Browse content similar to 19/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It's Sunday morning and this is the Sunday Politics. | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
She faces huge political fights over Brexit, Scottish independence, | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
After a tumultuous political week, we'll analyse the PM's prospects. | :00:40. | :00:52. | |
With chatter increasing about a possible early General Election, | :00:53. | :00:54. | |
Jeremy Corbyn's campaign chief joins me live. | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
NHS bosses warn health services in England are facing "mission | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
impossible" and waiting times for operations will rocket, | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
unless hospitals are given more cash this year. | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
Later in the programme. Providers joins me live. | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
A stark warning from the First Minister unless there's | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
clarity over who does what after Brexit. | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
And the Tory leader in Wales, after a tricky week for the party. | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
All that to come before 12:15pm, and I'll also be talking | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
to the former leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg | :01:36. | :01:37. | |
from his party's spring conference in York. | :01:38. | :01:39. | |
With me here in the studio, throughout the programme, | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
three of the country's top political commentators: | :01:45. | :01:46. | |
Tom Newton Dunn, Isabel Oakeshott and Steve Richards. | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
They'll be tweeting their thoughts using #bbcsp. | :01:53. | :01:53. | |
So, the political challenges facing Theresa May are stacking up. | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
As well as negotiating Britain's exit from the EU, | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
the PM must now deal with SNP demands for a second referendum | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
on Scottish independence, backbenchers agitating against cuts | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
to school budgets, and a humiliated Chancellor forced to u-turn on a key | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
budget measure just one week after announcing it. | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
Here's Adam Fleming on aturbulent political week | :02:19. | :02:20. | |
Monday, 11:30am, TV crews gather in the residence of the First | :02:21. | :02:37. | |
Minister of Scotland, who's got a surprise. | :02:38. | :02:38. | |
She wants a vote on whether Scotland should leave the UK | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
By taking the steps I have set out today I am ensuring that Scotland's | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
future will be decided, not just by me, the | :02:47. | :02:48. | |
Scottish Government, or the | :02:49. | :02:49. | |
SNP, it will be decided by the people of Scotland. | :02:50. | :02:51. | |
Westminster, 6:25pm the same day, MPs reject | :02:52. | :03:01. | |
amendments to the legislation authorising the Prime Minister to | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
The Bill ceremonially heads to the Lords where peers abandoned | :03:06. | :03:19. | |
attempts to change it and it becomes law. | :03:20. | :03:21. | |
But Downing Street doesn't trigger Article 50 as many had expected. | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
Some say they were spooked by Nicola Sturgeon. | :03:29. | :03:30. | |
We get an e-mail from the Treasury can the | :03:31. | :03:47. | |
We get an e-mail from the Treasury cancelling | :03:48. | :03:48. | |
the planned rise in National Insurance for | :03:49. | :04:00. | |
the self-employed announced the budget. | :04:01. | :04:01. | |
It's just minutes before Prime Minister's Questions at noon. | :04:02. | :04:03. | |
The trend towards greater self-employment does create a | :04:04. | :04:05. | |
We will bring forward further proposals | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
but we will not bring forward increases to NICs later in this | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
It seems to me like a government in a bit of chaos here. | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
By making this change today we are listening to our colleagues | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
fulfil both the letter and the spirit of our manifesto tax | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
Thursday, 7am, Conservative campaign HQ and the | :04:22. | :04:31. | |
Electoral Commission fines the party ?70,000 for misreporting spending | :04:32. | :04:33. | |
But that's not what the Prime Minister | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
Because at 12:19pm she gives her verdict on a | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
We should be working together, not pulling apart. | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
We should be working together to get that | :04:48. | :04:49. | |
right deal for Scotland, that | :04:50. | :04:50. | |
So, as I say, that's my job as Prime Minister and | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
so for that reason I say to the SNP now is not the time. | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
Friday and time for the faithful to gather. | :05:00. | :05:01. | |
SNP activists at their spring conference | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
Conservatives in Cardiff to hear the Prime Minister | :05:04. | :05:13. | |
promote her plan for a more meritocratic Brexit Britain. | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
At 11:10am comes some news about a newspaper that's frankly | :05:18. | :05:19. | |
I'm thrilled and excited to be the new editor of The | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
Evening Standard and, you know, with so many | :05:27. | :05:28. | |
big issues in our world what | :05:29. | :05:30. | |
good analysis, great news journalism. | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
It's a really important time for good journalism that The | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
Evening Standard is going to provide. | :05:41. | :05:41. | |
There was no let-up yesterday as Gordon Brown launched proposals | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
Under my proposals we keep the Barnett | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
Formula, we keep the fiscal transfers, but we also bring the | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
and fisheries back to the Scottish Parliament. | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
And just think, all this and we're still counting down to the | :06:03. | :06:04. | |
What a week in politics. It has been a torrid week for the government, | :06:05. | :06:22. | |
Isabel Oakeshott, but does Theresa May shake it off, or is this a sign | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
of worse to come? We may all be feeling a bit breathless after the | :06:28. | :06:29. | |
events of last week and we are in for a a long war of attrition with | :06:30. | :06:37. | |
the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon's strategy will be to foster over lengthy | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
periods of time as much resentment and anger as she can in Scotland and | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
try to create the impression that independence is somehow inevitable. | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
Is Scotland the biggest challenge for Theresa May in the next year or | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
so? I think it probably is because if you look at how relatively easily | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
the Brexit bill went through on an issue where people could hardly feel | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
more passionate in the Commons, and actually despite all the potential | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
drama it has gone through quite smoothly. To go back to your | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
original question, she just carries on. Don't underestimate the basic | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
quiet and will towards Theresa May amongst the majority of Tory | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
backbenchers. Yes, there are difficult little issues over school | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
funding, sorry, it's not a little issue, it is a big one but she will | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
get over that and treat each thing as it comes and keep pressing on. | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
Has she not called Nicola Sturgeon's Bluff in that the First Minister | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
said I want a referendum, here is roughly when I wanted, the Prime | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
Minister says you're not having one. What happens next? She has done | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
quite well and impact the progress Theresa May made this week in | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
frustrating Nicola Sturgeon was evident when Nicola Sturgeon said, | :07:51. | :07:53. | |
OK, maybe we can talk about the timing after. Nicola Sturgeon has | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
already been the first one to blink. I would slightly disagree with | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
Isabel Oakeshott, I don't agree Scotland will be the biggest hurdle | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
for her. What this week showed as is Theresa May... It was a reality | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
bites week. Theresa May is juggling four mammoth crises at the same | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
time, Brexit obviously which I still think will be the biggest challenge | :08:14. | :08:16. | |
to get a good deal, Trump left field who popped up at GCHQ on Friday and | :08:17. | :08:23. | |
Scotland and the fiscal challenge, this enormous great problem, and it | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
reinforced the point this is not an easy time in politics. The budget is | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
over four years. That was one small problem, the immediate problem is | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
how to fill the social care crisis and the ageing demographic. This is | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
not normal times in British politics and Theresa May does not have a | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
normal workload on her plate, hence why I think we will see more | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
mistakes made as time goes on and as she has this almost impossible | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
workload to juggle. How tempted do you think the Prime Minister is to | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
call an early election? There is more chatter about it now. Is she | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
tempted and if there is will she succumb? I will answer that in a | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
second as Harold Wilson used to say. I want to agree, disagree with the | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
rest of the panel about how she has out manipulated Nicola Sturgeon this | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
week. I think Nicola Sturgeon expected Theresa May to say no to | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
her expected timetable. It would be amazing if she had said yes. She | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
expected her to say no but Sturgeon catalyst that will fuel support for | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
her cause. There is no sign of that. The latest poll this morning shows | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
66-44 against independence and only 13% think they would be better off | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
with an independent Scotland and a clear majority do not want a second | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
referendum. But the calculation of resistance from Westminster combined | :09:43. | :09:45. | |
with Brexit which hasn't started yet, I think this is her | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
calculation, she didn't expect Theresa May to say, sure, go ahead, | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
I'm sure she expected Theresa May to say no, you can't have it at your | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
desired timetable. On the wider point, I think Theresa May is in a | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
fascinating position, she is both strong because she faces weak | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
opposition and is ahead in the opinion polls. But faces the most | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
daunting agenda of any Prime Minister for 40 or 50 years, I | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
think. So it's a weird combination. I don't think she wants to call an | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
