Browse content similar to 24/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics. | :00:37. | :00:38. | |
Jeremy Corbyn takes his campaign north of the border, | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
but can he reverse Labour's fortunes in Scotland? | :00:43. | :00:44. | |
Meanwhile, the Labour leader is criticised for appearing | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
to question his party's policy on Trident. | :00:48. | :00:49. | |
The Conservatives dub him a risk to national security. | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
Are the Conservatives planning a tax bombshell in the next Parliament? | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
The 2015 manifesto promised not to raise VAT, income tax | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
The polls might make it look clear, So why is everyone talking | :01:03. | :01:11. | |
It's Macron and Le Pen in the final round of the French Presidential | :01:12. | :01:19. | |
election as voters say au revoir to the established | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
All that in the next hour and with us for the whole | :01:22. | :01:31. | |
of the programme today the Shadow Defence Secretary, | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
Nia Griffith, and the former Conservative minister, | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
First today Jeremy Corbyn is heading to Scotland today to address | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
He will reaffirm Labour's commitment to repeal what he calls | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
the "vicious" Trade Union Act and will say the party will "never, | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
ever apologise" for its close ties to the unions. | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
Let's talk to our correspondent, James Shaw, who's in Aviemore. | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
We know what he is expected to say, is it going to do anything to | :02:02. | :02:09. | |
Labour's political fortunes in Scotland? That is the question. What | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
I think I know this from the bullet points we have heard from what | :02:16. | :02:18. | |
Jeremy Corbyn is going to say, there didn't seem to be anything that was | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
differentiated specifically for Scotland. Note policies tailored to | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
Scotland. It is the message we expect Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
Party to put out across the UK. We have to wonder if it is the right | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
strategy because Scotland is a very different policy than the rest of | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
the UK. Different things matter here and there are different political | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
threats. The most obvious of those threats, as far as Labour is | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
concerned is Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish Nationalists party. What | :02:53. | :02:55. | |
are the voices saying in labour north of the border? It has to be | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
said, they don't look particularly good. We only have to go back to | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
2015 and the fact Labour lost all but one of their 41 MPs in Scotland. | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
Things really haven't improved since. They got worse during the | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
Scottish elections last year, where they dipped below the Conservatives, | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
so they are, according to the polls, in third place. He would think there | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
would have to be a serious effort by Labour to make a distinctive and | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
persuasive offer to voters in Scotland really for them to make any | :03:32. | :03:40. | |
improvement in the polls they have at the moment. Although there are | :03:41. | :03:42. | |
factors like Brexit, which might make some people lean back towards | :03:43. | :03:44. | |
labour, whereas they happens in the past. As you say, it puts a | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
different I mentioned to the selection from Scotland. To steal a | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
phrase from Ruth Davidson, the Tory leader in Scotland, has the Tory | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
party reached its peak, in other words, it is only downwards for the | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
SNP Web both the Tories and Labour could pick up seats and the Liberal | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
Democrats? Ruth Davidson will make that case throughout this campaign. | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
She has suggested the election in 2015 is that is when sentiment in | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
favour of independence was at its strongest and she hopes it is ebbing | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
away. There are a couple of seats in Scotland where the Conservatives are | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
second to the SNP and they will be fighting very hard to try and get | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
into first place, to try and claw back some MPs in Scotland, so that | :04:36. | :04:42. | |
Ruth Davidson can make the case that they have peaked and there is less | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
of a case for an independence referendum. Less of a case for | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
Scottish independence, she would argue. James, thank you very much. | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
The Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, says | :04:54. | :04:55. | |
Jeremy Corbyn would put Britain's security at risk if he wins | :04:56. | :04:57. | |
the general election and becomes Prime Minister. | :04:58. | :04:59. | |
Mr Fallon, who has been in Bristol this morning | :05:00. | :05:01. | |
at the headquarters of Airbus, attacked the Labour leader | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
for calling into question Labour's commitment to the Trident nuclear | :05:04. | :05:05. | |
weapons system and for suggesting he would be reluctant to authorise | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
a drone strike on the leader of the Islamic State terror group. | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
Labour want to be the next government. | :05:14. | :05:15. | |
himself forward seriously as the next Prime Minister | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
somebody who would not authorise strikes against terrorists, who | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
wouldn't support our nuclear deterrent, and who would undermine | :05:24. | :05:25. | |
So it is very important we do point out this is somebody who | :05:26. | :05:33. | |
could be Prime Minister in six weeks' time. | :05:34. | :05:35. | |
Mr Fallon was responding to Jeremy Corbyn's appearance | :05:36. | :05:37. | |
As well as being asked about how he would deal with Islamic State, | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
the Labour leader was also asked if the party's manifesto | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
would include a commitment to renew the Trident nuclear missile system. | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
The Shadow Defence Secretary, our guest Nia Griffith, | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
had previously said the manifesto would include such a commitment. | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
We haven't completed work on the manifesto yet, | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
as you would expect less than 100 hours into this | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
No, no, we're having that discussion within the Labour Party | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
and we will produce our manifesto early in May. | :06:14. | :06:15. | |
Do you think killing the leader of Isis would be helpful | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
I think the leader of Isis not being around | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
would be helpful and I'm no supporter or defender in any way | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
whatsoever of Isis, I'm sure you would see, | :06:27. | :06:28. | |
but I would also argue that | :06:29. | :06:30. | |
the bombing campaign has killed a large | :06:31. | :06:31. | |
number of civilians, many of | :06:32. | :06:34. | |
whom were virtually prisoners of Isis so you've got to think about | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
Jeremy Corbyn. Nia, we're number wiser as to whether the renewal of | :06:38. | :06:52. | |
Trident will be in the Labour Party manifesto? | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
It will be in the manifesto because that has been our policy and it has | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
been confirmed time after time that the Labour Party is committed to the | :07:01. | :07:10. | |
Trident policy. Have you made it clear to Jeremy Corbyn? I have, and | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
it has been agreed it will be in the manifesto. So are you surprised | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
yesterday he said the Labour policy on this might not be in the | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
manifesto, in fact he said it hadn't been written. It is firmly our | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
policy and it will be in the manifesto. But the Labour Party | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
leader doesn't agree with you that yet isn't in the manifesto so it | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
throws doubt on it. But the important thing is, we have | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
