Browse content similar to 11/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Afternoon, folks - welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:37. | :00:38. | |
There's a new craze sweeping Westminster. | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
Senior politicians are queuing up to join in. | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
Forget kissing babies and tweeting about your visit | :00:45. | :00:46. | |
Yes, publishing tax returns is the new thing! | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
David Cameron has become the first Prime Minister to publish details | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
He was closely followed by Scotland's First Minister, | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
and other senior politicians are expected to follow | :01:00. | :01:01. | |
Following the leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
the Government will announce new measures to tackle tax evasion. | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
Labour says a full public inquiry is needed. | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
Tata Steel is to begin the formal process of selling its UK plants - | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
thousands of jobs are still at risk if a deal can't be found. | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
However, a City investment firm has agreed to buy the steel | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
A quarter of British Muslims support the idea of Sharia law being given | :01:30. | :01:37. | |
And with us for the whole of the programme today, | :01:38. | :01:51. | |
the Labour MP Jess Phillips and the Conservative MP | :01:52. | :01:53. | |
Jeremy and George are likely to in the next few days. | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
John did it a while ago, as did Zac and Sadiq. | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
Nigel, however, says it's a big no no. | :02:05. | :02:06. | |
Yes, it's the new craze in Westminster, it seems. | :02:07. | :02:15. | |
It's been a "taxing" few days for the Prime Minister - boom boom - | :02:16. | :02:18. | |
after details emerged of his late father's offshore investments | :02:19. | :02:20. | |
following the leak of the so-called Panama Papers. | :02:21. | :02:22. | |
Yesterday Mr Cameron became the first British Prime Minister | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
to publicise his tax affairs in such detail. | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
So now the spotlight inevitably moves onto other politicians, | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
speaking on the Westminster Hour last night UKIP leader Nigel Farage | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
I worry where we are going with this. | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
If we want to have party leaders publish their tax returns then | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
Presumably then all councillors must do so, Bishops of course must do so, | :02:45. | :02:52. | |
Actually, I think in this country what people earn is regarded | :02:53. | :03:01. | |
However speaking this morning the Conservative backbencher | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
Jacob Rees Mogg argued that such transparency was inevitable. | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
My personal position is that I think MPs are going to have | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
to publish their tax returns within the next few years. | :03:18. | :03:19. | |
I can't say I'm enthusiastic about this. | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
But it is the mood of the country and politicians need | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
So that will lead me in due course, I expect, to publish my tax return. | :03:26. | :03:36. | |
Joining me now is the Conservative MP Charles Walker and the SNP's | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
Was the Prime Minister right to publish the headlines of his tax | :03:40. | :03:49. | |
returns? He made a decision about personally I would not have done | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
that but I'm never going to be Prime Minister. Why would you not have | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
done it. People need private space. The Prime Minister has not done | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
anything wrong, he followed the law and paid his taxes and there was a | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
principle of privacy in this country around tax matters as we do other | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
matters. Today it is his tax affairs, why not his medical records | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
next. They publish those in the United States if you run for | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
president. Could not be said that we know that he followed the law | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
because he has now published his tax returns and that is not now in | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
doubt. The truth is we are never going to restore public confidence | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
in our politicians because the media ultimately Wilmot that the public | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
have confidence in us. So we have this great media confection and we | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
move on then to the next great media confection. If you want the public | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
to believe that the Prime Minister is a crook, and that is what you are | :04:49. | :04:55. | |
peddling, that he is a crook. You used that word, not me at all. If | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
you go back on the tape when you finish with this programme I said it | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
was because of the publication of his tax returns that we know he has | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
not done anything illegal. For the last five days the media has | :05:09. | :05:16. | |
peddled... Take that word back that I accused the Prime Minister of | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
being a crook. You are big enough to take it. Not if it is not true. The | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
truth is the media has spelt the line for the last five days to | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
suggest our Prime Minister is a crook. If that is not the case then | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
why are we having this debate. The Prime Minister has done nothing | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
wrong and it is objectionable to see a good man reduced to having to | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
defend his father in the way he has had to do. I do not think the Prime | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
Minister has done anything wrong in the legal sense at all. What has | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
happened, he did benefit from an offshore trust, and he admitted | :05:51. | :05:58. | |
that. It is shown a bright light, into a dark corner. That is the | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
issue of business fund trust established in overseas territories | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
and administered by Panamanian lawyers. We will talk about this | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
issue in a moment. I'm talking about tax returns at the moment. I will | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
come to that. This is the key thing, I think that people in power and | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
especially in the Cabinet, in government, responsible for setting | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
tax policy, must be scrupulously clean and demonstrate to the public | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
that they are not benefiting from loopholes in the tax system. I'm | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
glad that he published them as did the First Minister. Now you have | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
seen the headlines of the tax returns, as it clear in your mind | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
that the Prime Minister has not benefited from those loopholes. He | :06:43. | :06:50. | |
said he owned units in a trust, he sold bows and paid tax on the | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
dividends. There was no capital gains tax liability and that is | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
clear and legal. But that is not the point, the point is the offshore | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
nature of the business which we know is abused by other people. Not by | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
the Prime Minister. Not in this case but used by other people to hide | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
assets. Should the rest of the Cabinet now published their tax | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
