:00:24. > :00:27.Afternoon folks, welcome to The Daily Politics on Friday. The
:00:27. > :00:30.Government unveils a one billion pound Youth Contract, but how many
:00:30. > :00:38.of the over one million unemployed young people will it help get back
:00:38. > :00:40.to work? I'll be speaking to the Employment Minister. 12-hour delays
:00:40. > :00:47.predicted for passengers at Heathrow, on top of school closures
:00:47. > :00:52.and cancelled hospital operations. How costly and disruptive will next
:00:52. > :00:55.Wednesday's co-ordinated strike action be? And how a squeeze on
:00:55. > :01:05.incomes, tax credit cuts and the rising cost of childcare are a
:01:05. > :01:08.
:01:08. > :01:14.turn-off for some women voters. We're going back 20-30 years, where
:01:14. > :01:16.it is a presumption that women will And with me today are writer and
:01:16. > :01:22.broadcaster David Torrance and former political editor of the
:01:22. > :01:24.Observer Gaby Hinsliff. Welcome to you both. First this morning, more
:01:24. > :01:29.dire predictions about the impact of next week's co-ordinated strike
:01:29. > :01:32.action by members of public sector unions. Bosses at Heathrow are
:01:32. > :01:37.warning of 12-hour delays as border staff walk out - sounds like a
:01:37. > :01:41.pretty typical day at the airport to me. Most schools are predicted
:01:41. > :01:45.to be shut, with many parents having to take a day off work to
:01:45. > :01:47.look after their children. The strike is also likely to hit the
:01:47. > :01:53.NHS, where agency staff are being drafted in and some non-urgent
:01:53. > :01:56.operations are being postponed. Yesterday the Government warned the
:01:56. > :02:06.action would cost the country as much as �500 million - a figure
:02:06. > :02:10.
:02:11. > :02:14.contested by the unions. So, David Torrance, it is a day not to fly
:02:14. > :02:20.into Britain if you're a normal passenger, and if you're a suicide
:02:20. > :02:24.bomber, probably a good day to fly in. Absolutely, what I find
:02:24. > :02:29.interesting in this is tracking public opinion. The Daily Mail
:02:29. > :02:34.today says, is this something of really big? -- is this the
:02:34. > :02:39.beginning of something really big? It suggests there is a war fund to
:02:39. > :02:43.cater for several strikes after this one. Will public opinion put
:02:43. > :02:46.up with one strike, let alone several? That is the question.
:02:47. > :02:50.Although there is one strike planned for next Wednesday, it does
:02:50. > :02:55.not change anything, the question is, will the unions do this again
:02:55. > :02:59.and again, and if so, which way will public opinion go? Lots of
:02:59. > :03:02.people will put up with one day's disruption, a lot of people will
:03:02. > :03:05.have some sympathy, actually, with have some sympathy, actually, with
:03:05. > :03:09.public sector workers, and will feel, fair enough. But if it goes
:03:09. > :03:14.on and on, will people blame the unions, or will they blame the
:03:14. > :03:19.Government for not negotiating it to a peaceful settlement? Our TV
:03:19. > :03:25.screens are full of riots in Athens and Rome, Portugal had a one-day
:03:25. > :03:32.strike this week, Tahrir Square is up in flames again... The general
:03:32. > :03:36.attitude might become a we do not want to go down that road. Yes,
:03:36. > :03:42.absolutely. And there is a sense that the trade unions are out of
:03:42. > :03:46.touch with reality. Public opinion polls demonstrate that most Brits
:03:46. > :03:50.accept that some sort of austerity measures are necessary. So if they
:03:50. > :03:57.continue to go on strike after this one, there will be that disconnect
:03:57. > :04:00.between what is reasonable and what Well, here's a radical idea. If
:04:00. > :04:02.some of next week's striking public sector workers don't want their
:04:02. > :04:06.jobs, there are plenty of unemployed young people out there
:04:06. > :04:09.who just might be interested. No, that's not government policy - yet.
