Browse content similar to 02/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. Is David Miliband | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
making a political comeback? He has broken his silence in the New | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
Statesman, warning his party and his brother not to shift too far to | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
the left or alienate business. Are we heading for a new bout of | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
fraternal strife? Prince William is going to the | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
Falklands to serve six weeks as a search-and-rescue pilot. But is his | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
job are about to be privatised? The government says it wants fewer | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
but better immigrants, we will be asking the Minister how he is going | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
to manage that. And has the entente cordiale turned | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
sour, we will be analysing the growing tensions between Messrs | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
Cameron and Sarkozy. All that in the next half-hour, and | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
with us for the duration is Emma Harrison, chairman of A4E, Action | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
for Employment. I did not know that! It describes itself as a | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
social purpose company, we could do with that on this show. It aims to | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
improve people's lives by helping them to find work, skills, | :01:44. | :01:50. | |
direction or whatever it is they need! We need you! He will be busy! | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
Very busy. But you have any thoughts of Commons and anything we | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
are discussing, you can send them to us. -- If you have any comments | :02:01. | :02:11. | |
David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary, has been stirring things | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
up a wee bit in the Labour Party. In an article in the New Statesman, | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
he warns today that Labour is moving to part of the left and is | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
in danger of alienating business. - - moving too far. He has declined | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
to come onto the programme. Not for want of trying! But we did get | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
something, we have got former Labour and one and minister and | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
David Miliband supporter Tony McNulty, welcome to the programme. | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
-- Employment Minister. Why not -- why now? Ed Miliband has had a very | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
good week at the turn of the year, but the party has some way to go in | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
terms of redefining itself, and David's contribution is more than | :02:50. | :02:57. | |
welcome. His replying to an article that Roy Hattersley wrote in the | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
political Quarterly months ago. Even Roy Hattersley... Did you not | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
catch it?! I did not! Even Roy Hattersley has forgotten he wrote | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
it. That is quite a Redland, a device for him to get these ideas | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
out. -- Redland. If you look through this seven points, I do not | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
think there is much that Ed would disagree with. There is that he | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
can't and carry on tendency, he calls it the reassurance tender sea. | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
All you have got to do is keep quiet, the Tories will mess up and | :03:30. | :03:40. | |
:03:40. | :03:41. | ||
we will be back. That way lies toxicity and murder. Ed, since the | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
conference, has dealt with predatory capitalism. David is | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
saying that productive capitalism matters as well. Half of the stuff | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
the same is only, look, there is a poor picture that we need to | :03:50. | :03:57. | |
appreciate. It is not an two Ed, by any stretch of imagination. What | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
planet are you one?! He says that every Labour member knows that the | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
Tories have done a serious job in black guarding Labour as fiscally | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
incontinent. We do. We had the detail of a leadership contest | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
straight after the election, during which time the Tories established | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
the lexicography of the discussion of the economy, and we have got to | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
row back from that. We started that process. What Ed Balls did Jay | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
weeks ago at the Fabian Society is bang in line with this article. -- | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
two weeks ago. Her look me straight in the face, I want to see if your | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
nose gets bigger. Are you telling me Ed Miliband is over the moon | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
with this article? There is nothing he would disagree with. Are you | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
telling me he is over the moon with it? Ed understands there has to be | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
a way back for David. It could not be more unhelpful! At the last | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
election, this is in a week when Ed Miliband has been making all the | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
running by a strong anti-business rhetoric, and his brother points | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
out at the last election not a single major business endorse | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
Labour. We cannot afford that again. That is what he is talking about in | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
terms of balance. We will not win the next election as the anti- | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
business party. We will win it as the There is a productive bit of | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
capitalism, and we are the people who know what that vision and tails. | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
That is what David and Ed are talking about. All singing from the | :05:25. | :05:31. | |
same song sheet. A broadly, yes, but within that there is discussion. | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
You cannot put a cigarette paper between them! Of course you curd. | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
have just seen a squadron of pigs fly over this studio! Why does it | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
have to be either? Why can't we have and and? Why can't we have two | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
good people? Out there in normal land, not London land, people are | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
saying, if someone has got something to contribute, let them | :05:57. | :06:05. | |
contribute! Why doesn't Ed Miliband bring his brother back into the | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
Shadow Cabinet? A That is a matter of David. I think you should have | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
said Ed. Unlike commentators, I know which one is which! I think it | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
is a part of all David to say whether he wants to come back. | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
are told he will be a lot more active next week on a number of | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
fronts, we are going to hear a lot more from him, and not in his | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
comfort zone of foreign policy. hope so. I can see the Ed Miliband | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
people are really saying, we are so grateful for that! They will be, I | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
think. It is about the confidence to have a grown-up debate, that is | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
what the Labour Party is about. They want to see that the | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
politicians are having confident, grown-up debates, and this does not | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
impress the people. If no-one in the wonderful world of the Daily | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
Politics is saying it is Jo's show or Andrew's show, the strength is | :06:56. | :07:02. | |
that it is both of yours shows! is trying to turn the tables! It is | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
not going to work! Ed Miliband has shown he understands this with the | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
policy review. What does that mean?! There are lots out there | :07:13. | :07:20. | |
that show very clearly, there are about 10 or 12 points that Ed will | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
be absolutely sold on. It is about putting flesh and Labour's | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
direction for 2015, rather than 1975, and that has got to be right. | :07:30. | :07:37. | |
They then need to embrace notions of Merit, reward, developing | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
responsibility in tax and welfare. It is part of a discussion about | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
