Browse content similar to 20/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:37. | :00:37. | |
A frenzy of policy announcements from Labour - from zero hours | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
contracts to the minimum wage - but have any of them had any impact | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
House prices are up 8% over the past year. | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
David Cameron says he's alert to the dangers of a house price bubble. | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
So is it time to put the brakes on the Government's Help to Buy scheme? | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
And would you have a pint with any of these politicians? | :01:01. | :01:13. | |
one part of the election campaign and asking, do we actually vote on | :01:14. | :01:14. | |
local issues. We'll discuss why MPs are so keen | :01:15. | :01:21. | |
to be seen down the local boozer. All that in the next hour | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
and with us for the whole programme today is Baroness Sally Morgan, | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
who's chair of Let's start with the ongoing saga | :01:30. | :01:31. | |
of the personal emails sent by the Premier League Chief Executive, | :01:32. | :01:39. | |
Richard Scudamore, which contained Yesterday Radio 5 Live's John | :01:40. | :01:41. | |
Pienaar asked the Prime Minister how he would have reacted if it | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
had been one of his ministers. You have come down hard on questions | :01:47. | :02:02. | |
of races, you sacked one senior member of your team. When it comes | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
to survive for long having admitted that sort of thing? -- when it comes | :02:08. | :02:16. | |
to sexism. No, I don't think they would not. I have to be careful with | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
what I say because I haven't seen these Pacific e-mails. In politics | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
it would not be tolerated. Absolutely, we have to set high | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
standards in politics. Is he right that it wouldn't have been tolerated | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
in politics? I hope so. I was pleased he said that. It is a pretty | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
significant issue. You can dismiss e-mails and say that it was private | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
banter, but it is kind of a window into what people's views are. I | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
think when somebody a leadership position, he says he says he is | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
trying to get more women involved in sport, it is a pretty significant | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
occurrence. If I was sitting on the board, I would be looking seriously | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
about whether or not he should continue. You would sack him? | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
Bluntly, I would. Should there be a line between the personal and the | :03:13. | :03:15. | |
public? You say people in a leadership position, anything they | :03:16. | :03:22. | |
write to a friend, a mate, however private, is still public property. | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
There are obviously grey areas. You can't be crawling through people's | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
e-mails. But this has been exposed by somebody who is working with him. | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
It seems to me that is quite significant. I suppose I also | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
think, if this was racism or potentially racist, I don't think | :03:42. | :03:49. | |
anybody would be standing by. I think if we are serious about really | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
promoting women, in all aspects of society, whether it is sport, | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
business politics, we have got to take a consistent stance. You think | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
it should be consistent across all aspects of public life, not just | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
politics being held to a higher standard? I think politics reflect | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
society and it should do. It is also about people's integrity. If you are | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
leading any sort of organisation, including a business, if on the one | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
hand you say you are keen on promoting women, supporting women to | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
get on further, and in another bit of your life you are expressing | :04:31. | :04:32. | |
views that don't do that at all, think that is a problem. If those | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
things were set down the pub, the same thing would not have happened. | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
It is because it is written down. If there had been banter in someone's | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
home, would it have at the same impact? I don't think so but I would | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
be disturbed if we had somebody in a leading position his audit would be | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
OK to use that banter. It reflects something about the way he views | :04:56. | :04:57. | |
women. Lets leave it there. This morning Ed Miliband appeared | :04:58. | :05:06. | |
on TV and revealed he spends ?70 to Was it tea, groceries, | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
travel or mobile phone charges? At the end of the show Sally | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
will give us the correct answer. As we all know, the country's | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
gearing up for the local and Euro But Ed Miliband doesn't seem to have | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
got that memo - he's been unveiling policies more suited to | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
a general election campaign. Here's what | :05:31. | :05:32. | |
the Labour Party policy factory has First off the production line, | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
its plans to give those on Then, the star product at the Labour | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
local election campaign launch targeted "generation rent", | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
with calls to to cap rent increases, abolish letting fees | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
and introduce longer tenancies. Next off the conveyor belt was | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
speedier access for GP appointments ?100 million | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
of savings would be made elsewhere The most recent offering to be | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
packaged for distribution was a plan to set | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
a statutory minimum wage target. However, this one's not yet quite | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
made its way off the factory floor - with an exact figure to be announced | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
nearer the general election. It seems the smoke will continue | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
to pour from the Labour policy but can Ed Miliband hit | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
on the golden ticket that will get voters queuing up | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
at the polling booths in 2015? Here's what Ed Miliband | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
had to say this morning. When I go around the country, people | :06:42. | :06:51. | |
don't say the cost of living crisis is over. People have said I will on | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
zero hours on that, -- I am on a zero hour contract and I am | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
struggling. People in Crawley said to me, we can't afford to buy a | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
house. We are struggling with the rent and can't afford to buy a | :07:07. | :07:09. | |
house. There is a deep problem about the way the country is run. It feels | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
to so many people like the system is rigged against them, it is run for a | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
few people at the top, not for them. That is a question that goes beyond | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
this election, beyond even apolitical party or a political | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
leader, it is much bigger. It is a profound question about how we run | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
