Browse content similar to 24/09/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It's the final day of the Labour Party Conference here in | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
Manchester, where people are mulling over the parts of Ed Miliband's | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
speech he DIDN'T deliver, and contemplating the likelihood that | :00:14. | :00:16. | |
Afternoon, folks, and welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:17. | :00:58. | |
More than 60 minutes, without a script, but he forgot to | :00:59. | :01:00. | |
Or immigration. Or welfare. | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
Yes, Ed Miliband's on the ropes over what he didn't say | :01:06. | :01:07. | |
I'm here at Westminster, where we expect Parliament to be | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
MPs will discuss whether or not British forces should take part | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
in American-led military action against Islamic State extremists. | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
David Cameron's expected to receive a formal request for help from the | :01:24. | :01:25. | |
And we ask all the difficult questions. | :01:26. | :01:33. | |
Is the Labour Conference all about socialism or socialising? | :01:34. | :01:46. | |
Do you get wined and dined? I haven't so far, but if you are | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
offering! All that in the next 60 minutes | :01:51. | :01:51. | |
of the very finest public service First this morning, let's get | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
the mood here in Manchester. There's been a bit of an exodus from | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
the conference with Ed Miliband's speech out of the way, but we've got | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
two journalists who are staying to the bitter end - Laura Pitel of the | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
Times and James Lyons of the Mirror. Welcome to you both. Can you | :02:08. | :02:18. | |
remember a fallout from a leader's speech like the one we have had this | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
morning? I thought you were going to ask me if I could member anything! | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
Everyone is a bit hung over. Speak for yourself! Miliband raised | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
expectations in recent years, people were not sure what he would deliver | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
and then he pull something out of a hat, but this time we were | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
disappointed, no one is going to remember anything at all. It is | :02:41. | :02:54. | |
always a high wire act to remember an 80 minute speech. He got away | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
with it twice, indeed previously he set the political weather in time to | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
come. You often fall of a high wire. I was there for Iain Duncan Smith's | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
quiet man speech. This was not that. It was worse. It was not. That is a | :03:04. | :03:12. | |
pretty low bar. That may be a fair point, but look, there is no doubt | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
it will cause him problems that he has left it out, and I don't | :03:17. | :03:19. | |
understand why he felt the need to do a speech for memory again, we | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
know he can do it very powerfully. -- from memory. Perhaps this was | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
time for him to stand up, Prime Minister in waiting, and do it that | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
way. But he missed out the issues that matter. That's the problem. | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
It's not that he missed out issues that come 10th or 11th or 12th in | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
the polls, he missed out the issues that come first, second and third. | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
He missed issues where he is under fire, so he has left an open goal | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
for himself to be attacked. It feels like a major blunder. But I think | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
you will be grateful this morning that there is an international | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
crisis unfolding in Iraq and Syria because it has kept him off the | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
front page and the news agendas. He will just be glad they can duck and | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
hope that no one has noticed. Is that a consolation prize that you | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
end up getting kept off the front page? He has had good headlines | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
around health ahead of the speech. Keen to talk about the issues people | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
care about. Health at the moment is third, sometimes second in the | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
opinion polls. When people asked what is important to them. This | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
conference was about getting labour in the top two issues as we go into | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
the election, they see that as their trump card. Unfortunate that | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
something leaked out a bit early. I asked a Labour insider before the | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
speech, are we getting a rabbit? Ray said that there's been tucked and it | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
is poking out of the hat a bit. A bit unfortunate but they have got | :04:51. | :04:52. | |
the key message out there on the key message out there on | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
health. 20,000 extra nurses, which Labour candidates can go and sell on | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
the doorstep. These kind of promises from politicians... ? You have to | :05:04. | :05:11. | |
make the case. The ?2.5 billion he is raising he is already spending on | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
additional resources, whereas the Labour attack on the health service | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
now is that there is a black hole in financing. Doesn't that ?2.5 billion | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
have to fill the black hole before you can hire more nurses? Certainly | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
some of it will have to, and we will be talking about more reform and the | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
way the health service works to free up money, the sort of thing that | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
Andy Burnham is talking about today. He has just had a standing | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
ovation in the hall. He has. A very strong speech. Arguably the speech | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
of the conference this morning from Harry Leslie Smith, a 91-year-old | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
activist, who had them weeping in the aisles. The issue is not Labour, | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
they are ahead in the polls and may have been ahead in the polls for a | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
long time, it may have narrowed a bit but they are still ahead. The | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
issue has been Mr Miliband, his ratings are way behind his parties, | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
just as Mr Cameron's ratings are way ahead of his party. It feels like a | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
missed opportunity. We heard from Labour, it was unfortunate that it | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
came after Scotland when everyone is tired and there are other issues at | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
the top of the news, but if you have problems with your leadership and | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
you are accused of not being prime ministerial enough, a big speech is | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
the opportunity to set against that. I don't know what he thinks on big | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
issues like foreign policy, poor example. He could have set out his | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
stall one way on the other -- or the other, but we are none the wiser. | :06:46. | :06:47. | |
So, it's the afternoon after the afternoon before. | :06:48. | :06:49. | |
Ed Miliband's speech, the bits in it, and bits not in it, | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
have become the defining story of this conference. | :06:53. | :06:54. | |
Let's hear what the Labour leader had to say to | :06:55. | :06:57. | |
Louise Minchin on Breakfast this morning about failing to mention | :06:58. | :06:59. | |
Did you forget that paragraph? The way I prepare these speeches is I | :07:00. | :07:13. | |
write a speech and I don't exactly try and memorise it, I use it as a | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
basis for what I might say. Some of it got left out. Sometimes I add | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
bits. But I was very clear about our plans for the NHS that we wouldn't | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
be borrowing a penny more to pay for it. I was clear about that | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