election. I don't think she has thought about how you would | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
manipulate it, what the trigger would be, and whether she's got the | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
energy and space to prepare for and then mount a campaign was beginning | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
the Brexit negotiation. Now, you could see the cause would be the | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
small majorities that will make her life hellish, which it will do. | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
Whether a landslide would help is another question, they can be | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
difficult too. But I think the problems outweigh the advantages of | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
going early. Do you think she would go for an early election? I don't | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
and I think you have to look at the rhetoric coming out of No 10 which | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
is so firm on this question, it is a delicious prospect for us as | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
commentators to think there might be an election around the corner but | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
they are so firm on this I can't see it happening. I agree, we are in | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
unanimous agreement on this one. It is superficially attractive because | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
she would love the big majority and she would get a lot more through | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
Parliament especially with Brexit. The nitty-gritty of it makes an | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
early General Election this year almost impossible. How do you write | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
a manifesto on high Brexit versus soft Brexit, it opens up a Pandora's | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
box of uncertainties. And there is enough with the European elections. | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
The EU will say are we negotiating with you or the person who may | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
replace you? How do you keep the Tory party united going to an | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
election? How do you call one, with a vote of no confidence in yourself | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
you may end up losing. Easy on paper but difficult in practice. We shall | :11:42. | :11:42. | |
see. So if Theresa May did go | :11:43. | :11:44. | |
for an early election this spring, The party's campaigns | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
and elections chief Andrew Gwynne Andrew Gwynne, the government, as we | :11:48. | :11:57. | |
have just been talking about, executed one of the most | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
embarrassing U-turns in recent history this week. It has been a | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
torrid time for the Theresa May government. Why are the Tories still | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
so chipper? The Labour Party has been on an | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
early election footing since before Christmas and we are preparing | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
ourselves for that eventuality in case that does come. That means that | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
we've got to get ourselves into a position whereby we can not only | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
challenge the government but we can also offer a valuable alternative | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
for the British people to choose from should that election arise. So, | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
would you welcome an early General Election? Well, of course, I don't | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
want this government to be in power so of course if there is an | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
opportunity to put a case to the British people as to why there is a | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
better way, and I believe the Labour way is the better way than of course | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
we would want to put that case to the country. So, would Labour vote | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
in the Commons for an early election? Well, of course as an | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
opposition, not wanting to be in opposition, wanting to be in | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
government should the government put forward a measure in accordance with | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
the Fixed-term Parliaments Act then that's something we would very | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
seriously have to consider. I know you would have to consider it but | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
would you vote for an early election or not? Well, of course we want to | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
be the government so if the current government puts forward measures to | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
bring forward a General Election we would want to put our case to the | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
British public and that's one of the jobs that I've been given, together | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
Labour Party organisation early into a position where we can fight a | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
General Election -- organisationally. For the avoidance | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
of doubt, if the Government work to issue a motion in the Commons for an | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
early election, the Labour Party would vote for an early election? | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
It would be very difficult not, Andrew. If the Government wants to | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
dissolve parliament, wants a General Election, we don't want the Tories | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
in government, we want to be in government and we want to have that | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
opportunity to put that case to the British people. | :14:01. | :14:02. | |
Are you ready for an early election? You say you have been on a war all | :14:03. | :14:11. | |
but since the Labour conference last autumn, but are you ready for one? | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
How big is the election fighting fund? We have substantial amounts of | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
money in our fighting fund, that is true, because not only has the | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
Labour Party managed to eliminate its own financial deficit that it | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
inherited from previous election campaigns, we have also managed to | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
build up a substantial fund in the off chance we have an election. We | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
have also expanded massively operations at Labour HQ, we are | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
taking on additional staff, and one of the jobs that myself and Ian | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
Lavery who I job share with are currently doing is to go around the | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
Parliamentary Labour Party to make sure that Labour colleagues have the | :14:52. | :14:54. | |
support and the resources that they need, should they have to face the | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
electorate in their constituencies. So you are on a war footing, ready | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
for the fight, you say you would vote for the fight, so have you got | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
your tax and spend policies ready to roll out? That is something the | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
shadow Treasury team will be discussing. One of the things is, if | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
there is an early General Election, the normal timetable for these | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
things gets fast-track because our policy decision-making body, its | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
annual conference, we have the national policy forum that creates | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
policies suggestions. You have been on a war footing since the last | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
Labour conference, that is what Mr Corbyn told us. So you must have a | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
fair idea of what policies you would fight an early election on. How much | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
extra per year would you spend on the NHS? Well, look, I'm not going | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
to set out the Labour manifesto for an election that hasn't been called. | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
I'm just asking you about the NHS. You must have a policy for that. We | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
have a policy for the NHS. So how much extra? I will not set out | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
Labour's tax-and-spend policies here on The Sunday Politics when there | :16:01. | :16:03. | |
hasn't even been election called. You said you had been on a war | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
footing and you are prepared to vote for one, so if you can't Tommy that, | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
can you tell me what the corporation rate tax on company profits be under | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
a Labour government -- tell me that. You will have to be patient. I have. | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
And wait for Mrs May to trigger an early election. If there is an | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
election on the 4th of May the rich would have to be issued on the 27th | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
of March, so that's not long to wait. If that date passes we aren't | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
having an election on the 4th of May and the normal timetable for policy | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
development will continue. All right. You lost Copeland, I think | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
you were in charge of a by-election for Labour, your national poll | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
ratings are still dire, even after week of terrible times for the | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
Tories. Sometimes you even lose local government by-elections in | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
safe seats, including in the place you are now, in Salford. How long | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
does Mr Corbyn have to turn this around? Well, look, the issue of the | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
Labour leadership was settled last year. The last thing the Labour | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
Party now needs is another period of introspection with the Labour Party | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
merely talks to the Labour Party. We are now on an election footing in | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
case Mrs May does trigger an early General Election. We need to be | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
talking to the British people are not to ourselves. So any speculation | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
about the Labour leadership might excite you in the media but actually | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
for us in the Labour Party it's about re-engaging and reconnecting | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
with the voters. Rather than being excited, I feel quite daunted at the | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
prospect of an early election. So I wouldn't get that right. Normally, | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
given the number of mistakes this government has made, and its | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
mid-term, you would expect any self-respecting opposition to be | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
about ten points ahead. On the latest polls this morning you are 17 | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
behind. There is a 27-30 point gap from where you should normally be as | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
an opposition. Are you telling me that if that doesn't change, you | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
still fight the General Election with Mr Corbyn? | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
These are matters for the future. I believe the leadership issue was | :18:17. | :18:24. | |
settled last year. We have had two leadership contest in two years. | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
Would you seriously contemplate going into the next election, if it | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
