Browse content similar to 29/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon. Welcome to the Daily Politics. David Cameron firms up his | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
pledge for an in-out referendum on Europe, saying he won't lead a | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
government that can't deliver one. Will it convince the voters? What is | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
the EU ever done for women? Well, quite a lot say its fan, so would | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
women suffer if Britain left? They have come a long way since the | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
Sinclair C 5 but are electric cars the future of British motoring? And | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
as another British politician admits they admire the Russian President, | :01:12. | :01:20. | |
we ask what is it about Vladimir? All that in the next hour, and with | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
us for the whole programme today is one of Britain's leading | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
commentators on public opinion. She worked for the Labour Party where | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
she was Gordon Brown's pollster, now she runs a company called Britain | :01:32. | :01:33. | |
Thinks. She is Deborah Mattinson. she runs a company called Britain | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
Thinks. She is Westminster to the programme. First pupils have | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
returned to school in Leeds, where yesterday 61-year-old Spanish and | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
religious studies teacher Anne Maguire was stabbed to death. A | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
15-year-old boy a pupil at the school has been arrested. She has | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
been remembered as a mass in the church next door to the Corpus | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
Christi Catholic College. A priest, Monsignor Paul Fisher, paid tribute | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
to her. She was so full of life, she was always extremely positive, in a | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
way, people have seen pictures of her, her face radiates goodness and | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
kindness, that is what we have heard from many of the people who have | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
been interviewed and many of the tributes say this, she was a | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
wonderful woman. Deborah Mattinson, a shocking crime. Mercifully rare if | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
you look back over the last 20 years or so. And increasingly rare, that | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
is why it is so shocking, I think if you go back, 10, 20 years ago, | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
people were much more fearful about crime, violent crime felt like it | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
was more round us, we have been doing a survey looking at London and | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
how Londoners feel about London, contrasting what we are finding with | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
the '70s and 80s where crime dominated. At that point four in ten | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
people said they didn't go out at night because they were fearful of | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
crime in London. I think that has changed and for the better, which is | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
what makes tragic events like yesterday's all the more shocking. | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
It is interesting the decline in crime and it has been slowly coming | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
down in most areas of crime over the last few decades but an incident | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
like this in a school raises questions again, about whether there | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
are even small number of pupils going into school with weapons. Yes, | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
the thing about should pupils be screened, should it be like getting | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
on an aeroplane, terrifying prospect, but when something like | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
this happens we look at what we immediate to do to stop it has | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
beening again. I think there is a feeling and hope that this is a | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
one-off tragedy, and not something that could lead to the sort of thing | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
that you have described, which is Koreaning of pupil, there will be | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
people who will call for that. There certainly will, but personally I | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
would be hoping that against the backdrop of decrease in crime and | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
people's, you know increasing confidence generally, no | :03:56. | :03:58. | |
withstanding yet, confidence about going out and about and about their | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
daily tasks it will be seen as the one off that I hope it is S Let us | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
leave it there. People using public transport in and | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
round London are experiencing severe delays as tube workers continue | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
their 48-hour strike over plans to close all ticket offices. | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
The Prime Minister has called the strike unacceptable, and here are | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
the views of some commuters this morning. | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
I have an important meeting so devastated. I am stuck. I am | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
debating whether to go home. It is a long walk. I support them. The of | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
course, it makes travel difficult, but that is the point, but what they | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
are fighting for is jobs and safety and the retention of ticket offices | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
in tube stations. I can't see how anyone would disa degree with that. | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
Stressed. Annoyed. I want to get to work, that is all I want to do, but | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
I understand the strike, the reasons and stuff, but it doesn't make me | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
feel better. Views of commuters trying to get the work. Joining me | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
from RMT head office is the acting General Secretary of the RMT union | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
Mick Cash. Welcome to the programme. Mr Cash, according to Transport for | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
London there is a good service on the Northern Line and all other | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
lines are running a service apart from the Circle line and the | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
Waterloo line. Do you consider that a successful strike? I think I we | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
have had a major impact on the service today. We don't want to be | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
in this position, but we are, because Boris Johnson, the Mayor of | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
London, who has waded into this debate today broke his promise to | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
the people of London. We desperately tried yesterday to make sure the | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
action didn't go ahead, but unfortunately, London Underground | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
management seem to be inran gent and determined not to listen to our real | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
concerns about the future of the tube network. Let us look at the | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
future in terms of plans to close the ticket offices. The Mayor of | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
London isn't going to change those plans, is he? He hasn't got the | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
money to verse the cuts. Well, yes, you are right they have turned round | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
and said they will make ?50 million worth of cuts, but he made that | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
promise and he should keep that promise, when we were talking about | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
every single booking office being closed. Every one, it is madness, | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
absolute madness. He should know that. They are talking about 1,000 | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
jobs going on the back of that. We will come to the jobs in a moment. | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
