Browse content similar to 07/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon. Welcome to the Daily Politics. Should she stay or should | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
she go? The Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, is under fire from all sides | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
of the House. She's had to don a hard hat! Even the Tory grass roots | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
are baying for her blood. Her boss, the PM, wants her to stay. Will he | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
get his way? Flying the flag for EU | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
renegotiation. We'll be talking to the Europe Minister David Lidington. | :01:04. | :01:11. | |
The London riots caused mayhem but they produced an unlikely heroine | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
who now has major political ambitions. She will be here to tell | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
us about them. And can this baby bring new life to the Commonwealth? | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
They don't look too happy to see him. | :01:25. | :01:33. | |
All backed in the next hour. With us for the first half of the programme | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
is Pauline Pearce, otherwise known as Heroine of Hackney. After an | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
impromptu speech on the streets of East London during the riots in | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
London almost three years ago, she is now a campaigner for the Liberal | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
Democrats and is running for party president. We will start with | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
welfare. Iain Duncan Smith will today outline reforms of the welfare | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
system, announcing that from this month, claimants will have to | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
prepare a CV and have weekly meetings with an adviser before | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
receiving benefits. Should it be more difficult for people to sign on | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
for unemployment benefit is Mac I think it is difficult enough for | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
people who have two sign-on. The amount of paperwork that has to be | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
done, every time they go to sign-on, they have to make a | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
two-week progress of what they have done and how they have gone about a | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
job search and present it to their agent when they arrive at the job | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
centre. A CV to sign-on? How ridiculous is that? A CV will make | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
sense for a job, but to get benefit and keep your life going, things | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
that you should be entitled to if you are on low income or need help. | :02:54. | :03:02. | |
Iain Duncan Smith would save people on unemployment benefit should | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
prepare for the world of work. My argument is too dear Iain Duncan | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
Smith, we have so many arguments about people should be getting | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
work. There is the argument of where is the work? When I go to Tesco | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
supermarket, IC six counters with one person standing behind. It is | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
self-service. These jobs have been taken. We have to move forward with | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
technology. They claim the jobs of their but maybe they are not evenly | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
distributed. Getting on the bus, you swipe a card. We have lost the | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
conductor. He were jobs. People not so educated can go for certain types | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
of jobs. You have to have qualifications for stacking shelves | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
now. What about finding -- finds the welfare cheats? I can go with that. | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
There are people raking in money through welfare cheating. There are | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
people whose money has been stopped the disability, for one reason or | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
another and they are not getting what they should. Somebody who is | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
more capable are not quite getting the help they need. The Liberal | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
Democrats, in government, have broadly signed up, completely signed | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
up, to a tougher welfare regime. Was it right for the party to do so? I | :04:34. | :04:41. | |
do not feel we should have had a tougher regime. I understand why. We | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
are in deficit and they need to recoup the money. They have to find | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
the little avenues where we can find it. We are in a coalition. We are | :04:52. | :05:00. | |
not totally in charge. Every job has a boss. It goes in layers. You start | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
from the shop floor, to the management, to the boss, to the | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
owners and directors. We will look at David Cameron as being the | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
director and Nick Clegg one of the men just below him. We have to try | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
to make things balance. Some things we have decided on might not be | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
quite right but I feel we have achieved a lot. It is time for the | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
quiz and it is about Michael Gove. According to a story in yesterday's | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
newspapers, the Education Secretary recently explained why so many | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
entrepreneurs are coming to London. What is the reason according to | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
him? The favourable tax environment, the art galleries, the modern | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
English cuisine, or, the hot sex? That will keep people tuned. Stay | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
tuned until the end of the show to find out the answer. It's a story | :06:00. | :06:07. | |
that's just not going away, however much David Cameron might want it to. | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
The expenses scandal engulfing his Culture Secretary Maria Miller rolls | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
onto its fifth day with fresh claims in this morning's Daily Telegraph | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
that she might be liable for tens of thousands of pounds of capital gains | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
tax on a London property she sold two months ago. On Thursday, Maria | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
Miller was ordered to pay back ?5,800 in wrongly claimed mortgage | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
payments on her second home in Wimbledon, and was found to have | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
broken the ministerial code for failing to cooperate fully with the | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
enquiry. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards had | :06:38. | :06:39. | |
conducted the original investigation and ruled she should repay more than | :06:40. | :06:50. | |
?45,000. This was reduced to less than ?6,000 once the standards | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
committee, which is made up of MPs, issued it's final ruling on the | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
Culture Secretary's expenses. The Culture Secretary officially | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
apologised to MPs last week. But a number of senior figures, including | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
cabinet colleague Iain Duncan Smith, say the current system is equivalent | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
to MPs marking their own homework and needs to be overhauled. | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
Meanwhile, Maria Miller appears to have very few friends even within | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
her own party, with Norman Tebbit saying she had behaved arrogantly | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
