Browse content similar to 11/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics, where we're talking | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
about the Europe-wide contest that really matters. No, not Eurovision. | :00:39. | :00:47. | |
The European elections. There are local elections across England too | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
on May 22nd. The party leaders are campaigning ahead of polling day. | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
The results could be a pointer to the Big One, May 2015. We'll be | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
speaking to the man in charge of Labour's election battle plan. Has | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
the opposition really got its sights set on all-out victory in 2015? Or | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
will it just be content with squeaking home? And you can't | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
mention elections these days without talking about the impact of this | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
What would make you bought for the him if UKIP really | :01:19. | :01:27. | |
What would make you bought for the Labour Party? | :01:28. | :01:29. | |
elections in the capital's 32 boroughs. What will make a | :01:30. | :01:30. | |
difference to the way you vote? And I'm joined by three journalists | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
guaranteed to bring a touch of Eurovision glamour to your Sunday | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
morning. With views more controversial than a bearded | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
Austrian drag act and twice the dress sense, it's Nick Watt, Helen | :01:48. | :01:57. | |
Lewis and Janan Ganesh. So you might have thought you've already heard | :01:58. | :01:59. | |
David Cameron promise an in-out referendum on EU membership in 2017 | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
if he's still Prime Minister. Many times. Many, many times. Well he | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
obviously doesn't think you've been listening, because he's been saying | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
it again today. Here he is speaking to the BBC earlier. We will hold a | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
referendum by the end of 2017. It will be a referendum on an in-out | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
basis. Do we stay in a reformed European Union or do we leave? And | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
I've said very clearly that whatever the outcome of the next election, | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
and of course I want an overall majority and I'm hoping and | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
believing I can win an overall majority, that people should be in | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
no doubt I will not become Prime Minister unless I can guarantee that | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
we will hold a referendum. Here's saying there that an overall | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
majority there will definitely be a referendum. If these are the | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
minority position, he won't form a new coalition unless they agree to a | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
referendum, too. The Lib Dems a pulmonary agree to that. They | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
probably will because the Prime ministers have a strong argument | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
which is I gave you a referendum back in 2010 so the least I need is | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
theirs and the Lib Dems are the only party who have stood in recent | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
elections on a clear mandate to hold a referendum, so it is difficult for | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
them to say no, there was interesting the interview he did | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
earlier today. He named everything was going to ask for. The most | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
controversial with him, as he said in his speech last year, he wants to | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
take Britain out of the commitment to make the European Union and ever | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
closer union. That is a very big ask, but the point is, he may well | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
get it because the choice for the European Union now, France and | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
Germany, is a clear wonderful do Britain in or out? Previously, it | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
was can you put up with a British prime ministers being annoying? I | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
think you'll find the answer is they are willing to pay a price but not | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
any price to keep Britain in. In this scenario, Labour would have | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
lost the election again because we are talking the slowly happen if Mr | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
Cameron is the largest party or has an overall majority. Could you then | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
see Labour deciding we had better go along with a referendum, too? I | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
think that's unlikely because as I think that's unlikely because | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
there's a huge upside for that for I think what's interesting is the idea | :04:16. | :04:17. | |
he would for minority government. Would you get confidence and look at | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
other options that might well happen with the way the arithmetic is going | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
or is he going to hold out and say the only way I will be Prime | :04:27. | :04:28. | |
Minister is in a majority Conservative government? No, the | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
implication of his remarks was I wouldn't form a coalition government | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
unless my coalition partners would also agree to vote for a referendum. | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
He's basically talking about is negotiating strategy in those | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
coalition talks. It's a red line and a huge opportunity for the Lib Dems, | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
because they know David Cameron absolutely has to do, for accidental | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
reasons, as a person who survives as Tory leader, to ask for that | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
referendum, so they can ask anything they want in return and if I was | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
Nick Clegg, I would work out in the next year one absolute colossal | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
negotiating demand for those coalition talks. For a party around | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
10% in the polls, they will do have the Prime Minister over a barrel on | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
this one, assuming that coalition talks goes well. They could make | :05:18. | :05:28. | |
Michael Gove Tbyte meeting. OK, we need to move on. So, the politicians | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
are out and about on what used to be called the stump ahead of local and | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
European elections in less than two weeks' time. But, without wanting to | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
depress you on a damp Sunday morning, the party strategists are | :05:39. | :05:41. | |
already hard at work on their campaign plans for the General | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
Election next May. Yes, it's less than a year to go. They may have | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
taken their time, but Labour's battleplan for 2015 is starting to | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
take shape. As well as take promising to freeze your energy | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
bills, and reintroduce the 50p rate of tax, Ed Miliband now says he | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
wants to intervene in the housing market to keep rents down. There's | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
even talk that the party leadership wants to bring more railway lines | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
into public ownership. And Labour is gambling that its big push on the | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
cost of living will see it through to the general election despite | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
evidence that growth is firmly back. Labour's campaign chief Douglas | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
