:00:27. > :00:31.Good afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Every day, it
:00:31. > :00:37.seems to get worse and worse. Just when you think they have plumped
:00:37. > :00:40.the very depths, there is another revelation. Today, we discover that
:00:40. > :00:44.the families of British forces who died in action may have had their
:00:44. > :00:48.mobiles hacked by the News of the World. If it follows yesterday's
:00:48. > :00:52.news that they were listening in to Milly Dowler's mobile and
:00:52. > :00:57.allegations they were paying police officers to give information.
:00:57. > :01:01.will have the latest developments. David Cameron chaired cabinet this
:01:01. > :01:09.morning in cabinets -- Downing Street. What inquiries will we have
:01:09. > :01:12.into this and will any of the mud end up sticking to him?
:01:12. > :01:17.All of that in the next half-hour. With us for the whole programme
:01:17. > :01:21.today is the businessman, entrepreneur and Dragon, James Caan.
:01:21. > :01:27.We will get on to the big story of the day, phone hacking, in just a
:01:27. > :01:33.moment. I can tell you that the Bank of England is leaving interest
:01:33. > :01:36.rates unchanged. It is not a big surprise, James, but how one feels
:01:36. > :01:40.about interest rates depends how you are in the economy. If you a
:01:40. > :01:44.saver, you like them to go up, and if you are a businessman, you would
:01:44. > :01:48.like them to stay where they are. This is the 28th month in a row
:01:48. > :01:51.where interest rates have stayed where they are. From an economic
:01:51. > :01:56.perspective, it is the right decision because the UK economy is
:01:56. > :02:01.still struggling along but you cannot afford a risk to put the
:02:01. > :02:04.interest rates up now. It would not be the right decision. Would you go
:02:04. > :02:10.as far as the Institute of Directors who say they will freeze
:02:10. > :02:14.them for the year? The problem is the economy is so volatile. With
:02:14. > :02:17.the crisis in Greece and the Middle East crisis, that our acts around
:02:17. > :02:21.the world which need to be controlled. If you can predict
:02:21. > :02:24.those you would have a blanket statement. For the Bank of England,
:02:24. > :02:28.it is better to have the flexibility to move when they need
:02:28. > :02:33.to. Do you think interest rates are something which can control
:02:33. > :02:38.inflation? There is a discussion about how much they are of a useful
:02:38. > :02:43.tool. The Bank of England had predicted inflation at 2%, it is
:02:43. > :02:48.currently running at 4.5 %. Consumer spending has dropped
:02:48. > :02:53.considerably. It has resulted in High Street brands like Habitat and
:02:53. > :02:56.Jane Norman collapsing. I do not think the answer is to increase
:02:56. > :03:00.interest rates because you will impact economic growth which right
:03:00. > :03:05.now, I think is more important. you worried about what is going on
:03:05. > :03:09.in Europe? I think we are all concerned. Right now, economically,
:03:09. > :03:16.we cannot afford the euro to collapse. The events around Greece
:03:16. > :03:21.and Ireland have sent shockwaves around the economy because the euro
:03:21. > :03:24.is such a critical part of global business today that you have one of
:03:24. > :03:31.these countries collapsing, and let me tell you, it will have a
:03:31. > :03:33.profound effect on everybody else. James, thank you. Stay with us
:03:33. > :03:36.because you are talking about things which have had a profound
:03:36. > :03:40.effect. I cannot remember a story which has had such a big impact on
:03:40. > :03:45.what we do and how we do it. The phone hacking row is one of those
:03:45. > :03:50.things which is not going away. It was our lead story yesterday and
:03:50. > :03:53.again today. The Times reports that five journalists and newspaper
:03:53. > :03:57.executives suspected of involvement in this scandal are expected to be
:03:57. > :04:01.arrested in the next few days. In last night's debate in the House of
:04:01. > :04:05.Commons, the anger on the backbenches was very plain for all
:04:05. > :04:10.to see. Managerial and executive negligence
:04:10. > :04:15.is tantamount to complicity in this case. I believe that if Rebekah
:04:15. > :04:19.Brooks had a single shred of decency, she would now resign. God
:04:19. > :04:25.knows, if it was a minister that were in the spotlight at the moment,
:04:25. > :04:31.she would be demanding their head on a plate. Were they to apply to
:04:31. > :04:36.run a minicab firm in London, they would not receive a licence. If
:04:36. > :04:41.they are not fit and proper people to run a mini cab firm, how can
:04:41. > :04:46.they be a fit and proper out fit to take over a monopoly of a whole
:04:46. > :04:49.television channel. I have to say, the relish with which the
:04:49. > :04:57.revelations have been greeted by some seeking to take on the Murdoch
:04:57. > :05:00.empire or engage in political pot shots strikes me as opportunistic.
