Browse content similar to 02/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Morning, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Westminster's all of a | :00:41. | :00:49. | |
quiver at the prospect of Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage going head-to-head. | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
Apparently Mr Clegg will become over all - motional on the debate about | :00:55. | :00:57. | |
whether Britain should be in or out of the EU. We'll bring you live | :00:58. | :01:05. | |
coverage of PMQs. David Cameron and Ed Miliband square up at noon. We've | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
asked a famous BBC face to get on his bike and tell us why it's time | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
to end the licence fee. The licence fee when it comes up for | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
renewal in two years' time will be 90 years old and, as every year goes | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
by, it becomes more and more an Akronistic. | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
What can possibly go wrong when politicians brief journalists | :01:28. | :01:29. | |
off-the-record? We'll look at some that have gone spectacularly wrong. | :01:30. | :01:39. | |
We are joined by two MPs who've never ever briefed a journalist over | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
lunch or anywhere else. At least that's what they tell the whips when | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
they come knocking late at night! It's the Universities and Science | :01:49. | :01:58. | |
Minister David Willets and Shadow minister Emily Thornberry. First, | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
the sand is being blown in from the sort what radio heading to smog | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
forming over parts of the country -- The Sahara. People are told to avoid | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
strenuous exercise outside. I intend to follow that. We won't be jogging | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
home after the show! What a relief. The dust that's been blowing over | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
Britain for the past few days has been leaving a distinctive red mark | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
on cars. Even mine and sky lights. Even David Cameron, the Prime | :02:30. | :02:31. | |
Minister's car's been affected. Here is a picture of his car in Downing | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
Street yesterday. That is going to need a good wash. He'll probably be | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
out there with a bucket and sponge after PMQs giving it a clean | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
himself. Maybe not. To tell us more, we are joined by BBC Weather | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
presenter, Jay Wynne. Welcome to the programme. How can all that fine | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
dust make it all the way from The Sahara to here? | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
Well, you have to look at the big picture. This satellite sequence | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
telles a good story. You can see the curl of cloud to the west of the UK, | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
it's the low pressure. To the east, we have an area of high pressure. | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
The two have combined to produce southerly breezes coming from a long | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
way south. You can see how far this cloud extends. Southerly winds ahead | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
of that coming out of central Africa bringing Saharan dust with it. As | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
that dust drifts over the north, it interacts with the pollution | :03:24. | :03:25. | |
floating around the mainland of Europe, then it makes its way | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
towards our shores and interacts with the home-grown pollution so | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
it's a triple whammy, our pollution, European pollution then you had on | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
The Sahara dust. It's the Saharan dust that's tipped the balance to | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
the high levels of pollution really. How unlikely is this triple whammy, | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
will we see more of this or is this once, a couple of times every few | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
years? This sort of thing does happen and it's not overly unusual | :03:51. | :03:59. | |
but I suspect it's early on in the season to see it. This is forecast | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
map for pollution levels. The worst is likely to be in East Anglia and | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
the East Midlands. Also it's generally that south-eastern | :04:08. | :04:10. | |
quadrant which is expecting poor levels of air quality. But the good | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
news is that by tomorrow, we are not going to be seeing high levels of | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
air pollution, but we are going to tone it down a notch to high levels. | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
The area is that little bit smaller. By Friday, as the rain pushes | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
through, we are going to clear the air completely and swap the wind and | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
we'll see much clearer air pollution. | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
Thank you very much. David Willets, people might say, although this is a | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
temporary increase in levels of pollution, it's on top of already | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
high levels of pollution that exist and that's what we need tackle isn't | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
it? We do need to tackle pollution but there is a limit to what any | :04:50. | :04:52. | |
Government can do about Saharan sand. I grant you that! The main | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
thing we can do in the short run is provide accurate forecasts and what | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
you saw from the Met Office was very impressive. Even a few years ago, | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
they wouldn't have had the power to give us that kind of accuracy | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
forecast. That means they can provide us with information on air | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
quality that we, as a Government, will be putting out regularly so | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
people can know how the air around them is being affected. How is your | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
car, Emily? I cycled in this morning! I cycled in! I felt OK. You | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
were told to avoid strength yous exercise. I wondered about driving | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
in instead, but I thought, the whole point is that it's about pollution | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
and it's not right to respond to it by adding to it in the car. What | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
David said was interesting though. What can the Government do, all they | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
can do is measure it. I'm not one of those who believe that. I believe | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
Government can do things, I believe in Government and I think that, you | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
know, I've been passed in Islington we have the A1 and question of law | :05:54. | :06:03. | |
some of the worst air pollution -- A1 and we have some of the worst air | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
pollution. The pollution's not so bad around the corner yourself know | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
in another street where Boris Johnson's measured it. If Government | :06:17. | :06:19. | |
doesn't do something about it, nobody is going to. For a Government | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
minister to come in and go, we can only measure it, it's disappointing. | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
You can't do much about Saharan sand. If you look at what we can do | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
about our own home-grown pollution, yes, you can do everything from | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
having high quality public transport which we are investing in, and also | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
from my responsibilities on science and technology, investing in the | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
motor vehicles of the future which are going to have different types of | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
engines and be far less polluting an what we've got now. What we've got | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
now is far better than what we had 20 years ago. Thank you. Otherwise | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
get on your bike, Andrew! The number of foreign students in England has | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
fallen for the first time in three decades according to figures out | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
today. More stringent visa regulations are being blamed. The | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
Government's been under pressure over the student loan book which | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
estimates that nearly half of loans will never be repaid. It's | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
complicated but Joco is here to explain. | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
For the first time in 29 years, last year saw a 1% decline in the total | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
number of international students coming to England to study. The fall | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
was caused in part by a 50% drop in the number of post-graduates | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
students coming from India and Pakistan following tougher | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
restrictions of applicants and the restrictions of working after | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
graduation. The number of EU students is also down by a quarter, | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
that is being blamed on the rise in tuition fees from ?3,400 to ?9,000 | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
that came into effect in 2012. Last month, the higher tuition fees | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
cap came under the spotlight after the Public Accounts Committee said | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
that as much as 48% of student loan debts might never be repaid. | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
Over the weekend, Labour hinted again that they might cut tuition | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
fees to ?6,000 a year and Liam Byrne, their Shadow Universities | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
Minister, warns the party or wants the party I should say, to | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
eventually to move to a graduates tax. | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
Thank you. David willets, the original estimate from the | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
Government was that 28 wouldn't repay their loans, is that right? We | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
said about 30% in 2010. The latest estimates are now at 45%. Yes. First | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
of all, why did you get it wrong? We were operating on the earnings | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
forecast provided to us by the office of budget responsibility and | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
what we are doing here, is every six months, we are essentially | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
forecasting income tax receipts for the next 30 years and the forecasts | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
are very sensitive to the assumptions that are fed in about | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
earnings retive the ?21,000 repayment threshold. Other countries | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
don't engage in this exercise but it will mean... Because they always get | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
it wrong? ! No, what you can only do is act on the latest forecasts you | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
have about earnings, they'll keep on changing. There'll be times in the | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
future when, because of some increases in wages, this figure will | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
go down again. I doubt we'll have the same level of attention to it, | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
but every six months we'll have a new forecast. I've said clearly to | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
sl the Select Committee, they'll continue to change because we are | :09:36. | :09:37. | |
forecasting what will happen to receipts in 30 years' time. But at | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
45% now, that's the current forecast. Is it true that when you | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
reach just over 48% of repayment, you actually get no benefit from the | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
increase in tuition fees that you will be repaid less than the money | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
you will be getting from the extra tuition fees? If you are giving that | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
money to universities in grant, you wouldn't have got anything back, it | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
would have been handed over as a cheque. Anything which means you get | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
