questions to the prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. m sure the whole house wished to join me in paying tribute to lance corporal james brinen who died in afghanistan. it is clear from the tributes that he was a highly talented and proferblal soldier. our thoughts are with his frie he was a highly talented and professional soldier. our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his colleagues at this very difficult time. he has made the ultimate sacrifice and we must never forget him. on a happier note, i'm sure the inse would join me celebrating the christening of maybe prince georges morning. in addition to my duties at the house i will have further meetings later today. >> could ian fraser.

join my friend in his tribute to -- our prayers are with his family. applause for the christening of prince georges morning. friend honorable thing think it is a good time for an apology from those regional branches of the police and also from the leader of the opposition? saying onstart by behalf of the whole house and everyone in the house that we should put on record what an incredible job the police do on our behalf every day. i see that at very close hand. the police at bravery awards last week. meeting said that that he gave no explanation and

so it is not clear, reading the ip cc report that the police do need to make an apology. it is a moment from us to consider what we said it is time and i believe the opposition will do the same thing. >> mr. speaker, canada and the prime minister in paying tribute to lance corporal james brian and who died on his second tour duty in afghanistan. he was a brave professional soldier and i send our deepest condolences to his family and friends. i also joined the prime minister in celebrating the christening of st. george later today -- the christening of prince george later today. the prime minister said anyone who wanted to intervene directly industry is living in a marxist universe. how does he feel now that the

red para was claimed for john major? >> we are intervening. surprised he wants to quit the last conservative prime minister. let me be clear, though. the media absolutely clear. i do believe in intervening in the energy market. that is why we are legislating lowestcustomers on the tariffs. where john major is absolutely right is that bills in this country have reached a completely unacceptable level. and we need to take action on that. we need to help people to pay their bills and the also need to help to get bills down. this is where we need a very frank conversation on what it is that is putting bills up. we are prepared to have that conversation.

he is employed in cynical ploys and gimmicks. >> john major was a conservative prime minister who won a majority on like this prime minister. unlike this prime minister. >> mr. speaker, i think the prime minister said something rather interesting. he does agree with sir john major that the energy price increases are unacceptable. if we agreed there unacceptable, the question is what are we going to do about it? given the scale of their profits we should recoup that money, that is a quote from him. he was a do it to a windfall tax. i say we need a price freeze, what does the prime minister want to do to recoup that money for the consumer? questionanswer the directly. we need to roll back some of the

.reen regulations and charges yes! yes x? we all know who put them in place. >> very overexcited. i want to hear the answer. let's are the prime minister. >> he talks about john major winning elections, and he's right. he bk wheat and incredible labor leader. , and he isalso said absolutely right, was that labor's policy was unworkable and he is absolutely right. what we need to do is recognize their are four pieces to an energy bill. there are the wholesale prices which are beyond our control, there are the costs of transmission and the grid, which are difficult to change, their other prophets of the energy company and there are the green regulations.

it is those last two that we need to get to grips with. i can tell the house today that we will be having a proper competition test carried out over the next year to get to the bottom of whether this market can be more competitive. , i wantore companies better regulations, i want better deals for consumers. but yes, we also need to roll back the green charges that he put in place as energy secretary. and you really -- he's changing his policy every week. his energy secretary said it has nothing to do with green taxes. vote loue man who says to go green? it was him. what is weak.u it is not standing up for the

energy companies. that is this prime minister all over. created the big six energy companies? when labour came to power there were 17 companies in the market, now there are just six. mr. speaker, i can help the members opposite, because i have the briefing, the fact that labor mps have been given about their own energy policy. iny might want to listen, case you haven't read the briefing, they might want to hear it. question seven. what would stop the energy companies just increasing their prices beforehand? absolutely no answer. question six, question six. let me share your briefing with you. companies justop increasing the prices once the freeze ends? here we have a great labor answer. view,blic will take a dim

