Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 9 January.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

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.

[Karl MᶜCartney]

May I wish you, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister and the rest of the House a prosperous, positive and happy new year?

Does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agree that if public servants are having a 1% pay rise, it is only fair for those on benefits to be given the same increase?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. These are difficult decisions that we have to make, but they should be made in the context of the fact that over the past five years, benefits have gone up by 20% yet average earnings are up by only 10%. I think it is fair and right to have a 1% cap on out-of-work benefits, a 1% cap on tax credits, and a 1% cap on public sector pay. What is inexplicable is the position of the Labour party which supports a 1% public sector pay cap but wants more for welfare claimants. That is not fair or right and it should think again.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

Can the Prime Minister tell us why on Monday when he published his mid-term review he failed to publish his audit of coalition broken promises?

[The Prime Minister]

We will be publishing absolutely every single audit of every single promise—all 399 pledges set out in the mid-term review. Unlike the Labour party, the audit will be full, frank and completely unvarnished and the right hon. Gentleman will see it this afternoon. Let me perhaps remind him of some of those pledges. We said we would cut the deficit and it is down by 25%; we said we would cut immigration and it is down by 25%; we said we would rebalance the economy and there are 1 million private sector jobs. That is a record to be proud of.

[Edward Miliband]

I am afraid the Prime Minister will have to do better than that. His adviser said that the Government should not publish the secret audit because it had “problematic areas”, would lead to “unfavourable copy”, and identify “broken pledges”—that is a far cry from the rose garden, isn’t it? The Government said they would

“throw open the doors…to enable the public to hold politicians…to account.”

Have another go; it is a simple question. Was it the Prime Minister’s decision not to publish the audit because —and I quote from his adviser—it would “overshadow” favourable coverage? [Interruption.] The Prime Minister should calm down; it is early in the year so calm down. You’ve got difficult times ahead. Was it the Prime Minister’s decision not to publish the audit?

[The Prime Minister]

It is my decision that it is being published this afternoon. Is that really the best he can do? He has had a week sitting in the Canary Islands with nothing else to think of. He cannot ask about unemployment because it is falling; he cannot ask about business creation because it is rising; he does not want to talk about the deficit because we have got it down; he cannot ask about welfare because he knows he is on the wrong side of the argument.

[Edward Miliband]

The only people on the wrong side of the argument are the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, who are trying to divide the country.

We have not seen the secret audit, but let us see whether we can get a sneak preview of it. The coalition agreement said:

“We will stop the top-down reorganisations of the NHS”.

I think we can all agree that that promise has been broken, so can the Prime Minister confirm that it is on the list?

[The Prime Minister]

What will be on the list is the 5,000 more doctors and 6,000 fewer managers in the NHS. The right hon. Gentleman talks about wanting to divide the country. The division is this: two parties came together in the national interest to take the difficult decisions, and one party refuses to apologise for the past and to talk about the deficit, and has no economic policy to speak of. That is the division in British politics today.

[Edward Miliband]

I have to say that if the Prime Minister cannot even admit that he has broken his promise on the top-down reorganisation of the NHS, I do not have high hopes for this secret audit. Let us talk about another broken promise, this time on women. In his usual, modest way, he said:

“We want to make sexual inequality history.”

That is a big commitment. He added:

“That needs a serious commitment…clear policies”

and clear “leadership”. Will the secret audit therefore acknowledge another broken promise that the tax and benefit changes he is making are hitting women—[Interruption.] The part-time Chancellor should calm down a bit too. Will the Prime Minister admit that the tax and benefit changes he is making are hitting women three times as hard as men?

[The Prime Minister]

There are more women in work than at any—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is excessive noise in the Chamber. The questions from the Leader of the Opposition must be heard, and the answers from the Prime Minister must be heard.

[The Prime Minister]

The Leader of the Opposition will be able to see when the document is published that there are more women in work than at any time in our history; that our pension reforms are helping women; that our public sector pay freeze, which excludes the lowest paid, is helping women; and that we are helping women with extra child care for four, three and two-year-olds. What a contrast between a Government who are prepared to publish every piece of information about every pledge and what has been achieved, and the Labour party, which cannot even apologise for the mess it left this country in.

[Edward Miliband]

After that answer, it is no wonder the Prime Minister did not take any questions from women journalists at his relaunch press conference.

Let us turn to the Prime Minister’s biggest broken promise of all. The Chancellor hits hard-working people and the most vulnerable with his strivers’ tax, but at the same time, he is giving—this April—a massive tax cut to millionaires. If the Prime Minister’s audit is to be a candid assessment, will it not have to admit that he has broken that symbolic promise that we are all in this together?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman knows the facts about the top rate of tax. His move to 50p meant that millionaires paid £7 billion less in taxes than they did previously. The fact is that, under this Government, the top rate of tax will be higher in every year than it was in any year under his Government.

The truth is this. The right hon. Gentleman talks about promises, but let us have a little audit of his promises. He promised us a fully costed deficit reduction programme, but we have had nothing; he promised us proper reforms of welfare, but we have had nothing; and he promised us that he would show how he would have a new policy on tuition fees, but we have had nothing. I have audited all of the Government’s spending programmes and I have identified one where the waste is simply appalling: the £5 million of Short money that goes to the Labour party every year—we get nothing from it.

[Edward Miliband]

The more the Prime Minister rants and blusters, the less convincing he is. The facts are these: he is cutting the top rate of income tax by an average of £107,000 for everyone earning more than £1 million in Britain at the same time as he is raising taxes on everyone else. What do we know from this week? We know that he is a PR man who cannot even do a relaunch. Halfway through this Parliament, we know that the Government are incompetent, that they break their promises and that the nasty party is back.

[The Prime Minister]

It is perfectly clear what has happened since the start of this year. It is this Government who are setting out their plans for the future; it is the right hon. Gentleman’s party that is on the wrong side of the argument on welfare, that has nothing to say about the deficit, and has no credible policy on the economy. He has a shadow Chancellor who he will not back, but cannot sack. Nothing has changed in politics and nothing has changed in Labour.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

Q2. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should be cutting taxes for hard-working people in Basildon and Thurrock, rather than taking money away from them only to then return their own money through tax credits?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. Of course, he will know that in April every working family will see a £220 tax cut as we lift the tax threshold yet further—everyone will benefit from that. In our view, what we should be doing is cutting people’s taxes, rather than taking more in taxes and recycling them through the massive tax credits business. That is what we believe on the Government Benches, and that is what will work for working families.

[Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)]

Q3. Is it not a clear example of how out of touch the Prime Minister is that while the overwhelming majority of the public want to maintain the ban on fox and stag hunting, he actually plans to repeal it? Will he tell us why?

[The Prime Minister]

As I explained before Christmas, I have never broken the law and the only little red pests I pursue these days are in this House.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister accept that under this Government—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Selous]

Does the Prime Minister accept that we have brought in an 11% rise to the child element of tax credits, followed by a 5% rise, and that our recent rises build on them, meaning a cash increase of £470 in the child element of tax credits under this Government?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about how we focus help on those most in need. I would also make the point that, because we have lifted the income tax threshold, someone on minimum wage who works full-time will have seen their income tax bill cut in half under this Government. We are on the side of people who want to work hard, get on and provide for their families.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

Q4. There are more than 1 million children living in poverty who do not qualify for a free school meal. Several children’s charities are concerned that that number will increase when universal credit is introduced. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to allay their fears by giving a clear guarantee that any child who qualifies for a free school meal under the current rules will keep that entitlement when the rules are changed?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look carefully at what the right hon. Gentleman says about free school meals, but let me just make the point that universal credit will extend help to more people and to more families. It will help those people who are only able to work a few hours a week, and help them with child care as well.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Q5. It was good to see the Prime Minister out running over Christmas, and he is now setting the pace on welfare reform. I have been out training for the London marathon to raise funds for my local Forget Me Not children’s hospice. Will my right hon. Friend join me in praising all those who fundraise and volunteer for local hospices, and reaffirm the Government’s support for such schemes as the capital fund for hospices, for which my local Kirkwood hospice is currently applying?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I wish my hon. Friend every good luck for the London marathon—that is far more than I am capable of, I can assure him. We are continuing to support children’s hospices by carrying on with the £10 million funding. In this financial year, we have provided an additional £720,000. We are also making £60 million of capital funding available to adult and children’s hospices. Crucially, in the coalition agreement, a full audit of which will be published later today, we will be demonstrating how we will fulfil our pledge for a per-patient funding system for palliative care, which will help all children’s hospices as they do such important work for our country.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q6. Will the Prime Minister confirm that single mum Maggie from my constituency, who works all the hours she can in Tesco but does not earn enough to gain from the new tax allowances, will, after his changes to tax credits and universal credit, be a staggering £1,255 a year worse off?

[The Prime Minister]

The point I would make to the hon. Lady is that everybody is affected by these changes. Everyone on tax credits will be affected by the fact that there is only a 1% increase. Everyone on out-of-work benefits will be affected by the fact that there is only a 1% increase. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: if we are saving £5 billion through these changes, which I believe are fair, how would Labour fill in this £5 billion black hole? What would it take it off? Would it take it off the NHS? Would it take it off the defence budget? It is time we had some answers from the Labour party.

[Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

I thank the coalition Government for allocating £10.7 million to Edinburgh’s super-connected city bid. It will revolutionise home and business internet use in parts of my constituency such as Kirkliston and Ratho. Unfortunately, my constituents are immensely frustrated at Edinburgh council’s year-long procurement process. What can the Prime Minister do to help speed up that process?

[The Prime Minister]

It is vital that everyone has access to broadband and that increasingly we have that overwhelming access to superfast broadband. I suspect that Edinburgh city council has seen some of the same problems that councils up and down the country have seen with getting state-aid clearance. We now have that clearance for broadband in England, but I am happy to look at the situation in Edinburgh. That has been one of the problems holding back this vital programme.

[Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q7. “You shouldn’t have to fill in long forms from the Revenue. You’re working. You need help. We want to help you.” I am sure the Prime Minister recognises his words to families receiving child benefit. How many families could face a fine for not filling out a long tax form?

[The Prime Minister]

The point about the child benefit change is that 85% of families who receive child benefit will go on getting it. The question we all have to ask is whether it is right for people earning £20,000 or £30,000 to go on giving child benefit to people earning £70,000, £80,000 or £90,000. We do not believe it is right, but apparently the Labour party thinks it is right to give child benefit to millionaires. We do not think that is a good use of money.

[Stephen Phillips (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

Q8. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister rightly recognises that there needs to be a new relationship between this country and the European Union. He has said—and I agree—that the British people must be offered a “real choice” with regard to our continued membership. I hope that he can confirm to the House today that it is his intention to seek a fresh settlement with the EU and then to seek the consent of the British people to that settlement.

[The Prime Minister]

I can confirm that that is exactly what I believe this country should do. It is the right thing for Britain, because it is right that we are involved in the single market and are active players in the EU, but there are changes that we would like in our relationship that would be good for Britain and good for Europe, and because of the changes taking place in the eurozone, which is driving a lot of the change in the European Union, there is every opportunity to achieve that settlement and then seek consent for it.

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q9. A colleague of Lord Marland said: “He likes the foreign travel, leading trade delegations, meeting foreign leaders, but wasn’t so keen on the detailed”policy of his new job. Hmm, I wonder if the Prime Minister knows anybody else like that.

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman had all morning to think of that! It is important that we have Ministers in both Houses who are linking up with the fastest-growing countries in the world. That is why our exports to China and India are up 50%. We are connecting Britain with the fastest-growing parts of the world.

[Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)]

Bearing in mind that Bills that might be thought to affect the royal prerogative require the signification of the Queen on Second Reading, will the Prime Minister tell us whether he has yet heard from the palace whether it regards any of the major constitutional changes proposed in the Succession to the Crown Bill as intruding on either the royal prerogative or the coronation oath that Her Majesty took?

[The Prime Minister]

Throughout the process of bringing forward this proposal, to which of course the Heads of all the Commonwealth—the dominion realms—have also signed up, there has been very thorough contact between No. 10 Downing street and the palace, and all the issues are settled and agreed.

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

Q10. Hundreds of thousands of householders in high flood-risk areas cannot understand why the Government have effectively abandoned efforts to reach agreement with the British insurance industry on future insurance for their homes and fear that they will not be able to insure their homes after June 2013. Why is the Prime Minister fiddling while the country floods?

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to put the hon. Gentleman right. The discussions are still under way. They have made very good progress. I am confident that we will reach an agreement. As he said, the current agreement does not run out until June this year. I am regularly updated about how those discussions are going. I know from my own constituency, which has been subject to regular flooding, just how important they are. I would also add that we have put in an extra £120 million in flood defences. I think everyone can now see that the flood defence work that has been done over recent years has made a significant difference when we have had high levels of rainfall and very high water in our rivers and streams.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

Q11. Can the Prime Minister confirm to the House that disability benefits are being uprated as usual and will not be subject to changes?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. Disability living allowance, which is the key benefit received by people who are disabled, is not subject to the 1% cap. The 1% cap is for in-work benefits. It is very important that we go on paying disability living allowance in the way that we have been.

[Teresa Pearce (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)]

Q12. Can the Prime Minister confirm that my constituent, who is a nurse as well as a single father to his two children, will lose £400 a year as a result of the Chancellor’s cuts to child benefit and other benefits?

[The Prime Minister]

The results of the cuts to child benefit are that the best-off 15% of families in this country will no longer receive child benefit at all. That is what is going to happen. That saves around £2 billion a year. Again, Labour has now voted against £83 billion of welfare changes. I am afraid that the Opposition have to start filling in the blanks of where they are going to make up this money. I think it is right that we say to people earning £60,000, £70,000, £80,000 or more, “You shouldn’t be receiving child benefit.” It is not an easy decision, but government is about making decisions; and frankly, opposition is about making some decisions too.

[Ian Swales (Redcar) (LD)]

Can I recommend that the Prime Minister takes a look at Monday’s excellent Back-Bench debate on corporate tax avoidance? Can I ask what he hopes to achieve on this vital issue at the G8?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look closely at the debate and read Hansard, because this is not just a vital issue for our country, but one that needs to be settled internationally. That is why I put the issue of corporate tax avoidance at the heart of the G8 this year, and we are also looking very closely at whatever else we can do here in the UK.

[Stephen Pound (Ealing North) (Lab)]

Q13. Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier), may I ask the Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of families who are still unaware that they are no longer entitled to child benefit, particularly bearing in mind that the bill for the first full year’s charges will come wafting through the nation’s letterboxes in April 1915? [Interruption.] Sorry, 2015.

[The Prime Minister]

We have written out to 800,000 families. There has been a huge advertising campaign and this has been properly covered right across the media, but I have to say that it is absolutely extraordinary, in a week when Labour is complaining about difficult welfare decisions for people who are in work and people who are out of work, that Labour Members also want to make a priority of opposing taking away child benefit from people earning £100,000 or £150,000. They have really got to start taking some responsible decisions about how we deal with our deficit and get our economy under control.

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating the business men—the entrepreneurs—and the staff who work at the jobcentre in my constituency, whose efforts over the last two and a half years have ensured that unemployment in Selby and Ainsty is down by a quarter since the last election?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly join my hon. Friend in that. The people in our jobcentres up and down the country do an excellent job helping people to find work and to make sure that they get all the help they need. The fact is that the unemployment rate today is lower than the rate that we inherited at the last election. Over the last year, job creation in Britain was faster than in any other G7 country. We still have a long way to go to rebalance our economy and to get the growth in the private sector that we need, but we are on the right track—1 million new private sector jobs over the last two years, the fastest rate of new business creation for decades. There are good signs that the economy is rebalancing. We need to encourage that by staying on top of our deficit and getting it down, rather than just giving in on every decision, as we have seen today from the Labour party.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Q14. According to the Children’s Society, up to 40,000 soldiers, 150,000 teachers and 300,000 nurses will lose out as a result of the Prime Minister’s decision to cut tax credits and other benefits. Why are hard-working people like that paying for his economic failure?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady needs to remember why we are having to take these decisions in the first place: it is to deal with the record budget deficit and the mess left by the Labour party. That is the background. The real question about public sector workers—about soldiers, about teachers and about people who work in our public services—is that if they are being restricted to a 1% increase, why on earth does the Labour party think that people on out-of-work benefits should see their incomes go up faster? That is the question that Labour has to answer. We are being fair, because we are restricting the increase on tax credits and restricting the increase on public sector pay, but we are also asking the same of those on out-of-work welfare. What we see as completely unfair is backing the public sector pay increase but wanting welfare to go through the roof. That is completely wrong, it is not fair and Labour must see that it has to change its mind.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

Q15. Last week, I visited the T. H. White group in Devizes and heard about its healthy order book and its recruitment plans for 2013. Like many British employers, however, it cannot find enough engineers to hire. Britain’s universities lead the world in teaching science and engineering, yet we have an annual shortfall of 60,000 graduates, and nine out of 10 postgraduate students in those subjects are from overseas. What more can we do to plug that critical skills gap?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right: we have to tackle that problem at every level. That means making sure that we are teaching maths and science and other STEM subjects properly in schools. There are signs that the number of people taking those subjects is increasing. We need to ensure that our universities are properly funded; the tuition fees will make sure that that is the case. We also need to raise the profile of engineering, and that is one of the reasons that we introduced the £1 million Queen Elizabeth prize for engineering. That, combined with the 34 university technical colleges, will help to ensure that we train the engineers we need for the future.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

It is more important than ever that we seek to continue to move forward and away from violence in Northern Ireland, and to create stability. I am sure that the Prime Minister will agree that full participation in and support for the political and democratic process by everyone, so that the politicians can address the people’s issues, is absolutely vital. In that context, and in the light of what is happening in Northern Ireland, will the Prime Minister agree to meet us to discuss the forthcoming legislation on Northern Ireland, so that we can consider measures to increase democratic participation by people in deprived communities, look at the deplorable state of the electoral register in Northern Ireland, which is in a bad state, and deal with the discrimination against elected Members of this House from Northern Ireland who play by the rules while others get money without taking their seats? All of that needs to be addressed.

[The Prime Minister]

I would be happy to meet the right hon. Gentleman. Indeed, I have a meeting with a number of members of his party straight after Prime Minister’s questions to discuss the vital issue of ensuring that the military covenant is properly fulfilled in Northern Ireland. He made a number of points in his question. I would throw back part of the challenge to him and his party, just as I would to others in other parties, in saying that we need to build a shared future in Northern Ireland in which we break down the barriers of segregation that have been in place for many years. That is part of the challenge to take away some of the tensions that we have seen in recent days.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

Just in case anybody is in any doubt, will the Prime Minister confirm who he is closest to, politically? Is it Lord Tebbit or the Deputy Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

I managed to get through Christmas without spending any time with either of them. I would remind my hon. Friend that I am closer to all Conservatives than I am to anyone from any other party.

[Dame Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Health received a report recommending the downgrading of maternity services and the closure of the A and E department at Lewisham hospital. Does the Prime Minister recall the coalition promise to end the forced closures of A and E and maternity services? If this is not to be on the list of broken promises, will he ensure that these closures do not go ahead?

[The Prime Minister]

What the Government and I specifically promised was that there should be no closures or reorganisations unless they had support from the GP commissioners, unless there was proper public and patient engagement and unless there was an evidence base. Let me be absolutely clear: unlike under the last Government when these closures and changes were imposed in a top-down way, if they do not meet those criteria, they will not happen.

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

The Prime Minister will remember that this House gave the green light to stem cell research some years ago, but we now find that the EU Court of Justice is hindering progress by bringing into question the validity of the patents protecting research. On behalf of the millions of people in this country who suffer from long-term medical conditions, will the Prime Minister do what he can to clear this blockage?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely serious point. I will look closely at it, because I think this country has a competitive advantage from our having taken difficult decisions about stem cell research. It is important that we continue to lead in that area—not only, as my hon. Friend says, for economic and scientific reasons, but because we want to make sure that for people with long-term and debilitating conditions, for children with disabilities and other concerns, we crack those problems for the future. Without that level of research, I do not believe that we shall. I will look very carefully at what my hon. Friend has said and I will write to him with an answer.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Is the Prime Minister proud of the growth of food banks across this country, including in my constituency? Has he visited one, and if not, will he do so?

[The Prime Minister]

I am proud of the fact that 1 million more people are in work in this country than there were when this Government came to office, that we have made sure that the lowest paid are not paying income tax and that we have protected the poorest families. I am proud of all those things. Unlike the hon. Gentleman, I do not look down at, or talk down to, people who work hard in our communities to help people.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 21st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 21 November.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

Before I list my engagements, the whole House will wish to join me in sending our sympathies and our condolences to the family of Captain Walter Barrie, of 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland. He was described as a fantastic, engaging and professional soldier. He will be truly missed by all who knew him. Our nation must never forget his service and his sacrifice. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

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.

[Tristram Hunt]

May I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Captain Barrie and all our soldiers working so heroically in Afghanistan?

In Stoke-on-Trent, libraries are closing, teachers are being laid off and youth clubs are shutting their doors. Given that public funds are so precious, does the Prime Minister really think it was a good use of taxpayers’ money to waste £100 million on the farcical police and crime commissioner elections in November?

[The Prime Minister]

I think it is good that, right across the country, we are now going to have local law and order champions, who will stand up for the public and ensure that we get a good deal from the police. I have noticed that Labour has two criticisms of the police and crime commissioners: on the one hand it said we spent too much money; on the other hand, it said that we did not spend enough money promoting the elections. I am prepared to accept one criticism or the other, but not both.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

Yesterday the British Government borrowed money from international investors at record low levels, saving taxpayers millions of pounds. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is more evidence that our economic plans are working?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, which is that because of the fact that we have a credible plan to get on top of debt, to get on top of deficit, to show how we will pay our way in the world, we have record low interest rates, which were described by the shadow Chancellor as the key test of economic credibility.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

May I start by joining the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Captain Walter Barrie, of 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland? He showed the utmost courage and bravery, and all our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends.

May I also express my deep sorrow about the loss of life and suffering in Israel and Gaza in recent days, including the latest appalling terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv? There is widespread support on both sides of the House for the agreement of an immediate and durable ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, so will the Prime Minister set out, in his view, the remaining barriers to that ceasefire agreement now being reached?

[The Prime Minister]

May I say how much I agree with the right hon. Gentleman about the appalling news this morning about the terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv? May I also express our deep concern about the intolerable situation for people in southern Israel and the grave loss of life in Gaza?

The right hon. Gentleman asked specifically what more we can do to help bring this ceasefire about. I think that all of us, right across the European Union, and in America and beyond, need to be putting pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister and all those who have contacts with Hamas, to de-escalate, to stop the fighting, to stop the bombing; and that is exactly what I have done. Over the weekend, I spoke twice to the Israeli Prime Minister and once to the President of Israel—my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is working very hard on this as well—to persuade both sides that we need a ceasefire. Beyond that, obviously what we need is proper discussions about the future of Israel and Palestine.

[Edward Miliband]

I agree with the Prime Minister: he is right to say that any such ceasefire deal can be turned into permanent peace only if there is a resumption of meaningful negotiations towards a two-state solution. This week has shown us once again that there is neither peace nor a peace process, and the reality is that the international community bears some responsibility for the abject failure to have those meaningful negotiations, nine years on from the promise of the road map for peace. Can the right hon. Gentleman set out for the House what steps beyond the hoped-for ceasefire need to be taken to pressure both sides into meaningful negotiations?

[The Prime Minister]

I agree that we need a process to be put in place and we have to do everything we can to persuade President Obama that this should be a leading priority for his second presidential term, but I make this point: of course we all want this process and we all want this peace, but in the end peace can come about only by Israelis and Palestinians sitting down and talking through the final status issues—they have to discuss borders, Jerusalem and refugees. In the end, as President Obama is fond of saying, and I agree, we cannot want this more than they want it. We have to encourage them, provide the framework and push for a process, but in the end we need courageous leadership from Israelis and Palestinians to talk through those final status issues.

[Edward Miliband]

That is completely right, but we have to use every means at our disposal to pressure both sides into those negotiations, because the reality is that confidence that there can be a two-state solution is dwindling month by month. There will be an opportunity to support the cause of the two-state solution at the UN General Assembly later this month by recognising enhanced observer status for the Palestinian Authority. The Opposition support that because we believe it will strengthen the moderate voices among the Palestinians who want to pursue the path of politics, not the path of violence. I urge the Prime Minister to consider adopting that position in the days ahead.

[The Prime Minister]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman on the first part of what he said: confidence is dwindling that there is time left for a two-state solution. That is why there is such a sense of urgency in the international community—this could be the last chance for peace, because the facts on the ground are changing. Frankly, I think it is so much in Israel’s interest now to push for the two-state solution, so we should keep up the pressure.

On the potential vote at the United Nations, our view, which I know the Foreign Secretary set out for the House in some detail yesterday, is that the Palestinians should not take it to the UN in the short term, and we have urged them not to do that. Clearly, if they do so, we will have to consider the right way to vote. The point is this: we will not solve this problem at the United Nations; it will be solved only by Israelis and Palestinians sitting down and negotiating. Indeed, there may be dangers in pushing the issue too early at the UN in terms of funds for the Palestinian Authority being cut off and all the other consequences, so let us get negotiations going, rather than discussions at the UN.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

If the Prime Minister wants to send a clear message that Scotland and England belong together and have a better future together, should he not be doing his best to make sure that the principal road from London to Edinburgh is a modern dual carriageway and does not become a country lane?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend makes a very attractive spending bid for the autumn statement. Although my right hon. Friend the Chancellor is not here, I am sure that Treasury colleagues were listening closely.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Q2. The Prime Minister claimed that universal credit will “bring about the most fundamental and radical changes to the welfare system since it began”. Given the Government’s propensity for omnishambles, can he guarantee that the second phase of universal credit will be implemented in April 2014 and not delayed?

[The Prime Minister]

Universal credit is a good reform and I thought it was welcomed across the House because it puts in place proper work incentives for people at all levels of income, and is also highly progressive in channelling money to those who need it the most. I can tell the hon. Lady that universal credit is on time and on budget and, indeed, a pilot scheme is to start shortly.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

The person responsible for the murder of Becky Godden-Edwards, whose mother is my constituent, has not been brought to justice because important incriminating evidence was excluded from the court process. Will my right hon. Friend join our cause in calling for a thorough review of code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, so that such terrible situations will not occur in future?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look very carefully at what my hon. Friend raises and the specific case he mentions. I will also look at the issue of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. It is always important that all information that possibly can be put in front of a court is put in front of a court, so that it can reach the correct decision.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

Q3. Cuts in front-line policing, together with cuts to police pensions and conditions in service, have led 96% of the police force to believe that this Government do not support them. Does the Prime Minister think that that is a problem and, if so, what will he do about it?

[The Prime Minister]

This Government strongly support our police service and what it does. These are people who go out every day and put their lives on the line to keep the rest of us safe. Frankly, whoever was in government right now would have to be making cuts to police budgets, but if we actually look at what is happening in policing, we see that the number of neighbourhood police has gone up, the percentage of police on the front line has gone up, the number of police in back-office roles has gone down and, crucially, that crime is down and satisfaction with the police is up.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

Q4. So that people do not have to wade through hundreds of bamboozling tariff plans, will the Prime Minister confirm that this Government will legislate to ensure that people can access the best deals, which the Leader of the Opposition failed to do as Energy Secretary?

