Browse content similar to 13/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Aternoon folks, and welcome to the Sunday Politics. As MPs head off for | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
their Easter break, campaigning for the European elections in six weeks' | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
time gets underway. In a Sunday Politics special, we'll debate the | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
issues at stake on May 22nd with senior party figures from the | :00:47. | :00:48. | |
Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, and UKIP. And as ever | :00:49. | :00:58. | |
we'll be discussing the week ahead with our panel of top political | :00:59. | :01:00. | |
commentators. with our panel of top political | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
And in the South East: From Turners to Constables ` many councils hold | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
substantial art collections. Should they sell up in tough financial | :01:13. | :01:13. | |
times, or get more art newspapers which some claim are | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
politically slanted and not impartial about informing people of | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
local services. So all that to come between now and | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
quarter to four and for the next thirty minutes or so we'll be | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
debating the European elections Here in the studio we have Syed | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
Kamall, leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, Richard | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
Howitt, chair of the Labour group of MEPs, Sarah Ludford, deputy leader | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
of the Lib Dems in Europe, and Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP's director of | :01:40. | :01:49. | |
communications. Welcome to you all. In a moment, all four will give us | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
their opening pitch for the elections. A little earlier they | :01:53. | :02:01. | |
drew lots to decide who'll go first. And that privilege goes to Syed | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
Before that, though, here's a quick reminder of what all the fuss is | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
about. The vote to choose members of the | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
European Parliament takes place on Thursday the 22nd of May. The same | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
day as local elections are held in England and Northern Ireland. The UK | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
sends 73 England and Northern Ireland. The UK | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
sends NTP is to Brussels. And the vote is a form of proportional | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
representation. In total, there are 751 MEPs from the 28 member states. | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
What do they do all day? The European Parliament's power has | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
grown. A vet of the EU commissioners and they can amend, approve or | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
reject nearly all EU legislation and the EU budget. Some laws MEPs have | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
been responsible for include price caps on mobile phone chargers, | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
banking regulation and cover food regulation two -- labelling. | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
Syed Kamall, you have 30 seconds. Europe cannot go on as it is. Europe | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
needs to change. And our relationship with Europe needs to | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
change. Only the Conservatives have a plan to deliver that change and of | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
the British people and in-out referendum. Labour and the Lib Dems | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
will not and UKIP simply cannot Only the Conservatives will offer | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
the three yards, with Conservative MEPs working alongside a | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
conservative Prime Minister. For, really is and above all a | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
referendum. Sarah Ludford is next. Your choice is simple. If you think | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
Britain is better off in Europe vote for the Liberal Democrats. The | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
Lib Dems are the only party of Ian, fighting to keep Britain in Europe | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
and in work. There is nothing patriotic about UKIP's desire to | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
pull-out. That is playing Russian roulette with Britain's economy and | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
jobs. The Conservatives are flirting with exit and Labour lacks the | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
courage to speak up. Thought Liberal Democrat on May the 22nd to say in | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
Europe for jobs and security. Sarah Ludford. Next, Richard Howitt from | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
Labour. The European elections are about who represents you. They are | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
not a referendum on a referendum. Labour MEPs believe in putting jobs | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
and growth first. A guarantee to help young people into work, | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
reforming energy markets so that bills are brought down for good | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
Labour believes in reform in Europe, but within. It is David Cameron who | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
is risking your job and Britain s prosperity because of divisions in | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
his own party. Labour MEPs put British interests first. Our fourth | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
opening statement from Patrick O'Flynn. The EU is old hat. It is a | :04:46. | :04:53. | |
declining regional trade bloc in an era of global trade. It is a | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
20th-century political project designed to prevent conflict in | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
Europe that is now reawakening old hostilities. It is an attempt to | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
force on the European people European this as their primary | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
collective identity. It has hollowed out British democracy and now we do | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
not even control our own borders. That is why you should vote UKIP. | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
That is the opening statements. Let's get on with the debate. Why | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
should people vote in the selections? If you vote UKIP, we can | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
deliver an earthquake that will rock the foundations of British politics | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
and the European political class. We can send a signal to Europe that | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
Britain has had enough, that Britain wants to retain its nation state | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
status and regain political power and the ability to forge trading | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
deals across the world. Britain leading Europe to freedom twice in | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
the last century through bloodshed. We feel that a UKIP win in those | :05:58. | :05:59. | |
elections could help Britain set an example to lead European nation | :06:00. | :06:07. | |
states back to free assembly again. Syed Kamall, isn't it the case that | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
many Tory voters will vote you clip to keep you honest, to keep your | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
feet to the fire? Whatever you think of the European Parliament or the | :06:17. | :06:19. | |
EU, the fact is that the European Parliament as equal power with the | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
28 governments of the EU. When David Cameron delivered the first cut to | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
the EU budget, the first ever cut, he needed a strong team of | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
Conservative MEPs working alongside him. But many of your supporters | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
will vote for UKIP for the reasons I gave. Many will vote Liberal | :06:41. | :06:49. | |
Democrat. Not very many. Many of our supporters will vote for us because | :06:50. | :06:51. | |
we are the only party trying to change the EU and offer reform. We | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
have offered renegotiation and a referendum. And how would you vote | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
in such a referendum? We have no idea whether he would vote yes or | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
no. Let him answer. I will answer that question. If the EU continues | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
on this road, towards a United States of Europe, and if there was | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
no change at the time of the referendum, then I would probably | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
vote to leave. You have no confidence in David Cameron? We | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
Javier Culson opportunity to read negotiate our relationship with | :07:25. | :07:26. | |
Europe and the Conservatives are at the forefront of that agenda. David | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
Cameron have not given a list of demands. He said that if things do | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
not change, he will probably vote to leave, is that right? If at the time | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
of the referendum, things had not changed, I would vote to leave and | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
we have a golden opportunity to perform the agenda. Richard, the | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
last time the British people had a say on this was over 40 years ago. | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
Under a Labour government. Which was deeply divided on the issue. And | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
that was a say on the common market. Today's EU is a very different | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
animal from the common market. Why can we not, under another Labour | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
government, have another vote? First of all, we want it to be more than a | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
free trading area. We make no apologies about that. But in the | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
elections because this is half of Britain's exports and investment. If | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
you care about your job and business, you cannot hear from the | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
party of government that they probably want you to leave because | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
the CBI, the engineering employees in Federation and the chimp of | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
commerce, 80% of them say it is necessary to stay in. So why not | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
give us a vote? When David Cameron says he wants to repatriate social | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
powers, he means takeaway maternity rights and holidays. If the case is | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
so strong, why not give us an in-out vote? David Miliband has said that | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
there will be a referendum if there was a proposal to change powers Why | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
wait? This is based on a series of reforms. Labour has a set of | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
