Browse content similar to 04/12/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. Whatever you're up | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
to: Doing the dishes, hanging out the washing, or even lying down | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
trying to recover from morning sickness, this is what we've got | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
today. The man with the trickiest maths problem in Britain. George | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
Osborne's got to balance the Budget, cut the deficit, and somehow | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
promote economic growth. So what are his chances? Newspaper editors | :00:59. | :01:09. | |
:01:09. | :01:17. | ||
We were hear from someone who has come hotfoot from the Treasury. | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
And we will find out why sports stars like Usain Bolt are reluctant | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
to compete in Great Britain. Do we treat people who sell things | :01:26. | :01:35. | |
for her living as a national joke? Kate Walsh says things must change. | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
All that in the next hour. With us is the editor of the Conservative | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
Home website, regularly described as one of the most influential | :01:45. | :01:53. | |
Tories outside of the Cabinet. But first: Tomorrow's Autumn Statement. | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
Six months ago, George Osborne had a terrible time with the Budget. | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
The word omnishambles ended up attached with pretty much | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
everything to do with it. This time at a Royal bump has kicked a load | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
of headlines about big companies not paying taxes of of the front | :02:11. | :02:21. | |
:02:21. | :02:22. | ||
page. So it is the Chancellor in One of the things, a week ago, he | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
announced the new governor of the Bank of England, which he managed | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
to keep secret. They were very disappointed with how everything | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
leaked in advance of the Budget. There was a dummy run last week | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
with the Bank of England announcement. We have had some | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
briefing, but not too much. I don't know whether we will have any | :02:46. | :02:53. | |
surprises. George Osborne likes delivering surprises. The maths is | :02:53. | :03:00. | |
so difficult, he has little money to play with. He will miss his own | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
self imposed target that debt will be falling as a proportion of the | :03:05. | :03:13. | |
economy by 2016. What was worse, setting the target, or missing it? | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
He would have preferred the royal baby news to be announced tomorrow. | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
This will not be a good news day for the coalition. It is pretty | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
clear if he doesn't find some way of bending the money coming from | :03:28. | :03:36. | |
the Bank of England, he will miss those targets. It won't be easy. | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
How damaging it isn't politically to miss that target, he made a big | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
thing about debt falling and they were going to fix the debt crisis. | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
One is the economic environment which is much worse than we thought. | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
He will be able to say it almost every country in Europe and the | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
world is struggling to meet its targets. Barack Obama has just been | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
re-elected having missed almost every target he set when he was | :04:06. | :04:12. | |
first elected four years ago. will blame everyone else? Barack | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
Obama could not hit employment targets because of the | :04:17. | :04:24. | |
deterioration in the international situation. Ed Balls will try not to | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
let the Chancellor get away with it. What are you thinking George | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
Osborne should do, bearing in mind the coalition will borrow more next | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
year than Labour would be borrowing under the Alistair Darling plan. | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
How do you explain a deficit reduction as tragic end up with the | :04:45. | :04:55. | |
coalition spending more than Labour, borrowing more than Labour? What I | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
think is the failure, from the beginning, there should have been | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
much more on growth, much more about getting rid of some of the | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
green policies which have increased energy costs for manufacturers, | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
allowing banks to build up capital more slowly to lend to small | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
businesses. I would not have had the tax rises, that George Osborne | :05:21. | :05:28. | |
has had. He has not had the growth agenda that would have meant he | :05:28. | :05:37. | |
would have tax revenues of. It's time for our daily quiz. Four weeks | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
ago today, President Barack Obama was re-elected President of the | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
United States. Hard to believe it, but in some states they are still | :05:44. | :05:53. | |
actually counting the votes! But today's question is this: If Barack | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
Obama came first, and Mitt Romney came second, which famous actress | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
is currently coming sixth with just over 60,000 votes? | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
A) Susan Sarandon? B) Madonna? | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
C) Roseanne Barr? Or d) Jane Fonda? | :06:08. | :06:18. | |
:06:18. | :06:19. | ||
At the end of the show, Tim will give us the correct answer. | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
The big political event of the week, of course, is tomorrow's Autumn | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
Statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. The | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
Chancellor has quite a job on his hands. He admitted at the weekend | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
that weaker growth and lower tax receipts means austerity will | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
continue until 2018 at least. So, what immediate problems is he | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
grappling with? For a start, the deficit for 2013-14 is expected to | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
total some �126 billion, �7 billion more than the Government expected | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
back in March. This is partly as a result of weaker than expected | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
economic growth. Just this week, the British Chambers of Commerce | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
said that, instead of growing by 2.2% in 2014, the British economy | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
might only grow by 1.8%. As a result, the Chancellor has little | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
money to spend. And we learned today that he will ask most | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
government departments to cut spending even further over the next | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
two years. Things don't look any rosier on the High Street either, | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
with month-on-month retail sales in October down 0.8%. Tax receipts | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
have been lower than expected too. As a result, George Osborne will | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
come under considerable pressure to close tax loopholes, with one | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
