:00:07. > :00:15.Nine days from now, the power to choose who runs the country rests in
:00:16. > :00:20.our hands. Each boat could count more than anywhere else here in the
:00:21. > :00:26.North West, who will you trust to take charge? There are more marginal
:00:27. > :00:31.seats than anywhere in the UK, whoever captures the north-west this
:00:32. > :00:36.time will win the election. Is it all about Brexit, help for hospitals
:00:37. > :00:41.and schools? With the region reeling from last weeks terror attack, is
:00:42. > :00:45.security top of your list? Obviously, it has been brought to
:00:46. > :00:51.the top of our minds. People are more concerned about schools, NHS.
:00:52. > :00:56.It's not just about Brexit but 90% is. This is perhaps the most
:00:57. > :00:59.dramatic contest we have seen in a generation. This evening, candidates
:01:00. > :01:03.put their case for power. With us tonight are candidates
:01:04. > :01:05.from five parties. John Bickley is the UKIP
:01:06. > :01:07.candidate in Eddisbury. Lisa Smart is standing
:01:08. > :01:09.for the Liberal Democrats in Hazel Grove, Nigel Evans
:01:10. > :01:12.for the Conservatives in Ribble Valley and Lisa Nandy
:01:13. > :01:17.for Labour in Wigan. And Stephanie Pitchers will be
:01:18. > :01:21.contesting Liverpool Riverside Our panel is all welcome,
:01:22. > :01:35.our audience is too. You are welcome to join
:01:36. > :01:39.the debate at home on Twitter, use the hashtag #electionnw:
:01:40. > :01:41.We will keep it up on the screen during the course of
:01:42. > :01:46.the next 45 minutes. A number of questions to get
:01:47. > :01:49.through, lots to talk about at the end of what has been
:01:50. > :01:52.a week that most people here Our first question comes
:01:53. > :01:57.from Dr Zahid Chauhan. What as a society can we do
:01:58. > :02:01.to prevent the spread Obviously what happened
:02:02. > :02:14.last Monday is shocking, and most of us are still trying
:02:15. > :02:18.to come to terms with this. But in some respects
:02:19. > :02:20.it wasn't a shock. Not least because those
:02:21. > :02:25.people in the Muslim and in Islam who hate us,
:02:26. > :02:29.who have told us quite clearly they want to destroy our way
:02:30. > :02:34.of life, it isn't a shock to them, they have been planning
:02:35. > :02:37.to do this for some time. And I think somehow,
:02:38. > :02:40.we've got to connect with the Muslim community and say we're
:02:41. > :02:44.all in this together. There is a problem in some elements
:02:45. > :02:47.of the Muslim community, anybody who saw the Channel 4
:02:48. > :02:49.programme last year fronted by Trevor Phillips,
:02:50. > :02:51.What British Muslims Really Think, some of the things that
:02:52. > :02:56.came out were shocking. 100,000 Muslims in this
:02:57. > :02:59.country think it's OK And people who have
:03:00. > :03:06.acts of terrorism. Half of them think there should be
:03:07. > :03:09.a law against homosexuality, one in four want to live
:03:10. > :03:14.under sharia law. We have all failed to find a way
:03:15. > :03:17.to work together and we have, as Trevor Phillips said,
:03:18. > :03:22.a nation within a nation. One in three people in this country
:03:23. > :03:25.are likely to be Muslim, if we haven't integrated by then
:03:26. > :03:29.we're going to have big problems. What would the Conservatives do
:03:30. > :03:35.specifically to try and stop We were all appalled by the scenes
:03:36. > :03:41.we witnessed last Monday and I myself had a constituent
:03:42. > :03:45.who was killed and another The vast majority of
:03:46. > :03:50.Muslims were as appalled as we all were by the scenes
:03:51. > :03:55.that we witnessed in Manchester. And we have got to work together
:03:56. > :03:58.to defeat the evil that Fortunately it is a relatively small
:03:59. > :04:06.number but we have got to redouble our efforts to work
:04:07. > :04:10.with the Muslim community to root out the people
:04:11. > :04:12.who have been radicalised, who are trying to radicalise others,
:04:13. > :04:21.to use the intelligence forces we have got to eradicate any access
:04:22. > :04:24.via the Internet to the radicalisation that's taking
:04:25. > :04:27.place there, and we have got to use the intelligence services far more
:04:28. > :04:29.than is currently the case and use our schools,
:04:30. > :04:31.bringing the communities together, bringing the religions together,
:04:32. > :04:34.there is not a them and an us, it's all of us against this small
:04:35. > :04:38.minority of people that we need Nigel Evans talked about trying
:04:39. > :04:47.to do something with the Internet, would Labour support forcing
:04:48. > :04:49.Internet companies like Facebook, Twitter, to crackdown on this
:04:50. > :04:58.on their sites? I think there is undoubtedly more
:04:59. > :05:01.that the Internet companies can do, some are leading the way in this
:05:02. > :05:04.so there is no excuse But the other thing we need to think
:05:05. > :05:10.about is we have 20,000 police officers cut from our forces over
:05:11. > :05:14.the last seven years, since 2010, and a lot of those police officers
:05:15. > :05:17.have been community police officers who are our eyes and ears
:05:18. > :05:20.in our communities and so it's incredibly important now that every
:05:21. > :05:24.political party sets out plans, my party has already done it,
:05:25. > :05:27.to put more police officers back on our street and we should never
:05:28. > :05:30.again be in a situation where a member of Greater Manchester
:05:31. > :05:34.Police is saying to the Home Secretary, as happened two years
:05:35. > :05:40.ago, that they simply do not have the resources they need to keep
:05:41. > :05:46.people safe It's incredibly important
:05:47. > :05:50.going forward after this horrific attack that we have the resources
:05:51. > :05:53.we need to keep people safe and we need a root and branch review
:05:54. > :05:57.as Andy Burnham said of the Prevent strategy, which started
:05:58. > :05:59.in communities and has become toxic. The trouble with that is if you are
