Browse content similar to 23/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The Government gets a poke in the eye from a bishop's crook. | :00:08. | :00:12. | |
How come the Government can decide that this woman should have her | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
benefits capped, but not this banker's pay? The Business | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
Secretary declines to tell what he thinks is fair pay package for a | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
banker. By what right does an unelected | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
bishop frustrate the will of Government? | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Beijing's Forbidden City is forbidden no longer. But the | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
country remains an enigma to the west. Increasingly prosperous and | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
increasingly confident. What does it want in the world. We have asked | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
citizens there. Who does the 21st century belong | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
to? Most people say it is China. wonder what the Chinese ambassador | :00:51. | :00:59. | |
to Britain will have to say about that. | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
It has been a while since you could honestly call the Church of England | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
the Tory Party at prayer. The bishops in the House of Lords | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
certainly don't merit the title tonight. They led the defeat of | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
Government plans to cap the amount of money people can claim on | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
benefits. Earlier the Business Secretary had been dragged before | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
the Commons to lay out his plans to curtail the amount of money being | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
paid to senior business people. Significantly, no figures were | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
mentioned in that plan. Claptrap and dribble were a couple | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
of the more printable words used by some of Vincent Cable's | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
Conservative comments in Government, to describe his ideas. Both issues | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
touch a public nerve. The political challenge is to stay on the right | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
side of the argument. Before we talk, David Grossman reports. | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
1234 this is game of strategy and tactics. Involving castles, only | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
affordable, we are told, for the very rich, or those on overgenerous | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
welfare benefits. Involving bishops, speaking out, against the | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
Government. Lib Dem knights, or at least Lords, speaking out against | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
the bishops, and not to forget the pawns faced being moved out of more | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
expensive accommodation. The Prime Minister was turning the tables on | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
Asda employees in Leeds today. He was trying to sell them something. | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
On offer he had the Government's plans to reform benefits. No | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
household, he says, should get more than �26,000 a year. That is | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
equivalent to a salary of �35,000. Many people in this audience here | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
who are not earning �35,000, are you happy that your taxes are going | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
towards families where no-one is working and they are earning over | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
�26,000 in benefits. Is that fair? No, I don't think it is fair either, | :02:47. | :02:54. | |
that is why it is right to have, thank you for that! How much money | :02:54. | :03:01. | |
is at stake here. The Government says it would make savings of �290 | :03:01. | :03:11. | |
:03:11. | :03:11. | ||
million in 2013/14 by introducing the cap. It will affect 67,000, who, | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
on average, will lose �83 a week. The Government is achieving two | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
things, they are hitting those with high levels of housing costs, and | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
taking money away from families with very large numbers of children. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
If you think either one of those is the problem, maybe you would have | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
been better limiting housing benefit payments or limiting the | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
amount you give for fifth or subsequent children. Given this, it | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
is not exactly clear who is the target. This is a sharper political | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
message? It is clear when you are saying, �26,000 a year, that is all | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
you can get. If you say we will reduce the child supplement for the | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
fourth child is Working Tax Credit, that is less salient. Tonight, | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
though, the Government were defeated in the House of Lords, an | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
amendment led by the bishops. The cap, they said, should not include | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
child benefit. It is important that those people who are already in | :04:10. | :04:18. | |
difficulties, because their benefit has been capped, do not also face | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
having their child benefit removed. It is a very simple amendment. It | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
preserves child benefit as a universal benefit. Ministers have | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
let it be known they are not actually that bothered about | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
today's defeat in the Lords. They promise to overturn it in the | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
Commons and, in any case, I think they have rather successfully | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
managed to manoeuvre Labour on to the wrong side of public opinion. | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
However, this is really only half a political message. So much for the | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
economic pawns getting something for nothing on benefits. | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
What about the economic kings making all the money, squeezing the | :04:55. | :05:05. | |
:05:05. | :05:09. | ||
middle, the other side. A report today looks at all those | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
in the middle, one all the parties are trying to target. The report | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
says those in the middle have become more and more squeezed over | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
the years, and spend 40% on essentials, 15% on housing costs, | :05:23. | :05:31. | |
13% on food and drink, and 13% on transport. If you look at how the | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
costs have changed, the middle has got more squeezed. Household fuel | :05:36. | :05:44. | |
has gone up 110% from 2000 to 2010. Council tax, over the same period, | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
up 67%. Gavin Kelly, of the Resolution Foundation, says all | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
parties are struggling to know how to help this group. For so many of | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
these people, to help them through the tax and benefit system, would | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
