Browse content similar to 05/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight, the political row over the rate-fixing scandal, reaches fever | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
pitch as the Chancellor accuses his Labour opposite number of being | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
complicit in the affair. If he has any integrity on this narrow point | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
of his allegation, he should stand up now, withdraw the allegations, | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
and apologise. The idea that I'm going to take lessons in integrity | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
from a man who smeared his way through 13 years of Labour | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
Government. I have been asking Ed Miliband | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
whether the last Labour Government is to blame? It is the Chancellor | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
of the Exchequer, if he has evidence about this, let him come | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
forward with the evidence. Have you asked Gordon Brown? No I spoken to | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
him in the last 24 hours. We were once one of the world's | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
great military powers, but as the Government takes an axe to the army, | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
can we remain so? The future shape of the army has been unveiled. And | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
the scale of its ambitions has been trimmed back, in keeping with this | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
age of austerity. I will be asking the Defence Secretary if we can | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
still mount a mission anywhere in the globe. We will ask a | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
distinguished panel what they think, and what it says about Britain's | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:33. | ||
place in the world. Good evening. The level of rancour | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
in the House of Commons today beat anything we witnessed as the | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
coalition came to power. It was not a pretty sight. This was the bear | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
pit and both the Chancellor and Shadow Chancellor's claws were out. | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
George Osborne trying to put Ed Balls in the frame for the LIBOR | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
scandal, and Ed Balls outraged with the allegation, but aware, that | :01:53. | :02:00. | |
whatever the truth, the events happened in the banking crisis | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
within Labour's watch. The atmosphere went from bad to | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
worse after the vote went for a parliamentary action. It was | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
vicious stuff? What was whites of the eyes politics. What you have is | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
two of politics most fiercesome operators, they pride themselves at | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
being vicious about it. The question they were debating is the | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
big US one out there, which is who can handle the economy and banks. | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
The Government has assessed they are not culpable in this scandal, | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
actually very little will come out, so it is all to pin on the | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
opposition. They want to plant firmly in the minds of voters and | :02:39. | :02:49. | |
:02:49. | :02:50. | ||
viewers the four Bs, Barclays Bank, Brown Balls. Once they could sort | :02:50. | :03:00. | |
:03:00. | :03:00. | ||
it out with weapons, now 200 years on, political empty still goes on. | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
He -- Eminity. That lip curl in the Chancellor in the chamber today, | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
says it all. This was supposed to be parliamentary debate about what | :03:09. | :03:16. | |
type of inquiry for banking. It became a near brawl to decide the | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
biggest question in politics, who best to run the economy. I have | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
never seen the Shadow Chancellor and the opposition leader so | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
rattled. The spark was this, in an interview with a magazine, the | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
Chancellor named his opposite, Ed Balls. The House and the public | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
will judge the integrity of a Chancellor, who cannot defend here, | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
what he whispers to the Spectator Magazine. Mr Deputy Speaker. He has | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
no evidence, and knows it. Because what he said is not true, and he | :03:52. | :04:01. | |
knew that too Mr Deputy Speaker. We had one hour, one hour of an | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
attempt by the City minister to defend his conduct when he was in | :04:06. | :04:12. | |
office, and these scandals happened. And we have still not had from him | :04:12. | :04:20. | |
a simple apology for what he did. His failure of regulation. Get up | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
and say, not, we were all involved in this, there were Governments all | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
over the world doing it, just get up and say, I was the City minister | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
and I am sorry. I'm named, he has made an allegation, he has no | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
evidence, because there isn't any, because it is untrue, and he knew | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
there was no evidence, because he knew it was untrue, and he said it | :04:41. | :04:48. | |
any way. Because that is the character of the man, Madame Deputy | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
Speaker. The idea that I'm going to take lessons in integrity, from a | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
man who smeared his way through 13 years of Labour Government, who | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
half the people, whoever served with him, thinks he was a disgrace | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
in his post, is another thing. But let him redeem himself, by not, | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
today, blocking an inquiry into what happened under the last | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
Government. Take part in the inquiry. You're not prepared to do | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
that. Today's acrimonious events settled | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
the question of what sort of investigation should be conducted | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
into the behaviour of traders at Barclays Bank. Labour feared a | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
short inquiry limited the exercise to just the years it was in power. | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
A wider inquiry had a greater chance of reflecting what they | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
believe is the hands-free, laissez faire instincts of the | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
Conservatives on the City. Back in the chamber, as MPs | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
streamed out to vote. Certainly one of the men in your screen rose in | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
stature. Andrew Tyrie stood on the floor of the House and was press | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
ganged, first by Ed Balls and then the Chancellor. Labour decided not | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
to withhold their support from the Conservative inquiry, ensuring it | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
was cross-party, and Tyrie chairing it. There was room for one surprise, | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
