Browse content similar to 02/06/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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but will any of them tickle the electorate's taste buds? | :00:36. | :01:20. | |
He could be running the EU soon, in which case David Cameron won't be | :01:21. | :01:31. | |
How accurate were you? I am very pleased that you mentioned that. | :01:32. | :01:56. | |
Basically, our poll was not conducted on the eve of the | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
election, it was conducted a week in advance. Subsequently we found that | :02:00. | :02:08. | |
a fifth of those who said that they voted in the European elections said | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
that they made up their mind in that last week before the election. So, | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
an average error of 2.8%, we got the five parties in the right order. | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
Actually, we were one of the first to predict that UKIP was going to | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
come first in the European elections, which we are pleased | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
with. But obviously, it is not an eve of the election poll, it was a | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
snapshot point in time rather than a prediction. You say you were the | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
first company to say that UKIP would top the poll, but you did | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
overestimate the share of the vote that they would get, and you think | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
the reason for that is that it was not done on the eve of the | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
election? That's right. Everything narrowed a bit towards the election. | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
Actually, you people that conducted their polling closer to the election | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
were much more accurate. It was a point in time, rather than the | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
predictive element. Looking at Labour and the Conservatives, they | :03:08. | :03:09. | |
were much closer in the end, were you surprised by that, that they | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
narrowed towards the end? Not necessarily. I think people were | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
making up their minds until that point in time, and further out, | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
people were potentially trying to be a little bit more, there were trying | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
to protest in their vote, in the voting intentions polls, but when it | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
came to it, they decided to vote for the main two parties. What do you | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
think worthy influences in those last few days? Because we had been | :03:40. | :03:47. | |
discussing the main issues for months beforehand... It was very | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
difficult, there were a lot of difficult stories regarding UKIP, | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
regarding the other parties. It is difficult to say what actually swung | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
it. But as it was, it was a great result for UKIP. And we did predict | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
them to come first. What about the Liberal Democrats, because they | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
imploded? What do you think that says, one year out from the general | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
election? It shows that it is going to be very, very difficult for them. | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
We have done focus groups among people who voted Lib Dem in 2010, | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
and they feel really very betrayed by the party. And I think the | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
polling showed that just it is going to be very difficult, but actually, | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
we need to take into consideration factors such as incumbents in, so, | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
although it was a bad result, it is yet to be seen how bad it will be | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
next year. There has been plenty of discussion about the leadership of | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
Nick Clegg, so do you think he will stay? I think it is going to be | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
difficult to oust him. Certainly, the failed coup last week showed | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
that. But I think it is going to change as we come towards the | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
election. That will focus minds. But in the European election, everything | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
was focused on the Lib Dem is, rather than Labour. What about the | :05:15. | :05:22. | |
state of Labour in the Conservatives and of the general election? And | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
think it is fair to say that Labour would have liked to be much further | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
ahead than they were. As everybody keeps saying, this general election | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
is about momentum. We have got a year, it is going to be the longest | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
campaign ever, and with Labour not having that momentum behind it in | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
the European elections, it will be difficult for them going into party | :05:46. | :05:46. | |
conference. Yesterday, | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
the former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown was on the telly and he was | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
asked about the plot to get rid of Nick Clegg following the party's | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
disastrous election performance. And he appeared to compare the | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to Was it a) Romeo b) Iago c) | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
Richard III or d) Macbeth? And in a bit, Katharine will | :06:06. | :06:15. | |
give us the correct answer. The Conservative Party are | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
considering offering Scotland full control of income tax as part of a | :06:22. | :06:23. | |
devolution sweetener if Scots choose to reject the offer of independence | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
in September's referendum. It would mark a significant U-turn | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
for the party, who have always resisted further | :06:31. | :06:32. | |
devolution, including voting against the setting up | :06:33. | :06:34. | |
of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Last year, Ruth Davidson, | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, set up a commission | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
chaired by Lord Strathclyde to look at the issue of further powers | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
for the Scottish Parliament. It recommends that all income | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
tax-raising powers should be transferred to Holyrood, giving the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
Scottish Parliament responsibility Writing in the Scotland on Sunday | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
over the weekend, Ms Davidson described the current limited powers | :06:58. | :07:05. | |
over tax were destabilising and akin Scotland currently has | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
the power to vary the existing income tax bands by up to 3%, and | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
this will increase to 10% from 2016 The Tories are the last of the main | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
parties to outline their plans, with Labour planning devolution of three | :07:21. | :07:29. | |
quarters of the 20p tax rate and control over housing benefit and | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
more powers for Scotland's islands. Meanwhile the Lib Dems have proposed | :07:36. | :07:37. | |
that Holyrood should raise 50% of the money it spends | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
and have control over income, Joining me now from our Glasgow | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
newsroom is our politIcal How significant is this? I think it | :07:50. | :08:11. | |
is significant. The Conservatives started out opposing devolution | :08:12. | :08:13. | |
altogether, and they have certainly not been at the forefront of pushing | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
the boundaries of it over the last 15 years. This looks to be a bit | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
different. The headline measure, the full devolution of income tax, is | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
actually slightly more radical than what the Labour Party is proposing, | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
if there is a no vote in September. Ruth Davidson, the leader of the | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
Conservative Party in Scotland, was elected to that position talking of | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
a line in the sand, that the powers which are coming to the Scottish | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
Parliament regardless of the independence referendum vote, that | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
these should be a line in the sand, and that there should not be further | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
