Browse content similar to 14/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Daily Politics. President Obama changes his mind. Syria has been | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
using chemical weapons, so the US will start arming rebels in Syria, | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
fighting against President Assad. Are Britain, France and America now | :00:55. | :01:02. | |
on the same page? Four former Home Secretaries urge | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
Nick Clegg to drop his opposition to tougher surveillance of | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
communications. Could arts and museums funding get | :01:13. | :01:21. | |
the chop in the upcoming Spending Review? We will discuss if arts | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
spending can be exempt from cuts. Do Government reshuffles cause more | :01:25. | :01:32. | |
harm than good? A report today warns Prime Ministers to think hard before | :01:32. | :01:40. | |
shuffling the decks. All that is coming up. With us for | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
the next half an hour is James Kirkup from the Telegraph and Mary | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
Ann Sieghart from the Social Market Foundation. Four former Home | :01:48. | :01:54. | |
Secretaries have accused Mr Clegg of putting lives at risk by blocking | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
plans for what critics call the Snoopers' Charter. Supporters say | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
they are vital to stop terrorism in the age of e-mail and social media. | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
Theresa May had hoped a new Data Communications Bill would be | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
included in the Queen's Speech, but Nick Clegg announced on radio that | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
it was not going to happen - and it didn't. The Bill would have required | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
internet companies to store users' data for a year. Here is what one of | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
the former Home Secretaries had to say. There is bipartisan support for | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
this Bill and there's been an all-party committee looking at the | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
Bill, which has said narrow it down, increase the safeguards. We say yes | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
to that. There is no particular reason why there should not be a | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
majority in the House of Commons from the Labour Party and the | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
Conservative Party for this Bill. As for Nick Clegg, he is not the only | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
senior politician who said things which he may later regret. He needs | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
to think about what is more important - supporting Google and | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
Amazon and these other American companies or supporting security and | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
reassurance for the British people. Jack Straw earlier this morning. | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
James Kirkup, how much pressure does this put Mr Clegg under? More, | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
undoubtedly. It is not news to him that there is a segment of the | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
Labour Party that is still speaking for that view. Three form Labour | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
Home Secretaries and a Tory - that is quite an array of people. That is | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
more experience than Mr Clegg has in this area? Undoubtedly. So far, he | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
knows full well that he's got most people against him on this. For | :03:37. | :03:44. | |
whatever reason, he is deciding to take a stance. If you think - Jack | :03:44. | :03:52. | |
Straw speaking for that Old Labour authoritarian... I thought it was | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
the New Labour authoritarian tendency? There wouldn't have been a | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
question about this debate. Is it conceivable that the Conservatives | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
and Labour could get together and do this over the heads of the Lib Dems? | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
That is an incredibly intriguing thought. I don't think it would - I | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
think it would be damaging for the coalition if they did. I don't think | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
it will happen. It was a bit rich for Jack Straw to accuse Nick Clegg | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
of doing this because he had Google's interest at heart. That was | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
a strange accusation, was it not? You can be right and you are wrong. | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
Accusing them of being Mr Google was unnecessary? It was unnecessary and | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
wrong. Using the killing of Lee Rigby as an excuse to bring this | :04:37. | :04:45. | |
back on to the statute books is also pretty disingenuous. The killers | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
were already on MI5's file. In your view, though, who is right and who | :04:51. | :04:58. | |
is wrong? Do we need this extra communication powers or not? I think | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
we probably do. We want to keep on top of terrorism. We always have | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
these sorts of powers for telephones. We need to accept the | :05:07. | :05:17. | |
:05:17. | :05:22. | ||
realities of 2 21st Century technology. I agree. There are more | :05:22. | :05:32. | |
:05:32. | :05:37. | ||
important things you can do. Such as? Everybody needs more capacity? | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
Would another 500 analyst going over this data make more of a difference? | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
It will be interesting to see if this works out. Yeah.Time for the | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
Daily Quiz. What has Chris Grayling said he would like to do with | :05:50. | :06:00. | |
:06:00. | :06:15. | ||
give us the correct answer, maybe. The Obama administration has | :06:15. | :06:23. | |
concluded on the basis of new evidence that the Assad regime has | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
been using some amount of chemical weapons, including sarin in the | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
Syrian civil war. The President is preparing to send arms to the | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
rebels. The change in the position appears to bring it more into line | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
of Britain and France. What is behind it? On Monday, David Cameron | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
made a statement to Parliament on the decision to lift the EU arms | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
embargo on the Syrian opposition. He said lifting the embargo did "not | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
mean that we have made any decision to send arms, but we now have the | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
flexibility to respond if the situation continues to deteriorate." | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
Two days later, the French President, Francois Hollande, said | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
that mounting evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria obliges | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
the international community to act. The Foreign Secretary, he was in | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
Washington meeting with his US counterpart, John Kerry. He said, | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
"We cannot turn away from Syria and its people. We will have to be | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
prepared to do more to save lives." Yesterday, announcing Mr Obama's | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
U-turn, or change of heart, the US deputy Deputy National Security | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
Adviser, Ben Rhodes said the use of chemical weapons crosses clear red | :07:42. | :07:48. | |
lines that have existed within the international community for decades. | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
President Obama's decision has been welcomed by a man who was | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
