Browse content similar to 13/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Rebekah Brooks and | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
her husband are arrested by police investigating phone hacking at News | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
International. They are among six people arrested in the early hours | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
of this morning. We will have the latest. | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
The relationship is special after all. Last year they flip burgers in | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
the Downing Street garden. Tonight they will go to a basketball game | :01:03. | :01:11. | |
in her while, as swing state. -- in Ohio, the swing state. | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
And top of their agenda will be Afghanistan, following the horrific | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
killings by erode US soldier. Has the course of the war changed | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
forever? Come fly with the Daily Politics, | :01:26. | :01:34. | |
as we examine the arguments for and against airport extension. | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
All that in the next hour and with us for the duration, Digby Jones, | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
former director general of the CBI and a trade minister in Gordon | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
Brown's Government but I promised I would not remind him of that. I | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
think I just have! Before that, the breaking news that | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
happened after you had read your morning papers. The former chief | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
executive of News International, Rebekah Brooks, and her husband, | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
the racing trainer and Prime Minister's friend, Charlie Brooks, | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
have been arrested as part of the on-going investigation into firm | :02:07. | :02:17. | |
:02:17. | :02:17. | ||
hacking. They are among his six -- of their own hacking. They are | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
among six suspects that have been arrested. She has been arrested | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
before. What is it this time? first time she was arrested was in | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
July last year, when she was arrested on suspicion of | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
involvement in phone hacking. This time it is on suspicion of | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. She has actually been | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
arrested a third time previously also by police investigating | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
allegations of payments to police officers. Third time for Rebekah | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
Brooks. For the other people arrested today, this is the first | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
time they have been arrested, so these are new names. We do not have | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
the names of four of them at the moment but the other person is | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
Charlie Brooks, the racecourse train and husband of Rebekah Brooks. | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
He first entered the phone hacking saga last summer, during the select | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
committee hearings which Rupert Murdoch appeared in front of, and | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
which generated headlines. At that time there was a small story that | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
appeared in the media, which reported that police had been | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
called to an underground car park near the home of Rebekah Brooks and | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
Charlie Brooks, where laptop belonging to him and some other | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
items had been recovered from a litter bin. This is the first time | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
that he entered the saga but this is the first time he has been | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
arrested. That changes the nature of what is going on. I understand | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
if you cannot answer this difficult question. There has been a lot of | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
arrests, including Rebekah Brooks, three times. Can your sources give | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
you any indication yet whether any of these arrests will be turned | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
into charges? Frankly, if charges are to follow, and that is and if | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
at the moment, then that is likely to happen in the next couple of | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
months. 44 people have been arrested in total. The total number | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
of arrests is actually higher because some of them, like Rebekah | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
Brooks, have been arrested twice. We have seen the expansion of the | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
inquiry, not just phone hacking but computer hacking and police bribery. | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
And not just journalists and police officers. Recently we saw the | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
arrest of a Ministry of Defence worker and a member of the armed | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
forces. So the net is widening, if you like. We presume all of their | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
innocence until proved otherwise and that is how our system works. | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
Am I right in thinking that if you are charged with perverting the | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
course of justice, then that is a much more serious charge than phone | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
hacking? Yes, it is. That would incur a serious prison sentence. So | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
would phone hacking, depending on the severity of the crime. It all | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
has to go through the court and we will see. In theory these carry | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
prison terms. We don't know what the substance of the suspicions are, | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
if you like, as they relate to the conspiracy to pervert the course of | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
justice. But that is a serious crime and a serious allegation. | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
Thank you very much. Fascinating stuff. 44 arrests so far, some of | :05:22. | :05:31. | |
them double of course, or triple in Rebecca -- Rebekah Brooks's case. | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
Now, David Cameron has set off for Washington, lucky guy. So has John | :05:37. | :05:44. | |
Pienaar. Great to see you with the white -- White House and the | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
Jefferson monument, my favourite monument in all of Washington. Am I | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
right in thinking that both David Cameron and Barack Obama must be | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
thinking privately if not publicly how to get out of Afghanistan even | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
quicker than we were planning? think they have been thinking about | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
getting out as quickly as possible for quite a while. The military | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
chiefs in Washington and in London have at times been worried about | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
the invasions of their leaders and whether it squared with what the | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
military want to achieve. Since the killings at the weekend, the | :06:17. | :06:25. | |
arguments have fled in Washington. One of the Republican runners, mood | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
Gingrich, has been talking about it being not possible to win. -- Newt | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
Gingrich. Opinion polls in America reflect those in Britain, that | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
people do not understand the mission in Afghanistan and simply | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
want to get out. That adds up to political pressure. The two leaders | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
will be stressing that it is all about completing a mission and | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
handing over responsibility for policing and security in | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
