>> and now to london for prime minister's question time, live from the british house of commons. every wednesday while parliament is in session, prime minister david cameron takes questions from members of the house of commons. prior to question time house is wrapping up other business. this is live coverage on c-spa c-span2. >> well, mr. speaker, i did, in fact, meet with their earlier this month to discuss their plans for the rail network, including the recently program. the north wells mainline is due to be recent build commencing in 2015 as part of the wales route modernization. >> how much of billions going to be spent in 2019 come is going to be spent in north wales? >> i'm sure the honorable gentleman will be pleased to hear your i'm already holding discussions with both the welsh

governments and local authorities with a view to exploring the possibility of electrification of the north wales railway line, 105 miles, and economic benefit for north wales. >> i welcome the announcement for extra capital expenditure, but will the secretary of state work with the welsh is similar to make sure the welsh civil engineering companies help in competing for contracts for this work? >> yes, mr. speaker, this is an issue that has been identified recently. i'm sure the welsh government are aware of the problem and i'm sure they will be addressing it. >> order. questions for the prime minister. >> number one, mr. speaker. >> thank you, mr. speaker. [shouting] >> mr. speaker, i'm sure the whole house will wish to join me in paying tribute to the servicemen who tragically have fallen since we last met for prime minister's questions. lance corporal dwayne grew a first by john grenadier guards,

sergeant and private of the third battalion yorkshire regiment, sergeant johnson coops of mechanical engineers, captain james of the royal engineers, and captain manley of the royal marines. once again we are reminded of the immense danger our armed forces operate in to uphold our safety and our security. their families and the whole country should rightly be proud of their heroic service, and we will always remember them. the house i'm sure will also wish to join me in paying tribute to fiona bill and nicholas hughes who were killed brutally murdered in the line of duty on the 18th of september, the whole country has been deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of these two young dedicated exceptional officers. our thoughts are with the films and with her colleagues of what must be a very, very difficult time. mr. speaker, i also know the house would wish to join in sending our heartfelt condolences to families of malcolm wakes who sadly passed

with sadly passed with an the 20th of september. i think all sides of this house remember malcolm as a real gentleman and a man of great integrity and compassion to please constituents first, who worked across party lines and was a thoroughly decent man. he served the house with great distinction for 20 years and i know he will be missed by all who view him. mr. speaker, wing's also be tribute to another apartment great characters and it's hard not to think he's not sitting right there in front of me, stuart bell. sir stuart which usually popular across the house and was honored. i think will always remember him as a passionate, dedicated members of the house to give his kindness transcend the political divide. we send our sincere sympathies to his wife and family at this difficult time. mr. speaker, this morning mr. speaker, this morning i had meetings with minister colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in the south i shall have further such meetings later today. >> can i associate all honorable and right angle members with the prime minister's trip to the members of the armed forces, the

police have died in the service of our country, and for the families? and also how much we in this house will miss as the people will miss stewart bill and malcolm x. mr. speaker, the last -- primus to promise work would always pay but this morning baroness grey thompson of the children society have revealed that his current plans for universal credit next year will mean that up to 116,000 disabled people in work includes as much as 14 pounds a week? doesn't say a thing about how this device of prime minister always stands up for the wrong people, always stands up for the wrong people when at the same time a standing huge tax cuts to 8000 people and over 1 million pounds a year come he is going to penalize some of the bravest and our country?

>> mr. speaker, let me try and deal with it as fully as i can. the money that's going into disability benefit will not go down under universal credit, it will go up. the overall amount of money will go from 1.35 million pounds last year to 1.45 million pounds in 2015. under the plan now recipients will lose out unless their circumstances change. all current recipients are fully protected by counterproductive scheme. what we're doing and this is important, this is a decision and a choice we made is that future recently and we're going to increase the amount we the gift of the most a very disabled children, and there will be a new lower amount for less disabled people. that's a choice we're making. increasing the overall amount of money, focusing on the most a stable, that i think shows the right values and the right approach.

>> mac and graduate the government on the early construction of the gross res judicata to bill. farmers in third world helping companies producers desperately need protection from what i think been described as -- [inaudible]. could i ask how quickly come how quickly will it be before the government actually introduced is finally important measure? >> we are making progress with introducing the measure. as my friends and i think it is an important measure. i think it's very important we stand up for farmers, the farmers get a fair deal from supermarkets. i think on occasions there have been unfair practices of things like retrospective discounts that sometimes been proposed and i think this bill will be a major step forward. >> mr. ed miliband. [shouting] >> mr. speaker, i joined up runners in paying tribute to the sixtsix servicemen that have did since the house last met.