innovation to the deficit. The deficit paragraph is printed, did | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
you forget that paragraph? Yeah, I didn't do one part of the speech and | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
I added other bits. You know, there is a choice, you could stand up and | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
read out a preprepared speech... I find that actually doing it a | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
different way, to speak from the top of your head, speak directly to | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
people, is a better way for me to do these speeches. It is one of the | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
perils of doing it. How high on your list of priorities is the deficit if | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
you forgot it? Incredibly high. Ed Balls set out a clear plan for how | :08:06. | :08:08. | |
we are going to get the deficit down and how we are going to get the | :08:09. | :08:11. | |
national debt falling, how we are going to have the current budget | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
surplus and no proposals in our manifesto for additional borrowing. | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
That is why I said in relation to our plans to transform the NHS that | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
we would raise the money from the wealthiest in our society, clamping | :08:24. | :08:25. | |
down on tax avoidance get the change we need not from borrowing. You have | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
called the next eight months a job interview for Prime Minister. Would | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
you expect a future Prime Minister to remember what you have just | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
called really important, the deficit? Yes, and I did, I talked | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
about how we would not borrow more for the NHS. But look, people have | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
to make their own judgements about this. I chose to give my speech as I | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
have done for the last three years in this particular way. You can have | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
politicians just reading out a speech... I think we have to change | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
the way politics works, I think people want people to just come | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
along and tell them what they think and that is what I did yesterday. If | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
you did it again, would you mention the deficit? I am sure I would do it | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
differently, even if I did it again today. I added bits that were not in | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
the original text. That is the way I tend to do these speeches. | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
And I'm joined now by the Shadow Leader of the House | :09:20. | :09:21. | |
Welcome to the Daily Politics. The top two issues concerning the | :09:22. | :09:33. | |
British people in the polls normally? The polls I have seen show | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
that immigration and the economy are at the top, and the NHS rising | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
extremely quickly. You are quite right, the NHS has been rising in | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
third, but the polls ICS macroeconomy and immigration. -- IC | :09:48. | :09:56. | |
is the economy. Why did he fail to mention them? He delivered the | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
speech that he did, 67 minutes without notes. He left out three | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
lines about the deficit, but you know... He left out more than that. | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
He left out the issues that matter to the British people. Yvette Cooper | :10:12. | :10:14. | |
is making a detailed speech about immigration and the Home Office | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
amongst other things, and the issues there. But he is the man who would | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
be Prime Minister. Ed Balls made a half-hour speech the day before, | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
setting out the fact that Labour is absolutely determined to balance the | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
books over the lifetime of the parliament, and get the deficit | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
falling. The fact that Ed didn't mention the deficit in his speech | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
yesterday does not change our determination to deliver, and we | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
will do a lot better than a government that actually said it | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
would balance the books by next year and is going to have a ?75 billion | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
hole in the plans. All the more reason that if you win, you will | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
inherit that. Absolutely, and Ed Balls was how league perfectly clear | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
about that. We will come onto that. The people have a right to know what | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
Mr Miliband would have said. We have put it up on the autocue. You want | :11:10. | :11:17. | |
me to read it? In Ed's voice? No, your voice will be fine, it's the | :11:18. | :11:19. | |
words that matter. "Friends, there won't be money to | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
spend after the next election. Britain will be spending ?75 billion | :11:25. | :11:26. | |
on the interest on our debt alone. That's more than | :11:27. | :11:29. | |
the entire budget for our schools. So, as Ed Balls announced yesterday, | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
Labour's plan is based Eliminating the deficit as soon | :11:33. | :11:34. | |
as possible in the next parliament. borrowing. We will get the deficit | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
down - immigration benefits our country but those who come here have | :11:39. | :11:51. | |
a responsibility to learn English and earn their way, and employers | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
have a responsibility not to exploit You have stopped reading now. I can | :11:56. | :12:11. | |
stop reading now! Maybe I am doing a job interview for your job, Andrew! | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
I thought you did that very well! These words are so important. It | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
still baffles people that he couldn't remember them. He said on | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
breakfast television he was the top of his head. He wasn't, he had | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
memorised this speech. This is the style Ed likes to perform his | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
speeches in. It is the way he has always done it. He has missed out | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
hits before, I think in one of his speeches he missed out an entire bit | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
on the environment, which is a particular passion for him. But that | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
is not the first or second issue in the country. Andrew, because that | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
happen, it does not mean that Labour's policy, intent or intention | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
to deal with this has changed. On the budget deficit, is it your | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
intention to balance the current spending budget or the whole of the | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
budget in the next Parliament? What Ed has said is that we will balance | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
current spending and we will get the deficit falling over the lifetime of | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
the Parliament. But you could still run a deficit on investing, spending | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
to invest, is that right? We have a government now that is saying it is | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
going to invest huge amounts of money... I am not asking about the | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
current government, I am asking about your government. You have to | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
ask Ed Balls, since I am the shadow leader of the house. The deficit is | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
a key issue. Are you going to balance the whole of the budget by | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
the end of the next Parliament or just the current spending bit of the | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
budget? Hi we have said we will balance current spending and get the | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
deficit falling -- we have said we will Alan Scarman spending and get | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
the deficit falling by the end of the Parliament. If the government | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
will agree, we will check all the party manifestoes in the run-up to | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
the election to see if they are credible. Why don't the government | :14:12. | :14:20. | |
let the OBR do that? Unless your current spending surplus is bigger | :14:21. | :14:23. | |
