Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs, and MPs debating the fiscal responsibility charter
Lucy Allan, a Conservative, asks about the case review into the murder of Georgia Williams.
Cameron says the police need to learn the lessons from this “tragic” case.
Cheryl Gillan, a Conservative, asks about a decision being taken on Friday by Nice about whether a new drug will be approved.
Cameron says the decision must be made by clinicians. But the government needs to talk to drug companies about getting the cost of drugs down. This one can cost £400,000 per patient per year.
Cameron says he wants to build on the government’s record of increasing the number of low-income students going to university.
Cameron says if you do not believe in having a surplus after nine years, when will you have one. Labour MPs should support the Tories on the fiscal charter tonight, he says.
Labour’s Kevin Brennan asks when Cameron found out about Lord Ashcroft’s non-dom status. Someone is telling porkies.
Cameron says Brennan should have better things to do than read Ashcroft’s book. He offers to lend him a copy. In 2010 Labour and the Tories both backed a ban on non-doms being in the Lords, a ban that Cameron proposed, he says.
Victoria Prentis, the Conservative MP for Banbury, asks about housing in her constituency, which is next to Cameron’s.
Cameron says Bicester shows that councils in the south east do favour building.
Labour’s Holly Lynch asks if Cameron will meet with her to discuss how the Tories can honour their promise to protect services at a local hospital.
Cameron says these decisions should be made locally. Calderdale hospital is a vital service, he says.
Cameron says councils need to complete their local plans, so that more building can take place.
The SNP’s Callum McCaig asks if Scotland will gets its fair share of the money from the apprenticeship levy.
Cameron says Scotland will get its fair share. But the rate of the levy has not been decided, not the size of firm it will apply to. As ever, the SNP are inventing a grievance before it even exist, he says.
Nigel Huddleston, a Conservative, asks about the new national infrastructure commission.
Cameron says he is delighted he is establishing this. He hopes it will put infrastructure decisions beyond politics. And Lord Adonis will be an excellent chair.
Snap PMQs Verdict: That was a creditable performance from Jeremy Corbyn - serious and abuse-free, in a manner that seemed to go down well last month (see 11.51am) - but, even though Corbyn was using follow-up questions today, he has not worked out how to “weaponise” them, and Cameron was hardly discomforted at all.
Corbyn says it would be nice if Cameron answered the question asked. John Bercow urges MPs to calm down. Corbyn says he is calm. What will Cameron do to let councils borrow to fund building? Cameron can write to him on this. Yesterday was secondary breast council awareness day. Corbyn discussed this with two women in Brighton yesterday. Cameron had promised their organisation that data on this would be collected. But that has not happened. Will Cameron undertake to do this?
Cameron says he has met these campaigners at his conference. They are asking for more information, so that we can be sure we are spreading the best practice in every hospital. He says he will write to the health secretary about this. It is essential to tackle secondary breast cancer properly.
Corbyn says he will bring Cameron back to reality. That provokes jeering. Rents are rising. Even the CBI says an extra 240,000 extra homes are needed. Will Cameron let councils build more homes?
Cameron says now that the housing association movement is backing right-to-buy, more homes will be built. And since he became prime minister, more council homes have been built than during the 13 years of Labour. And we need a strong economy. That won’t happen if the government follows Labour’s policy of borrowing for ever.
Corbyn says Cameron is doing his best. But people in work rely on tax credits. Inequality is getting worse, not better. Shouldn’t Cameron think about the choices he is making?
Cameron says the bill for tax credits went from £6bn to £30b between 1998 and 2010, but in-work poverty went up.
Jeremy Corbyn also pays tribute to the dead RAF airmen, and the dead policeman. And he pays tribute to those killed in the Turkish bomb attack.
He reads a question from Kelly, who will lose money from the tax credit cuts. How much worse off will she be?
Karl McCartney, a Conservative, asks about the fall in unemployment. The recovery would be put in jeopardy by the “shambles” represented by the “honourable” (ie, not a privy counsellor yet) Jeremy Corbyn.
Cameron says his government has a long-term economic plan.
Lisa Cameron, an SNP MP, asks about funding for mental health treatment for members of the armed forces.
Cameron praises his namesake for raising this. There is an opportunity to look at this in the strategic defence review. And the defence budget will be rising.
David Cameron starts by paying tribute to two RAF airmen who were killed in the helicopter crash in Kabul. And he pays tribute to David Phillips, the police officer killed in Liverpool.
Little nod between Cameron and Corbyn across the floor ahead of #pmqs. Lovely to see
Jeremy Corbyn’s press officer had trouble getting into the press gallery for PMQs.
Corbyn spinner Kevin Slocombe stopped at 1st attempt to enter gallery for #pmqs - wasn't wearing a tie. Has donned 1 of the emergency ties.
This is from the Conservative MP Jake Berry.