[The Prime Minister]

I am delighted to tell my hon. Friend that, having stood at this Dispatch Box and said that we wanted to ensure that people got access to the lowest tariffs, that is exactly what we have achieved. If Opposition Members have doubts about this, let me quote a Labour shadow Energy Minister, who said this about our change:

“It also means some of the most expensive deals would have to go...Being able to reduce the number of tariffs for people is going to help people get a clearer picture of what is happening and that can only be a good thing.”

That is the sort of endorsement that I welcome.

[Edward Miliband]

The Government promised that there should be no rationing in the NHS on grounds of cost alone. Can the Prime Minister tell us whether he has kept that promise?

[The Prime Minister]

The promise that we have kept is that we said that we would increase NHS spending every year under this Government, and in England that is what is happening. In Wales, of course, there is a massive cut in the NHS, because it is run by Labour.

[Edward Miliband]

First of all, there are 7,000 fewer nurses in the NHS than when the Prime Minister came to power, according to the figures published this morning. I asked him a specific question about the promise made a year ago by the then Health Secretary—the Prime Minister sacked him and he is now the Leader of the House—that there would be no rationing on the grounds of cost alone, but the president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists said recently—[Interruption.] Government Members should listen, because he said that

“PCTs are not following government guidelines.”

Half of health commissioners are restricting access to cataract surgery. [Interruption.] I do not think that the Prime Minister should ask the former Health Secretary for help, because he got rid of him from the post. Can the Prime Minister tell me why, for the first time in six years, the number of cataract operations actually fell last year?

[The Prime Minister]

What I can tell the right hon. Gentleman is that, under this Government, the number of doctors is up, the number of operations is up, waiting lists are down and waiting times are down. That is what is happening because we took the responsible decision. He quotes primary care trusts, which, of course, we are abolishing and putting the money into front-line services. That is what is happening under this Government. The Opposition and he believe that increasing spending on the NHS is irresponsible; we think it is the right thing to do.

[Edward Miliband]

Once again, the Prime Minister has no clue about the detail—he has no idea what is actually happening out there on the ground. To give him credit, he did make history this week, because he now has his very own word in the “Oxford English Dictionary”: “omnishambles.” The reality is that the reason people are suffering on the ground is that he has wasted billions of pounds on a top-down reorganisation of the NHS that nobody wanted and nobody voted for, just like he wasted millions of pounds on police commissioner elections. He does not listen, he is out of touch and last Thursday the people of Corby spoke for the country.

[The Prime Minister]

Last Thursday the people of Humberside spoke for the whole nation. [Hon. Members: “More!”] Happily, there is more, because the former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, said that this

“is not just about the police. This is a referendum on everything this…government has done…On the health, on the education, on the local authorities”,

and people took the first opportunity to kick him out.

I think that it is the leader of the Labour party who made history this week, because he told his conference that he wanted to be Disraeli; he told Radio 4 that he wanted to be Margaret Thatcher; he came to this House and said that he was more Eurosceptic than Bill Cash; and then he went to the CBI and said that he loved Europe even more than Tony Blair. He has impersonated more politicians than Rory Bremner, but this time the joke is on him.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

Q5. Does my right hon. Friend agree that a free press is one of the cornerstones of a true democracy, and that any attempt to muzzle newspapers, such as those of the excellent Kent Messenger Group in my constituency, should be strenuously resisted?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I join him in expressing my admiration for the Kent Messenger Group and all that it does. The problems there have been in our newspaper industry have not concerned regional and local titles, which perform an incredibly important function in our democratic system. However, we all have to wait for the Leveson report, study it carefully and respond to what it says.

[Mr Tom Harris (Glasgow South) (Lab)]

Q6. Allow me to present a tale of two companies. The first is Red Hot Comics in my constituency, which employs seven people and pays every penny of the tax that is due, on time. Its main competitor, Amazon UK, brings in revenue of up to £4.5 billion, and yet last year it paid less than £1 million in tax. Will the Prime Minister follow the example of the French Government, who have issued a back claim for unpaid tax against Amazon, or will he allow us to draw our own conclusions about whose side he is on?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about ensuring that companies make fair contributions and fair tax payments in our country. We have put an extra £900 million into the Inland Revenue to ensure that we get companies and individuals to pay their taxes properly. Yesterday I announced that one of the key priorities of the G8, which I will be chairing from January and which, I am pleased to announce, will meet in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland next June, will be to get proper international agreement so that companies pay their taxes properly.

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

May I highlight for my right hon. Friend a free school that will be opening in one of the most deprived wards in Wolverhampton next year? It will provide a real ladder for social mobility for young people. It is a great, tangible advert for what this Government are doing in education, and he is more than welcome to visit.

[The Prime Minister]

That is a very kind invitation. I recently held a meeting at No. 10 Downing street for all the 78 free schools that have been established over the past two and a half years. We are making good progress. I want many hundreds of free schools to be established between now and the next election. It is of note that, whereas the last Government managed 200 hundred academies in 13 years, we have managed 2,000 in two and a half years. We want to give the academies and free schools agenda the biggest boost that we can.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

Q7. When he next expects to visit Central Ayrshire.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I look forward to visiting Scotland soon and will obviously look carefully at whether I can visit the hon. Gentleman’s constituency of Central Ayrshire.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Donohoe]

Mr Speaker, you hold one of the great offices of state, as does the Prime Minister. What is he personally going to do to drive these sharks out of our economies?

[The Prime Minister]

I enjoyed my visit to Troon. I made the offer to the hon. Gentleman at that time that I would happily share a platform with him to defend our United Kingdom, but for some reason the invitation got lost in the post. I therefore make the offer to him again.

The hon. Gentleman makes a serious point about payday loans. We have seen the preliminary report by the Office of Fair Trading. We need to take action, and that is why we are giving the OFT a new power to suspend a consumer credit licence with immediate effect when there is an urgent need to protect consumers. The report shows that many companies are not sticking to the guidelines, and that is not acceptable.

Engagements

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

Has my right hon. Friend seen the recent Experian study which shows that Milton Keynes is the area of the UK best placed to lead economic growth, with a forecast growth of 3.1% a year?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a great spokesman for Milton Keynes and has welcomed me there many times. It has a successful economy based largely on small and medium-sized enterprises. One thing we need to do, in Milton Keynes and elsewhere, is to get the housing market moving again. I am convinced that that is an important part of driving recovery in our economy.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Q8. Many young apprentices receive very low wages—the youngest only £2.60 an hour. Is it fair for the Prime Minister to take housing benefit from young people who cannot live with their parents but are trying hard to build a future for themselves?

[The Prime Minister]

The Government strongly support the growth in apprenticeships, and we have seen something like 1 million new apprenticeships under this Government. I know that housing benefit is a very important issue, but there is a problem, which needs proper attention: we seem to give some young people a choice today, in that if they are on jobseeker’s allowance they can have access to housing benefit, but if they are living at home and trying to work they cannot. We need to recognise that in many cases we are sending a negative signal to young people through our welfare system.

[Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

Is it still the Prime Minister’s intention that this should be the greenest Government ever?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, it is. It is this Government who, in record time, have established a Green Investment Bank that is now in Edinburgh and starting to make loans.

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)]

Q9. I am sure the Prime Minister agrees with me that a Government spokesman describing the report by the Children’s Commissioner into child abuse as “hysterical” was extremely unhelpful. Victims of abuse already find it difficult to come forward, including those who were abused by Cyril Smith in Rochdale. Will the Prime Minister now help these victims by publishing all the police files on Smith, and ensure that a police investigation takes place into all the allegations and any cover-up?

[The Prime Minister]

On the hon. Gentleman’s first point, the issue that is being examined is very serious, and we need to study carefully the interim report that has been produced. It has some extremely disturbing findings and we need to give every encouragement to the Children’s Commissioner to ensure that a final version of the report is produced. The specific issue raised by the hon. Gentleman concerns very serious allegations about a former Member of this House. I understand that Greater Manchester police have today confirmed that they will investigate any allegations of sexual abuse involving the late Sir Cyril Smith from 1974 onwards.

I say to the hon. Gentleman and all Members of this House, particularly in the light of what has happened over the past few weeks, that if anyone has information or facts they should take them to the police. That is the way we should investigate these things in this country.

[Mr David Ruffley (Bury St Edmunds) (Con)]

Q10. Businesses are helping to cut the borrowing deficit by paying tax on their profits. Some multinationals, such as Starbucks and Amazon, appear to be paying low amounts of UK corporation tax. Does the Prime Minister think that that part of the tax code needs investigating?

[The Prime Minister]

I think it does need investigating. I have asked the Treasury to do that and it is looking as hard as it can at what can be done. There are clearly things that one can do nationally, and that is worth examining. Because we live in a competitive global economy where companies can move their capital, headquarters or money around, we need greater international agreements. We have come to a very important international agreement with Switzerland that will recover billions of pounds of tax for our country, but we need to work hard. That is where the G8 can help to ensure we get a fair share of tax from companies, especially given that Britain is doing its bit to cut rates of corporation tax so that they are some of the most competitive in the world.

[Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab)]

Q13. The Prime Minister quite rightly praised the wonderful work of London’s emergency services during the Olympics, Paralympics and Her Majesty’s jubilee. Does he share the concern of the London public about the number of fire stations that are threatened with closure, in particular the one in Clapham Old Town in my constituency? Will he join the campaign to save that fire station, and does he agree that it is not right to choose a fire station for closure simply because it is on very expensive land?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously this is an issue for the Mayor as well as for the Government, but I will look closely at what the hon. Lady has said. Hon. Members must recognise that the most important thing is the time it takes the emergency services to get to an incident. As constituency MPs, we are naturally focused on the bricks and mortar items—whether ambulance or fire stations, or other facilities—but what really matters for our constituents is how quickly the emergency services get to them and how good the service is when they do so.

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

Q11. Does my right hon. Friend share my deep disappointment, and that of many hon. Members on both sides of the House, that the Church of England yesterday failed to make proper provision for women bishops? It was a sad day for our national Church and our national character, particularly given that 42 of 44 dioceses voted overwhelmingly in support of women bishops. Is the dangerous consequence of that vote not the disestablishment of the Church of England but simply disinterest?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend speaks with great expertise and knowledge. On a personal basis, I am a strong supporter of women bishops and am very sad about how the vote went yesterday. I am particularly sad for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, because he saw this as a major campaign that he wanted to achieve at the end of his excellent tenure of that office. It is important for the Church of England to be a modern Church that is in touch with society as it is today. This was a key step it needed to take.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

Q12. The Prime Minister promised that his start-up loans scheme would provide 2,500 loans to young entrepreneurs to get their business ideas off the ground, but only 43 loans have been granted. Why has he not delivered on his promise?

[The Prime Minister]

The start-up loans initiative is a very strong one. I want to look at putting even more resources into it, because there is a major demand. At well as start-up loans, we have the enterprise allowance scheme. That was originally available only after people had been unemployed for three months, but under this Government it will be available from the first day of someone being unemployed. In the 1980s, many people used an enterprise allowance scheme to start up their first business and get their foot on the first rung of the ladder. Those are the sorts of people we want to help.

[Angela Watkinson (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating Drapers’ academy, which is in the most deprived ward in my constituency? It is sponsored by the Drapers’ Company and Queen Mary college, London. In only its second year, it has become the fastest improving school in the country, and is a wonderful example of the Government’s academy scheme.

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in that. One strength of the academy programme is in getting sponsors such as the Drapers’ Company, and other businesses and organisations, behind a school and helping to change its culture and improve it. That is why we set a new target last week for academies taking over failing primary schools. We do not think that academies should be restricted to secondary schools; we want to see sponsored academies taking over primary schools where results are not good enough. All hon. Members can now focus on this: because of effective academy sponsors, some schools in inner-city areas are doing better than schools in some of the leafy shires and suburbs. We can use that change to drive up aspiration and achievement right across our education system.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

Following the Prime Minister’s answer to the hon. Member for Banbury (Sir Tony Baldry) a moment ago, and given that the Church of England is the established Church, will the Prime Minister consider what Parliament can do to ensure that the overwhelming will of members of the Church and of the country is respected?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look carefully at what the right hon. Gentleman has said. The Church has its own processes and elections. They might be hard for some of us to understand, but we must respect individual institutions and the decisions they make. That does not mean we should hold back in saying what we think. I am very clear that the time is right for women bishops—it was right many years ago. The Church needs to get on with it, as it were, and get with the programme, but we must respect individual institutions and how they work, while giving them a sharp prod.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

The cut in this country’s EU budget rebate, which was agreed by the last Labour Government, is now costing taxpayers £2 billion every single year. Will the Prime Minister please confirm that in the forthcoming budget negotiations he will not agree to any further reduction in the rebate?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. The rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher is an incredibly important part of Britain’s position in Europe and making sure that we get a fair deal. It is absolutely extraordinary that the last Government gave away almost half that rebate, and we have never heard one word of apology or regret for the fact that however hard we fight in Europe—and I will fight incredibly hard this week for a good deal—they have cut away our footing by giving away half the rebate.

[Dr Alasdair McDonnell (Belfast South) (SDLP)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister on his very wise decision to bring the G8 summit to County Fermanagh and confirm the enthusiasm with which that decision has been received in Fermanagh. Does he think it will be possible to bring further similar prestigious events to Northern Ireland in the future?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look at that. It really is the right decision for the G8 to be based in Northern Ireland and at Lough Erne on 17 and 18 June. I was talking with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister yesterday about this, and it would have been unthinkable 20 years ago to have such an event, with so many world leaders coming to Northern Ireland. It will be a great advertisement for Northern Ireland and everything that its people can achieve. I hope that it will also be the harbinger of further events to come.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that the United Kingdom’s retention of its triple A status, when France lost its triple A rating this week, shows that the UK retains the confidence of international markets because of the difficult but necessary decisions that we are taking?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Because we have set out a clear plan, we are able to have low interest rates and international confidence, which is line 1, paragraph 1 of the proper growth plan for the UK.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 12 September.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I am sure the whole House will wish to join me in paying tribute to Guardsman Karl Whittle of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, who died on Friday from wounds that he sustained in Afghanistan in August, and to Sergeant Lee Davidson of the Light Dragoons. These were courageous and much respected men. They gave their lives in the service of our country. We remember their friends and their loved ones, and we are for ever indebted to them.

I am sure the House will also join me in welcoming the renaming of the Clock Tower today as the Elizabeth Tower, following the campaign led by my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood). I believe it is a fitting tribute to Her Majesty the Queen and the incredible service she has given to our country for 60 years.

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

[Chris Bryant]

I, too, pay tribute to our troops who have died. We often vote for war in this House, but it is far braver people than we who have to do the fighting.

The number of women who have lost their jobs under the Government’s cuts has been twice that of men, and the statistics out today show that the number of female redundancies has been rising over the last few months. In addition, we now have nine Departments with not a single woman Minister. Now, I know the Prime Minister likes to think of himself as butch—[Interruption]—he told us so last week in this very House—but what has he got against women?

[The Prime Minister]

The unemployment statistics today actually have a number of very encouraging figures in them, including the fact that women’s employment—the number of women in employment—is actually up 128,000 this quarter, with 250,000 more women in work than at the time of the last election. I think that is encouraging. Obviously the way that we have treated public sector pay—the public sector pay freeze and, in particular, protecting low-paid people in the public sector—has actually helped women, but do we need to do more to help women into work? Yes. Do we need to do more to help with child care? Yes. Do we need to help encourage more women into politics and see more women at a higher level? Yes to that as well.

[Lorraine Fullbrook (South Ribble) (Con)]

Q2. Local businesses and industrious people in my constituency of South Ribble are working hard and playing their part to aid the recovery of the economy. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister join me in condemning the irresponsible threats of co- ordinated strike action by the trade unions, which will do nothing but undermine the efforts of my constituents?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to speak up for her constituents who work hard and do the right thing. Today’s unemployment figures show an extra 1 million net private sector jobs since the election, which is something that shows our economy is rebalancing. However, she is right to say that the trade unions provide a threat to our economy. Since the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) became leader of the Labour party, it has received £12 million from the three unions that are now threatening a general strike. They threatened a strike to stop our fuel supplies; they threatened a strike to disrupt the Olympics; now they threaten a strike to wreck the economy. When the right hon. Gentleman stands up, I think it is time for him to say that he will take no more money from the unions while they make this threat.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Guardsman Karl Whittle of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and Sergeant Lee Davidson of the Light Dragoons. Both showed the utmost courage and bravery and our thoughts are with all their family and friends.

I also join the Prime Minister in celebrating the renaming today of the Clock Tower as the Elizabeth Tower, which was done with all-party support and is a fitting tribute to the service Her Majesty the Queen has shown to our country.

The fall in unemployment today is welcome, but all of us will be concerned that the number of people out of work for more than a year stands at 904,000, the highest level for 17 years. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that that is a particularly troubling statistic, because the longer someone is out of work, the harder it is for them to get back into it and the more damage is done to them, their families and, indeed, our economy?

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree with the right hon. Gentleman about the dangers and the threat of long-term unemployment. I think it is worth putting in front of the House the full figures today, because not everyone will have seen them: unemployment is down by 7,000 and employment is up by 236,000 over the quarter. I think this is significant because it is a real-time, live figure: the claimant count, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit, in August was down by 15,000. As I have just said, when we look at the number of private sector jobs, which is vital when we need to rebalance the economy, we see that there were over 1 million net new private sector jobs over the past two years. He is absolutely right that the long-term unemployment figure is disturbing. That is what the Work programme is designed to deal with. We have got the Work programme up and running within a year, it has already helped 690,000 people, and the key part of it is that for those who are hardest to help—people who are on the incapacity-style benefits and have also been long-term unemployed—we pay their training providers more to help them into work, and that is the key for dealing with this problem in the time ahead.

[Edward Miliband]

The right hon. Gentleman talks about the Work programme, but not only is long-term unemployment at its highest level for nearly two decades, but over the past 12 months we have seen a 247% rise in the number of young people who have been on the dole for over a year, and that is happening throughout the country. Is that not the clearest evidence so far that his Work programme is just not working?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not accept that. First of all, on the youth unemployment picture, it is disappointing that youth unemployment is up 7,000 over the quarter, but of course the youth unemployment figures include young people in full-time education. If we look at the picture for the number of young people in work—youth employment—we see that it is actually up 48,000 over the quarter, so that is a more encouraging picture. In terms of the youth contract itself, that is now up and running. Around 65,000 young people have taken part in work experience programmes, which were criticised by some people sitting opposite and some trade unions, but actually within 21 weeks half of them have been taken off the unemployment register and have proper work. That is very encouraging, because it actually means that it is about 20 times more cost-effective than the future jobs fund it replaced.

[Edward Miliband]

I have to say to the right hon. Gentleman that to all the young people across the country looking for work that sounds like a rather complacent answer. The reality is that, because of his failure on long-term unemployment, borrowing—the key test he set himself—was up 25% in the first four months of this year. He borrowed £9.3 billion more in the first four months of this year than last year. That is £1.6 million in the hour of Prime Minister’s questions. We gather today that the Government might miss the overriding economic test he set himself, which is that debt will be falling at the time of the next election. Is it not a fact that he is failing the very test he set himself, and is that not the surest sign yet that his plan is just not working?

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, there is absolutely no complacency in this Government over either the issue of youth employment or the issue of long-term unemployment. That is why we are putting so much energy and effort into the apprenticeship programme. We have seen 457,000 apprenticeship starts in the last year, which is a record figure and something we want to build on in the years ahead, with £1.5 billion invested. The right hon. Gentleman raises the issue of borrowing. This Government in the last two years have cut the deficit by a quarter. I have to say that, if he is concerned about borrowing, why does he have plans to put it up? There are many ways to reduce borrowing, but the one way it cannot be done is by increasing spending and increasing borrowing, which is what he tells us to do.

[Edward Miliband]

The reality that this Prime Minister cannot get away from after two and a half years is that borrowing is rising on his watch. That is the reality: borrowing is up 25%—£9.3 billion—in the first four months of this year. When the Prime Minister gets up to reply, perhaps he can tell us whether this morning’s reports—that the Government will not meet their target to have debt falling by the end of this Parliament—are correct, or whether he will stick to the promise. The reality is that he is failing the tests he set himself, and it shows that plan A is not working.

[The Prime Minister]

It is this Government who have cut the deficit we inherited by a quarter. That is what we have done in two years. Normally, at this stage in the proceedings, I say that the Labour party has no plans, but on this occasion I can reassure the House that it has, and the new plan is called predistribution. What I think that means is that we spend the money before we actually get it, which I think the right hon. Gentleman will find is why we are in the mess we are in right now.

[Edward Miliband]

I will tell the Prime Minister what this is about. It is about having an economy that works not just for a few at the top, but for everyone else. It is not about a Prime Minister who cuts taxes for millionaires while raising taxes for everyone else. When he gets up to reply, perhaps he can answer the question that he has not answered so far—is he going to be a beneficiary of the 50p tax cut?

[The Prime Minister]

This is an economy that has generated 1 million new private sector jobs. I know the right hon. Gentleman does not want to talk about predistribution, but I have done a little work and I can tell him about his new guru. His new guru, the man who invented predistribution, is called—and I am not making this up—[Interruption.] They do not want to hear —[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Members on both sides of the House need to calm down. Let us hear the Prime Minister’s answer.

[The Prime Minister]

I am surprised that Labour Members do not want to hear about their new guru. He is called Mr J Hacker, and Mr J Hacker’s recommendation is that we spend an extra £200 billion and borrow an extra £200 billion in this Parliament. From the work I have done, I have discovered his new book: it is published by Princeton University Press and it is called “The Road to Nowhere”. The right hon. Gentleman does not need to read it; he is there already.

[Edward Miliband]

Let me compliment the Prime Minister on such a butch answer. What a week it has been for Mr Butch: he has briefed against the new International Development Secretary, the former Transport Secretary; he was knocking back the claret while sacking the Welsh Secretary; and the Environment Secretary was sacked because she was too old—and replaced by a man who was older! That was very butch. The reality is this: between now and April the Prime Minister is going to have to answer the question—he has not answered it yet—whether he is going to get the top-rate tax cut, which is a tax cut for millionaires by millionaires. The reality is that the Government’s plan is failing, they stand up for the wrong people, and plan A is not working—he should change course.

[The Prime Minister]

On a day when we hear that this economy has created 1 million net new private sector jobs, all we have learnt from the Labour party is that it has learnt nothing. Labour is still committed to the spending, the borrowing and the debt that got us into this mess in the first place. That is the truth, and it cannot hide it from the British public.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

This year is the 10th anniversary of Breast Cancer Campaign’s “Wear it Pink” day. We have seen many improvements for breast cancer sufferers over that time, but there is still much more to be done, including improving early identification of this disease for all ages. Will the Prime Minister meet the chairs of the all-party parliamentary group on breast cancer and the leading charities for further discussion?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this issue, and I shall be very happy to have that meeting. I think that we have made big leaps forward under Governments of all parties in advancing the agenda on breast cancer. My hon. Friend is right to say that early identification—early diagnosis—is vital, but there is still more to be done. I pay tribute to the thousands up and down our country who not only wear those ribbons but take part in so many different campaigns, so much fundraising and so much awareness-raising, and I shall be delighted to welcome my hon. Friend to that meeting.

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)]

Q3. Rochdale is proud of its strong links with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. We now know that the decision to axe its second battalion was made by Ministers, not by the professional leadership of the Army. Given that morale is at an all-time low in the armed forces, why will the Prime Minister not reconsider?

[The Prime Minister]

These are obviously very difficult decisions, as we move towards a regular Army of 82,000 and an expanded Territorial Army of 30,000. Clearly we had proper discussions—and it is for Ministers as well as the armed forces to make the decisions—about how best to structure that Army to maintain as many cap badges and historic regiments as possible throughout the United Kingdom. That is how we reached those decisions, and we defend those decisions, but if people want to come forward with alternatives, we will of course always listen to them.

[John Stevenson (Carlisle) (Con)]

Q4. Does the Prime Minister agree that the improvement in the balance-of-trade figures is very welcome, and demonstrates that we can rebalance our economy by expanding our trade with the rest of the world as well as with Europe?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has made an important point. The trade figures that were published yesterday showed the biggest cash decline in the trade deficit for 20 years. As I have said many times at this Dispatch Box, we face great economic difficulties in this country and across Europe, but we are seeing a rebalancing of the economy, and the growth in private sector employment that I have talked about. Manufacturing now accounts for a growing rather than a shrinking share of the economy. There has been a big increase in exports, particularly exports to the fastest-growing parts of the world. We need more of that to happen, alongside small businesses creation and activity by entrepreneurs, if we are to rebalance our economy and make it stronger for the future.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

Q5. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised a moratorium on hospital closures. Last year he told me that Ealing hospital would not close without the support of doctors and patients, so why are the doctors and patients having to march next Saturday to keep our hospitals open?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me say again to the hon. Gentleman—who is quite right to raise the issue—that there are no plans to close Ealing hospital. I understand that Ealing Hospital NHS Trust is planning a £4 million capital programme for 2012-13, which includes refurbishing some wards. The trust’s proposed merger with North West London Hospitals NHS Trust is a matter for the trusts themselves.

It is clear that the reconfiguration of front-line health services is a matter for the NHS, but, as the hon. Gentleman and other Members know, any proposed changes in clinical services must be subject to the four tests of support from GP commissioners, strengthened public and patient engagement, clarity on the clinical evidence base, and support for patient choice. The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issue, but that is how it should be approached.

[Mr Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)]

Barbara Haddon from Felpham in Bognor Regis has crumbling vertebrae, is in constant pain, and can walk only short distances. She is 87 years old. She recently applied for the renewal of her blue badge, but, like many other constituents who have written to me, she was turned down because of the way in which the new national blue badge improvement service is being implemented locally. Will the Prime Minister intervene to ensure that the scheme is implemented fairly and appropriately throughout the country?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look very carefully at the case that my hon. Friend has raised, because I think it important for this reform to be carried out properly. I think that all of us, as constituency MPs, receive two sorts of complaints. Some are from those who have seen people who have the blue badge and do not merit it, while others are from those who want the blue badge and deserve it, but cannot obtain it.

While I am at the Dispatch Box, let me pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his long-standing work on educational standards and his belief in true rigour in schools. He has seen many of his ideas put into practice, and that is what we come into politics to achieve.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Q6. The Adam Werritty affair should have taught Ministers important lessons about becoming too close to their outside advisers. Now it appears that the Prime Minister’s climate change Minister, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker), may be making similar mistakes. Given media reports today, does the Prime Minister have the same complete confidence in his climate change Minister as he had in his former Defence Secretary?

[The Prime Minister]

The climate change Minister is doing an excellent job; I want to put that on the record. I have consulted the Cabinet Secretary, and both he and the permanent secretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change have examined the issue, and I do not see the need for a further inquiry on that basis. The key point I would make is that the individual in question was hired by civil servants after a properly run competition.

