Browse content similar to 27/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning folks and welcome to the Daily Politics. We only have half an | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
hour. I will have to speak quickly! After the gloom of cuts, the | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
"excitement" of rebuilding Britain. As I speak the Shadow Chief | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, is outlining to the | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
Commons the Government's plans to overhaul our transport and energy | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
infrastructure. The shopping list comes to �100 billion, but remember | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
it's not new money. Yesterday's Spending Review included plans for a | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
cap on the Welfare Bill, and new rules for people claiming | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
unemployment benefits. We'll be looking at how it's gone down. And | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
who goes down well with you? George or Ed? Adam's been out with his | :01:14. | :01:24. | |
moodbox. All that in the next half hour and with us for the whole | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
programme today are Conservative Nadhim Zahawi, Labour's Cathy | :01:26. | :01:32. | |
Jamieson, and Susan Kramer for the Liberal Democrats. Welcome. Now | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
first this morning, good and bad news. Revised figures from the | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
Office of National Statistics show that the double-dip recession at the | :01:38. | :01:45. | |
end of 2011 and the beginning of last year never actually happened! | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
But the ONS revealed that the initial recession following the | :01:47. | :01:54. | |
financial crisis was actually far worse than originally feared. So, | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
Cathy Jamieson, it turns out that there was no double-dip, unlike what | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
Labour claimed. It turns out that there was no triple-dip, unlike | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
Labour predicted, but it turns out that the economy tanked worse than | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
2008 and 2009, whether I think that your party was in power? Well, a | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
revision up, is to be considered good news. | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
Of course, it is a technical revision. I don't think that anyone | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
looking at the figures would really say that living standards have | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
improved over the period that this Government has been in office. | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
I will come to that, but it turns out that there was not a double-dip | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
and we lost 7% of our economy. We lost more under Mr Brown than we | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
lost in the great depression? we have to look at what this | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
Government has done. Deal with that bit? It is not good | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
news that the recession was worse. It makes it harder to come back. | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
No doubt. That is why this Government must take responsibility | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
for what has gone on in their watch. But, it was under you that the | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
economy tanked? But what has happened since, the economy has not | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
grown. The 6% growth that the Government promised has not taken | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
place. The Government's forecast has been | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
useless. You would be better asking Miss tick Meg, but the economy | :03:20. | :03:27. | |
tanked by 7.3%. More than after the great crash in '29. Maybe you should | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
be more forgiving of the Tories' fail to get it right as the hole was | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
much deeper than we thought? We had a global financial crisis at the | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
time. We understand that. We cannot get away from the fact that under | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
this Government growth has not been as they promised. | :03:45. | :03:53. | |
I will come to that in a minute, but will you now file double-dip and | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
triple-dip under the boom and bust, the no more boom and bust file as | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
phrases not to be used by Labour? are still using flatlining economy. | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
The economy is marginally growing. It is not growing in the way that | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
the Government promised it would. We discovered as well, that living | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
standards are still being squeezed by an incredible amount. Living | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
standards are down, your disposable income, I should call it. They are | :04:24. | :04:30. | |
down 1. 7%. The biggest fall since the crash in 1987. That is an | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
appalling record? It is tough it would be silly to do what Kathy has | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
done, to deny the facts. The correct problem that they have, Ed Balls | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
claiming that they had nothing to do with the crash. Now we find that | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
they this everything to do with it. I ask Cathy Jamieson about Labour, | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
she talks about you. I ask you about the Tories, you talk about her. | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
You are residing over the big biggest collapse in disposable | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
income since 1987? You are right it is tough on disposable incomes. That | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
is why we reversed Labour's hike in fuel prices. 13 pence off a litre of | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
petrol. It is still down 1. 7! ? We have | :05:20. | :05:27. | |
taken 23 million people out of tax. Paying less tax. Paying zero on the | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
first �10,000. We are trying hard in tough times to ensure that the | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
budget and the Spending Review are progressive and they are fair. | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
The point is, Susan Kramer, having done all of that, the incomes are | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
down 1. 7% and as long as people's wages are not keeping pace with the | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
prices, they are tightening belts, there can be no real recovery? | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
