in afghanistan. he and the moment. he and others who lost their lives shall never be forgotten. i'm also sure the house will send condolences of jason swindlehouse and jason crestville following their deaths in captivity in iraq. the making of a hostage and cruel and barbaric act and can never be justified. i can assure the house the government are doing all we can and our thoughts and the thoughts of all people in this house will be with the families and friends for those who wait for news. mr. speaker, this morning, i had meetings/% u$e minister and colleagues in the house and i will have further meetings. >> regarding troops, the mr. speaker, one of the key issues raised with me by my constituents is that the house constituents is that the house more specifically access to affordable housing and the need

for mortgage finance. my constituents are aware that despite the urgent need for more house building,xvñ conservative generally campaign against it. as well as -- as well as opposing the system to fix theship could i ask my right >> we are investing more in affordable housing and we are helping more homeowners through homeownership. we havei%q secured commitments m the major banks that they willt invest 70 billion extra in housing. of course, that would not be possible if we were to> david cameron. >> thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. he had a bit more than gist of

it. i think he had a prepared answer to it as well. [laughter] >> i join the prime minister in paying attribute to major shaun bunchel who was killed in afghanistan and also very much agree with the prime minister about expressing our heartfelt sympathy to the families of jason swindlehouse and jason crestwell and the hostage situation. capital expenditure will grow until the year of the olympics. the government's own figures show that it's just not the case. will he take this opportunity to correct what he told the house last week? >> yes. in the building of the olympics, capital investment will rise very substantially. i can tell him that capital investment is rising from $29 billion to 30.7 billion and then to 44 billion in 2009, '10 and that is to help complete the building of the olympics there

afterwards it will fall as a result of decisions that we've made. but i can tell him -- i can tell him the comparison is between 44 billion of investment now and even in real terms a comparison with '99, '92 when he was involved in advising at the treasury. we are investing 44 billion. he was investing only 16. >> i'm afraid that is just not good enough. last week -- last week -- last week the prime minister made a very clear statement to this house of commons. he said capital expenditure will grow until the year of the olympics. now, here are the figures. capital expenditure this year, 2009, is 44 billion. next year, 2010, it is 36 billion. the year -- 2011, it is 29 billion and in the year of the olympics, 2012, it is 26 billion. that is a cut of almost half

from 44 billion to 26 billion. so will the prime minister now apologize, correct his statement and admit he is cutting capital expenditures. >> mr. speaker, i was just explaining -- i was just explaining how we had brought forward capital investment to last year and this year. mr. speaker, the figure in 2006, '7 for capital investment was 26 billion. it has risen to 38 billion in 2008, '9 and to 44 billion in '2009, '10 that so we can dole with the downturn. the problem with the right honorable gentleman he wants to cut capital investment now. he wants to cut it while we are increasing it. we are increasing it to complete the building of the olympics and other projects where his party would cut capital investment now. he has got to face up to the fact that he is going to spend less than us in every year.

>> the prime minister has been caught absolutely red-handed. he made a statement to the house about capital expenditure growing every year and the fact is it's being cut. if he believed in transparency and inpublic life he would get up in that dispatch box and say, i'm sorry, i've it got wrong. i gave the wrong figures. here are the right ones. now do it. >> mr. speaker, i have explained -- i have -- i have explained to the house that money has been brought forward to 2008, '9 and 2009 and '10. instead of having -- instead of having expenditure of just 30 billion in 2008, '9, it is 38 billion. instead of a expenditure of less than 2009, '10 it is 44 billion we took the advantage expenditure.

he would be cutting expenditure this year, next year and every year after and he's trying to evade his responsibility for wanting 10% cuts. >> mr. speaker, in the answer before last, the prime minister talked about the year 2007, '8 and he talked about 2008, '9, those years have already happened. what he said at the dispatch box last week was that capital expenditure would grow between now and the olympics. the figures are here in the budget book, page 226. capital expenditure, 44 billion in 2009. falling to 36 then 29 and then in the year of the olympics, 26 billion. there is no other way you can cut it. there's nowhere else he can hide. he's got to stand up, explain he got it wrong and say what he told the house last week was wrong. why not do it for once. >> mr. speaker, we brought forward spending to deal with the recession. i know he's against us bringing forward the spending. but we brought forward current and capital spending to deal

