Browse content similar to 06/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:36. | :00:37. | |
Morning folks. Welcome to the Sunday Pressure on Culture Secretary Maria | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
Miller mounts as the Tory press Tory voters and even a Tory Minister | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
turn against her. That's our top story. | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
The economic outlook is getting rosier. But Ed Miliband is having | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
none of it. The cost of living crisis is here to stay, says Labour. | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
Shadow Minister Caroline Flint joins us for the Sunday Interview. | :00:57. | :01:06. | |
And we bring you the Sunday Politics Gallery. But which former world | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
leader is behind these paintings of world | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
Here in the East, what has Durope ever done for us? We can reveal | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
surprising new figures showhng just how much | :01:22. | :01:21. | |
new London borough. A blue flint for regeneration or economic Armageddon? | :01:22. | :01:31. | |
And with me as always, the best and the brightest political panel in the | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
business - Janan Ganesh, Helen Lewis and Nick Watt. Their tweets will be | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
as brief as a Cabinet Minister's apology. | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
A frenzy of betting on the Grand National yesterday. But there was | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
one book on which betting was suspended, and that was on the fate | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
of Culture Secretary Maria Miller, now the 2/1 favourite to be forced | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
out the Cabinet. She galloped through her apology to the Commons | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
on Thursday in just 32 seconds. But speed did her no favours. There s | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
been mounting pressure on her to resign ever since, especially from | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
Tories. And this weekend the Chairman of the Independent | :02:08. | :02:08. | |
Parliamentary Standards Authority, Ian Kennedy, said it's time MPs gave | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
away the power to decide how colleagues who break the rules are | :02:12. | :02:26. | |
punished. An inquiry into Maria Miller's expenses claims was launch | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
in 2012, following allegations he claimed ?90,000 to fund a house she | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
lived in part time with her parents. She had designated this her second | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
home. She was referred to the Parliamentary Standards | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
Commissioner, who recommended that she repay ?45,000. But this week the | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
Commons Standards Committee, comprising of MPs from all parties, | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
dismissed the complaint against Maria Miller and ordered her to | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
repay just ?5,800 for inadvertently overclaiming her merge claimants. | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
She was forced to apologise to the Commons for the legalistic way she | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
dealt with the complaints against her. But Tony Gallagher told the | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
Daily Politics on Friday: We got a third call from Craig Oliver who | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
pointed out, she is looking at Leveson and the call is badly timed. | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
I think if you are making a series of telephone calls to a newspaper | :03:28. | :03:29. | |
organisation investigating the conduct of a Cabinet Minister, that | :03:30. | :03:31. | |
comes close After that interview Craig Oliver | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
contacted us, saying there was no threat in anyway over Leveson. I | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
mead it clear at the time. Tony Gallagher is talking rubbish about | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
me, and you can use that. The Daily Telegraph have released a tape of a | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
phone call between Maria Miller s aid, Joanna Hindley, and a reporter | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
investigating her expenses claim. Joanna Hindley said: | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
Maria's obviously been having quite a lot of editor's meetings around | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
Leveson at the moment. So I'm just going to kind of flag up that | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
connection for you to think about. The Prime Minister is sticking by | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
his Culture Secretary, but this weekend's crescendo of criticism of | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
her presents him with a problem and he could be wishing Maria Miller | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
would just fall on her sword. Even over 80% of Tory voters in a Mail on | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
Sunday poll think she should go On the Andrew Marr Show, the Work and | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, defended his colleague. I've | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
known her always to be a reasonable and honest person. But is she doing | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
the Government or her any good by staying in office at the moment do | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
you think? This is a matter the Prime Minister has to take | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
consideration of and she herself. My view generally is I'm supportive of | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
Maria, because if we are not careful we end one a witch-hunt of somebody. | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
And I'm joined now by the Conservative MP, Bob Stewart, and | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
the man in the white suit, former MP and anti-sleaze campaigner Martin | :05:00. | :05:00. | |
Bell. Welcome and anti-sleaze campaigner Martin | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
Stuart sturkts let me put this to you, a Conservative MP told this | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
programme, this is a quote, she has handled this appallingly. Downing | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
Street has acted like judge and jury, for Craig Oliver to get | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
involved is disastrous. She's been protected by the whips from the | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
start. What do you say to that? It's not great, is it? The fact of the | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
matter is the question one should ask is, did she deliberately try to | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
make money? Did she deliberately try to obscure ate? The answer is she | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
certainly didn't deliberately try to make money, in the system, which was | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
the old system, and with regard to obscure ago, I wasn't there, but | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
let's put it this way. She was going through a quasi-judicial process and | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
might have ended up in court, so she has a right to defend herself. Hold | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
on o you said she doesn't do it to make money, she remortgaged the | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
house a couple of times to earn more interest to us, the taxpayer, and | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
when interest rates went down she didn't reduce the amount she was | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
charging in expenses. Well, the point is the adjudicator said there | :06:06. | :06:13. | |
was ?45,000 she was owed. And then a committee, Standards Committee, said | :06:14. | :06:16. | |
actually it should be reduced. That was mainly MPs but there are three | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
lay members. Yes, but they don't have the vote. OK, fine, that is | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
where it is wrong and we've got to get it sorted. Let me put another | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
quote from our Conservative MP. He didn't want to be named. None of you | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
do at the moment. I'm being named. But you are backing her. George | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
young in cahoots. He's been leading on the Standards Committee to find | :06:40. | :06:41. | |
her innocent. The Standards Committee is unfit for purpose. I | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
think the Standards Committee should be revisited. I think the system is | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
still evolving. And I think actually we ought to have totally independent | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
