Browse content similar to 09/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Daily Politics. How many young children can one adult safely look | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
after? Lib Dems and Conservatives squabble over plans to bring down | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
the cost of childcare. It was a pretty posh do but will the | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
bills announced by the Queen yesterday helped the government | :00:55. | :01:02. | |
connect with ordinary voters? Unions have played a key role in the | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
Labour Party since its creation that is the money and influence coming | :01:04. | :01:11. | |
too much -- having too much of a sale over the selection of | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
parliamentary candidates? And what is on Dave and Ed 's mind | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
on Queens speech date the Mac a certain football managers | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
resignation, of course. -- Queens speech date? A certain football | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
manager's resignation. Without -- with us for the next | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
hour, three of Her Majesty's's most loyal subjects. Sarah Newton, deputy | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
chair of the Conservative party, Stella Creasy, stack -- Shadow | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
Minister for crime convention who is dressed perfectly for our sofa | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
area. She has just merged in. Obviously there was a job lot on the | :01:45. | :01:53. | |
material. Charming! | :01:53. | :02:00. | |
And Lorely Burt, chair of the Lib Dem parliamentary party. Let's start | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
with childcare and the revelation that Nick Clegg has told the | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
Conservatives that he is not so keen on government plans to increase the | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
number of children that nursery staff and childminders can look | :02:09. | :02:16. | |
after. Speaking on LBC's Call Clegg this morning, he said there had been | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
discussions for weeks about the plans to increase statutory ratios | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
for carers. We have been talking about this for weeks and weeks and | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
that was as surprised as anyone else that this appeared in public | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
overnight. Being open, I'm telling you that this is a debate we have | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
had for a long time. You could look after four at once, couldn't you? | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
It's not a question about me. I challenge you to spend a morning | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
looking after six two-year-olds. will have a go if you have a go. | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
going to visit a childcare Centre this afternoon so maybe we'll have a | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
go. I'll wish them both luck with looking after six two-year-olds. Is | :02:58. | :03:05. | |
this another U-turn on policy? at all. I understand that there will | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
be a consultation. They are going to talk to the different interest | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
groups and make sure that what we're doing is the right thing. It is | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
important decision. Nick Clegg says it is not the right thing to do. He | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
has clearly said he does not think the ratio should be increased. | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
Conservative minister says that it is. As I say, we will take the | :03:26. | :03:33. | |
advice of the experts. My own daughter went to nursery school and | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
they do not know what the ratio was but an old that she got a lot of | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
loving and professional care. I think that is the important thing. | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
We can come onto the substance, but there is a risk that this policy | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
will not go ahead. Is that how you see it? These concerns have been | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
raised at the 11th hour and Nick Clegg does not think the balance is | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
right. I think we will sort it out. I think there will be a compromise. | :04:02. | :04:10. | |
Where will it come from? Am not a fly on the wall. I do not know, I am | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
not a professional. Think we should leave these decisions to people with | :04:14. | :04:21. | |
the professional ability. experts say that it is nonsense and | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
the government's own advice on this has said that it would be madness to | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
go ahead and increase the ratio. Now we have the Deputy Prime Minister | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
saying he is very concerned. This policy is not going to happen. | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
is part of the bill in the normal process is that it gets well | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
scrutinised. This is such an important issue for families all | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
over the country. but scrutinised by the backbenchers, not the | :04:45. | :04:52. | |
government. You're meant to do that when you make it a bill. There is | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
proper scrutiny involving people inside and outside of Parliament. | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
Freedom is usually -- Sweden is usually held up as the best country | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
for childcare but they have no ratios at all. But they have a lot | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
of state subsidies. They have a lot of highly qualified, trained staff. | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
And the make sure they have good quality childcare. I think any | :05:13. | :05:22. | |
parent, and we are all mothers here, any mother would love the best | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
possible care for their children. I think they are really well placed to | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
know and make the choice. How many children do you think one adult | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
could safely look after? I think if it is a question of how | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
well-qualified they are, but I am not an expert. I am in Mum of three | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
but it is not an area of expertise for me. I'd agree. I would not want | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
to look after six voluntarily. But the problem here, this is a policy | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
that has been presented and it is only part of the bill, but without | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
it, the rest of the Bill collapses because it is all costed around this | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
element of childcare, and an earnest has clearly said that without this | :06:05. | :06:12. | |
element, the rest of the package is not costed. This is a proper debate | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
to be had in Parliament but I would say that this is such an important | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
issue, let's not make a political ping-pong match out of it. Families | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
all over the country want to know that we are focused on an important | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
issue, high-quality, affordable childcare. That is the most | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
expensive childcare anywhere in Europe, apart from Switzerland. We | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
have so many families that want to be able to go out to work and they | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
cannot afford it. OK, there are details need to ironed out... | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
think this is a fairly crucial detail. -- needs to be ironed out. | :06:47. | :06:53. | |
How many children can an adult would after? You mean Nick Clegg, he is | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
play politics with this. I think it is unfair to draw particular | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
attention. One week, the Labour Party figures are good idea in the | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
next they think it is a bad idea. This is such an important issue. All | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
the parties should really get to the evidence. Other countries have these | :07:10. | :07:17. | |
ratios. Liberal Democrats are the ones in government, not Labour, but | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
we will come to live now. Do you think it is too many, Stella | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
Creasy? I have got a 2 euros niece and ironed or her, but cannot | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