reforms. David Cameron is silent about what they would be. That is | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
because he knows that if he put them forward, they would either be | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
unsatisfactory to his Eurosceptic backbenchers and he would be out of | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
a job, or they would be unacceptable to European leaders. Why is your | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
leader missing in action? Ed Miliband is unable to say even the | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
positive things that you are saying. He has run away from the argument. | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
He actually said there would not be a referendum in his time. | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
For a conservative to say they will have a referendum but not give the | :09:48. | :09:55. | |
reforms, it is a mistake. Nick Clegg gave Nigel Farage a huge opportunity | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
in that debate. He said that the Eurosceptic view was to leave | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
Britain like Billy no mates. I can say that he is the best qualified | :10:05. | :10:11. | |
person to say that. Sarah Ludford, you have said that lots of people | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
are going to vote Lib Dem but that is not what the polls are saying. | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
You are 7% in two polls this morning. Eclectic's decision to | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
champion Europe has been a disaster for you. You face wet out. We swayed | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
a lot of people our way with Nick Clegg's debate. Where is the | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
evidence? We are the only party that is completely united, saying that we | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
are wanting to stay in. It is essential because formally and jobs | :10:40. | :10:41. | |
are supported by our trade with the EU. Linked to the EU. We are finding | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
a lot of moderate conservative voters are actually fed up with the | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
Tories being split and divided all over the place. Syed Kamall saying | :10:51. | :10:59. | |
that we might vote in rout. -- in or out. We are consistent. A poll in | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
London showed that 18% would vote for us. I am delighted about that. | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
London is not the whole country it may surprise you. We need to move on | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
to immigration, an important issue. We are a member of the EU and the | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
rules say that with a few caveats, our fellow EU citizens are free to | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
come here if they want. Why can we not just accept that? Britain has a | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
proud record when it comes to immigration. We have been open to | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
people across the world for centuries. But we welcome people who | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
come to our country to contribute to pay taxes and two wards are a | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
society positively. But there are three real concerns that we have to | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
address. The first one is numbers, and secondly people who may come | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
here not to work but for benefits, and thirdly, getting a hang of the | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
numbers. I think it is shameful that only this week the office for | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
National said that they did not collect sufficient figures under a | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
Labour government. 350,000 extra people came in and they did not | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
count the numbers. That is the size of a city like Cardiff. That is | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
shameful. 350,000 came from all over the place. Do you accept the free | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
movement of peoples within the EU? I accept and am open to people who | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
want to come here and contribute. In the same way... Do you accept the | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
free movement of peoples within the EU? In our manifesto, we have said | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
it is an issue for reform. We have to make sure that people are coming | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
here to work and contribute positively, not simply to come here | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
and take advantage of the system. I will tell you what else is | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
shameful. What is shameful is David Cameron making a pledge to the | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
British people on an issue that they really care about, to bring net | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
immigration down to the tens of thousands a year, having no means of | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
fulfilling that pledge. And we see now it is back up to 212,000 a year | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
because we have no volume control and no quality control from | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
immigration from our neighbours And that is a disgrace. How could UKIP | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
address that issue? Because we would leave the EU. How? Tell me how. You | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
do not have a single member of Parliament. He will not get a single | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
member of Parliament. How are you... ? TUC are hoping to get an | :13:22. | :13:30. | |
MEP. What do you say? -- he is here today hoping to get an MEP. All of | :13:31. | :13:41. | |
-- almost 2 million Brits live and work in the rest of the EU. Is that | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
worth having? The majority are wealthy, retired people. Why do not | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
object to bilateral agreements with countries with similar living | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
standards to us. France, the Netherlands, that works fine. But | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
these three people want Turkey to join the EU, 75 Na Li and people | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
running our country, only 10% of which... Syed Kamall is Michael year | :14:06. | :14:18. | |
to say whether they are in favour of free movement for work, not for | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
benefits... That is what I'm saying. You said you were unable to | :14:22. | :14:30. | |
be clear. That leaves 2 million British people absolutely unsure as | :14:31. | :14:32. | |
to whether they would have a right to continue to live in other | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
countries. It is a two-way street. You are putting those people in a | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
state of uncertainty. EU migrants have been good for the British | :14:42. | :14:43. | |
economy and contribute far more than they take out in services and | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
benefits. One in seven businesses were founded in -- by migrants. And | :14:47. | :14:54. | |
they cannot just turn up and claim benefits. The coalition government | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
has legislated to make sure that they cannot claim for three months. | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
They will not be able to claim for more than six months. Richard | :15:06. | :15:13. | |
Howitt, Jack Straw said it was A spectacular mistake for Labour to | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
allow EU migrants from Poland and Hungary to work in the UK from | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
2004." Why should we trust a party that makes spectacular mistakes and | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
hasn't apologised for it? We accept it is a mistake and I apologise We | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
make a firm commitment for new EU states we will put down transitional | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
controls. When I listen to the Conservatives and UKIP trying to | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
re-write history, saying immigration was out of control, uncontrolled, | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
open door, we hear it over and over again. It is not true. Anyone who | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
was around at the time... Come on, Richard. Hold on, you undercounted | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
by 350,000. You were letting 2 million in over the years, an | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
under-counted by 350,000 people you didn't know came in. You should have | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
tightened the benefit rules. The Conservative MEP today has, in four | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
years in government in Britain, is trying it blame the previous Labour | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
Government over the fact they won't count people in or people out. | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
Yvette Cooper - it is not easy for people to come to the country and | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
benefits are changing, changing the habitual residence test and we are | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
going to say that migrants can't come and claim child benefit if | :16:37. | :16:39. | |
their children are outside the country. Labour a has shown they | :16:40. | :16:42. | |
have listened to concerns but we say it is a stronger, better, country | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
because it is diverse and multicultural snoo.d this is fantasy | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
politics from all the Peters. They are committed to a system with no | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
volume control and no quality control. You talk about benefits as | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
if it is only out of work benefits. In work benefits cost a lot of money | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
for the British taxpayer. Big businesses bring in minimum wage | :17:06. | :17:13. | |
workers. It is ?5,000 per perschool place What are you going to do? Have | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
all the pensioners come back to Britain? How will will you fund the | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
health care? Do you really think Spain and pour tu ghal their current | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
situation, are going to turn their backs on British property owners | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
with wealth? -- Portugal. They might not wanting pensioners to use their | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
health service. Pensioners often come back to Britain to use the | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
health service. You have shown it represents wealthy people's | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
interests. A second Conservative Party. Hang on a minute... Blue | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
collar wages were down. They want it character for the National Health | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
Service, have cuts that go farther and comprehensive education. This is | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
a debate on the wider politics between Conservatives and UKIP and | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
Labour will... You can't both talk time. UKIP - they haven't thought it | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
through, thousand they will have trade access in the EU, hasn't | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
thought how they will have trade deals that the Liberal Democrats | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
