:00:26. > :00:29.Afternoon folks, welcome to the Daily Politics on Friday. Stop me
:00:29. > :00:31.if you've heard this one before, but there's talk of a grand plan
:00:31. > :00:40.emerging from Europe finally, really, honestly to solve the euro
:00:40. > :00:43.crisis. Sceptical? You old cynic. Well, David Cameron's up for it and
:00:43. > :00:46.he's meeting the French President this afternoon, promising to lend
:00:46. > :00:49.his support to plans for deeper fiscal union. But what would that
:00:49. > :00:54.really mean and would it be good for Britain? We'll get the view
:00:54. > :00:57.from Brussels. And what will this week's grim Autumn Statement mean
:00:57. > :01:07.for politics in the UK in general and the Liberal Democrats in
:01:07. > :01:09.particular? After Danny Alexander pledged that his party will go into
:01:09. > :01:12.the next election promising to deliver George Osborne's austerity
:01:12. > :01:16.measures, we ask one senior MP where that leaves the Lib Dems as
:01:16. > :01:26.an independent political party. And as the depth of the crisis sinks in,
:01:26. > :01:27.
:01:27. > :01:30.could voters reject the established parties and turn to UKIP? With a
:01:30. > :01:35.by-election in Feltham and Heston less than two weeks away, this
:01:35. > :01:45.candidate thinks their moment has come. Many people like me will join
:01:45. > :01:47.
:01:47. > :01:50.because we are fed up of the broken promises. And who better to guide
:01:50. > :01:53.us through these stormy times than two of the finest Political Editors
:01:53. > :01:55.on the Sunday beat, Isabel Oakeshott of the Sunday Times and
:01:55. > :02:04.Vincent Moss of the Sunday Mirror? Welcome back. Yet another summit
:02:04. > :02:13.next week. We are told we have 10 days to save the Europe, now we are
:02:13. > :02:17.down to eight, do we really take this seriously? -- the euro.
:02:18. > :02:22.think people are baffled, not a week goes by where we are not told
:02:22. > :02:27.we are staring into the abyss, yet the world never does quite seem to
:02:27. > :02:31.end. But Mervyn King is obviously taking it very seriously. He was
:02:31. > :02:35.very gloomy yesterday. I gather he is even more gloomy in private. I
:02:35. > :02:40.am not sure whether the Treasury is best pleased to hear Mervyn King
:02:40. > :02:45.being quite so negative about it so I guess we must take it seriously.
:02:45. > :02:49.The difficulty is things are getting worse behind the scenes,
:02:49. > :02:52.the Italians are paying an arm and a leg for their debt, the US
:02:53. > :02:58.Federal Reserve had to step in and provide liquidity in the shape of
:02:58. > :03:02.dollars into the European banking system, it may not be getting more
:03:02. > :03:10.difficult in ways people immediately feel but there was a
:03:10. > :03:13.gathering storm but is really brewing. Very much so and there is
:03:13. > :03:19.a gathering sense politicians feel they should shrug and say they have
:03:19. > :03:23.no idea how to save this. They clearly have not. We'll just bit
:03:23. > :03:28.players in this, like the unpopular guest at a wedding, nobody wants to
:03:28. > :03:32.hear our stories, we are not part of the club. He is convincing his
:03:32. > :03:39.backbenchers we are not about to give more powers to Europe, perhaps
:03:39. > :03:44.give up our veto, which we might end up doing. So let's take a look
:03:44. > :03:47.at the latest, and who knows maybe greatest, plan to save the euro.
:03:47. > :03:51.I'm sure you're all already keenly opening your Advent calendars
:03:51. > :03:54.leading up to the big day. Well for the EU, that day is just around the
:03:54. > :04:04.corner. Yes, it's another make or break summit and this time it's the
:04:04. > :04:07.European Council meeting a week today. Speaking yesterday,
:04:07. > :04:10.President Sarkozy warned that the euro could not survive without more
:04:10. > :04:13.convergence and argued Europe had to be "refounded" with a new treaty.