reaffirmed clearly, it is part of our policy and we are firmly | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
committed to the nuclear deterrent. What was your reaction when you | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
heard that yesterday? We know Jeremy Corbyn has had his own personal view | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
on these issues. But this is something we have been committed to | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
for a long time. In 2007 we set the ball rolling for the renewal of the | :07:57. | :08:06. | |
Trident and we are clear what our policy is. You have had these | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
discussions with him presumably, and he is still opposed to it, is that | :08:10. | :08:11. | |
sustainable during an election campaign that his views are at odds | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
as to the Labour Party policy on this issue? When people vote they | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
will be voting for a political policy and it is important they know | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
what that policy is. Our policy is clear, we are committed to the | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
nuclear deterrent. This would be the first time Labour leader didn't | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
agree with something in its own party manifesto? I am setting out | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
what our policy is and exactly where we stand on it for the manifesto. | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
Should people not be voting for Labour if they want to see Jeremy | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
Corbyn as Prime Minister. The important thing is, we are a team, | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
we are working as a party and it is not a presidential election, it is | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
about who is in government and an election between political parties | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
in this country. How can it be a deterrent if Jeremy Corbyn as Prime | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
Minister has stated he would never use it in any circumstance, it is no | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
longer a deterrent? We are prepared to use it. It is important we are | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
clear that you also deal with countries and potential enemies by | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
being clear from the outset that you are prepared to use force, that you | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
have forced to back up your negotiations. Nobody wants to use | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
force as a first option. Everybody wants to negotiate first, try to get | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
peaceful settlements. But if you have the option of force, | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
conventional forces initially, but the ultimate deterrent as well, you | :09:42. | :09:52. | |
are more likely to actually sustain peace and security at the end of the | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
day. New have said you would use it as a last resort, but Jeremy Corbyn | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
has said he won't. And if you win the election, he will be Prime | :09:59. | :10:00. | |
Minister, and it will be him pushing the button, or on this case, not | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
pushing the button. What he said, he will not use a first strike. What we | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
have to be clear about, is we are prepared to use the nuclear | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
deterrent and we are prepared to use it. How is it going to look to | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
voters when you have a party leader who is sticking to the line he has | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
always had and you have a different approach? It is party policy and the | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
overwhelming membership of our party support this policy and that is | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
where we are. It doesn't matter about party policy if the leader | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
will not enact and uphold that party policy? It is important we set out | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
what our party policy is so that people do know. But he wouldn't use | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
it? It is important people know that we are fully committed to the | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
nuclear deterrent. It doesn't really matter, does it in this instance? We | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
know what Jeremy Corbyn's views are, this is a matter of last resort and | :10:56. | :11:02. | |
nuclear weapons will probably never be used? Nia has done a remarkable | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
job, as she does all the time honestly trying to put the point of | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
view of where the party is. But it doesn't stack up. You have | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
circumstances where the Prime Minister is required to make | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
decisions. The Prime Minister alone has to make those decisions. You | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
cannot go into election with a party policy is one thing or the would-be | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
Prime Minister's stated views are another in circumstances such as | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
this. The only deterrent a country has is those who might | :11:32. | :11:43. | |
oppose or threaten the country knows exactly where its leadership is in | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
times of crisis. We do not know that, we cannot know that as long as | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
Jeremy Corbyn leads the Labour Party and says what he says. Nia. It is | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
important people know where we stand on this and it is important we have | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
that deterrent. Are you reassured by Jeremy Corbyn who would be head of | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
this country's national security and defence as if Labour wins the | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
election? We are committed to the deterrent and it is our policy and | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
in the manifesto. Presumably, he would scrap the Trident renewal as | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
Prime Minister? The important issue is we are committed to the nuclear | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
deterrent and we will have a review with the spending commitments in the | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
defence budget and we will have to look carefully, as has every | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
government who have come in before. He did have an opportunity to say | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
that the Trident would stay in place because it is already there, he | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
refused to say that. But I am saying the Trident programme will stay in | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
place and of course we will look at all the other spending commitments. | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
He said he wouldn't necessarily be prepared to use drones to strike on | :12:47. | :12:53. | |
the head of Isis, as the Lee Markham and he has been criticised for that. | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
You are a Foreign Office minister and you have to admit when you look | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
at the Middle East now, we have had coalition air strikes, drone attacks | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
on Jihadi John, there hasn't been a removal of the threat of Isis or | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
peace in Syria? There has been significant depletion of the | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
leadership of Isis overtime. They are still there. Significant figures | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
have been killed. If someone poses a threat to the United Kingdom and you | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
have an opportunity to remove that threat, it is incumbent on a leader | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
to do that. Of course, all the other things about seeking peaceful | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
solutions go without being said. We know that, that is what the process | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
of diplomacy does all the time. But there are occasions in a conflict | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
situation where something arises and an immediate decision is needed and | :13:45. | :13:47. | |
something that can affect what is happening on the battlefield and the | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
the safety of innocent people can be done, can be achieved. That is why | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
the policy of removing leaders of Isis and Al-Qaeda it in the Arabian | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
Peninsula, that is wider policy is being followed. It is not a policy | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
on its own, it is a policy with other things. Let's move on. | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
The Conservative Party chairman, Patrick McLoughlin, has appeared | :14:13. | :14:14. | |
to contradict the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, over | :14:15. | :14:15. | |
