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Afternoon, folks, welcome to this Daily Politics conference special | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
live from Birmingham. They are working up a head of steam | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
against the rich, the Tories, their partners. | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
Later this morning, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable is to unveil | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
his plans for curving ective pay. We bring that live. The party is in | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
Tory bashing mode, in the hope it restores the identity and repair | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
its ratings in the polls. They are dire. That is for the | :00:54. | :01:01. | |
party and its leader, Clegg. The party are at 11% and 60% of the | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
people have no idea when the Lib Dem leader stands for. | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
Vince Cable is to vent his annual splurge of populism before the | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
party faithful. Last year he called the bankers, perspectives and | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
conmen. This year, he is targeting highly paid executives. He is | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
talking to the Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, about all of that and | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
more. We go existential and ask, why are we here? Why oh, why? Does | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
a Lib Dem conference matter were you are in coalition with the | :01:34. | :01:44. | |
:01:44. | :01:45. | ||
So, all of that and more is coming up in the next hour. | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
It is TV conference gold. Public service broadcasting at its finest. | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
With us to kick it off we have Sam Coates from the Times and Nick Watt | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
from the Guardian, despite that, they are both friends, both of them. | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
What is the mood of the conference? This is cheery. This is the first | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
time in three or four years where there has not been a great fight at | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
conference. What a lot are hoping is that broadly speaking the polls | :02:11. | :02:17. | |
have bottomed up. There is an ever so slightly uptick in many of the | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
opinion polls, they are hoping it will not get worse and they can | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
start rebuilding the reputation ahead of a next election. Yes it is | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
bad, but I was speaking to a senior Lib Dem official, who said if you | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
remember how unpopular Tony Blair was after the Iraq war, he still | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
managed to win in 2005. We have to remind people that things are not | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
as black as they are sometimes painted. | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
What do we make of the status of Nick Clegg? Back in May you may | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
have thought this would be a lynch mob it is not that, but what...? I | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
was at a fringe event, he spoke, half of the people in the audience | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
were speaking amongst themselves? We all like to talk about economics. | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
We have to take the economics analogy. That the Liberal Democrats | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
have experienced sick kl growth, but the underlying structural | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
position is dire. The growth is that at the time of the alternative | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
vote when they lost they were on the floor. Nick Clegg looking like | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
he was bleeding. They have managed to differ enSecretary of State | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
themselves on the NHS, the tails are up, but the underlying | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
structural position, facing the electorate in 2015, that is not | :03:30. | :03:36. | |
looking good, they are still at the 11, 12% in the opinion polls. | :03:36. | :03:45. | |
That is your views, but I have made a wee extra in Glasgow. | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
Here in Birmingham, there is more security than ever it must mean | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
that the Lib Dems matter at least. The theme of the conference is in | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
Government on your side, but not if you are a Tory. They may be in | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
coalition with the Tories, but the Lib Dems favourite sport at this | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
conference is whack a Tory. Like the Tories, the Lib Dems are | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
worried that the economy is grinding to a halt, but unlike the | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
Tories, there are many Lib Dems who would like to see more fiscal | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
stimulus and more printing of the money. I asked Danny Alexander if | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
his plan A was still working or if there was a need for a plan A plus | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
or even a plan B? The credibility that we establish, the commitments | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
that we have made on the deficit reduction mean we are not facing | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
the problems that many countries are facing. Looking around the | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
eurozone there are doubts about the capacity of leaders to make the | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
right decisions. Looking to the United States, their | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
downgrade came from the rows going on in their political system. | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
Having political leaders who take difficult decisions and sticking to | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
them is important at a time like this. That is the view from the | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
bridge, but what is the view from the deck along -- among the Lib Dem | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
rank and file? Have you reservations about being in bed | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
with the Tories? Of course! But is there no alternative? In this case, | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
that was the, it was the least worst decision that could have been | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
made at the time of the election. think that the two coalition | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
partners have worked together rather more co-operatively than | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
imagine that they may have at one point. | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
That they could have been scratching their eyes out? That | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
could have been a possibility. Would you like a badge? It does not | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
express what I feel. I like the coalition... So you may wear that? | :05:36. | :05:44. | |
Would you like to hold on to it? will keep it | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
Four months away in a terrible local election results in the | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
defeat of the alternative vote referendum, Nick Clegg must have | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
felt that Birmingham would turn in a lynch mob, but it has not. The | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
position is secure, but the average Lib Dem activist is still uneasy, | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
even angry about being in bed with the Tories. | :06:06. | :06:13. | |
Gems of wisdom, I think. Would you not agree? What would we do without | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
you. I know. 50P tax rate? Am I right in | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
thinking that they are going along in getting rid of it as George | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
Osborne wants to do it, provided that they get something in return? | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
And don't forget that George Osborne has done this study, he has | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
said that he cannot get rid of the 50p tax rate until 2013 as it has | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
to be in line with the pay freeze for the public sector workers, but | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
there must be two things, one, getting the money you would have | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
raised from the richer people through the mansion tax and the | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
