douglas brinkley on his neuberger fee of walter cronkite. next sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific here on c-span. >> next, a british prime minister david cameron takes questions in the house of commons. commencement speeches by first lady michelle obama and ca director david petraeus. and "q&a" with former secret service agents clint hill. david cameron answered questions on the health of the british economy. he noted unemployment is decreasing although youth unemployment remained unchallenged. at the end of the session, the speaker announces that aung san suu kyi will address both houses of parliament in late june. this is about 35 minutes.

>> question to the branprime minister. >> thank you. i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others and in addition, i shall have further such meetings later today. >> [inaudible] does the prime minister shiver when he thinks about what happened? >> i think any hon. lady makes a good point. it is worth while listening to what the director of the imf said yesterday. when i think back myself to make 2010 when the u.k. deficit was at 11% and i try to imagine what the situation would be like today, if no such program had

been decided, i shiver. that is what she said. we should remember who was responsible for leading that situation. beveling the national debt, a record deficit, a catastrophic and harridans and one for which we have not had an apology still. >> mr. speaker. the law should be added -- changed to allow employers to fire people at will. the business secretary says it is the last thing the government should do. does -- which department do you agree with? >> we need to make it easier for businesses to grow. the crop -- the report had a number of excellent ideas that we're taking forward.

where the governing the qualifying period and exempting businesses from -- people who are self-employed. we are consulting on the dismissal but only for [inaudible] >> the prime minister did not answer the question about a proposal. >> he made a proposal for employers to fire their employees at will. people think this is a great proposal. the people over there think it is a bonkers proposal. we want to know where the prime minister stands. who does he agree with? >> he did not listen to my answer.

we have a call for evidence for businesses -- that is the position. i am not surprised. >> i wonder how long it took him to think that one out? >> the prime minister says he is consulting on the proposal. this is what the author said. some people will be dismissed simply because their employer does not like them. while this is bad, i believe it is a price worth paying. that is what they used to say about unemployment. i talking -- telling us sacking people for no reason is a price worth paying? >> unemployment is falling. this government has cut the

deficit by 25%. we are cutting regulations by 3 million pounds and scrapping 1500 regulations. we're looking at introducing fees for employment tribunals. we're taking all the steps which have led to the greatest number of small business start-ups last year in the country's history. we cannot support any changes in regulation because he is in the pocket of the trade union. his business secretary does not support his proposal. when it comes to -- ordinary workers, he wants to make the -- it easier. it is all about second chances. >> he commission's advice from a

multi millionaire to recommend [unintelligible] at the same time giving people like him tens of thousands of pounds in a millionaire tax [unintelligible] >> we commission the report and reject a bits we do not agree with. what he does is he takes instruction from his trade union paper losses. he asks what we're doing for the poorest people in our country. there are new private-sector jobs. his record was opposite. >> this is not about the trade unions. it is about millions of people up and down this country in fear

their jobs and the only answer is to make it easier to sack them. this proposal as a symbol of a government failure on growth. unemployment is high. bad retail sales figures today. does the prime minister understand how out of touch his when he said as he did last week, things a moving in the right direction? this is about the trade unions. he is getting 900,000 pounds from unite. there are threatening a bus strike. what have we heard from him? silence. he is getting 400,000 pounds from the gnp. they're holding up baggage handlers strike. you have to parties on this side of the house acting in the natural -- national interest and

the other side working in the trade union interests. >> on march 21, the money comes flooding in from the tar -- from the millionaire donors. it tells you all you need to know about this government. they stand up for their own people. he may have changed the image of the tory party but the reality has not changed. making it easier to sack people. the nasty party is back. it is this threat that some of the enterprises that reforming the planning laws, that boosted the apprenticeships, that cut taxes for 24 million working people. it is only labour who think the answer is more boring, more spending, more debt. exactly the problems that got us into this mess in the first

place. >> we will have more. >> thank you. in 1993, [unintelligible] last week, a memorial plaque was stolen. will the prime mr. consider legislation? >> my friend makes an extremely important point. the whole country was shocked by the theft of that memorial and everyone remembers the warrington bomb and the people who died. we have already legislated and we have made this an offense. we are doing everything to sort out the problems of the scrap metal trade. any court in this circumstance

is able to hand out exemplary sentences. the public are appalled by what happened. >> question two. there are two ways of measuring youth unemployment. this includes full and part-time students, over 1 million. youth unemployment is too high on either measure although it rose by 40% under the previous government. it fell by 17,000. if you look at the claimant count, the number of young unemployed people has fallen since the election. >> the number of young people greatly increase in the last year. up a tax force to

deal with this increasing scourged. will the prime minister commit the active participation of every relevant department in the task force work? >> i certainly will do that. there is vital work to be done. what we're finding with all the schemes we have whether it is the work program or youth program, that is the work experience because it gives young people and experience of the workplace and drove some of a disadvantage they face against older workers. it has a better record and other schemes and i hope he will be able to push that and pioneer that with the help of the agencies he says. >> the figures released last week showing that since may 2010, the number of people waiting for an operation has fallen by over 50,000.