campaigning to arm the Syrian rebels, senator John McCain. | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
applause the President's decision. I appreciate it. The President of the | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
United States had better understand that just supplying weapons is not | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
going to change the equation on the ground. These people, the Free | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
Syrian Army, need weapons and heavy weapons to counter tanks and | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
aircraft. They ne a a no-fly zone. Bashar al-Assad's air assets have to | :08:24. | :08:32. | |
be taken out. We can do that without risking a single American aeroplane. | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
Senator McCain. We are now joined by the Conservative MP Brooks Newmark. | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
He has travelled to Syria a number of times. He's met with and had | :08:42. | :08:52. | |
:08:52. | :08:52. | ||
extensive talks with not just President Assad, but the President's | :08:52. | :09:00. | |
wife. We are also joined by Jack Straw. Welcome to you both. Let me | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
come to you, Brooks Newmark. Syria is awash with arms already. Why | :09:04. | :09:12. | |
would sending more make any difference? Well, it's pretty much a | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
war with heavy weaponry on the one side, with the Russians and the | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
Iranians supported with Hezbollah. They have 16,000 bits of heavy | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
artillery. They have an air force and so on. On the other side, they | :09:25. | :09:31. | |
have mainly small arms. The better armed of the opposition at the | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
moment happens to be the Islamists. What is happening is members of the | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
Free Syrian Army is flaking away to the better-armed opposition. We need | :09:42. | :09:48. | |
to stop that, support General Idris and do what we can to help him to | :09:48. | :09:56. | |
bring Assad down. Let me come to the issue. If the heavier arms are with | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
the Assad forces, it would seem that the only thing that could be a game | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
changer would be if the Americans were to provide the rebels with | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
heavier arms themselves, by which I mean anti-tank weapons. Is that what | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
you want the President to do? is what I want a coalition to do, | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
not just the United States, but the UK and France... That is what you | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
are talking about? Sending in small arms, better small arms would be | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
welcome by the FSA. This is not where the Government is today, or | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
the Americans. I would send tank-busters and anti-aircraft | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
weapons in. Jack Straw? concerned. I'm not saying rule out | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
such weaponry at any stage. I'm really worried that such an | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
escalation, which would mean that there would be Western boots on the | :10:48. | :10:56. | |
ground... I disagree.You can't use this stuff. You might be able to use | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
the rifle just after a couple of hour' training. The West would have | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
to send its people in? We have this G8 coming up. Russia will be around | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
the table. I don't think it is helpful to try and get an | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
accommodation with Russia and get the Geneva talks off the ground to | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
start speaking about a further escalation. We have seen - I can | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
talk about this - it is easy to get into military action, it is much | :11:26. | :11:33. | |
more difficult to withdraw from it. If America and the UK, and France, | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
is not careful, you will get dragged into a proxy war. At any level of | :11:39. | :11:46. | |
armaments, the Syrian government are likely to have access to heavy and | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
more effective weaponry. They have them already. They have Russia and | :11:50. | :11:58. | |
the Iranians seeing this as an existential crisis for them. Let me | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
put that point. We have had no indication out of Washington that | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
the administration is prepared to provide these heavier arms? Correct. | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
You are right. Supposing we did go down this road of the heavier arms, | :12:13. | :12:20. | |
every indication I have seen out of Moscow is they are prepared to | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
provide heavier arms. I am all for negotiation. Negotiation has to be | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
the ultimate outcome. For two years, we have been talking to Lavrov and | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
Putin and to the Assad regime. They have had no incentive to come to the | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
negotiating table. The message by lifting the arms embargo - the | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
Foreign Secretary was right to push for this - is when you come to | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
Geneva, we are serious. All options now remain on the table if you do | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
not negotiate. I'm not saying heavy arms will go. Dealing with Jack's | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
question, in dealing with Geneva, I think this sounds a powerful message | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
that we are serious and you should take it seriously. What would you do | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
if Mr Assad says, "If you are going to send heavy weapons to the rebels, | :13:07. | :13:15. | |
I'm not coming to Geneva." ? probably wasn't coming anyway. | :13:15. | :13:23. | |
instead he gets on the plane to Moscow and says, "Can I have a few | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
more anti-tank-busters?" From what I know of Assad - I have dealt with | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
him for five years - I think he feels strong when he is unopposed. | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
Like with any bully, if he thinks there is a real threat to him, he is | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
more likely - I'm not saying he will - he is more likely to come to the | :13:43. | :13:51. | |
negotiating table. The Russian by sending a signal through lifting the | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
arms embargo with the US in tune with us, it sends a strong message, | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
come to Geneva, negotiate seriously. If you do not. , all options remain | :14:02. | :14:10. | |
on the table. You went to a memorial service in 2005. You said, "We mourn | :14:10. | :14:17. | |
the thousands killed here. We recall the words of Edmund Burke, "Good men | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
do nothing. It is for the shame of the international community that | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
this evil took place under our noses and we did nothing like enough." | :14:25. | :14:33. | |
Yes. Many more people have been killed there than in Syria? You are | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
absolutely right. The difficulty is that you have to make these | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
judgments on the basis of the facts as you find them. These analogies | :14:43. | :14:51. | |
are important and, indeed, I deplore them in respect of Afghanistan and | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
Iraq. I'm as concerned as Brooks. I don't doubt the commitment of | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, in facing incredibly | :14:59. | :15:06. | |
difficult decisions. There are no good options? There is a fine | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
calculation here about whether suddenly increasing the arms to the | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
rebels would or would not bring the Russians to the table. The last | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