judgment on MPs' pay and allowances. We haven't have not got there yet | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
and that is where it is wrong. Martin Bell, have MPs interfered in | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
the Maria Miller process and with the current Standards Commissioner | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
in the same way that they saw off a previous Commissioner they thought | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
was too independent? Andrew it is exactly the same. Yesterday I looked | :07:14. | :07:21. | |
at a diary entry I made for May 2000, I said, dreadful meeting | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
standards and privileges, they are playing party politics. One of them | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
told Elizabeth fill kin to her face the gossip in the tea room was she | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
had gone crazy. Nothing's changed. What this shows is most of all, | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
what's the committee for? If it is just going to rubber stamp what the | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
party wants and its mates, I don't see any point. But it hasn't rubber | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
stamped. It's changed it. Well, it has watered down. That's why we | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
should make it totally independent and it shouldn't be involved in the | :07:58. | :08:04. | |
House of Commons. It is plus plus ca change isn't it? MPs', scandal, and | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
MPs closing ranks for one of their own. Has the Commons learned | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
nothing? And this is after the expenses scandal, where everything | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
was out for everybody to see, you would think MPs would be careful. | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
This is before the expenses scandal. We are looking at an historical | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
event, during your time, Martin not mine. I'm clean on this. You | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
campaigned for him as an independent. I did, he was a good | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
friend of mine. And now you've joined the club. And now you are | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
defending Maria Miller? I'm defending someone who hasn't been | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
proved guilty of anything beyond the fact she was rather slow to come | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
forward with evidence. My point on that, is I understand that. MPs are | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
being lambasted the whole time these days. There were a heck of a lot of | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
them, Martin, who are utterly decent. She didn't try to make | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
money. We've just been through that. I don't think that's right. The jury | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
is out on that. What should have happened in the Miller case, Martin | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
Bell? I don't think there should be a committee on standards. I think | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
the Commissioner should make a report. There has been to be justice | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
for the MP complained against. Then the committee of the whole House can | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
consider it. But we are, the House of Commons, then as now is incapable | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
of regulating itself. That's been proving yet again. She made a | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
perfunctory apology. She threatened and instructed the Standards | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
Commissioner investigating her, and her special adviser linked expenses | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
to Leveson, when trying to stop the Daily Telegraph from publishing I | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
mean, is that the behaviour of a Cabinet Minister? Well, it's | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
probably not the behaviour of someone that's got time on their | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
hands. She's a very busy Cabinet Minister. Well, she had enough time | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
to write lots of letters to the Standards Commission ser. She felt | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
under such threat. She had the time. She had to make the time. Die know | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
the lady is not trying desperately to make money. I | :10:15. | :10:16. | |
the lady is not trying desperately that. The fact of the matter is | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
this was an old, old system, that we've tried to put right, or the | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
Commons has tried to put right. I agree that MPs shouldn't get | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
involved in this. Should we get rid of this committee? It serves no | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
purpose except to cause trouble The adjudicator has said that and it | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
should be the end of it. It shouldn't come back to the Commons. | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
Although her special adviser threatened them over Leveson she was | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
and is the Minister responsible for trying to introduce something like | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
Leveson and that is something a big chunk that the press doesn't want. | :10:54. | :11:00. | |
She is a target. It has a good record on this issue. It played wit | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
a straight bat. The facts aren't in dispute are they? Will she make it | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
to the next cabinet reshuffle and then go? Iain Duncan Smith said it | :11:12. | :11:14. | |
is a matter for the Prime Minister. In my view, as things stand, I | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
question did she deliberately want to make money? I don't think she | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
did. Should she go? No. Should she be reshuffled? I don't know. | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
Goodness me, you are asking someone who will never be reshuffled, | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
because he will never make it. I was only asking for your opinion, not | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
your ability to do it. This is a problem for Cameron isn't it? It is | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
a problem for Cameron. There is nothing wrong with returning to be | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
badge benches, as you know. Hear, hear. To that. Stick with me. Helen, | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
can she survive? Is I'm going out of the prediction game when I said | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
Clegg is going to win the date, so I owe Janan a tenner on that one. | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
Grant Shapps has supported her. She was ringed by Sir George young and | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
Jeremy Hunt... This is pretty devastating. On past form David | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
Cameron hates having to bounce people out of the cabinet. He will | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
want to keep Maria Miller until the summer reshuffle. This is a question | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
mark on whether she survive this is. This isn't damaging to the | :12:32. | :12:33. | |
Conservative or the Labour Party, it is damaging to everyone. This is | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
catastrophic damage to the entire political establishment. Every | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
single speech that David Cameron and Ed Miliband have given since 20 9, | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
talking about restoring trust, they can wipe them from their computers, | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
because voters are going to look that there and say, this lot haven't | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
learnt anything. They are giving perfunctory apologies and then you | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
have MPs sitting in judgment on MPs and rather than paying back ?45 000, | :13:00. | :13:06. | |
she pays back ?5,800 after MPs have been into it. Damage is huge. Just | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
getting rid of one Cabinet Minister, you will need to do more than that. | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
You will notice that Labour haven't made huge weather of this. No, | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
goodness me, they have their own skeletons. Exactly. The person who | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
has made hay out of this is Nigel Farage, who has not been backwards | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
in coming forward. He doesn't seem to care about skeletons. The Prime | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