you need a lot of cash. You would have to find the cash from | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
somewhere else be clear where it is coming from, it won't be flowing | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
into the Treasury coffers through higher economic growth at the | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
moment. It takes to you the politics of distribution and hard | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
choices, that is not what any political leader wants to talk | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
about now. What about top pay? Today the Business Secretary gave | :06:17. | :06:24. | |
the Commons details of his plans to curb excessive pay. Business and | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
investors recognise there is a disconnect between top pay and | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
company performance, and that something must be done. His recipe, | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
more transparency, combined with more shareholder power, didn't | :06:37. | :06:44. | |
exactly go down too well with all of his coalition partners. | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
liberal, left-wing claptrap he has announced today, which even Labour | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
didn't do in 13 years. He has some how got through the coalition, in | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
the hope of a good headline, it has doing done nothing to increase | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
growth or employment in this country. This is a long political | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
game, the Government hasn't come up yet with a winning move. But | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
believes it has the right strategy. Assuming, of course, the bishops | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
don't get in the way. Earlier this evening I went to the | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
Department of Business to talk to Mr McCabe. What does it say -- Mr | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
Cable. What does it say that this Government is prepared to tax | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
people's benefits, but not willing to set a level for senior bankers' | :07:27. | :07:33. | |
pay? We are dealing with pay, both for bankers' and executives | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
generally. I was introducing a statement today on the wider issue | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
of the pay of senior executives. That has got out of control. That | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
is way in excess of performance and workers' pay. We have introduced a | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
set of measures, more clarity, and paorncy, votes for pension funds | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
and shareholders, and other rules that will change the culture. | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
is the appropriate ratio to senior executives' pay to average pay in | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
the country? It is not for me to define ratio. Why not? The reason | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
why not is that what's right and what's sensible varies in almost | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
every company. If you take two examples, retail company, employing | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
unkilled workers, you will have a big ratio. If you have another | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
company, outsorsd, all of its unkilled work -- outsourced, all of | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
its unskilled work to India, it has a good ratio. What is the ratio? | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
What is a good ratio, you have used the term? It is for the owners of | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
the companies to decide when they see it alongside a lot of other | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
information, which we will require them to publish. You don't have a | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
view? I would have a view about a particular company, if I had shares | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
in it. Which is why we are giving shareholders the responsibility of | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
deciding how their companies are actually being run. These changes | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
you have announced today will not, by themselves, cut a single | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
bankers' bonus, will they? Not in themselves, it will require the | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
shareholders of the banks to act on the information that will be out | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
there, and to vote on it. Yet you are willing to cut the benefits of | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
67,000 people in this country by an average of �4,000 a year? The issue | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
of benefits and executive pay are different issues, and need to be | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
tackled in a different way. Done by the same Government, on the same | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
day? The thing they have in common is the issue of fairness and | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
inequality. But the way we deal with major inequalties of income in | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
society is through taxation measures. Executive pay, which is | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
what I'm dealing with, is one corner of a much bigger problem. | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
you think Steven Hester should get a bonus of estimated over �1 | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
million? What I have said and what the Prime Minister and other senior | :09:54. | :10:03. | |
ministers have said is he and other senior executives in the RBS, | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
predominantly publicly-owned, to exercise restraint over their | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
bonuses. They haven't come to a decision yet, the board. We are | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
making it clear they have to look at the wider context, that people | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
are suffering hardship and we expect restraint from them. What, | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
do you think will be appropriate? Let's get nearer the time when they | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
come up with their proposals, and the Government, as a predominant | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
shareholder can react to them. We haven't had them. The tax-payers | :10:27. | :10:35. | |
own this company? They do. You are our representative? Absolutely, | :10:35. | :10:42. | |
there are good reasons for exercising restraint. You said | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
putting in a restraint on executive pay was above your pay grade, whose | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
pay grade is it? From the top of the Government down we have | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
expressed a view that we expect restraint on pavement I don't | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
personally have direct responsibility for RBS. -- on pay. | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
I don't personally have direct responsibility for RBS, but along | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor expect restraint. So it | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
is within the Prime Minister's pay grade? Absolutely. So the Prime | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
Minister can express a view on what Steven Hester should get, but you | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
can't? He has already expressed a view. I was trying to be jockular | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
in a somber occasion. Are you willing to intervene to stop | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