Last week The Chancellor said that commitments made | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
in the 2015 manifesto had constrained his "ability to manage | :14:20. | :14:21. | |
Mr Hammond was referring to the so-called tax triple lock | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
in which the Conservatives promised not to make any rises | :14:26. | :14:27. | |
to National Insurance, VAT or income tax. | :14:28. | :14:29. | |
Mr Hammond recently had to drop a planned rise in Class 4 | :14:30. | :14:31. | |
National Insurance Contributions because it appeared to contradict | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
Mr McLoughlin was asked about this by Andrew | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor said this week that your election promise | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
in 2015, it was in your manifesto, not to raise taxes, had | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
tied his hands when it came to managing the economy. | :14:50. | :14:51. | |
The simple fact is, what we've got to do, | :14:52. | :14:59. | |
is we've got to do the best things for the economy and we will be | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
setting out in our manifesto in a few weeks, what the policies | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
You don't agree with your Chancellor? | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
What Philip was saying is some of the areas he wants | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
What the party will do, in its manifesto, it will set out | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
all the issues which we are fighting on, and it will set out very clearly | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
the choice we have in this country and that's the important thing. | :15:23. | :15:31. | |
Alistair Burt, should there be the triple tax log in the Conservative | :15:32. | :15:34. | |
manifesto? I think there should be considering | :15:35. | :15:44. | |
protection for pensioners, whether it should remain the same in new | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
circumstances, I don't think... Djurdic be explicit in the way it | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
was in the last manifesto that a Tory government will not put up | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions -- should it | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
be explicit? If you are looking for the next manifesto to be exactly the | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
same as the last... On that issue, should it be there, that explicit | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
commitment? I'm quite sure that what will be in the manifesto is | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
protection for pensioners in the way in which a new government seized | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
that likely. I don't know if the triple lock will be there. I'm not | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
asking you about pensioners, and asking you about taxpayers. The | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
triple tax lock, the commitment that the Conservatives made not to | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
increase VAT, national insurance... I would have flexibility. You drop | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
it. I would have flexibility because that is what a Chancellor needs but | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
the circumstances from this manifesto are different from 2015 | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
and I don't make taxation policy so I would like a policy that is right | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
for the country and what the government and the Chancellor will | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
propose will set it out in the context of where the economy is | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
going. If it is a contest with any terms of low tax, this is a lower | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
tax party. We will come to the record... You try to put up national | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
insurance contributions which was in direct contravention of the last | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
commitment. The average pay pays ?1000 less than when we came into | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
office, 31 million people have the production altogether. Interns of | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
tax policy, we are absolutely the right place. If it is going to vary | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
from what it was in the past, that is fine. You have made it clear you | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
want flexibility do you agree with Philip Hammond, you don't want that | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
triple tax lock, but you would like to see it dropped but that it would | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
give you flexibility to put up taxes. Flexible the in an economy | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
which would still be a lower tax economy under the Conservative | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
Party. You could put them up. It would give us flexible team in all | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
the centres you need for an economy is growing where growth feeds into | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
revenues. You cannot say at this stage that everything we had in the | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
previous manifesto must automatically be... I'm not saying | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
should be. I'm asking you what is the most effective policy as far as | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
you are concerned in the Conservative policy and you think | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
the triple tax lock was a mistake. I don't think it was a mistake, it was | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
right for that manifesto and it has been followed through but a new | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
manifesto and situation with an election gives a chance for the | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
party to say something. Do you think you could roll out there being any | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
increases in VAT, income tax... Of course I can't. So you can't claim | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
you could be the lower tax party because you could put up taxes. I | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
think if you were to try and assess who might be the lower tax party, | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
you might look at the record and are we not a lower tax party that our | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
rivals and those who would seek to take power? When did you last put up | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
VAT? I can't remember. It was in 2011 and you said you would not do | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
it, but it went up. If the average for those of basic rate income tax | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
lower now than it was in 2010? It is lower, you know is. You promised not | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
to put taxes up, that was the point of the triple tax lock, to promise | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
you would not put up those income taxes. Tax policy has got to take | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
account of what is happening in Ikeme as a whole any government has | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
got the opportunity both to raise and lower element of taxation but it | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
is direct or indirect in order to produce... So it was a mistake in | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
the last manifesto. The Chancellor always need the ability and that | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
constraint it. That policy worked for the time and it was important | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
but of course you want the government that has the ability to | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
change. I understand what it is... It's about trust. I agree with that | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
but if circumstances change and people need to make changes, it is | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
explained and you are able to move forward. If everything is always | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
pinned down, this was in the manifesto, it must never change in | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
the future, we have a new manifesto and we can be judged on that but | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
also on overall tax policy over the past few years which is indisputably | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
lower tax than it was. Let's leave it there for the moment. | :20:14. | :20:15. | |
Now, tactical voting along Brexit lines is the talk of the town | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
The Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, suggested yesterday that his party | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
may not stand against some MPs who are "good Brexiteers". | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
He gave as examples the Conservative MP David Nuttall | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
And this morning, the Ukip branch in Bournemouth West have said | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
that they will not stand against the sitting | :20:39. | :20:40. | |
They said that because Mr Burns is pro-Brexit, it "does not make | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said yesterday | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