our country and I am determined we tackle it. | :07:31. | :07:42. | |
With us now is Labour's Stephen Timms - the Shadow Employment | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
Minister - and the Conservative Business Minister Matt Hancock. | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
Labour haven't made the impact you would have hoped for in terms of | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
headlines and coverage. They are just not gathering attention ahead | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
of local and European elections. I think they will. We have been | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
setting up the concerns, people know there is a recovery underway but | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
they are not feeling better off as a result -- setting out the concerns. | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
To enable people to benefit, we need some major changes and those are the | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
ones we have been setting out, being with the fact that few bills are | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
going up so fast, -- dealing with the fact that fuel bills. Raising | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
the minimum wage. All of those things can ensure the recovery | :08:27. | :08:29. | |
benefits not just a few at the top, but everybody. If there is such a | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
crisis, as Labour keeps saying, in the cost of living and people are | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
not feeling the recovery, you would have thought these policies would | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
have caught on, and they haven't. Not in the way that your proposed | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
intervention in the energy market definitely did. That captured the | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
zeitgeist, these have not. I think we are still benefiting from that | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
and we are setting up a range of policies that build on that, which | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
will deal with the question, how can we make sure everyone and if it's | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
from the recovery that is now underway. -- everyone benefits. | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
Retail sales have already been going up over the past few months. It | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
rather mitigates what you are saying about a cost of living crisis. Let's | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
see what happens. The average family is ?1600 worse off since the | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
election. Inflation figures, they were hired than the rate of pay. I | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
don't think we have seen the end of the problem by any means. We will | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
not argue about statistics because we have had those debates before. | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
The government will say, look at growth, look at the recovery. But | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
you have mimicked some of the policies that Labour has put | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
forward, certainly in terms of energy prices. You wanted to | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
intervene on that. The Prime Minister also made a comment about | :09:49. | :09:57. | |
rents. So you have chased the narrative. With the rent issue, we | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
put that forward at our conference last year and Ed Miliband said | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
something in this area. Which policy? The policy on making sure | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
there is the opportunity to have longer-term rents. It is very | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
difficult to discern what the Labour Party policy is. When you say it is | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
rent controls, they say it is not. They say, is it what we set out at | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
the conference, they don't want to admit to that. There is a bigger | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
picture, why aren't any of these proposals cutting through? It is a | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
hodgepodge, a whole series of little announcements, some of which fall | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
apart at the first sight. Some of which address concerns that matter, | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
but there is a big picture out there. You are saying growth is more | :10:46. | :10:55. | |
important. Looking at the issue of growth is more important than the | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
smaller issues, even if they are a concern. You have put it rather | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
well. I hope it is how you would put it rather than I would. There is a | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
big picture. We have a long-term economic plan to deal with the | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
economy. It is starting to bear fruit. The job is by far from done. | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
It is making progress. The deficit is coming down. Pay is just adding | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
to get up there with inflation. -- just starting to. From Labour there | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
is no big picture plan, just a whole series of pocket piece, hodgepodge | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
policies that don't add up to anything. I would finish by saying | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
this. They add up to less than the sum of their parts. That is the | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
problem with the Labour proposal. You will not agree with that but is | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
it because you can't do anything about growth? You cannot argue | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
against what is happening so you are having to go for, what he would | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
call, these smaller, sideline issues. We had three years with | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
hardly any growth at all. Thankfully at last, there is growth appearing | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
and hopefully that will be sustained. It has left us with a | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
very serious legacy of problems. For example, and most unprecedentedly | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
large number of people have been out of work for a long time -- almost | :12:18. | :12:26. | |
unprecedentedly. The measures Ed Miliband has set out the right thing | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
to do, otherwise we will be left with a recovery where only the very | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
few at the top are feeling the benefit and everyone else is left | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
behind. We can't carry like that. Declaration of course it | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
Of course it takes a long time to recover from the recession | :12:43. | :12:50. | |
established when you were in office. The key is this, on the really big | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
questions, are you going to borrow more than we are planning as a | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
government? It is a question that Ed Miliband will answer. He gives a | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
very compensated answer. We are very clear, this government promise to | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
end the deficit will stop Are you going to borrow more? It is | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
straightforward. We will want to end the deficit as soon as we possibly | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
can, in the next Parliament. We are setting out measures to do that in a | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
way that is fair to everyone, not just a few at the top. When this | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
government was elected, it said we would have steady growth and falling | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
unemployment, it didn't happen. It has left a big legacy of problems | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
that we will address. Will be Labour government borrow more than our | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
plans? Inter we will set out our detailed budget plans at the time -- | :13:44. | :13:52. | |
We will set out our detailed budget plans at the time. Who is right? A | :13:53. | :14:00. | |