something you disapprove of? never back ward in expressing a | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
view in Government and outside. I have made it very clear, some of my | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
colleagues have made it clear, we expect restraint. We are already | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
seeing it. The bonuses are much reduced from what we have seen S | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
The tax-payers are the major shareholders, whittering on outside | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
won't get us anywhere? Government will express a view. The | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
other aspect of the management of RBS, as you know, the structure set | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
up kept the company, the bank, at arm's length from Government. | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
you know what the slogan is above your reception desk downstairs? | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
we talking about the department for growth. In this building, it is | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
"ripping up red tape", it says that in big letters in a red poster | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
above your reception. All you have done today is create more red tape? | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
This is something we have pursued in consultation with the business | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
community and the investors. The measures which we are proposing, | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
they consider to be something that is necessary, and they are happy to | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
work with. This is additional red tape, isn't it? There is sensible | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
regulation, which has been brought in. There is nothing inherently | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
wrong with regulation, we need it to protect consumers, the | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
environment and the work force. Where it is a problem is when it | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
becomes very bureaucratic. final point, also on this question | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
of fairness, what's happened to the mansion tax? It's under active | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
discussion. Is it going to happen? I can't tell you that. I know it is | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
a good idea, I have advocated it, my party has advocated it. It is | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
very fair, economically efficient, and contribute to Government | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
revenues. It is a debate going on. You have not won it yet? No, no. | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
But I always argue my case, and my party colleagues do too. Vincent | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
Cable, thank you. With us now is Liam Byrne, the | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
Labour Work and Pensions spokesman, and in a minute the Bishop of | :13:21. | :13:29. | |
Leicester and Margo James MP. Liam Byrne, most of the peers who | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
voted down this cap tonight were Labour peers. Is the party in | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
favour of the cap on benefits or not? Yes, we are. So these Labour | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
peers were, out of control or what? No, we think the bill is so badly | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
thought through, that there is a real risk that this policy, which | :13:46. | :13:53. | |
is a good idea, in principle, will backfire and dump council tax | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
payers with a new bill for homelessness. We want a few more | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
safeguards written in, before coming fully behind it. | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
expressed your support for the principle by voting against it? | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
principle of the bill was not voted on today. Labour put down Anne | :14:10. | :14:19. | |
mendment which said hang on, let's not -- an amendment which said hang | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
on, let's not put it through like that. Somebody has to pay for the | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
bill, and that person is the council tax pair, we don't want | :14:28. | :14:34. | |
that to happen. You think �26,000 a year in benefits may be too low a | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
cap? We think it is a good place to start. You have just voted against | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
it? What we did is put down an amendment which said, before the | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
cap kicks in, local authorities have to make an assessment if the | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
family will be made homeless, somebody has to pick up the tab for. | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
That the figures we released today will show housing benefit going up | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
over this parliament by �4 billion. That is driven by the Government's | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
failure to get people into work. Isn't this why your party is | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
suffering a credibility problem with the public, you say you | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
support things in principle, but when it comes to anything difficult | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
in prakti, you don't know what to do? We are very -- practice, you | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
don't know what to do? We are very clear on this. The Tories want to | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
pay party politics, and say it is a black and white issue, it isn't. It | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
is a complicated bit of legislation, with good idea at its heart, we | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
don't want the good idea to backfire, creating a whopping great | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
bill for homelessness, that the good hard honest taxpayer has to | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
clean up. When it goes through, it is a will when it comes back to the | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
House of Commons, where the Government has a healthy majority, | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
when it goes through, and it becomes law, an in coming Labour | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
Government would reverse it, would they? No, we would look at the | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
impact on homelessness, that is the risk we want to guard against. | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
would find out what you were talking about after someone had the | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
courage to make the decision? what we're saying is we think it is | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
foolish to proceed with a bill that your own Secretary of State for | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
Local Government has said...You Have just said you don't know what | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
the impact will be? In three years time when a Labour Government has | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
been elected we will know the impact, and what kind of mess in | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
terms of the homelessness bill we have to clear up. You might reverse | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
it or not? If the worst happens, which is what we fear. We think | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
there will be a big spike in homelessness, we think that will | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
put families, and children, out of their homes, and we think that is | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
going to present a big new bill for council tax payers. You would then | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
