before they begin to rebound. >> and now, it is my pleasure to present the 2009 national championship trophy to coach roy williams and the north carolina team. >> michigan played like the lions. >> congratulations. i know you are emotional. a talk about what this feels like. >> it feels great. ♪ >> coming up next week, our guest is stanley crouch. that is coming next week on "

q&a" at eight p m on c-span. -- at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. >> coming up, british prime minister gordon brown on the economic recovery. following that, the bbc record review. later, a special on the employment of returning war veterans. . .

now, up from london, "prime minister's questions." on tuesday, prime minister gordon brown announced that elections will be held on may 6th, setting the stage for a close race. the prime minister listed his achievements in the economic recovery. the conservative minister criticized him. the liberals said that neither party is serious about reform. this is the last time gordon brown will take questions before the election. >> mr. speaker, i am sure the whole house will and join me in paying tribute to the two british servicemen who lost

their lives in afghanistan in the last week. we owe them and in measurable debt of gratitude. they were both engaged to be married, and our thoughts are with them and their families. mr. speaker, it is because of all of our brave men and women in our armed forces that our country is a safer and more secure. i think at this time is right to remember all who have given their lives in iraq and afghanistan, and all who serve in our armed forces. i spoke to president karzai and president barack obama yesterday. our troop strength will be increased by about 500, providing its strength in the region and support to our troops. we are also saddened today by

news of losses of members in our emergency services. we pay tribute to the bravery and commitment demonstrated by all of our emergency public servants. in addition to my duty in the house, i will have a further such statement to make today. >> may i add my condolences to all who have lost someone. will the prime minister stand please? >> mr. speaker, the big issue is whether we can secure and assure the economic recovery. to withdraw $6 billion from the economy now would put the jobs, businesses and our world at risk. we cannot cut our way to recovery, but we could cut our way to double-dipped reception

-- recession. we must guarantee that we fund our policing, schooling, and make sure that our health service guarantees, are going to be achieved. these are guarantees of that will be kept because of the decisions that we have made. >> hear, hear! >> thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to join the prime minister in paying tribute to our soldiers in afghanistan. two hundred 80 british servicemen and women have now lost their lives while serving in afghanistan. as we prepare for the end of this parliament, we should remember the sacrifice they and their families have made, and acknowledged the huge debt that we all go to our armed forces for the bravery they show day after day. >> hear, hear.

>> i also join in offering my condolences to the families of the two firemen who were killed in his last month. this is the last chance for our prime minister to show that he is accountable for the decisions he has made. will he start by admitting that when british forces were sent in, they did not have a is sufficient helicopters to protect themselves to get the job done? >> mr. speaker, i do not accept that in any operation to which we sent our troops, that our commanding officers gave a wrong advice -- >> [uproar] >> at every opportunity, we have asked our commanding officers if

they were able to do this operation, and at every opportunity, they have said, yes we can. it is right that i take full responsibility, but i take the advice of our commanding officers. the advice of our commanding officers is very clear. >> that answer is some of his premiership -- sums up this premiership. take no responsibility and blame somebody else. there were repeated demands for more helicopters. but as he put it, the decision makers, yes, the ministers or the ones driving in the combat when they should have been flying into combat. we definitely did not have enough helicopters.

presumably, the prime minister will tell us all of these people were just received. >> mr. speaker, we have increased the number of helicopters in afghanistan. we have a increased the flying in size by more than 100%. i think you should recognize that it thinks have been adapted in afghanistan. you should also recognize that other things were also adapted to be in afghanistan. you should recognize that we have helicopters in afghanistan that are working and that we are part of an international operation in afghanistan where we share equipment with our coalition partners. i have to say to you, the amount of money spent in afghanistan now is $5 billion lbs. per year. -- ises pound sign 5 billion per year -- is 5 billion pounds per

year. >> mr. david cameron. >> why should anyone believe the prime minister when he was the first in history to go in front of a public inquiry and not give accurate information? >> let me offer another decision for which this prime minister ought to be accountable. he has a rather pension funds of $100 billion. his own welfare minister said, "when labor u.k. -- when labour came into power, and we had plenty of funds into the pension funds. " >> it is him that has never

given an answer on any single policy. >> [shouts and jeers] >> as far as the pension fund, the dividend tax credit did not affect the ability to have pension funds. i showed that as a result of my policies, the pension funds a double. you have not made your case. what we have done over these last 12 years was initially opposed by the conservative a body. what we are saying we will do is let pension earnings be taken away by a conservative government. we have given people dignity in retirement, again, opposed by the conservative government.

