vogelstein and mingen stone or the title of their book, a awakening. a new mobile video app from c-span, c-span now. download today. ♪ >> now live to london for british prime minister's question time. each week the house of commons is in session we bring you prime minister boris johnson taking questions from members of the house of commons live wednesday mornings here on c-span2. now live to the floor of the british house of commons. [inaudible conversations] >> before we come to prime minister's questions, i would like to point out that the british sign language interpretation proceedings is available to watch on parliament live tv. i don't think we need any more. if you listen to this next bit, it might help.

[laughter] before we -- i wish to make a further point. there are many reflections on sir david's decency and kindness. it's a very moving requiem mass. those qualities of kindness, decency are reflected in our proceedings today and in the future. i now call the prime minister. [inaudible] >> number one, mr. speaker. prime minister. >> mr. speaker -- [inaudible conversations] >> thank you, mr. speaker. thank you the -- [inaudible] immediately following, i will attend the welcome home march to thank all of those involved in evacuations. in addition to my duties in this house, i shall have further such

meetings later today. >> and i, too, will be attending in a a few minutes. nicki's 37-year-old son has seizures each day, it's a struggle to get him to stay in school. and she, nicki, is supporting the brain injury bill because she believes the government needs to have a cross-departmental strategy for supporting those who have had an a acquired brain injury whether that's rugby players with concussion and dementia, women who have been beaten in the bed by their partners, people who have brain injury due to -- people who have suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, soldiers who have been in explosions. i really hope that the government is going to back the brain injury bill. but above all, we need a strategy to help the 1.4 million people in this country.

will he give us that? >> prime minister. >> i want to thank the right honorable gentleman for raising this vital issue and for his commitment to cause, his personal commitment. and i can assure him that we are studying his proposed bill and are working to insure that people do get the support for the acquired brain injuries that he was received. and what we can -- what they have received. and what we can pledge at this stage, i hope this will be of some use to him, but department of health and social care will lead on the development of a cross-departmental government strategy on a acquired brain injury and other neurological conditions. i'll be very happy to share details with him shortly. [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker, in july of this year my constituency in

kensington suffered devastating flooding with more than 2,000 homes flooded, a river running down portobello road and a lot of residents having to move into temporary accommodations. does my right honorable friend agree with me that thames -- needs to come up with short and long-term solutions, and they need to make sufficient investment in infrastructure to prevent events like this happening again? >> prime minister. >> flooding, mr. speaker, short and long-term solutions, and that's why -- the tunnel, the biggest in the history of this country which will help to deal with what's a happened in london when there's overflow and deal with flooding -- [inaudible] >> leader of the opposition, keir starmer. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

at the last election, the prime minister promised that nobody would have to sell their home to pay for care. that's another broken patrol, isn't it? promise, isn't it? >> prime minister. >> no, mr. speaker. no, mr. speaker, because if he looks at what we are proposing, and if he supported what we are proposing which is fixing manager that labour never thinks -- [inaudible] mr. speaker, we are saying to this country that we will disregard your home as participant of your asset, and number two, mr. speaker, you can have a deferred payment agreement if you move out of it, you can have a deferred payment. but most important of all, mr. speaker, by the huge investment we are making now in health and social care, we are allowing for the first time the people of this country to insure themselves against otherwise catastrophic costs of dementia or alz here's, mr. speaker. --

alzheimer's, mr. speaker. and even if you're not one of those people who suffer from those afflictions, we are taking away the anxiety -- [inaudible conversations] about their homes. >> keir starmer. >> i think prime minister just described the broken system. he said he would fix it, so certainly not a straight answer. let's have another go. let's have another go. [inaudible conversations] he used to say, he used to say, he used -- i think they're turned up this week, prime minister. [laughter] mr. speaker, mr. speaker, he used to say -- [inaudible conversations] >> i don't think i need any further -- today we had a very good example of the -- [inaudible] in that cathedral, please, let's show some respect. i will fail to hear not only the prime minister, but the leader

of the opposition. this doesn't do you or your constituents any good. we need to hear the questions, and we certainly need to hear the answers. and if anybody doesn't like it, please leave now. >> mr. speaker, let's have another go. he used to say nobody would have to sell their home to pay for care. it's in his manifesto right here. on the basis of that promise, he then put up tax on every working person in the country. has he done what he promised and insured that the nobody will have to sell their home to pay for care? if yes or no, it's not complicated. >> no, it's not complicated, mr. speaker, because we're not -- because what we're doing is disregarding your home as part of the access that we -- [inaudible] if you go could be to 100,000 pounds, that's beginning where we will ask you to -- home is not included in that, mr. speaker. and they have, they have absolutely no --

