General Election 2017: The Final Debate

:00:24. > :00:33.APPLAUSE Good evening.

:00:34. > :00:38.Welcome to Manchester. It is almost here, less than 36 hours to go, on

:00:39. > :00:45.Thursday it is the general election, your chance to decide on who is

:00:46. > :00:49.running the country. Tonight, we are here with 18 to 25-year-olds to hear

:00:50. > :00:57.what is on your mind stop tonight, it is all about you. Hi, I am Giles

:00:58. > :01:01.and one of my friends was taken in the Manchester attack. My question

:01:02. > :01:06.to the candidates is if they think it's morally just to use terror

:01:07. > :01:09.attack victim is that their own political ends. My concern is the

:01:10. > :01:14.NHS, how will the government continue to fund it and how will

:01:15. > :01:15.waiting times for appointments and surgery be reduced for those

:01:16. > :01:34.desperately in need? OK, plenty more from these tonight

:01:35. > :01:38.and we are joined by senior politicians from seven parties who

:01:39. > :01:46.will be listening and responding to what everyone has got to say. They

:01:47. > :01:49.are, for the Conservatives. Representing the Labour Party, said

:01:50. > :01:59.area champion. The Scottish National Party. Ukip, the Liberal Democrats

:02:00. > :02:04.and Plaid Cymru join us and for the Green Party, their co-leader. Also,

:02:05. > :02:14.give them applause. APPLAUSE

:02:15. > :02:18.. Also, Jonathan Blake is working with BBC Reality Check looking at

:02:19. > :02:24.the numbers promises we will hear about by working out what really

:02:25. > :02:32.stacks up. And it is going through comments we have been getting all

:02:33. > :02:37.day on #BBCDebate. First, tonight, after two

:02:38. > :02:41.devastating terror attacks in two weeks, including in Manchester,

:02:42. > :02:45.security has become a bigger part of the election campaign, in particular

:02:46. > :02:52.how best to protect British people from future attacks. Police numbers

:02:53. > :02:56.in England and Wales have fallen by almost 20,000 since 2010 and numbers

:02:57. > :03:02.have gone down in Northern Ireland. Although in Scotland they have been

:03:03. > :03:07.more or less increasing the last 30 years. Police budgets in England and

:03:08. > :03:12.Wales were reduced by almost a fifth between 2010 and 2015 and since then

:03:13. > :03:17.they have been protected and counterterrorism funding has risen

:03:18. > :03:21.with inflation. Since 2000 various governments have introduced nine

:03:22. > :03:24.anti-terrorist laws including the ability to stop suspects from

:03:25. > :03:29.re-entering the UK and keeping people deemed a threat under house

:03:30. > :03:35.arrest. The current threat level is that severe, meaning an attack is

:03:36. > :03:41.highly likely. There have been three attacks in the last 77 days in the

:03:42. > :03:43.UK, although the Home Office say intelligence services have prevented

:03:44. > :03:50.five since the attack on Westminster in March. We can get your thoughts

:03:51. > :03:57.on the best way to protect British people. My name is Benjamin, I am

:03:58. > :04:02.18. Across the wake of the terror attacks I found the dialogue has

:04:03. > :04:07.been about unity between political parties and people from different

:04:08. > :04:10.walks of life. Why is it the Conservative Party has been divisive

:04:11. > :04:18.by saying enough is enough and we are too soft on terror? OK, some

:04:19. > :04:24.more of your comments. I am Jessica, I want to know what we are going to

:04:25. > :04:28.do to stop attacks happening in the first place, instead of worrying

:04:29. > :04:32.about how many police you have on the streets to deal with it when it

:04:33. > :04:35.is happening. I understand the Conservatives want to introduce

:04:36. > :04:41.terror offences, what else will be done? We hear they are on watch

:04:42. > :04:48.lists. What will we do to tackle extremism? I am 22 and live across

:04:49. > :04:54.from Manchester Arena and did not get much sleep on the night of the

:04:55. > :04:58.attack. I went to the One Love Manchester when Manchester and the

:04:59. > :05:02.UK is coming together, it seems Westminster is intent on tearing

:05:03. > :05:10.itself apart. What will we see from you in terms of solution? From the

:05:11. > :05:16.Conservatives, what will Tom seek tonight? I will try to cover all

:05:17. > :05:23.three comments. I came to the country in 1978, I was 11 and could

:05:24. > :05:28.not speak English. My parents had to flee Iraq from a dictator. My

:05:29. > :05:32.parents embraced the country that rescued them and we integrated and I

:05:33. > :05:37.learned English within six months and went to university and built a

:05:38. > :05:46.great business. I am the candidate now, I was the MP for Stratford upon

:05:47. > :05:50.Avon. This country has incredible values of freedom, opportunity,

:05:51. > :05:57.democracy rule of law, tolerance. One of the things we have not done

:05:58. > :06:01.well is integration but also for too long we have tolerated people who

:06:02. > :06:06.have preached extremism and hatred, people who preached intolerance to

:06:07. > :06:12.our values and way of life. Misogyny, all sorts of things. We

:06:13. > :06:18.have to call those people out in our communities. The mainstream Muslim

:06:19. > :06:24.community is equally targeted by extremists, by these criminals,

:06:25. > :06:33.because they target Muslims as well as people outside the religion. What

:06:34. > :06:36.we have to do is come together as political parties and as a community

:06:37. > :06:43.and call-out intolerance and say it is wrong, our society is not like

:06:44. > :06:47.that. We are proud of what we are. What Manchester did at the concert

:06:48. > :06:51.was incredible and that should be our role model of how we deal with

:06:52. > :06:58.this. I would like us to come together. Let's not tear chunks out

:06:59. > :07:01.of one another but say how can we work together to get the right

:07:02. > :07:08.legislation through Parliament? Not just legislation, also how do we

:07:09. > :07:13.call out these extremist? Tom, can you give more detail about the types

:07:14. > :07:19.of things, the conversation the politicians are having that switches

:07:20. > :07:22.you off? It is the aggressive nature of politics, especially Prime

:07:23. > :07:30.Minister's Questions and debates, I watched the leaders debate and it

:07:31. > :07:34.was a complete noise. I see it translates into social media. We are

:07:35. > :07:40.on Facebook, Twitter as young people and the moment somebody puts a

:07:41. > :07:44.political point of view, we get the same aggressive comments that you

:07:45. > :07:47.seem to throw back at each other, especially Labour and Conservatives

:07:48. > :07:51.and we have seen Labour pointing the finger at Theresa May and saying

:07:52. > :07:56.this is your fault, these people died because of you as Home

:07:57. > :08:01.Secretary. It is not right to blame one person. It is not right and we

:08:02. > :08:08.should pull back from that. One thing I would say is what you see on

:08:09. > :08:13.Wednesday afternoon, my ministers questions, is not what we do. If you

:08:14. > :08:18.look at the committee stage of any Bill, the Foreign Affairs Committee

:08:19. > :08:23.I sat on, where we had a fantastic report into the intervention in

:08:24. > :08:28.Libya. Sited on many news programmes in the campaign as being a good

:08:29. > :08:32.report. That was cross-party and we work together in committees and that

:08:33. > :08:38.work is the real work of Parliament. I hope young people get to see that.

:08:39. > :08:48.Sadly, most of it takes place in the background, rather than the other

:08:49. > :08:51.bit of politics. I have to to defend my party, we deliberately through

:08:52. > :08:57.this campaign have not done the name-calling. What you say about

:08:58. > :09:01.Theresa May, we aren't looking at her record. Six of the seven years

:09:02. > :09:04.she was the Home Secretary in charge of police and security and I think

:09:05. > :09:10.it acceptable to look at policies and decisions politicians make. But

:09:11. > :09:15.I agree it is unacceptable to name call. To go back to the bigger

:09:16. > :09:20.picture, I would say in the last five years it has become more Axa

:09:21. > :09:25.doubled to use despicable language which I would say is getting close

:09:26. > :09:30.to hate crime, on social media. Politicians use it, posters we are

:09:31. > :09:37.seeing. The Brexit campaign was a vile example of that. Glad it feels

:09:38. > :09:42.in this election that has calmed, but we have to have zero tolerance

:09:43. > :09:47.of that. To look at the big picture, it is not just a knee jerk reaction

:09:48. > :09:53.of bringing in more police and legislation. We need, from the

:09:54. > :09:57.youngest age, to teach people about respect and tolerance and embedding

:09:58. > :10:00.bat and bringing back things like the youth service, which has been

:10:01. > :10:07.decimated in the past seven years. The place where young people can be

:10:08. > :10:11.channelled if they are saying things that are too upsetting,

:10:12. > :10:16.controversial, radical. That system is not there now. We see schools

:10:17. > :10:20.under resourced and youth services disappear and community police are

:10:21. > :10:25.not there. Those levels that would have been like canaries, when things

:10:26. > :10:29.are going wrong, we could have said let's put support around that

:10:30. > :10:33.person. With that gone it becomes inevitable it is only when someone

:10:34. > :10:38.does something utterly despicable and I am really sorry for the people

:10:39. > :10:43.impacted in what has happened in these atrocities. We should not just

:10:44. > :10:46.be waiting until that moment. We should have done something decades

:10:47. > :10:56.before. APPLAUSE

:10:57. > :11:01.We can get more of your thoughts. I am Claire from Manchester and I have

:11:02. > :11:07.a question for everybody. After the recent horrible attacks I have seen

:11:08. > :11:11.more armed police. Is that something you would look at installing

:11:12. > :11:19.permanently? What is everybody's review? Brian Paddick, you have an

:11:20. > :11:23.experience as a retired police officer. You want to put more money

:11:24. > :11:28.into local police but would it be armed police? There are two macro

:11:29. > :11:34.issues. You have to have the police to respond as you said. When an

:11:35. > :11:39.incident like this happens. In London there was a great number of

:11:40. > :11:42.armed response vehicles who responded quickly to deal with the

:11:43. > :11:47.incident. I am concerned in other parts of the country there might not

:11:48. > :11:52.be enough armed officers because there are 1000 less than ten years

:11:53. > :11:58.ago, 1000 fewer armed officers. That is one aspect but the most important

:11:59. > :12:04.as far as we are concerned is this erosion of community policing. As

:12:05. > :12:12.well as the 20,000 police officers we have lost since 2010 we have lost

:12:13. > :12:15.24,000 support officers and the police community support officers

:12:16. > :12:19.are a big part of those community teams. It means that some

:12:20. > :12:23.communities begin to lose trust and confidence in police because they do

:12:24. > :12:26.not have a local officer they can relate to and when that happens it

:12:27. > :12:30.means you do not get the intelligence. Did people see the

:12:31. > :12:37.report is the day after the London Bridge attack. One of the neighbours

:12:38. > :12:42.of one of those involved said, I remember, early on Saturday, he was

:12:43. > :12:48.over a friendly and then started talking to me about hiring a van.