report today saying that a VAT loophole on companies costs us all | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
�10 billion a year, or more than the cost of the Olympic Games. The | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
Chancellor will also be expected to do something to help squeezed | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
family budgets. Today, in a survey of what we're spending our money on, | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
the Office of National Statistics said our personal finances are | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
being pressured like never before, with the average household spending | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
�483.60 a week in 2011, compared The survey found transport was the | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
greatest cost, with the average family spending �65.70 a week | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
getting from A to B. We're also spending �54.80 a week on food, | :07:49. | :07:57. | |
which costs 27% more today than at Earlier, I spoke to Giles | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
Horsefield from the Office of National Statistic, and asked him | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
to explain what his report has found about the pressures on | :08:03. | :08:10. | |
household spending. We have seen from our figures which | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
show the average household expenditure quickly in 2011 has | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
come through as being higher than 2010. Increases in transport, the | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
biggest category. Within that category, people are spending more | :08:25. | :08:34. | |
on diesel and petrol, a significant increase from �22 a week up to �25. | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
You mentioned food, expenditure has gone up a little bit, �52 in 2010, | :08:43. | :08:52. | |
up to �55 in 2011. Housing, an increase in �3. We have seen | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
decreases in other categories. In expenditure on clothing and | :08:56. | :09:03. | |
footwear which has gone down �1.70. And also in some types of household | :09:03. | :09:13. | |
goods and services, significantly for furniture, down �3. Down to �14. | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
Recreation and culture has been interesting, that has held steady, | :09:18. | :09:26. | |
for audio-visual equipment. Also, games, newspapers and books. An | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
interesting increase in expenditure on leisure classes, cinema and | :09:32. | :09:39. | |
theatre, an increase from �18 up to �20 a week. If the decrease is in | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
clothing and household goods which are not essential, does it indicate | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
people have less money to spend on things that aren't completely | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
necessary like food and fuel? it is difficult to say but | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
increases have been in those categories where expenditure can be | :09:58. | :10:07. | |
:10:08. | :10:08. | ||
considered except -- essential. The decreases have been in items were | :10:08. | :10:16. | |
you might expenditure to be put off. Like furniture, clothing. There are | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
quirky results, people are willing to spend more on going out, to the | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
theatre and sporting events. A mixed picture. With us now are | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
three MPs who will be watching tomorrow's Autumn Statement very | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
closely indeed. Conservative, Harriet Baldwin. Labour's Teresa | :10:31. | :10:39. | |
Pearce. And the Liberal Democrat, Lorely Burt. | :10:39. | :10:49. | |
Welcome to all you. Generally, the Chancellor will not meet his | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
targets for 2016. Should he now has he is going to announce those | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
targets. Or should hear now has more spending cuts and tax rises to | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
meet it? What I will be looking for are | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
measures to help families with the cost of living. What should he do, | :11:09. | :11:17. | |
politically it is an important statement? Well, we have got to | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
focus on what is in a family pocket today. Things like making sure the | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
cost of fuel is kept under control. Things like council-tax been frozen | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
for another here. Lifting people are from low-income us out of | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
income tax. This will do an awful lot to help sustain the rate of | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
growth. I am sceptical you can forecast what will happen in 2014. | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
We have to focus on what is happening day-to-day in people's | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
pockets and jobs. Economic forecasts are worse, austerity is | :11:55. | :12:04. | |
set to last beyond 2015, why should we trust George Osborne? I just | :12:04. | :12:14. | |
:12:14. | :12:16. | ||
think we do not know that. We know that there are going to be more | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
cuts and possibly tax rises. The economic forecast from all of the | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
think-tanks will be worse and growth weaker. We know what the | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
forecasters are saying. We have to trust the Chancellor to focus on | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
keeping interest rates down, so mortgage rates are low so people | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
can spend more. Keeping the cost of living down, a growth strategy the | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
Chancellor can adopt tomorrow. can we keep the cost of living | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
down? We are on a very difficult and rocky road, more difficult than | :12:52. | :12:59. | |
we imagined when the first to Cover from the biggest debt assist -- | :12:59. | :13:07. | |
took over from the biggest deficit. We have to invest in capital | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
projects which will generate wealth. Why did the government cut all of | :13:12. | :13:19. | |
those projects, school building programmes, in 2010? The government | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
did a full review of the cost of some of these schools, they were | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
spending �6 million on a standard school, that amount has been | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
brought down considerably. We have committed to infrastructure | :13:34. | :13:43. | |
spending. In my constituency, on flood defences. I want more of that. | :13:43. | :13:50. | |
Two years after you cut many of those to jobs. We heard today you | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
will have �5 billion released to be spent on capital projects. Why did | :13:55. | :14:02. | |
you cut all of those jobs that were ready to go in 2010? I am not sure | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
I recognise the picture you are painting. We cut buildings calls, | :14:08. | :14:15. | |
but it was a cost in effective way. We put in �4 billion into new | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
schools. A new announcement today about more investment into schools | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
which will make a big difference. You are going to have to make | :14:24. | :14:32. | |
further cuts. How can those other depend at -- departments there more | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
cuts to ring-fence education and international development and | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
health? I think they should be doing that. I am delighted that, in | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
most departments, they have grasped the nettle, and they have made | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
their targets for making savings. If it was a choice between a | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
Whitehall department having less to spend, and releasing money for | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