:04:09. > :04:14.But the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has been setting out plans
:04:14. > :04:17.this morning to create 400,000 work and training placements. Last week
:04:17. > :04:21.youth unemployment reached the youth unemployment reached the
:04:21. > :04:25.toxic figure of 1 million. There were 1.02 million unemployed 16- to
:04:25. > :04:34.24-year-olds between July and September. That means almost one in
:04:34. > :04:37.five young people who are looking for jobs can't find one. Figures
:04:37. > :04:40.released yesterday also show the number of NEETs - young people not
:04:40. > :04:48.in education, employment, or training - has risen to over 1
:04:48. > :04:51.million. That does not include students. Acutely aware of the need
:04:51. > :04:54.to act, the Government has promised �1 billion across the UK for a
:04:54. > :04:57.Youth Contract to tackle youth unemployment. The hope is to
:04:57. > :05:00.provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18- to 24-year-olds This
:05:00. > :05:07.would see firms being given a subsidy of more than �2,000 for
:05:07. > :05:11.each unemployed young person they take on for six months. Firms would
:05:11. > :05:14.also get �1,500 for every apprentice they employ. And there
:05:14. > :05:22.will be cash, too, to subsidise 250,000 work placements lasting up
:05:22. > :05:25.to eight weeks. The Government hopes this will silence critics who
:05:25. > :05:33.accuse it of inaction - and more importantly that it will stem the
:05:33. > :05:35.tide. I'll be talking about the Government's plans in a moment with
:05:35. > :05:39.the Employment Minister, Chris Grayling, and Labour's Stephen
:05:39. > :05:42.Timms. But amongst all this doom and gloom, there is apparently some
:05:42. > :05:44.good news, because a survey out today suggests that there's been a
:05:44. > :05:49.significant increase in the number of young people escaping the
:05:49. > :05:52.competitive jobs market and starting their own businesses. I'm
:05:52. > :06:01.joined now from Liverpool by Nikki Hesford, who runs a business called
:06:01. > :06:04.Hesford, who runs a business called Miss Fit UK. Thanks for joining us,
:06:04. > :06:06.I understand you ended up running your own business because you found
:06:06. > :06:11.your own business because you found it hard getting a job with the
:06:11. > :06:15.company. Yes, in April 2008 I was looking for a job in financial
:06:15. > :06:18.services, going to interviews, and finding that after 35 interviews,
:06:18. > :06:24.they were all, thank you for applying, but somebody else has got
:06:24. > :06:30.the job. That was even jobs in �9,500 a year. I had a degree, but
:06:30. > :06:33.I was not able to get the job. There were 15, 20, 30 people going
:06:33. > :06:38.for a minimum wage receptionist job. There was just too much competition.
:06:38. > :06:41.Even though I was more than qualified. You said that tax
:06:41. > :06:46.credits were important to you go as a single mother, allowing you to go
:06:46. > :06:51.out to work - have you had any other help from the Government?
:06:51. > :06:54.There have been some small local grants for starting the business, a
:06:54. > :06:58.couple of 1,000 pounds here and there. They have been useful. But
:06:58. > :07:01.the tax credit has been brilliant, because it enables you as a single
:07:01. > :07:09.parent to have something coming in whilst your business is perhaps not
:07:09. > :07:14.making anything, to start with. The tax credits will also pay for the
:07:14. > :07:18.child care so that you can get your business off the ground. Now, or
:07:18. > :07:24.and employer, what is the quality of the labour market like, the
:07:24. > :07:29.quality of people? It is quite difficult. We also have a family
:07:29. > :07:32.restaurant, as well as Miss Fit UK. We have been trying to find waiters
:07:32. > :07:36.and waitresses and chefs for the past year, and we have been unable
:07:36. > :07:41.to find people suitable for the job. We're finding that a lot of people
:07:41. > :07:45.like initiative. There is a sense of entitlement, a lot of people, I
:07:45. > :07:50.am entitled to this or that. It is difficult to get a strong work
:07:50. > :07:56.ethic. Just little things like appearance, timekeeping, you would
:07:57. > :08:00.think that people would be nailing these things, but yet people are
:08:01. > :08:06.continuing in the Lake for jobs, or they do not turn up, or they do not
:08:06. > :08:13.come in on Mondays, people do not seem to have the heart and soul to
:08:13. > :08:15.do a job. Good luck with your business. And joining us now are
:08:16. > :08:25.the Employment Minister, Chris Grayling, and his Labour Shadow,
:08:26. > :08:27.