development of devolution. But now she is saying, and the proposals of | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
this draft guide commission are covering this, and saying that these | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
should be in the Conservatives' manifesto for 2015. How much impact | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
do you think all of this discussion about tax-raising powers will have | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
on undecided voters in Scotland? I think the parties advocating | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
Scotland's continuing relationship with the rest of the UK, advocating | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
a no vote in the referendum, by which I mean Labour, the | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, are all determined not to | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
be seen as the parties of no change. And so, they have all been | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
developing these proposals for further devolution if there is a no | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
vote. And I think they have done that in part because most opinion | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
polls suggest that whilst there is not yet a majority for | :09:48. | :09:55. | |
independence, most polls do suggest that there is an appetite for the | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
Scottish Parliament to take greater control over the domestic affairs of | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
Scotland. And the Conservatives are saying, giving it full control over | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
income tax would be about accountability, making the | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
parliament accountable for raising much more of the money which it | :10:17. | :10:17. | |
spends. With us now from Edinburgh is Marco | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
Biagi from the SNP, and the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
Davidson, joins us from Glasgow. Starting with you, Marco Biagi, do | :10:26. | :10:41. | |
you welcome this? We welcome that there is now a consensus which says | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
Scotland needs more powers, it is good to see the Tories joining in | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
with that. But the question now is the scale of those powers, and who | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
can be trusted to deliver them. With a yes vote, we do not just get | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
income tax, we get control over all things, most importantly our oil | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
revenues, which continue to flow south, even under these proposals. | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
But also there is the question of whether the Tories can be depended | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
upon to follow through on these. You have already referred to was | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
Davidson's line in the sand statement, and the fact that a few | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
extra powers have been mooted. That was following a long process of | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
liberation by the three no campaign parties to decide what they wanted | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
to offer extra. Surely the Tories would not come out as publicly as | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
this if they were not serious about it? Well, they have had form on | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
doing that, in 1979, they did precisely that. But you have to ask, | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
what has changed between the Calman commission reporting a few extra | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
powers, stamp duty and landfill tax, and now, an independence | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
referendum, that is what has changed, and these parties have an | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
incentive to try to offer the minimum possible they can to try to | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
win this. You have to ask, can you really trust the Tories as a party | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
which has always been against devolution? The only option is with | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
a yes vote. Adam Tomkins, respond to the fact that there is not much | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
trust with the Conservatives, is this not just a straightforward | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
bribe? Not at all. The Conservative Party now has an established record | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
of delivering with devolution. The Conservative government delivered | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
the Scotland act 2012, which allowed for the biggest fiscal transfer in | :12:34. | :12:41. | |
British fiscal history. It is the Conservative government after 2015, | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
should they win, who will deliver the proposals that the Strathclyde | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
commission has published this morning. And those proposals are | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
designed simultaneously to strengthen the union, the family of | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
nations in this country, and also to give Scots autonomy over their | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
domestic affairs, which they are reported to crave in opinion poll | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
after opinion poll. Scots do not want independence, they want crater, | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
enhanced devolution. There are those who say it would be easier to shift | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
the blame if things go wrong if Scottish people control more of | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
their tax-raising powers. It would be harder for an SNP government to | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
blame Westminster? That's right. At the moment, the Scottish Parliament | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
is responsible for a very large amount of money, ?35 billion, about | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
60%, more than that, of identifiable public expenditure in Scotland, is | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
already the responsibility Holyrood. But even under the | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
Scotland Act 2012, the Scottish Government is not responsible for | :13:47. | :13:49. | |
raising much of the money it spends. It is true, isn't it, most | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
people in Scotland want more powers, they do not want full | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
independence? The polls are closing in favour of yes at the moment. But | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
all this conversation seems to be about tax, not so much about areas | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
of response ability. Where are the promises over support for business, | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
new powers to help improve state pension or to extend childcare and | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
gain revenue from its? These are areas which are absent, as far as I | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
can see, from the Conservative proposals, but things we would be | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
able to do with a yes vote. But actually you have some tax-raising | :14:30. | :14:30. | |
powers already, able to do with a yes vote. But | :14:31. | :14:32. | |
actually you have which you choose not to use, and yet you want to | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
continue with things like free prescription charges, neo- tuition | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
fees, a certain amount of social care paid for. You would have to pay | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
for these things, so would you be able to do it? | :14:46. | :14:55. | |
moment, there have been substantial changes. The income tax powers were | :14:56. | :15:03. | |
set up in 1997 to try to be almost impossible. If we wanted to move it | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
up down, most of it would be swallowed up by an administration | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
charge by HMRC. There is a danger that we go down the same path if | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
similar canard is put up to try to persuade people that these are real | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
powers when, in fact, the great majority of power, the areas of | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
responsibility where any normal parliament would be able to deliver | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
for its people, are continued to be denied to Scotland. Eight "yes" vote | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
means we have power over all areas. But it is about how you run things | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
economically as far as both people involved on both sides would argue. | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
As Ruth Davidson is calling for, the way income tax has gone is not | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
different from the offer of independence massively because you | :15:51. | :15:52. | |
would have your own currency and wouldn't be setting your own | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