what we have now is a scheme that gives pensioners and the chant to travel -- that gives pensioners a chance to travel the country, at risk under the conservative government. >> [shouts and jeers] >> he must be the only person in britain who thinks that robbing pension funds is a good idea. this prime minister will go down in history as the one who destroyed our pension system. he just ignores what he does not want to hear, then he tries to cover up the consequences. people are finally starting to grumble, gordon brown, and it serves you right. let's take another decision for which the prime minister needs to be held accountable. >> [shouts]

>> border. members of parliament are shutting themselves hoarse. members must calm down -- order. members of parliament are shouting themselves course. members must, down. -- must calm down. >> is the prime minister is telling us that he knows more about job creation than the business leaders who employ the people of this country? >> once again, i have determined what happened during this recession and what we have to do to get this country out of recession pitt we have to picca- out of recession. we have to restructure businesses. they opposed it. we have to take action to help

hundreds -- to help home owners. they opposed it. as far as national insurance, there is a choice. there is a clear choice. we can put the national insurance off and therefore protect our schools, hospitals, and policing, or we can and do what conservatives traditionally do and put our hospitals and health services at risk. >> [shouts] >> you have made a decision to waste money and then put a tax on everyone in the country. taxing the government wages will endanger the country. do you believe that business leaders, including members of your own advisory council, do you believe they were deceived? >> we cannot cut our way to

recovery. that is why it to draw a and $6 billion from the economy now is the wrong thing to do. it would put jobs at risk immediately, business is at risk immediately. as far as 2011 is concerned, we have to make a decision. do we want to maintain the improvement in our public services and our health service and guarantee, and maintain investment in our schools? that will cost the extra money on a national insurance. they say no. do we want the public services to be maintained, or do we want the traditional tory party policy? >> this morning the prime minister said that business leaders have been deceived. since then, another 30 business leaders have come again and said it --

>> [shouts] >> no, not a tory, one of his advisers. well, he is probably a story now. so are half the country. >> [shouts] >> how can there be a deception? in national insurance is a tax on a job as a pure and simple. isn't the truth that this prime minister would wreck the recovery by putting a tax on every job, a tax on aspiration, a tax on every business in the recovery? this government would direct the recovery. >> [shouts]

>> order, order, order. members must, of themselves. -- must calm themselves. we will now hear from the prime minister. >> once again, the speaker has said nothing new about the future. >> [shouts] >> mr. speaker, 2.5 million more jobs since 1997. more people staying in school than ever. more students going to university. more pensioners out of poverty. more dignity and security in retirement, and we are the government that has plans for the future. they have nothing to offer. classics >> [shouts]

>> this weekend at the bbc has claimed tibet to don is the hungriest -- this weekend, the bbc claimed that sudan is the hungriest place on earth. will the prime minister use his influence to help the people of darfur and recognize the suffering that they now endure? >> as long as there are children suffering and their mothers are dying in childbirth, as long as there are young people not getting an education, we have a duty as a country to act. i am proud that i have done a great deal to push this forward. we have doubled overseas aid.

xe investment of overseas aid that has bennett is invaluable over the last 12 years. i hope that under any party the spending on overseas aid can continue. >> i would like to add my own expressions of sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of the fallen soldiers. they served so selflessly and bravely in afghanistan and have lost their lives there this week. we owe them a huge debt of gratitude. i would also like to join in paying tribute to the two firemen who lost their lives in

self hampton last night. mr. speaker is trying -- mr. speaker, he is trying to fool people that they are serious about reform. >> [shouts] >> here, in black and white, the labour party protecting their trade union. who do they think they are kidding? after sabotaging this deal, why should anyone trust a single word that they have to say on political reform? >> [shouts] >> mr. speaker, there was one person who kept the proposal from being approved. lord ashcroft.

