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The Liberal Democrats continue their autumn party conference in Glasgow | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
with debates on the economy, taxes and benefits and a keynote speech | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
from Business Secretary Vince Cable. Afternoon, folks, welcome to the | :00:12. | :00:54. | |
Daily Politics Conference Special. Today's headlines from Glasgow: Lib | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
Dems get down to business with a debate on the economy. Nick Clegg | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
wants conference to back Government policy, but some activists want more | :01:01. | :01:12. | |
focus on employment and growth. Vince Cable | :01:12. | :01:47. | |
All that in the next hour, as well as an interview with the Energy | :01:47. | :01:59. | |
Secretary, Ed Davey. And with us for the whole programme today is the | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
writer, broadcaster and prominent Lib Dem supporter John Kampfner. | :02:03. | :02:10. | |
Welcome to the Daily Politics. Well, Nick Clegg was out and about early | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
in his sandals this morning doing the media rounds. I know you were | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
in his sandals this morning doing probably all still in bed, so here's | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
what he had to say to BBC Breakfast when he was asked about a poll in | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
the Independent that suggests 59% of all those who voted Lib Dem at the | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
last election believe the party has got worse in the last three years, | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
last election believe the party has and only 9% believe it has got | :02:36. | :02:44. | |
better. We are in government in difficult times. We came in, stepped | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
up to the plate, rolled up our sleeves, got our hands dirty and got | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
involved in this crucial once in a generation task of rescuing and | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
repairing the British economy, which really was teetering on the edge of | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
repairing the British economy, which the precipice in 2010. Without the | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
Liberal Democrats holding our nerve, we would not now be starting to get | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
a flow of better economic news. It is because we held our nerve. I | :03:09. | :03:11. | |
understand that has unsettled some people, but it was the right thing | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
for the country. Nick Clegg, not set to music! | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
I would suggest he is having quite a good Conference. There is no | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
possibility of any sort of leadership challenge. A confident | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
interview on BBC breakfast yesterday morning, a confident interview on | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
the today programme this morning. We understand he has just won the | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
economy debate. The left-wing alternative was beaten, he won. He | :03:35. | :03:44. | |
is. If you compare it to his first year, year and a half, with | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
situation fees, he said he used to have things thrown through his | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
letterbox and pretty unpleasant thing shouted at him in the Street. | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
It was wondered whether he would survive a couple of years into the | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
Government. You never survive a couple of years into the | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
happen with voters, that he could be the kingmaker again and potentially | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
the next deputy. Given they have been right in the middle of | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
headwinds in terms of the recession and the general mood of gloom in the | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
country, it is a pretty robust performance. But whether you get | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
votes and plaudits for being tough and robust, whether you need to | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
offer a different vision, that is how they are being challenged, how | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
they show they are different from the other two parties. He still has | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
about 18 months to do that. Let's get a sense of the mood at | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
conference and talk to Andrew Grice from the Independent and Isabel | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
Hardman of the Spectator. Isabel, cut to the chase, what is Vince | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
Cable up to? It is a little bit unclear what he was thinking he was | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
doing. He did not want to go into the economy debate because he was | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
doing speech crap, then he decided he would have to come and vote in | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
favour of Nick Clegg 's motion. It is probably because this was | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
supposed to be Vince Cable 's leadership bid conference. Two years | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
ago, people were expecting him to ride on the shoulders of activists. | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
That has not happened. When he walked into the conference hall | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
earlier, the cameras watched him sitting down, looking miserable. He | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
managed to cause a stir but the economy motion was passed without | :05:21. | :05:28. | |
his support, quite overwhelmingly. Are we making too much of the | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
alleged split between Nick Clegg and Vince Cable? There is some | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
substance. Vince Cable has always wanted the coalition to be more | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
flexible with economic strategy. Nick Clegg thinks that as the | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
economic tide is turning and there is a return to growth, it is a | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
stupid time to reopen that argument. If they go back to calling for a | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
Plan B, in Nick Clegg 's words, the Lib Dems will get no credit for the | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
recovery, it will go to George Osborne and the Conservatives. There | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
is confusion about why Vince Cable wants to show difference between | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
himself and Nick Clegg. Even internal polls show that this is a | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
party full of activists who are on the left. Mystic leg is a party full | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
of activists who are on the left. Mystic laggards governing and | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
leading -- leading his party from the centre. Can he do that | :06:22. | :06:28. | |
indefinitely? I think what the debate we have just seen showed is | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
that the left-leaning faction of the party may be the loudest but not | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
necessarily the most powerful. That is dominated by the very well-known | :06:37. | :06:44. | |
Social Liberal Forum, but Liberal Reform, which is more market-based, | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
is going in to the ascendancy. Many people are backing market-based | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
speeches. What is the overall mood in bars go? Every time I have been | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
to a Lib Dem conference since the coalition they are torn between, on | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
