>> and you no london for prime minister question time. david cameron takes questions from members of the house of commons. prior to question time, the house is wrapping up other business. this is live coverage on c-span2. >> show strong economic growth in scotland in the second quarter of this year. we're determined to ensure that scotland will benefit as this government tackles the deficit to control growth and provide confidence businesses and individuals need to invest. >> i thank my right honorable friend for those figures. committee tell it would be a

kamikaze prime minister that would plunge scott right back to recession? >> he completely disagree with that assessment. i'm pleased to say that the -- not only has the prime minister led the government's efforts to get us away from the danger zone that this economy was in but he has set out a constitutional path for scotland that will enhance its economic growth and keep it right here to the united kingdom >> thank you, mr. speaker. this morning i returned from zurich write met with decision-makers aiming to convince them of what a brilliant world cup england could host in 2018. on my return i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my duties in this house i shall have further such meetings today. >> can i thank the prime minister for that answer and can i give him best wishes and i

mean that most sincerely. [laughter] >> prime minister, in a recent -- in a recent article, there are fees to the poll as it. prime minister it, acceptable for the business secretary to say one thing in the house and campaigning for votes in scotland demand that policy? >> well, first of all, kink the honorable lady on the world cup and i know what she says is utterly sincerely and shared by members wherever they sit for in the united kingdom. the point i would make about tuition fees is let's look at the system that we are introducing and the new system, nobody pays anything up front. every single student will pay less per month then they do currently. half a million students will actually benefit from the increase in maintenance loans. i think it's time we start looking at the substance of this issue rather than this process.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister has already explained how he's subtling between london and zurich for this world cup bid and committee tuck about the process of it. >> i'm grateful for that question. if you look at the technical suspects he have got the stadium, we've got the facilities. we have the transport networks. we have the enthusiasm in our country for football and we can put an absolutely first class world cup. i know that many people will ask, well, are you spending too much time on something that might not succeed? and i would say, if you don't get on the pitch you've got no chance of winning and i think we should get behind the bid. >> mr. speaker, can i start by wishing the prime minister well as he plays his parts in efforts for england's 2018 world cup. as he said it's a fantastic bid and all of us will be hoping for a successful outcome tomorrow.

we also note that the deputy prime minister is away on official business. and left the country before the tuition fees vote. but, of course, we understand that he had urgent business to attend to in kazakhstan and we wish him well in that. mr. speaker, mr. speaker, the obr forecast on monday was hailed as a great sign of success by the chancellor but i want to test out what it will mean for families up and down this country. the prime minister has been telling us for months that under his plans unemployment will fall next year but on monday the obr said unemployment would rise next year. can he explain about this. >> i know the prime minister worked extremely hard on this and i know there's cross-party support for it and i think it's important as we go into this vital last 48 hours and he talked about the obr forecast that the chancellor mentioned yesterday.

these are independent forecasts published for the prime time independently and not super feared by the chancellor of the exchequer. what the office of budget responsibility found is that unemployment will be lower than previously forecast. they haven't altered their forecast for unplea agreement next year where they are forecasting a rate of 8%. but they are forecasting increases in employment all the way through the forecast period, above all what they showed was that our policy of trying to cut the deficit and get growth at the same time is working. >> but mr. speaker, what the obr actually shows is that growth will slow next year compared to the forecast, and that is what will mean the unemployment will rise. and what the prime minister -- and what the prime minister needs to explain is unemployment will fall next year in the usa. it will fall in germany. it will fall in other major industrial countries. but it will rise in the united king them why is that the case?

>> i know he's determined to talk the economy down. i mean, even -- even he is going to find difficulty in finding in the office of budget responsibilities report depressing statistics because generally speaking what they reported was good news for the u.k. economy. they find and that the last year european forecast report he announced found average u.k. growth for the next two years will be higher than germany, higher than france, higher than the u.s., japan or the e.u. average. i think it would be more worthwhile for us to debate how we get the growth rate up and what reforms do we make to make our economy more efficient? has he got something to say about it or is it another blank page? >> he said how do we get growth of the economy up.

