Live webchat with David Cameron - this Thursday 19th, 1.45 pm

[JustineMumsnet]

Hello all - David Cameron is coming on to Mumsnet to answer your questions this Thursday at 1.45-2.45. Please post advance questions here if you can't make it on Thursday. (And please read our Webchat guidelines above before posting ie only one question each). Many thanks.

I fully second LadyBlaBlah's question.

So how would you go about trying to convince me that you would be the best person to represent me and shape my life should you get into power?
And, if you do choose to reply, please do not patronise me, I am a mother not a braindead moron.
[But no spiel either, see above]

As an aside the Child Benefit one's good too, we wouldn't eat were it not for Child Benefit, despite DH working away all week and me part time from home.

How can you say you are serious about increasing the number of women in parliament when your party's record is so woeful in this area? In my region, the North West, only 1 of your 8 candidates in the recent European elections was female, and now for miles arouind me ALL the Tory parliamentary and council candiates are straight white men. Why should I vote for your people and your party when it looks nothing like me?

mind you which right minded woman would WANT to be an MP?
maybe that is the reason there are so few - it would be like being Mum to a terminably ungrateful teenager woudlnt it?
criticism, long hours late nights and no thanks

If/when you are in power, would you be the first party to make things simple??

I am not talking about dumbing down, but creating a simple system of taxes and benefits - hate to mention yet again the Child Tax Credit, but as a reasonably financially intelligent woman it took me 2 hours sitting with past bank statements/tax notices/award notices to check their overpayment claim (and it was incorrect) - the benefits system should be streamlined, with simple options regarding children, disabilities, etc to adjust your entitlements, and align this to minimum wage, so that we do not get people in the situation where they are substantially worse off by working (so earning £10 more means your benefits fall by £9, for example)

I live in cloud-cuckoo land I know but would love to spend a day talking to someone in charge of these departments, and find out just how much it is costing in staff time to administer the unwieldy beast of a system!

I've used up my question...but if anyone wants to put one and can't think of one...

I'd really like to know how often he cooks dinner. and how often Samantha cooks dinner. and do they have any employees who cook dinner for them?

I just received a reponse from DC's office on my question about tax credits and this is what they said:

"If we win the next election, we will work with the tax credits system we inherit, but our first aim should be to make the system simpler and fairer.

At the moment, there are over a million people pretending to live apart because the benefit system pays you more to live apart than together. In a nutshell, the benefit system is driving people apart rather than bringing them together.

If we don't help couples stay together, if we don't build strong families, then what we get is family breakdown, which has huge social implications and also costs for the economy.

We will, therefore, end the couple penalty and recognise marriage in the benefits system, over time, by using savings generated from our radical programme of welfare reform."

So people pretending to be apart, but are not actually apart, are being driven apart by the benefits system

Hello Mr Cameron. I have a son of 13 who has severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour and we find it really difficult to access mainstream activities as a family.

Would the Conservative party consider creating local social and activity centres for severely disabled children and young people and their families, a bit like SureStart centres? We need a place of safety and environments accessible to those with challenging behaviours.

I would also like to say how sorry I am about your son Ivan.

Hello Mr Cameron

Do you agree with James Murdoch that 'state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision'?

I think that the BBC is one of the UK's few truly world-class institutions, and that this is in large part because of its public funding. The idea that Fox News is a better model than Radio 4 seems laughable to me. Do you agree?

'At the moment, there are over a million people pretending to live apart because the benefit system pays you more to live apart than together

How can they know this? Because if they do, and are pretending (as opposed toliving apart for expediency) why don't they just prosecure for fraud?

Mr Cameron

I am a single parent raising two small children. I am 29 years old, and I well remember the treatment the working classes received under the last Conservative government, in that I left school to go into a job that paid only £1.51 per hour, 40 hours per week, and there was no training.

When the Labour government came in, they introduced the minimum wage, and by the time I had children they had introduced tax credits for working families.

I am now a single working parent. Under the current Labour government I qualify to ask for flexible working, I qualify for tax credits and I qualify for the minimum wage.

What are the Conservatives going to offer me that is better than that? WHY SHOULD I vote Conservative?

All this promotion of marriage and family values, and my memories of being working class in 1996, merely serves to convince me that you hate me and everyone like me, and will not be inclined to help me, or my children.

Would very much like to see Policywonk's question answered.

[I'm only posting this because I don't think anyone has yet?]

What is your party's position on civil partnerships? How do you expect us to believe what you say, when you appoint an adviser on family policy who says something entirely different to you on this matter?

