Transcripts For BBCNEWS The Week In Parliament 20240714

It is 2 30 in the morning. Now on bbc news the week in parliament. Hello, and welcome to the week in parliament. Politicians may have been getting on with the business at hand, but theres definitely been an elephant in the chamber the conservative leadership contest. Scarcely a debate went by without some reference. For example, argy bargy when this Prime Minister faced questions about the next one. Will she finally act in the best interest of these islands, not the conservative party, and admit that neither of the candidates for office should ever be elected Prime Minister . But shes wasnt having any of that. Either of the candidates for this high office would do a darn sight betterjob than anybody sitting on any of those benches. Well be discussing how Prime Ministers questions might look under the new Prime Minister. Reminds me of the tale of the sort of rather extravagant eccentric young army recruit who is told by his Commanding Officer the men will follow you if only out of morbid curiosity to see whats going to happen. But first, Prime Ministers questions doesnt seem to be quite the event it used to be. Mps no longer have to squish up on the green benches, overflowing into the aisles. Nowadays, it seems many just dont turn up. Neither of the two conservative leadership contenders were there on wednesday, for instance. But that doesnt mean theres no room for some Old Fashioned uproar. And this week, it came in response to questions from the snps leader at westminster. Ian blackford has form. Last week, he characterised the tory leadership hopeful borisjohnson as racist. He took up where hed left off. 0n the one hand, the tories are asking people to put their faith in the most incompetent foreign secretary in a century, a man who has made a career out of lying, who has spent his week avoiding the media, staging photos and playing to the extreme delusions of the tories. Conservative mps were shouting withdraw. They were outraged that Ian Blackford had accused borisjohnson of lying, language youre not allowed to use in the commons because its unparliamentary. Mr speaker, the conservatives clearly dont like the truth. Eventually, the speaker called for order. Was he going to make Ian Blackford withdraw the remark . I think the right honourable gentlemans concluded his inquiry. No john bercow merely wanted him to get on with it the house calmed down a little. In her last days in office, will she finally act in the best interest of these islands, not the conservative party, and admit that neither of the candidates for office should ever be elected Prime Minister . Can i say to the right honourable gentleman either of the candidates for this high office would do a darn sight betterjob than anybody sitting on any of those benches . Well, after the session, a conservative mp pressed the speaker on whether Ian Blackford shouldve been allowed to get away with what he said. Im always troubled when i hear any allegation of bad faith in this chamber. And today, weve heard an allegation of an honourable member having made, i think, a career out of lying. Would you guide me, please, on whether it is in order for an honourable members to accuse others of lying . Ididnt hearany allegation of dishonesty. I didnt hear that. If there was an allegation of dishonesty, i didnt hear it. And if he didnt hear it, he couldnt rule on it, john bercow said. There was less commotion during the exchanges between theresa may and the labour leader, jeremy corbyn. Mr corbyn had chosen to use his questions to ask about arms exports to saudi arabia. Last week, the court of appeal ordered the government to review the way it grants export licences to the kingdom. Ministers are legally obliged to assess allegations of serious Human Rights Violations before letting sales go ahead. In the case of saudi arabias war in yemen, the judges said the government had made no attempt to do so. Jeremy corbyn criticised the sale of arms to the saudis. The uk has supplied them with over £45 billion worth of deadly weapons. Uk weapons which have been used in indiscriminate attacks on civilians in which over 200,000 people have been killed. And hundreds of thousands more stand on the brink of famine, of starvation and of death from wholly preventable diseases. Surely, mr speaker, the court of appeal. The court of appealjudgement should be a wake up call to the Prime Minister and the government. So, instead of appealing the judgement, why not accept the judgement and stop arms sales to saudi arabia now and bring about peace in the yemen and save those lives . Theresa may said she was trying to bring about peace. Also, the right honourable gentleman is talking about the relations we have with saudi arabia. That is a relationship that has saved the lives of british citizens in the past. But lets just look at some of the relationships that the right honourable gentleman supports. When people were killed in salisbury, his sympathies were with russia. When terrorists were killing. When terrorists were killing our people, his sympathies were with the ira. And in the recent tanker attacks in the gulf, his sympathies were with iran. He never backs britain, and he should never be Prime Minister. Well, that last exchange was much more typical of the sort of Prime Ministers questions weve become used to in recent times a mundane to and fro between the main protagonists, more lengthy interrogation than lively cross examination. But