distribution. They are all over the place on welfare, against the cut, | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
for the cap. If the cap fits! they have been broadly in favour, | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
but not be limited cap that we have been talking about. It does work, I | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
think. The easiest thing to do, if you are a lazy journalist, is to do | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
what the Daily Telegraph it and write this over the front page as a | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
big row. This is kindergarten stuff for a journalist, but this serious | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
politics for the next election. invite you to go on the internet | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
and see that is just the Daily Telegraph! Kindergarten stuff for | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
journalists, I did not say that. You didn't! Bouquet! A new art | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
covering yourself here, aren't you? From the theatre of the absurd... | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
It is time for our daily quiz. The question for today, whose underwear | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
brought London to a standstill yesterday? We are raising the level | :08:38. | :08:48. | |
:08:48. | :08:49. | ||
Should you need it, at the end of the show, Emma will give us the | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
correct answer! Don't say yet! There is only one person I am | :08:56. | :09:02. | |
hoping it is! Even Ed Miliband? Prince William is starting his | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
deployment in the Falkland Islands as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot, | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
but his presence on islands is increasing the tension between | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
Britain and Argentina with the Argentinian foreign ministry | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
stating that he will be in the uniform of the Conqueror. His | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
arrival follows news that the UK is sending the destroyer HMS Dauntless | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
to the region. Allan Little is at Port Stanley. Thank you for joining | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
us. You have been on the islands for the past few days, is their | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
tension? How are people feeling? This is not a very excitable place. | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
People are quite relaxed, quietly confident that there will be no | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
militarisation of this dispute with Argentina. Argentina is a very | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
different country now to 30 years ago, and the mood here is pretty | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
defined. It is very hard to find anyone who pretty much cares about | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
Argentine susceptibilities, Argentine sensibilities. I spoke to | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
a senior official of the Falkland Islands government yesterday, and I | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
asked Tim... He is the head of oil exploration, and I asked about | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
exploration as a provocation to Argentina, and he said, they can | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
see it as that, but it has got nothing to do with them, it is none | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
of their business, we are forging ahead, it is an exciting time. That | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
is not the voice of somebody who is afraid that an Argentine invasion | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
might lie at the end of this road that we are going down. If they are | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
not worried about that, is there any worry about the tour from the | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
Argentinian government about some kind of economic blockade? -- Cork. | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
There is anxiety about that, but at the same time there is a | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
bullishness, because so far it has not really work. A lot of South | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
American countries have bought into the idea of banning Falklands ships | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
from their ports, but the Argentines have not been very | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
successful and running their neighbours to the idea of a | :10:51. | :11:00. | |
portrait blockade with the Falkland Islands. -- full trade blockade. | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
This does not feel like an island community under siege, and they are | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
pleased with the nature of Prince William's stay on the island. It is | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
being sold to the world by Britain and the Falkland Islands assembly a | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
six-week tour of duty of Flight Lieutenant Wales, but at the same | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
time it is the future king coming to the Falkland Islands, and they | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
are seeing that as a quiet reassertion of Britain's commitment | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
to defending their self determination. Not that it would | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
escalate things. His arrival and sending HMS Dauntless, even if the | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
government says it is just routine. The government does say it is just | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
routine, they are very pleased that HMS Dauntless is coming, the people | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
here. The idea of British military protection is still very, very | :11:45. | :11:51. | |
important. 1982 casts a long shadow, and that idea that men came from | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
9,000 miles up -- miles away to defend their right to choose their | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
destiny is a living thing in the streets here in a Falkland Islands, | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
so they do not see that as an escalation but as the continuation | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
of Britain's 30 year commitment to defend them against any threat. But | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
there is no panic here, no sense of intimidation, no fear, really, that | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
this is going to turn into a military conflict. Allan Little, | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
thank you. There is a growing row in | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
Parliament over the future of search and rescue, which could have | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
an impact on Prince William's job. Ben Geoghegan is in the central | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
locking. This seems as though the RAF search | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
and rescue Service could become a thing of the past within the last | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
few years as the government tries to contract out that service in the | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
future. Part of the reason for that is the ageing Sea King helicopters, | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
which needs to be replaced, but it also raises the question about what | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
Prince William will do in the military in the future. Joining me | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
to discuss that is Patrick Mercer, a former military man, and Maria | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
Eagle, shadow transport spokesman. What is your view about this? The | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
whole process of replacing the helicopters began under Labour. | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
did, and of course they need replacing, they are getting to the | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
end of their life, and we began a PFI procurement to replace the kit. | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
What the government have done is replace that with a procurement to | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
contract out the entire service. So despite the fact that our military | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
have conducted the service in an exemplary fashion since the war, | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
shortly there will be no military involvement. That does raise the | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
issue about who is going to do this job, and of course we know that | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
Prince William and others will be redeployed within the military, but | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
what does that mean for the future of the service and the quality of | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
the services around our coastline? Patrick Mercer, can civilian | :13:39. | :13:45. | |
contractors do as good a job as the RAF? I do not know, and I think | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
Maria makes some very good points. Actually, they might, if nothing | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
else, to a cheaper job. I know it is not the same argument, but it is | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
a hugely important these days. There is no question that I would | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
like, and any other sensible person, would like the RAF and the role may | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
