Browse content similar to 08/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Is a deal to save the euro-zone top of our politicians's Christmas | :00:12. | :00:22. | |
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Good evening. All eyes are on Brussels this evening as European | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
leaders try to work out a plan to solve the debt crisis crippling the | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
Eurozone. The Prime Minister says he'll defend British interests in | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
those discussions - but for many of his backbenchers that means drawing | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
powers back to the UK. So will David Cameron be able to strike a | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
balance between the Eurosceptics at home and playing a part in avoiding | :00:40. | :00:50. | |
:00:50. | :00:57. | ||
economic meltdown across Europe? If you would have predicted all of | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
this last year, they would probably have thrown you out of the cross- | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
party. A single currency on the brink, the government of Greece and | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Italy collapsing, and the debt crisis threatening to spiral out of | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
control, shaking the foundations of the world economy. No shortage of | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
people keen to point out just how bleak everything looks. The crisis | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
in the euro-zone is having a chilling effect... Help them | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
resolve this issue... No one who looks at the current position could | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
deny that it is extraordinarily serious. So in this enormous all in | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
Brussels, the latest attempt to try and sort out the mass is getting | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
under way. The phrase make or break his used often when it comes to | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
European summit. Perhaps this one deserves the description more than | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
most. Tonight, Europe's political big beasts arrived to discuss new | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
budgetary rules drawn up by Germany and France, that would impose | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
penalties for countries that overspend. That proposal, according | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
to some, represents a fundamental shift in European politics. Inter- | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
governmental decisions are being taken once again by France and | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
Germany, and that is a problem for those who are... People who believe | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
in the Community method, which is all 27. For two countries to be | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
making the decisions are 17 is not appropriate. Other sense that the | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
from the euro-zone crisis has caused a political shift elsewhere. | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
At Westminster, in the shadow of Parliament, the statue commemorates | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
the siege of the French port of Calais in the 12th century by King | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
Edward the third. The Prime Minister must have felt under siege | :02:47. | :02:56. | |
from his own backbenchers yesterday. No taxation without representation. | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
It is the bastion of freedom. EU summit is a defining moment, a | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Will the promise to seize the | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
moment? Will the Prime Minister do Britain proud on Friday, and show | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
some bulldog spirit in Brussels? The Euro-sceptics on the right have | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
been re-energised, and that, to say the least, could prove | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
uncomfortable for Mr Cameron at the helm but his coalition. But a Tory | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
MP more sympathetic to the European cause senses a more general shift. | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
It may well be that we are starting to see a repositioning in politics | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
in which escapes isn't moves to be more of a mainstream concept. -- | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
scepticism. As one who has been sceptical -- positive about our | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
membership of the European Union, I am worried about that. But I think | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
people in Wales need to be reminded regularly about how important | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
markets in Europe are. There has been a shift because of the | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
difficulties of the euro-zone has experienced. We have all got | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
reservations of one kind or another. I think many of us did make | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
criticisms of the way the was put together 10 years ago or more. -- | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
the euro-zone. What is important is we don't try and put the clock back | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
but deal with the problems we are faced with. At least one Labour | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
politician was either -- eager to nail his pro-European views to the | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
mast yesterday. The Welsh government is unashamedly pro- | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
European, and I fully support measures to improve the stability | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
of the euro-zone. It is clearly in everyone's interest. I urged member | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
states to show regard for the common European good while standing | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
firm for disciplined financial management. He was speaking at a | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
conference held in Cardiff Bay to discuss the impact the euro-zone a | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
crisis is having on Wales. It is not a pretty picture. We want to | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
make sure that Welsh businesses have export markets to export to, | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
and we depend on Europe for a lot of our goods, so it is a two-way | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
trade, a lot of our imports come from Europe. The price of that will | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
be affected if the crisis continues, so it is a everybody's interest for | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