:06:00. > :06:02.a young person in the north-west who is being groomed and targeted
:06:03. > :06:07.by extremists, you are much more likely to disclose that
:06:08. > :06:10.to a friend or family member than you are to disclose
:06:11. > :06:14.that to a police officer and if the community doesn't believe
:06:15. > :06:17.in the programme that is meant Do they regret the coalition
:06:18. > :06:28.and those cuts that were made I agree very strongly with what Lisa
:06:29. > :06:36.says about the importance of making sure our police and intelligence
:06:37. > :06:38.services, our security services, have the resources they need
:06:39. > :06:41.to do the job. We as Lib Dems would invest
:06:42. > :06:45.?300 million specifically in community policing
:06:46. > :06:48.in all our communities, le'ts not forget that there
:06:49. > :06:50.are representatives of a number of communities
:06:51. > :06:55.who commit terrorist attacks, The other thing we would do is make
:06:56. > :07:01.sure our police force represents the communities that we all seek
:07:02. > :07:04.to represent, Lisa made a really good point about Prevent,
:07:05. > :07:07.we as Liberal Democrats would reform it to the Engage
:07:08. > :07:10.strategy and make sure it was pulled from the bottom up from communities
:07:11. > :07:17.who know the communities best, who know whether it's
:07:18. > :07:20.in a far right community, whether it's in a radicalised
:07:21. > :07:25.extremist Muslim community, make sure it's those communities
:07:26. > :07:27.who are put in charge of working with police,
:07:28. > :07:30.with broader communities, to stop these horrific
:07:31. > :07:34.events we are seeing. Stephanie, from the Greens' point
:07:35. > :07:38.of view, it's not your natural hinterland, however,
:07:39. > :07:41.what would you do to prevent Absolutely the police
:07:42. > :07:46.have been underfunded, we need more police
:07:47. > :07:49.so that they can do their jobs. Something that hasn't been mentioned
:07:50. > :07:52.is that Salman Abedi was known to the police and several
:07:53. > :07:57.of his friends and family had reported him, he was banned
:07:58. > :08:00.from his mosque but nothing was done and I feel this
:08:01. > :08:03.was something that could have been prevented had we had enough
:08:04. > :08:13.police on the ground. One of the major issues
:08:14. > :08:15.that Muslim people face, that I've had with my neighbours,
:08:16. > :08:19.is that there is discrimination against Muslim people
:08:20. > :08:21.and against people of colour, So many people in my
:08:22. > :08:25.community are fed up at not being able to get jobs
:08:26. > :08:28.that are worthwhile, not being able to make a difference
:08:29. > :08:31.in the way they would like, to have really good,
:08:32. > :08:34.meaningful jobs that give back to society,
:08:35. > :08:37.and if we address these issues of inequality and fairness,
:08:38. > :08:40.that is a great step forward to stopping terrorism
:08:41. > :08:43.and radicalisation. What is the panel's reaction
:08:44. > :08:52.to the news that Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath at the grave
:08:53. > :08:55.of the mastermind of the Munich A little bit off-topic, Lisa,
:08:56. > :09:02.you could answer it quickly? It was right that Jeremy has
:09:03. > :09:06.been asked questions about this and his views
:09:07. > :09:10.on terrorism over the weekend and he has been very robust
:09:11. > :09:13.in his response in saying that he doesn't support any form
:09:14. > :09:15.of terrorism, he also condemned the bombings
:09:16. > :09:21.and atrocities by the IRA. I think it's fair for the people
:09:22. > :09:24.to ask our politicians questions like this and I was glad
:09:25. > :09:27.to hear him give a very I would also like to hear
:09:28. > :09:36.Theresa May see some questions levelled at her and some real
:09:37. > :09:39.answers about the cuts to the police service,
:09:40. > :09:42.because I do think just a few days out from a general election,
:09:43. > :09:44.we are entitled to hear... Lisa is trying to deflect attention
:09:45. > :09:48.away from the core of that question. We were all appalled
:09:49. > :09:52.by what we have read about what Jeremy Corbyn
:09:53. > :09:54.did a year before he became leader Diane Abbott herself
:09:55. > :10:00.four times was asked to condemn the IRA atrocities
:10:01. > :10:05.when she was on The Record... Please don't try and score
:10:06. > :10:09.party political points So address the issue of police cuts,
:10:10. > :10:15.there are now 1000 fewer police on the streets
:10:16. > :10:18.than there were in 2010 Our Home Secretary said we will work
:10:19. > :10:24.to ensure there will be sufficient numbers to ensure
:10:25. > :10:29.that there are sufficient She said the opposite
:10:30. > :10:34.a few weeks ago. This is not using Diane Abbott
:10:35. > :10:38.economics, we would be funding You have cut and you have cut,
:10:39. > :10:49.voted every time to cut... I hate to break up the fight
:10:50. > :10:54.but the fact is the Tory party cut police numbers by 20,000,
:10:55. > :10:57.we would reinstate that. Want to impose multiculturalism
:10:58. > :11:06.on this country without asking One of the problems we have today
:11:07. > :11:13.is we don't get asked what sort of country we want to live in,
:11:14. > :11:18.it's imposed on us by the Labour The gentleman who has
:11:19. > :11:23.had his hand up for a while. I think sometimes the party conflate
:11:24. > :11:25.a couple of issues here, I spent over 30 years in law
:11:26. > :11:28.enforcement and what we don't need is necessarily ten or 20,000
:11:29. > :11:39.more police officers, a lot of that is to placate Joe
:11:40. > :11:45.Public. What we really need are intelligence
:11:46. > :11:49.service officers and unfortunately they take a long time to train
:11:50. > :11:52.up so in many cases, particularly in France recently,
:11:53. > :11:54.many of the people following this atrocities were found
:11:55. > :12:00.by a guy or a girl sitting Some of the Green party's policies