be to remain involved, but as a former soldier, if you told me that | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
cuts have to be made, would I prefer this sort of thing or combat | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
power to go, you will know my answer. It has got to be this sort | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
of soft service, rather than combat power. What sort of assurances can | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
the MoD asked for? His there a standardised system in place across | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
the military and into the civilian area to make sure that the training | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
is up to scratch, that they can perform the same things that the | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force have been doing? I have no doubt | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
that the training for whichever of them takes this on will be | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
partially militarised anyway. There is all of that expertise in the | :14:40. | :14:47. | |
hands of the RAF and Navy, and it and it might make sense financially. | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
But yes, standards can be maintained, and of course there | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
will be competition between different companies do get the | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
contract in the first place. That is a good thing, and my only | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
concern is that civilian crews, and I do not want to pour aspersions, | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
might be slightly more risk averse and military crews. That is an | :15:04. | :15:13. | |
It is a concern, the MoD are handing this over to the Department | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
for Transport, and good and concerned about the chain of | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
command, what does it mean if the military needs somebody rescuing | :15:20. | :15:26. | |
offshore, will they have to go to a civilian service to do the rescue? | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
I think there are a number of questions which the Government | :15:30. | :15:39. | |
needs to answer before we go through with this. Military men are | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
very adaptable, I'm sure that those personnel who will need to be | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
redeployed will be found roles by the MoD, but it does leave | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
questions about how well safety around the coastline will be | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
maintained. There is a record of coastguard stations being closed, | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
emergency towing vessels being got rid of, and I think there are | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
questions the Government need to answer about safety around our | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
coast if this goes ahead. Briefly, what should Prince William do if it | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
comes to it that he's made redundant. He will not be. He is a | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
heavily trained, expensively trained, combat pilot, that is his | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
principle training. There are a number of different things that he | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
can do - helicopters and helicopter pilots are in huge demand. He will | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
not be made redundant, there is no doubt about that, I'm sure the | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
military will find a role for him. Thank you very much. We do not know | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
what Prince William's view on this issue is. It was reported in a | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
newspaper some time ago that he tried to lobby the Prime Minister | :16:47. | :16:57. | |
against his proposal. Now, should you be able to command a salary of | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
�31,000 to come and live in Britain? That is what Immigration | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Minister Damian Green thinks. First, let's hear what he had to say this | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
morning. Today I want to speak about another key element in the | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
long-term transformation of British immigration policy, which is the | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
development of the principle of selectivity. We need to know not | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
just that the right numbers of people are coming here, but that | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
the right people are coming here. People who will benefit Britain, | :17:25. | :17:31. | |
not just people who will benefit from Britain. An immigration policy | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
which reflects a consensus about who should be able to come here, | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
and an immigration system that can actually deliver that, a legal | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
framework which reflects the will of Parliament while reflecting -- | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
respecting our international obligations. And by the magic of | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
television, Damian Green joins us now. Welcome to The Daily Politics | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
- what happens if you're on less than �31,000? That is a particular | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
proposal, about not whether you can come here, but whether you can stay | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
here. We have been advising that we should look at a range of salaries, | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
from �31,000 to �49,000, to pick point below which people should not | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
be allowed to settle, because that is the best proxy for skills and | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
ability to contribute to the economy. The basis of what I was | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
saying this morning was that people who come here should be able to | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
make a contribution to British life, and that is one of the ways of | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
defusing the tension, if we know that everyone who's coming here can | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
actually make a positive contribution, then a loss of three | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
-- then a lot of the stresses and strains of the system in the past | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
will be dissipated. So, if you earn �27,000, you're not making a | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
positive contribution? You might be, we're not talking about people | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
coming here, we're talking about the link between coming here to | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
work for a few years, and settling here for ever. So, after a few | :19:05. | :19:12. | |
years, if you are not earning �31,000, you're out? It has not | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
been decided, but that was the recommended range from the Advisory | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
Committee. Do you agree with it? will know that when we make the | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
announcement in a few weeks' time. You do not know now? No, we have | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
not decided it, it will be announced in the course of the next | :19:28. | :19:37. | |
few weeks. If you marry a un EU citizen, do they have to earn | :19:37. | :19:44. | |
�31,000 to come in? -- a non-EU citizen. Again, it is the same | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
principle, you need to be able to play a role in British society. | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
What, the person coming in? Yes, we are saying that you should be able | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
to speak at least a smattering of English, so that you're not | :19:55. | :20:01. | |
completely isolated in your community. And also, you certainly | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
should not be able to come here with the expectation of living on | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
benefits from day one, many people would regard that as fair. How long | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
do you think this will last in front of the European Convention on | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
Human Rights, how long would you give it, five minutes? 15 minutes, | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
maximum? The other thing I was talking about in that clip was that | :20:26. | :20:33. | |
we will, as part of this process, look at family rights. It does not | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
say right to family life only if you are earn more than �25,000. | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
but one of the problems I was setting out this morning was that | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
for some weird reason, ever since Parliament passed the domestic | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
Human Rights Act in 1998, Parliament has given no direction | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
to judges about when does heckles from Europe should apply, and when | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
they should not. As a result, we have had a lot of judgments which | :21:02. | :21:12. | |