understand how someone could have another eyes on the back of their | :07:30. | :07:37. | |
heads to cope with six of her at the same time. -- enough eyes. We agreed | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
that families are struggling because of the high cost of childcare but | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
one of the things we did was bringing in childcare vouchers. My | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
word in the 50% of sure start centres say they are not financially | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
sustainable. There is debate about training and qualifications, to make | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
sure we attract and retain the best people. But this is not a small | :07:58. | :08:05. | |
issue. I think the worry is that if the number is not sex, what is the | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
number? But should government increased the number? I am minded by | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
the evidence from Holland where they introduced the ratio and it cost the | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
public purse more. It is a lose lose scenario. Nick Clegg picked up on | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
that. He's right to be but why is he suddenly raising these concerns? Liz | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
Truss has been an advocate for this for a long time. She has been clear | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
about her views, so for it to appear suddenly, I worry that parents are | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
just going to be confused, are they going to make progress? I do not | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
know how you're going to bring childcare costs down? We think | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
investment in the quality of training, and we're looking at sure | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
start. One of the things that comes up is the cost of premises. If you | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
are losing the centres, that is something we should be looking at. | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
Ratios are not the answer. That is the debate we are having. Do you | :09:01. | :09:09. | |
agree with that? You do not agree with the proposal? The key thing, I | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
think we agree, is the quality of the childcare. People have to make | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
technical decisions. I think if parents can have more choice about | :09:19. | :09:29. | |
the type of childcare, that would be a good advance. If ratios are the | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
key thing, why do you want them done at all? You have do have some | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
ratios. Sweden does.That is fine, but you have to set out the basic | :09:42. | :09:48. | |
tenet. Able do not Trust the parents? If people want more than | :09:48. | :09:55. | |
that, then they can have that. I have interviewed Liz Truss on this | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
issue and she is adamant that those ratios need to be increased to bring | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
childcare costs down. I'm not sure where the costs will come down. Will | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
they be passed on to parents? I am not convinced that they will be. We | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
were working in the industry will earn more money and that might be a | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
good thing but can you guarantee that by increasing ratios, parents | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
will pay less? I think it is about choice. Elizabeth wants to be able | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
to offer more choice. Parents are best placed to decide what is the | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
best childcare for them. This is one part of a comrade is a package of | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
measures, making it really affordable for families. Sarah is | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
right, this is a key cost of living issue. We have to do everything we | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
can. Will this be on the books by September, when this is supposed to | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
be rolled out? That is only months away. We had not seen the timetable | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
for parliament but if that is the commitment, we will get to it? Do | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
you agree the Mac with a copper mines, with a change? It has to come | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
out in the wash. We will see. It must be evidence -based. Liz Truss | :11:10. | :11:20. | |
has done her homework. She has. The government's expert says that the | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
ratio makes no sense at all. believe in evidence -based policy | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
making and I'm sure the Minister setting this out to the committee | :11:28. | :11:35. | |
will have a really good debate. Your listeners will expect that. It is | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
our job to spend days and days going through legislation and making sure | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
it is fit for purpose. That is what we will be doing. We will have this | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
discussion before September. Don't say September is just round | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
the corner, we have not even had a summer yet! Acts more like Nigel | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
Farage and less like a public school toff, that was the help of advice of | :11:56. | :12:04. | |
the man who ran David Cameron's County Council. Keith Mitchell said | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
the UKIP leader was better at connecting with ordinary mortals | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
than other politicians and was unafraid to be filmed with a pint of | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
beer and a fag in his hand will stop David Cameron, I'm sure he knows a | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
few things about fags. Yesterday 's win speech looked like a response to | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
the rise of UKIP. Will the speech appeal to disaffected Tory voters? | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
We have been looking at it. The Conservatives are keen to focus | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
on issues that will appeal to members of the grassroots that might | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
have gone over to UKIP or have gone to the pub instead. Shocking. To add | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
some broth to the legislative agenda, there is a new automated | :12:42. | :12:43. | |
agenda, there is a new automated easier to deport foreign criminals | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
agenda, there is a new automated easier to deport measures to | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
regulate migrant access to housing in the NHS. Out our plans for a | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
minimum price for alcohol and plain cigarette packaging. That has | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
angered the black health campaigners but pleased critics of the nanny | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
state. In our new rules meaning that tens of thousands of prisoners will | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
be monitored for up to year after a short jail terms. But there were | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
when the reasons for some backbenchers to think the glass is | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
half-full. No mention of the EU referendum, dashing hopes of a | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
government Bill to enshrine in law a vote after the next election. | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
Ministers say the bill giving the way for high-speed to will boost | :13:23. | :13:30. | |
growth. And although it was not mentioned by the Queen, the gay | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
marriage bill has been carried over from the last Parliament and will be | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
coming back to Parliament. Ed Miliband claimed the package | :13:37. | :13:47. | |
:13:47. | :13:48. | ||
amounted to remove to the right and warned the Prime Minister that you | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
cannot out the rise should the rise. Did you see the hand of UKIP in the | :13:53. | :14:03. | |
:14:03. | :14:05. | ||
Queens speech? -- out-Farage Farage. We have seen Lord Lawson this week | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
saying that Britain would be better out of the European Union. I think | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
that you look at the meat of the Queens speech, putting restrictions | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
on benefits, for example, for migrants. Obviously, the hand of | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
UKIP is there. But this cannot apply to citizens from the European Union | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
and this cannot apply to citizens from bog area oral mania or Poland | :14:29. | :14:37. | |