reverse it? We think the Government can see this coming. They are | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
playing politics with it a bit, we are saying don't play politics with | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
this, think it through, put in the right safeguards now. Do you think | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
the general public understands your position? We have to work hard to | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
explain it. Look, I don't make any apology for thinking through the | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
policy, rather than plunging ahead blindly. I think that is what we | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
are paid to go to work to do. with us, we have the Bishop of | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
Leicester here and Margo James, Conservative MP. Now bishop what is | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
it that gives you the right to obstruct a policy that clearly | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
seems to have terrific public support? The bishops have the same | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
right to speak and vote in the House of Lords as any other peer. | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
Indeed I think we have more than a right, we have a duty to speak | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
there. Particularly if, arising from situations in our own diocese, | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
we see there is something of an injustice being committed, | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
particularly to the children of the poorest families. Has it occurred | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
to you, if you want to frame laws, you might perhaps go to the | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
inconvience of getting elected? That is a debate about whether the | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
whole House of Lords should be reformed, and a fully elected House. | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
There is a draft bill, no doubt it will come before House in due | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
course, as it has the parliament functions as it has for 700 years | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
with bishops in it. With what authority do you obstruct the will | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
of Government on a policy that as tremendous public support? | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
amendment carried was carried by a majority of 20, which required 250 | :18:05. | :18:11. | |
peers to vote. There were five bishops, 245 other peers. This was | :18:11. | :18:17. | |
not something just concocted by the bishops. Or create bid the bishops. | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
But the bishops sponsored the amendment because we saw it as a | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
matter of profound social justice. What do you think of what's | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
happened? I disagree in the Lords in passing this amendment. I think | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
the Government has wisely set the cap at average earnings, so let's | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
not forget there is a huge number of people who are going out to work | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
every day and earning less than this proposed capped amount. | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
Do you know how many children will, for whatever reason, as a | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
consequence of this, have to leave the family home, move house, in | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
some respect? I don't think many people have to move house. | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
don't know, do you? In the vast majority of areas. Do you know | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
bishop? I think we have every reason to suppose a Signum. It may | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
be thousands, ten -- a significant number. It may be thousands, tens | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
of thousands who can't continue living where they are. The majority | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
parts of the country have enough affordable accommodation in the | :19:18. | :19:28. | |
:19:28. | :19:30. | ||
private and social housing sectors, to accommodate most people. In the | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
sad case where someone has to move, that is not something the ordinary | :19:33. | :19:39. | |
working family is immune from. In a family where both or one partner is | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
working, sometimes, when conditions get difficult, people have to move | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
house. They have to make choices, all we're saying is that those | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
choices should not be just the preserve of people who are working. | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
They have to make choices. People who are earning have to make choice | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
about where to live what they can afford to do. Don't forget this cap | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
is set at average earnings. point about the amendment is people | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
who are earning have the right to have child benefit. If you lose | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
your job, under these proposal, you are quite likely to have your | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
benefits capped and to lose your child benefit as well. That seems | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
to penalise the children of the poorest families. What do you say | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
to the people in your diocese, who are working hard, and who are | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
earning less than people are getting on benefits, what do you | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
say to them? I say to them, and I have this conversation with a | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
number of them. People who are in work, and who might fall out of | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
work, through no fault of their own, have every reason to suppose that | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
at that point the state will support them to a minimum standard | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
were they can at least keep their children housed and at school and | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
in their networks. At the moment a very significant number of families, | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
through absolutely no fault of their own. There was a great deal | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
of talk in today's debate about incentivising people back to work. | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
With three million unemployed you can't do that for everyone. We have | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
to support people through this very difficult period. No-one would | :21:08. | :21:10. | |
disagree with having to support people when they lose their job. | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
That is what the welfare state is for. That is why the cap has been | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
set as high as it has been, on average earnings. If you don't have | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
children, there is no way you would have benefits anything like to the | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
tune of �26,000 a year, the cap is bearing in mind that a lot of | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
people do have children. You are entirely comfortable with the | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
position your party has taken, where you can be specific about | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
pounds and pence when it comes to people on benefits, because you | :21:38. | :21:44. | |