are very unpopular. The problem is, there is no kind of consistency or | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
coherence. One thing we will do as part of our announcements will be | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
to try to give much better and clearer guidance to judges. Because | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
I think this long-running row between Parliament and judges is | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
pretty unhealthy. Are you looking at all of these things, which I | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
find quite difficult to understand, and you yourself do not seem to | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
have made your mind upon them, is it because you're worried about | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
your target? The official data for net migration was more than 250,000 | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
last year, and you have pledged to get it down to tens of thousands. | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
It was not last year it was actually the year before. Our | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
target is to get it down to tens of thousands by May 2015, at the end | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
of this Parliament, more than four years away. But you set a target | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
for net migration, in other words, the number of people leaving the | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
country minus the number of people coming in, but you have set an | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
immigration target which actually depends on British people | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
emigrating - what's the point of that? Because the actual use of | :22:16. | :22:23. | |
public services in this country, transport, health, education, that | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
depends on the size of the population, and the size of the | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
population depends on net migration. So, in practical terms, if you | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
actually want to defuse the tensions caused by too much | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
immigration, it is the net migration figure which matters. | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
more British people should leave? We want more British people to | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
leave Britain then we will hit our target! We want fewer people who | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
will not make a contribution to British life to come here. That is | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
what we can control. Will you come back and see us when we make up | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
your mind? -- when you make up your mind? A of course, but we have to | :23:00. | :23:09. | |
speak to Parliament first. It has been nicknamed the Pret effect, | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
after the Mayor of London wondered aloud why it was that there were | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
never any British people working for the upmarket sandwich chain? Is | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
it because British people are too surly to serve the crayfish and | :23:22. | :23:30. | |
rocket? Business agrees with Boris - four in 10 employers told the | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development that they had hired | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
immigrants because young British people lack what are called soft | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
skills, things like punctuality, teamwork and the delivery of | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
service with a smile. consequence of the education system | :23:45. | :23:52. | |
in the past decade is that it has taught pupils to pass written | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
examinations - some of these customer-service skills are not | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
considered necessary to get on. This has resulted in fewer young | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
people having confidence in dealing with people, dealing with customers. | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
To find out whether actual young people agree, let's bribe them, | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
with some of Boris's favourite sandwiches. Would you like a | :24:11. | :24:20. | |
sandwich? Which one is chicken and bacon, sorry? Do you think it | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
should be taught at school, how to deal with people? I think it should | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
be, because no matter what profession you going to, you have | :24:29. | :24:39. | |
:24:39. | :24:41. | ||
still got to deal with the retail world which we live in. I work in | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
five star Michelin restaurants, so I do not think it has got anything | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
to do with British young people. is handy to be taught in schools, | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
but it comes from parents as well. But is it even possible to teach | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
this stuff? This is the McDonald's University. This year, the burger | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
chain will create 2,500 new jobs, half of them for under-21s, many | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
who have never worked before. people are more natural. We find | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
that young people, some of them are lacking in confidence, so a lot of | :25:13. | :25:20. | |
it is about growing their confits - - confidence, as well as their | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
skills. There is nothing like working on a tale in McDonald's, | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
maintaining eye-contact with customers, to bring out those | :25:27. | :25:37. | |
:25:37. | :25:37. | ||
skills. -- on a till. You have to be a team player, you have to have | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
a great attitude, you have to be polite. And customer-service, of | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
course. If I'm going to serve a customer, and I can make it a bit | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
more personal, ask have their day is going, it makes the whole | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
experience nicer. If somebody comes in, and they are from the phone, | :25:54. | :26:00. | |
don't get in their face too much, because it is a bit rude. If | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
somebody is happy, then you can be happy back. This week, thousands of | :26:05. | :26:12. | |
vocational courses lost their status as equivalent to GCSEs, so | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
it does not look like the Government has much appetite to | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
introduce school subjects which are almost softer side. A former head | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
of the CBI and Labour trade minister Digby Jones is with us now. | :26:24. | :26:34. | |
First of all, those soft skills - how important are they? The ability | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
to get on in life and talk to people and chat to people is number | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
one, I would say. One of the biggest problems, I might be | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
working with people who are long- term unemployed, some of them have | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
degrees, PhDs, but they have no social skills, and nobody wants to | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
employ them because they cannot connect you and cannot look at you | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
properly. It is absolutely important. But taking away the fact | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
that some personalities are more difficult to deal with than others, | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
is it a sign of failed parenting and bad schooling, or is it just | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
one of those things that people now need to be taught? There's lots of | :27:11. | :27:18. | |
different reasons, people having autism and stuff like that, but | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
there's whole generations coming through, there's work I have been | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
doing, where, if your mum and dad do not have your skills, then you | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
will not have those skills. We cannot just keep looking at the | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
schools for this. There are some kids really struggling who are not | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
getting this day in, day out, the ability to come in and shake | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
somebody's hand, look them in the face and chat to them. Do you think | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
that is the reason there are many more foreigners working in jobs | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
like sandwich chains? As you probably saw from my accent, I'm | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
not from London. If you go to Buxton or somewhere like that, it | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
is all English kids working in those shops. So this is a London | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
issue. But yes, it probably is. I meet lads in the streets who could | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
never ever get a job in a place like that, because they do not have | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
the social skills. So, what is the point of the Government trying to | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