Minister has be-Gunby backing her, but that's not popular even with | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
Tory voters. How does he get out of this? This is the problem for him. | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
Five years ago his reaction to the expenses scandal was seen by many | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
Tory backbenchers as excessive. They felt hung out to dry by a man who is | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
independently wealthy. To go from that to making a special exemption | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
to Maria Miller because it is politically suitable is more | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
incendiary and provocative. It is not just upsetting the voters and | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
the Daily Telegraph but a good number of people behind him. I think | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
they will get rid of her. I think the Government, to paraphrase | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
Churchill, will zoo the decent thing after exhausting all options, of the | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
European elections a reshuffle. The culture department has gone from a | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
baulk water in haul to one of the most politically sensational jobs | :14:27. | :14:29. | |
because of its proximity to the Leveson issue. She has to be | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
replaced by someone Lily skillful and substantial. Mr Cameron is not | :14:34. | :14:48. | |
short of smart women? Nikki Morgan, the education department, these are | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
absolutely outstanding women and the problem that the generation elected | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
in 2005, Maria Miller generation, there are some really good people | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
elected in 2010. You are not responsible for hacking into the | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
culture Department's Twitter account last night? I was out at the time! | :15:14. | :15:23. | |
They all say that! One so, Maria Miller is like a modern-day Robin | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
Hood... She robs the poor to help the rich. Which one of us has not | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
embezzled the taxpayer? I reckon it is the lady. You have the perfect | :15:36. | :15:44. | |
cover. We would not know how to would we? You cannot tweet from a | :15:45. | :15:53. | |
mobile device, can you? Play it safe. No, do something dramatic | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
Have lots of pledges. Have just a few pledges. Ah, there must be a | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
Labour policy review reaching its conclusion because everyone has some | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
free advice for the party about its message and the man delivering it. | :16:05. | :16:12. | |
Here's Adam. He is well liked by the public don't quite buy him as a | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
leader. The papers say he is in hock to the unions and the party has a | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
lead in the polls but it is not solid. Bartenders Neil Kinnock. That | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
is what they said Winnie solid. Bartenders Neil Kinnock. That | :16:25. | :16:32. | |
the 1982 election. The whole country deserves better and we will work to | :16:33. | :16:40. | |
ensure that the day will come when with the Labour government, the | :16:41. | :16:42. | |
country will get better. Someone who was there can see some spooky | :16:43. | :16:51. | |
parallels. The important lesson from 1992 is it cannot rest on your | :16:52. | :16:53. | |
laurels and hope for the best, you cannot sit on a lead of seven points | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
because the election narrows that and you cannot rely on the | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
government not getting its act together because the Conservative | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
Party was well funded and organised, the double whammy posters, the tax | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
bombshell, but incredibly effective and the message was unified and they | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
beat us on the campaign. The lesson for Labour today is this lead will | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
evaporate quite possibly over the next few months and we might go into | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
the election behind in the polls. But Ed Miliband is getting | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
conflicting advice about how to avoid 1992 happening. Be bold, be | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
cautious and then, the idea that Labour can squeak into office with | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
just 35% of the vote, which worries some people. Each month, the Labour | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
Party meets around the country and last week, everybody spoke about the | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
dangers of this 35% strategy. They were increasingly unhappy and it is | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
very important that those people around the leader naturally have a | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
duty to protect him and they make sure he gets this message that while | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
there is total support for him, they do want this key year in the run-up | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
to the General Election to be putting out an alternative which we | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
can defend on the doorstep. The doorstep where Neil Kinnock made his | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
concession speech is crammed with Spanish back hackers. The old Labour | :18:25. | :18:32. | |
offices are no a budget hostel. Labour headquarters is down the road | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
and they are putting the finishing touches to a speech Ed Miliband will | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
give this week about the cost of living and I am told he will drop | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
hints about new policies in juicy areas like housing, low pay, growth | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
and devolving power. As for the charge that they are not radical | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
enough, his people say they want to be bold but they have to be credible | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
as well. They say that Labour is more united than it has ever been | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
but there has been some grumbling that the cost of living campaign is | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
not the same as a vision for the country. And that Ed Miliband was | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
not statesman-like enough at Prime Minister's Questions and one figure | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
who sat at the same table in the Neil Kinnock years summed it up like | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
this. Things are OK but it feels like we're playing for the draw | :19:21. | :19:22. | |
Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint joins me now for the Sunday | :19:23. | :19:37. | |
Interview. This 35% victory strategy, it does not sound very | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
ambitious? I am campaigning to win this election with a majority | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
government and everybody else around the table is also. But we want to go | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
to every corner of the country and win votes for Labour and win seats, | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
that is what we are working towards. To avoid last time, the coalition | :19:58. | :20:05. | |
bartering. But that 35% is a victory strategy so are you saying there is | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
no 35% strategy and that no one at the heart of Labour is not arguing | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
for this? We are working to win around the country and to win all of | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
those battle ground seats and we must have a strategy that appeals to | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
a cross-section of the public but within that, that broad group Queen | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
Elizabeth Olympic Park and. You could do that with 35% of the vote? | :20:30. | :20:39. | |
There is lots of polling and everyone looks at this about what we | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
need to do to get seats and we want to have a comprehensive majority at | :20:45. | :20:45. | |
the next election to win to have a comprehensive majority at | :20:46. | :20:53. | |
this country. Last week, we have been reading reports of splits in | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
the party over policy and on tactics, even strategy. A struggle | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
for control of the General Election manifesto, we are told. What are you | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
arguing over? I said on the committee and just listening to the | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