is early I perfectly understand Jeremy Corbyn is your man, but if it | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
is not until 2020, and you are still 17 points behind in the polls, will | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
you go into the next election like that? There is a lot of future | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
looking and speculation there, I don't know what the future holds, | :18:48. | :18:56. | |
where the Labour Party will be in 12 months let alone by 2020 summit | :18:57. | :18:58. | |
cross those bridges when we come to it. My main challenge is to make | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
sure the Labour Party is in the best possible place organisationally to | :19:03. | :19:04. | |
fight an election, that's my challenge and I'm up for that to | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
make sure we are in the best possible place to make sure Labour | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
returns as many Labour MPs as possible. Thank you for joining us. | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
And we're joined now from the Liberal Democrats' spring | :19:21. | :19:22. | |
conference in York by the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. | :19:23. | :19:24. | |
Good morning. In his conference speech today, Tim Farron lumps | :19:25. | :19:33. | |
Theresa May with Vladimir Putin, Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump. In | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
what way is Mrs May similar to Marine Le Pen? Of course he is not | :19:40. | :19:47. | |
saying Theresa May is identical to Marine Le Pen, I think what Tim | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
Wilby spelling out shortly in his speech is that we need to be aware | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
what's going on in the world, the International settlement that was | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
arrived at after the First World -- Second World War, that bound | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
supranational organisations is under attack from characters as diverse as | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
Vladimir Putin, Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump, and that by side in so | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
ostentatiously with Donald Trump and pursuing this very hard Brexit, | :20:20. | :20:22. | |
Theresa May appears to be giving succour to that much more | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
isolationist chauvinist view of the world than the multilateral approach | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
that Britain has subscribed to for a long time. The exact words he plans | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
to use are welcome to the New World order, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, | :20:38. | :20:45. | |
Marine Le Pen, Theresa May, aggressive and teenage to, anti-EU, | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
nationalistic. In what way is Mrs May fitting into any of that? In | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
what way is she similar to Vladimir Putin? I'm not aware she has | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
interfered with other people's elections. The clue is in the quote | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
you just read out, which is the world order. The world order over | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
the last half century or more, by the way a lesson I'm afraid we have | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
to learn in Europe because of the terrible bloodshed of two world was | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
in the space of a few decades, was based on the idea might is not | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
right. Strong arm leaders cannot throw their weight around. What we | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
have now with Putin, the populism across parts of Europe and Donald | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
Trump who thinks the EU will unravel is a shift to a radically different | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
view of the world. Mrs May doesn't think any of that. She is not | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
antenatal, not anti-EU, she says she wants the EU to succeed. She's not | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
aggressive as far as I'm aware so I'm not sure why you would lump the | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
British Prime Minister in with these other characters. Let me explain, by | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
choosing this uncompromising approach to Brexit, clearly in doing | :22:05. | :22:12. | |
so she, in my view, maybe not yours or others, is pursuing a self | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
harming approach to the United Kingdom but also pulling up the | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
threads that bind the rest of the European Union together, in so | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
ostentatiously siding with Donald Trump, somehow declaring in my view | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
speciously that we can make up with the trade we will lose, she's not | :22:30. | :22:38. | |
challenging the shift to a more chauvinist approach to world affairs | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
that is happening in many places. You are at your party's Spring | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
conference, I think we can agree any Lib Dem come back will take a long | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
time. Would Tory dominance be more effectively challenged by a | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
realignment of the centre and the centre-left? Are you working towards | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
that? I missed half the question but I think you are talking about a | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
realignment. As a cook a way to get over Tory dominance, would you want | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
that to happen? Are you working towards that? My view is the | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
recovery of the Lib Dems will be quicker than you suggest. People | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
often forget that even the low point of our fortunes in the last election | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
we still got a million more votes than the SNP, it's only because we | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
have got this crazy electoral system... But the SNP fight in | :23:33. | :23:40. | |
Scotland, you fight in the whole country! But I'm saying the way | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
seats are allocated overlooks the fact that 2.5 million still voted | :23:48. | :23:55. | |
for us. But my own view is of course there are people feeling | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
increasingly homeless in the liberal wing of the Conservative Party | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
because they are now in a party which is in effect indistinguishable | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
from Ukip on some of the biggest issues of the day, and homeless folk | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
on the rational, reasonable wing of the Labour Party. I would invite | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
them to join the Liberal Democrats and I would invite everyone across | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
parties to talk about the idea is that bind us because the Westminster | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
village can invest a lot of energy building new castles in the sky, | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
inventing new names for parties when actually what you want is for people | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
on the progressive centre ground of British politics to talk about the | :24:35. | :24:45. | |
ideas that unite them, from the dilemmas of artificial intelligence | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
to climate change. Do you think in your own view, can Brexit still be | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
thwarted or is it now a matter of getting the best terms? I think we | :24:56. | :25:03. | |
are in an interlude, almost a calm between two storms, the storm of the | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
referendum itself and the collision between the Government's stated | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
ambitions for Brexit and the reality of having to negotiate something | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
unworkable with 27 other governments. The one thing I can | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
guarantee you is that what the Government has promised to the | :25:21. | :25:31. | |
British people cannot happen. Over a slower period of time we will work | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
out our new relationship with the European Union. Theresa May said she | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
will settle divorce arrangements, and pensions, so one, negotiate new | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
trade agreements, new climate change policies and so on, and have all of | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
that ratified within two years, that will not happen so I think there | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
will be a lot of turbulence in the next couple of years. Will you use | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
this turbulence to try to thwart Brexit, to find a way of rolling | :26:02. | :26:08. | |
back the decision? It's not about repeating the debates of the past or | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
thwarting the will of the people but it is comparing what people were | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
promised from the ?350 million for the NHS every week through to this | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
glittering array of new trade agreements we will sign across the | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
world, with the reality that will transpire in the next couple of | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
years and at that point, yes it is my belief people should be able to | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
take a second look at if that is what they really want. A couple of | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
quick questions, would you welcome an early general election? I always | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
welcome them, we couldn't do worse than we did last time. That is | :26:48. | :26:54. | |
certainly true. You have a column in the Evening Standard, have you | :26:55. | :26:56. | |
spoken to the new editor about whether he will keep your column or | :26:57. | :27:03. | |
spike it? No, I wait in nervous anticipation. Can you be a newspaper | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
editor in the morning and an MP in the afternoon? Do I think that's | :27:11. | :27:18. | |
feasible? Sorry, I missed a bit. There is no prohibition, no law | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
against MPs being editors. They have been in the past and no doubt will | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
again in the future. He is taking a lot on, he is an editor, also | :27:29. | :27:35. | |
wanting to be an MP, a jetsetting academic in the States, working in | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
the city, I suspect something will give. It seems to me even by his | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
self-confidence standards in his own abilities I suspect he is taking on | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
a little bit too much. Very diplomatic, Mr Clegg, I'm sure you | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
will get to keep the column. Thanks for joining us. | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
Now, for the last six months England's NHS bosses have been | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
warning the health service needs more money to help it meet | :28:02. | :28:03. | |
But in his first Budget, the Chancellor offered | :28:04. | :28:06. | |
no immediate relief, and today the head of | :28:07. | :28:08. | |
the organisation representing England's NHS trusts says hundreds | :28:09. | :28:10. | |
of thousands of patients will have to wait longer for both emergency | :28:11. | :28:13. | |
care and planned operations, unless the Government | :28:14. | :28:15. | |
Warnings over funding are not exactly new. | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
Back in 2014 the head of the NHS in England, Simon Stevens, | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
published his plan for the future of the health service. | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
In his five-year forward view, Stevens said the NHS in England | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
would face a funding shortfall of up to ?30 billion by 2020. | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
To bridge that gap he said the NHS would need more money | :28:37. | :28:39. | |
from the Government, at least ?8 billion extra, | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
