Browse content similar to 25/02/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon folks, welcome to the Daily Politics. We've screwed up - | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
so says the Liberal Democrats' President, Tim Farron, over the | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
party's handling of allegations that its former Chief Executive, | :00:43. | :00:50. | |
Lord Rennard, behaved inappropriately towards women. Nick | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
Clegg insists he has nothing to hide after admitting last night | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
that his office had been aware of concerns five years ago but hadn't | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
been given specific allegations, which Lord Rennard denies. | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
Who's all at sea in Eastleigh? The by-election's on Thursday. We'll be | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
taking a look at the runners and riders. George Osborne's in the | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
dock over losing Britain's triple-A credit rating. MPs are expected to | :01:17. | :01:18. | |
debate the Chancellor's currency later. | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
And, they're young, some would say they're gifted, but are they our | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
political future? Giles has been finding out. My problem with people | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
who start politics from the start... Yes, yes, we all heard this before, | :01:30. | :01:37. | |
the problem is you think they're weird. | :01:37. | :01:44. | |
All that in the next hour. With us for the first half of the programme | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
we're joined by the future of politics, at least that's what it | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
says here, Rhammel Afflick, from the British Youth Council. Welcome | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
to the programme. First this morning, let's talk | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
about special relationships because the new US Secretary of State, John | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
Kerry, is in town. Yes, he's been let loose for the first time since | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
taking the job. And Downing Street is his first port of call. Do you | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
care about the special relationship? I do and I think many | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
other young people do and if they don't realise yet how important it | :02:07. | :02:14. | |
is and how much it affects us as a country they soon will realise. For | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
example, if you look at the UK's relationship with a lot of EU | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
countries, regarding economy, I mean, if you look at our | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
relationship with the US in terms of national security it's so | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
important and it affects everybody within this country, even whether | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
they don't realise it. In times of globalisation, do you think your | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
generation is also looking to other parts of the world that perhaps | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
Britain's focus hasn't been on, although it's beginning to now and | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
that America's importance is perhaps diminishing in your eyes? | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
The importance of certain countries has definitely changed and is ever- | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
changing but I think, you know, we are still looking at the US for a | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
lot of inspiration in a lot of things we do at the moment and I | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
think young people recognise that actually there are other countries | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
that are developing and becoming more important to industries like | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
technology, when you look to other countries that haven't mentioned | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
yet. I think that will continue to happen and evolve over time but at | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
the moment as you can tell, the main focus is on the EU and even | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
our US relationship, as well. about contacts, do you have | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
counterparts, equivalents in EU countries and America? The British | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
Youth Council does have membership to the Youth Forum and we do have a | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
programme called the UK Young Ambassadors where they look at | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
their equivalents and Councils that represent other EU countries, as | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
well. Thank you. Last week, Channel 4 News broadcast | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
allegations about the senior Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard. | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
They reported that women who worked for the party had complained in the | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
past that he had behaved inappropriately towards them. Lord | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
Rennard strongly disputes the allegations, but questions have | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
been raised about whether Nick Clegg and other senior figures in | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
the party did enough at the time, and whether they've been completely | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
open about what they knew. It could hardly have come at a worse time | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
for the party with a critical by- election in Eastleigh later this | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
week. Chris Rennard became well known around Westminster in the | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
1990s as the Liberal Democrats' election supremo - credited with | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
masterminding a string of by- election victories. Between 2003 | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
and 2009, he served as the party's Chief Executive before standing | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
down - the party said, for health reasons. On Thursday and Friday | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
last week, Channel 4 News broadcast allegations that he had acted | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
inappropriately towards women working for the party - allegations | :04:42. | :04:52. | |
which he denies. One said she had been left feeling humiliated, | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
undermined and shameful. Nick Clegg launched an investigation but | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
issued a statement saying that he hadn't known about the allegations | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
until Channel 4 contacted the party last week. | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
Then, last night, he issued another statement saying he had been made | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
aware of indirect and non-specific concerns about Lord Rennard in 2008. | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
He says he asked his then Chief of Staff, Danny Alexander, to look | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
into the matter - the man who now sits in the number two spot in the | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
Treasury. We also know other Lib Dem MPs, including Jo Swinson - now | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
a Business Minister - did know about some of the specific | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
allegations at the time. Party President Tim Farron says they've | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
screwed up the process of investigating the complaints. But | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
Nick Clegg insists the inquiries he has set up will get to the truth. | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
The fact is we had a number of women who subsequently spoken out | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
with frustration, who now need to be listened to because they clearly | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
weren't listened to and we need to get to the bottom of the truth. | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
Until last week the specific allegations where we know which | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
women were concerned and what events they were allude - alluded | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
to were not made available to me or my office. The moment they were, we | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
set up the investigations. We now must allow that due process to play | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
itself out. Our political correspondent Robin | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
Brant can tell us the latest. Where are we in terms of Nick Clegg | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
having said he knew nothing, he has now said he did know something | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
albeit about so-called unspecific concerns? That change in stance | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
from the Deputy Prime Minister is probably the most significant | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
development, certainly over the last 24 hours. As you said, he said | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
he learned firstly about these allegations when Channel 4 | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