support, like with the United States: Would you have a cap on | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
non-EU immigrants? We are not in favour of a cap. No cap on either. | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
No. Well it is a target. It is a moving feast, as it were. Would you | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
have a limit on non-EU limits? We have limits on quality. We have | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
people who are skilled migrants coming in. Lip its? . By quality, | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
not by quantity. -- Limits. How do you do that? We need to move | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
on to foreign affairs. Should we pool more sovereignty to | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
give the European Union more clout in foreign and defence matters? I'm | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
Labour's defence and foreign affairs spokesperson. No we don't need to | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
pull more powers into Europe. As we undertake this live debate there are | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
guns being fired in Ukraine as we speak. Europe is facing, for the | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
first time, since the end of the Second World War, Armies crossing | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
national borders and floatening peace. Doesn't it -- threatening | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
peace. Doesn't it need to come together of the We don't need more | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
powers. We need political will. With Vladimir Putin, in my view, he has | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
-- we have fallen short in the sanctions. But it is Europe, not | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
Britain. Remember Putin calling Britain little England a small | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
island with no influence. Labour doesn't agree with that. But if | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
that's the mindset that allows someone like Vladimir Putin to send | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
troops across borders threatening peace, it is worrying. And when we | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
have, in UKIP a party that say they admire Putin and support his | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
policies, that is no recipe for how Europe should be wrong. I was | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
waiting for that. Let me ask him. We don't admire Putin as a leader. . | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
Oh. No we don't. What Nigel Farage said, was he admired him as a | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
political operator. Testifies Franklin D Roosevelt who said a good | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
foreign policy was speaking softly but carrying a big stick. The EU | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
shouts its mouthed off while carrying a matchstick. It is fantasy | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
that you wiebl it stand up to Putin over the Ukraine. -- that you would | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
be able to stand up. Do you admire what Putin is doing in the Ukraine? | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
No. What matters in foreign policy is the outcould. We have a terrible | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
outcome in the Ukraine, like Syria, and Georgia... What would UKIP do? | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
What u skip would do, would be to keep our people safe -- UKIP. | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
How? And not commit our Foreign Office and troops Foreign wars. | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
Patrick O'Flynn. You brought up this issue of foreign wars. Now Nigel | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
Farage said in previous debates that Britain should leave the EU because, | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
"We have had enough of endless foreign wars." Which wars has the EU | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
taken us into? The EU has ban very important factor in the push towards | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
trying to get military intervention in Syria, for example. What wars has | :21:15. | :21:24. | |
the etch U taken us into it -- EU. Fortunately the EU doesn't have its | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
own army yet. It has wanted to sign up to an expansionist agenda. Did it | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
want Iraq? No, that was Labour. UKIP opposed Iraq, so did most of the | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
mainline Europeans. Germany was against Syria and Libya. No EU | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
policy. We had an Anglo French deal on Syria. A by lateral deal. A | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
European dimension. No, buy lateral. We have a European Union that wants | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
to expand ever-more into other people's spheres of influence. If we | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
are going to stand up to what Putin is do, which obviously Nigel Farage | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
has no intentions of doing, you have to get your act together on economic | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
sanctions and diplomatic force and in trade matters, in supporting | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
eastern European countries. Sayeria, who and whose army? And NATO and | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
working transatlanticically, is important through NATO. I will come | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
to you in a moment. Nick Clegg said that the idea of an EU Army was "A | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
dangerous fantasy that is simply not true ""Why then, are we already | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
working on etch U-owned and controlled drones -- EU-owned and | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
the President of the European Parliament has said that the | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
majority of MEPs want the EU to have "deployable troops." He is not | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
speaking for me or Liberal Democrats. The EU does not and will | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
not have an army. Our defence is mainly shaped through NATO. He is | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
President of the Parliament What we must do is to get equipment which | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
can operate together. We waste an awful lot of our spending in Europe | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
because we duplicate equipment. We don't get the bang for our bucks | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
that we should. It is a useful role for the EU, to get equipment working | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
together. That doesn't make sense. You say military equipment, a NATO | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
job. No, the EU, there is a kind of dimension of the EU members of NATO, | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
in working together on a common quument o o so they can talk to each | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
other -- on common equipment, so they can talk to each other. The EU | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
has a role but not an army. So a European defence agency, that helps | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
our defence industries and those jobs are extremely important and | :23:41. | :23:43. | |
would be threatened if the Conservatives and UKIP took us out | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
of Europe but it is 100 years since the start of the fist world war | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
Remember that Europe was set up to try to get a secure peace within | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
Europe T succeeded. Now look on Ukraine but also on the southern | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
borders to the Arab Spring countries in North Africa. It is more | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
important than ever that we work to keep keep peace and stability on our | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
borders. Can I say to Syed and the Conservative MEPs. You talk about | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
the three Rs, I have a fourth, retreat. If you take us out of the | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
European Union, it will be the worse retreat by Britain since Gallipoli. | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
Let him answer If he wants answers -- the British Parliament is the | :24:26. | :24:28. | |
right place with a British Foreign Secretary to decide our foreign | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
policy. You say that, but can I quote David Cameron, this is germain | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
to what you are saying, David Cameron said "There is no doubt that | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
we are more powerful than Washington, Beijing and Delhi, | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
because we are a powerful player in the European Union." Do you agree? | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
He is saying that there are times when it comes to international | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
foreign affairs when you have to cooperate with partners. Often they | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
are EU partners but often they are not. The problem we have... | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
Washington have made it very clear that it wants Britain to talk | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
through Brussels. No, not at all. Talk through the French and | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
Italians, come on, wake up? Through the EU collective. I'm vice chair of | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
the EU delegation. I hear it from the American counterparts. They want | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
the EU to get itself together and not least on Ukraine. Why should our | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
sovereignty be at the behest of .. ? I want to hear from Syed calm | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
amplgts the British Parliament is the right place to decide our | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
foreign poll sinchts sometimes we work with our European partners | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
sometimes we work with our non-European partners. It is our | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
choice to pull sovereign trito work together. G, we move on to our foirt | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
area. We hear a lot in this country about MPs expenses. Snted the real | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
scan dalt MEPs gravy train. -- isn't the real scandal, the MEPs gravy | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
train? You all have your snouts The trough? I don't think so. There is | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
transpancy. The way we use our expenses is online and anyone can | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
ask to examine those. We have actually voted to reform MEPs' | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
allowances. We regularly vote but unfortunately the majority in | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
Parliament don't. Have you voted to cut them? Yes. By how much? About | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
5%. A 5% We hoped to have economies I never fly except across the | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
Atlantic. Difficult to do it any other way. I didn't swim. | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
But we voted for economy flutes We voted for European Parliament policy | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
of transparency which other groups haven't. UKIP don't turn up to vote. | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