a dim view, how incredibly brave. nine,have question because this says it all. labor briefing. this is what it says. energyer van was secretary in the last government. isn't he to blame for rising bills? and we all know the answer -- yes he is. what happened you mr. speaker. when i was energy secretary energy bills went down. since he became prime minister since you became pastor there up by hundred pounds. let's clarify where we are. the prime minister says price rises are unacceptable. he says he wants to act. now, he is the prime minister and i think he sometimes forgets it. heaven help us, he is the prime minister, but he can act. he should implement labor's price freeze. bill andend the energy

we can bring in that price freeze right now, two parties working together in the national interest. let's do it. >> mr. speaker, i think you been following too much of their advice and wearing woolly jumpers. we can bring in this price freeze right now. >> he knows perfectly well, it is not a price freeze, it is a price con. is, rises would go a beforehand, he wouldn't keep his promise and prices would go up afterwards. it is a cynical ploy from the edergy secretary who wrecks

the energy market in the first place. >> telling people last week that the answer was to switch appliances and that would solve the energy market. what do say to someone who took his advice last week to switch from bruce cass only to discover that empire was raising it five percent. to 250 poundse up if you switch. but we want a more competitive energy market. he left us a market with just six players. we've party scene seven new energy players come in to that market. we need an annual audit of competition to make this market more competitive, something he never did when in office and we need to roll back the costs that have been imposed on people's energy bills come part of which he was responsible for. none of the first activist governments was a take the hundred 79 pounds that he was going to put on to energy bills because of his renewable heat

initiative. he put bills up. he's trying to con the public, we will deliver for hard-working people. >> john major said what we all know. we have a prime minister who stands up for the energy companies, not hard-pressed families. that choice isnk between heating and eating. these are the ordinary people of this country who this prime minister will never meet and whose lives they will never understand. the differences, john major is a good man, the right honorable gentleman is acting like a con man. these promises something he knows he can't deliver. he knows he can't deliver because he never delivered it when he was in office. >> mr. andrew stevenson. >> thank you, mr. speaker. live, town right

unemployment is down and small is flourishing. however serious traffic congestion is holding back the economic growth of the area. with a prime minister join with me in welcoming the start of a six-week consultation on a cold bypass that will address his problem? >> a very much welcome what my honorable friend says. bike paths andd roads in our country. i welcome the consultation on the cold bypass and it comes as he says at the same time as for good news on unemployment. we have a million more people in work in our country. ago, thes day 20 years provisional ira brutally murdered innocent men women and children on the schenkel roads in belfast. with the premise to join with me and honorable colleagues it

ensuring that no one in a civilized society will ever or --innocent victims will never equally innocent victims of guilty murderers. >> we all remember that day. should ever one glorify in any way terrorism or those who take part in terrorism. what he knows and what i know is that everyone in northern ireland has to try to come together to talk about a shared future and to try to leave the past behind. rural post offices are vitally important but they need more government were to survive. he have to continue to pay pensions and benefits. they also act as a front office for government. will the prime minister encourage all his ministers to give more government were to post offices? to see the post

office network survive and indeed thrive. unlike the last government to solve nearly one third of the rural post office network close, we have committed that no post office will close in this parliament. i absolutely hear what he says. the current arrangements for -- collectingneth pensions and benefits will stay in place until at least 2015 and the post office is discussing an extension to 2017. >> mr. speaker, at one point 5 million people in the uk are to drugs. i no one individual who has been on these products for over 45 years, total life ruined. drug abusers, their victims of the system of repeat prescriptions. with the prime minister advice of department of health to give some guidance to the clinical commissioning groups to introduce withdrawal programs in

line with the advice from professor at newcastle university who is an expert in the field to get these people back to life? >> first, let me pay tribute to the honorable menu -- to the honorable menu who has dedicated himself to this issue. terribleht, this is a affliction. people are not drug addicts but have become hooked on repeats prescriptions of tranquilizers. the minister of public health is happy to discuss his issue with him and make sure that the relevant guidance can be issued. i know the prime minister is very well aware of the concerns that many of our people have on rising energy prices. act toill either for reduce the effect of mr. hume's unfortunate legacy by cutting the carbon reduction policy, elongation the targets and

relieving the burden on both consumer and business men. >> my honorable friend makes a good point. we have to have an honest discussion about it, because the fact is, on our energy bills is 112 pounds of green taxes and green regulations. we need to work out what is necessary to encourage renewable energy. what is necessary to go on winning overseas investment into the uk, but how we can bear down on people's bills. it simply is the politics of the con man to pretend that you can freeze prices when you're not in control of global energy prices. when the proper approach is to at what is changing prices. >> the use of the word con man is on parliamentary. the prime minister is a man of great fertility in the use of language. it is a bit low the level. we will leave it there.