point I would make, where we need to see a shift in policy, we have to | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
reach out to the Iranians. There is no point pretending they don't | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
exist. There are 80 million people next to Syria. They are of | :15:29. | :15:39. | |
:15:39. | :15:39. | ||
fundamental importance. You were trying to reach out to the Iranians | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
for a decade on nuclear arms, and you got nowhere. If get we did not | :15:44. | :15:54. | |
:15:54. | :15:54. | ||
get nowhere. It is the national intelligence estimate, from 2007, | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
never subsequently contradicted, the assessment was that Iran had been | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability, but that it had | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
abandoned that. So, the Iranians are incredibly difficult to deal with. | :16:08. | :16:18. | |
So, you think there is centrifuges have stopped? No. It is a subject | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
for another discussion, but what I know, however, is that the moderates | :16:21. | :16:28. | |
in Iran were fatally undermined by President Bush calling them part of | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
the axis of evil. That pulled the rug from under them. If you want to | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
do a deal over Syria, you have got to accept the reality, Russia has | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
got to be around the table, and so has Iran. I read your fascinating | :16:41. | :16:49. | |
article in the Daily Mail, and you said that when you asked President | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
Assad what his war aims were, he quite bluntly said, it is the | :16:52. | :17:00. | |
preservation of the regime. Yes, when I first met him, in 2006, and I | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
asked him, what is it you care about most chess regime survival was the | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
first thing he said. When I asked him subsequently, when the war in | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
Iraq was going on, why are you allowing your people over the border | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
to attack American soldiers and so on? He said, if I do not let them, | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
they will turn on me and attack me. The third thing he said to me was in | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
respect of Hezbollah. He said, I am not strong enough to take on Israel | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
correctly, I am weak militarily and economically, but I would rather use | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
a proxy like Hezbollah to put the pressure on Israel, so that I can | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
get the Golan Heights back. Is your problem not with us, all with the | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
people that are watching, but with your own party? As I understand it, | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
it is unlikely there will be a majority in the Commons for this, | :17:54. | :18:00. | |
and Labour's position seems to be highly sceptical. We have had | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
Douglas Alexander on the programme and he has made that clear. The Lib | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
Dems, I think a lot of them will fall into that category, and a lot | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
of your own members do not seem to be supporting you, so, we do not | :18:11. | :18:20. | |
have a majority. Yes, I feel a little bit like in 12 Angry Men. | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
Very angry! It is up to those of us who believe it is morally the right | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
thing to do to persuade our colleagues. Now, most of our | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
colleagues are not on persuadable. I think what they are saying is, look, | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
we have been through Iraq and Afghanistan, and our constituents | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
are concerned that we should not go through the same thing again. Let us | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
hear the full debate, the merits of the argument. If you can persuade | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
us, then maybe we will accept it. Lets see if you have persuaded our | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
two journalists here - do we arm the rebels or do we not? I cannot bear | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
to just shrug my shoulders and say, let this carry on. I would like at | :19:08. | :19:18. | |
:19:18. | :19:24. | ||
least then to be able to have some answer to Assad's air superiority. I | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
think it is possible to them in Jordan. But it is not easy, and it | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
is not obvious, and do I want Al-Qaeda to have anti-aircraft | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
missiles? Not necessarily. I agree entirely, if this was going on in | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
our country, if this was happening to civilians, we would immediately | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
intervene, so why is this different? On the other hand, if we take this | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
in REL of giving the rebels surface-to-air missiles, we pay for | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
intelligence services who spend a great deal of time trying to make | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
sure that that kind of technology does not spread around the region | :19:55. | :20:05. | |
:20:05. | :20:07. | ||
already. We were just slightly puzzled about that letter from the | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
four former Home Secretary 's, but to suggest that Nick Clegg was in | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
the pockets of Google seems a strange thing to say. The point we | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
were drawing attention to at the end of that letter was something | :20:19. | :20:27. | |
slightly weird, that the Liberal Democrats should, in this rate | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
debate, be siding with these unaccountable American beer moths, | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
rather than siding with the need for greater counterterrorist ability in | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
this country. We have always had legislation to allow the agencies | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
and the police to look at communications data, which is not | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
the contents, but it is who contacted who, who text it who and | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
who phoned Hoo. What this is about is bringing back the legislation | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
which I first brought in 14 years ago, when the internet was barely in | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
existence. That is all it is about. It is an upgrade. George Osborne, | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
the Chancellor, is going to announce his spending plans for 2015-16 on | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
26th June. We will carry it live on The Daily Politics. Some politicians | :21:15. | :21:25. | |
:21:25. | :21:27. | ||
have dug their heels in to resist further cuts. In the last hour, the | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
Treasury has confirmed that six more departments have settled, but has | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
not given any more details. Health and international development have | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
been exempt from the cuts, but not small spending Culture, Media and | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
Sport. As a consequence, museums and galleries in England are bracing | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
themselves for some bad news and possible closures. But should the | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
arts be bolstered by public funding? Is it time for them to | :21:51. | :22:01. | |
:22:01. | :22:01. | ||
stand a little bit more on the National Media Museum, , at risk of | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
closure due to funding cuts, like other places. If, as expected, the | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
forthcoming spending review cuts the Department for Culture, Media and | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