bring down the status of some of these qualifications? I think that | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
is ideological. And shame on them, in many areas. Because what you | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
have got to do is to give emblems to these young people, and to the | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
employers, because it is a currency they understand, they understand a | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
GCSE. I will give you a good example, up at JCB, they have got | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
this academy, with kids in vocational courses, engineering, | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
this is stuff which British manufacturing needs. And they have | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
just taken away the GCSE. He is saying, what have I done all this | :28:51. | :28:58. | |
for?! The Government have tried to pander to a legitimate view about, | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
we do not want lots and lots of hairdressers, we would rather have | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
people who can be in manufacturing, and I am generalising. But they | :29:07. | :29:14. | |
have used an almighty sledgehammer to crack a nut. School does play a | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
role, more of a role that you say, actually, I think. A lack of male | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
teachers in primary schools, for instance, is a problem. But | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
families who are so dysfunctional, the young teenager has no contact | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
with anybody who's going to make him get confident, and so when they | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
start going for jobs, no confidence at all. Very, very briefly, because | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
we have got to move on in a few seconds, but in terms of what you | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
do, which the Government's work programme, is that a good thing? | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
is absolutely about confidence, self-esteem and how to carry on.. | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
Are they getting jobs? Yes. And they are keeping their jobs, which | :29:54. | :30:00. | |
is what I came about. When people say they need good people, it is | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
not PhDs and rocket science. It is about good attitude, get in and go | :30:05. | :30:13. | |
home on time. We have been joined by viewers in Scotland, who have | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
been watching First Minister's Questions from Holyrood. Regular | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
viewers will know that the Welfare Reform Bill has been having a | :30:21. | :30:27. | |
sticky ride in the House of Commons. Yesterday it returned there where | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
some government concessions won the day. There is a bit of | :30:30. | :30:32. | |
parliamentary ping-pong going on between the House of Lords and the | :30:32. | :30:42. | |
:30:42. | :30:43. | ||
The Government today has just burned a third of the savings they | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
proposed for this measure, because they got the policy wrong. They | :30:48. | :30:51. | |
have incorporated part of our amendment in their concessions | :30:51. | :30:58. | |
today, instituting an adjustment period. I want to show the | :30:58. | :31:01. | |
Secretary of State a better way to institute a principle on what | :31:01. | :31:11. | |
others agree. I am very interested any idea. -- in the idea. Is his | :31:11. | :31:13. | |
party going to say to the regulator that they would have exactly the | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
same amount of money that the government are proposing, or does | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
he think it should be more? does he say that is an acceptable | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
or long-term unemployed, when every day people's circumstances change? | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
They may change their job, they may lose their relationship or marriage, | :31:31. | :31:38. | |
and circumstances mean they have to move home. Why should the long-term | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
unemployed, often third generation, be exempt from the sort of real- | :31:42. | :31:49. | |
world that so many people living? We are also expected that we would | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
provide a grace period, a degree of transition for people who lose | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
their jobs and find their circumstances have changed | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
dramatically through no fault of their own. We will not penalise | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
those who are in work and doing the right thing. We will put in place a | :32:04. | :32:06. | |
nine-month grace period for those who have been a work for the | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
previous 12 months and lose their job through no fault of their own. | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
We have always intended to make this measure, and I'm happy to make | :32:14. | :32:24. | |
:32:24. | :32:29. | ||
Joining me now, Labour MP and Conservative MP. Julian Brazier, | :32:29. | :32:35. | |
having accepted any of the changes the laws have made? I think the | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
government has struck about the right balance. There are many | :32:39. | :32:41. | |
lower-paid constituents in my constituency who justifiably resent | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
the fact that there are people being kept on benefits, some of | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
whom, for one reason or another, have not worked for many years, and | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
have a lifestyle that is very much better and more secure than theirs. | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
I think the Government is right to make these changes. It has made a | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
number of concessions to ensure that people who lose their jobs | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
through no fault of their own are not immediately penalise, but I | :33:06. | :33:12. | |
think it is absolutely right to be doing this. -- penalised. Could you | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
now answer my question? Have you accepted any of the changes the | :33:16. | :33:23. | |
Lords have made? Sorry, died personally accept them? As the | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
Government in the Commons accepted any of the changes the Lords have | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
made? Not in the way the laws have drafted them. The main change, as | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
you show it in your clip, that the government has made is that it has | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
allowed this nine-month grace period, and I think that the nine- | :33:39. | :33:45. | |
month grace period for those who lose their jobs is absolutely right. | :33:45. | :33:50. | |
But the wider point is... You have made the wider point, and I thank | :33:50. | :33:56. | |
you for that. Are you voting for, against or abstaining in any of | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
this? Well, the fact of the matter is, as was pointed out by my Labour | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
colleagues, this question of �26,000 applies in certain areas, | :34:05. | :34:11. | |
particularly in areas in London and one or two other places. The fact | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
of the matter is the bulk of that money goes to landlords, private | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
landlords, and it is very, very difficult for those who are going | :34:19. | :34:25. | |
to be adversely affected to find alternative accommodation. I do not | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
think we need lectures from the Government about unemployment and | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
the rest. The fact of the matter is that unemployment is growing, more | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
and more people are losing their jobs, and I think that what the | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
Government is doing once again his divide and rule, trying to | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
concentrate people's minds on other sections of workers, instead of the | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
bankers, the bonuses and tax evasion. That is fine, we have | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
heard the rhetoric from both sides. Are you for or against a cap of | :34:57. | :35:03. | |
�26,000? I would be very reluctant to have a cap unless it is quite | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
clearly very much on a regional basis. But bear in mind, we were | :35:07. | :35:10. | |
discussing other matters yesterday, other than this particular issue, | :35:10. | :35:18. | |
as you know. I understand that. He is the ping pong coming to an end? | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
Does this Bill go back to the Lords? Do you expect further | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
changes? Or is it coming to the end of the parliamentary road? I think | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
it is coming to the end of the parliamentary road, because there | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
are very substantial amounts of public money involved, so the | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
Commons can claim privilege honest. The central point is that we cannot | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
go on in a team of -- time of extreme recession with people | :35:42. | :35:46. | |
struggling, working very long hours, paying a lot of tax, and seeing | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