>> mr. speaker, yesterday the independents reported the government failure to close the quoted eurobond tax loophole which could be losing in excess of 500 million pounds a year. as a prime minister ever been lobbied on this loophole and will he now pledged to close it immediately? memory of never been lobbied on this issue. the treasury secretary has listened carefully to the arguments and made decisions for the reasons she knows. >> over 300,000 new businesses have been registered in the united kingdom over the last three years, a record figure. the key priority in supporting these businesses over the difficult first few years of

trading is to make sure that we bear down on regulations. much as been done to the red tape challenge, one in, one-out out and other measures. what can we do to support these risktakers in these fiscal times? that weews out today is now have the largest number of companies in our country is ever existed and over the last three years we now see 400,000 extra companies become established. what we have to do is help them and everywhere we can. i think the most powerful thing we're doing is cutting the national insurance you will have to pay by 2000 pounds, starting next year. that will be a real boost to small businesses. but also the red tape they are currently facing we're dealing with. fellow european leaders from finland, from italy and germany and elsewhere. businesseshelp small

grow the economy. >> mr. speaker, new research shows that his government is trapping low earning aspirant parents on benefits. andping parents working costing the taxpayer. isn't it time for a rethink? thee know labor are against benefit cap. labor wants unlimited benefits for families. they're no longer the labour party, they are the welfare party and it is very clear from the question that they are. we think it is right to cap benefits because no family can earn more out of work than they can earn in work. the early evidence is showing that this is encouraging people to look for work area for a party that believes in hard- working people, that is good news, presumably for the welfare party that is bad news. >> the prime minister will be ofre of the business model the not-for-profit company responsible to its consumers and

not turn shareholders. does a prime minister agree that such a company in the energy supply sector would introduce real competition? competition in the energy sector, whether that comes from private businesses are cooperative businesses or as he says charitable enterprises. we want an open energy market. fact is what we are left was the big six. a gift left by the party opposite. -- the reasonft the energy market is working properly lies largely at his door. >> thank you, mr. speaker. approximately seven years to rehouse the 1400 tenants who wish to downsize --ause they're unable to buy unable to pay the bedroom tax. -- increasing the housing benefit bill or should they try and save money by turning off the heating and wearing a

jumper? >> what is fair about removing the spare room subsidy is that it makes the situation fair between private sector rented accommodation and council sector rented accommodation. it is that some of fairness that we want to see in a country. the party opposite have opposed everything the welfare reduction that we have proposed. 85 billion pounds they would have to find for posing every single thing we have done to help get this country back on track. turnover andased the very strongly increased -- is mirrored in the real economy all over the country among not just in my constituency. will the prime minister undertake not to be diverted from the long hard slog of writing the public finances and theing the -- of righting

public finances. and putting our economy right for the long-term? can i take this opportunity to pay tribute to him as a constituency mp, standing up for people and businesses in rye gate, knowing that what rye gate needs is good for the country. more jobs, more investment, turning our country around. fixed odds betting machines allow the users to stick 100 seconds.ery 20 with the pm consider banning these addictive machines in

ireland? that beenn issue lobbied on across his house and more broadly. i think it is worth having a proper look at this issue to see what we can do to make sure that yes, we want to have bookmakers that are not overregulated, but on the other hand a fair approach and a decent approach that her vents problem gambling. parents, teachers and staff were very disappointed when there preschool applications failed. managed by thes barnes field federation which is now under investigation by the department of education. will the prime minister please use his good offices to ensure the failed application is incorporated its inquiry? have aously, we need to proper policy of making sure that proposals for preschools