and that the health service could account for the rest by making | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
The Government says it's given the health service more than what it | :28:46. | :28:52. | |
asked for, and that NHS in England will have received | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
That number is disputed by NHS managers and the chair | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
of Parliament's health committee, who say the figure is more | :29:01. | :29:02. | |
like ?4.5 billion, while other parts of the health and social care budget | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
have been cut, putting pressure on the front line. | :29:07. | :29:12. | |
Last year, two thirds of NHS trusts in England finished | :29:13. | :29:15. | |
the year in the red, and despite emergency bailouts | :29:16. | :29:17. | |
from the Government, the NHS is likely to record | :29:18. | :29:19. | |
Meanwhile national targets on waiting times for A | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
departments, diagnostic tests, and operations are being | :29:25. | :29:27. | |
This month's Budget provided ?2 billion for social care | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
but there was no new cash for the NHS, leading trusts to warn | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
that patient care is beginning to suffer, and what is being asked | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
And I'm joined now by the Chief Executive of NHS | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
Providers in England, Chris Hopson. | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
Welcome to the programme. Morning, Andrew. I will come onto the extra | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
money you need to do your job properly in a minute but first, part | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
of the deal was you had to make 22 billion in efficiency savings, not a | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
bank that money but spend it on patient care, the front line, and so | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
on. How is that going? So, last parliament we realised around 18 | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
billion of productivity and efficiency savings, we are realising | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
more this year so we are on course to realise 3 billion this year, that | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
is a quarter of a billion more than last year but all of us in the NHS | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
knew the 22 billion would be a very stretching target and we are | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
somewhat inevitably falling short. So it is 22 billion by 2,020. | :30:34. | :30:39. | |
Roughly. That was the time. We are now into 2017. So how much of the 22 | :30:40. | :30:48. | |
billion have you achieved? We realised around 3 billion last year | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
and we will realise 3 billion this year, Court of billion more, 3.25 | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
billion this year, so we are on course for 18-19,000,000,000. By the | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
2021 period? You are not that far away. The problem is the degree to | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
which demand is going up. We have record demand over the winter period | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
and that actually meant we have seen more people than we have ever seen | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
before but performance is still under real pressure. Let me come | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
onto that. When you agreed on the 22 billion efficiency savings plus some | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
extra money from the government, I know there is a bit of an argument | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
about how much that is actually worth, had you not factored in this | :31:30. | :31:35. | |
extra demand that you saw coming over the next three or four years? | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
Let's be very clear committee referred to Simon Stevens's forward | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
view and we signed up to it but the 22 billion was a process run at the | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
centre of government by the Department of Health with its arms | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
length bodies, NHS England and others and is not something that was | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
consulted on with the NHS. But you signed up to it. We always said that | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
the day that that Spending Review was announced, the idea that the NHS | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
where customer demand goes up something like four or 5% every | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
year, the idea that in the middle years of Parliament we would be able | :32:09. | :32:11. | |
to provide the same level of service when we were only getting funding | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
increases of 1.3%, 0.4% and 0.7%, and I can show you the press release | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
we issued, we always said there was going to be a gap and that we would | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
not be able to deliver what was required. The full 22 billion in | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
other words? What we said to Simon Stevens at the Public Accounts | :32:34. | :32:36. | |
Committee a few months ago, the NHS didn't get what it was asked for. | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
Today the NHS, cope with the resources it has according to you. | :32:42. | :32:48. | |
How much more does it need? Are reported is about 2017-18 and we | :32:49. | :32:51. | |
estimate that what we are being asked to do, and again, Andrew, you | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
clearly set it out in the package, we are a long way off the four-hour | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
A target and a long way off the 92%. The waiting times and | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
operations. How much more do you need? And we are making up a ?900 | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
million deficit. If you take all of those into account we estimate you | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
would need an extra ?3.5 billion next year in order to deliver all of | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
those targets and eliminate the deficit. That would be 3.5 billion | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
on top of what is already planned next year and that would be 3.5 | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
billion repeated in the years to come too? Yes, Andrew it is | :33:28. | :33:30. | |
important we should make an important distinction about the NHS | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
versus other public services. When the last government, the last Labour | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
government put extra money into the NHS it clearly said that in return | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
for that it would establish some standards in the NHS Constitution, | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
the 95% A target we have talked about and the 92% elective surgery | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
we have talked about. The trust we represent are very clear, they would | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
want to realise those standards, but you can only do it if you pay for | :33:57. | :33:59. | |
it. The problem is at the moment is we are in the longest and deepest | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
financial squeeze in NHS history. As we have said, funding is only going | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
up by 1% per year but every year just to stand still cost and demand | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
go up by more than 4%. There is clearly a demand for more money. I | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
think people watching this programme will think probably the NHS is going | :34:20. | :34:22. | |
to have to get more money to meet the goals you have been given. I | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
think they would also like to be sure that your Mac running the NHS | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
as efficiently as it could be. We read this morning that trusts have | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
got ?100 million of empty properties that cost 10 million to maintain, 36 | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
office blocks are not being used, you have surplus land equivalent to | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
1800 football pitches. Yes, there are a number of things that we know | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
in the NHS we need to do better but let me remind you, Andrew, in the | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
last Parliament we realised ?18 billion worth of cost improvement | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
gains. We are going to realise another 3 billion this year, 0.25 | :34:59. | :35:05. | |
billion more than last year so these things are being targeted. But | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
having that surplus land, it is almost certainly in areas where | :35:10. | :35:11. | |
there is a demand for housing. Absolutely. So why not release it | :35:12. | :35:18. | |
for housing? You get the money, the people get their houses and its | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
contribution and a signal that you are running NHS assets as | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
efficiently as you can? Tell me if I'm going to too much detail for | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
you. One of the reasons as to why our trusts are reluctant to realise | :35:32. | :35:34. | |
those land sales is because there is an assumption that the money would | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
go back to the Treasury and wouldn't benefit NHS trusts. You could make a | :35:40. | :35:42. | |
deal, couldn't you? That's part of the conversation going on at the | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
moment. The issue is that we would want to ensure that if we do release | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
land, quite rightly the benefit, particularly in foundation trusts | :35:52. | :36:03. | |
which are, as you will remember, deliberately autonomous | :36:04. | :36:04. | |
organisations, that they should keep the benefit of those land sales. | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
Have you raised that with the government? | :36:08. | :36:07. | |
Yes we have. What did they say? They are in discussions of it. We heard | :36:08. | :36:19. | |
somebody who moved from one job and then to another job and given a big | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
salary and then almost ?200,000 as a payoff. There is a national mood for | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
the NHS to get more money. But before you give anybody any more | :36:29. | :36:31. | |
money you want to be sure that the money you have got already is being | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
properly spent, which for us, is the patient at the end of the day. And | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
yet there seem to be these enormous salaries and payoffs. I've worked in | :36:41. | :36:48. | |
a FTSE 100 on the board of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and I | :36:49. | :36:50. | |
have worked in large organisations. I can look you completely straight | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
in the eye and tell you that the jobs that our hospital, community, | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
mental health and ambulance chief Executives do are amongst the most | :36:57. | :36:59. | |
complicated leadership roles I have ever seen. It doesn't seem to me to | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
be unreasonable that in order to get the right quality of people we | :37:05. | :37:07. | |
should pay an appropriate salary. The reality is the salaries are paid | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
are not excessive when talking about managing budgets of over ?1 billion | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
a year and talking about managing tens of thousands of staff. There | :37:17. | :37:24. | |
was a doctor working as a locum that earned an extra ?375,000. One of the | :37:25. | :37:27. | |
problems in the NHS is a mismatch between the number of staff we need | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
and the number of staff coming through the pipeline. What is having | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
to happen is if you want to keep a service going you have to use Mackem | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
and agency staff. Even at that cost? You would not want to pay those | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
amounts. But you are. The chief Executives's choice in those areas | :37:46. | :37:49. | |
is giving the service open or employing a locum. I'm sure you | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