than your capital spending deficit, you can't draw down the deficit, can | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
you? That's just plain arithmetic. Of course, but one of the things | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
about what we have said is that we will get the overall deficit falling | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
by the end of the Parliament and there will be tough fiscal rules. So | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
the overall deficit will fall? That is why Ed Balls set out in some | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
details on difficult choices in his speech on spending. That is why we | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
have a 0-based review. They don't mean anything. They do, actually... | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
Hang on, you might be cynical... Listen, you might be cynical about | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
0-based reviews, but the whole of Whitehall and how you run government | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
is about making choices. Our choices will be fairer. We will not give tax | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
cuts to millionaires and the bedroom tax to other people. There will be | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
fairer choices under a Labour government. You began this interview | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
by saying that your policy was to balance current spending. You have | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
now just told me that your policy is to cut the overall deficit. Which is | :15:29. | :15:30. | |
it? The deficit is going to be falling | :15:31. | :15:40. | |
by the end of the next Parliament, that is what Ed balls has pledged, | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
that is what Labour government will do, but we will do it fairer, we | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
will ensure that people have much more of a stake in society, we will | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
increase low wages, we will give young people more opportunities, we | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
will make sure that we are leading in the green industries for the | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
future, we will build 200,000 houses every year. It is going to be... I'm | :16:04. | :16:11. | |
sure it is going to be utopia... A utopia after ten years, not in the | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
first five. When you say you will cut the debt, will you actually | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
reduce the debt amount or will it simply be falling as a percentage of | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
GDP? Ed has said that it will befall them by the end of the Parliament, | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
he will set out, in his first budget, Leo rolls, clear fiscal | :16:34. | :16:35. | |
targets, that is a matter for the Chancellor to do. -- clear rules. I | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
may love for it to be a matter to me, it is not a matter for the | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
shadow leader of the house. White simple question, when you say you | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
will cut the national debt, will it fall in absolute terms? -- simple | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
question: Will it be falling as a percentage of GDP? Which means it | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
could still be writing in real terms. Check out the manifesto when | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
we write it and produce it. Do you know yet? Do you know? Nip into | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
Parliament when Chancellor Ed Balls is making his first budget speech, | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
and then all will be revealed. Seven months before the election, and you | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
cannot tell us what the policies are on the national debt. I have just | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
told you what the policies are, what the targets are. Real terms or | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
percentage of GDP? Which one? Let me ask you again? We will get current | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
spending balanced, and we will get the deficit falling by the end of | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
this parliament. I did not ask you that. That is what Ed Balls has | :17:40. | :17:41. | |
said. Thank you very much. Parliament is gearing up for a | :17:42. | :17:54. | |
recall. I'm joined by a couple of MPs who will be in Parliament for | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
the debate, Adam Holloway, he was in the armed forces himself, he has | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
recently returned from Iraq. And a member of the foreign affairs select | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
committee is joining me, he was born in Iraq. I'm assuming that if the | :18:10. | :18:18. | |
Iraqi Prime Minister does request written... -- Britain... What are | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
you going to do, Adam Holloway, you have said to me that without a | :18:27. | :18:28. | |
political settlement being made clear, you would not support air | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
strikes, even against Isis. I'm going to be declared -- I'm going to | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
be clear to David Cameron, but this is a problem for the people in these | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
countries and in the region. It is clearly a big problem for us but we | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
have seen in the disasters of Iraq and Afghanistan that it is not | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
work, the headlines, US air strikes. We should be more measured, we | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
should make it absolutely sure that the countries in the region, as the | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
Kurds have, realise it is their problem, we should enable them. We | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
should not be leading them, this is a path to disaster. You are yet to | :19:07. | :19:13. | |
be convinced. Absolutely. Is now the time? If we get the request from the | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
Iraqi Prime Minister that Britain should join America and other Arab | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
nations. It is worth remembering, we laid on the humanitarian effort, we | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
have led on the political settlement. Diplomacy taking place | :19:26. | :19:28. | |
in Baghdad, with Ambassador Fred Baker and before that Simon Collis. | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
We have upgraded the mission in Kurdistan. Now is the time, with the | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, all of them | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
joining in the military effort. Adding quite rightly says, the | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
people on the ground, the host country, the Muslim Sunni Arab | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
tribes. The Iraqi army, they have all got to take the lead in this | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
operation. With the air support. They are not taking the lead, | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
America is taking the lead, "US-led strikes", that is the headlines. We | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
will be joining America, is that enough for you to say yes on Friday? | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
Yes, speak with the people of Mosul, any of those places... Today, on the | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
Turkish side, the Kurdish worth facing another massive humanitarian | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
problem. Because they are coming over the border. -- Kurdish worth | :20:24. | :20:30. | |
facing another massive humanitarian problem. The people they are | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
fighting, Iraqi army, Kurdish army, they are taking the fight to Isil, | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
not us. What we are doing is supplying air support, if we are | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
asked to. Is it dangerous to delay any further? The former defence | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
minister, Gerrit out, has said that it is an embarrassment that Britain | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
is not already standing alongside the US in air strikes, if we wait | :20:54. | :20:56. | |
for the political settlement to be clarified in the way we want it to | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
be. I'm not talking about a political settlement but politics | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
should come first. We have had emergency air strikes to prevent | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
Kurdistan from being overrun, that had to happen, they prevented mass | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
convoy is getting into the city. This is a bombing campaign, we have | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
got to organised. All of those Sunni Muslims that are opposed to the | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
government in Baghdad, they have got to get rid of Isis themselves. -- we | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
