:00:38. > :00:41.Morning folks, welcome to the Daily Politics.
:00:42. > :00:42.A prominent youth member of UKIP quits
:00:43. > :00:46.the party claiming it has descended into a form of "racist populism."
:00:47. > :00:47.Sanya-Jeet Thandi, seen here in last year's UKIP
:00:48. > :00:49.election broadcast, says the party's direction is "terrifying."
:00:50. > :00:51.We'll speak to UKIP's Director of Communications.
:00:52. > :00:55.At one time he was ahead in the polls and a win
:00:56. > :01:00.So has Ed Miliband's electoral strategy gone a bit flat?
:01:01. > :01:03.Who will be on the front foot at Prime Minister's Questions?
:01:04. > :01:05.We'll have all the action live at midday.
:01:06. > :01:08.And, no it's not a B movie, it's a campaign video from
:01:09. > :01:47.Their leader will be here to explain all.
:01:48. > :01:53.And with us for this televisual feast are two
:01:54. > :01:57.subterranean creatures that don't often see the light of day.
:01:58. > :01:58.The Policing Minister, Damian Green and the Shadow
:01:59. > :02:07.Now another day, another UKIP headline.
:02:08. > :02:10.A prominent Asian youth member has quit the party claiming that it has
:02:11. > :02:12.descended into a "form of racist populism."
:02:13. > :02:16.Sanya-Jeet Thandi, who's 21, wrote on a blog for the Guardian website
:02:17. > :02:19.that the party was turning the election into a game of us and them.
:02:20. > :02:24.Three years ago Miss Thandi was described by Nigel Farage
:02:25. > :02:36.Here they are appearing together in an official UKIP video.
:02:37. > :02:45.You are 18 and a rising star in the party. One of the other things that
:02:46. > :02:51.has often been said and in the early days of UKIP's existence, the BBC
:02:52. > :02:56.encourage this, we start out with this idea that if you believe in the
:02:57. > :03:04.United Kingdom and leave we should not governed from Europe, that this
:03:05. > :03:07.was white only? People say it is white only, it is ridiculous. We
:03:08. > :03:15.have Greek members, and Turkish. With is us now is Patrick O'Flynn,
:03:16. > :03:19.UKIP's Director of Communications and a UKIP candidate in the East of
:03:20. > :03:36.England in the forthcoming European This is your rising star? She was on
:03:37. > :03:44.Channel four News singing the praises of UKIP's policy saying it
:03:45. > :03:49.did not discriminate people from EU countries and other countries around
:03:50. > :03:57.the world. I am curious about that. Young people are free to join and
:03:58. > :04:03.leave parties as they want. I do think it is a bit shabby of her to
:04:04. > :04:13.be one week did bend our immigration policy and then throw the racist
:04:14. > :04:19.words in the mix. Have you asked her what has turned her? I have never
:04:20. > :04:22.had a conversation with her in my life, I did send a tweet
:04:23. > :04:30.congratulating her on Channel four News. I thought she was one of your
:04:31. > :04:35.rising stars? She was a prominent member, she has been concentrating
:04:36. > :04:40.on her studies. As recently as last week she did seem to be singing the
:04:41. > :04:48.praises of our immigration policy. Maybe you have been neglecting her.
:04:49. > :04:56.You do have priorities in life and our priority is the European
:04:57. > :05:01.elections. You are in here having to talk about it, the media on the
:05:02. > :05:07.left, the right and the Centre are talking about it. It follows from a
:05:08. > :05:13.coast of people saying inappropriate things in your party. It follows
:05:14. > :05:16.from you trying to make out you had a moment last week when you had
:05:17. > :05:23.members from various grounds all showing. It was a nice picture, this
:05:24. > :05:26.has blown it out of the water. Did you see the poll at the weekend
:05:27. > :05:29.which showed in the European elections, 16% of people from
:05:30. > :05:36.non-white backgrounds will be voting UKIP. I'd ain't we are making great
:05:37. > :05:42.strides in the ethnic community. Why can't you hold onto this bright,
:05:43. > :05:49.young star of which is politics? You can hold onto these things on an
:05:50. > :05:58.individual basis. You have chosen a candidate who has rather strange
:05:59. > :06:07.views on homosexuality. Those views are evolving. He said it in 2012,
:06:08. > :06:14.not that long ago, not the dark ages of the 50s. I think it was when he
:06:15. > :06:20.was a conservative, now he is in UKIP he is more relaxed. You have
:06:21. > :06:23.chosen another former Conservative to run in Grimsby who once said she
:06:24. > :06:30.wanted to send all of the immigrants back home. You are talking about
:06:31. > :06:38.Victoria it -- Victoria Ayling who said she wanted to send away the
:06:39. > :06:47.illegal immigrants. There has not been an announcement of the
:06:48. > :06:53.candidate. It is death by 1000 cuts. The polls say we are rising.
:06:54. > :06:59.Politicians tell me there is only one poll that matters. They do look
:07:00. > :07:06.at these polls very carefully. But every time you tell us it is just a
:07:07. > :07:11.couple of rotten apples and you are getting rid of them, something else
:07:12. > :07:17.jumps out to cause you major embarrassment. Our party has more
:07:18. > :07:21.than doubled the membership. We are on 37,000 and will have more to say
:07:22. > :07:30.on benchmarks soon. We have what Drew pulled our voting intentions.
:07:31. > :07:34.We have growing pains. I know it is something novel in British politics
:07:35. > :07:41.pause these guys have shrinking pains. She said in the Guardian that
:07:42. > :07:47.the reason she supported UKIP stemmed from liberal I hear, smaller
:07:48. > :07:51.taxes, and on immigration policy that was fair equal opportunities.
:07:52. > :07:56.Maybe she should have joined the Conservatives. But you have not
:07:57. > :08:03.delivered either. Sounds like she is eminently qualified with sound
:08:04. > :08:10.instincts to join the Conservative Party and I encourage her to do so.
:08:11. > :08:16.Have you had talks with her? Nope, I first learned of her existence over
:08:17. > :08:22.the past few months. So the Tories... I am only saying I
:08:23. > :08:30.haven't. Far as I know she has done this on her own. Would you like to
:08:31. > :08:38.have talks with her? I am interested in talking to people. Every time a
:08:39. > :08:45.UKIP councillor, MEP or candidate opens their mouth there seems to be
:08:46. > :08:50.another problem. Godfrey Bloom accusing women being sluts for
:08:51. > :08:55.failing to clean behind the fridge. His flatmate in Brussels has told us
:08:56. > :09:00.what he thinks of women. Patrick excuses the views on homosexuality
:09:01. > :09:08.with the excuse he is 70. What age has got to do with it. He is
:09:09. > :09:14.entitled to have his views. What has age got to do with it? Demographics
:09:15. > :09:22.show that older people are less comfortable with homosexuality. The
:09:23. > :09:26.point he is making, and it is fair enough, no matter how often these
:09:27. > :09:36.things happen, how often we in the media pounce on them, UKIP's ratings
:09:37. > :09:42.are not being touched? Patrick has talked about its growing pains
:09:43. > :09:46.because they are going from a small base to a less small base. They are
:09:47. > :09:56.attracting people, former members of the National front who are joining
:09:57. > :09:58.UKIP. Patrick was the director of communications when Andre Lamb
:09:59. > :10:05.picks, whose vile views were exposed on Twitter. They do not have a
:10:06. > :10:09.conversation with him as well? No one outside of UKIP either in the
:10:10. > :10:13.media or in other parties understand why all of this debt can be thrown
:10:14. > :10:22.at them but they are still doing well.
:10:23. > :10:24.Now, new figures released this morning show that a total
:10:25. > :10:27.of 140,000 Romanians and Bulgarians were being employed in the UK in the
:10:28. > :10:33.That number is down slightly on the total number being employed
:10:34. > :10:36.However, there has been a rise in the numbers
:10:37. > :10:41.These are the first set of employment figures since Bulgarians
:10:42. > :10:45.and Romanians gained the same rights to work in the UK as other EU
:10:46. > :10:49.Here's David Freeman from the Office of National Statistics speaking
:10:50. > :11:10.The number of people born in Bulgaria and Romania working in the
:11:11. > :11:15.UK is 140,000. We compared these figures from a year ago and last
:11:16. > :11:22.year there were 112 thousand Romanians and Bulgarians in
:11:23. > :11:26.employment. If you look at the total number of people born abroad who
:11:27. > :11:33.work in the UK, that increased to 172,000. The main impact on that
:11:34. > :11:43.change is from the eight countries that joined the European Union in
:11:44. > :11:48.2004. UKIP have said when the gates were opened in January two
:11:49. > :11:54.Bulgarians and Romanians on January the 1st they would come
:11:55. > :11:58.thousand. You got it very wrong? Nope, we didn't. The figure is down
:11:59. > :12:05.on Nope, we didn't. The figure is down
:12:06. > :12:09.doubt, Sir Andrew Green's central projection of about 50,000 more a
:12:10. > :12:13.year. Nigel Farage said this in his debates with Nick Clegg, he wasn't
:12:14. > :12:24.talking about debates with Nick Clegg, he wasn't
:12:25. > :12:30.400 million people. If you look at workers from
:12:31. > :12:33.400 million people. If you look at the year. From the eight other
:12:34. > :12:38.countries, 74,000 were in the first quarter of the country alone. It
:12:39. > :12:38.countries, 74,000 were in the first out of control. Nigel Farage, on
:12:39. > :12:43.question out of control. Nigel Farage, on
:12:44. > :12:49.doors, we are talking about when the restriction is lifted, the emphasis
:12:50. > :12:56.was put on that, he said opened the doors to 29 million vulgarians and
:12:57. > :13:02.Romanians. It is only 4% came, that with the over a million people.
