Journal, live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. The British Parliament is in recess for the easter holiday. Members return to the house of commons on april 28. Lookednster in review at major events from the past three months. Topics included how the u. K. Handled the crisis in ukraine, Scottish Independence, and the british budget. Bbc parliaments Alicia Mccarthy posted this onehour program, which includes tributes to labour members who passed away earlier this year. This is an hour. Hello and welcome to the program. Our look back at the big event here at westminster since just after the year. Coming up, the chancellor unveils his latest tax and Spending Plans as the u. K. Economic recovery continues. With the help of the british people, we are turning our country around, building a resilient economy. We scoured the chancellors speech and all the documents for one measure for costofliving of living and Living Standards, and there were none at all. Also, as the Scottish Independence referendum edge is ever nearer, politicians on all sides argue what a yes vote might mean. There is a firstclass row over the selloff of royal mail. It is basic math, mr. Speaker. Not so much the wolf of wall street. More like the dunce of downing street. This is a success for our country. Lets begin with George Osbornes budget, one of the set pieces of the year, and there is plenty expectation before and as to what the chancellor might do. The chancellor uses his statement to set out his tax and Spending Plans and gives his assessment of the state of the economy. This time around, George Osborne had good news for mps. The economy is continuing to recover and recovering faster than forecast. Together with the british people, we held our nerves. Next year, there will be no income tax at all on the first 10,500 pounds. The 15,000 pound, the attention of bonds, people ask us to their own pension pots, rights to thertial did advice, message from this budget is this you have earned it, you have saved it, and this government is on your side. Forecast i presented showed a growth, jobs up, and the deficit down. Now we are securing britains Economic Future with manufacturing promoted, working rewarded, saving supported. With the help of the british people, we are turning our country around, building a resilient economy. This is a budget that i recommend to the house. The chancellor spoke for nearly an hour, but he did not mention one central fact. The working people of britain will he rule out if further tax cut for millionaires . Nod your head if you will rule it out. Come on. Just nod your head. L you rule out come one maybe the Prime Minister would like to have a go just nod your head. Order it is not in this chamber it can be used as in the suit. It is very simple. All the Prime Minister needs to do is to nod his head if hes going to rule out cutting the 45p tax to 40p. Just nod your head. There you have it. Deputyou have it, mr. Speaker. There they go again. They wont rule it out. They really do believe the way you make the rich work harder is to make them richer, and the way you make everyone else were carter is by making them poorer. At millet mill of and responding to George Osbornes budget speech. The debate on the budget continued for several days in comments, so as the dust was settling, it was time for other mps to give their opinions. This is a resolutely isilient budget, which believe has some seriously Game Changing proposals within it that are going to be a significant and positive impact on the future of our economy for many years to come. The chancellors speech was hugely political, but he didnt tell us about recovery. He didnt tell us if he was help hardworking families. He didnt apologize for trying to rebalance the economy on the backs of the poor. This was a political platform for the next election. They are undermining the Living Standards of people up and down our country andhe shadow chancellor, the balls. What did the budget ax actually say, and more importantly, what will it actually do . I am joined by carl emerson from the Economic Research group, the institute for fiscal studies. It was, according to George Osborne, a budget for savers and workers. Who were the winners . The most significant change was the way pensions operate. Nexthes going to do, from april, hes going to allow people over the age of 50 five who put money in the pensions, they are allowed to take it out and spend it as they see feet fit. Those people who want that flexibility, who want to take the money out of their pension pots, spend it, save it, invested have a seat feet. There are potentially some viewers. It may well be that annuity prices rise as a result of the budget change. We heard at a balls saying that there was nothing in this budget to tackle the cost of living problem, as he sees it. Was there anything in the budget to help . There were some measures that were given away. Giveaways. A lot of people who got income from savings can benefit from the 10p income tax. George osborne cut that to 0. You can imagine some pensioners who got a reasonable onto money coming from savings. They will benefit from that tax cut. We were told that the economy is growing and had a rate faster than previously expected. How much does that boost George Osbornes budget . What matters is the long run outlook for government receipts and spending. The important backdrop is that mr. Us born still has a long way to go before he closes the gap between the two. There are big spending cuts ahead of us. The extra growth we are getting this year, it is nice to