the Attorney General, made a rare personal intervention, appearing to | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
call for a judge-led public inquiry into the wider crisis. | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
Because of the depais when parliamentarians were routinely | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
lairy, the two chambers are a sword's length apart. Between Ed | :06:24. | :06:31. | |
Balls and George Osborne today, it was probably quite a good job. | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
Earlier I spoke to the Labour leader at Westminster. You don't | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
vote for the parliamentary inquiry, and yet you say you will co-operate, | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
it is politicing, isn't it, naked politics? No, it is about the | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
family I met this morning, call the Hendersons, a small business, | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
driven to the brink of bankruptcy because of what the banks' did. For | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
them I wanted a full, open, judge- led inquiry, because I thought it | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
was the only thing to get to all the issues. This one won't work | :07:00. | :07:07. | |
then? To all the issues people are facing and get to the bottom of | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
what happened and stop it happening again. We will co-operate with it | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
because parliament has voted that way, it is the right thing for to | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
us do. We will not defy the will of parliament. We will co-operate with | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
the chair of the Select Committee, but I will continue to press my | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
case for the open inquiry we need. I think it is still what the | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
circumstances demand. Look at what was going on in the House today, | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
you said in your leadership speech of 2010, you said, let's be honest, | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
politics isn't working and people have lost faith in politicians and | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
politics is broken. The practice and the reputation and the | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
institutions, you are in and and you find it depressing? I find that | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
at Prime Minister's Questions too. It is not a great advert for | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
politics. But I have to say when you have a Chancellor of the | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
Exchequer who starts throwing around allegations, which he then | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
can't substanceate, it is only right the shad -- substantiate, it | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
is only right the Shadow Chancellor challenges him. Why did passions | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
run high tonight, at least on our side, let me make the point. I feel | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
we have seen scandal after scandal in the banking system, I think the | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
response of politicians on all sides has been inadequate. I make | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
the parallel with pack hacking lasty, I think it is a moment when | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
politics needs to rise to the challenge, and the challenge is why | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
does an inquiry matter, it sounds technical, but it is important | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
because it can get to the truth. The truth may be difficult for you, | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
because it may mean there was bad practice in the last Government? | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
tell you one thing we got regulation wrong in the last | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
Government, we weren't tough enough. You might have got LIBOR wrong too. | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
Can I quote from the memo sent to the chief executive of Barclays. | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
That Paul Tucker, from the Bank of England, received calls from a | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
number of senior figures among Whitehall to question why Barclays | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
was always towards the top end of the LIBOR pricing. Have you any | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
idea who these figures in Whitehall are? No idea at all, that is why we | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
need the proper inquirey. The irony of this argument, Kirsty, is I have | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
been arguing for what some people would say was against the narrow | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
party interest, which people might say Labour wants to avoid skrutnee. | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
I have been ageing for the judge- led inquiry, for judges to get all | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
the e-mail, if a Select Committee can do that, great as well. Why do | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
I say that? Because I don't think we should be afraid of the past. | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
I'm a Labour leader who says we move on from the past. We learn the | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
lessons. Only when the past is sorted out? Sure that is why I want | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
a judge-led inquiry. If you have this accusation that there were | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
senior figures in Whitehall, what have you done, for example, today, | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
to check it out, have you spoken to Ed Balls? He made his position | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
clear, totally untrue. Have you made any inquiries or conversations | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
with the Bank of England? It's totally untrue. I do say this about | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
politics, Kirsty, that part of the problem is when allegations are | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
flung around, and are reported in good faith, and turn out to be | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
total -- totally one true. And even the Chancellor's aides are saying | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
they have nothing to back up the allegations. Yes, but these | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
allegations, as you know, the Chancellor has done an interview | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
for the Spectator Magazine. In that interview he says, more or less | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
he's pretty sure, that these calls or conversations came from within | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
Brown's circle? Fine, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer has | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
evidence about this, let him come forward with the evidence. That's | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
fine. Did you ask, or have you asked Gordon Brown? I haven't | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
spoken to him within the last 24 hours. Why not? Because, Kirsty, I | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
have a responsibility as leader of the Labour Party to make sure we | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
get to the bottom of these allegations. Ask Gordon Brown? | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
way we get to the bottom of the allegations by having the full | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
inquiry we need. It is not about me doing the investigations. You are | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
the leader of the opposition, this is an accusation of something done | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