Sport's budget by 10%, then many other arts and media sites could | :22:15. | :22:22. | |
also be facing cuts. Many think that could be a huge mistake, at least in | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
their own neck of the woods. This museum is essential not just to the | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
people of Bradford, but to the North of England, and to the economy of | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
Bradford as well. It is not something which sucks money, it is | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
something which creates wealth in the wider Bradford economy. It is a | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
fantastic place and we do not want to lose it. That argument is | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
embraced by Maria Miller, the culture Secretary. She has been | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
battling to protect her budget. She wants the Treasury to back the | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
business case for the arts, but not everybody is buying it. I do not | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
agree with the argument that arts should be funded by the government | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
because they bring economic benefit. That is probably the worst reason. | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
The Government is very bad at picking commercial winners. If we | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
want actually to have arts which are commercially successful, which bring | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
some commercial return, then we should leave it to those who are | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
actually spending their own money, and able to analyse and decide how | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
they invest and spend their money, rather than leaving it to a | :23:26. | :23:28. | |
bureaucracy to determine which projects should be funded and which | :23:28. | :23:36. | |
should not. People like Philip would not just like to see the budget cut. | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
I think that the CMS should be closed down. It is a relatively new | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
department. The idea that the Government should have a big | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
department which is looking after things like arts, culture and sport | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
I think is entirely wrong. Arts, culture and sport should be things | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
which are embedded in civil society, as separate from politics as | :23:54. | :24:00. | |
possible. The National museums of England are already coping with cuts | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
of 20%, before this spending review even cuts in. As a result, they are | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
beginning to think the end thinkable, and have discussed | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
bringing back admission fees. But would that be so terrible? In fact, | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
I think this would bring a considerable benefit to museums and | :24:15. | :24:21. | |
galleries, like it did in the 1980s and 1990s. The idea that the only | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
people who should not contribute to the upkeep of a museum or gallery | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
are the people who actually visit I think is entirely misguided. | :24:30. | :24:38. | |
Ultimately, a free admission museum is better than a paid for one, but a | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
paid for one is better than no museum at all. I understand the | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
arguments, but I think if we can maintain free admission, -- free | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
admission, we should do. Uncle spending review are a feature of | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
modern politics these days, but this one may determine whether free | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
museums and galleries remain part of English cultural life, or whether | :24:57. | :25:04. | |
they frazzle become part of history. We are joined now by the | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
former ballerina Deborah Bull. Welcome to The Daily Politics. | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
Almost every part of public life is having to take cuts at the moment - | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
surely the arts cannot be exempt? do not think anybody is saying they | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
should be exempt. The point was made in that film that we should not | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
value them economically. I do not think we can value them | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
economically. It is one tenth of 1% of government funding goes to the | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
arts. It delivers employment, it delivers tourism, �900 million a | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
year of tourism, inward investment, there is evidence for these things. | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
But for me, that is not the most compelling argument. Yes, the arts | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
should be embedded in civic society, absolutely, that the Government has | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
a role to play in supporting that. We know that the arts deliver across | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
so many areas. They deliver around urban regeneration, we know about | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
social cohesion, there is evidence for this. We know that social | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
mobility is affected, with young people from low-income families | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
being three times more likely to get a degree if they have engaged in the | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
arts as young people. We know that people engaged in the arts are more | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
likely to vote, twice as likely to volunteer. So, the ability of the | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
arts to develop across broad range of areas is really important. -- to | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
deliver. But since a lot of our arts institutions exist because we, the | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
taxpayer, subsidise them, it is quite hard for us to know which ones | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
are really worthwhile, and which ones are not. Does every museum that | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
we have at the moment have a right to exist in perpetuity? I would say | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
two things - yes, of course, and it is investment, because it delivers | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
back, is important. But the Government is not the biggest | :26:49. | :26:55. | |
investor in the arts. Across the portfolio, 50% of the income comes | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
from the public. The public are voting with their feet, they are the | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
biggest investor in the arts. not by enough, according to some | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
people, for these institutions to exist. When Shakespeare was writing | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
his plays, he did not get a subsidy. Why does the royal chicks big | :27:13. | :27:22. | |
company need one? He is the most famous playwright in the world! -- | :27:22. | :27:27. | |
the Royal Shakespeare Society. Would Say It Is About Leaving | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
Support. We Know That 90% Of Charitable And Philanthropic Giving | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
takes place in London. Outside London, you are at a disadvantage, | :27:37. | :27:45. | |
absolutely. You have come to my next question - if that is the case, if | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
the private money is overwhelmingly located here, where the real money | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
is, why does the arts Council not spend more of its budget outside | :27:55. | :28:02. | |
London? I think it tries to create a broad spread of funding, but a big | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
chunk of our best art is in London, the highest profile... Why would | :28:08. | :28:15. | |
that be? ! There is something around eight of creative artists here, and | :28:15. | :28:25. | |
:28:25. | :28:28. | ||