film before, it is about being radical but also credible and we are | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
talking about evolution and that is an important subject but we are also | :21:19. | :21:25. | |
united and to be honest, in 201 people were writing us off saying we | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
would turn on ourselves and that has not been the case. We are not | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
arguing about the fundamentals, we are discussing the policies that are | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
coming up with different colleagues and talking about how we can make | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
coming up with different colleagues sure they are presented to the | :21:42. | :21:43. | |
public and that is part of a process. That is a discussion, not | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
disagreement. The Financial Times, which is usually pretty fair, | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
reports a battle between Ed Miliband's radical instincts and the | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
more business fiscal conservatism of Ed Balls. What side are you on? I am | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
for radical change, I am for energy and I believe strongly we must be | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
formed the market and people might portray that as anti-business but | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
this is about more competition and transparency and others coming into | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
this market so our policy on this is radical, not excepting the status | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
quo. It is also for business. Opinion polls show that few people | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
regard Ed Miliband as by Minister material -- Prime Minister material. | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
That has been true since he became leader. And in some cases, they have | :22:41. | :22:48. | |
been getting worse. Why is that Opinion polls say certain things | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
about the personalities of leaders, David Cameron is not great either. | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
And they were not great when he was in opposition. At this stage, he was | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
getting 49% as Prime Minister real material and Ed Miliband, 19. - | :23:04. | :23:13. | |
Prime Minister material. When you look at certain questions that the | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
public is asked about who you think you would trust about being fair in | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
terms of policy towards Britain who understands the cost of living | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
crisis, they very much identify with Ed Miliband. We are ahead in the | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
polls. Ed Miliband has made that happen. We have one more | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
councillors, we have been running in by-elections and we have held this | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
government over the barrel over six months on energy prices. That is to | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
do with his leadership. The more that voters save him, the less they | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
seem convinced. In 2011, he had been leader for one year, and only 1 % | :23:54. | :24:00. | |
regarded him as weird, by 2014, that was 41%. Look at that! Look at that | :24:01. | :24:10. | |
weirdness! What people need is to know where the Labour Party stands | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
on fundamental issues. And in those areas, particularly the cost of | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
living and fairness and people being concerned that we are entering into | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
a period where people will be worse for the first time ever at the end | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
of the Parliament, these things are important and Ed Miliband is part of | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
our success. Definitely. I think this is ridiculous, to be fair, he | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
is not a politician that says, I am dying with the Arctic monkeys, I | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
know who is the number one. He did not play that game. -- down. He is | :24:45. | :24:52. | |
not either there to portray himself as someone who was with the | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
children, I know everything about popular culture. His authenticity is | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
the most important thing. People do not think he is authentic, unless | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
they think we were at is authentic. Is it true that his staff applaud | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
they think we were at is authentic. him when he comes back after giving | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
even a mediocre speech? I have never heard that. I have never heard about | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
him being applauded. And I am pleased to applaud him with he makes | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
speeches, I have given him a standing ovation. You have to do | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
that because the cameras are rolling! No, he made a good speech. | :25:32. | :25:38. | |
Five minutes without notes. It took a long time to memorise I don't | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
blame him! The cost of living. Focusing on that, it has paid | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
dividends. But inflation is falling and perhaps collapsing, unemployment | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
is falling faster than anybody thought, as we can see. Wages are | :25:53. | :25:59. | |
rising, soon faster than prices Retail sales are booming, people | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
have got money in their pockets Isn't the cost of living crisis | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
narrative running out of steam? I do not think so and I should say that I | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
welcome any sign of positive changes in the economy, if anybody gets a | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
job in Doncaster, I am pleased by the end of this Parliament families | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
will be over ?900 worse off because of tax and benefit changes and the | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
working person is ?1600 worse off and it is the first government since | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
the 1870s where people will be at the end of the Parliament. We | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
believe the government made wrong choices that lead the rich off at | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
the expense of those on middle and lower incomes. -- let the rich. The | :26:44. | :26:51. | |
average family ?794 worse off from tax and benefit changes. That has | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
been backed up. They are those figures. But he has skewed these | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
figures by including the richest, where the fall in tax and the | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
penalty they pay is highest. If you take away the richest, it is nowhere | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
near that figure. Everybody agrees and even the government and | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
knowledges that at the end of their tenure in Parliament, people will be | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
worse off. 350,000 extra people who would desperately like full-time | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
work who are working part-time and 1 million young people unemployed and | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
the reason the cost of living has a residence is people feel that. I was | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
in a supermarket and at Doncaster and someone summed this up, he said | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
I work hard and at the end of the week, beyond paying bills, I have | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
got nothing else. If you take away the top 10% who are losing over | :27:46. | :27:53. | |
?600,000, the average loss comes down to around ?400, less than half | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
of what you claim. That figure is totally misleading. These are the | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
figures from the IFS. It still shows... Whatever way you shape | :28:07. | :28:12. | |
this, people will still be worse off, families worse off because of | :28:13. | :28:15. | |
these changes to tax and benefits and working people because wages | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
have not kept up with prices. Your energy portfolio, you back the | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
enquiry into the big six companies and you intend to go ahead with the | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
price freeze and reconfigure the market even before it reports. If | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
you win, this is a waste of time? Whilst we have had this process | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