refuse to be specific when it comes to bankers' bonuss? They are two | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
different things. We are taxing banks, the bank levy has brought in | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
more than the last bank bonus tax did. As you have seen from McCabe's | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
announcement today, there is a lot of -- Vincent Cable's announcement | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
today there is a lot of pressure on bankers' bonus, they are 40% in the | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
last two years. The majority of those working for state-controlled | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
banks are having their bonuses capped at �2,000. That is a lot | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
less than it used to be. Not the investment bank, that is not true, | :22:14. | :22:21. | |
of course, is it? �2,000 at RBS is the standard. I think it is | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
absolutely clear that the inequalties in our society are | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
widening all the time. Some of the poorest families are being | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
extremely hard hit, while they see the people at the other end of the | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
scale, getting richer and richer, faster and faster. The effect on | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
the general well being of our society is extremely damaging. | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
Thank you all very much indeed. For the Chinese community across | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
the world, today is the beginning of the new year festival, so the | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
rabbit gives way to the dragon. Dragon years are considered | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
exciting and unpredictable. Given the state of things in the world, | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
this might be one of the rare occasions when primitive | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
superstition matches reality. Nowhere is better place today face | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
challenges than the People's Republic of China. Where over a | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
billion people live under a communist Government in a country | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
that grows richer every day. It poses enormous challenges for the | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
rest of the world. I have just been there. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
In 1793, Britain sent an official trade mission to Beijing. It didn't | :23:22. | :23:30. | |
go well. Britain was emerging as the | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
greatest power on earth. Inconveniently, inside the | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
Forbidden City, the Chinese Emperor was under the impression that was | :23:39. | :23:46. | |
his role. The leader of the trade delegation, | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
George Viscount McCartney, was keen to open up a massive New Market for | :23:52. | :23:59. | |
British manufacturing. -- new market for British manufacturing. | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
When he got there he brought forward Wedgwood pottery, | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
Birmingham metalware, the finest of instruments and a minature | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
planetarium. The Emperor was splendidly | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
dismissive. He looked at the cream of European science and | :24:19. | :24:27. | |
manufacturing, and he said, we have no need of things ingenious or | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
mechanical. China had everything if could possibly -- it could possibly | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
want, the trade mission was a disaster. | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
The Emperor may have been secure in his palace, but soon Britain could | :24:41. | :24:47. | |
afford simply to ignore the old boy. When the Chinese tried to stop | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
British merchants, the Royal Navy sent in gun boats. At the end of | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
the conflict, Britain could trade where she liked. Hong Kong was | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
her's, and the Chinese were embarked on what they called their | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
century of humiliation. There is a fourth opium war in 1880, | :25:07. | :25:14. | |
the second one in 1860 and after that it is the collapse of the last | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
Chinese dynasty. As Britain rose, China fell. Liu Jing is trying to | :25:19. | :25:26. | |
tell his country's past in comic book form. So you could say the | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
experience China had with western powers, especially Britain, in the | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
19th century, is very unpleasant. The hardest thing for a European to | :25:36. | :25:44. | |
appreciate is how very long the perspective is. Rise and fall. A | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
history of dynastic cycles that last thousands of years. | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
Periods of war and foreign invasion brought to an end by strong | :25:54. | :26:03. | |
Government. Whose policies sow the seeds of their own destruction. | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
Dynasties collapse, and the whole process starts again. So where are | :26:06. | :26:15. | |
we now? There is a very strong central Government. There's an | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
overall stability in society. People's living standards are | :26:19. | :26:27. | |
improving. There is the development that is very fast. So this is, | :26:27. | :26:37. | |
:26:37. | :26:47. | ||
according to the history point of Chinese people really never have | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
had it so good. The gospel according to the Party is at the | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
end of a century of humiliation, was the achievement of Chairman Mao | :26:56. | :27:04. | |
moo and the communists. -- but and the communist, but fear | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
of dynastic collapse is hard to shake. | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
The old summer palace of the Chinese Emperor's, took generations | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
to construct. Then, in this supposed earthly paradise, a | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
Chinese Emperor had the temerity to seize and torture two British | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
envoys. If you ask the average British citizen what Britain did in | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
China, 150 years ago, but the chances are he or she couldn't tell | :27:37. | :27:43. | |
you. In fact, what Britain and France did was this. They took the | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
Emperor's summer palace and they destroyed it. They destroyed it | :27:46. | :27:52. | |
because the Emperor wouldn't agree to the demands of western kalalism. | :27:52. | :27:58. | |
The British may have -- capitalism, the British may have forgotten that, | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
but the Chinese haven't. The generation who will forge the | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
historically aware society, are in no doubt about the story the ruins | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
tell. Do you remember this as humiliation? Yes. For give but not | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
forget. China is become -- forgive but not forget, China is becoming a | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
very strong economy. In the west they fear that China will bully | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
them. We Chinese don't think so. you think China will become a | :28:28. | :28:36. | |
superpower? In the future, in the 21st century. Probably. I think, | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