that there are "no circumstances whatsoever" in which his party | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
would enter a coalition with either Labour or the Conservatives. | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
But senior Lib Dem Vince Cable has called the only Green | :20:59. | :21:00. | |
MP, Caroline Lucas, a "good progressive". | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
And he urged Liberal Democrats in Brighton Pavilion to support her. | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
The Green Party supports a so-called "Progressive Alliance" and they've | :21:08. | :21:09. | |
said that they won't stand against the Remain-supporting | :21:10. | :21:11. | |
Labour MP, Rupa Huq, in Ealing Central and Acton. | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
And the former Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
He has said that it is a big issue than party allegiance. | :21:25. | :21:32. | |
Joining me now is Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics | :21:33. | :21:34. | |
It is going to be a significant issue? It could be if you look at | :21:35. | :21:43. | |
that you could promise to stand out against good Brexiteers. That could | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
have consequences. If Theresa May wins back half of the YouTube vote, | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
it could bring the 40 or 50 Labour seeped into play -- half of the Ukip | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
vote. The Lib Dems are gambling on the Leave voters do not turn out to | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
take advantage of Remainers. You talked about it being as significant | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
in terms of Ukip not standing against good Brexiteers but some | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
people might say they are all about Brexit and this issue so why | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
withdraw from a seat because the sitting MP is pro-Brexit if they | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
have a whole other manifesto? I suppose what they are returning to | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
is the 2010 fact that Lord Pearson essentially made with the | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
Conservatives which was driven by the goal of ensuring the House of | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
Commons is packed with as many Eurosceptics as possible and Ukip up | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
worrying that if they took 15% of the vote in Chester, for example, | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
they could keep Labour in that seat. I thought they were supposed to be | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
about more than just Brexit. I guess they are. They have been trying to | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
get some traction with this anti-Islam issued in the last few | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
days and talking about electoral reform but the reality, most Ukip | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
followers would concede that their share of the national vote will go | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
down as six or 7%. For Theresa May that has massive consequences, for | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
the Labour Party, in the last three years they have been panicking about | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
the rise of Ukip but I think they have too worried about the collapse | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
of Ukip because those votes going back to the Tories will have all | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
sorts of repercussions. What about the progressive alliance between the | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
greens, the Lib Dems and Labour? Will that only function at a local | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
level where individual agreements are made? I imagine so but I'm not | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
sure it will function at all, we're not seeing the kind of unity you | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
need for that kind of pact to take place with less than 50 days until | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
the election. It is complicated, but if you take the Lib Dems as an | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
example, they are hoping they can give the Tories a bloody nose in the | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
south-west but look at some of the seats. Some have a majority Leave | :23:53. | :24:04. | |
vote so how are they going to get traction in seat where voters are | :24:05. | :24:07. | |
saying, my voting tactically for the Lib Dems or what I really want and | :24:08. | :24:10. | |
what I voted for in the referendum which is Brexit? I'm not sure this | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
is going to be a massive realignment, I think the evidence is | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
mixed. I think we will go from one region to the next thinking, how it | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
did playing out? Has Ukip hit the Tories in more northern seat where | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
voters view the Conservative Party is toxic or the Labour Party in | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
southern seats where they are shifting from Ukip to the | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
Conservatives? Are these suggestions of tactical voting from a position | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
of weakness and desperation or come up with social media, could there be | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
quite a impact, not just the split between Ukip and the Tories but in | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
the left as well? My own view is that it is a big, exciting debate | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
that we get into before an election but it never materialises. A bit | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
like 18 to 24-year-olds turning out to vote to change history, it never | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
really happens. We will have this discussion after the election and | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
find that there was very minimal tactical voting generally. We will | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
see a shift from Ukip to the Conservatives, not so much tactical | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
but expressive, traditional social conservatives coming home if you | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
like, I don't think that is tactical. The Labour Party may find | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
itself getting hit on multiple fronts a really bad day, the | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
desertion back to Theresa May, perhaps a drift to the Lib Dems in | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
some seats but also another tactical decision, I'm staying at home. We | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
will talk more about that. Thank you for coming in. | :25:37. | :25:39. | |
What did you make of Tony Blair saying that the issue but Brexit is | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
more important than party allegiance? I think this election is | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
about many things at the economy will feature strongly, taxation | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
policy will figure strongly and we are clear we will not hit lower and | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
middle income earners. It will be the everyday things as much as | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
anything, I don't think Brexit will be the only topic by any means. | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
Tactical voting could help you, the greens have said they will not stand | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
against the Labour MP, Rupa Huq, and you must welcome that. It is very | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
important that it is only the Labour Party can make an alternative | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
government to the Conservatives and if people want to vote for a | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
possessive -- Progressive party, they have to vote Labour because | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
that is the only way we can deliver change that people want. What about | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
in seat where it might help if you allowed the greens or the Lib Dem | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
and it not be a Tory candidate winning? You would not be in favour | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
of that? It is important people have the choice to vote Labour and we | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
represent the whole country. We have an opportunity to stand in every | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
constituency and we will do. One of the greens keep target seat is | :26:48. | :26:54. | |
Bristol West where the the sitting MP is pro-Remain soap would you then | :26:55. | :27:01. | |
back some sort of pact like that? It is important that people who vote | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
Labour are voting for a Labour government. Green MP does not have | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
enough MPs to make a mini party in Westminster. It is important people | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
understand that Westminster at 650 MPs and you can only have a | :27:16. | :27:17. | |
significant impact and form another government is if you have a large | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
