Browse content similar to 17/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to the Daily Politics. Public-sector workers are told you | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
will work until you are 66 and most will have to pay more into your | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
pension. Will it be music to their ears? With the number of strikes | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
over pensions looming, the TUC accuses the Government of an | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
inflammatory intervention. The Greek Prime Minister wants to | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
steer through a new period of austerity measures. | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
Would you tie the knot in London Zoo or maybe your local football | :00:56. | :01:04. | |
club? We will be talking about the marriage Act of 1994. | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
All that's coming up in the next half-an-hour, and with me his | :01:08. | :01:16. | |
Philip Collins and Sue Cameron. This morning, let's turn our eyes | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
to Greece, because the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou has | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
carried out a Government reshuffle in his latest attempt to tackle | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
financial crisis. Rehoused replace the finance minister who drew up | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
the austerity measures. Changing the finance minister and having a | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
cabinet reshuffle, will it do it in terms of persuading the public they | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
must take on board these measures? I doubt it, it is a desperate | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
measure. Not many other things are available to him. The Greek | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
Government needs to put through an austerity package, it is hard to | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
see what they can do other than that. They have been spending too | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
much for too long. They have to find a way to get these cuts, or | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
some cuts of that magnitude through. Whether there are any politicians | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
in the Greek governing party who will sufficiently persuade the | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
public this is something that needs to happen, is open to doubt. | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
they don't, which you could argue seems likely, a have just been | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
talking there has been a press conference with Nicolas Sarkozy and | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
Angela Merkel from Germany, and it looks like an 80% false of | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
defaulting -- 80% chance of defaulting on their debts, will | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
there be another banking crisis? That is ultimately at risk. | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
Everybody has a different view of it. The great public, I do not | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
think they will accept this. They have been on the streets and it is | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
the middle classes, not just the usual suspects and the lefties. | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
Even within Europe, there are very different views as to what should | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
happen. The German public are deeply suspicious of handing over | :02:56. | :03:05. | |
lots more money to Greece. Yet, the head of the ECB seems to be saying, | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
if you'd taken over all view, it's not quite so bad! Which seems | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
incredible, unless there is an over-reaction. One of the issues is | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
about the exposure of other banks in other countries who are already | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
under pressure like Portugal, Ireland and Spain. If their | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
exposure is so great and Greece defaults, it is logical to think | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
the banks will be under threat? They will, and the French and | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
German banks in the worst-case scenario, and through them, the | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
British banks as well. This comes back to the European Central Bank | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
which has committed a substantial sum to Greece. If it defaults, it | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
is in trouble. The European Central Bank would be in trouble with the | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
default on the great debt. Becomes back to the IMF who have given a | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
lot of money and it comes back to Germany who are the principal | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
driver of the single currency and the single beneficiary of the | :04:01. | :04:09. | |
single currency. German public opinion is as every bit important | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
as Greek opinion. Also it comes back to the survival of the Euro | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
and whether Greece can stay in it? A lot of people are saying, quite | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
rightly I think, you can sometimes give them 10 billion to get them | :04:23. | :04:30. | |
through to the middle of next week, but in the end their economy, the | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
Greece economy isn't as competitive as places like Germany. It is not | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
in the same league. Can you keep on giving them a bit more, doing a | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
sticking-plaster? In the end wouldn't it be better to take a | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
really tough line one way or another? We will find out what | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
happens in the next few weeks. Let's turn to public sector | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
pensions because it has been a source of some dispute between the | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
Government and the unions. Last year the Government asked Lord | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
Hutton to conduct a review of public sector pensions. Recommended | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
employee contributions should be increased, that the pension age | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
should rise and final salary schemes should be replaced with a | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
career average schemes. George Osborne announce plans to raise | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
pension contributions by 3% in the Budget. But unions have complained | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
it amounts to a pay cut. This week, teachers and civil servants voted | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
for strike action. Today, Danny Alexander will confirm details of | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
the Government's proposals. Final salary deals will go under pension | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
age for public sector workers will rise to 66 in line with the state | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
pension age. He will criticise union bosses who have called | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
strikes. He will also say the lowest paid workers won't have to | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
pay higher contributions, but some on higher salaries could see their | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
contributions rising by more than 3%. With Nick positions in progress, | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
