02/12/2013 Daily Politics


02/12/2013

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Afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Has the government

:00:38.:00:42.

stolen Labour's thunder over energy? A number of leading energy companies

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have promised to reduce recent increases to domestic fuel bills

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after the government announced cuts to the green levies they face.

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Ministers say they believe ?50 can be taken off the average annual

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bill. David Cameron's in Beijing, stepping up our ties with China. But

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is he marching too much to the Chinese tune? It's only three days

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till the Autumn statement. What Christmas goodies will George

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Osborne have up his sleeve? And it's only 521 days till the General

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Election! Could the end of coalition government get messy?

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All that in the next hour. With us for the whole programme today is the

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former Home Office and Foreign Office Minister, Liberal Democrat

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MP, Jeremy Browne. Welcome to the programme. Good afternoon. Now,

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first this morning, let's talk about China because that's where the Prime

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Minister is. Writing in a newspaper ahead of his visit, Mr Cameron had

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this message. " There is no country in the Western world more open to

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Chinese investment, more able to meet the demands of Chinese

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consumers, or more willing to make the case for economic openess in the

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G8, the G20 and the European Union. ". Pretty clear. And this is what he

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had to say to the BBC's Nick Robinson earlier today. We have a

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strong relationship between Britain and China including human rights

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dialogue. We are one of the few countries to have that relationship

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with China but very much top of the list only in China is making sure we

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secure those British jobs at home and British investment to help

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achieve our economic growth. Is he selling our souls of the Chinese? I

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agree with every new said. The biggest fact of life in the world

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today is the rise of China, the rise of Asia more generally, I think it

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will completely dominate everything that we do in government terms for

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the next 50 years in this country. I read an article, I think it is in

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the Guardian, Simon Jenkins, a few weeks ago, one of the worst I have

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ever read. What it said was David Cameron shouldn't waste of time

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going to China, he should be concentrating entirely on domestic

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policy but China is increasingly domestic policy because if we are

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concerned about the future of our economy, our education system, our

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deficit, all of these are tied up with the rise of Asia. With all due

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respect, that wasn't quite the question I asked, because many

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people apart from Simon Jenkins would agree that that is where the

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investment comes from. But should we be selling our soul in the sense

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that many critics say he's giving in he has capitulated on human rights

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after the to-do over posing with the Dalai llama which seemed to cause a

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big problem. It's more concentrated than that. I don't think we should

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be selling our soul, is the short answer, but I do think there was a

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danger with some of these jamborees that we take loads of business

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people on a plane and a few government ministers. Cronies?

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Important business people but we feel we have ticked the box and done

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it the whole point of the racial job I think with China and other Asian

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countries is about weaving them into everything we do in terms of how we

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think about international politics, the future of the economy. But we

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should at the same time, have the self-respect to stand up for our own

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values, I don't think anybody in the world should tell the elected Prime

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Minister this country who he can or cannot meet. I'm not saying we

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should cave in Folsom we should have confidence in our own values. And we

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shouldn't see the relationship with countries like China as just a

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transactional relationship that we do a bit, and then they do a bit

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back. We have to think much more in the integrated way, the way we would

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with the French and the Germans and the Americans, about how to interact

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with Asian countries on a daily basis, not every three years. Human

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rights isn't going to be raised in a meaningful way on this trip.

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Universal values have been set aside for the greater good. I think the

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Prime Minister was right to meet the Dalai Lama. I think... It did result

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in a problem. I don't think the primaries should be dictated to by

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foreign governments but we have to see the relationship in the round.

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And we have to be aware that China is already the second biggest

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economy in the world and will overtake the Americans. It isn't

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wise or, in my view, polite to spend the whole time lecturing them and

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expecting them to listen to us. It doesn't work either. Also, we have

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to be courteous to the countries we deal with and respectful of them

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whilst, at the same time course having self-respect for ourselves.

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It's perfectly possible to have a rounded relationship which puts

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human rights on the list of concerns but, at the same time, we have an

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economic and political situation into related. You have dealt with

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the Chinese for them what are they like? You have a famous picture we

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have shown. Any opportunity, not just to see you of course, but the

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pandas. It was amazing. I loved meeting that panda. What did he say

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about human rights? He loved his carrot, and he's got it all over his

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belly. You look more pleased than he does. It was a very funny situation

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to find myself in. What are the Chinese like? They are. . Pretty

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hot-headed. In flexible. In their thinking for them when they come to

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negotiating, and discussing the issues with other countries, but I

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think the trap we fall into sometimes is thinking that the

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Chinese are not thinking deeply about the future of world affairs. I

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think they are very interested in what they can learn from us, from

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other leading countries like the Germans, and we shouldn't be so

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arrogant as to assume we can't learn anything from them either. Let's

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leave it there. And the Panda. Now it's time for our daily quiz. Not

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completely unrelated. The question for today is what culinary delight

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was David Cameron served on his current trip to China? Was it: A)

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Roasted duck heads. B) Bamboo fungus. C) Chicken feet.

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D) Sweet and sour sea horse. They all sound and look delicious, don't

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they? At the end of the show Jeremy will give us the correct answer. He

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has and we have them all. The Chancellor is due to deliver his

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Autumn Statement on Thursday, updating us on the state of the

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nation's finances and setting out his tax and spending plans for the

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future. -- he has, we have them all. Speaking to the BBC yesterday,

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George Osborne said the UK economy was on the right track and denied

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that his policies were creating a housing bubble. His opposite number,

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Ed Balls, however, warned against over-confidence in the recovery.

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Here's a bit of what they both had to say. The economic planners

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working and recovery is underway. In the Autumn statement, I will say the

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job is not yet done. We have got to make sure we go on taking the

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difficult decisions to secure that recovery. And we also want a

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responsible recovery. We want to learn from the mistakes of the past

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and don't see a re-emergence of some of those problems in the financial

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system which brought this country to its knees. On housing, specifically,

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what are the Bank of England and I say is this not a housing bubble at

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the moment, that we want to make sure one doesn't develop and that's

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why it wasn't just the Bank of England, at myself and the bank

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governor working together. One of these schemes, which has been

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underpinning mortgage lending in financial markets, we are now going

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to focus on small business lending because they are not only the

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lifeblood of the economy. I think you see as working together, the

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Bank of England, the Treasury, to make sure we do not repeat the

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mistakes of the past and monitor the economy, swap housing booms before

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they emerge, and let's be clear, as of today, the Bank of England agreed

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this not a housing boom. It's good that finally we are seeing some

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growth but from a very low base, for families in our country, it's not a

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recovery because living standards are falling month by month. If

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George boasts about a recovery, which may be there for people in the

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city, but for most people is not there at all, I fear it will make

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you look even more out of touch. George Osborne and Ed Balls. With us

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now is the former Labour Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, John

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McFall. And the former Defence Secretary, the Conservative MP, Liam

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Fox. Welcome to both of you. It's going to be a big week. The economy

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will take centre stage, as it has done over the last few years.