returns? I think they should have a declaration that they had not | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
benefited from offshore funds or offshore assets. That you should not | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
invest in any kind of offshore, overseas investment M if it is an | :07:28. | :07:34. | |
overseas investment, buying stocks and shares in IBM, that is one | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
thing. But if you're investing in an institution established in an | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
overseas territory and administered by a Panamanian law, the public have | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
a right to ask why you're doing that instead of putting the cash into | :07:48. | :07:50. | |
stocks and shares through your local stockbroker. This is difficult, my | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
understanding is Minister people through their pensions, have | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
investments in offshore funds. I do not know then where it ends. | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
Personally I hope the Cabinet does not start to publish their tax | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
returns because where it will end up inevitably is that all our | :08:12. | :08:13. | |
constituents will have to publish their tax returns. And I hope that | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
that is not the case. So where should it stop? I said the people | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
responsible for determining tax policy, effectively the government, | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
should publish, the Cabinet. I suspect that other MPs will want to | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
and it will make dull reading to be honest. I suspect that will happen | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
and if that provides more transparency and gives a bit of an | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
-- confidence and encouragement to people at the top to do likewise, | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
that is good. Where are you on this? There are so many people using | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
weasel words to try to create an odour of malpractice when actually | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
as we have established, absolutely nothing either legally or morally | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
wrong has happened. I think it is really corrosive. I think it is | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
really corrosive when the mood music makes out that everyone in politics | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
or people at the top of politics are somehow dirty when British lunatics | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
is amongst the cleanest politics in the world. So should this end with | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
the Prime Minister, or should attend with the Cabinet publishing tax | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
returns? I do not think the Prime Minister should have had two or | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
should have put his tax returns into the public domain. He chose to do | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
that and I respect his personal position but I think it is wrong. | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
And poor Jeremy Corbyn to say everyone in public life, where was | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
that stop, the bishops who sit in the House of Lords, senior members | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
of the military or judiciary, the media? At what stage do we say, | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
enough is enough. We are to take people on trust unless there is | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
evidence to the contrary. This could be the price now but politicians are | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
paying because of the recent collapse in trust in politicians. We | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
all put our declarations of interest in the public domain, are expensive. | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
I do not see a massive upturn in political trust in response to that. | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
We could put our medical records, are inside leg measurement, all | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
kinds of things in the public domain and that would not generate an | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
increase in trust. You think even if every MP was to publish tax returns, | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
it would make no difference. I fall in line with Jacob Rees-Mogg, but | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
the public now demands that and I feel we are going to have to fall in | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
line. I think it is a shame that we are in a position where once again | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
politicians are seen to be untrustworthy. It is not for the | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
sake that people will have a go at me on Twitter that I do not want | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
this to be done but because everyday people must rely on us to make their | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
tax laws, rely on us to do the right thing by them. If they do not trust | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
us then we will have to literally start to give out are inside leg | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
measurement. So should Cabinet ministers all publish their tax | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
returns? I think I'm reticent to say they should but the public is | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
demanding it at the moment so yes, I think we're going that way. What | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
about my wife and children? We could move assets to them. Where does it | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
end, will my wife then have to publish tax returns, my children, | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
what about my mother? This is utter nonsense. One of the issues here | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
that is overlooked, publishing tax returns, what will that really tell | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
you. Tax returns after all are what has gone through the tax system, | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
what has been approved by HMRC. If you have done something that you do | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
not want people to know about, it is not likely to be on your tax return. | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
Precisely. And the tax return is interesting in terms of | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
transparency, but it is a declaration of no benefit from | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
offshore trusts and fans, that aspect we are more interested in. So | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
you do not benefit from a perceived loopholes. Why not just said that we | :12:06. | :12:14. | |
are abiding by the law? It is one law for one person and one for | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
everyone else. There really is not. One law is for Prime Ministers and | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
Cabinet ministers and another set for everyone else. Just because | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
anything David Cameron might have done was legal, it does not prevent | :12:27. | :12:35. | |
people thinking this one law for the richest one for everyone else. What | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
has David Cameron done wrong? I have not actually seen his tax returns, | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
just a copy. In the years that he has been Prime Minister, it does not | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
seem he has done anything illegal. Such weasel words, it does not seem | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
that he has done anything illegal. That is a disgraceful thing to say | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
and that is what I said at the start, you're trying to position the | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
Prime Minister in a very unpleasant and underhand way. Not just you | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
personally but a lot of people, as being dishonest. It is disgraceful. | :13:10. | :13:19. | |
Hold on. Just to get it clear, in your view from a perusal of what we | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
know of the last six years of his tax returns, he has done nothing | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