those one not in work and have not been for many years enjoying a | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
better standard of living than they are. But what the Conservative | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
Members of Parliament, including our friend here, being favour of | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
some control on landlords? Would they be in favour of rent control | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
and the rest of it? As I emphasised a moment ago, the fact of the | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
matter is that so much of this money which is being talked about | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
is absolutely going to private landlords, who are making fat | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
profits. That is why... I'm afraid, gentlemen, we are going to have to | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
leave it there. It is clear the debate is far from over. Thank you | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
for joining us. Anglo-French relations are known to | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
be a bit up-and-down, and every now and then even a little bit topsy- | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
turvy. With another summit looming, we thought it would be pertinent to | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
ask, how are the French President and the British Prime Minister | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
getting along? Jo! Well, things have been better! That | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
the many victims of the financial crisis, including the entente | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
cordiale between Britain and France. Only last autumn, relations between | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
Cameron and Sarkozy looked convivial. David and Nicola were | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
treated like heroes in Libya after leading the international action | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
against Colonel Gaddafi, but David Cameron's decision to veto a new EU | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
treaty led to a public snub by the French President he was said to | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
have called Mr Cameron and obstinate child and told him to | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
shut up. Then Mr Sarkozy began taking pot-shots at the British | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
economy, saying it has no industry any more. Yesterday we learnt that | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
the Indian government had chosen to buy a fleet of French jets over the | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
British build Eurofighter. Mr Sarkozy might not be around for | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
much longer, with the Socialist Francois Hollande the favourite in | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
May's presidential election. Mr Hollande does not like the EU | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
treaty either, but with signs that he may be even more hostile to the | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
City than Sarkozy, Mr Cameron might find that relations can only get | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
worse. Earlier I spoke to an MEP from Mr Hollande's Socialist Party | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
and began by asking if she wanted the treaty ripped up. This is | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
obviously the position that our candidate for the presidential | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
election has taken on behalf of our party. We believe it is important, | :38:09. | :38:16. | |
because we know that the current crisis in the eurozone is a crisis | :38:16. | :38:22. | |
not only about financial stability but also about the lack of growth. | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
The increasing divergence of competitiveness among member states, | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
some internal imbalances as well. We believe this treaty would only | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
add austerity to financial indiscipline. We need some | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
financial discipline, but we believe that growth will not result | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
only with financial discipline. We believe that you need to have | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
growth to allow financial discipline. So you want to spend | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
money, basically, you would like to see more money spent, and so you | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
are at odds with both Germany and Britain, because Mrs Merkel and | :38:56. | :39:03. | |
David Cameron want austerity as it is. No, but austerity on its own | :39:03. | :39:10. | |
will not allow us to get out of this crisis. Tell me, how can you | :39:10. | :39:17. | |
reimburse your debt if you do not create added value? This is all | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
about the debate, what it is about. If you want to go out of this | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
crisis, you need to have sustainable public finances, and to | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
do that you need some kind of growth. Do you have sympathy with | :39:31. | :39:38. | |
David Cameron's decision to veto the treaty? I think David Cameron | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
did not a very good thing, because I think his country is also very | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
much committed to the EU and to the health of the macro economy. I mean, | :39:47. | :39:53. | |
there are plenty of figures demonstrating how much the UK is | :39:53. | :39:59. | |
depending on the EU and the eurozone economies. I think he | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
would have been much better inside the discussion, but of course the | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
condition he had to put to be inside the discussion was not | :40:07. | :40:13. | |
acceptable. The request to the outside any financial legislation. | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
On that issue of the transaction tax, the financial transaction tax, | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
David Cameron and the leader of the opposition here are opposed to it | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
if it is not worldwide. Would you be willing to go ahead, leaving the | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
EU outside the tax? I think this would be bad news for the UK and | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
for France, and for the eurozone, the union as a whole. You know, in | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
the U: -- in the UK, you are a very clever and good proposal regarding | :40:42. | :40:48. | |
the banking sector, which is the Vickers Report. Drawing this line, | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
you should also accept that to have better supervision, better | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
regulation of the financial markets, you need to go all along the line. | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
To a separation between the deposit and the investment banking sector, | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
but also the transaction tax. This would be a really consistent | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
position. In terms of the treaty itself, if Germany does not want to | :41:12. | :41:15. | |
renegotiate and Angela Merkel does not seem to want to, what are you | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
going to do? They are the driving force. They are the driving force, | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
but I think they will need to have France on board, because you cannot | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
have the eurozone only decided in Berlin. This has never been the | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
case, and it will not be the case in the future. I think the fact | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
that Francois Hollande, our candidate for the Socialist Party, | :41:36. | :41:43. | |
has already foreseen the idea that there will be a renegotiation, that | :41:43. | :41:49. | |
allows us to prepare the people for this renegotiation and to define | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
the point where we will ask for this renegotiation. Our partners | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
will not be taken by surprise when we win the election on the sixth of | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
May! If Angela Merkel appears on the same platform as President | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
Sarkozy, which every indication is she well, what do you think of | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
that? Well, we will see how it helps President Sarkozy to win the | :42:13. | :42:20. | |
election, and I think it will not. I think French people are really | :42:20. | :42:22. | |
expecting Francois Hollande to become the next President of the | :42:22. | :42:28. | |
republic. Will he meets David Cameron when he comes to London? | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
will see! Anyhow, I have no doubt that if he comes, he will speak to | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
him about the financial transaction tax. So there will be a meeting, | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
you think? It could be. I and what about Ed Miliband, the leader of | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
the opposition? Well, I mean, he is our sister party, so I think that | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
will also be a very important meeting, but I have no idea about | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