the whole thing to be stabilised. It is in the interest of Welsh | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
distances that the eurozone is a success. Back here, there are few | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
signs of the Christmas spirit, but I don't think there will be much | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
appetite among the political leaders tonight to share in festive | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
cheer. With the EU struggling to deal with the biggest crisis in its | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
history, nobody expects the economic forecasts to improve | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
anywhere, anytime soon. That was Owain Clarke from Brussels. | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
Well, joining us now from our Aberystwyth studio is Sir Emyr | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
Jones Parry - a former senior diplomat who has worked right at | :06:00. | :06:10. | |
:06:10. | :06:12. | ||
the very heart of UK relations with the European Union. Good evening. | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
The summit has been described as do or die by many, is that how you see | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
it? It is a very important summit. There have been lots of artificial | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
deadlines, but there really is an urgent need to reassure the markets, | :06:26. | :06:31. | |
to stabilise the markets, to give some indication that when the next | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
set of bonds become due for repayment in Greece, and others | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
come up in other countries, that repayments will be made, and that | :06:40. | :06:46. | |
above all, new investment will be made at reasonable rates. That is | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
the challenge, and what we have got in this summit is a chance in the | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
short term -- short-term to send that message, but also, through the | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
proposed changes to fiscal rules governing the euro-zone, to try and | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
demonstrate to the markets that there is a fundamental wished to | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
tackle the basic problems. And the basic problems are technically | :07:09. | :07:16. | |
difficult. How can be tested is the south, how can you cope with those | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
problems -- how competitive is the South? It is a big, big technical | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
challenge and a political challenge. Huge issues, as you say, much has | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
been made up of the balloting at facing David Cameron with the Euro- | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
sceptics on the Conservative backbenches. And also, needing to | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
play a part in come up with some of the solutions to this. How do you | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
think he should or will play it? think he will stand up for British | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
interests. But it is politically difficult for everyone to stop | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
France and Germany have come up with proposals, the rest will be | :07:57. | :08:03. | |
pleased but a bit irritated at two countries are dictated. -- | :08:03. | :08:09. | |
dictating. France wants the Germans to support bonds and the European | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
Central Bank to do more financing, Germany wants tighter fiscal rules, | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
which France doesn't want. Then for the Prime Minister, he has been | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
criticising, rightly, the lack of action, but that when the river him | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
is he could be put in the position where he is the person abstracting | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
action by the rest. Do you think of a domestic situation in the UK and | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
the political pressures on him it will hold him back from playing a | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
constructive role in these sessions? I am sure he will be as | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
constructive as he can be, given that we are not one of the 17 in | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
the euro-zone. But he has a legitimate point of view that | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
whatever is put in place, it shouldn't affect the fairness, the | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
integrity of the single market, it shouldn't disadvantage London and | :09:02. | :09:08. | |
the financial institutions. Those should be defended strongly. At the | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
same time, he has to contribute to the settlement, but that will be | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
most important but the 17th. were at the Foreign Office at the | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
time of the Maastricht treaty, those discussions, any lessons from | :09:24. | :09:33. | |
that period for David Cameron now? I think at the time, John Major was | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
quite right to obtain the opt-out for Britain to stop he did that, | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
and I am sure the Prime Minister tonight and tomorrow at will ensure | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
we are not been brought in something which neither the | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
government nor Parliament will want us to be part of, nor will we want | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
to be disadvantaged by the action of others. But we have a keen | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
interest in seeing this situation stabilised, getting the market's | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
return towards normality, because our interests are very much at | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
stake, all the trade we have with the rest of the European Union, it | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
is brattle for British interests. thank you. | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
It's the final week of business in the Assembly before Christmas and | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
the First Minister has wrapped things up today with an end of term | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
press conference. Earlier I spoke to Carwyn Jones and asked him is | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
he's satisfied with his Government's achievements over the | :10:26. | :10:34. | |
past year. Absolutely. We have provided a lot of packages of | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
support the economy, started to introduce new laws, after the | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