think that people and companies must take credit. They have chosen to | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
keep jobs and accept lower wage rises, despite the fact that there | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
has been inflation, thanks to the rising commodity prices. | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
Shall we shove that in as well, that was under your coalition? It is part | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
of filling in the hole that falls on well to do people far more than | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
anyone else. That is important in sharing the burden, but what has | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
been crucial, is that people must get credit for how they responded, | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
frankly, to the period and the tough times that Labour left us with, but | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
we are seeing life in the economy. What good thing that is happening, | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
the correction of the double-dip, it will help to boost confidence. That | :06:39. | :06:47. | |
is what we need. We have a lot of small and medium-sized companies | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
ready to grow. That will move forward, as will help with the | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
infrastructure announcements today. I don't know anyone who has money. | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
Nor can they get none from the banks, but the taily quiz. | :07:01. | :07:08. | |
In the Sun, George Osborne's blunder. He tweeted a photograph of | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
him eating a posh burger from the Byron chain of restaurants. | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
Despairing this country, posh burgers, who cares? Apparently it | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
cost nearly �106789 including the chip it is goes to show how out of | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
touch he is. Our question is in the photo, what fizzy drunk does George | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
Osborne have to wash down the plutocratic burger? Was it Irn Bru? | :07:35. | :07:45. | |
:07:45. | :07:46. | ||
Diet Coke? Tango? Or elderflower. At the end of the show we may give you | :07:46. | :07:54. | |
the correct answer. And the men, Ed Balls and George | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
Osborne are trying not to bump into each other. | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
This is what George Osborne has said about the Spending Review. | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
Difficult choices will be made. We have to cut spending. It is | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
unprecedented for the politicians to say that they will have to cut | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
budgets. We have said that. We have to cap welfare, control the welfare | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
costs. With have been straight with the British people, this is not | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
easy. We are not pretending it is, but that is the economic plan taking | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
Britain out of rescue, into recovery. We have to deliver that | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
plan. The alternative, and you can see other countries, where they have | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
taken the alternative route is one of real economic crisis for our | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
country. And a few minutes later, Ed Balls | :08:42. | :08:49. | |
was trying to see if they would wait seven days to wait before claiming | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
benefits. George Osborne says he can make a | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
saving on this. He says there is is a three-day delay. If you go from | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
three to seven days to claim the jobseeker's allowance, you can make | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
savings. We are looking to see if that can be fair and save money. If | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
is a blank cheque for the pay day loan companies it is a bad thing. If | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
it can be done sensible, we will support it. | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
So, this is the wonninga Budget. Forcing hundreds of thousands of | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
people who have been made unemployed into borrowing from the sharks? | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
don't agree with that. In other countries they have a similar policy | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
of waiting seven days before claiming benefits. Having the CV | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
ready. Waiting online, having to speak English. This is the right | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
thing to do it is the right thing to ask people to try hard to find a | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
job. We have to make sure that the private sector is investing and | :09:49. | :09:56. | |
creating the jobs but people have to try to get their CV ready, apply | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
online. These are the right things to do. | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
Cathy Jamieson? We have to look at the detail of this. The Government's | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
programmes have a point of unravelling. The work programme and | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
the figures show that the work programme has failed one in nine | :10:13. | :10:20. | |
people on that programme. 132,000 people have found work through the | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
Work Programme. One in ten people not finding work. | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
You are wasting money. We want to see people in work. That | :10:28. | :10:35. | |
is why we want a Work Programme guarantee to get people into jobs. | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
What about forcing people to take English? Well, I think it is fair | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
that people should be able to understand the language that people | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
should show that they are looking for employment. We have said that we | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
will look into the detail. We will be scrutinising that. We supported | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
the three-day waiting period. We want to scrutinise the detail but we | :10:58. | :11:04. | |
don't want to drive people into the pay day loan sharks. The money saved | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
goes into the support and advice for the long-term unemployed that is the | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
problem. That is where it is difficult. | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
But hold on, when we interviewed Danny Alexander on the Sunday | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
Politics, our sister programme, that is out on a Sunday, I think the clue | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