under the last Labour Government's watch. Gordon Brown was at the | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
centre of this, wouldn't it actually be sensible, wouldn't it | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
be curious, rather than incurrous to speak to Gordon Brown and | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
Darling about this? No, I think my job is to say what is right for the | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
country. What is right for the country is the full inquiry we need, | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
calling all the people before it. Here is the really important thing, | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
the really important thing is to sort out the problems of our | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
banking industry. Some of them created under the last Labour | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
Government? Some of them, yes. The hundreds of thousands of decent | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
people who work in the banking industry, who will be looking on as | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
appalled as I am and you are about what we have seen in banking. | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
People like the Hendersons I met this morning, it is for them we | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
have to have the big change that we need. If I was coming to this | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
interview saying, Kirsty, I don't want any inquiries, because I don't | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
want to look at the past, you would have a right to say why not get to | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
the bottom of this. I'm the one who wants the inquiry. I don't | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
understand, you speak to Ed Balls, obviously he's in the Shadow | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
Cabinet, but Gordon Brown, it's still, you know, a politician, and | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
was very close to all this. He was at the heart of it. A lot of the | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
mistakes were made under his watch. Wouldn't it be sensible for you to | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
speak to him, and actually find out, why won't you speak to him? | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
course I will speak to him. I speak to him regularly. Why not today, I | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
would have thought? Because I have to say to you that I don't think, | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
saying it is my job to investigate the detailed allegation about Paul | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
Tucker and Bob Diamond, my job is to say how do we change things for | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
the future? For 20, 30 years there has been a tendency in this country, | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
and this is much greater than the history of LIBOR towards | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
deregulation, and light-touch regulation, shared by both parties, | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
it was wrong, and it has to change for future. Let's not forget who | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
matters, it is not the insiders at Westminster, it is people like the | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
family I met this morning, who are saying, they have been mis-sold. | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
Their mis-selling has nothing to do with LIBOR t won't even be within | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
the scope of this inquiry, that is why the inquiry will remain | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
inadequate. It is for them we have to get to the truth and move | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
forward. Finally, wave after wave of problems of possible implication | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
of politicians in all sorts of murky stuff, what would your father | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
think about it all? I think he would think that the most important | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
thing of all is that politicians speak truth to power wherever it | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
lies. Whether it lies in the banking system, whether it lies in | :13:36. | :13:43. | |
the press, whether it lies in our energy companies. To that extent | :13:43. | :13:51. | |
I'm my father's son, or I hope I am. These men have to co-operate on | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
this inquiry. But there is a sense tonight that there is a change in | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
the Chancellor's stand? There was a sense there was a change for about | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
20 minutes! Hostilities are not called off at all. The Chancellor | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
was seen to have slightly clarified what he said in his magazine | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
interview, all he's doing is drawing attention. Ed Balls in the | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
Commons today said he had been accused by George Osborne of being | :14:14. | :14:21. | |
clearly involved. No, if you look at the paragraph, Osborne is | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
accusing those "closely" linked to Brown as being involved A few | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
sentences later, he says Ed Balls has questions to answer, that is | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
not as strong as Ed Balls said in the chamber he was being accused of. | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
It is close text actual analysis, not hostilities called off. They | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
have to co-operate. It is highly likely this narrow inquiry sprawls | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
and sprawls, and falls down under the pressure of the parties not | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
being able to co-operate in the long run. Once the cry was to join | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
the army and see the world. Today the question is how much of an army | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
will there be to join. And where in the world will a much reduced | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
fighting force army do its soldiering? The bald facts are | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
these, the army will be cut by one fact to 82,000, and reservists will | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
double in numbers and take up the slack. There will be two tranches | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
of redundancy next year, and the following wurpbgs with highly | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
trained soldiers, some just back from Afghanistan, in the job market. | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
We will discuss what impact this will have on our historical and | :15:26. | :15:35. | |
cultural view of ourselves. First here is our defence editor. | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
When this place was built, national security outranked all other | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
political concerns. But these days the Tower of London | :15:43. | :15:50. | |
sits under the shadow of mam Monday. And the army, once more, must | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
adjust to woorld in which available financial resources are shrinking. | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
It is very hard to be certain about the future. As Professor Sir | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
Michael Howard once said, the important thing about trying to | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
predict the future is not to be so wrong as when the future reveals | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
itself you can't adjust quickly to meet the new circumstances. That is | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
what the Government needs to do, to manage the risk it has taken or | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