Is there room for compromise? How many ticket offices would you be | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
prepared to see close? You say you think it is ridiculous to close all | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
of them, what about three-quarters of them? Well, look, I mean we took | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
action back in February, and we suspend the action because we were | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
promised a station by station review, promised a station by | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
station review by London Underground management. That hasn't happened. | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
The questions you are asking would have been answered if they had, I am | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
getting feedback, the question you are asking is actually created, is | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
creating the difficulties for us, we wanted to be in a position to | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
examine detail, line by line, station by station, London | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
Underground's rational for closing booking offices and getting rid of | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
vital staff. We wanted to make sure that the travelling public, | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
Londoners were properly consulted. None of that has happened. But you | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
in principle accept the idea that the tube network could function | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
efficiently if a large number of ticket offices were closed? No, we | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
do not accept that, we accept that we need to look at every single | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
station and review what London Underground's plans are, and the | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
rational behind it. We haven't had the opportunity do that. You are | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
asking me to predetermine the outcome of a review, they have said | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
you can have the review, but we will still close every booking office, | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
and we will still make 1,000 job cuts. That is not the way to have | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
meaningful discussions. Let us look at the job cut, because you are | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
causing misery arguably to million of people in the south-east and none | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
of your members is going to face compulsory redundancy. This is all | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
voluntary and there are plenty of people offering themselves up for | :08:20. | :08:22. | |
redundancy and they won't have their pay and conditions affected the ones | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
who stay. No, there will be impact on the staff who stay, because you | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
will have less staff to do the work. Is there compulsory redundancy? | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
There are no compulsory redundancies are there? No, that is the problem | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
you have got, if you let people go, when you haven't examined properly | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
the need to close booking offices and to reduce staffing on stations | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
you are going to be in a situation where you put the quality of service | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
and safety at risk, hand is why we wanted this proper, full and | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
meaningful consultation, that has not happened and I ambit early | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
disappoint about that. We shouldn't be in this position. Yesterday when | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
we met Mike Brown, we said we have drawn the threat over theory booking | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
office, let us have a proper consultation, not only with with us | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
but the travelling people and the people of London. They refused that. | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
If they had accepted that suggestion s we wouldn't be talking today about | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
industrial action, and it would not havehad. I am disappointed about | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
that. The other trade union involved is still in talks with Transport for | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
London, so why aren't you still in talks, if the transport Sallied -- | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
salaried staff association can go through the whole process, they said | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
they will wait until the end, why have you walked out? Well, we | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
haven't walked out. We have been in continuing discussions with London | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
Underground since November last year, but certainly since March, | :09:51. | :09:53. | |
February this year when we suspended the action, we have been trying to | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
undertake these station by station review, we have a real problem here, | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
because London Underground haven't done that, they have broken that | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
promise, the other thing they are saying is whatever the outcome they | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
are going to clovesry booking office and get rid of almost 1,000 job what | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
is the purpose of having discussions if it is a sham exercise. Before you | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
go do you think there is a chance next week's strikes will be called | :10:18. | :10:19. | |
off? Well, I am hopeful next week's strikes will be called | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
off? Well, I am that we can get round the table and talk with London | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
Underground but they have to be stop being dogmatic, intransigent and | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
make sure that the Mayor of London, who made promises sticks by his | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
word. Thank you very much. Deborah Mattinson, public support | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
for the tube strike is it there? In a word. No. I think that the union | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
hasn't made their case. You know, people are facing huge amounts of | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
disruption, and yes, there is no sympathy. Has it declined? We have | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
had a number of sort of one day, two day 48-hour strikes. So you have | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
seen a decline. There is a sense there is a bit of jockeying nor | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
position in the union, there is a bit of muscle flexing going on, I | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
don't think this is the way to win over the public. What about strikes | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
in general? When we look at potential strikes by teachers, later | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
on into the summer, is there support there? I think not. I mean, think | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
the problem is that, the problem for unions is that they have to make | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
their case in different ways, and it often becomes about the process s | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
and not about the end. So, you know, there is very little about what the | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
public benefit is, and that is where they need to be focussing, so, you | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
know, the public, they are thinking how can I get to work, if teachers | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
go on strike they think what am I going to do with my kid today? You | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
know, the problem is about how they, how they make the case, the public | :11:49. | :11:51. | |
case for what they are doing, and they are not doing that. OK. Leave | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
it there. Just three weeks until the European | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
elections and with the polls suggesting UKIP could come first and | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
the Conservatives third, David Cameron has made a pledge on | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
Britain's membership of the EU. Yes, another one. This time he said he | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
won't stay on as Prime Minister if he fails to deliver an EU referendum | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
after the general election. He said he would not barter or give | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