the complete planning of this visit. Do you think, then, well, you are | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
predicting that Francois Hollande will win the election, but you ever | :43:00. | :43:07. | |
see the axis within the eurozone actually shifting? The Uno, I think | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
everybody is under pressure, because there is this debt crisis, | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
and everybody understands that the one who has the tool to put the | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
pressure is really in a strong position. But if you read what the | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
academics and experts tell you, whether it is the OECD, the IMF or | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
some people even in the Financial Times, they tell you that austerity | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
as such is not sustainable and will not be a solution in the long run | :43:36. | :43:43. | |
for the eurozone. I think if Francois Hollande, when he wins the | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
election, he will make Bogor at the political level this thing that is | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
really now very widespread in the public and in the academic world, I | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
think it can make the difference, and it will allow people who are | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
today under stress and under pressure, not allowing themselves | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
to really say what they think about these plans and this treaty, to be | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
more vocal. That is the view of the French | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
Socialist Party, favourites to win the presidential election. The | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
first round is in April, the second round is in May. We are joined to | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
talk about this by French journalist Agnes Poirier, who has | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
just got off the train from Paris and then got stuck in traffic, but | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
she made it, now auditioning for the Killing, you are dressed like | :44:30. | :44:37. | |
the detective! It is the Scandinavian programme. This bit | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
about Sarkozy and Cameron, a French president in trouble, it looks like | :44:41. | :44:51. | |
:44:51. | :44:52. | ||
he's going to lose, a bit of Brit It is funny to look at them, | :44:52. | :44:58. | |
because it was a very short affair. And also, when David Cameron lost | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
his father, Sarkozy sent not the troops but the helicopter to get | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
him there on time. And they were the best of friends. And on 15th | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
September, both of them in Benghazi being acclaimed. And then it just | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
went downhill. But it is a bit of a one-sided divorce, Mr Cameron does | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
not say anything nasty about Mr so cosy, but Mr Sarkozy is very nasty | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
about our Prime Minister. -- Mr Sarkozy. He has told Cameron to | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
shut up, a period of silence for you, Britain doesn't produce | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
anything any more, which is factually wrong, because | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
manufacturing is a higher percentage of our GDP than it is in | :45:41. | :45:47. | |
France. For it is very low, anyway. Industrial production is higher in | :45:47. | :45:56. | |
Britain, its 15%. We just take the punches, because we don't care. He | :45:56. | :46:02. | |
is a failed, outgoing politician. Absolutely, although you do not | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
know it, because he is very good at bouncing back. He is a better | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
campaigner, I would say, than a President. But that's the way he is. | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
And also perhaps, that's the French way, being more straightforward | :46:18. | :46:26. | |
about what you think. Look at Nicolas Sarkozy, you know how he is, | :46:26. | :46:32. | |
he throws tantrums. He did say, apparently, reportedly, that David | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
Cameron was a spoilt brat, on December 9th. But Nicolas Sarkozy | :46:36. | :46:42. | |
is another brat, throwing tantrums. They wouldn't shake hands. Well, | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
apparently, yes. A French journalist once said to me, and | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
this sums up Anglo-French relations - the French do not like Britain, | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
but they like the British. And the British like France, but they don't | :46:58. | :47:05. | |
like the French - discuss! Is he rude to anyone else as leader? | :47:05. | :47:14. | |
That's the way he is. Is he rude to everybody? He is uncouth. He is | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
unlike any French president we have ever had. The guy is strange. | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
us, it is quite a remarkable proposition, that the German | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
Chancellor will come and campaign for the re-election of the French | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
President - the German Chancellor! I know, it sounds strange. Is that | :47:35. | :47:42. | |
a plus? I don't know, is it? But that's what he also did for her, so | :47:42. | :47:49. | |
I guess she's just returning the compliment. And since they have | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
seen each other more than he has seen his own wife in the last few | :47:53. | :47:59. | |
months, so she might as well. would you rather see, Carla Bruni | :47:59. | :48:05. | |
or Angela Merkel? I knew you were going to ask that question. | :48:06. | :48:08. | |
Socialist candidate, leading in the poles at the moment, Francois | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
Hollande, he is going to come to London, because London I think is | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
the fifth-biggest French city in the world. But most of the French | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
people here came to London to escape people like Francois | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
Hollande, he's not going to get many votes here. Well, you would be | :48:25. | :48:30. | |
surprised. First of all, a lot of people who voted for Sarkozy were | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
very disappointed very early on, almost a few hours after he was | :48:34. | :48:41. | |
elected. The honeymoon was two hours. Remember, it was 8pm, he had | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
just been elected, and he went to that very tacky restaurant on the | :48:46. | :48:53. | |
Champs Elysees, and we thought, oh, my God, we have made a mistake! | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
Tacky restaurant on the Champs Elysees, how could that happen? How | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
would you sum up Anglo-French relations? I would not dare, really. | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
I'm pleased to hear that he is rude to everyone, it is not just us. I | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
think they're a bit upset because our food got better, I think that | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
is one of the big problems. food did get better, but it only | :49:18. | :49:25. | |
had one way to go. And there is the one who is not getting much mention | :49:25. | :49:35. | |
:49:35. | :49:37. | ||
on this side of the Channel, Marinne Le Penn, it is not beyond | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
the realms of possibility that she could come second. Yes, there is | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
another guy as well, who got 19% last night. He is more in the | :49:47. | :49:54. | |
middle. Yes, supposedly on the left for it very much at the centre. -- | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
on the left but very much at the centre. Do not discount him. | :49:59. | :50:06. | |
think the French election is going to be fascinating. Anything can | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
happen. If anybody is watching in my home town in France, everybody | :50:13. | :50:21. | |
there is very friendly to the Brits. Thanks for rushing from the station. | :50:21. | :50:26. | |
You can relax now, get your breath back. Get out the sunblock, | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
everyone, it is time for the Lib Dem away day in Eastbourne. But | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
don't count on there being talent for ice-creams, there are some | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
serious issues which need to be discussed. We tried to get hold of | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
the agenda, but we were told to go away. Charming. So we have made up | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
our own. So, what is top of the agenda? First, there is the issue | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
of the Queen's Speech, which has been causing the once cosy | :50:53. | :50:55. | |
coalition considerable coalition considerable | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
consternation. Nick Clegg has made it clear that he would like the | :50:58. | :51:04. | |
Treasury to go further in lifting the income tax threshold. And the | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
reform of the House of Lords has been high on their agenda for some | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
time. But it has been reported that the Lib Dems are less keen on | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