is in the name, but he reassured us to say that there would be no more | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
welfare savings in the Spending Review. What do we have? Welfare | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
savings? I don't like at it that way. This is a swaich for those out | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
of work. That is from the end where the support is far less vital in | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
those few days to the point where it is really needed that is to get | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
detailed individual advice to get people back to work. | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
But again, some of the most vulnerable are taking the hit from | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
the cuts. The Chancellor claims that they are taking most from the top | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
fifth, according to this complicated distribution analysis, that looks to | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
be true, but what he has not said is that in cash terms you take the | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
second hardest hit group, that is the poorest fifth! How are we all in | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
it together when the poorest fifth are second in taking a hit? When you | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
are trying to deal with a deficit that is �160 billion. It is down by | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
a third. You have to try to make sure that those most privileged take | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
the biggest hit and your distribution, rightly, shows that. | :12:39. | :12:47. | |
It is not mine it is yours! What we have tried to do for the poorest is | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
the 400,000 troubled families, that is a big increase in resources going | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
to the families. The affordable homes he announced yesterday. More | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
money going to that. The social care. �3 billion going into local | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
authorities for social care, working with the NHS. Those families are the | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
most vulnerable, they are the ones in need of most. What the coalition | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
government is doing is focussing the money on those most vulnerable. When | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
the money is tight, focus it more cleverliy. | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
The older people should be protected. People retired -- retired | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
should be protected. You are all terrified of the grey | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
vote. It brings me to the pension cap. | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
I have to say, we don't have the old vote. | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
You are chock a block with it. There is nothing wrong with the old | :13:40. | :13:48. | |
vote. The average age is 94. Now, what about this welfare cap | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
which is own on part of welfare. It excludes the state pension but | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
excludes benefits for pensioners outside of the state pension. When | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
Ed Balls was on the Sunday politics, he said pensions should be included | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
in the welfare cap? When we heard the details of what was announced | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
yesterday, Ed Balls made clear of looking at what the difference is. | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
We understand the need for the cap on the spend. We want to see the | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
state pension protected. We have issues in the longer term about | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
people living longer, the age at which people are able to get their | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
state pensions but we have said to go back to those better off, | :14:30. | :14:38. | |
shouldering the burden, is that we would not give the wint -- winter | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
fuel allowance to the richest pensioners. I cannot speak for the | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
Conservatives. Now, the boys at the Treasury, I | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
think that they are boys, they are working hard. After the excitement | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
of the Spending Review today, Danny Alexander gets his moment in the | :14:52. | :14:58. | |
spotlight. So what can we expect from his bag of tricks? Well, Danny | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
Alexander is eting out plans for �100 billion of infrastructure | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
investment in rail, roads, power stations and affordable homes. This | :15:07. | :15:14. | |
is not new money but coming from �3 United Nations -- �300 billion | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
prooel announced. On rail, the Government's flagship programme, | :15:18. | :15:26. | |
High Speed Two gets an extra �8 billion. Spending �2 million or | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
maybe �2 million for Crossrail 26789 we have a Crossrail that is about to | :15:31. | :15:38. | |
open. That goes from West to East London. Now we are looking at one | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
from North to South. On energy, there are announcements on nuclear | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
power. Shale gas, renewable energy. More wind farms, mostly off-shore. | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
After years of funding for roads, a �1 of 6 billion plan to deal with | :15:55. | :16:03. | |
congestion on the A 14. That goes to be -- that goes to Felixstowe, but | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
don't hold your breath. The projects don't appear. In the world of | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
planning laws, the first High Speed Two trains are not due to run until | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
2026. Nuclear power stations are still in the negotiating phase. They | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
have not concluded a deal with the French contractor and ministers have | :16:22. | :16:28. | |
been making promises on road projects for three years. Here is | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
what the Chief Secretary to the Treasury had to say in the Commons. | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
Moving from repair to renewables, we have to invest in the fabric of our | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
nation. We have chosen to find savings from day-to-day budgets that | :16:42. | :16:52. | |
allows us to recycle billions. We can guarantee �300 billion of | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
capital spending by the end of the decade. Today, I can set out our | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