broadcast them late last week. We now know that he was told about | :06:35. | :06:42. | |
these non-specific general concerns back in 2008. The problem for Mr | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
Clegg is changing of the stance and also that almost very leagueistic | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
ambiguous language. People will want to know more about these non- | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
specific claims. They're described as being general. The party | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
President said that Nick Clegg's office became aware of rumours. | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
There will be more questions about exactly what are the detail of | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
those allegations, how did Nick Clegg's office come to know them? | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
Secondly, there is a real difference of opinion, certainly at | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
the top of the party today. It's no secret there are differences | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
between Tim Farron, the President, and Nick Clegg in terms of how | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
they're regarded within the party. Tim Farron on The Today programme | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
saying we screwed up, Nick Clegg refusing to accept that assessment | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
although he did concede in another BBC interview that he thinks | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
perhaps once these investigations are under way they may uncover | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
flaws in the procedures. There are now two inquiries under way. One | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
into the allegations themselves against Chris Rennard, secondly, | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
another one into how the party has dealt with them. Nick Clegg in a | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
difficult position, he has to let due process take place and that's | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
going to take time. We don't know exactly who is going to be heading | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
up both inquiries at the moment. In the meantime, he doesn't want to | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
rush to judgment. The key problem for the Deputy Prime Minister is | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
his curiosity or perhaps even his incuriosity. It was a label | :08:11. | :08:20. | |
ascribed to George Entwistle, director general at the BBC for 52 | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
days and the fact he didn't ask various questions is something | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
being labelled at Nick Clegg. If he didn't know about these allegations, | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
didn't know details about them back in tweet, -- 2008 and people | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
weren't coming forward and didn't feel they could approach him then | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
why was that? Thank you very much. | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
I'm now joined by Mark Littlewood, who was the Liberal Democrats' Head | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
of Media when Lord Rennard was the party's Chief Executive. Had you | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
heard about the allegations? Not a whisper or a sniff or rumour | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
between 2004 and 2007 when I was there. None of these rumours that | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
have been circulated you hadn't heard about? Not a sniff of it. | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
Maybe I was an incredibly unobserveant press officer but | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
there wasn't even a call from the the journalist during that period. | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
By about 2008 I started hearing some of these rumours, but, frankly, | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
very often, certainly in my position, having left the party, I | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
dismissed them as tittle tattle. The more you hear from different | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
sources and different events the more you think is there something | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
in this? What do you think about the way it's been handled by Nick | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
Clegg so far, particularly this idea he said he knew nothing about | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
the specific allegations, but now has revealed he also heard rumours, | :09:42. | :09:49. | |
so far as to get Danny Alexander to talk to Lord Rennard? It's | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
incredibly confusing. They almost seem to be inventing a new language. | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
I am not sure what an indirect non- specific complaint is. There seems | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
to be an indirect non-specific complaint involving behaviour that | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
was unacceptable, that's apparently what Danny Alexander said to Chris | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
Rennard, how can something be indirect and non-specific and | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
totally unacceptable? That seems to be very confusing indeed. What | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
they've got to get out, apart from the allegations which Chris Rennard | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
flatly denies entirely, is what processes did they go through? Who | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
knew what when? And why did they close the file? My understanding is | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
that no one came forward with a specific complaint at that time. | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
Once the chat had happened between Danny Alexander and Lord Rennard | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
there was nowhere to go, what do you say to that? It's clear as well | :10:41. | :10:51. | |
:10:51. | :10:59. | ||
that Jo Swinson, the Womens and and What did though do, the Chief Whip | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
and Womens and Equalities Officer? Do you think it's difficult for | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
them? I would have thought that was her job. She would have been an | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
obvious go to person, if you were a woman that believed you were unfair | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
ly treated. She would be high on the list of people to confide in. | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
Do you think the -- do you agree the party screwed up? What they've | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
got to set out pretty clearly is who knew what when, what they did | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
with it and if there was a screw-up where was that and why? Why do you | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
think the allegations have resurfaced now? The timing is | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
curious, bearing in mind we are talking about these unspecific | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
concerns dating back to 2008 and before? You would have to ask the | :11:44. | :11:51. | |
women who have come forward about that. I have never even met... | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
don't know either of them? It's possible that I might have bumped | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
into them once, but I have never spoken to them, to my knowledge. | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
Why did they come forward? The evidence seems to be that they were | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
concerned that Chris Rennard was getting involved in the party again. | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
That seems to be one of the triggers for it. But he's been | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
involved in the party or has come back in after standing down for | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
health reasons in the last year. Why only a week do you think before | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
the Eastleigh by-election? I don't know these women, but what I saw of | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
them on Channel 4 News, it doesn't seem to they're attempting to | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
undermine the Liberal Democrat effort in the by-election nor would | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
Channel 4 News be doing that, I wouldn't have thought, if you have | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
a story like that and you are the broadcaster, I would think there | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
are unbelievable Is to dot and legals to go through, it's not | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
something you hear about on Monday and broadcast on Tuesday. My belief | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
would be it's taken Channel 4 a long time to put that together | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
before they were broadcasting and they were going to broadcast when | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
it was ready. What impact do you think it will have on the by- | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
election? That's definite to say. - - difficult to say. Although it's a | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
significant political story it is a Westminster bubble story and it may | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
be in Eastleigh people are actually more concerned about local issues | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
