Browse content similar to 15/09/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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after the summer recess, and the party conference season is already | :00:25. | :00:49. | |
upon us. First, the Liberal Democrats. Have a great conference. | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
Nick Clegg has some convincing to do, according to our very own Sunday | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
Politics poll, his troops don't like his coalition bedmates. The latest | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
poll of the country also has the Lib Dems languishing behind UKIP in | :01:05. | :01:12. | |
fourth place, with only 9%. Paddy Ashdown! So can the Lib Dems | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
claw their way back, come the election in 2015? We will talking to | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
former leader, now the party's general election commander-in-chief, | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
Paddy Ashdown. George Osborne is a happy bunny | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
Might affect our these days, | :01:27. | :01:42. | |
now heading for the exit. We will hear from Nick Clegg on what it | :01:42. | :01:56. | |
And freshly showered from the Great North Run and looking as fresh as | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
daisies, the best and brightest Janan Ganesh, Helen Lewis and Iain | :02:00. | :02:11. | |
Now, their leader is our Deputy Prime Minister. They are the junior | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
government. They like the colour yellow and they have not won a | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
general election since dinosaurs walked the earth. Now they are | :02:20. | :02:21. | |
behind UKIP in the polls, so as walked the earth. Now they are | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
party gathers for its annual bash this year in Glasgow, what is on | :02:25. | :02:33. | |
their mind? Who are the people gathering at the Clyde this weekend? | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
their mind? Who are the people Before they started drinking, we | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
councillors in England and Wales, comrade. The first question we asked | :02:43. | :02:51. | |
was, if the next election results in a hung parliament, which team would | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
you rather go into coalition with, the Reds or the blues? Lib Dem | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
councillors said Labour, two to the Reds or the blues? Lib Dem | :02:57. | :03:07. | |
Tories or Labour? It is not for the Reds or the blues? Lib Dem | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
to say. It is for the voters to say. We will decide depending on | :03:13. | :03:22. | |
is on the table. Who would you rather play table football against? | :03:22. | :03:35. | |
because I am winning. So in the winning 's which ones are heading | :03:35. | :03:51. | |
popular policy was a mansion tax on house is worth more than £2 million, | :03:51. | :04:02. | |
popular policy was a mansion tax on councillors. The next most popular | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
policy was scrapping the Trident nuclear deterrent, supported by | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
policy was scrapping the Trident of councillors. Then there was the | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
reinstatement of the 50p top rate of income tax. 70% of councillors like | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
the look of that. When it came to the idea of banning the burka in | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
public places like schools and airports, 45% of councillors were in | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
favour. Finally, a ban on topless Page three model is won the support | :04:27. | :04:34. | |
of 33% of councillors. Why is it so popular, the idea of a mansion tax? | :04:34. | :04:42. | |
It is a much fairer tax. We know there are people out there with | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
It is a much fairer tax. We know expensive houses. Which of these is | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
most important to you? Banning Trident. The cold war ended in | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
1989. Another one was the idea of banning the burka in public places. | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
whatever they like. If they want to banning the burka in public places. | :04:59. | :05:06. | |
wear the birth or a kilt or if they anything. We are the party of jobs. | :05:06. | :05:18. | |
Thank you. Last night, a fully clothed Nick Clegg rallied his | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
troops, but if he was not around, who would Lib Dem councillors want | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
instead? Business Secretary Vince Cable was most popular, with a third | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
of the votes. In second place, the party's president, Tim Farron, with | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
27%. 10% went to Danny Alexander, while the business minister Joe | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
Swinson received 7%. The Energy Secretary Ed Davey scooped 6%, and | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
in last place, Steve Webb, the pensions minister, who got 5%. If | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
any of these councillors want to talk to me about it, I would be | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
delighted to hear from them. Is talk to me about it, I would be | :05:59. | :06:09. | |
certainly isn't. What do you think contenders. But our survey is not | :06:09. | :06:17. | |
the only one that has got tongues wagging in Glasgow, because the | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
the only one that has got tongues Dem leadership have commissioned | :06:22. | :06:22. | |
their own poll which showed that 75% Dem leadership have commissioned | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
of the country will never vote Dem leadership have commissioned | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
the party, no matter what they do. Also meeting here this weekend, | :06:29. | :06:37. | |
the party, no matter what they do. Democrats like to think they have | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
got just as much va-va-voom, even if a big chunk of the country doesn't. | :06:39. | :06:46. | |
Add, back in his hometown. So, the Much of their party thinks they | :06:46. | :06:57. | |
Add, back in his hometown. So, the moving in the wrong direction. | :06:57. | :06:58. | |
Earlier, I spoke to former party moving in the wrong direction. | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
leader Paddy Ashdown. He has been put in charge of heading up the | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
leader Paddy Ashdown. He has been election campaign. I asked him if | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
the mood in Glasgow was grim. No. In many ways, as you know, Tory old | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
commentator that you are just as I am a hoary old member at the other | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
end of the camera, we have been midterm of a government, especially | :07:21. | :07:30. | |
when you are in government and the country is going for in a deep | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
economic crisis, has almost no relevance to where you might be | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
economic crisis, has almost no the nipple come to consider how | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
economic crisis, has almost no will vote in 600 days time -- when | :07:43. | :07:43. | |
the people come to consider how will vote in 600 days time -- when | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, but they are a snapshot of what | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, indication of where we will be. | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, guess is, for what it is worth, | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
will vote. We do not dismiss polls, as we come to the election, the | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
public will be in a very serious, probably frightened mood. Their | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
public will be in a very serious, thoughts will be, who maintains | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
public will be in a very serious, job, makes sure I don't have to | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
public will be in a very serious, to higher mortgage? The coalition | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
has delivered not only the required policies to make Britain's economy | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
prosperous, but also its society fair. That is what people will want | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
to see. I think coalition politics are here to stay and we have a role | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
to play in it. But you are in a are here to stay and we have a role | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
mood this morning. You tweeted that you were not happy with how the | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Observer newspaper handled your there anything we can do to help? | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
There is probably something they arguments with the interview. The | :08:45. | :08:54. | |
headline they chose to put on it late last night was outrageous, | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
misrepresentative and in one case in Something about Ashdown wants a | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
coalition with the Tories, or at Something about Ashdown wants a | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
least they gave that in for us Something about Ashdown wants a | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
inference. Let me make this point. election. I am in charge of the | :09:13. | :09:21. | |
campaign. Any journalist who in these next two years says that any | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
Liberal Democrat prefers anything else in terms of the outcome of | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
Liberal Democrat prefers anything coalition but the result of the | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
ballot box dictating that outcome, that any prefer one side to another | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
coalition determined by the electors that any prefer one side to another | :09:34. | :09:42. | |
in the votes, will get a bloody that any prefer one side to another | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
time from me, no matter who they are. We take the warning. A survey | :09:46. | :10:08. | |
of Lib Dem councillors shows that in coalition with the Tories. That | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
of Lib Dem councillors shows that in clear sign that your activists want | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
a change of direction. I don't think it is news that as a left-wing | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
party, we find it more congenial with those on the left wing, but | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
that is not the issue. You saw it election. We are servants of the | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
ballot box. We do watch the British people require us to do to provide a | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
of our country. I am sure you have stable government in the interests | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