:12:01. > :12:14.are poor a basic income so that would mean every citizen gets
:12:15. > :12:17.an equal footing to start off with, so you wouldn't have people
:12:18. > :12:25.who are in a poverty trap and can't get into meaningful
:12:26. > :12:27.employment and can't get the They thought it was a great idea
:12:28. > :12:35.to go and kill lots of young girls last Monday night,
:12:36. > :12:37.giving them a nice job seekers allowance, they don't want that,
:12:38. > :12:40.they want to destroy our society. I want to know how many Muslim
:12:41. > :12:46.people you have spoken to divide I'm sure the majority of them
:12:47. > :12:57.are feeling pretty bad. The problem is coming from Islam
:12:58. > :12:59.and parts of Islam... It's not coming from
:13:00. > :13:05.the Christian community. There is a realistic point here,
:13:06. > :13:08.the people who have claimed responsibility for this horrendous
:13:09. > :13:12.attack on mainly women and children in Manchester just over a week ago
:13:13. > :13:16.have also been involved in committing horrendous
:13:17. > :13:21.atrocities against the Muslim They are not just attacking us,
:13:22. > :13:25.they are attacking decent people from different backgrounds
:13:26. > :13:29.all over the world. Until we start to address the root
:13:30. > :13:32.causes, we will never deal with it. They've got to stop
:13:33. > :13:37.killing us first. Final thought from you
:13:38. > :13:43.on what you have heard. How come everyone missed
:13:44. > :13:45.the point, I said How can you started getting
:13:46. > :13:52.us all these numbers Jo Cox's murder was unacceptable,
:13:53. > :14:03.but terrorism throughout Europe is being committed by people
:14:04. > :14:11.who align themselves with the Muslim nation, if you will,
:14:12. > :14:13.and align themselves with Islamabad. It has been highlighted
:14:14. > :14:25.by a small number of people. We have a second question
:14:26. > :14:38.from Astrid Johnson. I am an EU national,
:14:39. > :14:40.have been living here for 20 years, I am bringing up an English
:14:41. > :14:48.stepdaughter, I'm volunteering, I came to England because
:14:49. > :14:51.I love this country. Why am
:14:52. > :14:57.I a bargaining chip? I agree, it is desperately
:14:58. > :15:02.unfair that you people like you who've contributed
:15:03. > :15:08.massively to our community over many decades of being as bargaining chips
:15:09. > :15:11.in the extreme Tory Brexit world What we as Liberal Democrats
:15:12. > :15:16.would do is guarantee your rights to stay here, you're contributed,
:15:17. > :15:18.so many are contributing, Isn't that what is likely to happen
:15:19. > :15:22.in this particular element There are some in the UK
:15:23. > :15:32.Nationals who live in the EU, who live here, it should be
:15:33. > :15:34.a straightforward trade-off? Not necessarily, if we face a hard
:15:35. > :15:37.Brexit, a hard Theresa May Brexit, we could face potentially
:15:38. > :15:39.EU citizens who don't know where they stand and who are
:15:40. > :15:43.facing lots of uncertainty. We don't need to leave
:15:44. > :15:46.the single market. The north-west, 52%
:15:47. > :15:49.of things that are produced in the north-west go to the single
:15:50. > :15:52.market, EU countries, so it would be in our best countries
:15:53. > :15:56.to remain in the single market That is something the Green Party
:15:57. > :16:03.will be fighting tooth It's not just about people
:16:04. > :16:07.who are from Europe, living here now, and British people
:16:08. > :16:09.living abroad, it's also If we have a hard Brexit
:16:10. > :16:13.and all ties are cut, like so many of the other parties
:16:14. > :16:17.seem to want, we do face a real dilemma where our children
:16:18. > :16:21.won't have the same opportunities that we have had, and I just think
:16:22. > :16:24.that grossly unfair. You can say that,
:16:25. > :16:33.I couldn't comment! Do you fear a hard Brexit,
:16:34. > :16:36.or do you think we can find Astrid should know that before
:16:37. > :16:48.the general election I was joint chair of a party group in the
:16:49. > :16:51.House of Commons called Brexpats, and it is to look after the rights
:16:52. > :16:54.of the 3.5 million EU citizens who live and work in
:16:55. > :16:57.the United Kingdom, but also the 1.5 million British people
:16:58. > :17:00.who happen to live and work We want them to enjoy
:17:01. > :17:12.the life they have got here. It's common sense to say
:17:13. > :17:14.everybody should stay, live and work exactly
:17:15. > :17:16.where they are, it makes I was just saying to Nigel,
:17:17. > :17:21.why hasn't she said it? She has said that, she has been
:17:22. > :17:24.clear in the White Paper. Theresa May probably won't be
:17:25. > :17:39.able to guarantee that until she knows she has got
:17:40. > :17:41.the opposite coming back. Let me respond to that, because
:17:42. > :17:44.truth is it's not only shameful that we are treating people
:17:45. > :17:48.who have been in this country and contributed for
:17:49. > :17:55.a long time like this. It's also disastrous
:17:56. > :17:57.for our public services, the NHS in particular,
:17:58. > :17:59.it attracts a huge number of nurses and doctors from the EU,
:18:00. > :18:02.and applications have now dropped off, it's also the worst possible
:18:03. > :18:05.way to go about a negotiation. To show no leadership and
:18:06. > :18:07.no goodwill towards those other member states,
:18:08. > :18:09.the people you are seeking to reach an agreement
:18:10. > :18:11.with from the very beginning, and the reason for this,
:18:12. > :18:14.you asked why you're being treated as a bargaining chip,
:18:15. > :18:16.because I have watched the way the Tories have approached
:18:17. > :18:18.this from the beginning, Cameron led us into a referendum
:18:19. > :18:21.with no thought and planning for what comes next,
:18:22. > :18:22.because of pressure about his own position in the Tory
:18:23. > :18:27.party above the interests of the country, they had
:18:28. > :18:42.no plan at all board would And Theresa May is still at it.