before the announcement, we always feel if it goes that way, there | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
might be areas we have not thought of that the enquiry will also draw | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
attention to that we might want to add on. You are right, our basic | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
reforms for the new regulator, to separate generation supply, we will | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
pursue that. What happens if this report concludes that your plans are | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
not correct? You will still go ahead? I don't think so. Actually, | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
if you look at the report that Ofgem produced, some of the issues Labour | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
has been drawing attention to like vertical integration, they cover | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
that. I was asking about the Competition Commission? The report | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
last week is a result of working together and I think it is clearly | :29:23. | :29:29. | |
accepted in this sector, look at SSE last week, they will separate the | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
business. We are pushing at the open door. It has already pulled out of | :29:34. | :29:54. | |
gas. So it follows if you freeze energy prices across the market it | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
might be the right thing to do but there will be a cost in terms of | :29:59. | :30:01. | |
jobs and investment, correct? Well, I met with SSE last weekand the | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
chief executive and talked about these issues. The jobs changes are | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
partly about them looking at how they could be more efficient as a | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
company. On offshore wind that wasn't really to do with the price | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
freeze. That was more to do with issues around confidence in that | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
area and therefore willing to put the money into it, as well as | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
technical issues as well But there'll be job losses. Is that a | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
price worth paying? We believe the reason we are having a price freeze | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
is these companies have been overcharging customers and haven't | :30:36. | :30:38. | |
been investing in their organisations and making them more | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
efficient. I do not believe a price freeze is linked to job losses. | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
These companies do need to be more efficient. Goal for all of us is | :30:47. | :30:49. | |
realising the fantastic opportunity for more jobs and growth from an | :30:50. | :30:53. | |
energy sector that has certainty going forward. That's what Labour | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
will deliver. Caroline Flint, thank you. | :30:58. | :31:00. | |
It's 1130 and you're watching The Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to | :31:01. | :31:03. | |
viewers in Scotland, who leave us now for Sunday Politics Scotland. | :31:04. | :31:05. | |
Coming up Hello and welcome to Sunday Politics | :31:06. | :31:18. | |
in the East. Coming up, we dxplain why David Cameron has been waxing | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
lyrical about our region. E`st Anglia is one of the fastest`growing | :31:24. | :31:27. | |
parts of our country with world`class companies and | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
universities. The ball starts rolling in this year's EU elections. | :31:32. | :31:37. | |
We ask, what has been EU done for us? And Nick Clegg is back hn the | :31:38. | :31:43. | |
debate over Europe, making the case that we are all better off thanks to | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
the EU. I want more people to listen to the facts and not the fiction, | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
and appreciate that whatever its imperfections, it is better for us, | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
it creates jobs and prosperhty and strength in numbers. | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
First, high guests, Lib Dem MP for Cambridge Julian Huppert, and | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
Douglas Carswell of the Conservatives. I would like to speak | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
about this week's promise of a new era for rail passengers in the East. | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
?2 billion is being spent in the next five years overhauling services | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
in the region. Work is alre`dy underway to link Cambridge `nd | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
Peterborough to the South coast with a tunnel under London. One LP argued | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
the case for faster trains to Norwich at the end use. Will ye | :32:38. | :32:44. | |
agree with me that East Anglia needs faster and better rail | :32:45. | :32:54. | |
infrastructure? I pay tribute to the honourable lady and others for the | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
work they are doing on the Norwich task force. This is an important | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
project. I welcome the interest shown by business leaders and local | :33:04. | :33:06. | |
authorities. East Anglia is one of the fastest whirring parts of our | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
country with world`class universities. I look forward to the | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
task force report. Meetings this week in Essex to back | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
the business campaign behind Norwich in 90. Canada knocked growth? It is | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
key. Chloe Smith has done an important job in spearheading this | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
campaign. Norwich in 90 also means Colchester in 40. That will be great | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
news for Essex. Railways arteries. We need them to flow properly to | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
bring growth and jobs. Is about linked to the South coast `` good | :33:46. | :33:55. | |
news about links to the South coast. Are these small strategic | :33:56. | :33:56. | |
investments the way forward rather than huge schemes? We need `s much | :33:57. | :34:03. | |
as we can get. HST will makd a huge difference for capacity on the West | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
Coast, but we also need improvements locally. Ideally, we would get a | :34:11. | :34:18. | |
connection out to Oxford. If you can connect regional towns, that has | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
huge potential for growth. White investment in transport links is one | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
of the plus points put forw`rd by the pro`European lobby. This week, | :34:28. | :34:33. | |
the UK Independence Party l`unched its local campaign for the Duropean | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
elections, while party leaddrs Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage traddd blows | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
in a live television debate. What exactly have our Euro end is issued | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
for us at the end of their five years? It certainly secured a love | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
of funding for the East. Figures obtained by this programme secured | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
that `` revealed that more than ?1 billion has come our way. I wonder | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
if that is something that UKIP's candidate for the region, P`trick | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
Flynn, will be celebrating. We went to Brussels to find out why our MEPs | :35:06. | :35:13. | |
feel they have done a good job. It is nearly election time, and in | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
Brussels, there has been an end of term feeling this week as the party | :35:20. | :35:21. | |
is nearly election time, and in Brussels, there has been an end of | :35:22. | :35:24. | |
term feeling this week as the parties prepare and win over a | :35:25. | :35:26. | |
sceptical public. Europe has always been a divisive issue, parthcularly | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
in our country. There are some who think that what goes on herd is | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
completely irrelevant and ott of touch with ordinary life and that | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
those who were elected here in 009 have wasted five years of their | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
lives. Perhaps not surprisingly most of our MEPs feel it has been | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
worthwhile. Lib Dems, by far the most Euro friendly of the p`rties | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
here, believe the EU has done nothing less than save the dconomy. | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
Their MEP for the East says it is only by coordinating rescues and | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