big question for you! Do people at home think growth is going up, | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
marvellous, or do they look at Labour and think, these issues of | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
looking at rent increases, GP appointments, do they have more | :14:11. | :14:18. | |
traction? I think at this stage, symbolic policies are quite useful. | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
I think where Matthew is right is that by the time of the general | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
election, it will be the big economic landscape that is where the | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
real fight will take place. I think the minimum wage, it is very | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
interesting. I think the Government have clearly been quite supportive | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
of a rise but it turned out to be very tiny. The symbol was there but | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
the policy was inadequate in my view. If I think back to the rows | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
there were when we were in government, that the world was going | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
to collapse as we knew it, if you say you want to make work pay, it | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
means the minimum wage has to go up. Otherwise the taxpayers pay, rather | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
than employers. I think these symbolic policies are important but | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
by the time of the general election, it is about the bigger | :15:09. | :15:15. | |
picture. Let's have a look at the minimum | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
wage because that is something Labour have said they want to put | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
up. I think George Osborne said he would increase it, you have not put | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
an exact figure on it but presumably it will be closer to ?7 an hour? It | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
is puzzling that George Osborne said there should be a significant | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
increase when it has not happened. We put in evidence to the low pay | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
commission that over two years you could have this sort of increase and | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
in the first year they proposed the minimum wage should go up by 3%, | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
more than average earnings. In fact, the report says that compared to | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
average earnings, the level of the minimum wage has never been higher, | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
and then it is going up faster than average earnings. Crucially, this is | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
done through the low pay commission, to make sure that as well as | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
unions, business is onside and everyone supports it, and it is done | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
in a way that does not cost jobs. You can put the evidence in you | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
want. You can get some direction. De Lo Paid Commission is this the | :16:28. | :16:36. | |
Independent. We can afford to see an increase. Crucially, I was amazed | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
that in labour's proposals they said the changes should happen | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
irrespective of the impact on the wider economy. The independent | :16:46. | :16:55. | |
directors have said this is not the right way to go on this. You need | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
businesses to be on board with this. I remember the negotiations with | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
industry at the time of the minimum wage and it was successful. It is | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
not good enough for ministers to say we should have an increase and then | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
not do anything to deliver it. The level of the minimum wage is 53% of | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
median earnings. It needs to rise. level of the minimum wage is 53% of | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
If the recovery is going to benefit not just a few at the top, but | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
everybody... I am not just a few at the top, but | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
supporter of the minimum wage. I want to look | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
supporter of the minimum wage. I business. The argument being | :17:34. | :17:35. | |
supporter of the minimum wage. I Matt Hancock is unique business | :17:36. | :17:36. | |
onside. We remember you did Matt Hancock is unique business | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
accepted issue. Let's speak to Digby accepted issue. Let's speak to Digby | :17:42. | :17:54. | |
previous government. The last people on earth who should plan anything is | :17:55. | :18:02. | |
a politician. I agree with you but there are loads of policies which | :18:03. | :18:14. | |
are not good for business. I think Labour are not good for business. | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
The plan we have this week is drawn up by Alan Buckle, the former chair | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
of KPMG. I am confident we can reach an agreement with business. At the | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
time of the 1997 general election, there was not time at that time -- | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
there was not agreement at that time. People realised it was in the | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
country's interest that everybody should benefit from the recovery, | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
not just a few. When will the government increase the minimum | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
wage? October, ?26 50. It will have gone up faster than average earnings | :18:56. | :19:05. | |
-- it will go up to ?6 50. It will be done in a way which does not | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
damage jobs and has support from unions and business in a | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
non-partisan way. We put in evidence to say that we thought it can go up | :19:16. | :19:24. | |
now. We have made a load of progress. Let's look at one issue in | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
terms of the recovery. Is there a housing bubble in London? Clearly, | :19:29. | :19:36. | |
house prices are rising in London. Is there a double? It is very | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
difficult to know. There is huge amount of money coming in from | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
overseas. The London market, the figures show they are quite separate | :19:45. | :19:52. | |
from outside London. This debate on housing is often debated by people | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
who all have houses in London and we should not allow a coffee table | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
discussion around those who are themselves impacted... Mark Carney | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
says the UK has deep structural problems and poses the biggest risk | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
to the recovery. I strongly agree with Mark Carney but the point is, | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
over the whole country, house price inflation was much lower the figures | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
this morning showed. Outside of London, I was in Carlisle last week, | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
and making sure people can get access to homes and buy a home in | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
places like Carlisle where house prices are much lower is really | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
important. Should Help to Buy be reined in? When we set up Help to | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
Buy we gave the Bank of England the ability to do that. I would like him | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
to make the judgement on that. I'm concerned about what the government | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
and others have said about what Help to Buy is doing in the housing | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
market. I get the real thing we need to do is get more houses built. | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
Everyone agrees with that. It was a failure by Labour to build the | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