Corbyn arrives at #PMQs, greeted by wall silence from his own side. #Awkward
Corbyn allies Clive Lewis, Kate Osamor, Richard Burgon all sitting on 2nd row ready to cheer on the leader at PMQs
Must be very tempting for Cameron to shoehorn in a reference to ‘Ben from Exeter’ in response to Corbyn’s crowd sourced questions at PMQS
That’s a reference to what the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw had to say after Monday’s meeting of the parliamentary Labour party.
Jeremy Corbyn looks relaxed ahead of PMQs, my colleague Gaby Hinsliff reports.
Just passed a rather relaxed looking Jeremy from Islington, heading in for #pmqs (sadly I'm heading the other way for an interview)
After Jeremy Corbyn’s first PMQS, YouGov carried out some polling to find out whether voters liked his new, serious, abuse-free approach. As Peter Kellner writes in a post for the YouGov website, they did. Here is an extract.
Among those who said they had either watched the whole of PMQs, or seen news clips from it, we found a marked improvement in three respects, compared with two years ago:
That’s the good news; however, in other respects, there has been little or no movement, with 37% saying it was informative (compared with 36% in 2013), 20% describing it as ‘exciting to watch’ (20% in 2013), and 14% saying ‘it made me proud of our Parliament’ (12% last time). The proportion saying ‘it dealt with the important issues facing the country’ was actually down, from 40% to 35%. This probably reflects Corbyn’s decision to concentrate on specific cases rather than large, fundamental issues.
The obvious conclusion is that Corbyn – and therefore Cameron – are on the right track. In three respects, public approval is up sharply; on the only one where the figures have gone backwards, the change is a modest five points. A sustained change to a more courteous and informative approach to PMQs would win public approval.
I fear that an excessively courteous PMQs would go the way of Liaison Committee meetings: civilised, but little noticed. The biggest single reason why PMQ attracts so much attention is that it is often dramatic. And it is usually dramatic precisely because it is raw and rumbustious – or, in the words of our question for the Hansard Society, ‘noisy and aggressive’.
PMQs starts in about 15 minutes.
On BBC News a few minutes ago Clive Lewis, the Corbyn-supporting Labour MP, said that he expected Jeremy Corbyn to use questions from members of the public at PMQs today, as he did at his first PMQs last month, but to include some follow-up questions too. Last time he did not use follow-ups, which allowed David Cameron to go unchallenged.
John McDonnell is not the only west London MP who has been sending out mixed messages recently. Last week Boris Johnson gave a speech to the Conservative conference suggesting there should be much tougher controls on EU migration. But today, on his tour of Japan, he has been making the point that low immigration can lead to economic stagnation. Speaking in Tokyo he said:
They [the Japanese] have been going through a long period of stagnation but they are hoping to pull out of it. They have got demographic problems. One of the questions that people in Britain might think about is obviously that they have very, very low immigration and very, very low, in fact negative, population growth, they have got a shrinking population.
That has, of course, contributed to the long period of economic stagnation they are going through but that has got to be seen in context. This is still an amazing, dynamic, vibrant, fantastically rich economy, the third biggest in the world and we have got to be here.
Lord Bamford, the JCB chairman and a major donor to the Conservative party, has written an article for the Daily Telegraph criticising David Cameron for keeping people “in the dark” about his EU renegotiation.
My main concern is that we’re being kept in the dark on the negotiations. Keeping us in the dark is not helping the government, in my view, nor will it help convince the public when the referendum comes around. The prime minister has stated that he is seeking proper full-on treaty change and a fundamental change in Britain’s relationship with the EU. I applaud his ambition and sincerely wish him well but I do believe we’re entitled to greater transparency. We need to see some real detail.
We hear a lot about the risks of leaving the EU, but we do not hear enough about the risks of staying in. We do not have enough sovereign control over our own affairs now but will we have still less in the future? We are over-regulated now but will it become even more onerous? ...
If the government fails to secure truly radical reform, I will have no other choice but to vote to leave. Let me be clear: Britain’s exit from the EU is not my preferred option, but if that’s what happens, so be it. If the choice of the British people is to leave, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Here is some more reaction to the unemployment figures. (See 9.45am.)
From Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary
Renewed employment growth is welcome and while there are still years of lost ground to make up it’s good to see private sector wages rising. But public sector workers are increasingly falling behind. The challenge now is delivering a recovery that works for everyone across the country, regardless of which region or sector they work in.
Despite today’s improvements, it is also clear that there is still spare capacity in the jobs market. With inflation at zero, and rising numbers of workers in temporary jobs looking for full-time work, there is no case for immediate rate rises.
It’s encouraging to see unemployment falling again, after a pause earlier this year. But there is significant variation in the extent to which this jobs’ revival has been shared across the country. Many parts of the UK remain a long way short of their pre-recession levels.
The job losses at Redcar steel works and JCB are dark clouds on the horizon. Employment growth is likely to slow as large cuts in public sector employment kick in and as lower-paid workers seek more hours to make up for the nearly 30 per week cuts they face in tax credits.
James Sproule, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “Another month of impressive jobs figures and strong wage growth show that the business-led recovery is well on track. Despite uncertainties at home and abroad, employers have continued to create jobs, raise productivity and boost pay in a vote of confidence in the British economy.