wrong. Nothing illegal. So what has he done wrong M I cannot say. You | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
describe the behaviour of his late father is utterly disgusting. What | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
was utterly disgusting dash-mac it is utterly disgusting when people | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
live in a society and do not want to pay all that is their fair share in | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
any wealth or earnings that they have in this country. My parents did | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
not have a little postbox in Panama where they sent their savings, they | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
put them in the UK and spent them here. But any dividends paid from | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
the fund, whether offshore or not, and any capital gains made from the | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
fund, whether offshore or not, were taxed in the UK. Had that money | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
being invested to UK stockbrokers, would have been more tax liability? | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
An interesting question, but if he paid tax on all the dividends and if | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
he paid capital gains tax on any capital gains made from the fund | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
committee chair, was relinquished, what does disgusting about that? He | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
lives in the UK, he uses the systems here that everyone else uses. My | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
late mother was dying and was offered an inheritance tax stitch | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
up, her account and said to her if you give it to so-and-so and she | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
said I'm going to give it to the hospital treating me for cancer. | :14:46. | :14:53. | |
Just finally, if he paid tax on everything that he was meant to, | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
because the money was repatriated here and subject to British tax, | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
what was disgusting? What is disgusting is living in this country | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
and having your business in a fake post box in a different country. So | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
you do not have to pay UK tax. But he did pay UK tax, we're told. Had | :15:12. | :15:19. | |
it been here, but he had to pay more tax, if he had invested it in | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
stockbrokers here would he have had to pay more tax? I'm not sure what | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
the final word is. Then you will not need it! We have a new culture of | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
bullying in this country. And this is not going to go away. The Foreign | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
Minister will publish his tax returns, others will have to, it | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
will be medical records next and go on and on. What politicians do one | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
day I suspect our constituents will be following on pretty closely | :15:49. | :15:49. | |
afterwards. This afternoon, David Cameron | :15:50. | :16:00. | |
is expected to tell MPs that his Government "has done more | :16:01. | :16:02. | |
than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms" | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
but they "will go further". As the Prime Minister | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
published his tax returns, Labour unveiled a 10-point plan | :16:09. | :16:10. | |
to tackle tax avoidance, including a call for an immediate | :16:11. | :16:12. | |
public inquiry and a register This afternoon, David Cameron | :16:13. | :16:15. | |
is expected to announce criminal penalties on companies whose | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
employees encourage This is in addition to plans | :16:20. | :16:21. | |
announced in February last year by then-Liberal Democrat | :16:22. | :16:28. | |
minister Danny Alexander - for a new offence for firms that | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
fail to prevent tax evasion. That new offence is expected | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
to become law later this year. Mr Cameron has already announced | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
a new task force led by HM Revenue and Customs and the National Crime | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
Agency to investigate allegations of tax-dodging and money laundering, | :16:45. | :16:51. | |
raised by the so-called The government has also repeated | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
commitments to introduce over 25 further measures in this Parliament | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, raising - they claim - | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
a further ?16 billion in tax. In 2013 the then coalition | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
government introduced a General Anti-Abuse Rule | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
which outlawed reducing tax by legal means, where those arrangements are | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
put in place purely to reduce tax. And last April the government's | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
Diverted Profits Tax - the so-called "Google Tax" - | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
came into force, aimed at big businesses who operate in the UK | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
but avoid tax by trading In January, George Osborne claimed | :17:41. | :17:42. | |
this tax resulted in Google agreeing to pay ?130 million in backdated | :17:43. | :17:53. | |
tax, but it later emerged Has this government done more on tax | :17:54. | :18:06. | |
evasion than any other previous government? There has been a number | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
of steps. Some of the measures taken are good. Some of the stuff that has | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
been announced is also helpful. I'm concerned about getting to the point | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
where beneficial ownership of these businesses is clear to the | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
authorities, not just his Mrs but also assets bought with the cash. | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
There are 20, 30, ?40 million properties in Mayfair bought in cash | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
without a mortgage wrapped up in corporate envelopes, who is the | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
owner? Where do they get the money from? It is not just about tax | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
avoidance but about identifying criminality. Those are parked in | :18:51. | :18:58. | |
assets in the middle of London. Which they cannot move unless you | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
want to rip up the house? Yes but they can park the money there | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
safely. How does the British government find it out and what does | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
it do about it? The reason that the Panama papers have very few American | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
names is because of an agreement between Panama and the United | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
States. Let's make sure that bilateral agreements are in place so | :19:23. | :19:25. | |
we have access to the correct data from the correct places, identify | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
the genuine beneficial owners and if they are due to be taxed, make sure | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
the tax due is paid. What do you say? I think that making offshore | :19:37. | :19:45. | |
tax havens like Panama more transparent is no bad thing. It is | :19:46. | :19:53. | |
very dangerous to conflate very different terms. Tax avoidance and | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
tax evasion. Tax evasion is illegal activity. We absolutely, the | :19:58. | :20:04. | |
government in this Parliament and previous ones, have been cracking | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
down in previous ones. The response to tax avoidance, if you do find it | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
morally Republicans... As David Cameron did with Jimmy Carter. You | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
change the rules, if they are acting in their way that society thinks is | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
wrong, the response is to change the laws. That's definitely true. Tax | :20:27. | :20:34. | |
evasion is clear-cut. Tax avoidance, there is a clear... There is a | :20:35. | :20:43. | |
spectrum. At one end, tax avoidance that politicians encourage, like | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