of our country. I am sure you have got the point by now. I have fought | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
the Tories all my life. But when responsibility to amend the economic | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
crisis, was this right for the determine who are going to be in any | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
coalition, should there be one, determine who are going to be in any | :10:46. | :10:53. | |
voters and nobody else. It is not about what we like. I understand | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
that. But your own internal polls leadership are not taking the party | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
with them on that. I don't think that is true. Nick Clegg has done | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
what no other party leader has done. He took the coalition agreement | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
what no other party leader has done. the party, and they voted for it. So | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
it is not true to say that members different direction. I think we | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
it is not true to say that members extraordinarily united. I did not | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
expect them to be so under these pressures, but they have surprised | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
me and made me joyful at the same time. The party has done what it | :11:31. | :11:39. | |
done in local government for a long time. We may have our private likes | :11:39. | :11:48. | |
and dislikes, but the thing that coalition is the ballot box. You | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
have said that three times. I can say it again if you like. Please | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
don't! What if your party votes say it again if you like. Please | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
reinstate tuition fees as party policy afternoon? We will have to | :12:02. | :12:12. | |
listen to that and act accordingly. You must listen to the voice of | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
listen to that and act accordingly. party and take it into account in | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
what you do. I am always quite answering hypothetical questions. I | :12:18. | :12:26. | |
don't think it is likely to happen, but if it did, we would have to | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
don't think it is likely to happen, distinguished Lib Dems was that | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
don't think it is likely to happen, your party conference voted for | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
something, it was in the manifesto. The manifesto is taken in its final | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
form before the party for decision. The party will express views at | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
form before the party for decision. stage in all sorts of ways. It did | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
in my leadership, too. The manifesto is democratically agreed by the | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
party at the time of the election, not before. The Tory conference | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
party at the time of the election, be about how they think they have | :12:59. | :12:59. | |
been vindicated, that austerity be about how they think they have | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
worked, the economy is turning a corner. But Nick Clegg's conference | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
announcements will be about plastic bags. Have you got the hang of this | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
coalition think? Andrew, you can always be guaranteed to put things | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
in the most discreditable form! always be guaranteed to put things | :13:16. | :13:24. | |
is part of your charm. That was about to be a minor announcement in | :13:24. | :13:31. | |
discovered beforehand. It has not the middle of his speech. But it was | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
discovered beforehand. It has not been very popular in terms of how it | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
has been received, but that is not the central message. That leads | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
has been received, but that is not to what I think is the biggest | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
election. Isn't the biggest danger that the Tories, not you, if there | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
is an economic recovery, they will get the credit for it? I don't think | :13:52. | :14:04. | |
think the electorate does gratitude. The only time people cast a thank | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
Thatcher over the sale of council houses. We could have a different | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
discussion over whether that was a good idea. But what you have done is | :14:13. | :14:20. | |
the underpinning for the promise of government, we have stayed firm | :14:21. | :14:30. | |
the underpinning for the promise of very tough economic policy. But | :14:30. | :14:37. | |
the underpinning for the promise of you get the credit? What we have | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
done by ourselves, which the Tories would never have done, is make sure | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
that when the pain is felt, it is not the poor who feel it. We have | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
seen the biggest shift of taxation, lifting the poorest in the country | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
out of taxation, that has ever happened, including in the previous | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
Labour government. You are presiding over the biggest squeeze on living | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
standards in modern times. Because it is the biggest recession in | :15:04. | :15:05. | |
modern times. When you speak to it is the biggest recession in | :15:05. | :15:15. | |
2.5 million people who have been lifted out of taxation altogether | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
because of the Liberal Democrats, tax cut. You may be able to make the | :15:19. | :15:32. | |
because of the Liberal Democrats, connection, Andrew, you are a sharp | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
economic crisis and difficulty for everybody. But it is clear that | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
economic crisis and difficulty for the Tories had been by themselves, | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
none of that would have happened. We have sought to shift the burden | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
none of that would have happened. We from the poorest in this country. I | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
am part of that. So when we go into the next election, the message will | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
am part of that. So when we go into be that if you want to continue | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
am part of that. So when we go into have a prosperous economy and a | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
society, only the Liberal Democrats will deliver that. Tim Farron says | :15:57. | :16:07. | |
want to diss him. Can you confirm he likes Ed Miliband and he does not | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
want to diss him. Can you confirm that there will be no dissing of Ed | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
Miliband? It is not much my style. I've never much liked comments about | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
the other leaders. I do not intend to make it so in the future. Can I'd | :16:19. | :16:27. | |
finish up on Syria? You said after the Syria vote that Britain was | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
finish up on Syria? You said after hugely diminished country. Given it | :16:30. | :16:36. | |
both sides on a course which could now see Syria give up chemical | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
weapons without records to military action, would you like to withdraw | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
these remarks and admit that you should be proud and happy with what | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
Britain has done? No. You and I should be proud and happy with what | :16:45. | :16:53. | |
know, because we are old observers, that that would never have happened | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
underpinning of a threat to use resigned from that. We have no part | :16:59. | :17:06. | |
to play in the fact that Assad and Putin have moved towards peace for | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
to play in the fact that Assad and fear of military action. We decided | :17:09. | :17:09. | |
exactly the opposite. Why would fear of military action. We decided | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
liked to have seen our country join in with those who are serious about | :17:15. | :17:23. | |
upholding an international law which has restrained even than axes and | :17:23. | :17:24. | |
left others to make sure that we talent, but instead we resigned | :17:24. | :17:35. | |
left others to make sure that we moved towards peace. -- even the | :17:35. | :17:35. | |
Maxis and Stalin. But if it had moved towards peace. -- even the | :17:35. | :17:43. | |
would not have had the time to allow this to happen. It has avoided war. | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
Job done, British Parliament. That would be true if it was accurate but | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
it is not. The resolution proposed a delay, that we should wait until the | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
inspectors came back. That time frame was absolutely nothing to | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
inspectors came back. That time with the parliamentary vote. The | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
vote was going to incorporate that. I do not think you can claim what | :18:08. | :18:15. | |
vote was going to incorporate that. remember that diplomacy, which was | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
not reinforced by the threat of military action, does not work. | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
not reinforced by the threat of is when diplomacy runs with a grain | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
of military action that it works. illustration of that, look at what | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
is happening over the last two weeks. By regret to say that our | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
country, which has always been in disengagement, had no part to play | :18:35. | :18:48. | |
And you we would get to the Balkans eventually, and we did. His biggest | :18:49. | :18:56. | |
challenge is if the economy is get some credit for the Lib Dems, | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
when the Tories will want to halt it all. But his position is not to | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
when the Tories will want to halt it the necessary axeman. That is George | :19:07. | :19:08. | |
Osborne's role. Their role is to be Osborne's role. Their role is to be | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
the chaser party, taking the edge off. They will because of me going | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
on about the pupil premium and That is what you will hear from | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
of the cuts. Will that work? They them, how they have taken the edge | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