houses we needed. Equally, there has been a failure by this government to | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
build houses at the rate we need. It is worth saying something on that. | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
The number of completions of course was low but the number of starts has | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
really started to accelerate, partly because we put in place the | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
financing to get it going. The problem now is there is a housing | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
bubble mouth to take the heat out of it should help to Bybee reindeer | :21:31. | :21:38. | |
and? -- should help to Bali be reined in? My concern is that we | :21:39. | :21:47. | |
could be heading in the direction of a bubble again now. Thank you. | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
Now if you've been a regular watcher of the Daily Politics over the past | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
few weeks, you'd know that as well as providing you with in-depth | :22:00. | :22:02. | |
and enthralling coverage of the big parties contesting this week's | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
elections, we've also taken time to talk to some of the smaller parties. | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
Adam Fleming is outside parliament with representatives of not one - | :22:09. | :22:32. | |
We have Nikki Sinclaire, a leader We Demand a Referendum Now Party, Tommy | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
Tomescu, who is the leader of Europeans Party and Brian Denny who | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
is leader of the No2EU. What is your policy? We believe there should be a | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
referendum now. Surely investment is the, uncertainty is the biggest | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
uncertainty of investment so therefore we cannot wait three | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
years. We are quite clearly saying we need that referendum now. It was | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
my campaign which forced David Cameron to the dispatch box and | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
forced him to offer that referendum. By re-electing me in the West | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
Midlands, you will have someone who will fight for a referendum. | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
Realistically, people who really want a referendum to happen should | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
just vote Tory in the next election, shouldn't they? David Cameron said | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
he wanted to stop banging on about Europe. It was my petition which | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
forced the debate in Parliament, it has forced him to the dispatch box | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
and forced the issue. This shows what one small party with one MEP | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
can actually do. By re-electing me in the West Midlands is someone who | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
will not let David Cameron renege on his promises as Prime Minister 's | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
have in the past. Tommy Tomescu, what made you quit dentistry and | :23:53. | :24:07. | |
take up politics? There is a lot of offences against Romanians and this | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
coincides with the latest campaign and what UKIP have said. We have | :24:15. | :24:22. | |
said no one takes any kind of measures against these and people | :24:23. | :24:31. | |
are becoming more and more... We demand a case to be followed and we | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
demand the Crown Prosecution Service go and analyse the case against | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
Nigel Farage for incitement to hatred... You think he should be | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
prosecuted? He should be prosecuted, clearly. He does not have to be | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
above the law just because the party is afraid they will lose votes. Have | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
you called the police to complain about him? I have done a complaint, | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
I am preparing to send it. I have a clip which I have placed on the | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
Europeans Party page and we are preparing to send it. Now Nigel | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
Farage is also setting up an army. It is not enough that he is | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
portraying racial hate attacks against Romanians. The People's | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
Army, was at that one of Hitler's early slogans? He is also saying | :25:29. | :25:36. | |
that some people from different nations are against, are better than | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
other nations. It is the same agenda. Brian, waiting very | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
patiently, you are No2EU, what are you yes to? We are yes to democracy | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
and yes to workers' rights. The EU is undermining workers' rights | :25:55. | :26:01. | |
across Europe. Look at Greece and Portugal and countries like Romania. | :26:02. | :26:03. | |
Collective bar and has been abolished and also EU rules out | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
privatising our public services. It is interesting you talk about UKIP | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
because UKIP are campaigning for the European rail directives to be | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
rolled out across the EU. UKIP MEPs are campaigning for the | :26:19. | :26:21. | |
privatisation of railways across Europe and they are campaigning for | :26:22. | :26:23. | |
the privatisation of the NHS. None of those policies will be popular | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
with the British electorate. The point is, most British people | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
support the National Health Service and they support renationalisation | :26:34. | :26:36. | |
of the roadways and No2EU was the only party standing on that platform | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
in this election -- nationalisation of the railways. Has at the EU been | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
great for workers' rights like the working time directive? In Greece, | :26:48. | :26:56. | |
if you go on strike, the Athens transport workers, you are | :26:57. | :26:58. | |
conscripted into the army automatically. That is not the | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
agenda that social Europe is opposed to be in lamenting. Most of the | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
directives that are supposed to defend workers are soft law, they do | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
not implement it and the massive loopholes. The Swedish derogation | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
means it cannot be it lamented so social Europe is a con. So you want | :27:17. | :27:29. | |
means it cannot be it lamented so to withdraw from a system,? Jelena | :27:30. | :27:29. | |
Renaud we to withdraw from a system,? Jelena | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
regardless. -- we need to grasp the nettle and make that decision. | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
Either be fully involved in the EU or leave it all together. If people | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
vote to leave your referendum -- if people vote for referendum... What | :27:49. | :27:57. | |
will you do? We do not think the free movement of capital, labour and | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
goods and services is a good way of running society. It does not mean | :28:03. | :28:10. | |
immigration will be abolished. The last word to Tommy. You should not | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
just pick and choose. There are some good things and bad things in | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
Europe. And also we are for a referendum. But people should be | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
informed about this and people should choose who to inform but now | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
they are afraid to do that because they are afraid. I ask the people to | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
vote for the Europeans Party for the migrant workers. Thank you for | :28:37. | :28:39. | |
joining us, we will continue discussing this but I have to hand | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
back to the studio. Thank you. With just 48 hours to go before | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