and called on her to resign. Today Mrs Miller is facing new claims that | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
she may face a large capital gains tax bill on her Wimbledon house | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
sale, if she told HMRC it was her second home for tax purposes. Number | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
ten has denied the story. But with a poll of Tories showing that 78% or | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
them want her out of a job, how much longer can Maria Miller survive? I'm | :07:42. | :07:52. | |
joined now by Conservative MP and member of the Culture Committee | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
Therese Coffey and Labour MP John Mann who made the original complaint | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
against Maria Miller. Welcome. What is the difference between the | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
allegation in the Daily Telegraph that Maria Miller may be due to pay | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
capital gains tax and the flipping of homes that caused controversy in | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
2009 and led to MPs stepping down in 2010? I am not her tax accountant. | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
The house was sold in February. I expect she has not started to do her | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
tax return and I expect she will pay the same amount of tax and HMRC will | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
scrutinise her return as they do all MPs. What about the flipping of | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
houses? She changed what was her main home to the second home, the | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
Wimbledon property in London and a rented home in Hampshire. Is that | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
acceptable for a Cabinet Minister? I do not know the details of flipping | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
homes, I only know the allegation about tax and no taxes due yet on | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
the sale of that house and it will be when her return is completed in | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
this tax year. It was only sells three months ago. What is the | :09:02. | :09:10. | |
problem? She attempted to intimidate the independent commission of the | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
standards. She had to pay back money. A special adviser, try to | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
intimidate in a national newspaper. And she has a seat in the heart of | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
government. She is unfit for office, obviously. I have a suggestion, to | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
reuse coffee trying to defend her and doing her best. Put Therese in | :09:31. | :09:40. | |
the job and debt Maria Miller out and the country will be happy. The | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
essential allegation that she was using taxpayers money to subsidise | :09:46. | :09:54. | |
her parents has been thrown out. The issue is that there are lay members | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
on the standards committee. While they do not have voting rights they | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
have the power to give a different opinion and on the report published | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
they did not give a different opinion. It is MPs marking their own | :10:06. | :10:17. | |
homework. I do not see it is. They disagreed with the Commissioner on | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
standards. As did the lay members. A difference between her saying 45,000 | :10:24. | :10:30. | |
should be repaid, for that Bill to be reduced. Having looked at the | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
request extra information they took a different decision. There were | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
three lay members on the committee. They took the view that was same as | :10:40. | :10:47. | |
the MPs. Do you believe Maria Miller has behaved admirably? Many people | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
said she obstructed the investigation. Do you think it was | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
an admirable way to behave? I think this incident is going back 20 years | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
when she bought the house. I have not spoken to her. I presume she is | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
being tetchy about it because she was caring for her parents nine | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
years before becoming an MP. I think she has reacted in that way. What I | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
do not pretend to know her mind inside out and I expect she was | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
careful to get legal advice. She was cleared, John Mann. She was cleared | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
of fiddling expenses. Not by the Commissioner. You seem to know what | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
happened in this committee. She is unique because the rest of us do not | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
know because it met in secret. It is in the minutes. The recordings and | :11:44. | :11:51. | |
votes have not been published. Self-regulation of MPs by MPs is | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
truly dead because this committee overturned the independent | :11:57. | :11:58. | |
commissioner. That should change immediately. Maria Miller should | :11:59. | :12:07. | |
resign. Do you act sets there is an agenda, perhaps by the press, | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
bearing in mind Maria Miller was the Cabinet Secretary presiding over | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
press regulation, and from grassroots Tories, some of them who | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
will be angry about gay marriage? I do not. People across the country | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
are shocked and horrified that someone in the cabinet at the heart | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
of government is prepared to try to intimidate the independent | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
commissioner, to intimidate the press, has to pay back money, and | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
has not got the good grace to resign, not even as an MP, but from | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
Cabinet. I cannot find anyone in the country who backs her in doing that. | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
It is incredible she has survived. What is going on? This is bad for | :12:56. | :13:03. | |
Parliamentary democracy. The minutes are there. There was no | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
intimidation. There was back and forth, I accept that. The committee | :13:08. | :13:16. | |
chastised her for being legalistic. We are where we are and the point is | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
that she was cleared of the central allegations. Why are so many people | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
against her? Norman Tebbit saying she should resign? The party | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
chairman, not robust in his defence of her. She has the support of the | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
Prime Minister but critics say it is because he cannot afford to lose a | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
woman in the Cabinet. Maria Miller has taken two pieces of tricky | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
legislation through the house and frankly Norman Tebbit was calling on | :13:46. | :13:55. | |
members against David Cameron. You do not think it is David Cameron | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
cannot afford to let her go? He trusts her. She has dealt with | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
tricky subjects. Both of which I take a different view one. I am in | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
favour of second chances. I had a second chance. I have been to jail | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
and been involved in a colourful past. But that is the past. How many | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
people in their jobs do not go home with packages of paper or the odd | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
pen from the office? It is still differ or do in some way. Give the | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
woman a second chance. We have named and shamed her, make her pay back | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
the correct amount of money. Is that the smaller or bigger amount? I am | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