[inaudible] only a few weeks ago, mr. speaker, they failed to, they failed to vote for the 36 billion pounds to fix it and to help people up and down the country not just to fix social care, but to pay for people to live in their own homes, mr. speaker. and receive the care they need in their home. that's what it was -- why won't he support it? >> keir starmer. >> mr. speaker, he's had two opportunities to stand by his manifesto, and he's not take the them. under prime minister's plan a person with access worth about 100,000 pounds -- [inaudible] would have to pay 18,000 pounds. they'd lose almost everything. how on earth, how on earth does the prime minister think that they could get their hands on

that kind of money without selling their home? >> prime minister. >> mr. speaker, i'll have a go trying to clear this up in the befulded mind of the right -- befuddled mind of the right honorable gentleman. the opposing party haven't had guts to -- it's something left over from the acting government, and we are fixing it. let me repeat for the third time, mr. speaker, your home is disregarded. number two, even if you have a second -- [inaudible] mr. speaker, you have a deferred payment agreement. and number three, mr. speaker, we are allowing you to insure yourself for for the first time against catastrophic by tap thing -- [inaudible] mr. speaker, and he said on the manifesto to put cap where, mr. speaker? at 100,000 pounds, mr. speaker.

>> keir starmer. >> the question was very simple. it'sst the question -- if you've got a house worth 120, 140,000, how do you find 80,000 pounds without selling your home? strip away the deflection, strip away the refusal to answer the question, this is the simple truth and why the prime minister won't address it, people will still be forced to sell their homes to pay. the other -- [inaudible] answer that question. they'll still be forced to sell their -- it's another broken promise. just like he promised that he wouldn't put up tax. just like he promised 14 new hospitals. just like he promised a rail revolution in the north. [inaudible conversations] mr. speaker, mr. speaker, who

knows, who knows if he'll make it to the next election. but if he does -- anyone to take him at his promises seriously. >> prime minister. >> mr. speaker, yet again he raises the rail revolution in the north. the three new high-speed lines, mr. speaker. 96 billion pounds. nothing like, again, nothing like it, nothing like it, mr. speaker, nothing like it for a century. and just for these politicians, i didn't even know this, i was a complete innocent about this last week, mr. speaker. the right honorable gentleman actually campaigned against -- [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] and said it should be canceled. run through my constituency as well, and i took a decision even it's been very tough the, i took

the decision that that it would be the right, it was the right thing to do for the long term interest of the whole country. [inaudible] [cheers and applause] >> mr. speaker, i think he's lost -- [inaudible] [laughter] the only thing, the only thing he's delivering is high taxes, high prices and low growth. i'm not sure the prime minister should be shouting about that. but it isn't just broken promises, it's also about fairness. everyone or needs protection against massive health and care costs. but under his plan someone with assets worth about 100,000 pounds will lose almost everything. and somebody with assets of a million pounds will keep almost everything. it's just like, it's just like their 2017 manifesto all over

again, only this time something has changed. he's picked the pockets of working people to protect the estates of the wealthiest. how could he possibly have managed to divide a working class dementia tax? >> prime minister. >> mr. speaker, i think i've answered that question three times. i think we've done more for working people up and down the country than labour ever did, than labour ever did because we're actually solving the problems, we're disregarding your housing as asset altogether, mr. speaker, and he talks about jobs, he talks about working people. well, let me just remind him, this is one statistic people should bear in mind. it's now month of the furlough's end, and he talks about the economy, mr. speaker. there is now people in work than