focus on tax cuts has to be on the lower earners and raising the | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
coalition allowance, it talks about raising that lower income earn up | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
to �12,000 so nobody on minimum wage has to be on that rate of tax. | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
All of this Tory bashing, do the Tories care? There will be lots of | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
Lib Dem bashing by the time we get to a Tory conference in a couple of | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
weeks' time. So this is grown up? Yes. This is | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
about reminding the party that they can have freedom inside of the | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
coalition. Take the 50p tax rate, it is not live, it does not feel to | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
me inside government. It is an artificial construct. | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
To differ enSecretary of State? between the two parties and to | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
cheer the troops along it is depressing that the coalition | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
policy work like that, but that is what it takes. They have a licence | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
to disagree, they will get to the same position. What is interesting | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
is what Vince Cable will be saying when he is talking about cracking | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
down on boardroom pay. His people are saying that this is going to | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
happen over David Cameron's dead body, so that they know it is | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
unlikely to happen. They know it will not happen. David Cameron is a | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
young, fit chap, he will be fine. They know it will not happen. You | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
have to say why are you doing it? It is one thing to differ | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
enSecretary of State yourselves from the Conservatives, but they | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
must not be a mini opposition. If you are putting up these ideas, | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
that Vince Cable knows is not going to happen, you have to be careful | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
not to cross the line. But there is a bigger problem for | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
Vince Cable. It is this: Most of the business world would like a | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
Business Secretary that champions business. He seems to needle at one | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
end and what the objection for many Tories is that he does not to | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
anything for the growth and the expansion of the private sector | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
that is critical. Somebody prepared to put the rocket boosters behind | :08:56. | :08:57. | |
British business, rather than making it difficult. | :08:57. | :09:07. | |
:09:07. | :09:08. | ||
We will put that to the director of -- to Miles Templeman. | :09:08. | :09:15. | |
In a moment we are talking to Chris Huhne, first, a couple of emergency | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
debates this morning. Let's hear what was said from the conference | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
floor. The fundamental liberal principles | :09:22. | :09:30. | |
of a free independent, and unfetered estate, holding power are | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
sacrosanct for Liberal Democrats, but so, also, are the democratic | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
principles of accountability and transparency. We do not tolerate | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
unethical behaviour from other professional groups that hold great | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
responsibility, we must not tolerate it from our journalists. | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
Freedom and accountability are not incompatible. So this motion | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
insists on a pulsory code of conduct to be the part of every | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
journalist's contract. We have sufficient officers who are trained | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
who have the sufficient equipment, but need the leadership to be | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
effective. We need policies like restore tiv justice that prevent | :10:12. | :10:19. | |
reoffending rather than draconian sentences being passed because | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
magistrates and judges come under political pressure. | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
With me now, via popular acclaim, the energy and Climate Change | :10:27. | :10:35. | |
Secretary, Chris Huhne. A big title? Not as big as your 's, | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
Andrew! That is true. Tim Farron, I believe he is the President of Your | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
party? He is. He -- He says that the Government would be, "A | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
nightmare without the Lib Dem ministers" Is he right? It would be | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
more interesting. Is nightmare? To be clear, I do | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
think that the political balance of the government is a coalition, | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
between the Liberal Democrats who have a clear, independent stand on | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
a number of issues and the Conservatives also who come from a | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
different political tradition. We have to come promisise. There is | :11:09. | :11:15. | |
nothing to be ashamed of in come promisising. If we had not to get | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
us out of the economic problems that time that we had, it would | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
have been difficult in failing to compromise in the budget over | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
losing the triple A status. Now, Europe. Should Greece be given the | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
next trench of emergency aid? is to be entirely up to the | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
eurozone and entirely up to the conditions... When I have not been | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
involved in the negotiations, I think it is key that the Greeks | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
stick to their commitments. Not to cut? Part of the problems | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
began when the Greek Government did not present accounts which were | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
correct about the size of their budget deficit and the size of the | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
debt. They got into the Euro area under false pretences. | :12:02. | :12:10. | |
But we knew that? No we did not. France did it, so did Italy? No. No. | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
No other country has actually falsified its national accounts in | :12:15. | :12:23. | |
the same way that Greece did. But Italy did not meet the criteria | :12:24. | :12:32. | |
it got in with 112 % of GDP? If you are so far away from the criteria | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
that there is no room for interpretation, there is the other | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
room, Italy, was the debt falling, it was, that was allowed, there was | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
wriggle room, but the Greek Government presented figures that | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
the current Government found out about at the election that were | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
completely false. It was like Enron falsifying their accounts, that is | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
really outrageous. OK. You follow these things closely. | :13:00. | :13:08. | |
In your view, is it inevitable that Greece will default? No. Nothing is | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
ever inevitable. Is it likely? In the current | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
circumstances, the real issue for Greece and the eurozone is to put | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
together a package that allows it to be a sustainable solution going | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
forward. One of the difficulties if Greece were to default is that | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
there are a number of banks within and outside of the Euro area that | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
could be negatively affected. I remember back in the crisis that we | :13:32. | :13:39. | |
had here in the UK in the 1980s, when we had Lloyds and the Middles | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
who had more than their entire capital reserves outstanding, even | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
to American companies, all in default. If we crystallise the | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
