where he took questions from members of parliament including opposition leader ed miller band who pressed him on as a growth plan for the u.k. and whether he has had discussions with the new french president over and europe. >> i am sure to the two service and -- servicemen were killed in afghanistan. corporal mccarthy and lee davis from first battalion wealth gardens. our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones. they were both courageous and highly respected men who engaged in vitally important work of training and mentoring the afghan police. their service to our nation must never be forgotten. this morning i had meetings with

others in addition to my duties in the house and will have further meetings later today. >> the prime minister's tribute to our fallen serve asmen is the right thing to do. i also welcome what we have seen today. and employment. can the permanence assure me though he will continue to invest in apprenticeship of there >> i thank my hon. friend. it is welcome that we had the largest rise in employment for over a year. the number of people in work sins the last election is up by 71,000. private sector jobs are up by 600,000. we are not remotely complacent about this but although there's

good news about youth unemployment there are too many people in part-time work and we still have the challenge of tackling long-term unemployment. we are not complacent. it took four years to put in place. the work program put in place in 12 months and targeted at helping with long-term unemployed that we will put back to work. [shouting] >> can't i'd join the prime minister in paying tribute to corporal brent mccarthy and lee davis from first battalion. they fear showed the utmost bravery and courage and our thoughts are with their families and friends. we need to make sure the welcome reduction to one employment today is sustained by economic growth. can the prime minister tell us about a gross plan for the

president of france? >> he has welcomed unemployment. it is worth making the point that the number of people on unemployment benefits has come down. i had a brief discussion with the president of france after his victory. i look forward to having a longer one with him before the g-8 starts this weekend. specifically discussing what more we can do to help in terms of european growth and the right hon. gentleman will learn together with the italian prime minister and many others we have put forward a series of steps that can help the european economy to move that is energy single market and the single market. complete services single market. these things could seriously add

to growth in europe. that is what we should be focused on in europe and i look forward to discussing that and more with the french president. >> it is a shame you didn't see the french president two months ago when he was in the united kingdom. [shouting] >> i am short text message wiur go down very well. [shouting] >> the proper growth plan which this prime minister has failed to argue for. britney the proper growth plan which he has failed to come up with. leading with the government for a growth plan. do you agree with the foreign secretary that the problem with the economy is a british business is not working hard enough? >> i have to admit perhaps i

have been over using my mobile phone but as prime minister i know how to use a mobile phone rather than throw it to the people who work for me. [shouting] >> i do think there will be common ground between the british view in europe and the fringe of view. the french president went on how he would stimulate growth. the french president said the means would be extra public spending sins we want to rein it in. the french president does not back the labor view that the way out of the debt crisis is to borrow more, spend more, but i do think what we need to have in britain, absolutely vital is the lower interest rate that we have which when this government came to power we have the same

interest rates. today hours are below 2% where spanish rates are over 6%. to the shadow chancellor from a secondary position that somehow this was delusional let me remind him what he said. the simplest measure of monetary and fiscal credibility is long-term low interest rates. that is what britain has got and what we have got to do. >> mr. speaker, totally failed to answer the question. the foreign secretary, a problem in the economy is the british business is not working hard enough. president of france is an ally. mr. speaker, there is one group of people we know are losing their jobs and that is the police. 30,000 of whom marched on the street last week. can the prime minister tell us

how many front-line police officers have been lost since he came to power? >> no surprise he wanted to rush off of the economy. let me remind him what the government is doing to boost the economy. we cut corporation taxes and boosted enterprise and investing in apprenticeships and housing and making sure we put the money in infrastructure but above all because we have a plan to deal with our deficit we have the lowest interest rate where he would give us the highest interest rate. turning to policing, they have actually found police forces are planning to increase the proportion of police officers that are working on the front lines. they are taking people in the back of this and putting them on the front lines. let me tell this to the hon. gentleman. both parties are committed to making cuts in police budgets. he has a billion pounds of thrust but the point is we are

reforming allowances and cutting paperwork and freezing pay and reforming pensions. he wouldn't do any of those things so his cuts would be deeper because he doesn't have the courage to do the right thing. >> on the economy, this is a recession made in downing street. [shouting] >> that is the reality. on policing, everyone will have noticed his answer. the proportion of front-line officers. that is because he is backing so many police officers from the back office. what is happening to the number of from wind police officers? 5,000 fewer frontline officers. you have fewer neighborhood police and fewer traffic police. what was his sales pitch?

they were ejected for police officers. no wonder they are losing the election. just before the election this is what he said. they don't want to hear about what he said before the election. any prime minister who comes to me may involve front line reduction, straight back to their department to go away and think again. is there any one who is furious with this broken promise? >> nothing -- let me try to explain. whoever was standing here right now would have to cut police budgets. they accept that. we accept that but if you don't have the courage to deal with allowances and paperwork and pay you would have to make deeper cuts. this is -- i am extremely calm.