Afghanistan to the police there. The deadline of 2014 will not | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
change, but the leaders will want the public to see that troops on | :07:00. | :07:06. | |
their way back. It is clear that David Cameron would like to get out | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
as soon as is respectable. Barack Obama is under more pressure | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
because he has got an election this year. It would be popular if he was | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
to announce some kind of speed up. Keep the 2014 deadline, but move | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
more quickly to get the bulk of the soldiers out. Yes. I don't think | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
they will speed up the timetable, but that will be apparent and it | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
already is apparent as one of Barack Obama's wishes. Just as it | :07:33. | :07:43. | |
:07:43. | :07:43. | ||
is in -- apparent that the public want to see that as well. From the | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
right of Republican Party, through the Democrats, through the public, | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
that is the wish. That will be coming through loud and clear, but | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
neither David Cameron or Barack Obama wants to be accused of | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
cutting and running. They will have to square that. The political | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
pressure is pretty apparent. city that you are in has woken up | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
to a joint article by the President and the Prime Minister in the | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
Washington Post. Other than the usual flannel, if I can put it that | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
way, is there something interesting in it? They are setting out their | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
agenda. Afghanistan, the shared objectives. Iran, a huge story | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
around the world. It is a big issue in Washington. Listening to a | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
senior Democrat, the chair of the defence committee, the other night | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
he was saying that the strike on Iran's nuclear facilities was very | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
likely to happen. Maybe not in the coming days and weeks but it was | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
certainly likely in months. America's involvement, however | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
tangential, is very much being discussed. That will be discussed | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
between David Cameron and Barack Obama. Syria, it goes without | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
saying, is big on the agenda. And the economy, is big on everybody's | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
agenda. The leaders will be shoulder to shoulder, to use the | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
old cliche, because they are both putting pressure on eurozone | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
leaders to act more quickly. That might upset Nicolas Sarkozy yet | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
again but you can't please everyone. We can't because we are at the BBC, | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
but am I right in thinking that some people are speculating that | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
David Cameron would be quite happy to see the re-election of Barack | :09:23. | :09:32. | |
Obama when he looks at the Republican field? Maybe so! I think | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
Barack Obama is still in pole position to win the election. There | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
is no guarantee of that and that is very clear as well. In swing states, | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
the Republicans are doing really rather well. The approval of the | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
Barack Obama economic policy is really quite poor. Something like | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
60% of people are not convinced on the last opinion poll that I saw. | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
But you would bet if you had to that Barack Obama will be there and | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
you will but that Downing Street is making the same essential. -- you | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
would bet. They will be lapping up the plush red carpet that is coming | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
David Cameron's way. We are not just talking about a flight on Air | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
Force One, which no other leader has done, but the basketball, two | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
mates out for the evening. There will be several thousand people at | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
the White House greeting David Cameron. There is a banquet of | :10:23. | :10:29. | |
thousands of people including the actor Damian Lewis, big in the | :10:29. | :10:37. | |
Homeland to the show and an old Etonian. All of that will be going | :10:37. | :10:43. | |
on. -- television show. It is priceless for David Cameron, and it | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
will do him no harm at all. And if it turns out that a Republican wins | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
the presidential race, I don't think they will be breaking down in | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
tears about it because after all they know the Republicans will be | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
on the side of a Conservative Prime Minister who supports public | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
spending cuts and is an ally on the military front. They can build | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
those bridges if they have to but for now they will be enjoying this | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
connection with Barack Obama. you. Enjoy the rest of your work | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
there. For the legal it, I think he has | :11:15. | :11:25. | |
:11:25. | :11:26. | ||
just given away the answer to our competition! -- for those that were | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
listening. And with the White House in the background, built by slaves, | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
with Scottish stonemasons and burnt by the British then rebuilt after | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
1812. How would you categorise Anglo-American relations at the | :11:40. | :11:49. | |
moment? Good. I don't see any major falling-out. I think that Barack | :11:49. | :11:57. | |
Obama has spread his net more widely. There is a special | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
relationship, other than intelligence sharing. We have | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
always thought there is one, but the Americans have never really | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
acted on it. When I was trade minister for the last Government, | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
which by the way I am the only minister that never belonged to the | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
party politics... I thought you might get that in! I did it for | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
Britain and trade. When I was in America, Americans have never | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
treated the British with the special relationship in terms of | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
trade. I think John Pienaar's summary of it was excellent. There | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
will be a subliminal thing of Let's Get More business and trade going | :12:34. | :12:44. | |
:12:44. | :12:45. | ||
as the two a economies start falling. There is a systemic change | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
taking place in America's concerns. When it was the defeat of the Nazis, | :12:52. | :12:59. | |
then the Cold War, and Europe was the crucible of the world's great | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
fascists, then Britain and America were side to side. The biggest | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
concern that America has today is the rise of China, and Britain is | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
almost entirely irrelevant in that respect. So they are looking to | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
their West. Yes, and what is more, if Britain is fabulously engaged | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
with this open economy, if it is going to make it then it will make | :13:21. | :13:29. | |
it by going East itself, going to Ager. -- are going to Asia. The | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