looking at the bigger amount, but that is my opinion. I am grateful | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
for people like John, who, if he brings 1000 people forward every | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
year, it is right somebody looks out for people doing no good. Sadly, | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
less fortunate people in society, they are seen as the baddies but it | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
shows it goes on at the top end of the scale. Is there a higher | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
standard for someone in public office who is presiding over | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
legislation? That they do not get a second chance and many MPs ended up | :15:17. | :15:25. | |
in jail? Many people will be saying, sent her to jail. But if she is | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
doing a good job, she has not gone into a bank and stolen money, she | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
has not killed anyone, she knows what she has done and is aware of | :15:36. | :15:46. | |
it. This is the same committee and they got evidence against James | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
McShane. 78% of Tory voters think she should resign. If I read and | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
believe what was in the Daily Telegraph, I would have the same | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
view, but am not. There is a sense of justice. This is why I became a | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
member of Parliament. To defend Maria Miller? Known to have a sense | :16:11. | :16:17. | |
of justice and defend people taking difficult decisions on unpopular | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
things. She was cleared. We have to remember she was cleared of the | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
central allegation. Know she was not. She was cleared by the | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
committee of fiddling her expenses, she was cleared of that and she was | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
innocent of that. When you are making your claims, legitimately or | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
not, about why you think she should or should not go, she was cleared of | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
that. The allegation made was she was potentially doing the same thing | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
as another MP and that should be looked into. That was the case that | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
was taken against her and the conclusion made by the independent | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
commissioner was she should pay back over ?44,000. You obviously have not | :17:04. | :17:11. | |
read the complaint that was made. I have. A former MP bought a house | :17:12. | :17:19. | |
after being elected and then moved out. She was forced to pay back | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
money by the committee and she overruled the commissioner, she | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
should go. We are going to leave it there. Last week Nick Clegg and | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
Nigel Farage battled it out over Europe. Clegg called for | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
cooperation, whilst Farage cried out for freedom. But now it is the turn | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
of British business who have come out to bat for Brussels. The head of | :17:39. | :17:48. | |
the trade body for British manufacturing said the case was | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
clear. Britain should be concentrating on the economic | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
benefits of staying in. Access to international trade deals, the free | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
movement of labour and capital and so on. The message from British | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
manufacturing and British business is very clear, we stay in and we | :18:08. | :18:14. | |
drive the agenda from within. We can speak to Tim Aker sport UKIP. It is | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
pretty categorical. The EU is good for business and for Britain and we | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
have to stay in. We could have a trading relationship. If we leave it | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
within 24 hours, we have a simple trading relationship. People thought | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
they were joining a common market, not political union. If we were | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
given the choice now to join the European union which costs us ?55 | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
million a day, I do not think we would do so. But why are these trade | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
bodies saying they want to stay in the European Union and they are the | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
ones who want to know? I can imagine the EU lobbyists going into | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
overdrive. All British businesses are bound by EU laws and | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
regulations. If you want a flexible relationship, you have to leave | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
because the European Union is only going in one direction. Every time | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
we have objected, we have been over ruled. If the Conservatives believed | :19:20. | :19:28. | |
in their position of reform and negotiation why are they too scared | :19:29. | :19:35. | |
to debate this? Are you saying the British manufacturing industry is | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
wrong? We can have a simple trading relationship. We have only started | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
debating this. Nigel Farage has been waiting for 20 years to have these | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
debates. We have got serious figures like Lord Lawson saying the EU has | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
passed its sell by date. We can have a simple trading relationship and a | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
flexible relationship. They export more to us than we export to them | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
and we would be in a powerful position to negotiate. And the | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
Europe minister is with us now. A simple trading relationship. Norway | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
has something like that, and it means they have to implement all the | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
EU rules will stop they are not at the table and they have no vote and | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
they have no say. What we need is a programme to reform the European | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
Union and make it more competitive and more growth friendly than it is | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
today. That is what David Cameron is pushing for, that we get the | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
benefits of the single market, pulling outside investment into the | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
UK, the biggest share than any other country in the common market and we | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
get an EU that is much more focused on growth, job creation and more | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
power is exercised at national rather than Brussels level. So | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
Britain would be economically much worse off if we left? They would be | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
definite costs if we were to leave. That does not mean I would say you | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
sign up to a United States of Europe, some closed federal model, | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
you have to get the balance right. At the moment the EU is not | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
competitive and it is to centralise. Often business said it medals too | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
much in things that ought to be left to individual businesses. In 2017 if | :21:25. | :21:33. | |
the Tories are in power and there is that referendum and that | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
renegotiation has not taken off to a certain extent, will you vote to | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
stay in order to go? We will vote on the basis of the situation in 2017. | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
You said the renegotiation would be very important. I start from the | :21:49. | :21:57. | |
basis that the process of reform is underway. If David Cameron wins the | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