:12:49. > :12:52.Now it makes sense. Maybe if have suspicions, and there had been local

:12:53. > :12:57.community officers, maybe he would have talked to them about his

:12:58. > :13:02.feelings. We know that guy was already on the radar of the security

:13:03. > :13:07.services and may be the services may have put two and two together. We

:13:08. > :13:12.don't think we need more Draconian powers. There are lots of powers the

:13:13. > :13:19.police and security services have they are not using. We need to make

:13:20. > :13:26.sure they use them effectively. I am 21 and from Manchester. Just going

:13:27. > :13:31.from what you were saying, due to the colour of my skin, in the wake

:13:32. > :13:38.of the awful attacks that have just happened, I am genuinely afraid to

:13:39. > :13:42.go out into the city, my home of countless years. Why? I am mostly

:13:43. > :13:48.afraid of hate attacks, not even terrorist attacks, maybe young

:13:49. > :13:53.people, not just online, but being in public, I take the tram to

:13:54. > :13:58.university and I am afraid to take the tram now. I'm afraid somebody

:13:59. > :14:01.might say something and you do not want to engage in confrontation.

:14:02. > :14:08.What are the different parties doing about this? Some of it has to be

:14:09. > :14:14.about understanding what is going on. These people carrying out

:14:15. > :14:20.terrorist attacks believe in a violent political ideology. That

:14:21. > :14:24.wants to overthrow democracy and overthrow our liberal values. That

:14:25. > :14:29.is completely different from the Muslim religion. The Muslim religion

:14:30. > :14:38.is not about overthrowing democracy, it is about worshipping Allah and

:14:39. > :14:44.living a good life. We have had instances where people following at

:14:45. > :14:53.Islamist attack, this violent ideology, people start attacking

:14:54. > :14:58.Sikhs because they do not know the difference between Muslims and

:14:59. > :15:03.Sikhs. David, from Ukip, how would you respond? I'm glad you mentioned

:15:04. > :15:08.the word Islamist because this is the root of the problem and we have

:15:09. > :15:15.to be honest. It is an ideology. There are some Islamic writings that

:15:16. > :15:21.are problematic and we have to admit that. Some writings that appear to

:15:22. > :15:28.advocate violence. You mentioned Muslims earlier who are a peaceful

:15:29. > :15:34.group of Muslims who practice Islam in a peaceful ways. We have other

:15:35. > :15:38.groups, what I call Islamists, who would take these writings that are

:15:39. > :15:45.problematic and say they have to be applied literally at all times, not

:15:46. > :15:49.just seventh century Arabia but 21st-century Britain, and France,

:15:50. > :15:53.and everywhere else there have been Islamist attacks and we need to deal

:15:54. > :15:58.with the problem and put police back on the street. We need 20,000 more

:15:59. > :16:04.police to do community policing because that is a gap left after the

:16:05. > :16:12.20,000 police that have been cut. We need to deal with Saudi, Qatari

:16:13. > :16:16.funding of Islamist mosques and stop radicalisation. And this lady who

:16:17. > :16:17.wants to know what she should do because she fears going out because

:16:18. > :16:24.of the colour of her skin. I say to anybody watching, it's an

:16:25. > :16:28.idea, it's nothing to do with the colour of your skin. Everyone needs

:16:29. > :16:35.to realise that. You have behind douze and Sikhs as well, Hindus. We

:16:36. > :16:40.need to deal with Islamism, we've got to be honest about that. Can you

:16:41. > :16:44.understand when a mainstream party like Ukip is putting out its

:16:45. > :16:49.so-called integration policy, which says that - We need to integrate.

:16:50. > :16:53.Sorry, can I speak, that says that Muslim women shouldn't be able to

:16:54. > :16:59.wear headscarfs. We didn't say that, burkhas and niqabs, get it right.

:17:00. > :17:02.OK. It also says that children basically non-white children when

:17:03. > :17:06.they come back to school should be checked to see if they've had

:17:07. > :17:11.genital mutilation. We need to stop FGM. But by humiliating and

:17:12. > :17:17.separating children is that an acceptable way forward? Diane Abbott

:17:18. > :17:24.put that forward in 2014. David, can I please possibly speak. Can you see

:17:25. > :17:27.that a mainstream party saying that is actually exacerbating a and

:17:28. > :17:30.normalising hate crime. It's not hate crime. Everyone should be able

:17:31. > :17:36.to be free to criticise an ideology. To talk about writings in the Koran

:17:37. > :17:40.and to talk about Sharia law, we need to talk about these things. We

:17:41. > :17:45.need to talk about the ideas there and how it affects people and how

:17:46. > :17:50.they encourage Islamism, which has led to violent mass murders. We need

:17:51. > :17:54.to talk about that. We need to be honest about that. Would you like to

:17:55. > :17:57.reply? I feel like you may not have actually answered what I said

:17:58. > :18:01.personally, going into the depths of the different categories of Islam. I

:18:02. > :18:06.mean, you obviously are aware of them. I was just talking about in

:18:07. > :18:10.general, my safety, my well being, not talking about my religion or the

:18:11. > :18:13.different categories, just in general, how can we stop other

:18:14. > :18:17.individuals attacking other individuals in the wake of something

:18:18. > :18:20.like this? I mean there's been a lot of unity and I've seen that. I feel

:18:21. > :18:25.like there's been a sort of permission for people to start

:18:26. > :18:28.attacking others. Whereas I didn't see if before. -- it before. My

:18:29. > :18:32.Facebook is full of people just attacking each other. That's just on

:18:33. > :18:35.social media. I'm not talking about being out in the public, just people

:18:36. > :18:39.yelling at you. I don't want to go out because my parents are afraid I

:18:40. > :18:43.will have to hear that I wouldn't have had to. The best way to deal

:18:44. > :18:47.with that is to make sure we don't have another terrorist attack. We

:18:48. > :18:53.need to deal with what causes these things to happen. Can I come in

:18:54. > :18:58.here? I think it feels to me like over the last 20 years in this

:18:59. > :19:01.country we've had a lot of politicians pandering to rhetoric

:19:02. > :19:06.around migration. We've allowed the debate to go way too far in One

:19:07. > :19:10.Direction. When I think we reached a low point in the referendum, I'd

:19:11. > :19:15.like David to address this, when Nigel Farage stood in front of that

:19:16. > :19:22.breaking point poster with pictures of Syrian refugees, which had a

:19:23. > :19:26.remarkable similar rarity to Nazi propaganda, that was abominable. I

:19:27. > :19:31.would like David to condemn that. This is a poster, it was about

:19:32. > :19:36.immigration. It's a real picture. It was in the Guardian in October 2015,

:19:37. > :19:41.I believe. People have real concerns about the level of immigration that

:19:42. > :19:45.we've had over the last 20 years. Do you not think - I will finish, if

:19:46. > :19:48.you'd let me, you asked me a question. We need to address the

:19:49. > :19:52.rapid mass immigration that we've had over the years of Blair, Brown,

:19:53. > :19:58.Cameron and May which is far, far higher than it was before. People

:19:59. > :20:02.are concerned about the effects on integration in our country. People

:20:03. > :20:06.are also concerned about the effects it's having on housing, and on our

:20:07. > :20:10.public services, on our hospitals being overstretched. Schools and so

:20:11. > :20:16.on. People do want it to be brought back into balance. So, the blaming

:20:17. > :20:20.of migrants - Not blaming migrants at all. Please get it right. The

:20:21. > :20:25.blaming of migrants is a cover up for policy failure. We've had

:20:26. > :20:30.successive governments - You've said it again. I'm not blaming migrants.

:20:31. > :20:33.Have not invested in the NHS, our public services, have given us the

:20:34. > :20:37.lie of austerity independent return they say it's the migrants to blame

:20:38. > :20:40.for the housing crisis. It's the migrants to blame for the pressure

:20:41. > :20:43.on Social Services. That's a lie. We need to call that out as much as we

:20:44. > :20:50.need to call out the racism. APPLAUSE

:20:51. > :20:54.Many people are worried because we have had three attacks in three

:20:55. > :20:58.months. If we can hear from Giles who lost a Fred in the Manchester --

:20:59. > :21:03.friend in the Manchester attack. Who do you trust to keep you safe and

:21:04. > :21:06.what do you feel needs to be done? There's a common thread that most

:21:07. > :21:10.politicians here are missing, that we're not looking at a religious

:21:11. > :21:13.issue here as such. What we're looking at a criminal one. I think

:21:14. > :21:17.that we need to look at methods going forward, whether that be more

:21:18. > :21:21.policemen and women in our communities, monitoring the things

:21:22. > :21:24.that are going on, but there are resources in place to put forward

:21:25. > :21:28.threats and issues that are going forward. I need to ask the

:21:29. > :21:33.politicians here for young people as well to not make this issue about

:21:34. > :21:36.extremism in the sense of it being an inherent part of Islam, but to

:21:37. > :21:40.look at it as a criminal thing as well. What would make you feel safe

:21:41. > :21:44.going about your day-to-day business? I suppose more police

:21:45. > :21:47.presence is something that has definitely helped here in

:21:48. > :21:51.Manchester, seeing so many police forces out protecting us is

:21:52. > :21:54.something that visually helps. But equally more work done amongst

:21:55. > :21:57.politicians to work together to find a common solution that isn't looking

:21:58. > :22:04.for divisive politics. That's the way forward. Nadhim Zahawi from the

:22:05. > :22:08.Conservatives, under Theresa May as Home Secretary, there was a 20% cut

:22:09. > :22:11.in police funding, 20,000 fewer police officers on the streets,

:22:12. > :22:18.fewer armed officers compared to last year. So how can people trust

:22:19. > :22:26.you to keep them safe? So on, as you saw on the programme on the clip

:22:27. > :22:31.earlier, so the 2015 police budget was protected - But that came after

:22:32. > :22:34.five years of deep cuts. That was on your programme, I'm not disputing

:22:35. > :22:39.that. But on counter-terrorism the police asked for more funding, we

:22:40. > :22:43.delivered that. On cyber another 1. 9 billion is going into cyber

:22:44. > :22:48.security. I think the lady at the front mentioned what's happening on

:22:49. > :22:51.social media and so on, and your very good point about the criminal

:22:52. > :22:56.aspect to this. What Theresa May wants to do is work with other

:22:57. > :23:02.countries to get to a place where our security agencies and Security

:23:03. > :23:06.Services can work with the online platforms so that we can have a way

:23:07. > :23:11.where your information is secure and you can talk to your friends and

:23:12. > :23:15.everyone else in a secure place but those people who are using those

:23:16. > :23:19.safe places can't use them any more. We need to make sure there are no

:23:20. > :23:27.safe places on the internet for these people. That's a big area that

:23:28. > :23:31.we want to focus on as well. We want to look at legislation, if you know

:23:32. > :23:36.someone is about to be ram cried how do you bring them back away from

:23:37. > :23:39.that -- radicalised. How do you deport those who shouldn't be here

:23:40. > :23:43.in the first place? Those are the sort of thangs we want to look at if

:23:44. > :23:50.we are back in Government after Thursday. Kate Forbes from the SNP.

