Browse content similar to 06/07/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning and welcome to the Sunday Politics. Up to 1 million | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
public sector workers will strike this week. It is one of the biggest | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
walk-out since 2010, the country's top trade union and the Business | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
Minister go head-to-head. The Tour de France seems to have cheered him | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
up. Just as well. Nick Clegg has nothing more to smile about. He | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
joins me live from Sheffield to discuss the Lib Dem plight. | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
Just over ten weeks until Scotland determines its future, the man | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
leading the campaign against independence, Alistair Darling, | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
joins me from Edinburgh. Coming up on Sunday Politics | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
Scotland, an independent report commissioned by the Scottish | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
Government recommends cutting taxes and overhauling regulation in the | :01:26. | :01:26. | |
North Sea. journalists always ahead | :01:27. | :01:35. | |
of the peleton - Nick Watt, They'll be tweeting faster than Tour | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
de France cyclists can pedal. The news is dominated this morning | :01:39. | :01:52. | |
by stories swirling around allegations of an historic | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
Westminster paedophile ring. Concern has grown because | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
of the disappearance of a dossier handed over to the Home Office in | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
1983, along with over 100 official files related to it and possibly | :02:01. | :02:02. | |
containing details of historic child Labour is calling for a public | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
inquiry led by a child protection But speaking earlier on | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
The Andrew Marr Show this morning the Education Secretary Michael Gove | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
ruled that out. The most important thing that we | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
need to do is ensure that the due process of law pursues those who may | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
be guilty of individual crimes and we also learn lessons about what may | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
or may not have gone wrong in the past, but it is also important to | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
emphasise that many of the allegations that are being made are | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
historic. And what we do now in order to keep children safer is | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
better and stronger than was the case when 20 or 30 years ago. | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
Without getting into a boring tit-for-tat, public inquiry, "yes" | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
or "no"? No. Helen, can the Government go on resisting calls for | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
a full-scale inquiry? It is very hard. There are cynical and | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
non-cynical reasons for calling for an inquiry. The cynical one allows | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
you to say I can't comment on this. The non-cynical is it manages to get | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
people to air allegations in a way that is safe. What we saw at the | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
Leveson Inquiry was helpful, people who felt they had been shut out from | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
justice getting a chance to tell their side of the story. A public | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
inquiry in this case is a good idea. Labour have called for a lot of | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
public inquiries. A list was made in 2012 of how many they called for. | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
Not only Savile, but the West Coast Main Line and breast implants. On | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
this particular issue, the people don't trust the politicians, they | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
don't trust the police either because they may have been complicit | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
in a cover-up. They may not trust the Home Office who we are told some | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
of their officials were mentioned in the dossier? That is what David | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
Cameron is hanging on to. This is a matter now because they are alleged | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
criminal activity, it is for the police to investigate. In that big | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
piece in the Sunday Times, Tim Shipman reports one of the people | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
making the allegations lives in the United States | :04:05. | :04:06. | |
making the allegations lives in the been out to the United States to | :04:07. | :04:08. | |
interview him. The Prime Minister would say that is how serious the | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
police are taking it. The problem for the Prime Minister - he | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
police are taking it. The problem allergic to big public inquiry. His | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
finest moment was his response to the Bloody Sunday inquiry shortly | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
inrequest -- that inquiry took 12 years to report. The problem is the | :04:23. | :04:35. | |
dossier has gone missing, the files have gone missing, more allegations | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
keep coming out either directly or indirectly. It doesn't look like it | :04:42. | :04:43. | |
is going to go away? The fact the dossiers are missing means it is | :04:44. | :04:51. | |
inappropriate for the Home Office to be investigating this. There is | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
inappropriate for the Home Office to a police investigation. If after | :04:56. | :04:55. | |
that, there are questions unanswered which can only be answered by | :04:56. | :05:03. | |
that, there are questions unanswered public inquiry, or which require | :05:04. | :05:03. | |
resources that can only be commanded by a public inquiry, I could see the | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
case for going down that road. I fear that sometimes in this country | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
we invest almost supernatural powers in what a public inquiry can do. I | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
wonder whether there is another example of a country that goes | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
through this stale ritual every few years of a scandal emerging, the | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
opposition calling for an inquiry, the Government saying no and then | :05:26. | :05:28. | |
holding the line or giving in. I don't know what we think this | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
inquiries can do. It comes back to your point, Helen, you should be | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
careful what you call an inquiry on so it doesn't devalue the concept. | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
On Thursday up to a million public sector workers - including teachers, | :05:44. | :05:45. | |
firemen and council workers - will go on strike. | :05:46. | :05:47. | |
Their unions have differing gripes but the fact they're all striking | :05:48. | :05:49. | |
on the same day is designed to send a strong message to the government. | :05:50. | :05:51. | |
As the economy picks up again they're demanding an end | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
Growth has returned strongly to the UK economy | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
and unemployment is at its lowest level for more than five years. | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
So why is there still talk of austerity | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
The deficit is coming down but much more slowly than the government | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
And accumulated deficits - the national debt - | :06:12. | :06:18. | |
The UK is now in hock to the tune of ?1.3 trillion - and rising. | :06:19. | :06:27. | |
In fact, we're only 40% of the way through George Osborne's planned | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
austerity, with the chancellor now saying he won't manage to balance | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
Unions are now rebelling against tight pay controls. | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
Since 2010, average public sector pay, which goes to about 1 in 5 | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
Over the same period, prices increased by 16% - | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
meaning the average public sector worker saw their pay squeezed | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
Going head-to-head on the public sector strikes and austerity - | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
the general secretary of the TUC Frances O'Grady, and Conservative | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
We have seen it, public sector pay squeezed by 9% under the Coalition | :07:05. | :07:24. | |
Government. Isn't it time to take your foot off the brake a bit? I | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
don't think it is the right time to let go of the public finances at | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
all. We were always clear that this is what's called a structural | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
deficit, it doesn't go away just because the growth is returning and | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
the economy is coming back. We have protected and are protecting the | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
lowest paid public sector workers who weren't part of the pay freeze | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
and now pay going up by 1%. These are difficult decisions. We have had | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
that discussion many times. They are necessary in order to keep that plan | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
on track and as we can see in the wider economy, it is working. | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
People's living standards will have to continue to fall if you are in | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
the public sector? We need to keep public spending under control and | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
pay restraint is one of the main ways of being able... The answer is | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
yes? The answer is this is necessary. The answer is yes, this | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
is necessary. It isn't because we want to. We have to. This strike | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
isn't going to change the Government's mind, is it? It does | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