capital projects to generate wealth, we need to do that as well. We will | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
come back to whether we should be ring-fencing departments. Labour | :15:06. | :15:14. | |
has accused the coalition of blaming the eurozone for the fact | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
there has been very little growth. Under Labour's plans, and the | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
suggestions you put forward for cutting VAT, how much growth would | :15:25. | :15:35. | |
:15:35. | :15:40. | ||
Some growth is better than none. The medicine has not worked so we | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
even need to change the medicine or the doctored or both. Do you think | :15:46. | :15:55. | |
there would have been significant improvement in the growth figures? | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
If we had not cut the amount of public spending than we did, yes. | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
Public Department spent in the private sector. Lots of private | :16:01. | :16:11. | |
:16:11. | :16:12. | ||
companies lost their investment... This is a fantasy! One at a time. | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
Labour proposed every single spending cut we have put forward. | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
Labour have put us in a position, if they had followed their plans by | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
opposing every spending cut, of its debt crisis. His is a myth to say | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
that debt is falling. But the interest rate has been kept very | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
low because of the Bob le Brocq my constituents cannot get a mortgage | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
so that does not matter! You can now get a two your mortgage | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
for under 2%. These are as are the sorts of things you can do to keep | :16:47. | :16:53. | |
spending under control and stop family budgets from rising. This is | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
Labour all-over. They have not articulated any plan. Double | :16:58. | :17:05. | |
recession! They say, and not yet. They don't say how far and how fast. | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
If we had carried on with Labour's happy meandering we would be in the | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
same situation now as Spain and Greece. That is ridiculous. It is | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
not! George Osborne said in every Budget that if we did not do what | :17:22. | :17:30. | |
he said, we would be like Greece. We would be! That is ridiculous. | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
George Osborne right to continue on this path? You said there should | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
not have been tax rises. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
there will be a �22 billion hole in the fiscal envelope. How should he | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
feel that? The most important thing, if we had not cut the deficit | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
reduction plan, we would not have low interest rates and they are the | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
most important thing that business and want. We need to start with | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
that. The idea is that there is an alternative to this central | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
strategy is nonsense. George Osborne needs to think of every | :18:08. | :18:15. | |
single way to get the economy going. Capital and infrastructure is | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
incredibly important. We should cancel a lot of these very | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
expensive green policies that are adding to the burden of | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
manufacturing industry. One of the reasons American growth has picked | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
up is because of the shale gas revolution. That is one of the | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
things I will be looking for from the Chancellor tomorrow's. Do you | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
think that would have made such a big difference? He every job | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
matters at the moment. Paying taxes matters at the moment. We need lots | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
of things like that but that is the kind of policy we need in a | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
statement. The public are not behind it. There is the money. We | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
have just launched the Green Investment Bank. There are | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
thousands and thousands of jobs waiting to go all the energy | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
strategy. But they will be subsidised and we cannot afford | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
that. We need to bring energy costs down. It is bringing jobs. The | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
announcement today will talk about the energy mix and acknowledge the | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
fact that we need different types of energy in order to keep the | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
lights on. The greenest government ever? If we were going to make a | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
difference to climate change, perhaps it would be worthwhile but | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
we are not. China and India continued to expand their climate | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
footprint. All we are doing is hurting jobs in this country by | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
pursuing the Liberal green policy. We need to have Dowsett -- | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
diversification in terms of energy sources. But we also should not | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
abandon solar energy, wind power in particular, where it makes sense in | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
terms of diversification of the UK and making it more resilient in | :20:00. | :20:06. | |
terms of end it is security. hear the word of fairness endlessly | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
bandied about and lots of discussion about a benefits freeze. | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
Should pensioners continue to be excluded from any benefit cuts and | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
freeze? The key thing about pensioners is they no longer have | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
the option of going out and working, so they don't have that choice is | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
that we of working age population have in terms of changing our jobs | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
and working more hours that could potentially improved income. That | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
is why pensioners are treated in a special way. So you think they | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
should be left alone as David Cameron has pledged? The Prime | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
Minister has a made that clear. you agree with that? It was in our | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
manifestos. I personally have said in the past that if you are a | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
higher rate pensioner and you are getting the winter fuel allowance, | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
we ought to look at that, but the price Minister has made that clear. | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
Are you happy with the fact that benefits will be hit to try to help | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
pay for the fiscal Blackhall? What do you want to see on the other | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
side? -- fiscal black hole? Will this help to balance out pfennigs? | :21:20. | :21:27. | |
It is fair to raise the threshold. -- balance out fairness? Is it | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
enough? Probably not. There will be a raft of measures. There seems to | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
be one group of individuals who seem to be getting hit now from | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