They don't earn their salaries. Dhoent do anything. They should hand | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
their salaries and allowances back. You can't ause UKIP of being on the | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
gravy train and the other that we don't claim our attendance allowance | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
because our MEPs are not there. Your attendance allowance is if you are | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
there, you are saying we don't turn up You are in the building and claim | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
the allowances. You are not an MEP, UKIP are so ashamed of what their | :27:12. | :27:14. | |
MEPs have done in Brussels, they didn't field a sitting MEP for | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
today's debate. I think each party decides who it wishes to field. I | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
have the honour of being the UKIP representative. I would say by going | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
in the past few weeks, xeeming to me saying - we are sick of the others. | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
-- people saying to me. : We are quite excited. Can I ask Patrick | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
O'Flynn. He says he touched a chord and his party is strong in the polls | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
today, between 18% and 20%. Haven't you also struck a chord with hip | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
crasscy. Two of your MEPs were jailed for expenses and benefits' | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
fraud. Two more asked to pay back ?37,000 for using European funds. | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
Nigel Farage has boosted about getting ?2 million in expenses and | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
he went on to employ his wife as a secretarial allowance after telling | :28:07. | :28:09. | |
other members not to People who do wrong and break the law, go to ja. I | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
have no time. -- go to jail. People who spend money they are not | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
entitled to should pay it back and that's right. But what UKIP does and | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
the good UKIP MEPs do, is use the allowances they are given to pursue | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
the political agenda they put up when elected which is to get Britain | :28:29. | :28:31. | |
out of this superstate. Instead of using it for parliamentary work | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
Very interesting. Richard Howitt. We were the first British political | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
party to have independent audits of our MEPs' expenses, from 1990, way | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
before the expenses crisis blew up. The Maria Miller scandal has of | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
course hit David Cameron and the Conservative Party hard as it should | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
do. But you are right, even in my own region you have UKIP candidates | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
and councillors who have been charged with fraudulently filling | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
out election papers and other shot lifting. Another independent inquiry | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
found he made racist comments. We had a European candidate last week | :29:10. | :29:12. | |
in Hertfordshire who got a parking ticket from the police and called | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
the police fascists. These people aren't here. | :29:18. | :29:23. | |
I'll let you have a quick reply We can bring up parochial cases. Let | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
him answer. Not so long ago a Liberal Democrat councillor was sent | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
down for firebombing, I don't say they are a bunch of arsonists, but | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
now I think, Nick Clegg might have burnt some cactuses, once. I'm glad | :29:38. | :29:44. | |
you pronounced that word carefully. Syed Kemal, the EU's auditors, they | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
are strongly critical of the EU s financials saying "Errors permist in | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
all main spending areas", the financials are poorly managed. It is | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
a shambles And that's something that all parties agree on. As we agree on | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
expenses, the British parties are at the forefront of transpancy. Every | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
year when we vote for the discharge of the budget, the Conservatives | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
also vote for it but we don't get enough MEPs from other countries to | :30:15. | :30:17. | |
investigate in favour. The Liberal Democrats have put forward to make | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
each Finance Minister, George Osborne and his counterpart to sign | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
a declaration to say all EU money is properly spent in my country. | :30:27. | :30:29. | |
Funnily enough they don't want to do that but I look forward to you | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
confirming that George Osborne will sign it. All the time we hear it is | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
about the money we pay in, about ?150 per family per year. What about | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
the money that comes back? ?1. billion that comes to Britain's | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
regions because of being in Europe. I myself helped to negotiate a fund | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
to help Britain's food banks to ensure so. Poorest and most | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
destitute people... Isn't it our money that went there first. Can I | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
tell you the Conservative-led Government have blocked us from | :31:03. | :31:05. | |
claiming that money. If you want to have the clearest choice at these | :31:06. | :31:08. | |
European elections, it is between... Tell us why. It affects our rebate. | :31:09. | :31:19. | |
Tony Blair gave away our rebate He is quite right. Lib Dems fought to | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
make sure that we apply for money to help with flooding. That is what the | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
Tories were blocking. If you want the clearest example at the European | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
elections, the Conservative Party and MEPs blocked the cap on bankers | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
bonuses, and then blocked a Labour victory to get money for free | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
banks. We need to move on to the future. It is important and people | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
are watching. The EU's Justice Minister says that we need to build | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
a United States of Europe with the commission as its government. Is she | :31:56. | :32:02. | |
right? Not at all. But the future, if we take the next ten years, | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
thinks about climate change and the fact that we are not going to hit of | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
the two degrees target. Europe has led and needs to lead towards | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
getting a new sustainable world It is the political will to use these | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
powers, so she is wrong. It is about the threats from abroad. Labour | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
reforms like getting a commissioner for growth and rebalancing the | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
budget, reforming the common agricultural policy, all of those | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
things will need to happen to make Europe more democratic and open But | :32:32. | :32:38. | |
against the rise of Brazil and China... We do not need more | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
treaties and powers. We need more action with more Labour MEPs. Sarah | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
Ludford, you would sign up to that? No. Unless they do not think that | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
should concentrate on institutional matters. What we need to do is | :32:54. | :33:00. | |
concentrate on making Europe progrowth and competitive and create | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
more jobs in a competitive world. We need more trade deals to open up our | :33:04. | :33:10. | |
exports, we need to streamline the EU. We need less red tape and | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
Liberal Democrats have done a lot on that. We need better scrutiny of EU | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
legislation at West Munster because the national parties... More powers | :33:20. | :33:27. | |
or less for the EU government? In some areas, I would like to see it | :33:28. | :33:35. | |
slimmed down. Including, I am not sure whether the EU should be | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
funding food banks. I think that is a national responsibility. Dearie | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
me. The EU have to concentrate on the economy and climate change. This | :33:45. | :33:50. | |
is the coalition talking. If we want to fritter away political capital on | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
things which are interfering in national matters, then we do not | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
have the support to tackle those big challenges. Would you still want to | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
join the Euro one-day? Now is not a good idea. We wanted the Eurozone to | :34:04. | :34:12. | |
still be sound, which is why... Did not ask you that. Do you want to | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
join the Euro one-day? If it is a success and it did the economy. Now | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
is not the time but in principle, the idea of a single currency has | :34:21. | :34:28. | |
advantages. That was a yes. We are not ruling it out for ever but not | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
in the foreseeable future. It is not on the horizon. What would our | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
relationship be with Europe in the future if UKIP got its way and we | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
left? We would be trading partners with Europe and we would seek | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
partnership in specific serious I'd tell you what, can I just say.. | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
Would we be Norway? We would be stronger than Norway because we are | :34:52. | :34:53. | |
the biggest export market in the Eurozone. We can negotiate a bespoke | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
trading agreement reflecting our enormous importance. Not on | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
services, which make up 80% of the economy. We are the biggest export | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
market in the Eurozone. Our biggest exports are services and they would | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
have to agree to free trade and services. They still have not. Can I | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
read you something? Let me read you something. There would be a free | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
trade agreement in place the day after our exit. Germany would demand | :35:23. | :35:28. | |
no less. Who said that? Not somebody from UKIP, but Digby Jones. Mr | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
business. He is talking about goods, not services. Norway has that | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
and they have no say. You would have to accept the EU rules without any | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
say. No MEPs are commissioners. Let me give you another. Enough. One is | :35:44. | :35:48. | |