it wont be for much longer. Theresa may probably only has three more pmqs before the new man takes over. So, how different will it be . I brought together katy balls, the deputy Political Editor of the spectator, and patrick kidd, until recently the timess political sketchwriter. Did they think the last few months had been dull . Its been dull for about three years. I mean, as you can see from the number of mps that show up, i think there were 67 tory mps there to see theresa may. Theyre all bored rigid. I actually saw a labour mp, this was a year ago, reading a novel during pmqs. Its no longer the show stopper, the thing you rush away from or cancel lunch dates. Its very dull because we have two very bad players of the game. And we have a very long Prime Ministers questions, dont we, katy . Yes, john bercow likes to let it run on. You see the Commons Speaker give lots of backbench mps questions. In fairness, i think the backbench questions are where the drama can come from in terms of pmqs. And thats in part because theresa may, i dont think is a very good at pmqs performer. Jeremy corbyn isnt either. Theres also been a shift in what both sides want to get from Prime Ministers questions. So, under jeremy corbyn, i think there is a focus on the labour side of getting a clip that they can put on social Media Channels of him with a message which is aimed at his base. And i think that means that youre not really seeing those exchanges or the oratory you might expect of past. So, well, that might all be over now because in a few weeks time, well have a new Prime Minister. We may not get a Prime Ministers questions before the summer, but we will have them eventually. So, patrick, lets look at both of the candidates. Jeremy hunt, first of all, how would he be, do you think, at the despatch box . Well, hes not really been tested. He was obviously Health Secretary for many years, and he was asked the same questions over and over again. I dont remember him ever setting the world alight is the trouble. Hes calm and confident, he knows his brief and the thing with pmqs is its many briefs. Asjeremy corbyn proved when he went on rural buses once, and no one was expecting that. You need to be prepared to handle all sorts of subjects. I think the detailjeremy hunt will do very well, detail is what borisjohnson cannot do it all. And although boris will cheer up the troops, and thats a big Important Role in pmq, and hell be bombastic, i think ifjeremy corbyn starts getting him on detail, we might find him stumbling into a few traps. And borisjohnson has not been a good commons performer so far, has he . I dont think he has. I think theres a sense that borisjohnson is a good overall media performer. Obviously he has some bad days, but there is a sense his personality and his dynamic presence means he draws a crowd. But i think he is much better suited to rallies and that type of event than the despatch box, and thats partly because you need to have detail. However, i do think it would be a stretch for him. I think underjeremy hunt, you perhaps have more continuity. You have someone that other mp5 wouldnt be nervous about slipping up, but also would not be rushing to get to their seats. With borisjohnson, i think he would draw a crowd, but i think there would always be a slight sense of unease amongst his supporters about what he might say after half an hour into his statement when hes worn down and thats the bit that he has to deliver. Boris reminds me of the tale about the rather extravagant eccentric young army recruit who is told by his Commanding Officer the men will follow you if only out of morbid curiosity to see whats going to happen. But he was bad in Foreign Office questions quite often when he was up against emily thornberry. She was able because she has the confidence, she wiped the floor with him. I think especially if debates go on, notjust pmqs but statements, ifjohnson has to keep repeating a line over and over again and we saw this at the time of the russia salisbury instance where he was literally say it says here in my brief, his discipline goes. He eventually thinks, 0h, stuff it, and says whatever comes off the top of his head and often the stuff off top of his head is what gets him in trouble. So whats your advice to the new Prime Minister on how to perform at Prime Ministers questions . The most likely scenario is borisjohnson, and i think his weakness as we touched on is going to be detail. And i think that if you start freelancing or going off piece, thats when you can run into trouble. For boris, you can come up with great lines but if you dont have the detail down, its a risky strategy. So i think its to prepare, i think for a borisjohnson premiership, preparation is going to be key. Patrick. Borisjohnson wants to be churchill, and churchills best ad libs were most particularly rehearsed. So he has to have some zingers and he can deliver a good line, we know that. That reminds me of theresa mays very first pmqs, when she was actually rather good. And she leaned forward on the despatch box and lowered her voice and said, remind him of anybody, invoking thatcher. And she also had the lovely line about, he calls it austerity, i call it living within our means. You can dispute the politics of that, but that actually is a line to get your troops behind you singing your praises, shouting more. If borisjohnson orjeremy hunt can have the backbenchers shouting more, more, more, then the narrative is going to be theyre a