the one hand, being happy they are finally in government after all | :07:04. | :07:06. | |
these years and able to do some things, on the other hand, not that | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
happy that they are in power with the Conservatives? That is true. | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
They are growing up as a party. Yesterday they accept that they | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
could not go into the election saying that they would get rid of | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
university tuition fees, a big change since last time. They | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
embraced nuclear power, a big U-turn. They have rallied behind | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
Nick Clegg on the economy. Is a painful process, but I think they | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
are along the road what Nick Clegg want, a party of permanent | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
government, not a protest party in the comfort zone of opposition where | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
they can vote against anything the Government was doing. I think we are | :07:48. | :07:50. | |
seeing a transformation along the lines that Nick Legge wanted. Do you | :07:50. | :07:59. | |
agree? I think the votes vindicate the leadership strategy of | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
confronting activists. One MP said it is a scab picking conference, | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
where they talk about some of the difficult issues. The scab picking | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
has paid off so far, although we have a debate on the 50p tax, which | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
the leadership is briefing that they will lose. I gather from yesterday | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
pulls-macro speech that Ed Davey is now using Sarah tether 's joke | :08:21. | :08:29. | |
right? It was that bad? Is that right? It was quite painful. He had | :08:29. | :08:37. | |
a good narrative about fighting Owen Paterson but he peppered it with | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
terrible jokes. Where they bad, Andy? He tried to say he was | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
fracking responsible for exposing the hyperbole of the Tories on | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
fracking. But after his first joke fell flat he should have drawn | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
stumps, skipped a few pages and got onto his serious message. It was a | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
joke too far. When I interviewed him later, I will tell him to avoid the | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
jokes. Thank you both for joining us, enjoy your time in the fair city | :09:10. | :09:11. | |
jokes. Thank you both for joining of Glasgow. | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
Now it's time for our daily quiz. The question is, which sport did | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
Nick Clegg not try his hand at yesterday? Table football, pitch and | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
putt or beach volleyball. At the end of the show, John will give us the | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
correct answer. You will get is the correct answer? You don't know it, | :09:28. | :09:35. | |
do you? I saw a photograph of one that he certainly did. That is not | :09:35. | :09:37. | |
the question. Whisper it quietly, but after three | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
years of little or no growth the economy appears to be recovering. A | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
bit. Somewhat. At last. And one half of the coalition certainly seems to | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
be happy to take the credit, with George Osborne boldly declaring last | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
week that the UK is turning a corner. What is around that corner | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
is another matter. But what of the other half of the coalition? Well, | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
Nick Clegg certainly thinks Lib Dems should be loud and proud about their | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
economic achievements, while those on the left of his party feel pretty | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
uncomfortable about any taking credit for what they call | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
Osbornonomics. The internal Lib Dem row over economic policy is in the | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
spotlight today in Glasgow. Nick Clegg wanted party members to | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
endorse the coalition's deficit reduction plan, but left-leaning | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
activists from the Social Liberal Forum tabled an amendment calling on | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
the plan to be rebalanced with more flexible policy on the pace of | :10:21. | :10:34. | |
deficit reduction. Ie slower deficit-reduction. They also want | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
some councils to be allowed to borrow more to build an extra | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
300,000 new homes a year, as well as the reintroduction of the 50p higher | :10:42. | :10:50. | |
rate of tax. There was some speculation over whether Vince Cable | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
would even turn up today. He was thought to be unhappy. When did that | :10:56. | :11:04. | |
happen? ! He was thought to be unhappy that the motion did not draw | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
on some of the amendments tabled by the party. There are rumours that he | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
is not entirely happy with some of the Government 's economic policies. | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
He is particularly concerned that the recovery is not sustainable, | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
especially with the potential for another housing bubble thanks to the | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
Government 's help to buy mortgage scheme. In a newspaper interview | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
over the weekend he said the danger lights had been flashing for some | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
time over rising house prices. Well, this morning Lib Dems have backed | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
Nick Clegg in his motion on the economy. Here are some highlights | :11:35. | :11:43. | |
from the debate. On Sunday the 9th of March 2008, | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
Nick made his first speech as Lib Dem leader. I would like to remind | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
you of what you said and how much we welcomed these words. You said, I | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
will never allow the Liberal Democrat to be a mere annex to | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
another party pulls-macro agenda. Conference, unamended, this motion | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
would do just that. We must not vote for an ideological merger with the | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
Conservative Party 's economic odysseys. | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
We are the balancing force for whichever party is in Government, we | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
are able to put Labour 's spending excess in check and we are able to | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
make sure the Conservative Party remains fair. That is the message I | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
need to be able to say on the doorstep to win in Hampstead and | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
Kilburn. That will only resonate if we stay the course on this motion, | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
if we stay the course with the fiscal mandate. | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
I want the party leadership to talk more about housing, to shout about | :12:43. | :12:49. | |
it from the rooftops. The shortage of private and public housing is a | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
social and, yes, economic crisis in this country that never seems to get | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
to the Cabinet table. We should be building more new homes, social and | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