political party. But you could have more seats if you did deals with the | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
Lib Dems and with the Green party and kept Theresa May out of Downing | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
Street. . It is important that we are determined to win the election | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
and as Labour. What do you make about the tactical voting that is | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
being talked about? I agree with Matthew, his talked about an awful | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
lot because it is interesting stuff and part of the democratic process | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
but when push comes to shove, people first weekend to vote in our system | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
knowing that only a vote for their candidate is the most likely thing | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
to get them elected. We have eight straightforward system, the more | :28:00. | :28:02. | |
that your candidate gets, the more likely they are to win. People talk | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
about pacts of the major parties have a vested interest in saying | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
clearly, vote for us. I agreed that people have to realise that the only | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
alternative government is a Labour Party want and that is why they had | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
to vote Conservative to make sure that doesn't happen. We are clear on | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
what people should be doing, they should be voting for us if they want | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
strong, stable leadership which is what we offer. You will welcome the | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
Ukip called the sake you should not stand against good Brexiteers? I | :28:33. | :28:35. | |
welcome the thing that helps a Conservative be elected. We are all | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
very fixed now, now the referendum is out of the way, we are working to | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
make this success, so whether you voted Remain or not, it doesn't | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
matter, what we have to do is commit ourselves as the Prime Minister has | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
said, to making sure that leaving the EU is in the best interests of | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
all of us and that is where the Conservative Party is. I think some | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
people find it difficult to get their heads around that. How | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
difficult will it be for Remain Labour MPs who are in areas where | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
there was a high turnout for Leave? It is very clear what our policy is | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
that we voted for in Article 50 because we of the Democratic vote in | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
the referendum for Brexit but we want to get the best deal we can to | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
ensure we can protect jobs. We want a good rapport with our European | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
neighbours so we can export our goods and keep our factories here | :29:29. | :29:29. | |
and make sure we protect jobs. A Ukip government would explicitly | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
ban Sharia law in Britain. The party has been giving more | :29:34. | :29:35. | |
detail of its integration agenda this morning, | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
after the leader, Paul Nuttall, revealed yesterday that a pledge | :29:39. | :29:40. | |
to ban the burqa would also be Here's the Ukip deputy | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
leader, Peter Whittle. No parallel system should ever be | :29:44. | :29:51. | |
allowed to impinge on the integrity There must be no tolerance | :29:52. | :29:54. | |
of systems which deny The rights of women, | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
for these are the most effected by such practices, | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
should and must extend to all parts of our society regardless | :30:07. | :30:15. | |
of religion or ethnicity. Now the public are | :30:16. | :30:17. | |
rightly alarmed at the growth in Sharia courts | :30:18. | :30:18. | |
and the apparent unwillingness of the political powers to face | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
up to this. I am joined by Margo Parker, Ukip's | :30:23. | :30:30. | |
equality spokesperson. Banning sharia law and sharia | :30:31. | :30:42. | |
courts, they don't have any standing under the British legal system so | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
how are you going to ban them, will you go round and stop them taking | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
place? When we sit down and put this together, which will be part of our | :30:52. | :30:57. | |
manifesto, this will be part of not allowing women to be second-class | :30:58. | :31:00. | |
citizens so they will be represented fairly and only one law of the land. | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
The one law of the land is absolutely supreme. It is supreme. | :31:06. | :31:13. | |
It needs to be clarified. Women that are, for example, perhaps not as | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
loud to have a share of a home, all sorts of things because they are | :31:20. | :31:22. | |
disadvantaged. We must explore this, it has got to be done. How will you | :31:23. | :31:29. | |
do it, how will you stop sharia courts sitting. Today was just a | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
press conference with some small sound bites to tell you this is why | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
we want more integration. We don't want women to be second-class | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
citizens. But all women in this country are under a legal system we | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
all share, whether or not there is a parallel court system that deals | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
with domestic issues like divorce. If they are to be underlined in | :31:55. | :32:02. | |
public in Britain, it has to go through our legal system, so I don't | :32:03. | :32:08. | |
know what will change? A lot of women are disadvantaged by sharia | :32:09. | :32:11. | |
law and we have evidence of that. So we have to make sure women are not | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
subject to being second-class citizens. Paul Nuttall has called | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
the burqa a barrier to integration but wouldn't it be a barrier to a | :32:22. | :32:32. | |
multicultural society? No, you don't have people completely covering | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
their faces working for the BBC. You are against religious freedom? Not | :32:38. | :32:47. | |
at all. Women didn't and were not subjected to cover their faces in | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
Iran, then they have a revolution and women cannot be High Court | :32:53. | :32:54. | |
judges and then they have to cover their face. In Britain when women | :32:55. | :33:01. | |
choose to wear the headscarf, it is their choice. But let me remind you | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
what happened in July the 7th. A man dressed as a woman covered his face | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
and got all the way to Rome so there is a security issue. It is not a | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
barrier to integration? I think it is a barrier to integration. If it | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
is about people'sfaces being covered on CCTV footage, what will you do | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
about people wearing balaclavas, helmets or masks? They cannot in | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
banks. Face covering is banned in France already, it is going to be | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
banned in Germany. It is pending regulation in Austria. Does that | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
make it right? I think it does, I think we are ahead of the curve | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
here, standing of the women and saying, you don't have to do this if | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
it is oppressive just because a man has told you to do it. You are | :33:54. | :34:01. | |
wanting to ban it. Yes we are. Will you be telling women what to do? No, | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
I will be saying that this is religious freedom, you don't have to | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
cover your face because this is what men in a religious order has told | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
you what to do. He want to ban women wearing the veil, you want to ban | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
sharia courts and sharia law, in which way is it not anti-Moslem? It | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
is not anti-Moslem. You could ban the courts the ultraorthodox run but | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
you haven't called for that or any other expressions people might use | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
in terms of their religion, the cross? We have called for | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
integration and not segregation. Their ARC immunities around the | :34:47. | :34:49. | |
country where women are segregated. They don't integrate in society. | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
Perhaps they are not necessarily allow to speak the language. We have | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