Alexander hopes it all adds up to victory next May. But so far, the | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
evidence is hitting home very thin. One survey today shows that 56% of | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
people don't think Mr Miliband is up to the job of Prime Minister. As we | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
head towards one of the least predictable general elections in 70 | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
years, has Labour got a message to win seats up and down the country? | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
And Labour's election co-ordinator and Shadow Foreign Secretary, | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
Douglas Alexander, joins me now. Welcome to Sunday Politics. A lot of | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
these policies announced polar pretty well. By popular with the | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
country. When you add them together, it's a move to the left and what | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
would be wrong with that? I think is your packet suggests, the contours | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
in the coming campaign are becoming clear. Our judgement is the defining | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
issue of the year in British politics will be the widening gap | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
between the wealth of the country and the finances of ordinary | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
families. We believe it will be a cost of living election and we have | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
been setting out our thinking in relation to energy prices and rent, | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
but you will hear more from Labour Party in the coming months because | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
we're now less than one year away from a decisive moment. If the | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
leftish think tank suggested any of his policies in that Tony Blair | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
years, you would have opposed them. Let's be clear, when not going for | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
an interest but seeking to secure a majority for the only way to do that | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
is not simply to appeal to your base, but to the centre ground. I | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
believe we got genuine opportunities in the next year. You have the | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
Conservatives in a struggle with UKIP on the right of politics. The | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
Lib Dems 9% of trying to find their base, and there's a genuine | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
opportunity in the next year for Labour to dominate the centre ground | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
of politics and secure the majority Labour government we are planning | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
for in the coming year. I notice you didn't deny you wouldn't have | :08:12. | :08:21. | |
opposed. You say you have got an message for aspirational voters in | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
the South. This is what John Denham said. He thinks you're talking too | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
much to your core vote. He is right to recognise we took a | :08:29. | :08:44. | |
terrible beating in 2010. 29%. If you look at what we've done in the | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
last week, for example, the signature policy on rent Ed Miliband | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
announced to launch the campaign, there's now more than 9 million | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
people in the country in the private rented sector, more than 1 million | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
families. Many of them are in the south-east. They are seeing | :09:02. | :09:03. | |
circumstances where, suddenly, landlord will increase the rent and | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
they put the pressure involved in schooling, health care facing the | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
families, so it is important both in terms of policy and in terms of | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
politics that we speak to the whole country, not simply to one part of | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
it falls up what is the average rise in event last year? I don't know. | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
Can you tell me? 1%. 1% not in real terms. I'm not sure what the problem | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
is. It will happen to wages in last year, we are facing circumstances | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
where people will be worse off, up to ?1600 off worse and frankly, if | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
our opponents want to argue that the economy has healed and they deserve | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
a victory lap, good luck to them because actually, what we are | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
hearing from the Buddhist public, not just in the north and south, is | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
not the cost living crisis is continuing and it affects families. | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
There was nothing aspirational about your party election broadcast for | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
the European elections. It looked like crude class war to money | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
people. That's a bit of it. Bedroom tax. Isn't it going to look bad that | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
two thirds of those affected are disabled? Who cares? They can't | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
fight back. Shall be lay-offs and NHS nurses? The National Health | :10:21. | :10:29. | |
Service? Oh yes. Mr Cameron? Who said that? Me. My gosh. The man has | :10:30. | :10:39. | |
shrunk. He's actually shrunk. What shall we do with him? Can we hunt | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
him? Nothing about Europe, Labour policy. News that the Tories would | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
result in negative campaigning and smear. You didn't tell you would be | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
just as bad. Let's start the party broadcast. The one thing guaranteed | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
to have most people reaching for the remote control these days are the | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
words, there now follows a party but the broadcast. I make no apology in | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
the factory to be innovative in how we presented. It's factual. It was a | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
policy -based critic of this government. And the Lib Dems role | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
within it. So you're claiming it's factual to betray the camera and | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
cabinet is not even knowing what the NHS is, -- the Cameron Cabinet. They | :11:24. | :11:31. | |
attack the disabled because they can't fight back. The Pinellas | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
Tanner severely Prime Minister Sun and he was treated during a short | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
life by the NHS. It's a fact many disabled people across the country | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
including in my constituency have been directly affected by the | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
bedroom tax. And ultimately, this Conservative led government, | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
including the Lib Dems, will be held accountable by the politicians. You | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
say that, the Prime Minister, who had a severely disabled son of. I | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
you not ashamed about? I shadowed Iain Duncan Smith of five months | :12:04. | :12:10. | |
also they don't have the excuses of seeing that saying nobody told them | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
the consequences of the bedroom tax. They went into this with their eyes | :12:14. | :12:16. | |
open. They knew about the hardship and difficulty. If they were | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
one-bedroom properties available across the country for people to | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
move into, their argument would be OK but they knew they were dealing | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
with the most vulnerable people. Did you sign off that part of the | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
broadcast? Of course I stand by the fact of it. I wish David Cameron and | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