:05:00. > :05:04.The Sun newspaper was out of control when it printed blatant
:05:04. > :05:08.lies about Hillsborough. News International lied to the country
:05:08. > :05:14.in 1989 and it seems it distil lying to the country now. I really
:05:14. > :05:20.do hope on Sunday the News of the World gets its real punishment with
:05:20. > :05:23.a complete and total slump in sales. Mr James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks
:05:23. > :05:27.now have to accept their culpability and they will have to
:05:27. > :05:31.face the full force of the law. Their behaviour to the most
:05:31. > :05:36.vulnerable, their knowledge of law- breaking and their failure to act,
:05:36. > :05:40.their links with the criminal underworld, their attempt to cover
:05:40. > :05:45.up law-breaking and pay for people's silence, tell world all we
:05:45. > :05:49.need to know about their character. So that was the Commons yesterday.
:05:49. > :05:53.For the latest we can cross to Jo Coburn. What has been happening
:05:54. > :05:56.today? There have been a number of things. There has been political
:05:56. > :06:01.reaction and shock to the allegations you mention that the
:06:01. > :06:04.beginning. Allegations that the mobile phones of families of
:06:04. > :06:09.Britain's war dead may have been hacked into. They are just
:06:09. > :06:12.allegations reported by the Telegraph. That could indicate
:06:12. > :06:16.spreading the net even wider. In terms of the inquiries that have
:06:16. > :06:21.been talked about, it now seems likely that the government will
:06:21. > :06:24.announce some sort of judge led inquiry into the police handling of
:06:24. > :06:28.the original inquiry into police hacking and the relationship with
:06:28. > :06:32.the media. It has not been confirmed but we have heard from
:06:32. > :06:36.sources at Number Ten, the Deputy Prime Minister has talked about it,
:06:36. > :06:40.we have had the Labour leader Ed Miliband calling for it and in the
:06:40. > :06:45.House of Lords in the last half an hour, Baroness Rawlings seemed to
:06:45. > :06:50.imply that would happen. Along with that it would mean witnesses would
:06:50. > :06:54.be compelled to appear and swear under oath. That would be almost
:06:54. > :06:59.like a court, if you like. We would have to wait and see in terms of
:06:59. > :07:03.timing. There may be another inquiry into the media itself, into
:07:03. > :07:08.the ethics of the media, a broader investigation and again, that has
:07:08. > :07:12.yet to be confirmed. The Labour leader in the House of Lords asked
:07:12. > :07:17.a question calling for the suspension of consideration by the
:07:17. > :07:21.government into the takeover by BSkyB by News Corporation. The
:07:21. > :07:23.response from the government was a consultation on that by the
:07:23. > :07:27.Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt finishes tomorrow and then there
:07:27. > :07:31.would be time and the words were, he will not rush to make his
:07:31. > :07:35.decision, because the last thing he will want to do is make a decision
:07:35. > :07:39.in this current climate. Interesting, thank you.