have got to organise. That will take a long time, some commentators say | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
it is too late, they say that it is too late to convince them, the Sunni | :21:30. | :21:32. | |
tribes have turned a blind eye to Isis because in their mind, they are | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
better than the Shia government in Baghdad. They did that in 2007, they | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
purged, but now they have decided to come back in. Other tribes are | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
joining in. It is going to take a long time. Barack Obama said it will | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
take a long time, so did David Cameron, but the important thing, as | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
Adam Rose verse two, the Sunni tribes, if they are going to join | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
in, if they are going to do the fighting, they have got to have a | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
political skin in the game. They have got to believe that they have | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
got to have at the end of it a sunny National Guard. The Sunni community, | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
playing host in Syria and Iraq, they have got to feel, after this | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
period, when they purge Isil, which will happen, that they have a | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
political settlement where they get to choose who leads them locally and | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
who governs them and taxes them. -- National Guard. Would you support | :22:27. | :22:37. | |
targets in Syria? -- Sony -- Sunni National Guard. Obviously, the | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
headline political objective is very clear here, but the operation level, | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
the tactical level, we have not yet worked it out, if you are a Muslim | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
sitting in Iraq or Syria, what this is, it is America coming back in and | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
bombing. This is not the right emphasis, it is the wrong way to do | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
it. Do you agree with that? Do you support the idea of air strikes in | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
Syria, because otherwise it is not a coordinated strategy. We have got to | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
keep options open. Already we have seen air strikes. It is already | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
happening with the US and the Middle East and forces. UK air strikes in | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
Syria? Keep the options open, speak with the free Syrian army, taking | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
the fight to Bashar al-Assad and Isil, they need the support to be | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
able to do what they do, which is produced a unified government which | :23:30. | :23:31. | |
looks after all of the minority-owned stop my message for | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
the people around Bashar al-Assad, think about getting rid of him, | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
think about having somebody else replace him. That is the only way | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
that we will get to a resolution in Syria. Thank you very much. On | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
Friday we will be hearing a lot more from these two MPs and others, when | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
Parliament is recalled, which we presume is what is going to happen. | :23:51. | :23:52. | |
That announcement may this afternoon. | :23:53. | :24:01. | |
Lots of speeches, stale sandwiches and warm white wine | :24:02. | :24:03. | |
but what's the Labour Party Conference really about? | :24:04. | :24:05. | |
Eleanor Garnier's been looking at what gets done here. | :24:06. | :24:07. | |
There is no mud but there is plenty of queues, it is a little bit like | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
Glastonbury, for political nerds. You can even get your groove on. | :24:14. | :24:20. | |
There is Harriet Harman, at a fringe event in 2013. You can even pick up | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
a souvenir! The Labour Party conference used to be a real | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
festival of the mock receive. Observers say that these days, | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
things are a little different. The Labour Party conference has changed | :24:35. | :24:37. | |
beyond recognition. Over the last 30 years. It used to be a great, mighty | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
chamber, which the leadership had to obey. There used to be blazing rows | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
in front of the television cameras. The stakes were very high. Policies | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
were decided. There are, in front of our eyes. Now, the control is with | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
the leadership, and the national executive committee. Previously a | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
mighty body. They tend to bend to the rules of the leader, and anyway, | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
it has less power. APPLAUSE Tony Blair brought in big changes to | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
the Labour Party conference in 1997. That is when the national | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
policy forum was introduced, to filter ideas and come up with policy | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
pledges. Until then, that had all been the role of the party governing | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
body, the national executive committee. Delegates at conference | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
today still raise and debate urgent issues and vote on them, but the | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
agenda is largely agreed before. Today, any sound of trouble is | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
quickly dealt with, remember Walter, the lifelong Labour Party member, | :25:40. | :25:46. | |
manhandled out of the conference in 2005, for heckling Jack Straw over | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
the Iraq war. Labour later apologised. Then back to the 1980s, | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
under Neil Kinnock. The conference could get pretty boisterous. | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
Ken Livingstone, former Londoner, served on the national executive | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
committee in the 1980s and 1990s, he is now back on it again. Do you | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
still look forward to going to conference? It is a series of | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
stage-managed events, platforms for leading party members to put forward | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
their views and so on... Years ago, I would look forward to it all year, | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
this was where party policy would be decided and the direction of the | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
movement. But that has gone. Is there any point to conference? It is | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
better than nothing, you can get hold of Ed Balls saying we should be | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
building more council houses, you will argue about the number, things | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
like that. It is the 1 chance where you can get to the party | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
leadership. Normally you have got to go through security in the House of | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
Commons! Nightmare. They may be disillusioned but they keep going, a | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
bit like the die-hards of music festivals, basically cannot stay | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
away. -- they simply cannot stay away. | :27:04. | :27:13. | |
Is it worth going to conference anymore? Apart from whether or not | :27:14. | :27:22. | |
they focus on anything that people care about, it is still worth | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
coming, it is a great opportunity for the Labour Party and all parties | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
to set out what they want to achieve, an opportunity for a coming | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
together of a tribe, as it were. There was a lot of problems with | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
conferences and all political parties, talking about re-engaging | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
with people, they need to start thinking about all of these events | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
here, as open and inclusive... Tribal rally, rather than a | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
conference which used to take decisions, which would affect party | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
policy? It is more like a US style political rally, convention, what it | :27:55. | :28:08. | |
was supposed to be is a Parliament, the membership is much lower, and | :28:09. | :28:17. | |
today, more of a case of a sign of the lobbyist side. A lot of | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