:23:51. > :23:52.The police force is devolved in Scotland so it's within the

:23:53. > :23:57.competence of the Scottish Government. We have been maintaining

:23:58. > :24:03.our police numbers over the last few years. Ultimately cuts are a

:24:04. > :24:06.political choice. That's why in the aftermath of the atrocities and the

:24:07. > :24:10.hearts of everybody in Scotland is with in Manchester and has been with

:24:11. > :24:15.Manchester over the last two weeks. There are questions to be asked

:24:16. > :24:19.about where we are best to deploy our resources. We believe that law

:24:20. > :24:24.enforcement, at every stage of the process, needs to have the resources

:24:25. > :24:29.to do their job properly. We have legislation there, but they need

:24:30. > :24:34.resources. In Scotland we have made the decision over the last, the SNP

:24:35. > :24:40.has been in Government since 2007, to increase the number of police on

:24:41. > :24:45.the beat as it were. And to make sure that we have the resources we

:24:46. > :24:48.need, so in the aftermath of the atrocities, whilst we were very

:24:49. > :24:53.grateful for the offer of the armed forces to come in and patrol our

:24:54. > :24:58.streets, we did not need to call on that resource. We were able - we had

:24:59. > :25:05.enough capacity within the police force to do that. Fflur Elin? Plaid

:25:06. > :25:10.Cymru would like to see policing devolved to Wales, so we can keep

:25:11. > :25:14.our community safe in Wales. What we also do need to do is prevent

:25:15. > :25:19.extremism of all forms from happening, so that we can tackle

:25:20. > :25:22.this and investing in youth services, in community services, so

:25:23. > :25:26.we are promoting community cohesion rather than division, it's crucial.

:25:27. > :25:31.Politicians have such a responsibility here, when you have a

:25:32. > :25:35.public platform not to target individuals or target a specific

:25:36. > :25:38.religion. By doing that, we are increasing the division and hate

:25:39. > :25:43.within our communities and within society and we have to be so

:25:44. > :25:48.careful. We also need to look at how we are combatting extremism. The

:25:49. > :25:54.Prevent agenda, currently run by the Conservatives, many people say they

:25:55. > :25:57.are feeling targeted (inaudible) If people are targeted that is not

:25:58. > :26:01.going to promote community cohesion. That is not going to help to bring

:26:02. > :26:06.people who maybe feeling isolated back into community. We have to

:26:07. > :26:11.leave it there. Our audience here tonight has been selected by an

:26:12. > :26:15.independent external organisation to ensure all parties have fair

:26:16. > :26:18.representation. Now we will hear from people around the UK as well

:26:19. > :26:22.tonight, because Nick is looking at what people have been saying on

:26:23. > :26:26.social media. Yes, I may be up in the cheap seats,

:26:27. > :26:30.but I'm armed with question and queries from you. You guys have been

:26:31. > :26:34.using the hashtag BBC debate all day to rant, rage and to raise concerns.

:26:35. > :26:38.I want to pick up on a point that was made on the floor, about the

:26:39. > :26:42.nervousness and anxiousness on the streets at the moment. Luke says:

:26:43. > :26:46."Having raised then lowered the threat level, London was hit by an

:26:47. > :26:52.attack. Does this mean that security is underfunded? Josh has tweeted us.

:26:53. > :26:56.He says, "Our Security Services should receive more funding to allow

:26:57. > :27:00.for better digital protection." That's something Theresa May has

:27:01. > :27:04.been mentioning this week. Sharon says, "Deport and detain anyone on

:27:05. > :27:08.the terrorism list." John raises a question that a lot of people have

:27:09. > :27:13.been talking about, "Should all our police be armed? With events in

:27:14. > :27:18.London and here in Manchester, it's no surprise that security has moved

:27:19. > :27:22.up the election agenda. You guys say the NHS is still a massive issue

:27:23. > :27:26.too. Be it nursing bursaries or waiting lists, you've been sharing

:27:27. > :27:31.your stories like Ellie, who says, "We should be working to maintain

:27:32. > :27:34.the phenomenal NHS service, rather than trying to destroy it." I'd be

:27:35. > :27:38.interested to hear what the parties have to say about that. Well,

:27:39. > :27:40.doctors, nurses, hospitals, mental health services is what we're

:27:41. > :27:45.talking about next. The future for the NHS.

:27:46. > :27:51.We spent more on health than ever before. In fact, 30 p out of every

:27:52. > :27:56.?1 that the Government spends on services goes on health, yet the NHS

:27:57. > :28:00.is still struggling. Why? Well, we're getting older and we're living

:28:01. > :28:05.longer. 13 years longer in fact than since the NHS was formed. Older

:28:06. > :28:09.people cost more to look after. Caring for the average 85-year-old

:28:10. > :28:13.costs six times as much as a 25-year-old. But there are other

:28:14. > :28:18.factors too. We're getting fatter and new drugs are getting more

:28:19. > :28:22.expensive. Then, there's social care. Cuts to local services for the

:28:23. > :28:26.elderly mean more are ending up in A for treatment. That puts more

:28:27. > :28:32.pressure on hospitals. Although like we said at the start, NHS spending

:28:33. > :28:36.is at record levels, year on year increases in that spending are at an

:28:37. > :28:47.historic low. Let's get your views on the NHS and

:28:48. > :28:50.health. I'm a pharmacy student. So as a pharmacy graduate I'll be

:28:51. > :28:54.working for the NHS next year and hopefully many more years to come. I

:28:55. > :28:59.believe the NHS is a great asset to our country and I'm very excited to

:29:00. > :29:04.be part of the workforce. However, reading about the recent pay rise

:29:05. > :29:07.cuts in the media and the increasing pressures on NHS staff,

:29:08. > :29:12.unfortunately, I've had to think about other ways that my future,

:29:13. > :29:18.other things that I've had to do in the future in terms of my career.

:29:19. > :29:21.One of them was looking at working abroad, because obviously, the pay

:29:22. > :29:25.is a lot better and pressure on staff is a lot less. I know amongst

:29:26. > :29:29.other health care students, this is a current theme that they're

:29:30. > :29:34.thinking about doing. So my question is: How would you ensure that the

:29:35. > :29:40.NHS remains attractive for future generations to work for? Sarah

:29:41. > :29:44.Champion, Labour. This is genuinely the biggest problem that we have at

:29:45. > :29:48.the moment. All of us, all the parties here are coming out with

:29:49. > :29:52.different figures of how much we're going to invest in the NHS and

:29:53. > :29:55.social care. Just to say that Labour has the biggest figure, but it's

:29:56. > :30:01.still a drop in the ocean. The Greens do! It's still a drop in the

:30:02. > :30:04.ocean, all the independent people are saying what we need is more

:30:05. > :30:07.investment than we're able to financially commitment. What Labour

:30:08. > :30:10.is looking at is as well as putting the money is, we're looking at

:30:11. > :30:14.overhauling the service. We're looking to make sure staff are both

:30:15. > :30:17.recognised, respected and rewarded. Not demonised as they have been in

:30:18. > :30:21.the last couple of years. We're looking at how we can integrate

:30:22. > :30:26.social care and the NHS so that both of them have parity. To be quite

:30:27. > :30:29.honest, if you go into hospital for an operation, and you can't get home

:30:30. > :30:32.again because there's no-one in the community nursing to take care of

:30:33. > :30:35.you or there's no health worker to come and take care of you, you get

:30:36. > :30:39.stuck in hospital, which is the worst place for you and then

:30:40. > :30:43.bed-blocking begins. We're looking at very actively, I mean, Labour

:30:44. > :30:46.created the NHS. We're still incredibly proud of it. We're

:30:47. > :30:50.looking at making sure that we get back down to the 18 weeks to have

:30:51. > :30:55.your appointment to have your operation. We're looking at getting

:30:56. > :30:59.back to four hours wait in A We do that by radically trying to

:31:00. > :31:05.rethink. We do that by talking to the staff. We do that by having an

:31:06. > :31:09.independent regulatory body that looks at the budgeting and that

:31:10. > :31:12.makes the right decisions for the NHS, whether that's, you'll know

:31:13. > :31:15.community pharmacy is being cut to the bone, whether that's negotiating

:31:16. > :31:19.the best deals on the price of the drugs we get and to be quite honest,

:31:20. > :31:23.unless we take the politics out of this and get really grown up, we're

:31:24. > :31:27.not going to have an NHS left. The one thing that we're particularly

:31:28. > :31:31.passionate about, I'd love to hear your views on this, the Tories are

:31:32. > :31:35.going for something called the Naler report looking at selling off land

:31:36. > :31:40.and assets for the NHS. We paid into this. We created this. We own this.

:31:41. > :31:43.It should be us, the population of the UK that makes the decisions

:31:44. > :31:51.about what we do with our NHS, not just the politicians.

:31:52. > :31:58.You promise a large amount of money, how will Labour paver that? We pay

:31:59. > :32:03.our taxes and we have a pot of money and we base projections on the

:32:04. > :32:08.figures the government are using at the moment and we have made specific

:32:09. > :32:14.recommendations and one is the top 5% earners in the country will pain

:32:15. > :32:20.5% more and the rest of us won't and we are -- will pay 5% more. We are

:32:21. > :32:25.looking at getting corporation tax back to the levels it was before.

:32:26. > :32:31.The Tories brought it down to 19% and we are looking at putting it

:32:32. > :32:36.back up to 26%. We need to invest in our country. The Conservative Party?

:32:37. > :32:44.That sounds reasonable until I tell you that when we dropped corporation

:32:45. > :32:50.tax from 28 down to 19% we brought ?7 billion more into the Exchequer.

:32:51. > :32:53.Labour obsessed about tax rates and we care about what comes into the

:32:54. > :32:58.Exchequer so we can spend it on the NHS. You need a strong economy to

:32:59. > :33:08.have a strong NHS. Your leader, political hero, Hugo Chavez,

:33:09. > :33:13.Venezuela, it floats on a lake of oil and has the oil reserves after

:33:14. > :33:17.Arabia but today it is bankrupt because like your leader, Hugo

:33:18. > :33:21.Chavez promised everything to everyone. Today if you are sick in

:33:22. > :33:26.Venezuela you are dead because there is no medicine. There is nothing

:33:27. > :33:30.moral or decent about crashing and economy. When you tell people you

:33:31. > :33:34.will raise corporation tax you have to tell them it does not raise them

:33:35. > :33:40.any more money. The IFS looked at your figures and said you will not

:33:41. > :33:44.raise that money, money, where will it come from? The question put to

:33:45. > :33:48.you. You must be honest. You have not provided costings in your

:33:49. > :33:53.manifesto. Where will you get money from? We will put 10 billion in and

:33:54. > :33:59.an extra two billion and we are committing another 8 billion by 20

:34:00. > :34:05.22. You need a strong economy. Hang on. I want to hear from you, you

:34:06. > :34:12.have been nodding furiously. Can we get a microphone? Tell me why you

:34:13. > :34:17.are nodding? I am nodding because it makes sense because how can you

:34:18. > :34:22.spend money you do not have? Young people are burdened with debt,

:34:23. > :34:31.student debt, house prices are astronomical. Labour want to borrow

:34:32. > :34:36.even more money and who will pay that back? My generation will have

:34:37. > :34:41.to pay those debts back will stop why borrow more when we have to pay

:34:42. > :34:46.it back? APPLAUSE We have been very clear.