board, and make sure it can adjust quickly in new circumstances if | :16:16. | :16:25. | |
they present themselves. Here the harvest of foreign Vic tree, these | :16:25. | :16:33. | |
French guns taken at Waterloo -- Victory, these French guns taken at | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
Waterloo on display. How do we maintain our reputation. | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
People make comparison with previous demobilisations, including | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
the one after water loo. But these days Britain's global commitments | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
are very much reduced, and the political will to use force, dit at | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
the moment it is hard to see that any of -- Tito, it is hard to see | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
that -- ditto, it is hard to see that any of the regiments will be | :17:02. | :17:09. | |
reinstated. When the Cold War ended Britain had 149,000 soldiers, after | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
the cuts it will have 82,000. While the numbers is not cut in half, the | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
UK will field a single armoured division, compared with three in | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
1991. There will be career compression and further redundancy, | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
whether you like it or not, if you are reducing 20%, things like | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
opportunities to command regiments at Lieutenant Colonel rank will | :17:32. | :17:39. | |
diminish. Opportunity to command companies and squadrons for Majors, | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
will diminish, that is a fact. Announcing its plans, the | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
Government conceded morale was fragile. But the head of the army | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
believes a balanced force will result from the plan. What today is | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
really about is the structure of that army, the way in which we | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
shall be reshaping it to be an army fit for the future. A place where | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
our soldiers will have challenging and rewarding careers. | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
Of course, the professional horizons of the army have narrowed | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
with the retreat from empire. Postings like Singapore, Hong Kong | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
or Aden, have disappeared, even Germany is being wound down. Where | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
as 21 years ago a British general commanded an army group of more | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
than 200,000 NATO soldiers, bit late 1990s, core command, about | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
80,000 was the summit of their ambitions, and today a division of | :18:30. | :18:38. | |
about 20,000, is the highest scale of war the army will train for. | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
For six years the Helmand commitment has shaped the army. We | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
filmed the Green Howards in one of the toughest parts of the Afghan | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
province. Chris, one of the young soldiers featured then, was founded. | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
He's till -- wounded, he's still serving, but his battalion will go, | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
as part of today's plan, and his sister decrys the redundancies now | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
taking place. It is heart-breaking, I went to the pass out parade when | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
they came home. The first soldiers to go and receive their medals, | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
were the injured soldiers. And everybody cheered, and it was | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
heart-breaking, it was really heart-breaking, and to see that | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
udisbanded and got rid of, they are a team a family, I find it shocking. | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
Once today's plan goes into effect, even a sustained commitment, the | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
size of Helmand, would require the use of whole units of reservists. | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
There is scepticism among many regular soldiers, that the reserve | :19:38. | :19:45. | |
forces of today could do this. The plan of an army of 1 10,000, is | :19:45. | :19:51. | |
very much preddikaited on a big chunk of that, 50,000 being from | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
the reserves. It is a risk, the Ministry of Defence knows it is a | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
risk and it has to manage that. To make the plan work, it has to be | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
managed properly let's put the shoulder to the wheel and make it | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
work. We know the budgets for training exercises, that type of | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
thing, are often the first to be cut, when there is a pinch. If that | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
is the case, the plan is doomed. When the ravens leave the tower, so | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
the legend has it, Britain's greatness will be over. They are | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
still here, and that other embodiment of national pride, the | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
army, is still in residence too. But that force is being cut, once | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
again, and today it symbolises a diminished power, struggling for | :20:33. | :20:42. | |
relevance, in an uncertain world. In terms of future deployment, for | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
example, if there was another call on us like Helmand, what would | :20:45. | :20:55. | |
happen? Initially, the answer seems straight forward, the high- | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
readiness brigades would be able to do it. As it is sustained and goes | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
on, there would be more reliance on reservists. That seems to worry a | :21:03. | :21:13. | |
:21:13. | :21:15. | ||
lot of people I speak to in the forces. One used the term of a | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
"Temkin village", because it is not as good to rely on the reservists | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
and other aspects not appeared to be thought out. The Government | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
saying that we have the fourth- biggest spend in the world on | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
defence what does that mean? It is true, Britain does still spend a | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
lot on defence. You can see it as a source of pride and punching above | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
our weight. You can see it in some ways that we don't get that much on | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
what we spend in full structure. There are other countries, like | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
France, which doesn't actually spend radically different amounts, | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
the UK has a similar profile in international affairs. At this | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
particular moment it may be they have a terrible reckoning coming | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
through, and delivering significant capability. A carrier air wing, and | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
40% more deployable units in their army, I would reckon, and all sorts | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
of other capablities that Britain doesn't have any more. In that | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
sense Britain does seem to have fallen back, it is a question of | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