away his pledge, and could not continue to be Prime Minister unless | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
it was absolutely guaranteed a referendum would go ahead. | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
This is the latest in a series of pledges from Mr Cameron on Britain's | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
membership of the EU. It was in a long-awaited speech on Europe in | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
January last year, that he first promised an in-out referendum on | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
Britain's membership of the EU by the end of 2017 if the Conservatives | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
won the next election. The Prime Minister said he needed | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
time to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership of the EU. Some | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
Conservative MPs weren't happy that the referendum wasn't bound by law. | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
Step forward backbench MP James Wharton, whose Private Members Bill | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
attempted to legislate for an in-out referendum. Backed by the | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
Conservative leader hip the bill passed the House of Commons. But was | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
blocked by the House of Lords. So David Cameron's new intervention | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
will be viewed at the latest attempt to convince sceptics his party will | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
deliver a vote on the European Union. But will it work? We are | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
joined now by UKIP Suzanne Evans, and Conservative MP Robert Buckland. | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
Welcometo both of you. Receive, David Cameron says he will resign if | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
he doesn't secure an EU referendum, it couldn't be clearer. If you want | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
an in-out vote you must vote. How desperate is he to get those voters | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
back? It does smack of extreme desperation, the fact is David | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
Cameron has only promised that referendum if he is Prime Minister | :13:58. | :14:00. | |
in 2015 and it is clear he is not going to be Prime Minister in 2015. | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
So he has made another, yet another empty promise he can't fulfil. It | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
can't be clear he is not going to be Prime Minister in 2015. You can't | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
say that categorically. We have a polling expert. It looks like he | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
can't win a majority verdict. If UKIP went away tomorrow the figures | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
don't stack up for him. It is clear the Prime Minister accepts that a | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
certain section of the Parliamentary particlety, never mind the voters | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
doesn't believe he will deliver on a referendum, even if he is Prime | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
Minister after 2015? I think it is clearer. The message is vote | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
Conservative to get a referendum, secondly if there isn't an overall | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
majority, then it will be a clear red line in any negotiations. It is | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
obvious that the Prime Minister wants to be win the election, we | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
want to win the election, but that it is going to be an important | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
pillar of our policy platform we want a referendum for people to have | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
an equal say, whether they are pro like me or against like Suzanne. The | :15:00. | :15:10. | |
Liberal Democrats have made it clear that they wouldn't support the idea | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
of a referendum, so he is ruling himself out as prime minister. We | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
are assuming that people will vote in certain ways. This is about the | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
general election. UKIP with respect can't. Only the Conservatives can | :15:29. | :15:36. | |
deliver the referendum. Get a majority Conservative government, | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
and we will have that referendum. Do you believe that there will be an | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
in/out referendum? I think there will be as long as David Cameron | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
does become Prime Minister in 2015. If he holds the balance of power | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
with UKIP. That is the only way he will stick to his promise. So we | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
need not just to put UKIP in the general elections but in the | :16:05. | :16:06. | |
European elections stop but isn't that the problem? You may well do | :16:07. | :16:09. | |
very well in the European elections, but when it comes to the general | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
election, UKIP will fail to make the grade, and then it is a different | :16:16. | :16:23. | |
matter. 2010 was a long time ago, but UKIP has changed since then, the | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
knowledge we have about Europe, the voters, have all changed. Do you | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
think Suzanne is right? Will it be different between the European | :16:34. | :16:35. | |
elections this year and the general election next year? There is not a | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
lot of evidence to suggest that that is the case. Certainly I would | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
predict now that you will do well in the European elections, but I think | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
what happens after that is anybody's guess. I am curious to see | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
who you think will be Prime Minister in 2015 if you think it isn't going | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
to be David Cameron. It does come back to this issue of trust, the | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
fact that he has had to make this statement in the first instance. Why | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
should people believe him? We had the cast-iron guarantee before and | :17:09. | :17:17. | |
it melted away. Then we have the James Wharton bill that had to be a | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
private members bill because he couldn't deliver it through the | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
coalition. It didn't pass anyway for top these are all gestures. The | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
James Wharton bill didn't pass because Labour, Liberal Democrat and | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
the Lord's combined to make sure it didn't. The Lisbon matter was done | :17:38. | :17:47. | |
by the time we came into office. We are talking about the future, the | :17:48. | :17:56. | |
sort of reformed EU that we believe in, and we will get the referendum. | :17:57. | :18:06. | |
You have just argued against your own argument. Unforeseen events | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
change everything, just as you have described with the Lisbon Treaty. It | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
isn't within your power to make a cast-iron guarantee even if David | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
Cameron is Prime Minister. David Cameron is very pro E U. How much | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
money is he going to put into keeping us in on a campaign? Look at | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
how dirty the politics has got this week against UKIP. How much dirtier | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
will it get? I think it is crude and new. UKIP claim that the ?5 million | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
a day is being spent, and it is 24 million. UKIP claim that we are in | :18:39. | :18:46. | |
deficit in terms of our trade with Europe, wrong. Goods and services, | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
we are in surplus. Let's get the facts right, not have a debate about | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
name-calling. On the facts, those of us who are positive about our | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
membership of Europe will win. You are positive that if David Cameron | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
doesn't succeed in repatriating significant powers, you will still | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
vote to stay in? I think we should vote to stay in. There is every | :19:11. | :19:20. | |
prospect, the Northern European nations are looking at things at the | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