cuts in different types of areas. I would not want to see them hit any | :21:43. | :21:50. | |
more. We should be more spread out in our spreading the pain between | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
different groups. We really want to see the highest earners paying | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
their fair share a little bit more, not the savings on the backs of the | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
poor. More tax increases there. Nick Clegg did something fairly | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
unusual in his response to Leveson and gave a different response. | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
Would you like him to do something similar and say the bits he does | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
like and the bits he doesn't in the Autumn Statement? No. Why not? You | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
don't agree on quite basic things within the Autumn Statement, like | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
welfare. Two different parties came together in a time of real economic | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
difficulty and we are pulling together and pulling this country | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
out of the economic mire that we were left in by the previous | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
government. Obviously they are going to be points of conflict and | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
tension and you will see when the Budget comes out which bits when | :22:50. | :22:58. | |
Lib Dem bits. Some bits may not be in there. Thank you very much. | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
Walk down any high street and the pavements are packed with people | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
out Christmas shopping. And if you are in sales, it is the busiest | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
time of the year. But the millions of people who spend their lives | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
selling goods and services to us are a bit of a forgotten profession | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
according to Kate Walsh - who you may remember from BBC One's | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
programme The Apprentice a couple of years ago. She wants that to | :23:20. | :23:30. | |
:23:30. | :23:39. | ||
I am releasing my inner rock As a former finalist on The | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
Apprentice, I know the value of sales skills and how they can help | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
to get you a head, but I bet when you think of the sales person you | :23:47. | :23:57. | |
:23:57. | :24:05. | ||
think of a dodgy car salesman. We What size? 13 amps. | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
Yet sales is vital for the development of the economy. How | :24:11. | :24:20. | |
:24:21. | :24:23. | ||
important our scales -- sales 1.2 5 million sales people in the | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
UK, that is �1.1 million worth of goods that they sell per person on | :24:30. | :24:40. | |
:24:40. | :24:46. | ||
average. So it is about time to My belief is that the sales | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
function is the lifeblood of any business and up until now, it has | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
not been a very well respected profession. It has not even been | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
presented to young people as a job prospect. Despite gaining a first- | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
class honours business degree, the first mention of developing any | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
sales skills was when I was lucky enough to secure a place on a | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
graduate training scheme. I have had the opportunity to deliver a | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
number of enterprise days at schools like this one. There are | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
only three goals out of 30 business studies students at this school in | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
Hull -- three girls. We invited girls from other schools. The | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
government needs to start doing more. Sales has been the Cinderella | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
profession for wait too long. I completely disagree with Michael | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
Gove's decision to abolish work- related training. It was my first | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
work experience training at 15 that gave me that people skills and | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
confidence to succeed. With the apprenticeship scheme is available, | :25:56. | :26:02. | |
sales are drastically and represented. -- under-represented. | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
If we are to get the UK back onto growth, we need to get work | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
experience back on the curriculum, we need to create apprenticeship | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
schemes and help for the sales superstars of tomorrow's. | :26:15. | :26:17. | |
And Kate Walsh is here now. Alongside the Shadow Business | :26:17. | :26:23. | |
Minister, Toby Perkins. Welcome. Do you still feel that sales and | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
people who sell for a living have such a bad reputation? There is | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
still that perception out there. It was ten years ago that I graduated | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
but I know a lot of people that have studied business studies | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
lately and there must be a reason that it is just not mentioned as | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
part of so many business courses. Is that because you can't teach it | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
in an academic framework? This is the work that the Labour Party is | :26:52. | :26:59. | |
doing, and that is so important. It is not all about exams. It is about | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
vocational training, developing presentation skills and listening | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
skills. Anything from going to the interview in the first place to any | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
job function that you are going to do, you can become a better sales | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
person but it is more vocational they are academic. So is it | :27:17. | :27:19. | |
something that the companies should do rather than asking the | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
government? I think that is too late! It should not just be up to | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
accompany, especially small businesses. They have not got the | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
resources to send people on this negotiation and sales training | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
courses that can equip their employees to compete in what is a | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
very tough market place. So Poppins, I believe it needs to start in | :27:42. | :27:50. | |
education and not at university, in school -- so no. We agree. We are | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
grateful Kate Walsh is heading up this work. We recognise that sales | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
is that the heart of the economic recovery. We need to get more young | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
people to aspire to a career in sales. Sales is incredibly | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
meritocratic. You can start at 16 in a call centre and N-Dubz selling | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
aeroplanes to the Saudi government. -- and you can end up selling. It | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
is also one of those things people do who have not necessarily had | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
academics at excess. But do you need qualifications? Many people do | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
recognise the power of sales. Do you need qualifications for it? | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
That is an interesting point. In the business studies AS-level | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