Conservative suggestions regarding the deregulation agenda. Then there | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
is the question of the NHS and welfare reform. It has been | :51:21. | :51:26. | |
rumoured that a Cabinet reshuffle could be on the cards soon, and | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
Nick Clegg would no doubt like to see an old friend returned. And | :51:31. | :51:37. | |
then there is the holy grail of politics, poll ratings. And of | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
course, there is always something course, there is always something | :51:40. | :51:47. | |
on drugs. Joining us now, we have Mark Littlewood. First of all, what | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
is a Lib Dem a awake day like? They're quite fun and convivial | :51:53. | :51:58. | |
affairs, in my experience. I have been to two of them. I'm never | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
quite sure that the two I experienced actually got to the nub | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
of the issue. You would need more than a day for that I think for the | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
Liberal Democrats. Some people might have argued that a day was | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
too long, in times gone past. But not now? No, the reality is that | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
the poll ratings for the party are about 10%, so about half the voters | :52:19. | :52:24. | |
have left the course since the last election. I suppose the first two | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
years of coalition, Nick Clegg has said, hold your nerve. It does not | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
really amount to a strategy. They have got to think about who they | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
are speaking to. There has been this policy of differentiation from | :52:36. | :52:42. | |
the Conservatives, but this is not appealing to the merits of their | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
policy positions themselves. If you think about whether you want Euro- | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
enthusiasts, liberal on immigration, and at the same time, against the | :52:51. | :53:01. | |
bill but, it is a miracle that you're on 10%. -- against the | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
welfare cap. Just coming back to your point, looking at the poll | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
ratings, the time that has been spent in coalition, what is morale | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
going to be like? Have they held their nerve? It would seem that | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
they have, publicly. Yes, to some considerable degree, they have. | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
There is no great uprising within the banks. But I think they have | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
got to work out, David Laws put this quite well at the last | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
conference, they have got to work out whether the Liberal Democrats | :53:31. | :53:36. | |
are going to be the engine or the brake in the coalition. There is a | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
danger that they are the brake. They have got to find some areas on | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
which they can drive forward, some areas they can make their own. | :53:45. | :53:53. | |
they have differentiated themselves, with this unusual display from Nick | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
Clegg on the �10,000 threshold, which did not seem to have been | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
agreed by George Osborne - was that a good one to go on? Definitely, he | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
has found a point of differentiation which is popular. | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
It was not -- it was a Lib Dem policy at the last election, he has | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
not dreamt it out of thin air, and he is seem to be leading the charge | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
on that. If George Osborne brings it in, it will be chalked up as a | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
win for Nick Clegg. But I think he needs to go more in that direction. | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
Where else can he go? On welfare, it is difficult, they have had the | :54:29. | :54:34. | |
Lords live up about welfare, and on health, two biggie shoes, but they | :54:34. | :54:39. | |
will be painted as brakes, not as engines, on those issues. That's | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
true. I think they need to think about whether or not they are going | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
to defend the interests of small business. The Conservative Party, | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
rightly or wrongly, is often portrayed as a friend of big | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
business. The Liberal Democrats can be seen as being a party which is | :54:54. | :54:58. | |
against red tape and things like that, but we have not seen much of | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
that. I think if they stood up for small and medium sized enterprises, | :55:03. | :55:08. | |
tax exemptions, things like that, and were seen to be on the side of | :55:08. | :55:10. | |
the small entrepreneur, that is potentially a market which the | :55:10. | :55:20. | |
Liberal Democrats could tap into. Would that work for you, if they | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
followed that kind of agenda, Emma Harrison? Would it fit with the | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
kind of thing that you're doing on the work programme? It sounds | :55:27. | :55:32. | |
really interesting. I was just thinking about it, there is a whole | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
piece around health, which nobody has discussed yet, which is about, | :55:36. | :55:41. | |
what are the people want? For example, we want to be kept well, | :55:41. | :55:46. | |
we do not want to be fixed, we want not to get ill in the first place. | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
Start thinking about, how can you represent the voice of the consumer, | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
thinking, I do not want great big Health Service reforms, what are | :55:54. | :56:01. | |
you going to do to keep me well? Most of the jobs for the people I'm | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
working with, the long-term unemployed, they find their jobs in | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
small companies. So we need to do everything we can on that. Is the | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
banker bashing working, or do you think that is going to turn | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
slightly as far as public opinion is concerned? It is interesting, I | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
was thinking a few days ago I was the last man on the planet | :56:22. | :56:25. | |
defending Stephen Hester, and I think there has been a slight swing | :56:25. | :56:29. | |
back in public opinion, it was a bit too populist, a bit too much | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
politicians riding the crest of a wave, rather than making sound and | :56:33. | :56:36. | |
sensible economic decisions. the Liberal Democrats, that has | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
been quite a populist agenda for them. But if we're talking about | :56:40. | :56:45. | |
thugs, do you think a lot of them are disenchanted Labour supporters, | :56:45. | :56:50. | |
and if so, they cannot afford to lose most of those, can they? | :56:50. | :56:59. | |
cannot, but they probably have lost most of them. They have got to find | :56:59. | :57:04. | |
these sectors, and I think it is the small enterprise sector, a huge | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
1, to really make their own. It has really been only on the 10p tax | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
rate that they have done that so far. What about a mansion tax? Not | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
all Liberal Democrat politicians seem to be big fans of that? Yet | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
Vince Cable seems to be dead set on it? He does, but I think it will be | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
George Osborne's choice. I think the way that has been phrased is | :57:27. | :57:32. | |
pot of the problem. In fact it would apply to a lot of rather | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
small properties, not just Mansions, and interestingly, in a large | :57:37. | :57:45. | |
number of Liberal Democrat target seats, actually. I think there | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
should not be such a rhetoric about bashing the rich. If you want to | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
say, let's moves and taxation away from income and towards property, | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
then put it that way. Actually saying a mention tax, hitting | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
people in huge country estates, I think that is an unfortunate turn | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
of phrase. In terms of the election, do they still have to go for more | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
years of austerity, like the Conservatives? There is no Plan B, | :58:10. | :58:17. | |
they have got to stick to that, no question about it. Just time before | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
we go to find out the answer to our quiz question. Who was it that | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
brought London to a standstill yesterday? I am hoping it was David | :58:29. | :58:35. | |
Beckham. I think you're the Government. I was in London | :58:35. | :58:41. | |
yesterday, and I was not brought to a standstill, personally. Anyway, | :58:41. | :58:47. |