private. We should not be inflating another housing bubble. | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
The evidence is that the original planning of George Osborne has been | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
a disaster. If you look across the piece, if you not selective, such as | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
the proposals of the motion, if you look across the piece, the original | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
Osborne planning has been a disaster. Fortunately, people like | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
Vince Cable and others have gently finessed away from the original | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
planning. There is a lot of good in the body of this motion, which I | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
wholly support. But what I am asking you to do today is a vote in favour | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
of three things. Amendment one, Amendment two and intellectual | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
honesty. If we reject the two amendments we will be going into the | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
election with a miserable little compromise. 50 years ago this | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
weekend, we talked about marching towards the sound of gunfire. I want | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
the ammunition to fight that battle and win. In government, the Liberal | :13:55. | :14:04. | |
Democrats have delivered. I will not repeat everything everybody else | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
says that, time is short. But it there has been a lot of pain in that | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
process. And to now think about jumping ship just as things are | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
starting to improve seems to me to not be a very rational or sensible | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
decision. Nick, I bid you to accept the whole amendment. You are not | :14:24. | :14:34. | |
alone Ranger and we are not Tonto. Please show the world that we are an | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
independent policy and we have a better taken on a policy than the | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
Tories. That was the flavour of the economic | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
bait. It was thought to cause problems for the party leadership | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
but in the end, the party one. Jeremy Browne joins me now from | :14:50. | :14:51. | |
Glasgow. Vince Cable says there are dangers | :14:51. | :15:04. | |
signs of a housing bubble. The Vince Cable says there are dangers | :15:04. | :15:16. | |
Government is right. It has the right policy. It is about slowly | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
implementing policy - getting the country back on its feet. Part of | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
that is about recovery in the housing market. We want a boy | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
galloping ahead and escalation of house prices -- we want to avoid a | :15:30. | :15:40. | |
galloping ahead. We do not want to repeat the problem. That is why the | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
Government is being cautious in its problems generally inquiry are not | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
getting ahead of ourselves and taking things step by step. I think | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
we have the right policy. You say the Government is right. Both Vince | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
Cable and Mr Alexander are members of the Government. It would seem | :15:59. | :16:06. | |
you side with Danny Alexander. That is the Government's policy. Danny | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
Alexander is a Treasury Minister, which is the responsible government | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
department. I think the whole government is united behind that | :16:15. | :16:22. | |
policy. Is it true that bins Cable and Danny Alex Song are barely on | :16:22. | :16:23. | |
policy. Is it true that bins Cable speaking terms? -- Vince Cable and | :16:23. | :16:38. | |
Danny Alexander. I am not able to see the relationship in the Cabinet. | :16:38. | :16:45. | |
They seem to be working together as far as I can see. The Government is | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
They seem to be working together as united in its purpose. The Liberal | :16:48. | :16:53. | |
Democrats in the Government a very determined we see through the | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
economic rebuilding of our country after the ruinous state it was in | :16:57. | :17:04. | |
three, four, five years ago. We are on part to get our country back on | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
track. It is a slow and incremental process. The Liberal Democrats were | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
strongly committed to seeing it through. Isn't it tactically less | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
than the siege - just as many people think the economy is now | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
coming right after three years' hard pounding - for many Lib Dems, | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
led by Vince Cable, to be questioning whether the economic | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
policy was right or not? I strongly agree with your question. The | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
Liberal Democrats have shown commitment to resilience can afford | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
to do in government. We have stuck to our guns. -- resilience, | :17:44. | :17:51. | |
fortitude in government. We are now in a position where the country | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
appears to be starting to turn a corner. We are not there yet. We're | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
off our knees and on our feet again. We are not yet fully up and running. | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
We need to see this job through. The Lib Dems should be unequivocal. | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
We need to see this job through. We have been instrumental to the | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
success of this government. The decisions this government has taken | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
on economic policy have been labelled Democrat decisions as much | :18:18. | :18:24. | |
as conservative decisions. -- Liberal Democrat. There difficult | :18:24. | :18:33. | |
decisions -- the Liberal Democrats need to ask themselves, are we | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
proud of our government of the ashamed of it? We should be | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
unequivocally proud of it. We should not be bashful about our | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
achievements. The achievements are just as much a result of Liberal | :18:46. | :18:52. | |
Democrat policies as they are conservative ones. Talking about | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
your own department, you want to start a debate about banning young | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
Muslim women from wearing the veil. Why do you want to do that? There | :19:03. | :19:10. | |
is a debate already. There is a debate that people discuss at her | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
name, they discuss it in schools and the media. It is legitimate. -- | :19:14. | :19:24. | |
at home. Mainstream liberal-minded politician should be engaging in | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
public debates which are matters of the national interest to people | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
across the country. It would be regrettable if the only people who | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
are willing to talk about this issue publicly were people with | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
extremist political views. I want us to value freedom of religious | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
expression. We have a proud tradition in this country of | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
religious tolerance. I do not want religious majority opinion to | :19:49. | :20:02. | |
impose itself. We can talk about how we can have a harmonious | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
society where everybody feels a full participant in that society. | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