[Mr Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin. They came to this country with nothing but the clothes on their backs, but they picked themselves up and soon integrated themselves into the fabric of Britain. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister join me in commending this community and the Conservative Government of the time, who took the courageous decision to let them in, notwithstanding the enormous opposition in the House and the country at large?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this topic. The Asians who have come from Kenya and Uganda have made an extraordinary contribution to this country, and it was absolutely the right decision to welcome them here, as happened in the 1970s. Those who opposed it were, I believe, profoundly wrong. I would also say to my hon. Friend, who is from that background, what an incredible achievement it is within one generation for someone from that background to come to Parliament and make such a distinguished contribution.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

Q7. Last week’s reshuffle was clearly a painful experience for many, but can the Prime Minister advise us why he recommended knighthoods for five of his redundant male Ministers, when there was “nothing like a dame” on offer for his sacked female Ministers?

[The Prime Minister]

I take the view that when people come into public life, work hard in opposition and in government and make a contribution, we should recognise that. It should not only be permanent secretaries who receive these honours; we should also be prepared to honour Ministers who have worked hard and have served their country.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

rose—[Interruption.]

[Penny Mordaunt]

Our armed forces are always willing to do what we ask of them without complaint, but there will be a detrimental impact on individuals’ training, deployment opportunities and rest and recuperation if we ask them to keep this country going in the face of strikes. Is that not another reason why the unions should think again?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point, and I hope the trade unions who are meeting and discussing this appalling idea of a general strike do think again, and think of the good of our economy rather than their own selfish interests.

My hon. Friend makes an important point about our armed services, and it is right to put on record again what a fantastic job they did in the Olympics and Paralympics, stepping up to the plate and putting such a friendly and smiling face on our games. From everything I saw at the Olympic games, our armed services were pleased to play that role, and I know that there are times when we can call upon them and they will be pleased to serve.

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

Q8. Many of us are shocked and saddened that child poverty in the UK has become so severe and widespread that Save the Children has found it necessary to launch its first ever appeal for British children. Unfortunately, Members on the Government Benches saw fit to attack Save the Children and even accused it of publicity-seeking. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to distance himself from those comments, and support the report that led to this appeal?

[The Prime Minister]

I am a strong supporter of Save the Children; I think it does an excellent job. As long as we recognise that the sort of poverty we tragically still have in Britain is very different from the poverty of people surviving on $1 a day in sub-Saharan Africa—as long as we respect the differences between those sorts of poverty—I think it is absolutely right that non-governmental organisations, charities and voluntary groups campaign on poverty issues here in the UK as well as overseas.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Q9. In a Commons debate last year on rural broadband, I highlighted how poor the service is in Pendle, including in the village of Newchurch, which might be unique in the country in having a particularly poor service when it rains. So does the Prime Minister share my joy at plans this week to cut the red tape that is holding back the roll-out of superfast broadband, which is so desperately needed for businesses in Pendle and across the UK?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in his campaign to make sure that all our rural communities have access to superfast broadband. It is not just an issue of money, and this Government are putting the money in; there are also planning issues to address, because some councils have held up giving permission for the necessary cabinets and other things that have to be put in place at street and village level. That is why our planning reforms, announced by my right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary, are going to sweep away that bureaucracy so that we can get broadband everywhere.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

Despite the Prime Minister’s recent valiant efforts, does he not realise that denying thousands of our disabled constituents adequate levels of benefit is merely underlining the fact that the Tories really are the nasty party?

[The Prime Minister]

I simply do not accept even the premise of the right hon. Gentleman’s question. The fact is that we are not cutting the money that is going into disability benefits. The question is how best to reform those disability benefits so that disabled people actually get access to the benefits that they require. I think that anyone who has looked at disability living allowance or who has had to fill in the forms knows that it needs reform. The reform has been led by many of the disability groups, which want to see something that is much more related to people’s disability and faster to access, too.

[Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

Q10. Will my right hon. Friend join me in celebrating a major inward investment by the Chinese firm Huawei, which is investing £1.3 billion over five years to create 700 jobs in the UK? Will he encourage it to come to Wycombe?

[The Prime Minister]

I am delighted to say that I welcome the investment by Huawei and I met its founder and chairman yesterday at No. 10 Downing street. It is a significant investment of £1.5 billion. I am afraid to tell my hon. Friend that some of the jobs are going to be created—I very much hope—in Banbury, next to my constituency, but with an investment of this scale I am sure that there will be opportunities around the rest of the country. The firm is coming here not for the weather, but because we have highly trained engineers, we have excellent universities, we have a leading role in the telecoms and mobile industries, and it thinks that this is a Government who are open to business.

[Jim Dowd (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister explain why in the previous Parliament Members of either House who were shown to have deliberately abused the expenses system were, quite rightly, forced to face the full rigour of the law, whereas in this Parliament the same proven dishonesty results in the restoration of ministerial office and a seat at the Cabinet table?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman may be referring to the Minister for Schools, my right hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr Laws), who is attending Cabinet and is a Minister of State in the Department for Education. He made very clear the mistakes that he made in terms of the expenses system, he resigned from the Government and I think you should—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Prime Minister’s answer must be heard.

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said in relation to this in the past, I do think that it is right to give someone a second chance.

[Chris Kelly (Dudley South) (Con)]

Q11. Does my right hon. Friend agree with Kevin O’Toole, the managing director of Eurocraft Enclosures Ltd in Dudley, who contacted me about the Government’s plans to sweep away unnecessary health and safety red tape to say: “At last years and years of regulation are being replaced by a simple concept called common sense”? Is it not common sense to remove the headache of inspections for low-risk businesses? Is not scrapping unnecessary and unpredictable inspections a valuable piece of deregulation that will help more small businesses to grow?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight this. We have 3,000 regulations in our sights that we believe can be radically scaled down or reduced, and we have made good progress already. We also believe that there is more we can do to exempt particularly small firms from regulation, and the new Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will be pressing ahead, with the full support of the Secretary of State, on this very important agenda.

[Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)]

Q12. Four years ago, the Prime Minister gave his support to High Speed 2 as providing an alternative to short-haul flights and therefore to a third runway at Heathrow. As he is now dithering over Heathrow, is he also dithering over HS2?

[The Prime Minister]

No, I fully support HS2 and think that it is an investment that needs to go ahead for the good of our country.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

Following the recent reshuffle, there has been speculation in the press that some new appointments indicate a shift away from our green agenda—[Interruption.] Will my right hon. Friend take this opportunity to scotch those scurrilous allegations and reaffirm our commitment to being the greenest Government ever?

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on her new role in the Treasury. She has every ability to ensure that the Government deliver on our green commitments. What I would say to her and all our right hon. Friends is that it is this Government who set up a green investment bank with £3 billion to spend and this Government who have committed £1 billion to carbon capture and storage. We have the first incentive scheme anywhere in the world for renewable heat, we are putting money into low emission vehicles, we have the mass roll-out of smart meters and we are also the first Government to introduce a carbon floor price. Those are all steps of a Government committed to the green agenda.

[Gordon Banks (Ochil and South Perthshire) (Lab)]

Q13. In 1993, the chairman of the Conservative party, Norman Fowler, said that if the £365,000 given to the Tories by Asil Nadir was stolen, that money would clearly be returned. Now that Asil Nadir has been convicted of theft, does the Prime Minister agree with his party’s former treasurer, Lord McAlpine, that it is tainted money that shames the Conservatives and that they have a moral duty to give it back? When will the Prime Minister go in his pocket and get the cheque book out?

[The Prime Minister]

I have not seen the evidence for that. What I would say to the hon. Gentleman, however, is this: what about the £12 million that his party has taken from the trade unions that are threatening to bring this country to its knees?

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

Q14. The Government—[Interruption.]

[Mark Menzies]

The Government do aspire to be the greenest Government ever, so, with that in mind, will the Prime Minister assure me that before any decision is taken to extract shale gas from Fylde there will be both a public consultation and the establishment of an independent body to co-ordinate a gold standard of regulation so that the environment is never compromised?

[The Prime Minister]

As my hon. Friend will know, all fracking operations for shale gas have been suspended while we study the minor tremors that occurred in Blackpool last year. The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society have produced a full independent review into the risks of fracking and I can assure my hon. Friend that any future shale gas production would have to meet stringent safety and environmental standards, follow deep consultation with local communities and fit within our overall energy commitments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 18 April.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I am sure the whole House will wish to join me in paying tribute to those servicemen who have fallen since we last met for Prime Minister’s Question Time—Captain Rupert Bowers from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, Sergeant Luke Taylor from the Royal Marines, Lance Corporal Michael Foley from the Adjutant General’s Corps, and Corporal Jack Stanley from the Queen’s Royal Hussars who died on Sunday 8 April from wounds sustained in Afghanistan in February. We are indebted to their courage and their selfless service and at this difficult time we send our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of these men, who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. They will not be forgotten.

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.

[Naomi Long]

I, too, would want to offer my condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in conflict in recent days.

In Northern Ireland, party political donations are not subject to the same publication rules as those in the rest of the UK. However, my party has delivered on our commitment to publish the relevant information on a voluntary basis. Will the Prime Minister commit to bringing the Northern Ireland publication rules into line with the rest of the UK, and further will he demonstrate his commitment to openness and transparency by following our lead and publishing voluntarily lists of donors to the Conservative party in Northern Ireland?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy—we publish those donor lists and quite rightly so. As the hon. Lady knows, the previous Government passed legislation with specific treatment for Northern Ireland for reasons that I think are quite well known to the House. As far as possible, we want Northern Ireland political parties to show the same approach as in the rest of the UK. If parties choose to publish that information on a voluntary basis, that is very welcome, so I very much welcome what her party has done, leading by example.

[Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

Following the unlawful killing of my constituent David Gray as a result of his out-of-hours GP’s inability to speak English, I welcome today’s announcement of a consultation on strengthening the controls on foreign doctors. Does my right hon. Friend agree that GPs working in England should be able to speak English and that the legitimate desire for freedom of movement within the EU is not an excuse for compromising patient safety?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right, and today’s announcement makes it clear that doctors should not be operating in the NHS in our country unless they can speak English. Under the proposals, senior doctors will need to assess whether doctors have the necessary language skills to be able to communicate effectively with patients. If they cannot do that, they cannot practise.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

Let me join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Captain Rupert Bowers from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, Sergeant Luke Taylor from the Royal Marines, Lance Corporal Michael Foley from the Adjutant General’s Corps and Corporal Jack Stanley from the Queen’s Royal Hussars. I join him in saying that they showed the most enormous courage and bravery and that all of our thoughts are with their family and friends.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that the cut in the 50p tax rate on which we will be voting tonight will be worth at least £40,000 a year to Britain’s millionaires?

[The Prime Minister]

The cut in the 50p tax rate is going to be paid five times over by the richest people in our country. I notice that the right hon. Gentleman does not ask about unemployment. Every month when unemployment has risen he has leapt to the Dispatch Box to leap on the bad news, but today we see unemployment fall by 35,000 and employment go up by 53,000 but no welcome from him. Does that not show all his priorities? Will he now welcome the increase in people employed in our country?

[Edward Miliband]

Only this Prime Minister could think it was a cause for celebration that more than 1 million young people in this country are still out of work. It is no wonder people think he is out of touch. The House will have noted that he could not deny that Britain’s 14,000 millionaires are getting a £40,000 cut in their income tax. As for the figures produced for the Budget, today even the Treasury Committee says they are bogus. Millionaires are winners from this Budget, but what about everyone else? Will he confirm that by freezing the personal tax allowance year on year on year, 4.4 million pensioners will lose as much as £320 a year?

[The Prime Minister]

The Budget is about cutting taxes for 24 million working people, taking 2 million people out of tax, freezing council tax and cutting corporation tax so that we are competitive with the rest of the world. For pensioners, this month we have increased the basic state pension by £5.30 a week, far more than Labour ever would have done. If the right hon. Gentleman is concerned about the 45p top rate of tax, perhaps he could explain why the amendment he will be asking everyone to vote for at 4 o’clock this afternoon would get rid of the 45p top rate of tax and leave us with a 40p top rate? He has not had much to do over the last month—some of us have been quite busy. He has had almost nothing to do, but even what he has to do he is completely incompetent at.

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister is talking rubbish as always. He points to the increase in the basic state pension. Only this Prime Minister could try to con Britain’s pensioners by taking the credit for high inflation. Everybody will have noticed that he did not deny that Britain’s pensioners are seeing a tax increase year on year. It is not just pensioners he is trying to con; it is families with children. Will he confirm that, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, as a result of all his tax changes from this April families with children will be more than £500 a year worse off?

[The Prime Minister]

I notice the right hon. Gentleman has moved off the top rate of tax because he does not want to talk about it. He has to withdraw his amendment, because if he is successful he will give us a 40p tax rate. The other reason he does not want to talk about the top rate of tax is that he cannot convince Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London to pay his taxes.

When it comes to pensioners, what we have done is increase the basic state pension; we have kept all the pensioner benefits, and the freeze in age-related allowances means there will be no cash losses. Compare that with Labour’s pathetic 75p increase proposals. We remember what Labour’s Budgets did. Will he stand up and condemn Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London who will not pay his taxes?

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister is very excited today. In case he has forgotten, it is Prime Minister’s questions. The clue is in the name. I ask the questions and he is supposed to answer them.

No answer on pensioners, no answer on families—what about charities? The Prime Minister’s big idea was the big society, but since the Budget—[Interruption.] I do not know why he is taking advice from the part-time Chancellor sitting next to him—I wonder which job he is doing today. Since the Budget, the Government have managed to insult people who give to charity and he has insulted the charities themselves by implying that they are bogus. The Prime Minister claimed that he worked on the Budget line by line. Did he know that when he signed off the Budget it represented a hit of as much as £500 million on Britain’s charities?

[The Prime Minister]

Those figures are completely wrong. First, we heard absolutely no defence of Ken Livingstone—not a word. This is all about making sure that the richest people in our country pay their taxes. Last year there were over 300 people earning over £1 million who paid a rate of tax of 10%. I do not think that is good enough, and we have a Labour candidate for Mayor of London who is paying less tax on his earnings than the person who cleans his office. I think that is disgraceful. Why will the right hon. Gentleman not condemn it?

[Edward Miliband]

This is—[Interruption.]

[Edward Miliband]

What a desperate Prime Minister, who cannot even justify his own Budget. If he wants to talk about the Mayor of London, we have a candidate for Mayor of London who will cut tube fares, who will make rents fairer, who will bring back the education maintenance allowance. What has the Prime Minister got? A candidate for Mayor of London who is out of touch and was arguing for the cut in the 50p tax rate.

On charities, the reality is that the Prime Minister is not making the rich worse off. He is making charities worse off. Over the past month we have seen the charity tax shambles, the churches tax shambles, the caravan tax shambles and the pasty tax shambles, so we are all keen to hear the Prime Minister’s view on why he thinks, four weeks on from the Budget, even people within Downing street are calling it an omnishambles Budget.

[The Prime Minister]

We have a Mayor of London who pays his taxes. Nothing from the right hon. Gentleman about unemployment, nothing about the rich needing to pay their taxes, nothing about Ken Livingstone’s responsibilities. The right hon. Gentleman asks about the Budget. This Budget cut taxes for 24 million people. This Budget cut corporation tax. This Budget made Britain competitive. He talks about my last month—I accept that it was a tough month. Let us have a look at his last month. He lost the Bradford West by-election. That was a great success! He has given one person a job opportunity—George Galloway. The right hon. Gentleman lost the Bradford West by-election, he showed complete weakness when it came to the Unite trade union and the fuel strike, and he has a candidate for Mayor of London who will not pay his taxes. That is his last month—as ever, completely hopeless.

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister talks about the fuel strike. I will not take any lectures on industrial relations from a Government and a Prime Minister who caused panic at the pumps. That is the reality. When he gets to his feet, let him apologise for the gross irresponsibility, for the Cabinet Minister who caused that panic at the pumps, and for himself. [Interruption.] The Prime Minister should calm down. This Budget comprehensively fails the test of fairness and it spectacularly fails the test of competence. We have a Prime Minister who is unfair, out of touch and incompetent. Never mind “We’re all in it together”; when will he get a grip on his Government?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman will not take any lectures on the fuel strike because he is in the pockets of the people who called the fuel strike. That’s right. They vote for his policies, they sponsor his Members of Parliament, they got him elected. Absolutely irresponsible—that is what we have heard once again from the right hon. Gentleman. Not good enough to run the Opposition, not good enough to run the country.

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

Has my right hon. Friend noted that Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency that downgraded both the US and France, affirmed a stable outlook on the UK’s triple A rating on Friday and said:

“We could lower the ratings if we came to the conclusion that the pace and extent of fiscal consolidation was slowing beyond what we currently expect”—

in other words, if the discredited policies of the Opposition were adopted?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes the important point that in this week of all weeks we are getting yet more reminders from other countries in Europe of the importance of getting on top of deficits and debts and of having a proper plan to deliver that. That is what needs to happen. What Standard & Poor’s has done is welcome, and we also need to keep our interest rates low to ensure that we deliver the growth our economy needs. It is absolutely extraordinary that the shadow Leader of the House of Commons has gone on television today calling for higher interest rates. I do not think the Leader of the Opposition focused on that—he had better go and look at the transcript.

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

2. In January, the First Minister of Northern Ireland requested that the Prime Minister meet the families of 10 innocent workmen murdered in the Kingsmills massacre of 1976. I know that the Prime Minister has met other families and that he desires to be balanced in his approach. Will he assure me that he will meet the families of those innocent victims?

[The Prime Minister]

The Kingsmills massacre was an appalling event in Northern Ireland’s history. I am well aware of that and my sympathies are with the families. I will arrange for the families a meeting with the Northern Ireland Secretary and, if it is possible for me to attend, of course I will do that as well.

[Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD)]

The Prime Minister will be aware that no VAT is chargeable on caviar, yet the Government propose to charge VAT on the Cornish pasty. Can he tell me why that is fair?

[The Prime Minister]

I understand that feelings in Cornwall run high on this matter, but let me explain that what I think is unfair is that the same products that are subject to VAT when sold in a fish and chip shop can be sold in supermarkets without being subject to VAT. I do not think that that is fair and that is why it is right for us to redraw the boundaries.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

3. While the Prime Minister entertains millionaire party donors with cosy kitchen suppers at his Downing street flat, thousands of ordinary people are queuing at food banks because they cannot afford to feed their families. What do those people who are worst hit by the Government’s cuts and the biggest rise in food prices since August 2010 have to do to get a quiet word in the Prime Minister’s ear? Is there any chance he could invite some of them round for supper?

[The Prime Minister]

What this Government have done is introduce the biggest increase in the child tax credits that go to the poorest families in our country. In April 2011, there was a £255 increase—the largest ever—and there is a further increase this year of £135. Added to that, we have taken 2 million of the poorest people out of income tax altogether, and one of the things that would hit families hardest is an increase in interest rates, which is now the official policy of the official Opposition.

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

Given that 1,200 jobs at Group Lotus in south Norfolk might be at risk following the company’s recent change of ownership, will the Prime Minister put all possible pressure on the Malaysian Government to ensure that DRB-HICOM permits the sale of the business only to buyers who wish to see it continue as a going concern in Norfolk?

[The Prime Minister]

I raised this issue with the Malaysian Prime Minister and with the new Malaysian owners of Lotus’s parent company. Lotus makes a key contribution to the UK automotive sector. The sector is doing well and I want to see Lotus succeed and to have a secure future. We are in contact with the company, monitoring the situation very closely and ensuring that it knows about the regional growth fund money that is available.

[Teresa Pearce (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)]

4. This flawed Budget makes 230,000 additional pensioners pay tax and will bring 500,000 extra parents into the self-assessment regime because of tax on their child benefit, yet this week we have heard that 10,000 members of staff will be cut from HMRC. Is not the Chancellor so incompetent that he will not have the staff to deliver his own budget plans?

[The Prime Minister]

We have increased staffing at HMRC to ensure that we crack down on the sort of tax avoidance that is shown, to put it frankly, by the hon. Lady’s candidate for the Mayor of London. That is what it has come to and those are the measures we are taking.

[George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)]

5. I am sure that I speak for many across the House in expressing support for entrepreneurship and the creation of new businesses. Does my right hon. Friend agree that service companies set up by Labour politicians to disguise their hypocrisy on tax are a disgraceful betrayal of real entrepreneurs up and down the country?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. The Opposition do not want to hear it, but the fact is that the man whom they are putting forward to be Mayor of London has set up a company to funnel all this money into and is potentially paying a lower tax rate than the people who would work for him at the Greater London Assembly. It is completely disgraceful and even at this late stage I call on the Labour leader to get the Labour candidate to publish all the information so that we can see the tax that he is paying.

[Mr Andrew Smith (Oxford East) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that the specialist ACE Centre in Oxford, currently facing closure, does outstanding work unlocking the isolation of children with acute communication difficulties? Given the pressure charities are under, will he step in and pull together some bridging finance so that this outstanding centre can continue helping the children and young people who need it so much?

[The Prime Minister]

As the right hon. Gentleman probably knows, I do know that centre. I have visited it in the past, and I am very happy to look with him, as a fellow Oxfordshire MP, at what can be done to help the centre and the very good that it does, particularly for disabled children.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

6. The Prime Minister rightly wants to crack down on tax avoidance, so what does he think about Ken Livingstone, who said that “I get loads of money, all from different sources, and I give it to an accountant and they manage it”?Is that modern socialism for you—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

They don’t like to hear it. I thought the Labour party wanted rich people to pay their taxes properly. That is what we have ensured through the Budget and through the extra resources for the Revenue, so why the deafening silence from the Opposition? Why not a condemnation of that appalling behaviour?

[Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister share my concern at the actions of the Northern Ireland Attorney-General in using an outdated and discredited law, of disrespecting the court, to invoke contempt proceedings against the former Northern Ireland Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Mr Hain), for comments in his memoirs? Should not respect for the independence of the judiciary be balanced with the rights of individuals to fair comment on that judiciary?

[The Prime Minister]

I do have a great deal of sympathy with what the right hon. Gentleman says. Parliamentary privilege, obviously and quite rightly, allows hon. Members to express their views in Parliament. In terms of what is said outside Parliament, let me just say this: there are occasions, as we all know, when judges make critical remarks about politicians; and there are occasions when politicians make critical remarks about judges. To me, that is part of life in a modern democracy, and we ought to keep these things, as far as possible, out of the courtroom.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

7. I, like the Prime Minister, welcome the strides towards democracy being made in Burma, and I welcome also his efforts to achieve a controlled suspension of sanctions. With a decision on his proposals due next week, will he ensure that measures to monitor human rights in Burma are included in the discussion?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. While it is clear that the Burmese regime is making some steps towards greater freedom and democracy, we should be extremely cautious and extremely careful. We want to see the further release of political prisoners, we want to see the resolution of ethnic conflicts and we want to see that democratisation process continue. That is why we are pushing across Europe for the suspension of sanctions, excluding the arms embargo, which should stay, rather than for the lifting of sanctions. We now have support for that position from most other leading European countries, and I hope that we can deliver it. That would be the right thing in demonstrating to the regime that we want to back progress, and it would also strongly support what Aung San Suu Kyi has said is the right approach.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

8. My constituents are angry that the Prime Minister’s priority in the Budget was to give a £40,000 tax cut to millionaires. Will he tell the House how much collectively, as a result of the reduction in the top rate of income tax, his Cabinet will be better off?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me just make this point about the top rate of tax—[Hon. Members: “Answer.”] Let me just make this point. The Labour party had 13 years to introduce a 50p top rate of tax. It did so one month before a general election that it knew it was going to lose. That top rate of tax has not raised any money, and the 45p rate that we have is higher than what Labour had for 12 of its 13 years in government.

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

9. Earlier this week the journalist Mary Ann Sieghart wrote an article in The Independent about the many young south Asian women who feel that traditionally their votes have been hijacked through abuse of the postal vote system. Will my right hon. Friend please look at revisiting the issue of postal votes on demand not only to strengthen our democracy and trust in it, but to ensure that all voters have a vote and, particularly in the case of south Asian young voters, their votes are not stolen?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I am happy to look at the issue of postal voting, but first we need to sort out individual voter registration. This is vital to make sure that we do not have a system that allows lots of people to be logged on to a housing register when actually nobody is living there at all. There is growing evidence of abuse and concern, and it is right that we are acting on it.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

10. Two years ago, in his pensioner pledge, the Prime Minister said:“it is fundamental to me that people who have worked hard all their lives, and are now drawing their pension, deserve to be treated with respect.”Does he really think that trying to sell his granny tax as a “simplification” is treating pensioners with respect?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me explain what we are doing for pensioners. We are increasing the basic state pension by £5.30 a week this April; that is not an increase that Labour would have made. At the same time, we are saving the winter fuel payments, the cold weather payments, the free television licence, the free bus pass, and the other pensioner benefits. That is what this Government are doing. At the same time, we are examining the case for a single-tier pension of around £140 each. I would have thought that Members in all parts of the House welcomed that, because it would be a well-paid basic state pension that encouraged people to save before they became pensioners, and a thoroughly welcome reform.

[Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

Over 30 years ago, a British toddler, Katrice Lee, went missing in Germany, and, partly due to the chronic mishandling of this case by the British military police, her parents still have no idea what happened to their little girl. Will the Prime Minister agree to meet the family to hear their calls for an independent inquiry into the bungling of this investigation and give them the closure that they so desperately need and deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look at the case that my hon. Friend mentions and see what more we can do. These cases of missing people are completely tragic, and the family do not get closure, as this case and, sadly, other tragic cases show. I am very happy to look at the case and to get back to her.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

11. Churches and places of worship, including many in Blackpool, do immensely valuable work in adapting their buildings for community and voluntary sector use. Why, then, is the Prime Minister backing a 20% VAT raid in the Budget on alterations to listed buildings, which will cost many of those churches and places of worship millions of pounds—in the case of the Church of England, an estimated £10 million—thereby infuriating them and the charities concerned and shooting his own big society in the foot?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me try to explain to the hon. Gentleman the basic unfairness in the current system. Repairs to churches are already subject to VAT, whereas alterations to listed buildings are not subject to VAT. That means that if you repair a church, you do pay VAT, but if you put a great big swimming pool in a listed Tudor house, you do not pay VAT, so it makes sense to redraw the boundaries. But this is the crucial point: we will be putting money aside to make sure that churches that are undertaking repairs and alterations get the moneys that they need.

[Mr Douglas Carswell (Clacton) (Con)]

A few weeks—[Interruption.]

[Mr Carswell]

A few weeks ago in this House, I asked the Prime Minister to what extent he believed that the Whitehall machine—the Sir Humphrey factor—was frustrating reform. He assured us that it was not. According to the Financial Times, in Malaysia last week the PM said:

“I can tell you, as Prime Minister, it”—

“Yes Minister”—

“is true to life.”

Can he tell us what has happened to make him change his mind?

[The Prime Minister]

There are a few occasions when I think that my hon. Friend does need a bit of a sense of humour.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

12. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman argued last week that rich individuals were avoiding tax by giving to charities which “don’t, in all cases, do a great deal of charitable work”.Can the Prime Minister name any of these charities?

[The Prime Minister]

The figures I gave earlier show that last year 300 people earning over £1 million in our country got their rate of tax down to 10%. Of course we must protect charities and encourage philanthropic giving, but we need to make sure that rich people are paying their fair share of taxes. I would have thought that that principle had some attraction in all parts of the House.

[Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere) (Con)]

Q13. Does my right hon. Friend agree that universities should be free to admit students on the basis of merit?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. It is welcome that a greater proportion of 18-year-olds are applying to university than at any time in the past 13 years. No one pays up-front for their tuition or other fees, which is also welcome. He is absolutely right that university entry is about academic merit.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

Q14. The Deputy Prime Minister said recently:“We have succeeded to pull the economy back from the brink”.With record youth unemployment, growth lower than forecast and inflation up, does that not show that the Deputy Prime Minister is the Prime Minister’s broken arrow—he does not work, but the Prime Minister cannot fire him?

[The Prime Minister]

I notice that there was absolutely no welcome of the fact that today unemployment has fallen, employment has gone up and youth unemployment has come down. Of course, unemployment is much too high and far more needs to be done. Let me bring the House up to date with one scheme, the work experience scheme, on which the evidence is growing. Fifty per cent. of the young people going into the scheme come off benefits within six months. That means that it is 20 times more cost-effective than the future jobs fund. That scheme is part of the youth contract that the Deputy Prime Minister has been spearheading, and he has been doing an extremely good job.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

Today, a group of MPs—[Interruption.]

[Claire Perry]

Perhaps Members should listen before yelling. Today, a cross-party group of MPs from across the political spectrum published a report into a matter that is incredibly important to many of us: how we can keep our children safe online. We think that internet service providers should do more and that the Government should deliver a strong lead on this issue. Will the Prime Minister undertake to at least read the summary of the report—I know that he is busy—and perhaps to meet us to discuss our recommendations?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend, who dropped off a full copy of the report to my office this morning. She raises an important subject. As a parent and as a politician, I am keen that we should help to protect people from such material. I have got together some of the technology and telephony companies to look at offering a choice of blocking all adult and age-restricted content on their home internet. If we start to work with the companies to deliver such changes, I think that we can protect more young people.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Q15. The Government have said that they want to simplify the tax system, so why are they introducing changes to child benefit that the Treasury Committee today said will create further uncertainty?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to the hon. Lady, who did very good work as head of the Child Poverty Action Group, that we have to make difficult decisions to deal with the debt and the deficit. I do not think that it is defensible to ask people who earn £20,000 or £30,000 to pay their taxes so that people sitting in this House can get child benefit. I do not think that that is fair. I know that Opposition Members will walk through the Lobby tomorrow for something that they will benefit from financially, but I think that it is profoundly wrong. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to accommodate Back Benchers.

[Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)]

The caravan industry employs thousands of people across the country, and nowhere more so than in east Yorkshire, where the vast majority of such manufacturing is located. Will the Prime Minister listen to my pleas and those of other local MPs, including my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis), and think again about this tax, which will cripple an already suffering industry?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously, I have listened carefully to the points that my hon. Friend has made, and the Chancellor has met other Yorkshire MPs. Again, this is an issue about drawing the VAT boundaries fairly. I do not think that it is fair that VAT is payable on a mobile caravan, but not on a stationary one. No one is talking about putting VAT on park homes, which are people’s permanent homes. This is about a fair drawing of the boundaries to ensure that there is a fair approach in our country.

[George Galloway (Bradford West) (Respect)]

As I was saying, Mr Speaker, there is an iron-clad consensus across the Front Benches of the three main parties about what they call a mission, but which, given the amount of blood on the ground and the rapidly deteriorating military situation, most of us call a war in Afghanistan. In the wake of Ms Gillard’s decision to accelerate the withdrawal of Australian forces from that war, and in the wake of the Bradford West by-election, will the Prime Minister reconsider his planning on our withdrawal from the bloody maw of Afghanistan?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his stunning by-election victory and his return to the House of Commons. I know that he always speaks with great power and great force, but on this issue I have to say I profoundly disagree with him. Our troops are in Afghanistan not fighting a war against Islam but at the invitation of an Islamic Government and under a UN resolution, to try to help that country have a peaceful, prosperous and stable future. He knows the dangers in the past of walking away from Afghanistan and leaving that country to become the terrorist-supporting haven that it did under the Taliban. We must not make that mistake again, and I urge him not to play to the gallery on this issue but to speak up for the work that our forces are doing to make Afghanistan a safer country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 22 February.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I am sure that the whole House will wish to join me in sending our deepest condolences to the families and friends of Senior Aircraftman Ryan Tomlin from 2 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment. It is clear from the tributes paid by his RAF colleagues that he was a determined young man with immense potential. His service and his sacrifice to our nation will never be forgotten.

Members of the House will also have seen the reports that the talented and respected foreign correspondent of The Sunday Times, Marie Colvin, has been killed in the bombing in Syria. It is a desperately sad reminder of the risks that journalists take to inform the world of what is happening, and of the dreadful events in Syria. Our thoughts should be with her family and friends.

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

[Mr Betts]

May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s comments about our brave troops and the brave journalists who report their activities?

The Prime Minister has said that one of his main priorities is to fight crime. Will he explain, therefore, why since the election there has been a cut of more than 4,000 in the number of front-line police officers? The South Yorkshire police helicopter, which last year was responsible for apprehending more than 700 criminals, will be scrapped by the Policing Minister against the advice of the chief constable. How can the Prime Minister explain these matters? They clearly indicate to the public that crime will rise. This is simply another broken promise from this Prime Minister.

[The Prime Minister]

On the issue of the helicopter, talks are under way between South Yorkshire police and the Association of Chief Police Officers. I am confident that helicopter coverage will be maintained. On the wider issue, I would make the point that recorded crime is down under this Government. The figures from Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary show that it believes that there will be more police in visible policing roles this March than there were a year ago.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

This Monday was meant to be a happy reunion for pupils at Alvechurch Church of England middle school following the half-term break. Instead, it has turned out to be a day of mourning for the school and the entire community because of the news of a coach crash in France, which claimed the life of a much-loved local teacher, Mr Peter Rippington, and left many school children seriously injured. Will the Prime Minister join me in expressing sympathy for all those who have been affected and in wishing all those who are still being treated in France a swift recovery and a speedy return home?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this desperately sad case. I know that Peter Rippington was much respected in the local community and at the school. He will be hugely missed. I am sure that the thoughts and sincere condolences of everyone in the House will be with my hon. Friend’s constituents and everyone who has been affected. Our consular staff in France continue to provide support to all those who are still in France. Our ambassador, Sir Peter Ricketts, has visited passengers in hospital and is liaising with the local authorities. We will do everything we can, with the French authorities, to get people home safely.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Senior Aircraftman Ryan Tomlin from 2 Squadron, RAF Regiment. He died bravely and courageously serving our country, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.

We are also thinking today about the tragic death of Marie Colvin. She was a brave and tireless reporter across many continents and in many difficult situations. She was also an inspiration to women in her profession. Her reports in the hours before her death showed her work at its finest, and our thoughts today are with her family and friends.

On Monday, the Prime Minister held his emergency NHS summit and managed to exclude the main organisations representing the following professions: the GPs, the nurses, the midwives, the pathologists, the psychiatrists, the physiotherapists and, just for good measure, the radiologists. How can he possibly think it is a good idea to hold a health summit that excludes the vast majority of people who work in the NHS?

[The Prime Minister]

What I want to do is safeguard our NHS. We are putting more money into the NHS—money that Labour is specifically committed to taking out. But let us be frank: money alone will not be enough. We have to meet the challenge of an ageing population, more expensive treatments and more people with long-term conditions, and that is why we have to reform the NHS. My summit was about those organisations, including clinical commissioning groups up and down the country—8,200 GP practices—that want to put the reforms in place.

[Edward Miliband]

So the Prime Minister has got no answer about his ridiculous summit that excluded the vast majority of people who work in the medical professions. Let us remind ourselves of what he said just a few short months ago during his so-called listening exercise. He said that

“change—if it is to…really work—should have the support of people who work in our NHS. We have to take our nurses and doctors with us.”

Now he cannot even be in the same room as the doctors and nurses. Does that not tell him that he has lost the confidence of those who work in our national health service?

[The Prime Minister]

What I want to know is, when is the right hon. Gentleman going to ask a question about the substance of the reforms? He does not want to ask about choice, because the Opposition used to be in favour of choice but will not back it in the Bill. He does not want to ask a question about competition, because they used to favour competition but now will not support it in the Bill. They used to support GPs being put in charge of health budgets. They backed that, but they will not support it now it is in the Bill. Why not ask a serious question? Incidentally, as we are being kept here to vote at 7 o’clock on the publication of the risk register, why does he not ask a question about that?

[Edward Miliband]

Does the Prime Minister not think it was a serious question about his exclusion of the vast majority of people who work in our NHS? He should not worry—[Interruption.]

[Edward Miliband]

We will come to the substance of the Prime Minister’s Bill, but let me ask him this very important question. There were people who attended the summit and expressed deep concerns about his Bill. Even those who were invited to his summit did so. Following his health summit, can he tell us what changes, if any, he is planning to make to his Bill?

[The Prime Minister]

Why does the right hon. Gentleman not stop worrying about my diary and start worrying about his complete lack of substance? We are going ahead with these reforms because we think it is good for patients to have choice, good to have the involvement of the independent and voluntary sectors in the NHS and good to have more emphasis on public health. That is why we are doing these reforms.

Let me remind the right hon. Gentleman of one thing that he used to believe. He used to believe—this was what his Health Secretary said—that

“the private sector puts its capacity into the NHS for the benefit of NHS patients, which I think most people in this country would celebrate.”—[Official Report, 15 May 2007; Vol. 460, c. 250WH.]

The Opposition are now committed to a 5% cap on the private sector, which would mean hospitals such as the Marsden hospital sacking doctors, sacking nurses and closing wards. Let me ask the right hon. Gentleman again: we are here at 7 o’clock to vote on the risk register. Are you going to ask a question about it, or are you frightened of your own motion?

[Edward Miliband]

Nobody believes the Prime Minister and nobody trusts him on the health service. At the Homerton hospital on Monday, I met senior staff working in HIV services, who explained to me how the Bill will fragment and disrupt services—[Interruption.] The Health Secretary should be quiet and listen to the people who work in the health service. If he had done some listening before—[Interruption.] He should calm down.

The senior staff working in HIV services explained that HIV treatment is currently commissioned by one organisation: the primary care trust. Under the Prime Minister’s plans, treatment will be commissioned by three organisations: the national commissioning board, the clinical commissioning group and the health and wellbeing board. The staff said that that will damage the world-class service they provide for patients. Why will he not listen to the people who actually know what they are talking about in the NHS?

[The Prime Minister]

If the right hon. Gentleman is opposing other organisations that have expertise in AIDS and AIDS treatment taking part in the NHS, he is opposing the Terence Higgins Trust, which does an enormous amount to support HIV. The fact is that we are seeing complete opportunism from the Labour party, which used to back choice, the independent sector and reform. I say to you, Mr Speaker, you don’t save the NHS by opposing reform; you save the NHS by delivering reform.

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister does not even understand his own Bill. Let me explain to him. The question was about the fragmentation of commissioning. The experts at the Homerton—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the NHS professions because of the promises he made before the election. Will he now give people a straight answer to the question I asked him two weeks ago and admit that he has broken his promise of no top-down reorganisation?

[The Prime Minister]

If the right hon. Gentleman took any longer, we would have to put him on a waiting list for care, his question took so long. He asks about integration. Let me explain to him, because I do not suppose he has read the Bill, that clauses 22 and 25 place a specific duty on key organisations to integrate health and social care. The Bill is all about integration, but here we are, on his fifth question, and he still will not mention his vote on the risk register. I think I know why. I have here Labour’s brief for this afternoon’s debate. There is an excellent section explaining why we do not publish risk registers. The second argument is particularly strong. It goes like this:

“Andy Burnham blocked the publication of the Department of Health’s risk register in September 2009.”

There we are. The Opposition are absolutely revealed as a bunch of rank opportunists, not fit to run opposition, not fit for government.

[Edward Miliband]

I will tell the Prime Minister what happened under the previous Labour Government: the lowest waiting times in history; more doctors and nurses than ever before; and the highest patient satisfaction with the NHS. I will match our record on the NHS with his any day of the week. The problem with this Prime Minister is that he asks people to trust him but he has betrayed that trust. The problem with this Prime Minister is that on the NHS he thinks that he is right and everyone else is wrong. It has become a symbol not of how his party has changed but of his arrogance. I tell him this: this will become his poll tax. He should listen to the public and drop the Bill.

[The Prime Minister]

Six questions and not one mention of the motion that the Opposition are putting before the House tonight! To put it forward and then not back it up shows an absence of leadership. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Members on both sides of the House are yelling at each other. It is rude, it is unfair on the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and it should stop.

[The Prime Minister]

I will tell the right hon. Gentleman what is actually happening in the health service under this Government: waiting times for outpatients, down; waiting times for inpatients, down; the number of people waiting in total, down; the number of people waiting for more than a year, halved; hospital infections, down to their lowest level; and mixed-sex wards, down by 94%. That is our record. There are 4,000 more doctors, almost 1,000 more midwives and fewer managers. He talks about what people think about this Government, so let me remind him what his two-time candidate said about him this week:

“You are not articulating a vision or a destination, you’re not clearly identifying a course and no-one’s following you…My problem is that you are not a leader.”

I could not have put it better myself.

[Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con)]

Q13. In 2009, when the Conservatives took control of Lancashire county council, fostering services were rated unsatisfactory. Since then, its budget has reduced by £120,000 and it is now rated outstanding. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating county councillor Tony Winder and his Conservative colleagues not only on doing more for less but on doing it better?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in that, and he makes an important point: across the country we have different councils coping with the issues of fostering and adoption, and producing very different results. We need to publish all these figures so that we can see which councils are doing well and getting value for money, as they clearly are in Lancashire, and, above all, which councils are doing the best to get children out of care and into a warm and loving home.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Q2. The national minimum wage has lifted millions of workers out of poverty pay, so will the Prime Minister support hard-working people and give a commitment today to drop unjust plans to freeze it?

[The Prime Minister]

We support the minimum wage, we have supported its uprating and we have already uprated it. It has an important role to play.

[Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

Q3. The children of Somalia should be able to expect a life before death. Does not tomorrow’s London conference provide an opportunity to signal to the terrorists, pirates and corrupt of Somalia that we are all determined to do whatever we can to ensure stability and good governance in Somalia? Will the Prime Minister welcome the participation in the conference of the President of Somaliland, given its experience of peace-building in the region?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. We will be welcoming the President of Somaliland to the conference. Somaliland has taken an important step forward in showing that better governance and better economic progress are possible. In many ways, it is an example that others can follow. But the conference is not about recognising Somaliland; it is about trying to put in place the building blocks, among the international community but above all among the Somalis themselves, for a stronger and safer Somalia. That means taking action on piracy and hostages, supporting the African Union Mission in Somalia and increasing its funding and role in Mogadishu, and working with all the parts of Somalia to try to give that country, which has been more blighted by famine, disease, terrorism and violence than almost any other in the world, a second chance.

[Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab)]

Given what the Prime Minister said last week in Scotland, will he devote as much time to facing up to the grievances that the English feel from the current proposals of devolution as he will to considering new proposals of devolution to Scotland? Will he open a major debate here in the House on the English question, so that Members from all parts of the House can advise him on what measures of devolution England needs if we are to gain equity with other countries of the United Kingdom?

[The Prime Minister]

We have, obviously, set up the West Lothian group to look at this issue, and obviously we want to make sure that devolution works for everyone in the United Kingdom, but I would part company slightly with the right hon. Gentleman for this reason: I believe the United Kingdom has been an incredibly successful partnership of all its members. Far from wanting to appeal to English people in any way to nurture a grievance they feel, I want to appeal to my fellow Englishmen and say, “This has been a great partnership”—a great partnership for Scotland, but a great partnership for England too. Of course Scotland must make its choice, but we hope that Scotland will choose to remain in this partnership that has done so well for the last 300 years.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

Q4. Does the Prime Minister agree that an elected mayor and more power for cities, including over local railway infrastructure, present a great opportunity for those of us in Bristol who have long campaigned for the resurrection of local rail, including the Henbury loop line around the north of the city?

[The Prime Minister]

I support having elected mayors in our great cities. Obviously it will be for those cities themselves to choose. I am hugely encouraged by what has happened in Liverpool recently. We will be having referendums, and people in Bristol will have their chance to make that choice. At the same time, what people have not entirely noticed is that the Government are going through a huge act of devolution to cities, in terms of the powers and the money that we are prepared to offer them, so that they can build their own futures. If we think of how Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham—these great cities—built themselves up in the first place, we see that it was not on order and instruction from London; it was the great city figures who did that for them. We want that to happen again.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

Q5. On Tuesday the Education Secretary said that the Prime Minister’s decision to set up the Leveson inquiry was having a “chilling” effect upon freedom of expression. Does the Education Secretary speak for the Government?

[The Prime Minister]

The point I would make is this. It was right to set up the Leveson inquiry, and that is a decision fully supported by the entire Government, but I think my right hon. Friend is making an important point, which is this: even as this inquiry goes on, we want to have a vibrant press that feels it can call the powerful to account, and we do not want to see it chilled—and although sometimes one may feel some advantage in having it chilled, that is not what we want.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Many of my constituents will be fully supportive of the Chancellor’s refusal yesterday to sign off on the EU accounts. Does the Prime Minister agree with me and my constituents that it is totally unacceptable that for 17 years now the EU has failed to get auditors to sign off on its accounts?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises an important point, and it was not just Britain that took this stand; it was also the Dutch and the Swedes. For too long the accounts have not been properly dealt with, and corruption and fraud have not been properly dealt with, and it is entirely right to make this stand.

[Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)]

Q6. Last week in Edinburgh the Prime Minister said there were more powers on the table for Scotland, but could not name any. A few months ago he mocked the idea of Scotland controlling its own oil wealth, and in the Scotland Bill even the Crown Estate was too big. Can the Prime Minister now name one power that he has in his mind from this latest U-turn?

[The Prime Minister]

I did not think that the Scottish National party favoured devolution; I thought it favoured separation. Yet as soon as you are offered a referendum that gives you the chance to put that in front of the Scottish people, you start running away.

[Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)]

Q7. Tomorrow, Members of this House will have the chance to debate the importance of cycling, following The Times cities fit for cycling campaign. The Minister for cycling, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), has made some welcome announcements and investment, but there is still much more to do. Will the Prime Minister commit the Government to support The Times campaign, increase investment in cycling and take much greater steps to promote cycling across the country?

[The Prime Minister]

The Times campaign is excellent, and I strongly support what it is trying to do. Anyone who has got on a bicycle, particularly in one of our busier cities, knows that they are taking their life into their hands every time they do so, so we need to do more to try to make cycling safer. The Government are making it easier for councils to install mirrors at junctions. We are putting £11 million into training for children and £15 million into better cycle routes and facilities across the country. If we want to encourage the growth in cycling that we have seen in recent years, we need to get behind campaigns such as this.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

Since he has been Prime Minister, the company A4e has won contracts worth £224 million from the Department for Work and Pensions alone. In view of the fact that there are record numbers of unemployed people and that employees of this company have been arrested, what action is he taking to make sure that neither vulnerable unemployed people nor the taxpayer are victims of fraud by A4e?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue, which I understand dates back two years to schemes run by the previous Government. As I understand it, it was the company itself that raised the issue with the relevant authorities. There is an ongoing police investigation, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment much further. All I would say is that the investigation needs to be thorough and needs to get to the truth, and then we can take its findings into account.

[Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)]

Q8. Generations of young people have benefited from work experience schemes through getting experience of the working world. Will the Prime Minister praise those companies that are doing everything they possibly can to encourage work experience schemes—unlike the militant hard left, who have not only shut down these schemes, but would rather see people get a handout as opposed to a hand-up in life?

[The Prime Minister]

I think my hon. Friend speaks for many in this House and the overwhelming majority in this country who think that companies offering work experience schemes to those on unemployment benefit is a thoroughly good thing. Let us be clear: this is not a compulsory scheme, but one that young people ask to go on. The findings are that around half of them are actually getting work at the end of these schemes. That is a far better outcome than the future jobs fund had—and at about a 20th of the cost. I think we should encourage companies and young people to expand work experience because it gives people the chance to see work and all it involves, and gives them a better chance to get a job.

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

Prime Minister, thousands of BAE workers in every constituency right across Lancashire are concerned and angry about the Eurofighter Indian contract. Earlier this week, you held a meeting with Lancashire’s Tory MPs. When will you be arranging a meeting at 10 Downing street for all Lancashire MPs—or do you have something to hide?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am not arranging any meetings at 10 Downing street, although it is possible that the Prime Minister might. We will hear.

[The Prime Minister]

I have met a number of Members of Parliament for whom BAE is in their constituencies—including the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson),who came to see me with my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis). I have had many MPs coming to see me. This Government are absolutely committed to helping with Eurofighter and Typhoon in every way we can. That is why I have undertaken trips right across the middle east. Let me say that when I do, I often get criticised by Labour MPs for taking BAE or Rolls-Royce on the aeroplane. I think it is right to fly the flag for great British businesses, and I will continue to do so.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Q9. Last week at the breakfast table, Mrs Bone was saying how she knew the Prime Minister wanted to deport the terrorist Abu Qatada straight away and put the national interest first—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

There is only so much detail I can take from the Bone household. In believing that I am very keen that Abu Qatada be deported, Mrs Bone is indeed psychic, as that is exactly what I believe. That is why the Home Secretary and Home Office Ministers are working so hard with the Jordanians to get the assurances that we need so that this can indeed take place. The Deputy Prime Minister thoroughly backs that approach.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

Both the Prime Minister and the Housing Minister have told the House that rents are falling in the private rented sector, when the evidence—including from the most recent survey by Inside Housing—is that rents are rising. Will the Prime Minister take the opportunity to put the record straight, or will he continue to blame the tenant when the real responsibility lies with landlords charging ever-higher rents and the failure of his Government’s house building programme?

[The Prime Minister]

Given that that question has come from a member of a party that saw house building fall to its lowest level since the 1920s, I think I will take it with a lorryload of salt.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

Q10. We have put great effort into stamping out and kicking out racism in football in this country. Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that when he brings together representatives of the sport later today, he will do everything he can to ensure that prejudice does not creep back into the game and that racism stays out of football?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right to raise this issue. It was a huge achievement when Britain, and its football authorities and clubs, led the world in kicking racism out of football, something that has not happened in all other countries. However, we have seen some worrying signs recently.

The reason I think that this matters so much, not just to football but to Government and to everyone in our country, is that football and footballers are role models for young people. What people see on the football pitch they copy when they go and learn to play football themselves. That is why I think it important to bring people together and ensure that we kick racism out of football for good.

[Jim McGovern (Dundee West) (Lab)]

Q11. Let me first associate myself with the Prime Minister’s condolences to the family and friends of the member of the armed forces who lost his life last week. I am sure that the Prime Minister will join me in thanking the thousands of people who serve in the reserve armed forces. My constituents who serve in the Royal Marine reserve forces in Dundee have expressed concern about the possible closure of the Royal Marine reserve detachment, but when I write to Ministers at the Ministry of Defence about it, they refuse to give me a definitive answer. Does the Prime Minister agree that that is inappropriate, unsatisfactory, and perhaps even arrogant?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising again the case of the brave man from the RAF regiment who gave his life, and all those who serve in Afghanistan. He is absolutely right: the reserve forces in our country are a huge national asset. We want to expand them, and we are putting in more than £1 billion between now and 2015 to ensure that we can do that.

No decision has been made about the future of the Dundee Royal Marine reserve headquarters, but there is no intention to cut the number of Royal Marine reservists in Scotland. Indeed, those who look at the whole issue of our armed forces and reservists throughout Scotland will see that we actually need more people to join the reserves. I hope that everyone in the House who likes our Territorial Army and the other reserve forces will back the recruitment campaigns, because if we are to have an Army with 80,000 regulars and 40,000 reservists, we need a cultural step change in our country so that we really respect what our TA and other reserve forces are doing.

[Joseph Johnson (Orpington) (Con)]

Q12. On Friday, United States marshals will escort my 65-year-old constituent Chris Tappin from Heathrow to a jail in Texas, where he will face pressure to plea bargain in order to avoid lengthy incarceration pending a financially ruinous trial for a crime that he insists he did not commit. What steps is the Prime Minister considering to reform the US-UK extradition treaty, which has been so unfair to the likes of Gary McKinnon and, now, my constituent Mr Tappin?

[The Prime Minister]

I quite understand why my hon. Friend has raised the case of his constituent. Obviously Chris Tappin has been through a number of processes, including those of the magistrates court and the High Court, and the Home Secretary has thoroughly considered his case.

My hon. Friend has also raised the more general issue of Sir Scott Baker’s report on the extradition arrangements, which he has completed and which we are now considering. He did not call for fundamental reform, but my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will examine his findings carefully, and will also take into account the views of Parliament that have been expressed in recent debates. Of course, balancing the arguments is vital, but I think it important for us to remember at the same time why we enter into these extradition treaties: to show respect for each other’s judicial processes, and to make sure that people who are accused of crimes can be tried for those crimes—and Britain can benefit from that as well. A proper, sober, thoughtful review needs to take place, and this case shows why.

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q14. So far, the Government’s response to the unfair relationship between pub companies and their licensees has been self-regulation, not statutory regulation. On 12 January this year the House voted unanimously to set up a review panel, to be agreed by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, to review the implementation of self-regulation, but to date there has been absolutely no response from the Government. Can the Prime Minister tell me whether he is backing the will of Parliament or the will of pub companies?

[The Prime Minister]

I am a keen supporter of Britain’s pubs, so I will write to the hon. Gentleman and get him a good answer.

[Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

In his speech in Edinburgh last week, the Prime Minister rightly described Scotland as

“a pioneering country all its life”

and

“the turbine hall of the Industrial Revolution”.

The next pioneering revolution in this country will be in green technology, and the green investment bank will be key in its promotion. As he has now visited Edinburgh, does he agree with me that it is the perfect location for that institution?

[The Prime Minister]

It is certainly one of the locations that are being considered, but the hon. Gentleman will know that a number of bids have been made by different towns, cities and, indeed, regions of the country, which all want to host this excellent innovation, the green investment bank.

[Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)]

Q15. Returning to the issue of the NHS and the pertinent question posed by the Leader of the Opposition, why has the Prime Minister broken his promise not to engage in another top-down reorganisation of the national health service?

[The Prime Minister]

What we are doing is abolishing the bureaucracy that has been holding the NHS back. We are going to cut, in this Parliament, £4.5 billion of bureaucracy—by getting rid of the primary care trusts and the strategic health authorities—all of which will be invested in patient care. The policy of the hon. Gentleman’s party is to say that real increases in NHS spending are “irresponsible”. That is his party’s view. We do not think that it is irresponsible—we think that it is responsible—which is why we are putting the money in, and he would take the money out.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Last week in Ethiopia with Save the Children, I saw at first hand how malnutrition is stunting the growth of the world’s poorest children. Does the Prime Minister agree that the UK has a real opportunity to lead the international debate in tackling malnutrition, which will help the growth of the world’s children, and economic growth as well?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right about this, not only because we work with excellent organisations and non-governmental organisations such as Save the Children that are doing excellent work, but because the UK is the second largest bilateral donor in the horn of Africa, where we have seen that appalling famine with many people starving and dying. Not only are we doing our bit in money, investment and time, but that gives us an opportunity to lead the debate on where we need to take the development and aid agenda next.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 11 January.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I am sure that the whole House will wish to join me in paying tribute to the servicemen who have fallen in the service of our country since we last met for Prime Minister’s Question Time—Captain Tom Jennings from the Royal Marines, Squadron Leader Anthony Downing from the Royal Air Force, Private John King from 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, and Rifleman Sachin Limbu from 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles, who died after a long period in hospital where he was much loved by the staff who looked after him in Birmingham. Their outstanding courage and selflessness will never be forgotten. They have given their lives serving our country and making our world more secure, and our thoughts should be with their families and friends.