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Actually, now, it's all looking pretty good. In fact, some

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economists say the UK is projected to be public the fastest-growing

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economy in the developed world. It's not surprising that George Osborne

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says is looking good, but is this the right type of recovery? In his

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October 2011 budget, he said he did not want a debt fuelled economy. He

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did not want city bonuses, and he did not want other excesses. Now, if

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you look at the economy just now, Mark Carney said three quarters of

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the growth next year will come from increasing consumer spending and

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debt. So we actually have a debt fuelled recovery and that isn't good

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for the longer term. We will talk about the type of recovery in a

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moment. Cynics would save you talked about growth, Ed Balls talked about

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nothing else but getting growth back into the economy when it's back, and

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the projections are it's going to increase faster than the forecast

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said and, from that growth, there will be an economic recovery. What

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are you complaining about? Actually, the economy fell so much that the

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normal experience when the economy recovers its growth has increased

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quite a bit, but what type of growth are we having? It's a joyless

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growth, unemployment now was still higher than when the government came

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in and because of his policies, it took off 1.5% of GDP every year so,

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in many ways, it was three years of waste. We don't know whether it was

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the Chancellor's policies, it could've been longer if Labour had

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been in arguably but that's not the issue of the type of recovery. Just

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before you get to your point of view, it is to to say, actually, it

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is consumer spending, what people are worried about is a housing

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bubble, we will return to exactly the sort of conditions that resulted

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and exacerbated the result of a financial crash. I don't think we

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necessarily well but we should be guarded about that danger. We should

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try to make sure that we don't. Just to pick up on John's point for the

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unemployment levels are lower than when the government came into

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office. Youth unemployment? The government was rolling almost ?450

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million every day. It was completely disastrous and we had to restore

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some sanity to the government. That was as a result of a financial

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crash, to be fair. What we're doing now, slowly but surely, is getting

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the economic situation and the government finances back on their

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feet but there's a long way to go, so no one must think the job has

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been done. Are those finances being fixed question mark the deficit is

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still extremely high. If you take the figures George Osborne used

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himself in 2010 and 11, he is postponing all the austerity he

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really couldn't do for them the finances are not fixed, they are

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better and the deficit is lower, but it still extremely high. I don't

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want to see the Chancellor and the government as a whole talking about

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the whole situation as if it has been sorted. We are out of the woods

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and every thing is fine and dandy. We are growing, but as a

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prerequisite for sustained recovery in this country and thought at the

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public finances, but we are still warrant a colossal amount of money

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and have a lot of hard decisions in front of us. Actually, Liam Fox, you

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will talk about austerity more in the autumn statement. It's going to

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go on for years and years and years and, despite this growth, there's

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nothing for people to look forward to for the there's a lot for people

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to look forward to, 1 million public sector jobs created. It's nonsense,

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clearly the public finances are improving. But we still are spending

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a lot more money than we are aiming at a country. Until we get back into

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balance, we will have to continue to tighten our belts, continue downward

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pressure on public expenditure, and on the deficit. How much further

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would you shrink public spending and the size of the state? It is an

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arbitrary debate, but if you think of when we were at the early 2000s,

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it was a reasonably sustained position. Labour increased public

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spending. Up to 52% of GDP. This government is still running off a

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lot of money over the parliament. Of course, and I think it still

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borrowing a lot. We are still ring too much money. We would like to

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sing deficit come down faster. -- borrowing too much money. But we are

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making progress. We're talking about the elimination of the deficit in

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this country within five years, which is infinitely better than the

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performances in, double countries in Europe. And there would have to be

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tax rises as one of spending cuts. There. As the economy grows, what do

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you do with the extra money? Put it into deficit reduction, some of it

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into increased spending? I would like to see us continuing downward

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pressure on the deficit, the most important thing. And then tax cuts

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because ultimately, interest rates are going to rise, and if we want to

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protect people from an increase in mortgage rates, we have to see the

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tax pressure come down. Can we afford tax cuts in the foreseeable

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future at any stage? Well, we can, but my greatest majority -- priority

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would be reducing the deficit. If you look at marriage tax cuts and

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meals for schoolchildren, that is a dealer the two coalition parties are

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done. ?1.5 billion. Is that really affordable at a time when austerity

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is going to rain, the finances aren't fixed, and the Lib Dems are

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throwing out these little gambits to the public before the finance

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meetings? I think both parties of government are doing that and have

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to look at how they continue to bear down on the deficit. Some targeted

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tax cuts are possible. We have cut income tax for people on low and

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middle incomes by raising the threshold to ?10,000, and that is an

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important tax cut that benefits 25 million people in work, but what the

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Government cannot do is, as I say, let it head down, is the end money

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as if we are out of the woods. Let's talk about the cost of living

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crisis, Liam Fox, and I will come to you in response to this, John

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McFall, but the Tories have been playing catch-up, they have had to

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move onto Labour territory, who have dominated the agenda on the cost of

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living crisis. I, Ed Miliband's speech at the Labour Party

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conference got considerable political momentum. -- I think. The

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question is, what do you do when you find people are finding it difficult

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to make ends meet because, for various reasons, prices have risen

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faster than wages in recent years? My answer would be to not take so

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much money out of earnings in the first place. Government should not

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be taking so much of people's income. Government needs to control

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spending so it is not pushing hard working people into more hardship by

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taxing them. In terms of the cost of living, they are doing, to some

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extent, the Tories, responding in what they would claim is a more

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effective way than Labour's suggestion. In general, they are and

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string what has been raised by Ed Miliband. To adapt Mrs Thatcher's

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phrase, you turn if you want to. I am first in the queue for U-turn

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every time on payday loans, energy, so this government are not leading,

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they are following. We need leadership year flood is, and what

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we will get is another bout of PR from George Osborne. -- we need

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leadership here. Debt and deficit reduction at two completely separate

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things. Courtesy of Fraser Nelson, he says that in the 13 years of

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Labour government, it added ?319 billion, any five years of this

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Government it will add ?465 billion, so let's get real when we talk about

:17:52.:17:55.

debt and deficit reduction. John is that the government have added a

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colossal amount of money to the overall national debt, but the

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reason for that is we inherited such a massive deficit. I do not member

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Labour saying they wanted to cut the deficit faster than that. Come on,

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it is not... You are saying Labour as saying they would borrow more.

:18:15.:18:20.