or Lithuania. It will only apply to people from Australia, New Zealand, | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
Canada. I think that is the scrum monetary and creates a two tier | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
immigration system. Know that you have joined the big time, you are on | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
the Daily Politics, are you going to have do start developing more | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
policies? Are you a party that is going to have policies or you more a | :14:56. | :15:03. | |
state of mind? UKIP is a movement in many ways and it is a state of mind | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
in many ways. It is about people wanting to gain independence for our | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
country. It is about people who want the people who make the decisions in | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
this country to be the people you can get rid of after five years. | :15:15. | :15:22. | |
They do not want it to be unelected commissioners in Brussels who | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
basically dictate 75% of the laws that we have to apply. In a way, it | :15:25. | :15:31. | |
is a state of mine but it is also a fully fledged political party with a | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
raft of policies. Where are you on social care? Do you have a cap? What | :15:37. | :15:46. | |
would it be? On social care, care for the elderly is quite important. | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
Just quite important? It is important because these people have | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
retired. So what is the policy?The policy is that they deserve care in | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
the government are moving in the right direction. I ask about your | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
policy. Where are you on social care? Would you have a cap and what | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
would it be? I think the cap would be similar to what it is at the | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
moment. We're not just here to criticise the government. The point | :16:13. | :16:15. | |
of the matter is that when they do something right are moving in the | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
right direction, we must say well done and given a pat on the back. | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
There are certain issues where we do not think they are moving in the | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
right direction. For example, the removal of any mention of the EU | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
referendum from the Queens speech. We believe that is not good enough | :16:30. | :16:38. | |
and we would like to see a referendum. Interesting that I asked | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
you about social care and we end up on a referendum about Europe! Where | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
are you on child quake? Would you support a bigger ratio on childcare | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
issues? What is the policy there? Well, we actually think that smaller | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
sizes work in terms of childcare, and obviously it is important | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
because it gets our children ready for school, and primary school is | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
where the very seed of education... Even I know what childcare does, I | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
am trying to find out what your policy is! We would like to see | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
smaller class sizes for childcare, but there are restrictions at the | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
moment and cuts have to happen. What we do not want to see is bigger | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
class sizes, because what happens then is that children are often left | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
out and not looked after in the way that they should be. It is an | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
interesting question, whether you should have, given that you are a | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
state of mind and a movement, does it really matter whether you have | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
policies on social care or childcare? That is not what you are | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
in politics for, you are not going to form a government in this | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
country. Should you bother going down the road of trying to answer my | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
questions? Or should you just say that you are a one issue party and | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
that is all that matters? Indeed, if we voted to leave Europe, you could | :18:00. | :18:06. | |
disband. Well, no, because we are a political party, and political | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
parties have policies. Ten years ago, that would have washed, that we | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
were a single issue pressure group, but that is no longer the case. We | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
have policies, we stand in elections, we believe in a small | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
state and freedom for the individual, and most of all we | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
believe in freedom of our country. You had better get to work on social | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
care and childcare before you see me again! Did you try to hire Lynton | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
Crosby to run your campaign? No, we didn't, unfortunately. I have had no | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
contact with Lynton Crosby whatsoever. But did Mr Farage tried | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
to hire him? Mr Farage has had conversations with Mr Crosby, you | :18:45. | :18:51. | |
will have to ask him. I have had no conversations with him. Sarah | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
Newton, you have been attacking UKIP because of their immigration policy | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
lacks detail, and they are looking at it again. If that is a legit as a | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
criticism, why did you announce a policy that is lacking details? | :19:06. | :19:13. | |
I am really concerned about is to listen to the people who vote UKIP. | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
That is fine, but that is not the question I am asking you. If your | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
immigration policy lacks detail with UKIP, why does your policy on | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
immigration lacked detail? We have not seen the bill yet, and it is | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
going to have the detail you are talking about. This is a commitment | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
months ago. This is not a knee-jerk reaction to UKIP. These policies | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
were developed a very long time ago to be in the Queen's Speech, and we | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
will see the draft bills to give us, you know, proper controls on | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
immigration. You said that private landlords and doctors are going to | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
have to become border guards, and yet Downing Street, when we go to | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
these briefings, could not give us any details of how this would work. | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
You are more experienced than I am, you know the Queen's Speech lays out | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
what we are hoping to achieve, it does not go into the details that | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
you get as the bills are published. It is clear we have already got net | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
immigration down by a third, and we are taking every opportunity to | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
tighten things up. We want people to come here to contribute, come to our | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
universities, but people who come as benefits tourists, that is something | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
we will clamp down on. We know a lot of these restrictions, you have got | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
UKIP in mind that the arrival of the Bulgarians and remain years, and yet | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
Downing Street could not tell us whether this bill would be in place | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
for January the 1st. -- Romanians. We are very concerned about the | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
people who voted UKIP at the last election, saying to all of us, loud | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
and clear, none of the above. We are fed up with Westminster politicians | :20:48. | :20:56. | |
were not listening to us or addressing our issues. They took | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
both off everyone. We were already listening to people's concerns on | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
immigration, taking action. So UKIP may be clowns, but you want to join | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