:07:40. > :07:46.We are joined now by the Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne and the
:07:46. > :07:50.Conservative MP, Damian Collins, a member of the Culture and Media
:07:50. > :07:53.Select Committee. David Cameron is in the sewer because of his News
:07:53. > :07:57.International friends, the Prime Minister has been horribly
:07:58. > :08:02.compromised, irrevocably damaged, these are your words. You put in
:08:02. > :08:05.the boot into the Prime Minister, does he deserve it? The tragedy for
:08:06. > :08:11.David Cameron is he got far too close to News International. He
:08:11. > :08:16.made a terrible decision. He was warned against it. He was told what
:08:16. > :08:20.Andy Coulson had done, he was the former editor of the News of the
:08:20. > :08:24.World, and he made him his director of communications. Then he
:08:24. > :08:27.developed and fostered this close relationship with Rebekah Wade, the
:08:27. > :08:34.frankly disgusting woman who is chief executive of News
:08:34. > :08:37.International, who herself was chief executive of the News of the
:08:37. > :08:43.World, and has brought out these disgusting revelations we have
:08:43. > :08:49.heard over the last few days. David Cameron has lost any moral sense.
:08:49. > :08:54.He can recover up to a point if he handles this problem properly,
:08:54. > :08:59.ethically and honourably. These are allegations as yet. There have been
:08:59. > :09:03.denied so find yet you are talking about and incestuous collection of
:09:03. > :09:06.power-hungry, a moral Londoners, is it just the preserve of David
:09:06. > :09:11.Cameron that he was close to these people or was he doing what
:09:11. > :09:15.everybody was doing at the time? You and I have different values. I
:09:15. > :09:22.believe that a British Prime Minister should not associate with
:09:22. > :09:25.cheap and shoddy people, let's name them. Rebekah Brooks, the chief
:09:25. > :09:30.executive of News International, Matthew Freud, the spare man,
:09:30. > :09:36.Elisabeth Murdoch, James Murdoch who signed the hush money deal to
:09:36. > :09:41.keep people quiet. This is the Prime Minister degrading himself,
:09:41. > :09:45.associating with this wretched set of a moral Londoners around
:09:45. > :09:49.Chipping Norton. It is not what we expect from a Conservative Prime
:09:49. > :09:55.Minister. Let's turn to our conservative friend Damian Collins,
:09:55. > :09:58.how much of this mud sticks? I read Peter's article. I enjoyed his rich
:09:58. > :10:02.use of language but I am angry about the disgusting allegations
:10:02. > :10:06.that have been made, the awful charges which are there which I
:10:07. > :10:11.think everybody in the country is angry about. My judgment is, what
:10:11. > :10:17.action is the Prime Minister taking? The government is committed
:10:17. > :10:20.the fact that the Metropolitan police have not put the resources
:10:20. > :10:24.behind this. The reason there has been a drip, drip, drip of new
:10:24. > :10:29.allegations is because this was never properly investigated.
:10:29. > :10:32.you interested in what is to be done about this? The Prime Minister
:10:32. > :10:36.was asked directly yesterday to distance himself from Rebekah
:10:36. > :10:40.Brooks, to call for her head on a plate, Ed Miliband had no
:10:40. > :10:44.hesitation in doing that, your leader did not. He is quite clear
:10:44. > :10:50.that if the charges against Rebekah Brooks are brought and successfully,
:10:50. > :10:53.it is not just the case of her resigning from her post, but facing
:10:53. > :10:56.prosecution. The Prime Minister has made it clear that these are
:10:57. > :11:00.discussed in allegations. I don't think anyone would argue that these
:11:00. > :11:05.are discussed in allegations. Nobody would say it was a good
:11:05. > :11:09.thing to hack into the phone of a dead girl. But the question Peter
:11:09. > :11:13.Oborne is posing, why is he not do more to name names when the Leader
:11:13. > :11:17.of the Opposition has no problem in doing that? The problem is, for any
:11:17. > :11:22.Prime Minister, when put these questions, they do not just give a
:11:22. > :11:25.personal view, they say what the government will do about it. And as
:11:25. > :11:29.Prime Minister, what is the best action to restore confidence in the