Yeah, they want to borrow more. Labour gave you growth in 2010. You

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do not know if that would have continued. Is it true that Labour

:18:27.:18:31.

would spend more, use any savings from the deficit to spend? Alistair

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Darling said at the Labour target in 2010, and George Osborne and company

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said, look, we are going to square the debt by 2015, and they have not

:18:43.:18:49.

got anywhere near it. He would have halved the deficit by 2015. There is

:18:50.:18:55.

not a single hard-headed decision that has been made in the House of

:18:56.:18:59.

Commons in the last three years to get more efficient, low spending

:19:00.:19:03.

that Labour has not opposed. But give them credit for one thing, Ed

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Miliband has set the pace with his speech and his idea on energy

:19:09.:19:12.

prices. The difficulty the Government has, when Ed Miliband

:19:13.:19:15.

comes up with an idea like that, even an economic league illiterate

:19:16.:19:19.

idea, is that the Government seems to be unsure about whether to

:19:20.:19:23.

ridicule it or match it. The worst is to do both, and the Government

:19:24.:19:28.

has got to, if you like, get a sense of its direction and priorities, and

:19:29.:19:32.

not be driven to respond to every bad idea of Ed Miliband's, because

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that is the danger Gordon Brown got into, and every time George Osborne

:19:38.:19:40.

as Shadow Chancellor came up with an idea, Gordon Brown seemed to think

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his main priority was to cancel it out. That will be politics for you!

:19:45.:19:50.

You can be too tactical if you are not careful. One of the things

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people will be worried about is that good news in a broader sense, Labour

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want to focus on cost of living, Government want to focus on the

:20:00.:20:03.

bigger economic picture, but what if the economy is overstimulated, the

:20:04.:20:06.

pressure to put up interest rates will be overwhelming, wanted?

:20:07.:20:12.

Interest rates will rise. Not before the next election. It looks like it

:20:13.:20:17.

is a bit off here and in the United States, but they are historically

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low, way below normal, and the question is, when they do start to

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rise, what can the Government best do to minimise that and protect

:20:26.:20:30.

people? First of all, it is getting control of borrowing, making the

:20:31.:20:34.

pressure for rising interest rates less, but making sure that the tax

:20:35.:20:38.

burden is falling so that people are not being hit twice. What do you

:20:39.:20:43.

think about the married couple's tax break and free school meals? It is a

:20:44.:20:51.

good idea, but I would have postponed it until later. I think we

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need to make sure the deficit is tackled. Something we have not

:20:56.:20:59.

mentioned, the deficit means we have debt interest to repay, and next

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year that debt interest is bigger than the education budget. That is

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not acceptable, spending more money servicing debt than on education.

:21:08.:21:11.

George Osborne said he would avoid that. We are bringing it down,

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Labour would put it back up. Our interest is ?1 billion per week,

:21:18.:21:22.

just interest alone. I am glad I do not have to paid! You do, that is

:21:23.:21:29.

the point! John McFall, the problem for Labour is that the people do not

:21:30.:21:33.

trust you, whatever you say or do in terms of finger wagging, they do not

:21:34.:21:37.

trust you to run the economy. Well, that is the challenge for labour,

:21:38.:21:42.

and Labour lost the argument at the beginning of 2010 when we allowed a

:21:43.:21:46.

false statement to be made that the UK was like Greece and elsewhere,

:21:47.:21:50.

and the issue now in terms of interest rates, Lee made the point,

:21:51.:21:56.

globally we have a savings glut. There are not enough investments to

:21:57.:22:02.

match the savings that are there, and this is an opportunity for the

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Chancellor to make sure we have an investment strategy, because

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business investment is lower this year than it was last year. What

:22:09.:22:15.

would you like to see? One thing. I want to see the deficit pressure

:22:16.:22:19.

continued outwards. I agree with that. I will add to it that I also

:22:20.:22:23.

think we should do more and continue to do more people on low and middle

:22:24.:22:29.

incomes. We have got used to coalition government in this country

:22:30.:22:33.

now, the deals, the squabbles and the patching things up, but time

:22:34.:22:37.

flies when you are having fun, and it will all be over in two years or

:22:38.:22:41.

less, which has got people thinking about what the end will be like. To

:22:42.:22:45.

find out if parting really will be such sweet sorrow, Adam has been

:22:46.:22:48.

looking at some countries where coalition make-ups and break-ups are

:22:49.:22:57.

part of everyday life. # Time to say goodbye...

:22:58.:23:02.

This beautiful friendship will come to an end in just 521 days' time,

:23:03.:23:09.

when the next general election is held and the coalition will be

:23:10.:23:10.

unwound. Some of Whitehall's finest minds are

:23:11.:23:21.

wondering what that will be like here at a think tank, the Institute

:23:22.:23:24.

of the and, along with some international commentators, who have

:23:25.:23:29.

seen plenty of endings, happy and unhappy. -- the Institute for

:23:30.:23:33.

government. First of all, Germany, which has had 18 coalitions since

:23:34.:23:39.

1949. For the time being, the most important lesson is for the junior

:23:40.:23:45.

partner, because in the last election, the Liberals, not the Lib

:23:46.:23:51.

Dems in Germany, the Liberals, they paid a very high price for being in

:23:52.:23:57.

the coalition, because they did not stick to their philosophies, and

:23:58.:24:02.

their voters said, you sold everything that you promised to us

:24:03.:24:05.

just to stay in power. They took a terrible defeat in the September

:24:06.:24:07.

elections. Philosophies, and their voters said, you sold everything

:24:08.:24:10.

that you promised to us just to stay in power. They took a terrible

:24:11.:24:12.

defeat in the September elections. In Ireland, several coalitions have

:24:13.:24:14.

collapsed, and the lesson from there is all about party discipline. In

:24:15.:24:17.

Ireland, several coalitions have collapsed, and the lesson from there

:24:18.:24:18.

is all about party discipline. Backbenchers backbenchers they get

:24:19.:24:22.

very worried they get very worried about their seats, individually and

:24:23.:24:27.

collectively. You need to instil confidence in the backbenchers that

:24:28.:24:33.

the best thing to do is stay in government, deliver on the programme

:24:34.:24:36.

for government, that is hugely important. Although we are unlikely

:24:37.:24:44.

to follow Sweden, where four parties and their coalitions are thinking

:24:45.:24:49.

about the next one. We have managed to create pre-election pacts, a

:24:50.:24:54.

common manifesto, four parties creating a common manifesto before

:24:55.:25:00.

the elections, and we won into 2006 and were re-elected in 2010.

:25:01.:25:08.