hit. If theres lots of green spaces after week two because no one wants to come along, then its duff. Thank you. Now, lets take a look at some news in brief. An mp has told how a child fainted in school because hed had no food to eat all weekend. Labours ruth smeeth was taking part in a debate on a report by the childrens future food inquiry which looked at child hunger. Many children, she argued, were reliant on the meals they got at school, and she gave a harrowing example. A child who on monday morning collapsed, fainted when he walked into school. It took a while to understand what had happened it was am in the morning. He had not eaten since his Free School Meal on the friday. He was given a sandwich and an apple, given how close it was to lunch. He ate the sandwich, didnt eat the apple, put it in his rucksack and they said, its ok, you can have lunch in a minute. Its fine, eat the food. He said, my sister is down the hall and she has not eaten either. Irans president responded with defiance to the latest sanctions imposed by the us, saying they show the white house is mentally retarded. In the commons, the snp got straight to the nub of the issue. Will the minister confirm that the uk will not be dragged blindly into a war with the us against the International Community . Well, the us is our closest ally. We talk to them the whole time. We consider any requests that they say carefully, but i cant envisage any situation where they request, or we agree, to any moves to go to war. The governments been urged to stand up for human rights in saudi arabia after the murder of jamal khashoggi. The journalist was killed at the saudi consulate in istanbul in october last year. The United Nations found credible evidence that the crown prince was liable for the killing. The saudis deny this. A labour peer and Senior Lawyer was part of a un team which visited turkey to investigate. We were allowed to listen to the tape of the killing of mr khashoggi. We heard intercept telephone calls on tape which showed that this was not some rogue operation, but was planned and planned by people who were agents of the saudi state. Climate change protesters descended on westminster in a week in which mps backed government plans to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions in the uk to almost zero by 2050. You many of my constituents, especially schoolchildren, will be delighted with this announcement, but others are rightly sceptical about the cost. What steps is the minister taking to ensure that the plan will be achievable and affordable Going Forward . When it comes to legislation today it isnt simply about saying warm words, about passing a law. We need to be able to demonstrate action that lies beneath. And action come relatively quickly with publication of an Energy White Paper in the summer that will look at the future of our Energy Supply both at the Household Level and the industrial level. And puffins a conservative mp had been trying for months to secure a debate on the birds. This week, she did. Spring is carnival time for puffins. They get to these safe cliff tops on some of the other 27 islands, and turn from solitary birds to wildly social, courting birds intent on finding a mate and creating the next generation of puffins. Thejeremy kyle show has been criticised by mps for putting guests through Lie Detector Tests without knowing how accurate those tests were. The chair of the Culture Committee said the producers lack of expert knowledge was astonishing. The committee launched an inquiry after the show was cancelled in may following the death of a guest. Steve dymond died several days after reportedly failing a Lie Detector Test. Jeremy kyle himself refused to appear before the committee, but the mps were shown a clip from a programme where a Lie Detector Test was used. How accurate do you think the polygraph test is . So we have always made it very, very clear to the viewers and participants of the show that the lie detector is not 100 accurate. Weve always felt thats incredibly important. You are responsible for this programme. Youre the person thats responsive for this programme. This is a key feature in this programme, and i think if you were using that and were being responsible, you would know the answer to that question. Like i said, lam not a lie detector expert, so we would hire an expert they do the test, theyd come up with the results, and the results would then be given to the producers, which would then be given to jeremy. And we would get involved with the actual Lie Detector Test. You commissioned this, and i think if you dont know the answer to that question, you cant say what the ranges of accuracy of those tests, i think thats irresponsible. We explain it differently. What we would say prior to the show is that some people will fail this test, but yet they will be telling the truth. So we explained it differently, we dont use percentages. We just make it very, very clear that some people will fail that test, yet they will be telling the truth. So i think thats a fairer way to explain it. I dont think thats very fair because i dont think theyre being given a full picture of what these tests are, how inaccurate they can be. The question i asked you was about in terms of after care after the show, do you think actually the polygraph test is a contributing factor to people who suffer with their concerns, depression after being on the show . It is, you think it is . They do become distressed because