:11:29. > :11:33.country and that is what he has done. The failure to show any kind
:11:33. > :11:38.of moral leadership in this is what is so disgraceful with David
:11:38. > :11:42.Cameron. At every stage, he has been behind the curve. He hired
:11:42. > :11:45.coarsen but only when the revelations about what had happened
:11:46. > :11:50.was Andy Coulson had to go. Ed Miliband has called for Rebekah
:11:50. > :11:56.Brooks to consider her position. The Prime Minister is behind the
:11:56. > :11:59.curve, he is backing Rebekah Brooks. He is morally revolting. I don't
:11:59. > :12:02.think you can say he is backing Rebekah Brooks. He was very clear
:12:02. > :12:08.about the process and if she is part of the process, she will have
:12:08. > :12:11.to go. I want to bring Ben Bradshaw into this. He was Culture Secretary
:12:11. > :12:16.under the last Labour government. It is hard for you to claim the
:12:16. > :12:19.moral high ground here because for such a long time, it was Labour
:12:19. > :12:24.backbenchers, the Guardian which was talking about this and they
:12:24. > :12:27.were doing it in isolation. I did not hear the Labour leader talking
:12:27. > :12:31.about that them? We had a discussion in Cabinet about whether
:12:31. > :12:35.to have a public inquiry and as Alan Johnson made clear in the
:12:35. > :12:39.Commons yesterday, that was blocked by the police and Gordon Brown had
:12:39. > :12:42.the added political difficulty that he was seen as a weakened Prime
:12:42. > :12:46.Minister. If he had gone down that route they would have been a hail
:12:46. > :12:50.storm from the Murdoch press and the other hostile media that we
:12:50. > :12:58.were trying to find a diversion. I think the important thing now is
:12:58. > :13:04.that the government must stop this takeover of BSkyB by News Corp. In
:13:04. > :13:07.an -- the consultation finishes tomorrow. It would be completely
:13:07. > :13:12.disgraceful to waive this through as the Prime Minister and Jeremy
:13:12. > :13:16.Hunt have said they would do. will come in to the BSkyB takeover
:13:16. > :13:21.in a moment but isn't it nonsense for a leader to stand up in the
:13:21. > :13:28.Commons and say how disgusted he is when he also beats a path to News
:13:28. > :13:32.International. He was at the same garden parties as David Cameron.
:13:32. > :13:38.Every Prime Minister has to lead -- every Prime Minister and leader has
:13:38. > :13:42.to meet a leaders of the media. There is a difference between that
:13:42. > :13:51.and going hunting, shooting and fishing with Rebekah Brooks and the
:13:51. > :13:56.county set. Do you spread the Meyer further? Ben Bradshaw is being
:13:56. > :14:01.entirely disingenuous here. Ed Miliband attended the party in full
:14:01. > :14:04.knowledge that two criminal investigations were going on into
:14:04. > :14:14.News International. The idea that he would do that with any business
:14:14. > :14:18.shows Ben Bradshaw has lost any What should happen next with the
:14:18. > :14:21.BSkyB takeover? Because of the issues of phone hacking, some
:14:21. > :14:25.people are saying we should refer to the Competition Commission. You
:14:25. > :14:28.refer to them if there are competition grounds of media
:14:28. > :14:32.plurality that you have to investigate. The issue here is the
:14:33. > :14:38.fit and proper person test. His Rupert Murdoch fit and proper to
:14:38. > :14:43.take this on? Ofcom can draw on this at any time, today, tomorrow,
:14:43. > :14:50.after the merger if it goes ahead. A do we need an inquiry with a
:14:50. > :14:54.judge and bonuses? What would be satisfactory? You would expect an
:14:54. > :14:59.independent judge to lead it. the accusation that you have lost
:14:59. > :15:04.the plot on the subject of Ed Miliband's relationship with them,
:15:04. > :15:08.what do you say to that? It is very different to that of David Cameron,
:15:08. > :15:14.who is close friends with these people. It is not good enough to
:15:14. > :15:16.pass the buck to Ofcom. Jeremy Hunt should have preferred this to the
:15:16. > :15:21.Competition Commission originally. I would have done this and we said
:15:21. > :15:24.we would when we were in Government. News Corporation conveniently
:15:24. > :15:29.delayed the application until the change in Government, knowing that
:15:29. > :15:36.Jeremy Hunt would have waved it through. Busy ducking the issue?