powers that the people of Wales granted us in May, and we have made | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
sure that we have fought Wales's corner, particularly the UK | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
government's acceptance of the need to look at the way Wales is funded. | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
As the Conservatives have pointed out, you have only tabled one piece | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
of legislation in that time, is that a satisfactory? They cannot | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
have it both ways. They have complained they wanted us to | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
produce white papers and send them out to consultation, then make sure | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
we drafted new bills, they cannot say on the one hand that things are | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
slow, because they themselves wanted to have this system, to make | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
sure the appropriate level of scrutiny was in place. We have | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
started work on a number of new bills. You will be familiar with | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
the criticisms from the opposition parties, they have talked about you | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
being complacent, there has been our lack of leadership, there has | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
been avoiding. Are you concerned these labels make stick? When other | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
parties have a go at you personally, it shows they are afraid of you. We | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
have shown the way in terms of new ideas for Wales, we had the best | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
manifesto, the best ideas in terms of legislation, and we are moving | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
forward with those. Those attacks don't impress me, I know full well | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
but they are worried. They say it isn't a personal attack, but the | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
policies you put forward have shown that you are complacent rather than | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
you as an individual, maybe. If you look at the Conservative point of | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
view, they would say we are complacent because we're not doing | :12:19. | :12:26. | |
what they are doing in England. When it comes to Plaid Cymru, there | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
were no ideas for new laws at all in their manifesto. We have put | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
forward ideas that are ambitious for Wales and will provide some | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
sense of optimism given the economic gloom that pervades the UK. | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
You have talked about the economic situation, which is dominating | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
everything, we have unemployment in Wales and 9%, youth unemployment at | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
over 22%. Looking ahead to next year, how bad you think things will | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
get here in Wales? It is difficult to see an improvement. We are doing | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
what we can, we have as seen -- scheme that will put 4000 young | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
people into training, we have �55 million available for small | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
businesses to help them through the difficulties, we have put capital | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
project support of over �130 million to make sure that new | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
buildings are built, which will create jobs in the building sector | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
as well. We have made sure that �1.4 billion is going into building | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
new schools. These things will all help people in getting new skills | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
in the future, but also create jobs. The opposition parties have | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
emphasised that you're ready to blame the UK government for the | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
economic woes of Wales. Do you take responsibility for the economic | :13:44. | :13:51. | |
condition of Wales's to UK government does bear responsibility. | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
I'm not saying that we sit back and do nothing, of course not, we have | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
shown that does not happen with all we have done and all the money we | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
have put in over the course of the last month particularly. But I | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
don't think the UK government's proposals to cut the pay of public | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
sector workers in Wales simply because they live in Wales is | :14:10. | :14:20. | |
:14:20. | :14:22. | ||
something I can let go without You talk about regional pay. What | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
are your proposals on that? The Chancellor says this could happen | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
in the short to medium term? I do not accept that people who live in | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
Wales should be paid less for doing the same job as people in the south | :14:36. | :14:42. | |
of England. That is absolutely wrong. It is absolutely immoral. I | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
will fight it tooth and nail. All that would do is reduce the amount | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
of money going into people's pockets in Wales. That is wrong. | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
The forecasts are pretty gloomy in terms of the economy. What can the | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
Welsh Government offered to lift people's spirits? Selling Wales is | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
what we're going to do. I had been to China. I will be going to India | :15:06. | :15:13. | |
and the United States next year. We have people who are ambitious, who | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
want to move forward, people with the right skills. It is important | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
we do that. This is where the investment money is at the moment. | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
We have good relations with China that I think will bear fruit. | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
final question, just about the allegations of malpractice against | :15:32. | :15:42. | |
:15:42. | :15:45. | ||
a couple of exams board examiners, it must be disappointing to see | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
these allegations made against a Welsh body? Yes. I am aware of the | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