absolutely light but what you don't do is put up v.a.t. what you don't do is put up v.a.t. next year from the 4th of january and cut public spending by 20 billion pounds. that's why -- that's why the obr says that we will have the weakest recovery from recession for 40 years. i come back -- i come back to this point. i come back to this point about employment, mr. speaker. can he tell us -- can he tell us over the five years -- over the five years of the parliament, which will unemployment return to precrisis levels? because that test of strength of the recovery. when will it return to the levels before the recession? >> we inherited an 8% rate of unemployment and what the office of budget responsibility says is it it will be 6% by the end of the parliament. he asked the question, he gets the answer. but let me just remind him something at the last election the party opposite, himself included, said if we cut 6 billion pounds out of the

budget, that it would end in catastrophe for the british economy. he was proved equally and completely wrong. >> mr. speaker, have you ever heard a more complacent answer to a question. you have families up and down the country, you have families up and down the country worried about their jobs, unemployment rising next year. and all the prime minister can say it's some kind of rosy scenario. now, let's take the right in v.a.t. because that's one of the reasons that employment will rise next year. can the prime minister tell us what the rise it will have on economic growth and jobs next year? >> well, let me deal with v.a.t. precisely because this is what the former chancellor, the member said, he said v.a.t. would have allowed to you pay off a sizeable chunk of the deficit. that is the policy that the last chancellor supported. but long beach just make this point.

if we had followed the advice that he's been giving us over the last six months, we would be linked with portugal, with ireland. we wouldn't be standing here how to get growth faster. we'd be sitting down discussing how we are going to rescue and bail out britain. >> okay, mr. speaker, you can only -- you can only -- you can only rewrite history for just so long. [laughter] >> let's be absolutely clear about this. >> order! order! we are wasting the time of back-bench members. let's hear the leader of the opposition. >> the deficit -- the deficit was 2.5% of national income

before the crisis, the recession hit all around the world. it went up all around the world. it was a global economic recession. the question is, the question is, do you cut too far and too fast which is what he is doing? and then you have four years of sluggish recovery, the most sluggish recovery out of recession in 40 years. why doesn't the prime minister just answer the question. is this the most sluggish recovery out of recession in britain for the last 40 years? yes or no. >> this is one of the fastest recoveries in europe. [laughter] >> and the point is if we followed his advice we wouldn't be discussing recovery. of we would be discussing meltdown. that's the point. he can have a blank sheet of paper about the future. he can't have a blank sheet of paper about the past. and we know we were left a record budget deficit. we remember no more boom and bust. we remember all the things that he was responsible for.

and i have to say to him, i have to say after all of this from him, he's been doing the job for the last three months. people are asking, when is he going to start. >> mr. speaker, with that answer it's no wonder that today we learn the foreign secretary describes this gang as the children of thatcher. it sounds just like the 1980s. people out of touch up and downtown country. why doesn't the prime minister -- why doesn't the prime minister admit that he is complacent about the recovery, he's comrace -- complacent about jobs and he will pay the price. >> mr. speaker, not waving but drowning. [laughter] >> my mother is still with us so she will be able to testify what he just claimed is not literally true but let me say this. i'd rather be a child of thatcher than a son of brown.

>> order! tobias elwood. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister will be aware that british citizens -- the prime minister will be aware that british citizens affected by the 77 bombings were part of the compensation scheme when such attacks take abroad such as in mumbai or other places, no such compensation for things like prosthesis and long-term care exist. would the prime minister agree any britains caught up in terrorists attacks deserve our support, no matter where in the world that attack takes place? >> my right honorable friend is right.

people may not know this but his own brother was killed in the barley attack that took years ago. we're trying to look at this difficult issue when we look at criminal injuries, compensation and what has been proposed for injuries received overseas that we have a fair and reasonable system, the justice secretary is looking at that and we'll be coming forward with proposals. >> lindsey roy. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister's government is spending 4 billion pounds for wellness, 2 billion pounds to organize nhs, 100 million pounds elect police commissionerers and 2 million pounds on a survey for happiness. doesn't that demonstrate the prime minister has lost touch with reality? >> no, i don't. let me take --

[laughter] >> generally speaking, he should cheer up a bit. let me take the issue -- let me take the issue of the nhs reform. even with the settlement that we have set out for the nhs which is real terms increases each year, even with that, if stand still with the nhs and keep the current system we will find that running into very, very severe problems each and every year. so it is necessary to reform the incredible hs. -- nh and reduce management costs and have a system where we actually try and create a healthier nation and so, therefore, demands on our nhs and that's what our reforms are all about. >> along with jamaica and nigeria and vietnam, the irish republic has one of the largest groups of foreign national prisoners in the u.k. given that we're about to lend them more than 7 billion pounds could the irish republic pay for the incarceration of these people by taking them back to

jail in their own country. >> we are looking at how you can transfer prisoners, foreign nationals from the u.k. to other countries. obviously, with ireland, the situation is slightly different because the long relationship between our countries. the previous government announced that it would not routinely support the deportation of irish nationals from the u.k. this was announced in february, 2007. and since then there has been a european directive which is actually helpful because it makes more automatic the removal of prisoners to other countries but there's still this issue with ireland and i'll ask the secretary to work on this. >> the government is cutting its teaching grant to liverpool university by 70% and to liverpool health university by 97%. is this a policy for closing down opportunities?