of the cuts. Will that work? They are in a pretty good position. Even | :19:26. | :19:27. | |
if they have lost two thirds of are in a pretty good position. Even | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
popular support, according to the polls, I do not know anyone in | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
Westminster methinks that will be matched in their parliamentary | :19:36. | :19:37. | |
representation. If they have 56 matched in their parliamentary | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
now, they might lose a dozen but Strategically, they are in a better | :19:40. | :19:48. | |
position than the reading of the polls would tell you. I think Nick | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
Clegg's survival has been one of the stories of this Parliament. He is | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
looking good at the comfort -- at the conference. When he was at his | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
lowest after the AV referendum, people were saying he would survive | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
I thought that was fanciful. Believe and lead us into 2015 and beyond and | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
I thought that was fanciful. Believe it or not... Paddy Ashdown was | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
wrong, you were wrong and... I wasn't. I'm underestimated how bad | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
his rivals are. If you are Lib Dem member, however aggrieved you are | :20:21. | :20:27. | |
with Nick Clegg, you do not think, wouldn't it be great if Christian | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
was in charge? Nick Clegg is the best they have. -- Chris Huhne was | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
in charge. Of course, the people do in charge. Of course, the people do | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
government and it is a consequence of the way they vote, a different | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
matter. If Janan Ganesh is right, and they lose 15 seats in the next | :20:44. | :20:51. | |
pivotal in the next government. It Possibly the most amusing outcome | :20:51. | :20:57. | |
would be a Labour or Tory overall majority, which would be hilarious | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
for the look on Paddy Ashdown's face. The danger is they get trapped | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
constantly in talking about the politics of coalition and of a hung | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
parliament. And they are very puffed politics of coalition and of a hung | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
parliament. And they are very puffed up and they enjoy Parliament and | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
there is a possibility they will not be. While they are talking about the | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
Polish and themselves, they are be. While they are talking about the | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
talking about the issues facing be. While they are talking about the | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
coalition. It was interesting that he said that we are a left-wing | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
party, not a centre-left party or a centre party, but a left-wing party. | :21:37. | :21:44. | |
I'm going to put myself in the firing line and say that there is a | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
big split between the Tim Farron line who say they like Ed Miliband, | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
and another one, Jeremy Browne in the Home Office saying that Labour | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
are intellectually lazy. The risk clearly a clique around Nick Clegg | :21:56. | :22:05. | |
who wants to be a synthetic party, but that is not where the membership | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
who wants to be a synthetic party, activists are clearly of the left, | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
not just the centre-left. They are very pro-immigration and they want | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
strategy has to be to take the party to the centre. The something not | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
happen at some stage? The poll suggests it is a left-wing party. | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
happen at some stage? The poll Very left-wing. Other think the | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
happen at some stage? The poll would have yielded -- would have | :22:32. | :22:33. | |
yielded the same results before would have yielded -- would have | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by the arithmetic. Whichever party | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by biggest will most likely be the | :22:43. | :22:44. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by in coalition with the Lib Dems. | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
2010 election. This is reflected by Clegg's on latitude to choose is | :22:48. | :22:56. | |
exaggerated by us. The choice is no parliamentary arithmetic. But if you | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
remember the structure of the Lib Dems, they can tie themselves up in | :23:02. | :23:09. | |
infighting. -- the choice is not stable. And Nick Clegg has had a | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
good conference last year, and will have another one this year. The | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
economy is better than it was a have another one this year. The | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
ago. It could still go quite well for him. Yes, it is one of the | :23:21. | :23:27. | |
ago. It could still go quite well stories of this Parliament, his | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
survival and the way in which he has prospered. But there are a lot of | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
campaigners, labour activists who have not forgotten what he has done | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
in government and are determined to get him. It will be a tough year and | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
a half. Tougher than he imagined. Now, not so long ago they were | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
writing George Osborne's political obituary. Be on the Omni shambles | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
budget of 2012 and a lacklustre performance of the British economy | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
meant his reputation work -- was in the dirt. -- the omnishambles. But | :23:57. | :24:04. | |
things have changed. The Chancellor is saying he has been vindicated. If | :24:04. | :24:12. | |
runway, it looks as though the British economy has taken off, | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
quarter. Forecasts for the rest British economy has taken off, | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
the year have been revised up words. What's more, the office for National | :24:20. | :24:27. | |
recession never actually happened. Unemployment is down in the three | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
months to July and the number of spasticity rate since 1997. On | :24:32. | :24:42. | |
Monday, George Osborne said his policies were bearing fruit. We | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
Monday, George Osborne said his our nerve when many told us to | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
abandon our plans. As a result, thanks to the efforts and sacrifices | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
of the British people, Britain is turning a corner. The message for | :24:54. | :25:01. | |
his Labour critics was clear. The Chancellor thinks he was right and | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
Good afternoon. Good afternoon.Do you accept that the economy has | :25:06. | :25:21. | |
turned a corner? I think it is good that a stalled recovery appears | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
turned a corner? I think it is good get this in perspective. We have had | :25:27. | :25:29. | |
three wasted years. We have the worst economic recovery in history. | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
Debt is up and we have record youth programme if they feel better or | :25:34. | :25:43. | |
worse off, compared to 2010, the majority will tell you they feel | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
worse because, on average, wages are down by £1500 compared to May of | :25:47. | :25:54. | |
2010. That is the situation. The one of the things we have seen | :25:54. | :26:02. | |
talked about, Vince Cable has been talking about this as well, is what | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
is happening in the housing market. It seems that much of the solution | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
to powering the recovery in the It seems that much of the solution | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
of George Osborne lies in sorting out the housing market but the | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
problem is, we are at risk of being another housing bubble. Because | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
problem is, we are at risk of being research that came out this week, we | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
know that housing in the UK is three times more expensive than in the US. | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
know that housing in the UK is three We know that house prices are rising | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
five times faster than wages, but we also know that the government is | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
five times faster than wages, but we building new housing at a slower | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
rate, the slowest rate that we have complaining about a housing bubble, | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
isn't that like Satan complaining about seven? -- seven. We all know | :26:47. | :26:54. | |
that we cannot go back to business as usual. We need to build a new | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
model of growth. But the housing bubble you talk about, it is not a | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
bubble. It might turn into one. bubble you talk about, it is not a | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
said the risk of a bubble. It is nothing like what happened on the | :27:06. | :27:13. | |
I said, in 2009, we had the crash and we knew we needed to reconfigure | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
the way that our economy works. Having an economy based on crisis is | :27:16. | :27:24. | |
rebalance the economy. We saw the unemployment statistics this week, | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
and it is welcomed overall, that unemployment has come down. At half | :27:28. | :27:40. | |
up. And it went down in other parts. We know that we need to rebalance | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
our economy, so that we do not just rely on consumption, but that we | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
grow our productive sectors. And also that we grow our exports as | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
well. We know we have a continuing deficit. We always have a trade | :27:55. | :28:02. | |
deficit. There was never a trade surplus under Labour. Want to come | :28:02. | :28:12. | |
onto what you have mentioned but would you scrap the help to buy | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
scheme? We have not said that we would you scrap the help to buy | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
