>> coming up next couple prime minister's questions at the british house of commons. that is followed by president obama at the white house. later, senator ted cruz makes a campaign stop in new hampshire. time,eek, during question british prime minister david cameron spoke about benefits for first-time homeowners and funding for colleges. it was also asked to ensure that fulfilling its commitment in the nuclear agreement signed in july. speaker: questions for the prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties in this house i shall have further such

meetings later today. mr. -- mr. esterson: the royal college of midwives has called the government's plans to cut nurses' student grants appalling and the royal college of nursing says it is deeply concerned. meanwhile, the honorable member for lewes, who is a nurse, says she would have struggled to undertake her nurse training, given the proposed changes to the scheme. so why does the prime minister still think he is right to scrap grants for student nurses? mr. cameron: for the simple reason that we want to see more nurses in training and more nurses in our nhs. we believe there will be an additional 10,000 nurses because of this change. the facts are, today two out of , three people who want to become nurses can't because they are constrained by the bursary scheme. moving to the new system, those who want to become nurses will be able to become nurses. >> the number responsibility of one any government is the

protection of its people. does the prime minister agree with me that britain's nuclear deterrent and our membership of nato are key to our defences and that any moves that would put that at risk would jeopardise our national security? mr. cameron: my honorable friend is absolutely right. it has been common ground on both sides of this house that the cornerstone of our defence policy is our membership of nato and our commitment to an independent nuclear deterrent, which must be replaced and updated. they are necessary to keep us safe, and at a time when we see north korea testing nuclear weapons, with the instability in the world today, we recommit ourselves to nato and to our independent nuclear deterrence. i think the party opposite has some very serious questions to speaker: jeremy corbyn -- to answer. speaker: jeremy corbyn. mr. corbyn: thank you very much,

mr. speaker. this week, the prime minister rather belatedly acknowledged there is a housing crisis in britain. he announced a £140 million fund to transform 100 housing estates around the country, which amounts to £1.4 million per housing estate to bulldoze and then rebuild them. my maths is perfect. this money is a drop in the ocean. it is not even going to pay for the bulldozers, is it? mr. cameron: what we have done is doubled the housing budget . where going to be investing over £8 billion in housing, and that comes after having built 700,000 homes since becoming prime minister. we have a quarter of a million more affordable homes. here is a statistic that he will like. in the last parliament, we built more council houses than in 13 years of a labour government. ,r. corbyn: well, mr. speaker

he hasn't really thought this thing through very carefully. every estate that he announces he wishes to bulldoze will include tenants and people who have bought their homes under right to buy. will those people, the leaseholders, be guaranteed homes on the rebuilt estates he is proposing to do? accepteron: of course, i -- ishis is not terribly not carefully thought through. reshuffle, which i gather is still going on, it has not finished yet. we want to go to communities where there are sink estates and housing estates that have held people back and agree with the local councils and local people and make sure that tenants get good homes, make sure homeowners get rehoused in new houses. that

is exactly what we want. let us -- what we want. look at what we have done on housing. we reformed the planning rules, they opposed to them. we introduced help to buy, and they opposed it. we introduced help to save to help people get their deposit, they opposed it. they have absolutely nothing to say about people trapped in housing estates who want a better start in their lives. mr. corbyn: mr. speaker i notice , that the prime minister did not give any guarantee to leaseholders on estates. there is another, larger group on most estates that i have a question, a tenant by the name of darrell, who says, "will the prime minister guarantee that all existing tenants of the council estates earmarked for redevelopment will be rehoused in new council housing, in their current communities, with the same tenancy conditions as they currently have?"