regulations that we have made it through the recession. With all our | :36:02. | :36:03. | |
problems and the complexitids, the European Union has survived. We have | :36:04. | :36:16. | |
almost, not quite, fixed thd banking system. But how much of that is down | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
to the EU and how much is down to government being sensible and | :36:21. | :36:22. | |
working together? I don't think that if we had left it to governlent on | :36:23. | :36:32. | |
their own, this would have happened. For the Conservatives, it is all | :36:33. | :36:34. | |
about stopping Europe from having too much of a say in our lives. New | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
girl Vicky Ford, here visithng fishermen in Kings Lynn, talks about | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
her fight against red tape, banking regulations and winning back power | :36:45. | :36:49. | |
from Brussels. We have said and continued to say that our | :36:50. | :36:51. | |
relationship with Europe nedds to change. The fishing industrx is one | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
in `` area where we have already brought back powers from Brtssels. | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
This is irresponsible and dangerous! The reason I am winning | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
those negotiations, and thex are worth a lot of money, is because the | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
other people around the table know that we are serious about gdtting it | :37:09. | :37:15. | |
better deal for Britain. Thhs week, a new freight line opened in Ipswich | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
part funded by Europe. Labotr likes to talk about the investment and the | :37:22. | :37:24. | |
economic benefits that comp`nies and communities have had in recdnt | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
years. I am very proud to bd on committees in the European | :37:30. | :37:31. | |
Parliament. They determine rules there about how many from Etropean | :37:32. | :37:39. | |
funding can come to businesses, councils, European `` universities | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
and so on in our region. And to ensure the vital transport routes, | :37:46. | :37:49. | |
that we have had investment. In fact, Monty topped it all up, the | :37:50. | :37:52. | |
region has done well when it comes to European funding. This is the | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
office where they look out for pots of money and help businesses and | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
MEPs to bid for it. We generally don't get as much as other regions | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
in England because we are rdlatively more affluent, however, we have made | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
some good investments, so wd have had ?300 million from the Etropean | :38:10. | :38:15. | |
social fund, but if we look at some of the other funds, we have been | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
very competitive. Looking at the research and innovation funding | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
?663 million so far. That h`s come to our universities, and ?47 million | :38:24. | :38:32. | |
of that has come to ethnic dnemies `` SNP. | :38:33. | :38:48. | |
Critics will point out that we have paid much more money that you | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
Brussels than we have ever received, but those who work here | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
CEU is more than just about money. They think they have done a good | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
job. It is now up to voters to decide. | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
As promised, here is Patrick Flynn, the lead candidate for UKIP in the | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
East. ?1.2 billion to this region over the last seven years from | :39:14. | :39:20. | |
Europe. That has to be a good thing. It is our own money back at | :39:21. | :39:24. | |
something like 30p in the pound If someone took ?30 out of your wallet | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
or purse and gave you a tenner back and asked you to be grateful and | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
told you what to spend it on, you might not think that is the most | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
fantastic deal in the world. But as we saw, our universities, transport | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
system, our councils and farmers, they are all getting money. We could | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
pay them much more ourselves if we were left with our own funds. The | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
point is, we are putting far more in. We are putting far more in. | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
You're a massive net donor to the European Union, and that is before | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
you even take account of thd cost of regulation and the downside of | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
membership. We are getting ` rotten deal. The business argument, | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
locally, Corby, had and I h`ve a base in Corby. They have warned | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
against leaving the EU, sayhng that you just throw up barriers to | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
business. If we have got thdse big manufacturers employing thotsands of | :40:17. | :40:23. | |
people, saying that, it is damaging to business, isn't it? I relember | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
when the boss of Nissan in Sunderland said he would certainly | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
leave the EU if we'd join the Eurozone. We didn't join thd euro | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
and we have doubled employmdnt there since then. We turn out products at | :40:37. | :40:43. | |
competitive prices and make money all over the world and that is not | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
dependent on our membership of the EU. Region `` the reasons some | :40:47. | :40:55. | |
companies here are getting foreign investment, now, leave the DU and | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
there is a risk that the investment drops away. There is no such risk. | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
There is a risk, because thdse foreign investors want to use | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
Britain as a gateway for access to Europe. Yes, we carry on tr`ding | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
with Europe. The trade minister in the last government, the boss of the | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
CBI for many years, Mr big business in Britain, he said that if we left | :41:23. | :41:26. | |
the EU within 24`hour is we would have our own free`trade deal with | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
it, and the reason why was because Germany in particular would insist | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
on it. We are the Eurozone's boost export market in the world. That if | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
you have access to Europe, xou will have to abide by the regulation If | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
anyone exports to another country, they have to abide by the export and | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
import relations to those countries. We import ?50 billion more from | :41:51. | :41:59. | |
Europe every year than we exported them. It is massively in thdir | :42:00. | :42:05. | |
interests. Let me go to Julhan Huppert. What about the assdrtion in | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
that film by our live demo LEP that Europe saved our economy? There is | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
no doubt that if we were to leave or even flirt with leaving it will hit | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
the recovery that is now happening. It will cost jobs and growth. When I | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
talk to companies around Calbridge, they are terrified by the idea of | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
pulling out. It will cause them in its problems. UKIP do like to | :42:31. | :42:33. | |
scaremongering. We have seen time again. Students can go on a Rasmus | :42:34. | :42:42. | |
schemes, have interactions, we innovate because of our connections | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
with Europe. Douglas Carswell. Patrick is absolutely right. The | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
idea that trade and investmdnt between Europe and the country | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
depends on EU manage it is `bsurd. Switzerland is four times more trade | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
her head with Europe from ottside the single market than we do from | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
within. The EU is a scam. The Euro Cross is in Brussels and thd | :43:08. | :43:15. | |
political elite are rules for their advantage. What is the diffdrence | :43:16. | :43:23. | |
between you and Patrick, thdn? Both of us agree we want to leavd the EU. | :43:24. | :43:32. | |
Why not join UKIP then? The way to withdraw from the EU is to lake sure | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
that David Cameron is in nulber ten after the next election, we have the | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