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.

[Mr Stuart]

The whole House will wish to associate itself with the Prime Minister’s tribute to the fallen.

May I ask the Prime Minister to join me in congratulating Cranswick Country Foods on its £15 million investment creating a state-of-the-art facility in my constituency, which is licensed for exporting to the US Department of Agriculture, exports throughout the EU and employs more than 1,200 people? Unfortunately, the Food Standards Agency is blocking exports from that excellent plant to the far east. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that job-destroying and unnecessary regulation will not be tolerated by his Government?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in congratulating the company in his constituency on its expansion and on the welcome new jobs it is bringing. It is vital that we rebalance our economy, with greater emphasis on business investment and on exports. Exports to China went up by 20% last year. I shall certainly do everything I can to help to resolve the situation, and I shall be happy to ask a Minister from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this issue.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

May I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Captain Tom Jennings from the Royal Marines, Squadron Leader Anthony Downing from the Royal Air Force, Private John King from 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, and Rifleman Sachin Limbu from 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles? All of them showed enormous courage and bravery. They have made sacrifices on our behalf, and our deepest condolences go to their families and friends.

In the autumn statement the Chancellor said that train fares would rise by only 1% above inflation. Can the Prime Minister therefore explain why rail companies this month on some of the busiest commuter routes have increased their fares by up to 11%?

[The Prime Minister]

The power to do that was given to them by the last Labour Government.

[Edward Miliband]

No, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister is wrong. The last Labour Government stopped them doing that, and this Prime Minister, when he came to office, reversed that policy, which we introduced. That is why the companies are able to rig the fares. That is why someone travelling from Northampton to London will see a rise on the season ticket of more than £300. Will he now stand up to the train companies, get a better deal for commuters and change his policy?

[The Prime Minister]

I know that the right hon. Gentleman has had a difficult start to the year, but I am afraid he has made it worse by getting the facts wrong. Labour, in 2009, allowed fare increases of up to 11%, because they introduced the idea of flexibility of 5% over and above the RPI plus 1% that was the case. What was the case in 2009 is the case today, but the key issue is this: there are only two places that money for railways can come from. It can come from the taxpayer or it can come from the traveller. What really matters is whether we are going to put money into rail investment, and this Government are putting that money in. We are building Crossrail, we are electrifying the Great Western main line, we are electrifying the line between Manchester and Liverpool, we are putting £308 billion into Crossrail, and of course, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport announced yesterday, we are building High Speed 2 as well.

[Edward Miliband]

I am afraid the Prime Minister is just wrong about the facts. The Labour Government saw that train companies were taking advantage of consumers, ripping them off by increasing fares more on the busiest routes, and we stopped it. We took that power away from them. He came to office and brought the power back. He made the wrong decision. And as for his idea that this is all to help the passenger, only last month the National Audit Office warned that the problem was that the money would probably result in increased train operating company profits. I ask the Prime Minister again: will he now go back and reverse his policy?

[The Prime Minister]

We originally set out an RPI plus 3% policy for train fares. We found money in the autumn statement to reduce that to RPI plus 1%, but if the right hon. Gentleman wants to see more money go into our railways—presumably he supports the electrification of the Great Western main line and the railway lines in the north-west—he will be touring the country telling us that he supports these things, but he is never prepared to take difficult decisions in order to support them. It is time—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The answers from the Prime Minister will be heard.

[The Prime Minister]

It is time for the Leader of the Opposition to listen to his shadow Defence Secretary, who wrote very candidly over Christmas:

“There is a difference between populism and popularity”—

and that difference is called credibility. Time to have some, I think.

[Edward Miliband]

Instead of his pre-prepared lines, the right hon. Gentleman should get his facts right about his own policy. He is just wrong. He says that he is continuing the policy of the Labour Government, and he is simply wrong on the facts. The Labour Government saw what the train companies were doing and said that we would put an end to it. The Prime Minister said at the weekend that he wanted to take action against crony capitalism. He has failed at the first hurdle. I ask him for the last time: will he now reverse the policy?

[The Prime Minister]

We are now on to the issue of higher pay. On the issue of the rail fares, let me be absolutely clear. Labour introduced the policy of 5% flexibility. They changed it for one year only—for an election year—but with no intention of making that permanent. If the right hon. Gentleman does not know that, he should. [Interruption.] If he wants to get on to the issue of executive pay, he is entirely right to raise it. Unlike a Government who did nothing—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear the answer, and however long it takes—[Interruption.] Order. However long it takes, I will.

[The Prime Minister]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Leader of the Opposition is right to raise the issue of executive pay—and unlike the previous Government, who did nothing for 13 years, this Government will act.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

I understand that my right hon. Friend recommended me for one new present, and I am about to ask him for another. The Leader of the Opposition is talking drivel, I am afraid. My constituents on the Kent coast line had been paying up to 10% increases under the previous Government for the last four years, until they lost office. I congratulate this Government on their courageous decision to pursue High Speed 2. May I ask my right hon. Friend to turn his attention now to a piece of unfinished business left by the previous Government? High Speed 1 at present runs, in effect, only from St. Pancras to Ashford. Could he see it driven through to Thanet, so that we can enjoy the sort of benefits that in the future will be enjoyed by Birmingham?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend on his well-deserved honour for his many years of service to his constituents. He is entirely right about what happened under the previous Government, when regulated fares went up by over 18% and unregulated fares went up by over 23%. I will certainly look into what he says about High Speed 1, but I think that it is an advertisement for what we can get by linking up our country with high-speed rail, shortening commuter distances and helping to change the economic geography of our country so that we can build a stronger economy.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q2. Over 80,000 pensioners in Liverpool will lose up to £100 this winter following the Government’s cut in winter fuel allowance. Will the Prime Minister adopt Labour’s policy of ensuring that energy companies automatically put elderly customers on the cheapest tariff for gas and electricity?

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid that, as with the hon. Lady’s party leader, there seems to have been an outbreak of collective amnesia on the Labour Benches, because we have kept the previous Government’s policy on the winter fuel allowance and are meeting in full all the promises that she and her party made on the winter fuel allowance. We have gone one further, because they introduced higher cold weather payments only for election year, but we have made them permanent.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

The Prime Minister will have experienced at first hand the quality of nursing at Treliske. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that patients across the country receive the highest possible standards of nursing care from the NHS?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. I well remember—indeed, I will never forget—the time I spent at the Royal Cornwall hospital and the happy days I had there, and it was a great privilege to go back again last year. We have very high standards of nursing care in our country and the overwhelming majority of nurses do a fantastic job, but I do not think that we would be serving our constituents properly if we did not highlight those few cases where it goes wrong, and we have seen in the Care Quality Commission reports that there are areas where it has gone wrong. I think that it is incumbent on the Government to try to remove the bureaucracy that can get in nurses’ way, but it is also important for us to highlight best practice in the best hospitals in our country—I visited an excellent hospital in Salford last week—and say, “Let’s copy that right across the country,” so that we have high standards of care and look after the nutritional needs, indeed all the needs, of vulnerable people in our hospitals.

[Edward Miliband]

I want to ask the Prime Minister about Scotland. We on this side of the House believe that the United Kingdom benefits the people of Scotland and the people of the rest of the United Kingdom in equal measure. We are stronger together and weaker apart. Does he agree that we must make the case for the Union—not simply a case against separatism, but the positive case about the shared benefits to us all of Scotland’s part in the United Kingdom: the shared economic interests, the shared institutions such as the NHS, the defence forces and the BBC, and above all the shared values we hold together?

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to say that this is an area where the right hon. Gentleman and I will be in 100% agreement. I passionately believe in the future of our United Kingdom, and passionately believe that we are stronger together than we would be by breaking apart. Frankly, I am sad that we are even having this debate, because I support the United Kingdom so strongly, but we have to respect the fact that Scotland voted for a separatist party in the Scottish parliamentary elections, so the first thing that it is right to do is make clear the legal position about a referendum, which is what my right hon. Friend the Scottish Secretary has been doing. We have made the offer to devolve the power to hold that referendum so that it can be made in Scotland and held in Scotland. Frankly, I look forward to having the debate, because I think that too many in the Scottish National party have been happy to talk about the process but do not want to talk about the substance. I sometimes feel when I listen to them that it is not a referendum they want, but a “neverendum”. Let us have the debate, and let us keep our country together.

[Edward Miliband]

May I agree with the Prime Minister? This is not a fight about process between the Westminster Government and the Scottish Government, or between the British Prime Minister and the Scottish First Minister. The way to tackle this issue is to have immediate cross-party talks in Scotland about the timing of the referendum, the nature of the single-question referendum and the vital involvement of the Electoral Commission. Does the Prime Minister also agree with me that we need as soon as possible, as he said, to get beyond process and have that discussion about the substantive issues? This is a momentous decision that our children and grandchildren will have to live with if we get it wrong, so we need a serious, thoughtful and inclusive debate about the choices and the benefits to Scotland of staying in the United Kingdom. On this important issue, the people of our country deserve nothing less than that serious debate about the benefits of the United Kingdom.

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman is right on those three points. On the process of negotiation, which is very important now, particularly given that the SNP has come out and made more clear what it wants to do, I am very happy for the UK Government and the Westminster Parliament to speak directly to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, and let us come to a conclusion about the best time and the best way to hold the referendum. But it must be clear, it must be legal, it must be decisive and it must be fair. Those are the absolute keys. I absolutely agree with the right hon. Gentleman: as soon as those process questions are settled, we need to get on to the substance. [Interruption.] The only point I would make about the timing—[Interruption.] As SNP Members, who cannot seem to keep quiet, are so keen to leave the United Kingdom, I do not quite understand why they want to put off putting the question for so long.

[Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)]

What action will the Prime Minister take to tackle the appalling issue of forced marriage both in the UK and globally?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that issue. We have taken some steps, as the previous Government did, to try to crack down on the practice of forced marriage, which, tragically, does take place in too many communities and too many places in our country. We are looking specifically at whether we should take further legal powers and make it a criminal offence, and I am taking a personal interest in the issue, as I think we should be taking every available step to say that it is simply unacceptable, in 2012 in a civilised country such as ours, to have such a barbaric practice.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Q3. Nottinghamshire police serve areas of deep deprivation, face some of the highest crime levels in the country and, rightly, have ambitious crime reduction targets, but Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary says that Nottinghamshire is one of five forces facing the most significant challenge to protect their front lines, and senior officers tell me that Government cuts will impact on front-line policing. Is it not time to implement the police funding formula in order to give my local police the resources that they need?

[The Prime Minister]

I shall look carefully at what the hon. Lady says, but all police forces are having to make efficiencies, and I praise chief constables for the steps that they have taken to deliver those efficiencies without affecting front-line policing, while at the same time still delivering a reduction in crime levels.

In Nottinghamshire police there are still 47 officers working in back-office jobs, there are still trained police officers working in human resources, finance and corporate development, and there is still further work to be done to civilianise those parts of the police force and make sure we get all our police officers out on the front line.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Q4. Following the murder of my constituent Jane Clough by her former partner, a rapist, Jonathan Vass, I presented the Bail (Amendment) Bill to the House, and in October the Ministry of Justice team agreed to change the law. Can the Prime Minister confirm to the House, and to Jane’s parents, who are in the Public Gallery today, when that will happen?

[The Prime Minister]

First, on behalf of the House, may I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on the issue and, indeed, on that case? Our sympathies go out to the family, who have suffered so appallingly. I accept, and the Government accept in principle, that there should be a right of appeal against Crown court decisions allowing bail. There is of course that right in magistrates court cases, so there is a strong case for changing the law, and we will table an amendment in the Lords to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, creating a right of appeal to a High Court judge against the granting of bail by a Crown court. I hope that that will improve the law, be more helpful to victims and give some satisfaction to the family whom my hon. Friend is representing so well.

[Angus Robertson (Moray) (SNP)]

The Scottish Government were elected with an overwhelming mandate to deliver an independence referendum in the second half of this parliamentary term—[Interruption.] They were. It is a fact. In contrast, the Conservative party has fewer Members of Parliament in Scotland than there are giant pandas in Edinburgh zoo. Why is the Prime Minister trying to emulate Margaret Thatcher by dictating to Scotland?

[The Prime Minister]

Quite the opposite: we want to give Scotland the power to hold a legal referendum. Right across this House there is a uniform belief that that needs to happen. Discussions can now be entered into about the timing of the referendum and its precise nature, so that we can ensure that it is fair and decisive. The people of Scotland deserve nothing less.

[Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)]

Q5. Care of our older people is one of the most pressing issues facing this country today. Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming Age UK’s Care in Crisis campaign, which was launched on Monday? Will he commit to ensuring that the White Paper due in the spring will present a way forward on this vital issue?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on this issue, and to the Age Concern campaign. We have a huge challenge to rise to this agenda and we want to do so through the White Paper. There are three elements: we must do something about the rising costs of domiciliary care, improve the quality of the care that people receive, and address the issue of people having to sell their homes and all their assets to pay for care. We are looking hard at all those issues to work out a way forward that is right for our system, and that the country can afford.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q6. The Sunday Times showed that in the past two years the 1,000 richest persons in Britain got richer by £137 billion—enough to pay off the entire deficit. Will the Prime Minister therefore tax them to fund the creation of 1 million jobs, which would be a far better way of cutting the deficit than prolonged austerity?

[The Prime Minister]

For a minute, I thought that the right hon. Gentleman was talking about the Prime Minister he served under. It is essential that as we reduce the deficit and take difficult decisions we are fair, and are seen to be fair. What we have done so far has seen the top 10% of the country paying 10 times more than the bottom 10%. Crucially, the top 10% in terms of earnings are paying more not only in cash terms, but as a percentage of their income. As we go ahead with this agenda, I want to ensure that people behave responsibly, and that the Government do too.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

Q7. I am sure that you, Mr Speaker, and the Prime Minister will want to congratulate Mr Tony Whatling, who has served as postmaster in Westhall for more than 60 years and has still not retired. However, residents in Wangford and Walberswick are being let down because there is no post office outreach provision. Will the Prime Minister encourage the Post Office to use its generous subsidy to ensure that rural villages are served, not left stranded?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to Mr Whatling. To run a village store and post office for 60 years is a huge achievement. It is people like him who keep our country going. The Government have committed £1.3 billion to improve the network. As a condition of that funding, the Post Office must maintain at least 11,500 branches, but the point that my hon. Friend makes about mobile post offices is a good one. That is a way to serve many communities and to ensure that elderly and vulnerable people in particular get the services that they need.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Q8. The Deputy Prime Minister is reported to have said in the past few days that in due course the UK will sign up to the EU treaty that the Prime Minister rejected a short time ago. Was the Deputy Prime Minister correct?

[The Prime Minister]

The position is very straightforward. We did not sign the treaty because we did not get the safeguards that we wanted to receive. That situation is not going to change. What coalition partners want to put in their manifestos at the next election is entirely up to them.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

Q9. Does the Prime Minister agree that people should pay their taxes, keep their businesses onshore and not live as tax exiles in Switzerland, leaving pensioners high and dry? What is he doing to stamp out such predatory business practices?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. For all the lectures about predatory capitalism and taxing different businesses in different ways, the one person the Leader of the Opposition has chosen to advise him on this issue has based all his companies in the British Virgin Islands.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Q10. The funding for the United Kingdom Resource Centre for women in science, engineering and technology has been cut. Given that 1 million women are unemployed and that women make up only 12.3% of people in science, engineering and technology, will the Prime Minister look again at funding for the UKRC, and at thereby restoring Britain’s leading role in science, which nurtured the talents of Dorothy Hodgkin and Rosalind Franklin?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look at the case that the hon. Lady sets out. As she knows, despite having to make difficult decisions across a range of public spending areas we did not cut the science budget. Indeed, in the autumn statement the Chancellor provided a series of enhancements for specific science-based projects. I will look at the specific one that the hon. Lady mentions and get back to her.

[Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

Today, unfortunately, is the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay, a despicable institution that to this day still holds one UK national. Will the Prime Minister commit to doing all he can to see that 2012 is the last year in which that institution operates?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is working very hard with the United States to try to secure the issue and bring this chapter to a close. As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have also taken steps as a Government and as a country to try to achieve some closure to what happened in the past, through a settlement with the people who were in Guantanamo Bay and through setting up a proper inquiry to ensure that the British Government were not complicit in any way in the torture of people in Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere.

[Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)]

Q11. A moment ago, the Prime Minister was clear that it is crucial that Government economic policy be fair and be seen to be fair. Can he therefore confirm that the 50% tax rate on incomes above £150,000 will remain in place for the duration of this Parliament?

[The Prime Minister]

We take pretty much the same point of view as the former shadow Chancellor who, when he introduced that rate, said that it should be a temporary measure. I think we should also make a judgment about how much money the tax is actually raising. The purpose of the tax system is to raise money for the funds that we need to put into our public services, and it is very important that we look at how it works in practice.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister congratulate the Secretary of State for Transport and the good workers of Bombardier on securing a £188 million contract on 28 December, and on the announcement on the Toronto stock exchange, which was so important to the workers in Derbyshire?

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate everyone at Bombardier on winning that contract. As I have said before from the Dispatch Box, I want the Government to be a good customer of British firms and work with their supply chain, and not to make the mistakes that the last Government made. They drew up the contract for the railway service that Bombardier did not win.

[Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)]

Q12. The Prime Minister will probably be aware that a chief executive of a stock exchange top 100 company is paid 35 times as much as a hospital consultant who keeps people healthy and saves lives. If the Prime Minister is going to act tough on high pay, and if he really does get it, will he give a date—a year from now, or within the lifetime of this Parliament—when we will see that obscene 35 times multiple come tumbling down?

[The Prime Minister]

I do think that we should make progress on the issue of pay ratios, and we can start with the Government setting out their own pay ratios as an act of leadership. I think this Government have shown some leadership, not least by cutting and freezing Ministers’ pay and having total transparency on pay across Government. On the specific case that the hon. Gentleman raises, this year we have seen a 49% increase in pay yet only a 4% increase in the FTSE. I am not against people running great companies being paid lots of money if they are growing and expanding them and succeeding, but we should not have rewards for failure. Frankly, the last Government had 13 years to deal with this, and did sweet nothing.

[Nick Boles (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister think that it can ever be fair for a single family to receive £100,000 a year in housing benefit alone?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The issue of top people’s pay and this issue are, in many ways, linked. We need to get rid of a something-for-nothing culture in this country. We inherited an out-of-control benefit system in which there were families on many tens of thousands of pounds of housing benefit. We had an out-of-control immigration system in which it paid to cheat, and we also had an out-of-control banking system in which reward was not linked to success. Unlike the last Government, we are going to deal with all those things.

[Tony Cunningham (Workington) (Lab)]

Q13. The Cumbrian health economy is in crisis—real crisis. How does the Prime Minister propose to deal with it?

[The Prime Minister]

The first and most important thing is that we are committed to year on year increases in NHS spending. I am afraid that that position is not backed by the hon. Gentleman’s party. Alongside the extra money, we also need to make sure that there is reform so that we give clinicians a leading role in the health service. We also have to do more on the public health and health promotion agenda, because that is the best way to reduce demands on our NHS. There is also one extra thing that we need to try to achieve: looking at the links between alcohol and crime, and alcohol and hospital admissions, which put massive pressure on our NHS. That is an issue that I want this Government to deal with.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Ethnic cleansing and apartheid are evil. Sadly, successive Governments have supported a country where those vile actions are inflicted on indigenous people. We welcomed the Arab spring, but the long Arab winter continues for Palestinians. Last Tuesday the Israeli Government said that they would proceed with the forced eviction of 30,000 Bedouin Arabs from their historic lands. Is it not time we treated Israel as we did apartheid South Africa?

[The Prime Minister]

What I would say to my hon. Friend is that first, we should respect the fact that Israel is a democracy. It is a country that has a right to exist and that has frequently been threatened by its neighbours—but also, we are a country that should stand up for clear human rights and clear rights and wrongs in international relations. This Government have been very clear that we do not agree with the Israeli Government’s practice on settlements. I raised the issue myself with the Israeli Prime Minister in a new year telephone call, and this Government will continue to act and vote on illegal settlements.

[Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)]

Q14. Bethany Mickleburgh, a 14-year-old girl in my constituency, has leukaemia and desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. Despite an incredible campaign by her family to get more people to join the blood stem cell register, Bethany still does not have a match and is having to look overseas. What plans do the Government have to improve public awareness of that vital issue and increase the number of potential bone marrow donors in the UK?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right to speak up for Bethany specifically, but also for all bone marrow cancer sufferers. The need to get more people on to the register, because of the importance of trying to get a match, is not widely enough understood. The Government will spend about £4 million this year to help promote that and make it happen. However, all of us, in our constituencies and in our own ways, can promote the idea and encourage people to do as the hon. Lady says.

[Mr Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)]

May I draw my right hon. Friend’s attention to the excellent paper that ResPublica published this morning, which seeks to build on the Government’s initiatives both to build up cadet forces and to get more former military personnel into schools as teachers? It proposes that we set up in some of most deprived communities military academies and free schools administered by the reserve forces and cadets associations.

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who does so much to speak up for our reserve forces and our cadet forces, which are incredibly valuable assets to our country. It is worth noting that this year the cadet forces will do a huge amount to try to save and preserve our war memorials from the appalling crime of metal theft that they have been suffering. I will look very carefully at the ResPublica report that my hon. Friend mentions. We should empower our cadet forces to expand and perhaps to go into parts of the country where they have not always been present. The link that my hon. Friend makes between them and schools is a very good idea, which we should promote and support.

[Dame Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

My constituent Miss S, who is 32, has lived alone for eight years and was forced on to housing benefit because of redundancy. That benefit has just been cut by nearly 50%, to the shared accommodation rate. Which does the Prime Minister think is most likely: that her landlord will reduce the rent by 50% or that she will be made homeless?

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate the right hon. Lady on her preferment in the new year’s honours list. Although I profoundly disagree with many of the things that she has tried to do over her political career—mostly to disarm Britain one-sidedly—I praise her for her persistent efforts. No one can accuse—[Interruption.] I am sorry; let me answer the question very directly. As I understand it, all parties are committed to reform housing benefit. That was Labour’s commitment before the election. The housing benefit bill is completely out of control. Labour’s own welfare spokesman said last week that, at £20 billion, it was unacceptable and had to change. What we have seen so far, as housing benefit has been reformed and reduced, is that rent levels have come down, so we have stopped ripping off the taxpayer.

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to a statement by the Secretary of State for Health. Will Members who are leaving the Chamber do so quickly and quietly so that we may hear this very important statement?

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 9 November.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I am sure that the whole House will wish to join me in paying tribute to Private Matthew Haseldin from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment. Despite being in the Army only a short time, he had already proved himself to be a dedicated and courageous soldier. He has made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the British people, and we should send our deepest condolences to his family and friends. This week, we will, of course, pause to remember all those who have lost their lives in defence of our country, so that we can enjoy peace and freedom, and we are humbled by their sacrifice.

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

[Dr Huppert]

May I add my tribute to the Prime Minister’s about the sad death of Private Matthew Haseldin from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, especially with Remembrance Sunday so near?

The Prime Minister is rightly concerned about jobs and growth. Crucial to that is consumer confidence. Does he think that telling 25 million workers that they have no job security and can be fired at will tomorrow will boost or reduce consumer confidence?

[The Prime Minister]

Clearly, we have to make it easier for firms to hire people. That is why we have scrapped Labour’s jobs tax, taken 1 million of the lowest-paid people out of tax, established new rules so that someone can go to a tribunal only after working somewhere for two years, and introduced fees for claims in employment tribunals to stop vexatious claims. Added to that, we are investing in the Work programme and apprenticeships—all as a way of helping to give young people jobs.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

May I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Private Matthew Haseldin from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment? He showed immense courage trying to protect local people, and our thoughts are with his family and friends. With troops serving in conflict overseas, it is even more important that this weekend, on Remembrance Sunday, we honour all those who have served our country and who are serving our country today.

Will the Prime Minister tell us how many people entered the UK under the Home Secretary’s relaxed border controls?

[The Prime Minister]

The figures for the period between August 2010 and August 2011 for the number of people who entered the country are published in the normal way. The figures that I have are these: the number of people arrested was up by 10%, the number of drug seizures was markedly up, and the number of firearms seizures was up by 100%. However, we should be clear about what did, and what did not, happen here. First, the Home Secretary agreed a pilot for a more targeted approach to border control. This was for people within the European economic area, and it allowed better targeting of high-risk people and less for others, notably children. This did not compromise security. It was an operational decision, but one that I fully back, and which I think she was right to take.

Secondly and importantly, however, decisions were taken to extend that beyond EEA nationals. That was not authorised by the Home Secretary. Indeed, when specific permission was asked for, it was not granted. This did not mean that our borders were left undefended, and passports continued to be checked, but because this was unauthorised action—as it was contrary to what she agreed—it was right that the head of the border force was suspended. I back that action completely.

[Edward Miliband]

It is just not good enough. The Prime Minister cannot tell us how many people—how many millions of people—were let in under the relaxed border controls agreed by the Home Secretary. Is it not totally unacceptable that the Home Secretary chose to relax border controls in July, but, even yesterday, could not tell us which airports and ports that applied to, how many took it up and for how long?

[The Prime Minister]

The Home Secretary provided those figures, and the figures are as follows: firearms, 100% increase in seizures; illegal immigrants, 10% increase in arrests; forged documents, 48% increase. But the simple fact that the right hon. Gentleman—and, I think, everyone—has to accept is this. The head of the UK Border Agency, Rob Whiteman, who also did not know that such unauthorised action was taking place, said this, and it is very important for the House to understand it:

“Brodie Clark admitted to me on November 2 that on a number of occasions this year he authorised his staff to go further than ministerial instruction. I therefore suspended him from his duties. In my opinion it was right for officials to have recommended the pilot so that we focus attention on higher risks to our border, but it is unacceptable that one of my senior officials went further than was approved.”

That is why Brodie Clark was suspended, and that is why the Home Secretary backed that decision, but it is important to understand that he was suspended by the head of the UK Border Agency. It was a decision quite rightly taken by him—backed by the Home Secretary, backed by me.

[Edward Miliband]

Isn’t it utterly typical? When things go wrong, it is nothing to do with them—[Interruption.]

[Edward Miliband]

What did the Home Secretary say in the past, when she was in opposition and things went wrong on immigration? She said this:

“I’m sick and tired of…government ministers…who simply blame other people when things go wrong.”

The Prime Minister said yesterday, in his evidence to the Liaison Committee about the relaxation of border controls over the past few months, that

“clearly this is not acceptable and it is not acceptable it went on for so long.”