activists are probably more comfortable with that. What was | :28:21. | :28:23. | |
happened instead, the debate has shifted from the hall, and there is | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
a lack of democracy in the Labour Party. There is a thriving scene, | :28:28. | :28:36. | |
and on the key issues, housing, nuclear weapons, foreign policy, | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
education. All of them debated, but the problem I face with it, a lot of | :28:43. | :28:48. | |
people find this, a lot of people that the Labour Party was set up to | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
fight for our not able to come here. Too expensive? The only people... | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
Apart from the catering staff and the cleaners... If I was going to | :28:59. | :29:04. | |
change conference, I would make it more democratic and more | :29:05. | :29:06. | |
representative of the people that Labour says they fight for. It is | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
fine to have a thriving fringe, but debate and good speeches, a lot more | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
interesting than what is happening in the hall, but they do not | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
determine policy, they are not the collective view of the Labour Party. | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
That is what the conference used to be. A lot more complicated now, with | :29:23. | :29:29. | |
the national policy forum. We can do chapter and verse with the national | :29:30. | :29:31. | |
policy forum but everybody would turn off. We would like to keep the | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
audience, please do not go down that road! There is an element of | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
necessity to it, in the hall, having arguments, it would be fascinating | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
to watch, but it would make the Labour government less likely. We | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
need to find a way to increase levels of democratic representation, | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
without turning into a messy bun fight. There was a time when votes | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
mattered, and notions mattered, more so than the Tories. This was a | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
decision taking assembly of the Labour Party rank and file. New | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
Labour, the problem originally, it distrusted activists, had everything | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
it could to keep them to one side, turning them into an army of | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
leaflets deliverers. I think that fear was misplaced. Looking at some | :30:18. | :30:24. | |
of the very popular decisions, scrapping the 10p tax, invading | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
Iraq, public ownership of the railways... If they had listened to | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
activists more, a lot of those decisions would have been very | :30:36. | :30:36. | |
different. A lot of us have the suspicion that | :30:37. | :30:49. | |
the real reason these conferences still go on, and go on for such a | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
long time, four does, even though they don't ever take any decisions, | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
is everything we have around here. -- four days. It is true of the | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
Tories as well. The parties make a tonne of money out of people who | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
have come to lobby, to exhibit, to get their case across. It has become | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
a commercial exercise for Labour and the Conservatives rather than a | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
political gathering. 1 of the most interesting thing is arriving on | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
Saturday was that people were remarking how big the corporate | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
section is. It is seen as a sign of how big it is and how likely Labour | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
are to win the next election. 2011, they would have made money but not | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
to the same extent as this time. You are completely right, it is a huge | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
part. We need more transparency, not just here at the Labour Party but | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
all parties. The lobbying was a missed opportunity, but in terms of | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
the meetings that take place between lobbyists and perhaps a government | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
in waiting, we need more scrutiny of that. The less of that kind of | :31:56. | :32:04. | |
secret machinations, the better. We will all be back. Thank you very | :32:05. | :32:05. | |
much. And now Adam's final moodbox | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
from the Labour Conference. He tells me it's a classic | :32:10. | :32:11. | |
of its genre. I think we'll be the judge of that. | :32:12. | :32:13. | |
Here he is, with his balls. What motivates people to spend four | :32:14. | :32:23. | |
days at the Labour Party conference? Is it the socialism or the | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
socialising? Socialism, to be inspired about how we are going to | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
have a Labour government. You have not been to any drinks receptions, | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
parties? I haven't been to any parties, I have had a drink. Why do | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
you come to the Labour Party conference? I want socialism back in | :32:43. | :32:49. | |
the Labour Party, not a third way, not new Labour. You think it is | :32:50. | :32:57. | |
quite a daft question? Yeah. White? Not just have a good time? | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
Definitely not. Do you think anyone is here just to have a good time? | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
Maybe the beautiful people, but I am a local councillor and it is about | :33:09. | :33:18. | |
as against them. Socialising. Someone who is honest at last! What | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
is the best party you have been to? Lean macro I think it has got to be | :33:23. | :33:32. | |
the Co-op. What do we have on offer? Pies, quiches, pastrami. I love a | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
pork pie. You go to a lot of parties. How the | :33:37. | :33:48. | |
Labour Party 's rank? Compared to Annabel's? Much better. Why do you | :33:49. | :33:56. | |
come to conference, socialism or socialising? If you are true | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
revolutionary like Fidel Castro, shade of are, Hugo Chavez, you don't | :34:02. | :34:03. | |
have time to socialise because people are more important. -- Che | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
Guevara. You don't see Hugo Chavez on the dance floor much. Gangland | :34:11. | :34:20. | |
style? We did it yesterday. I had Ed Balls on the right and Yvette | :34:21. | :34:23. | |
Cooper... Do you want to recreate it now? Did Tony Blair like the | :34:24. | :34:32. | |
socialising bit? Tony Blair only ever talked about socialising by | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
saying he was in favour of social ism. Was he a party animal? He is a | :34:38. | :34:45. | |
man who knows how to have fun. Are you going to a party now, dressed | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
like that? We always dress like this. I focused on socialism to | :34:51. | :35:00. | |
socialise! Do you and Harriet go to parties? Once in a blue moon. Do you | :35:01. | :35:08. | |
get wind and dined? Not so far but if you are offering! I knock off in | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
about ten minutes. What is the best party tonight? The Daily Mirror are | :35:14. | :35:20. | |
having a party in Coronation Street. Have you got an invite? It is a bit | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
late, I'm not sure I am going to make it. When is your bedtime? | :35:25. | :35:32. | |
9:30pm every night. It seems like most people are here for the serious | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
stuff. Anyway I am off to a champagne reception. | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
He is always at a champagne reception. We had hoped to talk to | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
Yvette Cooper today, Labour Shadow Cabinet member, but her speech is | :35:50. | :35:52. | |
running late so it looks like we are not going to get her. However, we | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
are joined by two people who could be the future of the Labour Party. | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
Jessica Asato is standing in Norwich North. | :36:02. | :36:04. | |
And Sarah Sackman is standing in Finchley and Golders Green. | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
Welcome to both of you. Has this conference but a string -- placed to | :36:10. | :36:18. | |
bring in your step? Absolutely, it has been fantastic. We have | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
something to take to the electorate. I have people in my constituency, | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
volunteers, phoning voters to deliver the fantastic message we | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