>> this is a policy to make sure we have a strong sector. and honorable members can object. it was the conservatives and the labour government that set up the brown review and i would recommend that honorable members read the brown review because the alternative of staying where we are right now, you would either have to cut student numbers or you would have universities struggling. what brown has come up with is a strong university sector in the future. >> does the prime minister agree that when this government is devising policy it should look at the evidence of what works in relation to tackling reoffending substance abuse and youth crime rather than relying on the tub thumping, crowd-waving ambulance-chasing antics that pass for a policy-making process in the party opposite? >> i think the honorable gentleman -- the fact is with

the difficulties of the budget deficit and the spending problems that we have, we don't have any choice but to look at the evidence and make sure what we do works and is cost-effective and i think we should start with the issue of drug rehabilitation because if we can reduce drug-related crime and cut those costs, we would make very great progress. >> thank you, mr. speaker. would the prime minister cut out a check into the satellite navigation system used in ministerial cars. my concern is that just a few short months ago the deputy prime minister couldn't be stuck driving himself from university campus to university campus but since he's got a chauffeured delivering him in a ministerial car he has been seen there at the student union. are they broke or has the deputy simply lost his political direction? >> there's a wonderfully involved scomblaet for.

-- metaphor. he can't -- he can't -- he can't even decide whether to sit on the fence. [laughter] >> steven mosley. >> last week the governors in high school in my constituency of chester made the decision to apply for academy status. however, before they made this decision, they faced a barrage of opposition from trade unions and the local labour party activists. what message would the prime minister send to those who seek to undermine well-needed reforms of public services in order to fulfill old-fashioned outdated feeling. >> the academy movement just as the city technology colleges before it have actually brought greater independence and greater authority to head teachers and have led to an improvement in educational standards. and i think if the party opposite has got any sense, they

won't back off it and they should tell their friends in the trade union movement to stop objecting to academies. >> i've recently come across workers forced by gangbusters to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week below minimum wage who were threatened and bullied when they complained, why has this government failed to take any action to tackling issue and will he join me in joining the gang busting licensing bill and help bring an end to this appalling abuse. >> it is a problem. it's been a problem with many years and there's problems with gang masters not paying minimum wage. >> would the prime minister agree that the olympics offer an golden opportunity to encourage more disabled people to take part in sports and would he like to pay attention to the welsh para olympic team and should he be able on that day he would be very welcome to come in and give his best regards.

>> i'm happy to endorse what my honorable friend says and his invitation he gives as he's an amateur boxer i think i should probably say yes immediately. it is great that the para olympics are returning to its birth place london 2012 and i think it would be a great showcase and i wish the welsh team well. >> as the happy son of peersly, can i wish the prime minister zell in his work to the united kingdom however can i ask him we support by the historic town of b ash -- bamilamio but he's the biologically the son of them. i know the campaigns for city status can gain great traction and before i start endo agree every single one i perhaps would have a look at each one and i'm sure would have a strong case.

>> mr. speaker, the prime minister may have noted that the leader of the opposition approaches economic questions with the acumen of an novice out of his debt. but by the next general election, families in my constituency will have paid back 21,000 pounds in government debt. will the prime minister resist opposition demands to scale back on the deficit reduction measures? >> i will certainly resist those demands because the fact is we inherited a situation which was completely unsustainable. and it wasn't just the conservative party that was making this point. the governor of the bank of england, the cbi, the iod, eocd and the imf they were all saying the last government didn't have a proper plan. we needed a plan, we've got a plan. we should stick to that plan. >> thank you, mr. speaker. could i wish the prime minister well in zurich and we get the

right results. and there was a consensus around the house that something needed to be done. it was an offer from the shadow benchmark trying to come to an arrangement on this issue. will the prime minister look at it very urgently with the secretary of state for education as i'm sure we can resolve this measure because i'm sure this is important -- >> i know the honorable member was a very successful sports minister in the last government and thank you for his endorsement of the 2018 and all we're trying to do to win it for england and all we're trying to make for school sport is possible. and i'm carefully looking at the debate that was held yesterday. we do have a shared interest here. we all want good sport in school and more competitive sport and we all got to make sure that money is spent well. i think everyone accepts that not every penny was spent well in the past. the secretary of state for culture in sport and the secretary of state for education are working hard on this. we're talking with head teachers. so we can make sure that what we come up with actually works on