yeah. As a Chinese, I would like to see it. You would like to see China | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
as a superpower? That means more responsibility, more influence on | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
this world. It doesn't mean more military threat to this world. | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
All this destruction was done in the 19th century, the 19th century | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
really was the century of the European imperial powers, the | :29:00. | :29:05. | |
British, mainly, but also the French. Who does the 21st century | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
belong to, do you think? For most people they say it is China's. | :29:11. | :29:18. | |
China can make the rise continue for another 15-20 years, and China | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
will inevitably become another superpower, because of the size of | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
its population. But the fear of chaos in this enormous country is | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
ever present. Even university professors believe the antedote is | :29:30. | :29:36. | |
firm Government. Which means the question of world status is a | :29:36. | :29:41. | |
political one. It is really decided by the Chinese Government, or the | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
Chinese political leadership. If the Chinese leadership can provide | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
a strong and creative leadership, for this country, and then this | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
country will move in that direction. If the political leadership is a | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
weak and directs the country in the wrong direction t may collapse at | :29:59. | :30:06. | |
any time. And where does this leave Britain? In the garden shed, | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
according to this animation. This seems to be how the Chinese see us | :30:11. | :30:17. | |
now. It hasn't gone quite to plan, the scheme was for the | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
manufacturing to be outsourced to the world's most populist nation, | :30:21. | :30:27. | |
while the clever, creative stuff, stayed in Europe. Not any more. | :30:27. | :30:32. | |
Britain likes to call itself the design capital of the world. Well, | :30:32. | :30:36. | |
get this, even the animations for the London Olympics are made in | :30:36. | :30:43. | |
China. The young people here don't see themselves as labourers, they | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
have set their sights on the clever, creative stuff done in Europe and | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
North America. This is not how complacent, western Governments saw | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
things developing. And history shows that economic gain is | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
generally the forerunner of political and military power. | :31:02. | :31:09. | |
My view is that when China gets the military capability, larger than | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
the US, the leadership will inevitably fall on China's shoulder, | :31:13. | :31:22. | |
no matter if they like it or not. Increasingly, the lucky ones in | :31:22. | :31:29. | |
China's megacities, live a life of unequivocal modernity. | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
The ambitions are grand, that China becomes a global centre, not just | :31:33. | :31:40. | |
for commerce and design, but for power and influence. | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
But can you have the freedom to create without the freedom to | :31:45. | :31:55. | |
:31:55. | :31:55. | ||
think? My internet access only limited to the website which the | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
Chinese Government allows me to visit. In the cultural revolution, | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
Mao Yushi, was sent to be reeducated in the countryside and | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
almost starved to death. Mr Mao shares the same name as the great | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
leader. But Mr Mao has been named as a party menace, his offence? He | :32:17. | :32:22. | |
has written a book criticising the cult of Chairman Mao. If people | :32:22. | :32:28. | |
cannot even challenge history, can China really challenge the west? Do | :32:28. | :32:35. | |
you think that China will become a superpower in the sense that the | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
United States or the Soviet Union, as was, were superpowers? I don't | :32:39. | :32:49. | |
:32:49. | :32:53. | ||
think so. China doesn't provide any hope, any hope for the ordinary | :32:53. | :33:00. | |
people in the world. Nobody would migrate to China. People want to | :33:00. | :33:08. | |
migrate to yuen Europe or Canada or Australia or the United States. | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
It doesn't have any attraction. So I don't think China can be a | :33:12. | :33:22. | |
:33:22. | :33:23. | ||
This current dynasty looks likely to remain unchallenged, as long as | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
it continues to provide a level of comfort, unimaginable to China's | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
ancestors. For ordinary Chinese, the country's | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
international status is a lot less important than the prosperity | :33:37. | :33:44. | |
brought by this strange marriage of communism and capitalism. | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
There truly never has been a time in Chinese history, when the | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
country has got so much richer, so quickly. The industry of the world | :33:52. | :33:58. | |
has come calling, and this time, it's been allowed in. The world has | :33:58. | :34:03. | |
yet to see what China expects in return for its labour. But expect | :34:03. | :34:13. | |
:34:13. | :34:15. | ||
something it certainly will. Viscount McCartney's trade mission | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
scuttled away from Beijing with what dignity it could. Claiming | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
there wasn't a single proper lavatory in the entire company. | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
That sort of abuse won't work any longer, and nor will military | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
adventurism. It is maybe time for the rest of the world to learn | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
something about the cycles of Chinese history. | :34:35. | :34:38. | |
Tomorrow night in another film I will be exploring what it is like | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
to live under a Government which allows people to get filthy rich, | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
but denies them the chance to change their system of Government. | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
But before that, our diplomatic editor and economics editor are | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
both here. First off, the amount of trade that the rest of the world | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
does with China, how big are the figures? There are two challenges | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
that face China, one is trade, the other one is the balance of what | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
drives its own economy. Let's have a look at the famous trade | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
imbalance. This is in manufactured goods, Chinese trade in balance | :35:09. | :35:15. | |
with the USA takes off when they join the WTO, $150 billion a year, | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
falls back in the recession. This drives the demand for the Chinese | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
currency to be freed up so Chinese goods can become dearer and | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
Americans can get their jobs back. But it is complicated, let's | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
animate the second line. This is China's trade balance with the rest | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