scheme? We have not said that we would do that. Why not if it is | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
causing the bubble? If you let me finish, on one hand what that scheme | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
does at the moment, at the moment it is inhalation to a new scheme but | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
tomorrow -- next year it will be in you do not sort out the supply of | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
housing, then that is a recipe for the problems we have seen. Our | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
argument is build more houses. Help more people to buy them by all means | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
but if you do not have the supply more people to buy them by all means | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
but if you do not have the supply you will end up with rising prices. | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
That is obvious. Labour said that government austerity would prevent | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
the return of growth. Austerity government austerity would prevent | :28:54. | :29:00. | |
were wrong. We never said that growth would never return. What | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
were wrong. We never said that said was that if you went for an | :29:04. | :29:05. | |
were wrong. We never said that overly extreme deficit reduction | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
recovery and you would choke growth. That is what we saw for three years. | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
If you say, look at the US economy, it has grown at three times the | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
If you say, look at the US economy, economy has grown at twice the rate. | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
But the British economy is growing quicker than the American or German | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
economy is now. But over time we have not seen that happen. But it is | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
now. That may be the case. But my point is that those three years | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
now. That may be the case. But my people undergoing huge stress and | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
worry. It is good that we have growth back again but the question | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
is, what kind of growth? What we have said... I'm going to come onto | :29:48. | :29:54. | |
that but your credibility depends on your previous analysis. And there | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
are doubts about it. This is what you said not that long ago. In | :29:57. | :30:05. | |
You and the Labour Party said it had choked off growth. You were wrong. | :30:05. | :30:33. | |
We were not wrong, because we had three years where the economy was | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
not moving. Let's remind ourselves. Claude Osborne was predicting that | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
the economy was going to grow by 6.9% between the start of this | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
Parliament and now. It has grown by 1.8%. We did not say we would never | :30:46. | :30:55. | |
have a return to growth. You never said that austerity would only | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
temporarily delay growth. We have looked through your speeches and Ed | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
Balls'. We can't find any reference to say this is simply delaying the | :31:03. | :31:09. | |
recovery. You said austerity would choke off growth. If that is true, | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
why has it returned now? Did we choke off growth. If that is true, | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
it would choke off growth for ever? choke off growth. If that is true, | :31:19. | :31:26. | |
We did not. You have changed your tune. I think your package at the | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
top of this programme, to frame tune. I think your package at the | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
around George Osborne, this is not a people's lives, and the people who | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
deserve huge credit for the growth we are seeing are our country's | :31:39. | :31:46. | |
businesses, who despite the tough economic times, have succeeded. | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
businesses, who despite the tough are the ones who have powered this | :31:49. | :31:49. | |
Westminster to take credit. But are the ones who have powered this | :31:49. | :31:57. | |
blame the government for lack of growth. So therefore, when the | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
growth comes, the government has to situation Britain is in now. We | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
growth comes, the government has to the recovery still has to reach | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
growth comes, the government has to parts of the country, but this is | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
the OECD annualised growth in the G-7, the world's guest economies. | :32:16. | :32:25. | |
That is looking pretty healthy. That is a recovery. I am not denying that | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
That is looking pretty healthy. That we are seeing a stalled recovery, | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
but who benefits from the growth? On average, your viewers have sustained | :32:36. | :32:43. | |
a £1500 pay cut. That is the second biggest fall in the G20 since May | :32:43. | :32:51. | |
2010. Because we had the biggest financial services sector and took | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
the biggest crash. Financial services are still in decline. | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
Financial services are about 10% of the economy. They are not the only | :33:00. | :33:08. | |
contributor to the economy. The point is, who benefits? Unemployment | :33:08. | :33:15. | |
is falling, but we don't just want people to have any job, we want them | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
to have decent jobs that pay a weight you can live off and that are | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
more secure. Let me show you the unemployment figures. Your criticism | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
has been that all the new jobs are part-time. They are not now, they | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
are full-time. Full-time unemployment, up -- full-time | :33:35. | :33:41. | |
employment, up 94,000. This is a short time frame. It is since the | :33:41. | :33:48. | |
recovery began. Half the jobs that have been created since May 2010 | :33:48. | :33:55. | |
have been part-time jobs. Roughly 107,000 people are working part-time | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
who would like to work full-time. Over the last 20 years, people now | :33:58. | :34:03. | |
feel more insecure at work than ever. The question is about what | :34:03. | :34:06. | |
feel more insecure at work than kind of growth and employment you | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
are getting. The other point is the uneven spread of this across our | :34:12. | :34:19. | |
economy. In places like the north-east and north-west, the | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
Humber, the east of England, they have seen unemployment increase. I | :34:23. | :34:31. | |
agree that there was a regional imbalance, but the service sector is | :34:31. | :34:37. | |
growing, cheering and construction are growing and financial services | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
are in decline, so the rebalance is happening. It is not happening to | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
the degree we need to transform our economy so that we have a | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
long-term, sustainable model of growth. That is why we need a | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
comprehensive industrial strategy that all of government works | :34:54. | :35:00. | |
towards. Your party conference is coming up. I am sure you are looking | :35:00. | :35:07. | |
forward to it. Why do Ed Miliband's approval ratings get worse the more | :35:07. | :35:11. | |
people see of him? I don't accept that. I have given you the figures. | :35:11. | :35:22. | |
Polls go up and down. I have said that on this programme before. But | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
his approval rating has consistently gone down. What actually matters our | :35:28. | :35:35. | |
votes. Under Ed Miliband's leadership, the Labour Party have | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
votes. Under Ed Miliband's put on almost 2000 extra councillors | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
in places like Canada case, even Whitney. What is wrong with Whitney? | :35:42. | :35:53. | |
We have been putting on votes. Let me show you this. This is the net | :35:53. | :35:59. | |
satisfaction rating. Your leader is now more unpopular than Gordon Brown | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
was when he took Labour to the worst defeat in living memory. Gordon | :36:03. | :36:12. | |
Brown did not put on anything like this number of councillors. Votes | :36:12. | :36:19. | |
are what matter, Andrew. Few people think Ed Miliband is a capable | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
leader. Twice as many people think over Spurs who lives on the moon. | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
These are polls. If you are talking to me about over Spurs lit, that | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
puts this into context, Europe session with polls! -- Elvis | :36:34. | :36:43. | |
Presley. Since 2010, we have put on thousands of members. Compare that | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
to the Conservative Party, which has not won a general election since | :36:46. | :36:54. | |
1992. They will not disclose their membership figures. Why -- why won't | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
you pledge to renationalise Royal Mail? Because that would be like | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
writing a blank cheque. We don't know at the moment how much the | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
government would receive for the sale of Royal Mail? So how can I | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
judge how much it would cost to buy it back? That would be | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
irresponsible. But the government does not need to do this right now. | :37:14. | :37:22. | |
The entire country is against it. Sources in the City and Whitehall | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
tell me that if Labour pledged to renationalise it, it would kill off | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
the flotation. So if you are against it, why don't you do it? For me to | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
pledge to renationalise Royal Mail would be like writing a blank | :37:35. | :37:42. | |
cheque. But if you put it in the prospectus, people in the City, who | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
know more about these things, say it would not happen, so why not do it? | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
Because that would be irresponsible. It would be like writing a cheque | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
for billions to renationalise Royal Mail. You would not have too right | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