Iain Duncan Smith would apologise to the disabled people of the country | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
and the poorest people for the effects of the bedroom tax. I hope | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
we get that apology between now and election. As someone who thinks | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
integrity is important in politics, not ashamed of this kind of thing? | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
It's important we scrutinise the policies of this government as well | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
as adding a positive agenda for change. You want that you won't | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
promise this is the last time we'll see such a negative press campaign? | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
I don't think it is negative or personal to scrutinise the | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
government. So we'll get more of this? I'm less interested in the | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
background of the cabinet than their views. You call the upper-class | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
twits. It's for the British public to make a judgement in terms of the | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
British... That's how you depicted them. We are held in accountable for | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
the bedroom tax, the NHS, taxation, and our record they have to defend. | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
One reason are so fearful in this election is actually because they | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
know they have a poor record. Let's look at other part of the election | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
campaign. This poster. Particularly digitally doing the rounds. On that | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
shopping basket, can you tell us which items take the full 20% VAT? | :13:57. | :14:03. | |
It's representative of household shopping, which includes items like | :14:04. | :14:06. | |
cleaning products, and we know that food is not that trouble. People | :14:07. | :14:18. | |
don't go to the supermarket and say this is -- vatable. So you are | :14:19. | :14:26. | |
denying that ?450 extra is being paid? Yes, where'd you get that | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
figure? For an average family to pay ?450 a year extra VAT, they would | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
have to spend ?21,600 a year on vatable products at 20%. The average | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
take-home pay is only 21,009. They have got to spend on all sorts of | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
things which are zero VAT. So in addition to the items, has a range | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
of products people face in terms of VAT. How could an average family of | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
?21,000 a year spent 21,006 and the pound a year on 20% vatable items? | :15:03. | :15:11. | |
It's not an annual figure, is it? So what is it then? If it's an annual, | :15:12. | :15:20. | |
what is it? The increased VAT in this parliament is calculated over | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
the course of a Parliament. For the whole of the Parliament? And you're | :15:24. | :15:31. | |
illustrated this with a shopping basket which almost has no VAT on it | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
at all? People will be buying a weekly shop in the course of this | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
Parliament every week. Did you sign off on this as well? Of course. It | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
didn't dawn on you you're putting things on it which have no VAT? If | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
you want to argue some people go to the shops and say these are vatable | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
or not, I disagree. Even your rent cap announcement went wrong. You're | :15:55. | :16:02. | |
working on the rent rises and it turns out it wasn't. It was a post | :16:03. | :16:12. | |
your policy. It is the exception rather than the rule to have the | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
position we have at the moment. In Northern Ireland we have seen the | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
continued rise in terms of the rented sector but there is a | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
widespread recognition that for those people in the rented sector, | :16:24. | :16:31. | |
change is necessary. Are you coordinating this campaign? It seems | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
accident prone. This is a party that has set the agenda more effectively | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
than a Conservative party that said when David Cameron was elected he | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
wasn't going to bang on about Europe. The day after the election | :16:51. | :16:58. | |
we expect the Conservative party to be engulfed in crisis. I'm proud of | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
what we talk about and I think there is a clear contrast about a party | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
talking about issues people care about, and a Conservative party | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
talking about exclusively a referendum. Are you in charge of the | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
campaign? I am coordinating the campaign is, yes. The expensive | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
election guru you have hired, has he been involved in any of this? We | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
have started our discussions with him. You are going to have to brief | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
him about British politics because he doesn't know anything about it. I | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
make no apology for hiring him. He has a lot of experience in winning | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
tight elections and that is what we are expecting. If you are expecting | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
us to say, they have passed and we have to hold them accountable, then | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
I am sorry but we have a campaign that holds the Government and the | :18:03. | :18:05. | |
Conservatives to account for what I think is a very hopeless record in | :18:06. | :18:16. | |
government. Thank you. He leads a party with zero MPs but | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
his media presence is huge. He's had an expenses scandal, but the public | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
didn't seem to mind. He's got a privileged background but he's seen | :18:24. | :18:25. | |
as an anti-establishment champion. Nothing seems to stick to him, not | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
even eggs. I speak of course of Nigel Farage. We'll talk to him in a | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
moment, but first Giles has been out on the campaign trail ahead of | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
elections that could make or break the UKIP leader. | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
Nigel Farage likes a stage, and at this stage of the Euro and local | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
election campaign he is, like his party, in buoyant mood. They feel | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
they are on the verge of what they see as causing an earthquake in | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
British politics. Today Nigel is filling thousands seat venues and | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
bigger. Not that there's much sign of that at this press launch. But | :18:57. | :19:04. | |
it's a threat with serious money behind it, that they believe the | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
media and the political elite just haven't realised yet, much less | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
learned how to counter it. Not that it's all been plain sailing. | :19:11. | :19:12. | |
Offensive comments from some candidates has not only seen UKIP | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
labelled as racist, but necessitated a rally by the party to visibly and | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
verbally challenge that. The offensive idiotic statements made by | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
this handful of people have been lifted up and presented to the great | :19:26. | :19:28. | |
British public as if they represent the view of this party, which they | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
do not. They never have and they never will. APPLAUSE | :19:35. | :19:45. | |
I don't care what you call us, but from this moment on, please do not | :19:46. | :19:54. | |
call must trust a racist party. We are not a racist party. | :19:55. | :20:03. | |
The need to say that is not just about the European and local | :20:04. | :20:06. | |