mr. cameron: we are not going to be able to deal with these sink estates unless we get the agreement of tenants, unless we show how we are going to support homeowners and communities. isn't it interesting, mr. speaker? who here is the small-c conservative, who is saying to people "stay stuck in your sink , estate have nothing better , than what labour gave you after the war. we are saying, "if you are a tenant, have the right to buy; if you want to buy a home, here is help to save; if you are in a sink estate, we will help you out." that is the fact of politics today conservative , a government who want to give people life chances, and a labour opposition who say stay stuck in poverty. mr. corbyn: the prime minister does not seem to understand the very serious concerns that council tenants have when they feel they are going to be forced

away from the community where they live and their children go to school and their community is so strong. there is another area where the prime minister might be able to help us. his party's manifesto says "everyone who works hard should , be able to own a home of their own". will families earning his so-called national living wage be able to afford one of his discount starter homes? mr. cameron: i very much hope they will, because as well as starter homes, we have shared ownership homes. when i became prime minister, a young person trying to buy a home needed £30,000 for the deposit. mr. speaker: order, i apologise

for interrupting. order. i say to the hon. member for bishop auckland, that her shrill shrieking from a sedentary position is not appropriate behaviour for a would-be states woman. i want to hear the prime minister's answer. mr. cameron: when i became prime minister, people needed £30,000 for a deposit on a typical home. because of the schemes we have introduced, that is now down to pounds. i want people to own their homes, so let us consider this issue. we are saying to the 1.3 million tenants of housing associations, "we are on your side, you can buy your own home." why does he still oppose that? mr. corbyn: i hope that that word hope goes a long way, because research by shelter has found that families on his so-called living wage will be unable to afford the average starter home in 98% of local

authority areas in england. only 2% may benefits. so, instead of building more affordable homes, is the prime minister branding more homes as affordable, which is no solution to the housing crisis? will he confirm that home ownership has actually fallen since he became prime minister? mr. cameron: there is a challenge in helping people to buy their own homes. that is what help to buy was about, which labor opposed. that is what help to save was about, which labour opposed. is it not interesting that the -- that he didn't answer the question about the 1.3 million housing association tenants? i want what is best for everybody. home, i own my home. why should we not let those 1.3 million own their own homes?

speaker: order. the leader of the opposition will be heard. jeremy corbyn. mr. corbyn: i think the conservative backbenchers for their deep concern about the housing crisis in this country. it is noted. the prime minister has given no assurances to tenants, no assurances to leaseholders, and no assurances to low-paid people who want to get somewhere decent to live. may i ask him one final question on this? it is a practical question that is faced by many people throughout the country who are deeply worried about their own housing situation and how they are going to live in the future, and it comes from linda, who has -- who is a council tenant for the last 25 years. she says "i will eventually look

, to downsize to a property suitable for our ageing circumstances. due to the housing bill being put through parliament at present, if we downsize we will have to sign a new tenancy agreement. if we stay, we face having to pay the bedroom tax and debt. if we downsize, we lose our secure home." it is a real problem that linda and many like her are facing. if she were in the prime minister's advice bureau, what advice would he give her? mr. cameron: the first thing i would say to linda is of course we are cutting social rents in , this parliament, so she will be paying less in rent. the second thing i would say, if she is concerned about the spare room subsidy, is that of course it is not paid by pensioners, a point that he didn't make. another point i would make to linda, and all those who are in council houses or housing

that weion homes, is believe in giving you the chance to buy your own home and are helping you to do that. is it not interesting what this exchange has shown? we now have a labour party whose housing policy does not support home ownership, just as its defence policy does not believe in defence, and just as we now have a labour party that does not believe in work and a labour leader who does not believe in britain. dowden. oliver >> mr. speaker as someone who , grew up in social housing, i welcome the prime minister's commitment to tear down poor-quality, soulless high-rise estates and replacing them with affordable homes. will he seize this opportunity to make sure that those new homes are attractive, well-designed places in which people will want to live for generations to come?

mr. cameron: i think my honorable friend is absolutely right. if labour wanted to have a constructive opinion, they would come along and say, "how can we help knock down these sink estates, rebuild new houses, help people to own their own homes?" that is what we want to do and that is what we are going to see in this parliament. one side committed to opportunity, life chances, helping people get on, and another side wanting to keep people trapped in poverty. >> the economic and intellectual contribution of college and university graduates to the uk is immense. the smith commission said that the uk and scottish government , "work together to explore the possibility of introducing formal schemes to allow international higher education students graduating from scottish further and higher education institutions to remain in scotland and contribute to economic activity for a defined period of time."