:15:37. > :15:42.believed in summary decision making. Jeremy Hunt has to apply the legal
:15:42. > :15:46.process. He said he was minded to refer it. I think there are good
:15:46. > :15:50.reasons why he might consider he did not need to refer it on
:15:50. > :15:54.competition grounds. The issue of the fit and proper person test is
:15:54. > :15:59.different. What would you do in a position of the culture secretary
:15:59. > :16:03.with a takeover like this in the offing? One of the things that
:16:03. > :16:08.concerns me slightly is how much control you want one organisation
:16:08. > :16:14.to have over British media in this country. Already he is in charge of
:16:14. > :16:18.the Sun, News of the World, Sky. I think that we are sitting back and
:16:18. > :16:22.allowing somebody to have too much control. I think it is not just a
:16:22. > :16:30.competition issue but a monopoly issue. We will leave it there.
:16:31. > :16:33.Thank you to Ben Bradshaw and Peter Tobin. Please e-mail and send us
:16:33. > :16:39.your comments. The last entrepreneurial thing I
:16:39. > :16:42.did was Selside photographs of Andrew, which did not go very well.
:16:42. > :16:48.-- sells signed photographs of Andrew. The Government wants more
:16:48. > :16:52.of us to be entrepreneurs, but who is responsible for that? The
:16:52. > :16:56.Government, the Apprentice or Dragons' Den? We have been watching
:16:56. > :17:02.business television to find out. other dragons. Five of Britain's
:17:02. > :17:05.wealthiest and most enterprising business leaders. They have rake in
:17:05. > :17:09.millions in pounds and viewers another but entrepreneurship into
:17:09. > :17:14.prime time. The Government wants to turn the entire country into an
:17:14. > :17:17.enormous version of Dragons' Den. At the moment around a quarter of a
:17:17. > :17:21.million new businesses are created every year, and increasing that
:17:21. > :17:24.number is a key part of the coalition's plan for recovery.
:17:24. > :17:28.need to see a country where businesses are starting up on every
:17:28. > :17:32.street in every town, where entrepreneurs are everywhere. Where
:17:32. > :17:39.economic dynamism isn't just about tycoons in glass towers, but about
:17:39. > :17:43.men and women who start small but think big. The dragons that sit in
:17:43. > :17:47.these chairs have serious power to make or break an entrepreneur of by
:17:47. > :17:52.deciding whether to invest in them or not. The Government has far less
:17:52. > :17:56.power than that. According to the serial entrepreneur behind
:17:56. > :18:01.megabucks brands like Pizza Express. The Government can get out of the
:18:01. > :18:07.way, deregulate, create a healthy tax environment, and to a degree
:18:07. > :18:11.can encourage through promoting role models. But ultimately it is
:18:11. > :18:16.about thousands of individuals making independent decisions.
:18:16. > :18:24.instead David Cameron is relying on the founder of start-up Britain, a
:18:24. > :18:29.scheme which allows things like discounted broadband and mentoring
:18:29. > :18:33.for small businesses, run by the private sector. The one to see more
:18:33. > :18:38.positive signals around entrepreneurship in Britain. -- we
:18:38. > :18:45.want to see. You can go to any careers fair and see Starting Your
:18:45. > :18:53.Own business as an option that has not looked down on, or seen as an
:18:53. > :18:57.intolerable risk. Something anyone can can sow -- can consider.
:18:57. > :19:02.that means creating a culture of enterprise. Does that mean that the
:19:02. > :19:08.dragons in the down have more power than the ministers in the Cabinet?