Why did the Home Secretary allow it to happen?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman cannot on the one hand blame me for not taking responsibility and then quote very clearly my words taking responsibility and saying what is not acceptable. We are having a lecture on responsibility from a party that trebled immigration, let an extra 2.2 million people into our country, allowed everyone from eastern Europe to come here with no transitional controls, built up a backlog of half a million asylum claims, and made no apology about it. Even today, when the Leader of the Opposition was asked whether too many people were let into this country, his answer was a very simple no.

[Edward Miliband]

The right hon. Gentleman has been Prime Minister for 18 months. He cannot keep saying that it is nothing to do with him; it is his responsibility. One month ago he gave a speech on border controls called “Reclaiming our Borders”, but while he was boasting about reclaiming our borders, his Home Secretary was busy relaxing our borders. Does the Prime Minister not think that he should at least have known?

[The Prime Minister]

The pilot that the Home Secretary introduced meant more arrests, more firearms seized and more forged documents found. That is the truth of it. The fact is that officials went further than Home Office Ministers authorised. That is what is wrong, and that is why someone had to be suspended—and that was the right decision.

The right hon. Gentleman asked what we have done. Let me tell him. We are completing e-Borders, so that by next April every flight from outside the EU will be checked; we are creating the National Crime Agency, with the dedicated border police; in the first six months, we seized more drugs than in the whole of last year; and last year we rejected 400,000 visa applications and turned away 68,000 people without the correct documents. I am determined that we have tough border controls, and finally we have a Home Office and an Immigration Minister who actually want to cut immigration.

[Edward Miliband]

Anyone listening to the Prime Minister would think that his policy has been a great success. It is a fiasco—a complete fiasco. The one thing that he cannot claim to know nothing about is cuts to the UK border force. Can he now confirm how many UK border staff are going to be cut under his Government?

[The Prime Minister]

By the end of this Parliament there will be 18,000 people working for the UK Border Agency—the same number as were working for it in 2006, when the right hon. Gentleman was sitting in the Treasury and determining the budgets. He asks about what we have done on immigration in 18 months in office. Let me tell him. We have introduced the first ever limit on work visas from outside the European Union. We have stopped more than 470 colleges from bringing in bogus foreign students. We have cut student visas by 70,000. Anyone who comes here to get married has to speak English. We are ending automatic settlement rights and stopping the nonsense of people misusing the Human Rights Act. In 18 months we have done more to control immigration than he did in 13 years.

[Edward Miliband]

The truth is, it is a fiasco and the Prime Minister knows it. That is the reality. It is a pattern with this Government: broken promises, gross incompetence, blame everybody else. He is an out-of-touch Prime Minister leading a shambolic Government.

[The Prime Minister]

As ever, the right hon. Gentleman just completely lost his way. I think he should spend a little more time listening to the author of “blue Labour”, Lord Glasman, who said:

“Labour lied…about the extent of immigration”.

Where is the apology?

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

Q2. On Friday, 3 Commando Brigade will be marching through the streets of Plymouth on their homecoming parade after a successful but costly tour of duty in Afghanistan. I know that the Prime Minister will be with us in spirit, but will he send a message of support today to those brave and very professional Royal Marines, of whom we are all so very proud?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly join my hon. Friend in doing that. I know that the whole of the south-west—and the whole country—is incredibly proud of the Marines, and we are proud of 3 Commando Brigade, who will be marching through Plymouth. I send my very best wishes for the homecoming parade, and we should also put on record what they have achieved in Task Force Helmand. They carried out 37,000 patrols, found more than 400 improvised explosive devices and trained more than 1,300 Afghan uniformed police patrolmen. They have made a real difference to the safety and security of that country, and to the safety of our country too.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q3. Does the Prime Minister think it right and proper or in any way defensible that the Royal Bank of Scotland, which received a massive bail-out during the crisis, should be paying out more than £500 million in bonuses this year?

[The Prime Minister]

No, I do not think it is acceptable. RBS has not yet set its figures for bonus payments. The British Government are a seriously large shareholder in RBS, and we will be making our views known.

[Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

In joining me in giving our condolences to the relatives of the Red Arrows pilot killed at RAF Scampton yesterday, will the Prime Minister acknowledge the overriding need for safety? Our campaign to save RAF Scampton from closure is based not just on sentiment for the historic home of the Dambusters, but on the overriding need for the safe uncluttered skies above north Lincolnshire that the Red Arrows need to practise safely.

[The Prime Minister]

I am sure that the hearts of everyone in this House go out to the family of the pilot who was killed in that terrible accident, which comes on top of a second accident that happened in the Red Arrows. This has obviously been a tragic time for something that the whole country reveres and loves, and I know that the Red Arrows’ home in Lincolnshire is extremely important to them. We must get to the bottom of what happened, and I totally understand why my hon. Friend wants to stand up for the air base in his constituency.

[Gordon Banks (Ochil and South Perthshire) (Lab)]

Q4. The trade unions yesterday published data showing that Clackmannanshire in my constituency has seen the largest growth in youth unemployment in this country. Given that we will not have the opportunity to question the Prime Minister on unemployment numbers next week, will he tell me why he is letting young people down in my constituency?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously we face a difficult situation with unemployment, including among young people, right across the country, and we need to do everything we can to help people back into work. That is why there is record investment going into apprenticeships and the Work programme. However, the real need is to grow the private sector, because, frankly, this is a time when whoever was in government would have to make reductions in the public sector. The hon. Gentleman shakes his head, but any Government would have to do that: look across Europe at the reductions that are having to be made. We need to get the private sector growing, which is what this Government are focused on.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

Q5. Developing the considerable potential for jobs in the energy sector is central to economic recovery in my constituency, as is providing local people with the skills to take on those jobs. Will the Prime Minister ensure that the Government do all they can to fund the completion of the newly opened Pakefield high school in Lowestoft, which will play such an important role in skilling young people in a deprived area?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the skills that that local school will bring. This year Suffolk has an extra £33 million in capital funds. It is obviously for the local authority to decide how to spend that money, but school capital available throughout this spending round and this Parliament amounts to £15.9 billion, so money is there for important school projects.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Q6. This weekend the nation will pause to remember, paying tribute to our war dead. At cenotaphs across the nation, we will pay homage to the men and women who have made the supreme sacrifice in conflicts down through the years. Does the Prime Minister agree that where there is a desire to display that tribute in an entirely non-partisan way, whether in shops, schools, churches or on football tops, it should be not only allowed, but positively promoted?

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman, and sense that the entire House does too. It is a remarkable achievement of the Royal British Legion and the country as a whole that we have reintroduced over past years the sense of the silence taking place at the 11th hour of the 11th day, which is absolutely right. It is particularly appropriate in Northern Ireland, where so many people have served so bravely in our armed forces. Indeed, whenever I visit the Royal Irish Regiment, I am always struck by how many people from both sides of the border have served so bravely in our armed forces.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Q7. Less family breakdown would reduce the costs loaded on to our economy, so will the Prime Minister encourage health authorities throughout the country to take part in “Care for the Families: Let’s Stick Together” pilots, when health visitors and volunteer parents offer relationship support to new parents in the early years of their family life, which is when half of all break-ups occur?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has a great record in pushing forward that absolutely vital idea. It is a tragic fact that so many couples break up after the arrival of the first child because of all the stresses and strains that can bring. That is dreadful for those couples and dreadful for those children. We spend a huge amount as a country dealing with the problems of social breakdown; in my view we should spend more on trying to help to keep families together. Relationship advice and support, as he says, is absolutely vital in that.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

Q8. On Friday the UN Security Council will consider the democratically conveyed Palestinian request for full membership of the UN. Might not the international community do more to advance the prospect of a two-state solution by doing more to create a two-state process? In that context, will he ensure that the UK representative casts a positive vote on Friday, and does not go for the cop-out of abstention?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary will make a full statement to the House on this issue in a few moments, but let me say this: the British Government are fully behind the two-state solution, but I profoundly believe that we will get that not through declarations and processes at the UN, but through the two potential states—Israel and Palestine—sitting down and negotiating. All our efforts should go towards helping to make that happen.

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

Q9. If he will make it his policy to endorse the Somerset Community Foundation’s 2011 Surviving Winter appeal.

[The Prime Minister]

The winter fuel payment provides valuable help to millions of people with paying their fuel bills. Individuals are of course free to donate their payment to a charity if they wish, but it must be a decision for them.

[Tessa Munt]

I thank the Prime Minister for that question. I would like him to congratulate Peter Wyman of the Somerset Community Foundation on having the brilliant idea of people donating some or all of their winter fuel allowance to those who need it most. Would the Government consider enabling such donations by including an option in the letter sent out about the allowance to allow an automatic donation to the Surviving Winter appeal?

[The Prime Minister]

I shall certainly look at that suggestion, but it is important to keep the promises that we made to Britain’s pensioners about keeping up the winter fuel payments and cold weather payments. I would not want to see any unnecessary pressure put on people to do something that might not be in their own best interests.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q10. The operational instruction from the UK Border Agency on 20 July says:“We will cease routinely opening the chips within EEA passports…checking under 18-year-olds against the warning index”.Did anyone in the Home Office clear that document? Given the conflicting stories between the Home Secretary’s officials and her own version, will the Prime Minister publish all the ministerial instructions to the UKBA?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is trying desperately to make up the ground lost by his party leader, but I am afraid that he has rather lost the House in the process. The point is that an inquiry will be carried out by the independent chief inspector of the Border Agency—the very person who found out what was going wrong in terms of operations undertaking that did not have the permission of Ministers, and all these issues will be aired.

[Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)]

On Christmas day 1914, British and German troops put down their weapons and played a football match in no man’s land. The following day, the bloody hostilities resumed. Today, we wear the poppy in remembrance of our war dead. Will the Prime Minister join me in condemning the outrageous decision by FIFA to refuse the home nations’ request to wear the poppy on their shirts this weekend as a simple mark of respect and remembrance?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend speaks not only for the whole House but for the whole country in being completely baffled—and, frankly, angry—at the decision made by FIFA. If teams want to put the poppy on their shirts, as many teams do in our football league, they should be able to do so at national level, whether it is the English team or the Welsh team. This is an appalling decision, and I hope that FIFA will reconsider it.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q11. As poverty is rising, the Prime Minister is removing the requirement for people to register to vote in Britain, thereby removing millions of people’s right to vote. Is he not taking their money with one hand and taking their votes with another? Is it not a grotesque distortion of democracy to force austerity measures on the most vulnerable while removing their voting power?

[The Prime Minister]

The point that I would make to the hon. Gentleman is that we are introducing individual voter registration, which is a Labour policy, so he should be welcoming it. I can understand why he does not necessarily support the idea of making all constituencies the same size, because his constituency has only 62,000 people in it, whereas his right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) represents 91,000 people. I think that it is a basic act of fairness to have seats the same size. It was a demand of the Chartists in the 1840s, and I think that it is time we introduced it.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Q12. Is the Prime Minister aware of the growing evidence of the increase in abuse, intimidation and harassment on park home sites across the country? Tackling those problems needs political will, not a large sum of money. Will he address the issues urgently, so that vulnerable park homers get the protection that they need and deserve as soon as possible?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. I have had constituency cases myself in which people have been treated very badly by park home owners. There are some extremely good park home owners, who not only obey the rules but demonstrate responsibility and compassion, but there are some who do not. We are committed to providing a better deal for park home residents by improving their rights and increasing protection against bad site owners. I will arrange for her to have a meeting with the Housing Minister so that they can discuss this urgent action.

[Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles) (Lab)]

In these difficult economic times, it is even more important for our politics to be in touch with the people we represent. Will the Prime Minister therefore welcome the first people to be successful in getting places on the Speaker’s parliamentary placement scheme, who are with us here today? They are inspiring individuals who would never normally have the chance to work in politics. Will he agree to meet them and listen to their views on the relevance of the issues today, and perhaps on how we are all doing in our politics?

[The Prime Minister]

I would certainly join the right hon. Lady in the point she makes. She has made a huge amount of impact on this issue of social mobility, of wanting to help people who have not had good chances in life. I applaud her for that. If there is time in my busy diary, I will certainly do as she says. I think there is an important opportunity for everyone in this House to look at organisations like the Social Mobility Foundation that provide opportunities for interns from inner city schools to come and have the experience of working here in Parliament. I have used this scheme, as have other members of the Cabinet, and I think it is an excellent scheme to give people a really good chance to see what we do in this place—not just on Wednesday at 12 o’clock, but more broadly.

[Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con)]

Q13. Does my right hon. Friend think it right for hon. Members to take instruction from the GMB about how to vote on amendments?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a serious issue—[Interruption.] I can hear, and I can sense, a bit of resistance, which is perhaps not surprising when 85% of Labour’s money comes from the trade unions. When we discuss legislation in this House, we should be bringing our judgment, our ideas and our arguments, not just picking up a tired old brief from a trade union.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q14. In my constituency of Kilmarnock and Loudoun there are over 3,000 people claiming jobseeker’s allowance, but the latest figures show that there were only 300 job vacancies available. Jobs are being lost in the public sector and the private sector. How high does unemployment have to go before the Prime Minister will accept that his economic policies are simply not working?

[The Prime Minister]

Unemployment is too high today, and I want to see it come down from its already high levels. What we have to do to make that happen is to put resources into the apprenticeship scheme and into the Work programme to make sure that we do all the things that help businesses to employ people. That is what this Government are doing. We are cutting corporation tax, introducing enterprise zones and doing everything we can to help businesses. We will do that in the hon. Lady’s constituency and throughout the country.

[Joseph Johnson (Orpington) (Con)]

Italian bond yields have jumped this morning by more than a percentage point to an unsustainable 8.1%. Could the Prime Minister please say what eurozone leaders must now do to stop the contagion?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. If you do not have credibility about your plans to deal with your debts and deal with your deficits, whether you like the markets or not, they will not lend you any money. That is what we are seeing in countries like Greece and now, tragically, in Italy, where the price of borrowing money is reaching a totally unsustainable level. It is a lesson for all of us to have sustainable plans to get on top of our debt and our deficits. In terms of Europe, the problem of contagion is that as we agree a decisive write-down of Greek debt, people inevitably start asking questions about other countries. As that happens, you need to have in place the biggest possible firewall. That is what the European Financial Stability Facility is all about, and eurozone leaders urgently need to put flesh on the bones and put figures on the size of that firewall, to stop this contagion going any further.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Q15. Last year youth unemployment in Tameside stood at an unacceptable 20%—one in five. Today it stands at 34%, which is shocking. In light of that, does the Prime Minister still believe that the decision to scrap the future jobs fund was the right one?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me just make the point that under Labour youth unemployment went up by 40%—and the evidence that we received on coming into government was that the future jobs fund was three or four times more expensive than other job creation schemes. Indeed, in many parts of the country, including in the west midlands, the percentage of future jobs fund jobs that were in the private sector was as low as 2% or 3%. It was right to scrap the future jobs fund and put in its place apprenticeships, the Work programme and work experience that will make a difference to young people.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

War is a failure of politics. The people who go to war are not politicians; they are brave service people who die in the service of their country. May I urge my right hon. Friend to write to FIFA to point out that the poppy is not a political symbol but a symbol that says that we respect the sacrifice that people have made on behalf of their countries?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly do as my hon. Friend suggests. I think that it is a question not just of writing to FIFA, but of asking its membership bodies, including the Football Association, to take a strong line. As my hon. Friend says, this is not an issue of left or right, Labour or Conservative. We all wear the poppy with pride, even if we do not approve of the wars in which people were fighting. We do it to honour the fact that those people sacrificed their lives for us. It is absolutely vital for FIFA to understand that, and I think that a clear message from the House and the Government can make it think again.

[Sir Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

Given that Italy is now on what the Prime Minister has described as a “credible fiscal path”, will he help the Group of Twenty’s Finance Ministers to meet and contribute to the creation of a European financial stability pact in a way that will assist the eurozone?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman has made an important point. However, the first responsibility for building the bail-out fund must lie with the eurozone members. As we said in the House on Monday, the problem at the G20 is that the G20, the International Monetary Fund and countries such as Britain cannot be asked to do things that the eurozone members are not themselves prepared to do.

We do stand ready to boost the IMF, we do want to help countries in distress, and we do not want to see our trading partners collapse. We understand that, even though we do not support membership of the euro, if countries fall out of the euro it could be very painful for our economy. However, it is for the eurozone countries to sort out the problems. It is their currency.

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

In reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Joseph Johnson), the Prime Minister referred to a firewall in relation to the bail-outs. Does he accept that what we really need is structural renegotiation of the treaties, given the impact that this is having on the United Kingdom? If I may use a cricketing analogy of which the Prime Minister will be aware, he would not be sent in with a broken bat. He would be sent in with a new bat, and with a united Conservative team behind him.

[The Prime Minister]

There is a long history in my party of cricketing metaphors and Europe ending unhappily, so I will not necessarily follow my hon. Friend down that path. What I will say is that we will defend the national interest. When there was a treaty change in the European Council we got something back for Britain, which was the ability to get out of the EU bail-out fund. If there are future treaty changes—some European countries are pushing for them—we will make sure that we achieve a good deal for Britain and protect our national interests.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 14th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 14 September.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

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.

[Alex Cunningham]

Grieving families on Teesside are waiting many months and sometimes many years to have inquests into the deaths of their loved ones concluded. Apparently that is much longer than the wait anywhere else in the country. They have suffered enough. Will the Prime Minister stop the messing about now and instruct the Justice Secretary to sack the incompetent Teesside coroner?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look at the particular case that the hon. Gentleman raises. As he knows, we have been reforming coroner services and putting money and resources into them to try to make them more effective, but I shall certainly take up the individual case that he makes.

[Mary Macleod (Brentford and Isleworth) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister give us an update on his recent visit to Russia, especially in relation to the tragic murder of Mr Litvinenko, whose widow lives in my constituency? That case also caused a risk to public safety. Will the Prime Minister meet her to give her an update?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary spoke to Alexander Litvinenko’s widow before I travelled to Moscow. Let me be absolutely clear that the British Government have not changed their view one jot about how wrong it was for that murder to take place and about how we need a proper explanation about what happened and who was responsible. We want justice for that family. We have not changed our view, but I do think it is right, at the same time, to try to build a better relationship with Russia across a whole range of issues. We have common interests in trying to grow our economies and our trade and we have common interests in working together on issues such as the middle east peace process. I made sure when I went to Russia that I raised not just the Litvinenko case but many other human rights cases, including the Magnitsky case, with the Russian President and others. I think that is the right way to conduct our international relations.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

Today’s figures show that unemployment is up by 80,000. Does the Prime Minister still think the British economy is out of the danger zone?

[The Prime Minister]

First, let me say that these unemployment figures are disappointing—I do not want to hide from that. Every lost job is a tragedy for that family and I want to do everything I can, and this Government will do everything they can, to help those people back into work. That is why we have 360,000 apprenticeships starting this year, that is why we have 10,000 extra university places, and that is why, in the Work programme, we have the biggest back-to-work, welfare-to-work programme this country has seen since the 1930s. But at the same time, let me say to the right hon. Gentleman that it is right that we get on top of our debts and our deficits, and today of all days shows the danger of getting into the position that other European countries are in where their whole credibility is being questioned.

[Edward Miliband]

People are going to judge the Prime Minister on results. They do not want to hear his spin about the Work programme. Youth unemployment is up by 78,000, on today’s figures, even after his Work programme has started. What young people and their families are asking is, “Where are the jobs?”

[The Prime Minister]

The Work programme is the best way to help young people—indeed, all people—back into work. Of course, as I have said, the figures are disappointing, but we should not ignore the fact that since the election there are 500,000 more jobs in the private sector. There are more people—300,000 more people—in work than there were a year ago. Let me just say to the right hon. Gentleman that there is not one ounce of complacency in this Government about the need to do more to help people back to work. We have a growth plan that includes cuts in corporation tax, freezing the council tax, cuts in petrol duty, introducing the regional growth fund, and making sure we have enterprise zones in every part of our country, but in every week and in every month we will be adding to that growth programme so we help people get back to work.

[Edward Miliband]

The right hon. Gentleman and his Government are the byword for complacency in this country on the issue of unemployment. Youth unemployment was falling at the general election, and it has risen on his watch; it is his responsibility. Women’s unemployment, too, is at its highest level since 1988, and he is making the situation worse by cutting the child care tax credit. How does it make sense, when unemployment is rising for women, to cut the support that helps them back into work?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me just remind the right hon. Gentleman that youth unemployment went up by 40% under the last Government—278,000 more young people were unemployed when he was sitting in the Treasury and breaking our banking system and bankrupting our economy. That is what the people remember.

Now, when it comes to child care, what this Government are doing—we are the first Government to do it—is making sure that there are 15 hours of free child care for every four-year-old and every three-year-old, and we have extended that to every two-year-old. We have focused the tax credit system on the poorest people in our country, so that child tax credits are going up by £290 this year and next for those who need it the most. But let me just say to the right hon. Gentleman that, on a day when France and Germany are meeting to stop Greece going bankrupt, he must be the only person in the world who thinks that you spend more to get out of a debt crisis.

[Edward Miliband]

It is no wonder that the right hon. Gentleman does not want to talk about the British economy and what is happening here, because of what is actually happening. And not for the first time, he is wrong in what he says at the Dispatch Box: youth unemployment was falling at the general election, and now it is rising. Why is it not working? The reason is that his claim and the Chancellor’s central claim that the public sector could be cut and the private sector would make up the difference is not happening. For every two jobs being cut in the public sector, less than one is being created in the private sector. Is that not the clearest sign yet that his policy just is not working?

[The Prime Minister]

So now we have it, Mr Speaker: the right hon. Gentleman wants to tell us about the golden inheritance left by the last Government—the fact that they completely bust our banking system, the fact that they doubled the national debt and the fact that they gave us the biggest budget deficit in Europe that we are still recovering from—and he cannot even be consistent inside one day. This is what he said yesterday to the TUC: “You cannot spend your way to a new economy.” Just 24 hours later, he has changed his tune all over again. No wonder the last Chancellor of the Exchequer said that they have no credibility whatsoever.

[Edward Miliband]

What an insult to the people up and down this country who have lost their jobs! The right hon. Gentleman does not even try to answer the question about his central economic strategy to cut the public sector and make the private sector make up the difference. It is not happening, and the truth is, look at what has happened over the past year: Britain has grown slower than any other EU country, apart from Portugal and Romania. Now can the Prime Minister tell the country and the people who have lost their jobs what he is going to do differently over the next year compared with what he did over the last year?

[The Prime Minister]

First, let me correct the right hon. Gentleman on his facts. The fact is that, this year, Britain is growing faster than America. That is something that he does not choose to tell us. [Interruption.] Let me answer directly—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Prime Minister’s answers must be heard.

[The Prime Minister]

Let me answer directly this point about unemployment in the public sector. All Governments right now are having to take difficult decisions about cutting public spending. Anyone standing here would have to make those decisions. This Government are reducing the welfare bill and reforming public sector pensions. If we were not taking those steps, deeper cuts would have to be made in terms of the rest of the public sector. The right hon. Gentleman would be having even more unemployment in the public sector. That is the truth. When will he learn what I thought he said yesterday, “You cannot spend your way to a new economy”? Is that still his view 24 hours later?

[Edward Miliband]

So the message to all those people who have lost their jobs is that the Prime Minister is not going to change course. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has lashed himself to the mast. [Interruption.] Not for the first time perhaps. Youth unemployment is at its highest level for 19 years and women’s unemployment is at its highest level for 23 years—the highest levels since the last time there was a Tory Government. It turns out that he is just like all the others: for him, unemployment is a price worth paying.

[The Prime Minister]

It is this Government who are cutting corporation tax, who have frozen council tax, who have cut petrol duty, who introduced the regional growth fund, who ended Labour’s jobs tax, who have the biggest apprenticeship programme in decades, and who have increased capital spending compared with what Labour left behind. The truth is that it was the last Government who robbed young people of their future by piling up the debt. It is this Government who will deal with our debts and give them back their future.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

Q2. The Prime Minister will be aware that the consultation on the draft national planning policy framework will end next month. Will he confirm that the Government’s proposals will ensure that local residents will be at the forefront of decision making, that important green spaces will retain their existing protection, and that this will not become a developers charter?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. We need reform, as the current system is too slow and bureaucratic, and it does not give local people enough of a say. We are replacing a vast, 1,000-page bureaucratic guide with something that is much shorter. Local development plans will mean that local communities and local people have a far greater say in what is developed and where, and we are not changing the rules on national parks, on the green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Let me just say this to everyone in the House, because I think there should be cross-party support on this issue. Today, the first-time buyer with no support from their family is aged 37. I think that is wrong. We need to build more houses, to help more young people to get on the housing ladder.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q3. Last week, the Prime Minister told the House:“There are 25,000 police officers in back-office jobs”.—[Official Report, 7 September 2011; Vol. 532, c. 353.]

Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary says that there are fewer than 8,000 police officers and police community support officers in back-office roles. Week after week, the House hears a litany of evasion, inaccurate answers and arrogant put-downs from the Prime Minister. We want a proper answer. Let us give the Prime Minister a chance today: is it the inspectorate or is it the Prime Minister? We won’t get an answer.

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is confusing two things: the number of police officers who are not on front-line duties, and the number of police officers who are in back-office roles such as IT or HR. Those are the figures that I gave, and those are the figures that are right. What makes the Opposition complacent is that they are not prepared to consider any reforms to try to get more police on to the front line and on to our streets.

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

I know that the Prime Minister is serious about tackling violent crime, antisocial behaviour and the fact that there are more than 1 million hospital admissions in England a year for alcohol-related conditions. Will he meet me to discuss the evidence that we need to go further on minimum pricing, availability and particularly the marketing of alcohol to young people?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, who has made a lot of speeches and written a lot of articles about the issue, about which she feels passionately. She is right in many ways that there is a problem with binge drinking in our country. Much of it is related to very low-cost alcohol, particularly in supermarkets. I want to see an end to that deep discounting, rather than perhaps the way forward that she suggests, but I am happy to meet her and discuss this vital issue.

[Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)]

Q4. A poll last week showed that 68% of Scots want oil revenues devolved to Scotland. Does the Prime Minister agree with 68% of Scots or not?

[The Prime Minister]

If you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. The fact is the whole of the United Kingdom rightly has invested in the North sea, and the whole of the United Kingdom should benefit from the North sea. We should do everything possible to keep the United Kingdom together because we are stronger—England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales—than we ever would be separate.

[Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)]

Q5. Does the Prime Minister agree that we need more women on corporate boards?

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. The current figures are simply not good enough. Only 14% of FTSE 100 company directors are women. We should do far better. We have some experience from the problems that we had in our own party and the need to take much more proactive action to make sure we have a better balance at the top of politics. We need a much better balance at the top of our boardrooms as well.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

Q6. Are not the most vulnerable people in the care of the health service those silent voices who live in residential homes? Will the Prime Minister express his regret that under his watch there was, we hear today, a nearly three quarters reduction in the number of inspections—a 70% reduction—because money was moved from inspection to bureaucracy? Does not that again prove that the national health service is not safe in the hands of the nasty party?