:04:13. > :04:15.Mr Sarkozy also indicated a two- speed Europe was inevitable,
:04:15. > :04:19.something David Cameron will want assurances about in today's talks
:04:19. > :04:25.with the French President. The Prime Minister backs further
:04:25. > :04:28.integration but wants to ensure that Britain won't lose out. The
:04:28. > :04:38.ECB President, Mario Draghi, has said the bank is ready to act more
:04:38. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:43.aggressively. But he urged leaders to agree stronger deficit and debt
:04:43. > :04:45.rules leading to a new "fiscal compact". Next Monday the German
:04:45. > :04:52.Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Sarkozy will meet to try
:04:52. > :04:55.to thrash out a plan. This morning Mrs Merkel spoke to the German
:04:55. > :05:05.Parliament and promised concrete steps towards a "fiscal union" and
:05:05. > :05:07.
:05:07. > :05:09.declared the start of a new phase of European integration. Well,
:05:10. > :05:18.Richard Corbett is the spokesman of the President of the European
:05:18. > :05:25.Council and he's in Brussels. When the French President talks about a
:05:25. > :05:30.new treaty, is it a new treaty for the European Union, or eurozone?
:05:30. > :05:35.depends on what the content of the treaty is. Their ideas that would
:05:35. > :05:40.require all 27 countries to agree because it would require changing
:05:40. > :05:43.the European Union treaties. There are some ideas that could be done
:05:43. > :05:49.among the 17 eurozone countries because they would not concern the
:05:49. > :05:54.non- members. What is Mr Sarkosi talking about? We will see. He has
:05:54. > :05:57.not yet tabled proposals. There are many ideas coming in and the
:05:57. > :06:02.challenge next week will be to get agreement among the different
:06:02. > :06:12.member states of the European Union presented by the heads of state and
:06:12. > :06:15.
:06:16. > :06:21.The markets move at the click of a mouse but political processes take
:06:21. > :06:27.longer. Are you saying Nicolas Sarkozy, in this keynote speech
:06:27. > :06:31.last night, which we were all briefed about, he has called for a
:06:31. > :06:36.resounding of Europe and a new treaty for this resounding, but we
:06:36. > :06:46.do not know if he is talking about the eurozone, or the whole of the
:06:46. > :06:48.
:06:48. > :06:52.European Union. -- re-founding. Every country has the right to come
:06:52. > :06:56.up with ideas but you have to have a solution acceptable to all member
:06:56. > :07:00.states, which is what the meeting will be about. With respect, you're
:07:00. > :07:04.not telling us anything we do not know. That is the point of a summit,
:07:04. > :07:12.for everybody to get together and agree. Calling for a new treaty and
:07:12. > :07:21.a re founding of the eurozone, isn't that like saying let's build
:07:21. > :07:24.a new house while your own house is still on fire? No, it is saying we
:07:24. > :07:28.have gone a long way in addressing these problems but what has been
:07:28. > :07:32.done so far is insufficient, let's look at what else we need to do. We
:07:32. > :07:36.know some decisions need to be taken next week that affect the
:07:36. > :07:40.short run, they are crucial for now, but you also need a longer term
:07:40. > :07:43.perspective. You need to address both the legacy of past mistakes
:07:43. > :07:50.and the procedures to make sure you do not repeat those mistakes again
:07:50. > :07:56.in the future. They are two sides of the same coin. So what is the
:07:56. > :08:04.minimum this summit has to achieve next week? On the one hand it has
:08:04. > :08:13.to deal with the immediate crisis, the legacy of accumulated debts,
:08:13. > :08:19.and set down procedures to avoid -- which might involve changes to the
:08:19. > :08:24.treaty and to make sure we do not end up in this situation again.
:08:24. > :08:29.What I am asking is in the short run, you said there were certain
:08:30. > :08:33.things this summit must do, I understand that, so I am asking you
:08:33. > :08:40.what are these things the summit must do to deal with the here and
:08:40. > :08:44.now, rather than the tomorrow? biggest problem in the here and now
:08:44. > :08:47.is those countries whose debt levels are so high that we are
:08:47. > :08:57.having difficulty going to the markets, what has happened within
:08:57. > :08:58.