why did the uk government this week unilaterally rule out a return of a post-study work visa without stakeholder discussions and before key parliamentary reports? mr. cameron: we have an excellent scheme that covers, of course, scotland, england, wales and northern ireland, and it is this -- to say to the world's students that there is no limit on the number of people that can come and study in british universities as long as they have to things -- an english language qualification and a place at that university. that is an incredibly generous and open offer. the second thing we offer is that there is actually no limit on the number of people who can stay after they have graduated, as long as they have a graduate-level job. again, i think that is an incredibly clear message that all of us, whether we are involved in the scottish government, the northern ireland administration, the welsh administration or the united

kingdom administration should , get out and sell around the world. we want the world's brightest graduates to come here, study here and then work here-what a great deal! >> the return of post-study visas is supported by, among st others all of scotland's 25 , publicly funded colleges, colleges scotland, universities scotland, the representative body for scotland's 19 higher education institutions, many other organisations and businesses, all parties, including the scottish conservative party, so why does the prime minister think they are all wrong and he is right? mr. cameron: for the reason i have given, which i think the clarity of our offer is world beating. the disadvantage of inventing a new post-work study route, where we are effectively saying to people coming to our universities, "it's okay to stay with a less-than-graduate job," frankly, there are lots of people in our own country desperate for those jobs and we should be training them up and

skilling them up. we do not need the world's brightest and best to come here to study and then to do menial labour jobs. that is not what our immigration system is for. what we want is a system where world,advertise to the "come and study here, come and work here." >> will the prime minister join me in welcoming the fact that aldi is in the process of building a distribution centre in my constituency, bringing the prospect of another 400 jobs to local people? that distribution centre is situated just off the a249, which is one of the busiest trunk roads in the south-east of england. could i asked my right honorable friend if you would encourage the department for transport to undertake a review of the a249 to ensure that it can cope with the increased traffic generated by the expanding business activity in my constituency? mr. cameron: i certainly join

him in welcoming the investment in his constituency. the claimant count has fallen by 35% since 2010. this is obviously welcome news. i will take up the point he makes, because obviously we are only going to continue to attract investment if we make sure our road and rail networks are up to date. >> the prime minister will be aware that last week this house discussed the equalisation of the state retirement age between men and women. can i ask him, does he feel the outrage of a generation of women born in the 1950s who feel robbed and cheated out of their state pension, and will he give an undertaking, given the unanimous decision of this house, to ask him to look at further improvements to transitional arrangements, that he will do so? mr. cameron: i know that many colleagues have been written to on this issue, and there are some important cases to look at, but what i would say is that we looked very carefully at this at the time and decided that no one should suffer more than an

18-month increase in the time before they were expecting to retire. what i would also say is that if you look at what we are putting in place, with the single-tier pension starting at over £150 a week, combined with the triple locked that we have, i think we have a very good settlement for pensioners. it is affordable for the taxpayer and it is generous into the future. periodanuary 8, within a of just eight days, parts of london had exceeded the annual dioxider nitrous pollution. given this medically serious news, will the prime minister ensure that the department for transport's current consideration of airport expansion prioritises air pollution concerns, and will he

pledge never to expand heathrow airport while nitrogen dioxide -- while nitrous dioxide levels are risking the health of millions of people? mr. cameron: i think my honorable friend is absolutely right to raise this. there are problems of air quality and pollution, not just in london but elsewhere in our country. that is one reason we decided to delay the decision about airport capacity expansion because we , need to answer the question about air quality before we provide the answer to that question. that is what the environmental audit committee recommended to this government. they said "on air quality, the , government will need to re-examine the commission's findings in the light of its finalised air quality strategy." so the point she makes is directly being taken on by the government. >> can i say to the prime minister, his answer on the

question of transitional arrangements for women born in the 1950s was nothing like good enough. i was going to say that his own ministers seem to have no idea how to rectify the injustice they have caused, but i do not think he does either. as he is talking to other eu leaders, can he asked why some countries are not implementing the changes until 1944, and will he also look at what transitional arrangements the -- 2044 -- arrangements the netherlands, italy and germany put in place to protect the people affected? mr. cameron: what other european countries do is a matter for them. we have the ability to make sovereign decisions about this issue, and that is entirely right. what we have decided to do is put in place a pensions system that is affordable for our country long-term but also sustains a very strong basic state pension right into the future. the single-tier pension is going to make such a difference to so