putting money in an ice all taking out a pension. There is really | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
aggressive tax avoidance at the other end, like the Jimmy Carter | :20:53. | :21:03. | |
case, and in between there are a whole range of investment funds, | :21:04. | :21:12. | |
putting up windows, all the rest of it, if you make it so, located that | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
it is a grey area that is quite difficult to define. It is exactly | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
right. For the average people, the little people as some people have | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
called them today, I wouldn't advise it, it is a company... As far as | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
most people are concerned, most people pay their tax PAYE. I don't | :21:34. | :21:42. | |
have a tax return. You can look at my P 60. The combination is that | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
sunlight can't get in and we can't have transparency. What is really | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
interesting about what James said is the difference between evasion and | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
avoiding tax. They are completely different and they are complicated | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
and difficult to understand. We must make that different. I want him to | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
promise that we will do the same when we talk about people on | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
benefits which are also competitive. Housing benefits, for instance. I | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
have sat in debates where people misunderstand their own policy. I | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
think it is very consistent, simplifying these financial | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
arrangements, Iain Duncan Smith announced one of their driving | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
ambitions to dramatically simplify the welfare system so that people | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
can actually understand what they are entitled to. It is absolutely | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
right that we simplify the tax system so people understand... | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
Politicians have said that almost every month in the studio. Gordon | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
Brown doubled the size of the tax guide and your Chancellor has added | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
another 30% to it. Mr Brown was in for ten years, your man has been in | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
for six. The more you talk about it, the gig at the tax guide you make. I | :23:04. | :23:13. | |
like taxes to be necessary... I like them to be paid. I like them to be | :23:14. | :23:22. | |
simple as possible. You went to this often, Jess and I are going to agree | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
on this. They are meant to be paid. We may not have much control over | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
Panama, that may be done through the OECD or on a more global scale, but | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
we have control over what are known as Crown dependencies. To have the | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
companies registered in Panama but actually based in the petition | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
urging I and others. What should we do about the Crown dependencies? -- | :23:53. | :24:01. | |
in the British Virgin Islands. It should be pretty straightforward, | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
people will find it straightforward, to have a register of the beneficial | :24:09. | :24:11. | |
owners of businesses registered in those territories. As a starting | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
point. Before we even get to Panama and the other countries where law | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
firms provide these services. As a starting point. If British | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
dependencies have a register of beneficial interests in their own | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
areas, we will be able to see, I suspect, very quickly indeed and if | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
we simply follow the money thereafter, the UK Treasury and | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
other Exchequers and tax authorities will find a lot of income that at | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
the moment is hidden and untaxed. If the British government was to do | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
that, others have suggested it, given that you would have two flag | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
it up, what would be to stop all these companies relocated? This is | :24:56. | :25:04. | |
not a UK problem. The figures heard at the weekend were in the region of | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
21 trillion of cash around the world part in what are known as offshore | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
havens. Every Advantest Chrissie in the world once it tax dollars to pay | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
for public services. I think there would be support from every advanced | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
economy for this sort of action. So it needs a global action? Yes. | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
A new statue of Baroness Thatcher has been built and was set to be | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
the sculpture has been blocked by the former PM's daughter Carol. | :25:38. | :25:45. | |
Was it A) Because it wasn't made of iron? | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
Or D) She wasn't holding her handbag? | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
At the end of the show James and Jess will give | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
news for the steel industry. Just before we came on air it has been | :25:58. | :26:19. | |
agreed to sell Tata's steelworks in Scunthorpe. Joining us is business | :26:20. | :26:28. | |
editor Simon Jack. Tell others about Scunthorpe and what are they going | :26:29. | :26:29. | |
to do with it? Good News in an otherwise bleak time | :26:30. | :26:42. | |
for the steel industry. A company that specialised in turnaround | :26:43. | :26:51. | |
failing businesses have bought it and will rename it to British Steel. | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
I imagine everyone will be high-fiving everybody. We will hear | :26:56. | :27:02. | |
from Sajid Javid later today. It should be said, union members are | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
still to vote on pay and pension changes that would see a 3% pay cut | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
and changes to pension benefits in return for a lifeline for over 4000 | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
jobs, surely, they will get that support. But this is not the bit | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
that includes Port Talbot in South Wales. There are 10,000 Tata | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
employees around the country whose future remains uncertain. They are | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
going to launch an official sales process for that. There have been | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
tentative signs of interest but the restructuring deal you would need to | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
get that done is much more severe than the one for this and the | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
crucial element is time. It took nine months to get this deal done. | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
Whether the Tata board can sit tight for months when they are losing | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
millions of week is very much unclear. In the context, Scunthorpe | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
seems good news, not great but in the context of bad news for the | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
steel industry. Let's move on to Port Talbot. Is there a preferred | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
buyer? Is there a likely candidate in the frame? Liberty House group | :28:12. | :28:19. | |
and its chairman Sanjiv Gupta have come forward as a potential saviour. | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
This is not the one that the faithful want to hear. This is a | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
radical restructure of the plant at Port Talbot, getting rid of the | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
blast furnace and replacing it with an industry that is less intensive | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