seem like the Government isn't listening. We have had years... They | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
are listening, they just don't agree. Ordinary people, including | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
those in the public sector, are finding it really tough. What really | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
sticks in the throat is the idea that money can be found to give tax | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
cuts to billionaires, to millionaires and to big | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
corporations. But it can't be found to help 500,000 workers in local | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
government, dinner ladies, school meal workers, lollipop men and women | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
who are earning less than the living wage. What do you say to that? We | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
have protected those who are the least well-paid in the public | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
sector. But this is about a long-term... How can you? Hold on. | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
You have said you have protected them. This involves ordinary people, | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
many watching this programme, they have had a 1% pay rise in some cases | :09:17. | :09:24. | |
since 2010. The average gas bill is up 57%, electric bill up 22%, food | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
costs up 16%, running a car 11%, in what way have you protected people | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
from spending they have to make? Firstly, you read out the average | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
increases in public sector pay. That has had the biggest impact at the | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
top end and those at the bottom end have been best protected, as best we | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
could. Of course, we have also taken two million people out of income tax | :09:51. | :09:53. | |
and increased the income tax threshold which has a big positive | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
impact. We have frozen and then cut fuel duty, which would have been 20 | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
pence higher. I wanted to take on this point about priorities. We have | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
got to make sure that we get the economy going at the same time and | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
we raised more money from those at the top than we did before 2010, | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
partly because we have encouraged them to invest. And this is a really | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
important balance of making sure we get the books back in order, we have | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
stability for family finances and we get the economy going. Why not | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
spread the living wage? We know you could pay for that pay increase | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
itself if you spread the living wage through the private sector and | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
guarantee... The living wage being above the minimum wage? Absolutely. | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
?7.65 in the rest of the country, ?8.80 in London. What is the answer? | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
I'm a fan of the minimum wage. But not for public sector workers. Being | :10:53. | :11:00. | |
able to pay low-paid workers as much as possible within the constraints | :11:01. | :11:02. | |
of the public finances is something I have pushed very hard. The | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
evidence we can increase the minimum wage has to be balanced which the | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
Low Pay Commission do with the impact on the number of jobs... Even | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
after a pay freeze for quite a while among public sector workers, they | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
are still paid 15% on average more than those in the private sector? | :11:25. | :11:32. | |
That is not true. It is, according to the ONS figures. I read that | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
report this morning. If you look at the whole package, what they are | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
saying is public service workers are worse off. Average earnings in the | :11:41. | :11:49. | |
public sector are ?16.28 an hour compared to ?14.16 private. You are | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
comparing apples and pears. It's the kind of jobs and the size of the | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
workplace that people work in. They are still overall on average better | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
off? Lower paid workers tend to be better off because unions negotiate | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
better deals for lower paid workers. They are more unionised in the pry | :12:10. | :12:17. | |
private sector. The public sector is worse off. This is a political | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
strike, isn't it? There is a whole disparate range of reasons. The | :12:23. | :12:25. | |
strike is saying that you are against this Government, that is | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
what this is about? I this I what firefighters, local government | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
workers and health workers who are protesting, too, alongside teachers | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
are saying is that this Government is not listening, it is out of | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
touch, people can't carry on having cuts in their living standards | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
depending on benefits. When will the public sector worker ever get a real | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
increase in their pay under a Conservative Government? Well, we | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
certainly hope to have the books balanced by 2018. Not before then? | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
2018 is when we hope to be able to be in surplus. It is testament... | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
So, no real pay increase for public sector workers before 2018? | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
Interestingly, this isn't just about the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
the Labour Party leadership have said it is a test of their | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
credibility that they support the squeeze on public sector pay. I look | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
forward to them, they ought to come out and say very clearly that these | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
strikes are wrong and they are against the strikes and stop taking | :13:31. | :13:33. | |
union money. It is a democratic right. Hold on. They are - they | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
think the policy of pay restraint is necessary. Alright. On this point | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
about democracy... Ask yourself why so many ordinary decent public | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
service workers are so fed up. They have seen so many billions of pounds | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
wasted through outsourcing to organisations like G4 S. In Unite | :14:00. | :14:10. | |
and UNISON the turnout in this vote was under 20%. Alright. OK. One | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
final question... Hold on. You said millions and millions voted on | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
this... I want to ask you this question. Is the story in the Mail | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
on Sunday today that Mr Cameron's planning a big crackdown on the | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
unions over balloting, is that true? Well, strikes like this... I know | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
the cases, is it true you are going to dhang the law? Strikes like this | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
make that argument stronger. The Conservative Party is in Government | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
on the basis of 23% of the electorate... We have run out of | :14:44. | :14:45. | |
time. Thank you very much. "Should Scotland be | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
an independent country?" That's the question the people of | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
Scotland will answer in a referendum If the polls are to be believed, | :14:53. | :14:54. | |
the voters will answer "no". But in 2011 - ten weeks before | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
the Holyrood elections - the polls told us that Labour was going to win | :14:59. | :15:00. | |
and look what happened there - a Alistair Darling is leading | :15:01. | :15:02. | |
the campaign against independnence. is one that puts the matter of | :15:03. | :15:25. | |
independence to bed for a generation. In numerical terms, what | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
would that be? We need a decisive result in September, I think we will | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
get that provided we get our arguments across in the next couple | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
of months. What would it be in figures? I am not going to put a | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
number on it. People will look at it and say, OK, you have had two and a | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
half years of debate and Scotland has now decided. The polls may be | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
encouraging at the moment but I am not complacent, there is still a | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
long way to go. Speculating... If you don't want to answer that, that | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
is fair enough. Your side claims that a vote for independence is a | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
vote for massive uncertainty but if it is a no vote there is lots of | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
uncertainty too. All of the Westminster parties are promising | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
devolution but there is no timetable, no certainty. Yes, there | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
is. For the first time I can remember, all three parties are more | :16:30. | :16:31. | |
or less on the same page in terms of or less on the same page in terms of | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
additional powers, we already have powers in terms of policing and | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
transport, now more powers are planned in relation to tax and | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
welfare. But you are all saying different things. Between 2009 and | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
2012, the three parties have slightly different proposals but | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
they came together and there was an agreed series of reforms in relation | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
to tax which are now on the statute book. If you go back to the | :17:05. | :17:12. | |
devolutionary settlement in 1998, people unified around a single | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