at the check if it did not happen. I have to deal with the facts. I am | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
not good deal with the plot somebody might be speculating about in the | :38:07. | :38:10. | |
City. We have to be careful about this. For me to pledge to | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
renationalise it now would be like writing a bank cheque . We are going | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
to be a fiscally responsible government. That is why I am not | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
prepared to do that. Ed Balls will not be talking to you. You are | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in 20 minutes, | :38:29. | :38:40. | |
watching the Sunday Politics. Coming Welcome to Sunday politics the | :38:40. | :38:42. | |
south. On today's show, the Conference season is in full swing, | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
the TUC has been and gone in Bournemouth, The Greens are in | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
Brighton and the Liberal Democrats in Glasgow. So how is the political | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
landscape looking in the south this autumn? With me throughout the | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
programme are two local politicians for whom that is a pressing concern. | :38:58. | :39:09. | |
Vicky Slade, is hoping to inherit Annette Brook Brooks seat and James | :39:09. | :39:15. | |
Cracknell is standing as a Conservative in the south—west the | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
European elections. Vicky, first of all, you were a | :39:19. | :39:25. | |
financial adviser. I was.You have decided to get into politics, to try | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
and become a Liberal Democrat MP, very difficult time I would have | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
thought for the party. I haven't just decided to get into politics, I | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
was a financial adviser throughout my 20s. You write on your website I | :39:39. | :39:47. | |
led a highly material sec successful life I earned more money than is | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
ethically correct, I am not a great fan of the financial world, and when | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
I got to my 30s I had my children, and I sort of starting realising you | :39:57. | :40:05. | |
have got to put something back in, that is financial advice is about | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
giving not taking. It's a reaction to having done well. That was ten | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
years ago, I have had another career since then, the way your life | :40:14. | :40:19. | |
progresses I think. ? You have obviously had a fascinating career. | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
You had that awful accident in the States and had a brain injury. Yes, | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
part of the motivation is similar to Vicky, in that I as a sportsman | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
benefitted from the public support, and as we saw last year at the | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
Olympics, the passion there is in this country for sport, and I think | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
the best way to repay that support, is through politics and putting | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
something back in to it. You want to go Europe. Are you Euro—sceptic. | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
Europe is going to be a key area to make sure that we benefit from, as a | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
country in the south—west as a region, benefit from membership. The | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
chance to renegotiate is now, and that is, I think it is rather than a | :41:02. | :41:08. | |
sit on the outside and moan about it and not thinking we can affect | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
change, I would be rather try to effect change in a positive way for | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
the region, the country, my kids, their kids, because the decision | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
over the next few years affect us for decades to come. Right. Well, we | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
are going to be looking at the Liberal Democrats conference later | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
in the programme but let us talk about the Green Party conference in | :41:28. | :41:38. | |
Brighton. Welcome Keith. Fracking, in the news, Balcombe, Cal that and | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
all that ——ical ril that, I heard them say saying hydraulic fracking | :41:44. | :41:51. | |
could be the best thing for beating climate change. If the Chinese do it | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
they won't burn so much coal. I wonder who said that. It was a | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
fracking person. I am November surprise. Is it not true?The point | :41:59. | :42:07. | |
s I am representing the south—east of England, Cuadrilla have their | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
eyes on fracking well in Balcombe, and other companies want to forensic | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
in other parts of the region. Now, this... That will stop up from | :42:17. | :42:23. | |
importing gas, from, it if it works from qats tar, Russia, difficult | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
places, and if the Chinese did they wouldn't have to burn so much coal. | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
It would be a good thing for the plant. You don't have any evidence. | :42:31. | :42:38. | |
At best it is scant we can do it. Temperature science is a new one, in | :42:38. | :42:44. | |
America, they have been fracking since about 2006, and they have gone | :42:44. | :42:51. | |
completely over the top. Pence crane have a is seen fracking wells open | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
at the rate of 200 a month. Now, this... And their gas prices have | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
come down, even if they didn't do that here, people are fed up with | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
energy prices. Of course they are. Let us just think about that. Just | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
because people are worried about paying too much for energy, we don't | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
actually have to take fossil fuel out of the ground, in fracking | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
because simply, it is going to be more damaging in the long run, what | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
we need to be doing, and I keep saying this, is the Government | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
instead of throwing money at the fracking industry, we need to be | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
investing wisely in renewable energy, because the energy in the | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
sun and the wind and the tides is there for the taking. Isn't it just | :43:40. | :43:47. | |
as unproven, I mean oil and gas are much better proven? The, it is the | :43:47. | :43:53. | |
way you get it out, isn't it. And you know, if we actually look at the | :43:53. | :44:01. | |
science of it, you have to drill deep downwards and then you drill | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
out wards, you shatter the shale rock with water laced with toxic | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
chemicals, and then the gas permeates up, and the idea is you | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
have a cement casing, round the drill, round the drill. But that | :44:16. | :44:24. | |
breaks down, and it doesn't last forever. When when that happens you | :44:24. | :44:30. | |
get more methane coming out ands —— escaping, you get the radioactive | :44:30. | :44:37. | |
material, which inhabit the deep in the earth, they came up too. This is | :44:37. | :44:43. | |
just something we do not need to do. Keith Taylorer thank you for joining | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
us from Brighton. We will talk more about tracking in the future. There | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
has been a different sort of fracturing going on. It seemed to | :44:52. | :45:00. | |
fisle out but for the Dorset seaside resort it was an important occasion. | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
The return of the TUC after a quarter of a century meeting in | :45:04. | :45:10. | |
other places Don't they understand that when trade unionist make the | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
kation —— case for investment, for care... The nurses had won a 15% pay | :45:13. | :45:21. | |
rise. At Bournemouth in 1988, Labour leader Neil Kinnock walked into an | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
argument over the expulsion of the electricians union that was prepared | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
to set its own political agenda. 25 years on, the Labour leader comes by | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
South West Trains rather than a British Leyland car, but there is | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
still that thorny issue of independence. You face difficult | :45:38. | :45:44. | |
moment, and audiences who aren't going to like what you say, but the | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
right thing to do is to say what you believe. That is what I am going to | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
be doing. Are you going to win this battle? Yes.To reflect on what has | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
changed since the TUC were last in Bournemouth, a quarter of a century | :45:57. | :46:03. | |
ago, I spoke to Neil Duncan Jordan, President of a trade union council. | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
I think we are probably more active now than we were at that stage. The | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
council is building new recruit, affiliate, people are interested | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
again, in standing up for their rights. I mean locally in Dorset, we | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
are running a living wage campaign, that is particularly aimed at the | :46:21. | :46:27. | |
private sector. So it is not all dominated by public sector worker, | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
it is across board now a day, it is more women than men in trade unions | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
often. It is trying to recruit young people as well as peermed and it | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
looks as the whole range of issues that people are concerned with. Ed | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
Miliband's speech spelled out the change he wanted but it started with | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
an attack on the Conservative leader David Cameron. He writes you off, he | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
writing your members off. In fact he goes further than than that. Writes. | :46:53. | :47:01. | |
He oozes contempt for trade unionist from every pore of his being. Among | :47:01. | :47:09. | |
the delegates, members of the probation —— pro bayion officers | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
isdown I think the fact that the Government sees the public sector or | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
portrays the public sector as the enemy of the state is something that | :47:16. | :47:21. | |