the circus. UKIP voters are really important to me. A few weeks ago, | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
they were clowns, fruitcakes and closet racists, but now, because | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
people are voting for them, they are important to you. For a long time, | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
people who have had immigration as a concerned have been our concern. We | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
have delivered a third reduction in net immigration. These are | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
Conservative concerns and have been for a long time, not a reaction to | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
UKIP. If that is true, why wouldn't you get the legislation in place | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
before the Romanians and Bulgarians arrive? I am sure every effort will | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
be made to tighten up everything. And you let Nadine Dorries back into | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
the party in case she defected to UKIP, the Tories are like a UKIP | :21:50. | :21:57. | |
puppet these days. That is the way you may love to see it, because it | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
is going to make your life a lot more fun, having four parties, not | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
three, but it is not the way I see it. We are there for the vast | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
majority of people in this country, and that is what we will continue to | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
be. Paul Nuttall, you may not have talked to Lynton Crosby, but did you | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
talk to Nadine Dorries about joining UKIP? Well, negotiations | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
behind-the-scenes go on all of the time, and I think the fact that they | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
have invited her back, basically, with no strings attached, when she | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
has been such a strident critic of the Prime Minister and the | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
Chancellor in particular, that basically says to me they are | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
worried that she might cross the floor and join UKIP. It's pretty | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
much as an act of desperation. say these talks go on all the times, | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
so there were discussions? Well, of course, again, I have not personally | :22:50. | :22:57. | |
spoken to Nadine Dorries in my life. Would you like to? We are both | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
Scousers, I suppose! Conversations have been going on with a number of | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
people behind-the-scenes for quite awhile, because there are a number | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
of conservatives out there who believed we would better off outside | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
the European Union, and they just need to grow a backbone and do | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
something about it. It is not just the Tories that are jumping to the | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
UKIP tune, this is the labour that provided over the biggest increase | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
in mass immigration this country has ever known, the Tories coming up | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
with some things to tighten it up compared to what it was like when | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
you were in power, and Yvette Cooper once even tougher action against | :23:34. | :23:40. | |
immigration. You are listening to UKIP as well. We are looking at the | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
economy, and when I look at my community, people are really | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
struggling, and the idea that the best we can do is to say, you will | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
need to take your passport into A&E, that really worries me, are we | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
doing everything we can to get the country moving again? Your spokesman | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
once migrants to be in the country. Die before they get aching back, | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
that is tougher than what they are proposing. That in the country for | :24:05. | :24:12. | |
some before. It is frustrating when the government says we will do | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
something that immigration but we don't hear anything about the | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
economy. Particularly people having their wages and the cup. You are now | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
urging the Government to do a lot more about illegal immigrant in this | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
country, and yet, and yet, these are the illegal immigrants that got into | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
this country when you were in power. We are talking about illegal | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
immigration because it is an issue. We have said that we got things | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
wrong, and Ed Miliband and Yvette Cooper have been clear about that, | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
but what do we do now with an economy that is stuttering along? | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
One of the issues is about people having their wages undercut. Nobody | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
wants to see the national minimum wage and the cut. The Government has | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
not said anything about tackling that. -- undercut. How many cases | :24:59. | :25:06. | |
did you bring when you were in power? I think it was about 3000 | :25:06. | :25:13. | |
502,009, and it has been cast about 1500, the number of cases. How many | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
employers were prosecuted under Labour for not paying the minimum | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
wage? That is my understanding.You have got that wrong almost as badly | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
as you got the migration figures from Poland wrong! People have said, | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
yes, we got the figures wrong on Poland, and that was difficult. | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
did not prosecute thousands of employers. We took up the issue | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
around enforcement. We will look up the proper figures, I think it is | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
about ten, you are nodding, about ten were prosecuted. It is a very | :25:48. | :25:55. | |
tiny number. You have gone along with these changes which are very | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
much conservative -inspired, can I just remind you that you were the | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
party that fought the last election on an amnesty for illegal | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
immigrant's, which, if you were not running for election, may have been | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
the most principled and honest policy of all? Yes, it didn't go | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
down too well, though. That does not make it wrong, but at the same time | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
what we have got to do is listen to what people are saying to us, | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
otherwise we will become irrelevant. We have got to listen, we do listen. | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
I go on the doorstep every week, and people talk about immigration, and | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
that is why we are putting forward these... So the amnesty is gone | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
question my I do not think we will be bringing that one back, but I | :26:36. | :26:43. | |
cannot say for my party. Any reason that Nigel Farage should | :26:43. | :26:50. | |
be in the leaders debates? That is above my pay grade extra | :26:50. | :27:00. | |
:27:00. | :27:09. | ||
schmuck I think you are an opinion politics when Labour was doing very | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
well in local elections, I am mindful of the fact that does not | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
translate into the national scene. There is a debate about the | :27:16. | :27:25. | |
lection, but that is above our pay grade. -- the election. I am happy | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
to talk about it, but two years before the election, if they are | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
still polling the extent to which they are now, of course, you guys | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
are going to give them a huge voice. Should they be on the leadership | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
debates? We do not know what form they will take. His views should be | :27:44. | :27:50. | |
listened to, absolutely. Paul Nuttall, a final question to you, | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
would you like your leader, Mr Farage, to be part of the leadership | :27:54. | :28:01. | |