elections even at that campaign launch it's clear UKIP's leader has | :20:07. | :20:09. | |
set his sights firmly on the ultimate prize. I come from the | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
south of England and I would not want to be seen as an opportunist | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
heading to the north, north Norfolk or whatever it will be. I will make | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
my mind up and stand in the general election for somewhere in Kent, East | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
Sussex, Hampshire, somewhere in my home patch. Back at UKIP HQ they are | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
still drilling down how the last fortnight of campaigning should go. | :20:31. | :20:40. | |
They aren't taking any chances, and one imagines having offices above | :20:41. | :20:43. | |
those of Max Clifford is a reminder how fragile built reputations can be | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
of the bubble bursting. They want their reputation to be built on | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
votes and they know anything but significant success on May 22nd and | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
some seats in Westminster in 2015 isn't going to be good enough. And | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
after that, having sold yourselves as the honest outsiders, that stance | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
is harder to maintain once your people are on the inside. And subtle | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
changes from the past are already noticeable. The ordinary man of the | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
people stance is still working. Characteristically outside a pub, | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
Nigel Farage is glad handed by a customer. Two weeks to go, let's | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
cause an upset. Wouldn't that be great? The only sign that such an | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
interaction is different now is the ever presence of bodyguards who | :21:27. | :21:38. | |
shadow his every move. Over lunch ahead of Question Time, a radio | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
appearance, and then off to Scotland, I ask him if some of those | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
minded to vote UKIP who see him as a man they'd be comfortable having a | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
drink with are the sort of people he'd be entirely comfortable sitting | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
down with. Every political party attracts support from across the | :21:52. | :21:53. | |
spectrum and there will be some magnificent people who vote for us | :21:54. | :22:02. | |
and some ne'er-do-wells. The one common thing about UKIP voters is | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
that they are often not very political. And it's that people's | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
army that if UKIP can get to a polling booth might just create that | :22:12. | :22:13. | |
earthquake they want. Nigel Farage joins me now. When you | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
decided not to stand at the new work by election coming said if you lost | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
it that the bubble would have burst. What did you mean by that? I | :22:25. | :22:44. | |
was asked at seven 20p -- at 7:21pm if I would stand, I have decided by | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
the next morning that I would not. I didn't know he was going to resign. | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
You claim only a handful of UKIP candidates have ever said things | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
that are either stupid or offensive, I'm right on that, yes? 0.1%, I'd | :23:01. | :23:09. | |
rather it was non-. But why have you chosen a candidate to fight this | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
by-election that has said many things most people would regard as | :23:13. | :23:19. | |
stupid or offensive? Roger is fighting this for us, someone of 70 | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
years of age who grew up with a strong Christian Bible background, | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
in an age when homosexuality was imprisonable. He had a certain set | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
of views which he maintained for many years which he now says he | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
accepts the world has moved on and he is relaxed about it. The comments | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
about homosexuality are not from the dark ages, they are from two or | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
three years ago. From when he was a Conservative, yes, so will you be | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
asking David Cameron that question? I have never seen a single comment | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
from Roger that would be deemed to be offensive. Do you regard his | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
comments on homosexuality as offensive? When he grew up, | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
homosexuality was illegal in this country. But this was in 2012 but he | :24:11. | :24:20. | |
said that. Most people have his age still feel uncomfortable about it -- | :24:21. | :24:30. | |
of his age. In 2012 he said, if two men can be married, why not three, | :24:31. | :24:38. | |
why not a commune. Many people in this country are disconcerted by the | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
change in the meaning of marriage and in a tolerant society we | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
understand that some people have different views. But he has changed | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
his views now in only two years? He says he is more relaxed about it. | :24:52. | :25:01. | |
Was he your candidate? He is a first-class campaigner who has had | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
30 years in industry, he served in the European Parliament, he is a | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
good candidate. This morning's papers suggest you are about to | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
select Victoria Ayling for Grimsby, but she is on camera saying that, of | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
immigrants, I just want to send a lot back. This is all very | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
interesting, and we can talk about it, all we could talk about the fact | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
that in 12 days we have a European election and every voter across the | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
UK can vote on it and it is really interesting. Are you happy to pick a | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
candidate that says of immigrants, I just want to send a lot back? I have | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
seen the tape, it is a complete misquote and she says it in the | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
context of illegal immigrants. I have seen the full quote and in the | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
context it is not about illegal immigrants. Let's come onto the | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
European campaign, you have used a company that employs Eastern | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
European is to deliver leaflets in London and the Home Counties. Have | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
we? I'm told that in Croydon one branch might have done that. Have | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
you found some indigenous Brits to deliver leaflets in Europe? We have | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
thousands joining the party every month and they are not all | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
indigenous because what is interesting is that in today's | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
opinion polls, UKIP is above the Lib Dems and the Conservatives amongst | :26:36. | :26:46. | |
the indigenous voting. We have not agreed a manifesto for | :26:47. | :27:01. | |
the general election, we will do over the course of the summer. This | :27:02. | :27:09. | |
is in your local election. We are having local elections in some part | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
of the country but we are fighting a European election. It is impossible | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
with the British media to have an intelligent debate on the European | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
question. But as I say, we are also fighting the local elections too. | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
You have promised these tax cuts, how much will they cost? I have met | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
-- read the local election manifesto and it doesn't make those promises. | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