[shouting and laughter] >> this is what his own police spokesman said. he was asked the question. he was asked the question are you accepting the need for a freeze on police play? no. that is it. they don't expect the freeze on pay or pension reform. they would not do the paperwork. they would be cutting the police force. that is their position. no policy ideas at all. >> i know he has extensive training before he goes before lesson --leveson. i have a suggestion. i think this should include a intermarriage and. it is not just in policing where he has broken his promises. we all remember promises three years ago to the nurses. he told the conference there will be no top down reorganization. he didn't go back to the nursing

conference this year. can the prime minister tell us how many fewer nurses there were sins he came to power? >> the number of clinical staff has gone up and the reason is because this government has put more money into the n h as every year. his commitment is that spending on the nhs is irresponsible and his idea is to cut spending. this is the lowest number of people waiting for 18 weeks in our nhs because we have more clinical staff and fewer people doing this work in the nhs. back to the bunker with that. mr. speaker. >> there are 3,500 fewer nurses sins he became prime minister. couldn't even get a figure on the radio. they couldn't tell us how many

nurses in training who can't find jobs and all because he has diverted billions of pounds from patient care to a top down reorganization. he doesn't like being reminded of his words but that is because he broke his promise. that is the problem with this government. they cut taxes for millionaires and services for the rest of us. i know you don't like hearing about it. what did the hon. member say? we can't convince voters we are on their side when we give top earners attacks that leaving mr. and mrs. average reeling. that is the truth of this government. they're unfair, out of touch and stand up for the wrong people. what this government has done is delivered a tax cut for every single working person in the country. cancel tax for every household

in the country. taken two million people out of tax in our country. what is the big decision? what is the big decision the leader of the opposition has taken? he took the person in charge of his policy review, hon. member, had to be serious about the deficit because they had to be serious about welfare reform. the person who told us they ran out of money and they replaced him with a policy chief who thinks labor's problem is they're not close enough to the trade unions. that is the big decision. i often wonder whether the problem is whether he is week. he is close. >> perhaps we can now make some progress with short questions and short answers. [shouting] >> does my right hon. friend

propose that chancellor angela merkel now regrets that she did not take the advice last october about the big bazooka, which if she had fired it today, would have scared the union from the crisis? >> i can't quite give a direct answer. what i would say to the hon. gentleman is the euro zone has to make a choice. if the euro zone wants to continue as it is then it has got to build a proper fire wall. it has got to take steps to secure the weakest members of the euro zone or it is going to have to go in a different direction. it is looking at a potential breakup. that is the choice they have to make and cannot put off.

>> mr. speaker. why did he attend and what documents did he save? >> i know the hon. lady is desperate to find a smoking gun but this is not -- we took an incoming purpose that in the past there were two. >> order! a question has been put and the answer must be heard. >> too many people who had been cleared at the highest level has led to some of the problems in terms of alastair campbell. when it came to it and the process of being development, there is absolutely no mystery about this and i would look somewhere else. >> mr. speaker, just posted the first quarterly trade since the

1975 -- sins the 1975 naturalization by one of the last labor government. will the prime minister welcome the news the president has not only cut the deficit by 25% over the last few years but once again a net car exporter. >> my friend makes the good point and the party opposite does not want to hear. he is absolutely right. we had to make difficult decisions we are closer to dealing with our problems but on motor car manufacturer is encouraging that we finally have a surplus in car manufacturing because of the hard work people put in at honda and jaguar land rover. extremely good news it has taken this long to get back to a trade surplus and britain is once