are ready to go ahead before they go ahead. it is worth making the point that when you look at the free schools in our country, two thirds of them have been judged to be good or outstanding which is a higher proportion than schools within the state sector. so think it is worth not just continuing with this policy by putting rocket boosters on its frequency many more free schools in our country. >> on question nine," and, mr. iorge howard heard >> discussed with mayor george anderson the prospects for the city in terms of overseas investment and the importance of this international festival. i also met hillsboro families. ministerhe prime accept that government support to local government should be related to need? that, how does he explain

the households in our region have lost him he pounds over the last two years where the households in his region have gained six? >> is the combination of grant plus council tax. the spending per dwelling in his pounds, whereas in west oxfordshire it is one thousand 870 two pounds. i fully accept the need is much greater in north sea that it is in west oxfordshire. i would argue that it is a relative balance between the two. >> the coalition's early decision to fully deal the a 11 is driving investor confidence in norwich county down. the opportunities available to

the investment in the great eastern mainline. >> is absolutely right to stand up for norwich and for norwich's economy. the hundred million pounds we are investing in the a 11 is an important part of that. this will cut congestion on the route between cambridge and norwich. i met no into my meanness of -- i am at no end to my munificence. two individuals have been charged with serious terrorist offenses. was a prime minister going to do in january when as a result of his government's legislation some of those that that the home secretary is judged posted greatest atrocity or the are released from the provisions of their terrorist prevention --

play some of the toughest controls within a democratic government that you can possibly have of which obviously -- we've also had >> setting out a whole series of steps that we're going to do, countering the extremist narrative, blocking sites that are online. when i have the opportunity, the me praise facebook that have reversed their decision to showing videos online. we would take all methods necessary to keep our country safe. >> following the guardian's with thehandling, prime minister join me in paying tribute to the women and men of our intelligence services who have no voice, but who do so much to keep this country safe? >> i think my honorable friend is absolutely right heard it is where the greatest privilege of this job to work with our intelligence and security services and to meet some of the people who work for them. he is right to say they don't get thank publicly enough because of the job that they do

but i'm convinced that the work the gc hq, vmi five do on behalf of our country helps to keep us safe. we have seen that again this week with the arrests that have taken place. once again, brilliant policing work, brilliant intelligence work helping to keep our country safe and we can appraise these people to highly. highly. >> lope, short time, zero hours, agency exportation, were exposed on channel four dispatches this week. did the prime ministers see it? if not, will he use catch up so you can watch it and then wake up to real life in britain? >> everyone in our country wants is he living standards increase, more people in work and more take-home pay. that is why we have cut taxes for the typical working person by 705 pounds when you look at what will come in place by next year. let me make the point about zero

hours contracts which is this. the proportion of people in employment on zero hours and 2012 with the same as it was in the year 2000. the number of people in front of it on zero hours increased by 75% between 2004 and 2009, that is when that lot were in government. >> businesses in cali are creating hundreds of new jobs. does my right honorable friend agree with me that the way to raise living standards is to increase and continue the policies of economic growth, rather than the discredited policy of debt out of the pocket of the ordinary citizen. >> what we see in our country is business confidence rising, consumer confidence rising from our exports are increasing, construction and manufacturing are up. we're seeing good growth in terms of employment. a million more people are work in a country compared with when we came to office. poorly we want to do more to

help people feel better by reducing the taxes which is exactly what we're doing. all of this will be put at risk if we give up on reducing the deficit and being responsible economic policies. the that is what the opposition would give us a higher mortgage rate and higher taxes, just what hard-working families don't need. >> does the prime minister think it is fair that a fat pregnant woman will now have to pay 1200 pounds to take the maternity discrimination case to the ?mployment >> the one thing we have done is make sure that people don't earn those rights until they have worked for two years. i think that is the right approach. >> thank you, mr. speaker. thanks to the chancellor's economic policies, unemployment fell by 10% last month. sinceat its lowest level september 2008.