We do talk about local services, we do talk about the need to keep | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
council tax down but we don't talk about income tax. Absolutely not. In | :27:44. | :27:50. | |
local election campaigning you say you would restore cuts to policing, | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
double prison places, restore cuts to front line NHS, spend more on | :27:58. | :28:04. | |
roads, how much would that cost? You are obviously reading different | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
documents to me. We are voting for local councillors in district | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
councils who have got little local budgets. Every party in a manifesto | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
puts his aspirations in it. Have you read it? Of course I have, cover to | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
cover, which is why I'm saying you are misquoting it. By the way, on | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
the bubble bursting, you told that to Norman Smith of the BBC. 75% of | :28:33. | :28:39. | |
British laws are now made in the European Union. Now AstraZeneca is | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
potentially going to be taken over by Pfizer. The BBC is refusing to | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
show the public that that decision cannot be taken here but by an | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
elected European commissioner, and we sit and argue about what is in or | :28:54. | :29:01. | |
not in the local election manifesto. It is my job, but let me come on to | :29:02. | :29:11. | |
AstraZeneca. Is it your view that a British government should stop the | :29:12. | :29:18. | |
takeover of AstraZeneca? It cannot. Can we please get this clear. I sat | :29:19. | :29:28. | |
next to Chuka Umunna the other day at question time and he said what | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
could and couldn't be done. He said I am being studiously neutral, and | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
the reason is we don't have this power. That is what the European | :29:38. | :29:44. | |
elections is about. Should France have the takeover of the food | :29:45. | :29:56. | |
company Danan? We seem to do things to the Nth degree and nobody else | :29:57. | :30:05. | |
does, perhaps because we have this culture and we obey it. In your | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
view, you don't think Pfizer should be able to take over AstraZeneca? | :30:10. | :30:17. | |
There is some good science within AstraZeneca which is in danger of | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
being asset stripped and lost. Because it is run by a Swede and a | :30:23. | :30:29. | |
Frenchman and most of its employees are overseas. I understand that but | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
there are still some good science being produced here. What did you | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
think of the Prime Minister saying he would not form a government after | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
the election unless he was able to have a referendum in 2017? I sat | :30:44. | :30:51. | |
here talking to you and you said to me that David Cameron had given a | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
cast-iron guarantee that if David Cameron becomes Prime Minister he | :30:57. | :30:58. | |
will have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but he didn't deliver on | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
that. He knows that people struggle to believe the renegotiation is | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
worth a row of beans. He is saying he will not form a government unless | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
he can go forward with the referendum. I know he is desperately | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
trying to pretend to be Eurosceptic whilst at the same time saying he | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
will campaign for Britain to remain in. In a sense, that is what this | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
election is about. We have three traditional parties, all of whom | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
passionately believe in the continued membership of the European | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
Union and we have UKIP saying we want trade and cooperation but there | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
is a bigger and better world out there. You are now travelling with I | :31:39. | :31:45. | |
think four bodyguards, has this affected you and your family life? I | :31:46. | :31:53. | |
can't stand it. I've always wondered about the place and on my own thing. | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
Sadly we have a couple of organisations out there headed up by | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
senior Labour Party figures who purport to be against fascism and | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
extremism, who received funding from the Department of communities, from | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
the trade unions, who have acted in a violent wait more than once. You | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
are saying the Labour Party is behind the threats? No, I said a | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
taxpayer funded, trade union funded and headed by senior Labour Party | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
figures, and I'm happy for them to come to my meetings and have an | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
itinerant with me, but it's not so much fun when there are banging you | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
over the head. I is still keen to be an MP? Yes, what UKIP will then do | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
is target before the general election next year for the one life | :32:36. | :32:41. | |
be easier if you just went to the Lords? That's the last thing I want | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
to do. There's an awful lot to do. Most of all, I will not rest until | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
we are free from political union and government from Brussels. Nigel | :32:52. | :32:53. | |
Farage, thank you for being with us. It's just gone 11.30am. You're | :32:54. | :32:56. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland, who | :32:57. | :32:59. | |
leave us now for Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up here in 20 | :33:00. | :33:02. | |
minutes, our panel talks about the big stories of the week. First | :33:03. | :33:04. | |
I'm Julia George and this is the though, the | :33:05. | :33:14. | |
I'm Julia George and this is the Sunday Politics in the South East. | :33:15. | :33:22. | |
Coming up later: Just what is the most important issue for you come | :33:23. | :33:30. | |
polling day? Are We'll be taking a look at whether immigration really | :33:31. | :33:34. | |
is as important to voters as many politicians might have us think. | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
This is the second of our three special programmes on the elections | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
taking place across the South East on 22nd May. Last week we took a | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
look at the Liberal Democrats and the Greens ` and this week we turn | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
our sights towards the Labour Party. Next week it'll be the Conservatives | :33:54. | :33:55. | |
and UKIP. And so, joining me in the studio | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
today are two people who hope to be heading to the European Parliament | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
to represent their parties in the South East ` Nirj Deva, currently a | :34:03. | :34:06. | |
serving MEP for the Conservative Party and Anneliese Dodds, who is | :34:07. | :34:09. | |
standing for Labour. Welcome to you both. | :34:10. | :34:11. | |
"The cost of living crisis" ` the campaign mantra for Ed Miliband's | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
labour party that he hopes will cut through with you, the voters. But in | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
the South East, the party faces quite a challenge ` and the | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
elections here on the 22nd May are being seen as an indicator for | :34:23. | :34:25. | |
Labour's prospects in a year's time at the next general election. Sara | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
Neville went to Crawley ` a key target seat for the party. | :34:29. | :34:38. | |
Another door, another potential vote. With just two weeks to go | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
until the local and European elections, campaigning in the South | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
East is hotting up, and here in the West Sussex town of Crawley, Labour | :34:48. | :34:50. | |
are taking on the Tories. I wish you the best of luck. | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