:13:03. > :13:04.Romanians. It is only 4% came, that number is down. Since those
:13:05. > :13:10.restrictions were lifted because that is what UKIP talked about. You
:13:11. > :13:17.restrictions were lifted because were wrong. Based on one
:13:18. > :13:18.restrictions were lifted because benchmark. We are
:13:19. > :13:20.restrictions were lifted because predicting a very big, long-term
:13:21. > :13:33.rise in Romanian and Bulgarian rise in Romanian and Bulgarian
:13:34. > :13:37.David Cameron cannot fulfil his promise of getting net migration
:13:38. > :13:40.down. It is just going to go up and promise of getting net migration
:13:41. > :13:44.that is a betrayal of the British people.
:13:45. > :13:50.that is a betrayal of the British answer that in a minute. But on the
:13:51. > :13:55.that is a betrayal of the British have hundreds and thousands of Olga
:13:56. > :14:00.Aryans and Romanians. That was wrong. We are going to have hundreds
:14:01. > :14:06.and thousands of them. He is ignoring it. They started
:14:07. > :14:10.scaremongering in the run-up to January the 1st. They have been
:14:11. > :14:15.proved wrong and decided to go for broke and continue to
:14:16. > :14:25.scaremongering. They are not scaremongering from the number of
:14:26. > :14:30.immigrants from the eight countries. When the previous government did not
:14:31. > :14:36.have transitional controls, that is the lessons we learned. That is why
:14:37. > :14:42.we put controls on Romania and Bulgaria and we have not had a
:14:43. > :14:45.similar problem. Underlying this, it comes out as part of the
:14:46. > :14:51.unemployment statistics, we have more people in work than ever before
:14:52. > :14:56.and 75% of the new jobs are being taken by British citizens. That
:14:57. > :14:57.figure was 55% at the end of the Labour government. We will have to
:14:58. > :15:02.leave it there. Now, we've talked a lot
:15:03. > :15:06.on this programme about ?gurus?. Oh yes, we keep up with all
:15:07. > :15:07.the hot political trends. This week Labour's new guru is
:15:08. > :15:09.in town. He's called David Axelrod
:15:10. > :15:12.and he helped Barack Obama win two He's been hired to give Ed Miliband
:15:13. > :15:18.strategic advice between now But judging by the latest polls
:15:19. > :15:21.on this side of the pond he might have his work cut out performing the
:15:22. > :15:25.same magic for the labour leader. As always at times like this
:15:26. > :15:57.JoCo is on hand to explain why. chief -- former campaign chief David
:15:58. > :16:00.Axelrod has arrived in the UK. With a year to go until the general
:16:01. > :16:06.election, Labour is watching its once healthy lead in the polls
:16:07. > :16:09.slowly narrow. The BBC's poll of polls up until April, shows April
:16:10. > :16:23.now only four percentage points ahead.
:16:24. > :16:29.One of those polls found that Miliband's leadership rating
:16:30. > :16:34.was lower than Nick Clegg's. Whilst that's miserable reading
:16:35. > :16:37.for Miliband's election man it's still not good enough
:16:38. > :16:40.for a successful Cameron campaign. For the Conservatives to gain an
:16:41. > :16:44.overall majority it's thought they need to be 11 percentage points
:16:45. > :16:48.ahead of Labour by the election. There is however a big electoral
:16:49. > :16:53.wildcard - Scotland, where Labour currently have 41 out of 59 MPs.
:16:54. > :16:55.If Scotland votes yes to independence it would force everyone
:16:56. > :16:59.to radically recalculate their electoral mathematics.
:17:00. > :16:59.Let's speak now to Joe Twyman, he's director
:17:00. > :17:10.of political research at YouGov. Welcome to the programme. If you
:17:11. > :17:17.were David Axelrod, what would you be thinking? I would think I have
:17:18. > :17:21.got an awful lot of money and I have got a big job to do. This time last
:17:22. > :17:25.year, Labour were ten points ahead and now it is pretty much neck and
:17:26. > :17:30.neck depending on which poll you look at. But both parties are only
:17:31. > :17:33.on 34% of the vote and you are not going to win a majority in the
:17:34. > :17:37.general election with that share. That could lead to a very
:17:38. > :17:42.interesting situation come this time next year when Labour win the most
:17:43. > :17:50.seats but the Conservatives win the most votes in a hung parliament. And
:17:51. > :17:52.then who knows what happens. Do you think these two latest polls which
:17:53. > :17:55.put the Conservatives two points ahead, is that part of a pattern
:17:56. > :18:00.which will increase or will it go back, do you think, let's look at
:18:01. > :18:05.the Sunday Times poll at the weekend which found Labour ahead? Individual
:18:06. > :18:09.polls are interesting but what is really important is the long-term
:18:10. > :18:14.trends over months or years. Some people will say it is the European
:18:15. > :18:18.elections coming up so polls are always slightly odd, but what we are
:18:19. > :18:24.seeing in terms of longer term trends going back to the election,
:18:25. > :18:28.is the decline of that gap. And the Conservatives moving ever closer to
:18:29. > :18:31.Labour. That is worrying if you are Labour strategist because that has
:18:32. > :18:34.to be changed if you're going to be successful at the ballot box. Thank
:18:35. > :18:38.you. And thanks, John-macro. --
:18:39. > :18:54.John-macro. Mary we find out that Mr Miliband's
:18:55. > :19:00.personal ratings are below Gordon Brown's. What is going on? Polls go
:19:01. > :19:06.up and they go down. We do not pay too much attention to polls. You
:19:07. > :19:13.do, you spend a lot of money in the Labour Party. I do not know what
:19:14. > :19:15.David Axelrod does but I know Ed Miliband's leadership has inspired
:19:16. > :19:20.thousands of people to join the Labour Party and to rejoin the
:19:21. > :19:26.Labour Party. We have thousands of people out talking to people on the
:19:27. > :19:33.doorstep. I think there is a UKIP effect. What would that be? A vote
:19:34. > :19:38.for UKIP is a vote for none of the above, it is a protest vote. I think
:19:39. > :19:42.we will not see that affect as strongly at the general election.
:19:43. > :19:47.There is no doubt at the European elections that UKIP has sent a mass
:19:48. > :19:51.mailing out to people. I can see why that would affect the state of the
:19:52. > :19:58.parties if you are right, but I do not understand how that would affect
:19:59. > :20:01.the public's assessment of Mr Miliband as a leader. We have had
:20:02. > :20:09.Taylor advised debates, Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg -- televised debates.