allegations. The Education Minister has asked for an investigation. | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
They must be a thorough investigation so we know what has | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
happened. - there must be. Now, when it comes to education, Carwyn | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
Jones' government has pledged to drive up standards - and Ministers | :16:07. | :16:09. | |
say ranking schools in five performance bands is part of the | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
answer. Today secondary schools found out in which band they've | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
been placed. I asked Philip Dixon, Director of the Association of | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
Teachers and Lecturers Cymru, whether they accept this isn't | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
about naming and shaming schools but about improvement. The | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
Education Minister is clear about this. It is not about naming and | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
shaming schools. It is about improvement. Do you accept that? | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
That is his intention and that is to be welcomed. What we have seen | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
today is the naming of schools. There seems to be very little in | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
the way of support. That is a real concern. When you talk about | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
supporter, do you mean financial support? I would hope they would be | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
some financial support. That seems to be ruled out. There is other | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
support. Supporting teachers in class, supporting headteachers etc. | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
None of that seems to be getting to the front line. They have promised | :17:06. | :17:12. | |
four regional boards that will work on improvement in schools. That | :17:12. | :17:19. | |
will surely answer your concerns? That will be next year. They will | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
start around about September. There is almost a gap of the year between | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
the naming and the support. What schools will want from tomorrow is | :17:29. | :17:39. | |
:17:39. | :17:41. | ||
the support. Our you opposed to banding schools? This idea was | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
originally about giving extra support to schools. And number in | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
the profession welcomed it. The crude ranking we have seen in | :17:50. | :17:57. | |
England with the rankings does not work. We have to see more support | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
in the system. That is not there. Schools have to be accountable. | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
Schools want to be accountable. But you have to have intelligent | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
accountability. I am not quite sure that letting them dangle before | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
Christmas without a supporter is right. What about the incentives | :18:15. | :18:25. | |
:18:25. | :18:27. | ||
this provides? The fact they can move up? That is how the league | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
tables in England were supposed to work. They did not. My worry is | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
those who find themselves in the bottom band will find themselves | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
completely demoralised. I do not think you can expose people and say, | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
now improve your cells. Often they will need outside support. If a | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
child is not very good at maths, it would help them to know the other | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
scores of other children, because often children can help each other. | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
What we have here, I am afraid, is that the scores have been published | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
and these child, as it were, has been left bereft. You talk about | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
accountability. What about the role of parents? It is important, isn't | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
it, that they have an idea of how local schools are performing? | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
Quite often parents make judgments on a variety of indicators. I think | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
we have seen some perverse consequences today. There is a | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
school in the First Minister's constituency which finds itself in | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
band five. These things are not marrying up properly. Some parents | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
will be puzzled by the information today. Thank you for joining me. | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
The festive season is upon us, and we all recall Dickens tale of the | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
ghosts of Christmases past, present and yet to come. Well, never ones | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
to miss out on a good yarn, Dragon's Eye asked the Western | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
Mail's very own Ebenezer Scrooge, Matt Withers, for his take on | :19:57. | :20:07. | |
:20:07. | :20:33. | ||
what's been, what's gone and what's If 2011 was the worst of times, | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
2012 could be even worse. This year saw the UK Government withdraw much | :20:39. | :20:46. | |
of its funding. There was so-so and rest on the streets of London. -- | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
social unrest. What would dickens had made a bit? He described credit | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
as when a person who cannot pay asking another person who can pay, | :20:55. | :21:04. | |
guarantee that he can. In Wales, 2012 will be a tale of governments | :21:04. | :21:14. | |
:21:14. | :21:14. | ||
in O2 macro cities, Cardiff and London. -- two cities. The | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
Conservatives and Liberal Democrat bedfellows led by Cameron and Clerc, | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
will find the fingers pointed at them increasingly by the Labour | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
administration in Wales. The Times of austerity have already begun | :21:31. | :21:40. | |
with a Wells budget cut for the first time. -- Welsh. A cry of | :21:40. | :21:47. | |
please sir, can we have some more, is unlikely to be smiled upon. It | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
will be the first full year of our National Assembly having law making | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
powers. People have great expectations. With the public purse | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
strings so tight, the laws will resemble more an Old curiosity Shop. | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