free movement directive to check that it might need to be redrafted. | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
We could recast that to make sure it is not going beyond the intentions | :19:30. | :19:36. | |
of politicians. It is all pie in the sky. This is real politics. The pie | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
in the sky is the UKIP myth of Britain floating free on the high | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
seas. It would devalue Britain's role. We have huge influence, and | :19:47. | :19:56. | |
our influence... We do not. This is a negative argument, and it is time | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
UKIP or challenged on the facts. Let Suzanne answer. You say we have no | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
influence. We don't. Laws are not made in the European Parliament. The | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
rules are made by unelected bureaucrats. Wrong. Wrong. It makes | :20:17. | :20:28. | |
decisions. It is a shame that UKIP MEPs don't turn up to help make the | :20:29. | :20:37. | |
rules. It is time we had to those who did hard work rather than | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
absentia MEPs like UKIP. So why is a concern that UKIP might be going to | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
top the poll? I'm interesting in the politics of Europe, and I want to | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
persuade people of the merits of voting Conservative. Labour have | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
come out to say that they won't change their stance on giving the | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
British people a referendum post 2015 even if UKIP beats the mini | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
European poll. What would the public like? Would they like Labour to | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
offer a referendum as well? The public definitely want a referendum. | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
Where they stand at the moment is fairly evenly split. Having said | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
that, if the kind of reforms that David Cameron brought in does go up | :21:19. | :21:26. | |
considerably. You are polling well in the European elections, but eight | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
YouGov poll in March suggested more people want to stay in them to | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
leave. It is a question that we have had for decades European propaganda | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
coming from all of the main parties. No other party has had a high enough | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
profile to deliver the opposite side of the story there is a lot of very | :21:49. | :21:57. | |
effective anti-EU propaganda. If you stop someone on the street and ask | :21:58. | :22:00. | |
them what the U has done for them, they don't know. You could say that | :22:01. | :22:09. | |
the pro-camp haven't done their job very well. Thank you all. | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
So, you all watched the big debate last night, right? | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
I speak of course of the first of three televised debates | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
between candidates for the position of President of the European | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
Commission, a post currently held by Jose Manuel Barroso. | :22:24. | :22:25. | |
Not to be confused of course with the President of the | :22:26. | :22:28. | |
European Council or the President of the European Parliament. | :22:29. | :22:31. | |
Here's a little taster of what you might have missed. | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
We begin with Martin shots, the candidate for the socialist and | :22:38. | :22:55. | |
Labour parties. And the candidate for the European Green party. | :22:56. | :23:05. | |
APPLAUSE And the candidate for the Alliance | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
of Liberals and Democrats for Europe party. | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
APPLAUSE And the candidate for the European | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
people's party. APPLAUSE | :23:21. | :23:27. | |
Well, we did find someone if Brussels who | :23:28. | :23:29. | |
Our correspondent Ben Wright is there. | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
Ben, give us the lowdown on those candidates and who won the first | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
televised debate? They are all very familiar names | :23:42. | :23:50. | |
(ex-mac) these other people but those in the European Parliament | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
have decided should be their candidate in the race to be the next | :23:54. | :23:55. | |
president of the European Commission. It matters hugely who | :23:56. | :24:15. | |
does the job. So we have a line-up of five, although only four were | :24:16. | :24:23. | |
there last night. There was the spread of four from the green | :24:24. | :24:30. | |
through to the EP P. It was an interesting spectacle. They are all | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
believers in the European Union, not a Nigel Farage among them. They | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
believe the European Union produces better economic growth, has a more | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
coherent foreign policy. Of consensus. But there is a lot of | :24:47. | :24:55. | |
differences, too. They had the anti-austerities voice, and the man | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
of sound money. So there were different platforms laid out, and it | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
was a novelty. For the first time, they are trying to put a single face | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
to the various European political platforms. And he does have that | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
feeling then of being more presidential. This is an important | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
contest in terms of the European Union and any future economic | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
policy, because there is diverging in whether you pursue more austerity | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
for Southern European countries, or go for more stimulus, taking you in | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
a different direction. Yes, and that is a very divided debate here in | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
Brussels, still. All of the candidates concede that European | :25:41. | :25:43. | |
growth is far weaker than it should be, and that the story of the | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
eurozone crisis is far from over. There were fairly distinct economic | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
platforms set out. One of the surreal things about all of this is | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
that even though in the European Parliament have decided that they | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
should do this, they should put forward candidates, and that in | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
their view, the group that is the largest has the biggest majority | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
after the European elections will be the candidate that becomes the | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
European Commission, national leaders and the European Council are | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
really not very happy about this at all. They think the European | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
Parliament is overstepping its remit here, misreading the Lisbon Treaty. | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
You are looking at quite a bust up after the European elections, | :26:28. | :26:29. | |
because there are names knocking around that people like David | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
Cameron and other European leaders would much rather have in charge of | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
the European Commission, not any of these four. | :26:38. | :26:39. | |
would much rather have in charge of the European Commission, When the | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
next two debates? Good question. One is on May the 15th, being broadcast | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
by the European broadcasting union, that is the one that will be shown | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
on the BBC. I think there is another one before that. Ben, thank you very | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
much. Well, quite a lot according to | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
its fans, who say that a British exit from the EU would be | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
a setback for women's rights. Paola Buonadonna is from the | :27:05. | :27:07. | |
British Influence, a pro-EU pressure group, and | :27:08. | :27:09. | |
UKIP's Suzanne Evans is still here. Paola, welcome to the programme. Are | :27:10. | :27:23. | |
there examples of where we would be worse off without the E U? | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
Absolutely, but first of all, it is not an abstract concept. I would | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
argue that Britain working with its other partners in the EU has for the | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