“Employment is up in most sectors and across the country, pay is growing and long-term, short-term, and youth unemployment are all falling. This is a welcome sign of a healthy economy, a strong private sector, and a tightening labour market.”
Another month of impressive jobs figures and strong wage growth show that the business-led recovery is well on track. Despite uncertainties at home and abroad, employers have continued to create jobs, raise productivity and boost pay in a vote of confidence in the British economy.
Employment is up in most sectors and across the country, pay is growing and long-term, short-term, and youth unemployment are all falling. This is a welcome sign of a healthy economy, a strong private sector, and a tightening labour market.
My colleagues Owen Bowcott and Ian Cobain have written up the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling. Here’s the start of their story.
MPs’ and peers’ private communications are not protected from spying by the so-called Wilson doctrine that was widely thought to provide special privileges for parliamentarians, according to court ruling.
A surprise decision by the investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) has found that guarantees – which even the home secretary, Theresa May, reasserted this week – do not apply.
The so-called “Wilson doctrine”, a rule that supposedly protects MPs from being spied upon, has “no legal effect”, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal has said today.
It made the ruling in a case bought by the Green MP Caroline Lucas, the Green peer Jenny Jones and the former Respect MP George Galloway. In 1966 Harold Wilson, the then Labour prime minister, announced that MPs would be guaranteed that they would not have their phones tapped. Subsquent prime ministers, including David Cameron, have said this still applies, but Lucas, Jones and Galloway wanted an assurance that this meant MPs would not have their emails subject to mass internet surveillance by GCHQ.
The Tribunal accordingly answers the preliminary issues attached to this judgment as follows:
i) The Wilson Doctrine does not apply to s.8(4) warrants at the stage of issue.
This judgement is a body blow for parliamentary democracy. My constituents have a right to know that their communications with me aren’t subject to blanket surveillance – yet this ruling suggests that they have no such protection.
Parliamentarians must be a trusted source for whistle blowers and those wishing to challenge the actions of the government. That’s why upcoming legislation on surveillance must include a provision to protect the communications of MPs, Peers, MSPs, AMs and MEPS from extra-judicial spying.
The prime minister has been deliberately ambiguous on this issue – showing utter disregard for the privacy of those wanting to contact parliamentarians.
Here’s George Osborne, the chancellor, on the unemployment figures. (See 9.45pm.)
It is great news that Britain’s economic plan continues to create jobs and increase pay. We’ve got the highest rate of employment in our history, and real terms pay rising strongly.
But with recent data showing our trading partners’ growth is slowing we must not be complacent. All of this progress will be at risk unless we carry on with our plan to build a resilient economy, delivering the economic security of a country that lives within its means.
This is a fantastic set of figures, which show more people in work than ever before and a strong growth in wages. That is a credit to British business, and a credit to the hardworking people of this country.
Alongside this, unemployment has fallen to the lowest level since 2008, and long-term unemployment has dropped by a staggering quarter over the last year.
And here’s the top of the Press Association story about the unemployment figures.
Unemployment has fallen to a seven-year low while a record number of people are in work, new figures have shown.
The jobless total dipped by 79,000 to 1.7m in the quarter to August, the lowest figure since the summer of 2008, giving a jobless rate of 5.4%.
Here are the headline unemployment figures.
The BBC’s Norman Smith has produced a quite useful “idiot’s guide” to the fiscal charter.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, was doorstepped by the BBC as he left home this morning. He jokingly admitted that his policy U-turn had been confusing to MPs, but he said he would “clarify everything” today.
He also predicted that Labour MPs would ignore George Osborne’s suggestion that they should vote with the Tories on the fiscal charter.
Q: Is Labour’s economic policy in chaos?
JM: No. I’ll set it out today. It will be fairly clear.
David Blanchflower (aka “Danny”), the former Bank of England monetary policy committee member who is now a member of Labour’s economic advisory committee, told the Today programme this morning that the party was right to vote against the fiscal charter.
It was “a stunt that has no place in economic policy”, he said.
The right decision has been put in place to oppose the chancellor’s political game, a stunt that has no place in economic policy ...
Tying yourself to a silly rule that nobody is ever going to obey makes absolutely no sense, especially as the economy is now slowing ...
This is early days, policy making is messy and it takes some time to work out what you are going to do ... There are clearly political things going on. I think the right decision has now been reached.
Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are the two most important figures in Labour and they both face significant encounters in the House of Commons today.
For Corbyn, it’s his second PMQs. His first was judged a success, although many commentators said that relying on “crowdsourced” questions would have its limitations as a long-term tactic.
George Osborne has moved to exploit Labour’s disarray on economic policy by urging its MPs to vote for government’s fiscal responsibility charter, and so reject the shadow chancellor’s last-minute U-turn.
John McDonnell gave a series of explanations for his volte-face on the Treasury charter, which commits the government to produce budget surpluses at times of economic growth, and which he had said as recently as two weeks ago he would support. His reasons ranged from a meeting with redundant steelworkers in Redcar to a downturn in the world economy.
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