have, but it looks like it is going to be growth we get sooner rather than more growth overall. It doesnt really help. What we can expect is more spending cuts to continue right up to the election and beyond. We talked about who did well after the budget. Who did badly . With onedget is giving hand and taking with the other. He took some money from spending departments. Hes making publicsector employers pay a bit more for the pension costs of their members. That will be a squeeze on public services. He did a crackdown on tax avoiders. Those people engaging in those kinds of activities may well lose. Karl emerson, thank you very much indeed for your time. The clock is ticking slowly down for scotlands independence referendum. On september 18, voters will decide whether or not they want to remain part of the u. K. Or become an independent country. With the polls narrowing and the election date nearing, the vote has never been far from politicians minds. The three main clinical parties are what and lets mr. Are united in wanting scotland to stay, but the possibility of a vote for independence have thrown up interesting what ifs. What would happen to britains Nuclear Deterrent in the event of a yes vote . The submarines carrying the uks Trident Nuclear warheads currently operate from a naval scotland. An alternative site would be fine would be hard to find in england. Peers from other parties pressed the minister over possible options. The governmentid wasnt contemplating a scottish breakaway from the rest of the u. K. My lords, we are confident that the scottish people will vote to remain part of the United Kingdom. , we are not making any contingency plans for a yes vote. Moving the deterrent facilities would be an enormous exercise. It is the largest employment site in scotland with around 6700 military and civilian jobs, increasing to around 8200 by 2022 with hundreds of millions of pounds of planned investment as it becomes the home to all royal navy summaries. Isnt the truth of the matter is a nuclearfree scotland, the technical consequences will mean the end of the british Nuclear Deterrent at a time of great economic and Geopolitical Uncertainty . Does the government have a plan b . My lord, we do not want scotland to leave the United Kingdom. We have achieved so much proud ofand are very the contributions scotland makes to the United Kingdoms defense. Would the minister accept whereas he and i might disagree with regards to the outcome of the referendum and even with regards to nuclear weapons, does he not realize that the attitude he has shown on behalf of the government could well go down as arrogance by the government towards scotland, and does he not feel also that the rest of the United Kingdom are entitled to have an answer to this question because it is a matter that is relevant to us all . My lord, absolutely. I wasnt being arrogant. I started off my response by saying, we do not want scotland to leave the United Kingdom. A dereliction of duty not to be looking at alternatives on such an important issue. We all know that our ability to defend our islands, should scotland separate, is going to be dramatically reduced. We know whatever happens, should they separate, there will be huge cost. Doesnt the minister also agreed that there is a real special relationship with the united , and even this speculation is damaging that . In a nuclear alliance, does he agree that Us Withdrawing ,nilaterally each effectively half of the nato deterrent, it is something that is causing huge damage . The United Kingdom government is not planning for Scottish Independence and cannot prenegotiate the details of independence at of the referendum. To start planning now for a United Kingdom without scotland would start to unpick the fabric of the u. K. Before the people of scotland have had their say and would require u. K. Government ministers to prioritize the interests of one part of the United Kingdom over those of others. In the event of a vote to leave the u. K. , the referendum would would be the beginning of a lengthy and complex set of negotiations between the scottish and u. K. Government. Lordsbers of the house of debating one aspect of u. K. Life that would be affected by a yes vote in that referendum. Osbornecellor george stirred the debate when, in a speech in edinburgh, he said a vote for Scottish Independence would mean walking away from the pound. Said there was no legal reason why the rest of u. K. Would want to share the sterling with an independent scotland. Parliament, ah minister attacked the chancellor and the labor leader, arguing mr. Osbornes speech had backfired. Of insult, most people in scotland would feel that George Osborne insulted the intelligence of the scottish people. That may be the last time, probably the only time, that i l quote the daily mail row over pound drives yes vote. The indications we have so far is that the joint enterprise between George Osborne and ed balls has backfired on the two unionist parties in spectacular fashion. Speaking. Lmond it was undeniably one wet winter, in fact, the wettest winter on record. Howling winds and rain threaten just before christmas, causing chaos. Travel is travelers hoping to fly from Gatwick Airport had their flights canceled. The executive and his staff decided to get as many people home for the holidays as they but in retrospect, he said it would have been better to cancel flights. Easyjet managers painted a bleak picture of management at the airport. I confronted with the physical proportions. I had to stand on a balcony on a table to be seen to look