with the recession. but let me tell him that spending is 44 billion in the year 2009, '10 that is the highest capital expenditure ever in our country. it compares with the recession years under the tories when capital spending was only 12 billion or 16 billion. we are taking the action to invest in our public services. they would cut our public services now and would i does he not admit it will be 10% cut in public services under the conservatives. >> first of all, let's be clear about the prime minister's claims about conservative policy. when even his own colleagues don't believe him. this is the report we had from last week's cabinet. darling pointed out that brown's tory cut figures did not show the tory party but was merely ex traplations. cooper previously the minister for spending echo his concerns. according to one source who was present brown was visibly

irritated at the way it had been undermined and brought the meeting to an early close. [laughter] >> he says -- he says he wants to be a teacher. it sounds like he's lost control of the classroom. [laughter] >> the prime minister last week -- last week at that dispatch box he did not talk about bringing forward capital expenditure. he said very clearly, capital expenditure will grow until the year of the olympics. let me give him one more chance to show that that talk of transparency and truth and honesty actually means something. find that moral compass and stand up and tell us you got it wrong. >> mr. speaker, i read -- i read out the figures to the house. we are spending 38 billion in that year 2008, '9 more than the tories would ever do. we're spending 44 billion in the coming year more than the tories would ever do. we are spending more money on capital investment than -- >> order, order. i apologize for interrupting the

prime minister. there is simply far too much noise. the public doesn't like it and neither do i. prime minister? >> mr. speaker, and we've got to face a sensible date that the conservatives are going to cut spending on housing, on education, on policing, on all the vital public services. he can't evade the fact his figures are lower than any of ours in any year and that is the truth about public spending in our country. >> david cameron? >> mr. speaker, the entire country would have heard one very important thing. this prime minister cannot give a straight answer and he's not a big enough man to say he got it wrong. >> mr. speaker, he is the party of 10% cuts in public expenditure. he is the party that would cut the vital public services at the time of recession. we have brought forward public expenditure to help people stay in their homes, to help people get into jobs, to help build schools, to help build

hospitals. these are exactly the figures the public would cut and they would cut 10% and that is not going to be allowed to happen. >> you must calm yourself. it's not good for your health. paul? >> thank you, mr. speaker. can i welcome you to your new role as well. many of us will welcome the prime minister's road back from inquiring in private it would be a misjudgment to do so. the two points of difference before is in the motions is whether the terms of reference are discussed and published and secondly, whether there's a wide composition of the committee. what can the committee say to the house to address these two points of difference. >> i could say the chairman of the inquiry has written to me to make it absolutely clear that the inquiry will need expert assessors at the highest level including military, legal and international development and

reconstruction matters. and he's already begun to identify people who may be willing to serve in that capacity. as far as the terms of reference are concerned, i cannot think of an inquiry that's got wider terms of reference. it covers nearly 8 years from 2001 to 2009. it covers all issues that refer to both the -- both the conflict itself, the causes of the conflict and the reconstruction after the conflict and it does so allowing the inquiry on the basis that it set up to have all evidence, all materials to look at it. the terms of reference of this inquiry are very wide indeed. >> mr. speaker, i'd like to add obviously my own expressions of sympathy, condolence to the family and friends of major shawl birchel who lost his life in hmand and join in the sympathy and condolence to the family and friends of the others and we all hope the remaining hostages will be released safely as soon as possible.

mr. speaker, only -- the prime minister was wrong and forced to back down. on expenses he was forced to back down. on the iraqi inquiry he was expected to back down. when will we hear from him that he's wrong too on public spending. >> mr. speaker, i'm not wrong on public spending. we want to increase public spending. and i'm not wrong on wanting to help people in difficulty in the recession by helping the unemployed, by helping homeowners. it is the liberal party that wants to cut public expenditure, not the labour party. >> order, order. i know it's the third time perhaps the third time we'll be lucky. we must have some order in this house. >> he can't avoid the questions

today. today new figures from the e.u. have been published showing that we have the largest underlying deficit anywhere in europe. why doesn't he admit that balancing the nation's books will take long, difficult long-term decisions. nobody is fooled by his trick of dressing up cuts as investment. now, we are setting out what needs to happen unlike him and unlike him. untribed, on tax credits for high incomed families. there are some ideas. now, where are his? >> mr. speaker, given that there is no problem of inflation at the moment in the country and given that interest rates is low, it is right to help people to get people to work and take action to take 150 businesses as we're doing. it's right to move forward the housing program and to move forward our program of capital investment. these are the right things to do. i don't think the liberals with their proposals to cut public spending are doing the right thing at the moment at all.