they disagree with the result. And therefore, thats why we have a guest Welfare Service after the show. Ive come across this programme 2 3 times, when i have my hair cut and the barber used to have it on incessantly. I could not change the channel so i changed my haircutter. And i think its a form of trash television. Predatory programming brought in from the us that people involved in making should be ashamed of themselves, actually. I was quite shocked by the clip that we saw, which was, despite the unreliability of Lie Detector Tests, which is widely acknowledged the presenter, in peoples faces, was saying, this test says youre a liar. They take that as a liar, and yet you rather like a salesman of a dodgy product were pointing to the small print on the screen, but not available to the contestant or guest to justify that behaviour. How would you view that comparison . I disagree completely. I think as i said earlier, its about informed consent for me. And we could not have been more clear with the guests that applied to come on the show. Not only had they been viewers of the show, so they absolutely knew the content, but we would make it very clear to them about the accuracy of the lie detector before they travelled to manchester, where we filmed, before they took the lie detector and before they went on the show. Do you have any plans whatsoever to bring this show back in any format with mr kyle as presenter . I disagree completely. I think as i said earlier, its about informed consent for me. And we could not have been more clear with the guests that applied to come on the show. Not only had they been viewers of the show, so they absolutely knew the content, but we would make it very clear to them about the accuracy of the lie detector before they travelled to manchester, where we filmed, before they took the lie detector and before they went on the show. Do you have any plans whatsoever to bring this show back in any format with mr kyle as presenter . No. Just being direct with you, there are absolutely no plans, and we are not bringing back a show that looks or feels like the jeremy kyle show. Julian bellamy of itv studios. A labour mp has defended parents whove been protesting outside a birmingham primary school. Roger godsiff said they hadnt been consulted over teaching about lg bt relationships. The row was sparked by storybooks featuring different families. It led to protests outside Anderton Park Primary School in his constituency. The parents argued that pupils are too young to learn about lgbt relationships, which they also say contradicts islam. The head teacher said that she or her deputy would meet individual parents on a one to one basis to listen to their concerns. But when such meetings took place, the same answer was always given namely, that the school was only paring out the equality act. We know that the motivations of some of those involved in this are reactionary, and they are to return us to an era where lgbt people should get back in the closet and hide, and be ashamed of the way they are. We arent going to get back in the closet or hide, or be ashamed of the way we are. And nor are we going to allow a generation of pupils that are now in school to go through what pupils in the 805 had to go through because this chamber let them down. An emotional angela eagle. Mps have called for more action to help People Living with dementia. Ministers were told theres still a stigma surrounding the condition and more money is needed for research. Several mps had personal experience of relatives living with dementia. Dementia is now the leading cause of death in the uk, overtaking Heart Disease and cancer. Its estimated that over 850,000 people in the uk have dementia, of which alzheimers disease is the most common. By 2050, this is expected to increase to two million. Globally, there will be 152 million People Living with dementia by 2050, a 204 increase. If you dont know somebody now with dementia, you soon will. An snp mp highlighted the vulnerability of people with dementia. Individuals are seen as rich pickings for those who seek to part them from their savings. As a society, we need to put structures in place to protect them in every way. Now, some Financial Institutions have put measures in place to protect our older people, or vulnerable people, such as monitoring their Bank Accounts or having a few days buffering to remove unusually large transactions on their account to help to safeguard them against fraud. However, what be really need, and we have discussed this before we really need is a legal duty of care towards older people, especially those with dementia. What shows the scale of the problem is how many members of talked about cuts to local authorities, but actually over the last year, we have given them access to an additional £10 billion thats an 8 increase. But the fact is we are talking about the social care system being on the point of crisis or at tipping point, or under huge pressure shows the scale of the problem. A conservative mp told a story about her grandmother. Id just finished my first Election Company contest in st helens in 2015 as a conservative, and i wanted to show my election leaflets. At the time, my nan was in the advanced stages of dementia. She looked at the photos, admired the different outfits i was wearing. All of a sudden, her face went as black as thunder when she realised i was standing as a conservative. Laughter. That is not my party, she exclaimed. I said, my