the ground and i hope we'll be able to make an announcement soon. >> the plans to link lincoln and manchester by high-speed rail will bring huge economic benefits to my constituency and the greater northwest. does the prime minister with me if they want to eliminate any inequality between north and south would support high-speed too. >> and i know there are going to be real difficulties with high-speed, too, in terms of the impact on some people's constituencies and on some neighborhoods. i know that and i understand that. but i think it is true to say that for 50 years, governments of all parties have tried to deal better with the north/south divide and to bring our country closer together and i profoundly believe that high-speed rail and good transport links are a really good way of making this happen. this could succeed where other measures, frankly, have failed. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the community in manchester

waited patiently and stoically with the regeneration going across large parts of the manchester so the prime minister will understand that the sense of anger and despair in that community when the housing minister announced last week that the regeneration would not go ahead. would the prime minister agree that either he or his housing minister will meet with my honorable friend with tenants representatives so that we can see how we can take this forward? >> well, i will make sure that my housing minister in the government does justice he says. what i would say there is the regional growth fund which is going to be available for investment in those sorts of areas. and also the replacements to the rda's the local enterprise partnerships partly because they will be more locally-based. i think we'll have a finer tuned ear to local problems such as the one he raises. >> thank you, sir.

with the renewed prospect of travel chaos of british airways passengers, will the prime minister condemn -- will the prime minister condemn the leader of implied threats to families when he said to them, don't go on holiday? >> i think -- i mean, honorable members opposite don't think it's serious. we have trade union leaders now who actually say there's no such thing as an irresponsible strike. there is such a thing as an irresponsible strike, yes. and those that are bankrolled by the unions ought to speak up about it. >> andrew quinn. >> around 25,000 people every year die from thrombosis in hospitals. 2 to 3 times greater than the number of people dying from hospital-acquired infection. yet many of these deaths are avoidable if hospitals follow the nhs guidance on blood clots and risk assessment.

what is his government doing to make sure that the u.k.'s number one hospital-killer becomes the nhs' number one health priority? >> i think the honorable gentleman makes an extremely important point and i know that he is chair of the all-party parliamentary group on thrombosis. actually i think the answer to his question what are we going to do about this? the first thing is to make available more information because it was a freedom of information request to the all-party group that showed only 14 acute trusts in england were even close to meeting the goals to risk-assessed to the dangers of thrombosis and blood clots. so he's right. i think the best we can do is more information and that will actually help us to make sure hospitals are coming up to the mark. >> steven williams, thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister, i'm sure is aware is world aids day. what is the coalition government doing to make sure the stem of hiv is staying both at home and abroad. >> the right honorable gentlemen is right for this issue and we

need to look at both what's happening at home and abroad. obviously the biggest decision was to maintain the commitment for 1.7% of gross national income to go on our aid budget. and we do make a very big contribution out of our aid budget in terms of the battle against aids globally and making sure antiretroviral judges are available. and there are infection rates that are still extremely high and we need to get the message out today and on other days about the importance of safe sex and the proportions that people should take. >> i was shocked to witness with my own eyes 13-year-old palestinian children in leg irons and man cals in israeli military prisons. it's one of numerous breaches of the u.n. charter and 49 of the fourth geneva convention.

but certainly as a father, i'm sure he would join with me in condemning this appalling practice. but what will the pressure government to comply with its applications under international law and to relieve the suffering of the palestinian people in both the west bank and gaza. >> well, the honorable gentleman raises an extremely important point. every country should be part of the geneva conventions and other conventions that they signed and israel should be no exception in that. ministers in the government i lead raise these issues with israeli ministers as we should and i think that is extremely important. the fact is what we really need is a long-term settlement of the palestinian issue, and we want a two-state solution. and i think it's very important that we put pressure on both sides that we make sure we have progress on this. the lack of progress only plays in the hands of the extremists and you can see it with all the moderates in the middle east who

are trying to make progress and they are being undermined by our failure to do so. >> the human rights act is a glaring example of what's going wrong in our country. what will the government put the human rights on the law-abiding citizens -- >> i do think what is right. what we should be doing is replacing the human rights act with a british bill of rights. i've looked at this personally long and hard and think there is no better solution than that. and that is -- we're committed to starting a process to look at that and see if we can remove some of the nonsenses that have grown up over recent years and show you can have a commitment to proper rights where they should be written down in this country. >> there are 50 million pounds of the cancer drug fund. can the prime minister say whether there will be consequences for scotland because of the money? >> so it is bondable as it were