proposition so there is history here and these three parties have | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
delivered and they will deliver in the event of people saying we will | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
stay part of the UK. If Scotland vote no to independence, when will | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
Scotland get these extra powers? I would imagine that in the general | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
election all three parties will have something in their manifesto and you | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
would expect to see legislation in the session of Parliament that | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
follows that. Imagining is not certainty. Because the three parties | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
have said this is what they will do, and it is important having said that | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
they stick to it. If you look in the past when the Nationalists said the | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
same thing, when they cast doubt over what would happen in 2012, we | :17:59. | :18:06. | |
delivered. The only party that walked out of both of these | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
discussions were the Nationalists because they are not interested in | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
more powers, they want a complete break. You cannot say that if | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
Edinburgh gets more devolution that wouldn't mean fewer Scottish MPs in | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
Westminster, can you? Nobody has any plans to reduce the number of MPs. | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
If you step back from this moment, what people have been asked to do in | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
September is to vote on the future of their country, Scotland, and | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
whether we should be part of the UK. When I say part of the UK, full | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
members of the UK with representation in the House of | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
Commons and the institutions that affect our lives. This is a | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
critically important vote. We want to see more decentralisation of | :18:53. | :19:00. | |
power to Scotland, and to local authorities within Scotland, but we | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
don't want a complete break with the uncertainties, the risks and the | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
downright disadvantages that would throw Scotland's away if we were to | :19:10. | :19:19. | |
make that break. The economic arguments are dominating people's | :19:20. | :19:28. | |
thinking, the polls show, that is what is dominating at the moment. | :19:29. | :19:41. | |
You cannot guarantee continued membership of the European Union | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
given all the talk now about an in-out UK referendum. Firstly I | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
don't think anyone has ever argued Scotland wouldn't get back in. The | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
big question is the terms and conditions we would have to meet and | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
we are applying to get into something that is established, it | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
wouldn't be a negotiation. What we have said is there is no way Europe | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
would let Scotland keep the rebate which Scotland has, there would be | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
big questions over whether we have to join the euro, and other terms | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
and conditions. The European Union does not act with any great speed, | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
on average it takes eight and a half years to get into Europe. I don't | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
want that uncertainty or the disadvantages that would come | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
Scotland's away that come with losing clout in the European Union. | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
The second point you asked me about is in relation to the UK's | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
membership of the European Union, and if you look at polls, the | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
majority of people still want to stay in the UK. Frankly, a lot of | :20:54. | :21:04. | |
people on my side didn't make the argument against independence for a | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
long time, we have been doing that over the last two and a half years | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
and we are making progress and that is why I can say I think we will win | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
provided we continue to get our arguments across. Similarly with the | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
European Union, the case needs to be made because it is a powerful case. | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
Isn't it true that the Nationalists win either way? They win if it is a | :21:30. | :21:37. | |
yes vote, and they win if it is a no vote. They wanted devolution max so | :21:38. | :21:46. | |
they win either way. There is a world of difference between | :21:47. | :21:49. | |
devolution and further devolution where you remain part of the UK. | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
There is a world of difference between that and making a break, | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
where Scotland becomes a foreign country to the rest of the UK. You | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
lose that security and those opportunities. You lose the same | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
currency, the opportunity with pensions and so on. They are | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
entitled to argue this case with passion, they want a break, but the | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
two things are worlds apart. Gordon Brown said that the no campaign was | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
too negative, have you adjusted to take that criticism into account? | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
Ever since I launched this campaign over two years ago I said we would | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
make a strong powerful case for remaining part of the UK. Look at | :22:40. | :22:46. | |
our research, where we have had warnings from people to say that if | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
we do well with research in Scotland we get more than our population | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
share of the grand and we gain from that. There is a positive case but | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
equally nobody will stop me from saying to the Nationalists, look at | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
the assertions you make which are collapsing like skittles at the | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
moment. Their assertions don't stand up. They assert that somehow milk | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
and honey will be flowing. It is perfectly healthy within a | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
referendum campaign to say that what you are saying simply isn't true. | :23:20. | :23:27. | |
You have been negative, we all know about the so-called Cyber Nats book | :23:28. | :23:42. | |
you compared Alex Salmond to the leader of North Korea. On! The | :23:43. | :23:51. | |
context was that Alex Salmond was being asked why it was that UKIP had | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
additional seat and he appeared to blame television being been doing | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
from another country, from BBC South of the border. If you cannot have | :24:03. | :24:11. | |
humour in a debate, heaven help us. I think it is important in this | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
debate that people from outside politics should be allowed to have | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
their say whatever side they are on because that will make for a far | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
better, healthier debate. Nobody should be put in a state of fear and | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
alarm by worrying about what will happen if they stand up. Despite the | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
nastiness, more and more people are making a stand. We have run out of | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
time. Thank you. I will be talking to the SNP's | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
hippity leader, Nicola Sturgeon, next week on Sunday Politics. | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
Scotland: For Richer or Poorer will be on BBC Two at 9pm tomorrow. | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
Disastrous results in the European elections, it is fair to say the Lib | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
Dems are down in the doldrums. In a moment I will be speaking to Nick | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
Clegg, but first Emily has been asking what Lib Dems would say to | :25:12. | :25:26. | |
the Prime -- Deputy Prime Minister on Call Clegg. Our phone in this | :25:27. | :25:35. | |
week is the challenges facing the Liberal Democrats. They are rock | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
bottom in the polls and have dire results in the local and European | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
elections so what can the party do to turn things around? Get in | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
touch, we are going straight to line one and Gareth. How much is a | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
problem of that loss of local support? It is a massive problem | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
because those are the building blocks of our success. The | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
councillors who gets the case work done are also the people who go out | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
councillors who gets the case work and deliver the leaflets and knock | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
on doors. Interesting, and it is not just local support the party has | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
lost, is it? In the next general election there are some big-name | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
Liberal Democrat MPs standing down like Malcolm Bruce and Ming | :26:23. | :26:32. | |
Campbell, how much of a problem will that be? That is a real challenge | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
and we have some of our brightest and best reaching an age of maturity | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
at the same moment so that is quite an additional test in what will be a | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
difficult election anyway. So how does the party need to position | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
itself to win back support? Let's go to Chris online free, has the party | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
got its strategy right? There is always a danger of appearing to be a | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
party that merely dilutes Labour or dilutes the Conservatives. We have a | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