:18:43. > :18:46.Jeremy Corbyn sitting around the negotiating table... That is
:18:47. > :18:52.absolutely outrageous. I think it's disgraceful. John Bickley, what you
:18:53. > :18:55.keep going to do to help? We want to see Brexit delivered. It was a
:18:56. > :19:01.simple choice people were given last year. Remain, or leave. All this
:19:02. > :19:03.nonsense with hard Brexit, extreme Brexit, Theresa May's Brexit, but is
:19:04. > :19:06.politicking. The British people said
:19:07. > :19:09.we want to leave the EU, and that means leave
:19:10. > :19:11.the EU full stop. Not stay in the EU Monday,
:19:12. > :19:13.Tuesday, Wednesday, leave on Thursday, Friday,
:19:14. > :19:14.Saturday. The lady at the end
:19:15. > :19:17.from the Green Party talks about 52% of trade from the north-west
:19:18. > :19:19.going to the EU. 88% of the wealth we generate
:19:20. > :19:22.each year has absolutely The EU is becoming a diminishing
:19:23. > :19:26.part of world trade. The British people made a very good
:19:27. > :19:29.decision to leave last year, And all those people that are still
:19:30. > :19:34.here from the EU, please stay. That has been Ukip's
:19:35. > :19:39.position all along. And we think it's quite
:19:40. > :19:42.sensible to sit down, as the Tory party will be doing
:19:43. > :19:45.this, no doubt, after June the 8th, with the EU Commission and say,
:19:46. > :19:48.we want be 3.2 million EU We assume, if you're being sensible,
:19:49. > :19:54.that you want the 1.2 million Brits Lisa Smart, one thing that a number
:19:55. > :20:02.of people have said to us anecdotally in the 12 month
:20:03. > :20:07.since we voted Out is, the decision has been made,
:20:08. > :20:09.should now everybody fall behind it and make the best possible
:20:10. > :20:11.Brexit we can have? Are the Lib Dems
:20:12. > :20:14.full square behind that? You asked before,
:20:15. > :20:16.where is Nigel Farage? He doesn't need to be on the stage
:20:17. > :20:19.any more because Theresa May is spouting all the words he's been
:20:20. > :20:22.banging on about for decades, You asked about the vote we had last
:20:23. > :20:28.year, absolutely we had a vote. That was to a departure,
:20:29. > :20:31.it wasn't about the destination. In 18 months, two years' time,
:20:32. > :20:33.when the negotiations have been concluded,
:20:34. > :20:37.we are saying that it should be the people that have a say on those
:20:38. > :20:40.details and on the tones of that That would weaken our
:20:41. > :20:43.negotiation, Roger. Could you imagine sitting
:20:44. > :20:44.opposite Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk and saying,
:20:45. > :20:48.if we have a bad deal, where going to put it back
:20:49. > :20:50.to the British people. And if it's not a good deal,
:20:51. > :20:53.they'll vote to stay You're actually pushing
:20:54. > :20:57.the negotiation. You're weakening Britain's
:20:58. > :20:59.negotiating position. Where is the detail of your Brexit
:21:00. > :21:02.position in your manifesto? No, Lisa, it means we're
:21:03. > :21:06.leaving the European Union. Your leader can't even accept
:21:07. > :21:14.the views of the British I think the Lib Dem party
:21:15. > :21:23.are typical of what's gone You're ganging up them
:21:24. > :21:31.from either side here. They don't accept
:21:32. > :21:32.the people's result. A bit like the EU, they keep
:21:33. > :21:35.getting you to vote to give Nigel could do a very good
:21:36. > :21:38.thing here, because he's so keen that we leave,
:21:39. > :21:41.he could get Theresa to say categorically that when we do
:21:42. > :21:48.leave we will get back control of all our own laws,
:21:49. > :21:51.of our fishing grounds out to the 200 mile exclusion zone,
:21:52. > :21:54.to make our own trade deals. No one can guarantee anything
:21:55. > :22:01.because we haven't sat down I trust Theresa May,
:22:02. > :22:04.and the negotiation... In ten days' time,
:22:05. > :22:08.Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott Let's have a quick thought
:22:09. > :22:14.from the audience. Lots of people have
:22:15. > :22:16.got their hands up. The gentleman over
:22:17. > :22:17.there in the T-shirt, you've been waiting very
:22:18. > :22:20.patiently, thank you. Lisa did touch on the NHS before,
:22:21. > :22:23.and this seems to be a running theme They seem to be using
:22:24. > :22:27.this as a scare tactic. Always threatening
:22:28. > :22:28.destruction of the NHS. We will talk about
:22:29. > :22:30.the NHS in a minute. That is to do with immigration,
:22:31. > :22:33.because what you're basically saying is it's under threat without
:22:34. > :22:35.people coming into the EU. It's actually under threat
:22:36. > :22:37.with people coming in. No government here can promise
:22:38. > :22:40.to sort the NHS, sort the education, There is a reality here
:22:41. > :22:48.about the National Health Service, we have 20,000 nurses,
:22:49. > :22:50.10,000 doctors who come Since we voted to leave
:22:51. > :22:53.the European Union, a result that I accept,
:22:54. > :22:56.those applications to come and work We've got 24,000 nursing positions
:22:57. > :23:02.that cannot be filled. Our nurses haven't had a pay rise
:23:03. > :23:07.under these Tories for seven years. We've driven down the terms and
:23:08. > :23:10.conditions of pay of our NHS staff. We need to bring back the
:23:11. > :23:17.nursing bursary, and make sure we stabilise our public