unions have complain he is jumping the gun. Mr Alexander says he is | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
offering a fair deal, but many in the public sector don't see it that | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
way. We want a good pension for people who work in the public | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
sector, who devote their lives for teaching our children, looking | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
after us when we are sick or policing our community. But we also | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
want something that is fair for the taxpayer. It is a good thing people | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
are living longer, but it has made it more expensive to provide | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
pensions. It is also the case the amount the taxpayer, the rest of | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
the population who are not working in the public sector, pays for | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
these pensions has increased. was the Chancellor, George Osborne. | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
I am joined by a fit assistant general sector of Unison and | :06:43. | :06:50. | |
Matthew Hancock, MP. The Government is expecting public sector workers | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
to pay increased contributions at a time in the middle of a two year | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
pay fees, inflation is at just under 4%, how can they afford that | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
increased contribution? We know these times are difficult and there | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
is a combination of the short-term problem in the public finances | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
where we are paying �120 million of interest every day. Also a longer | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
term problem, which we have to deal with, thankfully, good news we are | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
living longer. So pensions are more expensive. You have made the | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
distinction, the longer term issue of affordable pensions and the | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
current problem with the deficit. Low-paid workers and the unions | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
articulating the argument, why are you making low-paid workers bear | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
the brunt of paying off the deficit, as they see it as a result of the | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
banking crisis now, when things are difficult? Under these proposals, | :07:46. | :07:54. | |
as you saw in the package, the lowest paid... Only under 18,000. | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
The lowest paid wouldn't be asked to contribute more and there is | :07:59. | :08:05. | |
progress city built into this precursor -- proposal. It is worth | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
explaining to review its -- viewers, ending a final-salary scheme and | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
moving it to career average, means those who are less well paid 10 to | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
get better pensions on average. We are still talking about retaining | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
the defined benefit system, which is among stab vest in the world. So, | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
public sector workers who work hard and contribute will still be able | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
to get among the best pensions available in the country. But they | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
will have to work six years longer, increase their pension | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
contributions up to something like three and 5%, it is quite a | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
dramatic increase. You're talking about people in the public sector | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
and the Government has talked about them, as if history has not played | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
any part, historically they have had lower wages. They have made a | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
decision to take public sector jobs because they wanted to do public | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
service and the pensions were good. But now they will be cut? It is | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
still going to be the best pension in the country available in the | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
public sector. But I come back to the central point, we are living | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
longer. Pensions are more expensive. As you said, public sector workers | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
may have to work longer, but we're all going to have to do that, | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
because we are all living longer and that is a good thing. These are | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
changes proposed to deal with what is essentially a good thing, living | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
longer. Do you accept that point, they will still be the best | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
pensions, the public sector pensions? Times have changed, | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
people are living longer and pensions have to adapt? If is a | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
shame this is happening on the airwaves when we had negotiated | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
process going on, and it would have been nice if we could have had | :09:53. | :10:00. | |
those discussions in a negotiation. The unions have been out there | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
saying we are balloting our members before the decisions have taken | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
place, it is the same thing? few look at some of the discussions, | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
we want some principles that take us into central discussions, such | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
as the health service and the local Government scheme, both of which | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
are schemes include surplus. 130 billion in the local Government | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
scheme, 2 billion in the Government's scheme. The | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
contribution members are being asked to make to their pension | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
won't go into their pensions, it is going straight to the Treasury. | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
This is taxing our members. Importantly, if they are going to | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
reduce the contribution rate for low-paid workers, the vast majority | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
of low-paid workers are contracted out and in the discussions we are | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
having at the moment, those people won't be allowed to have access to | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
the pension scheme. That is almost a quarter of all local Government | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
staff. These are things you're bringing up the negotiations. | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
George Osborne has said they are extremely close to a deal, is that | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
how you see it? We are not close to a deal. What we are trying to do is | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
have some principles that we can take into the central discussions. | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
It will be those discussions that has the deal. We cannot agree in | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
principle for low-paid workers who have been outsourced to the private | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