biggest investor in Britain is still America and vice versa so | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
there is still something there. On the Afghanistan point, you have | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
raised this before and I am glad that you do, what does victory look | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
like? You can tell a grieving mother that he laid down his life | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
in the Falkland Islands to three people. He lay down his life in | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
Germany to free Europe from the Nazis. What do you say? At the end | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
of the day, we know that there will be a deal with the Taliban. Hamid | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
Karzai is already banning women walking around in public. Victory | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
is not something that will look very pretty. The more young people | :14:07. | :14:14. | |
that died, the more the public will ask what it is in a door. I also | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
hope he brings this up. While he is walking down the red carpet, | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
sitting in Air Force One, having the banquet, there is a British | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
person in solitary confinement in a jail in America without charge. He | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
is not able to defend himself. He has been set because of the British | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
Government's kowtow to the extradition treaty. He is not the | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
first and I think there will be many. I would like David Cameron to | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
change the law on this in Britain and sorry, Barack Obama, that will | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
make it tricky for your guide to come over before we extradite | :14:48. | :14:55. | |
people. -- your guys. I was brought up that people are innocent until | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
proven guilty, but the extradition treaty is the opposite. We will see. | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
I would not hold your breath. I don't know why I am saying that, | :15:05. | :15:11. | |
but I will. I don't know why we are bothering with this, but this is | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
the quid! What we David Cameron have the privilege of travelling on | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
a while he is on his visit to the USA. This is only for viewers that | :15:20. | :15:30. | |
:15:30. | :15:36. | ||
tuned in after the John Pienaar At the end of the show, Lord Jones | :15:37. | :15:45. | |
will give us the correct answer. There has been plenty of | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
speculation about changes the Chancellor could make to tax rates, | :15:47. | :15:55. | |
ahead of next week's Budget. So, what measures might he bring in? | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
Plans to shelve the 50p tax rate for those earning more than | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
�150,000 have also been discussed. Initial Treasury calculations | :16:00. | :16:10. | |
:16:10. | :16:11. | ||
estimate the rate currently brings in around �3 billion a year. | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
The Lib Dems have been pushing for a "mansion tax" on properties worth | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
over �2 million, as a way of getting more tax revenue from the | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
rich. There is speculation that this could be offered to ease Lib | :16:22. | :16:29. | |
Dem concerns on scrapping the 50p tax rate. | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
He is also looking at scrapping tax relief on pension contributions for | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
top earners. The Lib Dems say that this could | :16:39. | :16:47. | |
save �7 billion, and make the system fairer. | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
These measures are being considered to help pay for raising the income | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
threshold, before you start paying tax to �10,000. It was part of the | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
coalition agreement. Earlier this year, Nick Clegg | :16:59. | :17:09. | |
:17:09. | :17:12. | ||
called for this to brought in faster than planned. A report by | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
Christian social policy charity Care this week criticised the | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
threshold rise as an inefficient way to help poor families, and | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
found that our current tax system means families in the UK with one | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
working parent are some of the hardest hit amongst the top | :17:24. | :17:33. | |
developed countries. Former Conservative Chancellor | :17:33. | :17:43. | |
:17:43. | :17:48. | ||
Nigel Lawson chaired the report, and joins us now. | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
Outstanding back, as you see the fiscal position the Chancellor is | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
in, if it was you, what would you be minded to cut, if at all? | :17:58. | :18:06. | |
should operate on both ends. I would do two things. I would bring | :18:06. | :18:13. | |
the 50p tax rate down to 40%, which is where I've put it in 1988. You | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
would lose no revenue at all in my judgment. Because, the Inland | :18:18. | :18:27. | |
Revenue calculation is assuming no behavioural changes. If you factor | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
in behavioural changes, it wouldn't cost you a penny. That is my | :18:31. | :18:38. | |
expense. When I did cut it to 40% in 1988, we got more money from the | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
rich rather than less money. The other end of the scale. Care. They | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
are on to a very good point. There is a solution. Not to raise the | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
threshold, that is inefficient, they are right. But introduce | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
transferable allowances. In other words, the wife who gives up | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
working in order to have children and he wants to look after children, | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
should not lose her renounce, that should be transferred for the time | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
being to her husband so they get the full benefit. I suggested that | :19:13. | :19:21. | |
in mind 1985 -- by 1985 Budget speech and brought out a green | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
paper. But I could not get Margaret Thatcher to agree to it. She felt, | :19:27. | :19:34. | |
somehow, that women who were staying at home, lacked gumption | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
and get up and go. She identified very strongly with the woman who | :19:37. | :19:44. | |
went out to work. Like herself. Very often, the woman who is | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
bringing up young children, maybe working much harder than her | :19:47. | :19:54. | |
husband. And she should not be discriminated against. That is | :19:54. | :20:01. | |
where the poverty is. Where there is only one earner, in a two child | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
family. And I would do those two things, and get the money which has | :20:07. | :20:17. | |
:20:17. | :20:18. | ||
been squirrelled away, which is not nearly as important. | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
Sticking with the thresholds. They have become quite an iconic policy | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
for the coalition. The Liberal Democrats who think they are | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
pushing for it, and quite a few Tories like the idea of taking | :20:30. | :20:37. | |
people out of tax, it has become a litmus test for this coalition. | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
It is a question, am sure something will be done. It is a question of | :20:42. | :20:52. | |
how much you do. When I started off, by taking a lot of people out of | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
tax and raising the threshold this did actually, but subsequently and | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
felt it was better to cut the rates of taxation. That has a more | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
dynamic effect, than acting on the threshold. The one thing I would | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
like to say, and a lot of businesses say this. If someone on | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
the minimum wage could pay no tax, that would encourage a lot of | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
people to say, it is not worth being on the dole, it is worth | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