:08:58. > :09:03.the eurozone is we at least have in place mechanisms to make loans to
:09:03. > :09:07.those countries to give them time to turn a corner. But the funds we
:09:07. > :09:10.have available to that have reached their limits, so in the short run
:09:10. > :09:14.we need to find ways to increase the firepower so that extra loans,
:09:14. > :09:19.if needed, can be given to those countries that need time to turn
:09:19. > :09:27.the corner. You were supposed to do that on 27th October when you
:09:27. > :09:31.announced the supposed... That has not happened, they have announced
:09:32. > :09:36.they are now unlikely to get that money. So where will this firepower
:09:36. > :09:40.come from? The package agreed in October was sufficient to deal
:09:40. > :09:48.would be immediate problem which concerned Greece. Things have now
:09:48. > :09:54.moved on. Markets move faster than political processes. You promised
:09:54. > :10:00.to get a fund of a trillion Euros, and you did not, so where do you go
:10:00. > :10:05.now? We have approached a trillion, we are not there yet but there are
:10:05. > :10:09.other ways in which we need to approach that and to say we are
:10:10. > :10:14.moving more slowly, democracy has moved more slowly, it is not a
:10:14. > :10:20.reason to abandon democracy, you still have to go through democratic
:10:21. > :10:24.procedures involving 27 different countries. So it takes time.
:10:25. > :10:31.should tell that to the Greeks and the Italians, they are unsure about
:10:31. > :10:35.the democracy at the moment. Having... There a change their
:10:35. > :10:41.governments through their own democratic procedures. I am sure,
:10:41. > :10:47.with a gun at their head. The new head of BCB, did you read into what
:10:47. > :10:52.he was saying yesterday which was if the French and Germans commit
:10:52. > :10:58.the eurozone to Rooney convincing fiscal Union integration, that he
:10:58. > :11:03.would be prepared for the ECB to act as lender of last resort, to
:11:03. > :11:13.buy the Italian government bonds or even think of issuing eurozone
:11:13. > :11:18.
:11:18. > :11:22.bombs, is that what he was telling us? -- bonds. The ECB acts as a
:11:22. > :11:26.last-resort lender to banks, the question is whether it should to
:11:26. > :11:29.the government. I think there is a widespread expectation that the
:11:29. > :11:35.bank is willing to do that, providing it has guarantees that
:11:35. > :11:39.this will not be an open-ended process going on forever. It wants
:11:39. > :11:49.to see reforms on the political side as well. Has he convinced Mrs
:11:49. > :11:53.
:11:53. > :12:03.Muggle of that? -- Merkel. It is an independent Bank and takes its own
:12:03. > :12:03.
:12:03. > :12:07.decisions by majority and will continue to do so. -- majority vote.
:12:07. > :12:11.The bad give you confidence? To me it sounds like more meetings about
:12:11. > :12:15.meetings about meetings, and in a month or so we will see more about
:12:15. > :12:19.staring into the abyss. From David Cameron's point of view, his blood
:12:19. > :12:22.must be running cold at all this talk of a treaty change. What he
:12:22. > :12:30.has to avoid at all cost us anything that could give rise to a
:12:30. > :12:33.case for a referendum. Now, the Coalition Government was supposed
:12:33. > :12:36.to be a project for just this parliament. The plan was to tackle
:12:36. > :12:42.the deficit by 2015 before the partners went their separate ways
:12:42. > :12:52.at the next General Election. Well, like so much else, it hasn't worked
:12:52. > :12:55.
:12:55. > :12:58.This week the Chancellor admitted that cuts would continue all the
:12:58. > :13:01.way to 2017 and the Chief Secretary Danny Alexander agreed. But what
:13:01. > :13:04.would that mean for the Liberal Democrats in 2015? Here's Mr
:13:04. > :13:12.Alexander on Tuesday's Newsnight where he was asked where the extra
:13:12. > :13:17.cuts required after 2015 would be found. In good time, before the
:13:17. > :13:21.next election, we will set out what the measures are to deliver the
:13:21. > :13:26.initial -- the additional savings. But you do not know where you will
:13:26. > :13:29.find more than 28 billion? conducted a spending review
:13:29. > :13:33.detailing the cuts for this Parliament, we have just decided
:13:33. > :13:37.what the path of spending is in the next three years and in due course
:13:37. > :13:41.will set that out in detail. A so you are going into the next
:13:41. > :13:45.election promising further billions of pounds in cuts in public
:13:45. > :13:51.spending? That is what you're saying your manifesto? I am afraid
:13:51. > :13:56.so. And Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman joins me.
:13:56. > :14:06.Welcome back. Are we clear, the Liberal Democrats are signed up to
:14:06. > :14:09.the longer term austerity measures, taking us now through to 2017?