plans for over �100 billion of this for the infrastructure of our | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
country. The biggest public housing programme for over 20 years. The | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
largest programme of rail investment since Victorian times. The greatest | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
investment in our roads since the 1970s. Fast online access for the | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
whole country. Unlocking massive investments in cleaner energy to | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
power our economy forwards. All at a price we can afford to pay without | :17:26. | :17:35. | |
:17:36. | :17:37. | ||
adding a single pound to our borrowing forecast. Not a penny of | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
this is new. It is basically growth expenditure, which is not really the | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
proper measure - is flat at �50 billion. That's it. It is still a | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
big number, �50 billion and it will allow us to do two things. One, make | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
sure that we get the programme we need to get. Make sure we continue | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
we electrification. We have done 300 miles. . We need to do more. Make | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
sure we get the certainty into the energy sector, which has been drying | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
out for that, so to -- crying out for that, so to make those | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
investments in new energy and other. This is what is being set out. | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
give the impression. Both Mr Alexander and the Chancellor gave | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
the impression this - you have listened to the people and suddenly | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
there is a huge treasure chest of public investment that is now being | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
unveiled. I look at the figures and the public investment in 2011/12, | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
which we can count as the first full Year of the Coalition was �50 | :18:43. | :18:51. | |
billion N 2015-16 it will be �507 billion. In 2017/18, it will be �52 | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
billion. In 2010/11 it was �28 billion. Overall it has actually | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
gone done. You are right. It has gone down. It is more than what | :19:01. | :19:09. | |
Labour would have spent by �3 billion in each of the years we've | :19:09. | :19:16. | |
had. We need to make sure we have laser-like focus. It was fairness, | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
growth and this is all about growth. It is that laser-like focus. He's | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
brought in the man who has delivered the Olympics to deliver this | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
infrastructure project. The proof oh the pudding is in the eating. Two | :19:30. | :19:37. | |
weeks ago I opened a new park, railway station in | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
Stratford-upon-Avon. Why - was the Queen not available? We got a royal | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
visit this week, Andrew. We have a fantastic park way station just | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
opened. I am opening a new wing to one of my schools this weekend. | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
have a busy life! What has been the big difference is | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
the whole organisation of how we deliver infrastructure. What we have | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
got is a steady rolling programme which is starting to deliver. So a | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
lot of these projects are in process. We know when they will | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
start to go into the ground. projects in 2010 - how many of these | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
have been completed? That is a relatively few. Seven. That is the | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
point, Andrew. The whole pattern historically has been a set of | :20:23. | :20:29. | |
announcements. There's nothing - no planning underway. It takes three | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
years to get these projects up and into a rolling pattern. | :20:34. | :20:43. | |
You never told us that at the time! You didn't ask me. I spent my life | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
financing infrastructure. We have membering nips -- mechanisms which | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
can deliver this... You have brought that point. It is what we need | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
and... Are you going to add to these figures? Well, let's see what the | :20:59. | :21:06. | |
rollout of this is going to be. The point that was made is over 500 | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
projects announced, seven have come to fruit weighs. We have made that | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
point. The question is not about them. The question was about you. It | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
is roughly... Sorry to interrupt. It is good to get an answer to this. It | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
is �50 billion a year capital investment for as far as the eye can | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
see. That is roughly the figure. would have like to have seen more | :21:29. | :21:36. | |
happening now rather than it being 2015 and beyond. You would have had | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
�60 billion this year? We are not the Government: They have to be | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
responsible for what they do. We would have said we would have liked | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
to have seen more input, particularly around social housing, | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
affordable housing at this point in time rather than putting things off | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
until after the next election. can you talk about a big increase in | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
affordable housing when you have just slashed the community's | :22:01. | :22:08. | |
department budget, including its capital budget? 36% cut. | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
affordable housing... You have a general cut in the communities | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
budget, and then you have money coming in around specific | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
programmes. One of those is affordable housing. In fact, the net | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
cut for that department is in fact 2.3%, not the headline number that | :22:25. | :22:35. | |
:22:35. | :22:38. | ||
After yesterday who comes out smelling of roses? Is it Mr Osborne | :22:38. | :22:44. | |
or Mr Balls? We sented a dom on to the street -- we sent Adam on to the | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