working. How you achieve that, which is your argument, the one | :21:26. | :21:35. | |
thing about the single mum at home, it's his her contribution to the | :21:35. | :21:44. | |
economy, providing a stable environment for a young person. | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
There is a lot and the press about this. It is a bigger contribution | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
to society. There is a strong social argument for this change, | :21:52. | :21:59. | |
yes. Your argument, the argument of the charity, is that, although what | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
they're doing will take low earners out of tax altogether, it's not | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
just them who benefit. The bulk of the cost goes to middle and us who | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
find their first �10,000... As sometimes wonder, is that the | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
unspoken intention of a policy, a way of putting money into the | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
pockets of middle income? I do not think the Lib Dems have really | :22:24. | :22:32. | |
understand what they are talking about. Badenoch think they -- I | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
think there is another reason for having lower taxes, rather than | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
people taking out -- taking people out of tax altogether. There is | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
always a danger, if you take large numbers of people out of tax, then | :22:49. | :22:57. | |
they will feel that all they can ever actively lobby and press for | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
his higher benefits. And they don't have to pay. So I think, if you | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
want an educated political debate, it is better not to do this but cut | :23:09. | :23:19. | |
:23:19. | :23:25. | ||
tax right across the border. These are straitened times. -- the board. | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
The government is limited in what it can do now. This particular | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
proposal has so much going for it and I am glad this charity, Care, | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
has brought out is well written and well argued report at this | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
particular time. The Chancellor's big challenge | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
isn't just to make tax changes which will be regarded as fair in | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
these times, but to get some growth back into the economy. What would | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
you do? I would deregulate. There has been some deregulation but | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
there is far too much regulation. Much more rules and regulations, | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
which hamper British business. Some of it comes from the European Union, | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
which is a nuisance. Even so, you can interpret that the way some of | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
our continental friends interpret it, rather loosely. There is a lot | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
which is our own regulation which you can get rid of. Give me an | :24:22. | :24:30. | |
example? That is the important thing to do. You get businessmen | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
complaining all the time about the amount of regulation areas. I think | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
also, incidentally, there is another change on the tax front I | :24:38. | :24:45. | |
would like to see. I'd like George Osborne at least to focus on it. I | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
am very concerned about the existing system of corporate | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
taxation as it affects banks'. Because, they get tax relief if | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
they finance themselves from a loan capital. If they finance themselves | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
from equity, they do not. As a result, they have far too much | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
borrowed money and not a big enough equity base. I think we really need | :25:11. | :25:18. | |
to address that. They get the tax relief on interest but not on the | :25:18. | :25:28. | |
:25:28. | :25:28. | ||
dividends they pay. Where are you on the 50p top rate? It has become | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
symbolic in these difficult times. The Chancellor keeps saying we're | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
in it together. What would you do for growth? I would put the | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
political argument Ford, what Britain has to do, we have to | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
increase the amount of money we raise. The politics is in direct | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
conflict. 50p does not raise the money. There are lots of other | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
things were you could but you have to when the politics. There is no | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
energy going into the Liberal Democrats or Tories to win the | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
politics. They're quite prepared to let the politics when. That really | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
worries me. We will end up with lots of ways people can avoid it. | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
One thing I would do for growth more than anything, I would abolish | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
national insurance had visions for employers for people who employed | :26:17. | :26:25. | |
fewer than 25 people, for the next people they employ. If you employed | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
had five and go to 26, he went pay contributions employing the next | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
person. Why do we have a Jobs Tax? Every other tax in Britain taxes | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
money in some form, capital, income. This tax taxes you if you just | :26:42. | :26:49. | |
created job. It is barmy. It is �5.2 billion, so you can't just | :26:49. | :26:55. | |
abolish it. May as says and then further about deregulation. The | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
first point, you can stimulate activity by removing these shackles | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
were it doesn't cost you any thing at all. There is another reason, | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
internationally. We have always been less regulated than | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
continental Europe. They had said they would follow us but they're | :27:15. | :27:22. | |
going back again following the crisis in the euro. And the | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
Americans now are into regulation in a heavy way. The banking bill. | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
Other legislation. We have the opportunity to be the less | :27:35. | :27:43. | |
regulated major economy, and attracted the -- because of it. | :27:43. | :27:53. | |
:27:53. | :28:00. | ||
are right, that is at no cost. We will see what the Chancellor | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
says in the Budget on 21st March, live here on BBC Two. A week | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
tomorrow. The Royal College of GPs has said it is willing to work | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
again with the government on helping to implement the changes to | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
the NHS in England. The body had been omitted from talks with | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
government, after declaring its opposition to the NHS Bill last | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
month. Dr Clare Gerada, who heads the college, has now written to the | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
Prime Minister, saying she wants to help find a "way forward". Dr | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
Gerada appeared on this programme last month. Here's what she had to | :28:32. | :28:41. | |
say then. I represent 44,000 general | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
practitioners of which over 90% when we surveyed them recently | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
wanted me to ask for withdrawal of the bill. Against a background of | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
1.5 years of consultation, three surveys, five executive councils, a | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
national conference, endless consultation. I can categorically | :29:00. | :29:07. | |
tell you my members do not want this bill. Some of the parks of the | :29:07. | :29:12. | |
Bill of good. Bidding GPs in control of money, but impatience | :29:12. | :29:17. | |
first. In its totality, the Bill is a best, it is flawed, the Bill will | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