lance corporal of first battalion the grenadier guards, sergeant, a third battalion yorkshire regiment. sergeant jonathan coops are the royal electrical and mechanical engineers. captain james townley of the corps of royal engineers, and captain karl manley of the royal marines. they all died heroically serving our country. fish of the outpost bravery and sacrifice and i condone -- our condolences goes to the family of friends but i also joined them in paying tribute to the on the on the bill and hughes. to remind us of the dangers work, mr. speaker, our police officers to aid in and day out in the line of duty. her death is a great loss to the great manchester police, the committee they serve and most of all of course to the families. i also want to thank the prime minister for his generous comment about the two lead colleagues we have lost since we last met. stuart bell was "the sun" of a

mother, a long-standing member of this house. he was passionate about european issues and he served with distinction of the church commissioner. his death was incredibly sudden. his illness diagnosed as a matter of days before he died. the condolences of the site of the house under no the whole house goes to his family. and let me just say about malcolm wicks, he was one of the deepest thinkers in this house. he was a brilliant minister. i know from my time as energy secretary what it really energy minister he was pretty was also someone who faced his illness with the utmost bravery. he knew was going to happen to him, but he carried on writing, thinking, talking and, indeed, engaging in the work with the suspect my last conversation was a motion before our party conference we talked passionately about politics as he hoisted. again, our condolences go to his whole family. mr. speaker, the unemployment figures today are welcome to click to the fall and youth unemployment.

and i'm sure we all agree that there are too many people still looking for work, the number of people out of work for long period over a year remains suddenly i. and the prime minister tells why he believes the fourth quarter and unemployment is not yet been matched by the biggest long-term unemployment? >> i thank him for his generous remarks about those who have fallen, about his police officers and also about the colleagues. in terms of the unemployment figures, i think this is a good piece of news that should be properly welcomed and looked at, because basically a number of different things are happening. employment is up by 212,000 this quarter. unemployment is down by 50,000 this quarter. the claimant count has fallen by 4000. what that means it's actually since the election is there are some 170,000 fewer people on out of work benefits. and what is i think what remarkable about the figures is they show there are more women

in work and at anytime in our history. inaction overall level of employment is now above where it was before the crash in 2008. so we still have huge economic challenges to me. we are in a global race. we do need to make a whole set of reforms in our country to education, welfare and help grow the private sector but this is positive news today. in terms of long-term unemployment, it is still too high. i think that's partly because of the big increase in unemployment that took place at the time of the crash, but we need to do more to do with long-term unemployment, and that is why the work program has helped 693,000 people already. we are prepared to spend up to 14,000 pounds on one individual long-term unemployed person to get them back into work so i think we do have the measures in place to tackle this scourge. >> ed miliband. >> mr. speaker, notwithstanding that, unemployment, youth unemployment, long-term unemployment and long-term youth unemployment are all higher than when he came to office.

on the particular issue about long-term youth unemployment i don't think you can attribute to the crash happened four years ago because it's been steadily rising over the last year or 18 months. and it remains a bit concerned, the number of people out of work for more than year is continuing to rise. does he agree with me the longer young people remain out of work, the greater the damage not just now to the long-term prospects and the greater damage to our economy? >> of course he's right. the longer people out of work the worse for them, the worse for our economy. that is why we have to use contract. that is why webwork programs, the biggest back to work program since the war. he mentioned the problem of long-term unappointed averages remind them in the last two years of the last government, long-term unemployed almost double so i think we should hear about that before we get election. in terms of helping young people it is also noticeable that under this government 900,000 people

have started apprenticeships, and we are reforming our schools and welfare system so that it pays for people to get those jobs. we face enormous economic challenges in this country. nobody doubts that. we have to we both our economy because the state sector was too big, the private sector was too small. what has happened is 1 million new jobless -- private sector jobs. we've got a huge amount more to do but reform welfare, reform our schools, and the private sector and britain can be aware in the global race. >> i would just say to him on long-term unemployment there are more people out of work for longer than at any time for two decades. that is happening on his watch. i want to point to one group in particular losing their jobs directly. a year ago, he told me, and ago, there is no reason for there to be fewer front-line police officers. canny now tell the house how my

front-line police officers have lost their jobs since the election? >> the percentage of officers on front-line duties has gone up. i think that is the key. frankly, frankly whoever -- [shouting] >> whoever won the last election was going to have to reduce police budget. he was committed to reducing police budget. we've had to reduce police budget. the reason why we been able to increase the percentage is because we have got the paperwork, we've taken difficult decisions about pay. we've taken difficult decisions about allowances. what is remarkable is while the percentage of officers on front-line is up, crime is down. >> i really hoped just for once we would get a straight answer. [shouting] >> all the prime minister needs to do, all the prime minister needs do is take a lead out of