our country.n we also have the triple lock, which was never put in place by labour. we all remember that miserly increase to the pension under gordon brown. that can never happen again under our arrangements. >> since 2010, my constituency has seen the generation of more than 200 new businesses, while the claimant and youth unemployment rates have fallen to below 1%. with the £240 million investment in bracknell town centre regeneration, full employment in the area is a genuine possibility. does the prime minister agree with me that it is the government's sound stewardship of the economy that has led to this economic success in my constituency? mr. cameron: i am delighted to hear the news from bracknell. in the fact is in britain today, we , have low interest rates, inflation right on the floor, real wages growing, meaning people are feeling better off, people investing inwardly in this country in huge numbers,

business investment going up, because people are confident about the future of our economy, and all that is based on a long-term economic plan of dealing with our debts, getting our deficit down and making this a country where people can start, run and expand a business and therefore create jobs and prosperity for all our people. >> over the past four years, according to excess winter death figures from the office for national statistics have shown a staggering 117,000 people have died unnecessarily as a result of the cold. 43,000 people tragically died last winter. does the prime minister agree that that is not only appalling but also avoidable? can i ask the prime minister to say why he thinks so many people are dying needlessly in our country, and what will he do to stop it happening? mr. cameron: i think the honorable gentleman is absolutely right to raise this . the figures on winter deaths, which are published every year, are a standing rebuke to all governments about what more needs to be done. first, we have maintained the

cold weather payments. the winter fuel payments that we have maintained. got falling energy prices because of the falling oil price. that is why i think it is right that we have this competition into the energy industry to make sure it is a fully competitive industry. minister,ame prime the independent energy companies, 1% of the market, now 15% of the market, the big 6 are being broken down. making sure people have -- all those changes, plus home improvements and making sure people have good insulation, can make a difference. of theimplementation

iran nuclear deal, in which british diplomacy was crucial, is imminent. will my right hon. friend tell the house what steps are being taken to ensure that iran abides by its side of the deal? mr. cameron: i think my honorable friend is right about this. let me pay tribute to secretary of state john kerry for the incredible work he did. and also to the foreign secretary, who was by his side all the way through the negotiations of what was a very tough and difficult deal. the adoption day for the deal was in october. iran has started shipping 12.5 tonnes of enriched uranium to russia. now we are getting close to what is called the implementation day for the deal. the key point is that iran has granted the international atomic energy agency unprecedented access to make sure it is doing all the things it said it would do in this deal. as i said at the time, it is a good deal it takes iran away , from a nuclear weapon, but we should enter into it with a very heavy heart, a very clear eye

and a very hard head in making sure that the country does everything it said it would. >> when the government pushed through their changes to undergraduate funding four years ago, they said that providing maintenance grants for the poorest students was key to their participation in higher education. no mention was made in the conservative manifesto of ending those grants. is it not therefore completely unacceptable to make that fundamental change tomorrow in committee by the back door without a vote in this house? mr. cameron: this issue has been fully debated and discussed in this house, and it is absolutely right because what our changes have shown, despite all the warnings from the party opposite that more people are taking part , in higher education and that more people from low income backgrounds are taking part in higher education. i am confident that that will continue to be the case. >> thanks to this government's

long-term economic plan, unemployment in northwest leicestershire now stands at an all-time low of 522. this saturday, east midlands airport will host a jobs fair with 350 more positions available. will my right honorable friend join me in wishing all the businesses in north west leicestershire more success with recruitment and retention than the leader of the opposition? mr. cameron: i am delighted to hear that there are only 522 people unemployed in his constituency. let me praise him and the other members on both sides of the house who have run jobs fairs in their constituencies that have made a huge difference in terms of people being able to find opportunities. the truth is that, since 2010, 64% of the rise in private sector employment has taken place outside london and the southeast. indeed, scotland, the east

midlands, the east of england, the south-west and the south-east all have higher employment rates than london. this is, in growth terms a , balanced recovery, and we need to keep working at it to make sure that it is. >> last year, the energy secretary scrapped support under the renewables obligation for new offshore wind projects, which will impact the 3 million pound investment by nissan in its wind farm in my constituency. does the prime minister realise that his attacks on clean energy are detrimental to pro-green businesses such as nissan? will he look at this immediately and rectify the matter in the energy bill next week? mr. cameron: we had extensive exchanges about this in the liaison committee yesterday, and i can tell her that we are going to see another 50% increase in onshore wind investment during this parliament. also, britain -- this parliament. if we look at offshore wind, britain has the biggest offshore wind market anywhere in the