:20:10. > :20:13.People have seen a lot of those people. When people meet Ed Miliband
:20:14. > :20:20.and they listen to his policies and when they meet him and they see him,
:20:21. > :20:27.people see his charisma, see his leadership... His charisma? Yes, his
:20:28. > :20:33.charisma, he's charismatic. When you look at the trend in these polls,
:20:34. > :20:38.the more the British people see Ed Miliband, the less they like what
:20:39. > :20:44.they see. His poll ratings have got consistently worse over the last two
:20:45. > :20:49.years. When people look at the policies Ed Miliband has formulated
:20:50. > :20:53.for our party, whether it is 25 hours a week for childcare to help
:20:54. > :20:58.working people get a job and help their families, whether it is the
:20:59. > :21:03.gas and electricity price freeze, derided by the Conservatives and now
:21:04. > :21:08.imitated by them... Each of these policies on Rome, they are pretty
:21:09. > :21:14.popular in the country, so why therefore has Labour's poll lead all
:21:15. > :21:24.disappeared? There is an argument about whether it has disappeared. It
:21:25. > :21:28.has certainly narrowed. There is a coalition government, there is a
:21:29. > :21:32.media focus on David Cameron and Nick Clegg. That is where most of
:21:33. > :21:38.the media attention is focused. The great media personality is Nigel
:21:39. > :21:42.Farage who has never knowingly photographed without a pint of beer
:21:43. > :21:54.and a cigarette in his hand. Is Ed Miliband charismatic? He is. Mrs
:21:55. > :21:59.Miliband thinks he is charismatic. I do. People like him,
:22:00. > :22:05.Miliband thinks he is charismatic. I him, he is sincere. It just may be
:22:06. > :22:10.that your fundamental pitch is not gelling with the British people. But
:22:11. > :22:14.when you talk about a cost of living crisis, and I emphasise the word
:22:15. > :22:19.crisis as opposed to cost of living problems, people think times have
:22:20. > :22:26.been tough, it is not easy, we have to tighten our belts but it is not a
:22:27. > :22:30.crisis. It is a crisis. When you have a million people relying on
:22:31. > :22:33.food hand-outs, when you have children and elderly people being
:22:34. > :22:36.thrust into poverty, people look around them in their towns and
:22:37. > :22:40.cities and they think, my child will not be able to go to university with
:22:41. > :22:44.the tuition fees, they will not be able to afford their own home and
:22:45. > :22:48.they see a government that is interested in tax cuts for the very
:22:49. > :22:57.rich at the top, not helping people at the bottom to have a hand up. We
:22:58. > :23:00.have just had yet again very good unemployment figures coming out, it
:23:01. > :23:07.is at the lowest in Europe after Germany, if there is a cost of
:23:08. > :23:13.living crisis, why are retail sales in the shops so strong and why is
:23:14. > :23:18.every consumer confidence index rising? If you are one of the
:23:19. > :23:23.850,000 young people who has not got a job, there is a crisis. We know
:23:24. > :23:31.the scarring effects of long-term unemployment and older women and
:23:32. > :23:36.young people. Hold on, almost 300,000 of those people are
:23:37. > :23:39.university students. These consumer confidence indices and retail sales
:23:40. > :23:44.are driven by people on average incomes. So if there is a cost of
:23:45. > :23:47.living crisis for the average person in this country, why are retail
:23:48. > :23:59.sales so strong and why figures are the figures, there may
:24:00. > :24:03.be students but they are trying to pay their way through university to
:24:04. > :24:08.minimise the debts they will come out with after university. And our
:24:09. > :24:13.confidence question, people in the south-east of seeing the house
:24:14. > :24:16.prices rise. There is an issue about consumer spending is being fuelled
:24:17. > :24:18.by people who feel they are richer because that house price is going
:24:19. > :24:23.up. That is not the case. These are national and they break them down
:24:24. > :24:26.regionally and national and they break them down
:24:27. > :24:32.every region. No people in national and they break them down
:24:33. > :24:39.Tamworth that I have been speaking to, do not feel confident. They are
:24:40. > :24:42.not splashing a load of cash and consumer durables. It is not a
:24:43. > :24:45.recovery being felt across consumer durables. It is not a
:24:46. > :24:50.United Kingdom. It is interesting if that is true that it is not being
:24:51. > :24:56.reflected in the polls. The best you can hope for is to be the largest
:24:57. > :25:06.party again, isn't it? No, Labour had a lead of 16%. You think you can
:25:07. > :25:11.have an 11% lead over Labour? Well the polls move. They do not move
:25:12. > :25:18.like Krakatoa! You really think you can get an 11% lead? What are you
:25:19. > :25:22.one these days? I am looking at the economy. I am looking at the figures
:25:23. > :25:28.we have had today. Falling youth unemployment. Mary has a cheek to
:25:29. > :25:34.dog at 850,000, I spent days in opposition talking about a million
:25:35. > :25:38.people under the age of 24. 150,000 fewer of them are out of work than
:25:39. > :25:43.they used to be. You could get that 11 point lead, it would be
:25:44. > :25:46.conceivable if it was not for something called UKIP and you do not
:25:47. > :25:50.know how to handle UKIP. Every time you come up with a policy or an
:25:51. > :25:55.approach or a policy or an approach or strategy towards them rises in
:25:56. > :25:59.the polls. We have seen what has happened in the run-up to the
:26:00. > :26:03.European elections. People traditionally use European elections
:26:04. > :26:10.as a free kick. We have seen the Green Party get 15% in the European
:26:11. > :26:14.election and more or less disappear for decades. People behave
:26:15. > :26:16.differently than general elections. I do not think it is a great
:26:17. > :26:23.predictor of a general election. OK. Now as you know here
:26:24. > :26:27.at the BBC we like to cover all the Yesterday Jo had an opera singer
:26:28. > :26:31.performing some arias in the studio. But we also like to reflect the
:26:32. > :26:35.fringe pastimes that might still The government's been thinking
:26:36. > :26:40.about one such event - something The top minds at the Home Office
:26:41. > :26:46.have written a report looking at the benefits of keeping the pubs open
:26:47. > :26:49.during this competition, which is Are you sure you don't mean
:26:50. > :26:56.the Olympics? Anyway, the report says England has
:26:57. > :26:59.a 54% chance of getting past the group stage,
:27:00. > :27:05.whatever that is, and an 11% chance So it sounds like the England team,
:27:06. > :27:13.whoever they are, won't be bringing They do however have
:27:14. > :27:23.a good chance of winning the Cup And you won't have to go to Brazil
:27:24. > :27:34.to do it. We'll remind you how to enter
:27:35. > :27:37.in a minute, but let's see if you can remember when this happened -
:27:38. > :29:26.and just a warning there is some Nice music. I liked it. To be in
:29:27. > :29:32.with a chance of winning a mug, send your answer to our e-mail address.
:29:33. > :29:34.Full terms and conditions are online.
:29:35. > :29:43.It is coming up to midday here. Big Ben is behind me. I love that shot!
:29:44. > :29:46.And in front of me is Nick Robinson of the BBC here for Prime Minister's
:29:47. > :29:49.Questions. They are becoming quite rare these days because I think
:29:50. > :29:53.after today there will not be one next week because Parliament has
:29:54. > :29:57.nothing to do. They are all off to the seaside. Then it is the Whitsun
:29:58. > :29:59.holiday so they will get two weeks. And then when they come back there
:30:00. > :30:31.will be the week go now. I have had meetings with ministerial
:30:32. > :30:35.colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in this House,
:30:36. > :30:42.I will have further meetings later. The UK has 104 billionaires, London
:30:43. > :30:57.has 72 billionaires. Wes Brown Wales and the valleys is in the top
:30:58. > :30:59.poorest regions in Europe. Why is Lord Mandelson intensely relaxed
:31:00. > :31:05.about people getting filthy rich. What is worthwhile is the massive
:31:06. > :31:07.fall in unemployment and the increase in employment we have seen
:31:08. > :31:16.across the country. In terms of Wales, unemployment has fallen by
:31:17. > :31:22.5000 in the last quarter and fallen by 25,000 in the last election. In
:31:23. > :31:28.terms of making sure the richest in our country pay their taxes, we see
:31:29. > :31:33.the richest 1% paying a greater percentage of income tax than ever
:31:34. > :31:39.they did under Labour. What we are seeing is abroad based recovery and
:31:40. > :31:44.I want to make sure everyone in our country can benefit and that is why
:31:45. > :31:56.we are cutting taxes and keep people from paying income tax. At the end
:31:57. > :31:59.of November, a director of the Stagecoach company acquired Manston
:32:00. > :32:05.airport in my constituency for ?1. On budget day, she announced she was
:32:06. > :32:11.going into consultation with the view to closing an airport which is
:32:12. > :32:14.worth hundreds of jobs, and major diversion field and a search and
:32:15. > :32:18.rescue base. Since then we have sought to find a buyer. Last night
:32:19. > :32:26.the river oak company, who already have airport interests put in a
:32:27. > :32:33.realistic offer to keep the airport open, save jobs and develop the
:32:34. > :32:37.business. At present the owners are reluctant. I don't expect my right
:32:38. > :32:48.honourable friend to engage in commercial negotiations, but will he
:32:49. > :32:56.ensure that the CAA operating licence remains open, the airport
:32:57. > :33:02.remains open and further discussions are held and will he encourage those
:33:03. > :33:04.discussions to take ways? I know my honourable friend has been fighting
:33:05. > :33:05.hard with the honourable member about the future of Manston airport
:33:06. > :33:06.and recognise it has played an important role in the local economy.
:33:07. > :33:11.The future of the airport remains the responsibility of the owner, but
:33:12. > :33:15.I think it is important the government is engaged. I know the
:33:16. > :33:20.Transport Secretary is engaged and will be talking to the owner about
:33:21. > :33:24.this issue and contacting the potential purchasers. In
:33:25. > :33:25.this issue and contacting the they had to make a commercial
:33:26. > :33:38.decision but the government will do everything it can to help.