interest rates. -- wouldn't have your own currency. There are three | :15:57. | :16:05. | |
key areas where we wouldn't have control, even under Ruth Davidson's | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
proposals. The idea that we are putting forward is of two sovereign | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
nations in partnership so yes, where we agree on things and can get | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
common interest, on things like currency or anything else, we have | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
two sovereign nations working in partnership. We do take different | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
approaches and have different priorities in some places, and we | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
can do things differently. It's interesting how the SNP can't answer | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
that question. Enhanced devolution is what the majority of Scots want. | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
There is no great enthusiasm in Scotland for independence, there is | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
no great enthusiasm for the constitutional status quo. The only | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
party not to have recognised this is the SNP. Labour, Lib Dems and now | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
the Scottish Conservatives have all but forward very ambitious proposals | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
for home rule for Scotland within the UK and that is what the majority | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
of Scots want and only eight no vote will deliver that. A yes vote will | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
deliver not more devolution but the end of devolution. What about the | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
point Marco Biagi makes that you are talking about tax-raising powers but | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
what about the area of responsibility like pensions? The | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
Strathclyde commission looked at pensions and we took the view, which | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
is also the view of the vast majority of Scots who respond to | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
things like the Scottish social attitudes survey, that there is no | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
great appetite for the state pension to be different in Scotland from the | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
rest of the UK, nor is there any great ambition among Scottish | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
taxpayers that they alone should have to fund the state pension in | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
Scotland. There is a very important part of the fabric of our union | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
which is that you are able to retire anywhere in the UK irrespective of | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
where you worked, irrespective of where you paid tax when you were a | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
wage earner. To break that apart, I think, is in nobody's interests at | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
all. Thank you both very much. Katharine, looking at the polls | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
mentioned by Marco Biagi from the SNP, have they moved much? There is | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
a lot of difference between different polling organisations in | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
terms of yes and no votes. Certainly the no vote is ahead but by how | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
much, it really depends. Who is going to impact the outcome are the | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
people who say they don't know. They are the crucial ones we need to look | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
at. In terms of that figure, how many people are we talking about? | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
It's fairly substantial, isn't it? At least one in five people. So it | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
could tip the vote one way or the other, bearing in mind how close the | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
campaigns have become. That's right. But looking at options such as Devo | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
Max, that has always been quite popular in Scotland. What you see | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
now is with all the parties are lining more or less on increased | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
devolution powers, a no vote is almost a default vote for increased | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
devolution and powers. So the goalposts are changing somewhat. Do | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
you think that's going to make it harder for the yes campaign to get | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
any more in terms of votes from the underside? It's difficult to tell at | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
this stage but I would expect that it is going to make the no vote more | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
attractive because it has removed some of the risks involved. | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
In the run-up to the European and local elections, the Daily Politics | :19:23. | :19:24. | |
interviewed rather a lot of politicians from rather a lot of | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
parties. One took exception to this on the eve of polling day. Isn't it | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
a problem in these elections that the class you are talking about is | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
actually shrunk in recent years and, actually, you and I know they don't | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
vote for this. Otherwise we would be talking about you in the same way | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
they have been talking about UKIP, the Greens and whatever. The working | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
class hasn't shrunk. The working class is as big as it ever was, if | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
not bigger. Most people are struggling to get by and need an | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
alternative. Our job is to convince them that socialism is that | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
alternative. If all the socialist parties got together, wouldn't you | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
have a better chance of getting your arguments across? You aren't that | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
far distant, are you? I think we're very different from those. We are a | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
revolution is so sherry party. They are like a ginger group in the | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
Labour Party. Well, we're joined now by Chris | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
Marsden from the Socialist Equality Party. Tell us why you are upset by | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
that interview. Well, I thought the crack at the end was uncalled for | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
and demonstrated bias and it trivialised something which was | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
quite serious. If you consider that at the moment, you have a situation | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
in which the government, and senior figures in the government, are | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
calling for Alan Rusbridger to be prosecuted for publishing material | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
from Edward Snowden, and then it's suggested that socialists are in | :20:57. | :20:58. | |
favour of persecution of journalists, that's obviously false. | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
That was a joke. It was the end of the interview... There was a lot of | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
schoolboy humour in the interview but the point about it is that I | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
believe that your viewers deserve better. These are important | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
elections, under conditions in which many, many millions of people are | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
struggling to get by. You've got a 12% decline in people's living | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
standards, austerities measures being imposed across Europe... How | :21:30. | :21:31. | |
many other TV interviews did you have? This is the only TV interview | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
I did. I did several other radio interviews. You could argue the | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
programme does take it seriously and we do interview the smaller parties. | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
I'm just trying to find out whether you really did take offence at that | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
time or whether it was something that came afterwards that you | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
thought was belittling the party in some way. I thought it was | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
belittling immediately. The reference was from Citizen Smith. | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
Against the wall and that sort of thing. The socialism we believe in | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
is a democratic ego Terry and mass movement of the working class that | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