There is debate happening. IG not have necessarily fixed fees. I have | :20:12. | :20:19. | |
not necessarily come to a conclusion. We may come to | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
differing conclusions were rethink about and analyse these issues. It | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
is a good subject to debate. We should be confident about | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
discussing how we can make our country a harmonious and inclusive | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
country. You have said in an article or newspaper interview, | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
you're concerned about where the girl should feel a compulsion to | :20:41. | :20:50. | |
wear a veil. -- where the girls. Is it not hard to determine those who | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
are wearing it because they want to and those who wear it because they | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
are being forced to? My starting position is that I am very keen to | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
protect religious minority expression. I ate her in this | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
debate on not going down the path of trying to tell people what they | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
should wear and restrict what they should wear. Most people attending | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
school, at school age, what they wear is restricted. They are | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
obliged to wear school uniform of some sort. I was only making an | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
observation when talking to the newspapers that we, as a society, | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
one people to have freedom of choice but we to restrict that for | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
people under the age of 18 in a whole variety of ways. We think | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
they have not yet got sufficient maturity to exercise those choices | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
they have not yet got sufficient in the way that an adult could. I | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
suppose there is a legitimate debate about whether women should | :21:52. | :22:00. | |
be able to wear veils and because. I am overwhelmingly instinctive | :22:00. | :22:07. | |
with you that they should be. They are adults and expressing that | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
opinion. I have a predisposition to protecting religious opinion. There | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
is escape about whether children are able to exercise those choices | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
in quite the same way as women can. I do not have a conclusive you on | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
it. Nearly every child who goes to school wears a uniform already. | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
There are restricted in all sorts of ways. This is something that | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
mainstream politicians can reasonably discuss. In the party's | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
official talking points that were sent this morning to MPs like | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
yourself, appearing on programme's like this, I'm sure you have a copy. | :22:46. | :22:54. | |
By mistake we were also sent a copy, for which we are very grateful. One | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
talking point is that an example of the Tory backbench being beyond the | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
pale, your party says they wanted to ban the backer. -- burkha. Sarah | :23:06. | :23:22. | |
Wollaston is a Conservative MP in Devon. She is famously independent- | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
minded. I think she occasionally causes some frustration in the | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
leadership or her party and maybe people in other parties as well. No | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
leadership or her party and maybe one would regard her as an extreme | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
political figure. She has mainstream views. She has broadly | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
quite liberal views. She has expressed some opinions on this | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
subject in the media today as well. What I suppose I caution you about | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
is I do not think we should close down debate. I do not want to have | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
a situation where only people with marginal extreme views feel able to | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
discuss these issues. In private, people of all religious Bates to | :24:01. | :24:02. | |
discuss these issues under scour people of all religious Bates to | :24:02. | :24:09. | |
how we can have -- and discuss how we can have a harmonious society. | :24:09. | :24:18. | |
There were five things you had to a member for every interview this | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
morning. I think you got three of them. That is not bad. You missed | :24:20. | :24:27. | |
out the economy and that the Conservatives cannot build a fairer | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
society. Three out of five is pretty good so far. You plug this | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
two and between us we will get the 4th one. You plug them and then a | :24:38. | :24:46. | |
question you! Thank you for joining us. You are deep into freedom | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
issues. Where on view on banning the frail? -- veil or the burkha? | :24:52. | :25:12. | |
It is about people not feeling constrained. It is about | :25:12. | :25:14. | |
termination to take offence. That has been almost elevated into a | :25:14. | :25:24. | |
human right. -- determination. Issues around gender politics or | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
whatever are circumscribed because of this determination by a vocal | :25:28. | :25:35. | |
minority to take offence. The facts of the debate itself, where every | :25:35. | :25:42. | |
it ends up, is a good name. -- wherever it ends up. I am more in | :25:42. | :25:55. | |
the British position of freedom of expression. Yesterday on the Sunday | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
Politics, Paddy Ashdown told me that the Lib Dems are a centre-left | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
party but that it would be up to voters to decide whether the Lib | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
Dems would go into a coalition with the Tories or Labour after the next | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
election. Adam has been busy talking to Lib Dem activists and | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
party members in Glasgow to test Lord Ashdown's theory. Here at the | :26:12. | :26:20. | |
Lib Dem conference there is loads of talk about whether the party is | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
Centre Left, a bit left, a bit right, so, we're asking delegates, | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
who would they rather go into coalition with? The Tories or | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
Labour? Who is your favourite coalition partner? Why Labour? I | :26:37. | :26:44. | |
feel closer to them in underlying philosophy. Has it been tricky | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
being in bed with the Tories? A bit. My heart says layback and my brain | :26:49. | :26:56. | |
says the Tories. You are physically conflicted. -- Labour. The Tories | :26:56. | :27:02. | |
are more likely to compromise in the national interest. Nick Clegg | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
is going to have to separate the head from the rest of your body. It | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
will be a difficult decision to make. I would rather cut of my left | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
leg before they go into coalition with the Tories again. Disabled | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
benefits and benefits in general have been most upsetting. I find Ed | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
Miliband a totally ineffective leader and I would not want to find | :27:27. | :27:35. | |