:33:39. > :33:47.I welcome the fall in unemployment. For all of those people who have
:33:48. > :33:57.found work it is good for them and good for their families. Following
:33:58. > :34:01.the appearance of Pfizer at the select committee yesterday, can the
:34:02. > :34:08.Prime Minister tell us what assurances he is seeking from them
:34:09. > :34:12.and their takeover of AstraZeneca. These are jobs he predict did would
:34:13. > :34:18.never come to Britain and would never be there all stop but it is
:34:19. > :34:25.important because what we see is the largest quarterly increase of people
:34:26. > :34:28.in work, 280,000. We see unemployment is coming down, youth
:34:29. > :34:36.unemployment is coming down and long-term youth unemployment coming
:34:37. > :34:39.down with long-term economic plan working, we see the number of
:34:40. > :34:48.vacancies going up. Honourable members may be interested to know,
:34:49. > :34:51.three quarters of the new jobs over year have gone to UK nationals and
:34:52. > :34:53.also, the employment of Romanians and Olga Aryans went down in the
:34:54. > :35:00.first three months of this year, following the lifting of the
:35:01. > :35:10.controls, which I think is notable. In terms of Pfizer and AstraZeneca
:35:11. > :35:13.this government has been cleared to get stuck in to seek a possible
:35:14. > :35:17.guarantees on British jobs, investment and British science. We
:35:18. > :35:21.discussed this last week and one of the most important things is the
:35:22. > :35:26.right honourable gentleman was asked for a meeting with Pfizer, but said
:35:27. > :35:34.he was too busy politically campaigning. He put party politics
:35:35. > :35:44.ahead of the national interests. I am not going to take any lectures
:35:45. > :35:50.from the guy who was negotiating with Pfizer over the heads of the
:35:51. > :35:58.board of AstraZeneca. Pfizer does not need a PR man, they have got the
:35:59. > :36:03.Prime Minister. Now, for all sides of the House, the appearance of
:36:04. > :36:09.Pfizer at a select committee raises more questions than answers about
:36:10. > :36:13.so-called assurances. The head of Pfizer said there would be a fall in
:36:14. > :36:21.research and development spending as a result of the takeover. Has the
:36:22. > :36:27.Prime Minister got assurances these cuts will not take place in the UK?
:36:28. > :36:31.What is the way of getting those guarantees? Is it getting stuck in
:36:32. > :36:38.with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, battling for the British interest?
:36:39. > :36:40.Or, is it standing back like he has done, doing nothing apart from
:36:41. > :36:47.playing politics. I am clear what the British interest is, it is
:36:48. > :36:53.British jobs, British science, writ -ish research and development and I
:36:54. > :37:02.will do our bit link I can to receive those guarantees. 175,000
:37:03. > :37:09.employed in life sciences in our country because we encourage
:37:10. > :37:13.investments. Companies have chosen to come and invest here because it
:37:14. > :37:20.is a great country to come and do business. The problem is, his
:37:21. > :37:27.assurances are vague, have caveats and are inappropriate. Not my words
:37:28. > :37:29.but the words of the Presidents of the Royal Society. His assurances
:37:30. > :37:35.are useless and there is no guarantee on research and
:37:36. > :37:41.development. The head of Pfizer said yesterday, " there will be job cuts
:37:42. > :37:48.somewhere". Has he got an assurance these job cuts will not take place
:37:49. > :37:53.in the UK? We have assurances on the percentage of research and
:37:54. > :37:57.development that will happen here, investment in Cambridge, investment
:37:58. > :38:01.in Macclesfield. If he is arguing, do we want further assurances? Yes
:38:02. > :38:08.we do. Do we want to make sure those jobs stay here? Yes we do do we want
:38:09. > :38:15.more investment in British universities and science? Yes we do.
:38:16. > :38:21.I say, get stuck in, negotiate hard, fight for Britain. He says, play
:38:22. > :38:29.politics and put that before the national interest. His negotiations
:38:30. > :38:33.aren't working. They are worthless. On research and development, on
:38:34. > :38:39.jobs, he has no answers. What about the possible carving up of the
:38:40. > :38:42.merged company? Nobody wants a company to be bought, split up and
:38:43. > :38:48.sold off. Has he got assurances that won't happen in the course of this
:38:49. > :38:53.takeover? We want a good out, or British investment and jobs. We know
:38:54. > :38:59.what happens if you take the approach of the Labour Party. Let's
:39:00. > :39:06.remember Kraft and Cadburys. We had wonderful speeches about locking
:39:07. > :39:09.investments and then complete and abject surrender and the closure
:39:10. > :39:15.plans under Labour. We have learned the lessons of the mistakes Labour
:39:16. > :39:19.made. We are operating under the framework they left us, which he
:39:20. > :39:24.wrote while he was at the Treasury. We will get results for British
:39:25. > :39:32.science and investment by being engaged rather than standing off and
:39:33. > :39:37.playing politics. He sold off Royal Mail at a knock-down price and the
:39:38. > :39:41.Chancellor's Westman made a killing. That is what happens with his
:39:42. > :39:50.assurances. The truth is, he cannot give us a guarantee because the
:39:51. > :39:54.chief executive says, " he wants to conserve the option a la tea of
:39:55. > :39:59.splitting up the company and flogging it off". Last week the
:40:00. > :40:01.Prime Minister said he would judge the takeover on British jobs,
:40:02. > :40:08.British investment and British science. But he cannot offer
:40:09. > :40:12.assurances on any of those things. Isn't it obvious we should have a
:40:13. > :40:18.proper test of the public interest and if the deal does not pass, we
:40:19. > :40:22.should lock it. He raises this issue about the public interest test.
:40:23. > :40:28.Which party, which government and which individual, when he was in the
:40:29. > :40:31.Treasury writing the rules, got rid of that test? It was the right
:40:32. > :40:37.honourable gentleman. That is what we see on a day when unemployment is
:40:38. > :40:47.down, when more people are in work. He will try any trick, rather than
:40:48. > :40:55.to talk about what is happening in our economy. The country is getting
:40:56. > :40:59.stronger, he is getting weaker. He may not think it is important to
:41:00. > :41:01.talk about a company that is 2% of UK experts and which 30,000 jobs
:41:02. > :41:06.depend. It is crucial to our national interests. And the truth
:41:07. > :41:10.is, he is not powerless, he is the Prime Minister. He can act on a
:41:11. > :41:16.public interest test. We're talking about one of our most important
:41:17. > :41:20.companies. Nobody is certain about his assurances and he is calling
:41:21. > :41:26.back on the old idea that the market knows best and does not need rest.
:41:27. > :41:32.From Royal Mail to AstraZeneca, this is a Prime Minister whose ideology
:41:33. > :41:36.means he cannot stand up for the national interests. If the things
:41:37. > :41:42.these companies are important, why didn't he meet with them rather than
:41:43. > :41:46.go canvassing. He put his own party political interest ahead of the
:41:47. > :41:51.national interest. He fails to understand with measure British
:41:52. > :41:55.interest in British science, jobs and investment. But we measure it on
:41:56. > :42:00.us being a country open to overseas investment. There is a reason
:42:01. > :42:05.companies are coming here to make cars, build trains, make new drugs
:42:06. > :42:11.in our company is because we cut taxes, welcome investments, we are
:42:12. > :42:18.growing our economy and we have more people in work. We will not take a
:42:19. > :42:27.lecture from the party that brought this economy to its knees. I am sure
:42:28. > :42:34.the honourable gentleman is delighted to be greeted. The sun is
:42:35. > :42:40.shining and people are preparing to come to Cornwall for their holiday.
:42:41. > :42:45.When they arrive they will see some of the recent storm damage still has
:42:46. > :42:51.not been put right. Cornwall doesn't just need a long-term, economic
:42:52. > :42:57.plan. We need help today. Will he meet with me to see what more can be
:42:58. > :43:01.done? I am happy to go on discussing with Cornish MPs and with the
:43:02. > :43:06.council to make sure we do every thing to help Cornwall back onto its
:43:07. > :43:10.feet after the storms. I have said the money is under the scheme, so
:43:11. > :43:15.all of the emergency funding that Cornwall had to spend, it had
:43:16. > :43:20.claimed back. It still has time to work on that claim. We have
:43:21. > :43:24.increased the amount of money going through the Environment Agency to
:43:25. > :43:29.repair storm damage. There is an opportunity for Cornwall to have
:43:30. > :43:32.somebody as well. I am sure people are preparing to go to Cornwall and
:43:33. > :43:37.when they get there they will have a very good time. This week the Public
:43:38. > :43:43.Accounts Committee criticised the MoD for failing to account for a one
:43:44. > :43:48.2p underspend, and went on to say this might result in higher spending
:43:49. > :43:54.in future years. Does the Prime Minister think he is right he has
:43:55. > :43:58.balanced the books at the MoD? I remember coming government where we
:43:59. > :44:02.were left with a 38 William pounds black hole. If the criticism is the
:44:03. > :44:06.Secretary of State is careful with the pounds and the pennies and
:44:07. > :44:09.making sure there is an underspend, that can be carried forward into
:44:10. > :44:13.further investment to make sure we have the best investment for the
:44:14. > :44:27.troops, I suspect he may plead guilty. Stevenage continuously the
:44:28. > :44:32.economic recovery. It shows our long-term economic plan is working.
