Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including German chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to London, her press conference with David Cameron, and PMQs
12.51pm GMT
Kenneth Clarke, a Conservative former health secretary (among other jobs), says commentators did not predict that the ageing population would have this impact on services.
Hunt says the government needs a short-term plan, and a long-term plan. That is what it is doing.
12.50pm GMT
Frank Dobson, the Labour former health secretary, asks Hunt if he agrees that the NHS 111 call handlers are referring far more people to A&E than the trained nurses who ran NHS Direct.
Hunt says it is important to keep the protocols for 111 under review.
12.48pm GMT
Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative chair of the Commons health committee, asks Hunt for an assurance that clinical priorities will come before targets.
Hunt says he agrees. Targets matter, but not at any cost. When Mid-Staffs was mistreating patients, it was mostly meeting its targets.
12.47pm GMT
Hunt is responding to Burnham.
He says the extra money that has gone into hospitals has made a difference. A&E units are treating more people than before.
12.43pm GMT
Andy Burnham says the situation cannot be allowed to continue. Patients and staff deserve better answers.
Fourteen hospitals have declared major incidents. What does this mean for people?
12.39pm GMT
Jeremy Hunt is giving his response now.
He says there 350,000 more over-75s now than there were four years ago.
12.35pm GMT
Andy Burnham, the shadow health question, asks Jeremy Hunt to make a statement on the number of major incidents declared at A&E units.
12.34pm GMT
Labour’s Sir Gerald Kaufman asks about a constituent who suffered from a passport backlog.
Cameron says he will look at this case. But Theresa May is doing a fantastic job, he says.
12.33pm GMT
Bob Neill, a Conservative, asks if the RAF chapel at Biggin Hill will be preseved.
Yes, says Cameron. The Battle of Britain was one of the most important events in history. The government will do whatever it takes to protect it.
12.32pm GMT
Cameron says Andy Burnham has been telling TV stations today he would spend more money on social care. But Ed Balls said earlier that there would be no extra money for local government under Labour. He reads out a quote from Balls. Labour are in “total chaos”.
12.31pm GMT
Labour’s Kalid Mahmood asks Cameron to apologise again to people let down by the NHS.
Cameron says he regrets any patient not getting the treatment they need. But people can see one party is trying to improve the NHS. Another is trying to exploit it, or “weaponise” it. Cameron describes this as “the most disgusting phrase I have heard in politics”.
12.29pm GMT
Sir Peter Tapsell, the Conservative leader of the Commons, says he agrees with Lord Hurd who said in the Lords yesterday it was a “disgrace” the Iraq report was not being published. Who is to blame? The cabinet secretary, or the White House.
Cameron says the report is largely finished. But there is a process that involved those being criticised being given the chance to respond. This is not his decision, he says.
12.27pm GMT
Labour’s Heidi Alexander says half of ambulances in London do not arrive in the eight minutes deadline.
Cameron says new drivers are being hired. The government decided to reform the NHS and put the money in. Labour opposed both moves, he says.
12.26pm GMT
Cameron says the UK is the most attractive location for investment in offshore wind technology.
12.25pm GMT
Labour’s Lisa Nandy asks about a cancer patient in her constituency. Why do so few nurses think Cameron is doing a good job?
Cameron says he applauds nurses, particularly the one in Wigan who chased the health secretary down a corridor to tell him something. There are 9,000 more doctors in the NHS, he says.
12.23pm GMT
Elfyn Llwyd, the Plaid Cymru MP, asks why the Iraq inquiry report is taking so long. Could be be published in March?
Cameron says he shares Lloyd’s concern. If Labour had set it up earlier, it would have reported earlier. But it is not a matter for him, he says.
12.21pm GMT
Labour’s Chi Onwurah says not one hospital in the north east is meeting the A&E waiting targets. But the government focused on a reorganisation, putting profits before people.
Cameron says, in Newcastle, there are 191 more doctors and more than 600 more nurses.
12.19pm GMT
Labour’s Virendra Sharma asks Cameron why he won’t accept Labour’s plan to hire more GPs.
Cameron says, from what he’s read in the last 24 hours, he thought Labour’s plan was to tax London and spend all the money in Scotland.
12.18pm GMT
Henry Smith, a Conservative, asks what Cameron can do to help business.