:08:27. > :08:32.Stephen Timms. Chris Grayling, this �1 billion scheme would not have
:08:32. > :08:36.happened without the Lib Dems, would it? That's not true, this is
:08:36. > :08:39.a coalition programme. We have been looking at it for some months, we
:08:39. > :08:43.put the plan together in the department. It is an extension of
:08:43. > :08:47.the schemes which were already in place, doubling the size of the
:08:47. > :08:54.existing work-experience scheme... Wasn't it like getting a vegetarian
:08:55. > :08:58.to going to a kebab shop? That's simply not the case. So, the Lib
:08:58. > :09:03.Dems are wrong to claim the credit for it? Mr Clegg has been out and
:09:03. > :09:07.about this morning... That's natural, when you have an important
:09:07. > :09:11.announcement, either the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime
:09:11. > :09:16.Minister will go out and announce it. We are a team. So, you do the
:09:16. > :09:20.work and he takes the credit. Inevitably, one all the other will
:09:20. > :09:25.want to play a major part in a big announcement. Oh, yes, we have seen
:09:25. > :09:30.that. Where is the money coming from? You will have to wait until
:09:30. > :09:34.the Spending Review or until the Autumn Statement next week. I
:09:34. > :09:41.cannot pre-empt what will be announced. But is it additional
:09:41. > :09:51.money? I am not going to respond, I'm afraid. The Autumn Statement
:09:51. > :09:58.will set it all out. Will the money be coming from tax credits?
:09:58. > :10:01.still not going to answer that one, I'm afraid. I hope you will be
:10:01. > :10:08.impressed when the statement comes out by the range of measures to
:10:08. > :10:14.deal with unemployment. You will have to decide if you're happy or
:10:14. > :10:21.sad on Tuesday. Can we just get it clear, 4,000 new jobs are not being
:10:21. > :10:25.created by this �1 billion. Within that figure, it includes 250,000
:10:25. > :10:29.work-experience placements for up to, and I say again, up to eight
:10:29. > :10:33.weeks, that's not a new job. work experience scheme has proved
:10:33. > :10:36.enormously successful, since we launched it in the spring. More
:10:36. > :10:39.than half the young people going through that scheme have been
:10:39. > :10:42.getting off benefits and into work. It is by far the most cost-
:10:42. > :10:45.effective scheme that we have seen in the country in recent years. It
:10:45. > :10:50.really works, and if you have something that works, you should
:10:50. > :10:54.build on it. Stephen Timms, you must be happy, this job creation
:10:54. > :10:58.scheme is not unlike yours, and it will probably just as useless as
:10:58. > :11:01.yours. It is very welcome, the fact that the Government has recognised
:11:01. > :11:04.finally that something needs to be done. It is a tragedy that we had
:11:04. > :11:10.to get such awful youth unemployment figures before the
:11:10. > :11:14.Government acted. The Future Jobs Fund did not work, either. Well, it
:11:14. > :11:17.did, of course. This announcement underlines what a serious mistake
:11:17. > :11:24.it was for the Government to scrap the Future Jobs Fund just after the
:11:24. > :11:30.election. There's lots of detail we do not yet know. It seems that a
:11:30. > :11:34.lot of it is about eight-week work experience placements. I would be
:11:34. > :11:38.interested to know, is the money which is supporting employers going
:11:38. > :11:42.to go direct to the employers, or is it going to go to the work
:11:42. > :11:47.programme? I think it is likely to go straight to the employers. We
:11:47. > :11:49.will sit down with the CBI and others to work out whether we make
:11:49. > :11:52.payments through the national insurance system or through
:11:52. > :11:57.different means. But this is a support mechanism for employers
:11:57. > :12:01.when they take someone on. It is a cash incentive. One of the point I