:44:33. > :44:34.economic recovery. It shows our Will the Prime Minister join with
:44:35. > :44:37.economic recovery. It shows our in congratulating the
:44:38. > :44:38.economic recovery. It shows our institutions and businesses in my
:44:39. > :44:47.constituency that have increased apprenticeship starts to over 800
:44:48. > :44:51.apprenticeship starts now? My honourable friend is right. In
:44:52. > :45:03.Stevenage unemployment has fallen by 24% over the last year which shows
:45:04. > :45:38.our economic plan is working and every one of those people is not
:45:39. > :45:44.just a They have zero hour contracts which do not pay enough to pay the
:45:45. > :45:49.rent. Unemployment in Stockton has fallen over the last year. If he
:45:50. > :45:52.looks at the unemployment figures, he will see that the number of
:45:53. > :45:57.people in part-time work he will see that the number of
:45:58. > :46:00.full-time work has fallen increasingly. People are able to
:46:01. > :46:05.find the full-time work that they want. There is an increase in people
:46:06. > :46:08.claiming housing benefit because there is an increase in people who
:46:09. > :46:14.are in work. That is what is happening in our country, we are
:46:15. > :46:18.getting people back to work. Mr Speaker, thousands of people in
:46:19. > :46:23.my constituency are forced to use the NHS in Wales said they will be
:46:24. > :46:31.concerned about yesterday's report which showed serious failings in the
:46:32. > :46:36.care of fail older people at two NHS hospitals in Wales -- frail older
:46:37. > :46:40.people. Don't the people of Wales and my constituency deserve better?
:46:41. > :46:44.As I understand it these are very concerning reports which do need to
:46:45. > :46:50.be studied because the NHS in Wales is not in a good state. We have had
:46:51. > :46:56.an 8% cut in the budget. The last time A targets were met in Wales
:46:57. > :47:01.was in 2009. The last time the urgent cancer treatment target was
:47:02. > :47:05.met was in 2008. We really season problems in the NHS in Wales and
:47:06. > :47:09.frankly the Labour Party are chatting to each other on the front
:47:10. > :47:13.bench and they should be getting a grip of this issue and sorting out
:47:14. > :47:17.the NHS. The Pfizer boss did give assurances
:47:18. > :47:22.to the business committee yesterday. He gave an absolute
:47:23. > :47:26.assurance that any takeover of AstraZeneca would result in a fall
:47:27. > :47:33.in research and development into new drugs in the UK. The AstraZeneca
:47:34. > :47:37.boss said it could put lives at risk. How can any Prime Minister
:47:38. > :47:40.worth the title not immediately conclude that the right thing to do
:47:41. > :47:46.in the national interest is to call this in? As I explained to his right
:47:47. > :47:50.honourable friend, we are operating under the legal framework put in
:47:51. > :47:53.place by the Government he was a member of. I actually think, when he
:47:54. > :47:56.looks at The Record of what was said yesterday, I think you will find
:47:57. > :48:04.that the quotes he gives are not accurate. Does the Prime Minister
:48:05. > :48:10.agree that the building of vital roads like the A5 M1 link Dunstable
:48:11. > :48:13.Northern bypass will create even more jobs and that continued
:48:14. > :48:22.infrastructure investment like this is a key part of our long-term
:48:23. > :48:27.economic plan? I agree. I have spent some time in his constituency stuck
:48:28. > :48:32.on the A5 and I know how much it does need this remedial work done.
:48:33. > :48:37.It is absolutely vital for this part of our country. We are investing
:48:38. > :48:42.more in our railways since any time since the Victorian times and we are
:48:43. > :48:46.investing more on our roads since the 1970s. It is keyed to the
:48:47. > :48:49.success of our long-term economic plan.
:48:50. > :48:54.Is there a good reason why the promised will not condemn the tax
:48:55. > :48:59.affairs of Tory supporting Gary Barlow as morally wrong? I could not
:49:00. > :49:02.be clearer that I condemn all of these progressive tax avoidance
:49:03. > :49:07.schemes. And more than just condemning them, this government has
:49:08. > :49:12.taken legislative action to say to people, to coin a phrase, we want
:49:13. > :49:21.your money for good. Mr William Cash. Order, order! Lets
:49:22. > :49:29.have a respectful silence for Mr William Cash.
:49:30. > :49:33.Thank you, Mr Speaker. My right honourable friend will know that my
:49:34. > :49:40.international do on gender equality act came into force last night. Will
:49:41. > :49:46.he note that this will protect women and girls throughout the world and
:49:47. > :49:51.furthermore that particularly in places like Nigeria and Syria, it
:49:52. > :49:55.provides an opportunity to be able to do whatever we can to relieve
:49:56. > :50:00.their tragedy. Will he be good enough to have a word with the
:50:01. > :50:03.secretary of the, our excellent Secretary of State for International
:50:04. > :50:08.development and do whatever we can to use that act to help those people
:50:09. > :50:14.who are being severely afflicted? I am sure the whole house will want to
:50:15. > :50:17.join me in amending this honourable gentleman for his bill and getting
:50:18. > :50:22.this important measure on the statute book. This year, Britain is
:50:23. > :50:27.taking some huge steps forward, using the power of our aid budget to
:50:28. > :50:33.really try and drive change in our world, to end forever the scandals
:50:34. > :50:37.of forced and early marriage and female genital mutilation. We are in
:50:38. > :50:41.a really strong position to drive change on this. He mentioned Nigeria
:50:42. > :50:45.and I can announce today that we have offered Nigeria further
:50:46. > :50:50.assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft and the team to work with
:50:51. > :50:55.US experts to analyse information on the girls' location. As I said last
:50:56. > :50:59.week, this is an act of pure evil, the world is coming together not
:51:00. > :51:06.just to condemn it but to help the Nigerians find these girls.
:51:07. > :51:12.50,499 ambulances have been waiting in queues of at least half an hour
:51:13. > :51:17.at accident and emergency units up and down the country. What is he
:51:18. > :51:21.going to do about it? What we are doing about it is making sure the
:51:22. > :51:27.?12.7 billion extra that we are putting into the NHS, unlike the
:51:28. > :51:33.Labour NHS cut in Wales, is going to good use and we can actually see in
:51:34. > :51:36.our NHS, we have 1.2 million more people attending accident and
:51:37. > :51:41.emergency and over this winter period, we met our targets for
:51:42. > :51:46.accident and emergency. I remember the last time the Labour leader
:51:47. > :51:51.raised our hospitals at Prime Minister's Questions. It was back in
:51:52. > :51:55.November. He has not had a word to say about it since! He predicted a
:51:56. > :51:59.winter crisis, he sat there day after day dying for it to happen. It
:52:00. > :52:09.did not happen because we have a strong NHS with more doctors and
:52:10. > :52:13.nurses serving our country. The Prime Minister is well aware of
:52:14. > :52:18.the wonderful work done by the Royal British Legion centre with our brave
:52:19. > :52:23.servicemen and women who have been injured in conflict through adaptive
:52:24. > :52:28.sports and adventurous training. At the end of this month, I will be
:52:29. > :52:33.joining a team from the centre with the honourable members for Bass
:52:34. > :52:36.North, chat and Aylesford, to raise awareness of this wonderful work and
:52:37. > :52:42.will the Prime Minister wish us every success in this aim? I will
:52:43. > :52:49.certainly wish the honourable gentleman from across the House, the
:52:50. > :52:53.honourable gentlemen and ladies. I wish them well. The Royal British
:52:54. > :52:57.Legion plays a key part in standing up for our veterans and their
:52:58. > :53:00.interests and making sure we raise money and serve them properly. We
:53:01. > :53:08.work very closely with them in government. The Battle Back centre
:53:09. > :53:12.is an extraordinary facility. I wish you well and hope the fundraising
:53:13. > :53:16.goes well. When the Prime Minister goes up to
:53:17. > :53:19.Scotland this week, when he explained to our agricultural
:53:20. > :53:24.producers in rural countries, wide by 2019 we will be receiving the
:53:25. > :53:32.lower-level -- lowest level per hectare, not only of any country in
:53:33. > :53:39.the UK but in the whole EU? What I will be explaining on my trip is how
:53:40. > :53:43.Scotland is better off inside the United Kingdom, that we have all of
:53:44. > :53:47.the negotiating power of the UK around the table to get a good deal
:53:48. > :53:51.for Scotland, whereas an independent Scotland would have to queue up
:53:52. > :53:55.behind other countries to get back into the European Union and
:53:56. > :53:58.specifically on agriculture, because of the hard work of my right
:53:59. > :54:02.honourable friend the agriculture secretary, we're actually making
:54:03. > :54:05.sure that there will be extra support for Scottish farmers
:54:06. > :54:07.absolutely in line with what the Scottish
:54:08. > :54:14.absolutely in line with what the for. Richard Harrington.