[The Prime Minister]

The Health Committee report that is released today makes a very important point about the future and the work of the Care Quality Commission. It is important that it focuses on inspections and making sure that standards are high rather than simply on a process of registration and bureaucracy. I look forward to seeing the Government’s response to a very good report.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Peter Tapsell]

In the 18th century, it was the Indian nabobs, denounced by Edmund Burke. In the 19th century, it was the ruthless industrialists, humanised by Shaftesbury. In the 20th century, it was the trade union leaders, tamed by Lady Thatcher. Today, the overmighty subject is the bankers. In the United States, the federal authorities are prosecuting a wide swathe of the top banks. When will that happen here?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend obviously had a much better education than I did; that is apparent. Also, it was very good to hear him say something very positive about Margaret Thatcher. The serious point that my right hon. Friend makes is right: we do need to see responsibility from our bankers. I support what Vickers has said in terms of the reforms that we need, and to answer my right hon. Friend’s question directly, if people break the law, no matter where they come from or who they are, they should face the consequences and be punished.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

Q7. What does the Prime Minister think of local authorities encouraging developers to put in planning applications not on green belt but on greenfield sites in order to use the new homes bonus to balance their budgets?

[The Prime Minister]

I have the completely original and shocking view that these matters should be for local people and local authorities. In the past, we have had far too much top-down, central direction. People in Derbyshire should make up their own mind, through their local council, about what planning should take place and where. That is the agenda that this Government will follow.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

I am sure that my right hon. Friend will have noted the recent sound advice that in order for a Government to operate effectively there should be complete unity at the top. With that in mind, will he assure the House and the country that he does not feel the need to re-write a Budget 48 hours before it is due?

[The Prime Minister]

I can confirm that these days those discussions take place in a proper way, between the two partners in the coalition, and that it is not a battle between Nos. 10 and 11. I should also say that when I have a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer it is nothing like going to the dentist and there is no need for an anaesthetic.

[Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)]

Q8. I am sure that all parties in this House have welcomed the news that convicted fraudster and former Lib Dem donor Michael Brown has been found living under an assumed name in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, we have no extradition treaty with that country. Will the Prime Minister tell the House what steps the Government are taking to bring Mr Brown back to face justice?

[The Prime Minister]

We would like to extend these treaties to other countries, and I will certainly look into the case of the Dominican Republic and get back to the hon. Gentleman. While we are at it, perhaps we could have a search for the individual donor to the Labour party—I gather that there was only one and that he was called Alastair Campbell.

[Gordon Birtwistle (Burnley) (LD)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating Burnley football club, which, in partnership with Buckinghamshire New university, has delivered the first university of football business in the UK, which has generated immense interest among young people in the UK and across Europe?

[The Prime Minister]

I happily join my hon. Friend in praising the work of Burnley football club. I have been very struck in this job by the privilege I have of seeing different football clubs working not only on their own football skills, but on inspiring young people, and not only here, but in other countries, as I saw with the work that Spurs football club is doing in South Africa. I think there is a huge role for football in helping to change people’s lives and I fully support what our clubs do.

[Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q9. Contrary to the Prime Minister’s answer at the Dispatch Box last week, will he confirm that the winter fuel allowance this year will be £50 less for the over-60s and £100 less for the over-80s? Age UK has called that a cut. Does he agree?

[The Prime Minister]

What I can confirm is that that payment will be exactly as set out by Labour in their March Budget, a Budget that the hon. Gentleman supported. At the same time, the increase in cold weather payments will actually be maintained throughout this Parliament.

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

Q10. Small and medium-sized enterprises are vital engines of economic growth in Macclesfield and across the country. Sadly, the cost of new regulations put on businesses under the previous Government amounts to a staggering £90 billion a year. Will my right hon. Friend tell the House what this Government are doing to tackle that unacceptable burden on British businesses?

[The Prime Minister]

There is an unacceptable burden in terms of regulation, so the Government, specifically in relation to the retail sector, have already removed 257 regulations. We have the new one-in, one-out rule, so any Minister who comes to me wanting to introduce a regulation has to abolish one first. Also, the red tape challenge means that all regulations are being put up on a website for businesses and individuals to challenge to see what is still necessary and what we can get rid of.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Q11. The Prime Minister will be aware that right across the whole of the United Kingdom we have some excellent industries, businesses and trained staff within those companies, but surely the coalition’s decision to put off banking reform until after the next election will have a detrimental effect on those companies and cause major difficulty.

[The Prime Minister]

The point I would make to the hon. Gentleman is that we asked Professor Vickers to look at this issue, and he recommended legislating in this Parliament but introducing the reforms at the same time as the Basel changes are finalised in 2019, and that is exactly what we will do. At the same time, it seems to me vital that we address the failure of banks to lend enough money, particularly to small businesses. That is why we put the Merlin agreement in place. [Interruption.] Actually, bank lending is not going down, as the shadow Chancellor suggests—he is wrong about everything, even when he is sitting down. Bank lending is actually going up.

[Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

With the closure of the Derbyshire Building Society headquarters in my constituency, which is perfectly situated to take the green investment bank, and with the move from Derby to Nottingham of the Post Office sorting centre and evaluation offices, the closure of Courtaulds, with the loss of all but 70 jobs, and the potential closure of Bombardier, will the Prime Minister encourage his Secretaries of State to look at sending more civil service jobs to Derbyshire so that we can have more employment in the area?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I know that there are real concerns because of what has happened at Bombardier.

On the green investment bank, I know that there are going to be many bids from many parts of the country to house that excellent institution. On Bombardier, it is encouraging to hear that the Department for Transport is looking into the possibility of upgrading an existing fleet of Bombardier-built diesel trains to enable them to run using electric power. That could be a good breakthrough, but, on the previous contract, as we have discussed in the House before, the fact is that it was established by the previous Government and we had to follow those instructions. That is why the contract had to be awarded elsewhere, but we are looking to the future of Bombardier and the future of Derby, and we want to make sure that it is a bright future.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Q12. Last week the Prime Minister told the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Heather Wheeler) that he would do everything he could to help Bombardier, but the British train building industry is now hanging in the balance as a result of the plan to build trains in Germany rather than in Derby. Will he meet me and a cross-party delegation from Derby to discuss how we can review the contract—and it is possible to review it—in order to secure the future of the British train building industry and keep Bombardier in Great Britain?

[The Prime Minister]

We want to keep Bombardier in Great Britain, and we want to keep Bombardier working, which is why, as I have just said to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham), there is that new opportunity, but the issue should be put in the context of the fact that we are putting a lot of investment into our rail industry: £14 billion into a network grant for Network Rail; £3.8 billion for Crossrail; and £750 million for High Speed 2. This is a Government who want to do more for our railway industry, and who want to do more for Bombardier after it was so badly let down by the previous Government.

[Malcolm Bruce (Gordon) (LD)]

Q13. Campaigners on the right want to get rid of the 50p tax rate and those on the left want to juggle with VAT. Does the Prime Minister agree that the most fair and progressive way to maintain confidence in the economy is to stick to the Government’s policies but accelerate the process of raising the tax threshold to £10,000?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his question, but we have raised the personal allowance significantly in our Budgets and taken more than 1 million people out of tax altogether, and we are committed to going further. On the 50p tax, we should look at the evidence. We are going to find out soon just how much money the tax is raising; let us look to see whether it is a good way of raising money or not.

[Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab)]

Q14. When the Croydon riots hit our borough on that terrible Monday night, there were at most 100 police officers on the streets, including some very young community support officers, facing mobs hundreds and hundreds strong, as a result of which my borough was undefended, burnt and looted. May I put it to the Prime Minister, not as a partisan point but as a sensible point, that when the criminal facts change in England, as they did following the riots, a sensible Government would pause for thought and change their mind—and that the last thing they would do is reduce police numbers?

[The Prime Minister]

I went to visit Croydon and met the right hon. Gentleman and a number of people who had seen some shocking things happen in that borough which must not be allowed to happen again, but let me say to him that, even after the changes that we are making in police funding, the police will be able to surge as they did in Croydon, in Tottenham, in Manchester and in Salford. The problem on the night of the riots was that the surge did not take place soon enough, and he confuses the response to the riots in the immediate circumstances with what is happening to police funding. The police have assured me that they will be able to deliver on to the streets of London as many police as they did when they got control of the riots.

[Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park) (Con)]

Following the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Kris Hopkins), will the Prime Minister agree to meet organisations such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the National Trust and so on to reassure them and their millions of members that the proposed changes to the planning system do not represent a blank cheque for developers?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to meet anyone to discuss that, and I know that the National Trust has specifically already met the planning Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), and has had many reassurances about what the planning changes mean. Let me just say this again: because we are going to have stronger local plans, that will give local people a greater ability to decide what is in the local plan and what is out of the local plan. At the same time, having a presumption in favour of sustainable development will cut a lot of bureaucracy in our system, but we are not changing the rules for greenbelt, for areas of outstanding natural beauty, for sites of special scientific interest or for all the rest of it. I do think that people need to focus on that, because we need sensible, sustainable development to go ahead without the bureaucracy and the top-down system of today, but with all the reassurances that people need.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Q15. Last week the Prime Minister told the House that the number of young people not in education, employment or training was coming down. In actual fact, the published figures show that over the past three quarters it has risen by 27,000. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to correct the record?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the hon. Gentleman will find that what I actually said was that the number of 16 to 18-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training has come down. Indeed, it has come down, and that is a step forward, but the overall number for youth unemployment has gone up, and that is unacceptable. That is why we need the Work programme, more apprenticeships, and more university places—and that is what the Government are putting their money into.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating all the winners in last night’s women in public life awards, including the excellent Mary Mears in Brighton and Hove?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly join my hon. Friend in congratulating the winners. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant), we need to do more to promote women in public life, whether in politics or in local government. This party took some steps, but I think, frankly, that we still have more to do, because there are many organisations in our country where we do not have equality of opportunity and where we need to have that equality of opportunity. It is not enough just to open the door and say that it is meritocratic and everyone is able to come in. There are occasions where you need to take positive action in order to get this done.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

Now that the Prime Minister has committed himself fully to backing the boundary changes will reduce the number of MPs in this House, and to ensure that Prime Minister’s Questions reflects the subject that has been most debated in the corridors of Westminster over the past number of days, will he now also commit to delivering on the other pledge that he and his colleagues made before the election, which was to deal with the scandal of people who are elected to this House, do not take their seats, and yet continue to be paid millions of pounds in allowances, including the equivalent of Short money, which they can use for party political purposes while we have to use it for parliamentary purposes? Please give us a vote to deal with that scandal.

[The Prime Minister]

On the boundary review, we are trying to ensure a basic fairness, which is that every seat in the House of Commons should be the same size. Today, some seats have as many as 90,000 voters and some seats, including some in Wales, have as few as 40,000 voters. How can that possibly be fair? On Northern Ireland and the issue that the right hon. Gentleman raises, I have not changed my view about that one bit, and I do think it is an issue that needs addressing.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

We are doing everything we possibly can on this desperately tragic case. I chaired a meeting of Cobra about this issue yesterday to make sure we are co-ordinating everything the Government do. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has met the family today. I think that in some of these cases it is not right to air all the issues in public, but I can reassure my hon. Friend, the family and all who know the Tebbutt family that we will do everything possible to help.

[Mr Speaker]

We come to the 10-minute rule motion. I call Dr Thérèse Coffey. [Interruption.] Order. Perhaps I can make my usual appeal to right hon. and hon. Members who are leaving the Chamber to do so quickly and quietly, affording the same courtesy to the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) that they would wish to be extended to them in comparable circumstances.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 22 June.

Happy anniversary, Mr Speaker.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I was unaware of that event, Mr Speaker, but I join the hon. Lady in wishing you a very happy anniversary.

I am sure that the whole House will wish to join me in paying tribute to Craftsman Andrew Found from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Corporal Lloyd Newell from the Parachute Regiment and Private Gareth Bellingham from 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment. They were talented, brave and dedicated soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice overseas for the safety of British people at home. We send out our deepest condolences to their families, their friends and their colleagues.

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

[Kerry McCarthy]

I thank the Prime Minister for that response, and may I associate myself and my constituents with the moving tributes that he has just paid.

A year ago today, the Chancellor stood up in the House to deliver his first Budget. Given that on the Government’s own assessment, their efforts will have a statistically insignificant impact on child poverty, may I recommend that the Prime Minister watch the BBC documentary, “Poor Kids” to find out how the other half lives? Does he regret allowing his Chancellor to take money away from families with children, rather than from the bankers who caused the financial crisis in the first place?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look at the programme that the hon. Lady mentions; but even in a difficult time, this Government put more money into child tax credits for the poorest families. We have frozen the council tax, and we have actually taken steps to help working families. Neither that Budget nor the subsequent Budget actually raised child poverty, because of the steps that we took. We inherited a complete mess from the Labour party, but we are dealing with it in a way that protects families.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Can the Prime Minister confirm that this country will not contribute a penny towards the Greek bail-out, other than what we contribute to the International Monetary Fund?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right. We are senior members of the IMF. We sit on the IMF board. We obviously have responsibilities as members of the IMF, but what I am clear about is that we were not involved in the first Greek bail-out; we are not members of the eurozone; and we are not going to become members of the eurozone as long as I am standing here. I do not believe that the European financial mechanism should be used for Greece. We have made it very clear within Europe that we do not think that that is appropriate, and I do not think that that should happen.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

May I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Craftsman Andrew Found from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Corporal Lloyd Newell from the Parachute Regiment and Private Gareth Bellingham from 3rd Battalion the Mercian Regiment? They all served their country with dedication and bravery, and our hearts go out to their families and friends.

Armed Forces day is coming up this Saturday, and that is an opportunity to remind us all of the service that is provided by our armed forces in Afghanistan, Libya and all around the world. It is a moment to recognise the service that they provide with honour and courage for our country.

We support the mission in Libya, but in the past week, both the First Sea Lord and the Commander-in-Chief, Air Command have raised concerns over the prospect of an extended campaign. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to assure the House that sufficient resources are in place to maintain Britain’s part in the mission at the current rate of engagement?

[The Prime Minister]

I join the right hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to our armed forces and particularly in looking forward to Armed Forces day on Saturday, when we will be celebrating the contribution they make to our national life and the enormous amount they do to keep us safe.

The mission in Libya, similar to the mission in Afghanistan, is funded out of the reserve, so it does not put additional pressures on the defence budget. I have sought and received assurances from the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, that we are capable of keeping up this operation for as long as it takes. That is vital. I would argue that the pressure is building on Gaddafi. Time is on our side, not on Gaddafi’s side. When we look at what is happening in Libya, where we see a strengthening of the revolt in the west of Libya, more people deserting Gaddafi’s regime, the growing unpopularity of his regime and our coalition holding strong, I think time is on our side, the pressure is growing, and I believe we will take it to a satisfactory conclusion.

[Edward Miliband]

I am absolutely with the Prime Minister that we should keep up the pressure on the Libyan regime. As he knows, we provide our full support for the mission, but do not the concerns that have been expressed by members of our armed forces point to something very important—the need to look again at the strategic defence and security review, precisely to make sure that we have the right capability and the right focus? The Foreign Secretary described the Arab spring as a more important event than 9/11, but the national security strategy published last year does not mention Libya, Egypt or Tunisia. Is it not right, in the light of the changes we have seen, to look again at the strategic defence and security review to make sure that we can sustain the conflict in Libya?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for the question, because that is an important point. One of the reasons for having a National Security Council that sits weekly is all the time to ask whether we have the right resources and the right strategy. We have had a review of the national security and defence review over the past year, but that strategic defence review put in place mechanisms to take account of the fact that we may well be fighting two conflicts at the same time. It also established the necessity of having very flexible armed forces for exactly the sort of operations that we are fighting and dealing with in Libya. Having not had one for 10 years, it seems strange to want to have two strategic defence reviews within one year. We have the right flexibilities in our armed forces and they are performing magnificently in Libya. If anything, I would like to speed up the implementation of the strategic defence review because so much of the new equipment that we are looking to have—drones and so on—would be more helpful if we had it right now. So, far from being the wrong strategic posture, it is right and it is good that we are putting it in place.

[Edward Miliband]

I think it will come as news to the wider defence and security community that there has been a review of the original strategic defence and security review. If indeed there has been a review since the Arab spring took place, why does not the Prime Minister publish the results of that review? Let us have a consultation with the experts who know about these issues. As he will see, there is clear concern across our military about some of the issues. Finally, let me say to the Prime Minister in all sincerity that when our military chiefs raise legitimate concerns about the conduct of our operations, surely, “You do the fighting, I’ll do the talking” is not the right thing to say. In retrospect, was that not very crass and high-handed?

[The Prime Minister]

I have huge respect for the people who run our armed services. They do an incredibly good job. They are highly professional people and they are involved in the National Security Council. They were involved in drawing up the strategic defence review. The only point that I have tried to make in recent days is that when we are at war, as we are in both Afghanistan and Libya, it is extremely important, whether one is a political leader or a military leader, to think very carefully about what one is about to say.

[John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

Is the Prime Minister aware of the decision, abruptly made, to close the passport office in Wick, which has obliged a six-year-old boy to make a 300 mile round trip for an interview and another constituent to travel to Newcastle? Is that acceptable?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously, I will look closely at the point my hon. Friend raises, but in the modern age we have all sorts of ways of carrying out interviews that do not necessarily involve people having to travel to a passport office. What matters is having an efficient service so that people can get the documentation they need so they can go on the holiday they want.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Q2. Given the number of U-turns the Prime Minister has made, including on sentencing, NHS reform, the forestry sell-off and school sports, it is a wonder that he knows which way he is facing, but will he now have the front to ensure that relief measures are put in place for those women who are hardest hit—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid I did not hear the entire question, but that is the trouble with—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is a reminder of the importance of Government Back Benchers keeping calm and quiet, not least so that the Prime Minister can hear what is being said. How helpful that would be!

[The Prime Minister]

It would probably also help if Members did not read out the Whips’ bit at the beginning of their question, so that we could hear the second part of the question, which in this case was, I think, about the important issue of women and pensions. I do think it is right to equalise the pension ages of men and women at 65, and that is going ahead, and I also think it is important to raise the pension age to 66, because the fact is that people in our country are living longer. That is a good thing, but we have to make sure we can pay for good and decent pensions for the future. The alternative is that we stick our head in the sand and end up either cutting pensions or building up debts for our children, which, frankly, would be irresponsible. This Government are taking difficult decisions, but they are the right ones.

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that there is still too much homophobia in sport, especially football, and that the event he is hosting today in Downing street will go some way towards tackling that prejudice?

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree, and I am delighted to be hosting a party for Britain’s lesbian, gay and transgender community at No. 10 Downing street today. That there are so few out players in all sports is an issue. I applaud those who have come out and will be attending my party tonight, and I hope that that will encourage schoolchildren to recognise that homophobic bullying is completely unacceptable in our society today.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

Q3. If the Prime Minister is serious about tackling the issue of runaway fathers, as he said last week, why is he making it harder for single mothers to get maintenance payments, by charging them to use the Child Support Agency?

[The Prime Minister]

We are going to carry on funding a child support agency mechanism—it is right that we do—but it is not wrong to ask people to make a contribution to that. Taxpayers are currently putting in a huge amount of money, and they will carry on doing so, but to ask the people concerned to pay towards the costs does not reduce the impact of what I said last week at all. People walking away from their responsibilities and not funding their children should not be allowed to happen in Britain today.

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

Q4. Next year will be the centenary of the death of Captain Robert Falcon Scott of the Antarctic. Does my right hon. Friend recognise that this brave historic son of Plymouth left a significant scientific legacy that is still helping to shape the world’s environmental agenda today?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that issue. That centenary is important, and I am very pleased that so much is going on across the country to celebrate it, especially in his home city of Plymouth. It is not just the scientific discoveries that are important; so too is the inspirational figure—the adventurer, the explorer—and Captain Scott’s incredible sense of duty and adventure. That is what inspires young people today.

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister has been forced to abandon his original sentencing plans. Will he now change his mind on the proposal to prevent police from holding the DNA of those arrested for, but not charged with, rape?

[The Prime Minister]

We inherited an unacceptable situation, with a DNA database that had grown out of control, and without proper rights for people. We put in place a better system. There is always room to see whether it can be further improved, but we have taken a big step forward from the mess we were left by the last Government.

[Edward Miliband]

It is a bit late to be looking at the proposal; it is in the House of Commons and about to have its Report stage. Let me explain to the Prime Minister his own policy. Around 5,000 people each year are arrested on suspicion of rape but not charged—[Interruption.] I know he wants some help from the Home Secretary. In certain cases those individuals have gone on to commit further offences and been convicted as a result of their DNA being held on the national database, but his proposal is that the DNA of those arrested but not charged will be disposed of straight away. I ask him again, why is it right to discard the DNA of those arrested but not charged with rape?

[The Prime Minister]

I know that there is some concern—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The answer of the Prime Minister will be heard. I remind the House that the more noise there is, the greater the difficulty in getting down the Order Paper.

[The Prime Minister]

I understand that there is some worry that in this Government we actually talk to each other. That is clearly not the case—[Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor has raised this issue, but it is perfectly clear that he and the leader of the Labour party do not speak to each other at all. I have the proof, because this week the shadow Chancellor made a huge announcement on a massive VAT cut, and yet it was only—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Let us focus on an answer to the question, or we will move on to the next question. I call Mr Ed Miliband.

[Edward Miliband]

Let me give this lesson to the Prime Minister: it would be better to talk to his colleagues before they put forward a policy, not after. Instead of listening to the Home Secretary, why does he not listen to Angie Conroy from Rape Crisis? She says:

“with the reporting of rapes on the increase and conviction rates still shockingly low, the evidence this database provides is vital. The more of this data we hold, the more chance we have of catching rapists.”

She goes on to say:

“This really is a no brainer.”

Is this not another policy on crime that is careless, not thought through and out of touch? Why does he not think again?

[The Prime Minister]

First, if the right hon. Gentleman actually understood the policy, he would know that the police are allowed to apply to keep DNA on the computer, which is not something he mentioned. What we tend to find with his questions is that he comes up with some idea, gets it completely wrong in the House of Commons and we all find out afterwards that he has given us a partial picture. That is what his questions are all about. It is not surprising that he does not want to talk—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The answer of the Prime Minister must be heard.

[The Prime Minister]

I am not surprised that he does not want to talk about the issues his party has put forward this week, because I do not suppose he knew about them.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Q5. There are 400 avoidable deaths from epilepsy and related conditions each year. My ten-minute rule Bill asks for two things: an immediate referral to a tertiary specialist and; in education, support for children, with an assessment and additional support so that they can fulfil their potential. Will the Prime Minister meet me, the Joint Epilepsy Council and Professor Helen Cross to see how we can progress those provisions, which will save not only costs, but more importantly, lives?

[The Prime Minister]

I would be delighted to meet the hon. Lady and Helen Cross, whom I know well. She works at Great Ormond Street hospital and is an absolutely brilliant clinician. I am keen to improve the support that we give to people with epilepsy. Obviously, one of the steps that we are taking is to put in place more personal budgets and more single assessments, which I think will help with epilepsy. My understanding is that, although there are many good things in the hon. Lady’s Bill, there is some concern that it could have too much of a medical approach to special educational needs, something that I actually have some sympathy with, but which I know many professionals have concerns about, so perhaps we could talk about that when we meet.

[Stephen Phillips (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

Could my right hon. Friend tell the House whether the Government have made an assessment, and if so the results, of what a proposed cut in VAT would do to the British economy at this stage of the cycle?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. and learned Friend makes an important point, which is that to make an unfunded cut in VAT right now, when the concerns are about debt and deficit, would actually be the height of insanity. What is now clear is that Labour’s plan B stands for bankruptcy.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Q6. The Prime Minister frequently tells us that we are all in this together, so can he explain why banks have been rewarded with a £2 billion tax cut on their obscene bonus pools while parents of disabled children are being penalised with a benefit cut of £1,400 a year? How is that fair?

[The Prime Minister]

I will tell you what this Government have done, and that is to put in place a £2.5 billion bank levy, raising more than Labour’s bonus tax every single year, but I have to say that, if Opposition Members want to see irresponsible people who are earning a lot of money pay proper taxes, perhaps they will explain this: why did they vote against the measures on disguised earnings in the Finance Bill which will raise £800 million from people who are giving loans to themselves to dodge taxes? [Interruption.] Well, I think that that is probably a detail that the leader of the Labour party was not really aware of.

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

Although of course we should not make a unilateral contribution to the Greek bail-out, does the Prime Minister not agree that we have something which would help regenerate the Greek economy and put right a 200-year wrong—the marbles, which we should give back?

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid that I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear the Prime Minister’s views on marbles.

[The Prime Minister]

The short answer is that we are not going to lose them.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Q7. Is the Prime Minister aware that 670,000 people, two thirds of whom, according to his Government’s equality impact assessment, have a disability, will lose up to £13 a week because of his changes in housing benefit under-occupancy rules? Is not that a complete betrayal of his Chancellor’s promise not to balance the Budget on the backs of the poor?

[The Prime Minister]

I have looked carefully at that issue, and I know there are concerns, but the point I would make is this: I think it is right that we reform housing benefit, because the costs had got completely out of control under the previous Government, rising to £22 billion; and I think it right that housing benefit reflects the size of a family rather than the size of a house. But, we have actually made an exception for people with carers so that allowance is made for that in housing benefit. So, I think that that is fair, but I have to say to Opposition Members, it is no good saying that you are in favour of welfare reform and cutting the costs of welfare while never being able to find a single part of the Bill to agree with.

[Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)]

Q8. Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming the new report by the all-party paediatric mobility reform group, “My Wheelchair is My Shoes”, showing how, through partnership working, we can deliver the wheelchairs that transform young people’s lives? Will he meet me and Whizz-Kidz ambassadors to discuss how the Government might take that forward?

[The Prime Minister]

Certainly. I know Whizz-Kidz well. It is an excellent charity that does a brilliant job, and I will certainly arrange a meeting for the hon. Gentleman. The point I would make on wheelchairs is that that is exactly where the health reforms, with greater choice and with greater opportunities for GPs and patients to choose, should come in, so that people can get the wheelchair of their choice when they need it, rather than as it is at the moment where you have to take what you are given.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

In four of the last five years, there have been no mistakes made in setting school examination papers. Since 16 May this year, there have been 10 such mistakes made. What does the Prime Minister intend to do for those among the 250,000 young people affected who will lose out either on their university of choice or on university completely because of this staggering incompetence?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is right; this is not an acceptable situation. I have discussed it this morning with the Education Secretary, who in turn has discussed it with Ofqual, which is taking the toughest possible action to root out this failure and to make sure that it does not happen again.

[George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con)]

Q9. The Prime Minister will be aware that the former Labour Secretary of State, Lord Hutton, has described current proposals on pension reform as the best chance we have to deliver a sustainable system that is fair both to scheme payers and to the taxpayer. Does my right hon. Friend agree that when it comes to these major, long-term issues, we should build the broadest possible consensus; and will he seek the support of Members on both sides of the House for his proposals?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for the way he puts it. The Hutton report is a good report. This is not about attacking or downgrading public sector pensions; it is about a way of making really good public sector pensions affordable into the long term and respecting all the accrued rights that people have. We need to win this argument on the basis of fairness. It is right for the taxpayer to put money into public sector pensions, but we need to know that they are affordable for the long term. The steps that Lord Hutton puts forward are therefore absolutely right. I hope that the Labour party will take a responsible view and recognise that we need to make this change for the long-term good of our country.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Q15. Eighteen months ago, one of my constituents required knee surgery and was pleased to hear that he had to wait only six weeks. He now needs another operation and has been told that he has to wait 10 months. He is in agony and unable to walk. He is understandably angry and wants to know if this is what the Prime Minister meant when he said that the NHS was safe in his hands.