So no matter what language your coalition is in, the message seems

:25:09.:25:14.

to be, weirdly, the most important thing about breaking up is sticking

:25:15.:25:16.

together or as long as possible. We are joined now for the rest of

:25:17.:25:32.

the programme by energy Mr Michael Fallon and, from the Institute of

:25:33.:25:36.

Government, by Peter Riddle. Is there a theme to coalitions ending,

:25:37.:25:42.

or nothing at all? Oh, there are themes, and that film which you

:25:43.:25:49.

showed, based on the meeting we had last week, they all say, if you

:25:50.:25:53.

break of a coalition early, if you are the junior partner, you get

:25:54.:26:01.

punished, invariably. Both sides? More likely the junior partner, the

:26:02.:26:04.

one who was breaking up. But there is a common pattern as an election

:26:05.:26:11.

approaches, politicians will revert to electoral type. You need a system

:26:12.:26:18.

which is flexible enough to accommodate them working together on

:26:19.:26:20.

the immediate problems of government, but also recognising

:26:21.:26:24.

they are competing as parties, not standing as a coalition but

:26:25.:26:28.

competing as parties for their plans beyond. It is a mixture of

:26:29.:26:32.

recognising the party system, but also having a system which allows

:26:33.:26:36.

them to govern together on immediate problems, and in a sense they are

:26:37.:26:41.

advocating breaking the coalition up. Wrong, anyone who does that will

:26:42.:26:46.

get punished, that is the invariable message. You are not wanted was

:26:47.:26:51.

advocating coalition, but do you agree that in Germany the Liberals,

:26:52.:26:55.

they were wiped out, weren't they, because people thought they had sold

:26:56.:26:58.

out to the bigger partner? Well, there may be a number of reasons why

:26:59.:27:03.

they were wiped out, and we have to be mindful of that. I agree with

:27:04.:27:07.

what Peter said, and the one thing I take exception to a bit was the

:27:08.:27:10.

introduction about the squabbling and bickering in the coalition. Has

:27:11.:27:16.

that not happened? It has, but to no greater degree than as happened in

:27:17.:27:20.

single party governments. If you remember Gordon Brown and Cabinet

:27:21.:27:24.

ministers resigning and calling on him to go, if you think about how

:27:25.:27:29.

Margaret Thatcher was deposed, John Major, all parties, as they get near

:27:30.:27:33.

a general election, whether in government on their own or with

:27:34.:27:36.

another party, inevitably they look more to the future, but we are paid

:27:37.:27:41.

to govern on a day-to-day basis in the interests of the country, and

:27:42.:27:45.

that is what we need to get on with. But tribal loyalty will win out. The

:27:46.:27:50.

coalition will not be on the ballot paper, and it is right the Liberal

:27:51.:27:54.

Democrats and the Conservatives put forward their ideas for 2015-20, but

:27:55.:27:58.

that does not stop us getting on with trying to run the country

:27:59.:28:03.

sensibly in 2014. But will you sacrifice seats for, as you would

:28:04.:28:08.

put it, the coalition? I hope not, we will have to have a vote and find

:28:09.:28:13.

out! My hope is that people will believe that it is perfectly

:28:14.:28:16.

possible to have an enlightened, generous spirited Liberal party that

:28:17.:28:19.

believes in us having sane economic management, and that the combination

:28:20.:28:23.

can be attracted to another people for us to do well at general

:28:24.:28:28.

election, we will find out. Do recognise that description, Michael

:28:29.:28:33.

Fallon? On a personal level, I think coalition works extremely well,

:28:34.:28:36.

dealing with the deficit, sticking to one economic policy, and that is

:28:37.:28:40.

why we have a lower interest rates, and I do not think there is

:28:41.:28:44.

squabbling and Pickering. What about backbenchers? Perhaps, you see that

:28:45.:28:51.

occasionally, but even with our own, just as much as the Liberal

:28:52.:28:53.

Democrats with theirs. In the heart of government, I have very cordial

:28:54.:28:58.

relations with Vince Cable and with Ed Davey, both Liberal Democrats. We

:28:59.:29:02.

get on very well. What will happen between now and the election, as you

:29:03.:29:07.

are defending seats yourselves and putting forward a manifesto that

:29:08.:29:10.

will look, I presume, very different to Jeremy and his colleagues? The

:29:11.:29:14.

evidence from Peter, and he will speak for himself, is that we will

:29:15.:29:18.

have to keep focusing on big things, we will have to keep going and

:29:19.:29:22.

deficit reduction, making sure the economic recovery is sustainable and

:29:23.:29:26.

well-balanced, pushing on with our reforms to education and welfare,

:29:27.:29:30.

but I suspect, as we get nearer to the election, both parties will be

:29:31.:29:34.

looking to the future, and you are going to get more positioning and a

:29:35.:29:39.

clear indication of what a straightforward majority

:29:40.:29:44.

Conservative government would do. We all get the impression everybody is

:29:45.:29:49.

looking now to try and position themselves in terms of the Lib Dems

:29:50.:29:52.

and the Conservatives, but not much will get done. What gets done it

:29:53.:29:59.

tends to be new things. A lot of legislation in this parliament is

:30:00.:30:01.

now being implemented. Health, universal credit, a lot of the new

:30:02.:30:07.

legislation, always the final year of Parliament is when there isn't

:30:08.:30:12.

much bigger legislation. Things will happen but there won't be massive

:30:13.:30:15.

new initiatives. The focus will shift. The interesting point Michael

:30:16.:30:21.

made if it's in both the Tories and the Lib Dem interest to contain the

:30:22.:30:26.

argument. Don't squabble too much over the current, and therefore get

:30:27.:30:29.

the tone right and the balance between that and the electorate. You

:30:30.:30:34.

don't care if they lose its combo Lib Dems? We will be fighting them

:30:35.:30:40.

in the election. Why do you care about keeping it sweet and unified

:30:41.:30:44.

until then? You have got more to gain and they have got everything to

:30:45.:30:47.

lose. We all have a common interest. They didn't vote overall

:30:48.:30:53.

for a winner last time. We came together in the national interest at

:30:54.:30:56.

a difficult stage of the European economy, and we have stuck to that,

:30:57.:31:00.

and we do have to focus on what has to be done in the next year and a

:31:01.:31:04.

half, as well as lookahead. What about another coalition with the

:31:05.:31:11.

Tories? It's not a game. We have to make sure we have in place an

:31:12.:31:14.

economy where people can have a realistic prospect of finding jobs,

:31:15.:31:18.

not losing their House. But you have also got to win your seat. You have

:31:19.:31:23.

got to hope, if you do the right thing, and make wise decisions...

:31:24.:31:27.

But some of your colleagues may not see that. Another coalition with the

:31:28.:31:32.