a government run by such a weak man. We have been at this for quite some | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
time. The boxes are not really getting that full. Loads of people | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
put the balls on the floor because they do not want to vote for either. | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
There will be of the people who will be balanced between the Labour | :27:48. | :27:55. | |
Party and the Tory Party. -- other people. It is quite a tricky | :27:55. | :28:03. | |
proposition. Oh, horror, horror! Dangling in the middle. Down to the | :28:03. | :28:13. | |
voters. The electorate will decide. Where does your heart lead you - | :28:13. | :28:23. | |
Labour or the Tories? You vote in a slot that matches your view. I do | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
not think there are enough slots. It is all about what we can get. | :28:30. | :28:37. | |
That sounds mercenary. It is all about the people who vote for us, | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
what they get out of it. I'm not going to pick. I can predict | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
exactly what you're going to say. I say, who is your preferred | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
coalition partner next time around? You say, we let the voters decide. | :28:53. | :29:01. | |
Dean that down. Let's both go her name. Most of the balls have gone | :29:01. | :29:13. | |
in the Labour box. -- let's both go home. It is coming up to 12:30pm | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
here on BBC Two. Let's take a look inside the conference hall in | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
Glasgow as delegates wait to hear Vince Cable's keynote speech. Our | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
deputy political editor, James Landale, joins me now. | :29:22. | :29:33. | |
A good morning for the leadership, they won the economy debate so they | :29:33. | :29:40. | |
can continue to take credit, but Mr Cable and his people really causing | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
mischief? Mischief is a pretty good word. To allow a story like this | :29:45. | :29:51. | |
about whether he will vote for the leadership or not, will he even | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
attend the debate, to allow that to last for a whole new cycle and then | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
do a rush to the rescue at the end, I spoke to a Lib Dem minister who | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
said it is like Vince Cable being Gordon Brown to Nick Clegg 's Tony | :30:03. | :30:10. | |
Blair. It is a little bit of vanity, some genuine difference about | :30:10. | :30:14. | |
economic tone and a little bit of flirtation with the left of the | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
party. What he says is crucial and we will listen to him fairly soon. | :30:20. | :30:22. | |
Let go straight to the hall and to we will listen to him fairly soon. | :30:22. | :30:29. | |
the Business Secretary, Vince Cable. But Glasgow has experienced one part | :30:29. | :30:35. | |
the, that is Labour, rule for decades. I was part of the Labour | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
political machine here in the 1970s. And on one level, it worked | :30:41. | :30:48. | |
well. In sanitary slums were raised to the ground, we built 30,000 new | :30:48. | :30:54. | |
social homes for rent in a decade. Actually, 5001 year, I think on a | :30:54. | :31:03. | |
scale unimaginable today. -- 5000 in one year. But there was tribalism | :31:03. | :31:10. | |
and a culture in which union bosses had excessive influence in picking | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
candidates and deciding policies. Judging by Falkirk and other Labour | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
fiefdoms, nothing very much has changed. That is one major reason | :31:20. | :31:29. | |
why we must not concede to Labour the mantle of radical progressive | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
politics. We must assert our control. We must assert our | :31:34. | :31:42. | |
ownership of that tradition, which in Scotland runs for over a century | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
- Askwith, Gladstone, Charles Kennedy, Bob MacLennan, many others. | :31:48. | :31:57. | |
The challenge today is to reinforce that liberal tradition, which is at | :31:57. | :32:06. | |
risk of being compromised by working on Clydeside. Like you, I have spent | :32:06. | :32:15. | |
most of my political life fighting the Tories, from Glasgow to | :32:15. | :32:23. | |
Twickenham. But despite that, I believe it was both brave and | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
absolutely right for the party, and a Nick Clegg 's leadership, to work | :32:28. | :32:35. | |
with the Tories in an economic emergency, in the national interest. | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
Theresa May once characterised the Tories a decade ago as the nasty | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
party, and after a few years trying to be nice and inclusive it has | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
reverted to type. We have got dog whistle politics orchestrated by an | :32:49. | :32:59. | |
Australian Rottweiler. We have got hostility towards organised Labour | :32:59. | :33:11. | |
that micro-organised labour, people on benefits and immigrant | :33:11. | :33:13. | |
minorities. The list of people the Tories disapprove of this even | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
longer. Public sector workers, especially teachers, the unmarried, | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
people who don't earn property. I suspect their core demographic | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
excludes pretty much anybody who wouldn't have qualified for a vote | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
before the 1867 reform act. APPLAUSE | :33:29. | :33:39. | |
I think these prejudicial as can perhaps be explained in part by | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
their age profile. I suspect I would qualify, not an ideology but on age, | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
to be a member of the Young Conservatives. But I think the other | :33:49. | :33:58. | |
reason is deeper. A cynical calculation that in difficult times | :33:58. | :34:06. | |
fear trumps hope, and that competence requires callousness. | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
fear trumps hope, and that That is not our kind of politics. It | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
is ugly and we will not be dragged down by it. That is why our Liberal | :34:16. | :34:23. | |
Democrat message, about fairness, is absolutely key. That | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
Democrat message, about fairness, is legitimately claim ownership of the | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
tax policies, which have lifted millions of low earners out of | :34:31. | :34:37. | |
income tax. Remember, it is our policy. Don't let the Tories steal | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
it. I can remember in opposition | :34:42. | :34:49. | |
bringing this proposal to this conference at a time when George | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
Osborne's top priority was cutting inheritance tax for millionaires. | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
And our commitment to taxing unproductive wealth, that is | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
valuable property, through the mansion tax, is economic league | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
sensible and popular and, above all, fair. Don't let Labour steel that, | :35:07. | :35:13. | |
either. -- is economic league sensible. Fairness takes so far | :35:13. | :35:24. | |
but, in my view, not far enough. We're not just a nicer version of | :35:24. | :35:34. | |
the Tories. There are fundamental differences about how we create a | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
stronger economy and more jobs. Remember, we are five years on from | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
the biggest market failure of our lifetime. Financial capitalism | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
collapsed and was rescued by the state. Labour was in charge, they | :35:45. | :35:51. | |
had fallen asleep at the wheel and they were negligent. But the | :35:51. | :36:00. | |
Tories' friends and donors were also at the heart of the greed and | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
recklessness that lay behind that disaster. And today they yearn to | :36:03. | :36:13. | |