default then and there, we would have had two big High Street banks | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
going bust. We did not do that. We waited, they built up reserves, in | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
the threatened is the Brady restructuring to ensure a long-term | :14:03. | :14:13. | |
:14:13. | :14:30. | ||
My hunch would be that we have underestimated the political will | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
of people on the Continent to keep the show on the road. I believe, in | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
general, it is rash to assume that things are going to fall apart in | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
the European Union. Actually, our experience is that Europeans use a | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
good crisis to build up, solve the problem and get back on the road. | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
The Financial Times this morning has done calculations, using the | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
same methodology as the Government, and has discovered that the | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
structural deficit, the bit which does not disappear when growth, is | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
actually �12 billion higher than the government calculated. Does | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
that mean there will have to be more austerity measures? | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
Financial Times, bless them, is a journalistic organisation, not a | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
well-established and reputable authoritative international | :15:16. | :15:23. | |
economic organisation. Take the IMF, the OECD, both of them for the | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
serious calculations of the structural balance. They know that | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
different methodologies to the Treasury. I think that is more | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
likely. So the Financial Times is wrong? I have no idea whether it is | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
wrong or right, but the government should not, given that we have put | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
in place a framework with the Office for Budget Responsibility, | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
an independent body with a lot of resources designed to come up | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
with... But they have used the OBR's mechanism to calculate this. | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
Are you saying the FT is not authoritative on these matters? | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
does that have the final word. One of the things that we are clearly | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
going to see is that the director of the Budget -- the Office for | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
Budget Responsibility will hold forth on these matters. That is the | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
appropriate body for putting forward, if there is a problem of | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
this sort, to the government, and the OBR is the independent body | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
under started that is charged with coming up with this analysis, that | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
they find a problem, we will respond to it. -- and a statute. | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
those calculations are right, and we will find out from the OBR, if | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
there is a �12 billion structural deficit, bigger than you have been | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
proceeding along, will we have to cut more? It is absolutely clear | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
that the Government is committed to ensuring that we have a sustainable | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
structural balance, that is an absolutely key commitment. It has | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
what has got us out of the dangers on that we were in immediately | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
after the election. -- the danger zone. A number of countries have | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
fallen into economic crisis since then, even though they have smaller | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
budget deficits than we do. We have been able to get out of that danger | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
zone because our commitment to incredible physical programme. | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
still not clear if you're going to have to cut more. 9 am I, because | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
it will depend on the recommendations of the OBR. -- | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
neither am I. That is the appropriate way of doing it, not | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
reacting to something that appears in newspapers, no matter how | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
reputable they are. I used to work for the Economist, not the | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
Financial Times. We were colleagues for a brief period. It is 50% and | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
by the Financial Times. And a very good investment it has proved for | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
them! We are going to hear from Vince Cable in a minute. What has | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
he done for business? I think the key thing he has done is to make | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
sure that with the deregulation that is going on, where we can get | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
rid of excessive red tape, that is being done... What is the big | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
thing? It is a whole raft of rules. What is the biggest the regulatory | :18:03. | :18:11. | |
change? The obviously follows his department, and I follow mine. I am | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
the Secretary for Energy and climate change. The singers beggars | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
proposers what we are trying to do on the planning rules, which is | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
very controversial. That the single biggest proposal. Is that his | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
department? It is part of the deregulation, part of the growth | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
review... Of so what has he done for business? That is a key thing. | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
It is not his department. He has been involved in the road review | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
from the beginning, coming up with the ideas that we have been putting | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
in government. -- the growth review. He will continue that work as he | :18:46. | :18:54. | |
has done since the election. Miles Templeman is the head of the | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
Institute of Directors. What are you looking for from Vince Cable | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
this morning? We are certainly not looking for what we think we can to | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
get about executive pay, quite the wrong issue to be talking about | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
when we are really trying to encourage growth, stimulating | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
investment, get overseas people to come here. It is that to be talking | :19:13. | :19:19. | |
about that topic at this stage. -- daft. War would be wrong with Kevin | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
executive pay? The ratio to normal pay is far higher than it has ever | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
been. For a start, you are only talking about the very top | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
executives. Most executives get nothing like that, as he would | :19:33. | :19:39. | |
appreciate. The average director earns about 75,000, a good salary. | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
That is a non-executive. No, no, that is an executive director. | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
in the FTSE 100 for 250, they earn a lot more than that. Not most | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
directors. In the 1950s, they earned about 40 times average | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
earnings. Today they earn 400 times average earnings. Why? It varies | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
dramatically between companies, as you know. Basically, you are in a | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
marketplace of directors. You have got to pay them what they can get | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
internationally, and that is the price. It is the same in any sport | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
or music or anything. The top people are earning a lot more. What | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
I would like to see is more emphasis on how we get the lower | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
paid people to earn more, rather than trying to hold back those were | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
creating wealth and stimulating business. A wee are about to hear | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