of is serious, positive messages and we need to get those across in the | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
next election because if we don't people will vote for the Tories. | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
Nick, what do you think of the party's message at the moment? I | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
have had a look at early draft of our manifesto and there is some good | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
stuff in there but the authors are probably too interested in what may | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
think we have achieved in the last five years and not really focusing | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
on what the voters will want to be hearing about the next five years. | :27:43. | :28:10. | |
Perhaps they should get out more and test some of these messages on the | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
doorstep. So you want to see the top ranks of the party on the doorstep. | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
Gareth online one also wants to make a point about the manifesto. There | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
is clearly a problem somewhere near the top and there are some people | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
who seem to be obsessed with power for power's sake, and happy with a | :28:28. | :28:30. | |
timid offer but the Liberal Democrats want to change things. We | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
are running out of time so let's try to squeeze one more call in. What | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
are your thoughts on the long-term future of the party? I think serious | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
long-term danger is that the party could be relegated to the fringes of | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
the UK and no longer being a national party. We have gone back | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
decades if that happens because for many years we have been represented | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
in every part of the country at some level and we have got to rescue | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
ourselves from that. Some interesting views but we are going | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
to have to wait until the general election next year to find out how | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
well the Lib Dems face up to these challenges. Thanks for listening, we | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
are going to finish with an old classic now. | :29:15. | :29:16. | |
# I'm sorry, I'm sorry... #. Nick Clegg, welcome to the | :29:17. | :29:19. | |
programme. I want to come onto your situation in a minute but as you | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
will have seen in the papers, there is mounting concern over and | :29:24. | :29:26. | |
historic Westminster paedophile ring, and files relating to it | :29:27. | :29:28. | |
mysteriously disappearing. Why are you against a full public enquiry | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
into this? I wouldn't rule anything out. I think we should do anything | :29:33. | :29:42. | |
it takes to uncover this and achieve justice. | :29:43. | :29:57. | |
delivered, even all these many years later. How do you do it? There is an | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
inquiry in the Home Office about what's happened to these documents, | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
serious questions need to be asked about what happened in the Home | :30:07. | :30:09. | |
Office and those questions need to be answered. There are inquiries in | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
the BBC, in the NHS and most importantly of all the police are | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
looking into the places where this abuse was alleged to have taken | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
place. All I would say is, let's make sure that justice is delivered, | :30:24. | :30:29. | |
truth is uncovered and I think that the way to do that, as we have seen, | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
is by allowing the police to get on with their work. You say that, but | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
there are only seven police involved in this inquiry. There are 195 | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
involved in the hacking investigations. We can both agree | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
that child abuse is more important and serious than hacking. The Home | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
Office, there are reports that Home Office officials may have been | :30:52. | :30:54. | |
mentioned in the dossier, people don't trust people to investigate | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
themselves, Mr Clegg? No, I accept that we need to make sure that - and | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
the police need to make sure that the police investigations are | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
thorough, well resourced. I can't think of anything more horrendous, I | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
can't, than powerful people organising themselves and worse | :31:14. | :31:16. | |
still, this is what is alleged, covering up for each other to abuse | :31:17. | :31:20. | |
the most vulnerable people in society's care - children. But at | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
the end of the day, the only way you can get people in the dock, the only | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
way you can get people charged, is by allowing the prosecuting | :31:31. | :31:32. | |
authorities and the police to do their job. I have an open mind about | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
what other inquiries take place. A number of other inquiries are taking | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
place. I assume any additional inquiries wouldn't be able to second | :31:43. | :31:45. | |
guess or look into the matters which the police are looking into already. | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
All I would say is that people who have information, who want to | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
provide information which they think is relevant to this, please get in | :31:53. | :31:55. | |
touch with the police. Alright. Let's come on to our own inquiry | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
into the state of the Lib Dems. You have attempted to distance yourself | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
and the party from the Tories, but still stay in Government - it is | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
called aggressive differentiation. Why isn't it working? It's not | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
called aggressive differentiation. It is called "coalition". It is two | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
parties who retain different identities, different values, have | :32:21. | :32:22. | |
different aspirations for the future. But during this Parliament | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
have come together because we were facing a unique national emergency | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
back in 2010, the economy was teetering on the edge of a | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
precipice. I'm immensely proud, notwithstanding our political | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
challenges, which are real, I'm immensely proud that the Liberal | :32:39. | :32:40. | |
Democrats, we stepped up to the plate, held our nerve and without | :32:41. | :32:43. | |
the Liberal Democrats, there wouldn't now be that economic | :32:44. | :32:46. | |
recovery which is helping many people across the country. Why | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
aren't you getting any credit for it? Well, we won't get credit if we | :32:50. | :32:57. | |
spend all our time staring at our navals. If it wasn't for the Liberal | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
Democrats, there wouldn't be more jobs now available to people. They | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
don't believe you, they are giving the Tories the credit for the | :33:07. | :33:14. | |
recovery? Well, you might assert that, we will assert and I will | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
shout it from the rooftops that if we had not created the stability by | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
forming this Coalition Government and then hard-wired into the | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
Government's plans, not only the gory job of fixing the public | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
finances, but doing so much more fairly than would have been the | :33:31. | :33:33. | |
case, if the Conservatives had been in Government on their own, they | :33:34. | :33:36. | |
wouldn't have delivered these tax cuts. They wouldn't have delivered | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
the triple lock guarantee for pensions or the pupil premium. OK. | :33:42. | :33:48. | |
Why are you 8% in the polls? Well, because I think where we get our | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
message across - and I am here in my own constituency - this is a | :33:54. | :34:03. | |
constituency where I am a campaigning MP - we can dispel a lot | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
of the information and say we have done a decent thing by going into | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
Government and we have delivered big changes, big reforms which you can | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
touch and see in your school, in your pensions, in your taxes and | :34:17. | :34:23. | |
then people do support us and, in our areas of strength, we were | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
winning against both the Conservative and Labour parties. It | :34:28. | :34:30. | |
is a big effort. Of course, there are lots of people from both left | :34:31. | :34:33. | |
and right who want to shout us down and want to vilify our role in | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
Government. What we also need to do - and Nick Harvey was quite right - | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
having been proud of our record of delivery, we also need to set out in | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
our manifesto as we are and as we will our promise of more, of more | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
support in schools. So why is it then... Why is it then that a Lib | :34:54. | :35:01. | |
Dem MP in our own film says you are in danger of no longer becoming a | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
National Party. That could be the Clegg legacy, you cease to be a | :35:06. | :35:07. | |
National Party? are in danger of no longer being a | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
National Party, that could be your legacy. I am a practical man and I | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
believe passionately in what we have done in politics. I don't spend that | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
much time speculating endlessly that the end might be nine. Let's get out | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
there, which is what I do, which is what thousands of activists do, and | :35:29. | :35:31. | |
say we are proud of what we have done, we've done a good thing for | :35:32. | :35:34. | |