over ,000 customers to quiet them and in one of three occasions where i had to address the passengers to explain what had happened, the flooding in the air. Thathen ups explaining they should expect to have some delays. Things got worse as the day wore on. 10 45, the police asked all of our stuff to vacate baggage reclaim because of hostility and public order consequences. That is why you wouldnt see any of our staff past 11 00 in the evening. The police took all of our leaflets, our literature, which is part and parcel of our organization. We had the Real Services down to brighton. We have the Rail Services down to london. We had the and 23 closed for flooding. When you take all of that information, which was what was on our plate early christmas eve, in retrospect, looking canceledshould have the flights earlier. In the decision in the future, that is a decision we will make. Start of february, a stretch of the seawall in devon washed away, knocking out the rail well ryan railway line. The line opened in time for the easter holiday, but the local economy is thought to have lost millions of pounds. There was a high price for homes and businesses. The somerset levels in the southwest of england were some of the hardest hit areas, with some houses emerge for weeks. Other parts of england suffer ed, too. David cameron promised help for those affected. Money is no object. I want communities who are suffering and people who see water lapping at their doors to know when it comes to the military, when it comes to sandbags, when it comes to the emergency services, when it broken floodoring defenses, all of those things, money is no object. David cameron announced financial help for households, businesses, and farmers. The labor leader asked about redundancies at the Environment Agency. He said, 500 staff are losing their jobs. They are people currently helping with the cleanup. Floodrly on the issue of defense, the commission on Climate Change says we are spending significantly less on should. Fense than we my question is a simple one, given yesterdays promise to make sure we have a resilient country for the future and spend whatever it takes, if he is reconsidering these redundancies and reconsidering the amount of the amount of money he invests in flood defense let me tell me what you we are doing in the future. We have set up the figures all the way up to 2020. Have made Capital Spending pledges in areas like transport and in terms of flood defenses, pledges that no one else is able to match. I would ask the premise or in the coming days, the government needs to speak with one voice on this issue. The response needs to be speedier than it has been in the past. Everyone affected needs to feel like they are getting the help they need. If the government does this, they will have our full support. We are deploying the military when we are asked. Raising the compensation to local governments to 100 . That is what local communities should have. Im only sorry that he seeks to divide the house when we should be coming together for the nation. Does the Prime Minister believed that flood defense is so important . Why did he come to office and cut the budget . We will be spending 2. 4 billion in this fouryear [eropd period. Is moreyoull find 2. 4 than 2. 2. Will the Prime Minister ensure that we dont build on floodplains so people wont be inconvenienced this way . I will look carefully at what my honorable friend says. Forerms of Applications Properties being built on floodplains, the official advice that includes the advice from the Environment Agency it is worth remembering that areas like london are part of a floodplain. I dont think it is possible to simply say, no house can never be built on a flood plane. What we would need to do is look at the rules, listen to the experts, and make sure we only build where we can protect. A couple of months later when waters had receded, a committee of mps summoned the head of the Government Agency for advice. Said, Prime Minister money would be no object during the flood relief effort. That the promised the Prime Minister made has been reflected in the support provided to you throughout the flooding events . We saw very generous additional funds allocated to us over the last few months, 270 million in total spread effectively over two years. Us, we are pretty sure, to bring all of our flood. 97 se assets back into Good Condition of course, quite a number of them suffered quite severe theduring the various succession of storms weve experienced over the decemberfebruary period. The head of the Environment Agency chris smith. Was from the u. K. , there one International Story that dominated the news, the situation in ukraine. After weeks of unrest in the country and the ousting of ukraines president , the position of premier was taken over by prorussian folk forces in late february. In march, crimea declared independence from ukraine after a referendum, seen as illegal in many by winning in the west. President Vladimir Putin declared in the Moscow Parliament that crimea had always been part of russia, a point picked up by the foreign secretary in the comments. It was regrettable to hear president putin today choosing denyinge of isolation, the citizens of his own country and of crimea partnership with the International Community and full membership of a range of international organizations, and russias right to help shape the 21st century in a positive manner. No amount of sham and perverse or skewed process historical references can make up for the fact that this is an incursion into a sovereign state a