:12:01. > :12:04.should make, you would believe, listening to the Labour Party, that
:12:04. > :12:09.somehow unemployment have rocketed in the last few monks amongst the
:12:09. > :12:15.young. At the time of the general election, there were 930,000 young
:12:15. > :12:19.people out of work, that figure has increased to just over one million,
:12:19. > :12:23.but the idea that this is somehow a creation of the coalition is for
:12:23. > :12:30.the birds. Long term youth unemployment is up 86% since
:12:30. > :12:32.January. That is not the case. The previous government buried young
:12:32. > :12:36.unemployed people on something called training allowance and other
:12:36. > :12:39.schemes, so the figures did not show the true picture. If you take
:12:39. > :12:44.a like-for-like comparison, there has been very... Change in the
:12:44. > :12:49.number of people, young people, unemployed for six months. The fact
:12:49. > :12:57.is, yours is a variation of the other scheme. They're both much of
:12:57. > :13:03.a muchness. Your version was the expensive one, but within a month
:13:03. > :13:08.of it coming to an end, when your time of subsidised work came to an
:13:08. > :13:12.end, 50% of young people were back on the dole, it didn't work. 50% of
:13:12. > :13:16.them, however, were in work, including young people who had been
:13:16. > :13:20.out of work for a long time. does not show how many were
:13:20. > :13:25.unemployed again after six months, or after one month. The Future Jobs
:13:25. > :13:28.Fund broke the mould. If you speak to young people, a lot of people
:13:28. > :13:31.say it changed their lives for the better. It is very welcome that
:13:31. > :13:39.after this very long time, the Government is trying to make up for
:13:39. > :13:46.some of the damage it don't. -- it did. Youth unemployment rose
:13:46. > :13:50.consistently under Labour from 2004 onwards. 2004 was not the recession.
:13:50. > :13:55.Unemployment among young people rose every year from 2004. The
:13:55. > :13:59.recession did not start until 2008. You were asking about the Future
:13:59. > :14:01.Jobs Fund. That was introduced in the recession, and it was
:14:02. > :14:05.successful in bringing youth unemployment down. Since it was
:14:05. > :14:08.stopped, it has rocketed again, but it is welcome that the Government
:14:08. > :14:12.is finally addressing this. If it is true, as the Government said
:14:12. > :14:18.this morning, that the Deputy Prime Minister made a proposal on these
:14:18. > :14:22.lines to the Cabinet in January, why has it taken almost a year?
:14:22. > :14:27.did you scrap one interventionist scheme which does not work, wait a
:14:27. > :14:32.long while, to introduce another one that probably will not work?
:14:32. > :14:37.The Future Jobs Fund paid �6,500 to give a young person a six-month
:14:37. > :14:41.work experience placement, with nothing to follow. The crucial
:14:41. > :14:45.difference was the minimum wage. What we are doing is supporting,
:14:45. > :14:49.through the package we have announced today, and through
:14:49. > :14:53.increased apprenticeships, the start of long-term careers. These
:14:53. > :14:56.are real jobs in the private sector that will lead somewhere, not a
:14:56. > :15:01.six-month temporary work placement, to massage the unemployment figures.
:15:01. > :15:06.You do not know that. One thing we do know is that it does not pay in
:15:06. > :15:10.this country now to be out of work and to be 25 or 26. Actually, the
:15:10. > :15:14.work programme, and I am encouraged by the early stages of that, is
:15:14. > :15:19.delivering personalised support to young people of all ages. Your
:15:19. > :15:26.subsidy stops at 24, like all of these schemes, having unintended
:15:26. > :15:30.consequences. If I'm an employer faced with two youngsters, 24 and
:15:30. > :15:40.25, I will take the 24-year-old, because I get the subsidy. It is
:15:40. > :15:44.