next election it will gather pace. Look at a ban on discarding fishing | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
in the fisheries, delivered under this Government. Getting proud of | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
the Eurozone bailout which the last Government got us into. But even you | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
have admitted the renegotiation will not start until after 2015. The real | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
work is already underway, for example negotiations on a free-trade | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
deal across the Atlantic with the US to match the one we have got with | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
Canada. David Cameron was a reform process that goes further which | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
includes elements of treaty change and political and legal change, | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
which is what we are seeing already. The treaty change is one area of | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
difficulty and debate. Let's look at the debate. Who do you think one? It | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
is entirely a matter for the supporters of those two people. You | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
must have the winner in your mind. If you look where the British people | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
are, they are saying they would like to have a new deal in Europe. The | :23:11. | :23:19. | |
polls are saying Nigel Farage one. If you ask people the kind of Europe | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
they want and how they would vote if David Cameron comes back with a | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
renegotiated deal with a more localised EU, that is what they | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
would endorse by a huge majority. But the polls after the second | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
debate showed a clear win for Nigel Farage whose only objective is to | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
pull out. In your mind you think...? If you look at that debate | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
you had people take the opposite view and it is not the mainstream of | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
British people. Do you think it was right for Nick Clegg to do the | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
debate? I feel he needs to get out there and let people know what we | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
stand for and what we will put up with and what we will not. I believe | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
in a fairer society and to have that we need to remain in the EU. | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
Reformed or not, that is debatable. If we do pull out, there will be | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
jobs lost, businesses will be broken down and there will be so much lost | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
in the whole thing. I think Nigel Farage needs to go back to basics. I | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
am not a rocket scientist and I may not be the brightest brick in the | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
block, but I do note that to remove ourselves from the EU will be a | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
catastrophe. So why do so many people believe Nigel Farage and they | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
say that we can be like Norway and we can be part of a different | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
relationship and not have the financial burden and cost of | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
unnecessary regulation and still be able to trade with a big partner. A | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
lot of people I have spoken to, I think a lot of people get it twisted | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
with what Nigel Farage is saying. Some of them are the BP side of | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
things who think we do not want any foreigners in this country at all, | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
but it was OK when we needed to rebuild our economy after the war. | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
We had to bring these foreigners over here and we used them to build | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
up our economy. Now it is all up to a certain level get them all back | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
home. It is not acceptable. I agree, to a certain level I do not | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
feel Nigel Farage one because I think he got loud and in getting | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
loud it makes it sound more forceful. Did the debates harm the | :25:45. | :25:53. | |
Conservatives' position? You had one who was very pro the EU and one who | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
was wanting to pull out. The more nuanced the position of the | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
Conservatives and Labour, do you think they lost out? I do not think | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
they lost out. But David Cameron needs to emphasise we are the only | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
party who will give people the final choice on whether to stay in Europe | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
or not and that has got to be resolved by a popular decision, to | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
settle this issue for a generation definitively and to push to the | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
successes we have already achieved and to what we want to do next. Will | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
you worried British people will vote to go out? You have to trust the | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
people. It is not just in the UK, but you see a huge sense of | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
disaffection with decisions being taken in a remote, bureaucratic | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
fashion, so we need the EU to change to respond to that. What do you say | :26:48. | :26:54. | |
to the group of Tories who say we should pull out? What I say to the | :26:55. | :27:01. | |
split views in every political party... It is clearer in the | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
Tories. The answer is you put it to the British people. You agree to | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
accept the view of the people and make your case in that campaign. We | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
are representing the people, so if you are talking about who decides in | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
the end it is the people. And like the Liberal Democrats who only want | :27:24. | :27:26. | |
to have a referendum if there is a major bit of powers ceded to | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
Brussels. The latest poll shows that UKIP is second to Labour and they | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
are predicting UKIP will take the lead by election day. How big a | :27:39. | :27:41. | |
catastrophe will it be if the Conservatives come third? Inevitably | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
when you take difficult decisions and Government, you get a | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
clobbering. But let's continue to campaign. The opinion poll that | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
matters is the one on the day. You are saying it does not matter? What | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
I am saying is when people come to elect a Government in general | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
election Day focus upon what the choice is, who is going to be in | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
Number Ten, who will be taking the legislation through and that is when | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
people focus on the choice of who will be in charge. Some Tory MPs may | :28:17. | :28:27. | |
worry. David Liddington, that you very much. Our guest of the day, | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
Pauline Pearce, the heroine of Hackney, made that name during the | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
London riots two and a half years ago. Our intervention was not | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
planned, just an outburst of frustration, against members of the | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
community who seemed to be turning against each other. That was a long | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
way away from mainstream politics, but that is just what she is doing, | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