polling day across the country, we've decided to send our reporters | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
out and about to get a flavour of how the election campaigns are going | :28:54. | :28:56. | |
- and what voters make of it all. Today Giles is in Milton Keynes. | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
Giles. Good morning. We are in | :29:01. | :29:11. | |
Keynes having a look at the microcosm of local elections. Local | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
Keynes having a look at the elections get notoriously bad | :29:15. | :29:16. | |
turnouts. Is it because we do not really care or is it because what | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
drives our vote is not just local issues. We took our infamous mood | :29:22. | :29:27. | |
box into centre MKII asked an important question. | :29:28. | :29:30. | |
It is an important question. | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
It important question, do people vote on local issues or national | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
issues? Let's find out what the shoppers think. | :29:38. | :29:52. | |
this government, although there is no other government that can take | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
over that are better than they are... I just want them to opt for | :30:00. | :30:01. | |
their are... I just want them to opt for | :30:02. | :30:13. | |
are... To you, it are... I just want them to opt for | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
because you would vote for that party anyway? Yes, basically. If you | :30:17. | :30:26. | |
were to choose? Local. Thank you very much. Slightly bending the | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
democratic process by allowing a youngster to vote, but why not start | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
them early? Without on what is going to be better | :30:38. | :30:38. | |
them early? Without on what is going community. I don't care. Every | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
politician is a liar. National. community. I don't care. Every | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
Because it would affect everybody, not just me, not just our local | :30:50. | :30:58. | |
community. Everybody wants two votes, that is not how it works. I | :30:59. | :31:07. | |
don't bother with the local things. They do what they do with our money. | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
National is much more important. Do you know who your local candidates | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
are? No. Do you know what they stand for? Not really. But still the local | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
issues are relevant? Yes, of course. for? Not really. But still the local | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
I haven't heard anything from my local candidate. If they can't make | :31:31. | :31:37. | |
the effort, why should you? This is it, very true. It is a general | :31:38. | :31:45. | |
attitude to politics, life, and how they are going to treat people. I | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
think there is also a disconnect in terms of voters perceiving what can | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
be done locally. Because local government is so controlled by | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
central government. The way the local one, it gives more people more | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
of a say. With the national one, you don't really get heard. Here is the | :32:06. | :32:15. | |
thing. It was interesting. At first it was all local issues that were | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
more important, then there was a splurge as people started to think, | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
sometimes they vote in local elections to send a national | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
message, sometimes they don't know a lot about what is going | :32:28. | :32:29. | |
message, sometimes they don't know a and sometimes they don't think they | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
are that important. In the end, national issues has just won. | :32:34. | :32:46. | |
It is not necessarily scientific but it does change the way politicians | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
come to your doorstep. Let's find out how it works with two candidates | :32:53. | :33:01. | |
who will be standing. Just explain to me, the problem for Labour, it | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
seems to me, if you don't do well, everybody turns around and says, Ed | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
Miliband is in trouble, Labour is in trouble. If you do well, everyone | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
says, the opposition always does well in local elections when they | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
are not in power. It is a bit of a lose-lose situation. Not really. I | :33:20. | :33:25. | |
think what truly matters is we do a good job locally, talking about | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
issues that matter to local people. Things like affordable housing, | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
child care, the fact that living is getting harder for most people. Why | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
is it that a lot of people didn't know who their candidates were and | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
what they were doing locally? Milton Keynes is a huge city with 19 seats | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
up for election. It is difficult to get across to everybody in the city | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
what we are talking about. What we do have local fights and we are | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
trying to get out there. We spoke to 1000 people at the weekend. We are | :33:56. | :34:02. | |
listening to what people say. If you are in power, and many people I | :34:03. | :34:05. | |
spoke to yesterday said, local elections, I am not that fast, I | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
will use it to send the government a bloody nose -- not that bothered | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
about it. It means whatever you're doing, they are judging you on | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
completely different, they are not even judging you. We do get that | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
message on the doorstep at times but I den think they are being as | :34:24. | :34:26. | |
judgemental on this government as others may have been -- I don't | :34:27. | :34:32. | |
think. They are saying national policies are helping malting | :34:33. | :34:35. | |
Keynes. We are getting others saying they appreciate what we have done | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
locally. -- helping Milton Keynes. People who may have voted a | :34:41. | :34:43. | |
different weights are saying, you have done a good job and we support | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
you. -- who have voted a different way. Is it a failure of local | :34:52. | :35:00. | |
government to explain what it does? Or is it a failure of the press to | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
promote local elections... We are here, now! You are complaining! I am | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
saying that you talk a lot about European elections and general | :35:12. | :35:13. | |
elections in the run-up, local elections are often portrayed as the | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
referendum on what is happening nationally. They are not bad. Local | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
elections affect people more on the ground in the locality where they | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
live than any other elections. -- they are not that. It is people who | :35:28. | :35:34. | |
vote to say, I don't see them as important as other types of election | :35:35. | :35:37. | |
and don't seem to get the idea of what you can and can't do for them. | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
We can do lots. The government has made it far more to God for us to | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
implement affordable housing. The government is failing on childcare. | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
These issues come across on the doorstep, they want to know what we | :35:52. | :35:54. | |
are going to do about them. That is why we do it out onto the doorstep. | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
I was talking to somebody and other day who voted Labour and | :36:01. | :36:02. | |
Conservative in the past and was thinking about voting UKIP. When we | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
said why, he didn't know. There is the question, are you both worried? | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
A lot of people think you should both be worried of the fact that | :36:14. | :36:16. | |
