VERDICT: The specifics of today’s exchange between David Cameron and Ed Miliband may have everyone rushing for this Macmillan press release, but the rhetorical positions were clear enough. There was the Labour leader, angrier and more indignant than usual, painting the government’s welfare reforms as cruel and insufficiently thought-through. And there was the PM, painting his opponent as yet another roadblock to reform. Neither really triumphed, although their battle will most likely set a template for in future. The coalition has extensive public backing for its changes to the welfare system. So, Miliband’s challenge is to attack certain aspects of them, without making Labour appear to be — as he put it on Monday — “the party of those ripping off our society”. I shall leave CoffeeHousers to decide whether he’s up to it.
1234: To close, Cameron defends the coalition’s deficit reduction plan. It is, he suggests, thanks to that plan that the country has been able to sustain “Greek [i.e. high]
levels of debt” alongside “German [i.e. low] interest rates”. In truth, we’re not quite at Greek levels of debt — by the OBR’s figures — but the point is well made.
1231: The PM sounds the same defence of the government’s international aid spending as he did earlier this week: it will save lives and promote Britain’s standing in the world, he argues.
His mind will clearly never be changed on this, not least because it is a key part of his brand of conservatism.
1229: Cameron says that, after a meeting yesterday, Mark Stanhope agrees that the Libya mission can continue for some time to come, until its aims are complete. “Time is on our side,” stresses the PM.
1226: And there’s another question on energy prices. Cameron confesses that, “there’s only so much you can do when oil prices have risen as they have,” but goes on to list some of the government’s special tariffs and such.
1223: There have been two questions now on an issue that is gaining political momentum: energy prices. Cameron admits his concern, and rattles through a list of government measures to counter the upwards pressure. But, thanks to the involvement of green taxes and the like, this is not going to be an easy one for him.
1219: Cameron delivers his usual answer on Scottish independence. He will respect the views of the Scottish people, he says, but they must respect that he, the PM, backs the Union to the hilt.
1217: In answer to a question on inflation — “I want inflation to come down” — Cameron squeezes in his first mention for today’s encouraging employment
figures.
1213: The coalition benches cheer as Labour’s Geraint Davies says that the deficit was “the price to pay for the mistakes of the bankers.” Cameron doesn’t miss his opportunity,
responding that the deficit was “the price of Labour’s profligacy”. Once again, he cannot resist referring to Blair — “a Labour leader who actually won elections” —
and what amounts to the former PM’s support for the coalition’s deficit reduction plan.
1210: Miliband is putting on a good show of being aghast at Cameron’s answers. “If there was ever a case for pausing and listening,” he says in sarcastic reference to the
listening exercise over the NHS reforms, “then this is it.” Cameron says, again, that Labour are trying to shirk welfare reform. And he lists, by way of a close, some of the Labour
figures who support coalition reforms, including Tony Blair and Ed Miliband’s “brother”.
1208: Cameron tries to defuse the sitution by offering an “explanation” of the government’s welfare reforms around terminally ill people. “This is difficult to talk
about,” he admits, and his explanation is duly strained.
1206: The exchange continues in much the same way. Miliband says that Cameron doesn’t know his own policy, Cameron retorts that Miliband has it wrong. Roars all round.
1204: For his first question, Miliband keeps the subject on the welfare bill. He claims, with supporting figures from Macmillan, that cancer patients will lose out from its provisions. Cameron denies the claim, saying that the coalition is following the same tests and definitions as the Labour government. He adds that Labour are trying to “wriggle out” of welfare reform. This is an area where the public are broadly on Cameron’s side — and he’ll want to keep it that way, particularly after Miliband’s speech on Monday.
1202: And they’re off. The first question sets Cameron up to reaffirm his support for a £26k cap on benefit payments, which was put in doubt at the weekend. “We need to reward work,” he says.
Stay tuned for live coverage of PMQs from 1200.
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