:54:15. > :54:16.According to the Watford Chamber of Commerce, this year Watford will
:54:17. > :54:20.benefit from a total of ?1.5 Commerce, this year Watford will
:54:21. > :54:26.in new investment. Already started, we have got a new road, two train
:54:27. > :54:31.stations, two secondary schools being refitted and we have a
:54:32. > :54:37.brand-new UTC. To cap all of that, today that has been an announcement
:54:38. > :54:43.that unemployment is 667 less than a year ago. But I am very concerned
:54:44. > :54:45.that this continues. I would like to ask the Prime Minister what his
:54:46. > :54:48.strategy is to make sure this continues. If he takes my advice, Mr
:54:49. > :54:56.Speaker, he will continues. If he takes my advice, Mr
:54:57. > :55:02.something that is one long-term, two economic. First of all, can I say to
:55:03. > :55:07.my honourable friend how well commit is that unemployment in Watford over
:55:08. > :55:13.the last year has fallen by 30%. We are getting the people of Watford
:55:14. > :55:16.back to work and cutting unemployment. What he says in terms
:55:17. > :55:20.of the important investment with the rail link and the two new stations
:55:21. > :55:24.and re-building new schools are absolutely vital. The long-term plan
:55:25. > :55:29.is not just about jobs and cutting taxes, as important as those are, it
:55:30. > :55:34.is also about supporting business and small business in particular, by
:55:35. > :55:37.building the infrastructure we need. Because we have taken difficult
:55:38. > :55:40.long-term decisions, we have been able to put this investment into our
:55:41. > :55:49.roads and railways. able to put this investment into our
:55:50. > :55:56.able to see a GP within 48 hours was not a priority. Does this Prime
:55:57. > :56:01.Minister regret this? If you listen to the Royal College of GPs, they
:56:02. > :56:06.are saying there is something like 40 million more GP appointments
:56:07. > :56:11.since 2010. The patients survey always quoted by Labour ministers
:56:12. > :56:14.when they were in government says 93% of people say appointments in
:56:15. > :56:19.the GP system are convenient. Frankly, I want more. As the father
:56:20. > :56:24.of three young children, I know how important it is to get timely GP
:56:25. > :56:28.appointments. That is why we are training 5000 more GPs. We have
:56:29. > :56:33.named GP for frail and elderly people. We have a thousand GP
:56:34. > :56:38.centres which now open 8am to 8pm and at weekends. I tell you what I
:56:39. > :56:41.do regret. I regret the fact the last Labour government signed a
:56:42. > :56:45.contract with GPs which meant they did not have to offer a service out
:56:46. > :56:50.of hours or at weekends. Because of the investment we are putting into
:56:51. > :56:55.the NHS, actually, we are providing better services. If he is wondering
:56:56. > :57:02.about the idea of a 48-hour target, he might ask why Labour scrapped one
:57:03. > :57:07.in Wales. Nigel Evans. Ribble Valley Council has recently
:57:08. > :57:11.approved its core strategy. Will he reassure local councillors that this
:57:12. > :57:16.will now give them extra power to protect those areas within the
:57:17. > :57:19.Ribble Valley that are not already earmarked for development. And will
:57:20. > :57:23.he come and visit the Ribble Valley and see for himself why the Ribble
:57:24. > :57:26.Valley is consistently voted one of the best places to live in the
:57:27. > :57:34.United Kingdom and why local people want to keep it that way. I look
:57:35. > :57:36.forward to visiting my honourable friend's constituency and broader
:57:37. > :57:41.constituencies in Lancashire as well. I think the assurance I can
:57:42. > :57:44.give him is this. When local councils put in place their local
:57:45. > :57:48.plan, they will have far greater ability to determine how much
:57:49. > :57:51.housing, what sort of housing and where it goes. That is what we are
:57:52. > :57:54.trying to put in place and the faster local councils can put
:57:55. > :57:59.implants the more power and responsibility they will have.
:58:00. > :58:02.As the Prime Minister has acknowledged, the number of people
:58:03. > :58:06.who are in work but have to claim housing benefit to make ends meet is
:58:07. > :58:10.growing, but the cost of that will be an extra ?5 billion over the
:58:11. > :58:15.course of this Parliament. Does the Prime Minister consider that a sign
:58:16. > :58:18.of success? The most important thing we have done in respect to housing
:58:19. > :58:24.benefit is to put a cap on it. When we claim to office there were
:58:25. > :58:28.families claiming 60, 70, ?80,000. When we put the cap on housing
:58:29. > :58:32.benefit, what was the Labour reaction? It was to vote against it.
:58:33. > :58:36.When we said housing benefit should not be paid in respect of spare
:58:37. > :58:42.rooms that people are not using, what was Labour's attitude? To
:58:43. > :58:46.oppose it. The good news from his seat is, here is something which is
:58:47. > :58:53.not going up, it is unemployment and it is down 31% in his constituency.
:58:54. > :58:56.Some of those people in work are claiming housing benefit but because
:58:57. > :58:59.of this government's long-term economic plan, more of his
:59:00. > :59:07.constituents are in work and earning. Mr Andrew Percy.
:59:08. > :59:11.Extra flood defence funding for the Humber area following the tidal
:59:12. > :59:14.surge in December was most welcome but many of my constituents are
:59:15. > :59:17.still out of their homes and there is concern that we get the 300
:59:18. > :59:22.million which is needed over the next five years. MPs are working
:59:23. > :59:29.across party on this. Will the prime Minster meet with us so we can meet
:59:30. > :59:36.with him to discuss the high risk of flooding? I had an experience of
:59:37. > :59:40.very positive and good meetings with members of Parliament for Humberside
:59:41. > :59:44.on a cross-party basis. We worked very hard to make sure the Siemens
:59:45. > :59:49.investment went into a hole which is going to bring not just jobs to that
:59:50. > :59:54.factory but a whole new industry and supply chain into the area --
:59:55. > :59:59.investment went into Hull. I will make sure we do all we can to
:00:00. > :59:59.protect people's homes and businesses.
:00:00. > :03:06.While I welcome the I hope you enjoyed that because you
:03:07. > :03:10.will not be getting another one for a long time. The two frontbenchers
:03:11. > :03:17.went backwards and forwards over Pfizer. Not a single new fact was
:03:18. > :03:25.introduced in the exchanges. They just repeated what we have heard
:03:26. > :03:33.many, many times before. Viewers did not engage and the subject matter.
:03:34. > :03:37.Actually, what they did engage and was the performances of the party
:03:38. > :03:43.leaders. Colin in Rugby said I do not know what scale politicians used
:03:44. > :03:48.to measure charisma, but it did it matter if it is the Bofors scale, Ed
:03:49. > :03:54.to measure charisma, but it did it air or possibly hot air.
:03:55. > :03:57.to measure charisma, but it did it the wild applause
:03:58. > :03:57.to measure charisma, but it did it for Ed Miliband was from the
:03:58. > :04:07.Conservative MPs. for Ed Miliband was from the
:04:08. > :04:13.long-term economic for Ed Miliband was from the
:04:14. > :04:19.but those and zero hours contracts do not think it is working. Terry
:04:20. > :04:20.Casey from Liverpool says the Prime Minister does not understand the
:04:21. > :04:29.rich are earning a lot more Minister does not understand the
:04:30. > :04:34.hence the rise in the tax. And some else accuses Ed Miliband of playing
:04:35. > :04:44.politics, if you get to me. I got lost on that one. You can explain to
:04:45. > :04:48.me later. Or all three main Westminster party is going to take
:04:49. > :04:54.the view that the European elections do not say anything about the future
:04:55. > :05:03.course in politics? The Greens did very well in 19 18, in the 1980s
:05:04. > :05:07.when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, UKIP did well in the past
:05:08. > :05:37.and another leader, Robert Kilroy silk. But if there is a big turnout
:05:38. > :05:44.or whether there is a protest vote. I thought what was striking today is
:05:45. > :05:50.Ed Miliband with news on a difficult wicket, a couple of the polls have
:05:51. > :05:56.shown Labour behind and employment figures are very good. What he
:05:57. > :05:59.wanted to avoid before an election is David Cameron pointing it out and
:06:00. > :06:09.him pointing out he was scared to talk about the economy. It is better
:06:10. > :06:18.than Manning crisis polls which have turned in the wrong direction. You
:06:19. > :06:22.can talk about this long-term sustainability, but it looks like
:06:23. > :06:28.this coalition government will go to the polls in a benign economic
:06:29. > :06:36.atmosphere. The governor of the Bank of England is forecast for this
:06:37. > :06:45.year, three point -- 3.4% growth and they have raised 2015, up 3%. No one
:06:46. > :06:53.on the left or the right sort that would be a kind of background to the
:06:54. > :06:57.run up to the election? We hoped for growth earlier and when we left
:06:58. > :06:59.government growth was rising, unemployment was falling and so was
:07:00. > :07:07.inflation. All of those things changed around 2010. We had three
:07:08. > :07:12.wasted years when we did not have growth. But growth for who? Where is
:07:13. > :07:16.the recovery being felt? It is being felt in London and the south-east
:07:17. > :07:22.and we have talked about House prices. But working people are on
:07:23. > :07:31.average ?1600 worse off with council tax bills going up, food going up
:07:32. > :07:45.and rent going up. Putting a ceiling on rent rises, these are the
:07:46. > :07:48.policies people are calling out for when we go out on the doorstep. So
:07:49. > :07:49.it is a recovery for the South. Labour said if you follow these
:07:50. > :07:57.policies, they won't be growth, there won't be recovery. We are now
:07:58. > :08:03.seeing strong growth. We have cut the deficit by a third. Unemployment
:08:04. > :08:08.coming down. There is clearly a palpable recovery going on across
:08:09. > :08:13.the economy. Helping young people, at least the young unemployment
:08:14. > :08:20.figures are coming down. And the long-term economic plan is working.