the country, we've delivered Maud Lib Dem policies than the party has | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
ever dreamt of delivering before, and we have a programme of change, | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
of reform, of liberal reform for the future which is very exciting. I | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
have been setting out our plans of providing more help to carers, to | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
making sure that teachers are properly qualified, that all | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
children in schools are being taught a proper for curriculum. That part | :35:58. | :36:00. | |
company from the ideological rigidity with which the | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
Conservatives deal with education policy. Those are things which speak | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
to the values of people who support us in the past and might do in the | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
future. You say that but when another senior Lib Dem gets out and | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
about, he told this programme two weeks ago that he finds that you, | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
personally, are toxic on the doorstep! As everybody knows, being | :36:22. | :36:29. | |
the leader of a party which, for the first time in its history, goes into | :36:30. | :36:32. | |
government, which is already a controversial thing to do because | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
you are governing -- of winning without erstwhile enemies, the | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
Conservatives, and then doing the difficult and unpopular things to | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
fix the broken economy, left to us by Labour, of course, as leader of | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
that party, I get a lot of incoming fire. The right to say that I am | :36:50. | :36:52. | |
stopping the Conservatives doing what they want. There is a good | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
reason for that, they didn't wind the election. The left say that we | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
have left our soul, when we haven't. That happens day in and day | :37:02. | :37:13. | |
out. That will have some effect, but my answer is not to buckle to those | :37:14. | :37:15. | |
criticisms, those misplaced criticisms, but to stand up proudly | :37:16. | :37:18. | |
for what we have done and what we want to do in the future. Is it | :37:19. | :37:21. | |
still your intention to fight the next election against and in out | :37:22. | :37:24. | |
referendum on Europe unless there is a major change? Our position hasn't | :37:25. | :37:33. | |
wavered. It won't. We will not flip flop on the issue of the referendum | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
like the Conservatives do. We want and in out referendum, and we have | :37:39. | :37:41. | |
legislated for the trigger when that happens. That is what we have said | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
for many years. We have legislated for that. There is no change. We | :37:48. | :37:56. | |
expect a reshuffle shortly, will you keep Vince Cable as Business | :37:57. | :37:58. | |
Secretary all the way to the election? I am immensely proud of | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
what he has done. Yes, I am absolutely intent on ticking sure | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
that Vince Cable serves the government in his present capacity. | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
Look what he has done on apprenticeships, industrial policy. | :38:14. | :38:16. | |
He's done more than many people to make sure we build up manufacturing | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
in the north, not just the south. We've have talked about some heavy | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
things, let's finish on a lighter note. You got into kick boxing to | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
get fit, is there any danger of you becoming a middle aged man in | :38:31. | :38:39. | |
Lycra? Will the Tour de France influence you to become one? | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
Absolutely not. Having seen the grant apart, the Tour de France | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
start yesterday near Leeds, I have the yellow Yorkshire sign on my | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
pullover, I am going to see them later whisked through my | :38:54. | :38:56. | |
constituency, they are very impressive but I will not try to | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
emulate them. To the relief of a grateful nation. Nick Clegg, thank | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
you very much. Coming up to 11:40am, we say goodbye to viewers in | :39:07. | :39:09. | |
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Politics Scotland. | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
A commission of independent experts calls for an overhaul of tax | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
and regulation systems for the North Sea oil and gas sector. | :39:22. | :39:28. | |
Ryanair moves a third of its flights from Prestwick to Glasgow. | :39:29. | :39:31. | |
We'll ask the Transport Minister Keith Brown what | :39:32. | :39:32. | |
the future holds for the Ayrshire airport bought for ?1. | :39:33. | :39:44. | |
I name this ship Queen Elisabeth. May God bless her and all who sail | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
in her. HMS Queen Elizabeth, | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
described as the jewel in the crown of UK defence, but questions remain | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
over her deployment. The North Sea needs a new tax | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
and regulation regime, An independent commission set up | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
by the Scottish government is recommending "fundamental change" | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
to encourage new investment The Scottish government promises | :40:11. | :40:12. | |
a more stable tax regime if there's a yes vote in the | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
independence referendum, but the UK government argues that it's better | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
placed to support the industry. The commission, chaired by | :40:20. | :40:35. | |
Campbell, is working on the bases there are around 24 billion barrels | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
of oil store be -- to be extracted from the North Sea, and they see | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
that as a major opportunity but one which the UK continental shelf is | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
not as attractive in investment as it was. We are at a tipping point | :40:49. | :40:51. | |
and there is part of the tax regime which would be appropriate going | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
forward with some changes, but there are other parts where, if we will | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
target accessing the more difficult oil and more expensive oil, we will | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
have to modify and update the tax regime. To change that, they say | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
government needs to work out a more stable, predictable and | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
internationally competitive tax regime and they suggest lower taxes | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
with a modified allowances could incentivise new development. The | :41:19. | :41:21. | |
Scottish covenant has welcomed their report and promised a stable tax | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
regime if Scotland becomes independent. If you are investing | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
several billion dollars, then you want to know you're not going to be | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
hit with sudden tax hikes. The tax regime in the UK has been | :41:37. | :41:39. | |
characterised, I'm afraid, by a series of unheralded tax breaks, | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
most recently by Danny Alexander in 2011, brought forward without any | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
consultation whatsoever. That was a disaster. The UK Government argues | :41:51. | :41:59. | |
that the industry's best supported within a large economy, less | :42:00. | :42:00. | |
dependent on oil and gas revenues. Well, joining me now is | :42:01. | :42:02. | |
the economist and journalist George Kerevan and, in London, Kiran Stacey | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
who's a political correspondent One of the things I found very | :42:06. | :42:16. | |
sobering is there has been talk about so much oil left, and | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
investment at record levels, but what it says is that while it is | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
true that investment is at record levels, exploration activity are at | :42:26. | :42:34. | |
a record low, which kind of puts this into perspective, doesn't it? I | :42:35. | :42:42. | |
don't think... The UK Treasury has treated this will industry as a | :42:43. | :42:45. | |
piggy bank to squeeze out as much cash as much as possible. This is | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
not a farmer working the field, squeezing the crops and destroying | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
the fields, you need to think longer term. They want to get away from a | :42:57. | :43:04. | |
policy of get as much tax revenue out as possible as quickly as | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
possible to let's grow the industry, let's grow the jobs and | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
technology and look longer term. If you do that, you'll get the money as | :43:13. | :43:18. | |
well. That is a fundamental shift. The problem is the Scottish covenant | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
have made so many promises about independence which are reliant on | :43:23. | :43:25. | |
these oil revenues. The aggregate revenues over a number of years | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
might increase if you could get the North Sea to go on longer but, in | :43:31. | :43:33. | |
the short time, with these proposals, it would mean taking it | :43:34. | :43:39. | |
on annual. It doesn't actually say cut taxes as such. It does, | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
actually. Cutting the headline rate, right. The tax regime in the North | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
Sea is fiendishly complicated. We are not getting into it! Do not do! | :43:53. | :44:00. | |
I will not. Every new field has a new tax regime. The accountants | :44:01. | :44:07. | |
cannot cope with it. What they are suggesting, the industry | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
heavyweights, is let's simplify the whole thing. The overall tax take | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
home will be the same. So, the headline rate might come down but | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
there might be changes for different fields. So, they are not suggesting | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
to cut the tax. What they want instability, knowing that when you | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
wake up on budget day, they haven't changed the taxes so your whole | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