Tories. You have obviously enjoyed it? It was bought for the Lib Dems

:31:33.:31:37.

to being coalition again after the next general election. That it is

:31:38.:31:43.

possible. I think it either Conservatives or Labour were to get

:31:44.:31:47.

more than half the seats, neither of them would have an appetite for a

:31:48.:31:50.

coalition with the Lib Dems, although, if the Conservatives were

:31:51.:31:54.

to win with a majority of four, or Labour, with a tiny majority, people

:31:55.:31:59.

will look back fondly at this period of stable government compared to

:32:00.:32:05.

being fitted on a daily basis by government with a small majority.

:32:06.:32:09.

You have to be careful what you wish for. There's a lot to be said for

:32:10.:32:17.

stable coalition. You have obviously enjoyed the coalition and maybe

:32:18.:32:21.

would preferred... Some bits more than others! You have been a victim

:32:22.:32:26.

of coalition shenanigans. There was a lot of surprise when you didn't

:32:27.:32:32.

keep your job. I don't know if I'm a victim of shenanigans. They felt

:32:33.:32:39.

they had to shuffle the deck. I'm a victim of more senior people in

:32:40.:32:43.

government being able to decide who serves in government and who

:32:44.:32:48.

doesn't. But I am completely committed to this government. I

:32:49.:32:51.

think it is, by far and away, the best prospect Britain has full

:32:52.:32:54.

dealing with its long-term problems and I think we're a good fist of it.

:32:55.:32:59.

What is interesting about the coalition, as well as dealing with

:33:00.:33:03.

the deficit and recovery, we have done some pretty radical things. We

:33:04.:33:08.

are making big changes in welfare, in schools,

:33:09.:33:45.

are making big changes in welfare, are making big changes in welfare,

:33:46.:33:45.

in schools, that, honestly, you are better with

:33:46.:33:47.

a majority government which is more you can get on and do the things you

:33:48.:33:50.

want to do. We would you can get on and do the things you

:33:51.:34:11.

human rights, for example, getting rid

:34:12.:34:11.

human rights, for example, getting back fondly on Nick Clegg. I don't

:34:12.:34:11.

human rights, for example, getting agree with that. I believe don't

:34:12.:34:21.

Herbert says you sent letters to yourself and answer

:34:22.:34:29.

Herbert says you sent letters to part of this which cut across, how

:34:30.:34:29.

you deal with industries affected part of this which cut across, how

:34:30.:34:34.

example, which is why the Prime Minister asked we to

:34:35.:34:41.

example, which is why the Prime next time, the key thing is the

:34:42.:34:41.

politicians and the next time, the key thing is the

:34:42.:35:00.

different. We could have a minority-owned. Who knows?

:35:01.:35:04.

different. We could have a prepared for any kind of outcome. It

:35:05.:35:04.

would be great prepared for any kind of outcome. It

:35:05.:35:16.

what's happening this week. As we've heard,

:35:17.:35:16.

what's happening this week. As we've diplomatic to-do after meeting the

:35:17.:35:16.

Dalai Lama play. On Tuesday, Ed Miliband will

:35:17.:35:22.

be claiming play. On Tuesday, Ed Miliband will

:35:23.:35:30.

for attention by play. On Tuesday, Ed Miliband will

:35:31.:35:39.

Clegg will be in the ring with play. On Tuesday, Ed Miliband will

:35:40.:36:10.

it. And finally, Friday sees play. On Tuesday, Ed Miliband will

:36:11.:36:17.

David Cameron has sold his soul for play. On Tuesday, Ed Miliband will

:36:18.:36:23.

statesman and a in China. As Ms leaders will be

:36:24.:36:30.

statesman and a in China. As Ms and the fact of the matter is, there

:36:31.:36:30.

are some and the fact of the matter is, there

:36:31.:36:44.

Washing human rights to one side. Promoting Britain as the

:36:45.:36:51.

with. Other people say it's sour grapes from the French and the

:36:52.:36:59.

with. Other people say it's sour it's worth it? Some people say he is

:37:00.:36:59.

selling Britain's sold it's worth it? Some people say he is

:37:00.:37:23.

father-in-law and people like that. It's proving a distraction for him.

:37:24.:37:30.

On the other hand, out of the millions of businesses in the UK,

:37:31.:37:34.

not many have people related to the Prime Minister, so is having to fend

:37:35.:37:40.

off those criticisms. Maybe it's distracting from the message about

:37:41.:37:44.

helping British business overall. The allegations of cronyism have

:37:45.:37:49.

been in the papers. Whether or not that the tracks from the trip, this

:37:50.:37:53.

would also say some things that Western governments can't tell a

:37:54.:37:56.

Chinese what to do because they will freeze the right and you won't get

:37:57.:38:01.

what you want? Boris Johnson said it well on his recent China, when he

:38:02.:38:04.

said you can't go into meetings and say, how is this freedom stuff

:38:05.:38:09.

going, chaps? Western leaders know they will be put in the deep freeze.

:38:10.:38:13.

They are reluctant to tread into sensitive water. China needs

:38:14.:38:17.

European countries almost as much as we need them. They need our

:38:18.:38:26.

services. Their economy is heavy in manufacturing to services and the UK

:38:27.:38:28.

provides good accountancy, legal services. They need us. Foreign

:38:29.:38:34.

leaders have a duty to raise human rights issues when they are there.

:38:35.:38:40.

The Autumn statement, the UK economy motoring ahead. It's more

:38:41.:38:45.

austerities, isn't it? That is the message George Osborne yesterday was

:38:46.:38:51.

trying to deliver and he will stress that again on Thursday that things

:38:52.:38:55.

are turning the corner. He has got a delicate balance to adopt here will

:38:56.:38:59.

stop he is trying to say the economy is doing better but also he hasn't

:39:00.:39:04.

got much room for manoeuvre. We are expecting growth figures to be

:39:05.:39:06.

upgraded by the biggest increase for three years. So that's great.

:39:07.:39:12.

Hurray. We are expecting some giveaways. Perhaps on petrol duty,

:39:13.:39:20.

perhaps a cat. Help for small businesses in the high Street --

:39:21.:39:27.

cut. Some Tories, Liam Fox MP, are pushing hard for tax cuts, permanent

:39:28.:39:34.

austerity, George Osborne yesterday said to have lie ahead. But of

:39:35.:39:40.

course, they have another 18 months to go before the general election,

:39:41.:39:45.

so he'll want to save up some sweeteners for later on. It's a

:39:46.:39:49.

difficult balancing act, I think. The worry now, which we have been

:39:50.:39:53.

discussing if that there are fears of a housing bubble and actually,

:39:54.:39:57.

this growth is not sustainable, particularly if it's based on a

:39:58.:40:00.

housing bubble and another credit room. That's one of George

:40:01.:40:07.