:34:47. > :34:55.You have not been cleared. Diane Abbott cannot add her sums up. Can I

:34:56. > :35:00.answer? We have been clear we are not looking at borrowing unless it

:35:01. > :35:04.is for capital investment. We are looking at making sure we are

:35:05. > :35:08.completely within our means on the spending on revenue spending and we

:35:09. > :35:12.have had that independently verified. The only figures in the

:35:13. > :35:21.Tory manifesto of the page numbers. Why will you deal with corporation

:35:22. > :35:30.tax when it will ring in less money? -- bring in less money. The IFS

:35:31. > :35:36.said... (INAUDIBLE). The only figures in the Tory manifesto of the

:35:37. > :35:40.page numbers. Rather than thinking about going in to support the NHS

:35:41. > :35:45.you are thinking about looking overseas. We are promising to lift

:35:46. > :35:49.the pay cap for public sector workers including people working for

:35:50. > :35:56.the NHS, which is capped at the moment up 1% and we want wages to

:35:57. > :36:00.increase in line with inflation. In terms of funding the NHS, there is

:36:01. > :36:05.an interim measure, and we promise to put an extra six William pounds a

:36:06. > :36:12.year by putting 1p on everybody's rate of income tax. 1% extra. You

:36:13. > :36:19.might think why should everybody pay for that? It means the top 50% of

:36:20. > :36:25.earners will pay 95% of that money. It is a progressive way of doing it.

:36:26. > :36:29.We are being honest. We cannot keep borrowing, it has to be paid for and

:36:30. > :36:33.we think it is worth paying for. I'd interim measure until we get an

:36:34. > :36:38.independent body to say this is the amount of money each year the NHS

:36:39. > :36:42.has and then you have a debate in Parliament and the Parliament either

:36:43. > :36:44.agrees with that body and there will be a separate line in your tax

:36:45. > :36:50.return saying this is the money going to the NHS and social care,

:36:51. > :36:56.and that is the way sustainable long-term plan we have to fund the

:36:57. > :37:00.NHS and social care. Some of that funding is going towards mental

:37:01. > :37:03.health and you want to legalise cannabis, as a party, some forms of

:37:04. > :37:11.which have been linked to mental health. Is that problematic?

:37:12. > :37:15.Cannabis gives a small proportion of people with a propensity to

:37:16. > :37:22.schizophrenia, to trigger it. It is a small proportion of people. We

:37:23. > :37:26.have been the champions of mental health. Norman Lamb in the coalition

:37:27. > :37:30.was the champion of mental health and we got the Tories through

:37:31. > :37:35.greater parity between physical and mental health. We introduced waiting

:37:36. > :37:44.times for mental health that never existed before. As far as this extra

:37:45. > :37:49.6 billion is concerned we want to earmark 1 billion for improvement in

:37:50. > :37:54.mental health. And to improve GP services because we know by spending

:37:55. > :38:00.money on those issues we get the best return on that investment by

:38:01. > :38:06.investing in those things. Let's hear from more of you. I am Sophie,

:38:07. > :38:11.a student living in Manchester. Mental health has been publicised

:38:12. > :38:17.recently and is more spoken about. I have dealt with mental-health

:38:18. > :38:22.problems from a young age and found out 50% of disorders are established

:38:23. > :38:26.by 14 and it is an issue in children and needs to be addressed at a

:38:27. > :38:32.younger age. What would you do to increase awareness for younger

:38:33. > :38:36.children, and how would you improve interventions in the NHS to make it

:38:37. > :38:41.more available to get help at a younger age? It is not focused as

:38:42. > :38:48.much on children at the moment, it is more older generation. I think it

:38:49. > :38:52.needs a focus on young children. The 11.4 billion putting into mental

:38:53. > :38:57.health if you can identify it early enough, every school will get

:38:58. > :39:00.support to identify if there are mental health issues with children

:39:01. > :39:07.because if you identify it early enough and treat it, you prevent it

:39:08. > :39:12.from becoming a bigger problem. Promising 10,000 new mental health

:39:13. > :39:17.staff in mental health services, 6700 have been cut since 2010. We

:39:18. > :39:22.say in the manifesto we will invest another billion on top of the 11.4

:39:23. > :39:26.billion into mental health and look at the Mental Health Act to ensure

:39:27. > :39:33.legislation is fit for purpose as well as getting people back into

:39:34. > :39:39.work. Our target is 1 million people with disabilities, whether they are

:39:40. > :39:43.mental health issues, or physical, back into... Jonathan Bartley, what

:39:44. > :39:51.with the Green Party do? We would have parity in the NHS with mental

:39:52. > :39:56.health. To take up the issue more broadly. In schools, we are creating

:39:57. > :40:01.children who are effectively economic units to compete in a

:40:02. > :40:05.global marketplace, testing them to death and we need a better education

:40:06. > :40:16.system where we allow children not to be subjected to that rigour. I

:40:17. > :40:20.took a Stabbeds test. I think I got 97%!

:40:21. > :40:24.APPLAUSE But the stress was huge. The issue

:40:25. > :40:29.of stress and mental health is something we have to address and I

:40:30. > :40:34.am astonished to hear you talk about the Conservative government's

:40:35. > :40:37.record. When you look at social services and employment support

:40:38. > :40:42.allowance, these are people the government act sets are too sick or

:40:43. > :40:49.disabled to work at the moment yet they have just put in a cut of 30%

:40:50. > :40:52.for new claimants in the work-related activity group, people

:40:53. > :40:58.the government act sets are too sick or disabled to work. We know people

:40:59. > :41:01.are committing suicide because of sanctions to do with benefits,

:41:02. > :41:07.primarily who are mentally ill. It is despicable. Unless we have this

:41:08. > :41:10.conversation about it it will go on and on. I cannot accept the

:41:11. > :41:19.platitudes around mental health from this government. We need parity of

:41:20. > :41:22.esteem for physical and mental health and social care. Something we

:41:23. > :41:28.all agree on across the political spectrum. I heard on reality from

:41:29. > :41:34.the main parties. Labour seems to have a magic money tree that does

:41:35. > :41:39.not exist. Jeremy Corbyn comes out like Santa Claus saying I am going

:41:40. > :41:42.to do this, but there is no money to do all of these things. The

:41:43. > :41:51.Conservatives talk about a strong economy but they are cutting the NHS

:41:52. > :41:57.to the bone. ?11 billion, we know where we will get it from. We will

:41:58. > :42:04.get it from Brexit, from not paying the EU membership fees, 10 billion a

:42:05. > :42:08.year, and we will cut the overseas development budget back to the

:42:09. > :42:12.useful part and not spending money on giving to countries for space

:42:13. > :42:16.programmes and nuclear weapons rather than spending it at home on

:42:17. > :42:23.hospitals, investing in doctors and nurses. We will be able to give out

:42:24. > :42:29.bursaries to nurses and midwives and we will be able to pay back student

:42:30. > :42:34.fees with students studying medicine, so if you study medicine,

:42:35. > :42:40.pharmacy, science, you will get your fees paid back. If you work in the

:42:41. > :42:48.NHS for ten years after graduating. I think that is a good deal we will

:42:49. > :42:56.give. I am a student nurse and basically I wanted to say I no

:42:57. > :43:03.tuition fees are paid for by the NHS that nurses and midwives get, but I

:43:04. > :43:09.don't get the same amount of money in terms of loans and grants, and I

:43:10. > :43:13.am constantly having to cut it fine with how much I am getting to spend

:43:14. > :43:18.with my rent and living costs and also touching on mental health, I

:43:19. > :43:23.have suffered mental-health problems and not only is it me suffering from

:43:24. > :43:29.these, because of the nature of my degree course and colleagues I

:43:30. > :43:34.worked with, it is strenuous and it can be something that takes a toll

:43:35. > :43:40.and I have to pay for my own medication and so do other people in

:43:41. > :43:45.our generation. I want to know what you think about mental health,

:43:46. > :43:51.especially student midwives and nurses because we do not have the

:43:52. > :43:59.money to support ourselves. If we work for the NHS, what if the NHS

:44:00. > :44:03.will eventually be privatised, it is said, what if that happens and there

:44:04. > :44:11.is no NHS to work in for the ten years and then get the money back

:44:12. > :44:18.and have this repaid? It will not be privatised by Ukip. We will fund

:44:19. > :44:26.bursaries for nurses and midwives. We are not going to privatise it. We

:44:27. > :44:31.will give bursaries to you. Going back to the original question when

:44:32. > :44:36.we were in coalition be earmarked 25 million for children's mental health

:44:37. > :44:39.services every year and the reality is we know the money is not getting

:44:40. > :44:45.through to the front line to deliver services. You raised the issue would

:44:46. > :44:50.bursaries, which this government has now stopped. It is a ridiculous

:44:51. > :44:56.thing to do. We will reinstate those things. Why is it ridiculous? We are

:44:57. > :45:00.seeing lots of EU nurses and midwives already going back to

:45:01. > :45:04.continental Europe because they are uncertain about the future because

:45:05. > :45:10.of Brexit, so it is a ridiculous time to do it and we would reinstate

:45:11. > :45:16.it. I have suffered from clinical depression. I know what it is like.

:45:17. > :45:23.I am not only passionate about this, for me it is personal. At election

:45:24. > :45:27.time a lot of people talk about supporting mental health and it goes

:45:28. > :45:31.back to reviewing people'srecords and to raise awareness we need to

:45:32. > :45:37.fund it and put the money where it is most important. In Scotland under

:45:38. > :45:42.the SNP we were one of the first governments to establish a minister

:45:43. > :45:46.for mental health and we have doubled the number of places for

:45:47. > :45:50.child psychologists, going back to the point of putting the money where

:45:51. > :45:54.it is most critical, from a young age, and making sure there is

:45:55. > :46:02.support. It comes back to the idea of everything being integrated, so

:46:03. > :46:04.education, health care, we have integrated health and social care so

:46:05. > :46:08.there is not the same extent of bed blocking because we are able to

:46:09. > :46:12.support people at the point they come into contact with social care

:46:13. > :46:17.and the health service and there is streamlined support so when they ask

:46:18. > :46:18.for help they are not left hanging for a long time before they get

:46:19. > :46:24.help. Health is devolved. You have the

:46:25. > :46:29.power to give nurses a pay rise and get rid of that 1% cap, why haven't

:46:30. > :46:33.you? You're right that health is devolved. Our overall budget is

:46:34. > :46:38.still set by Westminster. We're seeing cuts under the Conservatives

:46:39. > :46:42.in all the other areas of competences, we're also seeing cuts

:46:43. > :46:48.to the Scottish budget itself. We made the decision that in order to

:46:49. > :46:53.protect jobs, we had to maintain this cap. In our recent manifesto we

:46:54. > :46:59.said we will reconsider it and ensure that nurses and doctors are

:47:00. > :47:02.paid in line with inflation. Plaid Cymru want to deal with problems in

:47:03. > :47:07.the NHS. You're right staff are feeling pressure. That's why we want

:47:08. > :47:10.to train an extra thousand doors, and 500 nurses half of which will

:47:11. > :47:14.work in our communities over the next ten years. We want a long-term

:47:15. > :47:17.approach. On mental health, Plaid Cymru secured an addition 20 million

:47:18. > :47:21.for mental health support in Wales by being an effective Opposition.