than what's going on here. But of course virtually every front front | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
page of every newspaper will be bad news for the Liberal Democrats. If | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
the Liberal Democrats now lose the seat, then this could well be the | :13:22. | :13:32. | |
explanation for that. Do you agree with that? What's important is they | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
get to the bottom of it and it's investigated properly now they're | :13:36. | :13:41. | |
aware of - and the specifics are now, - have come to light. That's | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
what's important about this and reviewing maybe the processes that | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
they have in place to deal with issues. What about Nick Clegg? It's | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
difficult for him to be embroiled in this even even accidentally, if | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
we are being kind to to him? course it's difficult. I don't | :14:01. | :14:11. | |
:14:11. | :14:15. | ||
think he helped himself much with his statement last night. It's very | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
difficult to actually pick up a consistent thread of what the | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
Liberal Democrats were saying over the weekend. That morning Vince | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
Cable said, you know, he wanted to be absolutely clear that neither he | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
nor Nick Clegg knew anything. Suddenly we start getting into | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
highly complex words about general, rather than specific. Indirect | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
rather than direct. It's all incredibly confusing. Really, rings | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
of contorted language. He would have been better to tried to get | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
everything out or at least say when he was going to get absolutely | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
everything out in full detail about when he knew what ever it was that | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
he did know. He did also come across as slightly sort of petulant | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
actually last night. He seemed to be angry as if he was unfairly, he | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
and his party were unfairly under fire. I don't think that did him | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
any great favours, either. I am not saying he needs to go through | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
another so sorry moment, but I think that he probably should have | :15:08. | :15:16. | |
attempted to come across as being somewhat the more contrite than he | :15:16. | :15:23. | |
did. Thank you. The re-trial has begun today of | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
Vicky Pryce, the ex-wife of the former Cabinet Minister, Chris | :15:25. | :15:33. | |
Huhne. The original trial collapsed last week. Our correspondent is | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
outside the court. Remind us how we got to this point. This has been a | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
very, very long process to get to this point of retrial. Just over a | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
year ago both her and her now former husband, Chris Huhne, were | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
charged with perverting the course of justice over a very, very minor | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
matter, a speeding ticket back in 2003, the allegation had been that | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
Chris Huhne was caught speeding on the motorway back into London from | :16:00. | :16:06. | |
the airport ap that Vicky Pryce had taken points for him so he could | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
avoid a driving ban as he was preparing to fight the Eastleigh | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
seat when he originally entered parliament. A year and a day after | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
that charge he pleaded guilty here at Southwark Crown Court. He is | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
awaiting sentencing but the trial of Vicky Pryce continues on the | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
same offence. She denies it saying she was forced to take the points. | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
The original trial came to an end in dramatic circumstances last week | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
when the jury failed to reach a verdict but as these things happen, | :16:35. | :16:45. | |
:16:45. | :16:49. | ||
the judge restarted this morning with a fresh jury. It's a retrial. | :16:49. | :16:59. | |
:16:59. | :17:02. | ||
Does that mean they will hear from He told this newly sworn-in jury | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
that their job was to, "Pool their common sense and experience of life | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
to come to a true verdict, based on the evidence they will here before | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
them in court." He told them because of the collapse, it happens, | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
just to get on with it. Decide to ignore whatever they have heard | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
about the onlyal jury. The evidence in court will be broadly the same. | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
This is what happens in retrails. The prosecution will outline the | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
evidence, they will put their case. The prosecutor has told the jury | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
that at the heart of this case is a convenient decision between Chris | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
Huhne and his former wife, for her to take the speeding points, simply | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
because it was not a good idea for him to lose his license at the time | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
in 2003. It suited their purposes for Vicky Pryce to take the points. | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
He said she was not the kind of woman who would do as her husband | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
told her to do and her defence of marital coercion, that she was | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
bullied into taking these points does not wash. It is up to this | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
jury to decide, in the course of the coming week, whether it is the | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
case or not. Later today in the House of Lords, peers will decide | :18:18. | :18:25. | |
whether to create a press regulator by the back door. Earlier this week, | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
their Lordships decided to vote in favour of amendments produced by | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
Lord Puttnam, which effectively created a Leveson-style press | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
regulator. If the changes to the bill are passed, the Government has | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
threatened to throw the bill out, damaging its intention of trying to | :18:42. | :18:52. | |
reform the libel laws. With us now is Lord Lester of Herne Hill and | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
former, Charlie Falconer. You spent a lot of time working on this bill | :18:56. | :19:05. | |
- what was your original intention with this Defamation Bill? It is to | :19:05. | :19:11. | |
reform entirely the outmooded English law of libel, which is to | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
restrictive of free speech that President Obama signed a law in | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
America to prevent it being enforced in the States. No-one | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
disputes it needs reform. All three parties have worked very well | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
together in arriving at a bill, which is being looked at across the | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
common law world as a model. It is an extremely important bill. Is it | :19:34. | :19:41. | |
at risk of being dropped by a Labour amendment supported by Lord | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
Falconer to try and push through at the same time a Leveson-style press | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
regulator? I hope not. The thing about this country is we have a | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
spirit of compromise. Three political parties need to come to a | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
sensible view with the press on independent self-regulation, not | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
state regulation of a free media. Why have you attached these | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
amendments to the Defamation Bill? It's not me, it's the House of | :20:11. | :20:17. | |
Lords. The amendment was crafted by four people right across the House, | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
one being ex-Tory. The bill is excellent. What the amendment does | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
is it says there should be an arbitration service which people | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
can use free if they have a complaint against a newspaper, to | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
give access to justice to everybody and it needs an independent | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
regulator to determine whether or not it is a fair ash traig service. | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
What is wrong with that? It should be voted upon in the Commons. If | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
they don't like it, they should take it out. Why attach it to the | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