Labour ran Crawley Borough Council for 33 years until 2006. It's | :34:57. | :35:00. | |
currently held by the Conservatives, but the Tories only need to be | :35:01. | :35:04. | |
defeated in three seats to lose their overall control. However it's | :35:05. | :35:07. | |
not just the local authority that Labour is pursuing. The real prize | :35:08. | :35:15. | |
would be to reclaim the parliamentary seat next year. The | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls made that clear when he visited Crawley last | :35:21. | :35:23. | |
week to launch Labour's European and local election campaign in the South | :35:24. | :35:26. | |
East, an area dominated by the Conservatives. | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
At the moment there is a Tory council in Crawley. I think we have | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
got a real chance in the next few weeks for Labour to take back | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
control in Crawley and start building the affordable homes we | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
need, standing up for working people who are worried about social care | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
and the safety of communities. And if we can win the local elections | :35:48. | :35:50. | |
that lays the foundations to take this seat back in 2015, but I will | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
not take any of the seats for granted. | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
But how likely is a Labour win? In 2010 Labour collapsed in the South | :36:01. | :36:03. | |
East, losing all 12 of their parliamentary seats. They currently | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
have just one MEP out of ten in the region and hold just two local | :36:10. | :36:12. | |
authorities outright and one minority administration. | :36:13. | :36:19. | |
The cost of living debate is at the centre of Labour's election campaign | :36:20. | :36:22. | |
at a time when the economy is looking up. It could still chime | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
with the voters here, but would a comeback in Crawley signal the | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
beginning of a resurgence for the party across the region? | :36:31. | :36:36. | |
Labour are going to need a big key to unlock the South East and the | :36:37. | :36:39. | |
evidence suggests that they are losing ground in the South East in | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
particular. They may well have some victories in the local elections on | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
May 22. That is understandable when we are in the middle of a | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
Parliament, but ultimately when it comes to people deciding on who they | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
want to govern the country for the next five years it will look at | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
Labour's economic record which saw us have the greatest recession in | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
our history, or the Conservative record which sees economic recovery. | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
Those in the know say Crawley is too close to call. It's a parliamentary | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
marginal, so no coincidence that in recent months the town has been | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
awash with visiting political heavyweights including Labour leader | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
Ed Miliband and the Prime Minister. But the sheer number of Labour | :37:24. | :37:26. | |
frontbenchers could be indicative of how statistically important Labour | :37:27. | :37:34. | |
feels this seat is for them. The Lib Dems say winning seats is about | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
policies not personalities. Issues like proposals for a second runway | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
at Gatwick airport. Crawley is particularly dependent on | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
the airport. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives in Crawley are really | :37:49. | :37:51. | |
sure what they ought to do about the airport because the proposals to | :37:52. | :37:54. | |
provide another runway at Gatwick airport are splitting the two | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
parties down the middle and I don't think either of them has actually | :37:58. | :38:06. | |
thought about consulting the people. There is still plenty of campaigning | :38:07. | :38:09. | |
to do for all the parties and polling day on May 22 is being seen | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
as the litmus test for the general election next year. | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
Crawley is a key council for Labour. It is the sort of place they have | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
got to make an impact if they are going to have success in the general | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
election next year. There is a possibility they could take the | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
council from the Conservatives. There has been some defections from | :38:30. | :38:32. | |
the Conservative Party to UKIP so that weakens Conservatives. Labour | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
will feel that they can win in Crawley and they need to win if they | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
are to have the prospect of winning the general election next year. | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
The Conservatives are keen to keep hold of the council they have run | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
for seven years and Labour are eager to snatch it away. All eyes will | :38:49. | :38:59. | |
certainly be on Crawley. We heard Henry Smith, the current | :39:00. | :39:02. | |
Conservative Crawley MP, saying that Labour needs a big key to unlock the | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
South East. Have they got a big key? I am not sure we have got a big key, | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
but we have got a message that is resonant in Crawley. We saw in the | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
discussion how the cost of living crisis is affecting families. I have | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
been on the doorstep across the South East and that is a major issue | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
for people living there. I would have guessed that you would | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
say the cost of living. It is all very well using that phrase, but on | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
the economy, asked who they trust, almost 39% said David Cameron, only | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
23% said Ed Miliband. In the sample 54% of respondents say the economy | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
is recovering. Life is getting better. | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
It is not in Crawley. Look at what is happening in the private rented | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
sector. Rents have gone up by 135% since 2010. Childcare costs up by | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
almost a third. People are struggling. I know they are | :39:52. | :39:54. | |
struggling. I have been talking to them. Only Labour has got any kind | :39:55. | :39:57. | |
of solution. The economy may be recovering, but | :39:58. | :40:00. | |
are benefits being felt in areas of deprivation? Let us not just talk | :40:01. | :40:07. | |
about places like Crawley, but Thanet, the Medway towns and | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
Hastings as well. Everywhere in the South East we are | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
feeling the recovery. What Anneliese has just said is quite cheeky ` that | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
rents have gone up in Crawley. Why have rents gone up in Crawley? Did | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
you build any new homes when you were in charge of the council? In | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
Crawley we have had a Conservative controlled council that cannot even | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
agree on its local plan because there is so much division. | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
Let me pick up on areas of deprivation. I was in Margate | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
yesterday making a radio programme. That is a place that is still | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
struggling. For all that it has a fantastic art gallery, if you tell | :40:53. | :40:55. | |
people there that they are living in the wealthy South they would laugh | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
at you. There are pockets of deprivation in | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