not achieve what you and Andrew Lansley is setting out to achieve. | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
Dr Clare Gerada speaking to me last month. The NHS Bill is going to be | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
under discussion in both Houses of Parliament today. Let's go over to | :29:30. | :29:36. | |
Central Lobby now, and join Carole Walker. | :29:36. | :29:44. | |
preoccupying the House of Lords and house of Commons. It is continuing | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
its somewhat tortuous process through the House of Lords. In the | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
Commons this afternoon, we are going to have an opposition day | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
debate with they the same even at this late stage, the government | :29:55. | :30:02. | |
should stop the bill in its current form. Diane Abbott speaks on health | :30:02. | :30:10. | |
for Labour. And Lord Jones for the Lib Dems. We heard the Royal | :30:10. | :30:15. | |
College of GPs, the head, vehemently opposed to these plans, | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
saying it is time to sit down with the government and work on putting | :30:18. | :30:26. | |
them into action. Shouldn't you be Her position has not altered and | :30:26. | :30:34. | |
she believes that it is a bad bill. Some of the GPs are taking these | :30:34. | :30:42. | |
roles. Some of them are, but the vast majority want the bill to be | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
dropped. The point about Dr Gerada's position is that it has | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
not altered. She is opposed to the bill in its current form. The Royal | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
College would always have worked with the Government if it became | :30:55. | :31:01. | |
law, and in that sense nothing has changed. Do think there is a change | :31:01. | :31:06. | |
of position because that after the acceptance, the weeks and months of | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
wrangling, this bill will become law in pounds less than a week? I | :31:10. | :31:17. | |
think it is a watershed. It is very difficult to explain to people how | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
this bill has changed, especially in the Lords over the last few | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
weeks, on things like competition, regulation of foundation trust, | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
regulation of private income, things like that. I think that | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
realisation is beginning to become true to members of the Royal | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
College of GPs and other Royal Colleges, I hope. I think we are in | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
the position that the bill will get more acceptance outside now. I | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
think at the end of the day it will go through. I think that is wishful | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
thinking. My view is the same as the majority of the Lib Dem members. | :31:51. | :31:57. | |
In its fundamentals, this bill has not changed. You don't think... | :31:57. | :32:04. | |
how does she know what the Lib Dem members think? They passed a motion | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
agreeing that great progress had been made in House of Lords. The | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
only line they took out of the motion was one are saying to give | :32:12. | :32:14. | |
it a third reading and that is because they did not know enough | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
about the bill as a whole. That is a very their position for a stock | :32:19. | :32:29. | |
:32:29. | :32:32. | ||
that was the key line to take out. -- that is a very unfair position. | :32:32. | :32:38. | |
That was the key line to take out. If they have been allowed to vote | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
against the bill, they would have. They were allowed to vote for the | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
motion that they wanted, which is the one that accepted the progress | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
that had been made. That is why Nick Clegg had to use an air-raid | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
shelter. If this bill does go through, as many people expect, | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
what a future Labour Government overturn it? Oh, yes. Andy Burnham | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
has said clearly on a number of occasions that if this bill goes | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
through, when we are in Government we will overturn it and pick the | :33:07. | :33:15. | |
worst -- on pick the worst of the damage. Even though we are prepared | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
to make the best of it, there is a consensus that it will be damaging | :33:19. | :33:29. | |
:33:29. | :33:32. | ||
and it will cause recommendation. It may -- they are hoping to | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
persuade members of your party to stop this bill. Do you think there | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
is any prospect of that happening now? It will go through. The | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
extraordinary thing about Labour is that they have now performed a | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
somersault, basically. They used to be pro choice and that competition | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
had a limited place in the NHS. They had to 2006 Act that opened | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
the door to price competition, which we are now regulating more | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
effectively. It is extraordinary that they are doing this and many | :34:02. | :34:10. | |
members will be unhappy if they appealed -- try and repeal this and | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
later. The 2006 Act did not mention competition. We still believe that | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
the private sector has a role to play and we certainly believe in | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
choice but this is the wrong bill at the wrong time. We believe it is | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
not too late for the Government to drop it. They really got themselves | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
in a twist last week. They voted against the 49% limit, so they | :34:31. | :34:37. | |
voted to open it. That shows the confusion within the Labour Party. | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
OK, thank you very much. There is still a great deal to discuss on | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
this bill. It does now look as though it is on course to become a | :34:46. | :34:53. | |
law fairly shortly, but in the Commons this afternoon Labour will | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
be saying that it should be dropped. Goodbye from Westminster. | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
Thank you. Last week was brutal in Afghanistan and as we were saying | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
it should feature high on the agenda in discussions between | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
Barack Obama and David Cameron. Both are under pressure following | :35:09. | :35:19. | |
:35:19. | :35:22. | ||
recent terrible events to increase the pace of withdrawal. Yesterday, | :35:22. | :35:32. | |
:35:32. | :35:32. | ||
there were questions about the killing by the rogue US soldier. | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
Does the Minister accept that there is a growing feeling in this | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
country, no doubt and United States as well but certainly in Britain, | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
that this war cannot be one? This is a war when people no longer | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
accept the official line. Our security depends on our military | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
continuing to be in Afghanistan. Barack Obama and the Prime Minister | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
are meeting this week. Would it not be wise for them to accept that | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
there is this feeling, this strong feeling, that this war has gone on | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
now for over 10 years, that it cannot be won? We are on the right | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
course. We have the right security strategy, but I think what he is | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
getting at, and this opinion is widely held, that what we need to | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
find is a political solution to the future of Afghanistan. Although | :36:22. | :36:24. | |
progress on this has been disappointingly slow, there are now | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