Cameron says the government is cutting the jobs tax, abolishing employee national insurance contributions for under-21s and taking other measures.
12.16pm GMT
Labour’s Anas Sarwar says the price of oil has fallen to $50 a barrel. That is bad news for the Scottish oil economy. The SNP said it would be much higher. Will Cameron meet the industry to see if support can be provided.
Cameron says he agrees. This helps make the case for the United Kingdom. The SNP were utterly misguided, he says.
12.15pm GMT
Cameron says he is opposed to allowing voting at 16, but he would be happy to let the Commons decide this in a vote.
12.14pm GMT
Snap PMQs verdict: Cameron had the single best line, about Miliband wanting to “weaponise” the NHS and it not being a weapon, but that’s a point about political spin, and Miliband’s line about Cameron not apologising to patients, but blaming them, was almost as good (even though, as far as I recall, Cameron wasn’t blaming them) and, overall, the Miliband onslaught was pretty effective. AS
12.11pm GMT
Miliband says there is one very simple solution: “Get rid of this useless prime minister.” Wasn’t it obvious that spending £3bn on a reorganisation would harm patient care?
Cameron says he has cut the amount spent on bureaucracy. Miliband apparently said to Nick Robinson he wanted to “weaponise” the NHS. That’s a “disgusting” thing to say. The NHS is not a weapon.
12.07pm GMT
Miliband says Cameron is not apologising to patients; he is blaming them. When Cameron closed walk-in centres, wasn’t it obvious that more people would go to A&E.
Cameron says Andy Burnham used to say more money should not be spent on the NHS. Miliband has asked three questions, but has not made suggestions. He is playikng politics with the NHS.
12.05pm GMT
Ed Miliband backs what Cameron said about Paris. We stand united in our support for free speech, he says.
Does Cameron agree the NHS is facing a crisis?
12.03pm GMT
Martin Horwood, the Lib Dem MP, mentions a constitutent being sent to A&E by the NHS 111 service. Why are so many people being sent their by the helpline?
Cameron says Gloucester has had some of the £700m extra money provided to the NHS this winter.
12.01pm GMT
David Cameron starts by condemning the “barbaric” attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo. We stand with the people of France, and stand squarely for free speech, he says.
12.00pm GMT
I’m not sure if this is fair, but I’ll pass it on anyway.
DC looking tired & unhappy as he chats to Jeremy Hunt ahead of #PMQs Wonder why?
11.58am GMT
PMQs is about to start.
Until about half an hour ago we were expecting an all-out shouting match about the state of the NHS. But, in the light of the killing of 11 people in the attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, the mood is likely to be more restrained.
11.47am GMT
David Cameron has added his thoughts.
The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.
11.46am GMT
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and foreign secretary Philip Hammond have tweeted in response to the attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Eleven people have been killed. My colleagues are covering developments over on this live blog.
Horrible news of a barbaric attack on freedom of speech in Paris. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues.
Appalled to hear news of apparent terrorist attack in Paris. My thoughts are with the family and friends of those killed.
11.23am GMT
The Commons work and pensions committee is now taking evidence from another group of witnesses, including Chris Mould, chair of the Trussell Trust, and David Webster, a research fellow at the University of Glasgow.
Here are some of the key points from Twitter.
BBC Parliament - Benefit Sanctions Policy and the Oakley Review - Live now - Chris Mould Trussell Trust - sanctions causing use of foodbanks
Chris Mould of Trussell Trust food bank says charity told of "very disproportionate decisions" on sanctions "spread right across country"
benefits sanctions has become "a parallel secret penal system", Professor Webster tells DWP select committee
11.10am GMT
There will be an urgent question in the Commons at 12.30pm about the A&E crisis.
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has been granted an urgent question in the House of Commons on A&E department pressures in England
11.09am GMT
The Commons work and pensions committee has been holding its first evidence session as part of its inquiry into benefit sanctions. During the first hour it took evidence from Matthew Oakley, who conducted a review of jobseekers’ allowance sanctions for the Department for Work and Pensions; Tony Wilson, policy director from the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion; Philip Connolly, policy and communications manager for Disability Rights UK; Kirsty McHugh, chief executive at the Employment Related Services Association; and Paul Farmer, chief executive at Mind.