some of the payments - from the graduates, not students - when they | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
are earning ?21,000, and some of the estimates ignore the fact that we | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
have better funded universities as a result of this. Students gain from | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
wiz a better quality education as a result. But no Government would | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
consciously set out in a scheme in which you could end up - and you are | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
very close to it now - to a 50% default rate. It's ?100 billion? | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
Well, it's not quite a default. We have said all along that one of the | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
virtues of our scheme is if at any point your earnings are low, ever | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
below ?21,000, you don't pay back. That is a deliberate progressive | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
foeture so young people don't worry that if they are on low earnings | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
they are still hit with the bet, they are not, they don't pay back. | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
The dream is progressive beyond Francois Hollande isn't it? ! All | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
you have to do is earn ?21,000 now, well below the national average and | :11:05. | :11:07. | |
the London and the South East average too. And you face an | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
effective marginal rate of tax of 41%. Now, how can a young person on | :11:14. | :11:21. | |
a 41% marginal rate of tax on a low Sal ray ever hope to get a mortgage | :11:22. | :11:32. | |
as well? Well, it's a, if you are only on ?21,000, you pay it back | :11:33. | :11:43. | |
then. Be basic tax rate was 35%. Under Labour's scheme, the repayment | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
thresh holds was far lore. They were paying 9% on earnings below ?15,000. | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
We have made the monthly repayments less which helps young people get a | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
mortgage because the companies look at what your fixed outgoings are. So | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
you are sitting here as a Tory minister and saying to me that you | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
are perfectly happy with the young person starting out on life earning | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
?22,000 a year to face a marginal rate of tax of 41%? If they are | :12:12. | :12:20. | |
earning or repaying for the cost of their higher education, 9% of your | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
earnings above ?21,000 is affordable. It's lower than | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
graduates currently repay. It came through under the Blair system. They | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
were paying 9%. So we have lowered their monthly outgoings. That is | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
actually a significant price. We did it deliberately to help younger | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
people so they would low lower fees and to help them get into the jobs | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
market. I don't know if many young people think that. I wonder | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
actually, it strikes me that the other side of this is that in 2010 | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
you were expecting 30% of youngsters to be paying it back, is that right? | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
Or not paying it back? Amounts of money we are measuring, not people. | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
What is your point? It's this, on a 48% default rate, it means that we | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
are having hundreds of thousands of youngsters leaving university who're | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
not getting jobs where they can earn more than ?21,000 and that speaks to | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
the crisis in terms of the cost-of-living more than anything | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
else, it seems to me. It speaks to me about long-term unemployment of | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
youngsters. We haven't got much time. I'll not let you filibuster | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
the policies. I'm not. What was their policy? Going into the next | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
general election we are looking at our options. We don't know how big | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
the black hole is that we know that there is in terms of the budget, so | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
we need to have a better idea of exactly how much money. So you can't | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
tell me this morning any of the parameters of the Labour policy | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
even? I'm in favour, Ed Miliband's in favour, many are in favour of the | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
idea of a graduate tax. That has always been what we have wanted to | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
do, it's a question of what the practical and effective. How big | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
would that be? Do you know what, I remember in 2010 being in the | :14:14. | :14:16. | |
corridor in Parliament where all the Lib Demes were going along and | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
signing a form saying they weren't going to put up fees and they were | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
taking the Mickey out of me going, oh, you are not going to sign this, | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
and I said because we are a party of Government. Frankly, I don't care | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
what happened in 2010. What I'm asking you is what is going to | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
happen in 2015, graduate tax, how big? I'm saying we are a party of | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
Government and the promises we make we intend to fulfil. You haven't | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
promised anything? ? Exactly, because we are looking properly at | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
our options. As time goes on, the economic gets worse, the black hole | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
gets worse. The economy is getting worse? Yes. In 2010 when they | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
announce about 30% defaults, it was at a time when the economy was | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
expanding. Then three years of flatlining in terms of the economy, | :15:04. | :15:05. | |
so therefore things get worse and worse. What about the economy now? | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
Well the economy is getting better in terms of there is some growth. | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
Not getting worse? It's the beginning of a heartbeat but it's | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
not based on investment or exports, any of the things that you would | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
normally expect the economy be based on. As you will understand if you | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
haven't got a policy it's hard to ask you any questions about it so | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
let's go to Greg Mulholland. How rude can you be, Andrew? ! How can I | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
ask you if you don't have a policy? I'm explaining that we are a serious | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
party looking at serious promises that we can put into our manifesto | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
that makes some sense. We are not going to pluck things out of the air | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
the way the Lib Dems have done. You have been in that position for your | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
years... When you get a policy I'll ask you questions about it. You | :15:54. | :15:54. | |
haven't at the moment so I can't. had stuck to his guns? I think the | :15:55. | :16:09. | |
party in government made a mistake in terms of agreeing to what | :16:10. | :16:18. | |
happened. The system we have is as David Willetts said extremely | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
progressive. Far more than an upfront fee system. I am firmly in | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
favour of a graduate tax. The tragedy of the decision made is that | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
this perception we have these huge fees when we really do not have fees | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
in any sense at all, we have a graduate repayment system that | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
triggers when people are earning over a very generous limit. They | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
will then pay their money back over 25 years. It is not a fees system. | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
Communication was wrong. What difference would it be between | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
whether you pay back through the tax system your loan or you pay a | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
graduate tax? Fundamental. That is why I will continue arguing strongly | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
for a graduate tax. The problem is the system because it is technically | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
a loan, a loan based on the fee levels, therefore technically it is | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
a debt. As you have said, it has certain issues. If it is a tax, a | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
cap tax that can only last the 25 years, that is very different. It | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
has no implications for people's borrowing, for their credit rating. | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
I think that we are seeing I hope all three parties move to an | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
agreement on this and that is what we need. There has been bickering. | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
Let us not forget it was Labour who first said they would not introduce | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
top-up fees and did. The Liberal Democrats have not been able to | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
fulfil the policy we wanted to stop but we have a fairer system than we | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
had before. -- we wanted to. But we have a fairer system. David | :18:04. | :18:13. | |
Willetts, I do not understand the difference between a graduate tax | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
and repaying my student fees for 25 years. Ella McReddie first | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
difference is the amount you are repaying is linked to a payment made | :18:23. | :18:30. | |
to your university that you chose -- the first difference is. ?9,000, I | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
have chosen to pay it to this university. It means the | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
universities have to focus on quality of teaching. The graduate | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
tax this appears into the Treasury. There is no guarantee it will get to | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
universities. It only makes sense is different universities are charging | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
different amounts. You said, it will be very red, only 13 universities | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
will charge ?9,000. They all do. The idea of shopping around and saving | :19:04. | :19:12. | |
money... It doesn't make sense. It is shopping around to choose the | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
universities that that has the best committee teaching and the best | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
outcomes. How worried are you that there are not more students earning | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
over ?21,000? Most do on more than that. The issue will be what happens | :19:29. | :19:36. | |
in the Labour force. I want to see well-paid graduates and diving | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
universities are focusing on that. We will be coming back to both of | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
you on this. Now, you know how it is. You've | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
popped out to lunch or a drink with a journalist after a hard day at | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
work in the Commons. You have a bit of a gossip. Then before you know | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
it, the contents of your conversation are splashed all over a | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
newspaper or a TV network. I thought that was how it worked. Sometimes | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
the politicians mean to do it. But at other times, it all just seems to | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
get a bit out of hand. That may be what happened at the weekend when an | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
unnamed Government minister told a reporter that an independent | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
Scotland might be able to use the pound after all. Here's Giles. | :20:16. | :20:24. | |
At the weekend, and earned named UK minister told the guardian that an | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
independent Scotland could keep the pound. -- an unnamed UK minister. | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
All major parties have joined forces to say they couldn't so it is odd. | :20:34. | :20:41. | |
We do not know who the mole was. On -- Oliver Letwin had to disappear | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