from Mr Cable. I just hope we will be an odyssey in going up in a | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
second. Can I just ask you this, do you take what he is saying | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
seriously, or is it just conference rhetoric? I hope it is just | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
conference rhetoric, because it is not something that would help | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
business and the economy. All right. We are going to have delivered | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
there, he is on his feet. Straight into the conference hall to hear | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
When I joined up, I had very mixed feelings about the coalition. Like | :21:00. | :21:08. | |
many of you, I looked for good precedents. I thought of Clement | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
Attlee and Aaron Bevan, working with their Tory opponents, | :21:11. | :21:18. | |
Churchill and Beaverbrook, setting aside their political differences | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
in a common cause. Of course, that coalition unleashed the great | :21:22. | :21:29. | |
liberal reforms. You could say, well, that was war, that was | :21:29. | :21:35. | |
different, and it is different. But we now face a crisis that is the | :21:35. | :21:41. | |
economic equivalent of war, and this is not a time for business as | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
usual for politics as usual. The financial crisis is still with us. | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
It never went away. And we can now say that recovery has stalled in | :21:53. | :22:00. | |
the United States and the position in the eurozone is, well, Dyer. But | :22:00. | :22:06. | |
it is wishful thinking to imagine that we have a healthy economy | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
which has somehow been infected by a dangerous foreign virus, because | :22:10. | :22:18. | |
many of our problems are home-grown. Gordon Brown regularly advised the | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
rest of the world to follow his British model of rock, but the | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
model was flawed. -- growth. It led to the highest level of household | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
debt in relation to income in the world. It produced a dangerously | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
inflated property bubble. It encouraged bloated banking, while | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
manufacturing declined at an unprecedented right. And then they | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
socialised the cost of the crash through a massive budget deficit, | :22:48. | :22:55. | |
the biggest of any major economy. And his disciple, Ed Balls, highers, | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
well, sort of apologised, but now advocates policies that would | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
repeat that disaster. -- has. What this period of crisis should have | :23:05. | :23:12. | |
taught us, above all, his humility. And humility in politics means | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
accepting that one party does not have all the answers. Recognising | :23:17. | :23:27. | |
:23:27. | :23:37. | ||
that working in partnership is And it has been hard, and it has | :23:37. | :23:44. | |
required courage from our party to withstand the tribalism which is | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
British politics at its worst. And it has not been possible for the | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
party to get its own way on everything. I mean, I regret this | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
year that we did not secure a tighter control on bank pay and | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
bonuses, for example. A bad message was sent that unrestrained greed is | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
acceptable, and we now know where that leads. What we do have are | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
very real achievements. My team in the business department, and I want | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
to acknowledge David Willetts and our own outstanding minister Ed | :24:18. | :24:26. | |
We have not only made a major contribution to deficit-reduction, | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
but we are now helping recovery. We are greatly expanded | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
apprenticeships, giving respect and recognition to the 60% of young | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
people who do not pursue academic study at universities. We have | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
protected our science budget, and we have launched a chain of | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
Technology Innovation centres promoting the technologies of the | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
future. We have established a green investment bank to promote major | :24:51. | :24:57. | |
green projects, and Nick Clegg has driven the regional growth fund, | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
investing in businesses up and down the country, not just in the south- | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
east. And we, and Ed Davey in particular, have done what | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
Conservative and Labour governments failed to do, legislate for the | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
necessary reform of the Royal Mail, with worker shares, providing a | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
stable future for the post office network. And then, after a | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
generation of manufacturing decline, we brought jobs back to Britain in | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
stealer at Red Care, a motor vehicle supply chains, electric | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
vehicles, and in aerospace through Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Augusta | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
Westland. And this morning, Jaguar and Land Rover announced that they | :25:40. | :25:46. | |
are to build a new engine plant in the West Midlands, a massive boost | :25:46. | :25:56. | |
:25:56. | :26:02. | ||
for British manufacturing and for And that is what I mean by a | :26:02. | :26:12. | |
:26:12. | :26:15. | ||
business recovery, cars, not But this work is just beginning. | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
Because to turn Britain around, we need much more. And I have three | :26:21. | :26:28. | |
priorities, stability, stimulus, solidarity. Stability in the | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
government's finances, the deficit problem, and in our banks. Stimulus | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
to support growth, and that sustainable growth based on | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
business investment, exports, green technology and manufacturing. And | :26:44. | :26:50. | |
solidarity to give people a sense of a shared society, reducing our | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
appalling inequalities of income and wealth, and creating a | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
responsible capitalism. Let me start with stability. The last | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
government promised an end to boom and bust, but it gave us both. And | :27:05. | :27:11. | |
it left us a dangerous, unsustainable budget deficit. And | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
cutting that deficit is a thankless and unpopular task, but it is | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
unavoidable if our country and party are to be taken seriously. | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
And the government's tough approach to deficit reduction is often | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
attacked as ideological, as right- wing. The truth is that financial | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
discipline is not ideological, it is a necessary condition for | :27:39. | :27:46. | |
effective government, and I see us following in the footsteps of | :27:46. | :27:52. | |
Stafford Cripps and Roy Jenkins in post-war Britain, and it brought | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
the Canadian Liberals, Scandinavian Social Democrats, the Clinton | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
Democrats in United States, because they understood, unlike today's | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
Labour Party, that the progressive agenda of centre-left parties | :28:07. | :28:17. | |
:28:17. | :28:23. | ||
cannot be delivered by bankrupt I think most of the British public | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
to get it, but there are politicians on both Left and Right | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
who do not, and some of them believe that governments, like | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
Father Christmas, they draw up lists of tax cuts and giveaways, | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
and they assume that Santa Claus will pop down the chimney and leave | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
presents under the tree. This is childish fantasy. Some of them, for | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
example, believe that if taxes on the wealthy are cut, new revenue | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