past 40 years contributed to bring forward measures that have made the | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
lives of women much, much better. Starting off in 1975 with the equal | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
pay legislation, and progressing on with maternity leave, parental | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
leave. Measures fighting discrimination against women in the | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
workplace, but also in access to services, really concrete measures, | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
without whom the life of women would be much worse. And also, we with the | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
other partners, the UK and the rest of them, are exerting a lot more | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
pressure on other countries to make sure that gender rights are taken | :28:09. | :28:18. | |
seriously and improve. Has that made much difference here in the UK. Are | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
those achievements you talk about, such as equal pay, which many women | :28:24. | :28:26. | |
would tell you still isn't a reality, many of those policies | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
would be in place anyway, whether or not EU legislation had taken place? | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
This is interesting, because if I understand it correctly, if your | :28:37. | :28:45. | |
party triumphed in an alternative scenario in the general election | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
next year, it would be your priority to take Britain out of the EE in | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
order to create a huge bonfire of legislation measures. That is what | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
you want? That is a logical end of what you envision? Is that what you | :29:01. | :29:07. | |
think? That you would be rolling back rights for employees. That | :29:08. | :29:14. | |
would affect women. We have heard Nigel Farage say that women with | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
children are worthless to employers. It is true that we want a bonfire of | :29:20. | :29:26. | |
an enormous number of regulations, we have had more than 4000 since | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
2010 alone. Which ones? It is interesting that Paola mentioned the | :29:32. | :29:39. | |
1975 equal pay act, but we had no need for it, because we already had | :29:40. | :29:46. | |
the equal pay act of 1970. It tries to take over existing British laws | :29:47. | :29:49. | |
and even water them down and make things worse for women. I can give | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
you three examples of how the EU has made things worse for women. Let's | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
take people trafficking. The majority of them are women sold into | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
sex slavery. With the open door policy it is much easier now for a | :30:06. | :30:08. | |
woman in the Czech Republic or Bulgaria to be told she is getting a | :30:09. | :30:11. | |
lovely job in Britain, Germany, France, and find herself a sex slave | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
in a brothel. Car insurance premiums have gone up purely because of EU | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
regulation. We all know that women are the safest and most capable | :30:24. | :30:26. | |
drivers. That is why we used to have cheaper car insurance. We no longer | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
do. And zero hours contracts have been in the news all week. We can | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
chart the rise of zero hours contracts which particularly affect | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
women since the EU agency workers directive. It is big business's way | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
of getting around regulation. because Tay a trafficked from | :30:45. | :31:00. | |
outside and the this Government who had an opt out on EU wide | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
anti-trafficking measures and decided to opt back in because | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
Britain would have been a magnet for human traffickers, if they had been | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
the only country not to strengthen controls and measures on that. The | :31:15. | :31:17. | |
car insurance thing, that is the flip side of something else. That is | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
a flip side of not treating women pensioners worse than male | :31:23. | :31:25. | |
pensioners. If you want women to be equal, then you have to treat them | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
equally with men, for everything you might think we have lost, we have | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
gained something more substantial. Let me ask, in terms of the policies | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
and bureaucracy you could like to get rid of. It is rue your party | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
advocates scrapping a raft of employment rights for small | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
business, including parental leave. No that is a myth. You wouldn't | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
scrap parental leave, you won't want to see that being taken out in thes | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
of employee rights? We wouldn't. It is interesting. When I look at the | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
sources she puts forward for all these concerns she says, these | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
policies she says that UKIP has, like establishing equal pay. Look at | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
your manifesto. With respect I checked the website out. Was it not | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
in your manifesto in 2010? ? That has been ripped up. Nigel Farage | :32:24. | :32:29. | |
says we haven't got the 2015 manifesto. Which one are we working | :32:30. | :32:39. | |
on. Nigel says he hasn't read the 2012 manifesto. What is on is it | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
getting out of EU. Taking control of our borders again. You have no | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
vision beyond that. We have huge visions beyond that. It is about | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
green taxes, there is another way in which the EU has not supported | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
women. 20% of fuel bills are caused by the green taxes that have been | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
imposed by the EU. Who, who is affected worse? Very often British | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
female pensioners living alone who are in desperate fuel poverty. Did | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
you regret Nigel Farage's comment, you say he didn't say it, he did say | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
women who leave to have children are far worse less in a client sense to | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
employers and young able women stick with their careers do as well if not | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
better than men if they sacrifice a family life. He made it clear he was | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
with you, think, Jo, he was talking about that instance when he was | :33:34. | :33:36. | |
working, nobody believes that. I certainly don't. Do you think as an | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
intelligent woman I would be in a party like UKIP if I thought it was | :33:40. | :33:47. | |
even remotely sixist? To you, you have written the rise of UKIP has | :33:48. | :33:57. | |
been the... I want to clarify this, UKIP has come back and is enjoying a | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
measure of success for a number of reason, and there are also good | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
reasons why people feel annoyed about the way the debate has been | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
conducted, about the fact that the Westminster elites are responding to | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
the needs or worry, I don't want to disqualify or lessen the concerns of | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
people who might be inclined to vote for UKIP. The Berlusconi-fication, I | :34:22. | :34:30. | |
have to TM it, it is mine. Of British public life and media. When | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
Berlusconi recreated himself as a politician in Italy he was given a | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
20 year pass from having to explain himself, from having to answer | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
supplementary questions in interview, from having to be | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
coherent and or be ashamed of the kind of things that would have led | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
somebody else to resign. Is Nigel Farage like Berlusconi? Not in any | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
other respect but he is in this respect. He is treated as a | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