Here are some of the key points from the first hour.
DWP independent reviewer of JSA sanctions tells select committee govt should undertake stock-take of impact of sanction reforms.
DWP inquiry on benefit sanction told lack of systematic research on sanctioned going into work, black economy or turn to family/food banks
.@tonywilsonCESI tells @CommonsWorkPen that #sanctions for people on #ESA should be suspended until current practice is better understood
Witnesses call for sanctions on ESA (a key benefit for disabled) to be suspended. 4800 now being sanctioned a month, many mentally ill.
DWP is ignoring its own guidance including contacting GPs before deciding whether to sanction ESA claimants, select committee told by MIND.
.@paulfarmermind tells @CommonsWorkPen there are not enough protections in place for people with #mentalhealth problems around #sanctions
.@paulfarmermind tells @CommonsWorkPen that threat of #sanctions are helping people with #mentalhealth problems - they're making them ill
10.48am GMT
The Financial Times (subscription) reports that George Osborne has quashed Theresa May’s proposal for foreign students to have to leave the UK automatically after they graduate. It says:
Ms May, home secretary, wanted the Conservatives to include the measure in their election manifesto, arguing that tougher controls were needed on non-EU students who she says are a key driver of net migration.
Her proposal that anybody entering Britain on a student visa should be required to leave the country when they graduate, and have to apply for a new visa if they wanted to work in the country, was attacked by university and business chiefs, including Sir James Dyson.
I don’t think it was a good idea. It was never government policy and I’m pleased that, judging by these press reports today, it’s not going to be Conservative policy at the next election. Attracting overseas students to study in Britain is one of the great British successes. We make friends around the world and we make a lot of money from them.
Getting that kind of money in London and the south east is easier than earning it as your first job in the Midlands or the North. So this policy has the effect of sucking overseas graduates into London and the south east and I personally think that we should allow some flexibility, with rather lower wage requirements in other parts of the country, but that’s my personal suggestion.
10.31am GMT
On the Today programme this morning David Davis, the Conservative backbencher, said that David Cameron’s main aim during his talks with Angela Merkel today was to persuade her that the prospect of the UK leaving the EU was genuine. Cameron had to persuade her that the “prospect of us leaving is real, it is not just sabre-rattling”, Davis said.
We have got to get across to her that there should be no mutual misunderstanding about this. That’s the first thing to get across, that this is not sabre-rattling, this is for real and the changes are material.
I would always say that Germans are ready to talk to London about British demands in a fair and reasonable manner. No reasonable politician can ignore the fact that during the next five years we will have to find solutions for the political concerns of the United Kingdom. We have to do this if we want to keep the United Kingdom within the European Union.
So I will work and many others will work for a fair deal with Britain but it must be a deal that accepts the specifities of the United Kingdom in the EU on the one hand while allowing the member states of the eurozone to integrate further.
10.27am GMT
A flick through the front pages is a rather alarming experience this morning – most of them are given over to apocalyptic warnings about the state of the NHS, as these tweets show.
Papers right across the political spectrum lead with the state of A&E and the NHS (via @suttonnick)... pic.twitter.com/jpBCu99Rst
Wednesday's Independent front page: In critical condition #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/Zkz3ET69fG
Without Britain, the EU market would shrink by 15 per cent; some €284 billion (€220 billion) in EU exports could face extra costs; the EU budget would be some €15 billion lighter; and the bloc would lose one of its only two serious military powers.
Like many other EU leaders, Mr Cameron will press Ms Merkel to boost investment in the German economy and liberalise its unreformed sectors.
He has little interest in fine dining — lunch is often a half-eaten sandwich — and even less in alcohol. One former ally recalls being served glasses with minuscule quantities of wine from a half-empty bottle at the Miliband home: “It was like receiving communion,” he says.
The Liberal Democrats will borrow less than Labour and cut less than the Conservatives. And because we are not planning to shrink the State like the Tories, or re-inflate the State like Labour, we won’t have to cut as much, or spend as much on debt interest, as they will, meaning we can give the NHS and our schools the funding they need.
10.22am GMT
Lord Ashcroft’s philanthropy continues. Having spent a fortune on polling in 114 individual constituencies, he has revamped his website so that the figures are now easy to find on a constituency by constituency basis. It’s definitely worth a look.