will miraculously appear. And I think the reasoning is something | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
like this, all those British billionaires who demonstrate their | :29:00. | :29:05. | |
patriotism by hiding from the taxman in Monaco for some Caribbean | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
bolt hole will come rushing back to pay more tax at a lower rate. Well, | :29:10. | :29:20. | |
:29:20. | :29:23. | ||
I'm afraid that my view of this is Financial stability is not just | :29:23. | :29:29. | |
about the Government's deficit. Massive potential instability is | :29:29. | :29:35. | |
caused by British-based global banks whose combined assets are | :29:35. | :29:41. | |
over 400% of the size of our economy. The largest of any major | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
country. And that the present, banks offered a one-way bet. If | :29:47. | :29:53. | |
they gambled and win, they fill up the bonus pool, and when he loses, | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
the taxpayer pays. And the Independent Banking Commission, the | :29:58. | :30:03. | |
Vickers commission, provides a means to stop this dangerous | :30:03. | :30:09. | |
nonsense. The commission's key findings, which are two separate | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
retail and casino banking, must be put in place. Legislation will | :30:12. | :30:22. | |
:30:22. | :30:28. | ||
start soon, and it will be APPLAUSE. | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
And if there are any doubts about the need for radical reform, the | :30:34. | :30:41. | |
UBS rogue trader is to dispel them. We simply cannot have rogue | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
institutions, exposing taxpayers to the risk of exploding financial | :30:45. | :30:52. | |
weapons of mass destruction. APPLAUSE. | :30:52. | :30:57. | |
But the banks must also perform their basic economic function. | :30:57. | :31:03. | |
Which is channeling our savings, into productive investment. | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
They are doing so. Productive British business and banking are | :31:07. | :31:13. | |
currently at odds. Banks operate a bit like a man who | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
either wears his trousers around his chest stifling breathing, which | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
is what they do at the moment or around their ankles, exposing their | :31:23. | :31:30. | |
assets. APPLAUSE | :31:30. | :31:38. | |
That's if they have any! We want the trousers around the middle! | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
Steady lending growth, especially to protective British businesses, | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
small-scale enter prices, that is what they have to do. No more feast | :31:49. | :31:55. | |
and famine in bank lending. APPLAUSE | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
Now the big economic policy question now is how-do we pro gres | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
from financial stability to growth? -- progress from financial | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
stability to growth? With business and consumer confidence so low, | :32:08. | :32:13. | |
there is a responsibility on Government. My job is to support | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
businesses. That means promoting British | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
commerce in the big emerging markets that have been neglected in | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
the past. It means keeping Britain open to | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
inward investment, to trade, to students and skilled workers. | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
It means cutting red tape which is suffocating growing companies which | :32:33. | :32:39. | |
create jobs. Well, I I will not provide cover | :32:39. | :32:46. | |
for the ideological deendents of those who once sent children up | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
chimneys. Panic in financial markets will not be stopped by | :32:50. | :32:57. | |
scrapping maternity rights. APPLAUSE | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
But the immediate threat is lack of demand. | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
With consumers, companies and governments cutting spending, there | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
was once a talk of a paradox of thrift where everyone in every | :33:16. | :33:23. | |
country is individually wise, but collectively foolish, leading to a | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
downward spiral. A lot of the responsibility for countering this | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
rests on the bank of England, to relax monetary policy, but | :33:32. | :33:39. | |
government can also act. We can use Chris Huhne's Green Deal to | :33:39. | :33:44. | |
generate 100,000 jobs, we can leverage private investment through | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
the growth fund and the Greenpeace Investment bank. We can allow | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
councils to use planning permission, using the permissions for social | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
housing.. We can step up investment in our clapped out infrastructure. | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
There are tens of billions of pounds of British savings in | :34:02. | :34:05. | |
pension funds and insurance companies ready to invest in | :34:05. | :34:11. | |
transport, energy, broadband and housing if the regulators can | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
ensure a reasonable, mot raid return. As Danny announced | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
yesterday, the the Government is putting serious money behind local | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
infrastructure, but even with a stimulus to support the recovery, | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
the next few years will be difficult. | :34:28. | :34:34. | |
Living standards are being squeezed by continued high imported | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
inflation. The painful truth is that Britain is now a poorer | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
country as a result of the financial crash. | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
The public will only accept continuing us stairity if it is | :34:48. | :34:54. | |
seen to be fair. Yet there is currently a great sense of | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
grievance that the workers and the pensioners are paying the penalty | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
for a crisis that they did not create. | :35:02. | :35:12. | |
:35:12. | :35:13. | ||
APPLAUSE And I want a real sense of | :35:13. | :35:23. | |
:35:23. | :35:30. | ||
solidarity. That does not mean that we go around in green bowler hats | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
carrying suitcases, but we have as a party made clear our priorities | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
for continuing to lift lower than average earners out of tax and the | :35:40. | :35:43. | |
wealthy must pay their share. What the Liberal Democrats should focus | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
on are the vast disparrities of wealth. Much of it in inflated | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
property and land price, artificially generated by the boom | :35:52. | :35:59. | |
of the last decade. A few weeks ago a house changed hands for �140 | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
million. One newspaper headline said without | :36:04. | :36:14. | |
:36:14. | :36:15. | ||
a sense of irony, "Oligarchs are being priced out of Central London" | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
Yet the owners pay no more tax than men of -- many of the occupants of | :36:22. | :36:28. | |
a family semi-. When some critics attack our party policy on a tax on | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
properties over �million, you have to wonder what part much the solar | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
system they live in, but let me be clear, there is absolutely nothing | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
wrong with generous rewards for those who build up successful | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
businesses. For those who create wealth and | :36:47. | :36:57. | |
:36:57. | :37:06. | ||
People accept capitalism, but what they want is responsible capitalism. | :37:06. | :37:12. | |
As for irspibl capitalism, some of you may have noticed that one of | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
the big media companies has recently had a spot of bother! I | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
think that you know who I'm referring to. All I would say about | :37:21. | :37:27. | |
it is this: The Labour Party, the Conservatives, even the Scottish | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
nationalists spent years queuing up to pay them homage. What makes me | :37:32. | :37:38. | |
proud of our party is that we never compromised oifs in that way. | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
APPLAUSE -- come promisised ourselves in | :37:42. | :37:52. | |
that way. APPLAUSE | :37:52. | :37:58. | |
What I want to do is to strengthen the best of British business. | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
I have taken two initiatives in particular. I have asked Professor | :38:03. | :38:11. | |
John Kay, together with Sir John Rose, the former boss of Rolls- | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