:14:09. > :14:13.Clearly we are signed up to the Autumn Statement and because of the
:14:13. > :14:20.state of the economy it requires addressing the structural deficit
:14:20. > :14:25.to go beyond 2015, but at the same time we will stand in the elections
:14:25. > :14:34.in 2015 as an independent party without any pacts, we will draw up
:14:34. > :14:40.a man of destiny. -- our manifesto. It would be strange if we
:14:40. > :14:48.maintained the strain - Mike same approach as was -- same approach as
:14:48. > :14:53.was agreed. By at implicit in that manifesto will be two for the years
:14:53. > :14:57.of cuts take nasty 2017 which will be the same as the two years of
:14:57. > :15:02.cuts that will be in the Tory manifesto? I think what will be
:15:02. > :15:08.implicit in that is that there will be both cuts in the manifesto, but
:15:08. > :15:12.also in areas where we might want to increase spending. As we devise
:15:12. > :15:15.our manifesto I imagine we will have different priorities to the
:15:15. > :15:25.Conservatives, different areas where we want to invest and
:15:25. > :15:27.
:15:27. > :15:32.potentially different areas where Danny Alexander said that the cuts
:15:33. > :15:39.imprisoned in the Autumn Statement for two years beyond would be
:15:39. > :15:43.unveiled before the next election, in good time, he said. So, surely
:15:43. > :15:46.you can't govern together saying these are the cuts we're going to
:15:46. > :15:52.make after the election, and in your manifesto put in something
:15:52. > :15:57.different. It is perfectly possible for the Liberal Democrats in
:15:57. > :16:03.coalition to devise a programme which will run until 2015, set out
:16:03. > :16:07.beyond then what our intentions are, and at the same time, as an
:16:07. > :16:12.independent party, to devise a manifesto which sets out our
:16:12. > :16:16.priorities, identified areas where they need to be reductions in
:16:16. > :16:21.spending and areas where there can be increases. But overall you need
:16:21. > :16:26.to have cuts. If you're going to increase spending, you will need
:16:26. > :16:36.even more cuts in other areas, otherwise Danny Alexander has said
:16:36. > :16:40.something which is not true. If you're going to increase spending,
:16:40. > :16:46.in this climate, you will have to cut even more elsewhere, otherwise
:16:46. > :16:50.the envelope does not stick. A at the moment we are doing the right
:16:50. > :16:56.thing in terms of the economy. We will see what impact that has by
:16:56. > :17:02.2015. It is difficult to predict now what will be required in 2015.
:17:02. > :17:06.But it is perfectly achievable in government, when the government is
:17:06. > :17:13.spending �600 billion a year, four are still have different priorities
:17:13. > :17:17.where we can increase in some areas. My point is, there is an overall
:17:17. > :17:24.fiscal framework which the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has laid
:17:24. > :17:30.down. We used it to that overall framework of public spending?
:17:30. > :17:34.principle of reducing spending, and the broad brush of how much will be
:17:34. > :17:39.required to address the structural deficit by 2017 is something I will
:17:39. > :17:43.be very surprised if we do not incorporate in our manifesto. We
:17:43. > :17:49.want to demonstrate we have been credible in terms of our policies
:17:49. > :17:54.towards the economy, and that will need to continue in our manifesto.
:17:54. > :18:00.The fine detail can be different. If you want to increase spending in
:18:00. > :18:04.other areas, that follows you have to cut more elsewhere to stay
:18:04. > :18:08.within the Danny Alexander framework. That is the sort of
:18:08. > :18:13.discussion going on within the coalition where we have argued for
:18:13. > :18:20.instance for a reduction in tax for people on low and middle incomes,
:18:20. > :18:30.which we have achieved. That has meant achieving savings elsewhere.
:18:30. > :18:34.
:18:34. > :18:41.What was his authority for committing you to two years of tax
:18:41. > :18:45.cuts? We have, as a party, when we went into coalition, the Liberal
:18:45. > :18:50.Democrats set out the fact we would address the structural deficit, the
:18:50. > :18:58.economy, as our priority. Because of the economic circumstances,
:18:58. > :19:02.particularly in Europe, it is more difficult to achieve that. He had
:19:02. > :19:06.authority to commit the party to that because the number one
:19:06. > :19:11.priority for the party is to sort out the economic mess we were left,
:19:11. > :19:17.and make sure we deliver. When you hear politicians talking about
:19:17. > :19:25.increasing spending in 2017, do you wonder if they have read the Autumn
:19:25. > :19:30.Statement? Many of them cannot have done, there is no authority from
:19:30. > :19:34.Liberal Democrats I have spoken to commit the party to be ONS the
:19:34. > :19:42.general election. The Lib Dems can define themselves as different in
:19:42. > :19:48.their manifesto, some things will go by the board because you are in
:19:48. > :19:54.coalition. You can map out your own agenda. If you are in coalition
:19:54. > :19:59.again, conveniently dump them. I certainly do not think many of the
:19:59. > :20:03.Liberal Democrats I have spoken to think Danny Alexander has authority.