sector, not to have admissibility to those pensions. It is a red line, | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
so there is more talks to have around that. There is an acceptance | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
final-salary schemes have to go, is that accepted by your union? It is | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
not accepted by our union, it is a matter for the health trade unions | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
to discuss in their pension the decisions with the Civil Service. | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
It is not something we have agreed. We are not there and we hope our | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
talks can go one throughout June and into July. What I would like to | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
see the Treasury do, and this is such an important point, his take | :11:55. | :12:03. | |
some advice. I am sure they have taken actuarially advice? I don't | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
think they have, they are being advised by economists. If those | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
services that have been opted-out or privatise are not allowed to | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
contribute to the pensions, the pension schemes themselves will | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
fail. And that is very, very important. The other important | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
elements of this area of discussion, which is the average wage earner in | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
the public sector is able to contribute, they won't be able to | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
afford to. These schemes will fail and if they were taking actuarial | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
advice they would know that. that position realistic? I think | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
perhaps despite today come and there have been a few trade unions | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
clearly upset at what the Chancellor and Daniel exam there | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
have been saying, but I do think behind the scenes there has been a | :12:51. | :12:58. | |
lot more closeness in any decisions. -- Daniel Alexander. I think the | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
Government is right, I have heard it from trade union people, too. As | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
long as they can keep the talks going and there is room to | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
discussion. I don't think, some of the things clearly have got to | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
happen, they have got to pay more, they cannot have that much | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
difference between the private and public sector, it is not real life. | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
But the speed in which they do it, there is a lot of things that could | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
be negotiated. My guess would be behind the scenes they will keep | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
the lid decisions going. Nobody is going to go on strike in the | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
summer! What would beep the point of a teacher going on strike in the | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
summer? The point is, there are certain things they have not | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
accepted, but the union's new about increasing the pension age for | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
public-sector workers, they knew contributions would go up. Throwing | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
hands in the air, is it going to wash? There is a certain amount of | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
both sides bouncing each other. The knitter see Asians have been evenly | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
tempered, it has been cut from what I hear of it. It is a shame some | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
unions have said they will strike, and it is a shame the Government | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
had responded by bringing forward some of the knitters emissions. | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
That hasn't helped, Matthew Hancock, in terms of process and how you | :14:21. | :14:28. | |
handle these things. Why has the Government, why have ministers set | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
out their position before it has been styled and sealed with the | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
unions? I am not part of them goes emissions, but they know the | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
Government takes them seriously. Most unions are participating in | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
negotiations in good faith will stop there is a couple of unions | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
who have unfortunately, called for strike action whilst the | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
negotiations are still on. I don't see how that helps. For instance, | :14:54. | :15:01. | |
Unison and the Government have been negotiating in good faith and it is | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
important they continue. I come back to the big picture point, | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
which is we have a difficult, challenging me to overcome and | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
continuing with those knitters emissions can be nothing but a good | :15:15. | :15:22. | |
thing. On one of the points, if you do extend the working age to 66, | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
there is a knock on effect, an implication for young people | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
getting into the job market. Bearing in mind the high youth | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
unemployment. If people keep in their jobs or those years, what | :15:31. | :15:41. | |
:15:41. | :15:46. | ||
Are you saying that we should not live longer?! I really have to say, | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
we have got nurses, ambulance staff, people who are using their brains, | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
but also their muscle to work with patients. What will we do with | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
these staff? It is not stopping at 66. It is open-ended. It will move | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
to 67 and then 68. Imagine working at 68 years of age, turning up to | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
an emergency situation. We are living longer, but we are still | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
suffering with our eyesight, away hearing. We are not as fit as you | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
would like to portray. For example, we have obesity, diabetes... Public | :16:24. | :16:32. | |
sector workers would argue that they are still working. There is no | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
private sector pension scheme which is open-ended. This is an open- | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
ended element that is unacceptable. I have to stop you there. Thank you | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
very much. Now, once upon a time, long, long ago - and some of you | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
may even remember - you could only get married in a church or registry | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
office. But now you can tie the knot in some pretty obscure places, | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
ranging from HMS Belfast on the Thames to your favourite football | :16:55. | :17:02. | |
club or museum. That's all down to one man's work. Gyles has been to | :17:02. | :17:10. | |
I could tell you that the man we are featuring today has changed the | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
rules to give wild animals the vote, but that is not true. He actually | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