return to business as usual. Whilst we work with them, as we have to | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
do, pragmatically and constructively, to clear up the | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
mess, we must not allow them to turn the clock back. In essence, the | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
Tories have a very simple world-view, which is private good, | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
public bad. Labour offers the polar opposite. As Liberal Democrats, we | :36:34. | :36:43. | |
value both private and public sector. I support, of course, | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
Private business, big and small, but I also support mutuals and employee | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
ownership. And I don't think even Tony Benn could have claimed to have | :36:54. | :37:11. | |
launched two state-owned banks. The green investment bank, now based | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
in Edinboro, which was promised three years ago, is already | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
committing £685 million to green project is. And the business bank | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
that I launched at conference exactly one year ago, is mobilising | :37:23. | :37:25. | |
private capital to support new banks and local banks. It is the key to | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
stopping the suffocation of good small companies by the big banks. By | :37:30. | :37:41. | |
contrast, the spiritual home of the Conservatives is the United States. | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
They have become the Tea Party Tories. They want to throw overboard | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
any tax or regulation that get in the view of their blinkered small | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
states ideal Jew. Deep down, they believe their are native to | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
unhindered individual self-interest, and interest that | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
attempts to tackle big disparities of interest and health must be on | :38:05. | :38:11. | |
the road of suicide safe -- socialist safety. Our rejection of | :38:11. | :38:17. | |
that dogma leads us to an eclectic mixture of market and regulation. In | :38:17. | :38:23. | |
government, we are, rightly, getting rid of the red tape that throttles | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
small business and holds back entrepreneurs. But some regulation | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
is essential. That is why I work with Ed Davie to resist Tory | :38:32. | :38:44. | |
pressure as it is in their ludicrous bills. It is why we have seen of | :38:44. | :38:51. | |
demands from a Tory donor to make it possible to fire people for no | :38:51. | :38:58. | |
reason whatever. Let nobody tell you... APPLAUSE.Let nobody tell you | :38:58. | :39:08. | |
that Liberal Democrats have not made a difference. Without is in | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
government, we would be ruled by people who think that the problem | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
with this country is that workers have too much job security. Instead, | :39:16. | :39:22. | |
I propose to act against abusive practices in zero-hours contracts, | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
like exclusivity arrangements preventing workers from seeking | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
alternatives even when they are given no work. I have secured | :39:30. | :39:35. | |
agreement in Government to launch a formal consultation on the best | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
mechanism to tackle this abuse. APPLAUSE | :39:39. | :39:50. | |
. We have had to take some tough and necessary economic decisions with | :39:50. | :39:56. | |
the Tories. There is, of course, common ground with them on the need | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
to cut the structural deficit and to promote private enterprise. There is | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
welcome sign of returning confidence in the economy. And let's not get | :40:05. | :40:11. | |
carried away, and let's not get sucked in to a petty point-scoring | :40:11. | :40:17. | |
Tory/Labour Punch and Judy show on sucked in to a petty point-scoring | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
the economy. It took many years of mistakes to create the financial | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
crisis. It has taken as five years to start to dig our way out. We must | :40:26. | :40:34. | |
not now settle for a short-term spurt of growth fuelled by | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
old-fashioned property boom and bankers rediscovering their Mojo. | :40:38. | :40:49. | |
We have seen it all before. There already and amber lights flashing, | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
warning us of history repeating itself. -- that are already amber | :40:54. | :41:14. | |
lights flashing. You will recall from your reading of the old | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
Testament that Jeremiah was right. David Cameron says I am a Jeremiah. | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
He warned that Jerusalem would be overrun by the armies of | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
Nebuchadnezzar, and in my own Book Of Lamentations I described how | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
Gordon Brown's new Jerusalem was overcome by an army of estate | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
agents, property speculators and bankers. The problem we now have is | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
that the invaders are back. They have got a bridgehead in London and | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
the south-east of England. They have got to be stopped. Instead, we need | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
sustainable growth. That involves got to be stopped. Instead, we need | :41:47. | :41:55. | |
rebalancing the economy across the UK in favour of exports and | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
investment, which is the central purpose of our government's | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
industrial strategy. We should celebrate the success of motor | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
vehicles and aerospace and the creative industries and educational | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
exports and the partnership dream business and government in all these | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
areas. Manufacturing is coming back through rebuild supply chains. We | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
are tackling the country's scandalous neglect of skills through | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
our successful relaunching of large-scale apprenticeships. We have | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
given priority to Britain's world-class science and created a | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
chain of innovation centres, the so-called Catapults, of which there | :42:39. | :42:48. | |
two in Glasgow, promoting new technologies for building, | :42:48. | :42:49. | |
manufacturing and offshore renewables. We are building a | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
genuine cross-party consensus around these Government intervention so | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
that they end you are, that make absolutely no mistake. Without the | :42:58. | :43:04. | |
Liberal Democrats in government, they would never have happened. | :43:04. | :43:11. | |
But if sustainable recovery is to be achieved, we must meet the enormous | :43:12. | :43:21. | |
challenge of house-building. Demand growth has been outstripping supply, | :43:21. | :43:28. | |
pushing up rents and prices. Property is simply unaffordable for | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
families without big incomes or access to the Bank Of Mum And Dad. | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
But we are nowhere near it capturing the level of house-building that | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
pulled Britain out of the slump of the 1950s. Anyone had a thousand | :43:41. | :43:46. | |
homes a year are being compared it. That is a quarter to four was | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
achieved in the 1960s -- barely 100,000 homes a year are being | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
compared it, a quarter of what was achieved in the 1960s. Hence the | :43:56. | :44:06. | |