is not about suppressing journalists. -- ego Terry. I | :22:12. | :22:20. | |
disagree with being associated with it. It is one thing to interview | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
small parties, it's another thing... What is the purpose of | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
this? We are fighting to represent the working class under conditions | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
in which no one seeking to represent the working class. Lots of parties | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
claim to represent the working class. They may be wrong in your | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
eyes but they do claim to represent the working class. None of the mass | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
parties do, including the Labour Party. They are committed to | :22:51. | :22:58. | |
austerity, two cuts, to militarism, like the conflict developing in | :22:59. | :23:00. | |
Ukraine, which is extremely dangerous for the working class of | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
Europe. They're pushing Russia into conditions in which they could | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
develop into a war in Europe. You came 10th out of 15 parties and you | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
were beaten by the Cama group pirates Party. Do you still think | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
it's worth the effort? -- the Pirate Party. In different circumstances, | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
we would have got a better vote. But we are not a Parliamentary party. We | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
base ourselves on the class struggle. Our aim is to give a voice | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
and perspective to the working class. Our party's growth is | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
conditioned on the extent to which the working class moves into | :23:42. | :23:43. | |
political struggle and if you don't think that's going to happen, you | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
are blind because this situation cannot continue. We can't have the | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer out in an item | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
without there being a serious shift in the political conscience of broad | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
layers of working class. Thank you. Newark is a Nottinghamshire town | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
used to being under siege. During the English Civil War, it was a | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
royalist stronghold. The parliamentarians laid siege to it | :24:10. | :24:11. | |
three times before it eventually surrendered. Over the last week, | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
Parliament and the press have done it again. Why? The small matter of a | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
rather important by-election this Thursday. Here's Adam. | :24:21. | :24:28. | |
Newark's distinctly damp option market. They're having a by-election | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
here because their previous MP, Patrick Mercer, offered himself to | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
sail for some reporters posing as lobbyists. The mood here is a bit | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
wet. Did you know the by-election was happening? No. I don't take any | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
notice of them. They're was happening? No. I don't take any | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
to me. Is there a sense of by-election fever? I haven't noticed | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
it. But there has been a total deluge of politicians thought for | :24:55. | :24:55. | |
the Lib Dems, David Watts. Michael deluge of politicians thought for | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
Payne for Labour. UKIP's Roger Helmer, hoping to capitalise on his | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
party's victory in the European elections. The Conservative Robert | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
Jenrick is fighting back with a different VIP by his side almost | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
every day. All in a constituency that is part countryside, part | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
market town. It's steeped in history, especially the English | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
Civil War. He is a piece of political trivia for you. William | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
Gladstone was first elected as an MP in this constituency. He gave his | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
victory speech from the balcony of that hotel, which gives me an idea | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
for a Daily Politics by-election candidate quiz. | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
Who is your favourite Prime Minister from history and why? William | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
Gladstone was a fantastic MP for Newark. He didn't stay here very | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
long after falling out with the juke of Newcastle who controlled | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
elections in those days so it was easier to be elected in Newark in | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
the 19th-century than today. I don't think I have a favourite Prime | :25:54. | :25:56. | |
Minister because all of them have outlaws. I think my favourite | :25:57. | :25:59. | |
politician was Paddy Ashdown, who should have been Prime Minister but | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
never quite made it. It's got to be so Winston Churchill, hasn't it? He | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
made a difference in the last century that probably no other Prime | :26:10. | :26:11. | |
Minister has made. He saved our country. It might sound cliche but I | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
think it's got to be Clement Attlee. After seeing a world that | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
was fighting, he realised we had to rebuild the country. Proud of the | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
NHS. I was at the Newark hospital today. You didn't say David | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
Cameron. The prime and it has been very supportive. We've had him three | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
times in the constituency and are grateful for that. We're not going | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
to see Prime Minister Nigel Farage, are we? Well, I wouldn't be so | :26:37. | :26:37. | |
sure. No Blair or brown? are we? Well, I wouldn't be so | :26:38. | :26:50. | |
country. Aww, you all get a prize! Apparently the blues are in the lead | :26:51. | :26:52. | |
up this bakery Apparently the blues are in the lead | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
is, can the purples taste victory in a Westminster election for the first | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
time ever? Delicious! There are 11 candidates | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
standing in the Newark by-election. The BBC website has all the details. | :27:05. | :27:07. | |
Chris Mason is in Newark, The BBC website has all the details. | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
who your favourite Prime Minister was or how many buttons you might | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
have eaten but over to you, Chris. -- bonds. | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
have eaten but over to you, Chris. Good afternoon. We have been a bit | :27:23. | :27:24. | |
more lucky with the weather than Adam was the other day. This square | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
is absolutely groaning with politicians. If you popped in for | :27:30. | :27:31. | |
your cabbages or tomatoes or duck politicians. If you popped in for | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
eggs - ?1 9412 - the chances are, you are going to get badgered by | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
rosette wearing politicians. The UKIP caravan turned up at about | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
8:30am but there are more Conservative MPs here, I suspect, | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
than there are Westminster. It has the feel of an election race that | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
isn't in a safe seat, despite the Conservative majority last time | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
being more than 16,000. Adam has his mood balls when he goes out and | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
about testing public opinion well, your heart out, because I've got the | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
Daily Politics whiteboard. I've been doing a word association game with | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
voters in the square, asking what they think when I name the main | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
parties will top Conservative - not interested in me or nothing. This is | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
not remedy scientific. interested in me or nothing. This is | :28:21. | :28:22. | |
different, useless, interested in me or nothing. This is | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
dividing opinion - makes more interested in me or nothing. This is | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
to me, reminds me of Australia's policy on immigration. Policies are | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
a bit extreme. Nick Clegg has work to do. Clegg | :28:36. | :28:36. | |
a bit extreme. Nick Clegg has work to do. is an unashamed barefaced | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