into hiding after it emerged he was the source of a newspaper story | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
saying the Tories had plans beyond the manifesto for ?20 billion of | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
cuts in tax and government spending. When he emerged to fling himself, it | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
got worse. I also set out what William Hague and Michael Portillo | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
has set out. John Major's back to basics speech in 1993. It was | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
intended as a nostalgic appeal to traditional values. The spin Doctor | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
Tim Collins briefed the press that John Major was intent on rolling | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
back the permissive society and then with more of a bang and some | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
whimpers a succession of Conservative ministers were caught | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
up in sex scandals. The Lib Dem leadership contest in 2007 got | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
personal after Chris Huhne was confronted with a document called | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
calamity Nick Clegg on the BBC. He looked extremely uncomfortable as he | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
insisted he had not seen it, authorised it, indeed he had none of | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
his fingerprints all over it. Sometimes just occasionally | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
politicians on up. In 2009, John Hutton admitted he was the Cabinet | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
minister who told the BBC's Nick Robinson in 2006... It would be a | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
disaster if Gordon Brown was PM. I will do anything in my power to stop | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
him. He sensed that his opinion of Mr Brown had changed. | :22:16. | :22:24. | |
Harmony at the top of politics. Everyone is tittering in the studio. | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
David Willetts, have you ever told a journalist something you regret it? | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
I'm sure it has happened. I am not sure I can offer you any good | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
examples. I can tell you how it helps solve a problem. I used to | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
help Margaret Thatcher right some of her speeches. It was a terrible | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
process. It took ages. We got completely stuck. Bernard Ingham | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
comes into the room and says the lobby had been asking about what she | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
was going to say in the next big speech. I thought it might be hell | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
for if I told you what I have told them. He then reported to us what he | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
had briefed and he solved our problem. -- I thought it might be | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
helpful. You think that is the way forward? Who do you think spoke to | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
the Guardian about the currency union debate? The only thing I know | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
is it is clear that if Scotland left the UK there would also be leaving | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
the pound -- they would also be leaving the pound. That is something | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
which all three parties agree on. Interestingly, a journalist from the | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
Sun said on this programme that he was convinced it was Oliver Letwin | :23:44. | :23:51. | |
or Vince Cable. I know nothing about the background to this. The only | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
thing I know and what matters to people in Scotland is that if | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
Scotland were sadly to leave the UK it would not be able to continue to | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
participate in the pound. The pound would be one of the many costs if we | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
were to see Scotland vote for separation. Somebody has said to me | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
not that I want to enter into this debate, that negotiations go on | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
behind-the-scenes and there are politicians who will say things to | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
journalist to get a story out. It is true. People tend to know who they | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
are. They are not trusted. They are not trusted by their colleagues. You | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
have lunches with journalists. I do and I have learnt to be careful. | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
Have you been caught out? I was standing in a marginal seat and all | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
of the newspapers wanted to write a piece which was not good Labour | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
candidate doing well in a Labour marginal. They wanted to run Labour | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
is going to lose as ten. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I would not | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
answer any calls -- lose Islington. I was told I had to bite Number 10. | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
A job was done on me. Horrible things were written about me, my | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
kids. I had not been in politics before and it was a crash course in | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
not trusting journalists. Sweet as you are. Thank you. Sweet? I would | :25:13. | :25:23. | |
not call him sweet! Some politicians get a reputation for leaking. That | :25:24. | :25:34. | |
was why Margaret Thatcher turned to someone in the early days because he | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
had a reputation for speaking too much to the press. Your colleagues | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
briefing about Ed Miliband having a more radical policy, are they not to | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
be trusted? You probably know who they are. I am not saying anything. | :25:48. | :25:59. | |
It is live. There was the wise Enoch Powell advice who said politicians | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
complaining about the media was like sailors complaining about the | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
weather. It is the environment within which you function. You say | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
Scotland cannot have the pound and so does Labour, but if the SNP wins, | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
they will say, you cannot have your nuclear subs in Scotland. That is | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
the makings of a deal. I am not going there. It was not you who did | :26:22. | :26:32. | |
the leaking. George Osborne said this week he wants to achieve full | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
employment in the UK. And you thought that went out of fashion | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
with platform shoes and black and white telly. Well, Ed Miliband has | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
already leapt into action. He's keen to do his bit to help and so he's | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
started advertising for something called a Head of the Leader's | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
Broadcasting. Whoever gets the job will get about ?44,000 a year. Just | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
into the 40% tax bracket. They'll need to have experience of dealing | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
with good and bad news stories. Probably plenty of the latter. | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
Apparently the Labour leader is also looking for someone who can develop | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
fresh ideas to make the best of his brand strengths. If they know some | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
thing about graduate tax, it would properly be an advantage. One area | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
they'll be looking to address is that according to one recent poll | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
81% of people say they can't imagine Ed Miliband as PM. You cruel lot. | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
So, here's a fresh idea for turning that around. Just take a look at | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
this brand leader. He's no mug. He won three elections you know. Here | :27:23. | :27:34. | |
at the Daily Politics we know how to ceramic -- ceramically enhance any | :27:35. | :27:37. | |
image. Just imagine if Ed was standing outside Number 10 holding a | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
Daily Politics mug. There he is. Instant prime ministerial gravitas. | :27:45. | :27:47. | |
And you don't need to pay us ?44,000 a year, Ed. 8-ender will do. -- a | :27:48. | :27:56. | |
tenner. No, we'll give you one for free, but only if you stop preparing | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
for PMQs and enter Guess the Year. We'll remind you how to enter in a | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
minute, but let's see if you can remember when this happened. | :28:05. | :28:20. | |
# When will I be famous? # The only way is up, baby # For you | :28:21. | :28:30. | |
and me now. The Department of Health was and | :28:31. | :28:42. | |
continues to be concerned. # I want you to be my baby # It has got to be | :28:43. | :28:50. | |
perfect. # It has got to be worth it # Too | :28:51. | :29:04. | |
many people take second best... To be in with a chance of winning a | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz email address. | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
And you can see the full terms and conditions for Guess The Year on our | :29:13. | :29:20. | |
website. It's coming up to midday here. Big Ben is there through the | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
pollution. Prime Minister's Questions in a couple of minutes. If | :29:27. | :29:29. | |
you would like to comment on proceedings, you can e-mail us or | :29:30. | :29:38. | |
tweet your thoughts. We will read some out after PMQs. Nick Robinson | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
is here. As always. Or nearly always. What are they going to argue | :29:45. | :29:52. | |
about today? I said yesterday I thought he would use the phrase | :29:53. | :29:55. | |
about standing up for the wrong people. You had a lively, session | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
about whether Labour has policies. Just one. There is a debate about | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
that. If you are in opposition trying to hold back because it is | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
still a long way until the general election, what you want to do is | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
seize on something that shows money is being spent badly by the | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
government of the day and claim that they are doing it to help their | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
chums in the city and not to help the ordinary guy. It is | :30:25. | :30:27. | |
irresistible. It tells you nothing about what Labour would do in | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
government. It positions them. I would not say that in front of | :30:33. | :30:39. | |
Emily. It is PMQs. It is us asking him questions. I rest my case. I am | :30:40. | :30:48. | |
in a mood today. He got me going. I did not mean it as they criticism. | :30:49. | :31:02. | |
That is what opposition wants to do. That is why it is irresistible. This | :31:03. | :31:10. | |
is quite rare for an opposition to her. They have an independent | :31:11. | :31:13. | |
spending watchdog saying hundreds of millions of pounds the taxpayer | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
could have had they have not got. If you cannot score a goal without | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
help, you never will. Vince Cable got quite a tough time in Parliament | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
earlier this week. It is interesting that David Willetts's boss was | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
dismissive of calls for him to resign. | :31:33. | :31:39. | |
This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
and in addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
meetings later today. Is the Prime Minister aware that | :31:48. | :32:00. | |
3956 people are in the rented sector. Two thirds feel insecure, | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
half think they pay far too much in rent. Does he not think it's time to | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
end the social cleansing of inner city Britain by bringing in proper | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
rent regulation with a fair rent formula and total regulation of the | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
private rented sector to give people security and peace of mind where | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
they live? Where I'm sure we'd agree is that there is a need to build | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
more houses, including those in the private rented sector. Where I think | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
he's wrong is full-on rent controls have been tried in the past and it's | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
tended to destroy the private rented sector, drive everyone back to the | :32:40. | :32:42. | |
state sector and reduce the quality of housing as a result. | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
In the week when our Right Honourable friend, the Chancellor of | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