God help her. In August 2011, a year shy of London hosting the largest | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
sporting event, the Olympics, in the wake of a police shooting and to the | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
amazement of many, London erupted in violence and looting. It spread to | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
all sorts of areas and caused untold damage and destruction of | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
livelihoods. What really stand was the willingness of some to join in a | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
protest that had no game. In street like this one in Hackney the | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
everyday norms transformed into a battlefield. It is a quiet afternoon | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
on Clarence Road, but two and a half years ago on a Monday, August | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
afternoon, this was another one of the spots around London which | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
erupted in riots and most people watched it and thought, how is this | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
happening and why is there not more of a response? It was only in the | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
aftermath that people watched someone who took a stand and it came | :29:52. | :30:10. | |
from an unexpected quarter. She is working hard to make her business | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
work. And you want to burn it up, for what? This is about a man who | :30:15. | :30:22. | |
was shot in Tottenham. Get it real, black people. Do it for a course. | :30:23. | :30:42. | |
Let's fight for a cause! Local resident Pauline Pearce, sometimes | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
finger, one-time jailed smuggler, DJ and community radio presenter stood | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
in front of a crowd of looters and did what many people wanted to, | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
shouted them down with angry disappointment. She became an | :30:57. | :31:05. | |
instant symbol. Next morning, she told her community TV colleagues she | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
was not alone. There were people here trying to stop others getting | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
hurt. There were people genuinely here to support others. There were | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
also people here for the looting, to get in the mix-up. Today, Clarence | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
Road has people going about their business and Pauline Pearce, also, | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
but in her case she has found a home, politics. Snapped up by the | :31:32. | :31:37. | |
Liberal Democrats. One of the most important things people can do | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
before they get involved in national politics is to become a focal point | :31:45. | :31:48. | |
of your own community and somebody that people turn to. Whether you | :31:49. | :31:55. | |
want to be a counsellor, an MP, or, the Prime Minister, ultimately what | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
you are is somebody who takes responsibility for helping other | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
people in the community. And shouting down an angry mob who seem | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
to have lost their heads is pretty good training for the House of | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
Commons. Very brave. The Labour MP for | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
Tottenham joins us. Almost three years after the riots, do people | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
recognise you as the woman shouting? My whole life has changed. | :32:23. | :32:30. | |
I cannot just go into the market and by the fresh fish like I used to. I | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
will be ordering something and people will say I know that voice. | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
Somebody will say it is the woman from the telly. I am noticed | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
everywhere. You are infamous? Not intentionally! You told the rioters | :32:46. | :32:52. | |
that they made you ashamed to be a happy person, is that still the | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
case? Not now. I would never be ashamed of Hackney. Part of the | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
social cleansing does get on my nerves but we will not go into that | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
now. People from Hackney are diverse, creative, energetic. This | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
is a borough that is sought-after now. The amount of new faces moving | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
to Hackney, it is like the riots have made Hackney famous almost. It | :33:19. | :33:25. | |
is trendy and everything happening. It is a good thing, but also not in | :33:26. | :33:32. | |
some ways. For me, personally, watching the journey, we have | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
improved. People are community minded. They are observant of what | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
is going on. Would you agree the community has changed? I would not | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
go that far. You are a Tottenham man. After the riots the government | :33:50. | :33:58. | |
spoke to people and came up with 63 recommendations. Only 11 have been | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
implemented. How much has changed? In Hackney, in Tottenham, | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
unemployment is still high. There are real pressures and the | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
underlying causes... It takes a spark, but the underlying causes are | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
present across the country. The Mark Duggan shooting triggered other on | :34:19. | :34:25. | |
rest. It seemed to symbolise feelings that were beneath the | :34:26. | :34:33. | |
surface. The majority of young people did not participate but there | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
were people who had no shame and had no stake in society, such that they | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
did. Those are the questions you have to answer and they have been | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
forgotten. You must be careful what you say. It was not just people who | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
have nothing going on. I said they had no shame. There were | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
millionaires' daughters and teachers involved. They have a stake in | :34:59. | :35:05. | |
society. You cannot say it is just bad social conditions. Some of the | :35:06. | :35:13. | |
issues. A lot of it, but not all. At the time, there were no police | :35:14. | :35:21. | |
around and people filled the vacuum. Underneath the worst riots we have | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
seen in which many shopkeepers lost livelihoods, failure to get | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
insurance for those poor shopkeepers and the underlying causes which the | :35:32. | :35:34. | |
government said they would look into, quietly forgotten. Is Hackney | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
still divided as a community? You talk about it being diverse, but is | :35:41. | :35:47. | |
it a divided community? To be honest, yes. The social cleansing in | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
Hackney is so evident, it is unbelievable. What do you mean? We | :35:52. | :35:58. | |
are between Stamford Hill and Shoreditch. We are the lesser... | :35:59. | :36:09. | |
Hackney was looked down upon. Now we have found that Shoreditch is moving | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
further into Hackney. We have the retro bars and cafes. We have trendy | :36:16. | :36:23. | |
places going on. Some people are being left behind? A lot of people. | :36:24. | :36:32. | |
Our condition is still there, that, with the right circumstances, or | :36:33. | :36:35. | |
wrong set of circumstances, you could have another riot? This is | :36:36. | :36:43. | |
about personal character, but I do not think you riot if you have a job | :36:44. | :36:51. | |
and house. You cannot find a job in London, you cannot buy a house, you | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
cannot rent a place. Wings are hard for groups of people in London and | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
when you get that spark -- things are hard for groups. And when you | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
get that spark we have to make sure people make the right choice. Could | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
