public or the press?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am not on anybody’s side in this. Members really must adhere to the proper procedures of this House, which they ought to know by now.

[The Prime Minister]

I think that we should wait for the Leveson report to come out. A lot of work has been done. I want a robust regulatory system, and what matters most of all, as I said in the House last week, I think, is to ensure that newspapers can be fined if they get things wrong, that journalists can be properly investigated, and that there are proper prominent apologies. We know what a proper regulatory system should look like. We do not have one now; we need one for the future.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

First, I echo the Prime Minister’s tribute to our armed forces and fallen comrades. The country owes them, their families and their loved ones a huge debt of honour and gratitude.

Last week, we saw the sentencing of former staff of Winterbourne View hospital who were found guilty of ill treatment and neglect. I had hoped that those prosecutions would help to bring some closure, or at least a sense of justice served, to the victims and their families, but we learned this week that patients from Winterbourne View may have been subject to further abuse and neglect elsewhere. Does the Prime Minister agree with me and the right hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow), the former Minister for care services, that care providers such as Castlebeck, which ran Winterbourne View, should be subject to prosecution for wilful corporate negligence?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to what my hon. Friend says about our armed forces.

On Winterbourne View, anyone who saw the television pictures showing how very vulnerable people were being treated would have been absolutely shocked. They, like me and him, I am sure, would want to ensure that the law goes exactly where the evidence leads. If further prosecutions are needed, they should happen. We saw shocking pictures of the shocking things that happened. We should judge our society by how we deal with the most vulnerable and needy people, and what happened was completely unacceptable.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

It is welcome that the British economy is out of the longest double-dip recession since the war, but Lord Heseltine says today:

“the message I keep hearing is that the UK does not have a strategy for growth and wealth creation”.

Whom does the Prime Minister blame for that?

[The Prime Minister]

What Michael Heseltine actually said was:

“The Coalition is fundamentally on the right track...I praise its work”

on the

“industrial strategy plans…pioneering city devolution”

and

“the revolution in education and tackling unemployment.”

Frankly, we can spend all afternoon trading quotes, but I think that Michael Heseltine is making a much bigger point. In this excellent report, he is saying that our economy became too centralised over decades, with regions and nations of our country falling behind. Manufacturing halved as a share of national income under the previous Government. During the boom years in the west midlands, for instance, there were no net new private sector jobs. He is dealing with the big issues; what a pity that all the right hon. Gentleman can do is stand up and try to read out a quote.

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister says that Lord Heseltine’s report states that he is on the right track, but goodness knows what it would have said if it had stated that he was on the wrong track. Lord Heseltine says that there is no strategy for jobs and growth, that business has no confidence in the Prime Minister, and that deregulation—the Prime Minister’s chosen approach—is not the answer.

Let me turn to a specific aspect of Lord Heseltine’s report: recommendation 61, with which I am sure the Prime Minister is familiar. Lord Heseltine says:

“The Government needs to set out a definitive and unambiguous energy policy”.

This is obviously an appropriate day to consider that recommendation on energy. By the way, it is good to see the Business Secretary in the Chamber, and I am sorry that that growth committee he is on is so unmemorable that he cannot remember it.

This is an appropriate day to be considering this recommendation so his—[Interruption.] I am rather enjoying this. The Prime Minister’s Energy Minister says he is against wind farms and enough is enough, while his Energy Secretary—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister’s Energy Minister says he is against wind farms and enough is enough, while his Energy Secretary says he is gung-ho for them. Who speaks for the Government—the Energy Secretary or the Energy Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

Today the jokes have been bad and the substance has been bad too. It is not a good day. I will tell you why it is a good day to talk about energy policy—because today Hitachi is investing £20 billion in our nuclear industry. Today is a good day to talk about energy because there is more investment in renewable energy under three years of this Government than under 13 years of the Labour Government. It is a good day to talk about energy policy because we have got a green investment bank up and running. That is what is happening under this Government. There has been no change towards renewable energy. Let me explain exactly. We have a big pipeline of onshore and offshore wind projects that are coming through. We are committed to those, but all parties will have to have a debate in the House and outside about what happens once those targets are met. The right hon. Gentleman ought to understand that, if he could be bothered to look at the substance.