could find a locum prepared to work for less than that. What indication, | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
what hopes do you have of getting the extra ?3 billion? The government | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
has been very clear, for the moment it wants to stick to the existing | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
funding settlement it has agreed. So there was nothing in the budget. Can | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
I finish by making one important point. Please, finish. This is the | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
first time the NHS has said before the year has even started that we | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
can't deliver on those standards. We believe, as do most people who work | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
in the NHS, that the NHS is on a gradual slow decline. This is a very | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
important inflection point to Mark, this is the first time before the | :38:32. | :38:34. | |
financial year starts that we say we cannot meet the targets we are being | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
asked to deliver and are in the NHS Constitution. We have run out of | :38:40. | :38:42. | |
time. Chris Hopson, thank you for being with me. | :38:43. | :38:43. | |
It's just gone 11:35am, you're watching the Sunday Politics. | :38:44. | :38:45. | |
We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland who leave us now | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
Hello and welcome to Sunday Politics Wales. | :38:49. | :38:57. | |
Labour veteran Jack Straw on Brexit, devolution and his party's woes, | :38:58. | :39:00. | |
and Andrew RT Davies on how the Tories are putting this week | :39:01. | :39:03. | |
behind them and looking to the local elections. | :39:04. | :39:13. | |
But first more on the constitutional convention the First Minister says | :39:14. | :39:15. | |
he wants, to discuss the future shape of the UK. | :39:16. | :39:18. | |
When I spoke to Carwyn Jones, I asked how this was different | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
from a similar call he made five years ago. | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
We've got real challenges as far as the UK is concerned. | :39:29. | :39:31. | |
And those challenges can be met in order for the UK to remain | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
in the 21st century but we need to work out who does | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
what when we leave the EU and so far Whitehall hasn't | :39:38. | :39:39. | |
What we have said is, there are areas which are already | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
the responsibility of Wales, and Scotland and Northern Ireland, | :39:45. | :39:46. | |
there should be a joint decision-making process, | :39:47. | :39:47. | |
we have to work out what rules there will be in the internal | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
single market of the UK and who polices them. | :39:52. | :39:53. | |
Not difficult but the work needs to start now. | :39:54. | :39:55. | |
Isn't there a danger, though, you're going to be | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
We're already seeing the SNP calling for a second | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
The UK Government doesn't seem all that interested in your idea | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
of constitutional Convention, you're the mercy of others. | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
We were way ahead of the game, we recognised a long time ago | :40:10. | :40:12. | |
what the challenges would be for the UK. | :40:13. | :40:14. | |
It is up to Whitehall whether it listens enough | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
The ball in the UK Government's court. | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
If they don't listen, then people are going to make their own minds up | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
So these things have to be sorted out now rather than the platitudes | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
We need to see action now so we understand the UK | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
is a partnership of four nations, not one imposing its will | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
We have been discussing this for a number of years and I guess | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
the problem will be for people watching this programme now, | :40:48. | :40:49. | |
the constitution again, how is that going to improve my life? | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
With services, schools and hospitals, what would be | :40:53. | :40:55. | |
Certainty, we need to know who does what. | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
For example, if you don't have any rules at all about what can happen | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
in the UK if we leave the EU, we're going to have a trade war | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
in the UK between the different nations, no one wants that, | :41:07. | :41:08. | |
that would cost jobs, it would cost a lot of money, | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
And that needs to be resolved as soon as possible. | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
Do you think that could happen, there could be a trade | :41:15. | :41:17. | |
war between Scotland, England and Wales after Brexit? | :41:18. | :41:19. | |
The EU state aids rules govern what we can and can't do. | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
If there are no rules, it becomes a free for all, | :41:25. | :41:27. | |
that is a bad thing for any single market. | :41:28. | :41:29. | |
What will be your suggestion, how should this federalism, | :41:30. | :41:31. | |
this new relationship and your convention work? | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
Let's look at one example, Canada, where they have pooled sovereignty, | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
sovereignty is shared between the provinces | :41:38. | :41:38. | |
This idea that everything lies in Westminster and therefore | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
Westminster has control over every single policy, every | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
single thing ultimately, Parliamentary sovereignty, | :41:49. | :41:51. | |
I think it should be consigned to the history books. | :41:52. | :41:54. | |
We need to have a situation where we have a structure in place, | :41:55. | :41:57. | |
there is a recognition that not just of Scotland, Wales | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
and Northern Ireland, but England and the cities as well, | :42:02. | :42:03. | |
a modern constitution that will keep the UK together in the future. | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
But how do you get over the fact that what you have | :42:07. | :42:09. | |
in the United Kingdom is one massive entity, England, and the rest of | :42:10. | :42:12. | |
It's difficult, let's have a look at ways we can do that. | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
If we have for example a situation where, two examples, | :42:20. | :42:22. | |
The UK doesn't exist in agriculture and fisheries, | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
either it's European or it's the four nations who control | :42:27. | :42:28. | |
We need to have a mechanism in place where we can agree a common | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
framework and a common way forward where that's appropriate. | :42:35. | :42:36. | |
Animal health, for example, does it make sense to have three | :42:37. | :42:39. | |
different animal health regimes on one island? | :42:40. | :42:41. | |
We agree a common way forward but the difference is it should | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
That's what we need to look at in the future. | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
There are other ways in which we can look at this, | :42:50. | :42:52. | |
for example, the upper house, the Lords as it is now, | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
why not make that something like the American Senate | :42:56. | :42:57. | |
where there is equal representation from these four nations, | :42:58. | :43:00. | |
that recognises the fact that there are four nations | :43:01. | :43:02. | |
in this partnership, as of course the House of Commons | :43:03. | :43:05. | |
recognises the population difference between England and the other three. | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
So what do Carwyn Jones' political opponents make of all this? | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
James Williams took a trip to the future to find out. | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
Good evening and welcome to Wales Today. | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
Tonight's headlines on March 19th 2027. | :43:22. | :43:24. | |
With all eyes on elections in the newly independent Scotland | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
and the united Ireland, we ask what it will mean for Wales. | :43:29. | :43:31. | |
Meanwhile, a hat-trick for the Welsh football team | :43:32. | :43:34. | |
as they clinch the World Cup for third successive time. | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
OK, thanks very much, Jamie, thanks for that, | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
But in all seriousness, in the wake of the Brexit vote, | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
the idea of an independent Scotland and a united Ireland | :43:47. | :43:49. | |
So when it comes to Labour's plan for a constitutional | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
convention about the future of the United Kingdom, | :43:56. | :43:57. | |
I'll tell you the constitution convention we should be having, | :43:58. | :44:04. | |
And that's the kind of leadership that we should be seen | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
from the First Minister of Wales, is actually leading | :44:10. | :44:12. | |
a national conversation at these uncertain times. | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
And yet where is the vision for what this means for Wales? | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
That's the convention that we should be having, a cross-party, | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
across the whole of Wales, involving all sections of society, | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
Rather than the Labour Party talking to itself, why doesn't it talk | :44:32. | :44:38. | |
And in that conversation, Plaid Cymru wants to talk about | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
the prospect for an independent Wales. | :44:43. | :44:45. | |
They called for a renewed discussion on this just days | :44:46. | :44:48. | |
Whilst others were of course celebrating their independence. | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
The dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom. | :44:55. | :45:02. | |
But will it come at a price for the four nations? | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
I don't think that the UK will break up as a result of Brexit. | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
I think it will give more powers to the devolved institutions, | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
the parliament in Scotland and the assembly in Wales, | :45:16. | :45:17. | |
and that is going to help keep the kingdom together | :45:18. | :45:20. | |
because within a single entity, the devolved assemblies | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
So I think actually, it takes quite a lot | :45:26. | :45:33. | |
of power out of the demand for further separation. | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
Our party are clear, there must be a future | :45:37. | :45:39. | |
for the United Kingdom but there are issues that | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
Obviously the whole debate about devolution, the future | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
of the House of Lords, about electoral reform, | :45:49. | :45:50. | |
about devolving even more to local authorities, | :45:51. | :45:52. | |
there's a much bigger picture than what we have been presented | :45:53. | :45:55. | |
with at the moment and that requires a UK response. | :45:56. | :45:57. | |
So I do welcome it and I hope other political parties do as well. | :45:58. | :46:00. | |
This weekend has been a tale of two conferences. | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
And two competing visions for the future of the UK. | :46:04. | :46:06. | |
In Cardiff, the Prime Minister set out her desire to create | :46:07. | :46:08. | |
a more united union, just days after she rejected | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
Nicola Sturgeon's call for a second Scottish independent referendum. | :46:12. | :46:13. | |
It's safe to say Nicola Sturgeon got a better reception | :46:14. | :46:20. | |
than the Prime Minister amongst the SNP faithful. | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
With all this talk about the future of Northern Ireland and Scotland, | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
The majority of the Welsh electorate voted for Brexit which means that | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
Wales has far less leverage for example in the discussions | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