of the world, excluding America. So that includes Japan and the | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
European Union, it is not so bad. This is because, in part, China | :35:37. | :35:45. | |
itself is a massive importer. The actual complexity of this. It is an | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
America-China thing, we should remember that, more than China | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
versus the rest of the world. Now let's look at the internal balance. | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
This line shows the proportion of the chine naes economy that is | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
driven which investment -- Chinese economy that is driven, which | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
investment in housing, railways, by the Government, prie. Investment T | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
has approached 50% in the anti- crisis period, the fiscal stimulus, | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
their response to the crisis was to boost railway building and road | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
building. Let's have a look at consumption. This is Government and | :36:17. | :36:23. | |
private consum. As you see it has - - consumption. As you can see it | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
has fallen. China wants to boost its private consumption, so people | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
you saw in the film can start buying holidays and cars and | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
financial products. They agree they have to do it. Along the way, the | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
question, who gets what? Do the Chinese workers on �70 a month, | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
eventually get a kind of wage that makes western workers able to | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
compete with them. Mark, are we seeing this | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
translating into national, political power? Yes, there is a | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
tremendous raft of issues where western countries want to co- | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
operate fruitfully with China, particularly in the UN Security | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
Council, where China is one of the five permanent members, veto powers. | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
So on a whole raft of issues, from should sanctions on Iran be | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
extended, through to what do we do about Syria. All these things are | :37:11. | :37:20. | |
vietia. You talked about the cycles of history, the current party is | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
still among the view that Mao espoused, great power politics. | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
They rejected that, they saw themselves as leaders of the Non- | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
Aligned Movement against the packs- American piece. China has stood in | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
the way of votes on military action. The fascinating thing will be as | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
they develop more of a sense of themselves in a great power in the | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
coming years, whether they are moving away from being against | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
packs-America, to creating their own vision. | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
Have we any clues to that? Some people would say, in the region, | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
that they are rather concerned. They look for example at some of | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
the trappings of great power status that China is beginning to acquire. | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
Some of them harmless enough. The space programme. Scientific | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
progress, all of that kind of thing who could object to that. The | :38:08. | :38:14. | |
substantial increases in military spending do cause more concern. The | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
fact in recent months China's aircraft carrier has been at sea. | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
We can see some of the satellite images. This was a carrier the | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
Russians couldn't afford to finish that China bought and is now | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
commissioning. Some regional powers are worried about this. They are | :38:29. | :38:35. | |
thinking will China be exacting a more nationalist influence in terms | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
of China minorities and in the specific region. The Chinese | :38:39. | :38:43. | |
Government insists it is a taking a more full part in international | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
affairs, contributing to UN peacekeeping and that kind of thing. | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
But are some of these trappings of great power status going to be put | :38:50. | :38:58. | |
to more traditional, almost nationalistic objectives. If you | :38:58. | :39:06. | |
would be happy for a lifetime, grow flowers. The man attending to | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
Chino-British flowers is the Chinese Ambassador, he's with us | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
now. Happy new year. Let's try to define | :39:16. | :39:22. | |
the terms, are you a communist? we think China is the ruling party, | :39:22. | :39:28. | |
the ruling party is the communist party, but the communist party only | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
constitutes, and now we have 17 million party members. But you have | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
to remember that China is a country with 1.3 billion in its population. | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
I don't think you can call China a communist party, a communist | :39:41. | :39:51. | |
country. Are you a communist? as you would not call the UK a | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
Conservative country. You could call it capitalist country? | :39:55. | :40:04. | |
could say China a socialist country, with a Chinese characteristics. | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
That is a difference. Talking to young people in particular in | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
Beijing, I very strongly got the impression that they were pretty | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
optimistic about China's international role. They saw this | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
as a century which was developing very much in a way that was going | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
to make China a much more significant force in the world. Do | :40:23. | :40:30. | |
you think that? China will certainly contribute its part for | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
maintaining peace, prosperity of the world. But we do not see China | :40:33. | :40:40. | |
as a superpower. I would characterise China as the largest | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
developing country, which increasing international influence | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
and responsibility. But people look at what China does on the Security | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
Council, for example, over the question of, for example, you | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
opposed sanctions on Syria, sanctions on Iran, and they wonder, | :40:58. | :41:04. | |
you know, what you are trying to achieve? That's not correct | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
impression. In fact, China voted four times with other members of | :41:08. | :41:18. | |
the Security Council, on the issue of Iran. China is strongly opposed | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
to the Iranian nuclear programme. On the other hand, we believe | :41:21. | :41:28. | |
diplomatic and peaceful solutions are the most beneficial solutions | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