:20:03. > :20:08.He may be Chief Secretary to the Treasury but he does not have
:20:08. > :20:12.authority to dictate the Liberal Democrat manifesto. Those comments
:20:12. > :20:17.caused a hell of a row behind the scenes. You have spoken to them?
:20:17. > :20:21.They are not happy at all, he is in no position to set out their
:20:21. > :20:27.manifesto at this stage. I get the impression you are less happy in
:20:27. > :20:31.private and public. I am very open about this. As a party, the
:20:31. > :20:36.credibility rests on the fact we deliver it in relation to the
:20:36. > :20:44.economy. Something we have pinned our flag to the mast, if we do not
:20:44. > :20:46.deliver, our credibility is damaged. The first test of the political
:20:47. > :20:50.impact of the Chancellor's sobering statement this week comes in
:20:50. > :20:54.Feltham and Heston, where a by- election caused by the death of
:20:54. > :20:57.Labour MP Alan Keen is less than two weeks away. It's a safe Labour
:20:57. > :21:00.seat but, in an environment where faith in the traditional parties
:21:00. > :21:07.has taken a pretty big hit, UKIP have high hopes. Here's Adam
:21:07. > :21:16.Fleming. With the country's busiest airport
:21:16. > :21:20.on its doorstep, some have called this a Heathrow a by-election.
:21:20. > :21:24.Labour touch down in this seat in 1992, and the late Alan Keen held
:21:24. > :21:34.on to it at the last general election or the with a reduced
:21:34. > :21:34.
:21:34. > :21:42.majority which some put down to the scandal of MPs expenses. Labour
:21:42. > :21:46.campaigning lasted for just 15 days, the bare minimum allowed in law.
:21:46. > :21:53.The airport is nearby, it is important to make sure there isn't
:21:53. > :21:59.a gap in representation with all these issues. Hello, I M Roger
:21:59. > :22:04.Crouch. The two coalition partners are campaigning in the wake of the
:22:04. > :22:09.Autumn Statement, which promised an extended period of spending cuts.
:22:09. > :22:14.It is bad, the economic picture is very tough for ordinary families
:22:14. > :22:20.here but when I talk to them, they very much understand why the
:22:20. > :22:24.difficult decisions are taken. Lib Dems are acting in the national
:22:24. > :22:28.interest and we are put in that before party interest. Hopefully
:22:28. > :22:32.local residents will see we are taking difficult decisions but
:22:32. > :22:37.looking after the vulnerable. Hoping to capitalise on the
:22:37. > :22:42.vulnerability of the main party, UKIP, who came second in another
:22:42. > :22:47.by-election this year. A recent poll put them one point behind the
:22:47. > :22:52.Liberal Democrats nationally. Hang on, their candidate looks familiar.
:22:53. > :22:57.Didn't used to be a Tory? A Tory candidate? I was and many others
:22:57. > :23:04.were as well. The pattern of the previous months and years to come
:23:04. > :23:07.will be that many like me will join UKIP. Because we are fed up with
:23:07. > :23:13.the broken promises. Fed up of a party which tells us they will take
:23:13. > :23:17.a tough line on immigration and yet we find it back at record levels.
:23:17. > :23:23.Their battle plan is complicated by the BNP had actually beat them in
:23:23. > :23:27.the last election and a standing again. All this feels a tiny bit
:23:27. > :23:34.pointless, because this seed is heading for the departure lounge in
:23:34. > :23:37.2015, it will be carved up in the review of constituency boundaries.
:23:37. > :23:41.Here is a full list of candidates standing in Feltham and Heston,
:23:41. > :23:44.which you can also see on the BBC politics website.
:23:44. > :23:50.To discuss how the week's economic gloom might affect the parties'
:23:50. > :23:56.fortunes, we're joined by Tomas Mludzinski from Ipsos Mori.