referendum he promises as in 20 7, which will give my constitudnts the | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
opportunity to vote to leavd. That is a clear pathway to exit. I think | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
it is urgent that we do it. Why do you think UKIP have such a strong | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
called in the East? Douglas is completely wrong about the Swiss | :43:56. | :43:58. | |
model. The Swiss themselves have pointed out that they struggle to | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
make deals. I was talking to a Swiss company recently who said they do | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
not have any peace, they can't lobby, but they are bound bx the | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
same rules. They have all of the disadvantages without any of the | :44:12. | :44:18. | |
benefits. Douglas also pointed out wide David Cameron and Ed Mhliband | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
could not talk in the debatd we had last week. The Labour and | :44:24. | :44:26. | |
Conservative editions are both to avoid talking about the isste. I | :44:27. | :44:34. | |
want to put 1.2 Patrick O'Flynn Wouldn't it be better if Caleron | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
could renegotiate powers with Europe, rather than coming out? | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
Renegotiation is a cruel deceit on the British public, right from the | :44:46. | :44:48. | |
Treaty on `` Treaty of Rome onwards, the aim has been the creation of a | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
superstate. Powers are not coming back, and if we do not like the | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
rules of the membership club, the honourable thing is to leavd. I want | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
to bring in Nick Clegg here, because he was fresh from this week's | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
televised debate, when he vhsited eight pharmaceuticals company in | :45:09. | :45:10. | |
Cambridge. It was there that I met with him to talk about his frank | :45:11. | :45:16. | |
exchange was Nigel Farage. H have to and how he thought he had pdrformed. | :45:17. | :45:24. | |
I ain't `` enjoyed enormously. When somebody like Nigel Farage, and many | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
populist politicians like that in other European countries, when they | :45:30. | :45:32. | |
come along and say, I can lhst all the problems off your shoulders | :45:33. | :45:35. | |
because it is somebody else's fault and we don't need to allow people to | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
come into our country and wd don't need to deal with all the fhddly | :45:40. | :45:42. | |
things easy, I can understand that if it very attractive thing to hear | :45:43. | :45:45. | |
will stop nevertheless, he hs convincing a lot of people hn this | :45:46. | :45:51. | |
region. The UKIP that stands at 21% here, and last year, 16 by`dlections | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
went UKIP. We now have over 50 councillors at county and dhstrict | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
level. They are a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, it is an | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
attractive but dangerous ard denied. Immigration is a central | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
issue here. Yeast has the hhghest number of EU immigrants in the | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
country, but at the same tile, as we have got that, and yes, thex are | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
contributing to the economy, there is pressure being put on schools, on | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
housing, on hospitals. Do you accept that there is that pressure? I | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
accept that, in any community in any part of the world where there is a | :46:31. | :46:33. | |
change of people moving in `nd out, you need to reflect that in the way | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
that you support schools and hospitals. That is exactly what we | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
do. But you have to look at the bigger picture. One in seven of the | :46:43. | :46:45. | |
businesses in this country were created by people who came from | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
elsewhere in the world, pay their taxes, play a constructive role and | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
create jobs. Thank you very much. Do you think your leader's debate | :46:54. | :47:02. | |
with Nigel Farage helped hil? It has raised the profile of Nigel Farage. | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
It may well have helped Nigdl Farage, but it helped the Lhberal | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
Democrats. It was an import`nt message. We have had myths `bout | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
Europe for decades with nobody stepping up to challenge thdm. I am | :47:16. | :47:18. | |
really proud that Nick Clegg did that. We saw Nigel Farage m`king | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
stuff up in the debate. That will work for a while, but what we need | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
now is not just Lib Dems making the factual case, but to see other | :47:27. | :47:33. | |
people. I wish the Conservatives and Labour party hats and courage to | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
stand up, but we know they have their own internal problems. It is | :47:38. | :47:39. | |
important to make the case `bout why we benefit from Europe. And one of | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
those benefits is that 60% of trade in this region is done with Europe. | :47:47. | :47:49. | |
Are you prepared to just throw that away? Aye of course not. We have | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
already established that tr`de with European countries does not depend | :47:54. | :48:00. | |
on membership of the EU. Yot picked up Nick Clegg there on the lassive | :48:01. | :48:03. | |
issue of open`door immigrathon. Until we get the ability to control | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
our borders again, until we can have both volume control and quality | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
control over immigration from two dozen or more neighbouring | :48:12. | :48:14. | |
countries, we will never give immigration a good name in this | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
country again. I also picked up Nick Clegg underwriting support for UKIP | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
in the East, and that is to the disadvantage of the Tories. Some | :48:23. | :48:30. | |
politicians argue that we should withdraw from the EU. I'm htgely | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
pleased by the developments. The fact is, there's only party that | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
will allow us to vote to le`ve, and that is the Conservatives. This | :48:40. | :48:42. | |
debate will run on and on. Gentleman, thank you very mtch. | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
We have also been looking at long`running political sagas in our | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
62nd round of political news this week. | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
The future of maternity unit at hospitals in Clacton and Harwich was | :49:00. | :49:02. | |
raised by Douglas Carswell this week. Last week, the managelent team | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
of the already troubled trust decided to ship units anywax, which | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
has caused anger and concern locally. While Julian Huppert was | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
concerned by the underfunding of mental health services in C`mbridge. | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
Health care in Cambridge has been underfunded for years, ment`l health | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
care particularly so. Controversial plans for a w`ste | :49:24. | :49:26. | |
incinerator at Kings Lynn h`ve been scrapped finally after years of | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
wrangling. A five`year battle, workers from a car park company in | :49:33. | :49:35. | |
Basildon have wind compensation from its parent company after thdir | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
pensions were hit by the firm going into administration. | :49:42. | :49:43. | |
Cambridge MP Andrew Lansley discussed how a woman Mr Kil for a | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
store manager when he was chopping at Tesco. I was the only person | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
there in a seat, and therefore I must be the manager and I would know | :49:54. | :49:55. | |
where she could find washing powder! | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
Douglas Carswell, hasn't had any of mistaken identity? I have ndver been | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
mistaken for anything other than me, I'm afraid to say. Cert`inly not | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
for a Liberal Democrat! And not mistaken for being a UKIP mdmber? We | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
shall have to see. Right! OK! Interesting reaction. Julian | :50:18. | :50:27. | |
Huppert, what about you? A tour guide at Westminster has a ginger | :50:28. | :50:29. | |
goatee and occasionally looks like the end we are sometimes confused | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