:23:18. > :23:20.services in the interim. Let's move it on, because our next
:23:21. > :23:27.question is going to take us Don't forget of course if
:23:28. > :23:31.you're at home you can join in, the hashtag's on the screen,
:23:32. > :23:33.hashtag "ElectionNW". Becky Forest, you've got a question
:23:34. > :23:39.for us on the health service? The NHS has struggled
:23:40. > :23:41.to cope with acute changes Isn't it time it was managed
:23:42. > :23:44.by a cross-party commission to improve its resilience
:23:45. > :23:47.and continuity? It's a great idea, but that means
:23:48. > :23:50.getting people like this Well, as a Green Party politician,
:23:51. > :24:05.I know that we're not going to get a majority government at
:24:06. > :24:08.the election, if we are realistic, because of the first
:24:09. > :24:09.past the post system. However, we are willing to work
:24:10. > :24:13.with other parties so that we can come to agreements on things
:24:14. > :24:15.like the NHS. I mean, we are more than happy
:24:16. > :24:18.to form a coalition with certain parties who share
:24:19. > :24:20.some of our ideals. A cross-party commission,
:24:21. > :24:24.would that work? Because I believe that
:24:25. > :24:33.the government of the day is the one that's in charge
:24:34. > :24:37.of the National Health Service. And at the end of the period,
:24:38. > :24:40.people would make a judgment That's your problem, isn't it,
:24:41. > :24:44.because you'd been in charge of it for seven years,
:24:45. > :24:47.and many people would say it's not The vast majority of people who get
:24:48. > :24:51.service from the NHS think they get I've got two members of my own
:24:52. > :24:55.family who are currently receiving treatment from the
:24:56. > :24:56.National Health Service. But the fact is that the demands
:24:57. > :25:01.of it have increased dramatically We've got more people
:25:02. > :25:04.living in this country. We're talking about
:25:05. > :25:06.?8 billion extra. In real terms, that's above the rate
:25:07. > :25:10.of inflation to ensure that we've Listen, all Jeremy Corbyn
:25:11. > :25:17.wants to do is... A lot of doctors would be
:25:18. > :25:25.hit by his taxation. Mental health care is seen
:25:26. > :25:37.as the Cinderella condition. And I can tell you on many
:25:38. > :25:41.of the surgeries that I've held over 25 years as a member of Parliament,
:25:42. > :25:43.it's an increasing problem. And it needs to be
:25:44. > :25:45.properly addressed. That's why we want to see
:25:46. > :25:48.10,000 mental health care professionals introduced
:25:49. > :25:49.into the National Health Service in order to deal with the problem
:25:50. > :25:53.that quite frankly is a ticking time John, is ?8 billion a year extra
:25:54. > :25:59.enough from the Conservatives? We will put 11 billion by the end
:26:00. > :26:03.of the next Parliament, per year, We would want another
:26:04. > :26:10.10,000 GPs by 2025. We would want to lift the cap
:26:11. > :26:13.on medical training places. We would want to see another
:26:14. > :26:17.20,000 nurses and 3500 midwives. You can see where
:26:18. > :26:20.the money comes from. ?350 million a week extra for
:26:21. > :26:29.the NHS is 18.2 billion over a year. You need to speak to the Tory party
:26:30. > :26:32.who put that slogan out So why only eight when
:26:33. > :26:37.it's not 18, Nigel? 8 billion in real terms, so there
:26:38. > :26:43.will be extra money going in. There is an additional
:26:44. > :26:45.one billion and mental The problem with the Labour Party
:26:46. > :26:56.is that they can trot out figures because there is a ?20 billion hole
:26:57. > :26:59.in the costings of their manifesto. They haven't got the faintest idea
:27:00. > :27:03.where this money is going to come. They can't keep hitting the top 5%
:27:04. > :27:08.or 26% on corporation tax for. Let's get a thought from this
:27:09. > :27:12.gentleman here in the back row. I get sick and tired of people
:27:13. > :27:25.bandying these figures out, like 10,000 additional
:27:26. > :27:26.mental health professionals. What is a mental
:27:27. > :27:28.health professional? Is he a fully trained
:27:29. > :27:29.mental health nurse? Or is it somebody with
:27:30. > :27:32.a bit of qualification? What is a qualified
:27:33. > :27:34.nurse, can you tell me? It'll be a properly
:27:35. > :27:38.professional person. There's an extra
:27:39. > :27:39.?1 billion going in. To tackle the mental
:27:40. > :27:44.health ticking time bomb. We are the only party
:27:45. > :27:46.talking about mental health You can't say where
:27:47. > :27:52.the money's coming from. I am extremely happy to share my
:27:53. > :27:57.copy of the manifesto with you. We have been banging on about mental
:27:58. > :28:02.health for a good number of years and I'm delighted that the Tories'
:28:03. > :28:05.party polling has handed sufficient Your party's policy is going
:28:06. > :28:17.to make it worse, Lisa. To address Becky's question
:28:18. > :28:19.about cross-party working groups to look at the health service,
:28:20. > :28:23.because it is too important to be this political football
:28:24. > :28:25.which is the basis of your question, I think, that is long-term
:28:26. > :28:27.Lib Dem health policy. In the short term, though,
:28:28. > :28:29.the health services in crisis. Nearly two thirds of NHS trusts
:28:30. > :28:32.finished the last financial year in deficit and something needs to be