and lest people intensive. You would need massive support and retraining. | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
Whether that can be done when Tata have said that they want a deal done | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
in a time bound way. I will be talking to them later today to find | :28:48. | :28:51. | |
out what they mean by that. They think they need to do a deal in | :28:52. | :28:57. | |
weeks, it will take months. Whether they have the patience to do that | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
will be unclear. There are many more jobs at stake there. To summarise, | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
as things stand, it would be hard to say that there is light at the end | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
of the tunnel for Port Talbot? There will be people who would come | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
forward to buy bits and pieces of the remaining Tata operation. There | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
have been expressions of interests from Germany, from liberty group. | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
People might want to buy it piecemeal. The idea of it staying | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
and being sold in its current form is a little far-fetched at the | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
moment. We will let you get on. A busy day for you. | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
Joining me now is Roy Rickhuss - General Secretary of | :29:39. | :29:40. | |
the Community Union which represent around a half | :29:41. | :29:42. | |
You're going to see the Business Secretary Sajid Javid this | :29:43. | :29:55. | |
afternoon. He is attending a meeting and we will be in attendance. That | :29:56. | :30:02. | |
is why you are in London? I'm based in London but that is why I'm here. | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
What would you like him to stay but he went to Mumbai last week, rather | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
politically. We were there before and Matt representatives of the | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
board to try to push them the turnaround plan not just for port | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
Talbot but for the other business. We were disappointed, they chose not | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
to support it and we are where we are. They will not go back on that | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
position now. So the decision to sell their entire UK steel business, | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
what is left after the news we heard this morning about Greybull Capital, | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
we called on them to be responsible sellers. By that we mean the whole | :30:39. | :30:46. | |
gambit, supporting the businesses, ensuring it is sold as a going | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
concern. You would not want to be split up in a way that Simon | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
suggested customer I'm not as pessimistic as Simon, I believe | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
there is optimism. Looking at what happened in the last few weeks, | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
we've started to build I think a head of steam that says the UK steel | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
industry is not the basket that everyone makes it out to be. Not | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
just good news today we're hearing, last week we also saw the sale of | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
the two Scottish plants and we should not underestimate that | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
achievement. That means that we can bring production back to Scotland, | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
which was... But very small. About 400 jobs in total and then the | :31:28. | :31:34. | |
supply chain. But it is the principal. Simon explain the | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
difficulties of selling the business intact. And the timing | :31:39. | :31:41. | |
considerations as well. What would you like the government to do to | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
overcome these hurdles to assail customer that is the same as we | :31:48. | :31:54. | |
passed from the government and asked Tata, to be responsible and if needs | :31:55. | :31:56. | |
be the government may need to support the business through the | :31:57. | :31:59. | |
process. Through the transition period. With that the temporary | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
nationalisation in your view? That could be an option, I would not take | :32:05. | :32:13. | |
any option off the table. I would refer to positive government | :32:14. | :32:15. | |
intervention and that is what we called for all along. If the | :32:16. | :32:18. | |
government can see the position where a buyer is in place, there has | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
been expressions of interest, we need to get from that position to a | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
successful conclusion and why should the government not support that | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
process. I think there are signs coming out of government that there | :32:32. | :32:34. | |
are more prepared now to consider that because obviously they hit are | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
finally waking up to the point that this is a significant, fundamental | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
industry to our country. You cannot have a successful and affection | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
industry without a successful steel industry. If you were a prospective | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
buyer or for example Tata, would you not be likely to have some have | :32:54. | :33:00. | |
dashed to tough conditions for the government and say, you need to do | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
something about energy prices for heavy energy intensive businesses, | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
you need to do something about business rates, as well. And you | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
need to do more about Chinese steel dumping in the EU. Would you not be | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
likely to ask the government to do something on all of those fronts as | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
a condition of sale? I do not know about condition of sale but they | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
should do them anyway. We have been campaigning not just for a few | :33:30. | :33:32. | |
months but for years on these issues. My union in particular | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
helped working with the UK steel Association to put those demands | :33:38. | :33:44. | |
together. Those demands went in front of government and I get | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
frustrated because sometimes you hear men -- government minister | :33:49. | :33:50. | |
saying we have done that but they have not. They made a start, I will | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
give them that, on some of these issues. But they have not resolved | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
to the industry's satisfaction, the issues you have raised. So anyone | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
looking to invest in the UK steel industry absolutely will need | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
confidence from the government that they will act on those issues. And | :34:10. | :34:13. | |
we have not yet have that confidence from the government. They have been | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
slow to move on energy prices, the energy costs for Tata are twice as | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
high as those of Germany, business rates, the Chancellor did nothing | :34:24. | :34:30. | |
about that in the budget. And on dumping we have barely managed 13% | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
tariff when the Americans managed 266%. The government has been, and | :34:36. | :34:44. | |
I'm pleased at the movement that has been made has been recognised by | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
people in the industry and I understand from the steel industry | :34:49. | :34:51. | |
point of view, they would like to have seen that go further and go | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
faster. It is worth remembering we have been opposed over and over | :34:58. | :35:00. | |
again for measures to bring about a reduction in energy costs because I | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
think sometimes people look at these things in isolation. They think of | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
energy policy and do not think of the implication for key British | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
businesses. You have had six years to know the impact it has on heavy | :35:16. | :35:18. | |