does this not demonstrate their contents to health funding and our reforms are beginning to bear fruit? >> we did make an important and difficult decision. while other budgets were being, -- being cut, we were supporting the the budget. we have the best ever performance for patients waiting after 18 weeks. this has also reached record lows and the average waiting time is lower than they were in 2010. they asked whether the test should be, people waiting over 18 weeks. if that is the test, we passed it with flying colors. >> they are minister last his scheme. only five companies have

benefited. who are the five companies and why that scheme has been such a dismal failure? >> the truth is that export scheme has been rolled into the export guarantee scheme more generally. the amount is at -- massively up in terms of billions being spent. also exports compared with 2010 were up over 12% last year. >> will the prime esther drew me in congratulating the northampton parents and partnership? 27 local authorities were represented. if we are serious about strengthening our society, providing therapeutic support for families who are struggling

to bond with their new babies is key. >> i know that the hon. lady speaks with a lot of personal experience having set up a project in oxford sure that has had a major impact and her work does her huge credit. real disadvantage for children kicks in right from the moment they're born if they do not get the love and support and help they need. that is why it is important the project she is talking about. also the health visitor scheme, 4200 extra visitors can make a difference and the measure we took to make sure that new parents get proper contact information from their midwife before and after the child is born so we do everything to remove that disadvantage in the early months and years. >> will the prime minister give an undertaking -- [unintelligible] he will stand up for the resolution that was passed in

this house by an overwhelming majority, that he will stand up for the sovereignty of this house and the british people? >> the short answer is yes. when you are sent to prison mueller's certain rights and one of those is the right to vote. and i believe this should be a matter of parliament deciding. not a foreign court. parliament has made its decision and i agree. >> thank you. there is a new facility for the engineering and manufacturing of electronics. what is essential to continue and increase investment in manufacturing? >> >>what is essential for

engineering is the support we are giving to produce chips were we achieved over 450,000 apprentice ships last year. also the low rates and the links between our universities and these centers to make sure technology goes into our businesses and makes them world- beating. if you look at our exports, they're up 20, 30, 40, 50%. >> the prime minister pledged to 's citites --posie -- cities [unintelligible] on a fair deal for birmingham. will the prime minister agree

to meet with a delegate? >> i am pleased to meet with leaders of councils up and down the country. what is important is what needs to be done to drive economic growth and make sure we provide its services. i hope the new council will match the record of the old council in providing value for money. >> [unintelligible] pleading guilty to keeping their 10-year-old son in [unintelligible] the law dates from 1933. [unintelligible] to look at this law once again.

>> it was a completely shocking case. how anyone can treat their child in that way is unfathomable. a lot of what he says about a lot commission and modernizing the law. in terms of dealing with these appalling cases of child neglect and where families have broken down, we do have so many agencies currently working on this including social workers the important thing is to have system of passing on concerns and acting on those concerns. passing another law will not make up for the common sense and action week required our agencies to deliver. >> thank you. can i thank the prime minister and the chancellor for driving with so many of their colleagues in voting against the amendment. and given that 65% of the public -- [unintelligible]

when will the minister do more about ending illegal loansharking in the u.k.? >> also the ofp has power as well. you can -- we need to talk to those agencies. >> this government and this country are on the right track. we do face difficult economic times and we will go on in a minute to talk about the plans that are required but what we have to do is rebalance our economy that have become over reliant on the public sector and services and we need the growth of the private sector and

manufacturing technology and we need it more fairly spread across the country. what you see from the employment figures as the decline in public sector employment which would be inevitable to whoever was in power. the new jobs shows that some firms are expanding and growing and we must be on their side. >> unemployment is higher now than it was in 2010. >> the point i made is the last government excluded from the unemployment numbers people who were on temporary employment schemes. we include those people. people in the work program are included. we measure these things accurately. if you compare, unemployment has fallen since the election. >> thank you.

if this continues, the same funding is required. make an important decision in this comprehensive spending which was to protect the budget. it would have been an easy target for reduction and if we could have spent that money on more attractive things. we decided to save the science budget because it is a key part of britain's future. >> the chair [unintelligible] which will be the equivalent of the entire force. who is right? >> the truth is whoever was in government will have to make

cuts and that is what the labor party is dedicated to. we have made reductions in police budgets and the key to having police officers on the street is to cut the pork and deal with the pay issues. we have the courage to do that and his party should support as well. >> the network and bided -- will the prime minister condemned the support for squatters and support the criminalization of squatting? >> i certainly support what he says. it is important that homeowners have proper protection from stealing property. it is a criminal act and it is a criminal offense. >> it was a -- revealed that officials received bonuses of 3.5 million pounds.