syllabuses, there of 36 mentions of the word production, 37 of | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
marketing, and one mention of sales. We have no academic respect for it. | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
As a result, most people you speak to who have been successful in | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
sales fell into its. You said the government had withdrawn work- | :28:59. | :29:05. | |
related training. What is that? can only talk about my perceptions. | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
I go into schools to deliver enterprise days, and I go into a | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
mix of schools, and it seems that the schools are left to their own | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
devices about whether they offer their students' work experience | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
placements. Sometimes it is up to the parents who might not be | :29:22. | :29:28. | |
equipped to help them do that. not know about that scheme. One of | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
the things the government is doing that is incredibly important for | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
sales is our relationship with overseas, selling British goods to | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
overseas people, and one of the things the government is doing is | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
trying to restore modern languages at the heart of the curriculum. | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
Although a lot of universities are getting rid of those sort of | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
courses because there is not the demand. But in the court he | :29:55. | :30:01. | |
Baccalaureate, but we are trying to restore the status of modern | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
languages. The general principle is that we should not focus just on | :30:05. | :30:11. | |
academic qualifications. We should be taking other up softer skills | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
seriously and I am sympathetic to what has been said. The this | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
government has gone on about championing small businesses | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
endlessly. Why doesn't the government commit more money | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
specifically for this sort of training? A huge amount of extra | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
money is going to apprenticeships. How much should sales be a big a | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
part of those? For Vocational qualifications, the government is | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
incredibly serious, despite the austerity we have been talking | :30:41. | :30:51. | |
about. It is pretty much more money Do you think The Apprentice helps | :30:51. | :30:58. | |
the image of a selling? Unfortunately, we do live in a | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
celebrity culture, kids watch TV. I use The Apprentice as a vehicle | :31:04. | :31:08. | |
when I go into schools, it is something they can relate to, the | :31:08. | :31:16. | |
kids. It encourages healthy competition. Then again, we love | :31:16. | :31:22. | |
watching The Apprentice when things go terribly wrong. You can take it | :31:22. | :31:28. | |
in its entirety, let us watch an episode, this is a good example of | :31:28. | :31:34. | |
selling, this is a bad example. is great to watch it on TV, great | :31:34. | :31:40. | |
entertainment, but does it take away from making it a serious | :31:40. | :31:50. | |
:31:50. | :31:53. | ||
profession? Ultimately, there was a job on offer, so it wasn't | :31:53. | :32:00. | |
something where it had no outcome. The prize was a job with Lord Sugar. | :32:00. | :32:06. | |
I think it is unfortunate so many of our students want to be | :32:06. | :32:14. | |
celebrities. But I think The Apprentice was positive. There have | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
been high profile cases of miss selling. Some people will have the | :32:19. | :32:25. | |
experience of, for example, being this old life insurance. For that | :32:25. | :32:33. | |
reason, we want to focus on the professional aspect of selling. It | :32:33. | :32:39. | |
is in the best interest of sales, to show examples where it did not | :32:39. | :32:49. | |
:32:49. | :32:51. | ||
go right, but it isn't typical. The vast majority of people will be | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
entering an honourable profession. Newspaper editors have been meeting | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
the Prime Minister in Downing Street this morning, trying to | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
persuade him he doesn't need to introduce new laws to make them put | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
their House in order. We'll hear from one of them in just a moment. | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
But first, let's get a flavour of the mood of the House of Commons | :33:11. | :33:19. | |
when MPs debated all this yesterday. We all agree the suffering of the | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
victims and their families cannot be allowed to happen again. And we | :33:24. | :33:31. | |
all agree that this do to us quote is not an option. -- status quo. It | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
is our responsibility whatever is put in place is effective. This is | :33:36. | :33:42. | |
common ground. Let us put to one side politics and let us turn our | :33:42. | :33:47. | |
focus on the principles. We live in one of the least corrupt societies | :33:47. | :33:53. | |
on earth, we are doing everything possible to avoid statutory | :33:53. | :34:00. | |
regulation of the press. Freedom is defined by this things we don't | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
approve of. Having a statute to guarantee this is not some | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
incidental added on to the Leveson Report, and optional extra. It is a | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
complete contradiction in turns for people to say, I wanted to | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
implement Leveson but without statute. Never since says statute | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
is essential. If the Prime Minster deserves credit for setting up | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
Leveson, it is undermined by his extraordinary decision within 24 | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
hours of the seat of the report to rubbish the key recommendations | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
that there would have to be some statutory underpinning of an | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
enhanced system of independent self regulation. Having picked up a 2000 | :34:48. | :34:54. | |
page document, the Leader of the Opposition wholeheartedly accepts | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
all of that in one go within a couple of hours. That is not a | :34:59. | :35:09. | |
:35:09. | :35:10. | ||
considered approach to a document. The ConservativeHome website is | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
vociferously opposed to any kind of the decision, it wrote before the | :35:14. | :35:20. | |
report, what is needed is a settlement to help ordinary victims, | :35:20. | :35:26. | |
a body with a power to fine, which is independent of the state. I | :35:26. | :35:32. | |
agree with that absolutely. But, can we achieve that without | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
legislation? I do not think we can. So, not much sign of agreement | :35:38. | :35:45. | |
between the politicians in the House of Commons. | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
What was said in a meeting? understand the meeting went on for | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
half an hour and the outcome is the newspapers have agreed to go away. | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
They will meet again tomorrow to begin the process of coming up with | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
an alternative to the Leveson package. Maria Miller is expected | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
to report back by Thursday with a time frame, a timetable by which | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
they think they can agree. The expectation within government is | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
that newspapers will have to come forward with a coherent package by | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