[Edward Miliband]

That was a completely useless answer. There are investors all round this country who want certainty about energy policy. It is very simple for the Prime Minister. He has one Minister who says he is totally against wind energy—that is the Energy Minister whom he appointed, having sacked the previous guy—and there is the Energy Secretary who says he is gung-ho for wind farms. The Prime Minister just has to make a choice about where he stands. After all, he has a wind turbine on his house, so I thought he was in favour of wind turbines, but here is the reality. Lord Heseltine says in his report that there are people who are resistant to his ideas. We know who they are: the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. The evidence of the past two and a half years is that deregulation, sink or swim—their answer—is not the answer. Lord Heseltine is right and they are wrong.

[The Prime Minister]

I have one thing to say. Not you, Mr Speaker, but the right hon. Gentleman—he’s no Michael Heseltine. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear Mr Swales and I feel sure the people of Redcar do.

[Ian Swales (Redcar) (LD)]

The Russians want to award the prestigious Ushakov medal to Arctic convoy veterans. The Governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA have agreed. The UK Government have refused. Will the Prime Minister get this decision reversed quickly so that my constituent, John Ramsey, and the rest of the dwindling band of veterans get the recognition they so richly deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

I have every sympathy with my hon. Friend and his constituent. That is why we have asked Sir John Holmes to conduct the review not just of medals in general, but to look specifically at some of the most important cases, of which the Arctic convoys is probably the most pressing. As my hon. Friend asks, he is getting on with it.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Q5. The Foreign Secretary said yesterday that the rules of the House require that Ministers answer questions. So, there is a stash of embarrassing e-mails, isn’t there? Adam Smith had to publish every single one of his e-mails and ended up resigning. Why will the Prime Minister not publish all his e-mails? Can he really be a fit and proper person to judge on the future of press regulation if he will not come clean with the British public?

[The Prime Minister]

There is another rule of the House, which is that if you insult someone in the House, you make an apology. I am still waiting. It is this Government who set up the Leveson inquiry and I gave all the information that Leveson requested to that inquiry.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

Q6. The Owl and the Pussycat is a coffee shop in Laugharne in my constituency. Its business rates have just been hiked by 700% and the council is coming after it for the money even though it has not yet heard the appeal, which means that the business might have to close and jobs will be lost. The situation is not unique to Wales, so will the Prime Minister come to the rescue?

[The Prime Minister]

I have every sympathy with the business my hon. Friend mentions. Of course, business rates are a devolved issue, so this is something that needs to be taken up with the Welsh Assembly Government. In England we have doubled small business rate relief to help half a million small firms, made it easier for small firms and shops to claim small business rate relief and given local councils new powers to levy local business rate discounts, for example to support the sorts of shops and pubs he refers to. I think that is the right approach for England and I am sure he will want to take that case to Wales.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Q14. In 2007 the Prime Minister identified Lewisham hospital as one of 29 hospitals he would be prepared to get into a “bare-knuckle fight” over, yet on Monday it emerged that Lewisham’s A and E and maternity services could end up paying the price for financial failures elsewhere in the NHS. Which side of this bare-knuckle fight is he now on?

[The Prime Minister]

We are on the side of the fight for increasing the resources going into the NHS—that is a decision we have taken—including extra money going into Lewisham, and the hon. Lady is on the side of cutting the money going into the NHS. What we have done, which the previous Government did not do, is to set out that there will be no changes to NHS configurations unless they have the support of local GPs, unless they have strong public and patient engagement, unless they are backed by sound clinical evidence and unless they provide support for patient choice. Those sorts of protections were never in place under the previous Government, but they are now.