:15:44. > :15:48.Bye-bye 25-year-old, is that not We are unashamedly helping the
:15:48. > :15:55.youth, because they are in a difficult position, they need
:15:55. > :16:01.experience, but how can they get it? Thatcher had the YTS. The it is
:16:01. > :16:07.the same idea, a subsidy for a job. I am old enough to remember when
:16:07. > :16:12.the coalition didn't believe in subsidised jobs. They felt that
:16:12. > :16:15.they didn't need the state to come in all heavy-handed. So what we are
:16:15. > :16:25.going to see next week is a return to this idea that the Government
:16:25. > :16:26.
:16:26. > :16:31.was quite scornful of. I remember Gordon Brown doing some of these
:16:31. > :16:36.measures at his height. We are Isaac -- we are either reaching a
:16:36. > :16:41.point were the previous government was right, or that they were wrong
:16:41. > :16:44.and this is going to be wrong again. Having said that, I think there is
:16:44. > :16:50.a me to be said young people doing something rather than being
:16:50. > :16:55.unemployed. But it is a gamble on a quick recovery. What is your take?
:16:55. > :17:00.I am rather cynical about all of these schemes. It did bring to mind
:17:00. > :17:04.the YTS of the 1980s. Governments have to be seen to be doing
:17:04. > :17:09.something, and they accept the political reality of that. But in
:17:09. > :17:16.truth, what reduce his youth unemployment is a healthy, vibrant
:17:16. > :17:19.economy on the whole, and not targeted assistance. We see from
:17:19. > :17:25.continental schemes that once the period of assistance has come to an
:17:25. > :17:33.end, they go back on the dole. Let's not be parochial here. Europe
:17:33. > :17:35.is awash with the schemes. You go to Spain, Germany, Italy, France,
:17:35. > :17:39.governments are awash with the schemes, and unemployment among
:17:39. > :17:44.young people there is even higher than it is here. They haven't
:17:44. > :17:52.worked. But we are not creating an artificial scheme for short-term
:17:52. > :17:58.work. What we are doing is in some devising employers. -- giving
:17:58. > :18:01.employers incentives. This is about creating long-term jobs, not about
:18:01. > :18:06.creating temporary job placements that massage the unemployment
:18:06. > :18:10.figures. How is it not temporary of the subsidy runs out after six
:18:10. > :18:13.months? We are giving the employer the incentive to take a chance on
:18:14. > :18:18.someone without experience with a financial boost, and that is what
:18:18. > :18:22.this is about. It is not simply about a short-term job creation
:18:23. > :18:30.scheme. If employers get a subsidy to employ somebody, they will take
:18:30. > :18:33.it. Yes, and we want them to! doesn't mean long-term employment.
:18:33. > :18:36.Time will tell. We have been talking a lot about
:18:36. > :18:43.potential cuts to tax credits, but the Minister gave nothing away
:18:43. > :18:50.there. You'll have to tune in to the Autumn Statement live here on a
:18:50. > :18:53.Daily Politics special on Tuesday. The squeeze on household incomes is
:18:53. > :18:57.one of the factors said to be losing the Government the support
:18:57. > :19:05.of women voters. They're getting tax credits cut, they go to the
:19:05. > :19:10.shops and see how high food prices are. They are not happy.
:19:10. > :19:16.Karen Miller lives with her husband Darren and therefore kids. They
:19:16. > :19:20.both work full-time, and spent almost �5,000 a year on child care.
:19:20. > :19:25.But with their tax credits cut from �90 to �20 a week, Karen says it
:19:25. > :19:31.may not be worth working. I always believed, growing up and working my
:19:31. > :19:37.way up through the work chain, that I would be better off, that I would
:19:37. > :19:41.be able to afford those luxuries. And not to be able to afford those
:19:41. > :19:46.luxuries is really quite shocking. We do have to consider whether it
:19:46. > :19:50.might be worth one of us not working. The Government's not about
:19:50. > :19:57.to reverse cuts the tax credit any time soon. But one MP thinks that
:19:57. > :20:07.you could cut a red tape and get a cheaper alternative. Eggs -- for
:20:07. > :20:07.
