harriet harman pressed the prime minister on the budget. the prime minister was also asked about troops in afghanistan and the future of britain's manufacturing industry. the two soldiers died yesterday. we send our condolences to their family and their friends. perhaps, today, in particular, to the doctors and nurses that worked alongside them. mr. speaker, -- they would enjoy him that luxury themselves. >> can i thank my hon. friend for that suggestion. he knows that i share his views about the need a response to crime. the last government left us absolutely no money. what i would say to my friend is that we have to address the failures in the system, the fact that half of all prisoners in britain are on drugs and the fact that more than 1 in cannes are foreign nationals that should not be here in the first place and the fact that 40% of them commit another crime. that is the record of failure that we have got to reform. >> >> r. speaker, can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to the commanders that died on monday in the two sold

. >> harriet harman. >> mr.peaker, can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to the royal marine of 40 commando who died on monday and to the two soldiers from the 1st battalion the duke of lancaster's regiment who died? we honor their sacrifice, and we remember all our servicemen and women who are fighting so bravely for our country. though this morning saw the unemployment claimant count fall, unemployment is still too high. behind the figures are real people and real concerns. [unintelligible] can he promise that none of the policies that he will put in his budget next week will put more people out of work? >> first, i agree with the right honorable lady that any rise in unemployment is a tragedy, not least for those people desperately looking for work who want to put food on the table for their families. the figures this morning are a mixed picture. on the one hand, the claimant count is down. on the other hand, the international labor organization measure of unemployment is up by 23,000. what i can sa

in this budget, child poverty does not go up by one single family. >> harriet harman. >> once again,is not answering the question. the truth is that, despite the ccancellor's promise, the budget small print shows big cuts in eligibility for tax credit. the prime minister promised that no family on less than 40,000 pounds a year would lose child tax credit. will he admit that that is not the case? will he admit that there are families on a joint income of 30,000 pounns who will lose all their tax credits? >> the point that the honorable lady has got to address is who left us in this mess. who left a budget deficit of 155 billion pounds, with absooutely no proposals to deal with it? who put forward -- [unintelligible] >> order, order. i apologize for interrupting the prime minister. this level of barracking is unacceptable, and i can tell the house that it is detested by the electorate. it must stop. prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. who put forward 50 billion pounds of cuts, without outlining a single penny piece? the whole country can see what is happening here. one party pu

>> harriet harman. >> there was nothing complicated at all about the question, but it was one that the prime minister did not seem to want to answer. the answer is that they have not set aside a single penny for that big promise to pensioners. next year prices are due to go up more than earnings, so bringing forward the earnings link by a year does not give pensioners anything extra. but though pensioners get nothing from that change, we all know they will pay more in vat. the chancellor promised to provide help for pensioners. i am sure that pensioners, including those in the southwark pensioners action group, or spag, which the honorable member knows well, will want to know. are pensioners better off or worse off as a result of the budget? >> i have to say to the honorable lady that there is a danger in asking the second question without having listened to the first answer. the first answer is that the pension will be uprated by rpi, than earnings next year. in terms of how much money we are putting into the state pension system -- how much, they ask? 1 billion pounds over the parlia

. >> harriet harman to. >> can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to those in the royal marines and to the royal itinerary. they were brave men who died in the service of our country. we must never forget the sacrifices they made. may i support what is said about the deadly shootings in cumbria? we offer our deepest sympathies for the family of those killed and our strong support for the police, emergency services, and community in cumbria. can i ask about the israeli interception of the gods of flotilla -- gaza flotilla. this has dismayed friends of israel. can he tell what is the current position of the british nationals who have been detained, and will he tell us how the government can contribute to international efforts to make the israelis recognize the blockade is prolonging the suffering of the palestinians and making peace in the middle east even harder to achieve. this must end. >> i thank you for raising the issue. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& i have spoken to the prime minister of turkey. we should do everything we can to make sure this does not happen again. i st

. >> harriet harman. >> can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to the corporal and marine from the ford, and will marines. as the prime minister said, they were brave men who died in service of our country and we will never forget the sacrifices they made. and i strongly support what the prime minister has said about the dreadful shooting in cumbria. we offer our deepest sympathies to the families of those who got killed and our strongest support for the police, the emergency services, and at the local communities in cumbria. mr. speaker, can i ask the prime minister about the israeli interception of the causgaza flotilla? i am sure he agrees that this is a tragic loss of life that has angered palestinians and dismayed is a real, too. can he tell the house what the position is of the british nationals, and how the government and contribute to international efforts to make israelis recognize that the blockade of gaza is prolonging the suffering of the palestinians and making peace and the middle east even harder to achieve? this blockade must end. >> i thank the right hon. lady

for the opposition, harriet harman. >> mr. deputy speaker, the chancellor has delivered his budget.ut we have seen it all before. this is a tory budget that will hold back economic growth. [unintelligible] you read the book. it will hold back economic growth and harm vital public services. yes, it is his first budget but it is the same old tory. hitting hardest on those that can least afford it. and breaking their promises. this is true to form ford taurus, but it includes things that the liberal democrats have always fought against. surely they cannot vote for this. he says his top priority is to cut the deficit. in order to get the deficit down, if you need to seek economic growth of an unemployment down. today's budget is bad for growth and that will make it harder to cut the deficit. the new office of budget responsibility has said in its report today that because of this budget, growth next year will be lower than it would of been under our policies and support for the economy. mr. deputy speaker, they have on growth for next year down, because of on that his budget does. and m

you also hear a response from the acting labour party leader, harriet harman. this is an hour and 10 minutes. >> at the end of the speech, copies will be available. it is not appropriate to intervene. chancellor of the exchequer. >> mr. deputy speaker, this emergency package deals with our record debt. it pays for the past and plans for the future. it supports a strong enterprise- led recovery. it rewards work and protect the most vulnerable in our society. yes, it is tough, but it is also fair. this is an emergency budget, so let me speak plainly about the emergencies with a spirit -- emergencies we face. the coalition government has faced the largest deficit of any economy in europe with the exception of ireland. 1 pound out of every 4 pounds we stand is thorough. when we have not inherited is an incredible -- a credible plan to reduce this, this at the moment when the fear of sovereign debt is the greatest risk of the european economy. questions that were asked of the liquidity and solvency of banking systems are now being asked of the government's that stan