Osborne's concerns, the recovery will look a bit like the kind of

:40:08.:40:11.

recoveries with hard in the past based on inflated housing prices,

:40:12.:40:15.

consumer credit and the rest of it. That's what he's trying to pull

:40:16.:40:19.

together the visit of the Prime Minister to China to show it will be

:40:20.:40:22.

a broader-based recovery, the exporter manufacturing going, to

:40:23.:40:26.

make sure we're not just dependent on a housing bubble. OK, both of

:40:27.:40:31.

you, thank you very much. Ever since Ed Miliband announced at his party

:40:32.:40:34.

conference that a Labour Government would implement a price freeze on

:40:35.:40:37.

energy bills, the Coalition has looked a little as though it's been

:40:38.:40:40.

running to keep up. Better news on the economy has apparently not led

:40:41.:40:44.

to better poll ratings, with the political debate focused on what

:40:45.:40:47.

Labour call a cost of living crisis. Over the last week we've been

:40:48.:40:50.

hearing clues about what the Government plans to do to keep bills

:40:51.:40:54.

down, and this morning we got the full details. Policies announced

:40:55.:41:02.

today will enable companies to reduce bills by an average of about

:41:03.:41:05.

?50. The energy company obligation or ECO scheme, which pays for home

:41:06.:41:08.

insulation, will be implemented more slowly. That should lead to a saving

:41:09.:41:18.

of ?30 to ?35 for customers. The Warm Home Discount, which provides a

:41:19.:41:20.

rebate for vulnerable households, will from now on be funded from

:41:21.:41:24.

general taxation, rather than added to bills. Meaning a further saving

:41:25.:41:28.

of ?12. And the electricity distribution network companies have

:41:29.:41:31.

agreed to cut their charges for a further one-off saving of ?5. It

:41:32.:41:36.

looks as though the Lib Dems have won some concessions to make sure

:41:37.:41:39.

the changes don't lead to higher carbon emissions. People who buy a

:41:40.:41:46.

new home could get up to ?1,000 from the Government to spend on

:41:47.:41:49.

energy-saving measures. And ?90 million of public money will be

:41:50.:41:53.

spent over three years to improve the energy efficiency of schools and

:41:54.:41:57.

hospitals. This morning the major energy companies have confirmed that

:41:58.:42:01.

they will pass on the savings to customers although most people's

:42:02.:42:05.

bills will still rise overall. Labour is launching its own Green

:42:06.:42:09.

Paper on energy today to consult on how their policy of freezing bills

:42:10.:42:13.

could be implemented. Ed Miliband says the changes to energy levies

:42:14.:42:16.

announced today are just smoke and mirrors. And Labour's Julie Elliott,

:42:17.:42:23.

who is a shadow energy minister, joins us now. Welcome to the

:42:24.:42:28.

programme. Michael Fallon, just to recap, today's announcement will

:42:29.:42:32.

mean those go up by less than they otherwise would but they are still

:42:33.:42:36.

going to rise overall, aren't they? It depends what happens to wholesale

:42:37.:42:41.

gas prices. Labour said you could freeze prices without explaining how

:42:42.:42:47.

you can free costs. No government can freeze international costs of

:42:48.:42:52.

gas or indeed of oil. We can deal with our own taxes, the levy is put

:42:53.:42:56.

on top of the bill, and we are to be not immediately. The government has

:42:57.:42:59.

already announced today that don't pass this through, so the bills now

:43:00.:43:04.

will be around ?50 lower than they would otherwise have been. Right,

:43:05.:43:08.

they have shot your fox, haven't they? Not at all, all they're doing

:43:09.:43:16.

is passing some costs of fuel bills onto general taxation and, to save

:43:17.:43:20.

energy prices are coming down, a British Gas customer who today's

:43:21.:43:25.

prices would have gone up by ?130, their bills are still ?80 more than

:43:26.:43:30.

they would have been lasted, so they haven't solved the problem, the

:43:31.:43:34.

energy market, between the companies, it's simply not working.

:43:35.:43:37.

These measures do nothing to address that. How do you control wholesale

:43:38.:43:44.

gas and oil prices? You can't. You can make it transparent. The freeze

:43:45.:43:49.

is a mechanism while we sort out the market in this country. You can't

:43:50.:43:53.

control the price of gas from the Middle East on the price of gas from

:43:54.:44:00.

Russia Makkah Orange and it has the importing. But you can make the

:44:01.:44:03.

market in Britain work, which it isn't at the moment. Because we

:44:04.:44:08.

inherited the big six companies from you. There were originally 14. By

:44:09.:44:13.

the time you finish in government, there's only six. We are going to

:44:14.:44:19.

annual competition. More competition. Making switching more

:44:20.:44:25.

easy, but in poorer households onto the cheapest possible tariffs,

:44:26.:44:27.

introducing... You are putting everyone on the same tariff, aren't

:44:28.:44:33.

you? There will be fewer of them. The most honourable people will get

:44:34.:44:36.

onto the lowest tariff, so we are tackling the problems of

:44:37.:44:39.

competition. Which we have inherited. We are also providing

:44:40.:44:44.

immediate help now full we don't have to wait for some mythical

:44:45.:44:49.

freeze in three year's time. It's not mythical. It has helped

:44:50.:44:52.

straightaway. You have welcomed the government taking action. They are

:44:53.:44:57.

doing something, and you have got to welcome anything that can be done

:44:58.:45:01.

but with three pathways that years into the government, energy prices

:45:02.:45:04.

have gone up hugely in the last three years and they have only acted

:45:05.:45:08.

when we have taken a decisive policy decision to do something in the

:45:09.:45:15.

general election. What are you going to do, you win the election, the

:45:16.:45:20.

frieze art enacted, the companies put prices up beforehand, wait until

:45:21.:45:24.

the freeze is over and do the same again? Well, if they collude, Ofgem

:45:25.:45:29.

have the power to act on that, and they should, because... What is to

:45:30.:45:37.

stop them putting up prices when the freeze ends? You cannot control

:45:38.:45:42.

energy prices, which is why what you have been saying about our energy

:45:43.:45:45.

frieze is misleading. We are planning to freeze them for 20

:45:46.:45:49.

months while we make the market work properly, while we make it open and

:45:50.:45:55.

transparent so that if companies own production and sale in the retail

:45:56.:45:59.

market, the cost to sell to each other is open, transparent and

:46:00.:46:03.

clear, so people know they are not paying above and beyond the odds,

:46:04.:46:07.

which at the moment they do not know. Is that not the way to go,

:46:08.:46:12.

breaking up the six companies? What you are doing is a short-term

:46:13.:46:16.

response to the fact that, politically, this has dominated the

:46:17.:46:20.

agenda, but isn't Labour right to say you have got to do something to

:46:21.:46:24.

reform the market properly? Responding to the increase is a

:46:25.:46:27.

short-term response to the fact that, politically, this has

:46:28.:46:28.

dominated the agenda, but isn't Labour right to say you have got to

:46:29.:46:31.

do something to reform the market properly? Responding to the

:46:32.:46:34.

increases of like fuel duty, council tax. The new competition review will

:46:35.:46:38.

do that, it will look at the cost and the structure of these

:46:39.:46:42.

companies, and it will see whether or not there is cross subsidy

:46:43.:46:46.

between the two things, the generation and retail supply. We

:46:47.:46:50.

will look very hard at that, and we will know the answer by the spring.