enough. Syed Kamall, is it not looking forward pretty much Mission: | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
Impossible for Mr Cameron to get anything like the repatriations of | :35:56. | :36:02. | |
powers that would satisfy your irreconcilables? My father was a bus | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
driver in the 50s and one of the reasons I am here today is because | :36:10. | :36:12. | |
he told me that you can achieve anything if you work hard. He said | :36:13. | :36:15. | |
to me, do not listen to the doubters. When people tell you that | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
something cannot be done, it is a sign of their limitations, not | :36:20. | :36:22. | |
yours. They said that we could not pull Britain out of the bailout | :36:23. | :36:25. | |
mechanism but we did it. He said we could not be to a -- veto European | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
treaty and we did that. They said we would never cut the budget and we | :36:32. | :36:37. | |
did that. The first ever. But overall, we are paying more into the | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
European budget. And they are not sticking to it. More, not less. They | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
say that we cannot achieve reform but we have achieved reform and we | :36:47. | :36:49. | |
are at the forefront of that. Science's father came to Britain | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
because Britain was open and looking outward. What the Conservatives now | :36:55. | :37:04. | |
have, with leaderless Cameron, is an inward looking attitude. They are | :37:05. | :37:11. | |
allowing the rise of UKIP. They are putting so much at risk. People | :37:12. | :37:15. | |
should vote Labour. We are going to have to stop now. No point talking | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
because we are about to finish. I think you all for a spirited debate. | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
I'm sure Nigel Fries and Mr Clegg will have learned a lot about how to | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
debate. -- Nigel Farage. It's just gone 3pm, and you're | :37:30. | :37:32. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland who | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
leave us now for Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up here in twenty | :37:36. | :37:36. | |
I'm Julia George and this is the minutes, | :37:37. | :37:50. | |
I'm Julia George and this is the Sunday Politics in the South East. | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
Coming up later: They carry a 50,000`volt charge and can cause | :37:56. | :37:57. | |
your muscles to contract uncontrollably. Anyone worrhed about | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
a dramatic increase in the tse of Tasers by Sussex Police? | :38:01. | :38:08. | |
Joining me in the studio today are the Liberal Democrat Home Office | :38:09. | :38:11. | |
Minister and MP for Lewes, Norman Baker, and Rehman Chishti, | :38:12. | :38:14. | |
Conservative MP for Gillingham and Rainham. Good afternoon to xou both. | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
Before we focus on Turners `nd Tasers, as we have a Home Office | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
Minister with us I would like to get a quick update on legal highs. | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
Norman Baker, you've begun ` review ` can you give any hope yet to | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
families who've seen loved ones hurt or killed by these drugs th`t | :38:31. | :38:33. | |
meaningful change is coming? The first thing I would say is that | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
I banned the term legal highs because it is misleading and implies | :38:39. | :38:43. | |
that they are illegal which they are not always and there are not always | :38:44. | :38:46. | |
safe. I call them chemical highs to try to educate people about the | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
dangers the substances possdss. The panel I set up in September has met | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
on a number of occasions. It is looking at breast practice `` best | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
practice are around the world. We have law enforcement and | :39:01. | :39:03. | |
psychologist looking at this. We will have a report with | :39:04. | :39:08. | |
recommendations and 46 weeks' time. What do you think of the nale | :39:09. | :39:10. | |
change? It is a good idea. There is nothing | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
illegal about them at all, the damage they caused to the lhves of | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
people as horrific. We must do everything we can to address this | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
issue. Bin collections, running libraries | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
and home care for elderly pdople ` just some of the services provided | :39:31. | :39:33. | |
by your local council. But hs it right that they also spend thousands | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
of pounds a year on art collections and exhibitions? This week, in a | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
special report, we take a closer look at some surprisingly hhgh`value | :39:41. | :39:43. | |
works of art. What are they worth and what should local authorities do | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
with them? Sara Neville has been investigating. | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
1500 oil paintings, 4000 water colours, works by iconic artists | :39:52. | :39:59. | |
like Turner and Constable. Ht is an enviable collection worth almost ?33 | :40:00. | :40:02. | |
million belonging not to a wealthy private collector, but to | :40:03. | :40:04. | |
cash`strapped Brighton and Hove City Council. The actual fine art | :40:05. | :40:17. | |
collection and the whole cultural part of the city is incredibly | :40:18. | :40:20. | |
important. We have a very vhbrant visitor economy. It is worth over | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
?780 million to the local economy. It employs around 17,000 people So | :40:25. | :40:27. | |
it is vital for the survival of the city. And Brighton is not the only | :40:28. | :40:46. | |
council sitting on a fortund. An exclusive Sunday Politics Freedom of | :40:47. | :40:48. | |
Information request has revdaled that a number of authorities and the | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
South East have millions of pounds tied up just in their top tdn works | :40:53. | :40:55. | |
of art. Eastbourne Borough Council has 12 | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
million worth. One thing and Maidstone both value their top ten | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
artworks at over ?2.2 million And Kent County Council reckons its most | :41:08. | :41:10. | |
valuable works come in at jtst under ?2 million. With many counchls being | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
forced to slash key public services, is it time to sell these gr`nd | :41:14. | :41:20. | |
collections? What do you say to people who | :41:21. | :41:23. | |
suggest local authorities should not have large art collections? | :41:24. | :41:31. | |
Do you want me to keep it polite? They are misguided, that is the best | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
I can say. If we strip out the cultural offer of a city, wd are | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
stripping part of the soul of the city away and the reason whx people | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
like to live here and visit here is the cultural offer. Most collections | :41:48. | :41:50. | |
are held in trust but the notion of cashing in on large price t`g items | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
continues to tantalise councils Tower Hamlets toyed with selling | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
this Henry Moore, meanwhile, Croydon Council raised `` raised ?9.5 | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
million last year when it optioned some rare Chinese ceramic pheces. | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
This moon Flask alone fetchdd ? .2 million. It was a decision that had | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
the museum world up in arms. Other councils want to capitalise by | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
attracting more art and culture This is the Jerwood Gallery, a | :42:23. | :42:25. | |
private and paid for gallerx in Hastings. It opened two years ago at | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
a cost of ?4 million but it has no public funding. It is part of the | :42:30. | :42:36. | |
cultural regeneration plan for the town and the hope is that these | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
paintings will attract big spending visitors and 65,000 people came here | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
last year. What does that mdan for the Council's own museum collection, | :42:47. | :42:54. | |
? Can it compete with this? A collection of international renown? | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
Hastings does have a Turner, but what it needs is a boost to its | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
flagging economy. Working whth the Jerwood Gallery could hold the key. | :43:03. | :43:12. | |
We need `` we may need to work together better but the feeling is | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
that the Jerwood Gallery is one of the main reasons that peopld come to | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
Hastings. They come to see lany attractions and things like our | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
heritage, the castle, the mtseum and other art collections and artefacts | :43:26. | :43:32. | |
on what people come to see. For many authorities, just a fraction of what | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
they have is on public display while the rest lies in storage. It all | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
needs to be managed, maintahned restored and insured. No ond wants | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
to be seen to be a cultural Philistine but the suggestion that | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
councils should spend money on priceless pieces of artwork rather | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
than on amenities like bin collection, I think you know what | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
most residents would prefer the money being spent on. | :43:59. | :44:08. | |
Are these collections and asset or a burden? Can local authoritids | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
effectively harness them to the maximum benefit or should priceless | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
artworks we in the hands of local authorities at all? | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
The Jerwood Gallery in Hasthngs featured in Sara's report ` let s | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
talk to the man who runs it, David Pennock. You run a successftl | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
commercial gallery, it is not something for political amateurs? | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
That is correct, they are bdst run by people feel involved and art | :44:36. | :44:38. | |
galleries and who are committed to them. One of the difficultids is | :44:39. | :44:41. | |
when they are run by public authorities and the public | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
authorities have a large pool and their time and funds. In sole cases | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
the family silver as sold for short`term gain and that is a very | :44:53. | :44:55. | |
short`sighted view of the role of culture and art in many of our towns | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
and cities around the country. If you have a couple of fantastic | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
pieces, we heard about Croydon 0 piece for several millions of | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
pounds, if you cannot do it justice, I do not better selling it `nd using | :45:12. | :45:17. | |
the money for something in the areas that people would value? If you want | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
to sell something and use it on a short`term expenditure that is | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
