Wednesday in Westminster

Today in Parliament & Yesterday in Parliament
By Rachel Hooper
Programme Editor

Radio 4 guides you around Westminster

The economic downturn has returned to centre-stage in the Commons.

During prime minister's questions, Gordon Brown promised "fiscal expansion" - in other words, tax cuts and increases in public spending - to help hard pressed families and businesses.

But ahead of next Monday's critical Pre-Budget Report, the Conservative leader David Cameron said the Government was "desperate to go on a borrowing binge" which would have to be paid for by tax rises later.

Mr Brown branded the Tories the "do nothing party" and said fiscal expansion was needed to bring back growth into the economy.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg turned to the bank bailout plan which, he said, his party had supported because they had been told there would be "strings attached" and that banks would be forced to lend.

"But every member of this House will have heard of the way in which local companies are receiving emails from their banks forcing them out of business overnight," he told Mr Brown.

He challenged the prime minister to produce concrete evidence that the plan was working.

Executive pay

The Commons Treasury Committee has been continuing its inquiry into the banking crisis with an evidence session on executive pay and bonuses.

MPs heard from advisors on executive pay and from a panel of industry representatives including the TUC's Brendan Barber.

Stormont deal

The deal to end the five month political deadlock at Stormont has been greeted as "historic" by the Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward.

Following an agreement between the DUP and Sinn Fein over the devolution of policing and justice powers, the power-sharing executive will meet on Thursday for the first time since June.

Mr Woodward was asked about the breakthrough during Northern Ireland questions in the Commons, when he also talked of his disappointment that the report into the Bloody Sunday shootings in 1972 would take another year to complete.

MPs reject amendments

MPs have voted to reject some of the amendments made in the Lords to the government's Counter-Terrorism Bill.

Ministers had conceded defeat on peers' most significant change, the removal of the proposed 42-day maximum detention period for terror suspects.

Today MPs weighed up the wishes of the Lords for intercept evidence to be allowed at coroners' inquests and to enable innocent people to have their personal records removed from the national DNA database.

Also in the programme

• The problem of drug dependency among prisoners;
• And the President of Israel Shimon Peres addresses MPs and Peers.

Tune in to Today in Parliament on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 2330 and Yesterday in Parliament tomorrow morning at 0831 on Radio 4 Long Wave and digital radio.

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