some signs of encouragement. I believe that there is a realistic | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
prospect that the political process will be under way within the | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
timescale that I am talking about. The idea that we can start | :36:37. | :36:44. | |
challenging the plan to withdraw early worries me a great deal. | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
Because soldiers need certainty. They need that certainty for their | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
offices to plan and for soldiers to get used to it. It will be | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
increasingly challenging for the soldiers over the next two years as | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
we go towards withdrawing from combat operations. Can I ask the | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
Minister whether he agrees with that assessment? We have got to | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
support our soldiers are utterly and completely and the plan is set | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
and must remain set now. The best thing we can do is for the | :37:12. | :37:18. | |
international community now have to appoint an international mediator | :37:18. | :37:22. | |
with international backing, to frame the international strategy | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
internally and regionally, which is so desperately needed. If we do not | :37:26. | :37:33. | |
stop working on it now, every day will show we can chances of leaving | :37:33. | :37:38. | |
Afghanistan. -- start working on it. This is an isolated incident. There | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
will be some calling for urgent withdrawal, but can I stress this | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
is not just about security? It is also about governance and I hope | :37:47. | :37:56. | |
that will be discussed at the summit into cargo. -- in Chicago. | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
Tobias Ellwood, you saw him on the take and now he is live in the | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
flesh. He is a former captain in the army and we are also joined by | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP. John Hemming, if you were in charge | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
of our Afghan policy now, what would you do? I would be looking | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
for a earlier withdrawal. The problem is the dynamic of the | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
situation is about the occupation, the presence of forces from outside | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
Afghanistan. In an a symmetric conflict, when one side is powerful | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
and the other relatively weak, it is a motions that drives things. If | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
we are looking for real peace, which is the political solution, | :38:36. | :38:40. | |
then maintaining the forces is not working towards that. Can you give | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
us an idea of what you mean by an early withdrawal? I understand that | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
the final combat troops will be gone by the end of 2014 and the | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
draw down will begin before then. We always have to be concerned | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
about the future safety of our troops and I will always take | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
advice from the military about how quickly and then to be they can | :38:59. | :39:08. | |
withdraw. I voted to withdraw some years ago now. -- and how safely | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
they can withdraw. What we are doing is very cruel for the troops. | :39:12. | :39:19. | |
If we gave them a military objective, they could achieve | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
anything we set them, but a political objective is not | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
something they can achieve. They will come out anyway, and whether | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
we have got something that looks like victory or not. We are still | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
coming up. The case for early withdrawal would be where you leave | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
Afghanistan and where things would go in the near future? We don't | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
want to leave an unstable Afghanistan and we don't want | :39:44. | :39:51. | |
another civil law. -- civil war. We did not start training the Afghans | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
properly until 2008. And only now are they starting to take over at | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
the locations that they need to hold to provide that security. | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
Underneath that a brother of security, what has not happened is | :40:04. | :40:11. | |
improvements to governance. In the same way as happened in the 1840 | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
and the early 20th century, Afghanistan was never properly run. | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
We needed divergence of governance so that Afghanistan is properly run, | :40:20. | :40:28. | |
rather than it is the -- this knee- jerk reaction that we need to get | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
out which will leave possible civil war further down the line. We have | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
spent all this blood and treasure already. If we get out too soon, we | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
will leave the Afghans not ready to take over, so we need to stay, do | :40:40. | :40:47. | |
we? You are ignoring an important point that Tobias Ellwood is making. | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
He is one of the few politicians that understands tribal than | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
foreigners. We are imposing a Western model on Afghanistan which | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
cannot work. There is a power structure based on tribes and we | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
are imposing a Western model on that. So it does not matter how | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
long we stay? Tobias is right. In terms of resolve in the political | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
side, there needs to be something that recognises the power | :41:12. | :41:22. | |
:41:22. | :41:24. | ||
structures that exist. We are driving a 1000 years of political | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
structures in the UK it over 10 years, which is also a mistake. | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
Lots of people watching this would say that the imposition of a | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
Western-style on to Afghanistan is wrong. Therefore to get it devolved | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
down into tried to get the corruption out, to somehow ensure | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
that the Taliban do not come out of the caves in 2014 and start a civil | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
war, whatever we do, everybody would say that we are not going to | :41:52. | :41:58. | |
pull that off between 2012 and 2014. This is cultural change. Either you | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
are going to be in for an incredibly long haul, which we all | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
know won't happen, but what is so magical about 2014? Firstly, we are | :42:08. | :42:16. | |
seeing progress. That -- let's not deny what is happening. We are | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
taking charge of the security of the country. This is not matched | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
with improvements in governance and Reconstruction and Development. | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
This country is rich in minerals and so forth but the economic plan | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
is not there. As we focus on draw down, we need to press forward to | :42:34. | :42:41. | |
encourage better forms of governance. To give a brief example, | :42:41. | :42:48. | |
Hamid Karzai gets to a point every headteacher in Afghanistan, which | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
is far too centralised. Everybody is appointed by the President. This | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
sort of reform needs to be focused on. He has just banned women | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
walking around Kabul on their own without a male consort. We know | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
that is so that you can go down the road to the Taliban and say that he | :43:04. | :43:11. | |
is trying to meet them somewhere. If I was a soldier from any country | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
where life was being threatened every day, I know they are paid to | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