Defamation Bill? It is about defamation-related claims. I do | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
know that is right. Lord Justice Leveson made it clear | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
at the beginning of his inquiry that nothing he was doing would | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
affect the Defamation Bill. The bill is a bill to amend the law of | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
defamation. It is not on privacy. Leveson was about gross abuses of | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
privacy. It is all very well saying it was not your fault... | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
supported it strongly. It is the right thing to do. It is for the | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
House of Lords to take responsibility. I don't accuse you | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
of drafting it. You have pleaded not guilty to that. He was cleared | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
of that, was he? Leveson recommended that newspapers should | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
be published through punitive damages. Now when Charlie was - I | :21:42. | :21:52. | |
:21:52. | :21:52. | ||
think he was in 2007. What month are you in? Let's not | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
worry about that? Now his Government rejected the idea of | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
extending damages, not once, but twice. And now all these QCs have | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
written opinions saying so. So there is a problem.... What is | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
wrong with a free arbitration service? Nothing is wrong... | :22:13. | :22:20. | |
you in favour? Of course. Why don't you support it? It needs to be done | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
by self-regulation. That is what the amendment is saying. It says it | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
is done by the press. Let's come back to the original point. Are you | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
prepared to pay the price for the Defamation Bill - that is the risk | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
and it is a risk because the Government is threatening that - | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
they will drop the bill and then you will have lost... Have they | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
said that Yes. Of course there'll be plenty of negotiations behind | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
closed doors. We're talking - cross-party talks are going on... | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
Shouldn't you wait for those? because the right thing to do is if | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
we cannot reach agreement at the cross-party talks and we are | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
desperately trying to, then Parliament should decide. | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
I think this is a form of bullying, I am afraid. Bullying?! Yes, they | :23:15. | :23:23. | |
have taken the bill hostage. haven't. You have taken... Wait a | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
second. You have taken it hostage at the moment. What is very | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
difficult is this - when it goes to the Commons I have no doubt that it | :23:31. | :23:38. | |
will be made in the Commons F Labour don't approve of that, there | :23:38. | :23:45. | |
is a serious risk it will not get through the Commons. There is a | :23:45. | :23:55. | |
serious risk it stays. If it stays then Mr Cameron... Before war is | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
declared, or you have declared it, in a very nice Lordship sort of | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
way! Your impression in terms of Leveson - would you like to see | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
some sort of statutory underpinning, to use that term, or is self- | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
regulation enough? It is important that we retain freedom of speech, | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
as has been mentioned already. It is important that there is | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
somewhere that people can go - whether it is self-regulated or not. | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
If they have concerns about the press. One thing that was miss from | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
the Leveson Inquiry that we campaigned on was actually an | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
amendment to the editor's code. At the moment it does not include age | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
as a form of discrimination. As you might know, young people are often | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
miss represented in the media. I mean, throughout the week f you | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
look at some of the stories that cover young people, actually how | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
many young people are actually involved in the stories themselves? | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
How many young people will be sitting on the sofas, like myself, | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
giving their opinions on those issues. That is something I was | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
disappointed not to see. What you are proposing seems to go further | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
than what was proposed by leve because you are talking about a -- | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
Leveson, because you are talking about a regulatory system which | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
will mean publishers have to check with the system before they publish | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
a story.... Leveson suggested in considering what damages to award, | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
it would be relevant to have regard whether or not, before publishing | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
something, without going to the subject of the story, the press had | :25:36. | :25:44. | |
sought advice - that is what it proposed. Free clearance... It is | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
nothing to do with that. If you are given damages, allowed in the law, | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
if you have taken advice and they say don't do it without asking the | :25:53. | :26:02. | |
subject first, surely that is a factor. Max Mosely sought such a | :26:02. | :26:08. | |
thing. The English courts said no, that violates free speech. I know | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
of no democracy in the world... Hang on - I know of no system in | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
the world - it is coercive state regulation. I only know of five out | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
of 47 in Europe with such a thing. They are all former mens of the | :26:23. | :26:29. | |
Soviet Union. I am astonished... am astonished by how you have miss | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
represented that! I am sure you will continue this, fascinating | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
although it is. It is an odd thing about politics that youthful, | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
charismatic leaders seem the Holy Grail, whereas older statesmen have | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
to step down for being too old. Not like our two previous guests. The | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
eLord Chancelloror rate seem to distrust youngsters who have done | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
nothing but politics from birth. What do the young have to offer | :26:57. | :27:07. | |
:27:07. | :27:20. | ||
political debate? Giles has been When it comes to age, politics - | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
the essence of youth... I think what he really means is that for | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
centuries, youth has not been allowed to have influence in the | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
world of politics. Yeah - what she said! You need experience to be | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
involved in politics. You need to have something you can bring. Some | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
stand point you represent. Young people is a stand-point. It is | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
being an experience in itself. Trying to find jobs, understanding | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
for graduates it is a difficult time at the moment. Young people | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
are being vilified in the press. That is an experience one can bring | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
to the political debate. It is just as valuable as any other background. | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
There are clearly savvy 20- somethings, but an MP at 23 - is | :28:05. | :28:11. | |
there too young for Westminster? was the most inexperienced, | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
incapable Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. I learnt very | :28:15. | :28:22. | |
quickly. 100,000 voters in a town, Margaret Thatcher, Keith Joseph, | :28:22. | :28:28. | |
Ian mag Greg gor and myself closing the steel works and putting 10,000 | :28:28. | :28:35. | |
people out of work - my God I aged from 27 to 47 in a few months! | :28:35. | :28:42. | |
It is already for half of you, half of you won't be here in 30-40 | :28:42. | :28:47. | |
years' time! My problem with people who start politics from the start... | :28:47. | :28:53. | |
Yes, yes, we have heard that before. You think they are younger pith the | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
younger, Prime Minister in his 20s. William Hague and that speech. All | :28:56. | :29:03. | |
I can say, is I think it is very judge mental! There is a difference | :29:03. | :29:10. | |