there were before the pandemic. that's because of the policies this government has produced. >> keir starmer. >> mr. speaker, there's no getting away frit. working people -- from it. working people are being asked to pay twice. during their working lives they'll pay much more taxes, national insurance while those the living off wealth are protected. and then when they retire, they face selling their homes while the wealthiest won't have to do so. it's a classic con game. a pickpocket operation. prime minister's a front man distracting people with wild promises and speeches while his chancellor is padding their pockets. but now, but now prime minister's routine is falling flat. his chancellor is worried the people are getting wise. his back bench is saying it's embarrassing, your words. [inaudible conversations]

your words. your words. and people at downing street tell the bbc it's just not working. is everything okay, prime minister? [laughter] >> prime minister. >> well, mr. speaker, i tell you what's not working, it's that line of attack. [cheers and applause] i just want to repeat the crucial point, mr. speaker. we're delivering for the working people -- [cheers and applause] and we're fixing the problems that that a thought could never be fixed, we're doing the things that they thought were impossible. let me repeat, there are now more people in work in this country, jobs up with their wages going up, mr. speaker, than there were before the pandemic began. and that's because of the policies of this government, whether it's on rolling out the

vaccine if you can remember -- [inaudible] he didn't want to invest in the vaccine -- [inaudible] or whether, or whether it is making the strategic investments that we have, if we listen, if we listen to captain hindsight, mr. speaker, we would have no hs2 at all, and if we listened to him, we would all still be many lockdown. [cheers and applause] [inaudible conversations] >> can the prime minister confirm that he will use the rest of -- to urge countries around the world to make good on the promises they made in glasgow, and does he agree with me that decarbonization can crypt millions of jobs a-- create millions of jobs around

the country and the world? >> supporting 440,000 new green jobs across the u.k., and the breakthrough agenda that we have endorsed at cop26 i believe -- [inaudible] and i think that's probably a gross underestimate. >> we now come to the leader the snp. >> thank you, mr. speaker. and i'm sure you all wish to join me and, indeed, the rest of the house in welcoming the church of scotland -- [inaudible] thank you for his sage words at his ceremony this morning. mr. speaker, the past few weeks have shown this torrey government at its very worst. a corruption. scandal on a scale not seen since the 1990s, torrey -- [inaudible] millions of people. and broken promises from hh is s

to the carbon capture -- [inaudible] the pension and who can possibly forget the 20 billion pound -- [inaudible] one man, a prime minister who is -- [inaudible] can i ask the prime minister with his party falling in the polls, his colleagues -- against him, has he considered calling a day that he's pushed out the door? if. >> prime minister. >> mr. speaker, what the people in this country want to -- [inaudible] is let's talk about politics and policy, and they want to talk about what does government do the for the people of scotland. and what does the scottish government do for the people of scotland which is enough, mr. speaker. we will talk about infrastructure investments, and if he will wait until i think friday or later this week, he's

going to hear about what we're going to do with the union to insure that the people of scotland are served with the connections that they need and which the scottish national party has totally failed to put n. >> [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. speaker that certainly wasn't an answer to the question i asked, but we're used to that. and i don't expect the prime minister to take responsibility, because he never does. it's just about the chaos of the party. it's about the state of the united king come under his leadership. whilst the prime minister spends his time hunting for -- [inaudible] and staving off challenges from -- [inaudible] in the real world, mr. speaker, people are suffering the torrey cost of living crisis. brexit is hitting the economy hard, but the prime minister can't even give a coherent speech to business. the the prime minister's officials have lost confidence in him. torrey mps have lost

confidence -- [inaudible] and the public have is lost confidence in him. why is he clinging on when quite clearly he simply isn't up to the job? >> prime minister. >> mr. speaker, i might ask the right honorable gentleman what on earth he thinks he's doing talking, talking -- when all the people of scotland are wants to go is what on earth -- they're falling in the polls, mr. speaker. yes, they are, their polls. and considering them failures on tax, on education and all things the people of scotland really care about. i'm not surprised, and i can see agreement on the benches opposite. >> [inaudible] >> mr. speaker, i celebrate the