the Exchequer has spoken of the importance to the Government of | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
securing full employment, can my right honourable friend confirm that | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
the record shows that no Labour Government in history left office | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
with unemployment lower than when he came to office? | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
Does this not illustrate in this area, as in all others, the | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
importance of the principle that what matters is what works? | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
My right honourable friend is factually correct. Every Labour | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
Government's left office with unemployment higher than when it | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
came to office. In this Parliament, what we've seen | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
is 1.7 million more people employed in the private sector, 1.3 million | :33:37. | :33:43. | |
more people employed as a whole, one of the highest rates of employment | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
in history and we'll keep up the work to offer more hope and security | :33:48. | :33:48. | |
to our people. Mr Speaker, can the Prime Minister | :33:49. | :34:03. | |
tell the House what is his excuse for the Royal Mail fiasco? | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
What I would say about the Royal Mail is that taxpayers benefitted | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
from selling the business for ?2 billion. That, of course, is ?2 | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
billion that the party opposite never achieved because they were | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
never able to sell the business. Mr Speaker, here is what his own | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
side are saying about this issue. The member for Northampton South | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
said yesterday it was a debacle, unethical and immoral. He sold the | :34:35. | :34:42. | |
shares for ?330p, what are they trading at snout They are trading | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
ahead of where they were sold, but the fact is this - when the Right | :34:47. | :34:55. | |
Honourable gentleman... THE SPEAKER: Order. Neither the | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
Prime Minister nor the Leader of the Opposition nor any other member in | :35:00. | :35:02. | |
this House must be shouted down. It's not on. The Prime Minister. | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
When the Right Honourable gentleman was sitting in the Cabinet, this | :35:08. | :35:18. | |
business lost half a be. It's in the private sector, making taxes and | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
working hard for our country -- half a billion pounds. There are over | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
140,000 people, more to the point, who work for the Post Office, | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
delivering letters, delivering parcels, who own shares in the | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
business that they work for. They've got a stake in the future of | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
the Royal Mail. They are collecting dividends, as well as pay. And | :35:40. | :35:42. | |
that's something we should all be proud of. | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
Mr Speaker, he can't answer the question because it's such an | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
embarrassment. He sold at 330p and this morning the price was 563p. | :35:55. | :36:06. | |
It's basic maths, Mr Speaker. Not so much the walrus of Wall Street, but | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
the Dunce of Downing Street. Let me ask him this, if Royal Mail was sold | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
at today's price, how much more would the taxpayer have paid? I will | :36:17. | :36:23. | |
take a lecture from almost anyone in the country about the sale of Royal | :36:24. | :36:30. | |
Mail, but not from the two muppets who advised the Chancellor on | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
selling last time. There they sit, not a word of apology, ?9 billion | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
wasted. The Royal Mail privatisation's got ?2 billion for | :36:42. | :36:48. | |
the taxpayer, 140,000 employees owning shares, 700,000 members of | :36:49. | :36:51. | |
the lick who're now shareholders. This is a great success for our | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
country and something he should be praising. | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
Mr Speaker, again, he can't answer the question. The answer is, the | :37:01. | :37:08. | |
taxpayer would have got ?1.4 billion less for this valuable asset for | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
what it's worth today. Here is the thing, Mr Speaker. | :37:15. | :37:16. | |
THE SPEAKER: Order, when the Prime Minister was speaking, I said he | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
should. Shouted down and nuclear should anybody else. However hard | :37:21. | :37:23. | |
the effort is made to shout someone down, it won't work because we'll | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
just keep going. So the sooner the juveniles can grow up and reach | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
adulthood, so much the better! Ed Miliband! | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
Here is the thing, Mr Speaker. A third of the shares were sold to | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
just 16 City investors. And get this. There was a gentleman's | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
agreement that those City investors wouldn't sell the shares. What | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
happened? Within weeks, half of the shares had been sold and they made a | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
killing worth hundreds of millions of pounds. In other words, mates | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
rates to his friends in the City. Maybe he can tell us what happened | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
to that gentleman's agreement about those shares? | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
Mr Speaker, we know why he's asking this question. Because he's paid to | :38:11. | :38:17. | |
by the Trade Unions. Pf Yes, yes. Mr Speaker, he sat in the | :38:18. | :38:25. | |
Cabinet that wanted to privatise the Royal Mail. That was their | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
commitment. And what happened was the General Secretary of the | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
Communications Workers' Union said this; in terms of the last Labour | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
Government, they tried to privatise the Royal Mail. It was the unions | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
that brought the Government to its senses. | :38:43. | :38:45. | |
Once again, they were weak in Government because they couldn't | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
carry out their policies. They're weak in opposition because they | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
don't support shareholding by post workers in the Royal Mail. They are | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
weak because they've got no economic policy and they are weak because | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
they have got no plan. He's flogged it off to his friends | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
in the City and he can't answer the question. Now I'm going to ask him | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
the question again. There was a gentleman's agreement that these | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
long-term investors, so-called, would not sell their shares. But | :39:17. | :39:22. | |
half of them were sold and hundreds of millions of pounds were made. | :39:23. | :39:25. | |
What happened to that agreement, Stance question? What happened is | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
that the taxpayer is ?2 billion better off, yes. Anyone who's sold | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
shares has missed out on what is a successful business. The truth is | :39:38. | :39:39. | |
this, Mr Speaker. He sat in a Cabinet that wanted to privatise the | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
Royal Mail, they couldn't do it. THE SPEAKER: Order. Lets's hear the | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
answer. Prime Minister? They couldn't do it because the | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
Trade Unions won't let them. There are now 140,000 shareholders working | :39:52. | :39:58. | |
for the Royal Mail. There are almost three quarters of a million members | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
of the public with shares. These are signs for celebration in our | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
country, not talking them down because they are anti-market, | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
anticompetitive and antibusiness. Nothing's changed in the Labour | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
Party. No wonder they've advertised this week for someone to bring some | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
fresh ideas to the leadership. Yes. I've got the commercial here. You | :40:17. | :40:25. | |
should have the ability to manage the different teams across the | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
Labour Party. I think that must be the hardest job | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
in Britain. No wonder they are looking for a | :40:34. | :40:37. | |
change because there's a leader there who hasn't got a clue. | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
Mr Speaker, he's gone as red as a post box and that's because he knows | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
that he's lost ?1.4 billion for the taxpayer. This is a sale nobody | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
wanted and nobody voted for, a national asset sold at a knockdown | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
price to make a fortune for the few. It's a symbol of a Government who | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
stands up for the wrong people with the British people paying the price. | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
Mr Speaker, it's a sale nobody wanted he said. It was in his | :41:10. | :41:18. | |
manifesto. It was a commitment of the last Government. They are | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
shaking their heads. They worked so hard, Mr Speaker, they failed to do | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
it, but this coalition Government privatised the Royal Mail, created | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
thousands of new shareholders, they have a great business working for | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
Britain and we've seen it all from Labour this week. They are | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
advertising for fresh ideas, people around him are fighting like ferrets | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
in the sack. Their top advise, get this Mr Speaker, their top adviser | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
is called Arnie and he's gone to America. But unlike Arnie, he said | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
"I'm not coming back". They are warring, they are weak and they | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
haven't got a plan. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
It's as quick to go 225 miles of land and sea from here to Brussels | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
as it is on the train to Norwich, half the distance. Will my right | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
honourable friend agree with me that East Anglia needs investment in | :42:15. | :42:17. | |
better, faster rail infrastructure and that the Norwich task will bring | :42:18. | :42:23. | |
the benefits to businesses and passengers in Norfolk, Suffolk and | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
Essex? I pay tribute to the holt and others for the work they are doing | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
on the Norwich Task Force. This is a very important project. I welcome | :42:33. | :42:35. | |
the interest shown by business leaders, local authorities and | :42:36. | :42:38. | |
enterprise partnerships. East Anglia is one of the fastest growing parts | :42:39. | :42:42. | |
of the UK, with world class companies and universities, better | :42:43. | :42:44. | |
transport will support and bolster this growth and I look forward to | :42:45. | :42:47. | |
the Task Force report that I know that she is working on and I hope | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
this will be used to shape the specification for the long rail | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
franchise that should start in 2016. Mr Speaker, 35 years ago, the SNP | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
and the Tories united to bring down the Labour Government and bring in | :43:02. | :43:11. | |
Margaret Thatcher. Note Mr Speaker, there's noise from two sides on this | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
one. Today, the SNP and the Tories are united on the side of tax cuts | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
for big business. United on the side of the energy companies and united | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
against a 50p tax. Doesn't this demonstrate, Prime Minister, that | :43:26. | :43:28. | |
what people across the UK need is not a separation between Scotland | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
and England but liberation from right-wing Tory economics? | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
He has provided I think Mr Speaker, a very useful public service which | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
he has reminded me of one useful thing that the SNP have done in | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