:19:08. > :19:13.Four of James? That is terrifying! That film makes a good point. Being
:19:13. > :19:16.an entrepreneur is not actually an option. It is not something that we
:19:17. > :19:19.encourage young people to think about as an option. When you talk
:19:20. > :19:25.to young people, the idea of being an entrepreneur is always something
:19:25. > :19:28.someone else should do. It is not an obvious choice, like being a
:19:28. > :19:32.doctor or an accountant. But if you look at the impact that
:19:32. > :19:41.entrepreneurship has on the economy, you know, we have in this country
:19:41. > :19:45.for 0.9 million businesses today that are qualified as small and
:19:45. > :19:51.medium-sized businesses. If you get them to just tier one person each,
:19:51. > :19:57.you would eradicate unemployment. - - hire one person each. The impact
:19:57. > :20:00.on the economy is massive, so why are we not doing more? Getting
:20:00. > :20:03.schools and colleges to have entrepreneurship opportunities,
:20:03. > :20:08.encouraging young people? I passionately believe it is the
:20:08. > :20:11.future of this country. Margaret Thatcher's description was this is
:20:11. > :20:16.a nation of shopkeepers. That concept of entrepreneurship is
:20:17. > :20:21.critical to what we do. You want to know why we don't do more. We are
:20:21. > :20:24.obviously getting something wrong. What is it? Do we not have the
:20:24. > :20:30.right environment for them to flourish in? Do we not support them
:20:30. > :20:32.long enough one they are starting out? Are the sort of people that
:20:32. > :20:38.entrepreneurs are the kind of people but of self- drivers, that
:20:38. > :20:42.don't want any help, that don't take no for an answer? What are we
:20:42. > :20:47.getting wrong? I will give credit where it is due and the current
:20:47. > :20:52.Government is doing a lot. Whether it is backing enterprise, Start-up
:20:52. > :20:57.Britain, the recent website set up for mentors, where the banks have
:20:57. > :21:02.got together to give support. The Government has launched a �2
:21:02. > :21:05.million fund to invest in small businesses. There is the enterprise
:21:05. > :21:08.loan guarantee scheme. There are a number of initiatives and I have
:21:08. > :21:12.met a number of people that have said they can now raise capital to
:21:12. > :21:15.start businesses because of these facilities that are available. I
:21:15. > :21:21.think it is more the grass roots level, to get the concept amerced
:21:21. > :21:25.in people's minds. Like when you are 16, you are thinking about
:21:25. > :21:30.being a doctor or an accountant, so we need to introduce the idea
:21:30. > :21:35.earlier so more people take it up. If you are facing a safe bet, about
:21:35. > :21:43.to leave school or university, and you are trained in an industry that
:21:43. > :21:48.already exists, on the other hand, what might put people off is the
:21:48. > :21:51.economic climate that we are in. don't agree with that. If you are
:21:51. > :21:57.an entrepreneur, whether the market was good or bad, you are or you are
:21:57. > :22:01.not. When I started out, the odds were stacked against me. When Lord
:22:01. > :22:04.Sugar started out, the odds were stacked against him. It is not the
:22:05. > :22:08.environment that makes too successful, but you drive and
:22:08. > :22:12.passion, which is what you should focus on.
:22:12. > :22:21.Here is a question for you. Who holds the real power in this
:22:21. > :22:31.country? Who holds the power when deciding a general election? It is
:22:31. > :22:32.
:22:32. > :22:37.not the man, but the girls. I have dispatched my man's to the board.
:22:37. > :22:43.Tories used to say that women were their secret weapon, but I don't
:22:43. > :22:48.mean Maggie. The secret to Tory success has been their appeal to
:22:48. > :22:53.women voters. The fact that more women voted for the party than men
:22:53. > :22:57.when the party was winning outright majorities. Stay with me.
:22:57. > :23:03.Historically the Tories had been billed on girl power. I mean not
:23:03. > :23:10.enough girls=no power. It is said that if women had not been given
:23:10. > :23:15.the vote, Labour would have won every election from 1945 to 1979.
:23:15. > :23:21.Let's look at the figures. In the 1979 election, the Conservatives
:23:21. > :23:29.had a staggering 12% point lead among women, putting Maggie in
:23:29. > :23:35.Number 10. By 1992, the Tories still had the result 10 percentage
:23:35. > :23:38.points over Labour, which delivered John Major. But in 2005, Labour won
:23:38. > :23:44.the women's vote by six points, keeping Tony Blair in Downing
:23:44. > :23:49.Street. The lead is important but it is coming down. In 2010, David
:23:49. > :23:53.Cameron secured the four point victory among women, which was
:23:53. > :24:02.smaller than his majority among men, which denied him an overall
:24:02. > :24:05.majority. They latest opinion poll suggests that twice as many voters
:24:05. > :24:13.think Labour best understand women compared to the Tories. That could
:24:13. > :24:16.be a problem. You did that very well! Peter,
:24:16. > :24:20.should the Conservatives really be worried about this dip in support
:24:20. > :24:25.from women? I think they should be. If one takes the recent phenomena,
:24:25. > :24:30.there is no point worrying about what happened 50 years ago, what
:24:30. > :24:39.the opinion poll at surveyors think is that women are more nervous
:24:39. > :24:42.about the economy, family income is, at about jobs, than the men. These
:24:42. > :24:47.people are feeling insecure during the slow recovery from recession.
