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811 Oral Answers<br />
1 DECEMBER 2010<br />
Oral Answers<br />
812<br />
The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron): This morning<br />
I returned from Zurich, w<strong>here</strong> I have been meeting<br />
decision makers, aiming to convince them of what a<br />
brilliant World cup England could host in 2018. On my<br />
return, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and<br />
others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall<br />
have further such meetings later today.<br />
Margaret Curran: May I give the Prime Minister<br />
Glasgow’s best wishes in the bid for England? I mean<br />
that most sincerely.<br />
In a recent Lib Dem leaflet in Scotland, the Business<br />
Secretary compares tuition fees to the poll tax. Is it<br />
acceptable for the Business Secretary to say one thing in<br />
the House and, when campaigning for votes in Scotland,<br />
to condemn that policy?<br />
The Prime Minister: I thank the hon. Lady for what<br />
she says about the England 2018 World cup. I know she<br />
would never mislead the House, so I know that what she<br />
said was utterly sincere, and I am sure it is shared by<br />
Members, whatever part of the <strong>United</strong> <strong>Kingdom</strong> they<br />
represent.<br />
On tuition fees, let us look at the system that we are<br />
introducing. Under the new system, nobody pays anything<br />
up front. Every single student will pay less per month<br />
than they do currently. Half a million students will<br />
benefit from the increase in maintenance loans. It is<br />
time we started looking at the substance of the issue,<br />
rather than just the process.<br />
Q2. [27559] Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con): The<br />
Prime Minister explained how he is shuttling between<br />
London and Zurich in support of England’s World cup<br />
bid. Can he update the House on how that bid is<br />
progressing, please?<br />
The Prime Minister: I am grateful for that question.<br />
England 2018 has a very strong bid. With regard to the<br />
technical aspects, we have the stadiums, the facilities<br />
and the transport networks. We have the enthusiasm in<br />
our country for football and we can put on an absolutely<br />
first-class World cup. I know that many people will ask,<br />
“Are you spending too much time on something that<br />
might not succeed?” I would say, “If you don’t get on to<br />
the pitch, you have no chance of winning.” We should<br />
all get behind the bid.<br />
Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab): I start by<br />
wishing the Prime Minister well as he plays his part in<br />
efforts to secure England’s bid for the 2018 World cup.<br />
As he says, ours is a fantastic bid and all of us will be<br />
hoping for a successful outcome tomorrow.<br />
We note that the Deputy Prime Minister is away on<br />
official business, and left the country before the tuition<br />
fees vote, but of course we understand that he had<br />
urgent business to attend to in Kazakhstan and we wish<br />
him well in that.<br />
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast on<br />
Monday was hailed as a great sign of success by the<br />
Chancellor, but I want to test out what it will mean for<br />
families up and down the country. The Prime Minister<br />
has been telling us for months that under his plans<br />
unemployment will fall next year, but on Monday the<br />
OBR said that unemployment would rise next year. Can<br />
he explain why that is the case?<br />
The Prime Minister: First, I thank the right hon.<br />
Gentleman for his kind remarks about the England<br />
2018 bid. I know that the former Prime Minister worked<br />
extremely hard on it, and I know that t<strong>here</strong> is cross-party<br />
support for it. We need to maintain that as we go into<br />
the vital last 48 hours.<br />
The right hon. Gentleman asked about the OBR<br />
forecast, which the Chancellor announced on Monday.<br />
Let me stress again that these are independent forecasts,<br />
published for the first time independently, and not<br />
interfered with by a Chancellor of the Exchequer. On<br />
unemployment, what the Office for Budget Responsibility<br />
found is that unemployment this year will be lower than<br />
previously forecast. It has not altered its forecast for<br />
unemployment next year, for which it is forecasting a<br />
rate of 8%, but it is forecasting increases in employment<br />
all the way through the forecast period. Above all, what<br />
the forecasts showed is that our policy of trying to cut<br />
the deficit and get growth at the same time is working.<br />
Edward Miliband: What the OBR actually shows is<br />
that growth will slow next year compared with the<br />
forecast, and that is what will mean that unemployment<br />
will rise. What the Prime Minister needs to explain is<br />
why unemployment will fall next year in the USA, in<br />
Germany and in other major industrial countries, but<br />
will rise in the <strong>United</strong> <strong>Kingdom</strong>. Why is that the case?<br />
The Prime Minister: I know that the right hon.<br />
Gentleman is determined to talk down the economy,<br />
but even he will find difficulty in finding depressing<br />
statistics in the OBR’s report, because, generally speaking,<br />
what it reported was good news for the UK economy. It<br />
finds, and the last European Commission forecast report<br />
found, that average UK growth for the next two years<br />
will be higher than in Germany, France, the US, Japan,<br />
and the eurozone, or the EU average. It would be more<br />
worth while for us to debate across the Dispatch Box<br />
how we get the country’s growth rate up. What reforms<br />
do we make to try to make our economy more efficient?<br />
Has he got something to say about that, or is it another<br />
blank page?<br />
Edward Miliband: The Prime Minister asks how we<br />
get the growth of the economy up—absolutely right.<br />
What we should not do is put up VAT next year from<br />
4 January and cut public spending by £20 billion. That<br />
is why the OBR says that we will have the weakest<br />
recovery from recession for 40 years. I come back to my<br />
point about unemployment. Can he tell us when, over<br />
the five years of the <strong>Parliament</strong>, unemployment will<br />
return to pre-crisis levels? That tests the strength of the<br />
recovery. When will it return to the levels before the<br />
recession?<br />
The Prime Minister: We inherited an 8% unemployment<br />
rate, and the OBR says that it will be 6% by the end of<br />
the <strong>Parliament</strong>. He asked the question, he gets the<br />
answer. Let me just remind the right hon. Gentleman of<br />
something. At the last election, the Labour party, himself<br />
included, said that if we cut £6 billion out of the<br />
Budget, it would end in catastrophe for the British<br />
economy. He was proved completely and utterly wrong.<br />
Edward Miliband: Mr. Speaker, have you ever heard a<br />
more complacent answer to a question? Families up and<br />
down the country are worried about their jobs and