with the government in Edinburgh, even Belfast. | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
So frankly Wales is pretty marginalised, and that's of course | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
why for the Welsh Labour government the idea of a convention | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
is so attractive because I think they view it as a way of getting | :46:52. | :46:54. | |
themselves into the shop window if you like, making | :46:55. | :46:57. | |
As we prepare to leave one union, the future of the other union looks | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
Little is known about how either will turn out. | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
Now few people can say they've been in a Westminster | :47:12. | :47:13. | |
cabinet for 13 years, but Jack Straw is one of them. | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
The former Foreign Secretary, who also ran the Home Office | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
in his time, was visiting the University of | :47:20. | :47:22. | |
When I met him there I asked how trade talks would work after Brexit. | :47:23. | :47:29. | |
Well, it's not easy but I'm actually pretty optimistic about the future. | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
And that against a background in which I thought it was not | :47:33. | :47:35. | |
in our interests to leave the European Union. | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
We are 60 million people, we've got the fifth largest defence | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
forces in the world, we've got the fifth biggest economy. | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
We are the top four in exercise of what's called soft power. | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
It requires skill by British ministers and British | :47:55. | :48:02. | |
parliamentarians about how we negotiate. | :48:03. | :48:04. | |
And it's already clear that quite a number of countries, | :48:05. | :48:08. | |
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey, quite big countries, | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
want changes in trade arrangements with us so they're closer | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
We're going to reach a deal somehow or other with other member states | :48:18. | :48:24. | |
It's just possible we don't but I don't regard the WTO, | :48:25. | :48:30. | |
the foot, as a total disaster, let's see. | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
Going back 20 years, would have been the referendum | :48:36. | :48:37. | |
on devolution creating a Welsh assembly. | :48:38. | :48:40. | |
I remember it well, I remember trying to generate interest in a bus | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
station in Wrexham during the course of that campaign. | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
Well, I can't say it was my finest moment canvassing. | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
That's the thing, it was a very narrow, | :48:55. | :48:56. | |
considering the overwhelming majority... | :48:57. | :48:58. | |
Considering the thumping majority that Labour had, | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
just six months previously, to have such a narrow majority | :49:04. | :49:05. | |
there, how much of a disappointment and a surprise was that? | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
Well, I mean, look, there were plenty of people | :49:10. | :49:12. | |
who were firmly opposed to devolution back in the '70s. | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
I mean, Neil Kinnock famously who argued very, | :49:16. | :49:17. | |
very strongly and powerfully against the Labour Party's | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
Which is why the referendum in Wales in early '79 | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
Anyway, it happened, but I think that the results | :49:28. | :49:37. | |
of Welsh devolution has been pretty benign. | :49:38. | :49:40. | |
I think it's good that Wales is running so many of its own | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
services from Cardiff, from its own national capital. | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
It's good that you're getting different parts | :49:50. | :49:51. | |
of the United Kingdom trying to achieve similar aims | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
but differently, say within the health service | :49:57. | :49:58. | |
within the education service, because they only benefit | :49:59. | :50:00. | |
What was the Labour view in Westminster when you saw you had | :50:01. | :50:07. | |
the New Labour project, academy schools, foundation | :50:08. | :50:10. | |
hospitals, or working with the private sector in England, | :50:11. | :50:13. | |
and then Wales's policy of clear water, we are not | :50:14. | :50:16. | |
following the New Labour model, it was almost a dirty word | :50:17. | :50:18. | |
If you give people power, you can't at the same time say, | :50:19. | :50:32. | |
and what's more, you've got to use the power the way | :50:33. | :50:35. | |
So my view is, that was a natural consequence of devolution, | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
that different parts of the UK, even in the same party, | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
And I personally think that academy schools and the use of the private | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
sector for the NHS has a role to play. | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
I'm not certain about that and I think it's terrific that | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
meanwhile, Labour colleagues in Wales are experimenting | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
in a different way by saying we're going to keep the private sector out | :51:07. | :51:09. | |
altogether, we're going to keep local authorities running schools. | :51:10. | :51:12. | |
You should not be dogmatic about this. | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
You should be dogmatic about the ends, free health service | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
at the point of use, good quality, free schooling, | :51:21. | :51:22. | |
but the means I think you should be pragmatic. | :51:23. | :51:25. | |
Which brings us on to Labour at the UK level. | :51:26. | :51:33. | |
How long do you think it will be before you're back | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
This is not me trying to pour terrible water on Labour's chances, | :51:37. | :51:44. | |
it's just a matter of fact and I should not be shot for saying | :51:45. | :51:48. | |
so, that Labour is going to be out of power for a long time | :51:49. | :51:51. | |
I occasionally go to the bookies and put money on events, | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
I'm not putting any money on Labour winning the next election. | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
I know nobody who would with the current leadership. | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
Well, look, there has to be a change of leader if we ever want to win. | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
I think that's even palpably obvious to Jeremy Corbyn. | :52:13. | :52:15. | |
The question is whether we have to wait until the next | :52:16. | :52:18. | |
But is a change of leader or a change of the politics of Labour? | :52:19. | :52:25. | |
It's both, just to replace Jeremy Corbyn with someone | :52:26. | :52:32. | |
who is another Jeremy Corbyn ain't going to work. | :52:33. | :52:35. | |
I mean people are not daft, they look at the totality | :52:36. | :52:38. | |
of what a leadership is offering and frankly, all the evidence | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
is that they turn away from what Mr Corbyn is offering | :52:43. | :52:47. | |
And it's a curious mixture of dogmatism and pure opportunism. | :52:48. | :52:55. | |
Take this question of the national insurance contributions | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
Understandably it caused a row on the Tory backbenchers. | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
But why have Labour joined in to support the Tory | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
I thought that we were a party in favour of ensuring that those | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
who could afford to paid a decent amount of taxation. | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
I also thought we were a party of, as the Institute | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
for Fiscal Studies has pointed out, if you are on similar incomes | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
and similar benefits, you should pay similar | :53:26. | :53:27. | |
And this proposal was to equalise the level of taxation the people | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
who are self employed with those who are employed. | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
It was, Labour would have done this had we been in government. | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
So quite why it's being decided to oppose it, I know why, | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
they thought it would embarrass the Conservatives. | :53:48. | :53:49. | |
It would have been far more sensible for us to have stuck | :53:50. | :53:52. | |
to our principles and said to Mrs May, we will support | :53:53. | :53:55. | |
you in the lobbies, doing something that was right which also had | :53:56. | :53:58. | |
the added advantage of splitting the Tory party. | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
It's been a difficult week for the Tories, but the message | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
from their conference in Cardiff this weekend was that the party | :54:07. | :54:09. | |
is moving forwards and looking to the local elections. | :54:10. | :54:10. | |
But when I met Andrew RT Davies, I had to begin by asking | :54:11. | :54:13. | |
I don't think politicians can win, can they? | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
At the end of the day they put something forward | :54:18. | :54:19. | |
and ultimately then they listen to the representations of the day | :54:20. | :54:22. | |
and they say, do you know what, maybe it's not such a good idea | :54:23. | :54:26. | |
and then they come to Parliament, they take all the questions | :54:27. | :54:28. | |
as Philip Hammond did take when he made his statement, and they | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
The decision wasn't going to come in until April next year anyway, | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
so no one has had to pay these monies over to the Treasury. | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
Whereas you take the situation here in Wales where you've got | :54:41. | :54:42. | |
businesses the length and breadth of Wales which are facing a huge | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
increase in their business rates and the Welsh government have done | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
very, very little to do, and I've been talking to the FSB | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
this morning over the problems many of their members are facing. | :54:53. | :54:54. | |
And so actually you can't have it that politicians will never | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
Here you have a classic case of a politician listening and acting | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
on the representations he is receiving. | :55:04. | :55:05. | |
The Welsh government would say they've spent over ?20 million | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
helping small businesses, small business relief in Wales. | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
But when you look at not just the economic history, | :55:13. | :55:16. | |
but you look at what is happening constitutionally in the UK now, | :55:17. | :55:18. | |
Nicola Sturgeon threatening that second independence referendum, | :55:19. | :55:22. | |
is that a concern at all in your mind that the price | :55:23. | :55:25. | |
of Brexit may well be the end of the United Kingdom? | :55:26. | :55:28. | |
Nicola Sturgeon didn't suddenly decide independence is a good | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
Nicola Sturgeon is a nationalist at the end of the day. | :55:34. | :55:41. | |
I respect her for that, that's her view, that's her party's | :55:42. | :55:43. | |
goal, to break up the union in the United Kingdom. | :55:44. | :55:46. | |
But actually if you look at what Nicola Sturgeon is looking | :55:47. | :55:48. | |
to do, she's looking to follow her nemesis on the other | :55:49. | :55:51. | |
side of the Atlantic, Donald Trump, and build a wall to break Scotland | :55:52. | :55:54. | |
But sadly, it will be the Scottish people who will end up paying | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
for that wall by poorer public services, closure of hospitals, | :56:00. | :56:01. | |
closure of schools, and less take-home pay in people's pay | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
packets because we know that Scotland benefits | :56:05. | :56:06. | |
Wales benefits from being part of the union, Northern Ireland | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
benefits from being part of the union, and the union | :56:11. | :56:13. | |
benefits from having Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, | :56:14. | :56:16. | |
So surely that's a good recipe to hold together. | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