debates, if we have them in the 2015 campaign? Well, of course, it would | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
be ridiculous if we won the European elections and were polling" is in | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
2015, possibly even doubled the Liberal Democrats, and excluded from | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
the leadership debate. That would suggest some thing is fundamentally | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
wrong with our democracy. We will have to get another chair! Now, the | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
trade unions have had a long association with the Labour Party. | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
But has their influence increased in recent years? It was union votes | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
that swung the leadership election for Ed Miliband, and the party | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
relies heavily on union money for its funding. There are actors Asians | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
that union backed candidates are getting favourable treatment in | :28:44. | :28:53. | |
:28:54. | :28:55. | ||
selection for MPs and MEPs. -- there unpopular Prime Minister, the battle | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
between Blairites and Brownite still raw and active, some candidates, | :29:00. | :29:05. | |
both good and mediocre, was simply swept aside. Rebuilding the party | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
ahead of the Euro elections in 2014, there have urged voices that | :29:10. | :29:12. | |
claim some have been excluded from standing under their party banner | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
because they are missing something - the outright backing of a union. I | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
think the criticism that has come from some in the party is that the | :29:23. | :29:30. | |
trade unions are trying to take over, in some way, the selection | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
process for the European elections. For me, that is not a particularly | :29:34. | :29:39. | |
credible claim. A lot of fingers can be pointed that Labour Party | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
selections, unions is just one part of a much more complex whole. The | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
rules have not changed in recent years for Labour Party selections, | :29:46. | :29:51. | |
these rules were put in place by Tony Blair. But I certainly think | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
there is a much greater assertion on behalf of the trade unions that they | :29:54. | :30:00. | |
want to have a bigger say in selections. Ramsay MacDonald's first | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
Labour government of 1924 contained both the well-to-do and a worker, | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
socialist intellectuals and the brightest union men, and like all | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
parties, especially when they are facing calls of internal division, | :30:11. | :30:19. | |
it has remained a broad church, which is why some are worried it is | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
becoming less so under pressure from the union movement. If we are going | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
to be a one nation party, that means governing for the whole community, | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
and that includes working people, people in business. We need the | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
energy and enterprise that very often businesspeople bring. Building | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
that coalition is the way we won three general elections, we have to | :30:38. | :30:45. | |
keep hold of that coalition. I'm not sure if union backed candidates are | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
squeezing out other candidates. Why was backed by a lot of trade unions, | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
but ultimately it comes down to which candidate convinces the | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
hundreds of party members in a particular constituency that they | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
should vote for them. It is one member, one vote. Unions can make | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
nominations, certainly, but when it comes down to it, it is the local | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
party members who will make a decision on who they think is the | :31:07. | :31:13. | |
best person to be the candidate. suggestion is that the rules of | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
selection for candidates, which give 13 weeks for canvassing members | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
before the run-off, favour those who have financial backing. And | :31:21. | :31:28. | |
canvassing structure, from a union. But however, no rules have been | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
broken. There is a legitimate question to be asked about how we | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
level the playing field so that people who do not have personal | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
means or are not able to secure support financially from elsewhere, | :31:41. | :31:48. | |
can compete on a level playing field. And string that question is | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
tricky within Labour. With potential electoral consequences, as we | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
found, unions and concerned would-be candidates are unwilling to state | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
their case. Stella Creasy, can you get selected | :32:03. | :32:08. | |
as a Labour candidate without union backing? Of course. There is a wide | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
range of people. What is overwhelming if the number and range | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
of people coming forward. It is heartening to see people do that. It | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
is a difficult job. Seeing arrange of people, particularly the number | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
of women who want to stand up is impressive. No one denies that women | :32:27. | :32:32. | |
have done well under Labour in terms of selection and becoming MPs, but | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
it does not answer the question, can you do it from whatever background | :32:35. | :32:42. | |
you come from without union backing? Yes, you can, but it is difficult. | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
The result was a debate between political parties about how you make | :32:45. | :32:47. | |
sure you get the broadest and best range of people coming forward will | :32:47. | :32:57. | |
stop am involved with the women's network which is looking at ways we | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
can get more women to stand. It is not just coming for it, it is about | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
time. Not everybody has it perfect, but is the union involved? It is a | :33:06. | :33:11. | |
small part of a bigger picture. say it is small, but there is a | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
perception, and it might be backed up by fact in certain | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
constituencies, but actually the unions, as we have heard in that | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
film, not only are the exercising muscle in her dad at -- at the early | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
stages, but they want to exercising more. Of the perception that a | :33:31. | :33:34. | |
politician has to be a man of a certain age in a suit. We are | :33:34. | :33:41. | |
showing that that can be broken. I'll make no apology for the role of | :33:41. | :33:49. | |
the trade unions. And you were backed by a trade union? No, I am | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
from the cooperative part. Formerly, I was a labourer and co-operative | :33:52. | :33:59. | |
MP. Before we carry on, we can join our viewers from Scotland, who are | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
now watching the Daily Politics. are speaking about the involvement | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
of unions in the selection of Labour candidates. Perceptions can be | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
argued about but there is this specific and sample of an | :34:11. | :34:19. | |
Fairweather -- specific example of an Fairweather, who was excluded. | :34:19. | :34:25. | |
Crime seems to have been to have worked in business and not be one of | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
the chosen candidates of the unions. Why was she left out? | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
her and she was fantastic. fantastic enough. Understand more | :34:34. | :34:41. | |
than 100 people applied. Frankly, some people would struggle to name | :34:41. | :34:48. | |
their MEP, let alone their MP. did not have union backing? I know | :34:48. | :34:56. | |
that that 100, many people did not. -- of that 100. I know London, and | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
we now have eight fantastic candidates standing and there is an | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
issue about where they come on the shortlist. There will always be | :35:02. | :35:08. | |
questions about what role member state in the process. Actually, it | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
is dismissive of her to say that she did not have something fantastic to | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