:47:22. > :47:24.It's not enough to just identify problems. We have to be teaching

:47:25. > :47:28.children about mental health because we all have mental health and

:47:29. > :47:33.sometimes it will be better and sometimes worse, just like with our

:47:34. > :47:39.physical health. We need to teach people about mental health so that

:47:40. > :47:42.when we're feeling poorly, then we have to resource support for it. In

:47:43. > :47:45.Wales some people receive treatment, because of poor funding in health

:47:46. > :47:51.support have to travel to England to receive their support. That's

:47:52. > :47:54.actually really problematic. If you want to transition home, you want to

:47:55. > :47:57.do that slowly, one night at home, back in, two nights at home, it's

:47:58. > :48:00.very difficult to do that when you're travelling across miles and

:48:01. > :48:03.miles and hours and hours. We want to continue investing in mental

:48:04. > :48:10.health support. Continue investing in our NHS. And on making savings.

:48:11. > :48:13.We want to integrate social care into the NHS so that we have a

:48:14. > :48:16.social care and NHS system working effectively together. Because

:48:17. > :48:23.firstly, without good social care, you know, people are going to not be

:48:24. > :48:26.able to row cover. -- recover. It's putting strain on the GPs and

:48:27. > :48:30.hospitals. That's why it's crucial they are broad together. For

:48:31. > :48:33.patients' dignity and to have good care, it's crucial we have good care

:48:34. > :48:35.in the communities and again, people can have that transition from

:48:36. > :48:40.hospital into good community care and back. We should say when we talk

:48:41. > :48:43.about health being devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern

:48:44. > :48:48.Ireland, we're talking about the powers for health being decided by

:48:49. > :48:52.the governments there and not by MPs in the House of Commons. What can

:48:53. > :48:59.you tell us about the NHS, lots of numbers? We're hearing a lot about

:49:00. > :49:02.mental health. It's difficult to establish how much is spent on

:49:03. > :49:05.mental health, because there is no specific budget and because of the

:49:06. > :49:09.way the NHS works, it's commissioned in different ways by different

:49:10. > :49:13.bodies. It's warning saying though the Conservatives and Labour have

:49:14. > :49:16.both promised more money for the NHS, they haven't specified how much

:49:17. > :49:20.of that will go on mental health. What we can look at is staffing

:49:21. > :49:25.levels. Back to 2010, we see the number of specific mental health

:49:26. > :49:32.specialist nurses has fallen by around 6,500 from 45,000 or so in

:49:33. > :49:37.2010 to almost 39,000 last year. In terms of psychiatric doctors, there

:49:38. > :49:41.are around 8,500 specific psychiatric specialists in England.

:49:42. > :49:45.They've fallen by a smaller number, around 23, between 2010 and last

:49:46. > :49:49.year. That's an idea of the level of staffing in England only for mental

:49:50. > :49:52.health specialists. Nick what's happening online? Let's stick with

:49:53. > :49:55.the NHS just for a moment. It's something that everybody has

:49:56. > :49:59.experience of. Everyone can relate to. First of all, Emily has tweeted

:50:00. > :50:04.us, "My biggest concern is the recruitment of mental health nurses

:50:05. > :50:10.after cutting the burstery." We'll return to that in a second. "My mum

:50:11. > :50:16.has worked in the NHS for 25 years. I think the wage allocation and

:50:17. > :50:19.outsourcing to agency ises wrong." Another one says, we can't fund the

:50:20. > :50:26.NHS without a strong economy. But can we have a strong economy without

:50:27. > :50:33.a healthy population? Let's return to that issue of bursaries. I spend

:50:34. > :50:39.half my time at UNNy then I work as a nurse. The Tories have cut loans

:50:40. > :50:42.and bursaries. You guys are often called generation rent, group of

:50:43. > :50:46.people who will struggle to buy their own home. Housing is another

:50:47. > :50:49.big issue. We've had Alesha get in touch, "Excessive rent and a lack of

:50:50. > :50:52.affordable house aring ruining the lives of young people." I think

:50:53. > :50:57.there's going to be strong views in the audience on this one.

:50:58. > :51:03.Yes, buying and renting a house is something people here are very keen

:51:04. > :51:07.to talk about too. Homeownership has dropped to its

:51:08. > :51:12.lowest level in more than 20 years. Why? Well, for starters, the cost of

:51:13. > :51:19.buying a house in the UK has never been higher. On average it's going

:51:20. > :51:23.to cost you ?215,000. It's cheaper in the north-east and way more

:51:24. > :51:27.expensive in London. 20 years ago the average house would have cost

:51:28. > :51:30.around three-and-a-half times your yearly salary. Now it's

:51:31. > :51:35.seven-and-a-half times. If the cost of your lunch had gone up at a

:51:36. > :51:40.similar rate, a roast chicken would now cost 5 is quid and a loaf of --

:51:41. > :51:44.51 quid and a loaf of bred would be a fiver. If you do have the cash

:51:45. > :51:48.there aren't enough houses. Last year 170,000 were built, quite a way

:51:49. > :51:53.short of what's needed. Then there's renting. 4. 5 million properties in

:51:54. > :51:56.England are rented. One million more than at the start of the decade.

:51:57. > :52:03.Those are the reasons why homeownership has dropped to its

:52:04. > :52:09.lowest level in more than 20 years. OK, let's hear your thoughts on

:52:10. > :52:12.housing and renting. Hello, my name's Daniel. I'm 24, from

:52:13. > :52:15.Manchester. I live with my girlfriend and two children. We are

:52:16. > :52:18.renting at the moment. We'd like to buy somewhere. I'm wondering what

:52:19. > :52:21.each party is going to do in terms of helping young families like

:52:22. > :52:28.myself be able to afford to get onto the property ladder? Anyone over

:52:29. > :52:33.here? Yeah. My name's Arif. I'm 23. University student. The average

:52:34. > :52:36.deposit in this country for a first-time buyer is ?32,000. That's

:52:37. > :52:41.more than double what it was just ten years ago in 2007. My generation

:52:42. > :52:48.are having to buy their first homes much later in life. And have their

:52:49. > :52:51.mortgages longer for sometimes 35 years compared to what your

:52:52. > :52:54.generation had. What realistic solutions are you going to implement

:52:55. > :53:02.in order to bring a radical change to this problem? OK. I'm 20 and from

:53:03. > :53:07.Manchester. I go out around Manchester quite often. I can see

:53:08. > :53:09.the amount of homelessness increasing drastically. I've

:53:10. > :53:13.realised that a lot of the parties are offering more housing, but my

:53:14. > :53:17.question is - how are you going to cap or maybe abolish foreign

:53:18. > :53:22.investors that are looking to invest and you know bias etc which they

:53:23. > :53:26.already have where we have our own people like on spice, I'm sure

:53:27. > :53:30.you're aware of spice, the drug and how you can, you know, just

:53:31. > :53:34.prioritise our own people rather than rich foreign investors. Lady

:53:35. > :53:39.down here. My name's Georgia. I'm 23. I'm from Cambridge but I live in

:53:40. > :53:43.Leeds. Most of the political parties have pledged to tackle the housing

:53:44. > :53:47.crisis, but similar promises were made in the last election. The

:53:48. > :53:49.Tories have failed quite spectacularly to meet the number of

:53:50. > :53:52.houses they've promised every year. We've heard from older voters that

:53:53. > :53:56.young people have it easier, more opportunities. But I can't sell my

:53:57. > :53:59.iPhone to buy a new house. I'd like to know what the politicians here

:54:00. > :54:05.this evening are going to do to address the UK's housing shortage.

:54:06. > :54:07.Now both Conservative, Labour governments coalition have

:54:08. > :54:13.consectively failed to build enough houses. What are you going to do?

:54:14. > :54:19.First of all, please don't hate me, my first house cost ?33,000, which

:54:20. > :54:22.you're saying is the average deposit. I can't actually imagine

:54:23. > :54:28.how you look at having a home of your own. I think that's one of the

:54:29. > :54:31.saddest things because to have that security of something that's yours,

:54:32. > :54:35.whether it's a long-term secured rent, whether that's a council house

:54:36. > :54:40.or somewhere you buy. I mean that's a fundamental human thing to do. The

:54:41. > :54:45.flip of that is seeing the homeless levels rise and knowing that's to do

:54:46. > :54:49.with Government choices around pay, around accessibility, around bidding

:54:50. > :54:53.houses. What Labour is looking to do is basically, fundamentally build

:54:54. > :54:56.more houses. It's also about getting young people so that they have the

:54:57. > :55:00.skills to build those houses. It's then about having a million new

:55:01. > :55:05.houses over a five-year period and making sure that half of those go

:55:06. > :55:09.into social housing, so whether that's with Housing Associations or

:55:10. > :55:12.with councils, so that they're there. They're secure and they're an

:55:13. > :55:18.asset of this country. It's also about making sure that you have

:55:19. > :55:22.landlords who are honourable. Because the level of rent increases

:55:23. > :55:25.is ridiculous. We're going to make sure that's capped to innation.

:55:26. > :55:28.We're going to make sure that -- inflation. We're going to make sure

:55:29. > :55:32.that landlords have to provide a safe home so that all the checks are

:55:33. > :55:37.done for you. We're going to have to try and also make sure that just

:55:38. > :55:41.getting rid of tenants, when they don't want them or to get more

:55:42. > :55:45.people in and bigger deposits, that's got to stop. We will bring in

:55:46. > :55:52.legislation to make sure that stops. Again, with everything that Labour's

:55:53. > :55:55.proposing, what we're trying do is think big, think how we can help

:55:56. > :55:58.everybody have a secure home and help the economy by putting those

:55:59. > :56:02.skills and the money back in the country. The final thing talking

:56:03. > :56:04.about foreign investors. If people want to invest in this country,

:56:05. > :56:08.fantastic, we'll take their money. But we want to make sure that they

:56:09. > :56:12.do invest in this country because they are using our roads. They'll be

:56:13. > :56:15.using our education and benefitting from the economy that we want to see

:56:16. > :56:20.growing. Nadhim Zahawi, Conservatives. In the short-term,

:56:21. > :56:25.help to buy has helped about 350,000 families to bridge that gap in terms

:56:26. > :56:28.of the deposit. You can probably pay the monthly payments on the mortgage

:56:29. > :56:34.but it's the capital needed to put down the down payment. In the longer

:56:35. > :56:40.term, I think that your point, we pledge to build a million homes by

:56:41. > :56:45.2020. We're running at froxly 189,000 -- approximately 190

:56:46. > :56:49.thousand at the moment. We will target by 2020. We will add another

:56:50. > :56:52.half a million by 2022. We want to work with councils and Housing

:56:53. > :56:55.Associations so we build more council housing and if people live

:56:56. > :56:59.in those houses for 15 years they can have a right to buy those.