goodness, nan, you cant remember what you had for breakfast, but you still remember that youre labour. Gillian keegan and her nan. Lets take a look at some of the other stories which have been making the political news this week. Selina seth has our countdown. Music. At five 11 us republican senators from oregon have gone into hiding. Why, you ask . So they can prevent a landmark Climate Change bill being passed. Where are you . I am in idaho. At four Speakerjohn Bercow is a fan of labour mp barry shermans drum roll, please. Drum roll. Flamboyant tie. The honourable gentlemen sports an admirable tie, about which my only reservation is that its a tad understated. Mr barry sherman. At three jeremy hunt still makes time to chill and eat pizza during the tory leadership contest. At two Green Party Peer baronessjones urges peers to hurry up in the Climate Change debate as she is feeling a little bit nippy. Actually, its freezing in here and i havent got a cardigan. So can we perhaps speed up this bit . And at one so how do you relax . Borisjohnson says he relaxes by painting model buses. Yes, you heard that correct. Selina seth. Well, the fight to be the next tory leader and Prime Minister was an ever present companion to the week in parliament. 0n the committee corridor, the International Development secretary, rory stewart a leadership candidate himself, of course, in the early stages was being questioned about his department. But inevitably. You have said you would not serve in a cabinet let my borisjohnson. Is that something youd reconsider . No. Then, the snp were at it during questions in the commons on thursday. But we do know isjust with the prospect of Prime Minister boris, support for independence rises to 53 . So we are having a particularly good tory leadership contest here. And after revelations of a domestic argument at the home of borisjohnson, labours shadow foreign secretary couldnt resist a reference during questions to her opposite number. And it gives me an opportunity to congratulate the foreign secretary directly not just for being in the final two, but also being the only candidate who has the Police Outside his house for the right reasons. Laughter. But cani. . And only another three weeks of the contest to go. And thats it for now. Dont forget theres a round up of the day in parliament each evening on Bbc Parliament and each morning on bbc two. But for now from me, mandy baker, goodbye. Friday was a hot one in the west of the uk, saturday is going to be hotter across eastern parts of the country. Still nowhere near as hot as france here is a reminder of that record breaking temperature set on friday in southern france, nearly 46 celsius, smashing the previous record set in august 2003 of 44. 1. Across europe, still very hot, you can see these deep red colours, temperatures into the 30s across much of the continent, the heat is actually going to be shifting eastwards over the next few days, and then it will start to turn cooler. Back to the uk, in england on saturday, temperatures could get up to 3a celsius, that is just in one or two spots, for most of us it wont be quite so hot but it will feel very muggy already from the morning onwards, first thing in the morning on saturday in the south, temperatures could be around 16 17, a little fresher in the north east of england. On saturday there will be a lot more cloud across western parts of the uk, so here it wont be quite so hot, the heat is going to ease, in fact showers and thunderstorms are possible in Northern Ireland and scotland, but across england, the heat is going to intensify. Look at these deep red colours temperatures in excess of 30 degrees are expected in yorkshire and possibly 3a in the south east of the country. But in western scotland, a significant drop. Showers and thunderstorms across parts of scotland may rumble through during the course of saturday evening, on saturday there will be a lot more cloud across western parts of the uk, so here it wont be quite so hot, the heat is going to ease, in fact showers and thunderstorms are possible in Northern Ireland and scotland, but across england, the heat is going to intensify. Look at these deep red colours temperatures in excess of 30 degrees are expected in yorkshire and possibly 3a in the south east of the country. Western scotland, a significant drop. Showers and thunderstorms across parts of scotland may rumble through during the course of saturday evening, whereas across many parts of england it will be a balmy, if not hot, hot end of the day. If you dont like the heat, here is the good news sunday is going to be much, much fresher, a cool front is set to sweep across the country, it will cut off that hot wind out of france and instead we will see a westerly wind blowing, so we can see yellow colours here indicating the cool air and that heatwave transfers into more central and eastern parts of eastern germany and poland, where temperatures could approach a0 celsius. Here is sundays weather forecast. You can see the wind blowing no longer out of the south, it is blowing out of the atlantic, a fresh breeze around western coasts, showers as well, still pretty warm in the south, temperatures around 25 celsius, low 20s across yorkshire, but in stornaway a mere 15 degrees an atlantic breeze and some showers. The fine summer weather is expected to continue into monday and tuesday, 00 29 36,751 2147483051 51 33,090 no extremes but very 2147483051 51 33,090 4294966103 13 29,430 pleasant indeed