Royce. They have commitment to long-term investment, training, R | :38:15. | :38:22. | |
and D. I have asked them to look at how we make our stock markets and | :38:22. | :38:27. | |
institutional investors get out of this short-term speculative mind | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
frame. I am separately consulting on how best to tackle the | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
escalation of executive pay. Which in many cases have lost connection | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
with the value of shares, let alone average employee pay. | :38:41. | :38:49. | |
APPLAUSE It is very hard to explain why | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
share holders can vote to cut top pay, that the managers then ignore | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
the vote. Surely pay should be transparent and not hidden from | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
share holders and the public? So, I want to call time on payouts for | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
failure. APPLAUSE | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
Let me... Let me just say in conclusion, that when my staff saw | :39:17. | :39:24. | |
my draft of this speech, they said that they could see the grey sky, | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
but where are the sunny uplands? I have to say that I'm sorry, but I | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
can only tell it as asee it. I think that people are not | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
projecting ten years ahead when they are worrying about how to | :39:37. | :39:42. | |
survive the next ten days to their pay day, but I do sense a deeper | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
truth, that the public is tired of being lied to by politicians and | :39:47. | :39:57. | |
promised what cannot be delivered. The truth is that there are | :39:57. | :39:58. | |
difficult times ahead. Britain's post-war pattern of ever rising | :39:58. | :40:04. | |
living standards has been broken by the financial collapse. But I | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
believe that we can turn the economy around and we will. | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
In the coalition agreement we promised to put fairness at the | :40:13. | :40:19. | |
heart of all that we do. As we rebuild our broken economy | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
from the rubble, the Liberal Democrats know that you can't do | :40:24. | :40:31. | |
one without the other. So we must now do both, fairness and recovery. | :40:31. | :40:41. | |
:40:41. | :40:42. | ||
Thank you. APPLAUSE | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
Nick Clegg getting on to his feet there to give Vince Cable a | :40:47. | :40:53. | |
standing ovation. A rather more low-key Vince Cable than some | :40:53. | :40:59. | |
expected. He attacked the Tory supplysiders with the low rate of | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
tax. Attacking yet again the banks, calling for a stimulus, although | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
not clear if this was to be a new stimulus. He went through a range | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
of existing policies. He is slightly constrained as it is the | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
policy of the coalition not to have further stimulus in the sense of | :41:17. | :41:23. | |
new money. He attacked the ideological descendents of those | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
who sent children up chimneys, though he did not say who they were. | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
He also called as had been trailed in the papers and the broadcasts | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
this morning for greater controls on executive pay, but all that he | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
announced was an investigation to be led by the former chief | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
executive of Rolls-Royce into how stock markets and institutional | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
investors can get away from the speculation, so that it highly | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
likely to be that radical and he is consultanting about what to do on | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
executive pay. So I suspect in the boardrooms of the City of London up | :41:57. | :42:00. | |
and down the country, they are breathing a little sigh of relief. | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
Let's find out from the head of the Institute of Directors, Templeton, | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
he has been listening to the speech in London. What did you make of it | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
Miles Templeman? It was like you, it was much milder than we were | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
expecting. Much we agreed with. The emphasis on growth, on planning | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
liberalisation, and infrastructure. So those things are key to growth. | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
I was glad, apart from the bashing of the banks again that he kept off, | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
largely, the whole issue of executive pay. | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
So, you are not frightened? He has not frightened the horses by what | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
he said on executive pay? It was strongly billed but in your view | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
turned out to be pretty much milk and water? I think that is as it | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
should be. It is not the issue that we should be talking about now. We | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
know that the share hold verse a responsibility. That is in place. | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
It is increasingly transparent what is happening. I think that is | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
improving. We are on that track. What we don't need is anything | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
further. Could you answer the question that | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
Chris Huhne seemed to have difficulty in answering to me a few | :43:09. | :43:14. | |
minutes ago, what in your view has Vince Cable done for business? | :43:14. | :43:21. | |
thought it was a good question. I think he said one or two things, on | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
a presentships they have been goofpltd we support that. The | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
planning on regulation -- the planning on infrastructure. The | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
regulation, we have not had progress, but a lot of fine words. | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
I think that the enterprise zone is a good one, but will it be | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
effective? We will wait and see. There are some areas, but not a lot | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
of progress yet,ual it is a difficult environment. Do you think | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
he was re fefring to you or the Institute of Directors as the | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
ideological descendents of those who want to send children up | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
chimneys? I don't know who. He did not follow through on it at all any | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
way. No. I think what we need from him is a much stronger voice | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
supporting business. We don't need the problems in business, but the | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
support. We need that internationally as well as at home. | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
He is doing that. Do you think that Vince Cable is | :44:17. | :44:23. | |
that strong voice? He's got to be, otherwise we never get the inward | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
investment. Is he? Well, the less he talks about bashing banks and | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
executive pay, the better. Miles Templeman, thank you very | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
much. Now, it is a hard life here at | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
party conferences, I'm sure you realise that. Not only do we wade | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
through countless fringe events, endless drinks receptions it is our | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
duty to go and to get our heads around the impenetrable language | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
that the political parties like to use on these occasions, but never | :44:53. | :44:59. | |
fear, in the first of our series of conference jargon busters, who are | :44:59. | :45:06. | |
you going to call? The Daily Politics and Andrew Dilnot, our own | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
dictionary, he's been out and about in Birmingham, looking at the | :45:10. | :45:17. | |
powers of the Lib Dem conference. Of all of the party conferences, | :45:17. | :45:24. | |
the Lib Dem seas arguably the most powerful. The conference is the | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
sovereign body of the party. It is responsible for making policy and | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
all policy flows from it. Not always a source of comfort to | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