recent success of my local college, and i welcome the recent government investment and will allow it to expand. many colleges and students find -- to be a really valuable qualification and course enabling progress into higher education and skilled employment. does the prime minister agree with me that we should protect student choice and keep it as an option for students? >> prime minister. >> i think we will continue to fund some, there's a clear need for them, but i must stress to him that we've got to close the gap between the things people study and the needs of business. and that's what t-levels are designed to do the. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rarely agree with the prime minister, but last week when he said that cop26 -- so that we can end our reliance on fossil

fuels, i did agree with him. but that begs the question as to why his government is presentation ahead not with the oil fields, but with 39 other oil, gas and -- the developments which could amount to three times the u.k.'s current annual climate emissions? now, i don't want an answer about all the things he thinks he is doing on tax and trees. i want him to tell house if he will are leave those fossil fuels in the ground, will he cancel those projects, and because he recognize that if he doesn't, he will need to ask forgiveness not just for losing his place in a speech, but for losing the future of our children? >> mr. speaker, we are not only powering past coal, going to an end to fossil fuel reliance in our energy generation at all by 2024 which is an absolutely stunning thing ahead of countries around the world, and i'm glad that she's praising me

for that. the oil field, he knows, is a study by an independent regulator. but what we've also done and led the world in this, mr. speaker, is stopped the financing of overseas hydrowar bonn which -- hydrocarbon which the whole world followed. >> level aring up and building back better can't happen unless we have a massive increase in the supply of critical tech minerals like silicone, copper and lithium. but china controls most of them. does he agree with me that the success of our green industrial revolution hinges on -- [inaudible] silling con valley and free of the e.u. what fiscal incentives can he now provide to make -- [inaudible] >> prime minister. >> i thank my honorable friend for that. as you know, there are some very, very interesting and

potentially very lucrative the sources of minerals such as lithium in the country whose exploration, discovery and reuse we are encouraging. secondly on the tax point, as he rightly raises, we're going to use three points to insure that we support them as hubs for the processing of those critical minerals here in the u.k. >> [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. speaker. in 2014 my constituent's 3-year-old son was killed by an unsafe trailer. every year -- [inaudible] and now government is abolishing that test. unleashing thousands of untrained, untested, unsafe drivers onto our roads. why is the government with breaking its poms to grieving families -- promise to grieving families to make our roads safer? >> prime minister. >> i thank her very much for raising with me, and i'm very sorry to hear about tragic circumstances of freddie's death. and what we wanted to do is to

free up licensing time to get more people qualified for drivers, but that a cannot compromise road safety as she rightly said, so we will, we will review the the legislation and its consequences and regulatory -- [inaudible] >> thank you, speaker. on the 5th of december, lincoln will be hosting its famous -- [inaudible] not to invite my if honorable friend, the prime minister, and speaker and all of my colleagues for the events to enjoy the weekend at the facility. however -- [inaudible] highway maintenance by 25%. can my right honorable friend use his influence to have the treasury revisit this decision? it's imperative to say to my

constituents -- [inaudible] i do hope my right honorable friend would agree. >> well, i thank him. very much. i'll do my utmost -- [inaudible] he invited everybody. a lot of people -- [inaudible] but i'm sure my right honorable friend concern -- [inaudible] >> the former vaccine task force chair, his government's decision to cancel contracts with livingston vaccine develop or -- the a company the prime minister has himself visited. how they've been recented and how damaging -- treated and how damaging for exports and jobs. state of the art vaccine manufacturing -- [inaudible] unfinished. there has been no apology, so can the prime minister please

meet with me and residents, and will he tell me what this government -- [inaudible] to reach an amicable resolution, and if not, when will he do so? >> i thank her very much. we couldn't get approval for the vaccine in the way that we had hoped, and i know how disappointing that was to colleagues in scotland. when she gets the meeting, but what we are doing is investing massively in this country's vaccine capability across the country so we are prepared for the next pandemic, and i very much hope the company will be part of that. >> [inaudible] >> thank you. we know the serious side effects from the covid vaccine are very rare, but my con sit-- constituent sarah, she suffered a very serious reaction.