streets of London. We are starting here at Whitehall. They've had a 50% | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
cut in their budget. Who do people trust - is it George Osborne or | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
Balls? Let's find out? Balls. Especially coming from Birmingham. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
We are moving forward really. We need to move forward with the Labour | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
Government. Ed Balls is a great person. Do you want to be a Labour | :23:10. | :23:17. | |
MP? I would like to.I did get a sense of that. Why Osborne? Pardon? | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
I'm not too impressed with Balls. I'm a Kiwi, I don't know. How is the | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
New Zealand economy doing? Do you have such a high tech campaign? | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
Do you think they should have cut more in this spending round rather | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
than the �11.5 billion. Not my bus pass, because I will feel very | :23:37. | :23:45. | |
strongly about that! Sgld who gets your vote on the | :23:45. | :23:53. | |
economy? Ed Balls definite gets my vote. He is the best asset the | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
Conservative Party has other than the Prime Minister. Slightly too | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
many tourists here. I have come to the Foreign Office they have had a | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
big cut to their budget: It was not that big to start with. Let's find | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
out what people think around here. You are a friend of the programme. | :24:12. | :24:19. | |
Some friend he is! She's for Osborne and I'm for Balls. | :24:19. | :24:26. | |
Osborne or Balls? This is brilliant - 50 votes in one go. Let's go to a | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
department that is getting a massive increase in its budget - foreign | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
aid. Oh, my goodness! | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
How would Balls ruin everything? don't think he has economic clout. | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
He has not learnt good house keeping yet! | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
I think our final stop will be charring cross station because it | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
has an infrastructure theme. A bit like this spending round. I don't | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
like George Osborne, really. Whoa what is wrong with him? -- what is | :24:56. | :25:05. | |
wrong with him? He seems smarmy. They are trying to cut back, but not | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
prepared to cut back on international aid, which is a pain | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
in the neck, I think so. Who do you trust on the economy, Balls or | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
Osborne? Osborne.Grab a blue one. am not sure I trust the BBC, mind | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
you! What if you wanted a third option? I don't know.Vince Cable? | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
Neither of these two. Maybe Vince Cable. Why have you gone for Ed | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
Balls? I am a socialist. He's the nearest thing we can hope for. He's | :25:32. | :25:41. | |
not good enough. People dressed as leopards favour Ed Balls. People are | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
split about 50/50. How conclusive. I was struck by how many said they | :25:46. | :25:52. | |
don't like either of them! There's our Adam out in Whitehall | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
with his balls. Cathy Jamieson, given, the last three years cannot | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
be chopped up as a huge success for the coalition in terms of economic | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
policy. Maybe coming right now it is not for me to say and we don't know. | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
Wouldn't you expect Ed Balls to be doing better? I think that did show | :26:11. | :26:18. | |
that people are split. There are many who will say... We can be | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
pleased with where we are at the moment. We lost the election. We | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
knew we had a long way to go. I think we can take comfort from the | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
fact that a good number of people there did say they trusted Balls | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
rather than Osborne. We did see some Tory MPs hesitating as to where to | :26:34. | :26:41. | |
put their votes. Hesitating Tory MPs! Who would have thought that? | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
Even if the economy comes right by 2015 it is the Conservatives that | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
will get the credit for it, not the Lib Demes. It is not easy being in | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
coalition, but we thought that it is really worthwhile. Look at some of | :26:53. | :27:00. | |
the things that have been spoken of today, like, for example, raising | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
the tax threshold so people at the bottom are not paying tax in the | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
same way. Look at the infrastructure. There's a risk you | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
don't get the credit. You are in politics to do. I hope we get some | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
credit, but the reality is that you have to stand up when the | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
opportunity comes. And you need a recovery. | :27:19. | :27:26. | |
We do. Otherwise... Otherwise you are toast. We will see it healing. | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
Say green shoots! Go on! | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
It is still fragile. If you look at where the expenditure has gone. US | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
training, apprenticeship, science, infrastructure. That will make a | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
difference. We are strong on the service sector. 80% of our output is | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
service sector. The real problem for Cathy, by the way, is Miliband is so | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
weak... I think you should look at your own problems! There is time | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
before we go to find out the answer to the quiz. What was George Osborne | :27:58. | :28:08. | |
drinking when he had his Byron burger? He should have had Irn Brew. | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
You are right. I thought I saw a coffee cup. There was a coughty or | :28:14. | :28:21. | |
two. The answer was right - it was a Diet Coke. It is the diet part that | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
fascinates me. OK, that's it for today. Thank you | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
to our three guests for being good sports as we rattle through | :28:29. | :28:35. | |
everything. I will be on BBC One, talking about the police and Stephen | :28:35. | :28:45. |