go in harm's way, but at least they have got to think things are being | :43:18. | :43:23. | |
changed. We are running out of time but I want to ask you this. | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
Regardless of the substance of your argument, do you get a sense that | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
you are pushing at an open door because of what has happened? | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
difficulty is, one of the eternal problems with any military conflict, | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
we have to be primarily concerned about our security and the security | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
of our armed forces. It is difficult to say that what we need | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
to do is pull out given the sacrifice is that people have made. | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
But it is worse to have more sacrifices because we are making | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
the difficult decision to put out now. Are you pushing at an open | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
door? It is difficult to say because the Government needs to | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
work with native. If you don't know it is better not to answer the | :44:03. | :44:09. | |
question. Thank you. We will see what is decided by the President | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
and the Prime Minister. It is bound to be a key part of any final | :44:12. | :44:18. | |
statement after the British visit Later this month, we'll get an idea | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
of the government's vision for the future of Britain's airports. The | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
aviation industry say that expansion will help the economy, | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
while environmental groups fret that the green agenda is being | :44:27. | :44:35. | |
chucked out in favour of growth. Here's Adam. | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun a descent into Westminster | :44:41. | :44:51. | |
:44:51. | :44:52. | ||
Right now, politicians have got aeroplanes on the brain. The | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
coalition agreement between the Tories and Liberal Democrats rules | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
out any new runways at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Last year, | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
the government started a consultation on the future flight | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
plan in the UK. We will hear their initial thought this month, paving | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
the way for a full-blown aviation strategy to be published next year. | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
What are some of the options people have been talking about? | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
The departure to London Heathrow has been cancelled because the | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
airport is full. The owners of the UK's biggest airports so that means | :45:26. | :45:32. | |
they are stuck in a holding pattern. We are short of capacity, which | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
means we are more vulnerable to delays and congestion, and short of | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
capacity to put in on new routes, such as to China. We announced one | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
new route recently but our competitors are lapsing several new | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
routes, they're getting further ahead of us in terms of trade links | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
with growing parts of the world. Which suggests either another | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
runway or permission to operate even more flights. | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
Check in for the first flight to Boris Ireland will open in 13 years. | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
To realise the dream of the mayor of London for a new airport in the | :46:06. | :46:11. | |
Thames estuary, a lot of obstacles have to be overcome, from the risk | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
posed by birds, to the aviation routes of other countries, and the | :46:15. | :46:21. | |
enormous cost. For those obstacles can digest, some are more difficult. | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
What we need is for the government to say this is something they can | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
look at seriously. The 11:45am flight to Manchester, | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
Bristol and Birmingham is now ready for boarding. The UK's regional | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
airports are keen to grab a bigger slice of the growing demand for | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
flights. But all this horrifies green groups. | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
Passengers could always forget the plane and get the train instead. | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
you do not need to fly to Paris, you can take the train. If you can | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
take a train to Manchester or Edinburgh, let us look at those | :46:57. | :47:03. | |
options, sensible runway capacity so you're not having to chock-a- | :47:03. | :47:08. | |
block few runways with those short hop flights and you can have proper | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
flight space for long-haul flights. So there aren't easy answers when | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
it comes to aviation policy. Passengers boarding at Westminster | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
International Airport, prepare for some turbulence. Adam Fleming. | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
We've still got our guest of the day, Digby Jones, with us. To talk | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
more about the future for airport expansion in the UK, we are now | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
joined by the Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, | :47:34. | :47:42. | |
Tim Yeo, also Conservative MP for South Suffolk. | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
Can we clarify, is it your understanding of that the | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
Conservatives, and the coalition government, they are still opposed | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
to a third runway at Heathrow? his coalition policy, and happen to | :47:54. | :48:00. | |
think it is wrong. What would you do? Britain needs a modern | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
transport infrastructure which means more airport capacity. But it | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
kick in China we have no direct links and we will miss out. | :48:08. | :48:14. | |
Provincial cities. We now at last have cover for changing the | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
coalition position. The EU has applied a new emissions limit. That | :48:19. | :48:25. | |
means building another runway does not actually increase emissions | :48:25. | :48:32. | |
because they're already subject to the EU restrictions. So to build a | :48:32. | :48:37. | |
brand new airport? He is more practical to build a third runway. | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
The cost otherwise would be enormous. It is also in the wrong | :48:41. | :48:47. | |
place. People do not live in the Thames estuary, they tend to live | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
west and north. The journey for most passengers would get worse if | :48:50. | :48:56. | |
we had a Thames estuary airport. People say we are in danger of | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
losing out. They say it aviation happens to be an industry Britain | :49:00. | :49:07. | |
is a world leader. Heathrow was the world's premier airport. Great for | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
Britain. They now say business is going to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, | :49:12. | :49:21. | |
Paris. That is so right. We are in danger of ceasing to be a hub for | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
the developed world. If you look at a brute, about 60% of the | :49:27. | :49:37. | |
:49:37. | :49:43. | ||
passengers on a route come from somewhere else - route. You have to | :49:43. | :49:51. | |
feed it through a hub. Frankfurt has 16 destination cities in China. | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
It brings it in everywhere else from Europe. We're trying to be | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
point to point and it doesn't work. If you're going into the Thames | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
estuary, more people belong to the virus pp than to the political | :50:07. | :50:17. | |
:50:17. | :50:19. | ||
parties in Britain! -- RSPB. It all comes back to a third runway at | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