>> she now can't work. can we get on with making -- [inaudible] support that they need. >> prime minister. >> i thank him very much, and i just want to reassure him and reassure the house and the country that cases such as the very sad one that he raises are extremely, extremely rare. and we're putting more money in to gather evidence to -- such as the one that he describes. but i want to repeat how vital that vaccination program is, how safe it is, and how important it is that everybody, as we said, gets their booster when -- [inaudible] >> thank you. the government's integrated review concluded that the chinese -- face a systemic challenge to our national security, and the prime minister has made it clear that when it comes to china, we must remain

vigilant about our critical national infrastructure. can he say today unequivocally the plan for china to own and operate it own -- [inaudible] have been abandoned and explain to the house precisely how and when his government tends to remove interest to the -- the. the -- from the nuclear project. >> they i thank him very much. that's a very important issue that he raised and, clearly, one of the consequences of our approach on critical national infrastructure, the national security and investment bill, is that we don't want to see undue influence by potentially adversarial countries in our critical national infrastructure x. so that's why we've taken the decisions that a we have. and on brad welshing on brad well, there will be more information forthcoming. but what i don't want, what i don't want to do, mr. speaker,

is pitchfork away wantonly all chinese investment in this country or minimize the importance to in this country of having a trade thing relationship with china. >> [inaudible] >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. the prime minister will be very pleased -- the are doing everything or possible to help neil -- [inaudible] but he will also know that the number one issue affect -- is the 312 million pounds that we've you secured for a mobilizn of our amb services, leading to a worsening of our services for -- [inaudible] will he do everything possible to help us get this across the line so that we can provide safe anb services? >> prime minister. >> that's one of the reasons why

we're investing 36 billion more in our hs now to cope with the backlog, particularly on a and e, but it's the also the reason why the program is so vital. we don't want those beds filled with covid patients, and we don't want the -- [inaudible] either. >> [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. speaker. so far -- nothing from nuclear, nothing from scorched carbon and -- [inaudible] asking for 71 million pounds, at next month's energy auction. commercial success based on the u.k. supply chain or see the manufacturing jobs move up north. what's it going to besome. >> prime minister. >> well, mr. speaker, i'm so glad he asked that question because i can tell him, i can tell his right honorable

friends, the leaders of snp, that we will be including support for the tidal stream in the upcoming to the value of 20 million pounds -- [inaudible conversations] if mr. speaker, in the upcoming contract with the auction, i met representatives of scottish -- the. [inaudible] i think it's fantastic what they're doing, we want to support it. >> mr. speaker, prime minister, there are excellent candidates -- [inaudible] for the violation, our responses on doorstep are very good. can my -- well, the opposition know nothing, as usual. can my right honorable friend confirm that he will continue to implement our 2019 manifesto and implement policies to insure that we build up better for the

whole country including london? because this is what the elected want. >> yes, mr. speaker, i can, and i am happy that we've had many years of campaigning with my friend. i can tell we are delivering on our agenda for the people of london, putting 20,000 more police out on streets and making sure they get out to boroughs as well and making sure londoners do not suffer from the crazed outer london tax penalized by the labour mayor for driving in their own city. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the -- the. [inaudible] kenkensington and this incredibe work serving 2 the ,000 of my most vulnerable con sitwents, but at moment, there isn't enough food to go around. it's down -- [inaudible] in part due to the same supply chain issues that are affecting supermarkets. will the prime minister help by

restoring funding to fair share, but also what more can he do to incentivize businesses to give away food this winter so that no family need go hungry this christmas? >> prime minister. >> i want to thank her for raising fair shares and what they're doing to support people this winter and, indeed, at all times. but i would also say that my experience with businesses is that they do an amazing job of contributing to effort. iceland is one to have companies that springs to find. but on the supply chains, we are investing in -- and we are seeing some of the problem starting to ease. they are the result, mr. speaker, of the british and the world economy coming back into line which, quite frankly, would not have happened concern. [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you, mr. speaker. my right honorable friend, the prime minister, was -- on monday when he spoke about ending the unfairness of our high energy