their history which was to get rid of that dreadful Labour Government | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
that nationalised half of British industry made such a mess. Where I | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
don't agree with him. I agree with him on one very important thing. In | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
spite of his views, I do agree that the United Kingdom is much better | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
off together. But one of the issues he raised I think is completely | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
wrong. This is the week that we have cut corporation tax to 21%. That is | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
going to attract businesses into England, into Wales, into Scotland, | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
into Northern Ireland. He should be standing up and praising this tax | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
reduce cut in Government rather than criticising it. The planning | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
inspector recently told a closed meeting in Gloucestershire that he'd | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
give more weight to consultants economic models than to "10,000 | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
objections from local people". Is that what the national planning | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
frame work meant by empowering local people? | :44:36. | :44:39. | |
The national planning framework is very clear about the importance of | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
listening to local people in terms of development and my right | :44:44. | :44:46. | |
honourable friend would have received a letter recently to | :44:47. | :44:49. | |
explain some of the changes in the guidance under the framework to make | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
sure, for instance, that previous housing performance by local | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
councils is taken into account and in his very important decisions. | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. At a time of unpress dented crisis, the Prime | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
Minister saw at first hand just how good the west Cumberland Hospital in | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
my constituency can be. Six years into the rebuilding programme, the | :45:11. | :45:13. | |
hospital's been plunged into crisis. It's been starved of staff and faces | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
being stripped of key clinical services. The nearest hospital isn't | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
just down the road, it's 42 miles away in Carlisle. That too is | :45:21. | :45:23. | |
struggling. Will the Prime Minister commit today | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
to do everything he can to assist me, local clinicians and my | :45:28. | :45:31. | |
community in retaining consultant-led services in the west | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
Cumberland Hospital? I saw for myself what an excellent job the | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
hospital does and how important it is. What I would say is that, of | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
course, the Clinical Commissioning Group total revenues that are | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
available this year has an increase of 2.3%, ?636 million, because this | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
Government decided to protect NHS spending and not cut NHS spending | :45:53. | :45:55. | |
and that is why important hospital developments can go ahead. | :45:56. | :46:04. | |
Can the right honourable friend tell the house what steps the government | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
is taking to support entrepreneurs becoming employers? He is right. We | :46:11. | :46:18. | |
need to make it easier for someone to take on their first employee and | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
that is why this Saturday we are bringing in the ?2000 employment | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
allowance which means every business that employs someone will see a tax | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
reduction of up to ?2000. It means 55,000 businesses will be taken out | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
of paying National Insurance contributions altogether. The party | :46:40. | :46:42. | |
opposite introduced jobs taxes, we are cutting them. At the weekend, a | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
general warned that reducing the regular army to 82000 x 2020 would | :46:51. | :46:57. | |
weaken the Armed Forces and was a risk to take. Could be promised at | :46:58. | :47:04. | |
LB housewife he thinks it is not one hell of a risk? -- could the Prime | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
Minister tell the house why he thinks it is not one hell of a risk | :47:10. | :47:17. | |
# I have been out to Afghanistan every year since 2006 and I was | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
asked the same question. Do you have the equipment you need? Is there | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
anything you want? We have seen real improvements in equipment. Yes, we | :47:30. | :47:38. | |
will have an army of 82,000. We have will have larger reserve forces and | :47:39. | :47:42. | |
we will have Armed Forces and defence equipment that this country | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
can be very proud of. Following last week's excellent news of the Siemens | :47:49. | :47:56. | |
development in Hull, it is vital we move quickly with projects planned | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
for the Southbank of the Humber. All parties must work together to make | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
sure it becomes the green energy capital of the UK. I absolutely | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
agree. The announcement is a huge step forward because I think it is | :48:12. | :48:13. | |
going to bring an enormous amount of industry with it in terms of supply | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
and component manufacturing. We need to make sure the colleges are | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
training up apprentices and working to attract businesses to the area. | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
There are still agreements needed in other parts of Humberside to make | :48:30. | :48:32. | |
sure all of the developments go ahead. The Prime Minister will know | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
millions of people across the country value and love their Post | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
Office account, particularly those who do not have access to banks. | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
They want to get their cash each week. This is being renegotiated | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
with the DWP. Will he give a commitment that whatever happens, | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
pensioners and everyone on benefits or otherwise, they will be able to | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
access through the Post Office to get the money that they need? I will | :49:04. | :49:10. | |
look carefully at what she says. It is important for people to be able | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
to use the Post Office in that way. There have been changes in the way | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
the account works. I will look very closely at what she says and perhaps | :49:20. | :49:26. | |
write to her. Would my right honourable friend accept that on | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
this 100th anniversary of the First World War the Territorial Army won | :49:31. | :49:38. | |
71 Victoria crosses and thousands of other decorations and that by | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
learning the lessons of our English speaking cousins in America and the | :49:44. | :49:46. | |
pivotal role in the National Guard has played in Iraq and Afghanistan | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
that is the way to ensure we can afford the equipment we need for our | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
armed Forces for the future? Let me pay tribute to my honourable friend | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
who has campaigned long and hard for the Territorial Army and the other | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
reserve forces. The point he makes is good. In Afghanistan today, you | :50:05. | :50:07. | |
can see the Territorial Army working alongside the regular army, fighting | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
with them and being decorated with them in the brave actions they have | :50:14. | :50:16. | |
pursued. Other countries have shown it is possible to have a large | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
reserve force alongside the regular force and that is the way to have a | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
well-equipped and flexible army and navy and air force. The Lanzarote | :50:25. | :50:31. | |
convection sets a European wide standard for the protection of | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
children against sexual exploitation. The UK have signed it | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
but have not yet ratified it. Following recent episodes of | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
grooming in the UK included in my borough of Rochdale, will be | :50:45. | :50:46. | |
government now consider ratifying this very important convention? I | :50:47. | :50:54. | |
absolutely agree with him that child sexual exportation is an abhorrent | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
crime. We have seen some extremely disturbing cases and not just in | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
Rochdale, but also in the county I represent of oxygen. I understand | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
there is a small amount of further assessment to be done before the UK | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
is in a position to ratify the convection. -- the convention. Does | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
he agree with me that the doubling of capital allowances to half ?1 | :51:17. | :51:25. | |
million provides a welcome boost to manufacturers will increase | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
investment in the sector, securing more jobs for British people? -- | :51:31. | :51:39. | |
?500,000. This is a key part of our long-term economic plan. One of the | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
remarkable things about the budget was the ways it said we would | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
address some of the perennial weaknesses in the British economy. | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
We need to export more. We need to invest more. We need to improve our | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
performance in those regards and ensure the investment is spread | :51:57. | :52:00. | |
around the country. Unlike the party opposite, we will not be satisfied | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
with an unbalanced recovery. Today the Ford motor company agreed in | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
multi-million pound contribution towards a pension fund, for former | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
Ford employees. Will the Prime Minister Erdogan congratulate the | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
Unite union alongside a cross-party group of MPs... -- will the Prime | :52:23. | :52:31. | |
Minister congratulate. They have agreed to commit to other pensioners | :52:32. | :52:41. | |
who faced the same plight. I did not catch the end of his question. This | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
is a good development for all of those who played a role. There are | :52:46. | :52:48. | |
colleagues on all sides of the house who have been involved. They are to | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
be credited for the work they have done to make sure we get justice. I | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
welcome the government's intervention on fuel bills, many | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
rural people do not benefit from mains gas and depend on more | :53:03. | :53:06. | |
expensive fuels. We'll the government investigate a way in | :53:07. | :53:09. | |
which they can benefit these off grid customers who often live in | :53:10. | :53:18. | |
fuel poverty? -- will be government. He raises an important point. There | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
are things we can do, not least in encouraging the power of group | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
purchasing buying Courage in communities to come together and buy | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
oil and gas together to drive down prices. I am sure he will be looking | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
at options available. Three months ago I asked the Prime Minister | :53:36. | :53:43. | |
Erdogan his ?1000 tax which anyone joining the police has to play -- I | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
asked the Prime Minister about his ?1000 tax. ?1000 might not be much | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
to him but it is having a huge impact on forces like the Met who at | :53:55. | :54:01. | |
2000 officers Strand and finding it impossible to recruit. We all know | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
the tax is wrong. Order. This question will be heard. Braying and | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
sneering and making rude remarks is the sort of thing the public | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
despise. The honourable lady will be heard and the persons sneering all | :54:18. | :54:26. | |
to be ashamed of themselves. This is an important issue to everyone in | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
the country. We know the tax is wrong. Will the Prime Minister now | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
accept it is not working and abolish it in order that our police get back | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