:57:00. > :57:04.That's a good thing to do, to own your home. To your point, about

:57:05. > :57:10.homelessness, there's a brilliant colleague of ours, I think both

:57:11. > :57:15.parties support him Bob Blackman, shout out to

:57:16. > :57:18.Bob. He delivered the home isness bill that went through Parliament

:57:19. > :57:22.and had cross-party support. The Government supported it. The

:57:23. > :57:25.Conservative Party in their manifesto have pledged to cut home

:57:26. > :57:30.isness by half in the next five years. You do accept it's gone up

:57:31. > :57:34.under your Government? We can deliver on that pledge.

:57:35. > :57:37.What do you make this afternoon? I understand what he's saying. I've

:57:38. > :57:41.seen that initiative myself. Even still, sometimes the amount that you

:57:42. > :57:47.still have to put down it can be quite strenuous. We struggle to get

:57:48. > :57:51.that much funds together. I don't think that initiative itself is -

:57:52. > :57:55.Can I answer that quickly. Forgive me. Have you looked at shared

:57:56. > :58:00.ownership as well? That's another thing to look at where you pay part

:58:01. > :58:04.rent and then eventually end up sharing the ownership, Housing

:58:05. > :58:08.Associations in my area do a lot of that. They operate in other areas.

:58:09. > :58:13.It's worth looking at as well. More of your stories. Hello. My name's

:58:14. > :58:17.Sammy Jo, I'm from Manchester and I'm 25. Since I was 16, I've saved

:58:18. > :58:22.and done the right thing. Got a help to buy ISA. I've got the opportunity

:58:23. > :58:29.to buy a house and something that's concerned me is one of the party

:58:30. > :58:32.idea from the Labour Party in terms of changing chasm, which could see

:58:33. > :58:38.it -- council tax, which could see it triple. I know some other party

:58:39. > :58:47.leaders are thinking of this idea. I can now afford it, but is my council

:58:48. > :58:51.tax now unaffordable. I just want to, I just want some - I just want a

:58:52. > :58:57.clarification from you as parties that I can afford it? The garden

:58:58. > :59:01.tax. That's an absolute out-and-out lie. I think the Tories are

:59:02. > :59:04.outrageous. It's in your manifesto. To be putting lies in there. It's in

:59:05. > :59:09.your manifesto. We are not having a garden tax. It is nonsense. Let's

:59:10. > :59:15.hear from the Green Party. What would you do to solve the housing

:59:16. > :59:19.crisis? I think Tariq touched on this. We feel that none of the other

:59:20. > :59:24.parties are facing up to the real issue. Yes, there is an issue of

:59:25. > :59:28.supply. When you look at the 2011 census, we have a 140 million rooms

:59:29. > :59:33.in this country for 65 million people. We have more bedrooms per

:59:34. > :59:37.head of population than we've had at any time in our history. That's kind

:59:38. > :59:42.of puzzling. What's going on here? What we have a broken housing

:59:43. > :59:46.market, where housing has been turned into a speculative commodity.

:59:47. > :59:49.With know buy to let investors and foreign investors are coming in and

:59:50. > :59:52.driving up prices. When you have something like help to buy, all it

:59:53. > :59:55.is doing is helping out developers, who say thank you very much that

:59:56. > :59:59.gives us another chance to put up prices further. We have to get rid

:00:00. > :00:07.of the subsidies. We subsidise the buy to let market by 6 at ?3 billion

:00:08. > :00:10.a year. -- 6. 5 billion a year. You can lend against that, lift the cap

:00:11. > :00:13.against local authorities and then the housing is built and paid

:00:14. > :00:17.through Housing Benefit or private rental. You can put not just rent

:00:18. > :00:23.controls like rent caps, like Labour want to, do but that will only cap

:00:24. > :00:26.the increases in rents. But rent controls allow prices to be

:00:27. > :00:29.stabilised and in some cases brought down if you give the powers to local

:00:30. > :00:33.authorities. There is so much we can do. The problem is the political

:00:34. > :00:36.will to take on those investors who are pushing up the price of housing

:00:37. > :00:37.and making housing into commodities and not homes.

:00:38. > :00:46.APPLAUSE What do you make of what you are

:00:47. > :00:55.hearing from the politicians about housing? I think a lot of what has

:00:56. > :00:58.been said is positive in terms of building more council houses. Some

:00:59. > :01:03.of the reforms in the 80s could have been damaging to the market in a

:01:04. > :01:09.sense we have given private companies, the onus is on private

:01:10. > :01:15.companies to build houses that are often smaller and worse quality than

:01:16. > :01:28.the houses built by local authorities. It is making it much

:01:29. > :01:37.harder for young people to really access the property market. Hearing

:01:38. > :01:41.about support for local authorities and housing associations to extend

:01:42. > :01:46.their remit and perhaps start building houses again, start being

:01:47. > :01:54.properly in charge of their town planning, it can only be a good

:01:55. > :01:58.thing. Ukip, David Kurten. In 1996, the average cost of the house was

:01:59. > :02:05.about three times the average salary. They were affordable. Now it

:02:06. > :02:11.is 8-10 times the cost of an average salary. The housing market has got

:02:12. > :02:15.out of balance. It is an issue of supply and demand. We hear from all

:02:16. > :02:21.the parties we are going to build more houses than we have at the

:02:22. > :02:25.moment, about 150,000 a year is the amount built over the last 20 years.

:02:26. > :02:31.It will not happen this time, it has not happened the last 20 years, it

:02:32. > :02:35.will not happen again. The reason it is out of balance is because of a

:02:36. > :02:43.huge population increase, mostly due to rapid net immigration. There has

:02:44. > :02:47.been 4 million net immigration since 1997 stop those people need to be

:02:48. > :02:52.housed and that has driven up demand without bringing the supply in and

:02:53. > :02:57.the supply is not going to come. In Ukip we have a policy of bringing

:02:58. > :03:01.immigration act into balance. It will take 20 years to get the

:03:02. > :03:06.housing market back into balance because it has taken 20 years to get

:03:07. > :03:12.it out of balance. If we don't, the population of the country will be 80

:03:13. > :03:17.million by 2050, and there are simply not enough homes for 80

:03:18. > :03:21.million by 20 50. We have to be honest and Ukip are and we will deal

:03:22. > :03:26.with it. Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrats. We have to be honest and

:03:27. > :03:31.stop blaming immigration for everything.

:03:32. > :03:39.APPLAUSE What we are planning to do is to

:03:40. > :03:46.promise 300,000 new homes a year, if the private sector, which the Tories

:03:47. > :03:49.rely on, does not deliver that, the government must directly commission

:03:50. > :03:54.housing where it is needed to make sure we get to that level. In terms

:03:55. > :04:02.of people who cannot afford a deposit, we have a scheme called

:04:03. > :04:07.Rent to By. You rent a property from a housing association and pay market

:04:08. > :04:14.rent, but, gradually, by paying rent, you build up a share in that

:04:15. > :04:17.property. At the end of 30 years, it when you are just paying the rent,

:04:18. > :04:22.you will own the property. If you want to move you will take whatever

:04:23. > :04:28.you have built up in terms of deposit when you move. It is as if

:04:29. > :04:31.you are renting, at market rent, but because it is a housing association,

:04:32. > :04:39.the property will be yours in 30 years. Hello. I'm 19 years old. How

:04:40. > :04:46.do you feel about housing and renting? I was homeless at the age

:04:47. > :04:51.of 17 for a year and after that year I was phoned to ask if I wanted to

:04:52. > :04:55.stay on the housing list for homelessness. There was no

:04:56. > :05:00.communication or that year. I want to know what is going to change. I

:05:01. > :05:06.live in mid Wales. Plaid Cymru? Plaid Cymru want to build 10,000 new

:05:07. > :05:11.affordable houses over the next ten years and we want to make owning and

:05:12. > :05:16.running a household more affordable and create a Welsh energy company to

:05:17. > :05:21.allow us to use Welsh natural resources to bring down the cost of

:05:22. > :05:25.energy across Wales and we want to scrap the necessary bedroom tax and

:05:26. > :05:32.we want to scrap letting agency fees so it is cheaper to rent. The

:05:33. > :05:37.Scottish National Party. If we make it simple we need three things. More

:05:38. > :05:44.supply, the right houses and we need good jobs that pay well. We need

:05:45. > :05:49.more houses. It comes back to looking at what parties' records

:05:50. > :05:54.are, not what they say now in a campaign. Over the last parliament

:05:55. > :05:58.in Scotland, the SNP exceeded the target of building 30,000 affordable

:05:59. > :06:04.homes and buy affordable I mean houses that reflects what people are

:06:05. > :06:10.earning, what the average earnings are in the area, which can be a

:06:11. > :06:14.variety of homes, it can be social rent, council houses, shared equity

:06:15. > :06:21.but to make sure there is an increase in supply of affordable

:06:22. > :06:23.homes are also looking, while housing is devolved, there are

:06:24. > :06:29.policies made at Westminster that have a negative effect in Scotland.

:06:30. > :06:33.Since 2013 the SNP government has spent about 400 million trying to

:06:34. > :06:40.mitigate the effects of the bedroom tax and we are disturbed to see the

:06:41. > :06:43.scrapping of housing benefit for 18 to 21-year-olds which will have a

:06:44. > :06:48.negative effect on people in Scotland in need of housing support.

:06:49. > :06:53.We are building more and the right types of houses but we need help

:06:54. > :07:01.from Westminster. Jonathan, housing is a big issue for young people. You

:07:02. > :07:06.are working with BBC Reality Check. Just to clear up a disagreement is

:07:07. > :07:11.not long ago between Labour and Conservatives about what the Tories

:07:12. > :07:14.call the garden tax in the Labour manifesto, Labour proposes a

:07:15. > :07:17.consultation on what to do about council tax and business rates,

:07:18. > :07:24.which are paid by small businesses and council tax is what we pay on

:07:25. > :07:27.the houses we own or rent. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says it

:07:28. > :07:32.makes more sense for business rates and council tax but we should bear

:07:33. > :07:36.in mind the last time council tax was reviewed in 1991, when

:07:37. > :07:43.everything was worth less than now. Calling it a garden tax could be

:07:44. > :07:49.controversial because council taxes based on the value of the property

:07:50. > :07:57.including the land around it, so the tax is already on the value of the

:07:58. > :08:03.land and home. Thank you. A reminder, the audience tonight has

:08:04. > :08:06.been selected by an independent external organisation to ensure all

:08:07. > :08:12.parties have fair representation. What is coming in on #BBCDebate?