phenomenon, above the rules. I want to bring Deborah Mattinson in. | :35:05. | :35:07. | |
Suzanne Evans said she would not be in a party that is not sexist. What | :35:08. | :35:15. | |
is the view to of women to UKIP? UKIP has less support from women | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
than men. The classic UKIP supporter is an older man, however, there is | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
an interesting gender gap, well, I mean, that is what the data bears | :35:25. | :35:32. | |
out. It is true. There is an interesting gender gap in attitudes | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
towards Europe, which is that men are significantly more likely to | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
support staying in than women. Men about 42%. Women about 27%. Why? | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
Well, when you ask women, you know, what the reasons for that is, they | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
don't, they don't actually know enough, they are more likely to say | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
I don't know. So I would say your positive case isn't being well | :35:55. | :35:57. | |
enough made. It may be there, it is not well enough made. That is | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
interesting. That is a poignant statistic in terms of the message | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
that is not getting across to we I think what it is is that politics is | :36:07. | :36:15. | |
dealt with an either boo-ho shouty rowdy rhetoric of Westminster, or in | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
the case of the coverage of UKIP's, so far as a bit of a joke, with | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
Nigel being the chap down the pub and so on and so forth. There has | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
been nothing for women to tune in and to get a sense of what is | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
actually... I would agree. Women are more disengaged with politics. It is | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
just partly the nature of thing, women have a lot more pressing | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
issues to concern about. Than politics. That is right. I really | :36:43. | :36:50. | |
struggle. I think that is the issue. Politics a huge amount of time and | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
energy. I sometimes think it is not so easy for women to get involved | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
which is a great shame. Thank you. Now, our guest of the day Deborah | :36:59. | :37:02. | |
Mattinson is an expert on what Britain thinks, she used to work for | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
the last Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. What does Britain | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
think about the man who wants to be the next Labour Prime Minister Ed | :37:11. | :37:13. | |
Miliband? We will ask her in a minute, but to get things started | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
Adam took the Daily Politics mood box to -- Hertfordshire. | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
If he wants to get into Number Ten he has to win in places like this, | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
Stevenage, a Tory marginal, so where better to ask the question has Ed | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
Miliband got what it takes to be Prime Minister? Yes or no? What is | :37:32. | :37:39. | |
he missing? I don't think he has a grasp on anything really. I don't | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
think any of them have to be honest. What are his most Prime Ministerial | :37:46. | :37:49. | |
qualities? I don't know politics. Is He looks the part. Oh yes. He is not | :37:50. | :37:57. | |
a bad man. First satisfied customer Ed. And he has fallen over. He has | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
given up already. His brother would have been better. Really? Yes. Do | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
you think he is going to lose Labour the election? I think so. So what is | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
so wrong with him? He has no go. Really? No. Can he get some go in | :38:12. | :38:19. | |
time for the next election. It will take a (BLEEP) miracle. There is | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
something about his hair I am not keen on. Is there something about | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
his eyes? Yes Why? He is confident. I saw him a few months ago. You have | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
seen the real one. Got it on my phone to prove it. How does the | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
cardboard cut off In real life I don't think he smiles that much. Ed | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
Miliband is Labour. The working class people of this country should | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
never vote for the Tories at all. There is a ruling class elite. You | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
put a snipe on his face. He doesn't have a backbone. He stood up to News | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
International, the energy firms Not if you look at him, he is more | :38:59. | :39:11. | |
reactive than proactive. Give him a kiss. What were you | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
saying about him? He is useless. What do you think it would be like | :39:16. | :39:18. | |
to hang out with Ed Miliband? Boring. Boring completely. A night | :39:19. | :39:25. | |
out in Nandos with Ed Miliband? I would be up for that! | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
One member, one vote. Just like the Labour leadership contests. | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
What is his best quality? He has the socialist principles and that is | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
what is important to me. And other people. I don't think he has the | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
gravitas to be Prime Minister. He is torn between the unions and the | :39:47. | :39:54. | |
members of his party. The real Ed was here and he saw that | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
result, what do you think he would do? Probably cry! What does he make | :39:59. | :40:06. | |
you think? He is a really good chef. He is a really good chef. Yes, he is | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
a chef isn't he The people of the marginal seat of Stevenage have | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
spoken, they are clear he doesn't have what it takes to be Prime | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
Minister. I know it is not scientific. Come on. I love the idea | :40:20. | :40:27. | |
of Ed Miliband as a celebrity chef. Which one, I am not sure. With us is | :40:28. | :40:37. | |
the Telegraph columnist Dan Hodges who probably doesn't think thinks he | :40:38. | :40:48. | |
doesn't have what it takes. Does it reflect what you find in your polls | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
in terms of people's views on Ed Miliband? I think that the polls | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
very clearly show that Ed Miliband has some with to go in persuading | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
the public he has what it take, having said that, I think it is the | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
very first lady in your package said, you know, they have all got | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
problem, she said none of them have it. None have what it take, that is | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
what the polls beer out. We have never been at a point where all the | :41:14. | :41:20. | |
political leaders are held in such low regard. -- bare. People look at | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
them and say, you know what, I don't like any of them, and that is the | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
situation we are in. According to your rivals, YouGov Ed Miliband | :41:30. | :41:31. | |
scores better than the Prime Minister on thinks like honesty and | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
being in touch with ordinary people, but loses out on strength and being | :41:37. | :41:43. | |
good in a crisis, decisiveness, the things you would need for people to | :41:44. | :41:46. | |
see you as the next Prime Minister. So a nice guy but not someone would | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
like in charge, is that fair? Yes, I think that is fair, I mean going | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
back to the point I just made there, if you look at this YouGov data or | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
any data that looks at the attributes of leader, you will see | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
the current batch score lore than any other previous group of people. | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
The highest score anybody gets the average is in the low teens on these | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
sorts of attributes, Ed Miliband does have one very clear strength, | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
which is being in touch with the needs of ordinary people. And that | :42:19. | :42:21. | |
is something I any needs to build on. Isn't that going to be key in | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