heard yesterday on the NHS, house-building... Including the bits | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
he missed out? Well, what we heard from Ed was a really strong message | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
on the economy. We heard that there would be green growth, developing | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
jobs, tackling low paid apprenticeships and that will | :36:49. | :36:51. | |
resonate with my voters. Are you happy with the message? Very much | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
so. You are both going to be on message in this interview, will | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
there be any criticism? We go to the doorsteps every week and we talk | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
about people's concerns and their fears for the future. The NHS has | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
come up time and again as something people love dearly but they are very | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
afraid if it is being undermined and privatised by this government. The | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
message from Ed yesterday was fantastic, 20,000 extra nurses so | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
people have time... That is just an aspiration, it's not a policy. | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
Politicians on the left and the like are always promising as thousands of | :37:29. | :37:31. | |
this, thousands of that, people are not impressed by that any more. Hold | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
on a minute, it is not an aspiration, it is what we have | :37:37. | :37:39. | |
committed to do if we get into government. There is a lot of unrest | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
and people thinking politicians don't keep promises, so if anything | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
the bar is even higher. We know we can deliver it. It will be fully | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
costed, we will pay through it through a mansion tax on homes over | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
?2 million. No-one has been able to tell me at this conference how would | :37:59. | :38:04. | |
operate. Do you know? Ed was quite clear yesterday, the threshold will | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
be ?2 million, there will be protections for those who are asset | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
rich bass -- asset rich but cash poor. How would you value the | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
homes? That is the detail that is to come. You cannot have the tax | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
without the detail. The key thing is what the tax will pay for. It is not | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
for the sake of it, it is to support an NHS which is creaking. The other | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
thing about yesterday's speech is that Ed presented a 10-year plan, it | :38:39. | :38:43. | |
was not short-term pie in the sky aspirations, it was a plan to say, | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
we need to put our economy and NHS on a stable footing over ten years, | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
a long-term forward-thinking plan for Britain. The eyes of voters just | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
glaze over when you talk about 10-year plans. Most people know you | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
cannot have quick fixes in politics, so that turns them off. Having | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
someone who understands that they are long-term challenges, evil are | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
more generous than you say. They know you cannot create change in the | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
space of a year or two. -- people are more generous than you say. Is | :39:16. | :39:23. | |
Ed Miliband and asset given his dire personal ratings? He is an asset | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
because he is serious and he takes the serious problems facing this | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
country seriously. So why are his poll ratings so bad? People are | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
getting to know Ed and they like him more when he is at his boldest. | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
White macro -- the more they get to know him, the lower his poll ratings | :39:44. | :39:50. | |
go. We are ahead in the polls. The Labour Party is, absolutely. So why | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
are his ratings so bad? People like our ideas, and those are the ones we | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
heard Ed setting out yesterday. When people listen to what he has to say, | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
they see a decent, intelligent man who is at his best when he is at his | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
boldest. They like our ideas, that is why we are ahead in the polls. | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
How can you win win a large percentage of even Labour voters | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
don't think he is fit to be Prime Minister and you are 25% behind the | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
Tories on economic credibility? We are not close to the election yet | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
and many people are yet to make up their minds. You will know their | :40:29. | :40:31. | |
money people who are don't knows and we meet them all the time. There has | :40:32. | :40:37. | |
been a trivialisation of politics, I think, and people do look perhaps | :40:38. | :40:40. | |
sometimes at the celebrity and the veneer. As Ed, in the end, people | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
will judge the two Prime Minister real candidates at the next election | :40:47. | :40:49. | |
on the basis of what they will do for the country, not how they will | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
look. The public really get that. We shall see. Thank you. Ed Miliband | :40:56. | :41:10. | |
promised 20,000 nurses, 8000 GPs, 5000 home care workers, extra | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
midwives. Andy Burnham was on the show yesterday and he was warmly | :41:16. | :41:18. | |
received when he spoke to the conference earlier this morning. | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
Remember that solemn promise of no top-down reorganisation? It was a | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
barefaced lie. APPLAUSE | :41:30. | :41:38. | |
Days into office, the Tories set about dismantling your NHS. The plan | :41:39. | :41:45. | |
that dared not speak its name before the last election is now playing for | :41:46. | :41:53. | |
all to see. Run it down. Break it up. Sell it off. So today we serve | :41:54. | :42:01. | |
notice on Cameron and Clegg. Thursday, made a seventh, 2015. -- | :42:02. | :42:10. | |
May seventh. Your day of reckoning on the NHS. | :42:11. | :42:17. | |
A reckoning for trashing the public's most prized asset without | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
their permission. And a reckoning for a ruinous reorganisation that | :42:26. | :42:28. | |
has dragged it down and left it on the brink. A winter crisis in A | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
Now a spring, summer and autumn prices too. Over 3 million people on | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
NHS waiting lists. Families waiting longer for cancer treatment to | :42:42. | :42:44. | |
start. The National Cancer target missed for the very first time. The | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
NHS can't take five more years of Cameron. Our 10-year plan for the | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
NHS is founded on people before profits. We will free the NHS from | :42:57. | :43:04. | |
Cameron's market. And, yes, repeal his toxic health and social care at | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
if it's the first thing that we do. APPLAUSE | :43:10. | :43:16. | |
I can announce a big change in the way the NHS supports carers so they | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
can keep going. No longer invisible but at the very centre of this new | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
service. So today we announce new support for carers, the right to a | :43:28. | :43:29. | |
break or respite care. The right to an annual health check. | :43:30. | :43:42. | |
Help with hospital car parking charges. Why do we do that? Because | :43:43. | :43:44. | |
they matter as much to me too. And we will go further. We will give | :43:45. | :43:55. | |
all families the right to care in their home if that is what they | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
want. A National health and care service. Truly there from cradle to | :44:01. | :44:08. | |
grave. Make no mistake. This coming election is a battle for the soul of | :44:09. | :44:15. | |
the NHS. The fight of our lives. Now we must all walk 300 miles for the | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
NHS to every doorstep in the land. And we walk out from here would | :44:20. | :44:36. | |
hope, with pride with passion, with a plan you can believe in. But in | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
the end of this is about more than us. This is about you. Your | :44:42. | :44:48. | |
children. Your grandchildren. Your great-grandchildren. It is about | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
whether there will be an NHS still there for them in their hour of | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