between being a -- between playing politics and if you are trying to | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
act like Prime Minister, that is- and-a-half. You have to be involved | :29:14. | :29:21. | |
in politics if you are young. old grey beards are back in fashion. | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
The voters want to look at them rather like I look at my solicitor | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
and my bank manager. I want him to be dull, boring and grey and full | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
of wisdom. The truth is, us youngsters do have much to learn | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
about life, but don't underestimate those, who from the start, have | :29:40. | :29:47. | |
something to say and say it well. have never felt so old! | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
You still look young though! Regular viewers will be delighted | :29:52. | :30:00. | |
to hear we have given Giles Dilnot the boot and replaced him with | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
eight-year-old Olivia. Let's pick up on that last point in the film - | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
people in politics want a representative who is older and | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
wiser. I think it's something that we, a lot of people want, but | :30:12. | :30:21. | |
actually if you look at it in history, there have been amazing | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
and inspirational people who have been young. I don't see any reason | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
why a young politician shouldn't become, you shouldn't become an MP | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
or become a local councillor, or even the Mayor of London. I would | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
encourage anyone who wanted to do that to do so. What is your | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
ambition in politics? personally, I am not looking to | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
become an MP just yet, but in the future, you never know. It may be | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
something that is I want to do personally. I want to encourage | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
anybody to think their age should not be a barrier. Which party would | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
you represent if you become an MP? Probably I would create my own | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
party and... Very diplomatic! diplomatic way of putting it. I | :31:05. | :31:10. | |
think there's a lot of change that needs to happen, so the parties are | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
more reflective of The Views of young people. Do you have any | :31:14. | :31:21. | |
influence in youth Parliament? Does it really matter? Does it have any | :31:21. | :31:31. | |
:31:31. | :31:34. | ||
What was that related to in transport? Related to all aspects | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
of transport, particularly the price of transport and how much it | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
costs for young people. In London, for example, you get free transport | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
but there are parts of the UK where you have to pay a full adult fare. | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
They issued, just like any other Select Committee, you know, | :31:49. | :31:55. | |
recommendations that they felt the Government should take on. They got | :31:55. | :31:57. | |
a full Government response just like any other Select Committee | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
report. I would say they were very influential. It's more than just | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
playing at politics, what cynical older people, like me, would say | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
everybody who is interested in politics in their teens and early | :32:10. | :32:16. | |
20s, and then lose interest. think, you know, just like any | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
other subject you can lose interest and you can gain interest but what | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
everybody within the Youth Parliament and British Youth | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
Council believes is it affects everybody and no matter how much | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
you get involved it will affect your life. What about voting by | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
young people? Most people will know the voting turnout for young people | :32:36. | :32:40. | |
tends to be less. There's proof to show if you engage young people you | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
will get them to participate. A great example is the UK Youth | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
Parliament managed to get over a quarter of a million young people | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
to respond to a survey last year in response to saying what their views | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
were. If you engage young people you can get them involved. There | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
will be politicians who will say young people aren't voting enough | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
in their droves, they can't be that interested in what we are talking | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
about. Do you think young people are more interested in individual | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
campaigns than in party politics? Actually that's exactly something I | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
was going to mention next. Young people are more interested in | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
issues rather than party politics. That's what the UK Youth Particle | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
splt based -- Parliament is based on. It's about being passionate for | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
an issue that you care about which is the roots of politics in general. | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
I am sure there are a lot of politicians who had one issue that | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
triggered them to want to be an MP or councillor. Thank you very much | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
for being our guest and good luck. Thank you very much. | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
MPs are back at Westminster today after their short recess. I hope | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
they're well rested because there's plenty on their plate this week. | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
This afternoon, Labour are pushing for a debate on why we've lost our | :33:55. | :33:57. | |
triple-A rating and what it all means. And the horsemeat scandal | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
rumbles on. Ikea meatballs are the latest food implicated. European | :34:02. | :34:04. | |
Union politicians and officials are in Brussels to agree ways of | :34:04. | :34:07. | |
keeping horsemeat out of beef products. | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
Tomorrow, the new Archbishop of Canterbury - Justin Welby - takes | :34:10. | :34:13. | |
his seat in the House of Lords. And, on Wednesday, it's the weekly | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
Cameron-Miliband set-to in the Commons - Prime Minister Question | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
Time. Voters in Eastleigh go to the polls on Thursday to decide who | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
will replace Chris Huhne, who resigned after admitting he lied | :34:23. | :34:30. | |
about his speeding points. Well, with me now to discuss all that are | :34:30. | :34:32. | |
Isabel Hardman from the Spectator and the Mirror's associate editor, | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
Kevin Maguire. We have just heard the Speaker has granted Ed Balls an | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
urgent question relating to the Government's economic policy at | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
3.30pm. Let's talk about the credit rating, does it matter it's been | :34:45. | :34:51. | |
downgraded? It matters politically because Osbourne set such stall by | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
it, what's interesting is whether he is confident we can retain the | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
rating, I asked a spokesman and he wouldn't confirm. It is important. | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
Also, Tory MPs will start to put pressure on Osbourne to do things | :35:05. | :35:11. | |
like unfunded tax cuts to bring growth in. What can Labour say? Ed | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
Balls has said that actually you can't hold that much stock by the | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
agencies, they gave top billing to subprime mortgages at the time. So | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
Labour can't come down too heavily on this, surely? No, it's a great | :35:25. | :35:31. | |
irony of the triple-A rating disappearing so Labour say the | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
agencies are worth - useless and say now Osbourne's totally | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
humiliated while Osbourne who made a song and dance about the rating | :35:40. | :35:43. | |
is trying to brush it off. The truth is he will know, George | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
Osborne, he has failed on his own terms. His party will know he has | :35:46. | :35:56. | |
:35:56. | :36:00. | ||
failed on his own terms and I suspect Ed Balls will dust down his | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
his alternative. In terms of the Budget, the timing I suppose | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
implicated that actually the credit rating agencies didn't think George | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