business plan is out of the window, which is what has happened in the | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
past. There is nothing, is there, that the UK Government would | :44:41. | :44:42. | |
necessarily disagree with in this report. The fundamental point, | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
taking the politics out of it is that the existing tax regime was | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
developed when it was on the rise. It is now a declining area. And they | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
want to maximise investment because it is higher cost to get things out, | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
therefore you need a different tax regime. I think that's right. We | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
have already had another review which has been accepted across the | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
political divide which suggests something similar, they suggest | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
there needs to be more collaboration both within the industry and between | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
government and the industry to get more stability into the tax and | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
regulation regime. It talks about a lot of collaboration, even after | :45:24. | :45:30. | |
independence. What the industry has in mind is what happened in 2011, | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
that you hinted at, which was caught Osborne mounting a 2 billion pound | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
tax rate on the industry, which frightened a lot of people out | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
there. It made people think again about what kind of regime they need | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
to have. The facts are stark. The cost of developing oil have gone up | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
five times over the last decade, but the review thought that if those | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
proposals were carried out, it could mean an extra ?200 billion worth of | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
oil and gas coming through into Scottish covers, or UK cough is, as | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
a result of that. So this is pushing in the same direction, talking bout | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
collaboration, stability of tax regime, talking about people having | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
the time to plan because it is harder and harder and more and more | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
expensive to get oil and gas out of the North Sea. You, presumably, | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
would agree with that. Moffatt Campbell made the point that he | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
would like this to be taken on board, irrespective of the | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
referendum, said if it is no vote, he'd like the UK Government to say | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
it is quite sensible and to have a look at it. This is common-sense. | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
The question is will the politicians deliver North and South? I think | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
what you might find from the Scottish Government is that it will | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
take on board the proposal... That individual fields, with the license | :46:59. | :47:06. | |
is provided to them, that is a commitment that the Scottish | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
Government will have to consult if there are any changes. It is too | :47:10. | :47:12. | |
easy for politicians to say they will consult, that has to be a legal | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
basis. Written into the contract? Yes. Are you preventing the kind of | :47:18. | :47:25. | |
tax grab that we were talking about? Consultation doesn't stop | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
politicians changing the taxes but what you are committed to doing is | :47:32. | :47:34. | |
having a formal period of consultation. If you do that, you | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
create stability long-term. The problem is that it has happened time | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
and time again, you wake up on the morning of the budget, and things | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
have changed, and your entire investment strategy is dead in the | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
water. Is there an elephant in the room here, which is that we all | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
assumed... I am not getting your question, sorry. Is there an | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
elephant in the room that oil prices would stay high, but with shale oil, | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
shale gas, huge new reserves coming on stream, renewables and great | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
efficiencies, the outlook for the North Sea might be more trouble than | :48:13. | :48:15. | |
has been assumed? That is exactly right. The tax regime is beside the | :48:16. | :48:22. | |
point. The reality is, as I mentioned before, it's hard and more | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
expensive to get oil out, but it is cheaper and more profitable to get | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
it out of other places, particularly in the States with the massive shale | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
gas boom. That kind of development is driving down oil costs, so what | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
the industry has to cope with is this situation where it is more | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
expensive to get oil out, they are not getting as much money for it as | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
they sell it on, and the tax regime is not that much to do with it, | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
although it does generate certainty if the government can say over a | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
long period of time this is what we will taxi. What these companies want | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
is for the oil prices to be higher, and there's nothing that the | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
government can about that. Thank you both. | :49:04. | :49:05. | |
Last month, the Scottish Government outlined its multimillion pound | :49:06. | :49:07. | |
investment plans for the recovery of Prestwick Airport. | :49:08. | :49:09. | |
This week, the airport's only passenger carrier, Ryanair, | :49:10. | :49:11. | |
announced new routes from Glasgow and Edinburgh airports with a | :49:12. | :49:13. | |
What does this mean for the airport's commercial viability? | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
Bought for ?1 and with an eye watering amount | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
of excess baggage, the future of Prestwick Airport is a key concern | :49:25. | :49:27. | |
The Scottish Government is making an investment in the airport. That | :49:28. | :49:40. | |
investment will be in the form of loan funding, and we want a | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
long-term return for taxpayer money. That investment is worth nearly | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
?10 million on top of ?5.5 million The money will fund repairs and make | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
improvements to the terminal, but there's concern fewer passengers | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
will be passing through its doors as It is clearly serious reducing the | :49:57. | :50:11. | |
number of flights and passenger movements. We are slightly | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
disappointed that it did not support those at Prestwick airport but | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
Ryanair will continue to have a role at Prestwick which is quite | :50:24. | :50:32. | |
positive. The change will move brutes away from Prestwick bringing | :50:33. | :50:39. | |
the number of Ryan near passengers down to 500,000 per year. The firm | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
insists it is not backing away from your sure. We are in discussions | :50:46. | :50:52. | |
with Prestwick airport and the Scottish Government. We have a large | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
presence with over 300 staff employed at Prestwick airport. The | :50:58. | :51:06. | |
passenger side seems to have taken a bit of a blow this week. Additional | :51:07. | :51:13. | |
routes will attract more customers in an overcrowded market. I do | :51:14. | :51:21. | |
believe there is enough business for everyone | :51:22. | :51:21. | |
believe there is enough business for but at the end of the day the | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
airlines will fly wherever they want, where they think they will | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
make more money so the airlines will decide on their plans for the | :51:31. | :51:31. | |
future. There is a growing focus on the main | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
competitors in the central belt. There was a monopoly in the central | :51:38. | :51:58. | |
belt but Ryan near enabled the first low-cost flights to come in to | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
Stansted. Now that they are competing heavily you do not need | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
that degree of competition so Prestwick which was a useful | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
bargaining chip simply is not that relevant to the low-cost airlines | :52:16. | :52:22. | |
today. Only half of the airport's current income is generated by | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
passenger trade, the rest is dedicated to free it. It is a unique | :52:29. | :52:40. | |
airport in the UK, it is fog free, it is linked to the real network. We | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
are hopeful the is a sustainable future. -- rail network. Industry | :52:48. | :53:02. | |
experts say unwanted delays should be expected. I am joined by the | :53:03. | :53:11. | |
transport minister and a Conservative MP from Aberdeen. Isn't | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
the sad reality that you might have been better at keeping your pound in | :53:17. | :53:20. | |
your pocket and alarming Prestwick to close. As was being said their | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
comedy does not seem a lot of point to it? There are 400 people directly | :53:27. | :53:37. | |
in Clwyd and more than 3000 rely on it directly for their employment. In | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
economic terms and aviation terms wouldn't it be better to move those | :53:44. | :53:50. | |
jobs elsewhere. -- directly employed. Whether it is freed or | :53:51. | :54:01. | |
aircraft repair, crucially in terms of passenger services the airlines | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
will move around. We have to make sure the facilities are such that we | :54:07. | :54:15. | |
can attract new flights in. Have you got any proposals? Are their any | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
discussions going on to get new airlines to operate from Prestwick? | :54:21. | :54:28. | |
There is a prospect. The fact that Ryanair have moved and are tripling | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