galvanises many ordinary working people into looking to take action. | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
I think the onslaught of the public sector when you think about what has | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
happened, some 400,000 jobs lost in the Civil Service alone and more in | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
the wider public sector is a good indicator of why people are angry | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
and feel threatened. Bournemouth was supposed to be a new beginning for | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
Labour's relationship with the union, at Prime Minister's Questions | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
he was accused of folding quicker than a Bournemouth deckchair, | :47:47. | :47:54. | |
derided for a performance that was less raging bull than chicken run. | :47:54. | :48:02. | |
What dough you make of this idea that David Cameron has contempt for | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
grains, oozes it as Ed Miliband was saying. The crucial thing is you are | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
saying David rather than Ed, he needs to get them on support because | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
the way he is trying to change the funding, which, whether he needs it | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
now is a different question, the reason he won the leadership | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
election is because the support from the trade union, he doesn't want to | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
show he is, in their debt, but also, he doesn't want to lose their | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
support, so criticising der Leader of the Opposition party to them, and | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
saying that, you know h he not your friend, you maybe, the enemy of your | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
enemy, is your friend, and that is, he wants to reestablish what at —— | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
while at the aim time changing the funding. Isn't he saying it feel | :48:49. | :48:56. | |
like it is an attack on public services? | :48:56. | :49:55. | |
Asking if they were an animal, what kind of animal they would be? Here | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
are the voters of form and Chichester, an this is how they | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
perceive the Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrats. —— Portsmouth. | :50:05. | :50:18. | |
As an ex—farmer I would see a bull, that looks good and is sometimes | :50:18. | :50:24. | |
very placid but changes its mind quickly. Liberal Democrat. | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
Jellyfish. Why do you think?Soft squidgy and go with the flow. | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
Probably a chameleon because they keep changing their colours. | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
Orangutan. Orange. I don't know what Liberal Democrats | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
are. A cat would lay there and do nothing, bit like the Liberal | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
Democrats. A woodlouse. I would say that would | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
be a mouse, because they are small and feeble. | :50:50. | :50:55. | |
A skunk because nay join the Conservative, and don't like the | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
smell. A nice big dog. Meerkat, yeah. I voted for them when I was a | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
student, then they shied away. A hedgehog, because Tay are spiky, | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
naughty but they are cute and small. Don't really get very far. | :51:11. | :51:19. | |
Some of those our guests liked but, yeah, not all of them. Not all. | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
Maybe not quite how the leader ship would like to be seen. On Friday | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
before he set off to Glasgow where the Liberal Democrats will be holing | :51:26. | :51:33. | |
their conference —— holding their conference, I asked Nick Clegg what | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
was wrong with good old southern locations like Bournemouth or | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
Brighton or Reading? There is nothing wrong with those wonderful | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
location, we have been there to Bournemouth, Brighton and son on in | :51:45. | :51:48. | |
the past and we will go again... It is up many more difficult for your | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
party members to get up to Scotland. Scottish party members would not | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
claim that when we meet in Bournemouth or Brighton. It's a | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
different sort of fight for Liberal Democrats in our part of the world, | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
isn't it, in, with coalition allies when it comes to the general | :52:03. | :52:05. | |
election, difficult choice for people? It is not that difficult in | :52:05. | :52:11. | |
the sense of course we are in coalition together. There are | :52:11. | :52:13. | |
obvious difference, if the coalition, if the conservatives had | :52:13. | :52:19. | |
been in power on their own people watching this programme would be | :52:19. | :52:24. | |
able to be fired at will with no reasons given under plans to fire at | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
Will, we would have had a two tier, we would have gone back to a two | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
tier exam system, separating people off on one heap or another. They | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
would have given a huge inheritance tax cut to millionaire, they would | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
have introduced profits into state schools. These are things we have | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
blocked because we are in coalition with them. In the same way they have | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
frustrated things I would like to do. That is nature of coalition, we | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
have to be relaxed and open about the differences but equally proud of | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
the fact what we have achieved in the coalition is hugely important, | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
which is rescuing repairing and reforming the British economy, which | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
was the central mission of this coalition, it is why we came into | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
power in the first place, and I am so proud of the way in which the | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
Liberal Democrats, we have held our nerve, we have been much more | :53:12. | :53:17. | |
resolute and united than critics predicted we would be. There is a | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
cons tagsal amendment talking about members bully or harassing other | :53:22. | :53:27. | |
members, now you have had a report on Mike Hancock, he has been subject | :53:27. | :53:34. | |
to disciplinary proprocedures but he is still a Liberal Democrat | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
councillor He is facing allegations which are serious, which he hotly | :53:37. | :53:42. | |
denies and strenuously and has done so always. He after discussions with | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
me and Alistair Carmichael and others volunteered to give up the | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
whip and said he is not going to be part of the Liberal Democrat | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
Parliamentary party as long adds he is in the process of seeking to | :53:54. | :53:58. | |
address the allegations and clear his name. That of course is a | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
decision I accepted. He needs to make up his own mind, as does the | :54:02. | :54:08. | |
council group in Portsmouth about arrangement in the council groups. | :54:08. | :54:14. | |
Should he stand down, if he is censured? Clearly if the allegations | :54:14. | :54:20. | |
are proved against him he will need to take responsibility for that, but | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
as I say, he denies them, and he is in the process of seeking to clear | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
his name. I am not going to start conferring guilt if you like on | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
someone until that process is complete. It is not yet complete. | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
Thank you. We didn't even talk about Chris | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
Huhne. Of the 55 Liberal Democrat MP, % have been involved in some | :54:40. | :54:46. | |
sort of scannedle. It is a not a good record is it? No, but at the | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
end of the day you have to judge somebody as an individual. I don't | :54:50. | :54:53. | |
think it is particularly sell haven't what party you —— relevant | :54:53. | :54:59. | |
what party you are with, an individual will make mistakes and | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
they have to take responsibility for those, whatever party they... Chris | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
Huhne suggests the papers were digging over the dirt when hay got | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
into Government. I think it is fair to say the newspaper, the media, | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
always wants a story, if there is a story when somebody becomes more | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
important, it subpoena clearly more likely that the papers are going to | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
dig deeper than they would if you weren't in a position of power. It | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
must have hit morale in the party Clearly it has. A third of the | :55:29. | :55:34. | |
membership has gone since 2010. But equally the Conservatives have lost | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
a lot of member, and obviously now Labour have got this rob with the | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
union, so, I don't think it is a Liberal Democrat problem, think it's | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
a disillusionment generally with the political class. The more your | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
profile goes up in any walk of life, the more than people will be | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
examined. You look at the way Farage has been more examined since UKIP's | :55:58. | :56:04. | |
profile has gone up. The Liberal Democrats will be examine more, that | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
is when people will be found wanting, you don't go into politics | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
if you have skeletons in your cupboard. You don't have any? That | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
That I believe is the case. They will be digging for everything on | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
anyone. Any sort of reality of any kind, they will find something out, | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
if you have it there. If you haven't... Let us go into the list | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
of things Nick Clegg says he stopped the Conservatives doing. Firing | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