As he points out in a post for ConservativeHome, this data could do wonders for tactical voting.
As Tim Montgomerie has pointed out, the availability of this data means that tactical voters can be better informed than ever before. Voters in Sheffield Hallam, for example, will note that Labour look best placed to unseat Nick Clegg in a constituency that the Lib Dems have traditionally – if not, recently, very closely – contested with the Conservatives (indeed, they may well bump into Miliband out canvassing).
Conservatives in both Dudley North and Great Grimsby will see that although their party came second by less than a thousand votes last time round, UKIP now appear to offer the best chance of unseating Labour.
10.03am GMT
For what it’s worth, here’s the joint statement David Cameron and Angela Merkel issued ahead of today’s meeting.
You’ll notice that benefit rules for EU migrants, which has become the focus of Cameron’s planned EU renegotiation, doesn’t feature at all.
We meet to discuss key issues to advance our common agenda, in particular with regard to the German G7 presidency. As partners with growing economies, we must work with our European neighbours, G7 partners and others to secure the global recovery and to ensure that we come out of the financial crisis stronger than we were at the start.
Our aim is to increase economic growth and create prosperity for our citizens and this will be the focus of our discussions today. In the G7, we will jointly address global issues including climate protection and lessons learnt from the Ebola crisis as well as other health issues.
9.53am GMT
Nick Clegg has named what he calls his “general election cabinet” - who will speak for the party during the election on each portfolio.
At least 65% of Lib Dems think it's wrong to pick Danny over Vince as economic spokesperson for the General Election http://t.co/wH0qazneiI
9.17am GMT
For the record, here are the latest YouGov GB polling figures.
Labour: 33% (down 1 point from YouGov yesterday)
October 6th - last time that UKIP were as low as 13% with @YouGov pic.twitter.com/XfMClrsm8D
8.59am GMT
To adapt an old joke, today we’re going to see the world’s most powerful conservative leader holding court at 10 Downing Street. David Cameron is going to be there too.
For British readers, the most interesting aspect of Angela Merkel’s visit may be what the German chancellor has to say about Cameron’s demands for an EU renegotiation. But this is not her top priority and she is actually here to talk about this year’s G7 summit, which she’s chairing. Still, she’s the most powerful leader in Europe and she will be holding a joint press conference with Cameron late this afternoon. I’ll be covering it live.
David Cameron will on Wednesday host Angela Merkel at Downing Street amid signs of rising concern in Berlin over the prime minister’s demand for treaty changes.
In a joint statement ahead of the German chancellor’s visit, which will include a tour of the British Museum’s German history exhibition with its director, Neil MacGregor, the two leaders said they were committed to advancing a common agenda for making the EU more competitive.
When John Major gave a much-hyped speech in Berlin in November, Merkel’s top brass shunned the event and the former prime minister’s “warning” wasn’t mentioned in a single German newspaper the next day.
More often than not, the impression was that Britain was not actually seeking a dialogue with Germany but with the British press. A week after Major’s visit, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg rolled into town in an incongruous eight-car motorcade with blacked-out windows. Notionally, the deputy PM had come to Berlin in search for lessons for Britain’s post-industrial north. But it emerged that the main objective of the trip was to stage Clegg’s own “intervention” on the EU migration debate, calling for a cut in child benefits for migrants who leave their offspring in their home country.
Cameron, who has never shown much flair for foreign policy, is increasingly narrowly focused on a May election that could spell political oblivion. Merkel, in contrast, halfway through her third consecutive term in office, is juggling multiple international challenges with the self-assurance of a leader without peers in the EU who represents Europe’s biggest economy. Like France’s weakened president, François Hollande, Cameron is reduced to reacting to a policy agenda directed not from London, Paris or Brussels, but from Berlin.
If politics were like boxing, meetings between national leaders would be arranged according to weight. In the asymmetrical world of international relations, however, disparity is the norm rather than the exception. So it is with Angela Merkel and David Cameron, who confer together in London on Wednesday. The chancellor is the heavyweight contender, while the prime minister would rate as middleweight at most. The difference, unfortunately, is not just a reflection of the strength and size of the two countries concerned. It is also a measure of the stature of these two politicians.
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