people don't necessarily know what they are for, but they are thinking | :36:17. | :36:23. | |
about voting for them. The media have had a love affair for UKIP, now | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
it seems they love to hate them. What have they got to offer locally? | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
Absolutely nothing. They have no local politicians, they have one | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
policy, to withdraw from Europe. Why would you ever vote UKIP in a local | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
election? Thank you very much. We will be speaking to a UKIP candidate | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
and the Lib Dems later. Join us later. | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
And you can find a list of all the candidates standing | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
in the local elections in Milton Keynes on the council's website - | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
Sally Morgan, were you surprised that people viewed local elections | :36:57. | :37:20. | |
as more important? I think it varies. I think it does vary from | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
counsel to counsel. If councils are effective and capture the big mood | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
locally, people support them. Sometimes that is by symbolic | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
policies. Even in the constraints of the current position... I spoke to | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
somebody last night, literally in the pub after a meeting, who lived | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
in Southwark. He was saying, I think the council getting their act | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
together, they are going to offer free gym membership. That was | :37:51. | :37:53. | |
interesting, they were using their health and well-being money to do | :37:54. | :37:57. | |
something interesting and symbolic, and bluntly, eye-catching, and | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
saying, we want it to be really active in terms of doing something | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
interesting on the health agenda. Sometimes an city council -- and | :38:09. | :38:17. | |
imaginative counsel can spell out policies in an effective way -- | :38:18. | :38:19. | |
sometimes Annan Our guest of the day - Baroness | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
Morgan - is the chair of Oftsed, the But she'll only be in the job | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
for a few more months. Earlier this year a row broke out | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
over the Education Secretary's the Education Secretary, Michael | :38:36. | :38:45. | |
Gove, has confirmed that the Labour peer, Lady Morgan, who chairs | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
Ofsted, will not be given a second spell in the post. | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
The spell in the post. | :38:56. | :38:58. | |
of making a determined effort to put Tory supporters in charge of public | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
bodies. The claim has been made by Baroness Morgan after she was told | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
she would not be reappointed as the head of state. It was a huge shock | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
for Baroness Morgan come in the Bitcoin | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
It became a huge story because Sally establishment. | :39:20. | :39:27. | |
It became a huge story because Sally Morgan decided to take it not lying | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
down. She went on the airwaves to denounce Michael Gove and Downing | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
Street for taking the decision on party political grounds. I am the | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
latest of a fairly long list of people who are nonconservative | :39:42. | :39:48. | |
supporters who are not being reappointed. I think there is a | :39:49. | :39:50. | |
pattern and it is extremely worrying. One of the important | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
things is that public appointments are made on the basis of merits. | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
Sally Morgan knows all about politics, she was once a senior aide | :39:59. | :40:05. | |
to Tony Blair. She was 180 degrees wrong in that the Tories were | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
stuffing quangos with Tories. More Labour people get appointed and | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
Tories. She will think she has got a pretty good media hit, she is | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
eloquent, she got her message across, she lit up the sky that | :40:18. | :40:20. | |
Saturday warning and did not get much criticism. The Education | :40:21. | :40:30. | |
Secretary Michael Gove praised Sally Morgan and denied it was a little | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
move. I appointed her in the first by snowing she was Labour. We have | :40:35. | :40:38. | |
move. I appointed her in the first Labour adviser to head the NHS. -- | :40:39. | :40:47. | |
move. I appointed her in the first appoint on merit. Applications for | :40:48. | :40:49. | |
the new chair of Ofsted have now closed and no one will be more | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
interested in who gets the job than the outgoing chair, Sally Morgan. | :40:53. | :41:04. | |
And of course Sally Morgan is still with us. | :41:05. | :41:06. | |
And of course Sally Morgan is still | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
I said there was an inclination for nonconservative to be put into | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
posts. I said what I needed to say at the time. My absolute commitment | :41:18. | :41:25. | |
is to hope Ofsted goes from strength to strength. At the end of the clip | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
you said, I am interested in who gets the post. That is because I | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
wanted to be somebody who really cares and understands why Ofsted is | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
important and can work well with the chief inspector. You said you | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
anxious about that pattern. I am anxious about any suggestion that | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
decisions are not being made on capability and merit. If we have | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
public appointments, they must always be seen to be made on merit | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
and must be made on merit. I had a concern that wasn't happening. Do | :41:59. | :42:06. | |
you still have that concern? I hope that in a sense by raising the | :42:07. | :42:09. | |
issue, possibly there is a bit more focus. What was the evidence to | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
support your concern? Fraser Nelson said the government will actually | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
appointing more Labour people to various quangos or government | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
agencies. I am not in favour of any government placing people into | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
things. It is entirely inappropriate. If Labour put people | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
in who were not appropriate, would have condemned that as well. What is | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
very important is that important positions are made on the basis of | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
merit regardless of politics. It is not to say Conservatives should not | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
get it, I rarely clear about that. If a strong conservative person with | :42:50. | :42:52. | |
a commitment to education, who gets on well and constructively and can | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
give support to an extremely good chief expected, -- inspector, that | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
is fine by me. The important thing is the right people are appointed | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
who can take is organisations forward. There's not much point in | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
having independent unless they are independent. My absolute commitment | :43:11. | :43:16. | |
now and when I finish is the importance of Ofsted and I will | :43:17. | :43:23. | |
continue to support it from outside. Let's have a look at the Department | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
of education. It doesn't seem to have been a happy ship. There was a | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
divide between the Lib Dems and Conservatives, more recently there | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