:28:33. > :28:35.done more quickly What we as Liberal Democrats
:28:36. > :28:44.would do would be to add And ring fence the money
:28:45. > :28:48.that we spend specifically on the health service and mental
:28:49. > :28:51.health, public health and on primary The point that was made
:28:52. > :28:54.about needing to spend more on social care
:28:55. > :28:56.is absolutely spot on. We are living longer
:28:57. > :28:59.as a nation, which is great. But we're living longer
:29:00. > :29:00.with conditions like I'm not sure the dementia
:29:01. > :29:07.tax is going to be would be as Tories when you first
:29:08. > :29:12.announced that, but it is such an important thing and I absolutely
:29:13. > :29:14.agree with the basis On the one hand, I absolutely agree
:29:15. > :29:24.that we should try and take the political mudslinging out
:29:25. > :29:27.of discussions about how we fund and care for people in health
:29:28. > :29:29.needs in this country. I've been working with
:29:30. > :29:31.the Liberal Democrats and other political parties in parliament
:29:32. > :29:33.to try and do precisely And I think that is incredibly
:29:34. > :29:38.important to do that where we can. But the truth is in answer
:29:39. > :29:40.to your question, politics And that is deeply political,
:29:41. > :29:49.that is about the choices that we make, the different choices
:29:50. > :29:52.that we've all made as political When I look around
:29:53. > :30:00.the north-west and I see of hospitals and I see nurses
:30:01. > :30:04.who haven't had a pay rise for seven years,
:30:05. > :30:06.some of whom are now visiting food banks, I see huge shortages
:30:07. > :30:09.in the NHS, ?3 billion a year roughly spent on agency staff
:30:10. > :30:12.to plug that gap, when I see those huge pressing needs,
:30:13. > :30:14.I know exactly what this is because I saw it before
:30:15. > :30:17.growing up in this region The political choices
:30:18. > :30:21.of the Tory party... I see this every time
:30:22. > :30:25.with the Labour Party. Without it, they're
:30:26. > :30:28.dead in the water. If you haven't loaded up the NHS
:30:29. > :30:34.with so much PFI debt, which big fund managers and city fat
:30:35. > :30:40.cats are making millions out of, thanks to the Labour Party,
:30:41. > :30:43.they would have more money And if you haven't let in millions
:30:44. > :30:51.of people, if you haven't let in millions of people
:30:52. > :30:52.with uncontrolled immigration, With regards to mental health,
:30:53. > :31:03.I think a huge concern. Not just for this region,
:31:04. > :31:04.but also national. How much investment will any party
:31:05. > :31:07.investor mental health services? This is what the population doesn't
:31:08. > :31:12.like about politics. Every five years you tear down
:31:13. > :31:15.the education system, you tear down the health system
:31:16. > :31:17.and you try and rebuild them from the ground
:31:18. > :31:21.up, every five years. I don't think that helps
:31:22. > :31:24.the population as a whole. I think that's using the whole
:31:25. > :31:27.country as a political football. Can I just respond to this
:31:28. > :31:32.gentleman's question. It is right to say that we've got
:31:33. > :31:36.to think seriously about how we fund mental health services
:31:37. > :31:37.in this country. There is also another issue
:31:38. > :31:40.which is that money for mental One of the things that we're
:31:41. > :31:48.promising to do in our manifesto is to ring fence that funding so it
:31:49. > :31:50.actually reaches people. The Green Party is promising
:31:51. > :31:55.to bring mental health waiting times Currently in Liverpool you can
:31:56. > :31:59.wait up to six months if you are diagnosed with depression
:32:00. > :32:01.to see anyone. We want to give the NHS
:32:02. > :32:03.is ?20 billion. We're going to scrap Trident
:32:04. > :32:06.and we're going to claim back The NHS is so important
:32:07. > :32:14.that we can't let it go down the way that the Tories seem to be wanting
:32:15. > :32:17.it to go. The Tories have been looking
:32:18. > :32:20.after it for the last seven years, The Tories have been breaking it
:32:21. > :32:24.down, selling it off, The Green Party wants
:32:25. > :32:33.to take the NHS out of privatisation and back
:32:34. > :32:35.into public hands. Don't forget you can join
:32:36. > :32:47.in at home, hashtag #ElectionNW The gentleman over there
:32:48. > :32:51.mentioned primary schools. I would like to ask what you will do
:32:52. > :32:59.to ensure the educational system equips our young people to enter
:33:00. > :33:02.into industry with the appropriate Yeah, there is a massive section
:33:03. > :33:07.in the Conservative manifesto that addresses education,
:33:08. > :33:09.particularly on technical education, and technology education,
:33:10. > :33:11.and we are talking about investing This is an actual real terms
:33:12. > :33:18.increase in education of our young people to make sure that they've got
:33:19. > :33:21.the right skills - whether it is in the new Internet
:33:22. > :33:26.technologies that are available, or it is technical education so it's
:33:27. > :33:29.not just the academic aspects of education,
:33:30. > :33:32.which is important. Are you in danger of
:33:33. > :33:38.creating a two tier system? And the reason why, Roger,
:33:39. > :33:49.and the important thing is that we've got the fastest-growing
:33:50. > :33:51.economy in the G7. We are the fifth largest