the flights to Dublin rather than from Glasgow and Prestwick. Who are | :54:34. | :54:40. | |
these airlines that are going to move in? EasyJet? You do not | :54:41. | :54:48. | |
restrict yourself to one carrier. Name one. There is no restricted | :54:49. | :54:59. | |
list, any of them. You can surely tell us who you are discussing | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
with? That is up to the airport and the people in charge of marketing. | :55:06. | :55:12. | |
It was losing between one and ?3 million per year, we are only in the | :55:13. | :55:16. | |
first three months of taking over the airport. It is not making money, | :55:17. | :55:25. | |
is it? Faced with the prospect of closure and the massive | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
redundancies... So you do not actually, in response to why you did | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
not close it and redeploy the people elsewhere, your answer is you are | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
not sure. You are having unspecified negotiations with unspecified | :55:44. | :55:46. | |
carriers who might do unspecified things that sometime in the future? | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
That was not the answer. There are other services that go on at | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
Prestwick, whether the fleet services, unique services such as | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
the train service. We think there are real selling points for the | :56:04. | :56:13. | |
airport. One of the reasons for not having publicly owned airports in | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
the first place was because the airlines do more than ministers for | :56:19. | :56:32. | |
them. The Conservatives keep saying there must be a proper business | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
case, are you convinced there is one? I am not convinced the is one. | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
They did the right thing by not allowing the airport to collapse | :56:43. | :56:50. | |
overnight but the government is not taking the opportunity it has to go | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
forward and do other things as a government to improve the prospects | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
of Prestwick airport. I have been talking for years about the | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
replacement for the group development fund. Prestwick could | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
benefit enormously from one of those which supported the creation of new | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
routes. Give us an example, Keith Brown could not, will you be more | :57:18. | :57:25. | |
specific? Tell me an airline or the route that you could get into | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
Prestwick. I cannot tell you the name of an airline that may be | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
interested but in the past Prestwick found a niche as an airport on the | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
extreme north-west of Europe that serve all airlines by refuelling | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
aircraft crossed the Atlantic and after the arrived here. The Scottish | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
Government is talking about bringing long-haul flights to Scotland in a | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
way we have not done in the past. That could involve the use of | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
extremely large passenger aircraft and Prestwick may be the place to | :58:04. | :58:10. | |
land and take them off in Scotland. Perhaps I was wide off the mark with | :58:11. | :58:17. | |
Korean airlines but he is suggesting they may well come? I did not say I | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
could not give you an airline but I would not. It is sensitive matter | :58:23. | :58:30. | |
shall activity. He is suggesting use the runway to do intercontinental | :58:31. | :58:37. | |
flights that at the moment do not come into Scotland. Alex Salmond is | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
keen on more links with China, would Prestwick be the place for that? It | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
could be. We have to get the right package to these airlines. He knows | :58:50. | :58:55. | |
it is outlawed by The European Commission and we have been | :58:56. | :58:58. | |
successful at getting new routes into Lascaux, Edinburgh and Aberdeen | :58:59. | :59:06. | |
by providing a package. We use that same expertise to attract new | :59:07. | :59:11. | |
business into Prestwick as well as the vitally important freight and | :59:12. | :59:13. | |
ground-based activities going on just now. I'd macro if the worst | :59:14. | :59:20. | |
comes to it and Prestwick airport has to close, that whole operation | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
could be moved somewhere else, could it not? Or it could stay at | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
Prestwick even if it was not an airport? Our plan is to keep it as | :59:30. | :59:38. | |
an airport. It is a long-term proposal. It is the long-term skill | :59:39. | :59:44. | |
to get them back into the operation we would like to see. It will take | :59:45. | :59:53. | |
some time to get this back. We will have to leave it there. Thank you | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
both for joining us. Now let us cross for the news. Good afternoon. | :59:59. | :00:10. | |
Oil and gas experts are recommending a new tax and regulation regime for | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
the North Sea. There are calls for fundamental change to encourage | :00:17. | :00:25. | |
funding. There are estimates that 24 billion barrels of oil are still to | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
be extracted. We are at the tipping point. There are parts of the tax | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
regime that could go forward with changes. If we are going to target | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
accessing the more difficult oil we will have to modify and upgrade the | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
tax regime. The Scottish Government has welcomed the report and promised | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
a stable tax regime if Scotland becomes independent. A search is | :00:54. | :01:01. | |
continuing today after a canoeist went missing in Perthshire. Boat | :01:02. | :01:09. | |
capsized shortly before five yesterday evening in culling area. | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
One of the occupants made it to shore. A 29-year-old man is still | :01:16. | :01:24. | |
missing. -- Killin. Friends of the Earth has criticised organisers of | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
the Commonwealth Games. The say they have fallen short of the original | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
promises to create low emission zones. Time for a look at the | :01:38. | :01:46. | |
weather. Good afternoon. Little change in terms of the weather this | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
afternoon. More in the way of sunshine and showers. The focus of | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
the showers will be across the West Highlands and into Western | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
Aberdeenshire. There could be some heavy and thundery downpours. | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
Glasgow and the south-west hold onto drier weather with the West Coast | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
seeing plenty sunshine. That is the forecast. That is all for now. Back | :02:14. | :02:23. | |
to the studio. The first Sea Lord describe it as the first dual in the | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
crown of the UK sea defence. The largest warship ever built for the | :02:29. | :02:36. | |
Royal Navy was officially built and -- was officially commemorated by | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
the Queen. The ship still has to be fitted out and launched. Significant | :02:43. | :02:51. | |
spending decisions which will decide how the carriers are used in the | :02:52. | :02:58. | |
future are yet to be decided. A further order is expected in the | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
next three months but the carriers will be without any planes until | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
2020. The role of the second carrier is still in the balance. Others are | :03:09. | :03:18. | |
still to be commissioned. We are joined by an expert now. Can I ask a | :03:19. | :03:27. | |
very basic question, someone in a radio programme the other day said | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
the problem with these carriers is that the Russians already have | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
missiles which can blow them out of the water so they are obsolete as | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
they are launched, is there any truth in that? The military | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
capability exercise by many nations, not just Russia but Japan, China, | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
Iran, Israel, everyone holds anti-ship missiles which could | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
theoretically take on any aircraft carrier, whether British, US, | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
Chinese, Korean, Japanese, they could be hit and sunk by one of | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
these missiles. Normally when a ship goes to see it is surrounded by | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
layers of protection which enable that threat to be defeated. It is | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
not just those on board but other ships around it which enable those | :04:22. | :04:30. | |
risks to be exercised at sea. Be allowed on board systems and they | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
have them on-board frigates and destroyers surrounding it, with the | :04:35. | :04:44. | |
guarantee it could not hit? There are concerns that there aren't a | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
sufficient number of destroyers to provide protection against a | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
high-end thread. On the other hand, you can mitigate against such | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
threats by how you position and use the carrier. If you go back to the | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
Falklands in 1982, eight destroyers were used to protect the carrier in | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
various ways. It was still felt there was a significant threat is | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
not from missiles but from submarines, and, as such, both of | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
the carriers that were used words kept it significant distance for | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
periods of time, and then surged as they moved forward. They mitigated | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
the risk both from missiles and from submarines. These are conjugated | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
questions. I understand, but there is an element here to say that don't | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
take the carrier anywhere dangerous, yet the hall point is precisely to | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