enormous pressure on families trapped by low pay, rising rent | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
enormous pressure on families tighter benefit rules. The priority | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
now is increasing housing supply through both private and public | :44:16. | :44:23. | |
sector. And, Conference, we took a strong step forward this morning | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
with the proposal to give councils greater capacity to get on and build | :44:27. | :44:35. | |
more social housing. What the country desperately wants | :44:35. | :44:42. | |
is delivery of homes, not a dogmatic argument about tender. Now, I hoped | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
that we would find some common ground with the Tories, at least in | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
one area, which is supporting the idea of an open, outward looking | :44:52. | :44:58. | |
country. Indeed, we said with one voice that Britain is open for | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
business. Sadly, that message has changed. Brazilian and other | :45:03. | :45:09. | |
overseas students who would bring economic and wider benefits to | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
British universities are being told that they are heard in some | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
immigrant, so they go to the United States instead. We have Chinese | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
tourists and businessmen who was so fed up with the hassle and | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
humiliation of trying to visit Britain to make investments here | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
that they are taking their money to Germany and France instead. What are | :45:30. | :45:37. | |
they here is that we are closed for business, that must change. | :45:37. | :45:50. | |
Moreover, our status as a popular destination for job-creating | :45:50. | :45:57. | |
investment from Japan, the United States and mainland Europe will be | :45:57. | :46:04. | |
compromised by careless talk from some of my coalition Cabinet | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
colleagues, let alone the backbench bones and collarbones about leaving | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
the European Union and the single market. Britain's future in the | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
European single market is now being put at risk by the Tories, yet | :46:18. | :46:24. | |
millions of British jobs depend on protecting that relationship. We | :46:24. | :46:38. | |
are leaving that speech at the Lib Dem Conference. You can still | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
follow it live on BBC Parliament and probably on BBC News as well. | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
He began his speech really with a very savage attack on the | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
Conservatives. You would find it hard to believe he was in the same | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
government as them. He kept that theme throughout the speech. His | :46:56. | :47:02. | |
attack on not doing enough visas for Brazilians and Chinese is an | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
attack on the Conservatives immigration policy. He took on the | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
Tory chief spin doctor for the campaign, an Australian Rottweiler. | :47:13. | :47:21. | |
They had seen off demands of a Tory donor he wanted to free up the | :47:21. | :47:27. | |
labour market a bit more. The only people the Tories really like | :47:27. | :47:36. | |
others who had the vote before the 1867 Reform Act. The Conservatives | :47:36. | :47:42. | |
introduced that act. What did you make of all about? As you say, it | :47:42. | :47:49. | |
was pretty full blooded against the Tory side of the Government. It | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
was pretty full blooded against the suggests Vince Cable is becoming | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
increasingly unhappy with being there - sitting around the table | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
with these people. It is fine put that he can do it. He can attack | :48:02. | :48:10. | |
the Conservatives. -- it is fine. The flipside, and this is the side | :48:10. | :48:16. | |
that Nick Clegg and Jeremy Browne and others have not got to grips | :48:16. | :48:24. | |
with, what happens come 2015 if they have to go into bed with | :48:24. | :48:31. | |
Labour? This narrative is clearing up the mess that Labour left behind. | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
In other words, a Labour trashed the economy. How can you go into, | :48:37. | :48:42. | |
for all the differences they have with the Conservatives, how can you | :48:42. | :48:48. | |
go into coalition with a party they regard as... OK, the bankers did | :48:48. | :48:53. | |
their bit Amport the economy to its knees. That bit of it is far harder | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
to reconcile. Nick Clegg is not moving anywhere away from that | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
rhetoric. We shall see. While all eyes today have been on the Lib | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
Dems' mild disagreement over economic policy, yesterday saw a | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
much bigger row, at least in Lib Dem terms, over nuclear policy. | :49:10. | :49:11. | |
much bigger row, at least in Lib Party members were asked to change | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
Lib Dem policy to support new nuclear power. It provoked strong | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
feelings on both sides of the argument. Not one Liberal Democrat | :49:19. | :49:28. | |
MP voted for the national policy statement that committed us to more | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
nuclear. We row right not to support it. Conference has been | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
right every time it has rejected a nuclear power. -- rejected nuclear | :49:37. | :49:44. | |
powerful stuff I'm shocked to hear some of the things I have just | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
heard about nuclear power. I live in Somerset, next they're actually | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
to Hinckley Point power station. A nuclear power station that has been | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
bad for a long time. I was one of the local councillors that opposed | :50:00. | :50:07. | |
the building of the third power station a number of years ago. I | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
have grown up. I now live in the real world. In the end, the party | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
leadership won the argument and got the backing of conference for their | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
policy U-turn. Let's talk about this now with the Energy and | :50:20. | :50:22. | |
Climate Change Secretary, Ed Davey, who joins us from Glasgow. In 2006, | :50:22. | :50:29. | |
you said, we will not want nuclear. The alternatives are cleaner and | :50:29. | :50:31. | |
safer for the environment and the The alternatives are cleaner and | :50:31. | :50:39. | |
tax payer. Quite a U-turn? I did change my mind because of the | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
threat of climate change. That is a huge threat to our planet crack our | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
species and we have to do everything possible. -- our planet, | :50:48. | :50:55. | |
our species. The amount we have to do in terms of low-carbon transport | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
and low-carbon heating is massive. I have changed, because I have now | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
realised that the pupils and energy efficiency cannot do it alone. We | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
need all forms of low-carbon on the table. In 2006 you a warning about | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
climate change as well and the dangers of that. -- you were | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
warning. You lodged a press release saying, say no to nuclear. You are | :51:21. | :51:30. | |
right. -- launched. In 2006, what I was hoping in the strategy put | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
forward was that carbon captured storage would come on much quicker. | :51:35. | :51:41. | |
That would be a boost to energy efficiency. I still think that can | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
come on. What I have rarely had to face is the risk of climate change | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