:24:47. > :24:51.That is more strongly felt among women than men and is translating
:24:51. > :24:55.into a greater swing since the election to Labour among women.
:24:55. > :25:00.it is feeling things more acutely than caring about so-called women's
:25:00. > :25:05.things? Yes. There is some mythology. On most things, women
:25:05. > :25:14.and men have roughly the same views. Looking at our data, there are two
:25:14. > :25:19.things where they are experiencing divergence. One of them is Libya.
:25:19. > :25:25.With issues of war, men are more than Hove than women. That is
:25:25. > :25:30.playing into it. It is principally in security. How worried are you,
:25:30. > :25:34.Harriet? We recognise the coalition Government inherited a dire
:25:34. > :25:38.economic situation and economic issues will be at the forefront for
:25:38. > :25:42.both women and men. The steps we are taking this year are very much
:25:42. > :25:46.to do with getting the deficit under control. Are you worried
:25:46. > :25:50.about losing the support of women? I don't want an assessment of the
:25:50. > :25:56.economy. How are you are addressing it? All politicians won support
:25:56. > :26:00.from women and men, of course they do. Let's look at some of the
:26:00. > :26:04.issues that drain support. Raising the pension age for women, cutting
:26:04. > :26:09.child benefit, Ken Clarke appearing to so that some RECs were less
:26:09. > :26:15.serious than others. Even David Cameron are saying calm down, dear.
:26:15. > :26:19.These have not helped your cause. If you would like me to tackle some
:26:19. > :26:25.of those in turn. Child benefit, correct. 90% of child benefit is
:26:25. > :26:29.received by women and I am one of those women. I am making �65,000 a
:26:29. > :26:34.year, a higher-rate taxpayer, why in straitened times would money be
:26:34. > :26:39.given to women like me? It is right that we look at higher rate
:26:39. > :26:43.taxpayers as an area where we can reduce spending. Do women feel
:26:43. > :26:47.justifiably pummelled by recent legislation? Clearly I think it has
:26:47. > :26:51.been controversial but I agree with Harriet that there are two asides
:26:51. > :26:54.to the coin. If from an economic point of view you are saying that
:26:54. > :26:59.we need to cut spending because the Government does not have any cash,
:26:59. > :27:09.they need to look at the options available, and you are a higher
:27:09. > :27:09.
:27:09. > :27:15.rate earned and you frankly don't need it, then is -- it is prudent
:27:15. > :27:18.to look at it. We are lifting people out of income tax altogether.
:27:18. > :27:23.Because women make less than men on average, sadly, that benefits more
:27:23. > :27:27.women than men. When we have had Women's organisations on the show,
:27:27. > :27:32.they always say that they care about the same things that are in
:27:32. > :27:36.the top 10 concerns of the populace. Are we unique in that? In America,
:27:36. > :27:43.it do women have different concerns? It is strikingly
:27:43. > :27:53.different in America. Traditionally women asked more conservative than
:27:53. > :27:53.
:27:53. > :28:01.men. Women are more Democrat than men in the United States. Barack
:28:01. > :28:11.Obama had a huge amount of support from women. In Britain we have a
:28:11. > :28:11.
:28:11. > :28:17.male motorist union tradition. -- Labour wrist. Thank you. As usual
:28:17. > :28:21.we did not have the chance to pick our guess the year winner. The
:28:21. > :28:31.answer was 1985, and I know you all were screaming the answer. Can you
:28:31. > :28:34.
:28:34. > :28:38.pick the winner? And the winner is... Nystatin bass from Britain.
:28:38. > :28:43.For Andrew has been missing today but he will be back tonight for