Osborne could do anything that would breed confidence so they cut | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
it now? Yeah, and one of the tests that rebellious Tory MPs have laid | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
down for Osbourne is a successful Budget. Another one was keeping the | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
rating, that's obviously gone. Another one is a successful Budget | :36:26. | :36:33. | |
and his focus should be as not having another omnishambles, and | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
having a Budget that doesn't fall apart weeks afterwards. On the base | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
to say doesn't fall apart -- basis it doesn't fall apart, he can't do | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
very much, one of the problems now are fears about the currency. The | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
pound is falling, looking very weak. There was talk at the weekend maybe | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
exaggerated, of a sterling crisis. Surely that's focusing his mind? | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
The economy's had no growth in a year, living standards are falling | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
pretty sharply. On his watch the economy has gone into reverse. | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
Whatever his excuses or reasons, it's a poor picture. He has to do | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
something. He might as well go for growth otherwise he will be | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
remembered as a total failure. He lost the rating, the last Budget | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
was, well, it crumbled like a pasty and pretty quickly. If he wants to | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
get growth in that economy, he's got to restore it and if not - for | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
no other reason he has to do it to give the Conservatives a chance at | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
the next general election. Self- interest requires George Osborne to | :37:32. | :37:38. | |
do something. Liberal Democrat woes at the moment with these | :37:38. | :37:40. | |
allegations surrounding Lord Rennard. How do you think Nick | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
Clegg and his office have handled it? Not very well. I was speaking | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
to someone who works in crisis PR yesterday and they were saying they | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
always get clients saying we can't mention this and that, their | :37:54. | :38:02. | |
response is to you have to bring the detail out straight away. Using | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
strange language about indirect non-specific allegations, it's not | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
helpful to closing down the story. What do you think Nick Clegg needs | :38:09. | :38:17. | |
to do now? Vanish! This all goes away. It feels as if it would be | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
easier if those in the party who didn't know anything about these | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
allegations came forward, because we have Nick Clegg himself, we have | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
Alexander, Jo Swinson, you have Tim Farron saying he knew, it's become | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
a terrible, terrible mess. They set up two inquiries. They will take | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
their course. But at the same time, there's going to be a drip-drip of | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
allegations, more women may come forward making allegations. I | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
accept Lord Rennard disputes the allegations made but people are | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
coming forward nonetheless. Tory and Labour MPs are going to the | :38:48. | :38:53. | |
police. It's a real mess. Wye have -- I would have put a lot of money | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
last week on the Liberal Democrats holding Eastleigh and the by- | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
election, now I am not so sure. that betting note, we will leave | :39:00. | :39:10. | |
:39:10. | :39:13. | ||
both of you, thank you very much. Joining me for the programme is | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
the Conservative MP, Priti Patel, the Labour MP, Lisa Nandy, Liberal | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
Democrat MP, Annette Brooke and UKIP MEP Gerard Batten. Welcome to | :39:19. | :39:26. | |
you all. Let's talk about the credit rating. | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
What you failed to highlight is that those same agencies have | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
pointed to our creditworthiness, which is in good order right now, | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
which would prevent interest rates from going up. So, the triple-A | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
rating has gone, we have to accept that and move on. The same has | :39:41. | :39:43. | |
happened in other international markets, including the US, as well. | :39:43. | :39:49. | |
But we are still sound in terms of our creditworthiness. It's the | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
political point that George Osborne held so much stock by it and he | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
repeatedly insisted it was so important to retain it. Was that a | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
mistake? I agree that there's been a great deal of political emphasis | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
placed on that, no one can deny that. The point is it's gone and we | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
have to move on and look at what we can do in terms of economic growth | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
and also still in terms of fiscal consolidation. Part of the reason | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
why our interest rates are low is because there's been a proper | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
programme and focus on fiscal consolicitor tkoeugs -- | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
consolidation and deficit reduction. Which Labour wouldn't have | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
undertaken? A Chancellor who can say there are ten benchmarks by | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
which we should judge the economy and our economic success, the first | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
of which was the triple-A credit rating, to lose it and say we are | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
not going to change course seems fairly astonishing. So, actually | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
it's not a question of business as usual, it's this should be a real | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
wake-up call to the plan isn't working on his own terms and he | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
needs to change course. Is Labour really saying the market and the | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
credit rating agencies would respond more positively to a big | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
spending splurge or stimulus which is what Labour has outlined in its | :41:00. | :41:05. | |
plan. The economy would respond more positively to a spending | :41:05. | :41:11. | |
stimulus. So, Ed Balls announced recently we would use proceeds from | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
the 4G auction to invest in affordable homes, it's that sort of | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
thing that's going to get people's confidence back and get the economy | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
moving because the key test really is can you get people spending and | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
growth back into the economy? are saying that's more important | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
than any vote by the credit rating agencies? In other words, it's | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
really not important it's been downgraded? We always said that we | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
don't place the same emphasis on the rating agencies as George | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
Osborne had but it seems quite unbelievable that a Chancellor can | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
fail his own key test and still be in the job refusing to change | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
course. Should he still be in the job? He should be. It would be and | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
sourd to -- absurd to think we should change Chancellor. Even the | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
markets say this, we have inherited a catastrophe in terms of the state | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
of the economy and the deficit, as well. You could argue the plan so | :42:00. | :42:07. | |
far to repair that catastrophe, as you put it, isn't working? | :42:08. | :42:10. | |
disagree, we have low and stable interest rates and those are | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
signals... As a result of quantitative easing. Those are | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
signals we need to make sure we have confidence in the system and | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
confidence of business, as well. Let's talk about living standards, | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
but first of all, we know - no growth, debt up and actually | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
borrowing, we will see if it's up and now downgraded, are you still | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
happy to be wedded to the Government? George Osborne made the | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
ratings so high stakes in the debate. As Vince Cable said, it's a | :42:39. | :42:42. | |