give, and to say that the only thing that the people who did get it had | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
was union membership. The trouble was there was a very high quality of | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
people standing. Why does Peter Watt say that it is an old-fashioned | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
stitch up? He's not going person from within Labour to say this. | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
did not come from an union background. So he is wrong?I think | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
in different places, there are allegations. There will always be | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
concerns. What matters for me is that people like and get a chance. | :35:46. | :35:52. | |
Let us look at the cost. How can you afford to do it unless you have | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
backing, and you are someone with money themselves, personal means? | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
You would have to have some sort of sponsorship. Absolutely. There is an | :35:59. | :36:07. | |
issue about the cost. All political parties are struggling with that. We | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
find within the labour women's network that if you have child care | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
commitments, it is like going through many Christmases, were you | :36:15. | :36:23. | |
meet a lot of relatives. You are talking to a lot of people and it is | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
time it -- time intensive. And it is right that the unions fill that gap? | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
And do not think that is the case. Some local areas do short | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
selections, some do wrong selections. There will always be an | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
issue about the role of any one organisation in a movement like the | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
labour movement. There is a wider debate and I'm somebody who has | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
always been supportive of the reform of that relationship. In terms of | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
what you were talking about, you are talking about perception, not | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
reality. The trade unions, if they really had as much influence as | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
people in the media like to say, why do they always complain about their | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
lack of influence? Well, they want even more influence, if you listen | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
to them. In the case of the Conservative party, the | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
Conservatives complain about influence from the unions endlessly | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
about in terms of getting a broad range of people, it does not appear | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
to have worked at Number Ten. The reality is that it is full of all | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
the Taureans which has not been helpful to the perception of the | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
Tory party. In the end, you had to have in a list. We are all about | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
merit. We want the best possible candidates. Really, local | :37:33. | :37:39. | |
collections are important. -- local connections. We have an open and | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
rigorous process. And we have made enormous strides forward. I am part | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
of the new 2010 intake and there is a huge server city of backgrounds. | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
How many working-class candidates? What is a working-class person? | :37:53. | :38:00. | |
tell me. Jacob Rees Mogg? I can tell you about the candidates that we | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
have just selected. We have a boxing trainer, somebody who is a postman, | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
we have small business people, veterinary surgeons, teachers. We | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
have soldiers, charity workers. The a list has worked extremely well in | :38:17. | :38:19. | |
the last Parliament and in this parliament were using different | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
processes. Why are you not going for the a list again? The party has | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
moved on. We did not have enough women in Parliament before 4010. And | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
we really made such drives forward. That you do not need it? We built on | :38:34. | :38:41. | |
that process. The grassroots get it. This CD broad range women that | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
have come in, and they see the good job. We do not need that. They | :38:46. | :38:53. | |
voluntarily choose the best possible candidates. -- they see the broad | :38:53. | :38:58. | |
range. But you would not have needed to impose the a list if you trusted | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
them to choose the right people. was about giving them a broad | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
range. The Conservative party is always the choice of local people. | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
Lorely Burt, you know that the record of the party is terrible in | :39:10. | :39:18. | |
terms of numbers of women and ethnic naughty MPs. The Lib Dems... At | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
least Labour have increased the numbers of women and so have the | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
Conservatives. What are the Liberal Democrats going to do? We have a | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
process where we train up people. Particularly from areas where we are | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
missing. So women, people from poorer backgrounds, ethnic | :39:36. | :39:42. | |
minorities, disabled people. Just about everybody, really, except for | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
upper-middle-class white man. the areas where we are under | :39:47. | :39:49. | |
represented. At the last general election we had some excellent women | :39:49. | :39:59. | |
and ethnic minorities candidates, but not in safe seats. Safe seats | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
are a challenge. If we had one of you seek, you would have seen a | :40:02. | :40:11. | |
different picture stop -- one AQ seats. We are not funded by big | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
business or unions, we are funded by our members. Would you like women | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
shortlists? I would love it. But unfortunately we are too democratic, | :40:21. | :40:28. | |
it is so annoying! We have managed all women shortlists completely | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
voluntarily. Only one in five MPs are women and I | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
cannot turn around to a community where 51% of people are women and | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
say that Parliament gets it. Every political movement has you have this | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
conversation about prejudice. We have had that and we have done | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
something about it. We will support anyone else having a debate because | :40:46. | :40:53. | |
we need to get to 50-50. completely agree. We have got | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
agreement. We have an apology to make to Stella | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
Creasy. We said earlier that ten people had been prosecuted for the | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
minimum wage violations, and that turns out not to be true. We | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
apologise. It was eight. And I'd apologise to you, Andrew, because I | :41:11. | :41:20. | |
have missed red something. I stand corrected. -- Ms rent. Apologies all | :41:20. | :41:28. | |
round. There is still time.Anyway, eight minimum rage violation | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
prosecutions according to the HMRC document. I will go back and check | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
what it was that made me think it was different and I will tweet you. | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
Full disclosure. Life does not get better. The organisation which | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
represents councils across England and Wales say that they risked | :41:45. | :41:47. | |
failing their communities if further cuts are imposed. The Local | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
Government Association has submitted their response ahead of the June | :41:52. | :41:59. | |
Spending Review for 2015. They say that the council is having to make | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
savings on average of �64 million in the calling on the government to end | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
the ring fencing of health and schools budgets as well as removing | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
the requirement to hold a referendum if you want to increase council tax | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
by more than 2%. We're joined now by the vice-chair of the Local | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