need, as it has been for you. Don't regret it when it's gone. Join the | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
fight for it now. So I make this appeal to you. Help the party that | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
founded the NHS. Give it a new beginning. Help us make it the | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
service we all want it to be. An NHS that puts people before profit. An | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
NHS that cares for the carers. An NHS there for your mum and dad. An | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
NHS with time to care. An NHS for all of you. | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
Passionate speech by Andy Burnham, on the last morning of the Labour | :45:35. | :45:44. | |
Party conference here in Manchester, he has the delegates to their feet, | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
with a strong defence of the NHS. It has been a continuing theme for the | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
Labour Party throughout conference, putting the NHS centre stage in the | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
upcoming election. It is clear from what Ed Miliband were saying | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
yesterday, what Andy Burnham has just said this morning. In the | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
Labour election pitch next May, the NHS will be at the centre of it. | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
Injecting passion into this conference on the final morning. It | :46:15. | :46:21. | |
is difficult to win an election if you are not trusted on the economy. | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
and Labour's polling on economic credibility is poor - trailing well | :46:26. | :46:28. | |
They are behind by as much as 25 points in recent polls. | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
But has this conference made any impact on that? | :46:36. | :46:37. | |
Jo Co's got some guests with her in Westminster: | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
You remember the phrase, "it is the economy, stupid", these guests will | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
be chewing over what Ed Miliband did and did not say. Alistair Feith, and | :46:48. | :46:56. | |
Simon Walker. First of all, is it forgiveable that a man as leader of | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
the Labour Party, who wants to be Prime Minister, to forget his | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
passage on the deficit? Not really, that is the simple answer. Growth | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
and economy and macroeconomic policy should be at the centre of what they | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
are doing, if they really want to generate more revenue, to finance | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
the NHS, and whatever else they want to do, they need an economy that is | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
growing well, not damaged by deficit, that is not out of control. | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
We need far more on macroeconomic policy and we got nothing. In city, | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
in business, if you were watching, that is a major issue. Business | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
reacted positively to some of the announcements that have come out | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
during the conference, if not actually in Ed Miliband's speech. We | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
have been very positive about the position on immigration, pledging to | :47:47. | :47:52. | |
remove caps on immigration. Did she announce that? It was in a fringe | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
meeting. I worry about the speech last night, Ed Miliband is not | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
anti-business, he's not pro-business, he does not seem to be | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
terribly interested in it at all! There is an awful lot of people in | :48:06. | :48:08. | |
the Labour Party who run businesses, who know how they work, know the | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
risks business owners take. There seems to be no recognition from the | :48:13. | :48:15. | |
leader that the money has got to come from somewhere, and it comes | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
from the private sector, it comes from people who start companies and | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
mortgage their homes to get them going. No recognition of that. | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
Instead, a pantomime villain: Hedge fund is, tobacco companies, fat cats | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
in mansions. -- hedge funds. He says, soak them, they will pave | :48:36. | :48:38. | |
everything. Does not work. says, soak them, they will pave | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
was very clear in his speech about austerity, that spending restraint | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
will continue, perhaps that is why it did not go down | :48:47. | :48:49. | |
will continue, perhaps that is why win back trust in terms of handling | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
the economy, balancing the books on current spending, not capital | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
spending. Are those the things you want to hear? That is the point, the | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
definition of balance budget means massive fiscal loosening, borrowing | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
far more money than the College and is borrowing. Loosening on... ? -- | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
far more money than the coalition is borrowing. | :49:13. | :49:16. | |
Timmy, we need to see much more... We need to see what the Labour Party | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
means when it talks about austerity, how is it going to reduce the budget | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
deficit and raise revenues, it wants to pay for everything it wants to | :49:28. | :49:33. | |
do. -- to me. And they are not doing particularly well, in turn, that | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
should inform the Labour Party. The budget deficit is going to be even | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
bigger than we thought it would be. Target slipping, revenue is going to | :49:42. | :49:43. | |
be even bigger than we thought it would be. Target slipping, revenues | :49:44. | :49:46. | |
not coming in fast enough. There is a problem. The idea that the budget | :49:47. | :49:48. | |
deficit is not an issue, completely wrong. Talking about Ed Miliband | :49:49. | :49:59. | |
being "abusiness", they are pretty popular on some things. Means | :50:00. | :50:07. | |
testing Winter fuel payment, 75%, mansion tax, ?2 million properties, | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
72% in favour. 50p top rate of tax, 65%. You could argue that people | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
like what they see in the Labour policies. But the leader speech | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
coming up to an election has got to reach people outside of the comfort | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
zone, outside of the established... These are people from all parties, | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
Conservative voters supported that. Hitting those points is something | :50:31. | :50:33. | |
that you can do for populist reasons but if you raise taxes, if you say | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
you will impose new taxes on industries that have not had those | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
taxes before, you are threatening the whole attractiveness of the UK | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
as an investment destination. France has lost 95% of foreign investment | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
over the last ten years. We are a great place to invest at the moment | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
but he is threatening to put up taxes, capriciously, to fit a | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
particular industry. That shows how you are indifferent to the plight of | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
businesses. You will not be a welcoming destination for people | :51:07. | :51:08. | |
wanting to put their money in somewhere. What about the increase | :51:09. | :51:15. | |
in the minimum wage? Is that something that will put off | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
businesses, some businesses have welcomed it. It has gone down well | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
with the public. The key with increasing the minimum wage, all | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
parties are committed to increasing the minimum wage but the question | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
is, how far? Labour will go further than the current system. The big | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
danger, if you increase it faster than productivity growth, on the | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
margins you will lose some jobs, that is what quite a lot of people | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
are worried about. The increase they are talking about is not that great, | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
I don't think, but I suspect it is a bit too quick and will cost some | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