Pauline Pearce make a good party president for the Liberal | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
Democrats? I wish you the best of luck within the Liberal Democrats | :37:21. | :37:23. | |
but I do not want you to beat my Labour colleagues. I will tell you | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
why the Liberal Democrats. When this happened, I found out I was courted | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
by a Conservative, by the Green party, by the Socialist party and by | :37:36. | :37:44. | |
Ed Miliband. I was invited to go to Parliament. I met them. I told what | :37:45. | :37:53. | |
was going on with me and people were turning up at my homes. There was a | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
newspaper sting saying I was selling drugs at my home. I had a dodgy man | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
from my past. The paper revealed where I lived. He came to my home | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
and film to be. It ended up that when I got in touch with the other | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
parties, nobody wanted to know any more. Labour did not want to know | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
any more. This is the truth. I got in touch with the Conservatives and | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
I did not hear any more. But the Liberal Democrats, who did not run | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
after me after the riots, they came along and said you are not the | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
person who you were before and you stood up in the riots and defended | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
people. You have turned your life around and they believed in second | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
chances. Many people need the second chance I was given. In the end it is | :38:44. | :38:50. | |
what we stand for. The Liberal Democrats rejected the riots panel | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
set up. Part of the unemployment in Hackney, you are in the wrong party. | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
Join Diane Abbott in Hackney. She hates my guts! Let me tell you | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
stories about what has been going on, really. We will give you a | :39:13. | :39:21. | |
second chance, come back next time. The political week kicks off with | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
Iain Duncan Smith giving a speech on jobs and the labour market. Tuesday | :39:26. | :39:28. | |
brings the first-ever state visit by an Irish head of state. Windsor | :39:29. | :39:31. | |
Castle will play host to President Michael D Higgins. We have our usual | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
helping of PMQs on Wednesday. Which is just before Parliament wraps up | :39:36. | :39:38. | |
for Easter recess on Thursday. But if you're still hungry for more, the | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
Conservatives and SNP are hosting conferences this weekend. Not | :39:43. | :39:45. | |
together, mind. On College Green are the Sun's Emily Ashton, and the | :39:46. | :39:53. | |
Spectator's James Forsyth. James Forsyth, will Maria Miller | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
survived? The chance of Maria Miller going in the reshuffle are | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
increasing. She handled this badly. David Cameron, he does not want the | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
media deciding who is in his government so I think he will be | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
reluctant to lose her before the reshuffle. In terms of the special | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
adviser to Maria Miller, how much impact has backed conversation, that | :40:17. | :40:25. | |
she had with the Telegraph, with Lavis and brought up, how much | :40:26. | :40:28. | |
impact will have that on her future? -- Leveson. She talked about | :40:29. | :40:39. | |
flagging up the enquiry and that did not go down well. It feeds into us | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
against them mentality, MPs and advisers gathering around two | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
shields the minister from the public glare. This will delight | :40:51. | :40:57. | |
antiestablishment UKIP, who are fighting for European elections and | :40:58. | :41:00. | |
local elections, saying, look, that is what they are like, the three | :41:01. | :41:07. | |
main parties. Do you think it is partly due to a newspaper campaign | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
against a minister because of press regulation and her role in | :41:14. | :41:20. | |
legislation over gay marriage? It touches a nerve in the political | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
system. A lot of the success in UKIP comes from the sense that the | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
expenses scandal created, that MPs are in it for themselves. One of her | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
problems is she has not explained that what she is in trouble over is | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
a system that has been reformed twice. On Thursday, she could have | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
said I am glad we have changed the system because I now see it was | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
wrong. It is her failure to apologise that put her in a | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
difficult position. Is it a mistake the prime minister backed her so | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
forcefully? I think he was always going to back her personally and I | :42:00. | :42:02. | |
think he hopes she will ride it out until the reshuffle. Now he is | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
moving towards reforming the system of MPs marking their own home work | :42:10. | :42:12. | |
and the standards committee deciding what punishments MPs should get, | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
rather than the Commissioner. He is looking at the independent members | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
on the committee getting a vote, hoping to shift the argument, | :42:24. | :42:26. | |
blaming the system rather than individuals. What about welfare | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
reform, how much traction will the latest reforms get? I think this is | :42:33. | :42:40. | |
an attempt to spread a more positive message. The speech is not about | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
welfare cuts, it is about reform is getting people into work. Jobs is | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
the great success story of his government. It is the great symbol, | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
that the benefits of recovery as Labour claim are not just going to a | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
Schubert to more than 1 million people who have found a job. That is | :43:01. | :43:03. | |
something the Tories will be talking about more, jobs. But the line is it | :43:04. | :43:11. | |
will be a tough message on welfare? Yes, if you are a job-seeker you | :43:12. | :43:17. | |
might have to go monthly and do -- weekly rather than monthly. It is | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
about getting people into work rather than slashing benefits for | :43:22. | :43:31. | |
the sake of it. Joining me for the rest of today are some wannabe MPs. | :43:32. | :43:34. | |
Three prospective parliamentary candidates. The Conservative, Andrea | :43:35. | :43:37. | |
Jenkyns. She'll be fighting Ed Balls for his seat at the next election. | :43:38. | :43:39. | |
Labour's Polly Billington. She's fighting in Thurrock. And from the | :43:40. | :43:42. | |
Liberal Democrats, Julia Goldsworthy. She's already been an | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
MP, but her lost her seat, Camborne and Redruth, to the Conservatives at | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
the last election. Welcome. Polly Billington, is | :43:49. | :43:51. | |
expenses still an issue on the doorstep? It is when you find a | :43:52. | :43:58. | |
Cabinet minister owes 45 thousand pounds and is not prepared to pay it | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
back. That is a puzzle, why Maria Miller is still in her job. If | :44:05. | :44:13. | |
people had found themselves in the situation of claiming that money and | :44:14. | :44:15. | |
did not give it back, they would have lost their job. She was cleared | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
of the central allegation. Should she go? It is a bigger issue. It was | :44:21. | :44:31. | |
prior to 2005, when this happened, anyway, and there are new procedures | :44:32. | :44:41. | |
now. The big issue is there is a disconnect between politicians and | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