:08:13. > :08:18.This is an issue that always riles you when we talk about it on

:08:19. > :08:22.Newsbeat. This person says so many people want to move out they cannot

:08:23. > :08:28.afford it and there is nowhere for them to move to. The next,

:08:29. > :08:33.anonymous, although I suspect it is from Sammy Jo, can someone tell me

:08:34. > :08:37.why my council tax goes up? I cannot see what has changed. We know it

:08:38. > :08:41.will be hard to afford a house without a job and you have told us

:08:42. > :08:47.the job market is tough. Josh has been in touch. He says people think

:08:48. > :08:54.we want everything handed to us, we don't, we want access to it. And Joe

:08:55. > :08:59.says, is austerity working when the deficit has not been reduced by that

:09:00. > :09:04.much and wages have not gone up? Thank you. Finding a job, being paid

:09:05. > :09:07.enough and making sure your contract is fair is what we will deal with

:09:08. > :09:12.next. The number of jobs in the UK is at a

:09:13. > :09:19.record level. The highest since records began in 1971. Unemployment

:09:20. > :09:24.is at its lowest level in 40 years and youth unemployment is down. When

:09:25. > :09:29.you put it together, it sounds pretty good. But let's take a closer

:09:30. > :09:35.look. 3.5 million people working here are not from the UK. Almost 1

:09:36. > :09:39.million people on zero-hours contracts, which do not guarantee

:09:40. > :09:44.any work whatsoever and disproportionately affect 16 to

:09:45. > :09:51.24-year-olds. And just because you have a job does not mean you are

:09:52. > :09:56.rich. One in eight workers living in poverty. And a warning that this

:09:57. > :10:02.year's wages will not keep up with prices. Hello. I am Jack, 22, and

:10:03. > :10:07.studying for a Masters in Manchester. The government has made

:10:08. > :10:10.a lot of the fact unemployment has gone down which seems great on the

:10:11. > :10:16.surface, but what you fail to mention is a lot of these jobs are

:10:17. > :10:23.insecure, zero-hours contracts, part of the gig economy, or, worst of

:10:24. > :10:29.all, exploitative apprenticeships in things like customer service for

:10:30. > :10:34.Asda, and one for sandwich artistry for Subway. It is a hand-out to

:10:35. > :10:39.corporations to give them a workforce they can employ in minimum

:10:40. > :10:45.wage jobs and give them no skills. How do you plan to tackle these

:10:46. > :10:56.exploitative apprenticeships? APPLAUSE

:10:57. > :10:59.OK. I am 21, from Glasgow. I finished a government funded

:11:00. > :11:06.apprenticeship but I am recently unemployed. The question, what will

:11:07. > :11:16.you do to create more jobs? What were you doing? Digital marketing.

:11:17. > :11:20.IT and Administration. It was more of a sales role, on the phone

:11:21. > :11:26.speaking to customers. What were you paid? Was it useful? I

:11:27. > :11:32.learned about being in the workforce and being responsible. In terms of

:11:33. > :11:41.going from that, and I was told it would be high ability, I did not

:11:42. > :11:45.come into employment after it. I learned a lot but the way it is made

:11:46. > :11:53.out like a stepping stone to get into work, that is not always the

:11:54. > :11:57.case. Kate Forbes, SNP. If you wanted an example of how austerity

:11:58. > :12:02.has not worked in the last seven years, youth employment is a good

:12:03. > :12:06.place to start. The Conservatives like to say they are looking after

:12:07. > :12:10.the economy and meeting targets but they have failed to do that and so

:12:11. > :12:14.the economy has not grown at the extent it should have. Austerity has

:12:15. > :12:20.kept the economy back, which means you do not have the same job

:12:21. > :12:25.creation. It is not just about people in employment, it is about

:12:26. > :12:30.what they are paid. The SNP feel strongly people should be paid a

:12:31. > :12:35.fair wage, they should be paid the real living wage, not the rebranded

:12:36. > :12:41.living wage. The cut-off should not be aged 25. Why should somebody aged

:12:42. > :12:46.26 and a different ways from somebody aged 24 doing the same job?

:12:47. > :12:52.We have said we are committed to raising the minimum wage in line

:12:53. > :12:58.with the real living wage so it is over ?10 over the next Parliamentary

:12:59. > :13:02.term. It comes back to ending austerity and ensuring people have

:13:03. > :13:06.money they can spend, so there is more money going around the economy,

:13:07. > :13:14.which means the economy grows and we are more productive. Nadhim Zahawi.,

:13:15. > :13:19.Conservatives. More people are in work, but a lot of the work is low

:13:20. > :13:21.paid, low hours, insecure and disproportionately affecting young

:13:22. > :13:28.people when it comes to zero-hours contracts. We would introduce the

:13:29. > :13:32.national living wage, the Conservative Chancellor did that at

:13:33. > :13:40.?7 50 and we pledge to increase it to 60% of median wage to continue to

:13:41. > :13:49.go up with inflation. I spent a year as the apprenticeship adviser. We

:13:50. > :13:54.are putting half a per cent of the wage bill of a large corporation,

:13:55. > :13:59.any company with a wage bill of ?3 million, half a per cent is taken in

:14:00. > :14:03.the apprenticeship levy, to deliver ?3 billion of investment into

:14:04. > :14:10.apprenticeships. When I looked at this, the American 's said can we

:14:11. > :14:13.look at what you have done? We delivered 2 million apprenticeships

:14:14. > :14:18.in the five years when David Cameron was Prime Minister and set a target

:14:19. > :14:22.of 3 million this Parliament. We were doing something good. It can

:14:23. > :14:30.always get better. Apprenticeships are something that our pioneering, a

:14:31. > :14:35.teaching assistant can become a teacher on a degree apprenticeship.

:14:36. > :14:41.And be paid as well as getting the degree apprenticeship. When you look

:14:42. > :14:45.at Germany, one of the insights I took is that in Germany, businesses

:14:46. > :14:50.were embedded in the education system so that every child had

:14:51. > :14:55.exposure to both the opportunity of going to university, or going on an

:14:56. > :14:59.apprenticeship. The system was stable and I am glad, labour worked

:15:00. > :15:07.with us on the apprenticeship levy and supported it. On zero-hours

:15:08. > :15:10.contracts, which you mentioned, the problem with the zero-hours

:15:11. > :15:14.contracts when we came into office and employer can say you are on this

:15:15. > :15:19.contract and you are exclusive to me and you have to sit at home and wait

:15:20. > :15:23.until I win game. We changed legislation to say it should be

:15:24. > :15:28.equal. If you want me to give you my time I should be able to go to

:15:29. > :15:34.three, four employers. It was the Liberal Democrats in coalition. You

:15:35. > :15:41.will have your chance to speak. Relax. We introduce the idea that

:15:42. > :15:44.the employee can decide to have three, four contracts with different

:15:45. > :15:56.employers and they can choose. There was an interesting (INAUDIBLE). They

:15:57. > :16:02.offered all 30 hours contracts employees to go on a permanent

:16:03. > :16:05.contract. Said we do not want to, we'd prefer the flexibility, whether

:16:06. > :16:15.they were students, whatever reason, they wanted flexibility. You have to

:16:16. > :16:21.be careful before we tar a section of the workforce by saying they are

:16:22. > :16:25.all bad. People sometimes preferred that, especially if they are

:16:26. > :16:30.studying and want to work certain hours. Brian Paddick, Liberal

:16:31. > :16:35.Democrats. 40% who do zero-hours contracts want to continue but we

:16:36. > :16:39.want to make sure that it is not used as a way of exploiting people.

:16:40. > :16:44.If people are working regular hours there should be a legal right that

:16:45. > :16:48.those people to move on to fix contract rather than zero hours. I

:16:49. > :16:51.am afraid taking the minimum wage and recalling it the living wage

:16:52. > :17:00.does not make it a living wage. Has anyone here had a zero hours

:17:01. > :17:05.contract? OK. Let's get some microphones to you. My name's

:17:06. > :17:09.Rachel. I'm from Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. I am on a

:17:10. > :17:14.zero-hours contract. My company calls it a relief contract, just

:17:15. > :17:18.because it's not as scary. But I'm a youth worker for my local authority.

:17:19. > :17:21.As Kate has previously mentioned, my budget comes from my local

:17:22. > :17:25.authority, which comes from Holyrood, which comes from

:17:26. > :17:30.Westminster. Now, if there are more cuts made to the budget, my job's on

:17:31. > :17:33.the firing line. We've been extremely lucky in Highland that

:17:34. > :17:36.we've had our internal budgets cut which I can't believe I'm saying

:17:37. > :17:40.this, only means that the proinjects that I do with young people are

:17:41. > :17:45.being cut. My job is not on the line yet. My job involves working with

:17:46. > :17:50.young people and giving them the bench mark to their future. If our

:17:51. > :17:54.budgets are being cut in Westminster, and that path follows

:17:55. > :17:58.me to the Highland council, how on earth am I going to prepare the ye.

:17:59. > :18:01.Generation of young people, the next generation of your electorate to be

:18:02. > :18:09.skilled for the jobs of five years' time? Who else is on a zero-hours

:18:10. > :18:13.contract? Hi. I've been on one since I was 17. I've always really enjoyed

:18:14. > :18:17.being on it because it gives me flexibility. What do you do? I work

:18:18. > :18:21.in retail and do promo jobs as withle. I think the -- as well. I

:18:22. > :18:26.think the question should be about what the minimum wage should be in

:18:27. > :18:31.terms of long-term contracts. I've finished uni. How am I expecting to

:18:32. > :18:35.get a job when some are paying 16,000 a year, how can I pay for

:18:36. > :18:40.?800 rent a month. It should be focussed on the minimum wage rather

:18:41. > :18:42.than zero hours contracts. Sarah Champion, Labour, zero hours

:18:43. > :18:47.contract work for this lady you want to ban them. We want to ban

:18:48. > :18:51.exploitive ones. We don't think it's fair. We think everybody deserves a

:18:52. > :18:56.proper living wage start agent ?10 from the age of 18, because to be

:18:57. > :19:01.quite honest, prices of a loaf of bread or a bus fare are the same if

:19:02. > :19:05.you're 18 or 28. It's also taking it back a step. So we want to get

:19:06. > :19:10.apprenticeships, good quality apprenticeships on a par with

:19:11. > :19:15.university degrees, when as at the moment they seem to be drifting and

:19:16. > :19:17.there's a stigma associated with apprenticeships, which is nonsense.