changed the rules so that those who wanted to could get married not in | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
a church or a registry office, but anywhere they light, like London | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
Zoo. In there, you could have about 90 guests. You would come on to | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
this patio and have drinks and canapes. Then you have this | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
fabulous outback experience. Gyles Brandreth, when you came up with | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
this plan, was this what you had in mind? I always want to get married | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
myself in the Sahara desert, and this is almost as good. You can get | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
married and find that you have emus and Wallabies as witnesses. What a | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
way to start married life. I emus aside, what first got you involved | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
in changing the Marriage Act? constituent of mine came to see me | :17:58. | :18:06. | |
one day. She told me that she and a castle, and she had wedding | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
receptions there. Why couldn't she have weddings there? She said, not | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
everybody is religious. We have this beautiful constituency. You | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
can get married in Chester Cathedral, but not in Chester | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
Castle. It does not seem fair. And I thought my goodness, this | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
constituent has got it right. And I was determined to do something | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
about it. How did you get it through? With difficulty. I put it | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
in at a private member's bill, and did not get my way. So I put it in | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
as a private member's bill, but not one that would be given government | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
time. I had to persuade people that this was necessary. The Government | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
thought, maybe it is not a bad idea. Mr Major, then prime minister, | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
liked what he called bite-size chunks of policy. And I gave the | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
impression to the opposition that they should support it because the | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
Government was really against it. I am not sure if that was a | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
respectable thing to do, but I got everybody on board. So you drove | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
this through pretty much alone? Totally alone. In some of the | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
debates, I was the only person in the chamber. It was me, the | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
Government whip on the front bench, and the Speaker. That was it. The | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
problem with a private member's bill that does not have the support | :19:21. | :19:28. | |
of the Government and everybody is that one person crying object can | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
scupper your chances. On one of those days, I was thinking the | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
chamber was empty, but an enemy was lurking between the benches. When I | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
came to propose it, I would hear a voice going "object!". And then it | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
would be put -- postponed to another day. But eventually, I | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
succeeded in passing the 1994 Marriage Act. As many as are of | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
that opinion, say aye. To the contrary, no. It is fun to think | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
that in years to come, people getting married, that has been made | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
possible by my little piece of legislation. I am hoping that all | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
over the land, they will be raising their champagne glasses after they | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
have tested one another and the mother of the bride and the | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
bridesmaids, and eventually they will get round to me. | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
This is all I have ever done. I am the person who gave the world the | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
1994 Marriage Act. That is my achievement, and I am proud of it. | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
It has she changed the shape and face of marriage. It has made | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
weddings better and happier and brighter for people. In the early | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
days, people did raise a glass to me. Occasionally, they would even | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
sent me a piece of wedding cake. Feel free to revive that tradition. | :20:42. | :20:50. | |
He is very proud, Gyles Brandreth. And told that was the emu enclosure | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
they were standing in. Was this just frippery, despite | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
that explanation about it having an impact, or did it matter? | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
matters to the quality of people's lives. A lot of people do not | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
necessarily want to get married in a church. And some people think the | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
registry office is a bit scruffy, as they often were and still are. | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
So you have much more choice. Your wedding day is, for most people, | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
one of the most important days of your life. Being able to choose | :21:21. | :21:28. | |
where you have it makes a real difference. In a way, so many laws | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
that are endlessly passed through Parliament better day, churning out | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
this stuff, and it does not have any impact. Either it doesn't make | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
a difference or it has a bad effect. The last Labour government passed a | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
new criminal offence for every day they were in office from 1997 to | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
last year. I will not ask you to name them all. Did you get married | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
anywhere interesting? I got married twice, actually. Although only to | :21:54. | :22:02. | |
one person. My wife is from an Indian family, so we set up a | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
reception in a garden square and had an Indian wedding first. I | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
don't know if that was possible prior to Gyles Brandreth. Probably | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
not. I may have had to thank all to blame for my marriage, depending on | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
your point of view. Then we trooped round the corner to have an | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
Anglican ceremony in the Church nearby. So we did it twice. If I | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
have Gyles Brandreth to thank for that, let's raise a glass. Raise a | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
cup of tea to Gyles Brandreth. And the fact that it was a private | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
member's bill, that does not happen often, does it? Quite a lot of them | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
just get dropped, unless the government goes a long and says, | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