people at will. The two tier exam, do you think that is a good thing to | :56:37. | :56:47. | |
have avoided? I was the first year of GCSEs, 1998 was when I did mine. | :56:47. | :56:52. | |
I didn't grow up in the two tier system, so I didn't really | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
understand the point of it. It is harking back to an old age. I think | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
it is needs to be more robust. I remember when I was taking my GCSE, | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
because there were no past papers, and we had O—level past papers and I | :57:07. | :57:15. | |
remember thinking ooh! Are you saying they have got easier I was | :57:15. | :57:21. | |
grateful I didn't have to do a couple of the O—levels. A lot of | :57:21. | :57:24. | |
teachers I talk to in the constituency are not happy with most | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
of what Michael Gove is bringing out. We are in changing world, and | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
there is a place for knowledge, there is a place for you know, | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
learning things in a particular way, but more importantly it is about | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
young people learning to adapt. Young people learning to | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
investigate, and having those skills, that employers need. As a | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
small employer myself, you know, I am seeing young people come out of | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
school without the relevant skills the employers need. I think that is | :57:54. | :58:00. | |
where our edge system needs to change. —— education system needs to | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
change. That is why our scheme to double the number of companies | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
bringing on apprenticeships is valuable. Rather than not everyone | :58:08. | :58:15. | |
in life is suited to the academic path and it is important have career | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
paths built in earlier as they do in Germany, rather than it being about | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
the exams, but it, it need to be competitive, because it is a global | :58:25. | :58:29. | |
race on every level, and we need to make sure we are robustly getting | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
people prepare for that academically and in the skill skills which is | :58:34. | :58:38. | |
important. Now, our regular round up of the | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
political week in the south in 60 seconds. | :58:42. | :58:53. | |
Back to school, and in Southampton these blazers are recycled. Not from | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
the second—hand shop, they are made of plastic bottles, which might help | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
in Oxfordshire. The operators of a landfill site were refused | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
permission to take more waste. Residents worried about lorries and | :59:06. | :59:12. | |
machinery at night. At March wood they are recycling old vehicles from | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
Afghanistan. The Defence Secretary say some will be overhauled before | :59:17. | :59:21. | |
being redeployed. Anything that doesn't make it will be sold or | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
destroyed or gifted. They won't be needed in the New Forest though, | :59:25. | :59:30. | |
where they are spending £4 million getting people out of their vehicles | :59:30. | :59:34. | |
We estimate nearly 200,000 private car miles are saved by customers | :59:34. | :59:40. | |
leaving their cars at home. Finally a Portsmouth taxi driver has started | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
a campaign to bring down the cost of license, though issued for just £11, | :59:44. | :59:49. | |
they can resell for 35,000. Lots about recycling, and using your | :59:49. | :00:01. | |
cars less, or more where the —— with the taxis, but the Green Party with | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
their conference going on, and both your parties claim to be green and | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
doing lots for the environment. What is the greenest thing you do? | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
Personally? Yes. Well, I try to cycle when I can to my council | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
meetings, my children cycle everywhere, we have solar panels on | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
the roof. You have?I do and in fact a few weeks time I will be going out | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
with the binmen in Poole to see how we can increase the recycling rates | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
there, because they are awful. I am working hard with my colleagues on | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
the council to improve that. I think it is washing out the cans. You | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
don't have to do that. That is a fallacy. What is greenest thing you | :00:42. | :00:50. | |
do? Not waste food. Because so much, take red meat. The impact on the | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
land, the cattle take up, the methane, transporting, energy for | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
refrigerating and we though a third of food away as a nation. We buy and | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
eat the food we need. That cuts it down a huge amount. The other thing | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
is if everyone lived like we do in Britain we would knee three grope | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
globe, in America, it is ten globes. Whereas in sub—Saharan Africa you | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
don't need a globe at all. We as a society need to change what we | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
consume. I am going to send you over the to Brighton I think to the Green | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
Party confrerntion see how you get on. Thanks very much to my guests. | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
Party confrerntion see how you get deserves a programme all to itself. | :01:33. | :01:44. | |
In a moment, more from our political Good afternoon. Nick Clegg says | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
victory for either the Conservatives Good afternoon. Nick Clegg says | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
or labour at the next election would put at risk the economic recovery | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
is. Speaking in Glasgow at the Liberal Democrat annual conference, | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
he said a coalition would allow Liberal Democrat annual conference, | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
party to balance politics and enable the government to finish the job of | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
repairing the economy fairly. It is my genuine belief that if we go | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
repairing the economy fairly. It is coalition and Islands politics, | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
repairing the economy fairly. It is dominating blood on their own, you | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
will get a recovery which is neither fair nor sustainable. Labour would | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
wreck the recovery, and under the fair nor sustainable. Labour would | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
same commitment to fairness as ours, you would get the wrong kind | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
Two 19-year-old woman arrested after a stabbing on Thursday have been | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
released without charge. Police a stabbing on Thursday have been | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
trying to discover if there is a link between the killing and a fire | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
four hours later in which four Five people are being questioned in | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
connection with that blaze. A Syrian government minister has described | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
the agreement drawn up by America country's chemical weapons as a | :02:54. | :03:01. | |
The minister claims the deals helps the Syrians out of a crisis and | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
others war. The US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel to | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
brief the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on the proposal. China | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
and France have also welcomed the deal, which says Syria has until | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
Friday to submit a competence of list of its chemical stockpile. | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
Britain's Mo Farah has missed out on winning his first half marathon | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
Britain's Mo Farah has missed out on He was taking part in the Great | :03:27. | :03:29. | |
North Run between Newcastle and South Shields. Farrar, who was the | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
favourite following his two gold Ethiopian's can mean many Serb | :03:33. | :03:42. | |
favourite following his two gold Kenenisa Bekele in a sprint finish. | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
A carnival atmosphere for the start was about the challenge. For others, | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
walking it, so I have no time in simply dressing up for fun. I am | :03:52. | :04:00. | |
walking it, so I have no time in mind. I just want to enjoy it and | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
appreciate the crowds and have a fantastic time. For elite athletes, | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
today's race was about who would be first over the line. Despite the | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
wind and rain, large crowds turned out for the world's most popular | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
half marathon, which attracts some of the finest women runners, two, | :04:17. | :04:25. | |
including the Kenyan. There were high hopes for Britain's double | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
Olympic champion Mo Farah, but after Shields, he was narrowly beaten | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
Ethiopian's Kenenisa Bekele. It Shields, he was narrowly beaten | :04:36. | :04:46. | |
thought I would come back and close the gap slowly. I managed to close | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
it a little bit, but you can't take away what he has. Wheelchair athlete | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
David Weir won his race for a fourth time. More than £200 million has | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
been raised since the Great North That is it for now. There will be | :05:01. | :05:16. | |
more news on BBC One at 6:35pm. So, did anything happen while we | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
were away this summer? I thought heading now? Who better to answer | :05:19. | :05:27. | |
than the best political panel we could cobble together for a tenner? | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
Putting foreign affairs to one side for a moment, it seems that what | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