what for? the fact that 100,000 pounds have been archived and 185 people have absconded, do you agree we should be rewarding success, not failure? >> i completely agree. there is no place in the modern civil service for a resumption of good employer -- performance. i believe in people -- paying people bonuses if they meet their targets. if they do not, they should not get their bonus. it is important continue to make progress. it is an urgent issue. it is vital for trade that people have a decent experience when they arrive at our airports. we have a new control room opening this month. ande's an extra 80 staff

480 people will come on stream during the olympics. we need to do more to get on top of this problem. >> we were relieved to learn that this government has cleared one quarter of the record irresponsible deficit left by the party. they understand -- what they would like to know is has the prime minister received one quarter of an apology? >> i noticed the did not want to go anywhere near the international monetary fund. perhaps that is because of something else the director general said. you have to compare the british deficit situation against other countries which experienced a rare deficit numbers, did not take action right away and are

facing very stressful financing terms that is putting their situation in jeopardy. we would have been in jeopardy if we had not taken the brave steps that we took. >> there is half a million pounds [unintelligible] >> there is a big difference between the money the conservative party braces for business and individuals and the money that labour gets from unions. the money the labour party gets sponsor members of parliament and collect your leaders. they all knew, lox stock and block a vote.

-- lock, stock, and block vote. >> mr. stephen williams. >> the coalition government has restored order and stability to the public. is it not now [unintelligible] to put effort and vigor into growth in the economy by the government facilitating i guarantee in investment and housing and infrastructure? >> the gentleman is right and i am sure he welcomes the enterprise zone in bristol and the support for animation and television industries. what we need to do is combined the deficit reduction which has given us the low interest-rate

with an act of monetary policy with structural reforms to make us competitive and an innovative way of using our credibility which we would not have if we listened to the matter and if it sitting opposite me. -- muttering idiot sitting opposite me. >> order. >> i am worried about the health of the health minister. he is overexcited and he might suffer a relapse. i am a compassionate chat. i do not want that to happen. a simple withdrawal will

suffice. >> i will [unintelligible] who left us with this enormous deficit in this financial crisis. >> thank you. after six months in government, his government announced they had created 500,000 private- sector jobs. he is giving us the figure of 600,000 since the election. why has the rate of growth slowed down so much? >> there are 100,000 extra people in employment over the last quarter. we have seen repeated unemployment and increases in employment. i would have thought the hon. lady would have wanted to

welcome that. >> with unemployment down in lancaster, [unintelligible] a company of 40 family run employees who supply high precision work that goes nationally and internationally and turning [unintelligible] into full-time companies. to be sure businesses are moving in the right direction. >> i am sure he will be pleased as well with the order that british and ba systems half. more good news for british jobs and investment and aerospace. >> some of our constituents will be hungry today if it was not for the work of the bank and similar organizations. if the current trend continues, food bank reckons that by the next election they will be feeding half a million of our

constituents. might i therefore -- he might can dohat the government do t to counter this. >> let me joined the member in honoring the work they do. what is vital, we do what we can to protect the poorest people in our country. that is why we have frozen the council and increased the pension and operated benefits in line with inflation which has protected people who need protection the most. we have had to cut the tax credit but we increased the tax credit to the poorest people. >> thank you. the prime minister and i might not agree about everything but we do agree about certain things. we agree that i should never be promoted. [laughter]

one of the things we also agree about is the need to put public sector pensions in a sustainable footing. you have to pay 2% of their families. whether the taxpayer pays 33%. given the increases in pension contributions, will the prime vester make sure we apply in the same requirements on judges also? >> what i would say to him is judicial pensions have always been treated separately. because of what judges do for our country. in terms of public sector pensions more generally, what we have managed to do, being a reply to a serious question, let's hear it with a degree of respect. >> what we have done with public

sector to pensions is reduced by half a future costs but while maintaining a public-sector pension system that is more generous than people are able to access in the private sector. as for his earlier remarks, i have plans for the young gentlemen. >> michael mccann. >> mr. speaker -- [laughter] >> order. >> i do not intend to go into any of that i do want to hear mr. mccann. >> there was a man in the center who was in for several years. the cps -- [unintelligible]

they were abused by the state. i bill unnecessary that justice be done. >> the first thing the gentleman should do is make sure that evidence is given to the crime -- crown prosecution service and authorities so it can be investigated. they made a number of recommendations so i will carefully. >> i have a short statement to make. colleagues will be aware that the prime minister has extended a formal invitation to nobel prize winner and newly elected parliamentarians aung san suu kyi to visit the united kingdom

next month. at my request, she has kindly agreed to address members of both houses in westminster hall on thursday, the 21st of june at 3:00 p.m. for other -- details will be sent to members in due course. order. >> you have been watching prime minister's questions from the british house of commons. members will recess for the next two weeks. question time returns on wednesday, june 13 at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. it can find video of past questions and other british public affairs programming. >> next a discussion about mitt romney is working at bain capital and then