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

Q7. In the light of last week’s positive growth figures, does the Prime Minister agree that policies requiring yet more spending, more borrowing and more debt are the precise opposite of what our country needs?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. Last week’s news was welcome. The economy is growing, unemployment is coming down, inflation is coming down, the rate of small business creation is going up and a million more people are employed in the private sector than there were two years ago. The one absolute certainty is that the worst approach—Michael Heseltine confirms this in his report—would be to see more spending, more borrowing and more debt, because that is what got us into the mess in the first place. The Labour party has only one growth plan: the plan to grow the deficit.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Prime Minister for his condolences on the death of my constituent, Corporal Channing Day. She was a courageous young lady. She always wanted to join the Army and for eight years served as a medic. Her job was to save lives—to run the line of fire in order to give aid. Imagine what it meant to a wounded soldier to see someone running to help them when all hell was bursting around them and to know that they were not alone. Corporal Channing Day is not alone today. She will soon return to the bosom of her family, to her mother, father, sisters, brothers, friends and family, who loved her dearly, and to the community, which is immensely proud of her achievements. This House and this great nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland salute her courage, bravery and heroism.

Prime Minister, will you agree with me that Army medics are often the unsung heroes of conflict, and will you agree to meet me and my colleagues to discuss the implementation of the military covenant in Northern Ireland?

[The Prime Minister]

I would be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues to talk about the implementation of the covenant in Northern Ireland. It is something I have spoken about with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland. I know that there are issues about its implementation, but I hope that it can be done, and I would be happy to have that meeting.

The hon. Gentleman spoke very strongly and movingly about Corporal Channing Day. I think he is absolutely right that those in the Royal Army Medical Corp do a fantastic job. It has been a huge honour and privilege for me to meet some of them, including in Afghanistan. When you see the service they provide, you really can put your hand on your heart and know that British military personnel in theatre are getting medical care that is as good as that which anyone in history ever got. What they do is truly remarkable.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Q8. If he will make it his policy that the accident and emergency and maternity departments at Kettering general hospital will not be downgraded or closed as part of the Healthier Together review of NHS acute services in the south-east midlands; and if he will ensure that patients and clinical staff at Kettering general hospital will be involved fully in that review.

[The Prime Minister]

Healthier Together has promised that Kettering hospital will retain its accident and emergency and maternity services. Any suggestion otherwise, including by the Opposition, is simply scaremongering of the worst kind.

[Mr Hollobone]

Kettering has the sixth highest household growth rate in the whole country, and accident and emergency admissions are up 10% year on year. Given that Kettering general hospital has been at the very heart of the local community for well over 100 years, do not local people deserve a clear assurance that our much-loved and badly needed local hospital has a bright future ahead of it?

[The Prime Minister]

I gave my hon. Friend the strongest possible assurance. The point that I have made, and which I made to the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander), is that there cannot be any changes unless there is full public consultation and unless there is the support of local GPs and strong public and patient engagement. In the case of Kettering, that is not on the agenda. As I said, any suggestion by the Opposition is simply scaremongering of the worst kind, and I can see that they are at it again.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q9. The importance of skills in promoting economic growth has been emphasised again and again in all parts of the House, so why did the number of under-19 apprenticeship starts fall last year?

[The Prime Minister]

The number of apprenticeships under this Government is about 900,000; it is a record number and it has hugely increased.