jobs. I would like to see the minimum wage get to that level. Low | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
pay commission has done a pretty good job of dealing with this over | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
the last ten years outside of the political agenda. We do not want | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
elections to become a wage auction, where somebody says it will be ?8, | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
and they have already said, ICU ?8 and raise you ?10! Where'd you go? | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
The low pay commission does a great job, let them doing it. Mansion tax, | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
no frontbencher so far has been able to explain in detail exactly how | :52:19. | :52:25. | |
about Mansion tax is going to work -- I see your ?8 and raise you ?10. | :52:26. | :52:34. | |
You would have to extend the tax on far more homes and other properties. | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
Looking at France, a country that has had a wealth tax for many years. | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
Their tax taxes every asset from about ?1 million a year. I suspect | :52:45. | :52:48. | |
that is the direction of travel, and that has been disastrous for the | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
French economy, it is one reason my semi-French entrepreneurs have come | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
to Britain. If you look at other countries that have tried to do | :52:58. | :52:59. | |
this, the mechanism people talk about when it comes to the Labour | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
Mansion tax is quite unfair. If you own a lot of homes were under ?10 | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
million, you will not pay it. -- ?2 million. If you are a buy to let | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
landlord, you will not pay it, a pensioner that has retired may not | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
pay it. It does not make sense. Thank you very much, gentlemen. | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
Sadly, no Yvette Cooper, she is just getting onto her feet now, we have | :53:23. | :53:30. | |
run out of time for her. But the Shadow Justice Secretary had his | :53:31. | :53:34. | |
turn, he began by talking about his childhood memories in the 1980s, a | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
Muslim son of Pakistani immigrants, he described it as a hostile time. | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
But thanks to the Labour Party, he saw that change was possible. I am | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
stood here today as your Shadow Justice Secretary. APPLAUSE | :53:50. | :53:56. | |
The son of Pakistani immigrants from a council estate in South London, | :53:57. | :53:59. | |
because of labour, anything is possible! APPLAUSE | :54:00. | :54:08. | |
That same burning desire to fight for justice led me to be a human | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
rights lawyer. Taking on tough cases. Bullying, deaths in custody, | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
standing up for workers rights. Lives turned upside down, families | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
ripped apart, because of injustice. Defending people 's dignities, and | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
writing wrongs. And yes, transforming lives because of | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
labour's human rights act. -- putting right wrongs. And that is | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
why I am so appalled, I'm so appalled by Tory plans to abolish | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
the human rights act. And will away from the European convention for | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
human rights. -- walk away. They want to strip people of their rights | :54:50. | :54:53. | |
and make the justice system the preserve of the rich. Tories are | :54:54. | :54:57. | |
rubbing their hands at the prospect of governments free to ride | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
roughshod over the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
vulnerable. Enlightened Tories who get this, like Dominic Grieve, they | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
have been sacked! Forgetting that without enlightened Tories, like | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
Winston Churchill, Europe would not have the human rights that we have | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
today! You know, I bet that if Churchill were a minister today, | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
David Cameron would have him sacked for his views on human rights. | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
You cannot trust the Tories to protect people 's rights. The first | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
battle we have, stopping the Tories in their tracks. Yes, get the | :55:37. | :55:40. | |
European Court working better, but I say to you, Mr Cameron, we will stop | :55:41. | :55:46. | |
you stripping the British people of their rights, we will block attempts | :55:47. | :55:49. | |
to abolish the human rights act. We will not stand by while we see you | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
block access to vulnerable people and we will not walk away from the | :55:55. | :55:57. | |
European Court of Human Rights. APPLAUSE | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
But we need to recognise the rights of people who have been neglected | :56:04. | :56:13. | |
for too long. Victims. Rotherham and Rochdale are rightly seared into the | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
public conscience, hundreds of girls, some as young as 12 years | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
old, abducted, raped, trafficked. And yet they were not believed or | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
they were ignored by the police and the authorities. This must never be | :56:28. | :56:28. | |
repeated. Labour will act, we will bring in | :56:29. | :56:39. | |
the country 's first ever victims law transforming the culture in the | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
police, and in the courts, giving a voice to the most vulnerable. And, | :56:45. | :56:49. | |
we will do everything that we can to stop people becoming victims in the | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
first place. Punishing criminals but reforming them as well. | :56:54. | :56:59. | |
We are now joined by the BBC's Ian Watson, through no full of its own, | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
this conference has suffered by being sandwiched between the | :57:05. | :57:09. | |
Scottish referendum and now, the likelihood of Parliament being | :57:10. | :57:15. | |
recalled to deal with the Syrian situation, on Friday. It has | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
diverted attention. It has been unfortunate, you can talk about the | :57:20. | :57:22. | |
sandwich, some of the meat in the sandwich, some people did not find | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
it palatable enough! After the existential threat to the UK that | :57:28. | :57:29. | |
some people felt they were dealing with last week, senior staff up | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
there, Ed Miliband, they were frankly quite exhausted, like the | :57:34. | :57:41. | |
rest of us. English votes, that question resurfaced, did they | :57:42. | :57:44. | |
respond quickly enough? That is why the atmosphere has been flat, | :57:45. | :57:47. | |
difficult to get traction when you are not setting agenda, you are | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
asked about Syria. The shadow of Iraq still hanging over Ed Miliband. | :57:52. | :57:56. | |
He would like to go down the United Nations Road, new has got to be | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
cautious, cannot sound robust. He is not leading the news agenda, he | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
following it. We expect that Parliament will be recalled after | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
the Prime Minister speaks with the leader of Iraq in New York. So far, | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
the speaker says there has been no request yet, but the speculation on | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
the Conservative benches is that it will be on Friday. Ahead of | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
conference. Again, to some extent, Labour will have to think about what | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
its response will be, whether they will support air strikes in Iraq, if | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
we get the request. Whether they will do this in Syria, | :58:32. | :58:34. | |
across-the-board, where the regime were requested no such thing. No | :58:35. | :58:41. | |
rest for any of us! That is it for today and indeed from the Labour | :58:42. | :58:44. | |
Party conference in Manchester, coming a world-class conference | :58:45. | :58:47. | |
venue, thanks to the people in Manchester for being so kind to us! | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
1pm news is on BBC1, we will be in London tomorrow with more of the | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
run-up to the recall. I shall be back with this week, on Thursday. | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
Is rocket science easier than you think? | :59:03. | :59:13. | |
Well, BBC iWonder is full of great questions | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
for curious people like us. They just keep on coming. | :59:19. | :59:23. |