Government Association, a Labour council leader for Dudley. David | :42:19. | :42:29. | |
Sparks joins us from Birmingham. Welcome. Now, councils overall will | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
lose 2 billion a year from uncollected council tax. Another �2 | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
billion from fraud, and you have �16 billion of reserves, so what are you | :42:39. | :42:47. | |
moaning about. Oh, dear. We cannot hear him. We cannot even hear if he | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
is still mourning because I'm sorry, Mr sparks, and my viewers, we have | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
lost the sense to Birmingham. David Sparks, I apologise. Could you say | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
something, anything, so that we can work out if we can you do? No, we're | :43:01. | :43:11. | |
:43:11. | :43:12. | ||
not. All right. We will go back to Birmingham. Third time lucky, I'm | :43:12. | :43:21. | |
told. David Sparks? Hooray! Let me ask you the question again. It is | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
easier for you know you have time to think about it. You are losing �2 | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
billion a year from uncollected council tax, �2 billion from fraud | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
and you have �16 billion in the bank, so what are you moaning about? | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
We have collected 97% of council tax each year, which is far in excess of | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
central government, which has 20 billion pounds in unpaid tax. In | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
relation to the reserves, we have worked out that if we use the | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
reserves to fund the gap that we have got, money would run out in | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
five years. This is irrelevant in relation to the fundamental problem | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
that we have, which is that in 2020, if current things carry on as they | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
are, there will be a funding gap in this country of �16.5 billion in | :44:06. | :44:13. | |
local government. But by 2020, we barely know what is quick to happen | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
next year, let alone 2020. What is the situation going to be next | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
year, in your view? The situation next year is that it will be the | :44:22. | :44:29. | |
fourth year of a reduction of over 33%. Already, councils are in an | :44:29. | :44:37. | |
extreme position. We have had to make massive cuts which we do not | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
want to make. It is a tipping point now. The situation is going to be | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
that councils throughout the country representing millions of people will | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
be making further cuts, unless the government comes to its senses and | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
finances local government sensibly. Is it true that you want to end the | :44:54. | :44:59. | |
discount for council tax for single occupancy? We want to look at the | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
old question of how much we raise in income in relation to local | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
government. We have suggested to the government a range of suggestions in | :45:06. | :45:14. | |
our contribution, so that we can increase the income and we can also | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
make further economies and efficiencies in public sector | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
funding across the community on the whole. Was that a yes or a no?We're | :45:24. | :45:34. | |
:45:34. | :45:34. | ||
still looking at it. This business of needing a referendum to increase | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
council tax by more than 2%, I understand you wanted to raise it by | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
more than 2%, but you found it was going to go down like a lead balloon | :45:43. | :45:49. | |
with voters. No, quite the opposite, Dudley pioneered the way with our | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
consultation with our electorate before we went to the question of a | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
referendum. We had a situation where a quarter of the public in Dudley | :45:57. | :46:05. | |
wanted to increase council tax by over 2%, but the majority wanted to | :46:05. | :46:12. | |
keep it either the same, a frozen level... That was my point.We went | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
along with what the public wanted, which is what we are supposed to do | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
in a local democracy. You are making local councils pay for the | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
Government's deficit-reduction. Sorry, I am asking the Conservative | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
representative here. I have been a councillor, and it is tough for | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
councillors. We have had to make cuts across government because we | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
decided not to cut the NHS and education, and that does mean that | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
there have been cuts, that local authorities are having to do things | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
differently, but we also gave them a massive shift in power from | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
Westminster to local communities to do things differently. And what I | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
see is that some councils are grasping this opportunity, getting | :46:54. | :46:59. | |
people around the table, actually improving services, while freezing | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
or even, in some parts of the country, cutting council tax. What | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
this gentleman did not mention was the new resources, all councils own | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
their council houses, they keep all the revenue locally. Business rates | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
have been localised, council tax benefit, the pupil premium, the new | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
homes discount, all sorts of new income streams for councils. It is | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
uncomfortable for some of them. Those who just want hands out from | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
Westminster, they want that dependency, they are struggling with | :47:27. | :47:34. | |
this. But once you love local democracy What do you say to that? | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
Local authorities have had their budgets cut by 33%, central | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
government has only cut by 10%, so it is not a fair share of the cards. | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
In relation to local business tax, that is welcome in terms of being | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
localised, but the Treasury are continually taking a huge chunk of | :47:50. | :47:56. | |
the money. So having greater freedom to make more cuts is no freedom at | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
all. You have also... You failed to mention the New Homes Bonus and the | :48:01. | :48:07. | |
transfer of NHS money into adult social care. Munsell councils, most | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
first-tier councils, their biggest responsibility is caring for | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
people. -- most councils. Extra money is being passed from the NHS | :48:16. | :48:23. | |
to councils, and these art of times, but we must prioritise... This is a | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
separate budget, this is spoken for. This is extra money, in addition to | :48:27. | :48:35. | |
that. No, it is not. Again, further inaccuracies. The fact of the matter | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
is that the NHS budget is ringfenced. We would like to have | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
greater access to that so we could have more economies. If local | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
government had more money in relation to adult social care, there | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
would be fewer people in beds in hospitals, and the hospitals would | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
be more efficient. We are at cross purposes. The gentleman is right | :48:55. | :49:04. | |
about the public health budget, that is not what I am talking about. This | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
is about the integration of NHS and social care, social care budgets. I | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
am really proud of my authority, they have not cut adult social care | :49:10. | :49:12. | |
at all, they are working on new and innovative ways to make sure there | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
is better care in the community, more joined up services with the | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
NHS... There are areas which will have far greater social problems to | :49:20. | :49:29. | |
deal with, and when... It is hard to imagine that in Cornwall... | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