:20:07. > :20:11.example, in a small village or town where it is hard to get to work, a
:20:11. > :20:17.mum who is staying at home and looking after her own children
:20:17. > :20:24.might be able to look after her friends' children as well without
:20:24. > :20:31.having to go through all the Ofsted red tape. It is a popular idea in a
:20:31. > :20:36.country with one of the world's most expensive childcare systems.
:20:36. > :20:43.But the ride Down side to cheap childcare. It is about having well-
:20:43. > :20:47.trained qualified staff who understand child development, so
:20:47. > :20:52.that the children and not sitting there doing nothing but getting
:20:52. > :20:57.some input to help them learn. would rather pay for my daughter to
:20:57. > :21:01.go to a childminder. She gets such a lot in terms of early education.
:21:01. > :21:05.But I know that when she goes to school, she will be able to learn
:21:05. > :21:09.at a faster rate than children who haven't had that social skill input.
:21:09. > :21:15.And Karen has a message for politicians hoping they can win
:21:15. > :21:19.over the women voters. I want to work - police tell me. I really do
:21:19. > :21:25.think that we're going back 20 or 30 years to where it is a
:21:25. > :21:30.presumption that women will stay in the household, and all that work on
:21:30. > :21:34.equality has gone out of the window. Kate Conway reporting. Chris
:21:34. > :21:38.Grayling is still with us. At a time when living standards are
:21:38. > :21:46.being seriously squeezed because prices, particularly of essentials,
:21:46. > :21:50.are rising so much more than wages, which are static, more and more
:21:50. > :21:54.families, both parents are having to go out to work, which makes
:21:54. > :21:58.child care all the more important. But child care is getting tough, as
:21:58. > :22:04.we have seen in the film. It is important, and you have to put in
:22:04. > :22:07.context the changes we have made to tax credits. We inherited a system
:22:07. > :22:12.row you're paying tax credits to people who were earning �50,000 the
:22:12. > :22:17.year, and in tough times, you have to draw a line as to how far up the
:22:17. > :22:19.income scale you can provide support. But by looking at the
:22:19. > :22:22.introduction of the Universal Credit, what we're doing for the
:22:22. > :22:27.first time is allow women are going back to work working just a few
:22:27. > :22:31.hours a week to claim credits for child care in a way that wasn't
:22:31. > :22:33.possible previously. So we have unashamedly said we cannot do
:22:33. > :22:38.everything for everyone, but we have strengthened support for
:22:38. > :22:45.people at the bottom end of the scale. I take the difficulties,
:22:45. > :22:49.because you have got no money because you have spent billions on
:22:49. > :22:54.a job scheme, but what would you say to people who want to work,
:22:54. > :22:58.they have to work because they are the squeezed middle, but they can't
:22:58. > :23:02.get the child care. What would you say to them? We are providing
:23:02. > :23:06.through the tax credit system support for child care. That hasn't
:23:06. > :23:12.changed. But equally, we have got to recognise that in difficult
:23:12. > :23:16.times financially, there are limits to how much we can rely on that. It
:23:16. > :23:21.was a hard decision to say that we cannot use tax credits to support
:23:21. > :23:24.people earning more than �50,000 per year. A lot of the people you
:23:24. > :23:28.took that away from think of themselves as the squeezed middle
:23:28. > :23:34.two. Is this one of the reasons why the Conservatives have a problem
:23:34. > :23:37.with women? I think it absolutely is. The change happened since April,
:23:37. > :23:40.meaning that you can now claim back less of your child care then you
:23:40. > :23:44.could, for a lot of mothers who were only just thinking it was
:23:44. > :23:49.worth working and may be feeling a bit guilty and torn about working,
:23:49. > :23:54.you reach a point where you are paying to work. You do start
:23:55. > :23:58.resenting the Government at that point. They are feeling forced to
:23:58. > :24:01.go back and look after the kids, even if that is not what they want
:24:01. > :24:05.to do, and it feels like the Government wants women to be in the
:24:05. > :24:09.home, and I don't think that is what the Government intended. The
:24:09. > :24:14.result is either women working, or black market child care, cash-in-
:24:14. > :24:20.hand to a neighbour because it is cheaper. Do you think they are
:24:20. > :24:28.encouraged to do that? Child care has gone up above-inflation this
:24:28. > :24:34.year, and wages have not risen. What do you think? I have now taken
:24:34. > :24:44.child care, I am a single man of 34 x man but I think it is intriguing
:24:44. > :24:46.