the placement book. because on monday he told the house the truth. he said that are 6778 fewer front-line police officers than when he came to power. why not just -- i don't think he's going to help you, prime minister. [laughter] >> now maybe the part-time jobs is taken over the home office. another promise broken. they are not just breaking their promises. it's there conduct as well. [shouting] this is -- this is -- [shouting] this is what the mayor of london said. >> border. it will just take longer to get the backbenchers who do wish to participate as opposed to shouting and screaming into jubilee fashion because of how to extend the session. the leader of the opposition will be heard and the prime minister will be heard. that is the end of it. mr. adelle banks. >> this is what and mayor of

london can his new best mate said last at conservative party conference. i reckon we need to make it clear that peoples were at the police, they must expect to be arrested. he says he didn't come -- [inaudible] according to the official police report, and i quote, a man claiming to be the chief -- [laughter] told them they should know their place and use other of use of language. can the prime minister now tell us to the chief use those words? >> what the chief whip did and what the chief weapons that were wrong. right? am absolutely clear about that. that's what it's important that the chief would apologize. that apology has been accepted by -- >> order, order. i said a moment ago the leader

of the opposition must and would be heard. the same goes for the prime minister. he must and will be heard. the prime minister spent what the chief whip said and did is wrong and that is what it is important he apologized and apologized probably. that apology has been accepted by the office conservatives been accepted by the head of the metropolitan police and that is why this government will get on with the big issues of helping britain compete and succeed in the world. >> ed miliband. >> no straight answers on police numbers and no straight answers on the chief whip. just because a police officers -- he said it's a real issue. i think it is a real issue of using police officers. [shouting] >> is because a police officer has better manners than the chief web -- chief whip, doesn't mean he should keep his job. on a saturday night abuse a police officer ranting and raving, chances are they would be arrested and placed in the back of a police van.

and rightly so. and the prime minister will be the first to say it was right. but while it's a nice in -- [inaudible] isn't that declares a case it could be, a total double standard? >> his apology has been accepted by the police officer. it's been accepted by the head of the metropolitan police. it's clearly not going to be accepted by the leader of the opposition because he doesn't want to talk about what we need to do this country to get our deficit down because he's got no plan. he doesn't want to talk about how he builds on a record of implement because he has got no plan. he doesn't want to talk about how we reform welfare because he is opposed to welfare cuts. that is the truth. he wants to discuss these issues because he's got nothing serious to say about the country. >> ed miliband. >> here's the most ex ord or thing, tragic they say that my practice club, and they go

around calling people names. can you believe that? i have to say it's good to see the cabinet in a place supporting him in public but in the newspapers what are they saying in private but he's completely under my biggest position is untenable. in other words, that is the reality. here is the truth about his government. while everybody else loses their job, the chief whip keeps his but if you're a millionaire you get a tax cut. if you everybody else, you get a tax rise. [shouting] >> order, order. order. i'm very worried about your health. for shouting in a bizarre manner. call yourself, man, mr. ed miliband. >> tax cuts are totally out of touch with this government. it's one rule for those of the top and one rule for everybody else. [shouting] >> now we know, mr. speaker, he

wrote those questions yesterday before unemployment fell. he wasn't listing early. let me remind you. employment is up 212,000. unemployment down 50,000 this quarter. the claim it down 4000. that's a success. typical. it comes to this house. he's written out his clever political question. he doesn't care which really happening in our economy. >> order. mr. glenn davis. >> over two weeks ago, mr. speaker, at edward jones a fiber loop or work doctor when playing with her friends in my constituency, a very white, very well behaved always do. well my right honorable friend, the prime minister join in playing tribute to the truly amazing way in which the people,

the police and the mountain rescue teams have come together and committed to the ongoing search? >> i will certainly join my honorable friend into the. i think the whole country has not only been shocked by these appalling events, but also i think the whole country frankly has been lifted and and crovitz impressed by the response of ofe community, and everything has done, everybody has done to help the police can help emergency services. we seen a whole community come together not just in greece but in action to help this family. i think it's a huge credit to everyone involved. >> the prime minister's energy summit last year has promised faithfully he would take action to help people reduce their energy bills but can he tell the house and the country housing going? >> we've encourage people to switch which is one of those ways to get your energy bill down and i can announce which i'm sure he will welcome is that

we will be legislating so that energy companies have to get the lowest power to the custom. something labour didn't do in 13 years even though the leader of the labour party actually could've done for the other job. >> close question. dr. julian lewis. >> i know that my honorable friend will be delighted to know the answer is yes, we are committed to retaining an independent nuclear deterrent based on the trident missile defense system as why we continue with program to replace the vanguard class submarines including rising initial design contracts with bae systems. >> that is indeed an excellent answer, mr. speaker. given the that, a part-time nuclear deterrent would be dangerous seeing de- stabilizing. will the prime minister can serve that the british trident successive submarines must and