for each other. It can be qtite useful, because people tell me what | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
is going on in a way that the staff talk about and that they don't tell | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
the other MPs. Thank you both very much indeed. That is all for now. | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
You can keep in touch on our website. You can also follow links | :50:50. | :50:59. | |
from that website to our Political Editor's bog `` blog. | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
Next week, we are on at the later time of | :51:06. | :51:06. | |
Dobson. Tim Donovan is back in the chair next week. And with that, back | :51:07. | :51:16. | |
to Andrew. Welcome back and time now to get more from our panel. So they | :51:17. | :51:25. | |
can justify their meagre patents. This cost of living mantra will last | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
all the way until the election. Cannot? Ed Miliband leaves he is | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
onto something and for most of this Parliament, inflation has | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
outstripped wages. That is going to go the other way and wages will | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
rise, to which you say Ed Miliband has nothing to say. He says if you | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
think people are going to feel better in the blink of an eye, you | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
are a Conservative and do not understand the depth of this and he | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
is taking the message from a presidential election in America in | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
2012 and make Romney was ahead on some of the economic indicators but | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
Barack Obama was ahead on the key one, do you believe this candidate | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
will make your family's life better? The message that Ed Miliband | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
will try to say is the next election is about whose side are you on? | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
will try to say is the next election he believes Labour will be on the | :52:23. | :52:23. | |
side of more voters than conservatives. It would be crazy for | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
Labour not to talk about the cost of living because even if wages exceed | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
inflation next year, it is not as if voters will walk around feeling like | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
Imelda Marcos, they will still feel as if they were struggling and not | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
just compared... Retail sales are slowing? That is not the sign of | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
palpable disparity. Circumstances are better than three years ago but | :52:50. | :52:56. | |
not better than five years ago. The Reagan question will still be | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
employed, are you better off than at the last election? But things in | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
America were actually getting worse when he asked that. I covered that | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
election, that is why it resonated and they did get worse. The | :53:12. | :53:14. | |
election, that is why it resonated Ayatollah had quadrupled the price | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
of oil. This is based on things getting relatively better, after a | :53:21. | :53:23. | |
very long wait, so the cost of living critique will have to adapt? | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
It will but it gets out of a very sticky spot and the IFS says wages | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
will not outstrip inflation and by that time they can start talking | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
about other things, plans for the railways and tuition fees and at the | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
moment, everything is up for grabs. Labour know that every time they | :53:45. | :53:46. | |
talk about something they want to do, the question is, how do you pay | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
for it? They can talk about the economy and they don't have | :53:53. | :53:55. | |
substantial things to say. Is it true that Mr Iain Duncan Smith was | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
going to make a major announcement on benefit cheats? Or something to | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
do with that this morning? But he decided against it because of the | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
tobacco over Maria Miller? It would be very odd to go on to The Andrew | :54:11. | :54:14. | |
Marr Show to have a chat and see what he is having for lunch. Patrick | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
went from the Guardian said he was going to set out higher financial | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
penalty phase for providing inaccurate information in claims. | :54:24. | :54:26. | |
This is a bad day to do that, given that MP expenses are treated far | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
more lenient the than any one from Joe public. That would be | :54:34. | :54:39. | |
fascinating, if true. And he is making a very big speech on well for | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
tomorrow and this tweet from Patrick went at the Guardian, he has proper | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
sized on welfare matters and he tends to know what is going on. But | :54:50. | :54:53. | |
it would be deeply unfortunate if that was the message today. How can | :54:54. | :54:58. | |
he make a speech that has anything about cracking down on benefit | :54:59. | :55:01. | |
claimants? Not today but I am not sure tomorrow. Do you get the | :55:02. | :55:10. | |
impression that nobody in both main parties is very confident of winning | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
in 2015? I column last week said the result, the most likely result from | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
one year on is another hung parliament and which government | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
results from that depends on the mathematical specifics of whether | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
the Tories can do a deal as well as Labour, leaving everything in the | :55:29. | :55:32. | |
hands of Nick Clegg or whether one party can do a straightforward deal | :55:33. | :55:35. | |
but I do not detect any sense of exuberance or confidence in either | :55:36. | :55:42. | |
camp. And the Tories are still shooting themselves over losing the | :55:43. | :55:45. | |
boundary commission reforms because that was going to net them 20 seats | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
and they lost that because they messed up the House of Lords reform | :55:50. | :55:51. | |
and messed up the House of Lords reform | :55:52. | :55:54. | |
themselves. The former US President, George W Bush, has been a busy boy | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
and here at the Sunday Politics we thought you'd like to see the | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
results of his artistic endeavours. Time for the gallery. | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
I was a prize to find myself saying, some of these are not bad! -- | :56:07. | :56:54. | |
surprised. Vladimir Putin? I like the one of Tony Blair but his early | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
ones of dogs, to be in the presence of the master is to see his portrait | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
of a Joanne Love. He is not of the Turner prize but I was surprised. He | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
gets the mask of Vladimir Putin also Tony Blair. I was impressed | :57:13. | :57:18. | |
that he did not allow personal or political grudges to influence his | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
artwork. Jacques Chirac, he comes out of this incredibly well! And | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
Angela Merkel comes out astonishingly well. Quite generous | :57:27. | :57:33. | |
as well. Tony Blair is the best one and the reason is he had the closest | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
relationship with them and he has talked about this portrait, saying | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
he was quite fond of him and you can see that. These are awful, they | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
would not get you an A-level but you must admire him to have the guts to | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
do this, and display them publicly! An A-level? Just doing joined up | :57:55. | :58:00. | |
numbers gets you that these days! What do you do when you retire? This | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
is less embarrassing than some of the other things people have done. | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
As good as Churchill? I don't know... No! Churchill was brilliant! | :58:10. | :58:17. | |
And on that! That's all for today. Tune into BBC Two every day at | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
lunchtime this week for the Daily Politics. And we'll be back at the | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
later time of 2:30pm next Sunday after the London Marathon. Remember, | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics. | :58:28. | :58:34. |