that is changing. The BBC moving to, for instance. The Arts Council is | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
investing outside of London, but of course, local authority investment | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
is also very important. Local authorities have very few areas of | :28:36. | :28:39. | |
discretionary spend, so they are having to make cuts in those areas | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
where they do have that, which means arts and leisure. 17% on average has | :28:44. | :28:54. | |
:28:54. | :29:02. | ||
been in local authorities. London got 47% of Arts Council funding. | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
has probably got 47% of the organisations. The audiences are | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
where the artists are. If the National Theatre performed in major | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
to, would they not get an audience? If we had a real National Theatre, | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
instead of spending millions on that ugly thing on the River Thames, it | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
could be touring around the country. In Manchester, of course, you do | :29:24. | :29:31. | |
have the Manchester International Festival, which is a brilliant | :29:31. | :29:41. | |
:29:41. | :29:42. | ||
example of what you can do. What do you think? She makes a very eloquent | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
arguments, but there are problems with them. Essentially, it is a | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
Keynesian argument, but it means that you are competing with all | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
sorts of other spending. There are lots of other areas which could have | :29:55. | :30:02. | |
a higher multiplier, capital spending, and the rest. It cannot be | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
the only argument. Your second argument, the cultural benefit, it | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
makes the world a good place - if all of these things are true, it | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
makes people vote, it makes them happy, it makes the world a better | :30:13. | :30:22. | |
place, why do you not just put the faith in people, the electorate, the | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
taxpayers, to go out and spend their own time doing these things which | :30:25. | :30:35. | |
:30:35. | :30:39. | ||
are marked -- doing these things? I'm very much on Deborah's side. | :30:39. | :30:46. | |
It's been cut a lot. It's been cut 30% already. On top of that, local | :30:46. | :30:56. | |
:30:56. | :30:57. | ||
council, the funding of the arts has fallen a lot. The sort of values and | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
gains that Deborah talked about aren't things you can achieve | :31:01. | :31:06. | |
through - sorry, aren't things that you can measure in economic terms. | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
People aren't going to pay and go to the theatre because it makes them | :31:09. | :31:14. | |
more likely to vote. Why do we have the best theatre in the world? We | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
have the National Theatre putting on fantastic productions, lots of which | :31:18. | :31:23. | |
go on to the West End and make money and recoup money for the National | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
Theatre. The National Theatre and the RSC provide a fantastic | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
baseline. We will have to leave it there. You will keep campaigning? | :31:31. | :31:39. | |
Certainly am. It can seem like a cross between a soap opera and a | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
blood sport - not the Daily Politics - but when reality TV comes to | :31:44. | :31:54. | |
:31:54. | :31:57. | ||
Westminster. Government reshuffles are fascinating, but do they aid or | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
harm Government? According to the Political and Constitutional Reform | :32:00. | :32:02. | |
Committee, it can lead to instability and paralysis. In a | :32:02. | :32:12. | |
:32:12. | :32:20. | ||
moment, we will discuss that. # That's life | :32:20. | :32:29. | |
# That's what all the people say # You're riding high in April | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
# Shot down in May # But I know I'm going to change | :32:34. | :32:44. | |
:32:44. | :32:49. | ||
that tune. E. # REPORTER: Is this your last Cabinet? | :32:49. | :32:54. | |
# That's life. # As funny as it may seem | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
# Some people get their kicks # Stopping on a dream | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
# But I don't let it # Let it get me down | :33:03. | :33:10. | |
# 'Cos this fine old world # It keeps spinning around. # | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
Sad days, or happy days, depending on your view. Reshuffles, are they | :33:14. | :33:20. | |
good or bad? Good, if used sparingly. Sometimes people don't | :33:20. | :33:25. | |
perform as well as expected. It is good to get rid of them. It is good | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
to get people a chance to get on. I like this idea of keeping Cabinet | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
Ministers in their job for a full Parliament if possible. Someone like | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
Iain Duncan Smith couldn't reform welfare and bring in universal | :33:36. | :33:42. | |
credit if he was being moved on every two years. Mr Blair chopped | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
and changed them a lot. Are they good or bad? They are great from a | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
journalistic point of view. We all vote for them! Remember, David | :33:55. | :34:01. | |
Cameron said he didn't want Government to be a demented branch | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
of the entertainment industry. didn't work(!) They are probably | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
good in principle. In practice, they are bad. They never go according to | :34:08. | :34:16. | |
plan. We have to get to the answer to our quiz. What was Justice | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
Secretary Chris Grayling like to do with ex-offenders? What was the | :34:19. | :34:27. | |
answer? Work for the NHS. Pay back their board? No. Work for the NHS. | :34:27. | :34:37. | |
:34:37. | :34:39. | ||
OK. It has just gone 12.30pm. It is time to say goodbye to our two | :34:39. | :34:44. | |
guests of the day, Mary Ann Sieghart and James Kirkup. This week, Members | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
of the European Parliament have been meeting in Strasbourg for their | :34:47. | :34:57. | |
:34:57. | :34:58. | ||
regular Plenary Session. What have they been getting up to? Here is our | :34:58. | :35:05. | |
guide in 60 seconds. MEPs have criticised a secret | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
American programme to gather data called Prism. Parliament debated | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
revelations that internet firms could be ordered to give access to | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
data uploaded by foreign users. Amid protests in Turkey, MEPs voted on a | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
resolution setting out their position on Turkey following a | :35:24. | :35:30. | |
heated debate the day before. EU negotiators have been trying to win | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
French support to green light trade talks with Washington. France's | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
demanding to exempt its film industry from the talks. | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
Negotiations on the EU's next budget are going to the wire after an extra | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
round of talks was scheduled. MEPs are holding out for concessions. TV | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
screens went black in Greece when the government abruptly shut down | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
the state broadcaster, ERT, in the middle of the night. The government | :35:58. | :36:06. | |
said it was to staunch a waste of taxpayers' money. | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
With us for the next 30 minutes, I have been joined by the leader of | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
the Conservatives in the European Parliament, Richard Ashworth, and by | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
the UKIP MEP, Gerard Batten. Welcome. Let's take a look at one of | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
those stories in more detail, the latest round of austerity cuts in | :36:23. | :36:30. | |
Greece. It was interesting they pulled the plug on the Greek BBC, it | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