:24:46. > :24:53.that David Cameron seems to be now week with women voters. You are
:24:53. > :25:00.Alex Salmond's biographer, aren't you? I am, and he has appeared on
:25:00. > :25:02.Mumsnet and various interviews. It was a PR exercise, essentially. I
:25:02. > :25:07.wonder if David Cameron might be considering an appearance on
:25:07. > :25:14.Mumsnet and women's hour. I think we can definitely say that that
:25:14. > :25:19.might happen! Is it just economically impossible to allow a
:25:19. > :25:24.child care to be tax deductible? There are a number of things. If
:25:24. > :25:29.you look at the various ideas and pressures and suggestions, that is
:25:30. > :25:33.one of the ideas, and of course there are -- people argue for that.
:25:33. > :25:38.But we are dealing with a very difficult financial position. There
:25:38. > :25:41.are many things that people might argue we should do, but our real
:25:41. > :25:45.task right now is to maintain stability in the economy. If we
:25:45. > :25:48.were to let rip and allow borrowing to rise again in the way the Labour
:25:48. > :25:51.Party seems to want us to do, the consequence would be that we would
:25:51. > :25:57.end up with the kind of financial pressures that we are seeing in
:25:57. > :26:02.other European countries. We do not want to go in that direction.
:26:02. > :26:06.have a women problem, don't you? think it is up to us to win the
:26:06. > :26:12.support of voters, both male and female, over the next three-and-a-
:26:12. > :26:16.half-year us to demonstrate that we are listening. We hear that mantra
:26:16. > :26:23.every day. Thank you very much, Mr grayling. Time now to see what else
:26:23. > :26:28.has been going on in the last seven days. It is the week in 60 seconds.
:26:28. > :26:32.David Cameron and Nick Clegg got to boost the House market, so as a
:26:32. > :26:38.couple, they went house-hunting. is vitally important to build more
:26:38. > :26:43.houses. In Egypt, protesters returned to Tahir Square, demanding
:26:43. > :26:47.that the military stand down immediately. Westminster hard nut
:26:47. > :26:51.Ed Balls reveals he has a softer side when he told an interviewer
:26:51. > :26:56.that he cries at the Sound of Music and the Antiques Roadshow. Figures
:26:56. > :27:00.showed that net migration into 1010 was at a record high, a quarter of
:27:00. > :27:03.a million more people came to the UK then left.
:27:03. > :27:06.The Leveson Inquiry has been hearing evidence, some of it
:27:06. > :27:11.dignified, moving and shocking, plus a string of celebrity
:27:11. > :27:16.witnesses who pitched in with a few lighter moments. You told me
:27:16. > :27:21.backstage you are going to bowl me straight balls. If these are
:27:21. > :27:26.straight balls, I would hate to see your googlies. And unstoppable
:27:26. > :27:30.problems already facing the eurozone, the last beret maker in
:27:30. > :27:34.France said it could close within days.
:27:34. > :27:44.When the Germans cannot sell their debt, and the French can't make
:27:44. > :27:49.their berets. Then I think we are all in trouble! That is it, Jo will
:27:49. > :27:53.be here on Monday, and joined Jon Sopel on Sunday For the Politics