>> thank you very much and congratulations on your election, mr. speaker. can i ask my honorable friend, the prime minister, if he will spell out the implications with a 10% cut proposed by the opposition. >> it will increasingly become the choice in the country between us wanting to preserve our public services and wanting to expand them and a conservative party that is determined to cut them by 10% and once the public knows that is the choice, they will have to explain in every constituency how many police and nurses and teachers are going to be cut as a result of their restrictions on spending. >> james? >> mr. speaker, can the prime minister confirm whether he had any correspondence, email, telephone calls or text from damion mcbride since the day he resigned? and just to clear up the confusion that seems to be around this, can i right the authority confirming the answer to his question? >> the answer is no. but isn't

-- isn't it amazing that the hon. demote can reduce insult to asking a question that was answered last week. >> has my hon. friend regarded still making? can i ask gen what help he is willing to give so he can protect 250,000 jobs has well as strong manufacturing base is? the trades union. so has the business secretary. we're trying to do everything that we can to make that happen. clearly, there is a dispute between tar tar and the partners that was involved in the consortium. we want to support a reconciliation between these two

groups and that is what we're trying to do. in the meantime, one northeast is trying to help those people who are in search of jobs. >> daniel? >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister's insult to the justice party of pole land to his statement is a great insult of poland who was a member of that country and the polish people who elected that party. no matter what he thinks of the law and justice party he must understand that as prime minister of the united kingdom. he has a duty to implement basic diplomatic procedures. >> i have very good relationships with the person he's talking about. as far as the polish law -- as far as the polish law and justice department i think the conservatives should look at the policies of the parties that they're having dealings with. >> mr. tom clark? >> mr. speaker, can the prime minister tell the house of his

reaction to recent events? does he agree that the imprisonment illegal as it is prodramatic campaigners and the sham trial does nothing for the bottomless standing in the international community? >> well, let me first of all concongratulate late my right honorable. it's unacceptable not just to us but the international community. the last meeting of the european council we sent a powerful message if action is taken in burma to free him, then we are prepared to take further sanctions against the regime. i've also talked to the u.n. secretary-general and encouraged

him to visit burma. i hope he will visit burma to send a message to the regime as soon as possible. >> in may 1997, there were 1,826 people unemployed welling borough. it had risen an increase of 84%. whose fault is it the last conservative government, b the previous u.s. president or c the prime minister who claimed he had ended boom and bust? >> mr. speaker, the figures are all the more reason to support our policies to get people back to work. were it not for the policies we're adopting 500,000 people would be out of work and that is what the official estimates say and i believe that he should be supporting the public expenditure that we're engaged in to help people get back into work. >> martin salter?

>> mr. speaker, it gives me particular pleasure to welcome you -- welcome you to the chair as our new reforming speaker. and mr. speaker, can i say how much i endorse the wise words for the right honorable gentleman that called for the hull-house to get behind you and that should be the hull-house. mr. speaker, the prime minister deserves great credit for bringing forward proposals to establish a parliamentary standards bill and to set up a select committee on reform on the house of commons. can i draw attention to the unnecessarily tight terms of reference and the cross-party in my name and for candidate chase. surely it cannot be right for the country only to discuss only nongovernmental business? >> mr. speaker, we've proposed measures for the house of commons to modernize in particular the election of select committee chairs. the scheduling of nongovernment

business and the public issues for debate -- all these other matters can be considered in due course and the leader of the house is going to lead a debate on these matters. >> mr. speaker, the university of essex is proud of you. [laughter] >> prime minister, early this month, the conservatives were humiliated in the local elections. would the prime minister discuss with his secretary of state, schools and families why essex county council is ignoring what the secretary of state promised in his state in may of last year and is proceeding to close two secondary schools against the democratic wish of the people of my constituency. >> as he knows, investment in schools is rising. investment generally in new school buildings is rising. he has specific questions he

wishes to address for the secretary for children and i hope he'll be able to meet them soon. >> barry gardener. >> this morning simon corker from wembley police station called me. to say that there had been -- to say that there had been a drop in gun crime of 45% and a drop in youth offending of 19% in the past year. i know the prime minister will want to congratulate wembley police force on those statistics but will he also join me in asking for a 10% cut next year? i do, of course, mean in the

statistics, further in the statistics rather than there. >> mr. speaker, since 1997, the investment we've made in neighborhood policing and in policing generally has led to a reduction of crime and as a result of that investment people can feel safer in their homes but it's equally important that we maintain investment in policing, a 10% cut in the policing budgets would be totally disastrous for the police forces and for communities. >> mr. mark harper? >> thank you very much, mr. speaker 1 in 4 people will suffer with a mental health problem and there's a great deal of stigma about it. will the prime minister take some advice from alistar campbell whose advice worked for his predecessor on improving diversity suggested we get rid of the provision of the mental health affect for a mental health problem to lose their seats. will the prime minister take steps to end stigma with people with mental health problems.