has been a row over free school meals, what is your view? There is a | :43:39. | :43:48. | |
lot of noise and it is partly a symptom of being in the last year of | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
a coalition government. I think the differences on education, across all | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
of the parties, are not that great. You can either choose to make them | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
significant or you can say, there is a lot of consensus. What I would | :44:02. | :44:09. | |
say, briefings, public rows, private leaking of things, is not a good way | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
to run a government. I would have to say as a teacher, get your house in | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
order, it is not very good way to be running education. You think the | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
parties are much closer and some of it is manufactured in terms of the | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
differences. Are you happy and clear with what Labour's policy is | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
regarding free schools. Completely. Between all the parties, there is | :44:35. | :44:37. | |
not that much difference on free schools. Labour's position is clear, | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
labour supports free schools, it may call them something different. Why | :44:43. | :44:49. | |
not just call them academies, because they are academies? That was | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
the beginning of a symbolic noise in the system. Because free schools | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
have the same funding arrangements as academies. Free schools are a new | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
form of academies with a different name. Apart from that they are not | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
different. The issue that Labour and the Lib Dems, probably, is when | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
things are tough, when money is tight, who should decide where free | :45:15. | :45:17. | |
schools are and where should they be? Should they be in areas of need? | :45:18. | :45:28. | |
That is where the parties differ? Should the teachers be qualified? | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
Tristram Hunt has been clear about that. His view is that teachers | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
should be qualified. My view is that people do not necessarily have to be | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
qualified when they walk into a classroom but over time people | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
should get qualified. Actually, you are always going to have music | :45:46. | :45:51. | |
teachers and extra sports teachers who are not. There is a big divide. | :45:52. | :45:59. | |
I think there are not many unqualified teachers in any school | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
including private schools. What about inspecting private schools. Is | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
that an appropriate role for Ofsted? I'm sure if I was talking to the | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
chief finance he would say, as long as we get the funding! I think that | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
is an interesting idea. I am pleased that Michael Gove suggested it. When | :46:21. | :46:23. | |
we have such a varied system now as we do, with free schools and with | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
academies and with maintained schools and independent schools, and | :46:29. | :46:31. | |
nobody is very clear about at all, what is the thing parents can hold | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
on to? They can hold onto Ofsted viewing all schools in the same way | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
through the same prism. That is not the case for independent schools. I | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
suspect quite a lot of good heads and parents would have a view that | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
it is well come across the whole system. Ofsted is evolved into an | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
investigation in Birmingham, the so-called Trojan horse plot, do we | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
know when they will be able to publish their report? I think it | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
will be next week. I am really pleased that Michael was sure took a | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
personal view on the whole thing. He will report on that next week. And | :47:12. | :47:19. | |
the academies trust will be the first one to close? What is really | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
important is and what of the key issues going forward is, where is | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
the oversight of schools around the country? People need to know where | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
to turn to if they are concerned? At the moment, the only place people | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
know about is Ofsted but there needs to be something else between the | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
Department and between the individual schools. | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
More now on the local election campaign. Giles is in Milton Keynes. | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
These days it is a much more colourful political spectrum. There | :47:54. | :47:55. | |
is yellow in government for the first time and there is purple on | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
the map. Our Conservative spokesperson took no time at all to | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
dig into UKIP. Stuart Moore is standing for them. Robin Bradburn is | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
standing for the Lib Dems. We pretty much know now what UKIP stand for in | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
national terms, they have been great clear about that, what you do | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
locally? What is your policy on schools admissions or clearing the | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
beans, recycling? The first thing we will do in local government is | :48:26. | :48:28. | |
listen to the people and use a bit of common sense. Our local policies | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
have been on our website for over four months now. They have been | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
published by the North Branch and the South Branch. The problem is, | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
people have been given rhetoric. the South Branch. The problem is, | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
They do not understand we are a serious threat. Our policies include | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
protection of schools, investing in schools, helping more senior | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
citizens who are not as well. Can you do that if you do not win the | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
council and you will not win the council, will you? We can make a | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
very, very serious difference. At the moment, we will either be in a | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
conservative or a Labour council. We can make a serious impact and not | :49:12. | :49:13. | |
let them can make a serious impact and not | :49:14. | :49:25. | |
they have made so far. One of the things is it is hard for you to go | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
on the doorstep and say, that was asked when it might have been all of | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
you, how would you make a difference on the doorstep? We make a | :49:34. | :49:39. | |
difference because we contact the residents all year round. In Milton | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
Keynes we produce a document which we sent around every four weeks. A | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
lot of people do not know what their local councillors do. We try and | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
inform them. It is an education process. You put the information | :49:55. | :49:58. | |
before them and then they make their decisions. Isn't it true that a | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
smaller party in with a coalition government for the first time, it | :50:04. | :50:06. | |
does not matter what you do, you will get voted on because of what is | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
happening with Nick Clegg in government rather than you in Milton | :50:11. | :50:11. | |
Keynes? We all appreciate that government rather than you in Milton | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
we work hard for the community. Things | :50:17. | :50:23. | |