happened mystically was that it became more apparent that some sort | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
of recovery was underway at last, and that Mr Miliband still has not | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
yet resonated with the British public. These things are a problem | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
for Labour. Ed Miliband's mistake over the summer holiday was to take | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
a summer holiday. And it looked over the summer holiday was to take | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
the rest of the Labour Party had taken one too. They were not finding | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
issues they could make their own. The only person who made an impact | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
was Stella Creasy on online abuse. That is a huge problem, and it is | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
partly down to the fact that there is this intense message discipline. | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
They don't want to say anything is this intense message discipline. | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
of line until they have got all their ducks in a row. It makes the | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
party do at the moment. The terms of party do at the moment. The terms of | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
trade have swung in David Cameron's favour, but the political rhetoric | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
look at this headline from the is still with Mr Miliband. Let's | :06:30. | :06:39. | |
look at this headline from the Sunday Telegraph. That headline | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
might not be right, but the story is significant in that Mr Cameron is | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
still in danger on his right flank significant in that Mr Cameron is | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
doesn't need an enormous share of the vote to get an overall majority? | :06:51. | :06:59. | |
Westminster group think. Of course Ed Miliband is in trouble. The | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
Tories are reserved and. They are better organised, the economy is | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
recovering. That poses difficulties for Labour, but if you look at what | :07:08. | :07:15. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP still pose a danger to Cameron. | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP don't need to poll 15% in a lot | :07:18. | :07:19. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP those marginal seats, they just | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
is happening on the ground, UKIP to get five or 6% of the vote, and | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
that could potentially destroy the Tory lead. Lots of commentators | :07:24. | :07:33. | |
that could potentially destroy the to say, this guy will never be prime | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
minister, but it is possible that by default or by accident, in a very | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
Miliband could end up as prime minister. It is still all to play | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
for on both sides. If UKIP remains a threat to the Tory right flank and | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
the Tories themselves are not really a national party any more, I am | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
the Tories themselves are not really they will only target a few seats in | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
Scotland, they don't get any big seats in the big cities of the north | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
any more, they don't get the Ulster vote they used to get, so it is | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
possible that Labour, which is more nationally based and has seats in | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
the Midlands and the north and in Wales, so they could get in. I | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
agree. The advantage of having a bad summer is that Ed Miliband can go to | :08:18. | :08:25. | |
expectations. All he has to do is not dribble on the lectern, and | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
expectations. All he has to do is will be written up as spectacular. | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
expectations. All he has to do is He might not even use a lectin. | :08:31. | :08:38. | |
position. The electoral vagaries of the system work in his favour. He | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
still has a narrow poll lead, he is not out of the game at all. Of the | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
three main party leaders, the only one who can be confident about being | :08:47. | :08:54. | |
three main party leaders, the only in government after 2015 is Nick | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
electorally. But if it is this bad for Labour at the moment, what will | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
it be like if this recovery turns out to be real? It depends how much | :09:06. | :09:14. | |
they succeed. Chuka Umunna was shifting the debate are living | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
standards. They don't want to keep arguing about who called it right. | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
Do people feel richer than they arguing about who called it right. | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
in 2010? The data suggests that people don't feel richer than in | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
2010. Because they are not.That people don't feel richer than in | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
the basis on which Labour will fight the next election. It is clear that | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
Labour are unclear on what to say or do next. They have just got to hope | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
and pray that the economy is not as soundly based as it appears to be | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
and that George Osborne is Tony Barber, who thought he fixed the | :09:45. | :09:53. | |
just before the next crash. There are all sorts of uncertainties | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
just before the next crash. There China, the bond market, the housing | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
bubble might be blown up, and Labour just had to hope something goes | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
wrong for Osborne. Chuka Umunna just had to hope something goes | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
he would not get rid of help to just had to hope something goes | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
There are all these criticisms about just had to hope something goes | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
artificial schemes pumping up house prices, but he would not say that. | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
It is tortuous. You see this again and again. When asked if Labour | :10:19. | :10:27. | |
would repeal the bedroom tax, or the same thing with Royal Mail, it | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
happens again. They will be falling on people who have not had a meal in | :10:29. | :10:41. | |
coming out of the Labour Party. There is a kind and Gillette in | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
coming out of the Labour Party. them to a politician's career. When | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
they are under attack for a long time, the media get bored after | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
they are under attack for a long while and switch the story. It | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
happened to Osborne, who had a horrific 2012 and has recovered | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
bad press as he is getting at the moment, because people find it | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
tedious. Syria has been the big foreign-policy event this summer. It | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
has remarkably led to a Soviet- American initiative to get Syria to | :11:10. | :11:19. | |
give up its chemical weapons. The world will now expect the Assad | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
regime to live up to its public commitments. As I said at the outset | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
anything less than full compliance. John Kerry. Is this too good to | :11:27. | :11:44. | |
anything less than full compliance. true? Even superficially, it is | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
anything less than full compliance. very good. The only people who | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
emerge with any sense of triumph are the Russians, who have had their | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
emerge with any sense of triumph are biggest diplomatic coup. They are | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
back on the stage again. B if you want to know why Putin even has | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
back on the stage again. B if you because of moments like this. They | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
were humiliated after the end of the Cold War, and a Nou Camp is a great | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
power again. Then you have the Obama situation, because he has ended | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
power again. Then you have the Obama where he wanted to end up. He has | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
power again. Then you have the Obama concession from Syria, but the way | :12:16. | :12:16. | |
he got there was so embarrassing. It concession from Syria, but the way | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
made him look weak and erratic as a leader. There were contradictions | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
between himself and his Secretary of State last week, and it has not | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
between himself and his Secretary of him any good. I was in the States, | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
and it was open season on him. I have never understood the idea of | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
chemical weapons as a red line when you can massacre people in their | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
thousands through other means. But chemical weapons are beyond the | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
pale. The rebels are miserable. chemical weapons are beyond the | :12:50. | :12:57. | |
have run out of time. I will have to ask you what you think about Syria | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
next week, which gives you time ask you what you think about Syria | :12:59. | :13:05. | |
prepare. Your book on Fred the shred is going well? It is.I am back | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
tomorrow at noon with the Daily Politics at noon on BBC Two, where | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
we will have more from the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow. | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
we will have more from the Liberal is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:18. | :13:18. | |
conference coverage. Next week, is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
will be back here at our normal is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
of 11am, when we will be joined is the start of our Daily Politics | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
Grant Shapps. Remember, if it is Sunday, it is the Sunday Politics. | :13:30. | :13:50. |