Hi Mr Cameron,

I'd like to ask what the Tories' position is about starting age for primary school in this country. As you know, children- and in particular summer born children, like my son- start school just after their fourth birthday (reception)and year one when they're five. This is extraordinarily early & is much earlier than most European countries. All the educational studies that have been done show, consistently, that a later starting age for school (e.g. after 6 for year 1) & play based education up to that age is preferable & beneficial to the children. This is particularly the case for summer born children. Again, studies consistently show that summer born children are at a disadvantage in school as they're simply unprepared (in many cases) to enter into formal education. Yet in the current situation it's completely up to each individual teacher to take this into account (or not).

Would you be willing to let parents decide, i.e. to defer entry to primary school for their children? This is what's happening in Scotland, from what I understand, and it seems to be a good system!

Or even, more ambitiously, would you be willing to delay starting age for primary school altogether?

Will be interested in the answers to lots of these questions about family policy/tax/vouchers/NHS etcv. However, also stuff that doesn't directly touch me.

So, how about prisons? Britain has one of the highest per capita prison populations in the world and high recidivism rates. This suggests that long sentences just lead to the exit of "better" criminals, as in better at being criminals. And the huge cash spent on simply maintaining order in our overcrowded prisons means there's not enough money left for rehabilitation/training/education and the schemes that actually give the inmates a better chance of changing their lives. There's loads of research that shows what "works" and it's not long prison terms.

QUESTION: Will a future Conservative govt have the guts to stand up for the evidence that shows up the deficiencies of the prison system, as well as saying what it costs in budgetary terms, and actually change the country's approach to sentencing and other options?

If not, what is your justification for continuing to spend money (approx £40,000/inmate/year, including on those many thousands on remand) on a penal system that doesn't seem to be a deterrent, that locks up children and other vulnerable people, sometimes for the non-payment of fines for non-imprisonable offences, and that has been criticised on human rights grounds by various respectable organisations?

Mr Cameron, you spoke movingly about a single mother working being hardly better off than one on benefits, but your next words seemed to propose reducing benefit levels, rather than to allow such a working mother to claim more. This would not help the one but would impoverish the other. Please tell me how you think it is possible to reduce poverty in this country - and if your party intend to try?

(Should add that I'm a SAHM who would benefit from tax relief on my husband's salary, but am also aware we aren't poor enough to really need it. So mentioning that is of no interest to me.)

Oooh, Colditz & POlicywonk's questions, please?

Mr Cameron, would you kindly stop calling my family broken?

My family was well and truly broken when I was living with the father of my children, but people like you would have considered us a respectable deserving family purely and simply because we were not living apart (and hell, you would have paid us money to encourage us to stay together continuing the cycle of dysfunction).

Now that I'm a lone parent, I've spent years making sure that my broken family got fixed and it offends and annoys me to hear you and your fellow party members constantly refer to it as broken, when it is far less broken now, than it was when I lived with the children's father. It's simplistic and stigmatising, but I expect you know that don't you?

Hello Mr Cameron and many thanks for taking the time to talk to us.

I have a very personal question for you, but please do not answer it if you find it too invasive.

Firstly, I am so sorry for the loss of your darling Ivan. The first year of notable dates and anniversaries is one of the hardest, so I hope you all find a way to enjoy the festive season. There will always be an empty place at the dinner table, but I sincerly hope you can remember Ivan with a smile as well as a tear this Christmas.

I have found my outlook and perspective have changed since the loss of my eldest son. So I guess my question is, how has your loss changed you outlook and perspective on life and work? Indeed, has it changed?

Mr Cameron, I am concerned that the Kelly recommendations arising from the expenses scandal will lead to women becoming even less represented in Parliament than they currently are (the thought of travelling back on the train for those within what is deemed a reasonable commuting distance after yet another late night sitting isn?t a massive incentive).

The Conservatives have spoken many warm words about the importance of families and the work/life balance. Will a Conservative government use the opportunity of the Kelly report as a platform for reforming some of the archaic parliamentary practices that discriminate against those with families? Or will it simply allow a media that has become ridiculously self-righteous to continue to dictate the agenda?

I realise I?ve convoluted several issues here but if you pick one I?ll be happy.

Mr Cameron. Thank you very much for coming back to talk to us again.
I would also like to offer my heartfelt sorrow for the loss of your son. Noone can ever know the pain of losing a child until it happens to you.

Right I would like to ask you what exactly are your plans for dealing with the huge growth in unelected, unaccountable and grossly overpaid quangos.
For example the South East Regional Development thingy. We didnt vote for them, we have no idea what they actually do and they have huge power over what happens in and around my town(on the south coast).
Every week I read in the paper, mostly the Times, about different organisations that swallow massive amounts of money and with very little output.
Ofsted, any of the numerous govt advisory units. Those are just the most obvious.

A very easy way to save us billoins of pounds overnight I would say.

I also want to say you looked very handsome today on the Television.

ILikeToMoveItMoveIt what a lovely post.

GoingToGoShedAFewTearsNowTiggaxx