take it somewhere dangerous. I think that's right. There are degrees of | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
risk and danger. If you're going up against a very sophisticated | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
high-end threat, you'd want to be taking most of the Royal Navy to | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
protect this carrier and you'd be wanting to have some extra | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
assistance, perhaps from American or French colleagues and counterparts, | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
perhaps as part of a NATO group, but for 90% of the time, when you're | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
doing constabulary operations, perhaps supporting operations with | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
the French in North Africa, you require less protection. It depends | :06:17. | :06:19. | |
on the situation and the risk you're willing to take. What about HMS | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
Prince of Wales? Danny Alexander said it would be available to the | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
British Armed Forces, but is it down there in black-and-white? Have a | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
definitely decided to keep it? And if they have, have they decided to | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
keep it in such a way that it could be operational when the first | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
carrier is in dock for maintenance? This is a good question and it | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
hasn't been codified yet. So far, the position with Prince of Wales is | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
that it could be put in, but they could also sell it to the Brazilians | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
or another state, they could mothball it, and not use it at all, | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
they could bring it out and use it in an amphibious role with just | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
helicopters. I think these decisions are ready important. It will | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
characterise how Britain will do intervention in the future. With one | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
carrier, we are limited like the French to Britain going in, going in | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
fast, hard, turning around and going home so your mission is done within | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
eight or nine months. That is attractive with some models of | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
intervention like the recent operations in Africa. But for | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
something long-term, you need to have more than one carrier. And here | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
we look at Kosovo, Bosnia, those ones that have had real success. Not | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
just in the war fighting or deterrence. In the 1960s, Iraqi was | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
going to invade Kuwait, and it looked likely that it that region | :07:56. | :08:03. | |
was going to be taken over with the threat to the UK because of the | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
cut-off of supply. They walked in, fronted up, they didn't even need to | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
launch aircraft because that statement of intent prevented that. | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Thanks very much indeed for joining us. | :08:18. | :08:18. | |
Now it's time for a look at the week ahead. | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
Our guests this week are Alan Roden, Scottish political editor | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
of the Daily Mail, and Murray Ritchie, | :08:27. | :08:28. | |
former political editor at the Herald. | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
Just a quick comment on this oil and gas report which came out this | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
morning. You could argue it either way. It will be used by both sides | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
of the referendum campaign. Of course, the Scottish Government will | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
-- has responded, and the UK Government will respond. The UK | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
Government will say that the tax regime is better with the UK, the | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
Scottish Government will say the opposite. The UK Government will say | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
the oil is harder to get out, the Scottish Government will say there | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
is lots left. The Scottish Government have welcomed it, which | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
is significant. Oil is more expensive to get out, and the tax | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
regime reflects that. So it is a perfectly sensible report, and both | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
governments will welcome it although the UK Government is being a bit | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
iffy. Other stuff, a story about academics and independence, Sir Paul | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
nurse is asking the Scottish and British government is to pledge that | :09:36. | :09:44. | |
academics will not be penalised. Is this academics worrying needlessly? | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
There was some evidence earlier this year when a Dundee University | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
academics spoke out and then the university was contacted by a | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
Scottish government minister, said there is some evidence that there | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
might be some element of intimidation going on, but academics | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
are bright enough to know they should be able to speak out, and | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
plenty of them have spoken out and will continue to do so. Whatever the | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
details of that is, the suggestion that somehow or other, you will be | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
penalised in the sense you might not get research funding, is there any | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
evidence for that? There is no strong evidence, but there are fears | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
of that, which is what we have seen entered a's papers. More | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
interestingly, it is businesses that are concerned about the impact of | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
this. They are more scared to speak out because of fear of being | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
penalised. Even if the Scottish Government has listened to this, | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
there is a bit of fear around. People laugh hearing... Part of the | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
problem is that lots of places are tied to the state. Yes, but nobody | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
is being deliberately silenced. Their arguments all over the place. | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
Academics are reticent, they are always desperate to give their | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
latest eye views and opinions. So I don't see why they shouldn't. And it | :11:08. | :11:17. | |
looks the independence referendum look positively polite! Other | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
stories, the police and guns. Graham Pearson has written to Kenny | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
MacAskill over the lack of consultation. This is about... We | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
should make it clear, the police have had guns for some time, but | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
they were carried by guns, you had to contact a senior officer to | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
unlock them, but we are moving to a situation where the police are | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
carrying them around on the street and there seems to be a blip | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
concern, and I am not sure whether the fact that there was no | :11:50. | :11:58. | |
consultation is the worry. It is worrying. I am comfortable with the | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
fact that the police are not routinely armed, unlike America or | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
Belfast. At the airport, when you see a machine gun, it can be | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
disconcerting. So when people are aware the police are armed and not | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
telling us they are armed, it is alarming. If they told us they were | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
doing it for a specific purpose, if there was a terrorist threat or | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
security problem, but if they are doing it covertly, we have to watch | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
that carefully. The latest case was people complaining that in a | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
McDonald's restaurant in Inverness, there were policeman in their openly | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
carrying weapons. I agree with Murray. It is the Highland region | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
where we have seen police carrying the guns. I think because it has | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
spread to there. It didn't happen in that area before. The lack of | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
consultation is worrying. We've seen other examples of this with Police | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
Scotland now that it is centralised, we were not being told | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
enough, and the public are rightly concerned. If the police are | :13:07. | :13:08. | |
carrying guns, that would cause alarms. With the stop and search | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
issue, there are allegations that police are making up stop and | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
searches in their reports because they are being bullied into senior | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
officers. And they are also doing a lot of stop and searches that have | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
no statuary bases. There's a lovely quote saying you breach and rights | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
by doing it, but you expect us to do it. Stop and search is a big issue | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
and happening a lot more in Scotland than in England. Add there is a | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
problem. If they catch someone with a knife, that's a good thing. | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
Excessive bureaucracy, and we should stop it. Right, so don't do any | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
more? All right. That is all we have time for this week. I'll be back at | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
the same time next week. From all of us, goodbye. | :13:56. | :13:58. |