the general public. I would like to see the committee... We need more | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
name members and they need voting powers. There is more transparency | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
in the current system because everything is online. And I think it | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
needs to go further. Will it make it more difficult for you on the | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
doorstep? I found that people are not talking to me personally about | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
that, they are talking about an employment, schools and local | :45:11. | :45:17. | |
issues. -- unemployment. You go into politics to make a difference and if | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
you put your head above the parapet, you have to take it. Why go through | :45:23. | :45:29. | |
it all again? The things that got me involved in politics affect me now, | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
it is about my home constituency, I would not want to stand anywhere | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
else. It is about voter engagement and helping people is rewarding. I | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
had an opportunity to demonstrate what is motivating me as an unpaid | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
candidate. But there is a massive disconnect between politicians and | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
the public. The expenses scandal was the touch paper but there are many | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
things that need to be reformed. People send these are politicians | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
getting into the system with jobs for life who think they cannot be | :46:04. | :46:12. | |
touched. What is the core motivation to become an MP? I got involved in | :46:13. | :46:19. | |
community politics with the Liberal Democrats. Now they are in | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
Government. I felt the opportunity to make a contribution to my | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
community and that demonstrates what the Liberal Democrats want to | :46:29. | :46:32. | |
deliver. 35,000 people in Camborne and Redruth are getting a tax cut | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
and we are delivering the number one thing on our manifesto in 2010. We | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
are saying these are the things we are delivering to you which is | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
making a difference. What is the driving force for you? I got | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
involved in politics when I was 15 when the schools where I lived were | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
emerging and I got together with other young people who felt that | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
this was an injustice and we worked out what to try to do about it. I | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
have been trying to tackle injustice ever since. Eventually you find out | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
if you want to be able to make a difference, you have to stand up and | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
be accountable and that is important about being elected. Is it better to | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
do that by being an MP? Many people will think they do not have that | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
much influence and it is not until you become a minister or join the | :47:29. | :47:31. | |
opposition that you have that. What will afford you that amount of | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
influence? It is a choice and there are other ways you can make the | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
world a better place. This is not the only way to do it. But when I | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
have looked at what I have tried to do and tied to achieve things in my | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
community, I have looked at where the power lies and said that might | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
be the best way of me being able to stand up for the people I care | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
about. Let's leave it there. Can I say why I got in? Yes, you can. In | :48:03. | :48:11. | |
my mid-30s I thought if you cannot beat them, join them. It is OK being | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
an armchair politician and complaining, but the big turning | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
point was my dad when he went into hospital and he went in for an | :48:22. | :48:31. | |
routine operation and he died. The hospital was filthy and there was | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
such a lack of care and it made me realise you have to be in a position | :48:36. | :48:38. | |
like this in order to make a difference. That is one of the | :48:39. | :48:47. | |
driving forces for me. Writing in today's's independent Ed Miliband | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
states that the cost of living and living standards is the greatest | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
challenge of our age and will be at the heart of Labour's general | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
election manifesto. He also rejected calls from within his own party to | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
change strategy because the economy is improving. The Tory strategy | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
seems clear enough. The economy is on the mend and if you don't want it | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
broke, don't vote for Labour. 12,000 jobs for Asda in this country and it | :49:16. | :49:22. | |
comes on top of 1.3 more that 1.3 million more people in work in this | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
country and that is good news for Great Britain. Is the cost of living | :49:27. | :49:33. | |
still working as a message on the doorstep when growth is predicted by | :49:34. | :49:36. | |
almost everyone to keep on growing and wages will outstrip prices | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
sometime later this year, it is a diminishing ever? That is not what I | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
find when I am talking to people. The first thing people say is how | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
difficult they are finding it to manage because costs are going up. | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
What sort of people? Squeezed middle? Absolutely. The people vary | :49:57. | :50:05. | |
from people who struggle at the bottom of the income scale right up | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
to the people who commute into London every day who think they are | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
on big salaries, but they are struggling with big mortgages and | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
expensive travel costs and childcare costs. The Tories and Liberal | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
Democrats will say of course people are struggling as a result of the | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
recession and this is the way out. The recession would not have been as | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
long if it were not for the decisions they made. They failed on | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
their short-term plans. They are going to fail to end the deficit by | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
the end of this Parliament and they will end up spending more on debt. | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
This is a failing Government for ordinary people who want to have | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
more hope. The cost of living must be a big issue on the doorstep for | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
you in your constituency. Has Labour got it right? There is an element of | :50:58. | :51:04. | |
truth. Of course we are recovering from one of the biggest economic | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
crises this country has ever seen and it will take a long time to | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
recover from that. But to say it is possible to do that whilst still | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
continuing a deficit is ridiculous. You can only have a fairer society | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
if you have a strong economy as well. You have to sort the economy | :51:23. | :51:28. | |
out and take decisions that are responsible. You have to take | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
decisions that focus on helping our people are on lower incomes. We have | :51:32. | :51:39. | |
been focusing on the regional growth to rebalance our economy, and a | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