:08:21. > :08:24.You say nobody predicted this would be the background to the election,
:08:25. > :08:27.George Osborne predict did it. He said we would need to go through the
:08:28. > :08:35.pain of austerity. He predict did things with a better, he did not
:08:36. > :08:40.predict 3.4% growth, which is what the banks predicted because he has
:08:41. > :08:47.to depend on the OBR figures for growth and they are consistently
:08:48. > :08:54.wrong. The OBR is not the Treasury either. George Osborne sensibly
:08:55. > :08:59.set... You know when you speak to senior Conservatives they will
:09:00. > :09:05.surprise the economy is growing by over three and a half percent. We
:09:06. > :09:09.are not surprised the economy is growing because that was the purpose
:09:10. > :09:15.of the plan. I am talking about the volume of the growth which I think
:09:16. > :09:19.has surprised all of the Westminster establishment on the left and the
:09:20. > :09:26.right. The monetary policy committee meeting this morning, which is more
:09:27. > :09:28.important than anything that happened at Prime Minister's
:09:29. > :09:35.Questions. As the bank is telling us if the economy is growing by over
:09:36. > :09:39.3%, it is a return to normality. 3% is the growth rate you get coming
:09:40. > :09:43.out of a recession and at last we have reached that. So when do
:09:44. > :09:51.interest rates return to normal? Has anybody given the thought too, the
:09:52. > :09:55.closest we get to an election, does it not become a political move for
:09:56. > :10:00.the Governor of the bank to start to change interest rates. In America
:10:01. > :10:08.the Federal Reserve tries to avoid it in a presidential year. People
:10:09. > :10:10.are stretched on their mortgages and can only afford them because
:10:11. > :10:16.interest rates have been low for so long. While growth will help lots of
:10:17. > :10:24.people, the rise in interest rates will help savers but will hurt
:10:25. > :10:29.people with mortgages and push some over the edge. The governor was
:10:30. > :10:35.signalling interest rate rises would come sooner than he originally
:10:36. > :10:40.thought, but they will be gradual. I suspect if he thinks it has got to
:10:41. > :10:46.be done, they will try to do it slowly and steadily rather than
:10:47. > :10:57.waiting and waiting and doing it at one go. But it will be a big event,
:10:58. > :11:00.even if it is only 25 basis points, it is the turning of the cycle, the
:11:01. > :11:09.day he does that. What I cannot work out is, will he really do that this
:11:10. > :11:15.side of voting day? The hint is, he is given the upgrading of economic
:11:16. > :11:23.forecasts. But the interesting thing is, compared with him and his
:11:24. > :11:27.predecessor, Mervyn King, he was a politician first. He was a Canadian
:11:28. > :11:33.politician before he ran the Canadian central bank. He will be
:11:34. > :11:40.aware of the political sensitivity of putting up interest rates. But if
:11:41. > :11:45.the Bank of England concludes it has got to be done, I suspect it will
:11:46. > :11:48.be. I suspect he will hold off, not just for political reasons but the
:11:49. > :11:54.external pressures coming in on Britain at the moment are
:11:55. > :11:57.deflationary. The strength of sterling, the spectre of deflation
:11:58. > :12:05.in the Eurozone. I have just come back from Italy which has been hit
:12:06. > :12:13.by Italy, so has Greece, Spain and Portugal. Even Sweden, in the north.
:12:14. > :12:17.And this overcapacity in China, which will more than likely be
:12:18. > :12:22.dumped on Europe, these goods will come in cheaply. I suspect because
:12:23. > :12:28.of these deflationary pressures will not allow him to raise interest
:12:29. > :12:34.rates for a while? He will not want to do anything to choke off the
:12:35. > :12:38.recovery. And become political. We don't want to see people defaulting
:12:39. > :12:44.on their mortgages. Damien talks about a recovery but when we have
:12:45. > :12:46.half a million people on 0-hours contract 's, a million part-time
:12:47. > :12:52.workers who would like to move to full-time work but can't because
:12:53. > :12:58.their employers are not offering, or they cannot get the child care they
:12:59. > :13:03.need. It is not a recovery fully spread across all parts of the UK
:13:04. > :13:09.economy. It is spreading across all parts. One of the interesting things
:13:10. > :13:13.about this recovery is how balanced it is, it is not just a consumer
:13:14. > :13:20.recovery. Business investment as well. If it is not just consumers
:13:21. > :13:28.and businesses have got somewhere else to go, what else is it? It is
:13:29. > :13:36.exports as well. Overall, exports throughout the coalition's life have
:13:37. > :13:39.been a negative on growth. But they are coming in the right direction
:13:40. > :13:51.now. Manufacturing is doing better than people thought. A very low
:13:52. > :14:00.base? The base actor the recession was extremely low, it has now
:14:01. > :14:07.recovered under this government. And also the big issues leading up to
:14:08. > :14:11.these elections is immigration. The Prime Minister squeezed in a mention
:14:12. > :14:15.of it. You can look at the figures that show a big increase in the
:14:16. > :14:17.number of people coming from the EU as a success story. Jobs are being
:14:18. > :14:19.created and there is a record number of British people in jobs. If you
:14:20. > :14:23.are UKIP, you can say, we did not get it right about Romania and dog
:14:24. > :14:30.area but there is still a surge of people coming from the EU. It is
:14:31. > :14:34.whether the data can be read in more than one way. Do these figures that
:14:35. > :14:44.came out today, Vince Cable saying, I told you so. Or is Nigel Farage to
:14:45. > :14:46.save I don't care which bit of Europe came from, they are still
:14:47. > :14:52.coming. I suspect if they had gone on that it would have been more
:14:53. > :15:01.interesting. We will not see you for a few weeks. Just go and do some
:15:02. > :15:08.gardening, nothing else to do. We will see you on June 18. We will be
:15:09. > :15:11.counting the days. The weather will be nice, what ever
:15:12. > :15:21.you decide to do. How do you know that?
:15:22. > :15:26.I believe the BBC weather forecast. LED lights are becoming more
:15:27. > :15:29.popular, not just as flickering indicators are machines but for
:15:30. > :15:33.vehicle headlights, industrial lighting and even illuminating
:15:34. > :15:38.homes. They are seen as more efficient and longer lasting than
:15:39. > :15:42.traditional lamps. It is perhaps for this reason they are also being seen
:15:43. > :15:48.as an alternative option for street lighting by some councils. For soap
:15:49. > :15:53.box this week, we hear from Simon Nicholas who is a leading campaigner
:15:54. > :16:09.against LED street lighting in Trafford in South Manchester.
:16:10. > :16:13.and spreading across Britain. Now councils up and down the country
:16:14. > :16:19.want to use LEDs to light up our streets at night. Here in West
:16:20. > :16:27.London they have already made the switch. Here in West London they use
:16:28. > :16:33.them. They claim to use less energy. The cost of the PFI contract to
:16:34. > :16:38.install these is unknown. In my own borough of Old Trafford, the cost
:16:39. > :16:44.was similarly shrouded in secrecy. There is a question about how
:16:45. > :16:46.cost-effective it really is. In order to achieve savings over
:16:47. > :16:52.traditional lights, they must be supplied with a very high colour
:16:53. > :16:56.temperature omitting high levels in the blue spectrum. There is an
:16:57. > :17:02.increasing research which supports the view that blue
:17:03. > :17:06.bad for health and the environment. A number of studies suggests the
:17:07. > :17:13.blue lighting leads to the suppression of melatonin, a hormone
:17:14. > :17:20.which leads to sleep. A report in 2009 recommended caution before any
:17:21. > :17:22.widescale move to lean sodium lighting and broad-spectrum
:17:23. > :17:28.lighting. Here, people have complained the new lights have
:17:29. > :17:31.disrupted their sleep and they have had to use cardboard on the windows
:17:32. > :17:38.to block the lighting. I believe we need to halt and reverse the spread
:17:39. > :17:43.of LED lighting until wider research has been explored in the cold light
:17:44. > :17:49.of day. And Simon Nicholas is with me now.