But aren't all those points you've just made equally | :56:23. | :56:25. | |
applicable to staying as part of the European Union? | :56:26. | :56:28. | |
Without fighting a referendum that's already been fought, | :56:29. | :56:31. | |
the points you have just made about Scotland being part | :56:32. | :56:33. | |
of the United Kingdom are equally applicable for the European Union. | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
No, you obviously didn't take any points on at all in the referendum. | :56:38. | :56:40. | |
We send, for every ?2 we send over to Brussels, | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
Scotland actually benefits from being in the union | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
It has four times the amount of trade with the United Kingdom | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
And ultimately, Europe, as I last looked, wasn't | :56:53. | :56:55. | |
The United Kingdom is a sovereign state. | :56:56. | :57:00. | |
We have control within these islands because we have parliaments | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
and assemblies that have democratically elected | :57:05. | :57:06. | |
Nicola Sturgeon, if you slam the door too loud in Whitehall, | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
What Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP should be doing is focusing | :57:11. | :57:16. | |
on improving education standards, health, and the economy | :57:17. | :57:19. | |
in Scotland which has all gone backwards under the SNP. | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
And what's dangerous here is that Plaid Cymru are trying to make | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
the same case here in Wales to break Wales from the union | :57:27. | :57:29. | |
Let's not forget, every vote in these local government elections | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
for Plaid Cymru will be a vote for nationalism | :57:35. | :57:36. | |
It will not be a vote for local services. | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
Looking at what will happen after Brexit, you will have seen | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
that Carwyn Jones has been saying there needs to be this | :57:48. | :57:49. | |
Constitutional Convention, there needs to be clearly set out | :57:50. | :57:52. | |
rules about how the United Kingdom works after Brexit. | :57:53. | :57:54. | |
Otherwise, he said, it could lead to trade wars. | :57:55. | :57:56. | |
I'm baffled by his pronunciation of trade wars. | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
I mean, the union of the United Kingdom has been | :58:02. | :58:04. | |
As I last looked at the Constitution, trade and industry | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
certainly wasn't devolved and international negotiations | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
But this is internal, a trade war between Wales and England. | :58:14. | :58:19. | |
He does have a point because the point I put forward | :58:20. | :58:22. | |
and at the time I was rubbished over, but it seems that people | :58:23. | :58:25. | |
seem to accept it now, is that we do need UK frameworks. | :58:26. | :58:28. | |
We need frameworks in agriculture, we need frameworks for HE, we need | :58:29. | :58:31. | |
So that all parts of the union can benefit from that money | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
And Wales mustn't lose out any money when it comes | :58:36. | :58:40. | |
And we will be working with colleagues in Westminster. | :58:41. | :58:45. | |
The biggest regret I have over Carwyn Jones is that he has not | :58:46. | :58:48. | |
reached out the hand of friendship and had a discussion with myself | :58:49. | :58:53. | |
and with other Brexiteers about how we can get a solid platform | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
in the negotiating round for Wales having a joint approach. | :58:57. | :59:03. | |
But Carwyn Jones didn't choose to do that. | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
He keeps moaning about the UK Government's response to him. | :59:09. | :59:11. | |
The UK Government is fully engaged with the devolved | :59:12. | :59:14. | |
governments and administrations and the Secretary of State | :59:15. | :59:17. | |
and the Prime Minister have had numerous meetings. | :59:18. | :59:19. | |
Regrettably Carwyn Jones is not practising what he | :59:20. | :59:21. | |
We mentioned earlier the local elections. | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
How do you think those are going to go? | :59:26. | :59:27. | |
A fairly disappointing set of results in 2012, | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
I don't think it's right to set targets in the media | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
as such, but what I can say is that we have a record number | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
of candidates looking to stand for us at these elections, | :59:41. | :59:42. | |
we will be standing in all 22 local authorities and we will be putting | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
Because ultimately if people want to see what Conservatives can | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
do in local government, they only need to look | :59:52. | :59:53. | |
at the Monmouthshire where we have run a very successful | :59:54. | :59:55. | |
administration, delivering quality public services | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
at an affordable price, getting the job done. | :00:00. | :00:02. | |
What communities can't afford is to have another five years | :00:03. | :00:04. | |
And the Conservatives will be fighting a positive campaign, | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
looking forward, looking up and looking at the horizon, | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
OK, those are the sound bites but what are the details? | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
What kind of offer will you be making? | :00:17. | :00:17. | |
The offer will be that we will deliver and maintain public services | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
that people value and cherish, like if that pothole outside your | :00:22. | :00:23. | |
house isn't being filled, we will get the roads fixed, | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
we will get the lights back on, we will reopen community | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
centres and above all, we will get playing fields | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
and parks people cherish back into the community. | :00:33. | :00:34. | |
Because we don't believe in dictating down to communities, | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
we believe in working with those communities. | :00:39. | :00:40. | |
Reopening playing fields, is that a manifesto... | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
I'm trying to get a sense from you what you will be offering | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
to people across Wales, you say you'll be reopening playing | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
fields, that will be a pledge for every council in Wales? | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
We'll be working with community to allow that to happen. | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
Because local government isn't a one size fits all, | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
there's 22 local authorities, what is right in one local authority | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
doesn't necessarily fit in another local authority. | :01:02. | :01:03. | |
The way you protect services in one area might be | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
totally different, say, from Cardiff, for example, a large | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
But what the Conservatives believe in, rather than saying, | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
we know best, and sitting in County Hall dictating | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
to communities, we want to work with communities so that we can | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
unleash that potential within those communities to keep the local | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
leisure centre open, to keep the library going, | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
to keep sports fields going, rather than just say, | :01:27. | :01:28. | |
you know what, it's easier for us to shut it. | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
That's been the approach to date and that's why people have | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
seen services disappear, services that communities | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
Andrew RT Davies there in buoyant mood. | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
That's it from me for another week, I hope we can look forward | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
to your company again next Sunday when we'll be hearing | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
from Welsh Labour at their conference in Llandudno. | :01:48. | :01:48. | |
Don't forget Twitter runs all the time. | :01:49. | :01:50. | |
you both. Say goodbye. Goodbye. Back to you. | :01:51. | :01:59. | |
So, can George Osborne stay on as a member of Parliament | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
Will Conservative backbenchers force a Government re-think | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
And is Theresa May about to cap gas and electricity prices? | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Whose idea was that first of all? They are all questions for the Week | :02:11. | :02:19. | |
Ahead to. Let's start with the story that is | :02:20. | :02:29. | |
too much fun to miss, on Friday it was announced the former Chancellor | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
would be the new editor of London's Evening Standard newspaper, a | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
position he will take up in mid-May on a salary of ?200,000 for four | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
days a week. But Mr Osborne has said he will not | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
be stepping down as MP for Tatton in Cheshire, | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
a job he's held since 2001, Alongside these duties, | :02:50. | :02:51. | |
he's also chairman of While being committed to one day | :02:52. | :02:54. | |
a week at Black Rock, an American asset management firm - | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
a part-time role that earns him Then he's polishing his academic | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
credentials, as a fellow at the McCain Institute, | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
an American thinktank, And finally as a member | :03:09. | :03:10. | |
of the Washington Speaker's Bureau, he also earns his keep | :03:11. | :03:18. | |
as an after-dinner speaker, banking around ?750,000 | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
since last summer. So there you go. Nice little earners | :03:25. | :03:36. | |
if you can get them. The problem, though, is he has put second jobs on | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
the agenda and lots of his fellow MPs are not happy because they have | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
got second jobs but not making that kind of money. No, and a lot of MPs | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
on both sides actually are unhappy about it exactly for those reasons. | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
I find it a very interesting appointment. We have got these | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
people on the centre and centre right of politics who have been used | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
to power since 1997, they have been on the airwaves today, Tony Blair, | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
Nick Clegg, George Osborne, and they are all seeking other platforms now | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
because power has moved elsewhere. So Tony Blair is setting up this new | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
foundation, Nick Clegg refused to condemn George Osborne, Tony Blair | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
praised the appointment. They are all searching for new platforms. | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
They might have overestimated the degree to which this will be a huge | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
influential platform. The standard was very pro-Tory at the 2015 | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
election but London voted Labour, it was pro-Zac Goldsmith but they | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
elected Sadiq Khan. It might be overestimating the degree to which | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
this is a hugely influential paper. But I can see why it attracts him as | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
a platform when all these platforms have disappeared, eg power and | :04:49. | :04:55. | |
government. All of these people who used to be in power are quietly | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
getting together again, Mr Blair on television this morning, George | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
Osborne not only filling his bank account but now in charge of | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