energy intensive businesses in the country and for six years, you | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
inherited that from the last Labour government, you did not inherited, | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
but then there was the carbon floor price, but you presided over energy | :35:30. | :35:32. | |
costs for companies like Tata that are twice as expensive as those of | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
Germany. The government is pushing in the right direction, that has | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
been recognised. Like a lot of people I want to see that continue. | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
And I think that we do need some kind of questions asked about the | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
implications of energy policies on British businesses. It may be too | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
late to ask questions, thousands of jobs are at stake. The French, | :35:57. | :35:59. | |
Italians and Germans have been pushing to get road of, it is an | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
arcane issue but known as the lesser duty rule which stops the European | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
Union putting up really penal rates even in the face of dumping at which | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
the Americans have been able to do. The British Government has opposed | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
this, why? You would have to ask a government minister for their | :36:23. | :36:25. | |
perspective. Chance would be a nice thing! My personal position, and | :36:26. | :36:32. | |
this is a personal position, I'm not a great believer in trade tariffs. | :36:33. | :36:41. | |
Even for dumping? I want to see the British steel industry successful. | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
We already had talk about how it might adapt to be successful for the | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
future. But in imposing tariffs, it does not ring down the cost of | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
British Steel. The purpose of these kind of tariffs... People in the | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
manufacturing industry are already scared about the cost of production | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
and would be horrified... You cannot build an industry on the basis of | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
dumped steel for a couple of years. In the past couple of years China | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
has started to dumped steel and that is an easy definition, selling at | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
below cost. Are you telling viewers this morning that even when they are | :37:25. | :37:27. | |
clearly selling below cost, dumping, that they should not be penal | :37:28. | :37:35. | |
tariffs? Tariffs pushed the cost of raw materials up, they do not bring | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
the cost of other alternatives down. That was hit British manufacturing. | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
You answered the question. I believe that tariffs are necessary and it | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
seems to be the government has been found wanting and what their wanting | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
is a hand in China pocket. Unfortunately British workers are | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
paying the price. We have got to commit to British Steel through | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
legislation, through the budget, and it seems to me it was only when the | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
job of Sajid Javid was on the line that anyone cared. Come back to see | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
it in a couple of months, will be see a smile on your face? I really | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
believe so. I have every confidence in the industry. I believe that are | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
still workers are the best in the world and I believe that we have | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
never once asked for charity. We do not want charity. What we want is a | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
fair and level playing field. And I hear this about putting on tariffs, | :38:36. | :38:42. | |
pushing prices up, that was not always the case. Leading up to 2008 | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
the steel industry was a good place to be, everyone was making money, | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
there was a lot of successful businesses. And still prices were | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
higher than than they had ever been, you did not get this call from | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
people saying we must lower still prices or we cannot make money. I | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
will have a smile on my face. I hope you will come back and see us. Thank | :39:05. | :39:05. | |
you. plenty happened over the recess and | :39:06. | :39:19. | |
plenty more coming up to keep us all busy. | :39:20. | :39:20. | |
Today the government starts sending its EU leaflet | :39:21. | :39:22. | |
Leave campaigners are expected to press in the Commons for changes | :39:23. | :39:30. | |
to the Finance Bill to secure an additional ?9 million in funding | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
to compensate for the amount spent on the Government leaflet. | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
While in the House of Lords peers are poised to force | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
changes as the Housing Bill begins its report stages. | :39:41. | :39:43. | |
Tomorrow, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, | :39:44. | :39:45. | |
Stephen Crabb, delivers his first major speech since taking | :39:46. | :39:48. | |
On Wednesday David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn square up | :39:49. | :39:55. | |
in the House of Commons for their first PMQs | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
Thursday marks the deadline for the Electoral Commission | :39:58. | :40:06. | |
to make its final decision on the official designation of lead | :40:07. | :40:09. | |
campaigners for each outcome at the EU referendum. | :40:10. | :40:18. | |
And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to make a major | :40:19. | :40:20. | |
And on Friday, the official regulated period for | :40:21. | :40:32. | |
With all be poring over those rules to make sure we do not end up the | :40:33. | :40:43. | |
wrong side of the Electoral Commission. | :40:44. | :40:44. | |
We're joined now by Harry Cole of the Sun | :40:45. | :40:46. | |
and Rowena Mason from the Guardian from College Green. | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
What is the latest on tax returns, is the chance now going to give us | :40:51. | :40:58. | |
tax return? We are seeing more of the joined up thinking from the | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
government now that we were treated to last week. This morning if you | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
woke up to the headlines, we were getting the tax return from George | :41:08. | :41:10. | |
Osborne and then suddenly, we might not. And now the Prime Ministers | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
ordered George Osborne to publish those so I think we will get them. | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
It would be unfortunate if Jeremy Corbyn got to the summit of the | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
first rail kit he had on the government and managed to shoot | :41:23. | :41:25. | |
himself in the foot. But six days ago he said he was happy to publish | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
his tax return and since then it is, he will publish it soon. There is | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
speculation that if he has an accountant, they are having | :41:34. | :41:35. | |
difficulty putting together the paperwork. My advice to him would be | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
to get it right. Take the absolute shoe in he will get in Parliament if | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
he has not publish it at the time he stands up and has a go at David | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
Cameron. But if it is published and a slightly inaccurate I think that | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
would be terrible and Woodley to questions over how he could run the | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
country. Rowena, your newspaper has been playing a pivotal role in the | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
Parma papers. What are you hearing on tax returns? The line this | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
morning from the lobby briefing was that not only does the promise to | :42:13. | :42:15. | |