Christmas. The pressure is on them to put aside their differences | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
among them over how Independent this new regulatory body should be, | :36:29. | :36:38. | |
who will be appointed, also, these efficiency of a contract based | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
system. To put aside those differences, and come up with the | :36:42. | :36:49. | |
basis of a blueprint to be on the table by Christmas. So the Prime | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
Minster can say, look, the press is put in together a coherent package, | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
we don't need to go down the road of legislation. When the editors | :36:59. | :37:05. | |
came up, how did they look? Remarkably, monosyllabic and | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
reticent! We'd got very few words. I expect they will mull over what | :37:10. | :37:18. | |
they heard, they have got to move quickly. The status quo is not | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
acceptable. They have to come up with something which convinces the | :37:23. | :37:29. | |
public they are serious about changing their ways. It was not a | :37:29. | :37:34. | |
convivial fireside chat. It was a blunt warning to them to get their | :37:34. | :37:44. | |
:37:44. | :37:46. | ||
act together. The editor of the Independent is | :37:46. | :37:48. | |
Chris Blackhurst, hot-foot from this morning's Downing Street | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
meeting. Did you get a dressing-down from | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
David Cameron as a group? wouldn't say that. He impressed | :37:56. | :38:05. | |
upon us we have to come up with a solution, both David Cameron and | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
Maria Mellor, that we have to stop arguing and move quickly, to come | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
up with a strong, coherent package for independent self regulation. | :38:17. | :38:27. | |
:38:27. | :38:28. | ||
What was the tone? Was it, you do this, or else? It wasn't like that. | :38:28. | :38:36. | |
There is not a million miles between us really. The Prime | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
Minister made a few good points. I don't think anyone in the room | :38:39. | :38:46. | |
disagreed with him. On what? On our need to move quickly, up on our | :38:46. | :38:53. | |
need to come up with a form of independent self regulation which | :38:53. | :39:00. | |
can be sold to Parliament. He is probably in the minority, the | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
Liberal Democrats and some of his own backbenchers, it has to be sold | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
to them and the country at large. The timetable is clear, a tight | :39:09. | :39:15. | |
timetable. Is it possible? Will there be agreement amongst | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
yourselves? There are disagreements and differences. There are some | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
differences. They are not as great as all that. We are dealing with | :39:26. | :39:33. | |
fairly major things. The can you do it? I would hope so. We can agree | :39:33. | :39:39. | |
principles, the detail might have to be sorted later. But we know the | :39:39. | :39:44. | |
principles, you have got to have something which will be credible, | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
something independent. Is there agreement this independent | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
regulator which you will pay for, will have people on it who are not | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
current editors or politicians? Are you happy for a judge to make the | :39:59. | :40:08. | |
appointments? That is a sticking point. That is a major sticking | :40:08. | :40:17. | |
point. It is whether there is a majority, and I think it is moving | :40:17. | :40:23. | |
the other way. For this to be sold to the public, I don't think the | :40:23. | :40:29. | |
public will buy a majority of serving editors on the panel, that | :40:29. | :40:35. | |
is recognised. I think we can deal with that. I agree, I don't think | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
the public would agree with that. Do you think it has to go further, | :40:40. | :40:47. | |
no serving editors on this new regulator, and no politicians, | :40:47. | :40:53. | |
serving politicians, it should be completely independent? Whether | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
there are some people who understand the newspaper industry, | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
that might be helpful. We are moving into a new age, with the | :41:05. | :41:13. | |
internet. I think the public are interested in if we will have a | :41:13. | :41:19. | |
system where, when they make a mistake, the apologies are not | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
buried in page 9. This is a contractual obligation to deliver | :41:24. | :41:31. | |
apologies. I think the public cares more about that, not whether it is | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
statutory. As it stands, you have been given a last chance to be non | :41:36. | :41:43. | |
statutory. Have you got agreement on that? The regulator would wield | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
�1 million of fines, that victims would not need redress in courts. | :41:49. | :41:57. | |
It would happen quickly, and you would abide by it? I must stress, | :41:57. | :42:04. | |
we have not sat down and signed things in blood yet. What I can say | :42:04. | :42:07. | |
it is a have not detected any disagreement on the following | :42:07. | :42:17. | |
:42:17. | :42:19. | ||
points, fines of up to �1 million, also, the use of fast Track | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
Arbitration for ordinary people. We are very conscious, not so much of | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
the celebrities, although they have good cases, but people like Chris | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
Jefferies, the parents of milly downer, it is those people who have | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
real complaints against newspapers, who are not wealthy. We are very | :42:39. | :42:45. | |
aware how our industry has been portrayed for the past three years. | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
We are conscious we have to do something about it. Are there | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
enough carrots to reassure people that everyone will side up to it | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
and stay signed up to it? We talk about these contracts for five | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
years. Is there enough to ensure that certain people who are absent | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
from the Press Complaints Commission will be part of this? | :43:12. | :43:20. | |
think, if you are outside the system, and you're not able to call | :43:20. | :43:27. | |
upon a much cheaper, more efficient arbitration service, you are very | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
handicapped. That is quite different from the system we have | :43:32. | :43:41. | |
now. Very briefly, the internet, the big hole in the Leveson Report. | :43:41. | :43:51. | |
:43:51. | :43:56. | ||
It was one of the real holes, he did not address the internet. I | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
think, if certain internet groups are willing to sign up to a | :44:01. | :44:08. | |
standard, we, unlike Lord Leveson, I think this could be a system | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
which we wouldn't consider joining if it was statutory, it could | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
spread good standards right across the media. So you might be there on | :44:17. | :44:24. | |
Thursday? There are growing demands for the | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
taxman to go easy on international sports stars. Tax rules were waved | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
for the Olympics this summer, but not for other sporting events, and | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
organisers want the rules changed. Our political reporter in the West | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
Midlands, Elizabeth Glinka, asked whether those tax laws were for the | :44:37. | :44:47. | |
high jump. This is Birmingham's Alexander | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
Stadium, home to UK Athletics, weeks after the Olympic Games, the | :44:52. | :44:58. | |