highly undesirable. One of the solutions may be that were councils | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
and local authorities have valuable works of art they look at pttting | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
those into a separate charitable and not`for`profit trust so that they | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
can be protected over the long run. Frequently those things are being | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
given to the galleries by individuals who want them to be | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
there for the benefit of thd general public and it is perhaps | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
unreasonable for the councils to sell them off for short`terl | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
returns. Cantlie council re`lly compete, you said at the beginning | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
it was a serious and professional business, can the council m`naged to | :46:03. | :46:10. | |
run a very expensive art collection? I cannot give you figures for | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
Brighton but it is clear th`t each gallery takes an enormous alount of | :46:14. | :46:20. | |
resources to look after it. Standing entirely on our own it would not be | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
possible to survive and prosper unless we had a charge for dntry. | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
That is another solution th`t councils and local authorithes may | :46:29. | :46:31. | |
look at, that perhaps they should be charging to get some sort of return, | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
but remember, when you have a great gallery in somewhere like H`stings, | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
that brings people to the town and it adds to the economy of the likes | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
of Hastings and as to the ctltural economy as well so it would be a | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
great mistake for any local authority to give up on that really | :46:51. | :46:52. | |
very important cultural acthvity. Thank you, David. Well done for | :46:53. | :47:00. | |
coping with the heckling! Rehman Chishti, should men to be | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
keep its art collection or sell it, make sure it is all on display, what | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
is the best scenario? The art collection is valued at ?290,00 and | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
I would say that art is a kdy part of our heritage and of course, local | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
authorities should keep it `nd display it out in the public so | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
members of the public can vhew it. It could inspire future gendrations | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
who wants to be artists to say that they could do likewise and xears to | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
come. We do not think of our local authorities as being there for the | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
cultural experience, ?200,000, that would fill a few potholes, would it | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
not? Some local authorities balance this better than others. I think | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
made we does a really good job but I accept that we could look at doing | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
things differently were loc`l authorities work with galleries and | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
businesses to ensure that artists display their work and that there is | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
also revenue generated that can be put back into the art facilhties and | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
the local area. The cost of looking after this stuff could also be seen | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
as a burden. We have asked the local authorities to tell us the value of | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
the things that are in stor`ge, it is quite high. It adds great | :48:16. | :48:22. | |
vibrancy to a community. As Rehman Chishti says, there is the dconomic | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
benefit. My question has to be whether the local authority should | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
provide this or whether it can be done in a different way. As you have | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
said, many works of art are stored in basements and elsewhere that the | :48:35. | :48:37. | |
public has no access to. How can they justify this? It is re`lly | :48:38. | :48:46. | |
difficult for some local authorities, if they are holding | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
these items and public trust, they cannot sell it. That is correct | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
they should then pull the information and the items ott of | :48:57. | :48:59. | |
storage and sell it on somewhere. Perhaps through a charity where they | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
can display it. Works of art could also be held elsewhere, as long as | :49:06. | :49:13. | |
it is out of basements. Goodhart is very good for us, we all have | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
different tastes, but just how good is the artwork of our local | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
authorities? Will have diffdrent opinions, so it is difficult, there | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
is a diverse range. But I bdlieve that things can be done differently | :49:28. | :49:30. | |
to make sure that people can view the artwork. The problem cotld be | :49:31. | :49:40. | |
that you must always make stre it is for the benefit of the local | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
community. If you have a spdcial Chinese lies and it is worth ?2 | :49:45. | :49:48. | |
million, you would think wh`t could I do with this money for Mike | :49:49. | :49:56. | |
Unity. Brighton and Hove Cotncil, they sold a number plate for one of | :49:57. | :50:05. | |
their mayor's cards but thex could have put that money back into public | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
service. They are assets held by councils that could be used better. | :50:11. | :50:18. | |
Another council sold off its hard for front line services. Thdy did | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
that to get funding. Thank xou both very much. | :50:25. | :50:32. | |
Now, here are two words you don t often hear in a political show ` | :50:33. | :50:35. | |
neuromuscular incapacitation. That's the posh description for wh`t | :50:36. | :50:38. | |
happens when you're Tasered. Stun guns carry a 50,000`volt ch`rge and | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
they've been a key part of the armoury of our police forces for | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
some time now. But are they now being used too much? Figures | :50:46. | :50:48. | |
released by the Home Office this week show that Sussex Policd | :50:49. | :50:51. | |
recorded a significant year on year increase, from 30 to 164 usds. In | :50:52. | :50:54. | |
percentage terms, that's a 447% rise. Here's Chief Superintdndent | :50:55. | :50:57. | |
Paul Morrison of Sussex and Surrey Police responding to those figures | :50:58. | :51:05. | |
on BBC South East Today this week: it has added an extra option for | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
them to resolve incidents in the past where we would have to have | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
used restraint like batons or sprays. | :51:14. | :51:16. | |
It has given them another option. Because of the high compliance rate, | :51:17. | :51:24. | |
we are seeing only 13 times that it has been discharged. | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
Joining me now is Oliver Sprague from Amnesty International. | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
He says that Tasers are better than bad ones, do you agree? I think when | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
they were first introduced, Tasers were brought in to do with the type | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
of incidents that back lawns and CS spray could not do with effdctively. | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
We are talking about incidence of severe violence, knife crimd, and | :51:51. | :51:57. | |
the Taser offered a safer w`y to deal with those incidents. @nd the | :51:58. | :52:00. | |
purist sends the instant to that is yes. He also said that they are | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
effective and that they work, is that true? They come with Axris | :52:05. | :52:13. | |
Amnesty International is not against the police using Tasers, we | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
recognise they have a different court `` difficult job to do. You | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
mentioned 50,000 volts of electricity and your opening | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
remarks. The important thing is that the disruption to the musclds Hearts | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
Omagh it is agonising. For those five seconds you are under severe | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
pain. That is a concern to Jim and rights organisations. Has thought | :52:38. | :52:44. | |
point was that they work without it being deployed, the threat of a stun | :52:45. | :52:47. | |
gun or being red dotted with one were the aim it at you, that is | :52:48. | :52:55. | |
enough to work. One of our concerns is that Tasers were introduced for | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
serious violence, but the stggestion is that they could be getting used | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
for more minor incidents. When you draw out a Taser, it should operate | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
within the same rules as if you were using it. You should only bd drawing | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
the weapon in response to life`threatening or serious | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
situations. But what a wonddrful thing that a weapon can be tsed | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
without actually being fired. It must be undertaken control, however. | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
The problem is that when thd weapon is misused it can cost some tragic | :53:31. | :53:34. | |
incidents. You only have to look in the United States and they `re not | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
saying that we will go down the similar route, but since we have | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
been looking at that, since 199 Amnesty International has rdcorded | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
several hundred deaths to do with Taser incidents. When you look at | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
autopsy reports, and a signhficant number of those cases, medical | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
examiners point to the Taser as being a contributory factor to that | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
debt. Let me bring in Norman Baker, the Home Office Minister. Sdries | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
concerns about mortality rates. You were all for caution over T`sers in | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
the past, have you changed xour mind? I am still for caution, Tasers | :54:12. | :54:19. | |
must be controlled and monitored. It is important to point out that the | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
large number of entries is not mirrored by an increase in tsage. | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
That is correct, they were fired 13 times in 2013, the same as 2012 so | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
is there some hysteria? People are very concerned and there must be | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
proper controls. I went to the Home Office research unit to look at this | :54:43. | :54:51. | |
myself. I saw it fired into the body of the manic grin. It was | :54:52. | :54:57. | |
interesting to watch it happen because the barbs, when thex come | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
out of the gun, the hit parts of the body that are not quite so | :55:05. | :55:12. | |