is so big that I am not going to take a risk of tackling climate | :51:50. | :51:56. | |
change. I'm now think we should not take any low-carbon option of the | :51:56. | :52:04. | |
table. A broad mix is the best way to ensure we can tackle climate | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
change. The conference voted that way and it enhances Liberal | :52:08. | :52:13. | |
Democrat credibility on the environment and tackling climate | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
change. As recently as 2010, when people like you a warning that the | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
huge risk of climate change, the Liberal Democrat manifesto, despite | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
talking about these huge risks set, based on the evidence Skype nuclear | :52:28. | :52:30. | |
is a far more expensive way based on the evidence Skype nuclear | :52:30. | :52:37. | |
reducing carbon emissions than promoting renewable energy. I will | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
tell you for a third time and if you want me to say a 4th time and a | :52:42. | :52:48. | |
5th time, I have changed my mind. On the cost issue, that is | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
something that still worries me. The history of nuclear power has | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
been very expensive. Two-thirds of my budget is spent on | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
decommissioning costs, cleaning up the waste from nuclear power in the | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
past. I am cautious to make sure the price we strike with nuclear | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
companies is something that actually is cost competitive was a | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
bit make sure the consumer and actually is cost competitive was a | :53:13. | :53:19. | |
British business is not paying over the odds. -- it is cost competitive. | :53:19. | :53:26. | |
As you have moved towards nuclear power, you have said you would | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
support it providing there was no subsidy for it was you know, as | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
well as I do, there will be no nuclear power stations - the EDF is | :53:36. | :53:42. | |
negotiating now - unless you agree to a price guarantee. A price | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
guarantee way above the market price. That is a subsidy. I have | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
not seen you at any of our negotiations. You seem to be well | :53:53. | :54:01. | |
informed of what is private and confidential. Let me tell you the | :54:01. | :54:09. | |
facts. We are clear that low-carbon electricity has to be compared | :54:09. | :54:15. | |
price Warren with dirty coal or gas. You are wrong to take the market | :54:15. | :54:25. | |
price. The market price is price of dirty power which is causing a | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
climate change problem. You have actually got to compare apples with | :54:30. | :54:36. | |
apples and pears with pears. If you do not commit you come up with | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
spurious arguments against it. With the correct analysis, you will have | :54:40. | :54:46. | |
to wait for our decision to complete the negotiations, you will | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
find that nuclear can be cost competitive. I will not signed a | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
deal where it is not. What do you make of Nick Clegg | :54:56. | :55:07. | |
saying he will not support a party on economic policy and then turning | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
up to do so? I saw Vince Cable vote for the economic policy. I have | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
heard him in private. I have heard him in private as appears very | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
supportive. The Liberal Democrats are playing a critical role in | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
getting economic recovery. I am proud of what he's doing. He has | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
worked with me on industrial strategy issues. He has been a real | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
tower of strength in injury get economic recovery. There have been | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
huge measures to make sure we get the growth. The Green Investment | :55:38. | :55:40. | |
huge measures to make sure we get Bank will make sure we attract | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
people into green energy. That would not be happening unless | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
people like Vince Cable when not in the coalition. Today, listening to | :55:49. | :55:55. | |
his speech, he is taking credit for the role Liberal Democrats have | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
played in creating over 1 million new jobs since the demolition came | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
to power. We have a good story on the economy. We have turned round a | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
complete mess. The department has taken some tough decisions. It is | :56:08. | :56:13. | |
now beginning to deliver - deliver jobs was to clutters what the the | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
Democrats are about us to bring jobs and a fairer society. -- | :56:17. | :56:24. | |
delivered jobs. That is what the Liberal Democrats are about. He has | :56:24. | :56:33. | |
said he has to -- reluctantly decided to vote for it because it | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
has become an issue about the leadership of Nick Clegg. You have | :56:37. | :56:48. | |
been mapped by a poster! It is wind power. And therefore quite | :56:48. | :56:53. | |
dangerous. Clearly for humans as well as birds. Why did Vince Cable | :56:53. | :57:01. | |
only reluctantly changed his mind because it has become an issue of | :57:01. | :57:10. | |
leadership? He has been a tower of strength in this coalition economic | :57:10. | :57:18. | |
policy. He has been really supportive. The largest investment | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
in our railways since the Victorians come up with with not be | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
seeing green things like that had it not been for the Liberal | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
Democrats and Vince Cable. -- since the Victorians, we would not be | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
seeing. What has been said to people like me this morning, its | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
social party is looking at how the richest 10% of people - those | :57:39. | :57:44. | |
earning over 50,000 a year - could give further contribution in tax? | :57:44. | :57:50. | |
Should people earning over 50,000 be paying more tax? I want to make | :57:50. | :57:56. | |
sure we have a much fairer tax system. What Liberal Democrats had | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
done in government is to deliver that. We have closed a lot of | :57:59. | :58:05. | |
loopholes. What is the answer to my question? I am coming to that. We | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
had closed loopholes. I will answer the question in my own way. We have | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
close the loopholes to make sure the richest pay their fair share | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
and taken out of the tax people are lowest incomes and delivered a tax | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
and taken out of the tax people are cut for people on low and modest | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
incomes. In terms of future tax policy, we are having a debate to | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
mind. Do come and join us was dug you had ended just in time before | :58:31. | :58:38. | |
we go off air. -- and join us. The answer to the quiz was that Nick | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
Clegg would not play beach volleyball. Who can blame him for | :58:43. | :58:53. | |
that. That is it for today. Thanks to John Kampfner and all my guests. | :58:53. | :58:55. | |
that. That is it for today. Thanks James Landale presents highlights | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
from Glasgow in Today at Conference tonight on BBC2 at 11:20pm, and | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
we'll be back for more live coverage | :59:01. | :59:01. |