think it is right that he publishes his own tax returns, but he wants | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
the chance and respective candidates for both of those jobs to publish | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
more information about their tax as well. What he is doing is drawing a | :42:24. | :42:32. | |
clear line to stop MPs potentially having to release their tax returns, | :42:33. | :42:35. | |
saying it is a matter for them. But anyone looking after the nation 's | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
finances, and the opposition people in those roles, they should provide | :42:43. | :42:45. | |
more information as David Cameron has done. The EU leaflet dropping on | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
a doorstep near you soon. How angry are at the Tory Eurosceptics about | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
this? The blowhard or already blowing pretty hard in the | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
referendum campaign and this has poured petrol on the fire. We knew | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
that there would be this kind of stunt, this leaflet was in the | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
legislation that it was possible. But the way he went about it, | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
sneaking about during an ongoing tax row, they're angry. And all kinds of | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
hints that we might go back to the days of Maastricht where rebels were | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
able to kind of grind the government business down to a halt. But | :43:27. | :43:29. | |
government business is pretty much as anyway so I am not quite sure | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
what they're planning. We have got the Electoral Commission having to | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
choose who gets the money, who gets the official designation. One | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
official leave and one official remain campaign. The interest is in | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
who gets the league campaign. Remind us what the choice is and who you | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
think will get it? I think most rags have to be on Vote Leave, the | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
campaign being run by Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings. The | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
politics associated with that, the Tory babies, people like Michael go. | :44:05. | :44:08. | |
The other campaign is also interesting, it has close links to | :44:09. | :44:16. | |
Ukip. Called grassroots out. Connected to the Ukip donor Arron | :44:17. | :44:24. | |
Banks. It is very impressive how you have got all this in your mind! The | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
thing about grassroots out, they help a lot of rallies around the | :44:31. | :44:33. | |
country and they have a lot of the Ukip supporters behind them. One of | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
the interesting things about the designation, it looks that | :44:38. | :44:39. | |
grassroots support and that is one element that would be in their | :44:40. | :44:42. | |
favour. But I still think it will be Vote Leave. Also things like | :44:43. | :44:53. | |
financial probity and who the backers are. So no Panama account! | :44:54. | :45:01. | |
Arron Banks denied he was anything to do with the Panama papers today. | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
He is not Vote Leave! It is all one big mess. And finally, is Jeremy | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
Corbyn speech on the EU, are we going to hear the background strains | :45:15. | :45:23. | |
of the EU flag fluttering? Jeremy Corbyn is in favour of staying in | :45:24. | :45:26. | |
the EU and made that clear all along. Not that clear! Some people | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
would like him to show more passion and fire about wanting to stay in. | :45:32. | :45:34. | |
We have been promised a very enthusiastic speech. We do not know | :45:35. | :45:41. | |
where he's doing that but it will be remarkable to watch lifelong | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
Eurosceptic wrap themselves in the blue and yellow flag. Whether he can | :45:46. | :45:48. | |
do that convincingly and will take half his Shadow Cabinet with him, | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
Diane Abbott back in the day, all strong Eurosceptics. | :45:54. | :46:03. | |
The use of Sharia, or Islamic religious law, | :46:04. | :46:05. | |
is growing in Britain, with thousands of Muslims using it | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
to help resolve family and financial disputes each year. | :46:10. | :46:17. | |
A new survey says that a quarter of UK Muslims would like to see sharia | :46:18. | :46:27. | |
law be given more credence in British law. | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
Their case is being taken up by crossbench peer Baroness Cox | :46:33. | :46:35. | |
in her Private Member's Bill, aiming to make it illegal for Sharia | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
courts to act as legal courts in arbitration cases. | :46:39. | :46:40. | |
The government, however, doesn't think this is necessary. | :46:41. | :46:42. | |
So we asked Baroness Cox to set out her case and take a turn | :46:43. | :46:45. | |
In Britain, for 800 years, since the signing of Magna Carta, | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
we have had a fundamental commitment to the principle of one law | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
for all and equality of access to that law. | :46:55. | :46:57. | |
I believe passionately in the freedom of religion and belief. | :46:58. | :47:06. | |
But in Britain there is now a system of sharia councils or courts | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
which inherently discriminate against women and girls in ways that | :47:11. | :47:12. | |
are causing a great deal of suffering. | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
This is a moral maze which we must navigate. | :47:17. | :47:25. | |
For example, under sharia law and man can divorce his wife just | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
by saying "I divorce you" three times. | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
The woman often has to pay or to fulfil other | :47:35. | :47:36. | |
conditions which may be very difficult for her. | :47:37. | :47:38. | |
But sharia law allows polygamy, a man can have up to four wives. | :47:39. | :47:47. | |
And one of my Muslim women friends who is doing research | :47:48. | :47:50. | |
into the plight of Muslim woman in the West Midlands, | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
told me how women sometimes married into polygamous marriages | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
without even realising there was already another | :47:57. | :47:59. | |
I had wept with many of these Muslim women when they told me how much | :48:00. | :48:15. | |
One lady said to me, I feel betrayed by Britain. | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
I came here to get away from this, it is worse | :48:21. | :48:23. | |
here than in the country I came from. | :48:24. | :48:25. | |
Their suffering would be making our suffragettes | :48:26. | :48:27. | |
We must not get caught in a labyrinth of inaction, | :48:28. | :48:35. | |
because we are afraid of upsetting cultural sensitivities, | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
It is high time that we made sure that we do uphold | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
the principle of one law for all, of equality of access to that law, | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
and we end the kind of discrimination that is causing | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
so much suffering too many girls and women in our country today. | :48:54. | :49:01. | |
We're also joined by Yasmin Khan, director of the Halo Project - | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
a charity that helps women victims of domestic violence and forced | :49:09. | :49:11. | |
The baroness is wanting to help the kind of women that your organisation | :49:12. | :49:29. | |
is hoping to help. But you are opposed to that. I am accepting that | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
there are problems within the sharia system. But if you look at the | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
number of people who used the sharia Council, 80% of those are women. I | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
welcome new legislation such as the criminalisation of forced marriage, | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
introduced in 2014, we need to be very careful about understanding. | :49:55. | :49:58. | |
There is a misconception about what this law suggests. It is very clear | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
that the law of the land be applied and that should overrule. The law of | :50:04. | :50:09. | |