:33:52. > :33:53.economy in the world. If we want to see that continue,
:33:54. > :33:56.we've got to make absolutely certain that we've got the right skills
:33:57. > :33:59.in our workforce for the future, and for that to happen we've got
:34:00. > :34:02.to make sure that people have got That's exactly what
:34:03. > :34:05.were going to do. I go back to when I was
:34:06. > :34:08.a kid in Wythenshawe. I didn't make it to the grammar
:34:09. > :34:11.school, which was actually But grammar schools and technical
:34:12. > :34:15.schools in those days, 65% of those Grammar schools were a great leg up
:34:16. > :34:19.for working-class people, and the labour and Tory party
:34:20. > :34:22.decided to destroy that system If you look at the programme
:34:23. > :34:31.for student assessment, Pisa, We are supposed to be,
:34:32. > :34:40.we used to have the greatest The other problem is Labour
:34:41. > :34:53.is education, education, education. They told a lot of kids that
:34:54. > :34:56.if you went to university you'd make We now find out from the office
:34:57. > :35:01.for national statistics almost half our graduates,
:35:02. > :35:04.with 40 grand's worth of debt and having stayed out of the job
:35:05. > :35:06.market for five years, I think anyone who's been
:35:07. > :35:14.through the education system in the last 25 years,
:35:15. > :35:17.or has worked on it, will know that you're
:35:18. > :35:19.talking absolute rubbish, So I don't think I really
:35:20. > :35:22.need to deal with that. There are lots of graduates
:35:23. > :35:25.who can't get a job these days, because they were promised this
:35:26. > :35:28.wonderful ideal that they could get There are lots of non-graduates
:35:29. > :35:32.who can't get a job as well. And I think the question
:35:33. > :35:34.is absolutely spot on. The truth is we have young
:35:35. > :35:40.people in this region who are unemployed in areas
:35:41. > :35:43.where there are vacancies for jobs. The question about how you bring
:35:44. > :35:45.those two things back together And the answer,
:35:46. > :35:50.I think, has two parts. The first is that we have
:35:51. > :35:53.to invest in young people. Schools have been cut,
:35:54. > :35:57.they will continue to be cut. But the flip side, of course,
:35:58. > :36:00.is that there has to be somewhere good for young people
:36:01. > :36:02.to go and work. And that is the real vandalism
:36:03. > :36:05.of what the Tories have done In the last couple of years,
:36:06. > :36:12.they have destroyed industries like clean energies,
:36:13. > :36:14.which were growing six times faster. In other countries, young people
:36:15. > :36:17.are being given the opportunity not just to build solar panels,
:36:18. > :36:20.but actually to design that You address the green
:36:21. > :36:23.economy, and then I'm The Green Party has a really great
:36:24. > :36:28.vision for schools for our future. First of all we want to take away
:36:29. > :36:32.Ofsted, because we find that it basically gets the government to go
:36:33. > :36:35.into schools and impose these really stressful situations and teachers
:36:36. > :36:43.that they don't need. How are you going to measure
:36:44. > :36:45.standards if you don't have Ofsted? We believe teachers know what's
:36:46. > :36:47.best for their students. We trust that teachers can
:36:48. > :36:49.teach their students, We also going to take
:36:50. > :36:55.all schools out of the free school and academy system,
:36:56. > :36:57.and put them under local Because every time a new free
:36:58. > :37:06.school or academy opens, it's taking money away
:37:07. > :37:08.from local authority schools. I think every child deserves
:37:09. > :37:11.to have an equal education, no matter where they live
:37:12. > :37:14.or which school they go to. The thing with the green economy
:37:15. > :37:17.is such an important thing. I mean, we need to be focusing
:37:18. > :37:21.on careers for the future. We need to be looking to the future
:37:22. > :37:24.and we need to realise that, that also care work is something
:37:25. > :37:27.that would be automated. You can't really have a robot
:37:28. > :37:32.give somebody the same So we need to value those
:37:33. > :37:38.sorts of jobs more highly Many of the jobs of
:37:39. > :37:43.the future probably haven't On the subject of education,
:37:44. > :37:49.Lisa Smart, can the Liberal Democrats be trusted after
:37:50. > :38:00.what happened over tuition fees? One of the things that we're saying
:38:01. > :38:04.about schooling is that we need What with the aim, as has
:38:05. > :38:08.been mentioned by Lisa, I've been a school governor
:38:09. > :38:11.for the last 13 years and I see our budget
:38:12. > :38:13.forecast doing this. We're going to have
:38:14. > :38:15.to get rid of some staff. That is not how you improve
:38:16. > :38:18.learning for young people. We also need to remember that
:38:19. > :38:21.schools and education, it's not just It's about well-being and I think
:38:22. > :38:25.some of the points that have been made about mental health
:38:26. > :38:27.and about children's mental health One of the things I'm going to give
:38:28. > :38:31.credit to the Conservatives for is a saying that sex
:38:32. > :38:33.and relationship education should That's a positive step
:38:34. > :38:37.forward, I think. It's something Liberal Democrats
:38:38. > :38:39.have been talking about One of the things I'm really keen