venue to play host to Mo Farah and Greg rutherford but not the world's | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
most famous athlete, Usain Bolt. COMMENTATOR: Usain Bolt is going to | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
do it again! After training hear it in the run-up to the Olympics, he | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
made no secret of his affection for Birmingham. It was not enough to | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
get him racing here, because of tax. When are we likely to see you in | :45:19. | :45:26. | |
Britain, maybe only when the tax laws change? Exactly. I love coming | :45:26. | :45:36. | |
:45:36. | :45:41. | ||
This isn't about one man or even one sport. Here at the Belfry, the | :45:41. | :45:51. | |
:45:51. | :45:54. | ||
Unlike many other countries, in the UK the Treasury taxes international | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
sports stars on their global earnings, even if they perform he | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
just once. Tax experts say they are not surprised that some top | :46:04. | :46:10. | |
performers choose to stay away. you are a boxer or sprinter, you | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
might participate in 10 events a year, in which case the Inland | :46:15. | :46:23. | |
Revenue would want revenue on one tenth of your endorsement Revenue. | :46:23. | :46:25. | |
A new �12 million international tennis centre is currently under | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
construction in Edgbaston, home to one of the warm-up tournaments for | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
Wimbledon, but what chance of attracting the biggest names? Only | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
this year, Rafael Nadal said it actually cost him money to play in | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
the UK. In the past, this man has organised numerous high-profile | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
sporting events, including international indoor athletics at | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. We want the best | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
because the best brings tickets and tickets means income. If those | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
people don't participate, then by definition it is not a top-quality | :47:01. | :47:09. | |
sporting event. It is a secondary event. In a statement to this | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
programme, the taxman told us that the UK taxes international sports | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
stars in a similar way to the US and New Zealand, and that it tends | :47:18. | :47:25. | |
to collect more tax because of stronger avoidance legislation. | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
Sports governing bodies are continuing to lobby the government | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
so that summers like the one we have just had are not once in a | :47:33. | :47:43. | |
:47:43. | :47:43. | ||
lifetime. 9.64! The champion! The champion becomes a legend! | :47:43. | :47:51. | |
Happy memories, as we were saying. That was the Sunday Politics | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
reporter there. Joining us now from Salford is Pete Hackleton who is a | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
lawyer who campaigns to get rid of what he sees as a tax anomoly. | :47:58. | :48:04. | |
Welcome to the programme. What is the tax problem exactly? | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
problem is, as was described in the V T, Usain Bolt is probably the | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
best examples. The athletes are tax wherever they compete around the | :48:13. | :48:19. | |
World's and that is fine, that is the same everywhere. But the UK and | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
the US also tax a proportion of the global endorsement income. Usain | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
Bolt was going to be paid �100,000 to run in Birmingham. His global | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
endorsement deal is worth �6 million. Therefore he is taxed in | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
the UK on the basis of a number of appearances. He was going to run | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
once in the UK and 10 times globally, so a 10th of that 6 | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
million, it says �600,000. So he would end up playing 320,000 in UK | :48:51. | :49:01. | |
tax. He would own 100,000 and pay 320,000 in tax. -- he would earn at | :49:01. | :49:08. | |
100,000. It does not make any sense. Oh dear. People will not shed tears | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
over million dollar endorsement deals, having to pay a bit more tax. | :49:13. | :49:16. | |
Absolutely and many people understand that but the sports | :49:16. | :49:21. | |
people can choose where they go and compete. Given the choice of coming | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
to the UK and the US, where a proportion of their income is taxed, | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
or to compete somewhere else, they are choosing to compete elsewhere. | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
On the back of the health agenda, and the Olympics, it is a shame | :49:35. | :49:41. | |
that the tax rules are pushing these people outside of the UK. | :49:41. | :49:47. | |
Montgomerie, should the tax rules changed? This is another argument | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
for simplifying the tax system. We have a tax system that nobody can | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
understand, that causes anomalies. We are all in this together, | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
remember. We may find that some of the Monday these business people in | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
the City and the sports stars obscene, but we have to make a | :50:05. | :50:11. | |
choice -- some of the money. Do we want their obscene earnings are | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
brought? Is it about obscene earnings or is it we think they | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
should perhaps just pay a proportion of that to the treasure | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
rate. I am not saying they are obscene, many people think they are. | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
But I am not sure that is the reason, many people are happy for | :50:28. | :50:34. | |
them to earn this money, but why should be escaper Ian tax? Not any | :50:34. | :50:40. | |
tax, but low and simple tax. -- why should they escape paying tax? | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
might end up with more revenue because people like Usain Bolt will | :50:45. | :50:50. | |
want to run here. A do you think that is true? That if you change | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
the rules, they will come and compete and we would get the | :50:54. | :50:59. | |
Revenue's anyway? Absolutely. I know that is the case. The | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
important distinction is that this is not wealthy sports people saying, | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
give us a tax break. This is what the sports people saying, we are | :51:08. | :51:12. | |
more than happy to pay the top rate of tax but we will end up paying | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
well in excess of 50% and in some cases more than they actually | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
earned in the UK. Three years ago we had a goth client who played in | :51:22. | :51:29. | |
the Scottish Open, but did not finish top 20 -- it golfing client. | :51:29. | :51:37. | |
His effective rate of tax was a 523 %. That cannot be right. Which | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
sports are affected them most? Primarily individual sports, where | :51:42. | :51:47. | |
the guys travel around the world, they are self-employed, so golf, | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
tennis, athletics, boxing, motorsport. It is not the wealthy | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
sports people not wanting to pay tax, it is wanting to pay tax in | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
line with every other country in the world. The endorsement fees are | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
being taxed separately. Are you saying they should not be taxed at | :52:05. | :52:11. | |