:19:18. > :19:22.Businesses are crying out for well trained people. What we'll do which

:19:23. > :19:29.is a really big thing, scrap tuition fees. To come out of a degree with

:19:30. > :19:33.?40,000 debt is crazy. What we'll be looking at doing is finally getting

:19:34. > :19:38.rid of the gender pay gap. I do not understand why it helps anyone and

:19:39. > :19:43.definitely our economy when a woman is earning on average 18% less than

:19:44. > :19:47.a man doing the same job. We've had Labour brought in legislation around

:19:48. > :19:52.equal pay in 1970, and we're still at an 18% pay gap. What we'll look

:19:53. > :19:56.at doing is getting a national investment fund. We'll have banks,

:19:57. > :20:00.regionally so that small businesses, particularly can go to that and grow

:20:01. > :20:04.their business to bring in more employment in the area. But what

:20:05. > :20:10.we're looking for, particularly, is that high earning jobs rather than

:20:11. > :20:13.just about doing jobs. So 3% of GDP will go on research and development.

:20:14. > :20:18.That's what we're seeing as the fastest way to grow our economy.

:20:19. > :20:22.APPLAUSE Any more questions about jobs? Just

:20:23. > :20:29.a quick one to Sarah, following that point. You mentioned it being crazy

:20:30. > :20:38.that students are coming out with #40?,000 worth of - ?40,000 worth of

:20:39. > :20:41.debt. Labour in power if it was so crazy, why didn't you make the

:20:42. > :20:47.change when you were in Government? We brought in ?1,000 as opposed to

:20:48. > :20:51.?9,000. And then trebled it. There's a big difference between a

:20:52. > :20:56.contribution and ?9,000. He's right you trebled it. There's a brilliant

:20:57. > :21:00.piece - Yeah. In terms of your policy, you want it to go to

:21:01. > :21:05.completely free. If that was your ideology now. Why has it changed ten

:21:06. > :21:12.years ago, back in let's say 2007, you still had ?3,000 roughly tuition

:21:13. > :21:15.fees and maintenance fees. If you're so against students having debt, why

:21:16. > :21:22.ten years ago, when you were last in power, why didn't you abolish it

:21:23. > :21:25.then? I've only been here four years. What we're doing now is

:21:26. > :21:28.looking at what changes we need for the future. I'm good, but I can't

:21:29. > :21:34.change history I'm afraid. I think it's time to get a reality check.

:21:35. > :21:36.I'm glad you said that. Going back to your point about McDonald's

:21:37. > :21:40.asking people on zero hours contracts if they wanted to

:21:41. > :21:43.transfer, they D as with other corporate employers, they do find

:21:44. > :21:48.that zero hours contracts work for a lot of people. Let's remember

:21:49. > :21:52.there's multinationals companies concerned about their corporate

:21:53. > :21:55.image and may play by the rules that other employers may seek to get

:21:56. > :21:59.round. It's worth highlighting the difference between the national

:22:00. > :22:04.living wage, we've heard a lot about it, 7. 7. ?7.50 an hour for over

:22:05. > :22:10.25s. If you're under 25 you can expect a lot less, anything from 7.

:22:11. > :22:14.05 down to 3. 50 an hour, if you're on an apprenticeship, you're more

:22:15. > :22:18.Lykinsly to get. Under -- likely to get. Under 25s are at a disadvantage

:22:19. > :22:22.when it comes to earning a minimum wage. An idea of how many people are

:22:23. > :22:26.on it, KPMG, the global accounting firm, looked at this in 2006, and

:22:27. > :22:30.found out that just over 20% of people in the UK were paid less than

:22:31. > :22:35.the voluntary living wage, which is 8. ?8.45 outside of London. We don't

:22:36. > :22:42.have much time left. I know a lot of you want to talk about Brexit. I'm

:22:43. > :22:46.Ricoh Smith, I'm 18 years old. 17. 4 million people voted to leave the

:22:47. > :22:49.European Union last year. March this year, Theresa May triggered Article

:22:50. > :22:53.50 taking the stance of a hard Brexit, account woman be trusted - I

:22:54. > :22:58.want to know from the politicians who can truly deliver a Brexit that

:22:59. > :23:03.is a hard Brexit? Nadhim Zahawi, can Theresa May be trusted with Brexit?

:23:04. > :23:06.Yes, she can. I don't think there's a thing as a hard or soft Brexit.

:23:07. > :23:13.There's a good Brexit. What Theresa May - It's all very basic. We hear

:23:14. > :23:18.good deal, bad deal. It's base being, what does it -- basic, what

:23:19. > :23:21.does it mean? Theresa May set out her 12 points for the negotiation.

:23:22. > :23:25.She gave an important speech at Lancaster House a few months ago.

:23:26. > :23:30.Controlling our borders, making sure that we have the best trade deal

:23:31. > :23:33.possible with our European partners. We remain European. We're just

:23:34. > :23:37.coming out of the EU institutions. We have to keep it brief, because we

:23:38. > :23:40.don't have much time left. We need to get round all the parties to be

:23:41. > :23:44.fair. The important thing is making sure we have a trade deal that works

:23:45. > :23:48.for the UK and for Europe. We cooperate and make sure that we

:23:49. > :23:52.deliver the defence and security for Europe and we have 140,000 workers

:23:53. > :23:56.for example in our NHS who are European. We have to secure them and

:23:57. > :24:00.Brits living in Europe. Labour is very clear that we want to maintain

:24:01. > :24:03.an incredibly strong partnership with Europe. We're very aware of the

:24:04. > :24:07.terms of that are going to be changing. We cannot be going into

:24:08. > :24:12.this all bluster, throwing the baby out with the bath water. What we

:24:13. > :24:15.need to look at is workers' rights, environmental protections and

:24:16. > :24:21.security as well as forming a really strong trading relationship. To the

:24:22. > :24:25.gentleman there, you're right, we need to get out and we need to get

:24:26. > :24:28.out in a timely fashion. What I do worry about Theresa May's speech,

:24:29. > :24:33.some of it was good. But she seemed to indicate that we might have

:24:34. > :24:36.transitional arrangements in many areas for an unlimited and

:24:37. > :24:40.unspecified number of years. People voted to come out. We want our

:24:41. > :24:44.fishing waters back. We want to control our borders. We want to come

:24:45. > :24:48.out of the single market. We want to do it in as quick a time as

:24:49. > :24:53.possible. We need to get on with it. Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrats.

:24:54. > :24:57.What we say is we don't know what the final deal is going to be. Who

:24:58. > :25:02.is it, once we know what the final deal is, who is it who should decide

:25:03. > :25:08.whether that is an acceptable deal or not? Should it be politicians or

:25:09. > :25:11.should it be you? We think you should decide. We think that we

:25:12. > :25:14.should stay in the single market because that's going to be best for

:25:15. > :25:18.the economy. It's going to be best for jobs. It's going to be - if you

:25:19. > :25:21.want to go and move to Europe, if you want to go and work there, if

:25:22. > :25:24.you want to fall in love with somebody from the European Union,

:25:25. > :25:31.then you have got to have free movement and that's what we stand

:25:32. > :25:34.for. Kate Forbes, SNP? We respect across the UK a majority voted to

:25:35. > :25:39.leave the EU. But in Scotland 62% voted to remain. Over the last year

:25:40. > :25:43.Nicola Sturgeon put forward compromise solutions in a way to

:25:44. > :25:46.recognise the majority vote to leave but also Scotland's position in

:25:47. > :25:50.voting to remain. All those proposals and discussions have been

:25:51. > :25:55.soundly rejected and so we're now in a position of saying, well, once we

:25:56. > :25:58.know the deal, whenever that might be over the next two years, we will

:25:59. > :26:02.give people in Scotland the opportunity to choose between a hard

:26:03. > :26:06.Brexit, that doesn't take into account Scotland's interests, and

:26:07. > :26:12.independence in the EU. Jonathan Bartley? We want a ratification

:26:13. > :26:15.referendum. We will fight for environmental rights, freedom of

:26:16. > :26:18.movement, I'm passionate about freedom of movement and the next

:26:19. > :26:21.generation having those benefits, when I had in my generation. It's

:26:22. > :26:24.not fair to short change the next generation and take away those

:26:25. > :26:29.freedoms, those rights that we've enjoyed. This generation is getting

:26:30. > :26:32.short changed enough as it is. It's saddled with private dead from the

:26:33. > :26:35.public sector. It's not getting the opportunities and jobs we want. We

:26:36. > :26:40.should have a say for them in the final deal. Clan clap Plaid Cymru? I

:26:41. > :26:44.think -- APPLAUSE

:26:45. > :26:47.You say there's no such thing as a hard Brexit, Wales has 200,000 jobs

:26:48. > :26:52.with tariff free trading with the single market. In Wales we have some

:26:53. > :26:55.of the poorest areas in Europe, when we're looking at GDP. A good deal

:26:56. > :26:58.with the European Union is absolutely crucial for the people of

:26:59. > :27:01.Wales. What Plaid Cymru want is a mandate from the people of Wales to

:27:02. > :27:05.go to Westminster, to put Wales on the political agenda and make sure

:27:06. > :27:08.that our voice is heard in those negotiations. Let's get a few more

:27:09. > :27:15.closing thoughts on Brexit from you guys. Brexit has a significant

:27:16. > :27:19.impact in terms of education. I want to know from the parties in terms of

:27:20. > :27:23.like how will they address that and support education, because the

:27:24. > :27:29.Brexit makes it more difficult to utilise resources internationally.

:27:30. > :27:35.Students gaining funding, but still studying in the UK? How do you feel

:27:36. > :27:40.about Brexit? Lied like to return to the point about workers' rights that

:27:41. > :27:43.Sarah Champion made. Going forward with negotiations about the human

:27:44. > :27:47.rights bill that's something that LGBT persons in society look towards

:27:48. > :27:50.to work, live and marry those we love. Heading forward I want it to

:27:51. > :27:53.be really important to both parties, in whatever negotiations they do,

:27:54. > :27:56.that those rights must be affirmed and upheld in a society that is

:27:57. > :28:01.often changing. Thank you very much. A few closing

:28:02. > :28:05.comments from online. Yes, whoever is in charge come the

:28:06. > :28:08.end of the week, they will have to deal with that almost straight away.

:28:09. > :28:11.As we've seen tonight, there are lots of views still. Here's a

:28:12. > :28:15.couple. James says, "When will people realise this election is for

:28:16. > :28:21.the best Brexit not for a future Government? Then Richard, "The 48%

:28:22. > :28:26.of us who voted to Remain are being forgotten. The whole referendum was

:28:27. > :28:32.a mess." Tonight's debate has been quite well behaved, but Craig with a

:28:33. > :28:36.parting thought, "What about a new campaign rule where you can't bad

:28:37. > :28:41.mouth other parties? The insults arive relevant." Back to you.

:28:42. > :28:44.This has been Newsbeat with the final debate, a big thank you to our

:28:45. > :28:47.guests tonight and to all the audience here in Manchester. If

:28:48. > :28:51.there is anything that you still want to get your head around in the

:28:52. > :28:56.last day before the election, then you should really do a search for

:28:57. > :29:03.BBC reality check. From all of us here, in Manchester, good night.