Mogg cycle lanes, less the tattooing of young people, and | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
local authorities being made to share chief executives. A new | :22:11. | :22:21. | |
:22:21. | :22:23. | ||
commission will look at the fiscal powers of Wales. While everyone, or | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
at least most of us will feel the pain, politics will continue as | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
usual. Labour will continue to muddle through in an assembly which | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
could become a bleak House. Plaid Cymru, looking for a new leader, | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
and the Liberal Democrats, could be on hand to joined their gang. Could | :22:47. | :22:54. | |
a deal with the opposition see the assembly visited by a minister of | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
Christmas past, Peter Hain? 2012 will be all about the economy. With | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
less money around, governments will increasingly resemble Scrooge as | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
budgets shrink and spending retracts. It is a situation which | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
Dickens himself would have struggled to recognise more than | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
140 years after his death. Merry Christmas one and all? Bar humbug. | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
Thanks to Matt 'Scrooge' Withers from the Western Mail. Joining me | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
now is Conservative MP Glyn Davies, Liberal Democrat Assembly Member | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
Peter Black, the Labour MP Kevin Brennan, and Plaid Cymru Assembly | :23:29. | :23:39. | |
:23:39. | :23:43. | ||
Member Jocelyn Davies. A pretty bleak picture painted there. Your | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
Conservative backbenchers are not showing much good Lil -- goodwill | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
towards cheerleaders on the European issue. Where you stand? | :23:51. | :23:57. | |
have got a top issue. David Cameron is in Europe at the Mohmand and | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
hopefully he will protect Britain's interest. That is what I expect him | :24:00. | :24:08. | |
to do. -- at the moment. It is politics. There was no harm in it. | :24:08. | :24:16. | |
Kevin Brennan, the Labour MPs smell blood here? -- do Labour MPs? | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
was telling yesterday when Ed Miliband put David Cameron on the | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
spot, just how much he waffled. It is a case of the return of the | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
dinosaurs in terms of the Eurosceptics in Westminster. They | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
are queuing up to get some red meat going on Europe. It is a fault line | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
within the Conservative Party and within the coalition. It Liberal- | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
Democrats traditionally have taken a different view. -- the Liberal | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
Democrat. Nick Clegg seemed to be staring into a vacant space | :24:51. | :24:58. | |
yesterday during Prime Minister's Questions. You have just done a | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
deal with Labour on the budget here. Is that party politically motivated | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
ahead of the local elections? was about making sure we have | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
stability for public services, making sure we got at key Liberal | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
Democrat manifesto pledge delivered, more money for every school in | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
Wales. The Prime reservation was stability, making sure we got the | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
budget through. Get some extra money to schools to help the | :25:26. | :25:35. | |
poorest people. I should imagine the Eagles you may get in the local | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
elections was probably am more of a motivation. -- I should imagine | :25:40. | :25:50. | |
that the boast you may get. I am quite enjoying being in opposition. | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
Yes, of course, this time last year we were in Government. I am very | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
proud to be in a Government that delivered the referendum. I think | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
we have settled quite well back into opposition. And of course | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
Labour was not able to offer us what we wanted in order to support | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
them on the Budget. We have supported them on the budget in the | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
past. When we have been able to get what we want. But the key issue in | :26:16. | :26:24. | |
the coming months is the leadership. His independence going to be the | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
dividing line? I do not know if that will be the case. Everybody | :26:29. | :26:35. | |
has their own views. We have three very good candidates. I will be | :26:35. | :26:43. | |
supporting Eddie Jones. We have got a Simon Thomas and Pywell and | :26:43. | :26:53. | |
Thomas. They have all got different views. -- Dai Llewellyn. Glyn | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
Davies, obviously it has been at the year for the new Conservative | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
leader in the assembly. He has maybe liven up First Minister's | :27:04. | :27:11. | |
Questions. Is the first ministerial material? Of course. He has liven | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
up proceedings in the assembly. I think he has done incredibly well. | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
He is coming to London next week to meet but David Cameron and all of | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
the MPs. I have been organising that. He is turning out to be a | :27:23. | :27:30. | |
very good leader. Defying some of the people who decried him. Has he | :27:30. | :27:39. | |
got Carwyn Jones on the Ron? I do not think so. Carwyn Jones is a | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
very significantly able operator. One thing I disagree with Jocelyne | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
about is about being in opposition. I could never settle with being in | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
opposition. It is a terrible place to be. Having an election for a | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
leader in opposition is like having an election for the mayor of the | :27:59. | :28:06. | |
Mont Caines. You might as well give up. One year in power is worth a | :28:06. | :28:13. | |
1000 years in opposition. It is not inevitable but you have to accept | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
that sometimes that is what happens. Make the best of the role you have | :28:18. | :28:25. | |
an opposition. It used to it. would never get used to it. I think | :28:25. | :28:29. |