again a real home for manufacturing. >> two years ago during the general election the press reported the prime minister promising, quote, we won't bring in the 80 increase. has the prime minister considers and reversed the increase, putting money in people's pockets to stimulate the economy and pay it down? >> the reason we put it up is we would let the biggest budget deficit anywhere in europe. bigger than "james madison and the making of america" -- bigger than greece or spain or portugal. we know from reading the former chancellor's word that he was going to put it up too. >> you may be aware this is adult learning week and inspiration or read and to

support the energy worker. can i invite the prime minister to say to themselves how this works for the rest of the country to benefit people? >> the hon. lady is right to raise this issue. it is a tragedy that there are too many adults who do not have proper literacy and reading skills because of not being taught properly at school. it is vital we put that through the initiative she recommends but we have got to do better to make sure no child is left behind. renown no -- no child gets behind the scheme, we must make sure it is available for every child in every school. >> the police service in northern ireland has reviewed that between 1960, and 2005 it kept body parts and tissue

samples and 64 cases of suspicious deaths without notifying families, many in my constituency and other police forces in england to see them. they simplify with the families concerned and obviously the shock that is felt throughout northern ireland. and -- what happened, families know as quickly as possible. independent review to explain exactly how this practice went on for so long across the united kingdom. >> i think the hon. gentleman, expressing sympathy for the families who found out this terrible news about their loved ones. it must be a time of huge a wish. it was going to be announced

properly on monday, proper statement and explanation what has gone wrong. i am sure my right hon. friend will listen carefully to what is about a formal inquiry but first of all publish the information so everyone can see what went wrong. and see what happened. >> i remember well how proud people were to be the first in their family to own their own home. the same opportunity to a new generation. >> the right to buy your house was an important social and economic change that gave people a stake in their community and lead to a huge improvements up and down the country. it is very sad that under the last government that discounts were allowed to go away. we are going to increase the

discount rate away. in some cases quadrupling of the available discounts. two years and we find their homes again. >> mr. austin. >> in recent weeks we have had -- britain has gone back into recession. we have had crazy advice from the office of petrol at home. which of these have caused the calamitous collapse in his reputation? >> what he should be recognizing is unemployment has fallen. the claimant has come down. more people are at work. we have a difficult economic situation but he listens to the governor of the bank of england he would have heard we are coming up with a textbook response to what needs to be done to clear up the mess made

by people like him. >> mr. speaker please look at the homeland of my constituency, having a tough time at the moment. it would be worse if not for the consistently low interest rates and long-term interest rates in the same space. this week a record low under 2% or failure of 6%. will the prime minister assure people you do nothing to but the situation together? >> my friend makes an important point which is every increase in interest rates of 1% will add 1,000 pounds to the typical family mortgage. today british interest rates are below 2% because the world has confidence that in spite of economic difficulties we have a plan to deal with our debt and deficit. you can see from looking around europe what happens if you don't have a plan. your interest rates go up. bad for business and homeowners

and the economy and that is what we get if we listen to the party opposite. >> many agencies let down the children involved in a rough sale of these cases. the house must agree it is close enough to children for safe and secure place to live must be paramount. given the wide scale concerns about the way children's homes operate, will he look at having inquiries whether they are properly funded to cut profits? would he also make sure monetary now begins to work? it has not done so in the past. >> i am glad the hon. gentleman raised this issue. it is a shocking case and we need to look carefully at what went wrong. i asked my right hon. friend to do this. he has asked the children's commissioner to do a piece of work on it. we need to look at why information was not passed more rapidly from children's homes to

police and why action wasn't taken more rapidly. there are obviously issues about inspection which he discusses and issues why action wasn't taken and it is important to get to the bottom of a truly critical case. >> they are celebrating today -- the final at wembley. in my constituency a local manufacturing business, creating new jobs and correcting censorship. would the prime minister agree that the record number of apprenticeships is a clear sign big government is committed to getting britain working? >> i am grateful to my hon. friend. that might be a prime ministerial curse. on apprenticeship we achieved 50,000 apprenticeships and hope to achieve another over a 4,000 this year. the budget has been increased

over 1 billion pounds. they should deliver 250,000 more apprenticeships across, and that were planned by the party opposite. there's a lot more to do to make sure these are high-quality and targeting on the young people who need help most. >> thank you. my hon. friend, and the cares and situation -- i want to speak about the hon. girls -- in terms of what they experience as tribute to their bravery in coming forward and their abuses. they did it to get justice and stop it happening to others. they don't usually get that. they don't get easy access to power or influence. how will the government respond to these terrible crimes and will the prime minister support