the land should always be above sharia law? Muslims are expected to | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
abide by the law of the land. Do we have evidence that the women are | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
using sharia law because it is a conscious choice or because they | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
feel that the norms and pressures in their community forced them to go | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
that way? They have at the moment the flexibility to use both. There | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
are laws that protect them. There are movements within the sharia | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
councils to work progressively and modernise and regulate some systems. | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
We should be working with them, not against them and introducing new law | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
when it is unnecessary for stop I believe in freedom of religion and | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
the right of women to access the kind of courts and council that they | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
wish. It must be genuine and not through ignorance. I found that many | :51:01. | :51:09. | |
women didn't know the options. They didn't know that an Islamic marriage | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
wasn't legally registered in this country. They have no rights | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
whatsoever. It was a cry from them for knowledge and a cry from the | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
heart for them for freedom from divesting violence. This was not the | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
context which allows policies and principles and actions that are | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
incompatible with the values and laws of our land. Is domestic file | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
is allowed under sharia law? It is not. -- domestic violence. We must | :51:40. | :51:49. | |
not marginalised communities, we must work with them and understand | :51:50. | :51:57. | |
them. Does sharia law allow for domestic violence? It allows | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
chastisement and that is used in many cases. It is important to | :52:04. | :52:15. | |
understand the number of and women who use sharia councils. I am not | :52:16. | :52:23. | |
here to comment on that. You are. And I am asking you to comment. It | :52:24. | :52:30. | |
allows freedom and it allows certainty. I'm saying that we need | :52:31. | :52:38. | |
more dialogue to help all people, especially Muslim women. This is | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
very interesting, isn't it? My heart sinks when a Muslim woman comes into | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
my surgery and thinks she has rights and hands me the papers for an | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
Islamic marriage and not a British legal marriage, my heart sinks. I | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
have been through lots of issues regarding custody and people | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
escaping domestic violence within the cost -- context of sharia law. | :53:08. | :53:17. | |
We are in danger of portraying domestic violence as being more | :53:18. | :53:20. | |
prolific in the Muslim community. That is simply not the case. It is | :53:21. | :53:29. | |
everywhere. What is your point? If sharia law this grim and -- if | :53:30. | :53:38. | |
sharia law discriminates against women in any way, it should be | :53:39. | :53:45. | |
stopped. I agree that the law definitely needs to be changed and | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
we are already working and looking at changing and reforming. That is | :53:52. | :53:58. | |
the focus I want to look at. I am suggesting we look with local | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
communities and see how you can modernise the councils that | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
currently operate. This probably won't get through the Commons. Not | :54:07. | :54:11. | |
this time. But we hope that next time it will start in the Commons. | :54:12. | :54:13. | |
Thank you for joining me. Another months of riding high | :54:14. | :54:21. | |
in the Republican race, last week the New York businessman | :54:22. | :54:28. | |
lost the Wisconsin primary And things aren't looking good | :54:29. | :54:30. | |
for the Hillary Clinton either, who also just lost to Bernie Sanders | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
in the recent primary. I am finding it hard to keep count | :54:37. | :54:48. | |
of the primary she has lost recently. | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
from Bloomberg in our Washington Bureau. | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
Is it likely that we will have a contested convention for the | :55:01. | :55:10. | |
Republicans? It seems quite likely. We have seen that over the weekend | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
Donald Trump has been struggling in Colorado, failing to secure a single | :55:16. | :55:20. | |
delegate from that state. The arithmetic is getting more difficult | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
for him to get to the 1237. He needs to secure the nomination outright | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
before Cleveland. The last really contest and one was in 1952. There | :55:32. | :55:44. | |
was a bit of one in 1976. 1952 in Chicago, Ike emerged. People thought | :55:45. | :55:51. | |
it was going to be Senator Taft. I right in thinking that by the second | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
ballot people can go whichever way they please? This is the crazy | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
thing. Every state has different rules. You need experience to get | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
through this. Certain delegates are an bound going in. As you said, in | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
the first ballot most people have two vote the way their primaries and | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
caucuses turned out but after that, if nobody can get to 1237, it is a | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
free for all with people going for their preference and they are | :56:23. | :56:25. | |
technically an bound. That is why you see this man-to-man delegate. | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
Ted Cruz has an advantage in this. He is stocking the slate for each | :56:31. | :56:36. | |
state with people who will be loyal to him. For if we get to subsequent | :56:37. | :56:43. | |
ballots are around the world. I wasn't there in 1952... I can see | :56:44. | :56:52. | |
that! Although Mrs Clinton has the arithmetic with her, she is losing a | :56:53. | :56:55. | |
lot of the primaries to Bernie Sanders. He has a great fight in | :56:56. | :57:03. | |
him. What does it tell others about her candidacy? She's not sweeping | :57:04. | :57:10. | |
all before her. She does have a moment and then fuse jazz gap | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
compared to the Vermont senator. He wants to use this to push home his | :57:15. | :57:26. | |
issue, appealing to the progressive side of the party. It is to push her | :57:27. | :57:34. | |
to see what she will do to address those issues. She is definitely | :57:35. | :57:40. | |
showing weakness. This, for the Republicans, is something that they | :57:41. | :57:43. | |
are going to seize upon. If she can't even beat Bernie Sanders and | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
secure these big state, what does it say about her chances in a general | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
election? That is what they are using this exercise for. Is there | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
any chance that the Attorney General would take action against Mrs | :57:57. | :58:05. | |
Clinton? President Obama address this over the weekend. He said any | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
decision on her e-mail would be neutral. There will be no political | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
influence to this decision. Really? That is where we are at at the time. | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
That is what the president says. Thank you for marking our card. | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
Before we go, why did Carol Thatcher not want the statue to go up in | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
Parliament Square? What it was made of. The hairdo? It looked like Meryl | :58:34. | :58:43. | |
Streep? Because of the handbag? There we go. It was the handbag. | :58:44. | :58:50. | |
That's it. The one o'clock News is starting on BBC One. The daily | :58:51. | :58:53. | |
politics will be back at noon tomorrow with all the big political | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
stories of the day. Probably, tax again. Goodbye. | :58:59. | :59:03. |