liar, said one correspondent. Let's talk to Dan Churcher, the news | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
correspondent at the Newark Advertiser. | :28:47. | :28:48. | |
Let's talk to Dan Churcher, the news correspondent at the Newark We're | :28:49. | :28:50. | |
awash with senior politicians at the moment. It is unprecedented. This | :28:51. | :28:58. | |
by-election came about in strange circumstances but we have the Prime | :28:59. | :29:00. | |
Minister four times, the Foreign Secretary three. Ed Miliband last | :29:01. | :29:07. | |
week, as well. Things are starting to heat up. It's interesting. How do | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
you read this by-election? You look at the numbers from last time - a | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
whopping majority for the Conservatives. The Lib Dems are | :29:18. | :29:19. | |
stacked up 10,000 or so Conservatives. The Lib Dems are | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
may be plenty of those are up for grabs by the other parties if recent | :29:24. | :29:25. | |
election performance is anything to go by. Is it as close as this market | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
square suggests? You've got to ask yourself whether there is such a | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
thing as a safe seat now, with UKIP. Straight off the back of their | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
very successful result in the euros, I expect, or would | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
anticipate, that the Conservative majority will be hit very hard by | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
UKIP and as to whether they retain the seat, I believe they probably | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
will but with a much reduced majority. Have you had Nigel Farage | :29:54. | :30:01. | |
at the door of the newspaper? No, he was in town on Saturday but we | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
haven't seen him in our offices. We have had the Prime Minister in and | :30:06. | :30:08. | |
William Hague and Ed Miliband last week. How much enthusiasm is there | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
from people in the constituency for the election? Firstly, it's a | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
by-election. Historically, the turnout would be quite low. And | :30:20. | :30:22. | |
people were at the polling stations a matter of days ago for the local | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
and European elections. It will be interesting, I think, to see what | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
the turnout is. Last time we had 71%, which is a high number, but I | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
think there is a real sense here that these are exciting times. We | :30:39. | :30:46. | |
never expected to be here and with the E major and soggy UKIP doing so | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
well, people want to be involved in that, wants to be a part of it, in | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
determining what happens with politics nationally. We're grateful | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
to you. Dan Churcher from the Newark Advertiser, a busy man with an | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
addition to butt out on Thursday. No doubt all of the analysis will be | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
the week after. This square is groaning with politicians, rosette | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
and journalists. I have to say, if I was coming out to my shopping and I | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
Newark, I might give the square quite a wide berth. | :31:20. | :31:29. | |
Just to pick up on a couple of those points, Katharine, the question of | :31:30. | :31:37. | |
con is there such a thing as a safe seat? It would be a mammoth task to | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
overturn that Conservative majority, yes. The one poll we have | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
had so far does put the Conservatives ahead, however, he | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
begins a massive swing to UKIP. In both Corby and easterly, the UKIP | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
vote share has been underestimated by the polls. We have got another | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
one coming out this afternoon. It is going to be really important to look | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
at all of the factors, including turnout, but it could be a perfect | :32:06. | :32:15. | |
storm for UKIP. They have got the wrangling in the European Commission | :32:16. | :32:18. | |
at the moment, they have got Labour doing not as well as they should be | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
doing as the party of protest, and essentially, it could be seen to be | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
something of a free vote to express dissatisfaction with the Tories. | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
What about intentions? Is there any polling to indicate anything | :32:34. | :32:44. | |
regarding this by-election? There is. Last week we did some to show | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
that actually, UKIP voters in the European elections do intend to vote | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
in the same way in the general election. However, the point is, | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
this is a by-election, and people will feel more free to vote for | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
perhaps an alternative. Listening to Chris Mason, and that stream of | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
senior Tory politicians who have come into Newark to try to | :33:10. | :33:12. | |
consolidate that Tory majority, I mean, they are going to fight very | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
hard to keep a sizeable majority, aren't they? Absolutely, and it is | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
very much in their favour at the moment. However, there could be this | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
major upset, because UKIP are really gaining through these by-elections | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
since 2010. Is Labour featuring in this by-election, in terms of votes | :33:33. | :33:41. | |
which could perhaps swing it? King at the poll over the weekend, they | :33:42. | :33:44. | |
were just one point behind UKIP. However, taking into account all of | :33:45. | :33:52. | |
the other fact is, I think UKIP would expect to be building this | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
week. In case you have forgotten, there is just time before you go to | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
give us the answer to and the question was, yesterday, Paddy | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
Ashdown appeared to be likening the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to | :34:08. | :34:10. | |
a Shakespearean character, but who was it? I am embarrassed to say, I | :34:11. | :34:20. | |
have got absolutely no idea. Have a guess, if we were thinking of | :34:21. | :34:35. | |
alleged treachery? Iago? Well done. Thank you very much for coming onto | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
the programme. So, what is in store for us this week. Tony Blair has | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
the programme. So, what is in store this morning, outlining his vision | :34:46. | :34:55. | |
for Europe. On Wednesday, MPs return to the Commons for the big event of | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
the week, the Queen's Speech, when the Government announces its | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
legislative programme for the coming year. On Thursday, voters go to the | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
polls in the Newark by-election. Joining us now from College Green, | :35:09. | :35:15. | |
James Lyons and Holly Watt. First of all, Holly Watt, how critical is | :35:16. | :35:25. | |
this Newark by-election? This polls put the Conservatives ahead at the | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
moment, and as we have seen, they are taking no chances. I think they | :35:30. | :35:33. | |
are probably very keen to avoid losing too many votes to UKIP, which | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
would terrify the Tories in marginal seats. Will this be seen as a | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
weather vane ahead of the general election? I think it will be seen as | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
a pointer, certainly, yes. What will be interesting to see is how close | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
UKIP can run them, if they cannot actually take the seat. It looks | :35:54. | :36:00. | |
like the Conservatives are on course to retain at least a little of that | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
huge majority. And David Cameron is there today. But if UKIP are still | :36:07. | :36:14. | |
holding up well after the European elections, which many Tories hope | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
will be their high watermark, then there will be a lot of rattled | :36:20. | :36:22. | |
backbenchers. What about the Queen's Speech, Holly, what is in it? Well, | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
there is quite a wide range of things. Labour has been throwing | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
this zombie Parliament criticism at the Conservatives and Lib Dems, | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
insisting that they have still got lots of legislation coming through. | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