symbolic change but what's important is to get the right focus | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
following this and in the Budget. There are differences between the | :42:45. | :42:52. | |
Conservatives and the Lib Dems, we do believe that we have to have | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
deficit reduction, how we would achieve that would have a different | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
emphasis. There is a case for mansion tax, for example, to bring | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
in extra money. We are making our arguments within the coalition. I | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
want to see that house-building start. We are all agreed that this | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
would really get things moving. So we are asking within the coalition | :43:10. | :43:18. | |
for the cap to be lifted on local authority borrowing. I think that's | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
really important. Our job is to be putting our arguments strongly | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
forward. You are in the Government, if you don't get those what should | :43:25. | :43:30. | |
the Lib Dems do? We are going to do the best we can, pushing our | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
arguments, I don't want to see the poorest in society bearing the | :43:33. | :43:42. | |
bankrupt of the cuts -- brunt of the cuts. We have to get a really | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
good agreed package. It's very important the components, but | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
absolutely we agree not to go down the path of Labour, spin, spin, | :43:52. | :43:58. | |
speb -- spend, spend, spin. You do agree about a mansion tax? Labour's | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
come round to our way of thinking. That doesn't make sense. You have | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
said don't spend but you want local authorities to borrow, why do you | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
want them to borrow if not to spend to invest? I am saying we make | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
careful decisions in this, if we are raising some taxes, then those | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
taxes must be on those with higher income and wealth and that would | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
give us more man owe sraerability for spending. I don't want to see | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
is the rash spending, including that in the run-up to the general | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
election where projects which were going to favour Labour seats were - | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
projects were being signed off left, right and centre. Would you | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
thraoeubg see tax cuts -- like to see tax cuts? I am a realist about | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
the current situation. I believe in a low tax economy, because that | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
would... Wouldn't that boost growth? Your colleague is putting | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
it forward and seems to have support? The Chancellor has done a | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
lot in terms of reducing taxes on business, down to to corporation | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
tax, small profit rates tax and that has brought in confidence for | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
businesses to invest. Investment is key to create jobs. Businesses | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
aren't investing. They're sitting on a massive amount of cash because | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
they don't feel certain about whether to invest. That's a | :45:14. | :45:22. | |
sweeping generalisation. There are businesses doing that. The other | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
side, if you look at the schemes such as funding for for lending, | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
that's starting to works. When we get a new Governor of the Bank of | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
England the monetary debate will kick off again on what can be done | :45:37. | :45:47. | |
:45:47. | :45:59. | ||
to bring money into the economy in How worried are your quairbts about | :45:59. | :46:05. | |
inflation? -- quairbts about inflation? The cost of living | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
affects everybody. We have to be mindful and I think the Chancellor | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
is mindful of the fact that people are hurting. The pound is getting | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
squeezed through energy costs and fuel prices. What does he do to | :46:19. | :46:25. | |
help them? He recognises that. At the same time we have to press the | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
energy companies to keep prices low and to be fair in terms of | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
competition as well. It is about the pressure we can apply. The last | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
thing we want to see is sterling come under acute pressure. Of | :46:35. | :46:42. | |
course that would have a knock-on in terms of food prices. One could | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
argue it is under pressure. should not create panic about this. | :46:46. | :46:52. | |
It has been hit over the past week - that was in anticipation of the | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
credit rating being lost. Let's turn attentions to a story which | :46:56. | :47:02. | |
has all the drama and intrigue of a soap opera. A former MP facing jail | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
and a cast of MPs seeking to be elected in Eastleigh. | :47:07. | :47:17. | |
Flem flem flem has been to Hampshire -- Adam Fleming has been | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
to Hampshire. Affairs, rivalries and boats - 80s' | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
TV favourite Howard's Way had it all! It was filmed here in | :47:27. | :47:34. | |
Eastleigh, which is now in the midst of a by-election of soap | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
opera proportions. This was a Tory seat until 1994, then the Lib Dems | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
seized it. Chris Huhne was the MP in 2005. We all know what happened | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
to that character. If Chris Huhne is the villain, then here is the | :47:48. | :47:58. | |
:47:58. | :47:58. | ||
man trying to clean up the mess - the Liberal Democrat candidate. | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
He put his hand up for it. He should be punished. I would like | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
him to apologise to everyone here. Meet his closest rival and feisty | :48:08. | :48:18. | |
female - Maria Hutchings who has gone off on her own issues. This is | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
a fantastic place to live. It deserves somebody who understands | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
it and will be a good focal force in Parliament, supporting David | :48:26. | :48:36. | |
Cameron's clear message. Who is this? A mysterious new-comer - John | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
O 'Farrell. There'll be a general election in two-and-a-half years - | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
are you committed as-to-a life as MP? If they don't like me after two | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
years they can kick me out again. I will stand if elected. I am looking | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
forward to that exciting life. there is the previously minor | :48:55. | :49:05. | |
:49:05. | :49:06. | ||
character thrust into a major plot line, the UKIP candidate. I have | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
had questions thrown at me, you know, you have to think on your | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
feet. Like what? A number of the interviewers were, are you racist? | :49:14. | :49:20. | |
Are you a bigot? You know - it's amazing that they still trawl that | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
particular line. And the theme continues at this local pub, where | :49:23. | :49:29. | |
they have a tribute to the cast of Howard's Way on the wall. Hang on - | :49:30. | :49:36. | |
that's given me an idea! Which soap opera character are you like in | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
real life? I heard Joan Tweeted I should be the lead in Borgen. I | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
don't watch it. I will be one of the Spooks girls. Which one? | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
Probably one of them they have killed off. One soap opera I | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
enjoyed watching is an American one - it was the West Wing. If I can be | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
even a quarter of the man the President was in that, I would be a | :50:03. | :50:13. | |
:50:13. | :50:13. | ||
very happy man! Bet Lnych, serving pints to the | :50:13. | :50:23. | |
:50:23. | :50:26. | ||
To be fair to this place, Howard's Way is not that realistic - | :50:26. | :50:32. | |
Eastleigh is actually an old railway town, but this episode is a | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
real-life cliffhanger. What will the consequences be? Will Labour | :50:37. | :50:45. | |
sink and UKIP swim? Stay tuned! Remember, you can see a full list | :50:45. | :50:55. | |
of candidates on the BBC website. We are joined now by Gerard Batten. | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
How damaging to Lib Dem prospects is the way the party have handled | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
allegations that have been denied by Lord Rennard? I found as I was | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
in the constituency last night at a hustings there was not one question | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