[The Prime Minister]

If the hon. Lady gives me the details of the individual case, I will certainly take it up and look at it. The fact is that we have not changed the waiting list targets that have been in place in the NHS for a long time—in particular, the 18-week target that is part of the NHS constitution. Average waiting times have actually come down in recent months. The clear lesson is this: were it not for this Government putting in an extra £11.5 billion—money that Labour does not support—we would see all waiting times going up.

[Mr Douglas Carswell (Clacton) (Con)]

Q10. On 18 July last year, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury stated, with regard to the decision to sign Britain up to the eurozone bail-out mechanism:“While these decisions were taken by the previous Government, this Government judges them to be an appropriate response to the crisis.”Does this remain the Government’s position?

[The Prime Minister]

I know that my hon. Friend is pursuing this issue with his normal dogged tenacity. The facts of the case are very clear. The last Government—at the death, as it were, after the election but before the new Government were formed—signed us up to the European financial mechanism that we are still having to pay out under. This Government have got us out of that by tough negotiation in Brussels so that we will not have to contribute after 2013.

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s and the Leader of the Opposition’s expressions of condolence for the soldiers who have fallen in Afghanistan? Those who serve are the lions of our country, and we must always do everything we can to repay the debt of gratitude we owe them.

The October 2010 strategic defence and security review has been overtaken by events, and the world is now a fundamentally different place. May I therefore ask the Prime Minister again: will he do the right thing for the armed forces and for the country and order a new chapter to this now outdated review?

[The Prime Minister]

I very much respect what the hon. Gentleman says, particularly his fitting tribute to the armed forces, but the idea of totally reopening the defence review at a time when our armed forces are engaged and are doing such a fantastic job is the wrong one. The defence review was all about making sure that we have flexible armed forces so that they can be committed to different parts of the world and have the backing they need. It was about getting rid of the main battle tanks in Germany and putting money into the enablers and the forces of the future. Libya shows that it is working, and I think we should stick with it.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

Q11. Will my right hon. Friend welcome those campaigning outside Parliament today for high-speed rail in order to bring thousands of much-needed jobs to the midlands and help to address the north-south divide, and will he confirm that it will come to Yorkshire?

[The Prime Minister]

I happily confirm all those things. I believe that if we are really serious about rebalancing our economy and ensuring that we get growth across the country, and not just in the south-east, the time for high-speed rail has come. That is why it has my strong support.

[Mr Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Q12. The Secretary of State for Wales has said that she is prepared to be sacked because of her opposition to Government policy on high-speed rail. Will the Prime Minister take her up on that very kind offer?

[The Prime Minister]

I prefer to focus on the fact that in one year as Welsh Secretary, she has secured something that 13 years of Labour Welsh Secretaries never achieved, which is the electrification of the line between Paddington and Cardiff.

[Mr Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

An agoraphobic man from Middlesbrough received so much money from state benefits that he set up his own illegal loans company. At the trial, the judge described him as receiving a staggering amount of money on benefits. Does that not show that our welfare system is broken, and will the Prime Minister pledge to redouble his efforts to reform it?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the people who send us here want us to sort out the welfare system. They want it to be there for people who genuinely need help, but they want us to ensure that anyone who can work and is offered a job cannot live a life on welfare. Government Members have put forward the legislation and voted for it. What a pity that the Labour party talks about it, but did not have the guts to back it when the crunch came.

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)]

Q13. Most people know that Rochdale is the home of co-operation. Next year is the United Nations international year of co-operatives. Will the Prime Minister consider visiting Rochdale to show support for mutualism in the 21st century?

[The Prime Minister]

I note the excellent record of Prime Ministers visiting Rochdale, and what can happen to them when they get there. I will certainly put it in the diary. I am a strong supporter of co-operatives and mutuals. I think that they have a huge role to play not just in our economy, but in the provision of public services. We will make some announcements about that, perhaps in Rochdale, in the months to come.

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister demonstrated his strength of character in talking about multiculturalism. In view of the fact that I have a Christian first name and a Sikh surname, I try to combine the best of my traditional Indian values with my core British values. Does he agree that we can learn a lot from our Indian partners in this respect, many of whom define themselves by their nationality first and foremost, regardless of their ethnic or religious background?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and his work on this issue. It is vital that, as a country, we build a stronger national identity. Of course people can have all sorts of religious and cultural identities, but it is very important that we build a strong British identity. He is living proof of that.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q14. Tomorrow, the European Parliament will decide whether to increase the EU’s carbon reduction target to 30% by 2020. That was a commitment in the coalition agreement. According to reports, the vote will be very close, but it will not pass because just one Conservative MEP out of 25 will vote for the 30% target. Will the Prime Minister guarantee that all his MEPs will honour the coalition agreement and vote for the 30% target tomorrow?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me be absolutely clear that we are committed to the 30% target and nothing is going to change that. I will do a deal with the hon. Lady. I will work on my MEPs if she promises to work on hers, who in recent months have voted for a higher EU budget and new EU taxes, and against an opt-out on the working-time directive. They even voted against scrapping first-class air travel for MEPs. Perhaps she would like to fly over and give them a talking to.

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, I call Mr Robert Buckland.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

With the National Audit Office estimating the cost to the economy of criminal reoffending at £10 billion a year, does my right hon. Friend agree that the need to reduce reoffending from the unacceptably high rates that we inherited from the previous Government must be the priority of any penal policy?

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who has considerable experience in this matter from his career before coming to this place. We have inherited a system in which each prison place costs £45,000, half of prisoners reoffend within a year of getting out, half of prisoners are on drugs, and more than 10% of prisoners are foreigners who should not be in this country in any event. The key thing we have to do is reduce costs in the criminal justice system by making prison work and reforming prison, rather than by cutting sentences.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Excerpts

Wednesday 4th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jim McGovern (Dundee West) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 4 May.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

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.

[Jim McGovern]

The abolition of council tax, the scrapping of student debt, the £2,000 endowment for first-time home buyers and, of course, the referendum on separatism were all promises made by the Scottish National party prior to the last Scottish elections, all of which were never kept. Will the Prime Minister inform me, the House and the country whether certain political commentators are correct when they say that he would prefer to see the separatists returned in Edinburgh for one reason only—to avoid a Labour victory?

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to confirm that what I would like to see in Scotland is the greatest possible showing for Annabel Goldie, who has led the Conservatives with such distinction. I do not think I want to intrude on the private grief between Labour and the SNP, but one thing I will say: whatever the outcome of that election, I, for one, will always stand four-square behind the United Kingdom.

[Dr Phillip Lee (Bracknell) (Con)]

Is the Prime Minister aware of the significant fires raging in Swinley forest in my Bracknell constituency? I am sure he would like to join me in congratulating the fire and police services on the sterling work that is being done, and hope he will guarantee that the Government will be there if any requests are made by those services.

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in praising the fire and other services taking part in this difficult endeavour. As he knows, there are well tried and tested procedures to make sure that central Government stand behind local government when there are excessive costs. I will happily write to my hon. Friend about that issue.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister tell us how many experienced police officers are being forcibly retired as a result of his 20% cuts to police budgets?

[The Prime Minister]

The decisions about police officer numbers will depend on the decisions made by chief constables in individual parts of the country. The point is that we can see in case after case that there are far too many police officers in back-office jobs, doing paperwork and carrying out corporate development work who should be on the front line. Responsible chief constables are getting those officers out on the front line to fight crime—and crime is falling under this Government.

[Edward Miliband]

I do not know whether the Prime Minister does not know the answer to the question or whether he chooses not to answer it. Let me tell him the answer: 2,100 experienced police officers with more than 30 years’ experience are being forcibly retired. Let us take the case of former beat officer, Martin Heard, who was forced to retire from Wolverhampton police. He is now being asked to come back to the force as a volunteer special constable—unpaid—to fill the gaps left by the cuts. What does the Prime Minister have to say to Martin Heard?

[The Prime Minister]

What is absolutely clear is that what we are getting from the Labour party is complete and utter hypocrisy. We know at the time of the last election that Labour was specifically asked, and I quote the interview:

“Can you guarantee if you form the next government that police numbers won’t fall?”

The Home Affairs spokesman at the time, the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson), said “No”, he could not guarantee that. The question is not whether the budget should be reduced—of course it has to be—but who is going to cut the paperwork, who is going to get rid of the bureaucracy, who is going to trust the local managers to make sure we get police on the front line. Those are steps we are taking; those are steps his Government never took.

[Edward Miliband]

He is the guy who came along and said that cuts not of 12% but of 20% were necessary for efficiency savings in the police budget. It is his choice; why does he not defend it? Perhaps one reason people are so angry is that a year ago the Prime Minister said on the eve of the election:

“Any cabinet minister who comes to me…and says ‘Here are my plans’ and they involve frontline reductions, they’ll be sent”

packing. What does he say to the Home Secretary about cases such as that of Martin Heard—or has he just broken another promise?

[The Prime Minister]

What the Home Secretary is doing is what police leaders up and down the country are doing: trying to get more police on the beat. In my own force in the Thames valley, that is exactly what is happening.

When it comes to defending front-line services, is it not time that the right hon. Gentleman talked to Labour local authorities such as Manchester city council, which, although the average cut in local government spending power is just 4.5%, is cutting services by 25%? Are not Labour local authorities playing politics with people’s jobs?

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister knows that he cannot defend his broken promises on policing. Let us talk about the other broken promises led by the Deputy Prime Minister. We know that the majority of universities are proposing to charge tuition fees of £9,000 a year. Can the Prime Minister tell us how many of them he expects to have their proposed fees cut by the Office for Fair Access?

[The Prime Minister]

That decision will depend on the Office for Fair Access.

The right hon. Gentleman talks about broken promises. The fact is that it was the last Government who introduced tuition fees and top-up fees—but we have a new doctrine on the leader of the Labour party’s attitude to the last Government, which he announced in an interview with The Sun. He said:

“I am not going to defend what happened in the past just because I happen to have been in the last Government.”

Presumably we should not listen to him now just because he happens to be the Leader of the Opposition.

[Edward Miliband]

Once again, the Prime Minister has not answered the question. We know from the Office for Fair Access that it is not going to cut the fees of the universities. The assistant director said at the weekend:

“We are not a free pricing regulator: that is not our role...we wouldn’t say to an institution we would only allow a fee of ‘X’ or ‘Y’.”

Will not the Prime Minister admit that on top of a broken promise not to raise tuition fees and a broken promise that £9,000 would be the exception, he is now breaking another promise on the capping of excessive fees?

[The Prime Minister]

The fact is that we will have to wait until July, when the access regulator—[Interruption.] Let me make this point to the right hon. Gentleman. Degrees have not suddenly started to cost £7,000, £8,000 or £9,000. Degrees have always cost that much. The question is, who will pay for them? We say that successful graduates earning more than £21,000 a year should pay for them rather than taxpayers, many of whom do not go to university.

I have to say this to the right hon. Gentleman. He made a promise: a promise that he would have a fully costed alternative to our fees programme by the end of the last year. Where is it? Another broken promise!

[Edward Miliband]

That is what we have come to expect from this Prime Minister. He is hazy on the facts, and unable to give a straight answer to a straight question. I know how the Energy Secretary must have felt in Cabinet yesterday. Remember what was said a year ago about two parties working

“Together in the national interest”?

Now what do we have? We have two parties threatening to sue each other in their own interests. That is what has changed in the last year.

What the public are saying, in relation to police cuts, tuition fees and the NHS, is “This is not what we voted for.” Given that the Government have broken so many of the promises that they made a year ago, how can the public believe anything that they say at the elections tomorrow?

[The Prime Minister]

Even the jokes have been bad this week. The fact is that what this coalition Government have done over the past year is freeze council tax, cap immigration, lift a million people out of income tax, introduce a pupil premium, link the pension back to earnings, cut corporation tax, and set up more academies in 10 months than the last Government set up in 10 years. At the council elections tomorrow, people should remember the mess that Labour left us in, and resolve not to let Labour do to their councils what it did to our country. [Interruption.]

[Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

Q2. Does the Prime Minister agree with the comment of Lord Glasman, special adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, that the last Government lied to the British people about the extent of immigration?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises an important point, which is that the last Government did not tell it straight to people about what was happening on immigration and that it has fallen to this Government to take the steps to get the numbers under control. Indeed, Lord Glasman said something that I have said many times, which is that under the last Government there was

“very hard rhetoric combined with a very loose policy”

and that was the worst approach of all.

[Mr Jack Straw (Blackburn) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister share my profound anxiety about the recommendation of the advocate-general to the European Court of Justice for a European-wide ban on the patenting of stem cell research based on human embryos? Does he agree that were such a ban to be confirmed by the ECJ, it would have profoundly damaging effects on our science base and our pharmaceutical industries? Is he able to say what contingency plans the Government are putting in place to minimise the effect of any such ban?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point, and I thank him for giving me some notice of this issue. The point I would make is that this House and the House of Lords have had extensive debates to arrive at the policy that we have. I believe that it is right to try to maintain the UK as a world leader in stem cell research. Under European law, uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes are exempted from patent protection. As I understand it, the legal opinion of the advocate-general at the ECJ on the scope of this exemption is advisory and does not bind the Court. As such, the opinion currently has no impact on British researchers, but we should keep this position under review.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Q4. Several manufacturing businesses in Staffordshire, including Alstom in my constituency, have recently committed to significant investments and are increasing their work force. What measures does my right hon. Friend believe are necessary to ensure that the welcome growth in manufacturing in the UK continues for the long term?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, which is that we do want growth in manufacturing, which is very strong at the moment and has been over the past year, to be maintained. I well remember visiting the Alstom plant, although I was slightly less successful in winning Stafford than he was at the last election. Such plants will benefit from our policies of cutting taxes, boosting apprenticeships, investing in capital projects and doing everything we can as a Government and as a country to support our export industries and sell Britain around the world.

[Mr Bob Ainsworth (Coventry North East) (Lab)]

On 25 June last year, speaking on the Ark Royal, the Prime Minister told our armed forces that he would enshrine the military covenant in law. Why is he watering down that commitment to a useless referencing?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not believe for a minute that that is what is being done. What is going to happen is that we are going to clearly reference the covenant in law and then the covenant will be published and debated in this House every year. It is vital that we are able to update and improve it every year, because our military personnel face so many changing circumstances. We are looking across government at all the things we can do, for example, on health care, on education, and on things such as council tax for soldiers serving overseas—these are many of the things that the last Government failed to do—to look after our armed service personnel.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

Q5. Later this month, Edward Lister, the Conservative leader of Wandsworth council for nearly 20 years, moves on to be the chief of staff to the Mayor of London. Will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute to him for his leadership in consistently delivering the UK’s lowest average council tax along with top-rated front-line services? Will the Prime Minister urge more councils to follow suit?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. It gives me the opportunity not only to praise Edward Lister, who has done a fantastic job over many years, but to pay tribute to Sir Simon Milton, who occupied that position and is admired on all sides of the House for the work he did at Westminster and then at the Mayor’s office. What Wandsworth has shown over many years is that it is possible to combine low taxes with good services if all the time you are trying to improve efficiencies. That is what councils up and down our country should be focused on, particularly in a year when we have to make spending reductions.

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

One of Scottish Labour’s key manifesto commitments is the First Foot initiative, which will help thousands of first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder. What is this Prime Minister doing to help this generation of home buyers, who are crippled by unemployment, student debt and rising living costs, and therefore cannot save a deposit for a House?

[The Prime Minister]

The proposal in Scotland sounds quite like our proposal in the Budget for Firstbuy, which will help tens of thousands of young people to get on the property ladder by helping them with the deposit that many families find it extremely difficult to raise. There is a real worry in our country that the age of the first-time buyer is getting older and older, and that many families are finding that unless they have family help behind them they simply cannot get on the housing ladder. We must ensure that that is not the case and Firstbuy is a very good proposal that we are introducing in England. I will be interested to see what happens in Scotland.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Q6. Conservative-run Cheshire West and Chester council is saving millions by cutting waste, boosting efficiency and selling surplus property to help protect front-line services. Meanwhile, in next-door Labour-run Halton, the council is cutting back on bin collections and road maintenance instead. What does my right hon. Friend think can be done to help councils reach fair and sensible decisions?

[The Prime Minister]

I would encourage all councils to look at costs that can be cut that are not on the front line. Many Conservative councils are sharing chief executives with their neighbouring councils and cutting councillors’ allowances and chief executive pay. There are too many examples, particularly in Labour councils, of chief executives being paid far too much and of not nearly enough attention being paid to cut the back-office costs so we can keep the services going.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

The Government are cutting the police and Birmingham city council is cutting care to the elderly and disabled. There is dismay in my constituency that high-need, high-unemployment Birmingham is being hit far harder than the leafy shires such as Surrey. Will the Prime Minister therefore answer the question put to me by my constituents—why have the Tories got it in for Birmingham?

[The Prime Minister]

A coalition between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has been doing a great job for Birmingham, ensuring that council tax is kept down, investing in housing and ensuring that there are good public services. Many of the things we have done, such as the regional growth fund, are targeted at areas such as Birmingham. The hon. Gentleman should go back to his constituents, and after he has apologised to them for the fact he was the winner of an all-woman shortlist he should tell them that coalition government between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats is working at Westminster and working well in Birmingham.

[Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere) (Con)]

Q7. In 2005, the previous Labour Government agreed to hand back part of the UK’s EU rebate at a cost to UK taxpayers of £9.4 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament. Has my right hon. Friend seen any evidence of what precisely was obtained in return for that remarkable generosity?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Part of the rebate was given up and it was not given up for any proper promise in return. We were told that there would be a promise of real reform of the common agricultural policy and that did not appear. That shows me that we have to be incredibly tough in the budget negotiations this year and next so that when we go into the financial framework for the next seven or eight years we ensure that we keep the costs of this organisation under control.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

Q9. The Government’s savage cuts are set to destroy some half a million jobs in the public sector and, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, a similar number in the private sector. With thousands more on the dole, paying no taxes and dependent on benefits, the deficit will increase rather than reduce. As sure as night follows day, we will see a collapse in the housing market, a collapse in support for the Tories and a return to Labour government. Will the Prime Minister enjoy saying goodbye to most of his colleagues and sitting on this side of the House?

[The Prime Minister]

I thought the hon. Gentleman was from Luton, but he sounds like he is from fairy dairy land. Let me remind him that compared with this time last year 400,000 more people are in jobs in the private sector. That is what has happened through our getting the deficit under control, getting the economy growing and ensuring that we deal with the mess we were left by the Opposition.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Q10. Is my right hon. Friend aware that Conservative-run Central Bedfordshire council has been rated as the highest performing council of all its statistical neighbours by PricewaterhouseCoopers for value for money, effectiveness and service delivery? Is this not the type of example that we should encourage more councils to follow?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Well-run councils that ensure they are cutting back-office costs can provide good services. When one looks at the figures, one can see that those Conservative councils are not just costing less for a band D property but doing better on measures such as recycling and other service delivery. It is simply not true to say that by cutting costs councils harm services. They have to be effective at keeping their costs down to provide good services.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

Q11. Next Wednesday, the Hardest Hit campaign will be lobbying MPs in Parliament through constituents of ours with severe disabilities and chronic illnesses who are bearing the brunt of this Government’s attack on welfare benefits and public services. Will the Prime Minister have the courage to meet some of those campaigners face to face next week so that he can hear from them at first hand about the devastating impact that this callous and uncaring Government are having on their lives?

[The Prime Minister]

I make two points to the hon. Lady. First, the most important line of defence to help people with severe disabilities and severe need is the national health service and it is this Government who are putting more money into the national health service—£11.5 billion extra. That money would not have been available if we had a Labour Government; we know that because we can see Labour cutting £1 billion off the NHS in Wales. In terms of reforming benefits, I thought we had the support of the Labour party to reform benefits to make sure they are helping those who need the help most.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Q12. Last week, I joined 170 other Huddersfield Town fans in cycling from Huddersfield to Brighton to raise £200,000 for the Yorkshire air ambulance. Will the Prime Minister join me in praising Huddersfield Town for raising that money and will he also look into why the air ambulance has to pay VAT on its fuel although the Royal National Lifeboat Institution—another emergency charity service—does not?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I would like to congratulate my hon. Friend on his bicycling feat, as well as all those who took part from Huddersfield Town. I also pay tribute to our air ambulance crews across the country, who do an amazing and brilliant job. I have looked specifically at this issue. As he probably knows, the EU VAT directive does make an exemption for lifeboats, but there is no equivalent provision for supplies used by other charities and we are not able to change that. However, we are able to do more for charities, as we did in the Budget, including with the inheritance tax exemption, which I think is going to make a huge difference for charities up and down our country. I hope that he will do everything he can to encourage them to make use of that.

[Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)]

Q13. Child poverty is a cancer that means that children in our society go to bed hungry in homes that their parents cannot afford to heat. The Prime Minister will be aware of the recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report that says that the great progress that was made has now stalled and that the numbers are once again due to go up. If the Prime Minister agrees with me, as I think he will, that this is a moral imperative for any Government, will he tell the House what he will do now to change policy and make sure that our innocent children will not be the victims of Government cuts?

[The Prime Minister]

I do believe it is a moral imperative and I have looked at the OECD report carefully, which does show that things stalled under the previous Government in recent years. What I would say is that despite having had to take difficult decisions in the Budget we did make sure that there has been no increase in child poverty as a result of the Budget. I think it is time, frankly, for a more mature, cross-party debate on how we can make sure that we get people out of poverty rather than just looking at the transfer of money between rich and poor. That is why we are looking at things such as the pupil premium, free nursery education for deprived two-year-olds and making sure that Sure Start is working properly, because it is all those things that will help children out of poverty in a more sustainable way.

[Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)]

Q14. This week, the three top-rated councils of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster are discussing extending their combined services to save £35 million a year while still improving front-line services. What can the Prime Minister do to encourage this approach rather than that of Labour-run Hounslow, which is closing day care centres, squeezing parks maintenance and cutting mental health services in a slash-and-burn approach?

[The Prime Minister]

I think this is a very important point and I hope that councils up and down the country will look at it. Three large councils are coming together and saving £35 million because they are sharing back-office services, executive teams and so on. Frankly, if they can do it, as large councils that have big responsibilities, many other councils should be doing it in London and elsewhere. Until we see that happening, I do not think it is realistic to say that it is necessary for councils to cut front-line services.

[Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op)]

More than 100 years ago, Parliament legislated to make sure that local authorities provided allotments. Healthy local food is a very good part of good British values. Why therefore are the Prime Minister’s Government scrapping the obligation on local authorities to provide allotments?

[The Prime Minister]

I was as concerned as the hon. Gentleman when I read that report. I immediately checked, and found that that is not the case. It is extremely important that allotments are made available. Many Members will find that when they ask about that in their constituencies there are massive queues for allotments, as many people want to grow their own vegetables and food and understand more about where food comes from. It is a great movement, and it has my full support.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

Q15. The chief executive of Conservative-run Fylde borough council has taken a 5% pay cut, whereas Labour-run Blackburn has cut services to young and vulnerable people while increasing its reserve to £12.7 million. What can the Prime Minister do to encourage councils to behave more responsibly like Conservative-run Fylde?

[The Prime Minister]

One of the most important things that we can do is make all that information available. This Government have massively increased transparency. Every council in the country has to declare its spending on any item over £500, and people have found that useful in seeing how much council executives are paid, how much councillors are paid, and making sure that they bear down on those costs. I commend what is happening in Fylde, and it is a matter of great regret that there is still one council—Labour-controlled Nottingham—that will not make that information available.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Given that private borrowing was falling at the last election why, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, do the Government plan to ramp it up by half a trillion pounds to a total of more than £2 trillion by 2015?

[The Prime Minister]

What the Government are doing is getting control of Government borrowing—that was the real crisis at the last election. It is an important point to make, particularly on a day when we read about Portugal going for an enormous bail-out. It is worth reminding ourselves that today we have a bigger budget deficit than Portugal. The reason we are not in Portugal’s position is that we took action in two brave Budgets and a spending round to clear up the mess left by the right hon. Gentleman’s hon. Friends.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

I am sure, Mr Speaker, that you and the Prime Minister have enjoyed the good weather, especially last Friday, the day of the royal wedding, and perhaps visited tourist hot spots such as Southwold and Aldeburgh. Just down the road from those hot spots, farmers might be about to suffer a drought, and are genuinely concerned about the lack of rain, as their ability to abstract water may be limited. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss those genuine concerns about restricting water for our farmers?

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to meet my hon. Friend. Everyone has been enjoying the recent weather, and it was fantastic that the weather was so good for the royal wedding. However, farmers face real issues because, at a time of year when they expect a lot of rain, they have had virtually none.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

With the strong likelihood that the Lib Dems will come off worst in tomorrow’s local elections, and hopefully the rejection of the alternative vote in the referendum, what political words of comfort will the Prime Minister have for his by then beleaguered deputy on Friday?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course, we do not agree about the future of our electoral system. We are having a referendum and a debate about it, but the reason for having a coalition Government coming together and sorting out this country’s problems in the national interest is as good an argument today as it was a year ago, when we came into government to clear up the mess made by the Opposition.

[Rory Stewart (Penrith and The Border) (Con)]

In the light of the success of the royal wedding for public diplomacy, does the Prime Minister believe that it reinforces the importance of a different narrative for the diamond jubilee from the Olympics, in terms of what it can do for Britain’s international reputation?

[The Prime Minister]

We have a fantastic opportunity next year to show all faces of Britain, both modern and traditional. We are going to celebrate the jubilee, and I think that people will want to celebrate the incredible public service that Her Majesty the Queen has given over many years as an absolutely amazing model public servant. People will also want to celebrate the Olympics as a celebration of sport and all that is best about Britain. The royal wedding, as the Major of London said, was in many ways a dry run for how we handle some of those events, and everyone in the country has a lot to look forward to next year.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Many of my constituents in Wirral worry about the quality of care that older people, especially those with dementia, receive in hospital. How does the Prime Minister think that his now paused, top-down reorganisation of the NHS will help to make sure that older people are looked after with real dignity?

[The Prime Minister]

One of the aims of the changes that we are making to the NHS must be better to link the national health service, social service provision, local authorities and how we look after the elderly. All of us have seen too many cases in hospital where people who should be in residential or nursing care or being looked after at home are stuck in a large district general hospital or in a community hospital, when they should be getting alternative pathways of care. That is what the whole change should be about. What I am finding as I go round the country listening to doctors, nurses and clinicians is that we must make sure we take the opportunity to get this absolutely right. That is what the reforms should be all about.

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend tempts me into debate. In Colchester everyone had one vote, it was counted once and he won. I congratulate him. In other parts of Essex everyone had one vote, they were all counted once and many of my hon. Friends won. But for all that he brings to the House, what the Liberal Democrats lack in number, he makes up in stature as a Member of Parliament for Essex.