this? >> can i hate to be to the hon. gentleman? he is right to say these girls are brave to come forward and tell their stories and difficulties that involves but also to the right he himself has talked about people who come to his constituencies. this is a problem across the communities but there are particular problems and he has been brave to say that because we need to face these problems if we are going to deal with them. in terms of what he asks of the review i will have a look at that. the office of the children's commissioner will hopefully come up with recommendations within a month. and safeguarding children has conducted a review of child exploitation that will be published but the issue of the serious case will look at that as well. >> next year international academy will have the first-ever british school to host the international student science fair welcoming schools from

around the world. of the prime minister agree with me that if britain was to prosper in the future we need to lead the world in science and technology and should support the efforts of schools like campbell which are leading the way? >> absolutely right to highlight this issue. it is clearly doing a good job. if we want to compete in a competitive global market we need more science teaching and science graduates and we need to encourage those science graduates back to the classroom to train the next generation of scientists and engineers. there has been an 80% increase in the number of students taking science gccs since 2010 and the secretary of state for education has put in place and generous schemes to encourage our top math and science graduates back into the classroom to make sure they're teaching the next generation. >> it is now clear the government does not have a comprehensive long-term strategy for care. does the prime minister in agree that increase in home care

charges released in figures today is the result of his cut of a billion pounds of local council budgets? >> i don't think the hon. gentleman's figures are right. in the spending review we put two billion pounds extra into adult social care. there isn't a clear strategy or half way for social care. we need to deliver one. that is why there is going to be a white paper coming forward this year which has to look at -- they had 30 years! the decision of the decision. will commissions, absolutely nothing was done. in two years we got more done than in 13. >> thank you, mr. speaker. some 2,000 highly paid have been exposed for paying their fair share of taxes. would the prime minister agree that whenever someone is paid a

salary using taxpayer money the government should insist they are on the payroll and pay full pay income tax? >> the hon. lady's right to raise this and i agree with what she says. we have been shocked by the level of this problem.

>> i'm very happy to listen to his views as he take hold of this important piece of work. there are many opportunities to look at energy connectors and energy cooperation particularly between england, france and northern european countries. >> we have praised the work program. i think the honorable general makes an important point. not only has the work programke got up and running quickly, it is that she helped already or is helping 519,000 people. it will help over 3 million people in total.

the keyr difference between this and previous programs is payment by results. we are paying providers for money for more difficult people. got serious challenges getting back intove the workplace. i thinkng we can use this progrm notu just to help people fallen out of work recently, but people who lost connection with the labor market. those are the people we want to help. >> in april of last year, thea government announced the bids io round one of the regional growth fund. i was very pleased to be included.e it means 500 jobs and it means rescuing people in the country. 13 months later, no at penny of thata regional growth fund money has materialized. will theat prime minster tell me why, hem find out to ensure thie money flows before the summer recess? >> the regional fund is a whole

about half of the projects arero under way. serious amounts of money is being dispersed in terms of comparison with the regional development agency. the overcoast are like $3 million compared to $240 million. i'll certainly look at his projects and write to him shortly. >> you've been watching prime minster's questions from the british house of commons. questions and times airs live on c-span every wednesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern. reminder you can watch past prime minster questions as well as other british public affairs programs any time at c-span.org. world leaders are in chicago for a two day nato summit. items on the agenda, european economy, afghanistan and iran's nuclear program.

next remarks from nato's secretary general an anders fogh rasmussen. and then president obama and hamid karzai talk about the strategic partnership agreement. this is about 20 minutes. >> good morning. chicago is a world class city and the leaders from around the world are coming here today. i would particularly like to thank the people of this great city for making us all feel so welcome. we come here in chicago for a we come here in chicago for a

crucial time. our summit has three key priorities, keeping afghanistan secure and now in years to come. keeping nato strong and capable in the 21st century and keeping our global network of partners. today we will focus on security in an age of austerity. we will ensure that the alliance has the capabilities to deal with security challenges of the future, even as we tackle the economic challenges of the present. we would adopt a concrete package of national project which can provide greater security for all of your citizens at lower cost. we would embrace every new culture corporation which we call smart defense. i expect we will take the first