whether now they have done that they have put the fores on a | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
sustainable foot -- forces on a sustainable footing. We have Philip | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
Hammond, the Defence Secretary. Presumably this will affect foreign | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
policy, where we go in, how long our deployment remains and so | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
forth? We set out in the strategic defence and security view, in 2010, | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
our broad strategic approach. And the level of our military ambition | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
within that. What we have announced today is the structure of the army, | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
one part of our Armed Forces, how it will be structured to deal with | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
the smaller total regular forces that we announced last year. And | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
what the chief of the general staff has said very clearly is that with | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
this construct, he can deliver the military output required of the | :22:59. | :23:06. | |
army to give effect to the 2010SDSR. We set out what we want to do, now | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
we are setting out how we are going to do it. You heard it said that | :23:11. | :23:18. | |
reliance on reservists would be a risk. For example, in Helmand | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
n2006-2012, you have many thousands of troops, now you would have to | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
rely on reserve is, getting them up to 30 though, getting employers on | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
side in a recession, how do you do that? The General is right, this is | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
a risk and they that needs to be managed. That is the key. We have | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
set aside �1.8 billion of additional funding for reserve | :23:43. | :23:50. | |
training, equipment, kit, to make sure the reserves get a proper deal. | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
15,000 to 30,000, do you accept something like Helmand would be a | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
risk because you would be relying on reservists? We would rely on | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
reservists in a sustained operation, in the second and third years. | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
Helmand? Yes. And these dangerous territories? The point is this, for | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
years now the reserves have not been properly resourced, the last | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
Government cut their training as an easy way to cut the defence budget. | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
You can't expect to have effective reserves if you don't train them, | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
if you don't qip them, and if you don't make a two-way bargain with | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
them. They must train and be available for deployment, but the | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
Government must fund that training. There is a three-way bargain, | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
because it is about the Moyers as well. I know you did a big -- | :24:33. | :24:43. | |
employers as well. I know you did a big consultation on this, but it is | :24:43. | :24:50. | |
a big ask for employers. What about reservists that go away for six | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
months? We look at the whole range of options, we have a limited | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
amount of resources but will look at how best to engage with | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
employers. I'm confident large employers will step up to the | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
challenge. The public sector will step up to the challenge. If there | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
needs to be legislation, we will do that. You accept there can be a | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
discrimination, an employer looks at a series of potential employees | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
in front of her, and realise they might be without him or her for six | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
months. Would there be legislation against discrimination? And an | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
employer can't ask someone if they intend to get pregnant over the | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
next five years, and maybe not asking about the reserves may be | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
the way. If we were in two theatres like Afghanistan and Iraq together, | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
that would be a big ask for this formation? That would be very | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
challenging. We might be able to do it? Our expectation it is we would | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
be working with allies, primarily NATO, but other allies as well. | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
does change, and maybe for the better, maybe we shouldn't be | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
saying, actually, we can go around being the world's policeman, maybe | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
we should be saying we don't have the capability to go and help the | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
Americans in Iraq, in a future theatre of war? It is not about | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
helping the Americans, it is about being able to protect our national | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
interest where it is placed at risk. As Mark just confirmed, we do have | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
the world's fourth-largest defence budget, you wouldn't sometimes | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
think it given what the British media says about our defence | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
capablities. If we were faced with a position now, with the new formed | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
army, a position of having to do Iraq and Afghanistan at the same | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
time, you accept we couldn't do that? We would be really struggling | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
to do Iraq and Afghanistan on a sustained basis. Tony Blair got us | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
into a position where we were doing those two operations. But the the | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
army was put into massive overstretch in consequence. It was | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
underresourced. But they did it then? We are still paying the price | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
today of the stress placed on the army during that period. Do you | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
accept we are retreating from the world's stage? We are still one of | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
the world's leading military powers. We have huge capabilities, hugely | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
capable Armed Forces, working with our allies, we can project | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
significant military effect to give muscle to our foreign policy. | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
you know, when you look at the changing political balance in the | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
world, you wondwhreer we should have a permanent seat -- wonder | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
whether or not we should have a permanent seat at the security? | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
think we should. We are one of the world's legitimate nuclear powers. | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
We have a powerful nuclear deterrent, we have one of the most | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
effective armed forces in the world. Well respected. We project | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