intensive industries paying more than they pay overseas, so we know he is a -- [inaudible] will he continue to do all that he can to insure that my -- [inaudible] >> prime minister. >> yeah, i thank my honorable friend for everything she does, and i could tell her that i do believe that british steel has suffered as a result of the decisions taken years and years ago from unfair energy costs. we need to fix it, and government's getting on to making another of the long-term changes, mr. speaker. we're putting in the nuclear base load that this country has long been deprived of. >> [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. speaker. prime minister, in a couple of weeks' time, i'll be introducing a bill -- [inaudible] not only have i had widespread support and support from the opposition is party, but in the past the principle has been

support but conservative manifestos and, indeed, by yourself. so, prime minister, on friday the 10th of december, will you not block the bill, but let it go forward so that we can work together and concern. [inaudible] as soon as possible? >> the honorable gentleman's completely right, and that's why we're going to -- to ban the import of -- the. hunting trophy ifs and delivering the support we promised. and i hope he will support it. >> mr. speaker, the prime minister cheered all of my constituents up when he came and said we were going to have a new hospital. sadly, prime minister, even though money's there, the local management of our -- [inaudible] they're going to refurbish and not give us brand new hospital which is what we want. will you meet with me and some of my constituents to unblock this and hell the mhs -- tell

the mhs they need to build a new hospital? >> >> prime minister. >> i'm grateful. i do remember the issue being raised with me when i was with him, i'll be very happy to secure a meeting with my right honorable friend, the secretary of tate for health, and i'm sure we'll be able to unblock things one way or the other. >> thank you, mr. speaker. students slack-jawed this week with astonishment that the prime minister has abandon his bridge to northern ireland. perhaps -- [inaudible] [laughter] himself broken real promises to northern england with buyer's remorse consuming the torrey back bench, who does he think will be -- first, in scotland or himself? >> prime minister. >> mr. speaker, i just want to remind scottish national party

they're there to represent the party of scotland and to deliver better services, better transport, better health care. and what were delivering, and he talks about transport, mr. speaker. i'll tell you what i said to the leader of snp. what we are delivering is the the first thorough-going review of union connectivity so that we properly at the a-75, the a-77, the a-1, all those vital connections for the people of scotland that have been neglected by the snp that this government is going to fix. >> [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. speaker. i'm absolutely delighted for the half a -- [inaudible] and my right honorable friend -- about parenting advice, access to health care or age-appropriate theme parks. so does he agree that -- [inaudible] was a gate start, but can he --

ifs a successful program, government's aim is to roll it out across the whole country? >> prime minister. >> i thank her very much. she's very right about what she says -- my right honorable friend sitting there. i want to thank my right honorable friend because she has championed this for many, many years. she is right, mr. speaker. investment in kids' early years is absolutely critical. that's why this government has begun -- and, yes, if it works, mr. speaker, we will roll it out across the country. >> we're now going to -- [inaudible] the urgent questions. for those who need to leave, please do so. [inaudible conversations] pressure. >> -- on c-span2 we'll leave the british house of commons as members move on to other business. you've been watching prime minister's question time aired

live wednesdays at 7 a.m. eastern when parliament is in session. a reminder, you can see this week's session again sunday night at 9 eastern and pacific on c-span. ♪ >> weekends on c-span2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday american history tv the documents america's story, and on sunday booktv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and hours. funding for c-span2 comes from these television companies and more including buckeye broadband. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> buckeye broadband along with these television companies supports c-span2 as a public service.

♪ >> c-span offers a sharety of podcasts that have something -- variety of podcasts. weekday washington today gives you the latest from the nation's capital. and every week book notes plus has in-depth interviews with writers about tear latest works -- their latest works while the weekly looks at how issues of the day developed over years and our casual series talking with features conversations with historians about their lives and work. many of our television programs are also available as podcasts. you can fine them now on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> my name is edward luce, associate editor of the football times, and i'm -- financial times, and i'm delighted to be at this event to talk to thomas wright about his new book which you should all read as well as