>> mental health is a problem and we should look at it with great care before we make any decisions but, of course, i will look at what he says but i think he would understand that this needs the greatest of care. >> thank you, mr. speaker. and with hall college in my constituency delivers the vocational programs throughout the area. the college capital program has had to be put on the back burner because of the funding crisis. will the prime minister have a look at the specific problem for me and maybe designate the appropriate minister to meet with the college principal, the local authority and myself to see if we can get ourselves out of this mess. >> good question. >> the learning in schools council has written to the principals of all colleges about capital investment for the future. it is hopeful of announcing projects to go through to the next stage of process as soon as possible. and as he will know in the budget we made available an

extra 300 million for education colleges. i'm sure that the minister will be happy to meet him. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can i say to the prime minister the application to higher education this year are up to 10% is a massive cause for celebration. the major increases are in particularly young black males, in students over the age of 40 and also in the lower socioeconomic groups is a double course for celebration. could the prime minister, therefore, say why the planned 15,000 extra places in higher education was cut to 10,000 last year and has now been cut to 3 how and isn't it better to invest in people in higher education than investing them on the -- >> we want more people to be able to go to the university and if there are more applications this year then we've got to look at that very carefully and i shall loo at what he said about the numbers. and i know that the secretary

for businesses is looking at what can be done. we want to give school leaders they want to give opportunities as well and the secretary for children is taking action to make sure that every school leader this summer has opportunities to them available this summer. >> the prime minister will know how painful the very high water bills we have in the far southwest are for my constituents particularly on low and modest incomes. we're looking forward eagerly to the publication to the interim findings of the walker review of watering metering and charging. will he meet with me and a group of colleagues who have been working on this to find solutions to see how far this will be able to help address these problems. >> my honorable friend has campaigned for a number of years. i know there's an interim report next week but the final report expected in the autumn. and we will provide a full response when the final report

is published. i will be happy to talk about it. >> prime minister, i have a considerable number of equitable life victims in my constituency. the quality of their retirement that they paid for has been crippled. the ombudsman report has added insult to that injury. will the prime minister look at gain at the delays in paying compensation? and that the partiality of the government's compensatio scheme? >> as you know the ombudsman made certain recommendations. we're looking at that. we've set up a separate -- we've set up a separate inquiry to look at the implication of what was said. and we will report in due course. >> mr. david crosby. >> thank you, mr. speaker. despite all the point scoring in public expenditure can my right honorable friend assure me that they will be caught protecting our armed services on the service and that the priority

will be in any circumstances to spend whatever money is available on the front line? unlike the tories, who were making redundancies -- >> order. the prime minister doesn't have to concern himself with opposition policy. prime minister? >> mr. speaker, we have shown our commitment to our armed forces by increasing its expenditure on our armed forces every year and we made available extra money for all the additional responsibilities that they've had to discharge in iraq and in afghanistan. and we want to see a path of spending for the armed forces that is completely consistent with the responsibilities they have to mick. -- make. it would not can make sense to make 10% cuts in the against budget. >> thank you, mr. speaker. could the prime minister tell the house whether he has received advice from the chief defense staff calling for sustained and substantial reinforcements for our hard-pressed armed forces in afghanistan? >> mr. speaker, if the honorable

member was here yesterday this was exactly the question that i answered and i said we have raised the number of forces in afghanistan for the period of the election campaign from 8,100 to 9,000. so for the period of the election campaign which takes us right through to the autumn we have met additional responsibilities to ensure that the democracy of afghanistan is maintained. that the elections can happen in greater security and safety and, of course, we maintain our campaign which is ongoing against the afghanistan taliban. >> phil wilson? >> did my right honorable that it's the political parties to associate with father london freedom party which honors veterans? or does he believe that should be left to the b & p? >> mr. speaker, isn't it remarkable that the conservatives are fond in alliance in europe that excludes the german christian democrats and the party of the president sarkozy and the italian party of of the italian leader. it excludes all reparable

political parties in europe. >> order, order. >> and they are now isolated on the fringes of europe? >> susan kramer? >> thank you, mr. speaker. would the prime minister agree with me that the people of sri lanka that deserve a war crimes investigation of alleged war crimes in sri lanka and given the cowardly decision to resist any such inquiry, what steps committee take to make sure that this issue is not abandoned and forgotten? >> as she may have spoken to the president of sri lanka and have urged to make reconciliation of the community, that those people have been displaced and given humanitarian help that the regime itself recognizes that they have got and action is taken as