:23:56. > :24:00.It is a new politics in a way. In theory, the government should now
:24:00. > :24:06.do badly because the economy is miserable, but it may not work out
:24:06. > :24:11.that bad? We have definitely seen record numbers of people saying the
:24:11. > :24:17.economy is the most important issue, 62% trapped month from month, the
:24:17. > :24:23.number one issue by far since 2000 and it. Unemployment is now rising
:24:23. > :24:30.as an important issue after relatively low levels of concern.
:24:30. > :24:35.It is now about 32%, much higher than we have seen since 1998.
:24:35. > :24:39.is Labour not much further ahead than you would think at this stage?
:24:39. > :24:44.There is clearly a problem for Labour in terms that they still
:24:44. > :24:48.have some of the blame for the economic mess. The banks, the
:24:48. > :24:54.eurozone crisis, the current government are also getting some of
:24:54. > :24:58.that plane. We see quite recently in our poll's in September the
:24:58. > :25:02.Conservatives opened up a ten-point lead as being seen as the best
:25:02. > :25:07.party to manage the economy. Only one in five people now think,
:25:07. > :25:14.despite the government, most people think the government is doing a bad
:25:14. > :25:18.job managing the economy, keeping unemployment down, just one in five
:25:18. > :25:28.thinks it could be better under Labour. The economic backdrop is
:25:28. > :25:32.
:25:32. > :25:38.unprecedented, living standards will be squeezed more than ever.
:25:38. > :25:42.Per capita income has are likely to be 5% down compared with 2008. I am
:25:42. > :25:46.not sure the political discourse has yet risen to confront all of
:25:46. > :25:50.that. I do not think it has really. Speaking to Labour people this
:25:50. > :25:54.morning, they are confident about this by-election, they think they
:25:54. > :26:01.will hold their position. But, really, they should be doing an
:26:01. > :26:04.awful lot better and privately many acknowledge that. There are ongoing
:26:04. > :26:09.issues with Ed Miliband and his popularity. That will be a
:26:09. > :26:12.continuing theme for the next few years. The question is, is it a
:26:12. > :26:17.Gordon Brown situation where they all say privately we know we can't
:26:17. > :26:22.win with the sky, and don't do anything. Or would it come to a
:26:22. > :26:25.head? If this is politics now, with no money. One of the reasons the
:26:25. > :26:31.by-election is such a short campaign, Labour doesn't have
:26:31. > :26:35.enough money. It expects to win it. The real story will be an implosion
:26:35. > :26:41.in the Liberal Democrat vote, they came third last time, we will see
:26:41. > :26:51.UKIP beat them. Nigel Farage saying they are too minus one for the Lib
:26:51. > :26:56.Dems. Bad news for the Lib Dems. UKIP result would be to beat the
:26:56. > :27:01.Liberal Democrats, not to win it. suspect they can certainly beat the
:27:01. > :27:07.Liberal Democrats. Polling at a time of austerity is
:27:07. > :27:11.always interesting. It's been quite a week, and the news has been so
:27:11. > :27:17.bad you might not want to relive it. Well, bad luck. Here's Giles with
:27:17. > :27:20.the week in 60 seconds. A packed week in politics kicked
:27:21. > :27:24.off with the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. It turned out to be more
:27:24. > :27:26.like a full blown Budget from George Osborne, as he predicted
:27:26. > :27:29.much slower growth, and announced a range of new infrastructure
:27:29. > :27:32.projects. Protesters stormed the British
:27:32. > :27:35.Embassy in Tehran, leading to the Foreign Secretary expelling Iranian
:27:35. > :27:40.diplomats from the UK, and more sanctions from EU countries
:27:40. > :27:44.concerned with their nuclear programme.
:27:45. > :27:47.Complete appalling and disgraceful behaviour by the Iranians.
:27:47. > :27:50.Over one million public sector workers took part in nationwide
:27:50. > :27:55.strikes on Wednesday, angry at proposals to change their pension
:27:55. > :27:59.packages. Solidarity forever.
:27:59. > :28:03.On the subject of strikes: Jeremy Clarkson got himself in trouble,
:28:03. > :28:07.again, by saying on The One Show that he thought strikers should be
:28:07. > :28:11.shot. Both Clarkson and the BBC later apologised for what was
:28:11. > :28:21.described as a joke that went too far and was taken out of context.
:28:21. > :28:24.
:28:24. > :28:32.The unions were less amused. That's all for this week. The end
:28:32. > :28:35.to our guests. -- Thanks. Jo will be back on Monday. Don't forget The