:17:50. > :17:52.Let's look at the impact on health and sleep deprivation. How much
:17:53. > :17:56.evidence have you got to support the claims made in that film that LED
:17:57. > :18:02.lighting does have a negative impact? There is a lot of
:18:03. > :18:06.multinational research which have been published to support that. It
:18:07. > :18:10.is well acknowledged that blue light at night does affect sleep. And
:18:11. > :18:15.also, the whole issue will blue light in the environment affects not
:18:16. > :18:19.just human beings but also ecosystems of other animals and
:18:20. > :18:26.plants. It is not a naturally occurring to have blue light at
:18:27. > :18:30.night. There is a number of research that has been published. People are
:18:31. > :18:35.not going to be sleeping under the lights. It is not as if you are
:18:36. > :18:40.getting direct exposure, as if it was inside the house with you? I
:18:41. > :18:44.think you do get exposure if it is coming through your living room
:18:45. > :18:49.window in the evening and also, if you have a crack in the curtains, it
:18:50. > :18:53.can come through and liked the room. Also it has been suggested that you
:18:54. > :18:56.can get up in the middle of the night and walk into a room which
:18:57. > :19:02.does not have the curtains closed and it can trigger your body clock
:19:03. > :19:06.by just doing that. Is it true that even with the curtains closed, if
:19:07. > :19:10.you are standing in the bedrooms, if you have an LED light facing your
:19:11. > :19:19.house, you would have it streamed through the window? Guests. I went
:19:20. > :19:22.to a gentleman's house last night and he has a downstairs flat and it
:19:23. > :19:24.is streaming in almost like a floodlight from across the road into
:19:25. > :19:28.his bedroom. It does last longer than some of the traditional
:19:29. > :19:31.lighting that is used and is more efficient in terms of energy
:19:32. > :19:37.consumption. Is that the reason behind using them? It is more
:19:38. > :19:46.efficient but only if you tune it to omit a large amount of blue light.
:19:47. > :19:52.There are other issues as well such as glare. They are extremely bright.
:19:53. > :19:57.And also Flickr. There is concern and I have spoken to public health
:19:58. > :20:04.England about this, that different types of streetlights operating at
:20:05. > :20:08.different frequencies might cause problems in terms of seizures and
:20:09. > :20:14.that sort of thing. Have you actually won your battle in
:20:15. > :20:18.Trafford? In a sense, gas. They were in denial for a while about the
:20:19. > :20:25.issue of health. They have gone away and given me a commitment that they
:20:26. > :20:32.will not fit high colour temperature LEDs in Trafford. If more than -- is
:20:33. > :20:43.more benign specifications do not stack up financially, they will not
:20:44. > :20:46.be suppressed. I am worried about councils turning off the lights
:20:47. > :20:55.altogether. As somebody who regularly site 's home later
:20:56. > :20:59.tonight, there is research in a large amounts of accidents when the
:21:00. > :21:02.lights are turned off. Eric Pickles says people should not be doing
:21:03. > :21:05.aerobics at three o'clock in the morning. I do not think we want
:21:06. > :21:11.lessons from Eric and aerobics but I think it is important that we have a
:21:12. > :21:16.safe lighting system. Do you think this is? No, I think LED lights in
:21:17. > :21:21.Salford, they have installed them, they have cut their bill, it is a
:21:22. > :21:25.low-energy way of lighting the streets, councils are under pressure
:21:26. > :21:35.and a price freeze would reduce that but I do think blue light, it is the
:21:36. > :21:39.blue light which is most likely to keep us awake is staring at our
:21:40. > :21:44.hand-held phones and our computers and we do that voluntarily. What you
:21:45. > :21:47.say about the claim of Tory councils wanting to switch off the lights to
:21:48. > :21:51.save money. Eric Pickles says he loves them being switched off at
:21:52. > :22:01.night because it saves money and helps and sleep. Councils saving
:22:02. > :22:08.money is not sensible if they are not saving on essential things. The
:22:09. > :22:11.thing to do it is in areas where it does not make a difference. Having
:22:12. > :22:18.full streetlights on at three o'clock in the morning inroads where
:22:19. > :22:22.nobody walks down is not a sensible use of taxpayers' money. Is that
:22:23. > :22:29.stops a fatal car crash. Cars have headlights. Public health England
:22:30. > :22:34.has said that they are not convinced, there is research showing
:22:35. > :22:40.that they can cause problems. Public Health England is not convinced by
:22:41. > :22:44.that. The research on crime generally is almost perverse. It
:22:45. > :22:48.shows that crime goes down if you switch the lights off. I made that
:22:49. > :22:53.face as well when I heard that but it is fair to say that on the house
:22:54. > :23:00.aspects and the crime and safety aspects, the research is at best
:23:01. > :23:05.inconclusive. There is also environmental issues as well. Royal
:23:06. > :23:12.commission report said it advised government to do some research and
:23:13. > :23:15.not to rush into LED street lighting until the full environmental impact
:23:16. > :23:26.had been considered. Thank you and come and tell us what Trafford
:23:27. > :23:32.decide to do in the future. A crack team of researchers has been
:23:33. > :23:38.on to the House of Commons and they tell us that last year there was a
:23:39. > :23:42.PMQs after the Queens speech I stand corrected! But now there is some
:23:43. > :23:53.doubt about it. There are several anti-EU groups
:23:54. > :24:00.in each electoral region, including ex-UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass and his
:24:01. > :24:04."An Independence from Europe" Party. Let's have a look
:24:05. > :24:24.at their election broadcast. No one would have believed that in
:24:25. > :24:30.the first years of the 21st century, Britain's affairs were being watched
:24:31. > :24:34.and scrutinised by an alien world. With our three political parties who
:24:35. > :24:41.lie to the public about their intentions, minds more Eurocrat than
:24:42. > :24:49.ours, slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And then it came.
:24:50. > :24:55.The hideous body of the EU, smashing our democracy and destroying our
:24:56. > :25:00.laws. Plotting to annihilate our currency and sucking up our pension
:25:01. > :25:06.funds. And Mike Nattrass is here in the
:25:07. > :25:09.studio. Welcome to the Daily Politics. There is the United
:25:10. > :25:15.kingdom Independence party and now there is the An Independence From
:25:16. > :25:20.Europe party. It is a bit like the people's Judaean front and the
:25:21. > :25:24.Judaean front... Traditionally in British politics, it was the far
:25:25. > :25:28.left that went into endless factions. I think there were 16
:25:29. > :25:35.different Trotskyite groups. Are you not in danger of doing the same? No,
:25:36. > :25:40.we are not the same. We are to the left of UKIP. We do not believe in
:25:41. > :25:44.privatisation which is being bandied around by Nigel who does tend to
:25:45. > :25:48.wreck policy on the hoof. We are against privatisation especially in
:25:49. > :25:54.the National Health Service but of course we want to get out of Europe.
:25:55. > :25:59.That is our main policy. By referendum? Not necessarily. Our own
:26:00. > :26:04.sticky issue and does not need a referendum. It really needs MPs with
:26:05. > :26:09.a backbone to get us out. They need a referendum because otherwise they
:26:10. > :26:14.are scared to do it. Am I right in thinking the main motivation of this
:26:15. > :26:27.party is to get Nigel? There is no personal animosity? No, there is...
:26:28. > :26:33.Do you despise him? Jelena I would rather stay away. Of the 12 MEPs he
:26:34. > :26:39.had, there are now six. Where you kicked out of UKIP or did you leave?
:26:40. > :26:41.I resigned when I found that he was trying to change the members' ballot
:26:42. > :26:46.when he trying to change the members' ballot
:26:47. > :26:50.order of the list of candidates. I walked out of a meeting in
:26:51. > :26:54.Strasbourg where he was gerrymandering the list. Your
:26:55. > :27:03.election broadcast seems rather similar to one that UKIP had. It was
:27:04. > :27:09.mine, I own it. I paid for it. In the early 2000s I think I did four
:27:10. > :27:15.broadcasts for UKIP. I was the deputy leader at the time. Do you
:27:16. > :27:23.have problems as UKIP has had that people are saying rather outlandish
:27:24. > :27:27.and Ed Jepson of all things. -- and objection all things. Not so far. I
:27:28. > :27:35.have had some amusing telephone calls. Mostly people ringing up and
:27:36. > :27:41.saying good luck. Have you had any far right problems? I do not think
:27:42. > :27:45.so. You have somebody from the Dutch Freedom party. They left the Dutch
:27:46. > :27:50.Freedom party for that reason. In the same way that some people from
:27:51. > :27:54.UKIP have distanced themselves because he has joined a group in the
:27:55. > :27:58.European Parliament which is probably obnoxious. You both want to
:27:59. > :28:03.leave Europe, you differ on privatisation but what other
:28:04. > :28:09.distinguishing characteristic you have other than you are not Nigel
:28:10. > :28:16.Farage? I am a grammar school kid, I did not go to public school. Just
:28:17. > :28:20.one policy, quickly. We think assemblies should not exist in their
:28:21. > :28:24.present form. Regional assemblies. They should be occupied by MPs who
:28:25. > :28:29.break from Westminster, it leaving the English to deal with English
:28:30. > :28:35.matters in the English Parliament. Very well. We have to leave it there
:28:36. > :28:40.but thank you. We have to pick who won guessed the year. -- the winner
:28:41. > :28:46.is Ruth Duffy from Lancashire. We'll be back tomorrow
:28:47. > :28:52.at noon with all the big political We'll be joined by pensions expert
:28:53. > :28:57.Ros Altman, so do join us then.