12:00 Stay tuned for coverage
As a prelude, the House stands for a minute’s silence in memory of those killed in Cumbria.
12:02: And we’re off – 3 more soldiers killed in Afghanistan over the past week.
12:04: Labour MP Albert Owen asks for a referendum on giving further powers to the Welsh assembly. Cameron has pledged a ‘respect agenda’, which means there will be such a referendum but next year rather than this. Cameron says there is a debate about institutional issues but people in Wales want to hear about schools and hospitals as well.
12:06: Lib Dem MP Tim Farron (deputy leadership hopeful) wants a pledge to protect local health services in rural Cumbria. Cameron says this and an extension of local services is included in the coalition agreement.
12:08: Here’s Harman. Harman asks if gun control will be reformed in view of last week’s tragedy – change in Labour’s official position last week. Cameron re-iterates his view about establishing the facts before reaching for a pen and the statute book. Good answer, and Cameron offers Harman a role in that process.
Harman fully supports Cameron’s position. Harman then launches an attack on the proposed constituency boundary reforms – she makes the point that Jack Straw made in the Times on Monday: the reforms will deepen the problem of eligible people not registering. The reforms would hamper Labour, byu abolishing their small rotten boroughs. Cameron is on very strong ground here: the current system is unfair. Harman attacks twice more, arguing that you ‘can’t have a fair system if the register is unfair’. Cameron responds with: Labour had 13 years and the current system is grossly unfair. Cameron does well to avoid the party political point, and concentrate on Labour’s support for an obviously flawed and unfair system.
12:12: Harman now moves to the coalition’s position on reducing cctv. Cameron doesn’t answer the question to begin with, talking about Labour’s sell-out on civil liberties. Harman asks the question again, Cameron responds by saying that cctv is a matter of proportionality and that Labour has become increasingly authoritarian. Cameron then adds that Ed Balls’ stance on immigration makes him the ‘new Alf Garnett’ – brilliant line and Cameron has mastered the change from opposition to government.
12:20: A Tory plant about Lord Myners, the former Labour Treasury minister, condemning the previous government’s economic policy in the Lords last night. Devastating for the opposition; it’s a runaway victory for the government so far.
12:26: Caroline Flint on the proposed anonymity for those accused of rape. Cameron rehearses his standard answer about raising conviction levels, but segues into the rights of men who are wrongly accused – a welcome move. His tone remains polite, not hectoring.
12:27: It’s a quiet affair now with questions on housing, Iraq and asylum seeking. One thing that I’ve noticed is that Labour have packed their front bench with women. I don’t know if that was planned, but it strikes a difference on camera compared to Hague, Cameron, Osborne and Clegg.
12:28: Cameron reveals snippets of his conversation with General Petreaus last night. Dare I say it but there is an air of Blair to his response: Iraq is a fledgling democracy and Britain should get behind the people there.
12:30: Cameron has just pledged to review the law on asylum seeking – arguing that it is a national disgrace that seekers have to make their own cases to officials with minimum assistance.
12:34: Tory MP Zawari asks if the flag of St George will fly over Downing Street during the World Cup. Cameron says that it will and there’s lot of air punching and pomp from government benches.
VERDICT: I don’t know who planned Labour’s line of attack, but, in the words of Barack Obama, I’d sack them if they’d done that job for me. Attempting to resist electoral reform on such blatant partisan lines was never going to work and smacks of a commitment to unfairness. All Cameron had to do was point out the inconsistency and it followed that Labour’s case was one of self-interest. Following that with a defence of cctv was simply bizarre. All the bad blood about Labour’s record on authoritarianism and the assault on civil liberties was laid bare. Cameron was able to make this session all about Labour and he strolled to victory without having to answer a question.
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