all? It depends, it varies from Attlee to afflict, but many of the | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
athletes will have their own company in their country where they | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
are from -- it varies from athlete to athlete. That Africa will be | :52:21. | :52:28. | |
taxed compared to the rules on that country. -- that athlete. That | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
country will own their image. For something like an Usain Bolt from | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
Jamaica, his company is based in Jamaica and the income should be | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
taxed there. Thank you very much. When the worldwide Scouting | :52:40. | :52:43. | |
movement was founded more than 100 years ago, Lord Baden Powell was | :52:43. | :52:47. | |
having no truck with atheists. His famous Scout promise pledged a | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
"duty to God" and that has never changed. In fact, the good Lord, | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
Lord Powell that is, even wrote that atheism ranked alongside | :52:54. | :52:56. | |
gambling, excessive drinking, smoking and even syphilis as a | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
danger to young boys. Versions of the promise have existed for other | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
faith groups for 40 years but both the Scouts and the Guides are | :53:05. | :53:07. | |
exempt from equality laws which means they are allowed to insist | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
their members declare a belief in God. But today we hear that for the | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
first time, this might change and that modern recruits will be | :53:16. | :53:25. | |
allowed to admit that they are non- believers. I am joined by the Chief | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
Commissioner of the Scouts Association. What has brought this | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
on? It is interesting listening to some of Lord Baden Powell's | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
writings but he also said scouting is a movement and not an | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
organisation and it is by remaining relevant that we ensure that we are | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
growing. For the UK in the last seven years, as part of growing | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
perhaps now is that time to take a look and see if we should welcome | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
atheists into the movement. What do you think was mad I think it is the | :53:56. | :54:02. | |
time to change to be honest. -- what do you think? I think it is | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
time to change to be honest but to do so in a way that ensures we | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
remain true to our values. It's we can help youngsters understand | :54:11. | :54:14. | |
their beliefs whilst at the same time ensuring we are inclusive, I | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
think that is a good the Dudu. at evidence to show you could | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
increase the numbers of the Scout organisation if you did not have | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
people have and to swear to God? that is the simple answer. If this | :54:30. | :54:35. | |
was about increasing numbers, I would say, actually we are grubbing | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
already. It is not about being politically correct either -- we | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
are growing already. It is about wanting to be inclusive and making | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
sure more young adults can benefit from what scouting has to offer. | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
Many people are scouts who are atheists already. They swear that | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
allegiance to God and to the Queen who are not in support of the | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
monarchy and just enjoy the scouting movement. I am aware! A | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
number of our members have told me they are atheists and they would | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
like to be part of a more inclusive movement and that is why we are | :55:16. | :55:22. | |
opposing the questions for the first time in our 105 years history. | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
Tim Montgomerie, are you surprised there is still that requirement to | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
swear allegiance to God every week? Slightly surprised. I would be very | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
happy to make that commitment but an atheist should not be included | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
that the wonderful thing that the Scouts movement is. I wonder if | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
they are looking at it for Republicans as well? We you abandon | :55:46. | :55:52. | |
the commitment to her Majesty? definitely not. We are very proud | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
of the Queen's patron edge of scouting and the involvement of The | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
Duchess of Cambridge as a volunteer for us. We have been listening to | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
our members. They are not asking us to change the duty to the Queen. | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
But if you are going for full implicity, surely that is the | :56:11. | :56:17. | |
logical next step? I don't agree. It is about being relevant and | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
listening but being true to our values. That is one for me this is | :56:21. | :56:26. | |
a key part of the question we are asking members. In listening to | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
them, they are not telling us they have a problem in a swearing our | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
allegiance and duty to the Queen. Atheist Monarch guests are welcome? | :56:35. | :56:43. | |
But atheist Republicans still may have to wait for another review? | :56:43. | :56:46. | |
Isn't it a case that the Scouts Association needs to modernise in | :56:46. | :56:54. | |
more than just swearing allegiance? Jo, we are very good at having | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
modernised. Against the trend for Voluntary organisations, adult | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
volunteering, a uniformed organisations, we are growing. We | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
have twice as many teenagers as we did ten years ago. We are a good | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
example of how you can modernise but also remain true to your values | :57:13. | :57:18. | |
and that, for me, is just as important as growing. Has anybody | :57:18. | :57:25. | |
ever said anything about the uniform? Would there be any | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
discussion a about scrapping that? We already have flexibility. I am | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
wearing a neckerchief. For me it is a very simple identification of | :57:35. | :57:41. | |
being a member of scouting. Our uniform today is very much more | :57:41. | :57:44. | |
flexible and modern and young people enjoy some of the options | :57:44. | :57:50. | |
that we have, such as I am where were now. But what we are also told | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
by young people is that they enjoy the sense of identity and we are | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
very happy to find that balance for them. Thank you. Did you say you | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
had been a member of the Scouts? had been a member of the Scouts? | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
had been a member of the Scouts? was a cub scout, not a full one. | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
There's just time before we go to find out the answer to our quiz. | :58:10. | :58:12. | |
The question was which actress stood in the US Presidential | :58:12. | :58:21. | |
election and is currently coming in I don't think it is Madonna. It is | :58:21. | :58:27. | |
not. I would have guessed Jane Fonda but it is not, I think it is | :58:27. | :58:34. | |
Roseanne Barr. It is Roseanne Barr. Very good powers of deduction. The | :58:34. | :58:40. | |
she is signing for the Peace and Freedom Party. She didn't quite | :58:40. | :58:44. |