isn't actually quite like, as the troika was arriving in Athens and as | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
part of the privatisation programme had failed. It was symbolic? Greece | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
is skint, as we all know. They have fantastic unemployment rates. It is | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
around 27%. Youth unemployment is 62.5%. Ean European Single Currency | :36:52. | :37:02. | |
:37:02. | :37:10. | ||
is one of the prime reasons why they are failing. What should happen now | :37:10. | :37:17. | |
is, is the austerity working or isn't it? No. Who can survive? The | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
only way they are going to solve their problems is to leave the | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
European Single Currency and start some kind of economic revial. We | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
know from the IMF report the only reason for the bail-out was to save | :37:30. | :37:36. | |
the euro, not to save Greece. Greek economy's fallen by another 6% | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
year on year. There was a feeling too that the worst had been over and | :37:41. | :37:49. | |
that it was beginning to turn the corner. The failure of gas Prom to | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
buy the energy company, switching off of the national broadcaster | :37:54. | :38:04. | |
:38:04. | :38:06. | ||
suggests it ain't coming right? is a Honghe haul. It is about | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
productivity and competitiveness. -- it is a long-haul. They have two | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
choices. You can either spend five or ten years having jungle warfare | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
with trade unions to cut costs, or you say shut it down, sort it out | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
and open it up again. We have form in the United Kingdom where some | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
newspapers have done that. Do you agree with him that Greece should | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
just leave the euro? No, I don't think so. I think it is their | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
choice, if they want to stay in. They have to understand what they | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
are going to do to keep up with the pace. They are doing it. They need | :38:43. | :38:53. | |
:38:53. | :38:55. | ||
to get rid of a whole raft of tU regulation. OK. Next week's G8 | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
Summit in Northern Ireland is meant to mark the start of a fresh round | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
of EU-US trade negotiations which it is hoped will need to a new free | :39:04. | :39:11. | |
trade agreement. 14 months of pre-talk preparation, it may be | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
under threat if EU member states agree to fail their negotiating | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
position on mandate. The members agree the position, then the EU | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
negotiates on all of our behalves. What is the problem? The French. | :39:25. | :39:31. | |
There is a surprise! Trade between the EU and the US is subject to | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
relatively low tariffs. These trade talks could make tariffs lower or | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
get rid of them altogether and they could tackle non-tariff barriers to | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
trade, not prices, but things like technical regulations which hinder | :39:46. | :39:56. | |
:39:56. | :39:57. | ||
exports. The talks could be derailed because France is insisting that | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
they keep their exception culturelle. The trench position | :40:00. | :40:10. | |
could stymie the trade talks. The usmt ambassador to the EU said: -- | :40:10. | :40:20. | |
:40:20. | :40:25. | ||
challenge any deal that affects French film, TV and music. It could | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
be negotiated but the French could have a veto. That could irritate | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
other member states as it breaks normal EU procedures over unanimity | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
on these decisions going into the negotiations. The French, however, | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
have thought long and hard. They are digging their heels in. They are | :40:42. | :40:48. | |
asking for the issue to be totally off the table, not part of the | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
negotiations at all. We can get the latest on this from our | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
correspondent in Paris, Christian Fraser. No surprise that the French | :40:56. | :41:03. | |
are taking this position. It's an historic one for them. So, will they | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
- are they playing brinkmanship? Are they going to stick to this line? | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
looks like they are playing brinkmanship. The French Trade | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
Minister is saying that they want this taking off the table. They feel | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
very passionately about their French TV and film industry. It is one of | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
the biggest - it is the biggest in Europe. It is the third biggest in | :41:26. | :41:31. | |
the world in terms of admissions and revenues that come in. If you go to | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
the cinema, there is a levy on your ticket which is reinvested in the | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
industry. There are incentives for people who invest in the industry. | :41:39. | :41:47. | |
They had a record number of films in 2010, over 200 films made. They see | :41:47. | :41:56. | |
it as the bull walk against it. The figures involved are quite | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
staggering. This would liberalise a third of world trade. Obviously, it | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
would be hugely important to French agriculture and to French business | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
at a time when there is high unemployment in France and President | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
Hollande is trying to reverse the curve at the moment and to get | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
unemployment coming down. So, he is playing high stakes. The French - | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
the British and the German positions is this: If you start sending down | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
red lines before the talks have begun, the sceptics in the United | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
States will start carving out their position. We might have red lines on | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
Californian champagne. They really want to go with open palms and say, | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
"Let's start afresh and get on with it." The window is quite small. The | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
compromise is this: They will go with an open book and when they get | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
to audio and visual, they will come back to the French. They will have | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
an unprecedented say on whether to approve it or not. They are hoping | :42:52. | :43:01. | |
that that fudge will see them through. OK. Thank you. The French | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
could stop this trade deal from taking place? They can slow it down. | :43:05. | :43:12. | |
I think that is the important point. This trade deal is ambitious, it's | :43:12. | :43:19. | |
over 30% of global trade. They need jobs and growth. The prize is great. | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
We can't go into the negotiations on the other hand with preconditions. | :43:23. | :43:29. | |
So, while we set a very ambitious timescale to get it done within two | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
years, I think before we go to the negotiations we have to get this | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
sorted. If it means delaying the start, I would tell the Commission | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
to hold it back, sort this issue about audio and visual problems... | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
How would you sort it? The French do dig their heels in. Mr Hollande is | :43:47. | :43:53. | |
not the most secure or powerful French President in recent years. | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