>> order, order, order. the house must calm down. members should save their voices for the conversations they will need to have with their constituents in the coming week. >> this is ridiculous. the two parties are colluding together to block reform. just last night they colluded to block the most minimal reform to our election system. they came together to block our proposal to give people the right to sack corrupt politicians. they blocked our proposal to clean up lobbying. back in 1997, there were two governments. look at them now. you have failed. it is over. time to go. >> [shouts]

>> that sounds like a speech, not a question. the labour party and the conservative party agreed on at the means to reform the political system. the conservative party pulled out of the agreement on the recommendation of a one person, the person from the conservative party, the person who has given a dollar sign a its 10 billion it to the conservative party, and that is lord ashcroft. >> we have had is some of the most significant new health improvements under labour. what plans does the prime minister have to protect the programs that have been made considering how wages have plummeted? >> we give every patient the

guarantee that they will receive treatment within 18 weeks of seeing a doctor. otherwise, they can go private or go to another health authority of that guarantee is not met. we guarantee that they can see a specialist within two weeks. and there will be able to have a diagnostic test within one week. previously, we could not give that guarantee, even to cancer patients. we tell doctors that they must see people in the evenings and weekends, as well as during ordinary hours. that is the guarantee we are giving, but the opposite party refuses to support it. people will make up their minds about which help state they would prefer. >> the prime minister opened his election campaign yesterday by promising to campaign amongst a in real people.

but he spent a whole day amongst labour supporters. does he plan to spend the whole campaign going from a safe house to safe house? [laughter] >> beware of stot labour supporters, as a result of a the message we put to them. i asked them what the major issue facing them was, and they said the recovery. i had to tell them that the conservative party pooling 6 billion out of the recovery would put the recovery at risk. >> if you follow the advice and

take precipitous action to cut the stimulus, it will lead to rising unemployment, and social disorder. >> will be considered -- will we preserve of the recovery? if you take 6 billion out now there will be more unemployment, more businesses going under, and things will get worse. if you look at what people are doing in every other country, they are saying that they have to rely in -- they have to secure the recovery before they take any other action. only the conservative party wants to take money out now. they will make an historic mistake. >> will the prime minister tell the full truth about helicopters? the that he has already cut helicopter numbers and to below

500 over the last 18 months, and that by 2020 there will be only 303 helicopters? >> i am sorry that he takes this view. >> [shouts] >> we have ordered more and helicopters for the future. we have a reconditioned and repaired other supplies. we have increased the numbers of helicopter hours being flown by our troops pitted morella cuppa -- by our troops. more helicopters, more helicopter hours. >> the newspapers say that we

are dangerously isolated from europe. do you agree that we must work with angela merkel and other leaders and to insure that we do not have at the buffet affect that would be unacceptable in our economy? >> this same old conservative party is moving further and further to the extreme of europe. they have to go into alliances with the most extreme elements of europe. they voted against the transparent information to deal with the problem of tax havens, just the sort of policy toward ashcroft would want them to support.

-- lord ashcroft would want them to support. >> jobs is helping young people get into work. two hundred thousand jobs have been created from the jobs fund. it is also helping people get work experience and education. it is helping small businesses through this difficult time with the reduction of business operates and the reductions we are giving them now. take 6 billion out of the economy and the recovery will be at risk. it means thousands of jobs will go. >> is the prime minister aware of the affects of businesses

around the country? one business went under after being slapped with a tax of 14 belsen pounds -- 14000 pounds. with you show your support for the ports? >> i am very happy to talk about this issue and to talk about what we have done. we have made equal payments in installments over an unprecedented eight years. i am happy to talk about what more we could do to help. >> a chief executive and a member of the prime minister's

own management committee has said it is his firm view that the proposed national insurance inquiry is a tax on and jobs. why does the prime minister think he is wrong? >> of the country has to make a choice. the conservative party have made their choice. if we want to maintain and improve our schools, our policing, and if we want to ensure the cancer guarantee, the treatment guarantee, and other health guarantees, then it that has to be paid for. i believe the country will make a choice in favor of maintaining and improving our public services. the conservative party, opposes public servi