all sorts of instances where women are held back. We want them to | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
realise their potential. Alistair Burt, would you support banning the | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
burqa? No, in every society he would not tell people what to wear. There | :35:10. | :35:17. | |
are places where it is part of the procedure where a woman would not be | :35:18. | :35:19. | |
able to be fully covered in court, for example and in other security | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
situations, but you cannot get integration if you tell people what | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
to wear. I agree with Alistair and rather than imposing and dictating | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
and telling communities exactly what Ukip thinks they should do, we are | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
proud we have some Muslim MPs and they are working with the | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
communities. This is on the side of women. Women who have had to have | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
their vote done for them. You have seen this throughout the country | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
where there have been pockets where they have not been allowed to | :35:53. | :35:59. | |
integrate. We have FGM, and a situation for any woman or young | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
child to go through. It has got to stop. There has been no | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
prosecutions. The law is very clear in making sure... Why haven't we | :36:08. | :36:14. | |
prosecuted anybody? The law is there to protect all others and that is | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
the point. Why have we had no prosecutions, they do in France. On | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
the issue of FGM, as I understand, you are proposing the parents of | :36:26. | :36:28. | |
girls who are forced to have that are also prosecuted. That law was | :36:29. | :36:38. | |
extended by David Cameron in 2015. So what are you proposing? Beef it | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
up and make sure you do have prosecutions. It cannot carry on | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
like this. It is shocking that young women are brutalised. How would you | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
go about getting prosecutions? Doctors and health visitors have got | :36:56. | :36:59. | |
to have an examination. There are no prosecutions. The evidence hasn't | :37:00. | :37:06. | |
been brought to court. A couple of weeks back, in the West Midlands | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
there had been a series on television about FGM. On Twitter, | :37:12. | :37:15. | |
somebody from the West Midlands Police said we don't like to | :37:16. | :37:18. | |
interfere with the family system, even though we know this might have | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
happened. It was outrageous. I wrote to the West Midlands Chief Constable | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
and I got a letter back. They must prosecuted vigorously, these | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
actions. It is akin to where domestic violence used to be. It is | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
a domestic, people said. On acceptable. It cannot be right if | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
the law is being broken that any police force allows that to happen. | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
Is it been followed through? When you look at the numbers, they are | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
very high. David Cameron quoted something like over 130,000. It does | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
seem incredible there haven't been prosecutions. Is enough effort being | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
made to follow through? I sincerely hope to. It has risen in public | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
prominence, people were not aware of it a little time ago, so it has to | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
be out there. The answer is make sure people can feel can come | :38:14. | :38:21. | |
forward and not stigmatise them. That is what we need to get the | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
evidence amid the prosecution. What about banning sharia courts and | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
sharia law, so there isn't a parallel legal system in this | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
country? It is not recognised in our law. So the important thing is that | :38:36. | :38:43. | |
we work with the Muslim communities. We have some excellent women Muslim | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
MPs in the Labour Party. So let's make sure that we are working | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
together and we are making sure discrimination in all its forms is | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
eliminated. It absolutely vital we do so. Women's rights must be | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
indivisible in any part of the United Kingdom. Thank you very much. | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
So, we might have our own election to occupy us, but until Theresa May | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
made the surprise announcement last Tuesday, much of our attention | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
was focused on events across the Channel. | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
Last night the 11 candidates in the French Presidential election | :39:22. | :39:23. | |
were whittled down to two: the centrist candidate | :39:24. | :39:25. | |
Emmanuel Macron will face the leader of the Front National, | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
Marine Le Pen, in the final round in a fortnight. | :39:30. | :39:32. | |
Here they are after last night's result. | :39:33. | :39:33. | |
TRANSLATION: Today, Sunday the 23rd of April, | :39:34. | :39:35. | |
As the country is going through an unprecedented | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
moment in its history, marked by terrorism, economic | :39:40. | :39:41. | |
challenges, social suffering of workers and urgent environmental | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
problems, they have responded in the most beautiful way, | :39:48. | :39:49. | |
TRANSLATION: We've made the first step which will take | :39:50. | :39:58. | |
the French people to the Elysee Palace. | :39:59. | :40:00. | |
It confers on me the immense responsibility of defending | :40:01. | :40:08. | |
the French nation, its unity, its security, its culture, | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
He works here in London and is a supporter of Marine Le Pen. | :40:14. | :40:33. | |
Surely it is over her, Fillon is endorsing Emmanuel Macron. If enough | :40:34. | :40:43. | |
of the voters go Emmanuel Macron, he has got it? It is not that clear. We | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
have seen French voters change their minds very quickly in the primary | :40:49. | :40:57. | |
and the Republicans. There is still two weeks to go and there is going | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
to be a debate in about one week where Emmanuel Macron will have to | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
explain his project for fans in front of Marine Le Pen. French | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
people will get a chance, after five years of waiting, to decide if they | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
want to go forward with defending their identity. You are a banker, | :41:17. | :41:23. | |
and some people will say, how are you, who has obviously benefited | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
from globalisation, supporting a woman who is anti-globalisation? I | :41:30. | :41:38. | |
had to leave my country to find my work. It is a minority, there has | :41:39. | :41:45. | |
been millions of jobs destroyed in France. Thousands of women raped and | :41:46. | :41:53. | |
this is the price French people are not prepared to pay. With Marine Le | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
Pen as the President you can go back to France and have a job similar to | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
the one you have here? I will be able to have a decent live in | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
France. I have an education that has been paid for and it doesn't matter | :42:06. | :42:14. | |
how rich I am. You are in favour of her protectionist views and | :42:15. | :42:17. | |
policies? With all this competition from countries with lower social | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
systems which don't respect the work's rights as we do, it is | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
essential we have a state to protect us. One of the things that is | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
interesting, the two candidates have gone against the mainstream | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
candidates, they are painting themselves as the non-establishment | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
candidates. But in a way, Emmanuel Macron doesn't even have a party, | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
isn't he the populist who will ride the wave more than remain the pen | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
who has become more established? It is interesting because I watched the | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
speech of Emmanuel Macron and he painted himself as trying to change | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
the system. I think if you look at the facts, he has been a minister | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
for two years, during which unemployment increased and before | :43:08. | :43:10. | |