the South East. I am very conscious of this. I have visited many parts | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
of my constituency where there are pockets. I have applied to the | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
European Commission for special grants to alleviate that particular | :41:15. | :41:23. | |
pocket that is surrounded by wealth. It is an ongoing thing. | :41:24. | :41:31. | |
I want to come onto what Labour is and isn't getting right. One of your | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
own senior and highly respected MPs in the South says you are simply not | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
on the agenda for most Southern voters. Maybe you are not ambitious | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
enough. You have held as many as eight seats in Kent at a time, but | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
you are only targeting two in the next election. | :41:50. | :41:51. | |
I was speaking to your researcher before. I am not sure where this | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
idea of targeting comes from. I have been campaigning in almost all of | :41:57. | :41:59. | |
the 80 odd constituencies in the South East. Labour's message is | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
achieving resonance there. I do not agree with John. When I am talking | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
to people who are in overcrowded housing, people who are struggling | :42:09. | :42:11. | |
with the cost of living, people whose wages have not kept pace with | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
the cost of living in the South East, they are saying they need to | :42:16. | :42:18. | |
have policies to deal with those kinds of issues. | :42:19. | :42:34. | |
Also cast a party portrays the Tories as toffs. | :42:35. | :42:43. | |
There is concern that for many people there living standards feel | :42:44. | :42:51. | |
like they are going down. Why are you per tree in the Conservative | :42:52. | :42:58. | |
Party as toffs? We are trying to point out who they are favouring. | :42:59. | :43:05. | |
For everybody else, living standards are going down. | :43:06. | :43:14. | |
Henry Smith conceded in the report that the Conservatives could lose | :43:15. | :43:26. | |
Crawley Borough Council. How can Ed Balls go to Crawley and not claim | :43:27. | :43:37. | |
ownership for wrecking our economy? Labour inherited the best economy in | :43:38. | :43:45. | |
unit and wrecked it. Was the economy growing or not when Labour left | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
office? We are going to move on to an issue | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
that we have been talking to the electorate about. | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
Plenty there on what the parties think will win them votes ` but what | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
makes you vote the way you do? Which issues influence where your cross | :44:05. | :44:07. | |
goes on election day? Here's what some of the voters of Crawley told | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
us. Housing and population growth. | :44:14. | :44:25. | |
Social behaviour. Emigration. There are so many coming over here. There | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
are no other countries that are taking them. The cost of living has | :44:30. | :44:39. | |
gone high. Packs for the kids. Some of them are vandalised and | :44:40. | :44:50. | |
destroyed. I do not thought. Now one can run the country. It does not | :44:51. | :45:01. | |
matter who is in, it is all lies. I would not want to stop emigration, | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
but it needs to be more controlled. The same amount of British people | :45:08. | :45:17. | |
also go abroad. It is a Big Issue and I do not want to talk about it. | :45:18. | :45:27. | |
We are the multicultural. I am quite happy with it. It does not bother | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
me. You have heard a number of people | :45:36. | :45:53. | |
talking about immigration. UKIP? Absolutely. Controlling immigration | :45:54. | :46:05. | |
is a port when. In this country we need to control immigration. There's | :46:06. | :46:15. | |
immigration a vote winner for the Labour Party? I would not want to | :46:16. | :46:21. | |
trivialise it. We need to have a rational debate. People use | :46:22. | :46:38. | |
statistics. The three of you represent diverse | :46:39. | :46:47. | |
and modern Britain. Arguably you are a portrayal of immigration. Do we | :46:48. | :46:56. | |
want more? UKIP is not against immigration. We want to control it. | :46:57. | :47:04. | |
We need a fair immigration policy. We are seeing no matter where you | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
come from, if you have the skills, every application should be looked | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
at on merits. You are in favour of control | :47:15. | :47:28. | |
immigration. We are trying to control immigration | :47:29. | :47:31. | |
saw that it is limited to people who have worked. We are against benefits | :47:32. | :47:40. | |
immigration. But the entire country is against that. The OECD has | :47:41. | :47:51. | |
demonstrated that mackerel `` has demonstrated that immigrants bring | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
more into the country than they take out of it. | :47:56. | :48:04. | |
Fewer immigrants claim benefits than British people. I am talking about | :48:05. | :48:14. | |
EU immigration. Why are you shaking your head? The evidence shows that | :48:15. | :48:21. | |
there is not this problem of massive welfare expenditure. There is a big | :48:22. | :48:29. | |
problem in this country. Some people are profiting by PA migrants less | :48:30. | :48:37. | |
than British workers. Some landlords are housing migrants in horrible | :48:38. | :48:49. | |
conditions. It can be due to prove you have standards of the and | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
housing which stops British workers being dragged down. Under this | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
Coalition many of these standards have been removed. The Labour Party | :49:02. | :49:09. | |
increased the population of the country by 2.2 million people. They | :49:10. | :49:24. | |
wanted a full bank. Let us talk about this. You talk | :49:25. | :49:32. | |
about the fact that young British people are losing prospects of | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
employment. There is very little evidence of job displacement when | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
the economy is growing, and the economy is growing. Its make the | :49:42. | :49:44. | |
popular to blame and the economy is growing. It's make the popularity | :49:45. | :49:46. | |
blame immigrants, but it is not necessarily true. You are ignoring | :49:47. | :49:53. | |
the impact. 1 million new jobs created when Labour was in power, | :49:54. | :50:04. | |
but 1 million new immigrants. How can you claim that millions of | :50:05. | :50:07. | |
people can come into the country and not displace the dish workers. `` | :50:08. | :50:21. | |
British workers. In 2008 the House of Lords looked at immigration. | :50:22. | :50:29. | |
We are going to have two leave it there. Thank you. | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
And remember you can see a full list of all the parties and the | :50:35. | :50:37. | |
candidates they are putting up in the European elections on the BBC | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
News website. Talking of election candidates ` BBC | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
Radio in Kent Surrey and Sussex is offering you the chance to question | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
the key politicians who want your vote at this month's European | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
elections. The debate will be recorded in Dover on Friday evening, | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
16th May. I'd love you to join me there. It's free but you need to | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
book by e`mailing your name and number to South East today at | :51:06. | :51:07. | |
bbc.co.uk. And now it's time for some of the | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
other political stories you might have missed this week with James | :51:12. | :51:21. | |
Fitzgerald. The Green Party launched its | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
European election campaign in the Southeast. | :51:25. | :51:32. | |
Dean members of the European Parliament are standing up for a | :51:33. | :51:36. | |
cleaner environment, social justice, more jobs across the EU. We are also | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
seeing that the EU needs to be more accountable. The way to send the | :51:42. | :51:49. | |
message is to vote Green. The ruling conservatives in Surrey | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
County Council are to raise council allowances. Opposition parties said | :51:55. | :52:06. | |
the decision was insensitive. The airport in Kent will close on | :52:07. | :52:15. | |
Thursday. It is very sad. We will not let this be anything except an | :52:16. | :52:25. | |