:46:51.:46:55.

The Warm Home Discount will be paid for out of general taxation, you are

:46:56.:46:58.

going to be accused of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is going to be much

:46:59.:47:03.

better focused. Too many of these levies are regressive, which means

:47:04.:47:07.

that the benefit goes to middle-class or wealthier households

:47:08.:47:12.

and is paid for by ordinary rate taxpayers. What we are going to do

:47:13.:47:16.

is target the levy is far better, so that the Energy Company Obligation,

:47:17.:47:20.

ECO, the biggest of them, gets to the house all to need it most, that

:47:21.:47:25.

is extremely important. Are they regressive, the Greek levy did not

:47:26.:47:31.

do what they were supposed to? I think Ed Miliband's initial proposal

:47:32.:47:34.

is completely economic leak illiterate, but I think that the

:47:35.:47:40.

Government's response has been in glorious, and I don't want the

:47:41.:47:44.

Government to lose its nerve. It promised to be the greenest

:47:45.:47:48.

government in history, and I think there is a danger of thinking that,

:47:49.:47:52.

if we give people a discount of less than ?1 per week, they will be

:47:53.:47:55.

tremendously grateful and the argument will have gone. Go. The

:47:56.:47:59.

Government should focus on cost of living, the fact that we have lifted

:48:00.:48:08.

people out of tax. -- gone full circle. If you earn ?15,000 per

:48:09.:48:13.

year, this Government as cut your tax bill by ?700 per year, and that

:48:14.:48:19.

is dealing with the cost of living, not 50p here or there as a response

:48:20.:48:22.

to Ed Miliband's tactical manoeuvres. You are not going to be

:48:23.:48:28.

the greenest government ever, George Osborne made it clear that Britain

:48:29.:48:31.

cannot afford it, David Cameron has called it green crap, it has gone.

:48:32.:48:37.

We are the greenest government ever, we have more offshore wind than any

:48:38.:48:41.

country on earth, we are inundated with applications for onshore

:48:42.:48:46.

turbines, solar energy, 15% of our electricity comes from renewables

:48:47.:48:49.

and we said at the green investment bank. We are pursuing the green

:48:50.:48:53.

agenda, but it has to be affordable, cost-effective. We are

:48:54.:48:56.

not abandoning our green commitments, but we are making sure

:48:57.:49:00.

the burden does not fall unfairly on some households and certainly does

:49:01.:49:05.

not fall unfairly on our businesses compare to others in Europe. I agree

:49:06.:49:08.

it needs to be cost-effective and we need rational policy-making. What I

:49:09.:49:17.

said, if you earn ?16,000 per year, by April of next year this

:49:18.:49:20.

government will have cut your tax bill by ?700, a real cost of living

:49:21.:49:25.

bonus. I think the Government is in danger of losing the focus on its

:49:26.:49:29.

real achievements, what is doing to help people on low and middle

:49:30.:49:34.

incomes by being true and by Ed Miliband's economic leak illiterate

:49:35.:49:37.

ideas and energy prices. If the Government is drawn into that, it

:49:38.:49:41.

will lose the argument. The savings come from changes which are mostly

:49:42.:49:53.

social programmes. So we are all still paying big subsidies for low

:49:54.:50:04.

carbon energy. Because there was no plan to replace the coal-fired and

:50:05.:50:08.

oil fired stations, we have to invest in all sorts of new power

:50:09.:50:14.

stations and that includes renewables. That has to be paid for,

:50:15.:50:19.

and the reforms we are announcing today do not undermine the

:50:20.:50:21.

renewables obligation of the new contracts for difference, we are

:50:22.:50:26.

still going to get investment made which we should have had years ago.

:50:27.:50:30.

If you are struggling to pay your bill, do you care whether or not

:50:31.:50:35.

some of it is going to pay for new green renewable energy? You just

:50:36.:50:38.

want lower bills, don't you? I think it is not fair to say that people do

:50:39.:50:43.

not want a greener energy mix. Do they care? What's this has actually

:50:44.:50:51.

done, extending ECO for another two years is the same amount of money,

:50:52.:50:56.

it could mean that in some terms it is a cut to make homes

:50:57.:50:59.

energy-efficient because you are spreading the money over twice the

:51:00.:51:03.

period of time. Also, what really needs to happen with ECO, we would

:51:04.:51:08.

have got rid of it, because it needs to be targeted at people who cannot

:51:09.:51:12.

afford to pay their bills. At the moment, 60% of people who get ECO

:51:13.:51:16.

can afford to do the changes themselves. It is not targeted at

:51:17.:51:21.

poor people. It is going to be better targeted, there are going to

:51:22.:51:27.

be more households in deprived areas that will be eligible for it. It is

:51:28.:51:31.

being spread over two years rather than four, that is good, some

:51:32.:51:36.

companies have not been able to discharge their obligations under it

:51:37.:51:40.

in the first two years, so it will be spread further out. It will be

:51:41.:51:43.

better targeted at the most vulnerable, and I'm sorry to hear

:51:44.:51:48.

that Labour would scrap it, I did not realise that. It is a good

:51:49.:51:54.

thing, insulating homes? I want the Government to be environmentally

:51:55.:51:58.

ambitious, it could have a better record on reducing demand for

:51:59.:52:02.

energy, new-build houses with solar panelling, all of those types of

:52:03.:52:06.

areas. The point I am making on the big political tussle is that, yes,

:52:07.:52:15.