whole series of things which recognise the pressure people are | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
under and which also are doing that because we cannot put a burden of | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
debt on the generation to come because that is taking money away | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
that could otherwise be spent on public services. There is nothing in | :51:59. | :52:05. | |
the current economic plan. In terms of business as usual, going back to | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
a pre-crisis situation is exactly what the Tories and the Liberal | :52:11. | :52:13. | |
Democrats are doing. In terms of house prices? In terms of financial | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
services and house prices and I would like to point out for Andrea, | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
the Tories wanted to deregulate the banks even further. We have got a | :52:25. | :52:33. | |
financial crisis. Is that the line you are going to use, Labour broke | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
it. We cannot get away from that fact. It was the worst economy we | :52:40. | :52:45. | |
have seen for generations. It was an international crisis. Absolutely. At | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
the end of the day we cannot get away from that and we need to get | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
away from this blame culture. We have got good news with 1.7 million | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
extra jobs being created in the private sector and 26 million people | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
have been taken out of income tax altogether. That was the Liberal | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
policy and you did that under duress. We all want the best for the | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
country. We are getting through the economy and we need to drop this | :53:17. | :53:23. | |
Labour fold rhetoric which is pulling down the fact that we are | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
moving forward and there is light at the end of the tunnel. In 2010 it | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
was Ed Miliband who said, we did underestimate the effects on the | :53:33. | :53:39. | |
standard of living of people. If you look at the OECD figures that have | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
come out they have shown it was actually the cost of living in | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
respect of paying for food and being able to live. And energy bills. It | :53:49. | :53:57. | |
was worse in 2007 than it is today. This is about messaging and you are | :53:58. | :54:00. | |
talking about the cost of living and you are talking about jobs. Youth | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
unemployment is still a serious issue. People cannot get the hours | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
they need and they want to work. Part-time workers who want to go | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
full-time, or many people who have not lost their jobs who are forced | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
onto part-time work, that is not security for the future? Things are | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
moving forward, it has been a massive journey and we are the ones | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
with the long-term plan and we are moving in the right direction. Do | :54:29. | :54:35. | |
you think you will unseat Ed Balls? I am not concentrated on him I am | :54:36. | :54:38. | |
concentrating on being in the constituency. Let's have a look at | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
the divide in the country. You are accused of a negative narrative when | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
the economy is recovering and starting to recover. Is that going | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
to sustain until 2015? Andrea might be very complacent, but when she is | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
talking to people in the same way that I talk to people, you will find | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
they are not in a position to say, it is working, because it is not | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
working for them. If they are not on zero hours contracts they are on | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
four or six or 12 hours contracts and people are having to subsidise | :55:18. | :55:23. | |
that low pay. That is not the way we want to develop the economy. A cost | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
of living crisis might be now, but for the future we need to have a | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
different economy. What policy have you got? We would spend the money on | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
a bonus tax on a jobs guarantee and up to 5000 people would benefit in | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
direct and create new jobs. The bonus is being spent on a dozen | :55:46. | :55:51. | |
other things? That is not true. I have to leave it there for the | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
moment. It is tough being an eight-month-old prince. You don't | :55:57. | :55:59. | |
get any time to enjoy your youth before you are expected to accompany | :56:00. | :56:02. | |
your mum and dad on their royal duties. Yes, Prince George has | :56:03. | :56:05. | |
arrived in New Zealand, with his parents obviously, at the start of a | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
three-week tour of that country and Australia. But despite the obvious | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
enthusiasm for the Royal visit is it time to call time on all this? The | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
former deputy minister of New Zealand thinks so. He is a chap | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
called Bob McKinnon. He says it is inevitable that his country will | :56:22. | :56:23. | |
become a republic. The current Prime Minister, however, thinks enthusiasm | :56:24. | :56:26. | |
for the Royal family has actually increased in the last decade, so | :56:27. | :56:29. | |
just how important is the Commonwealth and the monarchy's | :56:30. | :56:40. | |
place at the head of it? Julia, do you think William and Kate are going | :56:41. | :56:49. | |
to save the monarchy? It reminds me what a shared history we have. | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
Regardless of what New Zealand does, we will always have that history. | :56:56. | :57:00. | |
They are an attractive couple, they have a gorgeous baby and there is a | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
lot of interest around them and we will have to see how the visit goes. | :57:05. | :57:11. | |
I've a popular enough to push New Zealand towards not wanting a | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
republic? It is a voluntary organisation and people can be a | :57:17. | :57:19. | |
part of it and it helps and support to spread democracy. Look at | :57:20. | :57:29. | |
Zimbabwe. It is a voluntary organisation and we have countries | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
coming on board who are part of our regional Commonwealth. I would like | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
to see things continue personally. But they have to make their own | :57:39. | :57:43. | |
decisions. Are they the biggest asset the monarchy has? I think the | :57:44. | :57:49. | |
crisis 17 years ago when William's mother died when there was talk in | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
this country about a republic, there has been a transformation of the | :57:55. | :57:57. | |
fortunes because they have learned lessons about making sure they are | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
in touch and these are a good example of that. What happened in | :58:03. | :58:07. | |
New Zealand is up to them. Would it matter if they broke away? If they | :58:08. | :58:13. | |
chose it so the British monarch was no longer their head of state, they | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
would have to start thinking of the implications for the Commonwealth. | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
Very quickly, just before we go, the quiz. According to Michael Gove, why | :58:23. | :58:25. | |
are young entrepreneurs flocking to London? Because of the favourable | :58:26. | :58:27. | |
tax environment. The art galleries. The modern English cuisine. Or the | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
hot sex. Does anyone know the correct answer? I am not sure I | :58:34. | :58:40. | |
would like to hazard a guess. Another reason why Michael Gove is | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
so embarrassing. It is the hot sex, apparently. That is all for today. | :58:47. | :58:54. | |
The one o'clock News is on BBC One now. | :58:55. | :59:02. |