airport. David Cameron has been on the radio | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
this week seeing the airport should stay open that he cannot do much to | :52:31. | :52:38. | |
intervene. I will fight to get that done. What will Labour do? What is | :52:39. | :52:46. | |
the Government doing? As with so many other facilities yes we would | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
as part of a joint at strategy. Thank you. | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
That's all we've got time for from the South East this week. My thanks | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
to our guests Nirj Deva, Anneliese Dodds and Donna Edmunds. Remember | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
this is the second of our three special programmes on the local and | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
European elections taking place across the South East | :53:05. | :53:05. | |
the website now. Now it is back to you, Andrew. | :53:06. | :53:18. | |
Welcome back, let's go straight to our panel. What did you make of Mr | :53:19. | :53:26. | |
Alexander's defence of the Labour party election broadcast? It is | :53:27. | :53:29. | |
difficult for them because they started by saying they were not | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
going to do negative campaigning and they have thrown that away for an | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
advert which is funny but crude in the class war sense. He didn't look | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
thrilled to be defending it. There is a page in Tony Blair's memoirs | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
talking about negative campaigning, and he says that anything too | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
extreme turns off the average voter so his line of attack on Hague was | :53:57. | :54:08. | |
funny jokes but... I think this failed the Blair test, it was too | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
vicious. If your strategy is to shore up your car vote, that advert | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
was genius. If your strategy is to reach out to a broader number of | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
voters, Middle Britain, then that advert was a complete disaster. It | :54:27. | :54:29. | |
looks like there is a lot of negativity and smears all round in | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
the next year. That definitely looks the way we are going. They will be | :54:35. | :54:52. | |
essentially trying to re-run by -- the American election. I am slightly | :54:53. | :55:04. | |
puzzled why we cannot have our own election gurus who live here and | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
understand the country. I should point out that the ?450 extra VAT | :55:10. | :55:16. | |
that was claimed in that Labour poster, both Ed Balls and the Labour | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
Treasury team have said that is ?450 per year. Nonsense the VAT rise, one | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
year. I should also point out that Nigel Farage said to Norman Smith, | :55:29. | :55:32. | |
the BBC is always reliable Norman Smith that if you run in Newark and | :55:33. | :55:39. | |
lost the bubble would burst. I should also point out that although | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
a number of the tax rises I mentioned on council tax, minimum | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
wage tax and some other things that UKIP wants to cuts, a couple of | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
these are in the local manifesto but several are not. They are on the | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
UKIP website, which is still current and dated 2014. We like to make sure | :56:00. | :56:07. | |
we are absolutely right. Let's talk about Nick Clegg and Michael Gove | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
and the latest spat. Let me show you this headline in the Observer this | :56:13. | :56:20. | |
morning. From both the Independent, he called him a zealot, lunatic is | :56:21. | :56:32. | |
of -- another word. Do we take this seriously? It hinges on this | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
question of what counts as an area of need in education. The Lib Dems | :56:38. | :56:41. | |
say an area of need is one where there are not enough school places | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
to meet local demand. He says it can also be a place where there are | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
surplus places but that is for a reason. Local places don't trust | :56:51. | :57:01. | |
those schools to do a good job for their kids. It surprises me because | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
there isn't a yawning distance between David Laws and Michael Gove. | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
David Laws has found himself between a rock and a hard place because I | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
asked -- as I understand it most Lib Dems don't like the free schools but | :57:17. | :57:20. | |
Mr laws was quite sympathetic to it and he is now having to this respect | :57:21. | :57:28. | |
it. When they asked people who are the most hated politicians in a poll | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
were this week, Michael Gove is off the charts, far above David Cameron | :57:33. | :57:48. | |
or George Osborne. This is tit-for-tat war. The Liberal | :57:49. | :57:51. | |
Democrats believe Michael Gove had a hand in leaking the document that | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
showed Nick Clegg was opposing the tougher Chris Grayling position on | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
knife crime. They are saying there were Cabinet ministers who never | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
usually attend the sub Cabinet meeting, they turned up and the | :58:05. | :58:08. | |
document is leaked so what we are getting is tit for tat on that. It | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
is inevitable but it is not good for either side of the Coalition. Voters | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
will look at it and say it is politics of the playground. I read | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
in the Mail on Sunday this morning that some Tory insiders are accusing | :58:24. | :58:34. | |
Lib Dems of spreading rumours about the camera in marriage. The | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
rebuttals of education story is that the free school meals is sucking | :58:39. | :58:52. | |
money away. I always thought they would work together without fuss and | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
yet it has been more the source of disagreement then I would have | :58:59. | :59:03. | |
expected a couple of years ago. Is it serious? It is serious obviously, | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
using that language, but is it fatal for the Coalition? I think it is a | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
road bump because I don't think anybody wants to dissolve the | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
Coalition. It is a challenge for Labour because where do they stand | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
on the free schools? They invented the Academy programme so it is | :59:23. | :59:25. | |
difficult for them to take a hands-off approach at this stage. | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
There was a danger for Michael Gove that he looks ideological but the | :59:30. | :59:32. | |
danger for the Liberal Democrats is that they are breaking the rules for | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
the Coalition they said that they wouldn't break which is that they | :59:37. | :59:39. | |
looked like opposition in government. Is Michael Gove's | :59:40. | :59:48. | |
position safe? Very safe. If he moves in a reshuffle that will be to | :59:49. | :59:55. | |
a a job. That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back on BBC | :59:56. | :59:58. | |
Two at lunchtime from Tuesday onwards. I'll be back here on BBC | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
One at 11am next week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday | :00:03. | :00:03. | |
Politics. What if the person | :00:04. | :00:51. | |
that killed her... I found out she'd been taking drugs. | :00:52. | :00:53. | |
Just let me explain. You wasn't at that party all night. | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
Yeah, I was. What was she even doing there? | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
Oi, you keep your mouth shut. She was exchanging a significant | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
number of texts and calls with someone in the weeks | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
leading up to her death. It's like we didn't | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
really know her at all. You never know what goes on | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
behind closed doors. | :01:15. | :01:18. |