we work hard for the community. in Milton Keynes. We will push that | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
information to the voters so they can understand that we work for the | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
community, not just for election advantage at this time. I do not | :50:32. | :50:34. | |
community, not just for election know if you have said anything daft | :50:35. | :50:37. | |
but some of your fellow councillors have, how much damage is that | :50:38. | :50:40. | |
but some of your fellow councillors for you? No no matter what party you | :50:41. | :50:42. | |
are in, for you? No no matter what party you | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
something really daft then it will make a difference. But I think most | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
people will have a certain degree of more common sense. I they voting for | :50:53. | :50:55. | |
you or are they voting not for more common sense. I they voting for | :50:56. | :51:02. | |
others? I think it is a combination. Some of them are fed up and they | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
want change. Some new voters are coming to us because what we say a | :51:07. | :51:09. | |
sense. Do you miss coming to us because what we say a | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
party? The point is, coming to us because what we say a | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
for UKIP does not get things done. When you vote for us, we get things | :51:18. | :51:25. | |
done. The local administration at the moment have renege on the pink | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
sank recycling by reducing the number that are available. Our | :51:30. | :51:30. | |
record of being the top 57% number that are available. Our | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
in the country is under jeopardy because of a decision. It | :51:37. | :51:39. | |
interesting enough. You may think pink sacks and mowing | :51:40. | :51:41. | |
interesting enough. You may think a bit parochial but when you talk to | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
people, that is the sort of things they notice and the things in local | :51:46. | :51:53. | |
elections which actually count. That is it, Jo. | :51:54. | :51:55. | |
day in Milton Keynes. | :51:56. | :51:58. | |
And you can check out all the candidates standing for | :51:59. | :52:01. | |
Milton Keynes council at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
Now - is Ed Miliband the kind of guy you'd like to have | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
I ask because Ed Balls has felt the need to make it clear that he and Ed | :52:09. | :52:15. | |
have enjoyed a few beers together, having previously said they had | :52:16. | :52:18. | |
So why are top politicians so keen to be seen as someone | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
In a moment we'll discuss that. First though, take a look at this. | :52:24. | :52:38. | |
Have a look at that colour. And cheers. They have already started | :52:39. | :53:17. | |
talking. I'm joined now by Alex Bull, | :53:18. | :53:20. | |
brewmaster of the By The Horns brewery, the wine and beer critic, | :53:21. | :53:23. | |
Oz Clarke, and Chair of the all-party group | :53:24. | :53:25. | |
on beer, the Conservative MP, Why is it so important for | :53:26. | :53:39. | |
politicians to be seen as the sort of person you would like to be with | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
down the pub? of person you would like to be with | :53:44. | :53:45. | |
down I think it is about likeability. Having a pint of beer | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
is one of life's simple pleasures. If a politician can demonstrate they | :53:51. | :53:53. | |
are the sort of guy you would want to have applied with, then they are | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
the sort of person you would trust to take decisions to in government. | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
I was going to say, also, we have demonstrated that MPs do get it, | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
they do understand that British beer is a great fantastic product, our | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
pubs are important to our communities and it is not just about | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
posing and being seen with applied in your hand like Nigel Farage, it | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
is about supporting British pubs and British beer which is so important | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
to our communities. Let's talk about the issue of likeability. Alex, we | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
have a range of beers here. If we think about the leaders of the main | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
political parties, which one do you think would suit which party leader? | :54:37. | :54:45. | |
We will start with our Stiff Per Lit. We will pay this with Ed | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
Miliband which is not what you might think -- stiff upper lip. The | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
gentleman on the front has a likeness. It is a light ale, 3.8% | :54:57. | :55:06. | |
and probably more akin to the sum of the week nature of how he presents | :55:07. | :55:13. | |
himself at times. You are making political comments! Pass it over to | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
Oz Clarke. See if the flavour matches the personality that you | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
think of Ed Miliband. I had not thought of stiff upper lip. I | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
thought of an upper lip that goes like this, not stiff. I want to see | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
if there is a bit of finish to the beer or not. It is very well | :55:34. | :55:42. | |
balanced. Are you sure this is Ed Balls beer? The bitterness in it is | :55:43. | :55:49. | |
maybe the bitterness of a good loser. Sally Morgan, you will have | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
something to say about that! How cruel. It refreshes you. Maybe some | :55:55. | :56:04. | |
of Ed's remarks have refreshed. Let's go on to Diamond Geezer. This | :56:05. | :56:18. | |
Is Nick Clegg. He Is A Happy Guy This May Sway With Who Is Winning. | :56:19. | :56:33. | |
They are both diamond geezers. It is much rounder. Are you sure this is | :56:34. | :56:45. | |
Nick Clegg? It is very self-confident. Nick Clegg does have | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
an amazing ability to be self-confident. It is nice and | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
multi. The bitterness is much less on this. Still refreshing. -- nice | :56:56. | :57:02. | |
and malty. We will be interesting to hear where the comments go as he | :57:03. | :57:11. | |
drinks more and more! In a macro -- this represents David Cameron. It is | :57:12. | :57:25. | |
called the Lambeth walk. I am not sure about that. I do not think Ken | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
Livingstone would allow David Cameron to promenade in amber unless | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
he has a nice house in Kennington. I will come back briefly to Andrew | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
Griffiths. Talking about beers and pubs, does it put of female voters? | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
No, more and more women are drinking cask ale. I have enjoyed a pint of | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
beer with David Cameron. He likes a nice ale. George Osborne was the | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
first chancellor in history to cut beer duty twice in successive years. | :57:59. | :58:05. | |
Well done for getting that in! Nice, chunky, London Porter, | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
presumably able to take the weight of the country on his shoulders. | :58:11. | :58:19. | |
Very briefly the last one. The last one is Wolf E Smith. It is for Nigel | :58:20. | :58:24. | |
Farage. The beer it self is a amber ale. It is perhaps a bit of a | :58:25. | :58:33. | |
dreamer this beer. I liked his paws. Go on, what do you think? This is a | :58:34. | :58:40. | |
good dream. It is wonderfully aromatic, it is beautifully bitter. | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
It has a citrus lime and lemon zest quality. It may be Nigel Farage's | :58:45. | :58:51. | |
aftershave. If this is Nigel, wow. Cheers for all of you. We have just | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
got time to find the answer to our quiz. What did Ed Miliband spend 70 | :58:57. | :59:11. | |
to ?80 in a week, was it he, groceries and a travel or mobile | :59:12. | :59:20. | |
phone chargers. I think it is groceries. Thanks to Sally Morgan | :59:21. | :59:24. | |
and all our guests. Andrew and I will be here at new and. -- new net | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
tomorrow. Goodbye. | :59:32. | :59:33. |