to strength to defend the people? First of all, it is not a tax. | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
Secondly, it is not a barrier to recruitment. Thirdly, recruitment is | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
taking place in the Met Police. Yes, we have seen police reductions in | :54:52. | :54:58. | |
funding. We have also seen significant cuts in crime. The Met | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
Police are confident they will get good recruits. Bringing superfast | :55:04. | :55:10. | |
broadband to rural areas is vitally important and be governing is | :55:11. | :55:13. | |
rightly spending over ?1 billion on this. My constituents are very | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
frustrated that BT cannot tell them when or if their home will be | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
connected. It makes alternative planning impossible. Will be Prime | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
Minister tell BT to provide clear plans for the billions of taxpayer | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
money they are getting? I have had this discussion with BT and I am | :55:34. | :55:36. | |
happy to hold it again. I know my honourable friend will take up this | :55:37. | :55:40. | |
specific point which is we have asked BT to give more detail about | :55:41. | :55:43. | |
which homes and areas will get a broadband in their roll-out plan so | :55:44. | :55:50. | |
other companies and organisations are able to see whether there are | :55:51. | :55:54. | |
different ways of filling in gaps. I do not agree with some who think BT | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
have not been putting their shoulder to the ground. This is a real | :55:59. | :56:08. | |
success story for our country. As a Royal Mail share price remains about | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
70% above the flotation price, canny Prime Minister now rule out playing | :56:15. | :56:21. | |
a ?4 million bonus from taxpayers money to its government adviser? | :56:22. | :56:25. | |
What I would say to the honourable lady is that the taxpayer is ?2 | :56:26. | :56:32. | |
billion better off because we were able to put this business into the | :56:33. | :56:36. | |
private sector whereas previous governments failed dismally. Mr | :56:37. | :56:44. | |
Speaker, my constituent is seeking the right to be treated by the | :56:45. | :56:50. | |
English run NHS, will be Prime Minister investigate what can be | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
done to help her and other NHS refugees who are seeking higher | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
standards which are being delivered by this covenant? -- by this | :56:59. | :57:06. | |
government? Frankly, what is happening in our NHS in Wales is a | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
scandal and it is a scandal that is entirely the responsibility of the | :57:11. | :57:13. | |
Labour Party running the Welsh Assembly government. They made the | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
decision to cut NHS spending by 8% in Wales. They have not met and A | :57:19. | :57:29. | |
target since 2009. I do not know why the Leader of the Opposition is | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
laughing. It is not funny. If he had any gumption, any backbone, he would | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
get hold of the First Minister and tell him to start investing in the | :57:40. | :57:47. | |
NHS in Wales. 25 years ago yesterday, poll tax was imposed on | :57:48. | :57:55. | |
the people of Scotland. A Prime Minister was kicked out of office by | :57:56. | :58:01. | |
her own party. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to | :58:02. | :58:08. | |
apologise for that imposition? I did not here the beginning of the | :58:09. | :58:14. | |
question. 25 years ago yesterday, they hated poll tax was imposed on | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
the people of Scotland. It ended with a Prime Minister being kicked | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
out by her own party. We'll be Prime Minister take this opportunity to | :58:25. | :58:31. | |
apologise for that? I have made clear my view over this issue many | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
times. Council tax is a much better replacement. The key is to keep | :58:38. | :58:40. | |
levels down. That is why we support a freeze. In 2012, 150,000 people | :58:41. | :58:48. | |
petitioned this has two stop charitable air ambulances having to | :58:49. | :58:54. | |
pay VAT on fuel. Can I thank the Prime Minister for his budget which | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
means more lives are saved? Does he agree that this is only possible | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
because we are using the libel fines for good purposes and because we | :59:06. | :59:13. | |
have a good plan? -- Libor. He is right. He is the founder and chair | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
of the all-party group for air ambulances. He led a debate in the | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
house in 2012. I am delighted about the result achieved in the budget. I | :59:23. | :59:26. | |
think it will lead to an expansion of the service. He is also right | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
that you can only make these decisions if you look after the | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
nation's resources, get the deficit down. In short, if you have a | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
long-term economic plan. Why has it taken four years to recruit just 41 | :59:41. | :59:49. | |
teachers into the ?10 million troops to teachers programme? We support | :59:50. | :59:56. | |
the programme. I will look carefully at what the honourable gentleman | :59:57. | :00:00. | |
says. It is a good idea, a good proposal. I want to make sure it is | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
working. It appears on my council tax bill that the Labour led | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
Lancashire county council and the Labour led Lancaster district | :00:12. | :00:14. | |
Council have raised the council tax by 2%. Very shocking. Would the | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
Prime Minister help the in finding out if it is 2% and help me sort | :00:21. | :00:29. | |
this matter up? What I would say is that he can say to the county | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
council and district Council is that this government is making the money | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
available so that councils can freeze the council tax. There is no | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
use for those who want to take the step. The council tax should be | :00:44. | :00:52. | |
frozen. The high school in my constituency was left ever stated | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
just before Christmas with a 14 AIDS people dying plane football -- with | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
a 14-year-old boy died. Yesterday, a girl died when a wall tragically | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
fell on her. I'm sure the Prime Minister would wish to send | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
condolences to her friends, teachers and family. I think the whole house | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
would agree with what the honourable gentleman said. This was a shocking | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
accident. Their hearts will go out to the family and all of those | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
involved in the school. The lessons will have to be learnt to make sure | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
that tragic accidents like this cannot happen again. The | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
Chancellor's cut in beer duty is great news for Britain's brewers. It | :01:42. | :01:49. | |
will allow them to invest but it will do nothing to help the 20,000 | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
pubs tied to large companies. He has got rid of the fuel duty escalator, | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
the beer duty escalator. Will he now tackled the pub company problem? Can | :02:00. | :02:08. | |
I thank him for what he said about the cut in beer duty? This is about | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
making sure the industry creates jobs and supports the pub trade. A | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
company straight after the budget announced 3000 jobs. We want to look | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
very carefully about what is happening in tied pubs and the | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
activities of some companies. We are looking very closely to make sure | :02:29. | :02:36. | |
there are fairer outcomes for Britain's publicans and pub goers. | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
Could I ask the prime and is to what plans he has to reform higher | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
education fees and loans so that the system works for students, all | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
universities and also for the country? -- could I ask the Prime | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
Minister. We are going to expand the number of people going to higher | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
education by taking off the cap who can attend. Our plans are clearly | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
set out and what I say to the house is it is encouraging that it has not | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
put off people from going to university, nor has it but of people | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
from low-income backgrounds. Someone said in June, 2010, this. A graduate | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
tax would replace upfront tuition fees. I will consult widely before | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
publishing detailed plans later this year. That was the Leader of the | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
Opposition in June, 2010. I know we are dealing with a blank page and an | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
empty head, but get on with it. Would the Prime Minister agree it is | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
the skills enterprise and sheer hard work of all of the staff at | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
companies in conjunction with the long-term economic plan that is | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
driving the economy forward? A company has created 200 full-time | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
jobs last year and another 75 this year and it has exported naan bread | :04:00. | :04:08. | |
to India. It makes Dunstable B Crump at capital of the UK. Very good. I | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
am delighted Dunstable is taking on the label. -- it makes Dunstable the | :04:15. | :04:24. | |
crumpet capital of the UK. We have got the employment allowance | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
to make small businesses stronger. We have 3 million people who will | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
have been taken out of income tax altogether. That is what is | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
happening. Our economy is getting stronger and everyone can see | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
Labour's arguments are getting weaker all of the time. Order. | :04:43. | :05:04. | |
The clash was entirely over the post office between the two | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
frontbenchers, and whether the privatisation of it, was it right in | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
principle but, more important for Mr Miliband at the moment, was it done | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
in a way that maximises benefits to the taxpayers, as opposed to a | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
handful of people in the city? I want to come straight to David | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
Willetts. Is the Prime Minister sure that privatisation was in the 2010 | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
Labour manifesto? I don't know exactly which manifested it was in, | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
but we know that labour for years wanted to do this. Peter Mandelson | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
famously worked very hard... Let me tell you what the 2005 Labour | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
manifesto said. We have given Royal Mail greater commercial freedom and | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
have no plans to privatise it. So we accept it wasn't in that manifesto. | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
Labour wanted to do this. Though, the Prime Minister said it was in | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
the Labour manifesto. He then said the 2010, we have agreed it was not | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
in the 2005 manifesto. In 2010 manifesto Labour said, Royal Mail | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
and its staff are taking welcome steps to modernise working practices | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
for the future, continuing modernisation and investment will be | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
needed by Royal Mail in the public sector. I say again, in the public | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
sector. That's the only reference to the Royal Mail in the 2010 | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
manifesto. Can we accept that privatisation was not in the | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
manifesto? What happened was Labour wanted to do it and then, because of | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
the pressure from the union supporters, they weren't able to do | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
it. If you look at the debate, which was well reported at the time, you | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
will find prominent Labour ministers, I certainly remember | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