world. if you look at solar britain has , the fourth largest solar installation of any country anywhere in the world. indeed, my new favourite statistic is that 98% of those solar panels have been installed since i was prime minister. this is all good news, and it means that we have a genuine claim to be leading a renewables revolution. but every single subsidy you get to these technologies is extra money that we put on to people's bills, making their energy more expensive. it is right that we seek a balance between decarbonising our economy and making sure we do it at a low cost to our consumers and the people who pay the bills. that is what our policy is all about. >> with the number of workless households in the united kingdom at an all-time low, and with 1.4 million more children being taught in schools ranked good or outstanding since 2010, does my right honorable friend agree that the mark of a one nation government is not the amount of

money we spend on benefits, but what we do to tackle the root causes of poverty? mr. cameron: my honorable friend is absolutely right about that, and it is what the exchanges earlier on proved. as far as i can see, labour's only answer to every single problem is to spend more money, so it ends up with more borrowing, more spending more debt. all the things that got us into this problem in the first place. our approach is to look at all the causes of poverty, all the things that are holding people back. let's fix the sink estates, let's reform the failing schools, let's give people more childcare, and let's deal with the addiction and mental health problems that people have. in that way, we will demonstrate that this is the government and this is the party helping people with their life chances, while labour just want to stick you where you are. >> the draft wales bill contains provisions contains

of the 2011 settlements that was endorsed in the last welsh referendum. they supposed to do the bill sparking a constitutional crisis. not apply in cases of scotland and northern ireland. why is this government treating whales like a second-class nation? we have held a referendum so that the welsh assembly has those lawmaking powers. under the welsh level of spending. never done by a labor government. we want to make sure that we give whales those extra powers. listening to the suggestions made by the welsh assembly. this government has a proud record not only on devolution and on delivering for the welsh.

great for petrol prices but it potentially catastrophic in other ways. we risk seeing regimes under pressure dramatic corporate and financial defaults that liquidity problems in our banking sector. may i invite the prime minister initiate a urgent review across whitehall to assess the effects of continuing low oil prices on our economy and beyond. the destruction of our own oil industry in the north sea. prime minister: my right honorable friend makes an important point. dropping oil prices has a highly beneficial effects in being able

to fill up their cars with petrol. a lower oil prices is basically good for the british economy. there are other consequences. we need to look very carefully at how we can help our own oil and gas industry. we are coming to the end of prime minister's questions. led to collapse of that policy. suggestt press reports that someone agree with me calling for reduction in the

aake from a hundred pounds minute. the cabinet office seems reluctant to review this industry. it refuses to bring it under scrutiny. in the prime minister assure us that the government will undertake a review of this dangerous addictive problem? minister: we have to look at this problem in this industry. we did make a series of changes including planning changes. if we keep this important situation under review. 2100 homes were flooded and three bridges were lost and for schools were flooded and another hit with asbestos. keeping another 20 families out

of their homes. will my right honorable friend agreed to meet with me to discuss how we can help with the 20 million pounds infrastructure schemesnd flood offense and the rebuilding of the high school? we havenister: discussed this on many occasions. i think we should meet again and discuss it again. try to make some progress. facilities ofand the whole house will go out to these people that were flooded. in his them constituency. at that particular time of year. we will do everything we can to help communities get back on their feet. the very large flood investment program and that is in place. also the maintenance program that has been protected in real terms. another infrastructure pieces of work that need to be done. agencynd the highway which is quick to examine roads and take over the repairs to local authority roads if they have got the capacity to act and act quickly.

that is what we've got to do in these situations. the army came in faster. the money was distributed faster. we want to get these communities back on their feet as quickly as possible. >> rivers of the british parliament are holding a debate on whether to ban donald trump from the united kingdom. he proposed that muslims be banned from entering the u.s.. for this year's student cam documentary contest students are telling us the issue they want the presidential candidates to discuss. is a tweet from andrew hanna. atmi