significant amounts of soft power, our Armed Forces are not only in | :27:49. | :27:56. | |
the business of Kennettic powered delivery, -- kenitic powered | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
delivery, they do a lot of stablisation in Third World | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
countries. It was said it was not as good in chance, our capability? | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
France is in a position where it is on the brink of a fiscal consol | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
itself. We are all waiting to see - - consolidation itself, we are all | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
waiting to see what the French defence budget will look like, I | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
wouldn't put bets on it tonight. Can I bring it back to the soldier | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
in the battalion, you will have two tranches of redundancy in 2013, you | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
hope there will be a lot of natural redundancies, people wanting to | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
leave, there may not be, people doing compulsory redundancy. What | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
do you say to a soldier, given so much training, and been perhaps in | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
Afghanistan and Iraq, in various theatres, who comes back and | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
realises that he has got no longer place in the army, which is his | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
home, and actually not much of a likelihood of getting a job? First | :28:52. | :28:57. | |
of all, nobody wants to make redundancies, we announce that the | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
regular army would be smaller last year, we have already started a | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
redundancy programme, and the army also has a programme to slow | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
recruitment so that we minimise the level of redundancy required to get | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
over the next few years to this smaller size. Where people do have | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
to be made redundant, the army has a very effective package of support | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
available to them, to prepare them for civilian life, and to help them | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
find jobs. Actually, ex-service people are very much sought after | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
by employers for very good reason. Unemployment rates have very high | :29:32. | :29:38. | |
among ex-servicemen now? Unemployment rates are, sadly, | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
higher than we would like across the country. But if you ask | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
employers with people coming out of the services with the police | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
Palestinian and -- discipline and education they have is suitable for | :29:51. | :29:58. | |
employment. Employment for army personnel is significantly higher | :29:58. | :30:03. | |
it is said? I would contest that. Listening to that is General Sir | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
Mike Jackson, the professional head of the army in 2004, brought in | :30:09. | :30:16. | |
significant reforms to its structure. A military head, and a | :30:16. | :30:26. | |
corporal shot and blinded while serving with the Royal Battalion. | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
My other guests also. In the big picture, how do you think this will | :30:32. | :30:36. | |
affect, both the perception we have of ourselves, as a nation with | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
great military capability, and the perception that other people have | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
of us? We have always had tremendous self-image as a military | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
nation. At the same time I would not be sad to see the cliches going | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
about punching above our weight. I think we have to be very realistic | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
about what we can do in the world, I don't think we should make any | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
pretences about it. You heard it said there, that if faced with | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
Afghanistan and Iraq at the same time, with this new formation, it | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
would simply not be possible. Where does that place us? What does that | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
say about us? In any case we have come out of Iraq and Afghanistan | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
much more realistic about what we can. Do the and the Americans, our | :31:21. | :31:27. | |
-- can do. And the Americans, our main allies, have done that too. We | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
can do less than in the past. you think as a nation or series of | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
nations, that is good for us to know and accept? It means we won't | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
take on more than we can do. That is the real politic of this, | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
that we won't be the force we once were in terms of being able to move | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
in for sustained deployment? Well, I'm not sure that's quite right. | :31:47. | :31:56. | |
First of all, it is for Governments to decide the size of the resource | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
envelope in regards to defence. It is the army's job, and the sister | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
services, to get the best military capability we can from the | :32:06. | :32:13. | |
resources allocated. We also have to meet the requirements of the | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
Strategic Defence and Security Review, which are quite specific. I | :32:16. | :32:23. | |
won't bother you with technicalties. But just on two operations, one | :32:23. | :32:29. | |
enduring, and one "one-off" six month, is within that envelope. I | :32:29. | :32:36. | |
think what the army has actually come up with is a very innovative, | :32:36. | :32:40. | |
and interesting solution to what happens when we stop campaigning, | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
which we are told we will do by the end of 2014. In an uncertain world | :32:45. | :32:51. | |
what will the army be asked to do next? We don't know. So a balanced | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
and flexible course is the very sensible answer. From the soldier's | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
point of view, you are a former corporal, Simon, what is morale | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
like, we have heard about unemployment. What is morale like | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
amongst serving soldiers? There is a lot of uncertainty now. Back in | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
camp people are not sure what is going on, so that they wrap | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
themselves up in work. The professionalism of the guys and | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
girls on the ground, means they just carry on following their oath. | :33:18. | :33:24. | |
There has to be some effects out on the ground with the guys. The | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
professionalism means they will carry on doing the job they have to | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
do. Everybody would be concerned about going to work and coming back | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
not sure of a job when they finish. That day out there is six months on. | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
You have no idea how long you have to prepare. I know there is things | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
put in line, they don't have access to the media and information. They | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
are hearing bits and pieces t will just scare the guys. When you came | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