London's most important newspaper, Nick Clegg out today not saying | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
Brexit was a done deal, waiting to see what happens, even John Major | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
was wheeled out again today in the Mail on Sunday. They are all playing | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
for position. I half expect David Cameron to turn up as features | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
editor on The Evening Standard. Brexit and breakfast! With Mr Clegg, | :05:28. | :05:34. | |
did he not? I do not think this is sustainable for George Osborne, I | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
worked at The Evening Standard and I was there for three years, I know | :05:39. | :05:41. | |
what the hours are like for a humble journalist, never mind the editor. | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
If he thinks he can get at 4am everyday to be in the offices at 5am | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
to oversee the splash, manage everything in the way and edited | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
should he is in cloud cuckoo land. What this says to people is there is | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
a kind of feel of soft corruption about public life here, where you | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
see what you can get away with. He thinks he can brazen this out and | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
maybe he can but what kind of message does that send to people | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
about how seriously people take the role of being an MP? He must have | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
known. He applied for the job. The Russian owner didn't approach him, | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
he approached Lebedev, the proprietor, for it. He must have | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
calculated there would be some kickback. I wonder if he realised | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
there would be quite the kickback there has been. I think that's | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
probably right. This hasn't finished yet, by the way, this will go on and | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
on. How on earth does George Osborne cover the budget in the autumn? Big | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
budget, lots of physical changes and tax rises to deal with the messages | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
out of this week. You can see already, Theresa May budget crashes. | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
It could be worse. She's useless! Or, worse than that, me, brilliant | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
budget, terrible newspaper, I've never buying it again. He has | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
hoisted his own petard. He has not bought it properly through. It's a | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
something interesting about his own future calculations, if he wants to | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
stay on as an MP in 2020 and be Prime Minister as he has or was | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
wanted to be he has got to find a new seat. How do you go into an | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
association and say I should be an MP, I can do it for at least four | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
hours Purdy after editing The Evening Standard, making a big | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
speech and telling Black Rock how to make a big profit. The feature pages | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
have to be approved for the next day and feature pages are aware the | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
editor gets to make their mark. The news is the news. The feature is | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
what concerns you, what he is in your bonnet. That defines the | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
newspaper, doesn't it? It is not over yet. Too much 101 on | :07:50. | :07:58. | |
newspapers. And Haatheq at. School funding, the consultation | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
period ends, it has been a tricky one for the government, some areas | :08:02. | :08:09. | |
losing. I guess we are seeing this through the prism of the National | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
Insurance contributions now, it is a small majority, if Tory MPs are | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
unhappy she may not get her way. Talking to backbench MPs who are | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
unhappy the feeling is it is not going to go ahead in the proposed | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
form that the consultation has been on. No 10 will definitely have to | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
move on this. It is unclear whether they will scrap it completely, or | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
will they bring in something possibly like a base level, floor | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
level pupil funding below which you can't go? You would then still need | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
to find some extra money. So there are no easy solutions on this but | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
what is clear it is not going to go ahead in its current form. Parents | :08:52. | :08:54. | |
have been getting letters across the country in England about what this | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
will mean for teachers and so on in certain schools. It's not just a | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
matter of the education Department, the schools, or the teachers and | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
Tory backbenchers. Parents are being mobilised on this. The point of the | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
new funding formula is to allocate more money to the more | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
disadvantaged. That means schools in the more prosperous suburbs are | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
going to lose money. Budget cuts on schools which are already | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
struggling. It comes down again to be huge problem, the ever smaller | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
fiscal pool, ever greater demands, NHS, social care, education as well, | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
adding to Theresa May and Phillip Hammond's enormous problems. Here is | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
an interesting issue, Steve. There was a labour Leader of the | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
Opposition that once suggested perhaps given these huge energy | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
companies which seemed to be good at passing on energy rises but not so | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
good at cutting energy prices when it falls, that perhaps we should put | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
a cap on them until at least we study how the market goes. This was | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
obviously ludicrous Marxism and quite rightly knocked down by the | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
Conservatives, except that Mrs May is now talking about putting a cap | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
on energy prices. Yes, I think if it wasn't for Brexit we would focus | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
much more on Theresa May's Ed Miliband streak. Whether this | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
translates into policies, let us see. That bit we don't know. That | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
bit we don't know but in terms of argument her speech to the | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
Conservative conference on Friday was about the third or fourth time | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
where she said as part of the speech, let's focus on the good that | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
government can do, including in intervening in markets, exactly in | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
the way that he used to argue. As you say, we await the policy | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
consequences of that. She seems more cautious in terms of policy in | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
fermentation. But in terms of the industrial strategy, in terms of | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
implying intervention in certain markets, there is a kind of | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
Milibandesque streak. And there comes a time when she has to walk | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
the walk as well as talk the talk. They talk a lot about the just about | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
managing, just about managing face rising food bills because of the | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
lower pound and face rising fuel bills because of the rise in oil and | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
in other commodities. One of the two things you could do to help the just | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
about managing is to cut their food bills and the second would be to cut | :11:21. | :11:23. | |
their fuel bills. At some stage she has to do something for them. We | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
don't know what is going to happen to food bills under Brexit, that | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
could become a really serious issue. They could abolish tariffs. There | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
has been a lot of talking the talk and big announcements put out and | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
not following through so I agree with you on that but lots of Tory | :11:39. | :11:40. | |
MPs will have a big problem on this and the principle of | :11:41. | :11:55. | |
continually talking about interfering in markets, whether it's | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
on executive pay, whether it is on energy, at a time when Britain needs | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
to send out this message to the world in their view, in the view of | :12:02. | :12:03. | |
Brexit supporting MPs, that we are open for business and the government | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
is not about poking around and doing this kind of thing. Of course, you | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
could argue there is not a problem in the market for energy, it is a | :12:10. | :12:11. | |
malfunctioning market that doesn't operate like a free market should, | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
so that provides even Adam Smith, the inventor of market economics | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
would have said on that basis you should intervene. I was in Cardiff | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
to listen to Theresa May's latest explanation for doing this. By the | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
way, we've been waiting nine months, this was one of her big ideas. You | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
are right, let's see a bit of the meat, please. My newspaper has been | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
calling for some pretty hefty government action on this for quite | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
some time. For the just about managings? Yes and specifically to | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
sort out an energy market dominated by the big six, which is manifestly | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
ripping people off left, right and centre. Theresa May's argument in | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
Cardiff on Friday morning which, by the way, went down like a proverbial | :12:51. | :12:57. | |
windbreak at the proverbial funeral because Tories... You know what I | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
mean Andrew, the big hand coming into from the state telling | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
businesses what to do. They went very quiet indeed. They were having | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
saving the union and Nato but there was no clapping for that. The point | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
being, this is what she needs to do to prove her assault, to prove those | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
first words on the steps of Downing Street. We await to see the actions | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
taken. On that unusual agreement we will | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
leave it there. The Daily Politics will be back on BBC Two tomorrow at | :13:28. | :13:29. | |
noon and everyday during the week. And I'll be here on BBC One | :13:30. | :13:31. | |
next Sunday at 11am. Remember, if it's Sunday, | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
it's the Sunday Politics. for families that have had | :13:35. | :14:21. | |
people pass away. There is a life out there | :14:22. | :14:21. | |
afterwards. | :14:22. | :14:22. |