They are looking at people being able to plan terrorism in Syria, | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
pension reforms, all sorts of things, really. But they may well | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
bring out something which surprises people, simply to prove that they | :36:53. | :36:55. | |
are not a zombie Parliament at this point. Yes, and that has been the | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
criticism, hasn't it, that they have run out of in terms of legislation, | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
so do you think we will be proved wrong on that? They are certainly | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
dredging the ideas box. We have heard talk of heroism bills, | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
exempting good Samaritans from certain things, and ideas of | :37:18. | :37:22. | |
fracking. But the point remains, when the MP 's comeback this week to | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
Westminster for the Queen's Speech, they will just have an extra week's | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
holiday, because they have got so little to do. I feel that what the | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
coalition wants is a kind of steady as she goes Queen's Speech. They | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
want the focus to be on the economy. Her Majesty I think will actually | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
say the words long term economic plan. We have seen the King of Spain | :37:48. | :37:48. | |
abdicating today, and I am sure if abdicating today, and I am sure if | :37:49. | :37:55. | |
she is forced to say that on Wednesday, | :37:56. | :38:05. | |
she is forced to say that on what do you think will now | :38:06. | :38:05. | |
choreography for the next year, none of us are used to having this extra | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
year, so how of us are used to having this extra | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
feel at Westminster? I think both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
are hoping to have a managed separation, a conscious uncoupling, | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
I suppose, but whether they manage that, who knows. There have been | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
signs in recent weeks that that may not happen. The Lib | :38:31. | :38:32. | |
signs in recent weeks that that may in a bit of a meltdown themselves. | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
They are probably not going to do very well at all in Newark. It | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
They are probably not going to do interesting. Reflate, let's talk | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
They are probably not going to do about FIFA, the World Cup, and Qatar | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
- do you think there should be a rerun of the | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
- do you think there should be a host the World Cup in 2022? | :38:58. | :38:59. | |
- do you think there should be a meetings going on today. And we | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
- do you think there should be a had the allegations over the weekend | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
which will be top of the agenda. The powers | :39:11. | :39:12. | |
which will be top of the agenda. The quite limited, so where we go from | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
here is difficult to see, but there is going to have to be a thorough | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
investigation, and I would not be surprised if | :39:24. | :39:24. | |
investigation, and I would not be rerun of the vote. That might | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
investigation, and I would not be that we might have too reopened the | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
decision regarding 2018, where obviously England were robbed, and | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
the tournament went to Russia. This is usually embarrassing for FIFA. We | :39:38. | :39:45. | |
have heard Lord Goldsmith, who were Tony Blair's top lawyer, saying | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
today that there is a serious case to answer, | :39:52. | :39:54. | |
today that there is a serious case allegations do stack up, then it | :39:55. | :39:57. | |
will have to be rerun. Everything is pointing in that direction. Thank | :39:58. | :40:04. | |
you both very much. For the rest of today's programme, we have four new, | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
wonderful, female MEPs, or beautiful, all intelligent. Joey | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
Barton, eat your heart out. Joining us now are Vicky Ford, Anneliese | :40:14. | :40:25. | |
Dodds, Jane Collins and Catherine Bearder. Anneliese Dodds, have you | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
had to give up a job to do this and become an MEP? Well, my life changed | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
anyway last year because I gave birth to a little boy, so I have | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
been on maternity leave. I normally work as a senior lecturer, so I have | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
been off, and I am very grateful to my employer, Aston University. And | :40:48. | :40:58. | |
what about you, what happens now? It is going to be very interesting, | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
because there is now a wave of new UKIP MEPs coming in, so there will | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
be stronger representation for the Eurosceptic voice over there. Let's | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
get down to it, then - there have been discussions already about the | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
European Commission president rumbling on, and reports that David | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
Cameron has made threats that the UK would have to leave if Jean-Claude | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
Yunker became the president. Who would be your candidate? I want to | :41:26. | :41:31. | |
see a reformer. We have said a number of times that our | :41:32. | :41:33. | |
relationship with Europe once to change. Names that we have heard | :41:34. | :41:42. | |
include the Finnish candidate, and the Irish one. Christine Lagarde has | :41:43. | :41:53. | |
also been a name which has come up. Funnily enough, Francois Hollande | :41:54. | :41:56. | |
does not seem to be wanting to be challenged by the Right in France. I | :41:57. | :42:00. | |
want to see a reformer, anything else would be a backward step. Let's | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
hear from another former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, earlier today. | :42:06. | :42:16. | |
I am not a candidate, do not get my name mixed up with this, that is not | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
going to happen. In respect of who should be the president, my view is | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
that we should just look for the best doesn't do the job. There | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
should not be any predisposition, we should just find the best person to | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
do the job. It is an important job, and if you define it in the way that | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
I am defining it, in other words, you want someone who is capable of | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
driving through that big agenda, then that is the kind of person you | :42:45. | :42:47. | |
should go for. Ought about Tony Blair?! This is the man who gave | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
away the British rebate and handed more powers to Brussels. What the | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
voters have said very firmly in my region is, we do not want more of | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
the same. And Kenny has pretty well said he is not up for it, and there | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
are not that many more names up for it, are there? Again, he is totally | :43:06. | :43:12. | |
against reform, he is almost Federalist, so that would be a | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
disaster. I am so relieved to hear Tony Blair say he will not be a | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
candidate. Because quite frankly, he is a megalomaniac and a warmonger. | :43:21. | :43:27. | |
So who would you have, then? It is a difficult decision. There are not | :43:28. | :43:30. | |
many names which appealed to me on the list. Whichever way you dress it | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
up, they are all in favour of more integration into the EU, not what we | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
are for. But the irony is that you are going to have bigger | :43:42. | :43:44. | |
representation in an institution which you do not believe in, so is | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
it going to be the role of UKIP to disrupt and create dissent in the | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
European Union? No, I do not think that is the way we look at things. | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
We are certainly not going over there to join the club, we are there | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
to do a job, to be the eyes and the ears of the people that voted for | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
us, and they voted very, very strongly in this last election. | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
Catherine Bearder, how did you manage to succeed, since you are the | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
only lip them MEP? If I knew what that was, I would bottle it and pass | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