the leadership, however, not everything voted on in conference | :45:37. | :45:47. | |
:45:47. | :45:49. | ||
actually make it is into an There is part of the party will | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
have suggested things they want to discuss, and they pass that on to | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
the federal committee, who choose which ones will be debated at | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
conference, and then members will get to vote on them and turn them | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
into policy. Oh, yeah, how do they vote? Each member is issued with a | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
voting card that comes with their conference pass. That allows them | :46:07. | :46:13. | |
to take part in the full debates, which I chaired by the President of | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
the party or his representatives. He or she have the final say in any | :46:17. | :46:23. | |
decision. That was Giles Dilnot. With me now | :46:23. | :46:29. | |
part two MPs July overtaking notes, Duncan Hames and Tessa Munt. What | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
is the point of a Liberal Democrat conference that might it is a good | :46:34. | :46:41. | |
time to get together, to recharge our batteries. You are in a | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
coalition with no power to implement what to discuss. Are you | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
sure? To anyone policy that you have passed this week that will be | :46:48. | :46:54. | |
adopted by the coalition. -- Tell Me one policy. In March, as a | :46:54. | :47:00. | |
result of the demands we wanted to the health reforms, conference | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
flexed its muscles, and we have seen the impact of that in | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
legislation. What have you done this week? We have had the | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
discussion about having a response to looking at drugs and the problem | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
of drugs that inflicts massive damage on all of our communities. I | :47:15. | :47:21. | |
know it is a very unpopular topic, but it is what we have called for, | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
a structured and proper look at the impact. I listened to parts of the | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
debate. Do think the government will adopt it? We have to ask, and | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
we will see. We will have a go, won't we? Would you hold your | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
breath for it? We have got to do something, we cannot ignore the | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
problem any longer. Isn't there a danger that your conference is | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
becoming more like the Labour and Conservative conferences, which | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
over the years have a bath into rallies? Well, I guess your viewers | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
can judge that over the next couple of weeks. I think they will say | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
that Liberal Democrat conference has been different to the | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
conferences they will see in the next couple of weeks, which are | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
dominated by the platform. What is the mood of this conference? | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
think it is a slightly different one from normal, been at perhaps | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
when we met back in March, people were still slightly shell-shocked | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
about the fact that we were in power. What has happened in his | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
last little while is that, having recovered from the damage that we | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
were inflicted in May, what has happened now... In what way have | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
you recovered? Q and n% in the polls. I do not mean in polling | :48:25. | :48:32. | |
terms. What we have got is an opportunity to actually rebuild our | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
thoughts, think about the impact policies. What has changed is that | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
we have grown up a little bit, I think. That is what power has done. | :48:41. | :48:47. | |
I think it probably has. Are you growing up? We certainly have to | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
leave quite a lot of old habits behind. We need to roll our sleeves | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
and concentrate on making a difference, rather than talking | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
about a vision for what might be, instead making sure that it happens. | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
Do you want to change the rules of conference? Does it need to be | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
modernised? Does it needs to be more dynamic, interesting? No. | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
think it was pretty interesting when the issue that was of great | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
concern to the whole country was being discussed at our last Lib Dem | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
Conference... You are back in March again! This is now set them up. | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
This was an experience we never had in opposition, and I'm sure we'll | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
have other debates like that again. I think that has reinvigorated Lib | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
Dem Conference, to know that the debates here can make a difference | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
in government Airway that they never could before. Is it true that | :49:36. | :49:43. | |
he will miss the speech are your great leader? I am all start house | :49:43. | :49:50. | |
that you do such a thing? It is just a one-off. Is it true that you | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
are going on your honeymoon? That is right, yes. Isn't Birmingham | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
enough of a honeymoon for any Lib Dem? An old liberal city, a fine | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
tradition. Where could you go that could better Birmingham? It is | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
certainly a great prelude to my honeymoon to have spent his time at | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
conference. Where are you going? That's is a state secret, Andrew. | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
thought you believed in transparency! A bit of privacy as | :50:15. | :50:22. | |
well. You're also marrying a Theroux -- fellow anti-. I have | :50:22. | :50:32. | |
:50:32. | :50:33. | ||
already married there. I did not get an invite! So you donate the | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
honeymoon did go on to Birmingham, is that what happened? -- delayed. | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
We manage to come to conference, but I figured that while the other | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
parties are having their conferences, that is when we will | :50:44. | :50:50. | |
be leased list. We be taking the lead Dem manifesto or the Orange | :50:50. | :51:00. | |
:51:00. | :51:00. | ||
Book on honeymoon? I think we might Stop you might think the Liberal | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
Democrats are a soft and cuddly party, but we know differently. | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
They are turning nasty. The knives are out, and not just towards | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
Labour, they barely mention in these days. They are having a go at | :51:11. | :51:21. | |
The our coalition partners are sometimes helpful. I thought of | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
asking George Osborne for some jokes for his speech, as he knows a | :51:24. | :51:33. | |
lot about gags. They get worse! But I did not want to get up his nose | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
about it. I thought I went to queue for too long tonight, because I | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
want to get back to my hotel room to watch Strictly. Do you watch it? | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
Coming back to George Osborne, I heard that he is keen to get on a | :51:48. | :51:55. | |
show as well. He wants to do a line dance. It probably damages my | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
efforts as getting anything through the court ever again. But never | :51:58. | :52:05. | |
mind. I'm afraid divorce is inevitable, so has your President I | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
took the liberty of seeking legal advice about how we stand any event | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
of a World Cup, and there is good news and bad news. Good news, we | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
might get half of Ashcroft's money. Bad news, we have to have Eric | :52:17. | :52:25. | |
Pickles at the weekends. With me now, the Foreign Office | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
minister Jeremy Browne. Welcome to the Daily Politics. That afternoon. | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