Labour left this garment with an economic catastrophe, and Labour

:52:16.:52:20.

have seized the initiative with their economically illiterate

:52:21.:52:24.

policies, the Government has been badly wrong-footed, given we have

:52:25.:52:27.

created over 1 million private sector jobs... I have to give you a

:52:28.:52:34.

chance to respond to that. This Government is sending all the wrong

:52:35.:52:39.

signals to business, so investment in renewables has fallen through the

:52:40.:52:44.

floor, a direct result of the actions of this government. I will

:52:45.:52:49.

leave it there, thank you very much. You will all remember scenes like

:52:50.:52:56.

these from not so long ago. The British Government has so far given

:52:57.:53:00.

?50 million in emergency aid to the Philippines after the devastation

:53:01.:53:05.

wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. But it seems that our counterparts have not

:53:06.:53:09.

been as generous, let's have a quick look at this clip now.

:53:10.:53:16.

What they need now is more water, but today it rained and rained and

:53:17.:53:22.

rained. In most places, when the rain comes down, people go inside.

:53:23.:53:28.

Here, foremost, is no inside. And so they huddle under whatever cover

:53:29.:53:33.

they can find, although some seem blissfully unaware of the misery all

:53:34.:53:40.

around them. Of course, those were tragic

:53:41.:53:44.

pictures that we saw over a period of days and weeks, the consequences

:53:45.:53:48.

of that dreadful incident, and there has been plenty of talk about the

:53:49.:53:52.

money that has been sent. Talking about emergency aid to the

:53:53.:53:55.

Philippines, it seems that our counterparts have not been as

:53:56.:53:59.

generous, and the Sun report it has raised more money than the French

:54:00.:54:02.

government and that the furniture chain IKEA has donated more money

:54:03.:54:08.

than China and Russia. With me to discuss this is Emily Ashton from

:54:09.:54:12.

the Sun, I use a prized by that, Jeremy Browne? Not at all. -- are

:54:13.:54:24.

you surprised. British people are extremely generous, and in Taunton

:54:25.:54:28.

two Rotary clubs were raising money, and it was not just loose change, it

:54:29.:54:33.

was ?10 notes. There is also a slightly bigger point to go around

:54:34.:54:37.

to David Cameron's trip again, which is that although China has

:54:38.:54:40.

potentials of world leadership, when it comes to the crunch, even in

:54:41.:54:44.

Asia, in the Philippines, it is the West End countries like Britain and

:54:45.:54:48.

the Americans that are stepping up to the plate and helping the

:54:49.:54:51.

Filipinos, whether it is the government or the British people. We

:54:52.:54:54.

are still playing a major role in the world, and countries like China

:54:55.:54:58.

have an onus on them to start thinking in global terms beyond

:54:59.:55:01.

their own borders in terms of how they can help people in desperate

:55:02.:55:06.

circumstances. Emily, you must be feeling good. Absolutely, we

:55:07.:55:10.

launched this last month, and hopefully people have seen it. We

:55:11.:55:16.

launched the campaign last month, when we saw the devastation, and

:55:17.:55:20.

there was an amazing response, ?550,000 has been raised by the

:55:21.:55:26.

campaign, it will can text in ?1, and that is what thousands and

:55:27.:55:29.

thousands of people have done. You can also donate online, and we are

:55:30.:55:33.

asking bosses to donate ?1 for everyone of their employees. That

:55:34.:55:38.

has raised about ?550,000, more than the French government! Which seems

:55:39.:55:43.

to amazing, is there something particular about the British psyche

:55:44.:55:47.

that makes as generous? I think we are a bighearted nation, a generous

:55:48.:55:52.

nation, and the UK Government have donated ?50 million, the most out of

:55:53.:55:56.

any government. Is that something you are proud of? We are proud of

:55:57.:56:01.

our record on overseas aid, this is not a political point. The public

:56:02.:56:05.

has been generous, the government has signed up to the 0.7% target,

:56:06.:56:09.

and we are one of the leading nations not just in the amount of

:56:10.:56:13.

aid, but in the quality of aid we give and the speed of our response.

:56:14.:56:19.

Given that ?33 million was raised by the British public, does it raise

:56:20.:56:22.

questions about how we manage foreign aid? Should it continue to

:56:23.:56:26.

be ringfenced? I think it is important to ring fence it as we

:56:27.:56:30.

head towards the target, and I do not think it is right to take out on

:56:31.:56:34.

the poorest areas of the world, whether Africa or these disaster

:56:35.:56:38.

areas like the Philippines, our own domestic economic problems. They are

:56:39.:56:42.

not their concern. But we talk about countries like India. And we are

:56:43.:56:48.

stepping down the aid to India, that is happening already, so we can

:56:49.:56:52.

better focus on the poorest areas of the world, which is still Africa. Do

:56:53.:56:57.

you think the British public, generous though they have been, do

:56:58.:56:59.

they really sign up to this ringfencing of foreign aid as a

:57:00.:57:05.

percentage of GDP? I think people make the distinction between areas

:57:06.:57:08.

of real crisis, where people simply do not have the basics of water and

:57:09.:57:12.

food to survive, that is a very different thing to some of the other

:57:13.:57:15.

things. I agree with Michael that we should stick to this evil .7%, it is

:57:16.:57:19.

something we should be very proud of. -- this 0.7%. What about being

:57:20.:57:28.

the nasty country over immigration? I strongly disagree with that! We

:57:29.:57:33.

are an extremely generous hearted country, and every time we have one

:57:34.:57:37.

of these major international disasters, this appeal, people

:57:38.:57:41.

collecting money in the street, the British public give very generously,

:57:42.:57:45.

but we are doing it for the right reasons, because we see these people

:57:46.:57:50.

on television, and we feel extremely sympathetic for them. But I make the

:57:51.:57:55.

wider political point, do not think the Government and the main people

:57:56.:57:58.

in the Philippines will not notice. They will notice and they will

:57:59.:58:01.

appreciate that when it came to the crunch, countries like China held

:58:02.:58:05.

back and Britain stepped forward. In terms of our status in the world,

:58:06.:58:08.

people say that Britain does not matter any more. I think it is not

:58:09.:58:13.

just what the government does, it is that people right around the world

:58:14.:58:16.

can see that the British people are international in their outlook and

:58:17.:58:18.

extremely charitable and sympathetic. Thank you very much,

:58:19.:58:24.

Emily. The answer to the quiz, I hope you remember this, what

:58:25.:58:27.

culinary delight was David Cameron served in China? Roasted decades,

:58:28.:58:33.

bamboo fungus, chicken feed or sweet-and-sour sea horse? They all

:58:34.:58:38.

sounds delicious! Have you eaten all of them? The only thing I do not

:58:39.:58:42.

really like is rice pudding, so I would... Not for breakfast may be!

:58:43.:58:49.

Which one to Mac may be the fungus. That was a guest! From all of us,

:58:50.:58:56.

bye-bye.

:58:57.:58:58.

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