He's a Socialist. Most of the French art world is on the left. Is he | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
going to take on his own constituency? This is old-fashioned | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
protectionism in its most naked form. This is what free trade deals | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
are all about. If we can't overcome this, we are lumbered with this for | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
a long time to come. Can I point out that Washington, which is in the | :44:15. | :44:20. | |
middle of a pivot to the Pacific, they have other trade deals to do. | :44:20. | :44:26. | |
Of course, Washington would love to do a deal with the EU. There are 22 | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
outstanding deals waiting to be done rather quickly on the Pacific with | :44:30. | :44:36. | |
other countries. If Europe is held up, because they want the frepb - | :44:36. | :44:43. | |
the French want to continue to subsidise their movies, the US will | :44:43. | :44:49. | |
say, we are off to the other side of the world. This will be the biggest | :44:49. | :44:55. | |
trade deal ever done in the world. With no WTO deal on the table... | :44:55. | :45:05. | |
:45:05. | :45:05. | ||
Which fell apart. This sets the opportunity for the EU-US to set the | :45:05. | :45:14. | |
Gold Standard for everyone to comply with. This is an open goal for him. | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
This shows the nonsense of having our trade policy decided by the EU. | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
I knew you were going to say that. We should be deciding our own deal. | :45:23. | :45:30. | |
I always admire the French, and French culture. But they always | :45:30. | :45:36. | |
expect somebody else to pay for it. We pay for the French farmers, | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
through the Common Agricultural Policy, but it is the same kind of | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
thing. I do not see why some of my constituents, some of the poorest | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
people in the country, should be subsidising French farmers. And now | :45:46. | :45:52. | |
we have this. His position is that if we were not in Europe, the United | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
Kingdom could go and do a fantastic trade deal with America, like that, | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
because we do not care about protecting our movies! We watch all | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
their films, anyway! No disrespect to Iceland or Switzerland, but they | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
have not got the kind of clout which 27 European nations have. If you are | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
not at the table at this deal, which Britain would not be... Local but | :46:18. | :46:25. | |
his point is, we could do our own. I know you could, but only after the | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
US has done a deal with 27 other nations. That would set the rules. | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
We need to be at the table setting those rules. These are the rules | :46:32. | :46:38. | |
that China, Russia and all of the others will be following. Leading? | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
America has done bilateral deals with a number of Asian economies. | :46:43. | :46:45. | |
Britain is the biggest foreign direct investor in the United | :46:45. | :46:51. | |
States, and vice versa. So, we have a huge community of interest - why | :46:51. | :47:01. | |
:47:01. | :47:01. | ||
could we not do a UK-US deal on our own? Because this deal, which will | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
set up the world's largest trade zone, is a fantastic opportunity, | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
and we need to be at the top table, setting the rules. We will not be | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
setting the rules. We would set our rules to suit a UK-US arrangement. I | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
am not saying it is right or wrong, I am just asking, why could we not | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
do that? I am not saying you couldn't. You probably could. But | :47:25. | :47:31. | |
you would not get priority. The US is going to get far greater priority | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
for doing a deal with 27 nations in Europe we shall we speak the same | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
line which, we have a very similar legal system, very similar company | :47:39. | :47:49. | |
:47:49. | :47:51. | ||
law and all the rest of it. It would be much easier. And we have not even | :47:51. | :47:56. | |
heard from the French farmers yet. Wait till they hear about the cheap | :47:56. | :48:06. | |
:48:06. | :48:07. | ||
wheat production in Iowa! Jo Coburn has been to Strasbourg. European | :48:07. | :48:17. | |
elections are famously low-key affairs. They usually have dismal | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
turnouts, but that might be about to change. An obscure paragraph in the | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
Lisbon Treaty means next year's election results will effectively | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
date take whether the next commission president is from the | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
centre or centre-left politics. The treaty states that although heads of | :48:33. | :48:35. | |
governments will propose the successor, they must do so taking | :48:35. | :48:41. | |
into account the elections to the European Parliament. The new | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
Commission head shall be elected to the European Parliament by a | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
majority of its members. This could lead to a fundamental shift of power | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
in the European institutions. next European elections will open a | :48:55. | :49:02. | |
new chapter, because in fact, the citizens will directly influence who | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
is the boss of the European executive, by their vote, more or | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
less, they will be determining who gets a majority in the chamber, and | :49:11. | :49:17. | |
the majority here in the Houses of Parliament will decide who is the | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
president of the European and. the first time, party activists | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
across Europe will play a role in choosing the figurehead. And what's | :49:26. | :49:31. | |
more, Labour Party members in Britain will have a say in who the | :49:31. | :49:41. | |
:49:41. | :49:42. | ||
centre-left's champion will be. Labourer invests, Labour Party | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
delegates among the European socialist, in spring next year, they | :49:46. | :49:52. | |
will be part of the process, they will influence and decide which one | :49:52. | :50:01. | |
they like most, and I think that is a good, and aquatic procedure. | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
British Conservatives on the other hand will find themselves on the | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
outside looking in. David Cameron's decision to pull his party out of | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
the influential pro-European EEP grouping back in 2009 means British | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
Conservatives will be excluded from the selection of the centre-right | :50:17. | :50:26. | |
candidate. Prime Minister Cameron will have no role, because he will | :50:26. | :50:33. | |
be isolated in the Council decision. Especially in the EPB, they will | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
decide and they will vote for this candidate, but unfortunately, the | :50:37. | :50:41. | |
Conservatives will not be there, and they were just have too accept what | :50:41. | :50:48. | |
the others have decided. Four years, this institution has been derided by | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
critics as something of a toytown parliament, but now, it will be | :50:52. | :50:58. | |
invested with proper power, and its voters really will decide who runs | :50:58. | :51:03. | |
Europe. So, tell me, Graham Watson, do you think the European parties | :51:03. | :51:12. | |
will agree... ? I am sorry, we have got Graham Watson, the Liberal | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
Democrat MEP, joining us from Brussels. Have we got you? I am | :51:16. | :51:22. | |
going to come to you first, sorry for that - do you think that the | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
European parties will agree a candidate for the European | :51:24. | :51:30. | |