Peter Mandelson, saying they wished to do it. That may be the case but | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
that's not what I'm asking you. Can we accept that when the Prime | :06:57. | :06:58. | |
Minister said it was in the Labour manifesto, it was not. I will have | :06:59. | :07:07. | |
to go and check. We've just giving you the evidence. What the Prime | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
Minister is correctly remembering is Labour wanted to do it and went able | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
to do it, partly because of the trade unions. All parties have been | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
wrestling for years... Lots of MPs, including myself, said don't | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
privatise the Royal Mail. He finally listened. We changed his mind. We | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
had a debate within the Labour Party. We had it behind closed | :07:30. | :07:38. | |
doors. There was a massive Labour rebellion! He was the Business | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
Secretary at the time. But he also has to listen to Labour MPs. We told | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
him it was the wrong thing to do. What he had to do is bailout the | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
pension fund, that was his obligation. Frankly, it was better | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
to have a publicly owned and the public wanted it, too. I think we've | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
established there was no clear commitment to privatisation in | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
either of the two manifestos. However, the use of the word | :08:05. | :08:13. | |
investment in the 2010 manifesto was widely taken, including by Peter | :08:14. | :08:14. | |
Mandelson, to mean part privatisation. Peter Mandelson | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
himself said that Royal Mail part privatisation, quote, is the only | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
credible option. So that is where the word investment was meant. It's | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
not an explicit commitment in the 2010 manifesto, but the use of the | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
word investment was what Peter Mandelson meant by part | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
privatisation. By 2010, Peter Mandelson had not as much influence | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
as he had before. There was a new generation taking over the Labour | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
Party. We were against the idea of Royal Mail being privatised. We have | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
had clear opposition to the privatisation of Royal Mail. The | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
Government was wrong to privatise it. The underlying issue is how you | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
deliver a -- and efficient service with six-day delivery with proper | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
access to investment. The issue was how you have a high-quality Royal | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
Mail, and I think we are achieving that. Let me ask you a question | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
which the Prime Minister was asked twice and didn't answer on either | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
occasion. There were about 16 investors who were actually given | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
preferential positioning on buying of the shares, on the basis that | :09:19. | :09:26. | |
they would hold onto the shares. And yet 50% of them sold very quickly. | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
What happened to that agreement? I don't know what this so called | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
gentleman 's agreement is. It is in the report that came out this week. | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
They were given preferential position on the privatisation on the | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
understanding they would hold onto the shares. In fact, they quickly | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
moved and sold at a profit. We will be considering the report and | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
replying to it. The report makes clear that looking back now is | :09:55. | :09:57. | |
different from the decision to have to take at the time. At the time | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
there was risk, which the report recognises, if we'd gone too high a | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
price, the sale could have collapsed. Can I tell you what the | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
report... You had an agreement in advance... Can I tell you what the | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
report says? 16 of the 17 priority investors bought shares and were | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
allocated larger proportions of their other investor, other orders | :10:21. | :10:27. | |
than other investors, reflecting the department's expectation that they | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
would form part of a stable, long-term and supportive shareholder | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
base. Almost half of the shares allocated to them on a preferred | :10:37. | :10:43. | |
bases had been sold within weeks. We will consider that as part of our | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
consideration. I don't know what happened. Will you also be looking | :10:48. | :10:55. | |
at the undervaluation of the land? Mount Pleasant is a huge development | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
site in the middle of my constituency. The valuation of it | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
was the equivalent of two buttons and an acorn. They valued it on the | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
basis of being a car park. The public have been ripped off. What | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
the public are going to get is a better quality service, the | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
employees are going to be owning shares for the first time and the | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
Royal Mail is now functioning. The long-term problem, a company | :11:21. | :11:29. | |
threatened by overseas competition and put quality service, we are | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
addressing that. A lot of people will remember that exchange. I did | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
think the thing that might last from that exchange was that question | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
about the so called gentleman's agreement. What Ed Miliband referred | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
to as the mate's rates. We know what the power of this is for Labour, and | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
it is a very powerful critique to make. They want to add it to the | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
other criticisms they've got. That when the Government has a choice, it | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
helps its chums in the city and doesn't help ordinary folk. My sense | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
is this debate will go quite a long way, because it's pretty easy, and I | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
don't mean this in a patronising way, but it's pretty easy to | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
understand. Big city institution, got a lot of money, the posties who | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
did get their shares can't sell them for three years and people are left | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
asking, why was it done that way and did it need to be? David Willetts' | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
answer is a revealing one. Governments had repeatedly tried to | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
get this off their hands. It wasn't just Peter Mandelson, although Emily | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
tries to dismiss him, it was effectively deputy priming a step | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
under Gordon Brown and he was desperate to get rid of Royal Mail | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
because he thought it was a liability. Michael Heseltine had to | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
abandon a project to get rid of Royal Mail under John Major's | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
government. There is a huge resistance to selling off Royal Mail | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
but there is a consensus that the top of British politics, it's broken | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
now but there's a consensus it was the right thing to get it in the | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
private sector and get all that debt of government. Yellow you say get | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
rid of. The agenda, and to be fair to Peter Mandelson, was habit as a | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
stronger entity. There's going to be international competition, we want a | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
better functioning Royal Mail. But you did it in a way that a lot of | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
people, some of them we will find out have potentially been donating | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
money to your party, a lot of people made millions of pounds by flipping | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
these shares, having told you they weren't going to flip them. We will | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
have to see what has happened there. We will be responding to the report. | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
What do the viewers make of it? It was all about Royal Mail. Lead on | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
Royal Mail, giveaway at PMQs and the PM couldn't defend the mass loss to | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
the taxpayer. Some people were upset by the use of Muppets. They said it | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
was rude and unnecessary. Dunces as well. An agreement, camera and | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
avoiding real questions and the boys -- resorting to jokes. But there | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
were quite a few who thought Ed Miliband didn't nail it, despite | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
having an open goal. Paul Burke said, unfortunately Ed Miliband | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
looks and sounds like an academic playing student politics. His choice | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
of questions about sale price rather than its ability to provide good | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
service only goes his inability. No question Vince cable, the Business | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
Secretary who was involved and that the head of this deal, was better | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
shouting from the sideline band playing centre forward. I think this | :14:36. | :14:43. | |
will help Ed Miliband because he's been under pressure from some in his | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
own party to reveal policy. Hold your nerve on this cost of living | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
agenda, hold your nerve because it's getting support. He will think this | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
team is working just fine, hold off of that desire to unveil more. We | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
are really interested in PMQs today, and we don't always say that! | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
These days many of us are used to paying for the TV we watch, whether | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
it's for platforms like Sky or Virgin Media, or to download films | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
and box sets over the internet. But the BBC is different. It's still | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
largely funded by the licence fee which has been around in one form or | :15:20. | :15:22. | |
another for 90 years. The broadcaster Nick Ross thinks it's | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
time to think again about how we pay for shows like this one. We'll speak | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
to him in a moment, but first, he's been to our HQ, Broadcasting House. | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
Some of you might be familiar with from the BBC comedy W1A. | :15:34. | :15:48. | |
I am the new head of values for the BBC. Well, not really. If you have | :15:49. | :15:57. | |
seen the satirical series that lampoons the BBC, nothing would | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
surprise you about who was head of what. | :16:01. | :16:08. | |
If you have not seen it, believe me, it cuts pretty close to the bone. | :16:09. | :16:16. | |
But if you were head of values for the BBC, what sort of vision would | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
you want this place to have? It is a cultural triumph, one of the few | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
British institutions that still carries great weight across the | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
world. But it is so limited in its vision come so afraid that culture | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
and competition cannot coexist. -- in its vision, so afraid. Time now | :16:36. | :16:44. | |
for the shipping forecast. This is one of the corridors of power, in | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
fact, it is the corridor of power. The Director General is surrounded | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
by advisers clinging to a security blanket, the licensee. They are | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
terrified that if we in Britain are given choice, we will not want the | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