:38:40. > :38:44.for it to be is that it's LGBT inclusive across all schools,
:38:45. > :38:46.not just some schools. Let's hear from some
:38:47. > :38:48.of the people over here. It's really positive that we have
:38:49. > :38:50.12.1% youth unemployment in the UK aged 18-25 years old,
:38:51. > :38:53.that's really good. So I think we need to applaud
:38:54. > :38:58.the fact that we're doing incredibly well in our education
:38:59. > :39:01.system as well. Can I just say that it's great
:39:02. > :39:08.that we are supposedly educating But where I'm from in Pendle,
:39:09. > :39:12.not Pendleton, but close by, we have one in four children
:39:13. > :39:14.living in poverty. The majority of these
:39:15. > :39:18.people are working. If we're on zero hours contracts,
:39:19. > :39:21.you know, it's not going Getting people into work
:39:22. > :39:28.is an absolute start, and having the national living wage
:39:29. > :39:30.is very important, too. As I said, we've got 2.9 million
:39:31. > :39:33.more people in work now And part of the problem,
:39:34. > :39:39.and I know Lisa is not a great fan of Jeremy Corbyn,
:39:40. > :39:41.but I have to talk about Corbyn I'm not a great fan
:39:42. > :39:45.of you now, either. But Jeremy Corbyn is the leader
:39:46. > :39:49.leader of your party. Why don't you want to talk
:39:50. > :39:51.about child poverty? Nigel, the point the lady made
:39:52. > :39:57.was about families who are working The national living wage
:39:58. > :40:01.is helping to correct that. But the only way we can do
:40:02. > :40:04.that is by having a strong economy. And Jeremy Corbyn is attacking
:40:05. > :40:07.the very basis of those firms, 1 million children lifted out
:40:08. > :40:14.of poverty and labour, The lady from Pendle,
:40:15. > :40:23.she was rightly concerned about the inability of people
:40:24. > :40:26.at the bottom of our society, the working class, not being
:40:27. > :40:31.able to get a decent wage. Companies, if they are given
:40:32. > :40:34.the choice to employ cheap labour, guess what they're going to do -
:40:35. > :40:37.employ cheap labour. We would have a moratorium
:40:38. > :40:39.on unskilled immigration Very briefly, we are a very divided
:40:40. > :40:44.country, aren't we, Stephanie? I think Tory policies are making
:40:45. > :40:49.us even more divided. And I also think that how we handle
:40:50. > :40:55.post-Brexit Britain is going to be The country was split
:40:56. > :40:59.about the direction that we wanted to take, and we have to listen
:41:00. > :41:03.to both sides as we seek to leave the EU and get
:41:04. > :41:06.the best deal for Britain. The Labour Party's slogan
:41:07. > :41:10."For the many, not the few". "For the many" were many
:41:11. > :41:18.MPs who tried to get "The few" were those who were left,
:41:19. > :41:22.who served in his Shadow Cabinet. Lisa doesn't want to talk
:41:23. > :41:24.about Jeremy Corbyn. I'd like to talk
:41:25. > :41:27.about child poverty. A lot of candidates don't mention
:41:28. > :41:30.Jeremy Corbyn on their leaflets. On June the 8th it's either
:41:31. > :41:33.going to be Theresa May You mention that the
:41:34. > :41:39.polls have narrowed. What they've narrowed from is a
:41:40. > :41:42.200 seat majority from the Tories to about a 100 seat
:41:43. > :41:44.majority for the Tories. Everybody, the gentleman over there,
:41:45. > :41:47.is fighting for their local MP, for their local champion
:41:48. > :41:49.for their area. As he rightly said, neither
:41:50. > :41:52.Theresa May nor Jeremy Corbyn is standing for election
:41:53. > :41:54.in the north west. It's up to everybody
:41:55. > :41:56.to decide who is the best MP I've got hope that tomorrow can be
:41:57. > :42:08.better than yesterday, or today. Taking us back with grammar schools
:42:09. > :42:10.I think takes us backwards, I think the more we see of Theresa
:42:11. > :42:16.May, the less we can trust her. She told us she was going to
:42:17. > :42:19.bring immigration down to the tens of thousands, and it's
:42:20. > :42:22.still in the hundreds of thousands. However, she will win because
:42:23. > :42:24.the Labour Party is so awful! Thank you, too, to Lisa Smart,
:42:25. > :42:30.to Nigel Evans, to Lisa Nandy, and to Stephanie Pitchers
:42:31. > :42:32.- our panel. Thank you also to you,
:42:33. > :42:35.our audience, and to you at home. We go to the polls a week on
:42:36. > :42:38.Thursday for the general election. It remains to be seen
:42:39. > :42:41.what the outcome is. Thank you very much
:42:42. > :42:44.indeed for watching. You can join in using
:42:45. > :42:47.the hashtag "ElectionNW". The proof of the pudding will be
:42:48. > :43:15.decided in nine days' time. No one was talking of homelessness
:43:16. > :43:19.which is a massive problem. We drifted into fantasy economics, as a
:43:20. > :43:24.small-business owner want be inspired. We have two options, we
:43:25. > :43:32.all want to spend money on our public services. I believe this
:43:33. > :43:35.election is a Brexit election. There's this want to make sure we
:43:36. > :43:44.have the best possible out from Europe. I'm not worried about my own
:43:45. > :43:47.personal status as an EU national but my stepdaughter, she will be
:43:48. > :43:49.deprived of a future where she can work and be together with other EU
:43:50. > :44:03.national is. Hear the arguments
:44:04. > :44:07.from the politicians themselves.