sensitive. How can we know what it is like unless it is tested on | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
humans? 50,000 volts, you know that will not be pleasant! Let md give | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
you some assurances, every time a Taser is drawn it is recorddd by the | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
police. The Home Office has a record of every time a Taser is usdd. We | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
monitor all of the health implications for each time one is | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
fired. It is highly regulatdd, I appreciate that, but what about when | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
someone dies in this countrx after, I am not saying June in being | :55:43. | :55:46. | |
Tasered, even if it happens a few weeks later, that would change that | :55:47. | :55:49. | |
which changed the debate, would it not? They would have to find out | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
whether the police officer had behaved appropriately. You `re | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
surrounded by people who max be endangering your life as a police | :56:00. | :56:02. | |
officer, it is only right that you are able to defend yourself. | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
Sometimes if you draw the T`ser that is enough to prevent the problem. | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
But that is not always the case hence why it is observed by the Home | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
Office. Let us talk about the figures in Kent. The most striking | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
thing was that half of thosd Tasered were mentally ill. We have heard of | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
children being Tasered and sunny, vulnerable people being Tasdred | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
does that not worry you? We have to make sure that they are being used | :56:35. | :56:37. | |
properly. When the police ddcide to use them, they must look at the | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
strategy that they are employing. The key factor is that when you use | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
a Taser, it should be in relation to when there is violence or the threat | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
of violence. It used to just the firearm officers, they get three | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
months of training, no it is often officers who have had four days | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
training simply and using a Taser, that is a big difference, mtst we go | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
back to allowing only firearm officers to using what are very | :57:09. | :57:15. | |
dangerous weapons? It happened in 2000 and then when you had | :57:16. | :57:17. | |
specifically trained officers using Tasers. But we have seen thhs | :57:18. | :57:26. | |
increase in Sussex recently. Like Norman said, you have seen `n | :57:27. | :57:29. | |
increase in the drawing of these Tasers, but if you look at the use | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
of these Tasers, there was only 13 users, that shows the policd are | :57:36. | :57:38. | |
being reasonable and proportionate. Norman, would you prefer fire arms | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
officers only to use these? The training must be adequate. That is | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
the issue. A gun is a legal weapon, a Taser is a very dangerous weapon | :57:52. | :58:01. | |
used wrongly. We must make sure that officers are properly traindd. Thank | :58:02. | :58:09. | |
you all for joining me. And now for a round`up of the other | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
political events that you mhght have missed this week with James | :58:14. | :58:20. | |
Fitzgerald. Recipients of home care are worried | :58:21. | :58:25. | |
about Kent County Council's decision to strip back contracts to providers | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
to just 20 companies in orddr to provide better value for money. | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
Divya Talwar the must be better quality of care. The sports minister | :58:34. | :58:39. | |
visited Dover for a regener`ted people's port. | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
He is tried to give financi`l flexibility and invited loc`ls. | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
Charlie Elphicke crossed thd Channel to look at how illegal storhes tried | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
to enter the UK. He disappe`red `` he disagreed with French authorities | :58:57. | :59:00. | |
who said it was a problem for the British government. It is both our | :59:01. | :59:07. | |
concern. One Eurosceptic Kent MP. 4000 | :59:08. | :59:15. | |
respondents voted in favour of leaving the EU. | :59:16. | :59:25. | |
Picking up on that referendtm point, the overwhelmingly popular | :59:26. | :59:28. | |
position for those that votdd was to come out of Europe, only UKHP can | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
offer that, five and a half weeks of the until the European elections, | :59:35. | :59:37. | |
Conservatives, are they scared of UKIP? The only party that is | :59:38. | :59:44. | |
offering the British public a referendum as the Conservathve | :59:45. | :59:50. | |
Party. Are you scared of thdm? We are the only party that can give the | :59:51. | :59:54. | |
British public the opportunhty to decide what kind of relationship | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
they want with Europe. We know that your leader went head`to`he`d with | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
Nigel Farage. As David Cameron scared of Nigel Farage? Not at all. | :00:09. | :00:17. | |
I think it is a case where Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage wantdd to | :00:18. | :00:20. | |
debate with two smaller parties going head`to`head. You say he has | :00:21. | :00:28. | |
avoided the opportunity to debate, he has never avoided the issue. | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Thank you both very much indeed Lovely to have you both present | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
Parliament is not sitting, risk. We have run out of time. - | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
particular candidates. Back to you, Andrew. | :00:41. | :00:50. | |
The sun's out, Ed Balls has run the London Marathon, and MPs leave | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
Westminster for their Easter break. Let's discuss what's coming up in | :00:53. | :01:03. | |
the Week Ahead. We will get more of what we have | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
just seen. Let's look back on the debate. What did we learn from the | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
argument is? That it is going to bore and irritate whole lot of | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
people, this election campaign. Four parties shouting at each other about | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
things that most people do not know much about. They know very little | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
about how the European Parliament works, what an MEP is supposed to | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
do. A lot of heat and not a lot of light. I've updated well, all of | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
them, but the net effect is not going to encourage people to go out | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
and vote and not many do. One thing that struck me was that on Europe, | :01:42. | :01:49. | |
the Labour and Lib Dem positions are not that far apart. They are pretty | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
much the same. And yet the knocks lots of each other. I suppose they | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
feel that they had to do that because that is the format. I'd | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
agree with Polly. Their word UKIP and the Tories to attack two we try | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
to make it exciting, and we know the issues are important. But people out | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
there have not heard of these individuals. It is not very | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
exciting. That is worrying because these are huge national questions | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
for us. We need to find a way of making it more fun. People may not | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
know these MEPs, they may not know the detail of the debate, but it is | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
an issue on which people have strong opinions. It is a visceral thing for | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
many people. Especially on the immigration issue. The debate took | :02:37. | :02:38. | |
off and became more vociferous at that point. To a large extent, you | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
wonder whether not only this European election but the eventual | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
referendum will be a referendum on the issue of immigration and free | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
movement. If we did not learn much from the argument, the thing we did | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
learn is that the structure of these televised debate influences the | :02:57. | :03:04. | |
outcome. One of the reasons that Nigel Farage did well in the debate | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
is that in a two-man debate, each man has as good a chance as the | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
other. If it is four people, one man can be ganged up on. Patrick O'Flynn | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
did well for a man who is not an elected politician yet. At times, 40 | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
came under attack and did not hold the line as well as you would | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
expect. Does that create a perverse incentive for the main parties to | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
agree to a four way debate before the general election? I do not think | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
the David Cameron has nearly as much to worry about from a televised | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
debate in the run-up to the elections than his spin doctors | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
believe. When you put him up against Ed Miliband, and we have not | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
actually seen Ed Miliband in that format, I think he will come off all | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
right. This is an election which the polls would have us believe that the | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
battle for first place is between UKIP and labour. It certainly is. | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
Obviously, it is neck and neck and we will not know until we are | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
closer. And it matters a lot to both of them. If Mr Miliband does not | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
come first, that is not good news for the main opposition at this | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
stage. Except to some extent all of the people will put it to one side | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
and say that this is a bizarre election. A plague on both your | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
houses, let's vote UKIP. It is not clear how much that translates into | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
the next election. It is not too disastrous for Labour. It would be | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
better if they came first. If Mr Miliband comes first, not a problem, | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
but it becomes second and UKIP soars away, what are the consequences I | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
think there is a widespread expectation already at Westminster | :04:50. | :04:52. | |
that UKIP is very likely to come first. If Ed Miliband fails to come | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
first, there will not be a great deal of shock in the West Mr | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