Commission president next year? Certainly. I am the president of the | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
European Liberal Democrats pan-European political party. We | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
agreed four weeks ago the timescale and the procedure for this election | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
of a Liberal candidate for the presidency of the Commission. I know | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
from discussions with my counterparts, the European | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
Socialists and the European People's party, that they also have agreed | :51:50. | :51:57. | |
their procedures. This will go ahead towards the end of the year. We all | :51:57. | :52:00. | |
expect to have special electoral congresses in early February of next | :52:00. | :52:07. | |
year, where the candidates will be voted on. Richard as Croft - what do | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
you make of this? We have to remember that the commission, at the | :52:11. | :52:15. | |
end of the day, is the civil service, albeit a very powerful | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
civil service. I do not know anywhere in the world where you have | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
an elected civil service. Heaven forbid that you have somebody | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
running a civil servants in this way. It is actually the MEPs and the | :52:28. | :52:34. | |
Council, the 27 heads of government, they call the shots. Let me go | :52:34. | :52:40. | |
straight back to you, Graham Watson - how do you reply to that? I am | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
very surprised that Richard Ashworth says that, because President Obama | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
is the head of a civil servants. He is not a member of Congress or a | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
member of the Senate, he is a member of and the leader of, the civil | :52:52. | :52:59. | |
service, in the same way that Jose Manuel Barroso is currently the head | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
of the European civil service. It strikes me that this would bring | :53:02. | :53:08. | |
Europe far closer to the people, if they were able to elect that person. | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
This is another small step on the way to a United States of Europe. It | :53:11. | :53:16. | |
has been mooted in the past that there should be direct elections for | :53:16. | :53:18. | |
the president of the European Union, and it is a small step in that | :53:18. | :53:25. | |
direction. What will be interesting, when the MEPs get to vote next time, | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
is that the balance of the European Parliament could change. Not just in | :53:31. | :53:34. | |
the UK are we expecting to do extremely well, but there are more | :53:34. | :53:40. | |
anti TEU parties springing up. I think the new president could | :53:40. | :53:48. | |
reflect that new balance. -- anti-Mac EU. After all, most of us | :53:48. | :53:57. | |
would have no idea who most of the candidates were... As you know, | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
because you were there at the launch of the Reuters study of the TV | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
debates after the last election in the UK, over half of the people who | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
watched those debates said it helps them to make up their mind which way | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
they were going to vote. Three quarters of them said that they | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
learned something they did not know, and more than nine out of ten who | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
watched those leader Pol Pot debates actually went away and talked about | :54:21. | :54:30. | |
it afterwards. -- leaders' debates. We did not know who the three | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
debaters were, and we will have no idea who the chap from Italy is, or | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
the chap from Spain, or the candidate from Hungary. You do not | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
know that. It may well be that the political parties choose people who | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
have been Prime Minister Des of their countries before that and are | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
quite well-known at a European level. They might choose people who | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
are senior members of the European Commission. Who is the current Prime | :54:54. | :55:02. | |
Minister of Italy? It is... That is correct. He is a former member of | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
the European Parliament. I think you are in the 0.1% of people who would | :55:07. | :55:17. | |
:55:17. | :55:19. | ||
know that. Well done! This is moving in the wrong direction. It is | :55:19. | :55:22. | |
investing more power in the commission, more power in the | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
European Union. Actually, I think voters will respond to seeing more | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
power with member state governments. We want to see more | :55:31. | :55:38. | |
involvement with member state governments. The best-known | :55:38. | :55:44. | |
politician across Europe is Nigel Farage, but I do not know... ! | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
you name... ? We have not got time. Congratulations for knowing the | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
Italian Prime Minister. We will ask you again in six months, when it has | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
probably changed. It is a plum job, but you have trouble be never heard | :55:58. | :56:08. | |
:56:08. | :56:10. | ||
of it, so what is so appealing about the role of rapporteur in the | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
European Parliament? There is the latest installation of our guide to | :56:14. | :56:24. | |
:56:24. | :56:37. | ||
Labour's Glenis Willmott is doing what every European official dreams | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
of. She is a rapporteur. They have written some new legislation | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
concerning clinical drugs trials. The draft law then comes here to the | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
European Parliament, where it is sent to the MEPs on the public of | :56:49. | :56:55. | |
committee. And that is where Glenis comes in. As a mpg, it is her job to | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
formulate the committee's responds to the legislation. -- as a | :56:58. | :57:05. | |
rapporteur. You make sure you know the subject, you make sure you meet | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
all of the stakeholders involved, whoever has an interest in that | :57:08. | :57:12. | |
particular report. You will meet with all of them and make sure that | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
you hear all of their views, and then, you have to decide, with | :57:16. | :57:25. | |
technical and legal support, where you want the report to go. It is a | :57:25. | :57:28. | |
huge amount of extra work for me, and the people who work with me. But | :57:28. | :57:33. | |
it is worth it, because you really can make a difference. Do you get | :57:33. | :57:39. | |
paid any extra money? Absolutely not. Everybody in the European | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
Parliament gets paid exactly the same. It is not like Westminster, | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
where you have ministers on a higher salary. Uncle after all of that | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
work, the committee presents its reports to the whole of the European | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
report -- to the whole of the European Parliament for a final | :57:53. | :58:00. | |
vote. There is one of the most famous rapporteurs of all, a young | :58:00. | :58:05. | |
Nick Clegg. More than a decade ago, he brought a law on addition in the | :58:05. | :58:11. | |
telecoms set to get through in record time. There is intense | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
competition between the different political groups to secure roles | :58:15. | :58:20. | |
like the one Glenis have. It is an influential job, and one which just | :58:20. | :58:23. | |
does not have an equivalent in the UK political system. Appear on the | :58:23. | :58:28. | |
12th floor, Glenis is part Minister, part select committee chair, part | :58:28. | :58:38. | |
legislative fixer. You have been a temp icky, would you like to be one? | :58:38. | :58:47. | |
Yup it is part of our policy not to do it. They are being paid an extra | :58:47. | :58:51. |