to the problem. It is in the interests of maintaining peace and | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
stability in the region. But do you accept that Iran is a potential | :41:39. | :41:46. | |
threat to world peace, a nuclear- armed Iran? I would say Iran with a | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
nuclear weapon is not in the peace, not in the interests of peace and | :41:50. | :41:55. | |
stability in the region. That is why China makes it very clear, from | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
day one, that we are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons | :41:59. | :42:08. | |
programme of Iran. That has been reaffirmed by the Chinese premier | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
in his recent visit. Why not impose sanctions then? There is already | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
sanctions in place, we don't think sanctions for the sake of sanctions | :42:17. | :42:23. | |
serve the purpose. We also encouraged diplomatic negotiations, | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
to engage Iran for a peaceful settlement. Do you think China has | :42:28. | :42:36. | |
a moral role in the world? I think China has a role to play in terms | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
of a voice for our opinions for a more peaceful, harmonious world. | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
What are you trying to promote, the United States, for example, says it | :42:45. | :42:51. | |
promotes, and will go to war, to promote democracy. What are you | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
trying to promote? We are promoting a harmonious world. We believe the | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
world will be more peaceful, prosperous, if all countries | :42:59. | :43:06. | |
respect each other, rather than to immos their own ideas and systems | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
on to others. Which believe mutual respect -- impose their own ideas | :43:11. | :43:16. | |
and systems on to others. We believe mutual respect and | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
accommodating, and mutual work for a common good and security are in | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
the interests of peace and stability of the world. We are | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
strongly opposed to any military sanctions. Military solutions. | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
What about economic power, China sits on this mountain of thrillions | :43:32. | :43:38. | |
of dollars worth of foreign exchange, what is that for? What's | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
that for. You know China is still relatively a poor country. Though | :43:44. | :43:51. | |
China now is number two in terms of GDP, after only the United States | :43:51. | :44:01. | |
:44:01. | :44:04. | ||
now. But per cap at that GDP, China is still behind 100 countries. | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
There is several hundred billion living in the countryside. There is | :44:09. | :44:16. | |
still 155 million people living on under $1 US a day. This is a huge | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
poverty line. There is an enormous responsibility for the Chinese | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
Government to improve the livelihoods of those parts of the | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
population of China. Let as talk a little bit about the difficult | :44:27. | :44:33. | |
matter of human rights. Now Leymah Gbowee, the well known artist, says | :44:33. | :44:39. | |
-- Mr Wei Wei, the well known artist, says without free speech | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
you are living in barbaric world. Do you understand what he's | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
getting? I think he has the freedom to express his view, otherwise how | :44:47. | :44:55. | |
could you get his opinion on this. He has been in prison, of course? | :44:55. | :45:04. | |
He has been under investigations for his evading of tax, destroying | :45:04. | :45:10. | |
his accounting books. In any country this is, you know, if you | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
are in a country that is ruled by law, you have to respect, you have | :45:14. | :45:20. | |
to abide by the law. Nobody in the country ruled by law should be | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
above the law, or outside the law. Even this called well known artist, | :45:26. | :45:33. | |
he has to abide by the law. When he violated Chinese law, he should be | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
punished. There is no doubt about that. Even in Britain. He should be | :45:36. | :45:42. | |
free to say what he likes, shouldn't sne I think so. Otherwise | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
--? I think so. Otherwise how can you know his opinions on this issue, | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
if he's forbidden for voicing his opinions. Mr Ambassador, thank you | :45:51. | :45:56. | |
very much. Well now, that's it for now if you | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
are among our more northerly viewers, you may want to look out | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
the window for the glimpse of Northern Lights, they were seen as | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
far south of Yorkshire last night. We will leave you with some | :46:09. | :46:19. | |
:46:19. | :46:21. | ||
# People think style # Rules our life | :46:21. | :46:27. | |
# Some people think otherwise # Where did you go | :46:27. | :46:33. | |
# On that big black night # Did you take the coast road | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
# Back through your life # She's the sand | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
# The moon the stars # That shine a light | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
# And say # And say | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
# They will do all right for me. Pretty cold outside overnight | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
tonight. As wet weather arrives, we will see snow for the morning. | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
Across the hills of southern Scotland into northern England. | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
Even at lower levels there could be snow, possibly as far south as | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
Lincolnshire and East Anglia. It shouldn't last long, but it will be | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
a cold grey day across the east. Temperatures 3-4. Miserable across | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
much of East Anglia and the south- east. Expect dull, cold and wet | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
conditions to last well into the afternoon. It is a bit milder | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
further west, temperatures reaching double figures, it is still grey. A | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
lot of mist around the coast sitting over the hills and the | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
moors, dull, damp, drizzley conditions persisting on the west | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
coast of Wales throughout the day. It is milder here, it is for | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
Northern Ireland, 10-11 Celsius, but a grey, dismal day. The west | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
coast of Scotland also grey and damp, in the east there could, for | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
a time be snow flurries. The weather will get milder for all | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
places, even the east, by the time we get to Wednesday. It is still | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
looking pretty grey. Cloud around, further outbreaks of rain on | :47:47. | :47:49. | |
Wednesday, particularly across Scotland and Northern Ireland. The | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
rain will slowly creep into parts of England and Wales. Much of | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
England and Wales, dry on Wednesday, but still dull. However, on | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
Wednesday, eastern areas will see much higher temperatures, | :48:01. | :48:05. |