Does all this Tory bashing get your pulse racing? I think he expected | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
at the party conference, no doubt there will be some Lib Dem bashing | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
at the Labour and Conservative conferences as of. I let it wash | :52:43. | :52:48. | |
over me. You are not going to be embarrassed when you next bargain | :52:48. | :52:54. | |
to thought Tory boss at the Foreign Office. No, I don't think I will. I | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
have missed what you call Tory machine. Really? It has been hard | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
to avoid. I think all party conferences, as long as I have been | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
going to them, have had people taking a knock at the other two | :53:08. | :53:13. | |
parties, and all three parties did, and probably the public do not | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
respond well, but sometimes the party faithful quite enjoy it and | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
it raises their spirits. But why are you bashing the Tories more | :53:20. | :53:25. | |
than Labour? I do not know if we are. Oh, yes, you are! I suppose | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
there might be concern in some quarters that we do not appear to | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
have lost our distinctiveness, and maybe people feel there is an | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
audience for showing that we are different in spirit from the | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
Conservatives, but I think is pretty peripheral to what is | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
happening at a conference as a whole. The Secretary of the 1922 | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
Committee of backbenchers, Mark Pritchard, once a vote on Britain's | :53:48. | :53:53. | |
membership of the European Union. - - once. That was in your Lib Dem | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
manifesto last year, so presumably you are in favour of that. I do not | :53:56. | :54:02. | |
think it end -- it is anything that is likely to happen soon, and the | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
Prime Minister has said that, at Mark Pritchard, a perfectly | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
reasonable MP, the needs to raise that with the leader of his own | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
party, I think. But it was in your manifesto, I will read out the | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
words. The European Union has evolved significantly since the | :54:16. | :54:22. | |
last public vote on membership over 30 years ago, 1975, when we voted | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
to stay in. The Liberal Democrats remain committed therefore to a | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
referendum. We had the coalition agreement that was forged in the | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
days after the general election, and there was no commitment to a | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. So it is not | :54:38. | :54:42. | |
party policy any more. When the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
Minister feel that is a necessary measure to take, then no doubt it | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
will be taken, but it isn't anything that is being contemplated | :54:49. | :54:53. | |
at this stage. To be honest, if you look at what is happening in Greece | :54:53. | :54:55. | |
and other countries in the eurozone, a referendum on Britain's | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
membership is not the number one issue with regard to Europe at the | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
moment. What actually matters most in Europe is whether the currency | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
which many countries in the European Union belong to is going | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
to go even further into crisis, and that is what is preoccupying people. | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
So should we filed his promise in your manifesto alongside tuition | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
fees as not worth the paper it was written on? -- should we file this | :55:21. | :55:28. | |
promise. Let me put it this way. I was born in May 1970, and we abide | :55:28. | :55:35. | |
many general elections since then. -- we have had. No Lib Dem | :55:35. | :55:41. | |
manifesto commitments implemented that any of those general elections. | :55:41. | :55:43. | |
2010, three quarters of our manifesto commitments implemented | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
in government. It is an amazing achievement for a party that only | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
as 8% of the seats in the House of Commons, we are in coalition with | :55:52. | :55:55. | |
the Conservatives in the national interest because no party won the | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
general election. No party has a mandate to implement this party | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
manifesto in full, but for the first time in my grandparents | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
lifetime we are implementing large parts of our manifesto. People who | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
have voted Lib Dem for decades in the Wilders years have reasons to | :56:10. | :56:17. | |
be ecstatic that their vote now cancels and they -- that their vote | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
now counts for something. Would it make sense that Britain would | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
prosper if it loosened its ties with the EU? Our relationship with | :56:25. | :56:29. | |
the EU is in the agreement that the parties arrived at after the last | :56:29. | :56:32. | |
general election, and we are working very constructively, the | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
government as a whole, within the European Union, and I can give you | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
a couple of examples. We have just signed a free-trade agreement with | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
South Korea, a country I have responsibility for within the | :56:43. | :56:46. | |
Foreign Office. That is a great success. We are co-ordinating | :56:46. | :56:51. | |
policy across the European Union with regards to Syria. I think that | :56:51. | :56:57. | |
is an important shed bit of policy. Two good examples, but what is the | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
answer to my question? Would we prosper if we loosened our ties | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
with the EU, as William Hague has claimed? The point and making is | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
that the government has a settled position on the EU, and in practice | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
on a day-to-day basis we are working very constructively with | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
the other members of the European Union to deliver British objectives. | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
Tim Farron, the President of your party, says that the government, | :57:20. | :57:24. | |
this current government, would be an absolute nightmare without Lib | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
Dem ministers. Is he right? It is a hypothetical question, because no | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
party won the last general election, so we have a coalition as a result | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
of the British people deciding that no party decided to govern alone. | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
The British people came to the conclusion that they did not want | :57:39. | :57:43. | |
any party to be in government implementing its manifesto in its | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
entirety on their own. So it does not sound like you agree with the | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
phrase absolute nightmare. They, as a result, have given as a situation | :57:51. | :57:54. | |
where we needed to forge a coalition, and that is what we have | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
done. If I wanted to join the Conservative Party, if I wanted to | :57:59. | :58:02. | |
implement Conservative Party policies, I could have done that. I | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
did not do that, I joined the Liberal Democrats, and I'm proud of | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
the contribution they are making to government, but we finished third | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
in the general election. We do not deserve to govern outright or on | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
our own, we did not win a mandate. We are in collision with the | :58:17. | :58:19. | |
Conservatives, and lover of making every effort to put the country | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
back on a street. Would you like a badger that says don't panic Quetta | :58:23. | :58:30. | |
mark what are the other options? I love tax cuts, I love the euro. | :58:30. | :58:35. | |
Would you like that? No. I love nuclear power. Love is a bit strong. | :58:35. | :58:42. | |
How about I love the coalition? think that reflects the mood are | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
all hard-headed people. That is it for today. We are back tomorrow at | :58:46. | :58:49. |