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

Q10. The Government recently announced plans to extend the freeze on council tax for a third year. Unfortunately, Labour-run City of York council increased council tax by 2.9% this year and has moved with remarkable speed to confirm a 2% increase next year. Does my right hon. Friend agree that such a rise is apparently out of order and not in the interests of York constituents, and will he urge City of York council to look at this again?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly join my hon. Friend in doing that. The Government have made money available so that councils can freeze their council tax for a third year in a row. This is a very important way of demonstrating that we are on the side of people who want to work hard and get on and who struggle to pay the bills. Frankly, all councils should look at the money that is available and recognise that a council tax freeze is in the interests of all our citizens.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

When did the Prime Minister become aware of the plans to close Ford plants at Southampton and Dagenham, and was he aware of those plans when the Government awarded a large sum of money from the regional growth fund to that company just a few days earlier?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously these issues were discussed, and we work very closely with all the automotive industry companies in the United Kingdom. As I said earlier, the news from most of them—from Nissan, from Toyota and from Jaguar Land Rover—has been extremely positive. What happened at Ford in Southampton is clearly very regrettable, but we must do everything we can to help those people into work.

[Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)]

Q11. I am delighted that the economy is finally growing, and green growth is a key part of this. Is the Prime Minister still committed to this being the greenest Government ever, particularly when it comes to his policies on renewable energy?

[The Prime Minister]

Under this Government we have seen more investment in green energy in three years than we had from Labour in 13. The green investment bank that we promised is up and running. The carbon floor price that we spoke about is in place. This is indeed a very green Government and we are sticking to our promises.

[Mr Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q12. The number of people waiting more than four hours in accident and emergency units has more than doubled in the past two years, and the Prime Minister will not intervene to stop the closures of A and E units at Central Middlesex hospital and Ealing hospital; and we now know about Lewisham—and I suspect, despite his weasel words, Kettering hospital too. What confidence can my constituents have that if they end up in casualty they will not have to wait longer for A and E services too?

[The Prime Minister]

I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that I could not have been any clearer about the future of Kettering hospital, and for him to say that is scaremongering of the worst kind. Let me tell him what is happening at the hospitals that serve his constituents. In May 2010, there were 52 patients waiting longer than 12 months. How many are there now? None, under this Government. That is what is actually happening, because we are putting the money into the NHS and Labour would take it out.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

Further to the result of the vote on 18 October regarding the contentious decision to axe 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and given that we have very recently, only last night, met the Secretary of State for Defence, will the Prime Minister meet me and other interested Members from across the House to discuss this issue?

[The Prime Minister]

I am always happy to talk to colleagues about this issue, as are, I know, the Ministry of Defence and the Secretary of State. As my hon. Friend knows, we have had to make difficult decisions to put in place the future structure of the Army, with 82,000 regular soldiers and a larger reserve of 30,000 Territorial Army soldiers. I think that is the right approach. Clearly we have had to make some difficult decisions about regiments and about battalions, and in that we were guided by trying to save as many regiments and cap badges as possible. I think that the proposals have taken that into account and are right, but of course the Defence Secretary will go on listening to representations.

[Jim Dobbin (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q13. Will the Prime Minister confirm that the overall cost of the changes to child benefit, which are due to be introduced next January, will be more than £100 million?

[The Prime Minister]

The changes that we are making to child benefit, where we are taking child benefit away altogether from those people earning over £60,000, are going to save around £2 billion. It is necessary to take tough decisions in order to deal with the massive deficit—bigger than Greece’s, bigger than Spain’s—that the hon. Gentleman’s party left us. I have to say that I find it completely inexplicable that the Labour party, which says that it wants those with the broadest backs to share some of the burden, opposes the idea of taking child benefit away from people who earn over £60,000, £70,000, £80,000 and £90,000. I do not see why those on the Opposition Front Bench should go on collecting their child benefit when we are having to make so many other difficult decisions.

[Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Douglas Gill International in my constituency on its Queen’s award for enterprise for successfully exporting sports marine wear? Does he agree that this is a fine example of British business on the up, promoting the best of British and, indeed, the best of Erewash?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. We need to have export-led growth in this country and a rebalancing of our economy. That is what the increase in exports, manufacturing and industrial production is all about, but we need to go further and faster, which, indeed, is what Michael Heseltine’s excellent report today is all about.