out you were severely wounded, you lost all but 15% of your sight. | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
What was like for you to come out, and adapting to the natural world, | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
and all these soldiers feeling the need to take voluntary redundancy | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
or be faced with compulsory redundancy? It is frightening, | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
especially with the those with disabilities. There are many who | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
have done action on the frontline and they have things to deal with | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
mentally. For me it scared me, all of a sudden, not only have a lost | :34:20. | :34:26. | |
my job, but my career, a family that have been there. Even the | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
thing of hand anything my ID card, I have been told to treasure and | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
nuture that, and all of a sudden having to give it back like it | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
meant nothing to me. All these things of adapting back into | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
civilian life, it is terrifying. When you look at housing and stuff | :34:40. | :34:47. | |
as well, it is hard. How do you think we will have to change the | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
feeling of what we can actually do in the world. You were talking | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
about the closure of punching above our weight. Will we see a | :34:53. | :34:58. | |
difference in foreign policy? army has to pond respond to the | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
foreign policy de-- respond to the foreign policy desessions, and | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
having to take into account the relative restrictions there. We | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
will still be part of a NATO alliance and operating with allies | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
as we have had to do for a very, very long time. What do you think | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
about the idea that the ple de employment of reservists -- the | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
deployment of reservists will become much more important in | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
sustained operations? They have been used in other countries in | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
greater proportions than by the British army. We have to get used | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
to the idea, it is a question of adapting the systems to it. Do you | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
think in this country employers are ready for that kind of upping twice | :35:38. | :35:43. | |
from 50 to 30,000? As the Defence Secretary has said t I think it is | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
incredible. It is really very hard to see how it is going to work. Not | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
only are employers going to hate it, particularly small ones, but | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
employees in this tough environment, going out, trying to get a job. | :35:55. | :36:01. | |
They have no incentive, not only to be part of the reservists but | :36:01. | :36:07. | |
joining it. The idea of being a reservist, the idea of always being | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
in the reservists or the TA, but if you are mopping-up operations and | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
facing the matter of the legislation and the employer, do | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
you think people will be so keen? It is a challenge, let's give | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
credit where it is already due, for the numerous, now, interventions, | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
which have taken place since the end of the Cold War. At any one | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
time, somewhere around 10% of the deployed force have been reservists. | :36:36. | :36:42. | |
This is not a new thing, we are all, to some extent, down the road. We | :36:42. | :36:49. | |
are asking them to up the game. tradition has been of the effective | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
soldier. I wonder how you feel about the idea that more reservists | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
have to step up to the plate? have massive respect for reservist, | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
I served with them on the frontline. We have relied on them for many | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
years now tauls the case, regardless of legislation and law, | :37:05. | :37:14. | |
tuls it is always a thing you know reservists - it is always a thing | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
you know reservists can say no and the employer can say no. The | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
professionalism means they will keep going and pushing until they | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
break, but the reservists might crack. What about that, they keep | :37:27. | :37:35. | |
going until they snap? Two aspects. There is the whole employment | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
dimension, civilian employment dimension, I'm pretty confident | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
that the law will have to change to give better protection to the | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
reservists and in civilian employment. However, you can't | :37:47. | :37:56. | |
produce a law which keeps families happy. There is that family | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
dimension as well. Which is going to be, I think, requiring a culture | :38:00. | :38:07. | |
change as much as a legal one. the beginning we were talking about | :38:07. | :38:10. | |
others' perception of us in the world. And Philip Hammond saying | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
there is no reason why Britain wouldn't retain a place in the | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
Security Council. But, do you think in the long-term, as things change, | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
that isn't necessarily a given. That we will have to see ourselves | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
differently in the world and other people will see that too? Holding | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
on to Trident is the key to holding on to the seat at the Security | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
Council. Whether we can afford Trident is a different matter. | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
Should those resources be deployed within the Armed Forces themselves. | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
I have to come in, we can afford Trident, the question is whether we | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
choose to. Should we choose to afford Trident? I'm dubious, but I | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
know I'm going to be overruled here. Outranked. But if the holding of a | :38:53. | :38:58. | |
nuke clear weapon gets your place in the permanent seat on the | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
Security Council, in future years many other countries will want the | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
place on the Security Council by the same token? That is certainly | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
true. The whole question of the Security Council is bound to come | :39:09. | :39:15. | |
under change. Europe obviously is demanding a seat for the Europeans. | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
We may be in retreat from that? The council is not going to look | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
the way it does now, probably in 0 years time. But any way it will be | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
interesting to see how soon this is tested. The testing of it, we are | :39:32. | :39:39. | |
talking about lots of change. Many things have to be put in place to | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
make this work. You are talking about redundancies, but also in the | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