perhaps you would like to shove this through for us. There are a | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
few things that stand out which are less happy. But it did make a huge | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
difference. David Steel's abortion Bill killed off backstreet | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
abortions overnight. It has been a busy week. Royal | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
Ascot, or should that be bashcot? Andy Murray won something. | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
Christine Billy Kee and Frank Lampard got engaged, but what has | :23:10. | :23:17. | |
been happening in politics? Let's look back. | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
The Government binned its plans to offer financial incentives to | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
councils in England to reinstate weekly rubbish collections, an | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
issue close to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles's heart. The | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
NHS Future Forum delivered its findings, which though embraced by | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
the Prime Minister and his deputy, did not win them immediate plaudits | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
from everyone. Why is it that we are told to walk | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
like this? The unions flexed their muscles, | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
threatening to bring up to 750,000 public sector workers out on strike | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
over pension changes. Also throwing his weight around, | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
education Secretary Michael Gove announced the takeover of 200 pre- | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
schools. These are schools where young people are leaving without a | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
secure foundation in reading, writing and maths for as a feeling | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
the heat, but staying in the kitchen - Labour leader Ed Miliband | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
sought to silence his critics with a speech positioning himself and | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
his party. We will never encourage a sense of | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
responsibility if society is becoming more and more unfair and | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
more divided. Let's stay with Ed Miliband, the | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
Labour leader. Rumbles of discontent, reports of a rift with | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
his brother David. Is he in trouble? He is in less trouble | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
after this week. He has had a good week. Are you talking about Prime | :24:36. | :24:43. | |
Minister's questions? Yes. I think he made a good speech, his best | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
speech as leader on Monday. It had a real argument to it. It is | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
important that he makes the same speech another ten times, because | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
that needs to become his story. Responsibility is a good story, and | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
he needs to become associated with it. He should drop the idea of the | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
squeezed middle -- he should drop in the idea of the squeezed middle. | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
He has something interesting to say, and that is crucial. If Labour | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
backbenchers think their leader has something interesting to say which | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
is a good critic of the Government, which this is, he will be fine. | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
he got a narrative now? There has been a lot of talk in Labour | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
circles, with MPs been divided about whether they should do a | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
mayor car park on the deficit and say we overspent. Would that help | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
further, or is it a -- irrelevant? So of the angst against him, he had | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
a bad week last week, but some of it is overdone. The guy has only | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
been in the job eight months. If you think back to the Tories after | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
they lost in 1997, they have William Hague, who was a brilliant | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
speaker. Brilliant performance after brilliant performers, but did | :26:00. | :26:08. | |
they do well at the following election? No. It would also be | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
absolutely loopy for them, even Labour at its balmiest, the longest | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
suicide note in history under Michael Foot, to change leaders now. | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
To an extent, it is a storm in a teacup. I agree. He has done a much | :26:21. | :26:30. | |
better job this week, and he needs to still discontent. Is it helpful | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
that the former Prime Minister Tony Blair comes out a couple of times | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
this week to attack the direction that Mr Miliband is taking the | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
party? They don't agree, there is no doubt about that. Tony Blair has | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
something to teach the Labour Party as the only one to win three | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
elections for it. So his council is worth listening to. The crucial | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
question is the economic one. My view is that they should take some | :26:57. | :27:05. | |
responsibility for what happened, but they are not going to it. | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
thought that was some people's view. But it is not the leadership's view. | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
Ed Balls made that clear in his lecture. Ed Miliband is clear that | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
he does not think Labour spent too much. He does not think that was a | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
contributory factor to the deficit. They will not change their policy | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
on that. It is all very well for people like me to demand that they | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
do, but they are not going to for us but usually on a Friday, we like | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
to end the programme with our favourite pictures of the week. | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
Today we couldn't resist showing you what happened when a news | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
presenter in Australia tried to crack a joke with the Dalai Lama | :27:38. | :27:43. | |
ahead of his appearance on Channel 9's Today programme. | :27:43. | :27:51. | |
So are the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop. Pizza? Pizza shop. | :27:51. | :27:58. | |
pizza shop, and says "Can you make me one with everything?" What is | :27:58. | :28:08. | |
that? I am sorry. Do you know what I mean? "Can you make me one with | :28:08. | :28:18. | |
:28:18. | :28:24. | ||
everything?" theoretically possible. He knew it wouldn't work, so why | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
did he do it? A salutary warning to anyone trying to be funny. That is | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
why we don't do jokes on this programme. That is all for this | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
week. I will be back on Sunday with The Politics Show at midday on BBC | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
One. Amongst my guests will be former Labour minister Lord Hutton, | :28:40. | :28:44. |