BBC. But I think they'd usually underestimate the talent here. -- | :17:06. | :17:12. | |
they are hugely underestimating the talent. Risk aversion is driving the | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
BBC into a dead-end. The licence fee when it comes up for renewal in two | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
years time will be 90 years old. As every year goes by, it becomes more | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
and more an acoustic -- and anachronistic. When people get | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
content through computers, telephones, the TV licence is | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
increasingly archaic. It will become redundant just as the radio licence | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
did in 1971. More importantly, when the world's content industry is | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
building, films, internet, radio, TV, the BBC cannot grow. It is | :17:50. | :17:57. | |
trapped. Replacing this poll tax with subscription would liberate the | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
BBC. I believe it would get an almost universal intake and increase | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
the money going into the BBC. It would unleash its talents. In any | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
case, the licence fee risks public and political fatigue. If that | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
happens, if the BBC income stagnates or is cut, that would not be satire, | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
it would be tragic. And it would be hard to forgive those who lead us | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
down the path. Nick Ross joins us now. The BBC has | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
said a subscription service would turn the BBC into a commercial | :18:32. | :18:39. | |
profit driven enterprise. Is that what you want? That is what it is. I | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
want to be honest. I have worked for the BBC for a long time. I have no | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
vested interests. I have always been freelance. At the moment, the BBC | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
desperately needs to prove it gets a very big audience, just like a | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
commercial channel does. It needs to get the licence fee renewed. The | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
pressures, we are not honest about them. If we were honest, my view is | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
we could get more revenue freely without sending people to prison or | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
court because they do not pay their licence fee. What level would you | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
want it set at? At a level that people want to play Bollettieri. I | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
was with a senior person from the BBC a few days ago who told me they | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
have done surveys which said that 20% of people would not want to pay | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
?12 a month which is what it cost at the moment -- people want to play | :19:37. | :19:48. | |
ball and her. I ask people how much they would pay to watch Sherlock. | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
Most people would pay ?12 just for that. There is a huge untapped | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
amount of cash coming into this industry. In five, ten years, net | :19:58. | :20:05. | |
flicks has gone to a $3 billion a year industry. The BBC is convinced | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
it would lose money on the evidence and the polls they have done, people | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
would not pay if they were not forced to. The people commissioning | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
this research will cling to the licence fee. They are cherry picking | :20:22. | :20:24. | |
evidence and looking for the evidence which sustains their own | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
view. If Rupert Murdoch had listened to these people, he would never have | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
got people paying an average of ?550 per household for Sky. I understand | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
where they are coming from. They are frightened and timid and they do not | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
want the BBC to be challenged. The BBC licence fee, ?145, divided it up | :20:49. | :20:59. | |
by month. If the people are asked to pay ?30 per month, it would be | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
unaffordable for a lot of people who can afford ?145 a year. It would be | :21:06. | :21:15. | |
voluntary. Secondly, remember the cruel joke when Sky started. What | :21:16. | :21:22. | |
are those square things attacked to the satellite dishes? The answer | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
was, they are council homes. Generally it is poorer people who | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
cannot afford to go out, they are prepared to invest much more in what | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
they get at home. I do not think you will find it a problem. The uptake | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
will be enormous. If the BBC does good programming, that is what it is | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
about. There is a public service remit. Doing programmes which some | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
people might not think of good but others feel should be out there. The | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
BBC claims they are the only ones who do that. Even in the most | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
preposterous sense of self-importance, the BBC does not | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
say that. It knows that Channel 4, Sky, they do a lot of good public | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
service programming. It also knows the BBC does a lot of stuff that | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
would flourish on the commercial market. What do you think about the | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
future funding model? This is an issue that will be debated as we | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
head into future charter renewal is. I like the fact it is universal. I | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
like the arrangement which ensures people are sharing in something and | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
that the fee, and there has been a lot of debate in the Commons about | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
the criminality of it, the fee is a lot less than some of the commercial | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
options. Niqabs two ex plain white we can do it -- Nick has to explain | :22:43. | :22:52. | |
that. Would you be prepared to set the licence fee so ago September | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
sent per annum for the next ten year charter renewal? If not, the BBC | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
will be progressively eclipsed compared to whatever else goes on in | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
Britain. If you are wrong about the amount of money, which services | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
would you cut? I would cut the ones I could not sustain. Some things the | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
government would as now subsidised, just as it subsidises over 75s. I am | :23:16. | :23:24. | |
not trying to privatise it. It would have the same public service | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
principles now but with more income. Would you have advertising? | :23:30. | :23:38. | |
Absolutely not. It would ruin it. The way advertising works is getting | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
very much out of date. Kids scroll through them. Thank you very much. | :23:43. | :23:53. | |
Now, as you know BBC Two is home to all the big shows that shape the | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
political debate. The Daily Politics. Cash in the Attic. And | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
tonight it's hosting round two of Nigel Farage versus Nick Clegg, as | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
they debate whether Britain should continue to be a member of the EU. | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
In a moment, we'll talk to David Dimbleby, he's chairing tonight's | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
showdown. But first, let's remind you how the BBC used to do this sort | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
of thing the last time Britain was talking about a referendum on | :24:14. | :24:23. | |
Europe, back in 1975. Tonight for the first time in this referendum | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
campaign, Labour Minister meets Labour Minister to discuss the | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
arguments for and against Britain's continued membership of the common | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
market. Roy Jenkins, long-time supporter of British membership and | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
president of the campaign. Tony Benn, Secretary of State for | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
industry, the man who fought for the referendum and one of the leading | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
opponents to the common market. And here is David Dimbleby, almost 40 | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
years on, but not looking a day older. Stop flattering me. The drugs | :24:51. | :24:58. | |
have worked. He is outside Broadcasting House where the debate | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
is taking place this evening. We'll be debate... How will it differ to | :25:03. | :25:10. | |
last week but at the first round of the debate is a kind of sparring | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
match work Nick Clegg on Nigel Farage sort out each other's | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
weaknesses. I imagine tonight they will want to deliver knockout | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
punches, in effect. One of them will want to have the other on the floor | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
by the end of the hour. Am I right in thinking fewer questions this | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
time compared to last week so that they can debate among themselves? | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
Well, it is always a difficult balance. We will put in enough | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
questions to make sure the subject is properly covered. We will have | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
some up our sleeve in case some do not go well. The job is to get the | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
two of them arguing. Half a dozen questions, eight, I don't know. Have | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
you heard anything on the grapevine about how they are prepping? Nothing | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
at all. They have both been doorstep. They are doing what | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
Muhammad Ali used to do. I tell you one thing. I read through the | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
transcript of the Roy Jenkins and Tony Benn one we did. The topics are | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
that clearly same. It is fascinating. It is all about | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
democracy, control, constitutional control on the one hand and jobs at | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
the other. They go at that for 50 minutes. Brilliant to watch will | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
stop as I hope and think tonight will be. I am sure it will. We will | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
be watching. Thank you. Are you going to be watching tonight? Yes. | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
Do you wish your man was in their as well? Our option which is | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
negotiating a better deal and put into a referendum is not what either | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
of the parties debating this evening will be offering the electorate. | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
That is what the electorate want. You should have done the debate. Is | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
it good for Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage? Except I do not think people | :27:08. | :27:16. | |
are terribly interested. I am sorry. Good audience on Sky last time. What | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
do you mean by that? The amount of people who watch this programme | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
tonight. -- this programme perhaps. It got more! I think Sky got almost | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
ten times its normal audience. Not bad. That does not include LBC. Lots | :27:37. | :27:44. | |
of offices have the television on. I cannot believe you would say a thing | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
like that! You have the two extremes of the debate. Mr Clegg, extreme? We | :27:52. | :28:00. | |
are going to give you a final reminder that you can watch the | :28:01. | :28:03. | |
debate live on BBC Two at 7pm tonight. All you can set your video | :28:04. | :28:15. | |
recorder! -- or you can set. It will be on iPlayer also. We will give you | :28:16. | :28:25. | |
the answer to the Guess The Year. The clue was Edwina Currie's trouble | :28:26. | :28:28. | |
with eggs, so it must have been 1988. Hit that button. Find out who | :28:29. | :28:44. | |
has won. There we go. That is it. We thank our special guests. The new | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
starting on BBC One. We will be back tomorrow and new. Goodbye. -- at | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
noon. | :28:55. | :28:56. |