that he was an adviser of President Hollande. So his policies were | :43:11. | :43:18. | |
directly inspired by him. The train yourself as an anti-system candidate | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
is hard. You could argue Marine Le Pen has been part of the system for | :43:23. | :43:29. | |
years, as has her party, she has representation at local town hall | :43:30. | :43:32. | |
level and is very much part of the establishment? Do you know any other | :43:33. | :43:41. | |
establishment member who has had their House bombed? No, but I'm | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
trying to say she is part of the political establishment in France, | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
do you not think she is? She is always trying to put the French | :43:50. | :43:52. | |
people ahead of the system, that is why I support her. Were you | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
surprised at how both Francois Fillon and the Socialist candidates | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
are out, the mainstream parties have been voted against? Yes they have, | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
it is an extraordinary situation with the country as apparently as | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
divided into four parts as we have seen from the results. It is not for | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
an outsider to pronounce in terms of individual parties, but the sense of | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
uncertainty in France because of the process, the almost even split | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
between the major blocks. But the two main establishment parties have | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
not gone forward. But we suspect the establishment parties, because of | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
their interest on the issues that they consider important for France | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
may come together and support Emmanuel Macron. It was a terrible | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
showing for the Socialist party in France, you must have felt low | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
watching that? The French system is, they vote once and they can almost | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
experiment, if you like, and see if their candidate can come anywhere. | :44:55. | :45:02. | |
That is what we have seen. The socialist candidate got 6%. They | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
have been looking elsewhere, looking clearly for Emmanuel Macron in this | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
case. I think we will see a coalescence of people coming | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
together to back Mr Macron because he can appeal both to the more | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
left-wing socialist side and also to the business minded right-wing side. | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
I think he will go forward. Thank you for coming in. | :45:29. | :45:31. | |
So let's see what else is happening in The Week Ahead. | :45:32. | :45:33. | |
As we've already heard, both Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon | :45:34. | :45:35. | |
are addressing the Scottish TUC conference today. | :45:36. | :45:37. | |
Wednesday is a big day in the Prime Minister's diary, | :45:38. | :45:40. | |
as it's the last PMQs before parliament dissolves next week. | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
She's also playing host to Jean-Claude Juncker | :45:46. | :45:48. | |
in Downing Street and possibly the EU's chief Brexit | :45:49. | :45:50. | |
Thursday is "Prorogation" or the formal end of | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
It starts the period between the end of one session and the State Opening | :45:55. | :46:01. | |
Not to be confused with dissolving parliament when an election | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
is formally called, which will be next Wednesday. | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
And the week rounds off with the European Council meeting | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
on Saturday where EU Heads of Government are set | :46:12. | :46:13. | |
to agree on the negotiating terms of Brexit talks. | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
We're joined now by Fraser Nelson from the Spectator and Kate Proctor | :46:18. | :46:20. | |
Welcome to both of you. We heard Tony Blair calling for voters to put | :46:21. | :46:34. | |
party allegiance aside and focus more on backing candidates who are | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
Andy Hodd Brexit. How much is tactical voting is going to be | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
present in this election -- antique hard Brexit. Not so much in England. | :46:43. | :46:51. | |
In Scotland there will be a lot of tactical voting anti-nationalist | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
voting because there is another referendum on the cards and anybody | :46:56. | :46:58. | |
who's does not want it is likely to vote for a candidate most likely to | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
stop the SNP. Scotland is where the tactical action will be. Do you | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
agree that this is being done from a position of weakness rather than | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
strength? Tactical voting comes up every time but there is something | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
serious behind this and I think in England it will be the way forward | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
for a lot of people. Speaking to people over the weekend, they are | :47:22. | :47:24. | |
making it their agenda to choose a party they would not normally | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
choose. In terms of the issues, we talk about tax and security, but in | :47:30. | :47:36. | |
last week's PMQs Jeremy Corbyn focused a lot on the debt and | :47:37. | :47:39. | |
deficit. If the economy still going to be centre stage? Not to the same | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
extent. The Conservatives are moving to the left economically, Theresa | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
May is stealing Ed Miliband's plans for up energy ice cap and wants to | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
clear the way for more tax rises as they did in the last budget. The | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
pledge not to raise taxes will vanish in this manifesto for the | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
Tories and they will move towards the Labour Party is economically. I | :48:06. | :48:08. | |
don't think there will be as big a battle ground. She will be teased | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
for stealing Miliband's policies but she will say, if you don't like | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
that, you are you going to vote for? And on energy, she will be teased | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
for that, but in your mind are they literally stealing some of the | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
proposals from Labour? They even said state intervention in the | :48:29. | :48:31. | |
energy market would be a terrible thing. They seem to be doing that a | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
lot at the moment, it is about positioning. I know Theresa May is | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
unlikely to think that Jeremy Corbyn is much of a threat but if you hark | :48:40. | :48:46. | |
back to Miliband's policies, that is where the crossover between Cameron | :48:47. | :48:49. | |
and an Miliband existed previously and Theresa May will go after those | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
policies to get back some of those voters. One of the other policies | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
Labour is committed to is the triple lock on pensions which some people | :48:59. | :49:01. | |
might be surprised about but we're talking about a group of people who | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
do vote. And the Conservatives are yet to confirm that. Will it be in | :49:06. | :49:14. | |
the manifesto? I don't think so, it is a very expensive pledge and it | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
was only in there to bribe pensioners at the last election and | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
it worked and they got a majority but now Theresa May does not need to | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
bribe anybody with Labour as weak as they are. Expensive badges like that | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
and other promises to pensioners will vanish. -- expensive pledges. | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
And it also has done its job. There was a time when pensioner income was | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
below that of the working age but now disposable income is almost the | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
same for pension houses and working age houses so it's time to abolish | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
it. And raising the state pension age is something on the agenda. | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
Interesting to see if that comes up in the manifesto or if it will be | :49:56. | :49:58. | |
kicked into the long grass because raising the state pension age, there | :49:59. | :50:01. | |
was meant to be an announcement on that. Were you surprised that the | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
Labour Party has committed itself to keeping the triple lock on pensions? | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
Not at all. It is hugely expensive and it sounds like the kind of thing | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
they think is a good idea and it is a vote winner, especially those over | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