necessarily is populated as some of the other parts of the country. | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
Prime Minister's own local government is getting an increase, | :49:37. | :49:43. | |
and Liverpool, which most of us would recognise as a lot of | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
problems, is getting an 8% cut in funding. It is disingenuous to | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
suggest that local government is not bearing the brunt of these cuts. | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
you agree with the cap on council tax rises? My council has managed to | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
freeze it, but the bigger problem is that he is right when he talks about | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
the problems they are facing. We are wasting a lot of money in our NHS. I | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
am doing casework of people being discharged from hospital and social | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
services not being told. If you take an approach just based on a budget, | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
you make short-term decisions, like this government is making, with | :50:15. | :50:21. | |
long-term, expensive costs. We need to be working... But let's be | :50:21. | :50:23. | |
honest, under the Alistair Darling plan, spending for local government | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
was to be cut as well. Correct? have been talking about whole person | :50:28. | :50:36. | |
you want, but under the Alistair Darling plan, local government | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
spending was to be cut. Everyone was clear that the deficit needed to be | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
reduced, the question is how you do it, and this government is racking | :50:45. | :50:50. | |
up costs. Well, yes, I understand that some councils are having | :50:50. | :50:55. | |
difficulties, but we are introducing a damping process so that the worst | :50:55. | :51:02. | |
hit councils will only be cut by a very small percentage, about 3% or | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
less. That is not what Stella was saying about Liverpool. I will try | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
to get this right, a 7% cut in funding, which is in contrast with | :51:11. | :51:18. | |
Whitney getting an increase! Sparks, have you seen the | :51:18. | :51:20. | |
Department's recommendations, 50 ways for councils to save money, | :51:21. | :51:26. | |
have you tried any of these? We are trying everything we can, inventing | :51:26. | :51:32. | |
new ways of saving money, but at the end of the day we will literally | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
have 16.5 billion funding gap in the next couple of years, and that is | :51:35. | :51:40. | |
something that is not going to go away. Thank you for joining us | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
today. Sorry about the sound problems at the beginning there, | :51:43. | :51:49. | |
thank you very much. Now, my microphone is working! For a | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
few hours yesterday, politics was put to one side as the Queen opened | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
a new session of Parliament with a speech in the Lords, and when MPs | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
reassembled in the laws, proceedings began, as by tradition, would be | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
humble address, a sort of after-dinner speech, this year | :52:04. | :52:13. | |
proposed by Peter Luff and seconded Mr Speaker, it is a great honour to | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
propose the loyal address, but the invitation from the Chief Whip to do | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
so means I must accept an uncomfortable truth, that for 21 | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
years of service means I fit into the traditional role all too easily | :52:24. | :52:32. | |
of old buffer! No, surely not!Way back in 1996, as I approached my | :52:32. | :52:39. | |
first real election, my son at his father described in a BBC | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
documentary as a middle-aged politician. That phrase resonated in | :52:43. | :52:50. | |
his eight-year-old mind. For years after, birthday cards came to the | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
acronym MAP, children certainly keep you grounded. I thought it was a | :52:54. | :52:57. | |
premature description, but I have moved beyond that. I have decided to | :52:58. | :53:07. | |
:53:08. | :53:08. | ||
leave this place at the next election. Shame!I suspect the news | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
of Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement will attract more interest in the | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
outside world. Having just conducted my first rebellion in 21 years, and | :53:15. | :53:25. | |
:53:25. | :53:41. | ||
enough! I had not been anticipating to be offered this opportunity. | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
Prime Minister and I were born within 48 hours of each other, and | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
for the avoidance of doubt, he is the older of the two. I can see from | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
this vantage point that genetics has been kinder than him than it has to | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
me, particularly in the tonsorial Department, both in colour and | :53:58. | :54:04. | |
cover. While our family and school circumstances were indeed quite | :54:04. | :54:10. | |
different, we must have had similar cultural reference points and | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
experiences in the 1970s and 1980s. I believe he was a fan of the | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
Smiths, although I understand the feeling is not entirely mutual. I | :54:18. | :54:28. | |
:54:28. | :54:34. | ||
preferred Duranty ran -- Duran Duran and ABBA, with my favourite song | :54:34. | :54:39. | |
being Dancing Queen, which will not come as a surprise! That leads me | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
into the social reform of gay marriage. The right for same-sex | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
couples to demonstrate their love and commitment to each other before | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
family and friends will be a lasting social reform of this Parliament, | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
the legislation is brought forward by this coalition government, but it | :54:55. | :55:03. | |
is supported by members from all parties around the house. Bristol | :55:03. | :55:05. | |
West has three Quaker meeting house is, a Unitarian chapel, and a reform | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
synagogue, so I am sure that the country's first same-sex marriage | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
may be on my own constituency, but personally, Mr Speaker, I am still | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
waiting for my own Prince Charming, so I will not be able to take... I | :55:19. | :55:29. | |
:55:29. | :55:29. | ||
may be able to take advantage of ordinary people? If you listen to | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
that, I think it has answered itself! Too often not, according to | :55:35. | :55:38. | |
Liam Fox, who has called on the leadership to speak in the language | :55:38. | :55:45. | |
of the pub. The Prime Minister made a good start yesterday morning when | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
he realised that pubs might not be full of people discussing the | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
Queen's Speech but the resignation of a certain football manager | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
instead. Shortly after 2am yesterday, I will say that again, | :55:55. | :56:05. | |
:56:05. | :56:21. | ||
2am in the morning, he tweeted, Sir reference to the Aston Villa, like I | :56:21. | :56:31. | |
:56:31. | :56:36. | ||
am bothered! Showing he is down with time in the morning?! It is not | :56:36. | :56:46. | |
:56:46. | :56:55. | ||
after that, reminding the Labour lead that actually Mr Ferguson had | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
not really died, he had just resigned! All right, so the party | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
leaders are at least trying to get it, but how in touch are their MPs? | :57:05. | :57:11. | |
Well, ladies, you will be pleased to know, oh, yes, we have got a little | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
quiz to find out how in touch UI with popular culture! Stella, Lucky | :57:15. | :57:22. | |
you, number one, how many convictions were there under the | :57:22. | :57:30. | |
minimum wage... ? Stop it!You both got it wrong, actually! Who is not | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
in the running to replace Alex Ferguson as the next manager of | :57:33. | :57:43. | |
:57:43. | :57:54. | ||
Mourinho. I grew up in Manchester, so they are my team. He was in the | :57:54. | :58:03. | |
running. It is Steven Gerrard.We have got to move on, who is number | :58:03. | :58:13. | |
:58:13. | :58:22. | ||
guess number one. You are wrong, it is Daft Punk! Lorely Burt, we cannot | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
let you go, which East Enders character is reportedly set to make | :58:25. | :58:35. | |
:58:35. | :58:45. | ||
made our point! Special thanks to our three guests, the one o'clock | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
news is starting on BBC One. I will be back tonight for This Week on BBC | :58:50. | :58:54. |