about it. I had spoken at a constituency dinner on Saturday | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
night. I spent over an hour on questions and not anybody there | :51:16. | :51:20. | |
asked me a question about it. It is certainly a big issue in the | :51:20. | :51:26. | |
Westminster puddle. As far as I am concerned, and I can say quite | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
categorically, I had never heard of these allegations either first-hand, | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
second-hand at all. I have been a female MP for 12 years. So, I think | :51:36. | :51:41. | |
that is very significant. I'm not pleased, as a female, to think | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
these were not investigated and dealt with properly at the time. I | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
am straight to the investigations. I think all this speculation, who | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
said what, where and when is ludicrous. Let's get on with a | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
proper inquiry. For me, we are looking at culture. Cultural | :51:58. | :52:08. | |
problem across the Church, the BBC - we could go on and on. What about | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
the culture in the Lib Dems? As a woman MP, you say you have been | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
there many years - what is it like? Do you say you are not pleased hu | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
they dealt with it at the time? culture aspect - was there an | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
element of an important person going through. Did we have the | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
right structures in place? If we find we did and they were all there, | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
why didn't they apparently work properly and therefore we've got to | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
look at whether people are in the right places. I am confident with | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
the Chief Whip. A very professional chief executive. Total confidence | :52:43. | :52:48. | |
in where we are going from here. As a female, I certainly feel that I | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
want to know why, how and to be able to stand up and say, this will | :52:52. | :52:58. | |
never happen again in our party. Priti Patel, do you accept that the | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
Eastleigh by-election result will be a verdict on David Cameron's | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
leadership and the coalition? don't. By-elections, particularly | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
mid-term, yes people will vote whichever way they want to vote, | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
but I don't think any sitting Government should take it as a said | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
verdict on them because people vote because they are disillusioned, | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
unhappy about things going on. I have been involved in by-elections | :53:22. | :53:30. | |
for a long period of time. So, it's flux - yes, there is a lot of that | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
in by-election. By-elections do play some importance, but more | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
often than not you will find a local candidate... What about UKIP | :53:39. | :53:46. | |
in terms of taking away Tory voters and handing the by-election to the | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
Liberal Democrats? I am not convinced. There is a national | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
spotlight on by-elections. All the parties will throw everything into | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
them. They will try and maximise their share of the vote. When it | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
comes to UKIP claiming they are the only party on Europe, I disagree | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
with that. Isn't that what you are hearing on | :54:07. | :54:11. | |
the doorstep - actually, don't worry Mr Batten because the Tories | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
are giving us what we want, so we will not vote UKIP? I have not | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
heard that at all. I have heard disillusioned people. People are | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
coming over to UKIP. We're not just taking votes from the Tories - | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
that's a myth. We take them from Labour supporters. We take some Lib | :54:30. | :54:35. | |
Dem votes sometimes. But not often? I don't have a scientific analysis | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
for you, but we do take, because a lot of Lib Dem votes are protest | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
votes, in Eastleigh any way. People who have protested by voting for | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
the Lib Dems no longer feel it is a worthwhile thing to do. The latest | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
figures is we can be neck and neck with the Tories. The polls out at | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
the weekend said we are on 21%. They looked at how people's | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
previous voting - how they voted last time. If you take it out of | :55:03. | :55:08. | |
the equation, we could be on 25, the Tories on 26. Labour risks | :55:08. | :55:16. | |
coming behind UKIP in this race? are not complacent about this at | :55:16. | :55:23. | |
all. An old railway town, this should be a three-way margin, a | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
four-way margin. People are feeling the squeeze as much as elsewhere. | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
We are fighting this by-election hard. We are fighting it hard | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
because it signalled something about Ed Miliband's Labour Party, | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
which is we are not just interested in Governing for one section of the | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
population. When he said, we want to be the one nation party, he | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
meant it. That is why we're on the doorstep, trying to garner support | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
n a seat we have traditionally not won. Is the candidate taking it | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
seriously? I think he is taking it seriously. He is a stance believer | :55:56. | :56:00. | |
in social justice, as am I. He cares about the situation of people | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
who are seeing their living standards falling as a result of | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
the disastrous handling of the economy. You see light-hearted | :56:09. | :56:15. | |
humour from him. In the general circus that Eastleigh seems to have | :56:15. | :56:22. | |
become I preferred the brand of humour than what is going on at the | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
moment. Has it turned into a dirty fight? I didn't see that last night. | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
I have been out on the street as well. I would argue that, at this | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
stage, the Liberal Democrats are not looking for a protest vote. | :56:34. | :56:40. | |
What they are looking at is a track record in the town with holding all | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
26 council seats. They could not have been doing bad things over so | :56:44. | :56:52. | |
many years - it is remarkable to hold all the seats. A local can r | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
candidate. As they have some local credentials. He has the track | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
record. Well, good for him! Stay with us. We are nearly at the end | :57:00. | :57:06. | |
of the programme. We are joined from Westminster but someone you | :57:06. | :57:16. | |
:57:16. | :57:16. | ||
will all recognise. Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall. What is the fishiest | :57:16. | :57:24. | |
outfith you've had? We've had squid, jellyfish. It's been the most | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
fantastic carnival atmosphere. We have close to 2,000 people here. | :57:28. | :57:32. | |
They are here because they share the passion for protecting the | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
marine environment. We have a very, very loud siren going on behind me. | :57:36. | :57:45. | |
We are used to it. Battle with it. I don't want to dampen anyone's | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
enthusiasm here. There is a consultation about marine | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
conservation. Our Government has asked to hear from us. We want to | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
see action. You want to see action. Have Government ministers agreed to | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
meet you? Are you getting anywhere? I have met with our fisheries | :58:03. | :58:07. | |
minister on several occasions to discuss this issue. It is - fair | :58:07. | :58:12. | |
play to him - he is engaged. Having set up a period of consultation | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
over two years which cost �8 million, DEFRA came up with a | :58:16. | :58:21. | |
proposal for a network of 127 Marine Conservation Zones around | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
the UK. That is a good, healthy number. The current disappointment | :58:25. | :58:29. | |
is they have announced they will only look at 31 of them. That is | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
what we're talking about here today. We want to see a time frame to | :58:33. | :58:40. | |
extend that number for a proper consultation on the full 127. | :58:40. | :58:46. | |
will let you go back to your fishy friends. Good luck! That is all for | :58:46. | :58:53. |