Heathrow. If you had the Thames estuary and closed Heathrow, help | :50:23. | :50:30. | |
any politician can defend the loss of jobs? It has to be a third | :50:30. | :50:37. | |
runway. The case for a third runway, it reinforces the hub nature. I | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
interviewed unexamined a couple of weeks ago. He got the sustained | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
light aeroplane from Aberdeen to Heathrow. It was full of people | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
going on to the Far East, Singapore. You won't get many direct flights | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
from Aberdeen to Singapore. They needed Heathrow. They were saying, | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
you can fly from Aberdeen to Frankfurt, we will go there. | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
Heathrow remains potentially a world-class airport. It Sadiq is | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
not that at the moment, some of the tunnels are out of date. It needs | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
extra capacity as well. There is an interesting environmental argument | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
in favour of runways, less stacking. Emissions for aircraft are | :51:21. | :51:25. | |
particularly high when they are waiting to land. You could make a | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
positive green case for saying reducing the congestion at Heathrow | :51:29. | :51:34. | |
in the air for people arriving, and on the ground, taking off, to cut | :51:34. | :51:42. | |
emissions. You have two problems. You have a Conservative Transport | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
Secretary whose constituency is on the flight path into Heathrow. And | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
you have a coalition partner who as I understand, their policy isn't | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
just no runway in Heathrow, they are saying no runways in the south | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
east. Justine Greening has made a good start as Transport Secretary, | :52:02. | :52:07. | |
I have to say. I am genuinely encouraged by it. She might like to | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
pass the decision about the runway to somebody else who does not have | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
the same constituency problem. My constituency is in East Anglia. I | :52:16. | :52:22. | |
was concerned when I thought Stansted was going to expand. | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
Liberal Democrats, they're wrong about this. Britain, if it is going | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
to be a world-class economy, it needs a world-class transport | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
infrastructure, which means high- speed trains, and more capacity. We | :52:36. | :52:44. | |
are falling behind badly on transport issues. We have to be | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
brave with the coalition partners and say, we want Britain to be in | :52:49. | :52:56. | |
the Premier League economically, that means more airport capacity. | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
love -- I'd love the politicians to say to a penance, where you see | :53:00. | :53:07. | |
this country in 2025. High-speed rail, excellent. Secondly, at the | :53:07. | :53:14. | |
moment, you would seek a vibrant Paris and Netherlands taking the | :53:14. | :53:24. | |
:53:24. | :53:25. | ||
growth away. You end up with a second Tear Britain. That is awful. | :53:26. | :53:35. | |
-- tier. A few days ago, Apple announced | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
more than 25 billion apps have been downloaded from its app store. And | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
everyone it seems wants to get in on the craze. The Prime Minister | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
already has an iPad. We know about his Angry Birds obsession. Not | :53:50. | :53:52. | |
content with that, he's had a customised tablet computer produced, | :53:52. | :54:02. | |
:54:02. | :54:06. | ||
costing �20,000. So what special apps might he have on it? | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
It's thought the PM will be able to access all kinds of stats, with a | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
data app: Polling trends, the markets, NHS waiting times, and | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
crime and unemployment figures will all be available. We're not sure if | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
he'll have a nuclear option on the app, keeping him in control of the | :54:23. | :54:32. | |
country's nuclear arsenal. But we do expect him to have a personal | :54:32. | :54:35. | |
trainer app for days when we can't go jogging in St James' Park. | :54:35. | :54:43. | |
Something to keep him motivated and fit. | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
We know the PM likes to catch up on episodes of The Killing and | :54:47. | :54:57. | |
Desperate Housewives. So a film downloads app is sure to feature. | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
We're joined now by Torsten Stauch, an app designer, from the company | :55:00. | :55:08. | |
Red C. What to do think the Prime Minister | :55:08. | :55:17. | |
will have? Apart from those absolute necessity is! I pick it is | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
obvious, what we are seeing with the promise to getting his own app, | :55:22. | :55:29. | |
is the fact there is a shift in the world from games, everyone talks | :55:29. | :55:36. | |
about Angry Birds, to be in productivity tools. The taxpayers | :55:36. | :55:39. | |
alliance might be say this is a waste of money, I couldn't disagree | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
more. The more time he spends on his own app, the better it is for | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
the taxpayer. I have no doubt any iPad usable low productivity | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
increases when they are using a tablet. There has been a suggestion | :55:53. | :56:01. | |
maybe MPs should all be given an iPad or tablet, and although they | :56:01. | :56:09. | |
might cost �400 each, we think, why should we spend money on this? | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
Would it make them more efficient? Somerset it would save money. | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
course it would save money. You are saving on paper. There is good | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
reason to do that at least. You are able to use it in many more | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
different places. Sitting in a meeting and using the laptop screen | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
is not the way you want to work. To have a discreet tablet is better, | :56:33. | :56:40. | |
you can have information to hand way you are not behind your desk. | :56:40. | :56:47. | |
What sort of app would make your life easier? Seriously, I would | :56:47. | :56:52. | |
definitely would welcome a locked of the stuff I could read on trains | :56:52. | :56:58. | |
and in the back of cars were, at the moment, for by printed it out? | :56:58. | :57:04. | |
Whereas, if it was on a tablet, that would help me. Good for the | :57:04. | :57:10. | |
environment. The less serious one, definitely, the in-depth analysis | :57:10. | :57:15. | |
of why Leicester Tigers is the best rugby team in Britain, and why God | :57:15. | :57:22. | |
is alive and well and keeping goal for Aston Villa! You created an app | :57:22. | :57:31. | |
for George Galloway? He is well up on understanding how we is | :57:31. | :57:34. | |
communicating -- he is communicating with his followers. | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
If you can get into their pocket, they can be watching a video of | :57:39. | :57:43. | |
your latest campaign or speech while standing in the queue at a | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
supermarket, that makes sense. They might not be doing that if you're | :57:48. | :57:55. | |
there -- by their computer. Doesn't it killed the art of | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
conversation? There is an argument for that. Having my own children, I | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
try not to get them into technology too quickly. That doesn't mean you | :58:03. | :58:10. | |
can't use technology well. It must be managed. It learns -- it means | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
you learn things and gives you something to talk about. | :58:13. | :58:18. | |
children, we are training children to build the Rhone apps. Previously, | :58:18. | :58:24. | |
the ICT curriculum was dead boring. Turning the children away from | :58:24. | :58:33. | |
digital or media careers. This can interest them. | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
Time for the quiz. What will David Cameron have the privilege of | :58:36. | :58:41. | |
travelling on whilst he's on his official visit to the USA. | :58:41. | :58:51. | |
:58:51. | :58:51. | ||
Force One. The first leader from a foreign country ever to be on it. | :58:51. | :58:55. |