the run up to the election? That is why the leadership and the Labour | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
Party are pushing things like the cost of living crisis, if he is seen | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
as the embodiment if you like of that, then that will do him a lot of | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
favours. The Dee when people are choosing a Prime Minister is one of | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
the candidates is best suited to be Prime Minister, as we have said Ed | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
Miliband consistently lags behind David Cameron on all key indicator, | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
what is interesting about Ed Miliband, I said to Deborah before | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
we came on, we have had several discussions of this nature since Ed | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
Miliband was elected leader and they are the same. The perceptions of Ed | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
Miliband haven't really changed since the first six months after he | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
was elected. He has that window to define himself, he failed. The | :43:08. | :43:10. | |
public have made their mind up about Ed Miliband now. They won't be | :43:11. | :43:14. | |
changing this side of the election and Labour will have to win the next | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
election, despite Ed Miliband, not because of him. Do you they is true | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
the perceptions were set at the beginning and that is it? I think | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
that haven't changed as much as he would have liked them to have. I | :43:29. | :43:31. | |
think there was some improvement. The cost of living campaign was | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
successful. It put him on the map. The challenge, and it is a problem | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
being leader of the opposition, famously it's the worst job in | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
politics, it is very hard to get yourself in the limelight to get | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
people to hear what you are say, he has not done that as well as he | :43:48. | :43:50. | |
should have done. He needed clearer communications than he has had and | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
he needs to up his game. But there has been some improvement. It is | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
unfair to say there has been none. This is argument we have had from | :44:01. | :44:09. | |
supporters, his approval ratings have, if anything deteriorated. You | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
know, the interesting thing I think is tactically is the way the Labour | :44:15. | :44:17. | |
Party keep doubling down own Ed Miliband. This is the strategic | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
problem they have got. Because his approval ratings are so weak they | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
try to build him up. They build their political strategy round him. | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
Labour has quite a talented team, it has a number of talented front | :44:30. | :44:37. | |
bench, Andy Burnham, Chuka Umunna, people who are interested in. Who | :44:38. | :44:40. | |
can communicate well and they have been pushed to one side in this | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
failed attempt, if you like, to build up Ed Miliband, and sooner | :44:45. | :44:47. | |
rather than later the Labour Party will have to cut their losses on Ed | :44:48. | :44:51. | |
Miliband and start to push the rest of the Shadow Cabinet. Not have a | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
new leader? . No. I mean they will have to is that right to focus on | :44:57. | :44:59. | |
the team. Do you agree with that? I think there is a need to bring the | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
rest of the team forward and I agree that there is a talented team there, | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
but I also think that you know, the party is not going to win, without | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
persuading people that Ed Miliband is going to be a suitable PM. There | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
is some way to go with that. I wouldn't disagree. Where I don't | :45:18. | :45:20. | |
agree, I don't think there has been no progress, I don't think his | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
ratings have got worse. We are debating whether he will be Prime | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
Minister. He is currently losing the mantle of being leader the | :45:31. | :45:33. | |
opposition which is being taken by Nigel Farage. We are going into the | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
euro election, this should be Labour's breakthrough moment. Labour | :45:38. | :45:40. | |
is fighting for its life, to even top the poll. Now that is a | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
ridiculous situation for party in opposition. Except they would argue | :45:45. | :45:59. | |
that it is more difficult for the Conservatives than it is for Labour. | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
But he has taken quite tough positions, or certainly ones that | :46:05. | :46:07. | |
are noticeable on things like Syria, on his own leadership | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
election, and taking on the energy companies. Those were specific | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
positions, you might not agree with them but they were positions. But | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
this is the problem. He takes decisions which align himself with | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
what he sees as his natural constituency, and the constituency | :46:25. | :46:30. | |
he identifies is too narrow. So he has either appealed to Lib Dem | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
switchers, or that part of the electorate the left Labour because | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
of Tony Blair. At the point when he should have been introducing him to | :46:43. | :46:52. | |
the public at whole, he lost it. Do you think Labour will win? No. They | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
have been ahead consistently in the polls are couple of months. That | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
must be in part down to Ed Miliband, surely? Labour are currently having | :47:03. | :47:13. | |
a 4% lead with UKIP holding 12 or 13%. That is after the | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
a 4% lead with UKIP holding 12 or 13%. That is after Government has | :47:17. | :47:17. | |
been pursuing this historic posterity agenda. The key thing is | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
on the two key issues of leadership and the economy, Labour is too far | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
behind now to win the next election. You think it is a tactical mistake | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
of Ed Miliband to be pushing the televised debates? If he hasn't got | :47:33. | :47:40. | |
the sort of charismatic leadership style that Dan Hodges maintains he | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
hasn't got, why push that? He would be very exposed potentially. Or does | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
he not have much to lose? I think he might do quite well in the debates. | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
Where we have got to, there is this common view that he is not hacking | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
it, although by the way, the most likely outcome still has to be | :48:00. | :48:02. | |
Labour is the largest party, even if it doesn't win outright. Setting | :48:03. | :48:11. | |
that aside for a minute, if people's expectations are low, he | :48:12. | :48:14. | |
can perform well. He is a good speaker. I think he might confound | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
people and do much better than people expect. He is certainly | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
starting from a low base, but the debates aren't going to happen | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
because you can't have them without Nigel Farage getting into the frame, | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
and David Cameron isn't gay to walk onto stage next to Nigel Farage. -- | :48:31. | :48:39. | |
isn't going to. He doesn't want to spend the next ten or 12 months. | :48:40. | :48:47. | |
Now, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander have announced details | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
of ?500 million worth of investment to support the development | :48:51. | :48:52. | |
of low-emission cars, including cash to provide more charge points | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
I think we need to show people that we are keeping the price down when | :48:56. | :49:08. | |
people buy them, so the government is funding a deduction of ?5,000 if | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
you buy one. Second, we're making sure it is run, so we are installing | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