will operate on the basis of continuous absent deterrence because i think my friend is right to raise this issue. one of the key elements of the credibility of our deterrent has been the fact that it is continuously at sea, something the royal navy takes immense pride in and being able to deliver that without a break over so many years. and having that some of the crew and visit some of the submarines it is incredibly impressive what they do. i pay tribute to them for the service that they provide. yes, continuous ads he is a key part of our deterrent. >> and a parliamentary answer to my friends rectum yesterday, the government said and ago, we remain very concerned by continuing reforms of support for the in 22 rebels were killing, maiming and raping in east congo. so why then did the government chief whip authorized the payment a 60 million pounds of british taxpayers money, on his

very last day of international development secretary? >> i want to which the honorable gentleman a happy birthday yesterday. the point is very -- i saw, i was invited. is a very important point -- [laughter] >> all right. the very important point he raises. i'm clear, rwanda has been a continues to be a success story of a country that has gone from genocide and disaster to being a role model for development and lifting people out of poverty in africa. and i'm proud of the fact the last government and this government have continued to invest in that success. on an equally clear that we should be very frank and very firm with the president and the rwanda the regime that we do not accept they should be supporting militias in the congo or elsewhere. i've raised this issue personally with the president by continue to believe that investing in rwanda's success is

one of those countries in africa additionally you can break the cycle of poverty, you can improve conditions where people. it's something that we were right to do. >> today, the unemployment figures show a reduction of 62000 the number of 16-24-year-olds out of work for three months of august. and the employment is now the highest level since records began in 1971. i'm sure the prime minister will want to commend the economic policies of this government to the whole house. >> my friend makes an important point. we have a million new private-sector jobs since the last election. that is more than made up for the job losses in the public sector. there's more we need to do to tackle youth unemployment come to tackle long-term unemployment but the figure something that should be welcomed.

>> my constituents lost his leg in afghanistan. he then lost his disability living allowance. the prime minister promised to look after ex-servicemen and women. what happened? >> i've insisted on specific carved up from the new pid for limbless ex-serviceman. they would look after through the ministry of defense. >> this house agrees that it can means politics for negative campaigning delivery designed to scare gullible people. a campaign to save our hospital when the hospital is not closing is possibly the worst example i've ever seen. does my right honorable friend agree me that labour's campaign is an absolute disgrace? >> my honorable friend, my honorable friend is entirely right. labour mp after labour mp is tripping up the coffee and claim this hospital isn't safe, and

they know that is simply not true. the local newspaper is now backing up the fact that this hospital is being invested in by this government because unlike the party opposite, and yet you are over there and you know what, you're going to stay there for a very, very long time. [shouting] >> and the reason, and the reason -- [shouting] the reason you're going to stay there, the reason you're going to stay there, is the reason is this countries in the masses because of the borrowing, spending and the debt that you delivered and your answer is more bbq more spending and more debt. so get yourself comfortable. [shouting] >> why won't the prime minister, over here -- [shouting] >> why won't the prime minister published all the tax e-mails and other forms of correspondence between himself and his office, and rebekah

brooks in andy coulson and the news international? is it because so that we can judge whether they are relevant? is it because they are too salacious and embarrassing for the prime minister? or is it -- i wouldn't smoke. when the truth comes out the prime minister won't be smiling. or is it because there's one rule for the prime minister and another for the rest of us see? mr. speaker, before answering his question i would just like everyone to recall that the honorable member stood up in this house and rent out a whole lot of information that was under embargo and he was not meant to read out. which turned about me to be untrue and he has never apologized. [shouting] until he apologizes i'm not going to answer his questions. [shouting] >> order.

>> i hope the house will have the courtesy to hear him. >> employment levels -- [inaudible], not least because of the constitution of under plan. will he join in welcoming the extension of the new proposal allows? spent i will certainly join my honorable friend. this is an important announcement because the enterprise allowance just people who become unemployed a chance to set up their own business, their own enterprise under the current rules they have to wait three months before being able to access that program. but under our plan still be able to get that from day one of becoming unemployed. i will see many more new businesses started up in our country to build on the record of last year were more businesses were established in britain and india in our recent

history. >> while in opposition to prime minister said, and the coal, all too often when questions are put to ministers the answer is putting was meant as a -- [inaudible] there's a series accountability problem with our political system. so, can the prime minister tell us which one of his cabinet ministers is going to take responsibility for the fiasco of the west coast bay line? >> the transport secretary came to this house and made a very -- said and gave a very full apology for what happened to i've got to ask, can we ever remember a minister from the party opposite ever apologize in for anything? anyone? none. >> order. >> and returning to the trident issue, how -- has the prime minister look at the sevier county pressurization defense at the very moment trident replacement has to be paid for? joint