it around my colleagues. -- the only Liberal Democrat MEP. | :44:23. | :44:24. | |
it around my colleagues. -- the only Liberal We were the only party to | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
come out as the party of in, and it was the right thing to do. We knew | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
once we went into government, which was also a brave decision, to go | :44:36. | :44:41. | |
into government as a junior party, and governments always get a | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
kicking, but we were the only one brave enough to stand up for in, | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
which was absolutely the right thing come we have other parties which | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
didn't. But that has been derided by the voters, your view, that the | :44:56. | :45:05. | |
pro-European party of him, as you say it, has been completely honest? | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
The Tories were kicking it into the long grass, and the Labour Party was | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
just talking about national politics. What is Labour, then? We | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
are the party of a Europe which is being reformed. We are upfront about | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
it, unlike the coalition. We are the party that says, we need to have an | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
EU which is more focused on jobs and growth. For a long time we have set | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
out what we would like to see changing in the EU, which has not | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
been the case with the other parties, which is very | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
disappointing. But you cannot reform the main issue which people voted | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
on, which is migration. While we are in the EU, there is no reform on | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
migration. With respect, I did not interrupt you. People on the | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
doorstep are very concerned about what is happening, particularly | :45:59. | :46:01. | |
around their living standards. For some people, that is linked to | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
migration. And Labour again has been the only party which says, we need | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
to look at the standards that we need, so that people are not | :46:10. | :46:12. | |
affected by competition from other countries. Your party has been | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
against the minimum wage and against all measures which protect people | :46:17. | :46:19. | |
from competition from migration, so we need to have an honest debate | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
about this. Are you against the idea of limiting the freedom of movement | :46:24. | :46:32. | |
of people within the EU? I think it has been very important for British | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
people and migrants but we need safeguards so that it doesn't lead | :46:37. | :46:39. | |
to a race to the bottom and in some areas, like housing and working | :46:40. | :46:45. | |
rights, it has. Would you want to limit the freedom of movement? Would | :46:46. | :46:48. | |
you want to have a cap on the number of people who could come from other | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
EU countries into Britain? We've seen in this country how having a | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
target on the number of migrants simply doesn't work. That's because | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
we can't control the EU migration. I'm talking about the Government's | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
overall target for migrants coming into the country. That hasn't worked | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
for them. What Labour is saying that we need longer transitional periods | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
for new countries coming in but the fundamental problem is that it isn't | :47:16. | :47:18. | |
a migrants themselves but the potential impact they have on the | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
labour market, on housing, and public services. We should deal with | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
that and not demonise people coming into the country. You won't be able | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
to hit that target on the levels of migration. I just find this whole | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
argument from Labour trying to rewrite history. Labour was the | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
government that presided over the economic collapse of this country | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
and uncontrolled immigration. The economy was growing when we left | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
office. Do you apologise or whether frontbenchers wrong to apologise? | :47:52. | :47:58. | |
They have apologised for it. But was that apology right? Personally I | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
feel that we a lot from migration but I think it's right to look at | :48:03. | :48:05. | |
longer transitional controls for new countries coming in. But in relation | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
to your first point, the economy was growing when we left office. There | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
do need to be stronger controls on freedom of movement of people, | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
especially in areas - I see it in parts of the east of the - where | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
we've had some very big pockets of immigration and this is why the | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
Prime Minister has said no more accession countries without looking | :48:30. | :48:32. | |
at much more than just transition controls but other controls. A | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
renegotiation on that issue is part of the whole package. That does not | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
mean no immigration but it means you need to look at the whole ago Chez | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
Chez. Isn't that what people want? There are over 2 million Brits | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
living and working in the rest of Europe and others looking here. | :48:56. | :49:02. | |
History will tell you that when there are difficult times, difficult | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
decisions to be made, pressures on services and housing, it's very easy | :49:07. | :49:14. | |
to say that it is their fault. Why is your argument falling on deaf | :49:15. | :49:21. | |
ears? I was elected and we have... You were the only one. In a lot of | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
places where we were working, we were winning councils and holding | :49:28. | :49:30. | |
councils and doing really well in pockets. We got a kick in, like all | :49:31. | :49:39. | |
the parties got a kicking, because... Conservatives and Labour | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
got a drubbing. Labour should have come second. Best result since 1994. | :49:46. | :49:57. | |
What about the renegotiation? There is pressure being put on David | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
Cameron for firmer plans and policies in terms of repatriating | :50:03. | :50:05. | |
powers. He's promised a referendum. In some extent, you've had your high | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
point in the European elections, many critics will argue, and that | :50:10. | :50:16. | |
will be that. The way the EU treats David Cameron, with great | :50:17. | :50:18. | |
disrespect, and especially with people saying that David Cameron is | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
trying to use blackmail if he becomes president, it shows how much | :50:22. | :50:29. | |
clout we have in the EU. But there is no renegotiation or reform on | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
migration if we're in the EU. But if John Claude Junker gets in, he will | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
be part of a massive block. He is also with Merkel. That is going to | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
have a great influence, no reform, and it will go to federalism. So if | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
you ask me who I definitely didn't want to beat you president, Tony | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
Blair and Mr Junker. What are you going to do if Mr Junker does become | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
the President? The mandate that I believe people voted for in my part | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
of the world where three Conservatives stood and three were | :51:02. | :51:04. | |
elected, is that we want reform which works for business but we do | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
need reforms on movement and... So the package of what we can negotiate | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
will get put to the people in an in-out referendum. First of all... | :51:16. | :51:26. | |
First of all, you have to have next year's general election. There will | :51:27. | :51:29. | |
be a choice of voting for these two parties, which is more of the same, | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
or of parties which give you a chance of a renegotiation and a | :51:35. | :51:41. | |
referendum. There will be no chance of a referendum, will there, if John | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