village. Else think what is remarkable about Ed Miliband is that | :05:03. | :05:04. | |
despite consistently poor personal leadership approval ratings, the | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
overall Labour poll is consistently very high. We have seen that budget | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
blip, it seems to have taken us back to where we were before. Leadership | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
is not everything. Mrs Thatcher was miles behind James Callaghan but in | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
the end, it was the party politics that mattered more. If Mr Cameron | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
comes third and the Tories come third, maybe a poor third, is it | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
headless chicken time on the Tory backbenchers? It has often been said | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
that the Tory Party has two modes, complacency and panic. You will see | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
them shift into panic mode. By June, I think. Many of the stories in the | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
sun will be about David Cameron s personal leadership and his grip on | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
the party. There will be pressure on conference by the time that comes | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
around. It is a natural consequence of being the incumbent party. The | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
Lib Dems are 7% in two of the polls today. It was widely thought that in | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
the first and second debates, Nigel Farage won both. In retrospect, was | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
the challenge strategy a disaster for Mr Clegg? I do not think it was | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
because he had nothing to lose. But he is lower in the polls than when | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
he started. He has not lost a great deal. The polls were quite often | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
that low. I think it was a good thing to do. It raised his profile. | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
It made him the leading party in. That may be a difficult place to | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
be. That is how you end up with 7% in the polls. The reason he is | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
fighting with Labour is that he knows very well that all he has to | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
do is to get his votes back that have gone to Labour and labour have | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
to fight hard to make sure that they do not go back. Every party looks to | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
where it is going to get it support. If it is a wipe-out for the | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
Lib Dems, and they lose all their MEPs, not saying that is going to | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
happen but you could not rule it out for, are we back in Nick Clegg | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
leadership crisis territory? One of the astonishing things about this | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
Parliament is the relative absence of leadership speculation about Nick | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
Clegg will stop at the first couple of years, his position seems | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
tricky, but maybe that is because Chris Hughton is gone and he was the | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
only plausible candidate. This cable is not getting any younger, to put | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
it delicately. That was not delegate at all! And we have reached a | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
desperate stage where Danny Alexander is talked about as a | :07:44. | :07:45. | |
candidate. That was not delegate either! Maybe he is holding onto | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
power the lack of alternatives. If they ended up with no MEPs at all, | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
and a less than double digits score... With Danny Alexander, it is | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
clear that Scotland, one way or another, will be moving further | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
away. You could not have the leader of a national party be a Scot. But | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
he does not have the following in the party. I'm glad you're liberal | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
attitudes to immigration extends to me. I would not have been here for | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
43 years. There will be leadership talk after that holes. It has been | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
bubbling in the background, but you have to talk to the grass roots | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
activists. -- after the polls. The grass roots activists are | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
despairing. If things are bad, they lose their network of activists who | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
they need to fight the next election. I think you mean, not that | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
you could have a Scot, but that it would be more difficult to have a | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
Scot from a Scottish constituency. Absolutely. I think a Scottish | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
constituency, so many things will be different. Or to hold the great | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
offices of state. Let's come onto the Crown Prosecution Service is. It | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
is an English institution. Where does the CPS and after losing yet | :09:06. | :09:07. | |
another high-profile case come this time Nigel Evans? They had nine | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
counts against him and they did not win on one. It is obviously very | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
embarrassing. They will have a bit of explain to do but I guess the | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
threshold for bringing these cases is high. There has to be considered | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
at least a 50-50 chance of actually winning the case. We do not know | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
what went on behind the scenes when they weighed up whether to bring the | :09:33. | :09:34. | |
case. Nigel Evans makes an interesting point about whether it | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
is legitimate to bundle together a number of stand-alone relatively | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
weak accusations, and when you put them together to militantly, the CPS | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
uses that to make a case. Is that a legitimate thing to do? He was a | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
high-profile figure, not just because he was a Tory MP. He was the | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
deputy speaker of the House. And yet the CPS are certainly the police, to | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
begin with they did not have that many people to testify against him. | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
And then they trawled for more. You wonder if they would have done that | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
if it was not for the fact that he was a public figure. The trouble is, | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
they are dammed if they do and dammed if they do not. Particularly | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
with politicians and the reputation they have these days, if there is | :10:22. | :10:23. | |
any suggestion that they let somebody off because they are a | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
high-profile politician, and they are saying that about Cyril Smith, | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
that is the accusation. A strange story. Most unlikely and very | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
bizarre. But that is the accusation. If there is any with of that, I can | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
see why the CPS says, we better let the courts try this one. Also, they | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
are in trouble overrated cases because their success rate on | :10:47. | :10:54. | |
bringing people to court for rape is so thin. When it looked as if his | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
accusers were not really accusing him, it looks quite weak. You cannot | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
help but feeling that they are falling over backwards now in | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
high-profile cases because of their abject and total failure over Jimmy | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
Savile. I think this is exactly the kind of case that happens when you | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
are trying to make a point or redeem a reputation or change a culture. | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
All of these big things. As opposed to what criminal justice is supposed | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
to be about, which is specific crimes and specific evidence | :11:24. | :11:25. | |
matching those crimes. The CPS has no copper a fleet joined in this | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
list of public and situations that has taken a fall over the past five | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
or six years. We have had Parliament, the newspapers, the | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
police will stop I think this is as bad a humiliation as any of those | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
because it is Innocent people suffering. You are the most recent, | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
being a lobby correspondent in Westminster, and we now see on | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
Channel 4 News that basically, Westminster is twinned with Sodom | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
and Gomorrah. Yes. I know. Is this true? It is all rather the red. I do | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
not move in those circles. And you were in the lobby at one stage? Not | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
that long ago. Is it right. Is it right to be twinned with Sodom and | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
Gomorrah? I'll ask him for his opinion. Being technically a member | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
of the lobby, I can observe some of this stuff. And what surprises me is | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
that journalists, when the complain about Sodom and Gomorrah, write | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
themselves out of it. It is as if it is just MPs. We are unalloyed and | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
unvarnished. Actually, the fact is it has always been a bit like Sodom | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
and tomorrow. Of course it has. Think about how we have had wave | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
after wave of stories and scandals. But less of it recently. It was I | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
think that attitudes have slightly changed. I'll also think that if you | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
get 650 people in any organisation and you put that much scrutiny on | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
them, you will find an awful lot going on in most people's officers | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
of a scurrilous nature. Even in the BBC | :12:59. | :14:01. | |
In 2013, the public voted for a portrait of | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
At times he's interesting, at times he's very funny, | :14:05. | :14:12. | |
My life is a very happy life and I'm a very happy person. | :14:13. | :14:20. | |
Will you feel nervous when this is unveiled? | :14:21. | :14:22. | |
I suppose being the centre of attention but for ever. | :14:23. | :14:26. |