thousands of charging points up and down the country. By this time next | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
year, every electric -- service station will have an electric | :49:25. | :49:34. | |
points. We will make cities and councils make bus lanes available | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
for them. I really think if we can persuade people that they are | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
convenient and affordable, and there is no need to worry that the battery | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
will run out while you are driving it, more and more people will buy | :49:50. | :49:51. | |
them. Nick Clegg. | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
So, do electric vehicles really represent the future of motoring | :49:57. | :49:58. | |
We're joined now by the Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt and Hilton | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
It is going to take more than ?5,000 to change people's views. What it | :50:03. | :50:19. | |
will do is focus more money on research and development so that we | :50:20. | :50:22. | |
get the prices of these cars down. They are quite expensive. Some of | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
them are. You can buy one for about ?16,000, which is still a lot of | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
money. But we need to also focus on the huge benefits. If I bought a | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
second-hand electric car, and there is a second-hand market gaining, I | :50:39. | :50:46. | |
could actually save the purchase price of the car in one year in the | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
mileage. It is about attitude and perception. Using programmes like | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
top gear but people off electric cars? No, I don't think so. Quentin | :50:56. | :51:02. | |
Willson, motoring journalist, is an avid supporter. When you look at | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
urban milage, the average urban milage is 17 miles a day, that is so | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
easily done. The capacity of these vehicles is going up and up. That's | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
look at that point, of urban cars. I imagine Ben meisters are -- I | :51:19. | :51:25. | |
imagined in my scenario that they would be useful, but most people | :51:26. | :51:28. | |
don't have somewhere to park the car where you could charge it overnight. | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
Isn't that a key problem? It is. I had an electric car for a year. I | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
had a driveway with a charger. Isn't that a key problem? It is. I | :51:37. | :51:37. | |
had an electric car for a year. When I moved to a flat, the car became | :51:38. | :51:46. | |
hopeless. And they suffer in the winter. When it is very, very cold, | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
the range shrinks down. If you're going to Gatwick Airport, it can be | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
touch and go in the winter. What about more charge points? That would | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
mitigate the fear of breaking down or running out. It would. They are | :52:05. | :52:11. | |
fantastically good to drive. I have just driven hearing one. Are you a | :52:12. | :52:19. | |
fan? Brilliant to do drive. It is very suitable for a very narrow way | :52:20. | :52:32. | |
of using a car. Have you managed to persuade Tesla to let you drive | :52:33. | :52:42. | |
their S? I haven't yet. That is why the research and development is so | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
important. If you look at what happened with all of those things | :52:47. | :52:49. | |
like solar panels, they were very expensive, limited government help, | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
a little bit of help, it comes down and it keeps coming down. I have | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
driven everything, I am lucky. The Tesla is the one car I haven't | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
driven. I have driven fuel celled cars. I have more hope for cars | :53:06. | :53:19. | |
powered by natural gas plus pollutants are an issue, which | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
electric cars playing to. Hydrogen in a fuel cells in ten or 15 years | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
could be the thing. You don't think there will be an electric car | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
revolution? There is a place for them. Every car will have some kind | :53:33. | :53:38. | |
of electrification, but big fat battery packs? Maybe not. Where will | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
you put the new charge points? Where I live in Somerset, I live in | :53:44. | :53:50. | |
Wedmore, and at the pub there, there is an electric charging point. What | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
more could you want? I don't have an electric car yet, but these can be | :53:57. | :53:59. | |
put anywhere. Glastonbury is doing a programme of having them in the high | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
Street. In rural areas where you are going to do greater distances, I | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
presume, then comes what they call the range anxiety, and you will | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
worry. I would worry the whole time. The Tesla S... I do a few | :54:15. | :54:24. | |
miles... There is evidence that Kessler and Audi would probably | :54:25. | :54:32. | |
follow up with batteries. We can't let the other countries do it, we | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
have to do it. Thank you both very much. | :54:38. | :54:40. | |
Now, which political leaders do you admire? | :54:41. | :54:42. | |
Well that's what the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond has said | :54:43. | :54:52. | |
Speaking on March the 14th as Russia was being accused of military | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
aggression over the future of Crimea, which it has since annexed, | :54:58. | :55:00. | |
in neighbouring Ukraine, Alex Salmond said he admires "certain | :55:01. | :55:02. | |
aspects" of Mr Putin, including how he had restored part | :55:03. | :55:05. | |
of Russian pride, although added he does not approve | :55:06. | :55:07. | |
He's not the first party leader to make such comments, so let's have | :55:08. | :55:15. | |
# What a man, what a man, what a man... | :55:16. | :56:19. | |
And we're joined now by the psychotherapist Lucy Beresford. | :56:20. | :56:30. | |
Deborah Mattinson, he an interesting character. Are these politicians | :56:31. | :56:40. | |
right to say that they are full of admiration for, or admire him? If | :56:41. | :56:46. | |
that is what they feel, they are right to say it. We asked people in | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
a survey who they respected as political leaders, and I don't | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
recall Putin appearing anywhere. He is not really on the public radar. | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
He might be a little more now. Is it because some of our male leaders | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
admire that rather aggressive, match... Alpha male, I can shoot a | :57:08. | :57:15. | |
gun, I can walk through the hail. There is something about the way he | :57:16. | :57:18. | |
has harnessed the nationalist fervour in Russia that anybody who | :57:19. | :57:25. | |
was disgruntled at the collapse of the Soviet Union is supporting him, | :57:26. | :57:28. | |
and maybe Nigel Farage things, I want a bit of that. And he is also | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
may be trying to say, I'm not like the people before me, not like RAC, | :57:35. | :57:42. | |
not weak over Syria like Obama. Not like Boris Yeltsin. Strength is what | :57:43. | :57:51. | |
people want, even if you don't agree with what they say? What people want | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
is strongly do ship. And you can't get much stronger than that. I do | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
think there are gender differences there, and polling bears that out. | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
If we look at what is happening in the UK, the Labour voters, women go | :58:07. | :58:14. | |
for Labour with their soft values, and they think more of Ed Miliband | :58:15. | :58:15. | |
than men do. for Labour with their soft values, | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
and they Men are more likely to support UKIP, for example, and love | :58:19. | :58:26. | |
Nigel Farage and the lavish... When we see Putin stripping off, taking | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
his top off, he is saying, I am all man, I am the Fatherland. He is | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
identifying with Russia. His destiny and the country's destiny are | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
entwined, particularly because he has been in power for so long. | :58:41. | :58:42. | |
Thank you very much. The One O'Clock News is | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
starting over on BBC One now. Andrew and I will be here | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
at 11.30 tomorrow with Prime Minister's Questions and all the big | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
political stories of the day. | :58:58. | :59:01. |