Claude Junker becomes the president. It is going to make it very | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
difficult for David Cameron to get the reforms he wants. That's why I | :51:54. | :51:56. | |
said electing him... Here's Angela Merkel's favourite. We spent the | :51:57. | :52:03. | |
last year having a review of all the competencies that we have with the | :52:04. | :52:06. | |
European Union and every single one has come out and said that we have a | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
good level of competencies in the balance of our level of membership | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
of the EU. There are a few reports going on but there is one that | :52:18. | :52:20. | |
hasn't been released by David Cameron and that is the one on | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
migration. I can bet some money here that says that it is saying it is | :52:25. | :52:30. | |
fair and equitable. What it's saying is that what we do here, whether we | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
don't enforce the legislation on minimum wages and housing is... | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
Briefly, should Labour offer an in-out referendum? On the basis of | :52:41. | :52:43. | |
the MEPs that were elected, the success of Eurosceptic parties. As I | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
mentioned before, this is Labour's best result in a European elections | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
for 20 years. Nonetheless we do need to listen to people and for a very | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
long time, Labour has been saying we would offer people a referendum if | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
it looked like the relationship with the rest of Europe was going to | :53:02. | :53:05. | |
change. The difference is that we are completely clear on what we need | :53:06. | :53:08. | |
to see changed in Europe and the Conservatives haven't come out on | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
this have the right to know. You said you want more European taxes, | :53:14. | :53:16. | |
more European spending. That is what I have heard. We argued against an | :53:17. | :53:24. | |
increase in the budget and we said people needed to keep the rights to | :53:25. | :53:27. | |
maternity and paternity leave, the social chapter, which you would | :53:28. | :53:28. | |
jump. Let's hold it there. We can't get away from election | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
fever on the Daily Politics. We can't stop analysing why | :53:35. | :53:37. | |
people vote the way they do. In a moment we'll be talking to one | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
professor who thinks voting habits may be hard-wired into us | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
from birth. But first let's take a trip | :53:45. | :53:46. | |
down memory lane. And against many expectations, Mr | :53:47. | :53:54. | |
major has done it with the smallest Conservative majority since Winston | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
Churchill's in 1951. Four consecutive victories for the | :54:00. | :54:02. | |
Conservatives have been done for a hundred years. This is perhaps one | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
of the most rheumatic nights, for many people the most dramatic night | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
in British politics they've seen. It was like 1945 when Labour swept in, | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
like 1979 when the Tories swept in. Let's have a look over here at our | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
swing, tough. No swing at all from last time. There has been a very | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
small squint of the Tories but the Labour Party has survived in their | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
battle ground seats in the middle. Tony Blair back with a majority of | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
66, with the smallest popular vote since the great reform act of 1832 | :54:43. | :54:49. | |
for an incoming government. In narrow political terms, it's been | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
fascinating, not to see the country deliver a hung parliament but to | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
vote in a way that has produced a political scenario of immense | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
complexity. We'll see whether these elected politicians really are able | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
to work together and are up to the job. | :55:08. | :55:10. | |
And we're joined now by Dr Darren Schreiber from Exeter University, | :55:11. | :55:13. | |
who has been been developing the new field of neuropolitics, | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
Neuropolitics is based on the idea that your brain is built for | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
politics so for the last 3 million years, we've been involved in a | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
cognitive arms race. We are having a bigger, more expansive brain, that | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
has been an advantage and it's strange because humans have such big | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
brains in such relatively small bodies. The evidence seems to | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
suggest our brains are built for politics. What are you saying? That | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
we are born with the view is that we then have later on? The second | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
chapter in my book argues that we're hard-wired not to be hard-wired | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
because as you've seen in this conversation, politics is really | :55:53. | :55:55. | |
complicated, so that's why we need such a huge brain. Dolphins, | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
elephants, orangutans all have much larger brains than we might expect | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
because they also have complex Coalition or politics. We have the | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
most complex politics and the biggest brains to go along with it. | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
That's the brains behind it, if you like, but what about the nurture | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
argument, that, actually, if you are brought up in a certain area with a | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
family that believes a certain political tribe, doesn't that have | :56:22. | :56:25. | |
more influence over whether you're hard-wired or not? What your | :56:26. | :56:28. | |
background is and where you come from does have a lot of influence | :56:29. | :56:35. | |
but that predict about 69% of your political attitudes. If I brain | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
image you as a Republican or Democrat in the USA, I can tell your | :56:41. | :56:44. | |
party affiliation with about 80 to be sent accuracy, by brain imaging | :56:45. | :56:49. | |
you while you do a gambling task force top that a significant be | :56:50. | :56:51. | |
better than if I know the political affiliations of your parents. By | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
knowing your parents I know your genetics and the environment that | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
you are talking about in which we are raised. It isn't just biology | :57:00. | :57:03. | |
but the effect the environment has on our brains that allows us to tell | :57:04. | :57:05. | |
a lot about your political attitudes. Let's try some of this | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
out on our guests. Do you think your political allegiances in your DNA or | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
has it developed? Well, I'm married to a zoologist who studies monkeys, | :57:17. | :57:20. | |
so nature and nurture is almost equal but if you are liberal and | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
fair thinking and for fairness, you are Lib Dem. This is a little brief | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
taste test. A little strip of paper I'm giving each guest, which have | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
come from Darren Schreiber, not made by me. You put them in your mouth | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
and give us your thoughts after a second or so. You can chew it. Just | :57:41. | :57:47. | |
put it in your mouth. Don't worry. Any taste? Paper. Just paper. What | :57:48. | :57:55. | |
is your response, Darren? There is preliminary evidence that people who | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
are more Conservative taste a bitter taste. It's a small percentage of | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
effect but what we're finding is that there is a slight probability | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
of somebody being more Conservative who has a sharper taste. Different | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
people have had pretty squeamish reactions. A sort of dry, papery | :58:14. | :58:25. | |
taste. Nobody -- no bitter taste? Are you sure you ripped up | :58:26. | :58:32. | |
taste. Nobody -- no bitter taste? bits of paper? It's more bitter than | :58:33. | :58:32. | |
sweet but bits of paper? It's more bitter than | :58:33. | :58:40. | |
more Conservative, then? I will, of course, have to remain completely | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
impartial. I'll chew it afterwards but I won't give you the results. | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
Thank you very much. Interesting that the ladies didn't really get | :58:49. | :58:49. | |
the taste. The one o'clock news is | :58:50. | :58:52. | |
starting over on BBC One now. as Britain's museums open up... | :58:53. | :59:13. | |
at night. | :59:14. | :59:17. |