year after talking about doubling the reservists in a quick time? | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
During a period of some turbulence, we have the whole question of | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
international intervention in Syria and America clearly doesn't want to | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
get in. South Eastern Europe in a very unsettled state, America | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
doesn't want to touch it, telling Europeans, including Britain, you | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
sort it out if there is any trouble. We may have to answer these things | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
fast. Do you think, when you look at what moit happen in the next | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
four or five -- might happen in the next four or five years, that we | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
might be called on? Syria is a live question and south Eastern Europe, | :40:18. | :40:24. | |
isn't at the moment, but could be. Or Europe's borders, the Balkans | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
and that. Somewhere like Syria, where the deployment would be very | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
difficult and could be protracted, that might be something that we | :40:32. | :40:39. | |
maybe shy away from? I think we should certainly steer clear of | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
sirbia in all circumstances. It is -- Syria in all circumstances. It | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
is an American-led push. What would it say about us if we decided not | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
to follow the Americans' lead if there was a confrontation in Syria. | :40:53. | :41:00. | |
What would that say about us? think it would leave us in a lesser | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
place than so far we have been. Some may argue. That is just as | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
well. -- some may argue that is just as | :41:08. | :41:15. | |
well. That is bringing reality into play. On the other hand, I'm not of | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
that view. We are not alone in this global world, and stability of this | :41:21. | :41:28. | |
world is part of our strategic interest. We still have the | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
capability to influence what goes on outside. It is for Governments | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
to decide this, but they need to keep the tools there, in my view. | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
If we don't go and help in Syria is called upon what will happen next? | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
We will look smaller, but even ten years ago we could do less than we | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
took on. Britain took on some pretty big things in the south of | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
Iraq, Helmand, the responsibility for drugs in Afghanistan. Arguably | :41:54. | :41:56. | |
they were bigger responsibilities than we should have taken on, | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
because we didn't have the capability ten years ago to do that. | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
What would you feel like ifp you were still on the force and -- if | :42:04. | :42:11. | |
you were still on the force and you didn't go. There is a various ethos | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
about it, Kosovo and all sorts of places, if which don't go? We are | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
still in a lot of places where we don't know and people forget about | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
deployments. We don't think about that, we do as wl we are told, we | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
take an oath and we follow it. As the general said, the Government | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
make a decision and we go there. There would be some grumbling if we | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
didn't go, being bad-mouthed in NATO and not pulling our weight. | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
Grumbling goes on in the army, it is fact of life. Although we don't | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
want the commitment wrecks don't want other people to think we are | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
not pulling our weight. We don't want to be seen pulling our weight, | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
but areas like Syria may be problematic for us? They could be, | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
and we don't want to be in a position, because of lack of back- | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
up and resources, that we daren't perform as well as we should be. | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
you think what we are doing as a nation is providing the back-up, | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
the Special Forces, the intelligence, it is short-term | :43:15. | :43:20. | |
operations. The strategic decision would be not to go anywhere, we | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
won't have to stay very long? will be no doubt in any Government | :43:25. | :43:30. | |
in whatever hue of the United Kingdom, when confronted with the | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
decision of to commit or not to comi. Our Special Forces are world | :43:33. | :43:39. | |
class, no two ways about that. We are very good at training others. | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
There are training teams all over the place. They have a stablising | :43:43. | :43:50. | |
effect, and do, to some extent, reduce the risk of a conflict. | :43:50. | :44:00. | |
:44:00. | :44:00. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds | :44:00. | :44:43. | |
Thank you all very much indeed. That's all from Newsnight tonight. | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
The tallest building in Europe had its official opening today, the | :44:48. | :44:51. | |
Shard, standing in the South Bank of the Thames, reaches over 1,000 | :44:51. | :45:00. | |
feet into the sky. The Mayor of London, told French TV that the | :45:00. | :45:10. | |
:45:10. | :45:37. | ||
Britains were experiencing shieden More severe weather is heading | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
across the UK, by the end of the night heavy rain will arrive across | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
eastern counties of England. It spreads across England, northern | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
England, into much of Wales. Torrential rain persistent. A real | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
risk of flooding during the course of Friday. There are a number of | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
warnings in force. We have an amber warning across parts of the UK. A | :45:55. | :46:01. | |
threat of flooding, especially across parts of the Midlands and | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
Wales. In the far south most places having a reasonable day, dry and | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
bright with sunny spells. In Wales there will be rain. North Wales in | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
particular having heavy and persistent downpours, the threat of | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
further problems. Flooding across parts of Northern Ireland, from | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
intense showers. In the far south there could be more rain, elsewhere | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
on Friday it is looking general low dry and bright. As it is across the | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
North West of Scotland. And generally fine further south for | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
Scotland at this stage. But there is more rain to come. And | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
particularly across central and eastern parts of Scotland. Another | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
cause for concern. We continue with the risk of flooding through the | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
weekend. On Saturday it looks across northern England and central | :46:46. | :46:50. |