55 and 16 onwards. It is hugely popular but as evidence has shown, | :50:24. | :50:30. | |
it is financially in viable -- 55 and 60. It will be difficult for | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
them to see it through. And PMQs on Wednesday, what are you expecting? | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
Theresa May is in good form and seems to be relishing this election | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
and she will try to handbag Jeremy Corbyn as much as possible. He might | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
attack her from the right, we have had this effective Tory tax | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
bombshell line from Labour and he might try that again is the strange | :50:57. | :50:59. | |
to see him resorting to it but he does not have that much ammunition. | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
Thank you very much. Enjoy the campaign. | :51:04. | :51:04. | |
Now, on Friday's programme, Laura Perrins from the Conservative | :51:05. | :51:06. | |
Woman website claimed that the Shadow Brexit Secretary, | :51:07. | :51:09. | |
Keir Starmer, sent his children to private school. | :51:10. | :51:11. | |
Keir Starmer says his children go to a local state primary in Camden, | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
Laura Perrins has since issued an apology and we're also happy | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
Now, with the election every political party | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
will be taking a long, hard look at their priorities | :51:28. | :51:30. | |
As they write their manifestos, they'll be trying to decide | :51:31. | :51:33. | |
where to be generous, and where to make savings. | :51:34. | :51:35. | |
When it comes to a government's first duty, the defence | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
of the realm, we spend what is the Nato target - | :51:39. | :51:40. | |
But the writer Andrew Sabisky argues that isn't enough, | :51:41. | :51:47. | |
and is challenging the parties to commit to trebling - | :51:48. | :51:49. | |
This London memorial, honouring the thousands of | :51:50. | :52:20. | |
airmen who died flying Bomber Command in the Second World | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
War, is a magnificent reminder of our glorious | :52:25. | :52:26. | |
But here in the present, decades of funding cuts have | :52:27. | :52:30. | |
But the problem is not just recruitment. | :52:31. | :52:43. | |
We are building aircraft carriers but without the escorts needed | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
The Army has fewer than 200 main battle tanks left and | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
we've lost the capacity to build more. | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
In Iraq and Afghanistan our troops fought bravely but lacked the | :52:57. | :52:58. | |
resources to defeat the insurgencies they faced and had to be bailed | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
At the moment we spend 2% of our national | :53:02. | :53:13. | |
But if we want to be a truly global power, then we | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
And that means increasing the military's budget. | :53:20. | :53:30. | |
On our doorstep, a weak Europe faces the | :53:31. | :53:33. | |
terrifying threat of a resurgent Russia that could conquer our | :53:34. | :53:36. | |
allies, Estonia and Latvia, in just 60 hours. | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
And our Ministry of Defence is not equipped to deal with | :53:42. | :53:44. | |
We are far too reliant on the US, with the unstable | :53:45. | :53:52. | |
A dangerous and uncertain world calls | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
Now that there's an election, I'm challenging the parties to commit to | :54:00. | :54:07. | |
trebling our defence expenditure from 2% to 6% of GDP. | :54:08. | :54:10. | |
Protect our nation, save our military, and spend the six. | :54:11. | :54:25. | |
Well done for timing it with the procession. Why 6%, why not four or | :54:26. | :54:41. | |
five? Could we have lost so much capability over the last few decades | :54:42. | :54:47. | |
and particularly since 2010, the Defence Select Committee report in | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
2016 that since then we had lost 20% of our conventional capabilities. | :54:53. | :54:55. | |
I'm not saying we should spend 6% for ever but maybe for the next five | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
years, a really big boost, some heavy equipment buying and then | :55:03. | :55:08. | |
taper down toward a long-term target of 4%. Let's get reaction to that, | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
do you back that? We are absolutely committed to the 2% spending that | :55:15. | :55:18. | |
Nato requires. That will be in the manifesto. Definitely. Does Jeremy | :55:19. | :55:27. | |
Corbyn support that? He does and has talked about it at the dispatch box | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
and we have talked about in treating B 2% but what we will be doing is | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
not fiddling the figures in the way that I have to say that the | :55:37. | :55:39. | |
Conservatives have done. How have they done that? Trying to include | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
things like pensions as part of that 2%, we want it to be as we can delay | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
did it in 2010 but Andrew highlighted the point that we have | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
spending slashed since the 2010 defence review and that is the | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
problem we have got. You indicated you would like to spend more than | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
2%? How much more? I said we're looking carefully at what we would | :56:04. | :56:06. | |
need to spend and we would want a proper review to look at some of the | :56:07. | :56:09. | |
gaps that Andrew is highlighting and where we might need to put in more | :56:10. | :56:15. | |
money. That might not be enough for you, not even America spends that | :56:16. | :56:22. | |
much of GDP, 6%. White should we? Again, I'm not saying we should do | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
it for ever and it is not a partisan issue, there is plenty of blame for | :56:27. | :56:29. | |
the last Labour government as well as the Tories but because of the | :56:30. | :56:32. | |
capabilities we have lost and we urgently need to restore, such as | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
the fact that we don't have the airborne capabilities to patrol our | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
season against submarines, it is gone. The figures when we get down | :56:43. | :56:49. | |
to it, we spend around 50 billion on defence now, that would put it up to | :56:50. | :56:52. | |
150 billion and it would be bigger than the NHS budget. Where does that | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
extra ?100 billion come from? Are you comfortable with the defences as | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
they are now, particularly as outlined? I'm comfortable that from | :57:04. | :57:06. | |
the time of the last election we increased the commitment to that 2% | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
of GDP and we said the cuts were done and we have an investment | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
programme in machinery and the goods people need and it is stable in | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
company with partners and Nato to go to the sort of figures you are | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
talking about I think is impractical. We have to work with | :57:26. | :57:28. | |
others for our defence capability. It would mean massive cuts to other | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
parts of public spending. It would mean a few. I think certain | :57:34. | :57:36. | |
sacrifices may have to be made particularly by the older generation | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
who are currently recipients of extremely expensive pledges like the | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
triple lock, free NHS prescriptions and so on. In order to fund defences | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
but are you saying we are in a more dangerous world than in the Cold War | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
for example? I wouldn't say it was necessarily less dangerous given the | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
highly unpredictable and unstable leadership in Russia, North Korea | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
and of course the Middle East is a powder keg. You would agree with | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
that? We are living in a dangerous world, whether as dangerous as the | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
Cold War, and there were cuts to defences. You're been accused of the | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
figures. I don't think we did that at all but what we said at the last | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
election was those cuts came to an end, we would go back to the 2% and | :58:26. | :58:31. | |
we make that pledge which people said we would not do but we have | :58:32. | :58:34. | |
done and it means more money is coming into the forces now. It is | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
essential we keep up our defenders and work with others and you need a | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
strong economy to do that. I don't think you would get it by trying to | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
put in as much as you are suggesting. I'm afraid we have run | :58:47. | :58:51. | |
out of time. Thank you for coming in and to you two. From all of us here, | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
goodbye. | :58:56. | :58:58. |